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 46

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 46

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UDNUT, THEODORE, of Terre Haute, Indiana, was born at Washington, Mason County, Ken- tucky, July 15, 1820. His parents' names were Joseph and Catharine (Dalton) Hudnut. Young Hudnut's early life was spent like that of most Ken- tucky boys; his facilities for obtaining an education

Thus B. Long

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were meager, and such as he had were not well im- ] three thousand bushels of corn are used in the mill proved. Not until he reached the age of twenty did it every twenty-four hours, turning out from four hundred and twenty-five to four hundred and fifty barrels of goods, which find a market in all parts of the United States, from Maine to California, and from the Canadas to the Gulf; some shipments have also been made to Europe. What was once an unknown factor in the great problem of food supply has become a very popu- lar article of consumption ; many mills are engaged in its production, but not one can be fairly said to rival that of Hudnut & Co., of Terre Haute. Mr. Hudnut is also interested in a mill at Mt. Vernon, Indiana, and personally supervises the conduct of both places. In speaking of his political opinions, Mr. Hudnut is wont to say he was " born an Abolitionist," and that in the clays of his early manhood he read the Tribune when it was necessary to do so in the barn loft or behind the lumber in the carpenter shop. His first vote was for Martin Van Buren. Like most men prominent and suc- cessful in business life, Mr. Hudnut has never had time nor inclination for political honors. He is a member of the Christian (or Disciples') Church. August 9, IS43, he married Miss Martha P. Griffin. She died at Edin- burg in 1855, leaving a family of six children-four daughters and two sons. John Howard, the oldest son, served in the army under General Harrison, and lost his life in a skirmish at Russellville, Kentucky, in which he was the only one killed. The other son, Benjamin, is now in his father's office in Terre Haute. Mr. Hudl- nut married again, January 21, 1874, Mrs. Isabella Hudnut (née Walker), widow of his deceased brother. There are in Indiana few better types of the enterprising and self-made business man; from small commencements, by prudence, industry, and native ability conquering all obstacles, and carving out a name that shall endure, achieving a success in life that is truly wonderful, and furnishing a stirring example to those who are to come after. Mr. Hudnut is in the full vigor of life, still bear- ing a hand in the active prosecution of his business, and enjoying a high reputation for integrity and energy among his fellow-citizens of all classes. occur to him that there was a necessity for effort. He left home when about eleven years of age; tried clerk- ing and many other "shiftings " to live; it was, how- ever, when about twenty years old that he took on the habits of industry and self-reliance which have since been the prevailing features of his life. He commenced learning the carpenter's trade at Dover, Kentucky, when about seventeen, working there about three years for his board, after which he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he finished his trade. Kemoving to Kentucky, he started business for himself in Maysville, Mason County, and afterwards at Augusta. After some other changes of residence in Kentucky, he came to the state of Indiana in 1839, and worked at his trade several years there; subsequently removing to Charlestown, Clarke County, Indiana, where he remained three or four years. Here occurred one of those incidents which, apparently unimportant at first, often constitute the turning point of a life-time, thus changing the complex- ion of a whole career. While in Charlestown, Mr. Iludnut made the acquaintance of an old gentleman who, in a crude and unprofitable way, was engaged in the manufacture of hominy, then a comparatively un- known article of food. Mr. Hudnut's attention was called for the first time to corn as a source of food sup- ply, and the thought struck him at once that, with im- proved machinery, hominy could be manufactured so as to become more generally used as food, and at the same time prove a source of revenue to the manufacturer. Although unable at that time to carry his ideas into effect, the project once settled in his active brain was not abandoned, and, at last, after several changes of residence, he settled at Edinburg, Johnson County, Indiana, and started his first hominy-mill. He remained at Edinburg until 1860, when he entered the army as first lieutenant in the 19th Indiana Regiment, and was attached to the army of the Potomac, under General McClellan. After six months, during which the army was not actively engaged, Mr. Hudnut was taken sick, and returned home, and soon after built a mill at In- dianapolis, where he remained two years,. He then went to Mattoon, Illinois, and built a new mill, but, finding the corn of that state too soft for his purpose, ONG, THOMAS B., Judge of the Criminal Circuit Court, of Terre Haute, was born near Mansfield, Ohio, October 25, 1836. His father, Israel Long, is a member of one of the oldest families of Penn- sylvania, and is still living, though in his seventy- ninth year. His mother, Rebecca Long, was a daugh- ter of John Harper, Esq., of Lebanon County, Penn- sylvania, who was a soldier of the Revolution. The Harper homestead descended, after the feudal style, he moved to Terre Haute, and, in company with Mr. John S. Beach, started the extensive mills which he now owns and operates. It seems almost impossible to realize the immense growth of his business, since with rude and primitive machinery he opened his small mill at Edinburg. Now his establishment, which is the largest of its class in the United States, and indeed in the world, is fitted with the very best class of labor- saving machinery, a great part of which is Mr. Hud- | from father to son, and was occupied by the fam- nut's own invention, on which he holds patents. About | ily for more than a century. In 1833 the elder Mr.

