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 32
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GEORGE WASHINGTON NOWLIN, who is a large land-owner and agriculturist of the famous Wabash Valley bottoms in Sullivan county, was born February 7, 1853, on a farm in Fayette county, Illinois. He is the son of Bryant and Mary M. (Stokes) Nowlin; and the father, also being a native of Fayette county, was born September 13, 1828, and died on his farm near Decatur, Macon county, Illinois, August 26, 1903. Mary M. Stokes, the mother, was also a native of that county, born February 5, 1830, and died in July, 1907. They were united in marriage about 1852 in Fayette county. After he reached manhood Bryant Nowlin always followed farming for his livelihood. Prior to that time he had been employed as a clerk on one of the merchant boats plying the Mississippi river between St. Louis and Alton, and also drove a stage coach between these points. Until the late fifties he farmed in Fayette county, Illinois, and then moved to Macon county, that state, where he followed the same calling until his death, he and his faithful wife both dying on the same farm. At his death he owned two hundred and eighty acres of valuable farming land. Both he and his wife were consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church and the parents of the following children : George W., of this memoir; Francis M., who is single and lives on the old honiestead in Macon county, Illinois ; Charlotte, unmarried, lives with Francis ; Douglass, married, and is a resident of Macon county, and five others who died in infancy. The Nowlins are English, while the Stokes are of Scotch-Irish descent.
George W. Nowlin, of this review, received his early education in
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the district schools of Macon county and later attended the high school at Decatur, Illinois, after which for one year he attended the Indiana State Normal at Terre Haute, having previously taught school for one term. After leaving that institution he taught in Sullivan county for nine years, and during this period read law in Sullivan with Sewel Coul- son. He was admitted to the bar of Sullivan, Indiana, about 1882, and served as deputy prosecuting attorney under Perry H. Blue. After aban- doning teaching, Mr. Nowlin was drawn toward the farm again, and began the cultivation of the soil on the Wabash bottoms in the western part of Turman township, where he has continued ever since. In 1902 he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the town of Graysville, upon which he moved the year of his purchase. He also owns a quarter section on the river bottoms proper, conducting both a general farming and stock business, the latter comprising the raising of hogs, cattle and horses. Besides the farming operations of Mr. Nowlin he is a director and president of the board of directors of the Island Levee Asso- ciation, which was duly organized under the state laws and incorporated in September, 1902. This dike, or levee, is between thirteen and fourteen miles in length. He is also interested in Chautauqua work, being a director and assistant secretary of the Merom Bluff Association. A Democrat in politics, a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and active in all commendable works of reform and charity, he is a citizen of practical ability and decided usefulness.
Mr. Nowlin was married in August, 1881, to Della Turman, born in Turman township, Sullivan county, February 9, 1860, in the house on Turman Creek in which she was reared and in which she died in October, 1894. Mrs. Della Nowlin was a daughter of William H. Turman, grand- daughter of Thomas Turman and great-granddaughter of Benjamin Tur- man, the first settler of Turman township. The children born of this union were as follows: William B., born August 26, 1882, who married Ruth Burton, and is now a widower residing on the home place; Roy Douglas, born April 7, 1886, unmarried, and living, at home ; Pearl, born February 5, 1888, residing with Mr. Nowlin's sister in Macon county, Illinois ; and Emmet, born April 17, 1891, unmarried, and also at home.
For his second wife Mr. Nowlin married, April 26, 1896, Lillie Cooper, born in Clark county, Illinois, September 22, 1874, a daughter of Lewis Cass and Jane (Dix) Cooper, both natives of the county named. The latter died September 16, 1894, and the father is now residing in Missouri, near Willow Springs. The grandfather of Mrs. Nowlin, David Cooper, was a native of Virginia and a pioneer of Clark county, Illinois. He was a cooper by trade, which business he conducted at his home near West York. The maternal grandfather, Kelly Dix, was also a pioneer of Clark county and a wheelwright and wagonmaker. He operated a shop at his home in Clark county. Mr. and Mrs. Nowlin have been blessed by the following children: Edward, born May 12, 1897 ; Mabel, born September 26, 1899 ; and Archie, born July 2, 1902. The mother was educated in Clark county and there prior to her marriage taught four terms of school.
