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 7
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 7
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GOD. CLAUDE MATTHEWS.
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MEMOIRS OF INDIANA.
Ind., where she married Rufus McDonald, one of the prominent men of that sec- tion. By this union two children were born, only one, Rufus, now living. The original of this notice has known the demands of poverty, and consorted with them if any man has, but his honesty, goodness, energy and perseverance have brought their rewards which he and family are now enjoying. When but a boy he started out to fight his own way in life, and first stopped at Newville, Ind., where he se- cured employment and schooling during the winter months, for six years, working during the summer seasons for his schooling the following winter. At the end of this time he was offered the principalship of this school and after serving in that capacity for some time, he accepted other positions. Mr. Mosier is not an educated man in the technical sense of the word, but he harmonizes cause and effect so log- ically, that he is recognized as one whose opinion is of much weight. In 1861. on the first call for troops in the State, he was the first man to enlist in the call from De Kalb county. He joined Company F, Twelfth Regiment as private and later was made sergeant of Company E, Fifty-fifth Regiment. Still later he was made first lientenant of Company D, One Hundred and Eighteenth Regiment, and served in that capacity for two years and one month, or until about the close of hos- tilities. He was captured with about seven thousand men, but made good his escape before seeing the inside of prison walls. He was in many hotly contested battles during service, and no braver soldier trod the red sod of a battle field. Returning home after the war, he engaged in the manufacture of brick, continued this two years, and then located in New Haven, Ind., where he was employed as a teacher in the vicinity. For seventeen years he was one of the prominent educators of that section, and in that capacity his peculiar capabilities shone forth in their brightest spleudor. He served two terms as city attorney of New Haven, and being a Re- publican and the town being strongly Democratic, demonstrated very clearly the hold Mr. Mosier had upon the affection of the people. From there he moved to Maysville, Ind., and started a newspaper, but in the spring of 1877 he removed to Bristol, Elkhart county, and started the Bristol Banner, a publication which has much to do with molding public sentiment inside its circulation, and which influ- ence sent Mr. Mosier two terms to the Indiana Legislature from this county in 1882, a position he filled with credit to himself and his party. Had he not declined peremptorily, he might have been returned in 1888, but like the true gentleman, he felt he had been honored enough, and stood aside, cheerfully, only, however, to work the harder for his successor. He still owns and controls the Bristol Banner and its crisp and trenchant editorials command an ever widening area of circulation, while they carry with them that weight and authority which a clear, calm and intelligent judgment must always secure. Mr. Mosier is the president of the People's Mutual Benefit Society, a position he has held for years, and though subject to deposition by the stockholders at their annual, he is nevertheless periodically, made his own successor, which compliments his integrity, evidences his popularity, and in so many words says: "Leave well enough alone." He has erected a good substantial busi- ness block in Bristol, and is prosperous. He is deeply interested in anything that points to the elevation of the city of his adoption, is popular with the masses, urbane toward all, and if there be anything wanting in his makeup to make him a Christian gentleman, no one has discovered it. He enjoys his well-earned re- ward with dignity, while his home is & green spot after day's duty is over, Mrs. Mosier being a true counterpart of her excellent husband, and as cheerful and generous a dispenser, and what may be said of him can be said of few, that he is never spoken ill of, and while there may be better people in the city, it will take the umpire of ceremonies to discover them. He is a man of stalwart simplicity and fine discrimination between right and wrong, and having the courage of his convictions, he is a fighter no matter what the odds. He has a plain but forcible manner in appealing to public sentiment, which makes him one of the people as an integer, and which would elevate him politically, if he possessed the cheek of the
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average office-seeker, but being built on a more modest plane, it works to his dis- advantage, though probably more to his taste. One of the strongest traits of his character is prudence, never acting until all doubt is removed, and the outcome logically weighed, and when decided, he rides down obstacles against all bias, hon- orable in expense, liberal in cootributions to what promises utility, but unworthy calls on bis charity get the cold shoulder, and it may truly be said that nature and fortune find in him a combine seldom met, which is why he and Elkhart get on together well, and why each is proud to own the other, and may be and his live long in the friendship of the city of their adoption. Mr. Mosier was elected a member of the school board and ex-officio member county board of education for three terms in succession and was secretary of the board at the same time. He is treasurer of the Fidelity Building & Savings Union of Indianapolis, where he spends much of his time, and socially he is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the G. A. R. He was married on May 24, 1863, to Miss Drusilla L. Roe, and they have one child living, Horace. Urtis V. and Inez B. are deceased. Horace oc- cupies the chair of manager of the loan department of Fidelity Building & Loan Company, at a good salary, although only twenty years of age.
