Clinton County, Indiana - Biographical sketches, 1913 (part 17 of 17)

He was elected trustee of his township in 1008. with a good majority, and he has discharged the duties of the office in a manner that reflects much credit upon himself and to the eminent satisfaction of all concerned.

Thomas Watt Masters

The class of people who are mo>t helpful and influential in any county are those who persistentlv follow a chosen vocation, who make an effort to discharge the duties of good citizenship while laboring for their own advancement; who attend to their own business, thus being too busy to attend to that of others; who work on steadily from day to day. taking the sunshine with the storm. Such people .are always welcome in any community and any country. They are wealth producers, and Clinton county is blessed with many of them, among which is that of Thomas Watt Masters, one of the most prominent citizens of Rossville. president of the Rossville Bank, and extensive agriculturist and an honored veteran of the Civil war.

Mr. Masters is descended from sterling old German and Scotch- Irish ancestry, who have been worthy citizens of the United States since back in the old Colonial days. Christopher Masters, grandfather of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania, and he resided in Lancaster county where he engaged in the manufacture of gun barrel-- for the arnn during the war of 1812. His family consisted of ten children, an equal number of sons and daughters. From there he removed to Indiana in a very earlv dav, locating in Fairfield, Franklin county. He was a blacksmith by trade and a verv skilled workman, however, he bought a mill in Fairfield and land in that vicinitv where he passed the remainder of his days. Before leaving his native state he had worked a great deal with a trip hammer and forging iron. He was active in the affairs of the Methodist church. He died when about eighty years of age. His son John Masters, father of our subject, was born August 5, 1805, and he received a meager education in the pioneer schools. He learned the blacksmith's trade under his father. Upon reaching manhood he married in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, Susannah Harris, and to them eight children were born, six sons and two daughters. The first four were born in the above-named county, and the last four in Franklin county, Indiana. In 1835 Mr. Masters moved to Franklin county. He purchased one hundred and fifty acres of land there and followed farming and blacksmithing. By thrift and economy he added to his original purchase until he owned three hundred acres of valuable land two miles from Fairfield. Both he and his wife were members of the Methodist church, in which he was both steward and trustee, and he was class leader for many years. He was a useful and influential man in his neighborhood. He reached the advanced age of eightvfive years, dying on his farm on January 31. i8qi* His wife was born in February, 1807, and died April 1, 1887, at the age of eightv years.

Thomas \V. Masters, the immediate subject of this sketch, was born June 26. 1838. in Franklin county, Indiana, near Fairfield, on his father's farm. There he grew to manhood and received a common school education. When the war betw een the states began he enlisted at Connersvville, Fayette county, in Company L. Forty-first Regiment. September 18, 1861, for three vears or during the war. under Capt. Isaac Walker and Colonel Bridgeland. He was then twenty-three years old. He saw7 much hard service, taking part in many battles and skirmishes in Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, including the battles of Shiloh and Corinth. His regiment was captured at Hartsville, Tenn., by Gen. John Morgan, only one lieutenant and six men escaping, they having been on detached duty, Mr. Masters being one of them. Later the regiment was paroled and sent back to Indianapolis where the men were remounted and armed. Tliev were in a number of skirmishes while scouting in the vicinity of Gallatin. Tenn. They fought at the battle of Chattanooga and in all that campaign, then participated in the memorable Atlanta campaign, taking part in the battles of Dalton, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain. Rocky Face Ridge. Chattahoochee River and the battles in front of Atlanta. While there his term of enlistment expired and he returned with the rest of the regiment to Indianapolis. The regiment wras ordered to turn over its horses and saddles and to draw sixty rounds of ammunition, as trouble was expected in southern Indiana. They were retained eight days at Indianapolis, and honorably discharged October 4, 1864.

Mr. Masters at once returned to Fairfield and on January 3, 1865, he married Susannah Haywood, a daughter of Joseph and Ann (Crandell) Haywood. Joseph Haywood was a substantial farmer near Fairfield where he settled in an early day. The Haywoods were an old Maryland family, of English and German ancestry. Joseph Haywood settled in Franklin county when a young man, was married there and became the father of twelve children, an equal number of sons and daughters. Three ot the sons served in the Civil war, Elisha, Thomas and Jonathan, the first two named serving in the Sixty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Thomas being out three years and was in many battles; Elisha died in Indianapolis of the measles. Jonathan enlisted just after the last call for troops. The father died during the war at the age of seventy-eight years. He was a member of the Friends church and was a good, peaceable man.

