Shawnee Township (part 1 of 2)

Shawnee Township

I Miller and Barnard Preble were the proprietors. William Miller was I surveyor of the plat. It is situated on the Wabash river, about seven i miles north of Covington. The site is part of the fractional Sec. 33.

I Sandford C. Cox, in his " Personal Eecollections of Early Settlej ments," includes it in a list of river towns that were ambitious to be- ' come tlie great emporium of trade on the upper Wabash. It was some j years before it was ruled off. Keep's store, the author says, was one of two that " furnished the most of the goods used by the people for 100 miles up and down the river. Powder, lead, salt, iron, whisky and leather were the staples of the trade in those days, and were exchanged for the productions of the country, such as beeswax, tallow, feathers, ginseng, furs, deer-skins, wikl hops, etc." This monopoly was not allowed to continue long. In the progress of time Portland had eleven stores, a liotel, six physicians, craftsmen of various kinds, and a considerable population. It was a post town from the beginning. The projected Attica, Covington and Southern railroad passes by it.

The road that crosses the northern part of Sec. 21 has no ascertained origin. The first settler found it there. Tlie one that meets it at right angle - a part of the Attica and I^ewtown road, now graveled - exists by no other authority than use confers, and is also prehistoric. The part of the state road laid out from Crawfordsviile to Williamsport, lying within the township, did not meet with favor, and never had anything to indicate its course but the blaze of the surveyor on the trees, and this one was traveled in its stead. The earliest recorded road was marked out by F. C. Paine and Kobert Hetfield, November, 1820, "from the bluffs of Bear creek up the bluffs of the Wabash to Shawnee creek ; thence on a straight course to Paine's Run ; thence across said run to a wliite oak on the bluff; thence on a straight line to Perry street, in Attica." In January, 1S27, S. R. Plicks, Aaron Hetfield, and John Miller, laid out a road described as follows: " Beginning on a line between Robert Hetfield and James Stewart's thence to Coal creek ; thence to a red oak on the ridge ; thence to the crossing of Little Shawnee; thence to the section line dividing Sees. 31 and 32, T. 21, R. 7 ; thence on said line to Keep's store; thence to

Graham's mill-dam ; thence to a section line again on the top of the hill ; thence on the said line to the northwest corner of Joseph Stump'i field ; thence to Crumpton's store in Attica." In May, 1827, S. R. Hicks, Samuel Wilson and John Miller laid ont a road " from the mouth of Bear creek thence to William Harris'; thence to Joh Lopp's ; thence east by blazed trees to the northeast corner of Sec. 12, T. 20, E. S ; thence by blazed trees to Robert Miller's house." James Hatton, Robert Wilkinson, and Garrett Clawson, in September, 1827, viewed a road " beginning at Graham's mill, thence north 59° 30', east 99° to the half-mile stake between Sees. 20 and 21, T. 21, R. 7 ; thence north with the section line 13° 50' ; thence north 83° 30', east 26 ; thence north 75° 15', east 66° 58' to the west line of John G. Buckle land; thence north 33°, east 72° to the southeast corner of Evan Hinton's field." September, 1828, Thomas Clawson, Thomas Hinton, and George Hollingsworth laid out a road "commencing at Myer'smil Big Shawnee, thence east 70 rods; thence 68 rods south; tiience 220 rods 18° south of east to Foster's line; thence 240 rods 15° south of east to Abraham Glawson's line; thence south with his line to the section line 100 rods; thence east on the section line two and three quarter miles to intersect the road leading from Attica to Crawfordsville." The same month and year one was laid out "from Portland along the line half a mile north of the line dividing T. 20 and T. 21 to the road leading from John Miller's to Attica; thence to the Attica and Crawfordsville road." Such were the earlier roads. They continued to be made by the'authority of the county wherever wanted for public or private convenience.

The pioneer settlers, before grounds were set apart for burial places, buried their dead on their own premises. These changing owners, as they often did, the graves were given over to spoliation. A cliild born to Wilson and Sarah Claypool was buried October 20, 1820. The spot chosen was one which was little likely in any event ever to be disturbed by the plow. It is a ridge of hill, precipitous on one side but beautifully' swelling on the other, which seems to have been fashioned by the hand of the Creator to be a last resting-place of the dead. Others sought the privilege of burying here, and it came to be known as the Claypool cemetery. In October, 1874, a number of citizens constituted themselves the Shawnee Cemetery Association, "to acquire the title to the grounds belonging to the Claypool cemetery, to enlarge them, to create a perpetual fund to keep them in order, and lay them out into lots, walks, and carriage-ways." The United Brethren cemetery dates as early as 1827. In 1838 the title was acquired and the grounds put in order under the authority of the United Brethren Conference. The Associated Citizens' cemetery, which is surrounded by the same fence, was established August 16, 1857. The Hopkins cemetery dates from about 1827. The cemetery at Portland was laid oil" with the town plat in 1S2S, and the one at Rob Roy probably a year or two later.

MILLS. Mills were erected soon after the first settlements were formed. The first were small ones, called " corn-crackers." Thomas Cox built one at the falls of Little Shawnee in 1824. One, owned by Eiisha Range, was near the Rob Roy bridge, one where the Rob Roy and Portland road crosses Little Shawnee, and there were others, but not too many, for they were patronized by people fi'om a great distance, and the grinding was very slow. "William Graham erected a fulling-mill and carding machine at the Rob Roy bridge in ]S26, and soon after Daniel Myers a saw-mill seventy rods further down the stream. Other saw-mills were built as they were needed, on the Shawnees and Bear creek. John Hagerman, in 1827, and Daniel McMillen, in 1828, built merchant flouring-mills, the former on the seat of the Greenwood and Macoughtry mill, and the latter on that of the Shepherd mill, on Big Shawnee. In the latter year Ezra Crane and Daniel Burntriger built one on Bear creek. In a few years more three others (now wholly historic) were erected. The first of these was built by John Lopp, the pioneer settler, at the confluence of the Shawnees, the second by John Keep and Ebenezer Franklin, about three-fourths of a mile further down the stream, and the third near the mouth of Shawnee, called "The Yankee mill," by Smith & Gibbs. This, which would have been rendered useless to the owners by the construction of the feederdam, was destroyed by fire in 1844. Burbridge's mill, the highest on the stream, was built by John Kingore in 1S40. The mill-race was constructed in 1830, and a carding machine built and operated during two years, and then gave place to a brick distillery, which, in its turn, gave place to a flouring mill. The mill at Rob Roy was built by William Bookwalter and A. L. Claypool, in 1870.

School-Houses And Teachers

The flrst school-house was built in 1824, near Coal creek, on land that George Stewart entered. The ne.xt year one was built near the southern line of the township, on Sec. 11. One was built at Rob Roy about 1828, and later, one on the north side of Big Shawnee on the Attica and Newtown road. They were built of logs which the settlers made common cause in drawing together and lifting to their places in the building. Thei-e was no help of skilled workmen from beginning to completion. They were not commodious, but they served to tide over the requirements of the times. The cnrrent notion that the teachers were dfstinguished for brawn rather than brain, that while austere and tyrannical they were incompetent to teach their pupils, is not justified by any recollections of them. Eather they are remembered for their accuracy of understanding, npi'ightness of character, and outward semblance of mental culture. Tliey loved learning for its own sake, and pursued it in calm repose and patient leisure. They read, studied, pondered, discoursed, and from the fullness of their information taught, " not more to gain a little needed money than to confer favor on the families of the communities around them." * And notwithstanding confessed and serious drawbacks, they edncited a generation to be practical men and women of affairs, well qualified to enact an honorable part on the theater of the world. Let us seek the explanation, assuming the mental fiber of the pupils then no better or stronger than that of the pupils now. There were not frequent changes of school-books. There was not so much talk about ediieation that the thing itself was forgotten in agitations respecting it; nor over-abundance of good counsel and suggestions of best methods of teaching that teachers were led to forget that the best way to teach is to teach ; or that comprehending the subjects to be taught in all their significance and relations they could hardly fail to teach well.

They knew of no easj' road to learning, and so while not enervating their own intellects by eff"orts to bring themselves level to the comprehension of the pupils, they did not destroy the pupils' manliness, sense of power and self-reliance by over-much simplifying and explaining. They believed, with Noah Webster, that learning is to be acquired by severe effort, the niemor}' exercised with much that the pnpil may not then understand, and in this way the mind stored as it cannot be later, and that the revelations of time, aroused curiosity, and increase of intellectual dimensions may be trusted for the rest. James H. Martin, who is still an honored citizen of the township, taught first in the Stewart school-house, and then three successive winter terms in the Brown school-house. At Rob Roy wci-e John Bodley, David Brier, and Rufus A. Lockwood. David Brier stood for many years in the front rank of lawyers in Indiana, and was his party's nominee for congress in 1852. He now carries on a lucrative practice of his profession in the capital of Kansas. Rufus A. Lockwood, while teaching at Rob Roy, was an unaided student at law. He rose to eminence and wealth by the practice of it first in the courts of Indiana. Removing to California he was employed by Gen. John C. Fremont to defend his title to the Mariposa purchase, which was brought into question first by private parties and then by the government. His fame was national. Having gained this most famous suit he embarked on the ill-fated Central America, for New York city, where he intended to open a law office. The steamer was wrecked on the ocean, and he, with more than three hundred other passengers, found a watery grave between Panama and his destination. William Miller, a well educated man, and conspicuous figure in the early history of Fountain county, taught in the southeastern part of the township; and Mrs. Mary C. Hovey, wife of Rev. E. 0. Hovey, afterward Prof. Hovey of "Wabash College, opened a school for girls in a room of her house. In the Claypool settlement the succession of teachers for a series of years was Mrs. Sumner, George Wells, James and Celestia Maxwell, Robert Finch, and Stephen Fagg. The township is now laid off into nine school-districts, furnished with well built school-houses and teachers of good grade. Its distributive share in the apportionment of school revenue for tuition is $],83r;.43. There are 3(iS pupils enrolled for tuition.

