Delaware County, Indiana - Sidelights on Local History, 1924 (part 18 of 21)

A. E. CECIL, one of Liberty township's progressive farmers and stockmen, proprietor of a well improved farm in the Mt. Tabor neighborhood, rural mail route No. 5 out of Muncie, was born on that farm and has lived there the greater part of his life. Mr. Cecil was born on June 13, 1875, and is a son of Walter A. and Carrie (Kindel) Cecil, the latter of whom was born at Mt. Pleasant, Tenn. Walter A. Cecil was born in Liberty township, a member of the pioneer Cecil family that had its beginning in this county with the coming of Aaron Cecil, a Virginian, here in 1831, and which has ever since been prominently represented in this county. To Walter A. Cecil and wife were born six children, the subject of this sketch having three sisters, Pearl, Daisy and Goldie, and two brothers, John K. and W. Ray Cecil. Reared on the home farm in Liberty township, A. E. Cecil received his early schooling in the Mt. Tabor school and then spent two years in DePauw University. Upon his return from college he became associated with his father in the operations of the home farm and remained there until after his marriage when he bought a place of eighty-four acres and began farming on his own account. For five years he farmed that place and then sold it and bought a farm of 180 acres in Marion county, where he lived for five years, at the end of which time he sold that place and returned to Delaware county. Upon his return here Mr. Cecil bought the old home place of 200 acres and has since been engaged in farming there. In addition to his general farming he also does quite a business in dairying and in the raising of live stock for the market. Mr. and Mrs. Cecil are Republicans and are members of the Selma Methodist Episcopal church. They have three children, Walter P., Paul E. and Edith Carolyn, all of whom are still at home. Mrs. Cecil (Leora M. Phillips) also was born in Liberty township, daughter of William H. and Mahala Frances (Keesling): Phillips, who were the parents of five children, Mrs. Cecil having two sisters, Florence G. and Nellie E., and two brothers, Edgar E. and Harry H. Phillips. Both William H. Phillips and his wife also were born in this county, the latter in Perry township, a daughter of Martin and Cora Keesling. William H. Phillips was born in Liberty township in 1840, a son of Henry and Susanna (Sweetman) Phillips, who were married in Butler county, Ohio, and who in 1836, immediately following their marriage, established their home on a tract of land which Henry Phillips had entered from the government in section 7 of Liberty township, this county, where they developed a good farm and spent the remainder of their lives, helpful pioneers of that neighborhood, about three miles east of Muncie. Henry Phillips and his wife had five children, three sons and two daughters. William H. Phillips early fitted himself for teaching and was for about ten years a teacher in the schools of this county. He married in 1870 and thereafter devoted himself to farming, coming to be the owner of a good farm of 150 acres in section 5 of Liberty township. He also was a member of the board of directors of the Delaware County Bank of Muncie.

ALVAH LORENZO BINGHAM, president of the Machinists Foundry Company of Muncie, superintendent of mechanics at the great plant of the Ball Bros. Glass Manufacturing Company and a former member of the city council, is a Vermonter by birth but has been a resident of Indiana and of Muncie since the year 1889, having come here when the Ball interests were moved from Buffalo to Muncie in that year. Mr. Bingham was born at St. Albans, Vt., December 8, 1865, and is a son of Lorenzo D. and Elizabeth (Adams) Bingham, the latter of whom was born at Barre, Mass. Lorenzo D. Bingham was a Canadian by birth, born in Sherbrook, Ontario, and was for many years engaged in blacksmithing and carriage making at St. Albans, where both he and his wife spent their last days. They were the parents of five children, three sons and two daughters. Reared at St. Albans, A. L. Bingham received his schooling there and early learned the art of telegraphy, at which he worked for some _ time or until he took up the iron trade, taking employment with Frank & Company, builders of woodworking machinery at Buffalo, N. Y. Two years later, in 1886, he began his connection, at Buffalo, with the Ball brothers' glass works, and when in 1889 that establishment was moved to Muncie he came along as a part of the organization and has ever since been connected with the same, present superintendent of mechanics at the plant, besides which he also has charge of the machine shop, the stamping works and the corrugated box department of the great plant, having under his direction about five hundred employes. Mr. Bingham is an inventor of more than local reputation and is the designer and patentee of no fewer than seven important types of glass-working machines, used in the manufacture of fruit jars, bottles and the like, all used in the Ball plant, and also has designed and has manufactured four machines used in the manu- facture of fruit-jar caps and similar metal articles. In 1905 Mr. Bingham organized the Machinists Foundry Company of Muncie, the concern starting as a co-partnership with F. E. Burt and John McLaughlin. In the next year this concern was incorporated with a capital stock of $10,000 and in 1922 was re-capitalized for $100,- 000, with Mr. Bingham as president of the company, F. E. Burt as vice president and R. O. Burt as secretary-treasurer. This concern manufactures gray iron, brass, bronze and aluminum products and makes a specialty of automobile parts. The plant at Macedonia and Tenth streets has been enlarged from time to time as expansion required and now employs about eighty men. Mr. Bingham is a Democrat and for eight years served as councilman at large in the city common council. He also has served a term as a member of the board of safety and as a member of the park board. He is a Freemason and is a member of the local tent of the Knights of the Maccabees, of Post R. of the Travelers Protective Association, of the Chamber of Commerce, the Elks Club and the Exchange Club, an active member of the Young Men's Christian Association and a member of St. John's Universalist church. In 1889, the year of his arrival in Muncie, A. L. Bingham was united in marriage, at Marilla, N. Y., to Alice E. Eldridge, who died at Muncie in 1913, leaving two daughters, Alice E. and Mildred L.

HARRY R. THEIS, clerk of the town of Selma and a druggist of that place, proprietor of the only drug store in Selma, is a native of the state of Illinois but has been a resident of Indiana for nearly fifteen years. Mr. Theis was born at Mason in Effingham county, Illinois, January 4, 1872, and is a son of Frederick W. and Elizabeth Caroline (Thompson) Theis, the latter of whom was born in Indiana. The late Frederick W. Theis, a native of Germany, came to America when he was eighteen years of age and located at Indianapolis. Because of defective eyesight he entered the Indiana State School for the Blind and was there trained as a broom-maker. He married at Indianapolis and remained there until he moved to Mason, Ill., in the heart of the broomcorn country, there became engaged in the manufacture of brooms and in that place spent the remainder of his life. Harry R. Theis was reared at Mason and early became a barber, a vocation he followed for years, starting at Mason and being thus engaged there and in other towns in Illinois until in 1911, when he came to Indiana and located at Lebanon, where he remained for a couple of years or until in 1918, when he moved to Selma, which since has been his place of residence. Upon locating at Selma Mr. Theis opened a barber shop there and was thus engaged in the barber business for ten years, or until in February, 1923, when he sold his barber shop and bought the drug store and has since been engaged in the drug and druggist's sundries business, proprietor of the only drug store in Selma, and is doing well. Mr. Theis is a Republican and is now rendering public service as clerk of the town of Selma. For some time during his residence at Mason he also served as clerk of that town. He is a past noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is also affiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men. On April 22, 1918, Harry R. Theis married Iva M. Williams, daughter of W. H. and Johanna Williams, of Selma, and a former teacher in the Gaston and Selma schools. Mr. and Mrs. Theis are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

WILLIAM ALBERT McCLELLAN, a member of the bar of the Delaware circuit court and former judge of the Muncie city court, was born at Muncie on December 31, 1892, and is a son of Ney W. and Laura (Blount) McClellan. Ney W. McClellan also was born in this county, in 1866, a son of Capt. William A. and Lydia A. (Blackford) McClellan, the former of whom was born at Cedarville, Ohio, in 1887, a son of James and Harriet (Beemer) McClellan. James McClellan was born in the Cedarville neighborhood in 1817, a son of William and Katie (Criswell) McClellan, the former of whom was born in the Georgetown settlement in what then was Kentucky county, Virginia, in 1780, a son of Benjamin McClellan, a native of Scotland, who was one of the promoters of the historic Georgetown settlement. After his marriage in 1836 to Harriet Beemer, James Mc- Clellan became engaged in the milling business at Cedarville in association with his father-in-law and was thus engaged until in 1849, when he came with his family over into Indiana and settled on a farm in the northwestern part of Center township, this county. Of the children born to him and his wife nine grew to maturity and reared families of their own. William A. McClellan was the eldest of these children. He was clerking in the store of his uncle, G. Beemer, at Muncie, when the Civil war broke out. He assisted in recruiting a company of volunteers here which was attached as Company D to the 84th regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was elected second lieutenant of the company, four months later being promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. In February, 1865, he was promoted to the rank of captain and continued serving with that command until the close of the war, being mustered out with the regiment on June 14, 1865. Captain McClellan resumed his former employment in his uncle's store, but in 1868 moved to a farm in Hamilton township, where he lived many years afterward. Of the five children born to him and his wife, Ney W. McClellan was the second in order of birth. He became a machinist and millwright and after his marriage established his home in Muncie. Of the children born to him and his wife the subject of this sketch alone grew to maturity. William Albert McClellan was graduated from the Muncie high school in 1912. He then took a course in the Indiana Law School and became engaged in law practice at Dunkirk. He presently was appointed deputy prosecuting attorney for Jay county, but eight months later resigned that position and returned to Muncie, where he since has been engaged in practice save for the four years he served on the bench of the Muncie city court. It was in 1917 that Mr. McClellan was elected city judge, he then being but twenty-four years of age, and he is said to have been the youngest judge of a municipal court in the United States. Upon leaving the bench he resumed his practice and has since been thus engaged, with present offices at 201 the Western Reserve Life building. Mr. McClellan is a Democrat and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a Scottish Rite Mason and a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and is past dictator and a present trustee of the local lodge of the Loyal Order of Moose and a member of the Kiwanis Club. Mr. McClellan married Charlotte C. Knetter, and he and his wife reside at 216 Meeks avenue.

