Grant County, Indiana - The whole text, 1914 (part 4 of 32)

Edmund Duling, Jr., father of Solomon Duling, and founder of the family fortunes in» Grant county, was the third son in a very large family of children. He with two brothers, Solomon and Thomas, became settlers in Grant county, Indiana, and all of them improved excellent farm estates, were successful agriculturists, and became heads of families. The three brothers are now deceased and also their wives. Edmund Duling, Jr., was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, April 9, 1817,. He grew up in his native locality, was a farmer boy, and received a meagre education in the public schools of that time. He married Eliza Ann Hubert, who was born in Guernsey county, Ohio. In the spring of 1845 Edmund Duling, Jr., and his brother Thomas rode horseback from Coshocton to Fairmount, erected their log cabin, returned to Ohio for their families and moved out that fall. There Edmund Duling, Jr., made a clearing in the midst of the tall trees, and probably with the help of some of his neighbors hewed out the timbers from which were built a log cabin, eighteen by twenty feet in dimensions and comprising only one room. The roof of this rude house was the old-fashioned clapboards, bound down with shakes, as they were called. The single door swung on wooden hinges. Wooden pins supplied the fastenings where needed, although the tongue and groove were the chief methods by which the timbers were fastened together. However, the home had one distinction, and that was a lumber floor. Among the articles of kitchen furniture which the family brought into Grant county, was one of the old bake-ovens, and that interesting utensil is now in the possession of Solomon Duling. It is a relic interesting in itself, and especially so from the family associations, since practically all the bread consumed in the household was made by the good housewife and baked in that oven, which was heated either in the fireplace or on coals spread out of doors. The pioneer housewife also had her spinning wheel, and from the flax and wool spun the yarn and made the clothes for all the members of the family. Eventually Edmund Duling and wife improved an excellent farm, and replaced the old log cabin with a good frame house standing near what is now known as the Eighth Street Road. There they lived, labored, reared their children and finally passed to their reward.

Edmund Duling died ini 1901, when within a few months of being eighty-four years of age. His wife had passed away some twelve or thirteen years previously. She was born in 1818, and though reared in the Presbyterian faith, afterwards became a Protestant Methodist, and both she and her husband died in that faith. He was first a Whig and later a Republican in politics.

The five children of Edmund Duling, Jr., and wife are mentioned as follows : Maria died after her marriage to Joshua Hollingsworth, her death occurring in 1908. The husband is still living. They were the parents of two children, Edmund and Lena. Asa, the second born is deceased and left a family of two sons, Frank and Verlie. Mary J.. died at the age of four years. The next among the children is Solomon. Emily, who married Asbury Crabb, who is still living, died soon after the birth of her only daughter Emma, who is now married and has three children, Lulu, Ethel, and Alva.

Mr. Solomon Duling was born on the old homestead in Fairmount township, December 1, 1850. He was reared there, and still owns half of the eighty acres which made up the old home place. His career has been that of a substantial farmer, and with the passing of years he has brought his land into a high state of cultivation and improvement. Solomon Duling in 1881 married Miss Alice Wright. She was born in Plainfield, Hendricks county, Indiana, January 26, 1861. When she was a young girl her parents, Joseph R. and Deborah (Dicker) Wright moved to Grant county. Both her parents were natives of Penn¬ sylvania, where they were married, and then came to Indiana. Her father Joseph Wright, now lives in Fairmount city, at the age of seventy-six. He is a veteran of the Sixty-third Indiana Infantry during the Civil war, and his home has been in Grant county since 1869. His wife died here about five years ago, when about seventy years of age. The Wright family were for a number of years members of the Methodist church, but later joined the Methodist Protestant, and finally became Dunkards. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Duling have been born no children, but in the kindness of their hearts they have adopted and reared two foster daughters. One, a niece, is now Mrs. Emma Rich. The other is Mrs. Verna Rogers, and has one son, Orville D. Rogers, their home being in New Castle, Indiana. Mr,, and Mrs. Duling are members of the Methodist PrQtestant Church, and in politics he is a Republican.

Frank Wilson. The Wilson family, of whom Frank Wilson of Fairmount township is one of several members to be found within the limits of Grant county, has an appropriate place among the list of pioneers in this part of Indiana, and their home has been here for more than seventy years. As farmers, stock raisers, public spirited citizens, moral and religious men and women, they have been wholesome factors in the life of the community throughout all these decades.

The originator of the family in America was Grandfather Thomas Wilson. Born in Ireland, he was of Scotch-Irish and Protestant ancestry. He married Anna Mackey, and immediately after their marriage they embarked on a vessel which brought them to the United States and they settled in Rockbridge county, Virginia. That county of old Virginia continued to be their home until their death. Thomas Wilson died about middle life, while his widow lived a good many years afterwards, and died on the old Virginia homestead when about eightynine. Farming was their occupation, and their church was the Presbyterian Society at Collierstown in Virginia. They had a family of a number of sons and daughters, and the sons are mentioned as follows: Thomas, Jr., lived and died in Grant county, was a farmer, and left three children, two sons and one daughter. John Me., also a farmer, died in Jefferson township of Grant county, leaving a large family. The next in order of age among the sons was James S., mentioned in the following paragraph. Robert K., died on the old Rockbridge county farm in Virginia, and left a widow but no children. Samuel G., lived in the same county of Virginia, was never married, and held an influential station in his community serving as justice of the peace for some time.

James S. Wilson was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, January 13, 1813. There he grew up, had an education in the old field schools of his native commonwealth, and when ready for the serious occupations of life took up farming. When he was a young man of about twentyfive, in 1838, he rode all the way on horseback from Virginia to Grant county, Indiana. Here, with his brother Thomas, Jr., he took up one hundred and sixty acres of government land on section four in Mill township. While the country had been organized seven or eight years much of its landscape was still as nature had made it, and these brothers started out on their pioneer enterprise in the midst of the green woods. They did a good de*al of work in development, and later sold the land to Isaac Rouse. James S. Wilson then moved to Fairmount township, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of almost new land, from John

McCormick, who had entered it from the government. It was on that farm that James Wilson spent the rest of his years engaged in the quiet vocation of farming, and in his duties to family and friends. iHis death occurred when he was eighty-one years of age. He was a loyal Democrat, and at one time served as township trustee. His church was the Presbyterian. Some time after he had bought and occupied the Fairmount township farm he married Evaline Morgan, of Mason county, Kentucky. When she was a girl her parents moved to Piqua, Miami county, Ohio, and lived there for some years. Her father, Perry Morgan there married a second wife and moved out to Iowa, while the children of his first wife came to Grant county, Indiana, with his relatives. Mrs. James S. Wilson died in Grant county in 1874 at the age of fifty-four years and two months. She was also a Presbyterian, and became the mother of four sons and two daughters. These children are noted as follows: 1. Henry P., who died in young manhood after he had married Lyda* Roush, a daughter of Isaac Roush. She then married a second time, William Schaefer becoming her husband, and she had one daughter, Bertha, by her first marriage. 2. Eugene N., a retired farmer living at Jonesboro, married Mary A. Templin, and their children are Albert, Marcus L., George G., and Ira. 3. Talitha died young. 4. James Me. died unmarried and was educated at DePauw University at Greencastle and was an attorney at Marion. 5. Frank and Eva were twins, and the latter died unmarried at the age of twenty-two.

Mr. Frank Wilson, whose name has been placed at the head of this article was bom on the old Fairmount township homestead of his father on July 25, 1857. Growing up on that farm, he now owns the estate, having secured through deed from his father one hundred and ninety acres. He is a practical and business-like farmer, and knows how to make Grant county soil produce abundantly. One hundred and fiftyfour acres of his land are under cultivation, and the fields produce large quantities of oats, com, wheat and hay, and his cattle and hogs consume practically all the products. Thus he has conserved the fertility of his land, and his farm is now in a better condition agriculturally speaking than when he received it from his father. With the fruits of his success after many years of continuous labors he is now living semiretired, spending his winters in his home at Jonesboro, while during the summer he stays on the farm and manages its activities.

In Fairmount township, Mr. Wilson was married to Lou Wilson, who was born at Hardin, Shelby county, Ohio, April 15, 1861. When she was six years old she came to Mill township in Grant county, with her parents, Theodore and Margaret (Caldwell) Wilson. Her parents were both natives of Ireland, having come to Shelby county, Ohio, after their marriage, and their children were born in Ohio. Still later they moved to Grant county, and became substantial farmers in Mill town¬ ship, but after some years retired to Jonesboro. Theodore Wilson died at the age of sixty-seven, and his wife when sixty-two. They were Presbyterians, and left five children, all of whom are still living. All but one are married, and three of them have children of their own.

Two children were bom to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. Wade H., born September 15, 1889, was educated in the Marion high school, and now conducts his father's farm. He married Edith Kuntz, of Pern, Indiana, and they have one daughter, Mary L., bom September 25, 1912. The other child of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson was Eva, who died when only eleven weeks old. Mr. Wilson with his wife and son belongs to the Presbyterian church, and he and his son are Democrats in politics.

