Clay County, Indiana - The whole text, 1909 (part 14 of 21)

Mr. and Airs. Jeffres became the parents of eleven children, namely : Leander, William, Emma, Laura, Jackson, Eliza, Sherman, Mary Isabelle, Hattie, Luella and Charlie. Leander married Sarah Kester, and they have fourteen children, Annie, Arthur. Reece, Leotis, Ora, Emma, Edgar, Alay, Orel, Jennie, Jackson, Laura, William Ale. and Theodore Roose¬ velt. William married Rebecca Gunmire, and they have ten children, Edith, Ethel, Evert, Fred, Norma, John, Herschel, Carl, Joe and Ervie. Emma, widow of Elzie Bright, has one son, James. Laura J. died at the age of fourteen years. Jackson married Sarah Dusenbury, and they have seven children, Amanda, Burt, Alarion, Charles and three others. Eliza, wife of Charlie Patterson, has four children, Alyrtle, Clyde, Frederick and Grace. Sherman married Rosa Rechroad, and they have two children, Alabel and Glen. Alary I. married John Aliller. Luella is the wife of Leon Westfall. Charles married for his second wife Mamie Hammond. Bv his first marriage he has one daughter, Alabel.

Three of the grandchildren of Air. and Airs. Jeffres are married. Arthur Jeffers married Jennie Lawson, and they have three children, Charlie, Alan ford and Sylvia. Alyrtle Patterson married Herbert Donham, and has three children, Blanche, Russell and one other. Edith Jef¬ fres is the wife of Joe Siemor, and has one child, Julia Esther.

Although Air. and Airs. Jeffres are not as strong physically as when young their mental faculties are still vigorous, and they enjoy life to its fullest extent. Five years ago, on October 3, 1903, they celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage in a most pleasant manner, receiv¬ ing the hearty congratulations of a host of relatives and friends, and being the recipients of many beautiful and valuable presents. Mr. Jeffres is a stalwart Republican and he has cast his votes for Fremont, Lincoln, Blaine, Garfield, McKinley and Roosevelt.

William Henry Parr. - Occupying an assured position among the active and progressive agriculturists of Van Buren township is William H. Parr, who shows marked ability in the management of his interests and is meeting with well merited success in his undertakings. 'A son of the late Daniel Parr, he was born June 7, 1856, in the township where he now lives, coming from substantial German stock.

Joseph E. Parr, grandfather of William H. Parr, was born in Ger¬ many, and so far as known was the only member of his family to leave the Fatherland. After coming to this country he lived for a time in North Carolina, and then with his family followed the trail of the emigrant to this state, coming with one horse and a cart and bringing all of his goods. One of the first settlers of Van Buren township, he secured from the government a tract of land that was heavily wooded, and having cleared a small space erected a log cabin as the family home. The country hereabout was then but sparsely populated ; neither railways, telegraph or telephone lines spanned these broad acres ; and the dense wilderness was inhabited by deer, wolves and other wild beasts of the forest. After many years of incessant toil he improved a good farm, and here spent the remainder of his long life, passing away at the age of four score and four years.

subsequently succeeded to its ownership, after his marriage commencing housekeeping in the log house in which his children were born. Con¬ tinuing the improvements already begun, he carried on general farming to a considerable extent, and while he was thus actively employed his good wife was equally busy with household affairs. With her own hands she carded, spun and wove the homespun goods from which she made the garments that clothed the family, and also the bed linen, he, in the mean¬ time making the shoes. The log house was a primitive affair, having a puncheon floor, while the roof was covered with boards rived by hand and held in place by weight poles. In this dwelling he resided until his death in 1872. His wife, whose maiden name was Catherine Roberts, was born in North Carolina and died several years before he did, on the home farm. Four of their children grew to mature life, namely: Charles Wes¬ ley, deceased; James Madison, living in Kansas; William H., the subjectof this brief sketch ; and Mary, wife of John Fisher, of Brazil.

During the days of his boyhood William H. Parr attended the dis¬ trict schools and assisted his father on the farm. About sixteen years old when his father died, he immediately began the struggle of life for him¬ self as a farm laborer. Marrying soon after attaining his majority, he commenced his career as an independent farmer on rented land. Meeting with encouraging success in his operations, Mr. Parr purchased in 1903 his present farm in Van. Buren township, on section three. This farm of eighty-five acres is well cultivated and well improved, being furnished with an excellent set of frame buildings and plenty of machinery of the most approved kinds to carry on his work of general farming and stock raising successfully.

On April 18, 1878, Mr. Parr married Lizzie Monroe, who was born in Madison county, Indiana. Her parents, Samuel and Maria H. (Moore) Monroe, were early settlers of that county, but are now living at Lena, Parke county. Mr. and Mrs. Parr are the parents of four children, namely: Charles Wesley, Ernest, Della May and Samuel. Charles W. married Carrie Bauman, and they have three children, Emerson, Harold and Florence. Della M. is the wife of Oscar White and has one child, Ella May. Ernest married Olie Gerton, and they have one son, Seibert. Fraternally Mr. Parr is a member of Clay Lodge No. 368, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Religiously the family are Methodists.

Henry Price. - A highly respected resident of Van Buren town¬ ship, Clay county, Henry Price is intimately associated with the indus¬ trial interests of this part of Indiana, being engaged in both mining and agricultural pursuits. A man of sterling integrity and excellent business ability, he enjoys to a marked degree the confidence and esteem of his neighbors and ranks among the valued citizens of his community. A son of James Price, he was born in Hawesville, Kentucky, May 8, 1858.

James Price was born in Manchester, England, and in that great manufacturing city was reared and educated. Soon after his marriage he came to America, whither three of his brothers, John, William and Henry, had previously located. He settled first in Kentucky, then in Maryland, and later in Illinois, in all of these states being engaged in mining. From Illinois he returned to Maryland, and there met his untimely death in a railway accident. He left his young widow, then in Illinois, with four children, namely: James; Henry, the special subject of this sketch; Ellen, now Mrs. Fisher; and Elizabeth, now Mrs. Whit- marsh. His widow, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Whipp, subse¬ quently married for her second husband the late John L. Morgan. She is a woman of strong personality, possessing excellent business qualifica¬ tions and judgment, and for the past twenty years has operated a gen¬ eral store at Cardonia, this county, and has met with genuine success. Now, at the age of seventy-four years, she still attends to all the details of the business, being more active and alert than many persons of half her age.

About ten years old when he came with his mother to Clay county, Henry Price here continued his studies, making the best of every oppor¬ tunity to increase his knowledge. At the age of twelve he began working in the mines, his wages at first being very meagre. Industrious and pru¬ dent. he saved his earnings, eventually having enough to buy him a home in Cardonia. Still continuing his work at the mines, he accumulated more wealth and in 1899 bought his present farm of seventy-six acres on section seventeen. Here Mr. Price has erected a substantial set of frame buildings, and has otherwise improved the property, rendering it one of the best in its appointments of any in the vicinity. Although he is still engaged to some extent in mining, he superintends the work of the farm, managing it successfully.

Mr. Price married, in 1882, Dora Morgan, who was born in Coving¬ ton, Kentucky, a daughter of John and Ann Morgan, natives of Wales. Nine children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Price, namely: Margaret, John, Elizabeth, William, Mary, Stanley, Arthuretta, Harry and Thomas. Margaret, now the wife of William Moore, has two chil¬ dren, Anna Minerva and Agnes Virginia. In their religious affiliations Mr. and Mrs. Price are connected with the "New and Latter House of Israel."

George Milton Pell, M. D. - Prominent among the active and suc¬ cessful physicians of Carbon is George M. Pell, M. D., who by careful study, intelligent observation and wide experience has acquired a prac¬ tical knowledge of his profession and won an assured position in the medical circles of Clay county. A native of Van Buren township, he was born August 7, 1851, two and a half miles southeast of the present site of Carbon and one-quarter of a mile west of the old log church and school house known as "Ebenezer." He is a son of William F. and Nancy (McMillin) Pell, in whose sketch, which appears elsewhere in this volume, may be found a brief history of his parents and immediate ancestors.

In the old church schoolhouse, above mentioned, Dr. Pell laid the foundation for his future education, learning his letters from a leaf taken from McGuffey's Speller and pasted on a shingle. As he grew to man¬ hood on the home farm, which was then almost literally in the woods, he had but limited opportunities for acquiring knowledge, but eagerly availed himself of every chance for borrowing or buying books. Coal-oil lamps were even then unknown and, as candles were too expensive to be used long at a time, he was in the habit of going into the neighboring woods, peeling an armful of hickory bark, carrying it home, throwing it in the fireplace and by its light pursuing his studies far into the night. So, although his school terms were short, by persistent application he obtained a practical knowledge of the "three r's" and in 1873-4 completed his studies to such advantage that in the spring of the latter year lie received a teacher's license. He followed that vocation for the ensuing three winters, commencing his medical studies in 1876 and in September, 1878, entering the Medical College of Indiana, from which he was graduated February 27, 1880.

