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 39
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out-door employment, and Mr. Harter easily secured a situation as traveling agent, for a term of four years, for an extensive medical establishment located in Roch- ester, New York, and for the ensuing eleven years was their efficient Western agent. In the mean time, in 1843, he had moved to Crawfordsville, his present home. His beginning in this place was not auspicious. Goods which had been ordered from Rochester were detained at Toledo by the closing of the canal, the only public means of transportation. Board bills were coming due, money was running low, and three hundred miles of terrible country roads intervened between him and his stock. Hiring a team and lumber-wagon, he started on the dreary journey, but, by advice of those he encoun- tered, he diverged from his intended route, drove amid incredible difficulties to Adrian, Michigan ; then, by strap railroad, he went to Toledo, shipped his goods to the former point, and started home, and at last, on account of impassable roads, was compelled to abandon them within a few miles of Crawfordsville, and did not finally land them at home until the following spring. In 1855 a growing family and a desire to settle down in- duced him to resign his agency and form a connection with Messrs. Campbell and Galey, and, under the firm name of Campbell, Galey & Harter, they engaged ex- tensively in the dry-goods and hardware trade, in a building which Mr. Harter had erected. Mr. Harter superintended the hardware branch for the ensuing six- teen years. On Mr. Galey's retirement, in 1866, the firm continued business as Campbell & Harter. In 1870 the latter erected the Harter Block, while the firm put up the Phoenix Block, corner of Washington and Main, now occupied by Campbell Brothers. The partnership continued until the death of Mr. Campbell, in Septem- ber, 1874, after a business connection of twenty years. Within one year Mr. Harter had adjusted the affairs of the firm, met every liability, and settled amicably with the heirs, dividing the business with the latter, which placed in his hands the company store at Veedersburg, Fountain County, which he now owns. Mr. Harter has been a Whig, and is now Republican. He and Mrs. Harter are prominent members of the Center Presbyte- rian Church. They have taken an active part in Sab- bath-school work, regarding it as an efficient religious agency. In 1867 Mr. Harter, in connection with other friends of the cause, organized the Montgomery County Sunday-school Union, and became its president for the ensuing nine years. He has been the superintendent of the Center Church Sabbath-school for twenty-five years. He is at present a member of the executive committee of the Indiana Sunday-school Union. Mr. Harter married Miss Susan Morrell Breed, October 20, 1840. Her parents were of New England stock, of the society of Friends, and on the mother's side of the same
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lineage as United States Senator Lot Morrell, of Maine. Of six children but two survive, both daughters. Nettie C. married Rev. Joseph H. Kent, deceased, and is now the wife of George E. Kent, a prominent business man of Shelbyville, Indiana. As shown above, Mr. Harter has led a busy life, but has always found time to attend to his duties as a citizen and a Christian. He is affable and pleasant in his intercourse with others, strictly con- scientious in the performance of the simplest act, an ardent friend of temperance, and is honored and re- spected by his fellow-citizens. He has an elegant home at the east end of the city, where he enjoys the fruits of his many years' devotion to business pursuits.