CHURCHES. The Coal Creek Presbyterian church was organized December 3, 1S2T. A company of devout persons, members of the Pi-esbyterian cliurch who had removed from the bounds of tlie synod of Oliio, had, in the fall of 1826, constituted themselves a society to meet on Sabbaths for the purpose of reading the scriptures, and uniting in the services of praise and prayer. The record of it is in this touching strain : " For two or three long years we sighed and prayed, for we still remembered Zion, and e.xclaimed, 'When shall we go up and appear before God to worship in his holy temple.'" They did not pray in vain. In the fall of 1827 Rev. James Thomson, from the Cincinnati presbytery of Oliio, then settled at Crawfordsville, visited the formative church, and agreed to supply it statedly once a montli until further arrangements should be made. On December 3, following, agreeably to previous notice, twenty persons met at the liouse of William Miller, bringing certificates of membership from other churches, and proceeded to give direction and validity to their purpose : to organize a church in . accordance with the faith and practice of tiie Presbyterian church. They were William McClure and Esther his wife, William Miller, Edmond Parrott and Mary his wife, Alexander Logan and Anna his wife, Jane Brandenburg, David Parrott and Nancy his wife, James Miller and Mary his wit'e, Isabella Miller,

James Brier and Mary his wife, Mrs. Jane Miller, Miss Jane Miller, Dorcas Brier, Samuel Fiillenwider and Jane his wife. William Mc- Clnre, "William Miller, and David Parrott were chosen elders, and March 29, 1828, the organization was perfected at the house of Edmond Parrott by the election of James Brier, Alexander Logan, and James Miller, trustees, and Samuel Fullenwider, treasurer. Tlie reports to the presbytery of Wabash show a membership, October 1828, of forty-nine; October 1S29, of lifty-six; March 1830, of seventy -six ; October 1830, having just dismissed eighteen to constitute a church at Portland, and suffering the ordinary losses from death and removals, of sixty-three. Such were the beginnings of this mother of churches; such its growth. James Thomson was its pastor from its organization to May 1, 1829; John S. Thomson, from May 1, 1829, to March 25, 1831, when he resigned the pastorate in consequence of feeble health ; Edmund O. Hovey, from the beginning of 1832, resigning the charge to become a member of the faculty of Wabash College, April 1834 ; John Crawford, from 1835 until removed by death, June 22, 1839. The church records, written by William Miller, are an interesting study. The church took advanced grounds on the subject of temperance by the following action : In view of the wide-spreading evil and desolating influence of intemperance in our land, the elders of this church will abstain entirely from the use of ardent spirits except when recommended as a medicine, and reconimend this action for adoption by all tlie members of the church and community. A temperance society was thereupon organized with twent^'-nine members. The influence of tlie church extended to the regions round about, and it had distinct divisions east, west and south. Camp-ineetings were held in all these regions. Mrs. Mary C. Hovey, widow of Prof. E. O. Hovey, writes to Pev. John M. Bishop as follows: ''There is one scene I love to think of: it was a cariip-meeting somewhere near Eob Eoy, which I attended in 1832. There were many Indians there in their tents, much interested in the praying and singing. They had paddles hung around their necks, and certain characters on the paddles which they seemed to worship." March 13, 1832, a meeting of the west part of the church and congregation was held at the house of James Miller to select a site for a meeting-house, and James Miller made a donation of one acre of ground for this good use. The building was completed toward the close of the year. This was the first church ediflce witliin the present limits of the township. Nine j'cars after, March 1, 1841, it was voted to change the name and location to Newtown, and the presbytery of Crawfordsville sanctioned the ciiange. The reasons are well stated by Kev. J. M. Bishop : " The old location was not satisfactory to the members of the church living in the eastern part of Richland township, and old-school and new-school lines of division were showing themselves everj'where throughout the denomination ; so that while there was still a Coal Creek church (old school) for several j-ears after 1841, the larger part became new school." The succession of pastors after the division is as follows: Jacob Cozad, W. F. Ferguson, N. P. Sharlott, James C. Eastman, Nathaniel Conklin, C. K. Thompson, D. V. Smock, David B. Reed, Henry M. Bacon. How long each one served cannot be determined fi'om the records. The last entry bears date June 20, 1854. The building and grounds have passed from under the supervision and control of the church, but are still regarded with interest as the historic heart of the church of the denomination in the county. The church of Portland referred to maintained a brief existence of two years, most of the members returning to the Coal Creek church.

The history of Methodism in the township opens in the year 1S2S. The Crawfordsville circuit of the Illinois conference was organized this year. The first quarterly meeting was held at Crawfordsville, Indiana, November 1, 1828. John Strange was presiding elder, Stephen E. Beggs and Spencer Hunter circuit preachers. John I. Foster represented a class at Rob Roy. No class-book is found, nor other record. Tradition furnishes the names of the following members: John I. Foster and wife, John Hagerman and wife, Chester Chadwick and wife, John McCune and wife, and Mrs. Sarah Foster. The writer has souglit for definitions, to know what constitutes a church. The one that best commends itself is this: a company of baptized believers, who have agreed to walk together in Christian fellowship and love, and maintain such ordinances and worship as the scriptures enjoin. The power to organize belongs to those who desire to form the organization. As the pilgrims of Plymouth rock are said to have organized "a state without a king," so here we have " a church without a bishop," or even a pastor, organized at some unknown time prior to November 1, 1828. John I. Foster's memory deserves a paragraph. He is described as a man of versatile talent, a skillful worker in iron, and an inventor. He came to Rob Roy in 1826; founded a church, and in the spring of 1829 founded and superintended a Sabbath-school, which has been maintained with a few interruptions ever since. His time at Rob Roy was not long, probably six or seven years; but during it he stood in the fore front of the church, and raised it a monument to his memory, enduring like marble or bronze. The long line of pastors who have ministered to the church in the fifty-two years is as follows: Stephen

It. Boggs and Spencer Hnnter, 182S and 1S'20 ; James Armstrong, 1S29 and 1830; Samnel Brinton and Samuel Cooper, 1830 and 1831; Boyd Phelps, 1831 and 1832; Richard Hargrave and N. B. Griffitli, 1832 and 1833; N. B. Griffitli and Hackaliah Vredenbnrg, 1833 and 1831; William Clark and William Campbell, 1831 and 1835; Ciiarles Holliday and Benj. T. Griffith, 1835 and 1836; Cornelins Swank and

1837 and 1838; J. L. Thompson and Hawley B. Beers, 183S and 1839 ; J. L. Thompson and Walter Huffman, 1839 and 1840 ; Enoch Wood and Jacob Mershon, 1840 and 1841 ; J. B. Mershon and R. C. Rowley, 1841 and 1842 ; Josiah J. Cooper and Daniel Demotte, 1842 and 1843; Amasa Johnson and Wade Posey, 1843 and 1S44; Horatio K. Barnes and Martin Morrison, 1844 and 1845 ; H. N. Barnes, 1845 and 1846 ; J. B. Mershon, 1846 and 1847; Enoch Holdstock and Milton Honn, 1847 and 1848 ; Tiiomas S. Webb and Dennis B. Clary, 1848 and 1849 ; H. B. Beers and Franklin Hardin, 1849 and 1850; J. S. Donaldson and Allen A. Gee, 1850 and 1851 ; Jacob Cozad and James Armstrong, 1851 and 1852; Jacob Cozad, 1852 and 1853; H. Smith, 1853 and 1854; R. Hargrave, 1854 and 1856; Jacob M. Stallani, 1856 and 1857; Lucas iSTebeker, 1857 and 1859; Hezekiah Smith, 1859 and 1860; Franklin Taylor, 1860 and 1862; J. H. Mahan, 1863 and 1864 ; Thomas Hackney, 1864 and 1865 ; Francis Cox, 1865 and 1867 ; Jacob M. Stallard, 1867' and 1869; S. P. Colvin, 1869 and 1871; J. H. Claypool, 1871 and 1874; W. A. Smith, 1874 and 1876; N. A. Chamberlain, 1876 and 1879. David Handley, beginning his ministrations with the conference year, 1879 and 1880, is still in the field. The church has chosen five class-leaders, namely, John I. Foster, George Fleming, David B. Jones, Jacob G. McLean and Ransom Miller. The last named is still in office. Tiie trustees chosen: Hiram Jones, George Fleming, William Hall, Ciiarles Todd and Henry B. Jones. Neither record nor tradition furnishes information touching the inner or outer growth of the church during the first years of its existence; but passing over a space of fifteen years, we find it grown to a commanding position, and embracing in its fellowship members took a significant part in its affairs, and contributed freely by their connsei and means to its success. Prominent among them were George Fleming, Hiram Jones, James Foster and Andrew Thompson. In 1844 the church erected a house of worship of spacious proportions, and dedicated it the same year; the pastor, Amasa Johnson, preaching the dedicatory discourse. It still stands to honor the builders, well kept, and looking new after a lapse of thirty-six years. With a clear f\. roembers whose names can be recalled, were Simon Brown and wife f Nancy, Elizabeth Brown, and Catharine Brown. The second pastor ?- was John Dunham. In tlie first year of his pastorate the church was rn-eatly strengthened by additions to its roll of membership. How long this prosperity continued is not known. It soon suiFered heavy losses from removals. Its vicissitudes have been very great. Three times it lias been accounted strong numerically, and as often it has been so weak that meetings were discontinued. At present it enjoys an encouragi' ing degree of prosperity. Thomas Beatty is pastor, Francis "Wilson class-leader, Cyrus Rusk class-steward. A Sabbath-school is maintained with a good degree of interest. The church never erected a house for worship, but has held its meetings in one belonging to the Moral Associated Citizens, commonly called Brown's chapel.

