USA > Indiana > Decatur County > A Genealogical and biographical record of Decatur County, Indiana : compendium of national biography > Part 43
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The marriage of Professor Shannon and Miss Mary M., daughter of Dr. F. A. and Mrs. R. O. Hester, was celebrated June 29,
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1887. Two daughters and a son-WVilla, Tom and Marguerite-were born of this union. Mrs. Shannon's father; now seventy. seven years of age, was for a half century one of the most able and active workers in the southeastern Indiana conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is now on the superannuated list of that denomi- nation, and with his wife, who though sev- enty-five, is still an active woman, is living in Greencastle, Indiana. Mrs. Shannon, who received an excellent education and was endowed by nature with rare qualities of mind and heart, was graduated in Moore's Hill College, in 1882. She was . - engaged in teaching until her marriage, and at present is one of the able and suc- cessful teachers in the Greensburg schools.
THE HENDRICKS FAMILY.
Of the leading families of this state for three-fourths of a century following its ad- mission to statehood there was none held in higher estimation-more popular with · all classes of the people-than the gentle- man whose name heads this paper. Of the early history of the family nothing is known here dating previous to 1750, though it is very certain it is of Scotch-Irish origin.
Abraham Hendricks was a Presbyterian preacher in Westmoreland county, Penn- sylvania, during the latter part of the last and early part of the present century. He was born in 1750 and died in 1819; his wife Anna, maiden name unknown, was born in 1754 and died in 1835. They were the parents of nine children .- six sons and three daughters,-of whom five of the sons and two of the daughters were among the
pioneer residents of Indiana. These were: I. Thomas, who was born January 28, 1773, was married to a Miss Trimble, and had eight children at their native home. He was a land surveyor by profession, and in 1820 was sent out by the government to survey the region since known as Decatur county. After completing the surveys and the lands were placed in the market, on Oc- tober 28, 1820, he entered four eighty-acre tracts now embraced within the corporate - limits of the city of Greensburg, and built thereon a hewed-log house, which was sit- uated on Central avenue, north side, about two hundred feet east of East street, and about the first of January had his family domiciled therein. It then consisted of five daughters and one son: Anna, who was married to Jacob Stewart, October 3, 1822; Mary, who married Silas Stewart, October 7, 1823; Eliza, who married Henry H. Talbott, December 30, 1824; Abram, who married Eliza C. Andrews, May 6, 1831; and Sarah and Rachel, both of whom died single. All the above named have been dead many years, and their descendants are scattered over the west. Another son, Daniel, was drowned by falling overboard from a flat-boat as they were coming down the Ohio river on their emigration to Indi- ana. Mr. Hendricks' first wife died a few years after coming here, and September 6. 1827. he was united in marriage to Eliza- beth C. Paul, a daughter of Jonathan Paul, an 1820 pioneer of Adams township, to which union two daughters were born- Eunice and Elizabeth-both of whom now live at Oakland, California, and are unmar- ried.
The . Hendricks residence soon became. and continued for a decade of years, the
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most notable locality in the county. In it `all the courts were held for several years, and these sessions brought to it many of the lawyers and other leading men of the southeastern section of the state. It was also the Mecca of hundreds of land-seekers, who, Colonel (he brought this title here with him) Hendricks having made the sur- vey of the lands, came to him for informa- tion and advice in regard to selections; and often did he leave his own work to aid them in the matter.
The commissioners appointed to locate a county-seat for Decatur county met, June 14, 1822, at the "residence of Thomas Hen- dricks," as ordered, to discharge that duty. Several offers were made of a bounty to the county in consideration of the location, the one decided as the best being sixty acres occupied by Hendricks and forty by John Walker, adjoining tracts, the same being now in the heart of the city. The name Greensburg is said to have been given the place by Mrs. Hendricks, and the original plat was drawn and the lots laid off by Mr. Hendricks. .
Colonel Hendricks was essentially a busi- ness man, having no ambition for public po- sitions but being principally interested in opening out his farm. and incidentally in merchandising and live-stock dealing. He was, however, once a representative for De- catur in the lower house of the state legis- lature, and one term a senator from Deca- tur and Shelby counties. He was a charter member of the Presbyterian church at Old Sand Creek (1823), and later of the Greens- burg church (1828), until his death, March 31, 1835.
