A History of Clay County Indiana (Volume 2), Part 47

Author: William Travis
Publication date: 1909
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 631

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He married, on May 2, 1878, Kate L. McAllister, a daughter of Dr. R. B. and Elizabeth (La Feber) McAllister, natives respectively of Baltimore, Maryland, and Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Dr. McAl- ister was one of the prominent early physicians of Ashboro and he died here December. 23, 1879. Mrs. McAllister resided with her daughter. Mrs. Moss, until her death, April 23, 1906, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. The following children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Moss: Fred, born November 4, 1879, a resident of Birmingham, Alabama ; Daisy, born July 25, 1882, the wife of Charles W. Witty, of Center Point ; George Mack, born November 19, 1888; Clifford, born January 25, 1892 : Lo., July 15, 1894: Helen, November 29, 1898; Hil- dreth, July 17, 1902 ; and Paul, July 19, 1905. Dr. Moss is a Mason, a charter member of Center Point Lodge, and is also a member of the blue lodge and the Order of Eastern Star. His religious affiliations are with the Universalist church.

CASSIUS M. FUNK, a substantial farmer and a well known citizen of public affairs, resides on section 30, Washington township, Clay county. He is also one of the most influential members of the Methodist Episcopal church in that section of the county, having been faithful and untiring in his good work for a period of forty-one years. During this long period he has either been a steward or a class leader. There are few citizens of the county whose usefulness has been broader, and none whose life labors have been conducted on a higher plane.

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A native of Champaign county, Ohio, Mr. Funk was born on the 4th of July, 1847, son of Daniel and Sarah J. (Ellis) Funk, both natives of Virginia. They were married in Ohio, where the father followed his trade as a carpenter, and in September, 1854, when Cassius was seven years of age, the family moved to Clay county, locating on a farm in Washington township. In the spring of 1855 the elder Mr. Funk bought eighty acres of land in section 29, of the township named, and this remained the nucleus of his homestead until his death, April 6, 1903, aged eighty-six years. His wife died in January, 1901, at the age of seventy-eight. Before the death of the father he had added to his original purchase until the family estate had reached three hundred acres. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Funk were as follows: Cassius M., the oldest; William H., a resident of Marion township, Owen county, Indiana; and Annie Funk, who died in 1874.

Cassius M. Funk was reared on his father's farm in Washington township, and received his education in Clay county, with the exception of his first two terms of schooling in Ohio and the season of 1865-6, which he also spent as a pupil in Champaign county, that state. He assisted his father until his marriage, on April 22, 1866, to Mary N. Addy, daughter of Solomon and Catherine (Norman) Addy, both natives of the Buckeye state. For about five years after his marriage he farmed on the paternal estate, and then bought sixty acres in section 30, Wash- ington township, where he still resides. It was originally a timber tract, boasting for improvements only a small, old log house. But the land is now all cleared and thoroughly cultivated, a productive fruit orchard of over an acre is a valuable and attractive feature of the home- stead, which also includes a commodious house and substantial barns and other agricultural conveniences. He has owned altogether about four hundred acres in Washington township, and is now the proprietor of sixty-one acres in Harrison township and forty in Lewis township. He is engaged in general farming operations, and is strongly influential both as a progressive agriculturist and a public and religious man. He is a Democrat in politics, was elected justice of the peace in the fall of 1907, and appointed road superintendent in the beginning of 1908. He is a member of Bowling Green Lodge, No. 513, I. O. O. F., and in whatever field he has been active he has conducted himself as an able and upright man.

He has three of the old parchment deeds executed by Presidents John Tyler, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, the fifth of their kind found in southern Clay county. There are valuable heirlooms in the Funk family.

Nine children have been born to Mr. Funk, two of whom are deceased, the family being as follows: Alice B., deceased; John H., a resident of Washington township; C. Ellen, deceased; Cora, wife of Dennis Luther, of Terre Haute: Allen, of Washington township; Eunice, who married Harlie Lasell, of Washington township: Daniel V., of Lewis township; Ida J., wife of Elmer Francis, who lives in Terre Haute, and Lewis R. Funk, who resides at home. The family recently suffered an irreparable loss in the death of the wife and mother, and her life was beautifully commemorated in the following paragraphs from the local papers :

"Mary M. Funk was born in Ohio, January 20, 1847. She came to this state with her father and mother in 1855 and was married to Cassius

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M. Funk April 23, 1866. To this union were born nine children; of that number seven survive her, three girls and four boys. She became a member of the M. E. church in 1867 and remained a faithful member until death.