Hob Roy Presbyterian church. This church was organized by Rev. John Crawford March 25, 1839, with seventeen members. Tliey were William Carnahan and Margaret his wife, Benjamin L. Brier and Martha Ann his wife, Isabella Thompson, Mary Bodlev, Mary Duncan, Rebecca Griffith, Mary Brier, Harriet Duncan, Mary Thompson, Elizabeth Brier, Jane Scott, Samuel Brier, Columbus Brier, Benjamin T. Clark and wife. The thirteeTi first named brought letters of dismission and recommendation from the Coal Creek church. "William Carnahan and Columbus Brier were elected elders, and Samuel Brier, "William Carnahan, and Harley Greenwood, were trustees. Mr. Crawford died June 22 following, and the church was vacant until the beginning of the year 1841. The second pastor, John Fairchild, began his labors with the year 1841, was installed December 30, 1843, and left the field April 1851. Unfortunately the records of this early time are extinct. About the year 1843 a plain but suitable house of worship was erected, the outcome of great personal self denial at a time of financial depression. In the winter or early spring of 1847 the church was greatly strengthened by the simultaneous admission of thirty-five or more persons to its membership. The third pastor was "William Bacon, from September, 1851, till March, 1852 - a half year. Alexander Lemon became the fourth pastor, from May, 1852, until the fall of 1857. Samuel B. King came in May, 1858, and served the church until the spring of 1873. This is the longest pastorate the church has had, covering more than one-third of its history. The sixth pastor, "W", J. Essick, labored with the church two years from December 1873. John Creath, the seventh pastor, served a half year. Mark L. Milford became the eighth pastor, serving two years from the spring of 18 76 The ninth and present pastor, Josepli W. Mann, began his ministrations August 1878. In October, 1879, the church and congregation determined to build a new house of worship and change the location to Shawnee cemetery, two miles eastward, where is a wider, clearer field, inviting diligent cultivation. A committee on church building was a])- pointed, consisting of the following: J. L. Foster, William Hughes, $ and G. W. Cole ; and also one to solicit subscriptions in favor of tlie 4 proposed new enterprise. Plans were soon drawn, the work of building begun, and pushed to an early completion. The new church is neat in form. The interior appointments, the fitness of the arrangements to meet the wants of an active congregation, the planning of the vestibule, ante-rooms, and auditorium, show the wise liberality of the design ers and builders. On February 21, 1880, it was declared ready for occupancy. The sum required to meet the indebtedness incurred ivas reported paid on subscriptions. The next day witnessed its dedication to the worship of Jehovah. The discourse on this occasion was preached by James Omel vena, of Dayton, Indiana, from the fourth ver&e of the twenty-seventh Psalm. The pastor, J. "W. Mann, and William Wilmer assisted in the solemn services. The officers of the church are James Griffith, Stephen Fagg, Samuel A. Brier, John L. Foster, W. C Cole, and Charles Ullrick, elders; George M. Foster and William G. »

Cole, deacons; S. A. Brier, J. L. Foster, M. B. Briney, and G. M Foster, trustees. A Sabbath-school is maintained in connection with it. Pastor and people " thank God and take courage." The church is now known as the Beulah Presbyterian church.

Kob Eoy Baptist church was organized in the Kob Koy schoolhouse in the winter of 1844, by Rev. Garrett Riley, with thirteeo members: Jonathan Dove and Mary his wife, Joel Jones and Ruth his wife, Daniel Myers and wife, Nancy Myers, Margaret Cook, l\ rs was the pastor from its organization. It maintained an existence of about four years, when, having sufi'ered heavy losses from deaths and removals, the remnant went to the Baptist church at Attica.

The Christian church, commonly called New Light, was organized March 12, 1854, in a school-house in the northeastern part of the town ship. Rev. Samuel Gregory, who organized it, had beforehand bestow ed much faithful labor on the field. The constituent members were William Hatton, Nancy Hatton, Charles Rhoads, Sarah Jane Young,

Samuel J. Young, James Wilson, Eliza "Wilson, Thomas MePherren, ^arv Nixon, Nancy Nixon, Sarah J. "Waggoner, Abraham Potter, Puharaa Potter, Henry Urasted, Mary E. Marlatt, Thirza Potter, Thomas Hatton, Julia A. Hatton, Elizabeth J. Chritton, Sarah Marlatt, Nancy J. Potter, "William Overbay, Thomas Matthews, John Hale, Charlotte "Wilkey, Kuth Umsted, William Potter, John Groves, Hannah Groves, Elizabeth Umsted, John Potter, Mary Ann Roberts, Jane Marlatt, Amanda MePherren. Samuel Gregory was the pastor until September 1S60, greatly beloved by church and congregation, when "William Petro became the second pastor, and served the church until death removed him February 17, 1863. Elders Bannon, Hardesty, and Osborn, each served one year successively. Elder Culbertson took charge of the church September 1, 1866. The meetings continued to be' held at the school-house where it was organized. During this pastorate, somewhere in the year 1867 or 1868, the house was destroyed by a falling tree, and the meetings were thereafter lield in an adjacent township. It may be remarked that it was the church of the people of a very large scope of country. Crowds attended the meetings. It steadily added to its membership, and as steadily suffered losses from removals.

Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal church. In the winter of 1873 Rev. Thomas Burch conducted a series of meetings in Brown's chapel. To his labors in connection with them, humanly speaking, this church owes its origin. A class was organized composed of the following names: Smith Coffing, J. M. Coffing, William B. Coffing, M. O. Coffing, Leoni CofBng, John A. Coffing, Matilda Coffing, Mary Orlena Coffing, James Graham, Elizabeth Ferguson, Charles Ferguson, Alvin Clark. It is not possible to enter into a detailed examination of the labors of the several pastors. The winter of 1876-7 was marked by unwonted and powerful religious influences, during the pastorate of Rev. John J. Claypool. The church was greatly strengthened by large additions to its numbers, so that it was determined, in April 1877, to build a church edifice. Subscriptions were solicited, and the work of building, begun in April, was completed by the close of the summer. The building, which is neat and tasteful in appearance, and ample for the wants of the congregation, was dedicated September 1, 1877; 1. W. Joyce preached the dedicatory discourse, W. H. Hickman, Thomas Burch, and J. J. Claypool assisting in the services. The church has had the following pastors : Thomas Burch, Colbraith Hall, John J.

Moral Associated Citizens

Twenty-nine persons formed this organization in August 1851. Tliej were Simon Brown, Addison Newburn, John Brown, Jeremiah Brown, John Houts, John Dunklebarger, Abel Claypool, Joel Crane Isaac Romine, David S. Romine, John M. Galloway, Andrew CofBnw William Brown, Jacob Brown, George H. Galloway, Robert T. Galloway, Joseph Crane, B. B. Labaw, James Marquess, Biirkley Tumbling, John P. Brown, Jacob Honts, Daniel Peck, Amos Gilbert, Frederick Zeigler, "William Ireland, William Hoobler, David Pugh, Eiias Pugh. William Brown was elected president, B. B. Labaw secretary, and John Houts treasurer. The objects avowed were " to build a meet. ing-house for the worship of God, and establish a graveyard." The plan is as follows: " The house is to be open to all men of all societies of good moral character who preach the gospel, and men in no church | who have good moral characters." The capital was raised by a sub- f Bcription of shares, valued at $10 each, the holder being entitled to vote in the control of the house and graveyard. Si.xty-two shares were subscribed, and the enterprise aided by donations. The house agreed upon is thus described : " A frame meeting-house, length thirty- 'y six feet, width thirty feet, a ten-foot story, a wall under the house two and one-half feet high, one foot thick, one foot in the ground, and a stringer under the center." The contract was let to William Brown, who built the house and turned it over to the trustees. May 29, 1852. It is known as Brown's chapel. -

Shawnee Detectives Temperance Work

The day that Shawnee was constituted a township the conrt granted j^onard Keep license to vend foreign merchandise and spirituous liquors. Joseph Collier was taken as one of his sureties. Collier was 60011 after, with Thomas Clawson, elected justice of the peace, and took oath of office March 1827. In the court records, not long after, there was placed among the entries of fines collected this curious item : "Collected by Thomas Clawson, as fines, from Joseph Collier and Thomas McKibben, for an affray, $100 each - $200." Comment is needless. Keep's store was at this time near Rob Eoy, or on the north side of Little Shawnee, on the Chambersburg and Attica road. It furnished the whisky and other goods used by the people for a great many miles \ip and down the country. Indians from Kickapoo frequently brought pelts, furs, and such like, to exchange for whisky and calico. One evening they came, a party 200 strong, with their chief, John Pasque, at the head, and made their encampment northward from the store. Keep demurred to their call for whisky, and the chief interposed. "Who will be sober Indians?" cautiously inquired Keep. "Me and papoose, John," was the chief's ready answer. The whisky was sold them, and then followed a night of mad carouse. These were the unpropitious beginnings. Alas for Keep ! He did not keep long, but fell a ready victim to Asiatic cholera while on a business venture down the river to New Orleans. Space forbids a detailed account of the numerous - not too numerous - temperance organiza- J" tions. One is mentioned in connection with the Coal Creek church. A strong lodge of the Sons of Temperance was organized in Eob Roy in 1852. A temperance camp-meeting, lasting several days, was held in a grove near by. Choice speakers were there, and good work was done for the good cause. Another was organized in 1865, and in 1878 blue-ribbon clubs were formed at various points in the township. And so, a little too spasmodically it must be confessed, the work has gone on. It marks an advance in temperance sentiment that there is now no whisky store in the township, nor building nor works where distill ing is carried on.

Biographical

Alfred Helms, farmer, Fountain (Portland). His grandfather Helms emigrated with his family from North Carolina and settled in Yan Buren township about the time that John Colvert and Jonathan Burch came. These last arrived early in 1823. It is said that Mr. Helms cleared the first farm in Fountain county. The grandfather of our subject on his mother's side was Matthew Hawkins. He remove from Tennessee, also very early, and stopping on Hone^- Creek prairie died thei-e. His family settled at Chambersburg, where his grandl

^ were Thompson and Rhoda. He was married to Mary Houts, Marchi 7, 1858. They are the parents of seven children : Melissa Ann, wife| of John Marquess; George William, Sarah, Katie, Mandana, Jacob, andj Frances Isabelle. Mr. Helms was enrolled August 9, 1862, in Co. 63d Ind. Vols. Immediately this regiment went into the service companies F, I, E and G were detached and retained at Indianapolis on provost duty, remaining in that city seventeen months. In February, - 1861, the companies of this regiment were united at Camp Xelson, Kentucky, and marched across the Cumberland mountains to Knoxville, Tennessee, and joined Sherman at Dal ton, Georgia. The command was attached to the 23d Corps. Mr. Helms was detailed into the Pioneer Corps at Camp Nelson, but by permission of his officers took part in some of the earlier fighting on the Atlanta campaign. He was in action at Buzzard Roost, and Resaca, and in the last battle was in the left shoulder. He was in the hospital two months, when, this place having become irksome, he and six other restless spirits clandestinely boarded a train going to the front, where they rejoined their commands. He found his at Decatur, just east of Atlanta where he arrived but a day or two before the battle of July 22, in which the lamented McPherson was killed. He did no further duty, but kept along with the array. He was at Nashville during the siege and battle, but his regiment was not engaged, only acting as support to the cavalry on the flank. He went with his corps to North Carolina, and on arrival at Kingston was sent to the hospital. From there he was transported to Albany, New York, where he was discharged June 2, 1865. Mr. Helms owns eighty acres of land within two miles of Portland. He is a green backer.

