USA > Indiana > Vigo County > Terre Haute > Greater Terre Haute and Vigo County : closing the first century's history of city and county, showing the growth of their people, industries and wealth > Part 40
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Wabash Valley and the American Medical Association. He is also serv- ing on the medical staff of St. Anthony's Hospital.
In 1903 Dr. Leavitt was married to Miss Sadie E. Jenkins and the young couple are well known socially in Terre Haute. Dr. Leavitt gives his political allegiance to the Democracy, and in November, 1906, was elected coroner, which position he is now filling. He is a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, Red Men, Ben Hur, Knights and Ladies of Honor and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and has the warm regard of his brethren of these organizations, as well as the friendship of many with whom pro- fessional and social relations have brought him in contact.
JASPER HOLMES .- Now in the gentle decline of a long, vigorous and honorable life, Jasper Holmes, of Terre Haute, has the unusual privilege of being spared to review the primitive times of two great states, New York and Indiana. He is a native of the Empire state, born at Holmes- ville, Oswego county, on the Ist of March, 1835, being a son of Jesse N. and Martha Holmes. His father was born August 12, 1790, and his mother on the 16th of August, 1793, and at a very early day they re- moved from their birthplace in Winfield, Herkimer county, to the locality in Oswego county which, as it developed into a town, took the family name. At the time of their arrival the entire region was a forest tract and it was necessary to cut away the timber in order to obtain a site for the family cabin. Purchasing land at three dollars an acre, the parents settled down in the wilderness for a long season of hardships and use- fulness, honorably rearing a family of ten children and living to see them prosper and the country develop into a well settled territory.
Jasper Holmes was the youngest of this York state family of pioneers, and himself remembers seeing numerous deer and bears in his home region. Fishing in Lake Ontario was also all that the most ardent sportsman could desire, although in those times the heavy "hauls" formed a staple and most welcome item in the household supplies. As there were no free schools in his boyhood days, his education was as meager as his supply of fresh air and health-giving occupation was abundant. Mr. Holmes remained on the paternal farm until 1863, or until his removal to Terre Haute. In the meantime he had married and was giving his faithful attention to the cultivation of the homestead farm, the care of his parents and the support of his own household.
. Mr. Holmes arrived at Terre Haute on the 25th of December, 1863, and two years afterward saved enough money as employee and business man to buy a fair-sized wheat field, quite a distance from the business center of the town. His nearest neighbor on the north was the Petrie
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family on Maple avenue and that on the south was Mr. Hullman. Mr. Holmes still resides on the site of the old-time wheat field, now a thickly- settled residence portion of Terre Haute, at No. 1806 North Thirteenth street. His first business occupation in the city was as traveling salesman for H. Robinson, his initial trip being through southern Illinois, but upon his return he established a store of his own on the north side of the old court house, between Second and Third streets. He was doing business at this location when the court house was torn down, afterward occupy- ing various stores, his present business headquarters being at 302 Wabash avenue, where he has remained for twenty-four years.
In 1857 Mr. Holmes was united in marriage with Miss Eliza Cary, at Holmesville, Oswego county, New York. She died childless on the 19th of November, 1906, and since her decease Mr. Holmes has spent his winters in California with his nieces. He has voted the Republican ticket almost since the organization of the party, and has been a worthy Mason since 1866. The family have generally subscribed to the faith of Methodism, and no representative of the Holmes name has been more sturdy, straightforward or honorable than Jasper Holmes, of Terre Haute.
STEPHEN ADAIR is the president and manager of the Adair Manu- facturing Company and is a native son of Indiana, born in its county of Wayne, July 14, 1843, to Joseph and Elizabeth (Rigler) Adair, born respectively in Virginia and Pennsylvania and of Scotch-Irish and Ger- man descent. It was in 1843 that they established their home in Terre Haute.
Stephen Adair received his educational training in Vigo, Putnam and Hendricks counties, but he spent the most of his boyhood in Terre Haute and Vigo county, and was in this city at the time of the breaking out of the Civil war. He did not enlist until the 8th of February, 1864, and was then made a member of Company C, Thirty-first Indiana Volun- teer Infantry, and with his command went to the front and participated in the battles of Atlanta, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Jonesboro, Frank- lin and many minor engagements. He was mustered out of the service at Indianapolis in January, 1866, and returned to Terre Haute.
