Sullivan
County, Indiana
Biographies
JOHN T. AND WILL. H. HAYS. The
law firm of John T. & Will. H. Hays, of Sullivan, is composed of
John T.
Hays, who has been a leading attorney
and citizen of this locality for some thirty years, and Will. H. Hays
his son, who has been associated with
his father since 1900. The firm
are attorneys for the various railroads, coal companies, and other
important
corporations which are so
much concerned in the development of Sullivan county, among them being
the
Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad Company ; the Indianapolis
Southern
Railroad Company ; the Terre Haute,
Indianapolis & Eastern Traction Company; the Bering Coal Company ;
Consolidated Indiana Coal
Company ; Jackson Hill Coal &
Coke
Company ; Carlisle Coal &
Clay Company ; Bellevue Coal Company ; Sullivan County Coal Company ;
the West
Jackson Hill Coal Mining & Transport
Company ; the London Liability and Guaranty Company ; the Illinois Coal
Operators' Mutual Employers'
Liability Insurance Company ; the
Central Union Telephone Company ; the Sullivan Lighting Company, and
the People's State Bank of Sullivan.
John Tennyson Hays, senior member of the firm, is a native of Beaver
county, Pennsylvania, born on the
nth day of November, 1845. His
parents and grandparents were all native-born Americans. He lived on a
farm with his father until he was
sixteen years of age, attending the short winter terms of the common
schools
in his native county during that time. In 1864 he was graduated from
the
Iron City Commercial College at
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, then attended the high school at Lisbon, Ohio,
and in 1866 entered Mount
Union College. He was graduated from that institution in June, 1869,
receiving the
highest honors of his class in natural
science and mathematics. For a year after his graduation he was
principal of schools at Calcutta,
Ohio, and in August, 1870, moved to Farmersburg, Sullivan county. He
taught
in the Ascension Seminary there,
and later in Sullivan, until 1874, with the exception of one year,
during which he was principal of the
schools at Oaktown, Knox county.
In 1874 Mr. Hays became a law student in the office of Sewell Counsel,
but at his admission to the bar on March
1, 1875, purchased the interest of Nathaniel G. Buff, in the firm of
Buff & Buff, of Sullivan, continuing in partnership with Judge Buff
until 1878.
In the fall of that year the
partnership was dissolved, as he had been elected prosecuting attorney
of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit for a
term of two years. In 1879 he associated
himself in practice with his brother, H. J. Hays, and that partnership
was unbroken until 1892. From that year
until 1900, when he received
his son, Will. H. Hays into partnership, he conducted an independent
practice. Although his law business is of
immense proportions, his
early life on the farm still draws him to the soil, and he now takes
great delight in managing his farm, as
well as a tract of several thousand acres owned by the West Jackson
Hill Coal
Mining & Transport Company, of which he is president. He is also a
director in the People's State Bank.
Mr. Hays has always been a Republican, but never was a candidate for
any office except that of prosecuting
attorney. He has always been a
member of the Presbyterian church, of which he is an elder and in which
he has taught for years in
connection with the Sunday school. Socially, he is a member of the
Columbia
Club, Indianapolis, and has a close
connection with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias. He
is a member of Sullivan Commandery, No.
54, Knights Templar ; Jerusalem
Chapter, No. 81, Royal Arch Masons; Sullivan Lodge, No. 263, Free and
Accepted Masons; Sullivan
Council, No. 73, R. & S. M. ; and Sullivan Chapter, No. 188, Order
of
the Eastern Star. He served eight
years as high priest of this chapter and three years as master of his
lodge. He is identified with the Knights
of Pythias as a member of Sullivan
Lodge, No. 85.
He has been twice married ; first in 1869, from which union his two
daughters, Martha A. Hays and Bertha Hays
Drake, were born.. In December,
1876, he was married to Mary Cain, of Sullivan. Indiana, and of their
marriage two children have been
born, William Harrison Hays and
Hinkle Cain Hays. The career of John T. Hays, most noteworthy and
honorable, needs no commendation.
Will. H. Hays, junior member of the firm was born in Sullivan November
5, 1879. He was graduated from
the Sullivan high school in the
class of 1896, entering Wabash College in the fall of that year. After
pursuing a four years' course in that
institution he obtained his degree of B. A. in 1900. He had been
interested
in the law ever since he was a young
boy, spending much of his spare time in his father's office. At his
graduation he naturally formed a
partnership with him, which has since continued. In 1904 Mr. Hays
received the
degree of M. A. from his alma
mater, the subject of the special thesis upon which it was conferred
being "The Negro Problem." In college he
won the highest oratorical honors
and ever since his graduation has given much time to public speaking.
A Republican in politics, in 1902 he was nominated for prosecuting
attorney, and was defeated by fifty-three
votes. From 1904 to 1908 (two terms)
he served as chairman of the Republican county committee; was a member
of the State Advisory committee
from the Second district from 1906 to 1908, and during the campaigns of
1906 and 1908 was chair- man of
the Speakers' Bureau of the Republican state committee. In his
religious faith Mr. Hays is a
Presbyterian, and teaches a class of boys in its Sunday school. In
Masonry he is a member
of Sullivan Lodge, No. 263, F.
& A. M. ; Jerusalem Chapter, No. 81, R. A. M. ; Sullivan Council,
No. 73, R. & S. M. ; Sullivan
Commandery, No. 54, Knights Templar, and Sullivan Chapter, No. 188.
Order of
the Eastern Star. He is also a member
of the Indianapolis Consistory, Scottish Rite Masons, and of Murat
Temple, Order of the Mystic Shrine.
He is a member of both the
Columbia and Marion Clubs, of Indianapolis, and is a life member of
Sullivan Lodge, No. 911, B. P. O. E. He
is a member of Phi Delta Theta
Fraternity and for six years has been state president of the order. Mr.
Hays was married on November 18, 1902,
to Miss Helen Louise Thomas,
of Crawfordsville, Indiana, a daughter of Judge Albert Duy Thomas, who
resides in that place.
ORION BOYD HARRIS, who was. the
circuit- judge of Sullivan and Greene counties, Indiana, from 1900 ton
9061 is a native of Knox county, Ohio, born April 15, 1859, son °f
Amos
M. and Jane. (Hill) Harris. The father was also born in Knox county,
Ohio,
the date being March 2, 1833 ; he
died in 1900. The mother, also a native of Knox county, Ohio, was born
in 1834 and died in 1905. They were
united in "marriage in their native
county in November, 1857, and moved to Greene county, Indiana, in 1866,
and lived there until 1873, when
they removed to Knox county, Ohio.
In Ohio, the father was a farmer, and also a general merchant doing
business at one time at Newark, Greene
county, Indiana. Retiring from mercantile
life, he lived his latter years on his farm. The grandfathers on both
paternal and maternal sides came from
southeastern Virginia and effected
a settlement in Ohio in 1808, remaining there until death. Grandfather
Harris raised a family of ten children and
they all lived to rear families
of their own. Amos M. Harris, father of Judge Harris, was a stanch
adherent to Democratic party
principles. Both he and his wife were of Scotch-Irish descent. They
were
members of the Christian church.
To them were born six children, as follows: Judge Orion B., of this
memoir; Clarence W., residing in
Syracuse, Kansas; Victor L., residing
in same place ; India A., wife of Harry A. Simmons, residing in Lakin,
Kansas; Samuel C., died in
infancy; Myrtle, wife of Charles P. Word in, residing in Syracuse,
Kansas.
Judge Harris was reared on his father's farm and received his primary
education in the district schools.
