USA > Indiana > Sullivan County > A history of Sullivan County, Indiana, closing of the first century's history of the county, and showing the growth of its people, institutions, industries and wealth, Volume I > Part 6
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Larimore. For more than sixty years he was a worker in the Christian church.
In Kentucky was born Thomas R. Mckinney in 1803. The family migration to the north side of the Ohio river was made in 1815, and since 1829 the Mckinney family has been identified with Sullivan county, through the residence of Thomas R. or some of his sons.
Elder Thomas R. Mckinney gave many years of his active life to the work of the Little Flock church in Curry township, with the his- tory of which his name should be associated. His parents were Presby- terians, and he was reared in that faith, but in 1834 changed his views on the subject of baptism and united with the Little Flock congregation. Being soon after ordained a minister of the gospel, he served as pastor and moderator of the Little Flock church until 1866. In that year he moved from Curry's prairie to Haddon township, and from that time was identified with the membership of the Sullivan church. He died at his residence near Paxton, April 12, 1877. His wife was Jane McGrew.
Another prominent family whose residence was in Kentucky prior to the settlement in Sullivan county was the Milams. Henry R. Milam is one of the conspicuous and aged representatives of this family still living in Gill township. Several heads of families bearing that name came from Kentucky to the vicinity of Carlisle about the close of the war of 1812-15, and the family relationship has always been large in the county.
With a knowledge of the conditions of a century ago, the limitations of travel and the meagerness of information about distant localities,
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and the practical absence of all the facilities which now make com- munication with all parts of the country both easy and rapid, it seems nothing less than remarkable that men living in the old world and the settled states of the east should assume the risks and hard- ships of an emigration to the interior of America, there to found homes and spread the civilization of an older order. That a family should remove from the British Isles, during the first decade of the past century, and establish itself in the territory of Indiana, under the pro- tection of the block-house communities of the Wabash valley, co-operating with others in producing the comforts of civilization and in sharing in its prosperity, is a matter worthy of particular note in a history of Sulli- van county. Such is the record of the McConnel family, which has lived in Sullivan county for more than a century, and has several well-known citizens of that name in the county at the present time. A Scotchman of the name brought his family to America in 1805, and a year or so after reaching the eastern states had found his way to the new country of the Wabash. Andrew McConnel, a son of this immigrant, was a boy here during the exciting years of the war of 1812, and his son, Bailey McConnel, is still one of the prominent citizens of Haddon township.
The Minich family of Haddon township in its earlier generations had a home in Virginia, and still further back was of German origin. The Virginia ancestor, Adam Minich, was born about 1791, and served in the war of 1812, presumably while still a resident of Virginia. After that he went across the mountains into Tennessee, and from there came to Haddon township in 1819 and entered government land. Amid the changes incident to modern American life and the restlessness that char- acterizes most men, it is pleasant to remark that this farm has never passed out of the possession of the Minichs from the day it was entered
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in the government land office, and is still the home of a son of the original pioneer, Pleasant A. Minich, who was born on this place over eighty-five years ago.
Nathan Miles, who died at his home in Sullivan, September 8, 1878, aged about 70, was born near Lexington, Kentucky, and had lived since an early age near New Lebanon.
Col. William Minter, who was killed by a runaway team March 15, 1882, was perhaps the only permanent resident of Sullivan county who participated in the war for Texas independence. When about eighteen years old. in 1836, he had been attracted to the Texas country and had enlisted in the army raised to repel the invading Santa Ana, being in the battle of San Jacinto, which brought independence. He soon after returned to his old home in Shelby county, Kentucky, and in 1840 moved to Sullivan county. Here he took part in another phase of pioneer life. During the period before the coming of the railroads he was one of the carriers who took the mail at Merom and conveyed it on to Terre Haute. He married Malinda Pinkston in 1845, and after a brief residence in Missouri settled near Merom, where he continued to reside until his death. He was noted for his courtesy and hospitality, though his quiet and unobtrusive manner did not often permit him to mingle in public affairs.
