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 36

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 36

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REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

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effected the Lowreys (uncles to the subject of this sketch) line of service. Doctor Culbertson is an honored mem- ber of the Free and Accepted Masons, having joined that fraternity in 1865, and the Knights of Pythias in IS6S. Politically, he was a Whig, in the days of that party, casting his presidential vote for General Winfield Scott in 1852, since which time he has regularly voted with the Republican party. On the 2d of November, 1869, Doctor Culbertson was married to Miss Eliza Win- gate, daughter of J. Cannon Wingate, Esq., of Bain- bridge, Indiana, a most estimable and intelligent lady. He is the father of one son, a sprightly and intelligent lad of seven summers, Charley Culbertson. As a physi- cian he takes high rank. He is a close student, a man of honor and integrity in his profession, and as a con- sequence is highly esteemed by his fellow practitioners. Few attain the success that has attached to his practice, and steadily increases. By his kindness, frankness, and hospitality, Doctor Culbertson has won a place in the hearts of his fellow-men which is rarely attained. He takes much pleasure in informing himself about the events of the day, and the rapid strides that are con- stantly being made in medical science. All in all, Doc- tor Culbertson's success in life, considering the inauspi- cious beginning, has been almost phenomenal, and, strange to say, he claims little credit to himself for his achievements. It is contrary to his nature. He is quiet and unassuming, and emphatically a gentleman, and makes it a rule to attend zealously to the duty of the hour. A good conversationalist, he is well informed in En- glish literature. Doctor Culbertson has certainly lived to some purpose. He has not lived for himself only, but for society as well, and as such has merited the re- spect and esteem which are so universally and appropri- ately reposed in him. He is a valued citizen, a kind husband and indulgent father, a student, and a gentleman. laid out and established the town. Here his parents re- mained until he was five years of age, when they moved to Warren County, and settled on a farm near the town of Williamsport. In 1837 they again changed locations, to Bloomfield, Greene County, and soon after to Wash- ington, Daviess County. At this place most of the scholastic training of young Culbertson was received. At such times as the schools were in session in winter he attended until his tenth year, when he entered the store of James Campbell, then a most estimable and worthy merchant of that place, being with him about a year, and, leaving, again entered school, where he ap- plied himself zealously to the pursuit of knowledge. In his sixteenth year, an opportunity presenting, he entered the clerk's office of Knox County as deputy under W. R. McCord, clerk of the county. After a year he went to Edwardsport, in the same county, and began reading medicine in the office of the now venerable Doctor J. T. Freeland, at present of Freelandsville, Indiana. He assiduously applied himself to the perusal of the various text-books on medicine for three consecutive years. In the winter of 1849-50 Doctor Culbertson attended a course of lectures in the Ohio Medical College, at Cin- cinnati, Ohio, and returning home in the spring of 1850 immediately entered upon the practice of his profession at his old place of study. IIis calling was evidently well chosen, for he was successful from the beginning. lle remained at Edwardsport until 1854, when he re- moved to Bowling Green, then the county seat of Clay County, entering into a partnership with Doctor W. G. McMillan, which lasted for three years, when by mutual consent the partnership was dissolved. After this Doc- tor Culbertson practiced alone till 1868, when he again entered the Ohio Medical College, where, in the spring of 1869, he graduated. Returning to Bowling Green, he visited the sick as before until 1872, when he relo- cated at his present home, Brazil, Indiana. In Septem- ber, 1862, Doctor Culbertson entered the military serv- OHERTY, FISHER, of Crawfordsville, was born in Columbus, Ohio, May 25. 1817, and is the son of John D. and Mary (Fisher) Doherty, formerly 20% of Berks County, Pennsylvania. Fisher lived in Columbus until 1832, and subsequently at Brookville, Connersville, and Indianapolis, and in the spring of 1844 he removed to Crawfordsville, his present home. While a carriage-maker by trade, and for many years engaged in that pursuit, Mr. Doherty has been one of the most active and energetic business men of Craw- fordsville. He has erected and owned several prom- inent brick blocks, and is yet a considerable real estate holder. He has met the usual fate of enterprising men, alternate success and reverse, but he has always been cheerful and confident ; has promptly met every obliga- tion, and his name is good in bank and on change. He ice of the United States as senior surgeon in the 80th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, and remained in the discharge of his duties as such surgeon for nearly two years, or until the spring of 1864, when, in consequence of prolonged ill-health, he was forced to resign and re- turn home, in the hope of regaining his lost strength. After a brief sojourn, however, among friends and rela- tives, he again entered the service, this time as contract surgeon, joining General Sherman's army. He remained in this line of service till the close of the Rebellion, moving from point to point in charge of various hos- pitals. At Glasgow, Kentucky, Doctor Culbertson was promoted to post surgeon, a much deserved compliment to his skill, but which he most respectfully declined to fill, except for a brief period. Instead of this he joined his regiment at Knoxville, Tennessee, and resumed his old | is one of the Taplin (Missouri) Land Corporation. He

