USA > Indiana > Clinton County > History of Clinton County, Indiana : With historical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families, Volume II > Part 5
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CARL WIJISLER SIMS.
Although a young man, Carl Whisler Sims fills a large place in the pub- lic eye and in business circles has earned a name and reputation far exceed- ing those of many men of greater age and wider experience in his special field of endeavor. He is a Hoosier by birth and a son of John T. and Malissa (Whisler) Sims, both representatives of well known families and of high social and moral standing in Clinton county, where for a number of years they have made their home.
Carl Whisler Sims was born at Forest, Indiana, August 1, 1882, and after finishing the common school course entered the Frankfort High School, from which he was gradnated with an honorable record as a diligent and
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capable student in 1901. Subsequently he pursued the higher branches of learning for two years in Hanover College and on leaving that institution began the struggle of life for himself in the grain business at Cyclone, Indiana, where he soon gained the confidence of the people and built up a lucrative patronage. After two years in the latter town he sold out and purchased the Monon Elevator, south of Frankfort, where he remained for a period of two years, when he disposed of the property and removed to Oakland, Indiana, where he bought an elevator and for one year conducted a very safe and satisfactory trade in grain. At the expiration of the time indicated he engaged in the same line of business at Frankfort with his father under the name of the "J. T. Sims Grain Company," which partner- ship lasted until 1911, when the subject purchased the enterprise and became sole proprietor, a position he has since retained.
Since becoming the head of the concern, Mr. Sims has greatly enlarged and improved the plant with a corresponding increase in the business and now has an elevator with a capacity of 25,000 bushels and a mill which turns out 150 barrels of flour per day, besides dealing extensively in all kinds of grain and seeds and commanding a patronage second in magnitude and importance to no other establishment of the kind in his part of the state. He gives employment to an average of nine men throughout the year and his mill is taxed to its utmost capacity to meet the large and growing demand for his special brand of "Imperial Flour," which is noted for its excellence and has an extensive sale in both local and general markets, much being shipped to the larger trade centers throughout Indiana and other states.
Mr. Sims is essentially a business man and as such occupies a com- mendahle standing among his contemporaries and with the general public. He is likewise a man of action, actively interested in all that makes for the growth and betterment of his city and county and to a marked degree enjoys the esteem and confidence of his fellow men. Conserative and steadfast in his convictions, progressive in his ideas, liberal in the support of all worthy enterprises, and firm in his friendships, he is one of the most valuable and all- round citizens of Frankfort, an estimate in which all who know him will freely and cheerfully concur. Mr. Sims' first vote was cast for the Republi- can party, of which he has since been an earnest advocate and zealous sup- porter. In religion he is a Methodist and endeavors so to live that his daliy actions and influence will exemplify the beauty and worth of a living faith when practically applied to the affairs of man. He is a Mason of high stand- ing, having risen to the thirty-second degree in that ancient and honorable
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fraternity, besides being a Sir Knight and an active member of the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks. Ile has a beautiful and attractive home in Frankfort, the presiding spirit of which is an intelligent and popular lady of excellent character and social standing who bore the maiden name of Florence Richey and to whom the subject was united in marriage June, 1911. Mrs. Sims, like her husband, is a native of the Hoosier state, having been born in Scircleville, Clinton county, September 10, 1882.
STEPHEN B. SIMS, M. D.
Doctor Stephen B. Sims is a native of the city in which he resides and a son of Cicero and Mary Caroline Sims. The mother previous to her mar- riage having borne the family name of Black, whose family sketch appears upon another page of this work.
Doctor Sims was born May 15, 1861. He was reared in the place of his birth and after finishing the usual graded school course entered the Frank- fort high school, from which he was graduated with the class of 1878. Having early manifested a decided preference for the medical profession, he began his preliminary study of the same in the office of Drs. Cox and Adams, under whose direction he continued until entering Rush Medical College, Chicago, Illinois, where he made creditable record as a faithful and diligent student and from which he received the degree of M. D. in the year 1884. Immediately following his graduation he began the practice of his profession at Frankfort with Doctor Knapp, one of the most successful men of his calling in Clinton county, but at the expiration of one year severed his con- nection with his partner and during the ensuing seven years built up a large and lucrative professional business of his own. In 1892 he again became associated with Doctor Knapp and the firm thus constituted lasted seven years, since which time Dr. Sims has been in the practice alone and, as al- ready indicated, is now one of the representative men of his profession in Frankfort.