Just prior to entering the army Mr. Adair had worked at various occupations, and after returning was for seven years employed in Thomp- son's flour mill and cooper shop, in the meantime becoming as proficient at the cooper's trade, and in 1871 he engaged in the business on his own account. He has ever since continued in this line of activity, and on the Ist of January, 1907, the Adair Manufacturing Company was formed, with Mr. Adair as president and treasurer, and F. R. Corban secre- tary and manager. In 1893 they extended the scope of their business
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to include the manufacture of boxes, and in 1880 Mr. Adair also became a retail grocer, but closed out that department of his business in 1899.
He married, November 19, 1868, in Terre Haute, Rebecca N., a daughter of Edward and Sarah (Richardson) Derrickson, who were born in Philadelphia and were of German and English descent respect- ively. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Adair are as follows: J. Edward, engaged in coopering with his father, married Delia E. Shields, the daughter of Rufus F. Mann, of Terre Haute; Emma, the wife of Fred R. Corban, the secretary and manager of the Adair Manufacturing Company ; Mabel, at home, and Lester, deceased. Mr. Adair is a mem- ber of the Masonic, the Odd Fellows, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen fraternities.
ELI H. REDMAN, whose large clientage is the expression of public confidence in his ability to successfully handle the intricate problems of the law, is widely known as an able attorney of Terre Haute. He was born on a farm in Clark county, Illinois, March 3, 1861, and is a son of Hilton P. and Hester R. (Briscoe) Redman, both of whom were natives of Virginia. The paternal grandfather was Joseph Redman, also a native of the Old Dominion, and there was likewise born the maternal grandfather, Henry Briscoe. On both sides of the family the ancestry is traced to those who well served their country's interests in the Revolu- tionary war. Both grandparents removed to Kentucky from Virginia and thence to Illinois, in which state the parents of Mr. Redman were married and spent their remaining days.
Eli H. Redman was reared upon his father's farm, early becoming familiar with its duties, acquiring his early education in the district schools and later graduating from Lee's Seminary, Illinois. He taught school in that state for about seven years and then entered the law office of J. W. Graham, at Marshall, Illinois (in 1885), to qualify himself for his pro- fession. He also spent much time in the office of John M. Scholfield, judge of the supreme court of Illinois, whose home was in the city named. While thus pursuing his studies he was appointed to a position in the United States mail service, with headquarters at Indianapolis, continuing to serve in that capacity for about eighteen months. He did not abandon his desire to become a member of the legal profession, however, and after a year and a half he resumed his reading in the office of McDonald & Butler, of Indianapolis, the senior member of which firm was the late United States Senator James E. McDonald, and the junior member the well known John M. Butler. It may be mentioned that among other pre- vious students in this office were Hon. Albert B. Anderson, judge of the United States district court of the state of Indiana, and United States
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Senator Albert J. Beveridge, of this state. On the 16th of November, 1888, Mr. Redman was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of In- diana, the same year located for practice in Terre Haute, and later was admitted to the bar of the United States courts. Since he entered into professional work he has been a resident of this city. At first he formed a partnership with L. B. Mitchell, under the style of Redman & Mitchell, but a year later began the independent practice which he has since main- tained. This is now extensive and of an important character, and he is well known among his associates for the provident care with which he prepares his cases. At no time has his reading been confined to the limi- tation of the questions at issue. It has gone beyond and compassed every contingency, providing not alone for the expected but for the unexpected -which happens in the courts quite as frequently as out of them. His mind is naturally analytic and his deductions are logical, so that he has won many notable triumphs in the courts.
