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 II, Part 106

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1006

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 II > Part 106

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using his spare time in improving his mind and devel- oping his faculty for composition, having by this time fixed upon journalism as his profession. Many articles written by him at this time were published in the papers on which he worked. Ile finally, when about eighteen, secured a place in the Riverside Publishing House, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he completed his trade. He made the best use of those opportunities for increasing literary knowledge which such a great pub- lishing house affords, and, no doubt, very much of his future success as a writer can be attributed to the use he made of the facilities for improvement there at hand. When twenty-one years of age he started West, and, in 1854, he had charge of the Argus, the first paper pub- lished at Winona, Minnesota. After one year spent in this labor, his affection for New England won him back to Manchester, where, in company with O. S. Eastman, he engaged in the publication of the New Hampshire Farmer for one year. At the end of this contract he journeyed South, spending about one year in New Or- leans and Mobile, continuing at his trade. His next move was to Cleveland, Ohio, where he became con- nected with the Daily Review. He went West again after this, and, in 1858, he was married to Cynthia Parmenter, at Burlington, Iowa. They soon after removed to La- porte, Indiana, where he became one of the proprietors of the Times of that place. He came to Elkhart, his present home, February 5, 1859, and in company with John S. Weller, began the publication of the Reviewe. The partnership continued about a year, when Mr. Weller retired, and Mr. Chase took up the burden of establishing on a permanent basis the enterprise which they had inaugurated. Discouragements came at first thick and fast, but he was not disheartened, and labored on until success began to crown his efforts. At various times he had different partners, but they had not the per- severance that brings success. On the 4th of December, 1863, his wife died of typhoid fever, and he was unable to attend the funeral by reason of prostration from the same disease. The Review was started as an independent paper, but the editor was a Democrat and so remained until the breaking out of the war, when patriotism overcame party fealty, and he espoused the cause of the govern- ment, joining the Republican party and making himself and his paper a recognized power in the conduct of that party. In politics, as in other public matters, he has pronounced opinions, which he expresses boldly when occasion demands. These qualities have made his influ- ence a matter of necessity to the party in city and county. He has remarkable foresight in shaping pol- icies, and rarely miscalculates the elements of strength or weakness of any line of action. In 1866, on the thirty-fourth anniversary of his birth, he was married to Alice M. Defrees, niece of Hon. Joseph H. Defrees, of Goshen; and the issue of this marriage has been three

sons and one daughter, all of whom are living. During the years of the war the Review became well estab- lished, and as a financial venture promised well. In 1872 a daily edition was started, and is now one of the recognized institutions of the city. The struggles for a position of permanence were now ended, and the pro- jector of the enterprise could look with feelings of pride at the triumph of energy over mischances innumerable and discouragements all but disheartening. During the years when his labors were the most severe, he held at various times positions of public trust. In 1865-67 he was assistant assessor of internal revenue, and was for one term clerk of the town of Elkhart, and for three years a member of the school board. He is a mem- ber of three secret orders-the Masons, the Knights of Honor, and the Royal Arcanum. Mr. Chase is thor- oughly identified with the growth and prosperity of the city of Elkhart, and very much of the fame of the city, as a point offering inducements to manufacturers, is due to the efforts he has made in that direction ; and the people of the community appreciate his services in build- ing up that center. It has been his aim in public and private life to promote the best interests of society by countenancing morality, furthering all efforts for im- provement, and lending influence to all enterprises which would tend to better the condition of the people in any way. He is recognized as a man of strong con- victions, unswerving integrity of character, good judg- ment, earnestness of purpose, and sufficient force of intellect and character to make him a power for good in the community. Those who know him best value him most, and as the results of his labors for the com- munity in which he has lived show themselves in the future the more hearty will be the recognition of his services.

