A portrait and biographical record of Boone, Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana, Part 48

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080

USA > Indiana > Boone County > A portrait and biographical record of Boone, Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana > Part 48
USA > Indiana > Clinton County > A portrait and biographical record of Boone, Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana > Part 48
USA > Indiana > Hendricks County > A portrait and biographical record of Boone, Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana > Part 48

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APT. FELIX SHUMATE, now one of the most respected citizens of Lebanon, Boone county, Ind., was one of those patriots who were among the first to offer their services to the country at the breaking out of the Civil war. He was the second man in Boone county to

enroll his name at the call to arms, the first being Elisha Kise, son of Col. Kise. Capt. Shumate springs, on his paternal side, from an old Virginia family of German descent, and on the maternal side from an English family that settled in Maryland-both families coming to America before the Revo- lutionary period. William Shumate, the earli- est ancestor of Felix of whom he have any authentic record, was a wealthy planter and slave-holder in Fauquier county, Va. He there married Mary Miller. who bore him eight children, named Jobn. Isaac, Peyton, William, Newton, James, Ruth and Adaline. Of these, John Shumate was born in Fauquier county, Va., on his father's farm, in 1808. He learned the trade of cotton and wool card- ing, which he followed both in Maryland and Kentucky. Eventually he settled in Jefferson county, Ky., and there married Mary Yates, daughter of Isaac and Lucy Yates, pioneers of Jefferson, and descendants of most excellent English families. Richard Yates, of Illinois, was a nephew of the said Isaac Yates. To Mr. and Mrs John Shumate were born nine children, named as follows: Amanda, William, Isaac, Lydia, Felix, Lucy. John, Thomas and Columbus, all born in Shelby county, Ky., where the father, John, resided for many years and ran a cotton and woolen mill. In 1855 he came to Indiana and settled in Boone county on a farm, and in 1863, although fifty- six years of age, enlisted at Lebanon in the Eleventh Indiana volunteer cavalry, and in 1864, was appointed from the ranks in the field to be hospital steward. He was in the battle at Nashville, and took part in a gallant charge on the rebel works, and was also in many skirmishes, serving continually until the close of the war. In 1866 he moved to Minnesota and opened up a new farm at Litchfield, in Meeker county, of which he was one of the earliest settlers. There he

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died January 7,. 1887, at the age of seventy- > nine years-a stanch republican, though at first a democrat. Four of his sons were in the Civil war, viz: William, as orderly ser- geant in company I, Tenth Indiana volunteer infantry, having enlisted at Lebanon in April, 1861, and then re-enlisted in the Ninth volunteer regiment of United States troops; Isaac enlisted at Peoria, Ill., in 1822, in com- pany H, Twenty-seventh Illinois, and died of wounds received in the battle of Resaca; Felix enlisted at Lebanon April 15, 1861, company I, Tenth Indiana volunteer infantry, for the three. months' service, and again enlisted, on the re- organization of the regiment, in the same com- pany, reaching the captaincy; Thomas also en- listed in company H, Eleventh regiment, in the fall of 1862, and served until the close of the war.

Capt. Felix Shumate was born February 25, 1839, on his father's farm in Shelby coun- ty. Ky., and was fourteen years of age when he came with his father to Indiana. He was reared a farmer, but also learned the brick- making trade at Lebanon. When the war broke out, he, with Elisha K. Kise, David H., Oliver and George W. Smith, drew straws in order to decide which should have the honor of being the first to enroll, and the honor fell to Kise; the second place to Shumate. The company was placed under the command of Capt. William C. Kise, formerly a lieutenant in the Mexican war, and the enlistment was for three months. J. W. Perkins was elected first lieutenant, R. C. Kise second lieutenant, John H. Dooley orderly sergeant, and Felix Shumate second corporal. . All these men served in re-organizations nearly throughout the war, and with higher rank. Capt. J. W. Perkins, however, was killed at the battle of Chattanooga; Capt. John H. Dooley lost an arm at Mission Ridge, and of an enrollment of sixty-one, forty per cent. died on the field of battle. The company fought at Rich

Mountain, and was complimented for its vic- tory, and there Mr. Shumate served as corpor- al. He was commissioned first lieutenant on re-organization. September 2, 1861, and as such took part at Mill Spring, Ky .; was at Shiloh, siege of Corinth (where he was wound- ed); was at Perryville, Ky., Boston, Hoover's Gap, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Chattanooga (where he. was commissioned captain on the death of Capt. Perkins), Missionary Ridge, Winchester, Ringgold, Tunnel Hill. Resaca, in Sherman's campaign; in all the battles under Gen. Thomas, except Lovejoy Station; was at Pendleton Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Lost Mountain, New Hope Church, Kingston, Adairsville, Atlanta, Chattahoochee Bridge, Peach Tree Creek and many others too nu- merous to make mention of. On his return to Lebanon, the captain engaged in the manufac- ture of brick, and erected some of the best buildings in the city, including. also, all of the block on the south end, except Zion's corner; built the Cason block, and the marble front block; also many on Lebanon street: also the Methodist church, the Presbyterian church, and the South-side school-house.

