History of Gibson County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 89

Author: Stormont, Gil R
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F.Bowen
Number of Pages: 1284

USA > Indiana > Gibson County > History of Gibson County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 89

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On the 12th day of March, 1872, Mr. Witherspoon was married to Esther, daughter of Major and Martha (Thompson) Burroughs. Major Burroughs' father was born in Kentucky, and his mother in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Burroughs' father's parents came to this country from the northern part of Ireland and settled in Erie county, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Thomp- son was born, grew to manhood and taught school for several years, later coming to Indiana, where he followed the same profession. He was married to Esther Payne, of Orange county, New York. From there they moved to Danville, Illinois, where he again took up the profession of teaching and continued in this line until five of his own children had attended school under his teaching. After he gave up this profession he was appointed register of

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the land office by the President of the United States, selling all the govern- ment land in Champaign and Vermillion counties, Illinois, during those years. He died in 1863, his widow surviving him thirty-nine years, her death oc- curring in 1902, at the advanced age of ninety-two years.

Major Burroughs, Mrs. Witherspoon's father, enlisted as a private in August, 1862. in Company E, Seventy-third Regiment Illinois Infantry, which was organized at Fairmount, that state, and was called the "Preacher Regiment" on account of every regimental officer being a Methodist minis- ter. At the time of the organization of this company Mr. Burroughs was elected captain and one year later the major of the regiment died and Cap- tain Burroughs was promoted to the rank of major. However, Captain Burroughs commanded the regiment until the close of the war, as Colonel Jacques was absent most of the time, acting as spy for President Lincoln. Major Burroughs was with his regiment in every battle except one, he being sick in the hospital at that time. He received a personal letter from General Thomas commending him upon his bravery in time of action. Major Bur- roughs and wife were Cumberland Presbyterians, he being superintendent of the Sabbath school for fourteen years and elder in the church from the time of its organization until it merged into the Presbyterian church in 1911, a period of forty years. Six children were born to Major and Mrs. Bur- roughs, two of whom survive, N. W. Burroughs, of Fairmount, Illinois, and Mrs. William P. Witherspoon.

Mr. and Mrs. Witherspoon purchased a farm in Vermillion county, Illinois, and remained in that state for thirty-three years, the last ten years of which period they resided in Homer. Champaign county, Illinois. During that time Mr. Witherspoon served on the board of education at Homer for ten years, was one of the first incorporators of the Homer Fair Association and was a member of the Vermillion County Fair Association for sixteen years. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Archer Post of Princeton, and also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, with which order he has been prominently identified for the last twenty-one years. In 1905, although still having interests in Illinois land, they came to Gibson county, Indiana, and purchased the home where they now reside, the Hudle- son homestead, and also invested in land in the White River bottoms. Mr. and Mrs. Witherspoon have three children : Stella, who married Charles M. Cessna, a farmer and stock raiser and dealer of South Charleston, Ohio, and who has four children, C. Russell, Esther Lou, Florence and William Har- . old; Wilson W., who resides at Patoka, Indiana, married Cornelia French,

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and they are the parents of two children, Wilson French and Esther Mar- garetta. Wilson Witherspoon is interested in farming and stock raising in connection with his father; Myrtle M., who became the wife of James E. Hall, a mail clerk between Evansville and Chicago; they have one son, Ed- ward Gerald, and reside in Princeton, Indiana. Mr. Witherspoon has one hundred and seventy-two acres in the home farm, two hundred and eighty acres of bottom land in this county and eighty-five acres in Vermillion county, Illinois.

EDWARD RICKARD.

The life of the farmer of today is the most independent existence which can be enjoyed, and with all the modern inventions to facilitate farming, it is rapidly losing those objections which have always appeared so ominous to the average farmer lad. Then, again. the public school has taken cognizance of the subject of farming and today in the schools of Indiana farming is being taught and given as much attention as arithmetic. Our colleges are granting degrees in agriculture and farmers' short courses are being given everywhere throughout the state. The last Legislature of Indiana created a new county official for the sole benefit of the farmers of the state and the county agent promises to be a wonderful help to the farmers. No better farming land can be found in the state than in Gibson county and among the many good farm- ers of the county there is none who has made more of a success of this time- honored occupation than Edward Rickard.

