USA > Indiana > Vermillion County > History of Parke and Vermillion Counties, Indiana : with historical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 47
USA > Indiana > Parke County > History of Parke and Vermillion Counties, Indiana : with historical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 47
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Dr. Gillum is a scion of a fine old Southern family. his birth having oc- curred in Augusta county, Virginia, November 22, 1847. His parents were Dr. P. G. and Mary L. (Jackson) Gillum, the father having been a native of Albemarle county. Virginia, and the mother of Augusta county, Virginia. Dr. P. G. Gillum became a noted medical practitioner of his native locality, and spent his life in the Old Dominion, being drowned there at the age of forty- one years. The mother of the subject of this sketch also spent her life in that state, dying at the advanced age of seventy-five years.
To Dr. P. G. Gillum and wife five children were born. Those living are Prof. Robert G. Gillum, of the Indiana State Normal; Mrs. Walter E. Max- well, of Terre Haute, Indiana ; and Dr. William H., of this review.
The subject was reared in his native state and he received his primary schooling in the common schools, also attending the University of Virginia. Later entering the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, Mary- land, he was graduated from the same with the class of 1869. Immediately thereafter he went to Augusta county. Virginia, where he engaged in the prac- tice of his profession for a period of four years, then, although successful there, he sought a newer field and came to Rockville, Indiana, and here he has remained, becoming one of the best known and successful general practitioners in this section of the state, where he has always enjoyed a very large and lu- crative practice. He has kept well abreast of the times, remaining a profound and careful student of all that pertains to liis profession. He is the second oldest doctor in Parke county in point of service. Only one physician who was here when Dr. Gillum came is still in the county.
In February, 1874, Dr. Gillum was united in marriage with Rebecca Randolph, of Rockville, she being a daughter of James Randolph, of Augusta county, Virginia. To this union one son was born, Dr. John Randolph Gillum, of Terre Haute, Indiana.
Dr. Gillum had the honor of organizing the first medical society in Parke county, in 1874, and he is still a member of the same, and it is not too much to say that its continued success has been due very largely to his efforts. This is the Parke County Medical Society. He is also a member of the State Medical Association and the National Medical Association.
True to his ancestry and traditions, Dr. Gillum quite naturally cast his fortunes with the South during the great war between the states and he served most faithfully and gallantly in the Confederate army for a period of three years, seeing much hard service and participating in many important campaigns and hard-fought engagements, having been a member of the famous Stanton (Virginia) Artillery, and was with Lee at the surrender at
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Appomattox. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and fraternally belongs to the Knights of Pythias. He was grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias of Indiana for one term, and was representative of the supreme lodge of Indiana to the national conclave. at two different times. He is one of the best known and influential members of this order in the state. He also belongs to the Masonic order, being a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the chapter at Rockville. Politically, he is a Democrat, and has always been loyal in the support of his party.
In 1888 he was the unanimous choice of Parke county Democrats for the nomination for Congress in the fifth district, but was defeated in the hot- test convention of the district.
STEPHEN A. PIKE.
Through struggle to triumph seems to be the maxim which holds sway for the majority of our citizens, and, though it is undoubtedly true that many fall exhausted in the conflict, a few by their inherent force of character and strong mentality, rise above their environment and all which seems to hinder them until they reach the plane of affluence toward which their face was set through the long years of struggle that must precede any accomplishment of more than ordinary magnitude. Such has been the history of Stephen A. Pike, one of Parke county's able and popular county officials, at this writing incumbent of the office of county assessor, a man whose record needs no embellishment by the biographer, for it is too well known and is too meritor- ious to need praise, his long retention in various capacities as a public servant being criterion sufficient of his worth and of the universal esteem in which he is held.
