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 74

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 74

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ment in the classics. He early manifested a love for history and scientific studies. At the age of nineteen he began teaching school in Richmond, Indiana, near which he now resides, and continued that occupation at intervals, there and elsewhere, for twenty years. He spent several years in traveling and lecturing on phre- nology, physiology, and physiognomy. Language reform also engaged his attention, as comprehendea in the terms phonography and phonotypy. He learned their principles, urged their claims, and taught them in classes formed for the purpose. Both from education and natural inclination, Mr. Graves has scrupulously avoided any active participation in politics, though re- cently he has manifested some interest in political re- form as contemplated by the principles of the radical reform party, and now has many calls to speak on that question. He has never held a higher political office than that of mayor, which was unsolicited, and accepted reluctantly. Though often urged to become a candi- date, he has always, with the above and no other ex- ception, declined. He once accepted a nomination for the Legislature on the anti-slavery ticket. He took an active part in that as well as various other reform enterprises, having been appointed the first secretary of the state society for the abolition of slavery. He was also the first state lecturer under the auspices of that society. While employed in the duties of that office he had, he says, to encounter those hard arguments of the opposition - eggs, stones, and brickbats. Like his father, he has ever manifested a deep interest in the temperance cause, and he has often delivered addresses upon that subject. Professor Graves's mind was turned toward religion at an early age. As he manifested a pious disposition, his friends cherished the hope of his finally entering the ministry. But becoming convinced, by his researches in Oriental religious history (a subject which he became passionately fond of investigating), that the popular theology embraced some errors, he began using his pen in an effort to enlighten the public mind upon that theme. His labors resulted, first, in a work entitled "The Biography of Satan ;" and, more recently, in "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors," a book which has met with a very flattering reception both in America and Europe; the former has advanced to the tenth edition, and the latter to the sixth. He has an- other work now in press, entitled " The Bible of Bibles," embracing a description of twenty-seven Bibles written in various ages and countries. Mrs. Graves, whose maiden name was Lydia Michener, is a niece of Hon. David M. Stanton, and cousin of the late distinguished Secre- tary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. They have four. children, of whom they are justly proud because of their position in society and their promise of future usefulness. The eldest son, Benjamin M., is a graduate of Cornell University, a young man of great energy of

character, industry, and lofty ambition, who bids fair to reach a high mark as a writer and speaker. The eldest daughter, Lizzie, studied two years in the same institu- tion and one year in Adrian College, Michigan, and is now teaching in a high school. The younger son, Alonzo J., has conceived a passionate fondness for in- strumental music, and seems likely to attain to distinc- tion in that art. The younger daughter, Elma, a young lady of great promise, endowed with beauty and an amiable disposition, is preparing to enter Cornell Uni- versity. They all seem to have inherited from their parents an ardent love of books and study. Professor Graves is constantly employed in literary work. When not traveling and lecturing upon some reform topic, he is writing books, newspaper and magazine articles. Though for years he has been at times disqualified for public speaking by a disease that affects his delivery, he has made many such efforts, and is regarded as an able and interesting speaker. He has delivered full courses of lectures before both literary and benevolent societies, who have expressed their appreciation by flattering resolutions. He possesses a remarkable mem- ory. After having delivered a public discourse upon any subject that enlists his feelings, such is the impres- sion it makes upon his own mind and memory that he can repeat it as pronounced or in reverse order, or be- gin at any point of it and go either way. The whole address hangs before his mental vision so that he can grasp all or any part of it with ease. The general ver- dict of those who know him well is that Mr. Graves is a good man, pure, upright, ingenuous, and kind- hearted. He has never uttered an oath, nor drank enough to amount to a gill of intoxicating liquor. This he attributes chiefly to the moral lessons imparted by his father, the remembrance of whom he cherishes with most affectionate respect. He has developed and dis- ciplined his mental powers unaided by the schools, and written remarkable works, which many believe will ac- complish great good, and immortalize his name.

