USA > Indiana > Clay County > A History of Clay County Indiana (Volume 2) > Part 36
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Recollections of Beryl Griffith.
Beryl Griffith is one of the pioneers of the county who has given it geniality, life and stability, and his reminiscences are well worth bringing into the printed page. When he was about eleven years of age, living with his parents in the backwoods of Clark county, Illinois, he was quite a skillful marksman at squirrels and the smaller game; but at the age of
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twelve he craved something more exciting. So one morning he pre- vailed upon his father to lend him bis gun, and, after receiving the most minute instructions about the carrying of the weapon, he started out with the dog on his first hunt alone. Before he had gone far he saw something rubbing its head on a bush, but, although he could not see it distinctly and was too small to level the gun without support, he placed his weapon on the limb of a sapling and pulled the trigger. Running up to his vic- time he found he had shot a fine two-year old buck and tried to cut its throat, in the approved hunter's style; but as he had only an old barley knife he could not cut through the hide, and therefore started for home on the run, leaving the dog to guard the game. His father would not credit his tale, and told him that, in his excitement, he had only seen a deer and imagined that he had shot it. To satisfy his curiosity, however, he went with Beryl, and was convinced. For several succeeding years he hunted deers, without success, until he made the discovery that in his excitement he always forgot to look through the hind sight of his gun and would therefore overshoot the game. When he had planted this pre- caution firmly in his mind he became a successful deer and turkey hunts- man.
Finally, when about seventeen years old, Beryl went hunting after a "dear," in the shape of a beautiful girl of thirteen-but that is another kind of a story, more interesting and just as exciting.
Beryl Griffith first met Susan Shively in the fall of 1862, at a "play party." Although he accompanied her home and it was "love at first sight," they did not meet again until the following summer and their friendship became stronger with their more frequent meetings during the following year. In the summer of 1864 the youth joined the Home Guards and the Union cause, his parents and relatives being also strong supporters of the north. The Shively family was as strong in the sup- port of the Confederacy-which made the courtship of the young people run anything but smoothly. The Big Creek boys also took sides in the matter and tried to prevent Beryl from seeing the girl. The Rhodes boys were especially threatening. While attending the Asbury church one Sunday, in the fall of 1864, the youthful lover was told by one of his friends that they had threatened to waylay him if he walked home with Susan that day. The plan of his enemies and rivals was to have one of the Rhodes boys slip up behind him, as the couple were passing through a thick woods, and strike him with a heavy club. Beryl, however, gave it out that, if the girl was willing, all the boys on Big Creek could not prevent them from walking together. Luckily, also, he had a seven- shooter in his pocket, and, after church, when he and Susan were walking along together with other couples he took the pains to pull it from his pocket, cock it and exhibit it for the special benefit of Jo Rhodes who was sauntering behind them, using an ugly looking club as a walking cane; at the same time, the plucky youth looked over his shoulder at his would-be assailant. These actions had the desired effect. Arriving at the Shively home, he went in to spend a few hours, as was customary in those days, and about II o'clock at night started to return along a lonely three-mile road. One mile of the way was especially lonely and dark, and while walking along there he heard a noise which convinced him that the at- tack from the Rhodes faction was near at hand. With revolver in hand he rounded a turn in the road, but the cause of the disturbance passed in front of him in the shape of a wild deer and broke into the woods and darkness.
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. But with the progress of the war and the increasing feeling of bit- terness between the sympathizers of north and south, the split between the Griffith and the Shively families got wider and wider, with the natural result of threatening to part the young lovers. The Knights of the Golden Circle, composed of the most rabid of those who sympathized with the Secession movement, were holding their meetings, drilling and other- wise upholding their cause, threatening all with violence who did not agree with them. The rupture even spread into Asbury church, Stiles Brown, one of its prominent members, reading himself out of the church and into the Golden Circle. Beryl himself had an experience which showed the very bitter feeling which the sight of the Union blue aroused in this element of Big Creek. With three other young men of this par- ticular neighborhood he attended a party about four miles away, and two of his companions wore blue pants. Knowing that he went with a Democratic girl, the Copperheads, as the southern sympathizers were called, decided that no "wearers of the blue," or those who were their friends, should be tolerated. So about twenty-five men and boys got together and drove the Unionists away from the place. To save their lives, they naturally took leg bail. After this Beryl bought a revolver, both to protect himself and make it possible for him to see his Democratic girl. His love affair had now reached a climax; for all of Susan's uncles and aunts objected, and her grandfather told her that if she married Beryl she should never come in his house. During the latter part of 1864 and the early part of 1865 the last great battles of the Civil war were being fought, and the climax of the Rebellion was also approaching. Some of the Knights of the Golden Circle and other hot Democrats were going to Canada to escape being drafted into the Union army, but Beryl himself enlisted in its ranks. It was a trying time for the young lovers and it was with a determined spirit, but a heavy heart, that the youth bid his sweetheart and his parents goodbye and left to take the train for Terre Haute and the southern battlefields.
