Grant County, Indiana - The whole text, 1914 (part 15 of 32)

For many years all the Whitson family enjoyed a dinner together. January 11, the anniversary of "Grandmother's" birthday, coming so soon after the holidays when there were divergent family associa¬ tions, marriage with other families causing the separation at Christmastide, and all were glad to come together again on her natal day when she laid aside her kitchen apron and allowed the younger women the right of way in the household - only for the day, and then she was mistress again. The monument at her grave is one half of an octagonal block of granite, and it bears three inscriptions - her own, and two unmarried daughters, Margaret Ellen and Ann Eliza, a trio that had maintained an open door for all the relatives and orphan children in the family. For many years those two daughters conducted a millinery store, and had patronage from all over Grant county. Even now people say to Rolinda: "We used to get such pretty hats from the Whitson girls/ 9 Their trade in Quaker bonnets was not limited to Grant county. Before being milliners they had been tailors, sewing for Hudson Stewart, who was for years the most fashionable tailor in Grant county, attracting much patronage from Marion. It was with the needle that the daughters earned the money to embark in the millinery trade. Of the John and Sarah Whitson family, two children, Sarah and Lewis, died in infancy. The others were : Mary Jane, who married Herman Wigger and is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Nora A. W. Tucker; David Miller Vore, who married Yerlinda Jay and Asenath Winslow, and is survived by three sons, Rufus Alden, Rolland Lewis and Irvin Whitson ; Ira Kimbrough, who married Sarah Harte, and is survived by his widow and a daughter, Mrs. Lula Agnes Davison, and a son, Fred Kimbrough Whitson; Martin Van Buren, who married Mary Esther Barnard and is survived by a son, Elvie C. Whitson, and a granddaughter, Miss Mary Clarissa Adams; Dr. Eli Mendenhall, whose family relationship has already been explained; James Lindley, who married Lucy Ann Amelia Hoover, and is survived by one son, Dr. John Samuel Whitson. There were twelve grand¬ children and a number of great-grandchildren with the fourth and fifth generations represented in the Whitson family. Some of them are scattered far from the original threshold, and while once many Whitson family households were grouped about Jonesboro, the original circle about the hearthstone has been completely broken and its members have all ''gone to the bourne from whence travelers do not return. ' 9

Rufus Alden Whitson. Since June 22, 1913, the date of the death of Martin V,. Whitson, who was the last of the original Jonesboro Whitson family, Rufus Alden Whitson, the oldest grandchild in either the Whitson or Jay pioneer relationship, has been the senior member of both families in Grant county. His parents, David Miller Vore and Verlinda (Jay) Whitson, were married November 18, 1854, at the David Jay family household near Jonesboro. The father was one of ten, and the mother one of nine children, and though only sixty years, scant two generations have passed since their marriage, their generation is extinct in both families. The deaths of M. V. Whitson already mentioned, and Elisha B. Jay on April 7, 1904, marked the passing of both the ancestral families. Though both the families have thus disappeared * in name, they were people of such sterling character as to leave their distinctive marks, and some of them were useful as long as they lived in the community.

David M. V. Whitson, born November 3, 1832, in Clinton county, and Verlinda Jay, January 7, of the same year in Miami county, Ohio, met in Jonesboro when they were children, grew up together and were married there. To them were born four children : Rufus A., Rolland L., and Irvin; and one daughter, Sarah Jay Whitson. Verlinda Whit¬ son, the mother, died October 27, 1869, and the father was married December 30, 1870, to Asenath Winslow daughter of Daniel and Rebekah (Hiatt) Winslow. To this marriage Eli Allen Whitson was bom. The father died July 10, 1876. The daughter, Sarah Jay, who was married January 7, 1885, to Joseph A. Jones, died February 8,

1890. Eli A. Whitson, the son of the second marriage, died February 19, 1892, and his mother, who had become Mrs. Asenath Baldwin (see chapter God's Acre) died March 30, 1895. It was once a happy family, but is now broken and scattered with divergent interests, as seems the common fate of all.

Rufus A. Whitson was married September 12, 1874, to Elizabeth Teagle, daughter of Oraon Y. and Patty Ann (Pursley) Teagle. Three children were born to this union: Charles Jay, who married Lena Crispen; Verlinda Belle, who became the wife of Calvin Leroy John¬ ston ; and David Alonzo, who married Lulu Lind. The mother of these children died June 25, 1883. On January 25, 1885, Rufus A. Whitson married Emma Jane Carll, daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Pearson) Carll. Mr. and Mrs. Whitson, now that their children are gone, live in Jonesboro. Charles Jay Whitson, their oldest child, had two children: Glen Alden, deceased ; and Fred, and their home is Medicine Hat, in Alberta, Canada. Verlinda (Whitson) Johnston, the second child of Rufus A., became the mother of three children. Two of them, Calvin Rufus and Emma Madeline, preceded their mother in death, and one survives, Richard Keats Johnston. Verlinda Johnston died at Mor¬ gantown, West Virginia, September 17, 1908, and she lies buried at Jonesboro. David A. Whitson, the youngest child of Rufus A., lives in Prince Albert in the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Both the sons have wandered much since leaving Jonesboro, and the infrequent letters from them tell very little of their adventures on the frontier. When these two Whitson boys started out in the world, they tried the unbeaten paths, and they do not write many letters to tell of their expe¬ rience. They enjoyed cowboy life in the west for a while, finally cross¬ ing the Canada border, and they seem to have located permanently in the great Northwest. C. J. Whitson is farming and drilling water wells, while D. A. Whitson is railroading in that part of the country.

Of other members of the family of D. M. V. Whitson, R. L. Whitson, Centennial historian of Grant county, married Frances Henrietta Kel¬ logg, daughter of Edward Payson and Anna Maria (Nishwitz) Kellogg. They were married at Troy, Ohio, June 16, 1886, and have one daugh¬ ter, Anna Verlinda. She is a student in Oxford College for Women at Oxford, Ohio.

Irvin Whitson, third son of D. M. V. Whitson, married Addie Clark, daughter of James and Martha (Douglas) Clark, November 29,' 1894. They live in Lamoure county, North Dakota. Two children: Sarah Jeannette, and Clarence Ellsworth, were bom, the boy dying at Jones¬ boro, but the daughter is with them in the Northwest.

While David M. V. Whitson was a farmer and a member of the Friends church, none of his family have followed his example, and change of environment is the whole explanation. The family removed from Jonesboro to Liberty township, March 1, 1864. The father gave up his membership in Amana Lodge of Odd Fellows, and with his wife became a charter member in Bethel Friends Church, Mrs. Whitsor having been a birthright Friend and having made the necessary con¬ fession because of having "married out of meeting/ 9 That long ago Friends were opposed to secret societies. The mother was clerk of Oak Ridge Monthly Meeting, of which Bethel Meeting is a part, at the time of her death, and she used to lay aside her Quaker bonnet and read the minutes, the custom of Friends years ago.

While the pioneer Whitson family was always divided in its political affiliation, usually having a representative in each political party, the citizenship of the family has always been a matter of pride. There was a Revolutionary soldier in the ancestry, and four genera- tions from Thomas Kimbrough - Ira K., Martin V., Eli M. and James L. Whitson, all enlisted in the Civil war. Then Rufus A. Whitson of the next generation put the flag floating in the Spanish-American war, going with the One Hundred and Sixtieth Indiana Regiment to Cuba. The present generation stands committed to the same type of citizen¬ ship that has always characterized the Whitson family.

Thomas S. Thompson spent a good share of his life in his native county in Ohio, his advent into this state being marked by the year 1880, when he settled in Jasper county. He comes of the best blood in the south, his family on both paternal and maternal sides being of sturdy old southern stock, and the Thompson family today gives evidence of being well born in its exhibition of many fine traits and qualities. In the north and west stress is not laid, in any great degree, upon the facts of old and well established family lines, but the fact remains that the man who may view with pride the ancestry of his family is advantaged in many ways, and if he manifest a certain satisfaction in the circumstance, few will be found to adversely criti¬ cise him.

Born in Madison county, Ohio, on April 1, 1837, Thomas S. Thomp¬ son is the son of Thomas L. and Mary (Davenport) Thompson, both natives of Ross county, Ohio, bom of Virginia parents. Ignatius Thompson, grandsire of the subject, came in an early day from his native state, Virginia, to Ohio, and in that state purchased six hundred acres of land in the river bottoms of the Scioto in Ross county. He in later life went to Louisiana, there contracting yellow fever and dying. His family was well established in Virginia and dates its residence there from the early days of the Virginia colony. Mary Davenport, mother of the subject, was a daughter of Anthony Simms Davenport, who was at one time a large plantation owner and slave holder in the state of Virginia, and as a man of especially wideminded characteristics, he, with the begimiing of the anti-slavery agitation, openly took sides with the abolitionists. While he was not wholly in sympathy with the methods and line of procedure of that faction, still he felt himself in the wrong in the matter of owning human beings, and he accordingly disposed of his interests in his old home and came north to Ohio, bringing his slaves with him, and there liberating them, it not being against the laws of the state as in Virginia. It should be mentioned, however, that his slaves refused to be separated from him, even after having gained their freedom, and continued to make their homes on his place until they married or found suitable homes elsewhere, many of them staying with him until death claimed them. So it was often the case in the days of slavery, that those men who were just enough to see the injustice of their positions and methods, were also great enough that their slaves valued the affection of the master beyond mere liberty, and refused in* many instances to accept their legal freedom with any degree of enthusiasm.