The month following his marriage Air. Masters came to the vicinity of Rossville, Clinton county and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land on which he has resided continuously to the present time, successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising. He built here a substantial residence and made other important improvements. He and his wife are members of the Methodist church in which he is a trustee. Politically, he is a Republican, and he has served three terms as township trustee. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He has long been regarded as a leader in local affairs.

Charles E. Meyer

One of the enterprising and public-spirited business men of Colfax, Clinton county, who has worked hard and managed well and dealt honestly with his fellow men, thereby deserving the material success which has come to him in so large a measure is Charles E. Meyer. Men like him are true representatives of the type that are making our modern cities what they are - progressive, important and as good places as possible to live in.

Air. Aleyer who is widely known as a tile manufacturer, was born in Edgar county, Illinois, near the city of Paris, on a farm, October 21, 1877. He is a son of M. C. Meyer, a native of Darke county, Ohio. The mother of our subject was Alary E. Davis before her marriage. To this union nine children were born, four sons and five daughters. The mother died in Clarke county, Illinois. The father spent his life engaged in general agricultural pursuits in Illinois, reared his large family in comfort and respectability,

Charles E. Meyer was reared on the home farm and there worked when a boy. He received his education in the public schools. For some time he resided in Brockton, 111., where he was in the employ of a Mr. Lee, one of the proprietors of a tile factor}', and he there learned the various phases of tile manufacture. Finally he came to Colfax, Ind., and took a position with a local tile plant as foreman, the duties of which he is still discharging in a manner that is entirely satisfactory to his employers, for he is a careful, painstaking workman and understands thoroughly all parts of the business. He ha§ resided in Colfax ten years and is well known to the business world in this locality. His fourteen years as an expert tile burner has made it possible for the local plant to turn out a superior product which is finding a wide and ready market.

Mr. Meyer was married in i8()6 in Clarke county, Illinois, to Margaret Rush, who was reared in Clark county, Illinois. To this union six children have been born, namely: Lovina. Ola, Edna, Leota. Rachael, and one son, Henry: they are all living but Henry, who died in infancy.

Fraternally. Mr. Meyer is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias, having passed the chairs in the latter and is active in lodge work. He and his wife belong to the Christian church. Mrs. Meyer is a member of the Royal Neighbors. She has two brothers and two sisters.

Our subject and wife have a neat new five room cottage, well furnished. Politically, Mr. Meyer is a Republican and he takes considerable interest in public affairs, especially in the general upbuilding of Colfax, being at present a member of the city council, and a member of the local board of trustees. As an official he has done much to show that the people were wise in selecting him for their servant in a public capacitv.

Edmund O. Sil Vert Horn

It is not everyone who can make a success raising horses. Nature seems to endow some with the ability to properly judge, raise and train a horse, while most people are comparative failures in this line of endeavor; but most everybody admire a well-bred, well-groomed horse, whether driver, runner, saddler or draft, and one the things that has always added zest to

''the pomp and circumstances of war" has been the magnificent chargers which officers ride. Clinton county, Indiana, has long been noted for her splendid horses and many of her citizens have become widely known as horsemen and have accumulated handsome competencies by a judicious handling of these animals. One such man is Edmund O. Silverthorn, of Ross township, proprietor of "Quality Stock Farm."

