USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 50
USA > Indiana > Franklin County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 50
USA > Indiana > Union County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 50
USA > Indiana > Fayette County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 50
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61
On the expiration of that period Mr. Nicholson resigned, and in 1861 removed to Richmond, Indiana, where he joined his brother, John Nichol- son, in the book and stationery business, a connection which was continued until 1873, when he purchased his brother's interest and has since been alone in business. He also has a large book bindery, and carries on operations under the name of the Nicholson Printing Company. He has built up an extensive trade in both departments of his business. He is a very systematic and methodical, possesses keen discrimination and excellent executive ability, and carries forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes. He is always just to and considerate of his employes, who know that faithfulness on their part means advancement as opportunity offers.
Broad-minded and progressive and imbued with strong humanitarian principles, Timothy Nicholson takes a deep interest in all that pertains to the development and improvement of the city with which he is connected, and with its educational and moral progress. As a leading member of the Friends church, he is well known throughout all the branches of that denom- ination, being active in all the church conferences. He has been chairman of the committee on arrangements of the three quinquennial conferences that have been held by the Friends in America, and at the last conference was again appointed to that position. He has been very active in the state and national Sunday-school work, was president of the Indiana Sunday school Union for one year, and for three years a member of the executive committee
425
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
of the International Sunday-school Association. For twenty years he has been superintendent of the home Sunday school, for many years has been an elder in the church and for twenty-two years was clerk of the yearly meeting of ministers and elders, while for twelve years he was clerk of the White- water monthly meeting, comprising four congregations.
For thirty-four years he has been a trustee of Earlham College, in which he takes a very deep and active interest, and because of his special fitness for that office and his residence in Richmond, much of the labor of the board of trustees has devolved upon him, and to his labors the high standing of the institution is attributable in no small degree. During the years 1865-6 he was a member of the board of trustees of the Richmond city schools, and from 1868 until 1873 was a trustee of the Indiana State Normal School at Terre Haute. Two years afterward, in 1877, when a vacancy occurred on that board, the remaining trustees united in requesting Governor Williams to appoint Mr. Nicholson to the vacancy, which he did although the latter's political views were at variance with those of the governor and of every other trustee. From 1872 until 1877 he was trustee of the Home of the Friend- less, of Richmond, and from early life he has been an earnest temperance worker. For nearly thirty-three years, as a member of the committee of the Friends society on prison reformn, he has taken a very active and earnest interest in that work. This committee was appointed and continued from year to year for the purpose of arousing the people and the law-makers to the evils of the prison system of the state. Every year the committee made a written report of their work, which demanded great patience, perseverance and indomitable effort.
The progress that Indiana has made along the line of prison reforms in the last few years is due more to the efforts of Timothy Nicholson than to any other one man, though he does not take the credit for it. Other men wrote the statutes and voted them into legal existence, but the demand for their passage came from the thirty years' campaign of education carried on by him and his associates in the work. In 1887 when a law was enacted creating a board of state charities, the governor appointed him a member, and he is still one of its most prominent representatives. His interest and efficiency in this line of work have made him well known among prison reformers throughout the United States, and he is an active member of the National Prison Congress and of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections. In 1896 he was president of the Indiana State Conference of Charities and Corrections. The establishment of the woman's prison and reform school for girls was one of the first victories of the "standing com- mittee " of the Society of Friends. This advanced step in prison legislation was directed and hastened by recommendations of the committee and by
426
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
reports disclosing the abuses arising from the keeping of prisoners of both sexes in the same institution. As a member of the board of state charities since its creation, he has made two or more visits to the institution every year and often addresses the men individually, speaking words of hope and encouragement to them.
In politics Timothy Nicholson has always been a stanch Republican, and in 1872 was president of the Richmond Grant Club, but has never sought or desired the honors or emoluments of public office. With a deep realiza- tion of the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, however, he has kept well informed on the momentous issues of the day and is therefore capable of giving an intelligent support to the measures which he believes are for the public good.
On the 11th of August, 1853, Timothy Nicholson married Miss Sarah N. White, a daughter of John and Mary White, both of whom were elders. in the Society of Friends in Perquimans county, North Carolina. Three sons of this marriage are now living. The mother died September 26, 1865, and the father was married April 30, 1868, to Miss Mary A. White, a sister of his first wife. Two daughters were born to them, both of whom are living.
