USA > Indiana > Greene County > Biographical memoirs of Greene County, Ind. : with reminiscences of pioneer days, Volume I > Part 17
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Joseph Moss, whose birth occurred on the 21st day of September, 1843, spent his early life on the homestead in Stockton township and received his preliminary edu- cation in such indifferent schools as the country in those
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days afforded. Later he attended for two years the schools of Linton and four years in Bloomfield, after which he took charge of a country school, earning fifty- nine dollars for sixty days service as a teacher. After teaching three terms he engaged in merchandising in Lin- ton and continued that line of business from 1864 to 1869. handling a general store and hauling his goods by ox team from Carlisle, a distance of fifteen miles. Dispos- ing of his mercantile establishment in the latter year he moved to his farm and devoted his attention to agricul- ture until 1883, when he sold out and returned to Linton, where he has since resided, and with the recent business and industrial interests of which city he has been actively identified.
Mr. Moss in 1893 assisted in establishing the Linton Bank, which was operated as a private concern until 1906, when it was reorganized as a state bank, the orig- inators of the enterprise in addition to himself being O. W. Shryer, D. L. Terhune and J. H. Humphreys. In June, 1905, Mr. Moss purchased the several interests of his partners and doubling the capital stock, reorganized the institution as stated above, but subsequently sold part of the stock to Messrs. Humphreys and Terhune, but retained the presidency, which position he has filled from the original organization to the present time. Under his able management, assisted by the fifteen safe and conser- vative men constituting the stockholders, this bank is do- ing a very successful business and is now one of the most extensively patronized and popular institutions of the kind in the southwestern part of the state.
Mr. Moss was one of the organizers of the Citizens
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State Bank at Bloomfield, which began business in 1903 with a capital of thirty thousand dollars, and also took a leading part in the establishing, in 1905, of the Dugger State Bank, which has a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, and of which he is president and director. In addition to the above well known financial institutions, he was an influential factor in organizing, in 1906, the. Linton Trust Company, and he holds the office of presi- dent of the Commercial State Bank of Worthington, organized in October, 1906, besides being one of the four incorporators of the New Linton Hotel, representing a capital of thirty-five thousand ; he assisted in organizing the Linton Water Company, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, is president and director of the Linton Mill Company which is capitalized at twenty-four thou- sand dollars, and he holds a large block of stock in the Linton Rolling Mill, of which he is also treasurer, this enterprise representing investments to the amount of seventy-five thousand dollars, and he also is a stockholder and director in the Linton Ice Plant with forty thousand dollars capital. He is interested quite largely in real estate, owning in addition to a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and a half interest in one thousand acres of farm lands in various parts of Greene county, to say nothing of private holdings amounting to many thousand dollars of capital. Financially he ranks not only among the solid men of the city and county but in business circles throughout Indiana and other states his name has long been highly rated, and in various lines of enterprise, with which his name is connected, he enjoys a standing second to that of no other man similarly interested.
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In his political affiliation Mr. Moss is staunchly Democratic and as a local politician his opinions have always commanded respect and carried weight. As early as 1865 he was elected trustee of stockton, township, and after filling the office by successive re-elections for a period of six years, he served the people of Wright town- ship four terms in the same capacity.
In November, 1900, he was elected treasurer of Greene county and took charge of the office January I, 1902, and in November following was chosen his own successor, discharging; the duties of the position two full terms and acquitting himself as a faithful and efficient public servant whose record was above the breath of suspicion, and whose interest in behalf of one of the people's most important trusts gained him hundreds of warm personal friends, irrespective of political ties.
