EDWARD WATSON

Among the veteran business men of Vincennes Edward Watson is easily accorded a place of honor and nothing that could be written, either complimentary or otherwise, would in any degree affect the opinion of lifelong friends and associates who have had many opportunities of knowing his worth. The son of a pioneer, Mr. Watson is himself a pioneer who not only assisted in the construction of the great overland railway to the Pacific coast but has been a witness of the changes that have revolutionized thought and industry in a vast region and founded an empire where previously were the wilderness and the roving Indian. Today in peace and prosperity he looks back on a life of activity and usefulness and as the head of a happy family, recalls incidents and reminiscences of men and events that would make a volume of surpassing interest. Mr. Watson was born at Vincennes, September 21, 1846, a son of Louis Latour and Lydia (Fellows) Watson. His grandfather was Robert Goa Watson, a southern man, who was the owner of a large plantation and was also a judge. He was identified with the fur trade in the early days along the Ohio, Mississippi and other rivers and, while on a business trip to Vincennes with his wife, Louis Latour was born April 10, 1809. The father of our subject died in Vincennes at the advanced age of ninety-three, on the 2d of May, 1902. The mother was a native of New York State. Edward Watson was educated at Vincennes and Greencastle, Indiana. In 1869, when scarcely more than a boy, he was seized with the western fever, which had attracted thousands of promising young men to the Pacific coast. In the early part of the 70's he crossed on the overland trail to California and for seven years was in business there. He then became identified with the building of the Central Pacific Railway, afterward spending some time as an employee in the pay department of the United States navy yard at Vallejo, California. Few men now living have witnessed the stirring scenes in which this young adventurer from Indiana took an active part. He saw the Indian and the buffalo rapidly disappearing before the onward march of civilization and today where the caravan camped on the streams, plains and mountains are to be seen cultivated farms or flourishing towns. Many of the mining camps, which he visited, then teeming with thousands of excited gold hunters, are now deserted for new fields and the spot is marked only by crumbling logs and great chasms extending hundreds of feet into the earth where the abandoned mines have caved in. In 1871, Mr. Watson, at twenty-five years of age, decided to revisit the scenes of his boyhood and returned to Vincennes. For a year he was connected with the Depot Hotel, which was opened about the time of his return. He then once more made the trip to California, this time in a transcontinental train, which accomplished the journey in five days, it having required six months by wagon during the period of the gold hunters. In San Francisco he engaged in the house furnishing business but in 1876, the centennial year, he came once more to Vincennes by way of Panama and was placed in charge of the Union Depot Hotel. Here he has remained, buying other interests from time to time, and he is now the owner and manager of this valuable property. He has been very active in business affairs and is president of the Hartman Manufacturing Company; vice president of the Farmers National Bank of Wheatland, Indiana; a director of the First National Bank of Vincennes; and an officer or stockholder in many other companies. For twenty-six years he acted as president of the Board of Trade and in that capacity was the means of securing for Vincennes the location of many of the largest manufacturing enterprises now in successful operation in the city. At all times he has put forth every effort to build up the community and his services are universally recognized by citizens of all classes. Mr. Watson was united in marriage July 2, 1902, to Miss Anna Staley, and they have three children: Edward Dean aged seven years; Louis Latour Ferdinand, aged five; and Helen Frances aged three. Mr. Watson is an intelligent man of wide observation and large experience with the world. In the course of a varied career, he has tried his hand at nearly all-honorable occupations. He has never been afraid to work and whatever he has attempted to do he has undertaken with an energy that has generally produced tangible results. He is essentially what is known as a self-made man, and such men are fearless in following any path that their judgment indicates will lead to victory. For years he has been recognized as one of the foremost citizens of Vincennes. He is a democrat but has never had ambition to fill a political office, although he has many times assisted friends in political campaigns. For four years, ending in 1910, he was a member of the board of public works and much of permanent good to the city was accomplished during this period. In social circles he is connected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and he is also a member of the Pastime Club. Mr. Watson is widely known to the traveling public. He is known as a successful businessman and a patriotic citizen and one whose sympathies readily respond to all worthy calls. It is doubtful if there is any honor he might ask for within the gift of the community in which he was born that would not be granted. This is a distinction available to few, but in all cases to those only who by a useful life have proven their worthiness.

