USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Richmond > Memoirs of Wayne County and the city of Richmond, Indiana; from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Wayne County, Volume I Pt. 2 > Part 11
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In 1910, Mr. Foulke published "The Quaker Boy," a novel describing a youth whose parents belonged to the Society of Friends but whose own convictions finally led him into the Civil war. There are glimpses of home life, but a love story runs through the narrative which culminates at the battle of Gettysburg. A second edition of this book was published in 1911 (Cosmospolitan Press, New York) under the title of "Dorothy Day."
Marjorie Benton Cooke is the author of "The Girl Who Lived in the Woods," "Dr. David" (A. C. McClurg & Co., 1911) and also "The Redemption of Anthony," a story of about a hundred pages published by Bobbs-Merrill Co. as part of a series of short works by Indiana authors which were given to the members of the Indiana Society at Chicago on the occasion of its annual ban- quet in 1911. Miss Cooke is entitled to a high rank in fiction and her work is permeated with a delicate humor which renders it very attractive. It was all written, however, long after she had ceased to be a resident of Wayne county, where she passed only the first few years of her childhood. She has also written a num- ber of attractive monologues, published in 1907, and plays for children, her first work being "Dramatic Episodes," published in Chicago in 1904.
A number of books for children have been published by Wayne county writers, among them the "Flossy Lee" books by Lizzie Laws Hibberd, "The Little Red Stocking" by the same author, and the "Doll's Own Book," in which she was a con- tributing writer under her nom de plume of "Faith Wynne." She has been a contributor to various periodicals and has written sev- eral serials, not only for children but for persons of mature age.
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"Twilight Stories," by Elizabeth E. Foulke, was also de- signed for children and contains a short poem on "The Blue Gentian," which is worthy of reproduction here:
"Beautiful gentian, don't I know Why you chose this place to grow?
"Here you can lean o'er the waters cool, And see yourself in this glassy pool!
"Doesn't your beauty make you vain, Mirrored in its depths so plain?"
"Nay, little maid," it answers low,
"Never a gentian looks below; --
"They always look high overhead; They look at the blue of the sky instead!"
ART.
Esther Griffin White published, in 1910, "Indiana Book- plates," a beautiful volume with an extensive collection of book- plates from all parts of the State, Indianapolis and Richmond be- ing especially represented. The text of this volume includes not merely an account of the bookplates, but a general description of Indiana art, including the Indiana painters. Many of her observa- tions upon this subject are striking and deserving of careful con- sideration. The Hoosier group of painters-Steele, Adams, Stark, Forsyth, etc .- have established an Indiana school of art, but she considers that they have so imposed their artistic ideals upon the State that they have given little room for originality, and no new vital names appear on the horizon to continue the work of the school. A discussion of impressionism follows and a considera- tion of how far that term is applicable to the productions of the Indiana School, a school distinctive and distinguished in its way like the Barbizon school in France. Mr. Gruelle is classed quite apart from the other Indiana artists, and to Mr. Bundy and Mr. Connor, both of Richmond, consideration is given in two special chapters, with a thorough criticism of their work.
Miss White's account of the bookplates is full and exhaustive, and while the illustrations demonstrate that they vary greatly in quality there are many that show an artistic ability of high order in design, some of the best being the work of Miss White's brother, now deceased, Raymond Perry White, to whom an af- fectionate tribute is paid in this book.
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EDUCATIONAL.
There are, besides the books for children, others that are de- voted to educational purposes. Will Earhart, the able and greatly esteemed supervisor of music in the Richmond High School, has prepared, in collaboration with E. B. Birge and W. S. B. Matthews, four numbers of "The Master Musician Series," devoted to the life, history and works of eminent composers, Handel, Haydn, Beethoven, and Mozart have already appeared and Mendelssohn, by Professor Earhart alone, is soon to follow.
Besides this, he is also the compiler of an admirable collection, "Art Songs for High Schools" ( 1910), the purpose of which is well shown in the preface, where he says :
"Between the music that merely fits the lower levels of life, and the great music that demands for its appreciation mature experience in life and musical scholarship, there is a middle ground where can be found material that is thoroughly acceptable to the musician, as well as attractive to young people. Such music is distinctly artistic to the student, in that it stimulates the imagina- tion, sensibilities and finer impulses ; also, an acquaintance with it quickens the desire for fuller knowledge and experience. It is the music to be sought.