Mr. Griffith was sworn into the service at Olney, Illinois, thence went to Camp Butler and served until the conclusion of the war in south- ern Tennessee. He returned to his home in poor health and about a month afterward, as he was busying himself around the farm, he heard someone chopping trees a short distance off, and, thinking some of his friendly neighbors were hunting coons, started off to investigate. When he arrived on the ground, he came face to face with his old enemies, the Rhodes boys. They were sturdy youths and he was still weak from his army life, without even a penknife for defense. But the boys were friendly and, after felling the tree and capturing the coon, invited Beryl to go further into the woods and join the hunt. Beryl told them his con- dition and they offered him their horse, which he accepted, thinking that if they meant him harm he would be safer on the back of a horse than afoot. But it appears that old scores were really wiped out; for the boys walked beside the horse, went two or three miles further into the woods and finally brought up at Beryl's home. Ever afterward they were on the best of terms.
But he had not yet seen Susan, and, as he had only received one letter from her during his year's absence, he was anxious to know how she felt toward him. Although he met her soon after at church he did not have an opportunity to approach the subject and for the succeeding year her relatives did all they could to keep the lovers apart. They had not forgotten. For the first half year after his return from the army
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the young couple met only a few times, but in the fall of '66, with the wearing away of the bitter war hatred, their affairs also commenced to improve. The words were at length said which resulted in the long- desired betrothal and the marriage occurred May 9, 1869. But although Susan Shively became the wife of Beryl Griffith, she remained loyal to the Democratic party until the panic of 1893, in the Cleveland admin- istration, when she joined her husband also in politics. After their mar- riage they visited Mrs. Griffith's grandfather, who had threatened that if the union occurred the wife should never set foot in his house, and were most cordially received by the old gentleman; so the story can end as one of the old-fashioned kind, "and they lived happily ever afterward."
JOHN WILLIAM STALLCOP .- Among the representative agriculturists of Van Buren township is John W. Stallcop, a skilful and experienced farmer, who through his industry and good judgment has achieved suc- cess in his labors, his well-tilled land giving evidence of the wise labor bestowed upon it. The son of an Indiana pioneer, Thompson Elias Stall- cop, he was born in this township December 13, 1849. His grandfather, William Stallcop, moved from Virginia, supposedly his native state, to Kentucky, from there coming in pioneer times to Clay county. This was in 1828. One of the original settlers of Van Buren township, he took up government land and began the improvement of a homestead, but did not complete it, his death occurring within a few years. His wife survived him and married for her second husband John Pell. By his marriage William Stallcop had four children, as follows: Wilson, Thompson Elias, Robert and Ellen.
Thompson Elias Stallcop, but a boy when he came with his parents to this township, was reared to agricultural pursuits. When a young man he went to Johnson county, and while there wooed and won the love of a young maiden, whom he brought as a bride to Van Buren township. Settling on the west half of the southeast quarter of section nine, on the eighty acres of land which had come to him by inheritance, he built the log cabin in which the subject of this sketch was born. He was an earnest tiller of the soil, kept sheep and raised flax, and his wife, in addition to her other domestic duties, carded, spun and wove the material from which she made garments for the family. Applying himself diligently, he cleared a part of the land before his death, which occurred from typhoid fever while he was yet in manhood's prime, being but thirty-five years old. He married Mary Jennings, a native of Johnson county, and by her had three children, Margaret, John W. and Chauncey. His wife married for her second husband John C. Stallcop, and they had three children, Frances, Louisa Arabelle and Elizabeth.
