USA > Indiana > Warren County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 38
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 38
USA > Indiana > White County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 38
USA > Indiana > Newton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 38
USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 38
USA > Indiana > Benton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 38
USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 38
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On the 4th of Angust, 1847, Mr. Bryant married W. Ann Wilson, whose parents, Cornelius and Elizabeth (Taylor) Wilson, were prominent pioneers of Montgomery county, Indiana, formerly of Virginia. Mrs. Bryant was born in Brown county, Ohio, April 7, 1828, and her brothers and sisters were: James, John, Elizabeth, Amanda, George, Henry, Marse, Martha and Mary. John was one of the brave boys who wore the blue during the civil war, and whose life was a sacrifice to his country. The father departed this life when about eighty years of age, revered and loved by all of his neighbors and associates. The union of Mr. and Mr. Bryant was blessed with seven children, namely: Zachariah, Melvina, James, Francis, William E., John and Mary, -the two last mentioned being twins.
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When he was a youth Mr. Bryant made a special study of the Bible, and has ever since been a great student of the word of God. At fifteen he joined the United Brethren church in Allen county, Ohio, and, though he felt at the time that his duty was to enter the ministry and deliver the gospel of salvation to the people, he resisted the impulse, and it was not until he had reached the half-century mark that he obeyed what he believes was the Lord's wish. During this long interval, however, he was a faithful member of the church, active and zealous in the cause, and occupied the offices of steward, class-leader and superintendent of the Sunday-school. As he grew older the conviction grew in his mind that he was called to preach, and at length he yielded, and began to teach and minister to his neighbors as a local pastor. The success which crowned his untiring labors for the Master gave him new courage, and he left home and went out into the great west. Traveling through Illinois and Missouri, as well as in Indiana and Ohio, he held revival meetings, sometimes for four weeks in succession, and rejoiced in the numerous converts to righteousness which he made by the grace of God. Recently he contributed four hundred dollars to the new church of the United Brethren at Clark's Hill, near his home. Now in his seventy- seventh year, he is passing his days quietly after the stormny voyage of life, secure in his faith, and trusting that the verdict will be rendered, "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
DAN W. SIMMS.
BY LUCAS NEBEKER, ESQ., OF THE COVINGTON BAR.
Dan W. Simms was born in Crawford county, Illinois, February 13, 1862. His parents were poor and lived in a most primitive style. The fam- ily, consisting of the father, mother, two sons and a daughter, moved to Fountain county, Indiana, in 1870. At the early age of ten years Dan be- gan to earn his own living by working for wages on a farm, and thereby kept and clothed himself and gave somne assistance to his father's family, and in the winter months attended district school. In 1875 he went to north- western Iowa and there worked on a farm for two years, attending school in the winter. In 1877 he went from Iowa to Wichita, Kansas, and there formed the acquaintance of a Mr. Cox, one of the cattle kings of that part of the country, who took a warm interest in him, gave him employment, and treated him with great kindness. He worked for this gentleman, in the cat- tie business, in Kansas, the Indian Territory and the "pan-handle" of Texas until 1880, when he returned to Fountain county, Indiana, with the intention formed in his mind of acquiring an education and becoming a lawyer. When
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Dan D. Simms
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he returned to Fountain county he found his father's family in almost desti- tute circumstances, both parents being confined to beds of sickness. He proceeded to relieve the situation as far as possible by securing a job of driv- ing spikes on what is now the Peoria division of the "Big Four" railroad, and worked until the following spring in the laying of steel rails on that road, from Indianapolis to Peoria.
He then began work as a farm hand and saved up what he supposed would be sufficient money to carry him through a winter term of a high school. When he was about to enter the school he was taken down with typhoid fever, and that sickness consumed all the money he had saved. When he recovered, William A. Wright, a farmer of the neighborhood, offered him a chance to attend a school, which he was teaching that winter, and at the same time to earn his board and lodging at his house by attending to and feeding the stock on his farm. This kind and favorable offer he wisely and fortunately accepted. During the long winter evenings Mr. Wright patiently instructed and assisted him, and devoted himself, for hours each evening, to the cultivation and development of the young man's intellect. He made such progress that he was able, the next winter, to secure employment himself as teacher of a district school, and continued to live with Mr. Wright, teaching in the winter, but attending school in the spring and fall terms at Lebanon, Ohio; Ladoga, Indiana, and at last at Asbury, now De Pauw, University.
