History of Vigo county, Indiana, with biographical selections, Part 91

Author: Bradsby, Henry C
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : S.B. Nelson & co.
Number of Pages: 1032

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commodious and elegant brick building of the latest style; he has large and substantial barns and outbuildings, and the place is beautifully ornamented with shade trees, and tastefully set out with flowers. Mr. Myer is a self-made man, having commenced life poor, and his industry and economy have brought him his reward in the shape of a valuable property. He was married in Ohio, in 1852, to Christeana P. Blum, also a native of Germany, born in 1833. They are the parents of the following named children: Charles, deceased (he left two children, William and Charles) ; William P., in Indianapolis; Louisa, wife of George F. Parsons; Albert J., at home; Louisa, at home; Caroline, wife of Adolph Mason; Otto C., in Washington; Minnie, wife of George C. Kauf- man. The family are members of the German Lutheran Church. Mr. Myer has given his children a good education. In politics he is a Republican. He has passed all the chairs in the I. O. O. F .; is also a prominent Mason, a Knight Templar, and a member of the Consistory.

ABNER W. MYERS, farmer and stock-grower, Lost Creek township, P. O. Terre Haute, was born near Indianapolis, Ind., August 21, 1851, a son of Isaac C. and Elizabeth (Heisay) Myers, natives of Pennsylvania, and of German descent. His grand- parents were born in Germany. Isaac C. Myers was a carpenter, and came to Vigo county in 1859, settling in Lost Creek township, on a farm. He worked at his trade, and also operated a saw-mill, becoming a successful business man, and died in Kansas in 1885. His family consisted of seven children, all of whom were boys, and three of them are yet living. Abner W., who is the second in order of birth, was reared on the farm, receiving his education in the common schools of the neighborhood, and became a farmer, which vocation he has followed with marked success, being at the present time owner of a farm consisting of 123 acres of land, where he now resides. He was united in marriage November 11, 1875, to Miss Mary, daughter of Alex. Cooper, a farmer, and one of the earliest settlers of Vigo county. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Myers has been blessed with two children, one now living, William E. The parents are members of the Christian Church, in the affairs of which Mr. Myers takes an active interest, as well as in the Sabbath-school, and has been its secretary.

CHESTER MYERS is a prosperous farmer of Riley township, and is a native of Indiana, born in 1836, a son of John Myers and Catherine Sanders. John Myers was born in North Carolina, and emigrated from there to Indiana, in an early day, soon afterward removing to this county, where he died May 6, 1887. He was an extensive farmer and good citizen, and was a son of Abram Myers,

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who came to this county with the early pioneers. The Myers family were of German descent. Chester's mother was born in the eastern part of Indiana, and is yet living in this county. The children of their marriage were four sons, Chester being the second in order of birth. He was raised mostly in this county, and during his boy- hood days attended the common schools here. In 1857 he married Miss Nancy Reese, a native of Clay county, Ind., by which union eight children were born, as follows: William C., married August 15, 1878, to Lucy H., daughter of J. W. Green, of Riley, Vigo Co., Ind. ; John C., married July 27, 1879, to Rosetta, daughter of J. WV. Green, of Riley; Franklin A., married October 13, 1886, to Lydia A., daughter of Phenice Hoggett, of Farmersburg, Vigo county; Daniel R. (deceased) ; Effie O., married May 5, 1889, to William Young, son of William Young, Sr., of Youngstown, Vigo county ; and Katie V., Susanna and Levi W. Mr. Myers has always been a farmer, and owns 190 acres of valuable land, of which 150 acres are in cultivation, the farm being located about thirteen miles southeast of Terre Haute. Mr. Myers is an industrious, honorable man, and a good citizen. He is a Democrat, and cast his first presidential vote for Stephen A. Douglas. Mrs. Myers is a member of the Primitive Baptist Church.

CHARLES NASH, superintendent of two of the mines of the Coal Bluff Mining Company, Coal Bluff, Nevins township, was born in Birmingham, England, January 27, 1846, and is youngest in the family of six children of William and Elizabeth (Simmonds) Nash, natives of England, latter of whom is a member of the Methodist Church. The father, who a brass caster by trade, died in England in 1885. Our subject was reared in England, where he received his schooling. He commenced to work in the mines when a small boy, and has made mining the main business of his life, although, from 1866 to 1870, he was in the employ of the London & North Western Railway Company, England. In 1870 he immigrated to the United States, and worked in the city of Chicago, Ill., on the tunnel. In 1871 he came to Vigo county, and in 1875 entered the employ of the company he has remained with to the present time, as a miner, afterward as foreman, and for years he has held his present position, that of superintendent. He has charge of the Edgar and Diamond coal shafts at Coal Bluff. Mr. Nash was mar- ried in England, and he and his wife have five children: Victor Hugo, Charles, Wilkie Collins, Edith and Amy. He is a Master Mason ; in politics he is a Republican.