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Long purchased a farm in Richland County, Ohio, | inal Circuit Court. With such signal ability and satis- where the subject of this sketch was born. Subse- faction were the duties of this office discharged by him during the four succeeding years that in 1874, although political feeling was at its height, he received the unan- imous nomination of both parties, and was re-elected without opposition. In 1878 he was again elected by large pluralities over two opposing candidates. It is a matter worthy of note, and without a parallel in the his- tory of the criminal jurisprudence of the state, that during a period of eight years upon the bench, in a criminal jurisdiction only second in the state, no ruling made by him has ever been appealed from, nor have any of his decisions ever been overruled by the Supreme Court of the state. He has never laid aside his classical studies, a somewhat unusual thing with the active men of the day, but still delights to pursue them when time and circumstances permit; and the re- sults of his labors have evinced talents rarely to be found outside the literati of the land. He has trans- lated into English heroic verse a great part of the "Æneid" of Virgil, besides some others of the minor productions of the Greek and Latin poets. He has also made frequent translations from the German of Goethe, Schiller, and Heine, being a thorough German scholar. Nor has he neglected the pursuit of English literature, whether considered in reference to form or spirit. In the course of his studies, he has acquired a large and valuable library, already numbering nearly two thousand volumes, and being particularly rich in early English and in works adapted to the study of philology. In aid of the study of the natural sciences he has collected an interesting cabinet, num- bering more than a thousand specimens, illustrating ethnology, paleontology, and mineralogy. Judge Long is a fluent speaker and a graceful writer, as shown by his efforts at the bar, and by numerous public addresses on historical and literary subjects. He has also ac- quired considerable reputation as a poet by various fugitive pieces, and a number of ballads and songs, which have been set to music and published in the principal cities of the country. On the bench, his man- ner is quiet and dignified, and personifies all the majesty of the law without its austerity. His delivery is grace- ful, and his voice is remarkable for the quality of its tone, which reaches every ear without the slightest ap- parent exertion on the part of the speaker. His charges are always remarkably clear and to the point, and dull, indeed, must be the juryman who fails to comprehend the law in a case after one of his efforts. In 1870 Judge Long connected himself with the Masonic Fra- ternity, and in succeeding years filled many local posi- tions in the society, serving six years as presiding officer of his chapter, one of the largest and most flourishing in the state. He now holds the highest office in the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Indiana. quently, he removed to Mansfield, and engaged for a while in mechanical and manufacturing pursuits, which he afterwards continued in Bucyrus and Springfield. He was a skillful mechanic, and the inventor of many labor-saving machines, for several of which he secured patents from the government. In November, 1846, he removed to Terre Haute, where he has since continu- ously resided. Here Thomas B. Long received an academical education, embracing all the studies usually pursued in the colleges of the land. Evincing a marked taste for both music and art during this period, he spent his leisure hours in their study, under competent teach- ers. The few pictures painted by him at this time gave great promise of future success ; but, preferring more active employment, he finally selected the law as his profession, and in the summer of 1854 entered the office of Hon. R. W. Thompson, Secretary of the Navy under the administration of President Hayes. Here he re- mained as a student at law for several years, during which time he attended lectures in the Law Department of the Cincinnati College, where he graduated in the spring of 1856. The act of the Ohio Legislature incorporating this college required that the examination of applicants for the degree of bachelor of laws should be conducted by five members of the Cincinnati bar. It chanced that Rutherford B. Hayes, Esq., afterwards President of the United States, was one of the committee on this occasion, and signed the certificate upon which the diploma of graduation issued. In the fall of 1856 Mr. Long was elected district attorney of the Court of Com- mon Pleas, and about the same time was engaged as editor of one of the daily papers of the city, a position he filled for about two years, when he withdrew for the purpose of devoting his entire attention to the practice of his profession. In 1860 he was placed upon the presidential ticket of the Union party as a candidate for elector, in which capacity he canvassed his district wherever his services were called for; but, seeing the hopelessness of the success of his party, he urged all wavering voters to support Stephen A. Douglas for President. Having no desire to become a politician, he now applied himself with renewed diligence to his pro- fessional pursuits and literary studies, for the latter of which he still retains an inordinate fondness. In June, 1868, he was appointed school examiner of Vigo County, an office which, under the school system of the state, made it his duty to examine and license all teachers in the county and city, and gave him a general supervision of all schools in his jurisdiction. This appointment was a marked tribute to his acknowledged ability as a litterateur, and he filled the position most acceptably until 1870, when he was unanimously nominated by the Democratic party, and elected by a large majority, as Judge of the Crim-

