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 27
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
He was married December 24, 1885, to Miss Stella M. Shepherd, daughter of William B. and Lizzie (Summers) Shepherd, both natives of
·
214
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Sullivan county. The father followed farming until his death in April, 1885. After his demise, the widow continued to conduct the farm, and later was married to William Alumbaugh, who died two years after their union. His widow still remains on the old farm, a part of which is situated in Haddon township. Mr. and Mrs. Pifer are the parents of four children : Charles M., born October 21, 1886, married April 13, 1906, to Miss Floy Furnace, of Terre Haute, a native of Vigo county, Indiana ; Frank E., born May 12, 1888, single, with his parents; Maudie May, born July 17, 1892, unmarried, at home ; William O., born in 1896 and died October 2, 1900.
HENRY R. MILAM .- The oldest member of the Odd Fellows' lodge at Carlisle, and a farmer who has the respect and confidence of all within the radius of his wide acquaintance, is Henry R. Milam, of Gill township, a native of Sullivan county, Indiana, where he was born February 27, 1826; hence has passed his four-score-year mark. Many are the changes wrought within the section of Indiana in which he resides since the long ago day of his birth. He is the son of Ambrose and Sarah ( Mason) Milam. The father was a native of Kentucky who came to Indiana at a very early day, and always followed farming pursuits for his livelihood, as did his parents. Sarah Mason, Mr. Milam's mother, was native to Sullivan county, Indiana.
Henry R. Milam attended the district schools of Sullivan county, which at that early date were not models for educational institutions, but which gave the youth a fair knowledge of the elements of an education, to which he has added with the passing of the years. When he was six- teen years old he commenced to work for himself, being variously em- ployed for others until the time of his marriage. His first wife was the owner of the farm upon which he still resides. To this tract of land he added from time to time until at one time he owned several hundred acres in the famous Wabash valley. He has sold off from this landed estate until his present holdings consist of one hundred and thirty acres. He carried on general farming, and earlier in his life dealt in cattle, hogs and other live stock quite extensively. Unfortunately, in the month of August, 1906, Mr. Milam suffered a severe sunstroke, while attending to his official duties as road supervisor. From this he has never fully recovered. He united with the Methodist Episcopal church at the age of seventeen years, but subsequently withdrew, and is not now a member of any church body. Politically he is a supporter of the Democratic party, but of the independ- ent type, not feeling himself in duty bound to vote for party, but for men.
Mr. Milam has been married three times. By the first marriage, to Armina Webb, there were two sons, but both are deceased. By his second union two sons were born-Josephus C., who is still a resident of Gill township ; and another, who is deceased. February 5, 1874, Mr. Milam married his third wife, Miss Josephine Webb. born in Gill township, this county, August 2, 1851, a daughter of Mathias A. and Caroline (Fair- child) Webb. The mother was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, Feb- ruary 10, 1825, her parents being natives of New York state. Mathias A.
215
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Webb, was born in 1814 and came to Sullivan county with his parents when a mere boy. The family settled in Gill township on a farm where they lived until his death, September 1, 1892. The mother died Sep- tember 5, 1904.
The children born to Henry R. and Josephine (Webb) Milam are as follows: Charles H., who is residing near his parents, on a part of the Milam homestead, was born November 7, 1874; Robert Massie, born October 20, 1876, died May 9, 1893; Carrie Elizabeth, born January 17, 1874, now residing in Gill township, the widow of Samuel Brown ; Webb, born January II, 1881, residing with his parents; an infant, born July 8, 1885 ; Bonnie, born August 27, 1888, unmarried, now a student in Carlisle high school ; Hattie J., born April 4, 1891, died March 24, 1897.
WILLIAM C. HART, whose comfortable farm home is within Gill township, is a native of Clark county, Illinois, born March 20, 1855, son of John and Susan (Smith) Hart. Of his parentage it may be said that the father was born in Germany and the mother in Pennsylvania. The father came to America when a young man and made his home in Free- port, Kentucky. From there he moved to Clark county, Illinois, and bought a piece of land, having previously learned the blacksmith's trade. He remained there until his death in 1852, at the age of fifty-one years, and which was before William C. was born. The widowed mother for about twelve years continued to reside on the farm left her by the hus- band, and then moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, residing with a daughter, and later coming to live with her son, William C., of this biographical notice. At his home she died April 21, 1905, aged ninety-five years and some few days. Mr. and Mrs. John Hart were the parents of ten chil- dren, only two of whom are now living-Joseph, of Gill township, and William C., who was the youngest of the children.
