USA > Indiana > Sullivan County > A history of Sullivan County, Indiana, closing of the first century's history of the county, and showing the growth of its people, institutions, industries and wealth, Volume I > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27
229
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
1810, of German descent, and the family located in Sullivan county in 1819.
In later years the name Hamill has been familiar in the history of the bar of Terre Haute. The late S. R. Hamill, Jr., figured prominently in the trials of John R. Walsh, the Chicago banker and railroad promoter. M. C. Hamill is a prominent attorney of Terre Haute. A little over thirty years ago the father of these men, Samuel R. Hamill, was himself an active member of the Sullivan county bar. When death through heart failure took him away on June 22, 1875, he had been serving about a year as prosecuting attorney of the judicial circuit of Sullivan and Vigo coun- ties. He had lived in this county about twenty-five years. He was born at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, about 1820, studied law and moved first to Newark, Ohio, to practice, and then to Evansville, Indiana, and also lived a while in Wisconsin. After his marriage to Miss Martha Wood, member of a distinguished family of Terre Haute, he came to Sullivan county. At one time he served as school examiner for the county, and for some years had been a trustee of the schools of Sullivan. He was a fluent and forcible speaker.
From 1854 to 1884 one of the bar's most thoroughly qualified mem- bers was John T. Gunn, who excelled as a practitioner, who studied all the precedents and authorities and relied upon logical and carefully pre- pared argument to win his cases. He was noted for his precision and methodical manner of doing business. He died January 19, 1884, at Jack- sonville, Florida, where he had spent several months in the vain effort to restore health. At a citizens' meeting resolutions on his character and career were prepared by a committee of associates consisting of Judge
230
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Buff, J. T. Hays, J. C. Briggs, D. Crawley, J. T. Mann, J. C. Bartlett and Dr. Thompson. Mr. Gunn was born in England, April 16, 1826, and located at Sullivan in 1853, being admitted to practice in May of the fol- lowing year. He was one of the oldest members of the bar at the time of his death.
The military spirit ran high in the members of the Briggs family. It is said that Benjamin Briggs, the first American of this family, came to the colonies from England about 1770, and a few years later mortgaged his estate to raise a company of patriots to fight against the mother coun- try, and, besides sacrificing his estate, lost his left arm at Monmouth and his right leg at Yorktown. David, his son, raised a company for the de- fense of Baltimore in the war of 1812, and was always known as "Major" Briggs. Joseph W. Briggs, a son of the major, was one of the few men who came to Sullivan county during pioneer times possessed of a college education. He was a graduate of Dickinson College of Carlisle, Pennsyl- vania, and had been admitted to the bar of that state before he came west to Carlisle, Indiana. In this county he was a merchant and farmer for a time, was elected probate judge, in 1836 state representative, and soon afterward began the practice of law, which he continued until his death. Following the example of his father and grandfather, when the Mexican war broke out he raised a company, largely of Sullivan county men, and led them to battle in the campaigns of southern Texas and Mexico. He was noted for his scholarship, his fluency as a speaker, his readiness in argument, and his broad knowledge of the world.
On the death of Judge John C. Briggs, at his home near Sullivan, April 14, 1901, the Sullivan county bar declared that, "as a soldier, a
23I
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
legislator, a judge, and a lawyer, he had met each responsibility with credit to himself and honor to the country. In cross-examination he was exceedingly strong, so also in summing up a case before a Sullivan county jury. His mind was masterful and his memory wonderful. In the death of the Hon. John C. Briggs the state and county have lost a useful and distinguished citizen, the Sullivan county bar has lost a leading member, and his wife has lost a devoted husband."
Judge Briggs, who was a member of the well-known family of that name in Sullivan county, was born at Carlisle, September 2, 1841, and came to Sullivan at the age of fifteen to study in the old seminary. When the war came he enlisted in the Fourteenth Indiana Infantry, was later transferred to the cavalry and made quartermaster. For personal bravery in battle he was promoted to captain. At the close of the war he was lo- cated for a short time at Eastport, Mass., but in the winter of 1867-68 returned to Sullivan. He was a while in the dry goods business with James W. Hinkle. In 1869 he began reading law in Dan Voorhees' office at Terre Haute, and the following year was admitted to the bar. At the fall election of the same year he was elected prosecutor for the circuit then composed of Vermilion, Parke, Vigo and Sullivan counties. Until 1873 the firm of Voorhees & Briggs shared a large practice at Terre Haute, and the partnership continued for several years after Mr. Briggs' removal to Sullivan. In 1878 Mr. Briggs was elected to the state legislature, but declined re-election, and from 1880 to 1888 achieved his highest honors as a lawyer. In 1888 he was elected judge of the circuit court, and after leaving the bench his health gradually declined until his death.
