USA > Indiana > Greene County > Biographical memoirs of Greene County, Ind. : with reminiscences of pioneer days, Volume I > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
Mr. Freeman discharged his official functions with
-
340
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the people and gained an honorable reputation as a capable, painstaking and at all times obliging and exceedingly popular public servant. After the expiration of his official term in 1893 he removed to Sullivan, where he remained but one year, when he changed his residence to Linton, with the indus- trial growth and development of which place he has since been actively identified, as already indicated, prominent in promoting the city's material interests and influential in nearly every enterprise affecting the welfare of the populace.
Mr. Freeman's financial success has been commen- surate with the energy and progressive methods displayed in his various undertakings, and he is today classed with the substantial men who have given the city its wide pub- licity as an important business center and added to its reputation as a safe place for the investment of capital. It was largely through his instrumentality that the differ- ent companies and associations with which his name is closely associated were established, and to his energy and individual efforts more than to those of any other indi- vidual are they indebted for the prosperity which they now enjoy. Among these varied interests are the United Fourth Vein Coal Company, of which he is president ; the Green Valley Coal Company, to which he sustains the re- lation of president and general manager ; the Linton Roll- ing Mills, of which he is also the chief executive, besides being president of the United States Powder Company at Coalmont, president and general manager of the Glen Ayr . Coal Company, four miles east of Terre Haute ; president of the First National Bank of Jasonville, president of the
341
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
Jasonville Mercantile Company, president of the Linton Opera House Company, in addition to which enterprises he is officially and otherwise connected with numerous other interests in Linton, Jasonville and Terre Haute, owning much valuable property in these places, to say nothing of his holdings elsewhere, which, with those enu- merated, represents a comfortable private fortune. Al- though pre-eminently a man of affairs and a natural lead- er of men, Mr. Freeman is entirely without pretense and has never courted the publicity and ostentation in which so many favorites of fortune delight. With deference to his becoming public modesty, however, it would be gross injustice to Linton and to the people who hold him in such high and universal esteem not to award to him at least a portion of the praise that is manifestly his due and in some manner to bear witness to the remarkable series of achievements which have contributed so greatly to the re- cent growth and development of Linton's business and industrial enterprises and won for him a conspicuous place among the leading men of his day and generation in the city and state of his adoption.
By the sheer force of his powerful personality as well as by combining within himself the element of the success- ful politician and leader, Mr. Freeman has forged to the front in the councils of the Republican party, and, as stated in a preceding paragraph, he became an acknowl- edged power in local political circles before his removal to Greene county. Since becoming a resident of this part of the state his activity has grown rather than decreased and he stands today with few peers as a successful party leader and campaigner. In 1900 he was a delegate to the
342
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
national Republican convention that nominated William . Mckinley for the presidency and the same year he was his party's candidate for the upper house of the general assembly, but by reason of the overwhelming strength of the opposition failed of election by a small majority. Al- though deeply interested in the leading questions of the day and profoundly versed on matters and issues concern- ing which men and parties divide, he is not a partisan 1101 an aspirant for official honors, being, above all else, a business man, and making every other consideration sub- ordinate to his interests as such.
In addition to his long and eminently useful business career, Mr. Freeman has to his credit an honorable mili- tary record also, enlisting in an Ohio regiment in the spring of 1864 and served until the cessation of hostilities, entering the army at the age of eighteen and sharing with his comrades the fortunes and vicissitudes of war in a number of campaigns. Since the close of that memorable struggle he has devoted his attention closely and exclu- ยท sively to the various duties and enterprises mentioned in the preceding lines, with the result as already indicated.
Personally Mr. Freeman is a gentleman of unblem- ished reputation and strict integrity, his private charac- ter as well as his career in public places as a custodian of high and important trusts having been above reproach. He is a vigorous as well as independent thinker, and has the courage of his convictions upon all matters and sub- jects which he investigates. He is also essentially cos- mopolitan in his ideas, a man of the people in all the term implies, and in the best sense of the word a representative of the strong, virile American manhood which commands
343
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
and retains esteem by reason of inherent merit, sound sense and correct conduct. Much depends upon being well born, in which respect Mr. Freeman has indeed been truly blessed, being a man of heroic mould and of su- perb physique-in brief, a splendid specimen of well- rounded, symmetrically developed manhood, with mental qualities in harmony therewith. His commanding height and correspondingly well knit frame make him a marked figure wherever he goes.
