USA > Indiana > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, together with historic notes on the Wabash Valley; gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic sources > Part 42
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In 1828 two men were graduated at Dartmouth College, Edmund O. Hovey and Caleb Mills. Both were also graduates of Andover. In the fall of 1831 Mr. Hovey came to the Wabash country, and as a home missionary began preaching in Fountain county. In 1832 he bore a part in the scenes already described in connection with the founding of the college. At his suggestion his classmate, Mr. Caleb Mills, was elected the principal of the new school, and en- téred on his duties. The names of these two men were closely identified more than forty-four years with the history of Wabash College. *
The fate of institutions like this often depends on the men who
* E. O. Hovey, elected trustee November 21, 1832, died March 10. 1877. Caleb Mills began to teach December 3. 1833: died October 17. 1879.
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have them in charge. The persistent loyalty of these two men so many years, their faith and courage, their wisdom to plan, and their force to execute, have proved of inestimable value. Had they, and half a dozen others like them that could be named, faltered when others grew weak, or had they made their life work fragmentary instead of the grand unit which it is, the fate of Wabash College might have been quite different. In the spring of 1834 the college was greatly straightened by debt. The appeals for help at home re- ceived only a feeble response. Prof. Hovey was sent east to solicit help, and plead the cause so well that by the close of the year 1835 he had secured the consent of the Rev. Elihu Baldwin, D.D., to be- come the president of the college. The two secured in money and pledges about $28,000. So that all things considered, Prof. Hovey's agency became a very important part of the early history of the col- lege. Meanwhile the Wabash Manual Labor College and Teachers' Seminary was growing in numbers. The result of the agency at the east seems to have inspired the people at home with the hope not only that the institution would survive, but would bring large sums of money from abroad to be expended here, an expectation that was fully realized. In truth the college was regarded with greater favor at home than it had been before eastern men agreed to send $28,000 to be expended here. The land given by Judge Dunn was west of town. Market street now passes through it. It was conceded that the finest spot for the college was that on which the buildings now stand. The contract for a new building on the Dunn tract had been let in June 1835, but before anything was done an effort was made to secure, either by gift or purchase, ten acres of the tract just. named. This having failed, the trustees, in July 1835, bought the entire quarter-section at $40 an acre, a price deemed large by most persons at that time, and in November following sold all but about forty acres at auction, in parcels, at such prices as to leave them the present campus as the clear profit of the transaction. Never was there a wiser move in the history of the college than that which re- sulted in its removal to its present incomparable acres, not less an honor and glory to the town than pecuniarily an unproductive utility to the institution itself. At once the contract for the building was modified as to location, and in some other respects, and chiefly with funds from the east the new college edifice went up where it now is.
President Baldwin was duly inaugurated, and the new building, after three years of terrible struggle, was so far finished as in 1838 to have it in a temporary chapel, the library of 2,500 volumes, some philosophical apparatus, and the rooms in the south and middle di-
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visions occupied by students. Nothing had been done to the north division as yet. Then came the fire. No one knows positively the origin of the great catastrophe which laid this new building in ruins on the morning of September 23, 1838. The records of the college simply say under that date: "About two o'clock this morning the cry of fire, 'the college is on fire !' was heard, and by half past two the whole roof and fourth story were in one complete blaze. The first impression was that nothing could be done to save any part of it, but after a little consideration a few resolved to make an effort to save the lower stories of the south division, although the most were faithless. A few took hold in good earnest, and eight rooms were saved from the devouring element, being but slightly damaged ; but the college library, society libraries, and the philosophical apparatus, were entirely destroyed." The next day, which was the Sabbath, Prof. John S. Thomson preached a discourse that touched the sym- pathies of a large congregation. His text was a sermon or rather an elegy, whose plaint wrung tears from many eyes. "Our holy and our beautiful house * * * is burned up with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste " (Isaiah lxiv ; 11).
At once the citizens of this town and county showed their sense of the calamity to the town as well as to the college, and made sub- scriptions which were, for the time and circumstances of the com- munity, liberal, as they were also of the highest importance. al- though all told they amounted to less than $5,000.
Although our beautiful house was burned up with fire, the men that built it resolved to rebuild it, and by aid given by the people both at the east and west, and a loan from the state, in one year the work was done. Meanwhile the second and third stories of the Hanna building, Graham corner, were rented for the use of classes.
