USA > Indiana > Greene County > Biographical memoirs of Greene County, Ind. : with reminiscences of pioneer days, Volume III > Part 27
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CLAUDE S. MOSS.
Typical of the spirit of Linton-a spirit of youth, progress and industry-essential in the success of com- munities as well as individuals, is the character of the subject of our sketch, Claude S. Moss, circulation man- ager of The Linton Daily Call.
Endowed with unmistakable talents and fortified with an experience in various lines, he has the happy faculty of succeeding in every pursuit that enlists his energies. As circulation manager of The Call, he has built up a circulation for that splendid daily that is not eclipsed by any paper in any city of similar importance in the state.
Claude S. Moss was born at Riley, Indiana, October 12. 1880, the oldest son of William M. and Callie ( Scott) Moss. He was educated in the public schools of Bloom- field, where his father moved in the early eighties, and at the University of Notre Dame. He was engaged in the mercantile business at Bloomfield for a few years, and later accepted a position as credit manager with the New Home Sewing Machine Company at Chicago. He re- mained in this responsible position for three years, 1900- 1903, and resigned to accept a position as traveling sales- man for another Chicago firm. As a commercial sales- man he was eminently successful, standing close to the top in his record of sales among the salesman in his line in the United States. He followed this vocation for three years, resigning to come to Linton and assume the management of the circulation department of The Call.
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Mr. Moss was married June 12, 1905, to Bertie Mc- Grath, daughter of Patrick McGrath, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who has borne him one son, Alton Marshall Moss, born November 18, 1906.
Mr. Moss is an Elk, Knight of Pythias, and a mem- ber of the Woodmen of the World, and is one of the most popular young business men of Linton.
WILLIAM H. DECKARD.
Among those who have been prominently concerned in the ushering in of new areas of industrial activity in Greene county stands William H. Deckard, ex-county auditor and now one of the leading business men of the county, where he has been a potent factor in the political. vivil and moral advancement of her citizens for more than a quarter of a century. His extensive interests place him among the leaders in industrial circles in this section of Indiana, and he has achieved that success which is the logical result of enterprise, systematic effort, resolute pur- pose and straightforward methods. There are no other qualities absolutely essential to development, and upon the ladder of his own building he has climbed to promi- nence and prosperity, while in the community with whose interests he is so closely and conspicuously identified he is held, in the highest esteem and confidence by members of all political parties, since his integrity and honesty of purpose are questioned by none.
Mr. Deckard is the son of John and Mahalia ( Butch-
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er) Deckard, having been born in Sullivan county, In- diana, April 21, 1856. He attended the common schools there and applied himself in a most assiduous manner. which resulted in a good education, considering the ad- vantages of those days. Having been reared on a farm, he naturally learned agriculture and began his life as a farmer, locating on eighty acres near Lyons, Greene county, where he was so successful that he was later able to add two hundred and fifteen acres. His present farm near Lyons, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres of well improved land, equal to any in the county, is worth one hundred and forty dollars per acre. In all he owns two hundred and twelve acres in Greene county, fifty-two acres of which lies just north of the corporation line of Bloomfield, which is a fine location for a home ad- jacent to this beautiful and thriving city. He still owns five hundred acres of land in Hartley county, Texas. In connection with farming he has taken up the real estate. insurance and loan business under the firm name of Deck- ard & Endres, besides being interested in the chair works of Bloomfield and a stockholder in the Bloomfield State Bank. The subject is also interested in the oil business in Oklahoma, being identified with the American Oil and Gas Company. In all his business affairs he has shown rare executive ability and foresight, seldom mak- ing a mistake in any venture. He has made most of his property by trading in farm lands and carrying on a gen- eral farming and stock raising business.
