USA > Indiana > Brief biographies of the members of the Indiana State Government : executive, judicial, and legislative, 1874-5 > Part 9
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LEGISLATIVE.
JOSEPH CLAYTON RATLIFF,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM WAYNE,
Is a native of that county, having been born there July 6, 1827. His parents were American. Joseph Clayton was educated at Richmond Academy, then took a course in the Western Reserve Medical College, in Cleveland, in 1851-2. For a time he practiced medicine and also dentistry. Then he returned to his farm and devoted himself to agricultural and horticultural pursuits. For six years he was President of the Wayne County Horticultural Society; for three years chief executive of the State Society. Three years he acted as President of the Wayne County Turnpike Com- pany, and four years as Justice of the Peace.
He is known all over the State and the country as one who has done much to advance the agricultural and hor- ticultural interests of Indiana.
Politically, he is Republican, but rather inclined to be liberal in his views, political and otherwise. His address is Richmond.
WILLIAM HENRY RAGAN,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM PUTNAM AND HENDRICKS,
Was born in Putnam county, this State. His parents were of Irish descent, but both were born in Virginia. The elder Ragan was one of the pioneers of Putnam county and of the State, having located near the present village of Fillmore, in 1823. Securing a tract of land, the senior Ragan began business as a nurseryman and fine fruit grower. Representative Ragan was edu- cated partly in an old log school house near Fillmore,
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but mainly in the great school of nature-farming and horticulture. In 1860 he began the business of his father, for himself, on a part of the old homestead set apart for his culture. In 1865 he enlisted in the 11th Indiana infantry, then stationed at Baltimore City, and joining his regiment, he served therewith until the close of the war. In 1869 Mr. Ragan removed to Indianapolis, where he formed a co-partnership with J. C. Weinberger, in the management of the Bluff Road fruit farm, and there remained until 1871, when failing health admonished him that he had better return to rural life at the old home- stead, and be relieved of the arduous cares of the fruit farm, near this city. He has held quite a number of posi- tions of trust. In 1869 he served as Secretary of the Indi- ana Horticultural Society, and in 1873 was a member of the State Board of Agriculture. The same year he became editor of the Horticultural Department of the Indiana Farmer. In politics Mr. Ragan was a Democrat until 1861, when he became a Republican, and as such has acted since.
JACOB REDICK,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM RUSH,
Was born of Pennsylvania Dutch parentage, in Montgom- ery county, Ohio, April 14, 1814. His parents being poor, Jacob was apprenticed to a carpenter, and in the shop acquired his education. For fifteen years he pursued the phantom of prosperity with square and compass; then he inrned his attention to farming. In his boyhood days, as he shoved the jackplane and wielded the saw he had
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not a thought of wielding so much influence as he does this winter over the destinies of his fellow men. He has been a resident of Indiana since 1832, and ought to have a pretty clearly-defined idea what his constituency and the State need in a legisative way.
MARTIN A. REEDER,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM RANDOLPH.
Was born in Warren county, Ohio, November 18th, 1819. His parents are reported as Pennsylvania Dutch and Mas- sachusetts Yankee. The elder Reeder distinguished himself raising hair from the heads of the red skins in the times of Wayne and Harrison and under their commands. In 1822 the son, with his parents, removed to Indiana, where he was educated in a log school house, twenty fect square and seven feet high. This stupendous structure of primi- tive times, cost two or three days labor, and fifty cents in money, hard money of the blessed by-gone days of Demo- cratic and Whig domination. The little debt was liqui- dated in one night, by the big boys who went coon hunt- ing and secured the scalps of four coons. The pelts were disposed of to the Ewings of Fort Wayne, and the proceeds were applied to the payment of the debt incurred in erecting the said school house and the purchase of ammunition for a general Christmas deer hunt. In poli-t. tics Mr. Reeder claims to have been a Jackson Democra until 1836, a Free Soiler Whig thence to 1856, acting as underground railroad conductor, then a Republican, and a Crusader and Anti-Monopolist. He says he is a
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decided advocate of the laboring classes, and in tossing up for choice of partners in a bear hunt would prefer an engineer to a railroad president, a section hand to a super- intendent, and that he is decidedly opposed to giving a railroad President $40,000 per year and an everyday laborer on the road but $1 25 per day. He is an advocate of the equalization of salaries, and would vote in favor of paying school teachers more, State and county officers less. The gentleman from Randolph is evidently an anti- salary grabber. His postoffice address is Winchester
JESSE H. RENO,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM OWEN,
Is a native of Mercer county, Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1825. His parents were Americans. With them he removed to the West when he was quite young, and settled in Indiana. He managed to secure a substantial education in the common schools and through his own exertions at home. Nearly all his life he has been a resi- dent of the sterling county he represents. During the last special and regular sessions of the Legislature he was a member of the House and served on several committees, and he is now Chairman of the Mileage Committee of that body. Politically he was always a Democrat of the posi- tive kind Quincy is his address.