Abram Hendricks, the son, was an as- sistant to his father on the farm, and suc-
ceeded him in the store at his death. He represented this county in the legislature of 1839, was census enumerator in 1840; in 184I was elected sheriff, and was re- elected in 1843: in 1847 was elected coun- ty treasurer, and was successively re-elected in 1850, '53 and '55-serving in all ten years. After retiring from the office he was in the drug business until his decease, July 4, 1878. He left two sons and three daughters, all of whom reside here. The oldest son, Thomas, was postmaster under the Harrison administration.
2. William, who was born August 17, 1776, and came to Indiana while it was yet a territory, and was secretary of the conven- tion that framed the constitution of 1816. He was its representative in congress -- from 1817 to 1822-governor from 1822 to 1825, and United States senator from 1825 to 1837. He married a Miss Paul, of Mad- ison, daughter of the proprietor of that city and a cousin of the second wife of his broth- er Thomas. Their home was Madison. Col. John A. Hendricks, of an Indiana reg- iment, who was killed at Pea Ridge. Mis- souri, March 8. 1862, was a son of theirs Another son, Grover, was a surgeon in the Union army during the civil war, while an- other. William, was a judge of the court of Jefferson county. Senator William Hen- dricks died November 12, 1872.
3. John Hendricks, born January 29. 1778. married a Miss Thompson. and set- tled at Shelbyville about the time that his brother Thomas did at Greensburg. He was a farmer by occupation, was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church and a lead- er in public enterprises. He had political aspirations, which were not gratified in his own person, but were eminently so in the
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· career of his son, Thomas A., who at differ- ent times was representative in congress, commissioner of the land office, one of the framers of the state constitution of 1852, governor of the state, United States sen- ator and vice-president during the first Cleveland administration. Abram T., an elder son, was a Presbyterian minister whose early death, it was believed, cut off a brilliant career. The father died in Au- - gust, 1867; the son Thomas is also de- ceased.
JAMES MORGAN.
The subject of this sketch was born in Nicholas county, Kentucky, January 9. 1802, there grew up to manhood, and in 1821 was united in marriage to Eliza Mc- Coy. In 1822 or 1823 he and his widowed mother, Mrs. Sarah Morgan, and her six children (three other sons and two daughters). came to this county and settled near Greensburg. But little is known of the previous history of the Morgan family except that it was of Scotch-Irish lineage, and was eminently 'endowed with the distinguishing character- istics of the Scotch race. .
The records show that January 7. 1823. a patent was granted to James Morgan for the east half of the northwest quarter of section 36, township II, range 9. lying two miles north of Greensburg. where he made his first settlement that spring. It was an unbroken forest at that time. and how. without other means than his strong arm and indomitable will, he succeeded. in a single decade of years. in adding another · "eighty" to that and opening out what is now one of the finest farms in the county,
the present generation will never under- stand.
It was not a long time until he began to attract the attention of his neighbors and was called by them to fill public positions. About 1827 he was appointed by the board doing county business as school- land commissioner, the duties of which were to superintend the leasing
or sale of the various school sections, which position he held some six years. In 1833 he was elected sheriff, and in 1835 was re-elected. In 1837, before his second term as sheriff had expired. he was elected state senator. was re-elected in 1840, and again in 1843. In 1846 he was urged by his party friends to be a candidate again. so acceptable had been his nine years' ser- vice, but declined a re-election. Two years later. in 1848. he was again forced to the front as a candidate for the lower branch of the state legislature. was elected. and de- clined a re-election. In 1860 he was elected county treasurer. and was re-elected in 1862. and at the close of this term retired finally from official life.
On the call by President Lincoln (April. 1861) for seventy-five thousand volunteers. he and Ira G. Grover and Benjamin Rick- etts recruited a company that was assigned as B of the Seventh Indiana Infantry. of which he served as captain during the West Virginia campaign of that summer. under General T. A. Morris. This was the one position of his life that he was unfitted for Of an active. nervous temperament. and filled with ardor for the cause. he chafed under what he thought the slowness of his superiors, and worse yet if a detail was made for some supposed hazardous duty and Company B was slighted.
