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 93

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 93

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ness his own buoyancy did not cast the bow of hope. With these qualities he could not fail to be what he was-a successful man in the best and truest sense.

UGHES, REV. THOMAS EDGAR, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, of Lagrange, Indiana, is the son of William and Martha (Wells) Hughes, who were natives of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, of Scotch and Welsh ancestry. The Hughes family are notable for their ministerial proclivities. Rev. Thomas Edgar Hughes, grandfather of our subject, was during his life-time an active pioneer Presbyterian min- ister of Pennsylvania and Ohio. He graduated at the College of New Jersey, and, after one year spent in theological study under Doctor McMillan, was licensed to preach, October 17, 1798. He was the first minister of the Gospel who settled north of the Ohio River. He educated four of his sons for the ministry-Revs. Will- iam Hughes, John D. Hughes, Watson Hughes, and James R. Hughes. He died, after forty years of useful work in the cause, May 2, 1838. His son, Rev. William Hughes, is a man of marked ability, of strong religious convictions, devoted to his ministerial duties, earnest, efficient, and successful in the pursuit of his sacred call- ing, which he followed for forty-five years. Like his father, he was a pioneer in the labor of his profession, in Loudonville, Ohio. We subjoin the following extract from the Loudonville Democrat :

" The first settlers of this part of the country have been gathered in, and the second class that came on the stage are fast disappearing; and of these Rev. Will- iam Hughes stands out in conspicuous view. He is so on account of his long stay and a life of usefulness, praised by all, and censured by none. He located in Greene County in 1829, when this country was almost a wilderness, and was for thirty-six years the regular pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Perrysville, taking it in its infancy and building up in all that constitutes Church worth. It is a worthy monument to his patient and arduous labors. At the same time he was dividing his labors with other localities requiring ministerial aid and instruction. He was the pioneer minister at Lou- donville, Ohio, beginning his labors in a fruitful field for missionary work, preaching, praying, and singing to crowded houses, himself the only acknowledged Chris- tian in the room. Here, in time, Ins efforts were crowned with a gratifying visitation of the spirit of con- viction and conversion. He is now in his seventy-ninth year of age. Although enfeebled physically, he yet re- tains his mental faculties to a wonderful degree, and still has all his former freshness and zeal in the interest of his life-work."

He has been as successful as his father in rearing his children in the fear and love of the Lord. All of them are members of the Presbyterian Church, while he has contributed three of his sons to the large army of cler- gymen. For generations the race of Hughes have been

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remarked for their strong religious convictions. Within the near relationship of living brothers, uncles, and cousins of our subject, a score of able and useful ministers of the Gospel are to be found; and the number of the relatives who are worthy members of the Presbyterian Church can be counted by the dozens. T. Edgar Hughes was born, November 29, 1832, in Loudonville, Ashland County, Ohio, and received a limited education in the common district schools of those days in the new coun- tries of the West. At the age of fourteen he entered the Vermilion Institute, where he remained for five years. Then he entered the junior class of the Miami University, from which he graduated with marked dis- tinction, July, 1855, delivering, in accordance with the rules, a thesis. The following September he attended the theological seminary at New Albany, Indiana, re- maining for two years, and graduating April, 1857. In 1858 he was ordained, and settled in his first pastoral charge at Springdale, Ohio, when, after eight years of successful labor, he accepted a call to Constantine, Michigan, remaining four years. In 1870 he removed to Lagrange, a charge he has since filled, with a steady and substantial growth in the Church numerically, as well as a marked advancement of its spiritual interests. For eight of the ten years of his ministrations at La- grange he has also supplied regularly once a week the pulpit of the Lima Presbyterian Church, which has grown under his leadership. He now meets his con- gregation with the gratifying consciousness of having seen their house of worship fully completed, nicely fur- nished, and paid for, at a cost of six thousand dollars, prior to its dedication. It is but just to say that during the twenty - two years of constant pastoral labor Mr. Hughes has never been without a charge, and in all of them he has witnessed a constant and healthy spiritual growth of his flock, and many times has rejoiced ex .. ceedingly at the manifestations of a generous outpouring of the power and grace of the Lord. While in charge of the Springdale Church, through a short protracted effort, his labors were especially blessed, resulting in a short time in doubling his membership. Mr. Hughes is an industrious student. He reads extensively and thinks profoundly. He is of dignified presence, yet genial and familiar in manner, and is readily approachable by the humblest individual. As a preacher he is original and suggestive, and possesses many popular elements, and one may listen to him both with pleasure and profit. His talents are exceedingly versatile, rendering him a good converser, an effective debater, and a valuable counselor. As a speaker he is logical and comprehen- sive, and talks with force and dignity, evincing thought and reflection. His advocacy is impressive, his language correct, his sentences full and complete, and his conclu- sions satisfying. His method is direct, and his sentences both grace and advance the cause he advocates. As a

