USA > Indiana > Union County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 4
USA > Indiana > Fayette County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 4
USA > Indiana > Franklin County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 4
USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 4
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A native of Connecticut, he was born in East Windsor, on the Connecticut river, June 27, 1812, his parents being Abner Nelson and Zeviah (Skinner) New- ton. Between the ages of seven and seventeen years he resided upon a farm in Hebron, Connecticut, and attended the common schools during the winter months. He afterward went to Providence, Rhode Island, and learned the baking business, with which he was connected for six years in that city. For two years thereafter he studied under a private tutor, in order to prepare for college, and then entered Brown University, at Providence, where he
remained one year. On the Ist of June, 1837. he started for Cincinnati, to which place his father had removed in 1817. He spent thirteen days and nights in travel, and at length reached his destination. He found his father there, and soon afterward entered upon the study of dentistry in the office and under the direction of Melancthon Rogers, M. D. At that time there was but one dental college in the United States, its location being in Bal- timore.
For three years Dr. Newton remained with Dr. Rogers, and in the spring of 1841 came to Richmond, opening the first dental office in this city,
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which at that time contained a population of only fifteen hundred. He con- tinued in active practice for more than half a century, retiring in 1892, when eighty years of age. He was always a close student of his profession, by reading and investigation keeping abreast with the improvement and advance- ment of the science of dentistry. He enjoyed a very liberal patronage through all the long years of his active practice, and thereby acquired a comfortable competence.
After coming to Richmond, Dr. Newton formed the acquaintance of Miss Margaret J. Hope, and in 1843 they were united in marriage. The lady was formerly a resident of Aurora, Indiana. By their union were born four children. Eugene M., the eldest, served as a defender of the Union in the civil war, and was afterward engaged in various lines of mechanical work in Indianapolis. He died in March, 1898. Ida Z. is the widow of Joseph G. Lemon; Lilla A. is a resident of Chicago; and Albia E. died in infancy.
When only seventeen years of age the Doctor united with the Baptist church in Providence, Rhode Island, but after his marriage joined the Meth- odist Episcopal church, to which his wife belonged, and was thereafter iden- tified with that religious organization. His life was ever in harmony with his professions, and over his record there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil. He reached the age of eighty-seven years, but the hand of time rested lightly upon him. He was a genial, pleasant gentleman, with an innate courtesy and refinement of spirit, and he deserved the veneration and honor in which he was uniformly held. He was one of the best-known men in Wayne county, and through fifty-seven years was prominently identified with its history. giving his support to all measures calculated to prove of public benefit, and aiding in suppressing those which he believed would be to the detriment of his fellow men. His example is well worthy of emula- tion, and his memory will be revered by his many friends as long as memory permits them to recall the man and his noble life.
LEANDER A. TEAGLE.
Leander A. Teagle, who is a partner of the Quaker City Machine Works, of Richmond, was born in Webster, Wayne county, August 23, 1853, and is a son of Allen and Mary (Harris) Teagle. His father was born near Web- ster and spent the greater part of his life in that locality. In early life he followed carpentering and afterward engaged in merchandising, first in Web- ster and later in Williamsburg. His death occurred in the latter place in 1854, when he was only twenty-four years of age. He wedded Mary Harris, and to them were born two children: Emma, now the widow of Thomas Weaver and a resident of Terre Haute; and Leander A., of this review. The mother is now the wife of Nathan Overman, a farmer residing near Marion,
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Indiana. Her father, Benjamin Harris, was one of the pioneer settlers of Wayne county. He was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, in 1806. His great-grandfather was a native of Wales, from which country he was banished on account of his Protestant belief. He took refuge in America and his son Obadiah, the grandfather of Benjamin Harris, became a minister of the Society of Friends and settled in Guilford county, North Carolina, where he lived until 1810, when he emigrated to New Garden township, Wayne county, Indiana, and here he lived for about twenty years, his death occurring after he had passed the eightieth milestone on life's journey. Ben- jamin Harris, Sr., was the father of Benjamin Harris, the maternal grand- father of our subject. He was married in North Carolina to Margaret Ingle, and in 1807 came to Indiana. He was a man of more than ordinary ability. Like the others of the family he was a member of the Society of Friends. Benjamin Harris, the grandfather of Mr. Teagle, was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, November 3, 1798, and throughout his life carried on farming and stock raising. He met with fair success in his undertakings and his last years were spent in retirement from active labor. In politics he was first a Whig and afterward a Republican, and was one of the first in the township to take a decided stand in favor of the anti-slavery movement. He was married in 1821 to Lydia Hiatt, a native of Virginia, and they began their domestic life upon his farm in Green township, Wayne county. His wife died in 1867 and two years later he removed to Richmond, where in April, 1870, he married Hannah A. Estell, of New Jersey.
