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 41
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Charles Harlan continued to assist his father until he was twenty- two years of age, when he was married to Miss Alice Hess, September
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26, 1886. He then commenced an independent career by investing $1,000 from his mother's estate. The venture proved a total loss, but he pluckily continued his farming on rented land for five years, when he was able to purchase a tract of eighty-four acres, around which, with the passing years, he accumulated a fine acreage and a valuable estate. He is now among the leading agriculturists of Honey Creek township, although twenty-five acres of his property are located in Prairieton township.
Mrs. Charles Harlan, formerly Miss Alice Hess, was born July 17, 1866, is a daughter of Washington and Malinda (Killian) Hess, and has become the mother of the following children: Albert, who died when but a week old; Sarah A., who has received a common school education and thorough instruction in instrumental music, and Ruth, born April 13, 1893, who died November 3, 1898. Mrs. Harlan is widely known in the charitable and church work of Honey Creek township. Both she and her daughter Sarah are earnest members of the United Brethren church, the latter having served as its organist for some time. Mrs. Harlan is also one of the trustees, and in 1908 was selected as a delegate to the Biennial Convention Young People's Christian Union at Indian- apolis. She is treasurer of the Ladies' Aid Society, teacher in the young ladies' class, superintendent of the Sunday school, and thoroughly alive to every phase of church and religious work. Mr. Harlan also gives his support to the practical charities and unlifting movements of his com- munity. He has fraternal relations with the Odd Fellows Lodge, No. 685, of Youngstown, and the Woodmen camp at Prairieton. In politics he is a Democrat, and in June, 1904, was elected trustee of Honey Creek township. With whatever activity he is identified, he brings into the field industry, fidelity and ability, and is a citizen whose usefulness and honor are a part of the township's high standing.
HENRY ROBINSON .- In the death of Henry Robinson Terre Haute lost one of her pioneer business men and leading citizens. He was a native of Canada, born July 12, 1827, and was a son of William Robinson, who was born in the state of New York. When a boy of twelve his parents removed to northern Illinois, and on their farm they spent the remainder of their lives. After attaining to manhood's estate Henry Robinson returned to the state of New York, where he attended school for several winters, and when he again left the parental home in northern Illinois he went into the pine woods of Wisconsin and spent several winters cutting timber. Re- turning from there to New York, he spent two or three seasons at work in a cooper shop and again returned to the old home in Illinois. From there he came to Terre Haute, in 1856 or 1857, and in 1859 began busi-
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ness by opening a notion and auction store on the south side of Main street, between Fourth and Fifth streets, being first in partnership with a Mr. Adams and after his death with a Mr. Shurbin. After this rela- tionship was dissolved Mr. Robinson continued in business for himself for many years and was very successful in his ventures. After a time he took in C. L. Bramen as a partner, and they engaged in the whole- sale dry goods and notions business for many years, until finally he again purchased his partner's interest and remained alone until late in the eighties, when failing health made it necessary for him to retire from business.
As an auctioneer Mr. Robinson was extremely successful and he is well remembered as one of the city's pioneers in that line. His char- acter for honesty and integrity was well known and he had a keen appre- ciation of the ethics of commercial life, so that he not only commanded the respect of his fellow men for his uprightness but also won their admiration for his marked abilities. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity. In 1858 Mr. Robinson married the widow of Henry Holmes (Ann Carey ), and together they lived and labored in Terre Haute, the husband finally passing away on the Ist of December, 1892, and two years afterward, on the 21st of April, 1894, his wife joined him in the home beyond.
BENJAMIN M. KNISELY, a contractor and builder, of Terre Haute, is numbered among the native sons of the neighboring state of Illinois, his birth having there occurred in Palestine, August 14, 1863. His par- ents were Benjamin and Margaret (Blything) Knisely. The father was born in Canal Dover, Ohio, and was of an old Pennsylvania Dutch family. His great-grandfather became one of the pioneer settlers of Canal Dover and gave the land to the county upon which the first court house was built. He was a public-spirited citizen and contributed in substantial measure to the early development of the locality. The mother of Benjamin M. was born in Crawford county, Illinois, to which state the father removed at an early period in its development. He was a harness maker by trade and died at a comparatively early age. passing away in 1863, prior to the birth of his son, Benjamin M. In 1869 his widow came to Terre Haute and from the age of six years Mr. Benja- min M. Knisely has been a resident of this city.
