Harrison Township
View a history of Terre Haute.
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
L.A. BURNETT, Terre Haute, dealer in leather and shoe findings, is one of the old settlers of Vigo county, and was but a small boy when his people came to the county in 1821. He was born in the Dominion of Canada, though his parents were residents of Chautauqua county, New York, at the date of his birth, July 8, 1818. He came to Vigo county with his parents in a canoe. They came from western New York, up the Maumee river and down the Wabash, arriving at Terre Haute June 20, 1821. His home has been in Vigo county from that time until the present. During his early life he had but little chance of procuring an education. His education is due to his own ambitious efforts in that direction. For several years he carried on the business of tanning in the country. In 1849 he was elected to the legislature, and reelected in 1851. In 1854 he was elected sheriff of Vigo county, and moved to the city of Terre Haute. At the expiration of his term he engaged in the leather trade in company with John H. O'BOYLE, the style of the firm being O'Boyle & Burnett. This partnership was disolved in 1860, since which time he has been engaged in business on his own account. In 1868 he was appointed postmaster of Terre Haute, and served four years. In 1873 he was elected president of the Cincinatti & Terre Haute railway. For the past four years he has been treasurer of the board of trustees of the city schools, and has also, during this time, been a member of the republican state central committee. He is now located at No. 115 South Fourth street, where he is dealing quite extensively in leather, hides, furs, etc. He is one of the honorable citizens of the community, who has earned a good reputation by his having pursued an honorable course through prosperity and adversity.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 165-166
S.E. BURNETT, grocer, Terre Haute, of the firm of Smith & Burnett, southwest corner Fourth and Walnut street, is a native of Vigo county. At the age of fifteen years he began as clerk in the post-office at Jossup Station, Parke county, Indiana, and for nine years he remained steadily employed in that capacity; his longest absence from the office during the time being four weeks. After this he accepted the position of route agent for the Evansville, Terre Haute and Chicago railroad, continuing in their service in that capacity for about seven years. One more change in business in 1877 brought him to Terre Haute, in his present line, where, in company with Mr. SMITH, he is extensively engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery and tobacco trade. Though he has but for a few years been a member of the firm, he has already established for it a very flattering reputation, and though their house is not the largest in the city, it being 24 feet front by 80 in depth, two floors and basement, it is, however, well stocked with all necessary kinds of goods pertaining to the wholesale and retail trade, both in tobaccos, cigars and groceries. They have made something of a specialty of tobaccos and cigars when selling by sample on the road, and in this line particularly they have quite an extended trade. Though they have strong competition on all sides, Mr. BURNETT has demonstrated that energy, honorable dealing and a close attention to business will build up an enviable trade.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 206-207
HENRY A. BYERS, of the firm of Byers Bros., is a native of licking county, Ohio. In 1842, when he was yet a child, his people moved to Illinois, where he remained a resident until 1862, when he entered the Union army in the war of 1861-5. His first enlistment was in Co. I, 70th Ind. Vol. Inf., three months' service, though during this enlistment he served four months. His second enlistment was in Co. D, 149th Ind. Vo. Inf., one year's service. This enlistment kept him in the service until the close of the war. He is a printer by trade, and spent nineteen years of his life in that business, six years being spent on the Louisville "Courier-Journal." He was also for a time connected with the Terre Haute "Express," but was obliged to quit the printer's trade on account of failing health. In 1873 he engaged in the grocery business, and about one and a half years later his brother, WILLIAM T., became interested with him, which formed the firm of Byers Bros. He began the business with a capital of about $300. Theirs is now counted among the list of substantial business houses of the city. They are located at No. 111 South Fourth street, and are occupying their own building, which is 18 feet front by 50 feet in depth, and stocked with a very complete line of goods pertaining to the grocery business. William T., the elder of the brothers, is also a native of Licking county, Ohio. His residence in Terre Haute dates back to 1862, they both having become residents of the city the same year. For some time previous to entering into the grocery business he had been engaged in superintending the construction of some of the largest buildings of the city, among which may be mentioned the normal school building and the opera house. Their father is a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and their mother of the State of Pennsylvania. In building up their business and establishing a name and reputation among the business men of Terre Haute, they have been wholly dependent upon their own resources.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 287-288
