USA > Indiana > Clark County > Baird's history of Clark County, Indiana > Part 26
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On December 9. 1902, Mr. Loomis married Carrie B., daughter of Capt. J. C. Dorsey, for many years superintendent of the Jeffersonville and Louis- ville Ferry Company. Mr. Loomis is a member of the American Institute
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of Architects, president of the Louisville Chapter of American Architects, and was a delegate in1908 to their national convention at Washington. He stands high in the Masonic circles, having reached the thirty-second degree, being past eminent commander of Jeffersonville Commandery, Knights Templar, and past high priest of Horeb Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He is also an honorary member of Louisville Lodge, No. 400, Free and Accepted Masons.
HIRAM E. HEATON.
The Heatons can trace their genealogy into the far distant past and may justly boast of an ancestry which was honorable and distinguished in their respective callings. As early as the beginning of the eighteenth century they were domiciled in Pennsylvania, and several became leading men of affairs in their community. Isaac, son of Samuel Heaton, was born in 1731, and be- came the father of a son afterwards known as Col. John Heaton. The latter was born in 1760, accumulated wealth and laid off parts of the town of Jef- ferson in 1814. He married Sarah Morgan and to this union was born John Heaton, Jr., eventually to become the founder of the family name in the West. He married Nancy, daughter of Isaac Weaver, who was born in 1756, became a man of wealth and held many high offices in Pennsylvania during the earlier decades of the nineteenth century. He and others of his name were honored by their neighborhood with official trusts of importance. John Heaton, Jr., of Sullivan county, where he was a miller and merchant, achieved high repute. His son, Hiram W. Heaton, removed to Jeffersonville in the early fifties and engaged in the mercantile business, which he followed with success for many years. He was noted for his honesty, his word being as good as his bond with all who knew him and was equally famed for his Christian morality, and lib- eral handed generosity. He gave at least a tenth of his income to the church and charitable causes, his whole life being such as to gain him an unusual esteem and affection. He married Hulda, daughter of Thomas Jefferson Howard, a prominent and influential citizen of Clark county, whose wife, Elizabeth Helmer, was descended from Revolutionary ancestry. She was the daughter of George Frederick and Elizabeth (Thum) Helmer, both of Herk- imer county, New York. Her paternal grandfather was Lieut. George Hel- mer, who served through the Revolutionary war and was wounded at the battle of Oriskany, for which he received a pension for life. He served in the com- pany of Captain Small, under Col. Peter Bellinger, commander of a regiment of New York state troops. His parents came from Holland long before 1740.
Hiram E: Heaton, son of Hiram W., was born at Jeffersonville, Indiana, January 1, 1858, and was educated in the local schools. Following the ex-
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ample of his father and grandfather, he had a yearning for commercial pur- suits and took a course calculated to equip him for success in that line. For seven years he was employed as bookkeeper and cashier for the Perrin, Gaff Manufacturing Company, contractors at the old Indiana State Prison, South, their specialty being the production of hollow-ware and hardware of various kinds. In 1882 he accepted a position as cashier of the First National Bank and has since continued in this employment. Mayor Burtt appointed him City Comptroller and he was for five years a member of the Clark County Council, holding the position of president of that body for some time and resigning in September, 1908. He is a member of the Democratic party and though not an extreme partisan always takes an active interest in public affairs. For at least thirty years Mr. Heaton has been a member of the Presbyterian church and is president of the board of deacons. For seventeen years he has been a member of Jefferson Lodge, No. 3, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and holds the office of trustee. He is also a member of Myrtle Lodge of the Knights of Pythias.
On April 5, 1881, Mr. Heaton married Minnie E., daughter of William and Esther Smart, the former a native of Kelso, near Edinburgh, Scotland. For a long time he was located at North Madison, Indiana, as master mechanic of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Mr. and Mrs. Heaton have two daughters and a son : Jeanette F., the eldest, is the wife of William S. White- side, manager of the Whiteside bakery, of Louisville, and has two children, William S. and Hiram H. Minnie Hutchinson Heaton, the second daughter, is a teacher in the public schools of Jeffersonville. Hiram H. Heaton, the only son, is assistant bookkeeper and stenographer at the Howard shipyards.
WILLIAM MORROW, SR.