He is a thirty-second degree Mason, belonging to the old historic lodge in Vincennes, No. I, the first organiza- tion of the kind in Indiana, and he also holds membership with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lin- ton Lodge, No. 866, in both of which fraternities he has been honored at various times with important official po- sitions and in the deliberations of which he takes an active and influential part.
Mr. Freeman is a gentleman of domestic tastes and takes a loving interest in the palatial and attractive home of which he is the head and which is perhaps one of the finest specimens of residence architecture in southern In- diana. Within the delightful precincts of a charming home circle he finds rest from the cares and anxieties of business life and in the enjoyment of the many favors with which he has been blessed diffuses a generous hospitality, as free as it is genuine, to all who may claim it. The pre- siding spirit of this domestic establishment is a lady of gracious presence and attractive personality, to whom he was happily married March 8, 1868, and who, prior to that time, was Martha J. Tranter, daughter of William and Margaret Tranter, of Washington, Indiana. Mr.
1
344
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
and Mrs. Freeman are the parents of six children, whose names are as follows: William and Clarence, of Terre Haute; Grace, who married W. A. Craig, of Linton ; Ma- bel, wife of Jasper Schloot, also of Linton; Lizzie and Harry, the last two dying in childhood.
Mr. Freeman is a man of generous impulses, whose hand and purse are ever open to the poor and unfortunate and who contributes liberally to all worthy enterprises for the amelioration of human suffering. He also manifests an abiding interest in whatever makes for the social ad- vancement of his city and the intellectual and moral good of his fellow men, being a friend of schools, churches and other organizations, through the medium of which society is improved and humanity lifted to a higher plane. Al- though a very busy man, with interests that require al- most his entire time and attention, he is nevertheless easily approachable, and in the social circle or among the con- genial spirits with ideas and tastes similar to his own, he is one of the most companionable and delightful of men. The better to look after and manage his large and varied enterprises, he has offices at Linton, Jasonville and Terre Haute, which he visits as occasion may demand.
JOHN T. LAMB.
Few men in Greene county have been as long before the public as John T. Lamb, of Bloomfield, and none have been more active and influential in furthering the inter- est of the community or done more to promote the wel- fare of the people of this part of the state. Mr. Lamb
-
345
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
springs from good old Colonial stock and on the paternal side traces his family through several generations to Eng- land, of which country his great-great-grandfather, Col- onel John Lamb, was a native. This Colonel Lamb came to America among the early English colonists, and set- tled at Jamestown, Virginia, where he joined the army under Washington and served with distinction to the close of the struggle, rising by successive promotions from private to the rank of colonel .. He was with the commander-in-chief through all the varied experiences of battle, defeat and final victory, taking part in the differ- ent campaigns and engagements which made that period historic, was at Valley Forge and witnessed the surren- der of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, which virtually terminated the war. He was a brave and skillful officer, distinguished for gallantry in action, and while leading his command against the enemy was several times wounded, but not seriously. Gayland Lamb, son of the colonel, and a member of the Society of Friends in North Carolina, where the family moved in an early day, was so radical and outspoken in his opposition to slavery that he aroused the dislike and enmity of many of his neigh- bors and fellow citizens, who were wont to apply to him and his family the epithet of "poor white trash," because, forsooth, he refused to utilize the labor of the poor un- fortunate human beings held to involuntary servitude. Among the children of Gayland Lamb was a son by the name of Salathel, a native of North Carolina, and by oc- cupation a mechanic, having been equally skilled as a cab- inetmaker, wagonmaker and blacksmith. In 1833 Sala- thel Lamb and John Green, his partner, and grandfather
-
346
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
of our subject, made three wagons, in one of which the latter moved from Guilford county, North Carolina, to Hendricks county, Indiana, and settled near Danville, where he entered land, improved a farm and spent the residue of his life. Mr. Lamb migrated about the same time to Monroe county, Indiana, thence removed to Greene county and entered land north of Owensburg, where he made a home and became one of the substantial citizens of the community, dying in that locality a num- ber of years ago. John Lamb, son of Salathel and fa- ther of the subject of this review, came to Indiana in the early thirties and lived on the home farm near Owens- burg until 1883, when he retired to Bloomfield, where his death occurred in the year 1889. He was born in Guilford (now Greensborough) county, North Carolina, married there on October 14, 1831, Patsy Green, daugh- ter of his father's partner, and about the year 1833 be- came a citizen of Greene county, Indiana, settling in the dense woods which at that time were infested with wild animals, numerous and some of them quite dangerous. The original house in which he lived is still standing, being a two-story structure only five logs high, each log three feet in diameter.
