Pictorial and biographical memoirs of Elkhart and St. Joseph counties, Indiana, together with biographies of many prominent men of northern Indiana and of the whole state, both living and dead, Part 3

Author:
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed Brothers
Number of Pages: 786

USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > Pictorial and biographical memoirs of Elkhart and St. Joseph counties, Indiana, together with biographies of many prominent men of northern Indiana and of the whole state, both living and dead > Part 3
USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > Pictorial and biographical memoirs of Elkhart and St. Joseph counties, Indiana, together with biographies of many prominent men of northern Indiana and of the whole state, both living and dead > Part 3

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MEMOIRS OF INDIANA.

years. His birth occurred in Erie county, Penn., and he was one of six children born to the marriage of Salmon A. Johnson and Miss Minerva Powell, both of whom were natives of Chittenden county, Vt. At an early age he was brought by his parents to Indiana, and was here reared and educated. The country was new and wild then, and no one who did not pass through the experience can have an idea of the self- denial, sufferings and hardships of the first settlers. Ruel M., by the death of his father, was thrown upon his own efforts at the age of twelve years, but he was ad- venturesome, energetic, honest and persistent, and he pushed forward.

He worked on a farm summers, and attended school winters, continning thus until he was fitted for college, whereupon he attended the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and in 1858 graduated with high honors with his class. To pay his way he did anything honorable, no matter how humble, sawing wood, sweeping the recitation rooms of the university, and during the first two years, as he himself says, faring upon "pudding and salt for breakfast; salt and pudding for dinner, and a mixture of both for supper." The third year he secured a position with the professor of astronomy in the Detroit Observatory, and thereafter fared better. While in college, the question of "co-education of the sexes" came up for settle- ment. He took active ground in its favor, corresponding with many college presi- dents and other leading educators and placing their views before the regents of the university, and it was largely due to these efforts that the measure was finally adopted by that body. The women of America are greatly indebted to this man, in having opened to them the doors of the University of Michigan, a step which gained them admission to other colleges and universities and has led the way to other and equally great advantages for them in many walks of life, and the bene- fits of which are immeasurably great and far-reaching. Before graduating, and while yet under age, he was nominated by the Democracy of Elkhart county for county treasurer, but, though running several hundred ahead of his ticket, he was defeated at the polls. After graduating, he studied law under Hon. Robert Lowery, of Goshen, and upon admission to the bar became his preceptor's partner. Suon after this he went out to fight his country's battles. Col. Johnson has done a great work for the home-seekers of Elkhart. In this connection, the following compli- ment is paid him by the Etkhart Review:

"Satisfying himself, from the location of this beautiful and enterprising city, that it had a future second to no city of its population in the Northwest, he pur- chased several valuable business fronts, and being the owner of other business loca- tions, he started a line of improvements which has led to the investment of a large amount of capital which, until then, had remained comparatively idle, and as a re- sult he and other local capitalists have since that time added to the business por- tion of the city the following stately and lovely blocks:

"The Dodge block at a probable cost of $30,000; the Rialto, $20,000; the Elk- hart block, $15,000; Truth office, $15,000; Kauffman and Crane block, $10,000; the Every block, $30,000; the Jarrett block, $20,000; the Review office, $20,000; the Shaw block, $15.000; the Jones block, $10,000; total, $185,000. Besides these really grand improvements, he has inaugurated and is pushing forward with his well-known enterprise a scheme for the building and furnishing of cheap homes to the workingmen of Elkhart, which, if taken advantage of by this class of people, will enable all of them. for about the sum they are and have been paying as rent, to house themselves and their families in homes of their own. Ae a part of this excellent plan he has laid out his Riverside addition to the city in such sized lots that all can there be accommodated. the poor as well as the rich, and all there find homes within their reach and means and upon such terms of payment that the poorest man may no longer hesitate to purchase for fear that he cannot pay for his home, and yet the rich may also there find residence property to suit his taste and meet the strength of his purse. Many have availed themselves of this excellent chance to obtain a home upon their own terms." On February 26, 1891, Col. Johnson wedded

PICTORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

Miss Jeanette, danghter of Elias and Rachel (Felkner) Gortner. He is a Democrat, was so before, during, and has been since the war, and was the supporter of the Little Giant in his memorable race for the presidency against Lincoln in 1860. He is a Knight Templar and thirty- second degree Mason, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and military order of the Loyal Legion of the Union officers of the United States. As a member of the Loyal Legion, he belongs to the Commandery of the State of Ohio, at Cincinnati, and the Grand Commandery of the United States, at Philadelphia, receiving his commission for the latter from Gen. Sheridan. Col. Johnson is yet a young man, and much of his future is before him. He is one of the most enterprising, public-spirited, honorable and conspicuous citizens of the State. When to his magnificent military history is added his clean, able record as a civilian and his acknowledged worth as a man, there is presented to the world a good representative of model American citizenship.

