USA > Indiana > Grant County > Biographical memoirs of Grant County, Indiana : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography with portraits of many national characters and well-known residents of Grant County, Indiana. > Part 39
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and, though some, whose appreciation of the great sacrifices made in their behalf, seem indifferent to preservation of any of the per- sonality and effort of such admirable par- ents.
Harvey M. Creviston remained with his parents until his marriage, October 1, 1874, to Miss Lodora Hunt, of Washington town- ship. Beginning the operation of a farm in a modest way he, by exercise of those excellent qualities of industry and economy that the home training had emphasized, made a satisfactory progress from the start, and though his first farm was an old run- down place, he brought it to a high state of cultivation making it as productive as any in that section of the county. He made extensive improvements, in the way of buildings and otherwise, the home becon- ing one of the most desirable of the many fine farms in Washington township. By the investment of the results of thrift in other lands he became the proprietor of two hundred and eighty-one acres of valu- able property. The tract lying in a sec- tion of rather level country required a great deal of tiling-upward of fifteen miles be- ing laid on the different farms.
From boyhood Mr. Creviston has been wide-awake to the movement of the world, keeping pace with the changes of thought and belief, ever adhering to the Republi- can party, and modifying his own views of public questions to correspond with the vari- ations of his party. Earlier in life he had taken a keen interest in the local literary so- cieties of the home, making something of a reputation as a ready, keen and analytical debater of those questions, the consideration of which tended to foster a right apprecia- tion of the country in which he lived. His
readiness in this respect soon drew the at- tention of his neighbors, who often called him to represent them in the various con- ventions and deliberations of the party, as well as to take an active part in other mat- ters that tended to the betterment of the community.
The Grange movement found him ready with the strength of his personality and ability of presentation, to further its cause, which had for its object the education and social and business benefit of the entire farming interests of the country. Succeed- ing this grand movement came the Farm- ers' Mutual Benefit Association, to the ad- vancement of which he also devoted con- siderable attention and effort. Mr. Crevis- ton can well be considered, as he is, one of the most progressive citizens of the county, no movement having for its object the gen- eral good but finds hini a friend and sup- porter.
His family is made up of four chil- dren : Cora B., wife of William Streib; Nel- lie A., whose husband is John D. Williams; Chester Arthur, a business student and Homer L., a student of the public schools. This family has been among the most sub- stantial members of Union Chapel United Brethren church, which stands near their former home, and of which the father was one of the original members and trustee, Harvey M. succeeding him in that position.
Mr. Creviston is not what would be considered a sportsman, though his love for a good horse and the pleasure derived from pulling the lines over such indicates a touch of that interest in the finer strains of stock that has resulted in the great development of all lines of domestic animals.
Being of a genial and companionable
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nature Mr. Creviston has hosts of warm and loyal friends, whose intercourse and associa- tion affords him the greatest satisfaction and enjoyment.
HARRISON C. McRAE.
Harrison C. McRae is a prominent character in Grant county, Indiana, having. been a resident here for upward of fifty · years and taken an active part in all that pertains to the public welfare. He was born in Hancock county, this state, Novem- ber 28 1834 and is a son of one of its well- known and highly respected pioneers, Gal- vin B. McRae. The father was born in the state of North Carolina about 1806 and when four years of age came with his par- ents to seek a home in Indiana, being among the earliest settlers in Wayne county. His father died about this time, when he was only a child of four years, and at a very early age he was obliged to go out to work in order to add his mite toward the support of the family. The wages he earned was but ten cents per day, but it was thankfully re- ceived and proudly carried to the widowed mother who died in 1820, leaving him an orphan at the age of fourteen. Soon after this sad event he went to work as dishwasher on the boats plying up and down the Missis- sippi, Missouri, Ohio and other rivers, and worked his way to the front, occupying the position of mate when he abandoned steam- boating after having been so employed for about seven years. He was possessed of great strength of character and was one of the few men whom steamboating did not spoil. He was public spirited and generous to a fault and it is said that the hungry ap-
plicant never left his presence empty-handed. His union with Miss Sarah Gapen resulted in the birth of eight children, namely : Har- rison C .; William H., who was a martyr to his country, yielding up his life on her al- tars during the battle of Chickamauga ; John and Eliza, who died in infancy; Francis, who also died young; Martha, who lived to the age of seven; Permelia, who lives in Logansport; and Leander T., a resident of Iola, Kansas, and stockholder in the smelt- ing works of that place.
