USA > Indiana > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery county, Indiana; with personal sketches of representative citizens, Volume II > Part 15
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Richard Breaks, Sr., was married three times. After the death of his
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first wife, Hannah Beard, he married Mary Stine, a native of this section of Indiana, of which her father, John Stine, was a pioneer. After her death on the Breaks farm here, Mr. Breaks was united with Eliza King in the bonds of wedlock.
After replacing the old house with a large, substantial dwelling and add- ing a number of convenient buildings and making many other improvements, Mr. Breaks settled down on his farm to enjoy the fruits of his labors of former years. His extensive landed estate was gradually lessened by virtue of the fact that he gave each of his children eighty acres of land at the time of their marriage. Here he continued to reside quietly until he was called to his eternal rest at a very ripe old age, after a successful and honorable career. He was loved and respected by all, having been an honest, hospitable and upright man in every respect.
To the first union of Richard Breaks, Sr., and wife were born six chil- dren, of whom the following are named: Sarah, who married Peter Garner, is deceased; Anna is the wife of Jacob Miller ; Hannah is now Mrs. Jonathan Everett; John B. was the father of Amos G. Breaks, the immediate subject of this article. The children of Mr. Breaks and his second wife were four in number and named as follows: Richard, Jr., long a well known farmer of this county, is now deceased; Harrison was next in order; Calvin's name then appears on the list; and Thomas, the youngest, is deceased. To the third union of the senior Breaks and wife was born only one child, Alvin, a sketch of whom appears on other pages of this work.
Amos G. Breaks, our subject, worked on the home farm, there remain- ing until he was capable of managing a farm of his own. He has followed general agricultural and stock raising pursuits all his life and has met with a large measure of success, having inherited the skill as a husbandman and also the energy to carry it out effectively from his father and grandfather before him. He, however, retired from farming on a large scale some eight years ago, and moved into the city of Crawfordsville where he owns a pleasant and substantial home and here he is still residing, but has continued to oper- ate his farm in a general way. It lies in Union township and consists of one hundred and fifty-three acres, well improved in every respect and highly productive.
Politically, Mr. Breaks is a Republican. He belongs to the Methodist church, and is a Mason, attaining the Knights Templar degrees in that Order.
Mr. Breaks was married on March 5, 1885 to Mary Elliot, daughter of William and Maria Elliot, an early pioneer and honored family of Mont-
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gomery county. Mrs. Breaks was born in Ripley township, this county, and here she grew to womanhood and received a common school education.
To the union of our subject and wife one child was born, Virginia M., the date of her birth being November, 1906. She is in the local grade schools.
JOSEPH GOLDBERG.
The most elaborate history is perforce a merciless abridgment, the his- torian being obliged to select his facts and materials from manifold details and to marshal them in concise and logical order. This applies to specific as well as generic history, and in the former category is included the interest- ing and important department of biography. In every life of honor and use- fulness there is no dearth of interesting situations and incidents, and yet in summing up such a career as that of Joseph Goldberg, one of the leading busi- ness men of Crawfordsville and one of the best known and most successful dealers in hides and furs in the Middle West, the writer needs touch only on the more salient facts, giving the keynote of the character and eliminating all that is superfluous to the continuity of the narrative. Mr. Goldberg has led an active, useful and honorable life, not entirely void of the exciting, but the more prominent have been so identified with the useful and practical that it is to them almost entirely that the writer refers in the following paragraphs.
Mr. Goldberg was born in Poland, April 5, 1852. His parents both died in the old country. His father was a farmer, tanner and contractor, and, being industrious and a good manager, had a very comfortable income, and a good home.