Such in brief is the history of one of Richmond's most prominent and honored citizens, and Indiana may well be proud to number him among her sons. He conducts, with two of his sons, the oldest book house in the east- ern part of the state, and his efforts in business life have crowned him with financial success. At all times a reputation for honesty, his own self-respect and the well-merited esteem of his fellow men have been more to him than money, which has been but the means which has enabled him to provide for his family and aid his fellow men. He has unusual executive talent, and as an organizer and manager of educational and benevolent institutions has few superiors in the state. A local paper has said: " To know Timothy Nichol- son is to respect and esteem him. With a soul overflowing with warm human sympathy, with a quick appreciation of any combination of circumstances and a tact which enables him instantly to do or say the right thing upon every occasion, he is yet adamantine in his convictions of right and wrong. He can say ' No!' in a manner which then and there closes the question. He has an old-fashioned idea that simple, plain speaking between man and. man in the long run makes better friends and leaves a clearer conscience. He has not departed from the manner of speech of the Friends, and his ' thee' 'and 'thou' seem peculiarly in keeping with his simple, direct and kindly manner of speech. He is sparing in the use of titles and prefers not to be called Mr. Nicholson. It is taken as entirely proper and quite the usual custom in Richmond for his acquaintances, young and old, to address him by his first name, and the custom is followed by children, all without the
-
427
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
slightest color or thought of disrespect." Modest in manner, free from all ostentation, his true worth and kindly life have endeared him to all who know him, and his example is indeed one which may profitably be followed by the younger generation.
SAMUEL C. WHITESELL.
For nearly thirty years Samuel C. Whitesell has been engaged in the- practice of law in Wayne county. He is able and well posted in his profes- sion, clear and convincing as a speaker before judge and jury, painstaking and accurate in the preparation of his cases, and conscientiously adheres to the spirit as well as to the letter of the law, scorning to lower the high standard of right and justice.
The paternal ancestors of our subject were of German origin, the name having been spelled Weitzel in the mother tongue. The grandfather of S. C. Whitesell, George Whitesell, was a native of Virginia, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. After hostilites had ceased between this nation and England, he removed to Preble county, Ohio, and took up his abode on a farm twelve miles east of Richmond. There he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring when he was in his seventy-fifth year. In his early manhood he learned and followed the cooper's trade, but his chief attention was given to agriculture. His wife, also of German extraction, was a Miss Fouts in her girlhood and to their marriage four sons and four daughters were born.
The parents of our subject were George F. and Esther (McCollough). Whitesell. The father was born in Preble county, Ohio, and passed his entire life in that county, his death taking place when he was seventy-four years of age, in 1898. Following the example of his father, he was engaged in farming and in the cooperage business. The wife and mother was sum- moned to her reward in 1893, at the age of sixty-eight years. Her father, Samuel McCollough, was a native of Ireland, who, coming to the United States, settled first in Pennsylvania, and later, in 1817, in the vicinity of Hagerstown, Wayne county. In religious faith he was a Baptist, an earnest and conscientious member of the church. He was influential in the organi- zation of the Salem church, which was one of the first of the denomination in the state. In 1845, during the cholera epidemic, he was stricken with the dread disease, and though he recovered he was thenceforth blind. He died in 1864, at the ripe age of seventy years.
Samuel C. Whitesell, who was born in Preble county, Ohio, February 25, 1847, is the eldest of six children, the others being as follows: John, a farmer of Greenville, Ohio; David, who for many years was a teacher, and is now carrying on a lumber business in New Madison, Ohio; Mrs. Nancy
428
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
Shaver and R. B., both residing in Eaton, Ohio, the later having been a successful teacher for some eighteen years; and Frank M., a carpenter and builder of Richmond.