Henry B. Jones, farmer and stock raiser, Rob Roy. His grandfather, Wright Taylor, was a soldier of 1812. His fether, Aaron, was a North Carolinian, and his mother, Sarah Taylor, a Kentucky lady. They were married in the latter state, and in February, 1823, removed to Otter Creek prairie, in Vigo county, and the following winter to Fountain county, settling in the forks of Coal creek, below Veedersburg. In a year or two his father bought the land where Rob Roy stands, and afterward sold it to John I. Foster who had that town laid out. The land eventually fell back to Mr. Jones. He died here January 16, 1878, aged eighty-two, and his wife July 11, 1878, aged seventy- fonr. ^^^'- Jones, the youngest child of these parents, was born where 1)0 lives, one and one-fourth miles south of Kob Roy, October 23, jg40. He was married February 17, 1S61, to Joanna D. Meeker, datic'hter of Usual PI. Meeker. She was born March 18, lSi2. Their two children are Lorenzo E., born May 13, 1862, and Oliver M., Jannary IS, 1867. Mrs. Jones has been a eonamunicant in the Methodist church eighteen years. Mr. Jones is a Mason. He owns 535 acres, 290 of which are under plow ; it is valuable land, being a rich alluvial goil, and lying in the Shawnee and Coal creek bottoms. He is erecting, the present year, a fine brick residence of eight rooms, at a cost of over |4,000. He has been trustee of Shawnee township three terms in succession, beginning with 1870 and ending with 1876. He is a republican in politics, an influential man in his community, and active and enterprising in business.

Evans Claypool, farmer, Attica. The father of this subject, Wilson Claypool, was born in Randolph county, Virginia, and in the spring of 1822 emigrated from Ross county, Ohio, to Sugar creek, just below Yonntsville, in Montgomery county. There he entered 320 acre's of land, going at that time to Terre Haute, the land office not having yet been removed to Crawfordsville. Next year he sold it for $1,100, and went back to Ohio and married in Highland county, March 2, 182-i, Sarah Evans. In October they arrived in Shawnee township, and here our subject was born, on the place where he now lives, February 21, 1825. The house in which he resides was built by his father in 1826, and was the second frame dwelling erected in Shawnee township, another having been built a little earlier in the same year. Thomas Clawson was the carpenter who did the work on both. This has been repaired and re-clapboarded, and is the oldest occupied house in the township. Mr. Claypool's father died July 18, 1876, aged seventy-eight years, and his mother is living with him at the age of seventy-five, in good health, and active for one of her advanced years. He has 260 acres in his homestead, four miles from Attica. He is a republican in politics, and has lived a celibate life. In his father's family were eight sons and two daughters. Evans and Benjamin died in infancy, Horatio, Solomon, Richard W., Augustus L., Abrani, Jacob (dead), Elizabeth, wife of Nelson Case, of Oswego, Kansas, and Maria, wife of Joseph Shannon, living in Woodson county, Kansas. Jacob served as a three-months soldier at the beginning of the war. He reenlisted, and was mustered into the service August 6, 1862, as an orderly sergeant in the 63d Ind. Vols.; he was promoted to second lieutenant, and had been -recommended for a captaincy, but when Sherman's army was on the Chattahoochie river he received an injury there bj a horse stepping on his breast when he was down, and died at Allatoona, Georgia, Jul}' 17, 1864, before his commission came to hand. His remains were brouglit home and deposited in the Shawnee cemetery, October 27, 1865. Horatio was a soldier -two years. His biography may be found in "Troy Township." Augustus served just a year as sergeant in Co. A, 63d Ind. Vols., from"' August 6, 1862, to August 6, 1863 ; he was then mustered out to be mustered as adjutant of the 118th Ind. reg., and served liis time of six months. In August and September, 1863, four six-months regiments w-ere raised and organized by the state, - 115th, 116th, 117th and 118th. Abram was captain of Co. C, 116th. The Olaypoolsare an ancient and honorable family, that trace their recorded ancestry back to the remote past. Oliver D. Osborn, farmer, Attica, is the second son of Thomas and Margaret Osborn. In 1824 his grandfether, Daniel Osborn, bringing his son Thomas with him, settled on the north fork of Coal creek, about a mile north of Veedersburg. The " Osborn saw-mill," built by him on this stream, was one of the landmarks in the early history of the country. Mr. Osborn was a Disciple preacher and Thompsonian physician, who both preached and practiced through the country, with a good deal of success, from the date of his settlement till 1848. Thomas Osborn in 1846 married Margaret Herbaugh, and -in 1848 moved to Dane county, Wisconsin ; about two years later he was followed by his father, who died there in October 1854. It was in this place that the subject of this notice was born, February 2, 1852. This was the natal place also of two sisters and a brother. His father is a preacher in the New Light denomination, and was licensed over twenty years ago. In 1858 he left "Wisconsin and moved back to Fountain county, and in April, 1873, settled with his family in Tulare county, California, where he now resides, engaged in sheep husbandry. The family returned in the fall of the present year, on a visit to Indiana. Oliver was married in the spring of 1873 to Miss Melissa Claypool, daughter of Abel Claypool. "When his father removed to California he and his wife went with the family on a pleasure trip of a few months. In 1876 he and his wife again went to California. The latter died there, and he remained two years mining, teaching school, grazing sheep, and operating a saw-mill. He received a good common education, and before this period had taught school in Indiana and Illinois. Having returned to the former state he married again, in April 1879, Miss Kittoria, daughter of Dempsey Eedden. By his first wife he had one child, Frank, living with the grandparents in California. Mr. Osborn was census enumerator for Shawnee township in 1880. He is a decided republican. He owns 159 acres of land in Shawnee township, eicflity acres in Fulton county, eiglity acres in Ross county, Ohio, and some mining claims in the Mineral King mining district, Tulare county, Califoi'nia.

Benjamin Foster, fanner, Attica, eldest child of James and Sarah (Lewis) Foster, was born in Franklin county, Ohio, September 23, 1S24. His father's family settled in Shawnee township October 14, 1827. Mr. Foster is living close to where they improved their home. In his lifetime he has seen the timber spring np in his neighborhood and attain full growth, the larger trees measuring from eighteen inches to two feet in diameter, and be cut down and cleared off, and the ground brought into subjection to the plow. He was married in 1845, to Samantha Griffith, who died in 1854, having been the mother of three children : Charles (deceased), Sarah (deceased), and Mary. His second marriage was in 1855, with Sarah Jane, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Malatt) Young, who settled in Logan township in 1830, having come from Ohio. She was born November 2, 1827. This union has been productive of six children : Raymond, born January 13, 1856 ; John A., January 12, 1859 ; Willard, September 6, 1860 ; Simon, May 10, 1862; Effio, October 16, 1864, and Olive, November 18, 18CC. Mrs. Foster is a member of the Christian church, of twentyseven years standing. In 1876 Mr. Foster visited the Centennial Exposition, at Philadelphia. He has a valuable farm of 160 acres, nearly all of which he cultivates. He is a leading man among his fellows, thorouglily enterprising and public-spirited, and an intelligent republican.

Benjamin F. Crane, farmer, Stone Blufi". Samuel Crane, brother to his grandfather, Jonathan Crane, served through the whole war of the revolution, and his grandfather, Jacob Schnorf, was a soldier in the later years of that struggle. In 1827 James Crane, father of our subject, and his father came to Fountain county from Warren county, Ohio, probably most of the way on foot; the father entered a piece of land and purchased another, and the two went back together. James was married to Ann Schnorf November 1, 1828, and he and his bride spent their honeymoon, and made their bridal tour on horseback, 200 miles through the new and sparsely settled country, crossing high streams, and encountering and overcoming other obstacles, whicii gave them practical training in frontier privation and adventure. They lived one season west of Stone Bluff, on some land which Jonathan Crane had bought the year before, and the following season moved up on the Shawnee and occupied the other piece he had purchased. At this point, a mile above the mouth of Shawnee, Mr. Crane had a mill, and about 1835 or 1836 sold both land and mill to a company of Yankees, who afterward built a distillery there. After this sale James Crane bought out the Hickman and the Hanly heirs, and moved and settled on tlie place, where the subject of this notice was born and now lives. They occupied a log cabin till 1841 ; that year they built the brick house which is standing on the farm. In the summer of 1875 this old couple moved to Covington to live the remainder of their days, and both died there soon after their removal : Mr. Crane, of erysipelas, July 14, aged sixty-eight, and Mrs. Crane August 24, aged sixty-two. Mr. Crane was married November 14, 1874, to Margaret E. Irvin. They bave one child, James W., born September 29, 1876. He and his wife belong to the Christian church. He owns 278 acres of good land, nearly 200 of which he cultivates, valued at §16,500. In politics he is a republican.

