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 48
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Born in county Donegal, Ireland, William Lockard was but twelve years old when he came with his widowed mother to this country, being six weeks in making the voyage. On attaining his majority he settled as a pioneer in Tuscarawas county, buying a tract of wild land, from which he improved a homestead and there lived until his death at the venerable age of eighty-eight years. He married Nancy Doherty, who was born of Irish parents in Jefferson county, Ohio. She died on the Vol. II-25
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home farm in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, in middle life, leaving eight children, namely: John, Andrew, Elizabeth, James Thompson, Lettie, Isabelle, Catherine and William.
Obtaining a practical education in the typical pioneer schoolhouse made of logs, with slab benches and no desks, John Lockard grew to man- hood in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, his home for many years being a log cabin. After his marriage he began life as a farmer, renting land, and he remained in Ohio until 1859. In April of that year he came to Sullivan county, Indiana, thinking in a newer country to improve his financial condition, and here rented land for several years. In Novem- ber, 1864, he enlisted in Company G, Forty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, joined his regiment at Indianapolis, and remained in service until the close of the war, being honorably discharged in June, 1865. After his return to Sullivan county Mr. Lockard bought his present home farm in Cass township, and at once assumed possession of the log cabin with its puncheon floor. There were also two log stables on the place when he bought it, and twenty-five acres of the land had been cultivated and a few more were cleared. He has labored earnestly and judiciously since coming here and has now a fine farm of one hundred and two acres, all under cultivation and yielding abundant harvests of the crops common to this region. In addition to general farming Mr. Lockard pays considerable attention to stock-raising, keeping a good grade of cattle.
On January 12, 1854, Mr. Lockard married Emaline Foote. She was born in Harrison county, Ohio, July 23, 1838. Her father, John Foote, a native of Maine, settled in Harrison county, Ohio, after his first marriage, being a pioneer farmer of that place. After residing in Ohio for a number of years he returned to his old home in Maine and there died. He was twice married, and by his first marriage had two children, Ebenezer and Louisa. He married for his second wife Frances Pierce, who was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Wilson) Pierce, natives of Maryland and of English and Irish parentage respectively. After the death of her husband Mrs. Foote came to Indiana and made her home with Mrs. Lockard, dying here at the venerable age of eighty-eight years. She reared eight children, as fol- lows : Thomas, Joseph, John W., Mary Ann, Elizabeth, James F., William S. and Emaline. Mr. and Mrs. Lockard reared two children, namely : William Swasey and Flora Virginia. William S. married Cynthia Evaline Gabard. He died at the age of thirty-eight years, leaving one daughter, Dottie. Flora Virginia is the wife of Andrew Smallwood and has four children, John Lockard, Emma, Coquella and Buena Vista. Mr. and Mrs. Lockard are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and have reared their family in that religious faith.
GRANDVILLE M. LYONS, proprietor of the Sullivan Business College, located at Sullivan, Indiana, is a native of Jackson township, this county, born November 10, 1867, a son of Thomas A. and Sarah C. (Lassell)
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Lyons. The parents were both natives of Ohio, the father born in May, 1835, and the mother in April, 1847, and both now reside in Sullivan. The Lyons are of Irish descent. The grandfather, Arburthnett H. Lyons, was a native of Ohio, born in 1800, and he died in August, 1876, in Jackson township, Sullivan county, Indiana. He was a blacksmith by trade, following this useful calling throughout his days, and was skilled in the making of fine-edged tools. Grandfather John F. Lassell was born in Vermont and died in Sullivan county, Indiana, on his farm in Cass township. The parents of Grandville M. Lyons came to Sullivan county with their respective parents, the Lyons coming in 1854 and the Lassells about the same time. Thomas A. Lyons and wife were united in mar- riage in the month of September, 1865, and were always farmers up to 1892, when"they retired to the town of Sullivan. The father is a veteran of the Civil war, having served three full years from 1862 to the close of the war, as a brave soldier and member of the Eighty-fifth Indiana Regiment, belonging to Company H, under W. T. Crawford, of Sullivan. During his army career Mr. Lyons was unfortunate enough to have been a prisoner of war, being incarcerated in Libby prison, Richmond, Vir- ginia. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Both he and his good wife are members of the Presbyterian church. Four children were born to them: Flora, deceased; Grandville M .; Minnie, unmarried and at home; George W., married and engaged in the drug trade at Chrisman, Illinois. The first born, Flora, was married to Charles E. Denton, and at her death she left seven children to survive her, all living in Jackson township, Sullivan county, except one who died since the mother's death.
