USA > Indiana > Henry County > Hazzard's history of Henry county, Indiana, 1822-1906, Volume II > Part 77
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After his return to Indianapolis, young Millikan again took up employment with the National Surety Company and so continued until October, 1899, when he went to Helena, Montana, as confidential clerk with Palmer, Cooper and Company, bankers, where he remained until June, 1900. Again returning to Indianapolis, he entered the Ioan department of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was connected with that company until February, 1902, when he became associated with the Advance Veneer and Lumber Company of Indianapolis, one of the largest concerns of the kind in the State, with a capital of $50,000. He is now secretary, treasurer and acting general manager of the company. Following in the footsteps of his father, he has taken an active part in politics and in the campaign of 1896 had charge of the bureau of the Republican State Committee for bringing home absent voters. In the campaign of 1900, he had charge of the bureau for the assignment of speakers. He is a young man of correct habits and quick to make friends, his social qualities being most excellent. His broad comprehension of business details added to his untiring industry give sure indications of his future success in the business and social world.
He was married May 3, 1905, to Ruth Johnson, of Bloomington, Indiana, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Johnson. Mr. Johnson is the owner of the Chicago-Bloom- ington Stone Company and is also heavily interested in the Johnson-Matthews Stone Company, both of which are prominent in the Bedford stone industry.
C. D.Morgan
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF CHARLES DAYTON MORGAN.
LAWYER, BANKER, LEGISLATOR, PATRIOTIC AND PROSPEROU'S CITIZEN.
Charles Dayton Morgan was born at Richmond, Indiana, July 31, 1829. His father, Nathan Morgan, was a pioneer of Wayne County, Indiana, who removed from New Jer- sey to the neighborhood of Richmond soon after that town was laid out in 1806. He was a farmer and cabinet maker, having served an apprenticeship to that trade in Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania. He had also been a boatman on the Delaware River in his early manhood, and retained the memory of his old sailor days through life. Mr. Mor- gan remembers that when delirious during his last illness, which occurred when he was ninety years old, his father imagined himself to be a boatman again and gave the orders of command as he was wont to do so many years before. Nathan Morgan came to Indiana with his little family and such household goods as he possesed in a one-horse wagon, but he was industrious and frugal and soon accumulated a competency. He was twice married and was the father of a large family of children, who like himself were prosperous people and good citizens.
Charles D. Morgan's mother was Nathan Morgan's second wife. Her maiden name was Margaret Holloway. She was a sister of the late David P. Holloway, who was, for many years, editor of The Richmond Palladium, and was once a member of Congress from the old Fifth District of Indiana, and who was also commissioner of patents under President Abraham Lincoln. She was a woman of great force of character and notable for her motherly tenderness and sympathy. Mr. Morgan's great-grandmother on the ma- ternal side was a daughter of Rowland Richards, who came over with William Penn, and seems to have had much to do with the early life of the Quaker colony in Penn- sylvania.
In a sketch of Mr. Morgan's life in a book entitled "Men of Progress of Indiana," published by The Indianapolis Sentinel Company in 1899, it is said that "the ancestors of the family, on both the paternal and maternal sides, were Welsh, traced back for two hundred years." Since that was written, however, the record has been followed much further back and it is believed that, on the mother's side, there is an almost, if not wnolly, unbroken line of descent extending back to Charlemagne. Mrs. Francis Swain, wife of President Joseph Swain of Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, and former pres- Ident of Indiana University, who is Mr. Morgan's daughter, has recently made many researches in Wales, in England, and on the continent of Europe, on the descent and lineage of the family, and has visited many of the places occupied by her father's an- cestors, one of which is the famous old seat of the Townsends, from whom Mr. Mor- gan's mother was descended, and one member of which family, John Townsend, made a notable journey across the American continent, from east to west, and by vessel to the Sandwich Islands, about 1838, following much the same route as that followed earlier in the century by Lewis and Clark. Returning to Philadelphia, Mr. Townsend published an account of his expedition in 1839, which very interesting volume is among Mr. Morgan's most highly prized books. Mr. Morgan's interest in these matters of genealogy is only such as any right-minded American citizen should cherish for their historical value and because family relationships, lineage and antecedents are really very important matters, which in the hard struggles of the immediate past the Ameri- can people have for the most part greatly neglected.
