Vanderburgh County, Indiana - Biographical sketches, 1897 (part 3 of 5)

Jacob Straub

John Jacob Straub, (which is the baptismal name of the subject of this sketch), was born in Kirch Bronibach, Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, on the 1st of January, 1808. He came to this country with his two younger brothers, John H. and Frederick. They arrived after a pleasant voyage of five weeks iu a sailing vessel, (qnick passage for that time.) He landed at Baltimore, Md., July 4tli, 1831, with but a few dollars left in his pocket. Finding no immediate employment, they started for Pittsburg, walking all the way and stopping over night with farmers, all of whom received them kindly. At Pittsburg, Jacob Straub, a finisher by profession, obtained work in a machine shop. The next year, 1832, cholera appeared in a very bad form, especially at Wheeling, where his youngest brother, Fred, had remained. He took passage immediately on a steamer to bring Fred, to Pittsburg. He arrived at Wheeling in safety, but was compelled to wait over. a month before a steamer landed to take them back. They were very fortunate and escajied this dread disease.

In June, 1834, at the age of twenty-six years, he married in Pittsburg, taking to wife Miss Regina Woerther, of Woerth, Bavaria, who was four years his junior. The same year thej' removed to Cincinnati. At that time, 1834, Cincinnati had only 35,000 inhabitants. He lived there and at Newport, Ky., just across the river, for twenty-one years, working in the foundries of Powers, David Griffey, Harkness and Niles as a finisher. He, with his family, escaped the cholera epidemic in Cincinnati in 1849, while his brother-in-law and many of his friends died after but a few hours' illness. In 1855 he removed to this city, where he had previously, in 1840, bought some real estate. The Wabash canal at that time had created a speculative demand for real estate. It did not, however, prove as good an investment as was at first anticipated.

Mr. Straub obtained work as a finisher atKratz and Heilman's, and in 1858 he bought out A. Waldkirch's hardware stock, (Haueisen's old stand), where he carried on the business with his son, Fred. P. During this time he continued working in the foundry, while his son, Fred., and another younger son, Louis, managed the store. In 1859 he took his oldest son, Frederick, into partnership}, changing the firm name from Jacob Straub to Jacob Straub & Son. In 1868 he sold his share in the business to his sons, Frederick and Louis, and the firm name was again changed to Fred. P. Straub & Co. In 1878 another son, Henry, was admitted into the partnership. In 1884 Louis Straub withdrew and started into business for himself. Henry Straub did likewise in 1890. All three brothers are now in the hardware business, each for himself.

Jacob Straub was a self-made man, and during his life none of his children ever demanded from him any pecuniary aid, but mutually assisted each other cheerfully. Jacob Straub died iu March, 1884, and two months later his good, estimable wife also passed away. Had they lived until June, the same year, they would have celebrated their golden wedding. The descendants living in 1896 are five children: Fred. P., J. Louis and Henry E. Straub, Mrs. Jacob Weintz and Mrs. H. Stoermer; also thirteen grand children and seven great grand children.

Jacob Straub was a hard working, good, temj^erate and honest man, and never in his life did he have any debts that he did not pay promptly. Although somewhat high tempered, he was generous, humane and tender-hearted. He set a good example during his long life for his children to follow. Politically he was a democrat until 1856, when he gave his support to the republican party and voted for John C. Fremont for president. At that time the republican party was new. Mr. Straub continued with this party during the remainder of his life. He was a member of the German Protestant St. John's church. His religious views were broad and liberal.

John Rheinlander

The subject of this biography is John Rheiulander, who is now president of the Savings bank. Colonel Rheiulander entered the service of his country in its hour of peril as Captain of company B, and was promoted to the rank of major April 30, 1862, and again to that of lieutenant-colonel October 18, 1862. The military achievements of Colonel Rheiulander form a brilliant chapter in his history. When war was declared against Mexico, he enlisted as a private in company E, second Kentucky infantry, and went through the campaign under Taylor. By a detail of volunteers he was attached to the first Kentucky infantry, and was in the battle of Monterey. With his regiment he participated in the decisive battle at Buena Vista, and in that terrible engagement lost both of his commanding officers, Colonel McKee and Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Clay. In the war of 1861 Colonel Rheiulander again performed a gallant part. At Fort Donaldson, on the first day of the battle, he and Captain Saltzman were sent forward by Colonel Veatch to act as skirmishers. They advanced upon the enemy's works and, taking position on a hill protected the body of the regiment from the enemy's rifle-pits and silenced a six-pounder field piece which was brought to bear on its flank. On the third day of the battle Captain Rheiulander's company was the first to scale the wall and enter the enemy's works, but, as they had no flag, the second Iowa men were the first to set up a banner. At Shiloh Captain Rheinlander's company was continually kept skirmishing from the beginning of the first day's battle until about the time when General Prentiss was captured. By the close proximity of his company to General Prentiss, Captain Rheinlander afforded some five or six hundred men an opportunity to escape, and had he known who they were he could have saved from capture the entire command of Prentiss.

He participated in the seige of Corinth, having been promoted to the i-ank of major for gallantry and efficient service. Soon thereafter he rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. At Hatchies' . Run, with four companies of the twenty-fifth Indiana, Colonel Rheinlander charged the enemy, drove them back, engaged them in line, and finally completely routed them. There he was seriously wounded in the right thigh and for some time was not able to be with his command. Returning, he led his command on the way to Atlanta, and took a conspicuous part in the battles of that illustrious campaign. It was only when he became so disabled that he could not mount a horse that he resigned on account of his disability. His military career, bright and honorable in all its details, was ended by the acceptance of his resignation August 18, 1864.

Dr. John T. Walker was commissioned surgeon of the regiment August 13, 1861, was promoted to the rank of major October 20, 1862, and resigned January 10, 1864. The adjutant of the regiment from its muster into the service to March 7, 1862, was William H. Walker, Jr., and from July 5, 1862, to October 5, 1864, Captain Jesse W. Walker, who was honorably discharged and appointed captain and assistant adjutant-general, and who rendered valuable service to this country as citizen and soldier.

Alexander H. Foster and Henry M. Sweetzer, both long identified with the business interests of Evansville, were quartermasters, the former from August 10, 1861, at which time he was^^^promoted^ from quartermaster to sergeant, to January 15, 1862, when his resignation was accepted. Jesse Walker served as chaplain of the regiment from November 25, 1864, until its muster out of service. The other field and staff officers were from the adjoining counties. A band of twentysix pieces was mustered in with the regiment but was discharged soon afterwards. Wheeler Dexter, of Evansville, was mustered as commissary sergeant. He died at New Harmony, August 2."^, 1861.

Hon. F. W. Cook

Frederick Washington Cook was born at Washington, District of Columbia, February 1, 1832, and when a young boy he removed with his parents to Port Deposit, Cecil county, Maryland. After a residence of about three years at this place, they removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1836 to Evausville. In 1837 the stepfather of Mr. Cook, Jacob Rice, bought property in Lamasco, near the terminus of the Wabash and Erie canal, which was then in course of construction, and in the same year built|what was later known as the "Old Brewery," the first brewery built in Southern Indiana.

Mr. Cook was educated in Evausville, also attending the "Anderson Collegiate Institute ' at New Albany, Indiana. His first business engagement was with Mr. L. W. Heberd, who was at that time in the dry goods business on Main street. Mr. Cook retained this position for two years, until the death of his brother, when he was taken home by his parents to learn the brewing business. In 1853 Mr. Cook, in conjunction with Louis Rice, a brother of his stepfather, built the city brewery on the site occupied by the F. W. Cook Brewing Co., of today. The premises at that time were surrounded by a corn field. When they began business, the cash capital of the firm was $330, Louis Rice having accumulated $165 and Mr. Cook's father advancing him an equal amount. Louis Rice attended to the brewing department and Mr. Cook to the business and financial department. In

1857 Louis Rice sold his interest in the brewery to Jacob Rice for $3,500. The new firm at once commenced the erection of a lager beer cellar, and in 1858 made the first lager beer in Southern Indiana. In and for the Eighth ward in April, 1863. He was re-elected in April, 1864, but resigned in the fall of 1864, having been elected as representative from Vanderburgh county to the legislature of Indiana. In this capacity he served during the called session of 1864, and also during the regular session of 1864-5. After his return home in 1867, the people again showed their appreciation of his public services by electing him to the city council from the Fourth ward, and it may be said of him that both Sn the city council and legislature his public services have been satisfiictory to his constituents and have been performed with great credit to himself.

Miss Jennie Himeline, of Kelley's Island, Ohio, in November, 1879. Tiiis lady died in January, 1885. Mr. Cook steadily built additions to the brewery and enlarged it from year to year ; also procuring all the modern improvements known to the art of brewing.