Jours Truly jacob Dimly

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REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

married Miss Sarah Owens, April 4, 1840. Three chil- dren, two sons and a daughter, have resulted from this union. In many respects Mr. Doherty is a man of marked characteristics. He claims to be an advanced thinker, but is always ready to yield old opinions to new convictions. Politically, he was a pronounced Aboli- tionist, and while it was dangerous to be outspoken he openly defied public sentiment at every opportunity, or if the opportunity was lacking he sometimes created it. He was, and is, aggressive without being offensive. Having lived to see slavery wiped out he allied himself to the Republican party, but at a later date united with the Greenbackers, and became one of their fervent advocates. He is ready in debate, well informed, seizes quickly every possible advantage, and never acknowl- edges himself defeated. He has never sought popular- ity or place, but when he was nominated by his party as their candidate for joint Representative, from Mont- gomery and Park Counties, he surprised the opposition by carrying his own township (Union) by eighty-four votes, overcoming a majority of two hundred at home, and winning his county by one hundred and fifty votes- a victory which amply compensated him for an expected defeat abroad. In early manhood Mr. Doherty was a deist, but became an atheist, from which belief, or rather disbelief, he was drawn by his investigations in the field of modern spiritualism, extending through a series of years. In this phase of theology Mr. Doherty is more at home, if possible, than in his political tenets. Ile is not only thoroughly in earnest, and claims that he has sufficient grounds for his convictions, but he chal- lenges investigation into the palpable proofs he presents. He is a practical business man ; has certainly shown himself capable of amassing money and investing it wisely, is truthful and honest, and he claims the same credence for what he knows of spiritualism as for what he knows of worldly affairs. He does not descend to abuse, but is inclined to take a cheerful view of man- kind, and would rather persuade than drive them into his belief. But his spiritualism is of the most unmis- takable type, and he believes that, as man becomes prepared for the reception of spirit influence, the inhab- itants of the two worlds converse face to face. The evidence he brings to bear in favor of these manifes- tations has staggered the unbelief of many sensible people.

ARLY, JACOB DRENNAN, of Terre Haute, was born in Fleming County, Kentucky, January 1, 1799, and was the third of seven children of Joseph and Catherine (Drennan) Early. The branch of the Early family from which the subject of this memoir is descended traces its lineage in this country to ancestors of English birth, who came to America

early in the eighteenth century. Thomas Early, the pa- ternal grandfather of Jacob, was born in New Jersey in 1742, and removed to Virginia in 1764, and in the lat- ter state his son Joseph was born, March 4, 1770. In 1788 the family emigrated to Kentucky and settled near the mouth of Limestone, now known as the city of Maysville. Joseph Early was married, at Mill's Station, to Miss Catherine Drennan, daughter of Captain Jacob, Drennan, and the issue of this marriage was seven chil- dren, of whom the subject of our sketch was one. The wife and mother died February 4, 1816, and in 1839 Joseph Early sold his farm in Mason County, Kentucky, and removed to Terre Haute, Indiana, where he passed the remainder of his life under the roof of his son Ja- cob, and where he died, July 2, 1842. Captain Jacob Drennan, the maternal grandfather of Mr. Early, served under General George Rogers Clarke, in the famous ex- pedition of the latter against the British posts in the North-west, which resulted in the acquisition by the colonies of the territory now comprising the states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Various branches of the Early family are located in Virginia and Kentucky, and include many names of local prominence. In 1814 Jacob D. Early, whose younger days had been spent on his father's farm and were of the character usual to that period, determined to earn his own living, and at the age of fifteen entered a grocery store as clerk, in the village of May's Lick, Mason County, Kentucky, where he remained a little over a year, serving his no- vitiate in mercantile life. He then accepted a position to take charge of a store at Greenupsburg, Kentucky, for a Mr. Dougherty, walking the whole distance, of ninety miles, from Maysville to his destination. The stock of goods at Greenupsburg having been disposed of, he again found himself out of business, and in June. IS15, he returned for a short time to his father's house, working on the farm during the summer and fall of that year. The ensuing March (1816) he obtained a position in the store of Saunders & Higgins at Flemingsburg, at the princely salary of sixty dollars per year and board. In June, 1817, his employers decided to remove with their stock to Salem, Washington County, Indiana, and Mr. Early was invited to accompany them. His father's consent having been obtained, he set out for what was destined to be his future home, and arrived in due time at Salem. About this time Indiana was preparing for emerg- ing from her territorial condition into the privileges of a sovereign state, and a convention was held at Corydon, Harrison County, for the purpose of forming a constitu- tion for the new state. During the ensuing canvass for state officers, Mr. Early became acquainted with most of the candidates for office, among whom were the former territorial Governor, Posey, Jonathan Jennings, the suc- cessful candidate for first Governor of Indiana, and Chris- topher Harrison, the first Lieutenant-governor, the latter