REUBEN NAUGLE, Sr., retired farmer and stock-grower, Otter Creek township, P. O. Edwards, was born in Luzerne county, Penn., January 26, 1816, and is a son of Christian and Sally

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(Stickle) Naugle, natives of Northampton county, Penn., and of German descent. The father was a shoemaker and farmer all his life, and his family consisted of eight children, of whom Reuben is the third. Our subject was reared on the farm, attending the com- mon schools, and early learned the tanner's and currier's trades, which he followed for two years; he then went to farming, and made that the main business of his life. He came to this county in 1863, has since resided here, and is the owner of a well-improved farm where he now resides, consisting of 126 acres of land, Mr. Naugle was united in marriage in June, 1845, with Miss Jane, daughter of John Davis, and of Irish and English descent. Two of their chil- dren are now living. Mrs. Naugle died in 1887. Mr. Naugle is a member, as was his wife, of the Presbyterian Church; in politics he is a Republican.

REUBEN NAUGLE, Jr., farmer and stock-grower, Otter Creek township, P. O. Edwards, was born in Luzerne county, Penn., December 30, 1858, and is a son of Reuben and Jane (Davis) Naugle, former of whom was a tanner in early life, but later a farmer. Two of their children are living, of whom our subject is the youngest. He grew to manhood on his father's farm, receiving a fair English education in the common schools, became a farmer, and is now the owner of a farm of 150 acres on which he resides. Mr. Naugle was married in Vigo county, in 1887, to Miss Minnie, daughter of Walker C. Martin, but she died same year, a few months after mar- riage. In politics Mr. Naugle is a Republican.

WILSON NAYLOR, a son of James P. and Sarah (Moore) Naylor, natives of Kentucky and Ohio, and of English descent, was born in Adams county, Ohio, December 5, 1828, and came to Indiana with his father's family when he was three years of age, they settling in the town of Eugene, Vermillion county. The children of this family who grew to maturity were William L .. who died in 1877; Wilson (our subject) ; Mrs. Sarah Schlossman, now of Chicago, and Mrs. Eliza Jane Towle (a widow), of Evanston, Ill. The family were in moderate circumstances, and the sons had but the limited school advantages of that day. At a very tender age, therefore, the children contributed their mite to the family subsistence, and at an age when the average boy is just beginning in earnest his school days Wilson Naylor found himself thrown upon his own resources. His education chiefly was that of the home fireside, one of a sacred, religious duty, and rigid economy and industry; after all not the worst possible inheritance that a strong manly boy might have. Where the practical lessons of life fall upon good ground, as they evidently did in this case, they pro- duce to the best results.

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The boy had hardly reached his "teens" when he found em- ployment on a flatboat bound for New Orleans. In this business he made fifteen trips to New Orleans and return, and then made several trips on steamboats in the same trade. He then settled down in his adopted village, Eugene, and for the next twenty-two years was a dry-goods merchant in that place. In 1864 he sold out his store, and came to Terre Haute, where he now has an ele- gant home on South Fifth street. Here he engaged in the grocery trade on the corner of Fourth and Ohio streets, and prospered remarkably well. His reputation for integrity in all his business affairs brought him a constantly growing patronage, and both honor and wealth were his. In 1882 the financial affairs of the new Opera House had become seriously involved. The people, of whom Mr. Naylor was one, had subscribed $100,000 in stock to the com- pany; the fine four-story stone structure had cost $283,000, and, being heavily mortgaged to an Eastern insurance company, its affairs were carried into court. It was then sold to Mr. Naylor for $100,000. He had sold his mercantile interests, together with his Ohrio Street property, and has since given his attention to building up the interests of and needed improvements to " Naylor's Opera House." In 1848 Mr. Naylor was married to Flora, daughter of Benjamin Shaw, of Vermillion county, Ind., and they have reared two children: James B., who died in December, 1878, and Mrs. Elizabeth E., wife of B. G. Cox, who is a partner with H. Hulman in the wholesale grocery business, and whose present home is adjoining that of Mr. Naylor. It is with his little grandchildren, Wilson Naylor, Ellen, Laura E., B. G. and Newton, that Mr. Nay- lor's pleasantest hours of recreation are spent. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Blue Lodge, Council, Commandery and Chapter, and for twenty-five years has served as treasurer of the Blue Lodge; is also a member of the I. O. O. F. He was sixteen years postmaster at Eugene, Vermillion county, under Taylor, Fill- more, Lincoln, Johnson and Grant. A remarkable fact which he tells, with much gratitute, is that, although they came to the "sickly country " in a day when nearly all suffered, yet until being troubled within the past few years with rheumatism, he has never been com- pelled to call in the aid of a physician. Mr. Naylor relates how his father's family came to the Vermillion country. His father built a " broadhorn " (a square end flatboat with a running plank along each side to " pole the boat "), and on this put the family and possessions, the two horses and the cows. They floated down the Ohio, and then were slowly poling the craft up the Wabash when winter overtook them, and their "ark" was frozen fast in the stream. They took to the shore, packed their goods on the horses,

