Biographical and historical record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana : containing portraits and biographies of some of the prominent men of the state : engravings of prominent citizens in Jay and Blackford Counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families and a concise history of Jay and Blackford Counties and their cities and villages., Part 15

Author:
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 922

USA > Indiana > Jay County > Biographical and historical record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana : containing portraits and biographies of some of the prominent men of the state : engravings of prominent citizens in Jay and Blackford Counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families and a concise history of Jay and Blackford Counties and their cities and villages. > Part 15
USA > Indiana > Blackford County > Biographical and historical record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana : containing portraits and biographies of some of the prominent men of the state : engravings of prominent citizens in Jay and Blackford Counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families and a concise history of Jay and Blackford Counties and their cities and villages. > Part 15

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A statue of Senator Morton is placed in one of the public parks at Indianapolis by the contributions of a grateful common- wealth.

7. a Hendricky

165

THOMAS A. HENDRICKS.

HOMAS ANDREWS HENDRICKS, elected Vice-President of the United States in 1884, was born in Musking- um County, Ohio, near the city of Zanesville, Septem- ber 7, 1819. The following spring the family moved to Madison, this State, and in 1822 to Shelby County, where they opened up a farm in a sparsely settled region near the center of the county. It was here that Thomas grew to man- hood. After the completion of his education at Hanover College he studied law in the office of his uncle, Judge Thomson, at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and in due time was admitted to the bar.

In 1848 he was elected to the Legislature; in 1850, to the convention which framed the present Constitution of the State, being an active participant in the deliberations of that body; in 1851 and 1852, to Congress; in 1855, was appointed Commissioner of the

General Land Office, which he resigned in 1859; 1863-'69, United States Senator; 1872- '77, Governor of Indiana; and finally, July 12, 1884, he was nominated by the Democratic National Convention at Chicago as second on the ticket with Grover Cleveland, which was successful in the ensuing campaign; but a few days before he should begin to serve as Speaker of the Senate, November, 1885, he suddenly died at his home in Indianapolis.

Going back for particulars, we should state that in 1860 he was candidate for Governor of Indiana against Henry S. Lane, and was defeated by 9,757 votes, while the Repub- lican majority of the State on the national ticket was 23,524, showing his immense popularity. Again, in 1868, Conrad Baker defeated him by 1,161 votes, when Grant's majority over Seymour in the State was 9,579, and this, too, after he had so bitterly opposed the policy of Lincoln's administration, and thereby lost from his constituency many Union sympathizers. And finally, in 1872, his majority for Governor over General Thomas M. Brown was 1,148; the same year Grant's majority in the State over Greeley

166

PROMINENT MEN OF INDIANA.

was 22,924. Governor Hendricks was the only man elected on his ticket that year, excepting Professor Hopkins, who was chosen to a non-political office.

In 1876 Governor Hendricks was a con- spicions candidate for the Presidency, being the favorite of the Western Democracy; bnt the East proved too powerful, and nominated Tilden, giving Hendricks the second place on the national ticket, thereby strengthening it greatly in the West.

During the intervals of official life, Mr. Hendricks practiced law with eminent suc- cess, being equally at home before court or jury, and not easily disturbed by unforeseen turns in a case. He had no specialty as an advocate, being alike efficient in the civil and criminal conrt, and in all kinds and forms of actions. When out of office his voice was frequently heard on the political questions of the day. Indiana regarded him with pride, and among a large class he was looked upon as the leader of the Democracy of the West. ITis adherents rallied around him in 1880, and his name was again prominent for the Presidential nomination, and might have been carried were it not for the opposition of the friends of Mr. McDonald.

As his views on governmental affairs were critical, definite and positive, he had many political enemies, but none of thein have ever charged him with malfeasance in office, or incompetency in any of his public positions. Ile was a man of convictions, conservative, eloquent in public address, careful of his utterances, and exceedingly earnest.

Mr. Hendricks belonged to a family noted in the history of Indiana. His uncle, Will- iam Hendricks, was secretary of the conven- tion that formed the first Constitution of the State; was Indiana's first Representative in Congress, her second Governor, and for two full terms represented it in the Senate of the United States. A cousin, John Abram Hen- dricks, fell at the battle of Pea Ridge while leading his regiment against the enemy ; and another consin, Thomas Hendricks, was killed in the Teche country while serving in the Union army. Mr. Hendricks' father was an elder in the Presbyterian church, and he himself was baptized and brought up under the auspices of that denomination. He never joined any church until 1867, when he became a member of the Protestant Epis- copal church, retaining his Calvinistic views.

