USA > Indiana > Newton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Benton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Warren County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 43
USA > Indiana > White County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 43
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Mr. Jackson was born at Piqua, Ohio, October 5, 1827, his parents being Nathan and Nancy (Jamison) Jackson, natives of Washington county, Pennsylvania. The father, with the exception of three or four years, during which time he published a newspaper, was a practicing physician; and for many years after coming to Lafayette, in 1831, followed his profession there. He died while attending the session of the legislature, of which he was a member, at Indianapolis, December 15, 1843, when fifty-four years of age, having been born September 15, 1791. In his early life he was a strong believer in the tenets of the Presbyterian church, but after studying medi- cine he became an agnostic. His wife, who was born March 10, 1792, died February 21, 1877, an Episcopalian in her religion.
The paternal grandfather of our subject, David Phillip Jackson, was born in 1750, and died in 1803. He came from Ireland, with a brother, as a soldier in the British army during the Revolutionary war, but went over to the American side and remained in this country, settling in Pennsylvania. It is related that at one time when the Indians were very troublesome in these parts he was obliged to travel a long distance, and on foot, in order to seek safety in a log house, he being at that time one hundred and thirty years old. He had several sons. Mr. Jackson's maternal grandfather, whose sur- name was Murphy, was of Scotch descent and lived to be one hundred and thirty years of age.
Relief Jackson, as has been stated, came with his parents to Lafayette when only five years of age. He attended both subscription and select schools and obtained a good practical education. When twelve years old he entered a printing-office and worked at the printing trade for five years. At the end of that time he decided to learn the tailor's trade, which. he has followed ever since, farming some in the meantime. In 1858 he opened a shop for himself, adding also the merchant-tailoring trade, and his establishment is now the oldest one in that line in Lafayette and one of the oldest in the state. He has been very successful in business and has amassed a comforta- ble share of this world's goods. In 1872 he became interested in the mines of Colorado, and still holds shares in various mining properties in that state.
The marriage of Mr. Jackson to Miss Nancy Allen, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Longlois) Allen, took place in Lafayette, in 1849. Mrs. Jackson died in 1852, and had no children. In 1855 Mr. Jackson was mar- ried to Miss Martha E. Bruce, daughter of Charles and Eliza (Nelson) Bruce, and they had five children, as follows: Ella, Fannie, Frank, Lucius B., Edgar V .: the two latter are the only ones living. Lucius is employed in his father's store, and Edgar has been serving through the late war with Spain as a member of the regimental band in the One Hundred and Sixth
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Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He married Miss Nellie Williams, and they have one son, Relief W.
Politically Mr. Jackson was a Republican until after General Grant's election for the second time as president; since then he has been independent in politics. In local affairs he is independent, and votes for the men he thinks best qualified for the office. In religious belief he is a Christian Scientist, while his wife is a devoted member of the Methodist church. He also belongs to the Masonic fraternity.
Mr. Jackson has a pleasant home on North Sixth street, which was in course of erection when the civil war broke out in 1861, and was not com- pleted until the following year, as the carpenters generally had enlisted in military service. Mr. Jackson is a most companionable man, and entertains his many friends and visitors with very interesting stories of pioneer days when Indians were close neighbors and wild game was plentiful. In 1868 he killed the last deer that was shot in the vicinity of Lafayette.
EDGAR C. BISHOP.
As it is true that the " proper study of mankind is man," so is it true that there can be no more fascinating history than the history of individuals. To the philosopher, he who reads between the lines and traces the causes and effects in human lives, a few chance words, perhaps, may give the key- note or motive of a long career, and he finds no study more replete with interest. Then, too, " man proposes, but God disposes;" and, however carefully a man may plan his life, everything is liable to turn out very dif- ferently from what he has purposed, and then it is that the inherent worth of his character may come to the front, or the unsuspected weakness in his- nature become paramount.