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and with their wives on saddle, and the children behind, driving the cows, they made their way to Eugene. There is a wide chasm between that ancient mode of travel and the present palace cars, and it is to be hoped that even then the Lord tempered the wind to the shorn lamb.

ANDREW NEHF, builder and contractor, Terre Haute, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, February 26, 1833, and is the eighth in the family of twelve children of Christof and Eva (Byer) Nehf, natives of Germany. Our subject was united in marriage May 30, 1854, in New York, with Catharine Boss, a daughter of Henry and Catharine (Schriner) Boss, natives of Germany. Mrs. Nehf is the eldest in a family of five children, and was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, April 17, 1836. Mr. and Mrs. Nehf had born to them nine children, viz .: Andrew Wesley, who married Louie Winbreicht; Charles Theodore, who married Minnie Neukon; Emilie, who married Wilberforce Twaddel; Louisa, the wife of Henry Neukon; George Albert (deceased) ; William Hen- rich (deceased) ; Henry William, Ololia Theolinda and Alfred Franklin. Mr. Nehf spent his life in the Fatherland until he was fourteen years of age, when he and two of his brothers immigrated to this country and settled in Milwaukee, Wis., in the spring of 1847. He served an apprenticeship of three years at cabinet- making, then went to New York and worked three years at the trade. From there he proceeded to Petersville, Mich., where he remained a short time; then went to Columbus, Ohio, stopping there about nine months, and thence removed to Terre Haute, Ind. He was engaged as foreman in the carpenter shop of the Indian- apolis & St. Louis Railroad, three years; then worked three years for Capt. James Hook, contractor, and in 1862 began business for himself. His shop was at the corner of Fifth and Chestnut streets, and he followed the business of contracting and building until 1870, when he purchased an interest in a saw-mill, which he sold at the expiration of two years. Some time after serving his term as justice of the peace, he served two years in this office by appointment. From 1870 to 1879 he was engaged in collecting, and was in fire and life insurance business; then commenced work at his trade, and has followed it to the present time. He has had to depend entirely on his own resources. Mr. and Mrs. Nehf are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he served as trustee, steward, class leader, Sunday-school superintend- ent, exhorter and local preacher, and also served as chorister about twenty years. In politics Mr. Nehf is a Republican, and he was appointed street commissioner.

THOMAS HENRY NELSON, Terre Haute, is a native of Mason county, Ky., the son of Dr. Thomas W. and Frances (Don-

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iphan) Nelson, and a brother of Maj .- Gen. William Nelson, whose name is immortally interwoven with the battle of Shiloh, where he led the advance of Buell's army on the evening of the first day's fight on the historical battle-ground. Another brother was Col. A. D. Nelson, a distinguished officer of the regular army.