HIPMAN, SAMUEL H., president of the First National Bank of Warsaw, is descended from John Chipman, who came to America in the year 1630, settled in Massachusetts, and married Hope How- land, daughter of John Howland, who came over in the "Mayflower." From John Chipman are descended all who bear that name in this country. Samuel H. Chip- man is the son of Isaac and Sarah (Heminway) Chip- man, both of whom were natives of New England. They were people of industrious habits, and followed agriculture for a livelihood in Shoreham, Addison County, Vermont, where, on the 22d of May, 1813, Samuel H. Chipman was born. He was reared on the farm, and attended the common schools of his native place, to which instruction was added tuition in Newton Academy, of that county. His early inclinations were for the mercantile business, and he engaged as clerk in a store in his native village. Soon afterward he removed

yourske A.R. Colton

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to the "Far West," and in 1836 opened a store in Milford, Kosciusko County, Indiana, in partnership with Mr. Doolittle-the firm name being Chipman & Doolit- tle. After eleven years of but partial success in business, he removed to Warsaw, the county seat, taking a po- sition in the county clerk's office. The following year his friends, discovering in him qualities fitted for that responsible office, elected him county clerk. He hon- orably discharged the duties of this office until 1856- maintaining during the greater part of this time an in- terest in the mercantile business, in copartnership with his brother, under the firm name of Chipman Brothers. He remained in this relation for a period of about ten years; he was also, for two years, cashier of the Bank of Warsaw, a free banking institution. In 1863 he and William C. Graves, now the cashier, organized the First National Bank of Warsaw, and Mr. Chipman was elected its president, which position he has since continued to hold. In 1864 he retired from mercantile pursuits, and has since given his entire attention to the duties of this responsible office. Mr. Chipman is considered one of the most trustworthy citizens of Kosciusko County. Although it has often been urged upon him, he has never sought political favor. He has taken a deep in- terest in the welfare of the Republican party, to which he has belonged since its organization. He was formerly an old-line Whig. He is quiet and unostentatious in his demeanor, of sound business qualifications, and un- questioned fidelity and probity. He has been twice married. Soon after he removed to Indiana he married, on the 25th of September, 1837, Miss Louisa Torrill, who died September 23, 1866. September 10, 1868, he married Miss Alice A. Higley, his present wife. All the children of his first marriage died in infancy, except- ing Henry W. Chipman, who volunteered in the service of his country during the Civil War, and died at Tulla- homa, Tennessee, in 1864, aged sixteen years. From his long experience in monetary and commercial affairs, Mr. Chipman's opinions receive much consideration.

OLBORN, A. R., lumber merchant, Michigan City, was born in Canada, December 9, 1847. When he was a boy of four years, his parents, B. Q. and Mary Colborn, removed to Michigan; and he received his education in the public schools of that state. In 1863 he enlisted as a volunteer in the 30th Michigan Infantry at Detroit ; a few weeks after he was detailed headquarters' clerk, at Fort Gratiot, Port Huron ; and shortly after he was made commissary of the regiment, holding that position until they were mustered out. He then went to Grand Rapids, where he obtained a posi- tion as bookkeeper. He afterwards held the same posi- tion at Muskegon ; and then went to Chicago, where he

rapidly gained experience in the lumber business, and undertook the management of the same for his employers. In 1871 he removed to Michigan City ; and, having bought out the interest of W. B. Hutchinson, formed a partnership with Thomas L. Hilborn in the lumber busi- ness, under the firm name of Hilborn & Colborn. The business was prosperous; but in 1873 the partnership was dissolved by mutual consent. Mr. Colborn then formed a partnership with R. G. Peters, of Manistee, a man recognized as one of the shrewdest, as well as one of the largest, lumber dealers in Michigan. The dimen- sions of the business continued to expand yearly, until the firm was recognized as one of the first in the North- west; its financial standing and business energy and skill being well and extensively known. Mr. Peters retired in the spring of 1878, leaving Mr. Colborn to conduct the business alone ; and owing to his thorough qualifications he continues to keep up its position. Start- ing with only fifteen hundred dollars cash, one thousand of which he paid as bonus for good will in buying out Mr. Hutchinson, he has conducted the financial part of his business so successfully as to gain for himself a high reputa- tion. His business is constantly increasing, and at present aggregates the immense sum of over half a million dollars yearly. His business connections extend over Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, and some of the more Western states. He carries a stock of from five to ten million feet of lumber, and is to-day the largest lumber dealer in Michigan City. His sale of shingles alone-one of his specialties-amounts to fifty millions a year. Integrity, perseverance, tact, and skill, have made Mr. Colborn what he is-one of the " representative men of Indiana." He possesses a social disposition and good business qual- ities ; upright, sterling, honest, and pleasant in manner and address, he enjoys above all things the society of his family. February 14, 1872, he married Katie J. Wood. Her family are all members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are among the earliest settlers in Michigan City. He is also a member of that Church, and is superintendent of its flourishing Sabbath-school. In 1874 he joined the Masonic Fraternity, and has since taken the degrees of Knight Templar and Scottish Rite. In politics he is a Democrat, but not a strong partisan. Mr. Colborn has one daughter of five years; but had the misfortune to lose his son when three years of age.