Edgar Clarence Bishop, comparatively a newcomer to Van Buren town- ship, Pulaski county, possesses the qualities of two widely differing races, the Anglo-Saxon and the Teutonic. His paternal great-grandfather, named Peter Bishop, came from England about 1785. His grandfather, Nathan Bishop, was born in Vermont in 1790, and at an early day emigrated to Ohio, where he endured the hardships of pioneer life with the fortitude and indom- itable courage of the descendant of the Puritans. By occupation he was a teacher and a lawyer. His life was a long and useful one, covering nearly a century, as death did not claim him until 1876. Of his children, Olive married Martin Genoway and had several sons and daughters, among whom were Luther, Louisa, Alice, Sarah, Ida and Hanson. Sarah, the second child of Nathan Bishop, married and went to Nebraska; Jane became the wife of a Mr. Carey; Noah is an engineer now in California; and George
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married and lives in Michigan. His children are John, William, Frank, Georgia, Isaac and Felicia.
The maternal grandfather of our subject, Henry Miers, was a native of Germany and a tailor by trade. He was married in his fatherland, and lived in St. Petersburg for a period of three years. In 1855 he sailed for the United States, with his family, his intention being to proceed to the gold fields of California and accumulate a fortune which should place his dear ones above want. Landing at New Orleans, they went to Peoria, Illinois, whence the father was to start on the long overland trip. Within a short time, however, the mother became very ill and died, and upon the day the the father returned from her funeral he found a stranger in his door-yard shooting his chickens. Upon remonstrating with him the man turned and savagely struck him on the head, and within a few hours the father was dead, and the poor little children, aliens in a foreign land, were left orphans. Kind neighbors took them into their homes, but the battle of life had begun for them. in earnest. John, the eldest son, died at the age of twenty-five years; and Charles, the youngest, was killed while in the service of his adopted country during the civil war. Frank, of Livingston county, Illinois, married Louisa Genoway and has two children, -Ernest and Pearl.
The parents of Edgar Clarence Bishop are James D. and Anna Frances (Miers) Bishop, the former born September 8, 1836, in Brown county, Ohio, and the latter June 1, 1844, in Hamburg, Germany. She lived with the family of a Dr. Zellers in Spring Bay, Illinois, and at other places until her marriage. In 1855 Mr. Bishop went to Peoria, Illinois, where he remained for about ten years, after which he was a resident of El Paso, same state, for six years. Going next to McLean county, Illinois, he owned and carried on a farm of eighty acres for six years, and later was the proprietor of a homestead of forty acres near Hoopston, for sixteen years. During the past few years he has owned a quarter section of land in Center township, Ben- ton county, Indiana. He enjoyed the advantages of a good education and attended the Cincinnati high schools for some time in his youth. In politics he is a Republican, and has occupied several township offices, all to the sat- isfaction of his constituents and neighbors.
Edgar Clarence Bishop, born near El Paso, Illinois, April 19, 1868, is next to the youngest of five children. His sister, Ida Jane, born May 1, 1861, married Norman Besse, of Warren county, Indiana, and their children are Iva Golden and Ira Dale; Frank, born October 8, 1863, died upon the first anniversary of his birth; Charles Richard, born September 21, 1865, is at home; and Ada May, born May 2, 1874, died in October, 1880.
E. C. Bishop received a liberal education, completing his studies in the high school. When in his twentieth year he left home and since that time
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he has been independent. In the winter of 1888-9 he began teaching in the Fulton school, near the village of La Hogue, Illinois, and the four years fol- lowing he had charge of the Union Park school; then for two years he taught in the Washington school, and during the winter of 1896-7 he had charge of the Dye school in Van Buren township, continuing there the next year, as well. The Burk school, of the same township, has been taught by him the past winter, of 1898-99, and here, as well as elsewhere, he has met with grat- ifying success. After he had taught for several years he entered the employ of King, Richardson & Company, of Indianapolis, and canvassed the coun- ties of Benton, White, Tippecanoe and Warren, Indiana, for about eleven months, during which time he sold over four hundred books, -the " Cottage Physician", -at the regular price, three dollars and a half; and in addition to this he was the agent for other works, such as atlases. In 1895 he bought eighty acres of land of Jacob Knebel, and he keeps the farm under culti- vation. This property on which he resides is situated partially in section 12 and partially in section 11, Van Buren township. This farm is one of the best in this locality.
Mr. Bishop married Miss Josephine Patnaude, August 27, 1893, and their little son, Ralph Edgar, was born August 18, 1895. Mrs. Bishop who was born in Iroquois county, Illinois, January 29, 1877, is a daughter of August and Celia (Brouillette) Patnaude.