E. T. GILMAN, manager of the People's Mutual Benefit Society, Elkhart, Ind., is a courteons and genial gentleman, and, besides being respected for his intelligence and ability, is popular in business and social circles. The county of his birth is Essex, N. Y., where he first saw the light of day in the month of February, 1839, a son of Hiram H. and Elizabeth K. (Palmer) Gilman, natives of the States of Ver- mont and New York respectively, their ancestors being of English origin and on coming to the New World, ranking among the leading settlers of New England. The parents of Hiram H. Gilman died when he was quite young, and he was reared by his "Aunt Patty," known as the "bear killer" from the fact that during the pioneer days she killed a bear unaided, when a girl. Mr. Gilman was brought up to a knowledge of hard labor in his youthful days, but the knowledge thus learned in the rough school of experience made a man of him and taught him to rely upon his own resources when yet very young. He was married in New York State and his union resulted in the birth of three sons and two daughters, of which family four members are still living, William W., Julia S., E. T. and Eleazer E. The father died in Minnesota in 1873 and his wife in Dakota ten years later. E. T. was reared in the State of his birth and was given the advantage of the "little red school house" in which he made the most of the opportunities given him; and he eventually turned his attention to "teaching the young idea" in connection with tilling the soil. In 1861 the threatened attitude of political affairs attracted his serious atten- tion and he became an ardent supporter of the grand old " stars and stripes." In the month of July, 1862, his name was inscribed on the rolls of Company B, One Hundred and Twenty-third New York Volunteers, the fortunes of which he fol- lowed in numerous bloody encounters with the enemy and on various long and toil- some marches. He was at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and in all the engagements with Sherman on his famous " Atlanta campaign " and subsequent march to the
sea. His career as a soldier was marked by many hardships, which he bore with soldierly fortitude and by undaunted courage displayed on the march, in camp and on the field of battle. After the termination of hostilities and an honorable dis- charge from the services of Uncle Sam at the close of the war of the Rebellion he located in the Green Mountain State where he engaged in agriculture for some time, but preferring commercial pursuits he entered the employ of a lumber firm at Fort Edward, N. Y., as bookkeeper, where he acquired a thorough knowledge of the business of manufacturing lumber, so extensively carried on upon the North River, remaining until 1871. At this period he married Miss Eliza M. True, of Glens Falls, a daughter of one of the sturdy old pioneers of the State of New York, soon after which he settled at Williamsport, Penn., and engaged in the lumber and plan- ing-mill business. This he conducted in an efficient and profitable manner until
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MEMOIRS OF INDIANA.
1876, when he engaged in life insurance, being appointed, general agent for the old Charter Oak Life Insurance Company. After remaining with this company for five years he resigned and engaged in manufactures at Chicago, Ill., which calling occupied his attention until 1885, when he disposed of his interest in the business and returned to life insurance, entering the employ of the Phoenix, of Hartford and locating at Albany, N. Y. In 1888 be accepted the position of general traveling agent for the People's Mutual Benefit Society, of Elkhart, and at the end of two years was given a position in the home office as superintendent of the agency department, which position he held nntil the resignation of the vice-president, M. F. Galvin, now of Detroit. Mr. Gilman was then chosen vice-president and general manager of the society and is now faithfully discharging the duties of those posi- tions. He is a thorough practical man of affairs, is wide awake, pushing and enter- prising, keenly alive to the interests of the company, honorable in all his business transactions and has the happy faculty of making friends of all with whom he has business relations. His brother, William, a prosperous farmer of Newton county, at present represents his senatorial district in the State Legislature at Indianapolis. In the Masonic fraternity he is a Sir Knight, and as a member of the G. A. R., a member of Elmer Post. His second marriage was to Miss Alice Hawks, of New York City, a most estimable and accomplished lady, whose early life was passed in the pleasant village of Sandy Hill, N. Y. He is a member of tho Baptist Church.
