Randolph  County,  Indiana

William  D. Jerles


            The agricultural interests of Randolph county is well represented by William D. Jerles, one of our most typical twentieth century farmers, enterprising and progressive. His thorough system of tillage, the well-cared for condition of his fields, the excellent order of his buildings and fences, demonstrate his successful management and substantial thrift. This is the result of his having inherited from his ancestors a nature that believes in doing things well and in keeping at it.
            Mr. Jerles was born in Greene county, Ohio, February 18, 1857. He is a son of  Henry and Caroline (Minton) Jerles, whose family consisted of four children, two sons and two daughters, namely:  Laura is deceased; she was the wife of  John W. Bird, a farmer of Delaware county, Indiana, and to them three children were born, Bertha G., Mavie O. and Goldwin. William D., of this sketch, was the second child; one son died in infancy; and Eva, now deceased, married H. G. Hayes, a farmer of Randolph county.
             Henry Jerles, father of our subject, was born in Ohio, where he spent his earlier years and received such education as the early-day schools afforded. He eventually removed to Indiana and established the family home in Randolph county, where he spent the rest of his life, his death being caused from a disease contracted while a soldier in the Union army, as a member of Company B, First Indiana Heavy Artillery. He was mustered in on March 18, 1864, and discharged January 21, 1866, with an excellent record. Caroline Minton, mother of our subject, was also a native of Ohio and there she grew to womanhood, received a meager common school education and there she and Henry Jerles were married and established their home for a time in Greene county. Both she and her husband died when our subject was young, however she had married a second time, her last husband having been G. H. Byrd. After the death of her first husband she kept a toll gate, and thus she managed, by the help of her children, to keep the wolf from the door. Mr. Jerles was always a farmer.
             William D. Jerles grew to manhood on the home farm, where he worked when a boy, and during the winter attended the neighboring schools, receiving a practical education. He has devoted his life to general farming and stock raising, having begun early and has advanced with succeeding years until he is now owner of a finely improved and valuable farm on the banks of the Mississinewa river in Randolph county, where he carries on general farming and stock raising, and where he has a pleasant home and a good set of out buildings.
             Mr. Jerles was married November 12, 1880, to Lucinda E. Wright, a daughter of Washington and Hannah (Thornburg) Wright, who live on a farm near Farmland, this county, and whose family consisted of ten children. Here Mrs. Jerles grew to womanhood and received a common school education.
             Two children have been born to our subject and wife, namely: Harry Garfield, born October 19, 1881, married Gladys V. Goodwin and they have two children, Gilaff Mariam, born May 21, 1908, and James William, born December 8, 1911. Harry G. Jerles is engaged in farming in this county. Earl W., second child of our subject, is farming in Green township, this county; he married Lizzie Stephens January 10, 1903, and they have two children, Garnett I., born October 28, 1903, and Mary P., born May 26, 1911.
             William D. Jerles attends the Methodist church. Politically, he is a Republican. He has served as trustee of his township four years in a highly acceptable manner.
Past and Present of Randolph County, Indiana, 1914.
Contributed by Gina Richardson

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