The biographer is greatly pleased to give the life history of the well remembered pioneer citizen whose name appears at the head of this sketch, than whom a more whole-souled, sterling and public-spirited man it would have been hard to find within the borders of Clark county, and whose friends were limited only by the circle of his acquaintance.
He was one of those far-seeing men who realized the great future of Clark county, and did what he could in its development. William Mor- ' row, Sr., was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, February 8, 1794. He was the son of William Morrow, a native of Scotland, who emigrated to America when seventeen years of age, locating in Bourbon county, Kentucky. He married Sarah Patton, and they emigrated to Ohio in 1806, where he owned a farm in Highland county, on which he lived the remainder of his life, dying in 1846. While a resident of Kentucky he became the first
WILLIAM MORROW.
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Sheriff of Bourbon county. Being opposed to slavery he left that state and located in Ohio.
William Morrow, Sr., was reared in Highland county, Ohio, and came to Indiana in 1820, settled in Charlestown, where he resided during the re- mainder of his life. He was a successful business man and for several years was a magistrate. He left ample property for his children, his death having occurred in 1873. He was a devout member of the United Presbyterian church. In politics he was a Whig and later a Republican. He was an influ- ential man in this community and had hosts of friends. To his first wife, Margaret Adair, seven children were born. Mrs. Elizabeth A. Wright is the only surviving child of her father's second marriage, with Jane Manley, who bore him four children. Mrs. Wright was born in Charlestown, Indiana, on the lot where she now resides, May 24, 1847. She was reared in Charlestown, where she received her education. She was united in marriage December 3, 1889, to John D. Wright, who was born in Highland county, Ohio, October 27. 1831. He was reared in the Buckeye state. After his marriage he lived in Charlestown, Indiana, until his death. He farmed in Ohio on an excellent place which our subject now owns. He was successful as a business man and was known to be scrupulously honest, industrious and a man of pleasing ad- dress. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, having been an elder in the same. In politics he was a Republican and was always ready to lend his aid in furthering any movement looking to the advancement of his com- munity, whether political, educational or moral. He was one of the organiz- ers, a stockholder and president of the Charlestown Bank at the time of his death, which occurred September 6, 1904.
Mrs. Wright's beautiful, commodious and elegantly furnished home stands at Main and Cross streets, where her friends often gather and where true hospitality and good cheer are ever unstintingly dispensed. She is justly proud of the record of her ancestors who were true American patriots. Wil- liam Morrow, her father, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and John Morrow, Mrs. Wright's brother, was a soldier in the Civil war. He died in 1907 in Charlestown, being survived by four children, three sons and one daughter.
Mrs. Wright is a lady of tact and culture, pleasant to meet, and she holds high rank socially among the people of Clark county.
CHARLES F. SWARTZ.
The career of Charles F. Swartz is that of a man who has depended argely upon his own personal efforts to attain that goal which most men are eeking, success. Possessed of a large fund of energy, and indomnitable will ie has forged rapidly to the front in his avocation, that of an agriculturalist,
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being today one of the most prosperous farmers in Utica township, Clark county.
Mr. Swartz was born in Utica township, March 8, 1865, being a son of George W. Swartz, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere. He acquired a fair education in the local schools. Immediately after his graduation he began active work on the farm, and he has given his undivided attention to the culti- vation of the soil ever since. He was twice married, his first wife being Mrs. Ellen Worrall, whom he espoused in 1887. This union was devoid of chil- dren, and Mrs. Swartz died June 8, 1905. Nearly two years later, April 10, 1907, he wedded Mrs. D. V. Scott, who had two children by her first marriage. These children were Marvin and Catherine Scott. By her second mar- riage one child, Charles W., was born to her.
Mr. Swartz is a Methodist and takes considerable interest in religious affairs, as does also his wife. He has always been a consistent Democrat, although he does not participate actively in politics. He joined the Masons some years ago, and is also a member of the Modern Woodmen, being high in the councils of both organizations. Mr. Swartz has the reputation of being a public-spirited citizen in every sense of the word. He has a very extensive acquaintance throughout Clark county.
THOMAS J. PIERS.
