Wayne County, Indiana - Biographical sketches (13 of 15 so headed), 1884

Biographical sketches

Elkanah Ball, farmer, was born in Granger County, Tenn., in 1825, a son of James and Clarissa (Rice) Ball, his father a native of Virginia, born in 1798, and his mother of South Carolina, born in 1797. They were married in Tennessee and five years later moved to Wayne County, Ind., and settled in Washington Township, where the father died July 23 1848. He accumulated a good property, owning at the tine of his death 260 acres of well-improved land. Both he and his wife were active members of the Baptist church. To them were born ten children; six are living - Thomas E., of Lewisville Henry Co., Ind.; Benjamin T., residing near Spiceland; Elizabeth, widow of Robert C. Foster, who was killed at the battle of Richmond Mountain, Ky.; Mary, wife ofJohn H. Walker, of Nebraska; Daniel R., of Nebraska, and Elkanah. William H., Emeretta and two infants are deceased. Elkanah Ball was reared on a farm and his educational advantages were very limited. In 1846 he was married to Mary Farley, daughter of Joseph and Rebecca Farley, of Henry County, Ind. She only lived a month affer her marriage, and in 1847 Mr. Ball married Elizabeth A., daughter of Adam and Lettice Ream, of Wayne County. They had a family of nine children; four are living - D. M., of Nebraska; Mercy A., wife of William Green; Ira R., of Nebraska, and Mary E., wife of Omar Kirlin. James, Margarett P., James M., Clarissa J. and an infant are deceased. Mrs. Ball died in 1877, and Mr. Ball subsequently married Mrs. Geraldine T. Severe, a widow of James Severe. They have one child - Maud. In 1864 Mr. Ball enlisted in the Twentysixth Indiana Infantry and served eight months. He receives a pension on account of disease contracted while in the service. Heisa very active member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Heis now living on one of Isaac Doddridge's farms, which he is carrying on successfully.

Benjamin Beeson, one of the successful farmers and mechanics of his day, came from North Garolina to Wayne County, Ind., in 1812, on horse-back, ona tour of exploration. He selected one-fourth of section 24, for which he paid the Government $2 an acre. He then returned to North Carolina but in 1814 with his wife and two children moved to Indiana Territory and built a log cabin in the unbroken wilderness preparatory to commencing the battle of pioneer life for which he proved to be competent. He worked at the blacksmith and wagon-maker's trades in bad weather and by patient industry cleared his land and made for himself one of the finest farmsin Washington Township where he reared a large family and upon which ke lived till his death in 1852.

B. F. Beeson, fourth son of Benjamin ard Dorcas Beeson, was born Aug. 11, 1824, on the farm where he now resides. He was reared to a farmer's life and obtained a limited edu. cation in the primitive log school-house. He was first married Jan. 22, 1848, to Catherine, daughter of John and Sarah Howard, old settlers of this county. Of nine children born to them, five are now living - Oliver H., Lizzie (wife of Albert Williams), Elmer E., May F., and Minnie E. William M. died April 1, 1873, aged twenty-two years. Mrs. Beeson died April 14, 1873, aged forty-seven years. Sanford G. died May 10, 1873, aged thirteen years. Joseph F. died Aug. 8, 1878, aged nineteen years. Ira J. died Ang. 13, 1863, aged eighteen months. After his marriage Mr. Beeson resided on a farm adjoining the old homestead five years, when, upon the death of his father, he settled on the home farm where he has since carried on farming and stock-raising, having 300 acres of fine land. Jan 22, 1879, he was married to Kate, daughter of Henry and Lydia Roadeap. Mr. Beeson has three married children, two sons and a daughter, located on farms in sight of the homestead, given them by their father. Politically he is a Democrat.

Florance R. Beeson, farmer and station agent at Beeson Station, was born Oct. 5, 1857, ason of M. G. and Louisa (Harvey) Beeson, and agrandson of the Hon. Othniel Beeson. He was reared on the farm and received the rudiments of his education at the common school, which he completed at Earlham College and Spiceland Academy in Henry County, Ind. Oct. 9, 1878, he was married to Kate, daughter of George A. and Jeanette Richmond. He was appointed Postmaster at Beeson in May, 1881, and still holds that office. He has an excellent farm containing 194 acres of highly cultivated land.

M. D. Beeson, son of Benjamin Beeson, was born Oct. 18, 1829, on the Beeson homestead, in Washington Township, Wayne Co., Ind. His boyhood days were spent on the farm and in attending the subscription schools. He was married in 1851 to Elizabeth E., daughter of Benjamin Harvey. To them were born four children - Lycurgus W., Orum L.,

George W. and Eva, wife of Charles Ferguson, of Posey Township, Fayette Co., Ind. Since his marriage Mr. Beeson has resided on his present farm. He owns 200 acres of wellimproved land, and is engaged in farming and stock-raising. He was elected Township Trustee in 1882, and still holds that office. In politics he affiliates with the Democratic party.

Othniel Beeson was born in North Carolina in 1813, a son of Benjamin Beeson, who came to Indiana Territory in 1814. He was reared on the farm, and has always followed that vocation. He has been successful in his business life. He has always taken an active part in political affairs. He was originally a Jackson Democrat, acting with the party till 1854, when it made slavery the chief corner-stone of its organization, and he was ruled .out of the party as a heretic for refusing to co-operate with them in endeavoring to open the door to slavery in all our Territories. He at once joined the Republican party, and has since been one of its firmest supporters. He has held several responsible positions as a representative of Wayne County. In 1850 he was elected a Member of the Constitutional Convention of the State; in 1858 he was elected to the State Senate, and re-elected in 1862; in 1863 he was appointed by Governor Morton to investigate the condition of refugees sent North by the order of General Sherman, and also to enroll the militia of Wayne County; in 1870 he was again elected to the Senate, and was appointed chairman of several important committees. He has had an extensive acquaintance with the leading influential men of Indiana.

Thomas Beeson was born Dec. 20, 1792, in Guilford County, N.C. He removed to Wayne County, Ind., in 1818, and located in Washington Township, where he was ENA. engaged in farming till his death. He was married in his native county Jan. 16, 1817, to Eunice Starbuck, a native of the same county, born Nov. 27, 1790. To them were born ten children, of whom three are living - Tremilius, Elwood and Jacob. The two latter reside on the place where they were born. The deceased are - Junius, Irena Knipe, Mahala Jackson, Luzena Wright, Semira (Knipe) Leeson, Ariel and Lexemuel. Elwood Beeson was born Sept. 16, 1833. March

3, 1868, he was married to Sallie E., daughter of William P and Charity S. (Beeson) Lindsay. To them have been born two children, one of whom died in infancy. .Mr. Beeson was politically a very staunch Democrat. He wasan upright man, of good common sense and sound judgment. He died May 17, 1867. He owned at his death one thousand acres of land, 160 acres in Wayne County. His wife died Jan. 11, 1884, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. She was a bright, intelligent and very trae woman. She retained her mind until her death. She had lived nearly sixty years on the farm where she died.