CHAPTER XV.
THE PROFESSION OF MEDICINE.
The Sullivan County Medical Society was organized at a meeting of the physicians at the courthouse at Sullivan, May 19, 1858. The first set of officers consisted of : H. N. Helms, president ; S. R. Youngman, vice president ; John J. Thompson, secretary, and John M. Hinkle, treas- urer. The only other members present at this time were Eli Bowyer and W. R. Miller, who were chosen censors. The objects of the society were most commendable. The association was "for the purpose of mutual recognition and fellowship ; the maintenance of union and good govern- ment among its members ; the promotion of the interest, honor and use- fulness of the profession ; and the cultivation and advancement of medical science and literature, and the elevation of the standard of medical educa- tion."
The names of several additional members of the profession appear in the list of those in attendance at the second annual meeting. They were A. J. Miller, Ziba Foote, A. N. Wier, J. K. O'Haver, Harvey Brown and W. G. Stout.
The Civil war interfered with the activity of the society, and the
232
233
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
physicians did not reorganize until the late sixties, at which time they be- came a branch of the state medical society.
Another organization of the physicians of the county into an associa- tion was effected at Sullivan, April 23. 1895. The officers elected at that time were: R. H. Crowder, president ; Dr. Cushman, vice president ; Dr. Pirtle, secretary ; Walter N. Thompson, treasurer.
A physician whose connection with the southern part of the county a quarter of a century ago will be readily recalled was Dr. Richard M. Whalen, who died at his home near Carlisle, July. 7, 1899. His son, J. R. Whalen, succeeds him in the practice of the profession at Carlisle. The elder Dr. Whalen was physician to an older generation. The family is a prominent one. A forefather was born in Ireland, and later generations have lived in North Carolina and Tennessee, and for more than three quarters of a century the name has been identified with Haddon town- ship. The late Dr. Whalen did not take up the study of medicine until about thirty-five years old, having spent a year in selling clocks about the country, and his life was further diversified by an experience in teaming during the early days in Kansas. His preparation for the practice of medicine was completed by a course in the Rush Medical College of Chi- cago, in 1867, and he then returned to practice in his native county. Some years ago he was proprietor of a drug store at Carlisle. He was an honored member of his profession, a fine type of the country doctor.
Dr. Andrew N. Weir began practice about 1858 and for twenty-five years visited the sick about Graysville, and later had a drug store and established a practice in Sullivan. During the war he was with the. Sev- enty-first Regiment, at first as captain of the Sullivan company, and in
234
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
1863 was commissioned assistant surgeon and in the following year pro- moted to surgeon of the regiment, with which he remained to the close of the war. He was born in Washington county, Indiana, November 9, 1832, and died at Sullivan in September, 1885. He was a Mason and Odd Fellow.
It is said that Dr. John J. Thompson, when he came to Sullivan in 1848, had but fifty cents. He was then twenty-four years old, had been practicing medicine for a while, and after getting well established in Sullivan became, in time, known as a wealthy man. He had completed his professional course at Rush Medical College, and was an able man in every way. He married Miss Mary A. Langston.
A physician whose practice in Sullivan county covered the middle decades of the last century was Alexander Marion Murphy, who about 1841 formed a partnership with Dr. J. K. O'Haver at Carlisle, and for thirty years or more was quite actively identified with the profession. He was one of the early physicians whose education was along the broad lines that characterize the modern physician's training. He had begun his studies in Bloomington, continued them in the medical college at Louis- ville, Kentucky, and after practicing for several years took other courses in the University of New York. He was a surgeon in the Ninety-seventh Indiana Regiment from 1862 to 1864.
Dr. Jesse M. Mathes, who was born in this county in 1841, was a soldier in Company D of the Twenty-first Regiment and Company I of the Ninety-seventh, until his discharge in the latter part of 1864 on ac- count of a wound received at Kenesaw Mountain, studied medicine after
1
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
1 235
the war and began practice at Carlisle about 1868. He was a graduate of . Rush Medical College of Chicago.