In March, 1880, a few days after his graduation, Dr. Pell began the practice of his profession in Carbon, where he has since remained, his ability as a physician and his honor as a man winning for him an extensive and lucrative patronage. On November 19, 1882, Dr. Pell married Miss Catherine Elizabeth Smedley, of Bardstown Junction, Kentucky, and the following children have been born of this union : Hila Velnette, August 24, 1883; Claud Oliver, March 23, 1886; James William, October 20, 1887; Nanie Irene, April 6, 1890; and Lena Alice, July 22, 1892. Claud O., the eldest son, died January 24, 1887, and James W., the other son, passed away January 27, 1896, dying of hemorrhage of the lungs. During the spring of 1895 Mrs. Pell's health began to fail, evidences of tuberculosis becoming apparent, and during the following wunter, while assisting in the care of her idolized son James, she contracted pneumonia, which complication added to the poignant grief over the death of her son, resulted in her own death July 17, 1897. On February 12, 1899, Dr. Pell married as his second wife Miss Lizzie May West, who had been a teacher in the Carbon schools for fourteen years and a warm friend of his first wife. Mrs. Lizzie Pell was born in Rockville, Indiana, June 9, 1864, and at the age of three years was taken by her parents to San Francisco, California, where she lived for ten years. Returning then with the family to her native home, she there completed her early education, in 1884 graduating from the Rockville High School as valedictorian of her class.

George Washington Jackson. - Beginning life for himself when a young boy, George W. Jackson has labored to good purpose, and through his own well directed efforts has won an excellent position among the capable and thriving agriculturists of Van Buren township. He was born March 25, 1842, in North Carolina, where his father, David Jackson, spent the greater part of his life, having there been born, brought up and twice married.

In 1842, hoping in a frontier state to found a permanent home for himself and family, David Jackson came across the country to Indiana, making the trip with one horse and a cart and bringing with him his sec¬ ond wife, two children and all of his worldly possessions. A large part of the way he followed the trail by means of blazed trees, camping and cooking oftentimes in the solitude of the vast forests through which he passed. Arriving in Henry county after a tedious journey of several weeks he remained there four years, in the meantime being employed in farming on rented land. Settling then in Van Buren township, he pur¬ chased a tract of forty acres, on which a small clearing and a cabin made of round logs constituted the sole improvements. He at once began to clear a homestead, but had made scant progress in that direction wrhen about a year later his death occurred. By his first marriage he had two sons, William and Samuel, and by his second marriage he had three chil¬ dren, George W., Mary and Frances. This wife survived him, dying when upwards of seventy years of age.

George W. Jackson was a mere infant when brought to Indiana and but five years old when left fatherless. At the age of ten years he began to be self-supporting, working on different farms until after attaining man's estate. Soon after that time he assumed possession of forty acres of land which he inherited from his father, and to this he subsequently added another small tract, and in the little log house standing upon it brought his bride, installing her as housekeeper and home maker. Energetic, industrious and an excellent manager, reaping profitable harvests each season, Mr. Jackson was encouraged from time to time to add to his holdings until he had a farm of two hundred and forty acres. Early in 1906 he went to Texas, and in Horton county bought a plantation, in¬ tending to take up his residence there. Not satisfied, however, with his future prospects, he sold out in the fall of 1907 and returned to Van Buren township to resume operations on the farm which he had pur¬ chased in 1902 On section four. And here, realizing that in no other part of the United States is there a better agricultural region, he is living happy and contented.

Mr. Jackson married, in 1868, Margaret Armstrong, who was born in Union township, Carroll county, Ohio, a daughter of Hugh and Eliza¬ beth (Alle) Armstrong. Further history of her parents may be found on another page of this work, in connection with the sketch of William Armstrong. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson became the parents of ten children, three of whom are living, Charles, who married Margaret Thomas ; Thomas, who married Sarah Doanes ; and Grover. The deceased are, William, David J., James, Elizabeth, Agnes, George and John. Politically Mr. Jackson is a strong advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, and religiously Mrs. Jackson is a consistent member of the Metho¬ dist Episcopal church.

Hamilton B. McMillan, the popular and efficient chief of police of Brazil, is one of its most useful and honorable citizens, having earned a substantial reputation as a mechanic, mechanical engineer and architect. He is also the inventor of the well known John T. McRay Multiple Duct Conduits, which he designed while residing in Chicago and after¬ ward manufactured in Brazil. While living in the latter city he has been influential in its civic affairs, and has enjoyed an honorable public service elsewhere. Both His private and his public career, covering such a varied experience and bringing him in contact with so many classes, well fit him for the head of the department which he honors. Executive talents, decision of character, the ability to handle men smoothly and skillfully, and keen judgment of human nature, are the qualities most required in a chief of police, and those which he decidedly possesses.

Mr. McMillan is a native of Washington, Washington county, Penn¬ sylvania, born on the 26th of August, 1855, being a son of John A. and Margaret ( Hamilton) McMillan. His father was a native of that county, and spent his life in Pennsylvania busily engaged at his trade as a stone cutter and brick mason. He died at Scenery Hill, that state, in 1877, at the early age of forty-four years. The widow is a native of Erie, Penn¬ sylvania, and is now a resident of Pittsburg. Her marriage to John A. McMillan occurred in Washington county, and four sons and one daugh¬ ter were born to their union, of whom the following are living : Hamilton B. ; William E., and Elizabeth, wife of Thomas A. Brockman. Ross A. and Gilbert B. are both deceased.

Hamilton B. McMillan received his education in the public schools at Waynesburg, Jefferson and Brownsville, Pennsylvania, spending the winter of 1866-7 in his father's stone yard, rubbing stone and making himself generally useful. I11 1868 he became a regular apprentice at the trade of stone cutting and brick masonry. After a service of six years in subordinate positions he commenced to follow his trade as a master, and thus continued until 1892. He had removed to Danville, Illinois, in 1881, and there gained considerable influence as a Republican and a man of affairs, being elected a member of the Board of Supervisors of Vermilion county and serving one term as chairman of the committee 011 public buildings and grounds. In June, 1890, Mr. McMillan became a citizen of Brazil, and his first work there in the line of his old trade was the construction of the kilns and general equipment of the Brazil Fire Brick and Sewer Pipe Company. The plant is now operated by the Paving Brick and Block Company. After conducting a contracting and building business for about a year Mr. McMillan bought an interest in The Brazil Pipe Company, remaining identified with the business for eight years, a portion of the time as mechanical engineer. The years 1894 and 1897 he spent in Chicago as manager of the business there, and it was during that period that he designed the McRay conduits, already men¬ tioned, his company taking up their manufacture upon his return to Brazil. Upon selling his interest in the business he removed to Mineral City, Ohio, where he was associated for a year with C. Edward Holden in the erection and operation of a plant for the manufacture of window glass and bot¬ tles. He was the mechanical engineer in charge of the construction and equipment of the works, and after they were completed acted as super¬ intendent of the manufactory. On account of his wife's ill health he returned to Brazil in February, 1903, and entered into the business of architecture, for which his experience well adapted him. Among the buildings which he designed prior to his appointment to his present municipal office were the Carnegie library and the residences of William Richardson (at Walnut Hill), Benjamin Mershon (Orchard Place), and C. E. Wilder, as well as the Presbyterian parsonage and the First Chris¬ tian church. His appointment as chief of police was made September 5, 1906, and the honor came to him entirely unsolicited. He had previously served as deputy assessor and as a member of the City Council. He was elected to the municipal board in 1898, serving as chairman of the com¬ mittees on streets and alleys and water works department.

Chief McMillan is among the leaders of fraternal and industrial progress in this section of the state. First, in virtue of the trade which lies at the basis of his individual advancement, he is a member of the Brick Layers' Union No. 17. In the order of Masonry he has filled all the local chairs, being past master of Centennial Lodge No. 541, A. F. & A. M. He was initiated as a Knight of Pythias in Damascus Lodge No. 89, Danville, Illinois, and was a charter member of the Uniformed rank of Brazil, of which he was captain for two years. In this order he also served as district deputy grand chancellor under Merill E. Wilson and as grand chancellor under George W. Powell of the Thirteenth Pythian dis¬ trict of Indiana. Mr. McMillan was the first defender of the Order of Home Defenders No. 1, being elected to the office for three consecutive terms. On January 1, 1908, he commenced his term as financial secre¬ tary. For two terms he was presiding officer of Clay Lodge No. 33, Knights and Ladies of Honor. He is an Elk, belonging to Lodge No. 762 of Brazil. In his religious belief he is a firm and earnest Presbyte¬ rian, still retaining his membership in the First Church of Englewood (Chicago).

On May 15, 1878, Mr. McMillan was united in marriage with Miss Rebecca Cowan, a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, born on the 15th of August, 1850, daughter of Joseph W. and Elizabeth (Barie) Cowan. The parents were both natives of Pennsylvania, the father dying at the age of sixtv-seven years, and the mother, at sixty-five years of age. In his younger manhood years Joseph W. Cowan was a stage driver on the old Philadelphia Pike and the National road, and afterward became a shoemaker in West Bethlehem township, Washington county. He was industrious, thrifty, intelligent, honest and popular, and became the owner of considerable land near Scenery Hill, also obtaining a substantial stand¬ ing in the community as a man of public affairs. For a number of years he served as a justice of the peace, as well as supervisor of Washington county, and in both these capacities his daughter (Mrs. McMillan) was of material assistance to him in. the keeping of his books and records. For seven years he was an active member of Battery A, I. N. G., of Danville, Indiana. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Cowan consisted of four daughters, of whom Margaret and Angelina are still living, Rebecca (Mrs. McMillan) having died September 7, 1908. Mr. and Airs. McAlillan have had two children, but one is deceased - Anna May, who died at the age of two years. A son, Harry Joseph, is a mason and contractor. He married a daughter of Albert D. and Marv E. Lemon, of Brazil, Miss Nina B., and they have two sons, Howard Elmer and Louis Plamilton.

