USA > Indiana > Brief biographies of the members of the Indiana State Government : executive, judicial, and legislative, 1874-5 > Part 7
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
In politics Mr. Gilbert is a Democrat of the more con- servative class, and prominently identified with the Grange movement, which, while it is not a political organization for political purposes, is nevertheless an organization that has more or less political effect. Mr. Gilbert was initiated into the first Grange of Patrons of Husbandry organized in this State, which event transpired in his native county, in December, 1870. He is Master of the County Council
103
LEGISLATIVE.
there now. Mr. Gilbert is a temperance man, and will not vote for the repeal of the Baxter bill until he is assured that something better can be secured in its stead. For four years he was Chairman of the Vigo County Dem- ocratic Central Committee, and at the last election was chosen Representative by eight hundred and five majority, quite a number of Granger and temperance Republicans voting for him. Withal, the State can not have too many citizens of the character of the gentleman from Vigo.
EUGENIUS B. GLASGOW,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM STEUBEN,
Was born in Wayne county, Ohio, January 28th, 1834. His parents were of Scotch, German and Welsh descent. The son was reared on his father's farm. In the summer he worked, and in the winter, attended school as boys now do in the country. At the age of twenty, however, he attended Oberlin College, in Ohio, and afterwards taught school a while, studying law in the meantime. In 1859, he removed to Illinois, and in 1860, was admitted to the bar at Mount Vernon, that State, in 1861 he removed to Benton county, this State, and in 1863, he enlisted in the army, and was assigned to duty in the 128th Indiana Infantry, where he served until the close of the war. Then he settled down to the practice of law in Angolia, where he now resides and practices his profession. He was elected to the Legislature from Steuben in 1872, and served through his term so satisfactorily to his constituents that he was re-elected last fall for another term. He is now, what he has been since the organization of the party -a Republican.
104
LEGISLATIVE.
ANDREW JACKSON GOSSMAN,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM MARTIN AND DUBOIS,
Was born on the Atlantic ocean, between Bremen and Baltimore, on the 19th of October, 1830. His parents were Germans from Bavaria. He came to Indiana in 1853, and although formerly a miller by trade is a farmer at present. After arriving in this State, Mr. Gossman lived in Wayne, and afterward in Henry county. In December, 1855, he married, and in 1863 removed to Dubois county. Here he bought a farm of 180 acres, where he is still living. After keeping store for five
years, he resumed rural pursuits, in which he is still engaged. Mr. Gossman has always been a Democrat. His parents were able to give him only about six months' attendance at a district school. He held the office of Justice of the Peace nearly five years. His residence is in Dubois county, and his postoffice address Jasper.
SAMUEL HARPER,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM LAGRANGE,
Was born in Ireland in the merry month of May, 1824. His parents were Irish and Scotch. In early life he saluted the Blarney Stone and started for the new world on a voyage of discovery. He traveled in Canada, Ohio, and Michigan, staying in the latter State long enough to receive a classical education at the State University. In 1850 he discovered Indiana, and liking the State he set- tled therein. He has been living in Lagrange county ever since, as near as the writer is able to ascertain. He is, and
105
LEGISLATIVE.
has been a farmer during all that time, and hitherto bas held no office but that of Township Trustee for Greenfield township, his adopted county, from 1872 to 1874. He has preferred the quiet walks of private to the turbulent boulevards of public life. Before the fall of the institu- tion of slavery in the South, he was an avowed Abolition- ist, but is now a Republican. He lives near Orland.
GEORGE W. HARRIS.
REPRESENTATIVE FROM MADISON.
Was born in Ross county, Ohio, on the 4th of July, 1822. His father and mother were natives of Augusta county, Virginia, the former of English, the latter of Irish descent. They came to this State and settled in Henry county in 1833, but for the last thirty-three years, have resided in Madison county. Representative Harris was reared a farmer, never graduated from any school, and never held any office until elected to the one he now holds. But he has exalted ideas of honesty, and fixedness of pur- pose, and while he may not electrify his fellow members and the country with unchained eloquence, he can always be relied upon to record his vote for the right. His address is Anderson, Madison county.
106
LEGISLATIVE.
BRANSON L. HARRIS.
REPRESENTATIVE FROM WAYNE.