Anthony Simms Davenport settled in the Scioto valley, near Chillicothe, Ohio, at a time when there was but one log cabin in that vicinity. This was in the year 1800, and the fact that he liber¬ ated his slaves, some thirty-five in number, in that early date, proves him to have been a man of mature judgment and of many splendid qualities of heart and mind that placed him far in advance of his fellow men. His name deserves a place in the memorial records of this state, to which he migrated in order that he might be at liberty to give expression to those humanitarian ideas that had but little place in this country one hundred years ago, but which in less than fifty years after he first expressed them, came to be the vital issues of the nation. Mr. Davenport was a kinsman of the well known Simms and Marmaduke families of the south, many of the name being found in the southern states today, and occupying positions of prominence wherever they are found. They are reckoned among the First Families of Virginia, and as such are entitled to the high regard and considera¬ tion that is accorded to them.

In 1800 Anthony Simms Davenport came to Ross county, Ohio, he being one of the first men to settle there, and in that county he became well-to-do and influential. He was twice married and reared a family of children by each marriage. They were of the Methodist Episcopal faith, as were also the Thompsons, and people of sturdy Christian character all their days, living exemplary lives in their several com¬ munities and gaining the esteem and regard of all with whom they came in contact.

Thomas L. Thompson was born in Ross county, Ohio, in the year 1804, and he was one of the six children of his parents to reach years of maturity and rear families, the others having died in early years. He was reared on the old farm in the Scioto valley, and there he married Miss Mary Davenport, whose family history has been set forth at some length in previous paragraphs. After the birth of their first four chil¬ dren Mr. and Mrs. Thompson moved to Madison county, Ohio, and there settled on a new farm some four miles south of London. This place he later sold and purchased land in Jefferson township, Madison county, and there he passed his remaining days, death claiming him there in 1870 when he was in the sixty-sixth year of his age. He was a man of many noble traits, worthy of his parentage, and fit in every respect to perpetuate the family name. His many sterling qualities made him a man beloved of all, and if he had a fault it was nothing more than a virtue gone to seed - that of his too great faith in human nature. Over-confidence in his fellow men caused him the loss of three separate fortunes, but after each loss he came up smiling, ready to begin work over again and with his faith untarnished by an experience that would surely have embittered a less noble man. He died as he had lived - believing implicitly in the trustworthiness of the rank and file of humanity, and there were many who mourned his loss and felt themselves bereft of a true friend when death called him.

He was a man who worked hard all his days and he was one of the successful agricultural men of the county. He knew every detail of farm life, and no man could excel him in the field with reaping hook or cradle. He wTas all his days a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and an active worker therein, and in his politics was a stanch Republican, though a Whig in earlier life. His widow survived him for some years and died in Madison county in 1877, aged seventy years. She, too, had been a hard working member of the Methodist church all her days, and her life was an exemplary one in its every detail. To them were born five sons and five daughters, brief mention here being made of certain of them who reached mature life. Mary A. died, leaving a family. Angoletta also married and left a family at her passing. Newton died five years ago in Ohio, as did also a sister, Jane. Rebecca is the wife of Samuel Johnson, now in Plain City, Ohio, and the mother of a family. Thomas S. was the next born. Nancy J. died after her marriage, leaving a family, and a number of others died in infancy.

Thomas S. Thompson was reared in his native county in Ohio. His opportunities for education were limited, and he devoted himself to farm life from his early manhood to the end of his days. He came to

Jasper county, Indiana, in 1880, purchasing a partly improved farm of one hundred and twenty acres, and there living quietly and busily until 1892, when he came to Gas City and here engaged in the whole¬ sale meat business. In this business Mr. Thompson accumulated suffi¬ cient of worldly wealth that in 1908 he felt himself able to retire per¬ manently from business life, and today the extent of his business activities is that of giving some attention to certain realty properties from which he derives a modest income. Mr. Thompson is regarded as one of the solid and wholesome men of the community, and his reputa¬ tion among his fellow men for reliability and business acumen is one of which he is well worthy as the son of his father.

Mr. Thompson has been a lifelong Republican and he cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, ever since that time voting the party ticket straight. He has never sought or held office, giving his aid to the community in other ways quite as far reaching and effective.

In 1881 Mr. Thompson married Miss Anna R. Lithe in Madison county. She was bom in that county on April 8, 1858, and she died at her home on South East street, Gas City, on the 25th of April, 1905. She was a daughter of Henry Lithe, who still lives in Marion, a retired farmer for some years past. He had a long and busy career in the agricultural field of labor and he was eighty years old when he retired from his work. Mr. Lithe was born in Germany and came to America when he was twenty years of age. In Franklin county, Ohio, he married Therese Lang, who was born in Ohio of German parents, and she died in Marion, Indiana, in 1910, well advanced in years.

To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson there were bom three children. Ide M. was born in Ohio in 1880, and she is now the wife of Thomas Pierce, living in Marion. They have three children - Omar, Raymond and a baby daughter. Walter C., the second child of his parents, was bom in Jasper county, Indiana, on August 15, 1882. He is a resident of Mason City, Iowa, where he is employed in a cement plant. He has one son, Max Thompson. Chester Alien, bom in Jasper county, Indiana, October 9, 1886, was, like the other two, educated in the public schools. He is unmarried and makes his home with his father.

The family have been reared in the Methodist faith, both parents having long been members therein, and Mr. Thompson is a Prohibitionist. It is his boast that he has never spent a penny for intoxicating liquor in a saloon since he came to Indiana. He is a man of many excellent qualities, and he has a secure place in the confidence and esteem of the leading people of the community, which he well deserves by reason of his character and achievements.

Andrew Jackson Lugar. Said Colton: "It is not known where he who invented the plow was born, or where he died; yet he has effected more for the happiness of the world than the whole race of heroes and conquerors that drenched it with tears and saturated it with blood, and whose birth, parentage, and education have been handed down to us with a precision exactly proportionate to the mis¬ chief they have done." Farming is a noble profession and also a very profitable one as conducted by the enterprising men of Grant county, among whom is Andrew Jackson Lugar who has spent all his career in this county, and belongs to one of the oldest of the pioneer families.

The fine estate of Mr. Lugar is located on section six of Monroe township, where he is the owner of two hundred and seventy-eight acres of land. All of this is in cultivation, except twenty acres in timber. Near the roadside is his large ten-room house, painted brown, and erected in 1893. He has a large red barn, forty by sixty feet, erected in 1901, also another barn, erected in 1906, besides a sheep barn, thirty-six by forty feet, and other farm buildings. In 1912 Mr. Lugar produced from his land two thousand bushels of corn, eight hundred bushels of oats, cut forty tons of hay, and sold fifty head of hogs. In 1913 he has on his pasture fifty head of sheep, and specializes in this branch of the livestock industry. He has eleven horses, twentyeight cattle and sixty hogs. He has been identified with farming and stock-raising for many years, and is one of the men who have made a record of exceptional success.

Andrew J. Lugar was born July 8, 1852, in Washington township of Grant county, a son of Joseph and Mary (Wilson) Lugar, both of whom were natives of Virginia. Joseph Lugar was the son of George Lugar, who in the late twenties settled on Lugar Creek in Grant county, and by his own efforts and also with the aid of his family took a very important part in making Grant county, the home of industry and of a high class of people. Joseph I/ugar, the father, died in 1854, and reared a family of eleven children. The family record is given in more detail in a sketch of Joseph Lugar, printed elsewhere in this work.

Andrew J. Lugar as a boy attended the district schools of Washing¬ ton township. He is one of the few men still living who spent a por¬ tion of their youth in an old log school house. He recalls that the old structure he attended when a boy was of the primitive type, had a rough floor, a poorly lighted interior, and crude furnishings, while the instruction was of the type usually called the Three R's. His father was one of the largest land holders and most prosperous farmers in the county, and acquired about twelve hundred acres of land. The son Andrew lived at home until he was about twenty-six years of age, and then began for himself by farming his mother's land on shares for three years. In 1881 he made his first purchase of one hundred and seventy acres, of partially cleared land, and without any buildings on it. This original purchase is a portion of the estate above described, and has been improved in a remarkable manner since he first became owner of it. He paid twenty-five dollars an acre for land that is now worth one hundred and fifty dollars, and a large part of its value has been conferred by his own management and hard labor. He has added four additional tracts to his first purchase, making his present estate one of two hundred and seventy acres.

In 1877, Mr. Lugar married Mary Emery, a daughter of John Emery, one of the old settlers of Grant county. Mrs. Lugar died in 1891, leaving three children, namely: James, a farmer in Michigan; Andrew, a telegraph operator in Chicago ; and Mrs. Isabelle Speaights, living on the home farm. In 1893, Mr. Lugar married for his second wife, Norah Morrison, a daughter of Joseph Morrison, of Van Buren township. The children of this marriage number five, namely : Joseph 0., who is a bookkeeper in Van Buren; Dolly, at home; William Hobart, a student in the high school ; Lelah, and Ruth, both at home. Mr. Lugar is a Republican in politics, and is affiliated with the Landessville Lodge of Odd Fellows. In November, 1912, Mr. Lugar suffered the loss of his right hand, which was caught in a corn shredder.

