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 69

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 69

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trustees of Peru at the time the public school buildings were erected ; and spent much time, even to the exclu- sion of his private business, in overseeing their con- struction. For several years he has contributed liberally both of his time and money towards promoting the growth and prosperity of the Presbyterian Church, of which he is an earnest member. He has generously aided other denominations, and counts it his chief joy to be thus able to assist in the spread of Christianity. He married, March 26, 1855, Frances A. Barbour, daughter of Mr. A. Barbour, of Medina, Ohio. They have had nine children, of whom three sons and three daughters are living. Mr. Effinger is of about the aver- age height, rather heavily built, and usually enjoys ex- cellent health. He possesses great oratorical powers, being able to sway a jury almost at will, and is fre- quently selected as the orator at public demonstrations. By industry and integrity he has secured a competence, while his unexceptionable habits and worthy Christian character have won the confidence and respect of the community.

LLIS, JONATHAN W., M. D., of Peru, was born at Martinsville, Clinton County, Ohio, July 3, 1827. The Ellis family in America sprung from three brothers, Welshmen, who came to this country with Burgoyne's army ; settled first in Virginia, and subse- quently in Georgia. Their chief occupation was farm- ing ; their descendants are industrious, warm - hearted people, but not thrifty, and have never accumulated much property. Robert Ellis, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in East Tennessee, on the Hol- ston River. He migrated to Clinton County, Ohio, where he lived until 1851; then removed to Grant County, In- diana; and in 1873 died there, in his eightieth year. His widow, Anna ( Hockett) Ellis, still survives him, at the age of eighty-four; both came of races noted for lon- gevity. She is a native of Guilford County, North Car- olina, removing thence to Montgomery County, Virginia, and finally to Clinton County, Ohio. Herself and her husband were members of the society of Friends, as also were his immediate ancestors of the paternal line. Dr. Jonathan Ellis had the usual opportunities of attending country schools until his nineteenth year, when he entered the Friends' High School, at Martinsville, Ohio. Here he improved three years in earnest study, becoming deeply interested in anatomy and physiology. He deter- mined to learn the science of medicine, and accordingly, at the age of twenty-two, commenced a course of med- ical study in Waynesville, Warren County, Ohio, without an instructor. Soon after, in the spring of 1850, he went to Cincinnati, took one course of lectures at the Eclectic Medical Institute, and another course during the follow- ing winter. Not having studied two years-the time

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required for graduation-he began practice in Jonesbor- --- -- ough, Grant County, where he remained one year. In September, 1852, he removed to Marion ; resided there until 1866, and then settled in Peru. These were years of severe study and careful practice. In February, 1854, about three years after leaving college, he returned to Cincinnati, and graduated at the Medical Institute. That year was made still more memorable to him by the death of his first wife, whose maiden name was Jemima Jones, whom he married October 26, 1851. He mar- ried, October 15, 1860, Louisa McClure, daughter of Samuel McClure, of Marion. She died May 18, 1863, leaving one child, Minnie L. On the 25th of October, in the year 1866, he married Coraline Leonard, his present wife. Dr. Ellis had to contend with the preju- dices of allopathic practitioners; but his success has at length compelled them to acknowledge his abilities. By a courteous, manly deportment, and by the gentleness and skill with which he treated his patients, he has gained the confidence and esteem of the public, as a man and a physician. His practice has long been exten- sive and correspondingly profitable. In 1872 he helped organize the Miami County Medical Society ; but, be- cause of certain unwise restrictions imposed by the rules, he resigned, believing it to be the "duty of every good physician to alleviate sickness and suffering under any circumstances and at all times." This conscientiousness and sympathy characterize the man. In 1852 Dr. Ellis was made a member of the Independent Order of Odd- fellows ; he has passed all the chairs, and was elected a delegate to the Grand Lodge, but could not serve because of the urgent duties of his profession. He be- came, in 1859, a member of the Free and Accepted Ma- sons. He votes the Republican ticket. Concerning his religious connection, the following incident is of inter- ' est : His father was a miller, and employed his son as engineer ; in 1848 he engaged to run an engine in a dis- tillery in Franklin, on the Big Miami River; and for this he was expelled from the society of Friends. He then joined the New Light Church, and, subsequently, the Presbyterian Church, in which he is still a member in good standing.

