USA > Indiana > Shelby County > Chadwick's History of Shelby County, Indiana, Vol. 1 > Part 41
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county, and has six sons. Mrs. Amick. the only daughter, is a resident of Shelbyville, and a widow with four children.
Charles H. Campbell, the youngest of the family, was born at Lexington. Indiana. November 28, 1853. As he grew up he worked for a while with his father at the cabinet maker's trade. but gave this up to enter the employment of the Big Four Railroad, which he served for nineteen years in different posi- tions. He was operator, train dispatcher and passenger conductor for short intervals and station agent at Shelbyville for fourteen years. At length, how- ever, he struck his true gait in a line for which he was especially well qualified. and a business whose success was sure to greatly redound to the prosperity of Shelbyville. In 1900, in connection with the late Frank D. Blanchard and J A. Conrey, Mr. Campbell organized a corporation for the purpose of making furniture. The building in which the work is done occupies a space of one hundred by two hundred and twenty-five feet, and the material used is iron and brick combination.
The capacity of the plant is two hundred and thirty thousand dollars per year, and Mr. Campbell contemplates the erection of a factory that will double the capacity. The machinery is all of the latest pattern and one hundred and twenty-five men. mostly skilled workers, are given constant daily employment. The factory which is located in Center, South and Taylor streets, is owned exclusively by Mr. Campbell, his wife and son holding one nominal share each to meet with the requirements for incorporation. The furniture factories each turning out different grades of material. have been the making of Shelbyville. and none have been more enterprising or beneficial than the one established and managed by Mr. Campbell.
Mr. Campbell has been a life-long and very enthusiastic Republican, with a decided taste for politics, and quite influential as a local party leader. He has served two terms in the City Council, three years on the city School Board, and last year was sent as a delegate to the national Republican convention. which met at Chicago and nominated Taft and Sherman. Mr. Campbell is indeed a man who deserves well of his community, to which for many years he has contributed his fine energy and strong power of organizing and lead- ing men. His employes are devoted to him just as are his many friends, and all agree that he richly deserves the prosperity that has come to him.
On September 3. 1876. Mr. Campbell was married to Lucinda M. Hard- ing, and by this union there were six children : Ada L., now Mrs. Smith, has two sons; George W .. Margaret M., wife of Mr. Baggie, editor of the Re- publican ; Ruth. Florence and Stanley. . The mother died in 1899. and in Sep- tember, 1900. Mr. Campbell married Angeline Gowels, by whom he has one son, Charles H .. Jr. Mr. Campbell is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Odd Fellows. Elks and Modern Woodmen. He belongs to the First Presbyterian church.
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REV. E. KENT.
Among the early pioneers of Shelbyville were the Rev. E. Kent and wife. who came here in October. 1829. Shelbyville was then a small village, having been recently incorporated. of perhaps two hundred inhabitants with the court-house in the center of the public square, the jail on the corner of Broad- way and Harrison streets, which was afterwards removed to the rear of the court-house, on the square. A few straggling houses on the square, a few on Washington, Harrison, Franklin and Broadway, comprised the boundaries of the village. For a few years the court-house was used by the various denom- inations in common on the Sabbath for public worship.
Reverend Kent came under the auspices of the American Board of Mis- sions to the then Far West, uniting soon afterwards with the Indianapolis Presbytery. He was of Puritan ancestry, the first of the Kents landing at Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1634.
The grandfather. Deacon Cephas Kent, was among the first settlers in the new territory afterwards called Vermont, and as a consequence lived in troublous times. He was an active and zealous patriot in the cause of the colonists and independence. Of his six sons, four fought with Stark in the battle of Bennington, and it was at his house that the first General Convention met, September 25. 1776, to declare that district a free and independent state : he was its first Representative in the State Legislature. His son. Cephas Kent. was in the Revolutionary war and was aide on Montgomery's staff in the Canadian war.
His son, Rev. E. Kent, was born in Dorset. Vermont, March 17. 1800. He graduated at Williams College, Massachusetts, with the class of 1826, took a theological course at Auburn Seminary, New York, and graduated with the class of 1829. He was married the same year to Fannie Capron, of Tinmouth. Vermont, who was also descended from Revolutionary parents. With all the ardor of early youth she left the comforts of a New England home with its hallowed associations to share the toil and discomforts of a pioneer life. She was a graduate of Middlebury Academy. Vermont. Soon after their arrival in this place she opened a private school in a one-story brick building on Franklin street, Shelbyville, Indiana, which stood on the lot now occupied by the public school building No. I.