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a prominent merchant of Salem. In January, IS17, while on a visit to Flemingsburg, Kentucky, he accepted an offer from John N. Stockwell, of that place, to keep store for him at a salary of one hundred and fifty dol- lars per year-a considerable advance from his former income, sixty dollars-to commence at the expiration of his term of service with Saunders & Higgins. As his employers became acquainted with his brightening pros- pects the value of his services rose in proportion, and inducements were held out to him to remain; but his word had been pledged, and no pecuniary consideration could induce him to violate his agreement. Accord- ingly, about the Ist of March, 1817, he entered the em- ployment of Mr. Stockwell, at Flemingsburg, where, however, he remained but a short time, as a change of proprietors released him from his contract, and he im- mediately engaged with Messrs. Wallace & Triplett, of the same place, at a salary of two hundred dollars per year. The next year his salary was raised to three hundred dollars, and at the expiration of five years Mr. Early found himself in the possession of one thousand dollars, with which, being satisfied of his ability to conduct an establishment of his own, he deter- mined to commence business for himself. Refusing an offer of a partnership from his employers, he began busi- ness on his own account in 1823 in a rented store- room opposite to them, and soon, by the amiability of his temperament, and a courtesy of manner which was ever one of his characteristics, attracted a large number of customers, his first year's business exhibiting a margin of four thousand dollars over all expenses. This fact speaks volumes for his careful management and his pre-eminent adaptability for a mercantile career. Three years after, he felt secure of his ability to sup- port a wife, and, on the 2d of March, 1826, he was married to Miss Mary H. Stockwell, daughter of Sam- uel Stockwell, of Flemingsburg, and soon settled in a small dwelling he had purchased and plainly fur- nished. Here, July 12, 1827, his son, Samuel S. Early, was born, and here, where the happiest days of his life were spent, he also drained the cup of sorrow to its dregs, losing his young wife by death on the 25th of February, 1828. She was a lady of a most amiable dis- position, universally beloved, a loving and devoted wife and mother, and her loss was the greatest blow of his life. For five years longer Mr. Early continued to do business in Flemingsburg, and his establishment was the most flourishing dry-goods house in the place. His af- fability and kind manner gained him universal patron- age, and his honesty, truth, and integrity secured and retained hosts of friends. February 25, 1833, he was again married, to Miss Ann C. Reynolds, of Baltimore, and in September, 1835, he removed to the city of Terre Haute, of which he remained a resident until his death, January 6, 1869. A brother, John D., had preceded of purity and integrity.

