A portrait and biographical record of Boone, Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana, Part 38

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080

USA > Indiana > Boone County > A portrait and biographical record of Boone, Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana > Part 38
USA > Indiana > Clinton County > A portrait and biographical record of Boone, Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana > Part 38
USA > Indiana > Hendricks County > A portrait and biographical record of Boone, Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana > Part 38

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tice of the peace. He was proprietor of a tav- ern at the town of Alexandria and lived to be quite an old man. To the marriage of Jacob and Mariam Martin were born ten children, all of whom lived to maturity, viz .: Rev. Frank J., Rebecca A., James W., Sarah J., Capt. Thomas H., John S. (deceased), Dr. Jacob A. J .. Margaret L., Martha M. and Nancy E. After his marriage Jacob Martin settled near Alexandria, taught school and preached in the states of Kentucky and Ohio.

In 1838 he moved to Decatur county, Ind., locating near Greensburg, where the remaining years of his life were passed on a farm. He was a man well known and greatly respected as a minister of the Missionary Baptist church, and was instrumental in organizing many con- gregations of that denomination in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. Originally a free-soil dem- ocrat, he afterward became an earnest sup- porter of the republican party, and during the war was noted for his loyalty and out-spoken friendship for the Union. He had three sons in the Civil war-James W., surgeon; Thomas H., captain, and Jacob A. J., hospital steward. He reached the advanced age of eighty-four years, but continued to preach the gospel until a very short time previous to his death.

Thomas H. Martin was born in Campbell county, Ky., September 30, 1836, and was about two years of age when brought by his parents to Indiana. He received a fair English education in the common schools and later obtained a knowledge of the higher branches of learning at Franklin college, which institu- tion he attended for a period of two years, making commendable progress in the meantime. Having decided to devote his life to the pro- fession of dentistry, he began the study of the same in Greensburg, and after acquiring pro- ficiency began the practice at Covington in the year 1859. In August, 1862, he enlisted at Covington in company E, Sixty-third Indiana

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OF BOONE COUNTY.

infantry, and upon the organization of the company was elected second lieutenant, and as such was mustered into the service, his commission bearing the signature of Gov. Morton. Mr. Martin served as lieutenant until March, 1864, at which time he was promoted captain of company H, One Hundred and Twenty-third Indiana infantry, and as such served with distinction until honorably dis- charged in December, 1865. He was in all the battles of the Atlanta campaign, led his company gallantly at Rocky Faced Ridge, Resaca, Kene- saw Mountain, and other engagements and skirmishes during the siege of Atlanta. Later he was in pursuit of Gen. Hood through Ten- nessee, Alabama and Georgia and back to Nash- ville, and took part in the battle of Franklin, where his regiment was cut off from the rest of the Union forces. After the battle of Nashville, in which he also participated, the regiment proceeded to Washington city, thence to North Carolina, near Fort . Fisher, and he was with his command in a severe battle fought near Kingston, N. C. He was mus- tered out at Indianapolis and honorably dis- charged on the date above mentioned after having seen over three years of active service, during which period he achieved a reputation of which any soldier might be reasonably proud. He was never wounded nor in the hos- pital, and shirked from no duty, however irk- some or dangerous:

After the war Capt. Martin resumed the prac- tice of dentistry at Greensburg, and in April, 1866, located at Lebanon, where he has since resided, being the oldest practitioner in the city, his residence covering a period of twenty- eight years. Capt. Martin has been an enthu- siastic student of dentistry, keeps fully abreast of the times in the profession, and has a large and lucrative practice, which is not confined to Lebanon or Boone county. He served two terms as township trustee and in politics is a

republican. Fraternally he is a member of `Lebanon lodge, No. 45, K. of P., and his name appears upon the charter of Rich Mount- ain post, G. A. R., in which he has at differ- ent times held important official positions. Religiously he is a Baptist, as are also his wife and several members of his family. Capt. Martin was married in February, 1870, to Ella, danghter of John and Sarah (Blair) Jack- son. Mr. Jackson was a wealthy farmer of Westmoreland county, Pa., where he lived and died. To Mr. and Mrs. Martin were born three children-Frank F., a graduate of Frank- lin college; Harry J., editor of the Lebanon Daily Reporter, and Bertha, a graduate of the Lebanon high school. The mother of these children died in 1877, and afterward Capt. Martin married Emma Williams, daugh- ter of Rev. Eliphalet and Mary A. (Harding) Williams. Her father for many years was a well known Baptist minister.