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cGREGOR, ALEXANDER, of Terre Haute, Indiana, was born in the village of Stanley, Perthshire, Scotland, November 5, 1805. His family is one of note in the annals of his native land, and among his ancestry he can probably reckon the famous chieftain, Rob Roy. His father, Robert Mc- Gregor, was engaged in farming a short distance from the Highland border ; his mother, Betsey (Livingston) McGregor, was also of Scotch descent. Toil on the farm, alternated with attendance at the parish schools of Perthshire, filled up the early life of Mr. McGregor. At about twenty-five years of age, gratifying a long cherished desire, and spurred on by the glowing colors in which the Western world was painted by two brothers who had preceded him to America, he left his native land and set sail for this country. He landed at Philadelphia when railroads were unknown on this con- tinent, and only dreamed of here and there in the land he had just left; traveling over the mountains by stage- coach to Pittsburgh, and thence down the Ohio River to Cincinnati, where he joined his brothers in the fall of 1829. The latter were at that time interested in an iron furnace at Scioto, and he, being sent there in the capacity of assistant superintendent, remained about three years. Eating the bread of comparative depend- ence was very distasteful to him, and, at the end of that time, having heard inspiring accounts of the Wabash country, he determined to travel in that direction. He at last settled in Terre Haute, where he engaged in the iron and hardware business. He continued in that occupation for a number of years, bending all his ener- gies toward building up a lucrative trade, and by perse- vering industry succeeded in accumulating considerable money. He finally relinquished the hardware business, and traded in groceries, etc., until 1852, when he bought what was then a small distilling establishment, but which, under his management, in connection with his brother, soon assumed gigantic proportions, until in 1872 he was enabled to retire from business, having ac- quired, by his own exertions, a handsome competence. The distillery is now managed by Mr. H. Hulman, and is one of the largest in the United States. While en- gaged in the legitimate pursuit of wealth, with all the energy and tenacity of purpose characteristic of his race, Mr. McGregor has always come to the front when

up, and it was succeeded by the National State Bank, in which he is now a stockholder and member of the board. In 1845 he was married to Miss Mary J. Stew- art, of Terre Haute. She died in 1866, leaving a family of two sons and two daughters. In 1871 Mr. McGregor married Miss Orintha Archer, and by this marriage has had one son. The youngest son died in 1869; the eldest, James, is at present at Salt Lake City, where he is engaged as commissioner in settling up the affairs of a defunct bank. He has also large mining interests in Utah Territory. One daughter, Helen, is the wife of Mr. Jacob D. Herkimer, of Mattoon, Illi- nois; the other resides with her father. Retired from active business life, Mr. McGregor now enjoys the fruits of a well-spent life, in which, by industry, energy, and perseverance, he has built himself a comfortable fortune, and a reputation for integrity and unwavering principle that is of more value than unlimited wealth. In his beautiful home, surrounded by every thing that makes life pleasant, he enjoys the consciousness that all that he has and is he has earned and become by his personal exertions; and although he has reached the hilltop of life, and henceforward his course will be toward the valley, he bears upon his face no indications of the decay of bodily power, and his mental faculties retain all the vigor and keenness of his more active days.

