Johnson County, Indiana - Chapter 8, 1888 (part 2 of 2)

Milford D. Adams was born in /Johnson County, Ind., November 22, 1839, anc* is a son of E. N. H. and Martha (Hardin) Adams. The father was born in Kentucky, about 1815, and died in Osage County, Kas., in 1873, and his mother was born in Shelby County, Ind., about 18 19, and died in Johnson County, Ind., August 10, 1865. Our subject is the second of seven children, all but one of whom are yet living. Benjamin H., a brother, was killed at the battle of Resacca, Ga. In August, 1861, Mr. Adams enlisted in Company F, Seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, for three years, and in 1862, at the second battle of Bull Run, he was taken prisoner and placed in Libby prison, and afterward to Bell Island, where he was kept until the December following, when he was exchanged andtakento Alexandria, Va., where, January 23, 1863, he was discharged on account of physical disability. Returning home he raised a company of home guards, of which he was chosen captain, and January 9, 1863, was commissioned first lieutenant by Gov. Morton. In February, 1864, he enlisted in Company D, Seventeenth Indiana Volunteers, in which, until August 8, 1865, he served as corporal in Wilder' s Brigade, Mounted Infantry. He was wounded at Selma, Ala. In 1865, he returned to this county, and engaged in farming in Needham, then Franklin, Township, and in 1868, went to Illinois, where he remained one year, and then went to Vincennes, Ind., and engaged in business, where he remained four years. In the spring of 1873, he returned to Johnson County, and settled where he now resides, and owns a small farm. Mr. Adams was married in 1864, to Miss Ellen J. Johnson. They have two children living: Samuel D. and Gabrilia. He is a republican, a member of the G. A. R., and he and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Thomas H. Alexander was born in Greeen County, Tenn., May 12, 1828, son of George and Margaret (Farns worth) Alexander. His father, also a native of Green County, Tenn., was born in 1800, and died in Johnson County, August 23, 1873. His mother was born in the same part of Tennessee, about 1802, and died in 1846. About 1832 the family came to Johnson. County, and settled in Franklin Township. The subject of this sketch was reared on the farm, and educated at the country schools. At nineteen years of age he began life as a farm hand, which he continued two years, and then learned the blacksmith's trade, and for five or six years was engaged in that business." Mr. Alexander first began farming in Franklin Township, and about eighteen years ago removed to his present farm in Needham Township, the same containing 615 acres. He is one of the most extensive and prosperous farmers in this locality. Mr. Alexander was married, in 1851, to Miss Sarah McCaslin, a native of Johnson County, born August 22, 1828. They have these five children: Mary, Alice, Margaret, George L. and Hattie. In politics, he has been an ardent republican since the days of John C. Fremont. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander are among the old settlers of this county, and are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which he is an elder.

W. H. Coons, a leading young farmer of Needham Township, Johnson Co., Ind., was born in the same township, on June 15, 1858, and is the son of George and Kittie (Duncan) Coons. The father was born in Kentucky in about 1823, and the mother in the same state in about 1825. The father located in Johnson County in 1852, settling on the farm where he now lives, three miles northeast from Franklin, in Needham Township. To the parents eight children were born, six of whom survive. The subject of this sketch was reared on the farm, and attended the common schools, and Franklin College, spending two years at the latter. He began life for himself about ten years ago as a farmer, and continues at the same at present. In 1884 he engaged in the breeding of black cochin chickens, and now has quite an extensive business in that line. On January 8, 1885, he was married to Annie Applegate, who was born in Louisville, Ky., in 1857, and is the daughter of J. D. Applegate.

Ira C. Fisher, M. D., our subject, is a native of Johnson County, Ind., born in what is now Needham Township, on the 2nd day of October, 1859. His parents are John and Caroline Fisher, both natives of Johnson County, and of German and Scotch descent, respectively. They reside in Needham Township, and are among the enterprising and highly respected people of the community. Dr. Fisher is the oldest of a family of three children. He was raised on a farm in his native county, and received a good English education m the common schools. He early decided upon the medical profession for a life work, and began preparing for the same by a course of reading with Dr. J. H. Carter, of Indianapolis, under whose instruction he continued two years. He then became a student of the medical college of that city, from which he graduated in 1884. Having thus familiarized himself with the profession, he began ihe active practive at the village of Needham, where he has since continued in the enjoyment of a lucrative and steadily increasing business. Though young in years, Dr. Fisher has already made commendable progress in his profession, and ranks among the rising medical men of the county. He is a close student, thoroughly devoted to his chosen calling, and has before him a promising future. He is a democrat in politics.