Jordan Futrell. More than three score and ten years have been spent by Jordan Futrell within the limits of Grant county. A few years ago he retired from a successful career as a farmer and moved into Upland, where he now lives in peace and comfort, enjoying the resources accumulated by his early industry, and has a pleasant retrospect over the long past. Mr. Futrell is one of the men who has seen Grant county develop from the time of log cabin homes, and when the only transportation was by wagon trail, through the early railroad age, and through all the marvelous developments of the twen¬ tieth century.

His grandfather was Enos Futrell, who probably was a native of England, and early in life settled in North Carolina, where he lived until death, both he and his wife having attained good old age. Of their children Michael Futrell, who was bom in North Carolina about 1805, grew up there and in the course of time centered his affection upon a girl whose home was in the same vicinity. Subsequently her family moved north to Ohio, and that caused Michael Futrell to leave his native state, and follow her to the new country. On horseback he accomplished the entire journey over the mountains and across the valleys to Clinton county, Ohio, where he established a farm and was soon afterwards united in marriage with Miss Mary Rix, the North Carolina girl who was responsible for this change of residence. They lived in Clinton county until three of their children were bom, and then about 1840 broke up their Ohio home and moved to Grant county, Indiana. They located near Lugar Creek, on a farm which had some improvements, and there Michael continued his labors for a number of years. Later he sold his first place and bought eighty acres in Mill township near the county poor farm. That was the home on which both he and his wife spent their last years, and at his death in 1883 he was past seventy-one year^ of age, while his wife attained to the venerable age of ninety-one, and kept her faculties until the last. Both were members of the New Light Christian Church, and in politics he was a Democrat.

Jordan Futrell, who was the second among the children of his parents, and who has one brother and two sisters still living, was bom in Clinton county, Ohio, November 15, 1835. He was a very small child when he came to Grant county, and his earliest recollec¬ tions were centered about the old home on Lugar Creek, and all his education was supplied by the district schools of that locality. He reached his majority after the family had moved to Mill township, and after several years of work and experiments in different direc¬ tions he bought forty acres in Monroe township. Industry and good judgment as a farmer, enabled him to gradually increase his holdings, until he had eighty acres, and though not one of the largest, this, under his direction became as fine a farm in the volume and quality of its products as any that can be found in the township. Among the improvements he built two excellent barns and a fine country house. Mr. Futrell 's active career as a farmer continued until 1902, in which year he moved to Upland, and four years later sold his farm and gave over the cares of an active life. He owns an excellent piece of property on Irwin Street, where he has his home.

In Mill township in 1858, Mr,. Futrell married Miss Rebecca Bal¬ linger. She was born near Marion in 1834, and grew to womanhood in Grant county. The Ballinger and the Futrell farms lay side by side in Mill township, and this was the case of two young people growing up and knowing each other from childhood, and later uniting the destinies of their individual lives in married union. Mrs. Futrell was a daughter of John and Betsey (Burson) Ballinger, who were early settlers of Grant county, but later in life went out to Fremont county, Iowa where they died. The Ballipgers were members of the Friends Church. Mr. and Mrs. Futrell have the following children: Mary E., wife of John Doller, a farmer in Monroe township, and has two children, Laura and Ruth; Nancy E. is the wife of. Jasper Hobson, a farmer, and they have two daughters, Ethel and Zelda, also one son, Everd ; she first married Thomas Shannon who died, leaving a daughter, Rebecca, who is now living with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Futrell; Emma died after her marriage to William Bird, and left three sons, James C. and Jordan L., twins, and Ralph. Mr. and Mrs. Futrell have four great-grandchildren living.

Will C. Jay. When there were but few settlers about Jonesboro the name Jay was placed in the Grant county directory, and the tradi¬ tions of the family center about Samuel Jay of Deep River Quaker stock, Deep River, North Carolina, having been an anti-slavery strong¬ hold in a country where human beings were in servitude.

Will C. Jay of Gas City is a well known representative of this branch of the Jay family, there being many distinctive Jay family relation¬ ships in the county, but the Samuel Jay descent antedates all of them. While David Jay, who is mentioned in the Mill Township and the Friends' Church chapters, was the first of his immediate family to locate at Jonesboro, and while he came direct from Miami county, Ohio, his father, Samuel Jay, who left the Carolinas in the exodus of Quakers to the Northwest Territory early in the nineteenth century, was then a member of his household and he lies buried at Back Creek - a genuine Deep River Quaker buried a "stranger in a strange land." and all for conscience ' sake. He was opposed to human slavery. His grave is among those marked with* quarry stones at the instigation of Northern Quarterly Meeting of Friends, already mentioned in the chapter on County Cemeteries.

W. C. Jay is a son of Elisha Benson and Ann (Scott) Jay, and the death of his father, April 7, 1904, was the final chapter in the family history of David and Sarah (Jones) Jay who came in 1835 in a wagon train from Miami county, Ohio, settling on a farm west of Jonesboro, living there one year before the town came into existence. This Jay farm is now owned by Fred Schrader. Some of the chil¬ dren were born in Ohio and some in Indiana. They were: Job, Verlinda, who married D. M. V. Whitson ; Lydia ; Elisha, who married Ann Scott; Samuel; Thomas; William, who married Martha Ellen Howell; Susannah, who married Hezekiah Miller; and the first born, who died in infancy. All who married left posterity, and there are a number of Jays in the fourth generation of the family. Thomas and Samuel Jay later joined their brother and father at Jonesboro, and through Samuel, Sr., David and Elisha, Will C. Jay is in the fourth generation of Jays in Grant county. Through Mrs. Yerlinda Jay Whitson, Charles J. Whitson and Verlinda Belle Johnston, there have been five children born in the sixth generation - a record not attained by all pioneer families, although the name Jay disappeared in the third generation of that branch of the family.

Samuel Jay, the original Carolina emigrant, did not sustain active business relations with the community in Grant county, but his sons had much to do with the development and early history of Jonesboro. Thomas Jay was among the emigrants from Jonesboro to Kokomo, when the first railway enterprise failed in Grant county. He had con¬ ducted a general store and operated a pork-packing plant there, and went to Kokomo to secure shipping facilities. He impressed himself on the Howard county metropolis, and his children are still Kokomo residents. Samuel Jay, who reared a family in Jonesboro, was for many years associated in the Jay & Bell Dry Goods store, an establish¬ ment rivaling Marion stores at the time Jonesboro was bidding for the Grant county court house to be located there. David Jay, grand- father of Will C. Jay, was always an agriculturist, and a man of strong convictions. "You could not influence old David Jay against what he thought was right," and he was an active Abolitionist during underground railway vicissitudes in Grant county. Old Slave Mammy Wallace always told of the protection given her when she was a refugee by David Jay, Jonathan Hockett, and Nathan Coggesha],l, a group of Abolitionists west of Jonesboro. While she never reached the "cold and dreary land" of Canada, the old woman always had kindly recollections of David Jay. He allied himself with Antislavery Friends and helped to establish Deer Creek Antislavery Meeting. When he died at sixty-four he had read the Bible through once for each year on his balance sheet of time. He enjoyed a lasting friend¬ ship with Meshingomesia and whenever the Miami chieftain was hunt¬ ing along the upper course of the Mississinewa, he always stopped and cooked a meal at the Jay farmstead near Jonesboro, and all the Indians accompanying him always slept under shelter - hospitality similar tp that received from Samuel McClure in Marion.

In war times David Jay sold his farm at Jonesboro and bought the William Howell farm (the old Billy Howell place) when the Howell family emigrated to Iowa, and it was one of the best devel¬ oped farms with the first two-story log house ever built in Liberty township on Deer Creek. This farm in Liberty has not changed ownership often, its succession of owners being Howell, Jay, Whitson, Sutton, Stiers, from the government title secured by William Howell. With his family David Jay had much to do with the organization of the Bethel church in 1864 (see sketch of Willis Cammack) and at the time of his death he was the recognized head of the meeting. He was the typical Quaker, and there was no sham in his nature. It was in 1847 that David Jay's cousin, Denny Jay, located north of Jonesboro - the Jesse Jay homestead at present - and since their wives were sisters (Sallie and Polly [Jones] Jay), the Jay-Jones family which meets in annual reunion is the descendant relationship. The name Jay and the word Quaker were synonyms - interchangeable terms - in the early history of Grant county, but subsequent amalgamation has done much to change many family histories in this respect.

Besides Will C. Jay, the other children of Elisha B. and Ann (Scott) Jay were as follows: Miss S. Alice Jay; Edgar B. and Charles A. Jay; Thomas F. Jay, who died after reaching manhood and is survived by a daughter, Miss Belle Jay; and James M., who died in infancy.

On August 31, 1889, W. C. Jay married Miss Cora Hill, daughter of Nathan and Emaline Hill. Their children, are: Fred W., William A., Otis H., and Richard H. ; James, the second in order of birth, died at the age of six years; and Mary died in a beautiful young womanhood.