On July 5, 1864, Lieut .- Col. Frank Neff was buried in the Sullivan cemetery with military honors, some of the veterans and returned volun- teers forming a squad to accompany the body to its last resting place in the Sullivan cemetery. Colonel Neff was born in Boyle county, Ken- tucky, in 1832, his parents soon after moving to Hendricks county. this
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state, and he received his education at Bloomington, graduating from the law school of Judge McDonald and later entering a law office in Dan- ville. After his marriage he located in Sullivan, and was among the first volunteers after the firing on Fort Sumter. From the office of lieutenant he had filled the intermediate grades in his advancement to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and served with gallantry at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Stone River, Chickamauga, and at Kenesaw Mountain, where he received his death wound.
John Osborn was born in Kentucky in 1789, and came to Sullivan county in 1826, living here till his death in 1851. His wife, nee Gardner, was also born in Kentucky.
"Uncle Billy" Owens, who died at his home in Turman township, February 25, 1903, was a citizen whose life span had covered nearly ninety-four years, and since 1837 had been a resident of Turman town- ship. When a boy he worked in a butcher shop patronized by President Andrew Jackson, and this acquaintance with that rugged champion of democracy made him one of the most ardent supporters whom "Old Hickory" could claim. In 1843 Uncle Billy hauled lumber for the first house in Sullivan. He was twice married and leaves numerous descendants.
Col. Ed Price was a former county official, and a native of the county, born at Merom in 1833, and died at his home in Sullivan, June 7, 1893. As a boy he worked in the store of James Reed at Merom, and during his later employment in the dry-goods store of William Wilson at Sullivan he gained an acquaintance and popularity that made his can- didacy in 1858 for the office of county treasurer very successful, and two
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years later he was re-elected. In 1865 he was elected clerk of the circuit court, and he made H. K. Wilson his deputy and turned his attention to merchandising. His business enterprise was not successful, and he later held a position in the state auditor's office under James H. Rice.
James Harvey Reed, who at one time held the office of county recorder, and later was known about the court house as deputy auditor, died in January, 1873, then fifty-five years old. Between terms of office he was a farmer in Fairbanks township. He was a member of the Little Flock Baptist church.
A numerous family of this county, dating from pioneer times, are the Ridgeways. One branch of the family, of which Levi was the settler, came from Kentucky to the Ledgerwood neighborhood not long after the war of 1812. Levi had served in the New Orleans campaign under Captain Peacock, whose daughter he later married, and then came to Sullivan county.
James Thomas Reid, who was a druggist at Sullivan in partnership with Dr. Hinkle during the fifties, died at Denver, Colorado, July 25, 1899. He was born in Jefferson township in 1842. After leaving the retail drug business, he was a traveling salesman a number of years, but in 1875 returned to Sullivan and engaged in the grocery and milling business. During the Civil war he served as a member of the 85th Indiana. He was a Mason and a member of the Methodist church. He married Miss Sue Lyons in 1866.
One of the soldiers who came to Indiana at the beginning of the war of 1812 and later effected settlement in Sullivan county was Hezekiah Riggs, whose grandson, William Riggs, is now a resident of Fairbanks
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township. A native of Virginia, he settled at Carlisle when he left the army, and about 1815 married Lydia Ingle, whose parents, it is said, became residents of this part of Indiana about 1803.
Commodore P. Riggs, who died December 3. 1891, was a former incumbent of the office of county treasurer, having been elected to that office in 1878 by about a thousand majority, and in 1880 was re-elected by an even increased majority. He was a native of Fairbanks township, and after his marriage lived for many years near Shelburn, being a member of the M. E. church.
The late Thomas L. Roberts, who died at his home on North Section street, Sullivan, April 14, 1901, came to Sullivan in 1866, being at the time in the employ of the E. & T. H. Railroad. He is remembered for his genial temperament and his interest in sciences and literature, and was a man of broad acquaintances. He was eighty-five years old when he died, and was born at Battletown, near Hastings, England, and was brought to America when eight years old. He spent his youth in New York, but in 1836 became an engineer on the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, the first railroad line in the state. He knew personally Gen. William Henry Harrison, Henry Clay, Zachary Taylor and other noted men of the time, also the poet O'Hara, who wrote the "Bivouac of the Dead." He was a member of the Methodist church. He was twice mar- ried. His eldest daughter became the mother of Senator Beveridge's first wife, and among the other children William B. was private secretary of several Indiana governors and of Senator Beveridge.
