USA > Indiana > Hendricks County > History of Hendricks County, Indiana, her people, industries and institutions > Part 33
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GIDEON FRANKLIN HUFFORD.
Among the various peoples of the earth that go to make up the cosmo- politan population of these United states of ours, none have contributed to our national life more excellent habits and traits than those who came orig- inally from Germany. The descendants of those people are distinguished for their thrift and honesty, and these two qualities in the inhabitants of any country will in the end alone make that country great. These two at- tributes, together with the liberal quantity of sound sense which is also a . characteristic of the German people, will enrich any land and place it among the leading nations of the world. Descended from this excellent people is the immediate subject of this brief sketch.
Gideon F, Hufford is a native of this county, born on May 13, 1836, in Washington township, the son of Joel and Eliza Jane (Miller) Hufford. Joel Hufford was born in 1808 at Carlisle, Nicholas county, Kentucky, and was descended from Christian Hufford, who emigrated to this country from Schwartzenau, Germany. Louisa Jane Miller was born on December 8, 1813, in Kentucky, and was united in marriage with Joel Hufford August 31, 1830. About two years later they came to Indiana, locating at once in Hendricks county. They made the trip from their native state in a one-horse wagon, which contained all their worldly possessions. They had belonged to families of prominence in Kentucky and had always been accustomed to having their work done by slaves, but they readily adjusted themselves to conditions in the state of their adoption, entered a tract of eighty acres from the govern- ment, .which they proceeded to clear and convert into a comfortable and
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happy home for themselves and family. They were excellent people and stood high in public estimation.
On February 22, 1862, the subject was united in marriage with Mary Jane Stout, who was born on May 4, 1846, in the western part of Marion county, near Clermont, being a daughter of David and Joanna (Herd) Stout. David Stout and wife were both natives of the state of Ohio, were married there and soon went to Illinois. They remained there but a short time, how- ever, when, being dissatisfied, they came back to Indiana and settled in .Ma- rion county, where they lived the rest of their lives. After marriage, Gideon F. Hufford purchased a farm about a mile and a half south of Brownsburg, this county, and in time became the owner of three hundred and forty acres of excellent land, part of it at Tilden and another tract on the Rockville road in Washington township. In 1895 he removed from the farm south of Brownsburg and took up his residence on his Tilden farm and there passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring January 28, 1903. He was a faithful member of the Baptist church and lived a life in strict conformity with the teachings of that faith.
To Mr. and Mrs. Hufford were born nine children: George F., Delilah F., Carrie, Joel V., Theodore N., Ella, Julia, Edgar and John T. In August, 1892, George mysteriously disappeared and has never since been heard from. Delilah died in infancy. Carrie is the wife of Theodore P. Garner and lives in Brown township. Joel married Alice Hughes and lives in Lincoln town- ship. Theodore died in infancy. Ella is the wife of Rolla Garner and re- sides in Lincoln township, and Julia is the wife of Edgar Beaman and lives in Middle township. Edgar married Effie M. Cummings on March 7, 1907, and lives at Tilden. They have two children, Marshall and Walter. Edgar lives on the homestead and manages it for his mother, who has resided there ever since the death of the subject. John T., the youngest son, married Tillie C. Nash in October, 1905, and they live one mile south of Brownsburg on the Plainfield road.
A review of the life of the honored subject of this memoir is of neces- sity brief and general in its character. It would far transcend the limits of this article to enter fully into the interesting details of the career of the late Gideon F. Hufford, touching the struggles of his earlier life and the, successes of his later years. He filled his place in the ranks of the sterling, energetic . and public-spirited citizens of his day and generation, and the memories which attach to his name and character form no inconsiderable chapter in the history of this, his native county, where his entire life was passed.
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GEORGE MACOMBER.