Mr. Rice, the stepfather and partner of Mr. Cook, met with an accident in April, 1872, and died on the 3rd of May following from the injuries received, and Mi'S. Rice, his mother, died the 6th day of November, 1878, leaving Mr. Cook the sole heir to the city brewery. The business was continued under the old firm name of Cook & Rice until 1885, when it was incorparated with F. W. Cook as president, under the laws of the State of Indiana as the F. W. Cook Brewing Company, which name is not only identified with the growth of Evansville, but known far and wide in the southern and eastern states. On December 3, 1891, the brew-house and offices of the F. W. Cook Brewing Co., were destroyed by fire. Hardly had the smoke cleared away and the ashes cooled before arrangements for a modern building were being perfected. The offices of the Brewing Company were temporarily removed to 706 Main street. In March, 1893, the new brewhouse, one of the most modern and perfectly arranged brew-houses in the United States, was completed and the offices were again moved to their commodious quarters in the new building. The construction of this magnificent and imposing brew-house, with a capacity of 300,- 000 barrels annually, is an evidence on the part of Mr. Cook of his confidence in the future of Evansville.

It is safe to say that there is no more energetic or ambitious man engaged in the manufacturing or any other line of business than Mr. Cook. Few names are as well-known as his, which is synonymous with advancement, only wanting an opportunity to meet any exigency. He has taken a prominent part up to the last two years at the meetings of the brewers' national association, the wealthiest co-operative body in the world, and his suggestions have always been listened to by that august body with the profoundest respect. Mr. Cook certainly deserves the great credit he has achieved. He is the architect of his own fortune and is to-day one of the representative men of Evansville, who ranks as one of the wealthiest men in Indiana. His pleasant face and his sympathetic manner are characteristic of the man. While devoting strict attention to business, Mr. Cook finds time to attend to the duties devolving upon him as president of 'the Evansville, Newburgh and Suburban railway, also of the District Telegraph company, and also of the F. W. Cook Investment company. The latter concern owns a great deal of real estate, one piece being Cook's

Park, which is one of the finest summer resorts in the country, consisting of seventeen acres within the city limits, on which has been erected a handsome club house. Mr. Cook is a director in the Citizens' National bank, and also in the Bank of Commerce. From the above it is evident that Mr. Cook ranks as a citizen of great influence. Although sixty-five years of age he possesses a splendid physical structure, and has before him a business career which for its lustre and brilliancy must eclipse even his own past, which stands preeminent for its remarkable success. His acts of charity and benevolence have been extended to thousands. Equally liberal has he shown himself in all enterprises tending to benefit the general public and the welfare of the city of Evansville.

On further consideration of this biography of Mr. Cook, and reviewing the facts as known well by others, and investigating his course as written in the history of Evansville and the state of Indiana, I would add an additional remark, which I think necessary and just. His public-spirited beneficence has always been accompanied by a broad, praiseworthy wish to benefit Evansville and its citizens. They have been many and continuous, as have also been their kindly influence and special good, a fact observed in the undisguished blessings returned to him by the recipients of his benefactions. And then as a citizen among us, he has always been an acknowledged leader in public enterprises, and in whatever else would enhance the general welfai'e of all. His liberal hand has been proverbial. His influence has been seen and felt in every pulse of the city's industrial life. It has been a cardinal economical principal with him all along his business life to keep his capital active and working, and thus give employment to others. As an active, successful business man, he stands the peer of any in the city ; indeed he rather leads in this respect the more prominent ones in Southern Indiana. His energies are untiring, and, in fact, seem to grow greater with each year of his eventful life.

Samuel Orr

Samuel Orr came to Evansville in 183o, from Pittsburgh, Pa., in the interests of the iron* business of Alex. Laughlin &Co. In fact, he was a partneV of this concern. His place of business was situated on the corner of Water and Vine streets, near where Orr & Griffith now are. His residence was near the corner of Second and Division streets, in a frame house owned aiul built by Amos Clark. For many years he supplied the surrouuding country with iron of all descriptions for the manufacture of wagons and blacksmiths' supplies. Besides the iron business, Mr. Orr was also engaged in pork-packing, which he conducted on an exceedingly large scale. His packing-house was near the corner of Water and Division streets. It was one of the first porkpacking establishments in the town. He was the principal purchaser in southern Indiana. Posey, Gibson, Warrick and Vanderburgh counties found a ready market for their hogs.

Throughout all this country Samuel Orr was universally known as an upright business man in all of his dealings, his word being as good as his note in all agreements and contracts. He was prosperous in every undertaking of life, and he used the fruits of that pi'osperity to bless the community in which he lived, contributing largely to benevolent institutions, and giving liberally to the poor. It can truthfully be said of Mr. Orr that he was never idle, never a pleasure-seeker, and never known to leave his home or place of business, except on some errand necessary to the interests of his own business affairs or those of the town. He was strict in all of his religious observances, and never let his business interfere with his duties to his church. He regarded the Sabbath as a day of rest, set aside for the worship of God, and he so observed it He was one of those model men, so much needed in pioneer times, and his moral influence was powerful for good over those around him in his business life. He made annual donations to the asylums and institutions for the poor in this vicinity. On Christmas day they all had a day of feasting and- rejoicing - the gift of his generous hand. He was the personification of honesty and liberality. There never was a man in Evansville who lived a better life than did Samuel Orr, and his death was regarded by all with deep sorrow and regret.

His name has been referred to in this history in different official cajjacities. It has become so linked and interwoven with the growth and prosperity of the good institutions of this city that their history could not be truthfully written except it bear eloquent testimony to his nobility and generosity. His memory will survive the city which he did so much to benefit.

The Indiana Branch Of The Stinchfield Family

11th day of March, A. D. 1783. His father's name was James. He also was born in the town of New Gloucester. The father of James was John Stinchfield, who came from Leeds, England, and settled in New Gloucester, Mass. From there he moved to New Gloucester, Maine. From all we can learn, he seems to be the only one of the name that ever came to America to make a home there, and he is doubtless the founder of the Stinchfield family in America. There is a ti-adition that the founder of our family - undoubtedly John - sailed from Belfast, Ireland, when a mere boy for America, and that the proper name of the boy was Litchfield, but he being young, careless and illiterate, the name was written Stinchfield by those who made out his shipping jjapers, and that he never corrected the mistake and thus originated the name which we now bear. This belief is strengthened by the fact that the name of Stinchfield is not known in Ireland or England. If this tradition be true, we are purely an American family, and the only one on the face of the earth of our name, and that old Grandfather John, who settled at New Gloucester, Maine, is the present stem of our people who have spread over the United States and the British possessions of America.

In the year 1808, when Daniel was twenty-five years of age, he left his home and traveled west on foot, to seek a fortune and find a home in the limitless wilds of the far west. That year he came to the village of Cincinnati, Ohio, which at that time was too small and insignificant to be graced by the name of city. Here he seemed to have lived for some time, following any occuimtion that was honest and remunerative. While here he worked for a long time for Nicolaus Longworth, then a poor man, but who, by perseverence and industry, afterward became rich and died a millionaire. In the early days of the west the commerce of the country was carried on by means of fleets of keelboats and flatboats. Railroads and steamboats were then unknown. A trip to New Orleans and back to Cincinnati consumed several months' time by this slow mode of travel. Large, flat, square-ended boats were loaded with the produce of the country and floated down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, which was at that time the sole market for all the western countries. The produce taken down the river on the flatboats was exchanged for goods that would suit the wants of the people of the towns and settlements on the upper rivers. These goods were placed upon keelboats, which as the name implies, were built with keels, something in the shape of the steamboats of the present day, but small enough to be propelled by man power against the strong currents of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