Doctor Sims' domestic life dates from May 8, 1888, when he was united in marriage with Miss Agnes M. Miner, of Frankfort, who proved a true wife and judicious helpmate, and who bore him one child, a daughter, Mary L., a graduate of St. Joseph Academy, Tipton, Indiana, and one of the in- telligent and popular young ladies in the city of her residence. The first
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Mrs. Sims died in the year 1905. and subsequently, in 1906, he chose a second wife and companion in the person of Mirs. Sarah Guernsey.
Politically, he is a Republican, and fraternally, belongs to the Benevo- lent Protective Order of Elks and Masonic order.
JOSEPH ETHERTON HILLIS.
In placing the name of the late Joseph E Hillis in the front rank of Clinton county's business men of a past generation, simple justice is done to a biographical fact, universally recognized throughout this section of the state by those at all familiar with his history. A man of rare sound- ness of judgment, wise discretion and business ability of a high order, lie managed, with tactful success, important enterprises, and so impressed his individuality upon the community as to gain recognition among its leading citizens and public-spirited men of affairs. What of the man and what of his work? This is the dual query which represents the interrogation at least nominally entertained whenever that discriminating factor, the public, would pronounce on, the true worth of the individual. The career of Mr. Hillis indicates the clear-cut, sane and distinct character, and in reviewing the same from'an unbiased and unprejudiced standpoint, interpretation follows fact in a straight line of derivation. In this publication it is consistent that such a review be entered, and that without the adulation of ornate phrases. The city of Frankfort naturally takes pride in the work performed by Mr. Hillis, who stamped the mark of definite acomplishment on the highest plane of industrial activity, and consistently demands that he be given due relative precedence in a work which has to do with those who have lived and labored to good purpose in the great commonwealth of Indiana in times that are past, and thence permeated the great industrial and civic life of the nation in which he stood well to the forefront in representative citizenship, even if his career was such as to gain him no more than a state reputation. His history and that of the latter-day progress of Clinton county is so indissolubly interwoven that they are pretty much one and the same, for he lived to see and take a leading part in the upbuilding of the county and city of his choice, and during the years in which he honored this locality with his residence no man stood higher in public esteem.
Joseph E. Hillis, banker, financier and business man, who for more than thirty years, had been a prominent figure in the commercial life of the
JE Hillis
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locality of which this history treats, and had succeeded well in his many and diversified enterprises, his own prosperity adding material advancement to the city and county along many lines of progress, was born near Madison, Jefferson county, Indiana, September 26, 1840. He received limited educa- tional advantages, and he began his business career when quite a young man and at eighteen was a general merchant at Michigantown. His next venture was at Zionsville, where he conducted the same lines of business as at Michigantown, success attending him at both places. His marriage to Jennie E. Avery, a lady of culture and refinement, took place at Zionsville, March 19, 1872, and in the spring of the following year he came to Frankfort and with Elwood Avery engaged in the grocery business on quite an extensive scale on the west side of the public square. After disposing of that business Mr. Hillis was one of the organizers of the R. P. Shanklin & Company, wholesale grocery house. He remained in this business until his death. He also assisted in the organization of the Clinton County Bank, and was its president when he died. Its large success and widespread prestige in the financial world of northern Indiana was due for the most part in his perserverance, wise discrimination and sterling honesty in the management of its affairs. He was also interested in many other business ventures in Frankfort, all of which have prospered and increased his earnings and he was rated as one of the city's wealthiest men. He was deserving of a great deal of credit for what he accomplished alone and often in the face of obstacles that would have crushed the man of less heroic mettle, and all this along perfectly legitimate lines of endeavor. He owned one of the most attractive and modernly appointed homes in the county, which was always regarded by his many friends as a place of old-time hospitality and good checr.
