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 54
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sioned officer for two and a half years, but finally pro- motion came. For meritorious service at the battle of Gettysburg he was commissioned adjutant of the 130th Indiana Infantry, and, again, for gallantry in the battle of Nashville he was made major of the 153d Indiana Infantry Volunteers, though but twenty-two years of age. He served over four years, being discharged in October, 1865. His military career reflected honor upon him, but with characteristic modesty he restricts the biographer to the above meager outline. After leaving the army Major Wildman obtained a position in the Treasury Department at Washington. On the 3d of April, 1867, he was appointed collector of internal revenue for the Eleventh District of Indiana. He estab- lished his office at Anderson, and now remains in that position. He was reared as a Presbyterian, and his re- ligious views accord in general with those of that Church. In politics he manifests much interest, working actively in support of the Republican party, to which he is ardently devoted. Ile was married, September 25, 1867, to Miss S. J. Pierce, of Austinburg, Ohio. One child, Johnny, has been born to them. Mr. Wildman is a man of strong common sense, positive character, indom- itable will, great perseverance, and magnetic influence. These qualities enable him to manage public enterprises, and he has employed them, especially in conducting political campaigns, in the interests of the Republican ! party. In the army, though then quite a young man, ! he was regarded as one of the most worthy and efficient officers in his corps. He has fine conversational powers, has ever maintained a character of strict integrity, and stands high in the respect of all classes.
ILLIAMS, FREDERICK S., editor, Lafayette, is the son of Colonel John S. Williams, an account of whose life is to be found elsewhere in this vol- ume. He was born at Lockport, New York, April I, 1848. He obtained his education in the private schools of his native city, and of Lafayette, and in the colleges of Notre Dame, Indiana, and Georgetown, District of Columbia. He also spent one year in the University of Tübingen, at Würtemberg, Germany, perfecting him- self in the study of German. In choosing the editorial profession, Mr. Williams has evidently consulted his most prominent talent, since he has unmistakable adap- tation for this work. As a ready and vigorous writer, he has few equals; and his paper, though not long estab- lished, is rapidly attaining a reputation for the wisdom displayed in its selections, and the ability and terseness of its editorial department. Considering his youth, Mr. Williams had considerable professional experience be- fore entering upon his present enterprise, having been city editor of the Lafayette Dispatch, and managing , of office, he resumed the practice of his profession.
editor of the Indianapolis Sentinel, the state organ of the Democratic party. His present paper, the Sunday Times, was first issued in the early part of 1879. The commu- nity seemed to be already supplied in every department of journalism; and the substantial encouragement with which Mr. Williams met is a deserved compliment to the ability with which his paper is conducted. In 1871 Mr. Williams was elected clerk of the Lower House of the state Legislature. He has traveled extensively in the old world. Between the spring of 1867 and the winter of 1868, at the age of nineteen, he made an ex- tensive tour through England, Turkey, Greece, France, Italy, and Germany. As he traveled intelligently, he was enabled to gain a great amount of useful informa- tion. Mr. Williams is by birth and choice a thorough Democrat. He is not ashamed of his political faith, nor afraid to express it. His paper is non-political, and Mr. Williams's gentlemanly bearing and suavity of man- ners win and retain many friends of the opposite party. With marked talents for his chosen profession, fine nat- ural tastes, and a mind cultivated by study and travel, he can not fail to attain an honorable position in the editorial ranks.