Jacob Brooks, deceased, was born in Augusta County, Va., Aug. 27, 1795, a son of Jonathan and Betsey (Larne) Brooks, natives of Virginia. When he was six years old his parents moved to Hamilton County, Ohio, where a short time after his father died. His mother, with her family, then moved to Kentucky, where she again married, and subsequently returned to Ohio. Jacob Brook's boyhood was spent on a farm, and he received but a limited education. When seventeen years of age he enlisted in the war of 1812, and served through the most of the war, receiving subsequently a pension for his services. His father was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. Mr. Brooks was married May 31, 1818, to. Eliza, daughter of Thomas Robinson, of Kentucky. She died Dec. 31, 1827, leaving two daughters. Oct. 19, 1830, he married Mrs. Mary (Vorhis) Felter. To them were born eight children- - Mary J., Jackson, Martha M., T. Benton, Irene, Addie, Josephine, Aurelius. Mary J., the eldest, is deceased. After his marriage Mr. Brooks settled on a farm in Centre Township, residing there till his death. He was an influential man of the township, public spirited, energetic, liberal and genial. He was honored and esteemed by all who knew him. He was prosperous in business. Starting in life with very little, he accumulated a handsome property, owning at one time 260 acres of excellent land, half of which, however, he sold. He was a member of the Old School Baptist church twenty-seven years. His wife has beena member of the same church thirty-five years. Both were active members and regular attendants of the church. Mrs. Brooks was born Sept. 28, 1802, near the Little Miami River, Ohio, a daughter of Jacob and Hannah Vorhis, her father a native of New Jersey and her mother of Pennsylvania. She was married in 1821 to William C. Felter, who died Aug. 27, 1827, leaving four children, all now deceased. In 1824 they removed to Hagerstown, Ind., and were living there at the time of Mr. Felter's death. Mrs. Brooks was married both times by the same minister, Elder James Jones, and both husbands lie in the same cemetery.

GIW, Callaway, Postmaster and druggist, Milton, rat was born in Washington Township, Wayne Co., Ind., in 1834, a son of James and Matilda (Cooper) Callaway, ie father a native of North Carolina, and his mother of Pennsylvania. His grandparents, John and Sarah Callaway, and Moses and Catherine Cooper, settled in Wayne County about 1816. His paternal grandfather entered 160 acres of land from the Government.' He was an influential member of the Friends society, and was instrumental in building the Milford meeting-house. Our subject's parents were married in Wayne County. To them were born ten children, six of whom are living - Mary Ann, widow of JoshuaGresh; Dr. B. T., of Madison County, Ind.; John, George W., Morris M., Sarah E.,wife of James Bragg of Greenfield, Ind. James, Solomon, William and Robert, are deceased. The father died in January, 1878, and the mother in 1873. He was a radical antislavery man, and voted with the Whig and Republican parties. Our subject was reared on the farm, but received a good education, completing it at Fairview Seminary, in Rush County, Ind. He then taught school in Wayne and Fayette counties seven years, and subsequently settled in Milton, where he has been engaged in business of different kinds. In 1880 he established his present drug-store, and at the same time was appointed Postmaster. He has served as a member of the School Board twelve successive years, and while living in Fayette County served a short time as Justice of the Peace. Mr. Callaway was married in 1858 to Elizabeth E., daughter of James and Harriet McCollom. They have three children - William, Charles H. and Robert F. Mr. Callaway's brother, Robert F., enlisted in 1861, in Company E,

Fifty-seventh Indiana Infantry, and was elected its First Lieutenant. He participated in all the battles of the regiment till the engagement at Kennesaw Mountain in 1863, when he was wounded, from the effects of which he died in the hospital at Chattanooga, July 3, 1863.

Robert L. Comthwait was born in Butler County, Ohio, Nov. 8, 1830, and there passed his boyhood and early manhood, receiving a good education. He followed farming in his native county till 1861, when he moved to Wayne County, Ind., and settled in Washington Township. He owns 240 acres of the most productive land in the Whitewater bottoms, all well improved, and is one of the successful and influential business men of the valley. Mr. Comthwait is a Master Mason of high standing, a member of Milton Lodge, No. 108. In politics he is an earnest supporter of the Republican party. June 8, 1851, he was married to Mary M. Good, a native of Butler County, Ohio, born Oct. 21, 1829, a daughter.of John and Elizabeth Good, both natives of Pennsylvania, of German descent, who moved to Ohio in 1816. To Mr. and Mrs. Comthwait were born four children; all were married; one lives in Wayne County, one in Missouri, and two in Kokomo, Ind. Mr. Comthwait's father, Francis Comthwait, was born in Pennsylvania in April, 1799, ason of Edward Comthwait, who came from England in 1788 and located in Pennsylvania, living there till 1805, when he removed to Butler County, Ohio, remaining there till his death. At that time there was but one brick house in Cincinnati. Francis Comthwait was married in 1818 to a Miss Cowgill, who died in 1828, leaving six children. In 1829 he married Margaret, daughter of John and Letta Bone,- natives of New Jersey, and the first couple married west of the Big Miami River. To Mr. and Mrs. Comthwait were born six sons, one now deceased. They were very active members of the Christian church. Mr. Comthwait died April 25, 1866, in his sixty-seventh year. His wife died May 1, 1888, aged seventy-eight years.

Lsaac Doddridge, farmer, was born in Washington County, Pa., Dec. 19, 1809, a son of John, and grandson of Philip Doddridge. John Doddridge was born in Pennsylvania, May

2, 1786, and June 15, 1803, married Avis Manchester a native of Rhode Island, born Oct. 5, 1791. April 14, 1810, with his father and family they came to Wayne County, and settled on the farm where David Doddridge now lives, entering the land from the Government. Phillip Doddridge and wife were very active members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was one of the founders of the church known as Doddridge Chapel, and gave the ground for the cemetery and church, and helped build the first church there. They died on the farm where they first settled, aged eighty-five years. The first year after coming to Wayne County John Doddridge rented one of John Fox's farms. He afterward moved to the farm entered from the Government, where he spent the remainder of his days. He died in 1841, his wife surviving him till Sept. 1, 1883. They are both buried in the cemetery at Doddridge Chapel. They were prominent members of the Methodist church. To them were born eleven children, but four of whom are living - Nancy, wife of Frank McMullen, of Missouri; Isaac and David, of Wayne County, Ind., and John, of Lawrence County, Kan. The deceased are - Mary, Joseph, Benjamin, Sarah, Phebe, Eliza and Philip. Isaac Doddridge was reared tomanhood on the farm, and owing to poor educational advantages, schools in that day being few and of an inferior quality, his education was limited. When twelve years old he commenced to drive a four-horse team to Cincinnati, Ohio, and continued in that business till some time after his marriage. March 27, 1834, he was married to Sarah Weekly, a native of Virginia, born in 1816, and adaughter of Isaiah and Agatha (Fishback) Weekly, who came to Wayne County in 1819, and settled in Abington Township. Mrs. Doddridge and Frances, wife of Philip Jenkins, are the only two of their four children now living. The first year after Mr. Doddridge was married he resided with his father. Hethen moved to Union County, Ind., and lived there nineteen years, when he bought the Lambert farm in Wayne County, and lived there eleven years. He then bought the farm where he now lives of the Hurst heirs. Mr. Doddridge is the largest land-owner in Wayne County, owning 2,000 acres in Wayne County, and 700 in

Union County. He has always been a hard-working man and his industry together with his good management has been the means of providing him and his family with comfort, and it is now a pleasure to him in his declining years to contemplate the result of a well-spent life. To Mr. and Mrs. Doddridge have been born eleven children, ten of whom are living - Mary A., wife of William Wright; Francina, wife of Wiltiam Kramer; Eliza, wife of Harry Houseworth; John H., pastor of the Fletcher Place Methodist Episcopal Church, Indianapolis; Isaiah, of Kansas; Mordecai D.; Lurana, wife of John Judkins; Benjamin, Wilbur and James. Phcebe is deceased. March 27, 1884, Mr. and Mrs. Doddridge celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage at which was present nine children and fourteen grandchildren, besides many friends and neighbors who were glad of an opportunity to congratulate their friends on their safe and prosperous arrival at this stage of their life journey.