Mbs. Maud Howard Gaines. In a list of the prominent citizens of any community today, mention is made of women as well as men, for whether they are actively in the business world or not, the high position of woman as a factor in civilization is being recognized as it has never been before. Therefore in any account of those who have played a part in the history of Grant county, Indiana, Mrs. Maud Howard Gaines should have a place. Mrs. Gaines comes of one of the oldest .families, not only in Grant county, but in the United States, a family noted for its patriotism and sincere devotion to the country. She has lived in Marion for many years and has taken an active part in many phases of the city's activities. ,

Mrs. Gaines was born in 1866, the eldest of the five children born to John A. and Susan (Kirkpatrick) Howard. John A. Howard was born in Ohio in 1836, a son of Maurice and Matilda (Sabin) Howard. Matilda Sabin was the granddaughter of Elijah Sabin, who had been a commis¬ sioned officer during the Revolutionary war, and other ancestors who fought in this war give Mrs. Gaines the right to be proud of her family and the record they made in this memorable struggle. Coming further down in her ancestry, her own father left a splendid record for military service. The records in the Adjutant General's office in the War De¬ partment at Washington show that John A. Howard was enrolled on April 23, 1861, as a private in Company "I," Twelfth Indiana Infantry, that he served one year and was honorably discharged from the service as a private, together with the whole company on the 15th of May, 1862. In speaking of the experience of this year Captain Howard said that the whole regiment inclined to the opinion that one year of such hardships as they had endured was enough. But after they had once more become private citizens Lincoln asked them to visit their homes and then return and help him out and there was not a hand that was not raised in response to this plea. On the 22nd of October, 1862, therefore, Captain Howard returned to the service, this time with a commission as first lieutenant in Company "C," Fifty-fourth Infantry. He served in this capacity until December 8, 1863, when he was honorably discharged from the service at New Orleans, Louisiana. It was only a short time until he re-enlisted, this time at Marion, on the 7th of February, 1865. He was mustered into service on the same day as a private in Company "G," of the One-Hundred and Fifty-third Indiana Infantry to serve one year. A few days later, on the 22nd of February, 1865, he was commissioned captain of this company and served as such until his final honorable discharge from the service on the 4th of September, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky. This long record of military service as shown by the official documents in the war department at Washington is one which Mrs. Gaines treasures greatly, being proud not only of the actual service rendered to her country but also of the spirit of patriotism and self-sacrifice shown by her father. Maurice Howard, Mrs. Gaines' grand¬ father and father of John A. Howard, was a soldier in the War of 1812. He enlisted in the New York troops, serving most of his time around and near Detroit, Michigan.

Captain Howard took part in some of the most important engage¬ ments of the Civil war, among them being; Antietam, Arkansas Post, Raymond, Thompson Hills, Black River, Champion Hills, Chickasaw Bluffs, Vicksburg, and Jackson, Mississippi, being wounded at the latter battle. Captain Howard always wears an American flag as a buttoniere, and he is a regular attendant at the camp fires of the General Shunk post of the Grand Army of the Republic, although it is saddening to see his old comrades at arms rapidly diminishing in numbers. In slavery days the Howard homestead was one of the stations of the underground rail- way, and as a young boy Captain Howard conducted many negroes from the shelter of his own home to the next friendly resting place, his father remaining behind on guard. Later when the temperance question came before the attention of the people he was an active advocate of that side of the question which had the protection of the family and the home at heart. Captain Howard married Susan Kirkpatrick, who was born in Grant county, Indiana, in 1847, a daughter of William and Margaret (Carrothers) Kirkpatrick, and they spent many years on a farm near Marion. Several years ago, however, Captain Howard retired from active life and they now make their home in Marion, their daughter Mrs. Gaines living with them.

Mrs. Gaines, or Miss Maud Howard, as she was before her marriage, was in the first graduating class from the district schools of Washing¬ ton township, this being in 1881, and when she was only sixteen she taught her first winter school at Salem, Indiana, having many pupils who were older than she was herself. Mrs. Gaines has two brothers, Maurice and Harry Howard, and two sisters, Mrs. Helen Howard Will¬ iams and Miss Mary Margaret Howard. It was when Miss Maud Howard was twenty-two years of age, on the 22nd of November, 1888, that she was married to Edmund Morton Gaines. Mr. Gaines, who was also born in 1866, was one of eight children born to Oliver and Mary Jane (Brad¬ ford) Gaines.

Both the Howard and Gaines families were pioneers in Grant county, and had lived side by side as neighbors and friends for three generations. The Howards came from New York, the Bradfords and Gaines from Virginia, and the Kirkpatricks from Ohio. Oliver Gaines is the son of Edmund P. and Polly (Bond) Gaines, and his wife, who is now deceased, was a daughter of George and Elizabeth (Schell) Bradford. The grand¬ parents in both the Howard and Gaines familes had come to Indiana as emigrants, but the parents were all bom in the community. The link¬ ing together of the interests of the two families by the marriage in the third generation, only drew closer together those who had always been close friends.

Edmund Morton Gaines was christened Edmund because there had always been an Edmund in the family since the house of Gaines was established in America more than four hundred years ago, and the name of Morton was given in honor of Indiana's war governor. He and his wife had twenty years of perfect wedded happiness before he was taken from her, his death occurring on the 6th of January, 1909. Mr. Gaines was always active in church and fraternal affairs. Although he came of Quaker ancestry he and his wife were members of the First Methodist Episcopal church in Marion, and for several years he was a member of the official board. He belonged to the Knights of Pythias and the lodge emblem is engraved on the stone that marbs his grave.

Mrs. Gaines is an enthusiastic member of the Home Missionary Society of the Methodist church, and takes special pleasure in the work of the so¬ ciety. She is a member of the Marion Central Woman's Christian Tem¬ perance Union, of which an aunt, Mrs. Mary Howard Williams, was an early member - in fact, the union really grew out of the crusade of which Mrs. Williams was a leader. Mrs. Gaines has alwjays been an interested stu¬ dent of history and is a member of the Thursday Historical Club, and of the Grant County Historical Society. She is the historian of her native township in this Centennial history. Mrs. Gaines is every inch a patriot herself, her love for the flag being instilled into her from babyhood, and inherited from her ancestors, and since all heroes are not necessarily those who face the guns of an enemy on the battlefield, but are all those who do their part in the battle of life quietly and bravely, she is cer- tainly in line for recognition. Mrs. Gaines is a member of the General Francis Marion Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, having traced her lineal Revolutionary descent throhgh her paternal grand¬ mother, Mrs. Matilda (Sabin) Howard, although she had other ancestral lines just as clearly defined.

Charles H. Terrell. A man of fine intellectual attainments and marked executive ability, Mr. Terrell is eminently qualified for the im¬ portant office of which he is the able and popular incumbent, that of superintendent of schools for Grant county. His administration has been marked by circumspection, indefatigable energy and careful discrim¬ ination, and the beneficent results of the same are definitely manifest in the high standard of the public schools of the county, which has the distinction of possessing a greater number of commissioned high schools than any other county in the state. Mr. Terrell has had varied and practical experience in the field of educational work and is recognized as one of the representative factors in the pedagogic profession in his native state, the while his sterling character, effective services and genial personality have gained to him inviolable hold upon popular confidence and esteem. He has been a resident of Grant county since his boyhood days and is one of its loyal and progressive citizens.

Mr. Terrell was bom in the city of Kokomo, Indiana, on the 3d of November, 1879, and he is a son of George and Elizabeth (Myers) Ter¬ rell, both of whom were born in Decatur county, this state, a fact that indicates that the respective families were founded in Indiana in the pioneer era of its history. George Terrell, who was a mechanic by voca¬ tion, died in 1881, when the subject of this review was but two years old, and the devoted mother passed to the life eternal in 1891, so that Charles H. Terrell was doubly orphaned when a lad of about twelve years.

He whose name initiates this article gained his rudimentary educa¬ tion in the common schools of Decatur and Grant counties, to which latter he came on the 22d of February, 1892, a short time after the death of his devoted mother, he being the only child of this union. At Gas City, this county, he was graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1899, after which he pursued his higher academic studies in turn in Taylor University, at Upland, and the University of Indiana, at Bloomington. In the latter institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1910 and received the well earned degree of Bachelor of Arts. Mr. Terrell initiated his pedagogic career in the autumn of 1900, and after teaching successfully in the country schools of Grant county for a period of four years he became a teacher in the public schools of Jonesboro, this county, where he was thus engaged for four years, 1905-9, and where he held during the last two years the position of principal of the high school, in connection with which his entire period of service was given. In 1910-11 he was at the head of the department of history in the high school in the city of Marion, where he maintains his official headquarters, and on the 5th of June, 1911, there came high recognition of his character and ability, in that he was elected county superintendent of schools, for a term of four years. His administration has in every way justified his selection for this important and responsible post, and through his mature judgment and earnest efforts much has been done to unify the work and advance the standard of all departments of public-school work in Grant county, even the most obscure and 'diminu¬ tive of the district schools having received careful attention from him, the while he has effectively supervised the work of the more advanced grades of work, including that of the high schools. As a man of scholar¬ ship and administrative ability he has shown himself essentially broad- minded and progressive, and within his regime in his present office he has instituted many improvements in service and a number of wise innova¬ tions. He has warmly and ably advocated the teaching of scientific and practical agriculture in connection with the other phases of publicschool work, has earnestly labored to advance the standard of scholar¬ ship on the part of teachers, and has advised the consolidation of schools in country districts wherever this policy has tended to improve standards and service. It may again be noted that the county has nine commis¬ sioned high schools, and that in this provision it takes precedence of all counties in the state. Mr. Terrell is essentially an enthusiast in his chosen profession, is alert, practical and ambitious, with naught of the proclivities of the visionary or day-dreamer, and the most effective voucher for his ability is that given in the results of his work as a teacher and as an official. He holds from the state a life certificate as a teacher, the same having been granted to him in 1910, and of the thirty-nine persons who received state licenses in that year he stood second in the examination. He is affiliated with the Phi Delta Kappa fraternity of the University of Indiana and this implies no slight distinc¬ tion, as the organization is maintained as a means for educational advance¬ ment and eligibility for membership being predicated from the scholastic status, rather than from the fictitious standard maintained in various other college fraternities.