Benjamin M. Kuisely entered the public schools of Terre Haute, passing through consecutive grades until he had acquired a good prac- tical English education. In early youth he learned the trade of a brick mason, serving a three years' apprenticeship in this city, after which he went to Chicago, where he received training for three more years in
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the line of his chosen occupation, becoming familiar with the advanced building methods of that city. In 1887 he returned to Terre Haute, where he began contracting, and in the intervening years has erected many substantial structures here. He has also done all the brick work for the street railway of Terre Haute and under contract has erected a number of the leading business houses; also three engine houses for the city, a school building, the Phoenix Club house and other structures. He built and owns two modern flat buildings, known as the Knisely flats, at the corner of Chestnut and Sixth streets, and from these derives a good rental. Although he started out in life with limited capital, he has been very successful and the years have brought him gratifying pros- perity.
On the 23d of November, 1887, Mr. Knisely was marrired to Miss Hannah G. Dullea, daughter of John and Johanna (Crowley) Dullea. They have had two children: Benjamin A., now seventeen years of age, and Cleon Gertrude, who died at the age of seven years. Mr. Knisely is a Mason, belonging to the lodge, chapter and commandery. He is a popular citizen, possessing the personal traits of character which win him lasting friendships and kindly regard. In business he receives the confidence and good will of his colleagues, associates and patrons, who recognize him to be an honest, enterprising man, possessing that strength of character which works for good citizenship as well as for individual gain.
JOSEPH BURGESS FUQUA is one of the best known of Terre Haute's prominent citizens, and at the present time is serving as a member of the board of public safety. On both the paternal and maternal sides he is descended from old southern families of the Blue Grass state of Ken- tucky. Washington Fuqua, the grandfather of Joseph B., was born in that state and married one of its native daughters, Rebecca Wilson, but in the early fifties, with their families, they journeyed northward with team and wagon and located in Eldridge township, Edgar county, Illinois, on land adjoining the right-of-way of the Big Four Railroad Company, then known as the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad, and located two and a half miles east of Vermilion. There they spent the remainder of their lives, Washington Fuqua dying in about 1879, aged seventy-nine years, and his wife in 1873, at the age of seventy-three years.
David M. Fuqua, their son, was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, and was a farmer throughout life. He died on the 3d of October, 1859, the result of a kick from a horse. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Amanda D. Rhoden and who was also a native of Fleming county,
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Kentucky, died November 15, 1895. Her paternal grandfather was born in England, but when a boy of twelve was stolen and brought to the United States. Her father, Joseph Rhoden, was born in Kentucky. He married there Bersheba Burgess and moved to Indiana in the early fifties, locating on the state line in Fayette township, Vigo county, and there he lived until his death on the 21st of June, 1880, dying at the age of eighty years. His wife died June 28, 1880, just one week after her husband was laid to rest. Unto David M. and Amanda (Rhoden) Fuqua were born four children, namely: Martha J., the widow of William H. McFarland, and residing on her farm in Edgar county, Illinois ; Fleming S., a farmer in that county ; Basheba E., the wife of Jesse McFarland, of Edgar county, and Joseph B.
Joseph B. Fuqua, the youngest child, was born in Edgar county, Illinois, near Vermilion, October 2, 1857, and was but two years and a day old when his father died. Remaining on the home farm in Edgar county until fourteen, he then came to Terre Haute to make his home with an uncle, and after completing his public school education pursued a course in the old Garvin Business College, taking the night course. He then worked for his uncle, L. S. Calder, in the grocery store, for about two years, and from that time until October, 1879, drove a wagon for J. H. Chapman, the proprietor of a bakery at 124 South Fourth street. At the close of that period Mr. Fuqua engaged in the grocery business at the corner of Lafayette avenue and Fifth street as a member of the firm of Fuqua & Serrin, but a short time afterward bought his partner's interest and conducted the business alone until 1892. He was very successful as a grocery merchant, but sold his store in 1892 to become a traveling salesman for Willard Kidder, a miller, and with whom he still has business relations. Aside from taking an active part in the business interests of Terre Haute Mr. Fuqua has also been promi- nently identified with its political life. In 1892 he was elected to repre- sent the old first ward in the city council for a term of two years, and in that time the legislature enacted a new law and his term was thereby extended one year. In 1894 he was re-elected to the council from the seventh ward, the old first ward under a new name, for a term of four years. At the present time he is serving as a member of the board of public safety of Terre Haute, his term of service to extend during the administration of Mayor Lyons.