M. D. Doddridge was born in Union County, Ind., in 1850, a son of Isaac and Sarah Doddridge, old settlers of Wayne County. He passed his boyhood days on the farm, receiving a good education in the common schools. In 1875 he entered the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio, where he remained a year. He then taught six terms in the district schools of Wayne and Union counties. Sept. 12, 1883, he was married to Mary J. Spahr, daughter of Joseph and Matilda Spahr. After his marriage he engaged in farming one of his father's farms, where he still resides. He and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church and earnest workers in the Sabbath-school. He is a young man of good business ability, and has the confidence of all who know him. His father, Isaac Doddridge, is the wealthiest man in Washington Township. He owns 3,000 acres of good land, the most of it in the township. He is a public-spirited, influential man, and is liberal in aiding all enterprises of benefit to the township. Although over seventy years of age, he is active and industrious, carrying on the affairs of his farm''and superintending his own business. March 27, 1884, he and his wife celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage.

Eli Elwell, deceased, was born in Duchess County, N.Y., Sept. 1, 1789. He received an academic education in his native State, and in 1820 he came to Indiana, locating near Milton,in Washington Township, this county, the land being now owned by his grandson, Albert Williams. He purchased at that time 200 acres. In 1823 he was married to Elizabeth Decamp, born in Onondaga County, N. Y., in 1805, a daughter of Silas and Ruhama (Corry) Decamp, who were natives of New Jersey. To Mr. Elwell and wife were born seven children - Olive, Emma, Huldah, Laura (deceased), Horace H., Savannahand Hiram ©. After his marriage he settled on lands he had purchased, on which he resided till 1866, when he removed to Milton, where he lived till his death, March 4, 1875. He followed school teaching eight or nine years previous to his settlement in Wayne County, and after his marriage he taught one school in this county. He believed in the doctrines of the Univergalist church, and in politics always voted the Republican ticket. He began life with small means, but by his own exertions he became the owner of a large amount of property.

Linville Ferguson, son of Micajah and Francis (Isbell) Ferguson, was born Aug. 17, 1815, in Wilkes County, N. C. In his infancy his parents moved to Wayne County, Ind., where he experienced all the phases of pioneer life, receiving buta limited education in the log cabin subscription schools. He was married Nov. 22, 1838, to Elizabeth M., daughter of John and Isabel (Ringland) Loder, early settlers of Fayette County, Ind. She was born July 1, 1820. To them have been born five children - Oliver, of Wayne County, married Martha ©. Wallace; Savannah, wife of Lazarus Monger, of Fayette County; Elmer, died at the age of twelve years; Emma B., wife of Oliver Thornburg, of Fayette County; Charley, married Eva Beeson, and occupies the home farm. After his marriage Mr. Ferguson settled in Fayette County, but not far from his father's farm, where he hewed outa home for himself and family, residing there till 1883, when he removed to Milton, Wayne County. While living in Fayette County he was one of the leading men in building up and improving the country. He was for many years

Township Trustee, and assisted in organizing the township into sckool and road districts. He also served as County Commissioner. For several years Mr. Ferguson has been connected with and been President of the First National Bank of Cambridge City. He is politically a Democrat, and cast his first vote in 1836 for Martin Van Buren. He was a delegate from Fayette County to the State Convention that nominated James Whitcomb, the Democratic candidate, for Governor. His father was born in Wilkes County, N. C., May 16, 1784, ason of John Ferguson, and in 1816, with a wife and three children, came to Wayne County and purchased land, residing here till 1858, when he moved to Fayette County, where he died July 25,1866. His wife died Oct. 23, 1871, aged eighty-two years. To them were born eleven children, but five are living - Linville, Salena, Savannah, Lindley and Kilby; Matilda, Horton, Livingston, Stanford, Jane and Olive are deceased. Micajah Ferguson was politically a Democrat, but, being a quiet, unostentatious man, had no ambition for public notoriety. He and his wife were members of the regular Baptist church. He was by occupation a farmer, although a great portion of his time he was employed in making the old-fashioned spinningwheels.

Nimrod Ferguson, deceased, was born Aug. 2, 1786, in Wilkes County, N. C., and was of Scotch and Irish descent. He came to Wayne County, Ind., about 1809, with his brother Joel, who bought a quarter-section, where Isaac and Charles Wilson now live. He partly explored the Twelve-Mile Purchase, but as the land had not been surveyed returned to North Carolina. He subsequently came to Indiana and bought and began clearing the land where his widow now resides, but the Indians proving troublesome he again returned to his home in North Carolina. After the close of the war of 1812 he returned to Indiana and bought a kiln of brick of Nat Leonard, who had a large kiln for supplying his neighbors brick for chimneys, and built the second brick house in the county. In 1817 he went to North Carolina, and Oct. 11, 1818, was married to Elizabeth Isbell, who was born Nov. 18, 1796, a daughter of Thomas Isbell. The same year he returned to Wayne County with his wife, and located on his land, remaining there till his death. He accumulated a large property. Politically he was a Democrat. To Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson were born eleven children; seven are living - Thomas L., Milton, John W., Pinkney, Casburn, James, and Sarah C., widow of James Swafford. The deceased are - Almyra, wife of Ransom Wilcox, of Wabash County, Ind.; Vienna, wife of William Wallace, of Wabash County, Ind.; Caroline, wife of William Carver, of Madison County, Ind., and Discretion, wife of Mathias Lair, of Fayette County, Ind. Mr. Ferguson died Aug. 13, 1865, aged seventy-nine years. His wife is still living, aged eighty-seven years. Thomas L. Ferguson was born on the old homestead in Wayne County, Ind., Oct. 13, 1819. His boyhood days were. spent on the farm and in attending the subscription schools in the winter season. He was married in 1848 to Mary J., daughter of Caleb Lewis, after which he settled one mile east of his present farm, but soon after moved to the place where he now resides. He owns an excellent farm of 160 acres, which is under a high state of cultivation. He and his wife have been active members of the Christian church twenty-five years. Of the three children born to them, but one is living - Ida F., wife of Lycurgus W. Beeson, of Fayette County, Ind.

Joseph Ferris is a native of New Castle County, Del., and was born in 1811. His parents were John and Anna (Gray) Ferris, natives of Maryland. They emigrated to Indiana in 1828, and settled in the western part of Washington Township, on section 3, but subsequently removed to Milton, where he carried on a flour and feed store and also cultivated a small farm he owned adjoining the town. John Ferris died in 1853, aged eighty-two years, and Anna, his wife, died in 1856, aged seventy-eight years. They had four children - Edith, Matthew, William and Joseph. They were all members of the Society of Hicksite Friends. Joseph Ferris was seventeen years of age when he came with his parents to Wayne County, and is the only one of the original family living here now. He was married in March, 1831, to Deborah Atwell, whose native State is Maryland. They have two children living - William and Elizabeth A. William

Albert W. Florea, farmer, was born in Fayette County, Ind., in 1836, a son of Lewis C. and Eliza ( Dale) Florea, his mother a daughter of Joseph Dale, of Kentucky, who came to Indiana in an early day. Lewis Florea was born in Woodford County, Ky., in 1808, and in childhood came to Indiana with his parents, but being left an orphan returned to Kentucky, - where he lived till manhood. In 1833 he came to Indiana, and in 1835 was married and settled in Fayette County, where he lived till his death in 1871. His widow still resides near the old homestead. To them were born eight children one of whom, the youngest, is deceased. They were active members of the old school Baptist church. Albert W. Florea passed his boyhood days in Fayette County, receiving a good common-school education. He subsequently attended Fairview high school, Rush County, and became qualitied to teach, a vocation he followed in Fayette and Wayne counties three years. July 30, 1861, he was married to Addie, daughter of Jacob and Mary Brooks, and settled on the farm where they now reside. He owns 162 acres of well-improved land, situated in the bottoms of the West Fork of Whitewater River. Mr. and Mrs. Florea have been members of the old school Baptist church eleven years. To them have been born four children - Josephine A., Lewis A., Emma E. and Perseus B.