Will C. Jay was a school teacher from 1884 to 1892, and after hav¬ ing a family . about him went to the Eastman National Business Col¬ lege at Poughkeepsie, New York, where he learned bookkeeping and completed the study of stenography, having taken some work in short hand while a student in the Valparaiso Normal School. Mr. Jay acquired a full knowledge of shorthand at an opportune time. The development of the Gas City Land Company in 1892 afforded him a position which he retained as long as the company was in existence, and he still transacts business for members of the company since the dissolution of partnership. The Gas City Land Company maintained an office in Gas City from 1892 until the Century year, and four years later the company dissolved and the separate shareholders in realty have since employed him to look after their individual interests. Nearly all the stockholders in the Gas City Land Company were Pan¬ handle Railway officials, and they thought they saw a great future for the town, but the story is all told in the failure of natural gas. Yet the work of the Land Company will always be apparent.

Mr,. Jay acquired a thorough knowledge of business methods and real estate transactions while representing the Land Company, and since then real estate and insurance have been second nature to him. Prom 1905 to 1909 Mr. Jay served as trustee of Mill township, and he has served the town as a member of the school board and as city treasurer, being always active in community affairs.

Singularly enough, when Mr. Jay's son Fred was ready for busi¬ ness training, after graduating from the Gas City high school, he was sent to Poughkeepsie. The son was a student sixteen years after his father was there, and a most striking coincidence was that while stu¬ dents there, father and son each won a dictionary as a premium in a spelling contest. The father received an International and the son a Standard Dictionary in the same kind of contests, written spelling. When the son graduated from business college he had one and onehalf years' employment at New Castle, Pennsylvania, and then went to Gary, where he is an accountant in the office of the American Sheet Steel and Tin Plate Works, beginning with the opening of the industry and remaining continuously.

Charles A. Jay, a brother of Will C. Jay, also acquired a knowl¬ edge of shorthand, and had employment with the American Window Glass Factory in Gas City, going with the company when its business was removed to Arnold, Pennsylvania, where he is now cashier and general superintendent of the factory. He married Miss Blanche Thomas and three little girls have been born to them : Anna, Florence and Edith.

While Miss Alice Jay has been principal of the ward school in Gas City many years, she was for five years a resident teacher at White's Institute when it was a government school for Indians, and she made frequent trips to the different Indian reservations in the west in the interests of the institution. When Thomas F. Jay died, it was his request that his sister Alice educate his daughter, and for two years Miss Belle Jay has taught in the Converse public schools. Edgar B. Jay always lived at the family homestead until the death of the mother on June 18, 1913, the property having been acquired by Will C. Jay, and his mother having remained its mistress as long as she lived.

Col. George W. Gunder. The career of Col. George W. Gunder, both in military" and civil life has been one of strict adherence to every duty, and during forty-five years he has been numbered among Marion's leading citizens. A veteran of two wars, in both of which he won dis¬ tinction, his record in business life is no less one of which he may well be proud, and although he is now retired from active affairs he still manifests the same interest in the affairs of his country and his com¬ munity which led him in earlier years to put aside his private interests and go forth to battle in defense of the flag of his native land. Colonel Gunder is a native of Darke county, Ohio, and was bom July 6, 1840, a son of William and Nancy (Rice) Gunder.

William Gunder was born in 1797, in Lancaster county, Pennsyl¬ vania, and about the year 1820 moved to Darke county, Ohio, as one of the first settlers of Fort Jefferson. There he resided until 1855, in which year he removed to Montgomery county and there became a major in the Dragoons, the old militia, and one of the foremost men of his community. He died in 1863, while his wife, who was bom in 1800, in Preble county, Ohio, passed away in 1849, in Darke county. They were the parents of ten children, of whom four are now living : Daniel, who resides at Marion; Mrs. Sarah Shepherd, an eighty-four year old resident of this city ; Mrs. Caroline Shepherd, living in Covington, Ohio ; and George W.

After attending the public schools of Darke and Montgomery coun¬ ties, Ohio, George W. Gunder took a course in Lewis Academy, Lewisburg, Ohio, and when . seventeen years of age began to teach school. He had been so engaged about four years when the Civil War broke out, and laying aside the cap and gown he took up the sword and enlisted in Company B, Seventy-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he saw three years service. He was soon pro¬ moted to first sergeant, and later to second lieutenant and then first lieutenant, and in the latter capacity commanded his company in sev¬ eral hard-fought engagements. The Seventy-first Ohio participated in a number of the most sanguinary battles of the great struggle, includ¬ ing Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Shiloh, the campaign at Chatta¬ nooga, Atlanta, Nashville and Duck River. During many of these engagements, Colonel Gunder distinguished himself, and on receiving his honorable discharge, at the close of hostilities he had a record for bravery and faithfulness to duty that gained for him the admiration of his men and the respect of his superior officers.

On his return to the pursuits of peace, in 1866, Mr. Gunder embarked in the mercantile business at West Baltimore, Ohio, and continued there until May 1, 1868, when with his partner, Mr. Samuel Arnold, he came to Marion, Indiana, and here for twelve years continued the same business, ten years of this time having their establishment on the present site of Barney Prince's store. In 1880 the business was organized as Gunder, Arnold & Company, dealers in dry goods, etc., the enterprise having by this time assumed large proportions, and in 1890 the personnel of the firm was changed and the style became Gunder Brothers. This was conducted by Colonel Gunder and his brother until the Colonel's retirement in 1904, since which time he has lived a more or less retired life, devoting his time to looking after his extensive realty interests. He has been successful in a material way and has accumulated a large property, but while he has been a busy man, with large private enterprises, he has never neglected to assist in all move¬ ments for the welfare of his community, and his support and coopera¬ tion have done much to aid in the progress that has made Marion a center of commercial and industrial activity.

In 1885 Colonel Gunder organized Company D, of the Third Regi¬ ment, Indiana National Guards. He was Captain of Company D for three years and was made major of that regiment under Judge McBride, now of Indianapolis, who was its colonel. In that same year, Governor Hovey authorized the organization of the Fourth Regiment, Indiana National Guards, appointing Colonel Gunder for this service, and when it was fully recruited, in 1890, he became its colonel. He was acting in this capacity when war was declared between the United States and Spain, in 1898, and on May 12th the Fourth Indiana was mustered into service, although enrolled April 26, 1898. The regiment was mobilized at Chickamauga Park, and on July 25, 1898, was ordered to Newport News, to embark for Porto Rico. After inspection by the Secretary of War, the Fourth was one of the first to be selected to go to the front, and subsequently saw service in Cuba and Porto Rico, and on the former island relieved the Spanish garrison at Mantanzas. The regi- ToL n - ss ment was out one year, and was mustered out of the service at Savan¬ nah, Georgia, April 25, 1899. Of its one thousand three hundred and' sixty men who left for the front, one thousand three hundred and fifty returned, the smallest loss of any regiment in active service, which was a distinct and eloquent evidence of Colonel Gunder 's military skill. Although a strict disciplinarian, he was ever just, and was a great favorite with his men, who knew that he would ask them to do nothing that he would not himself perform.

On May 9, 1861, Colonel Gunder was married to Miss Anna Snorf, who died April 17, 1896, without issue. His second marriage occurred May 26, 1897, when he was united with Nita Fisher, of Marion. Colonel Gunder has had no children of his own, but has reared two boys: Milton H. Snorf, whom he took when seven years of age, and was reared to manhood, becoming prominent in Wabash county business and politi¬ cal circles; and Vernon A. Cogwill, who was educated in Marion High school and West Point, graduating from the latter in 1890, since which time he has been in Alaska, the Philippines, and other United States possessions, and is now a major in the Twenty-fifth United States Infantry, located in the Hawaiian Islands.

Colonel Gunder is a valued member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was made a Master Mason at Troy, Ohio, in November, 1861, and has continued to enjoy the privileges of membership in this order to the present time, being prelate of Marion Commandery No. 21, and a thirty-second degree member of the Indianapolis Consistory. Politically a Republican, he was chairman of the Republican County Central Committee in 1884, but of late years has only taken a good citizen's interest in public matters. He has been a life-long member of the Congregational temple of the Christian church, which he assisted in building.

Evan Harvey Ferree. All that tradition lacks of being authentic history is verification, and the story has followed the fortunes of the Ferree family in America that the name was Americanized when a woman and three sons came over from France, casting their lot with the people of the New World. All that is known of the original Ferree family in America is that one of the sons lived in New York, one in - Ohio and one in North Carolina, where each has posterity, and the well known Grant county Ferree family is descended from the southern wing of this trio of Ferrees in America.

While Daniel Ferree was of French ancestry with military blood in his veins, and not much given to the quiet* sedate life of Friends, he married Lydia Elliott, who was among the blue blooded North Caro¬ lina Quaker families, and some of her relatives were slaveholders according to the custom of the community. However, there was a revolt among orthodox Quakers against the institution of slavery, and knowing they could not overthrow it they came into the Northwest territory to escape it. Daniel Ferree and his wife joined this exodus early in the nineteenth century, but he did not become a Friend until long after taking up his residence in Morgan county, Indiana. The Quakers had some restrictions that did not suit him - his life having been in decided contrast to their peace-loving attributes.

It is reasonably inferred that the wife ruled when the Ferree family left the country where slavery existed, but after they came to Morgan county and when the environment was so different from the Southland, her church became his church, and their children grew up Friends. Evan Harvey Ferree remembers hearing his father tell of some of the ' obstacles in the way of this grandfather with Huguenot blood in his veins, in reconciling the Quaker attitude toward slavery and his own early training, but in time he amalgamated with the society about him. It is hard for a strong nature to completely revolutionize itself, but that is what occurred in the life of Daniel Ferree, founder of the well known Grant county branch of the Ferree family in America.