The subject was happily married in 1877 to Eliza Pitcher, a native of Shelby county, Indiana. Eight chil- dren-Lex V., Olive, Florence, Oscar W., Estella May,
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Elnora, Bert, Gertrude and Lucile-have been born to this union. Lex V. Deckard, the subject's son, gradu- ated from the law department of the University of In- diana in June, 1908: Olive Florence is living at home ; Estella May and Elnora are both deceased; Bert, Ger- trude and Lucile are students in the Bloomfield schools. Mrs. Deckard is a member of the Methodist church. Fra- ternally Mr. Deckard is a charter member of the Ma- sonic lodge at Lyons. He is also a charter member of the Royal Arch Masons at Bloomfield, and a charter member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Lyons. He is also a charter member of the Modern Woodmen at the same place, and of the Protective Or- der of Elks, Lodge No. 866, at Linton. He takes a great interest in lodge work and his daily life would in- dicate that he is endeavoring to carry out their good precepts.
Mr. Deckard is a loyal Democrat and takes an ac- tive part in political affairs. He was mentioned and elected trustee of Grant township. Greene county, in 1888, carrying a Republican township by forty-five votes, which had previously gone Republican by thirty-five votes. He served in this capacity for seven years and four months. He was nominated for auditor of Greene county by his Democratic friends in 1896 and was de- feated by H. L. Doney by one hundred and thirty-one votes. The county was six hundred Republican. In 1900 he was again nominated for the same place and was elected against Dr. P. M. Cook by two hundred and forty votes, the county still being six hundred Republican. He was renominated in 1904 and was defeated by two hun-
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dred and thirty votes, the largest vote on the Republican county ticket being one thousand and one hundred. This shows Mr. Deckard's great popularity in Greene county among both parties. In the last election not one Democrat was elected. Not even a supervisor. In Grant township, the home of the subject, he carried far more than the strength of his party, and he carried Beech Creek township, one of the strong- est Republican townships, by forty-five votes when that township was one hundred and forty Republican, he being the only Democrat who ever carried the township. Everybody says he did ample justice in handling the au- ditor's office, all parties being well pleased with his work. In his official capacity all the people with whom he came in contact received the same courteous treatment, regard- less of political affiliations.
In all his political career Mr. Deckard has never asked for a single nomination to any office, all nomina- tions having been given by acclamation or unanimous consent. He is now out of politics only for his friends, feeling grateful to his many friends in the opposite party. Mr. Deckard's career, both in public and in business, has always been unassailable, even by his most pronounced opponents, lis conscientiousness, high integrity and abil- ity being highly respected by all who know him.
PHILIP J. HARRAH.
It has been often questioned whether the times make useful and distinguished men or such men make the times.
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Certain it is that during the closing years of the last century and the opening of the one now so bright with promise there has been a marked development of practical science and skill, and wonderful advancement in the va- rious lines of inventive industry and mechanical ingenu- ity. Every year has increased this development. The demand for men who can concentrate their minds or turn their hands for the purpose of bringing about desired re- stilts has been unparalleled in the history of the human race. The supply has been as wonderful as the demand, for on every hand, in every sphere of activity, the keen, shrewd and closely observing, far-seeing men of prac- tical ideas and inventive skill is in evidence. The times have called for the men, and the men have met and hur- ried forward the times.
It is one of these well rounded men of affairs and captains of industry that the chronicler essays to write in this connection, a man whose mechanical genius was man- ifest at an early age, and who, by following the bent of his inclination, has given to the world a number of valu- able inventions and practical improvements and won for himself a deservedly conspicuous place in the industrial circles of his own city, besides gaining much more than local repute among the leading manufacturers of his state.
Philip Harrah, whose name has long been ideuti- fied with the business interests of Bloomfield. and the in- dustrial development of the city, is a native of Putnam county, Indiana, where his birth occurred on September 25, 1864. His father, Henry Beard, was of German de- scent of the best type and a man of great integrity, he
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dying when Philip was but three years ofl. The lad was adopted by Captain James B. Harrah, from whom he takes his present name. The subject's mother, prior to her marriage, was Sarah Hood. She later married Lemuel Laughead, of St. Marys, Indiana. now deceased. She now resides at Terre Haute. The Hoods are of Eng- lish origin and lineal descendants of the distinguished Birmingham family of England, from which the city of Birmingham derives its name. The first representatives in America settled in one of the southern colonies a num- ber of years prior to the War of the Revolution, and at the breaking out of that struggle several of the name entered the American army and rendered conspicuous and distinguished service until independence was achieved. The branch of the family to which Mr. Harrah's ances- tors belonged figured prominently in the early settlement and development of Tennessee, from which state the im- mediate antecedents subsequently migrated to Indiana and were long and widely known and esteemed residents of the county of Putnam.