HON. CHARLES G. CONN. It is a pleasure to describe a man of unusual personal merit-the possessor of a combination of gifts so rare, so varied and so comprehen- sive that happiness and success in business were bound to follow the application of his qualities to the solution of almost any problem of life. Some men were not made to plod or to crawl, and C. G. Conn is one of them. His diversified talents rendered it easy for him to select a congenial pursuit, and his perception and intel- ligence guaranteed that success would reward effort. But let us take the liberty of looking into his life to examine his acts and to judge his character and accomplish- ments.

It is an unwritten law that the secret of success in life in all individual cases is the common property or heritage of all unfortunates of the human race. There are more followers than leaders; more imitators than originators; more of mediocre tal- ents than transcendent gifts, and it is but natural that people, unable to grasp suc- cess by their own efforts, should seek the ascent by which others have climbed to fame and fortune. It is therefore eminently proper for the historian or delineator of character to review the lives and characters of those men who have conferred 80 large a sum of joy upon mankind.

Charles G. Conn is a native of Ontario county, N. Y., and was born January 29, 1844. His parents were Charles J. and Sarah (Benjamin) Conn, and his grand- father, James Conn, the latter having been a farmer of York State and an Irishman by descent. The father, Charles J., was reared in New York and resided there until 1850, when he moved west and located at St. Joseph, Mich., then a straggling young town amid the forests of the Michigan peninsula. He there engaged in farming, but a year later removed to Elkhart, Ind., where he secured more con- genial employment as city school superintendent. He was well educated, possessed an active and discriminating mind and became renowned throughout northern Indi- ana as a cultured gentleman and an educator of unusual skill and high attainments. He followed the profession of teaching for twenty-five years and ouly resigned on account of failing hearing. For three years he taught in the La Porte city schools where he was also superintendent. Upon his retirement from the schoolroom he engaged in photography, and, at last, after a useful and reputable life, died in 1888, his wife having preceded him the previous year. They were the parents of two sons and two daughters, of whom but one son and one daughter are now living.

The subject of this memoir was about six years old when his parents left New York for the great west. He was thus reared almost wholly in Indiana, and is therefore a "Hoosier" by adoption, if not by birth, though there is nothing to arouse serious apprehension in this simple statement. Once upon a time the term "Hoosier" was supposed to fit a phenomenal being-a sort of satyr, half man, half goat-but that was long ago, before the wonderful common school system of Indiana, under the manipulation of men like Charles G. Conn, had wrought such astonishing mental and social results. Under this great system and with such teachers, C. G. Conn grew to early manhood at Elkhart, finishing his education at the public schools of this town.

MEMOIRS OF INDIANA.

At this time the union of the States was crumbling to pieces. The trumpet call to arms aroused all patriotic men to action. Inspired with the loyalty of the hour, C. G. Conn, on the 18th day of May, 1861, at the age of seventeen years and against his parents' wishes and protests, volunteered his services for the suppression of the rebel- lion, and on June 14, 1861, was mustered in as a private in Company B, Fifteenth Indiana Regiment. He was soon, by special order, transferred to the regimental band. He participated in the movements and engagements at Greenbrier, W. Va .; the Elkwater Valley campaign, then returned and moved with the federal army through Kentucky and Tennessee to Nashville; was with Buell's army, in Wood's division, at the second day's battle of Shiloh; was with the army in the mud at Corinth; was at Tuscumbia, Florence, Wartrace, McMinnville, Vervilla, and then again at Nashville, from which point he returned through Kentucky to Indiana for the purpose of re-enlisting. A fine regiment of sharpshooters was being organized at Jackson, Mich., and elsewhere, with rendezvous at Fort Dearborn, Detroit. He accordingly enlisted at Niles, Mich., January 12, 1863, in Company G. First Michi- gan Sharpshooters, of which he was soon made first sergeant, and was later promoted successively, for meritorious conduct, to second lieutenant on August 8, 1863, and a

