USA > Indiana > Kosciusko County > Progressive men and women of Kosciusko County, Indiana : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography > Part 21
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G EORGE PEABODY was one of the best known and esteemed of all philan- thropists, whose munificent gifts to Ameri- can institutions have proven of so much benefit to the cause of humanity. He was born February 18, 1795, at South Danvers, Massachusetts, which is now called Pea- body in honor of him. He received but a meager education, and during his early life he was a mercantile clerk at Thetford, Ver- mont, and Newburyport, Massachusetts. In 1814 he became a partner with Elisha Riggs, at Georgetown, District of Columbia, and in 1815 they moved to Baltimore, Mary- land. The business grew to great propor- tions, and they opened branch houses at New York and Philadelphia. Mir. Peabody made several voyages to Europe of com- i mercial importance, and in 1829 became the head of the firm, which was then called Peabody, Riggs & Co., and in 1838 he re- . turned from the United States, and his
moved to London, England. He retired from the firm, and established the colo- brated banking house, in which he accumu- lated a large fortune. He aded Mr. Grin- nell in fitting ont Dr. Kane's Arctic expedi- tion, in 1852, and founded in the same your the Peabody Institute, in his native town, which he afterwards endowed with two hun- dred thousand dollars. Mr. Peabody visited the United States in 1857, and gave three hundred thousand dollars for the establish- ment at Baltimore of an institute of science, literature and fine arts. In 1862 he gave two million five hundred thousand dollars for the erecting of lodging houses for the poor in London, and on another visit to the
museum and professorship of American archæology and ethnology, an equal sum for the endowment of a department of physical science at Yale, and gave the " Southern Educational Fund " two million one hundred thousand dollars, besides devoting two hun- dred thousand dollars to various objects of public utility. Mr. Peabody made a final visit to the United States in 1869, and on this occasion he raised the endowment of the Baltimore Institute one million dollars, created the Peabody Museum, at Salem, Massachusetts, with a fund of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, gave sixty thou- sand dollars to Washington College, Vir- ginia; fifty thousand dollars for a " Peabody | Museum, " at North Danvers, thirty thousand dollars to Phillips Academy; Andover; twen- ty-five thousand dollars to Kenyon College, Ohio, and twenty thousand dollars to the Maryland Historical Society. Mr. Peabody also endowed an art school at Rome, in 1868. He died in London, November 4. 1869, less then a month after he had re-
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retains were brought to the United States natural candidate for United States senator, and interred in his native town. He made and he was accordingly elected to that posi- several other bequests in his will, and left : tion and re-elected thereto in 1892. He his family about five million dollars. was always noted for a genius for organiza- tion, and as a political leader had but few M 1 peers. Cool, serene, far-seeing, resourceful, holding his impulses and forces in hand, he never quailed from any policy he adopted, and carried to success most, if not all, of the political campaigns in which he took part.
FATTHEW S. QUAY, a celebrated public man and senator, was born at DIRsburgh, York county, Pennsylvania, September 30, 1833, of an old Scotch-Irish family, some of whom had settled in the Keystone state in 1715. Matthew received a fond education, graduating from the Jui- ferson College at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, at the age of seventeen. He then traveled, taught school, lectured, and studied law under Judge Sterrett. He was admitted to the bar in 1854, was appointed a prothon- otary in 1855 and elected to the same office in 1856 and 1859. Later he was hade lieutenant of the Pennsylvania Re serves, lieutenant-colonel and assistant com- . missary-general of the state, private secre- tary of the famous war governor of Pennsyl- vania, Andrew G. Curtin, colonel of the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Pennsylva- ! nia Infantry (nine months men), military state agent and held other offices at different times.