He then attended the Normal School
at Utica, Ohio, graduating in the class of 1878. Later he was graduated
from Kenyon College, Columbia,
Ohio, with the class of 1885. He
taught school two years in Ohio, and one year in Greene county,
Indiana. Having settled upon the
profession of law as the one he wished to pursue, he read law while yet
a teacher
in both Ohio and Indiana. In 1887
he read with William C. Hultz, of Sullivan, Indiana, remaining until
1890. He acted as deputy prosecuting attorney, under Mr. Hultz, until
1892. From 1890 to 1893 he practiced
law alone at Sullivan, Indiana,
and at that date formed a partnership with William T. Douthitt,
remaining with him until 1896. He then
practiced law and managed the Sullivan
Times, a Democratic local paper, until 1900. During the last named year
he was elected judge of the
Sullivan and Greene county circuit courts, taking his office in
November,
1900, and serving until 1906, since
which time he has practiced alone. His office is now located in the
Citizens' Trust Building. In 1902 a Negro
was lynched in his county, and
the governor of the state undertook to dispossess the sheriff of his
office. The judge gave his opinion and the
sheriff was not molested. Judge
Harris is a Democrat, and in fraternal connections is a member of the
blue lodge and chapter of the
Masonic order. He is also a member of the Benevolent Protective Order
of Elks
at Sullivan. Besides his legal business,
Judge Harris is the president of the La Gloria Copper Mining Company,
of Terre Haute.
He was married May 8, 1890, to Rachel, daughter of Sebum and Mary
Elizabeth (McCrae) Kirkham. Mrs.
Harris was born in Sullivan county,
Indiana, and attended the common and high schools and also the state
Normal. She subsequently taught for
about three years in her native
county. Mr. and Mrs. Harris are the parents of the following four
children : Norval K., Naomi, Amos Myron,
and Phillip Hill. Both the judge
and his estimable wife are members of the Christian church.
ROBERT P. WHITE, of Sullivan,
one of the editors of the Sullivan Union, was born September 23,
1876, in Terre Haute, Indiana, son
of Samuel A. and Rebecca M. (Pearce) White. (For history of the White
family see sketch of Samuel A.
White). Robert P. White is a graduate
of the Sullivan high school of the class of 1896. He was then employed
by his father in his drug store
at Sullivan and in 1898, began working
on the Sullivan Democrat, continuing on that journal until 1902, during
which period he was city
editor. In August, 1902, he was made assistant editor of the Sullivan
Union, acting in such capacity until February, 1904, at which time, he
with his
present partner, Dirrelle Chancy,
purchased the Sullivan Times, which they sold in March, 1904. Their
paper, the Sullivan Weekly Union,
has the largest circulation of any
paper published within the county.
In his political views, Mr. White is a Republican; has served as
secretary of the Republican county
committee and was re-elected in 1908. Since the campaign days of 1896
he has
been an active party worker. He
served as precinct committeeman up to 1906. While engaged on the
Sullivan Democrat, he also
corresponded for the Terre Haute. Indianapolis and Cincinnati dailies.
Being a thorough,
up-to-date man,
Mr. White is interested in fraternal society matters and is numbered
among the members of the Odd Fellows
order, being advanced to the Encampment
degree. He is also a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.
The Masonic fraternity has also attracted him to its fold, and he is
now a member of the Blue
lodge, Royal Arch Chapter, and
the Royal and Select Masters ; also belongs to the Eastern Star of the
same fraternity, all being lodges at
Sullivan. Mr. White was
married June 16, 1906, to Bertha B. Briggs, who was born in 1874, in
Sullivan county,
Indiana, and is a graduate of the high school with the class of 1893.
She
was appointed money order clerk
at the Sullivan postoffice and held the position for about five years.
Mrs. White is the daughter of Dr. Charles
and Josephine (Hinkle) Briggs.
Her father died in 1903; he was a practicing physician in Sullivan, and
counted among the leaders of
his profession.
DIRRELLE CHANEY, who is one of
the owners and proprietors of the Sullivan Union, a weekly newspaper
published at Sullivan, Indiana,
is a native of Sullivan, born October 2, 1877, son of Hon. John
Crawford and Ella (Saucerman) Chancy.
Dirrelle Chancy attended the high school at Washington, District of
Columbia, and the Wabash College, of
Indiana, in which institution he took a literary course. In 1893 he was
commissioner of the United States
court of claims, serving two years. After his term had expired, he
engaged in the newspaper business,
first on the Terre Haute Express. In 1900 he was engaged on papers in
London
and Paris. In 1901-02 was
with the Chicago American, in Chicago. In February, 1904, he in company
with Robert P. White, purchased
the Sullivan Times, and in March
of that year purchased the Sullivan Union, having at the same date sold
the Times. Mr. Chancy takes much
interest in civic society affairs
and is a member of the Eagles, Elks and Masons, and the Kappa Sigma
fraternity. He took the
thirty-second degree in Masonry at Indianapolis and is also a Shriner,
and a
Knight Templar.
ARTHUR A. HOLMES. The
present efficient postmaster at Sullivan, Indiana, Arthur A. Holmes,
was born
September n, 1856, at Annapolis, Crawford county, Illinois, son of John
H.
and Nancy E. (Rains) Holmes. The
father was a native of Licking county, Ohio, born March 28, 1828, and
died October 31, 1863, in Effingham
county, Illinois. The mother was
born in Crawford county, Illinois, August 31, 1831, and passed from
earthly scenes in Sullivan county,
Indiana, February 10, 1890. John H. Holmes was a farmer by occupation
and went
to Illinois from Ohio in 1848,
remaining there until his death. Politically, he affiliated with the
Democratic party, but was a War Democrat.
After the death of John H. Holmes,
his widow married John L. Kaufman, of Gill township, Sullivan county,
Indiana.
Arthur A. Holmes was reared to farm labor and received his education at
the district schools, and at the
College at Merom, Indiana, which educational institution he entered in
1874, and from which he was graduated in 1877. He had also taken
private
instructions before entering college.
He then taught three years, one term in Illinois and the balance of the
time in Marshall and Sullivan
counties, Indiana. Having decided to engage in the legal profession, he
studied law with Buff & Patten of Sullivan. After remaining with
them for
two years he was admitted to
the bar in 1880 and entered into partnership with W. S. Maple of
Sullivan, continuing until the spring of
1883, when he formed a partnership with I. H. Kalley, which relation
existed
until August i, 1887. At the
last named date he entered into the service of the government as
special pension examiner, remaining until
April, 1893, at which time he resigned.
In 1891 he had purchased the Sullivan Union and after his resignation
from office he was actively
engaged on the newspaper, of which
he was owner and editor from March, 1891, to July 24, 1902, when he
again entered the employ of the
government and continued until January
21, 1907, in the pension department. He was appointed postmaster at
Sullivan, Indiana, February I, 1898, by
President McKinley and
re-appointed by President Roosevelt, serving from February 8, 1898, to
July 31, 1902, inclusive. He was again
made postmaster in January, 1907,
and his term will expire January 18, 1911. Mr. Holmes has always voted
the Republican ticket and has been
an aggressive party worker. He
is a member of the Knights of Pythias order in Sullivan.
MAJOR WILLIAM T. CRAWFORD, who
having now reached the age of three score and ten years, has been
identified with the educational and patriotic history for forty-eight
years, and is one of the most
honored and popular citizens in this section of the state. He was born
on a farm in Jay county, Indiana,
January 25, 1838, but when three months old his parents sold the
homestead
and removed to Columbiana county,
Ohio, where his early years were spent. The major is the son of Samuel
and Gracy (George) Crawford —
the former being a native of
Columbiana county, Ohio, where he died aged seventy-nine years. The
paternal grandfather, John Crawford,
was a native of Ireland (his wife
of Scotland) and lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and two
years. William George, the maternal
grandfather, was a native of
Ireland, while his wife (Linea Hull) was born in England. The ancestors
on both sides of the family came
to the United States about 1800
and located in Columbiana county, Ohio, where they became substantial
members of the agricultural community and
continued their firm adherence
to Presbyterianism. Grandfather George was a justice of the peace in
that county for twenty-four
successive years, and although a practical and successful farmer was a
deep
lover of music, and expert violinist
and a man of cultivated tastes.
Samuel Crawford, the father, was also an agriculturist and stock-
raiser. In stature, he was a very large
man, being fully six feet in height
; in his manners, he was mild and kind to those with whom he mingled
and labored, and as an illustration of these traits it is related that
he never had a quarrel or a law suit.
