Part of the Indiana Biographies Project
Joseph C. Ratliff
The life history of him whose name heads this sketch is closely identified with the history of Wayne county, which has been his home for more than three-score years and ten. He began his remarkable career in the early pioneer epoch of the county, and throughout the years which have since come and gone has been closely allied with its interests and upbuilding. His life has been one of untiring activity and has been crowned with a degree of success attained by comparatively few men. He is of the highest type of business man, and none more than he deserves a fitting recognition among those whose enterprise and abilities have achieved results that awaken the wonder and admiration of those who know them.
Joseph C. Ratliff was born in Wayne township, near the city of Richmond, on the 6th of July, 1827, being a son of Cornelius and Mary (Kindley) Ratliff. On the maternal side he is of German lineage, and on the paternal side is of English descent. Tradition says that his remote ancestors lived in the north of England near what is known, even to-day, as the Red Cliffs. One of the family became a member of parliament and was known as Redcliff, which name, in the course of time, was changed to Radcliffe, the present English spelling. The great-great-grandfather of our subject was James Ratliff, a native of England, who, according to tradition, came to America with William Penn and was present at the signing of the treaty made with the Indians under the famous old elm tree that stood on the site of the present city of Philadelphia. He was a prominent member of the Society of Friends, with which organization his family had been identified from the beginning.
Joseph Ratliff, the great-grandfather of our subject, was born in North Carolina, and married Mary Fletcher, by whom he had four sons, -one of whom removed to Pennsylvania, another remained in North Carolina, a third came west, and the grandfather of our subject became a resident of Indiana in 1810. He made the journey westward with his family and Spent his remaining days in Wayne county, where he died in 1828 at the age of seventy-four years. He was a very prominent and influential member of the Society of Friends, and was one of the committee that opened the New Garden quarterly meeting of Friends in 1811. He married Elizabeth Charles, and had a family of six daughters and two sons.
Cornelius Ratliff, the younger son, was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, December 25, 1798, and in 1810 came with his father to the territory of Indiana, locating on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, a half mile northwest of Richmond. His father secured that land by obtaining a patent from the government and paying a dollar and a quarter per acre. It had been entered by another man, but had not been improved to any extent. Indians were far more numerous in the neighborhood than white settlers, and the district was an unbroken wilderness of heavy timber. This was six years before the city of Richmond was laid out and six years before Indiana was admitted to the Union. In all the hardships and trials of frontier life which fell to the lot of the family Cornelius Ratliff shared, and in the arduous task of developing a new farm he bore his part. He was only twelve years of age at the time of the arrival of the family in Wayne county, and on the old homestead he was reared, and there also spent his mature years, inheriting the property upon his father's death. Owing to the new condition of the country his educational privileges were necessarily limited, but he became an extensive reader and thus gained a broad fund of knowledge. His favorite volumes were Paradise Lost, Young's Night Thoughts and Cowper's Task. Of the writings of the prophet Isaiah, he was also very fond, because of their sublime and poetic nature. Later in life much of his leisure was spent in reading religious books and papers, and he also kept well informed on the issues and questions of the day.
He made farming his life occupation and as early as 1822 established a nursery, the first one in this part of the country. His catalogue embraced nearly all the known varieties of fruit of his day, and it was with great joy that he secured a new variety to add to his stock. He continued in the nursery business, in connection with his farming operations, for thirty-two years, and no man in the county was more entitled to honor and respect for his honesty and integrity in business. He was married June 12, 1822, to Mary Kindley, of Waynesville, Ohio, and they became parents of ten children, five of whom are living. His home was always noted for its hospitality, and no needy one was ever turned from his door empty-handed. It was in his church work, however, that the true life of Cornelius Ratliff shone forth with greatest brilliancy. He attended all the meetings of the Friends, and in forty years was never absent from his place in the house of worship except on three occasions, unless away from home. His was a noble Christian life, illumined by all the Christian virtues. During the last six years of his earthly pilgrimage he suffered from blindness, but bore the affliction uncomplainingly. He died June 18, 1890, in his ninety-second year, dropping asleep in the old home where he had resided for four-score years, but his memory remains as a blessed benediction to those who knew him, and his influence is still potent for good.
On the old family homestead, settled by his grandfather and subsequently owned by his father, Joseph C. Ratliff was reared, remaining there until twenty-five years of age. In his youth he attended the district schools of the neighborhood through the winter season, while in the summer months he aided in the labors of the farm. Later he was a student in the Richmond Academy, but in 1848 he put aside his text-books and began teaching, which profession he followed through the winter, and again gave his attention to plowing, planting and harvesting from spring until fall. Desiring, however, to enter another walk of life, he pursued the study of dentistry with Dr. Webster, of Richmond, for a year, after which he took up the study of medicine under Dr. Plummer, of Richmond. In the years 1851 and 1852 he was a student in the Western Reserve Medical College, at Cleveland, Ohio, after which he engaged in the practice of dentistry and surgery in Richmond for two years. In 1854 he became engaged in the manufacture of paper, in company with Miles Jo Shinn and Timothy Thistlethwaite, under the firm name of the Hoosier Paper Manufacturing Company, but the following year traded his interest in the business for a farm three miles west of the city. He next worked at the carpenter's trade for one year, and for a similar period followed the millwright's trade, after which he removed to his farm, comprising eighty-two acres. He transformed this into a very valuable and richly productive tract and carried on agricultural pursuits for seventeen years, or until 1872.