ILLIAMS, COLONEL JOHN S., lawyer, of La- fayette, has been for twenty-six years a prom- inent citizen of this city. He was born De- cember 14, 1825, at Lockport, New York. His parents were George and Elizabeth (Haynes) Williams, both deceased. His early education was obtained at the district schools, and afterwards at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, at Lima, New York. His ear- liest and strongest inclinations were towards the legal profession ; and his successful career has confirmed the wisdom of his choice. After completing his course at school, he entered, as a student, the law office of Ransom & Holmes. He began the practice of law in 1846. In 1849, he removed to Washington, District of Columbia, and entered on the duties of principal clerk in the ap- pointment bureau of the general post-office, which posi- tion he filled for two years. In 1851, in connection with Mr. C. L. Skeels, he purchased the Lockport daily Courier, which he edited for two years, and then sold out to his partner. At about this time he was ap- pointed attorney for the Buffalo and Lockport Railroad Company, serving in that position until the completion of the road. In the spring of 1853 he came to Lafay- ette, as the attorney of the Lake Erie, Wabash and St. Louis Railroad, and held this position until the road was completed to Lafayette. In 1856 he was elected mayor of the city of Lafayette, and was re-elected in 1858, serving in that capacity with marked ability and fidelity. At the expiration of his second term
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For some years he was editor of the Lafayette daily | In the spring of 1850 he opened an office in Lafayette. American. He was married, in August, 1846, to Miss Anna Maria Southard, now deceased, of Lockport, New York. They had one son, Frederick S. Williams, now editor of the Lafayette Sunday Times. In Septem- ber, 1859, he married Miss Mary J. Ball, the eldest daughter of Owen Ball, Esq., one of Lafayette's old- est and most valued citizens. Colonel Williams is an attendant on the Episcopal form of worship, but is not a member of any Church. He has been for thirty years, and will probably always remain, a Dem- ocrat. Though he adheres to his political faith with tenacity, and expresses his views fearlessly, he is far re- moved from intolerance, and on more than one occasion has followed his convictions, rather than the dictates of party. He was a War Democrat, and is a thorough patriot. When the war broke out, he vied with the foremost in demanding the preservation of the Union. He was colonel of the 63d Indiana Volunteers, and was present with his regiment at the second battle of Bull Run. Shortly after this engagement, he was com- pelled by ill-health to resign his position. Until the close of the war, he rendered effective service by pen and speech, and, as an influential leader in the councils of his party, aided in advancing the Union cause. He is an able lawyer, a thorough business man, a liberal, public-spirited citizen, and a most genial gentleman. To his pleasant social qualities and personal popularity he was indebted for the confirmation, by an opposition Senate, of his appointment by President Johnson as col- lector of internal revenue. As a further and gratifying evidence of the same popularity at home, it may be stated that all of his bondsmen for that responsible office were members of the opposite political party. He is a brother of Hon. George B. Williams, distinguished as having been appointed Commissioner of Internal Revenue by the Japanese government, to institute and perfect that system in Japan.
ILSON, COLONEL, WILLIAM C., of Lafayette, was born at Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana, November 22, 1827. Unlike the majority of those who are mentioned in the present vol- ume, he enjoyed in early life the best of educational advantages. Naturally gifted with keen perceptions, great energy of character, and a retentive memory, it is no cause for wonderment that he graduated with high honors, and the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Two years later he finished the course in the Law Department of the Indiana State University, receiving therefrom the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and was immediately licensed to practice in the Circuit Courts, and in June of the same year in the Supreme Court of the state.
A decade passed without the occurrence of any event worthy of particular mention. During this period Mr. Wilson had been quietly gaining both fame and fortune, and, though scarcely thirty-three years old, was already regarded by his brethren as something more than a representative man. The ushering in of 1861 was fol- lowed by the muttering of that fearful storm that soon burst with all the fury of sectional hatred upon our de- voted country. Burning with patriotic ardor and the enthusiasm of youth, Mr. Wilson, at the first call for troops, enlisted as a private soldier. In him were com- bined those qualities of mind which display, under the most trying circumstances, the possession of great ex- ecutive ability, added to a personal courage that amounted almost to rashness. He rose rapidly, step by step, until, in the short space of eight months, he held command of one of the bravest regiments from the Hoosier State-the 40th Volunteers. His military career, which closed in the autumn of 1864, was creditable to him alike as a soldier and a gentleman. At the time of his discharge from the service he commanded the 135th Regiment, to which duty he had been assigned some six months previous. As a people, we are too chary of the credit due to those noble spirits, who, in the first hour of the nation's peril, forgetful of business interests and personal danger, severing the pleasant social ties that bound them to home and friends, rallied to the defense of their nation's honor. Returning after an absence of four years to the quiet of civil life, Col- onel Wilson again resumed the practice of his profes- sion. During the year 1866 he filled the position of assessor of internal revenue for the Eighth District of Indiana. IIe was then appointed by the President postmaster at Lafayette, retiring in April, 1869. On the occasion of the soldiers' reunion at Indianapolis, October 15, 1875, Colonel Wilson was selected by the veterans of Tippecanoe County to command their regi- ment, receiving for them the prize banner, which was presented by his life-long friend, Governor Morton. He was also chosen by the Society of the Army of the Cumberland to deliver the annual address before that body, at the Grand Opera-house, Philadelphia, July 7, 1876, which was received with high encomiums by the press throughout the country. Colonel Wilson is a Republican in politics, and, previous to the formation of that party, was a Whig. He has never, however, been a politician, nor devoted much of his time to party interests, his extensive professional relations requiring his undivided attention. As a lawyer, Colonel Wilson has few superiors. A brilliant orator, his ability to sway juries renders him a dangerous foe in legal con- flict. Thoroughly conversant with the methods and principles of legal jurisprudence, eloquent and exhaus- tive in argument, a keen judge of human nature,
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ready in debate and quick at repartee, this rare combi- | lished in 1865; " White's Graded School Arithmetics," nation of qualities has placed him in the front rank of Indiana's successful advocates. On the thirteenth day of April, 1876, he obtained the coveted honor of ad- mission to the Supreme Court of the United States.
