USA > Indiana > Howard County > History of Howard County, Indiana, Vol II > Part 6
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Aside from his professional work, Mr. Freeman for a number
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
of years has been deeply interested in public questions and as a staunch and uncompromising Republican was not long in coming to the front as a leader of the party in the community where he re- sided. In recognition of his political services he was nominated in 1900 for the office of county recorder. receiving at the primaries the largest vote in the history of the county, defeating his competitor by a majority of two thousand three hundred and fifteen, the sub- sequent election only serving to confirm the people's choice, as he was elected by an overwhelming majority, running far in advance of the other candidates on the ticket.
His triumphant election to one of the most important offices within the gift of the public was certainly a compliment to his worth and popularity among the people of the county regardless of polit- ical affiliations, and thus far his official career has fully met the ex- pectations of his many friends and admirers, and justified the party in the wisdom of its choice. Mr. Freeman although elected in November. 1906, did not take possession of his office until January. 1908, since which time he has devoted his entire attention to his duties, his previous experience as a teacher and student peculiarly adapting him for the clerical work, the position of recorder entails. Hle discharges his official functions with neatness and dispatch, treats all who have business in the office with characteristic courtesy and it is generally conceded that this county has never been honored by a more gentlemanly and obliging public servant.
Mr. Freeman has been a resident of Howard county since 1889. and during the intervening period has manifested a lively regard for its welfare, as his activity in advancing the cause of education and his deep interest in all enterprises having for their object the general good of the people abundantly indicate. He is a man of liberal ideas, takes broad views of men and affairs and, standing for
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progress in the modern sense of the term, bends all of his energies to the attainment of the same. Personally, few stand as high in public esteem, while his popularity is bounded only by the limits of his acquaintance, possessing as he does the amiable qualities of mind and heart that win friends and retain their loyality.
Mr. Freeman on December 9, 1894, was united in marriage with Dora Hart, a cultured and intelligent lady of Russiaville. their union being blessed with five children, namely : George W., Paul D., H. Esther, Ava M. and Burrell B., all living and with their fond parents constituting a very happy and contented domestic circle. This subject holds membership with the Baptist church at Russia- ville, and has been among the organization's most active and in- fluential workers, he being superintendent of the Sunday school for ten years, and one of the leading Sunday school men of the county, having served as delegate to the state Sunday school convention, be- sides taking a prominent part in promoting this branch of religious endeavor in many places. He is also president of the Judson Asso- ciation Sunday School Convention, which comprises several counties of this section of the state. His wife is a member of the Christian church at Russiaville.
In the year of 1804 Mr. Freeman experienced a painful and se- rious misfortune in the loss of one of his lower limbs. caused by blood poisoning from an accident to the knee joint. Although consider- ably discommoded by having to finish the remainder of life's jour- ney on one foot, he has never repined nor became discouraged, but taking an optimistic view of things, has become habituated to his changed condition and finds much for which to be thankful, not the least being the universal regard in which he is held by his fellow citizens of Howard county.
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
THOMAS SHERMAN GERHART.
It is not an easy task adequately to describe the character of a man who has led an eminently active and busy life in connection with the great legal profession and who has stamped his individ- uality on the plane of definite accomplishment in one of the most exacting fields of human endeavor. Yet there is always full meas- ure of satisfaction in adverting, even in a casual way, to the career of an able and conscientious worker in any line of human endeavor. Among the truly self-made and representative men of Howard county none ranks higher than the honorable gentleman whose name heads this sketch, who came to Kokomo in 1901, where he soon became a conspicuous figure in the civic life of the community. . \ man of tireless energy and indomitable courage, he has won and held the unqualified esteem of his fellow citizens. With the law as his profession from young manhood. he has won a brilliant rep- utation and the future gives promise of still much greater things for him.
Thomas Sherman Gerhart is a Hoosier by birth, having been born in Whitley county. Indiana, April 20, 1868, the son of Jacob and Margaret Ann ( Norris) Gerhart, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Whitley county, this state, both of whom are still living in 1908 on the old homestead near Lawrenceville, Illinois. where they moved in 1870.