Success came to Joseph E. Hillis as it does not come to everybody, and in the city where he had carved out the greater part of his fortune his was an honored name. Like others who have succeeded, he found that there is no sentiment in business, and while he at all times followed the rules of established ethics in his relations with his fellow men, both in a business and social way, he frequently stepped aside in his career to help others who needed encouragement and advice. And his assistance did not always consist of words. There are many men in Frankfort who can tell how they were started in business by Mr. Hillis and families who can bear testimony to his leniency in their efforts to acquire a place which they could call home.
Death came to Mr. Hillis without warning, while at his place of business in the wholesale house mentioned above in Frankfort, on Monday, September
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27, 1904. He had been in apparently good health and was attending to business matters up to the very moment when stricken down. Interment was made in beautiful Green Lawn cemetery.
Surviving Mr. Hillis is his widow. Their only child, Chalmers H., a young man who seemed to have inherited many of his father's sterling virtues, especially in a business way, died June 14. 1913. A memoir appears elsewhere. Two sisters, Mrs. Buchanan and Mrs. O'Neil, both residing near Madison, Ind., survive our subject, and two brothers, Frank Hillis, of Logansport and Paul Hillis, of Kokomo, Ind.
Personally, Mr. Hillis was a gentleman of pleasing and courteous ad- dress, his earnestness and candor, diplomacy and kindness never failing to make a deep impression on all with whom he came into contact and he in every way deserved the high esteem in which he was held by all who knew him.
WILLIAM FRANK BURROUGHS.
It seems that there is no start in life which so well prepares a man for his future career, no matter what he may choose to follow, as the boyhood years spent on the farm; this is not strange to the contemplative mind, for in the first place the boy reared next to nature, to the fresh soil, surrounded by the clear air and amidst the growing, blooming vegetation, will be stronger physically and mentally than his city bred brother; and all will agree that health is the first prerequisite in the chase for success in this world. Many a man has been handicapped, submerged and defeated became of lack of it. Another thing, the farmer boy knows few of the temptations that lead to ruin which the city boy has to combat almost from the very cradle; the former uses his energy in wrestling with the plow, the unbroken colt, the quick-growing sprouts, and many other things in his every-day life, while all this pent-up energy of the city lad must seek outlet in various channels, so he gets into trouble or at least neglects to properly direct his energies in life's affairs and when manhood comes he is left behind by his stronger and more self-reliant, self-assured country contemporary.
One of Clinton county's worthy young men who sprang from the rural districts is the present efficient deputy county clerk. William Frank Bur- roughs, who was born in Jefferson township, Boone county, Indiana, on a farm June 25, 1875. He is a son of John Henry and Mary Adaline (Carter) Burroughs. The father was born September 30, 1843, on a farm which his
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father had entered from the government in the carly settlement of this state and which is located in Franklin township, Montgomery county. The pater- nal grandparents of the subject of this review were Uriel and Leannah (Bramblett) Burroughs. Uriel Burroughs was a descendant of an early Virginia family, his progenitors having emigrated to the Old Dominion dur- ing the great Cromwell's reign in England, and from that remote period to the present the name Burroughs has been a more or less prominent one in Virginia. Members of this old family have proven themselves to be gent- inely American in spirit and patriotism, and their names are to be found on the rosters of our armies in all our wars, some of them having won distinc- tion as soldiers in the Revolutionary war.
