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 43
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tire community. Mr. Stark was ordained deacon at Union in 1882, twenty-six years ago. He has been ardent in his work as a Christian gentleman, by precept as well as example. All of the children belong to the same church-the Missionary Baptist. Mr. Stark's term as post- master commenced July 15, 1901, under appointment of President Mc- Kinley, and that his service is all that could be desired is evident by his re-appointment at the hands of President Roosevelt.
RICHARD H. COCHRAN was born on the 21st of January, 1846, in Vigo county, Indiana, and here his life has been spent and he has achieved success and prominence as a merchant and postmaster. He is a son of Charles P. and Louisa (Wines) Cochran, natives of Pennsyl- vania and New York respectively. Charles Perry Cochran came with his father's family to Terre Haute when quite a young boy, and he there learned the gunsmith's trade under his father's instructions and fol- lowed the same during the remainder of his life, dying in this county at the age of fifty years.
Charles Perry Cochran was a son of Landon Cochran, who was born in Scotland and came to America and to Pennsylvania before the War of 1812, enlisting at the opening of that conflict in the United -
States navy, and during his term of service he was with Commodore Perry's fleet in the great naval battle of Lake Erie, where, for bravery, he was awarded a silver medal by the government. After returning from the war he turned his attention to the gunsmith's trade, which he followed until 1846. He then organized Company H, Fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, of which he was made the captain, and in this com- pany, also, his son, George, was a soldier in the Civil war, he enlisting in 1861 with the Eighth Battery, and he manufactured his own guns. He was also made the captain of this battery and served until the end of the war, after which he was the marshal of Evansville for four years. From there he went to Memphis, Tennessee, and died at the age of fifty-five years. James enlisted with Company I, Eleventh Zouaves, of Terre Haute, in 1862, was advanced to the position of sergeant, and was drowned at Paducah, Kentucky, in 1863, and his body was never found. John Cochran, another brother, was in the First Texas Union, enlisting in March of 1864, and was made the captain of his company. He went west in 1869 and has never been heard from since that time.
Charles Perry Cochran, named in honor of Commodore Perry, mar- ried Louisa Wines, a daughter of one of Vigo county's most prominent citizens, William Wines, the first Democrat to represent the county in the legislature. Of their eleven children, Richard H. was the third born, and six are now living. In 1873 Mr. Cochran was a second time mar-
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ried, wedding Margaret Jessup, and one child was born to that union, Charles P., Jr., who served in the Spanish-American war with Company B, enlisting at Terre Haute, and was made the sergeant of his company. His home is now in Jasonville, Indiana.
Richard H. Cochran has also upheld the honor of the family as brave and loyal defenders of the Union, enlisting in July of 1862 with the One Hundred and Fifteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry; then in 1863 he enlisted in the Twenty-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until January 21, 1866. While participating in the battle of Blue Springs, Tennessee, he received a gun-shot wound in the leg, and after the above battle he was at Baton Rouge and Port Hud- son. Louisiana. After returning from the army he came back to Lewis, Indiana. William B., one of his brothers, served in the Thirty-first In- diana Volunteer Infantry as a sergeant, his services continuing from July of 1861 until December of 1865, and he was wounded at the battle of Stone River. Charles W., another brother, was in Company M. Fourth Cavalry, under Captain Seely, enlisting in April of 1864, and he served until July of 1865. Although he was never wounded during his army service he was present at Stoneman's raid, when they were en- tirely surrounded, but finally succeeded in cutting their way out. Mr. Cochran received his honorable discharge January 25, 1866, at Indian- apolis, Indiana.
In 1868 Richard H. Cochran formed a partnership with J. S. Bryan in a general store in Centerville, now Lewis, Indiana, but before the close of the year the relationship was dissolved, and William B., Mr. Cochran's brother, became his partner, who at the end of five years sold his interest to Richard H., and he continued the business until 1906. In 1868 he received the appointment to the postmastership of Lewis, Indiana, and continued in the office until 1885, when Cleveland was elected to the presidency, and he was again appointed to the office in 1889 and has ever since served in that capacity. In 1904 he was elected one of the three commissioners of Vigo county, and remained in that office for three years.