Mr. Terrell is not only a valued and popular factor in connection with educational activities in his native state but is also a well fortified and zealous advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor. He has served with effectiveness as a member of the Democratic executive committee of Grant county and has been otherwise influential in connection with party affairs. He is affiliated with Jonesboro Lodge, No. 109, Free & Accepted Masons, at Jonesboro, where he also holds membership in Jonesboro Lodge, No. 102, Knights of Pythias, besides which he is identified with the Benevolent Crew of Nep¬ tune in the city of Marion. His name remains on the list of eligible bachelors and it may consistently be said that this fact in no way mili¬ tates against his unqualified ' popularity in the social circles of his home county, where his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances.

John L. Rigsbee. Although the Rigsbee family represented by Mr. John L. Rigsbee of Fairmount, has been identified with Grant county only a few years, there are many characteristics and incidents in the family history which make the family i 1 bone and sinew" with the bulk of Grant county citizenship. They all came from Randolph county, North Carolina, the source of so many of Grant county's early settlers; they have been identified with the Quaker and the Wesleyan churches, and the first generation were pioneers in this section of Indiana. The grandfather of John L. Rigsbee was John Rigsbee, bom in Guilford county, North Carolina, and of English ancestry. In his native county he married Lydia Worth, also of English stock, and a native of the same county. In that old state and county were born their three sons, Martin, Madison and Zimri. When these sons were children the family started north. With several horses to draw their old wagons, they came along the roads leading from the Atlantic slope over the Allegany Mountains, and across the valleys and prairies, camping by night at the roadside, and finally after six weeks of tedious following the trail, they arrived in Wayne county, Indiana. One incident of the journey which is remem¬ bered by the descendants is that one evening, after camp had been pitched, a large ram butted one of the horses in the head, and the horse was instantly killed. Their first location was on a farm at Col¬ lege Corners in Wayne county, where they remained to raise two crops. From there they moved to Posey township in Rush county, where Grand¬ father Rigsbee purchased eighty acres of slightly improved land, with a characteristic habitation of logs. There" they lived and gradually prospered, and a number of years later a substantial frame house was built. That house is still standing, and the farm is owned by his descendants. John and Lydia Rigsbee lived on that farm in Rush county until their death. The former passed away in 1855, when past middle life, having been born about 1795. The death of his widow occurred nearly twenty years later in 1873. She was a strong and energetic woman, and at her husband's death there were many obliga¬ tions which she bravely met, paying off all the old bills and rearing her three sons. Of these sons, Zimrie was a soldier in the Fifty-Second Indiana Regiment during the Civil w'aV, returned home without wounds, but died a few years later from the severe exposure of army life. The son Madison was a farmer, spent all his active career in Rush county, where he married, and of their union two children are living, each of whom has a household of children, and all live in Rush county.

Martin Rigsbee, the father of John L., was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, December 24, 1818, and was a boy when the family made its long journey north to Indiana. Growing up in Rush county, he finally succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead, and by his energy and thrift added one hundred and sixty acres, making two hundred and forjy altogether. In 1860 the home was improved by the erection of a large barn, and a large two-story eight-room house was the residence he occupied until his death, December 29, 1908. At that - time he was ninety years and five days old. Martin Rigsbee was a man of small but wiry stature, and his energy and zest forgiving continued until the last two years of his life. He passed away in the faith of the Quaker church. In Rush county, Lucinda Barnard became his wife. She was born in Guilford county, North Carolina in 1824, and when a girl of six years, her parents came north to Posey township in Rush county. John and Betsey Barnard, her parents, were substantial farm¬ ers, and lived and died in Rush county, the former about the close of the war, and the latter a good many years afterwards. They were both members of the Friends church. Of their several children all are now deceased but one, Phoebe Folger, who lives in Rush county at the age of eighty-five. She married, but has no issue. Lucinda Rigsbee, died at the age of sixty-eight in 1892. Later her husband, when more than seventy-five years of age, went out to Nebraska and married a woman who had once been a neighbor, Mrs. Adeline Leonard whose maiden name was Folger. She was at that time sixty years of age, and she survived her husband, passing away in March, 1894, at the age of seventy-four. John L. Rigsbee was one of four children. Alveron died at the age of thirty-five on the old farm in Rush county. He married Clara Swain, who is living with a son, Albert W., in Rush county. Florella F. is the widow of H. C. Pitts, who died in Shelby county, where she now lives on the old farm with her two children, Lois and Wendell W. Adrian now lives on a farm in Posey town¬ ship of Rush county. His first wife was Alice Powell, who died leaving one daughter, Lula. His second marriage was to Maude Miller, and there is one daughter, Iva.

The second in this family, John L. Rigsbee was born in Rush county, March 26, 1857. Reared on the homestead, educated in the common schools, his life was spent on the old John Rigsbee farm, with the excep¬ tion of one year until he moved to Grant county in August, 1909. His first settlement was in Liberty township, where he bought the Harmon Buller farm of one hundred and sixty acres, also one hundred and twenty acres of the Gaddis Farm, having his home on the latter, and both were in section twenty-£ve. Later his estate was sold at one hun¬ dred and sixty-five dollars an acre, and he then bought ninety acres of Hezekiah Miller, in the same township. In September, 1912, Mr. Rigsbee moved into Fairmount City, buying a nice home near the Academy grounds at the corner of Eighth and Rush Streets.

Mr. Rigsbee in 1880 married in Rush county, Miss Clara F. Hester, who was bom and reared in Shelby county. Her birth occurred Decem¬ ber 24, 1860, and her parents were John and Emeline (Linville) Hester, natives of Guilford county, North Carolina, who at quite an early day settled in Shelby county, Indiana, which was their home throughout the rest of their days. John Hester for his first wife, married Mildred Craze, who died in Shelby county, leaving six children. By his second marriage, there were four children, namely: Rev. Jacob, who lives in Rush county, a farmer, and has six children. Rev. Franklin, who lives in Jewel county, Kansas, is married and has six children: Jasper, whose home is in Shelby county, Indiana, and he has a family; and Clara F., wife of Mr. Rigsbee. Both Jacob and Franklin Hester have been for many years preachers in the Wesleyan church.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Rigsbee are mentioned as follows: Earl C., is a conductor on the Union Traction Lines, is married and has three children, Marvin, Wilma and John Walter; Otto H. married Harriet, a daughter of Rev. H. T. Hawkins, and has two children, Lavelda and Clarice ; Otto H. is on the John L. Rigsbee farm in Liberty township. Wilbern is in the motor works at Marion, and is studying for the ministry of the Wesleyan church. He married Mary Cox, and has one daughter, Lucile. Opal E. is the wife of Rev. Sewell Baker, a prominent minister of the Wesleyan Methodist church at Marion. Sid¬ ney T., a student of ' dentistry in Indianapolis, married Nellie Allen, and they have one child, Edith. Mary is now living at home and attending high school. Mr. and Mrs. Rigsbee and members of their family are com¬ municants of the Wesleyan Methodist church, in which he is a trustee and superintendent of the Fairmount Camp Meeting Grounds, near Fairmount City.

William W. McFeeley, assistant cashier of the Pennsylvania Rail¬ road at Marion, is a son of Alfred and Sarah (Worthington) McFeeley, residents of Marion, Indiana, and among the most popular and prom¬ inent people of this section of the state.

Alfred McFeeley, the head of the family in this state and in Grant county, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, on August 31, 1836, and he came from Union City to Marion in 1874, since which time he has been a continuous resident of this city. Early in life he became a miller, a business with which many of his name had been identified in prevous years, operating flouring mills throughout the country, and when he first located in Marion he was connected officially with the old mill in Ceme¬ tery Boulevard that was long known as the McFeeley . mill. He and a brother, Thomas McFeeley, first owned the mill, and they later sold it to an uncle, one Joseph McFeeley, who thereafter operated it for many a year. During a heavy storm on one Fourth of July, the mill was moved from its foundations by the wind, and from that time on as long as a stone stood there, it was known as the McFeeley Cyclone Mill, for many years constituting a land mark along the way to the Marion I. 0. 0. F. cemetery.

When R. L. Jones was killed by a horsethief soon after he was elected to the office of county sheriff for Grant county in the year 1888, Mr.