Vol. II-17
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JOSHUA BELL DURHAM, a farmer and stock-raiser of Turman town- ship, who is also interested in various other business affairs, is a native of Montgomery county, Indiana, born May 19, 1860, a son of Jesse Youce and Martha (Tarkington) Durham (see sketch of Dr. Durham). Joshua B. was born and reared on a farm. His education was such as is afforded at the public schools. He remained under the parental roof-tree until he was twenty-three years of age, when he went to Graysville and com- menced farming, which he followed there three years, and then went to Danville, Kentucky, where he engaged in the horse business in company with his brother-in-law, W. M. Rue. They conducted a feed and training stable and also sold horses for about a year and a half. He then went to Rossville, Illinois, and there engaged in farming and buying and selling horses for two years, after which he removed to Terre Haute, where he was made the manager of the Edgewood Stock Farm, owned by W. E. McKeen, Sr., of Terre Haute. He managed this place for seven years, and then went to Turman township, Sullivan county, where he has since been located and operating a farm as well as raising stock. He also has come to be an extensive dealer in mules and jennets, besides buying and selling large quantities of horses. His cattle are of the Poll Angus and Durham breeds. The farm where he carries on these successful opera- tions consists of one hundred and thirty acres in Gill township, but he lives on the Thomas Mann ranch of eleven hundred acres, which affords him an abundant range for his stock.
Politically he is a supporter of the Democratic party, and in his lodge affiliations is connected with the Knights of Pythias of Montgomery county. He is a stockholder and the president of the Graysville Horse Company ; also a stockholder and a director of the Turman Township Threshing Machine Company, and is a shareholder in the Terre Haute & Merom Traction Company.
Mr. Durham was first married, late in the eighties and while yet residing. in Illinois, to Sittie Ellis, born in Montgomery county, Indiana. She died after about seven years of married life. One child was born of this union, but died in infancy. Mr. Durham was married the second time, October 5, 1898. to Miss Nellie Manning, born in Terre Haute in 1872. She was reared in Terre Haute and at the age of sixteen years accompanied her parents, W. B. and Lizzie (Mann) Manning, to their farm. The father is now deceased and the mother resides in Turman township. By Mr. Durham's second marriage three children were born : Laura Elizabeth, Marion Youse and Lelia Belle.
While not belonging to any church organization, Mr. Durham was reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church.
WILLIAM BENJAMIN MANNING, who was a painter and deco- rator early in life, and later a farmer in Turman township, Sullivan county, was born April 13, 1834, in Terre Haute, Indiana, a son of Horatio Nelson Manning, who was born in New Jersey and of English
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descent. He married Pauline Hodge, born in Germany. They were married in Terre Haute in 1830. Horatio Manning "run the river," a term applied to the persons who followed a boatman's life along the great water courses of the country. He operated boats from Terre Haute to New Orleans. The last even heard of him was when he was en route to New Orleans with a flatboat loaded with corn. His widow died in Terre Haute, on South Fourth street, in March, 1885. Two children blessed this union, Mary, who died in infancy, and William Benjamin, of this memoir.'
William B. Manning received his education in the common schools of Terre Haute and at the age of fifteen years began to master the paint- er's trade in all of its manifold branches. He soon became an adept in his trade as a painter, grainer, decorator and paperhanger, and was also a beautiful sign-writer. As a side-line to his regular profession he did some excellent handiwork in landscape oil painting. Among such pieces his widow now possesses a fine sample of his work as an artist in way of a picture of the house and grounds where she was born on her grand- father's estate, the Thomas Turman farm. Mr. Manning was employed at his trade in Terre Haute until 1887, during which year he with his family moved to the farm where he died, January 9, 1907. After moving there he continued to work at his trade. He purchased the eighty acres of land upon which the widow now resides. Politically Mr. Manning was a Republican, and in fraternal connections he affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows lodge and also belonged to the Knights Templars and the lower degrees of Masonry, both connections being at Terre Haute.
He was united in marriage September 1, 1867, to Elizabeth Mann, born January 19, 1845, in Turman township, a daughter of James B. and Fidelia (Turman) Mann. The father was born October 5, 1816, in Kentucky, and came to Sullivan county, Indiana, about 1819, with his parents, Josiah and Elizabeth (Schooling) Mann; they located on a farm east of Merom. He died in Merom and the widow died in Sullivan. James B. Mann and wife were married on March 4, 1844, and began housekeeping and farming on the farm now occupied by Dr. Durham, he being a brother-in-law. of Mrs. Manning, and her mother still resides on the old homestead with Dr. Durham.