Mr. Quay was a member of the house of representatives of the state of Pennsylvania from. 1865 to 1868. He filled the office of secretary of the commonwealth from 1872 to I878, and the position of delegate-at- ire to the Republican national conventions CANTE, 1876, 1880 and 1888. He was the entor of the "Beaver Radical" and the " Philadelphia Record " for a time, and held my offices in the state conventions and on Har committees. He was elected secre- tary of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, IS69, and served three years, and in 1885 was chosen state treasurer. In 1886 his great abilities pointed him out as the
YAMES K. JONES, a noted senator and political leader, attained national fame while chairman of the national executive committee of the Democratic party in the presidential campaign of 1896. He was a native of Marshall county, Mississippi, and was born September 29, 1839. His father, a well-to-do planter, settled in Dallas county, Arkansas, in 1848, and there the subject of this sketch received a careful education. During the Civil war he served as a private soldier in the Confederate army. From 1866 to 1873 he passed a quiet life as a planter, but in the latter year was admitted to the bar and began the. practice of law. About the same time he was elected to the Arkansas senate and re-elected in 1874. In 1877 he was made president of the senate and the following year was unsuccessful in obtaining a nomination as member of con- gress. In ISSo he was elected representa- tive and his ability at once placed him in a foremost position. He was re-elected to congress in 1882 and in 1884, and served as an influential member on the committee of ways and means. March 4, 1885, Mr. Jones took his seat in the United States senato to succeed James D. Walker, and was after- ward re-elected to the same office. In this branch of the national legislature his capa- bilities had a wider scope, and he was rec-
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party.
ognized as one of the ablest leaders of his father invented a reaping machine. It was a rude contrivance and not successful. In On the nomination of William J. bryan as Ks candidate for the presidency by the national convention of the Democratic party, held in Chicago in 1896, Mr. Jones was made chairman of the national com- . mittee. 1831 Cyrus made his invention of a reaping machine, and had it patented three years later. By successive improvements he was able to keep his machines at the head of its class during his life. In 1845 he removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and two years later located in Chicago, where he amassed a great fortune in manufacturing reapers and harvesting machinery. In 1859 he estab- lished the Theological Seminary of the Northwest at Chicago, an institution for pre- paring young men for the ministry in the Presbyterian church, and he afterward en- dowed a chair in the Washington and Lee College at Lexington, Virginia. He mani- fested great interest in educational and re- ligious matters, and by his great wealth he was able to extend aid and encouragement to many charitable causes. His death oc-
THEODORE THOMAS, one of the most - celebrated musical directors America has known, was born in the kingdom of Han- over in 1835, and received his maisical educa- tion from his father. He was a very apt scholar and played the violin at public concerts at the age of six years. He came with his parents to America in 1845, and joined the orchestra of the Italian Opera in New York City. He played the first violin in the orchestra which accompanied Jenny Lind in her first American concert. In 1861 Mr. Thomas established the orchestra that be- , curred May 13, 1884.
chaine famous under his management, and gave his first symphony concerts in New York in 1864. He began his first "summer night concerts" in the same city in 1868, and in 1869 he started on his first tour of the principal cities in the United States, which he made every year for many years. He was director of the College of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio, but resigned in 1880, after having held the position for three years.
Later he organized one of the greatest and most successful orchestras ever brought together in the city of Chicago, and was . Very prominent in musical affairs during the World's Columbian Exposition, thereby add- ing greatly to his fame.
C YRUS HALL MCCORMICK, the fa- mous inventor and manufacturer, was 1 born at Walnut Grove, Virginia, February 15, ISO9. When he was seven years old his
D AVID ROSS LOCKE .- Under the pen name of Petroleum V. Nasby, this well-known humorist and writer made for himself a household reputation, and estab- lished a school that has many imitators.
The subject of this article was born at Vestal, Broome county, New York, Sep- tember 30, 1833. After receiving his edu- cation in the county of his birth he en- tered the office of the .. Democrat, " at Cort- land, New York, where he learned the printer's trade. He was successively editor and publisher of the . Plymouth Advertiser," the " Mansfield Herald." the " Bucyrus Journal," and the "Findlay Jeffersonian." Later he became editor of the "Toledo Blade." In 1860 he commenced his " Nasby " articles, several series of which have been given the world in book form. Under a mask of misspelling, and in a quains
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A amorous style, a keen political satire | 1862. October 16, 1862, he was made coached-a most effective weapon. Ma Rocke was the author of a num- er of serious political pamphlets, and . tter on a more pretentious work, " The Mf als of Abon Ben Adhem." As a news- ! roger writer he gained many laurels and his u Els are widely read. Abraham Lincoln " said to have been a warm admirer of P. V. Nasby, of " Confedrit X Roads " fame. Ma. Locke died at Toledo, Ohio, February 15, 1988.