Joseph T. Gard, deceased, located in Milton, Ind., in the spring of 1861, coming from his native county, Butler County, Ohio. He was reared a farmer, and purchased 160 acres adjoining the village of Milton. He married Phoebe Robinson, by whom he had one child - Anna, a resident of Sioux City, Iowa. Mrs. Gard died and he afterward married Harriet C. Fairchild, of Morris County, N. J. They had six children - Stephen, Daniel, Augusta, Jesse and Francis at home, and Seymour W., of Iowa. Mr. Gard died in November, 1877, in the sixtieth year of his age.

fev. P. E. Hinshaw was born in Randolph County, Ind., Aug. 6, 1848, a son of Solomon and Rachel (Hodgin) Hinshaw, natives of North Carolina, who, with their parents, settled in the above county in an early day. He was reared on a farm and after attaining his majority worked at the carpenter's trade in connection with farming. He was married Sept. 9, 1869, to Emma Haisley, and susequently removed to Rice County, Kan. While living in Kansas his crops were twice destroyed by grasshoppers. He visited his old home in the interest of the Friends, and was successful in securing considerable aid with which to build them a meetinghouse. He entered the ministry of that society in Kansas, and has labored energetically for its benefit. In November, 1882, he was called to the society in Milton. Mr. and Mrs. Hinshaw have seven children - Edwin M., Elbert R., Carrie J., Ella I., Laura M., Franklin S. and Mary J.

C. O. Hurst was born in Fayette County, Ind., in 1849, a son of M. and Sarah (Willetts) Hurst. When he was ten years of age his parents moved to Wayne County and settled on the farm where he now resides. His boyhood was spent on the farm, and he received a good education. Jan. 18, 1872, he was married to Sarah A., daughter of Isham and Elizabeth Ann Waymire, of Wayne County. After his marriage he located on the old home place where he still resides. Heowns 325 acres of well-improved land, and is one of the best farmers of the township and a very highly respected and influential citizen. To Mr. and Mrs. Hurst have been born three children - Icy May, Cora B. and Charles E. Mrs. Hurst is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Hiram L. Jones, farmer, was born April 9, 1835, in Milton, Ind., a son of Alexander and Mary (Dickel) Jones, natives of Lancaster County, Pa., his father born in 1808, and his mother in 1811. Alexander Jones came to Wayne County, Ind., about 1834 and settled in Milton, where he worked at the cooper's trade till 1864, and was also engaged in farming and general merchandising. In 1867 he was one of four to organize the Hoosier Drill Works, his partners being Joseph Ingels, the original patentee, Aaron Morris, and Joshua Gresh. The capital stock was $60,000. Mr. Jones was Treasurer of the company till1874. He owned 160acres of excellent land in Iowa and a saw-mill and furniture factory in Milton, and alsoa handsome residence, but prior to his death he gave the greater part of his property to his children. He and his wife were active members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically he was first a Whig and afterward a strong Republican. He died Nov. 7, 1879. His wife died Feb. 7, 1881. To them were born ten children - all living but Isaac, who enlisted in the war of the Rebellion in October, 1861, in the Fifty-seventh Indiana Infantry, and served till the spring of 1862, when he was taken sick at Nashville, Tenn., and died in May. Wilson D. is a dry-goods merchant of Milton; Hiram L., oursubject; Sarah Ann, the wife of John Woodburn, resides in Washington County, Pa.; Mary Eliza is the wife of William Davis; Alexander, Jr., resides in Carroll County, Ind.; John L. isa miller in Wayne Township; Francis M. is a merchant of Milton; George M. is the confidential clerk of Fleischmann & Co., distillers, Cincinnati, Ohio; Henry S. has charge of the city trade of Clark & Wise, manufacturers of oils and axle grease, Chicago, 111. Hiram L. Jones was educated in the common schools of Milton and subsequently attended two terms at Fairview Academy, Rush Co., Ind. In 1861 he was appointed to the first-class clerkship in the Patent Office at Washington, D. C., by David P. Holliday, and served two years. He was then promoted to the second-class clerkship and served two years, and was again promoted to second assistant examiner of patents, and served till May 1, 1870, when he resigned and returned home, and engaged as traveling salesman for the Hoosier Drill Company remaining with them four years, and then traveled two years for Ludlow & Rogers. May 24, 1877, Mr. Jones was married to Minerva Lewis, who was born Jan. 20, 1844, a daughter of Caleb and Mary (Willits) Lewis. They have one child - Nellie. After his marriage Mr. Jones settled on his present farm, a mile east of Milton, where he is successfully engaged in farming. Heisa member of Milton Lodge, No. 108, F. & A. M. Politically he isa Republican. Mrs. Jones is a member of the Christian church.

George Kimmel, farmer, was born in Washington Township, Wayne Co., Ind., in 1841, a son of Jacob and Martha Kimmel. His boyhood was passed on the farm and he received a very limited education in the district schools.

May 16, 1865, he was married to Elmira Sourbeer, daughter of Michael and Fanny Sourbeer, natives of Lancaster County, Pa., who came to Indiana in 1854 and settled in Wayne County. Mrs. Kimmel died in 1872, leaving two children - Chalma and Ora. She was a member of the Lutheran church. In 1875 Mr. Kimmel married Mrs. Jennie Sowers, widow of George Sowers. They have two children - Lutber and Edith. Mrs. Kimmel is a member of the Lutheran church. Mr. Kimmel owns eighty acres of good land, and also, with his brother, 180 acres in another part of the township. He owns a fourth interest in the Gang Plow Works at Germantown. Isaac Kinsey, the eldest son and fourth of nine children of Oliver and Sarah (Griffith) Kinsey, was born in Chester County, Pa., May 19, 1821. His father was a native of Little Brittain, Pa., and his mother of Gunpowder, Baltimore Co., Md. In 1823 his father, who was a blacksmith by trade, removed with his family to a farm near Baltimore, where he also worked at his trade. Five years later he moved into the city and engaged largely in the manufacture of edged tools, and it was in Baltimore that Isaac Kinsey first attended school, but when he was eleven years old his father returned to the farm which was near the present site of Franklin. About this time his mother died. In the fall of 1835 his father moved to Wayne County, Ind., and here he grew to manhood and finished his education in the schoois of Rich- 'mond. From the time he reached his majority till 1846 he was principally engaged in the manufacture of brick. In the latter year he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and engaged with his brother Thomas in the produce business. In 1849 his brother went to California, actuated by the gold excitement, leaving Mr. Kinsey to carry on the business alone, which he did successfully till his brother's return in 1852. Having accumulated a neat fortune, he, in the spring of 1852, bought the farm now owned by Mr. Kinsey. It contains 500 acres of the best land in Walnut Level, Wayne County, and the scientific principles upon which it is cultivated are too well known' to require comment. Mr. Kinsey is an experienced horticulturist, growing some of the finest fruit in the county. He was at one time a heavy stockholder in the now famous Hoosier

Drill Works. Sept. 25, 1847, Mr. Kinsey was married to Mary P. Jones. They have no children. In polities he is a strong Republican. In religious faith a member of the Society of Friends.

