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 82

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 82

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a time, till all had finished. At length Mr. Ratliff entered the Richmond Academy, where he remained two terms. He then taught school for three or four successive winters, and afterward, in 1850, began the study of dentistry in Richmond, and in connection with it took a full course of medical lectures at the Western Reserve College. After practicing dentistry one year, and engaging the same length of time in the manufacture of paper near the above-named city, he re- sumed farming, in which he is still employed. In 1862 he was appointed enrolling officer for the township of Center, his duties being not only to record all the militia and conscripts, but also to act on the Board of Exemption. In 1865 he was elected Justice of the Peace, and the following year was appointed real estate appraiser, in the discharge of which duty he appraised two thousand seven hundred acres in one day. In ad- dition to the duties enumerated, from 1860 to 1866 Mr. Ratliff edited the agricultural department of the Rich- mond Telegram. In 1863 he was elected president of the Richmond Horticultural Society, and held that office six years. In 1871 he was elected president of the State Horticultural Society, and remained in that position longer than any other incumbent except the first-a term of three years. From 1870 to 1874 he was master of the Centerville Masonic Lodge, and he is now a member of the Richmond Commandery. In 1856 Mr. Ratliff held for one term the office of Noble Grand in the Independent Order of Odd-fellows, and the follow- ing year was elected representative of the Richmond lodge to the Grand Lodge of Indiana. In 1875, after holding various minor political offices, he was chosen to represent Wayne County in the state Legislature, and in that capacity acted on the Committee of Educa- tion and the Committee on Sinking Fund. In 1876 he was nominated by the State Horticultural So- ciety, and appointed by the Governor, a trustee of the Purdue University, and was reappointed in 1877 for the term of three years. In 1876 he was chosen a trustee of the Richmond Savings Bank, and, in the- following year, a director of the First National Bank of Centerville, which positions he still holds. In 1870 he was elected president of the Wayne County Turnpike Company. In politics he is a Republican, having been formerly a Whig, then an Abolitionist. He became imbued in youth with the principles of Abolitionism in a conversation with Levi Coffin, who, as president of the celebrated " Underground Rail- road," helped thirty-three hundred slaves to escape in freedom. Mr. Ratliff saw five negroes glide into the yard and disappear, and learned next day that they had been concealed in the house of Mr. Coffin through the night. According to the "Reminiscences of Levi Coffin," that noble man and his equally noble wife were the verit- able Simeon' and Rachel Halliday of "Uncle Tom's

Jort Ratif

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Cabin," and the "Eliza " who escaped across the Ohio on the ice was secreted in the house two weeks, while a fugitive slave who sought their care and protection, and died there of previous hardship and exposure, be- came, through the magic of Mrs. Stowe's pen, the "Uncle Tom" himself. Mr. Ratliff is a birthright member of the society of Friends, and is active in the interests of that Church. He has been assistant clerk of the quarterly-meeting and a teacher in union Sunday- schools, and he is in earnest sympathy with the cause of temperance. He is deeply interested in the natural sciences, especially entomology, having been the ento- mologist of the Richmond Horticultural Society. He has a fine collection of specimens, many of which he himself has gathered, illustrative of this science, and also of geology and archæology. Among the antiqui- ties is a long-barrel shot-gun that has been in the fam- ily over one hundred years. It is still a perfect weapon, and deserves an equal fame with Hawkeye's " kill-deer," in the "Last of the Mohicans," for it never has been untrue to the hunter's aim. With it our subject's grandfather, though a man of peace, was wont to wage war upon those thieving gleaners of his grain, the squir- rels, and, in one day, killed ninety-five in the same num- ber of consecutive shots; and his son Cornelius Ratliff, at one murderous discharge, slew seven of nine wild turkeys, as, with heads together, they intently discussed the merits of an ear of corn. Joseph C. Ratliff was married, October 19, 1852, to Miss Mary F. Crawford, daughter of Daniel B. Crawford, of Richmond. Of their six children, four are living, three boys and one little girl. The sons have grown nearly to man's pro- portions, but, what is far better, they bid fair to attain to the stature of men in character, especially in the vir- tues of temperance, frugality, and industry. He is a man of good mental capacity, fitted naturally for both business and scholarly pursuits, having been successful in the former, and having shown, as above mentioned, much fondness for the latter. He is careful and correct in judgment upon practical affairs and grave questions of public interest. He exerts a marked influence in whatever associations he may join, and, though not a professional speaker, addresses them, when his duties require it, with fluency and good effect. He is widely respected as a courteous, kind-hearted, generous man, of perfect integrity and pure moral worth.