His ambition to be well educated
was thwarted when young, but after his marriage, by persistent reading
and self-training he became a man
of wide general information. Another
commendable trait in his character was his unfailing kindness
o old
people, and morally, he was
ever found on the side of justice and right. The children born to
Samuel and
Gracy (George) Crawford were ten
in number and in the order of their birth are as follows : Nancy, widow
of James Chancy and mother of
Congressman John C. Chancy, who
now resides at her farm home ten miles south of Fort Wayne, Indiana ;
Ruth, deceased ; John, residing
at Roanoke, Indiana ; George, deceased;
Elizabeth, a resident of Idaho and wife of Thomas Crawford; Jane,
deceased ; William T., of this
review ; Noah, deceased ; Linea E., wife of Alexander McCammont, who
resides
at Rogers, Ohio ; and Mary M.,
wife of Sant Hewett, of Florida. All but Jane lived to years of
maturity.
Major William T. Crawford was diligently employed on his father's farm
and attended the district schools of
his home neighborhood and the high
school of New Lisbon, Ohio. He began teaching in the same county and
after being thus engaged four years,
in 1866, came to Sullivan county,
Indiana, and built the Ascension Seminary at Farmersburg. Before its
completion, however, in August, '1862,
he raised a company and was
made captain of what was known as Company H, Eighty-fifth Indiana
Volunteer Infantry, serving as a
gallant officer and brave soldier, from August, 1862, to June 12, 1865.
He
saw much actual campaign service,
participating in fifteen battles of the Civil war and being honorably
discharged as brevet major. His regiment
was first encamped at Locust
Grove, opposite Cincinnati, for a few weeks, and then moved to
Falmouth, Kentucky. There Captain Crawford
was detailed by General A. J. Smith,
to act as provost marshall of the place, which he did for two and a
half months. The regiment
then moved to Lexington and
on to Danville, Kentucky, later being sent to Louisville, where it was
transported clown the Ohio river and
thence up the Cumberland to Nashville, Tennessee : and thence was
transferred to
Brentwood and Franklin, Tennessee.
Before reaching Franklin, Captain Crawford was attacked by typhoid
fever and pneumonia, and five
physicians gave his case up as a
fatal one, telling him if he had any word to send to his family they
would be glad to communicate it. The
captain said, "Dr. Hobbs, please tell my wife that I have been sick,
but am
going to get well and live to see
this rebellion put down." Dr. Hobbs then turned to Drs. Wiles and
McPheters and said: "His will power may
yet pull him through." He began
to recover, but while still in bed the rebels made an attack on the
town of Franklin. He started for his
command at Fort Granger, but was so weak that he was compelled to rest
on
the door steps along the streets.
As he
neared the river, five
Confederates rode up and demanded his sword. The captain had not
realized that
they were rebels until after they had surrounded him. The leader at
once
demanded the captain's sword and
when he asked him, "By what authority ?" the rebel replied, "By the
Confederate authority. What authority did you think ?" He then ordered
him to get up on the horse behind him,
whereupon the captain refused. The
officer then drew his revolver on him and said, "Then I will leave you
here." The captain replied, "You have
the drop on me." Again the
Confederate officer said, "Hand up your sword at once," and when the
captain refused, the rebel demanded
that he mount his horse behind him.
For answer Captain Crawford knocked the revolver out of the enemy's
hand with a hickory cane, which he
fortunately carried. At that
instant about one thousand shots were fired from the Union lines, one
ball striking the leader in the mouth
and cutting his tongue partly off.
The blood shot out over Captain Crawford and fell upon his sword',
which remained unwashed for many years
after the close of the war. Another
of the Confederates brought his carbine down upon the captain's head,
but a ball pierced the rebel's hand.
Still another of the Confederate squad was shot through the side, as he
was
taking aim at the captain's
head. Another's horse was shot from under him as he exclaimed, "Throw
up your hands or we will shoot out
of you." At this critical
moment Captain Bails crossed the river and assisted Captain Crawford
into the Union lines.
A few weeks later two spies from General Bragg's army (Colonel Williams
and Lieutenant Peter entered the
Union lines, reporting that they
were sent by General Garfield to inspect the camp, presenting as their
authority a forged letter from the
commander. Representing, also, that
they had been surprised and robbed by rebels, they borrowed fifty
dollars from Colonel Baird and obtained
from him a pass to go to Nashville. Colonel Watkins, of the Sixth
Kentucky
Regiment (a graduate of West
Point) recognized one of the spies as being a classmate of his and they
had no sooner left camp than that
officer remarked to Colonel Baird : "Those men are spies." As quick as
thought,
Baird said, "Overtake them and
bring them back," which command was accomplished as the Confederates
were nearing the outer picket lines.
Blandly telling them that the
rebels were between them and Nashville and that Colonel Baird wished to
send them a guard, Colonel
Watkins led them to the regimental headquarters. One of the spies — a
distant
relative of Washington, answered "We have no fears." But Colonel
Watkins
persisted and they were
brought back. Each wore a white visor on his cap; when they returned a
strong guard was placed around
the tent. Colonel Baird stepped
up to Colonel Williams and raised the white visor from his cap and saw
on the band "C. S. A." (meaning
Confederate States of America.) The same conclusive evidence was found
on
their swords, when they were
drawn from their sheaths. Captain Crawford was made judge advocate at
the trial, which was short and
conclusive as to their guilt. Colonel
Baird tried to escape the painful duty of hanging them, but, in reply
to his telegram, General Garfield
telegraphed. "If guilty, hang them at once." and they were accordingly
executed — hanged to a wild cherry tree near Fort Granger — June 9,
1863. It
is said that the Confederate, Colonel
Williams, was a relative of General Lee.
After the war Major Crawford refitted the Ascension Seminary, and in
September, 1865, opened a normal school which he conducted until 1872.
In that year he moved to Sullivan
and consolidated it with the local
high school, conducting the higher department as a Normal Institute
until 1876, and out of the number who have
been educated under him, two
thousand two hundred and eighty-three have followed teaching as a
profession. After 1876 the major engaged
in the pension business in which
he is still engaged and during this period of thirty-two years he has
obtained between six and seven
thousand pensions and increases, the beneficiaries being residents of
twenty-three states.
JOHN S. BAYS. The late John S.
Bays, of Sullivan, was widely known and deeply honored by the court and
bar of both Sullivan and Vigo
counties, his prominence as a corporation lawyer bringing him very
frequently to the courts of Terre Haute
and other points in southern Indiana.
Commencing in Sullivan county as a general practitioner, nearly a
quarter of a century ago, his
strong mind became more and more
interested in the development of the great business and industrial
development of the section of the state
which he had made his home, and those forces themselves began to call
upon
him with ever increasing insistence
for his careful, wise and practical legal guidance. The most important
development of southern Indiana
centered in its coal interests, and prior to their consolidation Mr.
Bays
had become the legal counsel for
most of the large companies. By thus specializing he achieved a
standing which placed him among the best
informed and most successful lawyers
in the country devoted to the management and exploitation of these vast
properties. About two years
before his death he effected a consolidation
of the coal mines of southern Indiana, and this master stroke extended
his reputation as a
corporation lawyer throughout the central states. The vast business
that
resulted from this combination passed
through his hands, and he did the work quickly because many years of
application had made him
thoroughly familiar with the details. He had always been a tremendous
worker,
all his habits were temperate, his
constitution was vital with magnetism and based upon an abundance of
physical strength, and yet it is
doubtless true that the incessant and concentrated labors which finally
gave
birth to this last and greatest success of his professional life had
much
to do with the undermining of his
health and his inability to resist the inroads of the disease which,
with such comparative suddenness, snatched
him from his business associates,
his professional co-workers, and his loving kindred and friends. He
spent the winter preceding his death in
California, but. upon his return
to Sullivan in the spring it was found that the change had been
unavailing, and after several months of
heroic straggling and the final resignation of a calm and resigned
Christian, he died in the midst of his family on the I3th of August,
1906. On the
day of his funeral the whole city
practically suspended business, and the memorial resolutions of the bar
associations of Sullivan, Greene, Vigo
and Knox counties indicated how general was the feeling of deep loss
which pervaded the ranks of his professional associates. In the
procession
which accompanied his remains from
the church to the grave were representatives of these organizations, as
well as from the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows and Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks, in which he had long been active. "Coupled
with his commanding ability as a
lawyer," says one of the tributes,
"was a high character as a citizen and a lovable disposition as a man
and a friend. Ever kind and
courteous in his bearing toward his associates at the bar and
litigants, fair
and honorable in his professional conduct, respectful and considerate
of the
judge on the bench, and faithful above all to those who were so
fortunate
as to become his clients, he
has left among us a name to be cherished and an example to be emulated
with profit."
