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 114

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 114

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during the time, carefully improving every rainy day and spare moment in studying some book. He was then examined, secured a license, and taught his first school near Bellefontaine. Making a success of this, he was induced to study medicine; but, by too close applica- tion, his health began to fail, and he relinquished the profession. Soon after, he attended a select school at Lancaster, Ohio, and then taught in that county for ten months, continuing his studies in the mean time. He gave instruction in winters and at- tended teachers' normal schools in the summers, and afterward finished a course in the Collegiate Institute at Urbana, Ohio. He became superintendent of the Union School at De Graff, Ohio, a position he retained six years. Mr. Moury then accepted the superintendency of the schools at North Lewisburg, and remained two years. Effecting an arrangement with Philip Phillips in the music business, he, in company with Professor Wilson, took the general agency of the famous Burdett organ, and operated in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan. In 1873 he was in charge of the schools of New Paris, but resigned to accept the county superin- tendency, made vacant by the resignation of Mr. Zook. This position he has filled so efficiently that he has been honored by being chosen five times in succession, receiv- ing the unanimous support of all the electors at three of these times. In this work he has distinguished himself as an organizer and an educator. Since his work in Elkhart County has been in progress, it has been con- ceded, by those best informed, that the organization there is second to none in the state. In thus studying the wants of the pupils under his charge, he devised an excellent plan of grading rural schools, so that by means of this system those in the country can enjoy the same efficient organization that heretofore was thought possible only in cities and towns. He is the author of the " Perfect Grade Book," which became so popular on its first appearance, and which is so much com- mended by all that are using it. It is published by Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., of Cincinnati. At the age of six Mr. Moury could not speak English, French be- ing his mother-tongue. His early familiarity with this has aided him materially in learning other languages, Ile is a member of the Methodist Church, and an active Sunday-school worker, having been superintendent of several schools in succession. He belongs to the Masonic Fraternity.

ILES, JOHN B., of Laporte, was born at West Fairlee, Orange County, Vermont, September 13, 1808, being the seventh in descent from one of the original Puritan settlers of New England. His grandfather, Nathaniel Niles, one of the first settlers in Vermont, was a trustee of Dartmouth College for the

first twenty-seven years of its existence, and member of Congress when Washington was President. His father, William Niles, was a graduate of Dartmouth, and fol- lowed the occupation of farming. The early boyhood of the son was passed on a farm, where, doubtless, he received that physical development which served him so well in after years. In 1830 he graduated at Dartmouth College, and after teaching school for a while read law in the office of Mr. Gilman Fletcher, in New York City. In 1833 he went to Laporte to reside, just one year after the organization of the town, accomplishing the journey on horseback. He had intended to establish himself in Cincinnati, but, on reaching Dayton, changed his mind, on account of the prevalence of cholera at that time. He then made Chicago his objective point, but on reaching Laporte, which was then, as now, a remark- ably beautiful region, he concluded to go no further, and soon after purchased his homestead. He was ad- mitted to the bar of the Laporte Circuit Court, Decem- ber 16, 1833, and continued the practice of law, with the exception of a short time that he was Circuit Judge, having been appointed by Governor Samuel Bigler in 1843 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Samuel C. Sample. December 16, 1834, he married Mary, daughter of Judge William Polk, of Indiana, who was one of the first settlers in the state, and a member of the convention of 1816 that framed the Constitution under which Indiana was admitted to the Union as a state. Judge Niles was a member of the Constitutional Conven- tion in 1850, and elected to the state Senate in 1864, where he served one term. For twelve years he occupied the chair of professor of chemistry in the Indiana Medical College, located at Laporte, having been elected to the position in 1840. He held the position of attorney for the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad from the time of its organization, in 1851, until his death. He was best known as a lawyer, being devoted to his pro- fession, in which he was so eminently successful. He was regarded as one of the finest analytical lawyers of the West. He was a man of untiring energy, making a most exhaustive examination of the facts of every case he undertook, no material point ever escaping his atten- tion. He was cautious and sound in his opinions and tenacious of purpose. An attorney, who knew him well, declares that " in trying a case against him it was never safe to trust any thing to chance, or calculate that any weak point would escape his attack." Mr. Niles stood high in the estimation of the members of the bench and bar, as well as of the community in which he resided. He was by many considered one of the ablest lawyers in the United States, and his practice was unusually ex- tensive. He was, however, well informed on other sub- jects, being a fine chemist and close student, generally. Indiana owes much to him for the part he took in contributing materially to the Constitution of the state,

mos Niles.