Galvin McRae moved to Wayne county at an early day and there carried on the trade of a blacksmith until 1848, when he came to Grant county and purchased a farm in Washington township, upon which he lived until 1856, when he was elected sheriff of Grant county on the Republican ticket and moved to Marion to take charge of the office. He was re-elected to this office, serv- ing two terms of four years, and continued to make that city his home until he went to Missouri, where he remained ten years, returnin gto Marion where he died in 1896 in the consciousness of a long and well- spent life. He was a man of splendid at- tainments and was held in veneration by those whose pleasure it had been to know him. He was for many years class-leader and active worker in the United Brethren church, and it was one of the greatest pleas- ures of his life to extend comfort and help to an afflicted brother whose unfortunate condition appealed to his sympathetic na- ture.
Harrison C. McRae received such edu- cation as was afforded by the common schools and was a lad of fourteen when his father moved to this county. He remained | on the farm with his father until he was
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twenty-one and then rented the farm until 1864, when he purchased the property upon which he now lives. This consists of one hundred and twenty acres of land in section one, about four miles from Marion, and ninety acres of it is under a high state of cultivation. He was married in 1855 to Miss Amy Conger and a family of five chil- dren have blessed their home. Two little buds, the eldest in the family, were taken in infancy to the world above, there to await the parents, acting as beacon stars to guide them towards the Infinite. Leroy, the third child, is a farmer of Center town- ship; Morton resides in Marion and is fill- ing his second term as treasurer; Ira M. is also a resident of that city and is deputy treasurer.
Mr. McRae is a strong Republican and has taken an intelligent interest in the vital questions of the day. He acted as deputy sheriff for four years under his father, and was also deputy assessor for a term of three years. Ile is a prominent member of the Christian church, of which he has been clerk for many years, and is an honorable, upright citizen who is a credit to the county.
WILLIAM T. CAMMACK.
The present efficient and popular Clerk of the Courts of Grant county is one of the most prominent of the younger generation of the citizens of the county. He is truly a representative of the best interests of its citizens, being himself native to the soil, as he was born in Liberty township on the 17th of November, 1868. Further and dis- tinct mention is made of his parents, Willis and Sarah (Jay) Cammack, in another part of this volume.
The boyhood of William was passed on the Liberty township farm, receiving such education as the home schools afforded. When he had attained the age of twenty he became associated with his brother, Bayard T., in the conduct of a general grocery store in South Marion, and so continued until the connection was broken by the death of his brother in August, 1892, after about four years of successful business. Disposing of the business, he became a traveling salesman for the firm of Smith & Weaver, and later for Houck & Shields, and covered the terri- tory in which they operated in Indiana.
In the fall of 1894 he was given a posi- tion as deputy by Wilson Addington, the then incumbent of the office of Clerk of Courts, remaining with him during the re- mainder of his term of office. Evan H. Ferree, successor of Mr. Addington, re- tained him in the same capacity, and by the expiration of the service of Mr. Ferree he had become so familiar with all the office details and had so impressed his party with his efficiency and obliging nature that he was made the nominee of the party for the position, his election following with a ma- jority that spoke the popular sentiment. The convention in which he was nominated was the largest ever held in the county, numbering 776 delegates and indicating the popular will with as close accuracy as might be possible in a representative body.