Philip Harrah found a good home and pleasant sur- roundings with his foster parents, who ministered to his comfort and looked after his interests with the same care and attention they would have bestowed upon a son of their own. In his youth his time was divided between farm labor and the district schools, first in Putnam county where he spent the early years of his life and later in the county of Greene, to which the Harrah family removed in 1876. Not being entirely satisfied with the pursuit of agriculture he early decided to adopt some vocation more in harmony with his tastes and tendencies, accordingly
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while still young he began giving expression to his natural inventive talent by making a number of mechan- ical contrivances which proved of value.
Following his inclinations young Harrah perse- vered at his labors and in due time invented and placed upon the market several mechanical devices for which there was soon a wide demand by the local and general trade.
These and other examples of mechanism which ap- peared from time to time established his reputation as an inventor and in due time the financial reward which comes to the true genius enabled him to embark more extensively in his special field of endeavor, and take a commanding place in the industrial development of the city in which he resided.
The Universal Repair Machine is among the best known of his inventions for which he obtained patents, and such was its favorable reception that in 1895 he organized a company for its manufacture. This com- pany, composed of Mr. Harrah and Mr. Oscar Shryer, was the first organization of the kind in Bloomfield, and its completion marks the beginning of the city's industrial history. From the day operations commenced the suc- cess of the enterprise was assured, and the business has since grown to such magnitude that their machinery and devices are marketed throughout this and many foreign countries. The crowning result of Mr. Harrah's in- ventive genius is the justly celebrated Galvanized Tubu- lar Fence Post, on which he studied and labored for a number of years. Being convinced that metal furnished the only proper material, and confronted by the unwel-
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come fact that there was no machinery by which to man- ufacture the posts, the idea of hand work being at once abandoned on account of the heavy expense that would necessarily be involved, Mr. Harrah, after years of ex- perimenting, finally perfected the first and only practical automatic machine that will produce a perfect fence post with great rapidity. Without entering into further par- ticulars concerning this signal achievement suffice it to state that on September 15, 1905, the American Post Company incorporated under the laws of Indiana for the purpose of manufacturing steel fence posts and machinery under the Harrah patents, Mr. Harrah being elected pres- ident of the enterprise in addition to which office he also devotes much time to the operation of the plant.
Mr. Harrah's various enterprises have tended greatly to the building up of Bloomfield and giving it publicity as an important manufacturing center, and he stands today among the prominent and influential men of the city, as well as a captain of industry, being interested in all that makes for the good of the community and the welfare of his fellow men. He served for six years as a member of the city board of trustees, during which time the present splendid electric light and water works systems were es- tablished, also a number of other material improvements. in addition to which he was instrumental in bringing about much important legislation and always took an active interest in all measures and movements for the gen- eral good of the municipality.
On October 18, 1888. at the age of twenty-four, Mr. Harrah was married to Martha J. Flater, daughter of Nicodemus and Maria J. Flater, of Richland township,
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Greene county, an intelligent and refined lady of varied accomplishments, whose amiable qualities have made her popular in the city of her residence and whose many kindly acts of charity and benevolence have endeared her to a large number of the less fortunate of her kind. Mr. and Mrs. Harrah, with their two daughters. Nota and Ruby, and son Chester, constitute a most agreeable and delightful domestic circle, as all testify who at any time have enjoyed the generous hospitality with which their home abounds. Nota, the oldest of these children, was born July 1, 1889, the second, Ruby, October 30, 1890, and the youngest first saw the light of day on September 26, 1894.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Harrah were teachers in the schools of Greene county in their earlier life. Mrs. Har- rah was one of the organizers of the Bloomfield Public Library and served two years as one of the directors; also a member of the board of childrens' guardians by appointment of the judge of the court in 1907: also a member of the Argonaut Literary Club and a social club of the city. Mr. Harrah was one of the promoters of the Business Men's Social Club, of which he is a member of the house committee.