pastor he is attentive, efficient, and pleasing, and takes a high position in the respect and confidence of his Church and congregation. Their interests are safe in his hands, and he is readily interested in all reforms. During the War of the Rebellion Mr. Hughes visited our armies at the front-once, March, 1863, at Vicks- burg, where he remained about four weeks; again, Sep- tember, 1864, at Chattanooga, for about six weeks, and lastly, at Petersburg, Virginia, in February, 1865-and on each occasion devoted his time to the care of the sick and wounded and in preaching to the soldiery. In his duties he was constantly called upon to administer to the heart and mind, as well as the body. His clear and intelligent faith gave him power to speak words of counsel and administer comfort that will always be cher- ished in many memories. Mr. Hughes is foremost with those advocating temperance reform, and was the pres- ident of the temperance union upon its organization in Lagrange. He was married, April 29, 1857, to Miss Myra A. Cross, of Oxford, Ohio, a devoted wife, a self- sacrificing mother, an exemplary Christian, and a kind and considerate neighbor and friend. She died March 25, 1867, leaving four children, the youngest-twins -- infants, and the eldest of the others then but five years old. The 20th of November following he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Bartlett, of South Bend, Indiana, a lady of personal attractions and marked ability, sincere in her religious convictions, an active and valued leader in the Sabbath - school and other Church work, and of great usefulness in the support she gave her husband in his sacred labors. She was a worthy mistress of her household. She died April 26, 1879, loved and regretted by all. Two sons survive her.

DDINGS, HIRAM, a farmer and leading citizen of Allen Township, Noble County, Indiana, was born January 14, 1814, in Boston, Portage County, Ohio. His parents, Henry and Sarah ( Mettlan) Iddings, were by occupation farmers, and natives of Pennsylva- nia, where they lived until 1811, when they married and emigrated to Portage County, Ohio. In 1836 they removed with their family to Indiana, and located in Noble County, just south of the place now occupied by the city of Ken- dallville, but then in the primeval forest. Henry Iddings was born June 5, 1790, and during the War of 1812 with England was a soldier in the American army, receiving for his services, forty-one years thereafter, a land war- rant for 160 acres of land. He died September II, 1872, being then eighty-two years old. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, whose ancestry emigrated to America during the early history of this country, set- tling in the state of Virginia. Hiram Iddings received in boyhood and early youth extremely limited educa-

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tional advantages; only such as were afforded by the common schools of a new country. At the age of nine- teen he married, and in 1836 with his family of wife and two children removed to Indiana. He arrived after a journey, with an ox team, of twenty-one days, in company with his father's family and some others. He settled upon a tract of timbered land in Noble County, about one mile south of his present beautiful home, and at once commenced clearing and tilling. The township at that time could boast of only three small log cabins, with a population of about fifteen souls, the families of Samuel Rice, now dead, and George Ulmer and Alpheus Baker, who are now living. In 1837 Mr. Iddings drew up and circulated a petition for the organization of the township, and presented it, with ten or twelve names,