William Harrison Van Sandt, M. D. - Devoting his time and attention to his professional duties, William H. Van Sandt has built up an extensive and remunerative practice, and is widely known as one of the most skilful physicians of this part of the county. A native of -Ohio, he was born May 20, 1840, in Butler county, about twelve miles above Cincinnati, being a son of John N. Van Sandt.

John N. Van Sandt was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, of Dutch ancestry, being descended from one of three brothers, natives of Holland, who emigrated to America directly after the Revolution and settled in New Jersey. Learning the trade of a millwright when young, he followed his trade in different places and had the distinction of building the first grist mill ever erected in Cincinnati. An ardent abolitionist, his house was the first underground railway station north of the Ohio river, and through it many a slave passed to freedom, among others being Eliza, whose story is so vividly portrayed in Uncle Tom's Cabin. In the book Mr. Van Sandt is known as "Van Trump." Owning a farm in Butler county, he resided on it until his death in 1848. He was twice married, by his first wife, whose maiden name was Priscilla Northcut, having seven¬ teen children, seven of whom grew to maturity, as follows: Northcut* Elisha, Nathan, John, Benjamin, Nancy and Jane. He married second Nancy Bowen, who was born at Maysville, Kentucky, a daughter of Robert Bowen. She survived her husband; and in 1849 came with her family to Indiana, locating at New Maysville, Jackson township, Putnam county, where she spent the remainder of her days. Of her six children four grew to maturity, namely: William Harrison, Lewis, Hiram and Lydia.

A boy of nine years when he came with his mother to this state, William H. Van Sandt clearly remembers his early home in Ohio and the thrilling scenes of those trying times when slaves were fleeing from their pursuers, and when to be an abolitionist meant ostracism and perse¬ cution. Mrs. Stowe and other noted abolitionists were frequent visitors at the Van Sandt home, and the bov William often assisted the slaves by carrying them food when they were in hiding. After coming to Indiana he attended a pioneer school which was taught in a roughly constructed frame building, the seats being made of saplings split in halves, with wooden pegs for legs. Completing his studies in the common schools, he began the study of medicine writh Dr. Long, of Maysville, subsequently attending lectures at Rush Medical College in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Van Sandt then began the practice of his profession at Maysville, in the meantime, in 1869 and 1870, pursuing his studies at the Indiana Medical College in Indianapolis, where he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1870. From 1868 until 1871 the Doctor was located at Brunerstown, Putnam county, but since that time has been in active practice at Carbon. He has won an excellent patronage, his wisdom and skill in dealing with the many cases entrusted to his care having gained for him the confidence of the community in which he has so long resided.

Dr. Van Sandt married, April 17, 1867, Orlena Ellis, who was born in Bainbridge, Putnam county, Indiana, a daughter of James and Sally (Ogle) Ellis, and they became the parents of three children: Mary, who died in youth; Vallie and James W. Vallie, the wife of Thomas Steven¬ son, has one son, Menzies. James W. is a member of the Sophomore class at De Pauw University. Doctor and Mrs. Van Sandt are highly esteemed by their neighbors and friends, and are valued members of the Baptist church.

Joseph A. Killion, one of the leading farmers of Sugar Ridge town¬ ship, is numbered among the native sons of Clay county, and within its borders he has spent his entire life. Born on the 16th of March, 1857, he is a son of Aaron L. and Rebecca (Pursinger) Killion, natives of Ohio. The father, bom March 19, 1826, wras a son of Gabriel and Elizabeth (Biggs) Killion. He was quite an extensive traveler in his early life, and finally coming to Clay county he was married here in about 1852, and with his young wife made his home in Jackson township for a few years. They then located two miles west of Bowling Green in Washington town¬ ship, where Mr. Killion died on the 12th of January, 1905, surviving his wife for a number of years, her death occurring January 14, 1898. She was born June 30, 1830, and was a daughter of George and Elizabeth (Brueder) Pursinger, natives of Virginia. Mr. Killion was a Civil war soldier, enlisting, September 25, 1864, in Company G, Fifty-seventh In¬ diana Volunteer Infantry, and he was honorably discharged June 27, 1865, after taking part in the battles of Shiloh and Gettysburg. For several weeks during his army life he was also confined as a prisoner of war in Andersonville prison.

Joseph A. Killion, the third of the ten children, six sons and four daughters, born to Aaron L. and Rebecca Killion, remained at home with his parents until his marriage, and he then established his home in Ashboro and bought property there. Later on he rented and leased farm land and also cleared the timber from twenty-eight acres. Two years later he bought forty acres of timber land in Sugar Ridge township, which he cleared and sold after four years, buying then his present farm of sixty acres in section 7, township 1, range 6 west, which had been partially improved, and in addition to this property he also owns a lot in Seelvville.

The marriage of Mr. Killion and Mary Stiles was celebrated October 31, 1878. She was born in Martinsville, Morgan county, Indiana, July 30, 1858, a daughter of Jesse and Katherine (Mosier) Stiles, who were also born in that county. Her grandparents were William and Mary Stiles and John and Mary (Lookenbill) Mosier, natives of Ohio. Jesse Stiles died March 4, 1891, but his widow is yet living and resides with a son in Morgan county, having reached the advanced age of eighty years. Mrs. Mosier, the grandmother of Mrs. Killion, lived until recently in Morgan county and attained the remarkable age of one hundred and three years, dying August 26, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Killion have had no chil¬ dren of their own, but have made a home for one, Lyda Harrington. Mr. Killion affiliates with the Republican party and is a member of the Inde¬ pendent Order of Odd Fellows, a member of the encampment at {fowling Green and of the Rebekahs at Ashboro. Mrs. Killion is also a member of the Rebekahs. He was a trustee of the lodge at Ashboro, and erected the hall at a cost of $2,500. During many years he has been an active church worker, a member of the Methodist Episcopal, and he has served as its trustee and erected the Ashboro church.

John W. Schopmeyer was for many years a leading farmer' and land owner of Washington township, was active in the work of the church and the public affairs of the township, and his death April 2, 1905, cut off a most useful and honorable life and removed from the ranks of the German-Americans a most sturdy and representative figure. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 6th of October, 1852, and received his education in the common schools of the township. His parents, Henry and Catherine (Lecamp) Schopmeyer, were natives of Germany who, in 1856, came from the fatherland and bought a tract of timber land in Washington township. This was cleared and cultivated, improved, and molded in the passing years into the form of a comfortable and pleasing homestead. There, also, they both died, after the father of the family, aided by the faithful labors and wise counsel of his wife, had increased his possessions by many acres. The three children of their family - John W., Elizabeth and Mary - are now all dead.

John W. Schopmeyer resided with his parents until their death, living with them all that period except two years, when they made their home on another farm. He was industrious and frugal, a man also of good judgment, and besides purchasing land himself inherited many acres of agricultural property, all in Washington township. He was also active in many respects outside of the development of agriculture and the landed interests of the township. He was an official leader in the work of the German Reformed church ; was a stanch Democrat and held office as township trustee ; and as a strong' fraternalist was identified with the Masons of Bowling Green and the Knights of Pythias of Poland. But the last thoughts of the deceased were given to his church and his family. On the morning of his death he attended divine services, and soon after his return to the loved ones of his household passed away very suddenly and quite peacefully.

The deceased was married February 6, 1879, to Miss Henrietta God¬ frey, born in Washington township May 5, i860, and daughter of James and Georgiana (Graves) Godfrey, natives of Kentucky. The nine chil- dren of their happy union, who are all alive, are as follows: Clifford, living at home and in charge of the old farm ; Della, now Mrs. Arthur Kattman, of Poland, Indiana; Mearl, who married Fred Kaiser, a resident of Washington township ; and Alice, Otis, Dora, Hallie, Roy and Esther, who are all living with their widowed mother as her solace and pride.

Perry Allen Morgan. - Classed among the leading agriculturists of Clay county is Perry Allen Morgan, who owns a good farm in Perry township and is prosperously engaged in its management. Active, intel¬ ligent and honest, he well deserves the good fortune which has come to him in tilling his fertile acres and reaping his abundant harvests. He is a native and to the manner born, his birth having occurred in Posey town¬ ship April 15, 1859. His father, John Newton Morgan, was born in Henry county, Kentucky, October 29, 1827, and his grandfather, Russell Morgan, was, it is thought, born in Virginia.

Spending his earlier life in Kentucky, Russell Morgan there married Harriet Bryan, and in 1834 came with his family to Indiana, and was one of the earliest settlers of Posey township. Returning to Kentucky a few years later, he bought a farm in Henry county, and there he and his good wife spent their remaining days.

A boy of seven years when he came with his parents to Posey town¬ ship, John Newton Morgan returned with them to his native state. Not being contented, however, with life in his Kentucky home, he soon came back to Indiana, purchased a tract of land in Posey township, married, and set up housekeeping in the small log house which stood upon the place when he purchased it. The country roundabout was then but sparsely populated, and bears, deer, wolves and other wild beasts of the forest were plentiful. His faithful wife performed her full share of the pioneer labor, with her own hands carding, spinning and weaving the homespun with which she clothed her family, and for many years doing all of her cooking by the fireplace. Thrift both indoors and out, coupled with good judgment, brought' satisfactory results, and in course of time he bought more land, some in each of Posey, Perry, Sugar River and Harrison townships, a total of one thousand two hundred acres in Clay county, and the humble log cabin gave way to a commodious frame house. He also erected a business block in Brazil. On the farm which he so well improved he was actively engaged in agricultural pursuits for many years. Having acquired a competency, he bought a pleasant home in Brazil, and there he spent his remaining days in peace and plenty, his death occurring October 28, 1899. His wife still occupies the old home in Brazil, the com- ^ forts and luxuries of her present life contrasting strangely with her former primitive surroundings.