Was born in Green Township, Wayne county, Indiana April 21st, 1817. His parents were natives of North Car- olina. They removed to the State in 1811, when it was an Indian Territory. In 1812 the elder Harris enlisted in the Federal army, and served in the war with England, which was then inaugurated. When that " cruel war was over," he returned to Indiana and settled in Wayne Township, where for many years he was a Justice of the Peace. He was educated in the common schools, such as were then accessible. He followed farming for a livelihood, as did his father before him. But Cincinnatus-like, he was taken from the plow and carried on the shoulders of the populace, as it were, into the halls of State, twenty-two years ago, where he served one session in the Lower House. Politically he was a Clay Whig so long as there were any. Since then and now, a Republican. Greenfork postoffice is his address.
BENJAMIN F. HAVENS. REPRESENTATIVE FROM VIGO,
Was born in Burlington, Rush county, this State, July 24, 1839. He descended from the older families of Virginia on the one side. and Connecticut on the other; but his parents direct came to Indiana from Kentucky and Ohio. His grand father, Havens, was the Peter Cartwright of Indiana Methodism abont a half century ago, and his name was a houschold word in every well-regulated family of
107
LEGISLATIVE.
that faith for many years after he had passed to the reward of the righteous.
The father of the subject of this sketch was a mechanic and was only able to give the son the benefit of one year at Asbury University. So at the age of nineteen years. Mr. Havens was thrown upon his own resources for the acquirement of the collegiate education he coveted. But he was equal to the emergency. By close application, teaching school and studying alternately. he was able to finish up his education at the State University. He then read law and became quite proficient in the profession. For two years he was City Attorney of Terre Haute and discharged the duties of the trust with distinguished ability throughout his term of service.
Politically Mr. Havens is a Democrat, of firm convic- tions, as to the correctness of his principles. In this respect he does not follow in the footsteps of his fathers, for he is the first and only Democrat of the family, He learned his Democracy in the school of Willard, Robinson and Hendricks, and like them he will never falter in the faith. Personally, the gentleman from Vigo is very pop- ular and universally commands the attention of an often listless House, when he arises to address the Assembly upon matters of moment to the State.
JOHN HENRY HAYNES,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM PERRY,
Was born in Breckenridge county, Kentucky, August 15, 1832. His father was born in Virginia; his
108
LEGISLATIVE.
mother was a native of Kentucky. He received a common school education in his native State and emigrated to Indi- ana in 1857; he then studied medicine, graduating from the medical department of the University of Louisville. He settled down to the practice of his profession in Spencer county and subsequently in Perry county, where he has since resided. During the war, however, he served his country as Captain of what was known as the Clarke Township Company, Indiana Legion-the 5th regiment- from 1862 to 1864.
Politically, Mr. Haynes was a Whig, voting for Bell and Everett in 1860. Now and since then he has been a Dem- ocrat, and was elected to the Legislature on the Demo- cratic ticket. Address the gentleman from Perry at Adyeville.
JOHN D. HIGHWAY,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM KOSCIUSKO.
Was born in Warner county, Ohio. December 15th, 1811. His parents were American born, of English extraction, and his father was for many years a Justice of the Peace in his native State. In 1834 the son was married to Miss Sarah Antram. also of Warren county, State of Ohio. In 1843 they removed to Indiana. and located in Kosciusko county, and to date have reared a promising family of six children besides helping to level the primitive forest, and otherwise, bring order out of the original chaos of their adopted county. Since 1856 Mr. Highway has almost constantly served his county as Commissioner, and in that
109
LEGISLATIVE.
capacity he has had many highways beside his own to care for. So well did he discharge all the trusts committed to his care, that his county concluded to send him to the Legislature last fall. Like so many of our legislators, he was a Whig in early life, but, unlike the majority of them this session, he is a Republican now. Beseige him with letters in his stronghold at Sevastapol.