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HITE, EMERSON ELBRIDGE, president of Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, was born in Mantua, Portage County, Ohio, January 10, 1829. His father, Jonas White, a native of Massachusetts, was a farmer, in moderate circumstances. When eighteen years of age he left home to obtain a liberal education, paying his way by working in haying and harvesting, and by teaching. In 1851 he was tem- porary instructor in mathematics in the Cleveland uni- versity, and in 1852 he became principal of one of the Cleveland schools. In 1854 he was promoted to the principalship of the Central High School. In 1856 he resigned this position to accept the superintendency of the public schools of Portsmouth, Ohio. Early in 1861 he removed to Columbus to take charge of the Ohio Educational Monthly, which he edited and published for over fourteen years, making it one of the most influen- tial educational journals in the country. In 1870 he started a national edition of the Monthly, with the title of the National Teacher. In 1875 he sold both editions of his journal to Hon. W. D. Henkle, Salem, Ohio. In 1863 he was appointed state Commissioner of Com- mon Schools, and while in this office secured an impor- tant revision of the Ohio school law. The new provi- sions incorporated established the present institute system of Ohio, and created the state Board of Examiners. In 1876 he received the unsolicited appointment to the presidency of Purdue University, which position he still holds. He was president of the Ohio Teachers' Asso- ciation in 1863; of the National Superintendents' Asso- ciation in 1868, presiding at the meeting held in Nash- ville, Tennessee ; of the National Educational Association in 1872, presiding at the meeting held in Boston, Mas- sachusetts ; and of the Industrial Section of the National Educational Association in 1880, being re-elected to serve in 1881. He is now a member of the National Council of Education, composed of fifty-one of the leading educators of the United States. In 1866 he read a paper in Washington on "A National Bureau of Education," and drafted the memorial and the bill which were introduced into Congress by General Garfield, of Ohio. The bill was passed by Congress, and is now the law under which the bureau is administered. He is the author of " A Class-book of Geography," first pub- lished in 1853; the larger portion of "Bryant and Stratton's Business Arithmetic," published in 1860: " White's School Registers and Records," first pub- D-7
published in 1870, and a "Manual of Arithmetic for Teachers," published in 1876. He was associate editor of " Education in Ohio," a centennial volume published in 1876, and is the author of numerous pamphlets and reports on educational topics. In 1866 the honorary degree of doctor of laws was conferred on him by the Indiana State University, and the following year the same degree was conferred by Marietta College, Ohio. In 1877 he was a lay delegate to the World's Presby- terian Council, which met in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was married in 1853 to Mary Ann Sabin, of Hudson, Ohio, by whom he has five children-three sons and two daughters.
