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 45
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Mr. and Mrs. Adams: Wilson, the subject of this review; Freeman N., born March 10, 1884; William Sanford, born September 19, 1885; Samuel L., born June 15. 1887, and Estella Frances, born November 18, 1890. She is the wife of Albert Lowe. of Lost Creek township, but with the exception of the eldest the sons are all at home.
Wilson Adams received his educational training in the public schools of Lost Creek township, and in the Commercial College of Terre Haute, where he was a student during two terms. He learned the trade of a butcher from his father, and he also worked in the mines and on a farm until entering upon his mercantile career in Seelyville in 1907. He is a Republican in his political affiliation and both he and his wife are mem- bers of the Methodist church in Seelyville. Mr. Adams married, De- cember 24. 1902, Mary E. Morris, who was born in Lost Creek township, February 18, 1875, a daughter of Allen and Malinda (DuVall) Morris, living in Lost Creek township. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Adams are: Arel, born April 7. 1904: Hattie. December 20, 1905, and Reba, September 10, 1907.
CHARLES LINCOLN CARTER .- During a number of years past Charles Lincoln Carter has been numbered among the business men of Vigo county who have assisted it to its present standing. Since 1898 he has also been identified with the agricultural interests of Lost Creek township, and in 1904 was the choice of the Republican party for the office of trustee, his term expiring in January, 1908. Mr. Carter is a native of Staunton, Clay county, Indiana, born on the IIth of August, 1860, son of Allen and Emeline (Gregory) Carter, both of whom were of Miami county, Ohio. They reached maturity in their native state, came to In- diana with their parents, were married in the Hoosier state, and the fol- lowing children were born to them: Della, wife of Reuben Sears, of Terre Haute: Florence, wife of Joseph Moore, of Clay county; Charles Lincoln, of this review : Laura, deceased, and Kate, now Mrs. William Keller, who is also a resident of Clay county. The father was engaged at Staunton as a general merchant from 1850 to 1875, when he purchased a farm near the city and was engaged in its cultivation and improvement until his death. in October, 1892. As a voter he was both Whig and Republican ; had membership in the Masonic fraternity, and served in the Civil war as a lieutenant in the Ninety-second Indiana Volunteer In- fantry. Mrs. Carter resides with her daughters in Clay county.
Charles Lincoln Carter spent the early period of his life in his native town, where he received a common school education, and when his father retired from business to his farm he himself became thorough master of the details of agriculture. He remained at home until he was twenty-one
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years of age, after which, for six years, he managed the homestead farm in association with his father, and since that time has been an independent agriculturist. On the 22d of December, 1881, Mr. Carter married Miss Osie Bowles, born in Cloverland, Clay county, Indiana, December 22, 1860, daughter of Adam H. and Mary (Kurk) Bowles. Mrs. Carter was reared, educated and married in Cloverland, and also taught school for two terms in Lost Creek township. Her mother is yet living. Both Mr. and Mrs. Carter are members of the Cloverland Christian church. Mr. Carter is a Republican, a member of the Knights of Pythias and Red Men, at Seelyville, and a man of substantial character and steadfast principles.
JACOB H. HYLER is a representative of a family who have been identified with the agricultural interests of Vigo county since 1850, when the parents of Jacob H., Jacob H., Sr., and Anna Hyler, removed from Putnam county to Vigo county, Indiana, and purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. Later Mr. Hyler became the owner of a tract of sixty-three acres and by another purchase he became the owner of five hundred acres in Fayette township, where he spent the remainder of his life and died in 1873, aged eighty-two years. He was a native son of Germany, but in his young manhood left the fatherland for the United States and first established his home in Miami, Ohio, whence a short time afterward he removed to Putnam county, Ohio. Mrs. Hyler was born near Newmarket, West Virginia, and in time became a resident of Miami, Ohio, where she gave her hand in marriage to Jacob H. Hyler, Sr., and they became the parents of eight children: Hanna, the wife of Wesley Overton, of Vigo county; Caroline, who has never married ; Helena, the wife of John Gephart, of Johnson county, Indiana : Jacob H., of this review ; Eliza, the wife of John Bickel; Fred, a resident of Arkansas, and George, deceased. Mrs. Hyler, the mother, died in Har- rison township, in 1892.
