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 75

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 75

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repaired again to Nashville, and helped to care for the wounded, and to fit up the hospital for colored troops. In 1867 he was elected mayor of the city of Kokomo, and served two years. Doctor Richmond was for sev- eral years a member of the Baptist Church, to which his parents belonged. He is not now connected with any religious society, though his belief accords with that of the New Church, founded upon the doctrines promul- gated by Swedenborg. In politics he formerly acted with the Whigs, and is now a Republican ; but regards the present management of parties as corrupt and tend- ing to exclude the masses from full representation. Doc- tor Richmond was married, February 16, 1830, to Nancy Page Stockton, who died soon after, in September, 1833. He was again married, October 6, 1836, to Frances Haw- kins, daughter of Rev. Jameson Hawkins, of Indian- apolis. This union remained unbroken for thirty-five years, but at the end of that time, October 5, 1871, death came. He was united to his present wife, Mrs. Lydia E. Saxton, on the 9th of September, 1873. He has had four daughters, the result of the second mar- riage : Louisa W., wife of J. M. Leeds; Sarah Jane, wife of Joseph Anderson, deceased ; and Lucinda and Margaret, each of whom died at the age of six years. Doctor Richmond has shared the burdens, and in some degree the success, of the people of Howard County for nearly thirty-five years, witnessing the gradual transfor- mation of the country from a forest to its present culti- vated state, and undergoing all the privations incident to the life of a pioneer physician. He has built up an extensive practice, and during his long residence there has preserved a healthful uniformity of life, never mounting to the heights of fame, nor ever descending beneath the level of true manhood ; always diligent, honest, temper- ate and charitable, and useful and respected in all his relations, both private and public. .

OSS, NATHAN OLIN, lawyer, now a resident of Peru, Indiana, was born in Boone County, Kentucky, on the 14th of September, 1819. His father was William O. Ross, a native of Wind- ham County, Connecticut. The maiden name of his mother was Elizabeth Wilson. She also was from Boone County, Kentucky. Although the subject of this sketch first saw the light in that land renowned for chivalry, he may well be claimed as a representative man of the Hoosier state, his father having moved to Decatur County, Indiana, in 1821, when Nathan was but two years of age. As there were in those early days no wagon-roads, much less a prospect of railroads, a pack- horse was their only mode of conveyance. In a country log school-house, near where the town of Greensburg now stands, Mr. Ross obtained the rudiments of an ed-

ucation, In 1838 his father settled upon a piece of wild land near Wabash, Indiana, and Nathan, then a lad of eighteen, with his younger brother, commenced clearing it for a farm. As Mr. Ross, the elder, was possessed of a knowledge of the law, it would not seem strange that the boy, who showed a desire for study, should find his inclination also pointing that way. The task assigned him by his father was to split two hundred rails per day ; that done, he might study. Thus, after a hard day's work, the young man, having gathered hickory bark to make a brighter glow, pored over his book by the firelight on the hearth during the long winter evenings, often so exhausted that he would fall asleep over the self-imposed task. "Where there is a will there is a way," is a maxim of which the life of Mr. Ross is an exemplification to the youth of the pres- ent day, and a valuable one. He was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1839, being then but twenty years of age. Thus he speaks of himself: " I had no instructor in my studies, and my knowledge of the law was ex- ceedingly imperfect, so much so that in giving advice I was governed more by my instincts of justice than by legal maxims." Extending his general education by a short term at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana, he was ready to enter upon his professional career. At this period he resided with his father, about two and a half miles from Wabash, where he pleaded his first case, his father being the opposing counsel. The justice of the young man's cause, coupled with his earnestness, won the sympathy of the community, and he was suc- cessful. His father then suggested that he seek a new location, which he did, settling in Peru, Indiana, in IS39. Here he was married, in 1841, to Mary Minerva Ewing, of Peru, and here he has resided for forty years, devoting himself almost exclusively to his profession, in which he now stands in the front rank. At the age of twenty - eight or twenty - nine, in 1848, Mr. Ross was elected a member of the state Legislature, representing Miami County in that honorable body. He was again elected in 1865 to the same position, serving the state with commendable zeal and unswerving integrity. Mr. Ross is warm-hearted, and upright in his dealings, and is very much attached to the associations that cluster around the family hearth-stone, possessing a sympathetic nature, almost womanly in its generous impulses and depth of affection. His politics and religious belief, like his profession in life, he has never changed. In the former he has been and remains a life-long Demo- crat, while the Old-School Presbyterian Church has always held his creed. He is decidedly Calvinistic in his views. Ten children have been born to him, five of whom are still living, all married but the youngest daughter, who is now completing an education. The youngest son is practicing law with his father. Several years since the beloved wife of his youth, the mother

