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 15

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 15
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 15

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).

DELAWARE COUNTY, INDIANA.

THOS. SHARP.

MATHEW McCORMICK.

M. A. CUNNINGHAM.

MUNCIE CITY AND CENTRE TOWNSHIP.

ILLIAM ABBOTT, a retired farmer and prominent citizen of Centre township, Delaware county, Ind., was born in Warren county, Ohio, December 15, 1833, son of James and Rose (Keenan) Abbott. James Abbott was born where the city of Cincinnati now stands, Feb- ruary 27, 1794. He was a son of Aaron Ab- bott, of English extraction, who was born near Boston, Mass., but reared in Warren county, Ohio. Shortly after the removal of the family to that county the colony was attacked with cholera, and Mr. Abbott was one of the few who survived the scourge. . Soon after the birth of his son, James, he died, and all pre- vious records of the family were lost. James Abbott was reared in Warren county, and there learned the trade of cabinet maker. While yet a minor he enlisted in the war of 1812, and in 1813 was in one of the vessels on Lake Erie during the battle between Commo- dore Perry of the Lawrence and the British fleet. His service did not extend over very many months, and after his return home he located at Lebanon, Ohio, where he worked at his trade, remaining here until his marriage June 19, 1823. After this event he removed to Miami county, Ohio, where he engaged in

farming for about twelve years, when he re- moved, in 1847, to Indiana and became one of the early pioneers of Delaware county. He purchased a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, located about one mile east of Granville, in Niles township, and there remained until his death, which occurred October 14, 1874. His wife died April 16, 1881, and both were laid side by side in the Granville cemetery, where a modest stone marks their last resting place. Mr. Abbott was a successful business man and became possessed of considerable property. Both he and his wife were mem- bers for many years of the Free Will Baptist church. In his early days he was a whig, but upon the birth of the republican party he joined that and supported its principles through life. He became the father of seven children: Aaron, who died in 1862; John K., a resident of Miami county, Ohio ; Ellen, deceased ; William ; James D., a resident of Delaware county ; George, a resident o! Albany, this county, and Sarah E., wife of Amos Wilson, of Henry county, Ind.

William Abbott was born on the farm in Warren county, Ohio, and, like all farmer lads of that time, was early in life inured to hard labor. While still young he learned the

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trade of carpenter, and when there was no work to be performed on the farm he busied himself working at his trade. His educational advantages were very limited, and at the age of eighteen years he began life for himself, en- gaging in farming and working at the carpen- ter trade. For several years he rented land, but in 1866 he bought eighty acres in Niles township, this county. At the age of twelve years he had accompanied his father to Dela- ware county. After purchasing his farm he engaged in work upon it for some years, but in the fall of 1872 he moved into Muncie, where he conducted a private restaurant and hotel, which is now known as the Abbott house and is managed by a Mr. Braun of the the same place. In 1879 Mr. Abbott retired from this business, and two years later con- nected himself with the Citizens' National bank as director, which position he still holds. After leaving the hotel Mr. Abbott was ap- pointed courtroom bailiff, serving as such for seven years. He has a beautiful home of eight acres at Riverside, one of the most valu- able pieces of property in the neighborhood. June 1, 1856, Mr. Abbott was married, in Delaware county, to Miss Frances M. Adset, born in Warren county, Ohio, daughter of J. and Mary Adset. Four children have been born of this marriage: Josephine, deceased; Marion; John C., an official in the bank, and an infant, deceased. Mr. Abbott enlisted in the service of his country, February 8, 1865, in company B, One Hundred Forty-seventh Indiana volunteer infantry, for one year, and served uutil July 1, 1865, at Cumberlan, Md .. but was not called upon for active duty.

Politically Mr. Abbott affiliates with the republican party and has served as a justice of the peace in Niles township for eight years. Mrs. Abbott is a member of the Methodist church, and the family occupies a position of the greatest respectibility and prominence.