Mr. Harrah mingles much with his fellow citizens and is essentially a man of the people with their welfare and best interests ever at heart. He is a member of the Masonic lodge and Order of Knights of Pythias. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Modern Woodmen, a Republican in politics and in religion subscribes to the Cumberland Presbyterian faith, of which church his wife, too, is a
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faithful and consistent communicant. A typical repre- sentative of the progressive American spirit of the day. an honor to his county and state and a credit to the nati m under whose institutions he has achieved such marked and signal results. Mr. Harrah's life forcibly illustrates what can be accomplished by a young man who makes the most of his opportunities by improving the talents with which he has been blessed and who, never satisfied with the mere doing, sets his mind high and ever follow- ing noble aims and lofty ideals, makes the experiences of yesterday the ladder of today, by which he finally sur- mounts all difficulties and obstacles until the success for which he struggled is ultimately reached and he takes pos- session of his own. In the best sense of the term he is a self-made man. His labors have been greatly appreciated and as an inventor, manufacturer and broad-minded, pro- gressive man of affairs he stands today with few peers in the especial field to which his talents and skill have been devoted.
JOSEPH SIROCK HURT.
Among the enterprising business men of Linton, In- diana, who, while advancing their own interests, have, at the same time accomplished much for the development and improvement of the community in which they reside, mention should be made of Joseph S. Hurt, a well known merchant, who was born in Cumberland county, Ken- tucky, near Berksville, February 7, 1848. the son of
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Thomas and Martha ( Burnett) Hurt, who removed from that county to Pike county, Indiana, in 1861, and re- mained there on a farm during the remaining years of their lives, Mr. Hurt having died November 10. 1903. The subject's mother passed away about ten years previous. They raised a family consisting of the follow- ing sons and daughters : Joseph S. ; Alfred is a prosperous farmer of Pike county ; Viola is the wife of George Mur- ray, an engineer in Pike county : Almarine, a farmer liv- ing in Missouri; Annie, now Mrs. Barnett, living in Pike county ; the next three children died in infancy or child- hood: William, who was a farmer in Pike county, died in 1907. The father of the subject was a soldier in the One Hundred and Forty-third Indiana Volunteer Regi- ment.
The subject was educated in his native county and also in Pike county, Indiana, receiving a fairly good com- mon school education. He began farming early in life, which he successfully followed for a period of twenty years during his young manhood days in Pike county. Then he launched in the mercantile business, which he has ever since made a success, having first established a coun- try store near Arthur, Indiana, which he conducted for two years. Coming from there to Linton in 1899. he engaged in teaming during the seven years following, handling coal, principally. Then he bought a restaurant but was burned out. Later he built a residence and store building at 309 Third street, Northeast, where he has since carried a full line of groceries, provisions, meat and dairy products. He has shown by the growth of his business and the steady increase of his patronage that
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he has mastered the details of this business, and his honest principles enables him to quickly gain the confidence and good will of his customers.
Mr. Hurt was united in marriage to Hattie Davis, on January 28. 1868. Eight children have been born to this union, two of whom are deceased: They are: The- ophilus, a teamster in Linton : Estella, wife of Cornelius Cooksey, of Linton : Clarence, a partner with his father ; Pearlie Kehoe, lives in Linton : Dennis is a miner living in the same town ; Lovey Pursuit lives at home.
Mr. and Mrs. Hurt are members of the general Bap- tist church. In political views Mr. Hurt has been a life- long Republican, and while he has usually been too busy to devote much time to local politics, he is a public spirited man and is always ready to do what he can toward help- ing forward any worthy cause looking to the betterment of his county. He has held the office of road supervisor with credit and was elected to the city council of Linton in 1905, from the first ward, being the only Republican in the council. He is a member of the committee on print- ing, and the street committee, and he is said to be one of the most active and vigilant workers for the city's good in the council. Fraternally Mr. Hurt is a member of the Masonic lodge. He is also an active worker in the Linton Merchants' Association, being known as a man who stands for his own city first and who wastes no opportunity to promote the interests of the place in which he resides, and has his business. Mr. Hurt has the esteem of all who know him, and that includes, among a great number of outsiders, nearly every one in Linton.