Joseph Goldberg spent his boyhood in his native land and there received his early education, which has been greatly supplemented later in life by con- tact with the business world and by extensive home reading. When a young man he left Poland in order to escape military service, which was enforced by the Russians, our subject being very much opposed to the military sys- tem. The trip was a tedious one, and he was sixteen days on the water. He landed in New York City with twenty-five cents in his pocket, but he had plenty of grit and ambition, and he was soon working for a friend for one dollar and fifty cents per day. After working two weeks, during which timne he had saved enough to defray his expenses to Chicago, he made his way thither and worked there six months, then purchased a horse and wagon and drove to Evansville, Indiana, and remained there for two years engaged in
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the junk business. On account of the disagreeable climate of Evansville he drove to Indianapolis where he spent thirteen years, very successfully engaged in business, then came to Crawfordsville, and established his present business which has rapidly grown with the years. He has shipped two million pounds of hides, furs, pelts of all kinds, and is one of the best known dealers in this line in the country, shippers sending their hides and furs to him from remote parts of the country, and the fact that a great many of his regular shippers have remained with him for years, refusing to ship to any one else is sufficient proof of his honest treatment, his sound business judgment, and his uniform courtesy. He undertands thoroughly every phase of his business and no bet- ter judge of the value, grades, and varieties of furs and hides could be found. He is deserving of great credit for what he has accomplished in the face of obstacles, having started with nothing and had no one to aid him.
Mr. Goldberg was married on March 10, 1875 to Setty Hart, of Indi- anapolis, and to this union four children were born, one of whom is deceased; the living are: Fannie, who married Morris Block, of Oskosh, Wisconsin ; Hannah, who is the wife of Edward Epstine, of St. Paul, Minnesota ; Harry. who is at home, is in partnership with his father in business.
JAMES A. VAIL.
One of the best remembered and most highly respected citizens of Mont- gomery county in a past generation, who, after a successful and honorable career, have taken up their journey to that mystic clime, Shakespeare's "undis- covered bourne, from whence no traveler e'er returns," leaving behind him a heritage of which his descendants may well be proud-an untarnished name- was James A. Vail who grew up in this locality when the early settlers, of whom his father, was one, were redeeming the rich soil from the primordial state, and here he played well his role in the drama of civilization. He was a man of industry and public spirit, willing at all times to do his full share in the work of development, never neglecting his larger duties to humanity, being obliging and neighborly, kind and genial, which made him popular with all classes and won the respect and good will of those with whom he came into contact. Thus for many reasons we are glad to give his personal biography a place in the history of his locality.
Mr. Vail was born on November 22, 1847, at Oak Hill, Indiana. He was a son of James and Martha A. (Clevenger) Vail. The father was one
A D. Val
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of the early settlers of Montgomery county and he became well established here through his industry. He located near what is now Oak Hill when this locality was very sparsely settled.
James A. Vail grew to manhood on the home farm and there he worked hard when a boy, and he received his education in the common schools of his neighborhood, and when a young man he took up general farming for a livelihood which he followed all his life with much success, on a large scale, owning a finely improved farm, and he paid particular attention to stock rais- ing, preparing large numbers of cattle and hogs for the market. He had a commodious home and was one of the substantial men of his neighborhood.
Mr. Vail was married on October 31, 1872, to Amanda L. Blue, daugh- ter of John M. and Mary Ann ( Smith) Blue, a highly respected and well known couple. A complete sketch of the Blue family is to be found on an- other page of this work under the caption of James Blue. The following children were born to John M. Blue and wife; Amanda L., wife of our sub- ject ; Martin is deceased; Anna married Frank Royer ; and James.
Five children were born to James A. Vail and wife, namely : Martha A. who married Matt Barton, lives in Madison township: John F. lives in Lin- den, this county: Arthur A. lives in Madison township; Elizabeth married Samuel Murdock, of Union township: Bessie Katherine married Charley Blacketer and they live in Madison township.
Politically, Mr. Vail was a Republican, but was never especially active in public affairs. He belonged to the New Light Christian church and was faithful in his support of the same. Fraternally, he belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, both at Linden.
The death of James A. Vail occurred on April 16, 1912.
RYLAND T. BROWN.