Mr. Pike was born August 24, 1847, in Henry county, Indiana, the son of Samuel and Mary (Moricle) Pike, the father a native of this state, and the mother of Virginia, of German parentage. Early in life Samuel Pike came to Indiana and here spent the rest of his life, living in Henry, Wayne, Putnam and Parke counties, his death occurring in the latter, he having come to this county in 1859. He was a miller by trade and, being proficient, his services were in much demand. He made his home in Rockville and vicinity for many years, but died in Bloomingdale, at the age of seventy-nine years. Mrs. Mary Pike, his wife, survived until 1894, reaching the advanced age of eighty-three years. They became the parents of twelve children, seven of
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whom are living at this writing, namely: Samuel A., of Chicago; Lydia, widow of Benjamin Ratcliff, of Rockville; Martha, who was the widow of William P. Thomlinson, died on November 6, 1912; Miranda, wife of Will- iam Burks, of Bloomingdale, this county; Rachael, wife of Jesse Clarke, of Annapolis, Parke county, this state; Mary, widow of Milton Hadley, also lives at the village of Annapolis; and Stephen A., of this review.
Although Stephen A. Pike was born in Henry county, he spent but a few years there, for when a boy his parents removed to Wayne county, later to Putnam county, and finally to Parke county, when the subject was twelve years of age, and here he grew to manhood and received his education in the common schools and in the Friends Academy at Bloomingdale, under Prof. B. C. Hobbs. He prepared himself for a teacher and this line of work he followed with much success until 1884, during which time his services were in great demand in this and other counties, but he confined his work as teacher to Parke county, with the exception of one term at Paris. Edgar county, Illi- nois. He taught in Union and Jackson townships, Parke county, Indiana. He always manifested a lively interest in the affairs of his county, assisting in any way he could in its betterment, and in 1884 he was chosen as deputy county auditor under Edwin T. Hadley, serving in succession under that gen- tleman, Samuel T. Catlin and Elias H. Owen, for a period of fifteen years in all. In 1898 he was elected county anditor on the Republican ticket. In January, 1903, he engaged in the abstract business for four years, during which time he developed a fine set of abstract books. In 1906 lie was elected county assessor, and re-elected in 1910, and is at this writing serving his second term. He has thus served in every office in the court house except clerk and sheriff and is probably the best posted man in the court house. As a public servant he has ever been diligent, painstaking, courteous, obliging and scrupulously honest, so that he is very popular with all concerned, irrespective of party ties, al- though he has ever adhered to the principles of the Republican party.
Mr. Pike was married on August 3, 1882, to Della Rayl, of Hamilton county, Indiana. She is a daughter of James and Margaret (Clarke) Rayl, a highly respected family of that section of the state. To the subject and wife six children were born, namely: Maude L., who was the wife of Robert Musser, is now deceased; Earl H., who died in infancy; Jessie A., who is a graduate of the local high school, is a saleslady in a Rockville store and lives at home ; Paul R. is a teacher, now employed in the Normal College at Dan- ville, Indiana ; Albert R., who is a graduate of the Danville Normal College, is at present assisting his father; Mary Dell is at home and attending school.
Mr. Pike is a member of the blue lodge of Masons, in Rockville, Parke
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Lodge No. 8, one of the oldest lodges in the state. His wife and daughters are members of the Eastern Star. Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. Pike belong to the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is a member of the Sunday school Bible class of one hundred and ninety-three members.
HENRY GRUBB.
For a period of more than a quarter of a century the name of Henry Grubb was widely known over the middle West as a manufacturer of staves and a saw-mill man, and during that time he operated over a wide field and did business on an extensive scale. In his career Mr. Grubb has seen the gathering clouds that threatened disaster, but his rich inheritance of energy and pluck has ever enabled him to turn near defeats into victories and prom- ised failures into successes. He has ever enjoyed in the fullest measure the public confidence, because of the honorable methods he has ever followed, and is one of the highly esteemed men of Parke county. He is now living practically retired in his commodious home in Rockville.
Mr. Grubb was born in Putnam county, Indiana, February 10, 1846. He is a son of Joseph and Ann (Cricks) Grubb, the father born in Dela- ware, January 2, 1816, and the latter's birth occurred in New Jersey, De- cember 9, 1819. They were the parents of the following children: Amer, Joseph, George, Henry, Matilda, Sarah, John, Edward, Jesse and. Sherman. The father was a farmer and cabinet-maker and was regarded as one of the finest workmen in his section of the country, having served an appren- ticeship of seven years. He came to Indiana about 1831, locating in Madi- son township, Putnam county. At one time he was county surveyor of Putnam county. Politically, he was a Republican, and he was a strong Union man and offered his services to his country during the Civil war, but on account of his age and disability was refused. There were only three Union men in his community of two miles square. He had a good farm in Putnam county and there he spent the rest of his life.