The log schoolhouse in which John W. Stallcop obtained his early education was very primitive in its construction and equipments, having a puncheon floor, plain slab benches and no desks, the pupils writing upon a board set against the side of the room. When not in school, and that was the larger half of the time, he assisted in the farm labors, and has always been actively associated with the agricultural progress of this part of the state. At the time of his marriage he settled on his present farm, on which from year to year he has added valuable improvements. He has placed his land under a good state of cultivation, erected a set of frame buildings, planted fruit and shade trees, and furnished the homestead with all the machinery required by the successful agriculturist of to-day.
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Mr. Stallcop married, at the age of twenty-two years, Susan Mitchell. She was born in Parke county, Indiana, where her parents, Isaac and Ann (Culver ) Mitchell, natives of New Jersey, were pioneers. She passed to the higher life September 9, 1889. Mr. Stallcop married for his second wife, September 13, 1893, Elizabeth Alice Bruner, who was born and bred in Van Buren township, a daughter of John Bruner. Henry Bruner, Mrs. Stallcop's grandfather, was one of the pioneers of Putnam county. He afterwards moved to Parke county, there improved a farm which he occupied for several years, and then returned to Putnam county, locating at Greencastle, where he lived retired until his death at an advanced age. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Phillips, died at the same hour that he did and was buried in the same grave. John Bruner was born in Parke county, and during his entire life was employed in agri- cultural pursuits, following his chosen vocation in both Parke and Clay counties. He died when but forty years old in Parke county. The maiden name of his wife, mother of Mrs. Stallcop, was Margaret McMillan. She was born in Van Buren township, a sister of the wife of William S. Pell, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this biographical work. John Bruner and his wife were consistent Christians and devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In the early days, before the erection of church edifices, the mother of J. W. Stallcop would every Saturday after- noon take apart and stow away her loom to make room for the neighbors who assembled in their log cabin home for religious worship.
By his first marriage Mr. Stallcop had three children, Robert, Minnie and Edgar, and by his second marriage he has one son, Raymond. Robert married Mamie Hecox, and they have one daughter, Freda Elizabeth. Minnie, wife of Samuel Bolin, has two children, Minnie and Mabel. Fraternally Mr. Stallcop is a member of Carbon Lodge No. 693, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and religiously both he and his wife belong to the United Brethren church.
RAYMOND ARTHUR ENGLISH .- Noteworthy for his keen intelligence and for his professional knowledge and skill, is Raymond Arthur English, of Clay City, a well-known and popular dental surgeon, who keeps him- self well informed in regard to the discoveries and improvements being constantly made in this very important branch of surgery, and is meet- ing with excellent success in his profession. A native of Indiana, he was born May 6, 1881, in Worthington, Greene county. His father, Dr. James Douglas English, a successful dentist, was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, a son of Jared Parish English.
Reared to manhood in the city of his birth, Raymond Arthur English was there educated, being graduated from the Worthington High School in Greene county with the class of 1900. Being attracted toward the dental profession when young, he began the study of dentistry in his father's office before leaving school, and after receiving his diploma con- tinued his studies until admitted to partnership with his father in Worth- ington, Indiana. Subsequently, on November 24, 1903, Dr. English came to Clay City in search of a favorable location, and on December 17, 1903, registered in the county, taking up the business here established by his father when Clay City was organized. In the pursuit of his chosen voca- tion he has labored faithfully, and by close attention to his professional duties has succeeded in building up a large and lucrative practice in this vicinity.
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On July 31. 1904, Dr. English married Nellie A. Slinkard, who was born in Newberry, Greene county, Indiana, a daughter of Andrew Pierce and Josephine (Arnold ) Slinkard. Two children have been born of their union, namely: Josephine Dorcas, who died in infancy; and Crystal Evelyn, born July 28, 1907. Fraternally the Doctor is a member of Worthington Camp No. 3284, Modern Woodmen of America. Relig- iously, true to the faith in which he was brought up, he is a member of the Presbyterian church, and Mrs. English is a Lutheran.
