USA > Indiana > Delaware County > A portrait and biographical record of Delaware county, 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 14
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banks of the Monocacy, and there offered bat- tle to the overwhelming forces of Gen. Jubal A. Early, who, with 28,000 men, was march- ing triumphantly upon the national capital. On the afternoon of the 9th of July, hard by the railroad bridge that spans the Monocacy, near Frederick, Md., was fought one of the bloodiest engagements of the war, in propor- tion to the number engaged. Gen. Wallace was entrenched behind stone fences that stretched along the heights near the bridge and at right angles with the river. McCausland's cavalry, which led the vanguard of Early's army, crossed the stream and made a vigorous assault upon Wallace's lines, but, after a very spirited and bloody engagement, they were forced to retreat, but took up and held a posi- tion in the rear. Soon thereafter a long line of infantry were seen fording the Monocacy, and filing right under cover of hills and trees to a position in front of Gen. Wallace's center. These troops were the famous "Stonewall brigade," formerly made immortal by Jackson, but now consolidated with other seasoned vet- erans into a division commanded by Major Gen. John C. Breckinridge. They deployed and were ordered to advance directly to the assault of Gen. Wallace's main position. The onset was furious and the fatalities on both sides many hundreds in a few minutes. The Union troops resisted stubbornly, but were finally forced to give way, and the hundreds of dead bodies observable on the field after the fight showed how bravely they had endeavored to stem the tide of invasion. Though defeated, Gen. Wallace and his troops had accomplished the important duty of delaying Early until reinforcements could reach Washington.
Gen. Wallace was second member of the court that tried the assassins of Lincoln and president of that which convicted Wirz of the Andersonville prison horrors. In 1878 Gen. Wallace was governor of Utah and served
from 1881 to '85 as minister to Turkey. He has lectured extensively and is one of the most popular of the platform speakers of the day. His chief fame, however, rests upon his authorship of the religio-historical novel, "Ben Hur; a Tale of the Christ," of which over 290,000 have been sold without diminu- tion in the demand. It has already become an American classic, and takes front rank among the imaginative works of the world. Other popular works by Gen. Wallace are, "The Fair God," a story of the conquest of Mexico, "Life of Benjamin Harrison" and "The Boyhood of Christ." No other Indian- ian has done so much to give his state high rank in the field of polite literature.
S CHUYLER COLFAX, statesman, and vice president of the United States, was born in the city of New York, March 23, 1823. His grandfather, Gen. William Colfax, was a native of Con- necticut, and served with distinction in the war of American independence. His father died before his son's birth, as did also a sister, and thus he became the only child of his wid- owed mother. The early years of Mr. Colfax were spent in his native city, where he attend- ed the public schools and afterward became clerk in a store. In 1836 he came to Indiana, and located at New Carlisle, St. Joseph coun- ty, where he again entered a store as clerk, and in 1841 he became a resident of South Bend, in which city he subsequently received tne appointment of deputy auditor. In 1842 he was active in organizing a temperance soci- ety at South Bend, and continued a total abstainer throughout his life. At this time he reported the proceedings of the state senate for the Indianapolis Journal, and in 1844 entered the political arena as a public speaker
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for Henry Clay. In 1845 he became editor and proprietor of the St. Joseph Valley Reg- ister, of which he was also founder, and he continued its publication for a period of eight- een years. He was secretary of the Chicago harbor and river convention in 1847, and in 1848 was elected secretary of the national whig convention, at Baltimore, which nomin- ated Gen. Zachary Taylor for the presidency. He was a member of the Indiana constitution- al convention of 1850, and in 1851 received the whig nomination for congress. His oppo- nent was Hon. Graham N. Fitch, an able pol- itician and and a fine speaker, with whom he engaged in a joint canvass, during which the two men traveled over 1,000 miles and held over seventy discussions. The district was strongly democratic, yet Mr. Colfax was defeated by only 200 votes. In 1852 he was a delegate to the national convention which nominated Gen. Scott for the presidency, and in 