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LEGISLATIVE.
WILLIAM RIBBLE,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM DELAWARE,
Was born, of German parentage, in Montgomery county, Virginia, October 10, 1819. He came to this State in 1830, and settled near Selma, Delaware county, and has resided there on his farm ever since. He had none but a common school education. In 1844 he held the office of Justice of the Peace ; was a Whig then, but is a Republican now. His life heretofore has been the uneventful one of a far- mer-"at peace with all the world, and the rest of man- kind." In the year 1835-'36 his father represented Dela- ware county in the State Legislature. Having followed the avocation of his father in private life it seems that he is destined also to follow in his footsteps in public life. Those who would like to know what he knows about farm- ing can address the gentleman from Delaware at Selma.
JAMES ROMINE,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM SPENCER,
Was born in the county of Spencer, March 12, 1832. His father was from Missouri and his mother from Kentucky. They removed to Indiana as early as 1816, and settled in Spencer. They were among the very first settlers in Spencer county. The elder Romine held, in his time, about all the offices made and provided for in that county. The son was educated in the common schools of his native neighborhood, and has a very fair English education to show for it. Farming has been his occupation all his life, and he has followed it faithfully with the exception
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of four or five years, a decade ago, when he filled the office of Recorder of Spencer county. He must be a very popular personage, for his county has been Republican for years, and, though he had always been a Democrat, he was elected to the Legislature last fall by 541 votes, running ahead of the State ticket throughout the county. Even a Democrat who could keep up with the ticket at the last election is no sluggard in a race, to say noth- ing of running ahead of it, as Mr. Romine did. Gen- tryville is his postoffice address.
WILLIAM NEWTON ROSEBERRY,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM MONROE,
Was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, October 8, 1814. His father and mother were born at Cane Ridge, Bourbon county, Ky., and of American parentage. Nathaniel Rog- ers, one of the members of the old Constitutional Conven- tion of Kentucky, and the last who died, was a grandfather
William of the gentleman whose name appears above.
Newton only enjoyed such educational facilities as the common schools of Kentucky and Indiana, in pioneer times, could give. He came to this State with his parents and settled in Monroe county in 1827, and there he still lives. He was a tiller of the soil until 1840, when he was elected Justice of the Peace, and served until 1855. Since then he has been speculating in mules. Politically, Mr. Roseberry is a Democrat of the square-toed stamp. His post office address is Rosecreek.
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LEGISLATIVE.
A. H. SHAFFER, M. D.,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM WABASH AND HUNTINGTON,
Was born in Starke county, State of Ohio, January 15, 1829. His parents were of American birth, but of German extraction. He was educated in the University of Michi- gan and Western Reserve Medical College, of Ohio. In 1856 he came to this State and located at Huntington, and commenced the practice of his profession. Entering the army early in the war, he was assigned to duty as assist- ant surgeon, and was subsequently promoted to the posi- tion of surgeon of the 75th Ohio, and served therein until the close of the war. Since then he has practiced his pro- fession at Huntington, as before. He is Republican in politics and expects so to remain. His home is at Hunt- ington.