OLE, LEONIDAS A., attorney, of Laporte, Indi- ana, was born November 17, 1834, in Broome, Schoharie County, New York. He removed to Indiana with his father in the spring of 1835. Here he lived on a farm until he was eighteen years old, and acquired a common school education. In 1852 he left home and entered a store, in which he remained

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about a year. Disliking business, he entered a law office at Monticello, Indiana, in 1853, and read law over two years, eking out his means by teaching school in winter. Being admitted to practice in January, 1856, he opened an office at Rensselaer, Indiana. Upon the breaking out of the Civil War, he enlisted as private in the 9th Indiana Infantry, and served until December 20, 1864, when he was mustered out as captain. He was engaged in the battles of Greenbrier, Shiloh, siege of Corinth, Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Lookout Mountain, Resaca, and Kenesaw Mountain, besides many skirmishes. He took part in the whole of Sherman's campaign against Atlanta. During the last two years of the war, he served most of the time as staff officer: first, on the staff of General W. B. Hazen, of Indiana; second, on the staff of Gen- eral Jefferson C. Davis, and, finally, on the staff of Gen- eral George H. Thomas. At the close of the war he resumed his practice at Laporte. For several years he has been United States Circuit Court Commissioner for Indiana, and register in bankruptcy. His first vote was cast for John C. Fremont for President, in 1856, and he has ever since voted with the Republican party. He was converted in January, 1877, under the ministrations of Rev. H. W. Brown, evangelist. The following March he united with the Presbyterian Church, and is now one of the board of trustees of that body. Mr. Cole is an active worker in the temperance cause. He married, May 28, 1857, Lucetta V. Henkle, daughter of Hon. Benjamin Henkle, a member of the Indiana Legislature. They have had three children, of whom only one survives.

OLFAX, SCHUYLER, was born in the city of New York, March 23, 1823. The death of his father and sister preceded his birth, and thus he became the only child of his widowed mother. His grandfather, General William Colfax, was born in Connecticut, in 1760. At the age of seventeen he was commissioned lieutenant in the Continental army, and was in 1781 selected by General Washington as captain commandant of the guard of the commander-in-chief. This position he held until 1783, habitually sitting at General Washington's table and holding confidential re- lations with him. At the close of the war, he married Hester Schuyler, a cousin of General Philip Schuyler. General Washington acted as godfather to their first child, conferring on it his own name. The third son of General Colfax was named Schuyler; he became teller in the Mechanics' Bank of New York City, but died in early manhood, bequeathing his name and legacy to his son, Schuyler Colfax, the subject of this sketch. The early years of Mr. Colfax were spent in New York City, where he attended the public schools until he was ten

