USA > Indiana > Greene County > History of Greene and Sullivan Counties, State of Indiana > Part 79
USA > Indiana > Sullivan County > History of Greene and Sullivan Counties, State of Indiana > Part 79
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CAPT. JOSEPH W. BRIGGS was born in Cumberland County, Penn., February 12, 1811. Maj. David Briggs, the father of Joseph W., with no other influence than his personality and the Revolutionary fame of his family, raised a full battalion of men for the defence of Bal. timore in the war of 1812, and during the campaigns which followed con- tracted diseases from which he never recovered. David was the son of Benjamin Briggs, who came to the American Colonies from the North of England about the year 1770. He raised a company for the Ameri- cans during the Revolution, and armed and uniformed them by mort- gaging his estate, and when the war was balf out and his men sadly needed food and clothing, he mortgaged the remainder. At the battle of Monmouth, he lost his left arm by a cannon ball, and at the siege of Yorktown lost his right leg also by a cannon ball. Joseph W. was the second son of David. He graduated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Penn., in 1830, with the honors of his class, and having studied law was admitted to. practice. About this time, he married Miss E. A. Clippin- ger, daughter of John Clippinger, and soon afterward came to Carlisle, Sullivan County, where for a time he followed merchandising and farm- ing. He was elected Probate Judge, and in 1836 Representative, and soon after this entered upon the practice of law, which he followed un til his death. In 1846, he raised a full company of men for the war with Mexico, a sketch of which may be read elsewhere. He was knocked 4
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down by a spent ball at Buena Vista, but not seriously injured. After the war, and until his death, he was very prominent in the county and `in his profession of law. He was a fine scholar and collected a large library, and is said to have particularly excelled in chancery practice. He was a fluent, logical and forcible speaker, of easy manner and pleas- ant address, and his society was much sought.
CAPT. JOHN C. BRIGGS was born in Carlisle, Sullivan County, September 2, 1841. In the spring of . 1849 the family moved upon a large farm near Carlisle, where the subject of this sketch lived until the spring of 1856, when the family moved to Sullivan, where he attended the seminary until the civil war began, and then enlisted in the Four- teenth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He served with his reg- iment in the East until December 13, 1863, when he was commissioned as Quartermaster of cavalry, and came West, serving with Gen. Wilson's division of cavalry until after the surrender, when be resigned in June, 1865. He was with the Fourteenth Regiment at Rich Mountain, Cheat Mountain, Winchester, Malvern Hill, the second battle at Bull's Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Mine Run, and with Gen. Wilson's cavalry at Franklin and Nashville. After the . war closed he located at Eastport, Miss., where he cast his first vote in 1866, with what was then called the Conservative Democratic party. He enlisted a Republican, and came out of the army a Democrat. In the winter of 1867-68, he returned to Sullivan and went into the dry goods business with James W. Hinkle, and at the same time began reading law. The 1st of October, 1869, he went to Terre Haute, and entered the law office of Hon. D. W. Voorhees, where he read until the fall of 1870, when he was admitted to practice. At the October election, 1870, he was elected Prosecutor of the Circuit, then composed of Vermillion, Parke, Vigo and Sullivan Counties, and was nominated for re-election in 1872, but was defeated at the October election by a small majority, although he ran ahead of his ticket. From the time he was admitted . to practice until '1873, he and Hon. Daniel W. Voorhees practiced law together in Terre Haute under the firm name of Voorhees & Briggs. On the 15th of November, 1873, Capt. Briggs moved to Sullivan and opened a law office, and has resided here ever since. For two or three years after he came to Sullivan he and Mr. Voorhees were partners, under the firm name of Briggs & Voorhees. In December, 1876, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Indiana, and a short time afterward was licensed as a member of the bar of the United States Circuit and District Courts, for the District of Indiana, at Indianapolis. In 1878, he was elected from Sullivan County to the Lower House of the General Assembly of Indiana, and served with more than ordinary ability in the regular and special sessions of 1879. He is the author of the law that requires the pay of special judges to be taken from that of the regular judge, except in certain cases, and saves to the people of the State about $20,000 per annum. He is the author of three acts that became laws at that time. He was active in working and speaking in favor of every bill passed by the Legislature in the interest of the people. He declined a re-election to the Legislature, and devoted himself to his practice. In 1880, he was the Democratic Elector for the Second Congressional District, and can- vassed the entire district at his own expense. Since 1868, he has been active in politics, rendering his party great service. He is an eloquent and forcible speaker, and one of the best and most successful lawyers
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in Western Indiana. He has a fine practice, and he and his partner, Charles E. Barrett, have the best law library in the Wabash Valley.
