A History of Clay County Indiana (Volume 2), Part 58

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

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Margaret ( McGee) McIntosh. The father was born at Muthill, Scot- land, and died in Ottawa at the age of sixty-five years, while his wife passed away at the age of fifty-six years. His life was devoted to con- tracting and building and he was thus closely associated with the sub- stantial and material improvement of Ottawa. His family numbered eight children but only two are now living, the brother of our subject being William C. McIntosh, whose home is in New Haven, Connecticut.

In taking up the personal history of Isaac McIntosh, we present to our readers the record of one now widely and favorably known in Brazil. His education was acquired in the public schools of Ottawa, Canada, and in 1877 he went to British Columbia, where he had supervision of the mercantile interests of his brother James until 1879. In that year he crossed the border into the United States, thinking to find better business opportunities in a country where competition is greater but where advance- ment is more quickly secured. Locating in Chicago, he became interested with his brother Alexander in the commission business on the Chicago Board of Trade. In 1880 he engaged with the Union Iron & Steel Com- pany of Chicago, which he represented in business connections until the fall of 1882, when he established a grocery store in the metropolis by the lake. The following year he came to Brazil and here entered the employ of the Watson Coal & Mining Company but in 1884 returned to Chicago and was with his brother Alexander, who was a contractor and builder. He again became a resident of Brazil in June, 1885, and was with the Gartsherrie Coal & Mining Company until 1891. when he engaged in business with G. C. Benton, of Chicago, with whom he continued until 1898. In 1903, in association with his two daughters, Mr. McIntosh engaged in the coal business, under the firm style of I. S. & R. McIntosh, but in 1904 they sold out to the Superior Block Coal Company, of which Mr. McIntosh is now the vice president and secretary. He is thus closely associated with the natural resources of the country and is active in the executive management of what is one of the important industrial interests.

On the 19th of May, 1869, Mr. McIntosh was married to Miss Sarah Morrison, who was born in Glengarry, Canada. March 17, 1852, and died on the 7th of April, 1887. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Donald Morrison, both of whom were natives of Canada but are now deceased. Her father was a well known lumber merchant of that country. Unto him and his wife were born six children, of whom four are yet living : John, Lewis, Daniel and Malcom.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh have been born seven children, of whom five still survive: Alexander, Lida, Isaac, Sarah and Rebecca. The eldest daughter, Lida, is now the wife of Gustave A. Stievenart.

Starting in life without any especially fortunate family or pecuniary advantages to assist him, Mr. McIntosh has made steady progress toward the goal of prosperity. He has made good use of his opportunities, closely watching indications pointing to success and in all of his under- takings he has followed methods which will bear close investigation and scrutiny.

WILLIAM ROBERTS, who at his death left many friends in Brazil, was a native of Fulton county, New York, born in 1851. His life record covered a span of fifty years and was ended in death on the 10th of June, 1901. His parents were Michael and Mary Roberts, both natives of

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WILLIAM ROBERTS

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Ireland, in which country they were reared, educated and married. They came to the United States soon after their marriage and established their home in Fulton county, New York. There Mr. Roberts spent his days as a farmer and by his agricultural pursuits provided for the support of his family. His religious faith was that of the Roman Catholic church. He had six children, of whom three are now living, John, Martin and Margaret.

William Roberts spent his boyhood days with his parents in the Empire state, pursued his education in the public schools and was early trained to realize the value and importance of industry and enterprise as factors in the business world. He took up his abode in Brazil in 1875 and later he engaged in the liquor business, in which he continued up to the time of his death, covering a period of more than a quarter of a century.