The career of one of the old physicians deserves special mention be- cause of its associations with the life and affairs of the county during the central period of the last century. Dr. Hamet N. Helms, though born in New York state in 1814, came with his parents, Jacob and Anna Helms, to Carlisle in 1817, and for half a century was identified with the county in a way that is worthy of note. His life's future was determined by an event when he was ten years old. His mother dying about that time, he was subsequently reared to manhood in the home of the eminent citizen and physician, Dr. John W. Davis. In consequence of this association he took up the study of medicine, and during the winter of 1837-38 attended medical lectures at Lexington, Kentucky. Among the incidents of his early career he is said to have piloted flatboats from the shallow waters of Busseron creek, down the Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans. In 1839 he began a partnership practice with Dr. Davis, and during his professional experience was associated with several physicians who have helped make medical history in Sullivan county, among them being Dr. A. M. Murphy, Dr. John M. Hinkle, and Dr. W. R. Miller. Dr. Helms was a fine type of the old-style physician, a friend of every patient, and beloved in the community which he served. His later years were devoted to farming, on a fine country estate near Carlisle. The Methodist church at Carlisle owed much to his efforts as a contributor and active worker, and the philanthropic direction of his enterprise was also shown in his appointment during later life as a trustee of the Indiana Reform School for Boys. He died at Carlisle, September 16, 1892. He was first mar-
236
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
ried to Mary A. Davis about 1839 and three children were born to them, Benjamin R., Margaret D. and Ann R. His wife dying about 1851, short- ly after her death he made an overland trip to California. After his re- . turn he was married to Mrs. Amanda Sollee and by this marriage three children were born, Samuel D., Albert G. and Daniel W. V.
Benjamin Rush Helms, oldest son by the first marriage of Dr. Hamet N., spent nearly all his life at Carlisle and was also a physician. He was born in 1840 and died in 1887. A schoolboy in the Carlisle Academy when . the war broke out, he enlisted in Company D of the Twenty-first Indiana Infantry, and was promoted to second lieutenant. He studied medicine at Rush Medical College, and practiced at Carlisle until 1882, when he moved to Henderson, Kentucky. His first wife was Lola Jenkins and his second, Ella Letcherer.
Robert H. Crowder, whose father was a physician, was . this well known family's representative in the field of medicine in Sullivan county. He began practice at Graysville some time during the war, but gave it up to enter the army, first as captain of a company, and later as surgeon of the Eleventh Indiana. After being mustered out in 1865 he re-entered Rush Medical College at Chicago, and, graduating in 1866, returned to a permanent connection with Sullivan as a physician.
A physician who began practice at Sullivan a short time before the war, and was thereafter prominent in his profession as also in Democratic politics, was Dr. S. S. Coffman. He was born in Indiana in 1828, and prepared for his profession in the Kentucky School of Medicine and in the medical department of Transylvania University at Lexington. He was
237
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
active in Democratic politics and during the seventies represented the county in the legislature.
James Newton Young, who died at Carlisle, August 16, 1894, was for twenty-eight years a leading practitioner of that place. He was born in Gibson county, May 16, 1842, and after attending the schools at Prince- ton began the study of medicine in the Ohio Medical College in the fall of 1863. He was graduated in March, 1865, and was then appointed sur- geon in the United States volunteer navy, and received the thanks of the department when he was discharged in 1866. He was in charge of the vessel Gazelle until the war closed, when he was given charge of the naval ordnance depot at Jefferson barracks. On leaving the service he lo- cated at Carlisle.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE PRESS.
The first newspaper in this county was published at Carlisle. Jeremiah Young came from Daviess county about 1844 and established the Jack- sonian Democrat, but continued it through only a few numbers. James C. Allen, at that time a lawyer of this county, with Thomas Marks, used the same plant for the publication of the Carlisle Messenger, but probably this lasted only through the political campaign, since the newspapers of that time were conducted largely as an instrument of politics. The Mes- senger was, however, the first regular paper in the county. A copy is still preserved by the Helms family, being No. 41 of Volume I, dated Novem- ber 19, 1845. At that time George W. Bee & Co. were editors and pub- lishers.
