One of the most respected residents of Wells county, Indiana, is Samuel Campbell, who was born in Summit county, Ohio, April 24, 1843, and is a son of Samuel and Eleanor (Kyser) Campbell, the former of whom lost his life in the late Civil war. The mother remarried, and settled in Union township, Huntington county. When fourteen years old, Samuel Campbell, the subject, started out in life for himself. He worked in a saw-mill, on a farm, or at whatever he could get to do and when the war began, he gallantly responded to his country's call to arms to aid in suppressing the rebellion. He enlisted in August, 1862, in Company G. One Hundred and First Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Truesdale, and was mustered into the United States service at Indianapolis, whence the regiment was sent to the front, via Cincinnati, in order to head off the contemplated attack by the rebel general Braxton Bragg on that commercial metropolis of the Buckeye state. Crossing the river at Cincinnati, the regiment was ordered to Louisville, Kentucky, and so onward to Milton, Tennessee, where Mr. Campbell engaged in his first battle, following which came those of Missionary Ridge, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Chattanooga and several minor engagements in 1864. Mr. Campbell also followed the fortunes of his regiment through the memorable Atlanta campaign and was with Sherman on his famous march to the sea, took part in the reduction of Savannah in December, marched through the Carolinas and took part in all skirmishes and the battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, in March, 1865, and of Raleigh in April, 1865. As the war here closed, the One Hundred and First Indiana joined in the march to Washington to take part in the grandest military pageant the world had witnessed, or probably ever will again witness -- that of the Grand Review. After having shared in this historical event, in May, 1865, the One Hundred and First Indiana was mustered out of the service in June, 1865, and honorably discharged, and Mr. Campbell reached Markle, Indiana, in time to witness, if not participate, in the notable Fourth of July celebration that followed his return home. A recapitulation of the engagements in which the One Hundred and First Indiana took part will not here be out of order, although not in chronological precision: Hartsville, Milton, Hoover's Gap, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, Graysville, Ringgold, Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face Ridge, Dalton, Resaca, Adairsville, Cassville, Acworth, Pickett's Mills, Culp's Farm, New Hope Church, Big Shanty, Lost Mountain, Smyrna, Peach Tree Creek, Chattahoochie River, Ezra Church, Atoxi Creek, Allatoona, Jonesboro, the last twenty-three being included in the Atlanta campaign. It is left to the reader to decide whether Mr. Campbell is entitled to the honorable name of "soldier" or not. For all this service to his country, Mr. Campbel [sic], besides the usual pay and rations he received while in the service, is now allowed a pension of ten dollars per month. On his return from the army, Mr. Campbell was again employed in a saw-mill and in this line of business he has been employed for a number of years. He also learned the carpenter's trade, and has worked more or less at this business ever since.

In 1868 Mr. Campbell was united in marriage, in Murray, Wells county, with Mrs. Catherine (Maddux) Redding, daughter of John Maddux and widow of W. L. Redding, and a highly cultivated lady. This union has been crowned by the birth of one child, Alice, who was born in 1870, was educated in the common schools of Wells county, and is now the wife of Andrew Christmore, farmer and holder of oil well interests.

Fraternally Mr. Campbell is a member of Post No. 560, Grand Army of the Republic, at Markle, in which he has served as officer of the day and as adjutant one term, and it is not necessary to add that no one save an honorably discharged soldier (or seaman) from the military service of the United States can hold this position. The religious connection of the Campbell family is with the Lutheran church of Horeb, in which Mr. Campbell has served as deacon.

As a mere incident, or episode in the life of Mr. Campbell, it may be worthy of mention that about 1897, in company with Capt. D. L. Elliott, of Warren, Harman Allen, Christopher Lew, Nathan Luckey, J. J. Creviston and others, Mr. Campbell visited the scenes of their former military exploits, including Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. Their sensations on this visit may be more easily imagined than described.

Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana. B.F. Bowen, Logansport, Indiana, 1903., pp. 589-591.

WILLIAM CARGER, one of the progressive farmers of Rock Creek Township, is a native of Ohio, born in Knox County, June 18, 1834, a son of Emanuel and Margaret (Long) Carger. When he was a child his mother died, and after her death he found a home in the family of William Roberts. He came with Mr. Roberts to Wells County, Indiana, in 1850, remaining with him until his death, almost twelve years. After the death of Mr. Roberts he went to work for Jacob Shively, remaining in his employ four years when he went to Warren, where he spent one year.

He was married September 11, 1859, to Miss Margaret Sheets, a native of Huntington County, Indiana, and daughter of John Sheets. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Carger, of whom one son, Emanuel, is deceased. The names of those yet living are: Julia A., Mary C., John and William.

