ADAMS
EARL, of La Fayette, Indiana, born April 20, 1819, in Fairfield
County, Ohio, was the youngest but one of a family of fifteen children
of NEHEMIAH and REBECCA EARL. His father, NEHEMIAH EARL, was one of
eight
sons of DANIEL EARL, and moved with his father from Washington County,
New York, and settled at Onondaga Hollow, New York, in the year 1792.
His
father, DANIEL EARL, was of a large and influential family of
Massachusetts
origin, and died in Marcellus, New York, in 1817, aged eighty-eight
years.
The EARL family were unusually large men, and over six feet in height.
NEHEMIAH EARL was born
September 10, 1771, and died in 1839 in Crawford
County, Ohio. ADAMS EARL's mother, REBECCA DANFORTH EARL, was a
daughter
of MAJOR ASA DANFORTH, who was the pioneer of Onondaga County, New
York.
MAJOR DANFORTH and family moved from Worcester, Massachusetts, after
the
close of the war, in 1783, to Mayfield, in the lower part of Montgomery
County, New York, where he resided but a few years. Early in May, MAJOR
ASA DANFORTH with his family embarked at Mayfield, in flat-bottomed
boats,
and afterward landed at the mouth of Onondaga Creek, where they settled
a little south of Onondaga Hollow, New York, May 22, 1788. Upon his
arrival
at Onondaga he found his family the only white persons in the country.
The family of MAJOR DANFORTH were treated with great kindness by the
head
civil chief of the Onondaga Indians, notwithstanding which they were
subjected
to many privations, and at times were much alarmed for their personal
safety
because of the vindictive spirit manifested by some of the Indians,
generally
occasioned by the free use of intoxicating drinks.
MAJOR ASA DANFORTH was born at Worcester, Massachusetts,
July 6,
1746, and died at his resident at Onondaga Hollow, September 2, 1818,
in
the seventy-third year of his age. He married HANNAH WHEELER, of
Brookfield,
Massachusetts, in the fifteenth year of her age. They had five
children.
REBECCA DANFORTH EARL was born in Massachusetts, January 3, 1777, and
died
in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, in 1844. She was marrried to NEHEMIAH
EARL
abut 1794 at Onondaga Hollow, New York. In 1814 he moved his
family
to Jamesville, Ohio, and after residing there two and a half years he
moved to Fairfield County, Ohio, and in
August, 1819, moved to Sandusky, Crawford County, Ohio.
ADAMS EARL passed his younger
days upon the farm, and during the
winter of 1836-'37 came with his parents to Tippecanoe County, Indiana,
settling on the Wea Plains. He was employed in breaking prairie and
farming.
In 1840 he commenced constructing flat-boats on the Wabash River,
loading
them with products from the Wea Plains and taking them to New Orleans.
In 1848 he moved to La Fayette, Indiana, and started in a general
merchandise
business with JAMES G. CARNAHAN, under the firm name of Carnahan &
Earl. He disposed of his interest to his partner in 1853, and embarked
in the wholesale grocery business. The same year in company with HENRY
JACOBS, of Rainsville, Warren County, Indiana, he conducted a general
merchandise
store for several years. Near the close of that year (1853) he formed a
partnership with MOSES FOWLER in the wholesale grocery trade, under the
name of Fowler & Earl. In 1857 they added to their business
that
of banking, opening the Indiana Bank, which was afterward merged into
the
La Fayette Branch of the State of Indiana, afterward known as the
National State Bank of La Fayette.
During the above period MR.
EARL continued as the active manager
of the wholesale grocery house. In 1857 HENRY C. BRUCE was admitted as
partner, under the style of Fowler, Earl & Bruce, which firm
continued
until 1860, when MR. EARL purchased the other interests and associated
with himself WILLIAM H. HATCHER, of La Fayette, the firm being Earl
&
Hatcher. Up to this time the grocery business had been conducted in
rooms
in the Purdue block, on Second, corner of Columbus street, but it had
now
become so large they had to obtain more space. Accordingly, in 1865,
they
erected the large stone-front building known as the Earl & Hatcher
block, on Third, corner of South street, and early in 1866 moved their
stock and office into it. In February, 1869, MR. HATCHER died, and in
April
following CHARLES W. BANGS, of La Fayette, was admitted as partner, the
firm name becoming Adams Earl & Co. In 1876 MORELL J. EARL, the
only
son of ADAMS EARL, was admitted into the house, and continued an active
member until his death, June 28, 1879.
In 1860 MR. EARL engaged with
others as J.H. Telford & Co., in
pork and beef packing, and built a spacious packing-house in La
Fayette.
They continued for six years, doing a large trade. In 1862 MR. EARL was
a partner in the firm of Culbertson, Blair & Co., of Chicago,
Illinois,
and engaged in a general commission business and in packing pork and
beef.
They built a large packinghouse in that city and carried on an
extensive
and profitable trade until the dissolution of the partnership in 1867.
In 1862 MESSRS. EARL and HATCHER became associated with A.J. CARNAHAN,
under the firm name of Carnahan, Earl & Co., in the wholesale boot
and shoe trade, which they continued for three years; and in the same
year
(1862) MR. EARL became a member of the wholesale dry goods house of
Curtis,
Earl & Co. continuing in it until 1869, when he disposed of his
interest
to this partners.