In 1890 Mr. Redman was married to Miss L. Pearl Shepler, daugh- ter of Sanford P. Shepler, of Terre Haute, who was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Mrs. Redman is a woman of strong, versatile and attractive character, liberally educated, highly intellectual, practically capable, and yet thoroughly domestic and lovable. After graduating from the graded school she spent a year in the Terre Haute high school, and then entered Coates College, where she spent two years in the academic department and three years in the college proper, completing the Vassar course with high credentials. After her marriage Mrs. Redman mastered shorthand and typewriting, combined with a study of the law under the tutelage of the Sprague Correspondence School of Law, and for several years as- sisted her husband in his office work. During a period of severe illness, when he was confined to the hospital, she had entire charge of his busi- ness. She is remarkably capable either in the business or domestic fields, and in literary circles ranks high as an original thinker and a finished and forceful writer. Locally her papers read before the Irving Circle and the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Young Men's Christian Association have attracted wide notice and most flattering comments in the public press.
STEPHIEN JAMES YOUNG, M. D., one of Terre Haute's oldest and most prominent physicians, citizens and bankers, is the venerable and honored representative of a family which has attained lasting eminence for its pioneer work. In the religious field of the east, and for its coming to the great prairies of Illinois, as the initiator of its world-famed agri- cultural interests. To give credit for the latter honor it is only neces- sary to refer to the father of the doctor, Jonathan Young, who at the time of his death in Paris, Illinois, on Sunday, August 18, 1867, was
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justly and cheerfully accorded the title "Father of the Prairies." From a memorial notice published at his decease, the following indicates the character of the beloved and noted pioneer of the west: "Out of the wreck of recollections connected with the earlier struggles of our state, the memory of Mr. Young will be kept and cherished as a man of many virtues and but few faults ; as a pioneer whose venturesome plow first turned the sod of the prairies of eastern Illinois; as a Christian who found that religion is the strongest aid to man amid the world's wild strife; as a citizen who loved his country for his country's sake, and as a Mason who worked with unselfish zeal for the good of mankind."
The great-great-grandfather, Stephen Young, was banished from Scotland to America at the age of fourteen for his stanch adherence to the Presbyterian church, of which he was a prominent member until his death. The land which has given so much prosperity and financial ease to the Presbyterians of Newark, New Jersey, was the munificent gift of the generous and far-seeing Scotchman. The great-grandfather, Stephen, was a leading member of the same congregation, and remained on the old homestead until 1785, when he died full of years and honors. Aaron Young, the grandfather, was born in 1752, and remained upon the same place until his death. Before his death, at the solicitation 'of his friends and kindred, Jonathan Young, the father, penned the following : "I was born in the town of Newark, September 15, 1791, on the place taken up by my great-grandfather, a Scotch boy, who, at the age of fourteen, was compelled to leave his native country on account of his religion. Being a Presbyerian he was banished to America, and on ar- riving at New York (then a Dutch colony) with two other boys by the names of Nesbit and Clisby, he was about to be sold into servitude (with his companions) for the payment of his passage money. By the advice of friends the boys resisted, a lawsuit followed, and they were set at liberty. They went to Newark, and were received with demonstrations of ,joy by the inhabitants, an account of which was given by the Rev. Dr. McWhorter in his centenary sermon delivered January 1, 1800. My great-grandfather obtained (by paying for the recording and survey- ing) a right to the land upon which he lived during his lifetime, and upon which also my grandfather and my father lived during their lives. My father died when I was five years old, and I lived upon the same place until I was sixteen. My great-grandfather also obtained, upon the same conditions, and gave to the Presbyterian church, all that now con- stitutes its main wealth. My mother kept the house on the old place until within five years of her death, dying in October,- 1835, at the age of eighty-two years and in full possession of all hier faculties."
While a resident of Newark Jonathan Young was one of the found-
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ers of the Second Presbyterian church, and when he located in Cincinnati he became a leader in the First Presbyterian church of the young city, and assisted in the establishment of a third organization of that de- nomination. In his early life he was a manufacturer of chairs, but his business was crippled by the War of 1812, which caused his removal from Newark to Cincinnati in 1817. There, again, the financial troubles of 1831-32 brought his affairs to a crisis, but the fairness of his dealings and wise management enabled him to save a considerable property from his manufactory and real estate, which he wisely invested in lands near the town of Paris, Illinois. This was in November. 1839. His holdings embraced about one hundred and sixty acres of timber and one thousand one hundred and sixty acres of prairie, nearly all of the latter being under cultivation. There he became known as one of the most prosperous of the early farmers of eastern Illinois : as a generous, charitable, kind and Christian gentleman, as a leader in the Presbyterian church and an active and beloved Mason, having joined the order in 1826. He had married Miss Sarah McFarran, while living in Newark. New Jersey, in which city three of their children had died, and when he came to Paris six of the family were still living.