JOHN NEWTON SHAW,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM DECATUR,
Was born in Campbell county, Kentucky, January 29, 1817. On his father's side his ancestors were of Irish des- cent, but Welsh on the side of his mother. Both parents were born in America, and their fathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. They were known to fame as James Shaw and Edward Moran. Mr. Shaw's father and mother removed to Kentucky from Pennsylvania and Virginia, respectively, in the olden times. From thence they removed to Missouri, and thence came the subject of this sketch to Decatur county in 1844, where he has con- tinued to reside since then. Heretofore he has been a far-
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mer, serving some sixteen years as Justice of the Peace when resting from rural pursuits. 'Squire Shaw is known throughout Decatur county as one of the most substantial citizens of the county, and a life-long Democrat.
SAMUEL SHORTRIDGE,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM TIPPECANOE,
Is a native of that county, for which he has the honor to speak in the Legislative session of 1874-'75. He was born in 1830, August 4, which places him at this writing in the forty -fifth year of his age. Mr. Shortridge comes of one of the substantial families of Indiana farmers. His father was one of the early Sheriffs of Tippecanoe county, in which office he served altogether eight years and repre- sented his county in the General Assembly two terms. The present incumbent has acted as Trustee of his town- ship eleven years in succession. He is first cousin of President A. C. Shortridge, of the Purdue University, and himself a farmer of means and progressive habit. As may be presumed, the foundation of his education was laid in the public school, which is honored and vindicated by its graduates in the highest council of the commonwealth. The paternal branch of the family is English, and the maternal side leads back to both Irish and German blood. In Mr. Shortridge as a law-maker the people are certain of an honest and trustworthy friend, who will use all the influence he possesses to promote the best good of society and the prosperity of his native State, to whose public service he has been called. Lafayette is his address.
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LEGISLATIVE.
CORNELIUS SHUGART,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM GRANT,
Was born in Wayne county, Indiana, February 9, 1820. His parents were of American birth and English extrac- tion. The son was educated at Richmond, where he passed the first fourteen years of his life. Then he removed to Grant county, where he has lived for forty years, and has had the happiness of seeing that portion of the State become, from a howling wilderness, great and populous. For the first few years of his life in the county, Mr. Shu- gart was a teacher ; since, a farmer. He claims to be "but a small man of limited ability," yet a full believer in the adage, " Duty is ours ; consequences belong to God :" and also a strenuous advocate, as well as believer in, temper- ance in all things.
He has heretofore held no office but that of Supervisor of a very muddy road, to which position of trust he was unanimously elected. Politically speaking, he is a Republican ; but strictly, not a strenuous politician. Jonesboro is the address of the gentleman from Grant.
MATTHEW ALEXANDER SMITH,
JOINT REPRESENTATIVE FROM JAY AND DELAWARE, Was born in Brunswick county, Virginia, March 28, 1819. His parents were of English extraction. His education was received in the common schools of Greene county, Ohio, and he removed to Indiana in 1840. He had been in this State but two years before he was elected Justice of the Peace, and he served fourteen years. Then he was elected County 10
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Commissioner, and so served until 1862. In 1865 he was elected again, and served until 1871. When not engaged exclusively in the discharge of official duties he has been engaged in farming. Politically he was a Whig until 1856, then a Republican, and a Republican still. He has always been an advocate of temperance, and at the same time has been strictly temperate. His address is Albany, Delaware county.
DESIGNEY ALBERT SNYDER,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM MARSHALL,
Was born in Marshall county, Indiana, November 17, 1847. His father was a farmer of the old Virginia school, and trained his son in the way he had been taught to earn a livelihood. The son's educational opportunities in boy- hood were confined to the common schools of the State. But he demonstrated the fact that the system of com- mon schools in Indiana is capable of giving a good education to those who will apply themselves assiduously they having brains to begin with. Learning the law several years since, and proceeding to practice his profes-' sion, Mr. Snyder succeeded so well that he has been called upon by the Democrats of his native county to represent them in the Legislature. The gentleman from Marshall is a young man of ability and ably represents one of the best counties in the State.