In person Mr. Hendricks was five feet nine inches high, weighed about 185 pounds; his eyes gray, hair of a sandy hne, nose large and prominent, complexion fair and inclined to freckle, and his month and chin were expressive of determination and tenacity. He wore no beard except a little near the ear. He was a man of good habits, health good, step firm and prompt, and voice resonant and steady.

After his nomination for the Vice-Presi- dency he took an active part in the campaign, delivering a number of powerful addresses, and while waiting for his term of official service to begin, death ended his days and cast an indescribable shade of gloom over his family, State and nation.

Chanhbefore

169

SCHUYLER COLFAX.

HIS eminent statesman was born in New York City, March 23, 1823, the only son of his widowed mother; was taught in the common schools of the city, finished his education at a high-school on Crosby street, and at ten years of age he had received all the school training he ever had. After clerking in a store for three years, he removed to In- diana with his mother and stepfather, Mr. Mathews, set- tling in St. Joseph County. Here, in the village of New Carlisle, the youth served four years more as clerk in a store; then, at the age of seventeen years, he was appointed deputy county auditor, and to fulfill his duties he moved to the county seat, South Bend, where he remained a resident until his death.

Like almost every Western citizen of any mental activity, young Colfax took a practical hold of political matters about as soon as he could vote. He talked and thought, and began to publish his views, from time to time, in the local newspaper of the place. His peculiar faculty of dealing

fairly, and at the same time pleasantly, with men of all sorts, his natural sobriety and common sense, and his power of stating things plainly and correctly, made him a natural newspaper man. He was employed during several sessions of the Legislature, to report the proceedings of the Senate for the Indianapolis Journal, and in this position made many friends. In 1845 he became proprietor and editor of the St. Joseph Val- ley Register, the South Bend newspaper, which then had but 250 subscribers; but the youthful editor had hope and energy, and after struggling through many disappoint- ments, including the loss of his office by fire, he succeeded in making a comfortable living out of the enterprise.

Mr. Colfax was a Whig so long as that party existed. In 1848 he was a delegate to the convention which nominated General Taylor for President, and was one of the sec- retaries of that body. The next year he was a member of the State Constitutional Con- vention, being elected thereto from a Demo- cratic district. Soon afterward he was nominated for the State Senate, but declined because he could not be spared from his busi- ness. His first nomination for Congress was in 1851, but was beaten by 200 votes, which was less than the real Democratic majority

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PROMINENT MEN OF INDIANA.

in his district. His successful competitor was Dr. Graham N. Fitch, who, along with Mr. Bright, became so conspicuous in the support of Buchanan. In 1852 he was a delegate to the Whig National Convention that nominated General Scott, and was again secretary.

Franklin Pierce, the Democratic nominee, was elected President, and during his term the Whig party was dissolved upon the issue of slavery, and, naturally enough, Mr. Colfax drifted in with the party of freedom. So did the people of his Congressional district; for, after having given their Democratic repre- sentative 1,000 majority two years before, they now nominated and elected Mr. Colfax to succeed him by about 2,000 majority.

The Congress to which he was thus elected is noted for the tedious struggle in the elec- tion of a Speaker of the House, resulting, February 2, 1856, in the choice of N. P. Banks. Mr. Colfax, who was second in the race for the Speakership, exhibited wonderful parliamentary tact in staving off the South- erners, who at tinies seemed on the point of success. As to parties at this time, they were considerably broken up, comprising " Anti-Nebraska" (Republican), Democrats, Know-Nothings and nondescripts. During this and the succeeding Congress, to which Mr. Colfax was elected, lie delivered several telling speeches, some of which were printed

almost by the million and distributed to the voters throughout the North. These speeches were full of solid facts and figures with reference to the Pro-Slavery party, especially in Kansas, so that, by a sort of play upon his name, the people often re- ferred to him as "Cold-facts."

In 1860 Mr. Colfax was elected to Con- gress the third time, and in 1862 the fourth time. In December, 1863, lie was chosen Speaker of the House, which position he re- tained to the end of the term for which Lincoln and Johnson were elected, exhib- iting pre-eminent parliamentary skill and an obliging disposition. Equally polite to all, he was ever a gentleman worthy of the highest honor.

