Mr. Hostetter is the scion of an excellent and highly honored old family of Montgomery county, Indiana, where he was born on December 7, 1862. He is the son of Beniah and Lou A. (Mahoney) Hostetter, the father a native of Ohio and the mother of Kentucky, each representing pioneer familiesof sterling worth. The father came to Indiana in 1831, the mother at a later date, the father having accompanied his parents to Montgomery county, the mother coming to the same county with her brother and sister. There the parents of David E. Hostetter grew to maturity and married in 1860, remaining in that county until Beniah Hostetter's death in 1870; when his wife went to live with her children, her death occurring in South Bend, Indiana, in March, 1909, at an advanced age. They were the parents of the following children: Mary, wife of S. D. Irvine, of Lebanon, Indiana; David B., of this review; William lives in Denver, Colorado; Rev. Henry B. is pastor of the Westminster Presbyterian church at South Bend, Indiana; Martha J. has remained single; B. S. lives in Denver, Colorado.
David B. Hostetter was reared on the home farm where he began working when of proper age, attending the district schools during the winter months, later becoming a student of the Ladoga Normal School. He applied himself very assiduously to his test books and received a very serviceable education, which has since been greatly augmented by miscellaneous home reading and study and by general contact with the world. He then took charge of the home farm which he successfully conducted for a period of five years.
The domestic chapter of Mr. Hostetter's life history began on October 17, 1888, when he married Hettie A. Harshbarger, a native of Montgomery county, Indiana, where her birth occurred on May 29, 1863. She is the daughter of Samuel Harshbarger, long a prominent citizen of that county where Mrs. Hostetter grew to maturity and was educated in the district schools, later attending the Western Seminary at Oxford, Ohio.
Mr. and Mrs. Hostetter moved to Franklin township early in their career and they have resided here ever since. They are the parents of six children living, named as follows: Howard H., born September 17, 1889, is a graduate of the Roachdale high school and is now a student in Wabash College; Stuart S., born December 31, 1890, is a sophomore at Wabash College; Sherman Ralph was born November 13, 1895; David H. was born October 16, 1898; Mary's birth occurred April 18, 1900; Curtis was born June 27, 1904.
Mr. Hostetter is the owner of one of the model farms of Franklin township, consisting of two hundred and forty acres, which is well improved and well kept and which yields abundant crops under his efficient management.
Some good livestock is also raised from year to year. He has a beautiful and cozy home, substantial outbuildings and everything about the place shows thrift and prosperity and indicates that a gentleman of excellent taste and good judgment has its management in hand.
Mr. and Mrs. Hostetter are members of the Presbyterian church at Roachdale, Mr. Hostetter being one of the ruling elders and a liberal supporter of the same. Politically he is a loyal Democrat and he has long been active in party affairs and as a result of his services and his ability he has been called upon to serve in positions of public trust. For a period of over five years he was trustee of Franklin township and he was elected representative in the state Legislature in 1906. He made such a splendid record and was so conscientious and faithful in the discharge of his duties while an incumbent of that important office that he was re-elected to the same in 1908, being one of the "temperance Democrats" of the notable session of 1909. He has made his influence for good felt in that body and he has looked as carefully after the interests of the people whom he represents as if he was managing his individual affairs, consequently he has won and retained the confidence and esteem of all classes. He has also taken a great interest in Presbyterian church work, and in 1907 he was one of the commissioners of the Indianapolis presbytery selected to represent the church in the general assembly. There are two elders and two members elected from each presbytery. Thus the honor conferred upon Mr. Hostetter was one greatly to be prized.
Mr. Hostetter served as grand secretary of the National Horse Thief Association for a period of eight years and he very ably discharged the duties of the same, arousing much interest in the same, especially in the Central states.
Mr. Hostetter occupies a conspicuous place among the leading men of Putnam county and enjoys the respect of all who know him. His record demonstrates that where there is an ambition to succeed and to be of service to one's fellow men, all obstacles may be overcome and much good eventually accomplished by courage and self-reliance, and his career, which has been somewhat strenuous, has been fraught with much good to his neighbors and constituents and his life work and his examples are cordially commended to the youth of the land whose destinies are yet matters for the future to determine.
"Weiks History of Putnam County Indiana" by Jesse W. Weik. 1910
B.F. Bowen & Co., Publishers, Indianapolis IN
GEORGE W. AMES.