MAHLON HELLER,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM ALLEN,
Is a native of Pennsylvania. He was born at Bushkill, Pike county, February 24, 1831. His parents were of Ger- man descent but American birth. His father was a promi. nent citizen of the noble old Key Stone Commonwealth. For five years he was Associate Judge of the Pike County Court, and for two years he was treasurer of the county. Besides, he was a justice of the peace for thirty years. Representative Heller was educated in the common schools and the more practical school of active business life, both public and private. He is emphatically a self-made man. He was auditor of his native county two terms. In 1868, he removed to Indiana and settled in Allen county, where he at once commanded attention and favor. In 1872, he was elected to the Legislature, and served with distinction through the session of 1872-3. He is now one of the most active members of the House. There is not a man in that body better versed in the routine of legislative proceed- ings. He is ever on the alert for the tricks of the opposi- tion to smuggle some odious measure of legislation through.
110
LEGISLATIVE. 1
The democracy of Allen county and the State may well put their trust in him, for he will watch their interests with ceaseless vigil, and advocate their canse ably and eloquently. If there is a true Democrat in the House, the gentleman from Allen is the man. Monroeville is his post office address.
MORTIMER L. HENDERSON,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM RIPLEY,
Was born in Ripley county, this State, November 1st, 1830, of Virginia and Kentucky parentage. He was educated in the district school, near the farm of his father, on which he was reared, and in Moro Hill College, but when not traveling, he has followed farming for a living In 1852 he crossed the Plains for the benefit of his health, being then affected with the yellow or gold fever. Two years effected a permanent cure, and he returned healthy and happy in 1858. Once in his life he was clerk on a steamboat which ploughed the waves of the Ohio and the_ Cumberland. He has traveled too much to be caught nap- ping. In politics he had been identified with the Democratic party all his life until just before the last election, when he refused to act with the old time honored organization any longer on account of local corruptions. In his own language, he "bolted the Democratic county convention in consequence of local corruptions, was taken up by the Independents, and by them nominated for Representative, but was elected by both parties over his opponent, Frank Alexander, a lawyer."
111
LEGISLATIVE.
JAMES HOPKINS,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM MARION,
Was born a Yankee, on Sourthern soil, in the halcyon days of human slavery. In other words, the subject of this sketch was ushered into life at Newport, Kentucky, June 15, 1815, and his parents were natives of Yankee land, his father of Massachusetts and his mother of Con- necticut. For ten years, immediately following the incor- poration of Covington, the elder Hopkins was President of the City Council. The son was the eldest of eleven chil- dren, and at a tender age was regarded as the second staff of support for the family. His father was a brick moulder, and he moulded his first progeny into a brick maker. During the winter, when the brick yards could not be operated, he was allowed to attend school if one was within reach, and tuition was not too altitudinous for the paternal purse. At the lawful age of twenty he left the parental protection, and stalked out upon the stage of life for himself. Thinking he would like brick-laying better than making, he applied for an apprenticeship, was engaged, and in three years had learned the trade. After following it for two years, he married a most estimable Christian lady, with whom he lived in harmony for thirty years, rearing six out of nine children born to them, ยท whom they educated to be useful members of the com- munity, both business and social. In his life Mr. Hopkins has himself been an exemplary member of the Methodist Church. He has lived in the South, at Greencastle, and now in this city. Thrice he has amassed a competency of the world's wealth and thrice has he lost all, the last time by the Greencastle fire, and a short time before, the greatest loss of his life-his wife.
112
LEGISLATIVE.
Now, at the advanced age of 55, with a clear record and a clear conscience, he begins the battle of life anew. Politically he was a Clay Whig during the life of the great statesman, a Union man during the war, and now an oppo- nent of the Administration and a Trades Unionist of the deepest dye. He claims that through the unions and through no other ageney can the laboring masses of the country find relief from the oppression by which they are environed. He is also an avowed temperance man from principle.
PATRICK HORN,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM ALLEN,
First knew this life on March 16, 1819, in Kings county, Ireland. His parents were of Scottish and Irish descent, and died when he was yet young. Young Horn inherited a small estate, the sale of which enabled him to emigrate to this country, landing in New York City in 1830. He soon apprenticed himself to a baker, and followed that business until his removal to Fort Wayne in 1837. At this time Fort Wayne was only a small town, and Mr. Horn bought a small farm, and commenced immediately its improvement. In 1845 he married a daughter of Robert Baird, Esq., and the twain lived " as one flesh " a happy life until 1873, when the wife died. Representative Horn received his education in Ireland, and in Fort Wayne, it being necessarily rudimentary. He has held the office of Town Trustee and Township Assessor. This gentleman has always been a Democrat, and never has been false to the principles of the party. He lives at Huntertown.