RAY, COLONEL ISAAC PUSEY, Lieutenant-gov- ernor of Indiana, was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, October 18, 1828, and is the son of John and Hannah (Worthington) Gray. His an- cestors all belonged to the society of Friends, his great- grandfather having emigrated from England with Will- iam Penn, and settled in Chester County. His parents removed from Pennsylvania to Urbana, Ohio, in 1836; thence to Montgomery County, in 1839; thence to New Madison, Darke County, in 1842. In the last named place they died. Isaac Gray received a common school education ; and, being ambitious and of studious habits, he early entered upon the study of law. His

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poverty, however, compelled him to accept a clerkship in a mercantile house at New Madison. Here his close application and strict integrity soon raised him to a partnership in the business, and in a few years he be- came sole proprietor of the establishment. In 1855 he removed with his family to Union City, Indiana, where he has since resided, and where, after successfully con- tinuing the mercantile business for a few years, he en- tered upon the profession of law. He is now a promi- nent member of the bar, and his practice extends to the Supreme and the United States Courts. Mr. Gray was colonel of the 4th Indiana Cavalry in the Civil War. He made a good record, and remained until dis- charged on account of ill-health. Returning home, he regained his wasted energies, and recruited the 147th Indiana Infantry. In 1866, after careful consideration, he was selected as the candidate for Congress against Hon. George W. Julian, who had long represented that district in the House of Representatives. After a close contest, Governor Gray was defeated by about three hundred votes. Two years later he was elected to the state Senate, where he remained four years. In July, 1870, he was tendered the consulate at St. Thomas, West Indies, and the official papers were forwarded through Governor Morton; but Mr. Gray declined the honor. As a young man he was a member of the Whig party, but acted with the Republicans during the war. Since 1871 he has been an active member of the Democratic party, serving as a member of the Indiana delegation to the Liberal Republican convention in 1872. He was nominated, by acclamation, on the Democratic ticket, for Lieutenant-governor; was elected to that honorable position in 1876, and was renominated for the same place the present year by the state convention. In 1850 he married Miss Eliza Jaqua, daughter of Judson Jaqua, an old and prominent citizen of Darke County, Ohio. They have two children living, Pierre and Bayard, both young men, in the law office of their father. Governor Gray has an excellent judgment of men and things, well balanced by knowledge and expe- rience, a handsome personal appearance, and a courte- ous address.

REGORY, RALPH S., lawyer, junior member of the law firm of Templer & Gregory, of Muncie, was born in Delaware County, near the village of Gran- ville, February 28, 1845. He is the son of Samuel and Mary Gregory, both of whom are now deceased ; his mother having died in September, 1862, and his father in September, 1871. They were honored and loved by all who knew them, and had each lived to more than the allotted age of man. Mr. Gregory remained upon the farm until he was sixteen years of age. Up to this time his school advantages had been very limited, and

he and Robert C. Bell, now the Hon. R. C. Bell, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, entered school at Muncie together, rent- ing a small room of Peter Much, and boarding themselves. Mr. Gregory made rapid progress in his studies, and in 1860 entered Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Indi- ana. In 1866 he was admitted to Asbury University, and graduated from that institution in the class of 1867, having undertaken and accomplished the task of obtain- ing a college and university education without assist- ance. Immediately after graduating he was appointed superintendent of the Huntington high schools, of Hunt- ington County, Indiana. The duties of this position he successfully discharged for one year, when, having made sufficient money to pay the indebtedness incurred dur- ing his last year at college, he abandoned teaching and commenced the study of law, the profession of his choice. He entered the office of Hon. Carleton E. Shipley, at Muncie, and so diligently did he apply himself to his work that in August, 1868, he was admitted to the bar of that city. He began the practice of law with Mr. Shipley, and afterwards formed a partnership with the late Hon. Alfred Kilgore, ex-United States district at- torney, which existed until the death of Mr. Kilgore, in 1871. For a time, immediately after the death of his partner, Mr. Gregory was alone; but, on account of his extensive practice, he felt that he required assistance. He accordingly formed a copartnership with the Hon. J. N. Templer-a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere in this work-under the firm name of Templer & Greg- ory, which is to-day one of the leading law firms of Eastern Indiana. August 8, 1862, Mr. Gregory enlisted in the army; was made orderly sergeant of Company B, 84th Indiana Infantry, and was discharged at Shell Mound, Tennessee, on the 29th of November, 1863, by reason of illness. Ile has been identified with every laudable enterprise of his town and county, and in 1874 was one of the committee appointed by the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Indiana to build the grand Masonic Temple at Indianapolis. The task was successfully accomplished. He is a Knight Templar, and has been honored with all the subordinate offices of the fraternity. He belongs to the Improved Order of Red Men, and has been Grand Sachem of the state of Indiana. At present he is the grand representative of that order to the Great Council at New York City. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias and other orders. He was chosen school examiner of Delaware County, December 9, 1870, to fill the unexpired term of Arthur C. Millette, now registrar of the United States land office, Springfield, Dakota Territory. This position he filled to the satisfaction of all concerned. In 1874 he was elected a member of the school board of his city, and has held other responsible posts, in all of which he displayed much ability, faithfulness, and zeal. In the matter of education he is an earnest