James Oliver

Inventor of the Oliver Chilled Plow, South Bend Ind

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and establishing the code on which legal proceedings | in the Sixteenth Brigade of the militia of the state of are based. In fact, he was always equal to any posi- tion in which he might find himself. He hated sham, and, not being ambitious for popular applause, shunned notoriety, as well as opposed all attempts of others to gain it for him. He possessed a fine presence, and a character that was honorable, upright, and of strict in- tegrity. Of a family of five children, only two are living-his son William and a daughter, the wife of E. HI. Scott, Esq. Mr. Niles died at his home, in Laporte, Sunday afternoon, July 6, 1879, leaving an entire com- munity to mourn his loss.

RR, GENERAL JOSEPH, of Laporte, Indiana, was born at Mount Rock, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1794. Ile was the son of David and Rebecca (Stephens) Orr, and is of En- glish, Scotch, and Irish ancestry. His great grand- father was one of five brothers in Scotland who joined the fortunes of William and Mary during the religious persecutions of the reign of James the Second. They fought at the battle of the Boyne in 1690, and also at the siege of Derry, near which city they finally settled. On the maternal side General Orr is related to Thad- deus Stevens. His father emigrated from Virginia to the North-western Territory, then comprising the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of Minnesota. In 1797 the family landed in Cincinnati, then a town of only six hundred inhabitants. Joseph assisted his father -- who was a squatter among the In- dians twelve miles north of Cincinnati-for twelve years in grubbing, chopping, and piling brush, and such work as was common in backwoods settlements, during which time he attended school three quarters, and was under the tuition successively of an Irishman, a Dutch- man, and a Yankee. In the War of 1812 Mr. Orr vol- unteered his services, but the examining committee re- fused to enter his name on account of his youth. He learned the carpenter's trade in Cincinnati with a nephew of the noted Ethan Allen, of Ticonderoga memory. During his apprenticeship he had access to his employer's library, and also attended night school for three winters. He attained his majority in 1815. He worked industri- ously at his trade for two years, until he had accumulated six hundred dollars capital, possessed ten dollars' worth of tools, and a right in the Cincinnati Library. He at- tended school for a while, after which he applied him- self to his trade in Cincinnati until 1823. He then removed to Putnam, Indiana, and, settling near the pres- ent site of Greencastle, engaged in farming and the sale of merchandise. On the organization of a regiment he was appointed to its command ; and, when a brigade was formed, received a commission as brigadier-general

Indiana. In 1830 he was promoted to major-general of the Indiana militia. He was elected to the state Legislature, and was one of the electors the year John Quincy Adams was nominated for the presidency. Dur- ing the term of three years, from 1830 to 1833, which he served in the state Legislature, General Orr was in- strumental in securing a charter for the old State Bank of Indiana, and was president of one of its branches for seven years. He was also actively engaged in all the Indian troubles of the northern frontier of the state. In 1833 he removed to his present home, Laporte, Indi- ana, and occupied himself extensively in farming, hor- ticulture, and floriculture. He added farm to farm, pre- senting one to each of his sons, upon reaching the proper age to take charge of such a responsibility. In 1857, with the Hon. C. F. Coffin and others, he was ap- pointed by Governor Baker commissioner to establish a house of refuge for the reformation of juvenile offenders against the law. General Orr drew up a plan, which was accepted and adopted by the board. When he was seventy years old he sold his country residence and re- moved to the city. He married, in 1818, Harriet Foster, of Southampton, New York. They have had eight chil- dren, four of whom are living.