During this period he served as justice of the peace and held other local offices in Center township, Wayne county, and was also an enrolling officer during the war. In 1872 he removed to a farm west of the old family homestead in Wayne township, and there erected a residence and barn and made other substantial improvements, his property eventually becoming one of the best farms of the locality. It continued to be his place of abode until May, 1888, and he managed his business interests so capably that they yielded him a substantial financial income. He was also called upon to settle many estates and act as guardian for many minors. At the time of this writing he is guardian for three insane people and has had several others under his charge.
In 1888 Mr. Ratliff removed to Richmond, and since that time has been actively associated with many of the leading business enterprises of the city. He is now secretary and treasurer of the Wayne Farmers' Insurance Company, of Richmond, was formerly vice-president of the Union National Bank, which he aided in organizing, and was also a director in the First National Bank. For twenty-four years he was president, superintendent and treasurer of Wayne County Turnpike Company, which was capitalized for thirty-nine thousand dollars, and which owned the national road until 1894, when it was sold. Mr. Ratliff is a man of splendid business and executive ability and carries forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes. His wise counsel and sound judgment have also been active factors in the successful management of other interests aside from business, and as trustee of Purdue university, of Lafayette, Indiana, he contributed not a little to its success. For seven years he was the efficient and honored president of the board of trustees of that institution of learning and for three years was president of the State Horticultural Society. Through these channels, as well as in other ways, he has promoted the interests of the farmer and fruit-raiser, and at all times he is alert in his efforts to improve the conditions of all lines of business, that the country may thereby become more prosperous and that all people may enjoy more of the comforts of life.
In his political affiliations Mr. Ratliff is a Republican and is a zealous advocate of the policy and principles of his party. In 1875 he was chosen to represent Wayne county in the state legislature, and while acting in that capacity was a member of the committee on education and sinking fund. The cause of education has ever found in him a warm friend and he does all in his power for its advancement. He is a prominent Mason, is past master of Hiram Lodge, F. & A. M.; belongs to King Solomon Chapter, N0. 4, R. A. M., and to Richmond Commandery, No. 8, K. T. He is past grand of White Water Lodge, I. O. O. F., and represented the local lodge in the grand lodge of the state in 1854. He is a member and treasurer or the Indiana Yearly Meeting and one of its active representatives.
The last event to be mentioned, but by no means the least important, in the life of Mr. Ratliff, occurred October 9, 1852, when was celebrated his marriage to Miss Mary F. Crawford, of Richmond, a daughter of Daniel B. Crawford. They had six children, four of whom are living, namely: Horace C., a farmer of Center township, Wayne county; Walter S., who resides on a farm adjoining his brother's; Benjamin S., a confectioner of Piqua, Ohio; and Laura C., at home. A man of domestic tastes, Mr. Ratliff has ever found his chief interest centering in his home and family, and has done all in his power to promote the happiness of wife and children. In every position which in his eventful life he has been called upon to fill, he has been highly successful. As a business man he is upright, reliable and honorable. In all places and under all circumstances he is loyal to truth, honor and right, justly regarding his self-respect and the deserved esteem of his fellow men as infinitely more valuable than wealth, fame or position. In those finer traits of character, which attract and endear man to man in ties of friendship, he is royally endowed. Few men have more devoted friends than he, and none excels him in unselfish devotion and, unswerving fidelity to the worthy recipients of his confidence and friendship.
Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899
Hon. Joseph C. Ratliff, Richmond, Ind., a son of Cornelius and Mary Ratliff, was born near Richmond, July 6, 1827. His early education was obtained in the common schools of Wayne County during the short winter terms, the summers being devoted to farm labor. Later in his minor life he entered the Richmond Academy. Subsequently he taught school several terms, then in 1850 took up the study of dentistry, and in connection took a full course of medical lectures at the Western Reserve College. After practicing dentistry one year he engaged for the same time, near Richmond, in manufacturing paper; then resumed farming, in which he is still engaged. In 1865 he was elected Justice of the Peace, and since he has gradually been elected to higher offices of honor and trust until 1875, when he was chosen by the people of Wayne County as a Representative to the State Legislature, and while serving in that body he served on the Committees on Education and the Sinking Fund. Not only did he display an interest in education while in the State Assembly, but his interest increased with his age, and he has since filled some very important positions in the educational history of the State, none of which are more worthy of note than the one he now occupies, President of the Board of Trustees of the Purdue University. As an agriculturist and horticulturist he has always displayed a special interest, and is deserving of considerable credit, as is seen in the chapter devoted to horticulture. He has been an able contributor to publications devoted to agriculture, and from 1860 to 1866 edited the agricultural department of the Richmond Telegram.
Politically he is an earnest Republican; religiously, a Friend, in which society he has a birthright and is an earnest worker. He is imbued with all that goes to make up a strong temperance man. He has been a member of Freemasonry for many years, and has been Master of Centreville Lodge. He also belongs to the I. O. O. F., and in 1856 held the office of Noble Grand, and the following year represented his Lodge in the Grand Lodge of the State. He is a man deeply interested in the sciences, and antiquity especially, having given considerable time to their study and the collection of a fair cabinet.
He was married Oct. 19, 1852, to Mary F., daughter of Daniel B. Crawford, of Richmond. Of their six children four are living, three sons and one daughter.
Source:
History of Wayne County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884. Volume 2