USA > Indiana > Clay County > A History of Clay County Indiana (Volume 2) > Part 2
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
first successful hip joint amputation within his state. in 1888. In 1896 he established a hospital which was known as Franklin St. Hospital. In 1908 he changed its name in honor of his son. Dr. Lester Franklin Smith, who died April 30, 1907. This hospital is devoted to medical and surgical cases.
Dr. Smith is a member of the AEsculapian Society of the Wabash Valley : Indiana State Medical Society ; Clay County Medical Society (of which he is an ex-president) ; member of Brazil Lodge, No. 264, A. F. & A. M .; Chapter No. 59, Royal Arch Masons. In his political affilia- tions, he votes the Republican ticket nationally, but supports the man, who in his judgment, is best suited for the position in local affairs.
May 15, 1881, Dr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Mary Barnett, who was born in Putnam county. Indiana, daughter of Lewis and Cynthia (Deal) Barnett, both natives of Indiana and to whom were born three children : William T .; Vinton; Mary. wife of Dr. Smith. Her father was a farmer and a member of the Baptist church ; he supported the Democratic party. Dr. Smith and wife are the parents of five children, two of whom died in infancy: Shelley Lillian; Lester Franklin, who graduated from the Illinois Medical College with the class of 1906, and died at the age of twenty-three years, when just entering into what bade fair to be a highly successful career; the other living child of Dr. and Mrs. Smith is Athane. The two who died in infancy were named-Vivian and Eileen.
WILLIAM M. ZELLER is classed with the prominent, energetic and successful business men, whose labors have been an essential element in the upbuilding of Brazil. His life has been one of continuous activity, in which has been accorded due recognition of labor and who is to-day numbered among the substantial residents of the city. He is a member of the firm of Zeller, 'Mcclellan & Company, miners and shippers of coal, is also president of the Brazil Clay Company, president of the American Coal & Mining Company and president of the Citizens' National Bank. His interests are thus varied and extensive, and by perseverance, deter- mination and honorable effort he has achieved his present position of prominence in business circles.
Mr. Zeller is one of Clay county's native sons, his birth having occurred in Jackson township October 31. 1861. He was one of four children born unto John H. and Susan A. ( Bocher) Zeller. His paternal grandfather was a native of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, while the great- grandfather came to this country from Switzerland in 1740 taking up his abode in Bucks county, where he became prominent in public life and business circles.
John H. Zeller was born in Butler county, Ohio, December 8, 1833, and spent his boyhood days there under the parental roof. He left the farm, however, when a young man, thinking to find other pursuits more congenial, and secured a clerkship in a clothing store at Hamilton, Ohio. When his labors and economy had brought him sufficient capital to enable him to embark in business on his own account, he opened a drug store in Hamilton and also made trips through the county, selling drugs. The year 1856 witnessed his arrival in Indiana and the establishment of his home in the wilderness of Jackson township. Clay county. There he engaged in the operation of a sawmill, becoming one of the pioneer set- tlers of the district. Subsequently he removed to Harmony, where he
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CITIZEN'S NATIONAL BANK
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
engaged in clerking for Robert Wingate. with whom he continued for some time and then bought out the business of his employer. For a num- ber of years thereafter he conducted the store, but in 1873 turned his attention to the development of the rich coal deposits of this part of the state. He began mining coal. and sunk one of the first shafts here and opened what was known as the Briar Hill mine. For twenty years or more he carried on mining operations and in this business was very successful, after which he turned his attention to farming. In 1884 he entered the banking business, though at that time banking in Brazil was a difficult problem. He from the start had, as in former years, and in fact throughout all his life, the absolute confidence of the people, and made the banking business a success, as in fact he had all enterprises to which he gave his support. In 1900 he retired and enjoyed in well earned ease the fruits of his former toil until he was called to his final rest, July 29, 1904. For a long period his political allegiance was given to the Democracy, but during the last twenty years of his life he voted with the Prohibition party, being a stalwart advocate of its principles. He was strongly in sympathy with the temperance cause, and his influ- ence was ever found on the side of right, justice, truth and improvement. He belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church, and his daily conduct was an exemplification of his religious faith. His wife was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the 25th of May, 1842, and died December 30, 1890. They were married in Jackson township, this county, June 4, 1859, and their children, four in number, were: William MI., whose name introduces this record; Clem M .; Charles H .; and Minnie E., the wife of William J. Snyder.