CHARLES 8. DAVIS, secretary-treasurer of the Warner Gear Company of Muncie, has been a resident of Muncie since 1905 and during all this period has been actively identified with the industrial interests of the city. Mr. Davis was born at Terre Haute, Ind., in 1877, and is a son of Daniel and Margaret (Hyde) Davis, the former of whom was for years secretary of the Wabash Iron Company of that city. Reared at Terre Haute, Charles 8. Davis supplemented the schooling received in the schools of that city by a course in Harvard College and then for a time was engaged in newspaper work in New York City. He then became connected with the activities of the Davis Coal Company, miners and wholesalers of coal, at Terre Haute and was thus engaged until in 1907, when he took the position of secretary and treasurer of the Glascock Manufacturing Company's plant at Muncie, later becoming president of this company. Since 1919 he has also been actively connected with the Warner Gear Company as secretary and treasurer. Mr. Davis is a Freemason and he and his wife are members of the Baptist church. It was in

1904 that Charles S. Davis was united in marriage to Grace Johnson, of Muncie, and to this union three children have been born, Johnson S., Florence Isabelle and Charles S., Jr. The Davises reside at 328 East Washington street. Mrs. Davis was born at Muncie and is a daughter of Abbott L. and Florence (Merriman) Johnson, the latter a daughter of Charles Merriman, of Ashtabula, Ohio. Abbott L. Johnson was born in Herkimer county, New York, but was reared at Ashtabula, Ohio, to which place his parents, Henry I. and Eliza (Ferguson) Johnson, had moved when he was a child. He early became interested in woodworking industries and in 1878 became established in that line in Muncie, thus having been one of the men. of affairs of that city when the "boom" came on in the late '80s, his interests then expanding along other lines, he and his brother, John C. Johnson, becoming early recognized as among the leading personal factors in the development of Muncie's commercial and industrial interests during those interesting "boom" days, as is told elsewhere in this work.

JOHN VAN HORNE CASSADY, a veteran of the Civil war and forty years ago one of Muncie's best known merchants, who died at his home in Muncie in 1885 and whose widow is still living there, residing at 411 West Adams street, was a native of the old Buckeye state but had been a resident of Indiana and of Muncie since the days of his boyhood. Mr. Cassady was born in the vicinity of Eaton, in Preble county, Ohio, and was a son of William and Elizabeth (Van Horne). Cassady, who later moved with their family to Muncie, where William Cassady became established in the drug business. John Van Horne Cassady thus was living in Muncie, taking part in the operation of his father's drug store, when the Civil war broke out. He rendered service as a soldier of the Union, going out in 1862 as a member of Capt. Edward G. Keasby's company, and upon the completion of his military service resumed his mercantile pursuits as a druggist. Some time later he became engaged in the queensware business at Muncie and was thus engaged until the time of his death in 1885. Mr. Cassady was the third in order of birth of the six children born to his parents, he having had four sisters, Mary, Ann, Margaret and Laura, and a brother, William Cassady. In 1871, at Muncie, John Van Horne Cassady was united in marriage to Margaret Louise Nelson, who survives him and is still living at Muncie. To that union were born three children, Arthur B., William Van Horne (deceased) and Vida E., the latter of whom married Peyton Randolph Janney and has two children, Mary Louise and Randolph.

John Van Horne Cassady

Mrs. Cassady is a daughter of Robert and Sarah (Frazier) Nelson, the latter of whom was born in the vicinity of the city of Cleveland, Ohio, a daughter of James and Sarah (Randall) Frazier, who had moved to Ohio from the eastern shore of Maryland. Robert Nelson was born at Jamestown, N. Y., and became a resident of Muncie in 1860. Mrs. Cassady is a member of the Presbyterian church. As is set out elsewhere in this work, she was one of the organizers of the historic Woman's Club of Muncie and is the president emeritus of that usefully continuing club, which has been a potent factor in the cultural development of this community since the time of its organization in 1876.

WILLIAM S. PUNTENNEY, former chairman of the Delaware County Farm Bureau and a substantial farmer and landowner of Liberty township, residing on the Centennial pike, rural mail route No. 5 out of Muncie, is a native son of Delaware county and has lived here all his life. Mr. Puntenney was born on a farm in Liberty township, September 23, 1871, and is a son of James M. and Mary A. (Gough) Puntenney, the latter of whom was born in that same township, a member of one of the pioneer families there. The late James M. Puntenney was born in Ohio and was four years of age when he came into Indiana with his widowed mother in 1845, the family locating in Fayette county and presently moving from there into Delaware county, settling in the Mt. Tabor neighborhood in Liberty township. James M. Puntenney was the youngest of the six children in this family. He grew to manhood in this county and after his marriage became a farmer on his own account and in time became the owner of a farm of 100 acres, the place now occupied by his son, William, where his last days were spent, his death occurring in 1914. His wife had predeceased him about five years, her death having occurred in 1909. They were the parents of four children, of whom but two survive, the subject of this sketch and his sister, Ruby. There were two other daughters, Pearl, who died in infancy, and Minnie, who died in 1920. Reared on the home farm in Liberty township, William S. Puntenney supplemented the schooling received in the local schools by attendance on the normal school at Lebanon, Ohio, and was for ten years engaged as a teacher in the schools of Delaware county, meanwhile carrying on his farming operations during the summers. For some years he farmed in association with his father and then he bought a nearby tract of 170 acres and started in to improve and develop the same, making his home there. In March, 1922, Mr. Puntenney bought the remaining interest in his father's old home acres and has since been living on the latter place, the owner of 270 acres, to the direction of which he gives his personal attention. Ever since the inception of the farm bureau movement Mr. Puntenney has given his attention to the local development of that movement and for four years served as chairman of the Delaware County Farm Bureau. He still is actively connected with the bureau's operations in this county. He is a Republican and a member of the Selma Methodist Episcopal church, class leader of the congregation and a trustee and steward of the church. Mr. Puntenney's wife, who was Emily B. Watt, daughter of Joseph and Caroline Watt, died on October 5, 1922. Mrs. Puntenney was a life long member of the Methodist Episcopal church and was a member of the locally useful and influential Mary-Martha Club of Muncie.

CHARLES W. COLLINS, a substantial farmer and landowner of Liberty township, and one of the leading orchardists and horticulturists of Delaware county, residing on the Inlow Springs road, rural mail route No. 6 out of Muncie, was born in this county and has lived here all his life. Mr. Collins was born on a farm in Niles township on March 16, 1865, and is a son of John and Mary Jane Collins, both of whom died when he was about two years of age. John Collins and wife were the parents of five children, four of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having two sisters, Eliza and Clara, and a brother, Zachariah Collins. Early bereft of his parents, Charles W. Collins was reared in the household of his uncle, William Russey, of Liberty township, and in the schools of that township received his schooling. He grew up familiar with farm labor and as a young man began working on farms "by the month," starting in at a wage of $16 the month, and was thus engaged for about four years or until his marriage, the highest wage he received for this labor being $18 the month. After his marriage Mr. Collins began farming as a renter in Liberty township and was thus engaged for six years, at the end of which time he bought a sixty-acre farm in that township and started in "on his own." Five or six years later he sold that place and bought 140 acres of the place on which he is now living on the Inlow Springs road and has ever since resided there, meanwhile adding to that place an adjoining tract of thirty acres, so that now he has a well improved farm of 170 acres. For the past eight years or more Mr. Collins has devoted thirty acres of this place to orchard and horticultural uses, making a specialty of raspberries and strawberries, and has come to be recognized as one of the largest producers of berries in the county. Mr. Collins is a

Republican and he and his wife are members of the Jackson Street Christian church at Muncie. Charles W. Collins married Anna Fox, a daughter of William and Mary Fox, of this county, and to this union five children have been born, all of whom are living save one, Dellard, who died in infancy, the others being Frank, Bliss, Norval and Mary, all of whom are married save Norval. Frank Collins married Olive Richey and has three children, Ray, Ralph and Imogene. Bliss Collins married Edith Black and has one child, a son, Dwight, and Mary Collins married Guy Waldo and has three children, Eugene, William and Howard.

