USA > Indiana > Indiana and Indianans : a history of aboriginal and territorial Indiana and the century of statehood, Volume V > Part 30
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Doctor Ellis has also been widely known as a public institute lecturer and chau- tauqua superintendent and his services have been constantly in demand on the lec- ture platform. He is active in the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, one of its prominent laymen, and has long been identified with a large Bible class as teacher. He is a member of the Phi Delta Theta College fraternity, is a Knight Templar Mason and member of numerous educational and learned societies. In 1886 he married Miss Grace V. Mapes, of Indianapolis. His son, Lieut. Max M. Ellis, served with dis- tinetion throughout the war with Germany, and his other son, Howell, served as head of the manuscript department in his father's office in the capitol.
ELNATHAN CORY. Among those whom Indiana claims among her pioneers and representative citizens should be men- tioned Elnathan Cory, one of the early residents of Tippecanoe County. He was born at New Carlisle, Ohio, March 11, 1811, and died near Montmorenci, Indiana, January 18, 1864. He came to Indiana shortly after his marriage and secured a . large body of land near Lafayette, and be- came one of the leaders of his day in that section of the state. He served as captain in the Indiana Militia for many years, was one of the local founders and most zealous
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leaders of the old "Underground Rail- road" for helping runaway slaves on to freedom, and was an abolitionist, whig and republican.
Elnathan Cory married Susannah Harr, and they became the parents of six children.
CHARLES G. CARPENTER. Forty-six years of continuous association with the Rich- mond Roller Mills makes Charles G. Car- penter a veteran in the business affairs of that city and one of the oldest practical millers in the state. The long continued fidelity he has shown as a factor in this business is characteristic of his citizenship and character in general. He has seldom joined as a leader in public affairs, but is always known as a quiet, hard-working citizen, willing to do his part and doing it without fuss or clamor.
Mr. Carpenter was born at Wilmington in Clinton County, Ohio, in 1836, son of Walter T. and Susan ( Mabie) Carpenter. He is of an old English family. Three brothers of the name came to America, two settling in New England and one in New York. Charles G. Carpenter is de- scended from the New York colonist. Wal- ter T. Carpenter moved from New York State to Clinton County, Ohio, had a gen- eral store there, and later engaged in the commission business at Cincinnati with his brother Calvin. They had the first com- mission house in that city and were located on the Basin of the old Whitewater Canal. He and his brother Ezra were dairymen at Cincinnati. They had some cows which they pastured on the present site of the Grand Central Station. Leaving Cincin- nati he went to Clarksville, Clinton County, Ohio, and purchased a farm, but sold this farm and moved to Richmond and bought 100 acres of land near that city.
.Charles G. Carpenter acquired a good education in Cincinnati, attending the Friends Private School, one year in the West Town Boarding School near Phila- delphia, and for three years was a student in Earlham College at Richmond. At that time his father was superintendent of Earl- ham College. He acquired a business ex- perience by clerking in a grocery store two years, and then for fifteen years devoted all his time to farming near Richmond. On returning to the city he engaged inde- pendently in the grocery business for two years under the name Carpenter & Newlan.
It was in 1873 that Mr Carpenter be- came manager for the Greet Street Mills of Richmond. In 1885 these mills were re- organized as the Richmond Roller Mills, and Mr. Carpenter is still manager, and has seen the business grow to great proportions and many changes have been introduced in the mechanical processes during his time. The Richmond Roller Mills are known for their product "Fancy Patent" and "Hax- all" flours. They are also dealers in field seeds.
Mr. Carpenter married in 1863 Elizabeth W. Newlan, a daughter of James and Ma- tilda Newlan, of Jefferson County, Ohio. To their marriage were born two daugh- ters, Mary Edna and Caroline M., the lat- ter still at home. The former is the wife of W. S. Hiser of Indianapolis and has one son, Walter C.
Mr. Carpenter has long been prominent in the Friends Church, of which he is a birthright member. Since 1883 he has been treasurer of the Indiana Yearly Meeting. Politically he is a republican.
ALONZO J. HILEMAN is a veteran in the boot and shoe trade, traveled all over In- diana and other states for a number of years representing some of the leading shoe manufacturers of the Middle West, and finally established a permanent business of his own at Elwood, where he now has a well appointed and thoroughly stocked store of merchandise at 116 South Ander- son Street.
