USA > Indiana > Daviess County > Living leaders, an encyclopedia of biography : special edition for Daviess and Martin counties, Indiana > Part 21
USA > Indiana > Martin County > Living leaders, an encyclopedia of biography : special edition for Daviess and Martin counties, Indiana > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
Upon donning eitizen's clothes again Mr. Ellis returned to the bench and was a prominent builder of Washington, Ind. for years.
In 1878 Mr. Ellis was elected mayor of this city and was re-eleeted in 1880. He has always been an active and influential worker in the Republican party. His ser- vices and ability were recognized by his appointment as postmaster for Washington by President Harrison in 1889. He suc- eceded Stephen Belding and served four years and three months
Mr. Ellis' father was William Ellis who came to this eounty in 1810. He was born in North Carolina in 1802, and was a son of William Ellis who was a pioneer settler of Daviess County.
Our subject's mother was Charlotte, a daughter of Parmenas Palmer. She died in 1890 at the age of 84. Her children were: Caroline, wife of J. C. Mereer ; Amory, died in the army ; Rebecca, deceas- ed, married Thomas Banks; Sarah, mar- ried Richard Harroll, of Franklin County, Ill .; W. P .; John, deceased, married ; Al- fred, of this county ; Cicero B., of Hopkins Connty, Texas ; Indiana, wife of J. A. Gaither, of Odon, and S. P., of Washington.
November 26, 1868, Mr. Ellis was mar- ried in this county to Mary E., daughter of James B. MeHolland, who was born near Bloomington, Ind.
Mr. and Mrs. Ellis' children are: Mer- rit ; Idonia, wife of W. P. Walter, Deputy Circuit Clerk of this eounty; Frank ;
12
Helen ; Albion ; William M .; James E .; Donald.
Mr. Ellis was the first commander of the Grand Army Post at Washington. He possesses in a high degree the confidence of the citizens of Washington.
JOHN DOSCH, ex-Recorder of Daviess County and a member of the prominent real estate firm of Dosch & Sandford, of Washington, was born in Dubois County, Ind., Feb. 20, 1859. His father Andrew Dosch, came to this city that same year and settled near town and engaged in farming and gardening. This has been his occu- pation through his long and uneventful life. He was born in Germany, April 17, 1817, came to this country a single man and was married in New Orleans, La., to Maria Dudine, a German lady.
John Dosch is the sixth of a family ot ten children. He was fairly educated and applied himself in his youth to the task of learning the trade of harness making. After he had completed it he discovered that the close confinement incident to that business did not agree with him and he set abont preparing himself for a stationary engineer. He secured ready employment in this line and was one of the engineers for Cable & Co. at their coal shaft when he was elected County Recorder. John is a man who has always stood in with the boys, and as a consequence it became quite nat- ural for him to get into politics. He espoused Democracy from the start, and his party nominated him for Recorder in the summer of 1890 and he was elected in No- vember following aud served four years. During his term the records of his office were so badly damaged by the attempted burn- ing of the Court House that the Commis- sioners ordered him to make copies of what remained. He completed this work before his term expired. He was a candidate for re-election, but in 1894 was a bad year for Democrats everywhere, and he was not suc- cessful. He retired from office April 16, 1895, and on the first of the following month he formed his present partnership.
October 28, 1886, Mr. Doseh was mar- ried to Charlotte F., a daughter of Wen- dalun and Frances Fanst.
Mr. and Mrs. Dosch are the parents of : Frances, Charlotte and Laura (twins), Marie and John C.
Mr. Dosch has made the most of his op-
portunities. He is industrious, ambitious and, considering his age, he has been hon- ored with office and enjoyed its emoluments rather carly in life. He has acquired suf- ficient means to reward him amply for all his efforts, and with the proper manage- ment of his resources he will be in easy cir- cumstances through life.
