USA > Indiana > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery county, Indiana; with personal sketches of representative citizens, Volume II > Part 40
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Mr. Gerard showed his unlimited faith in fraternal insurance by carrying practically all of his fifteen thousand dollars of life insurance in fraternal orders. In founding the Tribe of Ben-Hur one of his ideas was to give in- surance at more reasonable rates than is charged by old-line insurance com- panies. He studied rate table after rate table and every plain imaginable was tried out in his mind. The plans and tables of all the fraternal orders in existence were studied by him, and by taking the best that was in all of them he molded together the plans that were to be followed by the Tribe of Ben-Hur. There were many months of anxious watching and sleepless nights, but they have all been rewarded.
Besides being a shrewd and capable business man and organizer, Mr. Gerard was a convincing and forceful speaker and a clear and logical writer. In the eighties, while engaged in the real estate and insurance business, he became interested in The Indiana Farmer, of Indianapolis, a publication still in existence which circulates among the farmers in Indiana and other states. He was editor of the magazine for awhile and helped to make it a better, bigger and more popular paper. As soon as the supreme tribe of Ben-Hur was organized, Mr. Gerard decided to publish a monthly paper, telling the members what was being done in the society and keeping them informed with regard to matters of interest. Many of the best articles that have appeared in The Chariot have been from his able pen.
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In addition to his connection with the Supreme Tribe of Ben-Hur, Mr. Gerard was also associated with a number of other business enterprises of Crawfordsville. He was a stockholder and director of the Elston National Bank, and he was one of the original stockholders of the Crawfordsville State Bank. He was one of the men most interested in the establishment of the Crawfordsville Wire Bound Box Company.
During all these years Mr. Gerard was a very public-spirited citizen. He was interested-and deeply interested, too-in everything that has been for the welfare and best interests of the city of Crawfordsville. He was proud of his city, proud of her citizens, proud of her position as one of the best little cities of Indiana.
For years Mr. Gerard was a devout member of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Crawfordsville. He held membership in a number of fraternal orders besides Ben-Hur, including the Foresters, Protected Home Circle, Knights and Ladies of Security, Woodmen of the World and Ancient Order of United Workmen. He also belonged to the Knights of Pythias, the Improved Order of Red Men and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was a charter member of the Crawfordsville lodge of Elks.
Mr. Gerard was a man with a kind heart and a broad sympathy and charity. For years after his marriage his widowed mother made her home with him and he was always strongly devoted to her. Her every wish and desire was gratified and his love for his mother was unbounded. . He was also a kind and loving father, strongly attached to his family and devoted to them much more than is the average father. His family consists of two daughters and one son, all of whom are married and living in Crawfordsville: Mrs. Dr. J. F. Davidson, Mrs. Charles W. Iliff and Dr. Royal H. Gerard. Mr. Gerard also leaves two brothers, Charles, of Crawfordsville, and Abner, of Long Beach, California. Wesley Gerard, of Wisconsin, is a half-brother.
Mr. Gerard was generous to a fault. He regarded truth and honor above all else. Charity and benevolence formed one of the ruling motives of his life. He was a sincere friend, a kind neighbor and an admirable citizen. The influences of his life will live in Crawfordsville and, in fact, in Indiana and the world through succeeding generations, and the Supreme Tribe of Ben-Hur will forever remain a lasting monument. In thinking of Mr. Gerard's life, one recalls the language the immortal Shakespeare spoke through his character Antonius :
"His life is gentle and the elements So mixed in him, that nature can stand up And say to all the world, This is a man."
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At his late beautiful residence on East Main street, Crawfordsville, Indiana, on Monday, January 3, 1910, David W. Gerard passed to his eternal rest, after a brief illness, his sudden taking away coming as a profound shock to thousands of friends and admirers. He was sixty-six years old.
In view of the universal prominence of David W. Gerard and in order to show the widespread esteem in which he was held, we quote at some length from the eulogies pronounced upon him, reprinting briefly from a few of the many thousands.