OTTO L.. HUFFMAN, dealer in automobiles at Selma and proprietor of the only public garage at that place, his establishment being the first of the kind set up there, is a native son of Delaware county, and has lived here all his life. Mr. Huffman was born on a farm in Liberty township on May 22, 1892, and is a son of John C. and Isadora (Meeks) Huffman, the latter of whom was born in the neighboring county of Randolph and is still living, making her home at Selma. The late John C. Huffman was born in Augusta county, Virginia, and was eighteen years of age when he came to Indiana with his parents, the family settling in Henry county. For some time after his marriage he made his home in Henry county and then, about 1890, came up into Delaware county and established his home on a farm in Liberty township, coming to be the owner there of a well improved farm of 115 acres. He continued farming until his retirement in 1916 and removal to Selma, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on August 1, 1923. To John C. Huffman and wife were born two sons, the subject of this sketch and Fletcher Huffman, and a daughter, Louise (deceased). Reared on the home farm in Liberty township, Otto L. Huffman completed his schooling in the Muncie high school, from which he was graduated in 1912. He had early become attracted to the possibilities of the then rapidly developing automobile industry and upon leaving school he opened a garage at Selma, the first establishment of its kind set up there. This venture proved successful and Mr. Huffman has ever since been thus engaged, meantime being required on several occasions to move so as to increase his capacity to meet growing conditions, his present garage, the only one in town, being the third such establishment he has had. It was in 1917 that Mr. Huffman moved to his present quarters. He has two buildings, one 50 by 82 feet and the other 50 by 72, and is well equipped to meet any local demand on his resources. He also is a dealer in automobiles and has the local agency for the sale of the Willys-Knight car and the Overland car. Mr. Huffman is a Republican and is a member of the local Masonic lodge (Parker No. 630). Otto L. Huffman married Mabel Wrightsman, daughter of James Wrightsman of Mooreland, Ind. |

CYRUS J. STAFFORD, trustee of Delaware township, a former member of the advisory board of that township and a substantial farmer and landowner, residing on rural mail route No. 2 out of Albany, was born in Delaware township and has lived there.all his life. Mr. Stafford was born on July 3, 1869, and is a son of George A. and Sarah (Zehner) Stafford, the latter of whom was born in Wayne county, Indiana, and was a daughter of Benjamin Zehner, who came into Delaware county in 1856 and bought the old Godlove mill along Campbells creek in the Sharon (Desoto) settlement later and long known as Zehner's Mill. George A. Stafford was born on a pioneer farm in Delaware township, this county, in 1835 and was a son of Ralph and Jane (Black) Stafford, the latter of whom was a daughter of Andrew Black, the pioneer miller along the Mississinewa in the northwestern part of Delaware township, who had come in here with his family from Clark county, Ohio. Ralph Stafford was a Virginian, born in Giles county, in 1806, a son of George and Catherine (Fair) Stafford, who had come to this country from Ireland. George A. Stafford became a well-to-do farmer, the owner of a 240-acre farm in Delaware township, where all his life was spent. To him and his wife were born four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth. Reared on the home farm in Delaware township, Cyrus J. Stafford supplemented the schooling received in the local schools by a course in the old Northwestern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso and was graduated from that institution in 1890. Following his marriage two years later he and his wife established their home on the place where they are now living in Delaware township, a part of the James Marquell estate, 120 acres of which is owned by Mrs. Stafford, and have since resided there, Mr. Stafford being engaged in general farming and stock raising. For yéars Mr. Stafford gave particular attention to the breeding of horses and did much to advance the standards of horse-flesh hereabout. In 1903 he bought a "forty" in the neighborhood of his home, later added to this tract an adjoining tract of 120 acres, making 160 acres in that farm, and later secured a farm of 245 acres west of Albany, his present land holdings thus aggregating 405 acres. Mr. Stafford is a Republican and for four years served as a member of the advisory board for Dela- ware township. In 1923 he was elected trustee of Delaware township and is now serving in that responsible public capacity. On December 20, 1892, Cyrus J. Stafford was united in marriage to Cora E. Marquell, also a member of one of the pioneer families of this county, and to this union were born four children, Cloyd C., Ervin E., Ethel A. and Lottie M., all of whom are married and have children of their own, Mr. and Mrs. Stafford having eight grandchildren. Cloyd C. Stafford married Nellie Meeker and has two children, Cloyd, Jr., and George A. Ervin E. Stafford married Bessie Selvey, who died leaving one child, a daughter, Lillie E. Ethel A. Stafford married Wayne Campbell and has three children, Carl E., Carroll E., and Sarah Lou, and Lottie M. Stafford married Fred Whitehair and has two children, Winona C. and Donleon. Mrs. Cora E. Stafford was born on the farm on which she still is living, and is a daughter of James and Louisa (Godlove). Marquell, the latter of whom was born in that same township, a daughter of Abram and Laura (Sellers) Godlove, pioneers of the Sharon settlement. James Marquell also was born in Delaware township, in 1844, and was a son of Mason and Elizabeth (Selvey) Marquell, the latter of whom was a daughter of Samuel Selvey, a Virginian and one of the early settlers of this township. Mason Marquell also was a Virginian and for two or three years had made his home in Greene county, Ohio, whence in 1832 he came over here into Delaware county and settled in Delaware township. Of the four children born to James Marquell and wife, Mrs. Stafford alone survives.

ROBERT 8. ARBOGAST, a substantial farmer and landowner of Liberty township, who died at his home in that township in the fall of 1921, left a good memory in the community in which he had so long resided and it is but fitting that some modest tribute to that. memory be paid in this definite history of the county of which he was a worthy citizen. Mr. Arbogast was born on a farm in the Parker neighborhood in the neighboring county of Randolph, February 4, 1858, and was a son of Sanford and Isabel (Hayes) Arbogast, natives of Ohio, who came over here into Indiana following their marriage and settled on a tract of land north of Muncie in this county but after awhile moved over into Randolph county and established their home on a farm of 160 acres in the Parker neighborhood, where the remainder of their lives was spent. Of the nine children born to this pioneer couple the subject of this memorial sketch was the fourth in order of birth. Three of these children are still living. Mr. Arbogast was survived by two sisters, Frances and Louise, and two broth- ers, Henry M. and Albert Arbogast, the last named of whom died on April 2, 1924. Reared on the home farm in Randolph county, Robert S. Arbogast received his schooling in the Parker schools and from the days of his boyhood was interested with his father in the labors of developing the farm. He married at the age of twenty-two and for a year thereafter farmed as a renter on his father's place. He then, in 1881, came over into Delaware county and rented an "eighty" in Liberty township, the place on which his widow is now living; presently bought that place and ever afterward made his home there, increasing his holdings until he became the owner of 110 acres. Mr. Arbogast was a good farmer and improved his place in admirable shape, having two sets of buildings on the farm. In addition to his general farming he gave considerable attention to the raising of live stock and also for several years operated a threshing rig in the neighborhood. He was a Democrat and was a member of the Selma Methodist Episcopal church, of the official board of which he was for years the treasurer. Mr. Arbogast died on October 19, 1921, and his widow continues to make her home on the home place. It was in 1880 that Robert S. Arbogast was united in marriage to Leah Philena Neel and to this union were born three children, Grace, Grover C. and Lona, the latter of whom married the Rev. Earl Pittenger and died on February 11, 1922, leaving four sons, Sanford Earl, John Arbogast, Rex Arthur and Robert Everett Pittenger. Grace Arbogast married Everett Shroyer and Grover C. Arbogast married Flora Orr and has two children, Sylvia and Robert G. Arbogast. Mrs. Leah P. Arbogast was born in Liberty township and is a daughter of Jordan and Malinda (Hedrick) Neel, both of whom were born in Virginia and had come to Indiana with their respective parents in the days of their youth. Jordan Neel was a son of John Neel, a Virginian, who was one of the entrymen in Liberty township and who was the father of eleven children, ten of whom grew to maturity, so that the Neel connection of this line in the present generation is a considerable one. Jordan Neel was but a lad when he came here with his parents from Virginia and he grew up familiar with pioneer farming conditions and after his marriage became a farmer in his own right, the owner of a farm of eighty acres. When the Bellefontaine & Indianapolis railroad was being put through here in the early '50s he worked on the construction of that old "Bee Line" road, now the Big Four. Of the six children born to him and his wife four are now living, Mrs. Arbogast having two sisters, Sarah Ellen and Nancy Jane, and a brother, John Allen Neel, further men- tion of whom is made elsewhere in this work. There were two other brothers, Philip Jordan and Frederick Priest Neel. Mrs. Arbogast is a member of many years standing of the Selma Methodist Episcopal church, a past president of the Ladies Aid Society and the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of that congregation, the present vice president of the local Woman's Christian Temperance Union and superintendent of the county organization of the W. C. T. U., superintendent of the children's department of the Foreign Missionary Society and special secretary of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. She is a Democrat. The Arbogast home is on rural mail route No. 5 out of Muncie.