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and devoted friend to the free school system, and is a firm advocate of compulsory education. Mr. Gregory comes from a Methodist family, but is not himself iden- tified with any branch of the Church militant. His views of religion are quite liberal, consisting largely in the practice of the golden rule, and he has no patience with the hollow pretense of piety so largely in vogue at the present day. In politics he is a Republican, and has always taken part in political campaigns, contrib- uting not a little to the success of his party; but he seems to have no ambition to be a professional politi- cian. He has never sought political office, although at the earnest solicitation of friends, on one occasion, he permitted them to use his name for a short time in connection with a candidacy for a seat in the House of Representatives of Indiana ; but, soon becoming utterly disgusted with the "ways that are dark and the tricks that are vain" of the "machine politician," he peremp- torily withdrew from the contest before the time for the election arrived. Mr. Gregory occupies an eminent position in society, and, although he possesses qualifica- tions fitting him for the domestic circle, he has never married. He is a young man of energy, perseverance, and business probity, who by the practice of a rigid economy has already laid the foundation for future wealth. He has also achieved a reputation in his pro- fession as a good lawyer and a successful practitioner. As an advocate, he ranks with the best, being a fluent, logical, and convincing speaker; and his ability in the preparation of his cases for trial is second to none.

ACKLEMAN, BRIGADIER-GENERAL PLEAS- ANT ADAMS, deceased, of Rushville. The fol- lowing is from an address delivered by George C. Clark at the funeral of the subject of this sketch, in Rushville, October 18, 1862: " Pleasant Adams Hack- leman was born in Franklin County, Indiana-then a territory-on the 15th of November, 1814. He was the son of Major John Hackleman, who served his country as a soldier in the War of 1812, and a native of Abbe- ville District, South Carolina. His mother, whose original name was Sarah Adams, was born in Stokes County, North Carolina. His parents were married in what is now Franklin County, Indiana, in the year 1810, and still reside near Brookville, where they originally settled. Both of them, hale relics of a former age, are with us to-day, mourning their untimely loss. The early years of Pleasant A. Hackleman were spent amid the vicissitudes of pioneer life, clearing off the forests of a newly settled country, preparing the lands for the production of the fruitful harvests which we have so long been reaping, and performing the manual labor usual at that day upon a farm. On the 31st of October, 1