Capt. Shumate was married. November 17, . 1867, to Amanda E. Perkins, daughter of Jacob Perkins and Eliza (McLewain) Perkins. One son, J. W. Shumate, has been born to this union. Mr. and Mrs. Shumate are . mem- bers of the Methodist church. and in politics he is a republican. He has served as deputy county treasurer eight years, and has also filled several local offices, including that of common councilman for three terms, and for four years was post-master under Ben Harrison. . Heis a Mason, a member of the G. A. R .. and has had command of a militia company organized by himself after the close of the war. He has a commission from Blue Jeans Williams, while he was governor, as captain of the first militia organization the county ever had.

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OF BOONE COUNTY.

J UDGE STEPHEN NEAL is one of the most prominent men of Lebanon, Ind., is a member of the legislature and is judge of Boone county circuit court, Twentieth judicial circuit of the state. He springs from sterling English stock. His remote ancestors were an old colonial Virgin- ian family and substantial farmers and slave owners. Their children were: William, Sam- uel, Stephen, John and Polly, and others not remembered. John Neal, father of the judge, was born in Halifax county, Va., was reared a farmer and received a good education. He first married. in Halifax county, Va., Priscilla Craddock, and to them were born ten chil- dren: Polly, Henry, Cicely, John, Nancy, Maha, Stephenf, Susan, Wellington and Orm- stead. After his marriage, Mr Neal moved to Pittsylvania county, Va., and there the first seven children were born. Having lost his first wife, John Neal married Eliza Fletcher, and to this union were born two sons: James and Thomas, both living in Missouri. In 1819, in the autumn, John Neal moved to the wilds of Kentucky and settled in Bath county, making this long journey with pack horses. He cleared up a farm, then moved to Nicholas county, where he spent some years, and then returned to Bath county, where he died, aged 73. He was a devout member of the Baptist church, and in politics an old-line whig.

Steplien Neal, our subject, was born June II, 1817. in Pittsylvania county, Va., and was but two or three years old when he was taken to Kentucky. He was reared among the pio- neers and attended the old subscription school and then an academy at Moorefield, Ky., un- der a famous teacher, Henry T. Trimble, a graduate of Transylvania university, Ky. Soon after this, Stephen began reading law at the age of twenty years. His mother died when he was but fifteen years of age, and his father married, as stated above, about one year after, 23

giving young Stephen his time. The latter worked at farm work during the summer, and in winter devoted his time to studying various branches. He was a great lover of books and devoured greedily all that came his way, hav- ing access to the extensive library of Thomas Nelson, an accomplished linguist and teacher, who took pains to direct his studies, and gave him a start in Latin and Greek, and young Neal became so perfect that he could and did teach them. Young Neal, indeed, at the age of twenty, became a teacher of a coun- try school and continued the work three win- ters, and also continued his legal studies in the office of the Hon. Joseph G. Marshall of Madison, Ind. He was admitted to the bar at Carlisle, Ky., in 1841, and immediately began to practice. In 1843 he went to Lebanon, Ind. In 1839 he was married, in Nicholas county, Ky., to Frances A. Atkinson, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Coshoe) Atkinson. Mr. Atkinson was from an old American family of Scotch and English stock, and he was a well-to-do farmer. His children were Frances A., Elizabeth, Emily, Thomas, John, William and Mary Mr. Atkinson lived to be seventy- six years of age and died on his farm in Ken- tucky. To Judge and Mrs. Neal were born four children-Annette, Elizabeth, Mary P. and Daniel O'Connell, all born at Lebanon, Ind, In 1846-7 he was a member of the state legislature, elected as a Jeffersonian democrat, and continued with the party until he became one of the founders of the republican party in Boone county.