Edward Rickard, the son of Henry and Mary ( Hill) Rickard, was born December 25, 1854, in Columbia township, Gibson county, Indiana, on the farm where he has lived all of his life. His father was a native of North Carolina and came to Gibson county with his parents when he was a boy of seven years of age. Henry Rickard grew to manhood in this county and became one of the most substantial farmers of the township in which he lived. He was twice married, his first wife being Mary Hill. To the first marriage were born two children, Edward and Mrs. Amanda Jenkins, deceased. The second marriage of Henry Rickard was to Mrs. Elizabeth Wigs, and to this union were born two children, Mrs. Minnie Robb, of Gibson county, and Mrs. Amelia Beoshears.

Edward Rickard received the practical education which was furnished by the district schools of his township and has supplemented it by a wide range of reading and close observation of men and events. . He has lived a

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plain, unostentatious life, free from all the worries of the business man, and reared his children to spheres of usefulness. He inherited two hundred acres of land from his father and has added forty acres, making him a total of two hundred and forty acres.

Mr. Rickard was married November 12. 1878, to America J. Ashby, the daughter of James and Cynthia A. (.Atkins) Ashby, of Pike county, and to this union there have been born five children: Lloyd, deceased; Clyde, de- ceased; Beryl, deceased ; Effie, who is a graduate of the Oakland City high school, and still at home: Garrett E., the youngest child, who is also now staying at home. Garrett is making an enviable record in the teaching pro- fession, having been principal of the Oakland City high school for the past four years. After graduating from the Oakland City high school he entered the State University at Bloomington where he graduated in June, 1913, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He has also taken work in the University of Chicago and expects to complete the work in that institution leading to the degree of Master of Arts. He is meeting with pronounced success in his chosen field of history teaching and, judging from the past, the future holds additional honors for him.

The first wife of Edward Rickard died January 22, 1900, and on Decem- ber 3, 1902, he was married to Bertha A. Williams, the daughter of Edward and Bertha (Gorlets) Williams. Both of her parents were natives of Ger- many and reared a family of five children: Mrs. Cora Klenck, Lucy Kelle, deceased, H. Edward, Mrs. Edward Rickard and Mrs. Anna Baker.

Mr. Rickard has carried on a system of diversified farming and by a skilful rotation of his crops has been able to keep his land in a high state of productivity. He has all the latest implements and tools necessary to the up-to-date farmer and is classed as one of the most scientific farmers of the county.

Mr. Rickard has been a Democrat, although not a partisan in the strict sense of the word. In local elections he prefers to vote for the best man, irrespective of his party affiliations. Mr. Rickard was elected to the office of township trustee in his home township in 1905 and filled that important office to the entire satisfaction of the citizens of the township. In his church relations he has long been a member of the General Baptist church, while his wife maintains her membership in the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Rickard is a woman of intelligence and culture and is affable and pleasant in all of her social relations. Mr. Rickard is the kind of a man who wins the respect and esteem of all of those with whom he is associated.

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J. W. McGOWAN, M. D.

It is not always easy to discover and define the hidden forces that move a life of ceaseless activity and large professional success; little more can be done than to note their manifestation in the career of the individual under consideration. In view of this fact the life of the successful physician and public-spirited man of affairs whose name appears above affords a striking example of well-defined purpose, with the ability to make that purpose sub- serve not only his own ends but the good of his fellow men as well. Doctor McGowan holds distinctive prestige in a calling which requires for its basis sound mentality and intellectual discipline of a high order, supplemented by. the rigid professional training and thorough mastery of technical knowledge, with the skill to apply the same, without which one cannot hope to rise above mediocrity in ministering to human ills. In his chosen field of endeavor Doctor McGowan has achieved a notable success and an eminent standing among the medical men of his county. In addition to his creditable career in one of the most useful and exacting of professions, he has also proved an honorable member of the body politic, rising in the confidence and esteem of the public, and in every relation of life he has never fallen below the dignity of true manhood nor in any way resorted to methods that have invited criti- cism or censure.