"From the advanced musicians of the day there is a very in- sistent demand for the fuller recognition in school music of 'modern spirit'; that is, the spirit of ultra-modern music. The de- mand has some claim to attention, but is short-sighted and in- dicative of very little pedagogical experience. Ultra-modern music is highly delicate, nervous, sensitive, complex. Emotionally, it is likely to be overwrought. Its shades are too shifting for the unvarying chorus quality of tone; its rhythms are too involved : its spirit is too subtle. The proper medium for its expression is the sensitive, complex, many-colored orchestra. The modern com- poser himself tacitly admits this by turning increasingly to the orchestra as his only adequate vehicle of utterance. He finds even solo voices unsuitable : and for him the mass chorus has ceased to exist.
"It would be a mistake, on the other hand, to reprint only numbers from the older classicists. The change that has taken place, or the progress-if it is that-should not be ignored. There- fore, so far as the modern spirit finds its expression in practicable chorus numbers, it will be found represented in this book.
"Finally, a book of music should be a book for the sake of
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Music. That it should express sentiments of patriotism or re- ligion, for instance, and in expressing them vitalize them, is to be expected; and that is well. But it is a mistake to wish it to be dedicated wholly to the inculcation of patriotism or religion ; it is rather a voice that at times gives expression to them, as it must at other times give expression to countless other experiences. To limit it to any one such field, however good, is to defeat its broad- est mission ; for music belongs to the whole soul of man, and this is its highest claim to his regard."
Among the books that are quasi-educational in character may be placed "The Friendly Stars," by Martha E. Martin. She thus defines its purpose: "The chief aim of this book is to share with others the pleasure which the writer has had in what may be called a relation of personal friendship with the stars." Mrs. Martin is no believer in Shakespeare's declaration :
"Those earthly godfathers of heaven's lights That give a name to every fixed star Have no more profit of their shining nights Than those who walk and know not what they are."
She believes, on the contrary, that "the pleasure one never fails to have in the spectacle of the whole sky is multiplied many times for him as soon as he knows something of the individuals that make up this splendid panorama," and her book is a most agreeable and popular guide to the starry firmament. It is natural that such a work should have a warm reception and an extensive sale, and such has been its fortunate destiny.
It may seem extraordinary to close this collection with one of the very earliest productions, but in an account classifying the output of Wayne county, according to the subject matter, this is inevitable. Samuel K. Hoshour, a well known educator of In- diana, the instructor of Morton in a school at Centerville, pub- lished (besides an attractive Autobiography, which appeared after his death) a small volume entitled "Altisonant Letters," designed for the instruction of his pupils in the use of unusual words. This appeared as early as 1856. The following extract will show the character of this peculiar production. It describes a sunrise :
"The Solar orb, in his emanation from the oriental and mar- garic portals, cast luculent coruscations into the azure concavity -amplifying claritude occupated the welkin-human, and other entities sustained his calidity-and his candent ascension coerced
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the subterrene, seminal and radical deposits to pullulate and dif- fuse vernal viridity over nature's undulated surface !"
ALPHABETICAL CATALOGUE OF WRITERS.
The following biographical mention of the various writers of Wayne county, arranged alphabetically, has been prepared by Miss Ada Woodard, the whole being considerably condensed and a few names added by the editor :
Louise Vickroy Boyd, daughter of Edwin Augustus and Cornelia Harlan Vickroy, was born at Urbana, Ohio, Jan. 2, 1827. Prior to her marriage, Sept. 5, 1865, to Dr. S. S. Boyd, she was engaged in teaching. For many years after her marriage her home was in Dublin, and later in Cambridge City, Wayne county. Her first poem was written in 1851, and in 1852 she became a regu- lar contributor to Grace Greenwood's "Little Pilgrim." She wrote for various periodicals, particularly those of earlier days, such as "Knickerbocker," "Graham's" and "Arthur's" magazines, "Apple- ton's Journal," "The Atlantic Monthly," the Philadelphia "Satur- day Evening Post," and later in the "Century," "Scribner's," "Har- per's Young People," etc. Several of her poems have been trans- lated into German, four of them being contained in "American Lyrics," translated by Karl Knortz and published at Leipsic about 1879. She died July 25, 1909. A collection of her poems, edited by Esther Griffin White, was published after her death. (The Nicholson Press, Richmond, Ind., 1911.)
