USA > Indiana > Newton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 19
USA > Indiana > Benton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 19
USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 19
USA > Indiana > Warren County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 19
USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 19
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 19
USA > Indiana > White County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 19
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SAMUEL S. WASHBURN, M. D.
One of the honored veterans of the Civil war and a prominent member of the medical fraternity of Lafayette is Dr. S. S. Washburn. Nor is he less well known as an active worker in the ranks of the Democratic party, as for sixteen years he was one of the city fathers of Lafayette, doing efficient serv-
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ice as a member of the council. Under the second administration of Cleve- land he was president of the Tippecanoe county board of examining surgeons of the United States pension bureau department. At present he is a mem- ber of the Lafayette board of city commissioners.
The paternal grandfather of the Doctor was Cornelius Washburn, a native of Water Gap, England. He accompanied his parents to the United States when he was a child and with them settled in Maryland. He was about seventeen or eighteen years old when he started on a hunting expedi- tion with some trappers and hunters and went as far as Ohio. There he concluded to stay, and, as it turned out, he never returned to his old home in Maryland. He married an Ohio lady and after some years had rolled away he went to Logansport, Indiana, and there spent the rest of his life. His son Isaac, the father of our subject, was born in Preble county, Ohio, married Maria Bratten, a native of Highland county, same state, and later removed to Rushville, Rush county, Indiana. There he was living at the outbreak of the Mexican war, in which he enlisted, becoming sergeant-major of the Second Kentucky Infantry. After the completion of the war he returned to Kentucky, and published the Owensboro Democrat for many years. He died in Owensboro, aged about sixty-five years.
S. S. Washburn was born in Rushville, Indiana, September 1, 1839, and was therefore about ten years old when his father took up his residence in Owensboro. He received the greater part of his elementary education in the public schools there and commenced the study of medicine under the direc- tion of his brother, R. R. Washburn, now a physician of Waldron, Indiana. Later he had for his preceptor Dr. D. W. Stirnam, of Owensboro. In March, 1861, he graduated in the medical department of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, just upon the eve of the great civil war. He had been reared on the border land of the two contending factions and was heart and soul in the strong tide of patriotism. He lost no time enlisting after the shot was fired upon Fort Sumter, becoming a private of Company C, Thir- teenth Indiana Infantry, in the early part of June, 1861. His ardor to strike a blow for the Union had not long to wait, for on the eleventh day of the following month his company was engaged in the battle of Rich Mountain, Virginia. At the close of four months' service he was honorably discharged, on account of physical disability, much to his regret. When he had recu- perated and felt sufficiently strong he re-enlisted, this time in Company C, Sixteenth Indiana Infantry, and upon the organization of the regiment was made hospital steward. As such he continued until his health completely broke down again, when he was honorably discharged under date of Septem- ber 14, 1863, his service having extended from June, 1862, without interrup- tion.
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In May, 1864, Dr. Washburn went to Decatur, Illinois, where he was successfully engaged in practice for three years. The next six years he resided in Dayton, Indiana, since the expiration of which period he has been actively occupied in his professional work in Lafayette. He is a member of the John A. Logan Post, No. 3, G. A. R., and has a warm place in his heart for his old comrades, as they, in turn, have for him.
In 1865 the Doctor was married, in Mount Auburn, Illinois, to Miss Lucy B. English. Their two living children are A. C. and J. H. Washburn, both in the employ of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, of New York city.
DR. SAMUEL L. BAUGH.
Dr. Samuel L. Baugh, a prominent member of the medical profession practicing at Shadeland, Tippecanoe county, Indiana, is a native of this county, born August 16, 1854, a son of Leonard and Sarah A. (Talbert). Baugh. His father was a native of Pickaway county, Ohio, and a son of Michael and Nancy (Owens) Baugh. Michael Baugh, a pioneer of that. county, was a native of the Keystone state and of sturdy Pennsylvania-Dutch stock. He participated in the war of 1812, was a farmer by vocation, and when he settled in Pickaway county the Indians were still plentiful there. He married Nancy Owens, of that county, who was a daughter of Jeremiah and Priscilla Owens. Her father, a pioneer of that county, was of English descent. Both the Baugh and Owens families were Methodists in their relig- ion. Michael Baugh selected a tract of land and cleared it, making a good farm. He died in 1839, aged about thirty-five years. In his general char- acter he was a straightforward, highly respected pioneer. His children were Sarah, George H., Leonard and Jonathan.
