HANCOCK COUNTY, INDIANA
BIOGRAPHIES
MORRIS
PIERSON,
one of the earliest settlers of
Greenfield, was born April 26, 1799. in Chittenden county, Vermont,
from whence he removed to Switzerland county, Indiana, in 1814 ; thence
to Greenfield, Indiana, September 21, 1830. Mr. P. visited Hancock
county in the fall of 1826, while she yet belonged to Madison county.
Mr. P. was twice married. First, to Eliza Moore, May 27, 1827, who died
February 6. 1844 ; second, to Lucena Silcox, who is still living, on
February 15, 1846. Mr. P. has filled several positions of trust and
profit. By reference to page thirty nine and succeeding pages of this
hook, it will be observed that he was county treasurer fur a number of
years in the early nation} of the county. He was also county school
commissioner and county surveyor for a considerable time. Mr. P. was a
Mason, a Republican, and a liberal, enterprising, practical citizen,
and did much for the encouragement of pikes, railroads, and other
internal improvements. While employed in his daily duties, he died
suddenly on the morning of May 22, 1879. Age, four score years and
twenty six days.
R. A. Smith,
a native of Brandywine township, this
county, dates his earthly career from January 10, 1853. His parents
were plain, practical, pious pioneers, who earned their bread by the
sweat of their brow, and taught their children that labor is honorable,
and to till the soil is respectable. Mr. Smith's boyhood days were
spent on the farm, where he hood and harrowed in the summer, attended
the district schools, led the calves and hunted rabbits in the winter.
After arriving at majority, he taught school for a time, but feeling
dissatisfied with his acquirements, he resolved to make an effort for a
better education. In the fall of 1S72 he entered the New Garden high
school in Wayne county, Indiana, and for one year was under the
tutorage of the writer, who was then principal, after which he entered
the Stale Normal at Terre Haute, Indiana, where he continued for two
years; after which he resumed teaching, at which profession he has
given about nine years of his life in the district and graded schools
of the county. He was one year at McCordsville, and two years principal
of the Fortville graded schools. September 2, 1879, Mr. Smith was
married to Miss Mary E., daughter of II. B. Cole, of Shelby county.
This short but pleasant and promising union was terminated by the death
of Mrs. S., March 2, 1880.
About two years since, Mr. Smith resolved to exchange the rod for the
scalpel, and after reading for a time with the firm of Howard, Martin
& Howard, of this city, he attended lectures at Indianapolis, and
was fast unraveling the abstruse, recondite intricacies of medico legal
studies, when he was called to public duties, being elected County
Superintendent of Schools, of Hancock county, July 30, 1881, to fill
the unexpired term of the late Aaron Pope. Mr. S., in politics, is a
Democrat; in church relations, a Protestant Methodist, and in private
and public life is above reproach.
William
Perry Smith,
was born in Brandywine township, in
this county, March 2, 1842. His father was a farmer, and his early life
was passed, like that of most farmer's boys, in assisting about the
farm. He, however, early manifested a disposition toward educational
and literary pursuits, in which he was indulged and encouraged by his
parents, who lived to reap the reward of their kindness in the success
and honor of their son.
Perry, ;as he was familiarly culled
by those who knew and loved him best, received his first school
training at district school-house No. 3, situated but a few steps from
his father's home. Here he mastered the rudiments of an English
education, and then attended high school at Acton, Ind., one year.
After this he began teaching, in which profession he was very
successful, winning the love of his pupils and the respect of their
parents by his noble qualities of mind and heart. During this time he
also learned the art of photography, in the practice of which he
employed his time during the summer months, when not in school.
Determining to lit himself still more thoroughly for his work of
teaching be entered the State Normal School at Terre Haute in 1873.
Here he attended two terms, doing four terms' work within the time of
two. So thorough had been his previous training that he made the best
per cent, on entering of any student of his class.
After leaving the Normal School he taught
one year, at the end of which time received the appointment of County
Superintendent of Hancock county, which position he held for two terms,
or until the time of his death. To this field of labor he brought the
same scholastic skill, accurate judgment and indomitable energy which
had characterized his previous career, and the schools under his
management were efficient and prosperous. Much of the work begun by him
has since been carried forward to success, and it will be long ere his
influence will cease to be felt in the schools of Hancock county. He
was married July 10, 1878, to Miss Agnes E. McDonald, an estimable
young lady, also a teacher. He was taken sick of typhoid fever about
February 1, 1879, and. after a lingering and painful illness, died
March 25th of the same year. He was a member of the Methodist
Protestant Church ; also an honored member of the Masonic Fraternity,
Knights of Pythias and the Brotherhood of United Workingmen. He was
buried with Masonic honors at Mt. Lebanon Cemetery, near his old home,
where loving hands have erected a monument to his
memory. lie was but in the morning of his manhood,
but upon the threshold of many promising possibilities, when death
closed his eyes to all earthly things and blinded those of his friends
with tears. Had he lived, but it is useless to speculate upon what
might have been since now it can never be. In the hearts of those who
knew him best is written this epitaph:
He was a Christian who never
disguised his profession ; a man whose acts honored his race.
