A portrait and biographical record of Delaware and Randolph 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 148

Author:
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Chicago, A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1474

USA > Indiana > Randolph County > A portrait and biographical record of Delaware and Randolph 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 148
USA > Indiana > Delaware County > A portrait and biographical record of Delaware and Randolph 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 148

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).

0 LIVER C. GORDON, general insur- ance, Union City, Ind., was born in Henry county, Ind., November 14, 1845. His parents were Charles and Lydia (Jessup) Gordon, were members of the Friends' church, and emigrated many years ago from North Carolina. His mother died when

he was three months old and he was reared by his uncle, J. J. Fulghum, who married a sister of his mother, and lived at Arba, where our subject grew up and worked on a farm, and clerked in a store until the war broke out. At the age of eighteen he enlisted as a recruit of the Sixty-ninth Indiana volunteer infantry, company E, and served his country nntil the close of the war, in the gulf department, par- ticipating in all the engagements of the Mobile campaign; he was mustered out at Galveston, Tex., in the fall of 1865. On his return from the army he resumed his clerkship in the general store at Arba, until he secured the con- tract for carrying the mail from Arba to Union City, and from Arba to Richmond, and for two years he successfully operated a stage line in connection with the transmission of the mails.

In 1870, Mr. Gordon settled in Union City, where he engaged in the book and stationery trade until the fall of 1876, when he disposed of his commercial interest here, to take charge of the office of the county treasurer, to which position he was elected in 1876, and re-elected in 1878, serving as a popular incumbent in that office for four years, and resided at Win- chester. In 1881 he returned to Union City, and was for five years successfully engaged in the boot and shoe business. Afterward he, with several other gentlemen of the county, organized what was known as the Cherokee Cattle company, and invested largely in range cattle in the Indian territory, and under what was known as the "I. Z." brand, held them on the "V" ranch, adjoining the government reservation, known as Camp Supply. This ranch consisted of about 325,000 acres under fence. Mr. Gordon, while in charge of this herd, underwent many deprivations. His ad- ventures among Indians and cowboys crossing the plains, with their treacherous streams, was by no means a pleasant part of his life, to

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look back upon, and he was rewarded finally with disaster.

Three of the coldest winters known in the history of that country, coupled with an un- precedently low market, and bad management on the part of a predecessor, brought about and made it a bad financial investment. Mr. Gordon later on, during the cattle enterprise moved to Kiowa, Barber county, Kan., being about seventy-five miles from the ranch, and closed out the business. He afterward helped to lay out and plat an addition to Kiowa, built a house and lived there six months, moving from there, in the fall of 1886, to Topeka, Kan., where he remained for two years, being engaged in the real estate busi- ness most of the time. He moved back to Union City in the fall of 1888, and for two years was engaged in the life insurance busi- ness. At the death of Dr. I. G. Stahl, Mr. Gordon secured his fire insurance agency, and now has perhaps one of the best general insurance agencies in eastern Indiana.

In 1866 Mr. Gordon was married to Mrs. Maggie (Keever) Powers, of this county. To this marriage there are born four children: Bernard V., Fred K., J. Charles, Nina Marie Pinta. Mr. Gordon is a gentleman of fine personal appearance, courteous manner, and has a wide circle of both personal and political friends. In politics he is a republican. He is prompt and trustworthy in his business relations and commands the respect and con- fidence of the community in which he lives.

ILLIAM CREIGHTON GRIFFIS,. son of James and Margaret (Heath) Griffis, was born in Greensfork township, Randolph county, Ind., February 9, 1844. His father, the Hon. James Griffis, was born in Virginia about

1797, and about the beginning of this century the family moved to Ross county, Ohio, where James grew to manhood. Being left an orphan when quite young, he worked on the farm and received but a limited education. In early manhood he was engaged in flat boating and rafting on the Scioto, Ohio and Mississippi rivers, transporting boat-loads of pork and other products from Chillicothe to New Orleans. He was also engaged in taking droves of cattle from Ohio across the Alle- ghany mountains to eastern markets. He was engaged thus in earning a livelihood at hard labor till he was thirty-five years of age. In 1832 he emigrated from Ohio to the banks of the Greenville creek, and settled there in the unbroken woods of Wayne township, Ran- dolph county, Ind., which continued to be his place of residence till his death, October 2, 1859. He enjoyed the reputation of being a great hunter, and is said to have killed in the forests of this section more than 100 deer. He by great industry soon cleared up his farm and built a commodious farm house for that period, which became a place of entertainment for the travelers and drovers of that time. Having opened a large portion of his farm for pastur- age. he followed the business of feeding droves of cattle, which business was a very large one, having in one year kept over 18,000 head over night at different times. In political faith he was a whig of the Henry Clay stamp, and in 1846 he represented Randolph county in the state legislature and labored with great enter- prise for the interest of the county and the section in which he lived. He was tall in stature, weighed over 200 pounds, and possess- ed great bodily strength and endurance. He reared a family of ten children-five girls and five boys-all of whom, as well as his wife, survived him. The latter died February 22, 1864, at the age of fifty-four, and lies buried beside him on a part of his homestead. His