John C. Snyder, supreme scribe of the Tribe of Ben-Hur, said: "For fifteen years I have been connected in business with Mr. Gerard, and during that time have had occasion to know him very well indeed. Those who were closest to him can best testify to his great and generous impulses and his broad principles. I think one of his greatest virtues was his keen sympathy for his fellow men. Were they properous, he rejoined with them; if un- fortunate, he was always ready to offer substantial aid. No movement for good was ever too great to challenge his admiration and approval; none ever too small to escape his notice. He had had a wide experience in business affairs, and I regarded him as a man of most extraordinary attainments. Aside from his immediate family and close relatives, to whom he was always a bulwark of safety, he will be greatly missed by his neighbors, his friends and his business associates. It is a pleasure to testify to the virtues of one so generally admired."
S. E. Voris, mentioned in preceding paragraphs, said: "I have been associated closely with Mr. Gerard in business for the past sixteen years, and I have always found him to be a man of advanced ideas. He was full of good suggestions and upon every occasion had just the right thing to sug- gest. He possessed wonderful energy and industry. He was a natural fraternalist and was a great believer in the brotherhood of man. He gave the closing years of his life for this great cause and he succeeded in his pur- pose. He was the most kind-hearted man I ever knew, and I never knew a more companionable man. It was a delight to be in his company. He was liberal and charitable and the deeds of charity which he did are many, very many. He thought ill of no one. In his death Crawfordsville loses one of her very best citizens."
Gilbert Howell said: "Not only his family, the Tribe of Ben-Hur, his fellow officers and his home community sustained a loss when Mr. Gerard passed over the great divide, but the fraternal world has been robbed of one
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of its most shining lights, brightest and most brilliant exponents. He was honored and loved as has been the lot of but few men, and his genial and kindly personality, his undaunted faithful friendship, his zealous exposition of fraternal brotherhood, have wrought mightily for good in the world and we can truthfully say, 'He has been a friend to man.' As one of the founders of the Supreme Tribe of Ben-Hur he has builded a living monument in the hearts of grateful widows and orphans which will endure for ages, and by his broad vision and grasp of financial affairs, his leadership of men, the fraternal world will continue to pay him grateful homage. He was one of the pioneers whose labors have made it possible for the great fraternal army to bring sunshine and cheer into the homes darkened by the Grim Reaper, and although he has passed away, the work he has inaugurated, and the move- ment for the betterment of mankind will continue to bless and help humanity. I cannot pay him a higher tribute than to say, 'He loved all men, and was by all men beloved.'"
John R. Bonnell, a member of the executive committee of the Supreme Tribe of Ben-Hur, said: "Mr. Gerard was to me a man in whom I felt that 'I could pin my faith.' I regarded him in many respects as superior to all in the fraternal world. He, in my humble judgment, did more to make famous our beloved city than all others, save General Wallace."
Col. Isaac C. Elston said : "Mr. Gerard was a most kind neighbor and affectionate father, devoted to his family, with a cheerful, cordial greeting for all his friends, and was ever ready to give credit for good deeds and ex- cuse mistakes in others. During the past five years I have constantly met him in directors' meetings of the bank with which we have been identified, and learned to admire his business ability and respect his sound judgment in finance; it was as a builder that his talents were most conspicuous, as the phenomenal growth and success of the Supreme Tribe of Ben-Hur, promoted, organized and guided by him to its present enviable position in the insurance world, bears testimony."
G. H. D. Sutherland, publisher of the Crawfordsville Review, had the following to say, editorially, in his paper, on January 4, 1910: "David W. Gerard is dead. This was the message quickly spread about the city Monday night when the angel of the Almighty came with a message and summoned him home. With patience and fortitude he had endured the agonies that were his portion ere the spirit was loosed from his mortal body and dissolu- tion was at hand. His last recognition of human countenance was a smile for his son.
(73)
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"When the end comes for a man like 'Dave' Gerard it isn't hard, for friends at least, to say: 'Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory ? He is not dead. He lives on and will continue to live in the lives of succeeding generations as long as there shall be a Supreme Tribe of Ben-Hur. He leaves a monument, noble and ever-increasing, which promises to flourish as long as 'the milk of human kindness' flows from human breast. He was a kindly soul. In it was a prodigal wealth of charity that knew no bounds. He lived to spread the gospel of brotherly love. He believed the highest good can be accomplished by benefiting his brother man.