For self-protection against the bands of lawless men, who at this early day infested the districts of the western rivers for the purpose of robbery, and for mntual assistance to each other in times of difficulties, the boats went in fleets, and were called " fleets of heelers." Their progress was very slow and the manner of propelling them was mostly by long poles. Of course they were obliged to hug the shore where the water was shallow, that the long keel would touch the bottom or bed of the river. Where this mode was not practicable they resorted to what they called "cordelling." A line four or five hundred feet long was carried up the stream in a skiff and fastened to a tree, and the boat was drawn to the upper end of the line by means of a capstan or windlass attached to the boat, when the line was again run out and the operation repeated until poles could be used. This mode of running a keelboat from New Orleans to Cincinnati usually took from two to three months. The time was of course governed by the difficulties encountered on the way. In this laborious business the subject of this sketch was engaged for several years. Sometimes after taking a flatboat to New Orleans the crew of the flat would not engage to go back by way of the river on the keels, when they would be compelled to foot it back to Cincinnati, across the states, or what is now Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky. On this route, which they ironically named the "foot and walker's line," they were obliged to go in bodies large enough to repel any attack that John A. Murrell, who was then a dreaded robber of the western territories, might make upon them with his band of thieves and cut-throats. When steam power had been substituted for man power in propelling boats against the current of the western rivers, the days of keelboats were ended, but for many years after the puffing of the steamers was first heard on the western rivers the great bulk of the produce from the upper country was conveyed to New Orleans in the flatboats. The writer of this has seen a dozen of these ungainly crafts floating awkwardly down the current of the Ohio river at one time. As late as 1850 "flatboatinlots" were men of much importance in the boating season, and always commanded good wages. The rush in the business was, of course, in the early winter, after the immense crops of corn were gathered and ready for shipment. Corn was the great staple of the western country that found its way to New Orleans, but hay, pork, live stock, fruit, lumber, staves for barrels, and immense quantities of coal from the Alleghenies were taken down the rivers and found a ready market at New Orleans. In this business Daniel Stinchfield, the subject of this sketch, was engaged until about 1835, usually making one or two trijis during the boating season. The iutroductiou of steamboats facilitated aud greatly shortened the return trip. In 1811 he was with a fleet of keel boats at New Madrid, Mo., at the time of a severe earthquake which gave the western and some of the southern states quite a terrible shaking up. The quake was heavier at New Madrid and vicinity than at any other place. The swamps and lakes back of New Madrid, now known by the name of "Sunken Lands," comprising many thousand acres, were caused by this severe earthquake. I have heard him speak of this freak of nature as being frightful to behold. The broad Mississippi river, usually so mild in appearance, in a moment became like the ocean in a storm ; great waves swept over the river bank, large trees that had been imbedded in the sands of the river bed for years were hurled from their resting places, and tossed about like straws on the seething, murky waters. The surface of the ground seemed to run in waves like the swells of the ocean; great fissures opened in the earth of considerable width and unknown depth. The shock came so suddenly, and scene so terrible to look upon, that many of the rough boatmen imagined that it was the end of the world, and that the summons had come for them to appear at the judgment bar of God. All ceased their swearing, some were speechless, and some tried to pray - probably the first attempt they had ever made - and all were badly frightened. Daniel, like his illustrious namesake of Bible fame, was a praying man, as his habit had been to pray morning and night. He was a firm believer in the power of prayer. This duty he never neglected, although surrounded by the wild, reckless, wicked men who comprised the boatmen of the Mississippi. In relating these circumstances, he said : "When the earthquake shock struck such terror into the hearts of my fellow-boatmen, I was not at all frightened. I had always tried to live near to my God, and if He was ready to call me away I was ready to go. I examined the great cracks and fissures that the earthquake had made along the shore, and went down into one of them w'here I knelt down to pray to my God at Whose will tlie earth was made to tremble." His sober, honest, Christian bearing gained the confidence of the owners of the cargoes, and often when they went ashore on business or on a carouse, have they taken off their money belts and buckled them around his body, well knowing that their gold was perfectly safe in his keeping.

In 1813, after returning on foot from New Orleans to Cinciiinati, he concluded to visit his native home at -New Gloucester, Maine, aud accordingly started on foot to undertake the long journey. In this age of railroads aud steamboats, with all the conveniences they afford, the journey from New Orleans to Maine afoot would be an immense undertaking, but to this hardy pioneer it seemed but a pleasure trip. On the 10th of September, after having finished his visit, he was trudging back to Cincinnati past Lake Erie when he heard the thundering of Commodore Perry's guns that heralded that celebrated dispatch to General Harrison, "We have met the enemy and they are ours." After his return from his visit to Maine he met with a family of emigrants from Vermont, who had settled at Covington, Kentucky, on the opposite side of the I'iver from Cincinnati. The family whose name was Judkins, consisted of David Judkins, his wife, Lydia, and their children, Hiram, Mahetable, Koxany and Lewis. Roxany was then about fourteen years of age. She wished to attend school but had no books, and books in those days were hard to procure. Daniel loaned her what books he had in his jjossession and bought her others suitable for her studies. These little acts of kindness must have ripened into love, for they were married at Covington, Kentucky, on the 26th day of May, 1816, he being in his thirty-fourth and she in her seventeenth year. The writer of this has often heard him say that the interest he received ou that loan of books was the best interest he ever got, as it could not be computed in dollars and cents, for he gained a loving, faithful wife more precious than gold and jewels. Soon after the marriage he settled in New Richmond, Clermont county, Ohio. His brother Mark, had previously come west with his family and had settled at the same place. He probably lived at New Richmond two or three years, as his eldest child was born there. About 1818 he disposed of his property at New Richmond, aud taking his little family ou board a small boat, they floated down the Ohio river to where the city of Evansville now stands. Here he landed and settled ten miles back from the river in Vanderburgh county. He lived at this place for about ten years, engaged in improving his farm and occasionally taking a trip to New Orleans during the boating season. About 1828 he moved back to New Richmond, Ohio, aud remained there for about three years, when he again moved to his old home in Vanderburgh county, Indiana. While living at New Richmond, George, his seventh child, was born. All the other children except David, the oldest, were born at his farm in Vanderburgh county, Indiana. Here he lived until 1848, when he sold his farm and moved to another farm he had purchased near Evansville, and which is at present - 1897 - a portion of this prosperous city. Here he lived the remainder of his days, and here he died on the 9th day of March, 1852, wanting but two days of being seventy years of age.

Daniel Stinchfiekl was about five feet, nine inches in height, and weighed about 160 pounds. He was somewhat stoop-shouldered, which made his height appear less than it actually was. His head was of medium size and his features large. His hair was brown, his eyes were blue and remarkable for their mild and benevolent expression. His frame was well knit and capable of great endurance, possessing unusual strength for one of his weight. In his younger days he said that he had uever met but one man that brought him to the ground in wrestling, collar-and-elbow holds, an exercise that was practiced by the young men of his time. His nerves seemed to be formed of steel, for he could stand suffering and punishment with the stolidity of a wild Indian. One leading trait of his character was that he was absolutely void of fear. By this is not meant the hotbrained recklessness that characterizes the desperado, but that cool, quiet bravery that is prepared to combat danger when it presents itself, no matter in what shape or at what time. Although so fearless he was a quiet, peaceable man and never engaged in broils of any kind, nor did he ever associate with the boisterous, carousing faction of the pioneers of the west, which was a peculiar feature among the semi-civilized people who inhabited the west in those early days. In the belief of the supernatural he was a confirmed skejitic. One instance will illustrate a peculiar trait of his character in this respect. The writer of this remembers an old house located in an out-of-theway place, which had been abandoned by an early settler. The windows were gone and the roof fallen in, and the briars and brush bad grown up in the little clearing that had been made, and a more lonely, desolate place could not be imagined. If there are such supernatural beings as ghosts, truly this was a fitting place for their abode. The place was said to be haunted. Stories were told of the strange sights seen there, and ghostly forms it was said would suddenly rise and speak to the passer-by in deep tones that seemed to come from another world. These supernatural beings were wont to appear at the dark hour of night when "ghosts do mostly walk." The writer recollects that when a boy his fears were so wrought upon by the stories of the wonderful things seen and heard there that he never passed the place without breaking into a dead run, with hair standing on end. At this lonely place the subject of this sketch was in the habit of resting when traveling over the country. "Although I have visited this haunted house," said he, "at all hours of the night, I have never seen any form but my owu, and have never heard any voice but my own, while on my knees asking God to banisli from the hearts of my neigh- bors their foolish, superstitious fears. He was a great pedestrian as is plainly shown by his frequent journeys from New Orleans to Cincinnati and from Cincinnati to Maine. He would never take the trouble to saddle a horse in going a journey but always preferred to go on foot. The laud office for southwestern Indiana was located at Vincennes, fifty miles from his home. His neighbors always employed liim to go to the land office to transact their business for them, more especially were his services sought after if the business required dispatch. He would start off on foot, discarding roads and trails, and strike a bee line for the land office, neither stojijjing for rest nor meals; and many a speculator who started in advance on horseback for the purpose of entering land that some honest settler claimed, found on arriving that the land he coveted had been entered by Daniel Stinchfield for Mr. So-and-So, a few hours befoi'e his arrival. Had his education fitted him fop the position he would have been a good astronomer. No man with as limited a book education was better versed in the movements of the heavenly bodies than he. The stars were his guide in traveling over the pathless country, as well as his time piece to note the hour of night, which he could do with great precision. Soon after attaining his majority he professed religion and united with the regular or close-communion Baptists, called by those who opposed the creed " Hard Shell or Iron Clad Baptists." Though living and dying a Baptist, he Avas liberal in his views and could tolerate believers of other creeds. When his church ceased to have sufficient support to keep it in existence he joined the Missionary Baptists. When Daniel Stinchfield put on the armor of a Christian it was for life. No man ever strove harder to live the life of a Christian than he. The Bible was in the main his counsel. For more than half a century he was a constant reader of that volume of inspiration. Not only did he read it but he strove to live up to its teachings. During the last two years of his life he read no other books. So long a study of the Bible made him familiar with all its truths. His memory was good, every chapter of the Bible was so familiar to him that when the minister read his text, before the book or verse were announced, he could be heard by those near him naming the book, chapter and verse in a whisper. When the writer was a boy he had frequently sat up half the night listening to an animated discussion with traveling ministers on .some knotty passages of Scripture, mostly on the subject of baptism, which was the mystic cause for many a wordy battle in which the subject of this sketch was usually the conquerer. On the 9th day of March, 1852, after a brief illness, he breathed out his spirit in prayer. His children had been summoned to his bedside, and all were present when his soul took his departure to seek a dwelling place with his God whom he adored. A few moments before he died his lips were seen to move. A Methodist minister, who was present, bent over him and caught these words of the Psalmist, uttered in a faint whisper : " Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me." Then the spirit, freed from the thralldom of earth, took its departure, and Daniel Stinchfield lay peacefully in the arms of death.

