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 119
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Prairie, and on the third day of March, 1829, he started with an ox team loaded with provisions, farming uten- sils, and their heavy furniture, leaving his family with his friends for a time. He was accompanied by two other men with ox teams and by two young men, Will- iam Chance and James Bishop, whom he had hired to assist him in starting his farm. They were twelve days on the journey. He made a squatter's claim on the prairie running through the timber lands to the river. Here he built a cabin and soon after began making rails for fencing. During the spring he put in cultivation thirty-two acres of corn, inclosing with a substantial rail fence fifty acres of his land. This was the first crop of corn raised in the vicinity, and proved of great use the following winter and spring to families and stock that had come into the country without sufficient grain. In July, Major Violett moved his family to his Indiana home. He was a pioneer of the county, and among the first of the settlers who are entitled to the credit of opening up this beautiful region. He was a man of marked ability, a pungent writer, a ready, pleasing, and convincing speaker, and his intellectual superiority made him respected and influential. In religious matters he was unorthodox in belief, always entertaining a high re- spect for Church organizations, religious rites, and the convictions and opinions of others, but unable to accept many of the creeds and practices of the Churches. He was firm in his political position, and active in the sup- port of his convictions, but was in no sense a politician. In 1830, upon the organization of the county of Elkhart, he was elected recorder; his commission being signed by James Morrison, Secretary of State, and James B. Ray, Governor of Indiana. He held this office seven successive years. In 1830 he was appointed major of the 82d Regiment of Indiana Militia; in 1840 he was a candidate for Associate Judge, but his party being largely in the minority he was defeated, and in 1842 he was appointed commissioner for the Erie and Michigan Ca- nal, and subscribed one thousand dollars towards its construction. He was a candidate of the Whigs for state Senator in 1844, but was defeated, although se- curing more than his regular party vote. In 1854-55 he built the Violett House in Goshen, which stands to-day as a monument of his public spirit. Dur- ing his life-time he was a model and enterprising farmer, and engaged extensively in a nursery, and sup- plying the county with fruit and ornamental trees, in which he was the pioneer of this section. Major Vio- lett in private life was a cordial, genial gentleman. His
home was the center of a free and hearty hospitality, dispensed without ostentation by himself and family. Here, surrounded by a loving family and kind friends, endeared to him by long years, he passed the remainder of his days. His character was above reproach. He died October 24, 1871, in the seventy-sixth year of his
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age, lamented by a large circle of relatives and friends. | iment, and after having experienced three years of ac- The subject of this sketch, John H. Violett, as we have tive duty in the service of his country, he was with his regiment ordered to Indianapolis, where they were mus- tered out September 6, 1864, since which time he has devoted himself chiefly to farming until the spring of 1878, when, his wife having died, he rented his farm for two years. He has now practically retired from active business. But his inclinations having always been for agricultural pursuits, his habits of active business life make him await with much anxiety the time when he may again assume the control of his farm. In all his transactions he is methodical, prompt, and energetic. His farm, which we have before referred to, consists of one hundred and seventy acres, mostly prairie land, with a valuable tract of timber extending west to the river, which gives a delightful view. He prides himself on keeping his farm in a high state of cultivation. In the fall of 1864, before Mr. Violett returned from the army, he was placed in nomination by his friends as a candi- date for sheriff. The Goshen Times in reference to his nomination said : before said, was the first white child born in Elkhart County. The old cabin, which his father built in the spring of 1829, in which the family lived at the time of his birth, was afterwards sold to Daniel Hess, but the outside door, being the only one in the cabin, and the first one hung on hinges in the county, is still preserved by the family as a relic of value. His early educational