"In his early business days he dealt in various kinds of insurance and he long cherished a dream of establishing a fraternal insurance society. He studied Gen. Lew Wallace's book Ben-Hur and pictured a beautiful ritual taken from its pages. His sympathies extended to men and women and so the organization which he founded was unrestricted as to sex. Men and women alike are taught the beautiful lesson from Ben-Hur. Launched in a year of panic, with moderate financial backing, the Supreme Tribe of Ben- Hur had many an obstacle to overcome and little to encourage its founder and those intimately associated with him. But optimism is a splendid asset and Mr. Gerard had large deposits in that bank. He surrounded himself with shrewd business men and worked indefatigably himself to get the order started. It is necessary here to refer to statistics to establish his ultimate success. He lived long enough to 'see his dreams come true.'
"Great as is the blow which the Supreme Tribe of Ben Hur has sustained in Mr. Gerard's death, the order will survive it and go majestically forward in its mission of relieving humanity of some of its ills. This is one of the best testimonials to his greatness. The society is so thoroughly organized, so surely established, so well directed by the executive board, that its future will see nothing but development and growth.
"Mr. Gerard was an uncommon man. He started life with handicaps that have kept many men down to the level of the common place, but his am- bition enabled him to surmount every obstacle, and first attain an educa- tion, hard enough at the best half a century ago. That prepared him for ad- vancement later on. No one loved Crawfordsville more than David W. Gerard. He invested his means here and he predicted growth, development and prosperity as her portion in the years to come. He was ever ready with a word of encouragement for any young man who would make his home here and attempt to assist in building up the city. Mr. Gerard was thoroughly honest. The Supreme Tribe of Ben-Hur has a clean record, free from any
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suspicion of graft, during its entire life of sixteen years. He did not at- tempt to take advantage of his position and influence to advance his own interests. He stood ever for the good of the order, desiring that every mem- ber should share in its prosperity and growth.
"Crawfordsville will miss this kindly man. He was sociable and none was so humble but shared in his pleasant greeting. His smile and his hand- shake carried with them sincerity and warmth of hearty good feeling. His family and his relatives are assured that they have the sympathy of the citi- zens of Crawfordsville in this, the hour of their affliction."
The second day of the seventh regular meeting of the Supreme Tribe of Ben-Hur, Wednesday, May 22, 1910, a report was made by the memorial committee, which was unanimously adopted, and five thousand copies of a "Memorial Volume" was ordered printed, containing report of said com- mittee, and including the remarks offered by some of the members present upon that occasion. We reprint the closing lines of the committee's report : "This great society of the Sons and Daughters of Hur will forever be a living monument to his matchless genius and wisdom. He builded wiser than he knew or even dreamed, because he builded upon the eternal principles of truth, benevolence and honor. He discovered the gate to the paradise of God open wide, and the words 'whosoever will, let him enter, and partake of the fruit of the life-giving tree in the midst thereof'; he seized the opportunity, sat beneath that tree and plucked therefrom the fruit that inspired him to see visions and dream dreams. For he was a man of visions and prophecy, an optimist of the highest type and character. In his visions he saw and prophesied the coming of the great and glorious Tribe of Ben-Hur, and lived to see his visions and prophecies realized and fulfilled. In the advancing ages the glory of his achievement and worth will come to be the more and more realized and appreciated by the coming generations. So long as civil- ization shall endure ; so long as men and women continue to band themselves together to provide protection for their loved ones against the evil day : so long as the historian faithfully records the origin and work of great move- ments, having for their object the betterment of mankind, morally and mentally, so long will his name and fame remain.
This is his own monument, builded by himself out of the thoughts of his great soul, and the principles he advocated and the works he wrought ; a memorial more worthy and of more enduring substance than that of marble or of metal.