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Bred to the farm, his early ambition was to be a leader in that line, and his attention was mainly given to the management of his , farm, which had grown in a very few years to near five hundred acres. Along in the early '4os he, however, became engaged in buying and driving stock to the Cincinnati market, which later on developed into the winter slaughtering business, first at Cov- ington, Kentucky, and afterward at Cin- cinnati, in which he continued until his de- `cease, April 1, 1872. During these thirty years or more he was one of the best known and highly esteemed business men in the Ohio valley; had large dealings with farm- ers, shippers and packers all over that re- gion, and wherever known "his word was as good as his bond." Contracts involving thousands of dollars, often without the scratch of a pen, were held by him just as binding as if made under bond and seal, and, 1 no matter what the sacrifice might be. were met as promptly as if they had been to his own advantage.
Quick-tempered. and often hasty and rough in speech, he yet gained and held the confidence and respect of all he came in contact with: generous to a fault. he often paid the penalty arising from this disposi- tion. All in all. James Morgan was one of Nature's noblemen: his faults were those of his temper; his virtues those of the heart.
WILLIAM HAUSE.
Dr. William Hause, of Westport, Indi- ana, is a son of Harris E. and Lucinda (Maynard) Hause and was born in Jennings county, Indiana, December 20. 1837. He is prominent as a physician and is honored as a public-spirited citizen who in our civil
war achieved an enviable record as a sol- dier fighting for the Union cause. Some account of his parentage will be of interest in this connection.
Harris E. Hause and Lucinda Maynard were both born in the state of New York. They were married there and in April, 1837. started west and located in Jennings county. Indiana, where Mr. Hause was a success- ful blacksmith and farmer and became the owner of eighty acres of land which he im- proved and put in cultivation .. He was a. Democrat and a leader in local party affairs and long held the offices of justice of the peace and township trustee and minor town- ship offices. He was of magnetic tempera- ment and made many warm friends, and his course in life was such as to win the respect of all who observed it. In early life he was a Baptist, but in later years a Universalist. He died in February, 1879. Lucinda May- nard, who became his wife, was a daughter of Cyrus L. Maynard. of New York, who was of Welsh descent and was a farmer and a cabinet-maker and a general mechanic of much ability. He came to Indiana in 1837 and entered land in Jen- nings county, which he improved and made into a fine homestead, where he ended his days. His children were: Mary (Mrs. S. S. Wilder), Cyrus (dead). Betsey (who mar- ried S. S. Wilder after the death of her sis- ter Mary). Abel (dead). Lucinda (Mrs. Hause, and deceased), Dorcas (Mrs. C. Wi !- der, also deceased), John (who lives in Wis- consin), Lyman (of Missouri), and Jane (Mrs. Thornton, deceased). Sanford and Jesse Hause. brothers of Harris E. Hause. moved from the east to Michigan about 1837. Herman and Elmer came to Indiana and afterward they, too, went to Michigan.
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Harris E. and Lucinda (Maynard) Hause had children named as follows, in the order of their birth: William, the immediate sub- ject of this notice; Mary, who married O. D. Allison; Louisa (Mrs. M. Wildey); Eli, who died leaving a widow and two chil- drén; Elmer, a carpenter and plasterer liv- ing in Oklahoma; Ada (Mrs. J. B. Hammond; Esther (Mrs. R. Wildey); Al- fred, who died at the age of seventeen; Harry, who died at the age of three; and Cora (Mrs. Biddinger, whose husband is connected with the merchant police of In- dianapolis, Indiana).
Dr. William Hause was reared on the farm and gained his primary education in 1 the public schools. He began reading med- icine at the age of nineteen years under the preceptorship of Dr. Alfred Force, of Hay- den, Indiana, and attended his first course of lectures in 1857-8 at the Eclectic Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio. He devoted himself to other courses of lectures and to school-teaching until he began to practice his profession. In the fall of 1860 his health declined somewhat and he went to Minne- sota for change of climate. Returning to Indiana in 1861, he later enlisted as a pri- vate in the Fifty-second Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered into the service at Indianapolis and elected second lieutenant of his company. His command was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee. The regiment fought at Fort . Donelson and was in the siege of Corinth and minor engagements about Memphis, Fort Pillow and Vicksburg and participated in the chase after Price into Missouri in 1864. It later served under Thomas in his operations against Hood at Nashville, and he was mustered out of the service at East-
port, Mississippi, January 31, 1865, and he returned home by way of Indianapolis, hav- ing an honorable discharge.