From boyhood Mr. Cammack has taken keen interest in the workings of party poli- tics, early identifying himself with the Re- publican organization, and soon being called upon to represent the party in its various conventions and as a member of adminis+ trative committees. While never an aspi+ rant for forensic honors, the work done by
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him as a political counselor has been fully as efficient and beneficial to party succes: as of those whose efforts have brought them more prominently before the public as ora- tors or writers. Of rather a retiring na- ture, it has never been his inclination to make much noise; but, enjoying, like Sena- tor Platt, the political work from the nature of it, he has taken a quiet course, his most effective efforts being in the retreat of his own office, by the fireside or at the club. Possessing to a degree those excellent traits of character and good fellowship that draw men to him, and with a freedom of ostenta- tion or offensive egotism that so often dis- tinguishes the man given honors by his fel- lows, Mr. Cammack has the happy faculty of making friends even among the opposi- tion, it being no stretch of the imagination to say that no more popular man, among Democrats, lives within the confines of Grant county. His conduct of the duties of the office has tended to cement the wide circle of friends he already enjoyed. His choice of assistants has been an equally fortunate one, John D. Ferree, John Duffey and Miss Eva Neal being among the most popular and obliging of the many deputies in the service of the county.
Being one of the popular drug firm of Evans & Cammack, he is identified with the business interests of Marion, and is found true to her interests, whatever the occasion or however the levy upon his own purse or time. The late and successful carnival and street fair held under the auspices and pat- ronage of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks found in Mr. Cammack one of its most enthusiastic supporters, the bene- fits derived to the city being incalculable.
In all these social organizations of which 19
he is a member, such as the Elks, Knights of Pythias, Junior Order of American Me- chanics, etc., he is found at the front in the advancement of the society, being often a leader in all those efforts tending to the ‘ greater extension and popularizing of the society.
It is said that all enthusiastic members of the Elks are "sports," and the truth of the assertion is not diminished by the fact of Mr. Cammack's relation thereto; his pro- clivities in that line are mainly confined to the game of base-ball, of which he is a de- voted lover, or to the driving of a choice specimen of horse-flesh, finding no greater pleasure than when, by the side of his wife, he pulls the lines over a handsome beast, though it can not be claimed for him that he is a "crank" as a turfman.
Mr. Cammack was united in matrimony on his twenty-first birthday to Emeline M. Cox, daughter of William and Elizabeth Cox, of Liberty township; and from this union two children have issued : J. Ward, aged nine, and Hazel C.
After a most pleasant companionship of t a little more than ten years, the touch of an invisible and ruling hand was laid upon his associate, the response to which carried her beyond the spheres of earth, passing with a resignation and Christian fortitude to "the land beyond the waveless sea," on the 24th of June, 1900. She possessed a lovely cha. - acter, the impress of which was stamped with an almost unconscious effort upon those with whom she had been in contact. De- voted to her family and her church, she cared little for the praise of general society, rather being found in doing something for the alleviation of humanity or the advance- ment of the cause of tlie Master.
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This review would be far from complete were no further mention made of Bayard T. Cammack. His was a most promising ca- reer, cut short long before reaching the mid- dle of life. being called to the great Here- after while yet in his thirty-third year. Working at the carpenter trade for some five years, he engaged in the grocery busi- ness as a clerk for Dick Beck in Marion until his association with his brother in the grocery trade, as already stated, and in which he continued. His widow was for- merly Miss Mattie Osborn, and bore him two children-Carl and Mary-she now being the wife of Daniel Gibson, of Jones- boro. Bayard T: Cammack had been active in the first Friends' society at Marion and was considered one of the most progressive and substantial of its respected members. The activity he had shown in the formation and conduct of the Knights and Ladies of Honor had exerted great influence toward its success.
LEVI WHITE.
One of the largest and most successful farmers of Washington township, Grant county, and one who is held in the highest esteem by all who know him, is Levi White, whose pleasant home is located some eight miles to the northeast of Marion on the Washington pike. Mr. White was born in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, September 24. 1840, being the son of William W. and Rebecca (Eckles) White, both of whom were born in the Keystone state. They each represented an old Dutch family, the an- cestry being traced back for several genera- tions to the early emigrants. What is rather
remarkable, they died within a few days of each other, and while not yet in middle life, he being thirty-eight and she thirty-nine. They left a family of eight children, Levi being at the time but thirteen. One other of the number-Thomas Eckles White- resides in Van Buren township. One is still living in Hocking county, Ohio. But one year previous to their deaths the parents had removed to Hocking county, Ohio, so that when the home was broken up the chil- dren were scattered among strangers.