He was twice married. On the 26th day of May, 1816, he was married to Roxany Judkins at Covington, Kentucky. There were ten children from this union, six boys and four girls. In the month of October, 1848, he had the misfortune to lose this estimable wife. In 1849 he was married to Mary Ann McGary, a widow with a family of five children. She is still living (1884) at Evansville, Indiana, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years,

David Stinchfield was born in Clermont county, Ohio, March 19, 1817. He was married to Mary Elliott, September 27, 1838. The issue from this union was three children : Mark, born December 13, 1839; Margaret E., January 4, 1842, and Lydia, March 22, 1844. David Stinchfield died February 17, 1847, and Mary, his widow, died August 14, 1880.

Mark, David's son, was married to Martha McPherson, January 14, 1868. The issue of this union was two girls and one boy : Isabelle, born November, 1868; Nora, June 1, 1870, and William D., April, 1873. Martha, Mark's wife, died June 6, 1873.

Mark is a successful farmer. He has never remarried and is still living on the place where he was born - 1883. He is noted for his manly nature and honest dealings. Physicially, he is indeed a noble specimen of manhood, being the largest one of the descendants of Daniel Stinchfield.

great industry and endurance as well as activity, and an abundance of that principle called in western parlance "gi-it," which made him a dreaded competitor in the manly sports indulged in by these hardy sons of the west. He was of a literary turn of mind and delighted in reading and study.

Lydia Stinchfield, daughter of Daniel, was born in Vanderburgh county, Indiana, on the 24th day of December, 1818. She was married to John Jarred in the month of September, 1837. The following are the fruits of this union: Sarah Jane, born 1838; William B., August 13, 1839; Eoxaua, January 12, 1842; Harriet, February 15, 1844; Maria, August 16, 1846; Elvira, April 17, 1849; John, February 10, 1851; Daniel, December, 1853; Mary E., August 5, 1855; Lydia, January 18, 1857; Letitia, June 1, 1859; George, November 19, 1862.

Sarah Jane married Samuel Hayden in Posey county, Indiana. Two ciiildren were born to them, Mary and William. Sarah Jane Hayden died in October, 1861.

William Henry married Elizabeth McMillen at Mt. Vernon, Posey county, Indiana. They had seven children: Samuel, William, Walter, Mary J., Hannah and Julia, and one which died before it was named, William H's. wife, Elizabeth, died and he was married a second time, and soon after he died at Mt. Vernon, Indiana. Wm. H. was a farmer, owning farms in both Indiana and Illinois. He was noted for his industry and business qualifications, and was successful in all his occupations.

Roxana married Christian Richter at Mt. Vernon, Indiana. She died in October, 1868. They had three children, John, Kate and George, all living.

Harriet married Jerry Allen at Mt. Vernon. Seven children were born to them. Ewing, Jerry, Charles, Maria, Daniel, Moses and John. Her husband died several years ago and she is still a widow.

Maria married Edwin N. Cox in Wayne county, Illinois. They have two children, Lydia and Agnes. Maria, with her husband, lives at Nordhuff, Ventura county, California, having moved from Illinois iu 1876.

Lydia, daughter of Daniel S., died in December, 1876, at the age of fifty-nine years, having survived her husband, John Jarred, just one month. Lydia was about the average ^ize of women, rather heavily built but not corpulent. Her eyes were hazel and her hair was as black as the raven's wing. Her life was one of toil, as the greater part of the support of her family depended upon her exertions. She was a follower of Christ and while yet a girl was baptised and united with the regular Baptist chui-eh, where she remained a member until her death.

Sarah, second daughter of Daniel Stinchfield, wa.s born in Vanderburgh county, Ind., on the 10th day of September, 1820. She was married in Vanderburgh county in the month of March, 1840, to Brysou Blackburn, a native of North Carolina. Following are the members of her family: Rachel, born February 5, 1841, married to John W. Stanford at Clay City, 111., in 1861. They had one child, Margaret Adaline, born December 21, 1862. She is dead. About this time Eachel's husband died, and soon after she was married to Austin Stanford, a cousin of her first husband. There were born to them : Homer B., 1866; Harriet N., 1869; Hugh D., 1874; Sarah A., 1879. Rachel's death occurred in Clay county. 111., 'May 7, 1879.

Sarah Amy, born September 17, 1851, married Marcus Stanford at Mt. Erie June, 1873. Her child is named Charles E., and Avas born in 1879. She is a widow, her husband having died in 1882, in the state of Texas, where she resides.

Harriet R., born in Illinois, July 6, 1855. She has two children. Her husband was an officer in the Union army - a captain. Ever since tile war he has been engaged iu farming near Clay City, 111.

In 1860 Sarah's husband, Bryson Blackburn, died. In 1865 she was married to a Mr. Cox, of Illinois. The result of this union was one boy, Lemuel Cox, born September 29. 1866. Sarah is a widow, and lives on her farm at the head of the Little Wabash in Wayne county, 111. She, with the assistance of her sou, Lemuel Cox, manages the farm. Most of her children live in the vicinity, and she lives a happy and religious life. In the fall of 1882, she paid a visit to her two brothers, George and Moses, who live in Colusa county, Caj. They are the only members of her family living, and she had not seen them for thirty years ; so she started alone to pay them a visit, that she might see them once more before her death. When she separated from them, they were beardless boys, and she found them with families growing up around them. She remained with them for six months. Then she departed for her home, 2,500 miles away, carrying with her the love and veneration of her Pacific coast relatives, which her amiable and social nature had won for her. Sarah is a very large woman, her height being five feet, eight inches, and her average weight about 160 pounds. At the age of sixty-three she is strong and active, and her hair, which is black, shows but few silvery threads. She looks as if she had yet a quarter of a century's lease on life. When a girl she was baptised iR the regular Baptist church, and she has ever been an active member of that denomination. In all church matters. Aunt Sarah, as she is called, is always consulted, and her opinions have great weight with the members and are generally adopted. "Aunt Sarah's" social disposition makes friends of all with whom she comes in contact, and she is loved and respected by all who know her.

Rachel, the third daughter of Daniel Stinchfield, was born in Vanderburgh county, Ind., on the 13th day of February, 1822. She had three children, Daniel, Ruth and Henry. Daniel died when about three years of age. Ruth married a Mr. Jeff Wilkinson, and died two years later, without children. Henry married Amanda Cooper, in Vanderburgh county. Three children were born to them : Thomas Franklin, who died when one year old ; Joshua, born 1878, and Frances Helen, born 1881. Joshua Cavius married again after Rachel's death. He died in 1863.

Rachel was not so large as eitlier of her sisters. Her complexion too was much lighter. Her hair was a brownish black and her eyes were blue. Her disposition was loving and amiable, and gentle as an angel's. She, like her sisters, was a member of the Baptist church, having joined that church when quite young, and in her daily walk she fulfilled the full measure of a Christian. If angels descend from their heavenly abode to take up their dwelling place on earth, the heart of Rachel was certainly the abode of one of these heavenly visitors, for a milder, gentler and nobler woman never lived. When the writer of this in his ninth year was banished from home by a misguided stepmother, he took up his abode with his loving sister Rachel and remained with her for nearly a year, and at this late day he looks back upon the days of his boyhood spent at her home as the happiest of his child life.

Hiram, the second son of Daniel Stinchfield, was born in Vanderburgh county, Indiana, on the 12th day of December, 1824. He was married to Sarah McCrary in Vanderburgh county, Indiana, on the 30th day of September, 1841. Hiram was lost on the ill-fated steamer "Central America," which went down with her precious load of passengers oiF Cape Hatteras on the 10th of September, 1857. Sarah, Hiram's widow, was born on the 16th day of July, 1822. Siie never married after her husband's death, and now lives with her mother, Daniel Stinchfield's widow, near Evansvilie, Indiana, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. Hiram's children were : Letitia, born near Evansvilie, August 7, 1842; Washington, February 3, 1844; Daniel, May 11, 1846, and died in General Sherman's army at Decatur, Alabama, July 10, 1864; Mary Ann, March 8, 1848,«died June 25, 1849; Margaret, February 25, 1850, and Moses, January 3, 1852.

Mary A. Stinchfield, wife of Washington Stinchfield, died October 6, 1893. Washington Stinchfield married Alice Rhcinlandcr, October 10,1894.