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PETER M. COOK, M. D.
When distinguished professional ability, valuable public services, unblemished political integrity and a pri- vate life above reproach contribute to adorn the character of an individual and make his presence an honor to the community and an influence for substantial good among his fellowmen, then it is proper to set prominently forth as an example to those who would attain credit for themselves and make their achievements a blessing to the world. The subject of this review very properly comes under this category and it is with due regard to his high standing in one of the most responsible and exacting of callings and to his sterling worth as a trusted public servant and enterprising citizen, that the writer essays in this connection the task of placing before the reader the leading facts in a career that has made him a well known and widely respected man in the county of which he is a resident. Dr. Peter M. Cook, whose enviable po- sition in medical circles is cheerfully conceded not only by his professional brethren but by the public at large. has gained a reputation which comes only through abil- ity and skill, and as the legitimate reward of persevering effort. Progressive in the broadest sense of the term, he has ever kept abreast of the times in all matters relating to his noble calling and his advanced methods have brought him not only eminent professional success, but liberal financial remuneration as well. In addition to his career as a physician and surgeon, he has also figured as one of the influential public leaders of his county and is now serving the people in a responsible official capacity
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to which he was elected in the year 1906, and the duties of which he has discharged in such a manner as to give additional luster to a reputation in which his fellow citi- zens, irrespective of party affiliation, have long mani- fested a pardonable pride.
Dr. Cook is a native of Guernsey county, Ohio. where his birth occurred on the 17th day of April, 18.47. His father, Thomas R. Cook, a Pennsylvanian by birth. went to Ohio in early life and from thence removed, in 1858, to Greene county, Indiana, settling at the village of Solsberry, where he spent the remainder of his days. dying on April 22d of the year 1904. Thomas R. Cook served with distinction in the late Civil war as a member of the Ninety-seventh Indiana Infantry, in which, for meritorious conduct, he rose by a series of promotions to the command of his regiment, having been discharged at the cessation of hostilities with the rank of colonel. He was distinctively a man of affairs, influential in advance- ing the material interests of the community in which he resided and left to his descendants the reputation of an honorable name and in every respect a praiseworthy life. Harriett Gibbens, who became the wife of Thomas R. Cook, was born and reared in Ohio, her marriage having been solemnized in the county of Guernsey. Like her husband, she, too, was esteemed by a large circle of friends and acquaintances for her many admirable traits and is remembered for her beautiful character and for the wholesome moral influence she exerted among all with whom she mingled. The family of this estimable couple consisted of nine children : Elizabeth C., now Mrs. John Mullen, of Nebraska: the subject of this sketch being the
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second of the number. The names of the others in order of birth are as follows: Charles Henry, deceased; Ed- ward S .. of Bloomington, this state: Eva, who married C. H. Keys and at the present time lives in Colorado City, Colorado: William F., a resident of Solsberry. Greene county ; John Thomas, also a resident of the county of Greene: Benjamin Butler, of Columbus, In- diana, and Birdie, now Mrs. Robert Law, of Logans- port, Indiana.
Dr. Peter M. Cook was about ten years old when his parents moved to Indiana and from 1857 to the present time, a period of fifty-one years, his life has been very closely identified with the history and development of Greene county. In the public schools he laid the foun- dation of the mental training which subsequently enabled him to enter upon the career of his choice, the profession of medicine for which he early manifested a decided pref- erence and to the preparation for which he devoted all the energies of a studious and enthusiastic youthful na- ture. After proper preliminary instruction under the di- rection of a well-known local physician, he entered, in 1878, the Miami Medical College at Cincinnati, where he prosecuted his studies until completing the prescribed course in 1883, at which time he was graduated with an honorable record, standing among the most proficient in the class of that year.
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