He pursued this course until 1885, but in the meantime began the study of law, borrowing books from the law office of W. E. Baker, Esq., of the neighboring town of Veedersburg. He was then admitted to the bar of Fountain county, and soon after being admitted he was married to Ezadora J. Wright, a cousin of his benefactor. To them have been born three chil- dren, a boy, who died when two and a half years old, and two girls, who are living. About the time of his marriage he began the practice of law at Veedersburg, in Fountain county, in partnership with Freeman E. Miller, as Simms & Miller, conducting, at the same time, or during a part of the time, the public schools of that town. In 1887 he moved to Covington, the county- seat, and entered into partnership with O. S. Douglass, under the firm name of Simms & Douglass. It is the opinion of the writer of this sketch that up to this time the principal success of Mr. Simms, in the line of his chosen pro- fession, consisted in the acquisition of a varied, though valuable, experience, arising out of collections from very unwilling debtors, or perhaps from intel- lectual tournaments with our old friend, William E. Baker, whose strategy, eloquence and energy in lawsuits before a justice can be described only by the word " boundless." I would say, in this connection, that if any lawyer friend of mine, who has ever met Mr. Baker in the open field of a justice court, where he was at his best, free and untrammeled by the rules and time 56
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limits which embarrassed him in the circuit court, -if such a one can con- scientiously substitute a milder word, the amendment will be accepted.
With this training and preparation he entered upon a successful career at the bar. The hand-to-hand fight with poverty was ended, and he now, for the first time, saw the dawn of a bright and prosperous future. The trials of all his early life had taxed his strength, but had developed his manhood. He rapidly gained success and prominence as a member of the Fountain county bar. He has, I think, outstripped all the other members of that bar, the writer included. By methods, which space will not permit me to analyze, he trained and cultivated those faculties which pertain to the work of the successful trial lawyer, and in a short time came to be regarded as a forcible and dangerous antagonist in a lawsuit.
In January, 1891, Henry H. Dochterman, a very able and distinguished lawyer, offered him a partnership, which he accepted. The firm of Dochter- man & Simms continued until the death of Mr. Dochterman, which occurred in March, 1893. This relation and contact with an eminent lawyer of large experience and great learning was in itself a legal education, supplementing that of a rough experience and self-culture. The value of an opportunity like this to acquire the methods and accomplishments of the first-class law- yer is, in my judgment, beyond conception, though seldom fully realized and appreciated at the time. The firm was engaged in many important difficult cases. The increasing ill health of Mr. Dochterman forced Mr. Simms into situations the requirements of which drew upon, and called out, the · best that he was capable of, in the way of ability and diligence.
On April 1, 1893, he formed a copartnership with Lucas Nebeker, as Nebeker & Simms. That firm carried on a satisfactory and successful law business during the five years of its existence, and during this period Mr. Simms was engaged in many important cases, in various counties of western Indiana, and in most of them won for himself, by his ability and eloquence, credit and distinction. In 1898 he sought a wider field, and on February Ist of that year he entered into partnership with J. Frank Hanly and Will R. Wood, as Hanly, Wood & Simms, at Lafayette. This firm, as is well known, had a large business and was regarded throughout the state as a strong firm of lawyers. March 15, 1899, Mr. Simms became a member of the firm of Stuart, Hammond & Simms, an equally strong combination.
Mr. Simms has had political greatness almost thrust upon him. He repre- sented his district in the national Democratic convention of 1896. He was the choice of his party for congress in 1898, and his removal from the dis- trict was a matter of great regret and disappointment to his numerous polit- ical friends and admirers and the party generally, who had counted upon him as their standard bearer and candidate.
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The temptation is strong with me to speak of the social and more per- sonal qualities of Mr. Simms. Throughout our daily intercourse in our pro- fessional relation he was courteous and kind at all times. His mind was always active and energetic. He was, to me, a constant entertainment. His impulsive disposition sometimes brought about results which formed good material for jokes, at his expense, some of which material I sometimes used, with slight embellishment, for the delectation of our court and bar. I must admit, however, that in these emergencies his resources, aided by a fertile imagination, were such as to enable him to keep the score about even. I must not, and in fact I need not, elaborate on the subject. Those who enjoy the pleasure of his intimate acquaintance can testify not only as to his emi- nent ability as a lawyer but also as to his jovial and genial disposition.