EDDING, THOMAS B., lawyer, of New Castle, is the son of Iredell and Anna (Nixon) Redding, and was born in Henry County, Indiana, Decem- ber 27, 1831. At the age of sixteen he entered Asbury University, from which he graduated in 1854, with the degree of A. B., having received the degree

of A. M. in course. While in the university he defrayed his expenses, in part, by teaching phonography, and also by acting as tutor in the university during his senior year. He knew no idle hours, for, besides these labors, he added to the regular classical course the study of French and German. On leaving college he taught school in Richmond one year, also in New Castle for the same length of time, devoting his spare hours mean- time to the study of Hebrew. Then he turned his at- tention to journalism, and became editor of the New Castle Courier, but after a little more than one year abandoned it for the practice of law. Soon afterward, in 1857, he was elected, on the Republican ticket, pros- ecuting attorney, an office which he soon resigned. He then went to Racine, Wisconsin, and engaged in pub- lishing maps until the fall of 1858, when he removed to Chicago and entered upon the practice of law, in partnership with Hon. G. A. Johnson, now of Califor- nia. In 1860 he returned to New Castle. Having found the legal profession well adapted to his tastes, he made it his chief pursuit. With strong mental faculties, disciplined by collegiate training, he entered upon the further study and practice of the profession, not with undue mercenary motives, but to master the science of law. His skill, ability, and success are fully attested by his large practice. Mr. Redding has, by the closest economy of his time, devoted much attention to science and literature. In these pursuits he has made such at- tainments as to win the recognition of various societies, both literary and scientific. His favorite studies are microscopy and biology. He is a member of the Amer- ican Society of Microscopy, was a member of the Na- tional Microscopic Congress of 1878, and is a corre- sponding member of other associations. He contributes to the Proceedings of these societies and to the press. The philanthropist and the statesman may base new hopes on the fact that many of the most gifted and cul- tured men devote their abilities to the moral training of the young, inspired by the divine injunction, " Feed my lambs." Mr. Redding is one of these benefactors, being a very able Sunday-school worker. His monthly reviews of the Sunday-school lessons during the year 1877 were models of their kind, and attracted much favorable comment. He is also a trustee of the Asbury University. He is an honored member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and at the annual session of the Dis- trict Conference of Richmond District, which met at Fountain City, in Wayne County, in June, 1879, he read a paper entitled, "God in Creation and Revela- tion ; or, No Conflict between Science and Christianity." Of this, the New Castle Courier speaks as follows:

"Those who heard it pronounced it one of the finest and most exhaustive productions on that subject to which they ever had the pleasure of listening. He met the materialistic scientists on their own ground, and showed clearly, from a scientific stand-point, that many of their

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assertions were nothing more than false assumptions, and that the only true theory is to believe in the existence of an unoriginated superintending power, who is God ; that he controls matter and spirit, and that he is the author of life from its faintest perceptions to its highest possible culminations, etc. Mr. Redding's paper does not con- tain a mere speculative or uncertain theory, but, on the contrary, it is the result of the carefully prepared labor of years. If it were read in all our high schools and colleges throughout the state, it would, no doubt, exert an excellent, wholesome influence in favor of Christian- ity and revelation."

Mr. Redding was married, December 2, 1858, to Miss Sarah W., daughter of Rev. Elijah Corrington, of the Central Illinois Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Redding was a teacher, and is a highly educated and accomplished lady. Three children have been born to them, but only one, Rosa M., is living. In honor of this daughter they have named their de- lightful home "Glen Rosa." The grounds are very beautiful, the lawn being planted with many graceful and some very rare trees, also shrubs and plants, while scattered over it here and there are parterres of flowers and cosy nooks with rustic seats, urns, and vases.

