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 II > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52
Mrs. Branson is one of the four children born to Jeremiah and Je- mima Mahan, namely : William, deceased ; James, whose home is in Jack- son township; Mrs. Branson; and John J., deceased. The father was a second time married, wedding Nancy Cochran, and their ten children are Jane, George, Emma, Charles, Thomas J., Ann, Mary, Elizabeth, Jere- miah and an infant.
On the Ist of July, 1852, Caroline Mahan gave her hand in marriage to Isaiah Branson, the only child of Asa and Nancy (Allen) Branson, who were born respectively September 17, 1798, and October 18, 1801, in Pittsylvania county, Virginia. Asa was a son of Michael and Mary Branson. Mr. and Mrs. Branson have resided on their present home- stead since their marriage, and their union has been blessed by the birth of eleven children, as follows: Nancy, deceased; Noten M., who mar- ried Sarah J. Miller and resides in Jackson township; Josephine Will- iams, of Jackson township: Lucy Flowers, whose home is in Oklahoma ; Isaiah J., who resides in Hymera; John, of Jackson township ; Charles, who died at the age of five years; Emma, also deceased; Stella Swift, of Clay county, Indiana, and two, the fourth and fifth born, who died in infancy.
JOHN WAMBAUGH, who is a well known grain and stock farmer re- siding on his one hundred and twenty acre farm in Jackson township, Sullivan county, is a native of Decatur county, Indiana, born August 9,
173
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
1862, a son of Ebenezer and Rosena E. (Freedman) Wambaugh. His father was born in Berlin, Germany, in October, 1829, and came to this country in 1858. He was married after arriving in America, and first located in Decatur county, Indiana, where he purchased the sixty acres of land upon which he lived until 1873, and in the following November bought the farm upon which John, his son, now resides. He bought one hundred and twenty acres at first, but later added to it, making in all three hundred and seventy-five acres. Here he became an extensive cattle and hog raiser. He was an enterprising man, and had the confidence and esteem of a large circle of friends. Politically he voted the Democratic ticket, and in church faith was a Roman Catholic. His wife was born about 1824, in Berlin, Germany, along the river Rhine. She accompanied some of her brothers and sisters to America. The date of her death was April 10, 1896, and that of her husband was April 20, 1896. Their chil- dren were as follows: Lynia, Mrs. Rossfield, residing in Louisville, Ken- tucky ; Tressa, Mrs. Lansing, of Aurora, Indiana; Mary, Mrs. Miller, of Indianapolis ; John, of this notice ; Anna, Mrs. Brown, residing in Jackson township, Sullivan county ; Rose, Mrs. Burton, of Jackson township, and Joseph, of Coalmont, Indiana.
John Wambaugh received his education at the common schools and was reared to farm pursuits. After farming on his father's land a few seasons he bought thirty-five acres east of his present place, which he sub- sequently sold, as well as the other land that he owned. He next pur- chased the farm on which he now lives in Jackson township, consisting of one hundred and twenty acres, which has come to be a well improved place and which he devotes to both grain and stock raising.
Politically Mr. Wambaugh is a supporter of the Democratic party, but prefers others to fill the local offices of his township and county. Both he and his wife are faithful members of the Presbyterian church. He was united in marriage November 23, 1886, to Ellen Forbes, born June 12, 1866, in Linton township, Vigo county, Indiana, a daughter of Calvin and Harriet (Fitzwater) Forbes. Her father is now living with his daughter in Sullivan, the mother being deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Wam- baugh are the parents of four children: Noble William, born November I, 1887 ; he has completed his common school studies and is now assisting his father on the farm; Almeda, born June 15, 1890, graduated from the common school and then entered the Normal school, but owing to her failing health she is now at home; Iva G., born November 1, 1893, is attending school, and Irma May, born March 3, 1903, is also in school. Mr. Wambaugh is a member of the United Mine Workers of America, District No. II.
MRS. NANCY ANN (TAYLOR) RAILSBACK, widow of John S. Rails- back, who was a prosperous farmer of Jackson township up to the time of his death, which occurred in this township August 22, 1906, was born March 16, 1854, in Monroe county, Indiana, the daughter of John C. and
174
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Mary E. ( Bennett) Taylor. The father was born in 1832 in Davis county, Indiana, and died in 1871. He was buried in the Liberty cemetery north of Shelburn. Mrs. Railsback is the oldest of twelve children in her parents' family, born in the following order : Nancy Ann ; Samuel, resid- ing in Curry township; Robert, residing in Sullivan; Richard, living in Curry township; Sarah J. (Mrs. Wood), residing in Curry township; Molly (Mrs. Martin), resides in Sugar Creek township, Vigo county, Indiana, and Dora, residing with her mother in Curry township. The remaining five children of this family are now deceased.