113
LEGISLATIVE.
EDWARD TONY JACKSON,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM VERMILLION,
Was born in Clearmont county, Ohio, July 29, 1807. His father was of Irish and his mother of German descent. His opportunities for schooling were confined to a house without a shingle roof, a glass window or a plank floor. Fitted by education for farming, he adopted that avocation. Since. 1830 he has resided in Vermillion county and held all the offices within the gift of the citizens of that county, except constable, and to that he did not aspire; and yet he never sought office; " waiting for the wagon," as he would express it. Always opposed to corruption, he had to abandon the Republican party sometime since, and now he is independent in politics. His home is near Hilsdale.
JAMES LEWIS JOHNSON,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM CARROLL,
Was born in Carroll county, July 4, 1849. His parents were natives of Virginia, but of Irish and Scotch ancestry. He came to this State in 1834. Mrs. Johnson died while he the subject of this sketch was too young to know of the inestimable boon of a mother's living presence. His father, however, is a wealthy farmer, and gave him the advantages of a good education, at Asbury University. For the last six or seven years, he has taught school, more or less, and regards that as his profession. He was known at college, and is now known in Carroll county, as an able debater, and he will probably make his mark during the session. He has always been a Democrat, and acts uni- formly with that party.
8
114-
LEGISLATIVE.
COLUMBUS JOHNSTON,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM DEARBORN,
Was born in Manchester township, Dearborn county, Indi- ana, January 7, 1832. His parents were both American, his father from Virginia and his mother from Kentucky, they coming to this State as early as 1811. The son was reared in his father's mill, and only had such school accom- modations as the common or district school afforded. When he had made the most of them, he settled down to the business he had followed for his father, in his own interest. He is one of the honest hard working members of the House. Early in the session he was appointed one of a committee of three to investigate the affairs of the Ohio and Mississippi road, and to ascertain if the com- pany was complying with the conditions of its charter. Being of an investigating turn of mind and a man of unflinching integrity, he may be said to be the right man in the right place. In politics he is a staunch Democrat. Johnston's Mills is his post office address.
ELIJAH T. KEIGHTLY,
JOINT REPRESENTATIVE FROM MARION AND SHELBY, Was born in Oldham county, Kentucky, July 7, 1833, of American parentage. He came to Indiana July 18, 1849, at the age of sixteen, having first received an education thus early in life at Funk's Masonic College, Lagrange, Kentucky. Next he located at Franklin, then at Nobles- ville, and subsequently in Greencastle, and was elected
115
LEGISLATIVE.
Auditor of Putnam county for four years in 1862. He moved to Indianapolis soon after his term of service had expired. Last fall he was elected to the Legislature by an aggregate majority of 2,019, receiving 1,356 of that major- ity in Marion and the balance in Shelby. In politics Mr. Keightly is a Democrat of the old school, having held the proud position of Postmaster under President Jackson, in the halcyon days of honest government, home rule, hard money, and sound sense generally. To be an office-holder in those days was not to be subservient to the whims and caprices of any man or set of men on the ground of party expediency or necessity. The gentleman from Marion and Shelby resides in Indianapolis.
EVENDER CHALANE KENNEDY, REPRESENTATIVE FROM MARION,
Was born in Muncie, Delaware county, February 14, 1842. His parents were from the classical town known to fame as Killarney, in the county of Kerry, situated in the beautiful Emerald Isle, by the deep sounding sea; but they came to this State in 1831. Thus it happened that Evender had the honor of a Hoosier birthright. His father, Hon. Andrew Kennedy, was for four years a mem- ber of the General Assembly of this State, and six years a Member of Congress from the 5th and 10th Districts, res- pectively. With all he was a well known Indiana politi- cian. The son was educated at Asbury, and after a thorough course of reading and study of law, he entered upon the practice of his profession. Hardly had he time
116
LEGISLATIVE.
to consult a client when grim visaged war stalked forth in the land, and aroused the martial spirit within him. He enlisted early and entered active service speedily. During the sharp and decisive struggle that ensued he rose from the ranks to staff service, with commission as a Captain. It is needless to add that he made a rattling record in the service. At the close of the war he went to Kansas, and was elected to the Legislature. The experience he received in legislative work there he brings to the discharge of his duties here. Politically he is a Democrat, and descended from a race born and cradled in the faith for four genera - tions. Mr. Kennedy has also made quite a literary record, being the author of the epic poems, "Osseo" and "Code of Blood," besides others, and numerous prose productions, romantic and rollicking in their character. Though yet a young man, his life has been an eventful and a spirited one. He lives in the thirteenth ward, in the city of Indi- anapolis.