OSFORD, CHARLES E., lawyer, etc., of Terre Haute, Vigo County, was born at Thetford, Ver- mont, January 27, 1837, and is the son of Jared and Helen (Kinney) Hosford. His mother was a sister of Judge Kinney, a prominent lawyer, and one of the early settlers of Indiana. His father was a farmer in moderate circumstances, and although in his early youth Charles E. assisted in the management of the farm he improved every opportunity afforded him for study. He attended the common schools of the period, and at an early age interested himself in laboriously studying the French language, becoming quite pro- ficient ; and it afterwards proved of material advantage to him. After his common school education was completed, he entered Dartmouth College, where he pursued a course in civil engineering. In 1854, endowed only with the capital afforded by the education he had received, and the energy and pluck characteristic of the sons of Vermont, he left his native state for New York City, where he soon obtained employment as French in- terpreter for a large establishment. After about a year spent in this position, his knowledge of civil engineering and surveying procured him a more lucrative employ- ment, and he continued in this capacity until 1857, when repeated solicitation on the part of his uncle, Judge Kinney, above mentioned, induced him to leave the Eastern States and come West to study law. Judge Kinney was settled at Terre Haute; young Hosford entered his office as a law student, and about a year afterwards was admitted to the bar. He then entered into a law partnership with his relative and preceptor, which continued until the death of the latter, in 1860. From this time until 1868, Mr. Hosford was associated in business with Mr. Putnam Brown, and from 1868-72 with Mr. H. H. Boudinot. Since the latter date he has conducted his business alone. In his business career he has passed every station on the road to success, and has been in the truest sense the architect of his own fortune. Whether as a lawyer or a man of business, his charac-
teristics have been always the same astonishing foresight, persistent application, untiring industry, and an integrity of character and conduct that has placed him beyond reproach. Painstaking in the interest of his clients, shrewd and calculating in his premises, he has in his legal practice achieved a success not always attained by more brilliant but less industrious members of the bar. Unambitious of political distinction, he has made it his aim rather to acquire and use a comfortable compe- tence than to waste time and resources in the field of politics; while, when occasion requires it, he has always been ready to lend his hearty sympathy and contribute from his resources to aid in the election of the man of his choice. Thoroughly independent in his political views and untrammeled by the dictates of party, he has not, however, been either a silent or a passive spectator of the political events of his day. He cast his vote with the Democratic party until the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion, and made the first war-speech by a Dem- ocrat in Vigo County after Sumter was fired upon. The position taken by his party in the exciting period which followed and "tried men's souls" carried him into the Republican party. In the campaign of 1876, he worked and voted for Peter Cooper, and now holds himself free to think and act as his judgment dictates. For about fifteen years past he has connected insur- ance with law, in which line he transacts an immense and lucrative business. For several years past he has represented Eastern capitalists in railroad and other speculative enterprises, and at times holds in trust capital to the extent of over two millions of dollars. This fact alone constitutes a high tribute to his char- acter for integrity and financial responsibility. Still in the prime of life, his success is assured, and in the conduct of his business there is no diminution in the qualities of industry, perseverance, and sagacity which have contributed to his present position. Except the position of prosecuting attorney, which he filled several years ago, he has avoided public office, although often urged to accept nominations. In his religious belief he is a Unitarian, but contributes to the support of all Christian enterprises to the extent of his ability. His present wife, formerly Miss Lida Showalter, he married in 1876. They have one child, an infant son. By a former marriage Mr. Hosford has two bright children, a son and daughter.
OWARD, TILGHMAN A., of Rockville, Parke County, was born November 14, 1797, on the banks of the Saluda River, near Pickensville, South Caro- lina. Losing his mother when two years old, he was committed to the care of a brother, with whom he removed when only four years old to the state of North