On March 24, 1867, occurred the marriage of Mr. Moss and Sallie Humphreys, of Greene county, Indiana, daughter of Honorable Andrew and Eliza (Johnson) Humphreys, natives of Tennessee and Ohio, respectively. The parents of Mrs. Moss were married in the county of Putnam in 1840, moved in 1842 to Greene county, where Mr. Humphreys became a prominent figure in public and political affairs, and for many years was one of the Dem- ocratic leaders in this section of the state. He represented the county in both branches of the legislature, was In- dian agent to Utah during the administration of Presi- dent Buchanan, and in 1876 was elected to Congress of the United States in which he served one term and made a very creditable record as a law-maker. He was a farmer the greater part of his life and a man of fine mind and will always be remembered as one of the coun-
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ty's most distinguished citizens ; he died June 24, 1904, his wife preceding him to the grave on February 4th of the ycar 1883. Mr. and Mrs. Humphreys had a family of six children whose names are as follows: Mrs. Emmeline Poe; Levi, deceased; Albert G. died in 1880, aged thirty years ; Mrs. Sallie A. Moss, born January 3, 1850; James Henry, and Andrew, who departed this life in 1875, at the age of seventeen.
Mr. and Mrs. Moss have never been blessed with children of their own, but they are popular with young people and their pleasant home is a favorite resort of the youth of the city, who find therein a generous hospitality which the kind host and hostess most graciously dis- pense. Mrs. Moss is an active member of the Christian church, a wide reader of religious literature and a care- ful student of many subjects. She also keeps abreast of the times in general literature, being a member of the Twentieth Century Club, of Bloomfield, the Mount Mel- lick Social Club and Eastern Star, the Christian Aid So- ciety, and is popular in the best society circles of the city in which she resides. Mr. Moss subscribes to the Bap- tist faith and holds membership in the church which wor- ships in Linton. He has been a Mason since 1865, has risen to high standing in the brotherhood, including the Royal Arch Degrees and the Order of the Eastern Star ; he also belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Moss was nominated on May 16, 1908, for the legislature by the Democratic ticket.
Mr. Moss contributed the ground, sixty-six by one hundred and twenty-six feet, on the northeast corner of Vincennes and First streets, for the Carnegie Library building. Mrs. Moss is vice-president of the building committee.
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JOHN W. GRAHAM.
Among the Scotch-Irish immigrants to Virginia at the close of the seventeenth century were a man and wife by the name of Graham, whose son Samuel was born in that state on the 4th day of October, 1807. His father dying while Samuel was yet a boy, his mother remarried, and some time after this occurred the son started out to seek his fortune in the new and undeveloped West, with Indiana as his objective point. Reaching his desti- nation in due time, he located in Lawrence county, where, in 1827, he met and married Mary Kilgore, who was born in that part of the state on July II of the year 1811. From Lawrence county Mr. and Mrs. Graham moved to what is now known as Raglesville, in the county of Da- viess, thence, after a brief residence, to Greene county, locating about three miles northwest of Owensburg, where they lived and prospered for a number of years. They next moved to the town of Owensburg, where Mr. Graham for many years was a justice of the peace and an influential man of affairs. Later this good couple changed their abode to Bedford, but subsequently re- turned to their former place, where, September 21, 1874. the faithful wife was called to the other world, and on April 21, 1888, she was rejoined in the land of silence by the husband with whom she had spent forty-seven years of happy wedded life.
The following are the names of the children born to Samuel and Mary Graham: Jane, Basil, Wilson, Ma- rion, Lafayette, Charles, Averilla, Ritta, Martha, Mi- nerva, infant that died unnamed, and John W., the sub- ject of this sketch, whose birth occurred on the 7th day of October, 1851.
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John W. Graham was reared under excellent home influence and grew up with well-defined ideas of life and duty. After receiving a good English education in the schools of Owensburg he devoted some time to the profession of teaching and later accepted a clerkship with a mercantile firm, in which capacity he continued until purchasing his employers' stock and becoming proprietor of the establishment. He conducted a successful busi- ness at Owensburg for several years and in 1887 moved to Bloomfield, where he was similarly engaged until 1894. meeting with encouraging results the meanwhile and be- coming widely and favorably known as a careful and methodical business man.
Mr. Graham early began taking a lively interest in political matters and in the year 1894 was nominated by the Republicans for clerk of the circuit court, to which office he was duly elected, after a very animated contest against a strong and popular competitor. After serving a full term of four years and displaying commendable ability as an able and accomplished official, he was ap- pointed deputy treasurer of state under Nathaniel U. Hill in 1903 and continued in that capacity until 1906, when he returned from Indianapolis to assume his duties as postmaster of Bloomfield, to which office he was appoint- ed in January of that year. In the various important trusts to which he has been called he has discharged the duties incumbent upon him in a manner satisfactory to all concerned and his relations with the public have been such as to win confidence and demonstrate the wisdom of his official course. He possesses sound sense, mature judgment, is public-spirited in the true sense of the term and enters heartily into all measures that have for their
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object the material advancement of his city and county and the moral welfare of his fellow men. A member of Bloomfield Lodge, No. 84, Free and Accepted Masons, he has been actively identified with the work of the or- der, and he is also an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias.