The maiden name of the wife of John Newton Morgan was Eliza¬ beth Wright. She was born one mile east of Bowling Green, Clay county, Indiana, December 14, 1828. and is now the oldest native-born resident of this county. Her father, Elijah Willis Wright, was born in Tennessee, being the posthumous child of Elijah Wright, who died three months before the birth of this son. Elijah Wright married Jane Wright, a daughter of George Wright, who was born in Ireland, came to America in Colonial times, and served under General Washington in the Revolution. After the close of the war George Wright settled in South Carolina, and a few year,s later removed to Tennessee, from there coming to Harrison county, Indiana, as a pioneer. He was a weaver, and followed his trade for many years at his home, which was located about three miles from Corydon, where he spent the remainder of his remarkably long life, attain¬ ing the age of one hundred and six years. After the death of her hus¬ band Mrs. Jane (Wright) Wright returned to her father's home, and when the babe was born he was given for a middle name the maternal grandfather's surname, with the promise of an inheritance. Coming from Tennessee to Indiana when young, Elijah Willis Wright lived for awhile in Harrison county. In 1828 he took up land in Clay county, one mile east of Bowling Green, and there built the log cabin in which his daughter, Jane was born. He cleared some of the land, and began farming there, but, unfortunately, the water from the Eel river overflowed his property, and not liking to gather his crops in a canoe he sold out at the end of two years. Then taking up government land in Posey township, he resided there for awhile, and then removed to Jackson township, and on land which he bought of Levi Cromwell lived until 1853. Going in that year to Missouri, he bought a farm and there lived until his death. He married Elizabeth Deal, who was born in Tennessee, and died in 1835, in Posey township, Indiana. She reared five of her children, as follows: Mary, Jane, Robert, Elizabeth, who married John Newton Morgan, and Hedge. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. John N. Morgan, the fol¬ lowing named grew to mature life: Thomas W., Harriet, Alice, Perry Allen, the special subject of this sketch ; John, Russell, Laura and Luna.

Brought up and educated in Posey township, Perry A. Morgan was well trained in the various branches of agriculture while young, and with the exception of two years when he was employed as a teacher in the public schools he has devoted his time and energies to general farming and stock-raising. At the age of twenty-three years he bought his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Perry township. About one half of the land had been cleared, and a small frame house and a log barn had been erected. Laboring with courage and good will, he has since cleared the land, with the exception of two natural groves of three acres each, and has erected a substantial set of frame buildings, the commodious house having some of the modern improvements. In the management of his estate Mr. Morgan has met with marked success, his farm being known as one of the most fertile and productive of any in Perry township, which means one of the very best in Clay county.

Mr. Morgan married first, October 22, 1885, Rella Miller. She was born in Vigo county, Indiana, a daughter of John N. and Sarah A. (Snepp) Miller. She died December 21, 1900. Mr. Morgan married sec¬ ond, December 15, 1901, Mrs. Rosa (Wood) Lloyd. She was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Wood, and married for her first husband Alpheus Lloyd. By his first marriage Mr. Morgan has four children, namely: Ray E., Roy G., Sarah M. and Wayne W. Mrs. Morgan has one child by her first marriage, Claude A. Politically Mr. Morgan is a loyal supporter of the principles of the Demo¬ cratic party, and religiously Mr. and Mrs. Morgan and their sons are members of the Missionary Baptist church.

William R. Jones. - On the list of Clay county's honored dead appears the name of William R. Jones, who for many years was well known here as a thoroughly reliable, enterprising business man, well worthy the respect which was uniformly accorded him. He was born in Wales, April 22, 1827, and died on the 3d of February, 1901, so that his life record covered more than seventy-three years. His parents, Reece and Celia Jones, were also natives of Wales, where they spent their entire lives.

William R. Jones was reared and educated in his native country, where he remained to the age of twenty-two years, when attracted by the favorable reports which he heard concerning opportunities in the new world, he resolved to try his fortune on this side the Atlantic and engaged passage on a sailing vessel, which in due course of time bore him to the American coast. Five times he crossed the Atlantic in order to visit his people, who remained in their native land.

When Mr. Jones made the long voyage over the briny deep he de¬ termined not to tarry in the east and made his way to Clay county, Indiana, where he began farming. He was also engaged in the butchering busi¬ ness for many years, purchasing stock which he killed, selling the meat throughout the country. In 1880 he was joined by his son Thomas in a business partnership. The father purchased and killed the beeves, while the son conducted a market in Brazil, building up a good retail trade. Mr. Jones remained an active, energetic and successful business man until 1899 and as the years passed accumulated a handsome competence. He then retired and spent his remaining days in well earned rest, enjoying the fruits of his former toil.

It was after coming to this country that Mr. Jones was married on the 2 1st of April, 1862, to Miss Susan Crabb, their marriage being celebrated near Brazil, Indiana. Mrs. Jones was born in Clay, county, December 4, 1844, and is now living in Brazil. She is a daughter of Silas B. and Eliza (Wallace) Crabb. Her father was born in Ohio, October 18, 1805, ar,d ls now living in Dick Johnson township, Clay county. His wife, who was born in Ohio, December 15, 1825, passed away in 1896. They were pioneers of this county, where they arrived in 1835, the father spending his life as a farmer here. He worked industriously and untiringly to secure success and provide for his family and was respected as a thoroughly reliable and energetic business man. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Jones was blessed with sixteen children, six sons and ten daughters, of whom eleven reached years of maturity. Nine of the children are yet living and eight of the daughters reached womanhood and were married. Those who still survive are : Thomas P., Eliza, Sarah, Mary, Daniel H.. Lemuel, Ethel, Ida and Emma V.

Mr. Jones was an exemplary member of Brazil Lodge No. 264, F. and A. M.. and received the honors of a Masonic burial by this lodge. He was true to the teachings of the craft, which are based upon mutual helpfulness and brotherly kindness and w-as also a valued member of Brazil Lodge No. 215, I. O. O. F. His political views were in harmony with the principles of the Republican party and his position on any ques¬ tion of vital importance was never an equivocal one. He stood loyally in defense of what he believed to be right and over the record of his life there fell no shadow of wTong or suspicion of evil. He reached his seventy-fourth year and ever maintained the good will and confidence of his fellowmien, w'hile to his family he left a comfortable competence and the priceless heritage of an untarnished name.

Joseph D. Armstrong. - Prominent among the native-born citizens of Perry township, Clay county, is Joseph D. Armstrong, a man of cul¬ ture and talent, who has long been an important factor in advancing the educational status of this section of the state, and is also identified with its agricultural development and progress. A son of George Dallas Armstrong, he was born in this township November io, 1878. His grandfather, George W. Armstrong, was a native of Ohio and a son of George Armstrong, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war.

An ambitious student in the days of his youth, Joseph D. Armstrong took advantage of every offered opportunity for advancing his early education, attending first the district schools and afterward the Terre Haute High School and the Indiana State Normal School of that city. Fitted for a professional career, Mr. Armstrong began teaching in 1901, and has taught school every year since, being a successful and popular educator. While living at home he became well versed in the agricultural arts and sciences, assisting his father in the management of the home farm, and since his marriage has carried on general farming on his own account, and is also interested to some extent in breeding and raising stock. He has a finely improved farm, it being a part of the parental homestead, which came to him by inheritance, and in its care he is meeting with a due meed of success.

Mr. Armstrong married, in 1899, Mary Fagan. She was born April 2. 1880, in Perry township. Clay county, which was, likewise, the birth¬ place of her father, Robert Fagan. Her grandfather, Stephen Fagan, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, where his father, George Fagan, a pioneer settler, improved a homestead, on which he and his wife, Maria ( Woodruff) Fagan, spent their last years. Stephen Fagan came from Ohio to Indiana in 1850, locating in Perry township, where he took up a tract of prairie land, from which he improved a homestead and on which he was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death. His wife, whose maiden name was Eliza Donham, was born in Clermont county, Ohio, a daughter of Robert and Ruth Donham. The youngest of a family of eleven children, Robert Fagan came with his parents to In¬ diana, and for many years was a highly esteemed and respected resident of Perry township. Subsequently, on account of failing health, he started for Texas, but died before arriving at his point of destination. He mar¬ ried Nancy Staggs, who was born in Perry township, Clay county, a daughter of Franklin and Rachel (Reece) Staggs. She survived him, and married for her second husband Charles D. Jackson, of Perry town¬ ship. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong has been blessed by the birth of two children, Floy E. and Linda Argatha. Religiously Mrs. Armstrong is a member of the Christian church.

Henry Telgemyer. - An esteemed and highly respected resident of Washington township, Henry Telgemyer is an honored representative of the early pioneers of Clay county, and a true type of the brave, hardy and industrious men who courageously dared the privations and hard¬ ships of frontier life in order to here secure for themselves and their descendants permanent homes. A son of Harman Telgemyer, he was born September 29, 1828, in Prussia, Germany, where he lived until about eleven years old.

In 1839, accompanied by his wife and children, Harman Telgemyer emigrated to this country, and for a year lived in Missouri. Coming then to that part of Clay county bordering on Owen county, he entered land from the government and had begun the improvement of a homestead when, seven years later, both he and his good wife died. He married

Elizabeth Ahlemeyer, a widow with three children, and to them two children were born, namely: Henry, the subject of this sketch, and Mena, who died in 1907.

