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

Rite Mason and Knight Templar and holds the following positions: President of the Westwood Realty Company, president of the Muncie Chautauqua Association, vice president of the Army and Navy Club of Indiana, and a director of the Merchants National Bank of Muncie. E. Arthur Ball and Frances Davies were married in Indianapolis on January 24, 1920. They have two children, Arthur Brady Ball, born on January 22, 1921, and Barbara Helen Ball, February 22, 1923. McCORMICK BROTHERS, proprietors of the great tin factory at Albany, a plant whose operations are carried on under the firm name of the McCormick Bros. Company, have developed a business there that has come to be recognized as one of the important industrial and manufacturing enterprises of Delaware county. This development is an outgrowth of the business established in this county thirty years ago by Robert B. McCormick, father of the present proprietors, who came here from Ohio back in the gas "boom" days and became engaged in the manufacture of washboards at Eaton, later transferring his activities to Albany, where his last days were spent. Robert B. McCormick was a veteran wood working manufacturer. For some time after his marriage he made his home at Bloomington, Ill., and then moved to Ripley, in Brown county, Ohio, where he became engaged in the manufacture of washboards. When a general impetus was given to manufacturing interests here in Delaware county following the opening of the natural gas field here in the early 790s, he moved his plant from Ohio to this county and set himself up in the manufacture of washboards at Eaton. That was in 1894. He continued in business there until in 1899, when he sold his plant and retired from business. His last days were spent in Albany, where he died on August 28, 1921, at the age of eighty-five years, and his three sons, A. G., O. N. and C. R. McCormick are carrying on the business which had its inception in his wise foresight. A. G. McCormick, president of the McCormick Bros. Company, was but a lad when his parents moved from Illinois to Ohio and his schooling was completed at Ripley. He early became associated with his father in the manufacture of washboards and when the factory plant was moved to Eaton in 1894, he took an active part in the operations of that concern and was thus engaged until the plant was sold in the fall of 1899. In 1900 Mr. McCormick moved to Albany and there became engaged in the hardware business in association with his brother, W. P. McCormick, a feature of this business being a well equipped tin shop. Gradually the development of this latter branch of the enterprise disclosed possibilities in that line that pointed the way to expansion on a large (42) scale and in 1912 the brothers sold the hardware store and have since been devoting their attention to the development of their tin manu- - facturing industry, manufacturers of general tinware and sheet iron specialties. It was in 1910 that the McCormick brothers became established in their present plant, buying then a building which forms a part of their plant to this day, but since then have added to and extended their floor space until now they have a plant of modern construction, as will be noted by reference to a picture of the same presented elsewhere in this work, and employ no fewer than 150 persons. A. G. McCormick is president of the company, O. N. McCormick is vice president, C. R. McCormick is secretary treasurer and W. P. Mc- Cormick is manager of one of the departments of the concern. A. G. McCormick is a Scottish Rite Mason and a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, affiliated with Murat Temple at Indianapolis, and is also an Odd Fellow and a member of the Muncie Rotary Club. He married Bernice Akey and has one child, a son, Cassius D. McCormick. Mr. and Mrs. McCormick are members of the Jackson Street Christian (Disciples) church at Muncie. ROBERT W. LONG, a substantial farmer and landowner of Niles township, living on rural mail route No. 3 out of Eaton, is a native son of Delaware county, a member of one of the pioneer families here, and has always been a resident of this county. Mr. Long was born on the old Long farm place in the immediate vicinity of Eaton on October 28, 1883, and is a son of John W. and Rufina (Smith) Long, the latter of whom was born in 1854, a daughter of Stephen A. and Susan (Martin) Smith, who were married in this county, where their last days were spent and who were the parents of fourteen children. John W. Long was born on the Long home farm, a part of which now is included within the limits of the town of Eaton, in 1846, and was a son of William Austin and Anna (Mc- Laughlin) Long, both natives of Ohio, the former born in Clinton county in 1815 and the latter, in Logan county in 1823, and who, in 1826, had come to Indiana with their respective parents in the days of their youth, the Longs and the McLaughlins having become pioneers in Delaware county. William Austin Long, a son of Robert Long, the pioneer who settled on a tract of land just east of the present town of Eaton, married Anna McLaughlin in 1841 and established his home on the home place there, in time becoming the owner of a good farm of right around 300 acres. His wife died in 1864 and he died in 1883. They were the parents of seven children and the Long connection of this family in the present generation is a consid- erable one. The late John W. Long, one of the organizers of the Farmers State Bank of Eaton and president of the same at the time of his death, grew up on the home farm in Eaton and not long after attaining his majority took a trip West, in 1868, seeking fortune in the gold fields of Montana. Upon his return to Eaton he resumed farming and after his marriage to Rufina Smith in 1876 established his home there on the edge of the then village, eventually becoming the owner of a good farm of 200 acres near that town, a part of which in time became incorporated in the town site. When the natural gas "boom" came on he took an active part in the work of community development that followed the opening of this new natural resource and was one of the organizers of the Eaton Oil Company. He also was one of the organizers of the Farmers State Bank of Eaton, established in 1894, and was the first vice-president of that institution, In 1898 he was elected president of the bank and in that capacity continued to serve until his death. In 1900 he was elected a member of the county council and served for two terms with that body. He died in 1922. To John W. and Rufina (Smith) Long were born three sons, two of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having a brother, Harry Long, born in 1881, a lawyer, now living at Washington, D.C. An elder brother, William Austin Long, died at the age of eighteen years. Robert W. Long has from the days of his boyhood devoted himself to farming. He married when twenty-five years of age and continued farming on the home place until his removal to his present place, the old Peterson home farm in Niles township, the place on which his wife was born, where he since has resided. Mr. and Mrs. Long are Republicans and are members of the Granville Christian church. Mr. Long is a member of Eaton lodge, No. 606, Free and Accepted Masons. It was on October 15, 1908, that Robert W. Long was united in marriage to Mary A. Peterson, and to this union two daughters have been born, Helen Hope and Mary Catherine. As noted above, Mrs. Long was born on the farm on which she is now living in the Granville neighborhood. She is a daughter of Wilbur and Sarah Jane (Barley) Peterson, the latter of whom was also born in Niles township, a daughter of Samuel and Angeline (Haines) Barley, Virginians, who were among the pioneers of that township. The late Wilbur Peterson, a veteran of the Civil war, was born in Greene county, Ohio, in 1840, and was a son of Moses and Malinda (Juda) Peterson, both natives of Virginia, whose respective parents had settled in Greene county as early as 1813. Wilbur Peterson grew up on a farm in the vicinity of Xenia and was living there when the Civil war broke out. In August, 1862, he enlisted as a soldier of the Union and went to the front with the 110th regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war, seeing much active service, including the battle of Gettysburg, and at the battle of Locust Grove (Va.) was severely wounded. In the fall of 1868 he married Sarah Jane Barley and established his home on a farm in Niles township, this county, the settlement point of many Greene county families. He started there with an "eighty" and as he prospered added to his holdings until he became the owner of 800 acres of land in that township, and there he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1923. To him and his wife were born four children, of whom Mrs., Long is the youngest, she having two sisters, Emma and Effie, and a brother, Samuel M. Peterson.

