Historical Perspective: Floyd family among significant, early pioneers of Vigo County
Rob Robbins
Historical Perspective: Floyd family among significant, early pioneers of Vigo County
Mike McCormick Special to the Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE — Among the
significant pioneer settlers of early Terre Haute was John Gabriel Maupin
Floyd.
He was the son of Col. George Rogers Clark Floyd, named commandant
of Fort Knox at Vincennes in August 1810 and among those specifically identified
by Gen. William Henry Harrison for valor during the Battle of
Tippecanoe.
The father of George R.C. Floyd was Col. John Floyd, for whom
Floyd County, Ind., and Floyd County, Ky., are named. Col. John Floyd was
mortally wounded April 8, 1783, by members of the Shawnee nation near
Louisville. He died April 10.
At the time of Col. George R.C. Floyd’s
death in Louisville June 5, 1823, John G.P. Floyd — the son of Col. Floyd’s
first wife Maria Maupin — was preparing to become a West Point
cadet.
Maria Maupin Floyd died during childbirth in 1807 and, on April
16, 1810, Col. G.R.C. Floyd wed Sarah “Sally” Tevis Fontaine of Louisville,
daughter of Aaron Fontaine and his first wife, Barbara Terrell. Three girls —
Georgiann, Jane and Matilda — were born of that marriage.
Though listed
in the Class of 1828 with Confederate president Jefferson Davis, John G.P. Floyd
did not graduate from the military academy. Instead, he associated with the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers. A descendant referred to him as “the principal engineer
of Indiana.”
It is probable that Floyd came to Terre Haute at the request
of Col. Cornelius A. Ogden, superintendent of the Cumberland Road, when
headquarters were established in Vigo County in 1834.
In 1839, John G.P.
Floyd married Ann Elizabeth Hager, daughter of George and Ellenor W. Hager. The
Hager family of Hagerstown, Md., already was prominent in the city. George owned
an early Terre Haute brewery that was ravaged by fire in 1835.
John and
Ann Floyd had eight children: Ellen, Mary, Annette, Lizzie, Grace, John Gabriel
Maupin, Jr., Sallie and Ralph. Most were born in Terre Haute. Three of Floyd’s
daughters married prominent Terre Haute men.
On Feb. 7, 1871, Mary wed
Demas Deming, Jr. Annette married John Dowling Keeler, the grandson of pioneer
Terre Haute newspaper publisher John Dowling on Nov. 18, 1879. And, on Aug. 14,
1877, daughter Grace Floyd Isaacs married Ray Greene Jenckes, manager and part
owner of the Hudnut Hominy Mills with headquarters in Terre Haute.
Keeler
graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis on June 7, 1870. After
considerable service as a commander in international waters, he and his wife
retired to Bedford County, Va.
“Boy Banker” Deming was very visible,
serving as president of the First National Bank of Terre Haute for many years.
Acquiring much of the Vigo County land accumulated by his father — the first
president of the Terre Haute branch of the Second State Bank of Indiana — and
multiplying it, young Demas became one of the wealthiest men in the history of
the county.
Mary Floyd Deming died childless on Feb. 12, 1893. Demas
subsequently married Lillian Lohmann, who had a child and three grandchildren by
a prior marriage.
Annette and John Dowling Keeler were the parents of at
least two daughters: Elizabeth and Katherine.
At one time the pioneer
Jenckes family owned more than 3,000 acres in Lost Creek Township. On March 13,
1884, Ray and Grace Jenckes sold 139 acres of the Jenckes farm to the city for
$15,000 for use as Highland Lawn Cemetery. The Country Club of Terre Haute also
was located on the Jenckes property.
Grace Floyd Jenckes died June
28, 1909, about a month after Grace Louise Jenckes, the couple’s only child,
passed away at age 30. On Feb. 22, 1912, Ray married Virginia Somes, who became
the first congresswoman in Indiana.
Aaron Benjamin Fontaine, born Sept.
4, 1911, was the youngest child of Aaron Fontaine and his second wife, Elizabeth
Thruston Whiting, and the half brother of Sallie Fontaine, wife of Col. G.R.C.
Floyd.
A.B. Fontaine, as he became known, spent his early youth at
“Fontaine’s Ferry,” his father’s plantation a few miles west of Louisville.
Twelve years old when his father died, A.B. became the court-appointed ward of
two maternal step-brothers named Thruston, both Louisville lawyers.
In
1831, A.B. was admitted to the bar and, on Jan. 19, 1832, he married Mary
Elliott, a native of Ireland, in Morgan County, Ill. Within months after the
marriage, the couple located in Terre Haute, where A.B. apparently had inherited
land from his father.
Initially, A.B. Fontaine practiced law and engaged
in land speculation. When the Terre Haute branch of the Second State Bank of
Indiana was launched in December 1834, Fontaine was named its first cashier.
Demas Deming, Sr. was the branch president.
At least four of the
Fontaines’ six children were born in Terre Haute: Emeline Dillon, Edward
Elliott, Ogden and Noland. It is likely that Ogden was named out of respect to
Col. Cornelius A. Ogden, superintendent of the Cumberland Road.
Cashier
Fontaine provided an accounting of the branch activities each fiscal
year.
The annual report issued in November 1840 showed that loans to
directors and stockholders were nearly 40 percent of all loans. Many officers
sought positions to enable them to borrow money.
In 1842, the Indiana
legislature appointed former Indiana Treasurer Nathan B. Palmer to make a
thorough investigation of the bank and its 11 branches. Palmer’s detailed report
was generally favorable. There was one problem.
Branch Cashier A.B.
Fontaine of Terre Haute had a $9,500 shortage.
According to Palmer’s
analysis in the Documentary Journal of the Legislature for 1842, Fontaine fled
to Texas to avoid prosecution. According to Indiana historian Logan Esarey, “it
was the only case of embezzlement in the whole career of the
bank.”
Fontaine later returned to Louisville, where he resided with his
family in a fine residence and apparently was allowed to practice law. He died
Aug. 29, 1880. Mary died on April 24, 1904.