CAPT. HENRY C. DODGE. It was the lot of Henry C. Dodge to come into this busy world at a time and under surroundings calculated not only to develop the best that was in him, but to so combine or unite the elements of his character as to form a symmetrical whole, self-reliant, broad-gusged, courageons, full of tactile resources, with an unusual power of blending the theoretical and the practical, and with all the elements of mind and heart to make a representative man and citizen. On October 9, 1843, when he was born in Delaware county, Ohio, that State and Indiana, where he was brought by his parents in 1847, were both yet in the hands of the pioneers and the day of invention and wonderful progress was just dawning. No man could foretell the future, as the advancement was destined to be so sudden and brilliant that history could furnish no comparison for the guidance of the mind. It was an intellectual, generative era, a date when the blended civilizations of many nationalities on this continent were united into a new type of mind-one of con- trivance or invention, a dominant, aggressive intelligence that was destined to give to the world the telegraph, telephone, triple-expansion engine, the electric motor and countless other wonderful contrivances to save labor and render mankind happy. It was the fortune of Mr. Dodge to have been born under these influences, amid these surroundings and impulses; and it must be remembered that circumstances, in a large degree, make the man. But let us look a little closer into his sur- roundings and weigh the influence of conditions on his manners and mind.
It was a lucky thing for Mr. Dodge, as it is for thousands of our best citizens at present, to have been reared on a farm in the country, away from the contanti- nating influences of the city. It thus came to pass that when at the age of sixteen years. in 1859, he entered a drug store in Elkhart, Ind., his habits were simple and good, his mind and morals pure and his character fresh, manly and buoyant. Pre- vions to this event his schooling had been very meager, consisting simply of two terms at the common schools of the country. His father, Charles Dodge, was a man of comfortable circumstances, but was one of the pioneers. with their habits and views of life. He died in 1885, preceded by his wife five years. Thus at twelve years of age he began life's battle upon his own responsibility. Necessarily his educational advantages were limited and what he had was self-acquired. On the death of his father he went to live with an uncle in Ohio, but when his uncle attempted to thresh him for some fancied wrong he ran away, and, barefoot, walked to Elkhart, Ind. Thus was his advent in this city. When fifteen years old he swung a cradle in the harvest field, making bis full hand for 50 cents per day. That
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year he lived alone in a deserted house, boarding himself, and saved $85. The next year he chopped cord-wood and owing to the scarcity of money took his pay in maple sugar. The change came in the life of Henry C., when the family came to Elkhart county in 1847. His approaching manhood, his quick perception and his new surroundings made a man of him when he entered the drug store of Lloyd W. Burns in Elkhart in 1859. From that time forward until August, 1862, he remained in this store, though in the meantime the owner, Mr. Burns, died and the property passed to Isaac Bucklen. During this period he studied medicine and otherwise in a large measure supplemented the deficient education of his earlier years. In fact this was the formative period in his career. With sound health and a mind of unusual penetration, he found himself able to grasp all the great public questions of the day, and to take a correct and comprehensive view of the duties of life. In other words he found that he possessed higher qualities than those required to plod along like a snail through life. It thus occurred that in 1862 he was a broad-souled man of unusual intelligence and of unswerving princi- ples and patriotism.
In the month of August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company G, Sev- enty-fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, in which capacity he served with honor until April, 1863, when he was appointed hospital steward of his regiment and served thus until March 3, 1865. On the 1st of January, 1865, he was promoted to acting assistant surgeon of his regiment with the rank of captain of cavalry, receiving his commission from Gov. O. P. Morton, and was the youngest man in the service occupy- ing so responsible a position. But he had won the promotion and honor by gallantry and a stern adherence to duty. He served in this capacity until the cessation of hostilities and was honorably discharged from the service at Indianapolis, June 29, 1865. While serving in the ranks he participated in many of the hottest engage- ments of the war. He was in the fierce encounter at Perryville, Ky., where the right wing of the Federal army was crushed and swept back with dreadful slaughter. At Castillian Springs, Tullahoma, Mission Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Etowah River, Peach Tree Creek, siege of Atlanta, and many other places, he bore an honorable part. He was at bloody Chickamauga where the right wing of the Federals was pierced and rolled upon Thomas the "rock of Chickamauga" and sent flying back to Chattanooga through the mountain gap. At the assault on Jonesboro he was detailed by Gen. Jeff. C. Davis to take command of a squad of thirty men and remove the wounded. He participated in Sherman's famons march to the sea and in the subsequent campaign through the Carolinas. At the battle of Jonesboro he received two gunshot wounds and remained for some time in the field hospital-the beautiful private residence of some wealthy Georgia fire-eater.
