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Title:
Ailor/Curtis Marriage
Article:
(there was a photo of the Ailor's)
ON Feb 4, 1892, Olive M. CURTIS, dau of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. CURTIS, and E.C. AILOR of Stella, Nebraska, were united in marriage at the home of her parents. After the ceremony the young couple left for their new home at Haddam, Kansas. They lived on a farm near Haddam for many years, but in later years they have maintained their home in town where Wednesday, they received the congratulations and best wishes from their many friends.
The couple has been identified as prosperous farmers of this community and also as business leaders, having for several years owned and operated the City Hotel of Haddam. Mrs. AILOR is the eldest of her family having been born in Hartford City, Indiana, and came with her parents to southeastern Nebraska, where her aged mother, Mrs. A. J. CURTIS still resides. However, due to inclement weather, her mother was unable to be present at the celebration. Mr. AILOR came from his birthplace in Anamosa, Iowa and is the only surviving member of a pioneer family of southeastern Nebraska, also. Mr. and Mrs. AILOR are the parents of an only daughter, Hazel, who is the wife of Dr. Vernon DAVIS of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, also the grandparents of Virginia DAVIS MILLS, the wife of Lieut. Francis B. MILLS of Fort Sill, OK. The fifth generation on the maternal side is represented by Cyntha Ann MILLS, the baby daughter of Lieut. and Mrs. MILLS.
Open house was held at the AILOR home, Wednesday. Mrs. Veron DAVIS received the guest at the door. Mrs. John C. PATTERSON adn Mrs. Caroline B. SMITH of Clay Center, poured in the dining room. Mrs. E.R. MARTS, Nebraska City, presided at the guest book.
Mrs. E.C. AILOR wore a gold broach that adorned her wedding gown fifty years ago. Mr. and Mrs. AILOR received many lovely gifts, flowers, letters, cards and telegrams congradulating them on this memorable event. In the evening a lovely six o'clock dinner was served to the immediate members of the family.
The guests from out of town who called at the AILOR home during the day included Mrs. T.E. JACKSON, Tucson, Arizona, Mr. and Mrs. Vern THROOP, Belleville, Mr. and Mrs.E.J. TURNER, Mrs. J.M. FOSTER and Mrs. W.W.WILLIAMS, Clifton, Wm. A. ANDERSON and Mr. and Mrs. J.P. SNARE, Washington, Mrs. E.R. MARTS, Nebraska City, NE, Mrs.Vernon DAVIS, Oklahoma City, OK, Mrs. Frances MILLS and Cynthia Ann, Ft. Sill, OK, Mrs. Caroline B.SMITH, Clay Center , KS and Mr. and Mrs. Geo. PATTERSON, Morrowville.
Guests from Haddam included Mr. and Mrs. Jim SIMON, Miss Florence COGLETON,Mr. and Mrs. John FEFFER, Mr. and Mrs. John PATTERSON, E.L. HARTGRAVE, Mr. and Mrs. L.E. HARRIS, Mrs. Edith ELLIOT, Mrs. Jay A. WELCH, Mrs. Norman LULL, Mrs. Elmer LULL and Mrs. Alice SHEA. Mr. and Mrs. W.T. ROONEY, Mr. and Mrs. Edward R. FENCL,Mrs. John BRICK, Mrs. E.A. DRIPS, Mrs. Alveria TOTTEN, Mrs. Ellen WHIPKEY, Mrs. Earl ATBUTHNOT, Mrs. W.E. PORTER, Henry BICHEL, and George LISHER. Mr. and Mrs.Fred SEYMOUR, Freddie, Bob and Ann, Mrs. R.C. TOTTEN, Betta and Marilyn, Mrs Chalmer DEVORE, Mr. and Mrs. A.J. UNRUH, Mrs. Elizabeth SCHOCKE, Mr. and Mrs Hermon REA, Mr. and Mrs. Ray MC KENZIE, Mrs. Lloyd SPRENKEL, Mrs. Frank GIBBONEY, and Mrs. Lenora ALABAUGH. Miss Mary Ellen LUTZ, Miss Mabel MUTH, J.J. MUTH, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. HYNEK and sons, Mrs. Annie BURT, Dr. R.K. HOOVER, Dr. Ladd E. HOOVER, Mr. and Mrs. Marion WILKINSON and children and Mrs. Walter HAMBLIN. Mr. and Mrs. John BOSWELL, Phyllis PATTERSON, Nora Opal BERTRAM, Mrs. Iva G. TEDRO, Mrs. Ethel O. BISHOP, Mrs. Ida ODGERS, Janice SIMITT, Mrs. Harry TEETER and U.S. LULL.
Roll 306 Bagord Twp Daviess Co., IN 1870 Aug 24 pg 3 William E Ellis 50 MW farmer 6000 1500 IN Olive 37 FW keeping house NC Theodore 18 MW IN Alfred 12 MW IN Walter 9 MW IN Elmer 7 MW IN Elmer 7 MW IN Sovi 1 MW IN
pg 15 Harrison TWP Daviess Co IN Aug 3 1870 108 107 Alfred Ellis 26 MW farmer 2200 400 IN Saura 24 FW Keeping house IN Charles 5 MW IN Grace 7/12 FW IN
Navebucan TWP pg 15 108 108 Ellis Derrly? 22 MW farmer 4200 150 IN Sherry 25 FW keeping house IN next Ellis, David 46 MW farmer 1200 1500 all this family b in IN Ierne 40 FW keep house Wisey 16 FW Mary 14 FW Murine 14 FW Meragunder 8 FW Gja 6 FW Elene 4 FW had a hard time reading it
pg 18 Veale TWp Jane Ellis 35 FW IN Rosella 10 FW IN Elmer 8 MW IIN
pg 48 Waahington Twp july 18 180 Williama Ellis 67 MW farmer 10 000 900 NC Charlotta 64 FW keeping housse SC Cicero 22 FW IN Nnacy 19 FW IN Samuel 17 MW IN
pg 6 Sowell TWp Cherokee Co June 1870 David Ellis 42 MW farmer 2000 2000 IN Augusta 32 FW keeping house Germany Elizabeth FW 15 Tamer FW 14 Charles T 8 MW Sarah F 6 FW Susan C 1/2 FW for some reason I did not write down b.
pg 8 Neosho Twp 109 119 T. D. Ellis 40 MW farmer Kentucky Chsocola 30 FW keeping house IL William H 14 MW ILL Emission 11 MW ILL Terr_ey E 11 MW ILL
pg 20 Shawner Twp Cherokee Co July 23 1870 Richard Ellis 39 MW farmer 800 800 Tenn Sarah J 20 FW keeping house Tenn Darthula 6 FW Tenn James K 4 MW Tenn Samuel 2 MW Tenn
pg 20 Showner TWp Cherokee Co 117 53 S J Ellis MW farmer 1800 800 Tenn Mary L 25 FW keeping house Tenn William 3 MW Tenn James 1/2 MW KS
Liberty Ellis Co Ks 1870 CB Ellis 50 farm labor WY Mary 37 FW keeping house Perruco Clarichia 9 MW at school ILL
Greenwod co Eureka july 29 1870 Mary J Ellis 47 FW Keeping House 600 600 IN Thomas 20 MW Farmer ILL Elizabeth 18 FW ILL Joll M 14 MW ILL Jessie M 12 MW Missouri Exsa MW 10 Missouri
Elk co 1885 Liberty pg 11 and 12 line 31 Albert Ellis 42 married W b. NY from ILL to KS millity enlisted in ILL Co E reg 91 Calvary Sarah M 37 F mrried W b. Ohio from MO to KS Henry 14 MW single Farmer b KS from KS Estella 12 FW all kids the same Delight 10 FW Lucilla 9 FW Lillia 7 FW William 4 MW Arthur 3 MW Grasir 7 FW
Vincinnis Knox Co Oct 16 1850 INdiana pg 570 1686 Abner L Ellis 45 M attorney 1400 Conn Cora 42 F Ga Lucy C 11 F Indiana
1855 KS territorial R 312 Dist 9-10 Fort Riley and around dist 13 15 Jefferson Co J.C. Ellis farmer 30 M b MO Mary 21 F MO John minor M MO WB minor M MO Issai minor M MO Ellizabeth Ellis minor F MO
pg 18 Karo Twp july 2 1860 Jefferson Co KS 119 121 George Ellis 31 M farmer 700 KY Rhoda_am 24 M OHIO John 4 M MO Charlie 2 M KS George Ann 1/12 F KS
pg 40 Jeffeson twp Jefferson Co Sept 21 1860 KS Farmens Hotel 321 270 William Ellis 50 M Hotel Keeper 2000 500 New York Jerusha 33 F New York William 21 M labor NY Henry 12 M NY Joseph 7 M Iowa Auusta 14 F NY Marion 2 M Iowa
1865 Reel 2 Franklin Twp Bourbon Co June 27 KS pg 67 410 40 Mastine Ellis 33 MW farmer 1000 340 b Ohio married Catharine Ellis 32 FW Ohio Lasase 12 FW ILL James H 9 MW ILL SW 7 MW ILL on next page Lannra 5 FW KS John H 8/12 MW KS
Freedon TWp mar 29 pg 5 175 Asa Ellis 60 M farmer Tenn Jane Ellis 55 F Tenn M Parker 27 F Coidon Arkansas A Ellis 14 F ARK E Ellis 15 F ARKS A Ellis 11 M ark ME Parker 10 F ARk JW Parker 7 M ARK H Parker 7 F Ark
Marion Twp Bourbon Co Aug 1 1865 pg 100? 685 PP Ellis 37 MW 2nd Deen Bettery 1500 100 NC Dorceis Ellis 48 FW SC PD Ross 16 MW MO William B Ellis MW MO Mahala Ellis 10 FW MO John Ellis 7 MW TENN
1870 june 28 Jefferson Twp Jefferson Co pg 28 line 190 202 William Ellis 63 MW farmer 6400 100 New York Jerushus or Jerushurch 42 FW keeping house New York Joseph 17 MW farm labor IOWA George MW 112 farm labor Iowa Alurenarl 9 FW KS Clora Alora FW 7 KS Simri Samuel 1 FW KS
Wm. H. TOWNS, son of John and Jane TOWNS was born at Etnagreen, Indiana on Jan 1, 1857 and passed away Feb. 10, 1932 at his home northeast of Haddam at the age of 75 years, one month and nine days. At the age of 12 years he moved with his parents to Nebraska and a few years later located on a farm near Haddam where he resided for more than fifty years. On Sept 4, 1881 he was united in marriage to Letha SEVERN. She passed away in 1889. To this union one daughter, Estelle was born, who departed this life at the age of nine years. He was married to Delia SEVERN on June 21, 1890. This union was blessed with five children, three daughters, Clara, Geneva PARRIS (see Neva PARRIS) and Cecil SISSEL, preceding him in death leaving to mourn his departure, his wife, one son, Ernest TOWNS, a daughter, Mrs. Orpha PARRACK all of Haddam, and a number of grandchildren, also three sisters, Mrs. J.E. ARNOLD, Kansas City, MO, Mrs. Carlos PERCIVAL of Palco, KS, Mrs. Charles ARNOLD of San Diego, CA and a brother, O. M. TOWNS of Palco, KS. At an early age he became affiliated whti the Christian church and lived an upright Christian life. He knew the privations of earlier days, thus making him a kind, thoughtful, indulgent father and husband. His keen sense of justice and fairness won him a host of friends both young and old who will mourn his going. Funeral services were conducted at the Blocker Church , Friday afternoon by the Rev. L.E. DIXON of the Haddam Church. The singers , Misses Bonnie BISHOP, Lois LATHAM, Mabel UNGER, and Mrs. Walter WELLS, accompanied by Mrs. Edward KULP at the piano , sang ' No Night There, Nearer My God To Thee and Goodnight and Goodmorning, ' The text was Precious in the Sight of the Lord is the Death of a Saint. Interment was made in the Blocker Cemetry.