The family of this name is of an ancient English stock whose representatives became identified with the development of New England at a very early day. William Ames, founder of the American branch, was born at Briton, Somersetshire, England, October 6, 1605, and in early manhood came to the colony of New Plymouth, now Duxbury, Massachusetts. Rev. Sylvanus Ames, one of his descendants, was graduated from Harvard College in 1767 and occupied the pulpit of Trinity church in Taunton, Massachusetts. He was a chaplain in the army of the Revolution and died at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-78. His son, Sylvanus, was born March 26, 1771, and died September 23, 1823. His son, George W. Ames, was born at Athens, Ohio, January 11, 1814. He came with his father to Ohio, with the early pioneers, who crossed the Alleghanies to settle in the fertile bottoms of the 3Iuskingum, the Scioto and the Miamis. He was the youngest of twelve children and when a boy attended the common schools of Athens, besides the non-sectarian college situated in that place. When about twenty-five years old he situated in Salem, Indiana, where he followed the profession of a gospel minister and was one of the pioneer preachers whose assiduous work and privations were so instrumental in helping the cause of progress. In the fall of 1853 he removed to Greencastle and engaged in the hardware business and became a man of varied activities and influence. He was financial agent for DePauw University and superintendent of the asylum for the blind at Indianapolis. He was a great reader and student and a man of wide information and unusual abilities. He was a brother of Bishop Ames, one of the pioneers and founders of Indiana Methodism. During the Civil war he was chaplain of Colonel Black's regiment. He died June 3, 1881, at his old homestead which still stands on Washington street as one of the landmarks of the city. While living in Salem he met Mary Booth, who was born in that place September 11, 1819. To this lady he was married September 20, 1843, and she proved a faithful wife, an intelligent companion and an affectionate mother. Her parents were Beebee and Hannah (Pitts) Booth, the mother of North Carolina birth and the father from Connecticut. The latter's forefathers came originally from England and settled in New England in 1813. Beebee Booth located in Salem, Indiana, in the early day of the state and engaged in the publishing business under the firm name of Patrick & Booth. They published the first book ever issued in Indiana, the title of which was "The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte". Mr. and Mrs. George W. Ames had eight children: Hannah, Emma, Elizabeth, Mary, Alice, Genevieve, George Booth and Newton Sylvanus. Five of the daughters are living, Misses Elizabeth and Genevieve occupying the old homestead in Greencastle. The mother died February 24, 1909. She was an aunt of Booth Tarkington, the noted author.
"Weiks History of Putnam County Indiana" by Jesse W. Weik. 1910
B.F. Bowen & Co., Publishers, Indianapolis IN
ELDER OLIVER P. BADGER.
One of the useful and influential pioneer ministers of Putnam county, a man of unquestioned ability and Christian courage, who has now passed to his reward in the kingdom of the Divine Creator whom he tried faithfully to serve for many decades, was Oliver P. Badger, who was born near Mt. Sterling, Montgomery county, Kentucky, January 9, 1819, the son of David and Elizabeth (Miller) Badger, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Culpeper Court House, Virginia. His parents removed to Putnam county, Indiana, as early as 1833, and here in the dense woods began life as farmers. Their son, Oliver P., although devoting his early life to farming, also began preaching quite young, and at the age of nineteen had won considerable local prestige as an expounder of the Gospel, which he continued to preach the remaining years of his life.
Elder Badger was married on November 29, 1838, to Martha Ann Yeates, which union resulted in the birth of five children, named as follows: Ann Eliza married A. L. Goodbar, of Montgomery county, Indiana; Carrie married Hon. D. E. Williamson, late of Greencastle; Queen married Otho Allen, also of Greencastle, and died August 1, 1884; Mr. Allen died December 31, 1885; David E., a well known druggist of Greencastle, and H. Clay Badger, who died August 13, 1931. Martha Ann (Yeates) Badger died March 1, 1900.
Elder Badger was interested in political matters for many years. He was a member of the constitutional convention in 1850, and the following year he was defeated for the state senate. After that he devoted practically his entire time to the ministry, belonging to the church popularly known as the Christian church, in which he won more than a local reputation, standing high in the circles of the same throughout the state, most of his public labors having been confined to Indiana, yet he was often called to other localities for short periods. In April, 1874, he preached at Winterset, Iowa, for a little more than a year, though still retaining his residence in Putnam county. He also preached in his regular work in Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, and filled pulpits in Philadelphia, Chicago and other places, always delighting his audiences with an earnestness and an eloquence that bespoke a man of genuine ability and sincerity. Towards the close of his life he moved to Greencastle, and, in a beautiful cottage home, in the suburbs of this city, surrounded by his books, he quietly passed the serene evening of his years, dying on June 7, 1891. Mr. Badger was one of the first three students of Asbury (now DePauw) University.
"Weiks History of Putnam County Indiana" by Jesse W. Weik. 1910
B.F. Bowen & Co., Publishers, Indianapolis IN
FRANK HENRY LAMMERS. M. D.
The writer here offers in brief outline a biographical memoir dealing with a character of rare strength and beauty, one who possessed a mind of unusual breadth and qualities that would have placed him high in any position to which he might have aspired, a man in whom the utmost confidence was reposed by all who were fortunate enough to share his genial friendship, a man who left behind him the perpetual remembrance of good deeds that shine with an effulgence like the phosphorescent waves that sparkle in the wake of a ship at sea, for to many the sea of life is made brighter because he passed over it.