IBBLE, WILLIAM, farmer, of Selma, Delaware County, was born in Montgomery County, Vir- ginia, October 10, 1819. He is of German de- scent, and the son of David and Mary (Surface) Ribble. In 1830 his parents removed to Delaware County, Indiana, and bought the farm on which he now resides. His father died in 1839, at the age of fifty- two; and the death of his mother occurred in 1852, when she was sixty-three years old. William Ribble re- ceived the most important part of his early instruction in the common schools of Virginia, as the advantages afforded in the newly settled districts of Indiana were very meager, and much of his time was employed in the work of the farm. After the death of his father, being then about twenty years of age, in buying the shares of his brothers and sisters, and assuming the management of the farm, he took a step that at once revealed his sound business qualities. He set to work with new vigor, clearing and improving the place, and from time to time purchased adjoining fields, till now he has three hundred and forty-four acres, one of the choicest farms in the county. In 1858 he formed with his brother-in- law the firm of Hutchings & Ribble, at Selma, and en- gaged in the sale of general merchandise, and in buying and selling grain and wool, still carrying on the farm. Though few farmers, without previous experience, suc- ceed as merchants, Mr. Ribble made this venture suc- cessful. Nevertheless, at the death of Mr. Hutchings, which occurred in 1865, he sold his interest in the busi- ness, and again turned his whole attention to agricul-

ture. In his younger days, in 1843, he was elected, by the Whigs, Justice of the Peace, and some time after- ward was appointed by Governor Whitcomb major of the state militia. He helped to organize the Republi- can party, and in 1874, being regarded as one of the worthiest and most influential men in the county, was nominated on that ticket and elected to the Legislature entirely without effort on his part. Mr. Ribble has been foremost in various public improvements; among them the Smithfield and Burlington Turnpike, of which he was president and a director, and the Muncie and Burling- ton Pike, of which he was secretary and a director. He has expended much money in these and other enter- prises conducive to the general good. In 1856 he joined the Burlington Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, and in 1867 took the chapter and commandery degrees. He has been for thirty years a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, holding during part of that period the office of steward. Mr. Ribble has a well-balanced mind, with no very dominant trait. Such has been the tenor of his life that men pronounce him an honest, true-hearted man, quiet and unassuming, but possessed of the requisite energy and capacity to make every undertaking successful. In official position he has done his duty faithfully and well, and, under all cir- cumstances, shows due consideration for the rights of others. He is very kind and affectionate in his family, which now consists of his wife and nine children, three sons and six daughters. Their mother, whom he mar- ried in November, 1843, was Miss Harriet Ribble, daughter of George and Sarah (Surface) Ribble.

EED, NATHAN, bank president, of Winchester, is of Scotch descent, his father emigrating to this country while yet a mere lad. He made his home in Pennsylvania, where, in Fayette County, June 7, 1813, Nathan was ushered into existence. His boyhood was spent among that class of people who for generations have been distinctively known as " Pennsyl- vania Dutch." They are a hardy, industrious class, thrifty in habit, and domestic in taste. Unfortunately, at the period spoken of above, they cared less for the acquisition of knowledge than for the accumulation of wealth. As a logical sequence, an education was almost unattainable, and Mr. Reed states that fifteen months would cover the entire extent of his school-days. When a young man of twenty-two, he emigrated to Indiana, and, choosing Winchester as the scene of his future operations, he located there, and has ever since been a resident of that charming little city. In 1878 he was elected president of the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank. Previous to this, he had been engaged at different times in farming, merchandising, and speculating. For thir-

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teen years of his life he filled the various township and county offices of constable, deputy sheriff, sheriff, and county commissioner. He is a member of the Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd-fellows, and in religious belief worships with the Universalists. He has been twice married-first in 1836, and again in 1873. Three of six children, born of the first marriage, are still living.

