USA > Indiana > White County > A standard history of White County Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and county, Vol. II > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56
THE IRWIN M LIBRARY
BUTLER UNIVERSITY
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/standardhistoryo02hame
A Standard History
of
WHITE COUNTY INDIANA
An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with an Extended Survey of Modern Developments in the Progress of Town and Country
Under the Supervision of W. H. HAMELLE
VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1915
F
, 158 F85
Ca. Spence perces
History of White County
GEORGE ARMSTRONG SPENCER, second son of Thomas and Margaret Armstrong Spencer, was born January 16, 1794, in Turkeyfoot Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and in 1809 moved to near Somerset, Perry County, Ohio. His grandfather, James Spencer, Jr., the revolu- tionary soldier, came from England in 1764 and settled in Turkeyfoot Township, Pennsylvania, where Thomas, George A. Spencer's father, was born October 26, 1765.
In the fall of 1829 George A. Spencer and his brother-in-law, Benj. Reynolds, walked from their home in Perry County, Ohio, to what after- wards became Big Creek Township, White County, Indiana, and started the building of a 12 by 12 log house. He returned to Ohio alone, leaving again June 1, 1830, with his family, his brother James and family and the family of Benj. Reynolds; he arrived at the log house Reynolds had completed in the meantime, on June 20th, and the three families (fifteen in all) occupied this house in section 12 until a few months later each had built a new log house, Reynolds in section 13, and George A. Spencer in section 12, a log house 16 by 20, which was later enlarged and weather boarded, and also used for the first courthouse of the county, George A .. Spencer being the first county treasurer. The first court of the county for two years from October 13, 1834, was held here, during which: time lawyers, who afterwards gained state and national reputations: practiced law and attended court here, among them being Rufus A. Lock- wood, who won a $25,000 fee afterward as chief counsel in the famous: John C. Fremont land title litigation in California ; John U. Pettit, after- wards judge of Indiana Supreme Court; Albert S. White, afterward United States senator ; Samuel Huff; Ira Ingraham, and others. George. A. Spencer was the first justice of the peace in the county and continued as such for thirty years. He served in the War of 1812 and was always; a patriotic and public-spirited man, a strong, self-reliant and positive character in every respect, a strict churchman and a man of the highest integrity, a good business man, having accumulated a large estate, he was yet a most generous man and neighbor, whose hospitality was un- excelled.
517
518
HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
CALVIN C. SPENCER was a son of George A. Spencer, who was among the first settlers, locating in White County in 1829. The latter brought his family to the county in 1830, when Calvin C. was only one year old-he having been born in Perry County, Ohio, August 6, 1829. December 8, 1858, he was married to Mrs. Sarah J. Haven. To them were born five children, three of whom are still living. They are Attor- ney Charles C. Spencer, of Monticello, Fred Spencer, of Chicago, and Mrs. Rae Rubwright, of Evansville. Mr. Spencer's great-grandfather, Thomas Spencer, is said to have been one of the colonists who came over with Lord Baltimore in 1630. The father, George A. Spencer, served under General Brown in the War of 1812. Mr. Spencer died February 14, 1898.
CHARLES C. SPENCER, son of Calvin C. and Sarah Jennings Spencer, was born January 6, 1868, in a log house in section 12 in Big Creek Township, now in Union Township, White County, used in 1834 and 1835 as the residence of George A. Spencer, his grandfather, and also for a courthouse. In 1869 his father, Calvin, moved to a log house in section 18 about one mile east, soon supplanted by a large frame house, in which he lived until 1881, moving into a new house a half mile east in section 7, both of which he now owns. He graduated from both the College of Liberal Arts and law school of DePauw University in 1889. He has been engaged in farming and the practice of law all the time since 1889. He is a member of the Chicago bar and of the Lake County, Indiana, Bar, and lives in Monticello where he has practiced law since 1890. He was city attorney of Monticello from 1894 to 1898 appointed by a republican board of trustees, though he was a democrat. He helped the city get one of the best and cheapest systems of water works in the state without the waste or graft of a dollar, and he successfully de- fended the Town of Monticello against a suit in the Federal courts for about $25,000 on a refunding school bond issue and has earned the repu- tation of winning some of the largest verdicts and settlements against railroads and corporations in Northwestern Indiana. He was a law partner of Judge T. F. Palmer from 1891 to 1894, and of W. H. Ham- elle since 1897. He also maintains a law office at Hammond, Indiana, where the firm name is Spencer, Cowger & Thomas, the firm name at Monticello being Spencer, Hamelle, Cowger & Thomas. He has never aspired to office, though he takes an interest in politics. He has always been an independent democrat.