Frank Henry Lammers, for many years one of the prominent physicians of Putnam county, was born in Beardstown, Illinois, September 21, 1864, and was the youngest of six children, Alex, a brother, and a sister, Marie Listmann, surviving him. After graduating at the high school of his native town, he spent one year at the Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois. Being actuated by an ambition to gain a high literary and classical education, he then entered Asbury (now DePauw) University, at Greencastle, Indiana, where, as in the former institutions, he made an excellent record for scholarship and from which he graduated in 1887, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Liberal Arts. In the fall of the same year he began the study of medicine in New York City, the first year being a student in the University Medical School and the next two years in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He was graduated from the latter with honors in June, 1890, receiving from his alma mater the degree of Master of Arts the same year. His college record entitled him to a position as assistant in the hospital, and he accordingly spent the nest year in that capacity, at the same time pursuing graduate studies. Thus unusual1y well equipped for his life work, in May, 1891, he removed to Greencastle, Indiana, and entered upon the practice of his chosen profession, for which he possessed pre-eminent ability, as was shown from the first, and in which he proved himself remarkably faithful, painstaking and loyal up to the very hour of his summons to another world.
Endowed with more than ordinary talent and of an energetic nature, it is not surprising that he was eminently successful in the practice of medicine, and that those with whom he came in closest contact soon learned to depend upon him. Although deprived of the tender guidance of a mother when only twelve years of age, he was not given to frivolity in any of its phases in his boyhood, but seemed to have an innate thirst for knowledge and to lead his life along high ethical and moral plains, his taste of the esthetics and higher intellectual culture early manifesting themselves, causing him invariably to take the initiative, and ever to be on the alert for still higher and broader fields of investigation, and this with the view of continually enlarging his scope for usefulness. He was always, in the strictest sense of the term, a student; a man who grew; progressive, twentieth century, alert and conscientious physician, and at the time of his departure he was planning to secure the latest improvement and the very best equipment for his new office. His patients never failed to be his friends and his name had gone to all parts of this and adjoining counties where it was respected and revered by all classes.
The subject's parents, Alex and Anna Marie E. Lehnore Lammers, were German Lutherans and in that faith the Doctor was reared. One of the sacred remembrances of his wife today is the confirmation services in the Episcopal church by Bishop Henry Potter, on Good Friday, 1891, when he and his wife were both confirmed, and their first communion together on the following Easter Sabbath in St. Andrew's Episcopal church of New York. He always entered heartily into the spirit of church services and was a liberal supporter of the local congregation. His piety was deep, sincere, cheerful and earnest and, like his charity, without ostentation, for he always delighted in charitable acts and deeds of kindness, but avoided publicity and display.
Fraternally Dr. Lammers was a Mason, having attained the Knight Templar degree, also belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He also belonged to the Gentlemen's Literary Club, having literary tastes of a high order, and his library contained many choice volumes of the world's best literature. Thus he kept well informed on all topics and was an accomplished conversationalist and entertainer; however, his professional demands grew so rapidly that he had little time for social pleasures toward the close of his useful career. In college he was identified with the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. In this connection it would almost seem as though he had some premonition of his approaching entry into the silent land. During his residence in Greencastle of eighteen years he won an enduring place in the hearts of all who knew him, having come here in 1883 and remained here with the exception of the time he spent in the medical school in New York.
Dr. Lammers' ideal domestic life began on June 25, 1890, when he espoused Clara Collett Florer, a lady of talent, culture and refinement, daughter of William J. and Mary Ann Louise (Washburn) Florer, a complete sketch of whom appears on another page of this work.
Mrs. Lammers received her elementary education in the public schools of Wabasha, Minnesota, later becoming a student in the State University at Minneapolis, and still later in the noted woman's college at Wellesley, Massachusetts. To Doctor and Mrs. Lammers was born a daughter, Leila Claire, on June 17, 1894, who is now a student in the Greencastle high school.
In 1903, with the assistance of her sister, Laura Lelia Florer, Mrs. Lammers organized Washburn Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and she became the first regent, which office she held for three years, being the present registrar of the chapter. She is also a member of the board of education.
Few residents of Greencastle have occupied as large a place in the public eye and no one more worthily discharged his manifold duties or showed himself more worthy of the high esteem in which he was held than Doctor Lammers. His life was filled with activity and usefulness, while his untiring energy and eminent ability gained for him a conspicuous and honorable place among the distinguished medical men of his day and generation. In every sphere of endeavor in which he took part, socially, religiously, fraternally or professionally, his unpretentious bearing and strict integrity elevated him in the confidence of his fellow citizens, and his influence was always powerful and salutary - a truly good and useful man - one of nature's noblemen.
"Weiks History of Putnam County Indiana" by Jesse W. Weik. 1910
B.F. Bowen & Co., Publishers, Indianapolis IN
EDWARD ALLEN.
Few families in Putnam county can trace back farther into pioneer days than that of the Allens. While not the first, the founder was among the first arrivals, coming here when the primeval forest covered all the land and Indiana was practically an unbroken wilderness from the Ohio to the northern part of the state. Russell G. Allen, who was a native of Vermont, came to Greencastle in 1823, or only seven years after Indiana had been admitted as a state. At that time Greencastle was a straggling village, giving little promise of ever becoming the thriving city that now constitutes the pride and glory of Putnam county. But few white people were to be found in the borders of the county and these were living in log cabins widely separated from each other. Russell G. Allen was one of the sturdiest of the sturdy men who began at the beginning to convert this howling wilderness into an agricultural paradise, whose lands were destined to become as productive as the fields of Goshen and raise crops of corn that would astonish the world. These lands, then easily obtainable for a dollar or two an acre, are now selling all the way from one hundred to two hundred dollars per acre, with a tendency to still go up. The sloughs and marshes have been replaced by fine pike roads, the formerly impassable streams are now spanned by fine bridges of steel and concrete and every comfort of civilization is found on every hand. The old pioneers never dreamed of this outcome and nearly all of them had passed away before Putnam county showed signs of the marvelous transformation.