JOHN EWING THOMAS .- Noteworthy among the highly respected and esteemed citizens of Bowling Green, Clay county, is John Ewing Thomas, an ex-soldier of the Civil war. He is a man of undisputed integrity, and during his long residence in this part of the county has won the confidence and good will of his fellow-men in a marked degree and is eminently worthy of the regard in which he is held. A son of Oswald Thomas, he was born May 1, 1839, in Bowling Green, coming from pioneer stock.
Coming with his parents to Indiana from Kentucky, Oswald Thomas lived first near Vincennes, where his father entered a tract of timbered land. The family soon after moved to Spencer, Indiana, and from there coming to Clay county, making their way through the dense forest by blazing the trees that frequently obstructed their pathway. Settling on the river bottom, he assisted his father in the hard labor of clearing a farm, residing with his parents until his marriage. He then located in Bowling Green, where he built several houses, one being of brick, and was there a resident until his death, June 9, 1857. Oswald Thomas mar- ried Mahala Boothe, who was born in Harrison county, Indiana, where her father, Thompson Boothe, spent the later years of his life. She was a granddaughter, it is believed, of Lawrence Boothe, a boatman on the Ohio river. He was quite a character in his day and well known along the river. He had a sort of basket, called a Peck Piggin, which was filled with gold and silver. This, it is supposed, he buried on his farm in either Harrison or Warren counties, but he neglected to tell where before his death, and it has never been found. Mrs. Oswald Thomas survived her husband, dying in September, 1888. She reared nine children, of whom three daughters and two sons are now living, John Ewing, and another son has not been heard from in ten years.
Assisting his father in subduing the forest and placing the land in cultivation, John Ewing Thomas remained beneath the parental roof until after the breaking out of the Civil war. Being intensely patriotic, he enlisted June 7, 1861, in the Fourteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under command of Colonel Nathan Kimball. He served in West Virginia one year, and was then transferred with his regiment to the Army of the Potomac. As a soldier he was very faithful in the discharge of his duties, and during the entire period of his enlistment was never absent from his company at roll call. He participated in all of the engagements of his regiment, and with his command was honorably discharged from the service June 18, 1864. Returning immediately to Bowling Green, Mr. Thomas had charge of his mother's farm until 1868, the estate being inside of the corporation. From March, 1868, until November, 1868, he lived on another farm, but since that time has been a resident of Bowling Green, having four acres of land within its corporate limits.
On August 24, 1865, Mr. Thomas married Sarah J. Rees, who was born in Carroll county, Ohio, a daughter of Hugh and Mary (Justus)
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Rees. Her grandfather, Rees Rees, was born and bred in Wales. Her maternal grandparents were Isaiah and Christina (Runyon) Justus, the grandfather being of Irish descent, while his wife was of Welsh stock. Four children blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, namely : William K., who died in 1886, aged twenty years; Shallum M., who died in 1867, aged seven years; Mary Belle, wife of Robert Bohanon, of Terre Haute, who is employed in the Government service; and Harry H., engaged in the grocery business at Terre Haute. Fraternally Mr. Thomas is a member of Clay Lodge No. 85, A. F. & A. M., of Bowling Green. Religiously he belongs to the United Brethren church. For his excellent service as a soldier in the Civil war Mr. Thomas receives a pension of twenty-five dollars a month.
WILLIAM S. GARD .- Widely known throughout Perry township as a man of enterprise, ability and intelligence, William S. Gard is actively identified with its business interests as the leading general merchant of the village of Cory. A native of Clay county, he was born October 6, 1866, in Jackson township. His father, Lorenzo D. Gard, was born in 1842 in Union county, Indiana, a son of Aaron and Phebe (Nelson) Gard, of whom a brief personal history may be found elsewhere in this volume in connection with the sketch of Jacob Nelson Gard.
A young boy when his parents moved from Union to Owen county, Lorenzo D. Gard there grew to manhood. After his marriage he came to Clay county, and for a time resided in Jackson township. He after- wards spent a few years in Owen county, but subsequently returned to Clay county and bought in Perry township eighty acres of land. A small tract had been cleared, and a log cabin had been previously erected. Hard working and persevering, he succeeded in clearing the land, and in due course of time put up a good set of frame buildings, and on the home- stead that he improved spent the remainder of his days, passing away in March, 1906, at the age of sixty-four years. He married Nancy J. Wiley, a daughter of Robert and Sarah Wiley, natives, respectively, of North Carolina and Virginia. She preceded him to the life beyond, dying in March, 1898, aged fifty-six years. Of the children born of their union, six grew to mature life, as follows: William S., Effie E., Charles M., Edna J., Harvey and Myrtie M.