J. W. McGowan is a native of the old Blue Grass state, having been born at Monticello, Wayne county, Kentucky, on January 22, 1855. His parents, Dr. W. J. and Delila J. (Ramsey) McGowan, were also natives of Wayne county, but they moved to Gibson county, Indiana, in 1862, locating at Prince- ton. During the Civil war Dr. W. J. McGowan was a hospital or contract surgeon, but after his return from the scenes of war he entered upon the prac- tice of his profession at Oakland City, where he remained until his death, which occurred on March 13, 1895. He was a graduate of the University at Louisville, and was a man of marked intellectual attainments. He was a mem- ber of the lower house of the Indiana State Legislature about 1870, being a Democrat in his political world. His widow, who is now seventy-eight years of age, makes her home with the subject of this sketch. He was one of four children, the other three dying in childhood.

The subject of this sketch received his elementary education in the public schools of Oakland City. His father was engaged in the drug business in this city and for a while young McGowan was employed in this store, thus gaining

DR. J. W. McGOWAN.

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first hand much valuable information relative to chemical and pharmaceutical matters. In 1877 young McGowan matriculated in the medical department of the University at Louisville, where he was graduated in 1881 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He was then for four years a student at North- western University at Chicago, graduating in 1885. He took several post- graduate courses, including one in 1889 at the University at Louisville, and in 1896 at the Post-Graduate Medical School of Chicago. Doctor McGowan be- gan active practice of his profession in 1878 at Eureka, Spencer county, Indi- ana, but six months later came to Oakland City where he has been engaged continuously in the practice since, with the exception of the years 1889 and 1890, when he was surgeon of the Montana Territory prison at Deer Lodge, Montana. He is a member of the Oakland City Medical Society, of which he is president, and of the Gibson County Medical Society. the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is surgeon for the Southern Railway and a member of the Association of Surgeons for the Southern Railway. He specializes in surgery and has performed successfully many difficult operations. He possesses a well-equipped office in every respect, including a large and well selected library of professional literature and keeps closely in touch with the most advanced thought relative to his profession. He has been successful in his material affairs and is the owner of a splendid farm a few miles north of Oakland City, where he makes a specialty of breed- ing and raising trotting horses, having a strong love for those animals.

In December, 1912, Dr. McGowan was married to Audie M. (Traylor) Grim, of Winslow, Indiana.

Politically, Dr. McGowan is a stanch advocate of the Democratic party, and has served as a member of the council of Oakland City and was treasurer of that corporation. Fraternally, he is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, belonging to the blue lodge, the chapter of Royal Arch Masons, the council of Royal and Select Masters at Oakland City, the commandery of Knights Templar at Princeton, while in the Scottish Rite he belongs to the Lodge of Perfection at Evansville and the Consistory, thirty-second degree, at Indianapolis. . He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. the Tribe of Ben-Hur and the Modern Woodmen of America. Religiously, he is an earn- est member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which he contributes liber- ally. He is a man of many sterling characteristics of head and heart and among his contemporaries it would be hard to find a record as replete with duty faithfully performed in all the walks of life, while his career in the

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humble sphere of private citizenship has been such as to commend him to the favorable consideration of the best people of Gibson county, where he has long maintained his residence.

JOHN H. BERGER.

Among the self-made men of Center township, Gibson county, who started in life with practically nothing and have attained to a position of affluence and prominence in the affairs of their locality, is John H. Berger, the proprietor of a one-hundred-and-sixty-acre farm in Center township. He is a type of the farmer who, without money or friends to start in with, relied upon his own determination and ability to gain his success.