McFeeley received the appointment to the vacancy thus created, and since that time he has frequently been prominent in public life in the county. He was for several years the trustee of Center township before the Associated Charities had in charge the .relief activities of the city of Marion, and he handled alone and unaided the local charities, in addition to school and other township business of important character. The trustees of Center township were entrusted with the care of the indigent of Marion, and it was a duty that other township trustees knew little or nothing about, most of the responsibility falling upon Mr. McFeeley.

For many years Mr. McFeeley, usually known as "Squire" Mc¬ Feeley, has served as justice of the peace of Center township, and he has in that time established a reputation as the "marrying squire," his record down to date accrediting him with three hundred and forty-four marriages. He ever has a pleasant word for the bride, and points out with pride the fact that the nuptial knots he ties are not immediately severed in the divorce courts. He is of the opinion, however, that when the Indiana legislature sees fit to enact a law permitting a justice of the peace to untie the marriage knot, he will have quite as much business at the other end of the line, for he maintains that divorce is as much in demand as marriage in these later days.

Squire McFeeley is a veteran of the Civil war, having served as a member of Company K, Fortieth Ohio Regiment for three years, after which he was transferred to the Fifty-first Ohio, and his total services amounted to four full years. Owing to his advanced age and the length of his service, he is now on the pension lists as a one dollar a day pensioner, which, in connection with the revenue that comes to him in his capacity as the "marrying justice," permits him to pass his declin¬ ing days in ample comfort. He visited Fort Recovery, Ohio, on July 1, 1913, where a $25,000 monument was unveiled in honor of General St. Clair, one hundred and twenty-two years after the battle he fought with the Indians at that point, and although a full century has passed by since the battle of Mississinewa, the Squire believes the Grant county battle field will in time be designated with a similar monument. He is familiar with the entire course of the Mississinewa, having been reared at the "spreads" in Mississinewa township, in Darke county, Ohio, where the river has its headwaters, and where for miles it is little more than a swamp drain.

Mr. McFeeley is one who enjoys a story well told, and few there are in these parts who can tell more apropos tales than he, all of them sug¬ gested by something in the circumstances of the moment, and always right to the point and glimmering with sparkle and brightness. Thus is it that the bride and groom are always started cheerily upon their way - a fact that seems to insure him of ample future patronage.

William W. McFeeley is one of the three children of his parents - one of them, Otto H. McFeeley, being a resident of Oak Park, Chicago, and a sister, Mrs. Gertrude Landauer, a resident of Marion. On December 11, 1905, Mr. McFeeley was married to Miss Ethel Morehead, who died on September 12, 1908. ,She was a daughter of O. H. P. Morehead and a granddaughter of William Morehead, who was among the last veterans of the Mexican war. The Morehead family have in recent years moved to Tennessee, after long years of continued residence in Grant county. Mr. McFeeley, since the death of his young wife, has taken up his residence with his aged parents, and there has continued to make his home as in earlier years.

Wright, who is perhaps best known over a wide section of country for his success in the breeding and handling of mules. For a number of years he has carried on a large business in this line, and has a farm well adapted with facilities and improvements for this work. His home is in section thirty-five of Fairmount township, and he has lived there for the past twelve years. His stock and feed bam stands two stories high, is painted white, and can be seen for several miles around. Its foundation dimensions are sixty by sixty-two feet, and its capacity is sixty tons of hay, nine head of horses and thirty head of mules, fifteen hundred bushels of com, and two thousand bushels of small grain. Nearby is a commodious and well furnished nine^room residence, also painted white. Both the bam and dwelling were erected in 1906, and all the improvements were placed on the farm by Mr. Wright during his management. Mr. Wright owns one hundred acres, and seven acres of this is in timberland. The place is especially adapted to the raising of wheat, but for the purpose of feeding his mules, Mr. Wright has most of it in meadow, hay and clover. Mr. Wright's farm is a part of his father's estate of three hundred acres, and has been in the possession of the Wright family since the decade of the seventies.

William T. Wright was bom December 1, 1866, in Franklin county, in the town of Brookville, near the home of Lew Wallace. His parents were John and Celia (Glidwell) Wright. His father, a native of Man¬ chester, England, was three years old when the Wrights came to the United States and was reared partly in Ohio and partly in Indiana. His death occurred in Franklin county in 1876 at the age of fifty-four. His occupation throughout his active career was that of farming. He was married in Franklin to Miss Glidwell, who was born in Indiana, of German ancestry. Her death occurred in 1912, when she was seventy years of age, having been born in 1832. Both parents were members of the Presbyterian faith. William T. Wright was one of four children, three of whom are still living. His brother, Frank A., is married and is & miller and farmer in Franklin county. The sister is Mrs. Jason B. Smith, a sketch of whose family will be found elsewhere in this work.

William T. Wright was reared and educated in Franklin county, and his home was there until 1901, at which time he took possession of his present place. In his native community he was married to Miss Hester May McCowen, who was bom in Franklin county, Indiana, and reared and educated there. Her parents, John and Mary (Cole) Mc¬ Cowen, were bom in Franklin county, being of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and farmers by occupation. Her father was seventy years of age at the time of his death.

Seven children had been bom to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Wright, as follows: W. Ralph, now twenty-two years of age, is a grad¬ uate of the Fairmount high school, and has charge of a grain elevator at Laurel, Indiana; Frances W., aged nineteen, graduated from the Fairmount high school in the class of 1911 ; Mary C., is a student in the Fairmount high school; Helen Gould is in the grade schools; Floyd E. is in the third grade of the district school; and the two youngest are Howard M. and Keith. In politics Mr. Wright votes the Democratic ticket.

Y. F. White. In November, 1912, the people of Grant county chose for the office of sheriff a citizen whose fitness for such responsibility and honor is unquestioned and exceptional. Sheriff White has been a resi¬ dent of Grant county most of his life, has been a practical and success¬ ful farmer, and has always been noted for his honesty and efficiency in every undertaking with which his name has been connected.

Y. P. White was born February 4, 1867, in Fairfield county, Ohio, a son of Levi and Carrie (Borns) White. The father, a native of Penn¬ sylvania, was a farmer by occupation and during the Civil war served as a soldier of the Union. From Pennsylvania he moved into Ohio, where he spent ten years, and then came to Indiana when his son Y. F. was six years of age, locating in Monroe township, Grant county. The fol¬ lowing year he transferred his residence into Washington township, where he bought a farm which remained his own home for many years, and was the place where the children grew to manhood. About eight years before his death the father moved into Marion, where he died in 1908. The mother passed away in the same year. They were the parents of five sons, who are all living and named as follows : Curtis A. White of Marion; Y. F. ; WTilliam E. of Marion; Frank L., and owner of a farm in Van Buren township in this county; and John I., on the old home farm. Mr. Y. F. White was born on the farm, remained a farmer prac¬ tically all his career, being still engaged in that occupation, though he has for four years resided in Marion. His early education was attained in the district schools and was completed at the Marion Normal College. When twenty-two years of age he left the home farm and spent the next three years on another place owned by his father in Van Buren township. At the end of that time his industry and good management had enabled him to begin business on his own account, and he bought a farm in Huntington county, close to the Grant county line. That remained his place of residence and activities until his removal to Marion four years ago. He lived in Texas with his family, in the winter of 1909, but then returned and opened a real estate office in Marion.

An influential Democrat in this county for many years, Mr. White was nominated on May 11, 1912, for the office of sheriff, made a success¬ ful campaign and entered upon the duties of his office on January 1, 1913. Mr. White still retains ownership of a farm in Washington township, and the old home place in Huntington county. In 1889 he married Miss Sarah E. Ridenour, daughter of Solomon Ridenour of Hocking county, Ohio. The two children born to their marriage are Boyd C. and Blanche White, both at home. Fraternally Mr. White is affiliated with the Loyal Order of Moose and the Elks Lodge, and he and his family worship in the United Brethren church.

Harmon Buller. Randolph county, North Carolina, the source of so many early settlers in Grant county, was the place of origin of the Buller family, the first members of which came to Grant county eightyfive years ago, among the earliest pioneers, and three years before the county was organized. In the third generation of the family is Harmon, for so many years prominent as a farmer and stockman in Fairmount township and the owner of a splendid rural estate just outside the city of Fairmount. His fellow citizens have paid him many tributes for his thrift and excellent judgment in business affairs, and he has been remarkably successful in stock trading and dealing. Mr. Buller is a man of the energetic, nervous temperament, always active in mind and body, and has been a forceful leader in every undertaking whether on his own initiative or in community matters.

His grandfather Buller was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, and spent all his life in that state as a farmer, his death occurring w'hen quite old. The grandfather married Mary, better known as Polly, Leonard, also of North Carolina. After her husband died, with her family of two sons and three daughters she came over¬ land by wagon and team across the long distance intervening between North Carolina and Indiana, This journey was made in 1833, and she located on section twenty-eight in Fairmount township of Grant county. The land was altogether new, in the state of primeval wilderness, though it had been entered a year or two before by other parties. Mrs. Buller after several years of residence in Grant county married Job David of North Carolina. Later they moved to a small farm in Liberty township, where they both died. Mrs. Buller reached a good old age, and in many ways was one of the remarkable pioneer women. She was a Wesleyan Methodist in religion, and brought up her children in that faith. She survived her second husband by several years. Of her five children, ail grew up and married and were farming people.

