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Harrison Township ~ with pictures

Under this head we propose to give extended biographies or personal sketches of a large number of the leading citizens of Terre Haute and vicinity, not only of early settlers, but also of the more modern. The items have been obtained, as far as possible, from the parties themselves, or their intimate friends, and are believed to be perfectly reliable. Many of the subjects have already been mentioned in the preceding pages, but we believe it will add vastly to our work as a book of reference and as a basis for the future historian, to give to this department a most minute detail. As far as practicable, the sketches have been arranged in chronological order or rather than in the order of coming to the township or county.--[Ed.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - p. 159

JEREMIAH BEAL, real estate dealer and trader, Terre Haute, was born in Lowdon county, Virginia, March 5, 1807. He lived there till five years of age, when he moved with his father to Blount county, East Tennessee, and remained for five years, when he again moved to White county, Tennessee, and remained about five years. He removed once more to Jackson county, Tennessee, where he lived till twenty-two years of age, when he married a Miss Rebecca FUQUA, in 1827. He then came to Parke county, Indiana, where he entered forty acres of land, going to Crawfordsville on foot to secure it, and then lived for several years in a log cabin 14x14 feet. He gradually added to his farm until he owned 320 acres. He sold that farm and bought an improved farm of 200 acres, with good buildings, etc., but he afterward sold that and removed to Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1859, where he engaged in trading in real estate, etc. He went to Kankakee, Illinois, where he bought a mill for $12,000, kept it for about one year, and then sold out the mill and returned to Terre Haute, where he has since resided, engaged in the buying and selling of city property. He is the father of eleven children, four of whom are dead,--Wesley Miller, Henry Wilson and two infants. The living are: William, Samuel R., Nancy Ann, John, Elliott, Martin and Mark. One son lives in San Francisco, California, one in Parke county, Indiana, one in Clark county, Illinois, one in Preble county, Ohio, and the rest reside in Vigo county, Indiana. He volunteered in the Mexican war, but was not accepted on account of a disabled wrist. He had one son in the war for the Union, who was captured a number of times, once by the famous raider John MORGAN. He afterward took the camp fever and was sent home. Mr. BEAL also paid for two other soldiers by hiring them to go to war. He has held some positions of responsibility, such as commissioner of the city, etc. His wife died in January, 1878. A few years ago he was worth some $33,000, but he has divided a portion of his estate among his children, and is now worth some $20,000. He came to this country without a dollar, and has made his property by hard labor, perseverance and economy, and is one of the responsible men of Terre Haute.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 178-179

Mr.JAMES BLACK, retired, Terre Haute, is a native of Ireland, and is of Scotch descent. He was born in 1815, and came with his parents to Philadelphia in 1817, where they lived about ten years. When his father came to America he was worth quite an amount of money, but through speculation he was reduced to nothing, and soon after removed to Washington county, Virginia, a poor but wiser man. During his stay in that county he maintained his family by working by day at the shoemaker’s trade and threshing wheat with a flail, being assisted by his son James, who at that time was able to do a man’s work. After remaining there for nine years and finding it impossible to accumulate property, Mr. BLACK and his father came to Carroll county, Ohio, and entered eighty acres of refused land, paying for it with money earned by Mr. BLACK in Washington county, Virginia, who worked for $8 per month. He and his father soon had the eighty acres under good improvements, and added eighty more. Here Mr. BLACK continued to reside until he earned $800 by threshing with a chaff-piler, that being the kind of machine used in those days. In 1846, he married Mary A. DAVIS, daughter of W. DAVIS, and in 1847 came to Owen county, Indiana, and settled in the village of Vandalia. Here he was advised by his friends to start a store, in which business he engaged successfully for three years. After this he formed a partnership with R.M. WINGATE, at Bowling Green, Indiana, which continued until 1862. He then formed a partnership with O.H.P. ASH, which continued until 1864, at which time their store was destroyed by fire and caused them to lose $14,000. They then came to Terre Haute and bought out the firm of Ross & Co., where they continued business for three years. Afterward he returned to Bowling Green and formed a partnership with C.M. THOMPSON, which continued until 1878, when he turned over his interest to his son, R.H. BLACK. Since that time Mr. BLACK has purchased 3,000 acres of land of H.D. SCOTT, in Clay county, Indiana, which has required his attention of late. He is a member of the A.F. and A.M. In all his thirty years of business life he has never allowed an account of his to go unpaid.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 360-361