MURRAY BRIGGS, editor of the Sullivan Democrat, is a native of Licking County, Ohio, where he was born April 26. 1830, and where he was reared and educated. ' When quite young his mother died, after which sad event he lived on a farm with a family of strict Scotch Cov- Quanters or Reformed Presbyterians, remaining until about the age of fifteen, when he met with the misfortune of a broken leg, and, upon re- covery, entered a printing-office. This event changed the current of his life, for he has been a printer ever since. After attaining his majority, he gratified a desire for traveling by visiting several places in Virginia and elsewhere, and by taking a trip West, stopping for a time in St. Louis, and Jacksonville, Ill., in all of which places he worked at his profession In the summer of 1854, he took a pleasure excursion around the lakes, visiting Niagara Falls and other places of interest, returning to Newark in the fall of that year. About this time he received a copy of the Terre Haute Journal, containing a marked paragraph headed " An Editor Wanted," and signed with the name of Joseph W. Wolfe. In the paragraph it was stated that the editor of the paper at Sullivan had dis- appeared, and that the citizens and especially several gentlemen who had indorsed his notes were anxious to secure somebody to take the office off their hands. A correspondence was begun which led to the coming of Mr. Briggs to Sullivan, and the buying of the office of the Sullivan Dem- ocrat, which he has since owned. Few men have figured more promi- nently in the affairs of Sullivan County than Mr. Briggs. He has iden- tified himself with every movement to better the condition of the people, and, through the medium of his paper. has exerted a silent though po- tent influence which has brought a wider diffusion of knowledge and a more enduring state of excellence in morals. He served as County School Examiner several years, commencing about the beginning of the rebellion; was appointed and then elected County Auditor, the latter occurring in 1867; has served for about fifteen years as a member of the School Board of Sullivan; was appointed by Gov. Williams one of the Board of Trustees of the State Normal, of which body he bas been Pres- ident for four years, besides occupying other positions of trust. He is a member of the encampment in Odd Fellowship. His marriage with Miss Ellen Elliott in April, 1855, was followed by her death in the au- tumn of the same year. In 1858, he married Mrs. Margaret (Briggs) Evans, who bore him three children-Benjamin, Murray and Ellen; his wife, Margaret, having died, he married Mrs. Clara (Reader) Dutton, in April, 1868, and to this union four children have been born-Sarah, Howard, Aletha and James, of whom only the last two are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Briggs are members of the Presbyterian Church.
WILLIAM BREWER was born near Graysville March 20, 1826. and is the son of John and Mary (Cook) Brewer, natives, respectively, of Kentucky and Ohio. The parents moved to Sullivan County about the year 1818, and settled in the woods, where they cleared a farm, which was then sold and another purchased where Graysville now is. Here the parents remained until their deaths. After becoming twenty-one years of age, William Brewer went with a flatboat, owned by Joseph White, to New Orleans. the trip consuming six weeks' time, for which he received $30. Out of this he bought a suit of clothes and paid his way home, and had left $16, which he loaned at 6 per cent interest, and com-
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menced work at 50 cents a day on a farm. After the "crop season " he hired out by the month at $8, and took his pay in jeans. He worked thus until November 29, 1848, when he married Mary Ann, daughter of John and Sarah (Ernest) Hawkins. Six children were born to them, four of whom are now living-Sarah E., wife of Robert Watson; Emily Ann, wife of John Kirkham: Leanah and Mary. The family are members of the Methodist Church, and Mr. Brewer belongs to the Masonic fraternity. By industry, economy and good management, he has accumulated prop- erty valued at $20,000. Since 1875, he has been in the hardware busi- ness at Sullivan with Thomas Burton. His politics is Republican.