Mr. Silverthorn was born January 31, 1872, in Ross township, Clinton county. He is a scion of an old and sterling family, early settlers of Ross township. He is a son of Joseph Silverthorn and wife. The mother of our subject, who was known in her maidenhood as Anna Eliza Pence died in Pennsylvania where she went on a visit, at the age of forty-two years. Robert Silverthorn, the paternal grandfather, was a native of Pennsylvania and a scion of an English family. Joseph Silverthorn was born in Pennsylvania where he spent his earlier years, emigrating to Wisconsin and after a few years to Indiana locating in Clinton county. In early manhood he married Anna Eliza Pence, a daughter of Abner and Eliza Pence. Her death occurred in 1886, leaving three children. Laura, Edmund O. and Maud. Joseph Silverthorn devoted his life to general farming and stock raising and was one of the leading stockmen of his community, and on his farm was his son Edmund O. reared, and he received a good common school education and at the high school at Rossville. On October 11, 1893, he married Venora Bozworth, who was born in Owen township, Clinton countv. Julv 4, 1874, and here she grew to womanhood and was educated in the public schools of her community and the high school at Frankfort. She is a daughter of John S. and Belle (Haggard) Bozworth. well known citizens of Owen township, a sketch of whom appears on another page of this work. To our subject and wife, three children have been born, namely: Joseph B., born August 19, 1894; Lavonne, born July 13, 1896, married Okes Deeds and they live in Carroll county, Indiana, and John E., born June 20, 1909.

Early in life, Mr. Silverthorn took up farming for a livelihood and has continued this line of endeavor to the present time, specializing in live stock. He has been very successful and is now owner of one of the choice farms of Ross township, a mile and a half east of Rossville, which is regarded as one of the leading horse farms in Indiana and many visitors, from far and near, are unstinted in their admiration of the fine horses found here at all seasons and also in their compliments of its enterprising and thrifty owner. The place consists of one hundred and sixty acres, under modern improvement and a high state of cultivation, and on it is to be seen a splendid group of substantial buildings, including a beautiful dwelling and large barns, all in the midst of attractive surroundings. Here is found convenient barns also for cattle and hogs, two large silos, ample sheds, in fact, everything one might expect to find on a well-kept twentieth century farm. At the present writing, Mr. Silverthorn has twenty-three head of thoroughbred Belgian horses, which are regarded as having few peers and no superiors in the state, much time and money having been used in securing the best that the world offers and owing to their superior qualities they find a very ready market. Among them is Count de Beyant, a two thousand pound horse. Olive D. is a champion brood mare of Belgium. No finer specimens than these are to be found in this country.

John William Dunk

Among the citizens of Clinton county who have been contented to devote their active lives to agricultural pursuits is John William Dunk, of Ross township. He was in the merchandise business for three years, and, having been a close student of the soils, the climate, the crops and all the phases that contribute to husbandry he has profited by his observation and is today well abreast of the times as an agriculturist. Although he does not farm on so large a scale as some of our citizens, none do their work any better. The man who tills properly a small farm often reaps larger results than his neighbor who carelessly manages a farm of large acreage.

Mr. Dunk was born in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, on December 7, 1864. He is a son of John William Dunk, Sr., who was born in Germany. He was brought to America when a child and here he grew to manhood and married Joanna Bach, whose parents were natives of Holland. Her death occurred when our subject was three years old. He is one of six children, four sons and two daughters, namely: John W., of this sketch; Albert, of Ross township; Charles C., lives in St. Louis; Jno. M., of Tippecanoe countv and two others who died in infancy unnamed.

The death of John W. Dunk, Sr., occurred in 1880 in Perry township, Tippecanoe county, Indiana, where he had removed with his family from Wisconsin a number of years previously. He was forty-eight years old. Politically, he was a Democrat, and religiously, was a member of the Reformed church.

In 1885 he married Laura E. Burkhalter, a daughter of Henry Burkhalter, a farmer of Perry township, Tippecanoe county, where she grew to womanhood and received her education in the common schools. The following children have been born to our subject and wife: Jennie M., married Ernest Black ; She taught school several years ; Ray, owns a farm in this county which he operates, he also taught school several years; Earl E., was next in order and he also taught some, and Lawrence, nine years of age, now attending school.

Henry Burkhalter, father of Mrs. Dunk, died in 1872 at Edna Mills, Clinton county. He left two children, Mrs. Jennie Yost of Edna Mills, and Laura E., who married Mr. Dunk, of this sketch. Mr. Dunk has devoted his life to farming and is now owner of an excellent place of ninetv-four acres in Ross township. He handles some good live stock from year to vear and is making a comfortable living by his industry and good management. He has a good eight room house and convenient outbuildings, and his place is well fenced. Politically, he is a Democrat and is a worker for his partv. He and his familv are members of the Presbyterian church at Rossville.