John S. Bays was a native of Point Commerce, Greene county, Indiana,
where he was born on the 27th of
January, 1850. His father, William
S. Bays, was born in Virginia, and after his marriage to a Kentucky
lady came to Indiana, where he
prosecuted his dual calling of
hardware merchant and farmer. The parents both died on the old Bays
homestead near Worthington, Greene
county. John S. obtained his
preliminary education in the common schools of his native place, and in
1867, at the age of seventeen, entered
the Indiana University at Bloomington.
Because of the illness of his father he was obliged to leave the
university, after completing a three
years' course there. In 1871 he
entered the law department of the university, from which he was
graduated. Shortly afterward, in 1875, he
began practice at Worthington, where
he remained for five years, being also the publisher of the Times
during a portion of that period. In
1880 he removed to Bloomfield
and formed a law partnership with Hon. Lucien Shaw, the firm practicing
in Los Angeles, California, in
1883-4. (Judge Shaw is now a member
of the supreme court of California.) In the latter year Mr. Bays
returned to Indiana, and located at
Sullivan, his home thereafter until
his death. His talents and strength were all devoted to the practice of
his profession and he ever preferred
the career of an attorney, as he repeatedly declined to be a candidate
for
judge of the fourteenth judicial district. In politics he was a
Democrat,
but was never a candidate for any political office ; but during the
administration of Governor Durbin he was appointed as the Democratic
member of the
board of directors of the Southern
Hospital for the Insane, which position he held at the time of his
death. The deceased was a member of
the Methodist church, the Sullivan
lodge of Odd Fellows, and a charter member of Sullivan Lodge No. 911,
B. P. O. E. He was instrumental
in securing many public improvements
for Sullivan, among others the founding of the Carnegie library, of
which he was one of the first
trustees.
In 1876 Mr. Bays was united in marriage with Miss Hettie Fenton, of
Indianapolis, but a native of Canada.
She is a daughter of John Fenton,
who was born in Dublin, Ireland, and married in Clifton, England. He
came to Canada in the fifties with his
wife and when they migrated
to the United States located in Ohio. Mr. Fenton served in the ranks of
the Union army throughout the Civil war, and" afterward located in
Indianapolis, where both he and
his wife spent their last years and where Mrs. John S. Bays was
educated.
The widow still resides at
Sullivan, the mother of the following : Lee, born January 30, 1878 ;
Harold, born January 26, 1880; and Fred
F., whose biography is elsewhere given.
Lee received a thorough literary training at DePauw University and
graduated in law at the University of
Wisconsin. He married Miss Zoe
E. Chancy, daughter of Congressman John C. Chancy. Harold, the second
son, graduated from the Sullivan
High School, and served four years
in the army, his experience covering campaigns both in Cuba and the
Philippines. He then graduated from
Culver Academy, and while a student
there held the western academic record in the hammer throw for 1902-3.
He married Miss Glenn Lucas,
daughter of Captain W. H. Lucas,
a sketch of whose life is given in other pages of this work. Harold C.
Bays is now head of the
artillery department of the Culver Military Academy and instructor in
English
and mathematics. He has two
sons. Lee and Fred Fenton Bays are now associated in the practice of
the law, the former having previously
been connected with his father.
FRED FENTON BAYS, of the law
firm of Bays & Bays, of Sullivan, is one of the able, eloquent and
broad-minded young men of this section of Indiana, who in his
professional,
political and public capacities has already achieved much and given
promise of
a brilliant and substantial future
career. He was born in Bloomfield, Indiana, on the I2th day of July,
1882, a son of the late John S. and
Hattie (Fenton) Bays. His father
was for nearly a quarter of a century one of the leading lawyers of
southern Indiana, and, had he so desired,
might have ascended the bench of
the higher courts. But all his abilities were wrapped in the practice
of the law, and at his death he was
considered one of the leading, corporation lawyers of the Ohio valley
and had no
superior as an authority on
the law relating to coal interests. As a man he was pure, high-minded
and lovable, and the record of his life is
given elsewhere in detail.
Fred F. Bays received the
foundation of his mental training at Culver Academy, from which he
graduated in 1904,
after which he pursued his professional
courses in the University of Indianapolis Law School and the University
of Indiana Law School at
Bloomington, Indiana. Soon after graduating from the latter he entered
into
practice with his brother Lee, who
had been associated with his father. The two brothers, under the style
of Bays & Bays, have continued
the large business established by their. father, and are handling it
with
energy and fine judgment. Although general practitioners, they make a
specialty of corporate law as relates to the coal interests,
representing both the
Southern Indiana railroad and the
Southern Indiana Coal Company. They are also attorneys for the Standard
Oil Company for that section of
the state. Their well-appointed and busy offices are located on the
north side of the public square on Washington street.
Fred F. Bays is a strong Democrat, and early commenced to participate
in the deliberations of the party. At the
age of twenty-two he was elected
chairman of the county committee, and ably performed its duties for two
years. Governor Hanly selected him
as a trustee of the Indiana Southern
Hospital for the Insane to fill out his father's unexpired term of one
and a half years, and at the
expiration of that period he was appointed for a new term of four
years,
which will not expire until 1912. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a
member of the Mystic Shrine at Indianapolis,
and is also active in the fraternal work of the Elks, being exalted
ruler of Lodge No. 911. He
maintains his fraternal associations with his alma mater through the
Beta Theta
Pi of the Indiana University, and
has cause to remember his college career with pride as well as
fondness. While at Culver he
won the first medal for oratory and a medal for debate ; was
editor-in-chief of the
Vidette, and was a member of the
football and track teams, as well as being interested in boxing and
athletics in general. He was a true
university man, and has carried the broad, active and versatile life of
his
college days into the realities of professional and social life. From
college halls he has
continued his interest in
oratory, and takes time from his busy professional life to promote the
art, and in giving a gold medal to the
winner of the annual oratorical contest in the Sullivan high school he
pays a beautiful tribute to his late father's memory and at the same
time
furnishes an inspiration to young men and women to cultivate this
ancient
and time-honored art. The annual
event is known as the "John S. Bays Gold Medal Oratorical Contest."
SILVER CHANEY. A lawyer,
real estate dealer and loan agent, who
is doing an extensive
business at Sullivan, Indiana, is Silver Chancy, who was born September
14, 1858, in Allen
county, Indiana, near Fort Wayne. He is the son of James and Nancy
(Crawford) Chancy, the former being a native of Columbiana county,
Ohio, born
August 9, 1823. He was of Scotch-Irish
descent. By trade he was a carpenter and contractor, working at the
same in the vicinity of
Fort Wayne. In his politics, he was a supporter of Republican party
principles. He died in 1901, on a farm in Allen county. The mother was
a
native of Columbiana county, also
; the date of her birth was 1828, and she still survives and is
residing in Allen county.
Both she and her husband were Presbyterians in their church faith and
membership. Twelve
children were born to them, seven
being now deceased and the living are : John C., present member of
Congress from the Second District of
Indiana ; Silver, of this biographical
notice ; Mary E. ; Belle, wife of George Lopshire, a resident of Allen
county ; Matilda, wife of Joseph
Weaver, residing in Wells county.