Mae Laws Bramhall was the second daughter of Joseph and Cornelia WV. Laws. She was born in Richmond and resided there until almost of adult age, when the family removed to Chicago. She received her education in the public schools of Richmond and Chicago, with a short period at St. Mary's School at Reddington, Ohio. She inherited the gifts of song and poesy from her mother, the author of "Six Little Feet on the Fender," and many other verses. In 1889, she married Anson Dudley Bramhall, of New York City, and the following two years were spent in Japan, where she wrote and published her first book, "Japanese Jingles," which she dedicated to her uncle and aunt, Dr. and Mrs. James F. Hib- berd. Charles Scribner & Sons had the exclusive sale of these books in America, which sale they deemed phenomenal. This was followed by "The Wee Ones of Japan," charmingly illustrated and published by Harper's. She was a versatile writer and con-
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tributed to many magazines and newspapers. She died Feb. 7, 1897, in the thirty-sixth year of her age.
Alice Williams Brotherton, author, magazine writer, and lec- turer on Shakespeare and English literature, was born in Cam- bridge, Ind. She was the daughter of Alfred Baldwin and Ruth Hoge (Johnson) Williams. The family was originally of Cin- cinnati, but later resided in St. Louis and for seven years in Cam- bridge, Ind., whence it returned to Cincinnati, in 1887, where she has lived since, and in which city her marriage occurred to Wil- liam Earnest Brotherton. For many years Mrs. Brotherton has been a contributor of verse and prose to various magazines: The "Atlantic," the "Century," "Scribner's" the "Independent," the "Golden Age," "Poet Lore," "St. Nicholas," and others. In 1886, Charles Keer & Company, of Chicago, published as a booklet a long poem, "Beyond the Veil," and the volume entitled "The Sail- ing of King Olaf and Other Poems." Next year, George P. Put- nam's Sons, New York, printed "What the Wind Told to the Tree Tops," a book of stories in prose and verse.
James Charles was born near Williamsburg, Wayne county, Indiana, in 1841. His education was obtained in the country schools. For three years he taught school in the winter terms. He was married, in 1861, to Miss Martha H. Harne, of Arba, Wayne county, Indiana. In 1869, he located on a farm near Lawrence, Kan. In 1875, he was elected representative for Douglas county to the Kansas legislature. In 1876, he was appointed superin- tendent of the Government School and Farm, at the Sac and Fox Agency in Indian Territory. Coming back to Indiana, in 1880, he assisted in organizing the Ridgeville Bank, where he served as cashier until 1886, when he removed to Richmond. In 1889, un- der the pseudonym of Charles J. Wayne, he published "Caddo, or Cupid in the Gas Belt."
Dougan Clark, A. M., M. D., was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, May 17, 1828. His father and mother, Dougan and Asenath Clark; his grandfather, Nuha Hunt; and his great- grandfather, William Hunt, were all ministers in the Society of Friends. At the age of eighteen he entered the Friends' Boarding School at Providence, R. I., where he spent two years. In 1850, he entered Haverford College and was graduated there in 1852, and in the same year was married to Sarah J. Bates, of Hanover county, Virginia. Afterwards he attended a course of medical lectures at the University of Maryland, in Baltimore, and then re- moved to Indiana and practiced his profession, for eight years,
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at Carthage and Westfield, except that he spent the winter of 1860-I at Philadelphia, where he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania, with the class of 1861. Two years were then spent in Indianapolis as a prac- ticing physician. In 1866 he was called to the chair of Greek and Latin in Earlham College, which position he held for three years, when he resigned and moved to Richmond. He was recorded a minister of the Gospel, in 1869, and this was distinctively his life work. He was pastor of a Friends' church in Cleveland, Ohio, for thirteen months. From the beginning of 1882 till the end of 1883. he was the editor of the "Gospel Expositor." The following year he was again elected professor of Latin and Greek in Earlham College. With the establishment of the Biblical Institute, in 1888, Dr. Clark was promoted to the leadership of the new department, which position he held until 1894. He died at his home in Rich- mond, Oct. 10, 1896. Dr. Clark was the author of "Offices of the Holy Spirit," "Instructions to Christian Converts," "Holy Ghost Dispensation," and "The Theology of Holiness."
Elijah Coffin, son of Bethuel and Hannah (Dicks) Coffin, was born in New Garden, Guilford county, North Carolina, Nov. 17, 1798. He was of English descent, his ancestors settling originally in Nantucket. He had the schooling that the primitive times af- forded. He was married Feb. 2, 1820, to Naomi Hiatt. In 1824. he removed, with his wife and three children, to Wayne county, near Milton, and engaged in school-teaching in that town. In 1834 he accepted the position of cashier in a branch of the State Bank of Indiana, which had just been located in Richmond, and came to that place. He held this position until the expiration of the term of its charter, Jan. 1, 1859, when he retired from active business. He was, at an early age, clerk of the Yearly Meeting of Friends in North Carolina, and, in 1827, was appointed clerk of the Indiana Yearly Meeting. He died Jan. 22, 1862. He wrote his autobiography, "Life of Elijah Coffin."