Edward Allen, son of Russell G., was only seven years old when his father made the long and dangerous journey to the west. He was born at Cazenovia, New York, August 7, 1830, and such primary training as he received was obtained in the poor subscription schools then the only avenues to education in the Hoosier state. Later, however, he was able to attend old Asbury University, where he laid the foundations on which he afterwards built as a reader and student of affairs. In early manhood he went into the marble business with his brothers and followed this occupation until his retirement, five years before his death, which occurred December 9, 1899. For forty years he represented the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company and was regarded as an unusually good business man, safe, conservative and square in his dealings. He was a member of the College Avenue Methodist Episcopal church, took great interest in its affairs and served as trustee for many years. He belonged to the Odd Fellows and served two terms in council as a Republican. On December 23, 1854, Mr. Allen was married at Cazenovia, New York, to Mary E., daughter of George E. and Melinda (Wilcox) Roberts, descendants of an old Welsh family, whose representatives settled in Massachusetts at an early day. Her father's grandmother came to Albany, New York, when the present capital of the Empire state was but a collection of huts. She was later scalped by the Indians, while her husband was taken aboard a British vessel and starved to death. Mr. and Mrs. Edward Allen had five children: Ida Olivia, born September 27, 1860, married William Overstreet and died September 26, 1885, leaving two children Ida Allen Overstreet is living with her grandmother; Edward R. Overstreet died in Terre Haute, February 23, 1898; Emma H., born September 16, 1862, married Edwin E. Black, and died in Greencastle, January 15, 1886, leaving one child, Susanna, who lives in Greencastle; Charles Edward, born October 10, 1857, is a resident of Paris, Illinois.
"Weiks History of Putnam County Indiana" by Jesse W. Weik. 1910
B.F. Bowen & Co., Publishers, Indianapolis IN
HENRY CLAY LEWIS.
Among the earnest men whose depth of character and strict adherence to principle called forth the admiration of his contemporaries, Henry Clay Lewis, late a well known attorney of Greencastle, Indiana, was numbered. He stood among the representative men of Putnam county who overcame difficulties and obstacles that barred the path to success and steadily advanced until before his death he left behind the many and stood among the few who accomplish things worth while. Yet he was ever ready to reach down helping hands to assist others in the long and tiresome struggle of life. He met and triumphed over obstacles that would have discouraged many men of less determination and won for himself, not only a comfortable competency, but also a prominent place among the enterprising men of this section of the state.
Mr. Lewis was born July 7, 1857, in Putnam county, Indiana, the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Goodwin Lewis, the father a native of Kentucky, where his family were prominent during several generations. Henry C. Lewis attended the common schools of Greencastle when a boy, and, being ambitious to become a highly educated man, he entered DePauw University, where he made an excellent record and from which institution he was graduated. Turning his attention to the law, he began reading under Judge Donnohue and was admitted to the bar in due course of time. He then formed a partnership with B. F. Corwin, which continued with interrupted success until the death of Mr. Lewis, on February 24, 1901. As an attorney he ranked high among the successful members of the local bar, being painstaking, profoundly versed in all phases of jurisprudence, indefatigable in his efforts to get at the bottom of whatever case was before him, and he was known to be ever vigilant in defending his clients, always looking to their best interests, often without proper regard for his own. As a speaker he was convincing and at times truly eloquent, courteous to the court and lenient with his colleagies. His untimely taking off cast a shadow over the local bar that will be hard for even time to disperse. He was always busy, his practice increasing with the years and every term of court found him on one side or the other of most all important cases.
Mr. Lewis was married on August 17, 1881, to Josephine Barnell Constable, a lady of affable and pleasing personality who is a favorite with a wide circle of friends in this city and county. She was born in Ellettsville, Monroe county, Indiana, the representative of an excellent and well established family there, her parents being Harrison Hugh and Anne (Copenhauer) Constable. The father, a sterling Scotchman, born in the land of blue-bell and heather, came to America when a young man and for many years successfully conducted a general store in Ellettsville, Indiana, where he was very prominent and influential, indeed a grand old man, whom to know was to respect and admire. He was benevolent and a philanthropist, never refusing to assist and indorse a worthy cause, and the many little charitable deeds to his credit won the hearts of scores who stood in need of help. He was a great church worker and did much good in that cause.
Mary Henry Lewis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clay Lewis, was born August 26, 1882, received a good education and became a lady of culture and excellent characteristics. She married Floyd Newby, of Knightstown, Indiana, where he is at present successfully engaged in practicing the law. He was graduated from the Indiana State University law school, while Mrs. Newby holds a certificate of graduation from DePauw University. Two interesting children have added sunshine to their home, Lewis Perry, born May 4, 1908, and Robert Clay, born August 10, 1909.