Mrs. Lamb was a descendant of General Nathaniel Greene, of Revolutionary fame, and inherited the dis- like of involuntary servitude which characterized the Quaker family to which she belonged. She is said to have planted the cotton, cultivated the plants, picked the crop, spun the thread and wove it into the fabrics from which she made her wedding dress. She was a true type of the noble pioneer mother developed by the period
347
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
in which she lived, whose whole life was a simple though grand poem of rugged, toilsome duty, faithfully and un- complainingly performed. To John W. and Patsy Lamb were born eight children, all but one that died in infancy growing to maturity-three sons and four daughters- two of the latter being deceased.
John T. Lamb, sixth child and third son of the above couple, was born in Greene county, Indiana, June 10, 1844, and spent his early life on the home farm near Owensburg. While still a mere lad he learned by prac- tical experience the true meaning of honest toil, and not many years had passed by ere he began maturing plans for his future course of action. In connection with labor in the woods and fields he attended, as opportunities af- forded, the subscription schools of the neighborhood. By making the most of these limited advantages he became in due time fairly well educated, but it was not until after 1854 that he was enabled to attend the free schools, and then for only a brief time. At the early age of six years he had a severe and well nigh fatal case of spotted fever which, settling in his hips, made him a permanent cripple, thus handicapping him not a little by keeping him from carrying into effect plans which otherwise might have materially modified his course of life.
When but sixteen years old Mr. Lamb entered upon his career as a teacher, from which time until 1868 he was engaged in educational work in connection with ag- ricultural pursuits, discontinuing both these lines of ef- fort in that year to embark in the mercantile business. After selling goods for four years he accepted the posi- tion of deputy sheriff of Greene county, and. the better
348
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
to discharge his official duties, changed his residence to Bloomfield, where he has since made his home. Retiring from the deputyship at the expiration of his term of four years, he resumed teaching and continued the same from 1876 to 1886, the meantime adding considerably to his reputation and income by teaching classes in voca! mu- sic. Mr. Lamb's services as a vocalist were always mich in demand, being a fine singer and a very efficient in- structor. He organized a number of glee clubs in dif- ferent parts of the country, one of which, consisting of one hundred voices, became widely known and quite pop- ular during the campaign of 1876. On several occasions during the contest of that year this club, in a large wagon drawn by forty-eight elegantly caparisoned horses, at- tended public rallies and was the chief object of interest to the crowds in attendance.
In 1886 Mr. Lamb was elected superintendent of the public schools of Greene county to fill a vacancy, and one year later was chosen his own successor, filling the office by successive re-elections three and one-half years and discharging the duties of the office in an able and ac- ceptable manner, as the continuous advancement of the schools during his incumbency abundantly proves. Re- tiring from the superintendency, Mr. Lamb, in 1890, purchased The Bloomfield News, which he conducted in partnership with William B. Maddock for a period of nine years. The News was a weekly Republican newspaper and commercial job office, and upon. taking charge of the News seventy-five per cent. of the offices of the county were held by Democrats, and upon selling out his interests to his son-in-law the county offices were held entirely by Republicans.
