USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County Indiana : From its earliest settlement to the present time with biographical sketches and reference to biographies previously compiled, Volume II > Part 45
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William H. Bingaman was reared to farm life on the home place in Boone township, and when arriving at school age, he was sent to the district school, and later to the schools of Royal Center. He continued in attendance there until he was about seventeen years of age, after which he gave his attention to the work of his father's farm. He was twenty-one when he decided to leave home, and he accordingly became a clerk in a general store in Royal Center, where he was employed for two years. He then returned to the farm and was thus occupied until he engaged in business here in 1890. He was entirely without capital, but he managed to place a small stock of goods and by the most careful and shrewd manipulation of his stock and the proceeds from the busi- ness for a few seasons, he was soon able to branch out considerably. Today he carries a complete stock of hardware, stoves and implements and enjoys a most gratifying patronage from all parts of the township. He erected his present place of business in 1911, at a cost of about $10,000. He is a member of the directorate of the Royal Center State Vol. II-22
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Bank as well as of the local electric light plant, of the latter of which he is secretary, and is likewise interested in a telling manner in other industrial and financial concerns in and about the town.
Mr. Bingaman is inclined to the progressive view in politics, and took the side of the new party in the campaign of 1912. He is a member of the Baptist church of Royal Center, with his wife, and he also has mem- bership in the Masonic Lodge No. 585, the Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 462, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the latter of which . he holds the office of past grand.
In 1889 Mr. Bingaman was united in marriage with Miss Ida Wash- burn, who died without issue in 1906. He married Nora Lawhead in May, 1908.
WILLIAM O. BLISS holds a prominent place among the prosperous farmers and stockmen of Boone township, and enjoys in generous meas- ure the esteem and confidence of a wide circle of friends and acquaint- ances. He occupies today the farm on which he was born on the 26th day of August, 1853, and which was then the property of his parents, Horace N. and Sarah (Dritt) Bliss.
Concerning the parentage of the subject, it may be said that Horace N. Bliss was a Pennsylvanian by birth and ancestry, as was also his wife. They were married in their native state and came to Indiana in their young days, being rightfully regarded as among the pioneer citi- zens of the state and of Cass county. Mr. Bliss was a man who long occupied a foremost place in his community. He was a capable and energetic farmer and succeeded beyond the status of the average farmer of his day, and his activities extended to civic and public life as well. He served Cass county as its county clerk for eight consecutive years, and was for four years the incumbent of the office of county recorder. Both those offices he filled with credit to himself and the county, and his services were of an order eminently satisfactory to his constituency. He continued to conduct his farm in conjunction with his official duties, and was all his life one of the busiest men in his township. He was a Democrat and was ever active in the ranks of that party. He died in about 1887, the father of five children, two of whom are yet living, Andrew D., concerning whom specific mention is made in other pages of this work, and William O. Bliss, the subject of this necessarily brief review.
William O. Bliss was reared on the home farm and educated in the public schools. He was well trained in the work of the farm and early learned the benefits to be derived from a careful management of a choice farm. In consequence of this knowledge he elected to follow in the footsteps of his father when choosing a vocation and he may be found today busily engaged in carrying on the work of the fine old farm upon which he was born sixty years ago. His holdings in Boone town- ship aggregate six hundred and fifty-three acres, and general farming and stock raising constitute his industry.
Mr. Bliss, like his father, is a Democrat, active, in a measure, in the work of the party in his district, but not an office holder. He has never married.
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ORVILLE M. MCCOMBS, prominent in Royal Center as a merchant, contractor and lumber dealer, has been a resident of this place all his life, and was here born, reared and educated. He has been a school teacher, drug clerk, merchandise clerk, and was for four years with the Sweet Brothers in their elevator business. Altogether his business career has been a varied one. The past eighteen years of his life have been devoted to the lumber business with contracting and merchandis- ing, and he has acquired a leading place in the ranks of the business men of this city. He has acquired an interest in many of the leading industries and financial concerns in and about Royal Center, and is properly regarded as one of the leading business men of the community.