James C. Hawk,
a Buckeye by birth, a Hoosier by
residence and adoption, a son of Henry and Susan Hawk, of Highland
county, Ohio, dates his earthly journeying to September 28, 1824, from
Brown county, Ohio. At the age of eight he came to Indiana with his
parents and settled in Sugar Creek township, where he has since
resided. His facilities for education being very poor, he was compelled
to rely upon his own resources for the little education he did receive.
Mr. Hawk was married September 23, 1847, to Mary J., daughter of David
McNamee. After his marriage Mr. H. settled on his farm, where he tilled
the soil in summer and taught the youth of his neighborhood in the
winter for about four years, since which time he has devoted his
energies wholly to rural pursuits, never having held but one public
office, that of township trustee, in conjunction with Lewis Burk and
Joseph H. Conner, in 1856. Mr. H. is an honorable citizen and an
affable gentleman. See his portrait on another page.
Joseph Fort,
a native of the "Ancient Dominion,"
was born in 1814. He came with his parents to Henry county. When about
fifteen years of age, he moved Prior Brown to Brown township. In 1840
he was married to Miss Mary, daughter of Moses McCray. In 1846 Mr. Fort
united with the Concord Baptist Church. He afterward became a member of
the Nameless Creek Christian Church, of which he was ; a honored member
until his death. Mr. F. from the green woods made a good farm, well
improved, erected good buildings, with a brick house, lived an
honorable, industrious life, and honestly accumulated considerable
property. Few men were more esteemed than was Mr., Fort by those who
knew him best. His widow, a noble Christian lady, still lives on the
old farm, enjoying the fruits of their labor. Mr. F., politically, was
a Republican, never aspiring to office. He was content with quiet rural
duties in private life. For the last six years of his life he was a
constant sufferer, but bore his affliction with patience and
resignation, till he was finally taken to his long home, March 22,
1880, and his mortal remains were deposited in the Simmons cemetery in
Jackson township, where loving hands have erected to his memory a
stately monument.
William J. Sparks
was born March 11, 1853, in Morgan
county, Indiana, where he received a common school education, attending
school for a time at Mooresville. His father being a miller, young
Sparks run the engine in his native county for several years, prior
to 1872; thence to Henry county, and worked for a time in the Commercial Mills
on Blue River, of which mills his father was the proprietor; thence to
Greenfield, where he engaged in the sewing machine trade till 1879,
when he was elected clerk of the city of Greenfield, which
position he finally resigned to become a candidate for mayor, to which
office he was elected by a handsome majority. This position he still
fills. Mayor Sparks is a young man, unmarried, a Republican, a member
of the Christian Church, and is superintendent of the Sunday School
connected therewith. He is fully identified with the interest of the
city, and is putting forth his best efforts to bring it up to his ideal
of a model municipality.
Andrew T.
Hart,
senior member of the mercantile firm
of Hart & Thayer, of this city, a native of the "Ancient Dominion,"
was born July 7, 1811. His father, a son of Erin, was a soldier under
General St. Clair at the time of his memorable defeat, near the
head-waters of the Wabash, in 1791. Andrew T. Hart, while a boy,
endured the privations of pioneer life in his native State. At the age
of eleven he removed from the home of his earlier youth to Centerville,
Wayne county, where he attended such public and private schools as the
country then afforded, and acquired a common English education. His
opportunities, however, were limited, and the success that has attended
his career has been mainly the result of his own exertions, and it may
be properly said that he is the architect of his own fortune. At the
age of eighteen, he was apprenticed as a saddler with his brother,
James B. Hart, of Liberty, Indiana, which trade he faithfully followed
for three years, or until 1833, when he removed to Greenfield, where he
has since resided. He at once opened a grocer}' store, in which
business he continued for two years; then as a clerk for Nicholas &
McCarty for one year, followed by a mercantile partnership with Nathan
Crawford for two years, when he purchased Crawford's interest,
and has continued in the same business ever since, alone and otherwise.
Mr. H. has filled a number of positions of public trust, and always
with honor. In 1839 he was appointed agent of Indiana for the
distribution of surplus revenue. He was the first treasurer elected in
Hancock county, the prior treasurers being appointed by the
commissioners. This was in 1841. In 1843 he was re-elected, and served
for six consecutive years. In 1869 he was commissioned by Salmon P.