Dr. Young was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 31. 1829, and in the public schools of that city received his primary education, after- ward attending the old Edgar County Academy at Paris, Illinois. In 1846 he removed to Terre Haute and began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Ezra Read. a pioneer physician of that place. He then attended the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati, from which he was graduated in 1851. Beginning his practice at Terre Haute, within the decade preceding the Civil war he had become well established. He did not hesitate, however. to accept professional service under the gov- ernment, and in 1861, as an assistant surgeon, commenced active duties in the field. In February. 1864. he was promoted to surgeon, with the rank of major, but in February of the following year was obliged to resign on account of the ill health of his wife and return to private prac- tice. The years which have since passed have brought him financial suc- cess, a high surgical and medical reputation and a most honorable standing as a man of affairs. In his professional capacity he has served both the city and the county, and in 1877 was president of the Vigo County Medical Society. He has also been president and secretary of the Esculapian Medical Society, and is an active member of the Indiana Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is also one of the founders of the Union Hospital, has been president of that institution for several terms, and professor of anesthetics for the past twelve years. In 1852 he did his first anesthetizing and he has
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not lost a case since, or for a period of fifty-six years. His useful and patriotic service in the Civil war has earned him membership in the military order of the Loyal Legion, and for many years he has served as president of the Terre Haute Savings Bank, the leading institution of the kind in the city. His religious connections have been with the Epis- copalian church for many years, he has been an active participant in its work, and was made senior warden of St. Stephen's church, of Terre Haute, and still continues so.
In April, 1864, while taking a twenty days' leave of absence from his surgical duties at the front, Dr. Young was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth M .. daughter of John and Elizabeth Cooper, the ceremony occurring at New Harmony, Posey county, Indiana. Their daughter, Eleanor, is now the widow of F. T. Hord, of Indianapolis, and is the mother of two children-Eleanor and Stephen Y. Hord. The doctor is a member and ex-president of the Terre Haute Club, but is too busy professionally to devote much time to general matters of sociability. An occasion of much gratitude and enjoyment to him was the celebration, on March 9, 1907, of the fifty-sixth year of his practice in medicine, the anniversary being attended by many fellow practitioners of both Indiana and Illinois.
GEORGE R. GRIMES is well and prominently known through his connection with civil engineering work and also as the county surveyor of Vigo county. He entered upon the duties of that office in 1904 for a term of two years, and at its close was returned for another term. He claims Portsmouth, Ohio, as the place of his nativity, born on the 7th of May, 1848. to James and Mary A. (Tobin) Grimes, the father born in Birmingham, England, in 1806, and the mother in Pittsburg, Pennsyl- vania, in 1813. James Grimes came from the mother country to the United States at the age of twenty-one, and during the first several years here was identified with iron foundries in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, from whence he removed, in 1836, to Portsmouth. Ohio, to establish a stove works. He continued as an active business factor of that city for many years, dying there in 1876. Mrs. Grimes died in Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1896.
George R. Grimes attended the public schools and the college of his native city of Portsmouth, and leaving there in 1871 he came to Clinton, Indiana, and became a rodman on the construction of the Evansville, Terre Haute & Chicago Railroad, now the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, from Terre Haute to Danville, Illinois. He was with this road during the three years of its construction, and during the last year of the time was assistant division engineer. Mr. Grimes next turned his atten-
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tion to the mining and shipping of coal at Clinton, in which he was associated with A. B. Fitch and C. B. Guernsey, but during the panic of 1873 the business was discontinued, and following this Mr. Grimes became division engineer for the Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City Rail- road, the "Clover Leaf." He was with this corporation for two years, for one year was division engineer for the Danville, Olney & Ohio River Railroad Company, now the Indianapolis, Danville & Western, during a similar period was division engineer for the Cincinnati & Terre Haute extension of the old Cincinnati & Terre Haute, now the Evansville & Indianapolis Railroad, from Saline City to Worthington, and he then spent a year in Kentucky and Tennessee in railroad surveys. Returning thence to Terre Haute Mr. Grimes was made the deputy city engineer, while in 1882 he was made the city engineer and continued in that office during the following six years. Following this he opened an office in the city for general engineering and surveying, and in 1893 formed a partnership with J. E. Voorhees in the constructing business, the rela- tionship continuing for ten years, and at its close Mr. Grimes spent a year in St. Louis contracting. Returning once more to Terre Haute he, in 1904, was elected the county surveyor of Vigo county and in 1906 was re-elected.