In his boyhood Samuel C. Whitesell received a good common-school edu- cation in Preble and Wayne counties. At the age of eighteen years he com- . menced teaching school in Preble county, and while thus occupied he borrowed law books from the late Judge Banta, of Eaton, Ohio, and spent his leisure time in study. Later he was under the tutorship of Judge Fox, of Center- ville, then the county-seat of this county, and in 1870 was admitted to the bar. He began practice in Centerville, remaining there until Richmond became the county-seat, when he removed to Cambridge City, Indiana. There he built up a large and profitable business, and was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of the state, and to practice in the United States and circuit courts. In 1886 he established an office in Richmond, and has since enjoyed a substantial and growing practice here.
On the IIth of August, 1868, Mr. Whitesell married Miss Elmira J. Strickler, daughter of Amos and Elizabeth Strickler, then living in the neigh- borhood of Hagerstown, Wayne county. Mr. and Mrs. Whitesell having but one child living, Frank M., a talented young man, who is now studying law in his father's office.
GEORGE BISHOP.
An honored citizen of Richmond for the past thirty-eight years, George Bishop is entitled to a prominent place in the annals of Wayne county. As a Republican he has been actively interested in the success of the party in this locality, and in November, 1894, he was elected to fill the office of town- ship trustee. He entered upon his duties in the beginning of the following year and is still serving, his record being one of which he has reason to be proud. For a score of years he has been identified with Osceola Tribe, No. 15, Improved Order of Red Men, and he also belongs to White Water Lodge, No. 41, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and to Oriental Encamp- ment, No. 28. In the last named organization he has been a trustee for the past twenty years.
Hart Bishop, father of our subject, was a native of Glasgow, Scotland. He married Mary Clayton, a lady of English birth, and a number of years afterward they came to America with their children. They settled in Mount Carmel, Franklin county, Indiana, the same year, 1848, and there the father followed his trade of reed-making, as long as he was able. He lived to an extreme age, his death occurring in October, 1880, when he was in his eighty-ninth year. The wife and mother did not long survive the immigra- tion to this country, as she died the succeeding year.
129
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
George Bishop, born March 4, 1836, in Lancashire, England, is the only survivor of the parental family, as his three brothers and four sisters have all been called to the better land. When the momentous step of removing to the United States was taken, he was a lad of twelve years. He learned the trade of blacksmithing and carriage-making at Mount Carmel, and has followed this occupation regularly since he mastered it in all its details. At the end of four years' work in Mount Carmel he went to Newcastle, Indi- ana, where he remained from 1857 to 1862, engaged in the management of a carriage manufactory of his own. The civil war interfering seriously with his trade, he came to Richmond and for the next fifteen years was employed by Gaar, Scott & Company, and other firms. Industrious, prompt, and faith- ful to the best interests of his employers, he won their confidence and esteem, at the same time gained an enviable reputation among all of his acquaintances. His friends and well-wishers in Richmond and vicinity are legion.
Over two-score years have rolled away since the day, in 1857, when Miss Mary J. Bartlow, of Mount Carmel, became the bride of Mr. Bishop. Seven children have blessed their union, and three of the number have entered the silent land. May is the wife of George M. Ayler, of Richmond; Altha wedded Charles A. Wilson, of this city; Lizzie is Mrs. John Bartel, of Rich- mond, and Blanche is the wife of William J. Oldaker, of Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop are members of the United Presbyterian church, and have always been interested in the promotion of education and religion, and the welfare of the community at large.
CARVER J. MENDENHALL, D. D. S.
This popular and efficient dentist of Richmond, Indiana, is a son of James and Millicent (Coffin) Mendenhall, and was born in Thorntown, this state, in the county of Boone, on the 28th of August, 1852. He has shown a remark- able adaptation for his profession and enjoys a practice commensurate with his skill, while his ever-increasing popularity is the natural outcome of a genial and benevolent disposition.
The family is descended from Quaker ancestors of the sturdy English type, and the present generation shows the happy effects resulting from the teachings of such pure and strengthening doctrines. Three of the Menden- hall brothers emigrated to this country with that grand colonist, William Penn, and settled in the vicinity of Pennsylvania. One of these brothers in time returned to his native country, while the two remaining here married and reared families, whose members moved south and were among the first settlers of Guilford county, North Carolina, a settlement which became one of the strongest Quaker strongholds in that county. Here the grandfather of
430
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
our subject was born, married and spent his entire life, becoming a prominent member of the Friends church and holding an enviable place in the esteem of the entire community. He was the father of a large family, to whose training he gave earnest thought, and had the satisfaction of seeing them develop into citizens of ability who filled important places in the communi- ties in which they resided. With the exception of James, the father of our subject, who was engaged in agricultural pursuits, the other members of this family became college professors or devoted their lives to the practice of medicine, in which lines they became well known for their ability and success.
