USA > Indiana > Madison County > History of Madison County, Indiana ; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 60
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WALLACE B. CAMPBELL has been closely identified with the busi- ness life of Anderson since coming to the city in 1895. He is well and favorably remembered as editor and owner of the Anderson Herald, which he built up to be one of the best equipped printing establish- ments in any city of similar size in the state. After several years of
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very successful newspaper work he turned his attention to real estate, developing one of the largest flat, apartment and business properties in the city. In addition to looking after his own property interests during the past eight years, he has been secretary of the Anderson Commercial Club, which has been a most efficient organization in the promotion of the city's industrial development. .
Mr. Campbell was born on a farm in DeWitt county, Illinois, June 8, 1857. His father was Joseph Wallace Campbell, who was born near Paris, Bourbon county, Kentucky, on April 1, 1820, and who came to Indiana about 1840, settling on a farm near Bloomington. Mr. Camp- bell's mother, Mary Ann (Blakely) Campbell, was born near May's Liek, Mason county, Kentucky, on February 5, 1824, and moved to a farm near Bloomington in 1834. She married Joseph W. Campbell on October 19, 1843, and in 1849 they entered eighty acres of land in De- Witt county, Illinois. There were eight children born of this union. William O., the first born, served three years in the Union army before he came of age. The others were Louise J., Alice, Sarah E., Laura, Wallace B., Hilary J., and Lawrence E., all living today with the single exception of Louise J. The mother died on March 5, 1894, and the father followed her on November 18, 1896, at Roberts, Illinois. Both were almost lifelong members of the Christian church and lived exemplary lives for simplicity, integrity, gentleness and neighborly kindness.
Wallace B. Campbell lived on a farm until he was twenty-two years of age. His early education was obtained in the district schools, with the exception of two short terms in a village school. He taught school near his father's farm in Ford county, Illinois, for two years and during that time assisted at home on the farm and did one year's work in preparation for college, without an instructor. He entered the fresh- man elass in Indiana University in 1880 and was graduated with the class of 1886. During his last year he had charge of the laboratory work in Botany with W. S. Blatchley who graduated the following year and who was afterward State Geologist for many years. He taught school in Montgomery county two years before graduating from the university, it being necessary to earn his college expenses in that manner. He entered the university on less than $50 and boarded himself for two years. He was elected principal of the Paxton (Ills.) high school in the fall of 1886, and the next year he read law with Messrs. Paul, White and Humphreys of Crawfordsville, Indiana, and was admitted to the bar in that city. He opened a law, real estate and loan office at Roberts, Ford county, Illinois, but it proved a poor location, as Ford county was largely agricultural, without saloons and with very little crime to be contended with, so that the "pickings" for a young lawyer were disagreeably sparse. However, during his residence there, he tried about a dozen cases, winning each of them.
Mr. Campbell had acquired some taste for newspaper work while in college and as waiting for "cases" made no strong appeal to a man of his native energy and activity, he decided to accept the invitation of Hon. N. E. Stevens, of Paxton, Illinois, to become associated with Mr. Stevens' son, Arthur H. Stevens, in newspaper work at Auburn, Indiana. There the two young men bought the Auburn Dispatch, June 1, 1889. This proved to be a successful venture in a business way, and five years later Mr. Campbell bought Mr. Stevens' interest in the paper and ran it alone for a year, selling it in June, 1895, to buy the Anderson Herald.
When Mr. Campbell bought the Herald in the year named, as far
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as equipment was concerned, the plant was a veritable junk shop, barring the presence of some good type and one small job press. It was manned, however, with a number of good employes, among whom was Charles H. Neff, one of the present owners. Mr. Campbell brought Mr. Edward C. Toner, of Martinsville, now another of the owners of the paper, to the Herald as city editor in October, 1895, and about the same time Harry T. Hallam, of Auburn, came as foreman of the mechanical department, a position he still holds. Mr. Campbell's next step was to equip the plant with the best machinery money could buy. In this equipment was a Cox angle-bar web perfecting press, the first one installed in Indiana, and a Mergenthaler linotype machine, the second or third to be installed in the smaller cities of the state. The first paper published from type set on this machine was issued on July 4, 1897.