1854 was elected to the Thirty-fourth con- gress by the memorable majority of 1,776 votes, although the same district in previous years gave a democratic majority of 1,200. In 1858 he was again triumphantly elected to congress, and served as a member of that body by successive elections until 1869. He was elected speaker of the house in December, 1863, and on April 8th, of the following year, he descended from the chair to move the expulsion of Mr. Long, of Ohio, who had made a speech favoring the recognition of the southern confederacy. The resolution was afterward changed to one of censure, and Mr. Colfax's action was generally sustained by Union men. On the convening of the Thirty- ninth congress, Mr. Colfax was again elected speaker by 139 votes, his opponent, Mr. Brooks, of New York, receiving but thirty-six. March 4, 1867, he was for the third time chosen speaker, and his skill as a presiding officer, often shown under very trying circum-
stances, gained the applause of both friends and political opponents. In May, 1868, the republican national convention at Chicago nominated him on the first ballot for vice pres- ident, Gen. Grant being the presidential nom- inee, and the ticket having been successful, he took his seat as president of the senate March 4, 1869. In August, 1871, the president offered him the position of secretary of state for the remainder of his terin, but he declined. In 1872 he was prominently mentioned as a presidential candidate, and the same year he refused the editorship of the New York Trib- une. "In 1873, Mr. Colfax was implicated in the charges of corruption brought against members of congress who had received shares in the credit mobilier of America. The house committee reported that there was no ground for his impeachment, as the alleged offense, if committed at all, was committed before he became vice president." "He denied the truth of the charges and his friends have always regarded his character as irreproacha- ble." His latter years were spent mostly in retirement at his home in South Bend, and in delivering public lectures, which he frequently did, before large audiences. The mnost popu- lar of his lectures was that on "Lincoln and Garfield." He died at Mankota, Minn., Jan- uary 13, 1885.
R OBERT DALE OWEN was the son of Robert J. Owen, a celebrated English reformer, who was born in 1771 and died 1858. He was born near Glasgow, Scotland, November 7, 1801, and after receiving a liberal education in his native country, came to the United States in 1823 and settled at New Harmony, Posey county, Ind. In 1828, in partnership with Mrs. Frances Wright, he began the publica-
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tion of a paper called the Free Enquirer, which made its periodical visits about three years. He was three times elected to the Indiana legislature, and in 1843 was elected to congress, in which body he served until 1847, having been re-elected in 1845. When in congress he took a prominent part in the set- tlement of the northwestern boundary dispute, and was largely instrumental in establishing the Smithsonian institute at Washington, of which he became one of the regents, and served on the building committee. He was a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1850, and no one bore a more prominent part in the deliberations of that body than he. In 1853 he was appointed charge d'affaires at Naples, and in 1855 was minister at Naples, holding the position until until 1858. During the civil war he was a firm supporter of the Union, and one of the first to advocate the emancipation of the slaves. Mr. Owen was a firm believer in the doctrines of spiritualism, and was fearless in his advocacy of the same. He inherited the communistic notions of his father, who had failed in numerous attempts to carry the system into practical operation, and he also signally failed in his attempts to accomplish a similar purpose. His scholastic attainments were of the highest order, and he possessed a mind well stored with general knowledge. He was indeed a man of tran- scendent ability and may justly be regarded as one the greatest, as well as one of the best, men Indiana has ever claimed. He contribut- ed largely to the literature of his day, and the following is a partial list of his best know works: "Moral Physiology," "Discussion with Original Bachelor on the Personality of God, and the Authenticity of the Bible," "Hints on Public Architecture," "Footfalls on the Boundaries of Another World," "The Wrong of Slavery and the Right of Emancipa- tion," "Beyond the Breakers," a novel,
"The Debatable Land Between this World and the Next," "Treading My Way," an au- tobiography. Mr. Owen departed this life at Lake George, N. Y., January 24, 1877, aged seventy-six years.