Although modest and unassuming, with no disposition to boast of his attainments, Thomas J. Piers, through hard study has acquired a most com- plete knowledge of the profession upon which he launched at an early age, . and his services have been sought by many big firms in different parts of the country. It is a profession that requires a steady hand and a clear brain. Mr. Piers has traveled extensively, and he is a man of broad ideas. The fact that he is the chief of an important department of a big manufacturing com- pany is a sure indication that he is thoroughly competent and trustworthy. Although he is not a native of Jeffersonville he has spent a large portion of his life here.
Thomas J. Piers was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of Joseph and Margaret (Gregory) Piers. His mother was the daughter of Smith Gregory, of Louisville, who was a prominent Mason, having been one of the organizers and the first worshipful master of Preston lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, one of the oldest and largest Masonic lodges in Louisville. He was generally known as a man of most loveable character, being generous and charitable almost to a fault. It was while the subject was an infant that his parents removed to Jeffersonville. He attended the public schools and procured a
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fair education. He entered the employment of the Jeffersonville car works and learned pattern-making. From there he went to the drafting room of the Henry Voigt Machine Company, of Louisville, and took up the study of mechanical engineering. Desiring a wider experience, he remained there but a year, going east, where he secured employment with different large man- ufacturing concerns. He spent five or six years in that section, on steam pump and gas engine work, and at the end of that time returned to Jefferson- ville a proficient designer of machinery which knowledge is of great use to him in the position that he now occupies, as chief draftsman of the B. F. Avery & Sons Plow Company, of Louisville. Mr. Piers devoted about two years to locomotive work in the shops of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, and also traveled for an electrical house of Dayton, Ohio. Since he has been in the employ of the Avery company he has produced a number of very credit- able designs, and is looked upon as a valuable man by his employers. He re- tained his residence in Jeffersonville, except while on his eastern tour.
Mr. Piers is a member of Clark Lodge, No. 40, Free and Accepted Ma- sons, Horeb Chapter, No. 66, Royal Arch Masons ; Jeffersonville Commandery, No. 27, Knights Templar, also Kosair Temple of the Mystic Shrine, of Louis- ville. Besides this he belongs to the Jeffersonville lodge of Elks, serving as exalted ruler in 1908 and 1909, and representing his lodge at the session of the Grand Lodge, held at Los Angeles in July, 1909. As an evidence of his popularity in the last named organization he has prior to being elected exalted ruler, filled all of the chairs in the lodge. Mr. Piers is an unmarried man, with pronounced social proclivities.
CAPTAIN ADDISON BARRETT.
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Although he practically spent the years of his manhood in high official positions in the service of the government, with a small army of subordinates subject to his orders, Captain Barrett was the true type of a modest and un- ostentatious man. He believed in discipline, but never abused his power by resorting to tyranny in the discharge of the functions of his office, and when all that was mortal of him was laid to rest the men who had worked under him joined with his loved ones in passing eulogies upon his high character. He was a descendant of old Puritan ancestors, and from them inherited the qualities that form the foundation of a noble life. In his early youth he showed a desire to follow the varying fortunes of a soldier's career, and no sooner had he attained his majority than he entered the army.
Capt. Addison Barrett was born at Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, May 5, 1841, the son of Samuel and Anni Juliet ( Eddy) Barrett. His mother was the
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daughter of Zachariah and Sally (Edson) Eddy. When Captain Barrett was twenty-one years of age, August 16, 1862, he was appointed sergeant in the general service of the United States army in the War Department at Wash- ington, D. C. He served in this capacity until April 1, 1863, when he was made a civilian clerk in the office of the adjutant-general. On December 21, 1864, he was appointed captain and commissary of subsistence of the volunteers, United States army. Further honors came to him Septem- ber 14, 1865, when he was breveted major of volunteers. This promotion came to him as a fitting reward for meritorious services. He was mustered out the following year. His next appointment was that of captain and mili- tary storekeeper in the quartermaster's department, this appointment being dated back to July 28, 1866. In August of that year he was married to Marion Harrison, daughter of Lieutenant W. M. Harrison, a native of Georgia. Six children were born to them, of whom four are living. Horace, the first born, died in early manhood; Harold E. lives at Silver Hills, New Albany, and is married to Corene G. McNaughton; they have two children, Margaret and Annelle; Mr. Barrett is manager of the Henry Voigt Machine Company, of Louisville. Addison Barrett, Jr., married Minnie Howes, and upon his death had one child, Addison Barrett. Miss Marion married James H. Armstrong, who is connected with the Howard Ship Building Company, and they have one child, James Barrett Armstrong. Ernest H. Barrett mar- ried Annie Zimmerman, daughter of the Reverend Zimmerman, a German minister, and they are the parents of a daughter, Corene. Samuel Barrett and wife, whose maiden name was Ethel Perry, have a daughter, Helen. Both Ernest and Samuel are residents of San Diego, California.