advantages were extremely limited. The log-cabin in which John received his first school experience was built on Section 27, near where Waterford now stands, and was constructed with one log left out on the side, with strips of wood nailed across, over which oiled paper was pasted, serving as a window. At the age of fifteen he closed his school-going days, and devoted his time exclusively to hard farm labor for about six years. In the spring of 1850, in company with others, he went by the overland route to California, where he engaged in mining with satisfactory success, remaining there until the following March, when he set out for home from San Francisco, by way of Panama and New Orleans. "John H. Violett was nominated for sheriff without his knowledge or consent, while he was manfully doing his duty as a private soldier ''way down in Dixie,' and that, too, over other worthy men, who were present in the convention working for the place." Unfavorable winds and weather drove them hundreds of miles south of the equator in the first part of the return trip, and they ran near the Marquesas Islands, arriving in port after a voyage of seventy-four days. He soon afterwards bought a farm of his father, not He was elected by a gratifying majority, and held the office for two years. In politics Mr. Violett is an uncom- promising Republican. He was a Whig until the break- ing up of that organization in 1854. He is earnest in the support of his political convictions, as well as a lib- eral contributor. Mr. Violett is an extensive reader, being familiar with the general news of the day, as well as with present and past matters of literature. He is a clear thinker, a close observer, and a sound reasoner, and acts upon his own judgment. He is a good and pleas- ing conversationalist. His contributions to the press are clear, comprehensive, and forcible, and he is espe- cially strong in sarcasm and pungent humor. In religion he is entirely unorthodox in belief. He was reared in i a strong moral atmosphere, although not under Church discipline. In early youth he began his reflections, and soon became doubtful concerning theological dogmas, and may now safely be termed a radical. Mr. Violett was ¡ married, April 28, 1852, to Miss Catherine, daughter of David Radibaugh, of Elkhart Township, an esteemed lady, and a woman of marked ability. She died July 16, more than one hundred rods from where he was born, upon which he built a substantial and commodious brick dwelling. He also purchased a saw-mill on the Elkhart River, and engaged in farming and the manu- facture and sale of lumber, continuing both until 1853, when he sold the mill, and gave his attention entirely to his other interests. At the opening of the War of the Rebellion he at once set about arranging his affairs so that he could leave home, and on September 2, 1861, he enlisted as a private, refusing promotion, in Company E, 9th Regiment Indiana Infantry, in which he served faithfully for three years. Among the sanguinary battles in which he was engaged were the two days' conflict at Pittsburg Landing, April 6 and 7, 1862; Stone River, fought December 31, 1862, and January I and 2, 1863; | Chickamauga, of June 19 and 20, 1863 ; Lookout Mount- ain, on the occasion of the great achievement of Gen- eral Hooker's division, by which the summit was reached, and the rebels were charged and defeated by the boys in blue, that memorable conflict known in history as the battle fought "above the 1877. They had four children, one of whom is living : clouds," which occurred November 24 and 25, 1863; Mariet J., born October 11, 1853, died June 2, 1860 ; and was in nearly all the severe engagements in which ! Horace E., born November 2, 1855, died April 23. his regiment participated. He was made prisoner in :1859 ; Chloe, born August 11, 1857, married Charles A. Irwin, son of E. D. Irwin, of Elkhart Prairie, October 14, 1873; Florett, born April 21, 1860, died October 16, 1863. He was married November 28, 1878, to Melissa Leedy, of Elkhart Township, a lady of pleasing presence, Tennessee and taken to Libby Prison, but was imme- diately exchanged, being among the last of the captured who received that favor from the hands of the rebels. At the expiration of the term of enlistment of his reg-
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of good parentage, cultivated and refined in appearance, and highly respected. They have by this marriage one child, Ethel May, born January 26, 1880. Mr. Violett is of the usual stature, squarely and solidly built, stands erect, and possesses a robust constitution and good health. His character is above reproach. He is in all respects a self-made man, and justly entitled to a place in the record of eminent men.