Among the successful farmers, James B. Mann was among the best. In his political views he was a Democrat. He died in the month of April, 1887. His wife, Fidelia Turman, was born in January, 1825, in Turman township, a daughter of Thomas and Lavinia (White) Turman. They were married and located in the township named for Thomas Turman. Six children were born of this union: Elizabeth, widow of William B. Manning ; Lavinia, wife of John Royse, of Honey Creek township, Vigo county; Thomas Josiah, deceased ; Mary, wife of Dr. J. L. Durham ; James, who died in childhood ; and Arthur, who also died in childhood.
The issue of the union of William B. Manning and wife is as follows : William, born June 8, 1868, married Minnie Coole, a native of Ohio, and they reside in Meridianville, Alabama, on a farm. James Mann, born
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December 18, 1869, is now a widower. He married Delmer Hamilton, who died a short time after their marriage, and he now lives in Wyne, Ar- kansas, where he works at his trade, that of painting. Nellie, born Au- gust 3, 1871, is the wife of J. B. Durham, whose sketch will appear else- where in this work. Mary, born May 27, 1880, is unmarried and with her mother, Mrs. Manning is a consistent member of the Presbyterian church.
DR. FRANK L. ROBBINS, a practicing physician of Carlisle, Indiana, was born May 29, 1881, at Freelandville, Knox county, Indiana, a son of Thomas, Sr., and Maranda (Howard) Robbins. Dr. Robbins' paternal grandparents were born at Lexington, Kentucky, about 1775. His Chris- tian name was John. They were married at Lexington and emigrated to Freelandville, Knox county, Indiana, in 1813. He entered about one thousand acres of land and remained there until his death. He reared a very large family, and was a soldier in the Mexican war. Thomas, Sr., and brother, Alexander M. Robbins, now own about four hundred acres of this old homestead.
Dr. Robbins' father was born near Freelandville, October 18, 1843, and his wife was born in August, 1848, and she died May 3, 1902. She was a native of Jefferson township, Sullivan county, Indiana. The Rob- bins are of Scotch and English descent, and the Howards were originally from Ireland. Thomas Robbins followed farm pursuits until within a few vears, since which time he has been living a retired life, enjoying the fruits of his many years of toil as an agriculturist. His home is near Freelandville. He has paid much attention to stock-raising, and still handles horses, and he has ever taken a delight in those animals. Thomas Robbins and wife were the parents of the following children: John, now residing in San Francisco, having been in the west about twenty years ; Ruel, living on a farm near Freelandville ; Lillie, now the wife of O. C. Buck, of Bicknell; Iona, unmarried and at home; Mary, wife of Elvin Bowen, of Freelandville : Dr. Frank L .; and Earle, residing at home, a student in the Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana, where he is taking a course in civil engineering.
Dr. Robbins, who is unmarried, was reared on his father's farm and obtained his education at Freelandville, graduating from the high school with the class of 1900. He then attended the Vincennes University, 1900-1901, and taught school during the winter months of those years in Knox county. In 1902 he entered the Louisville, Kentucky, Medical College and was graduated from that most excellent institution with the class of 1906. He then located at Carlisle, Indiana, where he has built up a good medical practice. He is numbered among the members of the Sullivan County Medical Association, the Indiana State Medical Association, and the American Medical Association. The doctor is a Democrat in his political choice, but is not an office-seeker in the present-day meaning of this term. He is an acceptable member of the Baptist church, and holds membership in the Masonic, Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America frater-
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nities. In the Masonic order he belongs to Carlisle Lodge No. 3, A. F. and A. M., Jerusalem Chapter No. 81, and Council No. 73, all of Sulli- van. In the Odd Fellows order he is a member of Encampment No. 50, at Carlisle ; also of the Eastern Star and the Woodmen, of the same place.
WILLIAM L. NASH, who is well known as one of the extensive farm- ers and stock-raisers within Sullivan county, was born in Haddon town- ship, where he now resides, September 3, 1865, a son of Armstead M. and Nancy (Purcell) Nash, both of whom were natives of Sullivan county. The father, a native of Haddon township, is now deceased, and the mother is still a resident of the township. The grandfather of William L. Nash, Marvel W. Nash, was a native of Kentucky, and was among the first persons to blaze the way to and effect a settlement in Haddon township. He entered government land and lived there until he was eighty-six years of age. He was always a farmer, in which occupation he was unusually successful. He reared quite a large family ; and was a Democrat in his political views, always casting. a vote for that political organization.