Silver Chancy spent the early part of his life on the farm and attended
the public schools, after which
he took an eight months course in the schools of Farmersburg, and
received a license to teach and taught two years at Cloverland, Clay
county,
Indiana. He next attended the Wabash
College one year and entered Washington and Jefferson College, in
Pennsylvania, where he took a literary
course, graduating with the class
of 1879. He returned to his native state and taught school in Wells and
Allen counties two years, as principal
of the Zanesville schools. In 1883,
he went to Sullivan and engaged in the abstract business, handling real
estate at the same time, and
continuing in such work until 1887, when he entered the University of
Michigan, graduating from the law department of that most thorough and
modern school, with the class of 1889. He then returned to Sullivan
county,
and commenced the practice of
law with C. D. Hunt, of Sullivan. After two years thus associated, he
practiced independently for a time, and
then formed a partnership with A. G. McNabb, with whom he remained a
partner
for four years. Since that
date he has been alone or with his brother, Hon. John C. Besides
carrying on in a successful manner his
legal business, he is extensively engaged in loans and real estate
transactions. He is a director of the Citizens Trust Company of
Sullivan and
also director in the American- German
Trust Company of Terre Haute ; director and auditor of the Great
Western Life Insurance Co. of Terre
Haute.
Mr. Chancy and his brother, Hon. John C. Chancy, organized the Alum
Cave Coal and Coke company, which was
the first movement in the
direction of developing the coal fields of the neighborhood of Sullivan
county.
Mr. Chancy is interested in fraternities, being a member of the Odd
Fellows order and has been district deputy
grand master and grand patriarch
for about fourteen years in Lodge No. 146. He is also a member of the
Masonic blue lodge, chapter
and council. He was married August
12, 1889, to Minnie M. McEneney, born in Sullivan county, August 12,
1864; she was educated in
Sullivan county and at St. Mary of the Woods class. Her parents were,
Patrick and Julia A. McEneney, both
now residents of Sullivan, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Chancy have four
children: Julia Verne, Silver Dean,
John Francis, and Harold R. Mrs.
Chancy is a .member of the Christian church and he of the Presbyterian.
WILLIAM H. CROWDER, JR.,
prominent as the cashier of the Sullivan State Bank, comes of a
well-known
and highly respected family of
Sullivan county, Indiana. He was born November 23, 1868, in Sullivan,
son of William H. Crowder, Sr. and wife,
whose family history will be
found in another sketch within this work. William H. Crowder of this
notice, obtained his education in
the most excellent public schools of Sullivan and began his business
career
at the age of sixteen years in
his father's banking house. He became the bookkeeper, which position he
held until he was twenty-two years of
age. At that time he entered into
partnership with J. M. Long in the clothing business, remaining four
years, when the partnership was dissolved,
after which Mr. Crowder went to Linton, Indiana, and there conducted a
clothing and shoe store for about
four years. He then entered the State Bank at Sullivan, in October,
1900, as the teller of that institution ;
and also served as assistant cashier. In September, 1906, he was
elected cashier
of the bank, which responsible position
he still holds. He is a stockholder and director in the Sullivan State
Bank and accounted a first class
business man.
Politically, he is a Democrat and has held the office of city counsel
four years, and his term of office as such
will expire January 1, 1910. He
is connected with the Odd Fellows order at Sullivan. He was married in
June, 1891, to Earlene Moore, born in
Sullivan, October, 1872, and educated
in her native town. She is the daughter of Robert A. and Susan
(Robertson) Moore. The mother is
deceased and her father resides at Sullivan. He is a native of Ohio,
and
both were among the early settlers
of Sullivan. Mr. and Mrs. Crowder are the parents of seven children:
William H. Jr., born August 17,
1892, now attending high school;
Daniel M., born April 25, 1894; Doris, born May i, 1898; Deborah, born
April 5, 1900; June, born May 12,
1902; Elizabeth, born April
30, 1904; Ben Allen, born February 26, 1906.
BENJAMIN COX CROWDER, who is
now the county auditor of Sullivan county, was born December 20,
1876, in Sullivan, Indiana, son
of William H., Sr., and Sarah (Stewart) Crowder. Mr.
Crowder received his primary education at Sullivan in the public
schools, and in the autumn of 1894 entered
DePauw University. When twenty
years old he returned to Sullivan and commenced working in the Sullivan
County Bank, of which his father
was president. He worked as a
bookkeeper until this institution and the Farmers' State Bank
consolidated into what is now
known as the Sullivan State Bank. He remained there until the
organization of the
National Bank of Sullivan, when
he accepted a position in the new bank, he being assistant cashier for
the first six months of this
institution's history. He then went to Indianapolis and was engaged as
bookkeeper
in the Crowder-Mason Shoe Company,
his cousin, C. H. Crowder being president of that company. He remained
thereabout five months and in
the autumn of 1901, he was chosen
deputy auditor, under J. M. Lang and worked until his term expired and
then worked at bookkeeping in
the Sullivan State Bank about
one year, when he was chosen by E. E. Russell, then county auditor, as
his deputy, which position he held
until elected to the office of auditor on the Democratic ticket, in
November,
1906. He is a member of the Benevolent
Protective Order of Elks: also belongs to the Phi Gamma Delta
fraternity, at DePauw University.
Mr. Crowder is president of the Citizens Driving Club.
September 16, 1905, Mr. Crowder was married to Emily H. McCrory, born
in Sullivan, Indiana, December 3,
1876. She graduated from the high
school with the class of 1896. In March, 1900, she acted as assistant
in the county auditor's office, remaining
there until her marriage. She is the daughter of William and Rachel Ann
(Leach) McCrory, both deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Crowder are the parents of
one daughter, Rachel Louise,
born August u, 1906. Mrs. Crowder is a faithful member of the Christian
church.
DR. JOSEPH R. WHALEN, one of
the most successful practitioners of Carlisle, is also a large land
owner in
Sullivan and Knox counties, has important banking and real estate
interests in his home city, and, aside from his high professional
standing, is a
citizen of most substantial ability and character. Born near
Bruceville, Knox
county, Indiana, on the 30th of
March, 1861, he is a son of Dr. Richard M. and Frances J. (Jenks)
Whalen. He comes of distinguished ancestry
on both sides of the family, the
paternal branch originating in Ireland, where his
great-great-grandfather was
born. The heads of the three succeeding generations, with which the
doctor is directly connected,
are buried in Bethlehem cemetery, four miles southeast of Carlisle. On
the
other hand, his maternal grandmother, Jane Arnold, was the daughter of
Major
Arnold, of Culpeper county,
Virginia, who fought with Washington at Yorktown, and now lies buried
at Napoleon, Ripley county,
Indiana.
John Whalen, the great-grandfather, was among the first school teachers
in Sullivan county, and the
grandfather, Richard J., was a farmer who took up government land in
the county.
The title to the property has never
been changed, and Dr. Joseph R. is now the owner of forty acres of the
original tract. Richard J. Whalen
was born in Tennessee and died in
Haddon township, this county. His son, Dr. Richard M. (father of Dr.
Joseph R.) Whalen, was born in the
township named, November 4, 1832,
was reared on a farm, and was graduated in medicine from a Chicago
college, being long engaged in honorable
practice, chiefly in his native
locality. He resided in Kansas in 1866 and 1867, and then moved to
Haddon township, this county,
practicing near Carlisle until his death, July 8, 1899. The deceased
was an
influential Democrat and a fine citizen, serving for two terms as
trustee of Haddon
township. He was also a Mason
in high standing, having been master of the local lodge for a
number of
times and holding
membership in Blue Lodge No. 3, at Carlisle. Both he and his wife (who
died February
26, 1902) were faithful adherents
to Methodism. Mrs. Richard M. Whalen was born at Napoleon, Ripley
county, Indiana, on the I2th of
February, 1839, daughter of Dr.