Reverend Kent at the close of his fifth year received a call to the Presby- terian church at Greenwood. Johnson county, where he remained as its pastor four years, his wife again resuming her duties as teacher. At his request hie was dismissed from that charge. returning to Shelbyville. having been called with his wife to take charge of the County Seminary. At these places his min- istry was both acceptable and successful. The County Seminary then stood not
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J. MARSHALL ELLIOTT.
REV. E. KENT.
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CHADWICK'S HISTORY OF SHELBY CO., IND.
far from where the present high school building now is, pupils and teachers having to wade through deep inud in the spring to reach the building.
With but little interruption his wife continuel her duties as teacher during her short married life until February 2, 1844, when she was called by the Master to a higher life.
From that little brick building and seminary many of our influential citi- zens of those early days received that intellectual and moral training which fitted them for the various stations of usefulness and trust to which they were afterwards called.
Among those early pioneers, some of whose descendants are yet with us. were the Hendricks family. the Walkers. the Teals, the Gaskells, the May- hews, the Morrises, the Montgomerys, the Peasleys. the Morrisons, the Shanks, the Toners, the Flemings and many others.
To Mr. Kent and wife were born three children: Francis M .. George E. and Edward P. After the death of his first wife Mr. Kent married Mrs. Fan- nie Morris, widow of Doctor Morris, also one of the pioneers of Shelbyville. whose consistent and upight life is a rich legacy left as an inheritance to his children. The second Mrs. Kent's death. in 1848. left two little children motherless : Joseph H. and Lydia D. Mr. Kent again married in 1849 Matilda West, a native of Massachusetts, who died in August. 1870.
Frances M., his eldest daughter, born in Shelbyville. September 4, 1830. was married to J. Marshall Elliott September 16, 1847. Mr. Elliott was a most honorable, honest, upright business man of sterling moral character, and an uncompromising Christian. Elected one of the officers of the Methodist Episcopal church, he continued in an official position up to the time of his translation. A teacher in the Sabbath school for over fourteen years of a class of from thirty-five to forty scholars he had few equals as an instructor in the vital truths of God's Word, and toward the close of life he spoke of this as a delightful source of inspiration and instruction. He took a deep interest in the young men of the city: this feeling found expression when in 1876 he built the large two-story brick building on North Harrison street. known now as the Y. M. C. A. building, where he fitted the upper rooms for reception, reading and prayer-meeting rooms. He was deeply sorry that the organiza- tion was not sustained and perpetuated.
He contributed liberally of his means to all the enterprises and benevolences of his church until transferred to the church triumphant. on March 13. 1888.
George E. Kent was born in Shelbyville September 14. 1836, married to Hattie Hill March 28. 1866, who died in 1873. leaving one son. Frank, born May, 1871. George E. married for his second wife Mrs. Nettie Harter Kent. widow of his half brother. Joseph Kent. To them were born four children : Helen, born October 12. 1883, and died in 1898: Laura, born June 23, 1886, and is now a student at Oxford, Ohio. Two children died in infancy.
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Mrs. Nettie Kent died November 28. 1894. George Kent is a strict mem- ber of the Presbyterian church, and has filled the office of elder for a number of years. Since retiring from the grain and milling business he, in connection with his son, Frank. is now carrying on an extensive stock and grazing farm : he is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. having served a short time in the Civil war.
Edward P. Kent was born in Greenwood, Johnson county, June 12. 1838. married Annie Montgomery June 16. 1859. To them were born four chil- dren : Walter, Fannie, Edward and Lydia. Walter was born in Shelbyville June 15. 1860; Fannie, born April 15. 1862: Edward, born September 5. 1864. and Lydia, born in Sedalia. Missouri, January 21. 1867. Edward P. died in Shelbyville, June 24. 1890. A brave soldier. he served his country well during the Civil war, belonging to the Thirteenth Indiana Cavalry. During his last sickness he suffered greatly from partial paralysis, but was very patient through all his sickness to the end, and died trusting not to his own merits, but to the mercy of an all-wise and loving Father. His son. Walter. was married to May Clark in 1884. in Fort Scott. Kansas. He is now engaged in merchandising at Denver, Colorado. His daughter, Fannie, was married in Shelbyville to Professor Seiler of the Normal School at Terre Haute, Indiana. June, 1881. He was an excellent musician and the leader of the choir for a number of years in the Presbyterian church, at Terre Haute, a quality inherited by his children to a marked extent. He died in Terre Haute in 1898, leaving a widow and two children, Helen and Mary. Helen died in Shelbyville in 1899. Mary is now a student at Fairmount Seminary, Washington, D. C.