After his marriage Mr. Carger bought 101 acres of laud on section 6, Rock Creek Township, of which fifteen acres were partially cleared. He cleared and improved this land, making his home there until 1874 when he traded his land on section 6 for 101 acres of his present farm on section 7, to which he has since added eighty-two acres, all of which is now cleared and under good cultivation. All his property has been made by years of toil and strict economy, and his first fifty-six acres were paid for with money he earned while working as a day laborer. Mrs. Carger died September 10, 1886. She was a worthy member of the Christian church. Mr. Carger is a member of the same church. He is an Odd Fellow, and belongs to Markie Lodge, No. 362. In his political views he affiliates with the Democratic party.

Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1887, pp. 979-980.

This prominent and widely known young agriculturist, journalist, and teacher, is now considered one of the most prosperous and successful farmers in Jefferson Township. He was born in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, March 22, 1859, and the first eight years of his life were spent amongst the hills and streams of that state. In 1867 he came with his parents, James and Amanda H.(Barber) Chalfant, to Wells county, Indiana. After completing the common school studies, and some of the higher branches in the Ossian graded schools,he began to teach, which occupation he followed in Wells county for nineteen years, meantime being engaged in his father's saw-mill and being familiar with all departments, especially that of head sawyer. He then settled down to what he considers his life occupation, farming. He takes great interest in this, his chosen calling, reads many farm journals and books on agricultural subjects and is also a contributor to several farm papers. At the present time he is chairman of the Wells county Farmers' Institute Association. He is also a justice of the peace, having been elected the second time to that position as the nominee of the Republican party.

In the month of May, 1886, Evan L. Chalfant was united in marriage to Miss Flora E. Benedict, daughter of Luther and Julia Benedict, and who also for eleven years had been a teacher in the public schools. They have one child, Beth E. Mr. Chalfant and wife are members of the Kingsland Presbyterian Church, of which he is an elder and trustee, clerk of the session and secretary of the congregation. They are both likewise teachers in the Sunday School, of which he was superintendent for some years, Mrs. Chalfant of the primary class and he of the young ladies' Bible class. Of fraternal orders, Mr. Chalfant is a member of the Uniondale Lodge, K.P. and of the Ossian Lodge, K.O.T.M.

Mr. and Mrs. Chalfant mingle with the best people of Jefferson township and Wells county, by whom they are greatly esteemed and with whom his graphic and trenchant pen wields a potent inlfuence. His habits of close observation and his retentive memory are valuable aids in the preparation of his numerous contributions to the press. These articles are read with interest by all on account of lucidity of expression and valuable information which they impart to the reader and seeker after agricultural knowledge, and are also widely quoted.

Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana. B.F. Bowen, Logansport, Indiana, 1903., pp. 589-591.
Transcribed by RMCHAPMAN@prodigy.net

Mrs. Frances Clark died at the residence of her son, Matthew J. Clark, in Peachville, Butler county, Pennsylvania, on Monday, the 13th of June, 1887. She was a daughter of Ignatius and Frances (McKiernan) O'Ferrall, was born at Martinsburg, Berkeley county, Virginia (now West Virginia), on the 14th of October, 1793 and had therefore passed her ninety-third birthday. Her parents were Irish, and she had inherited in a remarkable degree the nobler traits of the Irish character. She was the widow of Major Matthew J. Clark, who died at Morgantown, West Virginia, in 1859, eighty-three years of age, more than four-score years. Born back in the last century! What an ocean of events! What a sea of trials, troubles and tribulations she had passed over during her long life voyage! She had heard the patriots of the Revolution, when still comparatively young men, tell of Valley Forge, Quebec, the Cowpens and Yorktown. She had seen a brother, with the ardor of youthful patriotism glowing in his countenance, march to North Point to meet "the British invader," and had listened to the cannon's roar in our second war for independence. She had heard the returning tramp of the victorious veterans from the plains of Mexico, and then had seen our land involved in internecine strife and bathed in the commingled blood of brothers; had furnished sons for the maintenance of the Union, and then lived to rejoice over a re-united country—one flag and one people—and a restoration of fraternal feelings between the sections. She had witnessed the column of states run up from fifteen to thirty-eight, and the increase of our population from four millions to sixty millions, and infant weakness raised to giant power. She had lived in the days of Washington and had mourned with a nation over his death; She had stood at the graves of her parents, three brothers and a sister, or had wiped away the teardrops as news of the departure of one after another reached her, until she remained as the only survivor of her family. Children had been born to her and grandchildren had delighted her heart, and her days had been so lengthened as to be blessed with great-grandchildren. In all the relations of life, as wife, mother, grandmother. great-grandmother, friend, she was the perfect woman. Possessed of remarkable strength of character, equable temperament, amiable disposition and fine judgment, she impressed herself upon all with whom she was brought in contact and in the family circle her influence and example shed their benign rays and made useful citizens of her sons and exemplary women of her daughters. Being of a bright, cheerful nature, her presence ever brought sunshine into the gloomy vaults of a heart depressed, and so self-sacrificing was she that she thought not of her own comfort, if she could bring ease to the suffering, rest to the weary or happiness to the distressed. But she is gone, full of years, leaving behind her many to call her blessed, many to revere her memory. Three sons and one daughter and many kindred, among these two nephews (Gen. John W. O'Ferrall, of Mississippi, and Judge Chas. T. O'Ferrall, member of congress from the Shenandoah valley, Virginia), survive her.