MARTIN HOFHERR, a former member of the Delaware county council and a substantial farmer and stockman of Mt. Pleasant township, proprietor of one of the "show" farms in this county, is not a native son of this county but has been a resident here since the days of his boyhood. Mr. Hofherr was born at Connersville, Ind., January 27, 1854, and is a son and first born of the nine children of Philip Jacob and Mary (Greisheimer) Hofherr, natives of Germany, the latter of whom had come to this country with her parents in the days of her girlhood, the Greisheimers settling at Connersville, Ind., where she was married. Something of the interesting story of the late Philip Jacob Hofherr, for many years one of the best known men in Delaware county, is told elsewhere in this volume. He was one of that plucky band of youthful patriots which in 1848 sought a wider measure of political freedom in Germany than an autocratic court thought fit to give and in consequence of his participation in that unsuccessful revolution was compelled to flee his native land, along with thousands of political refugees of the period, many of whom found safe haven in Indiana. Philip Jacob Hofherr was college trained and was also a skilled musician, particularly proficient in the use of band and orchestra instruments, and upon his arrival in New York found no difficulty in attaching himself to one of the best circus bands of that period. Not long afterward he became connected with the orchestra in the old Barnum Museum in New York and when P. T. Barnum undertook the grand tour of Jenny Lind throughout the country in 1850 he became a member of the orchestra which accompanied the great singer entour. At Connersville, Ind., he became acquainted with Mary Greisheimer and early in 1853 married her and established his home in that city, setting up as a music teacher and bandmaster. The band and orchestra which he organized at Connersville were for years in wide demand throughout the middle west and calls were made even from New York and New Orleans on the services of the Hofherr band. In 1862, with a view to the creation of wider opportunities for his growing family, Mr. Hofherr came to Delaware county and settled on a farm two miles southeast of Yorktown, where he spent the remainder of his life, coming to be the owner there of an excellent farm of 263 acres, the greater part of which now is included in the farm of his son Martin. Though living on the farm, Philip Jacob Hofherr ever retained his interest in his music and was for many years widely known throughout this part of the state as a music teacher, his influence in that direction being felt in the community to this day. Philip Jacob Hofherr died on August 9, 1901, and his widow died on October 11, 1911. Their children are all living, those besides the subject of this sketch being John, Mary, Minnie, Kate, William, Anna, Jacob and Louis. As will be noted by a comparison of above dates, Martin Hofherr was eight years of age when he came with his parents to Delaware county in 1862. His schooling was completed in the neighborhood district schools in Mt. Pleasant and Salem townships and he remained on the farm until some time after he had attained his majority when he returned to Connersville and was for a time there employed as a clerk in a store, but he soon returned to the old home place in Mt. Pleasant township and after his marriage began farming on his own account, renting from his father the place on which he is now living, a tract of 200 acres, and after his father's death bought from the other heirs their respective interests in this place, to which he has added until now he has a well improved farm of 235 acres in Mt. Pleasant township. Mr. Hofherr has brought this farm up to such a high standard of cultivation and improvement that it long has been regarded as one of the "show" farms of eastern Indiana. In the summer of 1923 when under the direction of the agents of the agricultural experiment station of Purdue University a band of 100 farmers from Essex county, Ontario, made an inspection of farm conditions in Indiana the Hofherr farm was made one of the points of visitation and inspection, an object lesson of value to the Canadian farmers, and a high compliment to Mr. Hofherr's competency as a farm manager. Mr. Hofherr is a Republican and has served two terms as a member of the county council. He is a member of the lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Muncie. Martin Hofherr married Mary Jones, daughter of John and Dolly (Bouy) Jones, and he and his wife have four children, Walter R., Elizabeth, Lena Mae and Grace, two of whom are married. Walter R. Hofherr married Iva Snodgrass and has two children, Pauline and Philip. Lena Mae Hofherr married Ernest Shaw and has one child, a son, Eugene Martin Shaw. ;

OVERTON SACKSTEDER, JR., secretary-treasurer and general manager of the Aladdin Manufacturing Company of Muncie, manufacturers of portable electric lamps and general electrical specialties, a resident of Muncie since 1917, was born at Louisville, Ky., August 19, 1893, and is a son of Overton and Emma (Monroe) Sacksteder, the latter of whom was born at Louisville, Ky., daughter of John W. Monroe and Carry (Hitenheine) Monroe, the former of whom was a great-great-grandson of a brother of James Monroe, fifth President of the United States. The senior Overton Sacksteder, who is now living in Chicago, was born at Louisville, Ky., a son of Dr. Frank Sacksteder, a druggist and physician, who also was born at Louisville and who served for two terms as a state senator from his district. He was a son of John Sacksteder, an Alsatian, who had located at Louisville upon coming to this country. The senior Overton Sacksteder was for some time engaged in Louisville as a dealer and jobber in oil and then took up the insurance business, which he followed until in 1923, when he moved to Chicago and has since been living there, connected with the Chicago Tribune. To him and his wife were born four children, the subject of this sketch having two sisters, Carrie, wife of R. D. Bache, and Lillian, wife of R. D. Phelps, and a brother, Frank Sacksteder. The junior Overton Sacksteder was reared at Louisville and was graduated from the Louisville School of Technology in 1910. He also took some post-graduate work in that institution and then became engaged in electrical work. Five years later he became connected with the electrical department of a large hardware jobber at Louisville, in charge of their electrical department, and was thus engaged until in 1917, when he came to Muncie as general manager of the Highlands Manufacturing Company, electrical fixture and lamp manufacturers. Some time later Mr. Sacksteder organized the Aladdin Manufacturing Company and became engaged in the manufacture of portable electric lamps at Muncie. In 1923 he enlarged the scope of the activities of this concern by taking over the plant of the Highlands Manufacturing Company and merging the two concerns, continuing as the Aladdin Manufacturing Company, and has since been carrying on the business under that name with a well equipped and up-to-date plant at the corner of Eighteenth and Hackley streets. G. M. Spencer is president of the Aladdin Manufacturing Company, William F. Spencer is the vice-president, and Mr. Sacksteder is the secretary-treasurer and general manager. Mr. Sacksteder also is president of the Aldersea Grocery Company and of the Eureka Sales Company of Muncie, as well as of the Delaware Parking and Service Company. He is a Freemason, a member of Daylight Lodge, No. 760, F. and A. M., at Louisville, and has attained to the capitular or Royal Arch degree in that ancient order. On July 16, 1916, at Louisville, Overton Sacksteder, Jr., was united in marriage to May Kreiger, daughter of Henry L. and Anna (Weindel) Kreiger, of that city, and to this union two children have been born, a son, Overton Sacksteder III, and a daughter, Nancy May. Mr. and Mrs. Sacksteder are members of Grace Episcopal church and Mr. Sacksteder is the superintendent of the Sunday school of that parish. He is a member of the Muncie Chamber of Commerce and of the Country Club. Mrs. Sacksteder is a member of the local Delphian Society and is secretary of the Muncie Mothers' Council.

CHARLES H. GUTHRIE, 'a substantial farmer and landowner of Liberty township and one of the leading horticulturists in eastern Indiana, residing on the Smithfield pike, rural mail route No. 5 out of Muncie, was born in Liberty township on September 15, 1870, and is a son of John and Sarah (Inlow) Guthrie, both of whom were born in that same township, members of pioneer families there. John Guthrie, who died in 1881, the owner of a farm of 150 acres in Liberty township, was a son of Newton Guthrie, one of the early settlers of that township. To John Guthrie and wife were born four children, two of whom are now living, the subject of this sketch having a brother, Harry F. Guthrie, of Muncie. Charles H. Guthrie was eleven years of age when his father died. He finished his schooling in the Mt. Tabor school and early began farming on the home farm in his mother's behalf and was thus engaged until his marriage in his twenty-first year, after which he began farming on his own account, as arenter. In 1905 Mr. Guthrie came into possession of eighty-five acres of the old home farm and in 1908 moved to that place and occupied the same as a practical farmer until his removal in 1920 to his present place of residence on the Smithfield pike. Mr. Guthrie now is the owner of 280 acres of land lying in the three townships, Liberty, Perry and Monroe, and has a well improved place. For thirty years Mr. Guthrie has been giving his special attention to horticulture and has come to be recognized as the largest producer of raspberries and strawberries in the county, finding a ready market for these luscious products in Muncie. He also is widely known for the excellent quality of his melons. In addition to his general farming and horticultural operations, Mr. Guthrie also for years has been carrying on a considerable dairy business. He is a Republican and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Improved Order of Red Men. On August 6, 1891, Charles H. Guthrie was united in marriage to Stella Fullhart and to this union two children have been born, a son, Clarence Herman, and a daughter, Jessie, the latter of whom married Earl Langsdon. Clarence Herman Guthrie married Cora Canady and has three children, Jean, John and Eileen. Mrs. Stella Guthrie was born at Richmond, Ind., and is the daughter and only child of Willard and Margaret (Jones) Fullhart, now living in Monroe township, this county, and the latter of whom was born in Mason county, West Virginia. Willard Fullhart, the owner of a farm of 150 acres in Monroe township, was born in Delaware county, a member of one of the pioneer families here, and has lived in this county all his life save for two or three years following his marriage at Richmond when he made his home in that city.

