History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 74

Author: John F. Haines
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051

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From that day Mr. Kane dates his success at the bar. His long experi- ence in this county has served to place him in the first rank of the lawyers, not only of his county, but of this section of the state. He has been ad- mitted to practice in all the state and federal courts, and is the only member of the bar at Noblesville who is a member of the American Bar Association. He has a large general practice and an extensive corporation clientele as well. He and his brother, Thomas E., are associated in practice and have built up a large clientele throughout this section of the state. Since January I, 1915, Mr. Kane has been practicing in Indianapolis as well as in Nobles- ville, being a member of the law firm of Matson, Kane and Ross, 947-955 Lemcke Annex.

Mr. Kane was associated with his father and Judge Davis after his ad- mission to the bar until January 1. 1893, when Judge Davis retired from the firm to accept a place on the appellate bench of Indiana. The firm then be- came Kane & Kane, father and son. . In 1897 a brother, Thomas E. Kane, came into the firm and the firm continued with the father and two sons as partners until the father's death in 1908, since which time the two brothers have practiced together.

Mr. Kane has always been a Republican in politics and always has been interested and active in political campaigns, frequently representing his party in county, district and state conventions. He is a popular and forceful cam- paign orator, and is frequently called upon by his party to make speeches. In November, 1908, he was elected state senator from Hamilton and Tipton ' counties, being nominated for this position without opposition. While in the Legislature he served on the judiciary and election committees, as well as several others of lesser importance. He was an active and influential senator and took an important part in all legislative matters.

Mr. Kane was married December 22, 1897, to Flora B. Hereth, the daughter of Henry and Regina M. Hereth, natives of Germany and residents of Indianapolis. Mr. and Mrs. Kane have one child, a daughter, named Regina M., after her maternal grandmother.

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Mr. Kane is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He always has been actively interested in educational matters and has served on the school board of Noblesville, being president of the board for a number of years. Mr. Kane has won an enviable reputation as a lawyer, with the result that his practice extends into other counties, while he frequently appears before the court at Indianapolis for his clients. He is an earnest and able advocate of any case which he espouses and in his pleadings before the jury he sometimes becomes truly eloquent. He is a man who is genial and companionable in his man- ner and wins friends because of his personality. He always has been a diligent worker and a close student of the law, always making it a rule care- fully to study every case he is called upon to plead. No man in the county stands higher in the esteem of his fellow citizens than Mr. Kane.

EL.I BROOKS.

It is very gratifying to be able to go back to the early history of this state to tell about the brave men and women who first invaded its wilderness and from whom sprang the hardy and superior race of people who have made Indiana what it is today. Among the distinguished residents of Hamilton county is the gallant old veteran, Eli Brooks, who is now living a retired life in this county, after having attained to a success which stamps him as a man of more than ordinary ability. Mr. Brooks is one of those strong, sturdy characters who have contributed largely to the welfare of this county, and as a citizen he has been public-spirited and progressive in all that the term implies. In all the essential elements of good citizenship, he is a man among men and by his earnest life. sturdy integrity and strict regard for the higher ethics of life he has earned and retains the warm regard of all who know him.

Eli Brooks, the son of Madison and Nancy A. Brooks, was born Janu- ary 15, 1837, in Jefferson county, Indiana. His parents were natives of North Carolina and came with their parents to this state in an early day. The father of Madison Brooks settled in Jefferson county, Indiana, and in that county he grew to manhood and married at the early age of nineteen. He lived in the county of his birth for several years, and in 1853 came to Hamilton county, settling in Fall Creek township on a farm of one hundred and thirty-three acres. Madison Brooks became one of the most successful

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MR. AND MRS. ELI BROOKS

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farmers of the county and at his death, which occurred on May 28, 1909, he was the owner of three thousand acres of excellent farming land in this county. His wife died in August, 1854.

Eli Brooks received part of his education in the district schools of Jeffer- son county, this state, being sixteen years of age when his parents moved from that county to Hamilton county. He completed the district school course in this county and worked upon his father's farm in this county until he was of age, when he went to Kansas and entered one hundred and sixty acres of government land, on which he lived for six months, after which he returned to Hamilton county and remained with his father until his marriage, in 1861, when he began farming on eighty acres of land which his father gave him and where he has spent his whole career, with the exception of the short time spent in the service of his country during the Civil War. He has been a remarkably successful farmer and has given to his five living children eighty acres of land and still owns a fine farm of one hundred and eighty- seven acres.