Levi Coffin, son of Levi and Prudence Coffin, was born Oct. 28, 1798, on a farm near New Garden Meeting-House, North Carolina, of English and Welsh ancestry. He was the fifth in line from Tristram Coffin, an English emigrant, who was one of a company of nine to purchase Nantucket from the Indians. His ancestors were members of the Society of Friends. He went to school but little, obtaining most of his education from his father. He made a visit to Indiana, in 1822, which lasted for more than a year : during this visit he taught two schools, one near where
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Earlhan College now stands and the other at Honey Creek, in the western part of the State. Levi Coffin was married, Oct. 28, 1824, to Catherine White, daughter of Stanton and Sarah White. In 1826, he removed with his family to Newport (now Fountain City), Wayne county, Indiana. During his residence in Newport of more than twenty years, he was engaged in helping fugitive slaves escape to Canada, being the president of the Underground Railroad for thirty years. In 1844, he made a visit to Canada, with the idea of seeing how the fugitives he had aided were faring. In April, 1847, he removed to Cincinnati, to take charge of a wholesale depository of free-labor goods. About 1850, he made a Southern trip in connection with his free-labor business. After his removal to Cincinnati, he still helped fugitive slaves as he had done in Newport. In the fall of 1862, Mr. Coffin began work among and for freedmen, going, in May, 1865, to the British Isles and France, for the purpose of raising funds for their aid. In 1867, he was appointed a delegate from the Western Freed- men's Aid Commission to attend the International Anti-Slavery Conference in Paris, to be held Aug. 26-27; following this, he made a trip through other countries, returning by the way of England and Ireland. Levi Coffin died at Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio, Sept. 16, 1877, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. Mr. Coffin was the author of "Reminiscences of Levi Coffin" (Western Tract Com- pany, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1876).
Marjorie Benton Cooke, daughter of Joseph H. Cooke and Jessie Benton Cooke, was born in Richmond, Ind., Nov. 27, 1876. The family moved to Detroit, in 1885, and then to Chicago, which place has been their home ever since. Miss Cooke graduated at the University of Chicago in 1899. She is the compiler of "Ser- gel's Selections for Reading and Recitation," published in 1906, and the author of "Dramatic Episodes," published in Chicago, in 1904; "Ten Plays for Children," published in Chicago, in 1906; "Modern Monologues," Chicago, 1907; and "More Modern Mono- logues," Chicago, 1907. She has published other plays for chil- dren : "Christian Benefit: A Play in One Act"; "Fairy Ring: A Play for Children"; "First Thanksgiving Dinner: Historical Play in One Act"; "School Plays"; "Springtime Fantasy: Easter Play in One Act for the Little Folk." In fiction she has written: "The Girl Who Lived in the Woods," and "Dr. David" (A. C. McClurg & Co., 1911) ; also "The Redemption of Anthony," published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company for the Indiana Society of Chicago, 1911).
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Hannah E. ( Brown) Davis was born near Richmond, Ind., Nov. 5. 1841, and died at Grand Forks. N. D., March 24, 1898. She was educated at Earlham College. In September, 1862, she was married to Clarkson Davis, who assumed the management of Spiceland Academy in 1863, and she taught in this academy twenty-eight years. She is represented in Parker & Heiney's An- thology by a short poem, "The Wood Thrush."
David Worth Dennis. (See biography in the Biographical volume. )
William T. Dennis was born in Cayuga county, New York, June 17, 1816. He subsequently removed to Indiana and was for fifty years a resident of Richmond, Wayne county. He was sec- retary of the State Board of Agriculture, and during the Civil war was military agent for Indiana at the National capital. He pub- lished "Fish and Game Talks," a sprightly periodical, treating of the denizens of the streams and woods. He is represented in Parker & Heiney's Anthology by a single poem, "When the Leaves Come Sailing Down."
Walter Henry Dennis was born at Greensboro, N. C., Sept. I, 1876, of African descent, being the son of George W. Dennis, once a slave, and Mary Dennis, his wife. The family removed to Richmond in 1877. He is the author of a volume entitled "The Progress of the Northern Negro," as well as a number of short poems and short stories.