HORACE BLINN (deceased), whose portrait appears in this work (picture), was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, near Hartford, October 31, 1801. He resided there until about 1823 or 1824, when he started for the west and traveled through the states of Ohio and Indiana. He came to Terre Haute in 1825. He was first married in Wethersfield, Connecticut, to a Miss Cornelia G. FULLER, of that place. She died in 1828, and by that marriage he became the father of one child, Fredrick Wilson, who was born September 29, 1824. Mr. BLINN was married again January 9, 1832, to Miss Julia BISHOP, of Homer, New York, a daughter of Thomas BISHOP of that place. He had two children by this marriage, AMORY KINNEY and Horace Fredrick. Horace F. died at seven years of age, and Amory K. lived at Terre Haute until he had attained his growth. Horace Blinn Sr. went to California, and was there three years. His second wife, Julia (BISHOP) BLINN, died September 17, 1835. He was married the third time to Miss Dorothea FREMONT, of New York city; she is still living. She has had six children, all of whom but one lived to grow up: Charlotte E., JOHN J.P., Horace, Julia, Sarah, and Sarah D. Sarah died October 23, 1850. Horace BLINN died November 5, 1860. He was accidently killed by an accidental discharge of his gun while out on a hunting excursion with several others near Merom, Sullivan county, Indiana. He was loading his gun, when by some means the gun prematurely discharged, the charge entering his head, literally blowing out his brains. Mr. BLINN was one of our oldest residents, having settled in Terre Haute when it was a mere village, and was known and respected by all of our citizens. He was always noted for being foremost in all works of temperance, religion, charity and other philanthropic enterprises. He was one of the first organizers of the Congregational church in Terre Haute, and he spent much of his time and means in the cause of humanity. Amory Kinney BLINN went to California with his father, and returned home to Terre Haute, and afterward was out in Colorado awhile, and was in the military service there. He returned home and afterward went into the United States service in the one-hundred-days service, with Fred A. ROSS of Terre Haute. He married Miss Helen KEMPER, of Glendale, Ohio. He died at Glendale, February 22, 1880. His half-brother, Horace Jr., was also in Colorado, but was called home by a message that his brother was dying. He is now in the State of Texas. The remainder of the family resides in Terre Haute, except John J.P. He enlisted in the war for the Union, was one of the first men of the war, and served until January, 1863, when he came home on account of his health, but he soon returned and served until he died. He was in the battle of Gettysburg, and was mortally wounded in the second day's battle, and lived about ten days. He died July 14, 1863, at the camp hospital, aged twenty-two years. He was one of the firm and staunch Union men who sprang to arms when the country first called for men, and freely gave up his life that the Union might be preserved. He took part in fourteen battles. He was beloved by all who knew him.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 177-178

B.H. CORNWELL (deceased), whose portrait appears in this book (picture), was born July 3, 1827, in Jefferson county, Kentucky, and was the son of Mary (SWAN) and Wm. CORNWELL. They were natives of Virginia, and the latter a descedent of the CORNWALLS of England, though since the emigration of that branch of the family to the United States of which Mr. CORNWELL was a descendant, for some unknown cause the letter e has been substituted for the a, a perversion that many of the descendants do not now recognize. During his boyhood the parents of Mr. CORNWELL removed to Paola, Indiana, where his life was spent until the age of nineteen years. He acquired such early education as the school system of that place during the time of his boyhood would afford. Having a remarkably retentive memory, and being of a studious nature, he easily acquired by his own efforts a good education, though laboring under great disadvantage to do so. From Paola the family removed to Vincennes. There Mr. CORNWELL became interested in the clothing business, and when, in 1845, he removed to Terre Haute, he was the first merchant to open a gentlemen's clothing store, which was located on the west side of the square. Though busily engaged in mercantile pursuits, Mr. CORNWELL was alive to the polictical issues of the day, and during the last year of the administration of President PIERCE, he was appointed and served as postmaster of the Terre Haute post-office, and when the next president, Mr. James BUCHANAN, was elected, Mr. CORNWELL was reappointed to the office, and retained his position during the four years' term of BUCHANAN'S administration. When accepting the position of postmaster Mr. CORNWELL closed out his interest in the clothing trade, and when he quit the office of postmaster he again turned his attention to mercantile pursuits by embarking in the dry-goods trade, with Mr. John G. DAVIS as a partner. He remained quietly engaged in the dry-goods business until the people nominated and elected him to the office of auditor of Vigo county for a four years' term. At the expiration of his term of service they requested him to again accept the office, but he refused, principally on account of his failing health. He again engaged in the mercantile business by entering the hardware trade, though this was mainly on account of his two sons-in-law. D.B. OTIS and A.G. AUSTIN, the latter still continuing the business. After thoroughly establishing the hardware business Mr. CORNWELL gave it but little more attention, his health having become to badly impaired to admit of his being confined to active business. At the age of twenty-one years Mr. CORNWELL united with the Presbyterian church, and in 1845 he was made one of the elders of the church of which he was a member. He was a very active and zealous christian, and one who took more than ordinary interest in church affairs. At the time of his death, which occurred in September of 1869, he was a member and an elder in good standing of the First Presbyterian church of Terre Hatue, with which he had been connected for many years. Mr. CORNWELL was married in 1841 to Miss Caroline S. BROKAW, who is a native of Vincennes, Indiana, and who still survives him. Her people were among the early settlers of Vincennes. Her mother was a native of that place and her father settled there as early as 1812. Her grandmother, Mrs. Henry RUBLE, whose maiden name was BILLINGS, was an intimate friend of the family of Gen. HARRISON, and came with the general's family when they first came to the Wabash valley. Both the families of Mr. and Mrs. CORNWELL, so far as the genealogy can be traced, were honorable and useful members of society; some of them have held positions of honor, and none, so far as can be learned, have ever betrayed a trust.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 207-208