William M. Zeller in his boyhood days attended the public schools and received his business training through the assistance which he ren- dered his father in carrying on the store at Harmony. When twenty- five years of age he became connected with coal-mining interests, and has since been connected with this business, which is one of the most important resources of Clay county. He is now president of the Zeller- McClellan Coal Company, which ships its output to all parts of the coun- try, especially through Indiana, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. The company mines the lower vein Brazil block coal, which is unsurpassed and almost unequalled in the entire Mississippi valley. Mr. Zeller is also president of the American Coal & Mining Company, and extending his activities to other fields, has become the president of the Brazil Clay Company and also of the Citizens' National Bank, of which he has been president since the organization, May 15, 1907. This corporation is capitalized at one hundred thousand dollars.
Mr. Zeller was married September 22, 1887, to Miss Mary M. Herr, who was born in Greencastle. Indiana, January 22, 1866, a daughter of Simon and Drusilla (Hurd) Herr. Her father was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, January 9, 1838, and in 1870 arrived in Brazil, where for two years he engaged in merchandising as a dealer in shoes. Since that time he has been engaged in the drug business, and is one of the well known and representative merchants of the city. His wife, who was born in the state of New York in 1835, died in 1870.
. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Zeller have been born five sons: John Herr, Simon, Lawrence Willard, William McClellan and Richard Douglas. The parents are identified through membership relations with the Methodist Episcopal church, and Mr. Zeller belongs to Central lodge, No. 541,
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
A. F. & A. M .; to Brazil lodge, No. 762, B. P. O. E. He votes with the Democracy but has never sought nor desired office, preferring to con- centrate his time and energies upon his business affairs. He is a rep- resentative of our best type of American manhood and chivalry. By perseverance, determination and honorable effort, he has overcome all obstacles which bar the path to success in a business career, and has reached the goal of prosperity, while his genuine worth, broad mind and public spirit have made him a promoter of public thought and action.
DR. JOHN D. SOURWINE, of Brazil, is one of its leading practitioners of medicine and surgery, as well as its most enterprising citizens, and is especially well known for his pioneer work in the promotion of its transportation facilities. He is a native of old Augusta, Marion county, Indiana, born on the 4th of October, 1852, and received his earlier education in the common schools of Zionsville, Boone county, and of Greenwood, Johnson county, both towns of his native state. He first read medicine with Dr. A. W. Knight, in 1876. He came to Brazil in 1872 and later in 1876, engaged in the drug business with his father- in-law, Jonathan Crosdale. He sold his interest in the establishment in 1884, having been appointed postmaster of the city by President Cleve- land. In 1887 he again engaged in the drug business, and in the follow- ing year acted as northwestern agent for the Phenix Powder Manufac- turing Company, being at the same time a stock-holder in the business. It was in 1893 that he also assisted in the organization of the Brazil Rapid Transit Street Railroad Company, his chief associate in the enterprise being G. Vanginkl. The line was first built from Harmony to the west- ern city limits of Brazil. and later was extended to Cottage Hill Ceme- terv, the Doctor being vice president of the company. As this was the first interurban line built in the United States, it is of interest to note that it was constructed entirely by the private funds of its promoters. without the issuance of bonds or stock. The builders operated the line until 1900, when they sold it to the Terre Haute Traction Company.
In the meantime Dr. Sourwine had been continuing his medical studies, had pursued a regular course in the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons at Indianapolis, Indiana, and had graduated in 1896, with the degree of his profession. He had entered practice and made a suc- cess of it, both by his professional competency and his genial ways, which go far toward leading a patient on the road to recovery. His able financial management was also in evidence in 1907, when he erected the Sourwine Opera House Block. This fine building, besides the handsome house of amusement with a seating capacity of twelve hun- dred, includes seven modern flats and six stores, and is one of the most substantial, as well as attractive structures in the city. Dr. Sourwine is one of the most widely known fraternalists of Brazil. He is a charter member of Brazil Lodge No. 30, Knights of Pythias, having held not only all the local offices but served as state representative to the grand lodge. He is identified with Centennial Lodge No. 541, A. F. & A. M .; Brazil Chapter No. 59. R. A. M .; Brazil Council No. 40, R. & S. M., and Brazil Commandery No. 47, K. T. To complete the record, he belongs to the Elks (B. P. O. E.), of the latter order being a member. of Brazil Lodge No. 762. In politics, he is a Democrat.