years old and then became clerk in a store. At the age of thirteen, he joined the tide of Western emigra- tion, and settled in New Carlisle, St. Joseph County, Indiana, where he again entered a store as clerk. In 1841 he removed to South Bend, Indiana, where he re- ceived the appointment of deputy county auditor. Be- fore he was twenty-one he had passed two winters in Indianapolis in attendance upon the Legislature, as Senate reporter for the State Journal. In 1845 he be- came editor and proprietor of the St. Joseph Valley Register. He was the founder of this paper, and con- tinued to edit and publish it for eighteen years. In 1850 he was elected to the convention which framed the new Constitution of Indiana. This was his first election to office. In 1851 he received the nomination of the Whig party as candidate for Congress. This nomination was unsought, unexpected, and unanimous. His competitor was Dr. Graham N. Fitch, an able politician and a fine speaker. Mr. Colfax was defeated by about two hundred votes, claimed by his friends to have been illegal, at Michigan City. In 1852 he was a delegate to the National Convention which nominated General Scott for the presidency. He was one of the secre- taries of this convention. In 1854 he was elected to the Thirty-fourth Congress of the United States by the ever- memorable majority of seventeen hundred and seventy-six votes, although the same district in the previous can- vass gave a Democratic majority of above twelve hun- dred. In 1858 he was again triumphantly elected to Congress. This, the Thirty-sixth Congress, assembled on the 8th of December, 1859, and, after a contest of eight weeks, elected William Pennington, ex-Governor of New Jersey, as speaker, who appointed Mr. Colfax chairman of the Committee on Post-offices and Post- roads. Soon after the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Colfax returned to his home at South Bend and resumed his editorial labors, as was his custom during the recess of Congress. He was elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress, a special session of which was called on the 4th of July, 1861, to provide for carrying on the war. Mr. Colfax also worked with energy to raise volunteers and to procure arms. When the Thirty- eighth Congress met, December 7, 1863, it was promptly organized by electing Mr. Colfax speaker on the first ballot. On the convening of the Thirty-ninth Congress, Mr. Colfax was elected speaker by one hun- dred and thirty-nine votes; his opponent, Mr. Brooks, of New York, receiving but thirty-six. March 4, 1867, on the assembling of the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Colfax was for the third time chosen speaker. At the Chi- cago Convention, with General Grant for President, Mr. Colfax was nominated on the Republican ticket for Vice-president of the United States. At the end of the term he retired from public life to his home at South Bend, Indiana, where he was welcomed by a general

A Coquillard 1

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reception of ten thousand people, in which both parties were represented. Having received eight nominations and seven elections, Mr. Colfax declined the prof- fer of a re-election to Congress. He has devoted his leisure to the delivery of lectures on the life and charac- ter of Abraham Lincoln, with whom he was so inti- mately associated, and has traveled from New England to California while engaged in this work.

family and respected by all who know him. He is a man of strong personal characteristics, good natured, genial, liberal, and alive to the best interests of Elkhart.

OQUILLARD, ALEXIS, manufacturer, capitalist, and land-owner, South Bend, was born in Detroit, Michigan, April 27, 1825. The Coquillards are a long-lived race, and the family name is prominently connected with the early development of Michigan and Northern Indiana. Benjamin Coquillard, père, in early life married Sophia Andre. They were both natives of Detroit, and continued to reside there until 1829, when they removed to St. Joseph County, Indiana. From this union resulted the birth of the gentleman whose life forms the subject of this memoir. Alexis Coquil- lard, senior, the head of the family in America, was stationed in St. Joseph County, as an employé of the American Fur Company, at a time when there was not another white man in that vicinity. He afterwards founded the wealthy and enterprising city of South Bend. In 1840, while yet St. Joseph County was a wil- derness, zealous representatives of the Roman Catholic Church-men who knew neither danger nor fatigue in the accomplishment of their self-imposed missions- pushed their way into its wild, unbroken fastness, and there began laying the foundation of Notre Dame Col- lege. The first name inscribed upon its rolls was that of the subject of our sketch, who piloted them across the river when in search of the grounds. Some years later the stories of the fabulous wealth of California, which floated through the country in 1849, dazzled the imagination of the young man, and he determined to seek his fortune in the new El Dorado of the West ; and, though but twenty-five years of age, became one of the band of Argonauts who in that year sought the golden shores of the Pacific. He remained there nine months, and succeeded beyond his expectations. Re- turning to Indiana, he purchased a farm, which he sold in 1854. He then engaged in the real estate business and the manufacture of lumber, which has occupied his attention until the present time to a great extent. He kept on increasing his landed possessions until 1865, when he established the Coquillard Wagon Works. This business he gradually increased, until his sales amount to three thousand vehicles annually. The tim- ber from which these are constructed comes from a large tract of timber land, of two thousand acres, located in the same county, on which he established a steam saw-mill at an early day. He is also the owner of a splendid farm of five hundred acres a short distance from the city limits, which is in a high state of cultiva- tion ; and as if his wealth was seemingly limitless, Mr.