Mr. Campbell was a close student of newspaper and job printing. He frequently consulted a number of the most successful newspaper men in the state and profited by their experience. He served at different times as secretary and president of the Indiana Republican Editorial Associa- tion, and was several times sent as a delegate to the National Editorial Association meetings. He was frequently to be found on the program in state and national meetings. He attributes his success in newspaper work, which is recognized throughout the state, to three things-good equipment of his plant, surrounding himself with loyal and competent workmen, and conscientious and faithful service to the community served.
The Herald was sold to Edward C. Toner and Charles H. Neff on June 1, 1901, since which time Mr. Campbell has given his attention to the buying and developing of the Campbell, Annex, Jefferson and Lin- coln flat, apartment and business properties.
When the Anderson Commercial Club was organized in December, 1905, the first board of directors selected Mr. Campbell as Club Secre- tary. He was reelected each succeeding year up to the present time. During the entire time he has served in the office at a personal sacrifice, but always with the highest regard for whatever would promote the best interests of the city. The city has enjoyed marked industrial develop- ment during the eight years of Mr. Campbell's service, much of which has been directly due to the work of the Commercial Club. The new industries brought to the city, or the old ones retained, through work of the Commercial Club, have during that period paid out more than $3,500,000 in wages. Of this sum from ten to fifteen per cent is net profit to the city.
Mr. Campbell has always been greatly interested in the public schools. In June, 1909, he was unanimously elected a member of the School Board, serving as secretary two years and as president one year. He was president of the Board when the present new high school building was completed in 1912. During his service he stood for the most rigid economy in the expenditure of the public funds, but he especially favored an increased wage for the grade teachers, with a view of holding more of the best teachers where the greatest number of pupils might be benefited. He urged the largest development of the manual training and vocational courses and the establishment of a business course in the high school, with the hope of making all of the school work more practi cal and useful to the great body of pupils who must depend upon the public schools for their entire education. His work on the board wa carried on in a direct line with the ideas and plans of the advocates o
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vocational education, which has so lately come to be an issue of greatest importance in the public schools generally.
On October 19, 1892, Mr. Campbell married Miss Sarah E. Tarney, daughter of Samuel J. and Nancy Tarney, of Auburn, Indiana. Mrs. Campbell was graduated from the State Normal at Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1884, and after serving as principal of the Bourbon (Indiana) high school for one year, was elected a member of the State Normal Faculty, which position she held up to the time she was married. In the fall of 1895 she was elected supervisor of instruction in the Anderson schools, serving in that capacity for three years, and declining reelection for a fourth year, because of her wish to retire from the teaching profession. Probably no woman in Madison county has done more practical work for the cause of education than has Mrs. Campbell. For years she was instructor in many county institutes throughout the state, and she has revised several school readers for the American School Book Company. In addition to Mrs. Campbell's enthusiastic interest in education, which she still retains, she is greatly interested in public charity and in the work of the correctional institutions of the state. She was appointed by Governor Hanly as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Indiana Girls' School, was reappointed by Governor Marshall and for the past three years has been president of the board. She is president of the Madison County Children's Home Association, and has been since the organization of the association thirteen years ago.
Mr. Campbell, also, has a keen interest in all of these matters, and is a director and treasurer of this board of which his wife is president. Both are members of the Tourist Club and Mrs. Campbell is a member of the Clio Club, both being literary organizations of representative order.
SPENCER G. BEVILHIMER. For more than sixty years a resident of Madison county, Mr. Bevilhimer is one of the citizens whose name and a brief record of whose career should be permanently recorded in any history of the community. He represents a family which had its part in the early development of the county, he was himself one of the Madi- son county's soldiers for the war of the Rebellion, and since his return to the county as a veteran soldier he has had his full share in the re- sponsibilities of making a living and providing for home and family, and has also discharged his duties to the general community, with an efficiency which brings him honor.
ยท Spencer Gorland Bevilhimer whose farm of one hundred and fifteen acres is situated in Lafayette township was born September 12, 1845, in Franklin county, Indiana. His parents were Charles and Sarah (Gorland) Bevilhimer. The father, a native of Pennsylvania, had the following family of children: Susan, deceased; George, who was a soldier of the Civil war, and now deceased; Edmund, deceased, also a soldier of the war; Spencer G .; Sarah, Elmer, and Anna, deceased; Charles M .; and Lewis.