The two most strongly marked characteristics of both the East and the West are combined in the residents of the section of county of which this volume treats. The enthusiastic enterprise which overleaps all obstacles and makes possible almost any undertaking in the comparatively new and vigorous Western states is here tempered by, the stable and more careful policy that we have borrowed from our Eastern neighbors, and the com- bination is one of peculiar force and power. It has been the means of placing this section of the country on a par with the older East, at the same time producing a reliability and certainty in business affairs which is frequently lacking in the West. This happy combination of characteristics is possessed by the subject of this sketch. Born, reared and educated in Pennsylvania, he came to Indiana as a young man and Hendricks county may count itself fortunate in having him as one of its citizens. He came first to this county as a teacher in our schools, and his whole record since he has been here has been a most worthy one. From the school room he went into the mercantile business, and from the mercantile business he was called by his party to take the office of county treasurer. George Macomber is a man whom Hendricks county delights to honor.
George Macomber, now serving his second term as treasurer of Hen- dricks county, Indiana, was born December 2, 1869, in York county, Pennsylvania. George Macomber familiarized himself with the life of a farmer, during his boyhood and youth, by working at it on his father's farm. He is the son of W. Z. and Harriett (Messersmith) Macomber, and is of good American ancestry. His paternal great-grandfather, Doctor Zenas Macomber, was a Revolutionary hero of prominence, was one of General Washington's horse guards, and, daring all for freedom, was carried from the battle-field of Paoli with nineteen wounds.
From the common schools George Macomber went to high school, where he graduated. Entering normal college, he pursued the prescribed course to graduation and then took a special course in the State College of Penn- sylvania. After teaching in the country schools, he came to Indiana about 1897, as teacher in the Indiana Boys' School at Plainfield in Hendricks county, and remained with his duties in that institution until he resigned to assume the superintendency of a similar institution in Missouri. He returned to Hendricks county in 1906, and engaged in the mercantile busi- ness by opening a hardware store in Plainfield, in the community where
GEORGE MACOMBER
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he was well known and respected as a man who had made a success of what he tried to do. That business he continued to have personal charge of until he left it in a manager's hands in 1912 to take charge of the office of treasurer of Hendricks county, to which he had been elected. Without opposition, his party nominated him in their county convention to succeed himself, be- cause he had shown high-grade ability, fidelity to duty as a servant of the people, and because of his manly and accommodating method of waiting upon those who have business with him as a county official.
On November 2, 1899, Mr. Macomber married Mattie E. York, daughter of P. M. and Elizabeth (Hornaday) York, who were early residents of Hendricks county. Mr. and Mrs. Macomber hold their membership with the Methodist church at Plainfield, of which church he has been treasurer. He has had the advantages of fraternal organizations, and has been honored by his brothers in those orders with offices of trust and responsibility. He is past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Plainfield; past master of the Masonic lodge; a member of the chapter and council of the York rite of the Masonic order at Danville; thirty-second-degree Mason of the Indiana Consistory, Scottish Rite, and the Mystic Shrine.
Mr. Macomber's broad education and the careful method that is natural to him equips him in an unusual degree to do the public good service. The state board of accountants have highly commended the accuracy and evident methodic care shown by his official books.
Mr. Macomber is popular as a gentleman of education and of pro- gressive make-up, and has the public respect and admiration for the ex- cellent manner in which he has demeaned himself as a public official, in which capacity he has been watchful, faithful to the county's best interests and attentive to the opportunity to bestow favor upon all who have had business with him.
CHARLES A. CUMMINGS.
Among the most successful citizens of this county who rank high in personal attainment, is the gentleman whose name heads this paragraph, a man whose expert services have been requisitioned in thirty-two states of the Union and who has conferred honor and dignity upon the locality where he resides in Lincoln township, Hendricks county, Indiana. Charles A. Cum- mings, the well-known builder of bridges, is also one of the leading farmers
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of this county, owning an excellent farm of one hundred and twenty acres in the township mentioned above, where he engages in general farming, assisted by one of his sons. Mr. Cummings has attained to his enviable position through unflagging perseverance and boundless enterprise and among other characteristics which have contributed largely to his success is that rare ability to use men so as to subserve his purpose and at the same time assist them.