Samuel Larkin was born in England, Feb. 13, 1788, a son of Hugh and Sarah (Sargeant) Larkin. His parents emigrated to the United States and located near Batavia, Obio, where they both died. When vet a single man he removed to Union County, Ind. He was married in Union County to Hannah Chinault, a native of North Carolina, born in 1800. In 1826 he removed to Wayne County, and settled in Washington Township. He built a carding machine, the first in the county, on his farm, and carried on that business in connection with farming. He died Dec. 16, 1837. His wife died Aug. 4,1873. They had a family of six children, only one of whom is a resident of Wayne County - Martha A., wife of D. S. Lee. Moses F. resides in Grant County, Ind. Susana T., Sarah J., Mary E. and William C. are deceased. Mrs. Larkin's parents, Abner and Mary (Ferguson) Chinault, were natives of North Carolina, of French descent. They removed to Union County, Ind., in 1811, and settled three miles from Liberty. He was a leading member cf the Baptist church and one of the founders of the church in Union County. He died in 1850, aged nearly eighty years. His wife died in 1848, aged sixty-five ycars. They had a family of eight children, two of whom are living - Mrs. Elizabeth Hubbell, of- Union County, Ind., and Mrs. Susan Carter, of Fayette County, Ind. Mrs. Judith Beck, Mrs. Mary Phillips, Mrs. Avos Christman, Mrs. Jane Davis, Mrs. Hannah Larkin and William are deceased.

David S. Lee is a native of Kentucky, and a son of David and Harriet (Murdock) Lee, his father a native of Kentucky and his mother of Vermont: His grandfather, Nathaniel Lee, was a native of England, and came to America previous to the Revolutionary war. He was a soldier in the war, and after its close settled in Kentucky, where hedied. His wife and her family afterward removed to Oxford, Ohio. In 1836 David Lee with his wife and family settled in Abington Township, Wayne Co., Ind., where he died in 1866, aged seventy-four years. His wife died in 1874, aged seventyfour years. They had a family of ten children, only two living in Wayne County - Almira, wife of H. A. Diltz, and David S. Eliza is deceased. Ormel resides in Tipton County, Md.; Lavinia is the wife of Henry Walters, of Henry County, Ind; Harriet, wife of J. K. Mason, Oxford, Ohio; Laura, wife of John McDonald, of Anderson, Ind.; Andrew resides in Coles County, Ill., and William in Nevada. Our subject was three years of age when his parents settled in Wayne County. He was married in 1863, to Martha A., daughter of Samuel and Hannah Larkin. In 1874 he removed to Milton, where he was engaged in farming till 1881, when he started a nursery of several acres, having 80,000 trees of different varieties. Mr. Lee is a member of Milton Lodge, No. 108, A. F. & A. M. Politically he is a Democrat.

Caleb Lewis, deceased, was born in Greenbriar County, Va., ason of George and Leah Lewis, natives of Virginia. Caleb came to the then new Northwest when a young, unmarried man. He located at Salisbury, Wayne County, about 1813, and was employed in the grocery store of Israel Abrams a number of years, a portion of the time also working at the carpenter's trade. He married Mary, daughter of Levi and Rachel (Fields) Willetts, and soon after located on land he had purchased south of Centreville, where he lived till 1831, when he removed to Washington Township and located three miles east of Milton, and in 1868 he removed to Milton. He was a Representative in the State Legislature trom Wayne County, elected on the Republican ticket, and held many responsible offices of the township. He possessed a broad range of practical knowledge, and good executive ability. He was an active member of the Christian church. in later life was possessed of a large property, acquired by judicious management and application to business. Mr. Lewis died Feb. 24, 1870, aged seventy-seven years and two days. His wife preceded him six months, aged sixty-six years. They had a family of ten children, seven of whom are living - Mrs. Vashti Drury, Mrs. Leah V. Scott, Mrs. Sarah Hurst, Mrs. Mary J. Ferguson, Mrs.

T48 History Of Wayne Oounty

Maria Hurst, John M. and Mrs. Minerva Jones. Levi, William and Mrs. Melissa A. Petty are deceased. Sarah was married in 1848 to Dixon Hurst, a native of Wayne County, anda son of John and Elizabeth Hurst. They removed to Fayette County, Ind., where Mr. Hurst died Jan. 12, 1858, aged thirty-five years. They had three children - Alice H., wife of H. M. Gresh; Horace L., residing on the old homestead in Fayette County, and Mary, deceased.

Thomas Marlatt, deceased, was a native of Berkeley County, Va., a son of Abraham and Annie Marlatt, natives of New Jersey. His father was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and subsequently settled in Virginia, and after several years removed to Wayne County, Ind. Two of his twelve children - Thomas and Mary (Marlatt) Connover - became residents of Wayne County. Thomas was married in Virginia, in 1815, to Elizabeth Ballard. He came to this county by teams, and located on section 33, Washington Township, paying $180 for the southeast quarter-section. Politically he was a strong anti-slavery man, and of pronounced temperance views, being one of the first to denounce the use of whisky in the harvest field. He was an active member of the United Brethren church. Mr. Marlatt died March 20, 1877, aged eighty-five years. His wife died March 26, 1875, aged seventy-six years. They had a family of twelve children - Rebecea, Elizabeth, Evaline, James W., Thomas, Mary, Washington, Harrison, Joseph, Abram N., Albert and Lydia E. Rebecca married Washington Wolf, of Mercer County, Ill. Elizabeth married Jeremiah Falls, of Mercer County, Ill., and died in 1849, leaving five children. Evaline married Solomon Wolf, of Mercer County, Ill. James W. resides in this township. Thomas is a minister of the United Brethren church in Mercer County, Ill. Washington is-a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church in Reilly County, Kan. Joseph is deceased. Albert resides in this township. Lydia E. married Jacob S. Walker, ot Henry County, Ind. Harrison resides in this township. Abram N. was born in this township in 1835. His education was completed at the Whitewater College, Centreville, and at Asbury University, Greencastle, Ind. He joined the South eastern Indiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1863, of which he is still an active member, and has filled some of the most important appointments of the conference. He was married in the fall of 1868, to Anna M. Collins, of Jeffersonville, Iud. They have had nine children - Mary C., Sallie M., Walter T., Anna O., Ella N., and four infants deceased.

James W. Marlatt was born in Berkeley County, Va., Aug. 25, 1822, a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Bellar) Marlatt, natives of Virginia, his father born in 1790 and his mother in 1796. They were married about 1818, and in the spring of 1823 removed to Wayne County, Ind., and settled on Green's Fork Creek, in Washington Township. They afterward lived on several farms in the township, remaining here till death. Thomas Marlatt was a soldier in the war of 1812,and was at Baltimore the night General Ross was killed. He received a pension for services rendered. He and his wife were members of the United Brethren church, and he was Trustee of the Union church twenty-five years. He tookan active interest in the church and was always liberal in his contributions for its support. To him and his wife were born thirteen children, nine of whom are living. James W. Marlatt was reared on his father's farm, receiving from him the instruction that has proved of great benefit in his later years. He now owns 500 acres of well improved land in the bottoms of Green's Fork. He is one of the leading stock-raisers of Wayne County, having the reputation of raising and handling the best grade of beef cattle in Eastern Indiana. He has one of the largest herds of short-horn cattle in Wayne County. He has gained a wide reputation as a stock-raiser, and is known and respected all over Wayne and adjoining counties. He is one of the active and progressive men of the county, and is purely a self-made man, having accumulated a good property from comparatively nothing when first starting. He is a member of the National Short-Horn Breeders' Association and the Indiana State Short-Horn Breeders' Association, and has been a member of the executive committee several years. Oct. 1, 1855, Mr. Marlatt was married to Anna, daughter of Christian Saur, of German descent.

She died in 1857 leaving two children - Mary Ellen and William Harrison, both deceased. Jan. 1, 1861, Mr. Marlatt married Athelia Crawford, a native of Milton, Ind., and a daughter of William and Matilda Crawford. To them have been born seven children - Freemont, Ollie, Laura, James, Gertrude, Marcia and Flora May.