WILL. R. WOOD.
William R. Wood, son of Robert and Matilda Wood, was born at Ox- ford, Indiana, January 5, 1861. His father still survives, and resides at Ox- ford, where for more than forty years he has been engaged in harness-making. The boy was given such advantages as his primitive surroundings and the poverty of his parents afforded. Until he reached the age of seventeen he attended the common schools of his native town. At fourteen years of age he began to learn his father's trade, working at the harness-bench during the spring and summer months for three years, when he began school-teaching in the country schools of Benton county. He taught school two winters, and then, on borrowed money, entered the law department of the University of Michigan, where he remained until his graduation, in 1882.
After his graduation he located at Lafayette, Indiana, where he now re- sides, and here entered the practice of law. His first association was with Captain W. DeWitt Wallace, (now judge of the Tippecanoe superior court), as a student, and there he remained until 1884, when he formed a partner- ship with Captain Bryan, and began the active practice of his profession. In 1890 he was elected prosecuting attorney for the twenty-third judicial cir- cuit, at which time his partnership with Captain Bryan was dissolved. He continued the practice alone. In 1892 he was re-elected prosecuting attorney and continued in that office until November, 1895.
He is a Republican in politics. In 1894 he entered the race for the nomination for congress in the ninth congressional district, composed at that time of the counties of Clinton, Boone, Hamilton, Howard, Tippecanoe, Tip- ton and Warren. Hon. Joseph B. Cheadle was a candidate before the same convention. He entered the convention with the prestige of having served four years as the representative of the district. He had been a soldier and
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had the support of a large element among the old soldiers present in the con- vention. Captain W. H. Hart, now auditor of state, Hon. Thomas H. Boyd and Hon. J. Frank Hanly were also candidates. Mr. Wood and Mr. Hanly were both young men, and their candidacy was conducted with the utmost cordiality and friendship. Mr. Wood was the leading candidate before the convention for ninety-two ballots, receiving from seventy-five to eighty-five votes on each ballot. More than once the nomination seemed to be within his grasp, but at length it became apparent to him and his friends that he could not secure the nomination. On the ninety-third ballot Tippecanoe cast her entire vote for Mr. Hanly, at Mr. Wood's request, and the latter was nom- inated. The spirit with which he accepted his defeat won the admiration of friends and foes alike. He came out of the convention with more friends than ever. In 1896 he was elected to the state senate from Tippecanoe county, and re-elected in 1898. His term will expire in 1902.
In the fall of 1896 he and J. Frank Hanly, who was then in congress, formed a partnership, Mr. Hanly removing to Lafayette from Williamsport, since which time thay have been engaged in the practice together.
Notwithstanding his early and continuous participation in politics, Mr. Wood has won distinction as a lawyer. As an advocate he has no superior at the Tippecanoe county bar. His mental processes are quick and unusually accurate. He sees intuitively what most men discover only by careful inves- tigation and research, and arrives at a bound at conclusions ordinarily found only by the most painstaking plodding. Of the many criminal indictments drawn by him as prosecuting attorney during the four years he filled that office not one was held bad by the court. His quick perception and ready eloquence make him an efficient trial lawyer. If there is a vulnerable point in the armor of his adversary he finds it, and the antagonist who would suc- cessfully withstand his attack must be wary and resourceful. His weapon is a rapier. He never fights with a bludgeon. His enemy is dissected, and not mangled.
During long and complex trials he takes but few notes of the evidence, and is ready to go immediately to the jury at the close of the testimony. He speaks without apparent preparation, yet he covers the whole case in his argument. He retains in his memory every scrap of material evidence given in the cause, and brings to the discussion of it a wealth of logic, invective and eloquence that wins for his client many a forlorn hope.
Possessed of a warm and generous nature he makes friends and keeps them. Impulsive and passionate, he is as quick to forgive as to resent an insult.
In 1883 Mr. Wood was married to Miss Mary E. Giger, of Lafayette, Indiana. No children have been born to them. They live in a commodious
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home on Ferry street, and spend a part of each summer in travel. Mrs. Wood is proud of her husband and of his achievements. Her cheery dispo- sition and her belief in her husband and in his work have done more, per- haps, than anything else to keep his impulsive nature evenly balanced. To him she has been both helpmeet and refuge.