Mr. Graham's first marriage was solemnized in 1874 with Samantha Hatfield, whose birth occurred on Octo- ber 16, 1852, and who died September 27, 1882, leaving (wo children, Inez and Louie S., the former the wife of J. O. Walker, of Bloomfield, the latter a traveling sales- man for a wholesale firm. Mr. Graham's second wife, who bore the maiden name of Emma G. Baker, departed this life February 5, 1892, by whom he had three chil- dren, namely: Roxie, now deceased; Virgil, also de- ceased, and Rex A., now a student of the high schools of Bloomfield. On July 19th of the following year he entered the marriage relation with Hattie Burcham, who has borne him one child, Walter B., now in his eighth year.
Mr. Graham is interested in the coal mining busi- ness at Jasonville in company with the Letsinger Coal Company, which operates the Letsinger mine, which has an output of thirty cars per day.
CURTIS W. ADAMS.
It so happens that communities, towns, cities, states and even nations are measured morally by the good or
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evil reputation of their inhabitants. It is an old aphor- ism, "like king, like people," or "like people, like king," and it does no violence to philosophy to say, "like people, like town," in which respect the city of Bloomfield is pe- culiarly fortunate. In the course of its history. it has become the abiding place of a number of substantial and enterprising men, notable among whom is the wide- awake, energetic and progressive gentleman a brief re- view of whose career is herewith outlined, a gentleman of ideas as well as actions, whom to know is to esteem and honor and to whom one instinctively turns to find a representative of what is best and most commendable in the typical American of the times.
George Adams, the subject's father, was born in New Albany, Indiana, and his mother, who bore the name of Sarah Frances Houston, was a native of Paris, Kentucky, and a near relative of General Samuel Hous- ton, whose influence and leadership did more to emanci- pate Texas from Mexican rule than that of any other agency. Mrs. Adams sprang from an old Revolutionary family, representatives of which bore prominent parts in every war in which this country had been engaged, and the name became especially prominent in North Carolina, where a number of Mrs. Adams's ancestors settled in a very early day. George Adams in early life became a steamboat engineer, which calling he followed on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he resigned his position, and entering the Union army served with a creditable record till the close of the struggle. After his discharge he turned his at- tention to blacksmithing and was thus engaged at va-
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rious places until his removal to California some years ago, where he is now interested in horticulture, operating a fruit farm near the city of Napa. To George and Sa- rah F. Adams five children have been born, all living, the subject being the first in order of birth.
Curtis W. Adams is a native of the Hoosier state and first saw the light of day in the city of Bedford, Feb- ruary 12, 1865. At the proper age he entered the schools of that place, and after pursuing his studies until acquir- ing a practical English education, accepted a position in the railway service, to which he devoted the seven, ensu- ing years, rising the meanwhile to the position of con- ductor of trains. Severing his connection with the road, he accepted and is holding at this time the responsible position of bookkeeper of the Summit Coal Mining Com- pany, of Bloomfield, which corporation regards his ser- vices indispensable owing to his close application to busi- ness, coupled with his superior clerical ability.
As a member of the town board of Bloomfield he has manifested commendable zeal in bringing about much important municipal legislation, and to him as much per- haps as to any other is due the creditable standing the city now enjoys materially and otherwise.
In politics Mr. Adams is a Republican, and as such wields a strong influence for his party, both in local and general affairs; but he has never been a partisan in the sense of seeking office or aspiring to leadership.