little later to captain of his company. When it is remembered that he was but nineteen years old when he re-enlisted, and but twenty when he was made captain, the prominence of one so young and the confidence reposed in his ability and bravery by his older comrades will excite great surprise. But it was all merited by faithful and conspicuous service. He participated in the movement which drove the rebel guerrilla Morgan out of Indiana; assisted in guarding prisoners at Camp Douglas, Chicago, for about four months, and then with his command joined Burnside's corps, Army of the Potomac. He participated in the battle of the Wilderness, where he re- ceived a slight flesh wound which did not incapacitate him from duty; was at Spott- sylvania, North Anna, Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor and all the bloody encounters around Petersburg. On the 30th of July, 1864, he was captured in an assault upon Petersburg, where he was slightly wounded; was thence taken "by the insolent foe" to Danville, Va., and thence to Columbia, S. C. While at Goldsboro, N. C., accom- panied by Lieut. Mell, of Ravenna, Ohio, he ran the gauntlet of guards and escaped, but was recaptured the next day by the use of blood-hounds which successfully fol- lowed them and revealed their hiding-place. While at Columbia, S. C., accompanied by Capt. Dicey and Lieut. Randall, both of Michigan, another unsuccessful attempt was made to escape. When Sherman was moving up through the Carolinas after his triumphant march to the sea, the federal prisoners at Columbia were removed to safer quarters, but Capts. Conn and Dicey and Lient. Randall had themselves buried, hoping thus to escape until Sherman's "bummers" would arrive. But their hiding place was discovered by "home guards" who were prowling around, probably in search of plunder, and, very much crestfallen, they were removed with the other unfortunates to a more secure prison. At the close of the war, after the most intense hardships and sufferings, he was released with thousand of other prison - ers and returned to Indiana, where, July 28, 1865, he was honorably discharged from his country's service.

He returned to Elkhart and embarked in the grocery and bakery trade and soon after this manifested his fondness for music. After repeated efforts he invented his famous " elastic face mouthpiece" for cornets, which at once became very pop- ular and found a faster sale than he could manufacture them. His first lathe was made from a sewing machine table and with this he first attempted to do his own work, but orders poured in upon him so fast that he was forced to give it up and hire help. Rapidly his trade grew and his employes multiplied, as his inventions were perfected, patented and placed upon the market. At the present time he is the owner of about thirty patents, many of which directly affect band instruments. Now he employs about three-hundred persons, all told, and has an annual trade of $250,000. His instruments and inventions are known throughout the world. He

PICTORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

was wholly burned out in 1883, but soon was as active and as strong as ever. In 1887 he was compelled to establish a branch house in Worcester, Mass., to accom- modate his large eastern trade.

In September, 1890, he founded the Daily and Weekly Truth, which he con- ducted as a Democratic organ until the spring of 1892, since which date it has been an independent periodical. Col. Conn was elected mayor of Elkhart in 1880, and re-elected the next term. In 1884 he organized the First Regiment of Artillery, Indiana Legion, of which he was made captain. He was appointed major of the First Battalion, Third Regiment, and was later made chief of artillery on Gov. Gray's staff and soon after appointed colonel of the First Regiment of Artillery. He is familiarly known as "Colonel." He is a Knight Templar in Masonry and was the first eminent commander of the commandery at Elkhart and was one of its chief organizers. He is also a Knight of Pythias and was at one time lieutenant colonel of the uniformed rank of that order. He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, is commander of Elmer Post at Elkhart, is president of the Veterans' Association and belongs also to the Loyal Legion. He has taken an active interest in all public improvements of the city and county, particularly the improvement of the local hydraulic water power. Voluntarily he established, last year, in his fac- tory what is known as the "profit sharing plan," by which his workmen are divided into classes and all made to share in just and equitable proportions. The first year resulted in a surplus of $9,000 being divided among the employes. This plan, he proclaims, produces a better class of workmen, insnres better work and greater profits and is so popular that one-half of the applicants can not be employed. While a member of no church organization, he is a devout believer in the Christian religion and a liberal contributor to church organizations. He is a Democrat and besides serving as mayor has served by election in the lower house of the State Leg- islature. In 1892 he became the candidate of the Democracy of the thirteenth dis- trict for congressman, and was elected by a large and decisive majority. Col. Conn married in 1867 Miss Kate Hazleton, by whom he is the father of one daughter- Sallie. He owns about six hundred acres of land in and adjoining the city, besides numerous lots, his manufacturing and newspaper interests, and is thus one of the wealthiest citizens of northern Indiana. True merit never fails to win. In what- ever field of action Col. Conn has been called, he has shown his superior qualities and high character. As soldier, inventor, citizen, legislator and humanitarian he has giveu the world an ornate life, well worth the emulation of youth.

