size in which the family of Mr. Fleshman, then consisting of nine persons, and another family of three, passed the first winter. The food in those days was easily attainable. Deer and other wild game was abundant, and the choicest venison could be secured with but little trouble. The wearing apparel of the family was made by the mother from flax which she spun and wove with her own hands, and later when sheep were introduced, she prepared garments by the same labor. Their humble cabin was occupied by the family about six years, when a more commodious residence was built. Mr. Fleshman was very successful in his agricultural pursuits, and was enabled to add to his original purchase from time to time until at his death he possessed over 400 acres of choice land. He died at his homestead August 14, 1853, his widow surviving until April 12, 1866. Both were worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was a class-leader for many years, and in the pioneer days religious services were held at his house. They are yet remembered by many of the early settlers, for their many excellent traits of chaaracter. They were the parents of thirteen children, four sons and nine daughters. Six of their children are still living -- Christena, wife of George Wier, of Logansport, Indiana; Amos, the subject of this sketch; John W.; Sarah, wife of David Hoobler; Martha and Mary (twins), the former married to Frederick Hoobler, and the latter the wife of Jacob Zigler. The last four are residents of Livingston County, Illinois. Amos Fleshman, whose name heads this sketch, is the only representative of his father's family living in Vermillion County. He was but five years of age when brought to the county, where he has since lived, a period of sixty years. He was reared a farmer, which avocation he still follows, and is classed among the successful agriculturists of the county. His farm adjoins the old homestead of his father, a part of the latter being included in his farm. Beside his home farm in Highland Township, which consists of 365 acres of valuable land, he also owns 208 acres located elsewhere in the same township. He was united in marriage November 5, 1845, to Miss Susan A. Smith, a native of Virginia, born August 6, 1824 a daughter of David and Susan Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Fleshman are the parents of two daughters -- Sarah, wife of Dr. James A. Barnes, of Gessie, and Mary J., wife of George W. Dealand, the present superintendent of public schools, residing at Perrysville. They have two grandsons, children of their daughter Sarah -- Johnie, born February 15 1877, and Robbie, born December 27, 1878. In politics Mr. Fleshman casts his suffrage with the Republican party.
JAMES C. LEWIS, a settler of Vermillion County, and an active and public-spirited citizen was born in Carter County, Tennessee, May 23, 1835. His father was a native of Ashe County North Carolina. He was a gunsmith by trade, but lived the greater part of his life on a farm. Our subject was reared to the avocation of farming, which he has followed the greater part of his life. In his boyhood he attended the common and subscription schools of his neighborhood completing his education at Taylorsville Academy, of Johnston County, Tennessee. He then taught school some ten or twelve years. In 1863 he went north, and enlisted in defense of the Union as State Guard, stopping first at Mecca Mills in Parke County, Indiana, and in the fall of the same year he came to Vermillion County. He went to
his home in Tennessee in August, 1865, and in the spring of 1866 returned to Parke County. In the spring of 1867 he came to Vermillion County, and has since made his home in Helt Township, his farm being on section 7, where he owns sixty-eight acres of good land. January 4, 1866, Mr. Lewis was married to Miss Nancy J. Dugger, and to this union eight children have been born as follows -- Frederica I., Addie A., Mollie R. (deceased), William F., James Lawson, D. Edgar, Nannie E. and Perry M. Mr. Lewis was deputy assessor of Helt Township for two years, and is now serving his second year as township assessor, having been elected such in April, 1886. Both he and his wife are members of the Baptist church.
WILLIAM J. HERBERT, retired farmer, residing on section 27, Vermillion Township, is one of the prominent pioneers of the county. He was born in Campbell County, Kentucky, March 25, 1819, a son of Charles and Elizabeth Herbert. His father died at New Orleans in 1821, leaving his wife with three small children. In 1831, the mother with her family came to Indiana, and settled in Vermillion County, bringing with her a capital of $100. She died in Coles County, Illinois, in 1868. William J. was reared to manhood in Vermillion, amid the privations and hardshiips of pioneer life. He began farming at the age of twelve years, struggling for a living here until 1839, when he removed to Coles County, Illinois, having but $3 in money, and this he had borrowed. At that time, the country was in a primitive condition, no mills nor railroads, which made it hard for the early settler. Mr. Herbert, by hard work and persevering industry, succeeded in getting a good home in Coles County, where he lived many years. In 1875 he went to California, but not liking that country he removed in 1876 to Kansas, and in 1881 he returned to Indiana. With the exception of seven years spent in the dry goods business, Mr. Herbert has always followed agricultural pursuits in which he has been highly successful, and is now the owner of sixty-three acres of well improved land located a half mile from Newport, an eighty acre farm in Douglas County, Illinois, besides valuable town property in Newport, all of which he has acquired by years of persevering toil and good management. He is now living at his home near Newport, surrounded with all the comforts of life, and enjoying the fruits of his years of toil. Mr. Herbert was first married in 1837 to Miss Martha G. Arasmith, who was born in Sullivan County, Indiana, in 1816 and died in the year 1878. To them were born nine children five of whom are living -- America Ann, wife of Charles Odell; Mahala, wife of Robert Carnahant; Belle, wife of John Gregg; Louisa, wife of Jackson Brown, and William Alexander, who married Miss Queen Smith. Mr. Herbert was married a second time, March 10, 1881, to Mrs. Mary Nixon, a daughter of William Hopkins. She was born in the year 1830, and in 1872 married the late Joshua Nixon. Mrs. Herbert has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for thirty-seven years, and Mr. Herbert has been a member of the church for forty-seven years. Politically he is a Democrat.
JOSEPH BURNS, proprietor of the Montezuma Fire Brick Works, located one mile north of Hillsdale, Vermillion County, is a native of Ohio, born in Pickaway County, March 17, 1822. His father,