When President Lincoln called for "three hundred thousand more" Washington and his brother Daniel, enlisted in the 23d Indiana, bade goodbye to their widowed mother, shouldered their guns and took up their line of march for the stirring field of battle. They were boys, unused to the fatigue of long marches or the rough fare of camp life, yet they took their places beside the grizzled warriors of maturer years to fulfill a duty that every free man feels is his, when the flag of his country is assailed. Daniel fell a victim to disease and died at Decatur, with no loving mother's hand to administer to his wants in his last moments. Washington followed Sherman on that memorable march "from Atlanta to the Sea," and only left the service of his country when the rebellion was crushed and peace reigned throughout the land; then, like Cincinnatus of old, when his country needed no longer the service of his sword, he returned to the peaceful pursuits of agriculture. Washington at this date is following the noble calling of a farmer, in which business he has been successful. He is a leading member of the Methodist church, with which he united when a boy. His manly qualities and straight-forward dealings have won for him hosts of frietids. He is a member of Rising Star lodge, I. O. O. F., being a past grand in good standing.

1 Moses, Hiram's youngest son, was married to Caddie Sanders at Evansville in 1872. The fruit of this marriage is one son, John, born in Evansville in 1873. In the winter of 1875 Moses, with his wife and child, emigrated to California. He had not remained there quite a year when he returned to Evansville, Indiana, where he is engaged in business. He is an active, prosperous man and has for several years been a member of the board of public works, having been appointed , to that position by Mayor Hawkins. He has filled this position with great credit and to the satisfaction of all classes of citizens. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist church. He is frugal and industrious and possesses good business qualifications.

Hiram Stinchfield was five feet and ten inches in height and weighed 150 pounds. He was lighter in complexion than either of his brothers. He lived after his marriage in the vicinity of Evansville. He was engaged in different occupations until February, 1854, when he went to California, where two of his younger brothers had preceded him. He was engaged in mining in California, meeting with moderate till the autumn of 1857, when he started for his home in Evansville, where his family had resided during his absence. But the happiness which he cherished in his heart of meeting with his wife and children after an absence of three and a halt years, was frustrated by the relentless decree of fate. His wife watched for his coming and his children counted the days that must elapse before "papa" would come home, for letters had been sent that he would soon be home again. At Panama the home-bound passengers shipped on board the ill-fated steamer Central America bound for New York. Off Cape Hatteras she encountered a severe gale, and being an old vessel, unfit for seas, she became unmanageable and foundered on the 15th day of September, 1857. Nearly all the passengers and crew were lost; among whom was Hiram Stinchfield. The last heard from him was at Panama where he wrote to a brother in California.

Hiram was a very kind hearted man. He was foremost in rendering assistance to the needy, as one of the last acts of his life will show. At San Francisco he met a man whom he had known in Evansville in former years, and who, through the hard, wild life incident to the early settlers in California, had become deranged and was without money or friends. The few bright gleams of his intellect were centered on home, and his heart yearned to be in the bosom of his family. Hiram paid his passage and took him on board the vessel, but in the hurry and bustle of leaving the port he was intercepted as a stowaway and the poor, demented creature, not possessing enough sense to explain the situation, was taken ashore as the vessel was leaving the port. Thus he escaped the fate of his would-be benefactor, but only to meet a death just as certain for he was never afterward heard from. While in California, Hiram mined at Nevada City, Montezuma Hill, Nevada county, on the North fork of the Yuba river, and at Eureka, Sierra county. Had he lived, he would have been a grandfather at the age . of thirty-four.

Mark, the third son of Daniel Stinclifield, was born in Vanderburgh county, on the 10th of December, 182G, and died of croup on tiie 2d of November, 1831.

George, the fourth son, was born on the 29th day of October, 1829, in Clermont county, Ohio, while Daniel, the father, was making that place his home tor the second time. George lived at home with his fatlier until his (the father's) death, after which he left Indiana, on the 1 tth day of April, 1852. He paid a jjarty, a Mr. Onyet, $100 for the privilege of traveling with him to the " Golden Land," agreeing to drive an ox team across the plains from St. Joseph, Mo., to California. The party Iv. was with went from Evansville to St. Joe by steamboat, where they disembarked and took up their long and tiresome march across the "desert," and at last they arrived in California. Most every emigrant in that early day came for the purpose of making his " pile " at mining, and when the " pile," which meant fortune or competency, had been scraped together, he intended to return to the states for a 2)ermanent home. George's first introduction to the mines was at Soda Bar, on the north fork of the Feather river. Not meeting with the success anticipated, he went to White Rock, near where now stands the town of Oroville. He soon found that White Rock was not the place to get together the " pile " he had set his mind ujion, and in the early winter of 1852, he went to Nevada City, in Nevada county, at that time a very rich and extensive district, where be went to work ; but his work was soon stopped by a severe attack of tyjihoid fever, from which he did not recover for several months. Sickness is never a welcome visitor, even when surrounded by every comfort that wealth and good nursing can give, but doubly unwelcome was it in that half civilized country, where the delicacies that the sick crave, were not to be had, and where the gentle hand of woman was unknown. Under the rough flannel shirts of the hardy miners beat warm and sympathetic hearts, and he received all the attention they could give. Before spring he again took up the pick and shovel, and I'esumed the hardy toil of a miner. He continued mining in Nevada and Sierra counties for about eight years, when he sold out his mining claim and bought a farm in Colusa county, in the Sacramento valley. In November, 1869, he was married to Irene Adaline Allen, in Colusa county. She, with her parents, had emigrated to California the previous year, from the state of New Jersey. Five "children were born to them : Nora, born November 20, 1870; Mercy, September 6, 1873; Robert, August 1, 1874; Daniel, October, 1877 ; Sadie, March, 1882. These births all occurred on his farm, near the Saci'amento river, at the head of Grand Island. In 1882 George, having previously disposed of his farm on Grand Island, bought another farm in the Cast Range mountains, in the western portion of Colusa county, where he now resides. His farm is located in a beautiful valley, and he is comfortably situated.

Moses, the fifth son of Daniel Stiuehficld, was born at the Stinehfield homestead in Vanderburgh county, Ind., on the oth day of June, 1832. When he was six years old he attended school. The writer, if sj)ace permitted, would like to speak of the schools, in that early day, in the west.

