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 61

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 61

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EITH, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL SQUIRE I., of Columbus, was born November 30, 1837, at Dover, Mason County, Kentucky, being the son of Isham and Diadema (Frazee) Keith. In May, 1842, he removed with his parents to Fayetteville, Fay- ette County, Indiana, where he received the rudiments of his education at the village schools. In 1848 his father removed to a farm, and young Squire pursued the avocation of a farmer until the removal of Mr. Keith to Columbus, in 1854, when for a while he was clerk in his father's store, after which he was sent to the North- western Christian University, at Indianapolis, where he remained one year, and on his return to Columbus was taken into partnership with his father in the hardware business, in which he continued successfully until the breaking out of the war and the call of the nation to arms. On hearing of the fall of Fort Sumter and the call of the President for troops, he was one among the first to enlist in Captain Abbott's Company B, 6th In- diana Volunteer Infantry, the second company raised and reported in the state, in April, 1861. Captain Ab- bott having enlisted more men than necessary for his company, the rest, under Mr. Keith, consolidated with a part of a company from Jennings County, under charge of Captain Hiram Prather; but, the President's requisi- tion being filled, this company was not mustered. Sub- sequently, Captain Keith recruited a company known as Company G, 22d Indiana Volunteer Infantry. The regi- ment was organized and mustered at Madison, Indiana, August 15, 1861, under command of Colonel (afterwards General) Jeff. C. Davis. On the 17th of August it moved to St. Louis, where it joined the army under command of General John C. Fremont, and was soon after sent up the Missouri River to the relief of Colonel Mulligan at Lexington. While on the way, near Glas- gow, on the 19th of September, through some mistake portions of the Federal troops became engaged against each other, and Major Gordon Tanner, of the regiment, was killed. His regiment was marched from Glasgow to Springfield, and back again as far as Otterville, whence it moved in December to join other troops, and partici- pated in the capture of thirteen hundred men at Black- water. Colonel Davis about this time was appointed brigadier-general, the 22d was attached to his division, and marched, January 24, 1862, with General Curtis's ex- pedition against General Price, at Springfield, which re- sulted in the retreat of the latter from that place, and eventually in the great battle of Pea Ridge. In this battle the 22d bore a conspicuous part, losing forty-one

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killed and wounded, among them Lieutenant-colonel John A. Hendricks. In this battle the subject of this sketch particularly distinguished himself. The regiment then crossed the state of Arkansas to Batesville, and thence, on the 10th of May, to Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi River, where it embarked, and joined the be- sieging army at Corinth, Mississippi. It united in the pursuit under Pope, going as far as Booneville, and after- ward was stationed at different points in Northern Mis- sissippi until the 17th of August, when it joined Buell's army, and marched with it through Tennessee and Ken- tucky to Louisville, reaching there September 27. In the mean time Captain Keith had been promoted to ma- jor of the regiment, and a few days after was again pro- moted to lieutenant-colonel. His last commission, though issued some time prior, was not received by him until September 30, 1862, when at Columbus on leave of ab- sence of twenty-four hours to visit his brother, who was lying there dangerously wounded. He marched in com- mand of his regiment in pursuit of Bragg's army, and took a conspicuous part on the 8th of October in the bloody engagement at Perryville, or Chaplin Hill, losing fifty per cent of his men engaged and his own life. Thus ended the race of one of our brightest and most active young officers. His career was short and brilliant. A patriot and a hero, his loss was mourned not only by his own family, but by an innumerable multitude of friends, for he was much esteemed and beloved. In a historical sketch of his regiment, one of the officers, R. V. Mar- shall, pays the following tribute to his memory :

" I saw the brave Lieutenant-colonel Keith, who com- manded the regiment, fall from his horse, shot through the chest. He requested to be carried to the rear, and died in a few moments. Colonel Keith was a patriot not only in sentiment, but also from a sense of duty. I have heard him say that he considered it the duty of every man to be loyal, and to defend his country against all foes, whether foreign or domestic. He died young, but lived long enough to develop the true principles of manhood and the highest capacity for usefulness."