Lindsay Buller, father of Harmon Buller, was a young man when his mother moved to Grant county. He was born in North Carolina in 1815, and on reaching maturity entered forty acres of land on section twentyfive in Liberty township. There he did well as a farmer, and after a long and honorable career died in 1895 at the home of his son B. F. Buller. He was a Wesleyan Methodist and a Republican in politics. Lindsay Buller married Miss Polly Lytle, who was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, in 1814, and was a girl when she came with her father to Grant county, locating in Liberty township. Her father there entered eighty acres of land, and that continued to be the Lytle home¬ stead for many years. Later her father and a second wife moved out to Missouri where they died. Mrs. Polly Buller died in 1863, while her son Harmon was away fighting as a soldier for the Union.

Harmon Buller was born on his father's old farm in Liberty town¬ ship, February 23, 1844. There he grew up, attended the district schools such as were maintained in the rural communities of that time, and when nineteen years of age enlisted in Company G of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Indiana Infantry as a private. With that regiment he served during 1863 and 1864, nearly a full year. He was in some of the hardest campaigns of the war and saw much fighting and many marches, but went through service without injury, was never confined a day in a hospital, and escaped capture. On his discharge from the army he returned to Grant county, and soon after acquired his first land in Liberty township. He improved his place with good buildings, and lived there until he sold out in the fall of 1875. In that year he moved to Fairmount township, and bought eighty acres of fine land, just outside the corporation limits of the city. By his thrift and enterprise he gradually extended his landed possessions and at the present time owns two hundred acres in one body. This is improved with a commodious brick dwelling house besides excellent barn buildings of all descriptions. The keynote of his success has been energy, combined with a certain talent for managing soil and in handling and dealing in live stock.

In Fairmount City Mr. Buller married Mary Little, who was born in North Carolina in 1840, and came to Grant county with her parents. She died in Fairmount, in 1904, the mother of three children. The son John E. is now a prosperous young farmer, is the owner of eighty acres of land near Fairmount, and married Salina Arnett. They have one son, Carmen A. Charles L., the second son, is a substantial farmer in Fairmount township, and is regarded as one of the most successful men. His first marriage was to Bertha Plock, who died leaving one child, Harmon, Jr. His present wife is Anna Yarber. Mr. Buller and sons are Republican voters.

John W. Himelick. The Himelick family has been identified with Grant county for about forty years, and John W. has spent nearly all his life here, being remembered for his work as a teacher, during his early manhood and is now one of the exceedingly prosperous and pro¬ gressive farmers of section one in Fairmount township. His ability as a stock raiser, is recognized beyond the limits of his own community, and many of his fine shorthorns have won ribbons in the live stock shows.

The ancestry is German, and the name was first established in Pennsylvania. In that state John Himelick, great-grandfather of the Fairmount township stock raiser, located towards the close of the eighteenth century, where he lived the life of a farmer, and died when an old man. His marriage probably occurred in Pennsylvania. There were three sons: Joseph, George and John, Jr., all of whom moved west and found homes in Franklin county, Indiana, where they were married, John, Jr., lived his last years in Jennings county, Indiana, where he died and left a family. George, some years after his marriage moved out to Kansas, and his home for a number of years was in the vicinity of Leavenworth, where he died. Some of his children are still living.

Joseph Himelick, grandfather of John W. was married in Franklin county to Mary Curry, of a pioneer family, either in Franklin county or Union county. After their marriage their home was for some years in Franklin county, where all their children were bom. Their son John, father of John W., was married about the time the family moved to Washington township in Madison county, where Joseph Himelick bought eighty acres of land near the corporation of Summitville, developed a good farm and spent the rest of his days there. His death occurred about 1880, and he was bom in 1815. His widow is still living, a venerable old lady of ninety-one, having been born in 1822. Her home is in Summitville. She has been almost a lifelong member of the Christian church, in which denomination her husband was also a member. In politics he supported the Democratic party.

John Himelick, Sr., was bom in Franklin county, Indiana, December 25, 1840, and moved' to Madison county about the close of the war. Some years later, in 1875, he came to Grant county, and bought one hundred and five acres in section fourteen of Fairmount township. That farm was later sold, and another bought in Mill township near Jones¬ boro, where his last days were spent, and his death occurred July 12, 1906. His widow now makes her home in Summitville in Madison county. Before her marriage she was Mary C. Morris, bora in Franklin county, Indiana, September 28, 1844. Her parents were Nicholas and Elizabeth (Ringer) Morris, both natives of Pennsylvania and her mother of pure German stock. Her parents were married in Franklin county, Indiana, later moving to Madison county, where they died after a long and happy married companionship of nearly sixty years. Both were seventy-five years of age, and their deaths occurred within two weeks of each other. John and Mary Himelick had a family of six sons and three daughters, among whom John W. was fifth in order of birth. George, who is a farmer in Jefferson township of Grant countymarried Lydia, a daughter of Jacob Wise, and has six sons and four daughters. Joseph, a farmer in Madison county, married Ella Webster, and has three sons. Elizabeth, who died when twenty-six years old was the wife of the late Ulysses Horner, and had one son and one daughter. Robert is a teacher in the state of Wisconsin, and his children are Frances and Jesse. The next is John W, Himelick. Olive, is the wife of Virgil Duling, a farmer in Fairmount township and has a daughter, Mary. Maude is the wife of William D. Moss, of Marion. Orville, who lives at Upland, married Nancy Ruley, and their children are Louise, John, Paul and Elizabeth. Earl, who is a glass worker at

John. W. Himelick was bom in Madison county, April 27, 1872. His education began in the public schools, was continued in the Fairmount Academy, with a course in the Danville Normal College and at De Pauw University. With this liberal equipment he devoted ten years of his young life to teaching and there are hundreds of his pupils who still recall his work and influence in kindly memories. Nearly all his work as a teacher was done in Jefferson and Fairmount townships. From teaching he turned his attention to farming, and is now the possessor of one hundred and sixty acres of fine land in section one of Fairmount township. His specialty is the breeding of thoroughbred shorthorn cattle, and his animals when exhibited have taken a number of blue ribbons. His farm has many improvements, and among those that attract the eye is a splendid stock and grain barn painted red, and a large white house, containing twelve rooms, and comfortably and tastefully furnished. Mr. Himelick married Miss Sarah Lorena Richards, a native of Jefferson township in this county. Her parents were L. G. and Mary E. Craw Richards, both natives of Indiana and married in Grant county. Mrs. Richards died in Jefferson township in 1893 at the age of fifty-six. Mr. Richards married the second time, and now lives on his farm in Jefferson township, October 20, 1913, being his eightieth birthday. The Richards family are members of the Primitive Baptist church, and in politics Mr. Richards Is a Democrat. Mrs. Himelick has two brothers, William and Leman, both of whom are married and have children, and one of his sisters is Lucina. wife of R. C. Nottingham, with children, and another sister Molly died after her mar¬ riage to Frank H. Kirkwood. Mr. and Mrs. Himelick, who have no children of their own, are members of the Methodist Protestant church, and his politics is described as Independent Democratic.

Amos Arthur Holloway. In Grant county, as in many other sec¬ tions of the middle west, the day of the big farm and the loose farming methods have almost passed. Farming is now both a practical and scientific business, and many of the most successful are pursuing it according to the intensive methods, making one acre grow what the oldfashioned husbandmen produced on two or three acres. One of the prosperous little estates which well illustrates this principle is the farm of Mr. Holloway in Fairmount township on section twenty-seven. His acreage is only forty-two and a half. About ten acres of this is in native timber, and orchards, while the rest is highly cultivated soil. His crops are of a general nature, principally corn, but also oats and other grains. An orchard of three acres in apples, with other fruits produces a considerable share of his annual revenue. Nearly all the grain pro¬ duced on his farm is fed to his hogs, and he keeps some other stock. Mr. Holloway is a young and progressive farmer citizen of Grant county, and his early prosperity is an indication of what many years will bring him in the future.

Amos A. Holloway was bom on the farm he now owns and occupies on December 10, 1882. With the exception of two years his entire career has been spent in this one locality. His parents were Abner and Sarah (Rich) Holloway, natives of North Carolina, both of whom were almost children when their respective parents moved to Indiana. They married at Fairmount, and established their first home in this county.

For a number of years their residence was in Monroe township, after which they came to Fairmount township, bought and owned a large tract of two hundred and seventy acres. There the father passed away

April 2, 1903, when more than seventy years of age. His church was the Friends, and in politics he was a Republican. His widow now lives with her children, and is a Quaker, and over seven ty-three years of age. There were five sons and five daughters, eight of whom are living, and all are married and have children, being well settled and self-sustaining.

Mr. Holloway, the youngest of the children, was married in Monroe township, in 1904 to Miss Mary E. Fleming, who was born in Monroe township, May 28, 1885. She is a daughter of George and Susanna (Hollis) Fleming, who are now living in Monroe township, and both natives of Indiana, and married in Grant county. The Fleming family are members of the Methodist church. Mrs. Holloway is the second of three children. To Mr. and Mrs. Holloway have been bora six children: Willard A., aged eight years; George, who was killed while playing on the railway tracks by a passenger train on October 5, 1908, at the age of two years; Clyde L., aged six years; Ruth D., aged four; Anna L., aged two; and Charles, now a few months old. Mr. Holloway is a Quaker, while his wife adheres to the Methodist church, and his politics is Republican.