DR. FRANKLIN MILES has been known to the people of Elkhart since his boyhood and to the profession in the United States for many years, and to the citizens gen- erally since 1874. His early days were passed in public schools until the age of seventeen years, when he became a pupil in Williston Seminary, Massachusetts. When he left that school for Phillip's Academy, Andover, Mass., he felt that there was little or nothing in the course of study which he did not know. From Phillips he went to New Haven and entered the Sheffield Scientific School; thence to Yale College, Conn., and completed an extensive legal education at Columbia Col- lege, New York City, the leading law school of the conntry. The choice of a pro- fession often suggested itself to him during his college days. Medicine or Law was the question. His philosophy pointed to the first as the more useful and noble, and he selected it.

Shortly after leaving Columbia College, he entered the University of Michigan, where he won the attention of medical faculty and fellow students by his close in- vestigations and long hours of study. His record at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and the Chicago Medical College points out his determination to analyze subjects and understand every problem presented before casting it aside. He read some- where an Italian writer and remembered his advice: "Non fidatevi al alchemista povero, ô al medico ammalato " (Do not trust a poor alchymist or a sick physician. ) He determined to fathom the theory and practice of medicine and succeeded. Not

MEMOIRS OF INDIANA.

content with his varied chase after knowledge, he is next found in the State Eye and Ear Infirmary of Illinois, prosecuting the closest study of those delicate organs and reasoning for himself the dependence of each on the other and on the whole human system. He did not hide this acquired knowledge from the world, but gave it to the people in a number of papers or works prepared with great care. Among such works may be named " Nervous Diseases," " The Permanent Cure of Headache with- out Change of Occupatiou," "Heart Disease," " Weak Eyes a Nervous Disease," "Diseases of the Ear," "Important Facts Concerning Headache and Other Nervous Diseases," "The Use of Spectacles in the Treatment of Diseases of the Brain," etc., etc. These treatises were not written in college days. They are the works of a mind trained in the schools and subsequently subjected to the experiences of every- day practice; for Dr. Miles commenced the practice of his profession in Chicago, where he resided for some years. In 1873 he began to study the relationship be- tween the brain and eye and the brain and heart, and in time could trace the effect of the one upon the other. Understanding his subject he traced diseases to first causes and effected some most extraordinary cures. In 1875 he took up the subject of the heart with the same result and so on until it is a question if any curable eye, heart or nervons disease can escape cure under his treatment.

The progress made by the medical company which bears his name is the most certain index to his successes in the wide field of medical practice. Prior to 1887 his great remedies only blessed the people whose physician he was, to-day they are known throughout the United States and Canada. During the year named the Miles Medical Company was organized for the manufacture of the Doctor's new remedies. They became articles of commerce and were gradually introduced until their efficacy was recognized, when a great trade in them was inaugurated. The new laboratory at Elkhart, Ind., speaks of the advances of half a decade and tells, if anything is required to tell, that the remedies manufactured therein are a boon to the people. It is one of the great industries of Elkhart, employing a large clerical force of nearly one hundred persons, a number of skilled compounders or chemists. The Doctor, however, devotes his entire time to the treatment of difficult and complicated cases which come to him from all portions of the United States, in his private institute. Dr. Miles' sympathies are as wide as the recognition of his remedies. Every case submitted to him is conscientiously studied and every patient who appears before him is treated by a man who knows the responsibility hetakes. A patient in call- ing upon him seldom fails to notice that he met a professional man rather than a tradesman; that is a physician who gives his soul to drive away disease rather than the one who simply seeks a fee and has no soul to give. Kind, as a good physician should be, his heart goes out to the afflicted. This is actual sympathy, born with him. It is no wonder that one molded so should seek the medical profession, for no one possessed of pure sympathy with humanity can use it with grander results than the physician.