ING, E. DOUGLASS, proprietor and editor of the Hendricks County Democrat, Danville, was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, April 27, 1837, and is the youngest son of Allen and Eliza (Douglass) King. His father was a carriage manu- facturer ; and his maternal grandfather, E. Douglass, was an officer in the Revolutionary War, serving the entire period of seven years, and rising to the rank of aide-de-camp on General Lincoln's staff. After the con- clusion of peace, he was for many years brigadier-gen- eral of the state militia of Pennsylvania. Mr. King entered a printing-office at the early age of nine years, where he remained until 1853, and then removed to

Canton, Kentucky, where he commenced publishing the Canton Observer. He sold this paper at the end of one year, and, removing North, settled in South Charleston, Ohio. Here, for six months, he published the Charles- ton Recorder, and then moved it to London, Madison County, and established the Democrat. This was the first Democratic paper ever published in the county. He next published the DeWitt County Democrat, at Clin- ton, Illinois. Again selling out, he returned to South Charleston, and associated himself with the Ohio Press, at Springfield. In the spring of 1859 he went to Nash- ville, where he became connected with the Baptist Pub- lishing House, and at the opening of the campaign of 1860 became one of the editors of the Nashville Morn- ing Democrat. One year later came the secession of the Southern States. Party feeling ran high, and the editors of the Democrat, indorsing the Union principles of Stephen A. Douglas, were notified to leave the city within forty days. Mr. King next had charge of the Marietta (Ohio) Register. In May, 1862, he enlisted in the 87th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Four months later he was taken prisoner at the battle of Harper's Ferry, and was soon afterwards paroled and sent to camp at Delaware, where he was discharged. He re-enlisted in the spring of 1864, in the 154th Ohio Volunteer In- fantry, as a private, and served four months in Virginia. He returned to Nashville in January, 1865, and engaged in publishing King's Directory until 1871. During this time he filled the position of city editor on the Union American. Removing to Fort Wayne, Indiana, he be- came for a time city editor of the Sentinel, and also pub- lished a city directory. The next five years he spent in Indianapolis on the Journal and News, besides acting as correspondent of various out-of-town papers. In Febru- ary, 1878, he started the Democrat at Danville, the only Democratic paper in the county, which he still con- tinues to manage. It has a circulation of over one thousand copies, and the subscription list is rapidly in- creasing. By the skillful management of this paper Mr. King has added largely to the Democratic vote of the county. The leading articles are able, very aggres- sive and uncompromising, and exert a wide and com- manding influence in the county. Mr. King was mar- ried, March 30, 1858, to R. Anna Warner, of South Charleston, Ohio, by whom he has six children living- two boys and four daughters. Wm. A. and E. Douglass King are, respectively, assistant editor and compositor in their father's employment. The daughters reside at home. In summing up this record of the busy life of a man who began the world alone at the tender age of nine years; who received no education save what could be gained during the brief respite from daily toil-there is much to admire, more to commend to the youth of the rising generation, and nothing to condemn. His | part of the duties of life has been well discharged.