Name County Household # Twp. Martha Hatley Morg 021 Washington Michael Hatley Wash 317 Salem James D. Hadley Morg 119 Monroe
Title:
REEVES
Article:
The Rev. A. S. REEVES, died at his home in Concordia, Friday night following an illiness of two days. Mr. REEVES was 74 years old, having been born in Kirkland, Indiana, Sept 23, 1865. Rev. REEVES was very well know here as he was a pastor at the Blocker Church east of Haddam, Kansas for a number of years. Rev. REEVES was married on Apr 5, 1889 to Susan Elvina HUTSON, who died in 1921, He was married to Clara ABBEY in 1932 and since that time made his home in Concordia. Surviving are his widow; two sons, Paul of Concordia and Rowland B. of Ravenna, NE; and a daughter, Mrs. Mary E. BRIGGS of Los Angeles, CA, Rev REEVES was a minister of the Christian church and was a member of the Masonic and I.O.O.F Lodges. Furneal Services were held Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the residence and a t 2:30 at the Christian Church. The body was taken to Burwell, Nebraska for burial.
John Benjamin BURGE, 78, formerly of Haddam, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. W.S.DUNCAN at Billings, Montana, Apr. 19, 1940. His death resulted from a cerebral hemorrage. Mr. BURGE was born in White Co, Indiana, April 14, 1862. He moved with his family to Nebraska and lived there 48 years, then moving to Kansas where he resided 27 years before going to Billings. He was married to Katherine COALLISTER in NE, May 2, 1888. She died in 1925. He was a member of the Methodist Church at Pawnee City, NE. Surviving besides the daughter in Billings, is a daughter, Mrs. S.F. GADDIE of Wellington, Kansas, a brother, W.M. BURGE of Smith Center, KS a grandson, Sam. T. GADDIE, Jr of Wellington and a granddaughter, Lavad FITCH of Billings. Funeral services were held Sunday Apr. 21, and burial was made in Billings
COMPENDIUM OF BIOGRAPHY Of History County Indiana B. F. Bowen 1920
Page 350, 351
Surnames in this biography: Straub, Dilling, Hoover, Gootfried, Shafer, Adams,
AMANDA A. STRAUB.
Possessing many attributes of noble womanhood and bearing well her part in life, the well-known and popular lady whose name introduces this article is worthy of mention in a biographical compendium of the nature of this work. Amanda A. Straub, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Dilling) Hoover, was born in Liberty Township, Henry County, Indiana, on the 26th day of March 1841. The Hoover family is of German extraction; the subject's great-grand father came from the old country a great many years ago and settled in Blair County, Pennsylvania, where Samuel Hoover was born and reared. On the mother's side is mingled the blood of German, Swiss and Dutch ancestry. The Dillings were also early settlers of Blair County and the two families lived in the same neighborhood and the children for many years attended the same little German school. Samuel Hoover was born July 16, 1812, and on the 26th of March 1834, married Elizabeth Dilling, whose birth occurred November 29, 1816. In May 1837, Mr. Hoover and family came by wagon to Henry County, Indiana. They were seven weeks in making the journey, which was a leisurely one and from what can be learned a most pleasant and agreeable experience. Mr. Hoover brought with him considerable means and on his arrival purchased land, choosing for his home an admirably situated place in section 20, Liberty township. He at once inaugurated a system of improvements, which by industry and well-directed energy were successfully carried out. He was a hard worker and would frequently make the night resound with the echoes of his sturdy strokes as he felled the giant forest trees and cut them into the proper sections for rolling and burning. His life was one of continuous toil, but he succeeded well and in due time became a prosperous farmer. In early life he united with the church of God and later was licensed to preach by that body, a work to which he devoted considerable of his time and not frequently would he go long distances to fill his appointments. He was a zealous Christian and by his God-fearing life as well as by his public ministry did much to counteract the prevailing evils of his day. The death of this excellent man and sincere servant of the Most High occurred on the 25th day of February 1872; his widow is still living at the ripe old age of eighty-six years. Samuel and Elizabeth Hoover were the parents of three daughters, Nancy, deceased; Amanda A., of this review, and Sarah A., who married George Gootfried and resides on a part of the old homestead. Amanda A. was reared on the home farm in Liberty township, attended the common schools during her childhood and youth and grew up to the full requirement that a woman as well as a man should earn her living by the honest sweat of her brow. She early became familiar with the duties of household economy and the plain, simple domestic virtues, which are womanhood's most beautiful and attractive adornments, and proved a continued help to her parents as long as she remained with them. On the 6th day of March 1859, she became the wife of John P. Straub, an excellent young man who came to America some years before from his native land of Germany, where his birth occurred June 28. 1823. By occupation Mr. Straub was a brick molder, but after his marriage he engaged in farming and so continued as long as he lived. He was an industrious man, of frugal habits, honest and straightforward in all of his transactions and wherever known his word was as good as his written obligation. He provided well for his family and as a citizen won the esteem of the people of the community, all of whom respected him for his many sterling qualities. He was reared a Catholic, but later severed his connection with that body and united with the Church of God, in the faith of which he died November 8, 1882. In politics he was a Democrat, but never took a very prominent part in political affairs, having been a quiet, Un ostentatious man, deeply attached to his family and with no desire whatever for distinction of any kind. In his death his family lost a most loving and devoted husband and father, the community a kind and obliging neighbor and the county one of its excellent citizens. Mr. and Mrs. Straub's marriage bore fruit in the persons of four children, the oldest of whom. John Henry, born December 10 1864, died February 2,1865, Sarah C., born August 29 1866, was educated in the common schools and has never left the home fireside: Susan E whose birth occurred on the 22nd day of June, 1869, is the wife of Charles Shafer; Anna M., wife of Oscar Adams, was born February 26. 1873. Since her husband's death Mrs. Straub has lived on the farm and looked after its management. She reared her children well early implanted in their minds and hearts a love of truth, virtue and right and the lives they now lead show that her efforts in their behalf have not been barren of most excellent results. She is a kind neighbor, ever ready to minister to the wants of the poor and distressed and her gentle influence has always been exerted in the right direction. The people of the community hold her in high esteem and she has, shown herself worthy of every mark of favor and consideration conferred upon her.
COMPENDIUM OF BIOGRAPHY Of Henry County, Indiana B.F. Bowen 1920
Surnames mentioned in this biography are: Nicholson, Williams, Morgan, Lamb, Reeves, Julian, Gentry, Bradbury, Boyd, Ruby, Bundy,
ANDREW NICHOLSON.
Andrew Nicholson, a retired citizen of New Castle, Henry County, Indiana, was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, November 5, 1805, near the battlefield on which General Nathaniel Green, of Revolutionary fame, won one of his remarkable victories, and on which field, when a boy, Mr. Nicholson found many a rusty old bayonet and other grim relics of the sanguinary conflict. The parents of Mr. Nicholson were John and Mary (Williams) Nicholson, the former of whom was born in North Carolina and the latter in Maryland. When Andrew Nicholson was about twenty years of age the family came to the west and located in Ross County, Ohio, near Richmond. After several years' residence in Ross County, they moved to Iowa, where the mother died and the father then came to Henry County. Indiana, where he died from the result of an accident when he was eighty-four years old. The father served in the war of. 1812 and Andrew still remembers his own small errands in going back and forth with messages from and to the regiment. The martial fervor seems to have pervaded the family, as Andrew himself long afterwards had two sons in the Civil War of 1861-65 and receiving news at one time that one of these (John) was sick in hospital, went there to bring the boy home and on the way back encountered a company of General John Morgan's men, but was not molested and reached home in safety with his boy. It was the custom, in the. Civil war days, for Samuel Hoover, a good reader, to gather the neighbors together, mount a box and read the news as it came. When it was reported that a relation or friend had lost his life in battle, all would stand it without a murmur, but when it was announced that such relation had been sent to Libby prison, the blood of the hearers would boil.
In the early days, while living in Wayne County, Indiana, Mr. Nicholson worked in a brickyard at Richmond for seven dollars per month. A friend, Mark Reeves, who later became a merchant at Cincinnati, Ohio, had worked in the same yard, and some years afterward came from that city to New Castle to buy a span of carriage horses for family use. In a crowd Andrew twitted him with having once worked at seven dollars per month and created a great laugh. Young Nicholson had educated himself at home with borrowed books and at twenty-one began teaching, a vocation he followed for fifteen or twenty years. One of his pupils was George W. Julian, afterwards a congressman of considerable note. Spelling was committed to memory at school and lexicographers differed in this respect, Walker, for instance, ending certain words lith "ick" and "our," while Webster ended the same words with "ic" and "or, as publick, public; rancor, rancour, and so on. At one of the spelling matches in Nicholson's school. Julian added the "k" to public, while a little girl left it off, and Julian went to the foot the Webster standard having been adopted. Julian was angered at this and quit school, but afterward was reconciled and returned. The schools were on the subscription plan, at a tuition fee of one dollar and a half per quarter for each pupil, yet Mr. Nicholson saved money and purchased a farm of eighty acres, to which he devoted his time and attention in the summers. In 1859 Mr. Nicholson came to Henry County, Indiana, and bought a farm of one hundred and eighty-four acres near Rich Square meeting house and cultivated it in part until his Sons went off to war, when he sold the farm and came to New Castle and bought an eighty-acre tract, on which he erected his present residence. He has retired from active work and has his money loaned out on interest. He has platted part of his eight acres into residence lots, and has occupied his present dwelling for thirty-one years. At the age of twenty-five, Mr. Nicholson married Miss Sarah Ann Lamb for his first wife, to which marriage were born seven children, namely: Abner, a mechanic and farmer in Wayne county, Indiana; Julia Corwin, in Urich, Henry County, Missouri; Luther was a soldier in the Civil war and died at home when thirty years old; Cornelia was married to Francis Gentry and died in middle life: Eveline became Mrs. James Bradbury and died when about fifty years old; Charles died at forty, and John, the soldier-boy before spoken of, died at thirty-five. The second marriage of Mr. Nicholson took place in 1870 to Miss Mary Boyd, of Brownsville. Union County, Indiana, but a native of Harrison County, Kentucky, and a daughter of James and Nancy (Ruby) Boyd who settled in Union County, Indiana, when Mrs. Nicholson was but a child. No children have been born to this second marriage. In religion Mr. Nicholson was formerly of the United Brethren faith, but for the past thirty years has been a Presbyterian, his present wife being of the same faith. In politics he was formerly a Whig, but is now a Republican and for three years served as county commissioner in Wayne County. At a recent public meeting Hon. Martin L.Bundy delivered a brief oral address, taking Andrew Nicholson and his long and useful life as his text, and in connection therewith reviewing the history of the United States as it was developed during the ninety-six years of Mr. Nicholson's remarkable career. The speech was a good and well received.