there upon what was known as Ford's Farm, at Ford's Bend, on the Potomac, until about 1795. He then re- moved to Brooke County, Virginia, where, on the 26th of January, 1796, he married Rebecca Snedeker, daughter of Peter Snedeker, a German, who served in the patriot army during the first war with England. Soon after their marriage they left Virginia, because of slavery, believing it to have a pernicious effect upon the slave- holders, and removed to what is now Cadiz, in Harrison County, Ohio. Mr. Ford was there elected to the Leg- islature, and in that body introduced, and succeeded in carrying, a bill to divide the county. The part set off was called Harrison County, and Cadiz was made the county seat. Here, on the 19th of January, 1812, Doc- tor James Ford was born, the youngest of five children- four sons and one daughter. In 1814 the family removed to Mansfield, Richland County, Ohio, where Mr. Ford engaged in milling. While building the mill, he fell and broke two of his ribs; the fragments pierced the lungs, causing an abscess, from which he died March 17, 1816. His wife survived until September 23, 1873, thus attaining the extreme old age of ninety-two. Both were of families noted for longevity. Doctor James Ford obtained his primary education in a common school, at- tending only during the winter terms. He became profi- cient in the elementary branches, but the course of study. pursued was limited, and he therefore added the study of surveying. Becoming qualified for admission to Kenyon College, he spent one year there, under the tutorship of the late distinguished Salmon P. Chase, when he returned to Mansfield, a classical school having been established in that place by Rev. James Rowland. There he remained one year, giving his attention to Greek and Latin, together with logic and rhetoric. He was always a very diligent student, and stood among the first in every class. In furtherance of his desires, he commenced, in 1831, to read medicine, under the instruction of Doctor William Bushnell, the family physician. While thus engaged he boarded at a hotel, occupying a room with John Sherman, the present Secretary of the United States Treasury. With the intention of pursuing a course of medical lectures at Dartmouth College, he took passage, at Cleveland, on the steamer "George Washington," in the fall of 1833. The vessel was wrecked, and he lost all his effects, except the clothes he then wore. In this plight, he remained in Buffalo until assistance was received from home; but this came too late to enable him to enter Dartmouth that year. He hurried to Cincinnati, hoping to gain admission to the Ohio Medical College; but there, too, the course had already begun. In the spring of 1835, he opened an office in Connersville, Indiana, and continued to practice there, until the summer of 1835, when he took a course of lectures at the Ohio Medical College. He returned thence to Connersville, and Doctors Mason and

ORD, JAMES, M. D., of Wabash, is descended from a member of the colony founded by the noble Lord Baltimore, a settlement which deserves to be gratefully remembered as having, in its earliest history, set the first example of perfect religious tolera- tion in this country. This ancestor was the grandfather of Doctor James Ford, the subject of this sketch. He was a Scotchman; but, having made America his home, he sacrificed his life to secure her independence, being killed in the War of the Revolution, while acting as a scout. His son, James Ford, was born in Maryland, and lived | Brown, of that village, having dissolved partnership in

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1836 and engaged in other business, transferred their practice to him. Ilis duties were severe and very respon- sible ; but while health lasted he proved equal to the task. Obliged to ride day and night-a strain upon the physical energies no man could long endure-his strength finally failed for a season; he was soon, however, enabled to resume practice, and sustained its labors for many years. On the 5th of June, 1837, he married Miss America Holton, daughter of Rev. Jesse Holton, a prominent cit- izen of Maysville, Kentucky. Doctor Ford remained in Connersville until January, 1841, when he removed to Wabash. He graduated February 21, 1855, from the Rush Medical College in Chicago, and, in 1867, took a course of lectures on the eye and ear, at the Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia. April 30, 1861, im- mediately after the call for seventy-five thousand three- months' men, Governor Morton appointed him surgeon of the 8th Indiana Infantry-his commission being the sec- ond, of any kind, given by that great war Governor. In July, 1861, when its term had expired, the regiment was tendered for three years' service; was accepted, and or- dered back to Indianapolis to re-organize. It served in the West Virginia campaign, and at length was transferred to the West. Though his duties did not demand it, Doc- tor Ford was under fire in several battles, among which were Rich Mountain and Pea Ridge. After the latter engagement he was promoted to the rank of brigade surgeon. On the 24th of February, 1863, he was ap- pointed medical director, which office he held until June, 1863, when he resigned because of illness, so severe as to confine him to his bed for six weeks after his return home. A strong constitution and tender nursing finally enabled him to resume his wonted labors. In May, 1871, he was appointed United States Examining Sur- geon for Pensions, which office he still holds. Doctor Ford was formerly a Whig, and is now a Republican ; he is not a partisan, and is interested only in the great polit- ical questions that concern the nation. Though at times solicited to accept nomination for public office, he has always declined. Education has long engaged his hearty support : he is one of the number who founded Butler University, and was a trustee of that institution for eleven years. He joined the Masonic Fraternity in 1836, and is a charter member of Hanna Lodge, in Wabash. Hle helped establish the Christian Church in that city, and is now one of its elders. Doctor Ford has devoted all his energies to the science and art of medicine, ex- periencing great delight in this ever-widening field of knowledge. For twenty-five years he has studied clima- tology, with special reference to local sanitary influences and effects. In the army such regard was paid to his opinions upon this subject, that his advice was always heeded in the location of camps and hospitals; and in Wabash County several dwellings have been removed by their owners from localities which he pronounced un-