After coming to Indiana Henry Telgemyer continued his studies for a time, attending a subscription school about six months a year. Leaving home after the death of his parents, he spent three years in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains, prospecting for gold in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah. Returning then to Washington township, Mr. Telgemyer bought eighty acres of land in section ten, one half of which was then cleared and under cultivation. He has since cleared and improved twenty acres more, and in 1890 erected a frame house, one and one-half stories in height, and has also put up all other necessary farm buildings for successfully carrying on his work. That he has wit¬ nessed wonderful changes in the landscape since coming here as a boy, the broad expanse of cultivated fields that occupy the places formerly covered with dense forests, the commodious and even elegant residences that have superseded the log cabins, and the long trains of palace cars that are used for transportation in place of the wagons drawn by horses or oxen, and the many telegraph and telephone lines now visible everywhere, are a strong testimony.

On November 4, 1875, Mr. Telgemyer married Celinda Ahlemeyer, who was born in Washington township, February 25, 1844, a daughter of Henry and Lydia (Bauman) Ahlemeyer. Her father was born in Prussia, Germany, and her mother in Pennsylvania, and after their mar¬ riage, in 1838, in Union, Indiana, they settled in Clay county. Mrs. Telgemyer was a widow when she married Mr. Telgemyer, and had two children by her first husband, August Haug, namely: Catherine Haug, who died at the age of nineteen years, and Joseph A. Haug, of Harrison township, Clay county. To Mr. and Mrs. Telgemyer five children have been born, namely : Clara E., wife of Robert Kirby, of Louisiana ; Ida Marv, wife of Roscoe Capy, of Terre Haute; Estella M., wife of Oscar Keiser, of Washington township ; Harry F., of the same township ; and Roscoe W., who died in 1891, aged five years. Religiously Mr. Telge¬ myer is a member of the German Reformed church. Fraternally he belongs to Clay Lodge No. 85, A. F. & A. M., of Bowling Green, and politically he is a sound Democrat.

John Calhoun Moss bears an honored record as a business man and soldier, and Clay county has been his home throughout nearly his entire life. His boyhood days were spent on the home farm here, assist¬ ing to clear and prepare the land for cultivation, and when the outbreak of the Civil war occurred he enlisted on the 18th of April, 1861, at Paris, Illinois, in the Twelfth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for three months, under Colonel McArthurs and Captain Rigley. On the 20th of September, 1862, he re-enlisted in Company G, Forty-third Indiana Volunteers, having assisted in the organization of his company, and he wa$ made a second sergeant, from which he was promoted to orderly sergeant and at the close of the war was brevetted as first lieutenant under George K. Steele and Colonel McLean. The latter was made a lieutenant colonel and w'as mustered out of the service as a brigadier general. The company with which Mr. Moss belonged wras placed in the Trans-Mississippi department and was a part of the land force which opened up the Mississippi river. He was mustered out of the service on the 14th of December, 1864, and returning home attended two terms of school at Westfield, Illinois, when he became totally blind as a result of his army service. For two years he was confined at St. Luke's Hos¬ pital in Cincinnati, where his sight was considerably improved, and on leaving the institution returned home for a week and then started on a trip to the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, where he spent three years and a half. Returning once more to his Indiana home, he in time earned money with which to buy one hundred acres of land in section eight. Sugar Ridge township, to which he has since added until he now owns one of the finest farms in the county, consisting of two hundred and forty acres of well improved land and on which he has beautiful and convenient farm buildings.

Mr. Moss was born in section nine of Sugar Ridge township October 15, 1843, an<3 he attended the district schools of this neighborhood and the United Brethren College at Westfield, Illinois. He is a son of Jacob B. and Zorada (Jenkins) Moss, both of whom were born in Shelby county, Kentucky, the father a son of George and Lydia (Bilderback) Moss. They were born October 17, 1786, and March 24, 1789, were married in 1808, and died March 12, 1871, and October 12, 1871, respectively. The mother was a daughter of Ezekiel and Henrietta (Woodsmall) Jenkins, from Kentucky. The grandparents on both sides came to Sugar Ridge township. Clay county, Indiana, about 1820, enter¬ ing many acres of timber land in the vicinity of Center Point, and they lived here when the Indians were yet very numerous but friendly, and endured the many trials and hardships which are the concomitants of life on the frontier. Jacob B. Moss was given one hundred and sixty acres of timber land in section eight, which he cleared and placed under culti¬ vation, and he was a conservative farmer and a member of the Metho¬ dist Episcopal church. John C. was the third of his ten children, five sons and five daughters, and three of the sons and two of the daughters are yet living, but Rufus R., the last born, and John C. are the only ones living in Clay county.

John C. Moss married, July 3, 1868, Melissa C. Bucklew, who was born in Lewis township, Clay county, October 4, 1846, a daughter of Joel A. and Susan Jane (Edmondson) Bucklew, of Tennessee. Her grandparents were William and Kellie (Holtz) Bucklew, of Tennessee, the former a soldier in the war of 1812, and John and Sarah (Grayson) Edmondson, also from Tennessee and the maternal grandfather was a Methodist Episcopal minister. The* children of Mr. and Mrs. Moss are: Quincy, the wife of Charles Burris, of Lewis township ; Yonnie, wife of Angus Wills, of Terre Haute ; Zora, wife of Albert Hoag and a gov¬ ernment teacher in the Philippines ; Xena, who became the wife of C. W. Smith and died in February, 1887; and John C., born March 24, 1884. Mr. Moss is a member of Governor Mount Post No. 82, G. A. R. He organized Company G of the Cuban Guards and was made its captain, while D. C. Witty was the first lieutenant, but they were never assigned to service. He is also a member of the Odd Fellows fraternity. Lodge No. 251, of Ashboro, and affiliates with the Populist party.

James H. Throop. - Prominent among the well known and highly esteemed citizens of Carbon is James H. Throop, who is there successfully engaged in mercantile pursuits, carrying a good stock of drugs and general merchandise. A son of Dr. George A. Throop, he was born

July 12, 1848, at Carlisle, Kentucky. He is of English ancestry, being a lineal descendant of one Adrian Scroop, who for reasons which will subsequently be given changed his name to "Throop" after coming to this country. He is of the sixth generation from Adrian Throop, who was a life-long resident of either Connecticut or Vermont, the line being continued as follows: William, Thomas, George Lane, George A. and James H.

The early history of the Throop family has been compiled by Colonel Thomas J. Throop, and from it we have taken the following interesting extracts: ''The name Throop had its origin in this manner. Adrian Scroop was of a good old English family, and in the time of the Civil war in England, in the time of Charles I, espoused the popular cause and was a member of the parliament that tried King Charles for his life and condemned him to the block. He was one of the far-famed, worldrenowned regicides, and upon an examination of those perilous times you will find his name and seal the ninth on the roll on Charles I's death warrant. After Cromwell's accession to power he was an active and efficient officer of the army, being a colonel, and frequently during his reign had a seat in parliament. When Cromwell died and Charles II ascended to the Throne, he, with Goff and other regicides, was compelled to fly the country, and as English rule extended to this country he changed his name from Scroop to Throop, our name. He settled in Connecticut, and was frequently compelled to hid in the caves near New Haven to escape the King's emissaries, who were sent over to arrest him. He had a large family of sons who scattered over New England, and it is no idle boast to say that some of the best blood of those states is derived from this stock. Edward Everett's mother was a Throop; Hon. E. T. Throop, former governor of New York, is of the same stock; and Martin Van Buren was nearly allied to the family."

William Throop, second in line of descent, son of Adrian, was of New England birth. Thomas Throop, his son, born at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, served in the French and Indian wars as an officer in the Provincial army. He subsequently settled in Virginia, where he married Catherine Lane. George Lane Throop was born in Spottsylvania county, Virginia, but was brought np and educated in Alexandria, that state. Moving to Kentucky in 1805, he became a pioneer of Scott county. In 1821 he migrated with his family to Indiana, making the journey with teams, and was one of the original settlers of Bloomington, Monroe county. He was a stone mason by 'trade, and prior to his removal from Alexandria had worked on the capitol at Washington. He continued work at his trade in Bloomington for several years, but spent his closing days with a son at Greencastle, Indiana, dying at the advanced age of eighty-six years.

George A. Throop was born at Georgetown, Scott county, Ken¬ tucky, January 20, 1821, and while yet an infant wtas brought by his parents to Indiana. Brought up in Bloomington, Monroe county, he took advantage of every opportunity offered for acquiring an education, attending the pioneer schools of those days. Making rapid progress in his studies, he entered the State University at Bloomington at an early age, and was there graduated. He then turned his attention to the study of medicine, subsequently beginning the practice of his chosen profession at Point Commerce. Removing from there to Kentucky, Dr. Throop was in active practice at Carlisle until 1856, when, his health being seriously impaired by his strenuous work in combating that dreadful disease, the cholera, which had just previous to that time been epidemic, he retired from the activities of his profession, and during the following nine years was engaged in the drug business at Shelbyville, Kentucky. Returning to Indiana in 1865, the Doctor was for a number of years a druggist at Greencastle, at the same time being a member of the Pension Board. The declining years of his life he spent with his son James at Carbon, dying there in 1900 at the venerable age of eighty-one years. His wife, whose maiden name was Abigail Milton Reeves, was born in Bloom¬ ington, Indiana, in 1818, and died in 1868, leaving seven children, namely: Irene, James H., John Bruce, George Reeves, Alice, Mary and Annie.