DUSSELL A. ALGER, noted as a sol- ! der, governor and secretary of war, was born in Medina county, Ohio, February 17. 1836, and was the son of Russell and Caroline (Moulton) Alger. At the age of twelve years he was left an orphan and pen- alles. For about a year he worked for 's board and clothing, and attended school part of the time. In ISso he found a place which paid small wages, and out of his . boty earnings helped His brother and sister. Wade there working on a farm he found Het attend the Richfield Academy, and ig hard work between times managed to get a fully education for that time. The last waters of his attendance at this institu- forlearning he taught school during the wir months. In 1857 he commenced the of law, and was admitted to the bar . . 59. For a while he found employ- L .: in Cleveland, Ohio, but impaired induced him to remove to Grand where he engaged in the lumber
C YRUS WEST FIELD, the father of submarine telegraphy, was the son of the Rev. David D. Field, D. D., a Congre- gational minister, and was born at Stock- bridge, Massachusetts, November 30, 1819. He was educated in his native town, and at the age of fifteen years became a clerk in a BUSS. He was thus engaged when the store in New York City. Being gifted with at war broke out, and, his business suf- ' excellent business ability Mr. Field pros- ; and his savings swept away, he en- \ pered and became the head of a large mer- Has a private in the Second Michigan He was promoted to be captain 5 .. Mowing month, and major for gallant c: houct at Boonesville, Mississippi, July 1, ;
Hentenant-colonel of the Sixth Michigan Cavalry, and in February, 1863, colonel of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry. He rendered excellent service in the Gettysburg cam- paign. He was wounded at Boonesboro, Maryland, and on returning to his command took part with Sherman in the campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. For services ren- dered, that famous soldier recommended him for promotion, and he was brevetted major-general of volunteers. In 1866 Gen- eral Alger took up his residence at Detroit, and prospered exceedingly in his business, which was that of lumbering, and grew quite wealthy. In 1884 he was a delegate to the Republican national convention, and the same year was elected governor of Michigan. He declined a nomination for re-election to the latter office, in ISS7, and was the following year a candidate for the nomination for president. In 1889 he was elected commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, and at different times occupied many offices in other or- ganizations.
In March, 1897, President Mckinley appointed General Alger secretary of war.
cantile house. In 1853 he spent about six months in travel in South America. On his return he became interested in ocean teleg -: raphy. Being solicited to aid in the con-
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struction of a land telegraph across New abroad. He gave his attention after this Foundland to receive the news from a line to establishing telegraphic counnunication throughout the world and many other large enterprises, notably the construction of cie- vated railroads in New York. Mr. Field died July 11, 1892. of fast steamers it was proposed to run from from Ireland to St. Johns, the idea struck Him to carry the line across the broad At- lantic. In 1850 Mr. Field obtained a con- cussion from the legislature of Newfound- land, giving him the sole right for fifty years G ROVER CLEVELAND, the twenty- second president of the United States, was born in Caldwell, Essex county, New Jersey, March 18, 1837, and was the son of Rev. Richard and Annie (Neale) Cleve- land. The father, of distinguished New England ancestry, was a Presbyterian min- ister in charge of the church at Caldwell at the time. to land submarine cables on the shores of that island. In company with Peter Cooper, Moses Taylor, Marshall O. Roberts and Chandler White, he organized a company under the name of the New York, New- foundland & London Telegraph Company. In two years the line from New York across Newfoundland was built. The first cable connecting Cape Breton Island with New- When Grover was about three years of age the family removed to Fayetteville, Onondaga county, New York, where he attended the district school, and was in the academy for a short time. His father be- lieving that boys should early learn to labor, Grover entered a village store and worked for the sum of fifty dollars for the first year. While he was thus engaged the family re- moved to Clinton, New York, and there young Cleveland took up his studies at the academy. The death of his father dashed all his hopes of a collegiate education,. the family being left in straightened circum- stances, and Grover started out to battle for himself. After acting for a year ( 1853- 54) as assistant teacher and bookkeeper in the Institution for the Blind at New York City, he went to Buffalo. A short time after