The favorable notoriety gained by his " cold facts " against slavery, parliamentary ability, his power of debate, and his suavity of manner, led the Republican party in 1868 to place him on the national ticket, second only to the leading soldier of the Union, U. S. Grant. Being elected, he served as President of the Senate with characteristic ability throughout his terni. Then, retiring from political life, he devoted the remaining years of his life to lectures upon miscella- neous topics; and it was during a lecturing tour in Minnesota that he was stricken down with his final illness. He died at Mankato, that State, January 13, 1885.

Januar 2. Williams

173

JAMES D. WILLIAMS.

JAMES D. WILLIAMS .-

ERE we have present- ed a practical illustra- tion of the type of man produced by a young and vigorous republic, which had, but a few years preceding his birth, asserted, with justice, and successfully maintained, her claim to assume her rightful position as one of the nations of the earth.

James D. Williams was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, January 8, 1808, soon after that State had assumed her place among that galaxy of stars destined to become the great- est nation in the world.

In childhood he removed with his parents to Knox County, Indiana, where he received a common-school education, and grew to manhood a tiller of the soil.

He entered the theater of life at a time when the stage scenery was of the most gigantic grandeur ever beheld by the eye of man. Nature in her stupendous splendor was around and about the young actor, and he readily imbibed the spirit of his sur- roundings, and was filled with enthusiastic hope for the future greatness of the vast and beautiful country, which but awaited the call of the husbandman to answer in bountiful

harvests to his many demands. With young Williams the grandeur of the scene filled his soul with a hopeful determination to act well his part in the great drama before him, as the reader will find while following him down life's pathway.

When he attained to manhood he engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock-raising, and became widely known as a practical and suc- cessful Indiana farmer.

He had closely observed the passing events in the clash and conflict of political parties, and his fellow citizens saw in him the qual- ified elements of a representative man, and he was frequently elected as a Democrat to represent his county in the Lower House of the Legislature, where he discharged the duties devolving upon him with marked ability and even beyond the expectations of his constituents. The sagacity and ability with which he dealt with public measures in the Lower House opened the avenue to higher honors and more weighty responsi- bilities.

In 1859 he was elected to the State Senate, where he continuously served his constitu- ency until 1867, maintaining the reputation he had gained in the Lower House for ability and the faithful performance of duty, and still developing a capacity for a wider field of operations.

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PROMINENT MEN OF INDIANA.

He was not permitted to long live in the home life which he so much enjoyed. The able and faithful manner in which he had discharged his duties as a public servant, his common sense and social manner, made him friends even among bis political opponents. He bore honors conferred upon him nobly but meekly, never ceasing to gratefully re- member those to whom gratitude was due for the positions of honor and trust to which they had called himn.

He was destined to spend his life as a public servant. His fellow citizens again elected him to the State Senate in 1871, and in 1874 he was again crowned with higher honors, and was elected to represent his dis- trict in the Congress of the United States, where he displayed the same ability in deal- ing with public questions that he had in the legislative body of his State. During his term in Congress he served in the impor- tant position of chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts.

He was a prominent and leading member of the Indiana State Board of Agriculture for seventeen years, and served as its president for three years. No one citizen of Indiana was more deeply interested and active in de- veloping and promoting the agricultural and other industrial resources of his State than he. One leading feature of his ambition was to be in the front rank of progress, and to place his State on a plane with the sister States of the prosperous Union. He was equally active in the educational interest of his fellow citizens, and advocated facilities for diffusing knowledge among the masses, plac- ing an education within the reach of children of the most humble citizen.

He gathered happiness while promoting the welfare of others, and step by step, year by year, his friends increased in numbers and warmed in devotion to their trusted,

faithful and grateful servant. He was rapid- ly growing in State popularity, as he had long enjoyed the confidence of his own county and district, and in his quiet, unassuming way was building larger than he knew. His plain manner of dress, commonly " blue jeans," caused him to become widely known by the sobriquet of " Blue Jeans," of which his admirers were as proud as were those of " Old Hickory " as applied to Andrew Jack- son, or "Rough and Ready " as applied to General Zachariah Taylor.

The civil war had made fearful inroads in party lines; the public questions to be set- tled immediately following the close of the war involved problems which many leading inen, who had previously acted with the Democratic party, could not solve satisfacto- rily to themselves from a Democratic stand- point; hence they cast their fortunes with the popular party, the Republican.

The Democratic party had been impatient. ly but energetically seeking State supremacy. James D. Williams, so far as tried, had led the column to success, why not make him their Moses to lead them to possess the promised land, State Supremacy?