COMPENDIUM OF BIOGRAPHY Of Henry County Indiana B.F. Bowen 1920
Page 347, 348, 349
Surnames in this biography are: Gustin, Fuller, Betts, Diltz, Cummins, Smith, Harvey, Nixon, Brunk, Hirpp,
ISAAC H. GUSTIN
Henry County, Indiana, has within its limits but few horticulturists and agriculturists as experienced in these two branches of husbandry as the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this biographical notice. He is of French extraction and remotely of ante-Revolutionary descent, was born in Warren County Ohio, August 14, 1824, a son of Samuel B. Gustin, of Pennsylvania, whose father, Jeremiah Gustin, was born in New Jersey and was a son of Jeremiah Gustin, the son of John Gustin, who was born on the island of Jersey, on the northeast of France, and was the founder of the family in America. John Gustin and his wife Elizabeth came from the isle of Jersey to America in 1675 and died in 1719 at Falmouth (Portland), Maine. His son Jeremiah, who was born in 1691, married Mary -, who was born in 1692. They settled in Sussex County, New Jersey, and there Mrs. Mary Gustin died in 1762, and John Gustin in 1771. Jeremiah Gustin, son of John and Elizabeth Gustin, married Bethany Fuller, and died at Red Lion, Warren County, Ohio, in 1825 and 1829 respectively. Jeremiah Gustin, son of Jeremiah and Bethany (Fuller) Gustin, married a Miss Betts, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and died also at Red Lion at the advanced age of ninety-two years. Samuel B. Gustin, son of the Jeremiah last alluded to, married Elizabeth Diltz, a native of Kentucky, but reared in Ohio. Samuel B. and his wife lived on the old Gustin place at Red Lion until 1845, at which time they were the parents of six children, namely: Lemuel, who left his home about the year 1859, lived in Illinois and Dakota several years, then at Storm Lake, Iowa and is now a resident of the state of Washington; Isaac H., the subject proper of this biography, is next in order of birth; Rebecca, the third child, was married to John Cummins, but with her husband is now deceased; Jeremiah died in middle life in southwest Indiana;. Susan, who was married to Asa Smith, died about ten years ago; Benjamin Franklin, or "Doe," as he was familiarly known, died in southwest Missouri, and Martha, who was first married to Miles Cummins, is now the widow of Frank Smith. The Gustin family came to Madison County, Indiana, and settled on the county line, where Samuel B. cleared up a farm of one hundred acres from a tract he had bought in the wild woods and on which he resided until his death March 31, 1874, at the age of seventy-six; his wife died a few years previously at the age of sixty-eight Mr. Gustin was a mechanic and had a shop in which he made guns, wheels, coffins, etc., and was also an impromptu dentist, but his work in this line was principally confined to the extracting of teeth. He also bled people occasionally and was the "handy" man of his neighborhood. He was a member of the Christian church, was in politics first a Wig and afterwards a Republican and had held the office of justice of the peace. Isaac H. Gustin assisted in clearing up the new farm and remained on the place three years after coming to Madison County, when he married, November 9, 1848, Miss Elizabeth, a daughter of James and Lucy (Harvey) Cummins, natives of Monroe County, Virginia, where Elizabeth was born April 15, 1827. In 1829 the Cummnins family came to Indiana in wagons with several other families and settled one mile east of Middletown, but two years later bought land west of the village, which land is now the property of James L. Gustin heirs. In 1832 there had seven or eight acres been cleared and the family lived in a round-log cabin, which was replaced by a hewed-log house, and here Elizabeth Cummins was married at the age of twenty-one. For one year after marriage Mr. Gustin and wife lived on his father's land and then for a year on her father's. In 1850 he entered land in the Indian Reservation in Madison County, ten miles northwest of Alexandria, erected a log cabin in the woods among the howling wolves and laid in provisions sufficient to last him a year. He cleared up eight acres of the place and set out fruit trees; then he sold the place for six hundred dollars and for six hundred and fifty bought the farm of one hundred and sixty acres on which he now lives. But this land was swampy and he was forced to drain it. He then built a hewed-log cabin (which has been replaced by his present modern dwelling on the same site), cleared up the higher ground, converted the timber into cord wood and sold it to the railroad company; this process was repeated the second year, Mr. Gustin deriving a fair income from it the meanwhile. Since 1852 this farm has been the homestead, although Mr. Gustin has sold some of the land to his sons, retaining but eighty acres for his own use. He had placed one hundred and twenty-five acres under cultivation, had laid timber-lined ditches, which were followed by mole drains which in clay soils had a lasting quality of from five to ten years and finally secured the use of the public drains, into which he ran tiling at a cost of six hundred dollars. About three-quarters of the land was under water the greater part of the year and roads were invisible, but eventually logs were rolled together and covered with earth and now good gravel roads exist where before they were more a matter of imagination than reality. Besides devoting his attention to the farm. Mr. Gustin has made some experiments in inventing agricultural machine and gates, for which he has taken out several patents. In politics Mr. Gustin was first a Whig and in 1848 voted for General Winfield Scott as the presidential nominee of the party; since 1856 he has been a Republican, although for a few years he diverged from his party and joined the Populists. Mr. Gustin has been a member of the Christian or New Light church since thirty-six years of age and Mrs. Gustin has professed the same faith for forty years. Mr. and Mrs. Isaac H. Gustin have had born to them the following family: Edwin, who lost his life in a gravel pit in 1895 at the age of forty five years; Cynthia, who was married to Lee Nixon and died in 1875 when twenty-two years old; Francis Marion, a homeopathic physician at Union City; James, who died in 1895 at the age of thirty years, wedded Mattie Brunk, and was the father of five children: Lee, Sylvester, Morton, Ada and one deceased; Smith, a resident of Fall Creek township, wedded Sallie Hirpp, and had children as follows: Clay, May, Ida and three deceased; Moses, an agriculturist, is married and is the father of five children as follows: Montrew, Fredie, Ruby, Ogleve and Argness. The surviving members of the Gustin family are among the most honored of the pioneer settlers around Middletown and have, always been among the foremost in developing from the forest the fruitful farm that now adorns and enriches the country and which have tended to make the town and township what they are today. They have certainly richly earned the enviable standing, which they now enjoy.
COMPENDIUM OF BIOGRAPHY Of Henry County, Indiana B.F. Bowen 1920
Page 343, 344,
Surnames in this biography are: Wise, Bouch, Cooper, Dykes, Mills, Wisehart, Diefenbach,
HENRY C. WISE
Henry C. Wise, ex-educator and practical farmer and mechanic of Fall Creek Township, Henry County, Indiana, was born near Lewisville on Flat Rock creek, this County, June 3, 1855, and is a son of Peter and Matilda (Bouch) Wise, natives of Pennsylvania. They came to Indiana in 1853, first located near Cadiz, in Harrison Township, Henry County, but five years later went to Montgomery County, Indiana, and resided near Crawfordsville during the Civil War. In 1866 the family returned to XV. D Cooper's farm. Peter Wise was a farmer and for five years resided near Cadiz where his death occurred when he was seventy-five years old; he was survived by his widow about nine years, her death taking place at the present home of her son, Henry .C., when she was about eighty. These parents had a family of eight children, but two of whom live in Henry County, Henry C. and Peter, the latter residing at Lewisville. Henry C. Wise received a good common school education at New Castle and was also graduated from the Northern Indiana Normal College at Valparaiso. When twenty years old he began to teach during the winter seasons at Cadiz and followed the profession there and elsewhere four years until he was made principal of the Middletown school, which position he filled six years. In .the meantime Mr. Wise had remained on the homestead and had learned the carpenter's trade, which he has followed in all about fourteen years. He began contracting at Cadiz and later became a partner with James P. Dykes of Middletown. October 13, 1881, Mr. Wise married Miss Fannie Mills, a daughter of Luther Mills, of Delaware County, his home being located two and a half miles north west of Middletown, but who in the spring of 1882 came to town to reside permanently. Mr. Wise continued contracting until 1890, but in 1888 had purchased eighty acres of farmland for four thousand dollars, forty acres of which had been placed under cultivation, but upon which there were no buildings. Mr. Wise settled on the old place in 1889 and at once began making the necessary improvements to make the farm a profitable and comfortable one to live upon, clearing up the unimproved part, laying about two hundred rods of tiling and erecting modem and substantial buildings, his barn being 36x87 feet, with basement. He feeds stock chiefly and ships two to three carloads of cattle of his own feeding and about one hundred hogs per year. He also handles stock in company with Willis Wisehart, and employs two men during the busy season. Besides stock raising he grows corn and wheat and has in constant use three teams. In politics Mr. Wise is a Republican, but not a very active one. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 97, and encampment, having of course passed all the chairs in the former, and having represented it in the grand lodge. Mr. Wise is also a member of Montezuma Tribe No. 126, I. 0. R. M., at Middletown, Indiana, and is collector of straws of the Haymakers, Montezuma Hay Loft No. 126 1-2. Mrs. Wise is a member of the Rebekahs, as also is the daughter Effie. Mr. Wise is general superintendent of the Henry, Madison and Delaware Counties Fair Agricultural Society, appointed in 1902. This organization is one of the best agricultural bodies of central Indiana, and has been a signal success financially. In 1885 Mrs. Fannie (Mills) Wise was called away by death and January 5, 1888, Mr. Wise chose for his second helpmate Miss Susie Diefenbach, of Ohio, but who bad been a saleslady in Middletown for two years. By the first marriage there was born one child, Effie, now seventeen years old. She was a high school student in Middle Town, Indiana. To the second marriage have been born children as follows: Homer, who died in infancy, and Helen, now eleven years old, who is in the eighth grade having made two grades in one year, and a little daughter, Caroline Elizabeth. Mr. and Mrs. Wise are members of the Christian church and socially they rank with the best and most popular residents of Fall Creek Township and town of Middletown.
COMPENDIUM OF BIOGRAPHY Of Henry County Indiana B.F. Bowen 1920
Page 344, 345
Surnames in this biography are: Hoover, Misner, Schock, Swafford, Covault, Clensman, Gephart,
ISAIAH HOOVER
Prominent among the successful farmers of Liberty Township is Isaiah Hoover, whose family name has long been intimately associated with the history of Henry County. Paternally he is of German descent, but does not know when his ancestors left the Fatherland, though it is supposed to have been at a very early period in the history of Pennsylvania, where they originally settled. Joshua Hoover, the subject's father, was a native of the above state. He left his father's home at the age of seventeen, going to Ohio, where he grew to maturity and where, when a young man, he married Miss Catherine Misner, a native of Rockingham County, Virginia. Shortly after his marriage Joshua Hoover moved to Henry County, Indiana, and purchased one hundred and forty-four acres of wild land, from which in due time, by the hardest kind of toil, he developed a fine farm. Adding to his original purchase as the years went by, he finally became one of the prosperous men of his township and county, accumulating a large estate, estimated at his death to be worth over twelve thousand dollars. He was a fine businessman, made money easily and everything to which he turned his hand appeared to prosper. For a number of years he was a leading member of the German Baptist church in this county and as such did much to counteract many of the prevailing evils of the times. In politics he was a Republican, but took no very active interest in party affairs further than to maintain the soundness of his convictions and vote his principles. In every relation of life he was a good man and true and his death, which occurred on the 29th of March. 1876, was greatly deplored in the neighborhood where so much of his life had been passed. Mrs. Hoover survived her husband until 1889, when she, too, was called from earth to the, rest prepared for the people of God, of whom she was assuredly one. Joshua and Catherine Hoover were the parents of a large family, namely: Margaret Ranken, Elizabeth, Silas, David, John, Joshua, Susan, Catherine, Moses, Mary and Isaiah. Isaiah Hoover is one of Henry County's native sons, born in Liberty Township on the 9th day of May. 1848. He was reared on the home place to agricultural pursuits, attended the public schools during his youthful years and grew up to the full Stature of well developed manhood with a practical knowledge of honest labor in all its phases on the farm. On attaining his majority he started into the world to make his own way and chose for a companion on the journey Miss Mary V. Schock, to whom he was joined in matrimony on the 21st day of June 1868. Mrs. Hoover was born in Wayne County, Indiana, August 25, 1843, and is the daughter of Jacob and Lavina (Swafford) Schock, the father a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the mother of North Carolina. During, the eighteen years following his marriage Mr. Hoover lived on his father's farm and it was not until 1886 that he purchased and moved to the beautiful place in Liberty Township, which he now owns and cultivates. He began life at the bottom of the ladder, but by well-directed thrift and energy born of a determination to succeed gradually overcame the obstacles in his pathway and in due time found himself the possessor of sufficient means to buy the attractive home which is now his. He has been a progressive farmer and from a small beginning has risen step by step until his original place of eighty acres has been increased to three hundred and thirty acres, worth at a very conservative estimation at least twenty thousand dollars, in addition to which he owns other valuable personal property. Every penny of this comfortable fortune has been honestly earned by the subject and the methods employed in its accumulation were ever of the mast honorable character. Mr. Hoover is what is termed in business circles a self-made man and his rise to affluence is the result of his own well-directed labor, studious disposition and the ability to take advantage of circumstances. His record has never been tarnished by an act of dishonesty in any of his transactions and his life has been one of true usefulness to his fellow men. A Republican in his political views, he has never taken a very active part in public affairs, but keeps himself well posted relative to the issues between the great parties and upon questions affecting national and state legislation. In religion he is and long has been a humble and devout member of the German Baptist church, his wife and family also belonging to the same communion. Socially, Mr. Hoover is one of the most genial and companionable of men, always optimistic in his views and inclined to look upon the sunny instead of the dark side of life. He possesses the happy faculty of making warm personal friends and when once formed these friendships are permanent. He is a favorite in his neighborhood, the life of social gatherings and his popularity is only bounded by the lines beyond which he is not known. Eight children constitute the family of Mr. and Mrs. Hoover: Joshua E., born March 16, 1869, married Rose Covault; David F, was born April 3, 1872, and chose for his wife Miss Lena Clensman; Edward M., born August 30, 1875, married Lena Gephart, and lives in this Township; Jacob C., whose birth occurred January 24, 1877, is one of the well-educated young men of Liberty Township; he was graduated from both common and high school and for some time thereafter attended college where he made a creditable record as a student; he is a single man and lives with his father; Daniel M., also unmarried and at home, was born January 29, 1879; Sarah C. was born September 29, 1880; Isaiah 0, first saw the light of day on the 10th of August 1882, and Lewis H. dates his birth from the 28th day of December, 1884. The sons and daughters are all well educated and popular with a large circle of friends in the community where they live.