Mr. Brooks enlisted for service in the War of the Rebellion in 1863, being a member of the Third Regiment Indiana Volunteer Cavalry. He was immediately sent east and in the battle of Gettysburg, which was the fourth in which he was engaged. he met with a serious casualty on the first day of the battle, July 1, 1863, when his arm was fractured with a musket shot. It become necessary to amputate the arm, with the result that Mr. Brooks was . discharged from the service on account of total disability.

Mr. Brooks was married March 14, 1861, to Mary J. Rogers, the daugh- ter of Stephen and Rebecca (Manford) Rogers, natives of Kentucky and Indiana, respectively. Stephen Rogers died in 1890, and his wife in 1897. To Mr. and Mrs. Eli Brooks have been born six children: Lucelia, deceased; Mrs. Nancy A. Smith, of Noblesville: Mrs. Katie Horlock, whose husband is a farmer in this county; Frank, who lives on his father's farm; Mrs. Grace Heiny. whose husband is a farmer in this county ; Eben H., a farmer of this county.

In politics, Mr. Brooks has always been identified with the Republican party, but he has never been a candidate for any public office, nor taken an active part in political affairs. He and his family have always been earnest and loyal members of the United Brethren church and have contributed in various ways to its advancement. Mr. Brooks is one of the oldest Masons in the county, having been a member of Lodge No. 53, at Noblesville, for more than half a century. He is also proud to hold membership in the Grand

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Army of the Republic Post at Noblesville. His integrity is of the most in- sistent and unswerving character and no shadow has ever rested upon any portion of his career. His course of life has always been above suspicion, and those who are most intimately acquainted with him are unanimous in their praise of his upright character and well-regulated life.

CHARLES F. ROBERTS.

Farming is becoming recognized as a profession and the future farmers of our country will be trained as are our ministers and our physicians. Pur- due University now gives a four-year course in agriculture, leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree. The 1913 Legislature of this state created a new official known as the county agent, whose duties are to give expert advise to farmers on all subjects pertaining to agriculture. The short courses given at Purdue every year are being attended by thousands of farmers and their sons. The tendency of all this points to a new era of farming. Farmers institutes are being held throughout the state and have been the means of keeping the farmers abreast of the times. Farming is becoming a science and the most successful farmer today is the man who studies his business. Such a farmer is Charles F. Roberts.

Charles F. Roberts, one of the most prosperous farmers of Clay town- ship, Hamilton county, Indiana, was born January 14, 1872, in Preble county, Ohio, the son of Elihu H. and Sarah (Stubbs) Roberts, both natives of that same county. Elihu H. Roberts, was the son of Samuel and Mary ( Pucket) Roberts, and lived in Ohio most of their lives. Mary (Pucket ) Roberts was a Quaker preacher and preached up to the time of her death. Her very last words were spoken from the pulpit. The Roberts family trace their an- cestry back to forbears who came to this country in Colonial times. Elihu Roberts is a farmer, he and his wife still living in this county. His wife was left an orphan at an early age, her mother dying when she was an infant. Elihu Roberts and his wife are the parents of eleven children, ten of whom are still living: Alonzo died when he was about thirty-five years of age, the other ten children are as follows: Mary, Otis, Alpheus, Charles F., whose life history is here presented, Edwin, Margaret, Lindley, Roscoe, Sadie and Bessie.

Charles F. Roberts, was reared on the home farm in Preble county, Ohio. He attended the public schools in Ohio and finished his education in

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Indiana, where he prepared for teaching. In 1889 he came to Hamilton county, Indiana, from Ohio, and worked by the month for farmers in this county. He did this for several years, teaching during the winter seasons of two years. At the age of twenty-five he rented a farm of one hundred and sixty acres two miles west of Carmel and for the next eight years lived upon the rented farm. In the meantime he saved his money and, before he quit renting, he purchased an eighty acre farm in 1903. He has been a prosperous farmer and now has one of the most attractive farms in the county. He has since added twenty acres to his original farm, which with eighty acres which his wife inherited from her father's estate gives him a tract of one hundred and eighty acres. In 1906 he built his present modern home on the southern part of the farm. He has one of the largest and most modern barns in the township, and all the rest of his buildings are of the best. He has improved his farm in every way and always keeps it in a high state of cultivation. He carries on general farming in a systematic way and raises as much stock as he can feed from his own crops, preferring to market his stock instead of his crop. He has found by actual experience that this is a more profitable way of conducting a farm at the present time.