healthful to others indicated by him as free from mala- ria. Doctor Ford's theories upon this subject are original and interesting ; and he contemplates giving them to the public in book form. Surgery has received his chief attention. With the skill and nerve that study, expe- rience, and native talent impart, he has proved himself qualified for every emergency, performing operations requiring the highest degree of surgical ability. He has also written much for medical journals. Dr. Ford has had six children, of whom five are now living: James Henry, a promising young physician now in practice with his father, who has been a student in the Medical Department of Michigan University, is a grad- uate of the Indiana Medical College, and professor of physiology in the Fort Wayne Medical College; Will- iam Jesse, a contractor, of Wabash; Edward Holton, who is now a student of Butler University ; Alena, wife of Major B. F. Williams, a lawyer in Wabash; and Anna, wife of W. D. Stone, a merchant of Topeka, Kansas. The eldest daughter, Mary, now deceased, was the wife of Colonel J. M. Thompson, of the United States Mail Service.

ISHER, MAJOR STEARNS, late of Wabash, was born in Marlborough, Vermont, November 25, 1804, and died July 26, 1877. He was the son of Jonathan and Sarah (Stearns) Fisher, both natives of Vermont. The former lost his father when he was seven years of age, and he was brought up by Mr. and Mrs. Hastings, in Massachusetts. Stearns Fisher re- mained in Vermont till the age of thirteen, when the family removed to Cuyahoga County, Ohio. There he attended the common school, and, studying very dili- gently, qualified himself for teaching. He taught his first school in 1824, and was paid in hemlock boards, which are still in use on a barn then belonging to his father. Such was his desire to fit himself for a life of use- fulness and distinction that he studied night after night till past the hour of twelve. Afterwards, he engaged as a laborer on the Wabash and Erie Canal. Here, too, after toiling all day, he would pore over his books a part of the night, civil engineering being his chief study. At last his diligence and faithfulness were rewarded in his being elevated to the position of assistant civil engineer, which he held until the canal was completed. He was then made superintendent, and held that office until the canal passed into the hands of the English bond-holders. He afterward superintended the survey of the Wabash Valley Railroad. When this was concluded, he retired to his farm, four miles west of the village of Wabash; and this with his limestone quarry occupied his atten- tion for many years. In 1855 Mr. Fisher was elected a member of the state Board of Agriculture, and subse-

MILTON GARRICUS Western Riogl Pub. Co

Milton Garri vigues

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quently served two terms as president. In 1860 he was elected to the lower branch of the Legislature. While in that body he formed an intimate friendship with Gov- ernor Morton, who relied much upon his judgment in grave matters of state. In 1862 Mr. Fisher was ap- pointed state paymaster, and held that position until 1866. In 1869 he was elected to the Senate, and served one term. He was more or less occupied with public affairs from the close of his term in the state Senate until his death, being universally respected for his probity, sound judgment, and executive talents. He was exten- sively known in business and in political circles. He was a member first of the Whig and then of the Repub- lican party, and was very influential in politics. He was a member of the Baptist Church, which he joined in 1850. The interests of temperance and of education were dear to him; and he was never backward in lend- ing aid to enterprises promotive of the general welfare. He was a noble example of true manhood-kind, genial, cheerful, unassuming, self-educated, talented, and strictly temperate and honest. At times his duties required the handling of large sums of public money, but not one cent of this did he ever appropriate, directly or indi- rectly, to his own use. His first wife was Susan Inger- soll, of Piketon, Pike County, Ohio; she died in April, 1843. He was married again, October 26, 1845, to Mrs. Luther Woods, whose maiden name was Harriet Love- land. She is the daughter of Joseph Loveland, a native of Massachusetts, who owned the well-known Rutland marble quarry farm, in Vermont, and lived there many years, until he removed, in 1827, to Granville, Ohio, where he died, in 1833.