DR. LUCIUS L. BALL, M. D., medical director of the Western Reserve Life Insurance Company and a director of Ball Brothers Company, has lived in Muncie for more than thirty years. Doctor Ball was born in Greensburg, Trumbull county, Ohio, March 29, 1850. His father was Lucius Stiles Ball, born in Ascot, Canada; his mother Maria P. (Bingham) Ball, born in Stansted, Canada. Lucius Stiles Ball was the eldest son of William Ball, born on January 1,1814; he left Canada when he was about twenty years old and went South where he remained about ten years, then joined his parents who had in the meantime moved to a farm in Greensburg, Trumbull county, Ohio. Benjamin Bingham, father of Maria P. Bingham, also moved from Canada and located on a farm in Ashtabula county, Ohio. Lucius Stiles Ball and Maria P. (Bingham) Ball were married on September 1, 1846. To them were born eight children, six sons - Lucius L., the eldest, William C., Edmund B., Frank C., and Clinton H., the latter of whom died in infancy, and two daughters - Lucina A. and Frances May. Lucina A., an educator of note, died in 1901. Frances May married William J. Mauck, president of Hillsdale College. When Lucius Ball was twelve years old his father and mother and family moved to New York state, locating near Buffalo, and two years later they moved to Canandaigua, New York, where they remained for ten years. The children attended the public schools and completed their education in the Canandaigua Academy. The father died in

Dr. Lucius L. Ball

Canandaigua January 25, 1878. Shortly after his death the mother and five sons moved to Buffalo, New York, where Lucius entered the Medical Department of the University of Buffalo, and was graduated in 1889. For three years thereafter Doctor Ball served as house physician in the Adrian Hospital, Pennsylvania, and then began the practice of medicine in Buffalo. In 1894 he rejoined his brothers in Muncie. Doctor Ball is a Knights Templar, 32° (Scottish Rite) Mason and is a member of the Universalist church. In 1893 Dr. Lucius L. Ball married Sarah Rogers, of Buffalo, N. Y. They have one daughter, Helen, who was graduated from Vassar College in 1919. Although now retired from the active practice of medicine, Doctor Ball, in order to keep abreast of new discoveries in medical science and in touch with his profession, holds membership relations with the state and national medical societies and the Muncie Academy of Medicine and with the medical section of the American Life Insurance Convention.

WALTER C. WEANER, secretary-treasurer of the Johnson Oil Burner Company of Muncie, is a native of Illinois, born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Mt. Vernon in that state, August 29, 1885, and is a son of H. J. and Alice L. (Limbert) Weaner, the latter a daughter of George and Rachel Limbert. H. J. Weaner is a native Hoosier, born on a farm in the vicinity of the village of Saratoga, in. the neighboring county of Randolph, and has been a_ successful farmer. In the fall of 1880 he moved from Indiana to Illinois and established his home on a farm of 169 acres in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood in that state, where he continued actively engaged in farming until his retirement some years ago, meanwhile becoming the owner of a farm of 400 acres. He is now engaged in the commission business at Mt. Vernon. To him and his wife were born six children. Walter C. Weaner grew up on the home farm at Mt. Vernon and upon leaving the high school there took up hospital training and pursued a course of three years of such training. Instead of following nursing as a vocation, however, he turned his attention to salesmanship and after taking a course in this line became employed as a traveling salesman for the Dayton Computing Scale Company of Dayton, Ohio, a line which he followed until he took up his present line of manufacturing. In 1916 Mr. Weaner purchased the right to manufacture oil burners under the Johnson patents and in 1917 came to Muncie and established here a factory, operating under the name of the Johnson Oil Burner Company, C. Ray Andrews being president of this company and Mr. Weaner being secretary-treasurer and general manager, with offices and plant at 60614 East Jackson street. This com- pany manufactures all kinds of burners for the utilization of fuel oil in factory equipment, as well as a complete line of oil stoves for domestic use, and has created a wide market for its products. On October 3, 1910, Walter C. Weaner was united in marriage to Carolyn Rehlmeyer, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Rehlmeyer, and he and his wife have two children, Charles Henry and Clarice Maxine. Mr. and Mrs. Weaner are affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church and are Democrats.

JOHN B. BRAZIER, superintendent of the Dean Drop Forging Company's plant at 1825 East Jackson street, Muncie, was born in England but has been a resident of this country since he was a boy and of Muncie for the past fifteen years. Mr. Brazier was born in the city of Birmingham (England), September 21, 1879, and is a son of Samuel and Sarah (Bird) Brazier, both of whom also were born in England, and who in 1889 came to the United States with their family and settled in Boston, where they spent the remainder of their lives. The late Samuel Brazier was a writer, all his life being devoted to literary work, and for some time after coming to this country was engaged as editor of a magazine at Boston. He died at his home in that city in 1909 and his widow survived him but two years, her death occurring in 1911. Samuel Brazier was twice married. By his first marriage he had three children, one of whom is still living, Mrs. Emily Payton, who continues to make her home in England. By his second marriage he was the father of eight children, four sons and four daughters, but three of whom are now living, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Winifred, and a brother, Ernest E. Brazier. As will be noted by a comparison of above dates, John B. Brazier was ten years of age when he came to this country with his parents in 1889. He completed his schooling in the Boston city schools and early became interested in the mechanical crafts, entering the employ of the Walworth Manufacturing Company of Boston as a machinist. He remained with that concern for six years, becoming thoroughly well grounded in his trade. He then transferred his connection to the drop-forging department of the plant of the United Shoe Machine Company at Winchester, Mass., and was there employed for three years making dies. He then was given charge of the die room of the plant of the Cape Ann Tool Company of Rockport, Mass., an organization of which J. J. Dean was the president, and when in 1909 Mr. Dean established his plant at Muncie, creating the Dean Drop Forging Company, Mr. Brazier accompanied the organization as superintendent of operation and has since been thus engaged, one of the substantial figures in the industrial life of the. town. Mr. Brazier is an active member of the Muncie Chamber of Commerce and is a Knight Templar Mason. On August 28, 1908, at Springfield, Mass., John B. Brazier was united in marriage to Lilla Merriam, who was born at Millbury, Mass., a daughter of Henry T. and Harriet (Wheelock) Merriam, and to this union two children have been born, a son, John B. Brazier, Jr., and a daughter, Harriet. The Braziers reside at 1600 East Main street. Mr. and Mrs. Brazier are Republicans and are members of St. John's Universalist church. Mr. Brazier is one of the deacons of that church, a member of the board of trustees of the same and also assistant superintendent of the Sunday school. Mrs. Brazier is a member of the local chapter (Paul Revere) of the Daughters of the American Revolution by right of descent from one of the men who held the historic bridge at Concord. She also is a member of the Round Table Club and the Muncie Mothers' Council.

GOLA SMITH, a grocer at Muncie, was born in this city and has lived here all his life. Mr. Smith was born on May 29, 1880, and is a son of John F. P. and Henrietta (Kibler) Smith, both natives of that part of the Old Dominion now included in West Virginia, who had come to Indiana with their respective parents shortly after the breaking out of the Civil war, both the Smith and the Kibler families settling in Delaware county. John F. P. Smith, now proprietor of a feed barn at Eighth street and Hoyt avenue, is a son of John F. Smith, a member of one of the Virginia Colonial families, who upon coming to Muncie during the early '60s of the past century became engaged here working at his trade as a carpenter and cabinet maker and casket maker. After his marriage to Henrietta Kibler, John F. P. Smith established his home at Muncie and has continued to reside here, now living at 270 Hoyt avenue. For about fifteen years he was employed as a sawyer in a barrel heading shop, then became a sawyer in another wood-working shop, sawing plow beams. He later was made manager of Moody's lumber yard, and was thus engaged for about twelve years, at the end of which time he took up his present business at the feed barn mentioned above. Of the eight children born to him and his wife five are still living. Reared at Muncie, Gola Smith received his schooling in the city schools and as a young man became employed in a lumber yard, where he worked for about six years, at the end of which time he became employed in the big glass manufacturing plant of the Ball Bros. Company. For eight years Mr. Smith worked in this plant, and then in partnership with his brother,

John M. Smith, he became engaged in the grocery business on Hoyt avenue. Something more than eight years later he bought his brother's interest in this store and a year later moved his establishment to his present location at 1400 South Walnut street. That was in 1922 and he since has been engaged in business at that number, proprietor of a well appointed retail grocery store. On August 22, 1918, Gola Smith was united in marriage to Elizabeth M. Bosher, who was born in New York state, daughter of R. J. and Katherine M. (Corwin) Bosher, who came to Indiana in 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Smith reside at 271 Hoyt avenue. They are members of the High Street Methodist Episcopal church and are Republicans. Mr. Smith is a member of the local council (Delaware No. 4) of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.