FELSON, THOMAS HENRY, of Terre Haute. In the Augustan age, every Roman citizen, patrician or plebeian, who could in any substan- tial manner increase or intensify the renown of the commonwealth, was thought worthy of public men- tion. This disposition of public honor, to such as had actually achieved it, proceeded from the counsels of the wisest statesmanship. The state is an aggregate body. Its distinction and usefulness, whatever they may be, come from a great variety of sources. Cæsar could not have been Cæsar without the orators, the poets, the artisans, the philosophers, and the heroes, who never slept when the cause of Rome was on trial. More of the people, and less of presidents and gov- ernors, is the historian's constant craving. Indiana, already, is mighty as a state; but how she became any project was on foot to further the interests of his so, and who most contributed to her development and city. He contributed liberally of his means to railroad distinction, are questions which will arise for discussion enterprises, and was one of the first directors of the and solution throughout future time. Thomas H. Nel- railroad from Terre Haute to Indianapolis when the | son was born in Mason County, Kentucky, in 1824. He road was in course of construction. He also took a was the son of Doctor Thomas W. and Francis (Doni- phan) Nelson, and brother of Colonel A. D. Nelson and the late General William Nelson, of the United States ¡ army. Mr. Nelson was educated in the schools of his native state. During his early youth he was brought in daily contact with the best society of Kentucky. His large amount of stock in furnaces, rolling mills, and other enterprises, some of which, though promising well at first, proved financially disastrous. He was a director in the old State Bank of Indiana, and re- mained in that position until its affairs were wound

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father being a favorite of the most distinguished public men of his period-the Clays, the Crittendens, the Marshalls, the McClungs, the Menifees, and the Wick- lifes, in the most knightly day Kentucky ever saw-his carly social opportunities were rare indeed, and he im- proved them thoroughly. Ambitious for a wider and newer field, Mr. Nelson, in 1844 removed to Rockville, Indiana, then the home of Howard, Bryant, McGuaghey, and Davis, and the forensic field of Lockwood, Hanne- gan, Lane, Pettit, Evans, and White. In professional combat and gladiature he did not find his chosen field any easier than the one he left on the other side of the river. Subsequently, however, he changed his settle- ment again to Terre Haute, which has since been his home for a period of little less than thirty years. Dur- ing all this time Mr. Nelson has been in the foreground of professional and political distinction. His rank at the bar and on the rostrum, from the first, has been un- questioned. With Seward, Lincoln, Lane, Julian, Gid- dings, and Morton, Mr. Nelson may be classed among the founders of the Republican party. Prior to 1861 Mr. Nelson was known, in his own and other Western states, as an advocate and political debater of rare address and power; but he had not before that made much, if any, effort to secure public station. Excepting only his race for Congress in 1860, when he ran against Mr. Voorhees, he has never been an aspirant to office. In this race he made a joint canvass with his rival. Both political par-

ties, so championed, claimed the honors of the contest, but, as there has been none properly commissioned to decide it, it must now be remembered only as a combat of giants, who could give and receive hard blows, and still live when the fray was over. Mr. Voorhees was elected, and Mr. Nelson gracefully retired to his pleasant voca- tion of the law, to await events which soon proved to be so momentous that the whole Christian world was at once aroused and convulsed. Abraham Lincoln was elected President on the sixth day of November, 1860, by one hundred and eighty out of a total of three hun- dred and three electoral votes, over Douglas of the North and Breckinridge of the South; and the terrible war of the Southern insurrection soon after followed. Upon Mr. Lincoln's accession to the presidency, he se- lected Mr. Nelson, always his friend, and often his legal opponent in the trial of causes in Eastern Illinois and Western Indiana, to represent the government as Minister to Chili. The historical years from 1861 to 1866, during which Mr. Nelson occupied this position, were freighted, both in the United States and Chili, with occurrences which at once gave scope to his activ- ity, fidelity, and abilities. Though convulsed by inter- nal rebellion, the Federal government held large claims against Chili. These Mr. Nelson pursued with such clearness and force as to secure their immediate pay- ment, and at the same time so ably represented the