The payment of the loan of the state and the purchase money for the quarter-section, of which the campus is a part, would itself make an entertaining chapter, but there is not time here to relate it. It is enough to say that the college paid both debts in full. Yet an in- cident may be related. When the quarter-section was bought, on terms with which no fault should be found, the seller would not se- cure his debt by mortgage on the land itself, as is usual in such cases, but required personal security. Two citizens of this county indorsed the notes of the college for over $6,000 without any se- curity for themselves. Their names were William Burbridge and Andrew Shanklin.
On July 11, 1832, the first class was graduated. On September 23 the fire occurred. In September, 1839, the college building was
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again occupied, but at its door stood the voracious debt. On Octo- ber 15, 1840, President Baldwin died, a calamity greater than the fire, and yet though "the workman died the work went on." In October, 1841, the Rev. Charles White, D.D., having been elected Dr. Baldwin's successor, was inaugurated the second president of the college, in July 1842. Dr. White's gifts shed luster to this day on the college. He found it in perilous straits, and from the time when in the little school-room, still back of Center church, he preached his " Nehemiah sermon," to that night when he ascended heaven "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," he fought the college debt. His appeals for years through the " Western College Society," brought money from the east that saved the life of the college. The college records show many names of western men who in their limited means did what they could, but noble as they were they could not alone carry the debt. Before his sudden death, October 29, 1861, Dr. White began to be cheered by some large western subscriptions, one of $10,000, and yet when he passed away amid almost supernal glory, the college was still deep in debt. Its income was exceeded by its out-goes by more than $2,300 a year.
In 1861 Rev. Joseph F. Tuttle, D.D., of New Jersey, was elected president of the college, and he entered on his duties in May 1862. Dr. Tuttle still fills the office at the date of writing this article. During the succeeding years the history of the college has been most inspiring. At a great expense new buildings have been erected, libraries 'and cabinets collected, and apparatus gathered for the aid of those studying the natural sciences. In most respects it compares favorably with the best institutions at the west. It has educated several thousand young men more or less thoroughly, and has a good name among educators both at the west and east.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Under this head we propose to give extended biographies or per- sonal sketches of a large number of leading citizens of Crawfordsville and vicinity-not only of early settlers, but also of the more modern. Many of them have already been mentioned in the preceding pages, but we think it will add vastly to the value of the work, as a book of reference and as a basis for the future historian, to give this depart- ment the most minute detail. As far as practicable they have been ar- ranged in chronological order, or rather in the order of coming to the township or county.
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John Maxwell Cowan, of Crawfordsville, was born in Indianapolis, December 6, 1821. His parents were John and Anna (Maxwell) Cowan, both of Scotch-Irish lineage. His father was a Virginian by birth, and at an early age migrated with the family to the State of Tennessee, locating in the Sewannee valley, where he resided for twenty years, and where a large number of descendants of the family still reside. He subsequently came to Kentucky, and thence to Charlestown, in the then Territory of Indiana. When the " Prophet's war " broke out, he joined the forces commanded by Gen. William Henry Harrison, as a volunteer, and remained in service through the entire campaign, being engaged in the memorable battle of Tippecanoe. After this battle he served for two years as a dragoon scout, until the hostilities between the Wabash tribes and the whites were finally settled. Returning home to Charlestown he made preparations and re- moved to Indianapolis, of which city he was one of the earliest settlers. In the autumn of 1822 he finally removed to Montgomery county, settling on a tract two and a half miles southwest of Crawfordsville, on Offiel's creek, where he engaged in farming. The son was left father- less when he was about eleven years old, and the family estate having been dissipated by the speculation of its administrator, the mother and boy were compelled to struggle with the severest adversity. He thus assumed the burdens of life while yet in childhood, and bore them un- flinchingly and without complaint until the wheel of fortune returned a reward. He entered the preparatory school of Wabash College in 1836 with a determination to obtain a thorough education if nothing else should ever be secured, and after six years was graduated from the classical course