James Mendenhall, the father, was ushered into existence in Guilford county, and there grew to manhood and was united in marriage to Miss Milli- cent Coffin. With five hundred dollars in his pocket he started westward on his wedding journey, it being the aim of the travelers to seek a suitable home in the far west. He was the owner of a fine horse and wagon, and in this conveyance was the journey made. He was the envy of many of his neigh- bors, as his capital, for those times, was almost equal to the sum of twenty thousand dollars at the present time. His first stopping-place was Green's Fork, Wayne county, Indiana, where he remained a short time and whence he removed to Thorntown, Indiana, where he engaged in agricultural pur- suits until February, 1853, when he moved to Richmond. Here he was interested in agriculture and dairying, his being the first dairy operated in Richmond. He was remarkably successful in his business ventures. He died at the advanced age of eighty-eight years, after an honorable and useful career, and had retired from active business some thirteen years previous to his death. His union with Miss Millicent Coffin resulted in the birth of three sons and four daughters, of whom he was justly proud and whose education and training was given his most earnest thought. One of the sons, S. C. Mendenhall, was sent to Earlham College, and his was the first trunk carried into the building. Stephen Mendenhall, besides being a man of more than average business ability, was also an inventor whose genius in this line brought him considerable sums of money. On one of his patents alone, which he sold to Greenwood & Company, he realized seventy-five thousand dollars. He dealt largely in real estate and within the corporation of Richmond owned considerable land, which was laid out in town lots and disposed of. In recog- nition of his executive ability he was chosen president of the first street rail- way company of the city.
Mrs. James Mendenhall was a daughter of Joseph Coffin, a native of Nantucket, whence he went to North Carolina. He was a pork-packer and gained considerable prominence in that industry as well as for being one of the most successful agriculturists in that part of the state. He was a man
431
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
of sterling Christian character and was held in high esteem in the Friends church, of which he was a member. He was appointed by that body to travel as a companion to Elizabeth P. Gurney, whose husband was a London banker and who was herself an authoress of some pretensions. His wife, Hannah Coffin, was also prominent in the Friends church. One of his cousins, Levi Coffin, did much to impress the name indelibly on the public mind through his connection as president of the underground railway during the time of slavery. The good accomplished by this band of quiet workers for the cause of humanity can not be estimated, and their names will go down in history as brave, self-sacrificing heroes of those troublous times.
Dr. Carver J. Mendenhall was accorded a thorough education. He attended Hiram Hadley's private school or academy, Earlham College, and the Friends' school at Union Springs, on Cayuga lake, New York. Return- ing from school, he decided to devote his time to dentistry and took up the study of that profession with Dr. Newton, the leading dentist of Richmond. Subsequently two years was spent in the study of medicine, after which he practiced in various places on the Mississippi river for two years more, when he contracted the ague, so prevalent in those places, and was obliged to return home. It was a year or more before his system was cleared of the chills and fever and he was able to return to his work. He then took a special course in dentistry under Heard Brothers, of Memphis, Tennessee, and in 1875 he went to San Francisco, California. There he engaged in his profession, while at the same time he interested himself in other enterprises, dealing in stocks, serving as inspector of United States customs of the port, and as deputy United States marshal, having been sworn in by Judge Field. After ten years spent on the coast Dr. Mendenhall returned east and took a special course under Dr. Lewis, an expert dentist of Chicago, where he remained as assistant for some time. In 1885 he went to Omaha, Nebraska, intending to locate, but was unable to find a suitable location and returned to Richmond. Here he opened an office and has established an enviable repu- tation as a dentist of great skill. His office is equipped with all modern appliances for the successful practice of his profession, and he soon became recognized as an expert in his line. In addition to the special courses taken by him under expert dentists, he took a post-graduate course in the School of Dentistry, under Professor Haskell, who has a national reputation, and in a class of two hundred and eight applicants examined by the Indiana state dental board he was one of the eight successful ones, and is fast forging his way to the front as one of the leading practitioners in this part of the state. He figures quite as prominently in social as in professional circles, -is a mem- ber of Richmond Lodge, No. 196, F. & A. M .; King Solomon's Chapter, No. 4, R. A. M .; and Richmond Commandery, No. 8, K. T.