Henry Clay Lewis was a great worker in the Republican party, being one of the most prominent advocates of that political faith in this section of the state and his efforts were attracting state-wide attention and no doubt had he been spared he would have been called to high and worthy positions as a public servant as a result of his public spirit, his genuine worth and integrity. Fraternally he was a member of the Knights of Pythias. His memory is cherished hy all classes in Putnam county, for he was truly a good and useful man.
"Weiks History of Putnam County Indiana" by Jesse W. Weik. 1910
B.F. Bowen & Co., Publishers, Indianapolis IN
BASCOM O’HAIR
No family in Putnam county is so closely interwoven with the history of the county as the O'Hair family, consequently none more deserving of conspicuous representation in a work of the province of the one at hand. Among the first settlers, they have been continuously identified with its progress and development, and are conspicuous examples of the best citizenship, always ready to lend a helping hand in furthering the county's interests in any way and leading such lives of probity and uprightness as to win and retain the confidence and esteem of all classes. From the early pioneer days they have been active in the life of the county, witnessing its wondrous development from the primeval forests to the opulent present, from the day of the blazed trail and the ox cart to the present fine turnpike highways and the automobile.
One of the best known members of this well-established old family is Bascom O'Hair, who was born on a farm six miles north of Greencastle, on June 18, 1837, and he has found it to his interests to spend most of his long and eminently useful life in his native locality. His father, J. E. M. O'Hair, was a native of Kentucky, born in 1804, and he was one of that small band of pioneers who emigrated to this section of the Hoosier state in the epoch to which historians alude to as "early days." He settled six miles north of the present city of Greencastle, penetrating the virgin forest, clearing a place for his cabin, and later developing a fine farm on which he lived the remainder of his life, becoming well-to-do for those days, and he was influential and highly honored among his neighbors for his many admirable traits of character. He married Elizabeth Montgomery, who was also a native of Kentucky, and this union resulted in the birth of eleven children, named as follows: Asbury is living in Monroe township; J. E. Elsberry and Greenberry also live in Monroe township; J. T. and Eliza J. are deceased; Bascom, of this review; Sarah E. is living in Greencastle; Robert A. lives in Monroe township; Ceylina lives in Putnamville; Sylvester lives in Monroe township; Leroy died in infancy. After the death of his first wife, the father of these children married Parmelia Lockridge, by whom he became the father of two children, Robert L., the well known president of the Central National Bank of Greencastle, and Mrs. Maggie Black, of Wellington, Kansas.
J. E. M. O'Hair, after a long, honorable and useful career, was called to his reward in 1899, having reached the remarkable age of ninety-five years.
Bascom O'Hair spent his boyhood days on the home farm, where he assisted with the general work about the place until he was twenty-one years of age, attending the district schools in meantime. He then bought a farm in Monroe township and soon began dealing in real estate, for which he seemed to have a natural likeness and ability. In 1882 he went to Oklahoma where he resided for a period of twentv years. He bought land in the Cherokee strip and from time to time purchased large tracts of land in other parts of that country, then new and abounding in all kinds of opportunities, all of which proved to be profitable investments. He was very successful in the southwest. But eight years ago he returned to Greencastle, where he has since resided. He has large property interests and is one of the financially solid and substantial men of Putnam county, and one of the most influential in business circles. He is a director of the Central National Bank and the Central Trust Company of Greencastle. He has a modern, attractive and costly home, elegantly furnished, which is known to the many friends of the family as a place of hospitality and good cheer. Mr. O'Hair also has extensive interests in Florida, owning a pretty winter bungalow in Tampa and an orange grove on the Alafia river, twelve miles east Tampa. Mr. and Mrs. O'Hair spend their winters in the south.
Mr. O'Hair was married on August 12, 1903, to Mrs. Blanche Goodwine, daughter of Harry and Hester Brandt. Her parents were natives of Ohio and known as people of integrity and sterling worth. Mrs. OHair was born and reared in Attica, Indiana, receiving a good education, and her genial, solicitous, affable and courteous demeanor indicates that she was reared in the midst of wholesome environments. This union has been without issue. Mrs. O’Hair is an accomplished, talented and cultured woman. She is a skilled wood carver, and many beautiful specimens of her handicraft adorns the walls of their spacious home on East Washington street. Painting is another of her accomplishments, and her china and art draperies and stencil work are rare specimens of art and are greatly admired by all who are fortunate enough to see them. She also has literary ability and is interested in church and club work.
Both Mr. and Mrs. O'Hair are members of the College Avenue Methodist Episcopal church, and fraternally, Mr. O’Hair is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Politically he is a Republican.
Personally Mr. O'Hair is a wide-awake, enterprising man of the times, fully alive to the dignities and responsibilities of citizenship, and, to the extent of his ability, contributes to the material prosperity of the community and to the social, intellectual and moral advancement of the populace. Good natured, easily approached. straightforward and unassuming, he commands the respect of all with whom he comes into contact, and his friends are as great as the number of his acquaintances. While a power in the industrial circles of Greencastle, he is universally esteemed in all the relations of life, and his career has been creditable to himself and an honor to Putnam county, so long the abode of this excellent family, the untarnished escutcheon of whose he has ever sought to bear aloft.