GEORGE ALEXANDER BALL, treasurer of the Ball Brothers Company of Muncie, the great glass manufacturing concern with whose interests he has been identified since its inception, was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, November 5, 1862, and is a son of Lucius Stiles Ball and Maria P. (Bingham) Ball, who were the parents of eight children. An account of Mr. Ball's ancestry, early life and business career will be found in the biography of his brother, Edmund Burke Ball. George A. Ball was six years of age when the family moved to Canandaigua, N. Y., where he attended public school and completed his schooling in the Canandaigua Academy. When he was twenty-one years of age, in 1883, he joined his elder brothers in the manufacturing enterprise they had started some years before at Buffalo, N. Y., and when in 1887 the Ball interests were transferred to Muncie he came here and has since been a resident of Muncie, an active and influential figure in the general industrial, commercial and social life of the city and of the community of which he thus has been a part for more than thirty-five years. In addition to his activities as treasurer of the Ball Brothers Company, Mr. Ball has extensive interests in other directions. He is a member of the directorates of the Merchants National Bank and of the Delaware County National Bank of Muncie, a director of the Marine Trust Company of Buffalo, N. Y., and is also a member of the boards of directors of the Indiana Portland Cement Company, the Muncie & Portland Traction Company, the Indianapolis, Newcastle & Eastern Traction Company and the Muncie & Western Railway Company. Mr. Ball's services in behalf of general educational and philanthropic movements are widely recognized and he is a member of the board of trustees of Indiana University and one of the directors of the association having in hand the erection of the hospital for children of Indiana as a memorial to James Whitcomb Riley, the Hoosier poet. Mr. Ball is a Freemason and is a member of the Muncie Rotary Club. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church and he is an elder in the church. In 1893 George A. Ball and Frances Woodworth were married at Buffalo, N. Y. They have one daughter, Elizabeth, who graduated in the class of 1922 in Vassar College. .

DANIEL F. COX, president of the Yorktown town board, president of the York Tool and Manufacturing Company of Yorktown, a former building contractor and a substantial landowner of Mt. Pleasant township, now living at Yorktown, was born in that township and has lived there practically all his life. Mr. Cox was born on October 1, 1865, and was but eight years of age when his father died. He thus early was thrown pretty much on his own resources in the matter of a livelihood and at the age of thirteen left school and began working as a farm hand in his home township. When seventeen years of age he went to Muncie and began working as a carpenter's hand and there learned the details of the building trade. He continued working as a carpenter at Muncie until in 1893 when, during the height of the natural gas "boom" he returned to his old home in Mt. Pleasant township and set up as a building contractor on his own account, building houses and barns all over that part of the county, for there was much new building and a great deal of reconstruction work going on in that vicinity about that time. Mr. Cox continued actively engaged as a building contractor until in 1902 when he became engaged in the lumber business at Yorktown, doing business as the Yorktown Lumber Company. For fifteen years Mr. Cox continued thus engaged in the lumber business at Yorktown, meanwhile acquiring considerable farm interests in that vicinity, becoming the owner of about 200 acres of land, and then he sold his lumber yard and became engaged in active farming and so continued until his retirement in 1919 and removal to Yorktown, where he since has resided, renting his farm lands. When Howard Warfel organized the York Tool and Manufacturing Company at Yorktown in 1920 Mr. Cox became actively interested in that enterprise and was elected president of the company, a position which he still occupies. Mr. Cox is a Democrat and is the present president of the Yorktown town board. He is a Freemason and is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Cox has been twice married. His first wife, Catherine Simpson, died leaving one child, a daughter, Mae, and he later married Elizabeth Yingling. Mae Cox married Edward Thorne and has seven children. Mr. and Mrs. Cox are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

BERT POWERS, secretary of the Gaston Canning Company and general manager of that company's plant at Gaston, was born on a farm in the Gaston neighborhood in Washington township, on January 15, 1872, and is a son of Mark and Mary (Ferguson) Powers, both of whom also were born in this county and the latter of whom is still living. She was born in Washington township in 1849, daughter and only child of Isaac and Susan (Lewis) Ferguson, the former of whom in that same year joined a party of gold seekers going to California, and on his way back to Indiana in 1851 died at St. Louis. The late Mark Powers, former treasurer of Delaware county and former president of the Gaston Banking Company, was born at Elizabethtown on the Mississinewa, June 4, 1845, and was a son of Uriah and Sylvania (Wilson) Powers, the former a Virginian and the latter a Pennsylvanian. Mark Powers was but eleven years of age when his mother died and was fifteen when his father died, and he was living with his uncle, John Powers, in Henry county, when the Civil war broke out. In 1864 he enlisted as a hundred-day man and was assigned to Company B of the 134th Indiana, later re-enlisting and serving until the close of the war with Company K of the 137th regiment. After his marriage in 1867 he established his home on the old home place in Washington township. For eight years he served the people of that township as township trustee and in 1890 was elected treasurer of Delaware county, and by re-election served for two terms in that office. In the spring of 1902 Mr. Powers helped in the organization of the Gaston Banking Company and was elected president of the same, a position he filled until his resignation in 1920. He also helped organize the Gaston Canning Company in 1902 and served as president and treasurer of that concern until in 1912, when he sold his interest in the cannery to his son, Bert Powers, present general manager of the plant. Mark Powers also helped to organize the Gaston Telephone Company and was for years treasurer and general manager of the same. He also had an interest in a hardware store at Gaston and in a store at Muncie, was a member of the board of directors of the Merchants National Bank of Muncie and owned a half section of land in Washington township. He died on January 18, 1923. Of the eight children born to him and his wife, all are living save one who died in infancy and a son George W., who died in 1897 at the age of twenty-seven, the others besides the subject of this sketch being Webb, Paul, Bruce, John and Susan. Bert Powers received his schooling at Gaston and early acquired mercantile experience as a clerk. In 1898 he became engaged in the hardware business at Gaston in association with his father and still retains his interest in that store, in partnership with L. Bond. In 1912 Mr. Powers bought his father's interest in the plant and affairs of the Gaston Canning Company and served as treasurer of that concern until in 1918, when he was elected secretary and general manager of the company, which position he has since occupied. He also is a member of the board of directors of the Gaston Telephone Company. He is a Republican, as was his father, and is an Odd Fellow and an Elk. Bert Powers married Catherine M. Harrison and he and his wife have twin daughters, Louise May and Frances Elizabeth.

JACOB SMITH KEESLING, a veteran farmer and landowner of Salem township, who recently died at his home there, was a native Hoosier and had lived in this state all his life, a resident of Delaware county for many years. Mr. Keesling was born on a farm in the neighboring county of Madison, December 19, 1857, and was a son of Jacob and Nancy (Riggs) Keesling, the latter of whom was born in Ohio. Jacob Keesling was born in Virginia and was but a boy when he came to Indiana with his parents, Jacob Keesling and wife, the family settling in Madison county, where the senior Jacob Keesling entered a tract of land from the government and established his home. On that pioneer farm the junior Jacob Keesling grew to manhood and after his marriage became a farmer on his own account and came to be the owner of a good farm of eighty acres. He and his wife were the parents of fifteen children, five of whom are still living and of whom the subject of this memorial sketch was the only one to make his residence in Delaware county. Jacob Smith Keesling was reared on the home farm in Madison county and remained on the farm with his father until after his marriage when he rented a farm in that county and was engaged in farming there for a couple of years, at the end of which time he came over into Delaware county and rented the farm on which his last days were spent and which he came to own, the old Abshire home farm in Salem township, the place on which his widow was born. In 1914 Mr. Keesling bought this farm of eighty-two acres and later increased his holdings there to 162 acres and had a well improved farm. He died there in 1924. Jacob Smith Keesling married Loretta Abshire, who, as noted above, was born on the farm on which she is now living in Salem township, and who is a daughter of Edward and Catherine (Basicker) Abshire, the latter of whom was born in the neighboring county of Madison. Edward Abshire was born in Virginia and was but a child when he came to Indiana with his parents, Allen Abshire and wife, who settled on a farm in Salem township, this county, where Edward Abshire grew to manhood. After his marriage he became a farmer in that township and became the owner of more than 200 acres of land, as is set out elsewhere in this work, together with further details regarding the Abshire family in this county. To Jacob S. and Loretta (Abshire) Keesling were born five children, Effie Mae, Jacob, Catherine, Russell and Bethel Edna, all of whom are married save Russell, who is with his mother on the home farm. Effie Mae Keesling married George W. Reedy and has two children, Orville and Maxine. Jacob Keesling (IV). married Ruth Haynes. Catherine Keesling married Charles W. Jones and has one child, Darrel; and Bethel Edna Keesling married Clay Stewart and has four children, Dorothy, Madaline, Russell and Dora Catherine. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Keesling has continued to make her home on the old home place, which is pleasantly situated on rural mail route No. 1 out of Daleville.