Born near Royal Center on a farm on March 25, 1873, Orville M. McCombs is the son of Albert and Mary (Mason) McCombs. The father was born in Royal Center on August 6, 1844, and was a son of John McCombs, who came here from Pennsylvania, his native state, soon after his marriage, and here entered land from the government, the town of Royal Center standing on the land he so acquired. The patent to his land bore the signature of John Tyler, then president of the United States, and he engaged in farming here when Cass county was in a most primitive state, indeed. A pioneer, every inch of him, John McCombs lived and died on the land he secured as the right of a United States citizen, and he saw the outlining and early development of what was destined to become one of the wealthiest and most prominent counties in the great state of Indiana. He passed the best years of his life here and death claimed him when he had reached an advanced age, after a life of the utmost usefulness in his necessarily circumscribed sphere of activity.
Albert McCombs, his son, and the father of the subject, was reared on this old farm, and here he attended the schools of the day. When he reached manhood, he married Mary Mason and settled in Boone town- ship, where he passed the remainder of his life. Two children were born to Albert and Mary McCombs: Emma, the widow of W. R. Thomp- son, of Royal Center, and Orville M., the subject of this review.
As a boy in Royal Center, Orville M. McCombs attended the schools of his native town, and later was privileged to attend the Danville (Ind.) Normal School. He taught one term of school in Boone township, after which he secured employment in a drug store, and later took a clerk- ship in a general store. He remained something like a year in the latter position, after which he took service with Sweet Brothers in the elevator business. This work won him a most extended acquaintance in the four years of his connection with Sweet Brothers, and he then started up in the lumber business. It is eighteen years since Mr. McCombs set out to run a business of his own, but the passing years have proved the wisdom of his venture. He has increased his interests from time to time, adding other branches, and he now has a general store in Royal Center, and conducts a contracting business in connection with his lumber operations. He is a stockholder and a member of the directorate of the Royal Center State Bank and is a director of the Royal Center Electric Light Company, Inc.
Mr. McCombs has not withdrawn himself from public service, but has ever shown himself willing to bear his full share in the village
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. government. He has served as a member of the village school board and of the village council, and has been president of both bodies, at all times proving himself a eapable and wise official and executive. He is president of the village school board at this time. Fraternally Mr. McCombs is a member of the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maceabees, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, with membership at Logansport. He is a Progressive in his political faith and activities.
In 1891, Mr. McCombs was united in marriage with Miss Ella Pher- son, a native daughter of Cass county, where she was reared and educated. Four children have been born to them: Howard, now nine- teen years old, and a graduate of the high school; Vivian, aged six- teen, a student in the high school; Thelma, twelve years old, attending the public schools, and John A., two months old at this time (Deeem- ber. 1912).
The family are members of the Baptist church of Royal Center and Mrs. McCombs is actively identified with the work of its various departments.
Mr. McCombs enjoys the respect and confidence of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in and about Cass county, where he is promi- nently known in a business and social way. His genial and kindly nature has brought him innumerable friends, as have the other sterling qualities of his nature, and he is regarded as one of the valuable citizens of the community.
HARRY CHARLES JOHNSON, M. D. Among the medical practitioners of Cass county who have won financial success and professional prestige are found many who are practicing in the place of their birth, and in this class stands Dr. Harry Charles Johnson, whose home has always been in his present field of endeavor, the city of Logansport. Dr. Johnson was born August 18, 1880, in this eity, and is a son of Samuel F. Johnson who, in point of continuous service, is probably the oldest railroad employe in Logansport, and the present trainmaster of the Pennsylvania lines at this place.