OBERTS, THOMAS W., contractor and builder, of Richmond, was born in Wayne County, Indi- ana, December 16, 1822. His parents, Solomon and Elizabeth (Bond) Roberts, came to the terri- tory of Indiana from South and North Carolina, re- spectively, about the year 1811. Thomas Roberts is the eldest son of thirteen children, five of whom are still living. His education was acquired in the com- mon subscription schools of that new country, which continued but a short time each year. His last and best opportunity for study was while attending a school at Whitewater, in 1844, taught by the well-known educator, Barnabas C. Hobbs. He began business for himself at an early age, when he displayed unusual talent as a mechanic and builder. He first worked at the carpenter's trade under Caleb Bond, when the old " try rule" in framing timbers was still in use. After- wards, when working for Lawrence Campbell, who showed him the new "square rule," he grasped the principle and mastered it in fifteen minutes. Such is his genius in this direction that, aided by his knowledge of mathematics and mechanical philosophy, his calcula- tions work out to perfection, and the timbers come together without the noise of saw or hammer. During his earlier experience as a carpenter the times were hard, and he worked for fifty cents a day, or eleven dollars per month. Finally, business began to revive, and in the year 1847 he removed to Richmond, where he took the leading place as contractor and builder. An evidence of the improvements in building since that time is seen in the fact that when he put in the first open front in Richmond, for Doctor Howell's drug- store, between Front and Pearl Streets, he used glass twenty-six by forty inches, which was considered very large and rather extravagant. Mr. Roberts has built many of the best dwelling and business houses in Rich- mond. In 1877 he erected the " Roberts Block," which for light, convenience, and style of finish has few equals in this part of the state. July 15, 1847, he married Miss Lucinda Lough. They have had four children, only one of whom, a son, survives. Though not a member, Mr. Roberts is a vestryman in the Prot- estant Episcopal Church. He has served as city coun- cilman nearly ten years, and is a member, in good stand- ing, of the Independent Order of Odd-fellows. He is a

man of calm and quiet demeanor, courteous in manner, of superior judgment, and is respected by the commu- nity in which he lives.

OOTS, FRANCIS M., manufacturer, of Conners- ville, Indiana, was born in Oxford, Ohio, October 28, 1824. His father, Alanson Roots, moved to Oxford, in 1816, from Vermont, for the purpose of educating his sons at Miami University. An account of his journey through the wilderness, from Vermont to the south-western part of Ohio, with his wife and little children, in a mover's wagon, would of itself form a volume of thrilling interest. The material of which these early pioneers were made is nearly extinct; let us honor their memory. His ancestors were descended from the old Puritan stock, who fled to the inhospitable shores of New England that they might have the privi- lege of worshiping God according to the dictates of their own consciences. Josiah Roots came from the parish of Great Chart, near London, England, to Beverly, in the plantation of New England, in the ship " Hercules," in the year 1634. He brought with him letters show- ing his good standing in the Church of Great Chart. The first known of him after his arrival in this country is his joining in a petition to the Church of Salem, Massachusetts, for the organization of a new Church at Beverly, on Bass River, with one John Lake as pastor of its Church. From that time to this, the Roots, as a family, have been identified with the Church of Jesus Christ, with very few exceptions; belonging to the Con- gregational Church in New England, and in the West to the Presbyterian Church. Some of the old stock have remained about Rutland, Vermont, where they have always been honored and respected, and have filled positions of trust and responsibility in the pulpit, on the bench, and in the Legislature of the state. Others have been scattered over the length and breadth of our coun- try, and wherever found, with but few exceptions, have been known as good citizens, industrious, energetic, en- terprising, and intelligent leaders in society, and engaged in promoting those enterprises that have made our coun- try what it is. At an early date Alanson Roots estab- lished a woolen manufactory in Oxford, in which he was assisted by three of his elder sons, his son Francis as- sisting in the summer and going to school in the winter. Such opportunities as he had were eagerly improved, and when sixteen years old he entered college, with a view of taking a classical course, but, owing to the failing health of his father, he was compelled to give up this, the cherished ambition of his life, and take a scientific course instead. From this time on he was identified with the woolen manufactory. One brother, G. Y. Roots, had withdrawn, and gone into the commis-