Leander A. Teagle was only eight months old when his father died, and he was largely reared by his grandfather, Mr. Harris, who was then living at the corner of School and Harris streets, West Richmond, the latter street having been named in his honor. In his youth Mr. Teagle pursued his edu- cation in the schools of Richmond and West Richmond, and in Antioch Col- lege, at Yellow Springs, Ohio. He put aside his text books when twenty years of age and began business as a miller, in Arcanum, Ohio, where he remained for three years. On the expiration of that period he returned to Richmond and secured a position in the Richmond Machine Works, learn- ing the machinist's trade. He remained in that employ for ten years, during which time he completely mastered the business in every detail and became an expert workman. In 1887 he established a shop of his own on North East street, forming a partnership with J. A. Evans. Business has since been carried on under the name of the Quaker City Machine Works, and from the beginning their trade has steadily increased in importance and vol- ume. They remained at their first location for four years and then removed to the corner of Fourteenth and Railroad streets, erecting a large brick building, forty by one hundred feet and two stories in height, with a base-
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ment. This step was necessary in order to secure enlarged facilities that they might meet the growing demands of their trade. They manufacture engines to some extent, but are largely engaged in the manufacture of ventilating apparatus for florists, and their trade extends throughout the United States and Canada. Their plant is well equipped with the best improved machin- ery, and they turn out a high grade of work. This is one of the leading industrial concerns of the city, and is bringing to the proprietors good finan- cial returns.
Mr. Teagle exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Republican party, but otherwise takes no active part in pol- itics. He is quite prominent in a number of benevolent fraternities, holding membership in Coeur de Lion Lodge, No. 8, K. of P .; Osceola Tribe, No. 15, Improved Order of Red Men; Webb Lodge, No. 24, A. F. & A. M .; and King Solomon Chapter, No. 4, R. A. M. He was married February 13, 1877, to Sarah Reed, a daughter of Adam and Abigail Reed, of West Richmond, and they now have two children, -Florence Estella and Benjamin Allen.
Such in brief is the history of one whose entire life has been passed in Wayne county. His has been a busy and useful career, in which he has worked his way upward to affluence, at the same time retaining the respect of his fellow men by reason of his honorable methods and strict regard for the ethics of business life.
LEE AULT.
Numbered among the efficient educators of Indiana is Professor Lee Ault, who for three decades has been identified with the school system of this state, winning the commendation and praise of all who have been interested in this important subject. Possessing thorough knowledge of advanced methods of teaching, and being an enthusiastic believer in education for the people, he has brought the schools of Hagerstown, Wayne county, to a high grade of excellence, and justly merits the approval of the public.
A native of Darke county, Ohio, born in 1846, Professor Ault passed his boyhood on a farm in the vicinity of Greenville. His early education was supplemented by a course at the Southwestern Normal School, which insti- tution is now known as the National Normal. Having chosen educational work as his future field of endeavor, he began teaching, near his native town, in 1864, and spent the five years following in Ohio. In 1869 he came to this state, where he carried on schools in Farmland and Winchester, Randolph county, occupying the position of superintendent in each place. Later he was located at Williamsburg for six years, and for one year was connected with the schools of Centerville, Wayne county. In the meantime he was employed by the American Book Company for a year or more.