In political affairs Mr. Bishop is independent, generally voting for the nominees of the Republican party in national elections .. Fraternally, he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He is identified with the Methodist Episcopal church, and uses his influence for all worthy religious and charitable enterprises.
ROBERT FRANKLIN CRANE.
America is, perhaps more than any other country, the land of self-made men, -men who have advanced from the lowly ranks of poverty to promi- nence, and by force of will and native talent have amassed a competence. Such, in brief, has been the history of not a few of the chief citizens of Pulaski county, among these being Robert Franklin Crane.
One of the native sons of this county, he was born March 5, 1860, his parents being Levi and Rebecca (Hartley) Crane. His father dying when our subject was a mere child, he not only missed the loving counsel and training he would otherwise have received, but he was forced to begin making his own way in the world at an age when he should have been a care-free school-boy. For several years he worked for neighbors, glad if he was given a trifle now and then besides his board and clothes. When he had nearly
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reached maturity he found employment at the hands of his elder brother, Oliver P. Crane, a contractor for the building of ditches and similar public improvements. Faithfully did the young man continue in this line of busi- ness for about twenty-two years. About 1889 he bought forty acres of wild land of Marietta Helm in Harrison township, Pulaski county. This he cleared and ditched and reduced to cultivation all excepting four acres, and built a house upon an eligible site. In August, 1895, he sold this farm to H. H. Capis, and for a short time tried working by the job and day; but, becoming tired of that, he bought a team and resumed farming upon a place of about sixty acres. He has succeeded in making an excellent livelihood for himself and family, and has an enviable reputation for integrity and busi- ness honor. Public-spirited, as becomes a patriotic citizen of this great com- monwealth, he supports all measures which he deems worthy, and his ballot is given for the nominees of the Republican party.
On the 10th of November, 1894, Mr. Crane and Mrs. Jessie Elizabeth Clark were joined in wedlock. She is a daughter of John Beard, and was first married to John Clark, one child, Rosie Fay, now twelve years of age, blessing their union. Mr. and Mrs. Crane have two little sons, Levi Hanna, born October 11, 1896, and Albert DeWitt, August 30, 1898. Mrs. Crane was born in Grant county, Indiana, about thirty-five years ago, and when young was brought to Pulaski county. Her parents originally were from Ohio, and after their arrival in this section they located upon a farm in Beaver township, which they bought of Moses Dilts. Their son, Albert G., now in Logansport, is a bachelor; and a daughter, Florence, is the wife of David Sutton, of Star City, Indiana.
HARRY J. CALDWELL.
The subject of this sketch, one of the most influential and prominent men of Earl Park, Indiana, was born February 23, 1855, at Saginaw City, Michigan, and is a son of John H. and Eliza Caldwell. His father was born in New York state, and in 1830 removed to Michigan, where he engaged in stock-raising and general farming near Saginaw City, at the same time carrying on a general merchandise store at that place. He died in 1873, and his wife, who is still living, resides at Decatur, Illinois. Our subject is the youngest of five children born to this worthy couple. Charles, the eldest, lives at Decatur, where he owns and runs a livery stable and also a farm near that city; Cora died in infancy; Freeland is now living in Chicago; and Frank is in the coal business in Decatur.
Harry J. Caldwell spent his early school days at Griggsville, Illinois, and when fourteen years old was apprenticed to learn the printer's trade in the
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Journal office at Sandusky, Ohio. After serving the required four years, during which time he passed through the successive stages from " devil " to journeyman, he spent one year on book work, thus finishing the first step on the ladder which rested its upper end on his chosen profession, that of law. While learning his trade he spent the long winter evenings in studying short- hand by lamplight, and at the end of his apprenticeship he went to Wash- ington, District of Columbia, where for three years he was employed in the office of the official reporter of the United States senate. He then became secretary for Senator Oglesby for two and a half years, during which time he also attended the Columbia College of Law, and when twenty-six years of age took up his residence in Denver, Colorado, practicing his profession there for four years, after which he went to Chicago and for the eight years following was busily engaged in the same way. The energy and unflagging industry with which he worked, that made him invaluable as an attorney, at the same time undermined his health and he was forced to give up his profession. In 1894 he took up his residence in Earl Park, Indiana, and went into the grain business, and is now conducting an elevator under the firm name of Caldwell & McCray.