In 1877 Mr. Roberts was married to Miss Catherine E. Farley, who was born in Durham county, England, June 5, 1863, a daughter of Daniel and Julia (Dalton) Farley, who were natives of the Emerald isle. Her father died in Clay county, Indiana, but her mother is still living in this state. They were married in England and unto them were born twelve children, of whom ten are yet living: Catherine E., Margaret, Ann. Rosa, Julia, James, John, Lawrence, Daniel and Elizabeth. One child died in infancy. The father came to the United States in 1878, accom- panied by his family, and established his home in Philadelphia, where he resided for a number of years. He then removed to Indiana, settling at Carbon, where he engaged in the liquor business. He was a member of the Roman Catholic church and gave his political allegiance to the Democracy.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Roberts were born four children, but only one is now living, Mary, who is attending "St. Mary of the Woods" near Terre Haute, Indiana, where she is studying music and art. Mr. Roberts belonged to Zenith Lodge. No. 169, of the Knights and Ladies of Security. He was also a communicant of the Roman Catholic church and his political views were in accord with the principles of the Democracy. A man of many friends, he was kind hearted and considerate of others, was generous and liberal to the poor but never ostentatiously bestowed his charity. There are many who have reason to bless him for his kindly assistance in their hour of need, and his good qualities won for him many friends.

JOSEPH HENRY DIEL has made his home in Clay county throughout his entire life, born within its borders in Jackson township July 3, 1855, and in December of 1907 he moved to his present place near Brazil. where he is engaged in carpentering and building. He has been identified with the work of many of the public buildings of that city, and is a skillful and reliable artist in his line.

Elias Diel, for many years a farmer in Clay county, was the father of Joseph H. Diel, and was born in Ohio, of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, and was reared in Pennsylvania. In an early day in the history of this state he came to Indiana and located in Jackson township, where for a number of years he was engaged in shoemaking in connection with his farming, and during the latter part of his life he was a carpenter in Brazil. He owned at one time eighty acres of land, the most of which he cleared, and he placed many substantial and valuable improvements on his land.

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He was a life-long supporter of Democratic principles, and a member of the Chosen Friends and of the Presbyterian church. In his early life Mr. Diel wedded Rachael Ann Whetzel, who was born in Indiana, and they had seven children, three sons and four daughters, all of whom were born in Clay county.

Joseph H. Diel, the first born of the seven children, attended the district schools of Jackson township and the graded schools of Brazil during his boyhood, and in that city, on the 4th of May, 1876, he married Annie Crank, a daughter of William Sylvester Crank, who was an engi- neer in Morgan county, Indiana. Mrs. Diel was born and reared in that county, but when sixteen years of age she came with her father to Clay county, where he worked at his trade in Brazil for some time. He served as a soldier in the Civil war. Two children, a son and a daughter, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Diel, Dora May and Joseph Henry, both of whom were born in Brazil. Mr. Diel's politics are Democratic, and he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and since 1888 of the Knights of Pythias Lodge, No. 308, of Brazil, Indiana. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

DAVID ISAAC ZOOK, M. D .- In the annals of Clay county no name shone with brighter lustre among its medical fraternity than that of David Isaac Zook, M. D., late of Clay City. Talented and cultured, devoted to the demands of his profession, his thorough knowledge of medicine and his skill in surgery won for him the confidence of the people and gained for him a large and lucrative practice. A son of David Zook, he was born November 27, 1847, in Hensley township, Johnson county, Indiana. His grandfather Zook was a pioneer settler of Johnson county and spent his last years in Trafalgar.

David Zook was born, it is thought, in Kentucky, and came from there to Indiana with his parents. Embarking as a young man in agricultural pursuits, he bought land in Hensley township, and was there employed in general farming during the remainder of his life. He married Eda Admire, and they became the parents of eight children, namely : Alfred; Millie; Jacob, who became a physician ; James; Sally; Laura; David, the subject of this sketch ; and Marion.

Having completed his studies in the public schools, David I. Zook read medicine first with Dr. Robinson, of Morgan, Indiana, and later with his uncle, Dr. Admire, of Trafalgar, this state. Graduating from the Louisville Medical College, with the degree of M. D., in 1874, Dr. Zook located in Tipton county, Indiana, and for three years was engaged in practising medicine in Tetersburg and Tipton. Going to Indianapolis in 1877, he entered the Indiana Medical College, from which he was grad- uated with a surgeon's degree in 1879. Locating immediately in Clay City, Dr. Zook was here actively engaged in the practice of his profession until his death, April 27, 1890. As a physician and surgeon he was very popular throughout the community, his professional knowledge and skill being widely appreciated and winning him a lucrative patronage.