Grandville M. Lyons was reared upon his father's farm and remained at home until twenty-one years of age. He then took a teacher's course at the Danville Central Normal College and the same autumn he took a business course at the same college. After leaving college he taught school in Fairbanks township, Sullivan county, Indiana. His next move was to attend and also teach in the State Normal College at Terre Haute, continuing there for nine years. The next two seasons he taught in Sullivan county, then three years in Vigo county and two more in Sullivan county. In the meantime, in 1893, he took a post-graduate course in the Terre Haute Normal College. At the expiration of the nine-year period above mentioned he was graduated from the Voorhees Business College at Indianapolis, taking a business and shorthand course. After this he accepted a position as teacher in the business department of the above school and remained there a year and a half, when he was made principal of the business department of Hill's Business College at Sedalia, Missouri, and was there employed for two years. During the first year at Sedalia he met the woman who became his wife and who was then a student at that institution. March 3, 1901, the following year, they were married. Her maiden name was Eula G. Mays, born in Johnson county, Missouri, August 27, 1873. She was educated in her native county and at the State Normal at Warrensburg, Missouri, and also in shorthand at Hill's Business College. She followed teaching in Missouri for some time.
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Mrs. Lyons is the daughter of W. J. and Josephine Mays, both parents now residing at Warrensburg Missouri. The father was for many years one of the largest stock-raisers within his home county. In 1902 Mr. and Mrs. Lyons organized a business college at Kirksville, Missouri, he having charge of the business department, while his wife superintended the shorthand department. They succeeded in building up the institution so that they employed a faculty of five teachers. In 1904 they sold the business and Mr. Lyons took a penmanship course in the Zanerian Art College at Columbus, Ohio, and then accepted a position with the Jones Business College of Chicago. Jones then established a business college at Peoria, Illinois, and Mr. Lyons was made super- intendent of the same. But, desiring to locate again in business for himself, he went to Sullivan, Indiana, in July, 1905, and organized the Lyons Business College, which was opened for students September 3, 1905. Here is taught a thorough shorthand commercial course. The first year sixty-five students were enrolled, and during the second year more than ninety students entered. Having had a varied and most excellent training and much actual experience at giving instruction in commercial studies, Mr. and Mrs. Lyons are fully capable of building up a school that shall long stand as a monument to their names.
Politically Mr. Lyons is an independent voter. He is an honored member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his wife attend the Presbyterian church. Three children have been born to them: William Thomas, born May 6, 1902, died in infancy ; James M., born December 6, 1904 ; and Mildred L., born May 23, 1907.
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MARION F. WALTERS, of Sullivan county, Indiana, is a native of Jefferson township, this county, born August 29, 1876, son of Francis M. and Eveline (Mason) Walters. The paternal grandfather, who was born in Kentucky, died when Marion F. Walters' father was but two years of age. The widow then married T. Isebell, of Sullivan county. Francis M. Walters was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, in 1843, on the 18th day of November, and died July 21, 1887. His wife was born in Sullivan county in 1852 and is living in Jefferson township. She was married to John K. Pirtle, after the death of Mr. Walters, and had no issue by her last marriage. By her first marriage she is the mother of three children : Elzoa, deceased ; Loretta, wife of William Lun, residing in Jefferson town- ship: and Marion F., of this narrative. Francis M. Walters always followed farming and kindred pursuits. He was a self-made man and in his time performed much hard labor in clearing up and improving his farm lands, which he brought to a high state of cultivation, owning at his death two hundred and four acres. Politically he was a Republican. Both he and his estimable wife were exemplary members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Marion F. Walters, son of Francis M., received his early education in the district schools of his native county, remaining at home until twenty
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years of age, when he started farming on his own account in Jefferson township, where he continued to till the soil nine years. He inherited eighty acres and. to this he added twenty-five acres more. At the expira- tion of the nine-year period on this place he sold out and moved to Sullivan. This was in 1895, and he began clerking in a hardware store, which after six months he was compelled to abandon on account of his health, and then took up carpentering, which he followed a short time. Upon coming to Sullivan Mr. Walters built a house here, but early in 1909 he traded his town house for a large farm. In the political race for sheriff of Sullivan county, Mr. Walters was elected November 6, 1906, and took the office January 1, 1907. Being a Republican, he was elected upon this ticket and was the second Republican sheriff ever elected in the county. He won his office by a majority of three hundred, thus showing his popularity as a good citizen and competent man. The other time a sheriff was elected on the Republican ticket was in 1872. In 1908 Mr. Walters was defeated for re-election by a small majority.
