Jacob Williams and wife Laura Colglazier Williams 1892, Tallest Man in Indiana

By Jeremy L. Elliott
2014

A medical examination of Union troops, during the Civil War, helped to inspire the 1921 publication of, "Washington County Giants", by the Indiana Historical Society. Results from these examinations led to a historical revival of a local legend, from the early days of pioneer settlement, in Washington County and the State, about how there was a race of giants living here.

Jacob Williams and wife Laura Colglazier Williams 1892, Tallest Man in IndianaThe inspiring comment was made by Dr. B.A. Gould of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, in a letter to Adjutant General of Indiana, William Henry Harrison Terrell, concerning the tabulations of the measurements of the Union soldiers. The doctor stated, "One thing will certainly interest you,...that it is evident from our statistics, that the Indiana men are the tallest of all the natives of the United States and the latter group, the tallest in all civilized countries!"

The latter group referenced in the statement, were men from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Congressional Districts of Indiana, or all the counties comprising Southern Indiana. Notably, the men of the 2nd were half an inch taller than those from the next highest district and nine-tenths of an inch above the state average height. The counties that made up the 2nd district were; Clark, Crawford, Floyd, Harrison, Orange, Perry, Scott and Washington. Further investigations into what made this areas men so much taller than the United States average led to all kinds of speculation and conjecture, including the suggestion, that calcareous districts supply a more abundant and continuous source of lime for the bones during growth, promoting an increase in stature for the area's inhabitants. No definitive scientific explanation fully explained the phenomenon, but it did conjure up old legends of Washington County's giant pioneer settlers, as the obvious hereditary link was examined.

In the early 1800's, while southern Indiana was engaged in constructing a system of internal improvements, such as railroads and canals, there were a large number of men employed in building these projects around the Ohio River towns of Jeffersonville, New Albany and Louisville. Numerous men traveled from Washington County down to these sites for the opportunity of employment, including several members of the Short family, who despite their surname, were not. Aaron, Jacob and Madison Short were Giant in size and Goliath in strength, besting most all the other employees of the internal improvements works, both in feats of strength and the vicious fights of that day. The Short men were legendary up and down the works, yet one day after emerging victorious from some contest, Madison proclaimed, “O that's nothing. Up in Washington County where I live, there is a whole race of giants and I being the runt, unable to hold my own with the run of men there, had to come down here, where there are just common folks."

Despite his jesting nature, Madison Short was only half joking. According to all of the recorded histories of Washington County, for whatever reason, many of our county's earliest settlers were of great stature. There were numerous families in the area; whose men all towered over 6 feet and their women weren't far behind in height. Through fighting, feats of strength performed at public gatherings and marvels of power witnessed in their difficult struggles of day-to-day pioneer life, several of the local men were widely renowned for being 'giants', in every sense of the word.

One day while at work, Madison was given the opportunity to impress his point about the size of Washington County's men, upon his fellow workers, when the undisputed champion of our giants, Colonel Abram Stover, came by the public works, driving a four-horse team to the Louisville market. Promoted to colonel of the local militia in 1825, Stover was a farmer and wagoner, who claimed his homestead along the Greenville Road, near Martinsburg, in 1815. Nearly every account of the man, originally from Virginia, claims he was almost 7 feet tall and weighed in close to 400 pounds. It was said; Stover never missed a militia muster, where large groups of people were bewildered by his gargantuan size and his herculean strength, which helped to spread his powerful reputation, in an area noted for its strong men. He would frequently box two men at a time, lift unbelievable amounts of weight and successfully perform nearly any challenge of might, making him a local hero of the day.

Many incidents demonstrating Abram Stover's power are documented in previous histories of our county. At only 16 years of age, he punched an adult man, who was harassing him, once squarely between the eyes and knocked him unconscious for several hours before he could be revived. The incident scared young Abram, for he thought he had killed the man and he vowed to never hit anyone with a closed fist again. Around his 21st year, he was gambling with some professionals along the Ohio River, on one of his wagon trips to Louisville, when he was accused of cheating. At this point, all the men involved jumped to their feet, including young Stover, who had been anticipating trouble, since he was on a winning streak. Abram had previously slid his fingers of one hand, through the four cast iron rings, used to hitch his four horses to his wagon tongue and when he jumped up, he jerked the gigantic piece of lumber clear of the ground and began swinging it, in helicopter fashion, above his head, with only the one hand. The wagon tongue itself, was 10 to 12 feet in length and made from solid hickory, it was 20 inches square at its base, tapering to 12 inches at its end. He had a hold of the extreme end of the four, 3 foot chains, used to connect his team of horses and was not only effortlessly swinging the mammoth tongue, but was literally making it sing with each rotation. He taunted the gamblers, calling out, "You want to lick me, do you? Well come on, swim in here, my little fishes and see who gets caught!” All the other men stood awestruck at the demonstration of strength displayed by Stover and were sufficiently impressed to make no further advance on their threats against him.

Brothers, James and Alfred Uppinghouse were two others of the Washington County Giant class, both huge men, who seemed unaware of their incredible power. One day Alfred went to a neighbors to borrow a two-horse plow, when the farmer agreed and asked when he would be back with his team to get it, Alfred responded, "I'll just take it with me know." He grabbed hold of the tongue and right side of the plow, simply hoisted it onto his shoulder and walked away across the fields towards his home. He crossed over three, high, split-rail fences, on his way, without ever sitting the machine down or stopping to rest!