For three years Levi White found a home with a neighbor by the name of Sliger, after which he worked by the month for various men until the outbreak of the war, when he enlisted in Company H, Fifty- eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in October, 1861. The regiment was part of the famous Lew Wallace brigade, over whom there continued so much heated controversy be- tween the leading generals for so many years. It was in the battles of Fort Donel- son and Shiloh, after which it was sent into Mississippi, and later transferred to Arkan- sas and ordered into Missouri, being sta- tioned for a time at the natural fortress of Pilot Knob. At the opening of the cam- paign of 1863 the regiment was sent to re- inforce General Sherman, participating in the battle at Arkansas Post. While on the transport going to Vicksburg Levi was stricken with pneumonia and was sent to the hospital at St. Louis, Missouri, being later transferred to the hospital at Colum- bus, Ohio. He lay nearly four months in bed not being expected to recover much of the time, but after convalescing he was as- signed to duty in the commissary department of the hospital, where he was retained dur- ing the remainder of his three years' service.
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He had been active in four of the hardest- fought battles of the west-Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Chickasaw Bluffs and Arkansas Post-and in every emergency did his duty faithfully, establishing a record for bravery and valor.
At the famous battle of Chickasaw Bluffs the regiment went into action with a strength of four hundred men and had but sixty- two to respond to roll-call after the battle, most of the missing being killed in the ac- tion. Led by the gallant Colonel Deaster they crossed a swamp under the enemy's fire and then charged up the brow of the hill in the face of a terrible hail of bullets, and were driven back with probably the greatest per cent. of loss suffered by any regiment in any single engagement. The attempt to carry the works was abandoned, Sherman retiring to Arkansas Post. Levi's place was ever in the front ranks, and his clothes were pierced by bullets many times, he receiving one injury from a piece of burst- ing shell striking him on the arm, which, while it did not disable him for the time being, has, in recent years, been the source of much pain and annoyance. His old regi- ment became so depleted that the attempt to keep it recruited was abandoned, the men being placed on various gunboats for the re- mainder of their service. The meeting with the old companions occasionally, since the war, has afforded him the greatest source of gratification of anything related to the service.
Soon after his discharge, in the fall of 1864, he was married at Columbus, Ohio, to Miss Caroline Borns, of North Baltimore, Ohio. He rented in Fairfield county till 1873, when, having saved about six hundred dollars, he came to Grant county, securing
the present tract of land. Paying thirty dollars per acre for eighty acres he found it necessary to assume an indebtedness of about six hundred dollars. There was then but fifteen acres cleared, with a small log house, but no drainage, so that it required fully, six years to complete the payments. He managed to live off the proceeds of the farm, extending the cultivated land as fast as possible. One of the greatest drawbacks was that fully one-half of the tract was un- der water, so that he could not even clear off the timber, but by securing outlets by pe- titions, he made it possible to place it all in cultivation: He has laid more than fifteen hundred rods of tile, reclaiming what was once pond and swamp and placing it in a condition to produce the heaviest crops of all kinds usually grown in this section of the state. By the addition of a convenient residence in 1898, he has brought the place up to a high standard, it being one of the best to be seen along a stretch of road pass- ing through many very fine farms. As soon as conditions would permit he bought more land, now owning two other valuable farms, one lying in Van Buren township which he has also greatly improved and which his son is operating, and one of eighty acres within a mile of the home place. He has proven one of the successful agriculturists, giving that attention to every detail that he recognized would be needed to make any other enterprise equally successful. The same energy and indomitable perseverance, under adverse circumstances, if turned in other channels would have been met with a commensurate degree of success, but the tastes and inclinations of Mr. White have held him to the line that he started upon.
The family of Mr. White are Curtis A.,
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Yearsley F., William E., Frank L., and John Irving. The eldest is a street railway employe at Dayton, Ohio, while all the others are farmers, the youngest operating his father's farm in Van Buren. The sec- ond attended the Marion Normal School and taught for three terms in Washington township. All are married, there being eight grandchildren among them.
