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 153
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 153
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two-story brick structure, and the average number of hands employed is thirty-five. The yearly pay-roll amounts to $13, 500. At this time over 500 cars are handled yearly, the entire business being under the manage- ment of Mr. Montano, who is president and treasurer of the company.
Mr. Witham possessed in a marked degree the elements and characteristics essential to the make up of the successful business man, and to him, as much as any other individual, is the flourishing city of Union indebted for its industrial development. In his dealings with his fellow man, integrity and probity were his ruling traits; and his judgment in the matter of business as well as his social standing as an honorable and upright fellow citizen was never called in question. He became a member of the church of Disciples, in 1867. His death occurred at his home in this city November 12, 1879, at the age of forty-four. Mrs. Witham is a member of an old and prominent family of Ohio, several representatives of which have gained a national reputation.
John Montano, president and general man- ager of the Witham & Bowen Lumber com- yany of Union City, was born December 25, 1862, in Europe, and came to the United States when but eight years of age. The early years of his life were passed principally in Cincinnati, receiving his education in the public schools of that city, and later graduat- ing from the National university, at Lebanon, that state. Prior to completing the course in that institution, Mr. Montano was engaged in teaching, beginning educational work in 1878, and continuing the same until February, 1890, the greater part of the time in Hamilton county, Ohio. In the above year Mr. Mon- tano came to Union City, to take charge of the Witham Lumber & Manufacturing com- pany as representative of the Witham heirs, and has been the executive head of the con-
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cern ever since, being at this time president and treasurer, also a stockholder. Mr. Mon- tano was married in November, 1889, to Miss Fanny A., daughter of Warren A. and Ruthanna (Butterworth) Witham, of which union there have been born three children- Theresa, Helen and Grace.
HOMAS WITHAM, deceased, late member of the business firm of Witham, Anderson & Co., of Union City, Ind., was a son of Eben and Susannah (Hopkinson) Witham, and a brother of Warren Witham, a sketch of whom pre- cedes this mention. Thomas Witham was born January 25, 1838, at Farmington, Me., and spent the first nine years of his life in that town.
When he was three years of age his father died, at the age of thirty-five, leaving a family of eight dependent children to his mother's care. His mother, largely dependent upon her own exertions for the support of her family, with the hope of gaining better advan- tages for the children, determined to seek for herself and family a home in the west. With the aid of her brother, Thomas Hopkinson, a lawyer and for a term of years a judge in Boston, Mass., and for whom the subject of this sketch was named and whom he much re- sembled in looks and disposition, she was en- abled to remove her family to Ohio, where she located at Maineville, a small town about twenty-five miles from Cincinnati. From the first she determined that the family should be kept together, and for this she worked and labored through trials and discouragements un- til her children were old enough to aid her in her efforts. Few women have had a heavier task imposed on them and few have gone through it with a braver heart. Her children owe a lasting debt of gratitude to their noble, devoted, and self-sacrificing mother.
Thomas Witham's boyhood days and early youth were spent at Maineville, Ohio, where he received his educational training in the common schools and the Maineville academy. His educational advantages were limited, while he was not a brilliant scholar, he possessed an ordinary education, but he was an enthusiastic helper of his mother, and from the time he was old enough he was always willing and contributed more than his full share of all the family expenses. While yet very young, he sought employment on the farm; would chop wood or labor at any thing he could fine to do, and what he did he did heartily and willingly, giving his mother, to whom he was most ten- derly devoted, all his scanty earnings. For some years he found employment in a saw mill near the town of Maineville. As stated in the preceding sketch, the Witham brothers, Warren and Thomas, first began business for themselves in Ohio, but eventually came to Union City, Ind., and embarked in the lumber and manufacturing business, which they car- ried on very extensively and successfully until their respective deaths.
Thomas Witham was in the naval service of the United States in the late civil war, serv- ing as engineer on a gun-boat that plied be- tween Cairo, Ill., and Vicksburg, Miss., and was present at the siege and surrender of the latter city. At the close of the war, as noted above he became prominently identified with the industrial growth of Union City, not only as a manufacturing business man, but also as a judicious investor of capital, contributing to the prosperity of the place. Mr. Williams' business qualifications were of a high order, . and from early youth his life was character- ized by thrift and economy, which enabled him to achieve success from what to the great ma- jority would have proved obstacles insur- mountable. While he acquired a large fortune, being worth $50,000 at the time of his death.