"Weiks History of Putnam County Indiana" by Jesse W. Weik. 1910
B.F. Bowen & Co., Publishers, Indianapolis IN
HON. DELANO E. WILLIAMSON.
Few men of Putnam county and this section of Indiana enjoyed greater prestige than the late Hon. Delano Williamson, of Greencastle, as a leading citizen, able attorney and as a public official against whose record no word of suspicion was ever uttered - who, for many years, was an important factor in the history of this locality. His prominence in the community was the direct result of genuine merit, industry and integrity. In every relation of life, whether in the humble sphere of private citizenship or as a trusted leader of his fellow men, his many excellences of character and the able and impartial manner in which he discharged his every duty won for him an enviable reputation as an enterprising and representative self-made man, brilliant attorney and far-seeing statesman, whose career is eminently worthy of emulation by the youth hesitating at the parting of the ways and whose destinies are yet matters for future years to determine.
Mr. Williamson was born in Florence, Boone county, Kentucky, August 19, 1822, the son of Robert and Lydia (Madden) Williamson. The father was a descendant of Elliott Williamson, a native of Ireland, who emigrated to America in time to participate in the struggle of the colonies for independence and fought in the Continental army under Washington, and thus conferred upon his descendants the title of "Sons and Daughters of the Revolution," which is one of the very highest titles, if not the highest, that can be bestowed upon an American. On his mother's side his ancestry dates back to the time when William Penn came to America - to the family of Hollingsworth, who accompanied that illustrious Quaker to the New World.
When Delano E. Williamson was eight years of age his parents moved to Covington, Kentucky, and in 1833 they followed the tide of emigration westward and settled in Vermilion county, Illinois, and began life there amid primitive conditions. When Delano E. was nineteen years of age, in 1841, he came to Putnam county, Indiana, with the intention of entering Asbury (now DePauw) University, but after remaining in Greencastle about two weeks he abandoned the idea and went to Bowling Green, Clay county, where he accepted a position as deputy county clerk, and there found the first incentive to follow the legal profession. His education up to this time had been such only as he had obtained in the common schools of Illinois. In March, 1842, he married Elizabeth Elliott, a sister of the county clerk, in whose office he was employed. Four children were born to them, viz.: Robert E., of Cloverdale, Indiana; Mrs. Florence L. Ricketts, of Springfield, Illinois; Mary, who died in 1874, and Charles D., of Indianapolis. During his residence in Bowling Green, which extended over nearly two years, he devoted his leisure time to the study of the law, and with a view of continuing his law studies he returned to Greencastle and entered the law office of Eckles & Hanna for that purpose and in due time applied for examination for a license to practice law and admission to the bar, honors conferred at that time only as a reward of merit, it being necessary for the young aspirant to climb to the coveted distinction by a greater effort than is required at present. The old-time lawyers, such as guarded the profession from intrusion by empirics in the far-away days of the forties, regarded their prerogatives as semi-sacred. The examining committee in the case of Mr. Williamson was composed of Gen. Tilghman H. Howard, Joseph A. Wright (afterwards governor of Indiana and minister to Germany), Henry Secrest and Delano R. Eckles (afterwards supreme judge of Utah) - all noted for their great abilities. This committee reported favorably and a license was issued, signed by Judge Bryant, of the circuit court. The admission, however, was not yet complete. The candidate proceeded to Owen county, where he was a second time examined by Judge David E. McDonald, from whom he also obtained permission to practice.
Mr. Williamson located as a lawyer first in Clay county, where he practiced his profession with a reasonable degree of success until 1850, when he was elected to the lower house of the Legislature from Clay county, on the Democratic ticket, by six hundred majority, over two competitors. Among his associates in the house were Ashbel P. Willard, afterwards governor; John P. Usher, afterwards secretary of the interior; and Daniel D. Pratt, afterwards senator of the United States from Indiana.
In the year 1853 Mr. Williamson removed to Greencastle and there made his home. In 1858 he was again nominated as a Democrat for the Legislature, but, owing to a division in the party, was beaten by five votes. Meanwhile he was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the state, and traveling through the adjoining counties he became well and favorably known, not only as an advocate, but also as a prominent and influential citizen, and in the practice of his profession he was eminently successful and became distinguished for his legal learning and mental acumen, easily taking front rank among the ablest lawyers of the state.
In 1859 Mr. Williamson formed a law partnership with Hon. Addison Daggy, which continued for thirty years to a day, securing a reputation and practice second to few legal firms in the state, the partners being well balanced in their characteristics and talents.