After his return to Hayden, Dr. Hause took another course of lectures at the Eclec- tic Medical College of Cincinnati, Ohio. He came, soon after, to Westport and prac- ticed his profession there until 1867, when he removed to Lee Summit, Jackson count- ty, Missouri, where he remained until 1873, when he returned to Westport, where he has built up a large and successful practice extending into all the surrounding country. He has developed into a model family phy- sician and has the respect of the entire com- munity in a remarkable degree. He is a Mason and a Knight of Pythias and a mem- ber of Fred Small Post, No. 531, Grand Army of the Republic, of Westport, Indi- ana. In politics he always espouses the Republican cause and is a man of influence in the councils of his party.
Dr. Hause was married in April, 1858, to Miss Elizabeth A. Storey, daughter of Luther Storey, of Jennings county, and she died in September, 1859, leaving no chil- dren. August 9, 1863, he was married at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, to Mrs. Mary A. Hookery, of Dearborn county, Indiana, who visited the army to see her brothers. Mrs. Hookery was a daughter of Jacob Biddinger, of Dearborn county, Indiana, who served in the army. Mr. Biddinger was a farmer who, after living for a time at Aurora, Dearborn county, Indiana, moved to Missouri, whence he came back to In- clianapolis, Indiana, where he died in No- vember. 1873. After the death of her hus- band, Mrs. Biddinger lived for a time in the family of Dr. Hause, her son-in-law, but died at the residence of her son in Barthol-
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omew county in 1884. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Biddinger were: Samuel H .; James H., who was a soldier in the Union army in the civil war; Aaron, a physician. ·who died in 1861; Jacob L., also a soldier in the civil war; Solomon W .. a physician of Bartholomew county, Indiana: Ziza. who married W. Griffy, who died while do- ing soldier duty in the war of the states. and later became Mrs. Myers; Nancy C., Mrs. Flynn, later Mrs. Swift: Jesse C., a police officer at Indianapolis, who made an enviable record as a soldier in the civil war; and Mary A., who married Dr. Hause.
Dr. and Mrs. Hause united with the Christian church in March, 1872. and have .ever since taken an active part in church . and Sunday-school work.
Mrs. Hookery was a widow with one son two years old when married to Dr. Hause. This son died when twenty years old. An adopted son known as W. T. Hause is a son of one of Mrs. Hause's brothers. They took him on the death of his mother when he was ten months old. and later made him their legal son by due process of law, and educated him and start- ed him in life. He is now twenty-eight. married, and lives at Indianapolis. Indiana. where he is doing well in a business way. The influence of the life of Dr. and Mrs. Hause has been for good and they are re- garded very highly by all who are so fortu- nate as to know them and most highly by ". those who know them best.
WILLIAM J. KINCAID.
This sterling representative of an honored pioneer family of Decatur county has been a lifelong resident of Fugit township, where
he is known by every one and is ranked among its foremost citizens. He has inher- ited the sturdy, upright traits of character which are so marked in the Scotch-Irish race whence he springs and which nowhere find such good opportunity for growth and expression as in the United States.
John Kincaid, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was born in Tennessee in 1775, and thence removed to Kentucky. and in 1828 to Clarksburg, Decatur county. Here he took an active part in the affairs of the young community and reared his four sons to be as useful citizens as himself. Joseph, the eldest. remained in Clarksburg. and David and John. Jr .. continued to dwell in Fugit township. while Andrew, the sec- ond son, settled in Rush county, Indiana. Each of the brothers left numerous descend- ants, and thus the family name is well known throughout this portion of the state. always standing for good citizenship and industrious. honorable yeomanry. The father departed this life, August 9. 1848. at the age of seventy-two years. ten months and thirteen days. His wife preceded him `to the better land. her death taking place February 23. 1846, when she was seventy- three years, five months and thirteen days old.
John Kincaid, Jr., the father of William J .. was born in Kentucky, November 28. 1813, and died at his old home in Fugit township. April 7. 1894. He was about fif- teen years of age when he came to this county with his parents, and here he had abundant opportunity for the exercise of the varied talents with which nature had endowed him. He was a successful bisi- ness man and accumulated a fine estate. Conscientious in all his dealings with oth-
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ers, his word was considered as good as his bond, and his sincerity and uprightness never were doubted by those who knew him well. True to the religious tenets of his ancestors, he was a Presbyterian of the old school, for many years an elder in the local church and always one of its most liberal supporters and active workers.
