JEFFERSON COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES
Taken from Biographical and
Historical Souvenir
of
Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott
and Washington
Published by John M. Gresham &
Company
1889
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Capt. Joseph C. Abbott Henry County, Ky., was born June 5, 1881. Came to Milton, Ky., with his
parents at five years of age. He was raised in Milton, Trimble County, Ky.,
attending the city schools of Madison, Ind. Afterward he went to college at
Carrollton, Ky. After finishing his education he engaged as clerk on the
steamboat "Leonora," packet between Carrollton, Madison and Louisville, and
continued as pilot and clerk for about two years. Then he took a trip down
South on a flatboat. In 1874 he built the steamer "St. Francis Belle" at
Cattlettsburg, Ky., and ran her in the St. Francis river, Ark, and afterward
ran her in the White river, Ark., from Memphis, Tenn., to Jacksonport, Ark.
In 1876 he brought her up and ran her from Louisville, Ky., to Leavenworth,
Ind. In 1877 he took her to New Orleans and sold her.
He came home in 1877, and his father retired from the ferry business, and
turned it over to him; he has continued in that business ever
since. Mr. Abbott's parents were John M. and Mildred
(Garriot) Abbott. His father was a native of Culpepper County, Va.,
born September 11, 1803, and came to Kentucky in 1816. Is now living in
Milton, and is very active for one of his age. His mother was a native of
Trimble County, Ky. She died in 1875, at the age of
63.
Capt. Abbott was married in 1876 to Miss
Elizabeth, daughter of Capt. Nat. Williams, of Madison, Ind. He removed to
Madison in 1876, and has resided there ever since. Capt. Abbott is a member
of the Second Presbyterian Church. He belongs to Masonic Order, and has
taken the Thirty-second Degree in Masonry, is a member of Union Lodge,
No. 2, in Madison, and belongs to the Consistory at Indianapolis. The
Captain is also a member of the I.O.O.F., Madison Lodge, No. 72; also of
Madison Lodge, No. 21, K. of P.; also of Red Men and Knights of Labor. Was
chairman of the Democratic committee for eight years.
.
Charles W. Allfrey, schoolteacher, was born in Switzerland County, Ind., and
was raised on a farm. He is the son of Joseph Allfrey and Elizabeth Grey.
His father was a native of Nicholas County, Ky., born in 1789, of Virginia
people. His grandfather was a soldier in the War of
1812.
Mr. Allfrey's mother was the daughter of James
Grey, and was born in Virginia; she came to Indiana with her father in 1800,
and settled in what is now Switzerland County. They were the earliest
settlers of that County. Her father was a soldier in the War of
1812.
Mr. Allfrey was educated in the common schools
of his County, and then took a course at the Woodward School, located in
Cincinnati, Ohio. He commenced teaching in 1853, and followed in until 1869;
then for two years he flatboated. In 1871 he was appointed School Examiner,
and served at that for two years; then he went at the traffic of goods on
the river. While from home on this business he was nominated on the
Decmocratic ticket for Recorder of Jefferson County He was elected to that
office and served for four years; after which he resumed his profession as
teacher, which he still follows.
When a boy he was
engaged as cook on a flatboat, and in that capacity made quite a number of
trips to New Orleans. He has made several trips through portions of the
Southern country since he arrived at manhaood. Mr. Allfrey is considered on
of the best teachers of the County, and is well liked by scholars, parents
and the school officers.
William M. Amsden County Superintendent of Public Schools, Smyrna Township, the son of Caleb and
Nancy (Moncrief) Amsden, was born July 28, 1857, in Smyrna Township,
Jefferson County, Ind.; was brought up in this township, attended the public
schools of this County, and graduated from Hanover College in 1886. While
attending college, during the vacations, for six years, from 1880 to 1886,
for four months of each year, he acted as traveling salesman for McCormich
Harvesting Machine Company, of Chicago, Ill. After graduating he was clerk
of the Indiana House of Representatives, remaining there the session of
1887.
In June, 1887, was elected County Superintendent
of Public Schools for Jefferson County, on the Republican
ticket.
Mr. Amsden was married, April 19, 1888, to
Miss Sophia Dean, daughter of Mr. A. C. Dean, of this
Township.
He was Deputy Assessor of Smyrna Township
form 1881 to 1886, four years; and has been a law student since 1881. He was
made secretary of the Republican Committee from 1888 to 1890. He has been
Delegate to two Republican State Conventions, to two Congressional and one
Judicial Conventions. And is chairman of the Smyrna Precinct Committee. He
was a candidate for the Legislature in 1888, but was defeated in
convention.
His father, Caleb Amsden, was a native of
New York State, and came to Indiana in 1830 and located in Jefferson County,
at Madison. He was a traveling salesman for Mr. E.C. Barbour, of Madison.
Has been a traveling salesman for the greater part of his life. In 1865 he
located in Smyrna Township, on a farm, where he has been ever since. He is a
Mason and an Odd Fellow, and is member of the Baptist Church of Wirt. He is
now in the seventy-second year of his age.
Mrs. Amsden, the
mother of the subject of this sketch, is a native of Jefferson County, Ind.,
and was the daughter of Abner Moncrief, who was a native of Kentucky, and
came to this cCounty in 1808, and was one of the first settlers of the
County. He was a farmer, and died in 1872, at the age of seventy-two years.
He was an active member of the Baptist Church at Wirt, and was a deacon of
his church for many years. Mrs. Amsden is still living, being fifty-nine
years old.
Capt. John Armstrong (deceased), was born in the State of Maryland, on the Susquehanna, about the year 1789;
owing to the death of his father when he was quite young, and no family
records remaining, the exact date of his birth is not positively
know.
Captain Armstrong remembered the Cold
Friday---which was February 6, 1806, and always thought he was about
seventeen years old at that time. His mother removed to Montgomery County,
Ky., when he was an infant, and there remained and died, leaving one
half-sister to the Captain, named Axia Carson. The Captain was bound (as was
the custom in those days, in Kentucky, with orphans), but he did not like
his boss (he was a cabinet-maker), and ran away. He passed through
Maysville, Ky., and finding a canoe there, he paddled down the Ohio to
Sedansville, and from there made his way to Hamilton County, Ohio; there he
found a home with an old lady named Scott, and lived with her for a short
time. He next worked for a man named Moore for two years, at four dollars
per month.
Later he worked for some years for Thomas
Marshall, with whom he made his home for many years. In 1814 he embarked, as
a bargeman, on the keelboat "None Such," and made a trip to New Orleans. The
wages for the trip was $40 for the downward trip, and $100 for the upward
trip. The "None Such" arrived at New Orleans a few days before the last
battle of the war of 1812 was fought there by General Jackson against
Packingham. Armstrong was on the barge at the time of the battle, and
distinctly heard the noise of it. He followed the life of a keelboatman for
some years, making four trips from Cincinnati and Pittsburg to New Orleans
and back. This was a slow business and it took about twelve months to
make a round trip.
In 1819 he commenced steamboating
as a deck hand on the old "Gen. Pike," the first steamer ever built in
Cincinnati. "It was built and principally owned by, John H. Piatt.
Jacob Strader, a clerk in Piatt's bank, was clerk on the vessel." Then
Armstrong became pilot and afterward captain of many boats: "Rodolph," which
he built, "Empress," and other boats that ran on the Kentucky river,
and a number on the Ohio. He was at one time owner of the entire Mail Line
from Cincinnati to Louisville. He continued at boating until June, 1847 (his
family had been living on a farm for many years previous to this time), when
he retired to his farm, in Jefferson County, Ind., above Brooksburg, at
about the age of 56. In 1833 he had bought this farm, and had afterward
improved it to suit his ideas of a home, so that it was all ready for
him when he retired from the river: it had been his intention for many years
to enjoy life as a farmer, and he did so for about thirty years.
He died at his farm February 2, 1880.
In
1822 he was married to Miss Sarah Marshall, the daughter of Thomas Marshall,
with whom he had made his home for many years. The issue of this marriage
was seven children, vis: James, John, Thomas, George, Eliza Ann, Henrietta
and Charles; of these, three are living: Thomas, George and
Eliza Ann.
Mrs. Armstrong died January 16, 1838,
and in 1839 Captain Armstrong married Harriet, a sister of his former wife,
and they had six children, all of whom are living. viz: Sarah, Margaret,
Frank, Florence, Florida and Harriet.
Capt. Armstrong was successful
in business and accumulated quite a little fortune, and at the same time
made for himself many friends in all the classes of life which he had passed
through. He was a kind husband, father and friend, esteemed by all of his
neighbors. His dust rests in peace in the burial place on his farm, which
overlooks the river which he loved so well, and on which so much of his life
was passed.
Holly Austin, a farmer near North
Madison, was a native of Jackson County, Ohio, and was born in 1829, April
6. His parents were William and Sarah (Erwin) Austin, natives of Ohio and
Virginia. His father is a farmer and is still living at 84 years of age. Mr.
Austin came to Jefferson County in 1848, and has been engaged in farming and
saw-milling for the most of the time since then. His is now engaged in
farming and making cider and vinegar. He makes vinegar during the entire
year, from crab-apples. He has an orchard of 1200 trees on the farm;
controls 277 acres of land. Mr. Austin was married in 1853 to Miss Aurelia
Castle, of Licking County, Ohio. They have three children,---William A.,
Henry C., and Fred. Mr. Austin sent the first substitute to the war from
Indiana---sending a substitute before there was a call for a draft in the
state.
Matthias Bader was a native of Germany, and the son of John and Katherine (Bihler) Bader; both of his
parents died in Germany.
Matthias Bader was born
December 3, 1826, in Wurtemberg, Germany, and came to this country in 1854,
and located in Indiana in the same year. He went to work by the month on the
farm, and continued to do so for about four years.
In
1858 he was married to Miss Mary Holwager, daughter of Frederick Holwager, a
farmer in this County. After marrying, he rented a farm at money rent, and
in 1861 he bought 40 acres of land, and since then has bought, at different
times, land adjoining, until now he has a farm of 200 acres of good
land, seven miles from Madison, very well improved and well
stocked.
He has four children, three
boys and one girl, viz: William and Annie, Charlie and Edward. William is
now a farmer in Kansas; the others are at home.
Mr.
Bader was drafted in 1864; for one year, was in Co. B. Fortieth Indiana
Volunteers. He served nine months, and was in the battle of Spring Hill,
Franklin and Nashville, Tenn. He was taken sick and sent to the hospital at
Jeffersonville, where he was sick about two months, when he took small-pox,
and was sent to the hospital at Louisville. He is a member of the M.E.
Church at Kent.
Samuel Baker, farmer, Monroe Township, was the son of a Dunkard preacher, Michael Baker, a native of
Maryland, whose father came from Germany and was sold for his passage money,
for which he broke hemp for some time.
The mother of
Samuel Baker was Catherine Everly, and belonged to one of the oldest
families in Pennsylvania.
The
subject of this sketch was born in Fayette County, Ps., July 14, 1817, and
was raised on a farm until 18 years of age, when he came West, with two
brothers, one of whom was a cabinet-maker. They landed at North Landing,
near Rising Sun, Ind.
Mr. Baker
served an apprenticeship of three years, with his brother, at the cabinet
making business, and then set up a shop of his own at Barkworks; he was a
house joiner also.
He married, at
the age of 22, Miss Nancy Wallick, whose grandmother was a daughter of Co.
Crawford, who was burned at the stake by the Indians. Mrs. Bakers
grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier, a ranger and Indian spy, or scout,
in the early days of Indiana.
Mr.
and Mrs. Baker were the parents of three children, Elzina Sylvania and
Nancy. Mr. Baker's wife died about 1847. He remarried, in 1849 to Nancy J.
Haddock, whose parents were natives of Indiana; the result of this union was
three children: Alice, Belle and John. This wife died in 1865. Mr. Baker was
married a third time, in 1866, to Sarah Kelley, daughter of William Kelley,
a native of Pennsylvania. Some of his family are dead, the living are in
Texas and Indiana. John, the youngest son, is at home.
The greater part of Mr. Baker's life
was spent in Switzerland County, Indiana, at his trade and in the
undertaking business, though he had traveled in the Far West somewhat
before the Territory was made into States.
In 1865 he bought a farm of 220
acres of good land in Jefferson County, near Bryantsburg, where he has since
lived as a farmer.
He is an
earnest Christian, a member of the Christian Church and a good citizen.
George Barber---firm of Barber & Cravens, paper manufacturers,
Broadway and Fifth street Madison, Ind.---was born in Madison June 28,
1836, and reared here and attended city schools. In 1854 he went on
the river, learning the business of steamboat piloting from Cincinnati
to New Orleans, which business he followed from 1858 to 1873. In the year
1873 he formed a partnership with Mr. Henry C. Watts, for the manufacture of
paper, the firm name being Watts & Barber. This firm continued until
1885, when Mr. Charles Cravens bought out Mr. Watts' interest. Since then
the firm name has been Barber & Cravens. The mill turns out about 2,400
pounds of paper every twelve hours. They employ seven men, and sell the
paper principally in Louisville, St. Louis and Memphis. The parents of
Mr. Barber were Timothy and Susan (Horton) Barber, and were natives of
Connecticut and Ohio, both of them coming to Indiana when quite young. His
father died in 1874, at the age of 71 years. His mother is still living. Mr.
Barber was first married in 1859, to Miss Sallie Fisher of Madison Ind. She
died in 1865, leaving two children, one of whom died the next
year after its mother; the other Carrie, is still living, and married
to Mr. Charles Friedersdorff, of this city. Mr. Barber was married a second
time to Miss Mary Zuck, daughter of Mr. Andrew Zuck, of this city. They have
four children: Willie, Nellie, Clay W. and George Cravens. Mr. Barber is a
member of the Christian Church. Mr. Barber is a good citizen, of quiet,
retiring disposition, and well liked by those who know him.
William Baxter (deceased) was the son of James Baxter, who was a native of
Ireland, and emigrated to this country in the last century, first locating
in Pennsylvania, afterward removing to Ohio and settling near Dayton, or
rather where that city now is; here he remained for a number of years, when
he migrated to Jefferson county, Ind., and settled in what is now Monroe
township, where he died.
The
subject of this sketch was born near the Little Miami, Ohio, in 1804, and
came to Jefferson County with his father when quite young, and spent his
youth and manhood days, and died August 25, 1861. He was a farmer, and by
careful saving of what he made by his industry, he was enabled to own 360
acres of land at the time of his death.
He married Jane Kerr, August 29,
1828, and they begot the following named children: James R., born November
25, 1829; Josiah K., September 19, 1831; Daniel T., October 1, 1833, died
January 5, 1859; Oliver H.P., October 31, 1835; William A., May 27, 1838,
died September 15, 1877; Hiram P., September 22, 1840; George W., March 16,
1843; Alonzo H.H., August 31, 1845; Edward A.Z., October 14, 1847; Leonidas
N., November 17, 1849; Havanna S., July 25, 1852; Emlona H., August 28,
1854, died when 16 months old. His wife died May 27, 1855, and on August 26,
1857, he was married to Margaret Kerr, a sister of his first wife. By this
union there was born one son, Erastus V., who was born February 3, 1859, who
died at the age of two years and ten months.
Mr. Baxter was a man of prominence
and never sought office. He was a member and an earnest supporter of the
M.E. Church for twenty years before his death. Six of his sons were in the
army during the war, and another served an enlistment in the United States
army.
James W. Bayless was born in Madison, July 1, 1829, was raised on a farm and
educated in the common schools.
He has never sought office, and
does not like secret societies.
He owns 157 acres of good land, and runs the farm, his sister Sophronia
keeping house for him, as he has never married.
His father, Nathanial Bayless, was
born March 12, 1796, in Harford County, Maryland, near the head of
Chesapeake Bay; he came to Madison, Ind., about 1817. He was a house
carpenter and joiner, and built many houses; among them he built was the
house Mr. Chas. Allings lives in. He built the paper mill on Indian Kentucky
creek, known as Sheet's Paper Mill. He sharpened a dirk knife for Mr.
John Sheets, which, it is said, was the one with which Sheets
killed White, in Madison, some sixty-five years ago.
In 1824 he married Miss Mary A.
Whedon, who was born in New York, in March, 1806, and came to Jefferson
County when 12 years of age, with her father, Stephen Whedon, and early
settler of Madison.
By this
marriage thre were six children: George, who died at the age of 48; James
W.; Nathanial, living in Monroe Township; Stephen, who died in 1884; Anna
M., who is married to John Riggle, and lives at north Madison, and
Sophronia, who lives with James W., who furnishes this sketch. Mr. Nathaniel
Bayless moved from Madison about 1837, to Madison Township, where he bought
720 acres of land, and where he died in 1885. His widow died March 13,
1879.
There is a clock
and fire shovel that has been in the family some sixty-four years.
Perry E. Bear is a native of Jefferson County, Ind., and was born September 22, 1860. His
parents were Joseph Bear, a farmer, who was born in Jefferson County, in
1834 and Margaret Whitmore, who was born in Kentucky.
His paternal grandfather, Christian
Bear, was a native of Pennsylvania, and settled in Jefferson County, Ind.,
before the State was admitted to the Union. He was of German origon, his
father being a native German.
Perry E. Bear was educated in the schools of the County, having graduated
from the High School. He read law with Edward Leland, and was admitted to
the practice of law in 1881. He was with Judge E.R. Wilson, of Madison, for
two years.
In 1884 he was elected
City Attorney of Madison; was re-elected in 1885. In 1886 was appointed
deputy prosecutor of Jefferson County. He became the nominee of his
(Republican) party for prosecuting attorney for the Fifth Jusicial Circuit
in the fall of 1888, and was elected. In 1883 he was married to Miss
Champney. He is a member of the I.O.O.F.