After his recovery and at the end of the war, he returned to Elkhart and formed a partnership in the drug business with J. H. Scott in which business he continued until 1876, and for the last six years of this time spent his leisure moments in studying law. In 1878 he was admitted to the bar by Judge Wood, and imme- diately entered upon the practice of his profession. He subsequently formed a partnership with Hon. O. Z. Hubbell, which was dissolved after one year. In 1890 and 1891 he was in partnership with his brother, J. S. Dodge, but since the last named year has practiced alone. As a lawyer he stands at the head of his pro- fession. His early training of sincerity and his dominant qualities of persist- ence, penetration and logic, sustained by a rare adroitness and by masterly sagacity, eminently fit him for the legal profession, of which he is a distinguished ornament. He is absolutely self-made. He is a sound Republican, but is not an office-seeker, though his gifts fit him for any position of that character.
Mr. Dodge is probably the most enterprising citizen of Elkhart. He is always foremost in the promotion of any measure having for its object the improvement of the city, county or State. He is the builder of six of the largest and finest business blocks in Elkhart; is at present the owner of four of them, and has
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MEMOIRS OF INDIANA.
erected more buildings here than any other individual. His residence is one of the finest in the city. His faith in the development of Elkhart led him into the real estate business. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the G. A. R. In 1865 he was united in marriage with Miss Florence M. Conn, s sister of Hon. C. G. Conn, and by her has three children: Charles H., Edith M. and Ralph. He was married a second time, in 1891, to Nannie E. Brown.
JAMES S. DODGE, born in Morrow county, Ohio, August 24, 1846, accompanied his parents to Elkhart county in 1849. Charles Dodge, his father, a native of New York, settled in Ohio while yet it was the frontier; while Melissa (Shaw) Dodge, bis mother, a native of Pennsylvania, came with her parents to Ohio in pioneer days. In 1848 the family removed from Ohio to Elkhart county, where the mother died in Baugo township in 1850, and the father in Cleveland township in 1856. Of their five children three are living, namely: Henry C., James S., and Pelig S .- the latter of Stanton, Mich. James S. Dodge returned to his native county in Ohio immedi- ately after his father's death, and there remained with relatives, working on the farm or attending school until 1863. Maryland and Pennsylvanis felt the tread of Lee's magnificent army. The whole North was aroused, and every regiment in the field was soon recruited. In June Mr. Dodge enlisted in Company M, Third Ohio Cavalry, and joined the regiment at Chattanooga, Tenn., September 18, the day before Bragg attacked Gen. Rosecrans at Chickamauga, Ga. He found himself in the midst of war with the spirit of a soldier; but without a soldier's drill or knowledge of military life. He participated in that battle, and later in the san- guinsry affairs at Missionary Ridge, Rocky-faced Ridge, Snake Creek Gap and every other field where the flag of the Third Ohio Cavalry was seen, from Chat- tanooga to Atlanta-Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek and the battles around Atlanta being the principal engagements. When Atlanta was lost to the Confederate cause, the victorious brigade, to which the Third Ohio Cavalry was attached, returned to Nashville and took part in the last fight there, December 15- 16, 1864, when the Federals, under Thomas, defeated the Confederates under Hood. The brigade was employed for a time in the pursuit of Hood's scattered and flying troops, riding as far as Selma, Als., thence to Columbus, Ga., and on to Macon, where the regiments forming the brigade were disbanded in July, 1865, and the men sent forward to Nashville to receive honorsble discharge. Mr. Dodge did not escape the hardships and dangers of those terrible days. At Chickamauga he received a sabre wound, and in the rear of Atlanta a second and more serious one; but his youth and sturdy constitution were equal to hardships and wounds. He enlisted 88 a private, and rose to be orderly sergeant toward the close of the war. At Farm- ington, Tenn., his horse was killed under him; but he jumped on a riderless Confed- erate horse and rejoined his command in twenty minutes. Returning to Elkhart in September, 1865, he entered the high school for one term and received a teacher's certificate in November following. The two succeeding winters he had charge of a school in Penn township, St. Joseph county. Early in 1866 he began the study of medicine under Dr. R. J. Haggerty. For three years this study, attending lectures at the University of Michigan and teaching school occupied his time and attention, and on March 1, 1869, he graduated from the medical department of the university and at once entered on his professional career in Elkhart county. For sixteen years he was a well-known and successful physician, until rheumatism, contracted at Gravelly Springs, Ala., during the war, made the duties of a physician almost im- possible for him to observe. In 1883-4 he devoted his leisure hours to law studies, and in 1884 was admitted to the bar of Elkhart county and subsequently to the bar of the State Supreme Court. In 1892 he became the candidate of his district for Congressional honors. His long residence among the people of the Thirteenth Con- gressional District of Indiana, his knowledge of them and his sympathy with them all pointed him out as one who, if elected, would have made an able representative. He was unsuccessful at the polls, but made one of the most vigorous canvasses ever