Of his father's immediate family there were five sons and five daughters, of whom the one best known in this section of Indiana, next to the subject of this sketch, was the late Nathan Morgan, of Richmond, Indiana. Charles D. Morgan was educated in the public school of Richmond and graduated from the high school of that clty. After completing his school life he entered the law office of William A. Bickle, of Richmond, as a student of the law and spent two years with Mr. Bickle, followed by one year's study in the office of James Perry, one of the old time circuit judges, who was held in much esteem for his learning and impartiality.
Mr. Morgan was admitted to the practise of the law by the Wayne Circuit Court in 1850. He opened an office in Richmond, but two years later, in 1852, removed to
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
Knightstown, Henry County, Indiana, and entered upon the practise of his profession at that place, which has been his home ever since. He found it advisable to piece out his income from the law by other labors, and accepted the place of operator for the company that owned the first telegraph line in Eastern Indiana, which line ran along the National Road. Mr. Morgan had to learn telegraphy from the start, but soon mas- tered it sufficiently to manage the office, which was located in the book store of a young friend of his, Tilghman Fish, and held the place for a year.
In the year 1852 the Henry County turnpike, the first gravel road in the county, was completed through the county on the line of the National Road, and the Indiana Central Railway, now the first division of The Pennsylvania System, west of Pittsburg, was in course of construction. The old flat-bar railroad from Knightstown to Shelby- ville and on to Madison on the Ohio River, was still doing business, and Knightstown was the most important business point in the county. The men then prominent in the affairs of the bustling town have nearly all passed away; but among thenr were such men as Joel B. Lowe, James Woods, Robert Woods, John Weaver, Harvey Bell, George S. Lowery, Peter C. Welborn, Moses Heller, Lemuel Murray, Morris F. Edwards and others, who have departed, while a few, like Sol Hittle, John W. White and Tilghman Fish, remain. In the surrounding country were such well remembered people as Gor- don Ballard, Edward Lewis, John H. Bales and many another honored pioneer.
Mr. Morgan was a young man of great intellectual as well as business activity, of . correct morals, good habits and possessed of positive convictions on moral and political questions and business propositions. Especially was he an earnest champion of the temperance reform which in the early fifties swept over the country like a mighty tide. Being a captivating public speaker and possessed of a fine presence, he was called for, far and near, to address Washingtonian gatherings or to make speeches at celebrations of the Sons of Temperance. His Sundays were particularly devoted to that line of work for several years. It brought him little or no immediate pay, but it won for him many friends, whose faithful adherence through a long and active life has been of ines- timable valne to him, which he has endeavored to reciprocate. He also made literary and educational addresses and political speeches, as occasion offered, or his political convictions required.
In the law he was a safe counselor and a reliable adviser. He has always de- spised shystering and crooked practices and has maintained a sincere contempt for the arts and subterfuges to which dishonest attorneys sometimes resort. When Mr. Morgan made a successful banker and financier of himself he evidently accomplished it at the expense of the popular and able jurist which he would otherwise have been.
Charles Dayton Morgan was married November 13, 1856, to Alvira Holland Woods, daughter of Robert and Hannah Woods, of Knightstown, by the Reverend David Mon- fort. Mrs. Morgan was a refined and noble woman and the twain lived happily and prosperously together until April 17, 1889, when she died after an illness of many months' duration and was laid to rest in beautiful Glencove Cemetery, Knightstown. They were the parents of six children, three of whom died in infancy. The three who remain are Frances, wife of Joseph Swain, president of Swarthmore College, Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania; Raymond C., a farmer and stockman at Knightstown, and Erie C., assistant cashier of The First National Bank of Knightstown.
Among the diversions of his early career before locating in Knightstown Mr. Mor- gan recalls with pleasure a few days spent in carrying the chain for the engineers who were establishing the grade of the Indiana Central Railway.