Our subject attended the common schools at Lawrenceville. Illinois. Being one of the seven children and his father having been a man of limited resources at that time, our subject found it neces- sary to work his way to educational advantages as best he could. This he did principally by teaching school. After teaching two terms of country school he became principal and afterward superin- tendant of the Lawrenceville high school. He held first grade 6
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license issued by the county superintendents in Illinois. Between school terms he took an academic course in Vincennes University. graduating from that institution in 1904. While a student there he ranked second in a gold medal contest in oratory and he was chosen by the board of trustees of this school as orator of com- mencement day. He also did some experimental work at the State University of Indiana at Bloomington, attending the liberal arts department and ranking junior in that apartment, doing mathemat- ical and historical work. He was chosen class day orator to deliver the "ivy oration" to the graduation class of 1901, at the State Uni- versity. While in Vincennes University, Lieutenant Van Fleet. of West Point, offered him the captaincy of the University Cadets, but he declined and recommended a boy whom he thought better quali- fied. He was also offered the first sergeantship of the Vincennes Cadets, which body went to Cuba during the Spanish-American war. but declined on account of ill health at the time, he just recovering from typhoid fever. He ranked second in a gold medal contest for best drilled cadet in a company of about sixty, being defeated by a young man especially drilled by him for the contest. Mr. Gerhart was also a student in the commercial department of Mount Morris College, Ogle county, Illinois, in 1890. He was tendered the prin- cipalship of the city schools at Pulman, Washington, in 1896. He resigned the superintendency of the Lawrenceville schools when he entered the law department of the State University in 1899. After the completion of this work he came to Kokomo and formed a law partnership with John W. Cooper. Since casting his citizenship with the people of Howard county he has been variously honored by the electorate of his adopted city. He has been a resident of the city only two years when he was elected a member of the city council. which he resigned to accept the appointment of city judge tendered him by Governor Hanley. At the expiration of his term as city
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
judge he was appointed by the governor as a member of the police board at the governor's solicitude and having filled that place so acceptably, he was re-appointed in 1908.
Mr. Gerhart has always been more or less interested in poli- tics, having taken an active part in his party's affairs since he was eighteen years old. He was a delegate to the Ninth District Republican convention in 1902 from Howard county, in which gathering his influence was distinctly felt. When twenty-three years old he lacked only four votes of election in a Democratic town- ship that was from fifty to one hundred Democratic. When only twenty-one years old he was chairman of his township delegation in the county convention.
While practicing law Judge Gerhart successfully prosecuted a case against the United States Express Company for failure to de- liver express packages in cities of two thousand and five hundred population. This case was taken to the supreme court of the state of Indiana and is now cited as a precedent. The case is fully reported in volume thirty-one of "American and English R. R. Cases," as well as in volume one hundred and sixty-four, of the Indiana Su- preme Court Reporter.
Mr. Gerhart is a progressive Republican, whose advice is often sought in the councils of his party and the offices of public trust that he has held have been attended to with unerring ability and to the satisfaction of all concerned.
Our subject's domestic life dates from June 15, 1898, when he was happily married to Caroline Jennings Clark, daughter of the Rev. T. J. Clark, of Bloomington, Indiana. She is a woman of many admirable traits and the representative of a highly esteemed and influential family. To this union two sons have been born, both bright and interesting children, their names being Francis Clark, age six, and Charles Thomas, age two, in 1908.
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Judge Gerhart is a member of the Main street Christian church, Kokomo, in which he has served as deacon or elder since 1902. He has a wide acquaintance over the state, having been admitted to practice in the local, state and federal courts. His learning, capac- ity, aptitude and persistency are readily recognized and the prophecy of his friends is that he will be favored with many additional honors from his fellow citizens. He has an unblemished record, having always been upright and honorable in all his relations with his fel- low men, setting a worthy example of a public-spirited. honest, energetic and wholesome character, such as the public always de- lights to reward and honor.