Mr. Fuqua married, November 24, 1880, Ida B., a daughter of Louis and Anna (Forrest) Merring. The late Louis Merring, for many years prominent in the business life of Terre Haute, died November 15, 1907. Mrs. Fuqua was born in Buffalo, New York, August 11, 1861, and she has become the mother of a son and a daughter. The son, Herbert E ..
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was born in Terre Haute, April 19, 1883, and is a graduate of the city high school with the class of January, 1902. He had just entered upon his second year in the Rose Polytechnic Institute when his health failed and he went to New Mexico, from whence, six months later, he went to Los Angeles, California, and returning, spent the summer of 1907 at home. On the 24th of August of that year he entered the Leland Stan- ford University of California, where he is now in his senior year. Esther Cleone, the only daughter, was born in Terre Haute, February 17. 1887, and completed the high school course. She married Carroll H. Seldon- ridge, September 4, 1907, and resided in Seattle, Washington, for a short time, afterward returning to Terre Haute. Mr. Fuqua is a member of the Masonic Lodge, No. 19: a member and the financial secretary of Fort Harrison Lodge, No. 157, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Travelers' Protective Association.
JOSEPHI MULLIKIN, who does a general real estate business, is an active factor in the business circles of Terre Haute and is recognized as one of its representative and leading residents. He was born in Johnson county, Indiana, on the 24th of February, 1864, his parents being James M. and Mary A. ( Kindle) Mullikin, who were natives of that county and representatives of old pioneer families there.
He was educated in the common and high schools of his native county. He engaged in teaching school for two years and then entered the State Normal at Terre Haute in 1887. In 1891 he went to the south, spending eighteen months in Tennessee and Alabama, where he engaged in the building and loan business. In 1893 he returned to Terre Haute, where he went in the real estate business and has since engaged in the purchase and sale of property, and at all times keeping well informed concerning the valuation of realty and the possibilities for purchase and sale, so that he renders excellent service to his clients. He is also secretary of the Union Building and Loan Association.
Mr. Mullikin is identified with some of the leading organizations of Terre Haute, including the Commercial Club, the Young Business Men's Club and the Masonic lodge. Pleasantly situated in his home life, he married Miss Nellie Warfel, of Monticello, Indiana, a daughter of Hezekiah Warfel. They have one daughter, Isa B., who is a student in the convent of St. Mary-of-the-Woods.
JAMES ARTHUR HALL was born in Prairie Creek township, near the Fortune school house, March 8, 1869, a son of Isaac N. Hall and a grandson of Solomon Hall, one of the early pioneers of Vigo county. He was born in Jackson county, West Virginia, and it was in 1859 that
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he came to Prairie Creek township, Vigo county, his death occurring here after a residence of four years.
Isaac N. Hall, the fifth of his seven children, of whom five were daughters, was also born in Jackson county, West Virginia, August 26, 1844, and his death occurred in Texas, September 24, 1895. During the Civil war he served in the Third West Virginia Cavalry, enlisting at the opening of the conflict and serving until its close, for a time acting in the capacity of orderly. He was never wounded and participated in the following battles: Spottsylvania, Cedar Creek, Antietam, Aldie and Appomattox. He was under the command of Custer, Gen. George Arm- strong, David C. Hall. His brother also served through the entire war, enlisting in the Eighty-fifth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers as a private. He was wounded in the shoulder, was captured at Mark's Mills, taken to Libby prison and died from the effects of his wound in 1879. After the close of the war Isaac Hall returned to Prairie Creek township and in 1868 was married here to Elizabeth Fortune, but they separated in 1873, after becoming the parents of two children, James Arthur and Nettie M. The daughter married Harvey G. Shaffer and resides in Indianapolis. Mrs. Hall was born in Covington, Kentucky, October 15, 1853, and is now living in Howard county, Indiana, the wife of William Howard. Mr. Hall was also a second time married, wedding, in 1880, Louisa Hall, from Illinois, and they subsequently moved to Texas and he spent the remainder of his life there.