with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Soon follow- ing his graduation he received an appointment as deputy clerk of Clin- ton county, and removed to Frankfort. There, snatching fragments of time from the toils of his office, he began the study of law, and in a few years was enabled to attend the law school connected with the University of Indiana at Bloomington, where he was placed under the instruction of Hon. David McDonald, afterward judge of the United States District Court for Indiana. Graduating at the end of one year, he returned to Frankfort and engaged in the active duties of his chosen profession. In 1845 he was married to Harriet D. Janney, a descend- ant of a prominent Quaker family of Virginia, whose paternal ancestors were the Porters of Pennsylvania, and whose maternal ancestors were the Ruples and Judahs of Basle, Switzerland. After their marriage Mr. Cowan formed a law partnership with Hon. James F. Suit, at Frankfort. Mr. Suit was one of the most distinguished advocates of western Indiana, and his talents being supplemented by the energy and
Duo. M. Ciwan
TROUW YORK PUR "' I BRARY
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AHIOP TE OX AND SILDEN FOUNDATION 8 L
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studious habits of his partner, their business rapidly became lucrative. In 1858 Mr. Cowan was nominated for the judgeship in the eighth judicial circuit, composed of the counties of Boone, Clinton, Mont- gomery, Parke, Vermilion, Fountain, and Warren. His competitor was an experienced and able jurist, at the time, on the bench of the cir- cuit, and the political complexion of the counties composing the judicial field was decidedly hostile to his being retired; notwith- standing which, Mr. Cowan's personal popularity, and reputation as a lawyer, gave him the election by a large majority. The term for which he was elected was six years, which were rounded up with the severest and most exacting mental labor. At the expiration of the term he stood so high in popular esteem that he was unanimously renominated by his party and again elected for a similar term without any real op- position from the opposite political party. Completing his labors upon the bench in 1870 he returned to the practice of law at Crawfordsville, where he had removed his family in 1864, forming a partnership with Hon. Thomas M. Patterson, late member of congress from Colorado. At the end of a prosperous connection of two years he became asso- ciated with Hon. M. D. White, and his second son, James E. Cowan, in a new legal firm, which continued for nearly three years, when he finally retired from practice and connected himself with the First Na- tional Bank of Crawfordsville, as assistant cashier, which position he still holds. As is usual with descendants of Scotch ancestry, he, with his family, are adherents of the Presbyterian church. Three sons and one daughter were born to him, all of whom are living and grown to maturity. In person Judge Cowan is tall, slenderly built, of nervous- sanguine temperament, erect carriage and figure, with an air of modest dignity. His disposition is genial, and he delights to meet his friends, for whom and his family he has strong affection. His long and toil- some life has produced a competence with which comfort and serenity are assured to his old age. His wife lives to enjoy with him and their children the fruits of mutual sacrifices and well earned honors.
Mrs. Francis C. Cope was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, January 19, 1811. Her mother and father were members of the United Brethren church, and he was in the war of 1812. In 1817 they moved to Montgomery county, Ohio. She was married and came to this county in 1829. Her husband was S. W. Cope; he died Septem- ber 9, 1869. Mr. Cope was a farmer, a Lutheran, a republican, and one of the early settlers in this county. He was a good citizen and an honest, hard working man. Both of his grandfathers were captains in the revolutionary war. Mrs. Cope is a Christian lady and very liberal and benevolent. In 1875 she contributed $1,200 for building the United
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Brethren church near where she lives. She has about 300 acres, and lives near the city.
Stephen A. Stilwell, deputy city treasurer, Crawfordsville, was born in Montgomery county March 22, 1838, on a farm near Crawfordsville. His father, Jeremiah Stilwell, came from Kentucky and settled in this county in 1820, and assisted in laying out the city of Crawfordsville. He is still living, at an advanced age, an honored and highly respected citizen. His mother's name was Didama. He lived upon a farm until he was twenty-three years of age, and obtained such an education as might be obtained at the district school. When the call was issued asking for brave men to defend our country Mr. Stilwell enlisted in com- pany C, 40th Ind. Vol. Inf., November 15, 1861, as a private. For three years he served his country and was then mustered out. He again en- listed and gallantly fought until the struggle closed, coming home as captain, given him as a reward for his courage, participating in Bowling Green, Perrysville, and Crab Orchard.