Mr. Walters was united in marriage, July 14, 1895, to Bertha Carty, born in Kentucky July 1, 1877, daughter of Augustus Carty and wife. They came to Indiana in the winter of 1878 and located in Hamilton township, Sullivan county, but now reside in Cass township. Mrs. Walters was educated in the Sullivan high school. The children born of this union are as follows : Marie, born April 6, 1896; Marion, Jr., born July 4, 1899; Mabel, born November 6, 1903; Marguerite, born February 9, 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Walters are members of the Christian church. Mr. Walters is a member of the subordinate and encampment degrees of the I. O. O. F.
WILLIAM M. TRIMBLE .- Conspicuous among the extensive and pro- gressive agriculturists of Sullivan county is William M. Trimble, of Haddon township, a large landholder, and one of the best known and most successful stock-raisers of this part of Indiana. He is in truth a native, and to the manner born, his birth having occurred September 4, 1844, in Haddon township, in the house which he now occupies, and in which his entire life has been spent. He is a son of the late Joseph Trimble and grandson of Charles Trimble, who was one of the early householders, coming here in 1814 or 1815. Joseph Trimble was born February 3, 1796, near Lexington, Kentucky. Before he was of age he and his brother William came to Sullivan county, raised a crop in Haddon township, and then, about 1814, his parents came here to make their permanent home. He subsequently took up large tracts of land in this vicinity, at the time of his death having title to a thousand acres. He married, in Haddon township, Catherine Carrico, who was born in Kentucky, near Lexington, in 1800, and died in 1868 in Haddon township, three years before he did, his death'occurring in 1871. Of the nine children born of their union, seven, Sarah, Martha, James, Eliza, Josiah, Margaret and Catherine, are dead. Two, Charles, the first born, living in Haddon township, and William M., the youngest child, are the only ones living.
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Reared on the home farm, and attending the schools taught princi- pally by his father, who was a noted teacher, and an artistic penman, always using a goose quill of his own manufacture with which to write, William M. Trimble acquired a good education for his days. Being the youngest member of the parental household, he never left home, but at the age of twenty-one years took control of the home farm, and has since had its supervision. A man of superior business ability, he has achieved remarkable success in his agricultural labors, and now owns not only three hundred acres of the original homestead, but has land in both Haddon and Jefferson townships, having in his possession in all about eleven hundred acres of valuable land. Mr. Trimble makes a specialty of raising thoroughbred stock, breeding the Poll-Angus cattle, which he was the first to introduce into this locality. He now owns about forty head, twenty of which are registered, and since embarking in this industry, in 1904, he has sold twenty registered bulls, but has not disposed of any of his cows. He also raises hogs in large quantities, feeding and shipping from three to six carloads each year, and as a, buyer and seller of stock is busy every month of the year. Mr. Trimble takes interest in everything connected with the welfare of the community in which he resides, and was one of the organizers and is a director of the First National Bank of Carlisle.
Mr. Trimble married, October 9, 1865, Jane Dunbar, who was born February 5, 1845, in Ohio, and came in 1864, with her parents, Alexander and Susan (Wellington) Dunbar, to Haddon township. Eleven children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Trimble, namely : Homer, living with his father; Ella, wife of Dr. A. G. Cox, of Carlisle, whose sketch may be found on another page of this volume; Eliza, wife of George Jones, of Jefferson township; Elesta, wife of Boyd Andrew, of Jefferson township; Scott, residing on his father's farm, married Addie Padgett ; Angelia, wife of Fleming Milburn, of Jefferson township; Etta, Frank, Fred, Gay, and Roy. All of these children were educated in the Carlisle schools, and Roy is now attending the Lyons Business College in Sulli- van. Mr. Trimble and his family are members of the Church of Christ.