HARLES E. ADAMSON has become well known to all the principal busi- ness houses throughout the country as a patent attorney and the owner and patentee of the "Adamson Process Imita- tion Typewriting," wnich is much in use in the large cities for a certain class of printing. Mr. Adamson was born in Howard county, Ind., Aug. 25, 1861, and is a son of Edom Adam- son, a native of Indiana, whose birth occurred in the township of Mt. Pleasant, Delaware county, in the year eighteen hundred and thir- ty-five. The father of Edom Adamson was Andrew Jackson Adamson, who is remembered as one of the pioneers of Delaware county and a prominent factor in the early developement of the section in which he resided. When a young man, Edom Adamson located in How- ard county, and there married Miss Lydia Timmons, and engaged in agricultural pur- suits. Subsequently, in 1872, he removed to Iowa, where he followed his chosen calling until 1878, when he returned to Howard coun- ty, wnere his death occurred in 1884. Edom Adamson was one of the brave men who left family and fireside and offered their lives upon the altar of their country during the dark peri- od of the great civil war. In 1861 he enlisted in company A, One Hundred and Thirtieth Indi- ana volunteer infantry, with which he served until the cessation of hostilities, and with which he took part in a number of bloody bat- tles and campaigns. For many years he was a prominent member of the Christian church, and he bore the reputation of a christian gen- tleman against whose character no breath of suspicion was known to have been uttered. Of the five children born to Edom and Lydia Adamson two daughters and one son are deceased, and two sons, Charles E. and Andrew Gilmore, reside in Muncie.

Charles E. Adamson accompanied his par- ents to Iowa when nine years of age and

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received his principal education in the schools of that state. Upon the return of the family to Howard county, he came to Muncie, and in the spring of 1883 established his present busi- ness, that of a general practice in the law per- taining to patents and the obtaining of patents. In this department of the legal profession he is considered an authority and very successful, and such has been the growth of his extensive business that at this time he requires the assistance of a large number of clerks in the Muncie office, and in his branch offices in Washington and Chicago. Mr. Adamson is a broad-minded, keen business man, and his suc- cess for one so young in years has been much beyond the ordinary. He has been identified with a number of the leading enterprises of Muncie, was a charter member of the first board of trade of the city and one of the first gas well companies. He also subscribed to the Citizens' Enterprise company. Fraternally he belongs to Muncie lodge, I. O. O. F. In 1881 Mr. Adamson and Miss Louisa E. Polk (daugh- ter of Dr. Robert Polk, an old and respected citizen of Centre township, Delaware county), were united in marriage, and one daughter, Anna Leo, has been born to their union. Re- ligiously Mr. Adamson subscribes to the Uni- versalist creed.

...

J ONATHAN P. ADAMSON, deceased, was one of the energetic, enterprising and sagacious merchants of Muncie in her palmy days. A son of Jonathan and Ruth (Williams) Adamson, he was born near Economy, Wayne county, Ind., Decem- ber 16, 1818, and until forty-five years old lived on his native farm. He was largely self- educated, but his acquired knowledge excelled in its extent that of many who had had more extended advantages for securing school advantages. After having passed nearly a half

century in the pursuit of agriculture, he dis- posed of his eighty acre farm in Wayne coun- ty, and about May 1, 1865. or three weeks after the surrender of Gen. R. E. Lee, at Appomattox C. H., Va. (April 9, 1865), Mr. Adamson came to Muncie, Delaware county, Ind., and engaged in mercantile trade, going, first, into the grocery business, having for his partner his nephew, B. R. Adamson; he then changed to the dry goods trade, with Mr. Hammer for his partner; later he resumed the traffic in groceries, with James N. Cropper as partner, and still later with Riley Jones, with whom he remained associated until within two weeks of his death, June 17, 1890, when he sold out. He met with great success as a merchant, especially with farmers, as he was genial and sociable, and well posted in farm- ing topics, as was quite natural, from his long personal experience in agriculture. He was of a religious turn of mind, but it was not until 1862 that he was baptized. In that year he united with the church in Jacksonburg, Wayne county, and on coming to Muncie, he and wife became prime movers in organizing the First Christian church, in which he at once became an elder and faithfully filled the posi- tion until the end. In politics he was a pro- nounced partisan but never an office seeker, yet for nine years, as a matter of duty to his fellow citizens, he filled the office of justice of the peace in Wayne county. He was first a free soiler, then a republican, and was lastly an ardent prohibitionist.

November 22, 1838, Mr. Adamson was most happily united in marriage to his now venerable life companion, Emily Macy, daugh- ter of Reuben and Lucinda (Petty) Macy. This lady is also a native of Wayne county, Ind., and was born in 1822. There were no children born to their union, but they reared to useful maturity two girls and one boy, viz: Lucinda Hammer (a niece of Mrs. Adamson),

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.now the wife of Thomas McCulloch, a farmer of Delaware county; John Adamson, a nephew, who fell in the defense of the Union, and last- ly, they adopted Nettie Adamson, at the age of three years, whom they educated in the best institutions of learning in the city, and who was married to William Fadely, of Muncie. Mr. and Mrs. Adamson, up to the time of his demise, had been companions over fifty-two years, and November 22, 1888, celebrated the golden anniversary of their wedding. "G. W. T.," writing at Union City on the melancholy occasion of the death of Mr. Adamson, for publication in one of the daily journals, makes, among others, the following appropriate re- marks:

"Jonathan P. Adamson was born and raised in Wayne county, Ind. In 1861 he heard the writer of this preach the primitive gosple, the first among our people he ever heard. After this he heard others of our preachers. 1862 he was baptized on a profession of faith in the Christ, and to the day of his death he lived a faithful christian. He died on June 17, 1890, at the age of seventy-one years, six month and one day. I had been intimately acquainted with him for twenty-nine years. In the year 1865 he removed to Muncie, Delaware county, Ind., and became closely allied to the cause there, and through his personal efforts, as much, or more than any other, was due the planting of our cause in that city. He was an officer in the church in Muncie from its organ- ization till his death. He was an upright citizen; as a business man, energetic and ap- preciated by all; outspoken on all leading questions, favoring what he conceived to be right and against the wrong. The only question with him was: Is it right? If so, he did it. He had been afflicted for a number of years with catarrhal trouble, and was confined to his room about five months. The writer talked with him often about the future. He

was willing and ready to depart and be with Christ. He was one of the noble men of earth, a known quantity. His word was as good as his bond. He never betrayed a friend or truckled to any schemes. I think he would have died rather than consent to a wrong. He was one who enlisted during the war, and he was always on duty, never having a fur- lough. May our kind father raise up some one to take his place in the church. The writer spoke to a large concourse of friends and neighbors, who had gathered to pay a tribute of respect to him, from Rev. xlv 13, after which at the close of a beautiful day, as the sun was low in the west, we laid him in the beautiful cemetery at Muncie, to rest until Jesus shall call him to his final reward. For his faithful companion who walked side by side with him in all his efforts to do good for nearly fifty-two years, we pray the consola- tions of the gospel of the grace of God. 'Rest, brother, rest, till Jesus calls, and we shall meet again.'" G: W. T.

APT. EDWIN C. ANTHONY, the son of one of Muncie's greatest bene- factors as well as one of her earliest settlers, was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, May 29, 1818. In order to fully show his in- timate relationship with the growth of Muncie, it is necessary to revert somewhat liberally to the career of his father, Dr. Samuel P. An- thony, who was born December 2, 1792, in Lynchburg,, Va., and at the age of twenty years, removed with his father to Ohio. Dur- ing the war of 1812, he served as a teamster in the United States army, and after the close of the war (in 1814), went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he and his father started the first tobacco manufacturing establishment west of the Alleghany mountains, and conducted a

DR. S. P. ANTHONY.

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very successful tobacco and general merchan- dise trade for several years. While at Cin- cinnati he studied medicine, and after com- pleting his medical education, removed to Clinton county, Ohio, where he was engaged for three years in the practice of his profession. At the end of that time he removed to Cedar- ville, in that state, where he was engaged in the practice for an equal length of time. He then located at Muncie, Ind., in 1831, where he spent the residue of his life, practising med- icine and selling merchandise. He invested largely in real estate, purchasing thousands of acres in this and adjoining counties, and, by close attention to business, amassed a large fortune, which, at the time of his death, was variously estimated at from $250, 000 to $500, - 000. He opened a general merchandise store at Muncie, shortly after his arrival here, and for more that forty years was identified with that branch of the public interests of the town. He practised medicine for more than twenty-five years, and, during that time, es- tablished a fine reputation as a successful physician. He was active in all public enter- prises which seemed to him calculated to pro- mote the interests of this city, and county. When the Bellefontaine & Indianapolis rail- road was advocated, he at once enlisted to help the project along, by taking stock to the amount of several thousand dollars, and per- sonally soliciting subscriptions to the road. He served as one of the directors of this road, and, later, was elected president, in which capacity he served about a year. He then re- signed and was succeeded by Hon. John Brough, of Ohio, and again became director. He was president of the Fort Wayne & South- ern railway, and a director of the Lafayette, Muncie & Bloomington railway.

He was active in the affairs of Muncie to the very last, and even on the day preceding his death, he transacted his business as usual,

and at evening, repaired to the residence of his son, with whom he was living. He felt no premonitions of what was to come until late in the night, when he was seized with violent pains, which culminated in paralysis, and, at I o'clock on Saturday morning, July 22, 1876, he died. He was twice married-first in 1817, to Miss Narcissa Haines, who died in May, 1858, leaving one son-Edwin C .; In 1859 he married Miss Emily V. Vannaman, who now resides in Muncie.