James Arthur Hall accompanied his father on his removal to Texas, but only remained there one year, returning then to this county. After two years, however, he went again to Texas, four years elapsing before his return to Prairieton township, Vigo county, where he worked for his uncle, Benjamin F. Flesher, for five years. During the year fol- lowing his marriage he worked by the month, and he then began farin- ing for himself, renting land until 1906. He then bought seventy-five acres in Prairie Creek township, where he now lives, two miles north of Middletown, on the Vincennes road. He is a grain and stock farmer, shipping to the Chicago and Indianapolis markets. He is a Republican, an Odd Fellow, belonging to Middletown Lodge, No. 476, in which he has filled all of the offices and served as a delegate to the grand lodge, and a Mason, belonging to Lodge No. 178, at Prairieton, in which he is serving his second term as secretary.
The marriage of Mr. Hall occurred August 29, 1889, to Reka V. Hines, who was born November 19, 1867, a daughter of Frederick and Jessie Hines, and their five children are Harvey N., Lillie O., William H., Isaac Benjamin and one who died in infancy. Three of the children are attending school, two in Middletown. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hall are members of the Methodist church.
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CHARLES R. DUFFIN .- On the roster of city officials of Terre Haute appears the name of Charles R. Duffin, who is now the incumbent in the office of city comptroller. He has also been the promoter and organizer of various business concerns which have contributed to the commercial prosperity and advancement of the city, as well as proven a source of substantial benefit to himself. His life record began in Illinois in 1863, his birth occurring in Pana. He resided in Illinois to the age of thirteen, working on a farm in Shelby county, Illinois. In 1876 he came to Terre Haute, where he commenced his business career by accept- ing a position in a restaurant and soon afterward drove a delivery wagon for J. R. Fisher. Since then his life has been characterized by an orderly progression that has made him one of the the well known and representative business men of the city, while his influence and labors have been an effective force in municipal welfare and advancement. After leaving the employ of Fisher he became connected with H. Robin- son & Sons, wholesale dealers in notions at Terre Haute, for whom he traveled for four years. On severing his connection with that house he became traveling salesman for Fecheimerm Keifer & Company, of Cin- cinnati, wholesale clothiers, and so continued for fourteen years, being one of the trusted representatives and able salesmen of the company. In 1898 he organized the Citizens' Telephone Company of Terre Haute and became its general manager in 1901, thus bringing to the city a public utility in competition with the Bell system, improving the char- acter of its service and constituting an element, the convenience of which adds to the dispatch of business. He was also instrumental in the organization of the Forest Coal Company and the Forest Park Com- pany, the latter being engaged in the management and improvement of one of the most beautiful natural parks in the state. He is a man of business discernment, who recognizes and utilizes opportunities that others pass by heedlessly. and the result of his discrimination and un- wearied industry are seen in the tangible success which has followed his labors. He was secretary of the Terre Haute Trotting and Fair Association for eight years, and is interested in various other concerns of importance to the city.
Mr. Duffin's political prominence has made him comptroller of Terre Haute, to which position he was appointed in 1906 by Mayor Lyons. He is one of the stalwart advocates of Democratic principles and his party finds in him a champion whose labors are far-reaching and beneficial. His personal traits are such as render him popular with the great majority with whom he comes in contact, and he is a valued member of the Knights of Pythias, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and Knights of Columbus. In the last named fraternity he is
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identified with Terre Haute Council, No. 541, and for the past three years has held the office of grand knight. He was the first president of Post G of the Travelers' Protective Association, and his high standing and popularity among commercial travelers of the country were indicated by the fact that at the national convention held at Omaha, Nebraska, in 1898, he was honored with the presidency of the national association, his executive ability and ready dispatch in business well qualifying hin to serve as its chief officer.