On the 27th of November. 1872, Mr. Cochran was united in mar- riage to Miss Sarah J., a daughter of Joseph Canaan, a school teacher for many years, teaching in all, about ten years. Mrs. Cochran died on the 14th of January, 1899, and on the 30th of January, 1900, he wedded Miss Nevada V. McGrew, who was born May 10. 1865, a daughter of David and Rebecca McGrew. The only child of the second union, Ker- mit, was born on the 16th of November, 1900. Mr. Cochran is a member of the Masonic Lodge, No. 29. at Lewis, Indiana, and Mrs. Cochran be- longs to the Eastern Star at Riley, Indiana. Both are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Lewis, Indiana.
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DANIEL VOORHEES WEEKS was born in Linton township, Vigo county, Indiana, April 29, 1862, and throughout his entire business career he has been identified with the agricultural interests of this county. His father, Joseph F. Weeks, was born in Kentucky, but during his early boyhood days his father. William Weeks, moved with his family to Vigo county, Indiana, and purchased a farm in Linton township, owning, at the time of his death, a little tract of eighty acres. His wife had died in Kentucky. Joseph F. Weeks in time entered forty acres from the gov- ernment, and with the little farm of forty acres inherited from his father, his estate consisted of one hundred and eighty acres, which he cultivated and improved until his life's labors were ended in death, dying when his son Daniel was but a lad of five years. He was a successful farmer, a Democrat in his political allegiance and had membership relations with the Masonic fraternity. Joseph F. Weeks married Lucinda L. Pound, who, on the 6th of November, 1907, passed the eightieth milestone on the journey of life. She bore her husband eleven children : Chauncey Rose, Fayette and Maggie, all deceased ; A. Dudley, an ex-sheriff and promi- nent citizen of Linton township: John William, deceased ; Meriam S., the wife of John D. Beard and a resident of Pierson township; Sarah E., the wife of W. L. Smith, of Illinois ; Emeline, the wife of L. M. Perish, of Terre Haute; Daniel V., of this review; Louise, deceased, and Josephine, the wife of Charles Kester, of Linton township.
On his father's farm here Daniel V. Weeks grew to useful man- hood, and in his boyhood days attended the district schools. He re- mained at home with his mother until attaining his nineteenth year, and he then moved to a little farm of twenty acres he had purchased in Pier- son township, but after five years there he traded the land for a tract of forty-four acres and lived there for about two years. He then traded that land for his present farm of sixty acres in Linton township, and in 1897 he added forty acres to its boundaries, thus making him the owner of a valuable little estate of one hundred acres. He gives his political allegiance to the Democratic party.
Mr. Weeks married, February 12, 1882, Malinda A. Peters, who was born in Tipton county, Indiana, July 8, 1865, a daughter of Thomas and Sarah Ann (Layton) Peters. They were married in Indiana, whither the father had moved from Kentucky, and they are now living on a farm in Pierson township, Vigo county. They came here during the infancy of their daughter Malinda, and she was reared and educated in Pierson township. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Weeks. The elder, Joseph Ora, was born June 23, 1884, and is now farming in Linton township. He married, September 23, 1904, Bertha Payne, born in Linton township, November 27, 1883. to John T. and Julia (Weeks)
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Payne, both living in Linton township. Bonnie Erma. the younger, was born December 15, 1891, and is at home. Mr. and Mrs. Weeks are members of the Primitive Baptist church.
FRANK H. GUTHNECK, the editor and proprietor of the West Terre Haute Star, a prominent and well known journal of Vigo county, was born March 21, 1846, at Harper's Ferry, Iowa, and is of French ancestry. From that country came Michael Guthneck, the grandfather of Frank H., to the United States to establish the family home in this free land, and they located in St .- Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. As a brickmason Mr. Guthneck assisted in the erection of all the buildings of St. Mary's, and in its cemetery he now lies buried, his death occurring on the 27th of January, 1857.