The Doctor's parents were George and Polly (Jennings) Sourwine. The father was born in Harrisburg. Pennsylvania, dying in 1901, at the
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
age of seventy-one, and the mother was born in Bridgeport, Indiana, and died in 1903, seventy years old. They both died in Indianapolis. Nine children were born to this union, of whom the following six are living: John D., who is the oldest : A. J., a resident of Red Oak, Iowa ; Elizabeth, wife of George Clark; Emma J., wife of Leonard Hodgins ; Jacob N., a druggist of Brazil, and George C., in the United States naval service, with the fleet which made the trip around the world. George Sourwine, the father. was by trade a blacksmith and a machinist. came to Marion county in 1835, and spent the remainder of his life. He was a good Mason and a sound Democrat. The maternal grandfather of our subject and the father of William Jennings Bryan were cousins.
On the 13th of October, 1875. Dr. Sourwine married Helen Mar Crosdale, a native of Chillicothe, Ohio, born March 23, 1852, and a daughter of Jonathan and Esther ( Perch) Crosdale. Mrs. Sourwine's parents were natives of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, each dying at the age of eighty years. She is the only one of the nine children now living. Her father was a tailor by trade. served in the Civil war, came to Brazil in 1854, engaged in the drug business and in 1877 retired from the strenuous activities of life. He was a Methodist, a Republican, a member of the Masonic, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias fraternities, and a practical, useful and moral citizen. Six children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Sourwine as follows: three who died in infancy; John G., a druggist of Indianapolis. Indiana; Clinton C. Sourwine, M. D., a graduate of the Indiana Medical College and since receiving his degree in 1906 associated with his father in practice, married Miss Eva H. Carpenter, of Brazil, Indiana, and Helen Irene, who died at age of eighteen in 1903.
ANDREW JACKSON KIDD, one of the veterans of the Civil war and an energetic business factor of Clay county, Indiana, was born in Frederick county, Virginia, May 14, 1841, son of Andrew and Nancy (Whit- tington) Kidd, both of whom were natives of the same county in which their son was born. The father died aged about sixty years in 1862 and the mother died aged sixty-four years. They were married in Virginia and were the parents of nine children, two of whom are now living- Andrew J., who is the fifth child, and Anna L .. widow of Henry D. Bard, now residing in Brazil, Indiana. The father was a cooper and also farmed upon his own one hundred and twenty-four acre tract, which was located within the forest and there he built him a hewed log house in which he lived and in which his son was born. In October, 1857, he removed to Indiana, locating in Brazil, where he lived a retired life ; he was justice of the peace while living in Virginia. He was a pronounced Democrat.