Charles N. McGrew, deceased, was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, Jan. 9, 1817, a son of William and Charlotte McGrew, and when he was quite small his parents moved to Wayne County, Ind., where he was reared on a farm and received a common-school education. He was a very successful business man and accumulated a handsome fortune, owning at the time of his death 160 acres of well-improved land, situated in the bottom of Nolan's Fork. He was one of the prominent men of the township, and served as Trustee several years prior to his death. He was a member in high standing of Milton Lodge, No. 108, F. & A. M., and Milton Lodge, No. 111, 1. O. O. F. Mr. McGrew died Feb. 10, 1877, aged sixty years. He was married in 1844 to Melinda, daughter of Dickson and Eliza Hurst. She was born in Warren County, Ohio, in 1819, but came with her parents to Wayne County when quite young. To Mr.and Mrs. McGrew were born eight children, but one of whom, Ida J., is living. The deceased are - Maranda, Mary M., Alfred L., Marcus D., and three infants, unnamed. Their daughter Maranda was married when seventeen years of age to Abner Daily, who only lived two months after their marriage. Eleven months later she died leaving a son, Charles Abner, who was reared by his grandmother, Mrs. McGrew. He has now had control of the farm four years, and is a young man of extraordinary good business ability, and is very enterprising and energetic. Mrs. McGrew is now enjoying a quiet old age with her only daughter and grandson on the old homestead where she settled when first married.

William McLaughlin, agent Fort Wayne, Cincinnati, & Louisville Railroad, Milton, Ind., was born in Lancaster County, Pa., July 24, 1813, a son of Francis and Elizabeth (Clouse) McLaughlin. His father was a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, and started to come to America when eighteen years of age, but was captured while on shipboard by an English press-gang and forced into the British navy, where he served three years on a man-of-war. He then came to the United States and located in Lancaster County, Pa., in a neighborhood of the descendants of Presbyterian emigrants from his native county, who had been fellow sufferers, through the tyrrany of British oppression to all Nonconformists. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was by trade a weaver. He was married in Pennsylvania to Elizabeth Clouse and in 1836 removed to Ohio, and subsequently to Indianapolis. His wife died in Circleville, Ohio, in 1840, and he in Indianapolis, in 1856. They hada family of five children - James, William, John, Catherine Ann and Mary Jane, our subject being the only one living. Heremained at home till fifteen years of age. He received a limited education in the common schools but by application he was enabled to teach school, a vocation he followed in his native county and in Ohio. He served an apprenticeship of three years at the carpenter's trade, and while in Ohio worked at his trade in connection with teaching. He came to Milton in 1846 and worked at his trade till 1862 when he was appointed Assistant United States Revenue Assessor of this district, and served three years. He was appointed to his present position in 1865. Through his own efforts he gained a knowledge of the law, and was admitted to the bar in 1851. He has been repeatedly a member of the Town Council and the School Board. In 1848 he was a candidate for Representative of Wayne County, on the Free-Soil ticket, but was defeated by twelve votes. Politically heis a Democrat and has always taken a great interest in political matters. He is a member of Milton Lodge, No. 108, F. & A. M., and Cambridge Chapter, No. 9, R. A. M. He has been connected with the Christian church a number of years. Mr. McLaughlin was married in 1832 to Abigail Zell. They have had twelve children, seven of whom are living - Mary J., Sarah E., Ann M., Amanda E., Marcellus L., Americus D. and Minerva A. The deceased are - George W., James H., Francis M., William H., and one who died in infancy.

William H. Moore was born in Guilford County, N. O., in 1823, a sun of Thomas and Anne (Hubbard) Moore. When he was fourteen years of age his parents came to Wayne County, Ind., and his educational advantages were therefore limited. In 1842 he located in Milton where he has since been engaged in business. He worked at the tanner's trade till 1849, and from 1850 till 1852 was in the mercantile business. He was in partnership with Jesse Hiatt in the dry-goods business a year, and from 1854 till 1860 was in partnership with his brother, Charles H. He then bought his brother's interest and carried on the business alone till 1864. In 1856 he built the store room now occupied by Morris, Moore & Co. In the fall of 1865 the Citizens' Bank of Milton was established and he became one of the stockholders and was elected President, and two years later was elected Cashier, holding that position three years when the enterprise was abandoned. In 1868 he bought a mill which he operated till its destruction by fire in 1871. In 1872 he formed a partnership with Henry Myers and N. R. Nixon and built a paper-mill which, with some changes in the ownership, was operated till 1876 when it was destroyed by fire, about a month after Mr. Moore sold his interest. Since that time he has been engaged in the furniture business. In November, 1882, Mr. Moore purchased a lot, No 1, corner Moore and West Seventh streets, and a two-story brick building 85 x 85 feet in size, the corner room a hotel and three business rooms on the second floor of the house. Politically he is a Republican, casting his first vote for Henry Clay. He was elected Township Trustee in 1865, and took a prominent part in the erection of the large school building in Milton. He was married in 1859 to Mahala J., daughter of William Petty. They haye had seven children - Elizabeth, Charles E., Mattie, Carrie, Thomas F., Willie and Hannah, all deceased but Thomas F. Mr. and Mrs. Moore are members of the Society of Friends. In 1837 Mr. Moore's parents came to Indiana and located half a mile east of Milton, and two years later removed to a farm north of Cambridge City. There was afamily of fifteen children - Frances, Susanna (died in infancy), Mary P., Charles H., Susan,

Smith, Clarkson, Ann, Richard W., Lambert, Ariedna, Elizabeth W., Jacob H., John T., William H. All are deceased save Richard W. and William H. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Moore were reared in the Methodist church, but after their marriage joined the Society of Friends. Mrs. Moore rode forty miles on horseback to the nearest meeting to join the society. She was subsequently a minister of the society and was noted for her piety and zeal. Mr. Moore was an Elder many years. He was Postmaster at New Garden, N. C., over twenty years. He was a strong anti-slavery man and an old-line Whig, taking a great interest in the liberation of the colored race. He died in 1845, aged seventy-five years, and his wife in 1854, aged seventy-four years. Jonathan Newman, ason of John and Rachel Newman, was born in the south part of Guilford County, N. ©., Dee. 3, 1794. He was reared a member of the Society of Friends, belonging to Centre Meeting. About the year 1820 he was united in marriage with Eleanor, daughter of William and Ester Dicks, who also belonged to the Quakers, and whose home was headquarters for visiting friends at Centre. They married out of meeting, and that being against the rules of the society, they sent in a letter to the meeting desiring to be retained as members. That was dated March, instead of third month, as the rule required, which the meeting returned for correction; that they failed to do, and were disowned. He afterward joined a militia company in Fentriss Township, was elected a Captain, and served in that capacity for thirteen years. In the summer of 1836 he sold his plantation (thename by which farms went in that country at that day) and in the fall, with his family, moved to and settled in Milton, Wayne Co., Ind., arriving there about the middle of November of the same year. There he opened a shop and carried on wagon-making, that being his occupation, in which business he continued while living. He served a number of years as Justice of the Peace in Washington Township, and was also Town Trustee and School Director. It was under his directorship that the first school-house was built in Washington Township, and located in Milton, by taxation, in the year 1846, the same brick building being now used by the F.

W. & M. Railroad Company, as a freight depot, it having been donated to the company by the town of Milton, at the completion of the present public school building. He reared a family of six children, all of whom still live in and around Milton - Edmund B., Granville S., Elizabeth, Milo, Sallie and Henry ©. He died April 4, 1855, and his widow died Aug. 16, 1870, the latter aged seventy-one years.