Politically Mr. White is a Democrat and is often found in the party conventions and is considered one of the true blue, stanch and true Jacksonian Democrats. Himself and wife are identified with Morriss Chapel M. E. church and are counted among the most liberal of the supporters of the efforts at bettering the moral tone of the com- munity
ILARMAN WIGGER, SR.
Harman Wigger, Sr., represents a class of business men whose success is to be at- tributed to hard work, economy and untiring energy. He was born August 31, 1836, in the grand duchy of Oldenburg, Germany, being the eldest son of Diedrich and Mar- gret Wichman Wigger. There were three other sons, John Henry, Diedrich and John. The father was engaged in husbandry in the fatherland.
At the early age of eight years Harman left the parental roof, and as German boys are not allowed to grow up in idleness but are trained to lives of usefulness and in- (lustry, he was employed by his uncle Wig- ger ( for whom he was named) to herd sheep. During his early boyhood he was constantly employed at useful occupations. At the age of sixteen he, in company with
his uncle Aaron Able, embarked for Amer- ica on the sailing vessel Johannes. After a stormy voyage of eight weeks in the old sailing vessel they landed in Baltimore, bid- ding farwell to the old Johannes, which sank on her next return trip. Then began the trip westward. The party went from Baltimore to Cumberland, Pennsylvania, by rail. There they were compelled to take a mountain wagon, known in the west as a prairie schooner, to cross the Alleghany mountains to West Newton, Pennsylvania, as there was no railroad there at that time. From West Newton they went to Pitts- burg by boat, then again by boat down the Ohio river to Cincinnati. When Harman arrived there he was a fat German boy about sixteen years oldl, with but one or two ac- quaintances in the United States. He found employment as packer in the large patent medicine establishment of John D. Parks, where he remained for about one year. When he came to Indiana he located ir. Union City, where he was apprenticed for three years to learn the harness trade. After his term of apprenticeship he went to Win- chester and other places, where he worked at his trade for about five years. He then came to Grant county, where he has since lived. He went to Jonesboro, where he worked at his trade for some time, when he started up a shop of his own. By hard work and close attention to business he made a success and accumulated some property. He also owned a farm, which proved a source of profit as well as pleasure. This farm is now in the heart of Gas City and is covered with houses.
In 1860 Mr. Wigger was united in mar- riage to Mary J. Whitson, who died three years later, leaving one child, Nora A., who
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is now the widow of Henry Tucker, and makes her home with her father. His sec- ond union was with Sarah J. Ruley, daugh- ter of Burtney W. Ruley, a native of Vir- ginia, and an early settler in this county, where he was highly respected and held the office of county treasurer for nine years. She died in June, 1889, leaving one son, Kenton R. Wigger, who is one of the part- ners of the Wigger Buggy & Harness Com- pany. His third marriage was with Eliza M. Ruley, sister of his second wife.
In 1883 Mr. Wigger closed out his stock of goods and moved to Marion on Septem- ber Ist, where he bought a half interest in the harness business of Tom Nottingham, which, after two years, he sold and became the assistant of his brother J. H. Wigger in his large carriage and harness business. J. H. Wigger came to this county when a lad, where he learned the harness trade, and in 1864 Harman seeing the opportunity, urged his brother to come to Marion and start a shop, which he did, and almost every one in Grant county knows of his success.
In 1887, at the beginning of the boom ir Marion, Harman, in company with his brother, J. H., and Lee Pence, purchased eighty acres of land in the southern part of town, known as the Wigger and Pence addi- tion to Marion, which has been platted and almost entirely disposed of at a good profit to the company. This company, with others, was instrumental in securing the glass fac- tories, brick works and normal college for South Marion. At the death of his brother, J. H., in 1896, he urged his nephew, Harman H. Wigger, and his son, Kenton R., to buy the stock, which they did, he lending his assistance and backing them. His experi- ence and advice have been worth a great
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