him several years, and was one of the pioneer pork- packers and general merchants. Subsequently, the lat- ter moved to Baltimore, and Jacob D. remained in pos- session of his mercantile and packing business, to which he devoted himself with extraordinary success. Mer- chants in those days carried much larger stocks of goods, in proportion to the size of the place and its wealth, than they do now. It was necessary. During his long residence in the city of his adoption Mr. Early endeared himself to all classes of his fellow-citizens, and, in those branches of industry and trade in which he be- came interested, he exhibited the highest traits of ca- pacity and success. Devoting himself assiduously to his business, he never exhibited a trace of that narrow- mindedness which too often is developed in the mere seeker after wealth. A public-spirited and generous- minded citizen, he was ever ready to aid every good and laudable enterprise. Utterly free from any am- bition for political preferment, he avoided the responsi- bilities of official position, while ever desirous of ad- vancing the prosperity of his city. He was connected as director with the old State Bank of Indiana, the Bank of the State of Indiana, and the National State Bank of Terre Haute-three institutions, of which the two latter were continuations of the first-and was several times a member of the earlier councils of the city. As a business man he had few equals and no su- periors. The quiet manner and unexcitable tempera- ment which left the mind unbiased and free to act was the secret of his success, and made him known and felt in the business of life. In his social relations he was a model of kindness and generosity. His home was always open to his many friends, and the stranger never failed to share in its entertainment. Old and young alike, without respect to pecuniary condition, were made welcome at his board, and his hospitality, elegant but unostentatious, was dispensed with a liberal hand. In his declining years, when apparently past the spirit of enjoyment himself, he loved to see the young and old meet together in social intercourse, and none felt hap- pier than himself when his house was full of happy faces and light hearts. These kindly recollections of the good and kind Jacob D. Early will long live in the re- membrance of old and young in Terre Haute. Such a life points its own moral. The biographer, writing for the future as well as for the present generation, would be unmindful of his duty if he failed to commend to the young the example of such a life. Commencing with no capital, but with a determination to succeetl, and paving the path to prosperity only with the solid rocks of honest industry and goodness of character and conduct, we have seen success achieved in the face of every obstacle, and a name transmitted to posterity that shall ever shine with the radiance emanating from a life

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ARLY, SAMUEL STOCKWELL, A. M., of Terre Haute, was born at Flemingsburg, Kentucky, July 12, 1827, being the only child of Jacob D. and Mary (Stockwell) Early. A brief genealogical record of his family will be found under the name of his father, Jacob D. Early, a sketch of whom ap- pears elsewhere in this volume. His mother died a few months after his birth, and he was reared by his grand- mother, Mrs. Stockwell, who in every way endeavored to fill for him the place of his lost parent, and was most tenderly and assiduously devoted to his welfare. He received his principal education, until he was fourteen, in the academy at Flemingsburg, under the tuition of the Rev. Dr. Henry Maltby. In this institution many persons were prepared for college who have since be- come conspicuous in the civil and military history of the country, among whom may be mentioned Hon. H. B. Porter, General George B. Hodge, Colonel Charles Marshall, Judge Walter Lacy, and others of equal prominence. In 1841 he entered Asbury University, Greencastle, Indiana, and graduated in 1844, at the age of seventeen, having pursued the full classical course, and winning honors as Greek orator of his class. The class of 1844 numbers on its list many names which have since acquired more than local eminence, and among them will be recognized Colonel R. N. Hudson, Professor James Laverty, afterwards superintendent of public instruction of the state of Iowa; Judge Milton J. Durham, now member of Congress from Kentucky, etc. In 1847 the degree of A. M. was conferred upon Mr. Early by his Alma Mater. Mr. Early when quite young developed a decided taste in the direction of art studies, which almost amounted to a passion ; and, after an interval of two or three years spent in his father's counting-room at Terre Haute, after his graduation, he made the tour of Europe in 1849, paying special atten- tion to the examination of art matters, and visiting all the famous galleries of the old world. His tour, em- bracing all continental Europe except Russia, lasted for fifteen months, and as one of the results of his travels and accompanying research Mr. Early's mind is stored with a fund of information on art rarely to be met with outside the charmed circle of those who have devoted all the energies of a life-time to its pursuita The writer of this sketch has been favored with a glimpse at a manuscript narrative of Mr. Early's travels on the European continent, not intended for publica- tion, which is illustrated by sketches from his pencil portraying scenes of every-day life in Europe. Though undertaken by the artist merely to while away a passing hour, they evince a fineness of execution and careful at- tention to detail which place them far above mediocrity. During his absence in Europe, Mr. Early contributed a series of interesting letters to the Western Christian Ad- vocate, then edited by Rev. Matthew Simpson, of Cin-