Edmund Burke Newman, eldest child of Jonathan and Eleanor Newman, was born in Fentriss Township, near Centre meeting, ten miles south of Greensboro, Guilford Co., N. C., Sept. 1, 1826. He entered school in his sixth year, and the teacher of that school, S. Swim - then called master - is still living in Guilford County. Edmund came with his parents to Milton, Wayne Co., Ind., where they settled about the middle of November, 1836. At this place he received such an education as the common schools of that day afforded, having spent the last two years of his school days in the seminary at Cambridge City, Ind., where he studied Latin, German and some of the higher branches of mathematics, under the preceptorship of Prof. Samuel K. Hoshour. In the summer of 1846 he began teaching school in Dudley Township, Henry County, Ind., at which place he remained two years, and continued at the business, with one or two short intervals for ten years. His teaching was confined to the counties of Henry, Wayne and Fayette, having taught one year in New Castle, Henry County, and three years at Milton, in Wayne. Sept.1, 1847, he was united in marriage with Mary A., only daughter of William D. and Esther Harden, pioneer settlers of Wayne County, though living at the time of their daughter's marriage in Henry County, three miles west of Dublin, in the same neighborhood where Newman was teaching. In politics he was originally a Whig, and cast his first vote for President in 1848, for Zachariah Taylor. Upon the dissolution of that party he joined the Republican party, and has ever since remained an earnest supporter of the principles, measures and men of that party on the stump, through the press and at the ballot-box. During the last years of his school-teaching he devoted what time he had out of the school-room to reading law, and in September, 1857, he was admitted to the bar in Centreville, under the Circuit Judgeship of John T. Elliott, afterward one of the Supreme Judges of the State, and notwithstanding his remote location from the county seat, and the large number of learned and eminent attorneys belonging to the Wayne County bar, he soon succeeded in gathering up a living practice. In 1860 he was elected without opposition one of the representatives from Wayne County to the Indiana Legislature, in which body he was appointed a member of the Committee on Federal Relations, of the Committee on the Organization of Courts, and also a member of the Select Committee of Thirteen, to whom was referred a series of important resolutions, introduced at the beginning of the session on the disturbed State of the Union. He served in the special session of the Legislature of 1861, called by Governor Morton, after the attack on Fort Sumter, to make preparations to aid the National Government in suppressing the Southern rebellion and preserving the Union. He was re-elected to the same position in 1862, and served through the memorable and stormy session of 1863, and aided by the only available peaceable means that could be adopted to defeat the bill being pushed for its passage, taking the military power out of the hands of the Governor and placing it with a Military Board, a majority of whom were opposed to the further prosecution of the war. After the close of the war Mr. Newman was appointed Assistant Assessor of Internal Revenue, which position he held for six years, having for his district the counties of Henry, Wayne, Fayette and Union. Since the year 1873 he been connected with the office of Township Assessor in Washington Township, and is still employed in that business. He has had born to him five children - the eldest, Lawrence W., died when near three years old; the other four, Florence A., Rutledge H., Homer E. and Virgil G., are all over twenty-one years of age, and livein Wayne Connty, Homer being the only one married. .

Benjamin Peirce, farmer, postoftice Centreville, Ind., was born in Chesterfield, Hampshire Co., Mass., May 26, 1812, a son of Benjamin and Deborah (James) Peirce, and a grandson of Benjamin Peirce, of Situate, Mass. His father was born in Chesterfield in 1777, and his mother in Goshen, Mass., in 1777. His early life was spent with his parents. After arriving at maturity he went to Canada and remained three years, a part of the time in the lumber trade on the Madawaska, and later on the St. Lawrence Canal. He then went to Virginia and for three years was a contractor on the James River and Kanawha canals. In the fall of 1838 he came to Indiana and completed the contracts on the Whitewater Canal. After the cessation of business on the canals in this State he bought a farm in Fayette County, on which he resided till 1846, when he bought the farm in Wayne County where he now resides. He was married in Wayne County in 1843, to Lusinai, daughter of David Jenkins, an early settler of the county. Of their ten children but four are living; three are residents of Wayne County, and one of Wamego, Kan. Mr. Peirce has a good farm of 240 acres, all well improved, and is one of the most substantial citizens of the county. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church.

J. W. St. Clair, M. D., was born in Butler County, Ohio, in 1841, a son of Wm. R. and Sarah (De Coup) St. Clair, his father a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother of Ohio. He received his early education in the common schools, and in 1860 began reading medicine under the direction of Dr. C.N. Branch, of Hamilton County, Ind., remaining with him six years. In the meantime he attended lectures at the Miami Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating in 1866. He located in Strawtown, Hamilton Co., Ind., and in 1872 removed to Germantown, Wayne County, thence, in 1879, to Milton, where he now has an extensive practice. He is also associated with W. L. Parkins in the drug business, and has a well-stocked store. He was married in 1866 to Mary C. Mosbaugh. They have had four children - Laura H., Nora O., Eva M. and George R. Dr. St. Clair is a member of Milton Lodge, No. 111, I. O. O. F.

Z. F. Sweney, M. D., Milton, Ind., was born at Winchester, Preble Co., Ohio, Feb. 2, 1835, a son of William and Susan (Sayler) Sweney, his father a native of Adams County, Pa., and his mother of Preble County, Ohio. He was reared on a farm, but received sufficient education to enable him to teach, and while thus engaged commenced the study of medicine under the direction of his uncle, Dr. C. Sayler. He then attended a course of lectures at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati. After practicing two or three months heenlisted as a private in Company ©, Eighty-fourth Indiana Infantry. He participated in the battles of Chickamauga, the Atlanta campaign, Nashville, Franklin, and in the fall of 1864 was appointed Hospital Steward of the regiment. He was afterward commissioned Assistant Surgeon, but owing to the close of the war was never mustered in. He was discharged in 1865, and soon after entered the Ohio Medical College, from which he graduated in 1866, and has since given his exclusive attention to a large and increasing practice. He was married Oct. 10, 1865, to Minerva Eikenberg, of Preble County, Ohio. They have had three children - William E., Harvey S. and Loretta B, the two latter deceased. Dr. Sweney is a member of Milton Lodge, No. 111, I. O. O. F., and Wm. A. Boyd Post, No. 129, G. A. R., Dublin, Ind.

John Wallace was born in Virginia and reared in Kentucky. In 1811 he came to Wayne County, Ind., and selected land in Washington Township, which was settled by his father's family in1813. He entered three quarter-sections of land, a part of which is now owned by Oliver Wallace. He was married in 1815 to Mary, daughter of Adam Banks, who came from Kentucky to Wayne County, Ind., about 1813. To thei were born twelve children, nine of whom survive - Oliver, Cyrus, John, William, Preston, Sarah (Wallace) Wright, Richard, Emily (Wallace) Williams and Allen. James, Stephen and an infant daughter are deceased. Mr. Wallace was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was successful in business and accumulated a large property. He died Sept. 23, 1842, aged sixty-two years. His wife survived till Feb. 27, 1867, and died at the age of sixty-eight years. Our subject's father, John Wallace, Sr., was a native of Virginia, and was well advanced in years when he came to this county, where he died about 1820. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and adhered to the doctrines of the Presbyterian church.

John Wallace, son of John Wallace, was born on the old homestead in Wayne County, Ind., Sept. 3, 1822. He was reared to farm life and educated at the subscription schools. In 1848 he was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Joel and Sarah (Bierly) Wrights. To them have been born four children - William M., Savanah D. (was born in 1856 and died in 1860), Frank W. and Josephine. Since his marriage Mr. Wallace has resided on part of the land entered by his father. He has an excellent farm containing 153 acres of highly cultivated land. He also owns some fine horses, cattle and hogs. He was engaged in the mercantile business in Milton four years, but not meeting with success he abandoned it and returned to farming. Mr. Wallace has a powder horn that was carried by his grandfatherin the Revolutionary war.