432
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
October 7, 1885, the Doctor was united in matrimony to Miss Margar- ette Scott, daughter of Captain James W. and Rachel E. (Burbank) Scott. Captain James W. Scott served in the civil war as quartermaster and was captured by General Morgan during his celebrated raid. As official papers were found upon his person and as it was also learned that he was a brother- in-law of Governor Morton,-more than ordinarily severe punishment was inflicted upon him, and Morgan ordered a double guard placed around him. Mrs. Mendenhall is a niece of the great war Governor O. P. Morton and also a relative of Lord Nelson, being a lady of unusual refinement and intelligence and one whose personality is strongly felt in the society in which she moves. Dr. and Mrs. Mendenhall have one son, James Robert, twelve years of age.
THE PIGMAN FAMILY:
Adam Pigman, the founder of one of the oldest and most honored fam- ilies of central-eastern Indiana, was born in 1779, in Greene county, Penn- sylvania, and was about a year old when he was taken to Breckinridge county, Kentucky, and when four years of age went to Jessamine county, same state. In the summer of 1812 he assisted in the building of Fort Meigs, for he had learned the carpenter's trade, and in December of the next year he took up a quarter-section of land in Fayette county, Indiana. In September, 1814, he erected the first frame house ever put up in Union county, which dwelling is now occupied by R. F. Maze. In 1817 Mr. Pig- man married Mary Eli, a daughter of Adam Eli, and in 1824 they removed to Harmony township. He became a prosperous farmer, taking an inter- ested part in the development of the county and loyally aiding in the estab- lishment of the structure of the commonwealth. He was a Jackson Demo- crat, and for several terms, or until he resigned, he was elected and served as county commissioner. For his time and advantages he was much more than an average man, and owing to his robust constitution, outdoor life and temperate habits (for he never used tea, coffee or tobacco), he attained an extreme age, dying September 19, 1876. His wife followed him to the better land a week later, her death occurring on the 27th of September. They were the parents of twelve children, of whom only one, Lorena, is living in 1898, and, with the exception of herself and her brother Eli, all of the num- ber died in the years between 1856 and 1861.
Eli Pigman was born, lived and died in Harmony township. He owned the old Adam Eli farm, which the latter settled upon as early as 1807, build- ing a blacksmith shop the same year. Part of this homestead is still owned by Mrs. Pigman, who was Miss Rebecca Wilson prior to her marriage to Eli Pigman, and who is now a resident of Liberty. Her father, Garrett Wilson, was a successful farmer, owning a place about two miles west of Liberty,
433
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
and at one time he was a county commissioner here. His son, John T. Wil- son, of Dunlapsville, is the sole representative of the family name to-day. Garrett Wilson departed this life in the winter of 1866-7, but his widow (formerly Harriet Thompson) died recently, when nearly ninety years of age. Eli Pigman died when fifty-six years of age, and two years later Mrs. Pigman removed from the farm to her present home, in Liberty. The first wife of Eli Pigman was a Miss Mary Buckley, and their three children were Charles, now of Connersville, Indiana; Adam; and Mary, who died in infancy. An excellent financier and business man, Eli Pigman amassed quite a fortune, and at one time owned eighteen hundred acres of valuable farm land. He was too generous and accommodating, sometimes, for his own best interests, as he became security for many friends and was obliged to pay twenty-six thousand dollars of the indebtedness of others. He was a man of intense patriotism and public spirit, active in the ranks of the Democratic party and frequently present at conventions. Educational affairs and the work of churches found a war' response in his large heart, and many a dollar did he contribute toward these worthy causes. His family was one of the first and most prominent in local Presbyterianism, and were material factors in the early days of the history of that denomination in this county.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.