Knox
        County Indiana

        
 Famous
        and Important People

        

        
Richard
        Bernard "Red" Skelton

        
Born
        July 18, 1913 and Died Sept 17,
        1997

        
in
        Vincennes Indiana to JoSEPH
        eLMER Skelton and  iDA mAE
        fIELDS  . His father was a
        HagenBeck - Wallace Circus
        clown  who died in 1913
        shortly before his son was born.
        His
        mother, left with four boys to
        raise on her own, worked as a
        cleaning woman and an elevator
        operator. She taught her son Red,
        to appreciate art and gave him
        tickets to vaudeville shows. As
        Red Skelton later said,
        "Mom used to say I didn't
        run away from home. My destiny
        just caught up with me at an
        early age." The person most
        responsible for Red Skelton's
        involvement in the theater,
        however, was the famous actor
        and comedian, Ed Wynn. Wynn came
        to Vincennes in 1923 to put on a
        show, and spotted the
        10-year-old Red Skelton
        selling newspapers on the
        street, to help support his
        family. Ed Wynn went up to
        him, bought all his newspapers
        and invited him to the show. He
        took Red Skelton backstage where
        he introduced the slack-jawed
        Red Skelton to everyone and let
        him look through the peephole at
        the audience filing in. Red
        Skelton fell in love with show
        business at that moment, which
        changed his life forever.As
        a teenager skelton worked one of
        his first jobs with the same
        circus. He married in 1930 Edna
        Stillwell, they divorced about
        13 years later.  Red then
        married In 1945,  to
        Georgia Davis. This marriage
        lasted for 28 years, and
        resulted in the births of his
        son Richie and his daughter
        Valentina. Richie,
        unfortunately, died of leukemia
        in childhood, a blow that
        devastated the family. In 1973
        he married his third wife,
        Lothian Toland.  He will be
        best remembered for his reciting
        the "Pledge of
        Allegiance", a sentimental
        clown who delighted TV audiences
        for 20 years playing Clem
        Kadiddlehopper, Freddie the
        Freeloader and the Mean Widdle
        Kid, BUT MOST OF ALL FOR HIS
        SIGNATURE SIGN OFF " gOOD
        nIGHT AND gOD bLESS"

        

        
WILLIAM
        HENRY HARRISON

        
BORN
        FEB 9, 1773 AND DIED aPR 8, 1841

        
William
        Henry Harrison was born on
        February 9, 1773, and grew up on
        his family's plantation,
        Berkeley, in Charles City
        County, Virginia. He was the son
        of Elizabeth Basset Harrison and
        BENJAMIN HARRISON, a signer of
        the Declaration of Independence
        and governor of Virginia.
        wILLIAM HENRY HARRISON attended
        Hampden-Sydney College for three
        years. Because Harrison's father
        wanted his son to become a
        doctor, he was sent to the
        medical school of the University
        of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia
        to study under the great
        physician BENJAMIN RUSH. Shortly
        afterward, when his father died,
        Harrison decided to pursue a
        military career. hE married
        Anna Symmes, the daughter of
        Judge John Cleves Symmes, a
        wealthy land speculator. The
        marriage produced ten children,
        one of whom, John Scott
        Harrison, was the father of,
        BENJAMIN HARRISON,  who
        became the 23rd president in
        1889.  wILLIAM HENRY
        HARRISON After resigning from
        the army in 1814, Harrison had
        an obscure career in politics
        and diplomacy, ending up 20
        years later as a county recorder
        in Ohio. Nominated for president
        in 1835 as a military hero whom
        the conservative politicians
        hoped to be able to control, he
        ran surprisingly well against
        Van Buren in 1836. Four years
        later, he defeated Van Buren but
        caught pneumonia and died in
        Washington on April 4, 1841, a
        month after his inauguration.
        Harrison was the first president
        to die in office.

        

        
William
        A. Cullop

        
bORN
        mARCH 28, 1853 AND DIED oCT 9,
        1927

        
wILLIAM
        aLLEN cULLOP WAS BORN mARCH 28,
        1853, born near Oaktown, Knox
        County, Ind.,THE SON OF WILLIAM
        WASHINGTON CULLOP AND MARIAH
        JANE PATTERSON. HE 
        attended the common schools; was
        graduated from Hanover (Ind.)
        College in June 1878; professor
        for two years in Vincennes
        (Ind.) University; studied law;
        was admitted to the bar in 1881
        and commenced practice in
        Vincennes, Ind.; prosecuting
        attorney of the twelfth judicial
        circuit 1883-1886; member of the
        State house of representatives
        1891-1893; delegate to the
        Democratic National Conventions
        in 1892 and 1896; elected as a
        Democrat to the Sixty-first and
        to the three succeeding
        Congresses (March 4, 1909-March
        3, 1917); unsuccessful candidate
        for renomination in 1916;
        unsuccessful candidate for the
        Democratic nomination as United
        States Senator in 1926; resumed
        the practice of law and was also
        interested in various business
        enterprises; died in Vincennes,
        Ind., October 9, 1927; interment
        in Greenlawn Cemetery.