The inconvenience caused by the want of banking facilities-for there was then no bank in the county-early called Mr. Morgan's attention to the subject of banking, and as a result he was mainly instrumental in establishing and was the manager of the first bank started in Henry County. It was what is now known as a private bank and was opened in 1859 under the firm name of R. Woods and Company. This bank con- tinued to do a good business and to be a great convenience to the business men of Knightstown and the surrounding parts of Henry, Hancock and Rush counties until the establishment by Mr. Morgan and others of The First National Bank of Knights- town in 1865, which is its lineal successor.
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
The first officers of the national bank were Robert Woods, president; Charles D. Morgan, cashier, and William P. Hill, assistant cashier, or teller. To anticipate a little here: The career of The First National Bank of Knightstown, which has from its start been practically under the management of Mr. Morgan, has been a most remark- able one in three respects; first, for its unprecedented record as a sound and stable in- stitution; second, for its undoubted preparation and readiness, in the times of panic and financial craze through which it has passed, to have met every legal demand against it from cash in its own vaults; and, third, for the few changes that have occurred in its official household. The American Financier in its Bank Roll of Honor, made up from the verified statistical reports, for many years placed The First National Bank of Knightstown at the head of the Indiana banks. For the past two years, however, The First National Bank of Washington, Indiana, has surpassed it slightly in certain par- ticulars, so that the Knightstown bank now stands second in the State in proportion to the amount of its surplus to its capital stock.
The first change in the bank's household was made when Noah P. Wagoner was added to the force. Upon the death of Robert Woods Mr. Morgan became president, Mr. Hill cashier and Mr. Wagoner teller. After the demise of William Penn Hill, Noah P. Wagoner became cashier and the three men, Charles D. Morgan, Noah P. Wagoner and Erie C. Morgan are now its working force. While so few changes have occurred in the official roll of the bank during its forty years of existence, all the original stockholders except two have passed away.
Charles D. Morgan was early in life a Whig of anti-slavery convictions. With the political revolution that swept over the Northern States after the passage of the Kan- sas-Nebraska bill by Congress and the opening of Kansas and Nebraska to the incur- sions of slavery, he was one of that great host of young men, who in Indiana broke away from old party lines and in 1854 carried the State for a party of protest, known as the "People's Party," which two years later formed the nucleus of the young Republican Party, into the support of which he threw the strength and force of his young manhood. From 1856 to 1896 Mr. Morgan was an active and earnest supporter of the Republican Party, but since the latter date he has acted independently, voting for the men and measures of his choice.
It was as a champion of the Union cause during the Civil War that his most signal public service was rendered. Mr. Morgan had been elected in October, 1862, to repre- sent Henry County in the lower house of the General Assembly-Joshua H. Mellett he- ing the senator from the county at that time. When the session opened January 8, 1863, the old distinctions between Republican and Democrat seemed to be in abeyance and the lines of political conflict were drawn between supporters and opponents of the Civil War. The latter had elected so large a majority of the General Assembly as to permit the carrying of its measures over the vetoes of Governor Morton, but in the lower house the anti-war party lacked a few votes of a two-thirds majority and could not maintain a quorum in the absence of the supporters of the Governor. This crisis called for cour- age, wisdom and prompt action to meet the responsibilities of the hour, qualities granted In abundant measure to the supporters of the war and to none more than to the senator and representative from Henry.
The majority, under the leadership of Bayless W. Hanna, on February 5, 1863, pro- posed an enactment depriving the Governor of the military authority vested in him by the State constitution and vesting it in a commission of State officers opposed to the Governor and the conduct of the war, to he known and designated as The Executive Council. Numerous other hills and resolutions were introduced by the majority, the adoption of which must have resulted in crippling the powers of the State and Federal administrations in their efforts to sustain the Union.