"Sister Funk was a great sufferer for almost two years, but so hopeful and uncomplaining that it was inspiring to be in her company. She was a firm believer in God. She believed that her long affliction was God's will and rejoiced in Him every day for grace given. Hus- band, you have not only lost a faithful wife; children, you have not only lost a loving mother, but we have all lost a true friend and a good neighbor, and now that she is gone, we are lonely. A. N. ELROD."

"Mary M. Funk, wife of Cassius M. Funk, died at the home in Washington township Saturday morning, September 12, in her 62d year, after an illness of almost two years.

"The funeral services were held at Mt. Zion church, conducted by her pastor, Rev. J. F. Dyas, pastor at Patricksburg. Mrs. Funk had been a member of the M. E. church at that place since her marriage and was one of the most spiritual members of that class. She leaves a hus- band and seven children, three girls and four boys. The funeral was in charge of Miss Kate Tapy, of Bowling Green."

FRANKLIN PIERCE ELLIOTT .- Among the sturdy, energetic and thriv- ing agriculturists of Clay county who have a thorough understanding of their vocation and consequently are enabled to carry on that calling most profitably is Franklin P. Elliott, of Perry township, a well-known and prosperous farmer. A son of Bluford Elliott, he was born November 16, 1852, in Washington county, Indiana, near Salem.

Mr. Elliott's paternal grandfather, William Elliott, lived in North Carolina until sixteen years old. Ambitious then to try life on the frontier, he came to the territory of Indiana, which seemed to him a land of bright promise. Locating in Floyd county, he lived and labored there until after his marriage with Nancy Biarly, who, it is thought, was born in that county. Settling then in Washington county, he was employed as a tiller of the soil near Salem until about 1860, when he went to Middletown, Vigo county, where he continued his independent occupation during the remainder of his active life. Both he and his wife there attained good old ages, he being eighty-two years old at the time of his death, and she nearly as old when she died.

A native of Washington county, Indiana, Bluford Elliott was there reared to agricultural pursuits, and there spent the earlier years of his life. Locating in Vigo county in 1853, he rented land near Centerville, and there as a general farmer met with good success. Seven years later. having accumulated some money, he bought a tract of unimproved land lying three and one-half miles northwest of Centerville, and having cleared away a part of the brush and timber erected a substantial hewed log house, which is still standing and is in excellent condition. He planted fruit and shade trees, and made other improvements of value, and there resided until his death, at the age of three score years. He married Mar- garet Haugher, who was born in Washington county, Indiana, a daughter of Solomon and Miss (Perkizer) Haugher. Her father, a native of Pennsylvania, fought in the Indian wars. He was a pioneer of Washing- ton county, Indiana, but afterwards located in Middletown, Vigo county, where he purchased a small farm, which he managed as long as he was

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able, and on which both he and his wife lived to advanced ages, her death occurring about a year before his. Mrs. Bluford Elliott survived her husband, passing away at the age of eighty years. She reared seven children, namely: Franklin Pierce, Milton, Edward, Clifford, Mary, Martha and Philander.

But a year old when his parents settled in Vigo county, Franklin P. Elliott was brought up amid pioneer scenes. There were at that time no railroads in the state, transportation being made by teams, and Terre Haute, the most convenient market, was but a small village. He began as a boy to assist on the farm, remaining at home until twenty-five years old. Working then by the day or month, he saved his earnings until he had enough to buy a team, when he rented land and commenced his career as an independent farmer. Prosperity greeting his efforts, he was enabled in 1888 to buy in section thirty-four, Perry township, a farm which had been partly cleared and had a fair set of farm buildings. Selling out in 1898, Mr. Elliott bought the place which he now occupies and has since carried on general farming with good results. He has eighty acres of rich land, well improved, and a substantial set of buildings, the whole estate being a credit to his industry and good management.