JOHN H. CANADA, barber, Terre Haute, was born in Madison county, Indiana, November 7, 1858, and lived there three or four years. For several years has lived in St. Louis, and also in Indianapolis for some time. He finally came to Terre Haute, Indiana, and settled permanently. For several years he traveled with a comedy company. He is a pedestrian with powers of great endurance, having accomplished some remarkable feats in walking. He is a married man and doing a good business at his trade.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - p. 322
GEORGE W. CARICO, livery, Terre Haute, has for many years been an active business man in the city of Terre Haute. He has been a resident of Vigo county since 1837, but is a native of Jefferson county, Kentucky, from which place his parents moved to Vigo county when he was about one year old. They settled in Pierson township, where most of the early life of George W. was spent. As he grew to man's estate he engaged in farming on his own account, and followed it as a business until 1864, when he became a resident of Terre Haute. Since residing in Terre Haute he has most of the time been engaged in the livery business and buying, selling and handling stock, at which he has been very successful. His place of business now is No. 24 North Third street. In 1875 he became candidate for county assessor, but failed to be elected. He was, however, afterward appointed to the office. In 1875 he was elected sheriff of Vigo county, and reelected to the same office in 1877, his term of service expiring in the fall of 1879, since which time he has given his full time to the livery business. Since eleven years of age Mr. CARICO has been dependent upon his own resources, his father having died when he was of that age. His success in business is due to his own energy and enterprise.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - p. 191
HARVEY CARPENTER, carpenter and joiner, No. 228 North Fourth street, Terre Haute, Indiana, was born in Cooperstown, Otsego county, New York, in 1810. He lived there until 1844 and while there followed farming. He came to Terre Haute in 1844, where he has since resided. He helped to build the Wabash and Erie canal, but most of the time since coming to Terre Haute he has followed the carpenter and joiner business, and is said to be the oldest carpenter in the city. He was married in 1834 to a Miss Elizabeth LANE, of York state, and they had five children, only one of whom is living, a daughter, Alida A., who married Mr. Geo. HAYWARD, a well known citizen of Terre Haute. They reside in the ciy with her parents. She has one child, a daughter. Mr. CARPENTER is one of those who have laid up a competence for old age, and he is one of the substantial citizens of Terre Haute.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - p. 206
The Vandalia Railroad Company may boast of having some of the best citizens of Terre Haute among its officials and employees, among this class Mr. E.D. CARTER may be numbered. He is not only holding an important position with the Vandalia Railroad Company, but is also an old resident of Terre Haute, his residence dating back to 1833, and a native of the Wabash valley, Knox being his native county, where he was born in 1824. His mother, whose maiden name was ARMSTRONG, came with her people from Kentucky to Knox county as early as 1812. His father, Eleazer CARTER, who was a native of Vermont, did not become a resident of Knox county until some time after that date. E.D., the subject of our sketch, has been dependent upon his own resources since the age of thirteen. For many years he followed bridge building, which he began as early as 1844. While in that business, when the Wabash and Erie canal was being built, he contracted for and built many of the bridges between Lafayette, Indiana, and Terre Haute. In 1855 he began work on the Indianapolis & St. Louis railroad, when that road was being built, and remained with them until 1859. He has now been connected with the Vandalia road about ten years. He first began at bridging, the company soon finding him to be a very efficient and trustworthy man, changed his business and kept him as an "extra" to whom they might entrust the supervision of a gang of men to do any particular or special work. He was kept employed in that way until about 1875, when he was promoted to his present position. He now has charge of about 100 men who are employed in the repairing and construction of cars. Their capacity for manufacture, aside from repairing, is about one flat-car per day. His duties are not confined to the shops, for in case of a wreck he is sometimes called upon to supply a force of men in the shortest possible time, either day or night, and start for the scene of the accident. Besides this, he has the looking after of cars reported unfit for service by the inspectors at different points along the line. With all these duties to perform it is readily seen that his position is one of responsibility, requiring carefulness and good judgment.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - p. 181