GEORGE H. ROSS, assessor for Liberty township, a former farmer in that township and for nearly twenty years engaged in grading and highway construction work, builder of many miles of improved highways in this county, is a Virginian by birth but has been a resident of Indiana for nearly forty years. Mr. Ross was born in Marion county in that section of the Old Dominion which during the time of the Civil war split off and became West Virginia, June 13, 1856, and was reared on a farm in that county. He remained on the farm with his father until after his marriage when he became a farmer on his own account, renting a farm, and continued to make his home there until in 1889 when he came to Indiana and became a renter in Henry county. Two years later he came up into Delaware county and was engaged in farming here, on a rental basis, until in 1906, when he became engaged on the job of constructing the road bed of the Union City division of the lines of the Union Traction Company, making his home at Selma, where he ever since has resided. For four years Mr. Ross was engaged in traction line construction, acting as overseer, and then he took up construction work on his own account, a contractor on three-mile gravel roads, and was thus engaged until in 1917, when he sold his equipment and has since been engaged as an overseer of various jobs of construction carried on hereabout under the direction of the State Highway Commission, one of his recent jobs along that line having been the oversight of the grading of the Pike's Peak highway through this section. During the years of his activity as a road contractor Mr. Ross built about thirty miles of highway in Delaware, Randolph and Henry counties, about twenty miles of these roads having been constructed in Delaware county. Mr. Ross is a Republican and is now serving his second term as assessor for Liberty township. He also has rendered public service as a member of the Selma town board. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Selma. It was while still living in West Virginia that George H. Ross married Nancy Hayhurst. Mr. and Mrs. Ross have four children, Anna Grace, Elsie, Lucy and Henry, all of whom are married. Anna Grace Ross married Arthur Cowgill and has three children, Leona, Dorcas and Ross Cowgill. Elsie Ross married C. V. Fear and has three children, George, Jack and John Fear. Lucy Ross married E. L. Lively and has two children, Edwin L. and Mary Ann, and Henry Ross married Pear] Flockhart. HENRY CLAY HAYMOND was for many years prominently identified with the commercial, industrial and civic interests of the city of Muncie. He thus made a deep impression upon 'various forms of activity here and at the time of his death twelve years and more ago he left a good memory in the community of which he had been a part since the days of his boyhood. Mr. Haymond was born in Fair- ~ mount, Va. (now in West Virginia), May 4, 1852, and was a son of Octavius and Elizabeth (Fleming) Haymond, both also natives of Virginia and the former of whom died early in the following year when the child, Henry, was but nine months of age. There were two other sons in this family, William and Thomas Haymond, the former of whom served as a soldier of the Union during the Civil war, and three daughters, Cassie, Ann and Eliza. Reared at Fairmount, Henry C. Haymond received his schooling there and remained with his mother until he was seventeen years of age when, in 1869, he came to Indiana and rejoined his elder brother,William A. Haymond, who meantime had become established on a farm south of Muncie. After a bit of further schooling in the Muncie schools, Henry C. Haymond entered the ranks of the teaching force in Delaware county and for nine years spent his winters teaching, meanwhile continuing to help his brother on the farm. He then for awhile was engaged in mercantile business at Cowan but presently gave up that business and became employed as a traveling salesman for the Chandler & Taylor firm at Indianapolis, continuing thus engaged until he entered upon his long connection with the operations of the Indiana Bridge Company at Muncie, a form of service which continued for eighteen years and during which time he did much to advance the interests of that concern, ag is set out elsewhere in this work. In 1905 Mr. Haymond was elected vice-president of the Delaware County National Bank of Muncie and was presently advanced to the post of president of the bank, a position he occupied at the time of his death on January 4, 1912. He also was a member of the directorates of the Muncie Trust and Savings Company and of the Mutual Home and -

Henry Clay Haymond

Savings Association and in other ways took his part in the commercial life of the community, for some time serving as president of the Commercial Club. In the city's civic affairs he was equally active and influential, served for some time as a member of the city council, was also for some time city controller and for nine years served as a member of the city school board. He was a Freemason, an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias. On November 22, 1877, when twenty-five years of age, Henry C. Haymond was united in marriage to Margaret A. Louthain, who survives him, together with their four sons, Walter, William, Edgar and Fleming Haymond. Since the death of her husband, Mrs. Haymond has continued to make her home at Muncie, now residing at No. 4 the Star apartments. She was born in this county and is a daughter of George and Elizabeth (Carmichael) Louthain, who resided south of town and both of whom were members of pioneer families in eastern Indiana, the former born in Wayne county and the latter, in Henry county. George Louthain was a son of Samuel and Mary Louthain and he and his wife had five daughters, those besides Mrs. Haymond being Mary, Eliza, Sarah and Sophronia, and one son, Charles Louthain.

C. R. MAXAM, superintendent of the Selma public schools, has been engaged in educational work for nearly twenty years, he having begun his teaching career when he still was in his ''teens." For years this teaching service was rendered in southern Indiana but for the past five or six years he has been connected with the schools of this county, he having been superintendent of the Gaston schools before being transferred to Selma. Mr. Maxam is a native Hoosier and has lived in this state all his life. He was born in the pleasant village of Francisco, about midway between Princeton and Oakland City, in Gibson county, Indiana, August 10, 1887, and is a son of Thomas M. and Eliza (Hiley) Maxam, the latter of whom was born in the nearby county of Spencer, down on the Ohio, a member of one of the pioneer families of southern Indiana. The late Thomas M. Maxam was born in Gibson county, a member of one of the old families of that county, and all his life was spent there. For years he was one of the "old time" music teachers in that part of the state, making a specialty of conducting singing schools throughout the region in which he lived. By trade he was a harness maker, a vocation he followed at Francisco. For eight years he served as postmaster of that village and for a similar period he also served as trustee of his home township. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, the subject of this sketch, having four sisters, Loretta, Estella, Gertrude and Frances, and two brothers, A. H. and Stanley E. Maxam. Reared at Francisco, C. R. Maxam finished the high school course there and then, in 1906, began teaching school, a profession he ever since has followed. Some years later he entered the Central Indiana Normal School at Danville and in 1911 was graduated from that institution. He followed this by attendance at the Indiana State Normal School at Terre Haute and in 1913 was graduated from the normal course in that institution. Continuing his college work, meanwhile spending his winters teaching, Mr. Maxam was graduated from the college course in the state normal in 1917 and two years later entered upon his studies in the University of Wisconsin, seeking his Master degree, and is in line to receive that degree in 1924, for special work in school administration. Mr. Maxam's first work in the school room was carried on in the district schools of his home county (Gibson). Four years later he was made principal of the schools at New Amsterdam, on the river in Harrison county, and two years later was made superintendent of the Marengo schools, in the neighboring county of Crawford. In the next year he was called to the superintendency of the schools of Stewartsville, in Posey county. For five years Mr. Maxam served as superintendent at Stewartsvillle and then he was called to accept the superintendency of the schools of Gaston, in this county, and his labors have since been confined to Delaware county. For three years he served as superintendent at Gaston and then, in 1922, he was made superintendent of the schools at Selma, where he since has been serving in this capacity. Mr. Maxam is a Republican. He is a Scottish Rite (32°) Mason, affiliated with the consistory at Evansville. In 1911 C. R. Maxam was united in marriage to Eva Kendle, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Kendle, of Princeton, and to this union one child has been born, a son, C. R. Maxam, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Maxam are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Selma and Mr. Maxam is a member of the official board of that congregation. ELI M. GOUGH, a substantial landowner of Delaware county, now living retired on his well kept farm on the Centennial pike in Liberty township, rural mail route No. 5 out of Muncie, was born on that farm, a member of one of the pioneer families of this county, and has lived there the greater part of his life. Mr. Gough was born on January 18, 1846, and is a son of William L. and Lydia (Morrical) Gough, both of whom were born in Virginia and the latter of whom was but a young girl when she came to Indiana with her parents, Jacob and Nancy (Rutrouff) Morrical, the family locating in Henry county, where she grew to womanhood and was married. William