OORHEES, GEORGE VINCENT, physician and surgeon, of South Bend, Indiana, was born at Adrian, Michigan, September 3, 1845. His par- ents, Francis Voorhees and wife (H. Nickleson), were pioneers of Adrian, and they are still living. His father has filled various positions of trust and responsi- bility. He is a descendant of a Holland family whose "former names were Van Voorhees. His mother was a daughter of a sea-captain, and was born at Cape Cod. Her elder brother was captain of the first steamer that sailed on Lake Erie. The subject of this sketch is the eldest of a family of eleven children, seven of whom are living. He was educated at the high school and college of his, native city. At an early age, after leav- ing school, he embarked in the drug business, in which he continued for two years, when he was appointed first assistant postmaster of the Adrian post-office. Receiv- ing an injury to one of his feet compelled him to leave the postal service, and after a short time he commenced the study of medicine with Doctor N. H. Kimball, in whose office he prosecuted his studies for four years, after which he attended one course at the State Uni- versity at Ann Arbor. He then went to New York, where he graduated from Bellevue Hospital as a physi- cian and surgeon. After his graduation he returned to Adrian, where he practiced his profession (a portion of this time he was the city physician) until the fall of 1873, when he again went to Bellevue Hospital, where he took special courses in surgery, diseases of women, and diseases of the eye. He then located in Chicago," where he remained one year. In the fall of 1874 Doc- tor Voorhees permanently established himself in South Bend. Shortly after his removal to South Bend he, to- gether with Doctor Louis Humphreys, was instrumental in perfecting and organizing the St. Joseph County Med- ical Society, of which he was the secretary for three years. He is now the secretary of the District Medical Association, which is composed of the counties of St. Joseph, Laporte, and Elkhart, in Indiana, and of Ber- rien and Cass, in Michigan. He is also a member of the Indiana Medical Society, and in 1878 was a delegate to the National Medical Association, held at Buffalo. Doctor Voorhees has taken a prominent part in the or- ganization of the South Bend Scientific Association, and is one of its leading and active members. In his relig-
ious belief he was for ten years a member of the Con- gregationalists, but is now a scientist. Doctor Voorhees was married, May 19, 1870, to Harriet L. Crownse, of Cherry Valley, New York. They have one child, a daughter. He has a high social and medical standing in Northern Indiana. He is an experienced surgeon, a careful physician, and a model gentleman. Yet com- paratively young in years, he has a bright future before him in his chosen profession.
ICKHAM, WILLIAM W., M. D., physician and surgeon, of Goshen, Elkhart County, Indiana, was born August 16, 1820, in Marcellus, Onon- daga County, New York, and is the third born of a family of eleven children of Allen R. Wickham and Susan (Starkweather) Wickham, natives of the state of New York; an honored and respected couple, who were compelled to provide for the wants of their large family by arduous labor on the farm. They were de- scended from English and Scotch stock, respectively. Stephen Wickham, the grandfather, was a soldier in our country's struggle for her national independence of the War of 1776, and served throughout the entire conflict. In the part of the country where William W. lived in early boyhood, there was no public support for the schools, they being maintained wholly by subscriptions. His father was unable to contribute for this purpose, which deprived him entirely of educational advantages, until at the tender age of nine years he struck out for self- support, and engaged to live with a neighboring farmer, with the understanding that he should work on the farm for his clothes, board, and three months' schooling each year. He remained, on the above conditions, for seven years, when he engaged as an apprentice in the carpen- ter and joiner's trade, for a term of nine months each year for three years, for which he received instruction in the trade, board during the time of work, and forty- five, sixty-five, and eighty-five dollars, respectively, for the three years. With this money he provided himself with clothing, besides securing to himself his three months' schooling each winter. At the termination of his apprenticeship he continued to work as a journey- man for three years, or at least such part of the time as was necessary to enable him to earn money enough to attend school and provide books, etc .; but, his wages as journeyman being higher than as an apprentice, he had much more time for study, which was well improved by him. His inclination in early life for the practice of medicine had, at the age of nineteen, become controll- ing, and all his industry and energies were exerted to procure books and to make himself master of the science of healing. He continued his alternate system of work, school, and study until he removed to New Haven, Hu-