The father brought his family to Madison county in October, 1849, and located his home in Lafayette township. It was in this vicinity there- fore that Spencer G. Bevilhimer spent his early career and when he was a boy he went to school in an old log school house, which stood in the neighborhood. He is probably one of the few citizens still living in this county whose early schooldays were passed in one of the old-time struc- tures, with its slab basis, its fireplace, and its generally rough and primi-
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tive accommodations and facilities. During his school days he also worked on the home farm, and in this way passed his years until he was eighteen. Then in 1863 at Anderson he enlisted in Company B, of the One Hundred and Thirtieth Indiana Infantry under Captain E B. Downe and W. H. Mays. The One Hundred and Thirtieth Indiana was assigned to the First Brigade, second division, of the Twenty-third Army Corps, under General Scofield. The brigade contained the following regiments, the Third and Sixth Tennessee; the Fourteenth Kentucky; the Twenty-Fifth Michigan; the Ninety-Ninth Ohio, and the Sixth Michigan Battery, comprising about 3,500 men in all. The engage- ments in which Mr. Bevilhimer and his regiment participated were as follows: Taylors Ridge in Georgia, Rocky Face, Snake Creek, Buzzards Roost, Sugar Valley, Burnt Hickory, Kingston, Rome, Resaca, Pumpkin- vine Creek, New Hope Church, Pine Mountain, Lost Mountain, Culp's Farm, Kenesaw Mountain, Marietta, Chattahoochee River, Peach Tree Creek, Decatur, Atlanta, Rough and Ready, Jonesboro, Lovejoy, Rome, Nashville, Kingston, and the final surrender of Johnson, the Confederate leader at Greensboro, North Carolina.
After the war Mr. Bevilhimer returned to this county and began his practical career as a farmer. He rented land from Stephen Kerr, and it was as a tenant and by hard labor and good management that he finally secured enough to provide for a home and to buy land for his career as an independent farmer.
On December 23, 1866, he married Miss Eliza J. Jenkins, a daughter of Daniel and Tabitha (Moore) Jenkins, from Pike county, Ohio. The parents settled in Lafayette township. Her mother's father, Samuel Moore, was one of the early pioneers. Mrs. Bevilhimer has one sister and brother living. Isaac Jenkins of Anderson and Mrs. Thompson. Mr. and Mrs. Bevilhimer attended the same school. The nine children of Mr. and Mrs. Bevilhimer are: Altha, Nora, Frank, Amanda, Anna, Wade, Walter, Lethie and Nila. Mr. Bevilhimer is a past commander of his G. A. R. Post No. 244 at Anderson. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic Order Lodge No. 77 at Anderson, and with Commandery No. 32 K. P. He is a member of the Methodist church and in politics affiliated with the principles of the new Progressive party.
JAMES W. GRIFFIN. An able representative of the business interests of Elwood, James W. Griffin is widely known in insurance circles of the Hoosier State as the assistant superintendent of the Prudential Life Insurance Company. Mr. Griffin was born March 6, 1868, at Pitts- boro, North Carolina, and is a son of James D. and Sarah A. (Harman) Griffin.
John Griffin, the paternal great-grandfather of Mr. Griffin, was a native of Ireland, whence he came directly to the United States and settled in Ohio. There also settled Henry Harman, the maternal great- grandfather of Mr. Griffin, who had been born in the Fatherland. Wes- ley Griffin, the grandfather of James W. Griffin, was born in Virginia (now West Virginia), was a farmer, and became an early settler of Chatham county, North Carolina, near Pittsboro, where he spent the remainder of his life. He reached advanced years, as did also his wife, Malsey (Bland) Griffin, a native of North Carolina, and they became the parents of a large family of children, among whom were: Sidney, James D., Joseph T., John Wesley, Julia A. and Betty, twins; and Elijah. James Henry Harman, the maternal grandfather of James
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W. Griffin, was born in North Carolina, and there married Rebecca Chad- wick. He was a wagon maker, and also engaged in general repair work, and at one time enlisted for service in the War of 1812-14, but saw no active fighting. He died on the old home place at Pittsboro, North Caro- lina, when eighty-nine years of age, while his wife was seventy-eight years old at the time of her demise. They had the following children : Joseph, Elizabeth, Sarah A. and Mary, twins, and John Thomas.