R ICHARD W. THOMPSON, ex-sec- retary of the navy, is a native of Vir- ginia, born in Culpeper county, June 9, 1809. . In the fall of 1831 he emi- grated to Indiana, and taught school in the town of Bedford, afterward establishing the Lawrence county seminary, which he con- ducted about one year. Abandoning school work he embarked in the mercantile business in Lawrence county, and while thus engaged began the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1834, and the same year he was elected a member of the Indiana legislature, in which body he not only displayed great ability and foresight, but was also instrumen- tal in shaping much important legislation. In 1838 he was returned to the house, and the following year was chosen state senator, of which he was president pro tempore on the occasion of the resignation of Lieut. Gov. Wallace. In 1841 he was elected to the United States congress over Hon. John W. Davis, but declined a renomination to the same position, and in 1843 removed to Terre Haute, in which city he has since resided. He was a presidential elector on the Harrison ticket in 1840, zealously supporting Gen. Har- rison in public speeches, and by his pen, and was a defeated candidate for elector on the Clay ticket in 1844. In 1847 he was again elected to congress by the whig party, and be- came prominent in national legislation during his term, but at its expiration retired from public life. In 1849 he was appointed United States minister to Austria, by Gen. Taylor,
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but declined to accept the honor, and was also tendered several other appointments by the general government, all of which he saw fit to refuse. During the war for the Union he was active and rendered valuable service to his country, was commandant of Camp Dick Thompson, near Terre Haute, and also served as provost marshal of the district. He was again a presidential elector on the republican ticket in 1864, and a delegate to the national conventions of that party in 1878, and 1876, in the latter of which he nominated Oliver P. Morton for the presidency. In 1867-69 he was judge of the eighteenth circuit of the state, and on March 12, 1877, he entered Pres. Hayes' cabinet, as secretary of the navy. He served nearly through the administration, but resigned the position in 1881, to become chair- man of the American committee of the Pana- ma Canal company. Mr. Thompson has written many political platforms, and obtained a reputation for his ability in formulating party principles. He is an eloquent and effec- tive speaker, and a man of benevolence and unassuming manners.
OL. FRANCIS VIGO, whose name is prominently identified with the early history of Indiana, was born in the kingdom of Sardinia in 1740, and died at Vincennes, Ind., in 1836. Until 1778 he was a resident of the Spanish port of St. Louis, where, as an Indian trader, he acquired the title of the "Spanish Merchant." He re- moved to Vincennes a short time previous to its capture by Gen. George Rogers Clark, whom he was instrumental in assisting, for which he was afterward arrested by the British as a spy. In the Illinois campaigns of 1778 and 1779, Col. Vigo rendered valuable service
to the army of Clark by advancing large sums of money for food and clothing. Through his patriotism and self-sacrifice, he served the army and gave victory to the cause of the col- onies of the west. He was made commandant of the militia of Vincennes in 1790, and in 1810 was one of Gen. Harrison's confidential messengers to the Indians. His name will ever be associated with the early history of the Wabash valley.
J OHN W. DAVIS, one of Indiana's most noted men, was born in Cumberland county, Penn., July 17, 1799, and . died in 1859. He was well educated and graduated in medicine at Baltimore in 1821, shortly afterward removing to Carlisle, Ind. He was soon embarked on a political career and graduated for the purpose in that universal and popular school, the state legis- lature. He served several years in that body, and was chosen speaker of the house in 1832. In 1834 he was appointed a commissioner to negotiate a treaty with the Indians. He was elected to congress by the democrats, and served from December 7, 1835, until March 3, 1837, was re-elected, and again served from 1839 until 1841, and from 1843 till 1847. During his last term he was speaker o! the house of representatives, having been elected on December 1, 1845. He was United States commissioner to China in 1843-50, and gov- ernor of Oregon in 1853-54. He presided over the convention held at Baltimore in 1852, that nominated Franklin Pierce for the presidency. Mr. Davis was a strong man and a party leader of long continued popularity and well recog- nized ability. He was also a decided feature of the list of self-made Indiana publicists.
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.
a 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 farın- 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
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