Charles Scott, who was born on a farm south of New Lebanon, November 20, 1823, and died at Sullivan, May 9, 1908, was an early mer-
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chant of Sullivan and for several terms county commissioner. He was a school teacher during his youth, and after coming to Sullivan in 1857 by industry and thrift accumulated enough to enter the clothing and mercantile business with James Hinkle. In 1867 he sold out and moved to a farm. He voted for Polk in 1844, and was elected and served as county commissioner three terms, 1874-77, 1886-92. His first wife was Mary J. Ryerson and his second Mary J. Carrithers.
The Sherman family came from North Carolina to Sullivan county in 1816. Samuel and Elizabeth (Lewis) Sherman lived in the county over thirty years, and left a number of descendants. Thomas K. Sher- man, a son, was formerly a banker at Sullivan and a well-known business man. He was born seven miles southwest of Sullivan, September 26, 1829, and when twenty years old began teaching, farming and other occu- pations, and later went into the dry-goods business at Sullivan. He was both president and cashier of the Sullivan National Bank, and was also incumbent of several county offices. His first wife was Sarah Elizabeth Jewell, and his second, Amanda J. DeBaun. He died in 1903.
C. B. Shepard was one of the county commissioners during the war. He was born on Shaker prairie March 12, 1819, and died June 29, 1883. He was an active figure in the politics of the county for many years.
William McKendree Springer, who died at Washington in 1903, was one of the native sons of Sullivan county . who became prominent in the nation. He was a member of the well-known family of the name in Gill township, where he was born May 30, 1836, moved to Jacksonville, Illi- nois, in 1848, but returned to Indiana to complete his education in the State University, from which he was graduated in 1858. He was a
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member of the Illinois constitutional convention in 1870, and was a mem- ber of the lower house of the legislature in 1872. He was elected to Congress from the Sprinfield district in 1874, and served in the 44th to 53d Congresses. He is credited with having led the fight against the Mckinley tariff, which resulted in Cleveland's second election. He was one of the most active leaders in the long movement for the organization of the Indian Territory and the opening of Oklahoma. After his last term in Congress he served a while as judge of the United States court for Indian Territory, and then practiced law in Washington until his death.
Nathan Thomas, who died April 20, 1905, was for twenty years county surveyor, and in that capacity had laid off a large portion of the town of Sullivan. He was born near Connersville, Indiana, December 25, 1820, and for a number of years taught school, being a teacher in this county after he moved here about 1852. He was also a farmer, but the last ten years of his life were spent in Sullivan. He married Anna Moore. Mrs. J. M. Lang, Mrs. A. B. Stansil and Dr. Anna T. Sheridan are his daughters.
One of the prominent men in the affairs of Sullivan, whose name often appears in connection with the enterprises of half a century ago, was Lafayette Stewart, who died at Sullivan, February 29, 1884. He was born in Floyd county, Indiana, in 1826, and after coming to this county followed the business of cabinetmaker, later was a merchant. He was not active in local politics beyond holding the office of township trustee. The editor of the Democrat referred to him as a man of strong convictions and very earnest in his advocacy of them, and yet very courteous in all his intercourse with men of variety of opinion. For many years he was
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a deacon in the Presbyterian church, and was long master of the local Masonic lodge.
Thomas Turman, who was the leading representative of the family of that name in this county during the first half of the last century, was born in Virginia in 1796 and came to Indiana territory with his father Benjamin in 1810. During the thirties he served in the Black Hawk war. He built two mills in his community in Turman township, using the waters of Turman creek, and these were of great benefit to the people of that vicinity if they were not to the proprietor. He was elected and served in the legislature in 1843-44. He died at his residence in Turman township, June 30, 1863.
Wilbur Van Fossen, who was captain of Company C, 59th Indiana Infantry, during the Civil war, and was the first commander of the Frank Neff Post, G. A. R., died at his home three miles west of Carlisle, November 21, 1899.