On account of the death of his father and the size of the family which had to be provided for, William C. Hart's education, which he obtained at the district schools of Clark county, Illinois, was quite limited. He re- mained with his mother until he was fourteen years of age, after which he lived elsewhere until he was twenty-one years old. He then worked for various persons for four years, at the end of which period he married. He then became a land-renter in Illinois, and later in Indiana, having come to the last named state in 1884. For nine years he rented land, then purchased thirty-nine acres, upon which he still resides, carrying on general farming operations and paying some attention to the raising of stock. Upon this place he has made all of the many substantial improve- ments, and now enjoys the comforts of a well-equipped farm home.
Mr. Hart was married January 1, 1880, to Margaret Koppler, born in Clark county, Illinois, daughter of John A. and Johannah (Listenberger) Koppler. John A. Koppler was a native of Baden Baden, Germany, born in 1833, and his wife of Ohio, where she was born in 1834. In 1848, Mr. Koppler came to America and settled on a farm in Ohio. He
216
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
there married and resided until 1859, when he moved to Clark county, Illinois, where he bought a farm upon which he resided until his death in 1903. The mother still survives and occupies the old homestead, around which cling so many fond memories. In the Koppler family there were eight children, two of whom are deceased, and the living are: Christo- pher, of Clark county, Illinois; Hannah, wife of Oliver Morgan, also of Clark county ; Margaret, Mrs. Hart ; Julia, wife of Frank Minekee, resid- ing in Missouri ; Katherine, wife of Curt Guard, of Terre Haute, Indiana ; Christina, wife of Lyman Thompson, a teacher and farmer of Clark county, Illinois.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hart are as follows: Alice May, born September 27, 1881, died January 17, 1882; John E., born Octo- ber 21, 1882, married Martha Prose, and they reside with her father ; William Henry, born March 13, 1884, a farmer of Gill township, married Ada Dudley ; Katherine, born March 24, 1886, unmarried, at home ; Edward Franklin, born August 12, 1888, unmarried and at home.
As a means of protection to his family, William C. Hart carries a membership with the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp No. 5488, at New Lebanon. While he is not connected with any church organization, he is in sympathy with the teachings of the Friends' Society. In politics he is a Democrat.
ALEXANDER D. PROSE, who is well and favorably known as a farmer and thresher in Gill township, Sullivan county, Indiana, is the son of Jacob A. and Martha F. (Tanner) Prose, whose family history will be found in the sketch of Jacob A. Prose, elsewhere in this work. Alexan- der D. was born October 9, 1869, in Gallia county, Ohio, the same county in which his parents were born, the father May 27, 1839, and the mother November 14, 1846. Alexander D. remained at home until he was twenty-two years of age, and being naturally gifted with mechanical ingenuity, he commenced to operate a threshing machine at that age, and also a sawmill. When about twenty-seven years of age he bought twenty acres of land in Gill township, which he farmed, still running his thresher. Later he purchased forty acres more, but when there was any- thing in the threshing line he still held himself in readiness to do such work. At length he sold the land just mentioned, and purchased the fourteen acre tract on which he now resides. He is now the owner and operator of a first-class modern threshing outfit, as well as a good saw- mill and feed-mill.
Mr. Prose was educated at the district schools of Scioto county, Ohio. He is a supporter of the Democratic party, and in church faith is of the Methodist Episcopal denomination. He was married April 14, 1897, to Miss Callie S. Schlichter, who was educated at the schools of Portsmouth, Ohio, and Sullivan county, Indiana. The history of her parents' families will be found under the head of C. C. Schlichter, else- where in this work. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Prose are as follows: Mabel L., born February 22, 1898; Lillian I., born September
217
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
II, 1899; Opal A., born August 1, 1901. All are at home and attending the New Lebanon schools. As a means of protection in way of life bene- ficiary, Mr. Prose holds membership in the Modern Woodmen of America, of which society he is the present manager.