LEMUEL A. PITTENGER, representative in the Indiana General Assembly from Delaware county, professor of rural education in the Eastern Division of the Indiana State Normal School, an educator of many years standing in Indiana and a farmer and landowner, residing on the Selma pike in Liberty township, this county, is a native son of Delaware county and has lived here the greater part of his life, from the days of his young manhood interested in educational affairs Mr. Pittenger was born on a farm in Delaware township on Septen ber 27, 1873, and is a son of Isaiah and Josephine (Swander) Pit enger, both members of pioneer families in this county. Reared on the home farm, Lemuel A. Pittenger received his early schooling in the old Hickory Grove school, supplemented this by two years of attendance in the Selma high school, took a course in the Central Indiana Normal School at Danville and then began to teach school, thus engaging in a profession which ever since has engrossed his attention. Furthering his qualifications for teaching he took a course in the normal school at Lebanon, Ohio, and then entered Indiana University. At the end of three and one-half years study there he received his Bachelor degree and after one year of further study was given his Master degree. For six years Mr. Pittenger was engaged as the head of the English department of the Muncie high school and then he became connected with the teaching staff of the old Muncie normal. Two years later, in an effort to restore the declining fortunes of that institution, he became acting president of the school and carried it through another term. That was about twenty years ago. Mr. Pittenger's next connection with school work was as the head of the English department in the Bloomington schools, in which capacity he served for five years, or until in 1913 when he was engaged as head of the English department of the Ohio State Normal School at Kent, in which institution he served for seven years or until his resignation in 1920 on account of failing health. Upon leaving the school room Mr. Pittenger returned to Delaware county and established his home on the farm on which he is now living on the Selma pike, rural mail route No. 1 out of Selma, and has since resided there. In the spring of 1923 he was recalled to school work as a temporary substitute for Mr. Clippinger in the English department of the Eastern Division of the Indiana State Normal School at Muncie and. thus returned to the old school grounds on which he had labored twenty years before. In the fall of 1923, when this substitute labor was concluded, he was prevailed upon to put in his lot with the state school, was elected professor of rural education in the normal and is thus again back into school work, which to him always has been a labor of love. Mr. Pittenger is a Republican and has long taken an interested part in civic affairs. In the fall of 1922 he was elected to represent Delaware county in the Indiana General Assembly and in that capacity served in the 1923 session of the Legislature, head of the important ways and means committee of the House of Representatives and thus one of the most influential factors in that body. Of the six bills introduced by Mr. Pittenger during that session, five became laws of the state, one of these being the important teachers certification law. He was renominated for the legislature in the May primary, 1924. In 1900 Lemuel A. Pittenger was united in marriage to Bertha Orr, who also was born in this county, daughter of J. N. and Nannie (Simmons) Orr, both members of pioneer families in the county, and to this union two children have been born, a son, Arthur O., and a daughter, Mary Joe, the latter of whom is now a student in the Eastern Division of the Indiana State Normal School at Muncie. Arthur O. Pittenger is a student at Indiana University, a member of the class of 1925. Mr. Pittenger is a Freemason and he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. He was reared in the - United Presbyterian church faith and was formerly an elder of that communion. (43)

WILLIAM M. BIRCH, head of the W. M. Birch Company, general contractors in highway construction, street paving and excavation work at Muncie, is a Missourian by birth but has been a resident of Delaware county the greater part of his life and for more than thirty years has been engaged in his present line in Muncie, it having been. he who laid the first bit of brick paving put down in that city. Mr. Birch was born on a farm in St. Clair county, Missouri, June 27, 1864, and is a. son of Rodney C. and Agnes Birch. Rodney C. Birch died in Little Rock, Ark., shortly after the close of the Civil war and his widow with her small son came to Indiana and settled in the Albany neighborhood. William M. Birch thus was early left without a father's help and when hardly more than a boy he started out "on his own." His schooling was finished in the Albany schools and then > he followed Horace Greeley's advice to young men and went West, becoming engaged in construction work in the task of laying branch lines for the Santa Fe railroad. For some time he was employed in railway construction camps and then became engaged in similar work on irrigation projects in Colorado, and thus early became thoroughly familiar with the details of construction work. After four years of this sort of experience Mr. Birch undertook contracting on his own account and was for two years engaged as a contractor on irrigation works, laying the groundwork for the later successes which were to come to him in this line. Then he returned to Delaware county and located at Muncie, where he opened out as a general contractor in excavation work, cement sidewalk construction and the laying of sewers, which lines gradually were extended, as street paving came along, to include street and road building, and it was in this latter line that he laid the first brick street put down in Muncie. It was in 1892 that Mr. Birch began his contract work in Muncie, just about the time the new era of development opened out well in the town, and he ever since has been working along these lines. His field of activities presently were extended to cover work of this kind generally throughout eastern Indiana, sidewalk, street and sewer construction, and in 19138 he organized the present W. M. Birch Company and the business since has been carried on by this corporation. This firm is regarded as one of the leading firms of contractors along these lines in eastern Indiana, road building, paving and excavating being its specialty. Mr. Birch is a Democrat. He is a Scottish Rite (32 degree) Mason and a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, affiliated with Murat temple at Indianapolis, and is a member of the Muncie Chamber of Commerce. In 1891 William M.

Birch was united in marriage to Clara A. Pittenger, daughter of Daniel and Eleanor Pittenger and a member of one of the pioneer families of Delaware county, and he and his wife have one child, a daughter, Nola A., wife of Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Hayler of the United States navy. The Haylers have two sons, Robert W. and William Birch Hayler. Mr. and Mrs. Birch are members of the High Street Methodist Episcopal church. They reside at 800 East Washington street. . WILLIAM H. BALL, assistant general manager of the Ball Brothers Company of Muncie and a veteran of the World war, was born at Buffalo, N. Y., October 28, 1893, and is the son of William C. and Emma (Wood) Ball, who became residents of Muncie in 1897 and the latter of whom is still living here, making her home on beautiful Minnetrista boulevard. The late William C. Ball, a member of the Ball Brothers Company, died in the spring of 1921 and further and fitting mention of him is made elsewhere in this work. William H. Ball was four years of age when his parents moved from Buffalo to Muncie in 1897. He thus was reared in Muncie, getting his initial schooling here. Upon leaving the high school he entered the Howe Military Academy and after two years there entered Hillsdale College at Hillsdale, Mich., of which his uncle, Joseph W. Mauck, is president. Mr. Ball attended Hillsdale during the years 1913-14, was president of his class and took a leading part in college athletics. After further preparatory work at Hillsdale he entered the chemical engineering school of Cornell University, in 1916, and was there in attendance when this country entered the World war. In the fall of 1917 he married and one month later, December 14, 1917, enlisted for army service and was assigned to the 60th (infantry) regiment of the 5th Division of the national army. Soon afterward he was transferred to the headquarters company of the gas service detachment of the 5th Division and in February, 1918, was made a sergeant. He took a detachment of this division to Camp Logan (Texas) and soon afterward was transferred to Camp Merritt (New Jeresy) in preparation for overseas service and on April 14, 1918, sailed with the command to which he was attached for France. With this command Mr. Ball saw much active service at the front, thus participating in the action of the Vosges, the Baccaret, the St. Mihiel and the Argonne sectors. He sailed for home on August 4, 1919. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Ball entered the office of the Ball Brothers Company at Muncie, starting in as a clerk in the sales and purchasing department, with a view to learning the details of the office end of the business. On January 1, 1921, he went over to the old office building of the plant with a view to learning the details of factory operation and production, and two years later, January 1, 1923, was made assistant to Edmund B. Ball, his uncle and the general manager of the concern, and is now serving in that administrative capacity. On November 14, 1917, William H. Ball was united in marriage to Marian Agnes Medsker, who was born at Muncie, December 3, 1893, daughter of C. L. Medsker, and to this union a daughter, Lucina, was born on August 21, 1918. Mrs. Ball is a leader in local musical circles. Mr. Ball is also quite musical. They reside at 222 North Monroe street.