Wm. H.H. Benefiel, merchant and farmer of Barbersville, Jefferson County,
Ind., was born in Jefferson County, March 8, 1825.
He is the son of Wm. B. Benefiel,
who, at the age of 23 years, came from Kentucky to Indiana Territory among
the peoneer settlers, and located in the neighborhood of Buchanan's Station
(or fort), Jefferson County in the spring of 1814; and was married, in
1816, to Miss Phoebe Conner, daughter of Lewis Conner, a native of
Tennessee, and who emigrated to Indiana Territory prior to 1814.
George Benefiel and Mary Buchanan
Benefiel, father and mother of Wm. B., came, with their family of seven sons
and five daughters, to Indiana in the fall of 1814. The seven sons and five
daughters all lived to raise large families and to an average age of
seventy-three years, reconing the ages of the deceased at time of death and
the living at present age.
George
Benefiel, father of this family of twelve children, was a native of
Virginia, and the head of a numerous branch of the Benefiel family,
emigrated to Kentucky in early time, and thence to Indiana; was a pioneer of
Kentucky and also of Indiana, and did much to improve this State. His
descendants are in almost every State and Territory of United States, and in
religion in general adhere to the Presbyterian faith, and in politics uphold
the principles of the Republican party.
Wm. H.H. Benefiel, subject of this
sketch, was raised on a farm and educated at the district schools and
Hanover College. He was married in 1856, to Marand Johnson, daughter of Wm.
Johnson, a native of Kentucky. The result of this union was three
children---Nancy A., Wm. T and Mary A. All are married and live
in this (Jefferson) and the adjoining (Ripley) counties.
In 1857 he engaged in the dry goods
and grocery business, at Barbersville, Jefferson County, Ind., and has
continued in the same business, in the same place, ever since (thirty-two
years). He has also carried on farming the greater part of the time. He
owns a part of the farm his father owned before Indiana was a State, 290
acres, which is well improved and very productive.
He was among the first to introduce
and advocate the use of commercial fertilizers in his section, and has lived
to see the great benifits derived therefrom.
He belongs to an old Whig family,
and at the organizstion of the Republican party espoused the principles of
that, and has been an ardent supporter of that party ever since.
Mr. Benefiel has been successful in
his business, and has accumulated some valuable property.
He has an uncle and aunt, aged 88
and 80, the last of the original settlers of the twelve brothers and sisters
of the second generation of his branch of the Benefiel family.
George R. Bolen, hardware merchant, was born, in Madison, November 14, 1860.
He attended the public schools of Madison; and is a graduate of Halbert's
Business College.
After leaving
college he entered the post office as clerk, under the late Col. M.C.
Garber, and continued with him for four years.
In 1879 Mr. Bolen took a position
with Mr. F.G. Wharton, who was in the hardware business, with whom he
remained until July 1, 1888, when he bought him out.
The firm name being Geo. R. Bolen
& Co., they carry a full line of shelf hardware and carpenters' tools;
and make a specially of breech-loading shot guns and small arms. They have a
firne trade, and the long experience of Mr. Bolen in the business gives him
a great advantage in the trade, as he is complete master of it.
Mr. Bolen is a member of the K.
of P., and a past chancellor of the order. He is a member of the Trinity
M.E. Church, of which he is an officer.
He is the son of Sims B. and
Elizabeth Bolen, natives of Kentucky, who came to Madison just before the
war. Mr. Sims Bolen, the father, has been superintendent of the Gas Co.'s
works for about thirty years.
He
was a member of the 67th Ind. Vols. during the late war, and a man respected
by all who know him.
Mr. Geo. R.
Bolen, the subject of this sketch, is a man of integrity and good business
habits and qualifications, affable and pleasant in manner. He made many
friends while in the post office, a place which tries the patience of both
the patron and the employe, but George came out of it with more staunch
friends than when he went in to it, and with his pleasant ways only made
brighter by the constant trial.
Joseph T. Brashear, Mayor of the city of Madison, is a native of Washington
County, PA. Was born May 10, 1832. His parents were Basil and Margaret
(Trotter) Brashear, who were born in Stubenville, Ohio, and Claysville, Pa.
His father was a tailor by trade. His mother died when he was three years
old.
Mr. Brashear received only
the education afforded by the common schools of the County.
In 1848 he removed to Stubenville,
Ohio, where he commenced the trade of blacksmithing, and worked there until
1851, when he came to Madison, Ind.
He continued at his trade here, and
started in to work for J.S. & R.E. Neal, foundrymen, for whom he worked
up to 1860. In that year he, with others, began the steamboat building, at
which he continued until 1865, when he went into partnership with Mr. A.
Campbell, in the manufacture of steam boilers, and remained in this for
three years.
In 1868 he, with
John W. Vawter, engaged in the manufacture of agricultural implements at N.
Madison for four years, at which time he sold out his interest and engaged
again in blacksmithing as foreman for Cobb, Stribling & Co., foundrymen,
in Madison.
In May, 1875, he made
the race for mayor of Madison on the Democratic ticket, beating the
incumbent, Alexander White, 157 votes. Served for two years, when he was
re-nominated, and ran against Captain Powers whom he defeated by 474 votes.
This was the election of 1877. In 1879 he again made the race for mayor,
this time against John W. Linck, and was elected by forty-two votes.
In 1881 he was defeated in the
Democratic Convention for the nomination, and Mr. S. J. Smith, a Republican,
was elected. In 1883 the Republicans re-nominated Mr. Smith, and the
Democrats nominated Mr. Brahsear, and he was elected by 183 majority. In
1885 he was again nominated as a candidate by the Democrats, and defeated
Mr. John Pattie, Republican nominee, fifty-five votes. In 1887, ran again,
his opponent being Capt. H.B. Foster, whom he beat by a majority of
twenty-four.
September 8, 1853,
he was married to Miss Nancy Conaway, of Madison. They have eight
children.
He is a member of the
I.O.O.F. and Knights of Honor. In ten years he has been absent but two times
from meetings of the City Council.
William P. Brown, is a native of Scotland. He was born July 9, 1841. He came to
the United States in 1845, with his parents, who located in Jefferson
County, Ind.
He was brought up on
a farm in the County, and attended the common schools of the County.
He came to Madison in 1871 and
worked at the carpenter's business until 1874, when he formed a partnership
with Thomas Dow in the lumber business, under the firm name of Dow &
Brown, making walnut lumber a specialty, which business they have been
successfully engaged in ever since.
This firm has recently bought the
sawmills situated on the corner of Front and Plum streets, Block No. 12.
Their lumber yard office is on Mulberry street. They are the largest and
most prominent lumber merchants in the city.
Mr. Brown was married in 1871 to
Miss Mary Graham, of this County, daughter of Mr. James Graham, and has
four living children; William A.,
Thomas M., James
G. and Agnes W.
His parents were
Alexander and Isabella (Martin) Brown. His father was a prominent farmer of
this County, and died in 1882, at the age of 92 years. His mother died in
1858, at the age of 50 years.
E. (Enoch) Buchanan, (deceased), formerly of Shelby Township, Jefferson County, Ind.,
was born October 21, 1821, in Ripley County and was the son of Wilson
Buchanan, a native of Pennsylvania. Wilson and his three brothers came to
Indiana at an early day, and made the first settlement in this neighborhood,
and helped to build the first fort or blockhouse here, as a place of refuge
for the settlers and of defense against the Indians. The fort was called
Buchanan's Station. They raised families under the difficulties attending
pioneer settlement. The subject of this sketch wa one of the children, and
was raised a pioneer, getting an education of the best afforded at that
time, which was of the simplest, and of what could in these days of advanced
schools be considered the poorest kind.
At the age of 19, in 1841, he
married Miss Lucinda Conner, daughter of Mr. Louis Conner, who was also an
early settler. The result of this union was six children: Wm. H.H.,
who enlisted in the Twenty-second Indiana Volunteers, and returned home in
six months and died the same year form illness contracted in the service;
Minerva J., Lavina H., Eliza E., John W. and Edith E. His wife died
September 2, 1857, and he re-married Feb. 14, 1859. This time he married
Miss Rebecca Hillis, daughter of Hiram Hillis, a native of Indiana. Her
mother was Louisa Atherton, daughter of Joseph Atherton, a native of
Virginia. The result of this marriage was seven children; Mary E., Hannah,
Victoria, Hattie L., Effie M., George T. and Nellie S.
The subject of this sketch died
February 19, 1883. He had been successful in life, educated his children
well, and at the same time, by careful management and patient industry, had
accumulated quite an amount of valuable property. At the time of his death
he owned some 900 acres of well improved land in Ripley and Jefferson
Counties, which is still owned by the heirs. All of his property was
obtained by his own efforts nothing having been given to him by his
father.
At the marriage of this
first set of children he presented each of them with $1,500. His sale bill
amounted to $3,000.
Mrs. Buchanan
still lives on the homestead, which belongs to her and her daughters and
son, who is now 14 years of age and who is walking in the footsteps of his
father and alive to all home interests, and loves his books and will make
his mark in the world. Mary E. and Hannah have married; the other five are
at home with their mother. Mr. Buchanan was a good citizen and a choice
man.
Ira Chambers,farmer, Monroe Township, is a native of Jefferson County, Ind., was born
December 7, 1842, was raised on a farm and is still living on one; he was
educated in the common schools of the County. At the breaking out of the
Rebellion he enlisted in the three months' service, at the call for 300,000
more soldiers by the President of the United States; he enlisted in the
Tenth Indiana Cavalry, and was all the engagements of his regiment, until he
was taken prisoner at Huntsville, Ala., on the 14th day of December, 1864.
He remained a prisoner at Andersonville four months and thirteen days, when
he escaped and found his way to the Union lines at Jacksonville, Fla., on
April 29, 1865. After his discharge at the close of the war he returned
home, and settled down to the quiet life of a farmer.
He was married in 1865, to Miss
Nancy J. Patton, daughter of Robert R. Patton, of North Madison. They have a
family of seven children; Burdett, Charles, Mollie, Harry, Willie, Frank and
Stella.
Mr. Chambers has a
comfortable little home and enjoys himself in life. He is a man prematurely
old in consequence of exposure and injuries received while in the army. His
father is Mr. James Chambers, a farmer of Monroe Township (see his sketch).
Mr. Ira Chambers is a member of the G.A.R.
James Chambers, farmer, Monroe Township, was
the oldest son of Isaac Chambers, an early settler of this county, and
Mehitabel Goodwin, daughter of Samuel Goodwin, natives of Kentucky. Mr.
Chambers was born in Jefferson County, Indiana, within four miles of the
place on which he now lives, on a farm; was reared a farmer and educated in
the old log school-house days. His education was, through the necessity of
the case, of a limited characted. He was married in 1842, to Mary Baxter, a
daughter of Daniel Baxter, a pioneer of the year 1814 to this County, and
was born in Pennsylvania, and was the father of a large family, the sketches
of some of whom are to be found in this book.
Mr. Chambers and wife raised a
family of nine children, viz: Ira B., Indiana, Nancy A., James W., John M.,
Mary J., Robert D., Isaac D. and George A. Two of these, George and John M.,
are dead; the others are living in Jefferson County. Ira and John were
soldiers in the late war. Ira was a prisoner at Andersonville for some months
(see his sketch); John served six months.
Mr. Chambers owns 300 acres of land
of good quality and well improved, and is very comfortably fixed in a home.
His wife is a member of the Baptist Chruch, and has been a consistent
Christian for fifty years past.
Richard Chapman, was born in Wilshire, England, in 1819, October 27. He was reared in
England, and was apprenticed at the age of fourteen, to learn the trade of
blacksmith, and served for seven years as an apprentice, at Woodford, near
Salisbury.
He worked at his trade
for eighteen years in England, and came to the United States in 1852, on the
ship "Liverpool,"
having left England between
Christmas and New Year in 1851. He arrived in Madison, Ind., the last day of
February, 1852, with only a nickel in his pocket. He walked out in the
country four miles that night on the Kent road; the next day he rented a
shop two miles from Kent, and commenced work on the first day of April,
where he continued to work for two and one-half years. The following July
after he landed, his wife and child came to him from England.
In 1854 Mr. Chapman removed to
Graham Township, and bought one-half of an acre of ground, and put a house
and shop upon it, paying $100 for the ground. He worked at his trade at this
place for over twenty years, keeping a general contry store in connection
with his shop. His wife was made postmistress at this point, and held the
office for eight years.
When he
left Graham Township in 1878, he sold his premises for $1,100.
Mr. Chapman was married in 1846 in
England, to Miss Alice Potter, a native of England, who died August 17,
1880, at the age of 60 years, leaving one son John.
Mr. Chapman has been very successful
in accumulating property, owning a farm of 240 acres of land in Graham
township, besides a nice home of twenty-seven acres, where he lives at
the edge of the town of Lancaster.
He is a member of the United
Presbyterian Church, and foremost to assist in all
charitable enterprises.
He
has done a great deal to build up the County in the way of building and
improving property.
On May 29,
1886, he married Miss Cynthia (Hammond) Bailey, widow of Commodore
Perry Bailey. She died December 23, 1887, without issue. John
Chapman, son of the subject of our sketch, married Josephine Lard, daughter
of C.K. Lard of this County, and has four children: Alice B., Sarah N.,
Jessie R. and Ruth C., all living at home. John owns a farm of 385 acres of
land in Lancaster Township, and is one of the largest farmers in the
Township. Besides farming he deals largely in stock.
James A. Cochran, farmer, Hanover Township, is
a native of Hanover Township, Jefferson County, and was born Feb. 27, 1831.
He was reared in this township on a farm: attended the common schools of the
township.
He was married in 1869
to Miss Annie Morton, daughter of John Morton, of this County. He has two
children, Jennetta and Moses A. He is a member, and an elder of Carmel
(U.P.) Church.
He owns a farm of
216 acres of land where he lives, three miles west of Hanover town; the land
is good and well improved. He is a large owner and dealer in Merino
sheep.
His parents, Alexander and
Margaret (Anderson) Corchran, were natives of Scotland; his father of
Glascow, and his mother of Dumfries. They came to the United States, the
mother in 1818, and the father in 1821. His father was a prominent farmer of
this county, and died in 1876, at the age of 85. His mother died in 1884 at
90 years of age. Mr. Cochran was elected as County Commissioner in 1876
to 1885, on the Republican ticket.
William Cochran, farmer, is a native of Republican Township; was born in the same house in which he now lives, Aug. 27, 1835. He was brought up on the farm, and attended the common schools of the County.
He owns the farm of 172 acres of land on which he resides, and raises grain and stock, especially sheep. Mr.
Cochran is unmarried.
His parents were Alexander and Margaret (Anderson) Cochran, both natives of Scotland;
his father of Glascow, and his mother of Dumfries. They came to the United States, the mother in 1818, the father in 1821.
His father was a prominent farmer in this County, and died in 1876, at the age of 85. His mother died
in 1884, at the age of 90. Mr. Cochran is a good citizen, and a good farmer.
Cyrus Commisky, farmer, Monroe township, is the second son of Joseph and Rebecca (Baxter)
Commisky
He was born in Monroe
township, Jefferson County, Ind., July 3, 1849 on a farm and reared a
farmer; attended the public school. He was married at the age of twenty-two
to Miss Sarah Walton. They are the parents of five living children: Rosette,
John, Cyrus, Frank and Pleasant; their third child Charlie, died at the age
of four.
Mr. Commisky owns 133
acres of land and is a thrifty, forehanded farmer. The family of
Joseph and Tebecca Commisky consisted of six children: Daniel, who
enlisted in the Twenty-second Indiana Regiment, and has never been heard of
since a few months after the battle of Pea Ridge; Cyrus, John F.,
Joseph N., and two sisters Anna and Susan, both of whom are married.
Joseph Commisky was a native of
Pennsylvania, of Irish descent. He came to Indiana when quite young, and
died in 1856. Rebecca Baxter was the daughter of Daniel Daxter, whose sketch
is in this book, and native of this county. She died in 1887.
Randolph Conway, farmer, Smyrna Township, Jefferson County, Ind., is the son
of John and Emily (Hoagland) Conway. and was born in Hunters Bottom, Trimble
County, Ky., Aug. 17, 1836. He came to Indiana in 1840, with his parents,
and located on the land where he now resides. He attended the common schools
of the county.
Mr. Conway and his
two sisters own 115 acres of land, on which they now live. His parents were
both of them natives of Kentucky. His father was born on Dec. 27, 1800, and
died Dec. 5, 1867. His mother died July 29, 1880 at the age of 77 years. His
father owned 270 acres of the finest quality of land in the township; he
always raised large crops of wheat and corn; the farm was called Egypt by
the neighbors, on account of the corn raised upon it. One crop of corn
produced ninety bushels of corn to the acre on thirteen acres. The same
year, in an adjoining field of sixteen acres, the product was thirty-eight
bushels of wheat to the acre; this crop brought two dollars in gold per
bushel. This was during the Russian war, in 1856.
Mr. John Conway, the father, was for many
years School and Township Trustee for this township. He was also a member of
the Hopewell Baptist Church. He was a raiser of a great deal of fine stock;
he raised one hog, of a litter of seventeen pigs, what weighed 606 pounds
net, and was not fat either. Another large animal of his raising, was a
Durham steer that weighed 1260 pounds at two years of age. He was a man who
took a great interest in raising stock. On his farm was a great deal of very
large walnut timber; the stump of one tree measured five feet and two inches
in diameter. There was also one of the largest grapevines in the county on
this farm; it measures forty-six inches around the body; it is on a beech
tree. There is also a large poplar tree on this place, which is five
feet through, and is one hundred feet high; it is covered by a vine of
American Ivy-this vine covers it all over. There is a cave on the place, and
when the beech leaves blow under or into the cave, they are petrified by the
limestone water that drips on them; the leaves decay and leave their
impression on the stone.
