Terre Haute
WILLIAM J. BRIGGS, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard S. BRIGGS, was born July 1, 1862, at Alton, Illinois, and died July 8, 1894. Educated in the public schools of Terre Haute, in 1878 he became a bookkeeper in his father's lumber business, and in 1890 was admitted to a partnership. This relation continued until his death, which removed a young man of high standing and brighter promise. He was well advanced in the fraternities, being a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Uniform Rank, Knights of Pythias. He also belonged to the McKeen Cadets. Like his father, he enjoyed the unqualified honor of those who could appreciate unassuming but substantial manhood. His wife, to whom he was married on the 8th of November, 1892, was Miss Grace BANNISTER, who survives him, and, with relatives and numerous close friends, deeply mourns his comparatively early death.
GREATER TERRE HAUTE AND VIGO COUNTY
C.C. Oakey - 1908
P. 819
AARON CONOVER - The farm which Aaron CONOVER owns and operates is one of the historic ones of Vigo county and is the site of the county's first fair grounds. It was used by the soldiers during the Civil war, and Mr. CONOVER can yet recall to mind when the soldier boys bunked in the stable of the fair grounds. A small frame building still standing near his barn was used by the commissary, and it has a number of times in recent years been photographed by the soldiers. The old canal which was in operation in the fifties also runs through this historic farm, and as a boy Aaron CONOVER rode a mule up and down its banks. In those early days he was well acquainted with a negro who, unable to swim, often performed the feat of crossing the canal by wading in and crawling on the bottom to the opposite shore.
Aaron CONOVER was born in Harrison township, July 10, 1852, a son of Ralph and Eleanor (SNEDEKER) CONOVER, both of whom were born in New Jersey, the father in 1811 and the mother in 1821. The husband passed away in death in 1888, and the mother in February, 1908. They were married in New Jersey, and in 1840 came to Indiana and cast their lot with the early residents of Terre Haute, where the husband and father followed the trade of a brick mason for many years and many of the older brick buildings of the city still stand as monuments of his handiwork. His first work here was on the Terre Haute House. He was a Republican and both he and his wife were members of the Baptist church. Their eleven children were Aaron (first), deceased; William, also deceased; Jane, the widow of William MERRY; Harmon, deceased; Alfred, who resides on Seventh street, in Terre Haute; Daniel, deceased; Aaron (second), of this review; Belle, deceased; Gertrude, the wife of William MASON, who also resides on Seventh street, in Terre Haute; Eliza, the widow of Scott HOVEY, and Ralph, whose residence is on Third street, Terre Haute.
During his early life Aaron CONOVER learned the mason's trade of his father, and after following it as an occupation for five years he turned his attention to farming and gardening, now owning an estate of one hundred and twenty acres in Harrison township. At one time he was quite extensively engaged in the breeding of registered Jersey cattle and Berkshire hogs, but in recent years has followed farming and gardening exclusively. As a Republican he has been active in the public affairs of his community, and for an extended period served in the office of supervisor, his first term extending from 1881 to 1889, and was re-elected in 1903 and again in 1905, his term expiring on the 10th of December, 1907.
Mr. CONOVER married, November 1, 1876, Nettie METCALF, born at Paris, Illinois, in February 12, 1856. She was reared in her native city, and her parents dying when she was young, she came to Terre Haute, and it was here that her marriage occurred. Four children were born of the union, but the first born, Carl, born August 21, 1877, is deceased. Earl, the second son, born February 1, 1879, is a graduate of the high school and a commercial college in this city and of the Medical College of Louisville, Kentucky, and is now practicing his profession in Evansville, this state, one of the city's most prominent physicians. Warren was born December 21, 1880, and died at the age of five years. Beulah, the youngest of the family, was born March 13, 1889, and for four years was a student in the Catholic school at Oldenburg, Indiana.
GREATER TERRE HAUTE AND VIGO COUNTY
C.C. Oakey - 1908
Pp. 679-680
JOSEPH MULLIKIN, who does a general real estate business, is an active factor in the business circles of Terre Haute and is recognized as one of its representative and leading residents. He was born in Johnson county, Indiana, on the 24th of February, 1864, his parents being James M. and Mary A. (KINDLE) MULLIKIN, who were natives of that county and representatives of old pioneer families there.
He was educated in the common and high schools of his native county. He engaged in teaching school for two years and then entered the State Normal at Terre Haute in 1887. In 1891 he went to the south, spending eighteen months in Tennessee and Alabama, where he engaged in the building and loan business. In 1893 he returned to Terre Haute, where he went in the real estate business, and has since engaged in the purchase and sale of property, and at all times keeping well informed concerning the valuation of realty and the possibilities for purchase and sale, so that he renders excellent service to his clients. He is also secretary of the Union Building and Loan Association.
Mr. MULLIKIN is identified with some of the leading organizations of Terre Haute, including the Commercial Club, the Young Business Men's Club and the Masonic Lodge. Pleasantly situated in his home life, he married Miss Nellie WARFEL, of Monticello, Indiana, a daughter of Hezekiah WARFEL. They have one daughter, Isa B., who is a student in the convent of St. Mary-of-the-Woods.
GREATER TERRE HAUTE AND VIGO COUNTY
C.C. Oakey - 1908
P. 840
ROBERT GEORGE WATSON, president of the Watson - Biggs Company and manager of the Terre Haute House, is a native of Vincennes, Indiana, born on the 20th of September, 1852. He is a son of Louis L. and Lydia (FELLOWS) WATSON, the father being also a native of Vincennes, where he was born in 1811. His death occurred in 1905. The paternal grandfather was an old-time fur trader, who traveled the trail from Detroit south into Indiana, Illinois and other points in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. Robert G. WATSON was reared in Vincennes and was educated in the old seminary at that place, as well as at the Commercial College. Afterward he clerked in a store, carried a newspaper route, and in 1870 became an employee at the Union Depot Hotel. This was his first experience in the hotel business, and in April, 1879, he entered the field as a proprietor by purchasing the old National Hotel of Terre Haute, his partner in the enterprise being A.W. HEINLEY. In May, 1896, Mr. WATSON engaged in the packing business, associating with himself W.P. IJAMS, in the formation of the firm known as the Terre Haute Packing Company. This plant was burned in 1898 and in 1900 Mr. WATSON assumed the management of the Aetna Hotel, at Danville, Illinois. On June 20, 1901, he joined W.P. IJAMS and H.W. BIGGS in the organization of the Watson - Biggs Company, which purchased the Terre Haute house, and elected Mr. WATSON president of the company and manager of the hotel. He has brought the hostelry to a high state of comfort and is in every way adapted to the business which he has adopted. He is also popular in the fraternities, being a Mason of the Knight Templar degree and identified with the consistory and shrine. He is, further, a member of the Elks and of the Young Business Men's Club. His wife, to whom he was married in Terre Haute, is a native of that city and was formerly known as Luella WESTFALL, daughter of P.S. WESTFALL. Cora Louise WATSON, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. WATSON, is the wife of Lafayette STRAW, of Danville, Illinois.
GREATER TERRE HAUTE AND VIGO COUNTY
C.C. Oakey - 1908
Submitted by Jamie Krebs
Back to Vigo County Biographies Index
Back to Vigo County Biographies Project