COMPENDIUM OF BIOGRAPHY Of Henry County Indiana B.F. Bowen 1920
Page 351, 352, 353
Surnames mentioned in this biography: Hamilton, Newbould, McCrary, Hearkless, Hulgan,
WILLIAM R. HAMILTON.
The gentleman whose name furnishes the caption of this review is an enterprising farmer and successful veterinary surgeon and to him as much as to any citizen of Henry County belongs the title of self-made man. Thrown upon his own resources at a tender age and compelled to battle with the rugged realities of the world, he successfully overcame the many obstacles by which he was surrounded, gradually made his way upward and from a poor, penniless and comparatively friendless lad has become one of the most prosperous and influential men of the township which is now proud to claim him as a citizen. William R. Hamilton, son of Thomas and Martha (Newbould) Hamilton, was born in Connersville, Indiana, February 5, 1849. The Hamiltons were natives of Kentucky and the Newboulds came to Indiana from Maryland. When quite young the subject's mother was left an orphan, after which she was taken by a family by the name of McCrary with whom she lived until her marriage. Soon after Thomas Hamilton took charge of a hotel in Connersville known as the Derman House, which he ran for about twenty-two years, retiring from the business at the expiration of that time and moving to a farm in the county of Fayette. His experience as an agriculturist covered a period of twenty-one years, a period, which also terminated his life. Eight children were born to Thomas and Martha Hamilton, four Sons and four daughters, seven of whom are living at this time, the subject of this sketch being the only one of the family residing in Henry County. William R. Hamilton was a small boy when his father moved to the farm and at a very early age he began following the plow and familiarizing himself with some of the lighter forms of labor. As soon as old enough to work to advantage he took his place in the fields and while still a lad in the early teens was able to do almost a man's work in the ordinary routine of toil. At the age of fifteen an event occurred which had a decided influence upon his life and which perhaps may have been a blessing in disguise, although at the time attended by sorrow and gloom that made the future look anything but cheering. This was the death of his father, an event that cast him upon the world penniless and almost friendless. Before this time he had attended of winter seasons a few terms of school, but after being thrown upon his own resources his educational training practically ceased. Turning his hand to any kind of honorable employment he could find, young Hamilton labored diligently with the object in view of improving his condition if possible and becoming something more in the world than a servant for others. Actuated by this determination, he laid by every dollar he could spare and some idea of his industry and thrift may be learned from the fact that on reaching his majority he had in his possession one thousand dollars in cash, a good horse and buggy and not one cent of indebtedness. Some of this money came to him as the result of successful trading, but the larger part was carefully saved from his wages as a farm hand and daily laborer. In the year 1870 Mr. Hamilton and Miss Emma Hearkless, of Rush County, were united in marriage, a union terminated by the death of the wife after one year of happy wedded life. Subsequently, February 18, 1875, the subject chose a second companion, who bore the maiden name of Mary E. Hulgan, whose birth occurred in the county of Fayette; this union has resulted in three children: Lela, born December 27, 1875, now the wife of Luther Ratcliff; Bert, who was born June 8, 1883, and an infant named Verlie that died. Mr. Hamilton became a resident of Henry County in the year 1872, purchasing forty acres of land in Greensboro township, for which he paid at the time eight hundred dollars, going in debt for the balance. By industry and economy he soon had his place clear of encumbrance and within a reasonable time thereafter increased his holdings until his farm contained one hundred and fifteen acres, its present area. The farm is highly improved and by adopting scientific methods he has greatly increased its productiveness and made it one of the best as well as one of the most valuable places of its size in the county. At a very conservative estimate the place represents a value of at least twelve thousand dollars, in addition to which Mr. Hamilton also owns other property, including a comfortable home in the village of Kennard where he now lives. Mr. Hamilton has given much time and study to veterinary surgery and for some years past has practiced the profession with much success at his home and elsewhere. In 1901 he turned his farm over to other hands and purchased a home in Kennard where he located for the purpose of devoting his time exclusively to veterinary surgery, the demands for his services having been such as to make this move necessary. He now has a large and lucrative business, having a license from the county entitling him to practice, also many flattering testimonials as to the effective service he has rendered in this useful and necessary profession. Mr. Hamilton is a man of intelligence and stands for enterprise and progress in all the terms imply. Primarily interested in his own affairs, he is also public spirited and stands ready at all times to give encouragement and support to any legitimate movements for the material and moral well-being of his community. Politically he is a Democrat, but has never taken a very active interest in party affairs further than to vote for the regular nominees and defend the soundness of his opinions when they are assailed. He has never identified himself with any religious society or organization but is a believer in churches as great moral forces and supports them liberally, especially the one to which his wife belongs, the Society of Friends. As a neighbor he is kind and obliging, ever ready to do a favor and his helping hand is never withheld from a friend providing such a one be worthy. He discharged the duties incumbent upon him as a citizen in a courageous, straightforward manner and is a splendid specimen of well-developed, successful American manhood. The biographical history of Henry County would not be complete did it not include the record of Mr. Hamilton's career.
COMPENDIUM OF BIOGRAPHY Of Henry County, Indiana B.F. Bowen 1920
Surnames in this biography are: Smith, Crum, Monroe, Allison, Cunningham, Evans, Mills, Cook, Needham, True
ROBERT A. SMITH. M. D.
The medical profession in Henry County is well represented by Dr. Smith, who has advanced steadily to a position of prominence as the result of his thorough understanding of medical principles and the ability with which he applies his professional knowledge to the needs of suffering humanity. He was born in Hancock County this state, on the 13th of April. 1843, and is the son of Isaac and Catherine (Crum) Smith. The grandfather of the subject was a native of England, but upon the outbreak of hostilities between the mother country and the American colonies he came at once to this country and offered his services in behalf of the latter and nobly assisted them in gaining their freedom. He was a mere boy at that time, but was manly in thought and deed. Soon after the dose of the Revolutionary struggle he went to Virginia and there married a Miss Monroe, a relative of the late President James Monroe. He learned the trade of a brick and stonemason and for a number of years worked at that occupation. Subsequently be removed to Preble County, Ohio, where he spent the remainder of his days, in that Ohio home. Isaac M., the father of the subject, was born and reared. Being left an orphan at an early age he accompanied an older sister to Indiana at a time when the greater part of the state was wild and unimproved and before the territory had been admitted to the Union. They located in Fayette County and there the subject’s father was employed upon a farm until the time of his marriage, about 1830. He then concluded to locate in Hancock County, this state, and in pursuit of that purpose followed an old Indian trail until he had reached a place that suited him. He there entered eighty acres of land and added to it from time to time as he was able until he finally possessed a quarter section of good land. At the out start he was compelled to live in his wagon, but later built him a hut, covered with bark and with a quilt for a door. This was not a very secure lodging and sometimes the wolves howled in a fearful manner around him at night. However, they persevered and gradually brought the place up to a high standard of excellence. He was a deacon in the Christian church, in which faith he passed away in 1898 at the age of ninety-eight years; his widow died in 1900 at the age of eighty-seven years. To them were born twelve children, of whom Dr. Smith, the subject, was the fifth in order of birth. The subject of this review was reared upon his father’s farm and attended the country schools of his neighborhood until he was about sixteen years old. At that time the country was in the midst of the terrible civil strife which was threatening the very life of the republic and the subject volunteered his service in his country’s defense. He enlisted in the Fifty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under the immediate command of Capt. Robert Allison. The regiment rendezvoused at Richmond, Wayne County, and were from there sent to Indianapolis and later to Louisville, Kentucky. They engaged the enemy at Shiloh April 6 and 7, 1862, and again at Stone River in a hard-fought battle in which the Fifty-seventh bore an honorable part. Next they were engaged at Mission Ridge, and then followed the Atlanta campaign. During this latter the regiment was under fire for one hundred and five days and were then at the siege and fall of Atlanta. The Fourth Army Corps, of which the Fifty-seventh Regiment was a part, was engaged in looking after General Hood’s army and became engaged in the battles of Franklin and Nashville. Subsequently they were transported to Port Lavaca, Texas, to look after Maximilian and upon the completion of that duty received their honorable discharge at Indianapolis in July 1865, after a service of nearly four years. During all this service the subject was never in a hospital as a patient. As a boy Robert A. Smith never had much of a liking for the farm and had frequently importuned his father to give him his freedom that he might engage in some other occupation. During the war he was for a time employed in the division medical director’s office and here took quite a liking to the science of medicine, finally determining to make its practice his life work. On his return home he entered the office of Dr. H. S. Cunningham now of Indianapolis, and afterward entered the Ohio Medical College, graduating from that institution in the spring of 1870. Upon his graduation he at once entered upon the active practice at Grant City, Henry County, and remained at that place five years. In 1875 he located in Greensboro, this county, and has here since remained. In 1898 he formed a partnership with his son. Dr. G. H. Smith, and they have together been engaged in the practice since that time. The subject has always enjoyed a large share of the public patronage and though he has lost large sums of money in the way of security debts, he has been fairly successful in general results. In 1867 Dr. Smith was united in. marriage to Miss Mary J. Evans, of Greenville, Ohio. She is a native of England and received a very complete education. This union was a most pleasant one and resulted in the birth of the following children: One died in infancy; Catherine E. is the wife of Seth Mills; Dr. George H., who married Miss Laura Cook, is president of the Psycho-Medical Society of Indiana; Nettie E. is the wife of Frank A. Needham. The mother of these children died in 1898 and in 1901 the Doctor was married to Miss Flora True. In politics Dr. Smith is an ardent Republican and has taken a keen interest in public affairs. He was at one time the candidate of his party for the legislature and was elected coroner of Henry County, discharging the duties of the latter office in an able and satisfactory manner. Religiously he is a member of the Society of Friends. In his fraternal affiliations he is identified with the Masonic order, being a member of Blue Lodge No. 175, and the chapter, council and commandery at Knightstown of the Greensboro lodge he has served as worshipful master. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Grand Army of the Republic. The results, which have followed the earnest efforts of Dr. Smith, are very gratifying. Starting in on the practice of his profession encumbered with a debt of almost fifteen hundred dollars, he has discharged every financial obligation and has come into possession of some fine farming property and other interests that place him in a very comfortable position financially. He is the owner of one of the best medical libraries in Henry County, besides much other good literature, and finds much pleasure in thus being enabled to come into touch with the best thoughts of all the past centuries. His reputation as a successful practitioner of medicine is not confined to his immediate locality and he has successfully treated some very difficult and dangerous cases. Because of his genial manners and high personal qualities he has won for himself a host of warm personal friends.