John H. Berger was born in Armstrong township, Vanderburg county, Indiana, May 6, 1852, and received a good, practical common school educa- tion in the schools of his home county. Early in life he was left to his own resources and worked at any honest toil which offered him a fair return for his labor. In addition to working by the day, he learned the carpenter trade and was in a fair way of making a success of this when his health com- pelled him to abandon the profession. He then came to Gibson county and began farming in what is now Union township. Later he came to Center township and purchased one hundred and sixty acres. After he had bought his farm he began to improve it in various ways and by a skillful system of crop rotation he increased the productivity of the soil so that he was enabled to realize a handsome return on his farming each year. In addition to rais- ing all the crops of grains common to this locality, he also stocked his farm and added not a little to his annual income from the sale of stock.

Mr. Berger was married on October 24, 1877, to Wilhelmina Haag, the daughter of John and Christina (Schillinger) Haag. His wife's parents were natives of Germany and came to the United States and settled in Van- derburg county, Indiana, among the early settlers of that part of the state. They came to this county before their marriage and were later married in Vanderburg county, where they lived and reared a family. John Haag died as a soldier of the Civil war in Louisiana. Mr. and Mrs. Berger are the parents of four children: John G., a general contractor of this county ; Dora M., who married William Strunck, a merchant of Buckskin, Indiana; Emma C., the wife of William H. Block, a farmer of Center township, and

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Walter, who is still at home with his parents. About twenty years ago Mr. Berger was severely injured as the result of a fall, and since that time has not been actively engaged in farming. His son. Walter, is now operating the farm under his father's superintendence.

Mr. Berger has been a member of the Republican party since reaching his majority and has been honored by his party on more than one occasion. When he was only twenty-six years of age he was elected township assessor of his township, and discharged the duties of that office in a highly satis- factory manner. In 1900 he was elected county assessor and held that im- portant office for six years, filling it to the entire satisfaction of the citizens of the county. His work as assessor was of such a nature as to render him one of the best men in the employ of the United States census bureau in 1910. He took the examination under the civil service rules and passed with a high grade, and was assigned to Center township.

Religiously, the Berger family are members of the German Evangelical church and contribute liberally of their time and means to its support. Mr. Berger has lived a busy and useful life in this county, and as a private citizen and as a public official he has measured up to the full standard of American citizenship. For this reason he is justly regarded as a representative man of . his township and county.

DR. WILLIAM P. WELBORN.

The success of men in business or any vocation depends upon character as well as upon knowledge, it being a self-evident proposition that honesty is the best policy. Business demands confidence and where that is lacking busi- ness ends. In every community some men are known for their upright lives. strong common sense and moral worth rather than for their wealth of politi- cal standing. Their neighbors and acquaintances respect them, the younger generation heed their example, and when they "wrap the drapery of their couches about them and lie down to pleasant dreams" posterity listens with reverence to the story of their quiet and useful lives. Among such men of a past generation in Indiana was the late Dr. William P. Welborn, of Prince- ton, Gibson county, Indiana, who was not only a progressive man of affairs successful in material pursuits, but a man of modest and unassuming de- meanor, well educated, a fine type of the reliable. self-made American, a friend to the poor, charitable to the faults of his neighbors and always ready

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to unite with them in every good work and active in the support of laudable public enterprises. He was proud of Princeton and of the grand state of Indiana and zealous of their progress and prosperity. He was a man who in every respect merited the high esteem in which he was universally held, for he was a man of public spirit, intellectual attainments and exemplary charac- ter.

Dr. William P. Welborn was born near Owensville, Indiana, on Feb- ruary 14, 1837, and died at his home in Princeton, on February 12, 1898. His father, Samuel P. Welborn, was one of the early settlers of Gibson county and during his active years was one of the most prominent men in the public affairs of the community. He was the father of eleven children.