Having laid a substantial foundation for his education in the com¬ mon schools of Carlisle, Kentucky, James H. Throop subsequently com¬ pleted his early studies at the Shelbyville High School. In 1865 he began his active career as a clerk in his father's store at Shelbyville, remaining thus occupied two years. Going then to Reelsville, he con¬ ducted a store there for his father for three years. In 1870 he located at Harmony, but after a few months went to Rosedale. Coming from there to Carbon in the fall of 1871, Mr. Throop opened a drug store, and after conducting it most successfully for a few years enlarged his opera¬ tions by adding a stock of general merchandise. In 1905 he met with a serious loss, his store and stock of goods being destroyed by the con¬ flagration which wiped out the greater part of the village. With char¬ acteristic enterprise, however, he immediately began work, and was soon enabled to resume his old business, which he has continued until the present time, having built up an extensive and lucrative patronage in this part of the county.

On August 4, 1869, Mr. Throop married Eliza L. Barnett, who was born near Reelsville, Putnam county, Indiana, a daughter of Edward and Eliza (Lane) Barnett. Her parents were both natives of Harrison county, Indiana, and pioneers of Putnam county, where Mr. Barnett built the first grist and saw mill. Mr. and Mrs. Throop have four children, namely: Lillie Maud, George Edward, Annie and James Arthur. In fraternal circles Mr. Throop occupies a place of prominence, belonging to Brazil Lodge No. 264, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; to Carbon Lodge, No. 693, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; to Carbon Encamp¬ ment No. 234, I. O. O. F., and to Carbon Lodge No. 145, Knights of Pythias. Both Mr. and Mrs. Throop are members of Silver Star Lodge No. 449, Daughters of Rebekah, of the Order of the Eastern Star, and of Beacon Light Temple, Pythian Sisters.

William Nelson Siner. - A man of recognized business ability and integrity, William Nelson Siner is actively identified with the mercantile interests of Van Buren township, being senior member of the firm of Siner & Pell, of Carbon. A son of Hugh Lawson Siner, he was born April 25, 1840, in Linton township, Vigo county, Indiana, of Revo¬ lutionary stock.

Benjamin Siner, grandfather of William N., was in active service throughout the Revolutionary war, taking part in many of its battles, among others participating in the battle of Cowpens. At the close of the conflict he located in Virginia, and was there a resident for many years. Removing to Kentucky in 1812, he remained there eleven years. In 1823, following the tide of emigration northward, he came to Vigo county, Indiana, in search of a favorable place in which to locate, and at once took up a tract of government land in Pearson township. In those early days the wild beasts of the forest had not fled before the advancing steps of civilization, and deer, wild turkey and other game helped to fill the family larder. Terre Haute was then a small hamlet, giving scant promise of its present thriving position among its sister cities. Working industriously, he cleared a homestead and there spent his remaining days, dying at a ripe old age. He married Sarah Malady, by whom he had seven children that grew to maturity, as follows : Nelson, Benjamin, Hugh Lawson, John, Alice, Fanny and Cynthia.

Hugh Lawson Siner was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, in 1811, and was twelve years old when he came with his parents from Kentucky to Vigo county. When a young man he learned the trade of a blacksmith, which he followed to some extent, although not exclusively, working at it in conjunction with farming. Soon after settling in life he bought a tract of wild land in Linton township, Vigo county, and having cut down a few trees built the log cabin in which his children were born. Later he built a smithy, and there worked at his trade a part of the time. Wild turkey, deer, and other game wTere abundant in those days of homespun, and, with the productions of the land formed a large part of the food of the people hereabout. Clearing a substantial homestead, he lived there until two years previous to his death, when he bought a home in Honey Creek township, where he died at the age of seventy-seven years. He married Ruhamah Welch, who was born in Madison county, Ohio, and died in Honey Creek township about two months after his death. Her parents, John and Mary (Kester) Welch, were natives, so far as known, of Ohio and pioneers of Vigo county, where they improved a farm, on which they spent the remainder of their lives. Hugh Lawson Siner and his wife reared six children, namely: Benjamin N., William Nelson, John M., Louisa, Emeline and Cynthia.

Brought up on the home farm, William N. Siner obtained the rudiments of his education in the log school house with its puncheon floor and its rude slab benches, which, set up against the wall, served for the scholars to write upon. When out of school he assisted in clearing the land and tilling the soil, doing pioneer labor while yet a boy. At the age of fourteen years he went to Terre Haute, where for eight years he was employed as clerk in a grocery. Coming then to Car¬ bon, Mr. Siner purchased Mr. Wright's share in the business of Wood & Wright, dealers in furniture, and undertakers, the firm name becoming Wood & Siner. Subsequently buying out his partner, Mr. Siner con¬ ducted the business alone for four years, when he sold one-half interest in it to William H. Pell, his present partner.

Mr. Siner married, in October, 1866, Emily Turner, who was born in 1839 in Vigo county, where her parents. John W. and Deliza (McGrew) Turner, settled in pioneer days, moving there from Kentucky. Politically Mr. Siner is a stanch supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and fraternally he belongs to Carbon Lodge No. 145, Knights of Pythias. Religiously both Mr. and Mrs. Siner are members of the Missionary Baptist church.

William Henry Brenton. - A substantial and prosperous agri¬ culturist of Dick Johnson township, William Henry Brenton is eminently deserving of mention in this biographical work, being the descendant on both sides of pioneer ancestors, and, likewise, a fine representative of the native-born citizens of this part of Clay county, his birth having occurred January 14, 1844, on the homestead where he now lives. His father, James Brenton, a son of William Brenton, was born in Clark county, Indiana, in 1800.

William Brenton migrated from Wilmington, Delaware, to Indiana at a very early day, being one of the original settlers of what is now Clark county, when

The forest was the hunting ground of Indians, who had held the country for centuries, and were not pleased with the advances of white-faced strangers. One of his brothers, Frank Brenton, was killed by the Indians on the Pickaway plains in Ohio, and the powder horn which belonged to him is now owned by the subject of this sketch, it having been recovered after his death. William Brenton took part in many of the early skirmishes with the red men, including the capture of Fort Harrison. Improving a farm from the wilderness, he resided there until his death at a ripe old age. His wife, whose maiden name was Fanny Wiley, spent her last years on the Clark county homestead. She reared children as follows: James, William, Frank, Robert, Henry, Elizabeth, Sarah and John.

Coming from Clark county to Clay county in 1837, James Brenton was among the pioneers of Dick Johnson township, where he selected a tract of school land in section sixteen, and also a tract of land in section nine. The land was heavily timbered when it came into his possession, never an axe having touched the giant progeny of the forest. Clearing a small space, he built of sawed logs a house twenty feet square and two stories high, in which his children were born. There were in those days no convenient markets, Terre Haute being the nearest, and the few settlers lived principally on the game found in the woods or the produc¬ tions of the laijd. The garments of the household were made by the housewife, who also carded, spun and wove the material from which they were fashioned. Clearing a goodly portion of his land, James Brenton continued his agricultural labors until his death, in 1869, aged sixtv-nine years. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Webster, was born in Virginia, which was also the birthplace of her father, Daniel Webster. Mr. Webster was one of the first settlers of Dick Johnson township, and on the land, in section fifteen, which he purchased from the government he built a saw mill, the first and for a long time the only mill in this part of the county. He cleared the farm on which he and his wife, whose name before marriage was Rhoda Arthur, spent the remainder of their lives. Mary (Webster) Brenton, survived her hus¬ band and died in the fall of 1885 on the home farm, at the age of sixtyeight years. She reared four children, Martha Jane, William H., John and James, and of these William H., of this sketch, is the only survivor.

A life-long resident of the parental homestead, William H. Brenton tenderly cared for his parents in their declining years, from his youth up being interested in agriculture. Succeeding to the ownership of the homestead, he has continued the occupation to which he was reared, although he has to some extent been engaged in drilling, operating in both Clay and Vigo counties. The house which he now occupies, an attractive brick cottage, has a fine location at the head of a beautiful ravine, through which flows Little Otter creek.

Mr. Brenton married, in 1876, Sarah Hoffman, who was born in Nevins township, Vigo county, Indiana, March 10, 1851, a daughter of Abram Hoffman. Her grandfather, John Hoffman, born in Pennsylva¬ nia, of good German stock, moved to Ohio in 1812, becoming a pioneer of Pickaway county, his home being near Circleville. In 1818, still con¬ tinuing his march towards the frontier, he came to Clay county, Indiana, and located about six miles from Bowling Green, on the east bank of the Eel river. He was a man of prominence in local affairs, selecting Bowl¬ ing Green for the county seat, and afterwards clearing the ground to make room for the court house. He helped dig the first grave in Clay county, and assisted Mr. Croy in making the first coffin. Removing from this county to Vigo county, he was a pioneer of Nevins township, where he resided until his death, in the ninety-fourth year of his age. He was one of a large family of children, twenty-three in number. He was blessed with a remarkable memory, and in his old age told many incidents of his early life. When a boy of seven years he sat in the lap of General George Washington, and the first pair of boots he ever wore were given to him by that revered president. At the time of the war of 1812 he was the butcher for General William Hull's army, and *was a witness of that general's tame surrender of his army and all the terri¬ tory which he commanded. Mr. Hoffman spent his last years with his son Abram. His wife, whose maiden name was Barbara Harpster, was born in Pennsylvania and died in Vigo county.

Abram Hoffman, Mrs. Brenton's father, was born in 1815, in Ohio, and at the age of three years was brought by his parents to this state. On attaining manhood he entered a tract of government land in Nevins township, Vigo county, and built for his first domicile a house of sawed logs, which was weatherboarded without and sealed within, a most pre¬ tentious house for those days. He cleared and improved a good farm, and in 1868 erected a frame house, which he occupied the remainder of his life, dying there at the age of four-score years. He married Hannah Clark, who was born in Hamilton, Ohio, and died in Nevins township at a good old age. Her parents, Samuel and Phebe (Seers) Clark, moved from Ohio to Indiana in 1829, locating first near Terre Haute, but after¬ wards settled in Nevins township, which they made their permanent home.