Samuel F. Johnson was born at Richmond, Indiana, August 20, 1857, a son of Hon. Calvin R. Johnson, a prominent journalist of Indiana who was identified with the press of Richmond for nearly a half a century. The latter was born near North Vernon, Indiana, in Decem- ber, 1823, and it was largely in the printing office that he received his training and equipped himself for life's duties. His early work as a printer was in Indianapolis, from whenee he went to Richmond, and in the latter city published its first newspaper, known as the Broad-ax of Freedom. In addition to being connected with nearly every newspaper of importance published in Richmond, he served through the Civil war as lieutenant in the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and for many years was prominent in Republican politics. He married Miss Sarah Lewis, a daughter of one of the prominent mer- chants of Richmond, whose aneestors were Virginians, and who was a devoted and well known member of the Society of Friends, of Wayne county. Seven children were born to Dr. Johnson's grandparents, Sam- uel F. being the fourth in order of birth.
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Samuel F. Johnson was reared to manhood in his native place, and there received his education in the public schools and taught the dignity and value of hard labor. When he was but a lad of ten years he showed his self-reliance and industry by earning money as an office boy for Dr. McIntyre of Richmond, and when he was fourteen entered upon his railroad career. He continued as a brakeman on a freight train from his fourteenth to his eighteenth year, was then made freight conductor, a position which he held until he was twenty-four, and was then made conductor of a passenger train. In 1872 he located in Logansport as his home, and in November, 1892, he was made assistant trainmaster at Logansport, from which position he was called to that of trainmaster in 1903. On April 2, 1877, he was united in marriage with Miss Mattie Kendall, and they have two children : Harry and Eva.
Harry Charles Johnson was educated in the public schools of Logans- port, and graduated from the high school in 1900. When still a student in the latter institution, he commenced his medical studies under the preceptorship of Dr. E. M. Hatch. In 1900 he matriculated at Hahne- mann Medical College, Chicago, from which, after a course of four years, he was graduated in 1904. Succeeding this, he at once engaged in the practice of his profession in his native city, and here he has since con- tinued, having gained a large and representative clientele. He is known as an able physician, and his success in a number of complicated cases has served to establish him firmly in the confidence of his patients and the respect of his confreres.
On June 6, 1905, Dr. Johnson was married to Miss Grace A. Green, and they have one child : Grace Alice.
ANDREW D. BLISS has achieved considerable distinction as a progres- sive and successful farmer in Boone township, which has represented his home since his young boyhood, sixty-three years representing his actual residence in this place. He was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on April 21, 1847, and is the son of Horace M. and Sarah (Dritt) Bliss.
Horace M. Bliss was born in Massachusetts, in March, 1808, and went to Pennsylvania when he was a youth of eighteen years. He received his education in the schools of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar at Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, where he prac- ticed law at the county seat for several years. He married Sarah Barn- field, and two sons were born to them, Edward and Simon, deceased. Subsequently he married Sarah Dritt, a native of Lancaster county, that state, and they came to Indiana in 1849, locating in Boone township in September of that year. Here Horace Bliss became an extensive land owner and farmer and was well known as one of the most successful men of his day in Cass county. He was a Democrat of strong convic- tions and he served his party in varied ways in the county. He was county clerk of Cass county for eight years and recorder of the county for half that length of time, and he carried on his farm work in conjunc- tion with his official duties. When he finally retired from public life, he devoted himself entirely to farming activities.
Mr. Bliss died in 1883 and his wife preceded him in 1880. They were the parents of three children-Andrew D., John M. and William O. Bliss. John M. Bliss was reared on the farm, in common with his
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brothers, and educated in the public schools. He married Minnie Potter in Logansport. He served Cass county for four years as clerk, and died in 1903. Concerning William O., detailed mention is made in another article devoted to him in this work.
Andrew D. Bliss was reared on the old home farm, and educated in the public schools of the community, as well as receiving some training in a private school. He turned his attention to farming when he settled down to establish a home of his own and has gained a pleasing promi- nence in that field of activity, as have other members of his family in Boone township.