In Morgan county the Ferree family lived neighbors to William and Ruth (Hadley) Harvey, and when the Harveys came to Grant county, John Ferree, a son of Daniel and Lydia (Elliott) Ferree, who had previously married Rebekah Harvey, came with them. This was the only Ferree of his generation who ever lived in Grant county. Mrs. Ferree was a sister to well known Grant county citizens by the name of Harvey. Her brothers - David, Eli, Mahlon, Jonathan, Jehu, Sidney and Alvin - and her sisters, Sarah and Mary, all have posterity here, some of them otherwise commemorated in the Centennial history. The children of John and Rebekah (Harvey) Ferree are: Alvin, who married Mary A. Bell; Evan H., who married Flora A. Cammack; Lydia, the wife of M. A. Hiatt; Charles A., who married Emma Dora Bond; William E., who married Charlotte Annis; and John D., who married Ada M. Heaston.

The Ferree family homestead was in the Little Ridge community in Liberty, and there all the children grew up, the father and mother later retiring from the farm and living in Fairmount. They gave their children educational advantages, and some were students in Earlham College, in addition to common school training, and there were teachers, business and professional men among them. Evan H. Ferree was a teacher for fourteen years, having had experience both in country and town schools and in a political way he has been highly favored by the voters of Grant county. (See chapter on Civil Gov¬ ernment.) He has served as postmaster at Marion, and is at present connected with the Marion Light and Heating Company.

Mr. Ferree on August 20, 1880, married Flora A. Cammack, daugh¬ ter of Willis and Sarah (Jay) Cammack. Their children are: Edna S., wife of Edward H. Harris, and Evan Mark Ferree. The two little granddaughters in the family are Virginia and Janet Harris. The Harrises live in Richmond, but each summer Mrs. Ferree and her chil¬ dren And grandchildren spend some time in the Ferree cottage at Winona Lake. Mr. Ferree has always been a useful man in the community, fulfilling an old saying in Quaker circles, "He is frequently used in the meeting.' ' They adhere to the Friends' faith in which both husband and wife had their training in childhood. The religious influences of his youth were from the Little Ridge and her's from the Bethel Friends Church in Liberty, two Quaker communities about four miles apart in the country.

Willis Cammack. So closely identified with Grant county affairs was the late Willis Cammack that, although a native of Bartholomew county, he seemed to have always lived in the community. He came as a young boy to Fairmount with his father, James Cammack, at a time when there was only one house in the town. James Cammack set up a saw mill, and from his plant was supplied much of the mate¬ rial for the building in the early days of that village.

Willis Cammack was a son of James and Penina (Cook) Cammack. In 1849 the parents located in Grant county, and afterwards moved to Hamilton county. There were five other sons: Calvin, William, Albert, Clark and Ira, and one sister, Elvira Cammack. Willis Cam¬ mack was the only one who continued to live in Grant county.

Jay, and the outlines of the story may be properly sketched at this point, as part of the family records and as a matter in which subse¬ quent generations will take an interest. Nathan Morris had a son and daugher, Thomas and Ruth Morris. Thomas Morris had plighted his troth with Sarah Jay while Ruth Morris was promised to Willis Cammack. Both the Morris young people were stricken with typhoid fever. Mr. Cammack and Miss Jay went and nursed them, but the fever was so virulent that all care and nursing were in vain, and both the young man and the young woman died. The fever was a scourge in that part of the country in that year, and so widespread that there were often as many as two funerals in a single day from the same neighborhood. The death of Thomas and Ruth Morris bereaved both Willis Cammack and Sarah Jay, and in their grief and sorrow they turned to each other for sympathy and solace, and the result was that their lives were linked together ever afterward, and not long after the intimate acquaintance formed while in the Morris household in 1857 they were married. All were Quaker families and well known to each other.

Sarah Jay was a daughter of Thomas and Eliza (Wareham) Jay, and her brothers and sisters were: Joseph, Denny, Mary, Rebecca, Angelina, Daniel and Ezra. Of this family of eight Joseph Jay was a resident of Richmond and all the others of Grant county, and all of them well known in their generation. Thomas Jay was a well known Friends' minister, and after the death of his wife married Mrs. Elizabeth Rush, and together they went about the country a great deal in the service of the church. After the death of his second wife, Thomas Jay always lived in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Cammack.

The children born to Willis and Sarah (Jay) Cammack were: Rosalie, who married Orange Peters, and had one son, Charles Peters, an invalid from birth and now deceased; Bayard T., who married Mattie Osborn, and had two children, Carl and Mary; Flora A., the wife of E. H. Ferree, has two chilren, Edna S. and Evan Mark (see sketch of Ferree family) ; Ella is the wife of W. E. Waggoner, and has two children, Sarah and William; William T. married Emlin Cox, and their two children are Jerry Ward and Hazel; and Edgar married Catherine Harris.

On January 4, 1883, Willis Cammack married for his second wife Mrs. Elizabeth (Cornelius) Cammack, widow of his brother, Albert Cammack. She brought to her second husband a daughter, Sula, and to the second marriage was born another daughter, Laverne, who married Demetrius Howell. Their children are Kenneth and Willis. Four of the Cammack grandchildren are married and live outside of Grant county, namely: Edna S. Ferree, wife of E. H. Harris; Jerry Ward Cammack, who married Mittie C. Hurley; Carl, who married Margaret Wright; and Mary Cammack, who married Fred Gold¬ smith. Mrs. Ferree is the only permanent resident in Grant county among the children in the Willis Cammack family. Sula Cammack, the child of the second Mrs. Willis Cammack, married R. E. Felton, and left a daughter, Edith Felton.

While the family of Willis Cammack are deceased and scattered, there was a time when they were well known in the Bethel Friends Community, and there never was a man in all Grant county who was more universally and highly respected than Willis Cammack. When Bethel Friends Meeting was established in 1864, David Jay was rec¬ ognized as the official head of the meeting until his death four years later, when Willis Cammack was honored in that way, and continued at the head of the meeting until his death, although for a few years he was an invalid and unable to occupy the pew in the meeting house. No one ever questioned his word or his religion, and he was a man of much influence in the church and the community. The biographer knew Willis Cammack from childhood. He recalls one occasion of an otherwise "silent meeting" of Friends at Bethel church. After the members had been sitting an hour in silence, and just before the breaking up of the meeting, which Willis Cammack always performed by shaking hands with the one sitting next to him, he exclaimed: "Be ye also ready/ * and the watchword suggested seemed to prevail and influence his own personal life - a man whose integrity no one ever questioned. For several years Mr. Cammack was connected with public improvements, associated with his neighbor, Isaac W. Carter, and with David Overman of Marion. Many miles of gravel road were built under his watchful eye, and when he died all who knew him felt a distinctive community loss - that a good man had been removed from things earthly and that he was worthy of the higher life.

L. G. W. Richards. That farming is Big Business needs no other proof than a visit to one of the stock farms conducted by L. G. W. Richards. On the home place in section twenty-eight of Jefferson township, a group of well arranged, shining white buildings attract the visitor at the very first, and as soon as he begins to look around, he finds good management and efficiency written in every department of the farm activities. Mr. Richards has a reputation throughout this section of Indiana, as one of the most successful cattle growers, breed¬ ers and feeders, and it has been a matter of pride through a long period of years to keep up the highest standards in his fine herds of Hereford cattle. Mr. Richards is proprietor of three splendid farms, each one equipped with fine buildings. The home place comprises one hundred and twenty-seven acres, with a big and modem residence, and good bams. This is known as the Green Lawn Farm. Another farm owned by him is the Meadow Brook Farm, consisting of one hundred and twenty acres, and conducted by his son, Jacob Harvey Richards. That farm also has a fine equipment of buildings and facilities. Another farm is the old homestead, which was entered by his grandfather on the Mississinewa River in 1833, and is known as the Riverside Farm. The Riverside Farm consists of one hundred and fifty-five acres, and one of its improvements is a bam, forty by sixty feet in ground di¬ mensions, with a slate roof, and one of the best structures of its kind in the entire county. On each of these farms is a large silo, and the aggregate capacity of the three is two hundred and thirty-three tons. Mr. Richards and his sons are practical men in every particular, are hard workers, and yet are not slaves to their business, and are masters of agriculture, rather than being driven by the work as many less pros¬ perous farmers are.

L. G. W. Richards was bom in Jefferson township, September 30, 1856. He* belongs to the prominent Richards family, so well known through its different branches in this county, and more detailed infor¬ mation concerning the genealogy and family relationship will be found in the sketch of L. G. Richards, published elsewhere in this volume. L. G. W. Richards was reared and educated in the public schools, and since becoming of age has engaged in farming on his own account, and most of the property which he manages so successfully represents his individual accumulations and business judgment. Mr. Richards' parents were Jacob and Susan (Gillispie) Richards, his father a native of Guernsey county, Ohio, and his mother a native of the same state.