Armstead M. Nash, the father, was reared on a farm and followed that occupation throughout his life, at one time owning about four hun- dred acres of choice land in Haddon township, Sullivan county. He was both a grain and stock grower. He raised registered Shorthorn Durham cattle, some of which he exhibited at stock fairs. In his political con- victions he was in accord with the Democratic party. He was a consistent member of the Christian church, as is also his widow. They were the parents of the following children: Indiana Ann, deceased ; William L., of this memoir; Edgar E., of Haddon township; Clara B., now wife of Charles Siner, of Vigo county, Indiana; Mary, wife of Edgar Chambers, residing in Sullivan ; and Lilly Jane, deceased.
William L. Nash was reared to farm labor and attended the common schools and the high school at Carlisle, beginning life for himself at the age of twenty-two years, by farming. in Haddon township, where he has continued ever since. His present farm contains about three hundred and fifty acres, where he pays special attention to the raising of cereals and stock. He usually feeds two carloads of hogs for the markets each year. He also follows the occupation of a stock drover, shipping stock up and down the line, including the towns of Carlisle, Paxton, Sullivan, New Lebanon, etc. His partner in the stock business is Washington Sin- clair. Mr. Nash is a stockholder in the new national bank at Carlisle and also a stockholder in the People's State Bank of Sullivan. Politically he affiliates with the Democratic party. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, thus giving his family life insurance protection. In secret societies he is an honored member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to the lodge at Carlisle.
Mr. Nash was united in marriage in 1888 to Deborah Shake, born in Haddon township, a daughter of Benjamin S. and Elizabeth (Arnett)
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Shake, both being natives of Haddon township. He is deceased and she resides in the township. Mrs. Nash's grandfather, David Shake, was a native of Kentucky and was among the pioneer settlers here. The fol- lowing children have been born to Mr. Nash and wife: Nellie S .; Martha J. ; Walter L. ; Kate ; Claud Ed ; Harold A., deceased ; Roland R .; Lois W., and Arthur J. The parents and eldest three children are mem- bers of the Christian church at Providence, near Paxton.
MELVIN ELLIS .- Having materially assisted in establishing the repu- tation of Sullivan county as a superior agricultural and stock-raising region, Melvin Ellis is now living retired from active pursuits in Carlisle, having, through his judicious efforts as a farmer in Haddon township, accumulated a competency. A son of John W. Ellis, he was born April 16, 1848, on the Ellis homestead, one and one-half miles east of Carlisle.
Coming from English and German stock, John W. Ellis was born in October, 1800, in Prince William county, Virginia. Learning the trade of a carpenter when young, he followed it for some time in his native state. Some time before 1830 he came to Indiana and for a number of years worked as a carpenter and contractor, building many of the earlier houses of Carlisle. Investing his money in land, he became the owner of a good farm, on which he carried on farming successfully until ready to retire from active labor, and moved to Carlisle, where he spent the remain- der of his life. He was three times married, marrying first Margaret Wardell, a native of Georgia, by whom he had one child, Howard Wesly. who is now dead. He married, second, Sarah E. Ching, who was born in Lancastershire, England, in 1800, being married near Washington, D. C. Thirteen children were born of this union, as follows: Amanda, deceased ; Oscar A., a farmer living near Greencastle, Indiana; Salina, deceased ; Mary, wife of F. A. Jean, of Los Angeles, California ; T. O., of Haddon township; William L., deceased, was killed during the Civil war at the battle of Seven Pines, Virginia, June 2, 1862, having been a member of the Second Alabama Volunteer Infantry ; Ann M., wife of George Riggs; Virginia, widow of the late Matthew McCormick, lives in Chicago ; E. R., a farmer in Coatsville, Ind. ; Josiah W., deceased ; Robert, of Los Angeles, California ; Melvin, with whom this sketch is chiefly con- cerned ; and Olivia, wife of John W. Warner, of Carlisle. By his union with Mary Bishop, his third wife, John W. Ellis had four children, namely : Ella G., wife of John Wilbanks, of Springfield, Illinois ; George W., deceased ; George, a farmer in Petersburg, Illinois ; and John Bishop, deceased.