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ron County, Ohio, in 1842, at twenty-two years of age, where he went as a student to Doctors William Price and John Johnson, with whom he remained three winter sea- sons, working at his trade each summer and studying during all his Icisure hours. In 1845 a vacancy occurred in the office of Doctor Joseph Myers, of Flat Rock, Sen- eca County, Ohio, and an invitation was extended to him to take the place. He gladly accepted the copartnership, which was continued until the spring of 1847, when, in company with William W. McVittey, he came to Goshen, Indiana, and established a drug-store, Mr. McVittey tak- ing charge of it and the Doctor attending to his profes- sion. In 1849 the drug business was closed out and the partnership dissolved, Doctor Wickham pursuing prac- tice on his own account for two years, when he asso- ciated with him Doctor Fred. S. Kendall, which connec- tion lasted till 1853, when Doctor Wickham bought his partner's interest and continued under his own name until 1868, when he received Doctor Albert W. McAllister as a coadjutor for a term of five years. This period ex- pired in 1873, Doctor Wickham continuing the business alone until December, 1878, when he admitted as a part- ner Doctor Albert J. Irwin, with whom he is now con- nected. His early habits of industry, and a determina- tion to make life a success, formed in early boyhood, have served him well in his later life, and secured for him a constantly increasing patronage during his thirty- four years of active professional labor. In his business he is industrious, and conscientiously watchful of the in- terests of his patients, commanding the confidence and esteem of all who know him. As a physician he stands in the front rank, occupying a distinguished position among his professional brethren. Doctor Wickham has always met with good success in the practice of surgery, and is a most skillful operator, never resorting to the use of the knife when in his opinion it can be safely avoided. But his specialty is in the prac- tice of medicine. He is a typical family physician. Under the call of Governor Morton, in January, 1863, for volunteer surgeons in the government's service, Doctor Wickham responded, and was detailed for duty at Nashville, Tennessee, and assigned to Hospital No. 14, where he remained for about four weeks, when he was honorably discharged. He was subsequently com- missioned an assistant surgeon in the army, which he declined to accept. The Doctor was educated in the Whig school of politics, but at the breaking up of that organization in 1854, consequent upon the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, he allied himself with the Repub- lican party, and was an active worker in its ranks until 1872, when he became satisfied that there was, in the management of the party in power, a great deal of favor- itism and jobbery in the interest of personal and party friends. He subsequently became, on the financial question, liberal in sentiment, and was classed as a rad-
ical Greenbacker. Like all men of positive character, he is firm and earnest in the defense of any political faith he believes in, and supports men and measures of his party only so long as he believes them calculated to promote the best interests of the whole people. Doctor Wickham is a member in good standing of the First Presbyterian Church, of Goshen. He is warmly inter- ested in public improvements. He was an advocate of the construction of the county building and of city school- houses, and has, according to his means, been a liberal contributor to all the Churches of Goshen. He was in- terested in the construction of the city hydraulic works, and is by all regarded as a valuable, influential, and exemplary citizen. He was married in October, 1846, to Miss Lydia A. Rogers, of Ripley Township, Huron County, Ohio, who died in 1853, the mother of two daughters. He was again married in 1855, to Miss Anna Reilley, of Goshen. She died in 1862. leaving one daughter and one son. He was subsequently betrothed to Miss Amanda E. Woodworth, of Middlebury, and was married to her, at the urgent desire of the lady, dur- ing her fatal .sickness, she surviving the wedding only nine days. December 7, 1865, he was united in mar- riage with Miss Emma L. Kendall, of Mansfield, Ohio, an esteemed lady of strong character, and zealous in her religious convictions. She is an honored, valuable member of the First Presbyterian Church, and is a wo- man of striking appearance. She is benevolent, gen- erous, and of strong attachments. She is informed on public questions as well as on matters of literature and in the art of music, in which she has acquired marked proficiency, both vocally and instrumentally. Mrs. Wick- ham was educated at College Hill Female Seminary at Cincinnati, from which she graduated with the highest honors attainable, both in the classical and musical de- partments. ' They have one daughter, Madge B. K. Wickham, born April 4, 1868. Partaking of the musi- cal qualities of her mother, she entered the field as a prodigy in music. At the age of three years she was discovered at the piano playing correctly, and unaided, the tunes of the baby songs which she had heard from her mother. Her power and skill of reading, compre- hending, and executing, seem intuitive. She is able to perform the most difficult composition correctly upon any musical instrument suited to her strength. She is now but eleven years of age, and a pupil under the in- struction of Professor Theodore Thomas, at Cincinnati, and is regarded as unequaled by any student, old or young, in the institute. Doctor Wickham is in appear- ance a little above the usual size, of florid complexion, and full and healthful features. He stands erect and is sprightly in his movements, and, excepting for the tell- tale gray hairs, would as readily be taken for forty five as fifty-seven years of age. In his private life and his intercourse with men, he is a genial, courteous gentle-
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man. The friends of his youth are the friends of his maturer years. His character is without blemish. His position is assured as a citizen, a physician, and a man. He is in the prime of manhood, and his firm health, correct habits, and vigorous constitution, give promise of many years yet to be added to a useful life. Com- mencing life for himself in childhood, Doctor Wickham has been the architect of his own fortunes, and is in every way eminently a self-made man, justly entitled to a place in the record of the eminent and self-made men of Indiana.