His brother, James was equal in size and strength and came to a log-rolling one day south of Salem, where Colonel Stover was in attendance, intent on testing his might. He went around boisterously announcing that he was there to whip old "Uncle Abe", as Stover was familiarly called around the county. When Abram was alerted to Uppinghouse's threats, he came up to James and stated, "I understand you have come here to give me a licking?" James responded, "That's my intention." Too which, Stover replied, "Well here we go!" and the two enormous men began to square off. Everyone present gathered around the pair to witness the epic battle. Uppinghouse made a couple of unsuccessful passes at Stover, who waited for a favorable opportunity to strike, then landed a mighty blow to the aggressor's forehead. The blow knocked Uppinghouse backwards, some 10 feet, where he tripped backwards over a log and fell to the ground like a dead man. After several attempts, bystanders revived James with water and whiskey and helped him to his feet. When he was firmly upright again, he said, "Abe, give me your hand, I don't desire any further test and from henceforth, I am your friend."

Colonel Stover's daughter married another county giant, named John Brough, who in his youthful confidence thought he could best old man Stover and enticed him to a match, "just for fun". Abram told the boy to, "take a running shot and we'll see about it!" Young Brough backed up a couple of feet and launched at the Colonel like a catapult. As he came into reach, Abram grabbed the boy by the neck and the seat of his trousers, lifted him straight up into the air and tossed him backwards over his head. Brough landed on a wood pile and broke his leg, settling the dispute over who the man of the family was.

Undoubtedly, Colonel Stover was a legend amongst our Washington County Giants and on the day Madison Short stopped him, near New Albany, the titan of a man, kindly obliged the awestruck, admiring employees of the public works with a couple inhuman feats of strength. After he departed, there was no man on the works, who didn't believe Madison Short's tale of the giants in Washington County.

These men are hardly the only examples of the county's giants though, there were in fact, many other pioneer men who fell into the class, some of which were; Henry Baker, who migrated here from North Carolina, he supposedly killed a man with a single blow once; Adam Barnett; Micajah Calloway Sr., the famed Indian fighter and companion of Daniel Boone and the renowned "Fighting Methodist", Reverend William Cravens, who lived on a farm near Hardinsburg. One day while making repairs to his roof, a very large man walked into his yard and said, "I hear you are the strongest man in the three nearest towns and I am here to whip you! Come down from there so we can test our strength." Reverend Cravens replied that he would come down when he was finished and give the man his opportunity. Once he finished and came down, the reverend walked over to the man and told him he thought they should have a drink of whiskey before they fought. There was a full barrel of whiskey sitting next to the door and Cravens walked over, grabbed the nearly 500 pound barrel by the chines, lifted it up at arm's length and began drinking straight from the bung hole. As the whiskey gurgled into Mr. Cravens, the stranger, who had turned pale and began to tremble, looked on in complete astonishment. Having satisfied his thirst the reverend deliberately sat the barrel down and said, "Please help yourself." But instead of complying, the man said, "I guess you will do." He then turned on his heels and made a hasty retreat.

Other giants were, Thomas Denny, who although not quite 6 foot, was reported to be Colonel Stover's near equal in strength; Abram Fleenor; September Goodwin; George Hattabaugh; brothers, Andrew and George Housh and "The Fighting Parson", Aaron Hubbard, from the Little York area. Three Huston brothers, originally from Pennsylvania, Alexander, Samuel and Benjamin were all over 6 foot 4 inches tall. A few of the Quakers were recorded among the giants, including two sets of brothers; Elisha and William Hobbs and Pritchard and Jehoshaphat Morris Sr., along with fellow Quaker, James Coffin. Additional pioneer giants were; Captain Zephaniah Johnson; James Lee; George Madison; Christian Prow Sr.; Jacob and Daniel Soliday, brothers who were murdered by the Delaware Indians, in 1812; Jesse Stanley; David Vance; James Young Sr. and Henry Wyman.

The four Rodman brothers, who migrated here from Kentucky, were legendary examples of our county's giants, three of the brothers, James, Hugh and William were all over 6 foot 6 inches tall and each weighed in excess of 250 pounds. Once at a public rally in Salem, big James Rodman said something that a man took offense to and the man pitched into him with a shower of blows, which proved harmless. James endured this in good nature, until it became annoying, when he lifted the man up and tossed him astride the fork of a nearby walnut tree.

Gargantuan size men continued to be produced in Washington County, through several generations of these giant families, up into the era of the Civil War and in the 1890's, Polk Township produced the tallest man in Indiana. Born in September of 1858, Jacob Williams was not uncommonly tall as a boy, but shot up during his late teens and early twenties, to an astounding 7 feet 3 inches, in his socks and weighed 229 pounds. According to a story in the Indianapolis News in 1892, he was the perfect specimen of manhood, tireless in his work, able to lift tremendous weights, endure long hours and think nothing of it. He slept in a custom built bed that was 8 and a half feet long and said that anytime he visited the cities along the Ohio River, most everyone curiously stared at him. He could have made a lot of money with the traveling side shows, but he declined all offers to do so. When he passed away, many residents of the Pekin area could recollect how his casket was too long for the hearse and extended out the back of the vehicle.

Many additional names and stories of the Washington County Giants can be found in the Stevens Museum, in Salem. So if your family is originally from Washington County and has some unusually large members, you may discover you too are a descendant of these historically colossal men.