Twenty years ago Professor Ault came to Hagerstown as superintendent
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of schools here, and during the next four years rapid improvement was observable in the same. After an interval he returned to this place, where he has been permanently located since 1893. In 1899 there is an enroll- ment of two hundred and twenty pupils, eighty-six of whom are students in the high school, - this proportion being unusually large for any town. This is partly accounted for by the fact that graduates from the country schools of the community are received into the high school, and thus the same privileges are accorded them as are enjoyed by the town students. Seven teachers are employed in the schools, this number including Professor Oliver L. Voris, principal of the high school; and Professor W. E. M. Brown, who ranks high as a musician, and who devotes one day in each week to teaching music in the schools. The high-school course covers four years of work, and the high standard which is maintained secures to graduates admission to the various colleges of the country without preliminary examination. The grand work which has been accomplished here by Professor Ault, seconded by his able corps of teachers, is not the result of one year's effort, but is the out- come of persistent, unfaltering determination to make the schools of Hagers- town compare favorably with those of the leading towns of the state. The high school is well equipped with apparatus necessary in the various scientific studies, and a comprehensive library is of great benefit to students.
The marriage of Professor Ault and Miss Mary E. Bowen was solemnized in 1869. She is the daughter of William C. and Priscilla (Magee) Bowen. Her father was a prominent minister in the M. E. church and served in the legislature from this district from 1868 to 1870. He died in June, 1898, at the age of eighty-one years, his wife having passed away in 1878. Professor and Mrs. Ault are the parents of six children, four of whom were graduated in the Hagerstown high schools, - Hattie Pearl, Ina May, Harry and Frank. Charles and Edgar are still attending school. Miss Hattie Pearl is a teacher in the Spiceland school, in Henry county, this state; Ina May is teaching in Wayne county; and the two elder sons, Harry and Frank, are employed in Marshall Field's wholesale house, in Chicago.
LEWIS HOOVER.
The genial and efficient superintendent of public instruction of Center- ville, Indiana, is a teacher whose ability is shown by the success he has achieved since taking charge of the schools here. He was born near Blounts- ville, Henry county, Indiana, January 27, 1870, and is descended from the sturdy German race. His parents were John and Elizabeth (Replogle) Hoover, natives of Pennsylvania, and at this time residents of Wayne county, Indiana.
In his boyhood Professor Hoover attended the common schools, and
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later became a student in the high school at Hagerstown. At the age of twenty-one he left the high school and entered upon the work of an instructor, teaching in the country schools and gaining much valuable experience. He then took a teacher's course in the State Normal, at the same time atttending to his duties as teacher, and graduated with the class of 1897. He was prin- cipal of the high school at Centerville three years, one year after graduating from the normal, and was then elected to the office of superintendent, the posi- tion he now holds. The school has an enrollment of one hundred and ninety- five pupils, and he has a corps of four teachers under him, who are assisting him to the best of their ability in his efforts to make the schools first-class in every respect. The high-school department proper has an enrollment of forty members, and a regular four-year course is required of them. This is now a union school. The old school building burned down some time ago, and the new building was erected by the township and village, with the understanding that all high-school pupils in the township, and those in lesser grades who reside nearer this than other schools, should be admitted here free of charge. This is now one of the best high schools in this part of the state, and the training is very thorough. Professor Hoover has also engaged in scientific work, and is a scholar of more than ordinary ability.
August 19, 1895, he led to the altar as his bride, Miss Mattie Evans, whose home was near Dalton. She was born in Dalton township and is a daughter of William Evans, of that vicinity. She was educated in the com- mon schools of her native township and is deeply interested in the educational work of her husband. Her encouragement and counsel have been no small incentive to him in carrying his work to a successful issue. She is also a zealous worker in the church, both she and Professor Hoover being mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, and prominent workers in the Sun- day-school, of which he is superintendent.
JOHN W. KOOGLE.
The subject of this review is one of the most prominent men of Rich- mond, Indiana, where he has been engaged in business for many years and is well known and respected. He was born in Germantown, Montgomery county, Ohio, February 23, 1840, and is a son of Jacob and Mary (Duck- wall) Koogle, and a grandson of Jacob Koogle, a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania. The grandfather was married in his native county and reared five children, who came west about the year 1825, with their father. They first located near Cincinnati and later moved to Germantown, where the grandfather died in 1853, at the advanced age of eighty-five years.