In the decades preceding and following the War of the States, and dur- ing that internecine strife, the state of Indiana produced a brilliant coterie of men who became prominent in national affairs, men of various walks and professions, of creeds and convictions, who succeeded in stamping the in- delible impress of their personalities upon their generation. One of these was Ryland T. Brown, who made his mark in the ministry, in the realm of medicine and in the field of chemistry, attaining such proficiency and eminence in the latter that he was raised to the exalted position of chief chemist of the
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Agricultural Department at Washington, under President Garfield. He was a man of sterling attributes of head and heart, a profound scholar and un- swerving patriot, and a man who eminently deserved his large success and honor, and biographical memoir of such a worthy character must needs enhance very greatly the value of a work of the province assigned to the one in hand. He was well known to many of the readers of the same, and was the father of Capt. George R. Brown, one of Crawfordsville's leading citizens.
Mr. Brown was born October 5, 1807, in Lewis county, Kentucky. His ancestors, on both sides of the house, were originally from Wales. His par- ents were exemplary members of the Baptist church, his father being noted as a leader in the singing exercises of the congregation. Both the families from which he was descended were remarkable for their longevity. In the spring of 1809 his father removed to Ohio, and settled near New Richmond, in Clermont county, when that country was a wilderness. But there our sub- ject enjoyed good educational advantages for those days. He was not a robust lad and his parents shielded him from the hard work of the farm, and did all in their power to give him a good education, and he made rapid prog- ress. His teacher was not only an able Yankee scholar, but a zealous Bap- tist, who did not neglect the moral and religious training of those under his charge, and his lessons sank deep into the heart and mind of young Brown; and this together with the counsel and example of his pious parents, de- termined the direction of the whole current of his subsequent life.
Early in 1821 his father removed to Indiana and settled in what is now the southeastern part of Rush county. But three years before, that country was ceded to the United States by the Delaware Indians and it was only in a few places that the trees had been removed from what had been their hunting grounds. Here the delicate young student was transferred from the con- finement and exhaustive toil of the school room to the invigorating labors, hardships, and privations of a backwoods life. For the first few years after removing to Indiana, he was employed much of the time as guide to land- hunters. In this employment he not only became an expert woodsman and a second Nimrod, or "mighty hunter," but here also he began to form the active habits, and to acquire the fondness for out-door pursuits, for which he was distinguished through subsequent life. The change of occupation also contributed greatly to his physical development. In the spring of 1822, being then in his fifteenth year, he made a profession of faith in Christ, was immersed and united with a Baptist congregation, known as the "Clifty church." He had no further oportunity of attending school, but devoured
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all the books he could find. He was of that type which did not need to be taught ; all he asked was the means of learning. In the fall of 1825 his father died. It was this sad event that directed the mind of the son to the study of diseases and remedies, and determined his profession for life. In 1826 he became a Reformer, though formerly a loyal Baptist. For over three years he devoted his attention exclusively to the study of medicine. His knowledge of this subject, as well as others, was principally acquired without a master; and but few men who have attained to equal eminence in the pro- fession have qualified themselves under greater difficulties. Out of the bones of an Indian exhumed near his father's farm he constructed an im- perfect skeleton, to aid him in the study of anatomy and physiology. Dur- ing the latter twenties he attended the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1829. Returning to Rush county in search of a location for the practice of his profession he found a stir among the churches, in which he took a prominent part, and he was selected as the first victim in the state to be sacrificed on the altar of sectarian bigotry. He was arraigned on the very general charge of "being a Campbell- ite," and, as such, was excluded from the church. In May, 1830 he joined the church then organized at Little Flat Rock, known as the Church of Christ, which was destined to become in a few years and remain for many years one of the largest and most influential in the state, and in it Dr. Brown did a great work.