The first wife of John Kincaid. Jr., was Martha McCracken, and for a second wife he chose Priscilla Alexander, who bore him two children, namely: Martha E., now the wife of H. T. McCracken, of Fugit town- ship; and Mary, deceased. After the death : of Mrs. Priscilla Kincaid. her sister, Nancy E., became his wife and the kind foster- mother of his little ones. She was a lovable Christian character. and for about two- score years they traveled the pathway of life together. She survived him four years. her death occurring August 25, 1898.
The birth of William J. Kincaid took place on the parental homestead. April 14. 1856, and in his youth he attended the Clarksburg public school. Like his ances- tors, he is an excellent agriculturist and practical business man. No one in the community is more highly respected; and that he is trusted in and his opinions es- teemed of value may be judged from the fact that, in 1899. he was elected to serve as a member of the board of county com- missioners. He votes for nominees of the Democratic party and thoroughly en- dorses its platform. Religiously he is a f Presbyterian, is one of the active members of the local church and at present is serving in the capacity of elder. He was united in marriage to Miss Mattie Kincaid. a daughter of Andrew and Jane Kincaid. in 1884, but on the 19th of January, 1896, was
bereft of her by death. She was a lady of good education and native graces of dis- position, and was loved by the entire com- munity.
JOHN D. MILLER.
Judge John Donnell Miller was the eld- est of three sons of George W. and Mar- garet Jane Miller (nee Donnell), was born December 2, 1840, at the old Miller home- stead one mile south of Clarksburg, Deca- tur county, Indiana. His ancestry upon his father's side were from Virginia. of Ger- man descent. and settled as above in 1822: on the mother's side they were Scotch- Irish, and came from Kentucky to this county in 1821 .- both families ranking among the most prominent pioneer citizens.
The boyhood days of young Miller were passed upon this farm, where he tended the crops in summer and the neighborhood schools, which were of an exceptionally high character. during the fall, winter and early spring months. In the fall of 1859 he entered Hanover College, with the soph- omore year, and in September, 1861, left college and enlisted as a private in Com- pany G, Seventh Indiana Infantry Regi- ment, which was then reorganizing for the three-years service, and in which he served the full three years, participating in all the battles in which the regiment was engaged. over twenty in number-from Greenbriar. Virginia. October 3. 1861, to the Weldon Railroad, in August. 1864, in all of which he exhibited the stuff of which the true man is made. In 1862 he was detailed as adjutant's clerk, and served in that capac- ity until the spring of 1864.
It was while thus engaged that he began
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the study of law, sending for one work at a time, reading and thoroughly digesting it, when he would send it home and order an- other,-this while the great majority of his comrades were spending their idle time in frivolous amusements. On his discharge he entered the office of Hunter & Overstreet. at Franklin, Indiana, where he completed his studies and was admitted to the bar.
In 1866 he became a member of the firm of Cumback & Bonner. and a few years later of Gavin & Miller, which on the death of Colonel Gavin became Gavin & Miller, this continuing until his appointment, in 1891, by Governor Hovey. as supreme judge, on the death of Judge Berkshire. In 1892 he was the Republican candidate for that position, but "went down to defeat" with the rest of the ticket. In the legisla- ture of 1872-3 he served as joint representa. tive from Decatur and Rush counties, and declined a re-election : in 1894 was chosen circuit judge for the same counties. and while serving in this position was stricken by paralysis, which terminated in his death. in March, 1898.
Judge Miller was married. September 21, 1869, to Mary Jane Stevens, a daugliter of John F. and Martha Stevens, one of Greens- burg's most estimable families. She died several years since, leaving two daughters: Martha, now Mrs. Frank M. Thomson. and Nettie, now Mrs. Thomas E. David- son, both residents of this city.
For a third of a century Greensburg was the home of Judge Miller. Here he lived. here he died, loved, honored and respected by all who knew him. Of him it may be written with strict truth that he was a just judge. His decisions were formed with care and expressed with vigor. He ex-
plored the authorities with diligence and sought the principles of right and justice with zeal and care.
His home life was a model of simplicity and attachment to his family; his social qualities were marked, and he carried cheer- fulness with him wherever he went.
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