merchant, Moorefield, is a son of John W. Riley and wife, Mary J. Riley nee Watson, former born in Maryland, latter born in Pennsylvania. He came to Madison about 1840; she came previously. In Madison they were married. He was a carpenter by trade, which he followed during his life, and was a good mechanic. John W. Riley was a son of Alexes and Mary Riley, natives of Maryland, who settled in Marion County, Ind., the father of Irish descent, the mother of German descent. John W. Riley died April 14, 1877, and the mother died April 2, 1869. They had five children, viz.: John M.W., Mary E., Anna R., Ibbie N., and Sallie J. J.M.W. Riley was born in Madison, Ind., in the year 1844. At the age of eleven he left home and went on a farm in Craig Township, till the war broke out, when, in 1862, he volunteered in Company D, Eleventh Indiana Zouaves, Gen. Lew Wallace's old regiment. He participated in all the battles in which the regiment was engaged, among which we mention Port Gibson, Champion Hill, Vicksburg and Jackson, Miss., Lake Tasse, La., Halltown, Opequan, Fisher's Hill, Temm's Brook and Cedar Creek, Va., served till the war was over and was honorably discharged. From January to July, 1865, he served as police sergeant of Fort McHenry military prison. Upon his return to civil life he engaged in farming in Craig Township for three years and then began carpentering with his father which trade he successfully followed till 1877, the time of his opening a store at Moorefield. He was married in November, 1877, to Mrs. Margaret Culver, nee McKenzie, who has borne him three children, viz.: Hiram, Amy Florence, and Mary Jane. Politically he votes the Democratic ticket. The wife of John W. Riley is a daughter of John M., and Mary Watson, nee Moody, natives of Pennsylvania. They settled in Madison at an early day, and were among the first lumber merchants in the place, which when he settled there contained only three houses. He afterward engaged in woolen-mill business, first in Madison. He lived many years in Madison, removed to Kentucky, afterward to Greensburg, Ind., where he died January 12, 1869. His wife died May 18, 1841.
Source: History of Switzerland County, Indiana 1885. Chicago, Illinois: Weakley, Harraman & Co., 1885
Transcribed by: Sheila Kell