Merritt W. Vance, one of Wayne township's well known and progressive young farmers and landowners, is a native of the state of Illinois but a Hoosier by choice and in putting in his lot with that of the people of Jay county was actuated by sound judgment and wise consideration of circumstances. Mr. Vance was born at Leroy, Illinois, January 6, 1899, and is the son and only child of Noah and Eda (Sterling) Vance, both of whom had been married before, the former having had two daughters, Mrs. John Roberts, of Leroy, III., and Mrs. Effie Kennemer, of Raymore, Mo., by a former marriage and the latter a son, Mark S. Webb, of Bloomington, Ill., by her first marriage. The late Noah Vance, a former well known resident of Wayne township, was a Virginian by birth but was reared in McLean county, Illinois, where his parents had established their home when he was a child. He became a substantial farmer in that county, the owner of right around 200 acres, and there was engaged in farming until in 1906 when he sold the farm and moved to the town of Leroy, III., where he resided for a year, at the end of which time he came to Indiana with his family and settled on a farm of 155 acres which he had bought in Wayne township, this county. Three years later he sold that farm and bought an "eighty" in that same township, the place now owned and occupied by his son Merritt, and there spent his last days, his death occurring in August, 1911. His widow and her son Merritt then returned to Leroy, but she survived her husband but a few months, her death occurring in January, 1912. Mrs. Eda (Sterling) Vance was a native of Ohio, but was but a child when her parents moved to Illinois and located in the vicinity of Leroy, the family having driven through in a covered wagon, and there she was reared and had her schooling.
Merritt W. Vance was eight years of age when he came to Jay county with his parents ii 1907 and was twelve when his father died and he went back to Illinois with his mother. He completed his schooling in the Western Military Academy at Alton, III., from which he was graduated in 1917 and then turned his attention to the farm his father had left in this county, and after his marriage a couple of years later returned to Jay county and established his home on the farm in Wayne town ship, the place where he is now living and where he and his family are very comfortably situated.
It was on May 17, 1919, that
Merritt W. Vance was united in marriage to Bertha F. Edwards, of Illinois,
and to this union two children have been born, Alice M., born on May 17,
1920, and Florence I., September 27, 1921. Mrs. Vance was born on a farm in
Lexington township, McLean county, Illinois March 21, 1902, and is a
daughter of Alvin and Delia (Jones) Edwards, both of whom also were born in
Illinois and the former of whom is a substantial farmer and landowner in
that state. To Alvin Edwards and wife five children were born, four of whom
are still living. Mrs. Vance having three sisters: Edna M., Margaret and
Mrs. Christian Hardt. Mr. & Mrs. Vance are Republican and are members of the
Methodist Episcopal church at Portland. They have a very pleasant home on
rural mail route No. 2 out of Portland and take an interested part in the
social activities of the community in which they live.
SOURCE: Milton
T. Jay, M.D., History of Jay County Indiana, Historical Publishing Co.,
Indpls. 1922, Vol. II, pp.259-260. Transcribed by Eloine Chesnut.
Buried in Green Park Cemetery