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LÉGISLATIVE.
HARVEY TAYLOR,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM DAVIESS,
Was born in Rockcastle county, Kentucky, April 10, 1821. His parents were of American birth, and natives of Virginia He took a course in the common schools of Kentucky, and at the age of twenty he left his native State, and emi- grated to Indiana. Once in the State, he worked about from farm to farm for four or five years, when he com- menced the study of medieine with Dr. John Hill, of Monroe county, and after reading there one year, he left and located in Lawrence county, where he entered the office of Dr. Free, and continued to prosecute his pro- fessional studies. In 1849 he removed to Daviess county, and resumed practice. There he has lived and flourished ever since, a living monument of the self-made men indigenous to Western soil. He is now a bright and shining light of the Daviess County Medical Society, and the Indiana Legislature. ៛
Dr. Taylor has served the State on the field of battle too, and when life's fitful fever is over, his posterity can point with pride to the record he made there as well as in the halls of State. His military career was inaugurated by his enlistment in and elevation to the Second Lieuten- antey of a company in the 14th Indiana. In 1863 he entered the 65th regiment, where he ascended the scale of commissioned promotion to the third degree, retiring to his rural home in 1865, covered all over with glory, and a brace of bars on either shoulder.
The only office he ever held in civil life, before the one he now holds, was Township Assessor, in 1855 to 1856.
Politically, he was a Whig, so long as the organization
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was perpetuate, then a Republican until his honesty and self respect rebelled against its corruption, since when he has been a Democrat. He resides near Rugglesville.
SAMUEL M. TAYLOR,
JOINT REPRESENTATIVE FROM HAMILTON AND TIPTON,
Is a native of Wayne county, Indiana, where he was born . April 19, 1829. He can trace his lineage back to England, Germany and the Emerald Isle, but don't care to go back beyond his native State, being well satisfied with it. He was educated in the common schools and at the academies of Muncie and Newcastle. At the conclusion of his aca- demic course, he read law with Messrs. Elliott & Mellett, but never engaged in the practice of his profession, preferring mercantile life to the traditional nine years of starvation preceding the remunerative practice of law. During the war he served in the 101st Regiment Indiana Volunteers. Again engaging in active mercantile pursuits, with the added occupation of trading, at the close of the war, he has been so engaged since. He has held about all the offices within the gift of the people of his adopted village, but the county was too Democratic for a Republican to become Clerk, as he learned upon second trial. But he is a Republican still, having kept the faith. He lives at Tipton.
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DANIEL THOMAS,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM PARKE.
Was born at Saratoga Springs, New York State, February 15, 1814. His parents were Welsh and German. With his father's family he removed to Indiana in 1825. When he had attained his majority he removed to Parke county, where he has resided thirty-eight years. He was educated in the common schools of the State and has followed farm- ing all his life, having held none but township offices. In politics he was a Jackson Democrat during the last term of old Hickory. But he was an anti-Van Buren man, and he swears that the social relations of old Dick Johnson were too dark for him to follow in his footsteps, politically speaking. He is a Republican now, having been trained to follow in the dark and dubious party paths. Portland Mills, Parke county, is his address.
ADDISON R. A. THOMPSON,
JOINT REPRESENTATIVE FROM HENRY AND MADISON,
Was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, March 29th, 1818. His parents were natives of Virginia. In 1836, Addison first set foot upon the soil of this, his adopted State. He took his first lessons in the alphabet under the tutelage of John Purdue, now of Lafayette. In 1838, while making his home at Covington, he traveled ono thousand miles on horseback, visiting Iowa, then a vast. wilderness. Notwithstanding this remarkable equestrian feat of his earlier manhood, Mr. Thompson would hesitate before attempting to ride two horses running in opposite
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directions around the political arena. In fact he did hesi- tate and picking out the Independent horse he abandoned to the crows the spavined and otherwise "stove up" Republican horse which he had before ridden. Thus he rode slowly but surely into the public crib. But this is digression. In the spring of 1840, Mr. Thompson embarked in a flat boat at Covington, and made a trip to the Crescent city. At Nachez, he cast anchor for a few days, to view the wreck wrought in the city by the whirl- wind that year. It was something like the tidal wave of last fall, in violence.