Chase as U. S. assistant assessor for this county. Mr. H. has been
prominently connected with almost all public enterprises in the county
during his residence therein. In 1878 he was President of the Hancock
Agricultural Society. He become a Mason in 1859, and an Odd Fellow in
1865. In religion he is of orthodox faith. In politics he was first a
Whig, and since a Republican. His first vote was cast for Henry Clay.
He has been twice married. First, to Miss Louisa Forelander, in June,
1835, who lived but two years. In November, 1838, he was married to
Miss Gabriella Sebastian, daughter of William and Elizabeth Sebastian.
Mr. Hart has had five children. William E. was a soldier in the 18th
Indiana Volunteers, and served for three years. After his discharge he
joined and served in Capt. A. K. Branham's company of State troops in
the pursuit of John Morgan, in his celebrated raid in Indiana and Ohio,
and was killed in that unfortunate disaster at Lawrenceburg, Indiana,
in 1863. Mr. H. is a man much respected and highly esteemed by all who
know him. He is of genial nature, kind and hospitable. steadfast in his
friendship, and upright in his dealings, and by his good qualities of
head and heart has endeared himself to every citizen of the county.
Charles Downing,
was born in New York City, August 7,
1857, came to Hancock county February 28, 1867, made his home with the
late lamented William S. Wood, attended the public schools, received a
fair English education and, being an excellent scribe, was, on the 4th day of
November, 1874, appointed Deputy Clerk of the Hancock Circuit Court, by
Ephraim Marsh, Clerk, which position he holds to this day. October 8,
1879, at Bradford Junction, Ohio, he was married to Miss Angie B., only
daughter of Arthur P. and Emily H. Williams, formerly of this city. Mr.
D. is a member of the Christian Church, and has always contributed
liberally to the support thereof. He is also an honored member of the
I. O. O. F. Mr. D. is a young man of rare business tact and talent, and
just upon the threshold of many rare possibilities.
Lee O. Harris.
was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, January 30, 1839. While yet
quite young, his parents removed to Washington county, in the western
part of Pennsylvania, where his early youth was passed. Here he was
given the advantages of first the common school and then an academic
course of study.
He came to Hancock county, Indiana,
in 1858, and taught his first school in Fountain town, in the edge of
Shelby county.
In the fall of 1859 he went to
Illinois, and taught in what was then Coles (now Douglass) county.
Returning to Indiana, he again began teaching in Hancock county, and
has been more or less identified with her schools ever since, except
for the five years succeeding 1874, during which time he was principal
of the school at Lewisviile, Indiana.
Mr. Harris is well known throughout
the State as a journalist and poet, having been for a number of years a
contributor to most of the leading papers of the State, He is
also the author of a book, The Man
Who Tramps, published in 1878.
The first of January, 1880, Mr.
Harris, in connection with Aaron Pope, then County Superintendent,
began the publication of The Home
and School Visitor, of which paper he is still the editor. In the
spring of 1881 he took editorial charge of The Greenfield Republican and
continued with that paper until January, 1882, when. The Home and School Visitor
demanding his entire attention. he withdrew from the Republican.
Mr. Harris has been identified with
the school interests of Hancock county for twenty two years, and has in
that time taught more schools
than any man now living in the county, yet all this teaching, with the
exceptions before mentioned, has been done in Greenfield and within a
radius of five miles of that city.
Dr. Noble P. Howard,
senior member of the medical firm of
this city of Howard, Martin & Howard, was born in Warren county,
Ohio. September 11, 1822. His father was one of the first settlers of
Cincinnati, and during the war of 1812 was a soldier in the American
army. In 1836, while the subject of this sketch was a mere boy, he came
with his mother and settled in Indiana, where he received an English
education at IJrookyille, Franklin county. In 1840 he began the study
of medicine with the eminent doctor, H.. G. Sexton, of Rushville, Indiana where he
read for three fan. In 1843 he moved to this city, and began the
practice of medicine and surgery. In 1877 he was vice-president of the
Indiana State Medical Society. He has served as President of the Union
Medical Society of Hancock and Henry counties, and also as President of
the Hancock Medical Society. He holds diplomas from the Indiana Medical
College, and from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, both of
Indianapolis, and is also a member of the American Medical Society. In
1862 he was commissioned as assistant surgeon in the 12th regiment of
Indiana volunteers, and served during its term of enlistment. For about
eight years he was deputy collector of internal revenue. He has ever
manifested a public spirit, and has taken stock in most of the gravel
moods centering in Greenfield. Since 1856 he has been an honored
member of the Odd Fellows, and has filled all the offices of the
subordinate lodge and encampment. In 1861 he was elected Most Worthy
Grand Patriarch of the Grand Encampment of the State of Indiana. He la
a member of the M. E. Church, was a Whig in the days of that party, and
an earnest Union man during the civil war. In 1856 he was a candidate
on the Republican ticket for representative, but the county being
Democratic, he was defeated by the 1 Ion. Thomas D. Walpole. He was a
Republican unit the nomination of Horace Greeley, since which time he
his acted with the Democratic party. He was married April 23, 1844, to
Miss Cinderilla J. Gooding, daughter of Asa and Matilda Gooding, and a
sister of Judge D. S. Gen. O. P. and Hon. II. C, Gooding, Dr. Howard is
a genial gentleman, and a man of firm convictions and uncompromising
integrity, and stands well both in his profession and as a man
.