Henry Grubb was reared on the home farm and there he helped with the general duties when a boy, attending the common schools in the winter time. Although but sixteen years old, he left school to go to war, enlisting in Company E, Twenty-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which was after- wards changed to the First Indiana Heavy Artillery. The date of his en- listment was November 30, 1862, and he served three years in a most faith-
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ful and gallant manner, seeing much hard service, and was honorably dis- charged on November 30, 1865. He was in the two-days battle at Fort Bizlon, Louisiana, was in the siege of Port Hudson of forty-eight days, and other engagements. He.was never wounded, but had his clothes cut by bullets. After the war he returned home and later went to Lexington, Iowa, where he attended school for a year and then came back to Indiana and attended Waveland Academy, at the town of Waveland, two terms. He then taught school with much success for a period of nine years, in Parke county, Indiana. Tiring of the school room and desiring a broader field in which to exercise his talents in a business way, he took up the saw-mill business in Jackson township, this county, and followed that two years, then engaged in the stave business, which he followed for a period of thirty years, operating on an extensive scale in Kentucky, Tennessee and Missis- sippi, and he still does something in this line, making two hundred thousand staves in the year 1912, operating now in Mississippi. High grade work has always been his aim and his products have ever found a very ready mar- ket. In Indiana in 1895 he made staves for the largest oak stave cask in the world, for. Alfred Hurt, of Greencastle, Indiana, he having done busi- ness with Mr. Hurt for a period of thirty years without contract. The above mentioned cask was exhibited in Paris in 1900 at the World's Fair, and Mr. Grubb made the trip to Paris that year and attended the exposition, going by way of London and visited Scotland, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium. In the stave business Mr. Grubb has been very successful, having up-to-date equipment, working hundreds of men 'and handling hundreds of thousands of dollars. If all the staves he has made were placed length- wise they would encircle the globe. He has laid by an ample competency for his old age and is now rated as one of the substantial men of Parke county.
Mr. Grubb moved to Jackson township, this county, April 5, 1875, this being just across the county line from Madison township, Putnam county. He had purchased a farm of eighty-three acres in Jackson township in 1871, which he still owns, together with over six hundred acres of valuable land, all told. in Parke county, and four hundred acres in Mississippi, mak- ing a total of more than one thousand acres. He lived on his farm in Jack- son township until he moved to Rockville, April 7, 1903, when he built a fine residence in the best section of the city. .
Mr. Grubb was married on March 28, 1875, to Euphony E. Harney, daughter of John and Euphony (Martin) Harney, the father having been born in Indiana and the mother in South Carolina. Mrs. Grubb was born
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in Union township, Parke county, this state. To the subject and wife four children have been born, namely: Miram, wife of Walter D. McMurty, of Marshall, Parke county; Carrie is at home; Marion married Otis Harmless and has one child, Henry Marion; Clelie A. is at home.
Mr. Grubb was elected county surveyor on the Republican ticket in 1882 and served two years. He has been deputy surveyor practically ever since, and at this writing he is doing some work for the present county surveyor. The subject is regarded as one of the most expert surveyors of the country, and as a public servant he gave the utmost satisfaction, both as a surveyor and as county auditor, having been elected to the latter office in 1902 and serving for a period of four years. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Grand Army of the Republic.
ARTHUR A. HARGRAVE.
It is a well recognized fact that the most powerful influence in shaping and controlling public life is the press. It reaches a greater number of people than any other agency and thus always has been and always will be a most important factor in moulding public opinion and shaping the destiny of the nation. The gentleman to a brief review of whose life the following lines are devoted is prominently connected with the journalism of western Indiana, and at this time is editor and publisher of the Rockville Republican, one of the most influential and popular newspapers of Parke county, com- paring favorably with the best local sheets in this section of the state in news, editorial ability and mechanical execution. The county recognizes in Mr. Hargrave not only an able and sagacious newspaper man, but also a representative citizen, whose interest in all that affects the general welfare has been of such a character as to win for him a high place in the confidence and esteem of the people.