COMPENDIUM OF BIOGRAPHY Of Henry County Indiana B.F. Bowen 1920
Page 341,342,343
Surnames mentioned in this biography are: Miller, Brookshire, Shelley, Kiriley, Darling, Rix, Pearson, Armstrong, Coon, McCormick,
WILLIAM BROOKSHIRE
Among the many gallant and brave soldiers who volunteered from the state of Indiana to save the American union from disruption by the South in the blood thirsty rebellion of 1861-5 was the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this biographical sketch, but who is now one of the most respected and thrifty agriculturists of Harrison Township, Henry County, Indiana. Although he was of southern extraction, like many others whose parents came from that section of the country, he was possessed of true patriotism and was but too glad to avail himself of the opportunity to volunteer his services in the cause of the Union when the proper time came to manifest his love of the cause of liberty and the Union. William Brookshire was born in New Castle this County, on the 6th of August 1835, and is the son of Endsley and Elizabeth (Shelley) Brookshire. The ancestors of the subject were Scotch-English. His paternal grandfather was a native of England, but came to this country before the Revolution and with the true spirit of loyalty to his adopted country assisted the colonists in obtaining their independence. In the second war with England, in 1812, he was also in the military service of his country and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. At the close of this struggle he located in North Carolina, where he lived during the remainder of his life. His son, the father of the subject, was born in the latter state, but emigrated to Indiana and settled on the site where the city of New Castle now stands. That was in 1813 and at the time he came to this state he was but a penniless boy. At the age of fifteen years he went to work for Wilson Clift and was in his employ one Year, receiving for his work the sum of fifty dollars. Out of this he boarded himself and managed to save twenty-five dollars. About this time his uncle arrived in this state from North Carolina and entered a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land and by him the subject was employed for four years, receiving fifty dollars per year. From his salary and money earned by extra work he saved two hundred and fifty dollars and this he invested in forty acres of land situated west of New Castle, which he had entered from the government. He at once entered actively upon the work of improving this property, clearing the land, planting an orchard, building a house. Etc. He subsequently sold that place for four hundred dollars and bought another place of eighty acres, upon which he resided until the time of his death, May 30, 1898, at the advanced age of ninety-eight years. At the age of twenty-five years he united with the Wesleyan Methodist church, in which he became a minister and continued as such until his death. In politics he was a Republican and for many years held the office of justice of the peace. In New Castle, this County, Mr. Brookshire was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Shelley, the daughter of Eli and Abagail Shelley. Her parents were natives of Pennsylvania, moving from that state to Tennessee, and thence in 1840, to Indiana. To them were born a family of nine children, five boys and four girls, William, the immediate subject, being the oldest in the family. William Brookshire experienced all the hardships and privations incident to the lives of the early pioneers and early, developed a sturdy manhood, both physically and morally. He assisted his father in the arduous task of creating a home in the new country, splitting rails, pulling stumps, building fences, plowing the land, and the many other arduous duties of the early farm. He learned the trade of a carpenter, in the meantime also giving keen attention to the mastery of the common English branches. He thus became sufficiently equipped to teach school, which pursuit he folio Wed during the winter months, working at the carpenter's trade during the summers. While he was thus engaged the dark cloud of civil strife rose in the southern horizon and, feeling that his services were needed by his Country, he volunteered to go to the front as a defender of his Country's flag. He enlisted at Richmond, Indiana, in Company D, Thirty-sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under the command of Capt. Isaac Kiriley, and were sent to Indianapolis for equipment. From there they were sent to Camp Wickliffe on guard duty and on the 6th and 7th of April, 1862, were engaged in the battle at Shiloh, and afterward at Crab Orchard, Whitesides, Buzzard Roost and Huntsville, being under fire for thirty days. They retreated to Nashville and to Louisville, and later engaged the enemy at Stone River. The subject's term of service having expired, he returned home in September 1864, holding the rank of corporal at the time of his discharge. Upon returning to his home he resumed the occupations of carpentering and school teaching. He had prior to the outbreak of the war bought a sixty-acre tract in Harrison Township, this County, going in debt on the account, but by the time of his marriage, in 1866, he had, by hard work and rigid economy, liquidated this indebtedness and had seven hundred dollars in cash. He worked at his trade and lived on his father's farm for a while, but in September 1867, he moved onto his own land, which he has since cultivated. He has prospered and has added to his possession from time to time until he now owns one hundred and twenty acres here and eighty acres in Greensboro Township. In addition to the tilling of the soil, Mr. Brookshire has given considerable attention to the breeding, raising and selling of livestock and has found this a profitable source of income. Since 1848 he has been largely engaged in the capacity of an auctioneer, in which he has been signally successful, as he is in all his undertakings. He has now amassed a very comfortable competence, all acquired by his own strenuous endeavors. On the 10th of May 1866, William Brookshire was united in the holy bonds of matrimony with Miss Elizabeth Miller, a native of Henry County, born January 31, 1848. This union has been a most congenial and happy one and has resulted in the birth of the following children: John XV married Effie Darling, and resides in California: Emma J. is the wife of Charles Rix; Ella is the wife of Charles Pearson; Perry H married Etta Armstrong; Charles E. married Pearl Coon; Minnie is the wife of Luther McCormick; Thomas is unmarried and lives in Hollister, California; Weaver, a practical farmer, is unmarried and is at home. All of these children have been given the benefit of a good, practical common school education. In politics the subject is a pronounced Republican and takes a keen interest in the success of his party at the polls. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to Lodge No. 375 at Kennard, and has twice passed all the chairs in the subordinate lodge and twice represented the lodge in the grand lodge. He is not affiliated with any religious denomination, but is obedient to the principle laid down in the Golden Rule and is a liberal contributor to churches and other worthy objects. He has taken an interest in public affairs generally, and has several times acted in the capacity of administrator of estates. He also holds the responsible position of treasurer of the Ashland Gas Company in his locality. Mr. and Mrs. Brookshire have lived strictly upright lives and have thus gained the respect of their neighbors and won from many of them the warmest sentiments of personal friendship. The early defense of his native country and his excellent management of his affairs since peace finally spread her mantle over the fair face of the land, have been the means of exciting in the rising generation a spirit of emulation and imitation that must redound in the future welfare of the township and the ultimate advancement of public improvements within all its bounds.
From the Canton Daily Register, Canton, Fulton Co. IL APRIL 29, 1908 MR. and MRS. ELIAS SIMPSON (Note: Newspaper misprinted Mr. Simpson's name--should be Silas instead of Elias as printed.) Elias Simpson and his wife, who live on or near Big creek, northwest of Bryant, in Putman township, can not be classed with those brave and sturdy pioneers who came here in an early day and converted the forests into fruitful fields which are today being cultivated by their descendants and producing vast wealth. But they can be classed with those who have passed through many hardships and dangers; with those whose personal histories contain much of genearal interest. The early recollections of both Mr. and Mrs. Simpson are many indeed and their experiences in pioneer life in their native states--Indiana, and North Carolina--are thrilling and numerous. "No," said Mr. Simpson, "we do not belong to that advanced guard of civilization, those fearless men and women who came to Illinois in pioneer times and opened the road for those who came after them; but we know something of pioneer life and have been in Illinois for a long time. "I recall the time when I was a boy in Indiana, when whisky was considered an indispensable article of the household and the most desirable and profitable commodity for tavern-keepers. Then, as now, however, it was a source of no little trouble and many bruised heads. "I lived in a rude cabin covered with clapboards for several years after I moved on this place, and all around us was a heavy growth of timber. The points of timber and the valleys along Big creek must have been attractive resorts for the red man. "I was born and lived until I was eight or nine years old among the poplar and beech trees of Indiana. This township, including a good deal of timber land as it did, soon attracted a liberal share of immigration and was pretty well settled up when we came to the county. Cornbread, squashes and mush and milk constituted our principal diet, with a little pumpkin butter and New Orleans or sorghum molasses on the side. "I was born in Delaware County, Ind., March 13, 1852, and am the son of Henry and Lamira (Noah) Simpson, both natives of Indiana. The Simpson family is of English descent. My sister, who died in infancy, and myself were the only children of our family. This infant sister had two well-defined and pretty faces. She lived but a few days and I recall the fact that mother was besieged by doctors and showmen wanting to buy the body and have it preserved in alcohol. One man offered a thousand dollars for it. "My father and mother were divorced and mother's second marriage was to a man named John McCarty, who ran a water mill on the Salamona river in Indiana. In this stream I used to angle for bass and have landed some big ones. "I was born in a cabin and most of the settlers along the river lived in cabins when I was a boy. Stock ran at large and the woods wore full of rattlesnakes and copperheads, with quite a sprinkling of large game. "I came to Fulton county with my mother and stepfather in the spring of 1861. We landed at Copperas creek, came thence by team to Canton and finally located in St. David. We lived at and near St. David for three years, then moved to Bryant and lived there until I was married. "My mother is still living, although well along in years, and is a resident of Lewistown. "When I was about 12 years of age I dislocated my hip in a wrestling match with a boy named Murphy, at St. David, on the old John Williams place, and have been a cripple ever since. "I went to school at Bryant when Miss Annie Jordan was the principal and learned to read and write. I also learned to play the violin. This is the instrument I learned to play on, and it is a good one. "Oh, yes--I used to play for dances and for all kinds of entertainments and made enough money to get a start in life. For the first dance where I furnished the music, I got 20 cents; but later my price was invariable $5 and expenses, and I made money at it. "I have played for platform dances on Duck creek and the woods were full of fellows who were slightly inebriated and wanted to fight. Milo McCaskey gave us a good deal of trouble in those days. "I have been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for years and I once asked our minister what he would do if he was in my shoes--play the fiddle for dances, or let his family suffer for something to eat? 