Ephraim
Marsh,
present Clerk of the Hancock Circuit
Court, was born in Brown township, this county, June 2, 1845. He is a
son of Jonas and Catharine Marsh, honest, respectable people in good
standing. Ephriam paid close attention to his studies and soon acquired
a fair English education at
the public schools of the county, and at the age of twenty entered
Asbury University at Greencastle, Indiana, where he graduated with
honors in 1870. During his collegiate course he spent one year at
Washington City as clerk in the Third Auditor's office of the Treasury
Department, receiving his appointment through the recommendation of
ex-Governor Hendricks and Judge D. S. Gooding. After serving for a time
as deputy clerk of the Circuit Court under Henry A. Swope, during which
time he applied himself assiduously to the study of law, he was, in the
autumn of 1874, elected Clerk of the Circuit Court, and re-elected in
1878. Mr. Marsh, on February 29, 1872, joined the Knights of Pythias ;
in 1873, the Free and Accepted Masons ; in 1874, the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows; in 1878, the Ancient Order of Workingmen. He has been
Master in the Masonic and Past Chancellor in the Pythias. He is also a
thirty second Indiana Consistory, S. P. R., and a member of Keystone
Chapter of the Masons of Indianapolis and Raper Commandery. He was
married February 5. 1875, to Miss Matilda J. Brewer, of Franklin
county, an estimable lady of great merit and financial means, the
fruits of which union is one child, Ella, a favorite of all who know
her, and in the public school, which she is now attending.
Mr. M. is a steadfast Democrat, a
line conversationalist, and a courteous gentleman. As an officer he has
been attentive and efficient, and has won the confidence of his
constituents. Mr. M. is still a young man, and is looking forward to
the legal profession after the expiration of his office, and is bending
his energies in that direction.
Nelson Bradley,
President of the Greenfield Banking
Company, was born in Clermont county, Ohio, May 19, 1822. His father
was an Englishman, and served in the American army in the
war of 1812. Mr. Bradley's
opportunities for an education were limited, his time being chiefly
employed in helping his father on the farm, and his schooling was
restricted to a few months' attendance at the log school-houses of his
neighborhood. Mr. B. in early life manifested a taste for and aptness
in business pursuits, ant! while yet a boy made frequent visits to the
markets at Cincinnati with produce purchased at the farm-houses in the
various settlements. In 1852 he visited Indiana, and purchased a small
tract of hind on the newly-constructed Bellefontaine railroad, at the
site of the present town of McCordsville. In September he located there
and opened a store. In 1863 he was elected Treasurer of Hancock county,
which position he held for two consecutive terms. In 1866 he moved to
Greenfield, and engaged in the grocery business, at which In: continued
till 1871. when, with other gentlemen, he established the Greenfield
Banking Company, of which he is still president. He is also a partner
in the Hancock Flouring Mills, and a stockholder in nearly all the
gravel roads centering in Greenfield, Mr. 13. has contributed liberally
towards the erection of churches and other public buildings, and has
ever manifested a liberal public spin ted disposition. He has been an
honored member of the Free and Accepted Masons since 1845, at which
time he joined the order in Georgetown, Ohio. He took the Chapter
degrees in Felicity. Ohio, in 1848, and the Council and Scottish Rite
degrees at Indianapolis at a later date. He assisted in organizing
Oakland Lodge, No. 140, and McCordsville Chapter, No. 44, of which he
was the first High Priest. He is now a member of Hancock Lodge, No.
101, of which he has been treasurer and trustee for a number of years.
He has been a liberal, consistent member of the M. E. Church since
1845, and is now and has been for many years superintendent of the
large and prosperous Sunday school in connection therewith. He was
first a Whig, but, since the organization of the party, an enthusiastic
Republican. He was married September 29, 1844, to Elizabeth Gray, a
noble, Christian woman, who
has been his faithful companion,
shared his joys and aided in his prosperity for nearly forty years. Mr.
B. is of a genial disposition, enjoys a good joke and a hearty laugh,
and has a host of warm friends.