On June 11, 1873, Dr. Zook married Emma Minner. She was born in Kinesee, Saxony, September 10, 1846, a daughter of Ernest Minner, who was a native of Saxony. Her grandfather, a tanner by trade, was a life-long resident of that country. Learning the shoemaker's trade, Ernest Minner resided in his native land until after his marriage. In 1848, accompanied by his wife and child, he emigrated to the United

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States, and for about five years after his arrival resided in Brooklyn, New York. Coming then to Indiana, he settled in Franklin, Johnson county, where he followed his trade for a few years. Locating then in Morgan county, this state, he bought land, and was engaged in tilling the soil until his death, in the seventy-second year of his age. He married Fredericka Yohn, who was born in Saxony and died in Indiana about four years after he did. She reared six children, namely: Emma, now Mrs. Zook; Louisa; William; George; Clara; and Albert. Two children blessed the union of Dr. and Mrs. Zook, namely: Elnora May and Eda Grace. Elnora May, wife of John Ellis, has one child, Ernest. Eda Grace, wife of James R. Allen, of whom a brief sketch may be found on another page of this work, has one child, Joan Caroline.

JACOB BAUMUNK, for many years one of the well known business men of Clay county, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, Feb- ruary 29, 1840, a son of Michael and Rachel (Storms) Baumunk, who were born in Germany. They were married in their native land, and five children were born to them there, while four were added to the family after they came to the United States. On arriving in this country the father established the home in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he conducted a shoe shop until 1853. In that year he came to Poland, Clay county, Indiana, and purchased eighty acres of partially improved land, which he later placed under an excellent state of cultivation and also added to the boundaries of his farm until it contained one hundred and forty acres. He spent the remainder of his life on this farm.

Jacob Baumunk, their first child born in the United States, spent his boyhood days in his parents' home, learning the shoe maker's trade, while later he conducted a shop of his own and manufactured boots and shoes in Poland for twenty years. From there he went to Brazil and followed the same occupation for a short time, later for fourteen months was the proprietor of the Clay Hotel there, and during two years served as the sheriff of Clay county. It was at the close of this period that he bought several hundred acres of land in Sugar Ridge township, section 6, and moved to his new farm home, living for a time in a little frame shanty of five rooms which stood upon the place, but this was superseded by the present large, two-story frame dwelling of eight rooms in 1897. Mr. Baumunk has sold several hundred acres of his estate, but yet retains two hundred and fifty acres on which he is extensively engaged in farming and stock raising.

On the 29th of April, 1868, he was married to Catherine Holenburg, who was born in Owen county, Indiana, December 28, 1849, a daughter of Frederick and Minnie ( Overhelm) Holenburg, natives of Hanover, Germany. The children of this union are: Laura, the wife of W. H. Evans, of Saskatchewan, Canada; Noah E., also of that place; Orlando and Minnie, of Terre Haute; Ross H. and Nellie, twins, the latter the wife of G. F. Lever, of Sugar Ridge township; Oscar J., at home; John W., who is teaching school; and Lydia and Ruth, at home. Mr. Baumunk is a Democrat in his political affiliations, and he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

JOHN FIELD, Eso .- A man of keen perceptions, strict integrity and sterling worth, John Field, Esq., of Lewis township, enjoys the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens to a high degree. Public-spirited and .

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capable, he has never shirked the responsibilities of office, and has filled the various positions to which he has been elected with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned. A native of Lewis township, he was born October 8, 1852, a son of Aquilla Field.

Mr. Field received his early education in the common schools and since attaining manhood has been variously employed. He has rendered appreciated service as deputy county coroner and as deputy county prose- cutor, and at the present time is justice of the peace. In this capacity he has won an enviable reputation as a wise and impartial dispenser of justice, his decisions being almost invariably accepted as honest and just.

On March 20, 1884, Mr. Field married Amanda Bledsoe, who was born in Greene county, Indiana, a daughter of William and Mary A. ( Neal) Bledsoe, and granddaughter of Rev. John Neal, a pioneer preacher of Indiana. Seven children have been born of the Union of Mr. and Mrs. Field, namely : Celestia, Henry, Evard, Herman, Maria, Lillian and Lola.