Submitted by: Lora
History of Old Vincennes And Knox County, Indiana Greene Volume l & 2 1911


WESLEY CLEVELAND

Wesley Cleveland, who has the honor of being connected with the same line of ancestry as Grover Cleveland, twice president of the United States, was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, September 17, 1850, and has for a number of years been a resident of Knox county. He is a son of Benjamin and Anne (McCamman) Cleveland. The father, who was born in New Jersey in 1813, emigrated to Sullivan County, Indiana, in 1834, when he was twenty-one years of age, and lived on the same farm in that county until his death, which occurred in October, 1892, just before the election of Grover Cleveland for the second time as president. He was a successful farmer, a man of genial characteristics and a patriotic citizen, who always attempted to perform his duty according to the dictates of an enhightened conscience. Politically he was in sympathy with the Democratic Party, but he never sought official preferment. The mother was a native of the Emerald isle. She came to this country with her parents at three years of age and here she lived until 1852, when she was called to her reward. She was a woman of kind heart, generous disposition and many noble qualities, which endeared her to her family and friends. She was the mother of nine children: Mary J., William, John, Andrew, Thomas and George, all deceased; Wesley, our subject; Benjamin, now engaged in farming near Carlisle, Sullivan county; and James, a farmer of Greene County, this state The subject of this review was educated in the common schools, receiving such an education as is often of great importance in shaping the character for usefulness and unselfishness and it had a marked effect in his case. He remained upon the home farm until he was twenty-one years of age and then became identified with the railroad business. Later he removed to Bicknell, where he teamed for several years, but gave up that business in 1908 to become assessor of the town and township, which position he still fills, having shown an ability that has met the hearty approval of the taxpayers. He also pays some attention to gardening. He owns the home in which he lives, with two lots and an acre of ground in the town and has an established reputation as one of the responsible and progressive citizens of Knox County. In 1876 Mr. Cleveland was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Phillippe, who died April 2, 1901. There were eight children born to them: William; Anna Rose, the wife of M. B. Fox, of Bicknell; M. M., the wife of William Scomp, of Bicknell; Lewis; Thurman; Rebecca, deceased; Pearl; and Ray. Five of the children are now living at home and assist in making it one of the happy gathering places of Bicknell. Mr. Cleveland, as was his father, is an adherent of the Democratic Party. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and encampment at Bicknell. In his life he has been controlled by a desire to assist in advancing the permanent welfare of those with whom he has been associated and his ambition has been largely realized. As a useful and enterprising citizen he has done his part toward promoting the best interests of the community and no man is more sincerely respected by those who know him than the subject of this review.

Submitted by: Lora
History of Old Vincennes And Knox County, Indiana Greene Volume l & 2 1911


WILLIAM H. DYER

William H. Dyer, a well known and successful business man of Vincennes, who is recognized as one of its most capable and energetic captains of industry, is a native of Ohio, born in the town of Hamilton, north of Cincinnati, in 1853. He comes of good fighting stock, Grandfather Dyer having valiantly defended the cause of the colonists at the time of the Revolution, also wearing a uniform as a soldier of his country in the war of 1812. The father, Elbridge Gerry Dyer, was born in Saco county, Maine, in 1815, and had passed the age for active service at the time of the Civil war, but he was a patriotic citizen and provided for numerous families whose beads he had influenced to enlist under the stars and stripes. He engaged in the manufacture of machinery and his plant at Hamilton was one of the largest and best equipped of the kind in the country during the time he was in charge. The mother of our subject was before her marriage Margaret Terrer and was born in Wales in 1824. There were eight children in the family, five of whom are now surviving: William H.; Abbie, the wife of Dr. E. T. Allen, of Chicago, and the mother of three children; Albion M., curator of the Cleveland public library, who married Ella Dunham and is the father of four children; Mabel, the wife of George A. Stickney, of Boston, and the mother of two children; and Margaret, the wife of D. R. Byard, of Hamilton, Ohio, and the mother of one daughter. The subject of this review grew up in the Buckeye state and received his education in the public schools of Hamilton, Ohio, and at Denison University of Granville, Ohio. After leaving the university, Mr. Dyer entered the shop of his father and there became thoroughly acquainted with the machinist's trade, continuing for about fifteen years and passing through various departments during that time. He then became identified with a canning factory at Hamilton, with which he was also connected for fifteen years. Having gained a practical knowledge of the details of the canning industry and also of the markets and demands in various parts of the country and of the world, he decided to embark in business for himself. In 1907, having selected Vincennes as his headquarters, be leased a canning plant in this city, which he later purchased, anti the business is now conducted under the title of the Dyer Packing Company and has attained a wide reputation. Seventy persons are employed at the plant and its capacity is twenty-five thousand cans daily all the year round, the operations being confined exclusively to pork and beans and catsup. The products of this factory find a ready market in the United States and foreign countries and the plant over which Mr. Dyer presides is one of the most completely appointed institutions of the kind to be seen anywhere. The visitor may here note the operation of many features, which are the direct result of Mr. Dyer's intimate knowledge of mechanics and his experience in the packing business. By his energy and progressiveness he has added to the material wealth of the city and trade it indeed more pleasing place of abode. In 1900 Mr. Dyer was united in marriage to Mrs. Isabella Parish, NEE Bannerman, a native of Bradford, Canada, born in 1863. An adopted daughter, Ruth, now nine years of age, is one of the pleasing members of the household. Mr. Dyer is essentially a man of business, but he has devoted some attention to politics and as a result is an insurgent, believing that the independent voter is the hope of the country. He is a valued member of the Presbyterian Church and in his various duties and responsibilities has shown a fidelity and clear judgment, which have been distinguishing characteristics of his entire life. He is a man whose cooperation may always be depended upon in any undertaking that aims to promote the general welfare and he is esteemed as a progressive and substantial force in the up building of Vincennes.