Fortunately the Federal army under General Rosecrans had won a signal victory at Stone's River, December 31, 1862, and January 1-2, 1863, just before the meeting of the General Assembly, which elated the friends of the government and dampened the ardor of its opponents, who could not in the face of victory discountenance the soldiers and their achievements. To put the matter to the test, Mr. Morgan, of Henry, on the after- noon of the first day of the session, introduced a resolution "tendering the thanks of
57
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
the House to Major General Rosecrans and the officers and privates under him for their heroic conduct at the late battle at Stone's River and that we sincerely sympathize with the friends and relatives of the many patriots who there sacrificed their lives on be- half of their country, and that the clerk transmit a copy of this resolution to the com- mander of each regiment engaged in that battle." The result was as Mr. Morgan an- ticipated; the anti-war party refused to vote in the negative and the resolution was adopted by an affirmative vote of ninety-two.
The ground was fought over day after day and the session became one of con- tinued anxiety and dread to the friends of the government and supporters of the war. At length, on February 25, 1863, when the military bill of Mr. Hanna reached engross- ment, and was to be put on final passage, in compliance with a predetermined program, a sufficient number of the minority to break the quorum walked out and, taking a train to Madison, on the Ohio River, remained there until the expiration of the session. The risk involved was great and the attitude of the minority required great moral courage, but the action taken by them blocked and eventually defeated a course most injurious to the best interests of the State and Nation.
The subsequent failure of appropriations and the enhanced difficulties of the ad- ministration resulting from this session of the General Assembly are matters pertain- ing more particularly to State and National history. How the counties and people of the State rallied to the aid of Governor Morton and how the great banking house of Wins- low, Lanier and Company-former citizens of Madison, Indiana-evinced their faith in Hoosier honesty by large and unsecured loans which enabled the Governor and his pa- triotic advisers to continue their active and effective support of the National adminis- tration, are most interesting details of this stormy period in State history; but beyond all doubt the salvation of the State from graver internal troubles was due to the cour- ageous action of the minority in breaking the power of the majority in the General Assembly of 1863, and for the part he bore in this memorable crisis Henry County loves Charles D. Morgan and honors him as a man of sterling ability and character and a good citizen. Mr. Morgan has always regarded David C. Brannum, of Jefferson County, as a most able and conscientious leader of the minority in that historic session. Others of the strong men of the minority were Thomas J. Carson, of Boone; David R. Van Bus- hirk, of Decatur, and John S. Tarkington, of Marion.
Charles D. Morgan is of Quaker origin and was reared in that faith and though he does not now claim membership in that society, its principles of peace, probity and good will more nearly accord with his own thought and life than do the more preten- tious creeds. He is an Odd Fellow of probably fifty years' standing and because that society's teachings and ministrations are such as meet his approval he is and has ever been an active and earnest member of the Knightstown Lodge, to whom the perform- ance of the duties it imposes is a pleasure. During the Civil War he gave freely and liberally to the Union cause through many channels. Through life he has been stead- fast in his friendships, as a husband and parent, true and tender, and as a citizen, be- yond reproach.
Mr. Morgan is a great reader and lover of books and his library attests his taste for the best literature as well as his devotion to history and the masterpieces of foren- sic effort, both ancient and modern. Nothing delights him more than a walk with a friend who has a regard for books and for nature. It is exceedingly pleasant to stroll with him on such occasions and listen to him as he unfolds the wonderful stores that are retained by his clear and appreciative memory.
He has never lacked the confidence and esteem of his neighbors and both have been worthily bestowed. While he loves the entire State and country, Knightstown, where he has lived so long and well, is to him the one best spot of all the world. He has always been a lover of the soil and while his accumulations in other lines of prop- erty have heen large, he has invested in a number of good farms in the vicinity of Knightstown, not only for his own profit and pleasure, but as the best investment for his heirs.
Charles D. Morgan was married a second time, bis present wife being Rebecca F., daughter of the late William Brinkley and Margaret Ann (McCabe) Gray, of Knights-
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
town, Indiana. Mrs. Morgan is a lady of sprightly intellect and kindly disposition, who has a wide circle of friends and seems well suited to be the partner of a thoughtful man of affairs like Mr. Morgan.
FRANCES ( MORGAN) SWAIN. (Daughter).