Jacob H. Hyler, Jr., was born on his father's farm in Putnam county, Indiana, April 21, 1845, and he remained at home until he had reached his twenty-seventh year. During the seven years following he was em- ployed at public work in Terre Haute, and then returning to his father's original farm he has since devoted his time to general agricultural pur- suits and gardening, being an extensive raiser of fruit and berries. His homestead consists of twenty-five acres. He is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Honor and is a Democrat in his political affiliations.
Mr. Hyler married, October 8, 1871, Mary Harding, who was born in Owen county, Indiana, July 25, 1848. She was reared and educated in that county, at the age of eighteen came to Terre Haute and learned
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dressmaking, and it was in this city that her marriage occurred. She is a daughter of Paton and Elizabeth ( Hickison) Harding, natives of Ken- tucky. Their marriage was celebrated in Frankfort, of that state, and shortly afterward the young couple came to Louisville, Indiana, and later to Owen county, where the husband and father bought land. After the marriage of their daughter Mary they came to reside in Terre Haute, and here they spent the remainder of their lives, the father dying in 1892 and the mother in 1902. His health became greatly impaired through his services in the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Hyler have become the parents of three children. Their children, Frank and Clarence, were. twins, born July 15, 1873. Clarence married Agnes Baugh and has two children, and the family reside in Harrison township. Mabel Blanch, the only daughter, was born July 6. 1875, and is living at home.
MALACHI R. COMBS, M. D., has practiced in Terre Haute through- out the greater part of his professional career. He began the study for his life work in 1883, spending one year in the Rush Medical College of Chicago and graduating in 1884. Entering then the Indiana Medical Col- lege he completed the course in that institution and graduated in 1885, and at once enrolled his name among the medical practitioners of Kent- land, Indiana. He built up a large and remunerative practice in that city, but leaving there in 1893 he came to Terre Haute to identify himself with its professional life. and, to still further perfect himself in the calling, he entered, in the fall of 1895, upon a post-graduate course in the New York Polyclinic. He follows a general practice and has served as the surgeon in the Union Hospital of this city, is a member and has been the secretary of the city board of health, has filled all the offices in the Vigo County Medical Society, is ex-president and a member of the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association and is also a member of the Esculapian Medical Society, the oldest society of its kind west of the Alleghany Mountains (organized in 1846).
Dr. Combs was born in Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, November 9. 1863, a son of William B. and Susan P. (Richardson) Combs, both natives of Ohio. In 1868 the parents and family left their home in the Buckeye state and journeyed with covered wagon and team to Clinton county, Indiana, where the husband and father cleared and improved a farm and spent the remainder of his life, passing to his final reward in 1879. when sixty-three years of age. It was on this farm in Clinton county that Malachi grew to mature years, attending. in the meantime, the country schools near his home, and the Butler University at Irving- ton, near Indianapolis, Indiana. His father died when he was only six- teen years of age, and from that time on he has made his own way in the
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world, his first business venture having been as a drug clerk at Mul- berry, Indiana. It was then his intention to learn pharmacy there, but changing his plans, in 1883, he became a student in the Rush Medical College, and since completing his medical studies has been in active prac- tice. He gives his political allegiance to the Republican party, and is a thirty-second degree Mason, as well as a member of the fraternal order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias (of which he is the major and surgeon of the Sixth Regiment, Uniform Rank). In 1884 Dr. Combs married Miss Anna Berger, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and they have one daughter, Laura.
SILAS CRAPO, who was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, January 16, 1825, died on his farm in Pierson township, Vigo county, Indiana, January 24, 1907. A long life of eighty-two years was thus accorded him and his activity and enterprise made him a valued citizen of the dif- ferent localities in which he resided. His parents were Reuben and Sarah (Coner) Crapo. The father was a native of Massachusetts and a farmer by occupation, thus providing for the support of his family. He died in Sullivan county, Indiana, about 1856, when about fifty-five years of age.