ALONZO B. THURBER .- Numbered among the trusty rural free deliv- ery U. S. mail carriers of Sullivan county, running from Sullivan, is Alonzo B. Thurber, a native of LaPorte county, Indiana, born February 29, 1848, son of Alonzo B. and Nancy J. (Atkins) Thurber. The father was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, as was his wife, and there they were united in marriage, coming to Indiana in 1847 and locating on a farm in LaPorte county. They remained in that county until their death and were sturdy farmers. He was of Irish lineage. In politics, Mr. Thurber, Sr., was a Republican and a captain in the Ohio militia. Both he and his wife were members of the Christian church. The following ten children were born of their union : The eldest died in infancy : Bienna and Joseph B., deceased; Alonzo B .; Amos M., deceased; Nettie, de-
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ceased ; Ida M., wife of Leonard West, resides in LaPorte ; Effie, wife of George Presser; Jessie, wife of George Young; Barney, residing in LaPorte.
Alonzo B. Thurber, Jr., remained on his father's farm until seventeen years of age, when he enlisted as a member of Company A, One Hundred and Fifty-first Indiana Regiment, on February 7, 1865, serving until December 28, 1865, as a private soldier in the Civil war. After the close of the war he remained at home on the farm until 1871, when he came to Sullivan county. The first year he worked on a farm and then at the Standard coal mines, north from Shelburn, his employment being on the surface. There he remained until 1879, when the mine was destroyed by fire. The next year he clerked in a store at Shelburn, then went to Parke county, Indiana, where he was engaged in the drug and hardware business a year, with B. F. Bolinger. In the spring of 1882 they sold out, after which Mr. Thurber went to Terre Haute, where he clerked for Mr. Bolinger two years and for another firm one year. The ensuing year he traveled for the McCoy Manufacturing Company, of Indianapolis. Wish- ing to better his circumstances, he went to Fountain county, Indiana, and was there employed by a timber man for a year. Mr. Thurber then moved to Sullivan, engaging in the lumber business on his own account, also handling timber. This he followed until 1886, when he engaged in the well-drilling business, continuing five years up to 1891. At the date last named he went into the dairy business and ran a retail wagon in Sullivan, continuing in this until 1898, when he engaged in the insurance business with the Prudential Insurance Company. This Mr. Thurber pursued with energy for three years, then changed to the American Central Insurance Company, with whom he remained two years. His present position as rural mail carrier he began in April, 1903, when he left the insurance business. From that date until December 1, 1907, he had missed but two days in personally serving his patrons.
Politically Mr. Thurber is a Republican. In lodge connection he is numbered among the worthy brothers of the Odd Fellows order and also belongs to the Maccabees. He was married to Sadie B. White, a native of Kentucky who died at Sullivan, Indiana, the mother of the following children: Claude, deceased ; W. D .; Raymond, deceased; William B .; Archie, Benjamin P. For his second wife Mr. Thurber married Ophelia Humphrey, February 23, 1900. She was born in Sullivan county, Indiana. By this union one son was born : Frank B. Thurber. Both Mr. and Mrs. Thurber are members of the Christian church.
WILLIAM H. THOMAS, one of the enterprising farmers, whose new farm residence is probably the finest within Fairbanks township, is a native of Parke county, Indiana, born February 3, 1859. He received a common school education and assisted on his father's farm until twenty years of age. The father was John L. and the mother Amanda (Doty) Thomas, the former born in Kentucky and the latter in Parke county,
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Indiana. The paternal grandfather, Isaac Thomas, was a native of North Carolina. John L. Thomas went to Vigo county, Indiana, with his parents and lived where Terre Haute now stands. Subsequently he moved to Parke county, where he died in March, 1887. His wife died when William H. was but two months old. He is the youngest of six sons and four daughters by the father's first marriage. By the second marriage one son was born.