Joseph Jenks. Her father was born in England ; when eleven years
of age
came to America as one of five
brothers ; was educated in Cincinnati, Ohio ; practiced his profession
in
Indiana, Illinois and Kansas, and
died in California about 1890. In Kansas occurred the marriage of his
daughter to Dr. Richard M. Whalen, on
the 12th of May, 1859, and to
that union were born the following children: Lewis T., who died in
infancy ; Joseph R. ; Mary Annette, wife
of D. J. Mathers, who is connected with the National Bank at Carlisle ;
Hattie F., deceased ; Fannie S.,
now the wife of J. B. Latshaw, of Carlisle : Marion R. and Charles,
deceased ; and Nellie, who married W. J.
Cole, of Sullivan.
Dr. Joseph R. Whalen, of this biography, obtained his early education
at Carlisle, Indiana, and after pursuing
the higher literary branches at
Union College, Merom, taught for a year in Haddon township. He then was
associated with his father in the
drug business for four years, when
he sold his interest and engaged in the buying and feeding of stock
until 1891. In that year he was
matriculated at the Louisville Medical College, from which he graduated
in 1894
with unusual honors, receiving a
gold medal as the leader in general scholarship of a class of one
hundred and ninety-one
students. After his graduation he served as demonstrator of anatomy in
his alma mater for a year,
spending the following three
years in practice at Oakton, Indiana, and the four succeeding years at
Bicknell, that state. Since that time
he has been an active and successful member of the profession and a
public-spirited citizen of Carlisle, following the example of other
progressive
physicians and surgeons of the country
by taking post-graduate studies. In 1893 the doctor pursued such a
course at the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, Chicago, specializing in anatomy.
Aside from his extensive medical practice, Dr. Whalen has large
property interests, which include 810
acres of land in Sullivan and Knox counties and residence property in
Carlisle. He was also one of the organizers of the People's Bank of
that city, in
which he is still a director. In
politics, he is a Democrat, and his fraternal relations are with
Masonry — more especially with Carlisle
Lodge, No. 3, F. and A. M. ; Vincennes
Chapter, No. 7, R. A. M., and Vincennes Commandery, No. 20. He has
served as master of the blue lodge
in Carlisle, Oaktown and Bicknell,
Indiana.
On January 1, 1883, Dr. Whalen married Miss Isabelle Gobin, who was
born in Haddon township, November 3,
1864, and received her education at Evansville, Indiana, where the
ceremony
occurred. She was the daughter
of John and Margaret (Hall) Gobin, natives of Carlisle, her
great-grandmother, Dianna Melburne
(Forrester) Hall, being an adopted daughter of Lord Melburne, prime
minister
of England, and was presented to
the court of St. James. The Gobins were early settlers of Sullivan
county. Mrs. Isabelle Whalen died June 14,
1907, leaving three daughters:
Melburne, born October 7, 1883, now the wife of Manson G. Couch, the
mother of two children, and
a resident of Lawrenceville, Illinois;
Marguerite, born March 5, 1885, and Gladys, born June 27, 1891, both
unmarried and living at home.
The first Mrs. Whalen was a devoted
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as are her daughters. On
November 4, 1908, the doctor wedded, as
his second wife, Airs. Ida
Irene (Smith) Starner.
Source: A History of Sullivan
County, Indiana: By Lewis
Publishing company , 1909
Biography of William Maxwell
Blackburn
Dr.
Blackburn was born near Carlisle, Indiana, December 30, 1828; graduated
from Hanover College In 1850 and took his theological course at
Princeton. After seventeen years In the pastorate, for thirteen years
he occupied the chair of Biblical and ecclesiastical history In the
Theological Seminary of the Northwest—now McCormick Theological
Seminary, at Chicago. A short term of three years In the pastorate at
Cincinnati intervening, he was president of the University of North
Dakota for one year, and In 1885 took charge of the Presbyterian
Synodical College at Pierre, South Dakota, continuing there till the
time of his death, December 29, 1898, rounding out a fruitful life of
seventy years. He received from Princeton the honorary degree of Doctor
of Divinity and from Wooster University that of Doctor of Laws.
The ancestors of Dr. Blackburn were of Scotch-Irish blood. Tradition
says that the family was of those who, under the persecutions of the
time of Mary Stuart, left Scotland and joined the Huguenots in France
in their struggle for religious liberty —a struggle seemingly
disastrous in outcome, but vindicated in history as triumphantly
glorious. Escaping from their pursuers, it is said that they crossed
the English Channel in an open boat, and, about the time of the
massacre of St. Bartholomew, returned to Scotland. Falling under the
influences that were making for the settlement of the New World they
came to America and settled in eastern Pennsylvania, members of the
Pennsylvania colony. From there they extended their borders south and
west into Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and beyond. The famous pulpit
orator. Dr. Gideon Blackburn, of Georgia, belonged to the Virginia
branch, and from Kentucky came Governor Luke Blackburn and United
States Senator Joseph Blackburn.
The grandfather of William Maxwell Blackburn, William, had his home in
Kentucky, but, being opposed to slavery, came north and settled in the
valley of the Wabash in Indiana. He was killed not long after at a
house-raising and left his widow, a very superior woman, in that new
country with a large family of children, of whom the second son,
Alexander, became the father of the subject of this sketch. The mother
was Delilah Polk, of the same general family as that of President Polk.
She was of Kentucky birth and grew up amid the surroundings of Daniel
Boone. Her father, Charles Polk, was born at Detroit, Michigan, whither
his mother, made prisoner by the Indians in Kentucky, had been taken in
midwinter, and his father did not see the boy until he was about two
years old. Then the mother bore him on horse-back back to Kentucky.
Those were heroic days and produced heroic men and women; though not
more heroic than these days of ours where conditions exist like those
of that time. Not more than twenty-five years ago, I was with a party
which rode in the bitterest of winter weather from the Rosebud Agency
to Fort Sully, in South Dakota, and one of that party was an Indian
woman who rode on horseback with the rest, having her five-year-old
daughter strapped in her blanket upon her back. Often the child cried
from the cold, and every member of the party suffered from frost, but
the mother never made complaint. There are heroic men and women in
these days!
The Blackburns and the Polks were thrifty and well-to-do, and belonged
to the better educated class of farmers and business men. Alexander
Blackburn and Delilah, his wife, bravely attacked the rugged conditions
of pioneer life incident to building up a home and fortune for
themselves and their children. They moved from the Wabash Valley when
the eldest son, William Maxwell, was four years of age, going with an
ox team a distance of two hundred and fifty miles into northern Indiana
and making their home near La Porte.
Probably but few of the incidents of that journey were permanently
remembered by the boy, but the impressions made upon him could not
easily be effaced. There was the long and slow journey; the encampment
at night by stream and near rich meadows where the tired oxen grazed;
the restful play at evening about the camp fire with the little
brother, two years younger, who doubtless cried often and often was
left to cry, because mother was busy with the evening meal; then there
were the rivers to cross and a part of the way a new country to
traverse, while there were roads to cut through thick timber and other
difficulties to overcome and trails to meet before they reached the
rich prairie land known as Rolling Prairie in "the edge of some of the
finest timber that ever grew." There they made their new home. Strong
of character by inheritance, the circumstances of early pioneer life
developed additional strength. And to this there was added the
life-giving spirit of a true religious experience, so that in this
pioneer home was ever a glad, joyous household. It was a good place for
a boy to grow to young manhood. One writer has fitly characterized this
home as "cheerfully religious," the words "cheerfully religious" being
used with intention, for he goes on to say, "I was never in a home
where the religious life was so prominent and yet never saw a more
joyful home," and in the games of youth the "father and mother romped
with all the enthusiasm of the youngest." It was here, in walks with
his parents, that the future doctor of divinity and enthusiastic
student of geology early learned to love the study of nature.
His ready wit and sturdy character, so marked in later life, grew
naturally, as does a plant in rich, well watered and carefully tended
soil. There was nothing left to chance, and yet it is also true that
but few boys needed less of supervision and guidance. His body grew
healthy and robust in the life of a farmer's bow. The farm in those
days was in a wheat growing region. The sickle gave place to the cradle
and this to the famous McCormick reaper, one of the first three, it is
said, manufactured by Cyrus McCormick. In the sowing and the reaping
and then in threshing the grain, at first with an old-fashioned flail,
and in marketing the result at Michigan City or New Buffalo, on the
lake twelve miles away, the boy did his full share.