After his death his widow married, in Pickaway county, Ohio, John Weider, and they moved to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, about 1845, and near Taylor's station, Mr. Weider entered four hundred acres of land for himself and eighty acres for each of the Baugh children, to whom indeed he was always as kind as if they were his own children. He had no children of his own. Erecting a substantial residence, he proceeded to improve his land and to make a comfortable home. He set out an excellent orchard, one of the first in his neighborhood, and it has been greatly appreciated by the family. He was a member of no church, was a temperate, moral and upright man, a good neighbor and friend, a substantial citizen, and much loved and respected. His stepsons have erected a tasteful and substantial tombstone to his memory. He lived to the venerable age of eighty years. Mrs. Weider in her younger days was a member of the Methodist church, but later in life
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connected herself with the Lutheran church. She was a well known pioneer woman, who brought up her children in excellent habits. Her homestead was known far and wide for its hospitality.
Leonard Baugh, the father of the Doctor, received a common-school education in his youth, and when a young man came to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, continuing in the vocation in which he had been reared, that of farming. After marriage he settled upon prairie land, which he improved and converted into a good farm, in Union township, this county. He became the owner of over two hundred acres of land, and died at the comparatively early age of thirty-five years, in 1855, of typhoid fever. In this county he married Sarah A. Talbert, a daughter of Joseph and Catherine Talbert, née Stillwell. Her father came to this county as a pioneer, was a farmer, and his children were John W., Joseph T., Anna M. and Samuel L. Mrs. Baugh was a member of the United Brethren church.
Dr. Samuel L. Baugh, whose name heads this sketch, was born on his father's farm in Tippecanoe county, attended the district school, also the Farmer's Institute and the academy at Stockwell. He began the study of medicine under the instructions of Dr. Simison, of Romney, and attended Rush Medical College, at Chicago, where he graduated in 1875, and the next year opened out in practice in his native county, where he has ever since been successfully engaged in the practice of his chosen profession. Accordingly he stands well in the esteem of his professional brethren, and as a citizen he is also considered one of the best ornaments of society.
September 30, 1875, in this county, he was united in marriage with Miss Angie Hawkins, who was born in this county, July 12, 1853, a daugh- ter of William and Hannah (Hollingsworth) Hawkins. The Doctor has two sons-Samuel E. and Leonard W.
MAJOR GEORGE A. HARRISSON.
Few lives are more replete with incident and thrilling experiences than has been that of this gentleman, who for the past two years has been the efficient superintendent of the police force of Lafayette. He has traveled in all parts of the world and has fought under the banners of many govern- ments, not neglecting his own loved country, in whose defense he gallantly shouldered arms and spent four years of arduous campaigning during the civil war. A complete history of his life would fill a volume of respectable size, and would prove very interesting to the general reader.
The Harrissons are of Scotch-English descent, and were early settlers of New Hampshire, being the recipients of some of the original grants of land there. The Meaders, the maternal ancestors of the Major, were prob- 11
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ably of Dutch descent and were pioneers of Nantucket and vicinity. The parents of our subject were Issacher and Phœbe (Meader) Harrisson, natives of New Hampshire and New York, respectively. They were married in Troy, New York, and resided there for many years, the father engaged in running a drug store. After the death of his wife he retired to a farm and there passed his last days.