George M. Coon. For two terms prosecuting attorney of Grant county Mr. Coon is a capable young lawyer of Marion, has been identified with the local bar for fourteen years, and since beginning his active career has been very prominent both in politics and social circles in this county, which is his native home.

The Coon family has been identified with Grant county for three gen¬ erations, and has always occupied a prominent place in the citizenship. The origin of the Coon family is traced back to the German fatherland, and was established in Virginia, where men of the name were prominent as business men and citizens.

In the early industrial history of Marion, special distinction attaches to the members of the Coon family in this county, Jacob Coon being the grandfather of George M. Born in Botecourt county, Virginia, he came over the Alleganies and first located in Bellefontaine, Ohio, and then in 1842 came to Grant county, where he bought a tract of land now included in the city of Marion. He was a brick-maker by trade, and he has the credit of having put up the first kiln and manufactured the first kiln for brick in Grant county. It is said that he burned the brick used in nearly all the stores and residences of that material in Marion. For some years he was a successful manufacturer of brick, and was succeeded in the business by his son Michael. Jacob Coon married Melinda Wall, who was also a native of Botecourt county, Virginia. They became the parents of ten children, the oldest dying in infancy, and the others named as follows: Michael, now deceased; Andrew, deceased, a former resident of Brooklyn, Iowa; Benjamin, who died as a soldier of the Union at Sandy Hook, Maryland, at the age of twenty-six ; Thomas, who died at the age of twenty; Elizabeth, Martha, Mary, Susellen, all now deceased; George Williams, mentioned below, who lives on a farm in Washington township. Jacob Coon, father of this large family, died in his seventy-second year, and his wife passed away in 1851.

George W. Coon, father of the county's prosecuting attorney, was born in Washington township of this county, January 8, 1844. When he was seven years of age his mother died, and three years later he went to make his home with William Middleton, in Center township, where he remained until he joined the Union forces. When he was about eighteen years old he enlisted and was assigned to Company I of the One Hun¬ dred and Eighteenth Indiana Infantry. His enlistment was for six months, but after being honorably discharged from that service he re- enlisted in August, 1864, in Company K of the Fortieth Indiana Infan¬ try. He was with his company in the battles of Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville, among the greatest and most important engagements of the war, and the Fortieth Indiana Regiment won many laurels in these battles. At Franklin he was struck with a piece of shell and captured. His captors then ordered him to the rear, but instead of obeying he went in the direction of the Federal forces and regained the ranks of his regi¬ ment, in time to take a gun and assist in the captue of seven hundred and fifty rebels. For some years after the close of the war George W. Coon was engaged in the livery business in Marion, and built a barn which occupied the present site of the Leader-Tribune Building. He was successfully identified with this enterprise for twenty-five years. In January, 1883, he moved out to his farm in Washington township, where he still resides.

Mr. George W. Coon was married August 30, 1868, to Amanda J. Marshall, daughter of John D. and Mary A. (Roberts) Marshall. The late John D. Marshall was for more than half a century intimately assoc¬ iated with the business and civic interests of Grant county. He was a member of the Indiana State Senate in 1862-63, and his vote was the deciding factor in the election of Thomas A. Hendricks to the United States Senate. The five children of George W. Coon and wife are named as follows: Stella and Mannie, who died in infancy; John W., a resident of Marion; Lillian E., wife of John W. Hayes, whose farm is five miles from Marion ; and George M.

Bom in the city of Marion, April 20, 1874, when quite young George M. Coon accompanied the family tQ the country and received his early education altogether in the country schools. He subsequently was a student in the Marion high school for three years and took a general and business course at the Marion Normal College. For some time he was engaged in teaching school, and then in 1897 began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1899. On September 15, 1899, he received appointment as deputy prosecuting attorney, and filled the office for three years. After an interval of private practice he was again made deputy prosecutor in January, 1906, and gave two years service. For eight years Mr. Coon served as Republican Precinct Com¬ mitteeman. In November, 1908, he was elected as Republican candidate to the office of prosecuting attorney and was reelected in 1910.

On November 26, 1902, he married Samantha A. Leach, daughter of James Leach of Ohio. In fraternal affairs, Mr. Coon is very prominent. He is past chancellor of Grant Lodge No. 103 of the Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the Grand Lodge of Indiana. He was presiding chan¬ cellor commander of Grant Lodge when this organization acquired its beautiful new home in South Adams Street. Mr. Coon became a Knight of Pythias March 11, 1901, and has never missed a session of the Grand Lodge since leaving the office of chancellor commander. He has assisted in conferring rank in every lodge in Grant county, and in many lodges over the state. His other fraternal connections are with the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Aerie No. 227, and in 1908 represented his organiza¬ tion of Eagles at Seattle, Washington, which is the home of Aerie No. 1 of the Eagles. He is also affiliated with the Elks Lodge No. 195 at Marion, with the Benevolent Crew of Neptune No. 1, being a charter member of this lodge. He has membership in the Dramatic Order of Khorassan at Marion, and belongs to the Sons of Veterans, and the Marion Country Club.

farmers and John H. Caskey, whose early career was divided between school teaching and tilling the soil now owns a comfortable estate in sections 26, 27 and 34 in Fairmount township.

His grandfather, John Caskey, was bom near the Natural Bridge in Rockbridge county, Virginia, between 1792 and 1795, of Virginia parents, and of Scotch-Irish ancestry. A brother of John was a soldier in the Mexican war. In Virginia John Caskey married a Miss Greenlee. His death occurred as a result of accident while he* was in the prime of life. In crossing the James River, with a flatboat loaded with flour, the boat was overturned, and though an expert swimmer he got tangled in his overcoat, and was overwhelmed by the water. His widow died some years later, though still a comparatively young woman. There were three song and one daughter: James, who was a traveling dentist by profession, died in middle life, while a soldier in the Mexican war; Samuel, who died in' Greensburg, Indiana, left a family of children; David is mentioned in the next paragraph; Mary, who died in Rush county, leaving a family of children, was the wife of George D. Glass, whose death occurred in Tipton, Indiana.

David Caskey, who was born on the old farm in Virginia, July 23, 1821, grew up and was very well educated for his time. Before his marriage, he came north during the forties to Rush county, Indiana, bought some land in Richland township, and a few years later during the decade of the fifties moved to Grant county. His purchase of land was made in Fairmount township, where the rest of his years were spent, until his death on June 2, 1905, when nearly eighty-four years of age. His was a career of substantial achievement and deserving of the high esteem which was paid him by his neighbors. The family religion had always been of the Baptist denomination, but later in life, David Caskey joined the Christian church, and was comforted by that faith in his last days. His politics was of the Democratic party. In Rush county he married Eliza Hite, who was bom there, and her parents were from Rockbridge, Virginia. Jacob and Elizabeth (Lowrey) Hite were married in Rush county in an early day, and lived and died on their farm in Richland township, being quite old before death came to them. Jacob Hite was for forty years a justice of the peace, and only two of his decisions were ever reversed. Both were honored and upright people, and Mrs. Hite belonged to the Christian church. The grandfather of Mrs. Eliza Caskey was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Eliza Cas¬ key died in Kansas in March, 1901, and was a devout member of the Christian church. Her children were: 1. John H. 2. Melissa, who became the wife of Charles M. Leach, whose family history will be found elsewhere* in this volume. 3. Frances died after her marriage to E. O. Leach, and left no children. 4. William, who lived a few years in California, later moved to Kansas, where he died without issue. 5. James was accidentally killed in Hutchinson, Kansas, and left five chil¬ dren. 6. Minnie is the wife of L. A. Danton, of Waterloo, Iowa, and has one son.

John H. Caskey was born in Rush county, Indiana, February 19, 1847, and was still a child when the family moved to Grant county. Grant county has therefore been his home practically all his life. His education was much better than that received by the average young man of his time. From the public schools he entered the academy at Rich¬ land, Indiana, and with this equipment spent a part of the fifteen years in teaching. During each succeeding winter, he was master of a school, while the summers were spent in farming. Later all his attention and energies were given to the cultivation of the soil, and at the present time his proprietorship extends to one hundred and twenty acres of well improved and excellently managed land in Fairmount township. Be¬ sides his general operations as a farmer, his chief feature of his business is a dairy, and for a number of years he has kept a good herd of cows, and runs this branch of his business very profitably.

Mr. Caskey is well known for his participation in public affairs, and during 1882-84 served as deputy sheriff of Grant county. As a Demo¬ crat he has long been active, and for sixteen years was Democratic com¬ mitteeman of his township.

