USA > Indiana > Blackford County > Biographical memoirs of Blackford County, Ind. : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography embellished with portraits of many well known residents of Blackford County, Indiana > Part 55
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We will now turn our attention to the son, George, for whom this review is pre- pared and of whom we will speak in detail. George W. Hutchinson received his ele- mentary education in the country schools, such as the times afforded, and this was later supplemented by attending school for a short time at North Lewisburg. Then, his father being dead, it became necessary for him to begin work, and he, until 1866, was employed at general labor, doing what
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ever he could find to do. In the above year he was employed as a clerk by S. S. Carrell, who was the proprietor of a grocery and hardware store at North Lewisburg, and with such fidelity did he apply himself to the duties assigned him that he soon had the entire confidence of his employer, and as a reward for his integrity and honesty Mr. Carroll made him his partner in 1870 and they continued to carry on business there until the fall of 1872, when the firm of S. S. Carrell & Company removed to Hartford City. Here they carried on an extensive trade until 1879, when Mr. Carrell retired from the firm and our subject became sole owner and up to this time he has been known as one of the most progressive merchants in Hartford City. He carries a stock of gen- eral hardware, in addition to which he keeps a full line of tinware, stoves, gas and plumb- er's supplies, valued at four thousand dollars, while his annual sales amount to about fif- teen thousand dollars, and he is really the leading dealer in his line in the county. April 16, 1874, Mr. Hutchinson was united in marriage to Miss Maria Gertrude Car- rell, the daughter of his former partner. Mrs. Hutchinson was born October 27, 1855, at West Liberty, Ohio, a. I has borne her husband three children, as follows : Edna Evangeline, a former teacher in the public schools of Hartford City, and now book- keeper at the Shirley-Carrell bicycle store. Anna Martina, who has charge of her fa- ther's books and is bill clerk for the United States Express Company. Ralph Murray, clerk in Winter's dry goods store, having recently graduated from the high school. Mr. Hutchinson and family are active mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is trustee, and for twenty years was its secretary and treasurer of the official
board. Fraternally he is a member of the i. O. O. F., Lodge No. 262, of Hartford City, and has passed most of the chairs.
A Republican in politics, though not partisan, he seeks the best man for the place, regardless of part lines, as it is character rather than politics that he looks for. As a citizen Mr. Hutchinson is highly respected and in every relation of life prudence and moderation have been his prominent charac- teristics and pure and just motives his chief incentive to action. Honored and esteemed by all who know him, having accomplished much and with much still to live for, and oc- cupying a conspicuous place in the public gaze, truc to his manhood, he indeed is one of the worthy men of his generation.
EUGENE M. SHINN.
Eugene Melville Shinn, attorney and counselor-at-law, youngest son of Hon. B. G. Shinn, was born on the 15th day of Au- gust, 1868, in the town of Bluffton, Wells county, Indiana. In 1871, when three years of age, he was brought by his parents to Hartford City, where he grew to manhood, attending, until his eighteenth year, the city schools and later pursuing the higher branches of learning in DePauw University, of which he was a student for three terms. Meanwhile he was, for a number of years, engaged as newsdealer in Hartford City and after completing his scholastic studies at the university accepted a clerical position for the Mercer Lumber Company, of this city, in which capacity he continued for a limited period, severing his connection therewith for the purpose of entering upon the study of law.
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Mr. Shinn began preparing for the legal profession under the able tutelage of his fa- ther, with whom he effected a co-partner- ship in the practice immediately after ad- mission to the bar, under the firm name of Shinn & Shinn, and from that time to the present his rise has been gradual.
He was married, at Bluffton, Indiana, May 30, 1897, to Miss Elsie May Sprague, whose birth occurred on the 7th day of June, 1874. Mrs. Shinn is the oldest daugh- ter of Andrew and Catherine ( Bell) Sprague , and has borne her husband one child, a daughter, Emily Catherine, who was born on tl :: 18th day of April, 1898.