Mr. Elliott married first, November 16, 1882, Louisa Latham, who was born in North Carolina, and died on the home farm in Perry town- ship November 18, 1903. Her parents, Solomon and Elizabeth (Bolin) Latham, came from North Carolina to Indiana in November, 1860, locat- ing in Montgomery county at first, but afterwards living in Putnam county, and then at Sugar Ridge township, Clay county, and later in Perry township, where both spent their last days, Mrs. Latham surviving her husband a few years. Mr. Elliott married second Mrs. Senna (Goedeker) Latham, who was born in Holland, a daughter of Joseph Goedeker. Mr. Goedeker was born, reared and married in Germany. On leaving the Fatherland he lived for awhile in Holland, and then, accom- panied by his wife, two children and his mother, emigrated to Indiana, settling in Terre Haute, where he worked for awhile at the carpenter's trade. He subsequently bought land in Perry township, and was here engaged in carpentering and farming until his death.

Mrs. Elliott married for her first husband Noah Latham, who was born in North Carolina. a son of Solomon Latham. He died in 1902, leav- ing six children, namely: John F., Lon, Lana, Lizzie, Annie and Elsie. John F. Latham married Mattie Gibbons, and they have four children, Ruth, Carl, Daisy and Iretha. Lon Latham married Minnie Varner, and they have two children, Clifford and Dorothy. Lana, wife of George Cortner, has four children, Jessie, Rosa, Glendolin and Willis. Lizzie married Oliver Bosley and they have one child, Esther. Mr. Elliott is a Democrat.

JOSEPH V. AYER, who is now living retired in Brazil, was one of the first to develop the clay working industry in this part of the state and his labors in this direction proved a source of revenue to the county and were therefore of inestimable value. His birth occurred upon a farm about four and a half miles south of Staunton, Indiana, August 15, 1856, his parents being John M. and Mary Ayer. He was educated in the pub- lic schools and in the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso. In 1880 he came to Brazil and entered the office of the county clerk in the capacity of deputy, serving for four years and seven months. On the

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expiration of that period he turned his attention to the fire insurance busi- ness, in which he continued for three years. It was during that period that the Brazil Commercial Club was organized and Mr. Ayer became its first secretary. After giving up his local business in insurance he accepted a position as adjuster and state agent in fire insurance lines, but after two and a half years thus passed resigned and in the fall of 1891 took up his abode in Brazil, where he assisted in organizing the first clay plant in Clay county for the development of the rich resources of this part of the state, whereby the material advancement of the county has been greatly increased. The company started with two kilns and the rapid development and growth of their business is indicated by the fact that within six years they had twenty-four kilns in operation. The business was carried on under the name of the Brazil Brick & Pipe Company, which is today the McRoy Clay Works. .

Having sold out his interest in that business, Mr. Ayer in 1899 organ- ized the Ayer-McCarroll Clay Company and established a plant which is now operated under the name of the Hydraulic Brick Company. Again success attended the venture and the business proved a profitable one, bringing to the stockholders a good annual dividend. Mr. Ayer's previous experience well qualified him to establish this enterprise upon a safe basis and enabled him to prosecute its interests with marked ability. In 1905 he retired from the business and has since enjoyed a well earned rest. He was one of the men who organized and built the first clay plant in Terre Haute, Indiana, then known as the Terre Haute Brick & Pipe Company, the predecessor of the present Terre Haute Vitrified Brick Company. He has been a heavy shipper of clay from Brazil to outside points and this branch of his business has been a gratifying source of profit. The first multiple duct clay conduit in the United States was made by the Brazil Brick & Pipe Company. Through his efforts in this direction Mr. Ayer has contributed in large and substantial measure to the material develop- ment of this part of the state in recognizing and utilizing the natural resources and the opportunities offered for activity in this connection.

On the 5th of December, 1883, Mr. Ayer was married to Miss Isabel Hamilton Dempsey, a native of Brazil and a daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Daniels) Dempsey. Mr. Ayer belongs to Centennial Lodge, No. 541, A. F. & A. M., and to Brazil Lodge, No. 762, B. P. O. E., while his political allegiance is unfalteringly given to the Republican party. In citizenship he is progressive and public spirited, withholding his support from no interest calculated to prove of benefit to the community. For years a most active and enterprising business man, he is now enjoying well earned ease, spending the winter months in Florida, California and other warm climes, while the summer seasons are passed at his home in Brazil. The consensus of public opinion regarding his life and work is altogether favorable and he is honored and respected by all, not alone because of the success he has achieved but also by reason of the straight- forward business methods that he has ever followed.