Mr. Hileman was born in Madison County, Indiana, on a farm, in 1864, son of Robert M. and Eliza (Tilson) Hileman. His experience during boyhood was not unlike that of other Indianans of the time. He attended country school in winter, worked in the fields in summer, and all the time had a growing ambition to do something different from farm work. At the age of twenty he went to Huntsville, had a year of experience working in a gen- eral store, until the establishment was hurned out, and then engaged in his first independent effort as a merchant, asso- ciated with W. R. Tigue, under the name Tigue & Hileman, proprietors of a general store at Pendleton. They were there two years, and after selling out Mr. Hileman went on the road as traveling representa- tive of some of the leading shoe houses of Cincinnati. For three years he traveled
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over the Territory of Indiana, West Vir- ginia and Southern Ohio, representing Hickman, Taylor & Company of Cincin- nati, then for a similar period was with W. F. Thorn & Company of Cincin- nati; then for four years represented P. Sullivan & Company of Cincinnati in In- diana and Western Ohio; for two years sold the goods of Vall, Dittenhofer & Son of Cincinntti, and until 1893 was with the firm Plant & Marks, a shoe manufacturing company of Indiana. He then invested some of his capital and formed a partner- ship with Thomas Conner under the name Conner & Hileman and opened a stock of high class footwear at 107 South Anderson Street in Elwood. This partnership con- tinued for seven years, with Mr. Hileman still traveling. He then bought out his partner, left the road, and has given his best energies since that date to his own busi- ness. In 1908 he moved to his present quarters, and has owned both the store and the building since 1913. He has developed a large trade both in the city and surround- ing country districts, and the name Hile- man throughout this territory is associated with the most reliable and satisfactory goods. Mr. Hileman has also acquired some other business interests and is owner of some local real estate.
In 1892 he married Flora M. Greenley, daughter of John Greenley of Elwood. They have three children, Louise G., wife of Ralph Carpenter, who is connected with the First National Bank of Elwood, Fred G., who enlisted in the army in May, 1917, and is now supply sergeant at the Head- quarters Troop of the Thirty-Eighth Divi- sion in Camp Shelby; and George A., who was born in 1899 and is now a sophomore in the Chemical Engineering Corps at Pur- due University.
Mr. Hileman is a republican in politics. He is prominent in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks No. 368, and is lecturing knight for the order. He is treas- urer of the Indiana Retailers Boot & Shoc Association, and enjoys an enviable reputa- tion among all the business men of Indiana in this line. Mr. Hileman attends the Methodist Church.
WALTER H. MELLOR, of Michigan City, is one of the most prominent jewelers of Indiana, and has developed business of large proportions from a beginning with
exceedingly modest capital and only his individual skill and resources to depend upon. Mr. Meller has twice served as president of the Indiana State Retail Jewel- ers' Association, and was a member of the executive committee of the American Na- tional Association of Retail Jewelers. He is now secretary of the Steel F. Roberts Memorial Fund, which is maintained by the National Jewelers Association.
Mr. Mellor was born at Michigan City in 1875. His father, William Mellor, was born at Oldham, England, where the grand- parents spent all their lives. William Mel- lor was reared and educated in his native town, and as a young man came to America, married at Lowell, Massachusetts, and soon afterward moved to Indiana with his wife's people. They located in Porter County, and from there he enlisted in the Ninth Indiana Infantry, and saw much active and arduous service during the war of the rebellion. After his honorable discharge he returned home and soon located in Michigan City, where he became a dry goods merchant. He was in business until his death, at the age of fifty-seven, He married Sarah Grace Battye. She was born at Staleys Bridge, Lancashire, Eng- land, daughter of William and Sarah Bat- tye, who afterwards came to America and after several years of residence at Lowell, .Massachusetts, moved to Porter County, In- diana, where they were on a farm two or three years and spent their last days in Michigan City. Mrs. William Mellor is still living at Michigan City. Her five children are Eliza, William, Charles, George and Walter H.
Walter H. Mellor attended the city schools and then began an apprenticeship Michigan City. Later he attended Parsons at the jeweler's trade in the Beck store at Horological School, now the Bradley Poly- technic Institute at Peoria. When his course there was completed Mr. Mellor was employed in several cities, and in 1902 en- gaged in the jewelry business for himself. His capital was extremely small, but he was an expert jeweler and managed his resources with consummate skill until today. his store has one of the most complete stocks and one of the finest appointed es- tablishments of the kind in the state.