Herbert Guthneck, his son, and the father of Frank H., was born in Alsace, France. November 3, 1833, but when a boy of six years he was brought by his parents to the United States and was reared by Father John Corbe, a priest of St. Mary's, with whom he remained until reach- ing his eighteenth year. He then entered upon a clerkship with L. Leveaue in Terre Haute and later became manager of one of his stores, continuing in that important position until his removal to Harper's Ferry, Iowa, in 1859. In 1860, the year following his arrival in that city, he became the proprietor of a mercantile establishment and continued actively identified with the city's industrial interests until selling his store to his son-in-law, T. W. Melaven, in 1890. Since that time he has lived retired. He was very successful in his business affairs and is considered one of the finan- ciers of Harper's Ferry. It was in that city, on the 12th of March, 1863, that he was united in marriage to Mary C. Leseure, who was born in Alsace-Lorraine, France, March 8, 1841, and as a maiden of nine years came with her parents to America and located with them in Terre Haute. She now resides with her husband in Harper's Ferry, Iowa, and of their nine children five are living, namely: Frank H., the first born; Aline, the wife of T. W. Melaven; Josephine, who became the wife of F. F. Melaven, a brother of her sister's husband : Ernest A .. and Elizabeth M., the wife of Professor Thomas C. Cavanaugh.
All of the above reside in Harpers Ferry, Iowa, with the exception of the first born. Frank H. Guthneck, the well known editor, of West Terre Haute. He received his early educational training in its high school and later attended the Dubuque Commercial College. Leaving the city of his nativity at the age of twenty-three he went to Dubuque, Iowa, and became a reporter on the Evening Telegraph, but after a three years' residence in that city he went to Marshall, Illinois, to become a member of the staff of the Clark County Democrat. Thence on the Ist of Novem-
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ber, 1891, he went to Peru, Indiana, and worked on the Journal for a short time, and then became connected with the Prudential Life Insurance Company, with which he remained three years as an agent and two years as the assistant superintendent. Returning at the close of that period to Marshall, Illinois, Mr. Guthneck started a paper known as the Clark County Record, but after continuing as its editor and proprietor for one year he went to West York, Illinois, for the purpose of launching the Progress, of which he was the editor about one year. It was at the close of that period that he came to West Terre Haute and organized the West Terre Haute Star. The first number of this well known journal was issued on the 25th of April. 1903, and it may be truthfully said of its editor, Frank H. Guthneck, that he was the first man possessing the due amount of courage to launch a paper here, he being the first, last and only successful journalist in West Terre Haute. He is a capable editor, a fluent and ready writer, and under his efficient supervision the Star shines brilliantly in the journalistic field of Vigo county. It is pub- lished weekly. Mr. Guthneck is an independent voter, and fraternally is a member of the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Guthneck married, November 1, 1891, Catherine Donahue, who was born in Marshall, Illi- nois, September 16, 1871, a daughter of John and Ellen Donahue. The parents were born and married in Ireland, and are both now living on a farm two miles from Marshall. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Guthneck-Paul. born in July, 1894, dying in infancy. Those living are Mamie, Arthur, John, Marie, Charles and William. The fam- ily are members of the Catholic church at St. Mary's.
RICHARD W. BROTHERTON .- From its earliest pioneer period the name of Brotherton has been intimately associated with the development and ever-increasing prosperity of Vigo county, and within its borders, in Harrison township, Richard W. Brotherton was born, July 29, 1827, a son of Abel and Sarah (Webton) Brotherton, both of whom were born at Sharon, New York, the father on the 16th of August, 1797, and the mother August II, 1807. They were married in their native city of Sharon, and shortly afterward, in 1826, made the journey in a one-horse wagon to Indiana, the husband and father purchasing eighty acres of land from John Watson, at nine dollars an acre. This was prairie land and contained a log house, which later on was replaced by a frame dwelling, and in time Mr. Brotherton bought forty acres of timber land, clearing and developing the tract. He was one of the pioneer farmers of Indiana and was a member of the Whig party. Of the ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Brotherton, five are now living: Richard W .. William, Eliza- beth, Hiram and Ranson. The parents died in their Indiana home, the father on the 24th of April, 1850, and the mother May II, 1859.
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The early business life of Richard W. Brotherton wa's spent as a car- penter, but turning his activities to farming he has become the owner of 160 acres of well improved land, on which, in 1881, he erected a modern frame house. He is quite extensively engaged in the breeding of Berk- shire hogs and Shorthorn cattle, and for one term he served his township as its supervisor of roads.