Down to 1860 Mr. Williamson had always been a stanch Democrat, and in that year he took a very active part in the campaign, being a supporter of Stephen A. Douglas for the Presidency. In 1861, immediately after President Lincoln's call for troops to suppress the rebellion, Mr. Williamson, never flinching in his devotion to the Union, became an active supporter of the government and the administration, and he devoted himself for the next twelve months with patriotic zeal to the promotion of the war spirit in his own and adjoining counties. He pressed his loyalty to the extent of producing a rupture between himself and the Democratic party, and he was excluded from its councils and leadership. In June, 1862, at the Union convention of the state, composed of the Republican party and the Union Democrats, he received the unsolicited nomination for attorney-general of the state. Among his five competitors in the convention were Senator Pratt and Judge Smith. The war spirit widened the breach between the adherents and the opponents of the government; men became estranged, and party feeling ran high and was intensified with the prosecution of the war and the Emancipation proclamation. At intervals the Democratic party in Indiana gained the upper hand, but the Union cause held on to final triumph. In 1864, 1866 and 1868 Mr. Williamson was elected attorney-general of the state, ably serving three consecutive terms, and in 1870 he refused a fourth nomination. No better evidence of his professional skill and unblemished reputation as a man of honor can be given than the unqualified support of his party for the highest legal office in the state for a period of eight years. In 1872 he accompanied Senator Morton in his great canvass through the middle and southern counties of Indiana, participating with great ability in the campaign. In 1876 he was a candidate for Congress before the Republican nominating convention at Greencastle; but, owing to local divisions in the party, he was defeated for the nomination.
January 3, 1861, Mr. Williamson married his last wife, Carrie Badger, of Greencastle, daughter of Rev. Oliver P. Badger, a distinguished minister in the Christian church. Two children were born to them: Ida B., wife of O. G. Sercombe, of Louisville, Kentucky, and Badger Williamson, who resides in Greencastle with his mother, and who, on May 15, 1895, was married to Eugenia Pearle Stoner. They were married by Alexander Campbell, founder of the Christian church. Of the children of his first marriage, Robert E., the eldest son, served in the Fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, participating in the battle of Antietam and in the severe winter campaigns that followed.
Politically, Mr. Williamson continued to act with the Republican party until the year 1892. By that time the issues on questions of revenue and finance had been clearly announced. On these he had always held the principles of the Democratic party. During the war epoch and the period of reconstruction he espoused the principles of the Republican party as paramount to all questions touching the tariff and the financial management of the county. The reconstruction period being closed, his old-time sympathies with Democratic doctrines revived, and being unable to influence the doctrines and tendencies of the Republican party, he ceased to act with that organization. He was eagerly welcomed by his old political associates and in 1894 was nominated by the Democratic party as joint representative for the counties of Putnam, Clay and Montgomery. He made a gallant canvass, but, owing to the political revulsion in that year, was not elected.
Before this time, for a period of about five years, Mr. Williamson had been in very ill health. It appeared at times that his erstwhile vigorous and active constitution was giving way under the impact of disease and advancing years, but he made a splendid rally, and in 1892 and 1893 he resumed the practice of law, taking in with him, under the firm name of Williamson & Williamson, his promising son, Badger Williamson, upon whom the more active and aggressive part of the practice devolved and for years they continued to do a large business, the elder Williamson, the senior member of the Putnam county bar, retaining his rare tact and strength of intellect up to the last, and after an earthly pilgrimage of over four score years this distinguished lawyer and citizen was called to his reward on a higher plane of action, May 2, 1903, from his home in Greencastle, having bravely and heroically approached the sunset of a busy and distinguished life with every grace that adorns old age. Learned in the law and in literature, familiar with the history of his country, in sympathy with the best thought of his times, watchful of events and the trend of affairs, urbane and companionable, he rounded up a life of usefulness to his fellow men, all classes of whom revere his memory.
Religiously, Mr. Williamson was a member of the Christian church, in which body he had great local influence. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, attaining the Royal Arch degree. Personally he was a man of imposing presence, tall, erect, his broad shoulders bearing a splendidly shaped head-strong, patrician features, clean-cut, expressive, showing depth of thought, strength of character and indomitable will. His manners were those of the cultured, genteel, courteous, well-bred gentleman, and he was a noted figure in any assembly of distinguished men. His success in life was largely due to a steadfastness of purpose, honesty, fidelity to right principles, a high order of intelligence and a remarkable force of character which inspired at once the confidence and esteem of his fellow men.
"Weiks History of Putnam County Indiana" by Jesse W. Weik. 1910
B.F. Bowen & Co., Publishers, Indianapolis IN
ANDREW M. LOCKRIDGE.
Among the highly honored, influential and well remembered citizens of Putnam county of a past generation who well deserve definite recognition in a work of the province assigned to the one at hand is Andrew M. Lockridge, for the history of the county and his biography are very much one and the same thing and for much of its growth and prosperity it is indebted to him. He was long one of its enterprising laborers and wise counselors. A progressive business man in the broad sense of the term, he realized the needs of the people and with clear brain and strong hand supplied the demand generously and unsparingly. The county was never honored by the citizenship of a man more widely or favorably known in western Indiana, and none stood higher in the esteem of his acquaintances, for to him was accorded unqualified confidence and regard, and that he was deserving of the same no one will deny. His long and useful life was spent practically within the borders of this county, with whose varied interests he was actively and successfully identified. His well-directed efforts in the practical affairs of life, his capable management of his own business interests and his sound judgment brought to him well earned prosperity, his life demonstrating what may be accomplished by the man of energy and ambition, who is not afraid to work and who has the perseverance to continue his labors whether attended by favorable results or in the face of seemingly discouraging circumstances. Thus his career may be held up as an example to the youth of the land who hesitate at the parting of the ways.
