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 56

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 56

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

O. P. Cobb & Co., of Aurora, Indiana, he organized the firm of O. P. Cobb, Christy & Co., of Cincinnati, Ohio; the firm of John Christy & Co., of Louisville, Kentucky; and the firm of Cobb, Blasdell & Co., Cairo, Illinois, in all of which he stood at the head. In 1863 and 1864 he took large contracts for each house at Cin- cinnati, Louisville, and Cairo, for hay, oats, and corn, particularly for grain, at what he thought to be fair prices, being from a dollar and a quarter to nearly two dollars per bushel; their agreement being to de- liver a certain amount each month for six months, and being required to give a heavy bond to that effect. Soon after taking the contract and giving security for its faithful fulfillment, he was sent for by Captain McClung and Colonel McKim, who had been written and telegraphed to by General Allen, of Louisville, informing them that immense supplies for General Thomas's army had been burnt up at Johnsonville, Ten- nessee, and telling them of the great emergency then existing, and likely to exist, many animals being in danger of starving if every possible effort were not made to secure forage, even by seizing it. This infor- mation was to him both surprising and alarming, al- though he was fully up to the requirements of all his contracts. These had, however, several months yet to run, and he knew that if the government began seizing grain it would run the market up until it would ruin all of them, and all other contractors who had contracts yet running, as theirs was, and the government would not get as much grain as she was then receiving, and would thereby defeat her own object. The quarter- master was notified that Mr. Cobb would rather under- take to meet this emergency by doubling his contracts, at the same rates and terms per bushel, than to have the government go into the market to buy and seize forage. He was told to meet the emergency as best he could, at his last contract price, by every means within his power, until he was notified that the emergency was passed. Prompt action was what the government wanted, and every exertion was put forth in his power. Grain was soon started into Cincinnati, Louisville, and Cairo, by river, and by almost every line of railroad in the Western country, and the supply was kept up in that way until Richmond fell and the war ended. On the eleventh day of April they received written notice from the quartermasters, at their points of delivery, that they were "ordered by the chief quartermaster to receive no grain of any contractor after the tenth day of April, and you are hereby notified that no more grain will be received from you." This he thought, and still thinks, the most unjust treatment he had ever received from the government or any body else in all the dealings of his life ; for he had been almost forced into the contract, to relieve the government in her great emergency. They were left with nearly a million of bushels of grain

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

4th Dist.]

on their hands in Cincinnati, Louisville, Cairo, and in transit to those places, which they had bought for the government, and on which they had advanced a large amount of money. The government, regardless of this, had left them to their fate. A large portion of the grain they had purchased was loaded in cars, and switched off on side tracks in Illinois; and the shippers, holding bills of lading, began suit against the firms in the United States courts in Cincinnati and Indianapolis, and against Mr. Cobb, as the head of the several firms. This was a most formidable obstacle, and it required all the money he could get and the courage he could raise to make the first start towards settling the matters by litigation and other means, for they were sued for more than a quarter of a million of dollars. In the mean time they had laid before Congress their claims for the grain that the government had refused to receive of them; but Congress did little for them until after the plaintiffs in their suits had prosecuted their claims to judgment. Then he compromised with them, giving in settlement his notes at one, two, and three years, with his brother John as indorser. This seemed like getting enough time to collect of the government and the railroad company ; but before it had expired he found that he needed it all. He was obliged to get an exten- sion upon most of the notes, which was granted by his opponents for the purpose of enabling him to collect something from the United States. Judgment was ob- tained in the United States Court of Claims for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and he obtained from the Illinois Central Railroad, by litigation and compromise, two hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars. Thus he was enabled to pay all his outstand- ing notes. He has still two suits pending for money justly due his various firms, and he hopes soon to col- lect them. It is a singular fact that nearly all his financial troubles have been occasioned by his desire to give aid to the country in the time of its peril. He has served the public to the best of his ability, and now that old age is coming on he is filled with grat- itude for the success he has had through life. The last great enterprise that he has taken hold of is the Aurora Iron and Nail Company, which he was induced to help, not because he saw in it the means of making money, but almost solely for the reason that he recognized in it the means of saving the people of his city from great distress during the panic of 1873. When the railroad machine and repair shops had been removed from their place, and other shops and business ceased operation, Mr. Cobb was called upon by the people, and placed at the head of a com- mittee to devise ways and means of giving employment to the idle men and merchants. In pursuance of the recommendation of this committee, the city appropri- ated nine thousand dollars to secure the location of a