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children were as follows: Cynthia Chenoweth; Sarah Ann Cadwallader; John F .; Maria Walk- er; Elizabeth Studebaker; William Creighton; Rebecca Elston; Edward; James Hibben, and Henry Clay.

William Creighton Griffis, the subject of this sketch, lived on his father's farm till he was nineteen years of age and received the advantage of a common school education. He enlisted, August 7, 1863, in company B, of the Seventh Indiana volunteer cavalry. This regiment became a part of the famous Six- teenth army corps and did active service in west Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana, and was, in all, in 113 battles and skirmishes.

Mr. Griffis participated in the battles of Okalona, Miss .; Hatchie River; Oxford, Miss .; Independence, Mo .; Bolivar, Tenn .; Mine Creek, Kan .; Little Osage, Mo .; Bastrop, La .; Grand Gulf and Port Gibson, Miss., and other minor engagements. He entered the service with the rank of corporal and was suc- cessively promoted till he reached the rank of quartermaster and commissary sergeant. He was discharged February 19, 1866, and mus- tered out of state service March 12, 1866, being the last of the volunteer troops to mus- ter out, having done garrison duty during the last year at Austin, Tex. Mr. Griffis returned to the farm for two years and then came to Union City and engaged in the livery business one and a half years. In 1874 he entered the United States mail service as agent, running from Fort Wayne, Ind., to Cincinnati, Ohio, and was later agent on the route from Indian- apolis to Pittsburg, also ran four and a half years on the Vandalia line from Indianapolis to St. Louis, and for the last nine years has been clerk in charge of a mail car on the Bee Line (now Big Four) from Cleveland to Indianapolis. Mr. Griffis has been continu- ously in the mail service for twenty years,

handling many tons of mail matter and trav- eling many thousand miles; he is perhaps the oldest active mail agent in the state.

He was married November 2, 1874, to Miss Olive Williamson, the only daughter of the late Dr. James H. Williamson of Union City; by this marriage there are two sons: Howard and Russell. Mrs. Griffis was born in Ithaca, Darke county, Ohio; her mother died when she was a babe and she went to live with her grandfather, David Williamson, with whom she received a liberal education, grad- uating from the Baptist institution at Indian- apolis, Ind. Mrs. Griffis is a woman of re- fined literary tastes and has been active in promoting the study of standard literature in this city.

Her father was, perhaps, the first physi- cian in Union City, having practiced in this section before the town was laid out while liv- ing at Hillgrove, Ohio. He came here in 1852 or 1853, and lor nineteen years boarded with Simeon Branham. He was a graduate of the Starling Medical college of Columbus, Ohio, and Bellevue Medical college of New York city. He was married in 1848 and his wife died in 1850, but he never married again. He was a man of comprehensive learning and enjoyed an extensive practice, and was eminent in his profession. He organized the first tem- perance society in Union City and was a charter member of the first Masonic lodge, and was one of the original members of the first Presbyterian church. He died July, 1887, at the age of sixty-nine.