This is the
finest land in the county, lots of walnut timber and some blue grass.
The subject of this sketch has four
brothers and two sisters; John, Cornelius, Thomas, Edward, Mary and
Cornelia. His sisters live with him. Edward is married and a farmer of
this township; Thomas is a large farmer in Jackson County; Cornelius died in
1861; John is a farmer in Crawford County, Ind.
Mr. Conway's grandfather, John Conway was
born in Culpepper County, Va., in 1770, and died in the house on this farm
at the age of 93 years 1 month and 3 days.
William Condrey, Ice dealer in W. Madison, was born near Lexington, Ky., February 11, 1828,
the son of John and Malinda (Johnson) Condrey. The father was a
native of Maryland, the mother of Kentucky. His father settled on the hill
near Madison, Ind., in 1828, on a farm; afterward opened in the grocery
business, and continued in that for about ten years. He died in 1889,
seventy-five years old. Mr. William Condrey, was reared in Madison, has
farmed and followed carpentering; engaged also in the grocery business, and
boated on the river. The last fifteen years of his life he has been in the
ice business. He started in life a poor boy, and by his pluck, honesty and
perseverance has made for himself a good living. He has a comfortable home
in West Madison, and own twenty acres of land adjoining the city of Madison,
and considerable real estate in West Madison. He is a good citizen, a member
of the Trinity M.E. of many years standing, and a leading man in his church.
In the year 1849 he was married to Miss Vashti Smith, a native of
Bartholomew County, Ind. They have had three children of whom two only are
living---James W., and Anna M., wife of James Crozier, Auditor of
Jefferson County. Mr. Condrey is a member of I.O.O.F. He was out with Gen.
Geo. Morgan, at Cumberland Gap, during the war.
E.B. Coyle, was
born October 16, 1854, in Madison, Ind., and was brought up in this city and
attended the public schools. After leaving school he apprenticed himself to
learn the moulder's trade, and served over three years. In 1873 he
went to Johnson's starch factory, and took the job papering starch, and
continued there for three years. In 1880 he engaged in the saloon business,
and continued in that for eight years. In 1887 he engaged in the hardwood
lumber business, and is still in that business, and has been quite
successful.
His parents were both
of Irish descent, Thomas Coyle, his father, was born in Baltimore, Maryland,
and came to Madison Indiana where he learned the trade of machinest, at
which he worked for a number of years. He was killed while engineer at
Johnson's starch works. His mother's maiden name was Ladosky McClaran. She
was born in Kentucky, and came to Indiana when quite young, and died at an
early age, leaving a family of four children, two boys and two girls, the
subject of our sketch being the oldest.
James Craig, deceased, was born April 20, 1807, in Ireland near Belfast. He was
married in 1834 to Miss Margaret Roberts, daughter of Mr. John Roberts, of
Belfast, Ireland, a noted merchant in the linen business.
In 1838 Mr. Craig came to America,
leaving Belfast in May of that year. He engaged in the coal business in
Pittsburgh, Pa., for about two yearsw, when he came to Jefferson County,
Ind., and settled on a farm in Monroe township, where he continued to reside
to the end of his life. He died, after a short illness, at his home,
May 26, 1876.
In later life, he
combined farming and school-teaching as his professions, and was an
energetic man in both lines of business. He occupied many positions of
profit and trust at the gift of voters of his township, with credit to
himself and benefit of the township. He was a prominent Mason. He was a man
of strong convictions, and when once fixed in an opinion would hold out
tenaciously.
He enlisted, with
four of his sons, in the Sixth Indiana Regiment, and served until he
was disabled, when he returned home and taught school the balance of his
life. He had many prominent men of the county and State among his pupils.
His family consisted of ten
children, viz: Charlotte, Maggie, William R., John T., George D.,
Lizzie, Robert T., Susan, Hunter (died when two years old) and James.
His widow resides on the old
homestead, with her youngest son, James.
John Crawford, blacksmith and farmer, was born in Scotland, in 1842, in Ayrshire, and
emigrated to America in 1856, and settled in Jefferson County, Ind. He
worked four years at farming, and then commenced to learn the blacksmith
trade.
In 1864 he was married to
Mary Scott, daughter of John Scott, a native of Scotland. The same year he
enlisted in Co. B, One hundred and fortieth Reg., Ind. Vols. and served
to the end of the war; was in all the battles of the regiment. Came home and
settled to work in his trade, and has been at that and farming ever since.
He is a first-class mechanic, and has the best shop and tools in the county.
His business is the repair of farming machinery, principally. He owns ninety
acres of land, well improved and good land.
Mr. Crawford received but a limited
education, but is determined that his children shall have a better one than
he had. His father's name was James Crawford, who died before his son was
five years of age, leaving him to make his own living; which he has
succeeded in doing by his own good and honest labor and thrift. Mr. Crawford
is a good citizen and honored by his neighbors.
William Demaree, farmer, was born in Jefferson
county, November 3, 1839. He is a son of Eilliam Underwood and Marietta
(Wagner) Demaree, natives of Kentucky and New Jersey.
There were three generations of the
family who settled, at early dates in this century, in Jefferson County,
vis: Samuel the father, who came in 1812, and entered a large tract of land,
Daniel, his son, and William U., a grandson. Daniel came from Shelby
County, Ky., bringing his son William U., with him, who was but a boy at the
time. William U., the father of William W., lived until November 1880
when he died. He built the Madison and Canaan Turnpike principally himself,
and was regarded as one of the most enterprising and progressive farmers in
Jefferson County. The land upon which Mr. Demaree, the subject of this
sketch, now lives was entered by his great-grandfather Samuel Demaree.
The Demaree family was well
represented in the army in all the wars of this country,
Mr. William W. Demaree being on of the representatives in the late war,
enlisting in Co. A, 55th Reg. Ind. Vol. Inf., for three months in 1862, and
was out over four months. Since the war Mr. Demaree has engaged in
farming.
He is the superintendent
and treasurer of the Madison and Canaan Turnpike Company, and has been since
his father's death.
He was
married to Miss Susan E. Lee, of Jefferson County, in 1876. They have five
children: Hattie, Maud, Marietta, Anna E., Ida May and William Buford. Mr.
Demaree owns 200 acres of valuable land.
Thomas Dow, was
born February 22, 1844, in Jefferson County. His parents were William and
Agnes (Scott) Dow; they were natives of Scotland, and came to the
United States in 1818. Both are dead; his father died in 1872, aged
seventy-one.
Mr. Dow was raised
upon a farm, and lived there until 1874, when he came to Madison and engaged
in the agricultural implement business, in which he continued for one year.
In 1875 he formed a partnership with Mr. E. P. Brown, in the lumber trade,
which business he is still in.
They have been making walnut lumber a specialty. They have lately bought a
large saw-mill and lumber yard, covering the block of ground between Front
and Second, and Plum and Vernon streets, and are operating that in
connection with their other yard. Their office is on Mulberry street.
Mr. Dow was married in 1874 to Miss
Minnie Witherspoon, of Switzerland County, Indiana. He has four
living children: Thomas C., Willie S., James E. and Ella M. Mr. Dow is a
member of the Masonic order. He was born February 22, 1844, in Jefferson County. His parents were William and
Agnes (Scott) Dow; they were natives of Scotland, and came to the
United States in 1818. Both are dead; his father died in 1872, aged
seventy-one.
Mr. Dow was raised
upon a farm, and lived there until 1874, when he came to Madison and engaged
in the agricultural implement business, in which he continued for one year.
In 1875 he formed a partnership with Mr. E. P. Brown, in the lumber trade,
which business he is still in.
They have been making walnut lumber a specialty. They have lately bought a
large saw-mill and lumber yard, covering the block of ground between Front
and Second, and Plum and Vernon streets, and are operating that in
connection with their other yard. Their office is on Mulberry street.
Mr. Dow was married in 1874 to Miss
Minnie Witherspoon, of Switzerland County, Indiana. He has four
living children: Thomas C., Willie S., James E. and Ella M. Mr. Dow is a
member of the Masonic order.
Isaac C. Earhart, is the son of John and Sarah (Wood) Earhart. His father was a native of
Pennsylvania, and his mother of New Jersey. They moved to Ohio in 1799 and
settled near Fort Washington, now Cincinnati; they then moved to
Williamsburg, Clermont County, Ohio, where the subject of this sketch was
born on July 24, 1824; from this place they moved to Newtown, Hamilton
County, same State, in 1826, and from Newtown to Jefferson County, Ind., to
a place known as McCellands Mills, in 1837.
John Earhart was a carpenter by
trade, and Isaac, the son, learned the same trade with his father. The
father died in 1869, February 16, at the age of 89; was born October 20,
1780. His mother was born in 1778, and died November 30, 1859, at the age of
81.
The subject of this sketch
was educated in the common schools of Ohio and Indiana. He worked at his
trade and farming until 1855, when he bought James Park's saw-mill in
Republican township, and ran it until 1862, when he sold it.
He then went into farming and worked
at that until 1866 in this township, when he bought the Jordan saw-mill,
also in this township, and ran that for two years. He sold that and bought
the Kent Mills, and ran that for eight years, when he sold it and went into
farming again on what was known as the Marshall farm. He continued on this
farm for four or five years, when he sold it and bought the Paris flouring
mills at Paris, Jennings County; this was in 1883, when he moved to Paris
and continuted to run that mill for three years. On account of the health of
his wife he came back to Republican township, Jefferson County, and took
charge of the Kent flouring and saw mills, where he is still engaged in
business, doing a large sawing business.
He was married December 24, 1845 to
Miss Rowena Hays, daughter of Samuel Hays, a farmer of this county. She died
giving birth to a boy baby, who lived only eight days, on January 9, 1847.
Mr. Earhart was married again February 6, 1848, to Miss Isabella Jones, the
daughter of Thomas Jones, a prominent farmer of this township, by whom he
had one child, Albert. Albert is married to Miss Jane Kelley, and has five
children.
He was elected Justice
of the Peace of Smyrna township in 1849, and served but a short time and
resigned. Ind 1858 or '59 was elected Township Trustee of Republican
township, and served until 1864. He was the Democratic nominee for County
Auditor in 1872, and was beaten by only 180 votes, the Repulican majority
being then 800 in the county. In 1878 was the Democratic nominee for Sheriff
of the county, and was beaten by ballot box stuffing.
Mr. Earhart is still a strong
Democrat, always has voted that ticket, and will continue to do so, so long
as the Republican platform is not as good as the Democrat.
Hiram Francisco, Sr., is a farmer, but on princely
scale. He owns and farms 1,800 acres of land in one body. He is one fo
the most influential and advanced farmers in the county and wholly
self-made.
He was born in Auburn,
Cayuga county, N.Y., and was the son of David and Persis (Morley) Francisco,
who were natives of New Jersey and Massachusetts respectively. The name of
Francisco is of Spanish origin.
The subject of this sketch was reared upon a farm. He commenced life for
himself, chopped cordwood to get money to come to Indiana, in 1840. Was
agent for three years for a clock firm and wheat-fan firm, both selling
and collecting for same; then he sold clocks for fifteen years for himself,
and since then has been a farmer and extensive trader, principally in live
stock, and is a natural, or born trader.
He settled on the place where he now
lives in 1843; it is well improved in all points, and is as fine a farm as
there is in the county, and is well stocked with registered stock and
cattle. He owns in all eleven farms.
Mr. Francisco was married, in 1843,
to Miss Mary McNutt, of Switzerland county, Ind. They have four children:
Oliver, Annie, George and Hiram.
In 1870 Mr. Francisco was nominated by the Democratic party of this
county for the State Senate, and overcame 700 Republican majority, being
elected by a majority of seventy-two over Col. W.T. Friedley. He was the
first Democratic Senator elected from Jefferson County for thwenty-five
years previous to that time, and there has not been one elected since by the
Democratic party.
Hiram Francisco, Jr., attorney and counselor at law, Madison Ind., is a native of
Jefferson County, and was born January 28, 1851. He was brought up on a
farm, attended the common schools of the county; also attended a private
school in Shelby county, Ky., in 1866-67.
In 1869 he commenced reading law in
the office of Harrington & Korby, of Madison, Ind. He was admitted to
the bar in 1872, and in 1874 began the practice at Indianapolis,
with Mr. Harrington as a partner, and remained there for one year, and
in 1875 returned to Jefferson County. Ind 1877 he came to Madison, and
resumed the practice of law there.
In 1878 formed a partnership with
E.G. Leland, under the firm name of Leland & Francisco. This firm
continued until February, 1880, when Mr. Francisco formed a partnership with
Capt. A.D. Vansodol, under the firm name of Vanosdol & Francisco; they
are still together, and is one of the strongest law firms in the county.
Mr. Francisco is a member of the K.
of P.
He was married, in 1877, to
Miss Louisa Otto, daugher of Mrs. Annia M. Otto, of Madison Ind. They have
five children, all girls; Mary, Helen, Louisa, Martha and Georgia.
His father and mother are Hiram and
Mary (McNutt) Francisco, of Wirt, Jefferson county, Ind.
Thomas J. Francisco, is a native of Jefferson county; was born in Madison township, Jan.
4, 1839, and was brought up in the city and attended the city schools.
His parents were Alonzo and Ursula
(Ellison) Francisco. His father was born in Cincinnati, O., and raised
there. His mother was born in New Jersey, but was raised in Ohio. They came
to Indiana and located at Madison in 1837, where they have lived ever since.
His father died September 20, 1885, aged seventy. His mother is still
living, in her sixty-ninth year. His father was a butcher.
Mr. Francisco, after leaving school,
went to work for Mr. James Middleton, in order to learn the trade of
burchering, and continued with him until 1864.
In the same year he started in
business for himself, having to borrow the money to start on, and has
continued in this business, and from a financial standpoint has been a
success ever since.
Mr.
Francisco owns a handsome residences just outside the city limits, and a
farm of one hundred acres, on the Graham Road, four miles from town. He is
engaged pretty largely in feeding stock on this farm, carrying an average of
one hundred cattle during the winter. He is one of the thorough
business men of Jefferson county, and deserves his success as the result of
his labors.
Mr. Francisco was
married, February 20, 1861, to Miss Mary A. Grensling, a native of Madison.
They have three children: Annie L., Gilbert E. and Maud L.
Mr. Francisco joined the
I.O.O.F. at the age of twenty-one years. Is also a member of the Masonic
order.
Capt. Rufus Gale, farmer, Monroe township, the subject of this sketch, was born in Madison in
1831. His father Elmore Gale, was born in Massachusetts, Nov. 18, 1795. He
came to Madison on a raft, in Nov., 1813, and was therefore on of the early
settlers of the city and county. Elmore Gale and his father Rufus Gale (who
was a native of New Hampshire, born in 1771, and was a great bee fancier),
settled on a farm which is now a part of the lower end of the city of
Madison. He married Miss Elizabeth Brown, who was the daughter of Thomas
Brown, a native of Maryland, who was an early settler of Madison in the pork
business. Capt. Gale was raised in the city of Madison, and attended the
common schools of the place. He enlisted in the United States service, in
the 6th Reg. Ind. Vols. in the three months' service; was among the first
sworn in the State; was mustered in as first lieutenant of Co. R, and served
as much till the close of the term. He then re-enlisted in the 39th Reg.
Ind. Vols. (8th Cavalry) in September, 1861; he was mustered in captain of
Co. H, and served until August, 1865, and was with his regiment in all of
the principal battles of the regiment. The most noted of these
campaigns was with Gen. Sherman, from Shiloh of North Carolina, know as the
march to the sea. The regiment was Gen. Sherman's escort at the time of Gen.
Johnson's surrender. After the war Capt. Gayle returned home, and was
elected County Auditor of Jefferson county, and served two terms. After
his second term as Auditor expired he engaged in farming in Monroe
township, where he still resides upon his farm of 160 acres of well-improved
land.
In 1870 he was married to
Miss Harriet M. Sering, daughter of John G. Sering, one of the early
inhabitants of Madison. Mr. Sering was one of the first greensware merchants
of this city. He and his father-in-law, Mr. John Mellen, where the
first firm who dealt exclusively in china, glass and greensware. Mr.
Sering was Clerk of the county for many years.
Nicholas Gasaway, (deceased) was born November 1, 1806, in Clark County, Ind., near
the Gasaway Church, the second Methodist society formed in the State.
December 22, 1831, he was married to
Miss Elizabeth Jackson, of Jefferson county, Ind. He removed to this county
and located in Smyrna township in 1832, where he continued to reside
during the remainder of his life.
He was converted and joined the church when only seventeen years old, under
the ministry of Rev. James Armstrong, at Shiloh, on Kent Circuit. Many a
Methodist preacher remembers the genial face and hearty welcome of this good
brother. His home was ever open for the itinerant, when the best was always
brought out to grace the occasion. In the theology of Methodism he was well
read,---it was his study. New and novel notions found no place in his
belief. What the bible taught, as interpreted by Wesley, Fletcher,
Clark, Watson, he took as the basis of his belief, and conformed his
life to it. To the young minister he was a safe counselor and warm friend.
Many of the ministers who, at different times, found rest at his home, also
found they could obtain the soundest of instruction from the man of God.
He served the church in the capacity
of steward for twenty years, and for forty-two years he was a constant
reader of the Western Christian Advocate.
He died in 1879, at the age of
72 years. He left a widow and seven children, three boys and four
girls---Elmore Y., Wilber F., Charles D., Margaret, Mary, Louisa and
Clara. Elmore Y. is married and living in Chicago, where he is agent of the
Pacific Express Company.
Wilber F. is married and farming in Kansas. Charlie D. is living in
Chicago, and is agent of the American Express Company. Margaret is
living in Grand Forks, Dak., with her son Miles E. Harbin. Louisa is married
to E. L. Smalley, a lawyer, and is living in Waverly, Iowa. Clara
is married to L.C. Tate, a marble dealer at Bloomfield, Ind. Mary is
unmarried, and lives on the old home-place, which consists of ninety-two
acres of fine land, situated just north of Volga.