In 1874 Mr. Bliss married Lucinda Berkshire, the daughter of Solomon Berkshire. She was reared in Boone township, in which she was born in June, 1853, and was educated in the public schools. They have eight children, concerning whom brief mention is here made: Horace M. is living in the West; Sarah is the wife of Clarence Julian ; Jennie married Bert Anderson ; William is unmarried ; Rebecca married Jesse C. Julian; Lucinda is the wife of Howard Clapp; Alice is a teacher in the public schools; and John M. is a fireman on the Pan- handle railroad.
Mr. Bliss is a member of Royal Center Lodge No. 585 A. F. & A. M., and is a Democrat in his politics, like all his family. He has been active in the work of the party in Cass county, and in years gone by when his father was active as a county official, he served as his father's deputy in the office of county clerk.
Mr. Bliss and his family enjoy the hearty friendship of a large circle of people in Boone township who have known them all their days, and they are everywhere regarded as among the leading citizens of the community.
WILLMONT L. FERNALD. While Mr. Fernald has been a resident of Logansport for the last thirty-eight years, and among this city's most enterprising and substantial citizens, his business interests have been so extensive and widespread as to entitle him to claim identity with the great Middle West. During this time he has been connected with the lumber interests of several states, and for thirty years one of the most extensive manufacturers and largest dealers in hardwood lumber among the many enterprising men whose vigor and energy have made that one of the leading industries of this section. His career adds another to the many illustrations which Logansport has furnished, of the grand results which are attained by intelligence, tact and perseverance, when applied to the building up of a great business under the favoring condi- tions which have, for nearly half a century, attended all the city's enter- prises. It is true that during this period unusual business opportunities have opened to business men, but they have only yielded the meed of great success to those who have had the sagacity to perceive them and the boldness to push them to their best results.
Willmont L. Fernald comes of good old New England ancestry, and was born in Penobscot county, Maine, October 21, 1855, there being reared to manhood and receiving, in most part, his education. At the age of nineteen years, he began life on his own account as a farm hand, receiving for his services a salary of sixteen dollars per month. In
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1875 he came to Logansport, Indiana, and secured employment with the old lumber firm of Tucker & Howe, the junior member of which was his uncle, Samuel E. Howe, and here, also, he completed his schooling. For a period of about eight years he worked for Tucker & Howe, and since that time has been engaged in business on his own account. Both of the original members of this old and honored concern have passed to their reward, but the business continues to be carried on by Mr. Fernald and the Messrs. W. H. and O. D. Howe, under the corporate name of the Howe Lumber Company. The firm's establishment at Wabash, Phillips county, Arkansas, is in charge of W. H. and O. D. Howe, while Mr. Fernald takes care of the Logansport end of the business, which is the buying of hardwood timber lands and the manufacture of band- sawed hardwood lumber, plow and wagon stock and railroad material. Although one of the quiet and unassuming business men of Logansport, Mr. Fernald is also one of its most influential citizens. Amidst his active business life he has found time and manifested an inclination to perform all the duties of good citizenship, is alive to all the demands which the exigencies of a great and growing city cast upon its leading men, is broad-minded and intelligent on the questions that interest the public, and appreciative of all the interests that affect the community, yet he has not sought personal preferment nor entered actively into the con- tests of the political arena. However, he is not indifferent to the amen- ities of social life, and also takes a keen and intelligent interest in the work of the Cass County Historical Society, of which he is a valued member.
In 1882, Mr. Fernald was married to Miss Emma F. Hoover, whose people were among the first of the pioneers of Cass county, and appro- priate mention of whom is made elsewhere in this work.