X. N. Smith

Among the voung business men of Clinton county who have forged to the front through the exercise of sterling innate attributes is X. X. Smith, a man in whom the utmost confidence is reposed and who is deserving in every way of the large success he has attained and the esteem of his fellow men.

X. X. Smith was born February 24. 18 77. spent his boyhood at Anderson, Indiana, where he learned the cigar trade. He came to Frankfort and started a cigar factorv in 1894 and remained there for five years and then went to Flora, Indiana, where he conducted a cigar factory for thirteen years. In 1912 he returned to Frankfort, where he is now in a three-storv brick building, erected for his trade; here he makes a popular cigar, whose trade mark is the Bankable. The business is prosperous and growing rapidly. Recentlv he made an addition to the building; in all, he has more than one hundred skilled cigar makers who are making this fine cigar which supplies a reach- market. This factory opened in Frankfort July, 1912. The Bankable cigar, noted for its fine flavor and sunerior C[uality, is made of the domestic and foreign tobacco the scientific preparation of which renders the Bankable superior to any other cigar selling for ten cents. Its quality, workmanship and cleanliness are all combined to make it a very popular brand. Mr.

Smith has organized his factory so as to attain the best results of the labor and skill employed. His factory is a model of efficiency and good management.

The men and women in his employ are highly skilled ; he pays them good wages. Their work is subject to the closest scrutiny and inspection and nothing is put upon the market unless it is perfect; each box of cigars made at this factory is uniformly superior, for nothing imperfect is allowed to go out. This factory will continue to grow until the Bankable cigar brand will be known all over the great Middle West as the best and most saleable cigar ever offered to the public.

Charles E. Wixks

Charles E. Winks was born in Warren county, Indiana, October 20, 1858. He is the eldest son of John Quincy and Sabra (Cheezem) Winks, natives of Jackson county, Ohio, and Parke county, Indiana, respectively; a grandson of Joshua and Deborah (Crag) Winks, natives of Maryland and Pennsylvania, a great grandson of Joseph and Sophia (Marsh) Winks, and a great great grandson of George Winks, who emigrated from Wales to Cecil countv. Maryland, in 1730.

He was married in Warren county. Indiana. August 21, 1878. to Julia A. Tyler, daughter of George Clinton and Harriet (Swank) Tvler, and who is the seventh in descent from Job Tyler, one of the founders of Andover, Massachusetts, in 1O31 : eighth in descent from Lieut. \bel Wright, who settled in Springfield. LMa-sachusett-. in 1633; eighth in descent from Daniel Galusha. who settled at Chelmsford, Massachusetts, in 1638, and ninth in descent from Richard W arren, who came over in the Mayflower in r620.

Charles E. Winks received a common school education, supplemented with a course in the State Normal School at Terre Haute, Indiana. At the age of seventeen he began teaching in the schools of Warren countv, and so continued until April, 1889, when he took the civil service examination and received an appointment in the railway mail service, on the Lake Erie & Western railroad, between Lafayette, Indiana, and Peoria. Illinois, where he served one year, then was transferred to the Clover Leaf railroad, where he has served since 1890.

grandson of Xehemiah, one of the pioneers of Clinton county; Elma, who married James A. Blinn, son of George D. and grandson of Jacob Blinn, one of Clinton county's pioneers; Charles E., Jr., who married Miss Mabel Nichols, daughter of Albert Nichols, and a great granddaughter of Rev. Charles Stafford, one of the pioneer Methodist preachers of Clinton county.

Mr. and Mrs. Winks are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Also members of the Masonic and Eastern Star lodges. Mrs. Winks is also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, having proof of live ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War.