Frederick Wilkey, who died at his residence five miles west of Sulli- van, July 8, 1880, was one of the organizers of the old Methodist society known as Mt. Tabor, and the church was built on the southwest corner of his farm. He was born in Clark county, Indiana, October 18, 1819, and came to Sullivan county in 1837, with his step-father Kelley, who located and gave the name to Kelley's Landing. Mr. Wilkey joined the Methodist church soon after coming to this county.
George W. Walker, founder of a well-known family of Haddon township, was originally from North Carolina, accompanied the family migration to Tennessee, and after a brief residence in Kentucky he came
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY 1
to Sullivan county in 1826. He died at his home east of Carlisle. Jan- uary 26, 1882, when past 87 years of age. He had been drafted for service in the war of 1812. His first wife was Elizabeth Cook, and his second, Rhoda Blevins.
Tennessee was also an intermediate home for the Wheeler family, between the date of its residence in the east and its final permanent loca- tion in Sullivan county. Hugh Wheeler was born in Tennessee at the beginning of the century, moved to Clark county, Indiana, in 1824, and six years later established the family home in Sullivan county.
Peter Wilson during his youth left his native state of Virginia, cross- ing the mountain barrier into Tennessee, where he lived long enough to marry and start a family, and in 1828 came to Sullivan county with his brothers, John, Adam and George. Peter Wilson was the son of a Revo- lutionary soldier, himself served in the war of 1812, and members of the family have served in every important war of the nation. The Wilsons are still well represented in the citizenship of this county.
Henry K. Wilson occupied a place of varied and great usefulness in the early affairs of Sullivan county, and his death on November I. 1882, was marked as the passing of one of the eminent citizens. He was born in eastern Tennessee, January 12, 1815, and being without educa- tional opportunities he learned to cipher on thin pieces of slate picked up on the mountainside. The family came to Indiana in 1831. In 1834 his father took him to Merom and made arrangements with Benjamin Wolfe, then county clerk, that the boy should find a place in the office as deputy. His capabilities were such that on the expiration of Mr. Wolfe's term it was suggested on the day of election that the deputy should be given
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the office, and almost enough votes were cast to elect him, although he was not yet of age. When the county seat was moved to Sullivan, Mr. Wilson was appointed to the vacancy in the clerk's office. He was clerk of the circuit court when the court house and its records burned in February, 1850. So accurate was his memory of persons who had annually paid interest to the school fund that he was enabled to notify all borrowers, and the school fund suffered no loss. In 1855 he was auditor. His strict economy and integrity in all public offices were notable. He served twice in the state senate, and though he never tried to make a speech he was an excellent worker in committee. In 1842 he married Mary E. Mann, daughter of Judge Mann of Merom. His second wife was Mrs. Sallie J. Pogue. One of his sons was a graduate of the naval academy and served in the navy.
The late John Harvey Wilson, whose death January 18, 1904. removed one of the oldest residents of the county and also one of the finest types of its citizenship, was born near Greenville, Tennessee, Jan- uary 27, 1811, the oldest child of Adam and Margaret Wilson. Both his grandfathers served in the Revolutionary war. The family came to Sullivan county in 1832, settling at first near Carlisle and later in Cass township. Harvey Wilson assisted in laying out the town of Sullivan. He was a teacher in one of the early log school houses of the county. He had attained his majority before leaving Tennessee, and it was the custom in the family that that event be celebrated by the father presenting the grown son a suit of clothes. The suit given to John Harvey was made by a poor tailor of Greenville, named Andrew Johnson, later presi- dent of the United States. This is the current version of the story, but it is probable that the suit was tailored before Wilson reached his major- ity, since Andrew Johnson was by that time well advanced in his political
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career. In 1832 Harvey Wilson cast his first vote for Andrew Jackson. In 1840 he was elected sheriff of Sullivan county, and during his two terms of office the county seat was moved to Sullivan. In 1845 and 1850 he represented the county in the legislature. He was a Mason for forty years, and for about an equal pericd was an elder in the Presbyterian church. He married, November 25, 1862, Mrs. Dorcas Lyons Patton.
On January 22, 1892, death removed John Willis, at the age of sixty- eight. A highly respected and prosperous citizen, he lived for many years on a farm north of Sullivan, and for several years before his death had resided in Sullivan.