.
An ambitious, studious lad, fond of his books, William S. Gard taught school four terms after leaving the district schools, and then further advanced his education by an attendance at the Union Christian College at Merom, and at the Central Normal School at Danville. Resuming his profession he taught six terms in Perry township, one in Jackson town- ship, and nine in Sugar Ridge township, six of them being at Center Point. Locating at Cory in 1904, Mr. Gard embarked in mercantile pursuits, and in his store, which is one of the largest mercantile establishments in this part of Clay county, he carries a large and well selected stock, which includes almost everything demanded by the up-to-date housewife. An accommodating man, pleasant to deal with, he has built up an excellent patronage, and is carrying on a successful trade.
In 1889 Mr. Gard married Laura E. Barber, who was born in Perry township, a daughter of William White and Sarah (Gilbert) Barber, of whom a brief sketch appears on another page of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Gard have two children, namely: Ernest and Ethel. Fraternally Mr. Gard is a member of Center Point Lodge No. 597, A. F. & A. M .; of
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Clear Creek Lodge No. 449, I. O. O. F .; and is a member of the Cory Encampment No. 326, and of Center Point Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 209. Mrs. Gard belongs to the Orders of the Eastern Star, to the Daughters of Rebekah and to the Pocahontas. Religiously both Mr. and Mrs. Gard are members of the United Brethren church. Politically Mr. Gard is a stanch Republican, and since casting his presidential vote for Benjamin Harrison has been an active worker in the party. He has been a member of the County Central Committee, and in the spring of 1908 was the party's candidate for township trustee.
DANIEL W. HAYS .- It is seldom a man passes from life leaving so honorable a record and so sweet a memory as did Daniel W. Hays, who was born in Darke county, Ohio, November 21, 1820, and died January 23, 1906, in Brazil, when in the eighty-sixth year of his age. He was everywhere spoken of in terms of admiration and respect, but his many good qualities of heart and mind won him the sincere and abiding love of the great majority of those with whom he came in contact. His example was indeed one well worthy of emulation and his memory will be cherished for years by all who knew him while he was yet a factor in life's activities.
Mr. Hays was a son of James and Sarah ( Woodmancy) Hays, both of whom were natives of Ohio. The father removed westward to Indiana at an early day, settling in Clay county, where he followed the occupation of farming for a long period. He was everywhere known as Judge Hays, and was a man respected and honored by all with whom he came in contact. His death occurred in Covington, Parke county.
Brought to Indiana in early life, Daniel W. Hays was reared amid the wild scenes and environments of the frontier and early became familiar with all of the pioneer experiences. At that day the homes of the settlers were largely built of logs, the cabins were small, making quarters crowded, but there was no time when the house was so full that it could not extend cordial hospitality to friend and neighbor. Cooking was largely done over the old time fire place and the meat for many a meal was secured by the huntsman, who found good opportunity to exercise his skill, for there were still large herds of deer and many wild turkeys and other game in the forests. Mr. Hays shared in the hard- ships and privations of pioneer life and in the arduous toil of developing a new farm. Having arrived at years of maturity he was married to Miss Elizabeth Grimes, and following her death he married Miss Elvira Kennedy, on the 2d of February, 1854. She was born in Parke county, Indiana. April 28, 1829, and was a daughter of William and Sarah (Russell) Kennedy. The father was born in Pennsylvania and died at Center Point, Clay county, Indiana, at the age of eighty years. The mother was born in Ireland and died near Brazil, Indiana, on the 26th of April, 1863, when seventy-six years of age. They were married in Pennsylvania but came to the middle west at an early day and cast in their lot with the pioneer settlers of Parke county, Indiana, Mr. Kennedy carrying on farming both in Parke and Clay counties. The family were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Hays were six in number. Julia E., the eldest, is now the wife of J. M. Russell, a resident of Amarillo, Texas. Cyrus K. married Anna Grimes, and is now living in Columbia, South Dakota. James W. mar- ried Lillie Groves and is living in Spokane, Washington. Ermina Jane is
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