Should there be sadness over her departure?
Ye are not sad to see the gathered grain,
Nor where their mellow fruit the orchards cast,
Nor when the yellow woods let fall the ripened mast.
Should there be weeping over her grave?
When her life's labors are done, and she has passed serenely to her final rest, and
The soft memory of virtues yet
Lingers like twilight hours, when the bright sun is set.
No; but let those whose hearts are so deeply touched by the recollection of the now stilled voice that was ever as sweet music to their ears, and by the sight of the now vacant old arm-chair, and those in distant parts who loved her, be enabled to say with true Christian resignation, "The will of the Lord be done."
And we are glad she has lived thus long,
And glad that she has gone to her reward;
Nor can we deem that Nature did her wrong,
Softly to disengage the vital cord.

Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana. B.F. Bowen, Logansport, Indiana, 1903., pp. 223-224.

I.K. Clark, was born in Maryland or Virginia about the year 1839. His father, Matthew J. Clark, was a native of Virginia and his mother, Fannie O’Terrel, of the state of Maryland, and were married and settled in Virginia in an early day. Matthew in his earlier days was a merchant or store keeper, but the latter part of his life he spent in the vocation of farming in the state of Virginia. He remained in that state until his death, his wife dying in Butler County, Pennsylvania. He was twice married and had by his first wife five children, John G., William, Elizabeth, Catherine and James, all of whom are deceased. By his second marriage he was also the father of five children, three of whom are still alive; Frances, deceased, was the wife of Thomas Jacobs; Matthew J., Jr., is now a resident of Marietta, Ohio; M.G. was a resident of Washington, Pennsylvania, but now of Warren, Indiana; I.K. the subject, and Clemit, deceased. During the Civil war the southern army entered and ransacked Matthew Clark’s house, destroying everything, including records, etc., he being absent at the time as a soldier in the Federal army.

I.K. Clark obtained his schooling in the state of Virginia by attending the subscription schools. He attended his last term of school when he was about twelve years old and when he was thirteen years of age he began to do and care for himself by working by the month. He continued to work in this way until his marriage, April 11, 1880, to Minerva Russell, a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Lyon) Russell, the father a native of Pennsylvania and his wife of Ohio. Mrs. Clark came to Wells County with her parents in an early day (about 1843). Neither of her parents are now living, both having died in Wells County. The subject came to Delaware County, Indiana, about 1867, having a sister residing there. He began working by the month and was there for about two years. His sister, who had a tract of wild land in Liberty township, Wells county, made a proposition to him for the clearing of this land, which he accepted and came to wells county and began working by the day, and at odd spells on this clearing. After a few years he purchased forty acres of land of a Mr. Smith, which he also cleared up. He then purchased an additional forty, which he cleared, thus possessing an improved farm of eighty acres in one body. He then purchased forty acres more, which he partially cleared, having then a hundred and twenty acres of fine land in Liberty township, Wells county, secured by the labor of his own hands. He continued his work, boarding at different times with John J. Kingon, James Davis, George White and Thomas Jacobs. Having gone in debt on his land, in order to make better wages he spent the harvest and corn-husking seasons in Delaware county, carrying his wheat cradle on his shoulder from Wells county to his field of labor, where he received twenty-five cents extra on the day’s labor. At one time on his way across the country he had to stop over night. Telling his host he was looking for work, the farmer kept him over night without charge, but not wishing to impose upon the hospitality of his entertainer, the subject shouldered his cradle and proceeded breakfastless on his way. After traveling a couple of miles he came upon an old man and a boy who were just beginning to reap a field of ten acres of wheat. Entering the field, the subject inquired of the owner if he wanted a hand to help harvest his wheat. Being answered in the affirmative, a bargain was struck for putting the field of wheat in the swath for the sum of ten dollars. So anxious was the subject to complete his task that without mentioning the subject of breakfast, he set down his carpet sack and begun work, awaiting a regular noon hour for something to eat. He continued his work until the field of wheat was in the swath, received his pay and pursued his way. This incident is a striking example of the habits of industry, economy and sturdy independence that have characterized his whole life. He found more work in the same settlement, and remained through the harvest, threshing and corn cutting seasons as well, and finally when cold weather came on he employed himself in “grubbing” and did not leave Delaware county until he had earned one hundred and fifty dollars, which he applied in payment on purchase of his first forty acres of land. At one time Mr. Clark asked a Mr. Smith what he would take for a certain forty-acre tract of land, and he replied seven hundred dollars. How much down, was the next inquiry of the subject, who was desirous of adding to his vested possessions. “Oh’” was the reply, “enough to pay the delinquent taxes , about fifteen dollars, and the balance on the 15th of the following December.” Having fifteen dollars due him for a month’s work for a man in Delaware county, the subject was thus able to make the first payment and accepted Smith’s proposition, the deeds being drawn by Mr. Daily and the first payment of fifteen dollars duly paid in hand. Mr. Clark then went to Delaware county and borrowed the remainder of the money necessary to complete the purchase at ten per cent. And when the stipulated 15th of December came around he met his obligation by the payment of the balance of the purchase price, six hundred and eighty-five dollars. This transaction shows the comparative values put on land at that time with the present, and it also shows the tenacity of purpose and prompt and sagacious action of the subject in securing that most valuable of assets in a new and growing county, well located and productive real estate. In 1880 Mr. Clark married and settled on the farm where he now lives in Jackson township and has been here ever since. He has devoted his entire life to the vocation of farming and allied interests. He has been a general stock farmer, breeding and handling hogs, cattle and sheep. In the line of hogs, he prefers the Chester White and Poland China varieties, while in cattle and sheep, the shorthorn and Shropshires respectively engage his fancy. He started in life without a dollar and is now the owner of three hundred and thirty-two acres of farm land and also two city lots in Muncie, Indiana. There are seventeen productive oil wells on his land, which at one time yielded him a profit of one hundred dollars a month.