rolling mill at Aurora. The mill began business as the Aurora Iron Company, and for three or four years they paid out a large amount of money, which relieved the wants of their people very much; but at the end of that time tbe company showed but too plainly that it was losing money, and must soon stop if somebody else did not soon take hold of it. Up to this time none of the citizens of Aurora had either stock or office in the company. It was plain that something must be done, or the works would stop and be thrown on the city of Aurora, which had given the land, but could not con- duct the business; and, of course, with the stoppage the workmen would again be thrown out of employment. The old committee was again summoned to the relief of the city, and it recommended that a new company be formed, to buy out the Aurora Iron Company and the Haddock Nail Company's patent nail machine, and carry on both together. This time the city was not asked for any thing, except to exempt the nail mill from city taxes for ten years. But the committee did ask the citizens to take stock in the new enterprise to the amount of fifty thousand dollars, at fifty cents on the dollar, to half raise a working capital of at least one hundred thousand, but failed to obtain more than about three-fourths of that amount. Nevertheless, the Aurora Iron and Nail Company organized, and went to work on what had been subscribed. Mr. Cobb was elected president against his wishes, notwithstanding he had told the stockholders from other states that he had had no experience in the iron and nail business, and that they ought not to elect him. The stockholders from Aurora did not need to be told this. All insisted, however, on his accepting the office, and he has since

filled it for four years, by re-election, without clearing a dollar for himself or the company. He has the con- solation of knowing, though, that he has been instru- mental in paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars to citizens of his place, during years when they most needed it; and he now has a fair prospect of bringing the company through four years of the hardest times in the iron and nail trade ever known in this country, and possibly of making some money. The mills have been running almost constantly, turning out each day some thousands of dollars' worth of their products, con- sisting of bar, sheet, and plate iron, nails, nuts, and washers. To facilitate the work, Mr. Cobb invented and patented a nut lock; then a nail screen, or picker, which frees the nails from dust, slivers, and spalt so thoroughly that it saves to the consumer the price of from two to four pounds of nails to the keg, the metal being immediately returned to the puddling furnace, and again worked up. Another invention of his was a new mode of manufacturing nail plate and other plate iron at one heat, from old rails and other scrap iron, gathered from the railroads, farms, and shops of the

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

[ 4th Dist.

country in immense quantities, showing plainly that the iron wealth of to-day is not all to be dug from the bow- els of the earth. This is estimated to save the consumer of iron and nails at least five or ten dollars per ton, be- sides making a better iron and a home market for all waste wrought scrap-iron. It makes it practicable to erect nail mills without the necessity of having puddling furnaces or muck rolls. Another improvement is in a method for rolling or carrying car-wheels over splices of the rail bars without severe concussion or injury to the top end of the long rails. Mr. Cobb has personally reaped no advantage from these inventions, but he has the pleasure of knowing that this is, and has been, of great utility to the company. He has been looking through a long life for a period of leisure when he would not be required to do so much for the commu- nity, but could do more for himself. That time has not, however, come. A new difficulty confronted him this spring. A strike was ordered in the mill by the Amalgamated Association of Iron-workers. Their ob- ject seemed to be to break down the self-feeding nail machine, because it did away with any necessity for skilled feeders. To the committee who waited upon him his answer was: " I will pay you just the same that other mills pay their nailers, and no more, while there is a mechanic, or even a green hand, left in the government who is desirous of learning the trade of a nailer on our self-feeder. For I never will be a party that will tamely submit to such an imposition upon both the working-men and the manufacturers of the community in which I live." The strike and demands of the eight men who were employed upon the ma- chines threw hundreds of men out of employment, and lessened the receipts of the people thousands of dollars per month. Here was a new lesson to be learned in his old age. If the strike was not put down their patents were rendered useless, the company financially ruined, and much damage done both to the town and country. They would soon drive manufacturing out of this country, particularly in the iron business, which is only made possible in the United States by a protective tariff. The company had paid an immense sum of money to procure and put these patents successfully at work. These were to be rendered of no value by the demand of the National Amalgamated Union, which stopped all their works at a time when they had nearly two hundred thousand dollars' worth of unworked stock on hand, bought at high prices. Most of the money used to pay for this metal was borrowed from bankers, and he determined to appeal to them, seven in