Cyrus Brown, farmer, Attica. Simon Brown, father of this subject, ! and Nancy Heed, to whom he was married in 1824, were reared in the same neighborhood in Cumberland, then Perry, county, Pennsylvania. The same year they moved to Ohio, and were four weeks on the road. In the autumn of the year 1827 he and his father, Peter Brown, came to Fountain county to inspect the country ; they entered land and made a little hay, and during their brief stay were entertained by John Lopp, whom they found living here. They returned and brought their families, arriving November 23, the journey having consumed two weeks. They passed some of the finest prairie in the world to settle in the dense woods, where they might toil through tedious years to clear up a liome. A space whereon to erect a cabin had first to be cleared, and while the work was going on they camped beside a large poplar log, which had been felled by the Indians. When finished for winter it was without floor; two forks were driven into the ground, a green pole laid from one to the other, on which were hung the pots and kettles while cooking was in progress. At this time there was neither church, nor mill, nor market, for the accommodation of the scattering settlers. Peter Brown settled near Chambersburg, and after a few years moved into Warren county, where he and his wife finally died. Simon Brown was always a hard-working man. He cleared otf and improved a good deal of land and accumulated a large property. He first entered eighty acres, and increased his estate by subsequent additions until it comprised 1,000 acres. His widow is living on the old homestead with her son Cyrus, who was born here December 5, 1845, and was the youngest of eight children. He was married November 26, 1874, to Miss Isabel le Crook, who was born November 12, 1856. They have one living child, Ella Gertrude, born October 22, 1875, and have lost an older daughter. Mr. Brown is a trustee of the Union church called

Shawxee Townshii

Horace Hetfield, farmer, Rob Roy, son of Solomon Hetfield, was born in Tioga county, New York, September 6, 1826. His mother's name before marriage was Mary McConnell. In the spring of 1828 his parents emigrated to Shawnee township and settled on and improved the farm on which Allen W. Helms is living. About 1854 they removed to Van Buren township, where they spent the remainder ot their lives. His mother died while in New York on a visit. His father died May 7, 1877, and his stepmother about six months earlier. Mr. Hetfield has always lived in this township. On April 26, 1849, he married Martha A. Cornell, daughter of Daniel and Mary (Tracy) Cornell. She was born December 8, 1831. Their childi-en have been three in number: Henrietta, born March 25, 1850., died December 16, '1869; Aurilla, January 10, 1854, died August 14, 1870; and Eva, March 29, 1861. Mrs. Hetfield is a communicant in the United Brethren church. Mr. Hetfield has been a Mason ten years, and has his membership in Ricliland Lodge, No. 205. He owns 240 acres of land, 60 acres being timber; the whole is worth $12,000. In politics he is a democrat.

Samuel A. Brier, farmer, Rob Roy, is descended from Scotch and Irish ancestors, he being the fourth generation from those who came to this country. His grandfather, David Brier, was a soldier under Washington, and his father, Samuel, was one of the force called out in 1794 to suppress the whisky insurrection in western Pennsylvania, and served also in the war of 1812, as a captain under Gen. Harrison, by whom he was sent eighty-five miles west from Dayton, Ohio, where he built Fort Brier, on the frontier, and commanded the garrison during his term of about one year. Mr. Brier was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, February 11, 1822, and M'as the youngest son of his father's family. His mother's name before marriage was Elizabeth Campbell. On September 27, 1828, they arrived in Shawnee township, and settled where Mr. Brier resides. A part of the land, the W. -^ of N.W. i Sec. 31, T. 21, R. 7, was bought from Wilson and Abel Claypoole, and his father received the patent in his own name. His parents died here; his mother in April, 1849, at the age of sixty-three, and his father in 1858, aged eighty-four. By will of the latter, Mr. Brier was permitted to receive the homestead and buy out the other heirs. He has increased the estate to 300 acres, 240 of which are under cultivation. Besides this farm he owns 240 acres of land in Ross township, Vermilion county, Illinois, and the s .ne quantity near Topeka, Kansas. Contrasting the early times with the present, Mr. Brier says that, when the "Wabash and Erie canal was building he sold corn at his place for fourteen cents per bushel, and was paid in canal scrip at sixty per cent discount. At the same time he sold dressed hogs for $2.10 per hundred, and received payment in the same paper. This year corn has been worth forty cents in market, and he has sold live hogs the present season for $4.25 per hundredweight in gold, and at one time tliey commanded even a higher figure. He has known his father to pay $13 per barrel for Kanawha salt, a coarse, black article. Good farm hands were hired for $9 per month, whereas now the most ordinary help obtains $20. Mr. Brier used to wagon produce to Chicago, usually selling flour jdelivered at Si per barrel. At that time he turned his o.xen loose on the north side of the Chicago river to graze over night on the prairie. It took two weeks to make the trip with horses, and nearly twice as long with oxen. The roads were generally in wretched condition the greater part of the way, and from Thorn* creek to the city, some twenty miles, nearly impassable the year round. This stretch could be traversed only by making short pulls, frequent unloadings and reloadings, and this not unusually in the water, and by doubling teams. Mr. Brier is raising better wheat and more of it to the acre than his father did on the same land broke up fifty-three years ago. The only fertilizing it has received has been by clovering a few times, which could hardly more than restore its former tilth and repair the waste of cropping. This experience is abundantly supported throughout tliis region, and the conclusion is obvious that prairie land now considered of little account for the production of wheat will in time become valuable for that use. Mr. Brier celebrated his marriage with Nancy Hatton, April 18, 1844. She was the daughter of "William Hatton, who came from Oliio to Logan township in 1826, and was born February 1, 1822. They have had eight children, four of whom are living; Solon, Laura, wife of Joseph Gilbert, of Kansas City, Missouri, Lizzie, and Burgess B. The Briers are an old Presbyterian family. His father and mother, who were native Pennsylvanians, and his grandfather were seceders. He and his wife liave been communicants thirty-four years, and lie has been an elder twenty-five. He has filled the position of Sabbath-school superintendent, and been leader of the church choir nearly forty years. All liis children, as also his son-in-law and his daughter-in-law, belong to the same church. He has been a temperate man his whole life, and a member of several organizations whose objects were to remove the temptation of strong drink from the paths of men, and to reclaim the fallen. He sent a man to the army for whom he paid $1,100, though he was not drafted, and therefore not obliged to furnish a substitute. He was raised a whig, and from edu- cation and Sentiment naturally found his way into the republican party when that became an organization, and has since been an ardent supporter of its principles.

Rev. John H. Davidson (deceased), Newtown, son of Eobert L. and Catherine (Hilliard) Davidson, was born in Pennsylvania, November 26, 1S19, and died August 1,1880. His father emigrated with his family to Ohio when he was very young. About 1S2S the family came to Fountain county and settled at "Wrightstown, in Richland township. (See biography of William Hamilton Wright, Richland township.) Their home was at this place several years. He and his father followed farming and brick-making; and on January 11, 1814, he was married to Miss Mary Yeazel. Mr. Davidson iiad been an acceptable and efficient member of the United Brethren church, and prior to his marriage had commenced giving exhortations at the old Presbyterian church (abandoned years ago) and at Possum Point, on the banks of Coal creek, in Richland township. He was ordained a minister in the ehnrch at the annual conference held in Vermilion county, Indiana, April 4, 1859. His certificate of ordination was signed by David Edwards, bishop. After this he traveled on the circuit and preached until just before the death of liis wife, in 1862, when he was compelled, by a large and constantly increasing family, to quit the pulpit, because the income from that source was inadequate to their support. The children by his first marriage were: William M., born November 20,1844; John A., May 17, 1846, died October 4, 1847; Anna R., March 21, 1848, died September 10, 1850; Hernando, December 17, 1849, died September 4, 1850 ; Catharine, February 10, 1851 ; Calvert, October 8, 1852 (deceased); Mary, January 30, 1854, died December 15, 1862; Robert Newton, June 23, 1855; Hamilton, January 29, 1857 (deceased) ; Celestia, August 4, 1858 ; Martha, April 4, 1861. Marcli 16, 1863, lie was married to Mary Jane Keller, relict of Henry C. Bever. Her children by her first husband were: Jacob Deloss (deceased) ; Robert M., (Toseph M. (deceased); Sarah E. (deceased) : Barbara A. (wife of John Crumley), and Henrietta (deceased). By her second marriage she had the following: Ira B., died in infancy; Nettie E., born February 2, 1865; Columbus, Samuel A., Fleming E., Truman 0. and Latimore E. Mr. Davidson was on the circuit no more after his last marriage, but during winters he assisted liis brethren in their protracted meetings until he was stricken with his final illness, two years before his death. He had preached with practical success, and was held in estimation by the community where he had always lived. He was a kind father, and a devoted and aftectionate husband. He left his family in comfortable circumstances.

Judge James Orr (deceased), Attica, was born June 2, 1805, near the town of Franklin, Warren county, Ohio. He was reared a son of toil, and learning the wheelwright's trade engaged himself for many years in the business of making wagons. It should be observed that he was born and reared on the frontiers of civilization, which were pressed well up to the possessions of the turbulent Indians, and which were kept in nearly constant perturbation, either by their open hostility or threatening attitude. While he was but a lad the second war with England occurred, and it is well known with what savage ferocity and sickening barbarity hostilities were carried on by the British commanders and their hardly more inhuman Indian allies. These conditions were not such as to promote the arts of peace and the diffusion of knowledge, where the paramount objects were to make homes in a desolate wilderness, secure a simple e.xistence, and maintain the public defense. Truly life was earnest. Men grew strong in body and in sense. It was in such a school as this, stripped as well of the superficial ornaments of our modern education as the more substantial and essential principles, that Mr. Orr received that training whose wholesome effects marked witli singular distinctness the whole course of his life. In the mold of industry and integrity was his character formed, and when brought conspicuously forth in the discbarge of the duties of public station he was not found wanting in any of the qualifications for a comprehensive usefulness. Little of the early history of the Orr family can be rescued from the gathering sliades of the past. It is known that they emigrated from the north of Ireland, and were of Scotch-Irish birth. The first records of the family in this country are contained in a deed of property executed in the township of Yorke, Pennsylvania, in 1770. Mr. Orr himself was a pioneer settler of Fountain county. He came to Indiana on a tour of observation in 1827, and in 1829 returned permanently to reside here, fixing his home three miles south of Attica, where he lived till the date of his death. His popularity with the people made him, in 1837, a commissioner of the county, which position he filled with so much satisfaction for one year that on the recommendations of his numerous and prominent admirers he was appointed to the responsible dignity of associate judge of the circuit court, and discharged the duties of that ofiice fourteen years, and until displaced by the new constitution of the state. He was the choice of the people of his township for trustee several terms, and at intervals filled various minor offices. Mr. Orr celebrated his first marriage in 1817, with Miss Jane Miller, a daughter of one of the very early settlers of the county. She made him the father of five children, one of whom is dead. He enjoyed her companionship little more tlian a arcade, when she was taken from him by death, and in 1862 he married, tor his second wife. Miss Susan Schermerliorn, sister to Maj. Schermerhorn, of Delphi, this state. By this union three children Nvere born to bless and inspirit their home. Mr. Orr was not a negative man, and in the changing scenes and issues of passing time he. could not have been in harmony with the opinions of all others; but liis social demeanor and public conduct were regulated by candor, honesty, and dignified respect. He was not biased by sectarian views, but heeding at all times a well-disciplined conscience, acted toward others as he hoped they would act toward him. His days were crowned with the golden sunset of a mature, cheerful and happy age. Withal declining years beget infirmities, of whose increasing weight he was forever relieved January 22, 1876. He left to his family both a goodly record and inheritance.