Between the age of ten years and thirteen years Melvin Ellis attended the public schools of Carlisle, where his parents then lived. Going back, then, to the farm with the family, he assisted his father in his agricultural work until September, 1867, when he again entered the Carlisle schools, which he attended the following three years. During the next six years Mr. Ellis was engaged in farming during the summer
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seasons, but taught school during the winter terms. In March, 1876, he bought a farm of eighty acres in Haddon township and for a number of years was busily and profitably employed in tilling the soil, carrying on a good business as a raiser of both grain and stock. This farm Mr. Ellis still owns and supervises, although since April, 1892, he has resided in Carlisle. He is a Democrat in politics, much interested in local affairs, and is one of the stockholders of the People's State Bank of Carlisle. Fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a member of the lodge and the encampment, and is a member of Ben Hur lodge of Carlisle.
On September 28, 1872, Mr. Ellis married Susan V. Tapp, who was born in Kansas City, Missouri, November 10, 1850, but was bred and educated in Carlisle. Her father, William Tapp, was born in Kentucky, and died when Mrs. Ellis was but a child. His wife, whose maiden name wa .: Zerelda Stansberry, was born August 18, 1813, in Kentucky, and died October 8, 1895, in Carlisle, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Ellis are the parents of three children, namely: Daisy, born July 24, 1873, was educated in Carlisle. taught school in Haddon township five years, after which she married Roscoe C. O'Haver and now has two children, Elene and Hubert Maurice : Bessie O., born October 4, 1876, is the wife of Richard Chra- nicki, a rural free delivery mail carrier in Terre Haute, and has one child living, Mildred; and Floyd Elmo, born October 17, 1883. Mr. and Mrs. Roscoe C. O'Haver reside in Los Angeles, California, where he is engaged in the real estate business. Floyd Elmo Ellis, the youngest child, was graduated from the Carlisle high school in his thirteenth year, after which he studied for eighteen months in the Terre Haute high school and for two and one-half years in the State University at Bloomington. Then after teaching school for a year he was for two years engaged with the Title Trust Company at Los Angeles. Going from there to Washing- ton, he spent a year in Seattle, and in the fall of 1906 entered the law department of Columbia University, from which he will graduate with the class of 1909. Religiously, Mr. Ellis and his family are members of the Christian church, of which he has been an elder and the treasurer for thirty years, and for the past ten years has also been superintendent of its Sunday-school.
REV. DANIEL RYAN, the merited and highly popular. Methodist clergyman so well known in the various conferences of this country, espe- cially within the state of Indiana, very naturally finds a place in a work of this character. He was born in the city of Troy, New York, July 4, 1846, a son of William and Catherine (Ryan) Ryan. The father was born in Ireland, as was the mother, though in no way related by ties of kinship. This worthy couple were united in marriage in their native country and emigrated to America about 1840, locating at Troy, New York, where he was engaged as a mechanic. It was he who designed and made the first cook stove in Troy, which city is now so world-wide famous for the annual output of its stoves of all descriptions. He and his
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wife resided in Troy until death overtook them. He was a Democrat in his political views, and he and his wife were members of the Catholic church. They were the parents of six children, the subject being the fourth in order of birth, and is the only one now living. He went to Cin- cinnati, Ohio, in 1852, with an aunt Mary, who was a sister of his mother. In 1856, Mr. Ryan removed to Wayne county, Indiana, and lived on a farm, receiving his education at the district schools of that county. In April, 1862, he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and enlisted as a teamster and drove army wagons in the Shenandoah valley until July, when he returned to Cincinnati and enlisted in Company C, Thirteenth United States In- fantry, the date being July 10, 1862. He was discharged July 10, 1865, at Nashville, Tennessee. Sherman was the colonel of his regiment, which was the first command to plant the flag at Vicksburg. Mr. Ryan partici- pated in the following engagements: Chickasaw Bayou on December 29, Arkansas Post, Hains Bluff, Jackson ( Mississippi), Raymond, Champion Hills, Vicksburg, the retaking of Jackson and Collinsville (Mississippi), October II, 1863. They were en route to Corinth when the last named battle took place. They followed on to Missionary Ridge, and followed General Bragg to Georgia and back to Chattanooga, Nashville, etc. Mr. Ryan was in fortunate circumstances when the war closed, for in all of his exposure to the enemy in so many hard fought battles he was never once injured by wounds.
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