September 7, 1904, Mr. Mellor married Inez Herrick. She was born in Cherokee, Iowa, daughter of E. C. and Marion (Hall)
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Herrick. On the paternal side she is of English and on the maternal side of Scotch- Irish ancestry. Mrs. Mellor is a member of Cherokee Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and her four bars in- dicate direct descent from four Revolu- tionary ancestors. Mr. and Mrs. Mellor have one daughter, Marion Inez.
Mr. Mellor is a member of the board of trustees of the Presbyterian Church and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a member of the Potawattomie Country Club, and was one of the promoters and or- ganizers of the Michigan City Rotary Club. He is chairman of the Michigan City Chap- ter of the Red Cross and served as a mem- ber of the Executive Committee of the local War Chest.
Ross DOWDEN is one of the capable men of affairs of Delaware County, and has gained the secure confidence of the people of that section by the very capable admin- istration of his duties as county recorder.
Mr. Dowden was born in Delaware County March 9, 1886, son of Marion V. and Alice (Bryant) Dowden. Both par- ents were natives of Indiana. Marion Dow- den was a blacksmith by trade, and in 1862 enlisted in the Eighty-Fourth Indiana In- fantry, and was with the regiment during its splendid record of service through the Tennessee, Atlanta and subsequent cam- paigns until the close of the war. He was a very loyal member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Mr. Ross Dowden was the youngest of eight children, five of whom are still living. He was educated in public schools and as a boy began his business career working in some of Muncie's factories. He was in em- ployment in industrial positions for about ten years, and resigned his last work in 1914 when he was nominated on the demo- cratic ticket for recorder of Delaware County. He was elected in this normally republican county by a good majority, and took up his duties in office in 1915. Mr. Dowden has not only made an efficient county officer, but is known as a public spirited young man who takes a pride in his city and county and is always willing to perform a helpful part. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, and has served as secretary of the
local Lodge of Eagles for ten years. He is a member of the Methodist Protestant Church.
September 20, 1917, Mr. Dowden married Miss Lucile Veach, daughter of J. M. Veach, a farmer living near Mount Summit.
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MARY STEMBRIDGE, of Evansville, has a place among the useful women of Indiana on account of her long service in the cause of education. For over forty years she has presided over the Carpenter School of Evansville as principal. She comes of a family of educational traditions, and her father was author of the spelling book, known as the "Western Speller," at one time widely used throughout the southern states.
Miss Stembridge is a native of Muhlen- berg County, Kentucky, where her fore- fathers were pioneers in Indian times. Her great-grandfather, John Stembridge, was a native of England and coming to America in colonial times settled at or near James- town, Virginia. William Stembridge, her grandfather, was a native of Virginia, was well educated for his time, and after going to Kentucky was one of the first teachers in Muhlenberg County. He acquired land there, was a slave owner, and to planting he gave the energies of his mature years. He married Polly Ward, of a very interest- ing pioneer family. Robert Ward, the great-grandfather of Miss Stembridge, was a native of Ireland, came to this country when a youth, locating in Pennsylvania, and was with the Continental army in the war of the Revolution. In 1791 he em- barked his family and household goods on a flatboat, drifting down the Ohio and set- tled in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. At that time every family home was in a pe- culiar sense a "castle," extraordinary pre- cautions being necessary to safeguard the inmates from hostile attacks of Indians. The Ward family pewter set had to be melted and molded into bullets as a meas- ure of safety. Through the influence of Robert Ward the first Methodist mission- aries visited Muhlenburg County. The neighbors improvised some rough benches to be used at the meetings, and some of these frontier religious gatherings were held on the lawn of the Ward home. Miss Stembridge among other cherished heir- looms has carefully preserved a dress that must be over a century old. It was made
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for her Aunt Betsey Ward. The cotton was grown on the Ward plantation, and probably some of the Ward slaves spun and wove it into cloth.
Miss Stembridge's father acquired a good education both in the common schools and under home tuition, and for years was in- terested in educational matters. He was a merchant at Elkton in Todd County, after- ward at Greenville, and on leaving Ken- tucky moved to Evansville, where he be- came a wholesale grocer, and was in the same line at Louisville. He died in Evans- ville at the age of fifty-eight. He married Margaret Ann Akers, who attained the age of seventy. She was born at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, daughter of Larkin Nichols and Sarah (Harrison) Akers, both families of Virginia ancestry. One prominent repre- sentative of the Akers name was Peter Akers. author of the Akers Commentary. Miss Stembridge is one of three children: William Robert, Mary, and Sally.