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"And while he needs no other, it appears to the committee that this great tribe of the Sons and Daughters of Hur, who were contemporary with him, and who knew him best and are enjoying the fruits of his services and sacri- fices; that it would be eminently fitting and proper that we should leave to future generations some kind of token, memento or memorial, expressive of the appreciation, high regard and esteem in which he was held by us; a monu- ment worthy of him, worthy of our great order and its matchless principles. Whatever we may think, say or do in this regard, in the death of Brother Gerard it can be truly said, in the language of one of old, 'A prince and a great man has fallen in Israel.' "
At the memorial meeting above referred to many were the appropriate eulogies pronounced on Mr. Gerard, but space forbids more than a cursory glance at them in the following paragraphs :
G. I. Kisner, of Terre Haute, Indiana : "We offer up our prayers and our tears for those who have preceded us in their departure from this world. Their accomplishments and their valor is given unto us upon monuments of marble, or granite, or perchance, cast in bronze, but the achievements of those to whom we have been united are handed down to us in our hearts which shall be enduring as long as time shall last and they shall weather all the storms of life. Their achievements will inspire us on to higher realms in this old world. Those of us who are particularly united by the ties of fra- ternity feel deeply this loss. To alleviate suffering and want, to bring cheer, and joy and sunshine, into the hearts and the homes of the people of this world, have they not thus builded well? Otherwise we would not have the Tribe of Ben-Hur and these other fraternal organizations thriving through- out our land. So let us cherish their memory, imitate their virtues and en- deavor to profit by the afflicting dispensation of Jehovah."
Hon. Charles L. Wedding, Evansville, Indiana: "The fraternal world may well stand with uncovered head about the newly-made grave of our great leader, David W. Gerard. And now that this great spirit, our great leader, has gone from among us let us highly resolve that the great work he has done shall live after him, for indeed his labor, his achievements and his life of toil for brotherly love, for fraternity and for our humanity, should be and are a more enduring monument to his memory than sculptured marble or the eternal granite. And let us pray that this great order, founded by our great leader, and for which he did such herculean work, shall, like the orbs that constitute the Milky Way, grow brighter and brighter, as the ages pass away;
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that it shall become a vast and splendid monument of 'peace on earth and good will to men,' of fraternity, of brotherly love, upon which the men and women of all after-times may gaze with admiration forever."
Hon. Michael P. Kehoe, Baltimore, Maryland : "Our departed chief, at first, although he saw nothing but opposition confront him, never for a moment faltered in what he considered to be his duty, but pushed onward this magnificent order, which was indeed his life work. We can only hope and accept the great truths that have been sent to us by the Master, looking for life beyond, and I am sure, in the light of the work and character of our late departed chief, living as he did and considering the works he performed, if there is such a thing as the glorious life beyond, there must be an everlasting place prepared for him who is gone."
Dr. H. V. Beardsley, Ft. Worth, Texas: "Sixteen years ago, through Providence, or some other source, I met and formed a very lasting friend- ship with our late departed D. W. Gerard. He has not only been to me as a friend, but he has been to me as a father, and I do not believe there is a single member of the Tribe of Ben-Hur who has felt the loss of his departure more than I have. He was not only a friend of humanity, but he was a close per- sonal friend of those that met him on those grounds."
Rev. Ernest Dailey Smith, Crawfordsville, Indiana : "David W. Gerard was a good man. I know that in forming an estimate of men, a preacher is put to a certain disadvantage. My impressions of Brother Gerard from my preosnal acquaintance with him, and from what those have said to me who have known him intimately, is that he was just the same behind a Sunday face and under Sunday clothes as he was in every-day attire. There was that evenness and balance and genuineness in him that made him always the same."
W. H. Owen, Crawfordsville, Indiana: "Mr. Gerard was more than a member of the Tribe of Ben-Hur with me. Outside of all of the associations in the fraternal work, he was my friend, and my neighbor, and perhaps I might say an inspiration to do more than was intended when I was launched into the affairs of this work. I feel that I have needed him almost every day since he passed away, and sometimes I get weary, for I could always rely on encouragement and the optimism of this man."