_L. Gough was born in that section of Virginia now comprised in West Virginia and was but a child when his father, Hiram Gough, died. He later came with his widowed mother to Indiana and after a sometime residence in Henry county came up into Delaware county and took over an "eighty" in the woods in Liberty township and proceeded to make a farm out of it. After his marriage he established his home there, gradually increased his holdings until he became the owner of 180 acres, and there spent the remainder of his life, being eighty-two years of age at the time of his death. To him and his wife were born nine chiludren, three of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having two brothers, Jacob M. and Albert Gough. Reared on the home farm in Liberty township, Eli M. Gough received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and remained on the farm helping in the development of the same. He married at the age of twenty-five and continued on the home place, farming the same in association with his brother Albert, until in 1884 when the brothers bought a tract of 247 acres, including the place on which Eli Gough is still living in Liberty township, and moved to this latter place. When in time a division of this place was made Eli M. Gough received 125 acres as his part and he since has lived there, meantime increasing his holdings to 205 acres, a part of which he later sold, and now has a well improved farm of 165 acres. In 1918 Mr. Gough retired from the active labors of the farm and has since been renting his fields. Eli M. Gough has been twice married. In 1871 he was united in marriage to Mary C. Holbert, who died in 1893 and in 1900 ke married Jemima Brooks, who was born in Liberty township, a member of one of the pioneer families here. Mrs. Mary C. Gough was born in Butler county, Ohio, and was but a child when she came to Delaware county with her parents, John and Mary (Fadley) Holbert, in 1850, the family locating at Smithfield. John Holbert, a tailor, was born at Hagerstown, Md., in 1822, and in 1846 became a resident of Butler county, Ohio, the year in which the Mexican war broke out. He went out in service in this war, a member of the 1st regiment of Ohio volunteers, and upon his discharge returned to Butler county, where in the spring of 1848 he married Mary Fadley. Upon locating at Smithfield he became engaged as a tailor and was thus working when the Civil war came on. In the fall of 1862 he went out with Company K of the 19th Indiana and at the battle of Hatchers Run, near Petersburg, Va., lost a leg. In 1866 he was elected trustee of Liberty township and in 1872. was elected treasurer of Delaware county and in 1874 was re-elected to that office. His last days were spent at his farm home on the Centennial pike, where he died on July 28, 1883. To Eli M. and Mary C. (Holbert). Gough were born nine children, three of whom are still living, the subject two sons, John O., who died in 1899, and Albert V. Gough, of Muncie, who married Louise R. Truitt and has a son, Wesley Richard Gough. Clara M. Gough married Edwin R. Cowley and had two children, Edith and Leo, the latter of whom married Frank O'Neill and has cne child, a daughter, Edith Elizabeth. Edith Cowley married Aaron Aubrey and died leaving three children, Virginia Lee, John E. and James Richard. Mary C. Gough married Hubert Kelsey, who died leaving two children, Robert and Earl Gough Kelsey.

THOMAS H. BLEASE, founder of the old established shoe repair shop of T. H. Blease & Sons, 110 East Jackson street, Muncie, who died at his home here in the summer of 1919, first became engaged in business in Muncie in 1876 and thus had a right to be accounted one of the real veterans in the business life of this community. Mr. Blease was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 22, 1853, and was a son of James Blease, a native of Birmingham, England, who came to this country some time after his marriage, entering by way of the port of New Orleans, and not long afterward became a resident of Cincinnati, where he settled down to his trade as a shoemaker. Afterward he moved to Richmond, Ind., where he lived until in 1884, in which year he moved to Muncie, but not long afterward returned to Richmond, where the remainder of his life was spent. Under the direction of his father the late Thomas H. Blease became a skilled shoemaker and in 1876 he opened a shoe shop at Muncie, occupying a room at the corner of Walnut and Washington streets, and was there engaged in business until in 1882, when he sold the place to his father and with his family went West. Two years later he returned to Muncie, but a year later returned West. In 1894 he returned to Muncie and re-establishedd himself in the shoe repair line and continued thus engaged in business here until his death on July 15, 1919, this business since then being continued by his sons, Charles and Tom Blease. His widow survives and continues to make her home in Muncie. Mrs. Blease (Florence A. Blount) was born in Muncie and is a member of one of the real pioneer families of Delaware county, the Blounts having been here since the coming of William Blount, a soldier of the Revolution, who settled on lands he acquired here not long after the opening of the New Purchase to settlement in the early '20s of the past century, as is set out elsewhere in this work. Andrew | Blount, a soldier of the War of 1812 and one of the sons of this pio- neer, settled at the site of what is now the village of Blountsville and when a settlement sprang up there it was named in his honor. Upon coming over here into the New Purchase in 1822 William Blount entered lands in what is now Liberty township, this county, but later took up lands in Center township, his holdings here comprising about 160 acres in what is now the east side of Muncie, and here he spent the remainder of his days. His widow sold that tract to Thomas Kirby for $700. Another of the sons of this pioneer, William Blount, Jr., took lands in Perry township and there established his home. One of his sons, James Blount, became a shoemaker and established himself in business in Muncie. He married Margaret Elizabeth Crouch and made his home in Muncie for many years, or until after the death of his wife, when he went to Denver, Colo., where his last days were spent. Mrs. Blease is one of the daughters of James and Margaret E. (Crouch) Blount. Besides the two sons, Charles and Tom, mentioned above, Mrs. Blease has a daughter, Bessie, widow of the late Ralph W. Moss, who is now clerk of the city of Gary, Ind. Mrs. Moss has two children, Ralph B. and Florence. The two Blease brothers started out to study medicine with a view to becoming physicians, but when it became necessary on account of their father's invalidism to take charge of the latter's old established business and carry it on they abandoned their earlier plans and have since been engaged in business in Muncie. Charles H. Blease was born in Muncie on March 8, 1880, and was but two years of age when his parents left Muncie in 1882 and went West, and was fourteen when they returned to Muncie and re-established their home here. His early schooling thus was received in the schools of the several towns in which his father had tried his fortune in several states in the West. He early was taught the trade of shoemaking and when his father opened his shop in the Wysor Grand Theater building in 1894 he became engaged there as an assistant. Meanwhile he was carrying on studies preparatory to entering medical college and presently entered Indiana University, with a view to becoming a physician, and was in attendance there for two years. By this time his father's health had begun to fail and it was recognized as expedient for him to leave his studies and in association with his brother Tom take charge of the shop, the business of which thereafter was carried on under the firm name of T. H. Bease & Sons, which established trade name was continued after the death of the founder of the business in the summer of 1919. The brothers maintained the business without interruption after their father's death and are now admirably equipped in their line, having (37) one of the most up-to-date shops of the kind in eastern Indiana. Charles F. Blease married Pansy L. Guthrie and has two children, Cole and Sarah Jane. Tom Blease married Miriam Wright. Tom Blease was born on March 26, 1898, and received his initial schooling in the Muncie public schools. He was graduated from the high school and then entered Indiana University, preparatory to pursuing his studies in medicine, and was there about two years or until his father's illness necessitated his return home. The Bleases are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

GEORGE WATSON, president of the Farmers State Bank of Oakville, a member of the Delaware county council and a substantial landowner of Monroe township, was born in that township and has lived there all his life. Mr. Watson was born on October 9, 1872, and is a son of James and Matilda (Losh) Watson, the latter of whom was born in that same township, daughter of John and Mary (Thompson) Losh, the latter of whom was a daughter of Robert and Matilda Thompson. John Losh, one of the pioneers of Monroe township, was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, June 18, 1819, and was a son of John and Susanna Losh, both natives of that same county. Following his marriage in 1840 the junior John Losh established his home on a pioneer farm in Monroe township, this county, and became one of the substantial citizens of that part of the county. He died in the summer of 1880 and his widow, who survived him many years, later married Aaron Lackey and continued to make her home in Monroe township. To John and Mary (Thompson) Losh were born seven children, of whom Mrs. Matilda Watson was the first born, and the Losh connection of this family in the present generation is a considerable one, even as is that of the Watson family. James Watson was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, January 1, 1834, and was a son of James and Frances (Frantz) Watson, both of whom were born in Virginia, who came to Indiana with their family in 1840 and settled on a pioneer farm of eighty acres near Macedonia in Monroe township, this county. The records for that year show that James Watson was taxed $4.98 on his holdings here. He was a soldier of the War of 1812 and his army service and the hardships of pioneering here in the then wilderness proved a physical strain from which he died in 1841, the year after taking possession of his "eighty" in Monroe township. His widow kept the family together and maintained her home on the place there in Monroe township until her death twelve years later, in 1853. She was the mother of fifteen children, all save one of whom grew to maturity.

The junior James Watson was but seven years of age when his father died, and he was but nineteen when his mother died. He then went West and homesteaded a tract of something more than a quarter of a section of land in the then new state of Iowa. After "proving up" on this homestead, he returned to Delaware county and traded that tract for an "eighty" just north of the present village of Cowan in Monroe township and started in to develop the same. He married in the summer of 1858 and established his home on that farm and remained there until in 1863, when he disposed of that place to advantage and bought a farm of 160 acres. In 1876 he increased his holdings to 320 acres and continued farming until his retirement and removal to Muncie, where his last days were spent, his death occurring in 1913, he then being in his eightieth year. James Watson was a Republican and for two terms rendered public service as trustee of Monroe township. He was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Improved Order of Red Men. James Watson was twice married. It was on August 12, 1858, that he married Matilda Losh, who has been referred to above. To this union were born seven children, five of whom grew to maturity, the subject of this sketch and his sisters, Mrs. Mary Fleming, Mrs. Martha Nottingham and Mrs. Laura Pickinpaugh, and his brother, Homer _ Watson. The mother of these children died on May 9, 1890, and on June 9, 1892, at Indianapolis, Mr. Watson married Louisa Englis, who was born in Ohio in 1854. George Watson was reared on the home farm in Monroe township and received his schooling in the Cowan schools. He remained on the farm with his father for some years after attaining his majority and then bought a farm of forty acres in that same neighborhood and began farming on his own account, establishing his home there and in time increasing his land-holdings until now he is the owner of a well improved farm of 120 acres, a modern home and all the facilities for carrying on farming operations in up-to-date fashion. Mr. Watson was one of the organizers of the Farmers State Bank of Oakville, which was opened for business on February 14, 1915, and has been the president of that institution since its organization, the other initial officers of the bank having been William V. Jones, vice president and Charles Kern, cashier. Clay Pierce is now vice president of the bank and Gilbert R. Tuttle the cashier, the directors being George Watson, Clay Pierce, John W. Patterson, George Teters, George Metzger, James Retherford, William A. Acker, Charles Kern and Charles M. Holsinger. The capitalization of this bank is $25,000, divided into 250 shares.