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IRKWOOD, PROFESSOR DANIEL, LL. D., | Stars." (Read before the American Philosophical Soci- the sixth son of John and Agnes (Hope) Kirk- ety, April 6, 1877.) " Meteoric Fireballs seen in the United States during the Year ending March 31, 1879." (Read before the American Philosophical Society, May 16, 1879. ) "On the Cosmogony of Laplace." (Read before the American Philosophical Society, September 19, 1879.) Professor Kirkwood received the honorary degree of A. M. from Washington College, Pennsylva- nia, in 1849, and that of LL. D. from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1852. wood, was born in Harford County, Maryland, September 27, 1814. His ancestors emigrated from the north of Ireland about 1731, landing at New- castle, Delaware. In 1768 his grandfather, Robert Kirkwood, removed from Chester County, Pennsylvania, to what was then the northern part of Baltimore County, Maryland. The county of Harford was set off from this part of Baltimore County in 1773. John Kirkwood became the owner of a small farm adjacent to his fa- ther's near the close of the last century, where he died in 1822, leaving a large family in very limited circum- stances. Daniel was then but eight years old. The necessities of the family required what assistance he could give on the farm during his boyhood, and the opportunities of obtaining even an English education were extremely narrow. They were improved, how- ever, to the best advantage; and when but a youth Mr. Kirkwood commenced teaching a country school. The means thus obtained enabled him to enter the York County Academy, at York, Pennsylvania, in April, 1834. Here he remained the greater part of the time for nearly ten years; first as a student, and afterward as a math- ematical tutor. In November, 1843, Mr. Kirkwood was chosen principal of the Lancaster City high school. He soon found the duties of this position too laborious for his strength, and, warned by failing health, he resigned in March, 1848, to accept a place in the Pottsville Acad- emy. In 1849, while residing in Pottsville, Mr. Kirk- wood discovered and announced his " Analogy between the Periods of Rotation of the Primary Planets." In 1851 he was elected to the chair of mathematics in Delaware College, at Newark, Delaware, and entered immediately upon the discharge of its duties. From that time to the present (1880) he has been constantly occupied as professor of mathematics; first in Dela- ware College, afterward in Jefferson College, Pennsyl- vania, and lastly, for more than twenty years, in the State University of Indiana. Professor Kirkwood's " Meteoric Astronomy" was published by J. B. Lippin- cott & Co. in 1867, and his "Comets and Meteors" in 1873. He has been a frequent contributor to newspa- pers and periodicals, and the following may be named as his principal papers : "On the Nebular Hypothesis and the Approximate Commensurability of the Planetary Periods."-Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, Vol. XXIX. "The Formation and Primitive Structure of the Solar System." (Read before the American Philosophical Society, October 6, 1871.) "The Meteors of November 14."-Nature, June 3, 1875. "On Eight Meteoric Fireballs seen in the United States from July, 1876, to February, 1877." (Read before the American Philosophical Society, March 16, 1877.) "On the Relative Ages of the Sun and Certain of the Fixed

ROCKRIDGE, ANDREW MALONE, was born in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, March 30, 1814, and is of Scotch-Irish descent. His father, Robert Lock- ridge, was born in Virginia, May 20, 1784; and his mother, Elizabeth Malone, in South Carolina, Octo- ber 1, 1786. When Andrew Lockridge was but twelve years of age his father died, leaving the mother with a large family of children, of whom he was the eldest son. He remained with his mother, assisting in sup- porting and rearing the family, and having naturally but very limited educational advantages. In 1835, at the age of twenty-one, he removed with his mother to the northern part of Putnam County, Indiana. In 1846 he removed to Greencastle, in the outskirts of which city he now has an elegant home. Mr. Lockridge has led a busy, laborious life, and is an extensive land- holder; his estates in Putnam County embracing over two thousand acres, all first-class and available. He is one of the heaviest and best known dealers in fine beef cattle in the state. His brother, Robert Lockridge, re- siding near Greencastle, is also a heavy dealer and ex- tensive land-holder. In 1843 Mr. Lockridge married Miss Elizabeth Shore Farrow, daughter of Colonel A. S. Farrow, a sketch of whose life appears below. Of this union have been born four sons, the eldest of whom is dead. Simpson F., the eldest living son, is a heavy dealer in and breeder of short-horns; and has been for five years past secretary of the American Association of Breeders of Short-horns, organized in November, 1872, at Indianapolis, and holding its annual meetings at different points in the States and British Provinces. The other sons, Alexander and Albert, are both married, and are prosperous farmers and cattle breeders in Putnam County. Mr. and Mrs. Lockridge are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Lockridge is one of the trustees. Republican in politics, he took a deep interest in the success of the Union forces during the war. He is a man of incorruptible integrity, and is honored and respected by his friends and neighbors in all the relations of life. Mrs. Lockridge was born near Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, November 24, 1826. This arti- cle would be incomplete without a short biography of