Mr. and Mrs. Benton are the parents of four children, namely: Charles H., Bertha F., John C. and Edna R. Bertha, wife of James Davis, has two sons, Claude H. and James Clarence. Edna R., wife of Charles A. Loughmiller, has two children, Edna Ruth and Arthur Bren¬ ton. Politically Mr. Brenton is an adherent of the Democratic party, and in theory, practice and principle is a strong Prohibitionist. He takes genuine interest in local affairs, and for two terms rendered excellent service as township trustee. Religiously both Mr. and Mrs. Brenton are active and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Morton Belk. - Among the native-born citizens of Van Buren town¬ ship conspicuous for their ability and worth is Morton Belk, whose birth occurred August 25, 1870, on the farm where he now resides. He is a descendant in the fourth generation of one John Belk, the line of descent being as follows: John (i), William (2), Benjamin Franklin (3), and Morton (4). John (1) Belk, a native of Tennessee, served in the war of 1812, and afterwards took up government land in Russell county, Kentucky, where he followed farming the remainder of his life. The maiden name of his wife was Anna Tackett.

William (2) Belk was born on the homestead in Russell county, Kentucky, in 1801. He worked with his father on the home farm when young a part of the time and a part of the time assisted his brother, who was a cabinet maker. In 1828, accompanied by his wife and three chil¬ dren, he came to Indiana, bringing his children and goods in an ox-cart, while his wife rode horseback. After spending a year in Clay City he crossed the line into Washington township., where he entered a tract of government land which was then in its primitive wildness. Building a log house for a dwelling, he commenced clearing off the timber, and was there for a number of years engaged in agricultural pursuits. Taking then a contract to build a part of the National Road, he lived for a year in Vigo county. He then removed to Van Buren township, where he resided for some time, from there going back to Putnam county to his own land. When the Vandalia railroad was built he took a contract on that, and with his family removed to Eagles, where a few months later, in June, 1848, his death occurred. He married Elizabeth Bolin, who was born ifi Adair county, Kentucky, where her parents, Benjamin and Pru¬ dence (Calico) Bolin, natives of North Carolina, spent their last years. They had a family of nine children.

A native of Putnam county, Indiana, Benjamin F. Belk was born in 1840, in Washington township, and on the homestead which his father cleared from the forest was reared to agricultural pursuits. In 1861, at the first call for troops, he enlisted for three months in the Second Indiana Cavalry, with which he went to the front and served until the expiration of his term of enlistment. Being honorably discharged, he returned home and shortly afterwards re-enlisted for three years in the same regiment. Before the expiration of that time, however, he re-enlisted for another two years, or until the close of the war. He was with his command in all of its marches, campaigns and battles throughout the entire period of the war, and at its close was honorably discharged from the service, having fought bravely for his country. Returning to Indiana, he pur¬ chased the place where his son Morton now lives. This farm had been sadly neglected during the war, and was grown up to bushes and briars. Clearing these off, he fenced the land, added to the house, built a barn, and made many other needed improvements, residing there until his death April 7, 1896.

Benjamin F. Belk was twice married. His first wife, whose maiden name was Emeline Siner, was born in Washington township, Putnam county, Indiana, a daughter of William and Nancy (Hartman) Siner, pioneers of that region. She died in 1876, leaving three children, namely: Sarah; Morton, the special subject of this sketch; and Cora. He mar¬ ried second Maria Finley, a daughter of James Finley, and of this union two children were born, Mary Lillie and James Arthur. Further history of the Finley family may be found elsewhere in this volume, in connection with the sketch of James Arthur Belk.

offered opportunities for obtaining an education, attending the district school regularly when young. Under his father's instructions he became familiar with the various branches of agriculture, and early selected farm¬ ing as his life occupation. Succeeding to the ownership of the home farm, he has continued the improvements inaugurated by his father, and in his agricultural labors has met with much success.

Mr. Belk married, in 1897, Anna Palm, who was born in Jackson township, Clay county, a daughter of John A. and Sarah A. (Riddell) Palm. Politically Mr. Belk is affiliated with the Republican party, and religiously Mrs. Belk is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Fernando Wood Webster. - Standing prominent among the intelli¬ gent and practical agriculturists of Clay county is Fernando Wood Web¬ ster, of Dick Johnson township, who is distinguished among other things as being the owner of a farm that has been retained in the family since its original purchase from the government. He was born on the homestead where he now resides August 7, 1855, a son of Joshua and Mary (Kerr) Webster. A more extended parental and ancestral history may be found on another page of this biographical work in connection with the sketch of his brother, Anderson Webster.

Brought up on the homestead and educated in the district schools, Fernando W. Webster began as soon as physically able to assist in the numerous kinds of labor incidental to an agricultural life, while yet a boy helping his father in his almost herculean work of redeeming a farm from the wilderness. After the death of his parents he succeeded to the ownership of the farm on which his entire life has been passed, and in its management has been successful.

Mr. Webster married, in 1887, Charity Ellen Hardesty, who was born in this township, a daughter of Nelson and Elizabeth (Young) Hardesty, early settlers of Clay county.

John Haddon. - Starting out in life with nothing bijt youth in his favor and his endowments of good health, a vigorous muscle and a clear, cool brain, John Haddon has achieved success in his active career, and is a fine example of what is termed a self-made man. A resident of Van Buren township, he is busily engaged in tilling the soil, his farm being under excellent culture and well improved. A son of William Haddon, he was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, November 17, 1833. His paternal grandfather settled in West Virginia and spent his last years in the city of Wheeling, being upwards of ninety years when he died.

A native of Virginia, William Haddon was born and brought up at Harpers Ferry. When a young man he moved to Ohio, becoming a pioneer of Muskingum county. Although he never owned land, he rented a farm and made a specialty of raising wheat, one season harvesting twelve hundred dozen shocks of prime wheat, a crop that was almost record breaking at that day and place. He died at the age of sixty-five years in Hocking county, Ohio. His good wife, who preceded him to the better land, bore him ten children, as follows: Valentine, William, Mary, Eliza, Ruena, Elizabeth, Catherine, John, Daniel and Jane.

Being given his time when a boy of fifteen years, John Haddon commenced the battle of life for himself without a dollar of ready money. He began life as a farm hand, working by the month. Horses at that time were but little used on the farm, the ploughing and teaming being done by oxen, animals which he became an expert in handling and driving. In 1855 he migrated to Iowa, going by steamboat on the Grand river to Union county, where he remained two years, being employed in breaking prairie and in helping to fence a large farm. Starting eastward then, he made the journey to Clay county, Indiana, with two yoke of oxen, a slow mode of travel. The land in this vicinity was at that time covered with a dense growth of timber, through which wild beasts of many kinds roamed at will. He first found employment as a teamster, working for John Zellar, and until after the breaking out of the Civil war worked by the month.

In August, 1861, Mr. Haddon enlisted in Company H. Eleventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, known as Wallace's Zouaves, and going south was with his regiment in all of its marches, campaigns and engagements. Among the more important battles in which he actively participated were those at Champion Hill, Vicksburg and Port Gibson. Receiving his honorable discharge from the army in the fall of 1864, he returned to Clay county and resumed work by the month. Having accumulated some money Mr. Haddon then invested in land, buying twenty acres and com¬ mencing life for himself as a farmer. Industrious, persevering and a man of good business ability, he met with genuine success in his under¬ takings, prosperity smiling on his every effort. He has bought additional land and has now one hundred and sixty acres, on which he has made substantial improvements, the greater part of his farm being in a good state of cultivation, with a good set of farm buildings. The homestead now compares favorably with any in the vicinity and his property lies in section thirty-six.

Mr. Haddon has been twice married. He married first, in i860, Ann Palm, a daughter of Joseph and Lydia (Free) Palm. She died the following year, leaving one son, Joseph, who married Alice Hathaway, by whom he has seven children, Clarence, Earl, Eva, Estes, Ray, Dewey and Oscar. A^r. Haddon married for his second wife Eliza J. Haymaker, who was born in 1843 in Richland county, Ohio, which was probably the native state of her father, David Haymaker. Her grandfather, Samuel Haymaker, was a pioneer of Richland county, Ohio, going there from Pennsylvania. He was a farmer by occupation, and spent his last years on the homestead he improved near Mansfield. About 1846 David 'Hay¬ maker came from Ohio to Indiana, becoming an early settler of Clay county. Taking up a tract of wild land from the government, he cut down trees to make room for the log cabin which was to shelter his family, and lived there until his death, about 1858. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Fisher, was born in Ohio, a daughter of John Fisher. She survived him, married for her second husband Philip Boyd, and with him spent her remaining years in Jackson township. Mr. and Mrs. Haddon have six children, namely: Samuel, Mary, Catherine, Eliza, Grace and Anna.

Samuel Haddon, the oldest child, has been twice married. He mar¬ ried first Alice Bard, by whom he had one child, Bertha. He married second Rachel Denower, and they have four children, Marion and Florence, twins, jmd William and Roy. Mary Haddon married Summy Johnson, and has four children, Guy, Viola, Charles and Clay. Catherine Haddon married Henry Britton, and they have four children, John,

Norval, Ralph and Ellen. Grace Haddon married Charles Slack, and has four children, Martin, Cleo, Seibert and Philip. Mrs. Haddon is a con¬ sistent Christian woman and a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Haddon is a Republican.