THOS. G. UNDERDOWN, the efficient Treasurer of the city of Washington, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., July 4th, 1844. At the end of his pupilage he entered the United States navy, and served under both Admirals Dahlgren and Farragut. He was on the expedition commanded by Ad- miral Thacher, with a roving commission to the north Pacific Ocean. Being ordered home, he returned by mail steamer, was given a three month's leave and at the end of that time was discharged, having served four years and eight months. April 9th, 1868, he started on a trip to France and Italy as second officer of a merchantman and visited many of the prominent ports of lower Europe during this absence. Directly upon his return home, he came west and brought up in this city 27 years ago. While in the navy he had acquired that habit of self-destruction so common among sailors .and when he landed in this town he was "in hard luck," and was content to do the most menial labor for a living. One day he became confronted suddenly with a realization of the serionsness of his case and he resolved then and there to reform and to become the man his mother had tried to make him. That resolution became con- stant and has endured even to this day. He made friends and merited the good will of the business men of Washington, and having the mental qualifications, he secured desirable employment in a short time. In 1872 he entered the court house and served as deputy in the offices of Auditor, Re- corder and Treasurer respectively. He left the county building in 1880, and went west into Illinois in the interest of a bed spring company, but was not calculated for a solicitor in the beginning and returned poorer in purse than when he went out.
In 1882, Mr. Underdown first entered the City Treasurer's office as deputy under Wm. Thompson, and when that officer died in 1886, Mr. Underdown was appointed to the vacanev. Hle has succeeded himself at each city election since that date. He is a
13
Democrat of the most pronounced type and his political service has been in the interest of that party. He is regarded as a very careful officer and is popular with all classes.
Thos. Underdown is a son of Wm. Under- down who was born in Reading, England. He came to the United States early in life, and tor 31 years was a Philadelphia banker. He is now living in retirement at Haddon- field, N. J. Our subject is his only son by marriage to Elizabeth Cresswell.
Thos. Underdown married December 21, 1872, Minerva C. Crago.
He is a Red Man, is Treasurer of the Royal Areanum, and is a member of the Farragut Naval Association of Philadel- phia, Pa.
JOHN H. SPENCER, the present mayor of Washington, and a representative attor- ney of that eity, is a native of Tennessee, born in Greenville, that state, on the 28th day of December, 1860.
His parents were William and Elizabeth (Jones) Spencer. His father was a native of North Carolina and was a son of John G. Spencer, who was a native of Virginia and a descendant of Seoteh ancestors. Elizabeth Spencer, nee Jones, was born in North Carolina and her ancestors were of English origin. William Spencer removed from Tennessee to Indiana in 1867, and first . settled in Rushville, but two years later removed to Daviess County, and in 1871 located in Washington, where he died in 1895, at the age of sixty-seven years. His widow now resides in Washington. Of her six children the subject of this review is the only son. He was mainly reared and educated in Washington, from the high schools of which eity he graduated in 1880. He studied law under the guidance of James W. Ogdon and was admitted to the bar in 1882, and at once entered the practice of his chosen profession.
He was made deputy proseentor in 1886, a position in which he remained nearly two years. In 1890 Mr. Spencer was again made deputy prosecutor, and for four years thereafter discharged the duties of this office. In 1885 he was clerk of the judici- ary committee of the Legislature of Indiana.
In 1889 he was journal clerk in the State Senate, and in 1891 was engrossing clerk of the State Senate.
In politics Mr. Spencer has always been a well defined Democrat. In May, 1894,
he was elected mayor of Washington for a term of four years. As mayor he has given evidence of competeney and ability.
NATHAN G. READ, assistant cashier of the Washington National Bank, has been a leading spirit in the business affairs of Daviess County for thirty years, and in that time has been engaged in various public and private matters, and the public judgment as pronounced upon in all things is, that he possesses business and social qualities in a high degree.
Mr. Read was not especially prepared in his youth for any calling. He secured only a fair education in the common schools, but having a bright, active and fertile mind, he readily adapted himself to circumstances and his experience in public life gave him a fund of information that has been of much value to him in later vears.
Upon leaving school Mr. Read entered the office of his brother, R. N. Read, who was the County Auditor, and served as deputy for five years, and in November, 1866, was himself elected to that office ; was re-elected in 1870, serving. in all, thir- teen years. It is the testimony of all that he was an efficient official. Owing to a combination of eireumstanees the Demo- eratic convention of 1876 could not name either of the gentlemen for the office of sheriff who were avowed candidates, and Mr. Read was chosen as a compromise. He was elected the same fall and succeeded ex- Sheriff Capt. I. W. MeCormick. He put the office upon a business basis, and the conduct of it by each succeeding sheriff has been easier and more efficient for his having held it.
Mr. Read was born in this, Daviess County, Ind., March 30, 1842. He is a son of Nathan and Mary (Weaver) Read. The former was born in Massachusetts and the latter in Pennsylvania. The former came to this, Daviess County, very early, and here died. Our subject is the young- est of eight children, three of whom are living, George C., a farmer of this county ; Sarah, wife of Elijah Arthur, of Washing- ton, and Nathan G. The last named was married January 21, 1878, to Fannie, daughter of John Teney, and widow of El- liott MeCulloch. Mrs. Read was born March 2d, 1851, and is the mother of two children, Robert Nathan, deceased, and Lewis.