Honor and energy during life should not die with the flesh, but should be written in indelible letters on the historic page. The life of one whose career has been full of activity, of one who has risen from the lowly walks of poverty to places of honor and affluence by the power of his own talents exercised, it is well to preserve and perpetuate, that others, seeing, may take heed and gain new impulses to effort. The man whose history is here written, and whose portrait appears in this work, was a successful and eminent gentleman. JOSEPH F. FELLENZER (picture) was born December 18, 1819, at, or near, Landethul, Rhein province, Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1840 he emigrated to America, whither his uncle, Peter FELLENZER, had written him to come. He landed at New York, and being almost penniless, hired in the woolen-mills of that city till he had earned sufficient to carry him west. He came to Vernon, Jennings county, Indiana, where he was married in 1850 to Miss Martha W. MESLER, a native of New Jersey. Mr. FELLENZER had found his uncle, who was contractor in the building of a railroad bridge at Reelsville, and was engaged in aiding him when his uncle was drowned. The young laborer immediately took up the contract and completed the work. This seems to have been the turning point in his life from the condition of a day laborer to a leader in his circle of trade. He now completed a contract of his uncle, in the construction of the Terre Haute & Indianapolis railroad. He then engaged in the lime and stone quarries at Vernon, then made two unsuccessful attempts to complete a lime-kiln at Greencastle, each time the kiln when nearly completed being destroyed by water breaking through the walls. After his two failures at Greencastle he returned to Vernon and prosecuted his business in the quarries, which had not been interrupted by these failures. He made the third attempt, this time in connection with William STEGGS, from Indianapolis. This time these gentlemen were successful. Mr. FELLENZER had been associated with Valentine BUTSCH, of Indianapolis. Those two gentlemen built the Washington Hall, of Indianapolis, which they soon sold, then erected the Metropolitan Theater. In 1857 Mr. FELLENZER moved to Terre Haute, where he made his residence permanently. Here he soon became popular by his activity in public affairs and in the republican party. In 1863 he was elected councilman from the second ward on the republican ticket, which office he filled until 1867, with credit to himself and profit to the city. He was afterward elected a member of the board of county commissioners, and at the expiration of his first term was reelected. He was one of the prime movers in the scheme to buy the wagon bridge over the Wabash river, the success of which made this bridge free from toll. In 1878 he bought the building on the corner of Main and Second streets and rebuilt and remodeled it: it is now known as the St. Clair Hotel. He was also instrumental in causing the pest-house to be erected. Besides his public benefactions he also improved the city by building several business houses, also a neat dwelling. He was engaged for some time in the wholesale queensware trade. Mr. FELLENZER moved in a class of society in keeping with his own status. For many years Mr. FELLENZER had been afflicted with Bright's kidney disease, but had been confined to the house for a few weeks only, when at an early hour of March 22, 1879, he closed his eyes in death. He was buried the following day, the funeral being conducted by the Knights Templar. Mr. FELLENZER never sought laurels in the political arena, neither did he desire political preferment as an end to gain. This is proven by his refusing the nomination for the mayoralty when offered him by the republicans of Terre Haute. He was a man of energy, though, enterprise and determination, whose place among men was hard to suitably fill. He left a wife and three grown sons: John, George and Joseph. The first named dying, also, about twelve weeks after the father. The two latter are both successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 263-264