Mr. Clark raised an orphan child from about eighteen months of age, who is now twenty-one years of age and a member of his family. Her name is Alice Carman, a bright young lady, and Mr. and Mrs. Clark think of her as their own child.

Politically the subject affiliates with the Republican party. The father of Mrs. Clark, Robert Russell, was born January 25, 1803, and died April 15, 1875, and her maternal parent, Elizabeth Russell, was born August 24, 1802, and died September, 1882. the subject is an exemplar of the possibilities of our form of government, in which, however unfavorable may be the environments surrounding the actor in the labors of life, a determined purpose, with success the goal, coupled with habits of industry and thrift, is sure in the end to lead to competency and public esteem.

Mr. and Mrs. Clark have in their possession several valuable and curious relics of former days. Among them is a copper tea kettle, in a good state of preservation, which is over three centuries old. They also have an old bread toaster, a century old, a pair of snuffers, a pair of andirons, and a double coverlet woven by the grandmother of Mrs. Clark. Another quaint article of furniture in their home is an old “grandfather’s,” or Longfellow, clock, seven feet tall and eighty-five years old, and which still keeps accurate time.

Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana. B.F. Bowen, Logansport, Indiana, 1903., pp. 154-156.
Transcribed by Kathy Davis

While in old England they boast of their ancestry back for twenty generations or more and in New England they lay claim to more than half as many, here in the west if we can look back upon our family tree a hundred years and see nothing to be ashamed of, we are liable to strut a little and feel some semblance of the aristocratic thrill that is supposed to bespeak the blue blood of nobility. There are many in the west possessed of such a family tree. Some it impells to put on airs and affect superiority. Others view it in the purely American sense, that a manÂ’s worth is neither increased or diminished by what those who preceded him have or have not been. Of the latter class is the Clark family of Wells and Huntington counties, one of whom is the subject of this sketch, Rufus B. Clark, of Liberty township, Wells county, Indiana. He has a family of which he might boast, but he is too much interested in the affairs of his own life to waste time with such foolishness.

He is a young man, but a very successful one. He was born in the township where he now resides January 9, 1874, and, though only in his twenty-ninth year, is as capable and thorough a business man as one can encounter. The paternal grandparents of Rufus B. Clark were Sargeant and Eunice (Irwin) Clark, natives of North Carolina, who came in the winter of 1838-9 from their native state to Huntington county, Indiana, traveling the entire distance in a wagon. They entered a tract of eighty acres of government land in Salamonie township, and here built a home, cleared the land and reared their family. They were the parents of eight children, viz: Martha J., deceased; John I., who was the father of Rufus B., the subject; Rachael, wife of John Radcliff, of Newark, Ohio; Roscoe L., a resident of Huntington county, Indiana, residing on part of the old homestead; Landona, wife of Amos L. Carl, of Beamer, Indiana; Hannah, Lewis and Jasper. Of all the early inhabitants of Huntington county, none are remembered with kindlier feelings than Sargeant and Eunice Clark. They were naturally unselfish, kind and generous, and to those gifts they added a benevolence and hospitality that is popularly supposed to be peculiarly prevalent in the south. They spent nearly as much time caring for neighbors in need as they did in looking after their own affairs, yet did not slight or neglect the latter. Mr. Clark helped to build roads, bridged, churches and school houses, never exacting renumeration for his services; indeed, he would [have] felt offended if asked what his charge was. His good wife was constantly, in her motherly way, on some errand of mercy or charity.