The only surviving member of his father's household, George A. Har- risson was born in Troy, New York, May 12, 1843. He possessed an adventurous spirit and a desire to see the great world, and so, when but twelve years old, he shipped aboard a merchant vessel as a cabin boy. The ship soon afterward commenced conveying flour and supplies to the English army, then occupied in the Crimean war, and thus the lad witnessed the bombardment of Sebastopol. During the Sepoy rebellion in India he was still in the merchant-marine service, and went ashore to enlist with the Eng- lish forces. Under command of the noted General Havelock he went to the relief of the besieged garrison at Lucknow, and was a witness of the thrill- ing scenes of that memorable campaign. In 1861 he arrived in New Orleans, and had to secrete himself in order to avoid impressment into the Confed- erate service, and finally escaped as a stowaway on a ship bound for Havana. Applying there for a passport to New York, the American consul refused his request, but, notwithstanding this rebuff, he managed to get on board a ves- sel going to the metropolis. Landing May 11, 1861, he lost no time in get- ting into the army, for the next day he enlisted in Anderson's Zouaves, after- wards the Sixty-second New York Regiment. He rose from the ranks, being made first lieutenant in 1863, captain in 1864, and was brevetted major on the field of battle. From first to last in the Army of the Potomac, he served through the Peninsular campaign and was a participant in all of the hard-fought battles before Richmond, winning the highest commendation from his superior officers. In the battles of Malvern Hill, Shenandoah and Petersburg he was wounded, and was once taken prisoner, but escaped forty- eight hours later. At the close of the war he was stationed at Fort Wood, on Bedloe's island, New York harbor, as quartermaster and adjutant, until September, 1865, when he was mustered out of the service. His military record is an unusually brilliant one, and he seemed to lead a charmed life, for he was always in the thickest of the fight.
Then, going to his old home in Troy, he was placed on the police force, but resigned in the following year, in order to join General Spears and assist in raising a company for the Fenian invasion of Canada. He served about six weeks in that noted campaign, as captain of his company, sharing the hardships of the expedition. Having thoroughly imbibed the war spirit, he next went to South America, where there is always opportunity for soldiers
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to enlist, and accepted a position as lieutenant-colonel in the Brazilian army, under the Duke de Caxis, against the allied forces of Uruguay and the Argentine Republic. For various reasons he soon went over to the oppo- site side and was placed in command of a European battalion as major. After fighting in several battles he turned his back on the whole cause and enlisted under the stars and stripes once more, as a seaman in our navy. This meant four years of hard service, his ship, the Pawnee, being one of the South Atlantic squadron, and though he traveled to many a port and had numerous adventures of all kinds, the yearning for home and a quiet life grew upon him year by year, and he decided that he would settle down to a peaceful vocation, when the opportunity presented itself. At Portsmouth, New Hampshire, navy yards, he was discharged in September, 1869, as quartermaster.
For a few months Major Harrisson worked at railroading in Michigan, and in April, 1870, came to Lafayette. Here he was concerned in the con- struction of what is now the Lake Erie & Western Railroad for some time, and then took contracts for several public works in this vicinity, notably the beautiful road from Lafayette to Battle Ground. During the next decade he was the manager of the Kankakee Crystal Ice Company's plant at Waldron, and was connected with the Riverside Stone Company and the Diamond Flint Company, also taking contracts for stone work.
Always a great worker in the Republican party, the Major is held in high esteem by his political associates. He filled out the unexpired term of J. W. Conine as township trustee, was enrolling clerk at the legislative sessions of the state in 1897, and was the secretary of the Republican central committee in the campaign of 1896. In April, 1897, he was appointed superintendent of police in Lafayette and was reappointed in 1898. We quote from a local paper, and that, too, of the opposite party: " In select- ing Major Harrisson as superintendent of the police force of Lafayette the board of police commissioners made no mistake. No man has had as many opportunities to betray trust and get wealth and still be poor as has Major Harrisson, but in all the various capacities that he has filled in life he has done his duty solely because it was his duty, and not through any thought of gain or personal aggrandizement. He has the confidence and respect of every officer in the city, and never in the history of Lafayette have the police affairs been more ably managed than they are to-day."
In 1864 the Major joined the Masonic order, at Troy, New York, and was made a Master Mason in Rio Janeiro, Brazil. He now belongs to Lafayette Lodge, No. 123, F. & A. M., and to Lafayette Chapter, No. 3, R. A. M. Moreover, he is a member of the John A. Logan Post, No. 3, G. A. R., and of Encampment No. 122, Union Veteran Legion. At present
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he is commander of Tippecanoe Encampment, No. 17, Woodmen of the World, having served for five years in that capacity.
In 1871 the marriage of Major Harrisson and Miss Mary Francis was solemnized. Five children were born to them, but three of the number are deceased. Nellie is teaching in the city schools here, and Jessie is the wife of W. K. Raub, of Raub Station, Indiana.