This paper is chiefly interesting for its advertisements, which tell some of the business and professional interests of Carlisle at that time. Peter Hawk and Company were tailors, I. Shannon had a saddlery and harness shop, the general store of J. D. Riggs was an important establish- ment, and J. and J. Alsop advertised dry goods and groceries and "old rectified whisky, always on hand and for sale by the barrel." A. M. Murphy and H. N. Helms were partners in medicine and had their office
238
239
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
one door south of Riggs' store on Ledgerwood street. Dr. J. H. Paxton, who had closed out a store, had his office at Mrs. Hall's residence. Thomas Marks and James C. Allen were local attorneys, while three Sullivan law- yers also advertised-A. J. Thickstun, L. H. Rousseau and R. A. Rous- seau. D. H. Hancock was at that time the sheriff, his name appearing in the notices of settlement of the estates of William S. Cruft and Robert Boyle, deceased.
The Democrat.
In 1854 J. J. Mayes, of Vincennes, came to Sullivan and proposed to start a paper. Joseph W. Wolfe, John S. Davis, Isaac Stewart, Joseph Gray and William Wilson advanced $25 a piece to make payment on the press and material and endorsed notes for the remainder. The press was capable of printing a sheet five columns to the page. The editor and proprietor took a walk over town the day his first issue was circulated, carrying a gold-headed cane. Whether his style was unpopular with the Democrats of the day, or whether his inspection of the town was unsatis- factory, is not known. However, he left Sullivan at once and returned to Vincennes. In September the Democratic leaders secured a printer named Farley and got out two more issues, Samuel R. Hamill writing the edi- torials. When the election was over the editorials ceased and the paper suspended.
The chance which brought to the attention of Murray Briggs a stray copy of the Terre Haute Journal gave Sullivan its best known editor, who for over thirty years was identified with the fortunes of the Sullivan Democrat and really founded and developed that newspaper to its place
240
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
of influence in the press of the county. In 1854 Murray Briggs, who had been a printer since the age of fifteen, having entered that employment after breaking his leg, was pursuing his vocation in the usual manner of journeyman printers, without remaining long in one place. The copy of the Terre Haute paper which he happened to pick up one day contained a marked paragraph headed, "An Editor Wanted," and signed with the name of Joseph W. Wolfe. The editor of the paper at Sullivan, Indiana, so the paragraph stated, had disappeared without leaving any security to his numerous creditors except the printing office, and to make this an available asset an editor was needed to continue the paper. Mr. Briggs soon afterward came to Sullivan, bought the office, and from that time forward was proprietor and publisher of the Sullivan Democrat. Born in Licking county, Ohio, April 26, 1830, Murray Briggs lived on a farm till the accident which turned him to the printer's trade. In Sullivan county he was a man of prominence. In public office he served as a school exam- iner, as county auditor, on the town school board, and for a number of years was on the board of trustees of the State Normal School, being president of that body.
When Mr. Briggs came to Sullivan the town contained some frame and log dwellings and three brick houses. Business was confined to Wash- ington street between Court and Section, the five merchants being William Wilson, Merwin and Kelley, Major Isaac Stewart, John Bridwell and James W. Ilinkle. Mail was received three times a week from Terre Haute via Fairbanks, Graysville, Merom and New Lebanon. Mr. Briggs rode from Terre Haute as far as Farmersburg on a freight car loaded with ties, the railroad not yet being completed to Sullivan. The line from
.
24I
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
the south was at Carlisle and the two ends were joined in November, 1854. The old star mail route was continued about half a year longer, owing to a disagreement between the postmaster general and the railroad company for the transportation of the mails.
The Democrat office was then in the upper room of a frame building on the southeast corner of Section and Washington street, the first floor being occupied by Bridwell's general store. Across the street was the Railroad House, kept by J. P. Dufficy. In the spring of 1855 a number of new buildings were erected on the north and west sides of the square, and some of the trees now in the square were planted, each citizen bringing a tree, planting it and afterwards caring for it, the editor of the Democrat setting out one near the edge of the north side of the square. In 1859 the Democrat was moved to a frame building, and in 1870 the editor build- ing the brick building near the center of the north side of the square, moved the office to the second floor (building now occupied by Dutton's store).