The maternal grandparents of Rufus B. Clark were George and Nancy (Hampton) Helm. They were natives of Tennessee, but came from that state, by wagon, in 1838, to Huntington county, Indiana, and settled on the bank of the Salamonie river about two miles below Warren. The most numerous inhabitants of the county at that time were Indians. There, in the depths of the wilderness, June 6, 1846, Nancy Helm, the mother of Rufus B. Clark, was born. Her birth place is now in the township of Jefferson. In the early days of the settlement the people were obliged to go to Preble county, Ohio, for supplies. It was a long, tedious journey, through the trackless woods. The round trip frequently required weeks in accomplishment, especially during inclement weather or when the streams were swollen. On one such trip the husband and father, George Helm, was away six weeks and his intrepid little wife with here three small children remained alone in the cabin, during the day in the mortal dread of the red savages with whom the woods were peopled, and at night almost equally in fear of the wild beasts of the forest. Mr. Helm cleared and improved this land and made it his home up to the time of his death. George and Nancy Helm were the parents of eight children, viz: Lorinda, widow of James Gill; John A. Died on the old home place; William is a resident of Huntington, Indiana; Nancy, wife of John I. Clark; Sarah was the wife of Jacob Irwin, but is now deceased; Jane died at the age of sixteen years; David at the age of seventeen and James died when he was but two years old. The parents were among the most enterprising, public spirited and prosperous of the early settlers. Nancy Helm died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. John I. Clark, in the fall of 1874.

John I. Clark, father of the subject, grew to manhood on his fatherÂ’s farm in Salamonie township, attended the public schools and received a fair common school education. He worked by the day, week or job until he was twenty-three years of age, when he rented the farm of George Helm, making his home in the Helm family. For five years he continued on this farm, and was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Helm, a daughter of the family in which he had been boarding. He then purchased eighty acres of land in Liberty township, Wells county, Indiana, which was then unimproved, but now forms part of the farm owned by him and on which he still resides. The size of this farm has been constantly increased by purchase until it now comprises three hundred and twenty acres. It is well fenced, ditched and otherwise improved. In 1882 Mr. Clark built a barn, forty by eighty feet, which was added to in 1896 and it is now one hundred and five feet in length. In 1886 he erected a model home, large, commodious, well finished and handsomely furnished, among the best in the entire county, while the other buildings on the farm correspond well with those mentioned. John I. And Nancy Clark are the parents of four children, viz: Viola P., wife of Albert Minniear, a resident of Liberty township; Rufus B. Is the subject; Garnet E., wife of John C. Smith, a resident of Huntington; Lester E., the youngest of the family, is still unmarried and resides with his parents. In September, 1901, John I. Clark, the father of this family, was stricken with paralysis and has been helpless ever since. His good wife and youngest son, Lester, accord him every care and make him as comfortable and cheerful as possible in his affliction. Though still only a youth, Lester is much interested in the work of the farm and in the breeding and feeding ob blooded stock. He is attending the graded school at Liberty Center and will finish the course this year. Both parents have been members of the Methodist Protestant church a number of years, at Beamer. During his entire career John I. Clark has been strictly a temperance man and was ever ready to advance the work of churches and schools in the interest of morality, religion and learning. In politics he was always a stanch Democrat, as was his father before him. Like the wise and provident man that he is, he has made ample provision for his children, as after laying aside a farm of one hundred and eight-five acres for his faithful wife, each of their children will be presented with a tract of forty acres.

Rufus B. Clark attended the public schools of his native township until he was twenty years of age. He then, in connection with Albert Minniear, his brother-in-law, began the cultivation of his father’s farm, receiving for their services a share of the crop and for four years they continued thus, steadily prospering. On the 4th day of December, 1898, Rufus B. Clark was united in marriage to Miss Zora A. Burman, a lady of intelligence and refinement, born in Franklin county, Ohio, October 4, 1874. She is a daughter of George W. and Lydia (Trimmer) Burman, natives of Ohio. The parents of George were Daniel and Harriett Burman. George was twice married, his first wife being Sallie Hempy, who accompanied him to Indiana when he emigrated from Ohio. Two children were born to them, both of whom are now dead, as also is the mother. His second wife was Lydia A. Trimmer, a native of Ohio, where they were married and where they resided a number of years, when he returned with his wife to Huntington county, locating near Pleasant Plain. Both are still living, residents of Warren county, Indiana. Her parents were John and Sarah (Stumbaugh) Trimmer, natives of Pennsylvania, who moved to Fairfield county, Ohio, in the early ‘forties. There they resided until the death of Mrs. Trimmer, when her husband came to Huntington county, Indiana, and made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Lydia A. Burman until his death, which occurred January 1, 1892. To this marriage two children were born, viz: Etta, wife of Elsie Thompson, of Liberty township, and Zora A., wife of Rufus B. Clark.