Mr. Neal was a strong Union man during the war and took an active part in Boone county in supporting the Union cause. His son, Daniel O'Connell, enlisted in Lebanon in 1861, in company A, Tenth regiment of Indi- ana infantry, and was promoted to corporal. He was in the battle of Mills Springs, was taken sick there with typhoid fever and died at

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Somerset, Ky., in 1862. On coming to Boone county, in 1843. Judge Neal practiced law and resided on his farm, one mile east of Lebanon, where he owned 100 acres. He was connected with many prominent cases, but in 1883. moved to Iowa and practiced two years at Washington; in 1885 returned to Lebanon and resumed his practice, in which he was very successful. In 1890 he was elected judge and took the office November 10. 1890, and is now filling that important position. Judge Neal has always been a public-spirited man, has bought many dwellings and improved them, has been an active real estate dealer and has taken an active part in the improvement of the roads. His first wife died in 1851, and he married Clara, daughter of Charles Davis. Mr. Davis was an old pioneer of Boone county and a merchant of Thorntown. He died, aged ninety-seven years, at Lebanon, a respected and honorable citizen. To Judge Neal and his second wife were born five children- Charles Von Humboldt, Albert, Frank, Jen- nie and Richard F., all born in Lebanon, Boone county. This wife died in March, 1879. and Judge Neal married Laura A. Kernodle (née Carson), daughter of Robert Carson, an old settler. Of this marriage were born two children, Gertrude and Theodore. The judge is politically a democrat. His religion is that of the church of Christ, in which he has been elder for many years. His reputation in office is unsullied and his moral life has won for him the respect of every man and woman of Boone.

a HARLES F. S. NEAL is one of the most enterprising and successful bus- iness men of Lebanon, and the head and founder of the real-estate firm of Neal & Co., and a progressive, public-spirited citizen. There is probably no man in Boone county who, in the last fifteen years, has been

a more decided benefit to it. He was one of the chief promoters of the gravel road system, which, in point of utility, surpasses all other improvements in the country except, perhaps, its large drainage system, with which Mr. Neal has also been identified. He was the prime mover in the erection of Castle Hall, the magnificent new home of the Knights of Pythias, which is not only an addition to the business blocks of Lebanon but is an ornament 'to the town. Charles F. S. Neal is the son of Stephen and Clara (Davis) Neal. Mrs. Clara Neal was a daughter of Charles Davis, an early pioneer of Boone county, and was born near Troy, Ohio, in January, 1835; her death took place near Lebanon, Ind., March 4. 1879-a pious member of the Baptist church. Charles F. S. Neal was born in Lebanon, Ind., Aug. 24. 1858. His education was acquired in the public schools of the city, he being a graduate of the high school. When quite young he had charge of his father's farm near Lebanon and engaged in school-teaching in the public schools of Boone county, Lebanon. In 1880 he was elected county surveyor of Boone county by a good majority, the election being hotly contested. He held this office for two years. From 1882 to 1887 he was super- intendent of construction of gravel roads in Boone county, during which time he super- vised the construction of about 200 miles of solid gravel roadway. The gravel was diffi- cult to obtain, on account of being of consid- erable depth in the earth and frequently covered with water. These roads are a great credit to Boone county, the system being one of the best in the state, more miles of gravel roads having been built in this county than in any other, viz : Over six hundred miles. The roads are good examples of civil engineer- ing, are built high, and the streams are crossed by substantial bridges, and are all free.

From 1884 to 1886 Mr. Neal was deputy

C. F .- S. NEAL.

MRS. C. F. S. NEAL.

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OF BOONE COUNTY.

county surveyor, and while holding this office was on every section of land in this county- and this before he was thirty years of age, and is well known throughout the country. While in this capacity, he surveyed 171 miles of open ditches in two years, he being ex-officio ditch commissioner. He is well informed on these subjects. The cost of construction of these ditches was about $300,000. In 1887 he built the Neal block, a substantial brick building, two stories and basement, in which he opened an office in 1887 in the real estate and loan business. He is also interested in five build- ing and loan associations. In 1891 he went into partnership with H. T. Thompson in the same business. The firm conducts a large real estate and loan business and are exten- sively interested in insurance, representing five of the best companies-among which are the London, Liverpool, and Globe, Commercial Union, National, of Hartford, Fire Associa- tion, of Philadelphia, and Firemen's Fund, California. Mr. Neal is a public-spirited man and improves his properties. The firm handles about $80.000 yearly in building and loan money. They deal extensively in farms and loan money on realty at reasonable rates. Po- litically Mr. Neal is a stanch democrat; frater- nally he is a member of the K. P., and has held all the offices in his local lodge, is now treasurer, and was treasurer of the grand lodge of Indiana in 1889-90, was eight years chair- man of the finance committee of the grand lodge, and in 1892 was elected grand master- at-arms; in 1893 he was elected grand prelate; 1894, was elected grand vice-chancellor. He is also a member of Ben Adhem lodge, No. 472, I. O. O. F., and also a Mason of Boone lodge, No. 9. and was secretary two years. He is also a member of the chapter, royal arch, and a member of the Knights of Macca- bees, No. 24, Lebanon lodge, and has passed all the chairs.