JUDGE GEORGE W. BUFF is a native of Darke County, Ohio, where he was born August 31, 1843, his parents being John and Jane Curlett (Pigman) Buff, the father a native of North Carolina and the mother of Kentucky. The family moved to Sullivan County in 1862, lo- cating near Merom on a farm, where the fatber yet lives, the mother hav- ing died February 23, 1875. George W. Buff was educated mainly at Merom and at an academy in Jay County, teaching, when old enough, to get means to continue his schooling. Thus he was engaged until 1868, when he began the study of law in the office of his brother, N. G. Buff, at Sullivan, and continued his readings until September, 1869, when he entered the law school at Lexington, Ky., and in February graduated with high bonors. He then returned to Sullivan and entered into part- nership with his brother in the practice of law, and continued thus with gratifying success until 1875, when his brother left, and soon afterward he formed a partnership in law with John T. Hays. This business rela- tion was dissolved in 1878, and another formed for the practice of law with James B. Patten; but in 1882, Mr. Buff was elected Judge of the Circuit Court, a merited recognition of his ability, honor and acquire- ments, and he is yet serving in that responsible position. As a practi- tioner, Judge Buff has no superior at the Sullivan bar, and on the bench his decisions are accurate, logical and just. He has been . counsel in many of the most important cases of late years. April 6, 1871, he mar- ried Miss Maria, daughter of David and Catharine Cushman. and is the father of three children-Mary Josephine, Catharine aud Ruth. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and himself and wife are members of the Christian Church. In May. 1864, Judge Buff enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged with his regiment in October, 1864, when he re-enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served until October, 1865, and was then discharged. The county has no better citizen.
DR. J. C. BARTLETT, editor and proprietor of the Sullivan Times, was born near Marietta, Ohio, September 23, 1842, and was there reared on the farm of his parents, Levi and Maria (Dickey) Bartlett, who were natives respectively of Rhode Island and Ohio and of English and Irish descent. Ohio was the home of J. C. Bartlett until within the past three years. After attending the common schools of the neighborhood, he en- tered the Ohio State University at Athens, remaining in the preparatory department of that institution two years, then completing the Sophomore year in the classical department of the university proper. Succeeding this he read medicine at Marietta, attended a regular course of lectures at the Medical College of Ohio, which graduated him in March, 1865. In 1864, he was made one of the house physicians of St. Anthony's Hospital,
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which position he retained until one year after graduation. He located in his native town to practice his profession, but in Angust, 1867, entered the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where, besides taking a regular course of instruction, took a special course in analytical and applied chemistry, for which he was given a special di- ploma From 1869 to 1880, Dr. Bartlett was engaged in the practice of medicine at Canton and Marietta, Ohio, but owing to ill-health he was compelled to relinquish his profession for a business that required less exposure. In April, 1881, he came to Sullivan, Ind., and purchased the True Democracy, which he immediately changed to the Times, and which he has since conducted with both credit and profit to himself. January 27, 1870, Dr. Bartlett and Miss Mary F .. daughter of Dr. Benjamin F. and Sallie M. (Alcock) Hart, of Marietta, Ohio, were united in marriage, the bride's birth occurring January 27, 1850. Dr. Bartlett is a member of the Bine Lodge in Masonry, is a Democrat in politics, an able editor and an esteemed citizen.
JOSHUA BEASLEY was born in Greene County, Ind., June 17, 1857, son of Ephraim and Sarah (Williams) Beasley, natives of Indiana, and residents now of Sullivan. Subject was reared on a farm, but in 1876 began teaching school, which he continued until 1850, when he went into the hardware business with his brother at Shelburn, where he con- tinued until 1882, when he moved to Sullivan. his brother having died. He was elected to the office of Recorder of Sullivan County in ISS2, by a large majority, and has filled the office with entire satisfaction to both parties. Mr. Beasley is looked upon as one of the most prominent of the rising young men of Sullivan, and has always been very successful in his undertakings.
JOHN T. BEASLEY, attorney at law, was born near Shelburn, Sulli- van County, May 29, 1860. At the age of fifteen be began teaching school, at which occupation he was engaged for about five years, studying law in the meantime. In May, 1880, he entered the law office of Buff & Patten, Sullivan, where he remained busily engaged in studying until June, 1881, when he was admitted to practice. He still remained in the office of Buff & Patten, and soon had a comfortable business, but in the spring of 1881, formed a partnership with the above gentlemen under the name Buff, l'atten & Beasley. In the following autumn Mr. Buff retired from the firm, and May 1. 1SS3, Mr. Patten did likewise, both having been elected to office, leaving Mr. Beasley with the practice, and with the library, etc., which he purchased. He soon formed a partner- ship with A. B. Williams, Esq., with whom he is now associated. In May, 1882, he was elected City Attorney, which position he still hold- He is a member of the Masonic Lodge and of the Democratic party. He was one of the leading attorneys in the celebrated bounty suits which grew out of the war. His parents were Ephraim and Sarah (Williams) Beasley, natives of Indiana, who moved from Lawrence County-first to Greene, and then in 1858 to a farm near Shelburn. In 1882, they moved to Sullivan, where the father is engaged in dealing in stock and grain.