Benjamin Wolfe, who died at his home on Shaker prairie, December 6, 1868, was one of the oldest citizens of the county and had been iden- tified with official affairs while the county seat was on the bluffs of the Wabash at Merom. He came to Sullivan county in 1819, was elected clerk of the court in 1830, was postmaster at Merom in 1831, was again elected clerk in 1837, and resigned that office when the county seat was moved to Sullivan. In 1846 he was elected to the legislature and served three terms in succession, and was also a member of the constitutional convention of 1851-52. In 1865 he was again chosen to the legislature. He was a man of untiring energy and succeeded in accumulating a large estate.
He was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, April 18. 1799, the son of a shoemaker. His father was not a good financier, and, the family being large, Benjamin assumed responsibilities beyond his years and at ten years of age was working to keep the family from poverty. He remained with his father until he was twenty-two years old, helping to support the family of fourteen children, and he had no time for attend- ing school and never could recall when or how he learned to read. Later
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he attended school for a few months, and at the age of twenty-eight entered Miami University, making the trip from home on foot, and studied there two years. After leaving home he had engaged in the principal line of commerce then followed, the shipping of produce in flat-boats to the southern markets. For twenty years he followed this business, building his own boats and often directing them to the New Orleans markets. He was proud of the record that he had never lost a boat or a cargo. When a member of the legislature he presented the first bill to charter a railroad from Evansville to Terre Haute. In 1852 he moved to Bloomington to educate his children, and while there he was postmaster three years. He married, in 1831, Isabella Shepherd. He was a member of the Christian church.
Pioneer Reminiscence.
In 1905 the Democrat published some interesting reminiscences by pioneers of the county. The following paragraphs contain an abstract of the essential facts covered in these stories :
The first relates to the school days of "Uncle" Len Bailey in the Gardner schoolhouse on Curry's prairie. The building was of logs daubed with mud, a puncheon floor, and the ceiling of planks fastened with wooden pins driven through auger holes into the rafters. The house was so cold that the knots on the unhewed sides of the benches froze, bulged out and fell to the floor. The one stove in the center of the room was the only stove in that section of the country, and was the gift of Willis Bene- field to the school district. Mr. Benefield owned a valuable horse, Old Jane, of Kentucky stock, and one of the fastest of her time. One day a stranger from Kentucky boasted that he had a horse which could outrun any horse in this section. He was promptly challenged for a race, and
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when he insisted on wagering a considerable amount of money on the result, Mr. Benefield covered the amount, and the race was run on the public road. Old Jane won easily, and from the winnings was bought the stove for the school. Old Jane, with the possible exception of Old Puss, who was brought to this county in the sixties, was the fastest horse ever owned here. Old Puss was state champion. She was a quarter-miler, with a record of sixteen seconds for that distance.
Thomas Shepherd, who cast his first vote in 1848, then lived on the site of the present town of Hymera. The log house used for school and public meetings stood where the M. E. church is located. The window of the old school was merely an opening from which a log had been re- moved, and the door was an opening only large enough to allow a person of medium size to enter, and was closed with a log which when not in use was leaned against the side of the building.
Thomas Morgan, who was born in Gill township in 1830, at the age of twenty-one helped his father build a flatboat, 80 by 20 feet, with a hold of seven feet depth. Between the floor and the outside facing of the boat a space of ten or twelve inches was left in which the water might accumu- late and be pumped out without damaging the stock. His father received $150 for building the boat, and it was loaded with three thousand bushels of corn. Thomas Morgan engaged to accompany Captain Springer with this cargo to New Orleans, and the start was made in March, 18 -. At Natchez Captain Springer tied up and sold his boat and cargo for $3,000, which netted a profit of sixty-five cents a bushel for the corn. The return was made by steamboat as far as Evansville, thence to Princeton over the railroad that is now the Evansville & Terre Haute, and the rest of the journey to Carlisle was by stage. Another method by which some of the
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
residents of this vicinity carried on a profitable trade was in the buying of kiln-dried apples and peaches from the farmers at fifty cents a bushel, and then transporting them overland to Chicago or Milwaukee, where they could be sold at one dollar and a dollar and a half respectively. A wagon load was about sixty or seventy bushels, and it required two weeks to make the trip to Chicago and return and a week longer to Milwaukee.
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