Mrs. Gasaway, widow of Nicholas,
died in 1883.
Nicholas Gasaway was school trustee for many years, and was a kind father and a
devoted husband.
Marcus Aurelius Gavitt, was born in Madison, Indiana, June 27, 1824, son of M.A. and
Elizabeth (Handy) Gavitt. He was brought up in the city, and attended the
Presbyterian Sabbath-school. About all of his scholastic education was
obtained there. His father was of French origin; his mother was a
Pennsylvania Dutch woman.
His
father died in 1842, at the age of forty-four years. His mother died in
1835, at thrity-seven years of age. When only ten years of age he commenced
to make his own living. His first venture was driving oxen. The next he
apprenticed himself to learn the confectionery and bakery business in 1837,
at which he continued for five years.
In 1842 he went into a dry goods and
grocery house as a clerk, and remained one year. The he hired himself as a
teamster, and drove a team for six years for one man. In 1849 he commenced
driving a dray on his own account, and continued this for one year.
In 1856 was elected City
Marshall on the Democratic ticket, and served one year. In 1857 was
appointed on the police force of the city, and continued in that place until
1861; was then appointed City Marshall, to fill a vacancy caused by the
Marshal, Mr. John Gerber, volunteering as a soldier in the war of the
Rebellion. Served as a Marshall for three months, when he resigned, to join
the army himself.
In 1861 he went
into the 24th Ind. Inf. Vols., and was soon after
commissioned Quartermaster of the regiment. Served until May, 1864,
when he resigned his commission; coming home entered the auctioneering
business, which he has constantly engaged in ever since, excepting the years
1875 and 1876, when he was Sheriff of Jefferson county. He was elected on
the Democratic ticket; at that time the Republican majority in the county
was 450---his majority was sixty-six.
Mr. Gavitt was married in 1849 to
Miss Clara Denning, of Jefferson County. She died in 1856, leaving two
children---Julia and Howard. He married again in 1857, to Miss Emeline
Vorhees, who died in November, 1888, leaving two children---Clara and
Ida. Clara is married to John Vogelsang, and lives in Chicago. All of his
children are still living.
Charles H. George, is a native of Jefferson county, and was born December 4, 1849. He is the
son of Thomas D. and Elizabeth (Clark) George, natives of Trimble county,
Ky., and Cincinnati, Ohio, respectively.
His grandfather Milton George, came
from Kentucky and settled in Madison township, Jefferson county, in 1830.
His maternal grandfather, Capt.
Samuel Clark, is a native of Baltimore, Md.; he came to Madison, Ind., in
1831. He was a steamboat captain on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and
lost his life by the explosion of the boilers of the "Gen. Brown," November
25, 1838.
Thomas D. George, the
father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Trimble county, Ky., and
died November 15, 1869, at the age of 45 years. He was a man honored by
those who knew him, and was prominent in his own township, holding township
offices at one time. He was actively engaged in the Baptist ministry during
the last fifteen years of his life.
Thomas George, great-grandfather of
the subject of this sketch, was one of the early settlers of Madison, having
taught school there. He was a Revolutionary soldier. Mrs. E. Heorge,
the mother of Charles H. George, was one of the earliest pupils of
the Lower Seminary at Madison, Mr. Reynolds being the teacher. Mr. C.H.
George owns 179 acres of land.
Bruce Gillespie, was born February 26, 1831, in Dearborn county, Ind. He is
the son of Robert and Margaret (Robertson) Gillespie, natives of Scotland.
Robert Gillespie was born in Leith, educated in Edinburg, at the School of
Medicine. He was a classmate of Dr. Wm. Davidson, who practiced
medicine for many years in the city of Madison. Margaret Gillespie was born
at the Frith of Forth. They were married in Scotland, and came to the United
States in 1819, and settled in Dearborn county, now Ohio county, Ind.
They raised nine children. Dr. Gillespie bought a half section of land,
and made a home for his family on the Frontier. He was the pioneer
Doctor of that country, and lived to see the wild woods of his early home
converted into peaceful homes, and towns and villages of Christian people
taking the place of wandering tribes of savages. He died in 1846. The
subject of our sketch was raised on a farm, and educated in the common
schools. He worked at machinery and gun-making in his younger days, and
still does that kind of work along with farming. In 1857 he was married
to Miss Laura A. Gould, whose father, Samuel Gould was a native of
Pennsylvania, born in 1797. In 1805 he moved to the State of New York,
and settled near Seneca Lake, where he learned the trade of tanner. In 1818
he emigrated to the White Water Valley in Indiana; there he married
Nancy Wiley, in 1822. In 1836 he removed to Ohio county, Ind. In 1860
he removed to Osgood, Ripley county, Ind., where he remained the rest of his
life. He died in 1882. In 1815 he worked at the same shop with Gen. W. H.
Harrison. Bruce and Laura Gillespie are the parents of six children:
William R., who graduated at the Ohio Medical College in 1887, and is now
practicing in Rising Sun. Ohio county---he married Miss Bina Shiverly, of
Deerfield, Mo.; Nellie, married to Dr. Firth, of Madison, Ind., and now
practicing at Deerfield Mo.; Mary C., married to John Land, living in
Deerfield Mo.; John B., who lives in Washington Territory; Stephen B.,
and George W., who are both at home.
Bruce Gillespie owns a fine farm of
135 acres of well-improved land.
Green B. Giltner, Lancaster township, lives on a little farm of twenty acres, which he owns,
that lies adjacent to the town of Lancaster, in Lancaster township. He
is highly esteemed by his neighbors, as is evinced by the fact of electing
him township trustee in the year 1886, and re-electing him in 1888. He is a
good citizen and an upright, moral man, and a member of the Baptist
Church.
He was born November 17,
1846, in Smyrna township, Jefferson County; attended the schools of that
township; whas married in 1869 to Miss Ella Spielman, of that township; was
elected trustee of the township in 1872; elected justice of the peace in
that township in 1876, and lived in that township until 1878. He then
removed to Lancaster township, wher he still resides. He has six living
children three boys and three girls; Leora, Thomas D., Flors, Myra C.,
Philip and Robert E. He enlisted on the 26th day of September, 1861, in Co.
D, Fiftieth Regiment Indiana Volunteers, and served till the 9th of June,
1862, when he was discharged on account of disability. He is a member of the
G.A.R. He was appointed Notary Public for Lancaster township in 1879, but
resigned this office in the spring of 1886, when he was elected trustee of
the township. His parents were Philip and Nancy Jane (Conway) Giltner. His
father was born in Bourbon county Ky., but raised in Hunter's Bottom,
Trimble county, Ky.: he came to Indiana when about 21 years old, and settled
on a farm in Smyrna township, Jefferson county, where he now lives. His
mother was a native of Indiana, and is now living. Mr. G.B. Giltner is a
Republican.
Joseph R. Gorgas, photographer, a native of Westmoreland county, Pa., was born Feb. 7, 1829.
His parents were William and Ann Gorgas, who were natives of Pennsylvania.
His father died in 1845, at the age of 56 years. His mother died at the age
of 87 years, at her home in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Gorgas learned the business of
photography in Pittsburgh, Pa. He came to Madison, Ind., in 1853, and
engaged as clerk in the dry goods store of Mr. Irby Smith, where he
remained for about three months.
He then opened a gallery for photographing, and has continued in that
business ever since in Madison, whith the exception of about three years,
during which time he made an extended trip through the South on a floating
photograph gallery.
He
subsequently returned to Madison, Ind., and re-established himself in his
business. He has built up a fine trade in this line, having the
best in the city. He is a superior artist in his line and deserves the great
popularity which is now his.
In
1865 he married Miss Delphina Verry, daughter of Mr. John Veryy, an old
citizen of Madison. He has one child Anna, who is the wife of MR.
Edward E. Powell, also of Madison.
Mr. Gorgas is a member of the
I.O.O.F. and Knights of Pythias, and is Captain of the Madison Division, No.
10 of K. of P. He has held this office for two years.
George W. Graston, dealer in flour, grain, lumber and timber, Dupont,
Lancaster township, Jefferson County, Ind., and proprietor of the Dupont
Flour and Saw-Mill. Mr. Graston was born in Silver Creek Township, Clark
county, September 20, 1834. He was brought up in Clark County until he was
sixteen years of age, when he went to Jennings county and remained there
until 1854 engaged in farming. In 1854 he went to Shelby County Ind., wher
he engaged in farming for two years, and in the latter part of 1856 returned
to Jennings county, and engaged in the milling business. He remained in this
mill for two years, and then came to Jefferson county September 1, 1858,
where he has been ever since, engaged in the lumber and milling business.
On December 15, 1858, he was married
to Miss Minerva C. Corya, daughter of Isaac Corya, a farmer of this county.
They have a family of seven living children, five girls and two boys, vis:
Luella, Mary I., Michael E., Perry A., Laura A., Minnie and Eva.
Ella is married to John Dunn, and engineer on the O. & M. R.R., and
lives at Deputy, Ind. Perry and Mike are both married; Mike lives in Dupont,
Perry lives in Newport, Ky.
Mr.
Graston is the son of William and Catherine (Hitch) Graston, who were
natives of Knox county, Tenn., and came to Indiana in 1829, and settled in
Silver Creek township, Clark County. They came on horseback, and brought all
their wordly goods with them, also on horseback. Mr. William Graston was a
blacksmith by trade. He died in Missouri in June, 1876. His wife died in
1842, at the age of forty years.
The subject of this sketch commenced his life without any money, and by
energy and industry has made a good living, raised a nice family, and
is still doing well. The mill he wons at present is of the roller
process, and he does the best work and makes good flour. He is also the
largest farmer in the township, having raised in 1886 one hundred acres of
corn.
Mr. Graston has built up a
large trade in his line of business and employs more men than any other
person in the township. He pays out more money for hired help and does more
to help the people. He has bought, paid for and shipped $12,000 worth of
wheat since harvest; in 1887 he cut over 1,000,000 feet of lumber. Mr.
Graston is a member of the M.E. Church and is superintendent of the
Sunday-school, and also a trustee of the church and one of the stewards of
his church.
He is a member of the
I.O.O.F. and of the Masonic Order; and is an inflexible Democrat in
politics.
Rev. Louis Gueguen, Rector of St. Michael's Church, Madison, Ind. Father
Gueguen is a native of France, and was born February 25, 1834, near
Rostrenen, Department of Cotes du Nord. He graduated from the Ecclesiastieal
College of Plouguernevel in 1855, and went through the theological course at
St. Briene, the seat of the Department, in the years from 1855 to 1859.
He came to the United States in
1859, having, before leaving France, received the order of deacon, and was
ordained as priest in Vincennes, Ind. on the 8th day of December of the same
year, by Bishop De St. Palais, by whose solicitation he came to this
country. After ordination he was appointed as assistant to the Rev. H.
DuPontavice, at Madison, Ind., with whom he stayed the better part of
one year, when he was called to Washington, Daviess county, Ind., where he
was stationed for only a few months. From there he was appointed pastor of a
congregation in Floyd county, near New Albandy, wher he stayed nearly three
years, when he came, at the call of his ecclesiastical superior, to the City
of New Albany, where he had charge of the Church of the Holy Trinity for a
short time.
From New Albany he
was appointed, in 1864, as pastor of a congregation at Loogotee, Martin
county, Ind., and attending from there two country churches--one in Martin
and one in Daviess county---besides having a smaller congregation in Martin
county. Being relieved from two these churches after eighteen months of
service, he was retained at the Loogootee and St. Marin Churches, together,
for nineteen years. At both of these places he was inftrumental in buildng
churches; and at Logootee he built a parsonage.
In 1885 he was appointed rector of
St. Michael's Church in Madison, Ind., wher he has been for over three
years.
The school in
connection with Sr. Michael's is managed by the Sisters of Providence;
the attendance is about 150 pupils.
Alonzo J. Hall, teacher, Volga, Smyrna township, Jefferson County, Ind., is a native of Jefferson County, Ind. was
born December 18, 1853 brought up on a farm, was educated in the common schools of the county and graduated in 1878, at the Lebanon National Normal
School at Lebanon Ohio. After leaving school he engaged in teaching district schools in this county, and has been engaged in this work, principally, ever
since; is now teaching Fairview school, in Republican Township, this county. He married, in 1885, Miss Mary A. Gasaway, daughter of Mrs.
Mary A. Gassaway, of Deputy, Ind. Has one child---Homer G. Mr. Hall is a member of the Lick Branch Baptist Church. He owns a farm of
eighty-eight acres of good land, one mile west of Volga postoffice. His parents were Abner and Malinda (Walton) Hall, both natives of
Indiana, and now living on a farm in Graham township. Both are members of the Lick Branch Baptist Church. His father is a prominent farmer of
Graham Township.
John F. Hammell, is the son of John and Mary
(Aston) Hammell. His father was a native of Salem, Washington county, N.Y.,
and his mother of East St. Louis. His father settled in Harrison county in
1846; was a teamster in the Thirty-ninth Reg. Ind. Vols., served eighteen
months, when he was captured. Being attacked with rheumatism he went
home. He was 58 years old when he went into the army. He was
born May 31, 1803, and died in 1887.
Mr. John F. Hammell, the subject of
this sketch, was born in Harrison county, Ind., May 7, 1847. He
was the only son of his parents. He was reared in Jefferson county,
his father removing to Trimble county, Ky., when he was but four or five
years old.
In 1862, August 20, he
enlisted in the Eighty-second Ind. Vols. as a private, then being only 15
years old. He served until the close of the war.
At the close of the war he worked in
the ship-yard until 1874, when he opened a retail grocery, and is now doing
a good business. He owns eleven homes in West Madison, and holds the
office of treasurer of West Madison.
He is a member of the I.O.O.F., K.
of P. and G.A.R. Is Past Post Commander of G.A.R. Was the
delegate from the Fourth Ind. Congressional District to the G.A.R. National
Encampment, at San Francisco, Cal., in 1886.
He is at present Captain of Sons of
Veterans. He was married, September 22, 1867, to Miss Sophia Blackard,
of Madison, Ind., daughter of Peter and Rebecca (Johnson) Blackard, who were
Virginians. They have no living children; but have one adopted
daughter.
William Wallace Hinds, is a native of Madison, Ind., born June 8, 1855;
brought up in Madison, attended the city schools and Hanover College. He is
also a graduate of the Commercial School of this city.
He became the city editor of the
Madison Daily Star, June 1, 1880, and continued as such until it was absorbed in the
Madison Daily Courier.
He was then offered the circulation department of that paper, in January, 1884, which he
accepted and held until August, 1888, when he gave up that position.
He was elected one of the trustees
of the City Water Works in the spring of 1888, on the Republican ticket against a Democratic majority in the city. The
trustees elected him president of the Board, and superintendent of the Water Works, which position he is still holding (Dec., 1888)<
> While with the
Daily Courier he was elected a member of the City
Council in 1885 on the Republican ticket, and was reelected to the same
position in 1886, from fourth ward of the city.
Mr. Hinds is an active Odd
Fellow and a prominent member of K. of P. Order, having held the position of
Grand Inner Guard of the State, and is now District Deputy. He was
captain of the Madison Division No. 10 U. Rank K. of P. He is now
president of Walnut Street Fire Co. No. 4. He is an attendant of
the Second Presbyterian Church of this city. Mr. W.W. Hinds is
the son of James W. and Ruth C. (Cook) Hinds. His father was a native of
Brattleborough, Vermont, born September 24, 1809, and came to Madison, Ind.,
when a young man.
He was a
bricklayer and contractor; he built a great number of homes in Madison and
built Hanover College and the Court House in Madison. He also engaged in the
mercantile business at Madison and in the coal business. He was County
Commissioner of Jefferson County, and served in the City Council of Madison
for a number of years. He was a prominent Republican and was chairman
of the Republican County Central Committee for some years.
He was a member of the Second
Presbyterian Church in Madison. He was a prominent member of Odd Fellows,
having been made at one time Grand Master of the State, of that order.
He was a good citizen. He died May 22, 1878, in the 69th year of his
age, leaving a widow and five children; three boys and three girls.
The mother of W.W. Hinds was the
daughter of David and Mary Cook and was a native of Eeast Tennessee;
she is still living at the age of seventy-six, and is quite an active, hale
woman.
She is a member of the
Second Presbyterian Church of Madison, Indiana, and in quite prominent in
the work of that church and all other good works of that kind in the
city; a benevolent spirit being one of the chief adornments of her
character.
She was married to Dr.
Joseph F. Lingle, at Paoli, Orange County, Indiana, in 1831. By this
marriage she had one son, William Summerfield Lingle, who became the
editor if the
Lafayette Indiana Daily Courier, and was a prominent man in newspaper circles of the
State. Mr. Lingle was also postmaster of Lafayette for four
years.
In the year 1836,
Mrs. Lingle was married to J.W. Hinds, and the fruits of this marriage were
nine children---five boys and four girls.
Henry Jackson, farmer, Shelby Township, is the
son of John Jackson and Matilda Jackman. His father was born in New
Jersey in 1801; moved to Tennessee about 1807, with his father Thomas
Jackson, who was in the war with the Indiana at the battle of Horseshoe.
They all come to Indiana in
1822. His mother was the daughter of Robert Jackman , who was from
Maryland and also came to Indiana in 1822. She was born in
Pennsylvania. They were of Irish descent.
The subject of this sketch was born
on a farm in Jefferson County, in 1836; was educated in the common schools
of the county. He was married, in 1858, to Nancy Griffin, daughter of
James Griffin, a native of Jefferson County; his people from Kentucky.
Immediately after marriage he removed to Kansas, where he remained ten
months, and then returned to Jefferson County where he still resides.
