CUNNINGHAM-Jasper N. - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

One of the most influential and highly respected men of Jackson Township, Fountain County, Indiana was the late Jasper N. Cunningham, wo owned a large farm near Wallace and had been one of the foremost men in the community for a number of years. He came from a study stock of men who have made Indiana one of the foremost states in the Union - strong, enduring, fearless men who came to the middle Wet when there was little to temp them but a promise of what work might make of the country. When there was no net work of railroads and interurbans, making travel to any part of the state a matter of a few minutes; when Indiana was still in its natural state, save for a few small communities that were spring up here and there, the grandfather of Jasper N. Cunningham came to Fountain County, Indiana and settled on land secured from the government. His was the task of establishing the home in the wilderness. His son, Mitchell, was born there on the farm, and lived there all his life, adding to and improving the land his father had settled on. He married Mary Louisa Myers, and they had one son, Jasper N. Cunningham born in the same room int he old house on the farm in which his father was born. Jasper spent his early life on the farm, learning through experience the best and quickest and easiest ways to do the work required to make the land the most productive. In 1895 he married Florence Myers, the daughter of Hiram and Frances (Elliott) Myers. Hiram Myer was born in Parke County in 1846 and was a prosperous farmer near Judson, Indiana; Leta J. married John Furr and lives near Whitesville, Montgomery County, Indiana; Susan married Ormy Myes and lives northwest of Wallace, Fountain County; Florence married Jasper N. Cunningham. Florence and Jasper N. Cunningham had two children: Ura Frances and Earl Mitchell, both of whom are at home with their mother. Jasper N. Cunningham died July 21, 1911 on the old farm in the same room in which he was born. He left his widow 646 acres of some of the best farming land in Fountain County, 176 acres of which has been in the Cunningham family since his grandfather first settled on it. Mrs. Cunningham hires help to do the work and farms 220 acrse of the land herself, renting the balance. There are a great many improvements on the place, most of which were made by Mr. Cunningham before his death. He was an energetic and capable man, his farm had modern equipment and was one of the most highly cultivated in that part of the country. Mr. Cunningham was a member of the Lutheran Church and a man of good judgement, so fair minded and just that he was looked upon as one of the foremost citizens of this community, which mourned his loss and sympathized with his bereaved family. Such men leave behind them the result of their influence on those around them and live forever in the growth of the community to which they gave their services.