DUGAL CAMPBELL was the second of the family to settle in Logans- port, Indiana, and his association with this city began as long ago as the year 1848, when in May he came here from Stark county, Ohio, via wagon train and canal. He bought land and made a home for his family, but his life in this community was all too short, death claiming him within three years after he settled in Logansport. Mr. Campbell was born on June 10, 1803, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and there is something of Scotch blood in the ancestry of the man, as the name plainly evidences. He was a young man when he migrated with his parents and others of the family to Stark county, Ohio, at a time when it was virtually an unbroken wilderness. Here the pioneer spirit was strongly manifested in this man and in others of his immediate family, and like many another of his day, he experienced all the hardships of the pathfinder, or the homemaker in a wilderness. He married Mariah Carr, a girl of German-Irish parentage, and with this companion settled on a woodland tract, their home a tiny log cabin, furnished in the most meager style, with the barest necessities. A puncheon floor was a feature of the little home, but as Mr. Campbell had learned the trade of a carpenter and cabinet maker, he was able with the passing of time to greatly enhance their condition by the work of his hands. He gave much of his time, however, to the cleaning up of their potential farm, and as time passed his unremitting toil began to give shape and semblance to their home, and a fine farm was eventually evolved out of the forest.
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His family grew with the passing years, and the parents, ever remem- bering the benefits that schools could give, concluded that it might be better to move to a district where there would be greater advantages for the children. Thus it was that in 1848 Dugal Campbell sold the place where he had passed so many years, and where he had experienced so much of the joys and vicissitudes of life. He secured the then phenom- enal price of $40 an acre for his land, and moved to Cass county, Indiana, where he had a brother-in-law living and on May 20, 1848, he found himself in Logansport, Indiana. He found suitable land in Clay township and there bought one hundred and ninety acres, paying twenty to twenty-five dollars the acre for the land, and settled down to enjoy the benefits that might be derived from life in the newer commu- nity. Three years later, however, he died at his home, his widow sur- viving him for eleven years, her death occurring in 1863. Nine chil- dren were born to these parents, of which goodly number only two are living today. One, a daughter, makes her home in Franklin, Indiana, and the son, Hon. Benjamin Franklin Campbell, who has gained some- thing of distinction in Cass county, and of whom extended mention is made in another sketch appearing in this biographical and historical work.
Mr. Campbell was a consistent member of the Friends church, and his entire life and experience was in accord with the kindly Christian spirit of that sect. His wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was equally faithful and consistent in her everyday life. They were worthy and honorable citizens, esteemed of all who knew them, and beloved of many for their splendid character and the mani- fold qualities of generosity and kindliness which illumined their plain and homely lives. Their children were named: William C .; John T .; Eva ; Margaret A. ; Benjamin F. ; Harriet ; Amanda J. ; Rachel ; Mary and Robert C. As mentioned previously, all but two of these are deceased.
HON. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CAMPBELL, a man who has gained much of prominence and position in Cass county in the field of politics, as well as in the more prosaic industry of farming, was born in Stark county, Ohio, on March 4, 1835. He is the son of Dugal and Mariah (Carr) Campbell, of whom detailed mention is made in another article devoted to them, to be found elsewhere in this work, thus obviating the necessity for further details 'in regard to the immediate family of the subject.
When B. F. Campbell was a boy of thirteen years the family moved from Stark county, Ohio, to Cass county, Indiana, and here Mr. Camp- bell has made his home continuously since that time. He was reared amid scenes of rural life, both in his earlier home in Ohio and in Clay. township, Cass county, and received the somewhat limited educational advantages of the district schools of his day and age. Though his train- ing was thus not of great scope, it is a significant fact that Mr. Campbell was able to supplement such schooling as he did receive in a large measure by careful reading of his own choosing, so that he has ever been regarded as a man of no little learning, and one whose information covers a wide field, a broad general knowledge being his. He devoted himself to farm work and remained at home, and when his father and
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mother passed away, he continued on the old home place, there bring- ing his bride when he married in 1861. For forty-eight years Mr. Campbell made the old farm his home, his removal to Logansport coming in 1896, at a time when his political prominence made it imperative that he give up his rural life and make a home in the city.
Although today Mr. Campbell is prosperous, and has been for many years, it must be remembered that he bore his share of early privations and the burdens that the death of his father and elder brother placed upon him when he was yet a lad. The family was not a small one, num- bering nine children, and when Dugal Campbell died, Benjamin F. was but seventeen years of age. Thus as the eldest son of the household, responsibility of no small order fell upon his young shoulders.
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