James D. Griffin was reared on his father's farm in North Carolina, and was engaged in agricultural pursuits at the time of the outbreak of the struggle between the North and the South. Enlisting in the Con- federate army, for four years he fought valiantly for the cause he believed just, and when the war was closed he had a record as a brave and faithful soldier. On his return to the pursuits of peace, he resumed his agricultural operations, and was so engaged until his retirement, some ten years ago. At this time he is acting in the capacity of door- keeper of the North Carolina Legislature. His wife died February 3, 1883, at the age of forty-four years. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, while he is connected with the Christian Church. They were the parents of nine children, as follows: Jaines W., residing at Elwood; Isaac N., of Raleigh, North Carolina; Mary J., deceased, who was the wife of Isaac Clark; Ida L., the wife of Robert A. Glenn, of Pittsboro, North Carolina; Emily, single, and a resident of Sonthern Pines, North Carolina; John T., of Pittsboro; Robert L., re- siding at Durham, North Carolina; and William T. and Walker, of Pittsboro, North Carolina.
James W. Griffin received his education in the district schools of his native locality, and continued to reside under the parental roof until attaining his majority, in the. meantime being thoroughly trained in agricultural work. Following this he rented a farm near the homestead for four years, but eventually decided that farming wa's not his forte, and on April 14, 1893, came to Elwood and secured employment in the plate glass works. A short time thereafter, he went to work for the tin plate works, where he continued for thirteen years. During this time, Mr. Griffin had been soliciting life insurance as a side line, and by 1908 his business had grown to such an extent that he decided to give his whole attention to this work, and accordingly identified himself with the Prudential Life Insurance Company of America. He is now assistant superintendent at Elwood, and maintains offices in the Hene Block. The peculiar talents necessary to the successful soliciting of life insurance are possessed in a remarkable degree by Mr. Griffin, and he is known as one of his company's most valuable men. He has made numerous friends both in and outside of business circles, and a pleasing, genial personality has had much to do with the building up of a substantial business.
On November 25, 1897, Mr. Griffin was married to Miss Stella A. Luse, danghter of William H. and Lucinda (Beeler) Luse, and to this union there have been born five children: William J .; Robert Paul, who died in infancy; Velma L .; Emereth E. and Helen Lucille. Mr. and Mrs. Griffin are members of the Christian Church, and Mr. Griffin is one of the elders of the Elwood congregation. He belongs to Quincy Lodge No. 200, I. O. O. F., and to the Encampment of that order. He was reared a Democrat, but has strong Prohibition tendencies. While he has not sought public office, he has shown an interest in matters which have affected his community, and his support has been given to progres-
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sive and beneficial movements at all times. His comfortable modern residence is located at No. 312 South Twenty-first street.
Mrs. Griffin was born in Madison county, Indiana, near Elwood, while her father was a native of Preble county, Ohio, and her mother of Indiana. They still reside on the old home place near Elwood, and are farming people. They have four children: Emereth E., Stella A., Charles and Cassius C. Mr. Luse was a soldier during the Civil war. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Griffin were Robert and Abigail (Wheldon) Luse, natives of Ohio, while her maternal grandparents were James and Carolina (Jackson) Beeler, who came from the Old Dominion State.
LEWIS HEFFNER. A substantial business citizen whose history has been commensurate with that of Elwood from the time this flourishing and prosperous city was but a small, struggling village, Lewis Heffner has played no small part in the great growth and development here dur- ing the past forty years, during which time he has been intimately iden- tified with some of the city 's largest business interests. His life has been one of industry and perseverance, and the systematic and honorable business methods which he has followed have won him the support and confidence of his fellow-citizens. Mr. Heffner was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1839, and is a son of Daniel and Mary (Schmeck) Heffner.