Mr. Caldwell was married January 26, 1887, at Lafayette, Indiana, to Miss Jennie E. Fowler, daughter of William B. and Minerva (Sumner) Fowler, of that city.
Mrs. Caldwell's father was born in Iroquois county, Illinois, January 10, 1842, the son of William and Eleanor (White) Fowler, the former of whom was a physician and a graduate of the Trannsylvania Medical School at Lex- ington, Kentucky. Dr. Fowler was born in England in 1812 and came to the United States when seven years of age, landing with his parents at Bal- timore, Maryland, subsequently going to Washington, District of Columbia, His father was one of the contractors on the capitol buildings then being erected out of the ruins caused by British invasion. On the completion of these buildings his parents moved to Mason, Virginia, where they carried on farming, and where they died, in 1854, both reaching a good old age. Dr. Fowler came west from Virginia in 1837 to Iroquois Village (Bunkum), Illi- nois, where he arrived with but fifty cents in his pocket. Finding no physician in that place he settled there and soon acquired an excellent practice, which he continued until forty years of age, when he engaged in general merchan- dising, of which he made a great success. At the time of his death, December 31, 1872, he owned about one thousand acres of land in Iroquois county. The wife of Dr. Fowler, to whom he was married in 1838, was born in 1814, in Butler county, Ohio, and died in Iroquois county in 1871. Seven children were born to this couple, namely: Harriet, deceased; Will- iam B .; Josephine, who died in childhood; Charles, a dairy farmer at Wat-
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seka, Illinois; Benjamin, deceased; Grace, the wife of M. C. Follansbee, a retired banker in Chicago; and John, deceased. The maternal grandpar- ents were Amos and Eleanor (Hardin) White, both of whom died in Ohio at the age of eighty.
William B. Fowler, after attending the common schools, took a two- years course in Lombard University at Galesburg, Illinois, and spent the fol- lowing four years in his father's store at Watseka, Illinois. On October 4, 1864, he was married to Miss Minerva Sumner, daughter of E. C. and Abi- gail Sumner, of Earl Park, Indiana. Mrs. Fowler was born in Fountain county, Indiana, and removed to Benton county, with her parents, in 1849. She died at Chicago in 1890, aged forty-six years.
After his marriage Mr. Fowler was engaged in mercantile pursuits for a number of years, in 1874 removing to Earl Park, Indiana, where he took charge of the estate of twenty-five thousand acres belonging to his father- in-law, Edward C. Sumner, part of which was located in Benton county, this state, and the remainder in Iroquois county, Illinois. Eight years later Mr. Sumner died and Mr. Fowler has since farmed the share allotted to him. Mr. Fowler is president of the Bank of Benton County at Fowler, and has held the office of town trustee for six years.
Jennie E., the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Fowler, was born October 10, 1865, at Watseka, Illinois, and received her education at St. Mary's Academy, which she attended for a number of years, and on her return home became the wife of our subject, Harry J. Caldwell. Mr. Caldwell is a member of the Masonic order. He belongs to the Republican party and is one of the strong factors in county and state conventions, being highly respected by his friends and feared by his opponents. Whatever stand he takes and whatever measures he favors, his actions are heartily seconded by his con- stituents at home.
MRS. CATHARINE WILSON.
Mrs. Catharine Wilson, the widow of Isaac Wilson, is one of the highly esteemed citizens of Prairie township, White county, her residence here dat- ing back some two-score years or so. Both she and her husband were thor- oughly and actively connected with the prosperity and progress of this com- munity from the date of their coming here, their influence being ever placed on the side of the right, the just and the true.
Isaac Wilson, whose comparatively early death was a matter of public grief wherever he was known, was born on a farm near Delphi, Indiana, April 19, 1831. His father, Isaac Wilson, Sr., a native of Virginia, was a pioneer of Carroll county, Indiana, and passed his last days in that locality.
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Isaac Wilson, Jr., was reared as a farmer with his numerous brothers and sisters, and attended the common schools. About 1856 he came to White county with some of his relatives and bought land in Prairie township, his brothers also purchasing farms in the vicinity. He made substantial improve- ments upon the place and had everything in a fine condition at the time of his marriage. He was a thrifty, enterprising business man, his course being marked by strict justice and integrity of word and deed, and his friends were legion. Though he never neglected his home and family in the slightest, he always found time to attend to his duties as a citizen and won the praise of his neighbors for his public spirit.