The subject of this memoir. Andrew J. Kidd, was born near Win- chester. Virginia. and accompanied his parents to Clay county, Indiana, when but a small boy and had resided there the greater part of his life. He was reared to farm pursuits and attended school when oppor- tunity afforded him the chance. When sixteen years old he went to Brazil with his parents and there was employed in a brick-yard and also farmed up to 1861, when he enlisted in the first call for troops to put down the rebellion-the call for 75,000 men for three months' service. He was a soldier in Company F, Tenth Indiana Regiment and was discharged at Indianapolis, after having served his full term of enlistment. He saw
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
service in West Virginia and was at the battle of Rich Mountain, Virginia, and participated in all the numerous skirmishes in which his regiment was engaged. He returned to Brazil and worked at the carpentering trade until the spring of 1862 when he re-enlisted in Company H. Fifty-fifth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers for one hundred days; was on detached duty and served as second lieutenant. He made several trips up and down the Ohio river to points in Kentucky. Under command of Colonel John W. Foster, he was detailed while at Uniontown, Kentucky, to take a horse, and was ordered to shoot the horse in case it was sought to be taken from him but not to shoot the man who attempted his capture. He was sent to that point to help preserve order at an election then being held there. and later was stationed at Caseyville, Kentucky, under command of Colonel Farrow, and his regiment left Caseyville the day before Colonel Farrow surrendered to John Morgan. The regiment to which he belonged took up their quarters in a tobacco warehouse, on the wharf, near a gunboat in the river at Henderson, Kentucky. Mr. Kidd was returned to Indianapolis where he was discharged in 1862. when he went into the employ of Warren Ashley at making wheat fans at Crawfordsville. There he worked in the shops summers and during the other months of the year went on horseback collecting in Cass, Hendricks, Benton, Put- nam, Owen and Clay counties. In the spring of 1865 he enlisted in Com- pany K, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Indiana Regiment, as a sergeant. Owing to the close of the war his regiment only got as far as Winchester, Virginia, where they were discharged and had the pleasure of there meeting many old schoolmates, including several who had served in the Confederate army, while others had been in hiding in the mountains. On his return home, he met his cousin, Robert Kidd, who had been in the Southern army. After arriving at Brazil, Mr. Kidd formed a part- nership with John Stough and Mark M. Perkins and together they erected a shop on the corner of Meridian and Church streets which is today a part of the building known as Stunkard Bros. carriage shops. After a few months Mr. Perkins withdrew from the firm and then Mr. Kidd and Mr. Stough continued the business for something less than two years, after which Mr. Kidd followed carpentering until 1868 when he, with John L. Webster, purchased the timber on a one hundred and twenty acre lot in Parke county, to which land Mr. Kidd moved in March, 1869, living in a one room log house. There they manufactured shingles for a few months when they sold out and Mr. Kidd returned to Brazil, where he operated a furniture store and chair factory a short time, after which he manufactured barrels one winter. In the autumn of 1872 he went to work for Sherfey Bros. and their various successors and finally he became associated as one of the firm of Sherfey, Kidd & Co., dealers in furniture, carpets and draperies.
Mr. Kidd is a firm supporter of Republican principles and in church faith is of the Christian denomination. November 15, 1868, he was united in marriage to Arabelle Webster, born in Clay county, Indiana, October 15, 1854. daughter of John L. and Fannie ( Brenton ) Webster. Mrs. Kidd's father was born in Franklin county, Virginia, and came to Clay county with his parents when yet a small boy. He spent most of his life in Clay county, except a few years at Indianapolis. He was a lumber dealer and farmer and a very prominent citizen. He was a member of the Christian church and affiliated with the Democratic party; also with the
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Prohibition movement. He held membership with the Brazil Lodge, No. 264 Masonic order. His children were as follows: Susan Jane, wife of Wilson Houck ; Charlotte, wife of F. Mershon ; Arabelle (Mrs. Kidd) ; Mollie, wife of Howard Cutsholl.
Mr. and Mrs. Kidd are the parents of the following children: John Charles, a member of the firm of Turner, Seiders & Kidd, insurance and real estate ; Fannie M., wife of G. P. McCarty, a business man of Rush- ville, Indiana; Jennie E., wife of Dr. J. E. Baker, of Brazil, Indiana ; Robert M., a sign painter.
JOSEPH E. SHERFEY, president of the Sherfey & Kidd Company, dealers in furniture, carpets, draperies and other goods of this line, doing an extensive business at Brazil, Indiana, was born in Fountain county, Indiana, April 7, 1843, and has the honorable distinction of having been one of the soldiers who put down the great Civil war. He is the son of David and Mary ( McNeill) Sherfey. The father was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, on what is now known as the battlefield of Gettysburg. The great-grandfather, Casper Sherfey, came from Ger- many in 1750 and located in Pennsylvania and became the father of fifteen children, a majority of whom reached maturity. The mother, Mary (McNeill) Sherfey, was born in Frederick City, Maryland, and by her marriage to Mr. Sherfey became the mother of nine children-six sons and three daughters-two of whom now survive-Samuel W. of New Mexico and Joseph E., who is the eighth child in his parents' family. The father came from Perryville, Indiana, about 1834 and was by trade a miller, which trade he followed throughout his entire life. He was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church and in political affilia- tions was a Whig, which was the forerunner of the present Republican party.