Robert P. Hamilton, a leading farmer of Needham Township, Johnson County, Ind., living one and one-half miles southeast from. Franklin, on the Edinburg state road, was born in Union Township, Johnson County, Ind., on January 31, 1839, and was the eleventh of twelve children, born to Micajah and Elizabeth Luyster. The father was born in Culpepper County, Va., in 1797, and died May 5, 1878. The mother was born in 1797, and died January 7, 1884. The father was of English, and the mother of Dutch, extraction. When a boy the father left Virginia, and settled in Mercer County, Ky. His father dying when he was quite young, he was early thrown upon his own resources, being " bound ' out " soon after the family reached Kentucky, to Garrett Cozine, and during his teens was a wagoner, and drove a six-horse team from Kentucky to the inland towns of the southern states. In the summer of 1834 he came to Johnson County, and entered 240 acres of land, in Section 26, and immediately moved his family from Kentucky, but did not locate on his 240-acre farm until 1837. He followed farming as a life vocation, and was a member of Shiloh Presbyterian Church. He married Elizabeth Luyster in Kentucky. She was an aunt of Capt. H. H. Luyster, of Franklin. Our subject was reared on the farm, and secured a limited education in the public schools. He emigrated to Kansas in the fall of i860, and remained there until the summer of 1861, and then returned to Indiana. He enlisted in the Federal Army, in August, 1862, in Company E, of the Seventh Regiment of Indiana Infantry, as a private. At the discharge of the Seventh Regiment, in 1864, near Petersburgh, Va., he was transferred to the Nineteenth Indiana Infantry, and a week later was placed in Company G, of the Twentieth Regiment of Indiana Infantry. He was mustered out of service near Washington, D. C, on May 31, 1865, having served almost three years, and passing through the battles of Antietam, Second Bull Run, Petersburgh, the Wilderness campaign, and on to Richmond, and was at the final surrender of Appomatox. After the close of the war he returned to Johnson County, Ind., and purchased a farm of 136 acres, in Section No. 32; the same place was exchanged in about 1870 for another farm of 160 acres, in the same section, on the Martinsville road. In 1876, he removed to Florida, and remained there for two years, and then returned to Johnson County, settling on his old farm. On September 6, 1887, he swapped farms with E. O. and J. W. Peggs, and removed to his present farm, near Franklin, which embraces 147 acres, more or less, upon which he has a substantial brick residence. He is a member of the Shiloh Presbyterian Church, and of Wadsworth Post, No. 127, G. A. R. In politics, he is a republican. He was married on October 30, 1868, to Margaret J. Graham, who was born in Johnson Count}', Ind., on September 3, 1845, and was the daughter of James H. Graham. She died May 11, 1878, leaving one son - Arthur G., who was born June 22, 1871. Mr. Hamilton was married again on January 31, 1882, to Sallie C. Covert, who was born in Johnson County, Ind., on December 16, 1850, and is the daughter of John R. Covert. To this union one daughter, Roxy C, was born December 23, 1882. Mrs. Hamilton is a member of the Shiloh Presbyterian Church, and her husband is an elder of the same church.

James Owens. - The Owens family came originally from Virginia, in which' state James Owens, grandfather of the subject of this biography, was born a number of years ago. He emigrated to Kentucky in an early day, and from there came to Indiana before the state was organized, settling in what is now Crawford County, where he resided until 1827. In that year he came to Johnson County, and settled in Franklin Township, where his death occurred on the 24th of June, 1866. His father was Samuel Owens, who lived and died in Virginia. The name of the' subject's father was Samuel Owens, also. He was born March 13, 1808, and died in Johnson County, Ind., October 15, 1846. Millie Fisher, wife of Samuel Owens, and mother of James, was born in Rowan County, N. C, February 22, 1810, and is still living. Samuel and Millie Owens were the parents of ten children, seven of whom grew to manhood and womanhood. Of these six are now living : Catherine, wife of James H. Garrison; John, James, George, William and Nancy, wife of Theophilus McBnde. The following are deceased: Martin, Milton and Mary. The subject of this biography was born in Franklin Township, Johnson County, on the 30th of June, 1833. He was reared to agricultural pursuits, and at intervals during his youthful years attended such schools as the country afforded. He remained" with his mother on the farm until 1852^ at which time. October 31, he married Julia A. Tetrick, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Owens) Tetrick, after which he purchased eighty acres of land and began farming upon his own responsibility. After living on his original purchase four years he sold out and bought a a farm of no acres, to which he subsequently made additions, and upon which he lived for a period of eighteen years. At the end. of that time he purchased his present beautiful home place of 155 acres in Needham Township, where he has since resided. He was appointed trustee of the township in 1885, to succeed Joseph Kerlin, deceased, and served with ability until the ensuing election. Mr. and Mrs. Owens have had a family of six children, four of whom: Phebe J., Effie L., George H. and Thomas O., are living. Those deceased are William M. and Edgar H. The family are members of the Second Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, in Needham Township.