Silas Crapo came to Vigo county, in 1837, when a young lad of twelve years, but not long afterward accompanied his parents on their removal to Sullivan county, Indiana. He was one of a family of two sons and five daughters and was practically reared in Sullivan county, where he secured a fair education. He there studied medicine under a preceptor, becoming familiar with the Thompsonian or Eclectic methods of practice, and for a brief period followed that profession, but aban- doned it to take up the occupation of farming soon after his marriage. He wedded Miss Paulina Robins, who was born in Sullivan county, January 10, 1828, a daughter of John Robins, a pioneer of Sullivan county, who was recognized as a prominent and wealthy farmer there and a man whose strong and sterling characteristics commended him to the respect, confidence and friendship of all with whom he came in con- tact. The death of Mrs. Crapo occurred February 24, 1906, after they had traveled life's journey together for many years, their mutual love and confidence increasing as time passed by. They were the parents of six children who reached adult age: John R., who became a physician, of Terre Haute ; George W .: Sarah E., now deceased ; Leona, Martha and Fannie.
It was in the year 1866 that Silas Crapo, leaving his farm in Sulli- van county, removed to Terre Haute, where for twelve years he engaged in the hotel business as the proprietor of the Crapo Hotel. IIe made this an attractive hostelry and thereby secured a liberal support from the tray-
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eling public, so that the enterprise proved financially successful. He con- tinted in the business until 1878, when he withdrew, and about 1883 he removed to his farm in Pierson township, upon which he made his home until his demise. His political views were in accord with the principles of Democracy and he never faltered in his support of the party. He was a Master Mason and both he and his wife were devoted mem- bers of the Methodist church. He found particular joy in the life of the farm in the close contact with nature and felt the deepest interest as he watched the miracle of growth and development in the fields. All men respected him because of his fidelity to his principles, and his congenial qualities won him the friendship of many with whom he came in contact.
GEORGE W. CRAPO, M. D., who in the practice of medicine has dem- onstrated his right to be classed with the representative members of the medical fraternity in Terre Haute, was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, August 31, 1852, and is a son of Silas Crapo, whose sketch is given above. The first fourteen years of his life were spent on the home farm and he then accompanied his parents on their removal to Terre Haute in 1866. Here he completed his literary education as a public school student and entered business life as a clerk in a drug store, where he remained for two years. During that time his interest in the subject of medicine was aroused and he determined to engage in its practice as a life work. He therefore studied for three years with Dr. J. E. Link as his preceptor, and in the fall of 1873 entered the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, grad- uating therefrom on the 28th of February, 1875. Locating for practice in Terre Haute he has remained here continuously since, his professional career covering a period of a third of a century. In the intervening years he has continually broadened his knowledge by reading, research and in- vestigation, keeping at all times abreast with the profession in its advance- ment toward that high standard which has been set up by the leaders of the medical fraternity. He belongs to the Vigo County and the Indiana State Medical societies, the Aesculapian Medical Society of the Wabash Valley, the American Medical Association and the Tri-State Medical Society.
In 1873 Dr. Crapo was married to Miss Flora E. Dodson, of Terre Haute, and to them were born two children-one of whom is now de- ceased. Their daughter is Mrs. Edna Hyneman, of this city. Dr. and Mrs. Crapo hold membership in the Congregational church and are in- terested and active in its work. He gives his political allegiance to the Democracy and at one time was a member of the city council, but his aspiration has not been in the line of office-holding. He belongs to the
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Masonic fraternity and is a worthy representative of the craft. In his practice he is actuated not only by the laudable desire to gain success, but also by a humanitarian spirit, which prompts him to most effective efforts in his ministrations to his fellow men and has gained him recogni- tion as a physician and surgeon of skill and ability.
HON. EMORY 'P. BEAUCHAMP .- It requires such special endow- ments to make a mark in the consular or diplomatic service of any great country, that the old-time nations have long organized special courses of instruction or training for those who design to assume such careers. For several years the founding of a regular college, under government aus- pices, has been earnestly discussed in the United States by those who are strongly impressed with the necessity of sending abroad the most credit- able representatives of a country which already is a world power. Occa- sionally, as in the case of Emory P. Beauchamp, the talents of diplomacy seem to be inborn, and these, added to the training of his literary and pro- fessional education, made him an ideal representative of the consular service.