14
JOHN H. SPENCER.
Upon his retirement from the sheriff's office Mr. Read engaged in merchandising for three years. He came to his present position in February of 1888. His service as Deputy County Treasurer, by appoint- ment, gave him an experienced akin to banking that, when he came into the bank, he was somewhat familiar with the duties of his position.
Mr. Read is treasurer of the School Board of Washington, and has been a mem- ber of the board for eleven years. He is familiar with the needs of the school, understands the peculiar qualifications nec- essary for a successful teacher, and employs only such, so far as it is in his power.
As a citizen Mr. Read is progressive, public spirited and charitable. He is modest, never pushing himself, is very sociable, clever and accommodating. He is a mem- ber of none of the fraternities but is, in religion, a Presbyterian.
F. G. LUTES, the efficient Recorder of Daviess County, was born in Meade County, Ky., February 23, 1837. That same year his father, Wilson B. Lutes, crossed the Ohio river into Indiana with his family and settled in Perry County. He came into this county some years later and resided till his removal to Green County, where he died, in 1876, at the age of 66 years. He was born in Bullet County, Ky., and was a gunsmith by trade. That was the trade of his father, Wm. Lutes, a Pennsylvanian, and descended from German stock.
Henry Bugher's daughter, Virginia, be- came the wife of Wilson B. Lutes and Frances G. was their second child. The other children were: Augustus D., de- ceased, Mary E., wife of John Haverstock of Shelby County, Ill., Charles M. of Sul- livan, Ind., Jacob O., Danville, Ill., John W., Topeka, Kansas, Wilson B., Bedford, Ind., and Henry D. of Green County, Ind.
Frances G. was reared to work from his boyhood and was put, at the proper age, to making briek. When he quit this business he engaged in merchandising at Odon, Ind. In 1875 he took the western fever and went to Kansas, and spent two years at Towanda. Not being pleased with the country, he went to Brinkley, Ark., and found a good opening for a brick yard, and again engaged in the manufacture of brick. He conducted that business eight years and prospered, making, as he terms it his second
start. He returned to Daviess County in 1888, and embarked in business at Odon, again, and conducted it till his elertion to the office he now holds.
Mr. Lutes has devoted his time and tal- ents, in politics, to the cause of the Repub- lican party. There has been no time when he was not an advocate of her doctrines and a defender of her policies. When he be- came a candidate in 1894 for the party nomination for Recorder, he got it and was elected at the ensuing election by a plurality of 367 votes, and entered the office as the successor ot John Doseh.
Mr. Lutes did not shirk duty when his country needed loyal men to bear arms in defense of her honor and to protect her emblem. He responded to the call of 1862, and enlisted in Company C, 91st I. V. I. and was assigned to the army of the Cum- berland. The first year his service was in Kentucky, doing guard duty, but the next year he went to the front and participated in his first engagement at line Mountain, Ga. He was on the Atlanta Campaign and followed Hood back north and fought him at Franklin, and again at Nashville, where he was " eut to pieces " and was ever after- ward useless to the Confederacy. The Ninety-first was next transferred from Clif- ton, Tenn., by the way of Cincinnati to Washington, D. C., and from there sent south to Fort Fisher, to Cape Fear, and to Goldsboro, N. C., and there joined Gen. Sherman. It operated in that State in pur- suit of Gen. Johnston until his capture, when it was ordered to Salisbury and there Mr. Lutes was discharged in June, 1865.
Mr. Lutes was married first in 1859 to Barbara, daughter of William Snyder. She died at Brinkley, Ark., in 1888, after living with her husband twenty-eight years. Four of her children also died there. They were Francis B., Clara B., Charles and Isadore. Those living are : Alice, wife of (). B. Roberts; William H., George W. and Pearl M.
December 25, 1888, Mr. Lutes married Mrs. Sarah E. Spurgeon, daughter of William Gartin. She died in October of 1891, and March 3, 1892, Mr. Lutes mar- ried Mrc. Loretta Hastings, daughter of Hi- ram Allen, and widow of John A. Hastings.
Mr. Lutes is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the United Brethren Church.
15
.