Mr. Shinn is a gentleman of scholarly tastes and wide reading. Socially he is genial and pleasant, always gentlemanly in his manners and possesses the happy faculty, not only of making friends, but of binding them to him by his good qualities of head and heart. From his youth up he has al- ways taken a great interest in national, state and local politics, being well informed as to the lives and characters of the public men of the day and the history of current ques- tions. He has been a potent factor in the councils of the Republican party in Black- ford county and, while an earnest and inde- fatigable worker, has never alienated the af- fection of any of his friends by aggressive and offensive partisan method. Mr. Shinn is a man of domestic tastes and takes much pride in his pleasant home.
WILLIAM HENRY MORSE.
Not the least amore the successful enter- prises of Hartford ( . is the large dairy conducted upon an extensive scale by Will-
iam Henry Morse, who for a number of years has supplied the people with this nec- estary article of diet, besides building tip a trade which places his name among the progressive men of the place. Mr. Morse is an castern man, hailing from the historic old state of Massachusetts, where his birth occurred on the 12th day of August. 1855. His parents, also Massachusetts people, were Charles and Isabella ( Witmore) Morse and for a great many years both families have been represented in various parts of New England. After attending the public schools at intervals until his nineteenth year, Mr. Morse left home and began battling with the world upon his own responsibility, engaging first in farming, which he followed for a short time and later worked as a teamster, drawing wood into the town near which he lived. Among the first money earned was that received for cutting and marketing wood on a ten-acre tract of land, a task which required one winter to accomplish. Meantime he went west as far as Iowa, but not being pleased with that country returned to the state of his nativity and there remained until coming to Hartford City in the year 1889. Seeing here a favorable opportunity for dairying Mr. Morse at once engaged in the business, at first on a rather limited scale, leasing for the purpose the Judy Car- roll farm, just within the corporate limits of the city. From the outstart the enter- prise proved successful and from that time to the present Mr. Morse has gradually en- larged the business and now has a large and lucrative trade, by far the most extensive of the kind in the county. Hle disp ses of one hundred and sixty-five gallons of milk daily, besides from eighteen to thirty gallons of cream, to supply which he maintains nine- ty-two fine cows and waits upon his many
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customers with three conveyances. To run his dairy successfully requires the labor of quite a number of men, five besides himself. This year he has constructed a large barn. 126×36 feet in area, with a still larger base- ment, and a cellar seventy-two feet long and thirty-six feet wide. Since opening his busi- ness Mr. Morse has purchased land of his own, one hundred and twenty acres of which are cultivated for the purpose of supplying feed for his herd of cattle and nine horses. in addition to which he rents one hundred and forty acres more, all under a high state of cultivation.
By the foregoing it will be seen that Mr. Mo: e knows well how to manage his busi- ness and the success with which his efforts thus far have been crowned is due entirely to his wise and superior management. Few inen with limited capital at the beginning could have accomplished as much, but in- dustry, when coupled with sound judgment, will in the main win success from what to many would prove failure. Mr. Morse has gained and retained his patronage by strictly adhering to every promise, and by supplying his customers with pure, wholesome articles has won a confidence not easily lost.
Mr. Morse is a member of the K. of P., belonging to Blackford Lodge, No. 135, with which he became identified in 1891: in religion he is a Methodist, his name ap- pearing upon the records of the Hartford City congregation. On the 28th day of April. 1885, he and Charlotte A., daugh- ter of Joseph L. and Anna (Rust) Lec, he- came husband and wife and their home has been cheered by the advent of three children : Lottie Josephine, born in 1887, and died in 1888; Anna Whitmore, born January 31, 1890; and William Henry, whose birth oc- curred May 26, 1892.
ALEXANDER GABLE.
The well-known gentleman whose brief biography is herewith set forth is a veteran of the late Civil war and for a number of years has been actively identified with the business interests of Hartford City and Blackford county. Mr. Gable was born in Louisville, Kentucky, October 7, 1836, the son of Ch : and Margaret ( Hargood) Gable, the r of German and the mother of Welsh ont. Charles Gable came to the United tes in 1832 and settled in the city of Baltimore, thence moved to Louis- ville, Kentucky, and later came to Indiana, where his death occurred in the spring of 1859. The grandfather of Mrs. Margaret Gable immigrated to America from Wales in an early day and located in Pennsylvania, in which state and Delaware a number of the Hargood family are still living. Her father, John Hargood, was a soklier of the war of 1812 and met his death a number of years ago by being crushed beneath a heavy cask of tobacco, which he was endeavoring to hoist. He was a tobacconist and worked at his trade a great many years in the city of Baltimore.