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her father, Colonel Alexander S. Farrow, who died at Greencastle, March 31, 1877, in the eighty-third year of his age, after a week's illness. He was buried nine miles north of Greencastle, on land he had first culti- vated, and in sight of a Church he had organized in early manhood. Colonel Farrow was born near Grassy Lick, Montgomery County, Kentucky, April 21, 1794. His father, William Farrow, was of Scoth-Irish descent, and early emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky, where father and son became inured to the toils and dangers of pioneer life. In August following the declaration of war against Great Britain, in 1812, three regiments of volunteer infantry and one of regulars left Georgetown, Kentucky, for the relief of Detroit. Colonel Farrow, then a youth of eighteen, accompanied this detachment in the command of Captain Samuel L. Williams. At the crossing of the Ohio they received news of Hull's surrender of Detroit, but continued their march to Fort Wayne, under General Harrison, where they destroyed the enemy's growing crops along the Wabash, burning their cabins and desolating their homes. Returning to Fort Wayne, the entire army continued its march along the Maumee River, building forts here and there as bases of supply, until winter overtook them. Then followed scenes of suffering not surpassed by those of Valley Forge during the Revolution. The intense cold froze the river, rendering its navigation impossible ; deep snows fell; clothing was growing scarce, many had no shoes; promised supplies of food failed to reach them, and at one time for seventeen days the troops were without bread, and subsisted entirely on fat pork. Through hunger and fatigue horses fell to the ground 'and were abandoned, while men took their places, and drew baggage and provisions through the snow. The sufferings from frosted limbs and acute rheumatism were fearful; and in January the snow fell to the depth of two feet, making marching slow and painful. Under such circumstances the little army reached the rapids of the Maumee. Here a runner brought them news of the investment of Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, by the British and Indians. A detachment of five hundred men pushed forward, marching on the ice of Lake Erie, and, January 18, arrived in front of the village. A brief but severe conflict ensued ; the Kentuckians drove the British and their savage allies across the river, entered the town in triumph, and were soon joined by a reinforcement under General Win- chester. But the allies also were mustering their troops, and, accompanied by a large force, including artillery, General Proctor, under cover of night, advanced on Frenchtown, and attacked the half-aroused camp. His- tory has long since recorded the fierce struggle that fol- lowed, and how General Winchester was compelled to surrender his command prisoners of war to an over- powering force, with the stipulation that the wounded

should be cared for and protected from the merciless savages. The solemn promise was broken; the British abandoned the town, leaving the sick unguarded, and on the next morning the Indians appeared, selected a few of the most able-bodied of the wounded as prisoners, tomahawked and scalped the rest, and gave them to the flames, making the massacre of the River Raisin forever infamous in history. Colonel Farrow was taken to Mal- den with his fellow prisoners, where they were fed on bread alone, and, in the dead of winter, had no fire. After a two weeks' march through Canada they were paroled, taken over the line, and then followed a march across the country to Pittsburgh, whence they went by water to their Kentucky home. Shortly after his re- turn, Colonel Farrow married, and engaged in farming. Just after he had attained his majority he was commis- sioned, May 26, 1815, by Governor Isaac Shelby, adju- tant of the 31st Regiment Kentucky Militia; and in December, 1820, by Governor Adair, he was appointed brigade inspector of the Fifth Brigade. He was chosen to represent his county in the Legislature, and made a series of lucid and effective speeches in defense of the policy of the Whig party, and its idol, Henry Clay. He served one or more terms, being barely eligible at his first election. In 1830 Colonel Farrow, with his young and growing family, removed to Putnam County, Indi- ana, and settled nine miles north of Greencastle, on lands purchased in part of the original pre-emptors. He at once took a leading and active part in develop- ing the resources of the county, introduced Kentucky grass among the farmers, sowing it extensively, and brought valuable breeds of cattle and horses from Ken- tucky and Ohio. Two years after reaching Indiana his merits were acknowledged by his appointment as colonel of the 56th Regiment of Militia by Governor Noble. A religious man from deep-seated conviction, he felt the necessity of Church association, and, in the absence of a house of worship, he united with his neighbors and or- ganized a Church beneath his own roof, the first in that part of the county. In 1851 Colonel Farrow was elected a member of the constitutional convention, and, during its four months' session, he was ever in his seat, always voted, was outspoken as to his views on all matters of public interest. He early saw the increasing evils of drunkenness, and was so far in advance of public senti- ment as to banish the use of intoxicants from his own family and from the harvest field, and lived to see many of his slower neighbors indorse his views and imi- tate his example. Colonel Farrow, from his youth, seems to have always had the courage of his convic- tions; was a public man without suspicion of wrong- doing ; an active, earnest, zealous Christian ; guiltless of any evil intent himself, he was, perhaps, too slow to suspect it in others. Open-hearted, with nothing to con- ceal, he expressed his own views with force and free-

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dom, and was always glad to meet a foeman worthy of his steel. He hated corruption in politics, and was dis- gusted at the sad degeneracy of later days. The foun- dation of his religion was laid early and deep, and it grew with his growth, and impregnated his whole life. How thoroughly he must have been impressed with the necessity of Divine wisdom and guidance is powerfully exemplified by the fact that on his marriage, although not a Church member, he at once erected a family altar for morning and evening prayer. After this it is super- fluous to add that he was a model husband and father. Ile was twice married, and was the father of six sons and four daughters, all by his first wife. Of these, eight are still living. Of his grandchildren, fifty are liv- ing and sixteen are dead. Of his twenty great-grand- children, eighteen survive. The total number of his descendants at the time of his death, living and dead, was ninety-six. " After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well."