Charles A. Cummings was born on April 24, 1859, in Botetourt county, Virginia, the son of William and Maria (Boose) Cummings, the former of whom was born in Bath county, Virginia, and, while it is not definitely known, it is believed that his parents were both natives of Scotland. Maria Boose, mother of the subject, was born in Botetourt county, Virginia, the daughter of natives of Germany who had first settled in Pennsylvania and from there went into Virginia, where they lived out the remainder of their lives. William and Maria Cummings lived their lives in Virginia, where they were engaged in farming. Their son Charles, the subject, remained with them until about twenty-one years old and then, in 1880, went to Springfield, Ohio, where he had a brother. He engaged in agricultural work for a short time, and then his brother, Douglass B. L. Cummings, who was engaged in the steel bridge construction business, took young Charles A. into partnership and so began his career in that line of work in which he has proved so pro- ficient. They went to Peoria, Illinois, where they continued in their chosen business and after about two years went to Indianapolis. This was in the spring of 1883. The year previous, while in Peoria, the subject had been united in marriage with Emma Sweat, a native of that city and the daughter of James B. and Elizabeth (Hines) Sweat. The father was a native of Maine and the mother had been born in Ohio. After their marriage they had gone to Peoria county, Illinois, and engaged in farming, where they lived the remainder of their lives. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Sweat enlisted for service, and while at the front took sick and died. His widow, mother of Mrs. Cummings, passed away at her home in Illinois in 1908. After coming with their wives to Indianapolis, the Cummings brothers associated themselves with W. B. Bassett, C. L. Rose and W. W. Winslow, forming what was known as the Indianapolis Bridge Company. For about two years they made combination iron and wooden bridges and in about two years built a factory at the Bee Line tracks near East Michigan street. Here for about ten years they engaged in the manufacture of steel and com- bination bridges and then turned their attention to steel bridges exclusively, Mr. Cummings acting as superintendent of the plant most of the time. They
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also took contracts for bridges, which they made and erected. About the year 1893 their company was succeeded by the Indiana Bridge Company and then the subject and his old associates separated, each carrying on bridge contracting independently of the others. Mr. Cummings took the contract for the erection of the Kentucky avenue bridge over White river in the city of Indianapolis. This was in 1894, during the time Coxey and his "army" made their famous march. In accepting the contract for the erection of-the bridge, Mr. Cummings had agreed to use local workmen as much as possible and the unemployed came to him in such numbers and were so wild for work that the police department was called upon to disperse the crowd. There were times when there would be fully two thousand men looking for em- ployment in the construction of the bridge and at that time laborers were paid only sixty cents a day. Now the cheapest labor he employs costs thirty cents per hour and some of his laborers make as much as four dollars per day. The year previous to the construction of the Kentucky avenue bridge, Mr. Cummings and his brother took the contract for the erection of the bridge over the Ohio at Wheeling, West Virginia, and resting on the island midstream. For awhile Mr. Cummings was associated with David Braden on several bridge contracts. It was David Braden after whom the subject's youngest son was named.
It was in the year 1897 that Mr. Cummings came to this county and purchased land, setting himself up as a farmer. He first purchased one hun- dred and twenty acres in the southwestern part of Lincoln township and at one time owned as much as two hundred acres. However, he has disposed of different tracts until he now owns the same amount with which he first started. He still continues the bridge business and in addition has his farm home, where the family have been reared. There are four children, Delmar, Effie, Wands and Braden. Delmar was born in 1883 and married Ethel Frisbie. He lives on a farm near his father, and has two children, Clayton and Gertrude. Delmar was associated with his father in the bridge business until about two years ago when he became superintendent of erection for the Central States Bridge Company of Indianapolis. Effie, who was born in 1886, is the wife of Edgar Hufford and has two children, Marshall and Walter. Wands, born in 1888, married Blanche Kennedy and lives near his father. They are the parents of two children, Russel and Lloyd. He is en- gaged in farming. Braden, the youngest of the family, was born in 1894 and remains at home as the assistant of his father, both in conducting the farm and in carrying on the work of bridge erection.