1833, he married Sarah Bradburn, daughter of Doctor John Bradburn, then of the same vicinity. She and seven daughters survive him. After his marriage, he continued in the occupation of farming nearly three years, when he commenced reading law with John A. Matson, Esq., at Brookville, Indiana. At that day a knowledge of law, tested by a rigid examination, was a prerequisite to admission to practice. With such assi- duity and energy did he prosecute his studies that at the end of ten months he had thoroughly mastered the elements of the science, and was admitted to the bar. Immediately afterward he removed with his family to Rushville, which has been his home from that time to the period of his death. He settled here about the last of May, 1837, commenced the practice of law, and rapidly rose to high distinction in the legal profession. In August, 1837, he was elected Judge of the Probate Court of Rush County, which office he held until about the 15th of May, 1841. In August, of that year he was elected to the House of Representatives, and served the ensuing session with honor to himself and his con- stituents. In the fall of 1847 he was appointed clerk of the Rush Circuit Court, in the place of John L. Robin- son, resigned. In August, 1848, he was elected clerk to fill Mr. Robinson's unexpired term, and a year later was elected as clerk again, and served as such until about the end of the year 1855. He was twice selected by his political friends as their candidate for Congress- as a Whig in 1847, and as a Republican in 1858-but was not elected. His name occupied a place as sena- torial elector for Indiana on the presidential ticket in 1852; and he was a delegate from the state at large to the convention at Chicago, in 1860, that nominated for President Abraham Lincoln, the present occupant of the White House. In May, 1846, he became a member of the Independent Order of Odd-fellows, and ever after felt a deep interest in the welfare and progress of that benevolent order; and here, as in every other sphere in which he moved, he soon became one of the leading spirits of the fraternity in the state. In July, 1851, he was the unanimous choice of the members of the Grand Lodge of the state as one of their representatives to the Grand Lodge of the United States, and served in this distinguished position for six years. The honor of so long a service in the great legislative head of the order has been conceded to but one other of the able representatives in that body from Indiana. But this was not the culmination of the honors which a frater- nity grateful for faithful labors were disposed to award him. In November, 1857, he was chosen Grand Master of the state. No greater evidence of the unbounded philanthropy of the man can be required than the fact that for twelve years, in offices that afforded no emolu- ment, in an order devoted to visiting the sick, relieving the oppressed, burying the dead, and educating the

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orphan, his best energies were exerted. In addition to the labors necessary to the faithful discharge of the duties of all these positions, he became, about the year 1840, editor of the Rushville Whig, and soon made for it a wide reputation for untiring zeal and ability. He subsequently edited the Rushville Republican, and did not entirely cease writing for the press until he entered the army. The highest testimony to his ability as a statesman may be found in the fact that when the clouds in the political horizon grew dark and gloomy, and serious threatenings were heard of that storm which has since burst with such relentless fury upon us; when the magnificent structure of our free government seemed rocking to and fro upon its foundations; when all eyes were turned to men of thought, men of ability, men of cool judgment and political wisdom, then was Pleasant A. Hackleman selected as one of the commissioners or delegates from the state of Indiana to the Conference Convention, which met at Washington on the 4th of February, 1861. In that body of men of distinguished ability, he was a worthy associate in the performance of as high a political trust as was ever committed to men since the formation of our Constitution. That they were not successful in calming the turbulent elements of political strife by which they were surrounded, does not detract from the importance of the trust confided to them. Soon after the Civil War commenced, under a thorough conviction of duty, Mr. Hackleman voluntarily offered his services to his country, and was appointed colonel of the 16th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers. This was then a twelve months' regiment in the service of the state, but was turned over to the United States for the same term, and soon acquired the reputation of being the best-drilled volunteer regiment in the service. In this capacity he served nearly a year in North-eastern Virginia and in Maryland. A short time before the expiration of his term, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and ordered to report to General Halleck, then at Corinth. Arriving a short time after Corinth was evacuated, in June, 1862, he was placed in command of the First Brigade of the Second Division of the Army of the Mississippi, commanded by General Grant, and remained near Corinth in almost entire in- activity until a few days before the battle in which he received the wound which caused his death. On the third day of October, 1862, in the battle before Corinth, about three o'clock P. M., while on horseback at the head of his brigade, bravely rallying his troops to vic- tory against an overpowering foe, he received a gunshot wound in the neck, injuring his powers of utterance to such an extent that he could speak only in broken sentences. He was taken from his horse by Captain W. H. F. Randall, chief of his staff, and conveyed to the Tishomingo House, in Corinth, where he had every needed attention by army surgeons and nurses. And