Mr. Nelson came to Indiana, in early life, and located first in Rockville, where he was engaged for six years in the practice of his profession. In 1857 he removed to Terre Haute, his perma- ment home, and has since been actively engaged in law, literature, politics and diplomacy. He was one of the founders of the Republican party, and was often a delegate to State and National Conventions. In 1860 he accepted a nomination for congress in a strong Democratic district, with the famous orator, Daniel W. Voorhees, as his competitor. A brilliant joint canvass ensued, which attracted public attention throughout the State as well as enormous audiences. Both parties, so championed, claimed the honors of the contest. "It must now be remembered only as a combat of giants who could give and receive hard blows, and still live when the fray was over." And when it was over Mr. Nelson's friends could, in the language of Webster, well say; " Though de- feated, all is not lost." Though leading in that particular case a forlorn hope, he assisted in the general success of the cause. Mr. Voorhees and Mr. Nelson, notwithstanding a wide divergence of opinion upon all political questions, have ever been warm and steadfast personal friends.

The day of his defeat for congress was the day of the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, and soon after his inaugura- tion he appointed, upon his own personal knowledge and friend- ship, Mr. Nelson as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- tiary to Chili, which position he filled with conspicuous ability from 1861 to 1866. Our citizens had large claims against that republic, matters of some difficulty for diplomats even in times of prosperous peace, and the then new minister realized that, although our nation was convulsed with civil war, yet there should be no compromise of its rights, which must be preserved, even under such difficult and adverse circumstances. Other nations were look- ing upon our internal struggles as the beginning of a swift coming end of our national institutions, yet he speedily secured the settle- ment of every question and the payment of the claims, and at the same time so won the good-will and friendship of Chili that Pres- ident Lincoln felt constrained to say that the government and the people of Chili were among the stanchest and truest friends of the United States Government. During Mr. Nelson's diplomatic residence at Santiago occurred the war between Spain and Chili, and to the American ambassador is chiefly attributed the generous

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sympathy extended so universally by other governments to Chili in the contest. In this new field he found opportunity for the display of those. peculiar faculties necessary in the stirring times of his own nation and the nations to which he was sent, that were a demon- stration that his friend, Mr. Lincoln, had made no mistake in calling upon him to serve his country in the untried field of diplomacy. It was during his stay in Chili he witnessed the most calamitous fire of modern times-the burning, December 8, 1863, of the Church of Campania, in Santiago, the capital of the republic, in which 4,000 persons perished. With characteristic American impulse he ren- dered valuable aid on that occasion, and his cool judgment and prompt action excited favorable comment. He was conspicuous in the rescue of several lives. In 1866 he returned to his home, and quietly resumed the practice of law. But the country was upon the threshold of the reconstruction days. The question of the adoption of the XIV Amendment to the Constitution was before the nation, and its friends appealed to him to help them. He entered into the labor heart and soul, and addressed great audiences from Kentucky to Kansas. This added to his al- ready extended reputation as a popular speaker. In 1868 he was chosen to head the electoral ticket of Indiana, and canvassed the State thoroughly. He was deeply interested in the work. His friends, Grant and Colfax, were triumphantly elected, and Mr. Nelson was selected by the Electoral College, over which he presided, to carry the votes of Indiana to Washington. He was appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Mexico, by President Grant, in March, 1869. His nomination to the senate was at once unanimously confirmed. In the ad- justment of the affairs of this Government with that of Mexico, he rendered excellent service. The history of his administration of the legation is to be found in the archives of the State department, and in several published volumes. In 1873 Mr. Nelson resigned his appointment to Mexico, but the resignation was not accepted for several months after it was tendered. During his entire resi- dence in Chili and Mexico he was president of the Diplomatic Corps. Early in 1874 we find him again in his law office in Terre Haute, absent only when called, as was frequently the case, on im- portant affairs in Washington City.

In 1876 he again headed his party on the electoral ticket, and again in 1880 and in 1888, and

each time he canvassed the entire State. Proverbially there has been no State in the Union where the whole ground in nearly every policies battle is fought over so stubbornly inch by inch, as is Indiana. The recognition of his abilities as a popular speaker is given as well by those who are opposed to his political views and

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policies as by his party companions. His manner in addressing an audience is graceful, and the supreme art of concealing himself, enlisting the sympathy of his audience, and making all forget who is talking, leaving them to the one subject of thought that the speaker desires to present, is his rare gift. This is merely the supreme art of the orator. An excellent voice, a remarkably clear and distinct enunciation, with perfect modulation and expressive features, are some of the marks of the make-up of the man that are part of the means, natural or acquired, that are at his command on important occasions. In person Mr. Nelson is above the medium in height and size, erect with a strong nervous movement, brown hair now mixed with gray, brown eyes, strong but pleasant features of face, with a full short beard, with a large and finely poised head, and a semi-military movement of person. He is just now in the prime of his mental life, and of the open, frank and genial nature that makes him a most companionable acquaintance and friend. He might be in short summed up as a typical Kentuckian, whose vene- ration of the memory of Clay and Lincoln is a sacred and undivided duty.