The subject of this article attended the schools of his native city until twelve years of age, at which time the family removed to Clark county, Indiana, where he continued his studies, as occasions would permit, until the age of fifteen. He then accepted a minor position in a wholesale grocery house in Louisville, and after a year spent in that ca- pacity began working at the carpenter's trade with his father, who was a skilled mechanic. On becoming an efficient workman Mr. Gable began taking contracts for himself and for a period of forty years gave his attention to his trade. At the breaking out of the Civil war
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he espoused the cause of the Union and in 1861 enlisted in the Seventy-first Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry for three years' service. This regim it was organized in the fall of the above year at Troy. At the expiration of the period of enlistment the original members who did not longer wish to remain received discharges and returned to their respective homes. The veterans, together with new recruits, formed a new organization, which continued actively at the front until the close , of the war, and achieved a reputation for gallantry second to that of no other regi- ment in the service at that time. The follow- ing is only a partial list of battles in which the Seventy-first took part, in all of which Mr. Gable shared with his comrades the vicissitudes and honors attendant upon duty faithfully and uncomplainingyy performed : Fort Donelson, Clarksville, Shiloh. Cum- berland Iron Works, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station, Georgia, Columbia, Tennessee, be- sides numerous minor engagements and skirmishes which are not mentioned in the official record of the regiment.
Mr. Gable entered the service as a pri- vate, but for meritorious conduct was pro- moted, January 25, 1862, second lieutenant, and the first day of December following was made first lieutenant of his company. In the latter capacity he continued until 1864, in April of which year he was further honored by being placed in command of his company. He served as captain until the fall of the above year, when, by reason of the serious illness of his mother, he resigned and came home to look after her interests. Later, December, 1864, he recruited Company D, One Hundred and Ninety-third Ohio Vol- unteers, with which he served until mustered out at Camp Chase on the 12th day of Au- gust, 1865, after which he returned home
quel turned his attention to the peaceful pur- suits of civil life.
In 1868 Alr. Gable came to Hartford City, which has since been his home, and here he resumed his trade, soon becoming one of the most successful contractors and builders in Blackford county. Among the evidences of his skill may be cited the Van Cleve block, the Bank block, Methodist church, central school building, besides a great many other public edifices and private residences in the city and country, in addi- tion to which much other work requiring mechanical talent of a high order has from time to time been entrusted to him. He was an honest workman, and by always keep- ing abreast of the times in matters pertaining to his calling was never without large and remunerative contracts. For some years he has not been actively engaged at his trade, the public having called him to positions of honor and trust, which he has filled with credit to himself and satisfaction to all con- cerned.
Mr. Gable is a worthy representative of the large and eminently respectable class of artisans whose handiwork has added so much to the material prosperity of the great west, and whose character has given stabil- ity to the body politic. His life, though quiet and unassuming, has been one of uni- form success; his integrity has never been questioned and in all his transactions with the world no one has ever accused him of a mean or selfish act. His career as a citizen in the private walks of life is without a stigma, while as a gallant defender of the nation's honor in its hours of peril his record is unsullied and he will ever be honored by his descendants for an unselfish devotion to a cause the success of which reunited a dis- rupted country in the bonds of an indissolu-
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ble brotherhood, and forever established a fact that a government of the people by the people and for the people "should not perish from the earth." No man in Hartford City occupies a more conspicuous place in the pub- lic esteem, and to posterity he will leave a character worthy the emulation of the wisest and best of mankind.
On the 13th day of September, 1866, in Auglaize county. Ohio, Mr. Gable entered into the marriage relation with Miss Caro. line Crajg, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Matthews) Craig, the wife's mother a dis- tant relative of the late Governor Matthews of Indiana. The issue of this union has been ten children, whose names are as follows: Harry E., deceased; Nellie H. married J. B. Alexander ; Emma, deceases; Catharine, wife of W. T. Allen : Daisy, deceased : Will- iam, deceased : Bessie; Caroline; Edith, de- ceased, and Paul.