James Newsome Halstead, whose intense and well directed activity is manifest in his capable and successful management of the Eagle Saw and Planing Mills, of which he is proprietor, is numbered among Brazil's valued and representative citizens. He was born in Dusebury in the county of York, England, June 17, 1856, and when three years of age went to live with an uncle, with whom he went to Canada at the age of six years. When eight years of age he became a resident of Pennsylvania, and at the age of thirteen years arrived in Indiana, settling in Harmony, Clay county, in company with his uncle. There he attended school and afterward engaged in keeping books for the firm of Halstead & Pyrah until eighteen years of age, when he returned to England, spending about seven months in his native land. He had, however, formed a strong attachment for the land of his adoption, and on the expiration of that period he returned to Harmony, where he again became bookkeeper for the firm which he had formerly served. He also kept books for the Runser Iron Company at Knightsville, Indiana, and the careful husbanding of his financial resources enabled him at the age of twenty-four years to engage in the drug goods business at Harmony. He carried on that business for about two years, when he withdrew from that department of commercial life and engaged in the planing mill business with C. W. Reed in Brazil, Indiana. He was connected with that enterprise until December, 1880, when he sold out to J. E. Sherfey and in the spring of 1881 be built the mill now conducted under the name of C. E. Wilder & Company. Mr. Halstead remained a partner in that undertaking until 1887, when he again disposed of his interest in the business and went south to Tennessee, where he purchased timber land, intending to engage in the lumber business in that part of the country.

After spending some time in the south, however, Mr. Halstead returned to Brazil. He still owns his timber land in Tennessee, which is today very valuable. When he had again established his, home in Brazil he built the Crusedale Block on the land where the Sourwine Block now stands. In 1888 he erected the Eagle Saw and Planing Mills and has since conducted business in the manufacture of lumber and as a dealer in all kinds of lumber, lath, shingles, moulding and builders' hard¬ ware, making however, a specialty of mill work. This enterprise has been gradually developed to extensive and profitable proportions and is to-day one of the important industrial concerns of the county. Mr. Hal¬ stead is a man of resourceful business ability who has never confined his attention to one line but has branched out into various fields of activity, in all displaying an aptitude for successful management and notable capacity in executing well formulated plans. He has been an active and successful dealer in real estate and is to-day the owner of three farms in Clay county, one of which adjoins the corporation limits of Brazil on the south, while one is situated in Posey township and the third in Jackson township. He is also one of the owners of the Greencastle Electric Light Plant, is a stockholder in the Interurban Electric Railway Company, a stockholder and director in the Brazil Trust Company, vice president of the Brazil Building and Loan Association and also has business interests in Indianapolis. He was the architect in the building of the county jail and was the contractor and builder of the Carnegie library.

On the 24th of December, 1879, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Halstead and Miss Hattie B. Wilder, a native of Indiana and a daughter of Christopher E. and Lucinda Wilder. Mr. and Mrs. Halstead have become the parents of four sons and three daughters: William E., who married Miss Essie Wehrle; George E., who is attending Purdue Uni¬ versity ; Ethel A., who is a graduate of De Pauw University ; Earl W. ; Myrtle; James; and Dorothy A. Mr. Halstead is a member of Centen¬ nial Lodge, No. 541, A. F. & A. M., with which he has been identified from the age of twenty-one years. He likewise belongs to Brazil Lodge, No. 30, K. P., and to the Elks Lodge, No. 762, B. P. O. E. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, but while he keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day, as every true American citizen should do, he has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs, in which he has met with signal success. His business career has been marked by steady advancement. Opportunities which others have passed by heedlessly he has recognized and improved. He knows that the present and not the future holds the chance for every individual and, never waiting for more favorable advantages, he has utilized the opportunity of the moment and has become a forceful and honored factor in business circles.

George Green Pell. - The substantial and well-to-do citizens of Van Buren township have no better representative than George Green Pell, who stands high among the keen, progressive and business-like farmers who are so ably conducting the agricultural interests of this part of Clay county. He was born in this township October 17, 1853, being the eldest son of Richard Dudley and Eliza (McKinley) Pell. In connection with the sketch of his mother, which appears elsewhere in this book, further parental and ancestral history may be found.

In his youthful days George G. Pell received excellent educational advantages, attending first the public schools of his district and afterward continuing his studies at the Friends' Schpol at Blpomingdale. For two years during his early life Mr. Pell was a weigher at the mines, but otherwise has always been engaged in agricultural pursuits, carrying on general farming and dairying after the most approved modern methods. For awhile after his marriage he lived on the National Road, in the old "Stage Tavern," and then took possession of the farm on which his parents commenced life for themselves and which he now owns and occupies. This farm, located on section thirty-five, contains four hun¬ dred and seventy-eight acres of good land, the greater part of which is in use, being devoted to general farming and hay raising. The house is beautifully situated in a fine grove of walnut trees, and with its environ¬ ments invariably attracts the attention of the passer-by.

On May 15, 1877, Mr. Pell married Catherine E. West, who was born at Cloverland, Posey township, Clay county. Her father, Marcus L. West, and her grandfather, James West, were both natives of Clermont county, Ohio. Migrating with his family to Indiana at an early day, James West settled in Harrison township, where he entered a tract of government land. He was a carpenter by trade, and followed that occu- pation until the breaking out of the Mexican war, when he enlisted, and died while in service, giving his life for his country. His wife, whose name before marriage was Keziah Dunham, survived him and died at the age of eightv-two years. Born in 1827, Marcus L. West was eleven years old when he came with his parents to this county. Growing to man¬ hood in Harrison township, he entered the service of the United States when his father did, enlisting in the same company, and served through¬ out the Mexican war. Returning home at its close, he was for a time employed at a saw mill, and then bought land, cleared and improved a farm, and for several years was engaged in agricultural pursuits. He is now living retired from active labors at Cloverland. The maiden name of his wife, mother of Mrs. Pell, was Maria Carpenter. Her father, George Carpenter, a native of Pennsylvania, was a pioneer of Clay county, and in early days kept a stage station at Cloverland, where he spent his last years. Mr. Carpenter's wife, Elizabeth Anderson, was born in Ohio, a daughter of Jacob Anderson, who emigrated from Germany to this country, locating first in Pennsylvania and from there came to Williamstown, Indiana, where he too kept a stage station in early times, afterwards spending his declining days at Cloverland. Mrs. Marcus L. West, mother of Mrs. Pell, died August 30, 1905, at Cloverland, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Pell have eight children, namely: Seth, Letha A., Jacob A., Francis J., Katherine E., Richard Dudley, Grover McKinley and George R.

Robert Marion Casteel. - A well known farmer, active and enter¬ prising, Robert M. Casteel is pleasantly located in Van Buren township, where he is successfully employed in agricultural pursuits, having a well improved and well managed homestead. A son of Franklin Casteel, he was born May 2, 1848, in Madison county, Indiana, about a mile from the village of Elwood. His grandfather, Thomas Casteel, and his great¬ grandfather, Jeremiah Casteel, were both natives of Maryland, Thomas having been born in the extreme southwest corner of that state. Jere¬ miah Casteel, who was an iron worker by trade, moved from Maryland to Ohio, and there died at the home of his son Thomas in the eighty-sixth year of his age. He married a bonnie Scotch lassie who came to Mary¬ land from Scotland when a child.

Thomas Casteel grew to manhood in his native state, down in the southwest corner, and in after years used to say that when a boy he frequently went out before breakfast and ran around the boundary stone breathing the fresh air of three different states. At the age of twentytwo years he migrated to Ohio, and six years later married. Buying then a farm located about four miles from Zanesville, he resided there a number of years and then came to Indiana, stopping first, for a year, at Greenfield. Settling in Madison county in 1840, he purchased land near Elwood, and lived there until 1861. Selling out, he removed to Edgar county, Illinois, purchased a farm, and there spent the remainder of his life, dying in 1876, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He married Elizabeth Waltamyre, who was born near Zanesville, Ohio, a daughter of Amos Waltamyre, a native of Germany. Mr. Waltamyre was a batter by trade, and also owned and operated a pottery near Zanesville for awhile. He subsequently purchased a farm near there, and that is now owned by one of his sons. His wife's maiden name was Mercer. Thomas Casteel's wife survived him four years, dying at the age of seventy-nine years.

A boy of sixteen years when he came with the family to Madison county, Franklin Casteel remained at home until his marriage, and then for two years worked his mother-in-law's farm. Buying then a tract of land of which only a few acres were cleared, he built a log cabin, and in this his son Robert, the subject of this sketch, first drew the breath of life. There being then neither railways nor convenient markets in this part of the country, every one lived on the productions of the farm and dressed in homespun and home-made garments. Little do the people of these later generations realize the hardships and trials endured, the great ambition required, and the physical endurance demanded to secure the homes established by the brave pioneers for themselves and their descend¬ ants. Selling out in 1856, Franklin Casteel came to Clay county and purchased land in Van Buren township, Brazil then being but a small hamlet, while the surrounding country was heavily timbered. Taking possession of the small frame house previously erected on the land, he cleared and improved the greater part of his estate, put up a substantial set of buildings, and was there employed in general farming until 1887. Selling in that year, he bought forty acres of land near Harmony and there lived retired until his death, in February, 1906, aged eighty-two years and three days. He married Martha Ann Dunlavv, who was born near Richmond, Wavne county, Indiana, December 24, 1830, a daughter of Anthony Dunlavy and granddaughter of Daniel Dunlavy.