Robert Watt was born in Fayette County, Pa., Dec. 15, 1821, and in April, 1822, his parents moved to Union County, Ind., where he was reared and educated. His boyhood was spent on the farm and in teaming. August, 1848, he came to Wayne County, Ind., and settled in Washington Township on his present farm. At that time it was in the woods, but he cleared and cultivated it, and now has 220 acres of the finest land in the township. He also for several years traded extensively in horses, taking them in droves over the mountains to Baltimore. He was married in 1847 to Silvira Hurst, a native of Wayne County, Ind., born Oct. 29, 1824, and a daughter of John and Elizabeth Hurst, natives of Maryland. To Mr. and Mrs. Watt have been born four children, three sons and a daughter, the sons all married and living in Wayne County. Politically Mr. Watt is a Democrat. His parents, William and Rhoda (Seaton) Watt, were natives of Pennsylvania, his father born Dec. 6, 1796, and his mother Feb. 12, 1798. His father was by trade a hatter, and followed that business in his native State several years after his marriage. In April, 1822, he moved to Brownsville, Union Co., Ind., and worked at his trade till 1833, when he moved to a farm a mile and a quarter northwest of town, where he lived till his death, Feb. 17, 1879. His wife died in October, 1868. They were both active members of the Methodist Episcopal church. All of their ten children are living. Mr. Watt was politi- cally an ardent Democrat. He was a very prominent man in the county. He represented Union County in the State Legislature seven terms, from 1831 to 1844, and in the State Senate two terms. He was County Commissioner three terms, and was a delegate to Indianapolis when the State Constitution was revised. He was Major of the State Muster in an early day. He was an honest politician, and one respected by all who knew him, serving his county and State with fidelity and the same good business ability that characterized his management of personal affairs.

Elisha Willetts, farmer, Washington Township, was born in Pennsylvania, Feb. 27, 1794, a son of Jesse Willetts, also of Pennsylvania. In 1798 his parents removed to Ohio, and in 1814 to Wayne County, Ind., and- settled on the farm where Mr. Willetts now resides. When eighteen years of age he enlisted in the war of 1812, and served till the close of the war. Jan. 20, 1820, he was married to Mary, daughter of James and Sarah Hannah, natives of Delaware. To them were born twelve children - Nelson, born Noy. 27, 1820; Sarah, Feb. 17, 1822; Clarissa, Dec. 5, 1823; Elias,born Aug. 12, 1826, died Noy.2, 1881; Joanna, born Feb. 26,1828; James,born May 19, 1830; Hugh, born March 27, 1832, died March 3, 1840; Jesse, born Feb. 21, 1835, died Oct. 26, 1861; Margaret, born Feb. 24, 1837, died Aug. 11, 1838; Samuel E., born Jan. 26, 1839; William I., born Jan. 5, 1841; and Anna M., born Aug. 4, 1844. One son served two years in the war of the Rebellion. Mrs. Willetts died Nov. 12, 1878, aged seventyeight years. She was a very active member of the Methodist Episcopal church several years prior to her death. After his marriage Mr. Willetts first settled on a farm a half a mile east of his present residence, which, however, he still owns. At that time it was situated in the woods, but he, by industry and perseverance, improved and cultivated it till it became one of the finest farms in Washington Township. For several years he was obliged to go to Brookville, a distance of forty miles, to get his milling done. He owns 441 acres of excellent land, all well improved, in Washington Township, which he has accumulated by his own exertions. He has always been a hard-working man, and being possessed of good executive ability has managed his business successfully, and now stands with the head men in the township in wealth and influence. Public spirited and benevolent, he has assisted gladly in all enterprises of benefit to the township. He is the oldest settler of Washington Township, and is honored and revered by all. His life has been one of many trials and privations, but he is now reaping a reward for his patience in well doing. '

James Williams was born on the homestead in Wayne County, Ind., in 1822. He was married in 1850 to Emily Wallace, who was born on the Wallace homestead in 1831, daughter of John Waliace. To them were born three children - Amanda E., married Albert Caldwell, and died leaving one child, Amanda, who resides with her grandfather, Mr. Williams; Willard E., married Fannie M. Potter; Sarah I., wife of Oliver H. Beeson. Mr. Williams has followed farming through life on the place where he was born and still resides, and owns an excellent farm of 200 acres. His father, Joseph Williams, was born in Rockbridge County, Va., in 1787, a son of Thomas Williams, of Welsh descent. He lived in Kentucky until he was about twelve years old, when he moved with his parents to Indiana, and first settled near Harrison, and afterward moved to near Brookville, Ind., where his parents died. Here he was married to Charity Adams, who was born in Stokes County in 1785, and in 1814 he settled on the farm now occupied by James Williams, where he entered 160 acres of land. He lived here till his children came to maturity, when he moved to Fairview, Rush Co., Ind., where his death occurred in 1855 at the age of sixty-eight years. He was a local preacher in the Methodist Protestant church of considerable notoriety. His wife died in 1850 at the age of sixty-five years. To them were born ten children, nine of whom grew to maturity - Wesley, of Hancock County, Ind.; William, deceased; Deborah, widow of Isaac Harden, of Marion County, Ind.; Nancy, deceased; Mary, deceased, wife of John Howard, St. Paul, Minn.; Thomas; James; Joseph, of Hancock County, Ind.; Rachel, wife of James H. Hart, of Marion County, Ind.

Jehu Wilson, deceased, was born in Pennsylvania in 1763, and with his family emigrated to Wayne County, Ind. He settled in Washington Township on the farm where his grandson, Isaac Wilson, now resides, purchasing 160 acres at first, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was married to Sarah Hawkins, of South Carolina, and to them were born the following children - John, Seth, Betta, Ruth, Gideon and Isaac, all of whom became residents of Wayne County except Isaac, who died in childhood. Jehu Wilson and wife belonged to the Society of Friends till death. Their youngest son, Gideon, was a native of Ohio. He was married to Margaret Charles and settled on the old homestead where he resided till his death. He died Nov. 27, 1850, and his wife's death occurred Nov. 11, 1864. They belonged to the Society of Orthodox Friends. They had eight children - Charles, Alvira, Isaac, Sarah, John, Jehu H., Emma (wife of Finley Ferguson), and one who died in infancy. Charles, Isaac and Emma reside in Wayne County. Charles Wilson was born on the homestead in 1835. He married Susan J., daughter of John and Sarah Whisler, of this county, and to them have been born four children - Albert, Addie, Emma, and an infant deceased. He and his wife are members of the Society of Friends.

Isaac Wilson, son of Gideon Wilson, was born on the old homestead in Wayne County, Ind., July 15, 1838. He was reared on the farm and received a fair education in the common schools. He was married Oct. 1, 1863, to Susan, daughter of William and Abigail Edgerton, of Wayne County. Of the four children born to them three are living - William G., Ina M. and Edward. Rena A. died at the age of two years. Since his marriage Mr. Wilson has resided on the homestead, where he is engaged in agricultural pursuits. He and wife have a birthright in the Society of Friends, and he is an Elder of the same society.

B. M. Witmer. M. D., was born in Lancaster County, Pa., in 1816, a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Witmer, natives of Pennsylvania. His parents came to Indiana in 1823, and settled in Washington Township, Wayne County, where they aged eighty-two years. They had a family of five children - Martha M., John, B. M., Jacob and Rudolph. John and B. M. are the only ones living. After receiving a limited education in the early schools, B. M., when eighteen years of age, began the study of medicine. He first began reading in the old school, but after deliberate investigation he chose the eclectic system, and after great and persistent opposition from the old practitioners has built up a large and lucrative practice, having proved himself a skillful and successful physician. He of late years has withdrawn from general practice, attending only such cases as demand his personal attention. He is a member of the Christian church, and one of its most zealous workers. Dr. Witmer was married in 1846 to Elizabeth, daughter of William and Charlotte Mc- Grew. They have had six children - Wooster M. C., Cassius M., Nora A., Alphareta, Mortimor and Idora A., the