LIVER, JAMES, South Bend, Indiana, of " chilled plow " fame, was born at the family homestead of Whitehaugh, Liddisdale Parish, Roxburghshire, Scotland, on the twenty-eighth day of August, 1823. He resided with his parents in the "land o' cakes" until the year 1835, when they concluded to try their fortune in this country. They at first located in Seneca County, New York, but their stay there was of short duration, as next year (1836) finds them settled at Mishawaka, St. Joseph County, Indiana. His parents being in humble circumstances, the son, then a boy of thirteen, had to assume the responsibilities of manhood, and earn his own living. From that time no work was too hard or too poorly paid but what he would rather manfully face than eat the bread of idleness. In 1845 Mr. Oliver determined to learn the molder's trade, and accordingly went to work for the St. Joseph Iron Com- pany. He remained in their employ until 1855, when he moved to South Bend and began the manufacture of plows on a small scale. The success of this enterprise is better described in his own words :

"I was now fairly launched in business, and had accomplished a part of my long cherished idea, yet very soon found out it was not all sunshine doing business for one's self. True, we did all our own work ; but at the best that was not much. The casts ran but three heats a week, and only amounted to from fifteen hundred pounds to one ton. My money was soon ex-

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hausted, and, the surroundings not being of that inviting | character to induce capitalists to invest, I was truly in a most unenviable state of affairs, when, to crown all our misfortunes, a tremendous freshet swept the dam away and flooded the furnace."

He managed to weather this misfortune, and soon after commenced selling and delivering plows outside of South Bend. Of this Mr. Oliver says:

"I found it up-hill work delivering all my plows and repairs personally ; still I kept at it, and by dint of hard labor very soon had eighty agencies established within a radius of fifty miles. We worked hard, and did all in our power to make it pay; yet the cost of delivery, and the commission paid to agents, left our margin of profits very small indeed."

Years rolled on, and the plow business increased, and during the whole of this time Mr. Oliver had never ceased thinking and studying over the one great object of his life-the production of a complete chilled plow, an implement to produce which fortunes had been un- successfully spent during the twenty-five years previous. In alluding to this period of his life the inventor said :

"Nothing daunted, I determined to solve the mys- tery. When I announced my determination, people held up their hands in admonitory horror, and regarded me with feelings of astonishment not unmixed with con- tempt. Plow men, who had spent years in experiment- ing and abandoned the project of a complete chilled plow as impossible, advised me not to undertake it. Those who had aided me with money and influence for- sook me, and I was classed with the fools who pursue the fallacy of perpetual motion. Although feeling keenly the cuts of former friends, I determined to suc- ceed. Day and night for years I thought of nothing else, and made every thing bend to this one great object of my life."

few men can make themselves more agreeable by the easy flow of language, delivered in a quick, decisive, and dignified manner, and which at once convinces the hearer that he is listening to a man who means just what he says, and will pursue to the very end what he thinks is right and compatible with justice.

SBORN, ANDREW LAWRENCE, of Laporte, Laporte County, Indiana, was born in New Haven County, Connecticut, May 27, 1815, and received his early education in that state. At the age of twenty he removed to Chicago, where he worked at the printer's trade in the office of the Chicago Democrat, and also studied law under William Stewart, Esq., after- wards postmaster in that city, and now a resident of Binghamton, New York. Mr. Osborn cast his first presidential vote, at Chicago, for William Henry Harri- son in 1836. In the same year he removed to Michigan City, Indiana, where he pursued and finished his stud- ies, working at his trade during the day and burning the midnight oil in the acquisition of legal lore. In 1838 he formed a copartnership with Judge Evarts in the practice of the law, which continued until 1843. In May, 1844, he removed to Laporte, and entered into partnership with Judge John B. Niles. In August of that year he was elected a member of the popular branch of the state Legislature, and, after a service of two assemblies, was elevated to the Senate, where he served three years. With this his political life ceased, although repeated and urgent calls for further service in the political arena were frequently made upon him. In 1857 he entered upon judicial life. He was elected Judge of the Circuit Court for the Ninth Judicial Circuit of In- diana, and fulfilled its duties with distinguished ability for thirteen years. In 1872 he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana, his term expiring January, 1875. His opinions written during this time rank with the foremost expressions of judicial opinion. Upon re- tiring from the bench he once more entered upon practice. He now occupies the position of attorney for the Michigan Central Railroad Company, having his office in Chicago. Judge Osborn has filled many other positions of trust in the state, and has gained for himself that respect and honor which follow naturally in the course of an upright, honest life.