On November 4, 1890, Mr. Adams was united in the bonds of wedlock with Litta Lamb, of Bloomfield, daughter of J. T. and Mary (Dugger) Lamb, the union resulting in the birth of one child, a daughter of the
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name of Josephine, who first saw the light of day April 7, 1893. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have a beautiful home in Bloomfield which is the abode of a free and generous hospitality, and they move in the best society circles of the city. They are highly esteemed for their many es- timable qualities of head and heart and enjoy a popu- larity second to that of none of their many friends and acquaintances. .
WILLIAM M. HAIG.
William M. Haig is a native of Greene county. His parents were William H. and Mary ( Richardson) Haig. and he was born February 6, 1866. Their home was in Scotland, in the extreme south part of the county, where, for many years, the father was a merchant, and where he ended his days after a most successful effort to gather a sustenance for himself and family. The mother is still living. Eight children were in this family-John, a physician, now living and practicing in LeRoy, Illinois : James C., who died when only eighteen years of age of smallpox, and at the same time his father died; Mary E .. who married E. I. Ingles, of Indianapolis; Charles S., who died in childhood; William M., our subject ; Leota, deceased wife of C. E. Welsh, of Bloomfield; Alpha D., assistant cashier of the bank at Bloomfield : Theodosia, (leceased in young womanhood.
Our subject was raised at Scotland until he was six- teen years of age. He then came with his family to
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Bloomfield, where he attended school, getting a fairly good education such as the public schools of Bloomfield could give. While attending school here he also entered a bank as an errand boy, where he has been identified all his life, which is now known as the Bloomfield State Bank. It was organized at first as a private institution, and known only as the Bloomfield Bank, the proprietors being M. H. and O. W. Shryer, and it did business suc- cessfully for over thirty years. In 1907 it was reorgan- ized, enlarged and given its present name. It now has a capital of thirty thousand dollars, with two hundred thousand dollars deposits, and in standing it is the sec- ond bank in Greene county. The present officers are : Elmer E. Neal, president ; Cyrus E. Davis, vice-president ; W. M. Haig, our subject, cashier, and A. D. Haig, as- sistant cashier.
On June 27, 1900, Mr. Haig was married to Pearl Edwards, daughter of George W. and May Worrall Ed- wards. His father-in-law was not only a business man running a successful business in Spencer, but he is also county auditor of Owen county. Mr. and Mrs. Haig have had two children born to them and they are the pride and joy of their father's heart. They are Helen E. and Mary G. They have not only a happy but a beauti- ful home as well, and Mr. Haig takes great pride in glad- dening the surroundings of his family. He is still de- voting his energies to the institution in which he has spent the best part of his life, and as a result of his as- siduous application to business the bank has grown in standing and established its stability in the confidence of all with whom it does business.
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Mr. and Mrs. Haig are earnest and consistent mem- bers of the Baptist church and take great pleasure in their Christian duties.
JOHN W. WOLFORD.
John W. Wolford, the subject, who is a coal oper- ator, merchant, financier and public-spirited man of af- fairs, is of Ohio birth and traces his family history in this country as far back as the Revolutionary period. According to the most reliable data accessible, the ances- tors of the American branch of Wolfords, a native of Scandinavia, but a resident of Hesse Cassel, Germany, and one of five brothers and a conscript in the army of that kingdom, was one of the soldiers hired to King George III for the purpose of subduing his rebellious subjects in the American colonies during the latters' struggle for independence. This unwilling soldier in a cause he detested was captured by the Americans at the battle of Trenton, and refusing to return to the former allegiance, he subsequently settled in one of the western colonies, where he married and reared a family, descend- ants of which are now to be met in various parts of the Union.
John Wolford, father of the subject, was born August 3, 1809, in Pennsylvania, but left that state many years ago, settling in Coshocton county, Ohio, where he married and lived until about the year 1856, when he moved his family to Greene county, Indiana, which con-
John W wolford
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tinued to be his abiding place during the remainder of his life. Nancy Musgrave, who became the wife of John Wolford, was born at Alexandria, Virginia, in the year 1815, the daughter of English parents whose antecedents were among the old families of Virginia, coming to this country prior to the war of the Revolution. Mrs. Wol- ford departed this life in 1872, her husband two years later. They had five children, Alice, the oldest of whom, married a Mr. Linus Clayton, dying at Linton in 1905. John W., of this review, was the second of the family, following whom are Moses F., of Eureka City, Califor- nia; Mrs. Nancy J. McBride, a widow, living at Linton, and Joseph T., a farmer, of Stockton township, Greene county.