In 1872 Mr. Barrett was ordered to take charge of the military stores of the quartermaster's department at Jeffersonville, and during his twenty-two years' service in that office he distinguished himself by his industry, and the skill that he displayed in conducting the operations of the department. His long service in itself is mute testimony to his competency. In July, 1891, Captain Barrett sustained a great affliction in the death of his wife. On De- cember 26, 1893, he was united in marriage to Mrs. Anna Laura Ferguson, widow of Walter Ferguson, a son of the eminent jurist, Judge C. P. Fer- guson. In 1894 the subject was ordered to San Francisco, where he filled the same office that he had occupied in Jeffersonville. Two years later he was stricken with a severe attack of pneumonia, and died at his residence in Al- meda. The esteem in which he was held in Almeda is indicated by the fol- lowing from the Almeda press :
"Captain Barrett was a man of such noble character and sterling worth that more than a passing notice seems necessary. During his residence here he became greatly endeared to all with whom he came in contact, and dis- played such qualities of mind and heart that his example will serve as an in- · spiration to a noble life and character, to those with whom he was associated.
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The Presbyterian church will keenly feel the loss of so valuable a member. He held the office of elder, besides being a trustee, the only one who held both of these positions. As president of the Boys' Brigade, his influence and ex- ample have been of benefit to the boys and young men whom he has met every week for instruction and counsel. Those who knew him best say that a more perfect example of a Christian gentleman is seldom met with."
In Jeffersonville, where Mr. Barrett lived much longer than at Almeda, he was no less esteemed. He was for many years an elder in the church in that city. In view of the character of the position that he held with the gov- ernment, he studiously avoided any political entanglements. Physically he was a fine specimen of vigorous manhood. He was much beloved by his as- sociates, and took a kindly interest in his fellow men, more than one human being owing his rescue from a debased life to Captain Barrett. He was in- tensely religious, but for a long time refused the office of elder, fearing that he was not worthy of the honor.
JACOB S. SMITH.
The family name of the subject is certainly very closely associated with the pioneer history of Utica township, Clark county, since not only he, but his father and mother were both products thereof, and helped blaze the way for future generations. Mr. Smith, like his father before him, has devoted his life to farming, and has had a very large degree of success, for fertility and productive capacity the land he tills being unexcelled in Clark county. He is warmly attached to the place of his nativety, having never lived anywhere else in his sixty years of life, with the exception of two years spent in Illinois.
The date of the birth of Jacob S. Smith was March 9, 1849. He is one of a family of twelve children, of whom only seven are living. Including the subject they are: Ezra L., Simon L., Mrs. Sarah Spaulding, Mrs. Mary Mc- Farland, Mrs. Susan Gant, and Mrs. Rebecca Worman. Both Mrs. Gant Mrs. Worman reside in Missouri, while Mrs. McFarland is a resident of Illinois.
The parents of these children were James and Mary (Swartz) Smith, natives of Utica township. The grandfather and grandmother of the subject also lived here. Mr. Smith secured a limited education in the township schools at the end of which time he took up farming, and that has been his avocation ever since. He was married February 14, 1877, to Belle Young, of Charles- town, Indiana, and four children were born to them, Daisy, Ruby, Arthur and Earl.
Mr. Smith resides on one hundred and sixteen acres of fine farm land in
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Jefferson township, which each year yields bountiful harvests. He is very progressive, and his place is fitted with many modern appliances in the way of agricultural implements of the latest design. He is a member of but one secret order, the Knights of Pythias, and belongs to the Methodist church. He has always voted the Republican ticket, but does not give a great deal of attention to politics, as he is a very busy man. Any project contemplating the advancement of the interests of his locality finds in Mr. Smith a hearty supporter, and that accounts for his great popularity in that section of Clark county.