When twenty years of age William H: Thomas entered the employ of M. M. Henry, of Montgomery county, Indiana, with whom he remained for five years, later going with John Brookshire, for whom he worked from the month of March to June, and then worked for Dave Hostelers a few months, returning then to John Brookshire and remaining with him for two years. In February, 1887, Mr. Thomas came to Turman town- ship, Sullivan county, and there settled on rented land in the Wabash bottom-lands. He remained there three years. He was married, Feb- ruary 19, 1891, to Emma F. Rose, born in Fairbanks township, a daughter of John T. Rose, who was a large land-owner in Sullivan county. The land in Fairbanks township on which Mr. Thomas settled belonged to his wife. It is a tract containing seventy-two acres. He resided in the old house from the date of his marriage until September 23, 1903, when he moved into his new and thoroughly modern farm-house, said to be the finest within the entire township. His landed estate consists of twenty- three acres (more or less) and one hundred and thirty-two acres (more or less) in two different sections along the Wabash bottoms. Here he carries on extensive farming operations and is an extensive dealer in cattle, horses and hogs.
In his political choice Mr. Thomas is in accord with the Democratic party. Fraternally he is associated with the Masonic and Odd Fellows orders, belonging to Lodge No. 373 of the former and Lodge 763 of the latter at Fairbanks. The children born to bless the home circle of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are as follows : Clara F., died aged three months ; Omer C., died when six months old; Loren, born February 14, 1895; John L., born September 26, 1897 ; Lella May, born January II, 1900.
JOHN CHARLES BADDERS is a member of one of the oldest and most prominent families of Sullivan county, and to his father, Samuel F. Badders, whose history also appears in this work, is accorded the honor of being perhaps the oldest living member of the bar of Sullivan county. The son John Charles was born in Jackson township November 19, 1863, and he remained with his father until his marriage, although he had previously bought one hundred and twenty acres of land joining the home estate when he was twenty-one years of age, and he farmed this tract in addition to assisting his father. After his marriage he went to Arkan- sas and bought five hundred and fifteen acres of land and farmed in that state for one year, and returning to Indiana bought land and lived in Owen county for about eighteen months, returning at the close of that
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period to Sullivan county, although he still owns his farm in Owen county. On his homestead in Jackson township he has built one of the most beautiful homes in the county, and is extensively engaged in farming and stock-raising.
Mr. Badders married, November 18, 1902, Alzena Frances Gambill, who was born August 16, 1883, and died on the 27th of September, 1907, while on a visit at the home of her mother. Her father was born in Wright township, Greene county, Indiana, March 30, 1853, while his wife was born in Sullivan county January 15, 1854, and they were married on the 26th of February, 1874, in this county. After farming on leased land for about fifteen years after their marriage they bought a farm in Greene county, but in 1903 sold their possessions there and moved to Owen county and bought the farm which they yet own, although they reside on the farm owned by Mr. Badders. The only child born to Mr. and Mrs. Badders was a daughter, Mary, born October II, 1903.
WILLIAM FRANKLIN HIATT, county assessor for Sullivan county, is a man of both practical and versatile talents, as, besides making a fine official record, he has earned a substantial reputation both as an architect and a decorator. His earlier years were spent as a farmer's son and an independent agriculturist, so that he has the mastery of another vocation to be placed to his credit. Mr. Hiatt is a native of Hamilton township, Sullivan county, born on the 21st of October, 1869, and is a son of William and Susan C. (South) Hiatt. The father, who was of Irish descent, was born in Pennsylvania, while the mother was a native of this county. The elder Mr. Hiatt accompanied his parents to Indiana when a boy and spent the remainder of his life in Sullivan county, engaged in farming. There he died in 1903, both himself and wife being members of the Church of Christ and true Christians. The five children born to them were as follows: Martha Elizabeth, now the wife of John R. Snyder and a resident of Haddon township, this county ; Durham, living in Sullivan ; Douglas, a resident of Gill township; John C., a carpenter of Sullivan; and William Franklin, of this biography. The grandfathers were Christopher C. Hiatt and Durham Sault, the latter being a pioneer farmer of Hamilton township, Sullivan county.
William F. Hiatt was reared on his father's farm and obtained a common school education in the home neighborhood. He early evinced unusual artistic taste, and completed his schooling by taking a course in drawing, painting, and wall-paper and general ornamental designing through the International School of Correspondence, whose headquarters are at Scranton, Pennsylvania. At the same time he accomplished con- siderable in the way of carpentry and improved his natural talents as an architect. At the age of twenty-six he abandoned farm work altogether and established quite a business in building, painting and decorating, and it was while thus engaged that his popularity as a Democrat and his honorable standing as a citizen and a business man were demonstrated
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