In 1869 an enterprise ws
commenced by La Fayette citizens to secure
an east and west railroad, running from Muncie, Indiana, through
LaFayette,
to Bloomington, Illinois. From its first inception MR. EARL took and
active
interest in the project. At the first meeting he was elected a director
of the company, and by the directors he was elected president. He
served
in this capacity three years, during which time the western division of
the road was completed and put in operation. This road is
no
part of the Lake Erie & Western line. In 1870 the Cincinnati, La
Fayette
& Chicago Railraodd Company was organized to construct and operate
a railroad from La Fayette to Kankakee, Illinois, there to connect with
the Illinois Central for Chicago. This road was owned by ADAMS EARL,
MOSES
FOWLER and GUSTAVUS RICKER, MR. EARL being president, general manager
and
builder. This section of railroad is now a part of the Cincinnati,
Indianapolis,
St. Louis & Chicago Railroad, and is known as the Kankakee line,
the
shortest line to Chicago.
In 1877, by purchasing MR.
FOWLER's bonds and stock, MR. EARL secured
a controlling interest in the property, and to its management gave his
careful and constant attention. In November, 1879, MR. EARL disposed of
his controlling interest in this property to a party of Boston
capitalists,
and retired from his management. This road crosses the Kankakee River
at
Waldron, Illinois, where in 1874 MR. EARL, in company with others,
constructed
large buildings for the storage of 35,000 tons of ice. This was a joint
stock company, called the Kankakee Crystal Ice Company, of which MR.
EARL
was president.
ADAMS EARL has always been
engaged in farming, and in the rearing
of livestock, on a very large scale. In 1862, in company with MOSES
FOWLER,
he purchased about 36,000 acres of land in Benton County, Indiana, and
improved it with buildings, fences, grain fields and pastures. Upon
this
tract of land they grazed annually from 2,000 to 4,000 head of cattle.
The rapid development of Benton County and the large interests of
MESSRS.
EARL and FOWLER there, induced them to take steps toward the removal of
the county seat from Oxford, in the southern part, to the town of
Fowler,
on the railroad, and in the geographical center of the county. By a
vote
of the citizens it was decided to make the change, and MESSRS. EARL and
FOWLER donated to the county $40,000 for the erection of a new
court-house.
In 1874 they divided their Benton County land, MR. FOWLER taking that
portion
lying south, west, adjoining a large body of land owned by MESSRS. EARL
and A.D. RAUB.
In 1876 JOSEPH HIXSON and MR.
RAUB became partners of MR. EARL in
the firm of Hixson, Raub & Earl, in farming and handling stock, and
in the same year MESSRS. EARL and RAUB engaged in the general
merchandise
and grain business at Earl Park, in Benton Conty, where they built a
large
elevator, store-room and cribs for the storage of corn. Earl Park is
located
on the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis & chicago Railroad, near
the north part of MR. EARL's farm, and was laid out and owned jointly
by
MESSRS. EARL and RAUB. Midway betwen the towns of Fowler and Earl Park,
on the railroad and near the center of his farm, MR. EARL built a large
number of cribs and other buildings for the storage and handling of
grain,
and at this point has ample side-track and facilities for loading and
unloading
cars. This Benton County farm is well improved, and all under
cultivation,
in pasturage, meadow and grain fields, and is worked by forty tenants.
MR. EARL also has a large farm
on the Wea Plains, four miles from
LaFayette, known as Shadeland Farm. During all his life he has had
extensive
dealings in cattle. For nearly fifteen years he had in Benton County a
breeding herd of fine short-horn cattle. In the feeding of steers for
market
his attention was attracted to the remarkable constitution and easy
fattening
qualities of the Hereford cattle, as shown by the few steers he had in
the bunches he was feeding. Upon further investigation he ascertained
that
these qualities were characteristic of the breed. Eventually he sold
out
all his short-horns and made a trip to England in 1880, where he
selected
his first lot of Herefords. This first importation has been followed up
each year. One year he had 130 head come over at one time. MR. EARL is
credited with having imported the best Herefords ever brought to this
country,
and his herd of over 200 at Shadeland Farm is universally conceded to
be
the finest herd of Herefords in the world. To the development of this
herd
and his farming in Benton County, MR. EARL now gives his entire
time.
His handsome residence in the city of La Fayette is in a ten-acre
grove,
known as Fountain Grove. The grounds are very rolling and covered with
natural forest trees, and also inclose a deer park. In height MR.
EARL is six feet and one inch, and well proportioned. He has lived a
remarkably
industrious life. ADAMS EARL was married to MARTHA J. HAWKINS, daughter
of JAMES HAWKINS, of Tippecanoe County, December 5, 1848. She was born
in Butler County, Ohio. They had two children. The daughter, ALICE J.
EARL,
was married December 20, 1876, to CHARLES B. STUART, of La Fayette, a
son
of JUDGE WILLIAM Z. STUART, of Logansport, Indiana. The son, MOVELL J.
EARL, was married to a daughter of HON. AUSTIN B. CLAYPOOL, of
Connersville,
Indiana, October 9, 1878. He died, as stated, June 28, 1879, when he
was
a member of the firm of Adams Earl & Co.
Biographical Record and Portrait Album of Tippecanoe
County, Indiana,
pp. 556 - 561
Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1888
