WILL CUMBACK, Greensburg.
Mr. Cumback was born in Franklin County, Ind, on the 24th of March, 1829. His parents, John and Elsie Cumback, were natives of New Jersey, and of German and Scotch descent. Mr. Cumback, in boyhood, after obtaining a common-school education, taught school, and afterward attended law school in Cincinnati. He married in 1852, and began the practice of law in Greensburg in 1853, and continued an active practicing attorney and politician until the beginning of the war, when he enlisted as a private. In 1854, Mr. Cumback, then only twenty-five years of age, was elected to Congress, and won from Horace Greeley's Tribune the highest encomiums. In 1865, he was elected to the State Senate. Soon after, the then Governor was chosen as United States Senator, and the Lieutenant Governor became Governor. This left a vacancy in the office of Lieutenant Governor, and Mr. Cumback was duly chosen Lieutenant Governor, and continued to act as such until 1868, when he was again nominated for the same place, and was elected, receiving the highest vote on the ticket. He was a candidate, in 1870, for the United States Senate, and secured the caucus nomination. But, owing to a sudden and much magnified disturbance between him and Gov. Baker, he was dropped, and D. P. Pratt, of Logansport, was elected in his stead.
In 1870, he was appointed Minister to Portugal by the President, which position he declined. In 1870, he was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the Fourth Indiana District, and has continued to hold that position ever since. Mr. Comback has held several prominent positions in the affairs of both church and state. He was a member of the General Conference of the Methodist Church at Baltimore in 1876, and took an active part. He has long enjoyed the appellation of "The Christian Statesman." He was also Chairman of the Indiana delegation at the Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1876, and was accorded the (Credit of nominating R. B. Hayes for President. He was also one of the visiting statesmen w^ho went to New Orleans to see a "fair count." He was also one of the delegates, and went with the Rev. Dr. C. D. Foss, to take to the Conference of the Methodist Church South the fraternal greetings of the Church North. Mr. Cumback has quit the practice of the law, and has been in the lecture field of late, in which he has become quite conspicuous. He is also doing a sensible and uncommon thing for politicians in the way of living frugally and acquiring a handsome estate. He has perhaps learned by experience what most politicians do, that "he hath a habitation giddy and unsure" who depends upon political promotion for a living.
As was previously stated, he enlisted as a private at the outbreak of the civil war. On the 1st day of June, 1861, he was appointed Paymaster in the volunteer army, with the assimilated rank of Major. A former writer says of him: "In this capacity, his tact and efficiency were so conspicuous that he was placed at the head of a special department, with a large corps of subordinates under his control. He was enabled to command large sums of money, on account of his high character for honesty, and often forestalled the regular supplies of funds from the Government. When he made his final statement and settlement, after four years of intricate transactions, amounting to more than 160,000,000, he was enabled to balance his books in three days — an example of business rectitude not often found during the period of the "golden opportunities of war."
Upon his retirement from the volunteer service, Mr. Stanton tendered him the position of Paymaster in the regular army, but this was declined, and he retired to civil life, having gained the "silver leaves" of a Lieutenant Colonel on the "General Staff." As a public speaker, this gentleman has few peers and fewer superiors. Possessed of a fine voice, a good figure and a ready wit, with a high degree of cultivation, he never fails to catch his audience at the onset, which grasp is maintained, even to the "climax of intensity." This enables him to command the attention of those who are inclined to differ with him in opinions, and is not infrequently the cause of sudden conversions to his views.
Mrs. Cumback's maiden name was Martha Hurlbut, She is a lady of culture, and is a fit companion for a man possessed of the high order of talent which has made her husband known among the "rulers of the land." Their present home in Greensburg is surrounded with "a thousand and one" little contributions to the comfort and taste of its members, who know, by experience, the difference between the demands of cold conventionalism, and the true requirements of a happy hearthstone. Mr. Cumback is a prominent and active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which he joined in early life. He has filled many highly important positions, both official and representative, in connection with this denomination, and always to his own great credit, and to the honor of the church. He is now (1881) Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of the State of Indiana, and is also a member of the Masonic fraternity. . .; In 1865, he received the degree of A. M. from the Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and, in 1881, the degree of LL. D. from the Indiana Asbury University, Greencastle, Ind.