MALCOLM A. McDONALD.
The Banner Stock Farm, in Liberty township, Warren county, is owned and managed by Malcolm A. McDonald, a son and the only surviving repre- sentative of Hon. Joseph Ewing McDonald, who was one of the foremost statesmen of Indiana for many years, and whose reputation extended throughout the United States. For a period of twenty-eight years the sub- ject of this sketch was engaged in railroading, serving in various capacities with different corporations, and rising by his own individual merits from a lowly to a high and very responsible position. In the later years of his con- nection with the business, he was general manager of the Champaign & Havana Railroad and held a similar position with the Cairo, Vincennes & Chicago, and the Pittsburg & Western Railroads.
Hon. Joseph Ewing McDonald was born in Butler county, Ohio, in 1819, and after the death of his father, John McDonald, when the former was still a child, the lad accompanied the other members of the family to Indiana. They settled at first near Crawfordsville, and the mother passed her declining years with her several children, dying in Covington at quite an advanced age. In 1898 two of her children were yet living, viz .: Mrs. Francis Marsh, of Hamilton, Ohio, and James D., of Attica, Indiana, who- died May 28, 1899, at the age of eighty-eight years and seven months. Joseph E. McDonald was educated in Asbury, now DePauw, University, and studied law under the preceptorship of the Hon. Zeb. Beard, of Lafayette, then one of the leading lawyers of the state. Before he had reached his majority Mr. McDonald was elected prosecuting attorney, and served as such for two terms. Soon afterward he was elected to congress, and was one of the youngest members of that honorable body. But still greater honors were in store for the talented young statesman, for he was next chosen attorney-general for the state of Indiana, being the first attorney- general of this state. He served with credit in this difficult office for eight years, and in 1864 was the Democratic candidate for the guberna- torial chair, but the candidate of the opposite party, Oliver P. Morton, was the fortunate man. Then for a number of years Mr. McDonald was practically retired from public life, though he maintained his deep interest
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in political affairs. In 1880 he was induced by his friends to enter the race for the United States senate, and was elected to represent Indiana in the highest legislative branch of the government. Upon the expiration of his term as senator he again retired from active public life, though he continued to work more or less in the interest of his party and was chairman of the Democratic state central committee for a long time. His ability and zeal, his loyalty to his country and community were never for a moment ques- tioned, and though he was greatly attached to his own party and its prin- ciples, he never made enemies by offensive partisanship, but was liberal and charitable in the extreme toward those who differed with him in matters of state and national policy. An incident illustrative of his magnanimity toward a political opponent, and often severely criticised by his Democratic friends, may be cited in evidence of his justice and generosity. His colleague in the United States senate was O. P. Morton, who started for Washington at the beginning of a congressional session, but became seriously ill and was obliged to leave the train at Richmond. Senator McDonald, learning of the illness of Senator Morton, called upon the sick man to express his sym- pathy. Senator Morton spoke of his deep regret that he could not reach Washington in time to vote upon an important bill which, it was expected, would be presented early in the session, and out of the goodness of his heart Senator McDonald offered to "pair" with his colleague, which offer was gratefully accepted. A man of kindly disposition and rare social gifts, he was welcomed wherever he went, and few men had more friends among every class of citizens. In religion he was a Presbyterian and a consistent member of the church. His death took place June 21, 1891, when he was in his seventy-second year.
The first wife of Senator McDonald was Miss Ruth Buell prior to their marriage, which event was solemnized November 24, 1844. Mrs. McDon- ald was born twenty years before, in Ohio, September 21, 1824, a daughter of Dr. Walter Buell, and her death occurred September 7, 1872. Her brother, Dr. Harvey Buell, a man of fine education and one who was very prominent in the early history of Indiana, was a member of the first consti- tutional convention of the state. Subsequently to the death of his first wife the Senator remarried, but had no children by that union. His son, Ezekiel M., died when in his twenty-sixth year. Frank Buell, the third son, died at the age of thirty-seven years; and the only daughter, Anna M., passed into the silent land at twenty-two.