Nancy Ann Taylor was united in marriage to John S. Railsback Jan- uary 17, 1875. He was born November 8, 1849, in Kentucky, and within Nelson county. He was the son of Lewis D. and Delithia J. (Reynolds) Railsback, both of whom were natives of Kentucky and both now de- ceased. They were energetic farmers throughout their active lives. John S. Railsback came to Sullivan county with his parents in 1853, and they located in Curry township. After the marriage of John S. to Miss Taylor they leased a farm in Curry township and continued as renters until 1880, when they purchased a farm containing forty acres, where Mrs. Railsback now resides, the same being three miles north of Hymera. Her sons now carry on the farming operations there for her. Her husband was a staunch Democrat in his political affiliations, and served his township as assessor one term and was deputy assessor several terms, and was super- visor of roads. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Railsback were twelve in number, of whom nine are still living: Ira B., born in the autumn of 1875, died in January, 1903, leaving a wife but no issue ; Ola Etta, born 1877, married Elvis Earl Maratta, residing in Jackson town- ship, and they are the parents of three children-Logan E., Chester A. and Wayne B .; Dora, born December 23, 1880, wedded Otto Miller, a resident of Vigo county ; Lottie V., born August 8, 1881, is unmarried and teaching school; Charles R., born December 14, 1882, married Miss Stella Ridgeway and has the farm and mines coal. He is the owner of seventy-one acres of land ; John C., born May 14, 1884, is still at home and works the home farm ; Claudia T., born August 24, 1885, is at home ; Dolpha, born June 12, 1887, is at Terre Haute; Lessie A., born November 20, 1888, is attending high school at Hymera; Molly B., born November 28, 1890, died in April, 1897; Lona F., born December 5. 1894, now attends the public school. One also died in infancy. Mrs. Railsback is a consistent member of the Christian church.
SAMUEL F. BADDERS .- Although long and prominently identified with the agricultural and business interests of Sullivan county, Samuel F. Badders, was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, January 5, 1827, a son of James and Christena (Frey) Badders, both of whom were born in York county, Pennsylvania. They went to Ohio just after the war of 1812, but in 1829 returned to Pennsylvania, where they spent the re- mainder of their lives on a farm in Beaver county, the husband pre-
Mary Badders
175
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
ceding his wife in death several years. Their estate in Beaver county consisted of three hundred and eighty-two acres of land.
Samuel F. Badders secured his educational training in the district schools of Pennsylvania, and in 1845 he started out in life for himself in connection with a wholesale and retail grocery house in Wellsville, Ohio. After he had been there two years the house purchased a steamboat and Mr. Badders was given the choice of staying in the store or going on the boat. He had studied steamboat bookkeeping at Duff's Commercial College at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and choosing the latter, he was to receive thirty-five dollars for the first year and fifty dollars for the second year, and he was just one dollar in debt at the close of his two years' service. For several years he was employed on different boats, and during the latter part of his service on the water he received as high as one hundred and twenty-five dollars a month. He continued boating until 1853, and after the death of his wife he resumed the occupation, and was in Florida and other points in the South for one year. In 1857 he came to Sullivan county and bought four hundred acres of canal land, which was almost entirely covered with timber. He at once began the arduous task of clearing and preparing his land for cultivation, and he has resided on this farm ever since, it now containing four hundred and twenty acres of rich and highly improved land, richly underlaid with coal, but he has sold the coal from three hundred and five acres of the tract. He is engaged in general farming and stock raising, and aside from being one of the representative farmers of Jackson township he is perhaps the oldest living member of the bar of Sullivan county. The exact time of his admittance is not known, as no records were kept by the clerk at that time, and in all the walks of life he is honored among the people with whom he has so long made his home.