he entered the law office of Rogers, Bowen & Rogers, of that city, and after a hard struggle with adverse circumstances, was admitted to the bar in 1859. He be- came confidential and managing clerk for the firm under whom he had studied. and remained with them until 1863. In the lat- ter year he was appointed district attorney foundland having been lost in a storm while being laid in 1855, another was put down in 1856. In the latter year Mr. Field went to London and organized the Atlantic Tele- graph Company, furnishing one-fourth of the capital himself. Both governments loaned ships to carry out the enterprise. Mr. Field accompanied the expeditions of 1857 and two in : 858. The first and second cables were failures, and the third worked but a short time and then ceased. The people of both continents became incredulous of the feasibility of laying a successful cable under so wide an expanse of sea, and the war breaking out shortly after, nothing was done until 1865-66. Mr. Field, in the former Year, again made the attempt, and the Great Eastern laid some one thousand two hun- Gred miles when the cable parted and was lost. The following year the same vessel succeeded in laying the entire cable, and picked up the one lost the year before, and both were carried to America's shore. After thirteen years of care and toil Mr. Field had his reward. He was the recipient of many medals and honors from both home and
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o! Hale county. It was during his incum- City resumed the practice of law, in which percy of this office that, on being nominated city he had established himself in 1889. y the Democrats for supervisor, he came June 2, 1886, Grover Cleveland was united in marriage with Miss Frances Fol- som, the daughter of his former partner. within thirteen votes of election, although the district was usually Republican by two Windred and fifty majority. In 1866 Grover Cleveland formed a partnership with Isaac V. Vanderpoel. The most of the work here .ch apon the shoulders of our subject, and Re soon won a good standing at the bar of the state. In 1869 Mr. Cleveland associated Himself in business with A. P. Laning and Oscar Folsom, and under the firm name of Lating, Cleveland & Folsom soon built up a "wir practice. In the fall of 1870 Mr. Cleve- and was elected sheriff of Erie county, an office which he filled for four years, after which he resumed his profession, with L. K. Pass and Wilson S. Bissell as partners. This firm was strong and popular and shorty was in possession of a lucrative ...... Mr. Bass retired from the arm ... 1879, and George J. Secard was admit- De a member in 1881. In the latter year Na cleveland was elected mayor of Buffalo, .... . : Ss2 he was chosen governor by wennwas majority of one hundred and ... he.y-two thousand votes. July 11, 1884, ... was nominated for the presidency by the neveratic national convention, and in Wwwaber following was elected.
Mr. Cleveland, after serving one term as Resident of the United States, in 1888 was wanted by his party to succeed himself, the failed of the election, being beaten Banjamin Harrison. In 1892, however, nominated again in opposition to the A.cumbent of the presidency, Mr. Har- :, Grover Cleveland was elected pres- for the second time and served for the term of four years. In 1897 Mr. Giveund retired from the chair of the first istrate of the nation, and in New York
A LEXANDER WINCHELL, for many 4 years one of the greatest of American scientists, and one of the most noted and proific writers on scientific subjects, was born in Duchess county, New York, Decem- ber 31, 1824. He received a thorough col- legiate education, and graduated at the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connect- icut, in 1847. His mind took a scientific turn, which manifested itself while he was yet a boy, and in 1848 he became teacher of natural sciences at the Armenian Semi- nary, in his native state, a position which he filled for three years. In 1851-3 he oc- cupied the same position in the Mesopo- tamia Female Seminary, in Alabama, after which he was president of the Masonic Fe- male Seminary, in Alabama. In 1853 he became connected with the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, at which institu- tion he performed the most important work of his life, and gained a wide reputation as a scientist. He held many important posi- tions, among which were the following: Professor of physics and civil engineering at the University of Michigan, also of geology, zoology and botany, and later professor of geology and palæontology at the same insti- tution. He also, for a time, was president of the Michigan Teachers' Association, and state geologist of Michigan. Professor Winchell was a very prolific writer on scien- tific subjects, and published many standard works, his most important and widely known being those devoted to geology. He also contributed a large number of articles to scientific and popular journals.