ARRIGUS, CAPTAIN MILTON, lawyer, of Ko- komo, was born in Wayne County, Indiana, Sep- tember 27, 1831. His paternal ancestors were French Huguenots-three brothers of the house of De la Garrigue, whose estates were confiscated and themselves compelled to flee from their loved France. One settled in the West Indies, another in New Jersey, and the third in Pennsylvania. The name became, by changes, Garrigues or Garrigus. The grandfather of Mil- ton Garrigus was a soldier in the Revolutionary army ; and his father, Timothy Lindley Garrigus, a native of New Jersey, served in the War of 1812, under General Harrison. He became a leading minister-often a presid- ing elder-in the sect called United Brethren in Christ. He traveled over this state and was widely known as an earnest, logical, soul-stirring preacher. He was a prom- inent Abolitionist and Free-soiler, and, in 1844, was a ' the firm of Murray & Garrigus. Mr. Murray had been candidate on that ticket for Representative from Wayne County. In 1852 he was a nominee for state Senator from Howard County, but as the Free-soil party was not

in the ascendant he was defeated at both elections. He had often advocated, by logic and persuasion, the equal rights of men ; and, in 1856, he hastened to Kansas to defend those principles, if necessary, by force of arms. He was terribly in earnest, and went armed with a Sharpe's rifle, intent on helping the struggling Free- state men of that territory ; but he was attacked with lung fever at Omaha, where he died and was buried. He was highly respected and esteemed by all who knew him. The mother of Milton Garrigus, Elizabeth A. Gar- rigus, was born in Virginia in 1800, and died in Kokomo, Thanksgiving-day, IS78. She is buried in the cemetery in that place. During his childhood the family removed to Marshall and then to St. Joseph County, but returned to Wayne County in 1840. Seven years later Milton Gar- rigus and his brother John went into Howard County with their father, and secured a pre-emption claim, upon which they built a cabin. The father and John then returned home, leaving Milton Garrigus in charge of the cabin ; and for nine long months he staid there in Cru- soe-like seclusion, awaiting the arrival of the family. The region had been an "Indian Reserve." The red men had gone, but the other native inhabitants of the forest remained, and as the father was a good hunter, and even the mother expert with the rifle, many an "antlered monarch of the waste" fell before the merci- less bullet. There, in the depths of the woods, even American enterprise could not at once provide good edu- cational advantages, hence the instruction which Milton Garrigus received was limited indeed. But as a plant in darkness grows toward the light, he eagerly sought knowledge and read every obtainable book. His study hours were after the day's work, and, by the light of hickory bark torches, were usually extended far into the night. Thus he became the best reader and speller in that neighborhood ; and acquired a larger store of general information than is possessed by many a more favored student of our public schools, becoming thoroughly con- versant with the facts of ancient and modern history. He did not neglect work meanwhile, but toiled hard year after year, helping his father to clear three farms, and, subsequently, clearing one for himself. Before long he had qualified himself for teaching, in which he was en- gaged for seventeen winter terms. Like his father, he was an Abolitionist, and fought the mimic fray in many a school-house polemic. Ile was a farmer until 1858, when he was appointed postmaster at Greentown. He then rented his farm, removed to that village, and de- voted all his leisure to the study of law. In October, 1859, he was admitted to the bar, and practiced success- fully alone until 1871, when he became a member of

colonel of the 89th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, but is now dead. This was at length succeeded by Garrigus & Ingels, and this again by the present firm of O'Brien

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& Garrigus. His broad sympathies for humanity, man- | ever he engages, he does his work earnestly, never for- ifested in a desire for the liberation of the enslaved, were not confined to that class, but extended also to the victims of strong drink. In 1859 he was commis- sioned D. D. G. W. C. T. of the Independent Order of Good Templars, to canvass all that part of Indiana north of the national road, for the cause of temperance. While so engaged the Civil War broke out, and he at once left the lecture field to aid in the defense of the country. The following account of Mr. Garrigus's mil- itary career is from the Howard County Atlas :