Mr. Roberts was married August 23, 1894, to Rhoda Collins, who was born July 18, 1874, one-half mile north of where Mr. and Mrs. Roberts are now living, the daughter of John R. and Elizabeth (Jessup) Collins. Her father was a native of New York, and was a son of Hezekiah and Rhoda (Kinyon) Collins. John Collins' mother died when he was three weeks old and his father then married Jerusha Bound, who died a year later, the father then marrying, thirdly, Mary Underhill. They came to Indiana in 1850 and Hezekiah Collins bought the farm where Mrs. Roberts was born, paying therefor ten dollars an acre, giving sixteen hundred dollars for the one hundred and sixty acre farm. In 1870 he sold the farm to his son for ten thousand dollars. His wife Rhoda Kinyon, was the daughter of. Thomas and Mary Kinyon. Elizabeth Jessup, the mother of Mrs. Roberts, was a daughter of Alfred and Henrietta (Todd) Jessup.

The Collins family in Hamilton county traces its ancestry back to Jede- diah Collins, of Irish descent, who emigrated to America in 1610. In the line of direct descent are: Jedediah, born in 1660; John, in 1685: Hezekiah, in 1715; Jabes, 1741; Solomon, born in Rhode Island in 1776; Hezekiah, born September 27. 1798: John R., born in New York, August 7. 1831, was the father of Mrs. Roberts. His wife, Eliabeth Jessup, was the daughter of Alfred and Henrietta (Todd) Jessup, born in Hamilton county, Indiana, her parents being natives of Wayne and Marion counties, Indiana, respec-

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tively. Her grandfather was an American sea captain, and while smuggling sugar into France during the French Revolution was captured and held a prisoner two years. He served in the War of 1812, and while he was in the trenches before Baltimore the British landed on his farm and destroyed all his property. Further mention of the Collins family is to be found in the biography of Robert H. Collins elsewhere in this volume.

Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have one daughter, Elizabeth, who is now attend- ing school in Carmel. They have also reared an orphan boy, Charles J., who is now a junior at Earlham College at Richmond, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts are both members of the Friends church by birthright and have always taken an active part in church and Sunday school work. Mrs. Rob- erts is a woman of refinement and culture, and is very prominent in the life of the literary clubs of Hamilton county. Mr. Roberts by virtue of his strong individual qualities has won his way to a high standing among his fellow citizens, having by his force of character won his way from an humble beginning to his place of prominence in his community. He has maintained a comfortable home and he and his family have a large circle of acquaintances and align themselves with all movements for the upbuilding of their com- munity.

ROBERT H. COLLINS.

There are not many families who can trace their ancestry back more than four generations, and very few indeed who can trace their lineage back three generations. The Collins family trace their ancestry back to a mem- ber of the family who came over to this country in 1610. The name of this early ancestor has been lost in the mazes of antiquity, but his son, Jedediah, who was born in 1660, was the beginning of the line in America. The direct descendants of Jedediah Collins, who was born in Rhode Island in 1660, down to the Robert H. Collins, the present prosperous farmer of Clay town- ship, Hamilton county, Indiana, are as follows: Jedediah, born 1660; John, born 1685; Hezekiah, born 1715; Jabes. born 1741; Solomon, born 1766; Hezekiah, born 1798; John R., born 1831, and Robert H., born June 3, 1870. It is not possible in this brief review to give the history of the different branches of this family. However, it will be interesting to follow the family from Solomon down to the present time.

Solomon Collins, who was born in Rhode Island, March 17, 1766, emi- grated from Rhode Island to New York in about 1808 and spent his entire

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life near Utica, that state, dying there on October 15, 1823. His wife Sarah, was born August 25, 1766. Solomon Collins and wife were the parents of nine children, Elizabeth, the wife of Jonathan Teft; Solomon, Hezekiah, grandfather of Robert H., with whom this narrative subsequently deals; Stephen P., Mrs. Sarah West; Nathan, Emma, the wife of James K. Larkin; Martha and Anna. Several members of Solomon Collins' family moved to the present site of the city of Elgin, Illinois, and entered government land there.