John W. Wolford was born November 20, 1837, and grew to manhood's estate in his native county of Co- shocton, his educational privileges being limited to the common schools of the same. In 1859, when twenty-one years of age, he came to Greene county, Indiana, and lo- cated at Linton with the subsequent growth and develop- ment of which he has since been actively identified, also deeply interested in various lines of enterprise outside the city. Not long after coming to Indiana he became inter- ested in the mineral deposits of Greene county and other counties, foreseeing with remarkable accuracy the vast source of wealth lying hidden beneath the surface of the ground, and realizing the immense volume to which the industry would grow when properly developed, he turned his attention to mining, and in due time opened the first coal mine in the county.
Since then he has developed other and still larger
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mines, and to him more than to any other man is due the remarkable growth of the coal industry in this part of the state. At this time he operates seven mines, and does a very extensive business, giving employment to a small army of men and proving a source of great wealth to the owners.
In connection with his mining interests Mr. Wol- ford is identified with the commercial business of Lin- ton, where he opened a general store in 1878, which he has operated since, it now being the largest department store in southern Indiana, a force of twenty-two clerks being required to meet the demands of the numerous pa- trons of the establishment. Mr. Wolford's two sons, Ed- win and Thomas, are associated with him in this large and growing business, the firm known as Wolford & Sons, being also interested in various other enterprises, including the Linton rolling mill, the production of coal and the manufacture of high explosives used in mining. The amount of business annually done by this firm is second to that of a few firms or companies in the state, while its reputation for fair and upright dealing has not been the least among the various agencies that have con- tributed to its phenomenal success, and given the names of the members wide publicity and honorable mention. In addition to the lines of enterprise they are stockholders in the Linton bank, of which institution Edmund Wol- ford is a director, and the firm has also valuable property interests, both real and personal, in various parts of Greene and other counties of southern Indiana.
Mr. Wolford has been a notary public for the last thirty years, and notwithstanding the stress of his busi-
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ness affairs, he finds time to devote to the matter of pen- sions, having prosecuted a large number of claims to successful issues, in this way bringing help and property to many families throughout the county, which but for his interest in their behalf would have felt the blighting touch of poverty. Mr. Wolford possesses a well-balanced mind, mature judgment, business ability of a high order, and is a natural leader of men. He appears to be en- dowed by nature for large and important enterprises, takes broad and liberal views of men and things, and in no small degree is a moulder of thought and opinion among those with whom he has business and other re- lations. A Democrat in politics, he has made his influ- ence felt in the councils of his party, and while never an officeseeker, he served two terms as trustee of Stockton township, and was twice elected mayor of Linton. In religion he holds to the Baptist faith and has long been an active worker in the church at Linton, in which he now holds the position of deacon. In 1872 he was made a Mason in Bloomfield Lodge, No. 54, and since that date has been an enthusiastic worker in the fraternity, including the Royal Arch and other high degrees, serv- ing eight years as worshipful master of the Blue lodge. He is also identified with the Order of the Eastern Star, and has contributed much to the success of that or- ganization.
Mr. Wolford was married May 31, 1860, to Martha E. Lund, whose parents, Thomas and Christina (Dalby) Lund, were natives of England and early pioneers of Greene county. This union was blessed with the birth of four sons, Edwin L. and Thomas S., already mentioned
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being partners of their father and leading business men of southwestern Indiana; William, the third in order of birth, died in 1906, leaving a wife and three children to' mourn their loss. He, too, was a capable business man and exemplary citizen, and his untimely death was great- ly deplored by all who enjoyed the favor of his acquaint- ance; Eliner, the youngest of the family, and a youth of intelligence and great promise, died at the carly age of eighteen years. The mother of these children, a lady of large heart and generous sympathies, beloved by a large circle of friends, was called to the unseen world in the month of February, 1903. Subsequently, November, 1905, Mr. Wolford married his present wife and help- meet, Florence McDowell, who was born and reared in the town of Springville, Lawrence county, Indiana.
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