Arthur A. Hargrave was born at Portland Mills, Putnam county, In- diana, on August 15, 1856, and is the son of William H. and Susan (Bishop) Hargrave. He is descended on the paternal side from sturdy old Virginia stock, his progenitors having been early settlers of the Old Dominion. The subject's paternal grandfather, Cornelius T. Hargrave, was born near the city of Richmond, removing to the state of Ohio about the year 1830. He engaged in farming in the Buckeye state until 1842, when he removed to Indiana and purchased a farm in Putnam county, to which he gave his at- tention and where he resided until his death, which occurred at Russellville
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in 1888. At Circleville, Ohio, he married Elizabeth A. Gephart and they became the parents of eight children, one of whom was the subject's father, William H. Hargrave. The latter was born at Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, on October 11, 1834, and at the age of eight years accompanied the family on their removal to Indiana. He was reared to manhood at the old homestead in Putnam county, securing his education in the common schools. In 1868 he moved to Rockville and was variously engaged until 1884, when he embarked in the furniture and undertaking business, in which he met with pronounced success.
During the war of the Rebellion Mr. Hargrave rendered faithful service in defense of his country as a member of Company B, Seventy-eighth In- diana Volunteer Infantry, with the rank of second sergeant of his company, and at the close of hostilities received an honorable discharge. He is a lead- ing citizen of Rockville and served efficiently for four years as trustee of Adams township.
In 1855 Mr. Hargrave was married to Susan Bishop, the daughter of David Bishop, of Putnam county, the union being blessed with five children, Arthur A., the immediate subject of this sketch; Prof. Charles A. Har- grave, prominently connected with Central Normal College, Danville, In- diana, for over thirty years, part of the time acting president, now secretary of the corporation; Mrs. Jesse R. Long, deceased; Miss Lu Hargrave, of Rockville, and one son, who died in infancy.
Arthur A. Hargrave was but two years old when his family removed to the Putnam county farm, where he remained until thirteen years old, when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Rockville, where he completed his elementary education in the public schools. At the age of seventeen years he entered the office of the Rockville Republican as an ap- prentice to the printer's trade, but in 1876, feeling the need of further educa- tional training, he entered Wabash College, where he was graduated in 1881, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. A few years later the college conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. While a student in that institution he was one of the Baldwin prize essayists, his ability as a student giving him an enviable standing.
Upon leaving college, Mr. Hargrave accepted a position as reporter on the Kansas City Journal, returning to Rockville at the end of a year. In the spring of 1883 Mr. Hargrave became a reporter on the Terre Haute Express, but about the same time he was offered a position by the Presby- terian Board of Foreign Missions, which he accepted and in September, 1883, sailed for Persia. He was placed in charge of the board's printing
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establishment at Oroomiah, and, the printing being done in the Syriac lan- guage, he was compelled to master that tongue, which he soon succeeded in doing. During a portion of the time abroad he was the editor of a monthly, Rays of Light, also printed in the Syriac language. In 1887, because of Mrs. Hargrave's poor health, they returned to the United States and for a time made their home at Terre Haute, where Mr. Hargrave became assistant editor of the Express. In the spring of 1888 he came to Rockville and pur- chased the Rockville Republican, of which he has since been publisher and editor. At the time of the purchase the property had greatly depreciated in value, but, by his aggressive and energetic policy, Mr. Hargrave made of it one of the best local newspapers in the state, a reputation which it is fully sustaining at this time. The plant is a modern one in every respect, the mechanical equipment including a simplex type-setting machine and other labor-saving machinery. The paper, which is issued weekly, is Republican in its political views, wields a powerful influence in the county, and as a news- paper the Republican covers the field thoroughly and enjoys a large and constantly-increasing circulation throughout Parke county and adjacent ter- ritory. As a writer Mr. Hargrave wields a forceful and trenchant pen and he gives hearty and earnest support to every movement which promises to benefit the community at large. Personally, he possesses those qualities which commend him to the people, among whom he is held in the highest respect and esteem.