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NONEW HULL BOOTE, of the it having become so servis as to endlanger United States navy, was a native of his life, he was forced to resign his command and return home. June 16, 1862, he Is-
A New England, born at New Haven, Con- necticut, May 4, 1868. He entered the ( ceived the thanks of congress and was pro- navy, as a midshipman, December 2, 1822. moted to the rank of rear admiral. He was appointed chief of the bureau of equipment and recruiting. June 4, 1863, he was ordered to the fleet of Charleston, to super- cede Rear Admiral Dupont, but on his way to that destination was taken sick at New York, and died June 26, 1863. He slowly rose in his chosen profession, at- taining the rank of lieutenant in 1830, com- mander in 1852 and captain in 1861. Among the distinguished men in the break- ing out of the Civil war, but few stood higher in the estimation of his brother officers than Foste, and when, in the fall of 1861, he was appointed to the command of the fotilla N ELSON A. MILES, the well-known sol- cher, was born at Westminster, Massa- chusetts, August 8, 1839. His ancestors sot- tled in that state in 1043 among the early pioneers, and their descendants were, many then building on the Mississippi, the act gave great satisfaction to the service. Although embarrassed by want of navy yards and supplies, Foote threw himself into his new work with unusual energy. He , of them, to be found among those battling overcame all obstacles and in the new, and, against Great Britain during Revolutionary until that time, untried experiment, of creat- "times and during the war of 1812. Nelson ing and maintaining a navy on a river, : was reared on a farm, received an academic achieved a success beyond the expectations of the country. Great incredulity existed as to the possibility of carrying on hostilities on a river where batteries from the shore night bar the passage. But in spite of all, Foote soon had a navy on the great river,
education, and in early manhood engaged in mercantile pursuits in Boston. Early in 1861 he raised a company and offered his services to the government, and although commissioned as captain, on account of his youth went out as first lieutenant in the and by the heroic qualities of the crews en- : Twenty-second Massachusetts Infantry. In trusted to him, demonstrated the utility of : 1862 he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel this new departure in naval architecture. . and colonel of the Sixty-first New York In- All being prepared, February 6, 1862, Foote : iantry. At the request of Generals Grant took Fort Henry after a hotly-contested . and Meade he was made a brigadier by President Lincoln. He participated in all but one of the battles of the Army of the Potomac until the close of the war. During the latter part of the time he commanded the first division of the Second Corps. April 7th of the same year, after several ; General Miles was wounded at the battles
action. On the 14th of the same month, for an hour and a half engaged the batteries of Fort Donelson, with four ironclads and two wooden gunboats, thereby dishearten- ing the garrison and assisting in its capture. hotly-contested actions, Commodore Foote received the surrender of Island No. Io, one of the great strongholds of the Confederacy on the Mississippi river. Foote having been wounded at Fort Donelson, and by nog cet
! of Fair Oaks, Fredericksburg and Chan- cellorsville, and received four brevets for distinguished service. During the recon- struction period he commanded in North Carolina, and on the reorganization of the
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re mar army he was made colonel of the fit languages, drawing, painting and sculp- Mustry. In isso he was promoted to the ture. In his private life he was reserved, and even eccentric. Strange stories are related of his peculiarities, and on his farm near Baltimore he forbade the use of animal food, the taking of animal life, and even the felling of trees, and brought his butter and eggs to the Baltimore markets in person. rank of brigadier-general, and in 18go to that of major-general. The successfully con- ducted several campaigns among the In- Hans, and his name is known among the tribes as a friend when they are peacefully inclined. Ile many times averted war with the red men by judicious and humane Junius Brutus Booth, known as the elder Booth, gave to the world three sons of note: Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., the husband of Agnes Booth, the actress; John Wilkes Booth, the author of the greatest tragedy in the life of our nation; Edwin Booth, in his day the greatest actor of America, if not of the world. settlement of difficulties without the intitary power. In 1892 General Miles was given miband of the proceedings in dedicating the World's Fair at Chicago, and in the sanger of 1894, during the great raffrond strike at the same city, General Miles, then in command of the department, had the disposal of the troops sent to protect the United States mails. On the retirement of General J. M. Schofield, in 1895, General Mies became the ranking major-general of the United States army and the head of its forces.
JAMES MONTGOMERY BAILEY, fa- mous as the "Danbury News Man," ) was one of the best known American humor- ists, and was born September 25, 1841, at Albany, N. Y. He adopted journalism as a profession and started in his chosen work on the "Danbury Times, " which paper he pur- chased on his return from the war. Mr. Bailey also purchased the "Jeffersonian," another paper of Danbury, and consolidated them, forming the . Danbury News," which paper soon acquired a celebrity throughout the United States, from an incessant flow of rich, healthy, and original humor, which the pen of the editor imparted to its columns, and he succeeded in raising the circulation of the paper from a few hundred copies a week to over forty thousand. The facilities of a country printing office were not so com- plete in those days as they are now, but Mr. Bailey was resourceful, and he put on re- lays of help and ran his presses night and day, and always prepared his matter a week ahead of time. The "Danbury News Man" was a new figure in literature, as his hamor
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