John M. Parkhurst was born in Cameron County, lenn., January 11, 1825. His father was Daniel Parkhurst, a native of Kentucky, and an early resident of Johnson County, moving here about the vear 1836. " Subsequently he emigrated to Illinois and died in Effingham County, that state, in 1841. His first wife, Ceha Stephens, mother of our subject, was. born in Tennessee, and died there when John M. was a small boy. Her first marriage wa* blessed with the birth of five children, three of whom are now living. After the death of the father, John M. returned to Johnson County and began life for himself as a common laborer, working by the month or year until about twenty-three years of age. On the 16th day of March, 1848, he was united in marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of William and Maria Vickerman, after which he began farming on rented land. In 1851 he purchased 120 acres of land in Nineveh Township, since which time he has bought and sold various tracts, and now owns a valuable farm of 190 acres situated one mile northeast of the county seat. In June, 1846, Mr. Parkhurst enlisted in Company C, Third Indiana Regiment, for the Mexican War, in which conflict he participated during its continuance. He took part in the bloody battle of Buena Vista, and other lesser engagements, and was the only man in his regiment who received a written discharge. In 1854, he was elected trustee of Nineveh Township, the duties of which he discharged in an eminently satisfactory manner, for two terms, having been chosen to the office of justice of the peace, in the meantime. He served in the latter capacity, one term, and in 1873-74, was elected assessor of Johnson County. He identified himself with the Odd Fellows fraternity, a number of years ago, and now stands high in the order. Mr. and Mrs. Parkhurst are the parents of the following children : Catherine, Mary, John W., James W., Ella M. and Julia. These members of the family are deceased: Celia M., Susan and Sarah E. William Runkle, son of Lewis and Elizabeth Runkle, was born in Culpepper County, Va., on the 13th day of March, 1813. Lewis Runkle was a native of Shenandoah County, Va., and son of Peter Runkle, who bore a distinguished part in the War of the Revolution. Lewis Runkle emigrated to Indiana in 1826, and later, moved to Iowa, where his death occurred about the year 1854. He was by trade a tanner, but after coming to Indiana, turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, which he carried on until his death. His wife died in Bartholomew County in 1849. Mr. and Mrs. Runkle were the parents of ten children, four of whom are now living. William Runkle spent the years of his youth and early manhood in Virginia and Indiana, and grew up amid the active scenes of pioneer life. His early educational training was received in the old-fashioned log school-houses. He remained with his parents until twenty-five years of age, and then began farming for himself, first on rented land, and two years later on 120 acres which he purchased in Needham Township, where he now lives. In 1837, he married Mary Hougham, daughter of Aaron and Catherine Hougham, natives respectively of Kentucky and Tennessee. Mrs. Runkle was born in Fayette County, December 18, 1818, and died in Johnson Countv. Two children were the result of this marriage. Mr. Runkle's second marriage was solemnized in 1873, with Rachel McClean, daughter of Daniel and Nancy (Farnsworth) McClean, of Green County, Tenn. To this union no children were born. His wife died February 5, 1876, and on the 13th of February, 1877, he married Sarah Ann McClean, a sister of his former wife.

John T. Yager. - Prominent among the old and substantial citizens of Johnson County, is John T. Yager, who was born in Oldham County, Ky., July 29, 1829. Paternally, he is descended from German ancestry, and traces his family history back to the early days of Kentucky. His father, Willis Yager, was born in the above state about the year 1775, and died in Oldham County, September 31, 1835. Nancy (Overstreet) Yager, his wife, and mother of John T., was born in Oldham County, Ky., in 1780, and departed this life in Topeka, Kan., in the year 1875. About one month after her husband's death, when the subject of this sketch was but six years old, Mrs. Yager brought her family to Johnson County, Ind., and settled where her father had previously located in Franklin, now Needham Township. " She bought eighty acres of land upon which she resided for a period of about fourteen.years." Subsequently she went back to her native state, but returned to Indiana. She died several years ago, at or near Topeka, Kan. Her father died in 1836, and the mother in 1867. Willis and Nancy Yager were the parents of five children, three of whom are living: the subject of this sketch, Samuel J., living near Topeka, Kas., and Martha L., wife of James Netherton, who lives on the old Yager homestead. John T. Yager passed his early days upon a farm, and on the death of his father, was early compelled to contribute his share toward the support of the family, being the eldest son. At the age of eighteen, he accompanied his mother to Kentucky, where he looked after her interest until attaining his majority, at which time he began life for himself as a farmer. He remained in Kentucky until his twenty-fourth year, and then returned to Johnson County, Ind., and located upon the place where he now resides in Needham Township. His first purchase consisted of 125 acres of land, to which he subsequently added, until he now owns a fine farm of 165 acres, upon which are some of the finest improvements in the township. Mr. Yager's early educational training was limited, owing to his time being required on the farm. Socially, he is very popular, and is an honorable and upright gentleman; none in the county stands higher in the estimation of the people. September 25, 185-1, he was united in marriage to Miss Jemima Clare, daughter of John and Matilda (Broils)

Clare, natives respectively of Jefferson and Washington counties, Ky. Mrs. Yager was born in Jefferson County, Ky., December 22, 1834, and is the mother of one child, Samuel C. Yager, one of the leading business men of Franklin. Mr. and Mrs. Yager are active members of the Christian Church.