OLLINS, FREDERICK L., foreman of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad foundry, Elkhart, was born at Canaan, Connecticut, on the IIth of April, 1827. His father, Burradge Collins, an old settler and respected citizen of Connecticut, was born at Wethersfield, in that state, January 8, 1787. He served as a private in the War of 1812, and received an honorable discharge at the close of that desperate struggle. He married Annie Jaquay, a native of Ca- naan, to whom were born six children, three boys and three girls. Frederick Collins is the youngest child. His education was obtained in Canaan, at a common school, which he left at the early age of fifteen years. In 1842 he became an apprentice to the puddler's trade, in Otis, Massachusetts, and in a short time his excel- lence as a molder of iron was apparent. During his apprenticeship he served three years at Otis, one at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one at Norfolk, Connecticut, one at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and one at Falls Village, Connecticut. From Falls Village he was called to Lime Rock, Connecticut, where he became more efficient in the art of molding and founding, and was promoted to the rank of foreman of the extensive works of the Barnum-Richardson Company, a position which he filled with rare ability until 1868. In that year his reputation had reached the general master me- chanic and general superintendent of the Lake Shore Road, who needed the services of just such a man for the foundry then in course of construction at Elkhart. These gentlemen visited Mr. Collins at Lime Rock, and were successful in obtaining his services. By his industry and capability Mr. Collins has made that rail- road foundry the only one in the United States that has ever been a financial success. He has the general supervision of thirty-five expert molders. Since he has lived in Elkhart Mr. Collins has built a fine residence, and has also purchased a dairy farm; the latter is under the care of Chester Wentworth, who is said to be the best farmer of Northern Indiana. Mr. Collins married, on the 29th of November, 1850, Mary Decker, of Hillsdale, New York. They have had three children: Ida A., born January 14, 1851 ; Francis D., born February 27, 1853; and Mary Luella, born June 27, 1855. Mr. Col- ' lins is an indulgent father ; he is much beloved by his ! Coquillard, in addition to the above resources, is the F-2

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owner of some forty houses in the city of South Bend, besides a large amount of unimproved real estate. He also owns land in Michigan, Iowa, Nebraska, and some of the territories. He has been very successful in his business operations, and in few hands could wealth more properly be placed. He uses it like a man of sense and judgment. Socially, Mr. Coquillard is one of the most genial of men. The distinguishing characteristics of his nature are strength of purpose, independence of thought and action, and love of right and truth. He takes an active interest in all enterprises promotive of the public good or the diffusion of knowledge. He is a man of great energy and perseverance, and when he once undertakes a thing seems to know no such word as fail. Five feet seven inches in height, he is blessed with an excellent constitution, and looks the very pic- ture of health. He is still a bachelor, "heart whole and fancy free." In explanation-or, rather, justifica- tion-of this fact, Mr. Coquillard states when young he was too poor to contemplate matrimony, and is now too busy to think of it. He is a Republican in politics, and enjoys the distinction of being the wealthiest man in St. Joseph County. He is a liberal contributor to all charities, and is a man whose sterling worth is felt in the community in which he resides.

ORBIN, HORACE, attorney-at-law in Plymouth, was born in Tioga County, New York, on the 2Ist of May, 1827. He is of English and Irish descent, and is the son of Horace and Frances Corbin; the father died when the boy was an infant. His education was as good as a country school at that time afforded. He was diligent in his attendance during the winter, but was obliged to labor on a farm in the summer. Every opportunity was improved, and the knowledge he then attained was superior to what boys usually carry away from school. When he left home, at nineteen, he attended the academy in Owego for two terms. He owed this to the kindness of his uncle, James Wright, a banker of that place, but he was himself able to pay a part of the expenses by teaching winters. At twenty- one he removed to Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, where he read law with John Brisbin, one of the most prominent attorneys of the state, and at the conclusion of two years was admitted to the bar of Pennsylvania, after a most thorough examination by a committee ap- pointed for that purpose. While he was studying he joined an uncle, at the request of the latter, in a con- tract for constructing a portion of the North Branch Canal. After passing his examination he sold out his interest in the contract and came West, settling at Plymouth, Indiana, by the advice of Judge Stanfield, of South Bend, and immediately entering upon the prac-

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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 II, Part 106

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1006

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1006