HON. ROBERT W. McBRIDE. The family of which Judge McBride is a dis- tinguished member is of Sotch-Irish descent and came tothe United States soon after the Revolutionary war and previous to the war of 1812. Augustus, father of Robert W., was born in Obio and was there reared and married to Martha A. Barnes, also a native of Ohio and of English descent, some of whose ancestors served as soldiers in the Revolutionary war. In the war with Mexico in 1846-7 Augustus McBride enlisted in the Seventh United States Infantry and was in the army of Gen. Scott in its campaign against the city of Mexico, participating in all the as- saults on the various citadels guarding the national roads which led to the capital. After the triumphal occupation of the city by the army of Gen. Scott, and in Feb- ruary, 1848, Augustus McBride unfortunately died and now lies buried in the land of the Montezumas. He left a widow and family to mourn his untimely death and also left them a heritage of honor and patriotism.

At the time of his father's death Robert W. McBride was about six years old,

PICTORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

bis birth having occurred in Richland county, Ohio, January 25, 1842. He was therefore too young to realize his great loss or to be able to forecast the trials, struggles and self-denials of the future without a father's guidance and care. But life was real and before him and he was compelled to rely mainly on his own re- sources of body and mind. He attended the district school in Ohio and in Iowa and an academy once maintained at Kirkville, Iowa. In 1859, when in his eighteenth year, having passed the local examination for teachers, he applied for and was given the task of teaching district school in Mahaska county, Iowa, and was so successful that he continued to follow this occupation for three years.

It was now 1862 and a bloody war was upon the land and all was confusion and uncertainty. In the autumn of this year Mr. McBride went to Mansfield, Ohio, where he accepted a position as clerk in the store of B. S. Runyan and remained there about a year. On the 27th of November, 1863, he enlisted in the " Union Light Guards, " an independent squadron of cavalry of picked men organized by Gov. David Tod and was duly mustered in at Columbus. The men composing this fine squadron had been selected by the county military committees throughout the State and Mr. McBride had been chosen to represent Richland county. Mr. Mc- Bride remained with the "Guards" for about six months, when he met with a severe accident and was permanently disabled for active service and has remained lame to this day. Upon his recovery from the accident he served on detached duty as clerk of a military commission and later at the central guard house at Washing- ton. In January, 1865, he was transferred to the war department and served as clerk under Lieut. Col. Breck in the adjutant general's office until his company was mustered out of service and honorably discharged, September, 14, 1865. Upon bis discharge from the army he was promptly appointed to the clerkship in the office of the quarter-master general, but he had a higher ambition than a subordinate posi- tiou under the Government, aud after a service as such for two months he resigned and returned to Mansfield.

While yet a boy, aged sixteen, he had taken a fancy to the study of law and had, as opportunity would permit, studied the principal text-books of that pro- fessiou. This study he continued while teaching and while in the service, so that when the war closed he had mastered the elements of law. The winter succeeding bis return from the war he taught school in Richland County, but the next spring went to Waterloo, Iud., and engaged ae clerk for R. M. aud W. C. Lockhart. The next winter he again began teaching in Ohio, but before the term was over he re- ceived the appointment of enrolling clerk for the State senate of Indiana and served with credit until the legislature adjourned. In April, 1867, he was admitted to the bar at Auburn, DeKalb county, and the following September formed a part- nership for the practice with Hon. J. I. Best, with whom he was associated until July, 1869. He became associated with Joseph L. Morlan in the practice Decem- ber 15, 1870, and so continued until the death of the latter in 1878, William H. Leas having been associated with them two years. Since 1878 Mr. McBride has carried on the practice alone. As a lawyer he has become distinguished throughout the State. Absolutely self-made, he has left no stone unturned to become a master of .his profession. Soon after he began the practice he acquired a high reputation as a practitioner of uunusual ability, persistence, force and adroitness, and as a result rose rapidly to the top of his profession and enjoyed a large practice and the un- bounded confidence of his fellow lawyers and the people. As an all-around lawyer he has probably no superior among the bar of northern Indiana. He is calm. dis- passionate, eloquent, and all his arguments are firmly grounded upon legal and equitable principles and hence he always has great weight with the court. In 1882, so prominent had he become and so great was the confidence of his professional brethren in his sound sense, legal knowledge and personal honor, that he was elected judge of the thirty-fifth judicial circuit, comprising the counties of De Kalb, Steuben and Noble. When he entered upon the discharge of his judicial duties

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Pictorial and biographical memoirs of Elkhart and St. Joseph counties, Indiana, together with biographies of many prominent men of northern Indiana and of the whole state, both living and dead, Part 3

Author: Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed Brothers Number of Pages: 786

Author:
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed Brothers
Number of Pages: 786