OSCAR T. DUNAGAN, who is a teacher and practicing attorney of Sugar Ridge township, Clay county, Indiana, residing at Center Point, was born in Parke county, Indiana, October 6, 1852, and was educated in the public schools of Clay county, in Ladoga Seminary, Indiana, in the Terre Haute Commercial College, the Michigan University and the Indiana State Normal School. He is a son of Solomon and Eliza (Sey- bold ) Dunagan. The father was a native of Morgan county and the mother of Parke county, Indiana. The father died in 1854 in Parke county, and in 1857 Mrs. Dunagan married Charles W. Moss and they moved to Sugar Ridge township, Clay county, where they owned a farm containing about two thousand acres, divided between timber and farm lands. Mrs. Moss died in 1904, aged seventy-one years, leaving one daughter, Mrs. Mattie Webster, of Terre Haute, a sister of the subject ; also a half brother and five half sisters.

Mr. Dunagan remained at home with his parents until his marriage in 1878, when he was united to Susan Ambrose, of Center Point, a daughter of Lewis F. and Elizabeth ( Phillip) Ambrose, natives of West- moreland county, Pennsylvania, where she was born. He began teaching school in 1868, when sixteen years of age, and still follows this profession a part of his time. He has taught in the Center Point schools, in town- ship schools, and was superintendent of schools in Martin county, Indiana. He has also taught in Warrior, Alabama, Mt. Lebanon University, Louisiana ; has been superintendent of the Pima Indian Boarding School in Arizona, and was principal of the Aurora, Illinois, Normal School. During the past five years he has held the position of principal of the Perry township and Sugar Ridge township high schools. In 1874-75 he took a course in law at the Michigan University, and was admitted to the bar in Indiana in 1875. During his vacations from school he has prac- ticed law, but has made teaching his specialty. He has performed con- siderable special work in township and county institutes in Indiana, and has also worked with county superintendents and teachers in county normals for five sessions. A judge of the circuit court, a number of the members of the bar and a large number of teachers in Clay county are numbered among the pupils of Mr. Dunagan, aside from many good business men of the county. Politically he is an ardent supporter of the Republican party.

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Mr. and Mrs. Dunagan are the parents of the following children : Lois L., now a milliner ; Verna L., a music teacher ; and Carlos, a student in the high school of Brazil.

THOMAS HENDERSON .- The veterans of the Civil war are fast passing away. One by one they respond to the last roll call, but while memory remains to the American people the record of the boys in blue who fought for the Union will be cherished. Mr. Henderson is numbered among the veterans, and in days of peace has been equally loyal to the interests of his county, state and nation. He has especially proved his devotion to the general welfare through his fidelity and promptness in the execution of his duties as an officeholder. At the present time he is serving as township trustee. He makes his home in Brazil and has been a resident of Clay county since January, 1854.

A native of Ohio, Mr. Henderson was born in Holmes county, Sep- tember 20, 1831, his parents being Edward and Mary ( Brooks) Hender- son. Her father was born in Ireland and came to the United States in early life. He cast in his lot with the pioneer settlers of Holmes county, Ohio, where he followed the occupation of farming and aided in the devel- opment of that section of the country. He died when sixty-three years of age, while his wife survived to the advanced age of seventy-eight years. They were the parents of two sons, the elder being Stewart Henderson, now a resident of Iowa.

Thomas Henderson spent the first twenty-two years of his life in the state of his nativity, and when a lad of about six years began his education as a public-school student. He worked upon the home farm in his youth and afterward learned the wagon maker's trade. In 1854 he removed from Ohio to Indiana, settling in Clay county in the month of January, where he resumed work at his trade, which he continuously followed until 1888. In that year he was called by popular suffrage to the office of city treasurer and so capably did he discharge his duties that he was continued in the position by re-election for ten consecutive years. He then retired · from the office as he had entered it-with the confidence and good will of all concerned-his official honor and integrity being ever above reproach. In 1904 he was elected township trustee, which position he is filling at the present time, and he had previously served in that capacity, his first election occurring in 1882.