During the existence of that organization, Mr. Thomp- son was a Whig, then a Republican, now an Independent. He never held any office other than the one to which be was lately elected. Blountsville is his address.
JAMES LEE THOMPSON,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM MARION,
Was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1818. His parents were both American, and his father represented Fayette county in the Legislature two years, having removed to Indiana with his family in 1833. The son was reared upon his father's farm in Fayette, and afterwards followed farming for a livelihood. All the education he ever received was secured in the common schools of the county, such as they were at that early day. Since beginning life for himself he has lived in Rush, Clinton and Howard counties, but is now located for life, most likely, near Acton, in Marion county. In his time he has held office
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1
eight years-before the present. In politics he is a staunch Democrat, one not ashamed to stand up before the world and avow the principles of his party through good and through evil report.
MILTON TRUSLER,
JOINT REPRESENTATIVE FROM FAYETTE AND UNION,
Was born in Franklin county, Indiana, August 31, 1825. His parents were from Virginia and removed to Indiana in 1812. He was educated in the common schools, and engaged in agriculture, as he had been trained on his father's farm. He followed that uneventful avocation until the spring of 1861, when he was elected Trustee for Jackson township, and continued to hold the office through repeated partiality on the part of the people until last August, when he resigned and was elected to the Legisla- ture soon afterwards. When the Whig party was in exist- ence he professed the principles of that faith, and acted with that party. Upon the organization of the Republican party he joined that, and he is now, as he has been since then, a Republican, and was elected as such to the office he now holds. His home is Everton.
WILLIAM TWIBILL,
JOINT REPRESENTATIVE FROM GRANT AND BLACKFORD,
Was born in Whitsit county, Virginia, October 29, 1831. His parents were of American birth. They left old Vir- ginia and removed to Indiana in 1834, and settled in Black-
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ford county. There the son was educated in the common schools and settled down near the old homestead to the slow but honest occupation of an agriculturist. In 1856 he tired of the toil of farm life, and engaged in the dry goods trade, in which business he remained until the war, when he enlisted in the 34th Indiana Infantry and was commissioned Captain of Company "I," over which he exercised such command until mustered out of the service. When he had returned from the war he engaged in the hardware business, meantime speculating in stock, grain, produce, and anything in which there was any money. In politics he has been a Republican from the beginning, and will continue faithful to the end if the party is true to itself. Montpelier is the postoffice address of the gentle- man from Blackford and Grant.
JOHN WALTZ,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM POSEY,
Was born at Aberwistadt, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, February 28, 1829. Mr. Waltz was educated in the Poly- technic School at Menheim, Baden. After having taken part in the revolution of 1848 in the old country, he left it for free America, landing in New York City in March, 1851. Leaving the metropolis in the fall, and setting out for the West, he stopped off at Cincinnati, but hearing there of Indiana, he of course left for the promised land at once, and located at Evansville. Subsequently he set- tled down at New Harmony, in Posey county ; but he didn't go into the hoop-pole business, as might be charged at the writer were not more explicit. He began business
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there as a boot and shoe manufacturer, and is yet so engaged. During his stay in the capital in the service of the State, his business is in charge of a trusty fore- man. He is one of the tried and true citizens of the community in which he lives. He is now Treasurer of the Workingmens' Institute ; Treasurer of New Harmony Lodge, I. O. O. F .; has been three or four times Trustee of Posey County Agricultural Association, and is at pres- ent; and he has held other positions of trust, if not profit. Since his advent into this country he has been a Democrat. The first vote he ever cast for President was for Franklin Pierce, and the last, for Horace Greeley. Hitherto he has not held any position through political preferment. For the office he now holds he was nominated without his knowledge and consent. He is a widower, and his post- office address is New Harmony.