W. B. Ramey, Crawfordsville, Indiana: "For the past ten years it has been a pleasure to me to have been connected with the office, and intimately associated with Brother Gerard, and I know that I voice the sentiments of
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every employe of the office when I say that we never had the privilege of working for a gentleman who has been so dear and kind to us as he."
G. A. Paddock, Auburn, New York: "I have known Brother Gerard personally for some time, and have always honored and respected him."
Mrs. Lucy H. Wilde, Buffalo, New York: "The world was made better by the life of our late beloved chief, David W. Gerard. It was no small sphere in which his influence for good was exercised while he lived, and there are so many good deeds to his credit that the influence still lives and will con- tinue to live, though he be dead. His whole existence was an inspiration to mankind. Never a word came from his lips designed to wound the feelings of his fellow men. Such a thing as bitterness was absolutely unknown to him."
J. M. Billips, Jeannette, Pennsylvania: "The influence of Brother Gerard was felt to such an extent that I voice the general sentiment of the Pennsylvania members when I say we have lost the most noted and loyal fraternalist of the day. The impression made on me was that I had met and talked with one of God's elect ; a noble man in his own country."
H. J. McGinnis, Crawfordsville, Indiana: "I was but a boy when I took up the work of the Tribe of Ben-Hur fifteen years ago, and I feel that if I have attained any degree of success, it has been through the encourage- ment and the help of our late supreme chief. He always had a kindly word of encouragement for the field men."
Thus it will be observed by the readers of this memorial work that a great and useful man passed away when David W. Gerard was summoned to close his eyes on earthly scenes. Lives of men such as he have been in- strumental in removing the tear from sad faces, that have put the staff of life on the board of the widow, and kindled the fires upon the heartstone of the orphan, these will be crowned with everlasting honor and glory.
Upon the death of Supreme Chief David W. Gerard, the executive com- mittee of the Supreme Tribes of Ben-Hur met and unanimously appointed Dr. Royal H. Gerard to fill out his father's unexpired term, from January to May, 1910. At the meeting of the Supreme Tribe in May he was elected supreme chief and has, by successive re-elections, been retained in that office and is ably and efficiently carrying forward the work so splendidly inau- gurated by his father.
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FRANKLIN A. CUSTER.
Another of the young farmers of Sugar Creek township who must in all fairness be included in the category of those whose names have been entered on the lists of the energetic is Franklin A. Custer, a man who would have, we have no doubt, succeeded in whatever locality he might have selected for his arena of action, however his success would have, doubtless, been more marked as a general agriculturist than in any other vocation, for he seems to have been born to it, or at any rate has had excellent training from his early boyhood up, so that his pronounced success early in his career is not to be wondered at.
Mr. Custer was born on July 3, 1876 in the township and county where he still resides. He is a son of William H. and Rachael (Cox) Custer. Both these parents were natives of this county, also, each representing old families. The date of the father's birth is 1842 and that of the mother's 1849. Here they grew to maturity, received fair educations in the old-time schools and here they were married. The father is still living, making his home in the village of Darlington, the mother having passed away in 1901 at the age of fifty-two years.
William H. Custer has devoted his life, for the most part, to general farming, however he was for some time engaged in the grocery and hard- ware business in Darlington, enjoying a large trade with the people of the surrounding territory, but most of his life was spent on the farm where our subject is now living, the father having retired from the active work of the farm in September, 1904 and moved to his pleasant home in Darlington. He is one of our honored veterans of the Civil war, having enlisted in 1861 in the Tenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, being among the earliest to give his services to the Union, of the many thousands in the Hoosier state, and he saw much hard and trying service for a period of three years, taking part in many engagements, and proving to be a most faithful soldier.
Three children were born to William H. Custer and wife, two sons and a daughter, named as follows: Charles B., born April 3, 1869, married Belle McGuire, and they live just north of the old home place; Laura; and Franklin A., of this review.
Franklin A. Custer received a common and high school education. On September 9, 1904 he married Eleanor Turnipseed, who was born February 8, 1882, in Montgomery county and here grew to womanhood and received her education in the public schools, and was graduated from the high school
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