Howard-Grant County IN Archives Biographies.....Dolman, Jerome C. 1841 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com April 5, 2006, 11:58 pm Author: Jackson Morrow JEROME C. DOLMAN. This well known citizen is an excellent representative of the better class of retired business men of the United States, coming from an ancestry that distinguished itself in the pioneer times. When the country was covered with an almost interminable forest of native trees, filled with wild animals, his people came here and began to carve homes from the primeval forests, build schools and churches and introduce the customs of civilization in the wilderness. They were genuine pioneers, willing to take the hardships that they might acquire the soil and the home that was sure to rise. The subject of this sketch was born in Jonesboro, Grant county, Indiana, March 6, 1841. His parents were Alexander and Teressa (Ashton) Dolman, both natives of Ohio, where they were married. They settled in Indiana in about 1834. He was a tailor by trade, which he followed in Ohio, and also operated a shop on his farm after coming to Jonesboro, this state. He lived on this farm until 1849, dying at the age of forty-nine years of cholera, when this section was stricken with that dread disease. He was survived by a widow and ten children. Mrs. Dolman remained at the old home until her death at eighty-three years of age. All her children reached maturity and six are living in 1908. Rufus A. Dolman, brother of the subject's father, came to Kokomo in i860 and engaged in the mercantile business, also the pork packing industry. He died at Kokomo in 1881, at the age of fifty-four. Jerome C. Dolman, our subject, left the farm when twenty years of age, being unable to overcome the wave of patriotic fervor that swept over him when the tocsin of war sounded calling for loyal sons of the Republic to stand by the flag, so he enlisted in Company H, Eighth Indiana Infantry, raised at Marion, in which regiment he served gallantly for three years. He was at first sent to Missouri after General Price, spending the first winter in Northern Arkansas, having engaged in the battle of Pea Ridge in 1862, later marching to Helena and was on the Mississippi river until the siege of Vicksburg, where he saw hard service in the trenches and was among the victors who entered that city on July 4, 1863. After engaging in the battle at Jackson he was sent to New Orleans and was sent by boat to Washington City and later joined Sheridan's army in the Shenandoah Valley, serving in several battles. When his time expired he was discharged at Harper's Ferry, after serving a little over three years, during which time he was never wounded or captured although he was in many hard-fought battles, being in the ranks all the time. After his career in the army he returned to Jonesboro, Indiana, and to Kokomo in the winter of 1864, entering the shoe store of John Gripper, his brother-in-law, where he remained two years as clerk. Later he had charge of the entire store, Mr. Gripper having left it to Mr. Dolman. This he successfully operated for a period of three years. He then opened a new shoe store in company with James A. Wildman, who later became state auditor. They remained in partnership until 1871 when Wildman was succeeded by James Purdum, who continued in business until the latter's death some six years later. Then the business was conducted alone by Mr. Dolman until 1903 when he retired after carrying on the same line of work for a period of thirty-nine years, being the oldest merchant in Kokomo, having confined himself to the one line all the time, his location having been at No. 4 Main street, where the Vaile shoe store is now located. His was the first exclusive shoe store in Kokomo. He had a shop in connection with the store and made boots so long as they were in style. Needless to say that the business of the subject thrived from the start and grew in magnitude from year to year until he retired, for he had early mastered all the details incident to the boot and shoe business. The subject has an excellent farm three miles from Kokomo where he has much fine stock. He erected his present commodious and well appointed home in 1907, his old residence being the site of the new government building. Mr. Dolman was united in marriage with Elsie Purdum in 1893, widow of his old partner, whose maiden name was Newcomb, daughter of Dr. Newcomb, late of Kokomo. They have one daughter, Belle Marie, graduate of the Kokomo high school, who also studied at the Oberlin Conservatory at Oberlin, Ohio, in which institution she made a brilliant record. Mr. Dolman has been twice a member of the city council of Kokomo during the time when the gas meters were being installed, and he rendered valuable service and gave weighty advice to the city, looking carefully to its interests just as if he had been managing his own private affairs. Although a loyal Republican he has never had political ambitions and was never a candidate for offices of public trust. He is a member of the Congregational church and has been a Mason for forty years. Mr. Dolman is perhaps the best known man in Kokomo and vicinity and one of the most influential in Howard county, where so many long years of useful endeavor have been spent, and where he has justly earned the high esteem of every one which he now enjoys in his declining age, happy in the thought that his life has been well spent, a life that was not selfish, but which at all times strove to make others happier, better and friendlier. Additional Comments: From: HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY INDIANA BY JACKSON MORROW, B. A. ILLUSTRATED VOL. II B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA (circa 1909) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/howard/bios/dolman160bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/infiles/ File size: 6.1 Kb