Mr. Beauchamp was a native of Indiana, born in Putnam county, in the town of Portland Mills, on the 28th of April, 1849. He came of worthy ancestry and parentage, and, although early evincing strong in- tellectual traits, was never coarsely aggressive. Having exhausted the resources of the home schools, he entered Earlham College, from which he graduated. Afterward he completed a course in the law, and came to Terre Haute with the design of making that the profession of his life. He rose rapidly both as a lawyer and a Democratic leader, his first official position being that of prosecuting attorney. In 1872, then only twenty- three years of age, Mr. Beauchamp was appointed consul to Aix-la- Chapelle, Rhenish Prussia, being the youngest man ever thus honored in the United States. His services at that post were so creditable that he was advanced to the more important consulate at Cologne, and in this capacity he met his future wife, Miss Paula Moeller, whom he married in 1877. Mr. Beauchamp was promoted still higher in the service, serving for some time as consul general to Switzerland. While a figure in this phase of public life he formed the acquaintance of many prominent Amer- icans, as well as distinguished characters of foreign countries. He had the pleasure of numbering among his intimate friends President Grant, with whom he traveled in foreign countries, as he did with other men of international reputation. The death of this brilliant, polished, attractive and honorable gentleman occurred on the 11th of June, 1891, shortly after the celebration of his forty-second birthday.
Mr. and Mrs. Emory P. Beauchamp became the parents of three
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children: Emory M., of Chicago; Albert P., of Seattle, Washington, and Miss Paula Doris Beauchamp, who resides with her mother in Terre Haute. Mrs. Beauchamp is a German lady of education and accomplish- ments, and is said to be indirectly related to royalty. She also possesses those sterling qualities of reliability and that warmth of heart which both win friends and retain them.
JAMES H. RISHER is prominently identified with the business life of Vigo county as the owner and operator of the Risher Coal Company in Henry township. He was born in Marshall county, Iowa, October 12, 1861. His father, Rev. Daniel W. Risher, had been appointed as a missionary for the Methodist Episcopal church at Marshall county, and in 1854 he left his native state for that field and continued his ministerial labors there until the early sixties. Returning thence to Pennsylvania he spent about one year there and then came to Indiana and located at War- wick, near Evansville, where for a number of years he was engaged in the coal business. From there he moved to Clay county and bought a farm, and two years later returned to the ministry of the Methodist church and filled the following charges: Bellmore, Coatesville, where he also served as the postmaster during Garfield's administration ; Annapolis, Michigan, Sanford, Rose Hill and many other places. Rev. Risher was born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, November 3, 1833, and died September 12, 1888. In Marshall county, Iowa, he married Rebecca J. Wright, born in Tennessee in 1832, and they became the parents of four children, of whom three are now living: James H., Minnie, the wife of Dr. Stephen Hunt, and William W. The wife and mother died October 14, 1888.
James H. Risher in his youth attended the Normal School at Dan- ville, Indiana, and soon after his marriage he began operating a smelting refining plant in Kansas City, Missouri, and also conducted a farm in Butler county, Kansas. Coming to Terre Haute in 1891 he entered the employ of the Crawford Coal Company, also the Brazil Block Coal Com- pany, and is now the owner and operator of the Risher Coal Company in Henry township, Vigo county. He is active in the business, political and social life of his community, and is now serving as the trustee of Otter Creek township, and is a member of Elem Lodge, No. 826, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, at Edwards; of Otterville Lodge, No. 436, Knights of Pythias, and of the Modern Woodmen of America. He votes with the Republican party.
By his marriage to Miss Ida C. Mason, June 13, 1884, Mr. Risher united two families prominent in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church. Her father, Rev. Elihu Mason, served his church in the charges at Clayton, Newport, Darlington, Bainbridge, Plainfield and Burlington,.