It is probable that he attended school when opportunity offered, but
undoubtedly his earlier study of books was at home under the direction
of his parents. His father is spoken of as a remarkably well educated
man and a great reader, and as having taught school as occasion
demanded. That Dr. Blackburn did not lack for early advantages is
evidenced by the fact that at seventeen years of age he began to fit
for college, and that he graduated with honors shortly after reaching
manhood's estate.
At college he was a hard-working student, a ready debater, and early
evidenced the clear logic and mental grasp of later days. After
graduation a year was spent in teaching school, a winter term at La
Porte and a summer term at Constantine, Indiana. His professional
studies occupied the following three years, and we find him ordained as
an evangelist and preaching at Three Rivers, Michigan, before reaching
the age of twenty-five. Shortly before ordination he was married to
Miss Elizabeth Powell, who, after treading life's journey fifty-five
years with him, survived her husband but a few months, dying March 7,
1899.
The young preacher was always a student; he studied men and books and
soon began to write. In his early pastorates his efforts at authorship
were largely biographical and show the trend of his study; and out of
these studies—or were they but an indication of the larger selection
already made—the study of church history came to have for him
attractions, and this became his chosen field.
In 1862 he spent some months in travel and study in the mother country.
He also went to the continent and was in France, Spain, Switzerland and
the Netherlands, where he devoted himself to careful study of the
causes and events of the Reformation, that he might the more correctly
interpret the far-reaching results of that religious upheaval. On his
return there was published, during a pastorate of four years at
Trenton, New Jersey, other biographical studies— lives of John Calvin.
Ulric Zwingli, William Farrel, Aonio Palario. the great Swiss reformer,
and a history of the Huguenots under the title "Coligny and the
Huguenots," in two volumes; all of which appeared in rapid succession.
When it is remembered that to the exacting responsibilities of a city
church were also added the absorbing study of history in the life of
the Christian church and the Growth of doctrine, one is astonished at
the amount of work accomplished. It is only when a powerful mind works
effectively and without waste that such results appear. A partial list
of the product of Dr. Blackburn's pen gives thirty-three titles to his
credit. While still a pastor at Trenton he was offered the presidency
of his alma mater. This he declined, though fully appreciating the
honor of the call. It was rather as a student of church history than in
general administrative ability that he felt his power. In June, 1868,
he was elected to the vacant professorship of ecclesiastical and church
history in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Chicago. He entered
upon the duties of the chair at once, and threw himself with all the
zeal and the training of years of special study into meeting the needs
of the position. The place had found the man and the man had found his
place. It was as when a machine complete, made for a specific purpose
and perfectly adjusted, falls into the steady stroke and regular beat
of the accomplishment of that for which it was made.
Dr. Blackburn enjoyed his work and worked with all his might. The
amount of work he accomplished at this time is marvelous. Occupying the
chair of a most important professor-ship, he assisted in making good
vacancies in other chairs, sup-plied one or other of the city churches,
delivered ecclesiastical and historical lectures outside, and made
frequent contributions to periodicals and reviews, and made a steady
advance in the preparation of his historical works. His "History of the
Christian Church" was published about the time of his withdrawal from
the seminary. It is well understood that this resignation was one of
the attendant results of the David Swing heresy trial. Dr. Blackburn
did not hold to Professor Swing's views, but defended the man in his
right to hold these without being branded as a heretic. No one now
remembers this trial—we do not know what it was about and wonder what
was gained by it. Though Professor Swing was acquitted, he was
virtually driven out, and the spirit of intolerance prevailed. With
this Dr. Blackburn was not in sympathy, and resigned. Death came and
further weakened the faculty, and it was years before the seminary
could re-cover.
Long before this Dr. Blackburn's reputation as an author and an
authority in his chosen field had been settled. Not only in this
country, but in Europe as well, his name was favorably known. A British
review of the history of the Huguenots says: "In this work the author
has gone to many fountain-heads and set them before the reader in all
the distinctiveness of a dramatic picture. If there had been no
authentic work on this most interesting subject written on this side of
the Atlantic, here is one by an American author that admirably fills
the needs," and of his "History of the Christian Church" one of our
foremost American reviews says: "Our own country has produced but few
ecclesiastical historians of note; Dr. Philip Schaft and Dr. William M.
Blackburn are the best. The volume of Dr. Blackburn's now before us is
the most creditable general history of the Christian church that has
appeared on this side of the Atlantic. Dr. Schaft has as yet covered
only a part of the ground. The author is a professor of church history
and a well-known lecturer and writer of learning and ability. His
researches in general and ecclesiastical history have been widely
extended, and his study of Christian doctrine has been thorough. His
style is lucid, direct and forcible. His method is much better than
that of the old German authors, not being encumbered with endless
divisions and sub-divisions, yet following a definite outline with a
sufficiently minute analysis. The chapter on religious denominations is
of peculiar value. We discover a spirit of fairness and candor which
will doubtless secure for the work a wide acceptance among Christians
of various names. The author is not unwilling to acknowledge the
mistakes of those Christians with whom he would most naturally
sympathize, and the virtue of those with whom he is known to differ in
important respects. On the whole the history is a fine specimen of
condensed, yet spritely historical writing. The work ought to have a
place, not only in the theological seminaries and ministers' libraries,
but in the families of intelligent Christians of all denominations."
European comment is no less favorable in the tone and spirit with which
the author is regarded.
It was expected that the historical study of the church would be
followed by a companion volume on the "History of Christian Doctrine."
Upon this work had been spent years of study and research, and the
manuscript was nearly completed and ready for the printer when this and
other valuable notes were destroyed by fire. Such a loss cannot be
recovered and the work was not re-written.
On withdrawal from the Chicago professorship, Dr. Blackburn was
selected to be chancellor of the Western University at Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania, which position he declined. A few years were spent in the
pastorate at Cincinnati, when failure in the doctor's hitherto robust
health and that of others of the family, brought them to North Dakota
for a summer in the Devil's Lake region. Quite unexpectedly to him, the
University of North Dakota offered him the presidency. He accepted with
many doubts and was entirely satisfied to continue the connection but
one year. There was too much of politics in a position in a state
institution to suit the doctor's make-up. However, he did not choose to
return to the older homes and cities from whence he had come. The wine
of life and the breezes of the prairies had found way into his blood,
and the doctor longed to take part in the work of empire building by
making men of character in this newer land. He was called in 1885 to be
president of the Presbyterian Synodical College of South Dakota at
Pierre.
Until now the most of us had not known Dr. Blackburn.
His stocky figure, strong face and active movements drew attention at
once, and men beheld with a gasp the reckless dash with which the
doctor, with hat well back on his head and sitting firmly in his
two-wheeled cart, sent the half-wild pony through the streets. He
became a familiar figure, and we came to love him, though it is
doubtful if many fully appreciated him. He was never idle; work was the
dominant note in his life. The habit of life had long been fixed and he
could not have changed it if he would, and would not if he could, and
the new college in a new region afforded ample Held. It was the work of
laying foundations, and the doctor strove to lay these deeply and well.
Conscious of his own strength, of the great opportunity, and confident
of hearty support by his associates in the churches and ministry of his
order, nothing discouraged him — the work of the master builder was joy
to him and inspiration to beholders.
It is to be regretted that, as seen from the outside. Dr. Blackburn's
efforts in behalf of education at this outpost did not receive the
loyal support they deserved. Hard times came and the new country did
not develop according to plans laid in dreamland. Local jealousies,
growing out of the bitter war waged upon Pierre by other aspirants for
the capital, alienated some from the support of their college. To Dr.
Blackburn there fell the greater burden. With a scanty corps of
instructors, he was left almost unaided to secure pupils, and to some
extent provide the necessary funds. Had he been a younger man, and had
he been a college president of the modern type, it is altogether
possible that the institution would have weathered the period of stress
and difficulty. But Dr. Blackburn was not of the modern type of college
president— he was not a money-getter, and did not take kindly to this
feature. Nor would he run into debt, and the result was that when funds
were not forthcoming the doctor paid bills out of his own pocket, and
when the pocket was empty did without, rather than incur indebtedness.