Andrew M. Lockridge was born March 30, 1814, near Mount Sterling, Montgomery county, Kentucky, and there he grew to maturity, assisting with the work about the home place and attending such schools as those early times afforded, and although his test-book training was limited he always kept abreast of the times by home reading and study. Desiring to cast his lot in a new country where land was cheaper and opportunities greater, in 1835, he brought his widowed mother to Putnam county, Indiana, reaching their future home in the autumn and settled on a farm fifteen miles north of Greencastle, which place is yet known as the Lockridge farm. Here, amid primitive conditions, Mr. Lockridge, then a young man of vigor and ambition, went to work and in due course of time had an excellent start and developed a fine farm, and, being a man of excellent judgment, keen foresight and indefatigable energy, he seldom failed in carrying to successful issue whatever he undertook. He was certainly deserving of the same, for he was truly the architect of his own fortunes, being a purely self-made man, his father, Robert Lockridge, a fine Kentucky gentleman of the old school, having died when Andrew M. was but twelve years old. The lad was thus early in life thrown practically upon his own resources and soon came in charge of the care and responsibility of the family, and such cares in the then frontier of the middle West, in 1825, meant more than we of today can fully appreciate. However, this was excellent as well as hard discipline and it fostered in the growing boy such traits of sterling character as to make for success. He was always a very reserved and unpretentious man, physically and mentally strong, yet seemingly unconscious of his strength and power. Although his life was devoted almost exclusively to agricultural and stock-raising pursuits, having few equals and no superiors in either line in western Indiana, being an unusually good judge of all kinds of livestock and a student of the soil and all phases of progressive fanning, yet he was interested in many and varied industries and was always ready to assist in a substantial way any movement promising good to those concerned and the general public, being a promoter and a financier by nature, a man who would have succeeded in any environment and at any line of endeavor. He was generous, giving freely of his means, never withholding from any needed good, taking a delight in anything which he believed would make his fellow men better, and sought to teach his associates by frugality and economy to be self-sustaining, independent and useful citizens.
For thirty years this extraordinary man was vice-president and a director of the First National Bank of Greencastle and much of its prestige was due to his conservative advice in its management, and in all that has made this city beloved at home and respected abroad the impress of this truly good and honest man is plainly written. By nature modest, he never courted applause and despised ostentation, doing what he did for his community through other and more exalted motives, true rectitude being one of the fundamental principles of his character and a high regard for the sacredness of right. He scorned the mean compliance of recognized dishonesty, and would not stoop to the disgraceful tricks of trade; he was known as a man of honor in the commercial world, another distinctly marked trait of his character was his indomitable energy - an energy that rose with irresistible force in the presence of accumulating difficulties, which he surmounted or pushed aside, ignoring the things that would have retarded if not completely thwarted others of less courageous spirit. Combined with this trait was his gift of great practical common sense, which made him a safe counselor to those who needed wise advice. His life and character were an open book.
In 1858 Mr. Lockridge joined the Methodist church in Greencastle and continued true and faithful in his duties and obligations to the church. He was a man of deep religious conviction and carried his religion into his everyday life. After a brief illness, this good and useful citizen was summoned by the common fate of all to close his earthly accounts and take up his work on a higher plane of action, November 2, 1893.
No less devoted to right living and right thinking was the noble life companion of Mr. Lockridge, known in her maidenhood as Elizabeth Farrow, whom he married February 23, 1843. She was the daughter of Col. A. S. Farrow, one of the county's leading pioneer citizens whose career is fully given in another part of this work. She was reared and educated in this county and had hosts of friends here, and she lived with Mr. Lockridge, sharing his joys and sorrows, for a period of nearly forty-five years, passing serenely away on February 4, 1888, leaving behind her the priceless heritage of her prayers and the memory of a beautiful Christian life, for she was a loving wife, a devoted mother and faithful friend, her whole life being one long sacrifice of self to the welfare and happiness of those she loved. Through all her long illness her thoughts were for others rather than herself.
Mrs. Lockridge, like her husband, lived most of her life in Putnam county, having been born near Mt. Sterling, Montgomery county, Kentucky, November 24, 1826, and was therefore at the time of her death sixty-one years, two months and eleven days old. She was the seventh child of a family of ten children, three brothers of whom preceded her to the land of spirits. When she was four years of age, in the autumn of 1830, her family emigrated to Putnam county, Indiana, locating nine miles north of Greencastle. The country was new and sparsely settled and the advantages of school and church associations were meager, but in the little log school house of that day, she, with her brothers and sisters, obtained a fair common school education. When only thirteen years old, in a little log church on her father's farm, she professed the religion of the Christ and united with the Methodist church, in which faith she lived with unfaltering trust, without a cloud to dim her hope of immortality, until the moment her purified spirit passed into the mystic beyond.
To Mr. and Mrs. Andrew M. Lockridge four children were born, the first born, Robert, dying in infancy; the other three reached maturity and have been leading and influential citizens of Putnam county since they came into manhood's estate, evincing in all the relations of life the wholesome home environment in which they were reared; they are Simpson, Alexander H. and Albert O.
"Weiks History of Putnam County Indiana" by Jesse W. Weik. 1910
B.F. Bowen & Co., Publishers, Indianapolis IN