1
349
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
Mr. Lamb is a pronounced Republican and has long been an influential factor in his party, attending and tak- ing an active part in conventions and other gatherings and contributing largely to the success of the ticket in Greene county. In 1896 he was elected chairman of the second congressional district and has also represented the same district on the Republican state committee, besides serving repeatedly on the county committee, where his services were of especial value. Since the above year, however, he has not been as active in public and political matters as formerly, devoting his time principally to the large real estate business in which he is now engaged and in which his success has been very satisfactory.
On January 5, 1865, Mr. Lamb was united in mar- riage to Nancy. E. Dugger, a native of Greene county, and a union resulting in the birth of six children-two sons and four daughters, both the former deceased. The older son, who lived to maturity, was an engineer, and met his death by accident in a mill. Litta married C. W. Adams, of Bedford; Nora is the wife of W. B. Mad- dock, of Bloomfield; Charity, now Mrs. Walter T. Brown, an abstracter and attorney and ex-superintendent of the Bloomfield schools, lives in Bloomfield; Mary, an alumnus of the State University, is still with her par- ents. Mr. Lamb owns forty-one acres adjoining the town of Bloomfield, and also platted eight acres, which is called Lamb's addition to the town of Bloomfield. Mr. and Mrs. Lamb and family are members of the Christian church. Mr. Lamb has never used tobacco in any form and has never used intoxicants, and the family are all musically inclined.
350
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
CLEMON QUILL GOAD.
Littleton Goad, the father of Clemon Q. Goad, the subject of this sketch, had a brilliant record in the Mexi- can war, having served from the first until its close. He worked as a blacksmith during his entire life. Coming from Tennessee early in life he settled in Richland town- ship, Greene county, Indiana, where he also farmed and conducted a shop. He was a Republican and a member of the Christian church. He married Martha Jane Jones in Tennessee, who died in Center township. He died in Richland township. They had nine children, namely : Annie, deceased; Arros, deceased ; Jordan, who lives near Marco, Indiana, and who was in the Ninety-seventh Reg- iment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry; Sophia, deceased ; Clemon Q., subject of this sketch; Abraham, a black- smith, living in Crawford county, Kansas, who was in the same regiment with Jordan during the Civil war; Susan Jane, deceased; Martha Jane, deceased ; Jacob, de- ceased, who was in Company C, Forty-third Regiment. Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
Clemon Q. Goad was born in Richland township. Greene county, Indiana, May 17, 1840. He had no chance to go to school, and lived at home until 1855, when he married Lucy Roach, of his own community. She was the daughter of John Roach, who was a corporal in the Mexican war, and was a splendid soldier. The following children were the result of the subject's first marriage: John, deceased; Isabella, who is married and living in Arkansas; Sophia, deceased ; Frank, deceased ; Lena, who married Ransom Raper, of Washington town-
-
35I
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
ship; James F., a farmer at Plummer Station, Indiana. The subject married his second wife, Martha J. Goad, in Greene county. They had one son, Sherman. The subject married a third time, choosing Sallie Goad, of his native township. She was the daughter of Payton and Sophia (Jones) Goad, natives of Tennessee. They came to Greene county when children with their parents. He was a farmer, and they lived here until their death and were the parents of ten children, namely: Martha J., deceased; Lucinda, living near Marco, Indiana; Pri- cella, deceased; Sallie, wife of the subject; Berry, de- ceased; Peggy, deceased ; Jacob, Amos and Edith, all de- ceased; Dorothy, who now lives in Marco, Indiana.
On August 28, 1861, Mr. Goad enlisted in Company C, Forty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and soon went to Camp Vigo, Terre Haute, to drill. He was sent into Kentucky, where he spent the following winter. He went to New Madrid, Missouri, and fought also at Island No. 10, Riddles Point, Fort Pillow, Memphis, Helena, Cold Water, Fort Pendleton, St. Charles, Little Rock, Little Missouri River, Grand Prairie and Saline River. He was mustered in as a teamster. He was discharged in the fall of 1864. After the war he located in Rich- land township and moved to different places until 1881, when he bought thirty-five acres of land where he now lives in his native township. He is a member of the Church of God and a voter in the "grand old party." He is a member of the Masonic Blue Lodge, of Bloomfield, the teachings of which he applies to his daily life in his dealings with his fellow men as well as his home life.