The centennial anniversary of American independence, 1876, seemed to them the auspi- cious period to marshal their forces under an indomitable leader and go forth to conquer.

They accordingly in that year nominated the Hon. James D. Williams for Governor, and the Republicans nominated General Ben- jamin Harrison, a military hero and a lineal descendant of General W. H. Harrison. The contest will stand in history as the most ex- citing campaign in the political history of the United States, and resulted in the elec- tion of the Democratic leader. His services as Governor of the State were characteristic of his past public life. He died, full of hon- ors, on November 20, 1880.

177

ROBERT DALE OWEN

*ROBERT DALE OWEN. K.

BOOKING outside of the realm of statesinen, we find that the most emi- nent citizen of Indi- ana not now living was the learned Scotelnnan named at the head of this sketch. Robert Owen, his father, was a great theorist in social and religious reforms. He was born in Newtown, Montgom- eryshire, North Wales, March 14, 1771, where he died November 19, 1858.

He (the father) entered upon a commercial life at an early age, and subse- quently engaged in the cotton manufacture at New Lanark, Scotland, where he introduced important reforms, having for their object the improvement of the condition of the laborers in his employ; afterward he directed his attention to social questions on a broader scale, publishing in 1812 "New Views of Society, or Essays upon the Formation of the Human Character," and subsequently the " Book of the New Moral World," in which he advocated doctrines of human equality

and the abolition of class distinctions. Hav- ing won a large fortune in his business, he was able to give his views a wide circulation, and his followers became numerous; but, being outspoken against many of the gen- erally received theological dogmas of tlie time, a zealous opposition was also aroused against him. After tlre death of his patron, the Duke of Kent, he emigrated to this country, in 1823, and at his own expense founded the celebrated communistic society at New Harmony, this State. The scheme proving a failure he returned to England, where he tried several similar experiments with the same result; but in spite of all his failures he was universally esteemed for his integrity and benevolence. His later years were spent in efforts to promote a religion of reason, and to improve tlie condition of the working classes.

His eldest son, the subject of this biographi- cal sketch, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, November 7, 1801; was educated at Fellens- berg's College, near Berne, Switzerland; came with his father to the United States in 1823, and assisted him in his efforts to found the colony of New Harmony. On the failure of

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PROMINENT MEN OF INDIANA.

that experiment he visited France and Eng- land, but returned to this country in 1827 and became a citizen. In 1828, in partner- ship with Miss Frances Wright, he founded "The Free Enquirer," a weekly journal de. voted to socialistic ideas, and to opposition to the supernatural origin and claims of Chris- tianity. The paper was discontinued after an existence of three years. In 1832 he married Mary Jane Robinson, of New York, who died in 1871. After marriage he settled again in New Harmony, where for three suc- cessive years (1835-'38) he was elected a mem- ber of the Legislature. It was through liis influence that one-half of the surplus revenue of the United States appropriated to the State of Indiana was devoted to the support of public schools. From 1843 to 1847 he represented the First District of Indiana in Congress, acting with the Democratic party; took an active paat in the settlement of the northwestern boundary question, serving as a member of the committee of conference on that subject, and introduced the bill organ- izing the Smithsonian Institute, and served for a time as one of the regents. In 1850 he was a member of the Indiana Constitutional Convention, in which he took a prominent part. It was through his efforts that Indiana conferred independent property rights upon women. In 1853 he went to Naples, Italy, as United States Charge d' Affaires, and from 1855 to 1858 he held the position of Min- ister.

In 1860, in the New York Tribune, he discussed the subject of divorce with Horace Greeley, and a pamphlet edition of the con- troversy afterward obtained a wide circula- tion.

After the breaking out of the Rebellion, Mr. Owen was a warm champion of the policy of emancipation, and the letters which he addressed to members of the cabinet and

the President on that subject were widely disseminated. When the proposition was made by certain influential politicians to reconstruct the Union with New England " left out in the cold," Mr. Owen addressed a letter to the people of Indiana exposing the dangerous character of the scheme, which the Union Leagues of New York and Philadelphia published and circulated extensively. In 1862 he served as a mem- ber of the Commisson on Ordnance Stores, and in 1863 was Chairman of the American Freedmen's Commission, which rendered val- uable service to the country.