In Rush county in 1873 Mr. Caskey married Miss Eliza Scott, who was born in that county in 1851. Her death occurred in her native county while she was visiting there in 1877. The two children by that marriage were: Ina, wife of David Whybrew, and their children are Flossie, Bessie, Alice, Lola and John; Bessie died after her marriage to Jacob Corn, and left one son, Leonard. In Reno county, Kansas, in 1880, Mr. Caskey married Miss M. E. Atkins, who was bom in Hunts¬ ville, Mississippi, September 9, 1860. When she was thirteen years of age her parents S. J. and Virginia (Curtis) Atkins, moved to Kansas and lived there from 1873 until the death of Mrs. Atkins twenty-two years ago. For the past five years, Mr. Atkins has made his home in Los Angeles, California, and is now seventy-six years of age. The Atkins family are communicants of the Christian church, and his membership has been in the church since 1866, and for fifty-years he has been prominent in Masonic circles.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Caskey are mentioned as follows: 1. Lew, bom in 1881, is now rural mail carrier on route number twefitytwo out of Fairmount ; he married Clara Stephens, and they have two children, Myrtle and Ruth. 2. William, whose home is in Columbus, Ohio, married Gertrude Cummings, and their children are Helen, William and Margaret. 3. Clyde, a young unmarried man, lives at home and assists with the management of the farm. 4. Gus died at the age of two months. 5. Florence was graduated in 1907 from the Fairmount high school, is a devoted student of music, and at the present time is organist in the Christian church at Fairmount. 6. John, also a graduate of the high school, is now a junior in the Ohio State University, being a member of the class of 1915. 7. Nettie F., aged eighteen, a studious and earnest girl, in the high school class of 1915, has for several years been a local heroine in Grant county. On March 19, 1910, she performed an act which is proof, not only of personal courage, but of that extreme unselfishness which is the highest attribute of character. Her niece, a little child of three years, had wandered away from home, getting on the Pennsylvania Railway tracks nearby, alid was more than half a mile away before she was missed. With complete uncoQSciousness of danger, she was walking between the rails of the road, when Miss Caskey happened to observe her. A fast passenger train was approaching and could be heard in the distance. Getting out on the track, and pursued by the ever nearing train, Miss Caskey flew on wings of fear for the child, but without a thought of self, and finally breathless and almost at the end of her strength she gathered the child in her arms and swept her off the track just as the engine flashed by. Hardly the margin of a second separated her from the awful death which threatened both. The engineer, a Mr. Pardee who was a veteran railroad man of eighteen years ' service failed to see the small child, and stated that he expected Miss Caskey to leave the rails at every moment, and remove herself from the danger. When he finally discovered the baby ahead he reversed the engine and applied the brakes, and this very brief pause was probably just sufficient to enable the girl to get out of the way in safety. For her bravery Miss Caskey received from the McNeil Under¬ writers Association, a beautifully inscribed and embossed medal, made from one hundred dollars worth of pure gold. In recognition of her brave and unselfish act there was also given her a bronze medal from the government with a letter from President Taft. The engineer, Mr. Pardee, stated afterwards, considering all the circumstances, that it was the bravest act he had ever witnessed or read of. 8. Minnie D. lives at home, and is a member of the high school class of 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Caskey and all the children are active in church work, and belong to the Christian denomination in Fairmount. In politics Mr. Caskey is a Democrat.

William (Wick) 0. Leach. There are many families of Grant county who have lived here through three generations, - the first having come as pioneers, the second having carried on the development through the later decades of the last century, and the third now bearing the heat and burdens of the day, but under conditions far more pleasant than those surrounding their predecessors. With fewer obstacles to contend with, this third generation is in many cases showing all the greater progressiveness and enterprise and is wresting crops from the land which wrould have astonished their grandfathers. It is to this modern generation that Wick O. Leach belongs, and his name in Fairmount township suggests farming on a big and profitable scale, along lines of the maximum productiveness consistent with the proper conservation of the resources of the soil for the future yield.

Mr. Leach is cooperating wTith his father in the management of a farm of two hundred and sixty acres, situated in sections three and thirty-four of Fairmount township. That is acknowledged as one of the best country estates in the township. To a great many people it is familiar under the name of Maple Grove farm. Some of its more conspicuous improvements are two large red barns, one of them a stock barn, and the other for the storage of grain chiefly. A ninetyton silo is a further evidence that farming on the Leach homestead is conducted according to modern principles. One of the barns has ground dimensions of thirty-six by forty-two feet, and the other thirtyeight by sixty-two feet. Mr. Leach allows very little land to go to waste, and practically every bushel of grain produced on the farm is fed to his stock. A fine drove of red Duroc swine is one of the sources from which he gets his annual revenues, and he also keeps a good dairy herd of ten Jersey cows. His horses are both Percheron, Norman and Belgians. Mr. Leach believes in the rotation method of cropping. His wheat is nearly thirty bushels to the acre, his oats about forty bushels, and his corn yield is on the average of about sixty bushels. Other crops which are a part of his rotation scheme are alfalfa and clover, and at the present writing he has twelve acres in alfalfa and twenty in clover. Mr. Leach has managed this estate for four years on his own account, and is one of the young men who are proving that it pays to stay on the farm.

Wick 0. Leach has lived in Grant county all his life, and was born on the farm he now occupies, October 25, 1879. He is the son of Charles M. Leach, a grandson of Edmond Leach, and a great-grandson of William Leach, all of a family which has been identified with Grant county from pioneer times, and the careers of these older members are described elsewhere in this volume. Wick 0. Leach was reared and educated in Fairmount township, getting a public school training. He attended Grant school No. 3, which is located on his farm. When he was twenty-four years of age, on October 25, 1902, he married in

Jonesboro, Miss Dolly C. Jones. Miss Jones was born in Fairmount township, June 25, 1876, a daughter of Hiram A. and Annie (Hardy) Jones both natives of Jefferson township in Grant county. The Jones family is likewise of pioneer Grant county stock, and its records are found written on other pages. Mrs. Leach was educated at the old Liberty school, district No. 7.

Mr. and Mrs. Leach have the following children: Hazel M., bom June 14, 1903, and now in school; Hiram A., born December 14, 1907; Charles Kenneth, bom December 5, 1909 ; and Robert 0. born October 30, 1911. Mr. Leach has membership in the Baptist church, while bis wife belongs to the Salem Methodist Protestant Society. In politics he is a Democrat.

Alexander M. Deeren. This name bespeaks a large family relation¬ ship with pioneer settlers in eastern Indiana, chiefly in Delaware, Madi¬ son and Grant counties. The Deeren, Van Meter and Suman families had their share in pioneer things, agriculture has been their chief vocation, and an examination of the records show them to have been staunch de¬ fenders of their country, upholders of morality and religion, and people of intrinsic neighborliness and usefulness.

The late Alexander M. Deeren, who died July 3, 1896, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, April 14, 1839. He grew up in his native lo¬ cality, and when a young man enlisted in an Ohio regiment for three months ' service in the Civil war. At the end of his service he was hon¬ orably discharged, and then returned to Ohio. Some time later he moved to Grant county, and followed the occupations of school teaching, clerking in a store, and farming.

He was first married in Jefferson township of Grant county to Melissa Brown, who was bom and reared in that township, coming of a family of early settlers. She died about five years after her marriage, at the age of twenty-five, leaving three children, Minnie, Annie, and Martha E. Minnie and Annie are twins. Both married and now live in Jefferson township. Minnie married Charles Curtis, a farmer, and they have one son and a daughter. Martha E. was one year old when her mother died, and she was reared by her stepmother, Mrs. Deeren, and has never married.

In Fairmount township, on March 26, 1876, Mr. Deeren married Mrs. Naomi L. Suman, nee Van Meter. Mrs. Deeren was bom in Dela¬ ware county, Indiana, July 11, 1838, was reared there, and for her first husband was married on November 1, 1859, to Absalom Suman. Absalom Suman 's father was bom in Maryland, was a young man when he came west to Indiana, and lived in both Madison and Delaware counties. Absalom Suman was bom in Madison county, Indiana. The Suman family were among the early settlers in that section. After their mar¬ riage Mr. and Mrs. Suman lived in Madison and Delaware counties on a farm until March 3, 1864, when they came to Grant county and bought one hundred acres of land in Section thirty-six of Fairmount township. Their land adjoined the present village of Fowlerton. It was on that farm that Mr. Suman spent the remainder of his days. A hard worker, he made many improvements, and prospered steadily. His death oc¬ curred January 24, 1874, and he was bom December 10, 1838. His church was the Methodist Protestant. Absalom Suman was a son of John and Elizabeth (Van Meter) Suman, natives of Maryland and Ohio respectively. John /Suman was an early settler in Madison county, Indiana, where he entered land from the government, getting two hun¬ dred and seventy-five acres on White River, for his homestead, and two hundred and sixteen acres farther up the river in Delaware county, north of the village of Daleville. On the Delaware county land, he erected a large flour and saw mill, and that enterprise was just well started at the time of his death. He was then past sixty years of age. His widow married for a second time Dazzell Neely, and they lived together until " his death. She later went out to California, where her death occurred when past ninety years of age. They had no children by the Neely marriage.