WILLIAM OSCAR SWEENEY.
From a father who was one of the most prominent figures in the business circles of Jeffersonville William Oscar Sweeney inherited those traits that mark the character of the man who attains success in a wordly way. One of the secrets of his success lies in the fact that he gives close personal attention to his affairs, instead of leaving it to the supervision of others, as many men engaged in his line are often wont to do.
The birth of Mr. Sweeney occurred at Greencastle, Indiana, in 1859, his parents being Patrick H. and Amelia J. (Lane) Sweeney, who, when William O. was fourteen years of age, moved to Jeffersonville. His father immediately upon arriving there engaged in the contracting business, doing considerable municipal work. In 1870 he began contracting on a large scale, erecting a number of public buildings. His first venture in that line was in Johnson county, Indiana, where he built the court-house. It was not long before he had attained a wide reputation, and he took his son into his employ as superintendent of construction on his various public works. They built jails, court-houses, asylums and school-houses all over the state, the Rose Poly- technic at Terre Haute being among the buildings they erected. When the state-house at Indianapolis was in the course of construction Patrick H. Sweeney acted as stone inspector. He built altogether thirty-two court-houses in Indiana, besides many others outside of the state. From 1870 until 1890 they moved about to different parts of the country, where they had contracts. During five years of that period William O. Sweeney was in the South super- vising the construction of government boats. In the winter of 1889 he re- turned to Jeffersonville, and a year later, January 2, 1890, he married Hettie Miner, of Lewisville, Henry county, Indiana. She is the descendant of pious Quaker stock. One son was born to Mr. Sweeney and his wife, namely, Patrick H. Shortly after his marriage Mr. Sweeney and his father resumed street contracting at Jeffersonville, and were kept busy up to the time of the latter's death. in 1900. After this sad event William O. continued the con-
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tracting business alone, building macadam streets, sewers, bridges and turn- pikes. It is his theory that in the contracting business time is money, and therefore he wastes very few of the precious moments. He has the credit of doing some remarkably quick work, having built ten squares, fifty-six feet wide, of street in fifty-six days. He sometimes employes three hundred men. When he was engaged in government work on the Ohio Falls he used two hundred and ninety teams. He has recontracts of streets that his father built many years ago, and has constructed the masonry for practically all the first class bridges in Clark county, besides having put in nearly all the sewers that have been built in Jeffersonville in the last few years.
On November 1, 1908, Mr. Sweeney and T. J. Lindley, and their sons, organized a corporation under the name of the W. O. Sweeney Company for the purpose of enlarging the scope of the business. Mr. Sweeney is president of the organization.
Mr. Sweeney is equipped with a good education. He attended the public schools, and graduated after a four years course at St. Joseph's College. Bards- town, Kentucky. He is a member of the Elks lodge.
RICHARD MELDRUM HARTWELL.
Mr. Hartwell has reason to be proud of his ancestry, being descended from a very old English family. He is the son of Samuel Adams and Char- lotte (Meldrum) Hartwell. He was born at Louisville, Kentucky, August 28, 1850. Through the veins of the Hartwells flows the blood of William Hart- well, who came to America from England in 1636, and settled at Concord, Massachusetts. Through his father's maternal line he is descended from Capt. Seth Walker, who took part in the battle of Bunker Hill, and also dis- tinguished himself in an engagement in the harbor of Portsmouth, between an American vessel and a British armed ship, in which his superior officer was killed by a cannon ball. Lieutenant Walker assumed command, and con- ducted the engagement to a successful termination, although he was serious- ly injured. He retired with the rank of captain. Samuel Adams Hartwell was the son of Jonathan and Elizabeth B. ( Walker) Hartwell. His mother was the daughter of Capt. Seth Walker.
Mr. Hartwell attended the public schools of Louisville, and after com- pleting a course there he attended an academy at Lake Forest, Illinois. Sam- uel Adams Hartwell was largely interested in the Ohio Falls Car and Loco- motive Company of Jeffersonville, and here in July, 1868, Richard M. secured employment in a clerical capacity, taking up his residence in Jeffersonville a year later. So satisfactorily and faithfully did he perform his duties that in
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