The brothers and sisters of Mr. Prose are as follows: Laura A., who became the wife of Charles Dettwiller, now residing in Ohio; Mary E., the wife of Thomas J. Holt, residing in Gill township, now a widow ; William T., of Gill township; Charles N., of Ohio; Daniel E., of New Lebanon ; O. A., deceased ; John A., of Sullivan ; Mattie J., wife of J. E. Hart, living on the old homestead.
CYRUS BANTHER .- One of the veterans of the Civil war and a pros- perous farmer of Gill township, Sullivan county, Indiana, Cyrus Banther is a native of Snyder county, Pennsylvania, born December 5, 1841, a son of George and Ann (Huffit) Banther. Both parents are natives of Pennsylvania, and the father lived there until 1846, when he moved to a farm near Mt. Carmel, Illinois, where he remained two years, and then located at Hudsonville, Illinois. After three years at that place he moved to Palestine, remaining here two years, and in 1856 bought a farm near Hudsonville, upon which he lived one year. His wife died at that place, and in 1857, having again married, he moved to Darwin, where he died in 1863. The children born to George and Ann (Huffit) Banther were twelve in number, of whom Cyrus was the fourth child.
Cyrus Banther, on account of having to begin work when very young, never had educational advantages, three days covering all the schooling he received. When seventeen years of age, he left home, single-handed and alone, to try the world and all it had in store for him. The first three years he was employed as a farm hand. The great Civil war came on in April, 1861, and August 16 of that year he enlisted under Captain Markley, of Company D, Thirtieth Illinois Regiment. Mr. Ban- ther served as a faithful soldier in his country's cause for three years, being mustered out August 16, 1864. He was in seven prominent battles, as follows: Fort Donelson, Briton's Lane, Champion Hills, Black River, siege of Vicksburg (where he was forty-two days), siege of Corinth, and Peach Tree Creek. He was never wounded or taken prisoner. After the war he came to Sullivan, Indiana, where he was engaged in business about six months. He then turned his attention toward agriculture and rented land up to 1889, when he bought a farm of one hundred and forty acres, making all the improvements himself, which task was no easy undertaking. His building site is one of the most charming within the county. Here he carries on a successful farm, having been assisted by none other than the good counsel of his faithful wife.
Mr. Banther was married July 6, 1865, to Miss Nancy Daniel, born near New Albany, Indiana, April 4, 1842, daughter of James and Syrena (Lucas) Daniel. The father was a native of Virginia and the mother of Ohio. He was born February 7, 1807, and the mother January 24,
218
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
1813. When about seven years old Mr. Daniel came with his parents to a point near New Albany, where the family settled. Later they re- moved to Greenville, where Mr. Daniel's parents died. In 1847 he sold his land and entered land in Sullivan county, Indiana, and resided there fifteen years. After residing in the town of Sullivan for a time, he moved to Merom, Indiana, but spent part of his time in Kansas. He died in 1883 and his wife in Merom in 1862. In the Daniel family there were eleven children, the seventh being Mrs. Banther.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Banther are as follows : James H., born April 13, 1866, married Minnie McClure, and they reside on a farm in Gill township ; William C., born March 29, 1868, married Eva Simms, and they live in Haddon township ; Minnie A., born August 19, 1869, wife of Benjamin Munroe, of Fairbanks township, where he farms.
In fraternities, Mr. Banther is connected with the Grand Army of the Republic and the Modern Woodmen of America. In his church faith he is of the Methodist Episcopal denomination. Politically, he votes the Republican ticket, but has never cared to be an office-holder.
JACOB A. PROSE, general farmer and stock raiser, of Gill township, Sullivan county, Indiana, is the eldest of nine children born to Daniel and Mary ( Waddell) Prose. This son was born May 27, 1839, in Gallia county, Ohio. The father and mother were natives of the same county. The former was born in 1818, followed farming in Ohio, and in 1849 started with a gold prospecting party headed for the far-away California gold fields, which had just awakened the interest of the whole of the American people. The precious metal had been discovered that year in paying. quantities, and many possessing hardy constitutions and a love for the excitement, with the romance of such an expedition, set forth for the setting sun and land of gold. The father of Jacob Alexander Prose was not fortunate enough to finish the trip, but, like many another, died en route and was buried at Independence, Missouri. The mother had remained in Ohio and later married David Wickline ; she died when about eighty-three years old, in 1900. By her marriage with Daniel Prose she had three children : Jacob Alexander ; Emeline, wife of Isaac Wickline, of Pike county, Ohio; and Charles, deceased.