The history of the paternal grandparents of Mr. Heffner has been lost, but on the maternal side his grandparents were John and Miss (Heckmann) Schmeck, natives of an old Berks county family which settled in Pennsylvania long before the Indians had left that section. Both reached advanced years, Mrs. Schmeck being past ninety at the time of her death, and they had a large family, among whom were Cath- erine, Mary, Lena, Hannah, Elizabeth, Lydia and Daniel. Daniel Heffner was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, and for many years resided about seven miles from Reading, where he was the proprietor of. a blacksmith shop. His death occurred there when he was seventy-nine years of age, and he was widely known and highly esteemed in his com- munity. He married Mary Schmeck, also a native of Berks county, who survived him for some time, and was about seventy-nine years of age at the time of her demise. He was a Lutheran in his religious belief, while she adhered to the faith of the German Reformed Church.
Lewis Heffner was reared in Berks county, Pennsylvania, where he obtained a common school education, and as a lad was engaged in assist- ing his father in his blacksmith shop. When twenty years of age he began learning the mill-wright's trade, which he followed for four or five years at Lewiston, Pennsylvania, and while living there cast his first vote, which he gave in support of Abraham Lincoln. In 1860 Mr. Heffner came to Indiana by way of Chicago, stopping off at Logansport for a time and going thence to Lincoln, where he erected a sawmill for a Mr. Wright. He remained at that place for seven years, and then purchased a piece of land in Tipton county, on which he erected a saw- mill, continuing to operate that business during the next seven years. Subsequently, he came to Elwood, then hut a small village. Bringing his sawmill here, he continued to operate it successfully until 1908, in addition to which he conducted a small planing mill. In the meantime, in 1865, he had engaged in the lumber manufacturing business, and in 1908 he embarked in dealing in coal, and now employs a large force of
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men in handling coal, lumber and all kinds of building material. He has seen Elwood grow and develop, and has not been a mere spectator, for he has done a great deal of building, and has in many ways assisted to forward the progress of the city of his adoption. In 1911 he erected a garage, which is occupied by an automobile concern.
On May 15, 1867, Mr. Heffner was married to Miss Sophia Emeline Ferguson, who was born at Shelbyville, Indiana, daughter of James and Esther (Gibson) Ferguson, the former a native of Little York, Pennsyl- vania. Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson had children : Mary, Jane, Lafayette, Emeline, Retta, William. Margaret, Rebecca, Wilkison, Louise and Amelia. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Heffner : James Daniel, who married Miss "Bert" Lewis, and died in 1906; Winnie, who became the wife of Lewis W. Whipple, of Elwood; Abby, who married C. L. Bruee. of Elwood, and has children,-Winnetta, Lewis, Glen, Margaret, James, Esther, Roberta and Dorothy; Robert Lee Lewis, who lost his life in a railroad accident at the age of seventeen years; Charles, who died in infaney; Benjamin, who died when aged about eighteen months; and Odeta, who also died young.
Mrs. Heffner is a member of the Methodist Protestant Church. Mr. Heffner supports the principles of the Prohibition party. For a short time he was a member of the city council of Elwood, but resigned before the expiration of his term. A man of upright life and honorable dealing, he has gained and retained the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens, and his career is worthy of emulation by those of the younger generation.
JOHN H. LAIL, M. D. It is widely recognized, in a comparison of the relative value to mankind of the various professions and pursuits to which men devote their time and energies, that none is more important than the science of medicine. Human destiny is largely in the hands. of the physician from the cradle to the grave, not alone on account of the effect of his ministrations may have upon the physical system, but upon men's moral and mental nature as well. A cheerful presence, a sympathetic disposition and a kindly nature often contribute to a patient's recovery in as great a measure as the medicines administered, and therefore form essential qualifications to be possessed by the success- ful practitioner. In none of these has Dr. John H. Lail, of Anderson, been found lacking. A resident of Anderson since 1905, he has steadily advanced in his profession, gaining marked distinction by reason of his broad knowledge, his skill, and his devotion to the highest ideals of his honored calling.
John H. Lail was born April 21, 1865, in Washington township, Rush county, Indiana, and is a son of George H. and Mary (Shawhan) Lail. His father, a native of Kentucky, removed from that State to Rush county in young manhood, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits for some years, and upon his retirement went to Indianapolis, where he continued to live in retirement. True to the characteristics of Kentuckians, he was a great lover of horses, and was known during his day as a noted breeder of and dealer in fine stock. Among his animals were "Elsie Good," 2:18.
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