KARL A. OESTERLE, vice president and manager of the Delaware County National Bank of Muncie, a past president of the Muncie Chamber of Commerce, treasurer of the Delaware county Republican central committee and in numerous other ways actively identified with the commercial and civic life of the community, is a native of the old Buckeye state but has been a resident of Indiana and of Muncie for thirty years and more and thus "grew up" with the new city which developed here following the opening of the natural gas field in the late '80s and early 90s. Mr. Oesterle was born in the pleasant village of Washingtonville in Columbiana county, Ohio, August 21, 1879, and is a son of C. W. and Mary (Mascher) Oesterle, both of whom were born in Germany and had come to this country with their respective parents in the days of their youth. The late C. W. Oesterle, whose last days were spent in Muncie, was a shoemaker, a vocation which he followed all his active life. In 1893, when Muncie was beginning to enjoy such a rapid accretion of population following the opening of the industries dependent on natural gas here, he came to Muncie with his family and here he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1912. To him and his wife were born nine children, all of whom are living save one daughter, Mrs. Rosa Ross, who died in St. Louis.. Of the remaining children of this parentage but three are residents of Muncie, the subject of this sketch and his brothers, Isadore and Eugene Oesterle. The others are Mrs. Elizabeth Striver and Mrs. Mollie Ruthenberger, of Blue Island, IIl.; Mrs. Mary Langenbach, of Terre Haute, Ind.; Mrs. Evelyn Pruden, of Lockport, N. Y., and Mrs. Lydia Hartman, of Norwood, Mo. When Karl A. Oesterle was but a small child his parents moved from Wash- _ingtonville to Leetonia, in Columbiana county (Ohio), where he was in school until he was twelve years of age, when he went to St. Louis to make his home with his elder sister, Mrs. Ross, and was there for two years or until in October, 1893, when he rejoined his parents, who in that year had made their home in Muncie. Karl Oesterle thus was fourteen years of age when he came to Muncie, and his first job here was as a cash boy and delivery boy in the Keller-Bryce clothing store. In 1896, when seventeen years of age, he took a job "on the road" as a salesman for the American Washboard Company of Cleveland and was thus engaged as a traveling salesman for nine months, at the end of which time-he returned to Muncie and resumed his employment with the Keller-Bryce concern, remaining there in a responsible capacity until in 19038, when he became attracted to a proposition which had opened out in Salt Lake City, Utah, and went to that city, but not finding things there to his liking he presently returned and again became associated with the Keller-Bryce company, this time as secretary of the company, and was thus engaged until in 1912, when he was elected to the directorate of the Delaware County National Bank, was made vice president of that old established institution, and has since been serving in that capacity, manager of the bank. Mr. Oesterle also is a member of the directorates of the Warner Gear Company, the Muncie Malleable Foundry Company and the Keller Company, of which latter concern he is treasurer, and is president of the Carr Drug Company. He also is treasurer of the Republican county central committee and is president of the sinking fund committee of the city of Muncie. Ever since its organization, Mr. Oesterle has been treasurer of the Delaware county chapter of the American Red Cross and is now also secretary of that body. He is a member of the directorate and treasurer of the local Social Service Bureau, a member of the board of trustees of the Bert H. Whiteley Charity Fund and a member of the board of the local fund of the Near East Relief and was vice chairman of the committee which had in hand the local campaign in behalf of the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital fund in this county and was treasurer of that fund. During the period of this country's participation in the World war, Mr. Oesterle served on all the local Liberty Loan "drives" and on one of these sales was credited with making a million dollar sale in one transaction. When the United War Work campaign came on in the fall of 1918 he was made chairman of the local committee in charge of that drive, which was closed on November 11 (Armistice day) with a full subscription of this county's quota of $125,000, the largest single item contributed here as an outright gift to war work. He also served as a "Three Minute" man and under appointment of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, served as chairman of the campaign for the sale of treasury certificates issued in anticipation of the Victory loan to the government. When the Delaware County Bankers Association was organized for the purpose of more effective service during the time of the war Mr. Oesterle was elected president of that association, an organization which has been continued very effectively. Mr. Oesterle is a past president of the Muncie Chamber of Commerce, past president is also affiliated with the local lodges of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Loyal Order of Moose. Karl A. Oesterle married Mayme E. Johnson, daughter and only child of John C. and Martha J. (Hutchinson) Johnson, of Muncie, and to this union three children have been born, Mary Jane, John Conrad and Lydia Elizabeth. Mr. and Mrs. Oesterle are members of the First Presbyterian church, of the congregation of which he has for years been one of the trustees. He also is superintendent of the Sunday school of that church and for a number of years was the congregation's financial secretary. The late John C. Johnson, father of Mrs. Oesterle, was for years one of the leading figures in the commercial and industrial life of Muncie and was president of the Delaware County National Bank at the time of his death in 1904. He was a native of New York state, had been a resident of Muncie since 1884 and was past sixtyone years of age at the time of his death. His widow, who was born in Albany, N. Y., daughter of David and Mary (Chambers) Hutchinson, survives and is still living at Muncie.

JOHN C. JOHNSON, a veteran of the Civil war and at the time of his death nearly twenty years ago president of the Delaware County National Bank of Muncie, had been a resident of Muncie for twenty years, actively identified with the industrial and commercial affairs of the community, and at his passing left a good memory. It therefore is but fitting that in this definite history of the county in whose interests his services had so long been rendered there should appear some brief memorial of his life and service. Mr. Johnson was born in Albany county, New York, May 21, 1848, and was a son of Henry I. and Eliza (Ferguson) Johnson, both of whom also were born in New York state. Henry I. Johnson was a farmer in Albany county. In 1864 he moved to Ashtabula, Ohio, and in 1881 moved with his family into Indiana and located at Muncie, where he died not long afterward. John C. Johnson was but seventeen years of age when the Civil war broke out, but he lost no time in getting into the service of the Union army and went out with Company K of the 44th regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry (the famous "Ellsworth

Avengers'), and was serving with that command when at the battle of Hanover Court House he was severely wounded, later being discharged for physical inability. He then entered the service of the Quartermaster's Department and thus served until the close of the war. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Johnson finished his schooling at the Boys Academy at Albany, took a course in the old Bryant & Stratton Commercial College and then became employed as a bookkeeper in the office of a lumber concern at Albany and was thus engaged there for fifteen years, during which time he became thoroughly familiar with the details of the lumber business. In 1882 Mr. Johnson became engaged in the lumber business on his own account at Bridgeport, Conn., but two years later (in 1884) disposed of his interests there and came to Muncie to rejoin his brother, Abbott L. Johnson, who meanwhile had become engaged here in the lumber business, and the brothers became associated in the lumber business here, thus forming business connections which, when the "boom" consequent on the opening of the natural gas field here came on a few years later proved profitable for both. John C. Johnson became interested in several industrial and commercial enterprises, was one of the leaders in the old Commercial Club movement, for some time president of the Commercial Club; was active in city expansion enterprises, served for several years as a member of the city common council and in other ways did what he could to advance the interests of "Magic Muncie." In the summer of 1896 he was elected president of the Delaware County National Bank and in that capacity served until his death, December 13, 1904. Mr. Johnson was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, a York Rite Mason and a Presbyterian, for years an elder of the First Presbyterian church and a member of the building committee which directed the erection of the edifice now occupied by that congregation. On October 26, 1870, John C. Johnson was united in marriage to Martha J. Hutchinson, daughter of David and Mary (Chambers) Huntchinson, of Albany, N. Y., and to that union one child was born, a daughter, Mayme E., who married Karl A. Oesterle, present vice-president and manager of the Delaware County Bank, and has three children, Mary Jane, John Conrad and Lydia Elizabeth. Mrs. Johnson survives her husband and is still living at Muncie, which has been her home for forty years. It is a significant historical fact that when the funeral of John C. Johnson was held in Muncie in December, 1904, factory operations, mercantile activities, street car traffic and other business affairs were suspended for ten minutes during the time of the