On the 24th of April, 1853, Mr. Brotherton married Rachel Wilker- son, who was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and died in 1858, after be- coming the mother of three children; but only one, Richard W., Jr., is now living. On the 27th of June, 1861, he married for his second wife Miss Mary Hall, born in England, January 28, 1836, a daughter of William and Eliza (Brigham) Hall. The parents were born in Yorkshire, England, and with their family came to the United States in 1843, mak- ing the harbor of New York after an ocean voyage of eight weeks. Con- tinuing their westward journey they came by canal, lake and wagon to Otter Creek township, Vigo county, Indiana, where they became farming people. Mr. Hall voted with the Whig party. Seven children were born to them in England, namely: Mrs. Brotherton, Anna E., Emma, Robert, and three deceased. Mr. Brotherton supports the principles of the Re- publican party, and he has transferred his religious membership from the Methodist Episcopal to the Union church.
VINCENT YEAGER, a farmer, of Prairie Creek township, was born in Fairbanks township, Sullivan county, Indiana, February 1, 1866, a son of Warren M. and Ellen (DeBaun) Yeager, prominent early residents of the township first named. Vincent Yeager, Sr., the paternal grandfather, came to Vigo county from his native Tennessee during an early period in its history, spending the remainder of his life in that state, where also his son Warren lived and died. The latter was a prominent grain and stock farmer, and at one time owned about four hundred acres of land. From the Whigs he transferred his political allegiance to the Republican party. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Warren Yeager : Adrian, who married Effie Hoggatt and is a farmer in Prairie Creek township ; Alvin R., who married, first, Elsie Drake, and after her death, Florence A. Littlefield, and is also an agriculturist of Prairie Creek township; Josie, who died in 1888; Vincent, of this review, and Grace E., the wife of Arthur Hune, of Prairie Creek township.
During the five years following his marriage Vincent Yeager lived on one of his father's farms, and to the tract of one hundred and eight acres which his father then gave him he has added until its boundaries now contain one hundred and sixty acres. He is a Republican, a Mason, an Odd Fellow and a member of the Christian church. He has filled all
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the offices in the Blue Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and also of Lodge No. 476, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, both of Middletown.
Mr. Yeager married, September 8, 1889, Sophia A. Trueblood, who was born May 8, 1872, a daughter of Thomas L. and Cynthia J. (Thomas) Trueblood. Thomas L. Trueblood was born and has always lived in Prairie Creek township. His birth occurred on the 19th of August, 1851. After the death of his first wife, who was born August 29, 1853, and died July 19, 1893, he married Unis Kister. The three children of Thomas L. and Cynthia (Thomas) Trueblood are Sophia A., who became the wife of Mr. Yeager : Nanonto Jena, deceased, and Clatid Glenn, the wife of Arthur Bryant, of Prairie Creek township. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Yeager are Jay Irene and Warren T., born respectively November 11, 1895, and August 8, 1899. Mrs. Yeager is a member of the Christian church.
CARL A. HECKELSBERG .- Among the citizens of foreign birth who have found in the conditions of America opportunities for advancement and success, is numbered Carl A. Heckelsberg, who is conducting a retail grocery and meat market at the corner of Seventeenth street and Franklin avenue. A native of Prussia, he was born January 7. 1859, his parents being Peter and Caroline (Dalhouse) Heckelsberg, both of whom were natives of Prussia. In the year 1873 the family removed to the United States, landing at New York. They did not tarry on the Atlantic coast, however, but made their way direct to Terre Haute, where the parents spent their remaining days, the father dying in 1894, while the mother passed away in 1884.
Carl A. Heckelsberg acquired his education in the schools of his native land, where he remained to the age of fourteen years, when he came with his parents to the United States. Soon after arriving in Terre Haute he began learning the cigar maker's trade under the direction of Nicholas Katzenbach, with whom he remained for a year. He then followed the trade until 1893, when, with the capital he had saved from his carnings, he began business on his own account in that line and so continued until 1902, when he engaged in the retail grocery and meat business, purchasing the store of Oscar Meyer, at the corner of Seven- teenth and Washington streets. The new enterprise proved profitable from the beginning, and in 1905 he erected his handsome two-story brick business block where he is now located. It is one of the best business houses on the east side of the city and is well equipped for the uses to which it is put. His store is neat and tasteful in its arrangements and it carries not only an excellent line of meats but also a large line of
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.
Harry S. Wallace
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staple and fancy groceries and the business has been a constantly in- creasing one, bringing to him a gratifying financial return.