Ambrose Whitlock, Esq., of Crawfordsville, Montgomery county, Indiana, whose portrait appears in this work, departed this life June 26, 1873, at the advanced age of ninety-six years, having been identified with Indiana before its organization as a territory and ever since it be- came a state. He had been gradually wearing away for months ; yet such was the tenacity of his iron constitution, hardened by habitual temperance, and exercise in the open air, that on the eve of his de- parture he appeared as though he might survive many days longer, even weeks and months. On the morning of his death he requested to be carried out in his chair that he might once more enjoy his favorite seat in summer under the shade of a tree on the lawn which had been planted by his own hand, and had become in size one of the monarchs of the forest. He had been seated only a few minutes when he was observed by the attendants to have closed his eyes, as if in a doze, and on approaching him they found the vital spark extinct. Maj. Whitlock was born in the then colony of Virginia, in May 1767. He en- tered the army of the United States in 1788 as a private soldier, and by his merits soon rose from the ranks and was commissioned an officer in one of the regiments of infantry. He assisted in the erection of Fort Washington, now the city of Cincinnati, at which time the only dwell- ings in that western commercial emporium were a few log cabins. In 1790 he served as a soldier in the army commanded by Gen. Harmar, in an expedition against the Indians on the Maumee, in which, as he emphatically asserted to the present writer, " Harmar was not defeated," as the books relate, for he with the bulk of the army, including the regulars, was not within thirty miles of the place of his reputed defeat ;
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yet the purpose of his campaign was frustrated by the rashness of two militia regiments of mounted riflemen, who could not be restrained, and were massacred almost to a man near what is now the city of Fort Wayne. He served under Gen. Wayne in his expedition against the Indians in 1794, which resulted in their overwhelming defeat, on the Manmee, near what is now Toledo, and led to the treaty of Greenville in 1795. It was during this campaign that he assisted in the building of Fort Wayne, where he was stationed for some time. Having risen to the rank of captain he was stationed at Fort Massac, Illinois, on the lower Ohio, and at other places in the southwest, and served with that part of the army which constructed the great military road from Tennes- see through the Choctaw and Cherokee countries to Louisiana. Under the administration of President Jefferson he was appointed paymaster, with the rank of major of the United States army, in the western and southwestern departments. While officiating in this capacity he car- ried his funds in keel-boats to the military stations on the Mississippi, Ohio and Wabash rivers, amid the dark domains of savage life, the boats being propelled by soldiers, who also acted as a guard ; and on horseback over the vast prairies of Illinois, and through the forests of Indiana. In this hazardous employment hundreds of thousands of dol- lars passed through his hands to the soldiers without the loss or the misapplication of a cent. At the momorable interview between Gen. Harrison and Tecumseh, at Vincennes, in 1811, Maj. Whitlock was present, and his account of that affair puts a very different face upon the transaction than what has been usually delineated. After the termina- tion of the war of 1812, somewhere about 1817, Maj. Whitlock retired from the army to civil life, and in 1822 was appointed receiver of public money in the land office, which, by the direction of the Hon. Wil- liam H. Crawford, the secretary of the treasury, he located at the place which he called Crawfordsville, after the name of the distinguished secre- tary, whe was his personal and political friend. In this office he continued discharging its duties with his wonted strict integrity until 1829, when, under pretense of some defalcation, which, however, proved to be false, and the government shown to be largely indebted to him (a debt which has never been paid), he was removed. While he officiated as receiver a portion only of the paper currency of the country, for several years, was receivable at the land office, and sometimes those who went to en- ter land would be deficient a few dollars in land office money to pay for the land selected; in such instances Maj. Whitlock would give them re- ceipts in full, and trust them for the amount of the then current money. If they offered to give their notes he refused to receive them, saying : " If you are honest you will pay me without giving your notes, and if