to the Board of County Commissioners, consisting of Joseph Bristol, Joseph Hostetteler, and Abram Pancake. At the request of Mr. Iddings the township was called Allen. Mr. Iddings has lived in his present home for about forty-four years, with short intervals of absence to meet the requirements of official positions or business de- mands, and has made agriculture his principal business of life. He has spent many years in official capacities. Educated in the old Whig school of politics, he allied himself to that party as long as it existed, and when it was merged into the Republican organization he became its earnest adherent. He is always ready and earnest in the support and defense of his political convictions. He is zealous in the advancement of party measures, and has by common consent assumed the leadership in his own and surrounding counties. He exerts a strong in- fluence in the state and national capitals. In 1841 he was made deputy postmaster in the absence of Hon. William Mitchell, who then held the office, serving till 1844, and filled the office of school commissioner by election and re-election from 1844 to 1848. In 1861 he received an appointment as warden of the state-prison at Michigan City, which he resigned after a service of about two years, to accept the office of provost marshal of the Tenth District, a position he held until the close of the war. In May, 1867, Mr. Iddings was appointed pension agent, and acted in that capacity for eight years. During his twenty-one years of official services, the discharge of his duties has been marked with ability, energy, and courtesy, and with an efficiency and integrity which secured him the respect and commendations of both his political friends and opponents. As a farmer and a business man, and in public life, he has always been regarded as a representative citizen of his town and county. He is now among the large real estate owners of the county, owning more than one thousand acres in different tracts. In 1868 he platted forty acres on the south of the town into city lots, which is now known as the Iddings addition to the city of Kendallville. Mr. Iddings is a good financier and careful business man. His E-12

judgment seldom is wrong in matters of business policy, and his may be regarded as a notable example of the exercise of those sound business principles which win success. He was married April 4, 1833, to Miss Row- ena Greenman, of Portage County, Ohio. She died January 6, 1859. She was the mother of nine children, seven of whom survived her. November 1, 1860, he was united to Miss Delilia (Cole) Schutt, of Batavia, New York, a lady of marked appearance, possessing many amiable traits of character, native endowments, and personal attainments, and highly respected for her moral excellence. She is warm-hearted, benevolent, and generous, and is a wife to share cheerfully and uncom- plainingly with her husband the hardships and perplex- ities of life. They have had two children, one son and one daughter, both of whom are dead.

OHNSON, REV. HENRY, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, of Auburn, De Kalb County, Indiana, was born, June 13, 1848, in Naples, On- tario County, New York, and is a son of John J. and Matilda (Webb) Johnson, who were also natives of Naples, and were both of English descent. Henry, in youth and early manhood, enjoyed good educational advantages in the schools and at the academy in Na- ples, and at the age of sixteen years had acquired a notable proficiency, at which time he emigrated with his father's family to Crown Point, Indiana, where he resumed his studies at the Crown Point Academy, un- der the instructions of Professor T. H. Ball, continuing until the fall of 1869, when he entered the freshman class of the Hanover College, at Hanover, Indiana, whence he was graduated with marked distinction April 10, 1872. Mr. Johnson's rapid progress in his studies was so marked as to elicit expressions of pride and admiration from his old preceptor, Professor Ball, of Crown Point. In 1872 Mr. Johnson entered the The- ological Seminary at Chicago, continuing until the spring of 1875, when he received a pastoral call from the First Presbyterian Church, of Auburn. Accepting it, he found a small number of members and a meager congregation, with a diminutive and uninviting edifice. This being his first charge he entered into the work of the ministry with all his native industry and enthusi- asm, and by his untiring efforts has accomplished a work that would have turned the head of most young preach- ers. During his administration the membership of the society has increased from seventy-eight to over two hundred, mostly by profession of faith. Mr. Johnson possesses many elements of popularity and success as a preacher. His talents are exceedingly versatile ; he is original and suggestive, and is always listened to with both pleasure and profit. He is a good conversational-