DR. WILLIAM H. BUCHER was born in Fostoria, Ohio, January 3, 1854. When he was nine years old his parents died and he went to live with E. D. Boughton, near Fostoria, with whom he remained until he was fourteen years old, working in the summer and attending school in the winter. He then lived with an uncle one year, and returned to
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his native town, where he found employment in the spoke factory of Bement & Co., working first at odd jobs, but becoming later packer and shipping clerk. In the summer of 1872, he entered the Studebaker Wagon and Carriage Factory of South Bend, Ind., where he learned the trade of making carriages. Three years later, he began house-painting, visiting several States, but after about a year returned to South Bend and worked three years longer. After this, he worked at carriage mak. ing in Chicago, in the factory of A. C. Boom, becoming foreman, and, later, superintendent. In 1880, he followed the commission business in Chicago for a time, and the next year became the President of the Loomis Manufacturing Company at La Porte, Ind. In 1883, having begun the study of dentistry, he continued his studies in Sullivan, and began to practice, and is thus engaged at present. Dr. Bucher is a member of the I. O. O. F.
CHARLES E. BARRETT, of Briggs & Barrett, attorneys and counselors at law, was born November 28, 1858, in Indianapolis, Ind., a son of James W. and Pleasant M. (Dennis) Barrett, who were uatives respectively of Virginia and Ohio. When three years of age he removed with his parents to New Boston, Ill., where he attended school until the age of eleven years, when he entered the wholesale and retail house of J. C. Bell & Sons, as clerk. For four years he continued working for this firm, but his leisure time after and before business hours was passed in hard study. In 1873, he entered the law office of New & Poulson, of Greenfield, Ind., and after reading two years was accepted as a partner in the business. March 28, 1881. Miss Cornelia, daughter of F. E. and Julia (Martin) Glidden, became his wife; and after a lucrative practice of three years at Greenfield, Mr. Barrett removed to Sullivan, where his ability has secured him a comfortable revenue from the practice of his profession. In politics he is a Democrat, and is at present one of the leading candidates of his party for the position of Supreme Court Re- porter. Mrs. Barrett is a native of Rush County, Ind., born April 27, 1862, and is the mother of one son -- Fred E., now two years old. Mr. Barrett came to Sullivan a stranger, with the recommendations of some of the leading attorneys and citizens of the State. He brought with him a library said to be one of the best in the State, which, together with his partner's, Mr. Briggs, is one of the best in the West.
J. L. BERRY, Sheriff of Sullivan County, was born in Jefferson County, Ky., October 30, 1837, and is the sixth in a family of ten chil- dren, boru to William A. and Lucinda (Millison) Berry, natives respect- tively of Virginia and Kentucky. The father was a blacksmith by trade, but when about twenty-three years of age went to Kentucky and ever after followed farming. In December, 1840, he moved to Knox County, Ind., where he and wife lived until their deaths. Of the ten children, all are living in Knox and Sullivan Counties. Subject, when sixteen years old, began doing for himself. He occupied his time on the farm until 1868, when he embarked in the drug trade at Carlisle, and con- tinued about ten years, when he accepted a situation as traveler for a wholesale implement house, but a year later returned to Sullivan County and soon afterward was elected County Sheriff, and two years later was re-elected to the same office, which he is now filling to his own credit and to the benefit of his constituents. Mr. Berry is a Democrat, and has as- cended to the Royal Arch degree in Masonry. For eight years be served as Notary Public. In 1858, he was married to. Nancy J. Corbin, who died
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without issue March 19, 1865. On the 26th of January, 1871, he married Mattie A. Jenkins, by whom he is the father of five children : Winnie L., deceased, Lola, Earl, Maggie and Gny. Mrs. Berry is a member of the Methodist Church.
