ames Atwell Mount, the
twenty-third Governor of the State of Indiana, was born in Montgomery County,
Indiana, March 24, 1843, the son of Atwell and Lucinda Fulenwider Mount.
He was one of twelve children and his early boyhood was spent in the usual
routine work on a farm. Hard study and extensive reading supplemented his
education.
In 1862, when 19 years of age, he enlisted in the Seventy-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry which afterward became a part of the famous Wilder's Brigade. General Wilder testified to the bravery of Mount at the Battle of Chickamauga. He attained the rank of Sergeant in the army.
With the end of the war Mount, feeling the need of an education, entered the Presbyterian Academy at Lebanon, Indiana. His limited means became exhausted after the first year. He studied hard and covered a two-year's course of study in one year. Shortly afterwards he was married to Kate A. Boyd, of Lebanon. They began housekeeping on a small farm, which he had rented. He applied himself closely to his work, with the result that in nine years he purchased the farm. By 1895, he was the owner of a fully equipped farm of more than 500 acres, modern throughout, and a model in all its appointments. His success as a farmer impelled him to impart his ideas on successful farming in the form of lectures, before the farmers' institutes of the state and as a result, he acquired wide popularity among farmers.
Mount was a Republican in politics. He was elected State Senator in 1888 from a Democratic district by a majority of over 600 votes, and served four years. His name was brought before the State Convention as a candidate for the executive chair in 1896. There were 12 aspirants and Mount was nominated on the seventh ballot. His unquestioned integrity and unimpeachable character won him the election by a plurality greater than was ever before obtained in the state of either a presidential or gubernatorial candidate.
In directing the affairs of the state and in safeguarding the public funds he gave the same strict attention he always practiced in his own business affairs. It was largely through the efforts of Governor Mount that the benevolent and penal institutions of the state were placed upon a non-partisan basis. In 1897, the first Indiana compulsory school attendance law was enacted.
Recognizing agriculture as the great source of the wealth of the state, he sought to introduce into use in the public schools of the state textbooks relating to the science of agriculture.
Governor Mount was a devout Presbyterian and was active in Sunday school work. He was Vice Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly and at their meeting at Winona in 1898, he delivered an address of welcome to Indiana, which was the outstanding feature of the assembly. The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him in 1898 by Hanover College.
The burden of the governorship was so great it resulted in the impairment of his health and two weeks after the ending of his term he died in Indianapolis, January 16, 1901. He was buried at Crawfordsville, Indiana.
|
|||||
|