On the 5th of January, 1854, Mr. Badders was united in marriage to Miss Harriett Todd, a daughter of Joshua and Rachael (Wiley) Todd, both of whom died in Columbiana county, Ohio. Mrs. Badders has joined them in the home beyond, dying in 1856, and her two children, Emma Luella and Tascala Adella, are also deceased. On the 8th of June, 1858, Mr. Badders wedded Miss Mary Snowden, who was born in Ireland to Orr and Nancy (Martin) Snowden, her natal day being the 16th of March, 1832, and in 1852 she came with her parents to the United States and to Sullivan county, Indiana, locating near the home of her future husband. The parents spent the remainder of their lives.here. Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Badders, namely: Indiana, the wife of E. H. Irwin, of Cleburne county, Arkansas ; Harry M., who is married and also resides in that county ; Martin E., at home ; John Charles, who married, but his wife is deceased, and he lives near his father's farm ; Marietta, the wife of William M. Case ; Samuel Burton, deceased ; Clinton S., at home; Lewti, the deceased wife of Charles Shivers: Nina, now Mrs. Gordon ; and William Webster, who married Leona Allen. deceased, and he resides in Hebron, Arkansas. Mr. Badders is a Socialist in pol- itics. He has been a Mason since 1872, at Lewis, Indiana.
Vol. II-12
176
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
GEORGE M. HALBERSTADT, for many years identified with the agri- cultural interests of Sullivan county, was born in Franklin county, In- diana, January 26, 1837, a son of William Harrison and Elizabeth ( Man- warring) Halberstadt. It was in 1837 that the father, William H. Halber- stadt, established his home in Jackson township, Sullivan county, where he entered land from the government and at one time was the owner of a fine estate of three hundred acres. He spent the remainder of his life on this homestead, and was engaged in farming throughout his entire business career. Both he and his wife were members of the Methodist church, and he was a prominent and active worker in its cause. His life in Sullivan county covered the span of fifty-five years, and he became one of its best known and most honored residents.
Mr. Halberstadt was first married in 1833 to Elizabeth Manwarring, who died in 1883, after becoming the mother of five children: Charlotte, deceased ; John T., whose home is in Jackson township; George M., the subject of this review ; and Elijah T. and Daniel H., both of whom reside in Jackson township. For his second wife Mr. Halberstadt wedded Elizabeth Register, who died in 1905, but there was no issue by the second union.
During the period of the Civil war, in October, 1864, George M. Halberstadt enlisted in Company G, Eighty-fifth Indiana Infantry, and served until the close of the conflict, and he now receives a pension of fifteen dollars a month in compensation for his services. He remained at home with his parents until his marriage, and after that event he came to the farm where he now lives, a valuable homestead of one hundred and fifty-eight acres. He has been a successful farmer throughout the years of his business life, and his political affiliations are with the Re- publican party.
On the 28th of November, 1877, he was united in marriage to Mary E. Mahan, who died in April of 1908. They had three children: Ethel Romine, of Vigo county, Indiana ; George, who is married and living with his father ; and Stella Forbes, also of Jackson township. Mr. Halber- stadt has been three times married, first wedding Margaret J. Mahan, a sister of his present wife, and she died without issue. His second wife was Mary E. Phillips, who left three children at her death, namely : William H., a minister at Robinson, Illinois ; Louetta Bennett, of Farmers- burg; and Maria Romine, of Jackson township. Mr. Halberstadt is a member of the Methodist church.
WILLIAM W. BARCUS was born in the house in which he now resides on the 14th of December, 1869, and this place has ever since been his home and the scene of his operations. Thus far in life he has followed the tilling of the soil for a livelihood, and after his marriage he con- tinued to live with his parents and operate the farm, his present estate consisting of. one hundred and twenty acres of rich and fertile land,
177
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
where he follows both grain and stock farming. He is a member of the Farmersburg Mutual Telephone Company, is a stockholder in the Citi- zens' State Bank at Hymera and is quite prominent and active in the local councils of the Republican party.
Mr. Barcus is a son of Thomas G. and Amanda S. (Goodwin) Barcus. The father was born on the 12th of June, 1830, and died on the 25th of March, 1902, and lies buried in Nye's Chapel cemetery. His life work was farming, becoming very successful in the vocation, and at one time he owned two hundred and forty acres of land. He was also a broom maker, working at that occupation in the winter months when not employed on the farm, and he also raised his own broom corn. In politics he was a stanch Republican, and was a member of the United Brethren church, as is also his wife. She was born on the 21 st of April, 1838, and is now living with her son William. Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Barcus, namely : Sarah E., who was born on the 28th of May, 1857, and died on the 8th of July, 1876; Delphia, born August 28, 1858, died October 2, 1859; George R., born August 9, 1860, died February 13, 1864; Samuel J., born November 10, 1861, resides in Al- berta, Canada ; Rosa B., born July 15, 1864, died June 7, 1894 ; Tilla J., born July 23, 1866, married Samuel Patton and resides in Hymera ; William W., whose name introduces this review ; Anna M., born May 2, 1871, is the wife of Harvey Patton, of Hymera ; Luella, born November 19, 1873, is deceased, and Thomas E., born May II, 1876, died February 1, 1877.