ARTIN, ALEXANDER, D. D., LL. D., president of Indiana Asbury University, was born in the city of Nairn, Scotland, 1824. He is the fourth of four sons and two daughters, who constituted the family of James Martin and Janet Urquhart. His parents were people of more than ordinary education and character, even in a land where learning and worth are so highly prized. Ecclesiastically, they were mem- bers of Doctor Brewer's Church, in the city where the subject of this sketch was born; and, socially, they be- longed to that large and valuable class of yeomanry, equally removed from the extreme of affluence or pov- erty, which constitute the best element of citizenship in any land. On the mother's side the family was, not re- motely, related to the Urquharts of Cromarty. Doctor Martin's early school days were passed in the village of Invergordon, a few miles above Cromarty, near which his father was engaged in agricultural pursuits. In the home, at a dame's school in the village, and under Mr. Charles Rose, the parish schoolmaster, his advancement in learning was thorough and rapid. While yet less than fourteen years of age he had mastered the ordinary branches of education, and was getting well on in the study of the languages and of mathematics. About this time, in 1836, his eldest brother and sister came to visit their cousins in this country, expecting to return home the next spring. So greatly pleased were they, however, with their reception, that they joined their influence with that of other members of the family, some of whom had been here many years-Mr. Robert Urquhart, their uncle, having been an officer in the American army during the War of 1812-and induced their parents to dispose of their interests in the old country and remove to America. A characteristic inci-

dent is related concerning the father, that on the even- ing of embarkation, and before sailing from Greenock, he gathered his family, as his custom was, and invited those occupying the same cabin to unite with them in evening prayers. While reading the Scriptures out of a small pocket Bible, three gentlemen, tired of promenad- ing the deck, seated themselves on the edge of the gangway which led to the cabin, and unwittingly ob- scured the light, so that he could not see to read. To a polite request that they would enter or retire, they responded by at once taking their places among the little company of worshipers. Next morning one of them, a merchant of Greenock, and part owner of the vessel, presented Mr. Martin with a finely bound, large type copy of the Bible, desiring him to keep it as a token of his respect for a man whose family altar was not neglected among strangers, nor amid the inconven- iences of unfavorable surroundings. It need only be said that daily prayers, in which a number of the pas- sengers, and at times some of the officers and crew, united, were maintained during the voyage. The family settled in Jefferson County, Ohio, which county and the adjoining parts of Columbiana County contained so many from the old country as to be called the "Scotch Settlement." The chief congregations were the Asso- ciate Reformed, afterward the United Presbyterian, Church, of which Rev. John Donaldson was pastor, and Mr. James Martin a ruling elder; the Presbyterian Church, of which Rev. J. B. Graham was the minister ; and the "Red Hill Church," in which at an early day services were held in both the Gaelic and the English language. In the adjoining town of Wellsville, Alex- ander Martin spent three years of an apprenticeship to the tanning and leather-dressing business. As soon as Judge Riddle, who carried on the business, became aware of the ability and worth of his apprentice, he volun- tarily offered to release him from the indenture and aid him otherwise, if he desired to complete a course of liberal study. The sturdy Scotch element, however, asserted itself in the young man, who determined to learn the trade, and become a really superior workman ; though the very next week after his term expired he was employed at a fine salary to teach school in the same village. From Judge Leavitt, of Steubenville, a few weeks later, he received a teacher's certificate; and in this occupation, chiefly near his father's home, in the locally famous "old log school-house," he earned enough to support him nearly two years in Alleghany College. From this institution he graduated in 1847, with the first honors of a class containing such men as S. H. Nesbitt, D. D., for twelve years editor of the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate; W. A. Davidson, D. D., of the Pittsburgh Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church; Sanford Hunt, D. D., agent of the Methodist Book Concern, New York, and several other scarcely less

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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 61

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