Bartholomew-Madison County IN Archives Biographies.....Hutchins, B. M. 1838 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 21, 2007, 10:44 pm Author: B. F. Bowen (1904) B. M. HUTCHINS. B. M. Hutchins, a well-known citizen and business man of Columbus, engaged in the marble and granite business, was born in Morgan county, Ohio, December 29, 1838, a son of Benjamin and Roxie L. (Gibson) Hutchins. The Hutchins family is of Scottish ancestry. Several members of the family emigrated to America during colonial days, settling in the New England states, among whom was Samuel Hutchins, the great-grandfather of the subject, who served as a captain in the Revolutionary war for seven years. The grandfather was Daniel Hutchins, a native of Maine and a pioneer of Ohio, in which latter state he died in 1844. He married a Miss Dickinson. Benjamin Hutchins, the subject's father, was born in Maine in 1806, and came to Ohio with his father. He entered land in Morgan county, about twenty miles from Marietta, Ohio, and followed farming. As was the custom in those days among farmers, he sold his farm products during the fall and winter from flat-boats on the rivers, and while on one of these trips he died at Maysville, Kentucky, and was buried there, during the cholera epidemic in 1849. His wife, Roxie Gibson, was born in Massachusetts in 1806, and died in Washington county, Ohio, in 1858. To them nine children were born, three of whom are now living. One of the sons, William T., served as captain of an Illinois battery during the Civil war, after which he went to Brazil and entered the Brazilian army and served for a number of years as a Brazilian general. B. M. Hutchins was reared on the farm in Morgan county, Ohio, and received a good common school education. Early in 1861 he left home and, in company with a companion of about his own age, came to Indiana, stopping first at Madison, from which city they came to Columbus in March of that year. The two young men had no definite views or plans in coming over into this state and were simply drifting about, waiting, Micawber-like, "for something to turn up." Somthing [sic] did turn up, and on August 24, 1861, the subject enlisted in the Sixth Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was with his regiment every day of his period of enlistment, from his muster-in until the muster-out, and saw three years of hard service, participating in the great battles of Shiloh, Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and all the engagements from Chattanooga to Atlanta, his time expiring while the army was in front of Atlanta. After his discharge from the service, Mr. Hutchins returned to Ohio, where for two years he was engaged in the oil business. He was endowed by nature with a voice susceptible to a high degree of culture in music, and this brought him into prominence in musical circles and led to his engagement in teaching vocal music and in conducting musical conventions. In 1874 he established the Central Conservatory of Music in Columbus, Indiana, which he managed with signal success until the year 1878, when he transferred it to other parties. For a few years following this Mr. Hutchins engaged in the real estate and insurance business in this city, and, in association with George W. Caldwell, was instrumental in the development of Maple Grove, one of Columbus's largest and most beautiful suburbs. In 1884 he was chosen collector for Reeves & Company, manufacturers, which position he held until 1888, when the company was incorporated and he was elected its treasurer, until he resigned in 1897. Following this he assisted in organizing the National Machine Company of Columbus, and spent one and a half years with the same. In 1898 he purchased the marble and monumental works of W. Fuldweider, of which he took active charge in 1899 and has since conducted. Mr. Hutchins was a director for ten years and vice-president and a director in the Union Life Insurance Company of Indiana for seven years. He was one of the organizers of the People's Savings and Trust Company of Columbus, and a director of the same for a time. Mr. Hutchins is an elder in the Tabernacle Christian church, of Columbus, and takes a deep and active interest in church work. He was a member of the advisory council of the World's Parliament of Religion, held at the White City in 1893, and was one of forty prominent people appointed upon the committee of that notable gathering. In Grand Army circles Mr. Hutchins has been prominent for many years. He is a charter member of Isham Keith Post, No. 13, of Columbus. In 1894 he was senior vice-commander of the department of Indiana, Grand Army of the Republic, and the following year General I. N. Walker, commander-in-chief of the national organization, appointed the subject an aide de camp on his staff. The Indiana legislature of 1898 made an appropriation and authorized the governor of the state to appoint a commission to return the "Texas Ranger" flag to the survivors of the "Rangers" during the Dallas (Texas) Exposition, and Mr. Hutchins was appointed by Governor Mount a member of the commission, and he was present at the ceremonies. Mr. Hutchins was appointed a member of the Indiana Shiloh National Park Commission and was chosen treasurer of the commission. He participated in all the work of that important body, including the several visits to that famous battlefield. Mr. Hutchins also served as a member of the Indiana-Ohio Centennial Commission, he representing the fourth Indiana congressional district, for the Northwest Territory Exposition to be held at Toledo, Ohio, in 1901, but which project was abandoned. Mr. Hutchins has been one of the leading men of Columbus for many years, and has taken a leading part in building up the city and advertising her best interests. He served as a member of the public improvement committee, of which he was also secretary, for eight or ten years. This committee, composed of a number of the best and most influential citizens, was appointed and commissioned by the mayor, and was given great latitude by the city council. Its recommendations were almost unanimously adopted by the council and the committee accomplished much for the improvement and advancement of the city. Mr. Hutchins is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he is a Knight Templar and a Scottish Rite Mason. He is a charter member of an association known as the Bartholomew County Christian Missionary Association, incorporated in 1882. This association has an endowment fund and keeps in its constant employ an evangelist. From the organization of the society Mr. Hutchins has been its secretary and his office is headquarters for preachers. Mr. Hutchins was married on June 4, 1885, to Josie Cochran, who was born in Edinburg, Indiana, in 1859, the daughter of William D. and India (Calkins) Cochran. To Mr. and Mrs. Hutchins two children have been born, namely: Errett, who died aged four and a half years, and Josephine Marie, born in 1896. Additional Comments: Extracted from BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY INDIANA INCLUDING BIOGRAPHIES OF THE GOVERNORS AND OTHER REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF INDIANA ILLUSTRATED 1904 B. F. 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