Having in 1829 married Mary Reeder, he, in the summer of 1832, located at Connersville, Fayette county, there to establish himself in the prac- tice of medicine. Here he had to compete with old and experienced phy- sicians under many disadvantages, not the least of which was his religion. The Reformation of the nineteenth century was then and there known only in caricatures of a prejudiced pulpit, and to be simply a disciple of the Lord Jesus, without being identified with any orthodox sect, was looked upon as evidence of great ignorance or impiety, and was therefore a great re- proach. But Dr. Brown was not the man to deny the faith for the sake of popularity or financial success. Both publicly and privately he proclaimed "all the words of this life," without regard to his own reputation or pecuni- ary interests. By close attention to business, and a manly advocacy of the truth, he was soon well respected in both his professions. The people favored him with a liberal patronage and, what was far more gratifying to him, they gladly received the word and were baptized. Shut out of the orthodox churches he made a sanctuary of the court-house, in which he soon
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held a revival meeting. In January, 1833, the Church of Christ was organ- ized in Connersville, by Dr. Brown, assisted by Elder O'Kane. From this time until the year 1842, he preached extensively through the White Water country ; and his name is identified with the early history of many churches in that region. By these labors and his arduous duties as a physician, his health was so impaired that he abandoned the practice of medicine, but con- tinued his work in the church. At the state meeting held at Connersville, in June, 1842, he was one of four who were appointed to labor throughout the state in behalf of this church, but he was later forced to resign on account of failing health. In the spring of 1844 he located at Crawfordsville, Mont- gomery county, and resumed the practice of medicine in connection with preaching. For years past he had devoted his leisure hours to the improve- ment of his education-especially to the study of natural science; and his residence in Crawfordsville he made equivalent to a regular course in college. Wabash College being located at that place, he was admitted to a free use of its library, which was extensive, for those days, and also its philosophical apparatus. This golden opportunity he improved so well that in 1850, he received from that institution the honorary degree of Master of Arts, and it was justly merited.
In 1854 he acted as state geologist, by the appointment of Governor Wright, who differed in politics, and was therefore not influenced in the selection, by partisan considerations. In this capacity Dr. Brown traversed almost every nook and corner of the state, finding,
"Books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything."
In 1858 he was elected to the chair of natural science in the Northwest- ern Christian University, now Butler College, at Indianapolis, to which place he removed in August of that year. There he continued to reside, dis- tinguished as an instructor, and indefatigable as a preacher. Later he be- came chemist in the Indiana Medical College at that city. Although ad- vanced in age, his work as a chemist was so superior to that of his contem- poraries that he was selected as chief chemist of the Agricultural Depart- ment at Washington, D. C., under President James A. Garfield, in 1881, which responsible position he held in an eminently creditable and acceptable manner.
After his retirement from the active duties of life he lived quietly in his home in the capital of the Hoosier state, enjoying his books and individual
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research work, until four or five years later when he was summoned to his eternal rest in May, 1890, full of honors and of years, like a sheaf fully ripened. He had done a noble work and his career was an enviable one, fraught with great good to humanity. In all his labors, whether as physician, geologist, or professor, he almost invariably devoted the first day of the week to the ministry of the word. Having thus performed double duty, he was counted worthy of double honor. He was also among the first, and was ever among the most zealous, advocates of the Temperance Reform, not only in Indiana, but in other states of the Union. He traveled extensively as a public lecturer on that subject, and for years he stood at the head of the temperance organization in his state. He preached the whole of the apostle's doctrine-"roughteousness, temperance and judgment to come."