The marriage of Mr. Wilson and Miss Catharine Maxwell took place April 3, 1860, at her home in Allamakee county, Iowa, and they immediately began housekeeping in the pleasant home on the farm owned by the husband in this township. Mrs. Wilson, who was born in Carroll county, Indiana, in 1835, is a daughter of James and Sarah Maxwell, who were natives of Penn- sylvania and New Jersey, respectively, and were married in Ohio. In 1856 they removed from their home in Carroll county, Indiana, to Iowa, and there spent the rest of their lives.
Seven children blessed the happy home of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, but two of the number died in early life. Anna is the wife of Dr. John T. Smith, of Brookston, and the others-Herbert, Charles, Rose and Harry-are still at home. The sons are managing the farm, and since the death of their father have carried on the work which he had undertaken. They are suc- cessful and enterprising young men, possessing the respect of a large circle of acquaintances. The husband and father departed this life on the 17th of January, 1880, and though nearly a score of years have elapsed his memory is cherished in the hearts of a host of his old friends.
RICHARD GLADDEN.
Richard Gladden, one of the most venerable and honored citizens of Lauramie township, Tippecanoe county, was named for his paternal grand- father, who was a native of Leeds, England, but came to America when six- teen years of age, during the war of the Revolution. Our subject remem- bers well his esteemed ancestor, and of hearing him relate incidents of the great war between the mother country and her rebellious American colony. On one occasion, while Richard Gladden, Sr., was working in a field, a party of British soldiers rode up, and one of the officers, calling the youth a rebel and a few other names less pleasant, ordered him to go ahead and take down the bars of a fence near, that he and his soldiers might pass through. There being no question in this case that " discretion is the better part of valor,"
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Richard Gladden
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the young man obeyed, and was not sorry to see the little band of Tories disappear in the distance.
Having mastered the miller's trade, Richard Gladden, Sr., gave much of his attention to that calling, and his services were in requisition, far and near, for years, as he thoroughly understood how to put the machinery of a mill in place, and was noted for his skill at dressing the buhrs. For his day, he was a man of good education, was a bookkeeper and a methodical busi- ness man. In the early times of Ohio he removed to Montgomery county, where he entered and improved a farm of about one hundred and twenty- five acres, in addition to which he operated a flour and gristmill in Perry township, same county, for many years. He was married in Virginia to a lady whose name is not remembered, and they had one son, James. His second wife, of English descent, was Catherine Hiatt, and their two sons, Joseph and William, were born in Virginia. James and Joseph Gladden were drummer boys in the war of 1812, connected with Virginia regi- ments. The father lived to a venerable age, dying when in the neighbor- hood of one hundred years. Rev. Washington Gladden, the celebrated minister and author, is of the same stock, and is probably descended from a brother of Richard Gladden, Sr.
William Gladden, the father of our subject, was born in Virginia, in 1795, and when he was twenty years of age he married, in Montgomery county, Ohio, Magdalena Yost, daughter of Anthony and Catherine Yost, of sturdy Pennsylvania-Dutch stock. The latter, pioneers of Montgomery county, were well-to-do farmers, and gave to each of their children land or its equivalent. In religious faith they were Dunkards, or German Baptists. They lived to reach a good old age and to see their children honored and respected in their several homes and spheres in life. They were named, in order of birth, John, Jacob, Abraham, Anthony, William, Polly, Betsy, Magdalena, Catherine, Sally and Susan.
After his marriage William Gladden settled on a sixty-two-acre farm which had been entered in Perry township by his father, and for several years he continued to dwell in Montgomery county. At first he built a rude round-log cabin, and later a hewed-log house took the place of the former humble home. Later he sold his farm and bought a quarter-section of land in Preble county, Ohio. This he cleared and made a fine homestead, but the spirit of the frontiersman was in him, and in the spring of 1834 he made another move to the westward. His brother Joseph had previously settled in Lauramie township, Tippecanoe county, and, having pursuaded Mr. Gladden to come here also, he returned with a two-horse team and assisted in the removal of the family. They made the journey in a wagon drawn by four horses, and were seven and a half days on the way, the men camping 25
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