MICHAEL J. McGUFF, founder of the M. J. McGuff Coal and Builders Supply Company of Muncie and a former member of the common council of the city of Muncie, who died at his home here in the summer of 1913 and whose business is still being carried on in the family, his widow now being president of. the company which he founded and his son, Edmund J. McGuff, general manager of the concern, had many friends in this community and at his passing left a good memory. The late Michael J. McGuff was born in the pleasant and romantic village of Yellow Springs in Greene county, Ohio, June. 24, 1857, and was a son of Thomas McGuff, who was born in County Clair, Ireland, and who had come to this country in the days of his young manhood and had established his home in Ohio. Reared at Yellow Springs, Michael J. McGuff as a young man became a traveling representative of the old William Whiteley Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of harvesting machines, at Springfield, Ohio, and in 1897 when the Whiteley Malleable Castings Company was established at Muncie came over here with the force that accompanied the plant from Springfield and became employed in the Muncie plant as foreman of the annealing department and was thus engaged until about twenty years ago when he embarked in the coal business at Muncie, establishing the business -which is still carried on in the family and which he was carrying on at the time of his death on July 8, 1913. About ten years after he had embarked in the coal business he had added to his yards a general line of builders supplies and this combination has since been maintained, the offices and yards of the 'concern being at the corner of Plum and Wysor streets. Mr. McGuff also established the plant of the Muncie Brass and Aluminum Company, which after his death was sold. The coal and supply business was kept up after his death, his widow, Mrs. Sarah E. McGuff, being the present president of the company, which is a partnership concern or close corporation, with her son, Edmund J. McGuff, as vice president and manager, Mrs. Mary Morrison as secretary, and Harry B. Morrison as treasurer. Mrs. McGuff (Sarah E. Ward) was born in the village of Harmony in Clark county, Ohio. Michael J. McGuff was a Republican and for some time represented his ward in the common council of the city of Muncie. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Modern Woodmen, and was a member of St. Lawrence's Catholic church, as are his widow and children. There are four of these chil- dren, Mary, Edmund J. and Edna (twins) and Margaret, all save the last named of whom were born in Ohio. Edmund J. McGuff was born at Springfield, Ohio, March 8, 1892, and was about five years of age when his parents moved from Springfield to Muncie and he received his schooling in the schools of the latter city. As a lad he began to take an interest in his father's coal yard and thus literally ' "grew up" to the business with which he ever since has been connected and of which he now is the general manager. In 1913 Edmund J. McGuff was united in marriage to Mabel James, daughter of William F. and Helena (Cochran) James, who died in 1920, leaving two children, Sarah Elizabeth and Nancy Jane. On May 15, 1923, Mr. McGuff married, secondly, Ruth M. Fox, daughter of George and Martha (Sullivan) Fox. Mr. McGuff is a member of the Muncie Chamber of Commerce and of the Kiwanis Club and also is affiliated with the local council of the Knights of Columbus, with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and with the Phi Delta Kappa fraternity. Mary McGuff married Harry B. Morrison, 'present treasurer of the M. J. McGuff Coal and Builders Supply Company ; Edna McGuff married Layman W. Amos, of St. Louis, and Margaret McGuff married Garland Retherford. It was in 1918, when the McGuff firm took up the builders supply line that Harry B. Morrison entered the firm and he since has acted as treasurer of the concern.

WILLARD A. BARTLETT, one of Muncie's long established realtors and president of the Midwest Mortgage and Bond Company of Muncie, is a member of one of the real pioneer families of Delaware county, the Bartletts of this line having been represented in this county for nearly ninety years. Mr. Bartlett was born over the line in the neighboring county of Randolph, January 22, 1878, and is a son of the Rev. Martin and Emeline (Life) Bartlett, the latter of whom was born in that same county, a member of one of the pioneer families there. The Rev. Martin Bartlett, a minister of the United Brethren church, who is now living in Wayne county, was born in Delaware township in Delaware county and is a son of Robert and Elizabeth Bartlett, the former of whom was a son of William Bartlett, a Virginian, who had come out here into the New Purchase in 1835 with his family and who on October 10, 1836, entered from the Government a tract of land in section 24 of Delaware township, this county, where the Bartlett home became established and where Robert -and Elizabeth Bartlett reared their family. They were the parents of ten children and as most of these married and reared families of their own the Bartlett connection of this line in the present generation.

is a considerable one. Of these children, four are still living, the Rev. Martin Bartlett having two sisters, Mary and Flora, and a brother, Thomas Bartlett. The Rev. Martin Bartlett was reared on the home farm in Delaware township and after his marriage estab- | lished his home on a farm in Randolph county, some years later was ordained a minister of the United Brethren church and for twentyfive years made his home in Randolph county, farming and preaching. He then moved back to Delaware county and here remained until his removal in 1917 to Wayne county, where he is now living at a ripe old age. To him and his wife were born four children, the subject of this sketch having two sisters, Nellie and Anna, and a brother, Charles Bartlett. Reared on the home farm in Randolph county, Willard A. Bartlett finished his schooling in the old Ridgeville College and in the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, from which latter institution he was graduated, and then he took up the study of | law under the preceptorship of Judge Caldwell at Winchester. Two years later, in 1903, he came to Muncie and here became engaged in the mortgage and bond brokerage business, a line which ever since has engaged his attention and in addition to which he is engaged in the general realty business, with present offices at 417 the Wysor building. In 1916 Mr. Bartlett promoted the organization of the Midwest Mortgage and Bond Company of Muncie, was elected president of this company and has since been the executive head of the same, directing the affairs of the company from his office in the Wysor building. This concern is a mortgage and bond house for bankers, banks, life insurance companies and corporations, enabling interior banks to offer a complete banking service, and its several departments cover farm loans, city loans and bonds, specializing in real estate mortgage bonds, government, municipal and other high grade bonds and nontaxable securities. Mr. Bartlett is president of this company, Fred J. Hughes and Harry H. Orr are vice-presidents, M. E. Stauf is the secretary-treasurer and M. V. Bartlett is inspector, besides which there is a board of governors - fourteen in all - representatives of various financial interests in this and adjacent counties and in western Ohio. The purpose of the expansion program adopted by the Midwest management in 1916 is set out to be "a response to the urgent needs of the rural and smaller town communities for the same banking services rendered by banking institutions in the financial centers. Its purpose is to bring to the various banking communities, through its member bankers and the banks they represent, all the advantages afforded the customers of the strong metropolitan bank - a thing that is now beyond the powers of the smaller independent bank." Willard A. Bartlett married Glenna Moore, daughter of James and Rebecca Moore, and he and his wife have four children, two daughters, Mildred and Esther, and two sons, Robert and Dwight, the latter of whom are still in high school. Mildred Bartlett is a student in the state normal school and Esther Bartlett is a teacher in the Muncie junior high school. Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett are Republicans and are members of the High Street Methodist Episcopal church, in the Sunday school of which congregation Mr. Bartlett has for years been a teacher. The Bartletts reside at 518 Beechwood avenue.

S. WEBB JORDAN, former trustee of Perry township and a substantial farmer and landowner of that township, residing on the Burlington pike, rural mail route No. 6 out of Muncie, was born on a farm in section 23, in the southeastern part of that township, October 6, 1860, and is a son of William Alexander and America (Davidson) Jordan, the latter of whom, a member of one of the pioneer families in the neighboring county of Henry, died in 1872. William Alexander Jordan also was a native Hoosier, born in Wayne county, this state, in 1826, and was a son of William and Mary (McClellan) Jordan, Pennsylvanians, the former of whom was a son of John Jordan, who in 1808, eight years before Indiana was admitted to statehood, had moved with his family into the then wilds of Indiana Territory and had settled in Wayne county, the family home presently becoming established in the Economy neighborhood. In 1846, when twenty years of age, William Alexander Jordan came up into Delaware county and bought a quarter section of land in section 23 of Perry township. In the next spring he married and established his home there, and for more than sixty years was a resident of this township, his death occurring in 1910. In his generation William Alexander Jordan was widely known as a breeder and buyer of live stock. He was successful in his business and extended his holdings until he became the owner of 640 acres in his home township. He also served as justice of the peace in and for that township for years. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was a Republican. Of his twelve children eight are still living, the subject of this sketch having three sisters, Mary C., Josephine and Carrie, and four brothers, Marion, John 8., William and Volney Jordan. Reared on the home farm in Perry township, S. Webb Jordan received his schooling in Center school (district No. 9) and was from the days of his boyhood helpful in the labors of developing the home farm. After his

'marriage he rented one of his father's farms and was thus engaged in farming for seven years, at the end of which time he and his wife bought an "eighty" on the Burlington pike, a part of the place on which they are now living, and have since resided there. In the meantime Mr. Jordan has added to this place until now he is the owner of a well improved farm of 240 acres and in addition to his general farming gives much attention to the raising of hogs. Mr. Jordan is a Republican and for six years (1909-1915) rendered public service as trustee of Perry township. In 1886 S. Webb Jordan married Emma L. Rees, also a member of one of the pioneer families of this county, daughter of John and Mary Rees, of Perry township, and he and his wife have three children, a daughter, Carrie E., and two sons, John W. and Lewis A. Jordan, all of whom still are at home. Both sons are veterans of the World war.

