1847, to Ellen Hankins, who died in 1866, leaving two children -- Samantha and Martha. Samantha is the wife of William Swindle and has one child -- Ida, and Martha is the wife of Charles Wintermede, and has one child -- Mona. Mr. Forman then married Martha Bush, who died in 1877, leaving three children -- Charles, Ella and Noah. Ella is the wife of Munford Jackson. Mr. Forman married for his third wife Harriet Burson, and to them were born two children -- Burley and Burton. His wife died in 1885 and in 1886 he married Mrs. Jane (Hollingsworth) Hannahs.
HARRY H. JAMES, M. D., residing at St. Bernice, was born in Helt Township, Vermillion County, Indiana, June 5, 1840, a son of Zachariah D. James, of Montezuma, Indiana. The subject of this sketch was a small boy when his parents removed from their farm in Helt Township, to Montezuma, and there he grew to manhood, receiving his education principally at Asbury, now De Pauw University, at Greencastle. He left the University in 1861 while in his junior year, to enlist in the Union army, when he was assigned to Company G, Sixth Indiana Calvary. He participated in fifty engagements including the battles of Richmond, Chattanooga, Resaca, Dalton's Woods, Peach Tree Creek, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Mission Ridge, Nashville and Dallas. He served almost four years, enlisting as a private, acting as Captain the greater part of his term of service and was discharged as First Lieutenant. He was disabled in the service and now draws a pension. Dr. James was married January 23, 1861, to Miss Elizabeth Wade, a daughter of the late John Wade. Mrs. James died in January, 1873, leaving at her death two children, named Feury K. and Edward B. Mr. James was again married in September, 1876 to Miss Annie Morrison, a daughter of Benjamin Morrison, who is deceased. Three chldren have been born to this union, of whom only one is living, named Schell I. In March, 1869, Dr. James graduated from the medical department of the Michigan State University, at Ann Arbor, and the same year located at Terre Haute, Indiana, where he practiced medicine, and carried on a drug store until 1875. He then removed to Clinton, Vermillion County, and in April, 1877, settled at St. Bernice where he has since made his home, practicing his chosen profession until within the past year and a half, when his health began failing him. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization in which he takes an active interest.
WILLIAM D. McFALL, general merchant at St. Bernice, and also engaged in farming and stock-raising and dealing in stock, is a native of Virginia, born in Augusta County, February 14, 1850, his father, William McFall, having been born in Albermarle County, Virginia. He was reared to the vocation of a farmer, and received a common-school education in the schools of his neighborhood. He came to Vigo County, Indiana, in 1871, and from there went to Edgar County, Illinois. He came to Vermillion County, Indiana, in 1877, and has since been a resident of St. Bernice. On first coming to Indiana in 1871 he had but $20.20 with which to commence business, and by his own efforts he has accumulated a fine property, and become classed among the well-to-do citizens of the county. He is now the owner of a fine farm of 315 acres of
choice land. He has established a good business at St. Bernice, carrying a full line of dry goods, clothing, groceries, boots and shoes, hats and caps, hardware, etc. His capital stock is valued at $5,000, and his annual business amounts to about $12,000. In politics Mr. McFall is a Democrat. He is the present efficient postmaster at St. Bernice, having been appointed in October, 1885, and assumed the duties of that office November 4, following. Mr. McFall was married June 11, 1874, to Miss Victoria Dyer, a daughter of the late Joel Dyer. Of the five children born to them, four are living, named Frederick, Claude, Lucy B. and Rosa. Mr. McFall is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a much respected citizen.
HAMILTON BETSON, farmer and stock-raiser, resides on section 8, Vermillion Township, where he owns a fine farm of 415 acres, all under a high state of cultivation. This property he has acquired by years of persevering toil, economy and good management. Possessed of an indomitable will that laughs at obstacles, he has come from a life of hardship to one of ease and comfort and can now look back over a well spent life, and enjoy the fruits of his years of labor. Mr. Betson was born in Otsego County, New York, May 8, 1831, a son of Henry and Mary A. (Johnson) Betson, natives also of the State of New York, of English and German ancestry. In 1857 the family moved to Indiana and settled in Vermillion County, but two years later the parents went to Chrisman, Edgar County, Illinois, where the father died in 1875, and the mother still lives. They had a family of ten children, six of whom are living, Hamilton being the fourth child. Mr. Betson was married in Vermillion County, in 1857, to Mary E. Clark, a native of this county, born in 1838, a daughter of Ezra and Nancy (Fullander) Clark, natives of Ohio, of French and German descent. Mr. and Mrs. Betson have had eight children, six of whom are living -- Florence, Arthur, Alice, Frank, Claude and Theodocia. Florence is the wife of Alonzo Truitt and has three children -- Clark, Clayton and Delbert. Mr. Betson is a member of the Odd Fellows order, Newport Lodge, No. 650.
EDMUND T. SPOTSWOOD, M. D., of Perrysville, the oldest practicing physician in Vermillion County, was born in the city of Richmond, Virginia, October 10, 1827. He is a direct descendant of Sir Alexander Spotswood, a Major General in the British army, and Governor of the Virginian Colony from 1710 to 1723. Alexander Spotswood was of Scotch parentage, and was born on board a British man-of-war in the port of Tangia. He was literally bred in the army from his childhood, and by his genius and courage served with distinction under the Duke of Marlborough. He was wounded at the battle of Blenheim, where he was acting as Deputy Quartermaster-General. He was sent to America by the King of England as Governor of Virginia. He was a man of great ability, and no name is more prominently identified with the history of Colonial Virginia than his. He developed the first mines and erected the first iron furnace in America, and was the first to introduce iron into the colonies, for which he was called the Tubal Cain of America. He was the first to bring the writ of habeas corpus to America. in 1739 he was appointed Deputy Postmaster-General of the Colonies, and it was he who promoted Benjamin Franklin to the