Malcolm A. McDonald was born at Crawfordsville, Indiana, in 1848, and supplemented his public-school education with a course at the state university at Bloomington, Indiana. Then followed his long, faithful rail- road service, previously mentioned, and finally he put into effect a cherished
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plan, and about 1887 bought a farm in Jordan township, and commenced the quiet routine of an agricultural life. After owning that homestead for several years he removed, in December, 1890, to his present valuable farm, comprising four hundred acres. He raises standard and high-grade horses and Jersey cattle, and has met with great success in his recent enterprise. He brings to bear upon all of his business transactions the lessons of wide experience which he mastered in the busy world of commerce, and is emi- nently deserving of the success which he has wrought out for himself, unaided. Needless to say that he follows in his illustrious father's footsteps in the matter of politics, and fraternally he is a Mason of the thirty-second degree.
The first marriage of Mr. McDonald occurred in Ashland, Nebraska, March 31, 1874, Miss Jessie Scott being his bride. She died January 6, 1879, leaving two sons, Malcolm Scott and Frank W., both of whom are engaged in railroading. The lady who now bears the name of our subject was Miss Miriam Noble, of Lawrence, Kansas, in her girlhood. She was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, August 29, 1860, her father being Colonel George Noble, who was a nephew of Colonel Tom Scott, of national reputa- tion in railroad circles. Three children born to Mr. and Mrs. McDonald died in early years, namely : George Noble, Lawrence Buell and Ruth Miriam; and three children remain to bless their home-Clarence, Alice and Thomas R.
WILLIAM FRANKLIN EVANS.
Born in Washington township, Warren county, May 14, 1835, William Franklin Evans was one of the pioneers of northwestern Indiana, his life history being indissolubly entwined with that of this region. He was a suc- cessful agriculturist, interested and active in the promotion of the farmer's welfare, and for several years he was the president of the Farmers' Institute, an organization calculated to benefit the agricultural class of this locality.
The parents of W. F. Evans were David D. and Anna Evans. When he was about twelve years of age William F. Evans removed to Jordan township, Warren county, and there he aided materially in the improve- ment of the homestead on which the family settled. There were not half a dozen houses in the township at that time, and much of the farm produce was hauled by team to Chicago and Cincinnati, or floated down the rivers to New Orleans, supplies for family uses being brought back. Game was very plentiful in those days, and geese and ducks in immense flocks had to be scared away from the fields in the spring. April 24, 1858, Mr. Evans started west, and after teaching a term of school in western Illi-
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nois, he continued his journey to Bedford, Iowa, where two of his uncles resided. The Pike's Peak gold excitement was then at its height, and on the Ist of the following March the young man started with a company, which was compelled to turn back at Denver (then a small hamlet) on account of Indian troubles in the mountainns. He then hired out to a train which was engaged in delivering government supplies to the Indians, and for three months he walked or drove an ox team over Nebraska, Kansas and eastern Colorado. Once the train was obliged to wait while a mighty army of buf- falo passed, and for almost a whole day there was nothing to be seen, as far as the eye could reach in any direction, but moving herds of the majestic animals. Mr. Evans arrived at home October 9, 1859, after eighteen months of strange and interesting experiences. During the civil war he was employed in Washington in the government army trains, but was not sworn into the regular service.
From the time that he returned to Jordan township from the west until his death Mr. Evans was an industrious, hard-working tiller of the soil. He owned a valuable farm, and by diligence in business and economy he not only provided well for the needs of his family, but laid up a comfortable bank account. In religious and temperance work he was strongly interested, and his voice was ever to be heard on the side of law, morality and progress. When but sixteen years old he joined the Christian church at West Lebanon, and in February, 1856, he identified himself with the "Church of God," and was one of its faithful and consistent members. The great event and pleasure of the later years of Mr. Evans' life was his trip, in the fall of 1891, to the west, in company with five of his old friends and neighbors. The "Pilgrims," as they were called, have been mentioned frequently in the histories of those participated in this delightful journey, which included visits to most of the celebrated places of interest in the great west. Mr. Evans was never tired of telling of his experiences in this eventful pilgrimage, and of the wonderful changes which had taken place during the thirty-odd years which had elapsed between his first and last trips through the west.
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