On the 16th of January, 1891, William W. Barcus was united in marriage to Louisa B. Harvey, who was born in Jackson township November 16, 1872, a daughter of William and Matilda ( McCammon) Harvey, born respectively on the 4th of November, 1839, in Franklin county, Indiana, and on the 22d of March, 1851, in Jackson township, Sullivan county. Their home is now one mile north of Hymera on a farm of sixty acres. Mr. Harvey served four years in the Civil war as a member of Company B, Thirty-seventh Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry, as a private, and he has been engaged in farming ever since his return from the war. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Barcus, namely : Helen H., born August 7, 1901 ; George W., October 20, 1902 ; Hazel E., July 12, 1904 ; and Alice M., May 27, 1906. Mrs. Barcus is a member of the Methodist church.
WILLIAM M. CASE is numbered among the prominent farmers and stock raisers of Jackson township, where he owns a pleasant and attractive homestead farm. He was born one mile north of Sullivan October 28, 1864, a son of William F. and Jane C. (Boone) Case. When he had . reached the age of eighteen years he started out in life for himself, work- ing as a farm hand for one year, and then going to Sumner county, Kansas, he spent one year there, after which he returned to his home and
178
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
attended school during one winter and superintended his father's farm until he was twenty-two. He was married at that time and rented a farm in Greene county for one season, after which he returned to Sullivan county and farmed rented land until he purchased eighty acres where he now lives in 1895. He has since been engaged in general farming, and has also added to his original purchase until he now owns about one hun- dred and eighty-five acres of rich and fertile land, while in addition to this he has also become the owner of a dwelling house and a business building in Hymera and valuable residence property in Martinsville, Illi- nois. His stock is of a high grade, consisting of Shropshire sheep, of which he has about eighty-two head, and horses and cattle, usually raising from four to ten head of horses and about twenty head of cattle. Jackson township numbers him among her leading agriculturists.
On the 28th of October, 1886, Mr. Case was united in marriage to Marietta, a daughter of Samuel F. and Mary (Snowden) Badders, and they have become the parents of four children, but the first born died in infancy, and Clarence, the second, is also deceased. Cecile and Floyd are both at home and attending school. Mr. Case is independent in his political affiliations.
DORCY C. GARD .- During many years Dorcy C. Gard has been resid- ing in Sullivan county, and he has become prominent in its business life. He was born in Greenfield, Hancock county, Indiana, June 9, 1860, a son of George and Nancy (Smith) Gard. The mother was also born in Greenfield, and she died in May of 1903. There her son Dorcy attended school in his youth, but his educational advantages were limited, and he was with his maternal grandparents from the time he was six weeks old until the age of seventeen. He then began work in a brickyard in Indian- apolis, but after some years there he came to Sullivan county and worked as a farm hand until his marriage. Since that time he has been more or less identified with mining, but still continues the work of his farm when the mines are not in operation, being both a grain and stock raiser.
On the 23d of May, 1886, Mr. Gard was married to Harriette Bell French, a daughter of William and Ruth (Mattingly) French, both of whom were born in Mason county, Kentucky, and they were there mar- ried in March, 1862. In September of the same year they came to Sul- livan county, Indiana. Mr. French's father had previously visited this community and entered a homestead, and William French built a home on his father's land, and there he died when his daughter Harriette was but fifteen months old. The widow continued to reside on the farm with his father for about seventeen years, and he then deeded her sixty acres of the land. In 1893 she sold her farm to the Coal Company and bought eighty acres where Mr. and Mrs. Gard now reside. In 1903 they built one of the neat and modest country residences in the township, located three-quarters of a mile west of Hymera, and there they expect to spend the remainder of their lives. In the French family there were three children: Maggie,
179
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
born March 6, 1863, married George Browning, and died on the 4th of December, 1892, after becoming the mother of a child which died in infancy. Mr. Browning now resides in Starr City, Sullivan county. Har- riette B. became the wife of Mr. Gard. Mary Maria, born September II, 1867, became the wife of Frank Hess and died October 6, 1893. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gard. The eldest, Myrtle, born March 15, 1887, is the wife of Austin Shipley, a carpenter and miner in Hymera, and their two children are Lucile, who was born May 24, 1906, and Dorcy, a little son ; Hattie Ethel, born April 18, 1889, died Oc- tober 2, 1901 ; Ruth Ann, born May 24, 1894, is at home, as is also Stella Marie, born March 5, 1896; Fannie I., born May 31, 1901, died Decem- ber II, 1903.