S AMUEL K. MASTERS, a highly re- spected retired citizen of Thorntown, Boone county, Ind., was born in Franklin county of the same state October 2, 1823. His parents were John and Elizabeth (DeHaven) Masters, who were born in Berks county, Pa., and were of German descent. John, born June 21, 1783, was a son of Christopher Meschter (as the name was originally spelled), who was a son of Gregori- ous and Maria (Krauss) Meschter, who were the founders of the family in America and settled in Pennsylvania in 1734. Their seven children were born in the following order : Christopher, on the Atlantic ocean, in June, 1734; Maria, December 21, 1736; Melchoir, June 28, 1740; Susannah, September 25, 1742; Baltzer, October 1, 1745; Anna, May 29, 1748; and George, April 18, 1750. The

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

mother of these children died November 10, 1756, and the father December 16, 1775, in the seventy-first year of his age.

Christopher Meschter, May 7, 1766, mar- ried Christine Yeakel, and by her became the father of the following-named children : Susannah, born February 20, 1767; Maria, March 10, 1768; David, September 13, 1769; Christina, December 24, 1771; George, in 1774; Regina, September 25, 1776; Chris- topher, March 13, 1778; Magdalena, June 17; 1780, John, June 21, 1783; Isaac, January 23, 1787. The family now lived in Chester coun- ty, near Pottstown, and here changed the spelling of the name. John Masters was born in this county, and February 21, 1804, mar- ried Elizabeth DeHaven, who bore the follow- ing children : Rachel, June 3, 1805; Isaac, July 23, 1807; David, April 20, 1809; Mary, April 1, 1811; Elizabeth, May 20, 1813; Ann, February 25, 1816; Christopher, November 4, 1817; John, May 17, 1820; Samuel K. our subject and Jacob-the latter born December 6, 1825. The father, mother, and Pennsyl- vania-born children came to Indiana in 1819, and located in Franklin county, where the father died January 16, 1852, and the mother December 5, 1864-both members of the Methodish Episcopal church. In fact, the family had for generations back been Prostest- ants and were compelled to leave Germany on account of their adherence to what was known as the Schwenkfelder doctrine.

Samuel K. Masters was reared to farming, and from the date of the death of his mother was engaged in that occupation on his own ac- count in Franklin county until 1866, when he settled in Washington township, Boone coun- ty, buying a farm of 160 acres, for which he paid $7,300 On this farm" he lived until 1886; when he came to Thorntown to seek retirement. Samuel K. Masters was married in Franklin county, Ind., January 25, 1855,

to Nancy Burke, who was born in Lancaster county, Pa., March 5, 1836, a daughter of Hunter and Margaret (Kennedy) Burke, the former a native of Ireland and the latter born in Pennsylvania. To Samuel K. and Nancy Masters have been born four children, viz : Elizabeth J., William H., Mary L., and Lewis W. The eldest, Elizabeth J., was born May 30, 1856; the second, William H., was born November 1, 1858, and is a graduate of De Pauw university and now principal of the high school at Muncie, Ind .; Mary L., the third child, was born April 21, 1862, was educated at the Frankfort (Ind.) high-school and grad- uated, also, from the high school at Ladoga, Ind., whence she went to the medical college at Syracuse, N. Y., and prepared herself for a medical missionary, and in August, 1892, started for Foo Chow, China, where she ar- rived forty-seven days later and is now a resi- dent physician; Lewis W., the youngest child, was born February 23, 1864, and now manages the home farm. Samuel K. Masters and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and strictly adheres to its teachings. In politics he is a republican. His farm comprises 160 acres, and his town house is the home of hos- pitality.

ARION M. MANNER .- For nearly a quarter of a century Mr. Manner has been a business man of Leba- non, and connected with the print- ing and publishing business. He descends from good old Pennsylvania-Dutch ancestry on his father's side, and on the maternal side from New England Green Mountain stock. David Manner, the father of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania and went to Ohio when young, settling in Ashland county, afterward moving to Putnam county, Ohio. He married a Miss Mowers, in Ohio, and they were the

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OF BOONE COUNTY.

parents of five children: Joseph H., David, Mary E., Sarah and Elizabeth. This wife died, and Mr. Manner married, in Ashland county, Ohio, Angelina, daughter of Harvey Hill, of Vermont. To them were born Ham- ilton, Abigail, Marion M., Elmina J. and Julia. Mr. Manner died in Allen county, Ohio, in 1851, aged fifty-one years. He was a man in comfortable circumstances, owning a farm, and was an excellent citizen.