Uriel Burroughs left his home on the Atlantic seaboard in the year 1813 and, with other westward-looking frontiersmen of that time, plunged into the wilderness and kept his course toward the setting sun until he reach- ed Scott county, Kentucky, and in 1826 moved to Montgomery county, In- diana, where, being attracted by the richness of the soil and the general beauty of the landscape and having the sagacity to foresee a great future for the Wabash county, he decided to establish the future home of the family here, and he accordingly entered wild land from the government, selecting a fine tract in what is now Franklin township. He was a man of courage and grit, one whom hardships had little to appall, so he soon had the heavy tim- ber cleared away and young crops growing. Ile prospered with advancing years and became one of the leading general farmers of that section of the country and there he spent the residue of his days, living there some forty- four years, passing to his rest in 1869. His wife, who shared with him the hardships and privations of a life on the then frontier of American civiliza- tion, was a Kentuckian by birth. Her death occurred in 1848. She pre- ceded her husband to the grave many years. The subject of this sketch is still in possession of the old rifle carried by his grandfather Burroughs, which he used in killing all kinds of wild game in the pioneer days. It is of the ancient hammered barrel type. Politically, Uriel Burroughs was a Demo- crat, and in religious matters a Baptist. He is remembered as a plain, honest, hard-working man, neighborly and hospitable.
John II. Burroughs, father of our subject, grew to manhood on the home farm. Being the son of a pioncer, he found plenty of hard work to do as soon as he became of proper age, and he worked on the home place during his boyhood, attending the neighborhood schools during the brief winter months. receiving such educational advantages as was common in the country
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during that early period. Ile turned his attention to general farming and stock raising when a young man and continued to follow these lines with ever continued success until a few years ago, when, having accumulated a competency, he retired from active work and is now spending his okl age in quiet, maintaining a comfortable residence at Shannondale, Montgomery county. His wife, known in her maidenhood as Mary Adaline Carter, was born in Owen county, Indiana, March 3, 1855, and there spent her child- hood, and she and Mr. Burroughs were married in the year 1873. After only five years of happy married life she was summoned to her eternal rest June 30, 1878. when William F. Burroughs, our subject, was three years old. She was buried at the village of Shannondale, Montgomery county. Besides our subject one other child was born to John H. Burroughs and wife, Clifford O., whose birth occurred on November 3, 1876. He died on April 18, 1904, when nearly twenty-eight years of age. The father of these children is a Democrat, but he has never been a publie man, devoting his at- tention to his farming industry and his home. He is well known and well liked in his vicinity.
William F. Burroughs grew to manhood on the home farm, as already indicated, and he did his share of the work there when a boy. He was given excellent educational advantages. After passing through the public schools of his home community he attended the Valpariso Normal School, at Val- pariso, Indiana, later attending Wabash College at Crawfordsville for one term. He had taken a general literary course, preparing himself for a teach- er, and after leaving school he followed that line of endeavor for a period of sixteen years in Montgomery and Clinton counties, where he won an envied reputation as an educator and during which period his services were in great demand in both the counties named, part of his teaching having been done in the latter county. For ten years he was principal of the schools at Colfax, giving eminent satisfaction, as his long retention in that important position would indicate. He did : splendid work in building up the schools at that place and was popular with both pupils and patrons. He was progressive in his methods and kept fully abreast of the times in all that pertained to his work. Finally tiring of the monotony of the school room and taking an active interest in public affairs he became deputy clerk in the office of the cirenit court January 1, 1912, the duties of which he is discharging at this writing in a highly acceptable manner.
Politically, Mr. Burroughs is a Democrat and has ever been loyal to the party of his ancestors. Ile is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
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Fraternally, he belongs to the Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Subordinate and the Encampment degrees, and is also a mem- ber of the Modern Woodmen af America.
Mr. Burroughs was married on August 12, 1993. to Nellie G. Hampton, who was born in Sugar Creek township, Montgomery county, Indiana, in October, 1881. She grew to womanhood there and received a good educa- tion in the public schools. She is a daughter of Morgan and Amanda Hampton, both of whom were children of early settlers in Montgomery county.
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Burroughs, John II., Jr., who is attending school, and William M .. the youngest.
I. M. CUE.
Among the farmers of Clinton county, Isaiah Marion Cue has been one of the most prosperous and intelligent. It may be said that he was born to the high calling of agricultural pursuits. His grandfather, William Cue, tilled the soil in Ohio, and his father, Lewis Cue, farmed in Indiana. But the subject of this sketch, Isaiah M. Cue, was not bounded in his ambition by the horizon of the farm. He gave his attention to local politics, and in time became one of the most astute politicians of Clinton county.