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you are dishonest you will not pay if you do give your notes." This is one of the many instances of his kindness of heart, and of his well known reputation and character as the poor man's friend. Maj. Whit- lock was, in all his relations and doings, a man of unbending integrity. He was so from an innate sense of right and justice, as he was in subse- quent life from Christian principle. He never knowingly wronged any man, and he was serupulously just and upright in his dealings with the government as in his private business transactions. "An honest man, the noblest work of God," would indeed be his appropriate and truthful epitaph. An instance of this, and at the same time of his out- spoken western manner, occurred in Washington City under the admin- istration of President Monroe. He went to the proper office in the treasury department to have his accounts audited. In the settlement he discovered an error in the accounts as kept by the clerks of some $50,000 against the United States and in his favor. He knew it to be an error, and so told the clerks, adding : " You don't know how to keep books here." The clerks felt themselves insulted and ordered him out of the office. " Yes," said he, " I will go and bring your master to look into the matter." He went to the secretary of the treasury, his friend Mr. Crawford, who accompanied him to the auditing office, and upon examination found the major was right and the clerks utterly wrong, and that there was in truth $50,000 due the government, which the up- right soldier, honest even to sternness in his demeanor, instantly paid, and his accounts were closed. This act carries with it its own com- ment. Maj. Whitlock was a sincere, unostentatious Christian, and ex- emplified his faith by a consistent life and conversation. He was a lib- eral contributor to the parish of St. John's church, Crawfordsville, of which for many years he was the senior church warden, donating the commodious lot on which the church stands, and gave, it is believed, the larger part of the money expended in its erection and subsequent renovation. He was a devout attendant on the services of the church as long as his failing strength and increasing infirmities would allow. He died in full communion, departing in "a reasonable, religious and holy hope of resurrection unto eternal life," through the atoning merits of the Saviour, in whom he put all his trust and confidence, and whom for many long years he had endeavored to serve " with a pure heart, fervently," striving in all things to maintain "a conscience void of of- fense toward God and toward man."
William W. Galey (deceased) was born August 31, 1803, in Shelby county, Kentucky, and received but a limited education. He learned the tailoring trade, and in 1823 came to Montgomery county and set- tled near Waveland, keeping a tailor shop nntil 1824, then moved to
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Crawfordsville and carried on his trade. In 1853 he engaged in farm- ing the land, a part of which is now Oak Hill cemetery. In 1865 Mr. Galey retired from active labor and lived in Crawfordsville until death, which occurred in 1872. He was an early whig and later a stal- wart republican, but never sought office. He was an intimate friend of Gov. Lane, and at the time when the latter ran for congress Mr. Galey aided materially in canvassing the district in his favor and re- publicanism. He sent two sons to the civil war, was a member of the Presbyterian church, a man of strict integrity and who stood high in his community. He was married to Lucy Wilhite, sister to the Wilhite brothers, of Crawfordsville. His family was always large, made so by the number of poor people he continually aided and children he raised. His sons, Beal V. and Milton H., are now successful dentists in Craw- fordsville. Beal V. Galey, son of W. W. and Lucy (Wilhite) Galey, was born December 14, 1833, in a log house that stood on the spot now known as the Hartman corner, in Crawfordsville. Milton H., William L., and sister (Mrs. George D. Hurley), were born on the same spot. Mr. Galey attended the county seminary, and also a short time at Wabash College. In 1852 he began the study of dentistry in the office of Dr. J. F. Canine, with whom he studied three years, becoming as- sociated for a short time with the doctor. In 1867, in conjunction with his brother, Milton H., he opened an office, and by close attention to business and good work he has become established. Mr. Galey was married in 1861, to Elizabeth Lee, daughter of Judge Henry Lee, and cousin · to Col. Lee, of Crawfordsville. They have three children, Mabel, Virgil, and Mand. Mr. and Mrs. Galey are members of the Methodist church. He is solidly republican. Milton H. Galey was born September 14, 1837. His education was gained partly at Wabash College, but mostly in the county seminary. On the evening of the Sunday on which Fort Sumter was fired the name of Milton H. Galey was enrolled as a volunteer to aid in suppressing the rebellion. On Monday, the next day, he started for Indianapolis, where he was mustered in. He was first sent to Cumberland, Maryland, where he staid some time, then went to Harper's Ferry, and from there he came home. He was afterward stationed at Lonisville, where he studied dentistry with Drs. McClelland and Canine. Then returning he went to Watseka, Illinois, where he practiced dentistry for two years. In 1867 he became associated with his brother, B. V., and the Galey Brothers have become a well known firm in the dental work. He was married December 29, 1870, to Frances S. McClintock, daughter of James and Elizabeth McClintock. She was born May 17, 1840, in Ross county, Ohio. Her father was born in 1798, and mother in 1805,
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