Capt. Edwin C. Anthony, the son of Dr. Samuel P. and Narcissa (Haines) Anthony, attained distinguishment equal to that of his father, but chiefly as a merchant and a pro- moter of the interests of Muncie. After hav- ing been fully educated at Richmond, Ind., he entered the store of his father at Muncie, and then became his partner and so continued until the war of the rebellion burst forth. Then Edwin C. Anthony valiantly went to the front, raising a company of cavalry that was assigned to the army or the Cumberland, and of which he was commissioned captain. In the winter of 1861-62 he had an arm broken, his health altogether ruined and he was com- pelled to resign his commission and returned to Muncie, where, after he recovered his health, he entered the dry goods business in which he continued until his father's death, when he, somewhat exhausted, sought relief by passing the winters for nearly ten years at the south. In Florida, during these ten closing years of his life, he became greatly interested in land on which were developed phosphate mines, that were discovered in Marion county, that state, in 1889. This interest, the care of his realty and care of his live stock at "Six Miles," where he had extensive live stock farms, occu- pied his attention during the last decade of his life, which ended at his farm in Florida, known as Anthony, June 7, 1884, at the age of sixty- six years.

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The marriage of Capt. Anthony took place on the 30th day of September, 1849, to Miss Rebecca G. Vannaman, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Campbell) Vannaman, at that time residents of Centerville, Wayne county, Ind. The parents were from Philadelphia, but Mrs. Anthony was born in Ohio, during a temporary stay of the parents in that state on their journey to Indiana. To the marriage of Capt. Edwin C. and Rebecca G. Anthony were born six children, viz: Florence Virginia, wife of Henderson Swain, fruit grower of Anthony, Fla .; Samuel P., who is still interested in the management of the immense phosphat indus- try established at Ocala, Fla .; Edwin C., Jr., who died at the age of twenty-eight; Ella, who was the wife of George Gamble, of Mun- cie, but who died at the early age of twenty- five years; Charles H., whose sketch is given more in detail in close connection with this, and Addie Anthony, the deceased wife of Frank Robinson. Mrs. Rebecca G. Anthony still lives on the old homestead, in Muncie, an honored and respected lady, whose many acts of charity, indeed, command the respect bestowed upon her. To her, the sight of suf- fering on the part of others is something not to be borne, and her willing heart and ready purse in some way find a means of affording instant relief. Quick in her response to every cry of distress or every call of charity, she has won the gratitude of hundreds of hearts in Muncie, and will hold it until the uttermost end.

a HARLES H. ANTHONY, real estate dealer and capitalist of Muncie, Ind., is a son of E. C. and Rebecca G. Anthony, of whom mention is made elsewhere, and was born in Muncie May 10, 1858. Muncie, also, gave his earlier education, which was supplemented with a two years'

course at the Chester (Pa.) Military college. In 1877, having become interested in business with his father, he visited Florida and made investments in lands, and in 1880 planted a sixty-acre orange grove, which he brought to full fruition and five years later sold to an English syndicate. His land investments in Florida were greatly increased, and he now owns a large number of acres, containing beds or the most valuable phosphates, which he mines and ships for fertilizers to European markets for use on impoverished soils. But his active mind is not content alone with the handling of real estate in Florida. The in- dustrial interests of Muncie and development also claim much of his attention. He is presi- dent of the Economy Co-operative Gas com- pany, of which he was the principal organizer, and a member of the Citizens' Enterprise com- pany, is likewise a stockholder in the Delaware county National bank, and his handling of real estate in the city, as dealer and agent, is something immense. In 1880 he and his mother sold in the city and environs over 420 acres of land, now known as the Muncie Land company's Addition, the Gray Addi- tion, and the Anthony Park Addition. In 1887, Mr. Anthony erected the superb building known as the Anthony block on the northwest corner of Walnut and Jackson streets, which has not its equal in the state. The development of natural gas has always been a matter of peculiar interest to him, in- asmuch as in that great product he foresaw a source of wealth unequaled by any other than his native city. He was among the first to become financially interested in drilling in the Muncie field, and has not yet relinquished the concern he has felt in this great factor of Muncie's prosperity. In 1884 he became a partner in the extensive real estate firm of Heath, Lenon & Anthony, so well known in the city and throughout the county.

EDWIN C. ANTHONY.

REBECCA G. ANTHONY.