The Republican is the oldest newspaper in Parke county, having been founded in 1839 as the Olive Branch, which later became the Parke County Whig. In 1856, at the birth of the Republican party, the name of the paper was changed to the True Republican, under which name it was published for some time, eventually becoming known as the Parke County Republican, which was finally changed to its present title, the Rockville Republican.
On July 9, 1885, at Oroomiah, Persia, Arthur A. Hargrave was mar- ried to Marian S. Moore, the daughter of Rev. E. G. Moore, they having first met during Mr. Hargrave's residence in that field. To this union have been born five children, namely: Palmer W., who was born in Persia in 1886, graduated from the Rockville high school in 1905 and from Wabash College in 1909, afterwards locating in Portland, Oregon, where he is en- gaged in business, and Clarence M. Hargrave, who graduated from the Rockville high school and Wabash College in the same classes with his brother and was a Baldwin prize essayist. Following graduation he became an instructor in chemistry at Michigan Agricultural College, resigning to accept an appointment as chemist in the pure food department at Washing-
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ton, now employed as chemist with the Prest-O-Lite Company, Indianapolis. Ethel is a teacher in the primary grade of the Rockville public schools. William B. is a student in Wabash College, while Marjorie is a student in the local schools. Mr. Hargrave takes a deep interest in educational mat- ters and has rendered efficient service as a trustee of the Rockville schools.
Politically, Mr. Hargrave is a stanch Republican, religiously, is a Presbyterian, and his fraternal relations are with the Free and Accepted Masons, Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen. In every avenue of life's activities in which he has engaged Mr. Hargrave has performed his part with fidelity and, because of his honorable record and high personal worth, he enjoys a large circle of warm and loyal friends.
JOSEPH J. DANIELS.
Any history of this section of Indiana would be incomplete without due mention of the venerable Joseph J. Daniels, of Rockville, Parke county, one of the real historic characters of this locality and one of our worthiest citizens, a man whose life has been a blessing to the many whom it has touched and who has lived to see and take part in the wondrous develop- ment of this vicinity, being one of the remaining connecting links between the past and the present.
Mr. Daniels was born at Marietta, Ohio, which place was one of the first settlements of the Northwest, May 22, 1826. He is of Yankee par- entage. His father, Steven Daniels, was a full-blooded Connecticut Yan- kee, born in 1797, though his birth occurred at Bloomfield, Ontario county, New York, where his parents had removed just a month before his birth. His mother was Sophia Warren, and she was born sixteen miles southwest of Boston, Massachusetts, of good old New England stock. Steven Daniels was first a builder of houses and later a builder of bridges. Toward the latter part of the year 1819 he left his native community, and went to Olean, Pennsylvania, where he worked as a carpenter a short time, then moved on to Marietta, Ohio, and from there to Ironton, that state, where he gave up house carpentering and began bridge building exclusively. Later he re- turned to Marietta and there spent his last days, his death occurring in 1853.
Joseph J. Daniels began working with his father when a young man and continued the building business until after the father's death. In 1851 he came to Parke county, Indiana, to build a bridge in Union township, and on
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March 6, 1861, he located here permanently. Most of the bridges of Parke county are monuments to his engineering skill and his honest workmanship, he having built more than a dozen bridges in this county and a like number in Vermillion county, three in Putnam county, two in Montgomery county and one in Vigo county, and at other points in Indiana, he having been one of the best known bridge builders in the western part of the state for many years. He built his first bridge in Indiana near the town of Rising Sun in 1850. He also built many bridges in Ohio and Kentucky, giving eminent satisfaction everywhere. His reputation was one of unimpeachable honesty, and men in many walks of life and in various parts of the state bear witness to his exalted character.
In 1854 Mr. Daniels became superintendent of the Evansville & Craw- fordsville railroad and moved to Evansville, where he lived two years, then gave up the position. He had done his work exceptionally well, his reputation in that field of endeavor going abroad over the land, and he was subsequently offered positions as superintendent on three different railroads.
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