issues in controversy in that republic that Mr. Lincoln was constrained to declare the government and people of Chili were among the stanchest friends the United States government had anywhere abroad. During Mr. Nelson's incumbency of this mission, and while he was president of the diplomatic corps at Santiago, occurred the war between Spain and Chili; and to the American embassador, more than to any other man, does the latter country attribute the sympathy which con- temporary governments almost universally displayed in its behalf. Mr. Nelson's dispatches to the state department are essentially American in tone, and exceedingly graphic in the delineation of the grave events and interests which came under his attention. Mr. Nelson's power of statement is very remarkable, his language always courtly, never menacing nor coarse, thoroughly excellent, and always within the rules of the most approved belles-lettres. During Mr. Nelson's stay in Chili he witnessed the burning of the Church of Campania, in which four thousand persons perished. The fire occurred on the eighth day of December, 1863. The heroic part taken by Mr. Nelson in that appalling holocaust was at the time very generally commented upon both in this country and England. On his return home, in 1866, Mr. Nelson threw himself into the memorable canvass on behalf of the fourteenth amend- ment of the Constitution of the United States, and spoke in its favor, from Kentucky to Kansas, to im- mense audiences of his party. He was unanimously chosen, in 1868, to head the Republican electoral ticket of Indiana, and addressed the people in almost every county in the state. Grant and Colfax were elected, and Mr. Nelson carried the electoral vote to the capital. In May, 1869, he was appointed to succeed General Rosecrans, in Mexico, as envoy plenipotentiary, and his nomination was at once reported, and confirmed by a unanimous vote of both the political parties of the Senate. This position, however, he resigned in Feb- ruary, 1873, but so steadily had he progressed in the adjustment of the affairs of his government with Mexico that his resignation was not accepted for months after it had been tendered. In 1876 he again headed the electoral ticket of his party, and made a general canvass. Mr. Nelson was married in 1844, pre- vious to his removal to this state, to Miss Elizabeth Key, daughter of Colonel Marshall Key, a distinguished political leader of Washington, Mason County, Ken- tucky. She was a very remarkable woman. She was resolute, courageous, and ambitious, in an eminent de- gree. She was a student without pretense, as without parade, all her life long. Her knowledge of foreign languages, of history, and of political economy, enabled her to afford her husband an assistance as intelligent as it was assiduous, and none of her sex who clamor most loudly in public for "the equality of woman with man "

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have done, or can ever do, so much to prove the truth : ful analysis would fail to find in Mr. Nelson's character of their doctrine, in its proper appreciation, as this ten- der, modest, and devoted wife. She died at Maltrata, Mexico, March 23, 1872. Mr. Nelson still remains the

the smallest sediment of malice. His convictions are strong, but he is generous and tolerant in a high de- gree. He sees more of good than evil in the world, mourner of a loss he has never attempted to supply. and especially in mankind. Both his moral and phys- In his personal appearance Mr. Nelson is tall, not cor- pulent, but muscular, erect, and very commanding in every move and gesture. His head is large and well proportioned, and his face handsome and intellectual. On the rostrum, under the stress of expectation and ex- citement, he speaks in a torrent. His manner then is as graceful as his thought is fresh, bounding, and beau- tiful. He disguises the bitterest invective with the best quality of humor, and so manages to maintain a pleas- ant equanimity between friend and foe. The most care-

ical courage have always remained unchallenged, and yet he is uniformly charitable and conciliatory. In the social circle and at the banquet Mr. Nelson is matchless. There he is never moody and never breaks down. His repartee is boundless. Ile must be tied hand and foot or his escape is inevitable. All in all, Mr. Nelson is one of the most marked men of his period, and has done as much to impress his convictions on the public mind as any of his contemporaries. His mind is full of originality.

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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 46

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