AJ. WILLIAM HARRIS, general manager of the Horne Produce com- pany, of Union City, Ind., was born in Ovid, Seneca county, N. Y., August 21, 1865, the son of William Harris, carriage maker of that county. William re-

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ceived his education in the district schools of New York until he reached the age of twenty years. In 1865, he removed to Findlay, Ohio, and after clerking there for six months came to Union City, Ind., in the spring of 1866, where he entered the employ of W. S. Osborne, egg and butter packer, and after a time became a partner in the establishment. In 1868, he form- ed a partnership with E. H. Turpen, and under the firm name of Turpen & Harris, engaged in the gathering, shipping and preserving of butter and eggs. The firm continued in active operation till 1890, when they disposed of their entire interests to the Horne Produce company, Mr. Harris becoming the general manager, which position he still has. The business had previously grown under the guid- ing hand and marvelous abilities of Mr. Harris until it had reached the enormous volume of $2,000,000 annually, and with a general office under the executive management of Mr. Harris, and large and prosperous branch establish- ments for collecting, shipping and preserving butter and eggs and poultry in more than twenty different points in Indiana and Ohio, in the busy seasons furnished employment for from 500 to 1,000 persons, and during the en- tire year for 100 persons and 125 wagons, and incurring a pay roll of $1, 500 weekly, the pro- ducts of this vast enterprise being shipped to all the principal eastern markets, with cold storage houses at numerous points. In addi- tion to his other vast interests, Maj. Harris was largely interested and identified with the promotion and development of several cities in the gas fields of Indiana and Ohio.

The major was among the first to appre- ciate and understand the importance of natur- al gas as an element of profit to manufact- urers, and having a larger acquaintance with eastern capitalists than any other man in In- diana, and with a rare ability to enlist the ear of capital, he became the foremost promoter

and developer of the boom period in the In- diana gas belt. He selected Muncie, Ind , as the principal field of operation, and by rare tact and management he secured the purchase of about 1,000 acres of natural gas territory adjoining the city. He aroused a degree of enthusiasm in Muncie hitherto unknown, and brought in a large delegation of foreign capi- talists to invest there, and secured the loca-

tion of several large factories, and there to- day, through the policy he inaugurated, and the continuation of it, and the forces which he organized and set in motion, is a suburb of Muncie, known as Congerville, which has 5,000 inhabitants and employs over 2,000 hands.

In politics Maj. Harris is with the demo- cratic party, and was appointed on Gov. Gray's staff with the rank of major. Mr. Harris was married, in 1867, to Miss Anna E. Turpen, daughter of E. H. Turpen; to this union there are living four children: Stella A., Jeanette T., Julia Etta and Gracie; two daughters died in childhood, Carrie and Crissie.

Maj. Harris possesses in an unusal degree executive force and a genius for organizing. He has an analytical mind and the ability of grasping and foreseeing the result of vast com- mercial movements and enterprises. He en- joys great personal popularity and has a large acquaintance with men who are eminent, both in public and private life, a larger acquain- tance, in fact, than any other man in eastern Indiana.

HOMAS SMITH KENNON, the eld- est son of William and Eleanor (Smith) Kennon, was born in Wayne township, this county, April 7, 1834, and is perhaps the oldest living resident who was born in it. William Kennon, the father of our subject, was born in Ireland, of Pres-

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byterian stock, and came with his parents to the United States when only fourteen years old. The family first located in Guernsey county, Ohio, where William grew to man- hood and married. About the year 1830 he came to Indiana and entered the land now owned by James Downing, two miles south of Union City, and later removed to the Bailey farm, further west, where our subject was born, and finally to the farm now owned by Mr. Kennon, where he died about the year 1839 at the age of forty-four years. He was a truly good man, a devout member of the Presbyterian church, and enjoyed great per- sonal popularity among early settlers of the township. He served as justice of the peace for several years and was an incumbent of that office at the time of his death. The mother of T. Smith Kennon was a member of the Methodist church and survived her husband about ten years. The remains of both parents were buried in the cemetery at Spartanburg. Of the family there is but one sister living, Mary A., widow of Theodore Shockney.

T. Smith Kennon, subject of this sketch, was left an orphan when about five years old, the father leaving an estate of 210 acres of heavily timbered land and about $800 in per- sonal property as the heritage of the widow and five small children. Mr. Kennon re- mained at home until the death of his mother, and at the age of fifteen was thrown upon his own resources. He worked at cutting cord- wood at twenty-five cents a cord and working at farm labor by the month, in the meantime working for his board and going to school about three months each winter until he was twenty years of age. He then entered Wit- tenburg college, at Springfield, where he con- tinued for six months, when failing health compelled him to return to the farm. Subse- quently he taught school two terms, then en- gaged in buying, selling and shipping stock, in

which he was successfully engaged till the breaking out of the civil war. He was among the first to answer this country's call, enlisting in the spring of 1861, in the Eighth I. V. I., company H, in which he served until his term of service expired, participating in the battle of Rich Mountain. Mr. Kennon returned home and resumed the stock business until the fall of 1863, when he again responded to the call for troops, enlisting in the One Hundred Twenty-fourth I. V. I., and was first lieuten- ant in company H. He served with Sher- man's army in the famous march to the sea from Chattanooga to Atlanta. When nearing the close of this campaign he was taken ill and was granted a furlough of some two months, after which he returned to active service at the front and was in the decisive battles of Nashville and Franklin, Tenn. After these his health became impaired to such an extent that he was discharged for disability in the fall of 1864.