He will only say that these schools were taught three months in a year, generally commencing in November. They were kept, up by a school-tax and by subscription, and any one who could read, write and cipher was competent to teach school. No certiticate was necessary. The trustees, who were appointed by the citizens of the district, had full power to employ whoever they pleased. The wages of the school master were from fifteen to twenty dollars per month and board, that is, he boarded around among the patrons of the school. The schoolhouses were built with an eye to economy, of rough, unhewn logs, with puncheon floors. A huge fire-place, occupying nearly the whole end of the house, gave forth a generous heat when filled with burning hickory logs. The spaces between the rough logs were chinked and daubed with mud to make the room comfortable, and the split logs turned split side down, the ends reaching on the top of the Avail of the house and the cracks or spaces between them daubed with mud, made a comfortable but not very artistic ceiling. The windows for admitting light were indicative of backwoodism. A log was removed from the side ot the house, which left a space about a foot wide the entire length of the room to admit the light. If the room was intended to be very grand the space was filled with window glass, but a board raised and lowered by means of hinges was the more common mode. The furniture was quite primitive. Logs, usually poplar, were split open, the split side hewn smooth and legs put in them to form benches or seats. The writing desk was a board placed under the window the entire length of the room. This was for the benefit of the higher grade of pupils. With Webster's Elementary Spelling Book under his arm and with a feeling of awe, inspired by the momentous undertaking, little Mose took his place in a house of the above description to battle for an education. His sister Eachel had previously taught him his letters, for which service her father had given her a new calico dress, which was considered a very fine gown in those days of homespun linsey. He proved to be an industrious scholar and by the time the school closed he had three times spelled through his book, "Webster's Elementary," as far as the "pictures." This term and three others of the same duration, in which the subject of this sketch had learned to read, write and cipher, closed his educational career, and it may here be stated that none of the family of Rachel Stinchfield ever attained a higher grade of school education, nor did any of them attend school for a longer period, than did he. All who have read the -' Hoosier Schoolmaster " are familar with the chapter that describes the turning out, or rather fastening out of the teacher on Christmas day. And doubtless some have thought that such a thing could only exist in the fertile brain of the author, but such is not the case. It was customary in the early days of the west for the larger boys of the school to demand a holiday on Christmas, and if the teacher refused to grant the holiday or treat the school to candy, nuts, etc., the larger boys would get to the school-house early on Christmas morning and bar the door with benches or wood-locks. They would then refuse to open the door until the teacher complied with their request, either to give a holiday or treat. The writer recollects a case of this kind occurred in the first school he ever attended. Arriving at the school-house Christmas morning he found the door barricaded and the teacher on the outside of the house demanding admission. The besieged held the fort against all assaults of the besieger, who tried to beat the door open with fence rails, but his battering was of no avail against the barricaded door. He then climed upon the roof of the house and strove to gain admittance through the capacious chimney, but the besieged guarded every point effectually and threw water into the fire so that the steam and hot ashes drove the assailant from the chimney in a hurry. Finding that he could not carry the fort he agreed to treat the school if the boys would open the door. The besieged accepted the terms and the door was thrown open. The writer does not desire to surprise the school-boards of this advanced age, nor to shock the nerves of the votaries of temperance, neither does he wish to be accused of Mark Twaining, when he states that the treat promised by the teacher consisted of a half gallon of whiskey and a pound of sugar. The circumstances in the boyish days of Moses left a lasting impression on his mind. The death of his mother, which occurred when he was six years old, in 1838. This was an event that he still remembers with sadness. He was far too young to remember it with any degree of certainty and probably at the time he did not appreciate his great loss. Death had come and taken away the best friend and protector a child could have. Too young to understand the mystery of death he waited and watched for his mother to speak to him and caress him, and when they placed her in the coffin and carried her to the grave-yard his childish heart sank within him for he was told that he would never see her dear face again. Vivacity of spirits, usually called fun, seemed to be a characteristic of his nature. He was always noted for his pranks and love of fun. When his sister, Sarah, visited him in California, in 1883, she said to a friend that "Mose would never be anything but an overgrown boy, for he wag just as full of pranks as when he was a little urchin." His love of fuQ sometimes led him into difficulties. One instapce here related will be an example of scores of similar ones: A heavy snowdrift had formed by the side of the house in which the family lived, and he amused himself by throwing the .cats and dogs into the snow, and enjoyed the fun of seeing them scramble out. Finally he plunged his little brother, head foremost, into thesofl drift, but the little fellow did not enjoy the fun at all, and raised a cry that brought his father to the scene. Mose, anticipating trouble, started to climb up the corner of the house onto the roof, but could not get upon account of the snow on the housetop. Just at this time his father came around the corner of the house, and seeing little John's feet sticking out of the snow and Mose up the corner of the house, he understood the situation in a moment. Picking up a switch, (switches were always convenient when Mose was a boy) and having the perpetrator of the fun at a disadvantage, for he could climb no higher and was too high to jump, the father administered a castigation that was remembered for a lifetime. Mose's excessive love of fun was the chief cause of the other sad event of his life. His stepmother, like many of the old ladies of the west, was an inveterate smoker. So wedded was she to the habit, that when her pipe was lost or mislaid her happiness was gone, and any one who meddled with her pipe was sure to gain her displeasure. Some evil genius promjjted little Mose, then eight years old, to put gunpowder in the bottom of her pipe, and fill the space left with tobacco. The family was sitting around the fire, among them the perpetrator of the joke, when the pipe went off with a flash. The stejimother fir.st went over backwards on the floor, and then went for little Mose. Without making any inquiry as to who did the unpardonable deed, she gave him such a "trouncing" as made him wish that tobacco pipes had never been invented. Soon after this occurrence, one morning before his stepmother was out of bed, he was playing "circus" by trying to make a cliair balance on its back legs while he sat in it. Finally the chair went over backwards and he with it. But, oh! horrors! his stepmother's pocket which contained her pipe and tobacco had been hanging on the back of the chair, and the pipe (the self-same one that had been the cause of his trouble a few days before) was broken into a hundred pieces. The breaking was purely accidental; but the pipe was broken and accidents were not to be taken into consideration. The enormity of the offense deserved a worse penalty than whipping. He must be banished from home. There was. no safety for pipes while he was about, and he must leave. A few hours later the child, with his extra shirt tied up in a handkerchief, was wending his way, bare- foot aDcl aloue, to his sistei- Rachel's home, which was nine miles away. The road or path led through the woods most of the way, and it was (luring this walk that he felt his loneliness and sadness for a second time. As he trudged along his solitary way his heart seemed to be a lump of lead in his breast, and he had to stop often to wipe the tears from his eyes. He thought of Hagar, of whom he had heard his father read, turned out into the wilderness to die. He thought how sweet a punishment a flogging would have been when com))ared to this. Forty-three years have passed, and the subject of this sketch has not been a stranger to sorrow, for his foot prints through life have led him through many trials, but this one seems, at this late day of life, to have been the keenest, because it was the first of the kind he ever experienced. After a stay of eight months with his dear sister, who received him with the greatest kindness, he returned home, but forever after that he evaded tobacco pipes as he would rattlesnakes. When he was about three years old he accidently fell, head foremost, into a kettle of soft soap. Had he not been discovei-ed immediately, his life could not have been saved. When the subject of this sketch was fourteen years of age, the whole care of the family devolved upon him and his brother, George. So at that age, when school is of most advantage to the young, he had the care of a family upon his hands. Though deprived of the privileges of gaining an education, he read at home all books that he could get, and at the age of nineteen, he was solicited to take charge of a country school. He accepted, and taught one term of three months. The compensation was $20 a month and without board. Out of this he paid $5 every month for board and lodging. Thin'king to better his condition, he concluded to emigrate to California, and accordingly left home on the 29th day of January, 1854, for the " Land of Gold." It is rather a strange coincidence, that this page is being written thirty years to the day and hour after the time when the steamer " Ohio," on which he was a passenger, pushed off the wharf at Evansville, Indiana, bound for New Orleans, where he was to embark for California.

Arriving at New Orleans his chum, who was to accompany him, backed out and took the next steamer for home, leaving him to make his journey with strangers. He bought a steerage ticket for $100, which left him just $15 for all incidentals. On the 6th day of February, 1844, he went on board of the Pampero, whose destination was Greytown, where the boat arrived in due time and the passengers embarked on small steamers for Nicaraugua. The voyage up the San Francisco rivei- and across the lake (250 miles) was a very pleasant one. Arriv- ing at Virgin Bay the passengers disembarked and a ride of twelve miles brought them to San Juan Del Sur, on the Pacific, where the steamer Cortez, which was to take the passengers to San Francisco, was awaiting them. These with the New Orleans passengers, numbered 1,300, and when they all got aboard of the Cortez, which was a small boat, there was scarcely standing room. They were huddled together like sheep in a pen. Nothing of interest occured on the voyage to San Francisco, where the steamer arrived on the 4th of March, after a passage of twenty-seven days from New Orleans. The land of i^romise was reached at last, but not the end of the journey. He had just $7 in his pocket. With $6.75 he bought a ticket for Sacremento, where he arrived the next morning. He bought some bread with the last two bits he had in the world and started afoot across the plains and mountains for Nevada City, where his brother was mining. The first night he found it pretty Cool lodging by the side of a rock near Auburn, with nothing but half of a blanket for a bed. In the morning he made a meal of the remainder of his bread and started on his journey over the mountains. He found some raw potatoes in the road, and was trudging along munching them when he met a man driving a team of oxen, and the following conversation ensued :

-' Young feller, I live jest a little way from here, and have plenty to eat. Now I'll tell you what to do. You ain't able to work, and you jest git on this wagon and go home with me and stay a week or two, until you recruit up; .it shan't cost you a cent."

He thanked the kind stranger for his offer, and told him that he expected to get to his journey's end before night, where he would meet his bi'other and would then be all right. This circumstance taught him that men must not be taken for what they appear, for in the bosom of that unshaven, rough-clad teamster beat a true and sympathizing heart, and that was the only time in his life that he was forced to make a meal of raw potatoes. Before night he arrived at Nevada City, and in a short time found his brother, who had been in California two years.

The half-wild aud excited life of the gold hunter was now befoi-e him. The miner in those early days was totally deprived of the pleasures of society. A cabin of logs or boards was built near the claim they were working, and the partners of the claim all lived together in the same cabin, taking turns in cooking. A turn was a week, sometimes it was reduced to a day. The fare, of course, was not the daintiest, but they always had plenty when it could be had. Sometimes a camp would get snowed in and then "grub" (the name given to the provisions) became scarce and consequently very dear. When the flour and "spuds" (potatoes) failed, the hardy miner fell back upon Chili beans, which were always plentiful in the early days of California and were the main stay of the miners. During the ten years that the subject of this sketch was in the mines he worked in the counties of Nevada, Sierra and Plumas, but mostly in Nevada county, which he considered his home. Although he did not make a fortune in the mines he always had amjile means for his own support and laid by a little besides, but he looks back upon the ten years spent there as the most independent and happy of his life. The pure air, the wild scenery of the mountains, with their lofty peaks aud madly rushing rivers, the majestic forests and beautiful valleys, and the free life of the hardy mountaineers were congenial to his nature, and " like a thing of beauty," were a joy forever and a feast for his mind. On the 16th day of October, 1862, he was married to Mary Newell in Nevada City. Mary Newell was an orphan girl without a known relative in the world. She was born in Australia and came to California when she was but two years old. When she was nine years old her mother died, and as her father had died some years before, she was left at that tender age without a relative or guardian aud among strangers to fight the hard battles of life alone. The subject of this sketch, then a young man in his twenties, learned of her lonely situation. His sympathies .were enlisted in her behalf, and he procured a good home for her in the family of a business man in Nevada City, where she was sent to a private school, he (Moses) paying for her books and tuition. She remained with the family until she was nearly fifteen years old, when by some plot of the intriguing Cupid they found themselves in love and a wedding was the natural consequence. He lived in the mines one year after his marriage, after which he sold out his mining interests and bought a farm in Colusa county, in the Sacramento valley. Ten children were born to them : Edna May, born August 4, 1864; George Edward, November 21, 1865; Albert Sidney, January 30, 1867; Frank, November 26, 1868; Claude, May 8, 1870, died June 13, 1870; Emma Luta, May 8,