Kobert Orr, farmer, son of Judge James Orr, was born in Shawnee township, September 19, 1851. His mother's maiden name was Jane Miller. She was the mother of five children, one of whom is dead, and died herself either in 1858 or 1859. Mr. Orr has been running the Rob E,oy mill the last year in company with Alonzo Swank. He is a republican in politics. He owns eighty acres of well improved and valuable land, worth $6,500.

Peter Auter, fanner, Eob Roy, sou of James and Martha (Malatt) Auter, was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, December 27, 1822. His father died when he was eight years old, and in October of the same year (1830) his mother emigrated with her family of six children, Harvey, Peter, John, Mary Jane, Elizabeth and Ann, to Shawnee township, stopping first in Rob Roy; with the exception of three years that he was in Richland, he has lived here since. His mother died in September 1848. He was married January 6, 1848, to Sarah Clawson, daughter of Abraham Clawson, who came to this township from Pickaway county, Ohio, in the fall of 1825, and improved the farm now owned by Ben Malatt. Mrs. Auter was born on this place in 1830. They have had eleven children : Elizabeth, born March 3, 1849; Margaret, born August 29, 1851, died January 25, 1856; Abram, born August 12, 1853 ; John, February 25, 1856 ; Wilson, born Noveinber 24, 1857, died August 12, 1860 ; Marshal, born October 5, 1859 ; Solomon, born April 7, 1861 ; Martha Ellen, born February 14, 1866 ; Susie, born January 1, 1869, and Edgar Ingo, born May 9, 1871. Mrs. Auter belongs to the Christian church. Her father had two children, Sarah and Jonathan. The latter was a member of the 76th 111. Vols., and died of disease in 1864, at Bolivar, Tennessee, after

Josiah L. Orcutt, deceased, Eob Eoy, was born in Onondaga county, New York, July 25, 1820. His grandfather Orcutt was a soldier of the revolution. His father died when he was nine years old, and he enjoyed considerable freedom ; he was reared to work on a farm, but neglected his education. He remedied this defect by going to school after he became ot age. In 1847 he came to Fountain county, and on the 11th of October of the following year married Hannah J. Crawford, daughter of Dr. Crawford. She was born September 22, 1828. Her father emigrated from Warren county, Ohio, and settled first on Bear creek in this township, a few years, finally removing about 1835 to the place where his widow at present lives, and where he died September 29, 181:7; aged forty-four years. Her mother's name before marriage was Elizabeth Cline. Mr. and Mrs. Orcutt had eight children, as follows: Sarah E. (dead), Laura A. (dead), Theodore C. (dead), Florence E. (dead), ^John L., Simon J., Luella, and Lydia. Mrs. Orcutt was converted at the age of nineteen and united with the Presbyterian church, of which she was a member twenty-six years. At last, the distance being so great to Rob Roy, where she worshiped, and a Methodist society having been organized near her home, she withdrew from the former church and joined the latter. This was about six years ago. Her husband died of lung fever February 1, 1873. He was a reading, intelligent man. Tlie family have eighty acres of land where they live, valued at $3,500, and eighty-seven acres in Iroquois county, Illinois, worth $2,500.

"William Carnahan, born of Scotch-Irish ancestry June 25, 1785, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, emigrated to Indiana June 25, 1835, and settled in Shawnee township. He united with the Coal Greek Presbyterian church in August of the same year at a camp-meeting. At a subsequent period he assisted in the organization of the Rob Roy Presbyterian church, of which he was elected one of the ruling elders. This office he held until the day of his death, which occurred Jannary 25, 1869, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He was one of the many christian pioneers who, moving west with the first emigration to the new parts of our country, carry the love of Christ with them and plant the gospel in the wilderness. He was in every way a most excellent man. With a clear mind, well stored with intelligence, and well versed in the doctrines of the gospel, with a heart fully in sympathy with Christ and His cause, he was at all times a safe and valuable adviser to his younger brethren. At the same time he was a peculiarly humble christian. Living to a ripe old age he retained his mental vigor to the last. He died in full eonsciousfTess, and, as might have been expected from such a life, in perfect peace: gathered home "like as a shock of corn coraeth in his season." In October, 1818, he married Mary Huston, who died in September 1823. In May, 1825, he married Margaret Cooper, who yet survives him. Mrs. Margaret C. Carnahan, relict of William Carnahan, born July -1, 1796, of English and Scotch-Irish ancestr}-, in Newville, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, is now in her eighty-fifth year. In early life she united with the Presbyterian church, of which she is now a membei', as were also her ancestors away back in the seventeenth century. She is in possession of a church-letter given her great-grandfather and his wife, dated in the kingdom of Ireland and parish of Antrim, June 9, 1737, just before they emigrated to America, of which the following is a copy : *

"That John Cooper & wife & family and his son Wm. Cooper and his wife Sarah Cooper all of ye Kingdom of Ireland County and parish of Antrim & hath lived within ye bounds of sd parish, all of them from their Infancy untill ye Date hereof, & all of them while here with us behaved themselves Soberly and honestly free of any publick Scandal or Church Censure known to us & therefore may be received into Christian Communion in any Christian Society where God in his providence may be pleased to cast their lots. Certified at Antrim this ninth Day of June Anno Domini 1737. Seven

Usual H. Meeker, retired farmer and stock raiser, Rob Poy, was born in Tompkins county, New York, October 12, 1811. All he knows of his ancestral history is that two brothers named Meeker emigrated from England and settled in New Jersey anterior to the revolution. His father, Mannon Meeker, died when he was five years old, and his mother, whose maiden name was Hannah Tiiompson, removed with her family to Ohio. They were very poor, and at the age of eleven Mr. Meeker began toiling to support himself and his mother. For the first six months' labor he received the trifling sum of S8 ; and the following winter he worked for Peter Voorhees, grandfather of Daniel Voorhees, for twelve and a half cents a day, receiving his pay regularly every niglit. Next season he was employed by Mr. Voorhees at $3 per month. At length he was able to earn $4 per month, and eventually his wages were increased to $5. Before he was eighteen he had saved $115; he now quit working by the month, and bought some oxen and went to cutting and hauling wood. He accumulated money rapidly ; in six months his rising fortune had reached $215 ; but notwithstanding he was a young man of great strength and powerful con- stitution, he liad so overtaxed'aiid exhausted himself by excessive labor day and night that nature gave way under such a strain, and it was six months before lie did any more work. He had to pay board. His oxen got scattered; he had lost long and precious months. "When he began work again he found liimself, as he expresses it, "nearly ruined." But it was not long till he bought eighty acres of land in Van Buren township witliout having seen it. He paid $215 for it. On November. 27, 1831, he mai-ried Sallie Dudley. Next year he came on horseback to see his land ; it was hilly and rough, and did not please him ; but in the winter of 1835-6 he brought his family to Fountain county. Next August he swopped his land with Moses Dudley for 160 acres in Richland township, where Daniel Carpenter lives, and agreed to pay $500 to boqt. He had planted himself in the woods as poor as the most impecunious pioneer, and with a §5 and a §25 horse and a $20 wagon he began the hard struggle which he had voluntarily accepted. Next year he bought eighty acres of timber from Daniel Dyle, for $600 on credit. People were astonished at his apparently rash operations, and predictions that he would break up were freely volunteered. He did not break up, although he had to clear his land and pay for it from the products raised upon it. He brought 150 acres into cultivation. He sold this farm, and in 1856 he bought another, of 280 acres, in Shawnee township, from George May, paying $5,000 down and obtaining credit for $9,000, the last payment to be made in three years. The gloomy prophecies were renewed, and Mr. Meeker was once more the butt of pitying observations. But he paid the last installment four months before it was due. He combined extensive stock raising with his fanning ; he labored at all seasons with tireless industry; he studied and practiced careful, if not rigid economy ; he did not shrink from frequent risks, it must be confessed, and always declined to give bail on his notes of hand (often large ones), but never allowed one to mature without prompt payment. His success was uniform and his progress rapid. In 1858 he bought eighty acres from Abram Overly for $1,600; in 1859 a farm of 252 acres on Osborne's prairie, in Van Buren township, from Absalom Jenkins, for $8,000 ; in 1864, 400 acres in the same township frotn Charles Stewart and William Sewell, for $13,200; and 80 acres from Daniel Stradei-, for $2,000 ; in 1366, 68 acres from Enos Myers, for $3,700; a year or two later, 280 acres in Richland township, from the Woods heirs (Jonathan Swigert and H. Slusser), for $8,000; and lo acres of woodland from William Kirkland, for $1,125; in 1869, 169 acres in Shawnee township from Ferdinand Bookwalter, for $12,675. In 1875 he quit his farm and removed to Veedersburg, where he bought $1,600 worth of town property, and invested $2,000 in a grocery store. After eighteen months he sold out and went back to Shawnee townsliip and built himself a neat country residence. In 1878 he purchased 200 acres adjoining his old homestead from William and Daniel Briney, for $12,000; in 18S0, 133 acres in the same neighborhood from Francis Bookwalter, for §5,000 ; 80 acres for $7,500 ; and the dower of 60 acres belonging to his son Jacob's widow, for $3,000. Much more land has he bought, but this is that which he now owns, except 80 acres in Missouri, and for which lie owes not a dollar, including some 800 acres he has given his children. Mr. Meeker has by no means exhausted his ability to buy more farms. He has been a money lender for twenty years. Mrs. Meeker was born in the State of Maine, August 8, 1811, and her parents removed to Butler county, Ohio, in 1815. Siie has borne seven children : Sarah, John, Joanna, Jacob, James, Maria, and Theodore. John and Jacob were soldiers in the late war. The former was in the 72d Ind. Vols.; he served six or seven months, and was discharged for disability. The latter was in the 154th Ind., and after several months was discharged for a like cause. His service shortened his life, and he died in 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Meeker both belong to the Christian church. He cast his first ballot for Henry Clay in 1832, and from that time followed the fortunes of the whig party. He is now a republican.