WILLIAM H. PHILLIPS, who at the time of his death in the fall of 1917 had been for years the vice president of the Delaware County Bank of Muncie and who also was a substantial farmer and jand-owner of Liberty township, where he made his home, was a native son of Delaware county, a member of one of the pioneer families here, and all his life was spent here. He lived to be near eighty years of age and there were few men in the county who were better known than he. The late William H. Phillips was born on a pioneer farm in Liberty township on April 30, 1840, and was a son of Henry and Susanna (Sweetman) Phillips, the latter of whom was a daughter of oie of the pioneers of Butler county, Ohio. Henry Phillips was a Virginian, born in Shenandoah county (now in West Virginia) in 1795. As a young man he went into Ohio and in Butler county © married Susanna Sweetman. In 1836 he came up here into Indiana and established his home on a woodland tract in section 7 of Liberty township, this county where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, useful pioneers of that section of the county. They were the parents of five children, three sons and two daughters, and the continuing connection of this branch of the Phillips family in this county is a considerable one. William H. Phillips grew up on the home farm in Liberty township, completed his schooling in the old Engleside Institute in Butler county, Ohio, and early became a school teacher, a profession he followed in his home county for twelve years, meanwhile carrying on farm work during the summers. At the age of thirty years he married Mahala F. Keesling, who also was born in this county, a daughter of Martin and Cora (Rees) Keesling, of Perry township, and who died more than thirty years ago. Martin

Keesling was a Virginian who had come to this county in the days of his young manhood and who after his marriage had settled in Perry township, where he became the owner of more than 750 acres of land and was long accounted one of the most substantial farmers of Delaware county. He died in 1868 and his widow survived him for twelve years, her death occurring in 1880. She was a member of the pioneer Rees family of this county concerning whom numerous references are made in this work. After his marriage William H. Phillips established his home on a farm in section 5 of Liberty township, about four miles northeast of Muncie. When the old Delaware County Bank of Muncie was nationalized in 1892 William H. Phillips became one of the directors of that institution and later was made vice president of the bank, a position he occupied to the time of his death. He also was a director of the Muncie Trust Company, organized in 1900, and had other interests of a substantial character in the city and county. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and was a Republican. William H. Phillips died on November 20, 1917, he then being in his seventy-eighth year. He was the father of five children, three daughters, Mrs. Leora M. Cecil, Mrs. Gertrude F. Dragoo and Mrs. Nellie B. Shroyer, and two sons, Harry H. and Edgar E. Phillips, all of whom are still living in Delaware county.

Cc. C. CRAMPTON, head of the firm of C. C. Crampton & Son, general plastering and stucco contractors at Muncie, is a native son of Delaware county, a member of one of the pioneer families of this county, and has been a resident of Muncie since the days of his boyhood. Mr. Crampton was born on a farm in Hamilton township on March 21, 1869, and is a son of Charles C. and Mary Ann (Lynsacum) Crampton, the latter of whom also was born in Indiana. Charles C. Crampton was born in Ashland county, Ohio, October 9, 1838, and was a son of Joel and Eleanor (Ross) Crampton, the latter of whom was born in Jefferson county, that state, March 14, 1808. Joel Crampton was born in New Haven, Conn., November 20, 1802, and was seven years of age when his parents moved to Ohio with their family, settling in Ashland county. He became a pioneer live stock dealer in Ohio and was thus engaged until his retirement. His last days were spent in Delaware county, his death occurring here on August 27, 1882. It was on April 13, 1826, that he married Eleanor Ross, who died on September 20, 1861. Charles C. Crampton, one of the six children born to this union, came over into Indiana upon reaching his majority and after his marriage established his home on a farm in Hamilton township, where he spent the remainder of his life. During the earlier years of his residence there he was engaged during the winters in teaching school and became widely known throughout the county. To him and his wife were born four sons, the subject of this sketch, the second in order of birth, having three brothers, O. W., Arthur R. and John W. Crampton. Reared on the home farm in Hamilton township, C. C. Crampton received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and early became interested in the plasterer's trade and at Muncie became a skilled workman in that line. After working for others for about five years he became engaged as a plastering contractor on his own account and has ever since been thus engaged at Muncie, a period of something more than thirty-six years, of late years giving attention to the growing demand for stucco construction, and now has associated with him in business his elder son, Charles F. Crampton, doing business under the firm name of C. C. Crampton & Son. It may be said that with few exceptions Mr. Crampton has had the plastering contract on every building of considerable consequence erected in Muncie during the later phase of its reconstruction program. He also has carried out large contracts in other sections of Indiana, as well as in a number of other states, no fewer than seven states having been a field for his operations as a plastering contractor. Mr. Crampton is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Felows and of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. C.C. Crampton married Juliet Stewart, daughter of Joseph Stewart, also a member of one of the old families of Delaware county, and he and his wife have three children: Charles F., mentioned above, who married Helen Smith; Mary M., wife of Walter McDonald, and Raymond 8. The Cramptons reside at 420 South Elm street. HARDIN ROADS, who died in the spring of 1923, had been for many years one of the most active and influential figures in the commercial and industrial life of Muncie, of which city he had been a resident for more than thirty-five years. As president of the Merchants National Bank and a directing factor in several other banks, as one of the most active promoters of the interests of the Muncie Chamber of Commerce and as a director in various industrial and commercial concerns, his personal influence was exerted in many directions and he thus for many years occupied a position of unusual responsibility in the community. Mr. Roads was born in Highland county, Ohio, February 4, 1840, and was thus eighty-three years of age at the time of his death. He completed his schooling in the college at Lebanon, Ohio, was for some time engaged as a teacher in the schools of his home county and then became engaged in the grocery business at Hillsboro, Ohio. In 1887, upon the opening of the natural gas field here, he disposed of his interests in Ohio and came to Muncie, where he became engaged, in association with the Glascock brothers, in the wholesale grocery business, under the firm name of H. Roads & Company, and was thus engaged until in 1892, when the business was sold to Joseph A. Goddard, present head of the Joseph A. Goddard Company, wholesale groceries, at Muncie. Early in 1893, in association with a group of local capitalists, Mr. Roads promoted the organization of the Merchants National Bank of Muncie and was elected president of the bank, a position in which he was retained until his death on May 7, 1923, a period of thirty years, during which time he became recognized as one of the leading bankers in Indiana. He also from time to time held connection with other banking institutions hereabouts, these including the old Muncie Trust Company, the Merchants Trust and Savings Company of Muncie, the Yorktown Banking Company, the Farmers State Bank of Eaton, the Commercial Bank of Daleville, the Parker Banking Company, the Selma Banking Company and the Gaston Banking Company. He also was a member of the board of directors of the Joseph A. Goddard Company and a stockholder in the American Lawn Mower Company. From the days of the beginning of the old Commercial Club Mr. Roads was one of the vitalizing factors in the extension of that body's interests, for many years serving as treasurer of the same, and when the present Chamber of Commerce became the successor to the former body he took an equally servicable interest in the operations of the new organization, ever helpful in all movements having to do with the extension of community interests. Though not a member of any fraternal organization his interest in general civic and patriotic movements could always be relied on to help promote all proper local activities. He was an active member of the High Street Methodist Episcopal church, a well recognized figure in Indiana Methodism, and was for some years a member of the board of trustees of DePauw University. In February, 1863, Hardin Roads married Ellen VanZant, who died in 1917.