He has six living children---Robert, James, Matilda, Henrietta, Grace
and Harry. He owns forty-six acres of well-improved land.
He succeeded in giving to all his
children a better education than he had. One, Elmet was educated
for a teacher, but died at nineteen from a wound in his hand. Four of his
children are married, and all live in Shelby Township; they are all
farmers.
Mr. Jackson never sought
office, and is a good, trusty, honerable citizen.
Henry Jines, farmer, Monroe township, is the son of Silas
Jines; the latter born in Baltimore, Md., Oct. 8, 1812, and came
to Ohio, when 19 years of age, with his fathers family. They lived
there but two years, when they came to Indiana and settled in Jefferson
County, Monroe Township, in 1835.
His father's name was Jacob Jines; was a brave soldier in the
Revolutionary war, and while marching to meet Gen. Ross, what shot by two
young Britishers; and he was celebrated pioneer preacher, as well as
an expert fiddler before he began to preach; he organized Big Creek
Church, and helped build up Marble Church both in Monroe Township.
Silas Jines was a soldier in the 6th
Reg. Ind. Vols. during the Rebellion, as were his two sons, Henry, the
subject of this sketch, and William, who were in the 22 Reg. Ind. Vols., as
musicians.
Mr. Silas Jines was a
prominent freesoiler abolitionest in the days that it took courage, both
moral and physical, to stand for the principles avouched by those
parties. He was a conductior, and his house a station, on the
Undergroung Railroad.
Henry
Jines, subject of this sketch, was born Feb. 27, 1839, in Hamilton County,
Ohio, and came to Indiana in 1842, with his father, Silas Jines.
He was raised in a cooper shop, and
received a very limited education. On July 4, 1961, he
enlisted as a musician in the 22 Reg. Ind. Vol. Infantry, and served
until discharged on Aug. 22, 1864. He was in all the thriry-two
battles of his regiment except Pea Ridge, at which time he had
small-pox. He enlisted as a private in the 16th Mounted Infantry (Ind.
Troops) stationed at New Orleans, La.; he served in this regiment
eight months, when he was transferred to the 13th Ind. Cav., under Johnson,
on the 19th day of June, 1865. He was honorably discharged from the service
of his Country on the 13th day of November, 1865.
On the 6th day of December, 1865, he
was married Kesiah Kirk, daughter of Joseph Kirk, a Virginian, who came
to Kentucky, and then to Indiana, in an early day. The result of this
union was six children, viz: James F., Fanny L. J., Hester A., Levina L.,
Jacob J. and George W.
Mr. Jines
is postmaster at Faulkner; is a charter member of John A. Hendricks Post,
G.A.R., and was Adjutant of the Post three years, and Surgeon one, and now
this year Junior Vice Commander. He owns nineteen acres of land.
It would seem that a vein of martial
music ran through the blood of the Jines family, as the two paternal
great-grand-fathers of Henry and and Dean were fifers in the Revolutionary
was; then jumping over two generations, Henry and his brother William
served as fifers in the late war, serving four years one month and
sixteen days.
Henry Clay Jones, of Madison, Ind., is
the son of Joshua E. and Rachel (Coons) Jones, natives of Ross and Hamilton
counties, Ohio. He was born September 26, 1837, in Cincinnati.
When he was only two years of age his mother moved to Jeffersonville,
Ind., his father having died previous to this time; there she remained
for about two years, and moved to Madison, Ind., in 1841. Mr.
Jones afterward went back to Jeffersonville, to his grandfather Coons, and
attended school. In 1858, he engaged in the grain and produce business
in Madison, Ind., in which he continued till 1866. At this time he
engaged in steam and flatboating to New Orleans and up the Kentucky river,
and following this business up to 1876, since which time he has been engaged
in the log and lumber for the Government work upon the Ohio and Kentucky
rivers. He, with Mr. Wm. Kirk, took tje contact and built the
Rising Sun dike, and he was one of the contractors to furnish the lumber for
Dam No. 1, on the Kentucky river, and for the Portland dike at Louisville,
Kentucky. Is now in sawmill at Madison, Ind. Mr. Jones was
married on December 18, 1859, to Miss Margaret Bishop, and has three living
children: Elmer G., Richard J. and Ruth P. His Grandmother Jones
lived to the very old age of 97 years, died near Chillicothe, Ohio.
His mother died in Madison in 1871, at 63 years.
Henry Jines, farmer, Monroe township, is the son of Silas
Jines; the latter born in Baltimore, Md., Oct. 8, 1812, and came
to Ohio, when 19 years of age, with his fathers family. They lived
there but two years, when they came to Indiana and settled in Jefferson
County, Monroe Township, in 1835.
His father's name was Jacob Jines; was a brave soldier in the
Revolutionary war, and while marching to meet Gen. Ross, what shot by two
young Britishers; and he was celebrated pioneer preacher, as well as
an expert fiddler before he began to preach; he organized Big Creek
Church, and helped build up Marble Church both in Monroe Township.
Silas Jines was a soldier in the 6th
Reg. Ind. Vols. during the Rebellion, as were his two sons, Henry, the
subject of this sketch, and William, who were in the 22 Reg. Ind. Vols., as
musicians.
Mr. Silas Jines was a
prominent freesoiler abolitionest in the days that it took courage, both
moral and physical, to stand for the principles avouched by those
parties. He was a conductior, and his house a station, on the
Undergroung Railroad.
Henry
Jines, subject of this sketch, was born Feb. 27, 1839, in Hamilton County,
Ohio, and came to Indiana in 1842, with his father, Silas Jines.
He was raised in a cooper shop, and
received a very limited education. On July 4, 1961, he
enlisted as a musician in the 22 Reg. Ind. Vol. Infantry, and served
until discharged on Aug. 22, 1864. He was in all the thriry-two
battles of his regiment except Pea Ridge, at which time he had
small-pox. He enlisted as a private in the 16th Mounted Infantry (Ind.
Troops) stationed at New Orleans, La.; he served in this regiment
eight months, when he was transferred to the 13th Ind. Cav., unser Johnson,
on the 19th day of June, 1865. He was honorably discharged from the service
of his Country on the 13th day of November, 1865.
On the 6th day of December, 1865, he
was married Kesiah Kirk, daughter of Joseph Kirk, a Virginian, who came
to Kentucky, and then to Indiana, in an early day. The result of this
union was six children, viz: James F., Fanny L. J., Hester A., Levina L.,
Jacob J. and George W.
Mr. Jines
is postmaster at Faulkner; is a charter member of John A. Hendricks Post,
G.A.R., and was Adjutant of the Post three years, and Surgeon one, and now
this year Junior Vice Commander. He owns nineteen acres of land.
It would seem that a vein of martial
music ran through the blood of the Jines family, as the two paternal
great-grand-fathers of Henry and and Dean were fifers in the Revolutionary
was; then jumping over two generations, Henry and his brother William
served as fifers in the late war, serving four years one month and
sixteen days.
Henry Clay Jones, of Madison, Ind., is
the son of Joshua E. and Rachel (Coons) Jones, natives of Ross and Hamilton
counties, Ohio. He was born September 26, 1837, in Cincinnati.
When he was only two years of age his mother moved to Jeffersonville,
Ind., his father having died previous to this time; there she remained
for about two years, and moved to Madison, Ind., in 1841. Mr.
Jones afterward went back to Jeffersonville, to his grandfather Coons, and
attended school. In 1858, he engaged in the grain and produce business
in Madison, Ind., in which he continued till 1866. At this time he
engaged in steam and flatboating to New Orleans and up the Kentucky river,
and following this business up to 1876, since which time he has been engaged
in the log and lumber for the Government work upon the Ohio and Kentucky
rivers. He, with Mr. Wm. Kirk, took tje contact and built the
Rising Sun dike, and he was one of the contractors to furnish the lumber for
Dam No. 1, on the Kentucky river, and for the Portland dike at Louisville,
Kentucky. Is now in sawmill at Madison, Ind. Mr. Jones was
married on December 18, 1859, to Miss Margaret Bishop, and has three living
children: Elmer G., Richard J. and Ruth P. His Grandmother Jones
lived to the very old age of 97 years, died near Chillicothe, Ohio.
His mother died in Madison in 1871, at 63 years.
William Johnson, farmer, Shelby township, was born in the State of Kentucky, March 1, 1802. He
was the youngest child of Thomas Johnson, a native of Virginia, who took a
trip down the Ohio and rivers about the year 1804 and never returned.
William Johnson's mother moved near Lexington, and afterward to Shelby
County, Ky. Her family consisted to three boys and one girl. At
the age of 23 Mr. Johnson came to Indiana; he landed at madison, which was
then a very small town. He settled in Shelby Township, on the farm
where he now lives with his son, and built himself a stone house, in which
he has always resided. Previous to this, however, at the age of
twenty-one, he was married to Miss Nancy Spaulding, daughter of Robert
Spaulding, a native of Virginia and one of the pioneers of Kentucky.
He and his wife were the parents of
ten children: William, Sally A., Jordan, Rhodes, Henry, Elizabeth,
Miranda, Mary Jane, Francis and John. Of these all are living but
Sally A. and Elizabeth, and all live in Jefferson County but William and
Mary Jane, who both live in Kansas.
Mr. Johnson's wife died July 31,
1880. He has never held an office. He was educated in the log
school-house days, when the chimney was in the corner of the house, and the
education was of a limited and poor character. When he first
settled in Indiana, two or three months were spent every spring at log
rollings, until the lad of his neighbors was cleared and their houses
built. In those early days the equipment of a farmer, in the way
of tools, was a bull-tongue plow and a chopping axe; some time after the
wooden mould board plow was introduced; then came the old Barshear, which
were considered in their day as superion in kind as the advanced machinery
of the present day is now. Trace chains were a luxury belonging to the
richer class of farmers--the poorer were content with hickory wythes.
Mr. Johnson has laid off corn ground
without either line or collar. John R. Johnson, the third son of the
above, and with whom he makes his home since the death of his wife, was born
November 4, 1839, on the farm where he now lives, and was raised a
farmer. August 14, 1862, he was married Cythia Barber, daughter of
James Barber, a farmer of Jefferson County. They have but one
child--Ettie L.
Mr. John R.
Johnson was a soldier in Co. C, Eighty-second Regiment Indiana
Volunteers, and was in all the principal engagements, of his regiment during
the time of service.
He is a
member of the A.O. Buchman Post, No. 26, G.A.R. He is a prominent
member of the Baptist Church.
He
owns 67 acres of good, well-improved land.
Edward Kampe, merchant, corner Third and
Walnut streets, Madison, Ind., was a native of Germany, born in 1840, June
29. He came to the United States with his parents when only twelve
years of age, and located in Madison.
He attended the common school
learned the trade of carpenter, which he continued to work at until 1865,
when he engaged in his present business, that of dry goods and grocery
store; he also handles feed and all kinds of seed. Mr. Kampe has
continued at this business at the same place ever since, and has built up a
large trade, and has been very successful. He is one of the principal
stockholdres and one of the directors and vice-president of the
First-National Bank of Madison. Is also one of the stockholdres and
vice-president of Building Association No. 6. Mr Kampe is a Mason
and a member of the German M.E. Church. He is also a correspondent of the
German National Bank of Cincinnati, collecting much money for the Germans
through them. He is a notary public, and is a stockholder in the
Firemen and Mechanics Insurance Company of this city, and has held stock in
most all of the enterprises of the city.
He was married, in 1866, to Miss
Cecelia Grebe, daughter of Jacob Grebe, an old settler of this city, and a
prominent business man for many years; in the latter part of his life he was
a farmer.
Mr. Kampe has one
child, as son, Wesley, who is now a student at Hanover. His
parents were George and Anne (Von Disen) Kampe. His father is still
living in Madison, at the age of 74 years. His mother died in
1875, at the age of 62, years. Mr. Kampe is one of Madison's best
business men.
Francis M. Landon, Lancaster, Lancaster
Township, was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, November 23, 1839; is the
son of William and Elizabeth (Riggle) Landon. His father was
born in Kentucky, December 22, 1810; his mother was born at Walnut Hills,
Ohio, October 7, 1811. They were married at Walnut Hills, February 12,
1828, and raised a family of five children, of whom Francis M. is the second
child. His father was a miller and farmer of this county and died
October 9, 1863, at the age of 53 years. His mother died January 2,
1860, at the age of 49 years.
His
parents removed from Ohio to Scott County, Ind., when he was an infant, and
about five years anfer removed to Jefferson County, and located on Big
Creek, his father buying what was know as "Settle Mill," a flour,
grist and saw-mill. His father farmed also.
The subject of this sketch attended
the common schools of this county. He was married, April 15, 1856, to
Miss Malinda Aenor, daughter of David Zenor, who was born at Harper's Ferry,
Va., of German parentage, and who died in this county, January 5, 1887, at
the age of 80 years.
Francis M.
Landon and wife have five children, one boy and four girls: Elizabeth,
William A., Jennie, Agnes and Clara.
Mr. Landon commenced the milling
business when only twelve and one-half years old, and has been engaged at
the same business ever since. He took charge of the mill at that early
age because the failing sight of his father incapacitatated him for that
work. Francis M. and his brother George built a new mill in 1856, a
stone structure, 37 X 40, four stories high, with capacity of 100 barrels
per day, at a cost of $10, 000. It was destroyed by fire in
1869. His father was in debt at the time, but the young man succeded
in makng a living, and paying the debt, and at the same time building up a
large trade, which has remained with him ever since. His long
experience has made him thorough in all departments of the mill, so that
when he gets any improved machinery he is able to put it up himself,
also can repair almost anything about the mill.
Except for a few months of that time
that he was in Jennings County, the whole of that time has been spent in
Jefferson County. The mill he is now running is located at Lancaster;
it is a merchant custom mill (flour and grist). His son William A. is
now with him in the mill, the firm being Landon & son.
In 1878 Mr. Landon was
appointed county commissioner, to fill the unexpired term of James Baxter,
and in 1880 was elected county commissioner for the term of three years, on
the Republican ticket.
Mr. Landon
is a member of the Baptist Church at Lancaster. Mr. Landon has been
successful in his business, and very few have started out to make their
fourtunes at so young an age as he have succeeded so well. Honesty in
business and probity of life have been his rule of life, and once a
friend of his always a friend has been the result. He has
now customers who have dealt with him forty-five years. Such a
testimonial is vouchsafed too few men in this world.
Mr. Landon is in remarkably good
health for a man who has been so long engaged in the milling business, night
and day. He deserves his success as the reward for such perservering
labor, as well as for his pluck. A boy who at that age was laden with
the responsibility of a family and of debt, is seldom able to some out from
under the load, and if he does is usually soured. Mr. Landon is as
cheery as if everything had gone smoothly for him in this world, and does
not show in his manner the troubles he has come through.
John W. Linck, attorney-at-law, was born in
Jennings county, Indiana, December 7, 1843. He was the son of Federick
E. and Ester (Todd) Linck, who were natives, the father of Germany, and
the mother of Ireland.
His father
came to the United States when sixteen years old. He was farmer and
teamster.
John W. Linck,
the subject of this sketch, was educated in the common schools and at Asbury
College--now DePauw Unitversity---at Greencastle, Indiana, which he attended
for two years after leaving the army.
On June 19, 1961, he joined Co. K,
13th Ind. Inf. Vols., as a drummer boy; was out in the field in active
service, over three years, in that capacity, and was in all of the battles
in which his regiment fought during that time.
He began the study of law in 1866,
under the Hon. William Hale, of Iowa. He attended the lectures at
the law school at Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee. He
returned to Madison, Indiana, and continued the study of law in the office
of Messrs. Allison & Friedley, and was admitted to the bar in
1867. During the time of studying in the office of Allison &
Friedley, he was elected Justice of the Peace, and served as such, for the
double purpose of continuing his studies and of maintenance, as he was quite
poor. He was appointed Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, which office he held for
two years. He was appointed by Goc. Baker, Prosecutor of the Criminal Court
of Jefferson County, upon its organization, and was afterward elected,
and held the office for nearly four years, or so long as the court was in
existence.
He was director of the
Indiana State Prison, South for four years, up to 1880, when he resigned,
before the expiration of his commission, in order to accept the place of
elector for the Fourth Congressional District of Indiana on the
Garfield ticket.
From
1881 to 1885, he was postmaster at Madison. In 1885 he was
elected as Representative from Jefferson County to the State
Legislature. While in the House of Representatives he was
chairman of the committee of public buildings; chairman of the special
election committee; also chairman of one branch of the committee on
prisons. He was re-elected in 1888, Representative from Jefferson
County on the Republican ticket. In politics he is a Republican.
He was married in 1868, to Miss
Julia LaCroix of Nashville, Tenn., who died in 1870, leaving one child,
Stella Ester, and was again married to Miss Mina Frevert, who died in 1884,
leaving one child, Lizzette.
Mr. Linck is a member of the G.A.R., and the order of Masons, of the I.O.O.F.,
Red Men, of the Grand Lodge of U.O. and K. of G.R. He was an original
stockholder in the Madison Woolen Mills. He assisted in organizing the
Madison Stove Foundry, and was its first secretary. He was also one of
the original stockholders in the Cotton Mill. He is a member of
Fire Co. No. 1., of Madison; and a member of M. and M. Club, Board of Trade.
Mr. Linck owns 160 acres of land in Jefferson County, Ind., and a fine
orange grove in Florida, together with several houses in the city of
Madison.
Zephaniah Loyd, farmer, Republican township,
Jefferson County. The subject of this sketch is a farmer, and has
always resided on a farm, having been born on one. He was born in
Somerset County, on the eastern shore of Maryland, in the year 1805.