Mr. Gable is a Republican and as such has rendered his party signal service. in rec- ognition of which he was appointed by Presi- dent Harrison postmaster of Hartford City. He filled the place very acceptably for a period of four years and for two years served the city as a member of the common council, taking an active part in the deliberations of that body and promoting much important municipal legislation. In 1895 he was elected township trustee, an office he has since filled in such a manner as to command the re- spect and confidence of the public.
RILEY J. COULSON.
The gentleman for whom this sketch is prepared is a successful business man of Hart- ford City and an auctioneer whose services
have been in demand in the disposal of mer- chandise and all kinds of property requiring an expert crier. Mr. Coulson was born in Jay county, Indiana, September 10, 1857. and is the son of Jabez and Sarah ( McCann) Coulson. Until his eleventh year he at- tended the district schools, after which time he worked on the farm until eighteen, when he took service with the proprietor of a large stone quarry near the town of Mont- pelier. In this capacity he continued for a short time and then engaged in the manu- facture of drain tile at the above place, which business occupied his attention for a period of two years.
During The two succeeding years Mr. Coulson was employed on a saw-millat Mont- pelier, at the end of which time he accepted the position of bar tender in Wash Bungey's sample rooms, where he remained about eighteen months. The following nine months he was similarly engaged by Clapper & Lilli- bridge at Hartford City and then purchased a sample room of his own, which he conduct- ed successfully for three years. Disposing of his stock of goods, he was for some time thereafter engaged in buying timber in part- nership with John C. Nixon, of Jay county, later discontinuing this and embarking in the cement business, which he has since con- tinued with marked success and financial profit.
Meantime Mr. Coulson began public auctioneering and his reputation as a sales- man has been such as to create great demand for his services, both at home and at places far distant from his place of residence. Hc is peculiarly fitted for this calling, possess- ing excellent judgment as to the value of property and a command of language that sways his audience at will. His influence as a crier seldom fails of resulting in good fig-
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ures for the goods disposed of and his re mummeration for this work alone has been quite liberal, almost as much in fact as the income from his regular business.
Since engaging in handling cement Mr. Coulson has steadily enlarged his business and within the last few years has put down over six miles of sidewalk, besides an almost cqual volume of work on private premises in the city. Personally he is a very affable gentleman, warm hearted and kind, indeed. a "hale fellow well met" among his many friends and acquaintances in Hartford City and the county of Blackford. His daily life is such as to win and retain strong friend- ships and his record as an honorable up- right business man is without stain or blem- islı.
Mr. Coulson was married on the 28tl day of April, 1878, to Miss Feenie Crozier, daughter of Louis and Lydia (Histon) Crozier, and his home is made bright by the presence therein of one child, a son, Rollin M., whose birth occurred December 14, 1882.
JOHN M. BONHAM.
Among the pioneer families of Blackford county few are as widely and favorably known as the Bonhams, whose arrival marks a very early date in the history of what is. now Washington township. Peter Bonhanı, the first of the name to locate in Blackford county, was born in 1798 in Virginia, and when a small boy was taken by his parents to Perry county, Ohio, where he grew to ma- turity. Ile then married Susannah Yost, also a native of Perry county, where her birth occurred about the year 1800, and be- came the father of the following children :
Isaac, Nicholas. Lyman, Naomi, who mar- ried William Mc Allister: George W., Will. iam A., Frances M., and Mary C., who mar- ried George Mincer. In February, 1837. Peter Bonham came with his family to Blackford county and settled on a farm in Washington township, where they lived many years. The first dwelling occupied by the family was a diminutive log cabin of the most primitive pattern, with puncheon floor, the doors being made of rough clapboards, while light was admitted into the single room through greased paper. This structure served for a shelter for about ten years, when it was replaced by a hewed-log house of eu- larged proportions, which in turn gave place to one of the first frame buildings ever erected in the township of Washington. This edifice was plastered but never painted, and in it Peter Bonham departed this life on the 23d day of December, 1859. His wife sur- vived him a number of years, having died in October, 1887, at the age of eighty-seven years.