Frances Morgan, the eldest living child of Charles Dayton and Alvira Holland (Woods) Morgan, was born at Knightstown, Indiana, May 20, 1860. She was educated in the Knightstown public schools and The Indiana University and Leland Stanford, Jr., University of California, from which she was graduated with honor, and is a lady of many attainments. She was married at the residence of her parents to Joseph Swain, son of Woolston and Mary Ann ( Thomas) Swain, honored pioneers of Madison County, living near Pendleton, Indiana, on September 22, 1885, by the Rev. H. N. Herrick of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Swain was educated in the local schools, near his father's home, and in The Indiana University, from which he was graduated in June, 1883, receiving the degree of Master of Science in 1885, and that of Doctor of Laws from Wabash College in 1893. He has been associate professor of mathematics in Indiana University, professor of math- ematics in the same and in Leland Stanford, Jr., University, of California; he spent one year of study at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland; he has also been president of Indiana University, and is now at the age of forty-eight years president of Swarthmore College, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, besides having held important positions in many educational associations, traveled largely both in Europe and America and lec- tured on educational themes in every county of Indiana. Mrs. Swain has also traveled much in her own country and in the lands beyond the Atlantic. She has been presi- dent of the Indiana Federation of Clubs and done much effective work among the young women in college. They have no children.
RAYMOND C. MORGAN. (Son).
Raymond C. Morgan, son of Charles Dayton and Alvira Holland (Woods) Morgan, was born December 23, 1868, in Knightstown, Indiana. He studied in the schools of his native town, and afterwards taking a course in mathematics and civil engi- neering at Leland Stanford, Jr., University of California. He was married to Bertha V., daughter of Joshua S. and Elizabeth (McKeehan) Jayne, of near Queensville, Jennings County, Indiana, by the Reverend J. F. Baird. They are the par- ents of three children-Charles Townsend, born August 12, 1897; Donald Swain, born September 20, 1899, and Raymond Stewart, born January 21, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Ray- mond Morgan with their little family live in Knightstown, where Mr. Morgan is a sue- cessful farmer and stockman of the progressive type.
ERIE C. MORGAN. ( Son).
Erie C. Morgan, son of Charles Dayton and Alvira Holland (Woods) Morgan, was born in Knightstown, Indiana. September 21, 1871. He attended the public schools of Knightstown and Indiana University, Bloomington. He early developed an aptitude for business and was given a clerkship in The First National Bank of Knightstown, of which he is now the assistant cashier. He was married to Emma Dale, daughter of John Riley and Sarah Alvira McCann, October 4, 1893, by the Reverend Robert F. Brewington.
They are the parents of two children-Rowland Richard, born May 30, 1896, and Alfred Dale, horn May 12, 1905. Mrs. Morgan is a lady of fine natural endowments, heightened by cultivation and study. Before her marriage to Mr. Morgan she had won an honorable reputation as a recitationist and mistress of the art of expression. Mr. and Mrs. Erie C. Morgan are in the enjoyment of an elegant and happy home at Knights- town.
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF CHARLES WEIMERT MOUCH.
A PROGRESSIVE YOUNG BUSINESS MAN, SUCCESSFUL MANUFACTURER AND ENTERPRISING CITI- ZEN.
The rapid development of industries and industrial methods in all parts of the United States has not only given great impetus to the productive energies of the nation, but has also opened many new avenues of promotion or advancement to young men of capacity and perseverance. As a consequence of this new condition of things in the manufacturing world, it has become very common to find young men at the front in the largest of our industrial enterprises, but to find them in actual ownership is not of such frequent occurrence.
The subject of this sketch, however, is the chief owner as well as the general manager of one of the most important enterprises in this section of the country. It em- braces under the one management the several operations of making and finishing shovels of many kinds and patterns for a wide diversity of uses. This practically includes the several operations of the rolling mill, the shovel factory proper, and of the handie fac- tory, and in addition thereto a large business is done in the rolling, cutting and finish- ing of steel disks for harrows and cultivators. All of these varied branches of a great manufacturing business with all of their accessory industries are under the general management of Charles Weimert Mouch, a young man, forty two years of age, who was .practically thrown upon his own resources at a very early age, without means and with only such meagre educational advantages as a few terms of winter school in an Ohio village could bestow upon him.
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