Edward was married in 1907 to Cleo Leiter. of Sedalia. Missouri. Lydia. fourth child of Edward P. and Annie, was married at Sedalia. Missouri, Sep- tember. 1891. to Major George Burr, of the Ordnance Department. They are now stationed at Manila, Philippine Islands.
Joseph H., a son of Reverend Kent and second wife. was born in Shelby- ville. February 4, 1846. He graduated from Wabash College in 1868, and studied theology at Lane Seminary. He was married to Nettie Harter. of Crawfordsville, Indiana. September 8, 1870, spent two years in study and travel in Europe, and was ordained in 1872: became pastor of the Presby- terian church of Cambridge City and died July 1. 1876. In the all-wise dis- pensation of Providence his life of usefulness was cut short and much of prom- ise unfulfilled. His character was singularly pure. and his piety deep and ar- dent. He left one daughter, Annie Il .. born in Cambridge, Indiana, too young to know a father's love, but so cherished by a second father's protecting care. she has known no want of sympathy and affection. and is now the comfort of her father's household.
Lydia D., daughter of the second wife of Reverend Kent. was born in Shelbyville. December 19, 1847 : was married to Warren W. Snider March 10,
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1870. This loving son and daughter during the remaining years of the father's life devoted themselves to his comfort, watching over him in his de- clining years with loving care until translated to his heavenly home.
Rev. E. Kent was ever a prominent advocate of the cause of religion, and of everything which would promote the cause of Christ a life-long and ardent friend of temperance and an early advocate. Long before it was popular to be an Abolitionist he voted and worked to that end. He lived to see the abolish- ment of slavery throughout the ends of the whole land, with peace and pros- perity again smiling on its reunited people.
He saw the country changed from the primeval forests to a land blossom- ing with cultivated fields and orchards and public schools and numerous churches dotting all parts of the country instead of the old stage-coach and canal-boat of former years, a net-work of railroads and telegraph wires cov- ering the land.
He died March 6. 1893. having lived to the ripe old age of ninety-three. having seen his children. grandchildren and great-grandchildren down to the third generation. He was followed to the grave by a numerous concourse. among whom were many of the descendants of those he had known and loved in an earlier day.
Two of his sons having been in the Civil war thus perpetuated the history of their Revolutionary sires.
DANIEL DEPREZ.
The name of DePrez has been familiar in Shelby county so long that only the oldest inhabitant can remember when it had no representative here. The first comers were people of enterprise. accumulated fortunes and through their descendants have exercised a large influence in the development of Shelbyville. Scarcely an industry of importance can be mentioned during the last thirty years, into which DePrez money did not go and with which some one or . ther of this numerous family was not interested. Their influence wa; felt in bank- ing circles, in the manufacturing plants, in building operations, in public im- provements of all kinds. They have been conspicuous socially, politically and religiously and influential in all the walks of life. The family is of German origin, and the founder in Shelby county was John DePrez, who was born in Germany during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, came to the United States during the late forties, and settled in Cincinnati. In 1855 he removed to Shelbyville, and built the Indiana House, long one of the well known hos- telries of the city, which he conducted until his death in 1868. He married Mary Carwine, who died in 1892. after becoming the mother of eleven children.
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All of these grew to maturity except Adam, who was accidentally killed by being run over by an omnibus when four years old. The other children were : Michael : Elizabeth married Peter Wiest : Mary, wife of Silas Metzger: Au- gust, John C .. George, Maggie, the wife of Samuel P. Stromp: Daniel, Jacob G. and William.