ERGUSSON, SAMUEL. W., attorney, Lebanon., In- diana, was born in Muscatine County, Iowa, October 15, 1850. He is the youngest son of George and Amanda (Shepherd) Fergusson. His father was a blacksmith in his youth, but in his latter days a merchant. He served in the War of 1812. Mr. Fer- gusson passed his early life at home, attending school at Albion, Iowa, and also attended the seminary of that place for two years. At the age of fourteen he apprenticed himself as a shoemaker, being thus em- ployed for three years. At the end of this time he left his trade and was engaged as a brakeman on the Central Railroad of Iowa, where he worked a short time ; then removing to Cincinnati, Ohio, and taking a similar position on the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad. He retained this place for a brief period, and then went on the Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Louis- ville Railroad in the same capacity, staying there until March II, 1872, when he lost his left arm in coupling cars. In May, of the same year, he went to Lebanon, and began the study of law with Hon. C. S. Wisner, and at the same time he was the telegraph operator at that station. He was admitted to the bar in May, 1873. He remained with Mr. Wisner until 1874, when he began the practice of his profession, following it ever since. In 1876 he began and finished the first complete abstract of titles of the county, and was the originator of the style of index used, which is said to be the most perfect and simple of any known. In March, 1879, he purchased the weekly Argus of Thorntown, which he has since edited. He has been a contributor of articles to the Indianapolis papers and those of the county in which he lives. He is an uncompromising Republican, and has been so from his youth up. He was married April 23, 1874. to Laura I. King, daughter of James King, a mer- chant of Greensburg, Indiana, by whom he has three children. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Fergusson is a young man of marked ability.
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FVANS, JAMES LAFAYETTE, of Noblesville, was born in Ilarrison County, Kentucky, on the twenty-seventh day of February, 1825. In 1837 he removed, with his father, the late Jonathan Evans, to Hancock County, Indiana, where he resided until 1845, when he was married to Sarah A. Murnan, his present wife. Soon after his marriage he removed to Augusta, Marion County, at which place he lived until 1850, when he went to Noblesville, Hamilton County, where he engaged in a large retail mercantile business, which, in connection with farming, he followed successfully for several years, afterwards being exten- sively in the manufacture of flour, and in the grain, provision, and farming business, in which he is at pres- ent employed. In early life Mr. Evans received a com- mon school and academic education, but devoted his time and attention particularly to the acquisition of a business or commercial education, which he turned to good account afterwards, when he was elected, on the Republican ticket, to the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses, in which he served upon the Committees on Mines and Railroads and Canals. During the war Mr. Evans was a stanch Union man, doing more than almost any other person in his vicinity to aid the families of soldiers in the field. He is a member of the Christian Church and a prominent Mason. He is a man of me- dium height, has a large head, and has always been characterized among his acquaintances by his business sagacity and judgment, and in his community by his unswerving integrity.
I'DSON, CAPTAIN WILLIAM D., of Lebanon, Indiana, treasurer of Boone County, was born in Boone County, Indiana, September 23, 1837, and OR, is the second son of John and Matilda (Gose) Hudson. His father was a farmer, and was one of the early settlers of Boone County, coming here in an early day. Mr. Hudson spent his boyhood days on the farm until he was eighteen years of age, and attended what few schools the country afforded, and by hard study since he has arrived at manhood he has now a fair English education. In 1855 he went to Iowa and Mis- souri, and for the next six years drifted around consid- erably, teaching school in the winter months and being employed at various kinds of work in the summer. In the fall of 1862 he entered the 17th Iowa Volunteer In- fantry as a private, and was with the regiment until the close of the war. He rose to the rank of first lieutenant, and on the field of action at Huntsville, Alabama, was promoted to captain for bravery. He was with the regiment during the entire war, and was in all of the campaigns of the Army of the Tennessee and the Fif- teenth Army Corps, and was mustered out of the army at Davenport, Iowa, in the summer of 1865. On leav- | April 11, 1847, to Julietta More, of Georgetown, Illinois,
ing the army he returned to Boone County, and opened a store in Jamestown. After a few years he sold his store, and then opened a hardware and agricultural im- plement warehouse, which he operated until he was elected to the treasurer's office in the fall of 1874. He then disposed of his stock in trade, and moved to Leb- anon, where he has resided ever since. He was mar- ried August 21, 1865, to Sarah F. Brown, daughter of Matthew Brown, of Warren County, Iowa, a farmer, by whom he has two sons and two daughters, all at home attending school. In politics he is an active member of the Republican party, and is a member of the county central committee.