THADDEUS E. IRELAND. One of the fine country homesteads of Jack- son Township is that owned by Thaddeus E. Ireland, situated half a mile southwest of Idaville. Mr. Ireland is one of the progressive farmers and
519
HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
citizens of White County and has lived in this locality about thirty years. His prosperity has been a matter of steady growth, and he is now comfortably situated and is the owner of 116 acres of fine land. Along with close attention to his private business affairs he has mani- fested a commendable degree of public spirit in community matters and is one of the leading democrats of his section of the county.
His family has been identified with Indiana nearly eighty years. His grandfather, Thomas Ireland, moved out from Greene County, Ohio, to Carroll County, Indiana, in 1836, and after living one year on what was known as the Dan Shafer farm entered 160 acres of land in section 3 of Adams Township. That is the old Ireland homestead, and has con- tinued under that name ever since title was transferred from the Govern- ment. The Ireland family, in spite of the name, which is believed to be of French origin, is largely of German stock. The first of the name came from Germany to Pennsylvania with the religious society of Rappists. From Pennsylvania later members moved to Kentucky, then to Ohio, and finally to Indiana. Thomas Ireland married Mary Gettie, and they became the parents of nine children.
Samuel W. Ireland, father of Thaddeus E., was the sixth among these children, and was born in Greene County, Ohio, February 19, 1832. He was four years of age when he came to Indiana, and is now eighty- three years of age and still living on the old homestead which his father pre-empted in Carroll County. His life has been spent quietly but honorably in the vocation of agriculturist, and he has lived to see his children do him credit. He is a democrat in politics and in religious matters was at one time what was called a Seceder Presbyterian, but is now of the United Presbyterian faith.' Samuel W. Ireland was mar- ried February 22, 1861, to Elizabeth Herman, daughter of John Her- man, who was an early settler in Cass County, Indiana, coming from Shelby County, Ohio. Samuel Ireland was the father of seven chil- dren. Linnie A., the oldest, is thie wife of Adam Hanna, and lives in Idaville. Thaddeus E. is the second in order of birth. J. Myron, who lives at Villisca, Iowa, married Hulda West, and their three children are Hazel, Ruby and Dale. Byron, who was a twin brother of Myron, died in infancy. Alpheus B., who lives in Cass County, Indiana, married Maggie Crowell, and their two children are named Gladys and Joseph. Bertha M., who lived with her sister, died July 12, 1915. Wilson B., the youngest, who now occupies a corner of the old homestead in Carroll County, married Margaret P. Rhodabaugh, and their family of five children are Linnie H., Elizabeth P., Josephine, Rachel and Paul W.
Thaddeus E. Ireland was born on the old homestead originally pre- empted by his grandfather in Carroll County, January 9, 1864. The
520
HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
years of his youth and early manhood were spent in his father's home, and there he learned the lessons of industry, while his education was secured in the common schools. On September 16, 1884, he married Mary A. Hanna, daughter of Andrew and Margaret. (Dimmit) Hanna. The Hanna family is well known in White County, and further men- tion of it is made on other pages of this publication. Immediately after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Ireland removed to their present farm in section 29 of Jackson Township. Thirty years of residence in one locality have made their home sacred by thousands of the inti- mate associations, and there all their children were born and reared, seven in number, as follows: Mary B., who is teaching school at Bur- lington, Indiana; Wilbur M., who lives just north of his father's home, married Fannie Harless, and has one child, Wilbur M., Jr .; Elliott, who lives at home ; Bertha E., wife of Jacob Braaksma, living near Reming- ton, in White County; Bernice E., Thelma Ruth and Wallace W., all of whom are still at home.
Mr. Ireland has been a democratic voter since Cleveland's first campaign. He is now chairman of both the township advisory and financial boards, and has served as a delegate to many democratic county conventions. His part in politics has been that of an influen- tial citizen, though in no case has he proved an eager aspirant for any official honor. In 1881 Mr. Ireland joined the Reformed Presbyterian Church, in which he served as an elder for several years. The church of this denomination in this part of White County finally became so reduced in membership that it could not be continued, and in 1907 Mr. Ireland and wife joined the United Presbyterian congregation, and has since been liberal in its support.