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of his children, left him to mourn henceforth her irrep- arable loss. For several years Mr. Ross has acted as attorney for the Pan Handle Railroad, having his office in Logansport. He is constitutionally opposed to con- troversy, and hence in the practice of his profession advises compromise, wherever it can be made without too great a sacrifice. He possesses a disposition yielding to persuasion, but stubborn to resist coercion. His friends throughout the state are urging his name for the position of Judge of the Supreme Court, a position which few are better able to fill satisfactorily, yet one which his natural diffidence would perhaps lead him to refuse.

ICHMOND, COLONEL NATHANIEL P., mayor of the city of Kokomo, was born at In- dianapolis, July 26, 1833. His father, Ansel Richmond, was a native of New York, of New England descent. He was the first circuit clerk of Madison County, and a few years previous to his death, which occurred November 22, 1833, he became a mem- ber of the prominent law firm of Fletcher & Richmond, Indianapolis. His mother, Elizabeth S. (Pendleton) Rich- mond, was born in Ohio, and her ancestors were Vir- ginians, her mother having been a cousin of President Madison. At the age of seventeen he entered Brown University, in Rhode Island, but ill-health compelled him to leave before the close of his sophomore year. In the hope of regaining his strength, and incited by a love of adventure, he set out for a trip across the con- tinent to the Pacific coast. The journey was made through Nebraska, Wyoming, and Idaho to Oregon. There he remained about three years, engaging in busi- ness sufficient to meet expenses, and traveling in various directions over much of that territory, and enjoying Western life in all its fullness and freeness. He then went southward into California, and after a time em- barked on the long homeward voyage. Arriving after a stormy passage at Nicaragua, he crossed the Isthmus without hinderance, though it was about the time of General Walker's filibustering expedition, then re-em- barked for New Orleans, ascended the Mississippi, and at last reached home in safety, after an absence of just four years, having started on the 11th of March, 1852, and returned March 11, 1856. To a young man such a tour was a memorable one, and could not fail to have a marked effect upon his life and character. Young Rich- mond then became a student of law, in the office of Lindsay & Harrison, in Kokomo, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1856. The following month Mr. Lindsay withdrew from the firm, and Mr. Richmond took his place, remaining in that connection until the fall of 1860. He was then engaged as the special col- lecting agent of Fitzgibbon & Hammond, Indianapolis.

But at last the " irrepressible conflict" between freedom and slavery culminated in the appeal to arms, and the strength and talent of the North responded to the Pres- ident's call for troops. Mr. Richmond was among the first to go. In April, 1861, he joined Captain T. M. Kirkpatrick's company, on its arrival from Kokomo, and was elected second lieutenant. The regiment of which this company formed a part, served under Rose- crans in West Virginia, Lieutenant Richmond acting much of the time as aid-de-camp on the staff of that general. August, 1861, he was commissioned lieutenant- colonel of the First Virginia Cavalry, and promoted in August, 1862, to the rank of colonel. Up to this time he had served also under Fremont in the Shenandoah Valley. The rest of his military career is contained in the following extract from the Howard County Atlas :

"Succeeding his promotion, Colonel Richmond had a special engagement for which he got from his brigade commander, General Buford, a high compliment, as fol- lows: 'At Kelley's Ford he (Colonel Richmond) drove a superior force of infantry out of the woods, running them in all directions. On this occasion he was distin- guished for his marked gallantry.' But the first general engagement in which his regiment took part, after the eagle was placed on his shoulders was the battle of Manassas, General Pope in chief command, with Gen- eral Buford still in command of brigade. During that terrible contest this Virginia regiment repelled a charge from Stewart's cavalry, and in the changing fortunes of battle countercharged and cut its way through the lines of the same intrepid Confederate general. Antietam and South Mountain followed in quick succession ; after which winter-quarters were sought within the defenses of Washington. While here Colonel Richmond was placed in command of his brigade. The campaign of 1863 opening, the cavalry corps of the Army of the Po- tomac was organized under command of General Pleas- anton. In this organization the First Virginia Cavalry, Colonel Richmond, was assigned to the First Brigade, General Farnsworth, of the Third Division, General Kil- patrick. General Custer commanded the Second Brigade of the same division. Up to the battle of Gettysburgh, and for months afterward this division of cavaliers were almost continually in the saddle. At this stage of the war cavalry had become an important arm of the serv- ice, equally so in heavy engagements as upon the flanks of the enemy or upon the flying raid. Hence in the ever-memorable struggle to repel the bold invasion of General Robert E. Lee, that invincible division of cav- alry seemed to perform a part almost indispensable. Colonel Richmond and his brigade were in the thickest of the fight; within thirty feet of him General Farns- worth was killed at the first charge. Being the ranking officer now left, Colonel Richmond immediately assumed command of the First Brigade, continuing to hold the same up to the date of his resignation, the next Novem- ber, 1863. In following and harassing Lee's retreat, this brigade was under fire more or less every day. At Hagerstown they had the advance, Custer's brigade being further towards Williamsport. A superior force of the enemy here turned and made battle upon them, and for a time threatened to surround and overpower them, but with true military instinct Colonel Richmond saw in time his chance for escape. Upon the weak