Mr. Cummings' fraternal affiliation is with the Independent Order of
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Odd Fellows, of which he has been a member since 1888, and both he and his wife are members of the White Lick Presbyterian church. The family is among the leading ones of the township, broad-minded, of advanced ideas and delightful to meet. Mr. Cummings' business has taken him all over the United States and he thoroughly enjoys travel, but the trip he considers most enjoyable of all was one it was his privilege to take in 1912. He had been engaged in bridge work in Georgia and the Carolinas and Mrs. Cummings had been with him a great deal of the time. In the fall of that year they started to drive home in a buggy, leaving King's Mountain in North Caro- . lina. They arrived at Danville, this county, seventeen and one-half days after, having crossed eight mountains and encountering some roads so rough it was necessary to hold the horse up. Roads were often only wide enough for one vehicle and passing would have been impossible. Mr. Cummings is a man of unusual strength of character and ability, one who impresses his individuality upon the locality honored by his residence. By a life of con- sistent action and thought, he has earned the high standing which he now enjoys and it is a pleasure to give him representation in a work of the scope of the one at hand.
JOHN U. RICE.
The sketch which now comes before the reader is a brief review of the career of John U. Rice, one of the older residents of the county and a man of sterling worth, who through long years of residence here has so conducted his affairs of life as to win the honor of all. His name has been inseparably con- nected with the general growth of Hendricks county, of which he is a native and where, in fact, he has spent the major portion of his life. While pri- marily attending to his own varied interests, his life has been largely devoted to his fellow men, having been untiring in his efforts to inspire a proper respect for law and order and ready at all times to uplift humanity along civic and social lines.
John U. Rice was born on October 25, 1839, about a half mile north of Brownsburg, the son of Lewis and Sophia ( Harris) Rice, both of whom were natives of the state of Kentucky, coming from either Scott or Bourbon county, the former having been born January 8, 1806, and the latter on June 27, 181I, being the daughter of William and Nancy (Barrett) Harris. When young, she was brought to this state by her parents, who came direct to Hen- dricks county and located near Brownsburg. Lewis Rice came to this state
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when twenty-one years old, locating north of Brownsburg, and there he met and married Sophia Harris. He was a farmer in this county the remain- der of his life and died here on March 25, 1865, at the age of fifty-two years. His wife lived several years after he died, passing away on April 11, 1880, at the age of sixty-four years.
The subject was one of a family of nine children, all of whom grew to maturity. He passed his boyhood on the paternal homestead north of Brownsburg, attending the early subscription schools of the day, and in early life was apprenticed to the carpenter trade. He worked at this for some time and in wagon shops in and near Brownsburg, and on October 21, 1864, he was united in marriage with Mahala J. Montgomery, who was born in this county on November 2, 1840, being the daughter of Samuel and Mary (Fox) Montgomery, the former a native-born Hoosier and the latter com- ing here from Virginia. Immediately after marriage, Mr. Rice went to Illinois where he spent three years at his trade and farming part of the time. He then returned to this county and purchased a portion of the old home- stead and there resided until 1870. At that time he purchased a forty-acre tract in the southeastern part of Lincoln township and has lived there since. Mrs. Rice passed from this life on August 12, 1909. For years she had been a faithful member of the Christian church and was a woman highly esteemed by those who knew her. Mr. Rice has added to his original possessions from time to time, until he now owns one hundred acres of as excellent land as the county can boast.
Mr. and Mrs. Rice were the parents of two children, Etta and Everett Harland. Etta is the wife of George Salmon and resides in Indianapolis. Mr. Salmon is a traveling salesman. They have one daughter, Mary, who is the wife of Earl Hubert Duling, who was born on March 5, 1884, in Grant county, this state, the son of John and Lydia Duling. He now resides on the Rice homestead in Lincoln township and is the father of two sons, Byron Montgomery and Meredith Earl. Everett Harland Rice lives in Daviess county, this state, where he is engaged in farming. His wife was Laura Pike and they are the parents of three children, John Walker, Mamie Belle and Clara, all of whom are married. John Walter married May Stiles and they live in Los Angeles, California. Mamie Belle married Chester Cohee and lives at Elizabethtown, this state. She is the mother of a little son, Randall. Clara married Ernest Boyer and lives near Columbus, Indiana.