Submitted by: Lora
History of Old Vincennes And Knox County, Indiana Volume l & 2 1911


FRANKLIN CLARKE.
Franklin Clarke was one of the pioneer representatives of industrial activity in Vincennes and through long years was the promoter of various business enterprises, which contributed, in large and substantial measure to the growth and up building of this city. Thus he left the indelible impress of his individuality upon Vincennes where his name is yet honored and his memory cherished. He was born in Sodus Center, Wayne County, New York, January 9, 1832, and was descended from an old New England family, which settled in Massachusetts in the early part of the seventeenth century. New England, perhaps, more than any other section of the country, early had high regard for the value of education, and Mr. Clarke, like other youths of that district, was carefully trained in the elementary branches of learning. He was seventeen years of age when he was regularly apprenticed to the machinist’s trade, serving a four years’ term of indenture in the town of Lyons, Wayne County, New York. He became quite proficient during that period and for several years thereafter was employed as a machinist in Richmond, Virginia, where he assisted in building the engines for some of the vessels afterward used in the Civil War. He left the Old Dominion to become a resident of Indiana in April, 1857, which month witnessed his arrival in Vincennes. Here he resided continuously until his death, with the exception of two or three years passed in the south during the war between the two sections of the country. He was employed as a machinist by the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad Company until about 1862. Mr. Clarke became a pioneer in industrial operations in Vincennes when, in 1864, he joined Mr. H. A. Buck and a Mr. Chapman in building the Wabash Valley Foundry and Machine Shop. His was the first home establishment of the kind in this city and was a valuable addition to the enterprises of the town and to southern Indiana. The new undertaking was successfully conducted, becoming an important feature in promoting the commercial progress of Vincennes. It did not, however, encompass the scope of Mr. Clarke’s activities, for he became connected with various business enterprises being at the time of his death the owner of the Vincennes Calorific Brick Works, and the general manager and a stockholder of the Prospect Hill Coal Company. He was recognized as a man of judgment and high character, he was essentially a self-made man, his success being due to his exceptional industry, nerve and perseverance. In 1863 occurred the marriage of Mr. Clarke and Miss Alice Judah, who survives her husband. They became the parents of three children, but a daughter Mamie died in childhood. Franklin who died in early manhood, at the outset of a promising career, left a wife, who in her maidenhood was Minnie Kelly, and a daughter Lucinda now in school. The surviving son Brandon Clarke married Mabel Purcell. Mr. Clarke was a prominent member of time Masonic fraternity which he joined in 1857, advancing through the various degrees of the York Rite until he became a Knight Templar. The interests and companionship of his Masonic association were among the most cherished of his life. His political faith was that of the republican party and in 1875 he was chosen a member of the city council to which tie was again and again reelected until the period of his service covered twenty—three years and the municipal legislation of the city was largely shaped through his efforts. During this long period he acquired an extensive experience in civil affairs and by the faithful performance of his duty won the confidence of the best men of both parties. In manner he was modest and unassuming and at all times kindly obliging. He had a genial sense of humor which ever made him a welcome companion a stalwart integrity that made him an honored associate in business circles and a public spirit that made him one of the most valued of Vincennes citizens. His strict integrity and honesty of purpose led him to despise all unworthy or questionable means to secure success in any undertaking, either for the welfare of the city or for his own advancement.