'Well,' he replied, 'I would never let my wife and children go to bed hungry.' The sweet strains of that old violin often sooth me and quiet my nerves, and I would not part with it. "I was married in Bryant in May, 1876, to Miss Cornelia Boone of Liverpool township. Elder William Kirkpatrick officiated at our wedding. We have been blessed with nine children, eight of whom are living, namely: Mrs. Nola McCombs, St.David; Chalmer Simpson, Cuba; Mrs. Minnie N. Shadock, at old Independance; Mrs. Minerva Laird, Buckheart township; Elmer, Ethel, Frank and Oscar Simpson, at home. "When we moved on this place we were poor, practically had nothing, but I made enough with the old fiddle to tide me over until I could raise a crop. "Yes, I was one of the contestants in that oldtime fiddling match at Canton not so many years ago. Beside byself I recall the fact that John Raker and Miss Madge Pollitt won prizes. "I remember the great temperance wave that struck this part of the country in 1877 and the whole county became awakened on the great question of temperance. The people were enthusiastic and were determined to crush the hydra-headed monster, but they did not do it. Yet the movement did a great deal of good. In this temperance work all minor differences and distinctions should be lost sight of and people of all classes should meet as brothers and sisters laboring in a common cause. But the fellow who becomes a temperance worker and then bobs up for office at the very first opportunity should be turned down. There is a class of office-seekers who try to ride into office on every reform wave that comes along. But while I am in favor of temperance in all things, I believe we have too many so-called reforms, too many now fads, too many cranks. "In the good old days almost everybody danced and the people were just as good then as they are now, were just as honest, and did not sell their souls for money. Sociability and true Christianity are closely allied and I don't know just where we are drifting. "I at first rented this place from Emanuel Feeser but it changed hands and I later bought it from Henry Hitchcock. There was only 15 acres cleared when we moved here and I lived in that cabin up there for 16 years. The rain and snow came in on us, but we did not freeze, and we raised a big family of healthy girls and boys. "Politically I am a Republican, and am a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and firmly believe that there are many old-fashioned, plain, common people in heaven--and fiddlers, too,--and I want to go ther when I die." "I was born, " said Mrs. Cornelia Simpson, "in Stanley county, N.C., Sept. 13, 1850 and am the daughter of Martin and Eliza Boone, both natives of North Carolina. My father was related to Daniel Boone, the noted pioneer hunter of Kentucky. "I am the oldest of a family of 11 children, seven of whom, besides myself, are living, namely: Lewis Boone, a resident of North Dakota; Mrs. Malinda Hagena in Colorado; Alex Boone, at Council Bluffs, Iowa; Brady Boone, at Neola, Iowa; Frank Boone, on a farm near Shelby, Iowa; Elmer Boone , in Montana; Mrs. Anna Haacke on a farm in Buckheart township. "I was about 14 years of age when my parents moved from North Carolina to east Tennessee, where we lived for four or five years, when we came to Illinois. "We lived in North Carolina during the war. Our house was back in the timber from the road. Father was in the Union army as a scout and guide and I remember when about 30 Confederate soldiers came to the house looking for him. He deserted from the rebel army and joined the Union forces and had they found him they would have shot or hanged him. "My uncle, who lived near us, slept under his barn floor for six months--in fact, lived there. The rebels often visited his place and searched for him but he got into the Union lines before they caught him. "My mother and Aunt Nellie Boone farmed our place for three years and I have worked many a day in the fields. Mother and aunt sowed and cradled wheat and helped to thresh it. The women operated and fed the old ground threshers, ran the water mills, etc. The women and old gray-headed men did all the farm work and got along pretty well, everything considered. "At first we had to give a tenth of everything we raised to the Confederate government, but later a fifth and finally a third. "One old man who ran a thresher had his three girls with him, and they all worked early and late. The women of the south, especially those whose husbands and sons were in the Union army, had a hard row to hoe. Women whose eyes were as bright and whose forms were as erect as in the days of their girlhood when the war broke out, were bent with care and work and troubled at its close, and their heads were covered over with the snow that never melts. Their last thoughts at night, as they wafted their prayers to the throne of God, asking him to care for their loved ones, and their first thoughts in the morning, were for their husbands and sons. Mothers, wives, sisters and daughters suffered in silence and God alone knows how much they suffered and what trials and dangers they passed through. "Oh, but I can never forget the old civil war days in the south, notwithstanding I was but a child. "We lived just five miles from the line between North and South Carolina and I often went on horseback to Bradaway's mill on the river between the two states. Sometimes I took my grist of corn to Meggs' mill, on the same stream. "There were no buggies in the south in those days and we all rode in wagons. "There were a good many slaves in Stanley county before the war and many of them did not know their own Master. They were put in charge of an overseer and worked in the fields from early morning until late at night. Their time was given to them from Saturday noon until sunrise Monday morning--and such times as they did have, singing, dancing, playing the banjo and the fiddle! "The poor people wore cotton or homespun clothing and often went to church barefooted. The women wore calico sunbonnets. "The poor white people in the south before the war enjoyed life better than did the slaveholders. The agitation of the slavery question and the growing sentiment against human bondage, not only in the north but all over the world, were thorns in the sides of the slaveowners. "A part of the troops raised in Stanley county were drilled in a big field near our house and we often saw large bodies of Confederatesoldiers pass and repass. It was their boast that they would soon whip the Yankee, it would only be 'a breakfast spell'--but the conflict proved to be one of the greatest in history and lasted till after dinner--in fact, till nearly supper time. Everything hinged upon the result of that war, but peace came and the nation was saved. "The happiest days of my life were spent in the old North Carolina and Tennessee homes, but our days during the war were not happy ones. Many times did I lean my arms on the window sill while mother was preparing the evening meal and look far into the dusky shadows that encircled the brow of night; but papa did not come. "Oh, we were never free from the tortures of anxiety about the absent ones, and we often went to bed with heavy hearts. Why should the slaveholders cause sorrow and death to overspread our fair land, and the voice of waiing go forth from every fireside? The hours were long and dark, but peace came at last--thank God!--and came to stay, so far as the north and south were concerned. "A few of the old slaveholders and their descendants will never be satisfied with the result. The people of the south--I mean the common people--were in antebellum days more sociable than the people of the north and would often congregate together and have a general good time. As things were then, I would rather live in the south than in the north. "There were many good people among the slaveholders, and there were some bad ones, too. "We practically abandoned our old homestead in North Carolina, because we could not sell it, and went to east Tennessee, about the time the war closed. The Union sentiment in east Tennessee was pretty strong and many Union refugees found a home there after Lee's and Johnston's surrender." Both Mr. and Mrs. Simpson possess many good personal qualities and are classed among our best citizens. Both are Methodists in religion and both are uncompromising Republicans and take considerable interest in all political matters.
As we all know, newspaper articles can sometimes contain incorrect information. Keep this in mind when reading this article.
The Canton Daily Register Newspaper article was typed exactly as the copy I recieved. There are some discrepencies such as Silas Simpson's parents being 'both natives of Indiana'. Henry Simpson was born in OH as was Lamira Noah/Noe. Also, Cornelia Boone Simpson mentioned that her father was related to Daniel Boone. So far, I have found a Daniel Boone in the ancestry, but not THE famous Daniel Boone. So far, I have only found German Boone's/Boon's/Bohn's and have been unable to find a connection with The famous Daniel Boone. I hope you find the article interesting and somewhat informative as to conditions during the civil war, etc. Jody
COMPENDIUM OF BIOGRAPHY Of Henry County, Indiana B.F. Bowen 1920 Page 331 and 332 and 333
Surnames in this biography are: Hughes, Burritt, Moore, Collins,
HENRY J. HUGHES.
In years but recently gone the flow of natural gas in Indiana was a prolific source of income to many individuals, who generally united their interests in companies or corporations, but the flow of late years has considerably abated, while the supply of coal oil or petroleum has not so perceptibly been diminished, as new wells for the production of the latter are, not infrequently opened by experts. Among these is the gentleman whose name heads this biography. Henry J. Hughes, contractor at Middletown, Henry County, Indiana, for sinking gas and oil wells, was born in county Tyrone. Ireland, May 20, 1845. Edward Hughes, father of Henry J had come to America about the year 1849 and located in New York City. About a year later Mrs. Hughes came over with her two children, Henry J. and Mary Ann, but on arriving in New York, via Canada, was confronted with the sad intelligence that the father had been called to his home in another sphere. A few weeks later the sorrowing widow was called upon to join her husband, and Henry J., then but five years old, and his younger sister found themselves dependent upon the care of strangers in a strange land. The children, however, soon found homes, Henry J. living with one family until twelve years old, when he began to work on a farm and was so employed for five years. He had but limited opportunities for securing an education, however, and quit his studies when but seven years old, his teacher having been too tyrannical, while the family with which he lived was not urgent as to his attendance, preferring to have his services at home, and for five years the young lad faithfully did his duty in this respect. Henry then went to work outside the home at times in lumber camps-and when twenty-one years old went to Michigan, where he worked one year in a sawmill and at dock labor in Detroit. About 1867 or 1868 Mr. Hughes went to the oil region of Pennsylvania where he became initiated into the mysteries of his present calling. After reaching the oil district, however. Mr. Hughes began work at chopping wood, receiving for his labor one dollar and twenty-five cents to two dollars per cord, and at this and other classes of labor laid by nine hundred dollars. This sum he invested in an oil well and in six weeks lost it all and incurred besides a debt of one hundred dollars. But this spirit was invincible and he began working by the day at drilling wells, handled sixty-nine of them consecutively, and this has since been his occupation. He next began in Pennsylvania to take an interest in wells in compensation for his labor and of these he sank seven before he struck oil. To reach this result it required about seven years' labor. In the meantime Mr. Hughes bad exhausted all his earnings and again began working by the day on contingent success but did not again find oil until 1879, but this was an "off" year for oil, as it brought but forty cents per barrel in the market. Mr. Hughes constructed tanks, in which the oil was stored, but there was no improvement in price and about nine months afterwards the stored-up oil was sold at a loss. Mr. Hughes was not altogether discouraged, however, but went to the oil fields in New York state, then returned to Pennsylvania, worked in the fields of Warren County, and then in 1886 went to Lima, Ohio, where fields were just being opened, worked by the day at drilling for a year and then had charge of a drilling gang for another year. He next secured a kit of tools for himself, came to Indiana and here he next worked for a time at Lafayette about 1888. He next worked for a time at Sidney, Ohio, then returned to Indiana and drilled the first well at or near Chesterfield on the site of the Spiritualists' camp ground. The well producing gas and artesian water. In July 1888, Mr. Hughes came to Middletown and worked by the day for Arthur Burritt, the contractor, in sinking a well on the site of the old sawmill, this being the second well sunk in the city. Mr. Hughes next drilled at Mechanicsburg, then contracted for three wells north of Chesterfield, and the same spring drilled another. He then returned to Lima, and in July 1889, began contracting and working for the Richmond Gas Company with his own tools. This arrangement lasted three seasons, after which time Mr. Hughes worked on contracts at different points until his coming to Middletown to sink wells for the tin-plate company. While thus engaged he invested fourteen hundred dollars in lots in the Tin-Plate addition to Middletown and erected four houses. He has in addition made many other contracts in Henry County and some in Madison county, keeping employed four regular workmen and several teamsters. Mr. Hughes for many years kept a diary or record of all the details connected with the wells, which he has drilled and is well satisfied with the complete and lasting manner in which his work has been done. He has been particularly exempt from accidents. No person has ever been crippled while in his employ, but he has several times been the victim of conflagrations that have destroyed his derricks and large tanks, principally caused by lightning setting fire to gas: a derrick costs about five hundred dollars. Mr. Hughes has frequently found himself in embarrassed circumstances, but with indomitable pluck has always worked himself out of difficulties. At one time he ran about nineteen hundred dollars in debt, with nothing to show for it. He was sinking wells and supply companies refused to extend him credit and he was obliged on one occasion to pay twenty dollars for the use of two hundred dollars for two weeks and on another occasion paid seventeen dollars for the use of a similar sum for the same length of time, but he pulled through. In Pennsylvania he went to rack and ruin over a dry hole, owed fifteen hundred dollars and lost everything but his tools, but had no money with which to remove these. He was to receive six hundred and fifty dollars as soon as he had a well cased; he borrowed two hundred dollars, for which he paid twenty dollars, kept up appearances and soon afterward received his six hundred and fifty dollars, which put him on his feet again. Mr. Hughes continued his struggle bravely and now is possessed of a competency, is interested in the Home Gas Company and is the principal stockholder in the Home Gas and Oil Company, also owning stock in each of the various factories in Middletown, and all this is the result of his indomitable courage and unceasing personal exertion. Mr. Hughes was united in marriage at Greenfield, Indiana, on Christmas Eve, 1899, to Mrs. Emma Moore, of New Castle. This lady bore the maiden name of Collins, her father, Joseph Collins, having been a pioneer of Henry County and now residing in Kennard at the age of ninety-three years. To the marriage of Mr. And Mrs. Hughes no children have been born, but Mrs. Hughes has two children by her first husband, viz: a daughter, who is a member of the Hughes household, and a son. W. H. Moore of Middletown. Mrs. Hughes is a Wesleyan Methodist in her church association and is a strong advocate of temperance, aiding the Prohibition Party in every conceivable way. Mr. Hughes is a Democrat and is ever active in his work for the party in all its campaigns. As a self-made man too much credit cannot be bestowed upon Mr. Hughes, and his example is one, which may be studied with profit by the rising generation and by all others who have yet to realize fortunes for themselves.