In 1890 Mr. Heckelsberg was married to Miss Anna Hoffman, who was born in Breslau, Germany, and came to this country in 1881. Their children are Herman, who died at the age of three and a half years, and Adele and Junett, both at home. Mr. Heckelsberg belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity. He has been a resident of Terre Haute for more than a third of a century and is well known to its citizens, having many friends here who esteem him for his sterling traits of char- acter and for his activity and trustworthiness in business. Starting out in life without capital, his record proves that success his ambitions an- swered.
HARRY S. WALLACE, a well known attorney of Terre Haute, and a member of the leading law firm of McNutt, McNutt & Wallace, is a native of Sullivan county, Indiana, where he was born on the IIth of August, 1868. He is the son of Henry R. and Kate (Grant) Wallace, natives, respectively, of Pennsylvania and Ohio. The father was of Scotch-Irish and the mother of Scotch descent, coming to Sullivan county with their parents as children and being reared there and married. The paternal grandfather was William Wallace, and the grandfather on the mother's side, Peter Grant, was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland. Both were pioneers of Sullivan county. The father, Henry R. Wallace, spent his life in the county, passed his earlier years as a progressive farmer, served acceptably as county commissioner, and contributed steadfastly to the advancement of the home community until his death in 1887. The widow still resides on the old homestead near Shelburn, and is in her seventy-second year.
Harry S. Wallace was reared on the old Wallace homestead, and after attending the common schools of the neighborhood attended the normal school at Valparaiso, graduating from the Northern Indiana Law School in June, 1893. In the preceding February, however, he had been admitted to practice in Porter county, but after his graduation located at Terre Haute. There he engaged in a growing practice of a private nature until 1898, when he was appointed deputy prosecuting attorney of Vigo county, serving in that position for four years. In 1902 he was elected prosecuting attorney, and after serving with honor for the term of two years returned to private practice. On January 1, 1908, he became a member of the firm of McNutt, McNutt & Wallace, considered one of the strongest combinations of legal talent and practical ability in the county. Personally Mr. Wallace is identified with the Young Business Men's Club of Terre Haute, and also with the Masonic fraternity, Independent Order
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of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America. He is married and has one son, Leon. Mrs. Wallace was formerly Miss Sarah V. Lutz, of Marshall, Illinois, a daughter of Joseph and Marie Lutz. The father is a retired farmer.
WILLIAM R. AVERY .- The commercial interests of Terre Haute find a worthy representative in William R. Avery, a member of the firm of Leith & Avery, general merchants, at the corner of Seventeenth street and Washington avenue. Watchful of indications pointing to success, he has directed his efforts along well defined lines of labor and has ever realized that the present and not the future holds his opportunity, so that his daily duties and tasks have been well performed, contributing to the result which makes him a substantial business man of his adopted city. He was born in Harrison county, Indiana, January 2, 1858, and is a son of Byram B. and Martha (Bullington) Avery, the former a native of Harrison county, Indiana, born in February, 1833. while the latter, a native of Crawford county, Indiana, was born in February, 1842. The father has followed farming throughout his entire life, and in 1889 re- moved to Oklahoma, where he is still engaged in general agricultural pursuits, aiding in the upbuilding of the new state so recently added to the Union.
William R. Avery was reared on the old home farm in Harrison county, early becoming familiar with the duties and labors relative to the improvement of the fields and the production of substantial crops. In the winter seasons he attended the common schools and in the summer aided in the plowing, planting and harvesting. He continued at home until he attained his majority and then went to Keokuk, Iowa, where he attended business college. He taught bookkeeping and penmanship for one year at Palmyra, Missouri, and afterward became a teacher in the public schools of Effingham county, Illinois, where he remained for three years. During that period he was married in 1886 and the fol- lowing autumn removed to Evansville, Indiana, where he entered the employ of the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad Company in a clerical capacity. In 1889 he went to Vincennes, Indiana, where he was a clerk for the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad Company for about six months. Arriving in Terre Haute in the fall of 1889, he entered the employ of the Vandalia Railroad Company in a clerical position in the freight house, but resigned in June, 1900, to enter the service of the government as a carrier in the Terre Haute postoffice, under the admin- istration of Postmaster A. H. Donham. He continued in the mail serv- ice until 1902, when he resigned. Before giving up his position he had established a retail grocery store at the corner of Eighth and Oak
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