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sion business in Cincinnati, where he still is. Franklin, another brother, after several years of ill-health, died. The business was carried on under the firm name of A. & P. H. Roots, Francis representing his father in the business. About the year 1845 they commenced making arrangements to remove their woolen mill to Conners- ville, Indiana, being attracted there by its fine water- power and other business facilities. In the year 1847 the change was made, and the woolen mill was in suc- cessful operation. The business at Oxford was still car- ried on in a modified form. Alanson Roots continued to reside there till his death, in the year 1850. After this the style of the firm was changed to P. H. & F. M. Roots, and has remained unchanged ever since. Soon after the discoveries of gold, in 1848-49, F. M. Roots decided to try his fortunes in the Western El Dorado, and early in the year 1849 commenced his arrangements for a trip across the plains. He joined a company of gold-seekers in Cincinnati, and a few weeks later left home and commenced his journey across what was then an almost unexplored region, there being at that time not a single white settler in Kansas. Of course, much could be said, if space permitted, of the incidents of the trip across this unknown conti- nent, where the noble red man reigned supreme ; suffice it to say, after many hardships, dangers, and narrow escapes, the party arrived in the "Gold Diggings" about the Ist of August. After a varied experience of disappointments and successes, sickness and health, he started on his homeward journey to the Atlantic States about the middle of May following (1850), via the Isthmus of Panama, Havana, and New Orleans, ar- riving in Cincinnati about the first of July. The net results of the trip were, financially considered, success- ful. In October, after his return, he was married to Miss Esther E. Pumphrey, a young lady to whom he was engaged before starting on his Western trip. This achievement he always considered as the most successful one of his life. By this marriage he had six children, three of whom are still living. After his marriage he applied himself most assiduously to the business of woolen manufacturing, and, in connection with his brother, succeeded in making their mill one of the largest and best in the state. During the war they had a number of contracts with the government for army clothing. They succeeded in securing these contracts because their goods were made of pure wool and filled every requirement, and yet were furnished at as low. rates as those of other parties who used inferior material, and often shoddy. About the year 1860 the brothers de- veloped their invention of a rotary force blast blower, which has since become well known to the mechanical world, both in this country and in Europe. In Eng- land alone there are now fully three thousand of these blowers in use, and as many more on the Continent.

They have been awarded first premiums at three inter- national expositions : in 1867 at Paris, in 1873 at Vienna, and at the Centennial Exposition of our own country, at Philadelphia, in 1876. In this field they were pioneers, making the first successful force blast rotary blower. Until 1864 these blowers were manufactured at other machine shops. In 1864 they purchased a small foundry and machine shop of W. J. Hankins, which they were constantly enlarging until the panic of 1873. During the whole of that time their shop was crowded with more orders than they could fill ; and quite a large portion of the time they ran with two sets of hands, and still they were unable to supply the demand. Since that time their business in that line has been compara- tively dull, but their machines have been brought up to the highest standard of mechanical perfection. In 1870 F. M. Roots sold out his interest in the woolen mill to his brother, P. H. Roots, but retained an equal interest in the blower manufactory. In 1872, in con- nection with his brother, William Huston, and Charles Mount, he bought of the Messrs. Claypool the stock of the First National Bank of Connersville, which they have since owned, in about equal proportions. In the prosecution of his business he has twice visited Europe, and visited not only the celebrated mechanical works of the old world, which were especially interesting to him, but also most of the places and objects of interest visited by tourists and travelers. He has also, with his family, visited California, Colorado, and most of the places of interest in our own country. At home he has endeavored to be in sympathy with the best interests of the community in which he lives. It is believed there has not been a turnpike, railroad, or church built in which he has not borne his part. He has been an active member of the Presbyterian Church from early youth, and an earnest worker in the Sabbath-school, Young Men's Christian Association, and the various temperance organizations; and his only hope for salva- tion is in a crucified and risen Savior.

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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 82

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