In the career of Perry O'Connor there is found an expression of well directed and intelligent industry, of devotion to the best interests of the community, and of promotion of the best principles of agriculture. His financial standing is indicated by the possession of a well-cultivated farm of 190 acres, located in Round Grove Township, which has come to him through the exercise of thrift, good management and business sagacity.
Mr. O'Connor was born in Prairie Township, White County, Indiana, May 5, 1857, and is a son of Patrick and Julia (Murphy) O'Connor, natives respectively of County Limerick and County Kerry, Ireland. About the year 1849 the father emigrated to the United States, his cash capital at the time being 12 1/2 cents, but his stock of ambition and determination unlimited. Upon landing in this country he was hired, was drawn by number and became the employe [sic] of Mr. Ducket, who also became the employer of Julia Murphy who arrived in this country some time later in the same year, and who afterward married Mr. O'Connor. The Ducket property was located eighteen miles from Philadelphia, and there Mr. O'Connor received his board and $4 per month during the first three years, and his board and $6 per month during the next like period. In 1855 he came to Indiana and located in the mud at Chalmers, subsequently moving out to the old Dowling place, where he worked out one winter. In the winter of 1856-57 he worked for James Gwinn, after having passed a year in the employ of Governor Willard, and in the spring of 1857 began farming on his own account on the Kent farm, having, with thrift and industry saved enough out of his meager wages to establish himself as a proprietor. In April, 1858, he moved to Round Grove Township, where he bought forty acres in section 19, and to this property added until he had eighty acres, on which he carried on general farming and stockraising, gaining success through hard, continuous work and good management of his affairs. He was a democrat in his political views, but took only a good citizen's interest in public matters, as they affected his community. He was married about the year 1851 and became the father of nine children, of whom three survive: Perry, Mrs. Maggie Rayman and Mrs. Annie Lampe. Patrick O'Connor died December 21, 1898, and his wife September 18, 1908, and both are at rest in Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery, at Lafayette, Indiana. They were members of Saint Bridget's Roman Catholic Church, just over the line in Benton County. While Mr. O'Connor's advantages in his youth for the gaining of an education were not many, he made the most of his opportunities, was a well read man for his day and locality, and was never so happy as when at home with a favorite author.
Perry P. O'Connor was brought up in the atmosphere of a White County farm, securing his education in the district schools of his native locality. He early decided upon a career in agriculture and at the age of twenty-one years started out for himself. As the years have passed he has kept pace with the advance in agriculture through the various mediums at the disposal of intelligent students of land culture. His 190-acre farm, located in section 30, Round Grove Township, is all tiled and under cultivation, with substantial buildings and the best of improvements. In addition to general farming, Mr. O'Connor is interested in the breeding of Short Horn cattle, as well as a general line of hogs, a department in which he has met with success. Politically a democrat in his affiliation, Mr. O'Connor has avoided the thorny and uncertain ways of the office-seeker but at the same time has not been unmindful of his duty in promoting clean and fair local government, and has served both as assessor and trustee of Round Grove Township. In his public service he has shown the same marked ability that has gained him prosperity and position in private life.
On March 31, 1891, Mr. O'Connor was united in marriage with Miss Nettie Digman, a native daughter of White County, Indiana, born March 22, 1870, to Joseph and Angeline (Williams) Digman. She was one of their five daughters, and four are yet living, namely: Ida, wife of Isaac Childers, a farmer at Hopkins Park, Illinois, and they have six children; Ella, wife of Cary Henderson, of Hopkins, Minnesota, and they also have six children; Mrs. O'Connor; and Mary, wife of Jefferson Rardon, of North Dakota, and they have two children. Mr. Digman, the father, was born in Germany and came to the United States when a young man of eighteen years. He made the voyage in a sailing vessel, and three weeks were consumed in crossing the Atlantic. He arrived in this country without means, but diligence and economy won him success, and he became the owner of a good farm of 120 acres in Prairie Township, White County. He affiliated with the democratic party, and was a member of the German Lutheran Church. His death occurred in February, 1888, and he was buried in the Hebron Cemetery. Mrs. Digman was born in Ohio, and she died when her daughter, Mrs. O'Connor, was but two years old. The daughter grew to mature years in White County, and she has been an important factor in the success which has attended her husband's efforts. They began their married life poor in purse, but today they have one of the valuable estates of the community, an excellent farm of 190 acres, and they also have a Studebaker touring car. Their children, five sons and one daughter, are as follows: Camillus Paul, Cyril Ignatius, Joseph Patrick, Charles Dennis, Perry Francis and Gertrude Hope. Camillus and Cyril graduated from the common schools and had two years training in the Brookston High School. Joseph received one year's training in the Montmorenci High School after graduating from the common schools, as did also his brothers, Charles and Perry. The daughter is in the sixth grade of the public schools and is also studying music. The family are members of the Catholic Church.