Daniel DePrez was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, April 10, 1852, and was three years old when brought by his parents to Shelbyville. He left school at the age of sixteen and worked at whatever his hands could find to do until 1876, when he took charge of the Indiana House and conducted the same for four years and a half. He then engaged in the ice business, first handling the natural product. but in 1892 he built an artificial ice plant. and later purchased another that had been erected in 1888. In 1901 Mr. DePrez associated with himself two nephews, since then the firm has conducted the only artificial ice plant in the county. Their combined establishments have a daily capacity of twenty-six tons, which is principally consumed by the people of Shelbyville. Mr. DePrez for years owned one of the best farms in Shelby county, but this property was sold in 1906. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and for seven years was one of the most active workers in the lodge. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. No man in Shelby county is better known than Dan DePrez, and all know him for a blunt. free-spoken man, wide awake in business, shrewd in dealing, but honest and straightforward in all his affairs. Full of energy, industrious and hustling. he believes in doing well whatever he undertakes to do, and he has made a success of his undertakings by his sturdy qualities.
In 1876 Mr. De Prez married Emma Haehl, member of a prominent family in Rush county, and a lady of much social prominence. She died in Septem- ber. 1900. and in June. 1902. Mr. DePrez married Bertha Wassen. niece of H. P. Wasson, of Indianapolis. The family resides in the okl homestead at 101 East Franklin street, where they are frequently surrounded by a circle of friends, whom they entertain in the most hospitable manner. Mr. and Mrs. Deprez are members of the Christian Science church.
JAMES DAVIS WEBB.
The founder of the family of this name in Shelby county was a Penn- sylvanian. domesticated awhile in Kentucky, but with the restlessness of the time he migrated again to Indiana and located in Shelby county on the old Ephraim Tucker farm on Sugar creek, near Secend Mount Pleasant church. But the migratory spirit still stirred within him and his next move was to Ozark, Missouri. There he was stricken with a fatal sickness and three of
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his sons walked to Ozark in the dead of winter, riding horseback the last day. to be present at his bedside. The old pioneer ordered them to bury him in the mountains, and after the melancholy duty had been performed they started back to Indiana in a wagon drawn by oxen, bringing their mother with them. All this occurred in about 1835. and the mother, after residing with her chil- dren for twelve years, closed her earthly career in 1855. John G. Webb, one of her sons, married Manda Clark and later moved to Franklin. Indiana, where he went into the dry goods business, but later became a blacksmith and still later ran a grist mill at Columbus. He died at Indianapolis in April, 1888. having survived his wife forty years, her death occurring in Franklin in 1848.
James D. Webb, son of John G., was born in Hendricks township. Shelby county. Indiana. October 22. 1843. He obtained a scanty education in the rude district schools of those days and after the death of his step-mother was taken in charge by his uncle William. He learned blacksmithing. but his work was interrupted by the Civil war and he enlisted and was mustered in Sep- tember 1. 1861. in Company G. Forty-fifth Regiment. Third Cavalry, Indiana Volunteers. Owing to prolonged sickness he was discharged at Bridgeport. Alabama, July 29. 1862, and after returning home was sick for seventeen months. Taking possession of a rented farm he remained there five years, and in 1872 went to Champaign county. Illinois, where for a year he farmed and handled fine horses. Returning to Franklin he was engaged in the livery business for a while, then in street contracting. His next move was to In- dianapolis, where he did street grading, thence to Needham's Station, where he finally wound up on a farm, remaining there for two years.
From there he removed to a farm in Hendricks township. Shelby county. renting the Cutsinger farm in 1877 and working it for two years. In ISTS he located at Shelbyville and engaged in the timber business in Ohio, running saw mills and handling walnut exclusively. This was followed by farming in Rush county for four years, and similar work on a place at Needham's Sta- tion until 1885. when he disposed of his holdings and began selling medicine for Doctor Haas, of Indianapolis, proprietor of the Live Stock Remedy Com- pany. Buying a grist mill at Bridgeport, in Marion county, he added a saw mill and conducted this business for three years. He was appointed postmaster of the town under Cleveland's administration, and held the office until March 31, 1889. In April of the same year he located at Shelbyville, engaging in the livery and teaming business, also farming on the side, and in 1800 bought the City livery stable, but after two years disposed of this on account of illness.
The years following 1893 were spent in the Washington Street livery barn. of which he owned a half interest. buying stock. teaming and running a boarding house. In 1896 Mr. Webb was elected Justice of the Peace and has since served in that office and altogether has done well in a business way.