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He was one of the most liberal of men, con- tributing generously to all charitable and be- nevolent purposes, and never allowing an op- portunity of turning his own means to good account to go by unimproved. His personal character was above reproach; strictly moral and temperate in all his habits, he earred the reputation of a straightforward christian gen- tleman; his honesty, sincerity and unblemished character are well known throughout the com- munity. He possessed in an unusual degree the happy quality of making others happy. His genial, warm-hearted nature tended to make him many friends. He was a lover of children and a general favorite of all the chil- dren of the neighborhood, and at the time of his burial, they came, each bringing a flower and placing it on his casket. In 1879, he united with the Christian church at Union City, and remained a member until his death. He was one of the most liberal supporters, always bearing his full share of all the ex- penses of the church. Politically, he was a republican, but he never had any ambition to distinguish himself in the way of an official preferment.
February 14, 1877, Mr. Witham was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Covell, of Wilton, Iowa, a most amiable and lovable woman, who sought to make home pleasant, happy and attractive, and who proved to be a wise and faithful helpmeet in all the trials and suc- cesses of his life. He was very happy in his domestic associations. Mrs. Witham died December 26, 1880, at Union City and lies by his side in the city cemetery. Mr. Witham was a large, portly man of medium height, very plain in dress and unostentatious in man- ner. He disliked anything like show or pre- tense. While he was very hospitable, social and cordial in his own home, and enjoyed the society of his guests, he cared little to make visits himself, and seldoni went except where
duty and business called. He always prefer- red the society of his own home to that of the outside world.
The surviving members of the family are Dr. Charles E. Witham, a retired physician of Lawrence, Kan .; Mrs. Caroline E. Tufts, of Wilton, Iowa; Mrs. Emily C. Scott, of Kalida, Ohio, and Miss Susan E. Witham, of Union City, Ind. The latter took charge of his home at the death of his wife, and remained with him until he was called away. Mr. Witham departed this life February 25, 1891, aged fifty-two years and one month. His death was caused from heart failure, and he died sud- denly, sitting in his chair. Great respect was shown at the time of his death by the com- munity, the members of the business firm, and by all the hands they employed. Many tele- grams of sympathy, for the firm and the family, were received from different parts of country, where he was known in business in circles, testifying to the high esteem in which he was held. Every business house of the city was represented at his funeral. It can be truly said of him that a good man has passed away.
S ANFORD WOODBURY, one of the most promising young men of Union City, was born in Wayne township, Randolph county, Ind., February 14, 1858. He is the son of James and Harriet (Conklin) Woodbury. James, the father, was born in Athens county, Ohio, June 8, 1825, and was the son of Nathan Preston and Susanna (Jennings) Woodbury. When James was fourteen years old the family moved to In- diana and settled on section I, near the state line in Wayne township. At this time there was no cleared land on the whole section. James had had some school advantages in Ohio, but he was deprived of this advantage
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in the Hoosier woods, and most of his educa- tion he obtained by studying with a hickory bark light, after his day's work was done. When twenty-one years of age, having helped to enlarge the farm to 1,000 acres, he was given 160 acres in the woods. llere James worked with a will to prepare a home, and three years later was married to Harriet; daughter of Samuel (Conklin), once a mer- chant in Dayton, Ohio, but at this time a farm- er in Wayne township. The union was a happy one and was blessed by seven sons; they are: Samuel, a farmer on part of the old home- stead; Granville, baggage master and express agent for the Big 4 railroad, Indianapolis, Ind .; Cyrus, special agent and adjuster for the Queen Insurance company, Columbus, Ohio; Preston Nathan, chief clerk of the I. B. & W. railroad, Indianapolis, Ind .; Sanford, the sub- ject of our sketch; James Norman, agent for "The Lumber Company" Union City, Ind., and Pierre, trimmer for the Union City Car- riage company.
Sanford Woodbury began his education in a district school in Wayne township, but later availed himself of the oportunity to complete his course in the schools of Union City. In 1878, after finishing his education, he was married to Eudora, daughter of Levi Hill of Randolph county. The first ten years of their married life was spent on a farm near Spar- tanburg, Ind. From here they moved to Irvington, Ind., where they lived for one year and then came to Union City; this was in June, 1889. Here Mr. Woodbury engaged in the hardwood lumber trade as one of the firm of the firm of the Thomas Jones & Co. After two years of prosperity he sold out and then purchased an interest in the Union City Car- riage works. Here his industry and close ap- plication to business principles became so apparent that in February, 1893, he was made superintendent of the works. He has two very interesting children-Earl and Chauncey- who are bright lights in his happy home. He was made a Mason in January, 1894.
7
935
ECKMAN IDERY INC.
-4-1000
SEPT 97
N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962
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