¡ cinnati, the present widely known Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. After his return he again devoted himself assiduously to business, in part- nership with his father. In 1855 he was married to A. Louisa Andrews, of Baltimore, Maryland, a daughter of General T. P. Andrews, deputy paymaster-general of the United States army, and occupying the position of paymaster-general during the late war. Still con- tinuing to devote his attention to business, in 1856 he became interested in the Prairie City Bank, and was elected president, holding the position for six years, when the bank was legislated out of existence by the repeal of the free-banking law. In 1864 he was elected president of the board of trustees of St. Agnes's Hall, a female seminary, located at Terre Haute, which was eminently successful as an educational institution until the advancement of the standard of education in the public schools of the state obviated the necessity for that class of private schools, and in 1868 it ceased opera- tions. During this period he also held the position of director in the National State Bank, which he resigned in 1871. In that year he removed temporarily with his family to Baltimore, pending the education of his chil- dren, still retaining and conducting his business inter- ests at Terre Haute. During his residence of five years in Baltimore he became prominently identified with its literary and art circles, and his name is familiar to all | connoisseurs in that city as one of the editors and pro- prietors of the Baltimore Bulletin, a weekly literary and art journal, which took a very high rank among peri- odicals of its kind, its criticisms coming to be regarded as most influential in all matters pertaining to its depart- ment. While in Baltimore, Mr. Early became a leading spirit and took a prominent part in art exhibitions, then quite an innovation, which, however, were attended with gratifying success, and gave a new impetus to the study of the laws of beauty in that cosmopolitan city. Returning to Terre Haute in 1876, Mr. Early has since devoted himself to business, to which he brings all the tact and capacity inherited from his father. On the death of Colonel William K. Edwards, Mr. Early was elected a member and secretary of the board of mana- gers of the Rose Polytechnic Institute, the splendid foundation of Mr. Chauncey Rose in Terre Haute for the technical education of young men. No one man who has come under the observation of the writer com- bines in such a remarkable degree qualities seemingly incompatible, and seldom found united. A shrewd, in- dustrious, far-seeing, and prudent business man, a type of the successful and thrifty merchant, seen in the counting-room actively superintending the minutiæ of mercantile life, it seems that there he is at home; en- gage him in conversation on the literary, scientific, or political topics of the day, and you are astonished at the fund of thought, clear and quick perception, and

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thoroughness of culture which he possesses, and in- stinctively you feel that in these circles he is in his clement ; draw him out on the world of art, and you find that in this field he is again at home. In short, in him you find the prosperous merchant, the diligent stu- dent, the cultured scholar, the attractive conversation- alist, and the honorable, high-minded gentleman, devoted to every interest of pure society, and respected and es- leemed by all who come into personal contact with him. Mr. Early's family consists of a daughter and three sons, the oldest son being a recent graduate of Kenyon Col- lege, Ohio. lieutenant-colonel in the regular army on the staff of Major-general Wool, and was assigned to duty with Major-general Wallace. In 1863 he resigned, and was for a while in business in Cincinnati, and in the spring of 1864 went to Memphis and established the First Na- tional Bank of that place. Some months after ill-health necessitated his return North, and he engaged for a time in stock brokerage in Cincinnati. We next find him, in 1866, at Buchanan, Michigan, in the lumber trade and in manufacturing. The death of his father, in 1867, called him home, and he at once assumed management of the estate and control of the bank. His interest in the latter had not ceased in the intervals of absence, and he is at the present writing its president. Colonel Elston has been connected with many public enterprises; was for several years one of the directors of and inti- mately connected with the building of the Logansport, Crawfordsville and South-western Railroad ; has offici- ated as one of the board of directors of the Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western Railroad, and was for several years president of the Sand Creek Coal Company, of Parke County, one of the largest coal corporations in the state. In 1862, on the 7th of August, Colonel Elston was married to Sarah, youngest daughter of Colonel John Mills, of Marietta, Ohio. Six children, one son and five daughters, have blessed this union. Mrs. Elston's father, Colonel Mills, was born in Marietta, Ohio, where he has resided during the eighty-four years of his life, and is one of the best known and respected citizens of his state. He took an active and prominent part in the building of the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad; was president of the Marietta branch of the Ohio State Bank; is one of the trustees and patrons of Marietta College, and has been, during his career of a half century, intimately identified with the material and educational interests of the state. Colonel Elston inherits many of his traits of character from his father, Major Isaac C. Elston, who was widely known as one of the pioneers of Montgomery County, and as one who carved a fortune out of the rough material of those primitive days. His history for nearly half a cen- tury is made up very largely of the history of Crawfords- ville. Born in New Jersey, in 1794; removing with his parents to Onondaga County, New York, he knew but Ohio Railroad, during which time they were engaged ine little of the learning of the schools; sought the West; reached Vincennes in 1818; engaged in mercantile affairs; removed thence in two or three years to Terre Haute, and finally, in 1823, to Crawfordsville, which was just laid out, and here, on what was then the out- skirt of civilization, the young merchant began that business career that soon made him a marked man in the little community. He foresaw the rapid develop- ment of the state, and among his business ventures was the purchase of the site where Michigan City now stands. This interest in time brought him what at that

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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 36

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