Jacob Koogle, the father of John W., was born in Berks county, Penn- sylvania, in 1808, while the mother of our subject was born in 1811, in Vir-
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ginia, near Baltimore. The father was a blacksmith and began business for himself after coming to Cincinnati, but changed to Germantown, and in 1865 located in Richmond, whence, five years later, he went to Kansas, where he died in 1873. The wife and mother survived him twenty-five years, dying in Denison, Texas, in 1898. In politics Mr. Koogle was a Whig, a " Know- nothing," and later a Republican, as are his sons. He was a leading mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church and filled all the offices in that organ- ization. Eight children blessed his home, namely: Henry, who fought in the civil war and now resides in Dayton, Ohio, where he manufactures carriages; Elizabeth, who married Edward Clifford, who was captain in the One Hun- dred and Thirty-fifth Ohio Regiment during the Rebellion, and is now a painter living at Denison, Texas; Jennie married Jacob Tittle, a mechanic, now deceased; J. A. Koogle; August, a soldier of the signal service during the Rebellion, now a civil engineer of the mines at Denver, Colorado; Albert G., also of Denver, is an engineer on the railroad; both he and August left Oxford College to enter the signal service; Dora married Walter Smith, of Denver, who was in the government service as United States detective dur- ing the civil war; and Addie, who married Preston Harding, a farmer of Illi- nois.
John W. Koogle spent his early years in Germantown and there received his primary education, later becoming a student in Holbrook's Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio. At the age of twenty he taught one year and then opened a grocery store in his native town, which he conducted for one and one-half years. In 1862 he came to Richmond on a visit to his sister, walked up town, saw a grocery which he fancied, and purchased it. After carrying on this business one year he bought a stock of queensware, in which also he dealt until 1868, when he moved on a farm and devoted two years to agriculture. In 1870 he returned to Richmond and began traveling for the Richmond Cutlery House. After being with them in this capacity for three years he was made manager of the business and remained in that capacity three years more. He then accepted a position as shipping clerk for Haynes, Spencer & Company's church furniture factory. They did a large, profitable business, and he remained with them fourteen years. He then be- came associated with A. W. Heppleman in selling the goods from this fac- tory. In 1893 a stock company was formed which purchased the plant and conducted the business as the Indiana Church Furniture Company. Mr. Koogle traveled for them one year, when he was made manager of the plant and shortly after was given the additional office of secretary and treasurer of the company, which he retains at this time. He is also a director. They manufacture only church furniture and ship their goods to all parts of the United States.
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Mr. Koogle was married September 13, 1864, to Miss Virginia Irdell, of this city, and six children have brightened their home, viz .: Blanche, wife of E. W. Willbrandt, manufacturer and wholesale dealer in surgical instru- ments, in St. Louis; Samuel, a machinist of this city; Ella, a cashier; W. G., a salesman for E. W. Willbrandt; Howard, a student of Richmond Business College; and Stella, an attendant at the high school. Mr. Koogle is a strong Republican, but has never been an aspirant for office. He is a member of Grace Methodist Episcopal church, in which body he has served on the official board and has been treasurer for seven years. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum and the Travelers' Protective Association.
JOSIAH SHIVELY.
Every well rounded, upright life is an inspiration to others, and when innumerable worthy qualities are blended in one person, who earnestly and conscientiously has worked out the problems of his existence, it is but sim- ple justice that a record of his career be kept. In the life of Josiah Shively many lessons may be gleaned, -lessons of independence and self-reliance, of regard for the rights and feelings of others, of courage in the time of rever- ses and affliction.