" August 26, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Com- pany D, 39th Regiment Indiana Volunteers, and served as such nearly three years. He was taken prisoner at Perryville, Kentucky, in October, 1862, by General Kirby Smith's forces ; was paroled at Nicholasville, Ken- tucky, and exchanged in the spring of 1863, when he returned to his command. While on parole in the win- ter of 1862-3, he organized the Union League in the eastern part of Howard County, and made war speeches exposing the Knights of the Golden Circle, for which they threatened vengeance, and have never forgiven him. In May, 1864, he assisted in raising Company A, 137th Regiment (one hundred day volunteers), of which B. Busby was captain ; he was commissioned second lieu- tenant thereof, May 12, 1864; first lieutenant, May 23d ; and adjutant, on May 25, 1364. He mustered and served as adjutant with said regiment during its term of serv- ice, which was spent mostly at Tullahoma, Tennessee. While there he was regimental adjutant, post adjutant, and, part of the time, acting assistant adjutant-general of the brigade. He served energetically and acceptably in all those positions, and was discharged with the reg- iment, at Indianapolis, in September, 1864. He then recruited a number of men for the 140th Regiment. In October, 1864, he recruited Company I, 142d Indiana Volunteers, in which were one hundred and thirteen men, until transfers were made from it to reduce it to one hundred and one. He was made its captain, mustered in November 3, 1864, and the regiment was hurried on to Nashville, to oppose the northward march of General Hood. The 142d Regiment was on the reserve at the battle of .Nashville, under General Mason, on whose staff Captain Garrigus served as bri- gade inspector until he was mustered out, with his reg- iment, in July, 1865. On leaving, he received many flattering testimonials from the officers of the Second Brigade, including the general commanding, as to his ability and efficiency, and had the good will of the whole command. He was army correspondent of sev- cral newspapers during the war, and marched eight thousand five hundred miles on foot, before his regiment became cavalry."

In 1865 he returned to his farm, which he improved and cultivated until the death of his son, William Day- ton, in 1870, when he removed to Kokomo and engaged in the practice of law. He was commander of a post of the Grand Army of the Republic. He has been an earnest, working Republican since that party was first organized ; has long been one of its central committee- men, and for the last five years its chairman. He has lately been re-elected to the same position. In what-

getting or neglecting his friends, and has done much to make and keep the large and reliable Republican majority in his county. In the great centennial cele- bration of July 4, 1876, at Kokomo, he was chosen orator of the day, and a gathering of nearly fifteen thousand persons, with processions, flags, music, and banners participated, embracing numerous organizations and nationalities. His effort was highly spoken of by the newspapers and the citizens generally, and the occasion will long be remembered with pleasure by all. Captain Garrigus is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons of Kokomo Lodge No. 33, and of Encampment No. 61, Independent Order of Odd-fellows. He was early a director and life member of the Howard County Agricultural Society, and is a stockholder in the present association. He has been a member also of the city coun- cil, chairman of the committee on finance and education, and a member of the judiciary committee. In June, 1875, he was appointed, by the county commissioners, superintendent of the schools of Howard County, and, in 1876, was elected to that office by the trustees. In 1878 he was unanimously nominated for state Senator, and elected in October of the same year, from the dis- trict composed of the counties of Howard and Miami. He received a majority of four hundred and thirty-three votes over his competitor, Milton Bell, the most popular Democrat in the district. Mr. Garrigus was married, February 23, 1853, to Miss Susan Whiteneck, a native of Botetourt County, Virginia. Nine children have been born to them, six of whom-Louisa A., Ada A., Edwin J., Allen C., Victor S., and Myrtle M .- are now living. Mr. Garrigus and wife, with their two eldest daughters, are members of the Christian Church. It is no idle panegyric to say that Indiana, and especially Howard County, is indebted to such men as Milton Gar- rigus. With great energy and endurance he has felled forests and converted them into fertile farms, improving his mind as he improved the land; he has labored to promote moral reform, and to perfect educational sys- tems, and has imperiled his life in defense of great prin- ciples and of the country. His election as state Senator attests the regard in which he is held ; and, being still in the prime of his powers, he may be congratulated on his prospect of many future years of public usefulness.

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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 69

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