Though he was never a candidate for office he took an active part in politics. True to his convictions of right and duty he acted with the Free Soil party in the latter forties when it seemed to be a hopeless minority. He was stigmatized as an abolitionist even before that term assumed an applica- tion so general as to include almost every good and loyal citizen. Although he was firmly opposed to slavery he denied the right of the general govern- ment to abolish it in the states. For many years he exerted no inconsiderable influence through the medium of the press, many learned and entertaining articles appearing in the various journals of his day, on religious, educa- tional, agricultural, medical and political subjects, all being very ably and skillfully handled, in all of these movements being somewhat ahead of his times. It is not extravagant to say that had he been properly educated and introduced to nature in early life, he might have rivaled Agassiz or Humbolt in the number and value of his scientific achievements. He was familiar with all branches of learning, and while his knowledge of books was profound and general it was said of him that he knew more of nature than of books. He was fully abreast of the times in political and other current questions. Nothing was so minute as to escape his attention. As a speaker he ranked above mediocrity, having a pleasant voice of great compass, which he em- ployed in eloquence and earnestness. In society and in public, in the sick room and at home, he was, like Brutus, "a plain, blunt man," yet he was kind and hospitable, and sufficiently affable. He possessed an indomitable will, and was noted for great decision of character. He was of that class of men who suffer-not only reproach, but martyrdom, if need be, for their religion or cherished principles. He was a man of remarkable active habits. And he found time to work his garden and tend his plants every year, delight-
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ing in ont-door labor. He was often known to walk ten miles to preach or perform some needed service. He received much attention everywhere from the press and the people. A very eulogistic biography of him appears in a popular book of a half century ago, "Pioneer Preachers of Indiana," by Madison Evans, published in Philadelphia in 1862. He was described at that time, "The burden of his years is light upon him; and his present con- dition and appearance, the poet Cowper has well described in the following lines :
"A sparkling eye beneath a wrinkled front The vet'ran shows, and, gracing a gray beard With youthful smiles, descends toward the grave Sprightly, and old almost without decay."
WALTER F. HULET.
A man of tireless energy and indomitable courage is Walter F. Hulet, one of the well known business men of Crawfordsville, Montgomery county, who, by the proper exercise of those talents and qualities which have been carefully cultivated from his boyhood, has reached a position in the public mind which insures him of the good will and respect due a man of his attri- butes. His record is pre-eminently entitled to a careful study, not only on the part of the student of biography, but also of every citizen who, guided by his example would in the present build wisely for the future. In studying "a clean-cut, sane, distinct character like that of Mr. Hulet, interpretation fol- lows fact in a straight line of derivation. There is small use for indirection or puzzling. His character is the positive expression of a strong nature.
Mr. Hulet was born on September 27, 1854, in Putnam county, Indiana, where he spent his early childhood, being eleven years of age when he re- moved with his parents to Montgomery county in 1865. He is a son of John and Louisa (Johnston) Hulet. The father was born on April 12, 1815, at Maysville, Kentucky, from which place he moved to Putnam county, Indiana, when a boy. His death occurred in 1911. The mother of our subject was born in 1820 in North Carolina, and her death occurred on December 31, 1879. She was a strong character, was highly respected, and was an in- fluential worker in the Baptist church.
John Hulet did the work of a man when he was growing up, and he assisted in clearing land in Putnam county when a mere boy. In early life
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he learned the carpenter's trade which he followed in connection with general farming and stock buying and shipping the rest of his life. His family con- sisted of eight children, four of whom grew to maturity and two of them are still living : they were named Sarah, Henry C., James J., all deceased ; William L. is living; Walter F., subject of this sketch; Anna, Mary and Frank, all deceased.
Walter F. Hulet grew to manhood on the home farm and there he did his share of the work during the summer months and he received a common school education, which was greatly supplemented by the teaching received from his mother.
Mr. Hulet has been twice married, first, in August, 1878, to Mary Craig, who was a native of this county. Her death occurred in 1890. To this union one child was born, Jennie Fay, born in 1882, died the same year.
On October 15, 1896, Mr. Hulet was married to Maud Cowan, who was born in Montgomery county on October 9, 1864. She is a daughter of John- athan H. and Mary M. (Jones) Cowan, her mother later marrying Marion P. Wolfe. Her father was born in April 26, 1829 and was one of the Union sympathizers who started for the front during the Civil war, but died on his way to the Southland, on April 15, 1864. His widow, born in 1840 is still living, making her home with our subject. Mrs. Hulet received a high school education.
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