USA > Indiana > Howard County > History of Howard County, Indiana, Vol II > Part 24
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schools at Hammond, this state. Before her marriage, Mrs. Learner was Hettie Adamson, a native of Howard county, whose death oc- curred in 1800. Subsequently Mr. Learner married Mrs. Emma J. ( Small ) Wilson, a native of Howard county.
In his political faith Mr. Learner is staunchly and uncom- promisingly a Republican, though not a partisan or aspirant for official honors. His fraternal relations are with the Masonic order. and in religion he is a Methodist, belonging with his family to the Grace church in Kokomo, in which he holds the office of trustee.
Personally, Mr. Learner is a most pleasant and affable gentle- man, of honest convictions and sincere purposes, his upright career and wholesome moral influence making him popular throughout the city in which he is so widely known and in which his entire life has been spent.
GEORGE B. JONES.
The following is a brief sketch of the life of one who, by close attention to business, has achieved marked success in the world's affairs and risen to an honorable position among the enterprising men of the city with which his interests are identified. It is a plain record, rendered remarkable by no strange or mysterious adven- ture. no wonderful and lucky accident and no tragic situation. Mr. Jones is one of those estimable characters whose integrity and strong personality must force them into an admirable notoriety, which their modesty never seeks, who command the respect of their contempo- raries and their posterity and leave the impress of their individuality ujem the age in which they live.
George B. Jones is an American by adoption, but none the less a lover of the great Republic in which the greater part of his life
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has been spent, and an ardent admirer of the free institutions under which his success has been achieved. He was born March 24, 1864, in England, the son of John and Elizabeth Jones, also natives of that country, and representatives of the farming class of Shropshire. where their home was situated. Amid the beautiful rural scenes of his native land, the early years of the subject were passed and he there learned the lessons of industry and self-reliance which. in sub- sequent life, contributed so largely to his advancement and enabled him to make his presence felt among his fellow men. Circumstances surrounding his early life were such that at the age of nine years, in company with an uncle, he left the home of his childhood to seek a new home and a new career in the great Republic beyond the sea, sailing on the 8th day of September, 1873, and landing on the 24th of the same month at Norfolk, Virginia. From that place he went to Ironton, Ohio, where he and his relative secured employment and later he attended the schools of Ironton until completing the first year of the high school course. When not in school he worked on a farm in the vicinity of the city and was thus employed until his twentieth year, when he entered a stove foundry, known as the Witman Stove Company, where he labored from April 26, 1884. until the destruction of the plant by fire, on November 1, 1889. In the latter year Mr. Jones went to Piqua. Ohio, where he was en- gaged with the Favorite Stove & Range Company until 1800, in November of which year he resigned his position and, with W. J. Smith. John Kemp and others, organized the Co-operative Ideal Stove & Foundry Company at Daleville, Indiana. continuing with the same until the dissolution of the firm three years later. When the latter enterprise ceased operations, Mr. Jones came to Kokomo. and on June 1. 1900, entered the employ of the Globe Stove & Range Company, as general superintendent of the foundry, the post he now so ably and worthily holds. He is not only officially connected with
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the above enterprise but is also a stockholder in the same and for three years was a member of the board of directors. His relations with the management have always been of the most pleasant and agreeable nature, while between himself and employees, feelings of the utmost esteem and good will have ever obtained. He is a born leader, who fully appreciates the aims and desires of those under him and by securing their confidence and working to their interests, he has never experienced any of the troubles and difficulties which come to so many industrial establishments, but on the contrary his services have never failed to advance the interests of his employer and make for the success of the enterprise with which he has been identified.
Mr. Jones has been a careful student of public and political questions and is well informed on the leading issues of the day. He was a Republican until 1800, at which time he transferred his alle- giance to the Democracy and rendered valuable service to the ticket, stumping Miami county in the interests of William Jennings Bryan and winning many votes by his clear and able presentation and dis- cussion of the questions then before the people. He is an able and effective speaker, a good logician and commands the attention of his audiences, not only by appealing to their reason, but also by the ease and freedom with which he presents and maintains the sound- ness of his position.