Mr Lloyd was left an orphan when
only five years of age; his mother died when he was only three months
old. He was reared by his half-brother, Mr. Tubmond Wright, and came
West and settled in Switzerland County, Ind., in the spring of 1817, when he
(Lloyd) was only twelve years old. He remained with his half-brother
until 1822, when he was seventeen years old, when he came to Jefferson
County, where he has resided ever since.
His brother Tubmond Wright died in
March, 1828, at the age of 39 years; he was a farmer of Switzerland
County, Ind.
Mr. Lloyd was
married, in 1824, to Miss Anna Latimore, who was a native of North Carolina,
and came to Indiana, in 1811, with her father Daniel Latimore, who was
a farmer of this county.
Mrs.
Lloyd died September 13, 1881, at the age of 81 years and 8 months.
She was a member of the M.E. Church for sixty-two years. Mr. Lloyd has
raised nine children, and has lived to see them all married---six girls and
three boys, viz: Isabel, Elizabeth, Rhoda, Jane, Rebecca,
Delpha, Oliver, Zephaniah, and Marion. Rebecca died January 31,
1868; Elizabeth died June 18, 1882; Rhoda died August 1,
1883. Mr. Lloyd bought the eighty acres of land upon which he now
lives in 1830.
Mr. Lloyd is the
only one of his family now living; he is one of the oldest citizens
now in the county, and is a good citizen, a man who is well liked by his
acquaintances, respected by his neighbors, and loved by his friends.
He now resides in the family of his
son, Zephaniah, who takes care of him, as he is almost blind, so much
so as to be unable to read or do any labor which requires sight.
In June, 1887, Mr. Lloyd
visited his old home, in Switzerland County, to attend an old settlers'
meeting, it being seventy years since he landed in that county; there were
only three persons that were then living in the county, who were still
alive. Mr. Lloyd attended all of the old settlers' meetings of
Jefferson County, and says that there are very few of them who are still
living.
Mr. Lloyd has had a long
and useful life, and now, at the age of 83, cannot expect to tarry much
longer on earth, but when he is called he will be sorrowed for as one who
has done his duty.
Zephaniah
Lloyd, Jr. (or young Zeph, as he is called by his friends and neighbors), is
married and has a family of two children, Eva J. and Thomas L.
Eva is married to Orlando Cooperiden, a farmer of this township;
Thomas L. is in his sixteenth year, and is at home with his parents.
Young Zeph. married Miss Sarah I. Cosby, of Smyrna township.
Joseph H. Lochard, (deceased) was born October
22, 1810, in Cumberland County, Pa. His father, James Lochard, was a
Revolutionary soldier, of Scotch birth. After the war he came to
Pennsylvania, and there married Mary Hicks (or Heicks), daughter of
George Hicks, who was a large land owner in Cumberland County; he was
bitterly opposed to the match, and the young people eloped and were
married. Several children were born of this marriage, the youngest of
whom was the subject of this sketch. The father emigrated, with his
family, to Indiana in 1810, and settled on the site of Brooksburg, on the
Ohio river, in Jefferson County. He died shortly afterward--about
1815--and was buried near the mouth of Locust Creek, Kentucky.
This left the family dependent on the mother and themselves. The
mother, who was an invalid, suffering severly with sick headache, died a few
years after the father, leaving the family in a strange, wild land without
any parental protection or guidance.
In his boyhood the subject of this
sketch was bound to Mr. James McCarty. During this time clothing and
shoes were hard to procure, and the boy was compelled to dress in the summer
in a tow linen shirt as his entire suit, always barefooted--often he would
be barefooted until midwinter. When he first went to Mr. McCarty's his
clothing was so wretched that Mrs. McCarty---afterward Mrs. Stewart--pitied
him so much that she made his first pair of pants from a large linen apron
of her own. Upon the death of Mr. McCarty the boy returned home and
being very desirous of procuring an education, he went to a Mr.
Simmons, who was teaching a subscription school in the neighborhood, and
bargained with him for a winter's schooling, for which he paid with
beans. During this winter he found that he must have a slate
in order to succeed with his studies, and how to get it without money was a
problem of considerable trouble to study; after a time he procured work for
a day from a neighbor, for which he received one bushel of corn in payment,
then he worked another day for the use of a horse, and took his bushel of
corn to mill, and had it ground, and then he carried it to Madison
(seven miles) and sold the corn-meal for eighteen and three-fourths cents,
and with that purchased a slate. He studied at night by the light of
burning hickory bark, and thus got a little information which was of very
great value to him in after life.
He was first married when only
eighteen years old, on the 18th of June 1829, to Miss Nancy Bear, who was
born April 5, 1815, and died August 15, 1844. There were
three children from this union who were reared to maturity: Vilitta, Solomon
B. and Sarah E. Just before this marriage he worked for three months
for the sum of twelve dollars, with which he bought clothing at Madison,
paying prices for it which would now be considered enormous.
When first married he made the
furniture for his cabin himself. The bedstead was made by boring holes
in the house logs for one end of the rails and setting up posts for the
other end of the rails; the rails were made of sapling poles cut
in the woods, and the ends dressed down with the axe to a size to fit
the holes in the house logs and in the posts; then across these poles,
for a bottom for the bed, were placed smaller poles. The chairs
or stools where made by splitting logs of a proper diameter and hewing one
side smoothly, the boring holes through the slab he put legs to them.
About this time he began to chop cordwood for steamboat use. The first
winter was spent in chopping wood for a very pious old mand, who prayed
much. He let his account stand open, not drawing any wages until
the last of the wood was cut and delivered to Madison; then he found that
the old man had overdrawn his account and not a cent could be collected for
his winters work. With the money from this wood he had hoped to
get a hose and some other property of which he was sadly in need.
He continued to chop wood, and in
the course of a few years he moved to Kentucky, where he owned an
interest in a wood yard. From there he returned to Jefferson
County, Ind., again in 1840, and settled in the place now known as Manville,
where he engaged in a grocery store; his beginning was on a small
scale. A few years later he built a business house in that place,
known as Lochard's store, wher he continued to do business until 1866, when
he removed his store to Canaan, Shelby Township (his store was formerlly in
Milton Township), where he continued in business until 1878 when he sold out
to his two sons, S.B. and C.H. Lochard. From this time he only
engaged in his private business, assisting his sons by advice in their store
until March 22, 1887, when he died.
Mr. Lochard was three times
married; his second wife was Phoebe SHerman, who had before married
George Bear. She was born on the 23rd of June, 1819, and died May 18,
1875. There was born one son Cyrus H., who attained majority, by this
marriage.
His third marriage was
to Anna M. Wick, who survivied him about one year.
Mr. Locahrd served as Justice
of the Peace for about fourteen years; in his younger days he
flatboated on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He was a prominent Mason.
Mr. Lochard was emphatically a self
made man, coming in his old age to a position of ease and affluence;
having started in early life in want, by industry, energy and perseverance
and strict application to business, overcame all obstacles and made himself
a success in life as a business man, and in an old age enjoyed the fruits of
his labors.
He acquired quite a
fortune in money and stock.
Charles V. Loring, (deceased), the subject of
this sketch, was born in Jefferson County, March 20, 1827. He
was the son of Richard Loring, a native of Kentucky, who came to this county
at a very early date. Mr. Charles V. Loring was raised a farmer,
educated in the common schools of the county.
At the age of 23 he was married to
Cynthia McClelland, daughter of Robert and Esther (Benefiel)
McClelland. Robert McClelland came to Indiana in the year 1814.
The result of this marriage is three children: Mary, married to John H
Selick; Mahala and William.
Mr.
Loring was a man of prominence among his neighbors. He held the office
of Justice of the Peace for one term. He was a member of the Home
Guards during the war. He lived on his marm near Bryantsburg till the
day of his death, which occurred January 10, 1888. He was a kind
husband and father, a good citizen. He owned a farm of 100
acres of well improved land at the time of his death, where his widow
still resides. Se is cared for and supported by her son William who is
a good son, therefore a good citizen.
John Mathis, (deceased) was a farmer
of Shelby Township. He was born in Trimble county, Ky., in 1808. He came to
Indiana at an early date, with his mother, who was Miss Mary Warden previous
to her marriage to Mr. William Mathis, father of the subject of this sketch.
His father died some time before his widow; and she, with a family of young
children, came to this State, and made a new home for them, and raised them
to be good citizens.
Mr. Mathis was
married March 24, 1831, to Miss Elizabeth Lee, daughter of Nathan Lee, who
came to Indiana from Kentucky about 1815. Mr. Mathis and wife were the
parents of twelve living children: William W., Nancy A., Mary J., Nathan L.,
Elijah, Susan, Rachel, Cytha, Elizabeth, Warner H., Malinda, Ealy and
Richard. They are all married who are living, but two, Ealy and Richard, who
are still at home with their mother, their father having died in 1876.
Mr. Mathis was one of the pioneers of this
county, and one of its best men. He was a prominent member and earnest
supporter of the Baptist Church for forty years before he died. He was
liberal and honest with his neighbors, and is much missed by his large
circle of friends and relatives.
He
voted for Mr.s William H. Harrison for President in 1840, and was a Whig in
politics, and an ardent supporter of Henry Clay. When the old Whig party
ceased, he voted the Republican ticket. He owned 115 acres of well-improved
land, which is now owned by his youngest son, Richard, who cares for his
widowed mother and youngest sister.
Three of the sons, William W., Nathan L. and Elijah, served through the
whole of the war. William was a Sergeant, and served for five years - he
lives in Nebraska; Elijah lives in Jefferson County, and Nathan L. is a
farmer in Kansas.
Richard Mathis, the
youngest son, was born Jan. 1, 1854, is not married, and is one of the best
and foremost farmers of Jefferson county.
Wm. H. Matthews, county clerk, is a native of
Hanover township, Jefferson county , and was born June 16, 1849.
The names of his parents are William and Martha (Pogue) Mathews, both
natives of Pennsylvania. His mother was raised in Madison, was a member of
one of the old families in Madison, and is now dead. His father is still
living at the age of 85. Mr. Mathews was raised on a farm and was
educated at Hanover College. On leaving the farm he was engaed as a drug
clerk. In 1876 he went into the county clerk's office, with Mr.
A.L> Shannon, and remained there a deputy clerk for eight years,
with Mr. Shannon and Mr. W.E. Jackman. In 1884 he was elected county clerk.
In November, 1882 he was married to Miss. Mollie DeLaste, of Madison.
Mr. Matthews was recently a candidate for
re-election to the clerk's office as the nominee of the Republican
party, and was elected.
Robert Mathews, is a native of Jefferson
county, Ind. Was born November 15, 1837. Is a son of Richard and Nancy
(Jackman) Mathews, who were natives of Kentucky and Pennsylvania. His father
settled Shelby township, this county, in 1818, on a farm. He died in
1869.
The subject of this sketch was
raised on a farm. In 1862 he joined the Fifty-fifth Regiment of Indiana
Volunteer Infantry, Co. A, which fought in Kentucky.
In 1864 he married Miss Nancy A. Demaree,
daughter of William U. Demaree. Two children blesses this union, - Ida and
W.R.
Mr. Mathews owns 317 arcres of
land. Has been secretary of Madison and Canaan Turnpike Company since 1874.
This pays about six per cent on capital stock. He is one of Jefferson
county's most thrifty and successful farmers.
William Matthews, farmer, Hanover township,
was born in Indiana county, Pa., January 23, 1803. In 1812 came to Butler
county, Ohio, with his parents, where his father farmed for eighteen months,
and then moved to this county.
The
subject of this sketch was then only twelve years of age, when his father
settled on a farm in what is now Hanover township, and is consequently
one of the earliest settlers of this county. He attended the schools, such
as they were, log cabins and puncheon seats. There were no public schools in
those days.
Mr. Matthews has been on
the same farm that his father settled on at that time ever since, except one
summer spent in Pennsylvania. He made three trips to New Orleans on a
flatboat - the first in 1820, the second in 1825, and the third in 1833.
This country was very wild when he made the first trip. He is perhaps
the oldest citizen of the county who flatboated to New Orleans; and one of
the oldest citizens, as he came here before Indiana was a State, and settled
in the woods.
He was married in 1832 to
Miss Martha Pogue, daughter of John Pogue, who came here from Kentucky, but
was a native of Virginia.
Mrs. Matthews
was one of the pioneer school-teachers of the county. They raised six
children, three boys and three girls: Elizabeth, Ellen C., John P., Salome
J., Harrison H. and William H. Ellen C. died in the 19th year of her age,
May 27, 1855. Mr. Matthews has served for two years as supervisor of
roads.
Mr. Matthews is a member of
Carmel U.P. Church, and three-quarters of a mile south of the Lexington and
Hanover Pike.
He is a son of James and
Elizabeth (Coleman) Matthews, both natives of Pennsylvania.
His father died in his 84th year, and his
mother in her 76th year.
Francis Fresh Mayfield, farmer, Wirt, was born in Trimble county, Ky.,
April 29, 1819, is a son of Joshua and Lucinda (Ouseley) Mayfield, who were
natives of Kentucky, his mother being a cousin of Governor Ouseley, a former
Governor of Kentucky. She died in 1876. His father came to this county and
settled in what is now Monroe township, in 1831; was a farmer and held
the office of Justice of the Peace. He was in good circumstances and a
prominent member of the Baptist Chruch. He died in 1876. He raised
eight children, Francis F. being the oldest.
Mr. Francis F. Mayfield sold goods and
packed pork in Dupont, from 1845 till 1868. He married, in October, 1850,
Miss Adelaide, daughter of Capt. Samuel Wilson, an Englishman by birth, who
was an old citizen of Madison. In 1851 and '52 Mr. Mayfield was a member of
the State Legislature, and assisted in the revision of the Statutes of
Indiana. In 1868 he went to Columbus he returned to Dupont, in this county,
where he lived several years; during this time he was Justice of the Peace
for that township, for three years. In 1884 he moved to a farm near Wirt. He
was provost marshal during the war. He has three sons and five
daughters. His oldest son is chashier in bank at Edinburgh; the younger
son also there. Is a Freemason.
George T. Mayfield, is a native of this county,
and was born October 17, 1856. His parents were Jeptha and Emilie J.
(Dailey) Mayfield, natives of Kentucky and of Jefferson county, Ind.
His Grandfather Dailey was an early
settler of this county, from Kentucky. His father was also an early
settler here. Mr. G.T. Mayfield received an academic education. He has been
deputy assessor of the township, under D.J. Ryker, in 1880. In
1879 was deputy U.S. Marshal of Nebraska, under his uncle Wm. Dailey, who
was marshal of that state.
In 1880 he
started a business in Rising Sun, Ind., and in October, 1883, commenced
business in Wirt - dry goods. He does a business of about $10,000.
He was married to Miss Addie W. Mayfield,
of Wirt, 1888. Mr. Mayfield is a prominent member of the I.O.O.F., and a
successful business man.
Burditt Mayfield, farmer, is a native of
Jefferson county; was born Aug. 16, 1835; is the son of Joshua Mayfield and
Lucinda Mayfield, both of whom were natives of Kentucky; both are now dead.
Joshua Mayfield was born in Kentucky, and removed to Indiana at an early
date. His mother's father. Willis Ouseley, was a Revolutionary soldier.
Mr. Burditt Mayfield was raised on a farm
and received an ordinary education of the time of his youth.
He was married, at the age of 28, November
4, 1858, to Mehitabel Chambers, daughter of Isaac Chambers, of Jefferson
county, who was native of Kentucky, and a pioneer in the settlement of
Indiana. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was at the Battle of New
Orleans.
Mr. and Mrs. Mayfield were the
parents of only one child, who was born August 25, 1859 and died October 13,
1864.
He was elected township assessor
in 1886, and now fills that office. He owns forty acres of good land, well
improved. He is a good farmer and citizen.
James A. McGee, farmer, Monroe tp. The
grandfather of Mr. McGee, whose name was James McGee, was a native of
Ireland, a linen weaver by trade. He emigrated from there about 1800. and
came to the State of Virginia, where he resided until 1822, when he came to
Jefferson county, Ind., where he died.
His wife's name was Mary Hook, and she was also a native of the Emerald
Isle. Mr. McGee was a soldier in the war of 1812-15, taking the Irishman's
side of the fight where England is engaged - that is, against her. There is
a relic of his service still preserved in the family of his descendant,
James A. McGee, in the shape of a bayonet which the old Irishman
carried during his service.
In
Virginia, in April, 1802, was born to this pair a son, whom they called
William. William came to Indiana, with his parents, and here raised a
family.
Mr. James McGee was one of
their sons and was born December 21, 1830, in Jefferson county, and has made
it his home ever since. Mr. McGee was born on a farm, and has been a farmer
all his life except when he was engaged in the army. He was educated in the
schools of his youth time.
In 1855 he
married Mehitabel Smith, and they had six children: John W., Albert T.,
George F., Jennie, Howard H., and Harry S. His wife died in 1871, and he
married again in 1877, Sarah C. Mower, who was Henry Smith's
widow, daughter of Jacob F. Mower, a native of Wirtemberg, Germany.
From this union there are three children: Arthur B., Effie E. and
Robert R.
Mr. McGee enlised in Co.
H, 40th Ind. Vols., in 1864, and was in the following battles: Spring Hill,
Columbia, Overton's Hill, Franklin and Nashville, besides a number of
minor engagements. He was in the front rank at the battle of Franklin,
Tenn., where the regiment went in with seven hundred men, and could muster
only one hundred and fifty coming out.
After the war he settled down to the quiet life of a farmer. He owns 154
acres of well-improved land in this county. He is a prominent member of
G.A.R., and is a prematurely old man by reason of his life in the army.
He has never been an office seeker, but
has held some positions of profit and trust with credit to himself.
John F. McKay, farmer, Smyrna township, was
born in the house in which he now resides, May 10, 1831. He was brought up
on a farm, and attended the district schools of this county, and commenced a
course of study at College Hill College, but was prevented from
completing it by sickness. His parents were George and Elizabeth (Francis)
McKay.