He is a Mason, an Elk, a Knight of Pythias and a Forester, and is also a member of the National Union.
JOSEPH H. KIOUS.
One of the representative citizens of White county, Joseph Kious well deserves mention in its chronicles, and for nearly thirty years he has been numbered among the extensive land-owners here, even as was his father for twenty years previously. Both took just pride in the rise of this county to a position of wealth and prominence in the state, and performed their full share toward insuring this result.
As the surname of our subject indicates, he is of German extraction, though his paternal grandfather, Adam Kious, was in all probability, a native of Pennsylvania, and at an early day was a pioneer near Sterling, Ohio. His father was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. Adam Kious lived to an advanced age, his death occurring in the Buckeye state. He followed agri- cultural pursuits, as have most of his descendants, and all of his sons became wealthy and prominent in the several localities in which they dwelt. On the maternal side, our subject is of Irish lineage, the Pritchard family having been founded in the United States about 1670, by natives of the northern part of Ireland. William Pritchard, the maternal grandfather of J. H. Kious, was born in Maryland, and died in Ohio, in the prime of early manhood, leaving several children.
John and Harriet (Pritchard) Kious, parents of our subject, were natives of Ohio. The former, who was a stock-raiser and farmer, like others of his family, came to White county, Indiana, in 1843, and bought a thousand or twelve hundred acres of land in Prairie township. To this he added, by purchase, until he owned in the neighborhood of three thousand acres, which he improved and greatly increased in value, by judicious work and expendi- ture. He reared his children to be useful citizens, and passed to his reward in 1873, when about seventy years of age. He was survived by the wife and mother, who died in 1886, aged about seventy-four years. For several terms he had served as county surveyor, and in other local offices he had manifested his devotion to the best interests of his community. Four of his eight children are deceased. Lacey M. is the wife of Simon Bailey, of Bat-
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tle Ground, Indiana. Josephine, who lives near Brookston, is the wife of John Cutler. Harriet V. has never married.
Joseph H. Kious, who was born on his father's farm near Brookston, December 12, 1846, was given a good business education, completing his studies in the college at Battle Ground, Indiana. Then returning to the farm, he gave his attention to the raising of grain and other crops, and was interested in cattle and hogs to some extent until 1888, when he came to Brookston to live. He has not given up farming, however, and still owns fifteen hundred acres, situated in Prairie township, west of Brookston, and convenient to the town.
In 1888 Mr. Kious erected a handsome modern house on Prairie street, and on the 12th of June, 1889, he installed in it his bride, who until that day had been Miss Laura Finch, a daughter of George H. and Phœbe (Keyes) Finch, of Benton county, Indiana. The marriage of our subject and wife has been blessed with one child, Laura Blanche.
The Farmers' Bank, of Brookston, now a flourishing financial institu- tion, was organized and duly incorporated on the Ist of May, 1894. Mr. Kious and others were influential in this enterprise, which has been a boon to this town and locality, and for the past five years he has acted in the capacity of its president, Jeremiah Murphy being vice-president and M. E. Bennett cashier. In his political standing Mr. Kious is a firm Republican, stanchly defending the principles of his party, and keeping well informed in regard to the questions and issues of the day.
.
EBEN E. BAILEY.
A well and favorably known member of the bar of Tippecanoe county, Mr. Bailey has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Lafayette for the past five or six years. He is one of the native sons of this county, and from his early youth he has been interested in whatever has materially affected the development and growth of this section of the state. He was born upon the parental homestead in Sugar Grove township, January 7, 1863, and was there raised to maturity. He received a thorough training in the various duties of farm management, but he decided in his youth that he would seek some other vocation. He was an apt student and made rapid progress in the mastery of the "three R's," in the district school which he attended in boyhood, and subsequently it was his privilege to become a pupil in Asbury Academy, at Greencastle, Indiana. Still later he went to the Illinois State Normal School, after which he traveled more or less for two years, seeing something of his country, and thinking that he might possibly settle in the west when he took up the responsible duties of life in
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earnest. He taught school with very good success for nearly two years, and in the meantime took up legal studies. In 1892 he passed with credit the required examinations for admission to the bar, and established an office in Lafayette, where he has since attended strictly to the duties of his pro- fession.