In September of 1881, Mr. Neal was united in marriage to Mary E., youngest daughter of Martin Henry, of Boone county, and two children have been born to this union-Gracie F. and Thomas. Mrs. Mary E. Neal was born October 10, 1856, and her father was one of the earliest settlers of Boone county, having entered tracts of land on LaFayette road two miles from Lebanon. Her mother bore the maiden name of Mary Stephens, and was a native of Kentucky, of Scotch-Irish de- scent. Mrs. Neal was the youngest in a family of eleven children, and her father was a native of Maryland, of German descent. It was on the farm of Mr. Henry that commissioners to locate the county seat for Boone county first selected the site, but Mrs. Henry re- [used her consent. Mr. Henry died in 1866, and Mrs. Henry died in 1884. Mr. Neal is one of the most enterprising and able business men of Lebanon. and, although a young man, ranks among the leaders. He was one of the projectors of Castle Hall, the home of the Knights of Phythias, and was largely instru- mental in its erection and is secretary of the building committee. The capital stock is $25,000, and is handled by a stock company. The front of the building is of Bedford stone and is of graceful and imposing architecture. The main body is of substantial brick, of three stories and basement. This is the handsomest and most ornamental business block in the county. The Knights of Pythias occupy a splendid hall 50 x 100 feet, and the remain- der of the building is used as business rooms and offices. In 1893, Mr. Neal, in company with John H. Perkins, purchased the electric light plant at Lebanon and organized a company with a capital stock of $30,000. This company also manufactures ice. Mr. Neal's character as an honorable man and citizen is too well known to need any comment. He descends from an old colonial family.

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

HOMAS O. SICKS is one of the de- scendants of an original and honored pioneer of Boone county, Ind., and is one of the prominent farmers of Center township. Jacob Sicks, the grand- father of our subject, as well as his wife, de- scended from good old Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. He became one of the pioneers of Kentucky, settling at a very early date, prob- ably, in Nicholas county. Philip Sicks, son of above and father of our subject, was born in Kentucky and there married Nancy Slaine, and they became the parents of nine children: Sarah J., Mary A., Mahala, Francis M., Thomas O., Jacob, Lucinda, Amanda and John M., the first four born in Kentucky, and the remainder in Indiana. In 1834, Mr. Sicks moved to Decatur county, Ind., and settled near Greensburg. In 1836 he came to Boone county and settled in the wilderness, and en- tered between 400 and 500 acres of land, which was covered with timber of the heaviest kind. By hard labor and perseverance he cleared up a good farm. He became a promi- nent man in his township, and held the office of township trustee and other offices of trust. He was a member of the Christian church and a Jacksonian democrat. His first wife died and he married again, of which union there were no children. Mr. Sicks lived to the patriarchal age of eighty-three years, being a man of iron constitution. He was a substan- tial and honored citizen, and in his last days retired from active work and lived in Lebanon, where he died. He was known far and wide among the pioneers. When he first came to the county it was almost an entire wilderness and wild game of various kinds abounded. He went to Lawrenceburg and Cincinnati to trade, frequently taking with him the produce ac- cumulated by the country store keepers and exchanging it for goods, which he returned to the merchants.

Thomas O. Sicks, our subject, was born in Decatur county, Ind., September 26, 1835, and was but six months of age when he was brought by his parents to Boone county, Ind., in the spring of 1836. He attended the old pioneer school in an old log cabin two miles from his father's house, passing through the woods by a blazed trail. This was a subscrip- tion school and he attended it two or three months during the winter until he was twenty- one years of age. He then went to school one winter at Milledgeville in a frame school- house. Having been reared a farmer, he nat- urally followed the pursuit of agriculture, and when young assisted in clearing many an acre of land. Huge black walnut and oak trees that would be very valuable were mercilessly hewed down by the backwoodsmen, rolled into heaps and burned, simply to clear the land. The lumber on many of their farms would now be more valuable than the land. He married, at the age of twenty-one years, Susan A., daughter of Samuel and Sarah Ann (McDaniel) Elder. Mr. Elder was an old set- tler of Boone county, member of the Method- ist church, and died at the residence of our subject at the great age of over ninety years. After marriage, Mr. Sicks settled on his father's farm, and in 1865 he bought eighty acres of this farm, which was nearly all in timber and which he has cleared and improved, and added to until he now own 238 acres of fine farming land. Mr. Sicks is a well-to-do citizen, and beside his farm owns valuable real estate and improved property in Lebanon. Mr. and Mrs. Sicks are the parents of nine children- seven of whom are men and women-as fol- lows: Mary C., Vernelia J., Philip H., John M., Maggie, Delly and Thomas S. He and wife are members of the Methodist Protest- ant church, of which he is a trustee. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity, Boone lodge, No. 9, Lebanon. Mr. Sicks is a be-