Jennie B. Pauley, who became the wife of Mr. Jones, was born February 6, 1864, at Gallipolis, Ohio, and departed this life on the 23d of May, 1908, leaving besides her husband, one child to mourn her loss, a son, Walter B., whose birth occurred on February 2d, of the year 1891, and who is now a student in the Kokomo high school. Fraternally Mr. Jones is a member of the Knights of Pythias. Modern Woodmen, and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. and takes an active and prominent part in promoting the interests of
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these organizations, besides filling at various times positions of honor and trust in each. He is a wide-awake, enterprising man of the times, fully alive to the dignities and responsibilities of citizenship, and to the extent of his ability, contributes to the material pros- perity of the community and to the social, intellectual and moral ad- vancement of the populace. Courteous. affable and easily ap- proached, he commands the respect of all with whom he comes in contact, and his friends are as the number of his acquaintances. While a power in the industrial circles of Kokomo, he is univers- ally esteemed in all the relations of life, and his career thus far has been creditable to himself and an honor to the city which he has elected to be his permanent place of abode.
WILLIAM E. TARKINGTON.
In examining the life records of self-made men, it will inva- riably be found that indefatigable industry has constituted the basis of their success. True there are other elements which enter in and conserve the advancement of personal interests .- perseverance, dis- crimination and mastering of expedients,-but the foundation of all achievement is earnest, persistent labor. At the outset of his career Mr. Tarkington recognized this fact, and he did not seek any royal road to the goal of prosperity and independence, but began to work earnestly and diligently in order to advance himself, and the result is that he is now numbered among the progressive, successful and influential farmers of Ervin township, Howard county, where he has a well improved landed estate.
William E. Tarkington was born on his father's farm in Clay township. December 7. 1867. the son of John E. Tarkington, who
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has long been a man of influence in his community. Our subject re- mained on his father's farm, assisting with the work about the place and attending school in the neighborhood, where he gained a fairly good practical education, and he always followed farming and stock raising, believing that in this field better opportunities were to be found than any other, largely because of his early training by his worthy father, who had made a success of the same line before him. He remained under the parental roof-tree until he was twenty-five years old. when he married and settled on the farm where he now lives in Ervin township. His marriage day was February 1. 1893. and he selected as a life companion, Ora Miller, a native of Clay township, where the ceremony was performed, and she proved to be a most worthy helpmate. She was the daughter of Henry Clay Miller, and she passed to her rest in Ervin township March 12. 1900. One child was born to this union, Roscoe Ray, who is a bright lad and gives promise of a brilliant future.
The subject was again married in Ervin township. December 20, 1901. to Lillie Merrill. a native of Ervin township and a daugh- ter of Benjamin and Harriet Merrill. well known people in the re- spective community. This union has proven to be a most harmo- nious one and Mr. and Mrs. Tarkington have a nice and cozy home.
The subject has been a member of the advisory board, where his sound business principles were applied with the same tangible results as have been obtained in his own industrial life. The sub- ject and wife are earnest members of the Shiloh Methodist Epis- copal church of Clay township.
Mr. Tarkington's farm shows at a glance that a man of thrift and industry manages it. He has erected substantial and com- modious buildings on the place, his residence being a most conve- nient one. and all of his out buildings are of modern type. Ilis fences are kept in good repair and his fields are well tilled and care-
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fully looked after as to washes and other damaging agencies and all his improvements are well up to those on the best farms of the county, in fact, this farm of one hundred and twenty acres, is equal in every respect to any in the community where the subject lives and where he has gained the undivided respect and admiration of all who know him, owing to his life of industry and uprightness.