Its resources exceed $150,000 and it has a surplus of $3,500. Mr. Watson is a Republican and is now serving as a member of the Delaware county council. He is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men. On May 7, 1891, George Watson was united in marriage to India Snell, daughter of Lora and Naoma Snell, of Tabor, Ind., and he and his wife have one child, a daughter, Gladys, wife of Gilbert Hewitt, of New Castle, Ind. Mrs. Hewitt was graduated from the Cowan high school and followed this by a course in the normal school at Muncie. Mrs. Watson's father, Lora Snell, was born in 'New Jersey in 1827 and became a resident of Ohio, where he was living when the Civil war broke out. He volunteered his services in behalf of the cause of the Union and rendered service with an Ohio regiment until the close of the war. In 1878, with his wife and daughter, he came to Delaware county and located in Monroe township, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, his death occurring on October 14, 1902, and hers, February 10, 1910. JOHN EDGAR JOHNSON, who died at his home on the Granville pike just out of Muncie in 1919, had been identified with local affairs all his life, lumberman and manufacturer, and had thus made an impress upon the community of which he had long been a part that will cause his name long to be held in good remembrance here. Mr. Johnson was born at Ashtabula, Ohio, August 16, 1873, and was a son of Abbott L. and Florence (Merriman) Johnson, the latter of whom also was born at Ashtabula, daughter of Charles Merriman, and who were married there in 1872. The late Abbott L. Johnson, who became a resident of Muncie in 1878, was born in Herkimer county, New York, in 1852, and was a son of Henry I. and Eliza (Ferguson) Johnson, who later moved to Ashtabula, Ohio, and who in 1881 became residents of Muncie, where their last days were spent. As is set out elsewhere in this work, Abbott L. Johnson was for many years one of the active factors in the industrial and commercial life of Muncie, one of the men whose activities during the time of the natural gas "boom" here did so much toward starting the city on the way which brought about its development as one of the chief manufacturing cities in Indiana. He became interested in the lumber manufacturing business as a young man at Ashtabula and after his marriage | became a partner in a lumber concern at Bluffton, Ind., coming thence to Muncie, where he spent the remainder of his life. He and his wife were the parents of three children, the subject of this memorial sketch having had a sister, Florence Grace, and a brother, Ray P. Johnson. As will be noted by a comparison of above dates, John

John Edgar Johnson

Edgar Johnson was but a child when his parents moved to Muncie in the late '70s and he was reared here, receiving his schooling in the public schools. He early became associated with his father's interests in the lumber industry and later became connected with the operations of the Warner Gear Company, of which his father was the president and of which he was made secretary and treasurer. In 1915 he established his home on the Granville pike, not far out of Muncie, and in addition to his other interests devoted much time to the breeding of purebred dairy cattle. There he died on March 30, 1919, at the age of forty-six years, in the very prime of his life. Mr. Johnson was a Scottish Rite (82°) Mason, a Knights Templar and a Noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, was an active member of the Muncie Chamber of Commerce, and had been for years the superintendent of the Sunday school of the First Baptist church at Muncie. He was a member of the Columbia Club of Indianapolis and besides the business connections above referred to was a director of the Live Poultry Transit Company of Chicago, a director of the Muncie Savings and Loan Company and a half owner of the Morrison & Johnson insurance agency. Mr. Johnson was twice married. By his first wife, Winnifred Smith, he had two children, a son, Abbott L. Johnson II, and a daughter, Katherine, wife of George Stetter, of Muncie. In 1905 John Edgar Johnson was united in marriage to Margery Clark and to this union were born three children, a son, John Edgar Johnson, now a student at Staunton Military Academy, and two daughters, Susanne and Martha Louise. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Johnson has continued to maintain her home at her well established place on the Granville pike, where she takes much interest in the development of the fine herd of Guernsey dairy cattle which she owns, this herd now numbering nearly fifty purebred animals, recognized as one of the finest herds of the sort in the Midwest country. Mrs. Johnson was born at Knox, Pa., and is a daughter of G. A. and Susanna (Pyle) Clark, the latter of whom was a daughter of John and Sarah (Small) Pyle. G. A. Clark, a veteran of the Civil war, was born in Clarion county, Pennsylvania, where his father was a large land-owner. G. A. Clark's service in the Union army during the Civil war was rendered in the cavalry branch and he was wounded in battle. His brother, Alfred Clark, also was a soldier and was for some time a prisoner in the horrible rebel prison pen at Andersonville, Ga. Mrs. Johnson's only brother, Frank M. Clark, is a veteran of the Spanish-American war. She has two sisters, Emma and Mary Priscilla. Frank M. Clark, now mayor of Chanute, Kansas, and president of the Rotary club of that city, is a Freemason of distinguished attainment and is a member of the Supreme Council or Honorary 33d degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.

JOHN B. CECIL, a veteran farmer and landowner of Perry township, former trustee of that township and a former justice of the peace, residing on the Burlington pike, rural mail route No. 6 out of Muncie, was born on the farm on which he is now living, June 16, 1851, and is a son of Zachariah W. and Mary J. (Legg) Cecil, the latter of whom was born in Wayne county, Indiana, a daughter of Walter and Barbara (Burgess) Legg. The late Zachariah W. Cecil, in his generation one of the substantial farmers of Perry township, was born in Shelby county, Ohio, October 25, 1820, and was a son of Aaron and Anna (Springer) Cecil, the latter of whom was born in Kentucky. Aaron Cecil, who became one of the pioneers of Delaware county, was a Virginian by birth. In October, 1831, he entered from the government a tract of land in Perry township, this county, and here established his home, coming in time to be the owner of more than 350 acres of land in that township. He and his wife had eight children and as all these married and reared families of their own the Cecil connection of this family in the present generation is a considerable one. Zachariah W. Cecil was the third in order of birth of the children born to this parentage. He was about twelve years of age when the family came over here from Ohio and he grew to manhood on the pioneer farm in Perry township. He married at the age of twenty-four (in 1844) and then established his home on an "eighty," a part of the farm on which his son John now is living, in Perry township, and as his affairs prospered added to his holdings there until he became the owner of more than 300 acres. On that place he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1905. His wife died in 1902. They were the parents of four children, the subject. of this sketch having two sisters, Sarah, who married Thomas J. Jordan, and Barbara, who married the Rev. J. W. McDaniel, and a brother, Charles W. Cecil, now living near Richmond, Va. Reared on the home farm in Perry township, John B. Cecil completed his schooling in the old academy at Muncie and from the days of his boyhood has been devoted to farming. After his marriage he became engaged in farming on his own account on one of his father's farms and upon his father's retirement he took over the home place and has since resided there, now the owner of a well improved farm of 190 acres. Myr. Cecil is a Republican and has rendered public service as trustee of his home township (1888-90) and as a justice of the peace in and for that township. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Burlington, of which Mr. Cecil is one of the stewards and a member of the board of trustees. Mrs. Cecil has for years been a teacher in the Sunday school, of which she for years was superintendent, and she also has served as president of the local Epworth League and as treasurer of the woman's foreign missionary society of the church. Mr. and Mrs. Cecil have two daughters, Lillie and Grace, the latter of whom married Orville Ross and has two sons, William and Howard. Lillie Cecil married Clifford Smith and has three children, Everett, Grace and Ernest. Mrs. Cecil (America Jordan) was born in Wayne county, Indiana, and is a daughter of John and Catherine (Davidson) Jordan, the latter of whom was born in Kentucky. John Jordan also was born in Wayne county and was a son of William Jordan, a Pennsylvanian and a soldier of the War of 1812, who was one of the pioneers of that county, having settled there in 1808, eight years before Indiana was admitted to statehood. The pioneer William Jordan was the father of eleven children and the continuing connection of this family in Indiana in the present generation is a considerable one. To John Jordan and wife were born eight children, but three of whom are now living, Mrs. Cecil having a sister, Carrie Luella, and a brother, John Jordan.