JOSEPH L. GRIFFITH.
All credit is due a man who wins success in spite of ob- stacles and by persistency and energy gains a competence and a position of honor as a man and citizen. The record of the subject of this sketch is that of such a man, for he came to Howard county in the days of her rapid growth and here worked out his way to definite success and independence. He quickly adapted himself to the conditions which he found here and has labored so consecutively and effectively that he is now the manager of a thriving business in Kokomo, where he is held in high regard by all who know him, hav- ing here maintained his home since 1890.
Joseph L. Griffith is a native of Fairfield county. Ohio. having first seen the light of day there November 9, 1848. the son of Samuel and Elizabeth ( McKinley) Griffith, this family being an old and well established one in the Buckeye state, the father of the sub- ject having been born in Fairfield county, where he spent his life
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
and where he was called from his earthly labors. The subject's paternal grandfather was from Pennsylvania. The Mckinleys were relatives of the late President Mckinley and the subject's paternal grandmother was an aunt of the distinguished statesman.
Joseph L. Griffith was born on a farm where he worked in his boyhood, attending the rural schools, receiving a fairly good com- mon school education. It will be remembered that President MIc- Kinley was a school teacher in his youth, and it was the subject's fortune to be under his instruction in the school room for one year.
When the subject grew to manhood he farmed on land of his own for a period of fifteen years, during which time his labors were rewarded by success. He sold his Ohio farm and went to Litch- field, Illinois, where he remained four years, engaging in various lines of business with varying success. After coming to Kokomo he worked as fireman in a heading factory. Later he started in the dray business with a capital stock of one hundred and twenty dol- lars, having only one horse. But being a man of great energy and much business tact his trade grew until he has built it up to quite an extensive one, maintaining three large moving vans, two drays, four coal wagons, one heavy truck and four sprinkling wagons. He also owns considerable valuable property, among which is that lo- cated at the corner of Smith and Monroe streets. All this he has made himself without aid from anyone, showing what a man with the proper amount of business ability and energy rightly applied can accomplish, notwithstanding adverse early circumstances.
Mr. Griffith was united in marriage to Lovina Riegle, October 13. 1870. She was the daughter of Jesse Riegle and was born in Fairfield county. Ohio, April 20, 185!, on the farm adjoining that on which our subject was reared. She was educated in the common schools there. Five children born to this union have survived in-
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fancy, two boys and three girls ; all have received a common school education.
Fraternally Mr. Griffith is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Red Men and the Owls. He has passed all the chairs in the first named, having long taken a great interest in the work of this order. He has also represented this lodge, Tarlton Lodge, No. 90, in the Ohio Grand Lodge. Although the subject has never been active in politics, he is a staunch Republican and his vote in always cast for the best man, especially in local politics.
Mr. and Mrs. Griffith are pleasant and affable people. having won a reputation in Kokomo for honesty, uprightness and hospi- tality, and they are highly respected by all who know them.
W. L. OGBORN.
The honored subject of this sketch is one of the young and en- thusiastic business men of the attractive city of Kokomo. Howard county, where he has maintained his home for many years. He has been most prominently identified with industrial enterprises of con- siderable scope and importance and the name which he bears has been one which has stood for progressiveness and enterprise, while he is a scion of one of the old and honored pioneer families. Owing to his business relations with the people of this county, and so high is the confidence in which he is held that it is imperative that he be accorded recognition in a publication of the province assigned to the one at hand.
W. L. Ogborn is a native of Washington Court House, Ohio. where he first saw the light in 1878. the son of Henry MI. Ogborn. He remained on his father's farm until he was fifteen years old
OF HOWARD COUNTY.
attending the common schools up to that time, when the family moved to Washington Court House, where he entered a business college, completing the prescribed course and gaining valuable men- tal training which has stood him so well in hand during his subse- quent business career. For several years after completing his educa- tion he was clerk in a grocery store. After this he was employed for several years with the Adams Express Company in Indiana. The father of the subject in the meantime moved to Converse. Miami county, Indiana, where he still resides.