Jonathan
Smith
was born in Preston county, West
Virginia, August 29, 1818, and moved to Hancock county, Indiana, during
the winter of 1836-7. Was married to Mary T. Watson December 17, 1840,
who died December 4, 1841. His second marriage was to Susannah Lakin,
October 16, 1845, who has been an invalid for the past twenty six
years. Mr. S. has raised four children (all boys), all of whom are
still living, the oldest being thirty five years of age. Mr. Smith's
religious views are strictly old school Baptist. He established a store
at what is now known as Willow Branch in 1853, and a post office at the
same place in 1854. He continued in this occupation about twenty years.
Also, at the same time Mr. S. continued in farming, which was his
former occupation. Mr. S. was a staunch Democrat, an industrious man,
and served one term as county commissioner. .
James Judkins,
a native of Virginia, began his
earthly pilgrimage in 1803. Was married to Elizabeth Wales in North
Carolina, September 1, 1825, and emigrated to Newport, Wayne county,
Indiana, in 1826. Moved to Hancock county in 1833, and entered land
about one mile west of Eden. Among his neighbors at that time were
Robert Walker, Jas. and Jehu Denney, Jacob and William Amick, and Enoch
Olvey. Others soon followed. Here he experienced the hardships and
privations of pioneer life. Fruits were then almost unknown; corn was
$1 per bushel, and other eatables proportionately high. In 1836 he
moved to the Pierson farm and mill on Sugar Creek, five or six miles
north-west of Greenfield, which mill he run for about four
years, and did much of the grinding
and sawing for the citizens of Greenfiefd. The old mill pond was then
supplied with tine fish, the catching of which afforded royal sport for
some of the early settlers of Greenfield, among whom were Cornwell and
Joshua Meek, Nathan Crawford, Ferdinand Keiffer, the Piersons and
others. In 1840 he sold the mill, purchased an adjoining farm, and
worked thereon for two years ; then back to the Pierson farm and mill
again, which he rented for six years, Pierson having died in the
meantime. In 1848 he returned to his adjoining farm, where he remained
till his death, December 24,1874. Mr. J. was the father of eight
children, his widow and three of whom survive him. Dr. E. I.. Miss
Irene and the widow, of this city, and James M., of Iowa. Mr. J. was a
devoted member of Hancock Lodge, No. 101, F. A. M. His mortal remains
now slumber in the Sugar Creek cemetery, near his old home.
Hon..
Morgan Chandler,
cashier of the Greenfield Banking
Company, of this city, was born on a farm in Owen county, Kentucky,
September 30, 1827. His grandfather was a soldier in the revolution.
His early opportunities for education were exceedingly limited, so that
at the age of twenty one he could neither read nor write his own name.
He now, however, resolved to educate himself, and within eighteen
months was teaching school in his own county. This occupation he
followed for fifteen months. In 1851 he came to Hancock county,
Indiana, and engaged in teaching. In 1854 he engaged as clerk in the
store of G. G. Tague at $10. per month. April 22, 1855, he was married
to Miss Nancy M. Galbreath, formerly of Kentucky. In the fall of the
same year he was elected Sheriff of this county. After the expiration
of his term of office, he engaged in farming until 1861. when he was
elected Clerk of the Hancock Circuit Court.
which office he held for four
years. The summer of 1867-68 he spent in the Western States and
Territories, and the winters of the same years in Washington City. In
1869-70 he was engaged in the store of Walker & Edwards. In 1871
he, with four other gentlemen, established the Greenfield Banking
Company, of which he is cashier. Referring back to his earlier history,
we may remark that at the age of fifteen he united with the Baptist
Church, and still leans in that direction. At the age of twenty two he
was chosen Lieutenant Colonel of the State troops of his native county.
Mr. C. has been a life-long Democrat, an advocate of improvements, and
has always taken a lively interest in agricultural pursuits, being
President of the District Fair Association, composed of the counties of
Rush, Henry and Hancock. Mr. C. is kind and hospitable, and has thereby
made an extensive acquaintance. He is also a good judge of human
nature, and has rare business tact and talent, which eminently tit him
for his present position. In the fall of 1880 he represented his
adopted county in the lower house of the Legislature.
CAPT. I. A.
CURRY
was born in Center township, Hancock
county, Indiana, July 16, 1835. At the age of sixteen his father died,
leaving his mother with several small children. Mr. Curry being the
oldest, much of the care of the family consequently fell upon his
shoulders. He grumbled not, however, but performed his duties well. His
opportunities for education were limited, but he made the most of them.
In December, 1857, he was married to Miss Mary Thomas, with whom he is
still happily living. In August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in
Company B, 99th Indiana Regiment, and was soon promoted to 1St
Sergeant, which position he held till January, 1863, when he was again
promoted, this time to 2nd Lieutenant, and in March, 1864, to 1St
Lieutenant, and finally, in April, 1865, he was mustered in as
Captain. His regiment followed Gen. Sherman in his
memorable march through Georgia to the sea. Mr. C, through these
tedious years of soldier life, was ever recognized as. a faithful
soldier and dutiful officer. In the fall of 1880 he was elected
Treasurer of Hancock county, which position he is still filling.