number, and to his other creditors, for advice and help. The aid desired was readily obtained, and help was offered to protect their paper, which was indorsed by Mr. Greer and by John and O. P. Cobb. When the strike began there was another one going on in Pitts- burgh, Wheeling, and Cincinnati, and the manufacturers in these places telegraphed the Aurora Iron and Nail Company to " hold out," theirs being an attempt by the puddlers and heaters to advance prices to five dollars and a half a ton. But these would-be allies soon suc- cumbed, signed the agreement with the puddlers, which gave the latter all they asked for, and left Mr. Cobb to fight the nailers' strike alone. He was soon joined by the better part of the workmen and the community. With this, aided by the directors and creditors, and his own family, he kept up a constant struggle. Those of his own household who were familiar with the law prepared an abstract of the decisions on strikes, show- ing that in many of their phases they are unlawful, and that no good has come of them, either to workmen or manufacturers, but that many of both have thus been ruined. In three months the nailers were brought to Mr. Cobb's terms, which were to take eighteen per cent of the cost of cutting nails, at card rates, for the use of the self-feeding patent nail machine. They agreed to the terms, and thus the manufacturers gained a victory. It is now possible for any company, by using the labor-saving devices patented by Mr. Cobb, and previously mentioned, to make nails of superior quality at much less cost than can be done by the old process, where the nail plate has to be turned over by hand once for each nail made, and a skilled laborer is required for each machine, while the Aurora self-feeders require but one to four machines. This was the secret of the animosity of the Amalgamated Engineers, and the reason why they ordered a strike, resulting in a loss to the working-men of Aurora of some forty thousand dollars, and a still greater one to the company, without advantage to any one. Mr. Cobb has always consist- ently refrained from the use of malt liquors, tobacco, cards, and all devices of gambling or trading in options, or from taking any part in worshiping the rich or scorning the poor. Hence, whenever he has had an important work on hand he has been supported by the good people of the community in which he has oper- ated. Mr. Cobb is highly respected by his neighbors ; his word is his bond, and his hand is free in extending aid to those who have been less fortunate than he. His life has been a consistent one, and has nothing which does not reflect credit upon him.

THE

FIFTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.

...

DAMS, JOSHUA G., of Danville, Judge of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, composed of the counties of Hendricks and Marion, was born in Hendricks County, Indiana, February 19, 1845, and is the sixth son of Solomon and Nancy (Griffith) Adams. His boyhood was spent on his father's farm, his education consisting of a few months' schooling dur- ing the winter months. September 10, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company C, 51st Indiana Volunteer In- fantry; was made a non-commissioned officer, and re- mained with his regiment until the expiration of his term of service, when he re-enlisted, and served till the end of the war. He was captured by the enemy in May, 1863, and detained as a prisoner three months, when with others he was exchanged. Immediately on arriving at home he entered the Danville Academy, where he remained two years, and after two years more at Butler University, Indianapolis, he began the study of law, supporting himself by teaching school. In 1872 he was admitted to the bar, and in 1874 received authority to practice in the Supreme Court of the state. He was elected prosecuting attorney for the district in 1876, and in the autumn of 1878 was elected Judge of the Circuit Court for a term of six years. Mr. Adams is a member of the Christian Church, and is politically an uncompromising Republican. He was married, July 2, 1873, to Augusta F. Brown, of Indianapolis, by whom he has two children, a son and a daughter. Mr. Adams is pre-eminently a self-made man, and, as the result of his untiring efforts, in the face of numberless discouragements-poor, alone, and unaided-he fills to- day the highest judicial office in his district, and stands at the head of his profession. He enjoys the respect and friendship of his fellow-citizens, and is the youngest man ever elected to a judgeship in the state. His ex- ample is worthy of emulation and imitation by the youth of the state. He has attained his present position by virtue of character and industry.