1871; Will Elmer, March 18,1874; Burdah, June 19, 1878; Stephen, Novemher 13, 1880; died May 23, 1881, aud Loe, May 13, 1882. Mary Newell was born in Australia on the 1st day of January, 1848. She is small in statue, has dark eyes which are large and expressive, and her head is adorned with an abundance of long black hair. Her sympathy for the distressed is unbounded and her self-denial proverbial. Moses Stinchfield is the largest of any of the family of Daniel Stinchfield. He is five feet and eleven inches in height and weighs 180 pounds. He has dark-brown hair and hazel eyes, is full chested and of compact build, and he appears smaller than his weight indicates. Like his lather he is active and a great walker. He thought nothing, while in the mines, of walking forty or fifty miles in a day over the rough mountains without experiencing fatigue. His suavity and buoyancy of spirits make him a great favorite, especially with the young. In 1873 he allowed his name to be used for the office of county treasurer, on an independent ticket, and he was elected by a handsome majority, notwithstanding the county was strongly democratic. After serving two years he was nominated for a second term, but was defeated, although he ran nearly 500 votes ahead of his ticket. He has held other offices of trust in the county, and has given satisfaction in all that he administered. For twenty-eight years he has been a leading member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having joined the order in Nevada City in 1856, and he has considerable popularity in the state as a society man. He served as D. D. Grand Master in the order of Odd Fellows for eleven years, and instituted several lodges of that order. He first entered the grand lodge of California as a representative in 1861, and has been returned several times. Several of the orations that he has delivered in that order have been published. He is also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and now holds the office of D. D. Grand Master of Colusa county. In politics he is a conservative democrat, having always supported the national democratic ticket, with one exception - he voted for Lincoln for president in 1864. Being a disbeliever in creeds, he never united with any church. He strives to live up to the "Golden Rule," does not take the name of God in vain, and cannot bring his mind down to the standard of creedism that would damn a soul down to eternal punishment because the body that it inhabited in life had not l)een sprinkled with holy water, baptized or had its feet washed in the manner that sectarianism prescribes ; yet he is a firm believer in that religion that teaches love to our fellow-man as the foundation of love to God. Moses Stinchfield was married twice; the second time,

August 21, 1887, to Annie Stinchfield, the daughter of his second cousin, Jeremiah Stinchfield. The children by this marriage were Harriet Asenath, born April 8, 1890, and Roxana Judkins, April 13, 1895.

John, the sixth son of Daniel Stinchfield, was born near Evansville, Ind., on the 27th day of November, 1834. Like the other members ot the family, he only acquired a limited education, and never attended any school but the common or public schools of the country. He too was raised on the farm, performing such labor as usually falls to the lot of a farmer boy. John, as a boy, was of slight build, but as tough as a hickory withe. He was a sober, old-fashioned appearing boy, and for this reason his brothers nicknamed him "old dad." In 1860 he was married at Evansville, Ind., to Ann Eliza Neel. When Fort Sumter was fired upon, and the cry of war was raised throughout the land, calling the loyal sons of the country to arms to defend the Union, John was one of the first to enlist. The company in which he had enlisted formed part of the 25th Indiana. This regiment was in continued active service until the close of the war. The regiment was ordgred to Missouri, where it was in active operation until Grant massed his forces for the attack ]on Forts Henry and Donaldson. The 25th Indiana, under General Smith, led the attack at the storming of the latter fort, and was the first to plant its flag on the enemy's works. John won the praise of being the "bravest of the brave" in that hardfought battle. Soon after the capture of Fort Donaldson, he was taken sick, and went to Mound City, 111. He remained in the hospital some time, before he was ready for duty, and not until after the desperate battle of Shiloh was fought, did he join his regiment.

When the army marched south to Atlanta, the 25th Indiana was placed under General Hurlburt, and assigned to provost duty in Tennessee with Memphis for headquarters; but previous to this it bad been in some severe engagements, Hatchie and Stone River being atnong the number. The duty assigned the 25th was the most arduous in the service. While out on duty with a small squad of soldiers he and his comrades were surrounded by a band of rebels and taken prisoners. They were marched to Andersonville prison, where John remained for seven or eight months, when he was exchanged. But the terrible suffering that he endured from disease and starvation in that inhuman prison-pen left him a wreck in health. He never recovered from the effects of that awful confinement. After he was exchanged he returned home, where he remained until his health was somewhat improved when he rejoined his regiment. Lee soon after laid down his sword and the war was ended. The army was disbanded and John returned to his home, having served trom the commencement to the close of the war. His officers speak of him as trusty, honest, brave, never guilty of any iusubordiuation and always ready for a soldier's duty. The seeds of the disease he contracted in that black blot upon the history of the rebellion - Andersonville prison - took a deeper root when he was no longer under the excitement incident to a soldier's life, and he died at Evansville, Indiana, in ] 865, at the age of thirty years.

John M'as of slight build, but the deficieuc}' in weight was counterbalanced by an unyielding energy. His height was five feet nine inches; his hair was a dark brown and his eyes, which twinkled with fun or sparkled with excitement, were blue. He is the only son of Daniel Stinchfield who attained manhood and died without issue.

Harriet, the fourth daughter and youngest child of Daniel, was born in Vanderburgh county, Indiana, on the 19th day of December, 1835. Being only three years old wheu her mother died slie was placed under her sister Sarah's care. When Sarah married in 1840 she took her little sister home with her and kept her until she was fifteen y^ears old, when she went home to live with her father. She was married at Evansville, Indiana, to Thomas P. Henning on the 6th day of April, 1854. Following are the names of their children: Mary Jane, born October 11, 1855; Edward, November 5, 1857; Moses, December 12, 1859; Samuel S., November 14, 1861; George T., February 1, 1864; David R., October 28, 1866; Elizabeth, January 29, 1869; Charles S;, July 14, 1874; Frank Otis, January 29, 1880. They were all born in Indiana.

Samuel Henning was married to Carrie Woolsey April 10, 1887. His family consists of four children: Bertha, born May 11, 1888; Virgil, February 7, 1890; Leah Gertrude, September 18, 1891;Clesta, April 5, 1893. ,

Moses Henning was married to Cora B. Tevault at Stendal, June 12, 1887. They have three children: Belva, born June 22, 1888; Amelia, October 21, 1889, and Ralph, February 14, 1892.

George T. Henning was married to Mrs. Sachie P. Holleman at Humboldt, Tennessee, May 23, 1892. He has no children of his own. One step-son, Matthew Holleman, born January 9, 1889.

Elizabeth Henning married Richard Bass at Stendal, Indiana, August 21, 1887. Her family consists of four children: Tempa Gertrude, born July 29, 1888; Mary Victoria, March 10, 1890, died July 23, 1890; Cassie Estelle, July 6, 1891, and Ofa Merle, September 28,1894.

Margaret Victoria Henning was married to William H. Tevault near Stendal, Indiana, December 23,1888. She has three children: Leona, born April 21, 1890; Wiley, May 6, 1892, and Walter, May 30, 1894.

Mary J. Henning was married to David H. Loyd, in Pike county, Indiana, on the 20th day of July, 1873. She with her husband lives in Kentucky. They have four children. Her husband is engaged in farming.

Early in life Harriet united with the Baptist church and lived a spotless Christian life. She was smaller in size than either of her sisters, yet she was above the average size of women. Her complexion was fair, her hair was light and her eyes were a delicate blue. She had an amiable, loving disposition, and it was said of her that she had not an enemy in the world. Her epitaph if truly written would be " She paved a pathway in life that led to heaven."

The Akin Family

As was the father before him, William Merchant Akin has been a merchant. He whole life has been devoted to selling and buying upon a large and small scale, and to trading in the "busy marts of men." And at no time in his long business career has he ever smutched his conscience by stooping to dishonorable and unfair methods to gain an advantage in any transaction, however large or small.

The grandfather, Josiah Akin, came from Virginia to Kentucky in the early jjioneer times, when Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton and others were battling for homes with the treacherous red men of the forest and were beating them back to save their lives and their families from the horrors of the tomahawk and the scalping knife. He some- time afterward removed to Indiana, in the vicinity of New Albany, and there he settled upon a farm. His death occurred at the advanced age of eighty-three years. He was the father of three sons: William Merchant Akin, Isaac N. Akin and Ransom Wallace Akin. William M., in the course of his active life, was at one time sheriff of Floyd county, Indiana. Isaac N. was clerk of the court an.d also a lawyer. They were men whose public services and sterling characteristics are so intimately interwoven with the history ol their country that their memory survives above the ravaging hand of time and they are esteemed for their worth and long usefulness.