        

        
JOHN
        RICE JONES

        
BORN
        JAN 8, 1792 AND DIED 1845

        
jOHN
        RICE JONES WAS BORN JAN 8, 1792
        IN kASKASKIA, ILLLINOIS A SON OF
        JUDGE JOHN RICE JONES AND MARY
        BURGER. HE MOVED TO TEXAS ABOUT
        1831, Texas postmaster
        general,  He and Stephen F.
        Austin were boyhood friends in
        Missouri, where their fathers
        were partners in a lead-mining
        operation.AFTER SERVING IN THE
        WAR OF 1812, UNDER CAPT HENRY
        DODGE, ALONG WITH HIS BROTHERS
        ADOLPHUS AND MYERS F JONES. SOON
        AFTER MOVING TO TEXAS JOHN
        RECEIVED UNDER HEADRIGHT A
        LEAGUE OF LAN IN FAYETTE COUNTY,
        AND A LABOR OF LAND IN BRAZORIA
        COUNTY, BUT POLITICAL AND ARMY
        HISTORY PLACES HIS RESIDENCE AS
        SAN FELIPE. HE DIED IN FAYETTE
        COUNTY, AND WAS BURIED AT
        FAIRYLAND FARM THE ORIGINAL
        HEADRIGHT HE HAD RECEIVED. HE
        WAS MARRIED TWICE, THE FIRST
        TIME TO THE DAUGHTER OF MAJOR
        JAMES HAWKINS OF MISSOURI THE
        SECOND TO SARAH FIDELA HEARD,
        SISTER OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM J
        HEARD, WHO SERVEDIN THE BATTLE
        OF SAN JACINTO.

        

        
HENRY
        DODGE

        
BORN
        OCT 12, 1782 AND DIED JUNE 19,
        1867

        
HENRY
        DODGE WAS A SOLDIER BORN IN
        VINCENNES INDIANA ,12
        October 1782; died in
        Burlington, Iowa, 19 June 1867.
        His father, Israel Dodge, was a
        revolutionary officer of
        Connecticut. HenRY moved to
        Missouri in 1796 and settled at
        Ste. Genevieve; sheriff of Cape
        Girardeau County in 1808; moved
        to Galena, Ill., and operated a
        lead mine; moved to Wisconsin in
        1827, then part of Michigan
        Territory, and settled near the
        present site of Dodgeville;
        served in the Black Hawk and
        other Indian wars; was
        commissioned major of United
        States Rangers 1832; left the
        Army as colonel of the First
        United States Dragoons 1836;
        appointed Governor of the
        Territory of Wisconsin
        1836-1841; elected as a
        Democratic Delegate to the
        Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth
        Congresses (March 4, 1841-March
        3, 1845); was not a candidate
        for renomination in 1844, having
        again accepted the appointment
        of Governor of the Territory of
        Wisconsin, and served from 1845
        until 1848; upon the admission
        of Wisconsin as a State into the
        Union in 1848 was elected as a
        Democrat to the United States
        Senate; reelected in 1851 and
        served from June 8, 1848, to
        March 3, 1857; chairman,
        Committee on Commerce
        (Thirty-fourth Congress);
        declined the appointment of
        Governor of Washington Territory
        by President Franklin Pierce in
        1857; retired to private life;
        died in Burlington, Des Moines
        County, Iowa, June 19, 1867;
        interment in Aspen Grove
        Cemetery

        

        
GEORGE
        ROGERS CLARK

        
BORN
        NOV 19, 1752 AND DIED FEB 13,
        1818

        
tHOUGH
        GEORGE CLARK WAS NOT BORN IN
        INDIANA HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR
        THE STATE OF INDIANA IN MANY
        WAYS. George Rogers Clark was
        born in Virginia on November 19,
        1752, AND DIED FEB 13, 1818, THE
        SON OF John and Ann Rogers
        Clark. He had five brothers and
        four sisters. WillIam Clark, his
        youngest brother, went on a
        westward expedition with
        Meriweather Lewis. His father’s
        occupation was farming and
        landholding. His mother and
        father mostly home schooled him,
        but later he was sent to live
        with his grandfather and
        attended a private school there.
        Clark had red hair, six foot
        tall, and weighed two hundred
        pounds. Clark’s WAS A SURVEYOR
        A TRADE HE LEARNED FROM HIS
        GRANDFATHER.  On June 26,
        1778 Clark and one hundred
        seventy- five men traveled on
        the Ohio River to Kaskaskia.
        They surprised the fort at
        Kaskaskia on July 4, 1778, and
        they took the fort and town
        without firing a shot. On July
        5, 1778 Clark captured Fort
        Cahokia from the British. Father
        Gibault, Kaskaskia’s priest,
        went to Vincennes to secure
        allegiance with the French.
        Captain Helm was sent to capture
        Fort Sackville. Hamilton learned
        about Helm’s capture of Fort
        Sackville so he prepared his
        forces and traveled down the
        Maumee and Wabash Rivers
        reaching Vincennes on December
        17, 1778. At the time Helm was
        forced to surrender. Determined
        to capture Hamilton, Clark, with
        approximately one hundred
        seventy- five men, marched
        eighteen days through freezing
        floodwaters. On February 23,
        1779 Clark’s army entered
        Vincennes and surrounded the
        fort. On February 25, 1779
        Hamilton
        surrendered.   aFTER
        SUFFERING A STROKE IN 1809 AND
        FALLING INTO A FIREPLACE BURNING
        HIS LEG, HE MOVED TO THE HOME OF
        HIS SISTER LUCY cLARK CROGHAN AT
        LOCUST GROVE. tHE LAST
        NINE  YEARS OF CLARKS LIFE
        WAS SPENT Disappointed at what
        he regarded as his country's
        ingratitude, and broken down by
        excessive drinking and
        paralysis, he lost his once
        powerful influence and lived in
        comparative isolation until his
        death, near Louisville,
        Kentucky. HE IS BURIED AT cAVE
        HILL CEMETERY, LOUISVILLE
        KENTUCKY.

        

        
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        2008 JRice