ASSETT, THOMAS J., A. M., of Asbury Uni- versity, Greencastle, was born August 9, 1848, near Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York. He is the son of Ira Norton Bassett and Betsy Ann Bassett, whose maiden name was Babcock. His opportunities for early education were extremely limited. When but six years of age his parents moved from New York to the then wilds of Wisconsin, settling in Broth- ertown, Calumet County. When a mere boy he was compelled to do hard work upon a new farm, as his parents were farmers of small means. He attended school for a few years in the winter time, and worked upon the farm in summer. His progress in his books was very rapid. At the age of twenty he left home and taught school for one term, and then engaged for a time as raftsman upon the Mississippi. In the fall of 1869 he went to his old home in Western New York, where he attended during one term the Rushville union school, taking three of the four cash prizes offered. One was for oratory, one was for general excellence in all studies, and one was for spelling. In the spring he again came West, but with a determination to obtain an education at whatever sacrifice. During the summer he worked on a farm near Hillsboro, Illinois, and in the fall of 1870 entered the junior preparatory class of In- diana Asbury University. He completed the six years' course in five years, and took the classical honor of the class, numbering thirty-five members. Moreover, he literally worked his way through, earning all of the money required during the first two years by sawing wood, gardening, etc., working every day while others studied, and studying while they slept. Afterward he canvassed for books, and gave lessons in Latin and Greek. Upon graduating, in the class of 1875, he was immediately elected instructor of Latin and Greek in the preparatory department, Indiana Asbury Univer- sity, where he has remained for five years, up to the present time. In October of 1871 he united with the

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

[5th Disi.

Phi Gamma Delta fraternity in Asbury ; in 1876 he be- came a member of Greencastle Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and in April of 1879 he united with the Knights of Honor. During his junior and senior years he was one of the editors of the Asbury Review, a paper published by the literary societies of Asbury, which achieved a considerable reputation during those years, but was afterward discontinued. In the fall of 1878 he began the publication of the Asbury Monthly, a magazine of about fifty pages, devoted to the interests of Indiana Asbury University, and to education and literature. During its first volume it assumed a high rank among college jour- nals. During the summer vacation of 1879 he attended Doctor L. Sauveur's summer school of languages at Am- herst, Massachusetts, and during the summer of 1880 taught Latin and Greek in a summer normal of languages at Grinnell, Iowa. He and his wife are both Methodists. In politics he is a Republican. He was married, September 14, 1874, to Miss Anna E. Rid- path, daughter of Abraham Ridpath, and sister of Pro- fessor J. C. Ridpath, of Asbury University, and they have a family of three children.

EEM, CAPTAIN DAVID E., attorney-at-law and banker, Spencer, Owen County, Indiana, was born in Spencer on the 24th of June, 1837. He is a son of Levi and Sarah Beem, who were of Ger- man ancestry. The former was a native of Kentucky, and the latter of Virginia. They were among the earliest pioneers of Owen County, having come to In- diana in 1816. Captain Beem received his early educa- tion in the public schools of his native town, and at the age of nineteen entered the state university, where, in 1859, he graduated, after taking a classical course. He subsequently studied in the law department of the uni- versity; and in 1860 returned to Spencer and entered upon the practice of law, which, with the exception of the time spent in defense of the Union, he has ever since continued. In 1861, when the storm cloud of civil war began to appear, Captain Beem was thoroughly alive to the necessity of maintaining the integrity of the Union, by coercion if necessary, and was among the first to answer the President's call for volunteers. He wrote and circulated the first announcement of a meeting to raise a company in Owen County, and took an active part in its organization, at Spencer, on the 19th of April, 1861. More anxious to get to the front and bat- tle for what he believed a sacred cause than to secure his own advancement, he chose to go into the service as an enlisted man, and accordingly took the position of first sergeant in his company. The company was organized in response to the President's first call, for seventy-five thousand three months' troops, but, being