At the close of the first volume the Democrat was increased to a six- column folio, and later to seven and then to eight columns. In 1869 a cylinder press was put in, and in 1881 a Campbell press with steam power. The first year Mr. Briggs did all the work, of editor, pressman and printer. Fourteen columns of news matter had to be set up each week, about six columns being advertising. Plate matter was then unknown. On making up the forms, if it was found there was not enough matter to fill the col- umns, the type was left standing until the editor could secure sufficient copy, and he frequently did not take time to write out his new material but set his news directly into type. The forms were inked with a hand Vol. I-16
2.42
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
roller, the sheet, first dampened, was placed upon the form, and by means of a lever the platen was lowered, the same process being gone through twice for each copy of the paper. The mailing took half a day, since each address had to be written by hand.
Mr. Briggs continued as editor until his death, September 18, 1896. No other editor in the state had a record of so long continuous service on the same paper. For about a year the Democrat was issued by Murray Briggs' sons, but with the issue of July 19, 1897, passed into the pro- prietorship of S. Paul Poynter of Greencastle, who has since conducted the Democrat. From July, 1883, until Mr. Poynter took charge the Demo- crat was issued semi-weekly. At the latter date the price was reduced from $1.50 to $I a year, the weekly issue was resumed, and the size in- creased. In 1901 the business of the paper had outgrown the old location. and the proprietor erected the brick building on the south side of Jackson street and moved the office to the first floor. July 17, 1905, was issued the first number of the Sullivan Daily Times, this having since been the daily edition of the Democrat.
Sullivan Union.
About April 1, 1860, F. M. Browning began publishing a little paper at Merom called the Stars and Stripes, largely devoted to the interests of the college. The same year the material was moved to Sullivan and the venerable John W. Osborn, one of the pioneer newspaper men of western Indiana, issued the Stars and Stripes as a loyal administration and Union paper. It was continued only a short while. At the county Republican convention held at the courthouse in February, 1863, a committee was
243
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
appointed to consider the propriety of establishing an "unconditional Union" newspaper, but none was established during the war.
The first number of the Sullivan Union was issued in August, 1866. The publisher was Isaac M. Brown, a veteran newspaper man of Terre Haute. The subscription price was $2.50 a year. This was the Repub- lican organ of the county, but was not successful financially. At the edi- torial convention held in Sullivan in 1882 Mr. Briggs, in a review of local newspaper history, assigned various causes for this-too frequent changes of compositors and a superfluity of editors of differing political views. On one occasion, it was said, the paper contained two editorials on the tariff, one favoring free trade and the other advocating protective duties. Mr. Briggs often called attention to the fact that the publisher of the Union and the incumbent of the Sullivan postoffice was the same man, inferring that the postoffice was in some way a perquisite of the Republican newspaper.
In October, 1872, the Union was sold to Uriah Coulson, and in March, 1874, James A. Hays became proprietor. Uriah Coulson again bought the Union in the spring of 1883, and conducted it a few years. Mr. James Cluggage was proprietor of this paper until March, 1891, when he sold to Arthur Holmes. P. D. Lowe became editor at that time. W. R. Nesbit became proprietor of the Union in 1902, and in March, 1904, sold the plant to D. C. Chaney and Robert P. White, the present pro- prietors.
The Sullivan County Banner was established July 1, 1874, by M. B. Crawford and S. B. Marts, as the organ of the independent party. In about a year it was sold to J. H. Stark and T. H. Evans, but in Septem-
244
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
ber, 1875, was suspended, and the material was taken by Mr. Crawford to Boonville.
The Carlisle Register, established in July, 1876, was largely devoted to the affairs of the Grange. Its founder was William Herron, whose son George was an amateur printer. E. H. Bailey was later employed as printer and in a few months took the entire plant for his pay. He changed the name to the Carlisle Democrat, and his brother, W. W. Bailey, became editor. They continued their paper until August, 1879, when they moved the plant to Vincennes and consolidated with the Reporter.
In January, 1878, a prospectus was issued for the True Democracy, of which George W. Basler was proprietor. The publication was begun in February following, and Colonel Taylor, a writer of ability, furnished the editorials. This was the organ of another faction of the Democratic party. In 1881 the office passed into the hands of Dr. J. C. Bartlett, who changed the name to the Sullivan Times. D. O. Groff was a later pro- prietor, who sold the Times in the spring of 1888 to C. W. Welman, who continued as editor and manager of the Times until 1896.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.