His father was a native of
Barren county, Ky., and came to Indiana with his parents in 1816, and
located at this place, where he continued to reside until his death in
1835. His mother was a native of Ohio; died May 12, 1849.
His Grandfather Alexander McKay was a
native of Scotland, and was married in Scotland, died in Jefferson county,
Ind., 1819. His Grandfather Francis came to the United States from Ireland,
and settled first in Ohio; afterward came to Jefferson county, and settled
two miles east of Dupont, about 1820, where he continued to reside until his
death in 1838. He was a weaver by trade, and worked some at his trade in
this country.
Mr. McKay owns 165 acres
of land, 40 timbered, one and one-half miles west of home place.
He raises a number of cattle every year. Mr. McKay was never married. Mr.
McKay is a man always ready to help in a good cause, and is well liked by
all who know him. He has the esteem of his neighbors, as is shown
by the fact that he was elected five years successively as constable
from 1855 to 1859 inclusive; afterward in 1870, he was elected for two
years, but resigned before his term expired.
He was appointed County Commissioner the
last day of January, 1887, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation
of Wm. L. Cosby; the term of office expires this Mr. McKay is one of our
best citizens.
William E. McLeland, was born September 21,
1814, Clark County, Ky., and on the 5th of November of the same year landed
with his parents at Buchanan's Station, in the northeast corner of this
county. This State was then a territory. This would make Mr. McLeland
one of the oldest living inhabitants of this county. He was brought up on a
farm until he was seventeen years of age, when he engaged as a clerk in a
country store at Canaan, for Mr. John Cain, whith whom he remained for about
one year. He then engaged as a clerk for Mr. E.B. Ayres, who was a merchant
in Canaan.
In 1837 he formed a
partnership with his brother-in-law, Wesley McCoy, and bought Mr. Ayres out,
and continued in business with Mr. McCoy for several years, when Mr. McCoy
withdrew from the firm. Capt. McLeland then formed a partnership with Mr.
R.M. Salyers, and they continued in business until August, 1855, when they
closed out their business and came to Madison, Mr. R.M. Salyers as Sheriff
of the county and McLeland as his deputy. In 1847 Capt. McLeland was elected
Justice of the Peace at Canaan, and held the office for eight years.
December 24, 1835, he was married to Miss
Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. R.L. Wilkinson, a Virginian, living at Canaan,
and has seven living children, four boys and three girls: Matilda J. who
married John D. Schmidlapp, and lives in Denver, Col.; Thomas E., living in
Shoshone county, Idaho, County Auditor and Recorder; Louisa E. died in 1843,
two years old; Lizze E. married Dr. W.A. McCoy, of Madison Ind., Charles R.,
druggist; Hosier Durbin, insurance and real estate business in Denver,
Colorado, married Cara, daughter of A.S. Partridge, St. Louis, Mo.; William
O., secretary F. and M. Insurance Co., Madison, Ind., married Eva S.,
daughter of D.G. Phillips, Madison, Ind.; Harriet N., living at home.
In 1858 the subject of this sketch was
elected Sheriff of Jefferson county, on the Republican ticket, and served
until 1861. He then went into the army as Quartermaster of the Sixth Indiana
Vol. Infantry. One year later was promoted to rank of Captain and Commissary
od substance, and served on the staff of Gen. R.W. Johnson, of regular army.
At the close of the was was appointed postmaster at Madison. After serving
nearly two years was removed by President Johnson, because the Captain did
not approve of his politics. Afterward was appointed Assistant Assessor of
Internal Revenue, and served five years, when the office was abolished.
In 1871 he engaged in the manufacture of
harness and saddles, in this city, and continued at it until his health gave
way and he was not able to work any longer, when he sold out the business in
1880.
Capt. McLeland has held the
office and commission of notary public for twenty-one years, and still holds
the commission.
In 1884 he was taken
with something like paralysis, from which he has not been able since to
walk without crutches; two years of the time was confined to his
bed.
Capt. McLeland has been a member
of the M.E. Church since 1836, and was one of the trustees and a member of
the building committee of Trinity Church of this city. Has been a member of
Monroe Lodge, I.O.O.F., since 1839, and a member of the Encampment for
thirty years; also a member of G.A.R. His parents were Robert and Esther C.
(Benefiel) McLeland, both natives of Montgomery county, Ky.
His father died in 1853, aged 62 years.
His mother died in 1873, at the age of 78 or 79 years.
John G. Moore, recorder of Jefferson county,
is a native of Madison, and was born October 9, 1834. His father was a
Quaker; he was an early settler in Madison, and married Miss Sarah A.
McIntyre, daughter of John McIntyre, who came to Madison in 1814, and was
long a merchant of this city. Mr. Moore, the father, was a merchant here,
but has been dead many years past. Mr. Moore, the subject of this sketch,
was raised in Madison and educated at the school of Rev. Mr. Adams. In 1862,
joined the Fourth Indiana Cavalry as a private. On June 11, 1863. was
promoted to first lieutenant in Commisary Department of the regiment; he
resigned in June, 1864, on account of sickness. He was in many battles of
the regiement. Prior to the war was engaged in the drug business in 1855 or
'56, and resumed that business after the war. He was elected to the City
Council from the First Ward twice, it being a strong Democratic ward, and he
a Republican. Was subsequently elected Commissioner of Water Works for the
city; also served as City Clerk for one term. In November, 1886, was elected
Recorder of Jefferson county, and is now holding that office. He was married
in 1862 to Miss Adelaide Hill, of Madison. He has no children, haveing
lost five. His wife was a daughter of Dr. Parley Hill. He is a member
of G.A.R. and I.O.O.F. He was a delegate from his district to the National
Encampment G.A.R., at Columbus, Ohio, September, 1888.
Robert Morton, is the son of John and Jeanette
(Weir) Morton, who were natives of Scotland.
He was born in Switzerland county, Ind.,
April 3, 1835. Was raised on a farm and had been a farmer all of his life.
In 1864 he joined the 137th Reg. Vols.; was a private, and was out until
near the end of the war.
He owns 93
acres of land.
He was married in 1860
to Miss Rhoda Swann, a native of Jefferson county. She died, and he married
Miss Nancy Hastie, of Scott county. He has four children: James, Harry,
Robert and Frank.
His father located in
Jefferson county, in 1857, and died the same year. His mother died in 1875.
He has two brothers and five sisters.
Lewis Muth, farmer, Monroe township, was a
native of Bavaria, Germany; came to this country with his father, John Muth,
who settled in New Marion, Ripley county, Ind. Louis learned the tailor's
trade, but preferred farming.
He
married, in 1872, Miss Margaret Friedersdorff, of Jefferson county, a
daughter of Peter Friedersdorff, a native of Hesse-Darmstade, Germany.
The result of this marriage was four
children; George aged 17; William Bright, aged 14; Minnie aged 11; and
Maggie, aged 8. Mr. Muth belongs to the Lutheran Church, and is opposed to
secret orders.
He owns 150 acres of
land, and is a good farmer and a contented man.
Col. Jno. N. Patton, farmer, Monroe township, was born in Belfast, Ireland,
about the year 1750; emigrated to this country before the Revolution of
1776-83, and served in that war on the side of the Union Colonies. Among
other children born to him was Matthew Patton; Matthew was Hezekiah E.
Patton, in Bunkum county, N.C., July 25, 1779. Hezekiah migrated to Indiana
in 1814, and settled in Jefferson county, at what is now the site of Mud
Lick. Afterward bought Section 21, Township 10, Range 5 North, where he
resided in 1850; then removed to North Madison, where he died.
Upon this farm, the subject of our sketch,
Major (as he is usually called) John N. Patton, was born August 31,
1825. He was raised on a farm, got a good plain education, the best afforded
by the schools of the time. Taught school for a number of years, and was
married on January 1, 1850, to Eliza Woodfill, daughter of Daniel Woodfill,
of Jefferson County. After marrying he settled down to life as a farmer on
the farm upon which he was born, and still resides there. The result of this
union was seven children, viz: Kitty, who married George W. Altizer, and
moved to Kansas, and died there; Sarah A., who died in infancy; Mary married
C. Kohl; Julia A. married Frank M. McLelland (now a widow, 1888); J. Morton
married Annie Taylor; Alice Cary married to John Spann, living at New
Albany, Ind.; Robert E. died an infant; Eliza H., now at home.
June 16, 1862, he was mustered into United
States service as first lieutenant of Co. C, Fifty-fourth Regiment Indiana
Vol. Infantry, promoted to the rank of captain, served until August 25,
1863; then organized company in First Independent Battalion Infantry, and
was made Major; at the close of service, brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel for
services rendered. After close of the war settled down again to the life of
the farm; and he has since lived on his farm of 100 acres of land in Monroe
township, Jefferson county. Is a member of the G.A.R., John A. Hendricks
Post, No. 107. His father's mother was Kate McColough, who was a sister to
Ben McColough, the Confederate General and daughter of Elijah McCollough,
whose father settled in the mountains of Virginia, near the North Carolina
line, in the last century, and came from the Highlands of Scotland. The
mother of Col. Patton was Anna Wilson, who came to this county as early as
1809; Ohioans by birth, they went to Kentucky, then Indiana.
Margaret Patton, an aunt of Col. Patton,
organized the first Sunday-school in Jefferson county; all who were her
pupils, except James Baxter, now in Oregon, are dead.
Hezekiah E. Patton, the father of the
subject of our sketch, was a soldier in the War of 1812; was an advocate for
freedom and free speech, he, with Captain Isaac Chambers and James Baxter,
having held a mob of some sixty persons at bay, while a free-soil
abolitionist delivered a lecture in the log school-house in the year 1836.
The mob were armed and equipped with all things necessary to tar-and-feather
and ride the speaker on a rail, but so soon as they saw the three old
stalwart soldiers on picket, armed with their old squirrel rifles and their
hunting knives in their belts, they considered discretion the better part of
valor, and retired to the woods and held a picnic, and our subject, the son,
is a firm believer in the theory
The Freedom's battle once begun,
Bequesthed from bleeding sire
to son.
He died in July, 1856.
Cr. Benjamin A. Penn, was born in Shelby
township, Jefferson county, July 22, 1824. He was the son of Ephraim and
Mary Ann (Warfield) Penn.
His
father was a native of Pennsylvania and a descendant of William Penn, the founder of that State.
Benjamin
Penn, grandfather of Dr. Penn, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The father of Dr. Penn was born in 1784, and came to Kentucky about the year
1800; he first stopped in Maysville a short time, and removed from there to Frankfort, where he located.
He bought
or entered three different trancts of land, which he lost by priority of title in other names. He married in Kentucky, and removed to Indiana about
the year 1816, so that part of his children were born in Kentucky and the younger part in Indiana.
He settled in
Shelby township, about two miles west of where the town of Canaan now is, and built the first brick house in that township.
Dr. Penn was born on this farm, and spent his life here until his thirteenth yeear. He attended school, first going to
John Gillespie, one of the pioneer teachers of the county. Among other teachers to whom he went were Thomas Hicklin, Wm. H. Phillips, and Henry
Mavity, who all became prominent men. The school-house was built by his father and two or three other settlers.
Dr. Penn studied in these schools, besides the elementary branches, Latin, Chemistry and Natural Philosophy. At the age of sixteen he spent one year
in the office of Dr. Thomas Watson, of Shelby county, Ky., in the study of medicine. The he returned home and read in the office of Dr. Howard
Watts, of Madison. About this time he went to Lewis county Ky., and read and practiced one year with Dr. T.O. Mershon. Then he put up is shingle
independently, or on his own hook, Sept. 20, 1846, at Oldtown, Ky., and practiced for three years, and then removed to a point near Camden, Carroll
county, Ind. In 1853 he remvoed to Miami, and remained there until February, 1857, from whence he removed to Jefferson county, Ind., where he
has since resided, first at Canaan for two years, and since then at Bryantsburgh.
After coming to this
county he attended lectures at Cincinnati, and graduated in the class of 1854-65.
On the 4th of November, 1856,
at Miami, he was married to Miss Rebecca E. Guest, and they have five children; Luke, born July 23, 1857; Mary, June 8, 1860; Ben F., April
5, 1866; John S., September 10, 1867; and Silas, September 22, 1872. The eldest son is a practicing physician in Aurora, Ind.; he read medicine with
his father and attended lectures at the Louisville School of Medicine. Mary married J.G. Butt, of Illinois, and has three sons. Ben F. is traveling
in Montana; John is in Janeswille, Wis., attending a school of telegraphy, and Silas is still at home with his parents.
Dr. Penn's parents both died in the 73rd year of their age, his father in 1856 and his mother in 1860.
At the age of 17 Dr. Penn joined the Baptist Chruch, but left that church at Miami, Ind., because there was no
Baptisit church there, and united with the Christian Church; he the withdrew from that church on account of peace principles and established a
church called the Church of the Princes of Peace; but owing to a difficulty in procuring a room for meeting, it was discontinued, and he became a
member of the Hebron Baptist Church, and has remained a member in that church to the present.
Dr. Penn owns
and resides on a very nice little farm of fifty acres of good land.
Since his graduation at Miami Medical
College he has studied the German and Greek languages, so as to speak, read and write with the German and to read and teach the Greek.
Dr. Penn was ordained a minister of the Christian Church, and has devoted a large portion of time, study and
hard service in teaching and preaching the pure and unadulterated word of God as given to the world by Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, and
His Apostles, and in opposition to human creeds, human churches and war under all shapes and forms.
Squire Phillips, farmer, Shelby township, was
born in Jefferson county, in 1832. He never went to school more than three
months in his life. About the time that boys are in school now, he was busy
as a hand at log rolling, cabin building, and other work. He has been a
farmer all of his life, and is a very good one, as the farm he now lives on,
of 172 1/2 acres, testifies by producing more now than when he first settled
on it.
He is the son of Presby and
Sarah (Hall) Phillips. His father was born in Ohio, of Virginia parents, and
was one of the first settlers of Jefferson county, Ind. His mother was the
daughter of William Hall, who was a soldier at Valley Forge.
At the time Mr. Phillips was a boy the old
wooden mould board plough was in use, and the farmers raised the flax from
which clothing was made.
He was married
in 1857 to Mary E. Cardinal, daughter of John Cardinal, native of England.
They have four living children: Charles W., John, Samantha J. and Susan.
Charles W. is practicing medicine in Scipio, is a graduate of Ohio Medical
College; first studied medicine with Dr. S. B. Lewis, of Canaan. John is
farming in Jefferson County, and Susan is at home. Mr. Phillips has never
sought office, and belongs to no secret order, and is a good citizen in
every sense of the word. He is a Republican in politics.
John J. Piles, farmer, Monroe township, was
born Nov. 23, 1823, in Kentucky, and is the son of William Piles, a native
of Henry county, Ky. His father, Conericus Piles, a native of Virginia, was
one of the famous "hunters of Kentucky" of Daniel Boone's days, and was a
Revolutionary soldier.
William Piles
settled in Switzerland county, Ind., as early as 1825 or '26, where he lived
for many years. There married Elizabeth Haydon, who was the daughter of
William Haydon, a native of Virginia, who removed to Kentucky at an early
time of his life and lived there a great many years. Of this family, Ben,
Jackson, Thomas and Bland Haydon were soldiers in the War of 1812-15.
Mr. John J. Piles was a son of these
parents, and was raised on a farm. In 1846 he was married to Miss Cynthia A.
Rayburn, daughter of R. Rayburn, a native of Kentucky, of Irish ancestry.
Her mother, Nancy Ryden, was a native of Kentucky.
Mr. Piles and wife have never had any
children of their own, but have furnished homes for five of other parents,
namely: Chas. U. Kenen, Martin L. Rayburn, Nancy J. Piles, and her two
daughters, Laura B. and Elizabeth. Mr. Piles went at the first call for
troops in the Rebellion, as a private in Co. D, Thirty-seventh Regiment,
Indiana Volunteers, and was in all the battles of his regiment, viz: Stone
River, Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, etc. The regiment was
with Sherman in his famous "March to the Sea." Served three years, and came
back to farmer's life, settling in Jefferson county, Monroe township. He is
a mamber of the G.A.R. and is a good citizen.
John F. Pommerehn, was born in Germany, March
20, 1839.
His father's name was
Frederick Pommerehn. Both of them came to the United States in 1850, on a
sailing vessel, being seven weeks on the passage, arrived in October. His
father died in 1882.
John F. Pommerehn
settled in Jefferson county. His education was received in Germany. He is a
farmer and has worked at milling.
He
was married in 1868, to Miss Nancy Taylor, daughter of James Taylor, a
native of Scotland. They have nine children: William, Jane, Anna, James,
John, Mary, Thomas, Ellen and Cahancy.
He owns 142 1/2 acres of well-improved land in Jefferson county, and has a
sawmill on his farm.
Mr. Pommerehn has
succeeded in making a good living, and has accumulated some property
besides.
All of his children are living
at home with their parents.
Mr.
Pommerehn is a member of the Masonic Order, and a well respected citizen.
James V. Rawlings, M.D.Wirt, Jefferson
county, is a native of Jefferson county and was born on a farm in Lancaster
Township, January 3, 1859. His parents are James E. and Margaret (Walker)
Rawlings, natives of Jefferson county, Ind., and of England. His grandfather
Vincent Rawlings was a native of Kentucky, and was one of the early settlers
of Clark county, Ind., and afterward came to this county; was a tanner by
trade, but became a farmer in Lancaster township, where he lived to a good
old age.
The father of Dr. Rawlings
lives in Lancaster township, on a farm. Dr. Rawlings was reared on a farm,
and was educated at the college in Danville, Ind. He studied medicine with
Dr. J.W. Flanders, of Dupont, Ind., and graduated in the spring of 1887, at
the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Baltimore, Md. He began the
practice of medicine at Wirt, has a large practice thus far, and a fine
promise for future work.