On his return home, Mr. Kennon formed a co-partnership with Capt. Mason, and they jointly conducted a livery stable in Union City for three years, at which time Mr. Kennon sold out his interest and removed to the farm, where he has resided for over a quarter of a century. From an inheritance of sixty-nine acres of unimproved land Mr. Kennon has, by his energy, industry and intelligent manage- ment, built up year by year a substantial es- tate of 415 acres of valuable property; about 300 acres are cleared and under cultivation or pasturage, underlaid with an extensive system of drainage and supplied with elegant and commodious buildings. On his homestead Mr. Kennon erected, in 1884, at-a cost of about $7,000, a beautiful farm residence in modern architecture and elaborate finish. As a stock farm it is supplied with convenient barns and abundant living water. Early in life Mr. Kennon as a dealer, by wide observa-

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tion and close study, developed his knowledge of live stock, and has bred on his farm only the best grades from the improved breeds of stock. About 1878 he purchased the pacing stallion, Lightfoot Tom, a representative of the Tom Crowder and Sam Hazzard families, which rendered efficient service for fifteen years and effected vast improvements on the road horses of this section, both as to quality and speed. Mr. Kennon's present stock of horses consists of descendants from this sire, bred from Hambletonian dams. During the past forty years Mr. Kennon's services as auctioneer have been sought far and wide, and his sales have been uniformly successful. In politics Mr. Kennon is an enthusastic republi- can. He is well informed on the issues of the day and he is broad and liberal in his views of public policy. He exerts a commanding in- fluence with both friends and opponents.

Mr. Kennon was married January 1, 1869, to Miss Hannah Perkins, a daughter of Nathaniel and Mary (Roberts) Perkins, of Randolph county. To this marriage five children were born: Hattie Idora, wife of Theodore Shockney, a farmer of Wayne town- ship; Will Waldo, student at Purdue univer- sity; Minnie Myrtle, wife of Marion Ohler, a farmer of this township; Orla, student of phar- macy at Purdue university, and Lillian Luella, at home.

a HARLES J. NEGUS, formerly of Union City, Ind., was born in Hornellsville, Steuben county, N. Y., April 17, 1856, and is a son of Henry J. and Susan (Pike) Negus, of English descent. The father is still living, and for the past forty-one years has been a railroad man, being at the present time a passenger conductor on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroad. There were two daughters and three sons born in the

family, of whom one daughter and two sons still survive, viz: C. J. Negus, the eldest; Ruth, wife of of Frederick Armbuster, a farm- er near Bucyrus, Ohio, and Ward, a telegraph operator at Atkinson, Ind.

Charles J. Negus began his telegraph and railroad experience, at the age of sixteen, with the New York, Lake Erie & Western company as messenger boy, and then was given a position as telegrapher in the old At- lantic & Great Western, at Clarksville, Pa., for two months; was then at Ravenna, Ohio, for six months; at Kent, Ohio, nine years, and then came to Union City as operator in the dispatcher's office of the Bee Line; was so employed for two years; was then promoted to dispatcher, and in September, 1892, was made chief dispatcher of the Indianapolis division of the Big Four, with 202 miles under his charge, thirty-six offices on the road, and fifteen trains each way daily, and five assistant dispatchers and operators in the main office. For ten years this division has been singularly free from disastrous collisions.

Mr. Negus was married at Kent, Ohio, to Miss Fannie E. Field, in 1876, and has one son, Charles Hollie. Mr. Negus is a republi- can in politics, and fraternally is a member of the I. O. O. F., and socially is highly esteemed by all who know him. In the spring of 1894 the family of Mr. Negus will remove from Union City to Bellefontain, Ohio, where Mr. Negus already has located, and is still in the employ of the railroad company.