PETER S. KENNEDY,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM MONTGOMERY,
Was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, July 10th, 1829, of Irish, Dutch and Welsh descent. He came to this State in 1853; resided first at Danville until 1865, then he removed to Crawfordsville, where he now lives in luxurous ease, in the suburbs of the city. He began business in life as a blacksmith, but through his own exertions he acquired a good education, and attained eminence in the practice of the profession of law. In 1856 he was elected Prosecuting
117
LEGISLATIVE.
Attorney of the Indianapolis Circuit, and proved a terror to evil doers in the district bounded by his official limits. Though he has never before been in the Legislature, he has influenced Legislation in a large degree. His friends claim that he is the real author of the law, permit- ting criminals to testify in their own behalf, and giving the prosecution the closing speech in the case; and also the law revising the judicial system of this State, besides several others, in the interest of the public. Before 1856, he was a Whig in politics, but a rank Anti-Slavery advo- cate. Since then he has been a Republican, seeing the evils of the Slavery system in the South. He was an Abolitionist from his earliest boyhood. He is an able advocate of the temperance reform and leads his party in the House generally.
JOHN KENNEDY,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM MORGAN,
Was born in Lamb's Bottom, that county, September 30, 1833. His father was of Irish descent, though born in Kentucky ; his mother of German descent, but a native of Kentucky. Both reside in Morgan county, where they settled when they first came to the State in 1830.
Representative Kennedy received his education through private teaching at his home, though he took a partial course at Bellville Academy in Hendricks county, and also at the Edinburg Grammar School, securing an engage- ment as assistant teacher in the latter institution in 1855.
During intermissions he read medicine under the tutelage of Dr. Clarke, of Edinburg. In the spring of
118
LEGISLATIVE.
1856, his health having failcd, he returned to the farm, where he soon regained his health, and then soon afterward engaged in teaching a school in Sangamon county, Illinois, near Springfield. During the time he taught there he devoted spare hours to the acquirement of his chosen profession. Returning to Indiana in the spring of 1858, he spent the summer in the study of medicine under the instruction of Dr. Osgood, of Gosport. That winter he attended lectures at the Eclectic Medical Insti- tute, Cincinnati. When he had completed his course he engaged in the practice of his profession within three miles of the old homestead, where he still resides, taking rank among the wealthiest citizens of the county. It is said that as a member of the Christian church, a worker in the Sunday school cause, and a leader in good works, Dr. Kennedy has exerted a benign influence wherever he has been, especially in Morgan county. Politically he is a Republican.
JAMES WARREN LANHAM,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM JEFFERSON,
Was born in Milton township, that county, January 31st, 1832. Both his parents and all his grand parents, were born on American soil, but his remote ancestors repre- sented four nationalities, viz : English, Welsh, Irish and German. With the exception of two brief intervals, his home has always been in his native county. He was edu- cated in Hanover College, and then taught school for a number of years, subsequently becoming a disciple of
119
LEGISLATIVE.
Christ and a member of His ministry, in the Christian Church. Of late years, however, owing to a throat affection, and an over weening desire to serve the State, perhaps, he has not devoted himself so assiduously to ministerial dutes as in the earlier days of his ministra- tions. He has not sought, as some, to introduce politics into religion, but to infuse the spirit of religion into politics.
In politics he has been a Republican since the candidacy of Fremont, voting for the Rocky Mountain explorer in 1856, when he did not expect another man in the town- ship to do so. When the votes were counted, his surprise to see twelve votes counted out for Fremont, can be better imagined than described. He is not the kind of a politi- cian to deny his principles when his party is in the minor- ity. He is an unflinching advocate of temperance, and an avowed champion of the local option feature of that great reform, and advocates a license for the school fund as well. He is also an open advocate of economy and education, and in short, of all State and national mental and moral advancement. Mr. Lanham makes his home at Moreville.
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.