When young people they moved to Grant county. The mother was a daughter of Rev. James Gillispie, a minister of the Primitive Baptist church, and Rev. Jacob Richards was also active as a preacher and worker in that denomination. They settled in Jefferson township, and were pioneers in this vicinity. Rev. Jacob Richards died when a little past eighty years of age, and his wife passed away a year later, when past seventy-eight. L. G. W. Richards was the third in a family of six children that grew up and were married. James H. and Isabell Harrison died recently, each leaving children, and those living are: Catherine, wife of J. F. Jones, of Jefferson township; L. G. W. Rich¬ ards ; Hester, wife of John D. Leach, of Powlerton ; and Lucy A., widow of John W. Patterson, of Jefferson township, and the mother of several children.

L. G. W. Richards was married in Delaware county to Miss Clara M. McCormick, who was born there in 1858, and was reared and edu¬ cated in her native locality. Her parents were William and Mary (Corey) McCormick, both natives of Ohio, but who were married and spent most of their lives in Delaware county. Mr. and Mrs. Richards are the parents of the following children : Jacob Harvey, manager of the Meadow Brook Farm, married Mary Williamson, of Ohio, and their children are Jacob A., F. Belle, and Howard L. G. William F. lives on and operates the Riverside Farm, and by his marriage to Madie Jones of Ohio has one son, Mark Henry. Mark, who lives at home, was, like the other children, well educated and married Cleo Littler. Mr. and Mrs. Richards are members of the Primitive Baptist church, and he and his sons all vote the Democratic ticket.

Nettie Bainbridge Powell, M. D. Identified for twenty years with the medical profession in Grant county, Dr. Powell is recognized as one of the two leading women physicians in the state of Indiana, a physician who is accorded unstinted praise by her professional asso¬ ciates, and with a record of skillful service and large accomplishment in her home city. The science of medicine and surgery has made a remark¬ able progress in the last half century, but aside from the technical side probably the greatest single feature in the progress of the profession has been the increasing number of women whose services have been enlisted in the ranks of the physicians, and who in ability and in capac¬ ity for the special work have demonstrated equal fitness with their brothers who have so long occupied this field.

Nettie Bainbridge Powell is a native of Whitley county, Indiana, born at Columbia City, January 5, 1868, a daughter of George Milton and Martha Jane (Hughes) Bainbridge. Her father was bom in Oneida county, New York, March 9, 1832, and the mother in Whitley county, Indiana, October 10, 1843. Grandfather Charles Wesley Hughes, on the mother's side was a Virginian by birth, came to Indiana many years ago, and during the war served on Governor Morton's staff, perform¬ ing a number of important commissions, both for the governor and also at the personal behest of President Lincoln. It is an interesting fact that Charles Wesley Hughes married Mary Davis, who was born in Ohio, and was a first counsin of Jefferson Davis, once president of the Confederacy. She lived until June 13, 1912, her death occurring in the home of Dr. Powell at Marion, at the age of ninety-one, her birth hav¬ ing occurred in 1821.

George Milton Bainbridge came west about 1862, locating at Colum¬ bia City in Whitley county, where he was married. In 1893 he moved to Marion, where he and his wife both died, he in 1903 and she in 1901. The father was for many years a merchant, but was not in business after coming to Marion. There were four children, namely: Charles E., a resident in Los Angeles, California; Dr. Powell; Hallie, deceased; Gilbert M., whose home is in Chicago.

Dr. Powell received her primary education at Columbia City. For her higher studies she attended Alma College at St. Thomas, Ontario, where she was graduated in the classical department in 1885. After that she was a student in the Northwestern University and took her final work in medicine at the University of Michigan, where she was graduated M. D. in 1892. During the first years, after leaving college, she was engaged in hospital work, and on September 5, 1893, located in Marion, where her home and field of labors have since been, and she has always enjoyed a liberal share of general medical practice.

On September 5, 1893, she married Dr. Albert E. Powell, a well known physician of Grant county, whose death occurred September 20, 1905. He was bom August 2, 1868, at Francisco, Michigan, and met his future wife while both were attending the University of Michigan. The late Dr. Powell for a number of years served as county health officer of Grant county, and was also assistant coroner. He took much interest in politics, and was one of the influential Republicans. The two children of their marriage were : Emily, bom February 13, 1898, and Edmund Bainbridge Powell, bom April 22, 1901. Mrs. Dr. Powell is a member of the Grant County Medical Society, the Indiana Medical Association and the American Medical Association. She is also by virtue of her colonial antecedents a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and has membership in the Eastern Star. Dr. Powell was appointed by Mayor Batchelor, City Health Officer of Marion. This makes her the first woman Health Officer in the history of the state of Indiana.

James F. Hults. Seventy-five years of residence in Grant county on the part of the Hults family, of which James F. Hults is a worthy representative, gives the members of the family a prestige in and about the county such as is gained in no other way. He who established the family here in 1838 was a man of large affairs and took a leading place in the community where he made his home, and it is meet that his descendants should take active and intelligent parts in the affairs of their community in these later days.

James F. Hults was born on April 10, 1838, on the home place, and within sight of the place he now occupies. He is a son of Thomas Jefferson and Susanna (Duckwall) Hults, both natives of Ohio. The father was born in 1818 and died in 1863, on the 4th day of October, and the mother, who was bora in 1817, died in 1901. They were mar¬ ried in their native state and came to Grant county in 1838, where the father entered a piece of land in Monroe township traveling with Alex Smith to Fort Morgan to enter the land at the government land office. He later sold his first forty acres at a price of $80 an acre. Consider¬ ing Thomas Jefferson Hults in the light of those days, he was an excep¬ tionally prosperous man, and was undeniably one of the best known pioneers of his time. He owned at one time as much as two hundred and eighty acres of land, and was prominent in his town as trustee of Monroe township in the early days, proving himself a capable and efficient servant of the public. Five children were bom to him and his wife, namely: Cynthia, who married a Mr. Ferguson and is now de¬ ceased; James F., of this review; George W., who died in Andersonville Prison during the Civil war ; Mary Catherine and Margaret both died in the year 1863, as a result of fever, which also caused the death of the father at the same time. This triple tragedy came about as a result of Mr. Hults contracting the fever when on a visit to his son during the war, his death following soon after his return home, and the death of the two young girls coming shortly after that of the father.

George W. Hults was a member of the Nineteenth Indiana Cavalry and was a famous fighter. He, too, died during the war, and thus did the Civil war, directly and indirectly, claim a toll of four lives from the Hults family.

James F. Hults was the main support of the family during the war, caring for his own family as well as his parental home during those times of stress and strife. He had married in 1861, Jane Smith, the daughter of Henry Smith becoming his wife. She died in 1889, leaving ten children, concerning whom brief mention is here made as fol¬ lows: George W., living near Marion; Susanna Fleming, living in Monroe township; John B., now deceased; Thomas William, living in Michigan; Margaret E. Fleming, of Monroe township; Benjamin F., of Marion, Indiana; Charles, of Monroe township; Mrs. Jennie Boles, of Marion ; Oscar and Silas, both living in Illinois.

In 1892 Mr. Hults was married for the second time, Mrs. Melissa (Dickey) Lane becoming his wife. She is a daughter of Robert and Rachael Dickey, natives of Fayette county, Indiana, and Clinton county, Ohio, respectively. Her first husband, Nathan Lime, died in 1888. Three children were bom to Mrs. Hults' first marriage: Austin Lane, of Grant county; Ethel Runyan, of Hartford City; and Mrs. Lennia Fleming, of Monroe township.

Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hults : Goldie, who is a graduate of Taylor University; Clarence, Paul and Edward, all at home.

The progress of Mr. Hults in his career is well worthy of considera¬ tion, and covers a long period of activity. When he was twenty-on© years old his father gave him forty acres of land, and the young man soon bought another forty to add to it. Upon the death of his brother, George, he bought from the heirs the eighty acres of land that young man had owned, and he later bought another twenty-five acres of another brother. This purchase was followed by the purchase of eighty acres from George W. Campbell, eighty acres from David Wall, and twenty acres of a Mr. Johnson. His next purchase was forty acres from William Sheridan, and still later he bought one hundred and sixty acres from Blumenthal & Marks, in Van Buren township. With the arrival of mature years of his children, Mr. Hults has given to each of them a fair sized farm, and today he retains only one hundred and fifteen acres from the immense acreage he once held.

In 1881 Mr. Hults built a fine brick house of eight rooms on his place, and a few years later an immense barn was built on the place. He still continues to crop his place, despite his advanced years and in 1912 he harvested twelve hundred bushels of corn from his place, and nine hundred bushels of oats. Fifty hogs annually find their way to market from his pens, and he carries on his farming operations on a large scale.

Mr. Hults is a Prohibitionist, and has voted that ticket consistently for more than forty years. He attends the New Light Christian church, and for many years was a member of the Arcana Masonic lodge of Upland, although he no longer keeps up his affiliation with that order. He is one of the fine old men of the township, and his friends through¬ out the county are legion.

Charles H. Hults. Successful and enterprising in his agricultural activities, Charles H. Hults takes a leading place among the younger farming men of Monroe township, where he has passed his life thus far and where he was born December 28, 1873. He is a son of James F. and Mary J. (Smith) Hults, and concerning the parents more de¬ tailed mention is to be found on other pages of this historical and biographical work.

