James B. Dale

JAMES B. DALE.

It is interesting to notice, in the struggles which have convulsed the country and tried our institutions, whether national or local, how so many of the men who have been laborers in these great scenes did not come upon the arena filtered through generations of scholars and statesmen, but came unheralded, save with the advantages which a democratic republic offers to every citizen. The majority of the foremost men of the country in every calling are the legitimate sons of democracy. That hard, Spartan mother trained them early to her fatigues and wrestlings and watchings, and gave them their shields on entering the battle of life with only the Spartan mother’s brief: "With this, or upon this." Native force raised James B. Dale to the position of the leader of the Anti-Monopoly party in Boone County. And the working of the same generous laws, that permits each toiler to carve a destiny for himself, saw him write his name upon the minds and hearts of the people throughout the county. The early years of Mr. Dale present a fair average of the advantages and struggles incident to the Hoosier youth. His father, Matthew Dale, was a son of ’Squire Dale, who was born in western Tennessee in the year 1792. He was married to Elizabeth Smith about the year 1810. He was in the war of 1812. A short time after his marriage he emigrated to Lawrence County, Indiana. He stayed there a few years, and from that county he moved to Putnam County, and in 1828 he moved from Putnam County to Jackson Township, Boone County. He entered a tract of land on a stream called Eel River, upon which he lived the rest of his days. He died in March, 1848. His wife died in August, 1877, being eighty-three years of age.

To them were born eight children, three boys and five girls. Matthew, the second son, was born on the 4th day of May, 1820. He was married to Miss Frances A. Reese, a daughter of Samuel Reese, a highly esteemed farmer of Washington Township, on January 1, 1843. They raised ten children, seven boys and three daughters. His wife died in March, 1864. He married the widow of Reuben Scott in January, 1867. To them were born two children, one boy and one girl. He died in November, 1874. James B. Dale, the fifth child by the first marriage, was born December 18, 1850. He received the training usually accorded to farmer boys. He worked on the farm, after arriving at the proper age, in the summer season and attended this district school in the winter. About the time he reached his sixteenth year he entered the academy at Ladoga, Indiana, while that institution was conducted by Prof. Milton B. Hopkins. While he was there he boarded with the professor, who took quite an interest in him. Mr. Hopkins urged him to complete the course of study and remarked to him that his native ability was such that he might become a profound scholar and one of the foremost men of the state. But when Mr. Hopkins left Ladoga and went to Kokomo, Indiana, James B. quit the school and never entered it again.

At the age of eighteen he began teaching in the public schools of this county. He taught about ten winters in succession, and working the meantime through the summer seasons on the farm. He was six feet high, and weighted 185 pounds. He was never sick any until the time of his death. On the 1st day of January, 1874, he was married, as most teacher are, to one of his pupils, Miss Maggie Jackson, daughter of Elisha Jackson, a prominent citizen of the county. This union proved a very agreeable one. To them were born six children, three boys and three girls. The oldest, a girl, died in infancy. The rest still live with their widowed mother on the farm. Young Dale was rocked in a Democratic cradle, and his complexion was Democratic until after he reached his majority. But, to use his own words, he says, "That the first Democratic medicine I ever took was the Greeley pill, and that did not digest very well, so I wouldn’t take any more." He was twenty-three years old when the financial panic of 1873 occurred, and seeing how distressed the masses of the people were in consequence of this stagnation of business throughout the entire country, he set to work to understand the nature and causes of panics and how they might be prevented. From that time on as long as he lived he was tireless student of political economy. In consequence of his studies he saw fit to change his political views, and therefore identified himself with the anti-monopoly party, of which he soon became the leader in this county.

In the summer of 1876 he canvassed the county for the office of County Clerk. During this campaign he made several speeches in each township in the county, this being his first effort in making public speeches. His party not being very strong, he was defeated. Again his party nominated him for office in 1882, this time for Representative. It was not from choice on his part that he made this race, there being no chance of an election. But the workers of his party conceded that he was their leader and therefore put him forward as their champion.

He was free from moral cowardice, and so convinced that the measures he advocated were right, and must therefore eventually triumph, that, like the Norseman, he was determined to find a way or to make it. Mr. Dale was in an unequal battle from the first. With both the Republican and Democratic parties marshaled against him, he threw himself into the campaign. The dauntless spirit that had faced odds in the previous campaign never flinched as he saw the handwriting on the wall. Determined to do all he could do, his tremendous energies created a kindred zeal among his followers, but he was defeated by the votes of Mr. Sterratt.

After this campaign was over, Mr. Dale turned his attention to the farm more closely than ever before. He thought he would never again take an active part in politics. But in this he was mistaken. For, in making two campaigns in the county, he had gained the confidence of the people, his abilities were established, and hosts of friends from all parties flocked about him, urging him again to canvass the county. So again in 1884 his party nominated him unanimously, as it had done in both cases before. He also received the nomination of the Democratic party, with considerable opposition.

Of an earnest and impetuous temper for what he deemed right, and wedded to the principles which he advocates by all the instincts of his being, his enthusiasm knew no bounds. Both parties caught the glow of his zeal, and he was this time elected by a handsome majority.

At the close of his campaign he was conceded by all parties to be one of the best speakers in the county. He had that power of statement which made him characteristic as a speaker. He possessed decision of character, self-reliance, and an inflexible will. And with these qualities standing out prominent as a basis for his qualifications to the office to which he had been elected, he goes to the state legislature.

While acting in that body, he was placed on several important committees. And every public measure on which he was called to act, received his careful attention; he weighed it in all its general bearings and then mastered it in detail. The thoroughness of his knowledge was his first source of power as a speaker. After this session adjourned he returned to the farm; but by this time he began to comprehend that his native health was to be in the service of the people.

His friends were expecting to send him back to the legislature in 1886, but this was not to be; death stepped in and interfered. In the winter of 1885-6 he again taught school, but ten day before his school should have closed, he took a severe attack of lung fever, and died on the 15th day of March, 1886. Thus passed off the stage of action one of Boone County’s favorite sons. Mr. Dale was a member of the Newlight or Christian Church since February, 1881, continuing an active and useful member until death. He was buried at the old Union Cemetery in Jackson Township, near where he lived and where he was loved. See his portrait in another part of this book.
 

Transcribed by: Julie S. Townsend - June 9, 2007
Source: "Early Life and Times in Boone County, Indiana," Harden & Spahr, Lebanon, Ind., May, 1887, pp 266-270.