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ist, an effective debater, and a valuable counselor. He is an untiring investigator of truth, both scientific and moral, still young in years but ripe in culture, capable of leading in learned circles of science, theology, or literature, yet kind and genial to the most lowly and poor. With all his ministerial duties he finds time to enrich his store of knowledge by extensive reading of both ancient and modern literature. All combine to make him an advocate at the bar of his Master of strong convincing power. He speaks to his people both orally and from manuscript, having from long practice become proficient in the latter mode of preaching. He dis- courses with ease, force, and eloquence. As a writer he is ready, terse, comprehensive, and elegant in style. His almost unprecedented success in building up the member- ship of his Church is equaled by the advancement which its material interests have received. During his connec- tion with this people his congregation have removed from the old church which they formerly occupied into a new one, the construction of which was begun in 1876, and completed, furnished, and dedicated Janu- ary, 1877. The bell calls together one of the largest congregations in the city. The church is one of the finest edifices of its kind in this part of the state, spa- cious, and admired for its architectural beauty and finish. Mr. Johnson's style of delivery is one of impas- sioned earnestness, which accompanies every word, and impresses his hearers with the idea that there is sincer- ity and truth in what he utters, and carries conviction to every heart. To his teaching and precepts he adds example, thus giving another key to the great success that has crowned his efforts. Since his advent in Au- burn he has been winning not only the confidence and love of his people, but the respect and esteem of the public. He is a worthy member of the Independent Order of Odd-fellows. He was married, July 13, 1876, to Miss Ciddy A., daughter of C. S. Hare, of Auburn, a prominent business man of his town, and noted for his moral and intellectual worth, a loving husband, a kind and indulgent father, and a public-spirited citizen. His death occurred November 4, 1872. His daughter, Mrs. Johnson, is highly esteemed. Her acquirements are varied, and she is a worthy wife of an exemplary husband. The enviable position which Mr. Johnson occupies in his profession, as a citizen and as a man, is doubly appreciated by him for having been due largely to personal effort. Although possessing a thorough collegiate education it was substantially self-attained, as he labored during his vacations, and at all times when out of school, for means with which to pursue his studies. One of the triumphs of republican institutions like ours is that so many rise from obscure positions and without wealth to fill the foremost places in the nation, as lawyers, physicians, teachers, divines, business men, journalists, or statesmen.

ANNING, JOSEPH R., an enterprising merchant of Auburn, was born November 16, 1829, in Cadiz, Harrison County, Ohio. His father, a native of New Jersey, removed to Ohio in 1828, after a brief, sojourn in Pennsylvania. He married Susan Switzer, by whom he had a family of nine chil- dren-Joseph R. being the third child. Mr. Lanning, senior, was a man of strong convictions, political and otherwise, but took no public part in politics. He died in 1875, at Jonesville, De Kalb County, Indiana, at the ripe age of eighty-three. Joseph R. Lanning had but limited opportunities for obtaining an education. When nine years of age he became a clerk in a store, contin- uing as such until his twenty-fourth year, when he re- moved to De Kalb County, Indiana, and taught school for two years. It should be here stated that while Mr. Lanning received scholastic instruction but a few months only during his earliest years, he subsequently pursued a systematic course of self-culture, by which he was fitted to become a successful teacher in the public school work. In 1857 he was married to Miss Margaret Deeter, of De Kalb County, Indiana, by whom he has had seven children. A son, George L., who is now of age, is engaged in the study of medicine with Doctor Spooner, of Auburn. From 1858 to 1860 Mr. Lanning served as postmaster, which position he resigned upon being elected Justice of the Peace. In the last-named capacity he acted for four years. In the fall of 1867 he was elected Circuit Clerk, and after serving four years was complimented by a re-election. In 1872 he was a dele- gate to the Baltimore Convention, which indorsed the nomination of Horace Greeley for President. He has since been honored by his party on various occasions. In 1874 he was elected the first president of the First National Bank, which position he filled for two years. Latterly he has been actively and exclusively engaged in mercantile pursuits. Mr. Lanning is an upright, honest, and public-spirited citizen. He has always been liberal in his views, and ranks as a representative man of Auburn and its vicinity.

,EONARD, WELLINGTON Y., M. D., of Albion, was born October 5, 1834, in Miami County, Ohio. His parents, Joseph and Julia (Renshaw) Leonard, were natives, respectively, of Vermont and Penn- sylvania. Gilbert Leonard, father of Joseph, was a sol- clier in the army of Washington, and served with dis- tinction until the close of the conflict. At one time during his service as a soldier, his wife, with her child, yet an infant, was compelled to fly from her home, and seek safety from the enemy in the depths of the forest, where she lay secreted for three days and nights, with- out food or drink, suffering intense agony both of body