Charles H. Hults was educated in the district schools and lived at home with his parents until he was nineteen years old. Thereafter he did farm work for hire for some six years, and when he married he rented a place and lived upon it for six more years. He bought his present place in 1904. It is eighty-two and a half acres in extent, and he paid a price of sixty-five dollars an acre for the place, going in debt for more than $2,000, which he was soon able to clear away, and in 1909 he bought an additional twenty acres at sixty dollars an acre. His land is estimated at one hundred and twenty-five dollars an acre, and is in fine shape, considered from every standpoint. In 1912 the place yielded eight hundred bushels of com, four hundred bushels of oats, and he cut fifteen tons of fine hay. His annual sale of hogs num¬ bers about eighty. The family residence caps an eminence overlooking the place, and a large lawn with trees and shrubbery in abundance lend additional charm to an already attractive place.

In 1898 Mr. Hults was married to Ida, the daughter of Milton Marshall, of Upland, and they have two children, Letha and Pearl. Mr. Hults is a Democrat in his politics, but not especially active.

George W. Wilson. Many years ago, when Grant county was a wil¬ derness, the first Wilson came to this region, settled among the woods of Monroe township, and the people of that name were effective workers in transforming the barren land into cultivated fields. George W. Wilson is a grandson of the original pioneer and occupies a portion of land which has been in the family ownership for more than a half century, a fact in itself which is an honor to the steady industry and citizenship of the people of this name, and the Wilsons have always been known for their quiet prosperity and solid in¬ tegrity.

George W. Wilson is owner of two hundred and twenty-one acres of land in Monroe township, his home place comprising eighty acres. He and his family occupy an attractive dwelling, a large white build¬ ing erected in 1897, and standing on a knoll, well back from the road side in front of which is a wide sloping lawn. The large bam was built in 1871, and in 1910 Mr. Wilson, in line with modern progres¬ sive agricultural methods, put up a fine silo. He has recently bought the old home farm across the road from his place. The first eighty acres of his estate he bought in 1889, and for many years has been steadily prospering. During 1912 his crops were two thousand bushels of corn, one thousand bushels of oats, and twenty-five tons of hay. He puts off about seventy-five head of hogs each year, and is doing his farming on a profitable scale.

George W. Wilson was bom July 23, 1862, on the old Wilson homestead across the road from where he now lives. His father, James M. Wilson, died in 1885, and was a native of Virginia, and Grandfather Wilson settled in Grant county among the pioneers. The mother of Mr. Wilson was Martha Renbarger, who was bom June 24, 1827, and died November 25, 1912. Her name will always figure in Grant county history, since she was the first white child bom in this county, a daughter of Henry Renbarger, whose name belongs among the first settlers in the wilderness of this region. She was born four years before Grant county was organized, under civil government. The eight children in the family are mentioned as follows: Thomas, of Marion ; James, a farmer of this county; Cynthia Hults, of Marion; Maria Jones, of Kansas; Emma Stout, of Marion; George W. ; Jasper, of Marion; Matilda Puckett, of Monroe township.

George W. Wilson received his early education in the schools of Monroe township, and he spent the first twenty-one years of his life at home. He then married and began farming for himself. He built his first house east of his present place on eighty acres of land which he later sold. He then lived with his mother for a few years, and when the estate was divided he bought eighty acres of his present homestead. His next purchase was sixty acres known as the Jackson place. After his mother's death he bought the old homestead. All three of these farms have fairly good buildings, and are productive places under the management of Mr. Wilson.

In 1883 Mr. Wilson married Miss Lydia Gage, of Monroe town¬ ship. They are the parents of seven children, named as follows : Mrs. Pearl Overman, of Marion; Dona Johnson, of Marion; Leo, Gladys, Lavon, and Beatrice and Bernice, twins, all the last five being at home. In politics Mr. Wilson is a Democrat and 'has served his com¬ munity in the capacity of road supervisor and pike superintendent. The church at which he and his family worship is the McKinney Chris¬ tian church.

Isaac R. Waggoner. To those who love the soil and the fruits thereof, Pleasant Valley Gardens is an attractive, luring title, suggesting good things for those who have appetite for two or three meals each day - and that means about everybody. In Grant county Pleasant Valley Gardens also suggests their founder and enterprising owner, Isaac R. Waggoner.

Mr. Waggoner is a native of Wabash county, Indiana, born near Lincolnville, June 23, 1866. But as soon as he reached his majority he located in Marion, and is now well known to the business com¬ munity. His wife, Mrs. Waggoner was Miss Lizzie Nixon, from the same community in Wabash county. They were married May 26, 1888, while he was in the employ of Frank Carlson as a market gardener. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Waggoner are: Miss Anna Wag¬ goner; Miriam who is the wife of William Bodkins and they have one child, Robert William: Georgia, who is the wife of Virgil Bodkins; Harry Bryan Waggoner and twin sisters, Ruth and Ruby Waggoner. Some of Mr. Waggoner's relatives have been with him as gardeners, but as a family, they all belong to Wabash county.

Mr. Waggoner worked only one year for Mr. Carlson, when he acquired a knowledge of and liking for the business, and his career as a gardener on his own account was begun at the old Boots Mill-site - bottom land along the Mississinewa, and then he moved to Wabash county, where he gardened for two years, still supplying his Marion wholesale vegetable trade. But the distance was against him and he returned to Grant county. At this time he located at the Barley Mill, a short distance below the old Boot Mill site. Pleasant Valley was the sign on that old mill, since torn down and rebuilt on the J. L. Barley farm in Franklin township as a barn. He appropriated the name, the garden land being on both sides of the river, and when he later bought the present Pleasant Valley, part of it had been operated by him as a garden for several years. When Mr. Waggoner first located there he hauled all the garden products through the river and there was always danger connected with delivery, but he prospered and acquired his present home up the hill from the first bottoms along the Mississinewa where he has developed one of the best garden spots in .Indiana. The Washington-Pleasant range line passes through the gar¬ den, but at that point the Mississinewa is the boundary and the property is taxed in Washington and Mr. Waggoner is a Washington township voter. He has 64 acres in high and low lands, and the high land is adapted to small fruits, as the lowlands to vegetables.

The Mississinewa is both his friend and his enemy, and alluvial soil is the nature of the garden. Mr. Waggoner has installed the Skinner irrigation system, utilizing electric power from the Marion Light and Heating Company direct, and each year he will add to his system of pipe lines until he will no longer be dependent upon the weatherman - sun¬ shine being as frequent as showers in Pleasant Valley.

While Mr. Waggoner is an all-around gardener he has two special¬ ties, strawberries and canteloupes, and the Waggoner canteloupe is very much in demand on the Chicago market. While he has always sup¬ plied wholesale trade - Marion dealers - Mr. Waggoner was friendly toward the new-market house proposition and engaged a stand there, but the first season found him still supplying dealers, with neither time nor stock for a stall on the city market. He has always made a spe¬ cialty of green corn, but the telephone orders from Marion grocers more than consume his product. In short, the man who started market gardening without a dollar and with debt confronting him, has suc¬ ceeded in business, and he is now a factor in the commercial world of Marion - controls the situation from the standpoint of fruit and vege¬ tables. There are two small green houses and extensive cold frames for propagation purposes, and cement has served an excellent purpose in their construction. The home is lighted with electricity, and the irriga¬ tion is accomplished that way, and in time other use will be made of the power. There is a wind pump, and a water system had been installed before the electricity was utilized at Pleasant Valley.

It is only a short walk from Pleasant Valley to the interurban car, but for seven months of the year while there is produce to market the Pleasant Valley wagons are seen about the streets - though in winter the family use the cars. There is rugged scenery - Mississinewa hills, and a winding road from the house to the garden, and picturesque is the word that describes the place, and Mr. and Mrs. Waggoner fully understand how their present comfortable situation has been attained, and they are still laboring as hard as when it was more incumbent upon them. The telephone orders are received from the house or from an extension phone in one of the vegetable packing sheds in the garden, and Pleasant Valley is one of the most profitable farm investments in Grant county - the profit coming from strict attention to all the details of the fruit and vegetable trade - a business that requires care¬ ful and sensible management. Mr. Waggoner has made an eminent success of it.

Samuel Wise. Material prosperity has long been in the possession of Samuel Wise. Mr. Wise has earned all that he has ever acquired, and few men have performed a more skillful and industrious part in the life and activities of Jefferson township during the last thirty or forty years than this citizen, who combines a large industry as a farmer with practice of his trade as a blacksmith and machinist, his home being in section seventeen. A large dwelling house and barn are features of his place which attract attention first of all, and about these buildings his well cultivated fields, his high grade and well kept stock all indicate the thrifty and efficient character of the proprietor. Mr. Wise started out with very little more than the average young man of his time had on arriving at manhood, has made a remarkable record of increasing his possessions, and all his accumulations repre¬ sent his industry and honorable dealing.

Samuel Wise comes from an old Pennsylvania family of Dutch ancestry, and some of its connections were the Viglers and Shaeffers of Center county, Pennsylvania. Samuel Wise, grandfather of Samuel, was born in Center county, Pennsylvania, about one hundred years ago. His early life was spent in his native vicinity, and as a trade he choose woodworking and became a skilled carpenter and joiner. After he came to Indiana, he made practically all the furniture for his home, and it was much superior in design and stability to the average furnishings of Grant county homes in tjiose days. In Center county he married a Miss Shaffer, and all their four sons were bora in that county, namely: John, Jacob, Henry, and Samuel. In 1847, the family came to Pennsylvania, and with one horse and a wagon journeyed slowly overland to Indiana, until they reached Grant county. There Daniel Wise first located on a rugged farm in Mill township, and a few years later bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Jefferson township. This purchase was in section five of that township, and there he applied himself vigorously to the clearing and improvement and cultivation of his land, until with the aid of his wife he had made an excellent farm. The four sons grew up on that place, and the parents finally retired and spent their declining years in the home of their son Jacob. Both were in the fullness of years when death came to them. They were of the fine old type rep¬ resented by the pioneer, kindly neighbors, upright in all their actions, and left behind them the heritage of a good name. Only one of their sons, Henry, is still living, a well known farmer at Gas City. Samuel died unmarried when twenty-six years of age, and John died some years ago, leaving a family.