How well he succeeded in the undertaking the im- mense factory in South Bend, with its hundreds of workmen, is a standing and convincing proof. The ex- traordinary and rapid advance of this chilled plow manufacture to its present remarkable aggregate seems more like a romance than a reality ; but the actual sta- tistics, taken from the books of the company, establish the fact beyond all controversy, and show the most re- markable increase, year after year, that can be found in the history of American manufactures. In personal appearance Mr. Oliver, while somewhat below the me- (lium stature, has a massive frame, full of vital force, and broad and powerful shoulders, upon which is firmly set a large, finely developed head, with strongly marked Scotch features, full and florid, devoid of beard, show- ing to splendid advantage his massive, firm-set jaw, and plainly revealing the source of the unyielding, irresistible energy he has shown in his endeavor to place himself ACKARD, GENERAL JASPER, of Laporte, was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, February I, 1832. He is the son of Thomas and Nancy Ann (Berry), who removed from Ohio to Indiana in 1835, locating in Marshall County. His ancestors at the very head of the plow trade of this country. Ile is naturally of an unassuming demeanor, and more especially while in the presence of strangers or a large concourse of people, yet let some subject be introduced with which he is familiar, and withal interested, and | for generations were farmers. The General acquired his

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early education in the common schools of Indiana, after- | North Carolina, consisting of the forty-three western ward at Michigan Central College, Oberlin College, counties of the state. General Packard was mustered out of the service with his regiment, at Indianapolis, in April, 1866, when he returned to his home, at Laporte. He was elected county auditor in October of the same year, holding the office for little over two years. He was chosen to a seat in Congress March 4, 1869, for the Eleventh Congressional District ; was re-elected in Octo- ber, 1870, and again in 1872. His congressional service ended March 4, 1875. He then engaged in the publi- cation of a newspaper called the Laporte Chronicle. Having, by the favor of Commissioner D. D. Pratt, and without solicitation or knowledge on his part, . been appointed internal revenue agent, he entered on those duties January, 1876. In April, 1878, he sold out the Chronicle, and ceased his connection with the newspaper press. General Packard was married, October 4, 1855, to Harriette S. Tibbits. They have a family of three children, two girls and one boy, who are being educated at Oberlin College, Ohio-the two daughters having previously graduated at the high school at Laporte. The General is a Good Templar, also a Mason, having joined the fraternity in 1856. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, which he joined shortly after the close of the war; is also a member of the Presbyterian Church. He has traveled extensively, hav- ing become more particularly acquainted with the Pacific coast and the western territories. He is a man of fine personal appearance and military bearing, intelligent and agreeable in society. He retains fully the mental and physical vigor of his early manhood, and is capable of enduring a great amount of both physical and mental labor. He attributes his good health to his total ab- stinence from the use of tobacco and intoxicating drinks, having never used them, and to his temperate habits in all respects. A man who exhibits such meritorious traits of character can not fail to win the esteem he so fully deserves. General Packard has always been a Re- publican. and Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, from which he graduated in 1855, with full honors. He obtained a thorough classical education ; was a proficient Latin and Greek scholar. After leaving college he taught school at Hillsdale, Michigan, until July, 1856, then at La- porte, Indiana, until 1858, at the same time studying law. He was principal of the high school at Laporte, afterward superintendent of schools in that city; was also school examiner, from 1857 to 1861, for Laporte County ; at the same time he was Justice of the Peace, holding these offices until entering the military service, in 1861. The General enlisted as a private, November, 1861, in the 48th Indiana Volunteers; was commissioned first lieutenant in December following, captain in 1862, lieutenant-colonel of the 128th Indiana in February, 1864, made colonel of the regiment March, 1865, and in April of the same year breveted brigadier-general. His first active service in the field was in the campaign against Corinth, in 1862. He participated in all the movements of the Army of the Tennessee from that time on, in- cluding the battles of Iuka, Corinth, Raymond, Jack- son, Champion Hill, siege of Vicksburg, and all the preliminary movements leading to the investment of that place. He was wounded at Iuka in the foot. At Vicks- burg he received a severe wound in the face, which carried away part of the jaw and seven teeth, neces- sitating an absence from the army of two months. This was his only absence during four and a half years' serv- ice. After recovering he reported again for duty at Vicksburg, inside the walls, the city having in the mean time surrendered, after which he participated in the battles around Chattanooga, and in the whole of the campaign against Atlanta during the hundred days' skirmishing and battles preliminary to the surrender of that stronghold of the Confederates. He was in com- mand of the 128th Indiana during the whole of the Atlanta campaign, with the exception of a short time when he was in command of the brigade to which the regiment was attached. The regiment, then being a part of the Twenty-third Corps of the Army of the Ohio, ARKS, JAMES O., a lawyer and prominent citi- zen, of Bourbon, Indiana, was born March 20, 1813, in Bourbon County, Kentucky. James and Elizabeth (Hughes) Parks, were natives, re- spectively, of Maryland and Virginia-their occupa- tion being that of farming. When still a small boy the former removed from Maryland with his father's family, who located in Bourbon County, Kentucky, while it was yet an unbroken wilderness, and at a time when the presence of hostile Indians rendered it necessary to put to frequent use those defensive weapons which were then regarded as indispensable companions, both by night as well as day. Both he and his wife were of Scotch descent, and were educated in the old returned to Tennessee, and participated in the battles of Columbia, Franklin, and Nashville, and in pursuit of the rebel General Hood until driven out of Tennessee. It was then transferred to North Carolina; engaged at the battle of Kinston, and was at Raleigh when the rebel General J. E. Johnston surrendered to General Sherman. General Packard's regiment was quartered at Raleigh when the news arrived of the assassination of President Lincoln, and it required extra vigilance on the part of this commander to prevent any acts of violence towards the citizens of the place. Subsequently, and to the close of his service, he was in command of the post of Salisbury, North Carolina, and the district of Western F-4