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On July 16, 1866, he married Sarah F .. daughter of Ephraim and Susan ( Davidson) Tucker, well known for many years as progressive farmers of Shelby county. Though they have no children of their own, Mr. and Mrs. Webb have two New York orphans and two half-brothers, all of whom have grown up, entered business and are doing well. Mr. Webb is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Post No. 18, at Shelbyville, and his religious inclinations are toward the Baptist church, in which he was reared.
JOHN N. LUCAS. M. D.
Originally from Maryland. the family of this name became identified with Ohio before it was admitted into the Union as a state. Jolin Lucas, who came to Butler county as early as 1800, was one of the first of the settlers to locate in that part of the western wilderness. He was a farmer and cleared the land, being one of the pioneers in that part of the country. William, one of the sons, followed the occupation of farming and lived in Butler county on part of the old homestead most of his life. having been called to his final rest in 1859. He married Mary, daughter of Maxwell Potter, a native of New Jersey, who was among the early native born in Butler county. He left a large family, one of whom is the subject of our sketch.
John N. Lucas was born in Butler county, Ohio, March 1. 1846. After the usual routine in the county schools, he attended the high school at. Middletown and took a scientific collegiate course of four years at Antioch College. He read medicine under Dr. W. D. Linn, at Middletown, and con- tinued this preparatory study for three years. One year was spent in attend- ing lectures at the Homeopathic Hospital College in Cleveland. He then at- tended Pulte Medical College in Cincinnati, where he was graduated in 1873. The next ten years were divided between Shelbyville. Middletown. Ohio, and Cambridge City, Indiana, at the end of which time he located permanently at Shelbyville. For twenty-six years, beginning in 1883. Doctor Lucas has been one of the influential men of his profession and has grown with the city in whose development and progress he has ever taken an active interest. While residing at Cambridge City, where he made his home for four years, he be- came interested in the Pythian order, joined the lodge No. 9 at that place in 1879. and filled all the chairs including that of chancellor commander. When it was proposed to establish a branch of the Knights of Pythias in Shelby- ville, Doctor Lucas immediately became one of the moving spirits and did much of the work preliminary to instituting Chillon Lodge in 1885. He was made its first chancellor commander and was instituting officer of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Morristown. He was ably assisted in the Shelbyville work
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by Mr. Peter Akers, also member of Lodge No. 9. at Cambridge City, and an enthusiastic Pythian. In 1882-3 Doctor Lucas was a member of the Grand lodge of the state, and represented his home lodge at Indianapolis. Assiste.1 by a few others, he took a firm stand against admitting liquor men or saloon keepers into the order. the test case thus made being carried to and sustained by the decision of the Grand Lodge.
Doctor Lucas is literary in his tastes and has collected an interesting li- brary. He has an extensive collection of clippings systematically arranged on scientific and current events. His manners are quiet and unassuming. his ad- dress genial and friendly.
January 28. 1880. Doctor Lucas married Margaret A., daughter of Mrs. Mary E. Powell, of Shelbyville. Doctor and Mrs. Lucas have four children. Mary E., died when five years old. Horace P .. is a bookkeeper : Orton E., a graduate of DePauw. is manager of the Shelby Republican: Frank P., the youngest child, is in the sophomore class of DePauw University.
JOHN W. PADRICK.
Though now practically retired from business the subject of this sketch has been a busy man during the many years of his activities. During that time he has had a schooling in many different callings, going from one to the other as exigencies arose. but always bettering his condition by the change, and as a result of it all he has something saved up for the proverbial rainy day. His father. Oscar D. Padrick, was a North Carolinian, born in 1824. who came west before the middle of the last century and followed the trade of carpenter. After his location in Shelby county he married Malvina Owens, who was born in Kentucky in 1825, and came with her parents in girlhood to Shelby county and was reared in Sugar Creek township. Their second child. Oscar D. F., died when two years of age. John W. Padrick, the first child, was born in Sugar Creek township. Shelby county, Indiana. November 29. 1845. In youth his parents came to Shelbyville and opened a boarding place which be- came well known throughout the county as the Padrick House. John at- tended the city schools for a while, and in early manhood branched out for himself as driver of a huckster wagon which was probably the first of its kind in the county. He next spent several years as clerk with one of the grocery firms of the city, but this occupation was interrupted by the call to arms for the Civil war. In 1863 young Padrick was appointed citizen clerk in the commissary department of Sherman's army under Capt. John M. Blair. He retained this position until the close of hostilities, when he returned home. After a short rest he accepted a position with a wholesale and retail stationary
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