too late for that, was finally mustered into the three years' service, and became Company H of the 14th In- diana, and went to the field with Colonel Nathan Kim- ball. Beem's first service was with his regiment in Western Virginia. On the 11th of July, 1861, at the battle of Rich Mountain, his regiment arrived in time to form the reserve force of General Mcclellan during that engagement. From this on, through the entire three years' service, he remained with his regiment, except when on short leaves of absence, and partic- ipated in all its marches, privations, and battles. In August, 1861, he was promoted to first lieutenant of the company, and in May, 1862, he became its captain, in which capacity he served until the expiration of the term of service, in June, 1864. Few regiments in the volunteer army of the United States experienced more exhaustive service, or bore a part in a greater number of bloody battles, than the "old 14th." During the summer and fall of 1861, Captain Beem with his reg- iment was on duty in Western Virginia. After the bat- tle of Rich Mountain, the regiment was stationed at Cheat Mountain summit, remaining there more than two months, where the soldiers suffered from a short supply of rations and clothing; and this station being on an outpost, almost in sight of the rebel forces, there was constant scouting, skirmishing, and frequent attacks by bushwhackers and guerrillas. Being relieved from duty here, where the regiment was at one time sur- rounded by several thousand rebels without being compelled to surrender, the 14th Indiana was finally transferred to the Shenandoah Valley, where, under the command of General Shields, and, later in the day, Colonel Nathan Kimball, it took a conspicuous part in the memorable battle of Winchester, on the 23d of March, 1862. In this engagement, Captain Beem was severely wounded, and, receiving a sixty days' leave of absence in consequence, he returned home during this period. After the battle of Winches- ter, the 14th Indiana was engaged in active service in the Shenandoah Valley, and at Luray, Port Royal, near Port Republic, and other places, had frequent skirmishes with the enemy. During the months of May and June of 1862 this regiment was constantly on the march, and was under the fire of rebel guns sometimes every day for two weeks without intermission. On the 15th of May, General Shields's division, including the 14th Indiana, was ordered to join the army at Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock, but had no sooner arrived there than it was found that the rebels, taking advantage of the withdrawal of this force from the Shenandoah, began to press General Banks so closely that they were ordered back by hasty marches, when they again engaged in the lively occupation of chasing the enemy up and down the valley. Between the 15th of May and the 16th of June the 14th Indiana

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

5th Dist.]

marched an aggregate distance of three hundred and | thirty-nine miles, frequently fighting, and often being short of supplies. About this time many of the sol- diers had completely worn out their shoes, and, it being impossible to procure new ones, the shoeless men of the regiment were each morning paraded in a separate squad, and were allowed to march out of ranks and choose their way as best they could. More than fifty men of this regiment have been seen marching for days with bare and bleeding feet over the stony mountains of Vir- ginia. This command was finally ordered to join the Army of the Potomac, which it did at Harrison's Land- ing, on the James River, July 1, 1862, meeting the army upon the completion of its celebrated change of base from the Chickahominy to the James River. From this time until the expiration of their term of service, the 14th Indiana participated in all the movements and battles of the Army of the Potomac. Captain Beem commanded his company in every engagement it was in up to the middle of February, 1864. At Antietam the loss of men in his company was very great, just one- sixth of those engaged being killed, or having died from wounds; and at Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Chan- cellorsville, and at the minor battles, the famous 14th fairly earned its reputation as a fighting regiment. The number of men killed in Captain Beem's company in all its battles was seventeen, and the number wounded over sixty. With his command he was mustered out of the service in June, 1864. He has never held a public office in his life, excepting that of school trustee. He was one of the leading movers in establishing the Spen- cer graded school, which ranks second to none of its class in the state, and is noted for its efficient manage- ment and abundant success. He has ever been among the foremost in all the moral, religious, and progressive enterprises of his town and county. Being a Republi- can in every sense of the word, he is a prominent and useful member of his party, having served as chairman of the Republican county central committee for three campaigns with marked skill and entire satisfaction to the party. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1860, and has adhered to its principles and teachings ever since, being a live worker both in Church and Sunday-school. He is cashier of what was once the First National Bank of Spencer, but is now known as the banking firm of Beem, Peden & Co., having suc- cessfully and satisfactorily managed the business of the bank for many years, in addition to his extensive law practice. As an expounder of the law he has an en- viable reputation, and justly deserves the reward which his professional success has given him. He was mar- ried, on the 10th of April, 1861, to Miss Mahala Joslin, daughter of Doctor Amasa Joslin, one of the pioneer phy- sicians of Spencer. He is the father of two children- one son, Levi A. Beem, and one daughter, Minnie M.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 56

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