George W. Bonham, fifth child of the above Peter, was born in Washington town- ship and there grew to manhood on his fa- ther's farm, attending meanwhile the differ- ent subscription schools, in which he obtained a limited education. December 22, 1854, he married Nancy J. Lenon, who was born September 15, 1831, the daughter of James and Susannah (Steele) Lenon. She bore him children as follows : Jolm M., born Feb- ruary 24, 1857; Mary S., born September 6, 1859, married Samuel C. Hackney, of Hartford City; George H., born March 17. 1864; Cora L., born May 26, 1868, and Sarah E., whose birth occurred March 26, 1871. Mrs. Bonham was a native of Mus- kingum county, Ohio, and came with her parents to Blackford county, Indiana, in
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1851, settling on farm in Washington town- ship. Her father was the son of Thomas Lenon, an Irish immigrant, and her mother, Susannah Steele, before marriage was the daughter of Joseph and Nancy Steele, carly settlers of Muskingum county, Ohio, where their deaths occurred. James Lenon died in Blackford county in the year 1870.
George W. Bonham enlisted in the late Civil war September 30, 1864, and was as- signed to Company D. Fortieth Indiana In- fantry. He joined his regiment at Colum- bia, Tennessee, and his first engagement was at Spring Hill, his second battle being at Franklin, Tennessee. His regiment was on the left flank skirmish line when attacked at Franklin and retreated to Nashville, taking part in the battle there. They followed the rebels to Huntsville, Alabama, thence to Knoxville, repairing the railroad between Huntsville and Knoxville. He received his discharge at Nashville, Tennessee, June 16, 1865, when he returned to his home in Wash- ington township, where he afterward devoted his time to his farm.
Mr. Bonham was one of the county's most highly respected citizens and pioneer residents, having until the last six months of his life resided in Washington township sitx : 1837. Having accumulated sufficient wealth to make his old age comfortable, he moved to Hartford City, where he proposed to spend his remaining days in retirement and ease, but this was cut short by the mes- senger of death, who summoned him from earthly scenes on the 7th day of May, 1900, at the age of sixty-eight.
John M. Bonham, oklest child of George WV. and Nancy Bonham, was born on the old homestead in Washington township February 24, 1857, and when of sufficient age entered the district schools, where he
pursued the common branches of learning until becoming a student in the county nor- mal school a few years prior to attaining his majority. At the age of twenty-one he became a teacher and forowed that useful vocation during the interim between 1878 and 1888, and earned the reputation of be- ing an able instructor. In the meantime he turned his attention to politics and in 1888 was elected by the Democratic party county recorder, entering upon the discharge of us official functions August 17th of the ycar following. After serving a term of four years and acquitting himself satis- factorily to the people of th county, he be- came interested in real estate transactions and the insurance business and effected a co- partnership in the same with John P. Mc. Geath and James A. Trant, under the firm name of McGeath, Bonham & Trant. This partnership was maintained until roso, when Mr. McGeath withdrew, since which time the business has been conducted in the name of Bonham & Trant, with a well appointed office in the Campbell block. This firm is well known in business circles throughout central Indiana and the business, already quite large, is being gradually extended, the firm of Bon- ham & Trant standing at the head in matters of real estate transfers and insurance in Hartford City.
Mr. Bonham is a member of Blackford Lodge, No. 135, K. of P., in which he has been called to fill the offices of vice chancellor and prelate, and his name is also found upon the records of Lodge No. 4962, Modern Woodmen of America. In addition to those two orders he is also identified with local lodge No. 1502, K. O. T. M., and for a num- ber of years he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Bonham is a gentleman of exem-
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plary habits, honest and industrious, and his influence has ever been exerted in behalf of that which marks for the public good. He is deeply interested in the material growth of his city and has done not a little in inducing the investment of capital in its real estate, thus influencing the settlement of a substan- tial class of people and otherwise promoting a superior order of citizenship. He is a credit to a creditable and highly respected ancestry and by no act or conduct of his has anything ever been done to reflect upon or tarnish the good name which the Bonham family have long enjoyed among the people of Blackford.
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