For a quarter of a century one of the leading business men of Hagers- town, Wayne county, Josiah Shively passed his entire life in this region, not far from the boundary line between the states of Ohio and Indiana. He was born on a farm in Preble county, Ohio, August 1, 1833, his father being Henry Shively. The lad was reared to agricultural duties, and obtained an ordinary education in the district schools of the period. His ambition and natural bent, however, were toward a mercantile life, and when he was about eighteen years of age he took a course of training and instruction in Springfield (Ohio) Business College. Soon afterward he embarked in the grocery business in Winchester, Preble county, and later was engaged in general merchandising and pork-packing. He was very successful in his various ventures until the time of the financial crash which followed the close of the war of the Rebellion, when, like hundreds and thousands of hitherto prosperous business men, he lost everything he possessed, -the . accumulations of years of toil and struggle. With a brave heart and renewed · determinatfon he turned toward the task he had set before him, the retrieving of his fortunes, and in 1869 he came to Hagerstown, where he was chiefly engaged in the hardware business. By diligence and strict attention to the demands of the trade, by courtesy and fair dealing, he won the esteem and confidence of all who knew him, and thus prospered, as he deserved. In 1880 he erected the business block which bears his name, and no citizen here was more interested in the development and progress of the town. In his polit-
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ical affiliations he was a Republican, patriotically proud and glad to witness the triumph of the principles in which he firmly believed, but never seeking nor desiring public office for himself. Though he was not identified with any religious body he was a practical Christian, animated by the highest and best principles, and love toward God and man was expressed in his daily life.
The marriage of Mr. Shively and Miss Artemecia Taylor was solemnized October 15, 1857. She was born in Winchester, Preble county, Ohio, a daughter of Rev. Wilkinson and Phœbe (Gard) Taylor. The former, who was a minister in the Baptist church, was a native of Tennessee, and when young went to Ohio with his father, John Taylor. The father of Mrs. Phœbe Taylor was likewise a minister of the Baptist denomination, and belonged to a pioneer family of the Buckeye state. A sister of Mrs. Shively, Miss Eliza W. Taylor, resides with her, and another sister, Leona, died at her home in 1873. To the union of our subject and wife two sons were born, Frank H. and William T. The latter resides with his mother, and is a young man of energy and talent, having inherited many of his father's able and sterling traits of character. Mrs. Shively, who continues to dwell in the home in Hagerstown, made dear to her by a thousand tender memories, has met with great affliction and irreparable loss within the past few years. April 3, 1892, her son Frank, a noble and promising young man of thirty-one years of age, was summoned to the silent land, and two years afterward her devoted hus- band was called to his reward, his death occurring at his home April 21, 1894. In her great sorrow she has been "cheered and sustained by an unfaltering trust " that, when a few more years shall have rolled away, she will be reunited with her loved ones, who "are not lost, but gone before." She is a faithful member of the Christian church, giving liberally of her time, energies and means to the uplifting and bettering of mankind.
ABRAM B. CONWELL.
The city of Connersville has been the home and scene of labor of many men who have not only led lives that should serve as an example to those who come after them, but have also been of important service to their city and state through various avenues of usefulness. Among these must be named Abram B. Conwell, who, after many years of connection with the best interests of this section of Indiana, passed away at his home in Connersville November 1, 1895. Through his establishing and conducting many business enterprises of a public and private nature, he contributed materially to the upbuilding, progress and prosperity of his community, and his name is therefore indelibly inscribed on the pages of Fayette county's history.
A native of Lewistown, Delaware, he was born August 15, 1796, a son of William and Nancy A. (King) Conwell. He was of English and Welsh
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extraction, and was a descendant of Betsy Ross, who made the first American flag .. Her daughter married Abraham Conwell, who was the father of Will- iam Conwell and the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. At the age of fifteen years Abram B. Conwell was apprenticed to a tanner, and served for a term of five years. In 1818 he and his eldest brother, James, started for Washington city on foot, but on arriving in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, James secured a position in a shipyard, and our subject made his way to Kentucky, where he spent nearly two years in that then new country. In 1818 his three brothers, James, Isaac and William, made a six-months tour on horse- back through the northwest, seeking a location, and after their lengthy reconnoissance reported favorably on the Whitewater valley of Indiana. Soon afterward they made settlements in this state, James, who was a Methodist minister, locating at Laurel, Franklin county; William, at Cambridge City, Wayne county; and Isaac at Liberty, Union county. They all became suc- cessful merchants and business men, contributing largely to the growth and development of their respective localities.
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