Dr. Blackburn was pre-eminently a teacher, and as such was remarkably
successful. Whether in class or as a lecturer, or in the pulpit, he had
the ability of a master.
You could not talk with him on the street corner without learning
something from him. He taught without effort—he simply could not help
himself, for he was a born teacher. It is a pity that such men are
obliged to attempt anything other than the chosen work of their high
calling. With much the same power as that of Mark Hopkins did Dr.
Blackburn teach men. If President Hopkins, sitting on a log with a
student by his side, stood for a fully equipped college, the same might
be said of President Blackburn and his student seated together on a
boulder here in South Dakota.
In June, 1898, the college was removed from Pierre to Huron.
Dr. Blackburn resigned from the presidency, was chosen
president-emeritus and to give instruction in psychology and geology,
and attended to the duties of his position through the first term of
the college year. His death was sudden and painless and took place at
his home in the city of Pierre. His body rests in the cemetery
overlooking the city and the river beyond, while the ideals for which
he strove, the purposes for which he lived and the men into whom he
builded of his own lofty character remain, our rich inheritance from
one most worthy, who has gone before. This brief sketch has followed
the course of only the larger events of Dr. Blackburn's life. It has
not attempted to show in any adequate degree his life's abiding
influence for good in this world's betterment, nor was it attempted as
other than a sketch. Any just analysis of his life and the work
accomplished would require much more time than the limits of this paper
allow. A few sentences should be written giving in brief the estimate
of men who knew him well as a writer, a preacher and a lecturer, and as
a man whom to know was a joy and an inspiration. As an author Dr.
Blackburn made for himself an international reputation before reaching
the age of forty. His style was always that of vital youth. It was
clear and full of vigor, almost electrical in effect. A tremendous
worker and an insatiable reader, he had something to say on many
topics, and he knew how to tell what he knew effectively. In his
earlier days and in middle life, when the fire of authorship burned
most, the productions of his pen were marvelous in variety and
number—church history, biography, books for youth, tracts for the
public and studies in many directions followed one another in volcanic
pro-fusion. Fact, fancy and argument were at his command.
As a lecturer he was early in demand. Within the first ten years of his
work as a pastor, a writer refers to him thus: "He proved able and
popular, young, brilliant, eloquent, full of life and energy, an
untiring worker, with just enough of a strain of Scotch bluntness and
independence in his make-up to make him bold and decisive of speech. He
was never tame or common-place, never merely rhetorical, but always
argumentative, convincing and stimulating. As a lecturer and pulpit
orator he was a perfect artist in word painting. His pictures of scenes
that he had witnessed and descriptions of occurrences in which he had
borne a part were as clearly and vividly shown before the imagination
as if depicted on canvas." And these words continued to be true of his
entire life. After coming to South Dakota we find him much in demand.
He was interested in every educational effort. He was for one year, and
possibly more, a member of the faculty of the Lake Madison summer
school; he was also slated for lectures on psychology and geology. This
was after he had taken up the special study of geology himself and had
become interested in the Bad Lands, the traces of glacial drift and
other open pages of the book of nature at hand in this broad and
generous state. I cannot say what the psychological course was, but he
was brim full of geological data and could not fail to be intensely
interesting and instructive.
In the pulpit there were but few his equal. He spoke with conviction
and with trained ability. There was nothing for show and no effort at
"effect." He preached as he taught, out of a full life. His sermons
were often severely logical in form and always logical in thought. As
an exegete he was particularly happy, and some one has said that his
later sermons were running commentaries on the Scriptures.
A Calvinist by inheritance and training, he was broadly liberal in his
recognition of the good in other systems. He would defend his own lines
of faith, but never was intolerant of others. His youngest brother is a
well known and widely honored clergyman of the Baptist denomination,
and the two have always been one in sympathy and desire for the success
of the other. When Dr. Blackburn chose to talk doctrinal theology he
was fully able to hold his own. He would not, however, allow any-one to
force a profitless discussion—too much like threshing over old straw.
The story is told of a persistent effort to bring the doctor out on the
dogma of infant damnation. Again and again was reference made to bring
argument. "You Presbyterians believe that infants dying unregenerate
are lost and eternally damned, don't you, now?" was the final attack.
The doctor fairly lost his patience, and replied, "Well, suppose we do
believe in infant damnation; suppose we do; it does not hurt the
infants at all!"
It was not till after coming to South Dakota that Dr. Blackburn devoted
himself especially to geological studies. The so-called Bad Lands had
great attractions, and he made repeated visits to them, bringing
strange casts and shapes of former life back with him. On such an
expedition the doctor was a boy again. He wore his oldest clothing and
had but little in appearance to recommend him. At one time, when on one
of these expeditions, the party drifted into the mining regions of the
Black Hills, and here was an opportunity to visit one of the deeper
gold mines. This could not be neglected, and application was made to
the superintendent, stating who the applicant was and his interest in
science as additional reason for the favor desired. Now, the doctor was
in traveling attire and had been out in the wilds for some weeks, and
there was doubtless ample justification for the incredulous refusal of
permission to visit the mines. "You Dr. Blackburn! You president of
Pierre University! Not much! Why, Dr. Blackburn's a gentleman, he is!"
Had the superintendent heard Dr. Blackburn preach the Sunday following
he would have obtained truer knowledge of his identity, notwithstanding
the clothes worn by him.
The earlier existence of our State Historical Society had inception in
1890. The first steps for public recognition were taken at a general
meeting called for that purpose February 20, 1890, presided over by
that grand and rather peculiar old hero, Rev. Edward Brown. Several
meetings were held for perfecting the organization, resulting in the
selection of permanent officers— Hon. George H. Hand as president, and
Hon. O. H. Parker as secretary. It was not, however, till February 18,
1891, that the society was finally incorporated, and February 20, 1891,
Dr. Blackburn was chosen to be permanent secretary. Of historical
value, as probably the last specimen of the handwriting of Mr. Hand in
the interest of the Historical Society, is a slip of paper now loose in
the records, giving the fact of Dr. Blackburn's election as the matter
of business attended to by the board and signed Geo. H. Hand,
president. This slip has further an endorsement by Dr. Blackburn,
stating the fact above mentioned relative to Mr. Hand's handwriting.
President Hand died soon after, and though a general interest was kept
up by individuals, the society, as such, fell into the domain of the
future. Dr. Blackburn once grimly remarked that he hoped his election
as secretary had not brought on the death of the original society!
He quietly devoted himself to the collection and care of such objects
of historical value as came in his way, and waited for the renewal of
life which would surely come.
Dr. Blackburn was always interested in everything pertaining to the
real advancement of the state and the community in which he lived. He
was, moreover, keenly alive to the demand made upon him as a citizen
for the public good. State and city politics, in the broader sense of
the term, claimed his thought and effort. He was a wide reader. On all
national questions he kept himself well posted, and international
issues were fresh and living topics when he talked upon them. His life
as a man and with other men was manly and robust. His thinking was
never lacking in strength. He had a message to men, whether it were of
life eternal or the open secrets of nature. This gave him power, for he
lived up to the doctrine he taught. He had no patience with form for
form's sake, and could not endure shams, nor could he abide fraud and
deception. Absolutely fearless in sup-port of truth as he saw it and
always ready and eager to learn.
Dr. Blackburn never grew old. The eternal springs of youth were his.
There was no such thing as "'dry rot" in either head or heart.
At the appointed time the body failed and was laid to rest. The man
still lives—he lives in the work he did, the characters he helped
build, and in the remembrance of men. Such men truly live, and live
forever.
—Thomas Lawrence Riggs.
Oahe, South Dakota, August, 1902.
[Source: "South Dakota Historical
Collections", Compiled by the State Historical Society, Vol. 1, 1902 -
Transcribed by K. Torp]