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Puritanic faith. The absence, however, of Church privi- leges, consequent upon pioneer life, together with the different customs of the people, tended to promote a greater freedom of religious thought and habit, while they in no degree lessened their faith in their Creator, or their sense of accountability to him. Their chil- dren, although reared under more liberal religious influ- ences, were still firm believers in the orthodox faith. The mother of James O. Parks, the subject of this sketch, was a remarkable woman. To a well-developed phys- ical organization and rare moral and intellectual endow- ments were added a warm heart and a generous, sym- pathetic disposition. She was well-informed on all the events of the day, as far as it was possible for one liv- ing in so wild a country, and was familiar with what- ever literature was accessible to her. Such a woman could not fail to be an exemplary mistress of her house- hold, or to win the love and respect of her children. Her intellect, energy of character, and integrity have been fully transmitted to her son, James O. Parks. The education of this remarkable man was extremely limited, being such as could only be obtained by irregularly going to a district school held in a log-cabin. At the age of fourteen years he ceased his attendance, but still con- tinued to pursue his studies by himself during his leis- ure hours, when he was not hard at work helping his father in the cultivation of the farm. So great was his thirst for knowledge that he would often continue his studies far into the night, replenishing his fire-light- candles being too expensive a luxury-by a plentiful supply of pine knots, gathered by him for that pur- pose. Thus, by virtue of his great determination and industrious habits, combined with a remarkably re- tentive memory, he succeeded in acquiring an excel- lent common school education. In 1827 he emigrated with his father's family to Rush County, Indiana, where a new farm was bought, which was cleared and culti- vated until 1835. It was then sold, the family remov- ing to Marshall County and locating near Bourbon, on a farm of one thousand two hundred and eighty acres, the improvement of which was immediately begun. This family, the first white inhabitants of that township, lived in a rude log-cabin for many years. At the age of sixteen James began teaching school, an occupation which he continued during the winter months for nearly ten years. Even at the early age of fifteen years he exhibited such a capacity for business that his father intrusted to him much of the management of his affairs. In 1839, three years after his removal to Bourbon, the father died, leaving the entire responsibility of the estate in the hands of his son. In connection with his other duties, James had become proficient in the science of surveying, and in 1835 he commenced his duties as public surveyor, continuing them for nearly fifteen years. In this capacity he acquired a knowledge of the value

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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 114

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