Dr. Elam I. Judkins,
a resident physician of this city, and second son
of the late James Judkins, was born in Wayne county, Indiana, in 1830.
He remained with his father, working on a farm and in a mill, till he
attained his majority. His opportunities for education being limited,
his thirst for knowledge led him to Greenville in January. 1852, where
he attended school for a time, then at Shelbyville for one year. Be
afterwards engaged in teaching and manual labor until the autumn of
1854. when he went into the drug trade and study of medicine. In the
spring of 1865, after having attended a course of lectures in the Ohio
Medical College at Cincinnati, he began the practice, and has since
been actively and successfully engaged in his chosen profession. Dr.,
J. is a graduate of the Indiana Medical College and of the College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Indiana. He has been an active
insurance agent since 1863, and perhaps is the oldest agent in the
county. He has been a member of and zealously devoted to the order of
Masons since 1853. In May, 1857, he was married in Rensselaer, Jasper
county, Indiana, to Miss Emma L. Martin, daughter of the late Dr.
William H. Martin, formerly of Rushville, and at one time Secretary of
the Board of Examiners of the Indiana Medical Institute. In February,
1880, Mrs. J. died, leaving no children. The only child born unto them
died in 1863, at the age of five years. In 1862, the doctor was
appointed enrolling and draft commissioner, by Gov. Morton, for this
county. In 1868-69, Dr. J. served as President of the Board of Town
Trustees, and to him is mainly due the credit of originating and
negotiating the bonds for the erection of the public school building,
which is a credit to our city. He also served four years as treasurer
of the town. In 1881 Dr. J. was appointed by the Commissioner of
Pensions as a U. S. Examining Surgeon for this vicinity, which position
he still holds. The Doctor's mother and sister are living with him at
the old home, where he set up to himself in 1857. The Doctor is an
unswerving Republican, inclines to the Presbyterian faith, and is an
enterprising, public spirited man.
Hon. William R. Hough,
senior member of the law firm of
Hough & Cook, of the city of Greenfield, was born at Williamsburgh,
Wayne county, in this State, October 9, 1833. He is the oldest son of
Alfred and Anna Hough, whose parents were among the pioneers of that
county. 11 is paternal ancestors were among the early settlers of
Pennsylvania, having emigrated from England and located in that State
in 1683. At the age of eight years, the subject of our sketch removed
with his parents from his native village to Hagerstown, in the same
county, and in the fall of 1842 from Hagerstown to Northern Indiana,
locating at Middlebury, Elkhart county.
In this village Mr. Hough grew to
manhood, receiving such educational advantages as were afforded by the
pubic schools, the Middlebury Seminary, and a supplemental course of
study at the LaGrange Collegiate Institute, of LaGrange county- During
his twentieth and twenty second years he taught school in the last
named county. In the fall of 1856, having determined to enter the legal
profession, he located in Greenfield, and began the study of the law in
the office of Capt. Reuben A. Riley. one of the leading lawyers of the
county. He made rapid progress with his studies, and was soon admitted
to the bar, and began practice as partner of his preceptor. While
prosecuting his legal studies he was twice appointed by the
commissioners of this county to the office of school examiner, and for
two successive years performed the duties thereof. In i860 he was
elected district attorney for the district composed of the counties of
Hancock, Madison, Henry, Rush and Decatur. and for two years prosecuted
the pleas of the State to the satisfaction of the law abiding people of
the district.
In 1862 Mr. Hough was married to Miss
Tillie C, McDowell, a native of Scotland, and settled down to tin?
earnest pursuit of his profession, and for ten or twelve years did an
immense amount of professional labor, both in his office and at the
bar, where he was recognized as an able advocate and a tenacious,
strong opponent. In the year 1872 he was nominated and elected State
Senator for the district composed of Hancock and Henry counties, which
position he filled for four years, serving during two regular and two
special sessions in the Legislature. As a legislator, Mr. H. was
recognized as an able debater, and as a man of acknowledged executive
ability, evidenced by the large amount of work which he performed as a
member of several of the most important committees.
Mr. H. has been an earnest Republican
since the organization of the party, and cast his first vote for
President for John C. Fremont. Since i865 he has been an honored member
of the I. O. O. F.
Mrs. Hough, who has been his
companion and helpmate indeed, is a lady of refined tastes and
accomplishments, and is in every way fitted to preside over her elegant
and hospitable home. They have two boys, William A. and Clarence
A., aged respectively seventeen and fifteen. Their only daughter,
Mabel, a beautiful, brilliant little girl, dearly loved by all her
friends and schoolmates, and idolized by her parents, was, at the age
of seven years. suddenly and unexpectedly called from her pleasant
home, surrounded by birds, music, flowers and ferns, to enter her long
home in the celestial city, where the streets are paved with gold, and
music is never ceasing, and sickness, death and darkness never enter.