352
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
DR. BISHOP ASBURY ROSE.
One of the best general practitioners of medicine as well as one of the most influential and widely known men in Linton, Indiana, is the subject of this brief review ; in fact, his fame as a skilled physician long ago penetrated to the remote corners of Greene county, where he has justly won the unqualified esteem of all who know him. He was born at Nashville, Brown county, Indiana, November 29, 1849, the son of Elihu E. and Ellen A. (Ellett) Rose, the former a native of East Tennessee, where he was born in 1825, and the later a native of Monroe county, Indiana, the year of her birth being the same as that of her hus- band. Elihu Rose came to Clay county, Indiana, when four years old with his father, John Rose, a native of North Carolina, who located on a farm in Clay county, Indiana, in 1829. His wife was a native of East Tennessee. The names of the brothers and sisters of Dr. Rose follow : Josephine, deceased ; Dr. B. A. Rose was the second child; Flora R. is the wife of W. H. Brown, of Indianapolis; Charles E. is manager of the Grand - Opera House in Linton.
Dr. B. A. Rose, the subject of this sketch, was edu- cated in the common schools and at Asbury, now De Pauw University, after which he began study in the medical department of the Louisville, Kentucky, Univer- sity. He was graduated from the Ohio Medical College, at Cincinnati, in 1875, and began practicing at Lyons, Greene county, Indiana, in 1872, and has practiced con- tinuously ever since. He took a post-graduate course in Chicago and later in New Orleans, making exceptionally
-
B. a. Rose MA
353
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
good records in both. He also began in 1869 the study of medicine in a course prescribed by and under old Dr. Jason N. Connelly, of Bloomfield, Indiana. In 1870 he completed a three years' preparatory course under Dr. John W. Gray (whose sketch appears in this volume).
With one exception, Dr. B. A. Rose is the oldest . physician in Linton. He has a large acquaintance with the people of his county and the medical men of the state, among whom he holds a high and honored posi- tion. For the past twelve years it has been the doctor's custom to spend the winter at some of his favorite resorts in the South, especially in Florida and Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
The subject was happily married in 1876 to Eva Arnold, of Lyons, Indiana. One son was born to this union, Claude E. Rose, now a veterinary surgeon in Lin- ton. He is a graduate of the Indiana State Veterinary College at Indianapolis, and he married Dora Penna, daughter of Phil Penna, secretary of the Coal Operators' Association of the United States. Mrs. Rose died in 1884, and the doctor chose for his present companion, Lola M. Rector, the accomplished daughter of Jesse Rector, of Linton. They were married in 1891. Two sons were born to this union, making brighter their already pleasant home, Embree R. and Delano W., both in school in 1908, and both giving promise of brilliant future careers.
Dr. Rose is a member of the Greene County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Association and the. American Medical Association, in all of which his voice has much weight in their deliberations. He has fre- 23
354
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
quently been president of the county organization. He served nine years a member of the Linton school board. He is a Democrat in political affiliations. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank in Linton and is a director and vice-president in this organization. He owns valuable farming lands near Linton, aggre- gating over four hundred acres, half of which is under- laid with coal. The doctor owns a large and handsome residence in Linton and an office building two stories high, occupying three lots, and he has extensive mining interests in Montana.
Dr. Rose has been in Linton since it was a village of . only one hundred and fifty souls, when the adjacent farm- ing lands were almost wholly unimproved. In those days his professional riding was done on horseback, as there were but few roads opened and they were of the worst type. Dr. Rose is a charter member of the Ma- sonic fraternity, Knights of Pythias and Elks lodges in Linton and he is past master and a Royal Arch Mason, Past Chancellor Commander Knights of Pythias and was one of the first trustees of the Elks.
The subject has had no military experience, but his father, Elihu Rose, raised a company for the Twenty- first Indiana Volunteer Infantry and served as captain of Company E until the regiment was reorganized as the First Heavy Artillery. Captain Elihu Rose was transferred with the latter organization to New Orleans and then was provost marshal of that city under General B. F. Butler, the military governor, and a warm personal friend of Captain Rose.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.