M. O. COYNER.
It will always be a badge of honor in this country to have known that a person's father, or even his uncle, enlisted in the service of his country when the great Rebellion broke out, to assist in saving the Union, and in eradicating slavery from our soil. Just as to this day we boast that our grandfather or great-grandfather fought in the Revolution to gain independence, or fought in the War of 1812 to protect our rights on the ocean. so the descendents of the gallant soldiers who fought during the Rebellion to save the Union will boast through the coming centuries of the bravery and self-sacrifice of their fathers or other relatives. It is a pleasure to write of the subject of this sketch, who was one of the "boys in blue" who went forth to die on the field or in the no less dangerous fever camp, if need be, for the salvation of the country.
M. O. Cogner was born in Ross county, Ohio, December 18. 1844. the son of George and Eliza ( Clark ) Coyner. They spent their lives on a farm in the Buckeye state, never living in Indiana. The father of the subject was a native of Virginia, and was brought by his parents to Ohio when he was six years old. There were nine children in this family, only three of whom survive. One son Wil- liam, was a soldier in the Civil war, dying at Memphis, Tennessee,
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while in the service. His brother, George, was also a soldier in Company D. Eighty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was taken prisoner at Chickamauga and died in the prison at Andersonville. Georgia, in July, 1864.
Our subject was in the One Hundred and Seventy-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. However, circumstances were such that he was not long in the service, greatly to his regret. He performed gallant work in the pursuit of Morgan's men, when that intrepid Southern leader was on his raid through the North.
M. O. Coyner lived on a farm in his youth and attended the common schools, receiving a good education, such as those times afforded. When he gained his majority he came west and clerked in a general store for three years. While there he married Mary E. Neal, daughter of Rev. A. Neal, of Missouri, a family of high rank.
In 1870 the subject returned to Ohio, and later engaged in the grocery business at Frankfort, Ohio, with much success for four years. He then came to Indianapolis, but soon went to Cincinnati. In 1879 he began work as traveling salesman for Butterworth & Potts, a Cincinnati shoe house, which line was successfully followed for five of six years. He then engaged with Manse Brothers & Com- piny, of Cincinnati, with which firm he continued for three years. after which he was with J. W. Butterworth, of the Marion Shoe Company, in which he is now ( 1908) employed, having des ited nine years to this work in their service. He has been a traveling salesman for the past twenty-eight years, during which time he has made hosts of friends and secured an enormous amount of busi- ness for his employers, being not only a man of keen business dis- cernment. but also of pleasing personality in every respect.
Mr. Corner came to Kokomo, Indiana, in 1887. when he pur- chased property at 1001 East Sycamore street, where he has since
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resided, maintaining a pleasant and well furnished home. He has one son. E. G., who was born September 18, 1870. now located in Norwood. a suburb of Cincinnati.
The subject's present wife was Viola Ramsey, a daughter of the late L. J. Ramsey. She has one son, Harold, a reporter on the Kokomo Dispatch. He graduated from the Kokomo high school in 1908.
Mr. Coyner is independent in politics. He is a member of the Order of Traveling Men of Indianapolis. Being a man of upright principles and congenial disposition he is held in great favor by all who have the fortune to know him.
GEORGE W. DUKE.
Prominent in the public affairs of Kokomo, distinguished as one of the leading men of Howard county and enjoying distinctive prestige in business circles far beyond the limits of the community honored by his citizenship. George W. Duke, of the old and reliable real estate firm of Duke Brothers & Company, is entitled to specific mention in this connection and it is with no little satisfaction that the reader's attention is respectively invited to the brief story of his life. embodied in the following lines. Mr. Duke is a native of Indiana. and the fifth of a family of seven children whose parents. David D. and Jane ( McCoy) Duke, were of Pennsylvania and Kentucky. respectively. These parents settled in Carroll county, Indiana, a number of years ago, moving to Delphi in 1855 and during the en- suing two years Mr. Duke cultivated a farm near that city in addi- tion to which he also operated a mill and did a fairly prosperous busi- ness. Meeting with certain financial reverses, which greatly em-
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barrassed him, he subsequently disposed of his interests in Carroll county and in 1860 moved to Kokomo, where he opened a restaur- ant and bakery which he conducted with fair profits until 1882, when he removed to Silver Lake, Indiana, where his death occurred two years later, his wife having preceded him to the grave in 1872. The names of the children born to David and Jane Duke are as follows: Alexander H .. for some years an enterprising and public-spirited citizen of Kokomo, and a member of the city councils, in addition to which he also served as sheriff of Howard county and became widely and favorably known as an efficient and popular official ; Hattie .A., the second in order of birth, married a Mr. Walsh : Ladie is the wife of Richard Doughuff : David L. is engaged in the real estate and insurance business in partnership with George W .. the subject of this review, after whom comes William and Charles Duke.