The place owned by Rufus B. Clark is known as the Hickory Grove Stock Farm. About the time of his marriage he erected a fine residence upon the place and in 1899 built a barn thirty-six by fifty-six feet, in 1892, increasing its size to fifty-four by fifty-six feet. He has cleared, fenced, ditched and otherwise improved the land until it is today one of the best kept farms in the county. The finest well in that locality in\\s on the premises, always supplied with abundance of pure healthful water for man or beast. He has also a large orchard of fine, thrifty young trees of all kinds. He breeds the Ohio Improved Chester hogs, Hereford cattle and a general class of sheep, most of the cattle being thoroughbreds. He carries on general farming and always aims to feed more grain than he raises on the premises, not that he wants to raise less grain, but that he aims to feed more stock. He is the owner of stock and other personal property that will easily reach in value two thousand dollars.

To Mr. and Mrs Rufus B. Clark two children have been born, viz: Hazel F., born February 26, 1900, and Howard Russell, born August 14, 1902. The parents are members of the Methodist Protestant church of Beamer, having united with that denomination in May, 1902. He is a member of Lodge No. 747, I. O. O. F., at Liberty Center, and in politics is a Democrat, active and zealous in all campaigns. There are few men in the country of whom it can be truthfully be said they never drank intoxicating liquor, chewed tobacco, smoked, played cards or indulged in any species of gambling. That statement, however, can truthfully be made regarding the subject of this sketch, Rufus B. Clark. He is a moral, model, manly man. If men of his kind were more numerous this country and this world would be greatly improved.

Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana. B.F. Bowen, Logansport, Indiana, 1903., pp. 380-383.
Transcribed by Wendy Hendricks

Thomas C. Cloud first saw the light April 7, 1823, in Clinton county, Ohio. He is the son of Joseph and Nancy Cloud, natives of Pennsylvania, the former a son of Thomas Cloud. Joseph and Nancy Cloud, after their marriage, settled in Clinton County, Ohio. He was a stone dresser and mason and worked in Cincinnati, Ohio, when it gave but small promise of the populous city of today. They moved from Ohio to Rush county, Indiana, about 1828, and were there for about two years, when Joseph died, leaving a widow and nine children: Betsie, deceased; Peggie, deceased; John F., deceased; Sallie, deceased, was the wife of William Duckwall; Prudie, now a resident of Ohio; Thomas; Pricilla, a resident of Frankfort, Indiana; Keziah, deceased, and Nancy now a resident of Warren, this state.

After the death of her husband Nancy Cloud removed her family to Grant county, Indiana, about the year 1841, her son, Thomas, who now acted as head of the family, having previously gone there and helped to build a cabin. They were there about thirteen years when they sold their place for five hundred dollars and came to Wells county and bought the farm where Thomas now lives, paying the same amount for forty acres of land on which there had never been an ax. This made it necessary to rent land on the river front until they could get some cleared. During the first three years Thomas Cloud cleared thirty acres and attended to his crops besides. He finally cleared up ninety acres on the farm, which had grown to a hundred and twenty acres. February 20, 1850, Thomas Cloud was married to Rebecca A. Jones, a daughter of Daniel and Susie Jones, natives of Pennsylvania. Thomas and Rebecca A. Cloud are the parents of seven children, three of whom are yet living: Isaac, born January 20, 1851, died July 8, 1874; Sarah D., born February 19, 1852, married John E. Dillman, December 30, 1877; they are now keeping house for the wife's father. John Dillman is the father of nine children, seven of whom are still living, Charlie, deceased, Homer, Josie, Mary, George, deceased, Almeda, Thomas, Vergie and Hazel. Susan, the third child of Thomas and Rebecca Cloud, was born June 13, 1854, is the wife of Eli Rea, of McNatts, Indiana, and they are the parents of one child, Nellie A. Nancy was born August 8, 1856, is the wife of Calvin Alspach, and the mother of seven children: Laura, Daniel, Amos, Charlie, Clinton, Lucy and George, deceased. Daniel W. was born May 15, 1858, and died October 7, 1873, Delilah J. was born September 12, 1860, and died May 25, 1864; Joseph L. was born March 23, 1864, died October 8, 1888, his death being caused by a fall from a horse; he married Rosa Minnich and a daughter, Josie, was born after his death.

The subject has worked at the carpenter's trade at times, but has devoted most of his life to farming, though he has not done active farm work for eleven years. He has also been a general stock raiser, rather preferring hogs as a specialty. Rebecca A. Cloud, his wife, died January 1, 1900, and in the fall of 1902 his daughter, Sarah Dillman, moved into his home to care for her father in his old age. In the spring of 1900 Mr. Cloud suffered a stroke of paralysis which confined him to his bed for some time, but after a few weeks he was able to arise from his bed and is now able to walk about the yard of his home and other short distances. He and wife were consistent members of the Methodist Protestant church and he loves the Christian church. While he was in active life he always manifested a lively interest in everything which had for its object the promotion or advancement of the class to which he belonged. With this idea in view, he took an active part in the early Grange movement inaugurated by the farmers of the country. In politics Mr. Cloud has always been a Democrat. In character, as exemplified in his life, Thomas C. Cloud has set an example which is worthy of all commendation, and the success which has attended his labors and the estimation in which he is held in the closing years of a long and well spent life should prove an incentive to the youth of the land. Forced by the death of his father to assume the responsibilities of life at an early age, he proved himself a strong reed, upon which his widowed mother with her large and fatherless family were able to lean. With filial care devoting himself to the general welfare of the family, he thus laid the foundation of his own fortunes and assured himself of a competency for his own old age. The success which has crowned the labors and life of Father Cloud proves that environment alone does not determine results; that "Honor and fame from no conditions rise; but in acting well yhour part, therin the honor lies."

Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana. B.F. Bowen, Logansport, Indiana, 1903., pp. 117.
Transcribed by Judy Matlock

In calling to mind the dealer in live stock, persons will picture him as a hard-riding, hard-drinking, hard-sweating individual genial and kind enough in his way but rough of language and uncouth of manners. Whether or not it is the life they lead in driving over the country, purchasing stock, driving them to the station to be shipped and keeping up a night and day vigilance upon them while in transit, that gives them the distinguishing traits of character referred to, it would be difficult to assert. Certain it is, however, that the great majority of those who actively engage in purchasing, driving and shipping live stock to the commercial centers of the country would never be called upon to impart instructions in good breeding to the pupils of a young ladies seminary. In this as in all other things there are some very notable exceptions. One of these is George W. Cotton, a resident of Bluffton, Wells county, Indiana, the subject of this sketch. His career amply shows that a man may be truthful, honest and moral in any respective calling; in other words, that to be possessed of the virtues mentioned, including abstinence, it is not necessary to become a theological student or a minister of the gospel.

The Cotton Family was one of the first families to locate in Wells County. It is now more than sixty-two years since Samuel G. Cotton and his good wife Dianah, who were natives of Holmes county, Ohio, decided to make their home in that locality. After investing in a number of tracts of land in Rock Creek township, he finally purchased the farm which has since been known as the Cotton Farm and by the labor of his hands and sweat of his brow, made it what it now is, one of the best improved and most productive pieces of land in the county. Here he lived until the latter part of his life, when he moved to Bluffton, where his wife died in 1895. His death occurred in Chicago May 21, 1902. He was widely known and because of his excellent qualities he possessed the esteem and regard of all who knew him. The county is largely indebted to him for its early development.

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Cotton, father and mother of George W. Cotton, were parents of five sons and one daughter. George W., the subject hereof, was born Aug 1, 1851 and was the youngest child of the family. He was educated in the common schools of Rock Creek township, later in the graded schools of Bluffton, eventually going to Marion where educational facilities were supported to be better. Outside of the time occupied in his studies, he worked upon his father's farm until he attained his majority, when he engaged in business for himself, buying and selling live stock. He was, indeed is yet, what is termed in these latter days "a hustler," and the competitor who gathered in more animals than he did during the course of a year had to get up earlier in the morning, move faster during business hours and prolong his labors later at night than the average stock buyer is in the habit of doing. His negotiations are conducted calmly, coolly and generally satisfactorily. He always pays the highest price permitted by the conditions of the market and during the long and active life has paid to the farmers of Wells and adjoining counties hundreds of thousands of dollars. At different times he was associated in business with his brothers, Cyrus and Frank, but for the last fifteen years he has been alone. That he has been most successful is amply attested by the volume of business he has done. His shipments are made to Chicago, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Buffalo and others points. His long experience both as to the markets and the stock, have brought to him a penetration and judgment that seems almost infallible.

April 27, 1875, Mr. Cotton was married to Miss Josephine McDonald, who is a native of Noble county, Indiana. To them have been born eight children: Bessie, the first born, is the wife of Hamer McKinney; Marshall S.; Ralph C.; Franklin F.; Hazel D., and Ruby; two are dead. Mr. Cotton was a Republican and always voted with that party until 1884, when he transferred his allegiance to the Prohibition party, with which he has since steadily voted. He has two separate occasions occupied a place upon the county ticket of the Prohibition party, once for sheriff and at another time for representative, but in Wells county they seldom elect to office any other kind of people than Democrats. Prohibitionists are especially obnoxious to them, hence it is unnecessary to say that he was defeated each time. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church of Bluffton, are zealous in all charitable and Christian work and give of their substance quite liberally to every worthy cause. While a moral, upright Christian man, Mr. Cotton of not a long-visaged, canting, pretending personage. He is warm-hearted merry and jovial, a man whose friendship you would be induced to court and whose loyalty you would never question in any emergency.

Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana. B.F. Bowen, Logansport, Indiana, 1903., pp. 190-191.

Sixty years ago Indiana was by no means the inviting place to bring a young and blushing bride that it is today. In the towns some of the comforts of civilization might be procured, but in the timber the rudest kind of fare was what the hardy settler lived on. It was to a home in the woods of Indiana, more than a half-century ago, that Jesse Crites, of Union township, brought his wife. The maidens of those days were not so fastidious and exacting as those of the present. They were content with little and were happiest when their husbands permitted them to bear their share of the burdens of pioneer life, and doubtless they were all the better for it.

