270                 HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY


born seven children, five sons and two daughters. In the spring of 1868
he was elected trustee of Jackson township and was re-elected in the
spring of 1869, serving until the fall of 1870. In 1870 he was nominated
by the Democratic party for coroner and was elected. He was again
nominated in 1872 for re-election, but was defeated by Franklin Tenny.

    James M. Hoskins, a native of Indiana, born in Martin county, De-
cember 9, 1829, son of Joseph and Nancy (Thompson) Hoskins, natives
of Kentucky, who moved from Martin to Vigo county in 1831, locating
nine miles east of Terre Haute, on the National Road. At the age of seven-
teen years the subject of this sketch enlisted for the Mexican war service,
in Company H, Fourth Indiana Regiment Volunteers. After returning
home he worked on the farm until 1851, when he went to Livingston
county, Illinois, where he took up land on a warrant issued to him by the
government. Here he stayed three years, then went to Jefferson county,
Iowa, where he lived six years, returning to Indiana in the spring of
1860, locating in Cloverland. In the spring of 1865 he was elected trus-
tee of Posey township and re-elected in the spring of 1866. In the sum-
mer of 1867 he was nominated by the Democratic party for county auditor
and elected in October following and was again nominated and elected
in 1870 to succeed himself, serving two full terms of four years each.
    On the 20th day of November, 1851, he married Eva Ellen Carpenter,
a native of the county, born March 15, 1834, daughter of George Carpen-
ter, one of the pioneers of Posey township. To them were born ten chil-
dren, nine of whom survive.
    For several years preceding his election as auditor he was engaged
in merchandising at Cloverland. About the time of the removal of the
county-seat he left Bowling Green and located at Brazil, where he re-
engaged in the dry-goods business in company with Jacob A. Carpenter,
his brother-in-law, having previously erected what is known as the First
National Bank Building. Mr. Hoskins died February 14, 1900, aged 70
years, 2 months and days, survived by his wife and ten children.

    Dillon W. Bridges, native of Indiana, born in Wayne county, March
21, 1832, son of Dillon and Lydia (Haven) Bridges. When the subject of
this sketch was but seven years of age the family came to Owen county,
locating near Jordan village. In 1850, when Dillon, the junior, was
eighteen, the family came to Clay county, locating at Poland, where the
son, for a time, clerked in a store. On the 5th day of September, 1850,
he married Miss Lucinda Daves, of Owen county. From 1856 to 1860
he served as justice of the peace at Poland. At the Democratic county
convention, August 18, 1860, held at Ashboro, he was nominated for
the office of clerk of the Clay county circuit court and was elected. At the
expiration of his term of service, in 1864, he moved from Bowling Green
to Brazil, where he engaged in the mercantile business, a member of the
firm of Wheeler, Bridges & Co.
    When the town of Brazil was incorporated, in 1866, he was elected
the first town clerk, serving in this position for the period of five years.
In the contest for the removal of the county-seat, Mr. Bridges played
an important part in favor of the re-location. In 1878 he was the Demo-
cratic candidate for mayor of the city of Brazil, but his party being a
minority, he was not elected. When Brazil township was organized in
1868 he was appointed trustee by County Auditor James M. Hoskins, to