George W. Duke was born in Carroll county, Indiana, on the 22d day of February, 1854. where he remained until the removal of the family to Kokomo in 1860. Like the majority of city lads, his early life was without incident worthy of note, having been put to work as soon as old enough to be of service, the meanwhile attend- ing the public schools where in due time he obtained practical knowl- edge of the English branches and became quite well informed.
From his youth, Mr. Duke manifested decided business talent. and while still a young man formulated plans for his future, with the object in view of becoming of some use in the world. After clerking for some time in a drug store and becoming familiar with the principles and details of business life he was elected in 1878. city clerk. the duties of which position he discharged with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the public, for two terms, proving an able and acceptable officer, gaining many warm friends and greatly extending his personal popularity during his incumbency.
Mr. Duke, in the year 1880, embarked in the line of business
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with which he has since been identified and in which his success has been such as to bring him prominently to the notice of the business world and earn for him a reputation far beyond the limits of the city and county to which his attention has been principally devoted, namely dealing in real estate, writing insurance, and loaning money. AAssociated with him is his ekler brother, Daniel L. Duke, the part- nership under the name of Duke Brothers & Company being the oldest firm of the kind in the county and by far the most successful, as is indicated by the number and magnitude of their transactions in real estate, the vast amount of money loaned and the large and liberal insurance patronage which has come to them since opening their office twenty-eight years ago. Their business from the be- ginning has been marked by a steady and substantial growth and at this time represents some of the largest and most important real estate transactions in the county and throughout the state, the firm dealing in all kinds of land, buying and selling, exchanging and trading for other kinds of property, the office being a continuously animated and busy scene in which numerous deals are inaugurated and consummated, bargains made and large sums of money loaned. and all lines of insurance represented, including life, fire, accident, etc., written. the firm having the agency of nearly all the large com- panies in the United States, also a number in foreign countries.
Mr. Duke is essentially a business man of progressive ideas and tendencies, possessing ability of a high order and judgment which is seldom at fault on matters in which he is interested. His familiar- ity with financial questions and general monetary affairs enables him to forsee with remarkable accuracy the future outcome of present transactions while his thorough knowledge of real estate values and everything pertaining thereto has caused his counsel to be sought and his advice followed not only by his patrons, but by many others who contemplate selling or otherwise disposing of their holdings.
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
In the year 1890. Mr. Duke was appointed state insurance com- missioner, in which capacity he served very acceptably for a period of five years, during which time he had an office in Indianapolis and was uuremitting in his attention to the duties of the position. Dur- ing his tenure of office he made a careful study of insurance in its every detail and bearing, the knowledge thus obtained proving valuable not only to the state, which profited greatly from his ser- vices, but also to his personal interests, to say nothing of the fre- quency with which he is consulted by others in relation to insurance matters, a branch of business in which he is considered an authority. Although a very busy man and keenly alive to everything pertaining to the lines of business to which his attention is in the main devoted. Mr. Duke is public-spirited and enterprising, and keeps in touch with the progress of his city to the extent of his ability, encourages and assists all movements to this end. Through the medium of his firm he has contributed much to the material growth of the com- munity, in the way of buildings and other improvements, and his name is inseparably connected with not a few enterprises that have tended greatly to the advancement of the city and welfare of the populace.