Mrs. Alexander M. Deeren is the daughter of William and Elizabeth (Bell) Van Meter. The annals of Delaware county show the name of Van Meter first in the list of pioneer settlers, and there are many repre¬ sentatives of the name still to be found in this section of the state. William Van Meter was born in Ohio, December 28, 1798, while his wife was born in Harrison county, Kentucky, March 8, 1799, and when a girl moved to Fayette county, Indiana, where she was married June 1, 1820. In 1825 William Van Meter and wife moved to Mt. Pleasant town¬ ship in Delaware county, and there secured about four hundred acres of land from the government. Their third child, Mary, was bom March 8, 1825, and had the distinction of being the first white child born in Mt. Pleasant township. William Van Meter was a ragged and industrious pioneer, and during his lifetime acquired substantial property and was a man of striking influence and usefulness to his community. He died October 10, 1861, while his wife passed away March 16, 1864. The home farm was undivided until 1874, when Mrs. Deeren sold eighty-three acres inherited by her, and came to Grant county. The Van Meter family were early and active members and organizers of the Presbyterian church in Delaware county, and William Van Meter was an elder in the society for twenty-five years, up to the time of his death. In early life he was a Whig in politics. The ancestry was Holland Dutch. The records of Delaware county show him to have been a man of highest standing, and frequently honored with places of trust and responsibility. He was always a leader in local matters, was one of the early county clerks, dur¬ ing the decade of the thirties, represented his county in the state legis¬ lature, and left a name long to be honored by his descendants.

William Van Meter and wife had nine children, two, John and Wil¬ liam Josephus, dying in infancy. Joseph M. died unmarried at the age of thirty-two. Mary died after her marriage to Abraham Pugsley, leaving no children. Dr. Milton was a physician at Gaston, and died in 1868, leaving a widow and a daughter Helen, who is now married. Isaac N. died November 22, 1852, leaving a widow and a child that died in infancy. Henry H., a farmer, died October 12, 1861, the day following his father's death, and left one daughter, who is still living. Naomi L. is Mrs. Deeren. Oliver H. died and left three sons; for some years he was a government surveyor and land looker in Michigan.

Mr. and Mrs. Deeren became the parents of one son, Hugh Deeren. He was born June 26, 1877, was educated in the public school, and is now active manager of his mother's farm, a young and progressive citi¬ zen. He married Miss Nora White, of Fairmount township, and they are the parents of three children: Naomi Letha, born September 26, 1900, and now in the sixth grade of school No. 7 at Fowlerton ; Wilson Alexander, bom October 10, 1901, also in the sixth grade of the Fowler¬ ton school ; Artie Mary, born May 14, 1904, in the second grade of school. Mrs. Deeren by her marriage to Mr. Suman had three children. Of these William Van died in infancy; John N., born September 11, 1862, is a gas and oil well man in Texas, has a son, James M. : Harry P. Suman, bom March 17, 1865, is an extensive rancher in North Dakota, his place being forty miles from Fargo, and has two children, Artie S., the wife of Robert A. Morris, whose home is in Grant county, and whose sketch will be found on other pages, and Ida, who lives at home. Mrs. Deeren and family are members of the Primitive Baptist Church of Fowler town, and her late husband was an active worker in the same denomination.

John Wilhelm. Nearly seventy years of residence has served to identify the Wilhelm family with Grant "county, where they located in time to take their share in the pioneer labors, and where they have been land owners, successful farmers, and public spirited citizens.

The ancestral stock is German, and John Wilhelm's grandparents lived and died in Russia near the German borders, as peasant farmers. Grandfather Wilhelm was. twice married, and had children by both wives. Two sons of his first wife were captured during the invasion by Napoleon and forced to join the French army, going with the Emperor to Moscow, and later serving at Waterloo, in 1815. One of these sons was killed in that decisive battle, and the other was wounded and died six weeks later as a result of both wounds and exposure.

Frederick Wilhelm, father of John Wilhelm, was born November 17, 1812, and was still young when his father died. At the age of about sixteen or seventeen, in order to avoid being impressed into the army, he left home and took service at Bremen, Germany, as a steward in a hospital, a work which he followed for seven years. When twentyeight years of age, Frederick Wilhelm was married in Bremen to Margaret Dunker, of that city, where she was born in 1813. Soon after their marriage they moved to Russia, built a small home, and became dissatisfied, sold out, and at Bremerhaven took passage on a sailing vessel which in eleven weeks crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and landed them in the United States. During their passage, their first child Eliza¬ beth, was bom. She died in 1855. After landing in Baltimore, Fred¬ erick Wilhelm found employment with a slave holding planter named Pecksley, and spent four years in superintending a portion of his slaves. While at Baltimore, Frederick, the second child, was bom. He is now a farmer in Jefferson township of Grant county. Frederick Wilhelm, Sr., had great favor with his employer, and it was with great regret on both sides that he finally decided to leave Baltimore and move west. Coming to Indiana to get a new start in life, Frederick Wilhelm in 1845 bought forty acres of land in Grant county. This land had a few improvements, but of very primitive nature, comprising a log cabin which had been put together without a single nail, and had the typical old puncheon floor, and other furnishings. Frederick Wilhelmafter arriving in Grant county, not only employed his time indus¬ triously in improving his land, but spent practically all the winter months and such other times as he could get free farm labor in driving a team for a Cincinnati firm, engaged in hauling produce from that city of Lake Michigan 'ports. That was before the days of the rail¬ road, and overland transportation was practically the only means where canals and through water routes did not exist. For that work he got a dollar a day and boarded himself. It required six weeks to make the round trip between Cincinnati and Lake Michigan. It was by this work that he eventually saved enough to pay up on his first forty acres of land. A representative of that sturdy German stock that has been so prominent in the development of the new world, Frederick Wilhelm went steadily forward year after year, and eventually increased his possessions to four hundred acres of land. All that estate is now owned' severally by his sons. His death occurred on the Grant county homestead, October 1, 1868, and his wife survived him many years until November 4, 1906. She was reared a Lutheran and he joined the same church in Germany. However, after they located on section six¬ teen in Jefferson township, he joined the Shiloh M. E. church. In politics the father was a Republican.

Mr. John Wilhelm was born after his parents came to Grant county, on July 28, 1846. Other children subsequently born to his parents were: Cyrus, who died after his marriage; Margaret, who married Michael Crow, and both are deceased ; Noah, a well known cattle shipper and dealer at Upland, and unmarried; and David, died aged 3 years. John Wilhelm was reared on the farm, a portion of which he subse¬ quently owned, and he now occupies it as his homestead, and besides owns sixty-five acres in Highland county, Ohio. As a general farmer, and stock raiser, his successes have been above the average, and he has done a great deal to improve his property. Among the improvements which have added value and increased the productiveness of his place was the sinking of thirteen wells about the farm.

In Monroe township of Grant county, on April 1, 1871, Mr. Wil¬ helm married Nancy D. Jenkins. She was born in Monroe township, August 10, 1845, a daughter of Israel and Lydia (Driggens) Jenkins. Her father was a native of Virginia, and a son of Jacob and Hannah (Gothroup) Jenkins, the former Welsh and the latter of English parent¬ age. Jacob Jenkins 'moved to Clinton county, Ohio, where he died after a career as a farmer. He and his wife were of old Quaker stock, and adhered to that faith during their lives. Israel Jenkins was married in Clinton county, Ohio, to Miss Driggens, a daughter of Robt. and Sarah Driggens, both of whom were born in South Carolina, but spent their later years in Clinton county, Ohio, where they died in the faith of the Quaker church. Mrs. Wilhelm has proved herself a most capable wife and mother, and has contributed at least an equal share in creating the family prosperity. Of the children born to their mar¬ riage there is one now living: Amanda, bom January 14, 1873, is the wife of Everett Nelson, and they own and occupy sixty acres of the Wilhelm estate. They in turn have a son, Chester, who was born August 20, 1896, and is a student in the Upland high school; two children of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Wil¬ helm lost a son, William R., at the age of two months. The religious faith of Mr. Wilhelm is that of the United Brethren, while his wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. For the past eighteen years Mr. Wilhelm has cast his support in favor of the Prohibition party. Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm own 140 acres in Jefferson township, Grant county, Ohio, also own 65 acres in Highland county, Ohio.

William Henry Morrish. There is no small number of high-grade, prosperous farms in Grant county, places which for several generations having been paying generous revenue to their owners. But this is not saying that all such farms are keyed up to the highest degree of produc¬ tiveness and profit. Even a poorly managed farm will often pay a profit, but only the best will show such annual returns as a live store or factory will yield. To see farming at its best - scientific and practical management, maximum per-acre yield, and profit not without comfort - one needs only to visit the Morrish place in Fairmount township on section twenty-two. Mr. Morrish is one of the most practical and scien¬ tific farmers in the state, and has demonstrated that an eighty-acre farm, pfoperly managed, is sufficient for one family to accumulate a substantial fortune. His example also proves that profitable farming must be con¬ ducted as any other business.

his birth being April 17, 1853. The family has long been established in England, and his parents, John and Catherine (Cole) Monish, were bom, reared and married, and spent all their lives in Devon county. A large number of the family were sea-faring men, especially in the coast¬ wise traffic. Grandfather Morrish was lost at sea while pusuing his regular vocation. After that calamity, his son John quit the sea, and became a farmer, spending the rest of his life in Devon county. He died at the age* of eighty- three years. His wife was born two years after his birth, and died just two years after his death. They were good, upright people and members of the established church. They had seven daughters and three sons, and of those five grew up and all but one were married, several being yet residents in England.