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point a charge was ordered, and with impetuous, resist- less valor, they cut their way through and were saved. Troops, artillery, supply trains, all were saved. A writer, about that time, said of Colonel Richmond, 'He has won an enviable distinction as a cavalry officer; he led a brigade through the battles of Gettysburg and lately in our movements, and has been made chairman of the board of inspectors of cavalry.' Suffering from injuries received by the falling of his horse, that had been shot under him at Raccoon Ford, on the Rapidan, he pro- cured leave of absence, and withdrew to Culpepper Court House. But getting no better he here resigned, as before stated, and came home. Again, unsolicited, in the spring of 1865, he received an appointment as colonel in General Hancock's Veteran Reserve Corps, and was assigned to duty as superintendent of the recruit- ing service for that corps in the state of Indiana. Sery- ing till the following August, he resigned."

Colonel Richmond is a Republican, and has been elected to important offices. From 1864 to 1868 he represented his district in the state Senate. He was a member of the city council in 1869, and again during the years 1871 and 1872; and in May, 1873, he was elected mayor of the city of Kokomo, and has held the office three consecutive terms, including the present one. He took a leading interest in building the Wild Cat Gravel Road, which passes directly through his farm, in Ervin Township, and has acted as secretary of the com- pany ever since its organization. Colonel Richmond was married, January 19, 1858, to Miss Mary Kennedy, daughter of Peter B. Kennedy. Four children have been born to them, of whom two died in infancy. A daughter and a son survive: William, born December 25, 1864; and Glenn, born May 17, 1366. The Colonel was made the recipient of a beautiful gift from his com- rades in arms, which must ever be a pleasing memento of them, and of camp and battle-field, and an expression of their high regard. It is an elegant gold-mounted saber and belt, of regulation pattern, with the follow- ing inscription :

"Colonel N. P. Richmond, from his friends and brother officers; this saber is presented in token of their appreciation of his honor, courage, and devotion."

The following encomium upon the First Virginia Cav- alry and its commander is from a correspondent of the Wheeling Intelligencer, writing under date of September 22, 1862 :

"'I will just here speak of one engagement which will at once prove the fighting qualities of Colonel Richmond. On the 21st of August our pickets were driven in from the posts at Kelley's Ford, on the Rap- pahannock. Colonel Richmond received an order to proceed with his regiment, and find, if possible, the position and number of the enemy. At noon we crossed the river and found the enemy's picketers and skirmish- ers in force. Considering that but child's play we drove them before us with ease. Our regiment was ordered to take the center and advance cautiously through the woods. On emerging therefrom, we received a heavy volley from the advance regiment of a brigade, which

we found drawn up in line of battle ; a charge was ordered, and, through clouds of smoke and fire, we dashed upon the brigade. The gallant Colonel, at the head of his men, raising himself in his saddle and flour- ishing his saber, cries out 'Come on, my bully boys,' and in a moment they were lost in the smoke. The inces- sant firing, and clashing of sabers parrying the thrusted bayonet, the almost demon-like cheering of our men, formed a scene beautifully grand. The rebels retreated, and we were ordered to fall back to an open field beyond the road. Colonel Richmond was covered with blood from head to foot. Two noble fellows who were at his side had been shot, and their life's blood was still warm upon his clothes. The gallant charge of this regiment at Bull Run, when the left wing under McDowell was being turned, has elicited great praise. It has been said that the First Virginia Cavalry, by keeping the enemy back, saved ten thousand of McDowell's infantry."