Mr. H. is a public spirited citizen,
and is a prominent promoter and supporter of the public school system,
which he has defended as a citizen, lecturer and legislator. That his
services to the cause of education as a member of the Senate were
highly appreciated by the leading educators of the State, may be
inferred from the following incident: In the year 1874, the late Hon.
Milton B. Hopkins, then Superintendent of Public Instruction, in a
public lecture in Greenfield, in speaking of the acts of the
Legislature of 1873, among other things said : "The last Legislature
was the best Legislature on the question of education that ever sat in
Indiana; and I take pleasure in saying now, and saying it here in his
presence (Mr. H. being in the audience), that no county was more
faithfully represented in that body, on that question, than was Hancock
county, on the floor of the Senate, in the person of your honored
Senator."
Mr. Hough has been remarkably
successful financially, having achieved a handsome competence, and is
one of the largest tax-payers in the county.
HENRY CLAY OWEN.
The subject of this sketch. Henry C. Owen, was born in Scotland, Greene
county, Indiana, November 25. 1839, and, finding' his native "heath"
sufficient to meet his earthly wants, decided to remain there, devoting
his life to various pursuits, now spending- his declining' years as
proprietor of a grocery store at Newberry, Indiana. Mr. Owen was the
son of Henry C. and Mary Frances (Jones) Owen, the latter a native of
Rockbridge county, Virginia, and the former of Kentucky, having been
born near Owensborough. Henry Owen came to Greene county, Indiana, in
the early years of the nineteenth century and worked at the carpenter's
trade at Scotland. The subject was thirteen years old when his father
removed to Newberry, Indiana, in 1852. This was before the Wabash and
Erie canal, and only three frame houses had been erected there,
together with a few cabins. The subject's father remained there during
the remainder of his life. Henry's father, William Owen, was a native
of Kentucky, but he came to Indiana, locating on a farm near Owensburg.
where he spent his life. Man- F. Jones, Henry Owen's wife, died in
Newberry. They were the parents of seven children, namely: James M.,
who died at Newberry in May, 1908, aged seventy-three years; Catherine,
now deceased, was the wife of Barton Hines : Henry C., our subject;
Mary F., now deceased; Maranda, wife of Bazel Hindman, living at
Newberry, Indiana; Jane is the wife of John A. Wesner, living in
Missouri; Cynthia C. is deceased. She was the wife of Alonzo
Quackenbush. The parents of the subject were members of the Methodist
church. His father was a class leader and took a great interest in
church affairs. He was a Republican and took an active interest in
politics, serving two terms as treasurer of Greene county, Indiana. He
did. much toward the upbuilding of the town of Newberry and subscribed
to the railroad and the canal. He was a member of the Masonic
fraternity.
Henry C. Owen, our subject, learned the carpenter's trade from his
father and followed this at Newberry, Indiana, until 1893. He received
his education in the common schools, taught in the primitive log houses
of those days, and was married July 3, 1859, to Anna L. Skomp, who was
born in Knox county. She died in Newberry, leaving six children, as
follows: Charles, living in Ohio: James M., who lives in Martinsvillc,
Indiana; Mary Frances, wife of W. M. Wesner, who lives in Newberry ;
Lilie A., wife of Clifford Courtney, who lives in Linton. Indiana;
Lucinda. wife of Edward Brookshire, living in Linton; Henry C.. living
in Newberry. The subject's second wife was Man. L. Sipley, who was born
in New Albany, Indiana, the daughter of Caroline and Jacob Sipley. Two
children were born to this second union, Norma and John D. Mr. Owen
enlisted in Company B, Twenty-fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry,
in 1862, at Paoli, Indiana,and served until the close of the war,
having taken part in the battles of Baton Rouge, siege of Mobile, where
he was nine clays in the trenches. He was slightly injured at Canoe
Station. He was then in the Third Division, Thirteenth Corps, under
General Oslerhouse. He was slightly injured before he got to the front
in a railroad accident at Effingham. Illinois.
Mr. Owen was supervisor of Cass township. Greene county, Indiana,
several times, and he served one term as county commissioner; also was
post - master at Newberry for four years. He is a member of the Masonic
fraternity and a member of the Eastern Star ; also a member of the
Grand Army of the Republic. He is now (1908) justice of the peace. Mr.
Owen and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, He
has been trustee of the church ever since it was organized in that
place. The entire Owen family is highly respected in Newberry.
REV. H. JULIAN MATHIAS.
Although yet a young man, the subject of this sketch, the Rev. H.