Remaining with his parents until he was twenty years of age, and his educational opportunities being limited to a few terms in the district schools, Jacob Alexander Prose then rented a farm of his father, con- tinuing on this for eight years, after which he went into the sawmill business, in which industry he was engaged for thirty-five years. He then bought land in Ohio and again resumed farming pursuits in connec- tion with the sawmill business. He followed this for eighteen years, at the end of which time he traded his property for a hundred and forty acre farm upon which he now resides. Here he carries on a general farming and stock-raising business.
May 2, 1864, in the thickest of the rebellion, he enlisted in the One
219
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
Hundred and Forty-first Ohio Volunteer Regiment of National Guards, being in the infantry service as a private soldier. He was discharged September 1, 1864. Mr. Prose is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, which guar- antees his family a protection in case of his death.
He was united in marriage July 25, 1861, to Martha Tanner, who was born November 14, 1845, in the same county in Ohio in which he was. She was a daughter of William and Mary Jane (Tibbs) Tanner, who were natives of eastern Virginia, and farmers, and went to Ohio at at early day, spending the remainder of their lives in that state. In the Tanner family there were thirteen children, of whom eight reached the age of maturity and five are still living: Nathan, who resides in Gallia county, Ohio; Alexander, in the same county ; James, living in Oregon ; Benjamin, of Gallia county, Ohio; and Martha, wife of Mr. Prose. To Mr. and Mrs. Prose the following children were born: Laura Annis, wife of Charles Dettwiller, now residing in Scioto county, Ohio; Mary Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Holt, now a widow residing on her father's farm : William T., a Gill township farmer ; Charles, operating a sawmill in Ohio; Alexander, whose sketch is on another page of this work; Daniel E., a New Lebanon farmer ; Ochre, deceased; John A., of Sulli- van light plant ; Martha J., wife of John Hart, residing with her parents.
GEORGE LOVE, who is the possessor of a most excellent one hundred acre farm within Gill township, Sullivan county, Indiana, is a native of this county, born in Haddon township, April 5, 1847, son of Joseph and Hannah (Davis) Love. Joseph Love was a native of North Carolina, and his wife of West Virginia. When a single man, in 1820, Joseplì Love came to Indiana and located in Haddon township, on a farm upon which he remained until his death in 1866, when aged about sixty-two years. The mother of George Love, of this sketch, accompanied her parents to Knox county at about the same time. Her mother died some years later, and the father made his home with Joseph Love until death. Mrs. Love died in the month of January, 1883. There were seven chil- dren born to Joseph Love and wife, and of this number but two are now living: Mary, unmarried, residing in California, and the youngest of the family ; George, the other surviving one, was the fourth in order of birth.
George Love had the advantages of the district schools in Haddon township, and attended two terms at Carlisle. His father died when George was nineteen years of age, and the son then took charge of the farm, in connection with which he practiced the profession of a veteri- nary surgeon for about twenty years. After abandoning the practice of this profession, he continued to farm the place he then owned, consisting of one hundred and sixteen acres, which he sold in January, 1907. Pur- chasing then the farm on which he now resides, which contains one hun- dred acres, he carries on a general farming business in which he is highly successful, getting ample returns from the soil he cultivates so thor-
220
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
oughly. In his political views Mr. Love is a believer in and supporter of the cardinal principles of the Republican party, though never seeks prefer- ment in the matter of local offices. In religious faith he is of the Method- ist Episcopal church creed and profession.
November 18, 1883, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah F. Ballow, who was born August II, 1868, a daughter of William D. and Susan F. (Myers) Ballow. Her father was born in Davis county, Indi- ana, and by trade was a saddler, coming to Sullivan county before the Civil war and engaging in business at Carlisle, where he continued until his death. The mother died in 1897. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Love, as follows: Edna H., wife of Claud C. Collins, residing on the farm with the father (they have two children, Mary Pauline and George Winston) ; Hazel May, unmarried, resides with her parents.