In recognition of his merit and special adaptability, Isaiah M. Cue was honored by his fellow citizens in 1910 with election to the office of county clerk. He polled the full strength of the Democratic party, and owing to his peculiar fitness for the office was given quite generous support by the mem- bers of other parties. This confidence time has proved was not misplaced. as Mr. Cue is easily one of the most faithful and efficient incumbents that the county clerk's office has ever had. He is thoroughly modern and up-to- date in his methods, and from his term will date a new era in despatching the county's business. He is one of the men identified with the progress of his county.
Isaiah M. Cue was born November II, 1855, near Michigantown, In- diana, the son of Lewis and Sarah (Floyd) ) Cue. He is of the old Buck- eye stock, his father having been born in Clinton county, Ohio, February II, 1817, and his grandfather hailing froni the same state. This carries him back in direct genealogy to the early days of the government, the most momentous in many respects in all history. A notable incident in the family
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history is that Willam Che, the grandfather, lived to be eighty years of age and was then killed by the falling of a tree. When Lewis Cue, the father of Isaiah, was fifteen years of age, his mother died. and in 1853 he moved from Ohio to Clinton county, Iowa, and subsequently returned to Clinton county, Indiana, where he became a land owner and prosperous farmer, his death occurring in November, 1883. He married Sarah Floyd in Ohio, and five of cight children were born to them there. The place of her birth was Clinton county, Ohio, and that of her death Clinton county, Indiana. She was born June 15, 1818.
Isaiah M. Cue was given a common school education and put to work on his father's fait Thus he was given, in the judgment of economists and philosophers, the best possible equipment for a satisfactory and prosper- ous career. And he has proved the soundness of such judgment. On No- vember 20, 1883, he was married to Loretta E. King, who was born in Tip- ton county, Indiana, April 30, 1861. Four children are the fruit of this union. Carl, the eldest, is deputy clerk to his father; Oral is engaged at farm work, while Merle and Edith attend school.
Mr. Cue is among the foremost Democratic politicians of Clinton county and is a stanch member of the Methodist church. In both political and re- ligious circles he is by common consent a leader, and such is the character of his leadership that it inspires the utmost confidence in those who follow it. He is one of those representative men whose intellectual attainments and benefactions immortalize them in county and state history.
SAMUEL H. TITOMPSON.
Indiana sent many of her sons to the great struggle of 1861 to 1865, and many of them did not return, nor is it known where their unmarked grave is placed. Nothing but the memory of the happy, youthful face that marched away is left for those who knew him. Others did return, covered with laurels, and today are a reality, wells of information and interest, and their place in the hearts of their countrymen is secure and hallowed. The subject of this sketch was a soldier with an enviable record, and his presence today in the ranks of the living veterans is one of pride, merit and courage.
Samuel II. Thompson put his birth date September 13, 1838, and the place Kirklin township, Clinton county, Indiana. He was the son of John M. and Ann (Holliday) Thompson, natives of the state of Ohio. John Thompson was born on the first day of the nineteenth century in Clinton
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county, Ohio. The mother, Ann Holliday, was also born in Ohio, and in that state married Mr. Thompson. Soon after their marriage they moved to Indiana and settled in Clinton county, where the father began farming and was very successful. During his life John Thompson was a Whig by politics, and on the formation of the Republican party he joined forces with them. Mr. Thompson was the father of twelve children: Sidney, Mary, Delina, Joselia, and Robert, all deceased; Jane : Samuel; Manda; Sarah; John (de- ceased) ; Eliza; and Milford (deceased).
Samuel Thompson received his education in a log school house with greased paper windows. After the war, on August 5, 1878, Mr. Thompson was married to Florence Kelly, a Clinton county girl. the daughter of Henry and Ann (Harley) Kelly. She was called by death in the year 1881. Two children were born to her: Ora H., born in 1879, died in 1896; Lenora M., born February 12, 1881, now married to William E. Burgis, of Kirklin, Ind. She also has two children, Florence and Mildred.
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