Ransom Wallace Akin, the youngest son of Josiah, was born on his father's farm near New Albany, in 1806. After his marriage to Miss Martha Jacobs he removed to New Albany, about 1832, and started in the grocery business. A man of keen perception and excellent business qualities and honest instincts, he succeeded almost from the first. It was a principle with him, amounting almost to the dignity of a moral precept, to be^rst above all competitors in what he undertook, or not at all. Another doctrine of trade with him was to follow but one business throughout life, and follow it well. In no other way did he believe Success, that elusive goddess of affairs, could be made to dwell at the top and bottom of every page of the ledger. All his life he was an active business man, preferring to be a merchant in a country town rather than a worried and harrassed business man in the city.

In 1853 his wife died in New Albany of the cholera, when that fatal disease was raging as an epidemic throughout the country. Four children were born to them, whose names are as here given: Evoline, William Merchant, Francis Marion and Mary. The latter is dead, having lived to a good age before the translation from life to eternity came. Ransom W. Akin remarried, his second wife being a Miss Sarah Sedgwick, a descendant of the Maryland family of that name- They are a long lived family. Five sisters are now living at the advanced age of ninety or thereabouts. The children of this second marriage were John, Margaret, Sarah, (wife of Dr. Cloud), Louise, Charles, (who has been a senator in the Indiana legislature), Edward and Josiah, (both of whom are now in business at Carlisle, Indiana - merchandising, banking and farming.) Margaret and Ransom Wallace are dead.

In 1837 Ransom Wallace Akin took his family and removed to Carlisle, Indiana, where he spent the chief part of the remainder of his life in merchandising. When his family had grown up and needed the benefits of a higher education, he removed to Bloomiugton to place them in the Bloomington University. This was in 1851. While there he could not remain idle. He, with others, organized a bank and he became its president. Like so many of the banks of that day, this bank was caught in the panic of 1857 and broke. In 1858 or 1859 he changed his residence again, and this time it was to go back to the old home at Carlisle. He was sent to the State senate one term, this being the only public office he ever held. In his latter days he digressed slightly from his life-long precept to follow but one thing, and purchased a farm near Carlisle, where he took some delight in improving it and feeding the soil with those elements of which it had been robbed by long and unwise cultivation. He never entirely gave up his business of merchandising, and died in the active field of 1880. He was a man whose honest business principles had made everybody his friend and whose irreproachable life had become a monument of great honor to him.

His son, William Merchant Akin, was bfirn in a cabin on his father's farm, about five miles fi-om New Albany, on November 18, 1828. Log cabins in those days were the only princely palaces of which pioneers could boast. Indeed, as to that, it is not so far back in the history of England itself when the luxury of leaves as a carpet on the dirt floors was a matter of open* comment and wonder. It was when the subject of this sketch was an infant that his father removed from the farm to the town of New Albany, and he was only nine years old when his father removed to Carlisle. He secured what education the common schools afforded. When he was eighteen years old, in 1846, he went to Greencastle to college, where he spent two years. It was his intention to finish the college curriculum, but his father, needing the services of his son, sent for him. So he began a business life when he was twenty years old, and his career as a business man has known no interruptions since that date. He married at the age of twenty, and his father at once set him up in the same business in the same town. The country merchant in those days ventured down the I'iver with flatboats loaded with corn and other products, much of it being taken on accounts which customers had made at the store. He himself, in his early life, steered at different times two flatboats down the Wabash into the Ohio and thence down the Mississippi river to New Orleans. Having received a splendid training as a country merchant, he entered a larger field in 1865, in which to continue his mercantile affairs, and came to Evansville at a time when common domestics invoiced at 70 cents per yard, such as can now be bought now for 5 or 6 cents' per yard. In 1848 his father began the pork-packing business. It grew naturally out of his general merchandising, and from that day to this William M. has been continuously in that line of business, and he is regarded as having been the longest in that business, without variation, of any man now living in America. In 1864 he paid $100 for a single hog that was almost equal in size to a cow. When he came to Evansville, therefore, he became the successor of Samuel Orr, and shortly afterward he built for himself a house on First street, between Division and Ingle streets, also a slaughter house on Pigeon creek. When the building on First street burned in 1872, he immediately rebuilt and leased it to Ragon Brothers, who still occupy it. Notwithstanding all his pushing, uncompromising activity, he has not always sailed along smoothly. He has lost and made, suffered the joys and pains of business, had his ups and downs, but through it all, it is good to say he has never failed in business, nor did his father. No man ever lost a dollar through him. He has made business a success, and in his declining days has the satisfaction of knowing that he has accumulated a competency. However, he is still active in commercial affairs. Through the panic of 1873 to 1878 he lost about $7.5,000. His is, indeed, a proud record. He owns a farm now, and is something of a horse fancier, taking great delight in thoroughbred horses. His record of credit is one to be proud of. All along his life it has been a cardinal point with him to live up to all his engagements, however slight or unimportant they might be. All promises on his pai't were important. The very year his father-in-law went to China as commissioner from the United States, Miss Mary S. Davis and Mr. W. M. Akin were married. The date of the marriage was December 8, 1848. To them were born seven children, whose names are as follows: Ransom Lee, William M., Jr., Henry Jackson, Carrie, (Mrs. N. T. DePauw) Bonnie, (Mrs. Wilbur Erskine). Two of the children died in infancy.

In his early life Mr. Akin belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church. His wife, trained in Methodism, allied herself with the Episcopal church. Late in life she joined the Methodists, and is now a member of Trinity M. E. church. Mr. Akin is an honest man, sociable, reliable in all his statements, and one whom it is a delight to meet. His business career is sufficient to stamp him a man of force and singleness of purpose. His success in life is a mark of distinguishing ability ; his high sense of social and business honor point him out as an example for others to emulate ; his generosity and respect for oth-

The Davises originally came to America in the year 1650, from Bretango, and settled in Maryland. The great-grandfather of Mrs. WM. Akin (nee Davis) was in the French and Indian war in 1755, in the command of General Forbes. In the course of the war the meagre knowledge of him reveals only the fact that he lost his life in the contest - was killed in some fight. His eldest son, only ten years of age at the time of his father's death, was scarcely old enough to engage in the Revolutionary war that followed shortly afterward ; but, young as he was he took quite an active part in the struggle for liberty. After the battle of Trenton it became necessary to place a guard over the mercenary Hessians whom General Washington surprised in the midst of their holiday carousal and captured. This young patriot, grandfather of Mrs. Akin, was one of the guards. Even traditions relative to these Eevolutionary patriots are so meagre and vague thaf the few facts which we do know of their lives only add fuel to the burning desire to know more. But the veil of silence over the past is as impenetrable as the great mystery of the future. After peace had been restored to the torn and devastated land, the young patriot went to work in the vineyard of the Master, and entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church. For sixty years he was a faithful preacher of the word of God. He was born September 1, 1762, in the town of Shippensburg. He was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature for four years, having been first elected in 1816. His family consisted of six sons and one daughter.

His son, John W. Davis was born on the 16th of April, 1799, in New Holland, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He was mai-ried October 19, 1820, and in April, 1823, moved to Carlisle, Indiana. Of the lady whom he married, Commodore John Lee Davis many years afterward wrote as follows: " Mother was born in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, on March 6, 1801. I know but little about the ancestors on mother's side. All I have is from hearsay, and I can only give it from memory. Our great-grandmother's maiden name was Lee, and we are descendants from the historical Lee family. I have talked with Aunt Jane Hoover about the Hoover side and she could give me no information further than that I already had. I started to gather together all the facts pertaining to our ancestors on both sides several years ago, but did not have the means at hand to carry it out."

tive or commissioner to Ciiina under President Pierce, in 1848-50, being the successor of Edward Everett, the first commissioner. After- Wiird he was appointed Governor of the territory of Oregon, 1853-4. Wiiile serving as chairman of the Baltimore political convention of 1852, he lacked but one vote of being nominated for president over Franklin Pierce. In that convention Pennsylvania and Virginia, one having but one more delegate vote than the other, retired to consider how they should vote, and when they returned the one having the greater number of votes went for Pierce, thus nominating him for president on the democratic ticket. John W. Davis had a classical education. He died August 22, 1859.

Commodore John Lee Davis was in charge of the vessel that carried his father to China, and later his ship carried Minister Denby to China. Dr. Charles Davis, brother of the Commodore and of Mrs. Akin, lives at Robinson, Illinois. Henry Davis, another brother, is in New Mexico, his twin brother William died two or three years ago at Carlisle, Indiana.

Judge Denny married the sister of Caroline, both are dead. Mary S., the only other child of Hon. John AV. Davis, is the Avife of AVilliam M. Akin, of this city. She is an estimable lady and with the devotion of a true mother has trained up her children to right living.