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OF BOONE COUNTY.

liever in schools and his children received good common educations. His son, Philip H., at- tended the state university at Bloomington, Ind., and is now a successful school-teacher and farmer of Center township. Mr. Sicks is a public-spirited man and was one of the promoters of the first gravel road through his part of Center Township. He is a practical farmer and stands deservedly high for his correct and manly course through life. From 1888 to 1891 he resided in Lebanon, where he erected three houses, two of which he still owns. There is no family in Boone county whose record for industry, integrity of character and real worth ranks higher.

ILLIAM A. SIMS, an influential citizen of Marion township, Boone county. Ind., and brave ex-soldier, is a native of the Hoosier state, born December 15, 1844. in the county of Fayette. His early educational advantages embraced the branches usually taught in the common schools, and, like the majority of country boys, his youthful years were passed amid the peaceful scenes of the farm. In April, 1854, he accom- panied his parents to Hamilton county, Ind., where his father purchased 440 acres of land, on which he resided for some time, subsequently moving to Boone county, locating in Marion township, where he was living at the breaking out of the great rebellion. In 1863, with a spirit that animated the patriotic heart of the north, he exchanged the quiet of the farm for a military life, enlisting August 7 of that year in company H. Fifty-seventh Indiana in- fantry, with which he served until honor- ably discharged June 2, 1865. The mil- itary experience of Mr. Sims was exceedingly varied and embraced campaigns in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and other southern states. During the battle of Chickamauga he was en-

gaged in provost guard duty, and at Mission Ridge was refused permission, by his captain, to take part in the engagement on account of a severe sickness from which he was at that time suffering. After a short time spent at home on furlough, he rejoined his command at Chattanooga, Tenn., in season to take part with General Sherman in the Atlanta cam- paign, during which he participated in the bloody battles of Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, New Hope Church, and other engagements, and, on the twenty-seventh of May, 1864, while on the skirmish line within a few rods of the enemy, was struck by a musket ball which entered the point of the left shoulder and came out at his belt on the right side, making a dan- gerous wound over sixteen inches in length. In this condition he walked to the rear, where the surgeon cut off his clothes and dressed the wound by filling it with cotton. After this, on his way to the field hospital, the cotton worked itself out of the wound, and it was with diffi- culty that his life was saved on account of pro- fuse bleeding. He was in Marietta, Chatta- nooga and Nashville until July of the above year, and while in the hospital suffered untold agonies from his wound, which was of such a nature as to necessitate the removal of his shoulder blade in order to save his life. When sufficiently recovered he was removed to Louis- ville, in which city he remained in the hospi- tal, suffering intensely until his discharge from the service at the date above mentioned. Ow- ing to his disability he was unable to do any- thing but the lightest kind of farm work after his return from the army, and later he assisted his father for about two years in a saw-mill. which the latter was at that time operating. Not being able to perform much manual labor. he began buying timber and was thus engaged for some time, when, owing to too much phys- ical exertion, he was compelled to secure some kind of lighter work, and in 1881, in partner-

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

ship with his brother and father, he engaged in the mercantile trade at the town of Terhune, where he did a successful business for a period of two years. In June, 1880, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary L. Shannon, daugh- ter of Thomas and Polly (McDonald) Shannon, whose parents were natives of Nicholas county, Ky., which union resulted in the birth of three children, namely: Vorhees, born April 11, 1882, died August 26, 1894; Grover, born Oc- tober 20, 1884, and Shannon, born September 12, 1890, died November 21, 1892. Finan- cially, Mr."Sims has met with very gratifying success, notwithstanding his physical disability, and at this time is the possessor of a comfort- able competence, including 120 acres of land, the greater part of which is in a high state of cultivation. Mr. Sims still suffers from his grievous wound, and never expects to recover his former health. He points with pride to his military record and consoles himself with the reflection that his life, now broken and shattered, was freely sacrificed for the good of his country. Politically he has always been a. democrat and as such se. ved as postmaster du- ring the administrations of Presidents Hayes and Cleveland, succeeding his father, and be- ing the present incumbent of the office. He is a member of the Christian church, while his wife subscribes to the Presbyterian creed.

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Author: Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 1080

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080