Esau Brown, farmer, Attica, was born in Shawnee township, September 17, 1837, and was the son of Simon and Nancy (Reed) Brown. He has always lived here except three years (1863, 186i, 1865) that he was in Berrien county, Michigan, engaged in farming. He was married in Shawnee township, January 28, 1862, to Elizabeth Mills, who was born November 13, 1839. They have had twelve children : Sarah C, born November 6, 1862, wife of David S. Hal! ; Cyrus C, October 13, 1864; Harrison R., July 19, 1866; Simon U., January 31, 1868; Emory E., and Emma A., August 25, 1869, the first died on the day of birth and the other lived till November, 1870; Alfred A., April 4, 1871; Mary Ophelia, October 23, 1872; Nanny E., May 22, 1874; Florence E., April 11, 1876; George Wellington, November 26,1877; and Franklin D., January 23, 1880. Mr. Brown and his wife are Spiritualists. He is a greenbacker. He has a farm of 143 acres, 100 acres being improved. For the history of his parents' settlement here see sketch of Cyrus Brown, his brother.

Josiah Rusk, farmer, Attica, son of Benjamin and Sarah (Cook) Rusk, was born in Richland township, November 11, 1838. His mother was raised in Maryland, and his father in Ohio. They settled in Richland townsliip probably as early as 1830, and lived and died there; his father, October 2,1839. His mother married Abram Dove, and died September 5, 1869. Mr. Rusk got his education in the common sciiools of Richland township taught by Joseph Miller, Augustus Brier, Riley Hawkins, Mr. Voliva, Moses Fowler, Pleasant Scott, and others. He was drafted in time of the war, examined, accepted, and held at La Fayette two weeks, but none of that draft went to the army, as the quota was filled by volunteers. So he came home, and April 2, 186i, was married to Melinda, daughter of Jacob Brown, who came to the Wabash with his mother in 1826. He lived near Portland three years, and then moved to Tippecanoe county. In 1839 he returned and has lived here till this time. His wife, to whom he was married in 1833, was Susanna Beeker. He is a descendant of German ancestry, and a native of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, where he was boin in 1811. Mrs. Rusk was born March 21, 1842, and has had si.x children : Jacob B. (deceased), Sarah Susanna, John, Albert, Ellen, and Miranda. Mr. and Mrs. Rusk belong to the United Brethren church and have their membership at Brown's chapel. He was converted at the age of twelve and united with the New Lights ; his wife joined the same church a year after marriage. In 1868 they moved into Shawnee township and settled where they at present live. The change took them out of reach of the church where they had M-orshiped ; and finally in 1879 they united by letter with the society of which they are now members. Mr. Rusk owns 216 acres in Shawnee township, and 240 in Grant township, Vermilion county, Illinois, valued at $23,000. He is a democrat.

John C. Marr, farmer, Attica, was born in Attica, December 25, 1839. His father was a native of Ireland, and came to Fountain county in 1837 and settled in Attica. His mother, whose maiden name was Ann Sholl, was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, April 3, 1810, and is living with her son in the enjoyment of a vigorous old age, but not wholly free from that most painful of diseases which too rarely fails to afflict old age - rheumatism. Mr. Marr received the log school-house education of those days. He has always been a tiller of the soil, but for the last two years he has been in the stock-shipping business. He owns eighty acres of land in Webster county, Iowa. He has been a Mason about ten years, and is a republican. He has been real estate appraiser of Shawnee township for four successive terms, beginning witli 1872. He was first appointed by the board ot commissioners of Fountain county, and in 1871 and in 1876 was reelected. He was United States supervisor of election for Shawnee township in 1880. He was married December 26, 1861, to Hester A. Heefer, who died September 6, 1876, leaving two children : John Edward, born January 24, 1863, and Mary B., September 4, 1S65. His second marriage was with Miss Ella Simpson, wlio was born May 18, 1S55. She has liad two children ; Gertrude Kate, born October 7, 1878, and George Howard, November 17, 1879.

William Hall, farmer, Rob Ko}', was born in Ross count)', Ohio, May 1, 1812. He was the son of James and Hester (Hilvy) Hall. The former was born in Delaware, and the latter in Virginia. They were married in Ohio, and lived and died in Ross county. Mr. Hall's father was a hatter, and from him ho learned that trade, and worked at it from 1828 till 1837, at which time he abandoned the business and engaged in farming, which he has since followed without interruption. In August, 183i, he married Sarah Bookwater, and in 1839 emigrated to Fountain county, and improved the farm where he is living, in Shawnee township. His wife died in February lSi7, and he married again October 14 of the same year. This wife's name was Sophia Van Gundy, daughter of Samuel Van Gundy, who came from Ross county, Ohio, to Shawnee township in 1832. She was born March 17, 1817. Mr. Hall was originally a whig, and has been a republican since that party has had an existence. He has held communion in the Methodist church thirty years. His first wife was a member, as the second also is. He has tilled the office of trustee twenty years, and is still discharging the duties of that position. He has traveled somewhat in the south and west. From 1864 to 1869 he was trustee of Shawnee township, being elected five consecutive terms of one year each. He owns a choice, fertile, well improved farm, with handsome residence, picturesquely located a short distance south of Rob Roy. The place contains 200 acres, all in cultivation except thirty acres of titnber. His first marriage was fruitful of five children: Elizabeth (deceased), Clinton (deceased), Jeremiah, Isaac, and James. By his second wife he has had six children : Wallace, AiOnzo, Ophelia (wife of Daniel R. Brown), Alexander, Arphelia, and Ella. His sons, Clinton, Jeremiah and Isaac, were soldiers in the late war. Clinton belonged to the 22d 111. Vols., and fought at Shiloh and Stone River. In the last battle he was wounded in the leg; gangrene set in, and though the limb was amputated it was not enough to save his life. His remains were brought home and interred at Rob Roy. Jeremiah was in the BGth Ind. Vols., and after four months' service in the field was taken sick and sent to Nashville, and after his recovery was retained there to nurse in hospital till the end of the war, serving on this detached duty nearly three years. Isaac was in the 113th Ind. Vols., and served his full time of six months in East Tennessee.

nee township, August 2, ISiO. His grandtather, Mark Breinnig (now spelled Briney), serred in the last war with England, and was one of the garrison of Fort Meigs when it was besieged. He was born in "Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, October 23, 1T90, and came with his parents to Butler county, Ohio, in a very early time. His mother's parents, Daniel and Ellen (Fergusson) McMillan, arrived in Shawnee township, from Dark county, Ohio, about 18.30. He was a prominent citizen, and built the first mill of any consequence on the Shawnee. This first bore the name of its original proprietor, and for many years recently has been known as the " Nave Mill," but its name has still more recently been changed to Wheatland. Mr. McMillin was one of the commissioners of Fountain county in his time. His birth occurred in 1768, and his death in 1830; his wife was born June 12, 1774, and died in 1840. Mr. Briney's father emigrated from Butler county, Ohio, reaching Fountain county October 20, 1831. After living four years near Covington, he married and removed to Shawnue township, where he at present resides. He was born in January 1815, and his wife March 16 of the same year. She was the youngest child of twelve, and is the only one of the number living. This couple reared three sons and one daughter: Daniel, Mark, William Alexander (dead), and Sarah Ellen. The latter is the wife of Oliver Marshall, of Troy township. Mr. Briney enlisted August 13, 1862, in Co. C, 86th Ind. Vols., and was discharged February 19, 1863, on surgeon's certificate of disability. He was married August 19, 1869, to Mary E., daughter of William and Nancy (Brier) Manlove. Mrs. Manlove died January 15, 1856, and Mr. Manlove November 27, 1860. Mr. Brier has had three children: Okella, born May 17, 1870; William M., born February 13, 1872, died September 6, 1873 ; Edna, January 29, 1875, died May 11 of same year. He owns a good farm of 164 acres, 110 being improved, and is a democrat. His wife is a Presbyterian.

Simon B. LaBaw, farmer. Fountain (Portland), was born in Shawnee township, July 15, 1841. He was the son of Benjamin and Phebe (Crane) LaBaw, who came by wagon from ilontgomery county, Ohio, probably as early as 1830, and settled on the farm which is owned and occupied by John LaBaw. This couple reared twelve children, seven of whom are living. Mrs. LaBaw died April 24, 1852, and Mr. LaBaw married twice afterward ; three children by his second wife, Elizabeth Smith, arc living; his third wife, Eh'za Arheart, had two children, but both are dead. Mr. LaBaw's eldest brother, David, was a member of the 86th Ind. Vols. He was slightly wounded at the battle of Stone Kiver, and being afterward prostrated with typhoid fever, died in hospital at Murfreesboro, April 4, 1863. His brother,

K Pen-ick B., was in tlie same regiment, and was killed in the first dav's I battle at Stone Eiver, January 31, 1802. His brother, Jjenjainin F., was in the 72d Ind.Vols. He shared in the hard service done by the f' Army of the Ohio, in the last quarter of the year 1862. He was in a ninnber of skirmishes and on long marches, and died of lung fever at Bowling Green, Kentucky, January 4, 1863. Mr. LaBaw himself was in the 154th Ind.Vols. (Co. C); he enlisted in the spring of 1865, for one year, and served near Winchester, in the Shenandoah valley, doing garrison duty. He was retained in the service until August 1865, and then discharged. This was truly a family stimulated by no doubtful patriotism. Mr. LaBaw was married to Sarah E. Deal, December 7, 1865. She died December 15, 1866, leaving a son, Emory G., who was born November 27. December 10, 1867, he was married in Pennsylvania, by the Rev. Wolf, to Amelia Brame, who was born April 9, 183S. The children by this union are Mary E., born December 29, 1868; Laura B., born May 11, 1871; Elizabeth E., born March 4, 1S73; Edwin, born September 9, 1874, died in infancy, and Lily Xaoini, born August 25, 1876. Mrs. LaBaw belongs to the United Brethren church, and has her membership at Brown's chapel. He is a trustee of this church, but not a member. He owns 200 acres of land, 90 acres being timber, worth $10,000. He is a greenbacker.