WILLIAM H. BOLINGER, a native of Kentucky, was born in Maysville, July 21, 1821, son of Henry and Susanna Bolinger, natives of Pennsylvania. The parents married in Pennsylvania and settled in Kentucky, about the year 1812. The father was a glass mixer and worked in the shops at Maysville until operations were suspended. Our subject, at the age of one year, was taken by his parents to a farm in the country near Maysville, where he was reared and educated. At the age of twenty-three he left bome to do for himself. rented a farm and con- tinued to occupy it until 1854, when he purchased 106 acres two miles from Maysville, where he remained until 1565. when he sold out and pur- chased 137 acres of his present farm of 292 acres. June 2, 1544, he married Miss Victoria, daughter of Bartholomew Clause. This lady was burn September 22, 1825, within eight miles of the city of Paris, France, but was reared and educated in Kentucky. She has borne her husband children as follows: Caroline, John H., Charles B., William T., James 8., Annettie, Frederick J., and one deceased, Edward S. Mr. Bolinger is a Republican, and a member of the F. & A. M. and I. O. O. F. frater- nities, and a member of the Missionary Baptist Church.
RICHARD A. BLAND was born and reared a farmer's boy. His native State was Kentucky, where he was born January 6, 1815, and was educated in Jennings County. Ind., where his parents moved in about 1823. When of age, he engaged in cabinet making at Carlisle, Sullivan County, and two years afterward opened a shop of his own at New Leb. anon, which he conducted until 1845, when he located in Sullivan, but the following year returned to New Lebanon, and about a year later be- gan building flatboats, for which there was great demand. Three years later he engaged in saw-milling, and in 1855 bought a farm of ninety- one acres three miles from New Lebanon. After occupying this three years, he sold out and bought another of 110 acres east of New Lebanon, upon which he lived and labored until 1877, when he moved to the county seat, and is now retired. In 1835, he married Eusebia Mason, who died April 5, 1875, leaving four children-Nancy, William H., Thomas F. and Samantha. The deceased are James M., Marion. Sarah M., Richard A. and Justus D. December 19, 1877, he married his present wife, Mrs. Millie A. Allen. His four children are pleasantly located near him. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since 1837; is a Republican. His parents were Moses and Nancy (Boze) Bland, natives of Virginia.
WILLIAM H. BLAND was born in New Lebanon, this county, Feb- ruary 13, 1840, the third of nine children born to Richard A. and Eusebia (Mason) Bland. He was reared in Sullivan County, receiving a liberal education at the graded school of his native town, finishing in 1857. He then worked on his father's farm until September, 1861, when he enlisted in Company I, Second Indiana Cavalry (Forty-first Regiment), becoming Sergeant. He participated in the engagements at Munford. ville, New Haven, where his regiment captured the Third Georgia Regi- ment, Perryville and Hartsville, where he was captured. He was held prisoner three days and nights, receiving nothing to eat during two- thirds of that time. After being paroled, he was sent to Camp Chase,
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Ohio, and later to Indianapolis, and after being exchanged rejoined his regiment and participated in the actions at Triune, Tenn., Chickamauga, Resaca, Dallas, Ga., near Atlanta, and others of lesser importance. He was a brave soldier, and was mustered out at Indianapolis, October 4, 1864. He returned home and remained with his father four years, and then bought sixty acres of land near New Lebanon, but a year later returned to his father's farm, and in 1872 purchased his present farm of 120 acres, which is now neatly improved. August 24, 1868, he married Miss Clara A. Wilson, who died August 20, 1869. March 25, 1873, he married Miss Mary E. Hughes. By this union he has the following chil- dren: Harry E., Hudson A., Clarence E., living, and Nora Bell, deceased Mr. Bland is a Republican, and he and wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church.
JOSEPH W. BILLMAN was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, July 14, 1843, son of Andrew and Catharine (Howbert) Billman, the former a native of Belmont County, Ohio, and the latter of Roanoke County, Virginia. They came to Indiana, in 1875, and settled on a farm near Sullivan, but, Mrs. Billman dying in 1878, her consort returned to Ohio, where he now resides. Joseph W. remained with his parents' till 1864, when he entered the Wittenberg College, at Springfield, Ohio, and in 1869, graduated from that institution. He then entered the law office of Judge William Lawrence, of Bellefontaine, Ohio, where he remained two years, when he was admitted to the practice of law by the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio. He then opened an office at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, with Israel & Devin, and remained there till the spring of 1875, when he located in Sullivan, where he has been in practice ever since. He was married to Miss Alice C. Thompson, November 2, 1881, she being the daughter of Alfred and Matilda (Hendrickson) Thompson, who reside in Rush County, Ind. One child has been born to this union-Perola T. Mr. Billman is an A., F. and A. M., Sullivan Lodge, No. 263, an I. O. O. F., and a K. of P. He is a Republican, politically, and one of the leading attorneys of the Sullivan bar.
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