Mr. Owen was a prominent Spiritualist in his philosophical views, and published sev- eral remarkable works inculcating them. Ilis mind, in his later years, beginning to totter, he was often too credulous. IIe also published many other works, mostly of a political nature. To enumerate: he pub- lished at Glasgow, in 1824, " Outlines of System of Education at New Lanark;" at New York, in 1831, " Moral Physiology; " the next year, " Discussion with Origen Bachelor on the Personality of God and the Authentici- ty of the Bible;" and subsequently, "Pocahon- tas," an historical drama; " Hints on Public Architecture," illustrated; " Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World," probably his most wonderful work; "The Wrong of Slav- ery, and the Right of Freedom;" "Beyond the Breakers," a novel; "The Debatable Land between this World and the Next," and "Threading My Way," an autobiography.

The giant intellect of Mr. Owen being linked to a large and tender heart, his syın- pathies were constantly rasped by witnessing the boundless but apparently needless amount of suffering in the world, and chafed by the opposition of conservatism to all efforts at alleviation, so that in old age he was liter- ally worn out. He died at an advanced age,

HISTORY

COUNTY.

BAKER-CO

------

GENERAL

HISTORY

SMART SE,

183

INTRODUCTORY.

INTRODUCTORY .*=

AY AND BLACKFORD Counties lie forty-one de- grees north of the equator of the earth, and therefore to the observer here the north star appears forty-one degrees above the horizon. These counties also lie eighty- five degrees west longitude from Greenwich (London, England), and eight degrees west of Washington, D. C. The five degrees difference between this and the nine- tieth meridian makes just twenty minutes difference between "standard" and local time, the latter being the faster. Railroads, being controlled by standard, or ninetieth meridian time, have their time here twenty minutes slower than the local or sun time.

Jay County is bounded on the north by the counties of Wells and Adams, on the east by Mercer and Darke counties, Ohio, on the south by Randolph County, and on the west by Delaware and Blackford counties.

Blackford County is bounded on the north by Wells, on the east by Jay, on the south

by Delaware and on the west by Grant County.

The county of Jay has twelve townships, most of them fractional, as follows: Penn, 30 square miles; Jackson, 36; Bear Creek, 34; Wabashı, 23; Knox, 24; Greene, 35; Wayne, 37; Noble, 31; Richland, 27; Jefferson, 36; Pike, 35, and Madison, 23; total, 377 square miles.

The county is eighteen miles long, north and south, twenty-one miles wide across the north end, and twenty-two across the south end.

TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY.

The surface of the land is generally level and undulating, being a little more broken along the water courses. The surface soil is usually a dark loam, with a subsoil of clay intermixed with limestone gravel. In the eastern part of Penn Township and western part of Jackson, in the northwestern part of the county, the soil is a sandy loam lying upon a gravelly subsoil; and there are grav- elly knobs and hills on this section, the chief of which are called Gardner's Hills. This point has a geological significance, and is

184

HISTORY OF JAY COUNTY.

therefore again referred to a little further on. The "Loblolly " is a belt extending across the northern part of Jackson Township, con- sisting of brushy ponds, wet prairies and sınall lakes, which are diminishing with the increase of artificial drainage.

The principal stream in Jay County is the Wabash River, which merely touches the northeast corucr. The next is the Salamo- nia (sometimes spelled Salamonie), which runs westwardly and northwestwardly through the middle of the county. Bear Creck drains the middle portion of the county between these two rivers, comprising Noble, Bear Creek and Jackson townships. Bcar Creek drains the southwestern portion of the county, comprising portions of Jeffer- son, Richland, Knox and Grecne townships.

Although there is but little fall in the current of these streams, affording scarcely any water power, all the land cau be drained and made tillable. The farm improvements are summarized on a subsequent page, nnder the head of Census.

The forests comprise white, bur and black (or red) oak, beech, white ash (sometimes called gray or blue), swamp ash, buckeye, scale-bark hickory, white and red elm, sugar maple, lin or basswood, sycamore, and for- merly some black walnut, but this being the most valuable of all the woods, has been about all ent out. "Poplar," white-wood, or tnlip-tree, a valuable wood, is becoming scarce. Very few sweet-gunı trees have ever been noticed in this county. The general appearance of the forest is characteristic of Northern Indiana, and differs from that of the Ohio and Mississippi River forests in having the trees closer together and there- fore straighter, smaller, and more uniform in height and size. Originally there was scarcely any " underbrush," but as the settlers cut out the tall trees and let the sunlight down

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Author: Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 922

Author:
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 922