Other matters having taken up most of his time and attention, Mr. Bailey has devoted himself but little to politics as yet, though he has faith- fully discharged his duty as a citizen and voter since he reached his majority. He uses his franchise in favor of the nominees and principles of the Demo- cratic party in national elections, and in local affairs exercises wise discre-
on, supporting the best man in every instance, regardless of party lines. In his fraternal relations he is an honored member of the Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
The pleasant home of Mr. Bailey, at No. 626 North Eighth street, is presided over by his charming wife, formerly Miss Lena B. Mikels, to whom he was united in marriage December 22, 1892. They have two children, a little son and daughter, -Ross and Bessie. Mrs. Bailey is a daughter of Franklin and Mary (Ross) Mikels, well known citizens of Lafayette.
D. MERONAN KELLEY, M. D.
There is a feeling akin to reverence in many homes of the country for the physician who has given of his skill, time and anxious thought to relieve the suffering of the members of the family, and his beneficent care is grate- fully remembered, even though years have passed since the days of waiting and anxiety when he ministered to the needs of those upon whom disease had fastened. In such reverence and esteem, in the homes of a multitude of old- time families of White and Carroll counties Dr. Kelley, of Brookston, is now held, and his name is enduringly inscribed on the pages of the history of this section of the state as one of the foremost representatives of the noble calling to which he devotes his energies.
The Doctor was born at South Lansing, Tompkins county, New York, March 12, 1855, a son of Dennis and Sarah (Shoemaker) Kelley. John Kel- ley, his great-grandfather, was born in Dutchess county, New York, and was a soldier in the war of 1812, by which service he acquired title to a large tract of land in Tompkins county, New York, removing thither about 1820 and there making his home until his death, at about three-score years and ten. He had four children: Ann, John, Mary and Robert. His son John also was a lifelong resident of Tompkins county, and married Catharine Osmun, by whom he had seven children, namely: Jane, William, John F., Mary- ette, Dennis, Clarinda and Lewis.
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Dennis Kelley, the Doctor's father, was born November 22, 1831, in Tompkins county, where he has passed his life as a farmer and hotel-keeper, engaging in the latter business from 1866 until 1870, although he is now liv- ing a retired life in North Lansing. He married Sarah Shoemaker, a daugh- ter of Jacob and Christina (Ozmun) Shoemaker. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania and prior to 1800 removed to Tompkins county, New York, where he purchased several hundred acres of land. He there occupied and developed that extensive tract and thereon reared his family of ten children, namely: John, Jacob, Henry, Mary, Caroline, Sophia, Christina, Ann, Mar- garet and Jane. Both he and his good wife remained upon the farm until death, each passing away when about ninety years of age. Their son Jacob was born March 30, 1800, and in 1823 he married Christina Ozmun. Their five children were Ann, Elmira, Sarah, Jacob and Emma, of whom Sarah married Dennis Kelley, and lived with him in Tompkins county until her death, October 25, 1890, at the age of fifty-six years, excepting one year which they spent in Michigan. Of their three children the Doctor is the eld- est. The others are Alma C., who was married in 1876 to D. A. Tarbell, and has four children, -Clay, Nina, Howard and an infant; and Clarence W., who married Cora Miller, daughter of George Miller, in 1893, and resides in North Lansing.
Dr. Kelley was afforded the educational advantages of the excellent pub- lic schools of Tompkins county, New York, and in September, 1878, was enrolled among the students in the State University of Michigan, at Ann Ar- bor, being graduated from the medical department, June 30, 1881. From early youth he had a strong desire to enter the medical profession, a physi- cian who boarded with the family at that time influencing and directing his taste in that direction, and in spite of serious obstacles his indomitable will carried him to a successful consummation of his wishes. In September, 1881, he located in Brookston, where he is still engaged in practice, and where, by his superior skill, close attention to the wants of the suffering, and years of successful treatment, he has built up a large and lucrative practice -the highest testimonial that could be given to his worth, both as a physi- cian and as a man. He is recognized to-day as the leading medical practi- tioner of this section of the state, and his reading and study along professional lines have advanced him greatly on the road to perfection. He is a keen and intelligent observer of men and affairs, and in business he possesses great acumen, ability and foresight, his business ventures having been uni- formly successful. As a result he is now in possession of an ample compe- tency. In 1891 he became a stockholder in the Brookston Canning Com- pany, and in 1892 was elected its president, holding the office for three years, or until he disposed of his stock. In 1897 he purchased a productive
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