Jacob Wise, father of Samuel, was born in Center county, Penn¬ sylvania, in 1833, and was fourteen years old when the family migra¬ tion was accomplished to Grant county. On reaching manhood he started out to make his own way, and chose farming as his vocation. He was always regarded as one of the most substantial and success¬ ful men in his locality, and eventually acquired a large property. After giving all his children a good start he still had two hundred acres, which is now owned and occupied by his widow. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Marine, a sister of Daniel Marine, prominent fam¬ ily in Grant county, whose history is given in greater detail on other pages. Mrs. Jacob Wise is now seventy-eight years of age. Jacob Wise died on the old homestead in section four of Jefferson township, in the fall of 1909.

Samuel Wise was bom on his father's farm in Jefferson township, December 8, 1856. As a boy he attended the public schools when school was in session, and in the holidays and vacation pursued a quite rigid course of duty about the home. On growing up, and after his marriage, he bought eighty acres of land in section seventeen, and there made his start, and that place has been the scene of his most successful achievements. Farming and stock raising were the busi¬ nesses to which he gave all his attention for a number of years, and as he acquired a little surplus he reinvested in land, increased his estate to one hundred and sixty acres. At the present time his farm has four different sets of buildings, is well provided and equipped for tenant farming. Probably no land in Jefferson township is graded to a higher degree of productiveness, and yet with better care for its future fertility, than the Wise farm. His own home has a good dwelling house and excellent barns. A number of years ago, after getting well started as a farmer, Mr. Wise set up on his own land a little shop in order to perform his own blacksmithing. In that trade he had had a little experience, and possessing a natural aptitude for mechanical work, he soon proved himself adept. From doing work for his own convenience, there soon same a demand from his neighbors for help in this way. Thus his trade grew as a matter of personal accommodation, until it became necessary for him to devote practically his entire time and attention, and he set up a shop twenty-five by thirty feet and equipped it with all the appliances for high-grade custom blacksmithing. Since then Mr. Wise has been a blacksmith, first of all, though in the background he has his large farm, and keeps an eye on its cultivation and the raising of his stock, although the actual work is necessarily performed by outside labor. Mr. Wise many years ago made a reputation for his skill in the mending of boilers and tubes, and as his reliability in repairing that very delicate class of machinery became better known he was sent for frequently to use his services in different sections of the county and even beyond the limits of Grant county. Mr. Wise was married in May, 1882, to Miss Sarah Ellen Bole. Mrs. Wise, who has well dignified her place as a wife, and whose many acts of kindliness and charity have given her a place of affection in the community, was bom in Jefferson township in 1853, a daughter of George Bole, and of one of the old and well known fam¬ ilies of Grant county. George Bole was born in Ohio, came to Grant county at an early day, was a farmer in Jefferson township, where he passed away when more than sixty years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Wise have no children, and are members of the Christian church, while in political faith he is a Democrat.

George Haines. Grant county has its many beautiful and valua¬ ble farm estates, some of which have been under one name since the pioneer era of this region. George Haines occupies a portion of the land which was settled by his father nearly seventy years ago, and has himself been closely identified with Monroe township for over forty years. As a farmer and stockman he has made a fine record and he bears a name which has always been associated with honest industry and unimpeachable integrity, in this county.

George Haines was bora on the Haines farm in section eight of Monroe township, April 15, 1850, a son of James and Nancy W. (Smith) Haines, both of whom were natives of Fayette county, Ohio, where they were reared and married. The father, who was bora March 14, 1818, and died in March, 1884, came to Grant county in 1844, and filed a claim on one hundred and sixty acres of government land. He did not settle on that place because of its low situation and the water which stood in great lakes over its surface at the time. He bought forty acres on a higher level, cleared off the woods, and erected a cabin of round logs, which furnished the first home of the Haines family in Grant county. At the time of his settlement there were no roads in the vicinity, and he and his family had to contend with many pioneer conditions and hardships. Despite his hard beginning, James Haines prospered and at one time was owner of about nine hundred acres of land. As his children became of age he gave to each one a farm, and provided liberally for those dependent upon him, and always exercised a wholesome influence in the life of the community. He was a Mason from the time he became of age, and was also a communicant of the

Methodist church. The seven children in his family were named as follows: Mrs. Susanna Boiler, a widow residing in Monroe township; Mrs. Rebecca E. Kelley, now deceased, who lived in Blackford county; Milton, deceased; George; Samuel, of Van Buren; Alfred, on the old homestead in Monroe township; and Constantine, of Alhambra, Cali¬ fornia.

George Haines was educated in the district schools of Monroe town¬ ship, and as his father was in more than ordinary circumstances, he fclso enjoyed the advantages of the town schools, attending the insti¬ tution at Marion taught by William and Bina Russell, during 1868-69 and 1870. After that he served a period as school teacher for three terms, teaching in the number one school in Jefferson township, in number two in Pleasant township, and number one in Monroe town¬ ship. When he became of age his father gave him one hundred and twenty acres of land, and the son afterwards paid a part of the value of this to his father. Since that original acquisition he has* added four hundred and forty acres, making his estate now a farm of five hun¬ dred and sixty acres, lying in sections four, five, eight and nine of Mon¬ roe township. His home is situated on section five. About 1876 he added eighty acres adjoining his first place and then bought seventy acres nearby. In 1885 he purchased the interests of some of the heirs in the home farm, and in 1888 bought one hundred and sixty acres of land. He personally manages and farms all but one hundred and sixty acres on section four, which is conducted under a tenant. His home dwelling is a large white frame house, a very attractive home, compris¬ ing eleven rooms and erected in 1885. Back of it is situated a large red barn, forty by seventy-five feet and built in 1885. The farm in section four also has good barns and a dwelling house. Mr. Haines is one of the large crop raisers of Monroe township, and in 1912 his record for production was two thousand bushels of corn, two thousand bushels of oats, and sixty tons of hay. On his farm Mr. Haines has about forty head of cattle, and one hundred hogs, using eight horses for the farm work. He markets each year about one hundred and twenty-five hogs.

In the spring of 1885, Mr. Haines married Miss Margaret Benbow, a daughter of Thomas Benbow. Six children were bom to their mar¬ riage, four of whom are now living, namely : Lena J., at home ; Benja¬ min, deceased; Willis W., at home; Wilmont, in school, at Muncie; one that died in infancy; and Geneva Beatrice. Mr. Haines is a Republi¬ can in politics, and he and his family worship in the .Christian church.

Byron L. Bunker. How farming pays under the direction of an energetic and able agriculturist is well illustrated in the activities of Byron L. Bunker of Monroe township. Mr. Bunker, thougn reared and in early life following farming was for many years engaged in con¬ tracting and a few years ago invested his means and resumed the work which constituted his first love in his vocations of life. At the present time he has almost a model estate in Monroe township, situated in sec¬ tion eleven. It is on the Arcana gravel road, where he is the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land, all in cultivation except a tim¬ ber lot of eight acres. During 1912 he produced three thousand bush¬ els of com which at the prevailing price was worth a good deal of money, though he sold none of his grain, feeding it all to his stock. He also had a crop of thirty tons of hay during that year. In 1912 he sent one hundred and eighty swine to market, and from this source alone it is not difficult to estimate that the income of the Bunker farm is a very large one. In 1913 his crops comprised seventy acres of com, sixty acres of oats, and other smaller crops. At this writing he has one hundred and thiry hogs on his farm, and he raises all the grain needed to grow and fatten them for the market. During this year he is also renting eighty acres besides his own place. Mr. Bunker and family reside in a comfortable brick house of eight rooms and it is in many respects as comfortable as the average city home and is heated by steam and has all the facilities for family life on a modern and attractive basis.

Byron L. Bunker was born February 1, 1862, in Wayne county, Indiana, a son of Francis F. Bunker, who was bom in 1840 and died in 1890. He was a native of North Carolina, and his father Thomas Bunker came from North Carolina and settled in Wayne county, dur¬ ing the pioneer period. During the Civil war Francis F. Bunker was for four years a Union soldier, having enlisted from Wayne county, and going through the war as a valiant defender of the integrity of the state. After the war he moved to Jay county, where he bpught the farm, on which he spent the balance of his life. The maiden name of his wife was Lorena Hunt of Wayne county, who died in 1873 at the age of thirty-two years. By this marriage there were four chil¬ dren, namely: Alpha Retta, deceased; Byron L., Thomas Sheridan, of Jay county; Ira, who died at the age of seventeen, and one that died in infancy. The father for his second wife married Angeline Johnson, whose six children were Alice, May, deceased, Evi, Myrtle, Orvall, and Garfield. The second wife died when thirty years old, and Francis F. Bunker then married Alvira Votaw, who died in the spring of 1911.