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and was an efficient laborer in the cause of the Master. During the Civil war he enlisted as chaplain with the Home Guards of Lafayette, and his son, M. B., was in the same regiment. Rev. Mason was born in Ohio and died at his home in Parsons, Kansas, in November, 1893, aged sixty- four years. He was a strong temperance man and stanchly upheld the principles of the Republican party. Mrs. Mason, who bore the maiden name of Mary Collins, was born in Marion county, Indiana, in 1829, and died in 1894. They were married near Union City, Indiana, and became the parents of ten children, but only five of the number are now living : Letta, M. B., Eunis, Henrietta and Mrs. Mason. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mason: Kenneth, Stella (the wife of Lewis Joyner), Arthur, Genevieve, Webster and Minnie. They also have two grandchildren.
W. E. NICHOLS, M. D., a representative of the medical fraternity of Terre Haute, was born in Neosho, Missouri, October 14, 1871, and is a son of James and Mary A. (Kirkley) Nichols, natives of England and Indiana, respectively. Following their marriage they removed to Missouri, where for a short time James Nichols engaged in the woolen business. In 1873, however, he returned to Terre Haute, where he has since lived, and been closely identified with its business activity as a grocer and a manufacturer of lumber, staves, heading and flour barrels. He is now living retired, however, for his intense and well directed activity in former years brought to him a substantial competence, permitting of his present rest from labor.
Dr. Nichols was less than two years old when his parents left his native state and came to this city. He pursued his education in the schools of Terre Haute, passing through consecutive grades until he completed his literary course by graduating from the high school in 1890. He then entered Rush Medical College and was graduated in 1894, after which he took up the practice of his profession in Terre Haute. He is now a mem- ber of the Vigo County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Aesculapian Medical Society of the Wabash Valley. In his practice he makes a specialty of the treatment of diseases of the stomach, liver and bowels and his comprehen- sive study in this line has made his work particularly effective. His patronage is now extensive, and in a profession where advancement de- pends entirely upon individual merit he has gained a creditable name and position:
In 1897 Dr. Nichols was united in marriage with Miss Anna Clark, who died in 1903, leaving two daughters, Jessie and Gertrude. Dr. Nichols is a valued member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity and
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belongs to the Uniform Rank. A stalwart advocate of Republican prin- ciples, he was elected county coroner in November, 1904, and served for one term, but has not been active as an office-holder, preferring to con- centrate his time and energies upon his professional duties, in which he has met with creditable success.
ALBERT GOODRICH BELDEN. D. D. S., is one of the leading dental surgeons of Terre Haute, and his fine parlors (Old York State Dental Parlors) at No. 52312 Wabash avenue, constitute striking illus- trations of the latest mechanical and scientific appliances in his field. The equipment is also luxurious, as befits the class of patients who naturally gravitate to him, courtesy and ability being both marked traits of his personality. The doctor was born at Lake Providence, Carroll Parish, Louisiana, on the 3d of October, 1869, being a son of Albert Goodrich Belden. The father was a native of Belvidere, Illinois, born on the 15th of March, 1843, and removed to Floyd, Louisiana, in 1864, having in the previous year been married at Holly Springs, Mississippi, to Miss Lucy Jane Holland. To this union the following five children were born : Rosa, deceased ; Polly, now at the age of forty, the wife of Capt. R. N. Ray, and living at Providence, Louisiana; Albert G., D. D. S .; Anna, aged thirty-six, married to W. N. Boothy, and a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana ; Edward, thirty-four years of age, who lives at Tunica, Miss- issippi. The elder Belden served with distinction in the Civil war, and died at Lake Providence, Louisiana, March 15, 1886. The mother is living with her daughter Anna in New Orleans.
Dr. Belden commenced his advanced studies in the high school at Lake Providence, Louisiana, leaving that institution in 1892, and in October, 1894, entering the dental department of the Vanderbilt Uni- versity at Memphis, Tennessee. He remained in the latter for a year, after which he matriculated at the Louisville College of Dentistry (dental department of the Central University of Kentucky), graduating from a two years' course in 1898. Thus Dr. Belden received his education, liter- ary and professional, south of the Ohio river, but since the commence- ment of his practice ten years ago has been a resident of cities north of that river. First, in 1898, he located in Cincinnati, and one year later in Oakland City, Indiana, where he remained for two years. In 1901 he selected Terre Haute as his professional field, and then established the Old York State Dental Parlors at his present location. Since the first both his professional and social status has been assured.
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