James Marquess, farmer. Fountain (Portland), second son and fourth child of Kidd and Jane (Trusscl) Marquess, was born in Louden county, Virginia, May 8, 1805. His birtliplace was on the summit of the Blue Ridge, where he passed the first sixteen years of his life. At eighteen he crossed to the east side of the mountains to a little town called Union, where he learned the shoemaker's trade with Thomas Jones, in whose shop he worked three years. In May, 1827, he went to Leesburg, the county town, and engaged in making boots and shoes for the paupers of Louden county. At Christmas, 1828, he went up on the Blue Ridge and embarked in the coopering business with his brother till September 1831, when he came to Dayton, Ohio, where he made this his principal employment during his residence in the place. November 21, 1833, he was married to Miss Margaret Ann Berry, who was born in Maryland, August IS, 1815. In 1835 ho purchased sixty acres on Mad river, in Clark county, Ohio, for $900, and they lived on this until the spring of 183S, when they returned to Daj-ton. June 1, 1841, they departed from that place for the west, and arrived in Rob Roy on the 9th. In the following autumn he bought from Thomas Bodley the farm which John Stucker, son-in-law of Mr. Marquess, now owns and occupies. This was entered in 1822 by George Johnson who sold it to Bodley. Here Mr. Marquess and his family resided until

Marcli 18i6, when they moved to liis present homestead. He has 19o' acres in a body, about 130 acres being under the plow and in pasture. This is worth 89,500. Mr. and Mrs. Marquess have reared nine cliildren of their own and tliree belonging to other parents. Following are the former: Serena Ann, wife of Samuel Smith, of Niles, Micliigan ; Delilah Jane, deceased wife of David L. LaBaw ; Mary Catherine, wife of Dayton E. CofRng ; Nancy Ellen, wife of Jonathan D. Ci'ane; William H., who married Mary, daughter of the Rev. Simon Brown ; Margaret E., wife of John Crawford ; Sarah A., wife of Simon Houts; Elda, wife of John Stucker ; and George, married to Eh/:a Ferguson. They brought up "William Jemison, who was a soldier in tlie late war, and afterward died ; and Samuel F. and George M. La Baw, grandsons. The father of these grandchildren, David L. LaBau, was a member of the SGth Ind. Yols., and was slightly wounded at the battle of Stone River. He was attacked not long after with typhoid fever, and died in liospital at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, April 4, 18G3. "William Marquess belonged to the same regiment and served about six months, when he v.-as discharged at Bowling Green, Kentucky, on account of disability. Mrs. Marquess is a member of the United Brethren church. Mr. Marquess cast his first vote for president for Gen. Jackson, in 1832. He voted the democratic ticket till 1852, when he cast the only ballot for John P. Hale that was deposited at the polls at Portland. He has been a republican since that party came into existence.

James J. Meeker, farmer, Eob Eoy, son of Usual H. Meeker, was born in Richland township, January 31, 1847. In the spring of 185C he moved with his father's family into Shawnee township, and has since resided here. He was married April 21, 1870, to Martha EMcKnight, daughter of Linton and Margaret (Marcus) McKnight, who removed from Ohio to Richland township in 1850. Her father was a Virginian by birth. Their marriage has produced two children : Hettie M., born November 20, 1871, and Usual M., November 29, 1873r Botli parents are members of the Christian denomination, and have their membership at the Union Cemetery church. Mr. Meeker has 190 acres of first-class land, 30 acres being in pasture and timber. He is a republican.

"William M. Hatton, farmer, Attica, was born in Logan townshipi October 6, 1840. His grandfather Hatton was an early settler from Ohio, locating on Sec. 17, T. 21, R. 7, in 1826. The fkrin which he improved, and on whieli he lived and died, is now the property of Henry Nave by recent purchase. His grandfather Swank was another pioneer, who came two or three years later than the PLattoiis, and set up at his trade of blaeksmithing close by Henry Nave's. He afterward l)OUf,dit on the N.E. ^ of See. 20. The Swank homestead has recently been purchased by the subject of this sketch, who also has just disposed of the Hatton homestead. Thomas S. Hatton was bom in 1823, and came here with his father from Ohio. Pie married Julia Swank, and the fruits of this union were ten children, nine of whom are living : Thomas S., James E. (born in 1S4S), William M., Charles T., Mary C. (deceased), John A., Frank E. (born October 7, 1857), Joseph B., David H., Sarah E. and Walter B. William M. was married March 27, 1873, to Xancy C, daughter of Leonard and Ann Eliza Houts. She was born in Logan township, December 17, 1S50. Her parents came from Ohio at an early day, and settled on Lopp's prairie. They have one child, Charles Edmund, born December 31, 1873. James E. was married January 2-1, 1870, to Mary A. Coppock, who died' July 7, 1878, leaving three children. Charles has been in business a short time in Attica, but recently sold out to his brothers, James E. and Frank, who now carry on the grocery trade. John A. is in the same business in Williamsport.

Francis M. Potter, farmer, Attica, was born in Floyd county, Indiana, March 5, 1835. He was the son of Abram and Thirza (Overbay) Potter, the former of whom died and was buried in Knox county in March 1844 or 1845. In 1851 he and his mother arrived in Fountain county and settled on the Big Shawnee, where he has since lived - sometimes in Logan, sometimes in Richland, but most of the time in Shawnee township. His mother died February 4, 1880, aged seventynine years. He was married August 10, 1862, to Kancy Ann, daughter of William H. and Mary (Stout) Smith, who settled in Eichland township in 1828. Mrs. P. is a sister to John C. Smith, who has a sketch in Eichland township. These parents have seven living children: John D., born April 11, 1SG2; Lenora E., February 20, 1864; Alta Mary, January 2, 1867; Francis Marion, August 30, 1869; George Washington, April 19, 1872; Icy Abigal, October 9, 1874; and Daniel Voorhees, January 31, 1878. Mr. Potter was an Odd-Fellow five years from 1864 ; since that he has not been affiliated. He enlisted May 8, 1861, in Co. H, 15th Ind. Vols., and was in the service three months. He is a democrat.

William Carnahan Cole, M.D., was born July 16, 1828, in Washington, Daviess county, Indiana, of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry. In his eighteenth year he enlisted in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the regiment of Mounted Rifles, Smith's brigade, Twigg's division, and with that command, under Gen. Scott, participated in all the battles in the Valley of Mexico, entering the city September 14, 1847, and re- niaining nine months. Ho was discharged at Jefferson barracks, Missouri. He studied medicine at tlie Medical College of Ohio, attending >:« two full courses of lectures and graduating from tliat school. He located in Newtown, Fountain county, March 1852, where he practiced until December 1859, when he changed his location to a farm in Shawnee township, where he has practiced ever since witli the exception of the three years he served in the Union army. In August, 1862, lie assisted in recruiting Co. H, 72d reg. Ind. "Vols., of which company he was elected first lieutenant. On the arrival of the regiment at Indianapolis he was commissioned by Gov. Morton assistant surgeon ; and after one year of service in the field, and in charge of Hospital No. 5, at Gallatin, Tennessee, was commissioned surgeon of the 72d regiment. He served during the last year of the war as brigade surgeon of ^Yilder's brigade of mounted infantry ; the T2d and 17th Indiana and the 9Sth and 123d Illinois comprising the brigade. At the close of tlie last campaign, while at Macon, Georgia, he detailed Dr. Groves, of the 9Sth Illinois, to accompany the -Ith Michigan in pursuit of Jeff. Davis. The doctor was present at the capture of that noted personage. He was mustered out of the service at Indianapolis. He is a member of the American Medical Association, Indiana State Medical Society, and of tlie Fountain County Medical Society, of which last he is president. He was married May 3, 1853, to Miss Mary A. Carnahan, who was born November 5, 1830, at Newville, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and who emigrated with her parents to Fountain county in 1835, settling in Shawnee township. Dr. Cole's eldest son, William G., was born in Newtown, June 9, 1851. He attended Waveland Collegiate - Institute and "Wabash College each one term. He was married May 27, 1879, to Miss Eva Haas, who was born November 25, 1860. They have a child, "William C, born March 24, 1880. Both are members of the Beulah Presbyterian church, and he is a republican.

George M. Foster, farmer, Rob Roy, eldest of two sons, by John L. and Catherine (Nave) Foster, was born April 2i, 1853. His grandfather, James Foster, emigrated to this township from Franklin county, Ohio, in 1827. Mr. Foster was married November 3, 1875, to Eliza Jane Burbridge, daughter of Morgan Bnrbridge, a pioneer settler of western Indiana. She was born October 21, 1854, in Tippecanoe county. They are the parents of three children : Wilmer, born August 18, 1876 ; "William Robert, February 21, 1S78, and John Lee, February 8, ISSO. Mr. and Mrs. Foster are members of the Presbyterian church. He is a republican.

county, Pennsylvania, April 7, 1821. His father was a soldier in tlie last war with England, and served in Canada. Mr. Snyder was raised a fanner, and received a common school education. Marcii 17, 1854, he and his family arrived in Siiawnee township, where tiiey have since lived. -He was married January S, 1852, to Mary Fidler, who was born October 26, 1821. They have had two children : Mary, born June 9, 1861 (died in infancy), and Samuel E., born February 5, 1863. Mr. Snyder was elected township trustee in 1870, and held the office two years. In 1878 he was reelected, and also again in 1880. He belongs to the German Eeformed and his wife to the Lutheran church. He owns a good farm of 327 acres two miles west of Eob Roy. He is a national greenbacker.