During the excitement occasioned by the assassination of President Lincoln, in April, 1865, Francis and Ellen O'Connor landed in New York, direct from London where they had resided the five previous years. They brought with them seven children, Catherine, Ellen, James, Joanna, Mary Anne, Daniel and Bridget. The entire family proceeded at once to White County, Indiana, and located on a farm in Cass Township, belonging to Mr. O'Connor's brother, Thomas, after whom the subject of this article was named. Here they resided five years, during which time two sons, Thomas W., (on July 4, 1868) and Francis J. were born. In 1870, the family removed to Boone Township, Cass County, where they lived until 1883, and where another son, Patrick, was born. Of this family of ten children all of the daughters and two sons, Daniel and Thomas W. O'Connor, are now living.
In 1883, the family moved again to White County and bought a part of the farm on whieh they had formerly lived. Thomas W. O'Connor was educated in the common schools of White County, after which he attended the Monticello High School one year, the State Normal at Terre Haute one term, and one term of the law school at Indiana University. He taught school in White County for ten years and in 1892, was elected county assessor of White County which position he held for four years.
In 1895, he was married to Miss Honora O'Connell, daughter of John and Mary O'Connell, of Winamac, Indiana, and took up his residence in Monticello. To this union were born four children, Margaret Gertrude, in 1897, Anna in 1900 (died in 1906), Mary Elizabeth in 1902 and Thomas Richard in 1909.
In 1896, Mr. O'Connor was elected state senator from the district composed of Carroll, Pulaski and White counties, serving for four years, and in the fall of 1909, was elected the first mayor of Monticello, defeating his republican opponent, W. H. Hamelle, and served as mayor for four years.
In 1902, he organized the Monticello National Bank and became its president, which position he yet holds. He is also extensively engaged in the real estate and mortgage loan business.
In 1914, he was a candidate before the democratic state convention for the office of state treasurer but was defeated. Mr. O'Connor has always been a staunch democrat and is also a consistent member of the Catholic Church. His palatial home in Monticello, a family in which he has a just pride and his successful business career justly places him with our first citizens.
William Orr was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, May 25, 1814, where in early life he learned the printer's trade. In 1835 he located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the following year moved to Lafayette, where he worked at his trade until 1847 when he located on a farm about three miles northwest of Monticello, where he lived until his death on August 20, 1891. A man of strong personality and generous to a fault he was beloved by all who knew him and his untimely death (by being struck by a railroad train) brought sorrow to a wide circle of friends.
Alfred R. Orton, for the last seventy years a resident of Monticello, was born in Perry County, Ohio, November 5, 1833, and at the age of twelve came to Monticello with his mother, his father having died in 1844. Mr. Orton's parents were of English stock, his father, John B. Orton, being a native of Vermont, where he was born early in the last century. His mother was a native of Pennsylvania and died in the Orton home at Monticello in the summer of 1879. Mr. Orton, after a course in Wabash College, did some surveying in the West, then for over twenty years was in the mercantile business in Monticello and in 1882 was elected surveyor of the county, being the only candidate elected on the republican ticket. On December 27, 1859, at Bedford, Indiana, he married Miss Addie C. Parker, who is yet living, and to them have been born three children: a daughter Ora, who for almost twenty years has been a teacher in the public schools of Monticello; a son, Julius Orton, a minister in the Presbyterian Church, and a daughter Emma, deceased. Mr. Orton is one of the most prominent members of the Presbyterian Church in White County and, with his family, is highly respected in Monticello.