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and mind. The school-days of Wellington were most conspicuous for the absence of any real intellectual de- velopment by the incompetent teachers who presided over the subscription schools two or three months in the winter. When not in school his time was given to hard work, assisting his father on the farm. In 1850 his. fa- ther removed to Indiana, locating at Wolf Lake, Noble County, where he bought a farm. In the spring of 1852 Wellington went to Xenia, Ohio, with a view of becom- ing an architect. He pursued that calling during the day - time, and attended night school evenings. The double labor proving too much for his strength, he was forced to abandon drafting. In the fall of 1855 he re- turned to Wolf Lake, where he attended a select school for one year. He soon after entered the office of Doctor D. W. C. Denney as a student, where he read medicine for two years; but during that time he taught one term of school. In 1859 he attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. In the spring of 1860 he returned to Wolf Lake, and, in connection with Doctor William C. Williams, began the practice of medicine. The partnership continued until 1861, when the latter entered the army. In 1863 he again attended lectures, this time at Cincinnati Medical Col- lege, from which he graduated in 1864, receiving his diploma March 4. Returning to Wolf Lake, he resumed his practice, continuing until 1866, when he went to Chicago and attended Rush Medical College for one term, at the end of which he received the ad eundem degree ; after which he returned to his old field of labor and remained until the April of 1866, when he removed to Albion, and, in company with Doctor Dunshee, re- sumed the practice of his profession. After two years the partnership was dissolved. His practice has steadily increased, until it is now large and lucrative. Doctor Leonard stands in the front rank of his compeers. He is a thorough student, and devoted to his profession, his extensive reading, with his long attendance at med- ical lectures, giving him an advantage over his less fa- vored brethren. The following extract concerning Doc- tor Leonard is taken from Butler's "Medical Register and Directory :"

" Wellington Y. Leonard, M. D., Albion, graduated Cincinnati College Medicine and Surgery, March, 1864; ad eundem, Rush Medical College, Chicago, 1866; mem- ber of Medical Society Noble County, Indiana; member of North-eastern Indiana Medical Society; and member of American Medical Association. He was county physician from 1867 to 1875; is surgeon of the Balti- more and Ohio Railroad at Albion."

In politics he is a pronounced Republican, and firm in his political convictions. With him politics is a principle, and not a business. He is not an aspirant for office. The places he has held have been in the line of his duty as a citizen, and not with the expectation of profit. He was a member of the Albion school

board for three years, and was foremost in projecting and constructing the Albion school building, which is to-day the pride of the town, and a monument to the enterprise of its projectors. In the spring of 1879 he was elected a member of the town board of trustees. He is an honored member of the Masonic Fraternity, in which he has advanced as far as the Chapter. In religious convictions he is orthodox. He is in full sym- pathy with all evangelical Churches, and contributes of his means liberally to their support. He was married, November 19, 1857, to Miss Amanda Place, of Phoenix- ville, Pennsylvania. They have four children, three sons and one daughter.

LOCKHART, ROBERT McBRIDE, lumberman, of Waterloo, De Kalb County, Indiana, was born June 22, 1832, in Richland County, Ohio. His parents, James and Jane (McBride) Lockhart, were natives of Ireland and Pennsylvania. The former was born August 8, 1793, in Tyrone County, from which he emigrated to the United States in 1819, landing at and locating in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, where he remained for two years, when he went to Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and appren- ticed himself to a Presbyterian minister, who, in addi- tion to his ministerial duties, was engaged in distilling whisky and the manufacture of other liquors, with whom he remained until he had learned the business, and afterward engaged in it on his own account. In 1828 he came to Mansfield, Ohio, and resumed the occupa- tion, continuing until 1842, when, through the influence of his sons, R. M. and W. C., who, notwithstanding their youth, had imbibed strong prejudices against the making and selling of liquor, he closed the establish- ment, and engaged in farming until 1856, when he sold his farm and removed to Smithfield, Indiana, where his sons, R. M. and W. C., had preceded him. He engaged with them in the hard wood lumber business, in which they had been for some time. Mr. James Lockhart was a man of marked intelligence and sound, practical judgment, quiet and unassuming in manner, but a friend and neighbor whose counsels were frequently sought. In early life he was a member of the Baptist Church, but, being situated in after years where no Church of that denomination existed, he united with the Presbyterians, and to them he adhered during the remainder of his days. He died August 20, 1877, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. Robert M. Lockhart had the advantages of common schools until he was eighteen, when he attended for two years the high school at Lex- ington, Ohio, which closed his days of attendance. At the age of twenty he engaged in school-teaching win- ters, and acting as book agent and canvasser the rest

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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 93

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