E.W. CHADWICK, livery, Terre Hatue, is another of the old pioneers of Terre Haute. The name of CHADWICK is of English origin. The genealogy of the family is easily traced back to the reign of Queen Anne. There is lying in the bank of England a fortune of several millions of dollars which by right belongs to those who bear the name of CHADWICK in the United States. Steps have been taken by some of the heirs to secure what is justly theirs, but E.W. has made no move in the matter, he thinking it the better policy to look well after what he has accumulated himself than to spend it in trying to obtain what many others in similar cases have failed to secure. The first by the name of CHADWICK in the United States emigrated from England early in the seventeenth century, and from him those who bear the name in the United States have descended. E.W. is the son of Ebenezer and Chloa (HILL) CHADWICK, his mother being of Scotch ancestry. He was born in 1815, in Licking county, Ohio. In 1836 he became a resident of Terre Haute, a town then of about 800 inhabitants. During his early life he had but little chance of securing an education. When he became a resident of Terre Haute he spent some time in clerking in the different stores and at other kinds of employment until 1851, when he began in the livery business in a small way by buying the establishment of a gentleman then engaged in the business, by the name of Chas. RUGGLES. He was then located on Cherry street between Second and Third. In 1853 he moved to his present place of business, No. 14 South Fourth street, where he has a property 74 feet front by 142 deep. Mr. CHADWICK is now the pioneer livery man of the city. He has kept quietly and steadily at this business, and by energy and good financiering he has accumulated a good property. He has never taken a very active part in political affairs further than to be decided in his convictions as to right and wrong. His reputation is such as only to reflect credit upon his past connections with the business industries of Terre Haute.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 230-231
I.K. CLATFELTER, dealer in boots and shoes, Terre Haute, who is one of the most energetic boot and shoe merchants of the city, is a native of Ashland county, Ohio. He remained there until eleven years of age, when his parents moved to Clark county, Illinois. His father was a farmer, in which business I.K. spent the early part of his life. In 1868 he secured a situation as clerk in one of the boot and shoe stores of Terre Haute, and has since remained a resident of the place. He was careful to save his money, and in 1869 engaged in the business on his own account, though upon a limited scale. Now he is occupying No. 511 Main street, which is a neat store-room of 20 feet frontage by 65 feet in depth. He is the only dealer in the city who makes a specialty of fine goods, as he does not keep for sale a single article of foot wear except fine sewed work. He also does his own cutting and fitting in the manufacturing department, in which he also excels in fine work. His trade is principally among the most wealthy citizens of the city, who buy none but the finest goods in the market. He is a charter member of Vigo Lodge, No. 27, A.O.U.W., and a member in good standing of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal church.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 291-292
J.P. CLAYBROOK, receiver of the Louisville, Cincinnati & Southwestern railroad, is a native of Marion county, Missouri. He first began railroading in 1868 with what is now the Owensboro & Nashville railroad. In 1876 he accepted the position of receiver for the road above named. He came to Terre Haute for the purpose of accepting his present position. This road is to be sold during the fall of 1879. After the sale has been effected, should he conclude to leave Terre Haute, he will also leave many true friends, as during his three years’ residence in Terre Haute he has become identified as one among the leading citizens of this city.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - p. 357
JOHN CLEARY, deputy county sheriff, Terre Haute, has since 1874 been filling the position of deputy sheriff, first under George CARICO, and when Mr. Louis HAY, the present county sheriff, was elected to the office, he was retained by him. While acting as deputy for Mr. CARICO he was shot four different times, but fortunately not so seriously as to leave him crippled. He is a native of county Limerick, Ireland. In 1866 he emigrated to the United States and came directly to Terre Haute. He has not since his arrival been out of employment a single day, unless voluntarily so. For a couple of years he was on the police force under Col. COOKERLY. He also did some railroading, and for a time was in the book store of Mr O'CONNEL. He is a gentleman whose name is familiar to the citizens of Terre Haute and Vigo county, on account of the adventures he has had while in the discharge of his duties as deputy sheriff, duties that to him are held sacred, and to be left undone would be counted by himself as a dishonor. He is now a man of thirty-five years of age, strong, athletic and punctual in the discharge of his duties, whether they be easy or of the most dangerous nature, and a man whose name and reputation stand above reproach among the citizens of Vigo county.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 307-308