Mr. Gard has membership relations with the Masonic order, the Home Defenders and the Eastern Star. He is a self-made man in the truest sense of the word, and deserves much praise for the success he has achieved in life. His politics are Democratic, and he is a member of the Methodist church.
LORENZO D. SINK, who is farming in Jackson township, was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, November II, 1842, a son of John and Sarah (Klenk) Sink, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania. Moving to Ohio in an early day Mr. Sink became a carpenter and cabinet maker, and fol- lowed those trades for many years or until he engaged in farming. He was twice married, and by his first wife he had eight children, while by his second union, of whom Lorenzo was the eighth born, he had thirteen children, of whom four are now living, namely : Lorenzo D .; Zachary T., whose home is near his brother Lorenzo; Eva Ann Williams, of Patricks- burg ; and Eliza, the oldest of the living children, is now Mrs. Shoup and a resident of northern Indiana.
Lorenzo D. Sink attended school first in Ohio, and then moving with his parents to Indiana he was a student in a school near Steubenville in Owen county, but his educational advantages in his early youth were limited, as his father was old and the care of the farm fell upon him. He was obliged to leave school at the age of eighteen years, and up to that time he had never seen a school book with the exception of an arith- metic, in which he had reached the division of fractions. But seven years after leaving school at the earnest request of the citizens he was engaged as teacher in the school of his neighborhood. He at once pur- chased some books and spent some time studying at home and also studied under the instructions of a friend for twenty-three days. At the county examination he was obliged to make an average of sixty per cent and not fall below forty per cent in any one study, and in spite of adverse circumstances he obtained his license and taught a term of seven months on a six months' license, but before the expiration of this license he obtained the position of a teacher for the following term. He then
180
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
obtained a two years' license and taught for four years without further examination. He taught in all about ten years, and seven years of that time were spent in the school which he had formerly attended as a scholar.
Mr. Sink continued at home with his father until he was twenty-two years of age, and he then farmed the home place on shares for his mother for several years. Finally he and his brother bought the mother's interest in the homestead, and he continued to reside there until the spring of 1880, when he sold his land, and coming to Jackson township purchased the eighty acres where he now lives. He makes a specialty of the raising of corn, and at the present time is the only man in the township who is able to sell that commodity. During the Civil war Mr. Sink served as a private in the Thirty-third Indiana Infantry for four months or until the war closed. He enlisted in the service in March of 1865.
In February of 1865 he was united in marriage to Hannah A., a daughter of Harrison and Louisa ( Bloss) Kelly, both of whom were born in Jackson county, Indiana, and both are now deceased. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Sink has been blessed by the birth of the following children : Sarah, the wife of William Miller, a railroad man at Mattoon, Illinois ; Charles A., employed in the broom corn warehouse at Mattoon ; William Grant, a plumber in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Lillie, the wife of Henry Conrad, a heater in a rolling mill in St. Louis, Missouri; Marietta, the wife of George Hankey, who resides near her father; Bessie G., wife of Cecil Scott, a miner in this township; Cora, at home; and Clarence, deceased. Mr. Sink is a Republican in politics, and he attends the services of the Methodist Episcopal church.
JOSIAHI WORTH .- Never can greater honor be paid than to those who aided in holding high the principles of liberty during the period of the Civil war, and among those who were called upon to lay down their lives on the altar of their country during that conflict is numbered Josiah Worth, one of the early agriculturists of Sullivan county. He was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, March 19, 1830, a son of James and Eliza- beth (Romig) Worth, who were also born in that county. Coming to Indiana about 1858, they located in Jackson township, Sullivan county, and after several years they moved to a farm near by the one on which they had first located. But after five years they returned to the first homestead, and there they subsequently died, the mother in 1874 and the father in 1888.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.