Dr. William P. Welborn was reared on a farm and early became accus- tomed to labor of the most strenuous kind, which, probably more than any- thing else, fitted him for the battles of his later life, giving him a good phys- ical constitution and habits of industry. perseverance and energy, which con- tributed largely to his later success. He secured his early education in the district schools and academies and then attended one term in the State Uni- versity at Bloomington, Indiana. He had early entertained an ambition to become a doctor and with that end in view he began the reading of medicine in the office of Doctor Cook at Owensville, this county, after which he took a full course in a medical college in Philadelphia, where he graduated a year or two prior to the opening of the Civil war. He immediately entered upon the active practice of his profession at Owensville, but upon his country's call for helpers he enlisted in 1862 as assistant surgeon of the Eightieth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which command he remained until the close of the war. That he was faithful in the performance of his duty was the unanimous testimony of those who were familiar with his army record and he retired from the service with the consciousness of duty well done. His natural kindness of heart prompted him to do even more than the strict regulations required of him, ministering to the needs of the sick and wounded soldiers. This unremitting service brought serious sick- ness to himself during his army service and to this sickness can be mainly at- tributed the disease which remained with him in after life and which event- ually resulted in his death. After the close of the war, Doctor Welborn came to Princeton and engaged in the practice of his profession, which com- manded his attention until 1870. In that year he was nominated by the Democratic party as a candidate for county clerk, to which office he was elected and entered upon the discharge of his duties. So satisfactory was

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his administration that he was re-elected in 1874 and thus completed a service of eight years in the office. During the latter part of his official term Doctor Welborn was appointed receiver for the Gibson County Bank and in addition to his official duties as county clerk, he successfully handled and settled up the affairs of this defunct institution. Upon the expiration of his official term, Doctor Welborn associated with W. D. Downey in the dry goods business, which they carried on for several years, but in the meantime, having been elected cashier of the People's National Bank and finding that the duties of the position required practically all his time, he disposed of his mercantile interests. For over fifteen years prior to his death he served effi- ciently as cashier of the People's Bank, and the splendid success which at- tended this institution was largely due to the wise direction and personal influence which he gave to the bank. A deep student of financial questions, his accurate judgment and wise counsels were considered invaluable to those in need of advice and in many ways he contributed largely to the success of several business institutions in this locality. For nearly two decades Mr. Welborn was a member of the city school board and contributed to the ex- tent of his ability to the success of our educational system.

Religiously, Doctor Welborn was a life-long member of the Presby- terian church, with which he became affiliated upon his return from the army, and shortly after which time he was made a ruling elder, serving faithfully and efficiently in this capacity during the remaining years of his life. In this service, as in all others to which he was called, he gave his most sincere and healthy effort. He was devoted to his church and de- lighted himself in its ordinances. Well and truly has it been said, "The serene, silent beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence in the world, next to the might of God."

The announcement of Doctor Welborn's death came as a distinct shock to the community which he had so long honored by his residence, though it was well known that his health had been in a precarious condition for sev- eral weeks, but he had in so large a measure filled a place in the community that for the time being it seemed as if the loss was irreparable. The funeral services were held at the late home of the deceased on South Hart street, Princeton, on February 14, 1898, the sixty-first anniversary of his birth, and was attended by a vast concourse of friends and citizens who thus desired to pay their last tribute to the honored dead.

As a marked testimonial to the high standing occupied by Doctor Wel- . born in the community was the public memorial which was held by the con-

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gregation of the First Presbyterian church on Sunday, February 20, 1898, the occasion thus giving civic expression to the congregation's sense of loss as well as a tribute to the character and worth of one who had borne so great a part of the work of the church for many years. Among the splendid tributes paid to Doctor Welborn on this occasion the following words are quoted :

From Rev. A. J. Kerr, a former pastor of this church, then residing in New York City :

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History of Gibson County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 89

Author: Stormont, Gil R Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F.Bowen Number of Pages: 1284

Author: Stormont, Gil R
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F.Bowen
Number of Pages: 1284