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Fraternally he is a member of Delaware lodge, No. 46, F. & A. M., and the Muncie commandery and chapter, and also of the B. P. O. E., and the I. O. R. M. In politics he is a republican. His marriage took place February 10, 1887, to Miss Harriet B. Mitchell, daughter of Dr. Harvey Mitchell, and this union has been blessed with the birth of one child, Harvey M. Anthony, now four years old.

0 AVID R. ARMITAGE, M. D., was for many years a distinguished phy- sician and surgeon of Muncie and occupied the front rank among the successful medical men of central Indiana. Dr. Armitage was born near Portsmouth, Ohio, October 22, 1831. When he was eight years of age his parents and grandparents removed to the wilds of Delaware county, Ind., and settled the farm about three miles southwest of the city of Muncie, on what is now the Mid- dletown turnpike, where the grandparents, the doctor's father and mother, and lastly the doc- tor himself, resided until their respective deaths. Mr. Armitage availed himself of the best education possible as he grew to manhood, and for several years was engaged in teaching, in which profession he acquired an enviable reputation. He early evinced a decided pref- erence for the medical profession, and, after the death of his first wife, began to study the same in the office of Dr. Samuel V. Jump, at New Burlington, Ind., under the able instruc- tion of whom he made rapid and commendable progress. He completed his professional edu- cation by a thorough course in the Michigan university, Ann Arbor, and also the Ohio Medical college, of Cincinnati, graduating from both of these well known institutions, after which he began the practice of his chosen call- ing at Chesterfield, Ind., where his ability won for him much more than a local reputation.

While at Chesterfield he became acquainted with Miss Clara E. Sharpe, a very estimable lady, who subsequently became his wife. Miss Sharpe was born in South Salem, Ross county, Ohio. April 27, 1840, and is a daughter of Robert and Ann (Davis) Sharpe, natives of Ohio, who moved from Ross and Union counties, Ohio, in 1851. In the latter county Robert Sharpe served as sheriff four years, but in 1883 moved to Kansas, where he died in June, 1892, his wife, however, having pre- ceded him to the grave in Union county, Ohio, in 1863. They were the parents of four chil- dren, viz: Matilda; William, killed in the army ; Russell, of Middletown, Ind., and Clara B., wife of Dr. Armitage. The parents of these were devout members of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, of which the father had been appointed a class leader by Adam Poe, an essential factor in that religious body. To the union of Dr. Armitage and Miss Sharpe was born one child, Nellie M., February 7, 1869, now the wife of Charles B. Fudge, to whom she was married June 14, 1892, Mr. Fudge is a son of John S. Fudge (whose sketch appears elsewhere in the volume), and was born in Xenia, Ohio, September 24, 1863. He was educated in the common schools and remained at home until twenty years of age, when he engaged as a clerk in a clothing store at Albany, Ind., where he remained two years, and then came to Muncie, and entered the employ of Bliss & Keller, clothiers, etc., and is now their genial and obliging foreman. To Mr. and Mrs. Fudge has been born one child -Mildred Marie-May 10, 1893. Mr. Fudge is in politics a republican. Fraternally, he is an Odd Fellow, and a member of Muncie lodge, No. 74, and of Canton Muncie, No. 4, Patriarchs Militant.

After his marriage, Dr. Armitage moved to his farm southwest of Muncie, where, during the many years that remained of his life, he

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devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits in connection with the practice of his profes- sion. As a physician, Dr. Armitage was suc- cessful in all the term implies, and no man in the community, where he was raised and lived so long, enjoyed a greater degree of popularity of the people. He was indeed the friend of the common people, and to him it seemed a special pleasure to relieve the suffer- ings of the aged with whom he had been asso- ciated from his early boyhood, He was a public-spirited man, and took an active and prominent part in all enterprises having for their object the moral and material welfare of the community and county. In religion he was an earnest member of the Methodist church, and, as such, did much to the growth of that denomination in Delaware and other counties. He was also member of Delaware lodge, No. 146, Free and Accepted Masons, and of Muncie Commandary, No. 18, Knights Templar and was a chartered member of Rich- woods lodge, No. 499, Knights of Honor. In a business-sense, the doctor exercised prudence and forethought, and during his life accumlat- ed a comfortable competence for his wife and daughter, both of whom live in Muncie at this time. He died suddenly at his home August 21, 1891, at the age of sixty years, and left, as his choicest legacy to his family, a name against which no breath of suspicion was ever known to have been uttered. He was mourned by all who knew him, and in his death Delaware county lost one of its most successful physicians and high minded philan- thropic citizens.

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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 15

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