History of Rush County Indiana Brant & Fuller Chicago 1888
Page
Surnames in this biography are: Hinchman, Nickell, Blacklidge, Semons,
JOHN T. HINCHMAN was born in Union Township, Rush Co. Indiana. April 21, 1825. He was the son of John and Nancy (Nickell) Hinchman, whose personal history appears in this volume. Our subject spent his boyhood and youth on the farm, and received a common school education. He adopted farming as his life occupation. At the age of twenty-one, or on February 26, 1846, he was married to Sarah A. Blacklidge, daughter of John and Nancy (Semons) Blacklidge, who settled in Union Township in 1823, and lived here until their deaths. Mrs. Hinchman was born September 23, 1826, and has spent her entire life here. They had two children: Roda A., deceased, and William M., now married and residing near his father. Our subject began housekeeping on the farm on which his brother Robert lives, but in December 1847, removed to the farm where he now resides. This he purchased in the spring of that year. It was partly improved with ordinary improvements. It now consists of 160 acres under a high state of cultivation. His residence is a fine one. He began life a poor man, and by dint of industry has been eminently successful, and can be classed among the leading farmers of the township. He and wife are members of the Christian Church. Politically, he is a staunch Republican, and firmly upholds the principles of that party. He is one of the honest and upright citizens of Rush County.
Historyof Rush County Indiana Brant& Fuller Chicago 1888
Page 775 and 776
Surnames mentioned in this biography are: Hinchman, Vinson, Nelson, Nickell,
JAMES HINCHMAN was a native of Monroe County, Va., born January 24, 1800. He was the fourth in a family of eleven children born to John and Sarah (Vinson) Hinchman, the former a native of Maryland, where the Hinchmans settled during the time of the Calverts.The latter was a native of Shenandoah County, VA. At the age of fourteen, John Hinchman removed to Monroe County, Va., where he married Sarah Vinson, where they continued to reside until their deaths. James Hinchman was reared amid the scenes incident to farm life, and owing to his limited educational advantages was not enabled to attend school more than a year and a half during his youth. But in after life, byself- application,he obtained a fair English education. On April 11, 1822, he chose for a life companion Nancy Nickell, daughter of George and Margaret (Nelson) Nickell, natives of Monroe County, Va., where Mrs. Hinchman was born, September 5, 1804. At the time of his marriage Mr. Hinchman received $250 from his father, and with this money he resolved to seek a home in the west. He accordingly started for Indiana on horseback,and finally purchased 160 acres of land in Section 14, Union Township, Rush County, Indiana,and returned for his young wife. They put what few cooking utensils they had into a two-horse wagon and started overland to their far-off home in the western wilderness.Arriving here November 14, 1822, they moved into a rude log cabin, which had been erected on one of his eighty-acre tracts. Soon afterward he built a more substantial house, in which he lived happily for many years. When he arrived here he had some fears as to whether or not he would succeed, but he went to work with a will and his first crop of corn averaged him ninety bushels to the acre. This assured him of success, and here solved to make Rush County his future home. The family circle was blessed with fourteen children, viz.: George N., John T., Andrew, William N., Joseph V.,James R.,Carey, Alvin B., Jesse G., Sarah, Robert N., Amos C., Margaret and Nancy, o fwhom George N., John T., Joseph V., James R., Sarah H., Margaret, Alvin B., Carey, Amos C., Nancy,Jesse G., and Robert N. are still living. Mr. Hinchman began life a poor man, and after paying the expense of his trip to this county he found he had only $10 left,which he expended in provisions for the winter. He was very successful in his chosen occupation, and a tone time owned over 1,000 acres of land in Rush County, besides 2,200 acres in Missouri and Iowa. He was liberal with his children, assisting them to get homes, and was a public-spirited man, encouraging, with time and money, railroads, canals, or any other improvement for the benefit of the public. Politically, he was a Republican,and in 1844 was elected to the Indiana Legislature, which position he held two terms. He was Probate Judge of Rush County for three years, and held the office of County Commissioner two years. He was a firm friend of the schools, and advocated the employment of the best teachers. On August 28,1883, he passed away — a time honored pioneer and citizen. He had been a member of the Christian Church since its organization in this county. His life companion still survives him, and is in remarkable good health for one of her age — eighty-three years.
History of Rush County Indiana Brant & Fuller 1888 Chicago Page 543 and 544
Surnames in this biography are: Hite, Franger, Lute, Fisher,
WILLIAM N. HITE, who for the past fifty-four years has been a resident of Richland Township, was born in Augusta County, Va., October 21, 1811 being the son of George and Elizabeth (Franger) Lute, the former a native of Rockbridge County, Va., and the latter a native of Pennsylvania, both of German descent. When he was three years old his parents removed to Nelson County, Va., where he was reared upon a farm. At twenty-one years of age he accompanied his parents to Pickaway County, Ohio, where they remained from November, 1832, to March, 1833, at which time they came to Rush County, and located in Richland Township, which has been the home of our subject ever since. For a period of eighteen years after coming to this county he worked at the blacksmith’s trade, which he had learned in Virginia. In about the year t85t, he turned his attention to farming, and this has occupied his attention ever since. He has a good farm of 160 acres, about 120 acres of which are in a high state of cultivation. The marriage of Mr. Hite occurred over fifty years ago or July 6, 1837. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Fisher, was born in Clermont County, Ohio, May 10, 1819, being the daughter of Jacob and Jane Fisher. Mr. and Mrs. Hite are the parents of ten children: John A., George W., Eliza J., William T., David F., Lewis E., Jacob W., Mary I., Laura A. and Lola M., of whom John A., William T. and Laura A. are deceased. Mrs. Hite is a member of the Christian Church. Mr. Hite has never identified himself with any church, but is a firm believer in the principles of Christianity. His political affiliations have always been with the Democratic Party. He and wife are among the pioneers of the county, and are among its worthy and honored citizens
History of Rush County Indiana Brant & Fuller Chicago 1888
Page 770, 771
Surnames in this biography are: Cook, Johnson,
WILLIAM M. COOK
Was born in Union Township November 27, 1838. He is the son of J. B. and Nancy M. Cook, old residents of this township. The former was born in Ohio, and the latter in Fayette County. From boyhood his life has been spent here. His occupation has been farming and trading, and he has shipped considerable stock. In 1862, he was married to Susan Johnston. Mrs. Cook was born in Richland Township in 1839. This union has been blessed by the birth of four sons: J. B., Oliver J., Robert B., and Ora K., all living. Mr. and Mrs. Cook are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically, he is a staunch Democrat, and firmly believes in its principles. He is one of the active workers in this county, and is Central Committeeman for Union Township. He began life in limited circumstances, and now owns one of the best farms in Union Township, lying a quarter of a mile west of Glenwood. Mr. Cook is an honored citizen of this county
History Of Rush County Indiana Brant & Fuller Chicago 1888
Page 782, 783, 784,
Surnames in this biography are: McMillin, Young, McConnell, Downing, Wilson, Ellis, Buzan, Kendall, Pentecost, Bishop, Freel, Wood, Shauck,
JOHN T. MCMILLIN stands foremost among the prominent and industrious farmers and stock-raisers of Union Township, and resides in the northeast quarter of Section 12. He was born near where he now lives August 30, 1831, and has spent his entire life in this township. We can trace his lineage back to about 1780, when we have an account of Thomas and Mary (Young) McMillen, who were his grandparents, emigrating from Ireland to America, locating in Washington County, Pa., and of six children being born to them; they were: Matthew, John, James, Ebenezer, Samuel, and Anna; also that their parents died in Washington County, Pa. John, the second son, and the father of the subject of this biography, was born in 1793. In 1815, he removed to Brown County, Ohio, and engaged as a farm laborer. While there, he made three trips on a flatboat to New Orleans, returning on foot each time to Brown County. There, on June 10, 1824, he was married to Susannah McConnell, a native of Brown County, Ohio, born April 30, 1800, and the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Downing) McConnell, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the son of Arthur and Elizabeth (Wilson) McConnell, both of whom were natives of Ireland, but emigrated to America prior to the Revolutionary War, and settled in western Pennsylvania. Thomas McConnell, their youngest of nine children, and the grand father of our subject on his mother’s side, was born in Washington County, Pa., November 4, 1772. About the time of his maturity he went to Mason County, Ky., where he married Mary Downing, a native of Pennsylvania, born October 7,1799. She was the daughter of John and Susan (Ellis) Downing. Soon after this marriage, Thomas McConnell removed to Brown County, Ohio, where he entered land and continued to reside the remainder of his life, his death occurring April 26, 1865; his wife having passed away November 5, 1832. He was a Captain during the War of 1812, and was with Gen. Hull when he surrendered at Detroit. We will now return to John McMillin, who, soon after his marriage, located on a tract of land, which he had previously entered in Section 13, Union Township. He came here and settled down in the forest empty-handed, having but a few cents on his arrival. He erected a rude cabin, into which he moved his family, and with his axe started to clear up a home. His wife willingly assisted him by burning brush and such work as she could do, and by the next spring he had succeeded in preparing ten acres for corn. Success attended his labors from this time on, and ere his death, which occurred May 29, 1850, he found himself the possessor of over 6oo acres of choice farming land. He and wife were true Christians, and the honored principles taught their children in youth, are now evidenced by honest, upright men and women. The mother survived her companion until January 23, 1885, when she, too, crossed the dark river. Thus we glean a little knowledge of the lives of the sturdy pioneers who came here when all was woods, and by hard and earnest toil succeeded in developing homes which will stand as monuments to their honored names while memory lasts. They are gone, but not forgotten, for sons and daughters survive them who have inherited the homes which they toiled so incessantly to make, and who will keep their memories green, and pass down from generation to generation the history of the trials and hardships of their illustrious antecedents. As stated, John T. McMillin was born and reared in Union Township. His birth having occurred in 1831,he has had an opportunity to witness almost the entire growth of the county. His moral and intellectual training in youth was good, and he had the advantage of a common school education. Being raised on the farm, he adopted farming as a life occupation, in which he has been eminently successful. On November 25, 1852, he was united in marriage with Sarah Buzan, daughter of Wills and Maria (Kendall) Buzan, at that time residents of Union Township, but now deceased, and who were among the first settlers of the county. To this union were born three children, namely: Clara A., Laura B. (who died in infancy), and Sarah Bell. The wife and mother died January 27, 1857, and on the 24th of the following November, Mr.McMillin was married to Nancy B. Pentecost, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Bishop) Pentecost, the former the son of John and Jemima Pentecost, and born in Union County, Indiana, December 1, 1805, and died in Henry County, Indiana The latter was born October 4, 1808, and died in Union Township. She was the daughter of William and Elizabeth (Freel) Bishop, the former a native of Maryland, and the son of Robert and Rachel Bishop, natives of Maryland. He died in Preble County, Ohio, and was a soldier during the War of 1812. His wife, Nancy Fred, was the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Wood) Freel. By this union Mr. And Mrs. McMillin have had born to them six children: Emma J., John A., Ora M., William H., and Lida O., of whom Emma Josephine is deceased, dying the wife of John L. Shauck. Mr.McMillin now resides on a fine improved farm of 260 acres in Section 12, across the southeast corner of which the J., M. & I. R. R. crosses, and on which “McMillin’s Station” is located. He also owns two other farms in the county. Besides giving his attention to farming, he has of late devoted considerable time and money in developing the heavy draft horse industry of the county, and was one of the first owners of imported Norman horses, and he now owns two fine imported Norman mares, “Marguerite,” foaled in France in 1883, also “Marquise,” foaled in the same country in 1885. He also owns an interest in the noted imported draft horses, “Favory” and “Coco,” the former taking the world’s premium at Paris in 1878, also at St. Louis, Mo., in 1880. He has taken premiums everywhere he has been exhibited, and is one of the finest Norman draft horses in America today. Space compels us to end this sketch of an illustrious family, whose name is familiar throughout the county, and we will close by adding that John T. McMihin, with a few other leading citizens of the county, in 1857, organized the Rush County Agricultural Society, and established a yearly fair at Rushville, which for its success, has become known beyond the borders of Indiana. For a number of years he served as a Director of the association, then as its President, and at present is a member of the Executive Board. He earnestly works to prosecute the interests of the agriculturists and breeders, of Rush County; hence the appreciation of his success. He and. wife are members of the “Church of Christ,” or Christian denomination. Politically, he is a staunch Republican, and firmly believes in the principles of that party. Mr. McMillin’s portrait appears in this volume as one of the representative citizens of the county.