Will Earhart, son of Martin Earhart and Hannah Corwin Earhart, was born April 1, 1871, in Franklin, Warren county, Ohio. He took up the study of music at the age of twelve. At the age of seventeen he accepted the position of teacher of music in the Franklin schools and later in the Miamisburg schools. In 1896, he accepted a position in the schools of Greenville, Ohio, as su- pervisor of music. In 1897, he married Birdella M. Darling, of Findlay, Ohio. In 1898, he removed to Richmond, to occupy the same position that he had held in Greenville and Miamisburg. Since Mr. Earhart began teaching, he has been also the director of the Richmond chorus, and the High School orchestra, and has conducted several musical festivals in Richmond. For a number of years he has been a contributor to various periodicals, chiefly on musical subjects. During the summer of 1908, Mr. Earhart, in collaboration with Edward B. Birge. of Indianapolis, wrote the "Master Musicians' Series," a course of study and practice for high schools. This series is edited by W. S. B. Matthews and published by C. C. Birchard & Company. of Boston. Handel,
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Hadyn, Mozart and Beethoven have been written and the series will be extended to include all "Master Musicians." He has also written "Art Songs for High Schools" ( American Book Co., 1910).
John Finley, son of Andrew Finley, of Scotch-Irish Presby- terian ancestry, was born in Brownsburg, Rockbridge county, Vir- ginia, Jan. II, 1797. He received but a limited education, though his reading covered a wide field. In 1816, he left his native conn- try for the West. reaching Richmond in 1820. In 1826 he married Rachel H. Knott, of Yellow Springs, Ohio, who lived but a few months after marriage. In 1830 he was married to Julia Hanson. of Indianapolis. His official career began in 1822, as justice of the peace. He represented Wayne county in the legislature, from 1828 to 1831, and was then enrolling clerk of the Senate three years. From 1833 to 1837, he edited and held a controlling in- terest in the principal newspaper of the county, the Richmond "Palladium," and, in 1837, was elected clerk of the Wayne county courts for a term of seven years; this necessitated a removal to the county seat, Centerville, but on the expiration of the term (1845) he returned to Richmond. Elected mayor of the city in 1852, he retained the office, by re-elections, until his death, Dec. 23, 1866, having had an almost continuous public service for more than forty years. Mr. Finley's reputation as a poet was estab- lished when the Indiana "Journal" published "The Hoosier's Nest," Jan. 1, 1833. It was the first "Carrier's Address" written by the author and was followed by an "Address" in the "Journal" for eight or nine years in succession. The "Palladium" also had an annual "Address." These were rhyming reviews of State and national questions, or humorous references to peculiarities of candidates for public office .. They were of local interest, but did not arrest general attention, as the description of Hoosier life had done. "The Hoosier's Nest" has been quoted in England as a graphic specimen of backwoods literature. "Bachelor's Hall" was published anonymously and was immediately credited to Thomas Moore ; it was reproduced in England and Ireland many times be- fore the authorship was established. "The Hoosier's Nest," a small volume of 105 pages, issued and copyrighted in 1865, had an ex- tensive sale.
Elizabeth Ellen Foulke, daughter of William W. and Mary E. (Newman) Foulke, was born in Richmond, Ind. She was edu- cated at Earlham College. Miss Foulke is engaged in teaching and is the author of "Twilight Stories," published in 1895, and "Braided Straws," which appeared in 1898.
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William Dudley Foulke. (See biography in the Biographical volume.)
Henry C. Fox. (See biography in the Biographical volume. )
Strickland W. Gillilan, the well known writer of humorous stories and verse, was born in Jackson, Ohio, Oct. 9, 1869, son of Lewis and Mary Alice (Clare) Gillilan. In 1888 he became a student at Ohio University. He began newspaper work with the Jackson "Herald," in 1887, and was connected with the Athens "Herald," of Athens, Ohio, from 1888 to 1892. He was editor of the "Daily Telegram," Richmond, Ind., 1892-1895; city editor of the Richmond "Daily Palladium," 1895-1901; reporter and editor of the Marion, Ind., "Daily Tribune," 1901 ; on the editorial staff of the Los Angeles "Herald," 1901-1902; and on the Baltimore "American," 1902-1905. He has been connected with "Judge" since June, 1905; with the Chicago "Daily News" since January, 1906: and has been a lyceum lecturer since 1899. Mr. Gillilan was married first to Miss Alice Hendricks, of Springfield, Ohio, on March 1, 1894, and after her death, in 1901, to Marriet Nettleton, of Baltimore, on June 2, 1903. Mr. Gillilan is a contributor to various magazines, amongst them the "Ladies Home Journal," "Judge," "Life," and the "Saturday Evening Post." In 1901 Pear- son Brothers, of Philadelphia, published a volume of verses. An- other volume appeared in 1912, "Including Finnigan" (Faber & Co., Chicago). Mr. Gillilan is president of the American Press Humorists. His present home is in Roland Park, Baltimore coun- ty, Maryland.
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