ILSON, JAMES H., M. D., physician and sur- geon, of Plymouth, Marshall County, Indiana, was born February 5, 1838, in Moral Township, Shelby County, Indiana. His parents, Walter Wilson and Elizabeth (Worthington) Wilson, were na- tives of the state of Kentucky. Walter Wilson was born February 5, 1812, in Lewis County, where he resided until 1833, when he removed to Rush County, Indiana. He was married October 10, 1835, and the following year moved to Shelby County, Indiana, where he lived until 1852, when he removed to the county of Laporte. In the spring of 1867 he removed to New Carlisle, staying there until the death of Mrs. Wil- son, in 1876, when he gave up his home and lived with his children. At the time of his death his home was with his only daughter, Mrs. Elijah Mcclellan, of Sauktown. Mr. Wilson had been a sufferer and in de- clining health for the previous twelve years. About two months before his death, which happened on the 7th of March, 1879, he was attacked with pneumonia, which culminated in quick consumption. He had been a worthy and an honored member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for some forty-eight years. He was a man of large heart, liberal sympathies, generous im- pulses, and noble deeds, and was well known and much respected and esteemed by his neighbors and fellow-cit- zens. He was the father of six children-Doctor J. H. Wilson, E. J. Wilson, J. N. Wilson, G. M. Wilson, Albert Wilson, and Mrs. Mary Jane Mcclellan. Doctor Wilson's early educational advantages were very slight, being such only as were obtained by an irregular attend- ance during the winter terms, devoting the rest of his time to assisting his father, who was a farmer, with his work. At seventeen he began going to school at New Carlisle, dividing his time between attending and teaching. In the years 1867 and 1868 he took a commercial course in Bryant & Stratton's college at Chicago, receiving his di- ploma at the end of six months. In 1868 he began the study of medicine in the office and under the direction of Doctor Josephus Davis, of New Carlisle, continuing with him for about two years, devoting his time to dili- gent study and a limited practice among the patrons of
Doctor Davis. In 1869 he entered as a student the Medical Department of the Michigan State University, at Ann Arbor, from which he graduated with honor and credit in 1873, receiving his parchment from the faculty June 25, when he returned to Indiana and began prac- tice at Argos, where he soon secured a large and lucra- tive business. Seeing, as he thought, a larger field for development and usefulness, he removed to Plymouth in 1878, where he met with gratifying success, and fast grew into the confidence and esteem of his patrons in his new field of labor. Doctor Wilson, although com- paratively a young man, is deservedly popular as a fam- ily physician, and enjoys in a marked degree the respect and esteem of those whom he serves. His strong charac- ter and sympathetic presence render him a source of com- fort to the watchers in a sick-room. His practice as a surgeon is noted for its general success. The Doctor ranks high among his compeers. As a citizen and neighbor he is much esteemed by all who know him. In politics he is a Democrat in sentiment, but takes no active part in party work, preferring the pleasures and comforts of his home. The Doctor's practice has been both professionally and financially successful. He is a member of the State Medical Society and secretary of the Marshall County Medical Society. He is a practical temperance man, and an active worker in the cause. He was married, September 28, 1871, to Miss Lizzie A. Hay, of New Carlisle, Indiana.
HITING, SAMUEL C., physician and surgeon, of Laporte, Indiana, was born in Laurens, Ot- sego County, New York, December 1, 1834. When he was five years of age his father re- moved to Lorain County, Ohio, and after four years returned to New York, settling in Corning, where Sam- uel C. Whiting attended the common schools. In Oc- tober, 1848, he left home and went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he continued his education, residing with his aunt. In 1852 he commenced the study of medicine with his uncle, Doctor Charles D. Williams, and gradu- ated in 1855 from the Western College of Homeopathy, in Cleveland. He then commenced the practice of his profession with Doctor Williams. In 1858 he removed to Freeport, Illinois, and entered into practice, remain- ing until the following August, when he removed to Vincennes, Indiana, and built up a fine practice. In April, 1866, he purchased the property and business of Doctor S. A. Robinson, at Laporte, where he still resides. He held the office of United States surgeon seven years in Vincennes, has been vice-president of the Indiana Insti- tute of Homœopathy, and is also a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy. His practice is extensive and lucrative. He married, December 31,
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