CAPT. JOHN C. LEMING, Sheriff of Da- viess County, was born in Warren County, O., July 23, 1841. While yet a school boy in 1853, his parents left the Buckeye state and took np their residence in Cannelton, Ind., and in that old river town young John was educated sparingly and there he earned his first money at mule driving at a coal bank for $4 a week and board. He was put in charge of work at the Curlen coal banks in Kentucky some months later and remained with them until June 22, 1861, when he went home on a visit and while there the martial spirit took posses- sion of him and he enlisted July 10th in Company A, 23d Ind. V. I. and was mus- tered in service at New Albany. The 23d Regiment was placed in Gen, Gresham's Division and participated in the Atlanta campaign. He was mustered out of the service on the 28th of July, 1864, and on August 1st was discharged. His parents had moved to Milford, O., and hither our subject went and remained until the next March. He had arranged to put in a erop that spring and let others bring the war to a close, but on the 10th of March some- thing occurred to prompt him to rejoin the army, and he accepted the commission of Second Lieut. of Company F, 195th Ohio V. I. and served as such till the fall, when he was promoted to First Lieut. of Com- pany E, but before joining his new com- pany he was detached as Aide to Gen. H. B. Banning, with whom he served till muster- ed out in December, 1865.
Capt. Leming reached home Christmas eve and remained one week when he and his father and brother went to Southern Indiana and engaged in the timber business. Following this the Captain went south and engaged in the tng business at Vicksburg, Miss. On his return to the north he re- engaged in the lumber trade in Dubois and adjoining counties. In 1878 he accepted the Republican nomination for Recorder of Dubois County and was elected, being the first Republican elected in the county. He served four years and was a candidate for re-election and while the county went Democratic by 1,850 votes he was defeated by only 130 votes.
On going out of office Capt. Leming en- gaged in the milling business at Porterville and operated his plant till January, 18, 1884, when everything burned. He had
some land in Daviess County and he came here and engaged in farming and was so occupied when he was nominated for sheriff and elected in November of 1892. He took the office in August of 1893, was again elected in 1894.
Capt. Leming has shown himself to be a superior peace officer. He has had to face and handle some very trying and exasper- ating cases of lawlessness, and he did it with a master hand. He has been fearless in the performance of his duty and is a ter- ror in the eyes of evil-doers. He has had occasion to resort to very vigorous meas- ures for the suppression of incendiary and riotous bodies of men, and in doing so he has not exceeded his authority and has al- ways been within the pale of the law. He executes the mandates of the eonrt without prejudice or bias and is never interested in the prosecution of a case beyond his sphere as an executive officer.
Capt. Leming's father was Isaac Lem- ing, born in New Jersey, in 1805. He married Keziah Gest, who died in Feb- ruary, 1869, preceding her husband 14 years. Four of her seven children are liv- ing, viz: John G., Taylor, Emma and Mattie.
Capt. Leming was married in Daviess County, Ind., November 28, 1869, to Louisa, daughter of Thomas Hayes. Their children are : May, Florence, Dean, Amy, Belle, Jesse, Frank, deceased, Raymond, and Helen.
Capt. Leming belongs to the Masonic fraternity, to the Grand Army of the Re- public and to the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
DANIEL S. MONAGHAN the capable city clerk of Washington, was born in this city of Irish parents, October 6, 1868. Al- though his parents were poor they gave Dan a good English education in the paro- chial and public schools. His first under- taking was in the capacity of a student of telegraphy but not desiring to pursue this to its final completion he dropped it and for the next three years was bar tender in one of the saloons of Washington. He was in the office of Recorder Dosch as deputy for three years, and while so employed was elected to his present office. He took pos- session September 3, 1894, for a term of four years. He was a candidate of the Democratic party and was elected by a
16
plurality of 50 votes. He has exercised nnusnal care and fidelity in the discharge of his duties, and when, finally, he shall have surrendered his charge and become a private citizen, it will be with the con- sciousness that he has acquitted himself well and merited the confidence of the vot- ers of Washington.
Our subject's father, Dan Monaghan, was born on the Isle of Erin, and came to this city more than forty years ago. He mar- ried Mary Lively and is the father of: Michael, Philip, Lizzie, Dan. S., Annie, Kate, Antony, Bridget, Margaret and John.
The subject of this sketch has no fam- ily.