Mary Stembridge completed her educa- tion in the Greenville Female Seminary at Greenville, Kentucky, and began her career as a teacher in the schools of Evansville in 1872. The first year she was in the Car- penter School, and then for three years was a teacher in what is now the Wheeler School. She then returned to the Carpen- ter School as principal, and has held that responsible post and supervised the educa- tion of thousands of boys and girls, includ- ing many who have since made their mark in the world. She was the center of in- terest and honor when in 1916 there oc- curred a "Home Coming" of the old pu- pils of the Carpenter School, when mature men and women gathered from far and near to renew associations of the past. Miss Stembridge is a member of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church of Evansville.
MADISON J. BRAY M. D. One of the earliest and most distinguished physicians and surgeons of Southern Indiana was the late Dr. Madison J. Bray of Evansville.
He was born at Turner, Androscoggin County, Maine, January 1, 1811, son of Captain William and Ruth (Cushman) Bray. His father was a lumberman and merchant. Doctor Bray at the age of six- teen left school as a student to become a teacher, and followed that occupation for eight years. He then attended a course of medical lectures in Dartmouth College, but
finished his training in Bowdoin College, where he graduated in 1835.
In the fall of the same year he started west, traveling by railroad, stage and river boat. At Evansville he found the only doctor of the village, William Trafton, burdened with the taxing exertions of a town and country practice that required almost constant and exhausting riding and driving. Doctor Trafton gladly accepted a partner to share in his labors, and for years Doctor Bray had all the experiences of a pioneer physician.
In 1847 he and others established the Evansville Medical College, in which he filled the chair of surgery until 1862. In that year he resigned to aid in organizing the Sixtieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and was commissioned regi- mental surgeon. He was with the com- mand until ill health compelled him to re- sign two years later. He then resumed his duties at the Medical College. He was sur- geon at the Marine Hospital at Evansville four years, and later at St. Mary's Hospi- tal. In 1855 he was elected president of the Indiana State Medical Society, and he contributed frequently to medical journals.
After a residence of sixty-five years, filled with useful labors and services, he died at Evansville August 22, 1900, at the age of eighty-nine. In 1838 he married Elizabeth Johnson, daughter of Charles and Ann (Tate) Johnson. His only son, Madison J., Jr., is still living in Evansville, engaged in the real estate business.
RICHARD A. EDWARDS. The First Na- tional Bank of Peru is one of the oldest banks under national charter in Indiana, having been organized in 1864, soon after the passage of the National Bank Act. Through all its existence it has been con- servatively managed, and its officers and stockholders represent a large share of the moneyed interests and business enterprise of Miami County.
In 1881 Richard Arthur Edwards gave up his share in the faculty of Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois, to identify himself with this institution, and for nearly forty years he has been devoting to it the best of his abilities and the skill gained from accumulating experience. Mr. Edwards is one of the oldest bankers in the state. The First National Bank of Peru has a capital of $100,000, surplus of $100,000, and is one
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of the strongest banks in the Wabash Val- ley.
Mr. Edwards represents a family of edu- cators and cultured New England people. He was born at Bridgewater, Massachu- setts, November 9, 1851, son of Rev. Richard and Betsey (Josslyn) Edwards. Not long after his birth his father moved to Salem, Massachusetts, and was president of the Massachusetts State Normal School until. 1859. In that year the family went to St. Louis, Missouri, where Rev. Richard Edwards served two years as president of the St. Louis Normal School, and from 1861 to 1873 was president of the Illinois State Normal University at Normal. Dur- ing that time he did much to establish the Normal University as the useful and splen- did institution it is today. He was a great teacher, and also had many of the qualities of the modern business adminis- trator and systematizer. His name has a permanent and well deserved place in the history of Illinois education. For several years he also served as state superintendent of schools in Illinois, and then entered the Congregational ministry. His chief service as minister was rendered as pastor of the Congregational Church at Princeton, Illi- nois, an historic church in which before the war the great abolition leader Lovejoy dis- tinguished the pastorate. Rev. Richard Edwards spent his last years at Blooming- ton, Illinois, where he died March 7, 1908.