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Carolina. At the age of nineteen, resolute and alone, without friends or patrons, he pushed his way to East Tennessee. He there commenced the study of the pro- fession with Hugh Samson White, a celebrated lawyer of the South, and afterwards entered the practice of law at the age of twenty. When only twenty-seven years old he was elected to a seat in the Senate of the state of Tennessee, and at the age of thirty-one was a pres- idential elector of the same state. Two years after- wards, at the age of thirty-three, he came to Bloom- ington, Indiana, and in 1833 settled in Parke County. At the age of forty he was elected a member of the i Twenty-seventh Congress from the congressional dis- trict of which Parke County was a part. He left his seat in Congress with great regret, as he expressed him- self at the time, to make the race for Governor with Governor Bigger, in 1840. The popularity of General Harrison, then the candidate for President, was irresist- ible, especially in the West, and naturally produced an adverse effect upon the Democratic nominees, from Mr. Van Buren down. General Howard shared to some extent this effect, and was defeated for Governor. In 1844 he was appointed by President Polk Charge d'Af- faires to the Republic of Texas. Annexation was the most prominent topic of the day, and the post to be filled was an important one. He soon repaired to the capital of Texas, where he was duly accredited as minister to that government on the Ist of August of that year. On the 10th of the same month, a little more than four weeks after he left home, he was at- tacked with a fever of which he died, long before the sun of his usefulness had reached midday. Shortly afterwards his body was brought home. In passing through the capital of Indiana it received the honors due to the dust of so distinguished a son. In Green- castle similar honors were conferred, and at last, coming home to the people who knew him best, and loved him most, he was laid to rest upon the family estate in the soil of Parke County. Physically and mentally, General Howard was a remarkable man-one of nature's no- blemen. He was tall, straight, and possessed of great
natural dignity. His complexion was dark. His lustrous eyes and straight hair were coal black. A prominent nose, a large and impassioned mouth, to- gether with his other general features, betokened the man of energy, intellect, strong emotions, and yet tender sensibilities. His face in repose was sad and serious, but, when kindled with a subject which brought into full play his noble faculties, it was ani- mated, full of sympathy and power. His oratory at times was irresistible. His voice, though strong, was not musical ; his manners and gestures were his own- natural, almost majestic, and always impressive. In private life his deportment was simple, his conversation delightful, and he enjoyed the pastimes of the social
circle with the zest of youth, to such an extent that he sometimes half reproached himself, with the remark that he was afraid he " should never be any thing but a boy." His sympathy was universal; he could be seen as often at the graves of God's humble and poor as be- side the tombs of the world's great and wealthy. He had faith in the virtue and intelligence of the common people. His addresses before them, sometimes in the woods and sometimes in their rude school-houses and churches, bore the same impress of care, culture, and thought as his finished and classical addresses before the literary institutions of the country. His mind was comprehensive, vigorous, self-reliant, and self-disci- plined. Though a man of unusual culture and learn- ing, he acquired it nearly all after the commencement of his professional life. Though a constant and enthu- siastic patron of academies and colleges, he had never received an hour's instruction in one of them. Previ- ous to the study of his profession, one year in the com- mon schools was the sum of his literary instruction. Yet with that energy and insatiable thirst after the good, the intellectual, and the true, he became the friend and valued companion of literary men, and the efficient patron of the institutions of learning in the West. His mind possessed original elements of great and unusual power; it was at home among profound in- vestigations and loved to grapple with great subjects. As a lawyer he was sound and correct, and a master of the general principles and philosophy of law. Not only was he an honor to the bar, but he contributed largely to make the bar itself more honorable. He possessed a commanding influence over the young mem- bers of the profession, and was constantly inspiring them with that zeal and emulation which tended greatly to elevate the profession as well as themselves. As an advocate and an orator he was high-minded, powerful, noble, and captivating. His sympathy and emotional nature placed him naturally with the defense, and in his efforts in behalf of his client his powers were aroused to an enthusiasm and power seldom equaled and never surpassed. But, great as he was in these re- spects, he was yet greater in his character as a Christian. Howard was a good man. One who knew him well says that it was out of the abundance of Christian grace that he was master of himself, and kept constantly under his control a strong, ardent, and deeply passionate nature. In private life, at the bar, in Con- gress, a minister of his government to a foreign court ---- through all-he was the devoted, unsectarian, consistent man of prayer and Christian devotion, and in all his re- lations filled the measure of an important and useful life, leaving behind him an example and a memory that will be cherished by the people of Parke County for- ever. His dust mingles with her dust, and his soul lies in the bosom of his Father and his God.