Prof. R. GARVIN, proprietor Terre Haute Commercial College, Terre Haute, whose portrait appears in this book (picture), and of whom the following brief sketch relates, was born in 1832, in Beaver county, Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Hugh GARVIN, emigrated from Ireland to the United States when he was but a boy. The father and mother of the professor, John and Sophia (BARNES) GARVIN, were both natives of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and were both zealous members of the Presbyterian church, in which faith the professor was brought up, and to which he has since clung. His early life was spent in the country, and his early education was obtained at the district schools, though he afterward availed himself of the opportunities afforded to perfect himself in those branches pertaining to his chosen profession. At the age of eighteen years he began teaching, and for the following five years made it his principal business, the only diversion being a short time spent in mercantile pursuits, which he gave up, though for other reasons than a lack of success, and in 1856 came west and located at Sullivan, Indiana. Again he resumed teaching as a profession, which he continued till 1861, when he was appointed to fill the unexpired term of deputy sheriff of Capt. C. REED, who entered the army. He discharged his duties as an officer promptly and fearlessly, and when the enrollment of those citizens subject to the draft was ordered he was appointed one of the enrolling officers of Sullivan county, and assigned a piece of territory where the office adjoining him had been murdered in the discharge of his duties by, as was supposed, some member or members of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret rebel organization, that warned the professor to desist on pain of a like fate. He, however, finished his work, regardless of their threats, after which he came to Terre Haute and accepted a position as teacher of penmanship and bookkeeping in the commercial college of Prof. PURDY, an institution that had but just sprung into existence, and had yet an honorable name and reputation to gain, through the careful management of a competent corps of teachers and professors. Mr. GARVIN remained in the college as a teacher for about six months, when he purchased it from Prof. PURDY and has since been the owner and principal member of the faculty. For about eighteen years he has labored diligently and faithfully to establish an institute that would stand second to none of its kind in the west, and how well he has succeeded may be determined by interviewing any of the hundreds of graduates of the Terre Haute Commercial College. He is the pioneer in this branch of Terre Haute's industries, and is justly entitled to the honor and credit due to the founder of an instituation that tends in its teachings toward the fitting of young men and women to take their places in society and in business upon an equal footing with their competitors in the race of life.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 282-286

JAMES HOOK (picture), proprietor of planing mill, Terre Haute, was born in Waynesburg, Greene county, Pennsylvania, July 8, 1815, where he resided until he reached his twenty-second year. His father died in 1820, leaving James in the care of an uncle, with whom he grew to man's estate and partially learned the trade of a carpenter and cabinetmaker. His education was obtained through the old subscription system. In 1837 he came to Terre hatue, where his first year after arrival was spent as a "jour." workman at the carpenter's trade. He then became a contractor and builder, which he followed till 1853. He then for a time engaged in the manufacture of linseed oil, at which he was successful. In 1855 he was elected mayor of the city of Terre Haute. In 1853, when the movement was made to inaugurate the common school in Terre Haute, Mr. HOOK took an active part. The success of the early free-school system of the city is probably due more to Mr. HOOK's efforts than to the efforts of any other citizen of the city. Mr. HOOK has been a republican since that party was organized, and in 1861, when the war of the rebellion broke out, he was instrumental in getting up a relief association for the benefit of the families of volunteer soldiers. Mr. HOOK was married November 2, 1840, to Miss Vienna A. HERRING, of Terre Haute. They have had a family of eight children, three of whom are living.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 193-194