On January 1, 1907, our subject began the produce business in which he had previously had some experience. Being successful from the start and longing for larger and better fields in which to carry on this line of work, he moved to Kokomo September 1, 1907. and was manager of the Ballston Refrigerating Storage Company of New York until April Ist of the following year, when this com- pany disposed of its business and he then took up a partnership with Frank D. Miller. the firm now being known as Ogborn & Miller. They engage in buying and shipping butter and eggs, Mr. Ogborn being the manager of the business, which has become quite extensive owing to his excellent management, running at a conservative esti- mate to one hundred thousand dollars annually. New territory is constantly being invaded by this well regulated firm and its future is one that promises great things for those interested in the firm.
The business of the subject is located at 223 and 225 South Main street. Kokomo, where they have a modern, ample and well equipped plant, suitable in every respect to conduct a business of this nature.
Mr. Ogborn was married to Agnes Snell, of Peru, Indiana, a woman of fine personal characteristics who is the scion of an excel- lent family. Three children have brightened the home of Mir. and Mrs. Ogborn.
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The subject is a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge, at Converse, Indiana, in which he has always taken considerable in- terest.
The Ogborn family is held in high regard in Kokomo, and their pleasant home is one in which a gracious and generous hospi- tality is ever in evidence, the members of this household being held in highest esteem by all who know them.
JOSEPH A. WEAVER.
Among the young men of Howard county who have forged their way to the front by sheer force of will and individual merit rather than by the influence and material assistance of others, no better or worthier example than that of the subject of this brief life record could be found. He is a man of excellent judgment, which accounts for his uniform success as a buikler, possessing clear ideas in all business matters. Being careful in his calculations resource- ful in his dealings and eminently honorable in his relations with others, people have always reposed confidence in his word and his integrity has ever been above criticism.
Joseph A. Weaver is a native of Howard county, Indiana, and he has preferred to spend his life within her borders, believing that greater opportunities were to be found right at his door than else- where, and, judging from his subsequent success he was wise in this early decision. The date of his birth is recorded as October 13. 1870. Ilis parents were Daniel and Rachel ( Troyer ) Weaver, the former a native of Ohio, who came to Indiana in the latter half of the nineteenth century, locating in Howard county, where he has al- ways exerted an influence that has been uplifting in various causes. He at present resides on West Mulberry street.
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
Joseph A. Weaver was reared on his father's farm in Howard township and attended the country schools in that community. Thirsting for more knowledge than he could gain there he entered Northwestern College in Illinois where he took a course preparatory to teaching. He has since then taken a course in an architectural school known as the International Corresponding course.
Mr. Weaver has devoted his life's work to carpentry and architecture, along with farming and he has been singularly success- ful at his chosen profession, not only possessing the necessary nat- ural ability, but also the energy, perseverance and capacity for study which are necessary in acquiring success in this honored call- ing. He moved to Kokomo in 1900, and the following year began contracting : since then his building operations have been extensive, principally on dwellings throughout the city, gaining a wide repu- tation for skill and honesty of purpose in all his work.
Our subject was united in marriage to Belle A. McPherson on February 27, 1895, a native of Illinois. She received an academic education in Missouri. In his domestic relations Mr. Weaver has been most fortunate, being the father of a most estimable family, every member of which is not only devoted to him, but mutually de- voted to each other's interests, a family that has deserved all the affection of his nature, stimulated his pride, increased his hopes and contributed much to his happiness and his success in life. The names and dates of birth of his children are herewith appended : Ervin .A., born January 3, 1896; Freda .A., born August 18, 1809: Norma O., born May 22, 1901 ; Leon V., born August 21, 1905. They are all bright children with promise of successful futures.