WILBUR E. SUTTON, for a number of years associated with the publications of George B. Lockwood as managing editor of The Muncie Press and as a contributor to The National Republican, the political and historical magazine in Washington, D. C., has been closely identified with the newspaper life of Muncie from the time he was a boy. He began as a carrier of the old Muncie Herald then owned by Frank D. Haimbaugh and Thomas McKillip, and while in his early "teens" was a reporter for The Herald, The Morning News and The Evening Times. All these newspapers since have been lost to the reading public through the consolidations that have evolved The Muncie Press and The Muncie Star. At eighteen Mr. Sutton was city editor of The Muncie Times under the widely-known old-school editor, Major John F. Wildman, and Capt. James McClung, and was editor of The Times when it was consolidated with The Herald to form The Press. He then became the first editor of The Press, at that time owned by George F. McCulloch, the newspaper and traction magnate, and Mr. Haimbaugh. Later Mr. Sutton was city editor of The Star for a short time and then for a period of four years devoted himself to writing for out-of-town publications and to publicity work. In

1917 he entered the employ of Mr. Lockwood, who had bought The Muncie Press, and soon afterward became managing editor and editorial writer for that paper which position he now holds. Mr. Sutton conducts a weekly column of paragraphs in The National Republican which is widely quoted by newspapers, magazines and the motion picture screen throughout the United States. He has contributed many political and business articles, humorous stories and verse to newspapers and magazines some of which have had nation-wide circulation. His favorite sport is fishing and planning some way to make it his regular occupation. He never has held a public office and never has been a candidate for one, a fact of which he is given to boasting. He was elected president of the Muncie Kiwanis Club for the year 1924 and also is a member of the Elks order and of numerous civic organizations. He is married and has a son, Donn, who at eighteen years of age is an editor and writer for The Newspaper Enterprise Association at Cleveland, Ohio, the largest newspaper syndicate in the United States. The latter also is a contributor of short stories to magazines. . LEWIS MOORE, a veteran of the Civil war and in his generation one of Delaware county's best known farmers and a substantial landowner of Hamilton township, died in 1916 and his widow is now making her home in Muncie, residing at 223 North Calvert avenue. Lewis Moore was a native son of Delaware county, a member of one of the pioneer families here, and all his life was spent in this county. He was born on the old Moore farm in Hamilton township in August, 1844, and was a son of Aaron and Mary A. (Truitt) Moore, the latter of whom was born in Adams county, Ohio, April 16, 1822, daughter of George and Frances (Waldren) Truitt and a sister of Joshua Truitt, who was one of Muncie's best known citizens in his generation. Aaron Moore was born in Scioto county, Ohio, August 22, 1819, and was a son of Lewis and Patience (Truitt) Moore, who in 1829 came with their family to Delaware county and settled on the Smithfield pike in Center township, this being two years after the formal organization of Delaware county and the establishment of the county seat at Muncietown. Lewis Moore, the pioneer, had ten children and thus: the Moore connection of this family in the present generation is a considerable one. The Truitts also have been numerously represented here since pioneer days. Aaron Moore established his home on a farm of 120 acres in Hamilton township after his marriage and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in the summer of 1873. His widow survived him for many years. Of the six children born to this parentage there is now but one survivor, Mrs. Florence Minton, of Muncie. Lewis Moore, eldest of these children and subject of this memorial sketch, was but a boy when the Civil war broke out, but before that struggle was over he got into the service of the army and went out with the 134th regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which was organized in the spring of 1864 and which participated in the campaign in Tennessee and northern Alabama. Two of the companies in this regiment were chiefly recruited from Delaware county. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Moore resumed his farm work and began to prepare for college. He was in his third year in Wabash college when his father died in 1873 and he suspended his college work to come home to take charge of the farm. In the following year he married and established his home | there and on that place continued actively engaged in farming until his retirement, and he died in 1916. It was in 1874 that Lewis Moore was united in marriage to Ophelia Cones, daughter of Robert and Jane (Kemper) Cones, of this county, the latter of whom was a daughter of Arthur 8. and Patience (Bryant) Kemper and a sister of Dr. G. W. H. Kemper, of Muncie. Arthur S. Kemper was a Kentuckian, born in 1794, and in 1834 became a resident of Rush county, Indiana, where he died in 1849. His wife also was a Kentuckian, born in 1802, a daughter of John Bryant, a Virginian and a soldier of the Revolution. She died in Muncie in 1881. Robert Cones also was born in Kentucky, in the vicinity of Louisville, a son of John and Rachel Cones, who later became residents of Indiana, the family settling in Rush county. Robert Cones established his home in Decatur county following his marriage and it was there that Mrs. Moore was born. She has a sister, Mrs. Margaret Woodfill, and a brother, Smith Cones. Mrs. Moore is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as was her husband. :

OCTAVUS C. DRAGOO, proprietor of "Hill Grove" farm in Perry township, was born in that township on October 16, 1860, and is a son of Lemuel and Amanda (Polsley) Dragoo, both members of pioneer families in this section of Indiana. Lemuel Dragoo was born in that section of Virginia now comprised within West Virginia and was about five years of age when he came to Delaware county with his parents, Peter and Martha Dragoo, the family settling on a tract of land in section 19 of Perry township, which Peter Dragoo had entered from the government in 1830. On that pioneer farm there in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood Lemuel Dragoo grew to manhood and after his marriage became a farmer on his own account. He first bought an "eighty" there in that same neighborhood and this he developed and added to until he had a farm of 120 acres, and there he spent his last days. To him and his wife were born six children, those besides the subject of this sketch being Orloff, Daniel W., George, Martha and Mary. Reared on the home farm in Perry township, Octavus C. Dragoo received his schooling in the Mt. Pleasant school and continued farming with his father until he married and then he rented a tract from his father and began farming on his own account. About eight years later he moved over into Randolph county and was there engaged in farming on a rented farm for three years, at the end of which time he returned to this county and bought the place of eighty acres on which he is now living in Perry township and has since resided here, on rural mail route No. 6 out of Muncie. When he bought this place Mr. Dragoo found but twenty acres of it cleared, so he had quite a task ahead of him in clearing and making a farm out of the place. While carrying on his clearing operations he rented 188 acres of his father-in-law's place, the Driscoll farm, and was there engaged in farming until he had his own place ready for the plow. With wise foresight Mr. Dragoo left a beautiful natural grove standing on his place and when it came to the naming of the farm the name "Hill Grove" farm was quite appropriate. The place is well improved in accordance with modern standards. Mr. Dragoo is a Freemason, a member of the Masonic lodge at New Burlington, and he and his wife are Republicans. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Burlington and he is a member of the board of trustees of that congregation. Mrs. Dragoo has for years been a teacher in the Sunday school, was formerly superintendent of the Sunday school and class leader and for twelve years was the president of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. It was in 1886 that Octavus C. Dragoo was united in marriage to Eliza Adeline Driscoll and to this union were born three children, a son, Ernest Edgar Dragoo, who died on April 11, 1917, and two daughters, Edith Marie and Edna May, the latter of whom married Hershell Brown and has one child, a son, Robert J. Mrs. Dragoo was born in Center township and is a daughter of John L. and Maria (Gibson) Driscoll, the latter of whom also was born in this county, a member of one of the pioneer families here. John L. Driscoll was born in Clark county, Ohio, in 1833, and was eight years of age when his father, William Driscoll, also a native Ohioan, born in Greene county, came to: Delaware county with his family in 1841 and settled on a farm south of the then village of Muncietown, that farm occupying the site now covered by the plant of the Ball Bros. Glass Manufacturing Company and other industrial enterprises in that section of the city of Muncie. William Driscoll, the pioneer, and his wife were the parents of eleven children and the family thus has a wide continuing connection in the present generation. John L. Driscoll grew up on this pioneer farm. He married at the age of twenty-four and then began farming on his own account. For some time he lived in Center township and then moved to a farm in section 12 of Monroe township, where he established his home, becoming there the owner of a good farm of 138 acres. Mrs. Dragoo is the second in order of birth of the six children born to her parents, she having had three sisters, Frances E., Mary B. and Ida Belle, and two brothers, Dr. W. E. Driscoll and John B. Driscoll.

FRANCIS H. WILLIAMS, a veteran of the World war with an overseas record and a progressive young farmer of Liberty township, residing on the Centennial pike, rural mail route No. 5 out of Muncie, is a native son of Delaware county, a member of one of the county's pioneer families, and has lived here all his life. Mr. Williams was born on the farm on which he is now living and of which, jointly with his mother, he is the proprietor, January 12, 1894, and is a son of Samuel S. and Mary C. (Hitchcock) Williams, both of whom were born in that same township and the latter of whom is now living in Riverside (Muncie). The late Samuel S. Williams was a son of John R. and Evelyn Williams, the former of whom for years was a blacksmith at Smithfield and also the owner of a 240-acre farm in Liberty township. Samuel S. Williams grew to manhood in that township and after his marriage became a farmer on his own account, a vocation he followed the remainder of his life. Starting with a tract of sixty acres, a part of the farm on the Centennial pike now operated by his son Francis, he developed a good piece of property there and added to his holdings until he became the owner of 240 acres, which is now held jointly by his widow and his son. There he died on February 27, 1918, leaving a widow and one son, Francis H. There was another son, Arthur, who died some years ago. Reared on the home farm in Liberty township, Francis H. Williams completed his common schooling by two years of attendance on the Selma high school, took two short course periods of instruction in the agricultural college of Purdue University, supplemented this by a course in the Indiana Business College at Muncie and was preparing to take an active part in the modern development of the home farm when this country took a hand in the World war in the spring of 1917. In the fall of that year he entered army service and went out with the 18th Company of the 3d Air Service Mechanics, with which command he served for twelve months overseas, stationed at Romorantine, France, where he was promoted to the rank of sergeant of the first class.. Mr. Williams received his discharge from the army on June 20, 1919, the war then being over. In the meantime his father had died and upon his return home he buckled down to the task of taking over the management of the home farm and has since been thus engaged, farming the 240 acres, and is doing well. On January 1, 1920, Francis H. 'Williams was united in marriage to Evangeline Williams, daughter of O. P. and Lucy (Hines) Williams, of this county, and to this union two children have been born, a daughter, Virginia Ann, and a son, Francis Harold Williams. Mr. and Mrs. Williams are Republicans. Mr. Williams is a Scottish Rite (32°) Mason and a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, affiliated with the temple at Indianapolis. He attained to the Scottish Rite at Charlotte, North Carolina.

