Justin Darling
Source: 1880 Atlas p. 40
Justin Darling ---(Deceased)
The battle of life, in whatever respect considered,
is a hard one to fight, and praise is due the man who in youth wisely
looks ahead and provides for the future; who, while vigorous and
strong, labors diligently to acquire a competence, remembering that the
years will speed silently away, leaving gray hairs and tottering
frame. We admire the man who, realizing this fact, embraces and
improves opportunities; for truly “there is a tide in the affairs of
men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” The subject
of this sketch is an eminent illustration of that class of men who have
had the good fortune to launch their bark upon this tide, to be
ultimately borne through storms and sunshine to the haven of comfort
and plenty. His father, Ebenezer Darling, a native of Rhode
Island, moved with his parents from the State of Massachusetts, where
he married Irene Burchard, to whom was born the following children--
Justin, Irene E., Lucinda M., Olive M., Mary E., Daniel, Aurelia A.,
Louisa J., and John A.
Justin Darling was born in Williamstown, Mass.,
January 24, 1813, and when a boy his parents moved to Madison County,
N. Y., and in a short time removed to Erie County of the same State,
where he grew to manhood on his father’s farm, receiving his education
in the common district school. The family removed soon after to
Cattaraugus County, N. Y., where the parents resided until death.
The subject of this sketch was married in the town of Otto, Cattaraugus
Co., N.Y. October 8, 1837, to Miss Rhoda Jackson, daughter of John L.
and Hesadiah (McMillan) Jackson, he a native of New York and she of
Vermont. Mrs. Darling was born in Livonia, Livingston Co., N.Y.,
October 6, 1818, and was the third in a family of nine children, viz.,
Theophilus, Mary A., Rhoda, Alta M., John, George C., Andrew, Lucy J.
and Ellen. Her parents moved to Cattaraugus County, N.Y., about
1830, and, in January 1842, came to Scott Township, Steuben Co., Ind.,
where they remained until called from the scenes of their earthly
labors. Mrs. darling had one child given to her---Lucinda E.,
born November 2, 1838, who four years cheered the mother’s heart, but
she was not destined by an all-wise Creator to remain on earth, and,
January 2, 1843, He claimed her as His own, “For of such is the kingdom
of heaven.” After marriage, Justin Darling and wife remained in
Cattaraugus County, N.Y., about two years, and in September 1839, came
to Steuben County, Ind., and settled in Steuben Township, close to the
Otsego line, where they began their pioneer life in the West. The
farm had been settled previous to their coming and had a small clearing
and a log cabin with clapboard roof and split puncheon floor.
Here they remained eight years, contending with every privation
incident to the settlement of a new country at which time he sold the
farm and resided in Angola three months, then bought a farm on the
banks of Pleasant Lake, remaining there until 1850; sold it and went
back to New York, where he and wife spent the summer of that year,
returning in the fall to Steuben County. In the spring of 1851,
he purchased a farm in Section 11, Steuben township, which he sold a
short time, and bought the property now known as “Darling’s Addition”
in Angola, where he lived nine years, then bought the present home of
William Croxton. To this he added a large farm on which much of
the present west portion of Angola is built. He followed farming
and dealing in real estate as his principal occupation, but was engaged
a short time in merchandising. In 1865, he sold his home
and went on a trip to Wisconsin, and the following spring moved to that
State and settled at Appleton, Outagamie County, where he continued to
real-estate business until his death, October 7, 1868. Justin
Darling taught the first school in his district in Steuben
Township. On the breaking-out of the war, he took an active part
in raising soldiers for the Union cause, and was with the Forty-fourth
Indiana Volunteer Infantry until after the battle of Fort
Donelson. Mr. Darling united with the Baptist denomination in the
summer of 1843, in Otsego Township, but Mrs. Darling had been a member
from early Youth, having joined the church in the town of Springville,
Erie Co., N.Y. in the fall of 1836 to which denomination she still
firmly adheres. She is a women of rare judgment and good sense,
courteous and gentle in her manners, and was ever a kind, loving
helpmate; watching zealously over the interests of her household, and
cheering her husband by work and deed to the accomplishment of every
task. Justin Darling was a man of few words, quietly performing
his duties and caring for neither praise nor censure. He was a
member of the Appleton Baptist Church at the time of his death and
remained steadfast to the end in the cause of Christ, with a strong and
abiding faith in a happy immortality. His remains were brought to
Angola for interment, and his wife returned permanently to that town in
the spring of 1869, where she now resides. Although he came to
Steuben County a poor man, he left to his widow a handsome fortune, the
legitimate result of his own industry and frugality. Politically
a Republican, anti-slavery in his views, and a rigid advocate of
temperance, he yet did not let those principles interfere with his
duties town and his family, his neighbor and his God. In every
relation of life he was strictly conscientious and honest, and in his
death the nation lost a patriot, the church an exemplary Christian, and
the wife a kind and loving protector.