JAMES M. CLUTTER, cooper, Terre Haute, is another of the manufacturers of Terre Haute who is doing an extensive business. In the building up of his extensive trade he has been wholly dependent upon his own resources. His specialty is slack-work. In Cumberland county, Illinois, he has a large stave factory, where he employs about forty-five men, and there the staves are manufactured that are afterward used in the Terre Haute factory, which is located near the corner of Twelfth and Main streets. At this factory he gives employment to about sixty-five men, and has a capacity for manufacturing 1,500 barrels per day. He is a worker himself, and not a man or piece of machinery seems to be idle when he is about the factory. He is a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, the name of CLUTTER being of Scotch origin. In 1863 he entered the army, enlisting in Co. A, 78th reg., one-hundred-days service. At Uniontown, Kentucky, he was taken prisoner, but was paroled. His residence in Terre Haute dates back to nine years ago. He has now had eleven years’ experience in the manufacture of staves, three years of this time being spent in Greencastle, Indiana. He is now considered one of the thoroughly reliable citizens of Terre Haute.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 333-334
Another of the live, wide-awake manufacturers of Terre Haute is Mr. JESSE H. CLUTTER. He is one, too, who has made very rapid progress in the building up of an extensive business in a short time. He is a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and is a man now of about twenty-nine years of age. He has been a resident of Terre Haute but about nine years and has, during seven years of that time, been engaged in the manufacture of barrels, his specialty being what is known as slack-work. Though still a young man, he has had twenty years' experience in his line of business. Besides his factory in Terre Haute he, in 1876, built a factory at Mt. Vernon, Indiana, and has just completed extensive works for the making of staves, at a place known as Clinton locke, on the old Wabash canal, sixteen miles north of Terre Haute. He now gives employment in all, to about seventy-five men, to whom he pays per month about $2,500. The building up of this extensive trade has been the result of his own energy and good financiering. In May, 1877, he was elected a member of the city council from the fourth ward, and reelected in May, 1879, his present term expiring in May 1881. Aside from this he has not taken an active part in political affairs, choosing rather to devote his time to the enlarging of his business, which has grown to such proportions as to employ almost his entire time.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - p. 332
ALEXANDER C. COMBS, dealer in coal, South Third street, Terre Haute, was born at Crawfordsville, Montgomery county, Indiana, March 12, 1835. His father removed from there to Staunton, Clay county, when Alexander was quite young, and lived there until 1852, when he removed to Terre Haute. His father and himself were engaged in building railroad for a time. They built four miles of the Vandalia railroad and four miles of the Evansville and Chicago railroad during the years 1851-52-53. He and his father discovered the first coal that was found in the western part of the state, and from 1840 to 1850 they mined and hauled it in wagons to the city of Terre Haute, supplying the smiths and the only foundry in the city at that time. He shipped the first car-load of coal to Terre Haute, that was shipped on the Vandalia railroad, in the fall of 1852, and was engaged in the coal business from that time till 1869, when he went to Nebraska. He was engaged in farming in Nebraska, and remained there until 1874, in which year the grasshoppers destroyed his entire crop, when he sold out his farming implements and returned to Terre Haute, where he has since resided. He resumed the coal business in 1878, and in 1879 formed a partnership with J.L. ROGERS, of Wisconsin. The firm has built up a large business in Terre Haute, and they bid fair to rank as the largest dealers in the city. Mr. COMBS was in the military service for some thirty or sixty days, serving with the state militia while in pursuit of the famous John MORGAN in his raid through Indiana. He was married in 1861 to a Miss Fannie EDDY, of Clay county, Indiana. They raised a family of four children, three girls and one boy; Mary Belle, Eliza Jane, Cora and Frank Leslie. His wife died April 6, 1873. He was remarried in 1879, to Mrs. Maria A. LEARN, of Portage, Wisconsin.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - p. 232
RALPH CONOVER, farmer, Terre Haute, was born in Middlesex county, New Jersey, in 1811. At seventeen years of age he served an apprenticeship at the mason's trade, which occupation he has followed more or less all his life. In 1836 he came to Terre Haute, where he has built a great many of the fine brick buildings. In 1834 he married Miss Eleanor SNEDKER, also a native of New Jersey, born in 1821. Mr. CONOVER is the owner of 550 acres of fine land, which are the fruits of many years' hard work. He is honest in all business transactions, and has gained many friends in Vigo county.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 187-188