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ondneted in the district. In May, 1875, he married Miss Jeannette J. Peck, a na- ve of New York. Their son, Jamie S., was born July 2, 1876, and their daugh- ter, Bernice, June 1, 1884. The family worship in the English Protestant Episco- pal Church. Mr. Dodge organized Harrison Cathcart Post 96, G. A. R., and was elected first commander. Throughout northern Indiana he aided in the establish- ment of many posts of this excellent military order. He is a sound stump speaker, aud every two years makes the round of the Thirteenth District, meeting old friends and telling to them some wholesome political truths. With all bis attention to Grand Army and political affairs, he loves his home and family circle. With the rich and poor he is the same genial gentleman, who knows humanity, honors its suc. cesses and sympathizes with its failures. Liberality and benevolence are character- istic of the man. . He is practical in everything, as shown by his entering the high school after serving as a soldier and changing professions in 1884. He studies cause and effect closely, and his conclusions are reliable.
CHARLES H. WINCHESTER, banker. This intelligent and experienced mau of affairs of Elkhart, Ind., is a representative of that sturdy race, the Scotch, which has contributed so much to the thrift, the industry and prosperity of this country. He was born in Dutchess county, N. Y., January 14, 1837, a son of David and Harriet (Andrus) Winchester, natives of New York State. The paternal grandfather, Amariah Winchester, was a soldier in the war of 1812 and by trade was a hatter. which calling he pursued with profit to himself and to the satisfaction of his patrone. The father of the subject of this sketch was a tanner and currier, and in the conduct of his affairs was no less successful than was his father, but he unfortunately experi- enced some heavy losses, and in order in a measure to retrieve them he emigrated to the (then) wilds of Michigan, and for twelve years thereafter conducted an hotel at Allen, Hillsdale county. Succeeding this he returned to a farm on which the remain- der of his life was spent. Of six children born to himself and wife four are living at the present time: Andrew, who resides in Chicago; Charles H .; Amariah, who resides on the old homestead in Michigan, and a daughter, Maria, who resides in Pataha City, Wash. The patrimony which Charles H. Winchester inherited from his parents was not sufficient to enable him to begin the battle of life with flattering prospects of building up a large fortune, but he inherited a good constitution and sufficient energy, industry and push to enable him to successfully battle with the world, in which he was aided to some extent by having received a practical education ' in the common schools. He was seven years of age when his parents located in Michigan, and until he was eighteen years of age he assisted his father in and about the hotel, but at the end of that time he took charge of the farm which his father owned and conducted with success until he was twenty-two years of age, when he vacated in favor of his younger brother and entered a store which was owned by another brother with whom he remained as a clerk for about eighteen months. Owing to close confinement in this establishment, his health began failing him and he turned his attention to other pursuits for some time and eventually regained his former vigor. In December, 1861, he purchased the remnants of a grocery store, which consisted principally of old boxes, barrels and scales, for which he paid $112, going in debt for the same. He then made a trip to Toledo to purchase goods and also went in debt there to the amount of $163, the gentleman of whom he made his par- chases being an old acquaintance and a personal friend. In connection with this establishment he conducted a Innch room until the spring of 1862, and succeeded in making some money. He then went to New York City, where he made quite a heavy purchase of dry goods, including boots and shoes, and for some twenty-five years thereafter conducted a general mercantile store, during which time he built up a record for fair business dealing, energy and perseverance which has not been sur- passed, and seldom equaled, by any business man of Elkhart county. In addition to this, in connection with his father-in-law, Goodwin Howard, he was engaged in the purchase and sale of stock, and for a number of years they were the most
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