MARTIN L. MEEKS, head of the firm of M. L. Meeks & Sons, funeral directors at Muncie, and an undertaker of more than fift years of standing in this city, present director of a business whic has been in continual operation here for nearly eighty years, is native son of Muncie and has lived here all his life. Mr. Meeks was born on October 1, 1853, and is a son of Robert and Sarah (Jones) Meeks, both Virginians by birth, the latter born on March 11, 1827, a daughter of Jacob and Beersheba Jones. The late Robert Meeks, a pioneer undertaker at Muncie and founder of the business which is now being carried on by his son and grandsons, was born on a farm in the vicinity of Grafton in Monongalia county, Virginia, now included within the confines of West Virginia, July 8, 1822, and was a son of Amos and Nancy (Means) Meeks, who in 1839 came with their nine children to Indiana, driving through with a two-team wagon, the trip requiring sixteen days of travel. They settled in the Farmland neighborhood in Randolph county, where six more children were born to them, making this a family of fifteen children, in consequence of which the Meeks connection of this line, in this generation is a no inconsiderable one. Robert Meeks, the eldest of these children, was seventeen years of age when he came to Indiana with his parents and not long afterward he came over to Muncietown and secured employment in the cabinet-making shop of Nottingham & Swain, the pioneer cabinet makers and undertakers of that village. There he became thoroughly familiar with the rudiments of the business and in 1844 he and his brother, Isaac Meeks, who also meanwhile had been learning cabinet making, set up for themselves, under the firm name of R. & I. Meeks, and opened out a furniture and undertaking business, their shop, sales room and residence occupying the corner now occupied by the Star theater, which site was occupied by them as a furniture store and undertaking establishment until in due time they erected the building now occupied by their successors at 115-117 East Main street and where they also carried on the manufacture of furniture until a fire in an adjoining building in 1880 crippled their plant and they discontinued the old cabinet-making line, thereafter devoting themselves simply to the sale of furniture and to the undertaking line. In 1871 James W. Meeks, a son of Robert Meeks, was taken into the old firm of R. & I. Meeks, which then became R. & I. Meeks & Company. In 1881 William A. Meeks and his brother, Martin L. Meeks, bought their uncle's interest in the concern and the firm name was changed to R. Meeks & Sons. Robert Meeks continued actively connected with the business until his death on February 24, 1906, he then being in his eighty-third year. His widow survived him for more than three years, her death occurring on July 24, 1909. She was a life-long member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Robert Meeks was a birthright member of the Friends church and was an ardent Prohibitionist. For forty-seven years he had been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. To him and his wife were born four sons, James W., mentioned above, now deceased; William A., deceased;. Martin L. and J. Arthur Meeks. Reared at Muncie, Martin L. Meeks received his schooling in the city schools and from the days of his boyhood has been connected with the concern of which now he is the head. He began to learn the cabinet-maker's trade almost as soon as he was able to stand at a bench or a lathe, literally "growing up" in the shop, where he also early learned the details of the undertaker's important calling. He married at the age of twentythree and thereafter continued his connection with the establishment of his father and uncle and in 1881, as above set out, bought into the concern. After the death of his brothers he and his sons acquired full interest in the establishment and on August 19, 1911, the furniture line was discontinued. The business is carried on by Mr. Meeks and his sons, Arthur C. and Ernest S. Meeks, under the firm style of M. L. Meeks & Sons. The younger members of the firm also are licensed funeral directors and the establishment is admirably equipped. Martin L. Meeks'is a York Rite (Knights Templar) Mason and a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. It was in 1876 that Martin L. Meeks was united in marriage to Carrie G. Clark, who was born in Clarksburg, Ind., daughter of Robert and Fannie (Kemper) Clark, and to this union were born five children, all of whom are living save one, a daughter, Fannie, who died in 1886 at the age of eight years, the others being Arthur C. and Ernest S., who are associated with their father in business, and Mary Wade Meeks and Charles E. Meeks. The mother of these children died on February 14,1915. Mrs. Meeks had for years taken a helpful part in local social activities, influential in church and club work, and was serving as president of the historic Woman's Club at the time of her death. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as is Mr. Meeks. Her father, Robert Clark, a Kentuckian by birth, years ago became a resident of this county. Mr. Meeks' eldest son, Arthur C. Meeks, married Elizabeth Munsey, daughter of Dr. David Munsey, and has two children, David Martin and Frances Gertrude.

PARKER MARSHALL, senior partner of the firm of Marshall & Marshall, general merchants, at Mt. Pleasant and formerly and for many years a teacher in the public schools of this county, was born in the village of Blountsville in the neighboring county of Henry, July 4, 1863, and is a son of Thomas and Marian (Walradth) Marshall, the latter of whom was born at Cherry Valley in Chenango county, New York, but was reared in Ohio as a farmer's daughter. The late Thomas Marshall, a former member of the board of county commissioners for Delaware county and in his generation a substantial farmer of Perry township, was born in Wayne county, Indiana, August 27, 1835, and was a son of Miles and Elizabeth (Bell) Mar- _ shali, the latter of whom was born in Ohio, a daughter of James and Margaret (Blair) Bell. Miles Marshall was born in Wayne county, Indiana, in 1811, of Quaker parentage, and there grew to manhood and in 1834 was married, his wife's parents, the Bells, having some little time before then become residents of Wayne county. In 1836 he and his wife and their infant son, Thomas, moved to Delaware county and established their home on an eighty-acre tract of woodland in Perry township. Miles Marshall thus became numbered -among the pioneer farmers of Delaware county. He was successful in his operations and became the owner of 320 acres in that township. He died in 1885, in his seventy-fifth year, and his widow suryived him for more than ten years. They were the parents of ten children, eight of whom grew to maturity, so that the continuing connection of this family in the present generation is a considerable one. Thomas Marshall, the eldest of these children, grew to manhood in Perry township and with the exception of a few years following his marriage spent at Blountsville spent the remainder of his life here. He supplemented the schooling received in the local schools by a course in old Asbury College (now Depauw University) at Greencastle, Ind., where he specialized in the study of law, and then for more than twenty years (1855-79) was engaged in teaching school in the public schools of this county, meantime farming during the summers and also for some time engaged in the practice of law. He had a good farm of 120 acres in Perry township and there made his home. In 1884, as the nominee of the Democratic party, Mr. Marshall was elected to represent his district on the board of county commissioners, the first Democrat ever elected to that position in this county, and in that office rendered public service for one term. To him and his wife were born eight children, seven sons and one daughter, the latter of whom, Florence, is now deceased as well as one of the sons, Otis, the others, besides the subject of this sketch, being Mark M., Ward, Carl, _ Ear] and Wade Marshall. Parker Marshall received his schooling in the local schools and as a young man began teaching school, a vocation he followed during the winters for nineteen years, seventeen years of which were spent in the schools of Perry township. Meantime, during the summers, he was engaged in farm work and thus continued until in 1897, when he became engaged in the mercantile business at New Burlington. For about nineteen years Mr. Marshall carried on his mercantile operations at New Burlington and then he sold his store and bought a farm and was engaged in practical farming there until in 1922 when he traded the farm for the store at Mt. Pleasant and has since been engaged again in mercantile pursuits, being associated there in business with his nephew, Gordon Marshall, and doing business under the firm style of Marshall & Marshall. Mr. Marshall is a past worshipful master of the Masonic lodge at New Burlington and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at that place, a steward of the church, secretary of the congregation and also secretary-treasurer of the Centenary fund of the church. His wife died on December 25, 1910. She was born in Perry township (Leona May Clevenger) and was a daughter of Jacob and Samantha (Ray) Clevenger, the latter of whom was a daughter of William and Sarah (McClain) Ray, natives of Ohio. Jacob Clevenger was born in Delaware county in 1832, and was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Con- ner) Clevenger, who were among the pioneers of Perry township. He became one of the substantial farmers of Perry township. Mr. Marshall has three daughters, Bessie, Blanche and Marie, the latter of whom married Ray Gibson and has two children, Marshall and Dale. Blanche Marshall married Ralph Hiatt and has two children, Thelma and Martha.