Jesse Crites, the son of John and Mary (Walters) Crites, was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, December 2, 1824. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania, but in their youth emigrated with the families to which they respectively belonged to Ohio, and settled on adjoining tracts of land. Both families were of German ancestry, and the intimacy between them led to a closer relationship between the children. John and Mary were married and set up housekeeping on a piece of land they bought from the government. He was by trade a cabinetmaker and set up a shop near his residence, from which he turned out many handsome, substantial pieces of furniture. Many of the best tables, stands, bureaus and bedsteads that adorned the homes in the neighborhood where he lived were of his handiwork. The union of John and Mary Crites was blessed by the birth of five sons and five daughters. Nine of these still survive, namely: Rebecca, Jesse, Catherine, Elizabeth, John Cyrus, Eli, William and Sarah. The father of this family prospered and accumulated money. He followed his business of cabinetmaking many years and continued to reside upon his farm up to the time of his death at sixty-eight years of age.

Jesse, the oldest son, was reared upon his father's farm and helped to clear the land, much of the clearing devolving entirely upon him as he grew older, for his father was frequently quite busy in his shop. The boy was ambitious and desirous of being in the possession of land of his own, so when he attained his majority he looked about for a piece of government land in his native county, but there was none to be had. It was not quite so scarce in Indiana, however, so to that state he proceeded and in Union township, Wells county, he found a tract of eighty acres which suited him and after making his entry upon it in 1848 he returned to Ohio.

In February, 1849, Mr. Crites was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Myers, a native of Tuscarawas county, Ohio, born in 1829. Her parents were natives of Pennsylvania, where they were born, reared and married, and soon afterward located in Tuscarawas county. Two years afterward she accompanied her husband to the woods of Wells county, and in the fall of 1849 her parents followed to Allen county, going to Wisconsin four years later, where her father died and her mother moved to Kansas, where she continued to reside until her death. Mrs. Crites was blessed by nature with vigorous health and strength and in her girlhood days she frequently assisted her father in the clearing and in the fields. Hence, when she came into the woods of Wells county with her husband, she proved a valuable assistant to him. They first took up housekeeping in a little log shanty on the farm of a neighbor, Isaac Roe, while Mr. Crites was building a log cabin on his own place. When it was completed they moved into it and began the laborious task of converting the woods and swamps into a productive farm. It took time, muscle and energy, but it was eventually accomplished, as is amply attested by the well-kept, well-improved farm upon which he resides in section 20. To the original eighty acres he has added, until he was the owner of two hundred and four acres. This he has since divided and given a good portion of it to his children, leaving one hundred and forty-four acres in the homestead. When he came to Wells county, he had just fifteen dollars in money, and it was stolen from him within a short time after his arrival, and he never got even the satisfaction of knowing the thief.

Mr. and Mrs. Crites were the parents of seven children, only three of whom are still living. They are John, who married Amanda McGoogan, resides at Uniondale; Jesse F. married Vianna Shaw, and resides in Charlevoix county, Michigan; Isa, wife of G. F. Platt, resides on the old homestead, which he operates. In religion Mr. and Mrs. Crites are members of the Church of God at Trinity Chapel, and he has been a worshipper in that society for sixty-one years, joining the church when he was only eighteen. For several years he has been a church official. The first meeting held in this vicinity by the adherents of this faith was held in Mr. Crites' cabin about fifty-two years ago, and the first society was organized there, there being six members, himself and wife. Daniel Fisher and wife and Daniel Hostetler and wife, the later having come at the same time as did Crites, and of these six four are still living, Mrs. Fisher and Mr. Hostetler being deceased.

In politics Mr. Crites is one of the old-line Republicans in Union township, but never sought or held any official position at the hands of his party. His business of farming and stock raising has occupied too much of his time to afford him the chance of dabbling in politics. He is a man of kindly disposition and strong sympathy and every impulse of his nature is for the betterment of his fellow men. Hence, he is not only well liked, but exceedingly popular, a man whose friendship is highly valued and whose influence is sought and appreciated.

Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana. B.F. Bowen, Logansport, Indiana, 1903., pp. 511-512.

Patrick Curran and his wife, Margaret Ann, were both born and married in Hocking County, Ohio. The former was born April 22, 1852, the latter, August 10, 1857; the marriage date is September 28, 1876. Their only child is Carrie E., born August 26, 1877. Patrick Curran is engaged in farming. He is a resident of Liberty Township and settled in Wells County in 1879. His parents are John and Elizabeth R. (Fling) Curran. Mrs. Curran is a daughter of Grafton D. and Priscilla (Mathias) Eckhart. Address, Liberty Center.

Historical Hand-Atlas, With Complete Reference Map of the World, History of Wells Co., IN, Chicago & Toledo: H. H. Hardesty & Co., 1881, p. 214.