S J. NICELY, a prominent stockman of Randolph county, was born in the western part of Pennsylvania, Novem- ber 30, 1850. He received a common school education, and worked with his father on the farm until he was twenty-six years of

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age. About this time three imported Clydes- dale horses were introduced into that part of the country, and Mr. Nicely, noticing the suc- cess of these horses in the improvement of stock, made a careful investigation of the merits of the breed, and in 1879 purchased of Powell Bros., Shadeland, Pa., a full blooded Clydesdale stallion. This stallion proved so successful a sire, when crossed with the native mares, that two years later Mr. Nicely pur- chased from the same firm a car-load of im- proved stock, consisting of two Clydesdale stallions, one Hambletonian stallion, one Clydesdale mare, and a pair of Devonshire cattle. From 1881 to 1887, Mr. Nicely in- creased his stock by breeding and purchases, at the same time making many successful sales of his pure bred stock. In November, 1887, he moved to Indiana, and located two miles southwest of Union City, where he established the Nicely Breeding farm, and stocked it with Clydesdale, Norman, coach and Hambletonian horses. A few years later, with the co-opera- tion of several other progressive farmers, he organized a stock company, known as the Nicely Stock & Breeding company. They pur- chased a number of the best individual and fashionably bred Clydesdales, and coach stal- lions to be obtained. Mr. Nicely introduced the first coach mare into Randolph county. He has been a very successful exhibitor at the leading fairs. In 1888 he exhibited five horses at the Ohio centennial at Columbus, and was awarded important premiums, three first and two second, and has since exhibited representa- tives of his stables at the leading state and county fairs of both Indiana and Ohio with uniform success. In 1888 Mr. Nicely estab- lished a deer park on his farm, and has bred a goodly number of these fleet-footed and beauti- ful animals, which have been sold in pairs at reasonable rates to lovers of these noble pets. The park herd consists of three of each sex. |

Mr. Nicely is a competent contributor on "live stock breeding " to local and national journals.

RANK T. PARKER, secretary and treasurer of the R. Kirshbaum Stock company, Union City, was born in Randolph county, Ind., September 2, 1857, the son of J. H. and Caroline (Wood- ard) Parker. He was reared on the home farm until fifteen years of age, attending, mean- while, the common schools, where he was suffi- ciently prepared to enter college, and followed the instruction at Earlham college, Richmond. Finishing his literary education he returned to Randolph county and entered the store of J. C. Rogers, where he remained until twenty- two years of age, when he entered the store of R. Kirshbaum & Co., in Union City, as cashier and bookkeeper, and here he has remained. He at first was bookkeeper and cashier for the firm, but after the organization of the R. Kirshbaum Stock company, became a stockholder and assumed his present arduous duties. His marriage took place in 1890, to Miss Nettie Jackson, daughter of H. E. Jack- son, of Union City.

To J. H. and Caroline Parker were born three sons and one daughter. The grand- parents came from North Carolina, were members of the Society of Friends, and set- tled on a farm in Greensfork township, Ran- dolph county, about 1840. Miss Woodard (Mrs. Parker), however, was born in Wayne county, Ind. Frank T. Parker is a republican in poli- tics, and is a member of Invincible lodge No. 84, K of P.

a OL. JAMES PATCHELL, of Union City, Ind., retired, is a son of Hugh and Martha A. (Moore) Patchell, and was born near Londonderry, Ireland, July 6, 1833. The Patchell family originated

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in Normandy, France, and the name in that country was spelled Patchelle, having since been anglicized. Hugh Patchell, the father of Col. James Patchell, descended from this family, who suffered terrible persecution for embracing the Protestant faith, as many as twenty-eight having been beheaded as here- tics, and the remnant, after the manner of St. Bartholomew's day, seeking refuge in the north of Ireland, and locating near Londonderry, in company with many other Huguenots. From that country the parents of James Patchell immigrated to America, when the latter was too young to remember events. They stopped first at Columbia, Pa., for a time, and in 1847 removed to Pittsburg, where the father was foreman in an iron foundry for many years. Here James was employed first as an errand boy, but in course of time was apprenticed for seven years to learn molding and all other branches of foundry work. On account of his proficiency, however, he was rated as a journey- man at the end of four years, and after work- ing as such for six months for the firm, was hired by Joseph Tomlinson to make car wheels, and later by Frank Russell, in whose employ he was when the civil war broke out.

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A portrait and biographical record of Delaware and Randolph 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 148

Author: Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Chicago, A. W. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 1474

Author:
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Chicago, A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1474