ORTER, ALBERT G., physician and surgeon. Lebanon, Indiana, was born in Fleming County, Kentucky, May 29, 1821, the oldest son of Seth W. (and Cynthia Davis) Porter, a farmer. The Davises were a very prominent family in Park County, Indiana, the brother, the Hon. John G. Davis, being in Congress. He was one of the eminent men of West- ern Indiana, and his brother William was very promi- nent in Illinois. Up to fourteen years of age the Doctor lived on the farm, and in 1835 he entered the high school at Rockville, where he spent several years. In 1841 he began the study of medicine with Dr. Davis, of Georgetown, Illinois, and afterward with Dr. James C. Cross, of Lexington, Kentucky, who was also a pro- fessor in the state university, in its medical department. In 1839 and 1840 he attended the Miami Literary Uni- versity. He continued the study of medicine, and also taught school up to 1847, at which time he went to Europe and entered the Transylvania Medical College | in Vienna, Austria, where he graduated in the spring of 1849. He immediately returned home, and located in Georgetown, Illinois, and began the practice of his profession. Here he lived for two years, and then moved to Galena, where he lived for some eight or nine years. He also lived and followed his profession at Prophetstown, where he had a fine property, and spent about ten years. In 1861 he entered the army, and was commissioned assistant surgeon of the 34th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. In 1863 he was promoted to the rank of surgeon, and assigned for duty to the 75th Illinois Volunteer Infanty, and was surgeon of that regiment at the time it was mustered out, in 1864. He was in neld duty most of the time, excepting six months, when he was in charge of the small-pox hospital. On returning home he settled in State Line City, where he remained until the spring of 1870, when he moved to Lebanon. He is a member of the County, State, and National or American Medical Society. He was married,
12Evans
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daughter of a wealthy farmer, by whom he has five children, all at home. In politics he affiliates with the Democratic party. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and is well and favorably known all over the state by the fra- ternity. The Doctor is a social and genial gentleman.
RIGHT, ENOS B., of Anderson, was born in Stafford County, Virginia, March 3, 1804. His father, William Wright, was a Virginian, of En- glish descent; and his mother, Susan (Briddle) Wright, was also born in Virginia, of German ancestry. His grandfather helped achieve the independence of our country. When Enos was two years of age his parents removed with him to Gallia (now Meigs) County, Ohio. From the age of eleven to that of eighteen he lived . with a farmer, who, according to agreement, sent him to school six months of each year, in return for his work the rest of the time. The school-houses of those days were of the most primitive kind, being built of logs, with windows of greased paper. In 1822 he began teaching. The twenty-seventh day of December, 1827, he was married to Miss Nancy Taylor, of Ohio. About three years later he removed to Madison County, Indi- ana, then almost an unbroken wilderness, the city of Anderson being but a small Indian village. There he taught the first organized school, and continued teaching two years, thus making ten years in which he was en- gaged in that occupation. Mr. Wright then engaged as salesman in a dry-goods store in Huntsville. After re- maining there two years he was employed as clerk and bookkeeper by Bazel Brightwell, in Richmond, for a pe- riod of two and a half years. He then returned to Hunts- ville. In 1845, in partnership with James Gray, in whose employment he had been during the three previous years,
he engaged in mercantile business in Anderson. In
1850 Mr. Gray died, and Mr. Wright bought both stock and building, and continued the business until 1870, when he sold the entire establishment. Mr. Wright cast his first vote for John Quincy Adams, and is now a Republican. He is interested only in important political issues, never stooping to intrigue. For nearly half a century he has borne the privations of pioneer life in Indiana, and labored diligently to enlighten the youth and develop the resources of the country, witnessing its growth from a wilderness to its present improved condi- tion. His character, as might be expected in one so useful without ostentation, is marked by temperance, morality, and strict integrity. An evidence of the gen- eral confidence in his honesty is seen in the fact that before banks were established in Anderson many depos- ited their funds with him for safe keeping. Though sev- 1 enty-six years of age, Mr. Wright is still vigorous, in- dustrious, and is as light-hearted as a sunny-faced youth.
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