ISAAC SHELBY HARGER .- Prominent among the representatives of industrial interests in Brazil is numbered Isaac Shelby Harger, a painter and a decorator with an extensive and growing business. His careful management, combined with his unwearied industry, constitute important elements in the success which he is now enjoying and have won for him a place among the substantial residents of his adopted city. He was born

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in Bardstown, Nelson county, Kentucky, January 11, 1846, his birthplace being one of the historic points of the south and especially identified with the early founding of the Catholic church in that section of the country. In the earlier portion of the nineteenth century Bardstown had acquired such a standing as a center of education and culture as to be christened by Henry Clay the "Athens of the West." In 1774 Bardstown was first settled as Salem, but when it was incorporated by the Virginia legislature four years later it adopted its present name. Its original settlers were English Catholics, and one explanation of its name is that among the earliest and most prominent were the Bairds. Later came the Jesuit missionaries, and the Sisters of Nazareth founded a seminary for the higher education of "gentlemen's daughters." The town also became a large manufacturing center, and its importance as a center of industry and culture induced the pope to create it an episcopal see, the first west of the Alleghany mountains. This, however, was transferred to Louisville in 1841, the Jesuits abandoned their college, and Bardstown commenced to wane. Although still a picturesque place, it is mainly noted for its past. It is a village of 1,800 people and the county seat of Nelson county.

The parents of Isaac S. Harger were Samuel Preston and Margaret Elizabeth (Taylor) Harger. The father was a native of Deerfield, Ohio, and he died of cholera in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1851, his wife, who was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, passing away in 1853. They were mar- ried in Kentucky, and the two of their four children who are living are as follows: Isaac and Samuel P., the latter being a resident of Haywards, California. The father was a shoemaker by trade and after locating in Nelson county engaged in the manufacture and sale of boots and shoes. He employed ten or fifteen men in the manufacturing department, de- veloped a good business and died in St. Louis, while on a western pros- pecting tour looking for a larger and more favorable field. At an early day he was a member of the state militia of Kentucky and gave his politi- cal allegiance to the Whig party.

Isaac S. Harger spent his boyhood days in Owen county, Indiana, whither the family removed after the marriage of the widowed mother to Henry Townsend. As the son was only six years of age when he lost his father and eight years old when his mother died, he returned to Ken- tucky and made his home with his uncle, Arthur Taylor. When ten years of age he again became a resident of Owen county and was bound out to William Phillips, whom he was to serve until he was twenty-one years of age. At seventeen he enlisted for service in the Civil war, becoming a member of Company K, Fifth Indiana Cavalry, on the 15th of November. 1864, and later being connected with the Sixth Indiana Cavalry. After participating in the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, the regiment was de- tached to collect government supplies and to establish martial law at Eastport, Mississippi, and Florence, Lebanon and Gallatin, Tennessee. From the last named point the troops crossed the Cumberland mountains to Murfreesboro, where they were discharged, being formally and honora- bly mustered out of the service at Indianapolis, on the 15th of Septem- ber, 1865. Mr. Harger then returned to Owen county and continued his work for Mr. Phillips until he was twenty years of age, when he became identified with mercantile interests in Vandalia, Indiana. Afterward he established himself in business at Spencer, Owen county, where he re- mained until 1872, when he sold his store and became a collector for Dr. Bruell for about a year. In 1873 he located at Cory, Indiana, building the

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first house at that place. He took a contract with the railroad company to furnish 12,000 railroad ties between Terre Haute and Middlebury, as well as to supply all the timber for the building of trestles and bridges along this line. In the spring of 1874 he traveled through the states of Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin, and at Stevens Point, in the last named state, he assisted in building a lumber raft of 1,600,000 feet of lumber, which, with others, he floated down the Mississippi river to St. Louis, Missouri. He then returned to Owen county.

It was at this period of his life that Mr. Harger was married to Miss Carrie Reynolds, who was born in that county and died five years after their union. Afterward Mr. Harger removed to Brazil, where he engaged in the business of contracting and carpentering, being thus associated with the building interests of the city until 1883. During that period he erected over forty houses for the Brazil Block Coal Company. Since 1883 Mr. Harger has been engaged in the painting and decorating business, as a contractor, and enjoys a liberal patronage. Soon after Jerome Bogle's arrival in Brazil, he was associated with that gentleman in the painting business, the two also succeeding Mr. Oswell in a restaurant business. Mr. Harger withdrew from the latter, and has since confined his energies and abilities to the field which has embraced some of the finest homes and business houses in Brazil.