JUPITER G. VRYDAGH is the leading architect and superintendent of building of Terre Haute, and succeeded in business his honored father, Josse A. Vrydagh, whose name was perhaps more prominently asso- ciated with the building interests of Vigo county than any other man of his time.
Josse A. Vrydagh was a native of Louvain, Belgium, born May 16, 1833, to Peter and Mary (Heller) Vrydagh, the former of whom was a soldier under Napoleon and participated in the battle of Leipsic. He was a wholesale merchant and manufacturer of spices. At the age of fourteen his son Josse entered the Louvain School of Arts, and after an attendance there of nearly seven years he, in 1854, joined the Phalaus- terian colony, composed of about two hundred and fifty persons from France, Belgium, Switzerland and the United States, which emigrated to Dallas, Texas. During his residence in that city young Vrydagh was engaged in contracting and architectural work and built the St. Nicholas Hotel, at that time and for many years afterward the finest structure in the city. But in 1858 the colony disbanded and Mr. Vrydagh then traveled through the south making a study of the slave question for a year, following which he returned to Europe and visited some of the principal cities of France, Belgium and England. In 1862 he visited the World's Fair at London, and in 1863 returned to the United States and located at Decatur, Illinois. After a residence in that city of six months he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and from there, in 1866, came to Terre Hante and became the city's noted pioneer architect. In 1870 he was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. In 1874, with fifty other architects, he submitted competitive drawings for the Centennial buildings at Philadelphia and was awarded one of the ten premiums. In 1877 he received one thousand dollars award from the United States government for submitting the best plans for rebuilding the burned patent office building at Washington city, and during the years of 1881 and 1882 he was in the office of the supervising architect of the treasury department at Washington. During his active carcer in Terre Haute Mr. Vrydagh was the leading architect and superin-
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tendent, and his reputation and work extended over the entire state of Indiana. Among others, the following buildings of note were erected after his plans, specifications, and under his supervision: The old Indiana State Normal School, which was destroyed in 1889; the Terre Haute Opera House, the wholesale grocery and spice mills of Hulman & Company, the Catholic Orphans' Home, St. John's Catholic church, the Deming block, the Beach block, the old Marble block on Wabash avenue, the Terre Haute high school, the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth district city schools, the German Reformed and Lutheran churches, and many business houses, residences, warehouses, round- houses and car houses, all in Terre Haute; the DePauw University buildings at Greencastle, the court houses at Sullivan, Bedford and Mount Vernon, Indiana, the jails at Paris and Charleston, Illinois, and a large number of public and private buildings at Evansville and other points throughout the state.
Mr. Vrydagh was married in his native home in Belgium in 1854, to Victoria Notez, and they became the parents of the following children : Martin U., who married Clara Stuckwish and is an architect in Pitts- burg: Mary E., of Kansas City, Missouri: Jupiter G., Robert T., an architect, and Allison L., a draughtsman in Terre Haute. Josse A. Vrydagh died January 16, 1898, his wife surviving him seven years, she dying on the 5th of March, 1905.
Jupiter G. Vrydagh was born in the city of Terre Haute, February 4, 1869, and after completing the course in the graded and high schools he entered upon a two years' course at the Rose Polytechnic Institute. From 1890 until 1898 he was in the city of St. Louis perfecting him- self along the lines of his chosen profession, but the death of his gifted father in the latter year recalled him to Terre Haute, and he succeeded to his business, soon taking rank among the architects and superintend- ents of the city. His career has been a successful one, and among other buildings of importance the following stand as monuments to his won- derful ability as an architect : The Naylor-Cox block, the White block on Wabash avenue, the Froeb-Cox block, the main addition to the Columbian Enameling and Stamping Works, the Root Glass Company's buildings, the Modes Turner Glass Works, the Gartland Foundry build- ings, the Fairbatiks, Rae and Deming public school buildings, the resi- dences of Mr. Herz, Bruce Failey, Dr. Patton, A. L. Pfau and many others, and at the present time he is superintending the erection of the addition to St. Anthony's Hospital, for which he also supplied the plans. Mr. Vrydagh is a member of the Commercial Club, the Young Business Men's Club and the Masonic and Elks fraternities. During two years he was the architect of the Terre Haute city school board.
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