Mr. and Mrs. Weaver are members of the Evangelical Associa- tion. The former is a class leader and assistant superintendent of the Sunday school; also treasurer of the board of trustees of this church. Fraternally Mr. Weaver is a member of the Independent
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Order of Odd Fellows, also the Maccabees. He is a stanch Re- publican but has never taken an active part in politics. He lives in a fine and up-to-date residence at 608 East Mulberry street, sur- rounded by all modern improvements and their cozy and well fur- nished home is often the gathering place for admiring friends. Mr. and Mrs. Weaver having been ever since their coming to Kokomo popular among a large circle of acquaintances who know them to be people of refinement, uprightness and hospitality, worthy of the ut- most respect.
JOHN SAXON.
This old and highly esteemed citizen who is spending the even- ing of his long and useful life in comfortable retirement in the city of Kokomo is a native of Fayette county, Indiana, and a descendant on the paternal side from sturdy German ancestry that settled in South Carolina, his maternal antecedants were also early settlers of Indiana, coming to this country from Ireland. After living in South Carolina for a number of years the Saxons migrated to the Northwest and finally located in Fayette county, Indiana. near the present site of Connersville, where, in due time, they be- came successful tillers of the soil and active participants in the af- fairs of their respective communities. Alexander Saxon, the sub- ject's father, was a farmer by occupation and a citizen of consider- able local prominence. He assisted his father to clear the ground on which the thriving city of Connersville now stands, and a number of years was an active and energetic figure in the pioneer history of Fayette county of which, as already indicated, his father was one of the earliest as well as one of the most prominent settlers. Margaret McCrury, who became the wife of Alexander Saxon. was descend-
OF HOWARD COUNTY.
ant. as stated above, from an Irish family that immigrated to the United States in 1812, the vessel in which her ancestors had taken passage having been overhauled by the officers of an English war- ship for the ostensible purpose of finding deserters from the English army, their real object however being to impress into his majesty's service any likely young man they might find aboard. By conceal- ing themselves, several men among whom were a couple of Mc- Crurys, successfully eluded the searchers and in due time reached their destination in a country from which the hated English power had been driven a number of years before by the strong and deter- mined arm of American patriotism. Mr. and Mrs. Saxon were mar- ried in Fayette county, Indiana, and there spent the remainder of their days on the beautiful farm which the former had redeemed from the forest. enjoying the respect and confidence of their neigh- bors and friends and leaving to their descendants a reputation above the suspicion of dishonor and to which the passing years have given additional luster. This sturdy couple had a family of six sons and six daughters, all of whom lived to rear families of their own and to become well settled in life. Of the large and interesting family group that once gathered about the domestic hearthstone of Alex- ander and Margaret Saxon, all but five are sleeping the sleep of the just. the surviving members being James. Samuel, Elizabeth. Anna and John, whose name introduces this review.
From childhood until a youth in his teens, John Saxon was en- gaged, except while attending the district school, in assisting his father in clearing and cultivating the home farm. This gave him a vigor of constitution which in subsequent life never failed him in the most laborious duties and also made him acquainted with the virtues and vices, passions and prejudices, the acquirements and capabilities of that large and eminently respectable class of yeo- manry which have aptly been called the bone and sinew of the body politic.
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His educational discipline, which was only limited, was ac- quired in the different subscription schools common to the period in which he then lived but later by wide reading, intelligent obser- vation and mingling much with his fellows, he obtained a large fund of valuable, practical knowledge and became one of the best in- formed men of the community. Before attaining his majority he left the parental roof to make his own way in the world, and for some time thereafter chopped wood to pay for his lodging until something more favorable should present itself. He literally began life for himself without a dollar in his pocket, but persevering in- dustry and strict economy in due time succeeded in accumulating sufficient means to enable him to engage in farming upon his own responsibility after which his rise in the world was more rapid and substantial. Without following his history in detail suffice it to state that during the period of his active life he was quite successful in the acquirement of material wealth, having accumulated a handsome competency, including a fine farm of one hundred and sixty-three acres in Delaware county which he still owns, a comfortable resi- dence property in Kokomo in which he is now living a life of hon- orable retirement and ample private means, which enables him to spend the remainder of his days free from anxiety or care.
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