CAPT. BENJAMIN F. PRICE. Of the families that were among the earliest to arrive in White County and in the various relations of indi- vidual enterprise and active citizenship have done most to enrich their community, that of Price is usually one of the most noteworthy and identified with some of the earliest events that transpired in this wilder- ness locality.
The founder of the family was Peter Price, who came from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, to what is now White County, Indiana, in the spring of 1831. He was born February 7, 1799, grew to manhood in Berks County, Pennsylvania, and learned the weaver's trade there. On coming to White County he was in the full vigor of manhood, and the power of his physique was equalled by the fine qualities of heart and mind. He stood about 5 feet 10 inches high and weighed close to 200
521
HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
pounds. He was married in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, on November 20, 1821, to Asenath Rothrock, and three of their children were born before they left their native state. John Rothrock, a preacher of the Dunkard Church, had come out to White County in 1830, and after prospecting and looking over the country returned to Pennsylvania. Then in the spring of 1831 John Rothrock and Peter Price brought their families by wagon across the great intervening stretch of country to White County. Peter Price entered 160 acres of land adjoining the present site of Monticello, a portion of which is described topographically as the east half of the northeast quarter of section 32, township 27 north, range 3 west. The warrant to this land was signed by the then Presi- dent of the United States, Andrew Jackson. Peter Price built a hewed log cabin, a story and a half high, with clapboard roof and mud and stick chimney. His industry soon cleared and improved the land, and at that pioneer home five more children were born. Their eight children were Sarah, Joseph S., Nancy, Abraham, John, Benjamin F., Isaac and Maria L.
In the very early days of White County's organization Peter Price was appointed county treasurer, and it is said that, owing to there being no office, he carried the funds around in his pocket. He also served as overseer of the poor. His wife was a member of the German Baptist, or Dunkard, Church. Mr. Price probably at one time belonged to the church, but through the greater part of his life was liberal in his relig- ious belief. He was an outspoken whig in the days when that party was at its strongest, and subsequently became a republican. He was a man of decided opinions and had the courage to express them in plain lan- guage. Two classes of people he had no use for-the lazy and the dis- honest. His influence was always on the side of good government and good citizenship.
Peter Price died after a long and useful career, July 19, 1877. His widow, who was born November 15, 1802, in Mifflin County, Pennsyl- vania, died January 19, 1892. Three of their sons served in the Union army during the Civil war. Isaac was in an Indiana battery, while John enlisted in Company K of the Twentieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, was a soldier three years, rose to the rank of lieutenant, was captured and imprisoned a short time before his exchange. He married Nancy J. Ellis and died in White County in January, 1896.
Benjamin F. Price, who made a distinguished record as an officer in the Union army, and for many years has been one of the active and in- fluential citizens of White County, was born on his present farm near Monticello, September 27, 1838. Except when away in the army he has always lived in White County. His boyhood days were spent on the old
522
HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
homestead, and, like other pioneer lads, he found abundance of oppor- tunity to exercise his growing strength in the grubbing, clearing, fence building and general farming. His education came from the public schools as they then existed in Monticello.
On July 1, 1862, Captain Price enlisted in Company D of the Twelfth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered into service August 17th as second lieutenant of the company. On the 30th day of the same month, thirteen days after being mustered in, he participated in the battle at Richmond, Kentucky. He soon afterwards returned to Indianapolis, and remained at camp, drilling until November. In that month, with his command, he went to Memphis, Tennessee, did guard duty at Holly Springs, Mississippi, and spent the winter at Grand Junc- tion, Tennessee. In 1863 he went down the Mississippi to the vicinity of Vicksburg, at Snider's Bluff, and was next stationed at Black River to check the threatened release of the beleaguered city by General John- ston. He was there when Vicksburg surrendered, and then followed Johnston to Jackson, Mississippi, and participated in the second battle at that place. In the fall of 1863 he was back at Memphis, and from there his regiment marched the entire distance to Chattanooga in time to participate in the battle of Missionary Ridge. Meanwhile, on Septem- ber 12, 1863, Lieutenant Price was promoted to first lieutenant. From the fall of 1863 he was in the armies commanded by General Sherman, and in the incessant fighting which in the late summer of 1864 culminated in the capture of Atlanta. He then continued with Sherman on the famous march to the sea, thence through the Carolinas to Washington, and his regiment led the Grand Review down the principal street of that city, his company being the third in the line of march. On Friday after- noon of May 13, 1863, Captain Price was wounded by a gun shot in the left side. On March 31, 1864, he was appointed captain of his company, and on June 8, 1865, received his honorable discharge.