SOLOMON G. SHEPHERD, whose farm home is situated on the rural mail route running, from Carlisle, known as "No. I," in Gill township, Sullivan county, is a good representative of the thrifty agriculturists of this section of Indiana, where prosperity abounds by reason of fertile soil and a good class of farmers who cultivate the fields from year to year. Mr. Shepherd was born near Carlisle, December 8, 1860, a son of William B. and Elizabeth (Summers) Shepherd. His parents are both natives of Sullivan county, and the father always followed farming for his liveli- hood. Solomon G. remained at home with his father until twenty-two years of age, then leased a farm on Shaker Prairie for one year. He rented land about four years in all, and inherited forty-seven acres of land from his father's estate, upon which he now lives. To this he has added by purchase eighteen acres more. When first he took possession of the place it had no improvements to mention, save an old log-house, but he soon set about making it a first-class farm. Here he carries on a general farming business together with stock-growing. Mr. Shepherd attended the public schools of Haddon township, thereby gaining a good common school education. In politics he is a supporter of Democratic principles.
Concerning his brothers and sisters, it should be said in this narra- tive that there were seven in the family: Thomas, residing on the old home farm; Solomon G., of this memoir ; William, of Carlisle, engaged in the livery business; Estella May, wife of Alonzo Pifer (see his biog- raphy in this work) ; Effie, wife of Marion F. Bland, a farmer of Gill township; John, who died young; Carrie, wife of William Willis, on a farm near Sullivan.
Mr. Shepherd was married October 12, 1882, to Margaret J. Alum- baugh, daughter of William and Rebecca (Pool) Alumbaugh. The father was a native of this county, and his parents were also natives of the state of Indiana. The mother of Mrs. Shepherd came from Kentucky with her parents when she was but seven years of age. They lived in Owen county for several years, after which they came to Sullivan county.
-
22I
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
The parents are now both deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd were born the following children : Bertha May, born January 7, 1884, wife of George Weathers, of Haddon township; they have two children-Harry, born May 7, 1908, and Fred, born July 4, 1907 ; William B., born May 21, 1885, unmarried and at home ; Walter C., born October 17, 1887, at home, attending high school at Carlisle; Albert Roy, born August 21, 1890, attending high school. Mr. Shepherd has wisely thrown a safeguard around his family by becoming a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, thus providing a first-class life beneficiary protection.
In the Alumbaugh family, to which Mrs. Shepherd belongs, there were nine children: Martha, wife of H. A. Benefield, of Carlisle ; George W., of Elwood, Indiana, working in a tin factory; John, of Car- lisle ; Epinitus, of the farming section, near Carlisle ; Samuel, retired, at Carlisle ; Margaret J. (Mrs. Shepherd) ; Mary, wife of Joseph Milam, of Sullivan county ; William, deceased ; Minnie, wife of John Meng, farmer, of Gill township.
DR. ORREN STODDARD, an honored physician of Merom. Sullivan county, has a record of two decades of active and successful practice, having retired at a comparatively recent date as one of the leading citizens of the place, whether judged by his material advancements or his high character. He owns one of the handsomest residences in Merom ; has valuable and productive farming property, as well as property interests at Indianapolis ; and, as a splendid climax, has used his abundant means and strong personality in the promulgation of prohibition principles and the support of other moral movements which have appealed to his good judgment and fine conscience.
Dr. Stoddard is a native of Montgomery county, Indiana, born near Linden, on the 12th of August, 1843, son of Mosley and Eva A. (Kelli- son) Stoddard. His father was born near Connersville, Indiana, on the east fork of White river, November 27, 1821, and his mother near Craw- fordsville, on the 26th of August, 1823. The paternal grandfather was a native of Connecticut who married Mary Catherine Shonts, a Pennsyl- vania woman and a playmate of Fannie Slocum, the girl who was taken prisoner by the Miami Indians and held many years in captivity. The grandfather came to Indiana about 1818 and for some years resided on Wea prairie, Tippecanoe county, later removing to Montgomery county, where he resided on a farm until the time of his death. At his decease he was the proprietor of more than a section of land, and one of the most substantial men, both in worldly goods and solid character, in that county. His wife survived him, dying at the same place in her eighty- first year. The father, who was also a farmer, died July 26, 1852, at the age of thirty-one years, leaving his young widow as the support of four children. The farm, which consisted of two hundred acres, was only partially cultivated, but the family continued to reside on it, and, as the children increased in years and capability, improvements were made and the property eventually became valuable. The faithful wife and mother
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.