THOMAS WASHBURN,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM WHITLEY,
Was born in Harrison county, West Virginia, July 28, 1805. His family before him had descended from the Welsh. In 1843 he came to this State and settled in Whitley county, having first spent several years in the State of Ohio, before he had heard of the promised land, and in Whitley he has abided ever since. By occupation he is a carpenter, surveyor and merchant. In Ohio and Indiana he held the office of Justice of the Peace, and discharged the duties of the office with the dignity becom- ing that exalted office. He was Auditor of Whitley county four years from 1844, and State Senator in 1852. He is Democratic first, last and all the time. Mr. Washburn resides near Columbia City.
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LEGISLATIVE.
MILES WATERMAN,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM DEKALB,
Was born in the town of Camillus, Onondaga county, N. Y., December 22, 1818. His father was a descendant from Plymouth Rock and his mother, like his father, from Mas- sachusetts, but of Irish extraction. In 1837, Miles, like the star of empire, Westward wended his way, having first received a common school education, however. He had heard of Indiana, and of course came here direct, loca- ting in DeKalb county. Immediately upon his arrival, he adopted the vocation of farming. In 1846 he was taken from the plow and put into the Auditor's Office of his adopted county, and he did so well that he was kept there until 1855. In 1858-9 he was a member of the House, Indiana Legislature, representing DeKalb county. This was a special session. In 1863 he was elected a member of the House and served in the regular session. Besides, he has represented his county in many minor offices.
Politically Mr. Waterman was, until of late years, & Democrat of Douglas and Lecompton principles. He is now a Granger. In the canvass for the Legislature in 1862, for the session of 1862, the war then being in pro- gress, he took the position that the government was legally in the hands of the Republican party, and that the war for the suppression of the rebellion should be energetically prosecuted, but did not believe the leaders of that party were honestly prosecuting the war for the suppression of the rebellion and the restoration of the union simply, there then being too many union-sliders among them. On the financial question he claims to be, nominally, a hard- money man, maintaining that when the currency has been
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inflated it should be reduced very gradually. He also entertains the opinion that the too sudden contraction of the currency since the war has been the main cause of our financial troubles. He contends that contraction at the North has been much greater than most people seem to suppose, the drain to supply the South having caused a large share of this contraction. He thinks an increase of a few millions at this time would be beneficial. Then, he believes that greenbacks should be the currency of the country ; else, banking should be free. Mr. Waterman is a resident of Waterloo.
OLIVER D. WILLETT,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM NOBLE,
Was born in Richland county, Ohio, March 23d, 1835. His parents were natives of Maryland, of English descent. When he was only sixteen years of age Mr. Willett left the paternal roof and courted fickle fortune in Williams county, Ohio. He remained there until 1870, when he moved to Noble county, this State. He has been prosperous in business from the beginning and is now managing head of the extensive marble manufactories of O. D. Willett & Co., Noblesville. Mr. Willett is a gentleman of fine pres- ence and admirable social qualities. Politically he is a Democrat and has been all his life.
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ALFRED WILLIAMS,
JOINT REPRESENTATIVE FROM BROWN AND BARTHOLOMEW.
Was born in Overton county, East Tennessee, November 6, 1822. His parents were of American birth. His grand- father, John J. Williams, was a soldier of the Revolution. and was twice or thrice taken prisoner by the minions of King George III. His name was on the pension rolls until the date of his death in 1849, at the advanced age of 95 years. He was a native of the State of North Carolina. but died in Georgia His son was a native of Sur- rey county, North Carolina, and served in the war of 1812, as Second Lieutenant in a Federal regiment, parti- cipating in the battle of New Orleans, June 8, 1815. In 1825 Mr. Williams removed to this State and settled, where the surviving members of the family now reside. He was the first Treasurer appointed for Brown county, before a permanent organization was perfected, and also the first one elected by the people of the county after its organiza- tion.