Hezekiah Collins, grandfather of Robert H., was born September 27, 1798, in New York. When twenty-eight years of age he married Rhoda Kinyon. For many years he taught school in New York during the winter seasons and farmed during his summer vacations. After. his marriage he embarked in the merchandising business until 1836 and several years later went to Cayuga county, New York, where he followed agriculture until he moved to Indiana about 1850. He settled in Hamilton county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, part of which is still owned by his grand- son, Robert H. He made this purchase on June 19, 1851, paying two thou- sand dollars for the one hundred and sixty acres. In 1871 he sold the tract to his son, John R., the father of Robert H. for ten thousand dollars. Heze- kiah Collins was thrice married. To him and his first wife, Rhoda Kinyon, were born three children, Susan, the wife of Judge David Moss; Martha, who died at the age of sixteen, and John R., the father of Robert H. His first wife died in 1831 and in 1835 Mr. Collins married Jerusha Bowne, who died shortly afterwards and Mr. Collins married for his third wife Mary Underhill, and to this last marriage were born seven children, Hannah J., Sarah, Anna M., Jerusha, Elizabeth, the wife of Dr. J. D. Garner; Edward H. and Robert. Three of the daughters, Sarah, Anna and Hannah, were for many years prominent teachers in the public schools of this county. Hezekiah Collins was an active member of the Friends church and in politics was a. Whig until the formation of the Republican party and then joined the new party. Prior to the Civil War his home was a station on the famous "Underground Railway" through Indiana. His death occurred February 27, 1877, after which his wife made her home with her son, John R., until her death, October 23, 1879.

John R. Collins. the father of Robert H., was born in New York, August 7, 1831, and came to this county with his father, Hezekiah, when he was nineteen years old. At the age of twenty-one he rented his father's farm and began life for himself. He was educated in a high school in New York and later attended the Poughkeepsie Quaker school, and for several years

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afterwards engaged in teaching. When thirty-two years of age he married Elizabeth Jessup, the daughter of Alfred T. and Henrietta (Todd) Jessup. She was born in this county, while her parents were natives of Wayne and Marion counties, Indiana, respectively. Her grandfather was an American sea captain and while smuggling sugar into France during the French revolu- tion was captured and held a prisoner for two years. He served in the War of 1812 and while in the trenches before Baltimore the British landed on his farm and destroyed all his property. John R. Collins and wife were the parents of six children, Jerusha, wife of Albert Carey : Robert H., Rhoda and three who died in infancy. The mother of these children died January 20. 1875. Alfred Jessup, the maternal grandfather of Robert H. Collins, was born in Wayne county, Indiana. November 30, 1822, and was the son of Jehu Jessup, whose wife was a Wright. His wife, Henrietta Todd, was a relative of the wife of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Jessup lived in Carmel for many years, where he was a merchant and postmaster. They reared a family of four daughters. John R. Collins was justice of the peace in this township for many years and lived the life of a plain farmer until his death August 7, 1910.

Robert H. Collins received a good, common-school education and re- mained at home until he was twenty-two years of age. He then went to Carmel, where he lived for ten years, during which time he managed a livery stable and engaged in the drilling of gas wells. In the spring of 1903 he moved back to the farm and has been following agricultural pursuits since that time. He has made a specialty of the raising of thoroughbred Perch- eron horses, as well as roadsters. He makes frequent exhibits at the state, county and local horse fairs and has won many first and second premiums. He also raises registered Holstein cattle and is a member of the Hamilton County Draft Horse Association.

Mr. Collins was married August 24, 1895, to Dora E. Applegate, the daughter of James and Eliza (Ray) Applegate, born April 12, 1868. in Marion county, Indiana. The Applegate family originally came from New Jersey, James Applegate being a native of Ohio. He was a son of Ebenezer Applegate, a large land owner of Hamilton and Marion counties, who gave each of his children a large farm when they married. When Dora Apple- gate was five years of age her mother died. and five years later her father died. She then made her home with an uncle, Isaiah Applegate, with whom she lived until her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Collins are the parents of one son. Curtis John, who was born August 25, 1902.