F.C. COPPAGE, blacksmith, Terre Haute, was born in Maryland in 1832, and came with his parents to Vigo county, Indiana, in 1837, and until twenty years of age remained at home working on the farm, after which time he opened up a blacksmith shop, where he has been engaged in the manufacture of all kinds of wheeled vehicles. He never served an apprenticeship, but can make a carriage or wagon from the raw material equal to the best workman. March 5, 1872, he was married to Miss Laura NEWTON, and has three children, Emma, Melvin and Wilford.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - p. 191
FREBORN COPPAGE, farmer, Terre Haute, was born in Queen Anne county, Maryland, in 1807 where he remained until after his marriage to Miss Latilla FOX, April 30, 1830. She is a native of the same county, and was born August 1, 1812. In 1837 he came west and settled in Vigo county, where he has since resided. The first ten years he rented a farm, and in 1847 purchased his present farm, on which he has made all the improvements. He paid $16 per acre, and at the present it is valued at $150 per acre. He and wife have been constant members of the Methodist Episopal church for over thirty years.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - p. 191
G.R. CRAFTS, proprietor of saloon and billiard hall, Terre Haute, is a native of Ripley, Mississippi. His father was a native of Vermont. When the war of the rebellion broke out, in 1861, he was a resident of Corpus Christi, Texas, where he was engaged in business. He was pressed into the rebel army, and during the war his property was almost entirely destroyed. In 1866, after the close of the war, he removed to the north, and settled in Terre Haute for the purpose of educating his children. Here G.R. became a graduate of the high school in 1872. It had been the intention of his father to educate him for the ministry or for the legal profession, but his health failing, this idea was abandoned. In October, 1878, Mr. Wm. B. TUELL, proprietor of the Terre Haute House, proposed that he should take charge of the bar and billiard hall connected with that house. Taking the matter under advisement, he after a time concluded to do so, and after running it one year to the satisfaciton of Mr. TUELL, a second proposition was made to him, and this was to buy the business, which he did, in company with a brother-in-law. He is a man who seldom, if ever, drinks liquor, though he is constantly handling it. He is gentlemanly, educated and courteous, and his business is done principally among the traveling public.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - p. 311
GEORGE W. CRAPO, physician, Terre Haute, though one of the younger class of physicians, has already established an extensive and lucrative practice, and is recognized by the older physicians as one of excellent ability as well as natural talent. He was born August 31, 1852, in Sullivan county, Indiana. In 1866 he became a resident of Terre Haute. In 1870 he began as clerk in the drug store of Dr. PENCE, with a view of making the drug trade a future business. Finding the confinement injurious to his health, he gave it up and began the study of medicine with Dr. LINK, with whom he remained as a student for about three years; this period also included the time spent at the Medical College of Ohio, in Cincinnati, from which he graduated in 1875. Since graduating he has devoted his time exclusively to the study and practice of medicine. He has been and is a hard student. He is a member of the Vigo County Medical Society, of the Esculapian Society of the Wabash valley, and of the State Medical Society. He has a much larger practice established than most young physicians of his age. This is due to his energy, ability and close attention to business. He is certainly a credit to the number who may be classed as representatives of the medical profession in Terre Haute.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - pp. 308-309
Among the younger class of physicians of Terre Haute, who in a few years have established a good practice and reputation, is Dr. J.R. CRAPO. The name of Crapo is of French origin, the doctor's grandfather being a native of Paris, France. Mr. Crapo's father was one of the earlier settlers of the Wabash valley, he having become a settler of Sullivan county as early as 1820. In after years he was one of the parties who made the first surveys in the founding of the city of Sullivan, the county seat of Sullivan county. The doctor was born in Sullivan county in 1850. In 1872 he began the study of medicine, under Dr. John E. LINK, of Terre Haute. He spent three years in study under Dr. LINK and three years at college, graduating from the Ohio Medical College of Cincinnati in February 1877. After graduating he returned to Terre Haute and opened an office, and is now located at No. 229 Walnut street. He is a member of the Vigo county Medical Society, and of the Esculapian Society of the Wabash valley. Since beginning practice in Terre Haute he has given his time and attention fully to his profession, and the result has been success, as he is now recognized by the old physicians and by the people as a young man of both merit and ability.
HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Terre Haute - p. 341
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