Alfred, himself, had but poor opportunities for securing an education, yet he has all the book learning necessary, as well as the experience of an active business life. He became a practical surveyor through his own teaching, from such text books as he could secure. In 1854 he had so thoroughly mastered the science of surveying that he was made Assistant Surveyor of Brown county, and as is the ease with assistants generally, he had to perform the duties of the office. In 1856 he was elected Surveyor and re-elected in 1858. In 1862 he was elected County Treas- urer, served two years, and was again elected. In 1866 he was elected. Representative to the Lower House of
-
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the Legislature from Brown county, and at the last election, as appears above, Joint Representative from Brown and Bar- tholomew. He is, and always has been, a Democrat of the conservative character. For "recollections of a busy life." address Mr. Williams, at Nashville, Indiana.
ANDREW JACKSON WILLIAMS, REPRESENTATIVE FROM LAWRENCE,
Was born in Blount county, East Tennessee, June 5, 1815. He was only two years old when, with his parents, he came to Indiana and located in Lawrence county. The county was new at that time, and it is indelibly impressed upon the tablets of his memory that potatoes were mighty scarce that season. They arrived there in the fall, and he avers that he can remember how his mother cried, during the winter that ensued, because they had no potatoes. Late in the summer following that winter, however, his mother was made happy by the mature growth of a bountiful crop. For the period of a year preceding they had to subsist on venison and bear meat and hogs, which they then hunted like bear. Those were regarded as hard times, but Mr. Williams still lives. Though he never married he had the responsibility of rearing twenty-two children. It came about in this way : Many of his near relatives died at different times during the last quarter of a century, and he assumed the care and culture of their children, clothing and educating them. As a raiser of ; crops and stock, he has been equally successful. His farm, near Fayetteville, is one of the finest in the State. But
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he has not been a farmer all his life, having taught school for a few years when a " peart young man." Politically the gentleman from Lawrence was a Democrat until the repeal of the Missouri compromise, since when he has been a Republican.
SAMUEL WOODY,
JOINT REPRESENTATIVE FROM HOWARD AND MIAMI,
Is a native of North Carolina, having been born in Orange county in that State. April 14th, 1828. With his parents he removed to Indiana and settled near Bloomingdale, in Parke county, in 1829, and was educated in the common schools of that county. His father lost all in the financial panic, which debarred the realization of the expectation of the son's boyhood days, a collegiate education. With his aged parents and an afflicted sister, he settled where he now lives, in the then wilderness of the Miami Reservation, and there he has hewn from the forest, his fine farm of three hundred acres. In politics he was formerly a Whig but is a Republican now, and has been since the organization of that party. Of offices he has held those of Township Trus- tee and Representative. Four years ago he was a candi- date for the State Senate, but was defeated by the Hon. A. F. Armstrong on the reform cry of the cunning candidate. Last election he was nominated for joint representative from Miami and Howard, and having had some experience as a candidate he "whipped the fight" and won the race. He has been through the mill and is now competent to imitate the aspiring young politician. His address is Russiaville, Miami county.
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JAMES MARCELLUS WYNN, REPRESENTATIVE FROM JENNINGS,
Was born in Franklin county, Indiana, February 19, 1833. His parents were both English. The elder Wynn came to this country and settled at Brookville when but eighteen years of age (this was in 1818). He was friendless and alone, and had but one single shilling at his command. Having a good, general, and a first class mathematical education, he secured the situation of teacher for a season and subsequently that of surveyor of Franklin county. He received his remuneration for teaching in the consid- eration of the county, such as oats and other products of the soil. He was elected surveyor several times ; was then chosen Cashier of the Brookville Bank, and Secretary of a prominent local railroad, besides many other positions of trust and profit. He died in Jennings county in 1861, leaving a large family and an ample fortune for their maintenance.
James Marcellus, the one of these children made the subject of this sketch, moved from the house where he was born to the one in which he now lives. He has been a farmer all his life, though he acquired a very fine educa- tion in his early days. For two years he was County Sur- veyor. In 1872 he was elected to represent Jennings county in the Lower House, and last fall re-elected, running ahead of his ticket. He claims to be a black Republican, a temperance man, by example as well as precept-having never tasted whisky-and a Methodist. When young, his wife thought him a handsome man. Scipio is his postoffice address.
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