In the Annual Cyclopedia of 1872 is the following concerning Mrs. Elizabeth Key, wife of Hon. Thomas H. Nelson, who died in Maltrata, Mexico, March 23, 1872, written by William Cullen Bry- ant, the great American poet, who was her friend and admirer: " Mrs. Nelson was a daughter of the late Col. Marshall Key, a con- spicuous and able political leader and lawyer of Washington, Mason Co .. Ky. She was well educated, and early in life married Thomas H. Nelson, then a youth just entering upon his career as a lawyer, and who has since become distinguished both as a political leader and diplomatist. Soon after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Nelson re- moved to Indiana, where she shared with her husband all the trials, and contributed her full proportion to all the triumphs of the act- ive, eloquent and successful lawyer, who had become one of the founders of the Republican party. Mr. Nelson was sent to Chili as United States minister almost at the outset of the late war, and re- mained there at a post which the course of events rapidly invested with a peculiar and almost vital importance to the commercial and political interests of the Republic, then battling for its life during the whole of Mr. Lincoln's administration, and a full year of that of his successor. In 1869 he was appointed minister plenipoten- tiary to Mexico, where he still remains." How large and effective a part Mrs. Nelson took in her husband's labors throughout this entire period, the archives of the State Department attest. She had been a student without pretense as without parade, all her life long. Her knowledge of foreign languages, of history and of po-

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litical economy, enabled her to afford her husband an assistance as intelligent as it was assiduous ; and none of those of her sex who clamor most loudly in public for the equality of woman with man has done or can ever do so much to prove the truth of their doctrine in its true appreciation as this tender, modest and devoted wife. Her union with her husband was as the Shakesperian "Marriage of true minds." Those alone who knew her well and intimately can estimate its beauty and its worth, and, estimating these, come near measuring the depth and bitterness of a sorrow which present sym- pathy the most sincere may soothe, but years can never adequately assuage. President Juarez, who had recently experienced a similar affliction, and whose lamented wife had been an intimate and strongly attached friend of Mrs. Nelson, manifested the most pro- found sympathy with Mr. Nelson, and throughout the social and diplomatic circles of the Mexican capital her loss was deeply and unaffectedly mourned. Of her children but two survive her, Mar- shall K. Nelson, a resident of Mexico, and Harriet, wife of Dr. Edward H. Ashwin, of Brooklyn, N. Y.

SOLOMON NEUKOM, grocer, Terre Haute. Among the prominent citizens of Terre Haute is Solomon Neukom, who has been a resident of the place for many years. He was born in Switz- erland February 8, 1829, and is a son of Ulrich Neukom, a cooper by trade, who died in Germany. Solomon was reared in that country, attending the common schools of his native place. He came to America, landing at New York City June 11, 1847, and having learned shoemaking, he became engaged in that trade. In 1849 he came West, locating for a time at Cincinnati, Ohio, and subsequently, in 1856, came to Terre Haute, where in 1864 he embarked in his present business, in which he has since continued. Mr. Neukom was married in Cincinnati June 2, 1853, to Miss Re- gina, daughter of Gerhart and Mary ( Roelker) Tormohlen, and born in Hanover, Germany. This union has been blessed with eight children, five of whom are now living-three sons and two daugh- ters-viz .: Jennie, wife of Charles Lammers; Minnie, wife of Charles Neff; Henry, a clerk; Albert, engaged in the drug busi- ness in Terre Haute; Adolph, cashier in the Buckeye Store in Terre Haute. The family are members of the German Methodist Epis- copal Church, of which Mr. Neukom has been class leader and trustee. Mrs. Neukom has been a teacher in the Sunday-school for many years. They gave their children the advantage of good edu- cation: One daughter graduated at the city high school; Minnie attended the Indiana State Normal, and was a teacher eight years. This family is one of the few where all are doing well, and all seem to prosper; they are among the best citizens of Terre Haute, and have many friends.

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History of Vigo county, Indiana, with biographical selections, Part 91

Author: Bradsby, Henry C Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago : S.B. Nelson & co. Number of Pages: 1032

Author: Bradsby, Henry C
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : S.B. Nelson & co.
Number of Pages: 1032