Joseph E. Sherfey was educated in the common schools of Perry- ville, Vermilion county, Indiana, and at Asbury University, Greencastle, Indiana, then in the winter of 1862-63 began teaching, and taught in the winter of 1865-66. In the summer of 1866 he opened a furniture store at Bainbridge, Indiana. One of the most important chapters in Mr. Sher- fey's career, however, was the one relating to his Civil war record. He enlisted as a member of Company D, Fifty-fifth Indiana Regiment in July, 1862, for a three months' service and was shot through the left hip at the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, August 30, 1862. The rebels marched over him and later he found himself in a hospital; in the month of October, 1862, he was sent home on parole. In the spring of 1864 he enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-third Indiana Regiment, for one hundred days and served at Bridgeport. Alabama, guarding Gen- eral Sherman's rear until the term of his enlistment had expired. In the autumn of 1867 he moved to Brazil, Indiana, and has been engaged in the furniture trade ever since, except one year, when he was city treasurer. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Brazil Lodge, No. 264, A. F. and A. M .; also belongs to Brazil Lodge, No. 30, Knights of Pythias order and Ben Hur Court, No. 8. Other societies of which he is a worthy member are the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Brazil Lodge, No. 215 and Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. No. 762. He is a zealous temperance worker, and a firm believer in the principles of the Republican party. He was married October 20,
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1869, at Bainbridge, Indiana, to Miss Helen E. Ader, daughter of David and Elizabeth ( Aldridge) Ader. She was born in Putnam county, Indiana. December 1, 1845. Her father was born in North Carolina and came to Indiana at an early day, locating in Putnam county, where he followed farming and cattle raising. Politically, he was a Democrat. He was the father of four children, Mrs. Sherfey being the eldest child. His wife was a native of Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Sherfey are the parents of four sons and two daughters, as follows: David A .; Charles W .; Winfield E .; Mary McNeill ; Elizabeth A .; and Henry E. Mr. Sherfey has in his possession a complete genealogy of the Sherfey family-dating from March 15, 1735.
WILLIAM LEAVITT, SR., dependent upon his own resources from the age of fifteen years, has gradually worked his way upward, his career characterized by an orderly progression which has resulted from the determination which he has displayed in the accomplishment of every- thing that he has undertaken. He has been identified with the industrial development of Brazil and in more recent years with its substantial and material growth through his real estate operations.
A native of Ohio, Mr. Leavitt was born in Trumbull county, October II, 1844, his parents being John and Minerva (Rodgers) Leavitt, both of whom were natives of Ohio. The paternal grandfather, Joseph Leavitt, removed from Connecticut to the Buckeye state at an early period in its history in company with his father, John Leavitt, in whose honor the town of Leavittsburg. Ohio, was named. The family were prominent and active in the development of the part of the state in which they located and their connection with its pioneer history is perpetuated by the naming of the town. The marriage of John Leavitt and Minerva Rodgers was celebrated in Leavittsburg, Ohio, and their last days were spent in Girard, Ohio. The father was a stock dealer and farmer and in the course of an active life bought and sold many horses. His political views endorsed the principles of the Whig party. Unto him and his wife were born three sons and two daughters, and of this family of five all are yet living with the exception of Joseph, the third in order of birth. The others are : Martha, now the wife of James McCoombs ; John, who resides in Youngs- town, Ohio, where he is engaged in the wholesale grocery business ; William, of this review; and Lydia, the wife of Charles Johnson, who is living in Birmingham, Alabama.
William Leavitt was only four years of age at the time of his father's death and from early boyhood has been dependent upon his own resources. At the age of fifteen years he began learning the flour milling business but when seventeen years of age he put aside all business and personal considerations in order that he might defend his country as a soldier of the Union army. Ile enlisted in Company C, Nineteenth Regiment of Ohio Infantry Volunteers, at Girard, that state. September 7, 1861, for a three years' term. The regiment moved to Camp Denison near Cincinnati, Ohio, and thence went to Camp Jenkins near Louisville, Kentucky. From that point the troops were sent forward to the front and were first engaged in battle at Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing. Mr. Leavitt was . wounded there, being shot through the right leg, and was taken from the battlefield to the Louisville hospital, where he remained for six weeks. Hle was then sent home but for three months thereafter he was confined to his bed and for eighteen months had to go about on crutches. His
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