Dewitt C. Smith

Member of the firm of Smith & Scripture, veterinary surgeons, of Frankfort, and one of the best known men of his profession in northern Indiana, is a native of Franklin county, this state, and dates his birth from the 28th day of May, 1859. His father. Joseph A. Smith, a Virginian, was born in 1816. and when a mere child came to Indiana with his parents, and in due time entered a store in Greensburg. where he clerked for a number of years, becoming familiar with basic principles of commercial life the meanwhile. In 1861 he embarked in the dry goods trade at the above place and after conducting a successful business during the nine years ensuing, disposed of his stock in 1870 and moved to a farm on which he resided until his death, in 1884. He was a Democrat of the old school though by no means a politician or office seeker. A member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in even- relation of life a useful citizen and most estimable and influential gentleman. Sarah DexArmond, who became the wife of Joseph Smith in 1884, and in the month and year indicated above, the mother of the honored subject of this sketch, was born in Butler countv, Ohio, in 1844, and is still living in the city of Greensburg, Indiana, where she has spent the greater part of her life.

Dewitt C. Smith enjoyed excellent educational advantages in his youth, attending for some years the public schools, later a Normal school and finished his intellectual training with a collegiate course. After spending nine years as a teacher, he decided to continue educational work and prepare himself for a more permanent and satisfactory calling. .Accordingly, he entered the American Veterinary College in New York, where he made a creditable rec- ord as a student and from which he was graduated in the year 1892. In looking about for a favorable field in which to practice his profession, he located at Frankfort, Indiana, the year in which he finished his course and since that time has built up a large and lucrative business in his adopted city, being, as already stated, a partner of Dr. I. E. Scripture, and a man of much more than ordinary ability and influence in the line of his calling.

Politically he wields a strong influence for the Democratic party, and fraternally, is identified with the Woodmen. Odd Fellows and Masonic organizations. In matters religious he has sound convictions, being an active member of the M. E. church of Frankfort, to which body his wife also belongs. The Doctor was happily married in 1886 to Miss Eudora Russel, a most estimable and popular lady whose birth occurred in Franklin county, Indiana; December, 1858.

Isan Enoch Scripture is a native of Indiana, born in Decatur county, February 7, 1868. His father, Alfred Scripture, whose birth occurred in the same county May 30, 1833, was a son of John and Elizabeth Scripture, the former a native of New York but an early resident of Indiana, having accompanied his parents to this =tate as long ago as 1803, locating on a tract of public land, a part of which is still in possession of the family. John and Elizabeth Scripture were typical pioneers of the period in which they lived and bore their full share in the development of the section of county where they settled, the former departing this life some time in the sixties, the mother several years later. Their son, Alfred, who became a leading farmer, a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and an influential local politician of the Democratic party, married in 1857 Miss Mary E. Mitchell, who was born on December 2, 1841, in Illinois, and who was called to the Unseen World in April, 1907, her husband having preceded her to the grave February 24, 1891.

Dr. Isan Enoch Scripture, their son, spent his early life in the county of his birth and received his educational training in the public schools. Having decided to fit himself for some useful vocation and finding that veterinary surgery afforded a fine opening for a young man of ability and energy, he finallv entered the American Veterinary College, New York City, where he prosecuted his studies and investigations until completing the prescribed course and receiving his degree in 1893, since which time he has practiced his profession at Frankfort, where he has an extensive and constantly growing patronage, being among the best known and most successful men of his calling in the state. The Doctor is a friend and admirer of the horse, man's most faithful and obedient servant, and spares neither pains nor expenses in familiarizing himself with the diseases to which the animal is subject, and to treat successfully any accident with which it may meet. By reason of this, his services are required in other and distant places. He has been as fortunate financially as professionally and occupies today a conspicuous place among the leading men of his adopted city, owning two valuable tracts of land of 75 and 80 acres respectively, besides valuable property on South Columbia street, all the result of strict attention to his vocation and the exercise of a judicious economy which have earned him a competency and made him practically independent.

Dr. Scripture is still in the prime of manhood and a most estimable and popular gentleman. He is a Republican in politics, a member of the W. O. W. and as a communicant of the M. E. church, exemplifies in his daily walk and conversation the beautv and worth of the religious faith to which he yields allegiance.

On the 8th day of September. 1892, he entered the marriage relation with Miss Caroline I. Ketchum, whose birth occurred in Decatur county, Indiana, September 20, 1868. and who has borne him one child - a daughter - - Lucy, who is still a member of the home circle and her mother's able assistant in the management of the household.