Mr. Grimes married, in 1883, Lizzie B. Allen, a daughter of Thomas H. and Louise (White) Allen, of Clinton, Indiana, and they have three children-Mary, James Allen and George R., Jr. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
JOHN L. RYNERSON is one of the most prominent farmers and stock raisers in Prairie Creek township, Vigo county, and is a repre- sentative of families conspicuous in the early history of this section of Indiana. In 1824 Isaac Rynerson came from Kentucky to Indiana and old Fort Harrison. He was also with General Harrison on his memor- able march, serving with the Light Horse Dragoons. The eldest of his seven children was John Rynerson, Sr., born May 7, 1817, in Kentucky, and when he was a child of seven he came with his father to Sullivan county, Indiana, where he later became prominently identified with its farming and stock raising interests. He entered land from the govern- ment, and so successful were his efforts in his chosen vocation that at the time of his death, on the 18th of February, 1897, he was the owner of a fine estate of five hundred acres.
By his marriage to Letha Chambers, Jolin Rynerson united two of the pioneer families of Indiana. She was a daughter of Samuel and Beckie (Thomas) Chambers, who came to cast their lot with the early settlers of this state in 1817, and Samuel Chambers helped to build old
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Fort Knox and participated in many of the Indian skirmishes of the early days. Henry Rynerson assisted in the laying out of the site for the present city of Chicago, and two of Samuel's sons, Scott and Thomas Chambers, were in the Civil war as privates, the younger dying in the service of his country. In his family were seven sons and four daugh- ters. Mr. and Mrs. Rynerson had nine children, who grew to years of maturity, namely: Isaac, a farmer in Prairie Creek township; Sarah J. and Rebecca, who also reside here; Samuel C., of Prairie Creek township; John L. and Diannah, twins, but the latter is deceased ; Barnett, of Crawford county, Illinois; William, a farmer in Prairieton township, and Benjamin F., a physician in that township.
John L. Rynerson was born in Vigo county, Indiana, March 24, 1849, and is of German descent. Remaining at home until his marriage he then located on seventy acres which he had purchased, and to this little tract he has added from time to time until the estate now contains four hundred and ninety-five acres. He is a prominent stock farmer, raising principally cattle and hogs.
On the 17th of July, 1878, Mr. Rynerson married Alvina Ritter, born March 5, 1859, to Jacob and Delia (Carver) Ritter, and of their five children three are now living: Nettie M., the wife of Mathew J. Hib- bard, of Prairie Creek township; Letha G., the wife of John Green, of Lincoln county, Oklahoma, and Delilah E., attending school at Middle- town. Mr. Rynerson is a Republican politically and fraternally has re- ceived the third degree in Masonry, and Mrs. Rynerson is a member of the Eastern Star.
CHARLES HARLAN, the owner of a fine estate of three hundred and fifty acres in Honey Creek township, Vigo county, has been engaged in agricultural pursuits in this vicinity throughout the working period of his life and his material progress and worthy citizenship have advanced together. His birth occurred within the borders of this township on the 29th of March, 1864, and he is the only child of James and Sarah (Harrington) Harlan. The father was also born in Prairieton township, his birth year being 1834, and he, too, was an agriculturist. He has been twice married, his second union being with Harriet Mulligan and they became the parents of the following children: Albert, deceased ; Junior, who is married and resides in Terre Haute; Ray, deceased ; Ida, who married Dr. Walter Payne and resides in Middletown; Robert, deceased ; Herman, who is married and lives in Linton township; Ernest, also married, a resident of Honey Creek township, and Judge.
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