Colonel Richmond is familiar with nearly every part of our broad land, having been in every state and terri- tory in the Union except the Carolinas and Alaska. He possesses energy, courage, self-reliance, quick perception and decision, all the qualities that make the successful military officer and the leader in civil affairs; yet with these is united a modest estimation of self that is a " candle to his merit," revealing more clearly the gen- uine virtues of his character.

OSE, BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN B., de- ceased, of Wabash, Indiana, was a brave, patriotic soldier, who defended his country against foreign aggression ; a conscientious, capable legislator ; and a man of lofty moral aspirations, who respected the rights and endeavored to promote the welfare of his fellow-men. Ile was born in New Jersey, February 15, 1792, and died in Wabash, Indiana, May 9th, 1875, aged eighty-three years. Of his early life nothing is known. On the 7th of October, 1812, he enlisted as ensign in the 15th Regiment of United States Infantry, under General Pike, and in the following May was com- missioned second lieutenant, and served two years in the last war with Great Britain. He participated in the battle of Little York, where, by the explosion of a powder-magazine, three to four hundred of his regiment were killed, together with General Pike, the commander. He was also at the battles of Sackett's Harbor, Iundy's Lane, Bridgewater, Chippewa, and part of his regiment was in the battle of Plattsburg. He was also with Commodore McDonough in the engagement on Lake Champlain. In 1817 he removed from New Jersey to Indiana, and engaged in farming. Five years later he organized Union County, and was elected sheriff, hold- ing that office by re-election three terms. In the years 1824, 1831, and 1840 he was chosen to represent Union County in the Legislature; and in the discharge of that (luty he voted for the first railroad in the state, and for the

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Wabash and Erie Canal. As the people had compara- tively few facilities for acquainting themselves with public affairs, Mr. Rose gave them a summary of Leg- islative proceedings in the session of 1825 and 1826, in a " Circular," from which we make the following extract, · of general interest, as, in showing the slender resources of the state and of Union County at that period, it enables the reader to appreciate more fully the progress of the last half-century :

" After strenuous opposition, a law was passed attach- ing two miles of Franklin to Union County, which will add perhaps one hundred and fifty polls to our pop- ulation, make a considerable addition to our revenue, and be the means, I trust, of relieving the people of some part of this year's taxes. There was remaining in the hands of the state Treasurer on the 3d of December, 1825, the sum of $6,332.27. The assessments for the year 1825 amounted to $40,131.39; add to this the $6,332.27, and the amount in the treasury will be $46,463.66. What the probable expense will be for the present year I am not able to say. The public debt, as officially returned, amounts to $21,301.62. In 1820 the assessments amounted to $14,978; and in 1824 to $44,- 445-showing an increase in four years of $29,467. It gives me much pleasure to be able to say that our county revenue is in a flourishing condition, there being more than four hundred dollars in the treasury."

In 1822 Mr. Rose was elected colonel of the 16th Regiment Indiana Militia, and in 1830 elected brigadier- general. In 1852 General Rose applied for a bounty land-warrant, which application, and the Congressional proceeding to which it gave rise, recalled a certain re- markable event in his career as a soldier. This event was a duel between himself and First Lieutenant Rob- erts, of the same company. During the military opera- tions on Lake Champlain in 1814, when Lieutenant Roberts was in command of the company, they were suddenly attacked. He faltered, and began to retreat, when Lieutenant Rose sprang forward, in his impetuous valor, and, without intending to usurp authority, virtually assumed the chief command, and, leading the men to the charge, repulsed the enemy. This gallantry won the applause of the regiment; . and, stung with jealousy, Lieutenant Roberts challenged him to mortal combat, and the latter accepted the issue, it being thought dis- honorable in those days to decline a challenge. The cluel was fought with pistols, and both were wounded. In consequence of this violation of army regulations, the names of both combatants were stricken from the rolls by order of General Armstrong, Secretary of War. The remaining facts on which the application was made may be seen in the following portions of the report of the "Committee on Private Land Claims:"