Richard A. Edwards was educated in the public schools of St. Louis and at Normal, Illinois, being a student of the latter in- stitution while his father was president. When eighteen years old he taught his first school at Paxton, Illinois, and was princi- pal of schools there two years. In 1872 he entered Dartmouth College, but removed at the beginning of his junior year to Prince- ton University, and graduated A. B. from that institution in 1876. He had previously for one year been connected with Rock River Seminary at Mount Morris, Illinois, and after graduation returned there as in- structor of Greek and Latin. In 1878 he was called to the chair of English literature and rhetoric in Knox College.
On giving up the quiet dignities and pleasant associations of the scholastic life in 1881 Mr. Edwards accepted the position of assistant cashier of the First National Bank at Peru. In 1884 he was made cashier, and in that capacity had increasing
responsibilities and the management of the bank. In January, 1911, he became presi- dent, and his son, M. A. Edwards, is now cashier. Mr. Edwards has been an import- ant factor in Peru's advancement as a leading commercial city. He has served as. an officer and stockholder in a number of industrial concerns, and his personality is a rallying point for any broad cooperative movement in which the welfare and repu- tation of the community are at stake. Mr. Edwards is a republican, as was his father, and is a member of the Columbia Club of Indianapolis, the University Club of Chi- eago, and he and his wife are affiliated with the Baptist Church. In 1880 Mr. Edwards married Miss Alice Shirk, a member of the prominent Shirk family of Peru. Her father, Elbert H. Shirk, was for a number of years president of the First National Bank of Pern. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards have a family of two sons and three daugh- ters.
THOMAS CORY. Among the men respon- sible for the development of Indiana and her institutions mention is made of Thomas Cory, an educator of distinction in his day, the author of a text book, "Manual of Land Surveying," very generally used throughout Indiana for many years, and an engineer of recognized ability and the inventor of several important devices cov- ering a wide field.
Thomas Cory was born on a farm near Montmorenci in Tippecanoe County, In- diana, February 10, 1838. and his death occurred at Berkeley, California, May 30, 1915. He was a student of Wabash Col- lege, class of 1859, where he studied engi- neering, and after leaving college followed that profession, educational work, agricul- ture, and work at his inventions. He was at one time connected with Purdue Uni- tversity, and his name and that of his father. Elnathan Cory, deserve lasting recognition for the part they played as real pioneers of Indiana.
Thomas Cory married at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. December 29, 1863, Carrie Storey, and they reared a large family of children who do them honor.
PETER J. REEHLING. An Indiana citi- zen of exceptionally wide experience is Peter J. Reehling, who for thirty years has been identified in different capacities with the American Express Company, and is
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now agent and manager of the company's business at Anderson.
Mr. Reehling is a native of Indiana and is of that substantial German stock that sought free homes in America after the revolutions in Germany against Prussian- ism during the '30s and '40s. His parents were Phillip J. and Elizabeth (Kaiser) Reehling. Phillip J. Reehling was born in Baden, Germany, in 1813. He saw active service in the Baden army, and as a soldier bore arms against the king of Prussia when the present house of Hohenzollern was seek- ing to dominate the various provinces and states of Germany. Phillip Reehling re- fused to remain under the rule of the con- queror, and as soon as he could accumulate sufficient money to defray his expenses he came to America.
In 1840 he took passage on a sailing vessel and was three months in reaching America. Twice the boat was in sight of land when it was blown out to sea. He traveled by way of Buffalo and Toledo and from that point drove overland to Fort Wayne. He paid fifty dollars to the driver. The driver became siek of his undertaking and tried to return to Toledo, but Phillip Reehling with the aid of a shotgun com- pelled him to continue the journey. Phil- lip Reehling at that time was accompanied by his wife and a baby six months old. Two other members of the party were his mother and father, then people past sev- enty. His first home was seven miles south of Fort Wayne, where he bought forty acres of land. This land was located on the old Pickaway Road. He worked that forty acres until 1856, when Chief Godfrey of the Miami Indians, learning that Mr. Reeh- ling had in his possession 100 silver dol- lars, persuaded him to buy 105 acres across the St. Mary's River on the Winchester Road. This was only the initial payment, and the balance was paid out in coon, skins. Phillip Reehling looked after both farms until 1861, when he turned the larger place over to his older son, Jacob, and after that managed the home farm until he retired. He died at Fort Wayne in 1891, at the age of seventy-eight, and his wife passed away in 1893, also aged seventy-eight. They had five sons and three daughters.
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