Since the war Captain Price has followed farming and stock raising, and has long stood high in the esteem of his fellow-citizens. He is a sound republican and has always supported the principles of the Grand Old Party. He was married February 4, 1873, to Susan Kiefhaber, daughter of Ferdinand and Margaret (Cullen) Kiefhaber.
GEORGE T. INSKEEP. A White County citizen who has accomplished much for his own advantage and for the community during his forty years of residence in this locality is George T. Inskeep, one of the fortunate farmers of Union Township, where he has a large and well managed estate that represents to a considerable degree his substantial
523
HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
achievements since beginning life on his own account. Mr. Inskeep has also taken an active part in township and county affairs.
George T. Inskeep was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, March 12, 1852, a son of William and Julia M. (Turner) Inskeep. Just two months before his birth his father died, and a week before that the parents had lost their third child,. George Fox Inskeep. William Inskeep was born in West Virginia, while his wife was a native of Ohio. The grandfather, also named William Inskeep, was a Virginia planter and slaveholder, and died in Virginia on the old homestead. George T. Inskeep is probably the only living resident of White County who ever inherited anything from slavery. He received $67 on the settle- ment of his grandfather's estate. William Inskeep, the father, located in Indiana in 1832. That was an early time, when Indians, deer and other wild game were in abundance; the prairies were broken in only a few spots, and the forests were uncleared and the swamps undrained. The home of the family in Tippecanoe County was secured from the Government and is still in possession of the family, having been owned by William J. and Marcus Inskeep, brothers of George T., until their death, both passing away within fourteen hours of each other. One of their sons now occupies and owns the old homestead.
George T. Inskeep received as good an education as was possible in his generation, attending the somewhat primitive country schools in his home locality, and afterwards spending one year in the noted old institution of higher learning, Wabash College. He lived at home with his mother and brothers until the age of twenty-two, and moved to White County in 1874. In 1888, on March 21, he married Mary F. Davisson, daughter of Josiah and Anna (Hoffman) Davisson. Her father was born in Preble County, and her mother in Darke County, Ohio. Mrs. Inskeep was the fifth in a family of seven children. Her people came to White County in 1854, and both her parents died in this locality. Mr. and Mrs. Inskeep are the parents of five children, all of them unmarried and all natives of White County, named as follows: Anna M., Marcus M., Harold, George A., and Frances Gertrude.
The first farm Mr. Inskeep settled upon when taking up independent work for himself was northwest of Chalmers in White County. The land was entirely wild, had no improvements, and the ground had never yet been broken by the plow, lying as it had lain for centuries. He thus was presented with an undertaking similar to that of the older generation of pioneers. In February, 1875, he started to build a house, a frame structure 26 feet square and built in the box-like manner that then prevailed. This old home is still standing. It was constructed under the greatest difficulties. He started the building in the dead of
524
HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
winter, at a time when the roads in that section were not yet cut through, and the lumber had to be hauled a distance of five miles over twelve inches of snow. While living on that farm Mr. Inskeep put in a great amount of ditching, and in many ways improved its value and fertility. It continued to be his home for seventeen years, and in 1892 he sold and bought his present place in Union Township. His new farm had some advantages over the first place, but the buildings were old and his individual work and management are responsible for the thrifty and comfortable appearance of his present farm. He has added to the older buildings, has constructed a comfortable new home, and has added im- measurably to the value of the farm by laying about $3,000 worth of tiling. The farm comprises 263 acres, and is devoted to general crops and tock raising.
Hirs. Inskeep is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Inskeep is a Mason, and his political activities have all been in har- mony with the republican party. He served as a member of the Board of County Commissioners of White County from 1900 to 1904, and from 1886 to 1888 was township trustee of Big Creek Township. He also served on the county council from 1906 to 1910. His fellow-citizens have complete confidence in his integrity, his competence as a business man, and in all the relations of an active life he has measured up to the best standards of good citizenship.
THE DOWNEY FAMILY. Some of the most interesting records of county history are found in the annals of the Downey family, which since pioneer times has been numerously represented in this region, and one of the well known members of which is Thomas F. Downey, a former sheriff of White County and a resident of Buffalo, whose name will serve as the point of reference for the facts contained in the follow- ing paragraphs.