Mr. Harger's second wife, to whom he was united on the 25th of April, 1893, was Miss Minnie C. Schnerenberger. A native of Ohio, she was born in 1862, daughter of George and Martha (Otterman) Schneren- berger. Her father was born in Germany and died on his farm near Brazil, at the age of sixty-one years, while her mother was a Pennsyl- vanian, her marriage occurring in the Keystone state and her death, at Brazil in 1907, aged seventy-three. Mr. Schnerenberger had come to America in early life, crossing the Atlantic on a sailing vessel and locat- ing in Pennsylvania, where for several years he followed the wagon maker's trade. Subsequently he removed to Ohio ; then to a farm in Jack- son township, Clay county, and finally became a citizen of Brazil. There he worked at his trade with Eli and John Hendricks, while later he pur- chased a farm near the city upon which he spent his last years. His life was one of well directed activity and strict honor. He was an exemplary member of the I. O. O. F., which he joined in Ohio, and was devotedly attached to the Methodist church. Politically he was associated with the Democracy. The five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Schnerenberger were: Mrs. Harger ; Jennie, now the wife of Charles Oeffinger; May, Mrs. George Anderson; Eva, wife of William Daken; and George.

Mr. and Mrs. Harger are well known socially in Brazil, where they have a warm as well as a large circle of friends. They are the parents of Frederick S., Earl L. and John C. Harger. Mr. Harger has been a Re- publican since he attained the right to vote, has served as a member of the city council for four years, and his devotion to the public good is above question, being actively interested in temperance reforms and law enforce- ment. He and his wife are loyal members of the First Methodist Episco- pal church and are connected with William Black Chapter No. 80, O. E. S., and Mayflower D. of R. No. 62, while Mr. Hargar is also identified with Brazil Lodge, No. 264, A. F. and A. M .; Brazil Lodge No. 215, I. O. O. F., and Iron City Encampment No. 118, and Patriarchs Militant No. 47. Throughout his entire life he has made it his purpose to hold closely to a high standard of conduct, and in citizenship, his social rela-

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tions and private life, as well as in his busines's career, he has earned the high honor of his associates. From the very commencement of his inde- pendent career he has made steady advancement in the business world, utilizing his opportunities to good advantage, and his entire record is characterized by an orderly progression that has led to good results.

JOHN MURPHY, now practically living retired, was in former years closely identified with business interests in Brazil and maintained an unassailable reputation for commercial integrity as well as enterprise, hold- ing at all times to a high standard of business ethics. He was born in county Mayo, Ireland, June 12, 1838, his parents being John and Mary (Gallagher ) Murphy, both of whom were natives of county Mayo. They spent their entire lives on the Emerald Isle, as did the paternal grand- father of our subject, Patrick Murphy, who followed farming as a life work in Ireland. To that occupation John Murphy was reared and he continued to engage in agricultural pursuits until his life's labors were ended in death. He was a member of the Roman Catholic church and in that faith reared his family. He died at the age of fifty-two years and his widow, surviving him for a number of years, passed away at the age of sixty-nine. They were the parents of six children, of whom four are now living: John, of this review ; Patrick, who resides in Clay county, Indiana ; Anthony, who makes his home on Ashley street in Brazil; and Michael M., who is living in Rhode Island.

John Murphy, reared and educated in his native country, became an apprentice at an early age in a loom factory. In 1849 he left the land of his nativity and went to England, after which he returned to Ireland, but on the 3d of February, 1870, he sailed for the new world, attracted by the opportunities which, according to report, were to be secured in this coun- try. He landed at New York city on the 16th of February and soon after- ward made his way to Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in mining coal. He spent but a brief period there, however, for on the Ist of May of the same year he arrived in Brazil, Indiana, where he was engaged in mining until the early '8os. During that period he carefully saved his earnings until the sum was sufficient to justify his engaging in the grocery business on his own account. Accordingly he opened a store at Benwood, which he conducted successfully until 1890. In the meantime, in 1888, he was elected sheriff of the county and filled the posi- tion so acceptably during his two years' term that in 1890 he was re- elected. In order to facilitate his official service he removed to the county seat and embarked in the harness business in Brazil, in which he con- tinued for about a year. On the expiration of that period he again became connected with the grocery trade and for three or four years conducted a store in that line, after which he turned his business over to his son in 1903. He was then engaged in the coal trade until the 5th of August, 1905, when he retired to enjoy well merited rest.

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A History of Clay County Indiana (Volume 2), Part 47

Author: William Travis Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Number of Pages: 631

Author: William Travis
Publication date: 1909
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 631