EZRA MATTINGLY, ex-chairman of the Republican Central Committee, is a lawyer of Daviess County, well and favorably known at the Washington bar, and is a gentleman possessing the esteem and confidence of his fellow townsmen. By nature and early training he acquired the habits of industry and honesty, and became possessed of a desire as he approached manhood, to engage in some professional pursuit that would furnish greater opportunities for intellectual ad- vancement than would the farm, and at the same time promise better remuneration for his labors. He accordingly shaped his affairs so that he could procure an educa- tion which he finished, as the term is com- monly accepted, by graduating at the South- ern Indiana Normal School at Mitchell. He had just passed his eighteenth year when he began his first school. He liked this profession, was well adapted to it and consequently made a success of it. He rose rapidly, carned his successive pro- motions, and in 1887 was elected principal of the schools at Odon, Ind. His ability as an organizer, manager and instructor stimulated this school to a new growth and increased activity, and changed it from a state of passiveness kin to indifference to an active, interested and vigorons condition. His record in this school was the cap sheaf of his success. He remained at Odon three years and while there conducted two of the most effective summer normals ever held in Daviess County.
In the year 1886 Mr. Mattingly was city editor of the Gazette in Washington, and in these new duties displayed the same 3
capacity and ingenuity that characterized his efforts in other fields.
In 1890 Mr. Mattingly began the study of law, and in 1892 was admitted to the bar before Judge Hefron. In June of the same year he joined William Heffernan as a partner, being now the junior member of the firm of Heffernan and Mattingly. Mr. Mattingly's first case was a criminal one before Justice Wallace, of Veele township, this county. He is giving his time and talent to his profession and is meeting with that success which his efforts merit.
Mr. Mattingly is an untiring worker in behalf of Republican principles, and was chosen county chairman in 1892 and again in 1894, in each of which years the Re- publicans carried Daviess County for every one of their candidates, which has never done before nor since.
Mr. Mattingly was born in this county August 27, 1864 His father, the late James Mattingly, was born in Mason County, Ky., and died in January, 1865, at fifty-six years of age. The Mattinglys were Eng- lish Catholics, who settled in the colony of Lord Baltimore in 1634. They scattered westward through West Virginia and into Kentucky, to which point we trace them. Our subject's mother was Mary A., the daughter of Beverly Berry, of the same locality. Her surviving children are : Mary, widow of T. J. Chapman ; James W., Laura C., Elisha, Samuel and Ezra.
Mr. Mattingly married, September 8, 1892, Tillie E., daughter of Dr. E. D. Millis. Their only living child is Carrie, born in 1893.
N. H. JEPSON's birth occurred in Bel- mont County, Ohio, January 28, 1835. His father, John Jepson, and his mother, Hannah, daughter of Samuel Hunt, were married in their native Lancashire, Eng., and came soon to the United States and resided for a time in Troy, N. Y., where the young husband was employed in a woolen mill. About the year 1833 they came west and settled in Belmont County, Ohio, and en- gaged in farming. A few years later the father was badly crippled while raising a barn, and was in consequence forced to give up the farm and seek something to which his condition would admit of his giving his attention. He chose merchan- dising, was successful therein, and devoted the remainder of his active life to that
17
business, covering a period from 1844 to 1880. He belonged to no organization but the Republican party and the Presbyterian Church, and died in his ninety-third year, in February, 1886. The business that he left in St. Clairsville, O., is still being con- ducted by one of his sons. Those of his children now living are: Miss Hannah Jepson and George Jepson, on the old homestead, N. H. Jepson and Dr. S. L. Jepson, of Wheeling, W. Va.
N. H. Jepson was educated in the schools of St. Clairsville, O., and upon entering the business world it was as clerk in his father's establishment. Upon deeiding to beco.ne a jeweler he placed himself at the disposal of B. K. Quest, of Cadiz, O. When he had become an efficient work- man he was employed at his trade in St. Clairsville and in Steubenville, where he first went into business for himself. On leaving this point he established a business at Urbana, O., and remained there till 1870, when he came to Washington. The store he opened here was modest and un- pretentious, and was the nueleous of the large and handsome establishment he eom- ducts to-day. Using the language of an- other, his business has grown to such pro- portions that his stoek is large and seleet as that of many firms in jobbing eities, and his fame as a mechanic has spread to "the four winds " till it is necessary to keep two men in his employ to do his repair work.
Mr. Jepson enlisted in Co. B, 159 O. V. I., in 1863 for the three months' or 100 day service. His company was ordered to Ft. Delaware, where it was utilized in gnard- ing rebel prisoners. He was, discharged after being out four months.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.