In his political affiliations, Mr. Duke is a firm and unyielding advocate of Democratic principles, and for a number of years his influence has been felt in the councils of his party, having served several terms as chairman of the county central committee, besides being active in the ranks and a recognized leader during the prog- ress of campaigns. He has also been honored by being chosen to represent from time to time the Democracy of Howard county in district and state conventions and in which bodies his influence Iris always carried weight and his opinions commanded respect.
Mr. Duke is a commendable example of the wide-awake, enter- prising representative Americans of today, and as such stands high
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in business and social circles and enjoys the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens among whom few are as widely known or per- sonally as popular. Although manifesting a lively interest in all that concerns the welfare and stability of the body politic. he has never sought official preferment nor aspired to leadership, being content to serve his fellow men in a private capacity and satisfied to be known simply as a citizen. He has an attractive home in Ko- komo and since December 12, 1907, has traveled life's pathway with the partner of his joys and sharer of his successes and vicissitudes. having been married on that date to Ella Thorne, of Howard county. a sister of the late Dr. John C. Thorne, of Kokomo, and a lady of gracious presence and pleasing personality whose standing in the best social circles of the city is firmly established and duly ap- preciated.
MARTIN S. HOLMAN.
This utilitarian age has been especially prolific in men of action, clear-brained men of high resolves and noble purposes, who give character and stability to the communities honored by their citizen- ship. and whose influence and leadership are easily discernible in the various enterprises that have added so greatly to the high repu- tation which Howard county enjoys among her sister counties of this great commonwealth. Conspicuous among this class of men whose place of residence is in this county is the progressive citizen under whose name this article is written, and to a brief outline of whose career the biographer is herewith pleased to address him- self.
Martin S. Holman was born in Crawford county. Ohio. April 2. 1858. the son of Jacob and Sarah ( Scott ) Holman. The Hol-
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
mans are of German descent and came to Indiana from Ohio. The Scotts were also of German ancestry. The father of the subject was an influential farmer. Jacob Holman came with his family to Howard county in 1850, later returning to Crawford county, Ohio. in 1857. but returned to Howard county in 1861, locating in Clay township, where he has a farm of forty acres which is highly productive. He has lived here to the present time, being eighty- three years old in 1908. His wife is also still living at an advanced age. Eight children were born to them, three sons and five daughters.
Martin S. Holman, our subject, was reared on the farm, re- ceiving his education in the country schools where he applied him- self in a most diligent manner. Not being satisfied with what he had learned in the common schools, he entered the State Normal where he made an excellent record for one term. At the age of twenty-one years he began teaching school. continuing at this with marked success for thirten consecutive winters, gaining. in the mean time, a wide reputation in Howard county as an able educa- tor. carrying a high grade license.
Mr. Holman took the civil service examination in 1891 and re- ceived an appointment in 1892, having made an excellent average in this test. He was put on the run from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Chi- cago, on the Panhandle Railroad. He is still in this position, being the head clerk in charge of the crew. His services have been emi- nently satisfactory to all concerned.
Mr. Holman was united in marriage to Luella Thomas, April 20, 1884. She is a native of Cass county, Indiana, and the daugh- ter of the late Lewis Thomas, who was a highly respected and in- fluential man of that county. She was born January 14. 1804. Two children have been born to this union, one of whom survived infancy. Verna B. was born March 7. 1887. She graduated from the
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Kokomo high school in 1906, after making an excellent record for scholarship and deportment. She is a young lady of many esti- mable traits and attractive personality.
The subject and wife are members of the Christian church and also of the Ben-Hur lodge.
The comfortable and commodious home of the subject, which he owns, is located at 700 West Monroe street. It is the gathering place for a host of friends of the Holmans, who are highly respected and popular, owing to their upright lives, wholesome home influence, hospitality and pleasing personalities, making them admired by all who know them.
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