there, about eight o'clock the same evening, entirely conscious of his condition, he quietly and peacefully sank to that sleep that knows no waking. His last audible words were, 'I am dying, but I am dying for my country.' He has left us an example worthy of imitation. He was emphatically a self-made man, the architect of his own fortune. He commenced life in the backwoods, and in limited circumstances, without the advantages of education, family influence, or wealth; he has, by his own industry, energy, and perseverance, with the blessing of a vigorous and pow- erful intellect, sustained by an unswerving integrity and honesty of purpose, attained a character and achieved a position among men of which any one might justly be proud. . . Although for many years in public life, necessarily mingling with all classes of society, he was rever guilty of any kind of dissipation, and was remark- ably free from the fashionable vices of the age. He was open-hearted, candid, and generous, to a fault; the needy who applied to him were never turned away empty, if in his power to relieve. He was plain, unaf- fected, and unostentatious in his manners and his habits. As a lawyer, he was profound ; an honest, earnest, and able advocate ; a frank and manly adversary, never at- tempting to conceal from his opponent the ground upon which he relied for success. He was wholly incapable of resorting to any trick or chicanery for the purpose of gaining a triumph in a cause, preferring always to place his case upon what he believed to be the law; and to his position, thus taken, he adhered with an unyielding tenacity. When once enlisted in a cause, no matter how small the amount involved, his whole powers were exerted in behalf of his client. As a statesman, his ability is known to you all; he was an ardent admirer of that form of government under which we have so long prospered, and often dwelt in conversation, with great fervor of commendation, upon its system of checks and balances, which he believed to be most admirably adjusted. . As a soldier, he was brave and gal- lant; but on this phase of character I will allow one of his own beloved 16th Indiana Regiment to speak for me. J. R. S. Cox, who for twelve months endured the privations and hardships of the tented field under Gen- eral Hackleman's command, says : 'Those long marches through Virginia to Winchester, across the Shenandoah, over the Blue Ridge, through Manassas to the Rappahan- nock-as the panorama moves past, how many thousand instances are called up of his kindness in alleviating the condition of his men! We endured no hardship that he did not share; and no regiment ever loved their colonel more devotedly than the 16th loved P. A. Hackleman. I have often seen him trudging on foot, carrying a gun, while a sick man rode his horse. We will ever think of him as struck down at the head of his columns while leading them on to glorious vic-

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tory.' General Hackleman was a kind husband, a fond and indulgent parent, and in all the social relations was highly esteemed and respected. He was that noblest work of God, an honest man. We can only commit his lifeless clay to the silent tomb; his spirit is already in the hands of a just and merciful Father, in whom he believed and trusted.

' Of the rich legacies the dying leave,

Remembrance of their virtues is the best.'"

EDGES, JOHN S., of New Castle, was born in Deersville, Harrison County, Ohio, April 25, 1848. He is the youngest of three children of Samuel and Mary L. Hedges. Her maiden name was Blair. His father died when he was about two years of age; and his mother removed with her children to Henry County, Indiana, in the fall of 1855, where they have ever since resided. His mother married a second time in 1856; and at the early age of fifteen years John began in the world for himself without a dollar of money. He first went to live with Judge Jehu T. Elliott, a kind, benev- olent man. He was ambitious for an education. His facilities heretofore had been very meager, but now he attended the high-school, and paid his tuition by sweep- ing floors and building fires. So well did he improve these opportunities for learning that the next year, when but sixteen, he began teaching school. To under- stand the obstacles better which he had to overcome, it should be remarked that when but eighteen months old his spine received an injury that rendered him a cripple ever afterwards, and made walking painful and difficult. He continued to improve his education by teaching in the winter and attending school in the summer till the spring of 1870, when he began the study of law with Mellett & Forkner. After teaching during the following winter, he was promoted to the office of deputy clerk of the county in the spring of 1871. This position he filled to satisfaction till November, 1872, when there was a change of officers, and he retired. He returned to the occupation of teaching for the two succeeding winters, when, owing to ill-health and the partial failure of his eyesight, he spent several months in the summer of 1873 in Ohio and Western Virginia to recuperate. In April, 1874, he was again called to the position of deputy clerk, receiving the nomination for the clerkship in the spring of 1876. He was elected in October, and on November 4 entered upon his duties. He is an Odd- fellow in good standing, and also a member of the Knights of Honor. In the spring of 1874 he became a member of the society of Friends. On March 19, 1874, he married Emma Cook. They have one child living and mourn another, who is dead. By his industrious and strictly temperate habits and sterling worth he has risen from

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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 74

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