Submitted by: Lora
History of Old Vincennes And Knox County, Indiana Volume l & 2 1911


Joseph Carrie

A native of Johnson township, Knox County, was born October 29, 1838, near the St. Thomas Catholic church, and is the son of Mitchell Carrie and Martha (Tougaw) Carrie, the father having died in 1870, and the mother in March, 1859. He has followed the vocation of farming all his life, and his fine farm of 300 acres attests the fact that he is master of the art, and a successful agriculturist. He is an active member of the St. Thomas Catholic church, and was married to Miss Barbara Lacoste, daughter of Chas. and Martha Lacoste, February 5th, 1865, she having died February 26, 1884. He was again married at St. Rose church, to Julia L. La Plante, the daughter of Joseph and Marceline La Plante, and a sister of Henry, whose biographical sketch appears in the issue. Our subject attended the common schools of Johnson township and also a private school at the Vincennes Cathedral. Mr. Carrie's grandfather was the first settler on Carrie Prairie, having settled there about 1820. Land was then selling at 12 1-2 cents per acre. Our subject was assessor of Johnson township two successive terms, was elected in 1881 and re-elected in 1883. Was elected trustee of Johnson township in 1886 and re-elected in 1888. He was appointed constructing commissioner of the James T. Orr, et. al. ditch. Politically Mr. Carrie is a republican.

Mr. Joseph Carrie's uncle, Gabriel Queret, was my 4th great-grandfather. You'll find the Queret name spelled all sorts of different ways: Querrez, Querret, Carrie, Carie, Carey, etc.

Historical Atlas of Knox County, Indiana. Compiled and Published by F.C. Hardacre, 1903.
Submitted by Andrea Dougan

Emma Goodman

The subject of this sketch is postmistress at Red Cloud, Decker Township, where she conducts a large general store, in which she enjoys a liberal trade. She was born there on the 13th day of January, 1856, and is a daughter of Sylvester and Dotie (Bedell) Horrall. She attended the public schools of Decker Township. She married W.H. Goodman, who died several years ago. She has five children, Grace Ellen, Willard S., Mattie L., Nile H. and Harriet E. Mrs. Goodman is a faithful member of the Methodist church. Her entire life has been spent in Decker Township. She is a woman of capability. In addition to conducting her store, she acts as postmistress, a position she has successfully filled for four years. Her father was postmaster before her, a position he filled for twelve years. She owns an elegant home and sixty acres of fine fertile land in Decker township, which is in a fine state of cultivation.

Emma (Horrall) Goodman and C.C. Horrall in another sketch were first cousins. Their fathers, Sylvester and Darius were brothers. Darius was my 3rd great-grandfather.

Historical Atlas of Knox County, Indiana. Compiled and Published by F.C. Hardacre, 1903.
Submitted by Andrea Dougan

C.C. Horrall

One of the reliable farmers of Johnson township is the above named gentleman. He was born March 9th, 1868, close to where he now resides. He is the son of Darius and Rebecca (Warth) Horrall, the former having died February 18th, 1896. Our subject was married to Miss Laura Sisson, daughter of Dr. H. Sisson and Eliza Sisson. Our subject owns a fertile farm near Decker. He also runs a threshing machine in the fall of the year. His own industry and enterprise have brought him his success in life, and his honorable career has gained for him the high regard of all. He is a republican, and, with his good wife, believes in the good old Methodical doctrine.

Cleaver C. Horrall is related to me. His sister, Charlottie, was my 2nd great-grandmother. Cleaver and his wife, Laura, never had any children.

Historical Atlas of Knox County, Indiana. Compiled and Published by F.C. Hardacre, 1903.
Submitted by Andrea Dougan

Wm. H. Egbert was born in Richmond County, N.Y., on September 28th, 1844, is one of Knox County's prominent farmers. His father, Jas. Egbert, died in 1856, and the mother in 1870. He was married to Ruth E. Williams, March 16, 1881, at Vincennes, by Rev. Alexander. They have two children, Mary and William. Politically Mr. Egbert is a Republican. He has a war record to be proud of, serving in the 80th Ind. Reg. Co. G. He was captured in 1864 in the army, and held until close of war, and was in both Andersonville and Florence prisons. He was in the battle of Perrysville and Kenasaw Mt., also with Sherman in his march to the sea. Mr. Egbert's farm of 100 acres is well improved with neat dwelling and barn. Few men have served their country better, and all who have come in contact with Mr. Egbert know him to be upright and honest. His good wife departed this life on March 25th, 1890, at the age of 41 years.

Historical Atlas of Knox County, Indiana. Compiled and Published by F.C. Hardacre, 1903.
Submitted by Andrea Dougan

Deb Murray