Mr. Rice holds his religious membership with the Christian church in Brownsburg, of which his wife also was a member, and he is one of the most faithful members of that, society. Personally, Mr. Rice is a man of clean
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character and has ever exerted a healthful influence in the community, giv- ing his support to every movement which promises to advance the welfare of the locality in any way. Because of his genuine worth he enjoys the sin- cere respect of all who know him and is eminently entitled to representation in a work of the character of the one in hand.
PATRICK M. LONG.
It is generally considered by those in the habit of superficial thinking that the history of so-called great men only is worthy of preservation and that little merit exists among the masses to call forth the praises of the his- torian or the cheers and appreciation of mankind. A greater mistake was never made. No man is great in all things and very few are great in many things. Many by a lucky stroke achieve lasting fame who before that had no reputation beyond the limits of their neighborhoods. It is not a history of the lucky stroke which benefits humanity most, but the long study and effort which make the lucky stroke possible. It is the preliminary work, the method, that serves as a guide for the success of others. Among those in this county who have achieved success along steady lines of action is the subject of this sketch.
Patrick M. Long, one of the foremost agriculturists of Brown township, Hendricks county, Indiana, is a native of the Emerald Isle, born in county Galway on March 26, 1856, being the son of Patrick and Bridget (Sheridan) Long, both of whom were natives of the same county. They emigrated to America when the subject of this sketch was but eight weeks old, there being one child older. The voyage was a long and tedious affair, it being seven- teen weeks from the time they left Europe until a landing in New York harbor was effected. The little family remained in New York until in 1864, when they went to Canada, where the father secured employment in the con- struction of a railroad. They remained there but one year and then came di- rect to Indiana, locating in Marion county, where Patrick, senior, secured work on farms by the month. For three or four years he followed this line of activity, when he came to Hendricks county and leased a farm in the east- ern part of Brown township, where the family resided about twenty-seven years. In the beginning he was to clear the land up and raise whatever crops he could. At the end of that time, he arranged to rent the farm and this contract was in force until 1890, the family residing thereon until in 1886,
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when they moved to the farm where the subject now lives in the western por- tion of Brown township. Patrick Long, senior, had purchased this farm in 1879. It consisted of some eighty acres and this he farmed in connection with the rented land, which gave him in all about one hundred and eighty acres of excellent farming lands. He was a man deserving of the highest honor and esteem, for by his own unaided efforts he attained to a position of prominence and while primarily seeking the interests of himself and his immediate family, he so ordered his life as to win the esteem and respect of all who knew him. His death occurred on November 28, 1903, his wife hav- ing preceded him some years. She died March 28, 1881.
Patrick M. Long was one of a family of seven children and lived in the old home until the time of his marriage, when he brought his bride to the paternal roof, where they have since made their home. Upon the death of his father, he came into possession of the homestead. Shortly before his fa- ther's death, the subject of this sketch purchased twenty acres adjoining the home place, which gives him a tract of one hundred acres. This farm is con- sidered about the best drained land in the county and Mr. Long conducts his business along modern scientific methods. There is an air of prosperity and happiness all about the place and especially about the comfortable home, which is beautifully situated in a large grove of maples.
On January 31, 1894, Patrick M. Long was united in marriage to Kate Tarpey, a daughter of James and Nancy (Dugan) Tarpey, both of whom were natives of county Galway, Ireland, and came to this country in 1862. They came direct to Hendricks county, Indiana, locating in the town of Plainfield, where they lived for some time. They then purchased land in Boone county, where they made their home until 1873, when they returned to Hendricks county, purchasing a farm about one mile south of where the subject of this sketch resides. It was on that farm that Mrs. Tarpey breathed her last on May 30, 1905, and in the following year Mr. Tarpey went to make his home with his daughter, wife of the subject of this sketch, and in their home his death occurred on November 20, 1913. To Mr. and Mrs. Long have been born six children, four of whom survive, namely: Delia, Thresa, Patrick Francis and James, all of whom are still at home.
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