Going back five generations, the family history begins with a Scotch- man who spelled his name MacDowney. He was Thomas F. Downey's father's grandfather's grandfather. He held the rank of a general in Prince William's army and fought against James II in the closing years of the seventeenth century and helped to bring about the fall of the house of Stuart. For his services he received fifty acres of land in County Tyrone, Ireland, three miles from Londonderry.
Two generations later we find James MacDowney, a grandson of General MacDowney. James MacDowney came to America in 1792 and settled in Philadelphia, where he served in the militia that put down the Whiskey rebellion in Western Pennsylvania, and also enlisted to work for the United States for three years, during which time the ship
Mary & Downey
James Downey OR
525
HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
Philadelphia was built. James MacDowney dropped the Mac part of his name soon after coming to America. He married Martha Wigton, and moved to Perry County, Ohio, where he died at the age of eighty- five. Of the nine children of their union, only three Nancy, Thomas and James, lived to maturity. Of these, Nancy, married William Glover, and of her four children, James, Benjamin, Samuel and Cath- erine, all except Catherine died young. This daughter, Catherine Glover, married Homer T. Machlan, and they had four children. Homer Machlan, Sr., is deceased, but his wife and children reside in Illinois not far from Terre Haute. James Downey, a brother of Nancy, married late in life and died without issue.
Thomas Downey, grandfather of Thomas F. Downey of Buffalo, and a son of James and Martha (Wigton) MacDowney married Catherine Moore, a daughter of Thomas Moore who married a Miss Powers. Catherine Moore's forebears came from England to America in 1620 on the Mayflower. Her grandfather's name was James Powers. He and his father were Presbyterian ministers and among the first to come west of the Allegheny Mountains. Thomas Moore, father of Catherine Moore Downey, was a graduate of Princeton University. By his mar- riage to the daughter of James Powers he had four children: Thomas, James, John and Catherine. After the death of his first wife he mar- ried a lady by the name of Hughes, a sister of the grandfather of Jones Brearly of Monticello. The two children of this union were Israel and Maria, and the latter married John Wilson and had two children, Benton and Cheever Wilson.
Thomas and Catherine (Moore) Downey had four daughters : Rachel, Martha, Maria and Nancy ; and two sons, James and Thomas. Maria died in infancy in the year 1838 and is buried in the old cemetery at Monticello. Thomas Downey and family moved from Perry County, Ohio, to White County, Indiana, landing in Monticello, October 27, 1836.
The description of their journey and first settlement is an illuminat- ing paragraph concerning the pioneer chapter in White County's his- tory. They moved in an old Virginia wagon with a box that curved up about seven feet high at each end. To this wagon were hitched four horses, two abreast. The driver was Thomas Downey's brother, James, who rode the near wheel horse and drove the leaders with a single line and a jockey stick. James Downey, father of Thomas F., was then but four years of age, but he often rode the off wheel horse and thought he was helping. That autumn was a wet season and many movers mired in the mud, but grandfather Downey walked and carried his ax so that when he came to a mud hole he cut his way around it and went on. Not many of the present generation would want the pleas-
526
HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
ure of moving in that way, but the early pioneers had little to move, and that was some consolation after all. It was a difficult matter to find a place to stop at night on account of the houses being far apart. At times only a short day's journey could be made while at other times they had to travel far into the night. Grandfather Thomas Downey had already purchased eighty acres of land through John Wilson, west of Monticello, where Harry Wedge now lives, better known as the Isaac Moore Farm. There he built a cabin and passed the first winter in Indiana. It did not take very long to build a house in those days, for all the men turned out and helped to cut the logs and raise the cabin. The cabin was covered with clapboards, weighted down with poles. The floor was made of puncheons hewed on the top side. The door was made. of clapboards and hung on wooden hinges. The chimney was built of sticks and daubed on the outside and inside with clay, while the back wall and jambs were made of stones, and mortar. The hearth was made of flat stones and a lubber pole was placed in the chimney with chains and hooks to hang the pots on. There was an oven out of doors to bake bread, and for frying meat skillets with legs on and lids were used. When the Downey family came to White County there were but three houses in Monticello: one at the corner known as the old Jost corner, built by Peter B. Smith; one just north of the Forbes Hotel, built by Roland Hughes; and one on Tippecanoe Street, built by William Sill.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.