Julian Mathias. has achieved pronounced success in his chosen
profession and has accomplished much good in all his ministerial work,
being especially liked by the congregation of the Lutheran church at
Newberry, Indiana, of which he now has charge. Rev. Mathias is a native
of South Carolina, having been born there October 3, 1871. He is the
son of David J. and Margaret (Kleckley) Mathias. who were South
Carolina people. David was the son of Jesse Mathias, a farmer of the
last named state. Margaret Kleckley was the daughter of John H. and
Sarah (Montz) Kleckley, both natives of South Carolina, where they
lived and died on a farm. David Mathias died in 1907. His widow is
still living in South Carolina. They had nine children, born as
follows: Rev. H. Julian, the subject; Jesse, Sallie.. Beattie, Simon,
Samuel, Andrew, Ora and Tillman. The parents of the subject and all
their ancestors were members of the Lutheran church.
The subject was reared on a farm, receiving his education from the
common schools of the county and the high school at Lexington. South
Carolina. He then entered Concordia College at Conover, North Carolina,
and one year later entered Lenoir College at Hickory, North Carolina,
where he spent two years. He then entered Newberry College, at
Newberry, in South Carolina, graduating in 1896, and graduating two
years later from the Southern Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Newberry, South Carolina.
After leaving school Rev. Mathias accepted a charge at Selwood, South
Carolina, for three years. He then preached two years at St. Luke's,
Prosperity, South Carolina. He then preached at Lincolnton, North
Carolina, for two years. In June, 1905, he came to Newberry, Indiana,
where he has remained to the present time (1908). The subject was
married in 1898 to Minnie Shell, a native of Conover, North Carolina.
She was reared there and met the subject when he was attending school
at that place. She is the daughter of John S. and Sarah (Miller) Shell,
the former a native of North Carolina and the latter a native of
Tennessee. John Shell and wife are both dead and Minnie is their only
child. Four children have been born to Rev. Mr. Mathias and wife, as
follows: Hermann, born September 12, 1899; Mabel, born May 10, 1901 ;
Margaret, who died in infancy; Julian Voigt, born March 3, 1907.
The subject is a member of the Chicago Synod of the Evangelical
Lutheran church. In connection with his charge at Newberry he preaches
at a church near Monroe City, in Knox county, Indiana. He built up the
charge at that place until a new church was recently erected. The
subject is an earnest worker and leaves nothing undone to better the
condition of the people among whom he is laboring. He is an apt
scholar, and he received the senior medal at the Newberry College in
South Carolina and second honors there.
ALEXANDER J. BAYS.
Alexander J. Bays was born October 25, 1838, in Center township. He had
no opportunity to attend school, remaining at home until he was
sixteen. He worked for various persons until his first marriage in 1862
to Lucy Ann Talbot, of Ohio, who is now deceased. They had three
children, Katie, Fidelia and Robert. He married Levina Bland, of
Highland township, a few years later, and they had six children, as
follows : Harley, Minnie, Maggie, Orrie, Stella and Ernest. He had five
children by his third wife, Annie Bingham. namely : Roscoe, Oscar,
Otto, Bert and Don.Mr. Bays enlisted August 22, 1862, in Company C,
Ninety-seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. After drilling at
Indianapolis and Terre Haute the regiment was sent into Kentucky,
Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia, taking part in many battles,
including Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge and Kenesaw Mountain. He was
seriously wounded by a shell on June 27, 1863, and was sent to a
hospital at Rome, Georgia, but rejoined his regiment in three months
and was with Sherman on his march to the sea. He was in the grand
parade in Washington at the close of the war and was discharged June
26, 1865.
After the war he lived in Highland township, Greene county, Indiana,
until 1873, when he moved to Pleasant Ridge, Richland township, where
he has since resided. He has conducted a store since 1891, at the same
time being engaged in the poultry and farming business, his farm
consisting of one hundred and four acres. He is a member of the Grand
Army of the Republic Post at Bloomfield, Indiana, a member of the
Methodist church. and votes the Republican ticket.
Alexander J. Bays is the son of Hubbard Bays, a native of North
Carolina. He married Martha Bland. They came to Greene county, Indiana,
with their parents in an early day, being first settlers in Center
township, where he entered eighty acres of land, on which he and his
wife remained until their death. They had seven children. namely:
Lorenzo, Mordica, Hubbard, Jackson, Eveline. Nellie and Jane. Hubbard
Bays lived at home until his marriage, when he moved to Beech Creek
township, Greene county, where they lived for many years. They moved to
Marshall, Illinois, where both he and his wife lived until their death,
raising four children, namely : Alexander J., the subject of this
sketch; Sallie, who married Jesse Bland, of Richland township, Greene
county; James, who is a farmer in Beech Creek township, Greene county;
Martha, who married Chris Bland, of Terre Haute.