Earl T. Rector, was born in Lancaster township,
Jefferson county, January 12, 1842. Daniel Rector, the great-grandfather of
E.T. Rector, was founder of the Rector family in Jefferson county; was a
native of Virginia, and came to Jeffferson county as early as 1807. Daniel
was in the Ranger service in the War of 1812-15, and was killed at a muster
near Kent, Jefferson county, Ind. Daniel Rector, son of Hezekiah, was the
father of the subject of our sketch; was born and raised in Lancaster
township, Jeffferson county, Ind. He married Jane C. Ferris, daughter of
Leonard Farris, a native of New York. They had ten children, of whom Earl
T. Rector was the eldest. Born and reared on a farm, was educated in
the common schools of the county. Lived on the farm and learned the
plasterer's trade. At the call of President Lincoln for troops, he enlisted
in Co. K, Twenty-second Reg. Ind. Vols., Col. Jeff. C. Davis. He was with
his regiment in all the battles in which the regiment was engaged; the
principal ones were Pea Ridge, Ark., Corinth, Miss., and Perrysville, Ky.,
Stone River, Chichamauga, Mission Ridge and others. He was one of the men of
his company who came out of all the battles unhurt. During his last months
of service he was in the Pioneer Corps. He came home in 1864, and returned
and served until 1865, when he was discharged at close of war. On one
occasion, while following Price, he was detailed as forager for provisions,
and during the raid he lost all of his clothing but boots and shirt; at a
store he foundd a pair of linen pants, a cut-away coat and a stove pipe hat,
all of which he appropriated as contraband of war; and in this costume
fought the Johnies for some time during the spring of 1862.
He came home and settled down to a farm
life, taking unto himself Miss Irene Craft, as a wife, in 1867. She was the
daughter of John B. Craft, a native of New York.
They have three children: John B., Daniel
P. and Jennie, who are all at homr.
Mr.
Rector is a member of the I.O.O.F. and is commander of John A. Hendricks
Post, G.A.R.; was a Freemason. He spent the four best years of his life in
the army. He is a good citizen and farmer.
Hezekiah Rector, grandfather of Earl T.,
was a captain of a company in our Colonial war, and he was shot by one of
the company's sentinels who refused to be released from duty.reek languages, so as to speak, read
and write with the German and to read and teach the Greek.
Dr. Penn was ordained a minister of
the Christian Church, and has devoted a large portion of time, study and
hard service in teaching and preaching the pure and unadulterated word
of God as given to the world by Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, and
His Apostles, and in opposition to human creeds, human churches and
war under all shapes and forms.
Dr. John H. Reynolds, was a son of Simeon L.
and Charity (Tomlinson) Reynolds, and was born in Jefferson county, Ind.,
July 17, 1820. His parents were natives of Connecticut and of Irish and
English origin.
His father settled in
Madison, Ind., in 1815, and was a carpenter by trade. For thirteen
years in early life he was a mariner on the ocean. In 1820 he went from
Madison to a farm in Jefferson county, and died in 1847.
Dr. Reynolds was raised on a farm, one of
thirteen children, educated in the ordinary schools, afterward in a select
school. At the age of 24 years he began the study of medicine under Dr.
Parley Hill, of New York (who died in Madison, Ind.), and graduated
from the University of St. Louis in 1849. He began the practice of medicine
in 1844, where he now is, near Wirt, and has continuously practiced
medicine since.
He was married
to Miss Maria Hall, of Jefferson County, daughter of Robert M. Hall, of
Kentucky, but formerly of North Carolina, and has six living children: Lou,
wife of D. Morris, of Kentucky; Sallie C., wife of L.C. Holmes, a Kentucky
merchant; Allie, wife of Louis Levey, publisher, Indianapolis; Blanche, wife
of John Ross, teller in the First National back of Madison; Geo. E., M.D.,
at Kent, Jefferson county, graduate of Indiana Medical College, and
Scott H., M.D., at Scipio, Ind., graduate of Miami Medical College
Cincinnati, O. Dr. Reynolds owns 85 acres of land. He is a fine physician, a
good citizen, honored of his neighbors and the public generally.
Joseph T. Reynolds, farmer, Lancaster
township, is a native of Lancaster township, Jefferson county; was born Feb.
13, 1846, on a farm, and reared on a farm. He attended the common hand high
schools of the county.
He was
married in 1864 to Miss Harriet E. Bonnell, a native of Ohio, but a
resident of this county at the time of the marriage. They have four living
children, three boys and one girl: George W., Ruth C., Andrew F., and
William L.
Mr. Reynolds was elected
Justice of the Peace in the township, in 1886, on the Republican ticket. He
lives on a farm of 160 acres of good land, which is in a fine state of
cultivation, lying at the edge of Dupont. His parents were William L. and
Delilah (Johnson) Reynolds; mother a native of Kentucky: father a native of
Vermont. He came to Indiana and located at Madison in 1813; when he first
came there were only log babins in the town.
He drove the first dray in Madison. He
entered one-half of the farm wher his son now resides. He died in 1876, at
the age of 73. His widow died in May, 1882.
John Richert, firm of Fischer & Richert,
carriage and wagon manufactureres, 315 East Main street, opposite Court
House.
John Richert was born on the
16th day of July, 1835, in Baden, South Germany. Came to the United States
in 1857, and located in Johnstown, Pa., where he remained about twenty-one
months, working in a rolling mill; but, with the desire to better his
condition, he left Pennsylvania in 1859, and came to Madison, Ind. He he
applied himself to the trade of carriage and wagon making, and worked at it
for about two years with Mr. J.B. Miller. At the breaking out of the
Rebellion in 1861, he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained about
thirteen months working on Government wagons; while there he enlisted to
help build the pontoon bridge, that was constructed with coal barges over
the Ohio river, from Cincinnati to Covington, to expedite military forces
and supplies. Soon after his return to Madison on board the boat, it was
necessary for the boat officials to arm the passengers with muskets to fight
their way, should they be attacked by Confederates; they however reached
Madison unmolested and in safety. Here he began work to lay the foundation
for his present business. He enlisted with the Home Guards, and during the
exciting period when Gen. Morgan was expected to cross the Ohio river and
make a raid on Madison, he was one of the troops who stood guard on the
river front.
He joined partnership with
Mr. V. Fischer, and started in the manufacture of wagons upon a small scale.
By doing good work and giving their business close attention they have
established a large and growing business. They commenced their business
where they now are, in an old two story frame building, but having enlarged
their shops as their business increased, in the year 1874 they built the
large two story brick warerooms at present occupied by them, and commenced
the manufacture of carriages also. They employ from eighteen to twenty
skilled workmen.
Mr. Richert is a
member of the German Lutheran Church, and for many years was one of the
presiding elders; many of the improvements made are due to his good
judgement, of which the congregation can be proud. He is also a member of
the I.O.O.F. He was married in 1865 to Miss Elisabeth Keller, of Tell City,
Ind.; born in the village of Ruedlinzen, Canton Shaffhausen, Switzerland.
Eight children were born to them, six girls and two boys. Their names are -
Anna, Elisabeth, Catherine, Magdalene, George, Caroline, Julia and Lemuel.
Mr. Richert is a good citizen; upright and honest in his business, his
success is deserved, and his integrity has won him the esteem of his friends
and the respect of all who know him. He is a good example of what may be
attained in the way of competency by any who will employ the same means,
honesty and perserverance.
John R. Ritchie, farmer, Creswell P.O., Smyrna
township, Jefferson County, Ind., is a native of Smyrna township, and was
born May 27, 1832; was raised on a farm; attended the common schools of
the county, and went to Hanover College for one year. After leaving school
he taught a district school in this county for three sessions. At that time
teachers were elected by vote. In 1856, October 23, Mr. Ritchie was married
to Miss Mary A. Dean, of this county, daughter of John Dean, a native of New
York. He has three living children, two girls and one boy; Walter, Lucy
and Bertha. Walter married Miss Sarah A. Amsden, of this county; Lucy and
Bertha are both living at home. Mr. Ritchie is a member of the Grange
Ins. Co., and helped to organize the company. He has a farm of 247
acres of good land, well improved. He is now making a specialty of thoroughbred Jersey cattle. He started his herd
with "Miss Fannie," of well-known herd of Mr. John B. Poyntz, of Maysville,
Ky., and has now a very fine herd, which he is always pleased to show to
anyone. Mr. Ritchie was among the first who run a steam thresher in
Jefferson county, and was the first to take a steam thresher on the hill in
Trimble county, Ky. His parents were John and Sophia (Branham) Ritchie.
John Ritchie was born in Ohio in the year 1807, and came to Jefferson
county, with his parents, when only two years old, and lived in this county
till his death in 1877, July 9. In 1829 he was married, and in the spring of
1830 located at Harbert's creek, near the present postoffice of
Creswell, Smyrna township, where he and Robert Branham built a grist and
saw-mill that was run by water; this was one of the first water-mills
in the township. They continued to run this mill for a few years, when they
put in a steamengine, making the first steam grist and saw-mill in the
township. The same engine is still at work in the saw-mill to this day,
having used up four boilers. At the time of starting the steam mill, Mr.
Ritchie formed a partnership with Mr. Smiley Sample, the firm name being
Ritchie & Sample, for running the mill and a store. This firm continued
about two years, when Ritchie bought out Sample's interest in the whole
concern, and continued in the milling business til he died. Mr. Ritchie was
69 years old at the time of his death, at which time he owned 500 acres of
land, and some houses and lots in Madison, making him worth in all about
$30,000. He was the largest tax-payer in the township. He was a good
manager. He was one of the first members of Smyrna Presbyterian Church, and
was a deacon in the church for many years, and gave liberally to the church,
and was foremost in assisting all deserving persons and enterprises. He gave
$500 to Hanover College. He was the largest stockholder in the Smyrna and
Graham Turnpike Road.
Hiram F. Robbins, farmer, Monroe township, was
born in Worchester county, Mass. His parents were Rufus Robbins and Harriet
Farnham, both natives of Massachusetts. His father died when he was eight
years old. He lived a few years with a man named Smith, who was a man
of wealth and influence; while here he was educated in business and chose a
guardian, Daniel Fisk. He began to learn the trade of a carpenter with
a man named Wilson, in Southbridge, and served as an apprentice for three
years and saved all his money. He then went to work at farming. He
attended the manual labor school at Worster, it being so constituted
that boys could work their way to education. While here he worked at
stone masonry. He then went to work at his trade and built a house for a
cotton manufacturer.
After that he
started to New Orleans to work at his trade of carpenter, but at
Stubenville, O., he met with a Mr. Cook, who was a contractor, and was
employed by him. He was made the superintendent of the work by Cook. He
came to Madison, Ind., Dec. 13, 1839, on the old steamboat "Columbia."
Here he was employed by the civil
engineers of the railroad which was being constructed at that time. Next he
began wort at house building; he worked on the First Presbyterian Church on
Main street (this church stood on the south side of Main street and
the west side of the alley), and on many other houses well known to old
citizens.
In 1841 he married Miss
Amanda Cosby, the daughter of Archibel Cosby, a native of Kentucky. From
this marriage came five children: Charles, Benjamin, William H., Edward and
Amanda Eliza. William H. died when five years old and Amanda Eliza while an
infant. Mrs. Robbins died September 20, 1856, aged thirty-one years one
month and eighteen days.
In 1860 he was
married a second time to Miss Ella Crittenden, of Columbus, Ind. There were
two children born of this marriage, Willie C. and Albert B. Willie is
married to Miss Alice Hilbert and lives in Monroe township. Albert B. is
unmarried and lives in Illinois. Mr. Robbins was contractor for and built
more houses in Madison than any other man who worked in the city. From 1840
to 1852 he carried on a shop as builder and contractor. In 1852 he built a
furniture manufactory, the second built in the State. He operated this for
twenty-eight years, shipping furniture all over the country. In 1877 he
bought a farm in Monroe township and settled down on it. There are 133 acres
of it. His wife died there.
Mr.
Robbins has been an Odd Fellow and is a member of the Christian Church.
William Robbins, (deceased), the subject of
this sketch, was born in Kentucky in 1794. He was brought up in perilous
time from the wild beast of the country and the still wilder and more cruel
men, the Indian. His first visit to Indiana Territory was in 1804, when he
came to visit his mother's brother, John Rykere, who had a claim in
Eagle Creek Valley, about three miles east of where Madison now is
He bought flour, sugar and coffee to his
uncle, luxuries which were not to be had at that time in the little
settlement of Indiana. During this journey he saw deer, bears, panthers and
various kinds of smaller game. He crossed the Ohio in a pirogue, his horse
swimming by the side of the boat.
In
1809 Mr. Robbins settled permanently in Jefferson County, or what was
afterward so named, making his home with his uncle, Mason Watts, who had
built a log cabin two miles north of the present site of Canaan. The indians
were troublesome about this time, and he enlisted as a ranger, and was
several months in that service, headquarters at Buchanan's Station. The
company in which he served was along Indian Kentucky creek, and was
commanded by James McCoy as captain; this was in 1811-1812.
He was with Gen. W. H. Harrison when
Detroit was taken, and at the battle of the River Thames were Tecumseh was
killed; but just who fired that fatal shot he could never twll. After the
war he settled on a tract of land, two and one-half miles north of Canaan,
which he bought of the Government.
He
was married on the 21st of January, 1816, to Elizabeth Wildman, who was the
daughter of James Wildman, an early settler. He was married by Elder Jesse
Vawter.
Mr. Robbins was a great hunter,
and kept his family well supplied with meat by the use of his gun. Game of
all kinds was plenty in the forest at that time -beasts and birds. He was in
Madison at the first sale of lots by John Paul and Jonathan Lyons; the lots
were about where the court-house now stands; they sold for about fifteen
dollars apiece.
The result of his
marriage was eight children, who lived to the age of maturity, vis: Eliza,
Mary A., James, Aaron, Elizabeth, Martha, Ryker and John W.; of these, two
girls and four boys are now living (in 1888).
Mr. Wm. Robbins died in 1884, at his son
Aaron's; he had been blind for some years. He was a centenarian, and the
last of his compeers to pass away to the Spirit Land. His wife died in 1856.
He was a member of the Baptist Church for many years before his death.
His youngest daughter, Martha, was married
to James Christie, February 24, 1846, and to them were born two children:
John W. and Mary Elizabeth. Her husband died July 11, 1850, and she
re-married in October, 1855, to William B. East, and to them were born five
children, viz: George O., Ryker A., Minerva A., Fannie D. and Bailey S. Her
second husband died January 26, 1865, and she married a third time, in 1884,
to Enos Miles, who died in 1887. She still lives in the village of
Bryantsburg. Her eldest son enlisted in the Tenth Reg. Ind. Vols., and
served through the war.
Mrs. Miles has
raised her family almost unaided, and has been successful in giving all of
them a good common-school education. She has lived to see all of her
children grown and married.
She has
been an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for some twenty
years.
Edward Roberts, merchant, Bryantsburgh, was
born in Switzerland county, Ind., in 1839. His father, John S. Roberts, was
an early settler of that county, and was a farmer. His mother was Jane
Salyers, daughter of John B. Salyers, and grandaughter of a Revolutionary
soldier. The family were from Virginia. Nathan Roberts, grandfather of
the subject of this sketch, a native of Maryland, settled at a point
opposite to the present city of Cintinnati before there was any town there.
He entered a tract of land, but afterward lost it because of leaving it.
Mr. Edward Roberts was raised upon a farm;
at the age of twenty-two he enlisted in the 76th Reg. Ind. Vols., Co. D, and
served three months. He enlised a second time in Co. D, 137th Ind.
Vols., in which he remained till the end of the war. He was inall of the
battles of his regiments, and was a good soldier. He saw service at Atlanta
and other points of the same campaign.
After the war he came home and worked at house-carpentering for some twenty
years. He is now engaged in a general merchandise business at Bryantsburgh,
Jefferson county. He also has the postoffice at that place. He was trustee
of Shelby township for one term. In 1873 he was married to Miss Mary J.
Mitchell, of Jefferson county; no issue. Mr. Roberts is an energetic, honest
business man, and a good citizen.
Dan A. Roberts, farmer, Smyrna township, was
the son of Dan. and Ann (Walker) Roberts, both of whom were born and raised
in Lancastershire, England. They came to the United States about 1844, and
located in Jefferson county, Ind.
His
father taught school in this county, and bought a farm, and remained here
for about two years, when he went to Cincinnati, Ohio; remained there until
1848, when he went to Louisville, Kentucky, where he died of cholera in
1849. His mother is still living on her farm in this county, aged 67
years.
Dan. A. Roberts was born in
Hamilton county, Ohio, January 15, 1846, removed to Louisville, Ky., with
his parents, in 1848, and remained there until 1853, when he removed with
his mother to Jefferson county, Ind., where he has resided ever since.
He attended school in Louisville, and in
Smyrna township. In 1869 he was married to Miss Perntha E. Robinson, the
daugher of John Robinson, who was a native of Ohio, but came to Indiana in
1847, and located on a farm in Graham township, where he remained until his
death in 1855.
Mr. Roberts has five
children, three boys and two girls: Edgar A., Claude A., Clarence J., Esma
A., and Myrtle E. Mr. Roberts owns three farms, containing about 300
acres of good land, located in the western part of Smyrna township. He
raises a great deal of stock.
In the
spring of 1864 he enlisted in Co. E, 137th Regiment Indiana Infantry, and in
the winter of 1854 enlisted in Co. H, 145th Regiment Indiana Infantry, and
was mustered out at Macon, Georgia, January 21, 1866. His regiment was
engaged in guard duty the most of the time.
He has been twice elected to the
office of Trustee of Smyrna township. He is the only Republican ever elected
to that office in Smyrna township.
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