History of Rush County Indiana 1888 Brant & Fuller Chicago
Publication Date:
1888
Article:
History of Rush County Indiana Brant & Fuller Chicago 1888 Page 773 and 774
Surnames in this biography are: Gray, Purdy, Dick, Allen, Kirkpatrick, Parish, McCrary,
JOHN T. GRAY, the subject of this biography, is the grandson of John Gray, who, with, his family, was among the first pioneer settlers of Union Township in the fall of 1833. They came from Bourbon County, Ky., the family consisting of six children. They were: Samuel and Margaret, by his first wife, whose maiden name was Jane Purdy; Jane, William J, Elizabeth D. and Alice A., by his second wife. Prior to his removal, John Gray had purchased a part of the farm now owned by John T. Gray, his grandson. Here he resided until his death. During life, his principal occupation was farming; but he also gave some attention to stock-raising. He died in the fall of 1854, a member of the Presbyterian Church. His wife survived him until March. 1871. Her maiden name was Margaret Dick. William, who was the fourth child, and who was the father of John T. Gray, was born in Bourbon County, Ky., on September 17 1825. At the age of eight years he came to this county. At the age of twenty-one he began life on his own responsibility, and on September 19, 1846, was united in marriage with Cynthia A. Allen, daughter of John and Susan (Kirkpatrick) Allen. The former was born in Virginia, and the latter in Kentucky, but were married in Green County, Ohio, where Cynthia was born November 2, 1820. In 1834 they came to Rush County, and settled in Washington Township. William Gray and wife began housekeeping in a log house which stood on the farm owned by our subject. He resided in this county until the spring of 1870, when he removed to Daviess County, Indiana, and thence to Tennessee, in the spring of 1875, locating near Gallatin, where he died on July 17, 1876. His wife still survives him. He was a member of the Christian Church. During life he owned some very fine horses: Aleck, Charley and Tuckahoe, which he purchased at the sale of his father's personal property. Tuckahoe lived until he was twenty-four years old. These horses were sired by a horse owned by Joseph Gray, known as Aleck, then by William Gray; Jerry, of Archy-Lightfoot stock; Dick, of Bedford stock; Tom, of Gray Traveler stock; Jake, of Proud American stock; and from the latter he raised three stallions, and last Tom-Hal, sired by Shawhan. Tom Hal, sired by Bald-Stocking, who paced ninety miles in ten hours and forty minutes. Bald-Stocking was sired by an imported Torn-Hal, a bay-roan horse fifteen and one-half hands high. Bald Stocking lived to be thirty-two years old, and was never known to lie down until the day of his death. Gray's Tom-Hal was purchased by William Gray when he was four years old, and was kept in the Gray family until he was twenty-seven years and six months old, when he died. His last season was the most successful, and he was owned by John T. Gray at the time of his death. He was of fast stock, and his colts have developed good speed. He was the sire of the dam of St. Denis, record 2:23; Buffalo Girl, 2:12W; Jerome Turner, 2:17 1/4; and sired Little Gipsy, record 2:22; Limber Jack, pacer, 2:18W; Bay Billy, pacer, 2 :I3 1/4; Mattie Bond, pacer, 2:27k; Syalger, trotter, 2:3I~4. John T. Gray was born in a log cabin on the farm where he now resides, July 11, 1847. He was the oldest in a family of five Sons: John, Joseph V., James W., Washington and Garrett D., of whom Washington is deceased. John grew to manhood on the farm, receiving a fair education. As his father was a horseman, it became necessary for John, in early life, as he was the eldest, to assist in caring for the horses. Therefore his early training in this respect was exceedingly good, and has placed him among the foremost horsemen in the county at the present time. On August 13, 1868, he was married to Mary C. McCrary, daughter of Samuel and Elsie (Parish) McCrary, the former a native of County Antrim, Ireland, and was a boy when he came to this country. Samuel and Elsie McCrary were married September 11, 1828, in Fayette County, and the former resided in this vicinity until his death, March 19, 1881. His wife still survives him. Mrs. Gray was born in Washington Township, February 2, 1851, and was reared here. This union has been blessed with four children; Charlie I., Flora M., Bessie Pearl, and Samuel W., all living. Mr. and Mrs. Gray are members of the Christian Church; also Charlie and Flora. Mr. Gray, besides caring for his farm, owns and controls probably the most noted breeding barns in the county. It was established by John Gray in 1835, and has continued ever since. After him came William Gray, and then his son, John T., who owns it at present. It now contains six stallions, two imported draft horses: Favory and Coco, the former one of the most noted Norman draft horses in America; two Hambeltonian general purpose horses named Medock, Sr., and Medock, Jr.; Frank Hale, one of the best bred horses in the west, sired by Ben Franklin, by Daniel Lambert, by Ethan Allen, by Black Hawk, dam by Lapham's Horse, by Hill's Black Hawk, and sired and raised in Vermont, and is five years old; he is 15 hands high and weighs 1080 pounds; Tom Hal, a two-year-old, sired by Gray's Tom Hal; dam by Davy Crocket, and shows great speed as a pacer. Mr. Gray gives his whole attention to his fine horses. He is an honest and upright citizen, and owns a comfortable home. Politically, he is a Democrat.
History of Rush County Indiana Brant& Fuller Chicago 1888 Page771 and 772
Surnames mentioned in this biography are: Cook, Johnson,
ROBERT B. COOK was born in Union Township, April 16, 1848. His parents were James and Nancy Cook, old and honored residents of Union Township. His boyhood and youth were spent up on his father's farm, one-half mile west of Glenwood. He received a good common school education, but adopted farming as his life business. On October 17, 1871,he chose for his wife Frances D. Johnston, daughter of Atwell and Larinda Johnston, who were old residents of Richland Township, where Mrs. Cook was born in 1850.To this union were born three daughters: Laura, Attic M. and Fannie Ball, all of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs. Cook are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically,he is a staunch Democrat. In the spring of 1885, he was elected to the office of Township Trustee, which position he now holds. He has carefully managed the affairs of the township, and takes great interest in the schools. Mr. Cook owns a comfortable home near Glenwood, near where he was born and reared. He is an upright and industrious man.
History of Rush County Indiana, Brant & Fuller, Chicago
Publication Date:
1888
Article:
Compendium of Biography Of Henry County, Indiana B. F. Bowen 1920
Page 326,327,328
Surnames mentioned in this biography are: Daum, Cramer, Pressel, Crull,
JOSEPH CRAMER.
The subject of this sketch is a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and the son of Philip and Elizabeth Cramer, both parents born in Germany. The father grew to mature years in the fatherland and there married, his wife's maiden name being Elizabeth Daum. They kept a hotel in their native town and carried on the business with varied success for a number of years, finally disposing of their house for the purpose of raising funds to immigrate to America. On coming to the United States Philip Cramer purchased land in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. He continued this vocation until his death, which occurred a few years after the family's arrival in the above state. Philip and Elizabeth Cramer were the parents of fifteen children, only four of whom are living at the present time, the majority having died in infancy; Lynn, Charles, John and Joseph are the surviving members of this once large family. Joseph, the youngest of the children, was born on the 2nd day of September, 1858, and until twelve years of age attended the public schools of his native county. By reason of his father's death he was early thrown upon his own resources and in his thirteenth year began earning his own living by working in the iron mines of Pennsylvania. He was thus engaged for a period of five years, at the end of which time he accompanied his mother and brother to Henry County, Indiana, settling on an eighty-acre farm in Liberty township opposite to the place where he now lives. With such assistance as her two Sons could render, Mrs. Cramer bought the farm, paying a part of the purchase price down and going in debt for the balance. The place cost four thousand dollars and Joseph remained with his mother managing the work and looking after her interests until every dollar of indebtedness was paid. In October, 188o, Mr. Cramer was happily married to Miss Margaret E. Pressel, whose birth occurred in Liberty Township, this county, on the 9th day of February 1860. Her parents. Eli and Alzana (Crull) Pressel were well known residents of Henry county, moving here a number of years ago from Pennsylvania, of which state they were natives. After marriage Mr. Cramer took charge of his mother's farm until her death, when the property was sold. He then rented land in Liberty Township for three years, then purchased a part of the same farm on which he now resides, going in debt to the amount of twenty-five hundred dollars. By industry and thrift he succeeded in meeting his payments as they became due and in the course of a few years found his place free of all incumbrance. He added to his possessions until his farm now contains one hundred and ten acres of fine land, representing a value of ten thousand dollars, nearly all of which was earned by his own labor and successful management. As a farmer and raiser of good livestock no one stands higher than Mr. Cramer and as a neighbor and citizen he has long been noted for his honorable, straightforward course, his influence always being on the side of right. His farm is highly improved and his home, comfortable and convenient in all of its appointments, is the abode of a generous hospitality only too rare in the present rapid age of selfishness and personal aggrandizement. Nine children have blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Cramer, namely, Ona M., Ivan C., Lena B., Maude A., Elsie E., Jessie H. Edna P. Eunice D. and Margaret .J., all living and remarkably strong and healthy specimens of American youth and vitality. Mr. Cramer is a Democrat in politics and as such was elected in November 1900, assessor of his township, the duties of which office he has since discharged in an able and praiseworthy manner. He belongs to the: Knights of Pythias at Hagerstown and for some years had been an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at the present time holding the position of the treasurer in his local lodge. His oldest daughter, Ona M., is a leading worker in the Rathbone Sisters and also belongs to the Daughters of Rebekah. Such in brief are the salient facts in the life of one of Liberty Township's successful farmers and representative citizens. With his well-known reputation for integrity and energy, he has acquired by well-directed labor and honorable dealings an ample competence and can with propriety be safely classed with the foremost men of the community in which he has long claimed a residence. He is the embodiment of geniality and good fellowship, has made many warm friends and few if any enjoy a greater degree of popularity.
History of Rush County Indiana, Brant & Fuller, Chicago
Publication Date:
1888
Article:
History of Rush County Indiana Brant & Fuller Chicago 1888 Page 772
Surnames in this biography are: Ging, Furry, Gray, Dick,
LAWRENCE GING is a native of Rush County, and is one of the leading citizens of Union Township, being at present actively engaged in the manufacture of drain tile, and farming. He was born in 1829, and has made this his home all his life. His parents, William and Anna (Furry) Ging, the former of Irish, and the latter of German descent, were among the pioneer settlers of Union Township, and were residents of the township at the time of their deaths. Our subject was reared amid the scenes incident to farm life, and received a fair education in the common schools. He began doing for himself after his maturity, and engaged in farming. In 1860, he was married to Mary J. Gray, daughter of John and Margaret (Dick) Gray, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Ohio, but both were reared in Kentucky. Mrs. Ging was born in Bourbon County, Ky., in 1824, and accompanied her parents to Rush County, and located in Union Township in 1833. Here her parents died. This union was blessed with two children: John W. (deceased), and Margaret A., now at home. Mr. And Mrs. Ging are church members. Politically, Mr. Ging adheres to the Democratic Party, and has filled the office of Township Trustee. Mr. and Mrs. Ging have led useful, industrious lives, and have provided themselves with a comfortable home. In 1869, Mr. Ging engaged in the manufacture of drain tile, and this was about the first factory started in this county. His business has steadily increased, and there is no better tile manufactured in the county. His factory is capable of turning out 500,000 rods per year. A man of integrity, and upright in all the affairs of life, he is now one of the respected citizens of the township.
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