Politically. Mr. Collins is an adherent of the Republican party, and al-

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though taking an active interest in all public affairs of the day, has never been an office seeker. Fraternally, he is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men. He also holds membership in the National Horse Thief Detective Association. Mr. Collins and the members of his family are all loyal ad- herents of the Friends church in Carmel and take an active interest in all church and Sunday school work.

MILTON HANSON.

A man with a notable career, who has spent a large part of his life in Hamilton county, Indiana, is Milton Hanson, whose whole life has been de- voted to public work of various kinds in addition to his regular occupation. As a teacher, lawyer, member of the state Legislature and public-spirited citizen in all things, he has taken a prominent part in the life of his com- munity. He was one of the organizers of the Prohibition party in Indiana, and was its candidate for Congress at one time. He remained with the party until the Free Silver issue made its appearance, and then allied himself with the Republican party, which he has since continued to support most of the time. He is a man of unusual intellectual attainments and has always been interested in everything which pertains to the welfare of those about him.

Milton Hanson, who is now living a retired life in Westfield, Indiana, was born in Wayne county, Indiana, May 6, 1842, the son of Borden and Rachel (Cox) Hanson. His father was born in Wayne county, North Caro- lina, in March, 1800, and was the son of Elijah and Susannah (Scruven) Hanson. Rachel Cox was born December 12, 1799, near Wrightsboro, Georgia. and was the daughter of John and Rachel (Stubbs) Cox. Elijah Hanson was in the Revolutionary War, serving as an orderly sergeant in a North Carolina regiment, his parents having moved from Virginia to North Carolina in 1755. The Hansons are of English ancestry, who went to Eng- land at the time of the Danish conquest in the ninth century. When Elijah Hanson was in the War of the Revolution he was taken sick during his service and was quartered in the Scruven home in North Carolina, and while there fell in love with the daughter of the house, Susannah, and afterwards mar- ried her. She was a member of the Friends church, and he later joined the same denomination.

In 1805 Borden Hanson and his future wife both went to Ohio with their parents from North Carolina. and located near Barnesville, in Belmont

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county, and they were married in that county in 1820. In 1831 Borden Han- son and his wife moved to Wayne county, Indiana, where he farmed and there his death occurred, July 18, 1846. The widow and the younger chil- dren, including Milton, with whom this narrative deals, moved to Howard county, Indiana, in 1851, and settled four miles west of New London, where the mother died, May 11, 1853. There were twelve children in the family and Milton was the eleventh, being only eleven years of age at the time of his mother's death. Borden Hanson was also the youngest of a large family, and his father, Elijah, was also the youngest of a large number of children. Rachel (Cox) Hanson's mother was Rachel Stubbs, a member of a large family with several relatives still living in Hamilton county. After the death of his mother, Milton Hanson lived with his brother, Thomas, on the home farm until he was about seventeen years of age. He then went to work for himself in the summer and attended school in the winter, having an ardent desire for an education. He attended the high school at New London, an institution of the Friends church, and much above the usual graded schools of the state at that time. In fact, it approached the order of a college, the teachers, Lewis A. and Hulda C. Estes, having previously taught in Earlham College. Mr. Hanson early showed a predilection for mathematics and was unusually proficient in this branch of science. He also studied Latin and Greek and after leaving high school taught school for several years in Howard and Clinton counties, and also in Dublin, in Wayne county, and in Georgetown, Illinois.

After his marriage in 1865 Mr. Hanson continued teaching and taught several years in Clinton county, this state, where he resided. He was first married July 23, 1865, to Mrs. Susan J. (Lehman) Sims, who was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, the daughter of David D. and Margaret Lehman, her death occurring May 11, 1874. About two years after the death of his wife Mr. Hanson was admitted to the bar at Frankfort, in Clinton county, Indiana, and in 1878 moved to Kokomo, where he began the active practice of law March 29, 1880. He purchased a farm near Gray, in Hamilton county, and moved to that place, giving up the active practice of law in the same year to engage in farming, which occupation he continued to follow until he retired from active life.

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History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 74

Author: John F. Haines Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1051

Author: John F. Haines
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051