" At this time record evidence alone was permitted to establish the qualifications of the service; and the application of General Rose was refused because the record of his discharge did not seem to bring him within the letter of the law. An appeal was taken from this decision to the Secretary of the Interior, the official

superior of the Commissioner of Pensions. Notwith- standing his favorable inclination to the application, a reference was made by him to the Secretary of War, to determine if this discharge was within the meaning of the act of 28th of September, 1858. The decision was adverse to the application. It is understood to be in the view that Rose's services were meritorious, notwithstanding this instance of transgression of disci- pline, and in the spirit, if not in the letter, of this law, which left him standing on a footing of common merit with other officers of the war, that the Secretary of the Interior makes use of the following language: 'The claim, therefore, was rejected upon pure technical grounds alone, which were deemed imperative under the provis- ions of the act of 1850; although, upon its intrinsic merits, it was my opinion, and still is, that the claim is a meritorious one, which, although there is no authority in this department to allow under existing laws, is a just and proper one for the beneficent interposition of Con- gress.' Taking into consideration, then, his volunteer enlistment in the service, his prompt preferment, which implies merit, the duration and field of service, the commendation of his official comrades, his discharge from the service by general orders, the pending appli- cation for restoration to his rank during the war, and the objection (technical, purely) for excluding him from the benefits of the act of 1850, the committee can not but think his services were meritorious, and his discharge not dishonorable. The committee, therefore, report back the bill, with a recommendation that it be passed."

Hon. S. W. Parker, who introduced the bill, was unable to carry it through to a successful issue; but, three years later, the Hon. John U. Pettit made a sim- ilar effort, and finally succeeded in securing its passage. The official correspondence between Hon. John U. Pettit and the Secretary of the Interior and the Com- missioner of Pensions shows, in part, the obstacles the former had to overcome in obtaining, through act of Congress, the desired land-warrant. General Rose was a prominent member of the Masonic Fraternity. The following extract from a letter written by him to Hanna Lodge, on the occasion of the celebration by the lodge of his eighty-third birthday, gives in brief the history of his connection with the Order :

" I have tried to live the great principles of Masonry this fifty-eight years, as an upright and good man, in order to make the Order and the world better and hap- pier for my having lived in it. Herewith please accept my portrait, representing one of the pioneer fathers in Masonry, having helped to form the Grand Lodge of the state of Indiana, January 12, 1818. I was a dele- gate to the Grand Lodge of Ohio in 1819, assisted in the organization of three blue lodges and two chapters."

The following is from an obituary by Wabash Chap- ter, No. 26, Royal Arch Masons :

"No Royal Arch Mason of our membership was more faithful in attending the various communications of our chapter, none who admired its teachings and lived up to them more perfectly, none whose general charac- ter was so above criticism."

He had long been a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. At his demise he was trustee of Noble

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Township. John B. Rose was married to Beulah Bond, of Cumberland, New Jersey, in 1820. Seven children were born to them, six of whom are living: Levi B., Mary, Rebecca, Burr, Harriet, and Martha. Hannah, the oldest daughter, died in 1874. His wife died in 1873.

OSS, JOHN HARVEY, M. D., of Kokomo, was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, May 17, 1844. His father, David Ross, a native of New Jersey, was at that time a farmer, but a few years later entered the ministry of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, of which for many years he had been an active and worthy member. His mother, whose maiden name was Whitesell, was a plain, domestic Christian woman, greatly devoted to the welfare of her family. His education from his childhood until his thir- teenth year was obtained in private subscription schools in his native county. He then attended for three years a private academy, of which his father was a director. Mr. Ross, who was of decided anti-slavery proclivities, seeing the approach of the war, removed with his fam- ily, in 1860, to Vigo County, Indiana. Soon afterward the subject of this sketch there enlisted as a private in the Union army, in Company K, 115th Regiment Indi- ana Volunteers. After the war Mr. Ross pursued his studies privately, while working on the farm at home, and while teaching school. In his twenty-second year he entered the ministry, in the same Church with his father, and labored in this capacity four years. During that period of clerical work he laid the foundation of a medical education, and at its close entered the depart- ment of medicine and surgery in the University of Mich- igan. There he spent one year. Then, after practicing medicine a few months, he entered the St. Louis Med- ical College, where he remained one college year, and graduated as a doctor of medicine. He immediately opened an office in Hannibal, Missouri, but, after re- maining for one year, removed to Kokomo, Indiana There he engaged in practice, and soon took a promi- nent place in the front rank of the profession in that city and Howard County. Doctor Ross is a member of the Republican party, and takes considerable inter- est in local politics. He is at present coroner of the county, and has been nominated for re-election. He is also a member of the board of health of the city of Kokomo. He is a Master-mason, and a member of the Howard County Medical Society, of the Kokomo Acad- emy of Medicine, and of the Indiana State Medical Soci- ety. His wife is a native of New York, and is a daughter of Peter Drake (lately deceased), of Clark County, Illi- nois. The foregoing is a brief, unadorned record of a man, not yet thirty-seven years of age, who has talent sufficient, when aided by patient effort, to elevate him to E-7

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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 75

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