At the time of the Civil war Mr. Henderson, responding to the country's call, enlisted in Company G, Twenty-eighth Regiment of Illi- nois Volunteers, at Danville. Illinois, March 15, 1865. He was mustered in at Camp Butler, Springfield, and from there went to Span- ish Fort and afterward to Fort Blakeley. Later the troops returned to Spanish Fort and proceeded across the bay to Mobile and afterward to Whistler, but after a short time again returned to camp near Mobile and on July I were placed aboard steamers for Texas. They received their discharge at Brownsville, Texas, March 15, 1866, and then returned to Camp Butler at Springfield, Illinois, arriving there on the Ist of April, 1866, and they remained there until the 6th of April following. Mr. Henderson was appointed second lieutenant but this commission never reached him and later he was commissioned first lieutenant. He is now a member of Canby Post, No. 2, G. A. R., and thus maintains pleasant relations with old army comrades.

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When the war was over he gladly returned to his family, then living in Clay county. He had been married on the 28th of April, 1856, to Miss Nancy L. Stunkard, who was born in this county, and is a daughter of Robert and Lavina Stunkard. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania and her mother of the state of New York. Mr. Stunkard arrived in Indiana in 1837 and is therefore numbered among the pioneer farmers of Clay county. He aided in reclaiming wild land and in laying broad and deep the foundation for the present development and progress of this part of the state. His political allegiance was given to the Democratic party in his early manhood but later he became a stalwart Republican.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Henderson have been born eight children, Alma E., Stewart I., Mary E., Lola, Robert, Annie, William T. and Harley H. All are living with the exception of Stewart I., who died at the age of twenty-two years. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are interested in its work and liberal in its support. Mr. Henderson gives his political allegiance to. the Republican party and has long been recognized as one of its prominent workers and stalwart advo- cates in Brazil. He is widely known in Clay county and the good quali- ties which he has displayed in citizenship, in official relations and in his business connections have gained for him the unqualified regard of those with whom he has been associated. He has lived to see the county develop into one of the progressive districts of this great state and in the work of upbuilding has borne his part, lending his influence to all that tends to promote public improvement in material, intellectual, social or moral lines. Brazil has had no better city treasurer than was Thomas Henderson, or one more worthy the trust which was reposed in him.

SAMUEL T. BUTT .- A prosperous farmer and an active citizen of Sugar Ridge township, with a comfortable homestead located near Cen- ter Point, Samuel T. Butt is a native of Clay county, born on the 17th of May, 1863, and received his education while working on the old fam- ily farm in Jackson township. He is a son of William and Nancy ( Hicks) Butt, his father being a native of Lexington, Kentucky, and his mother of Clay county, Indiana. The former was born in 1824, and when he was about six years old his father (the paternal grandfather) moved from Kentucky to Putnam county, Indiana, and later to Clay county, where he spent the last years of his life. William Butt lived with his parents in Putnam county until he was sixteen years of age, when (in 1840) he came to Jackson township and entered eighty acres of gov- ernment land. In 1845, having just attained his majority, he married and built a log house on his farm, which he had recently purchased and now commenced to clear and cultivate in earnest. He continued to buy other agricultural properties in Clay county until he finally owned more than one thousand acres of such real estate, being then the largest land owner in Jackson township. He died on the 27th of June, 1903, the father of five sons and three daughters, and as he had given to each of his children forty acres of land at the time of marriage. his estate was eventually reduced to seven hundred and twenty acres. His widow, who still survives, was born August 10, 1829.

The parents of Mrs. William Butt were Uri H. and Clara ( Purnell) Hicks, of Randolph county, North Carolina. They were married in that state, and were very early. settlers in Orange county, Indiana. After residing there for a few years they removed to Cass township, Clay

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county, where they lived for a few years before coming to Jackson town- ship, Clay county. Mr. Hicks entered a tract of government land cov- ered with timber, which was then considered far preferable for agri- cultural purposes. It also proved a favorite spot for wolves, and the gray prowlers of the timber had many a fierce conflict with members of the Hicks family, in which the brutes were materially decreased. Deer were also abundant at the time. Game and wild beasts gradually disap- peared with the clearing away of the forest, and a large portion of the timber had been removed from the Hicks estate prior to the death of the parents. Of their family of thirteen children, Mrs. Butt was the fifth in age, and she had six brothers and six sisters-she making the "baker's dozen." It was a hearty, typical pioneer family of Indiana, and four of the daughters and two of the sons are still alive.

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A History of Clay County Indiana (Volume 2), Part 58

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

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