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OSKINS, JAMES M., merchant, Brazil, Indiana, was born in Martin County, Indiana, on the ninth day of December, 1829. He is a son of Joseph and Nancy (Thompson) Hoskins, natives of Ken- tucky. His descent on his father's side is Irish. His parents removed from Kentucky to Indiana in the year 1826, and made a settlement in the dense forests of Martin County, where they remained till 1831. In this year they moved to Vigo County, and settled nine miles cast of the city of Terre Haute. It was here that young Hoskins was fully initiated into the mysteries and priva- tions of farm life. The common schools were the only means available for scholastic training in his day, and they were open only for a few weeks in the winter sea- son. Here Mr. Hoskins received the only scholastic training he ever had. He has, however, from a long career in business and in official position, acquired a goodly share of practical education, so important in the affairs of the world. At the age of seventeen, young Hoskins enlisted in the military service of the United States against Mexico, as a private in Company H, 4th Regiment Indiana Volunteers, and remained in the line of duty for fourteen months. He was at the recapture of Puebla Huamatela, under General Lane, and many other skirmishes. After his return home he again went to the farm, where he remained for two years more. In 1851 he migrated to Livingston County, Illinois, and settled on a farm, payment being made by a land war- rant issued by the department as a reward for his mili- tary services. He remained here for three years, and then removed to Jefferson County, Iowa, where he lived six years, and in the spring of 1860 returned to Indiana and settled on a farm in Clay County. In 1865 and 1866 he was elected trustee of Posey Township. In the year 1867 he was nominated by the Democracy of Clay County as a candidate for auditor, and was subsequently elected by a large majority. In 1870 his course in office was indorsed by the people, and he served in all eight years in that capacity. Mr. Hoskins is a faithful and consistent member of the Baptist Church, and has been so for the past seventeen years. He is a steadfast mem- her of the Democratic party. On the twentieth day of November, 1851, he was married to Miss Ellen Car- penter, daughter of George Carpenter, Esq., of Clover- land, Indiana. his present estimable and esteemed com- panion. Mr. Hoskins is the father of ten children, all of whom are living. In 1877 he formed a partnership with Jacob A. Carpenter in a large and complete dry- goods store in Brazil, the style of the firm being Car- penter & Hoskins, of which Mr. Hoskins is the senior member. All in all, his is a life of success and com- mendable achievements. As an officer he discharged his trust with honor to himself and credit to the party that elected him. Few men hold a higher place in the estimation of their fellow-men than does James
M. Hoskins, and none are more deserving of such rec- ognition. His life is replete with instruction for the youth of the country.
USSEY, PRESTON, banker, etc., of Terre Haute, is a native of Indiana, having been born on a farm near Terre Haute, in the county of Vigo, Sep-
tember 12, 1826. He is the son of George and Mary Hussey ; his father was engaged in agricultural pursuits in Vigo County. Brought up on the farm from childhood, Mr. Hussey's early tastes naturally inclined to farming and stock-raising, and his education was mostly acquired in the common schools of the county, which, like most farmer's sons, he attended in the win- ter, being engaged in farm work during the remaining seasons. That he made good use of his time at school and improved every opportunity for reading and study in the intervals of farm work, his subsequent history shows. In 1850 he accepted the position of assist- ant postmaster in the Terre Haute post-office, James T. Moffatt being postmaster, and filled the position until 1852. He then obtained the position of book- keeper in the Terre Haute branch of the State Bank of Indiana, and, November 21, 1854, was appointed cashier. In 1857 the State Bank of Indiana went out of existence by the expiration of its charter, and was succeeded by the Bank of the State of Indiana, and Mr. Hussey was appointed cashier of the Terre Haute branch November 18, 1856, which position he retained during the business existence of that institution. In 1865 the National State Bank of Terre Haute was organized, and he was appointed cashier on the 28th of March of that year. On the sixth day of September following he was elected president, and has since occupied that position. A thorough and systematic business man in the fullest sense of the term, his careful management, and the methodical attention to detail characteristic of the insti- tution at whose head he stands, have won for him the reputation of possessing sound judgment in financial transactions, combined with a tireless industry that finds him seldom absent from his post. Being a man of quiet demeanor and unassuming manners, his character for personal honor and scrupulous business integrity is of the most exalted kind, and as a natural result the bank whose management he controls stands in the front rank of similar institutions in the state, and enjoys the con- fidence of all classes, the severe financial storms of these trying times failing to affect its standing. In politics Mr. Hussey was first a Whig, and afterwards a Repub- lican from the organization of that party; his interest in politics is only of that character which impels him, in common with all good citizens, to aid in the choice and election of worthy men to office. He was married, September 21, 1865, to Miss Kate B. Moffatt, of Terre
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Haute. Mrs. Hussey died June 13, 1876, leaving two ! speech he ever made was in favor of emancipation in children, a son and daughter. Mr. Hussey is a man utterly without pretension, courteous and engaging in manners, and so modest that much of the foregoing in- formation had to be obtained independently of him.