Conspicuous among the names of the early pioneers of Indiana is that of AMORY KINNEY (picture). He was born at Bethel, Washington county, Vermont, April 13, 1791. He was the son of a Congregational clergyman. At the age of twenty-three he emigrated to western New York, and took up his abode at Cortlandville, Cortland county, where he studied law under the Hon. Samuel NELSON, afterward one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. After completing his course of study, and entering upon the practice of his profession, he emigrated to the then new west, and settled at Vincennes in 1819. A peculiarity which has marked the progress of our civilization westward, in every stage, as one domain after another has been added to our empire in that direction, has been that men of decided character were identified with and have controlled the movement. Their influence, whether for good or evil, extended to the limit of possibility, and what they did not accomplish it may be safely assumed was not to be attained by human endeavor. Mr. KINNEY was one of those marked characters; nor was the question long left unsolved as to the direction in which his influence would tend in molding the new community. At the time Mr. KINNEY came to Indiana it had just been erected into a state. The subject of domestic slavery, in connection with the proposed admission of Missouri, was then the most prominent in national politics. It was the first distinct struggle which the national mind had been called to pass through, touching that perplexing question, since the formation of the government. The popular sentiment was in a formative state; and although Indiana had, under the binding obligation, as was then supposed, of the ordinance of 1787, by her constitution excluded slavery, still there was a strong party, having its nucleus and center of influence at Vincennes, determined to hold on to it, and numerous slaves were in fact held, notwithstanding the prohibition. So strong was the popular sentiment at Vincennes in favor of slavery, that among the members of the legal profession there was found but one man who had sufficient firmness and moral courage to engage in a contest, which held out no promise of pecuniary benefits, but a certainty of pecuniary loss, of violent opposition, contumely, hatred and reproach. One such man was found, and that man was Amory KINNEY. Discarding the policy of many whose convictions coincided with his own, but who saw in the struggle nothing but disaster to their personal hopes and prospects, he entered the contest almost alone, carried the question through the several stages of litigation to the supreme court, and there obtained a decision declaring that slavery could not exist under the constitution of the State of Indiana. For this effort, while unarmed and unwarned, he was assaulted by a mob, and would doubtless have been killed but for the timely intervention of some of his friends and a seasonable supply of the means of defending himself from their murderous attack. Mr. KINNEY pursued the practice of his profession in Vincennes and Washington, Daviess county, until 1826, when he removed to Terre Haute, where he continuted to reside for the remaining thirty-two years of his active life. In 1830-1 he represented Vigo county in the Indiana legislature. During that session the statutes of the state were revised and embodied in a code, the best, probably, ever published in the state. The services of Mr. KINNEY were of great value in forming the Revised Code of 1831. In the same year (1831) the office of presiding judge of the seventh judicial circuit became vacant by the resignation of Hon. John LAW. Gen. W. JOHNSTON, of Vincennes, was appointed by Gov. Noah NOBLE to fill the vacancy until the next session of the legislature, when Mr. KINNEY was elected by that body for the full term of seven years. At the expiration of his term he resumed the practice of his profession, and soon after became the head of the law firm of Kinney, Wright & Gookins, a firm having the most extensive practice of any in western Indiana at that time, as will be attested by the records of almost every court from Vincennes on the south to Lafayette on the north, including a tier of some four or five counties in width, east and west of the Wabash, in Indiana and Illinois. The firm continued for about seven years. About the time of its dissolution the question of popular education assumed a prominence in Indiana it had never attracted before. Judge KINNEY had given much attention to our common-school system, its structure and operations, and so earnest and efficient was he in its advocacy that the friends of the measure induced him to make a general canvass of the state, delivering a series of lectures by which the popular mind was stimulated and brought into active exercise regarding the subject. He had become so zealous a worker in the cause that it was thought his labors could not be dispensed with, and he was induced again to enter the legislature, where, in 1847, the common school system was revised, in the doing of which his services were invaluable. The radical idea with him was that every boy and girl in the state should have the opportunity of acquiring a good practicle education, with a graded system to aid in intellectual development, so that if any one failed to reach the highest grade of intellectual culture it should be his own fault and not that of the state. The next public service which Judge KINNEY performed was upon the bench. In 1852 the court of common pleas was established. The state constitution of 1851 had been adopted, making the judiciary elective by popular vote. Judge KINNEY was chosen to fill that office, which he held for the full term of four years. No man in Indiana was ever held in higher esteem as a judge than Amory KINNEY. With a clear, comprehensive and scrutinizing apprehension of legal principles he combined a firm, conscientious and discriminating sense of justice and right. To the younger members of the legal profession especially he was ever kind, courteous and helpful, never permitting the client of such an one to suffer from his lack of experience, if it could with propriety be avoided with help from the bench. The value of the services of such a man in such a place is rarely apprehended. Too many men look upon the administration of law as a system of trickery by which, through technical quibbles, to defeat rather than promote justice. No greater mistake was ever made. The administration of law is the balance-wheel to the locomotive of human progress, and justice is its motive power. It permeates society as completely as specific gravity does the material world. The deed, the bond, the note, the will, by which millions upon millions of values are held or transferred, are of no more value than waste paper, excepting such as the law puts into them, and the true value of that law depends upon the capacity, intelligence and integrity of such men as the subject of this sketch in its administration. Judge KINNEY was a man of superior social qualities. In all the relations of life, whether public or private, a genial, charitable, benevolent disposition toward all was manifested. The asperities which sometimes grow out of the conflicts at the bar or forum had no abiding place in his heart. An openhanded hospitality in the household was ever present. He was first married to Hannah, daughter of Thomas L. BISHOP, Esq., of Homer, Courtland county, New York, a lady of superior intelligence and accomplishments. She died September 2, 1831. In 1833 he married Lucy, a sister of his former wife.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 166-169

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