ENNEDY, PETER S., Crawfordsville, Indiana, lawyer, was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, July 10, 1829. His grandfather, Joseph Ken- nedy, was one of the earliest settlers of that county, to which, some years before the present cen- tury, he removed from near Hagerstown, Maryland. He was a natural farmer, a man of peace, whose gen- eral character, as summed up in an old manuscript, was that of one who endeavored all through life to "deal justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before God." The father of the subject of this sketch was also named Joseph. When quite young he learned the blacksmith's trade, which, in connection with farming, he followed as the occupation of his life. In March, 1860, at the age of seventy-seven, he died peacefully, literally worn out by time and hard work. He was not a sociable man, but was one of stubborn adherence to his convic- tions and fond of reading. He lived and died in pov- erty, leaving his children the simple inheritance of a name noted among his neighbors for honesty and char- ity, although he was a confirmed skeptic in religion. When somewhat advanced in age he married Elizabeth Sharrer, by whom he had nine children, the subject of this sketch being the seventh in order. Mr. Kennedy's friends will be interested in knowing that as a boy he was of a melancholy, thoughtful disposition, and that while seldom seeking the company of other boys he preferred the companionship of men, for the sake of information, and was a great and constant reader of books of useful knowledge, too heavy for the average lad. His education was principally acquired at the common schools, with a short term at an academy in North Middletown, Kentucky, making him another illustration of the fact that the best part of a man's schooling is what he gains by the process of self-teach- ing. Mr. Kennedy's mental and moral characteristics showed themselves early. From the time he was fifteen years old, he engaged in heated discussions about slavery, the liquor traffic, and the annexation of Texas, all common topics of the time. Though these debates were as yet in private circles, they manifested the polit- ical turn of his mind and the independence of his spirit. Thus beginning, he grew a confirmed hater of slavery and oppression in every form, a bold, outspoken enemy of the free sale of intoxicating drinks, and of the schemes and ideas of the Democratic party generally. It is not at all singular, therefore, that the first public | ing toll where their roads are not in good repair, and
Kentucky, a position so unpopular that there was but one individual in his audience who sympathized with him. Resolving very early in life to follow the law, Mr. Kennedy made every thing subservient to this idea. In the twentieth year of his age, while teaching school, he began the study of Blackstone; and from that time to the present he has devoted himself to the profession, trying not more to make himself rich by practice than master of the principles of the great science. Yet he did not bury himself in his office or limit his action to the courts. Ile wrote much for the leading papers on pol- itics, and with his pen was constantly helping forward reforms of every kind. At one time he contributed a series of eighteen articles for the Indianapolis daily Journal, in favor of the protection of home manufactur- ing. The views advanced, and the manner in which the subject was handled, won the admiration of all who were of his way of thinking, and the ire of opponents. A chief tenet in his political faith has al- ways been that the human race is capable of almost in- definite improvement. Another one is that the condi- tion of the common people depends in a great measure upon proper laws and teachings; hence, he has been, and now is, actively identified with measures looking to wise development of the resources of the country, and the general improvement of citizens mentally and physically. It were very strange if his generous labors in these directions had been wholly without fruit; and his biographer is happy to say they were not. Thus learn- ing, from actual practice at the bar, that courts were often hampered by the old rules excluding all persons as witnesses who happened to have an interest in the result of the suit, he went to work to bring about a change of the law in that respect. He wrote much upon the subject, and addressed himself energetically and personally to members of the Legislature. His efforts, after much persistence, were crowned with suc- cess. So to-day, thanks to Mr. Kennedy as much, if not more, than any other individual in the state, par- ties to suits may testify in their own behalf. Still it would seem he is not content with the triumph. He holds the statute does not go far enough; that all bar- riers whatever should be thrown down, and every body compelled to testify who knows any thing about the case in hand ; particularly, that there is no more reason for excluding a party whose antagonist is dead than there would be for excluding him on account of the death of any other witness on the other side. He is of opinion, also, that to allow parties to divorce suits to testify against each other would be a powerful check to bad conduct by both. Other reforms of like public import are attributable not a little to Mr. Kennedy-such as the law prohibiting gravel road companies from charg-
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