Marion M. Manner, our subject, was born August 24, 1845, in Goben's Hollow, Ashland county, Ohio, and was educated in the public schools and learned, when very young, the printing business at Kalida, Putnam county, Ohio, and gained, in the vocation of Franklin, the art preservative, a practical and excellent education. He worked in various towns in Ohio at his trade, and in the spring of 1 864 he went up the Missouri river with John Buchanan, the editor of "The Kalida Sentinel," to Vir- ginia City, now Montana, at that time Idaho territory. They took with them a hand print- ing press. The journey was made by steam- boat up the Missouri river to Cow Island, one hundred miles below Fort Benton, and, with an Indian for a guide, the press was hauled two hundred and eighty miles to Virginia City. In these early days the journey into this new country was a very eventful one; large herds of buffalo were frequently seen, and elk, black bear and other large game abounded. While on the way up the river the boat was landed to take on trees for fuel that had been cut down by beavers, and to bury a man who had died of the small-pox. Mr. Manner and two soldiers went out perhaps half a mile on the prairie and shot the first buffalo killed by the party, and wounding another that was prepar- ing for an attack upon the slayers of his mate. This was at the time of the great gold excite- ment and there was no law in the territory, except that of the vigilance committee, and

border life was seen in its original wildness. The saloons and gambling houses were in full blast. American frontier civilization was in all its freedom, with no police or justice court, prison or jail, to hold in awe the lawless ele- ment. "The Montana Post" was the first newspaper published in the territory and Mr. Manner pulled the lever of the hand press which printed the first number of that paper.

They soon tired of this rough state of soci- ety, and both Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Manner retured overland to Putnam county, Ohio, our subject riding an Indian pony fourteen hun- dred miles to the state of Iowa, and saw the great northern deserts and plains in their prim- itive grandeur. Numerous trains and cara- vans, both going west and returning, were scattered all along the route, and at night the blazing campfires of their bivouacs brightened like stars in the lonely desert. Frequent par- ties of Indians were seen, and many of them came freely about the camps and were gener- ally peaceable to large and armed parties, but would rob and steal from the defenseless.

After this eventful experience, Mr. Manner arrived in Putnam county, Ohio, about the middle of November, 1864, having been gone since the first of April preceding. In January, 1865, he enlisted at Lima, Ohio, in company H, One Hundred and Ninety-First regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, Capt. John E. Tracy. His service was in Virginia, at Harper's Ferry and Winchester, and he was honorably dis- charged August 4, 1865. and came to La Fay- ette, Ind., and worked in various printing offices. In March, 1870, he came to Lebanon and bought a one-half interest in "The Pa- triot " and was connected with this paper until IS72, when he bought the job department. Since that time he has been engaged in the job printing business. He has now the only exclusive job printing office in Boone county. This office is well equipped with excellent

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presses and all varieties of type for the job printing business. ,

Mr. Manner married, in April, 1872, Ella A., daughter of John and Ellen (Kirkpatrick) Bill. Mr. and Mrs. Manner have two chil- dren-Alva E. and Lyle R. Mr. Manner is one of the charter members of the G. A. R. Rich Mountain post, Lebanon, Ind. Frater- nally he is a member of the K. of P., Leb- anon lodge, No. 42, and has passed all the chairs, and has been representative to the grand lodge. He is also a member of the Red Men, Winnebago tribe, No. 36, Lebanon, and has filled all the offices in his lodge, of which he has been representative to the grand lodge. Mr. Manner is entirely a self-made man and a very reliable citizen, who has had a varied ex- perience in life. He is skillful in his art and a practical business man, whose integrity is un- questioned.

S MITH FRY COX .- A good livery stable is of great advantage to any thriving town, and such a one is con- ducted by the subject of this sketch, his establishment being the largest and best equipped of any in Boone county. Let us first, however, deal with the genealogy of Mr. Cox, and then trace his life career to the point where he entered upon his present prosperous business. His grandfather, Samuel Cox, was born in Virginia during the Revolutionary war, and went to Boyle county, Ky., when young, when that county was in a wild state. He was a typical pioneer and hunter, and many a deer and other game animal of the forest fell be- fore the unerring aim of his rifle. He was twice married, and by his first wife became the father of several children, of whom the names of John and Samuel are remembered, and to his second marriage were born Archibald, George, Richard, Fannie, Melissa, Nannie

and Sallie. Mr. Cox was a man of small stature, but possessed an iron constitution, lived to the truly patriarchal age of 103 years, and was one of the oldest Americans on rec- ord; his wife also lived to be of the remarka- ble age of ninety-five years. They were both members of the Christian church. George Cox, the father of our subject, was born in Boyle county, Ky., in 1832, attended the pio- neer school, became a farmer and married Mary, daughter of Cager and Malinda Good. To them were born six children-Narcissa, Smith F., Lizzie, Sallie, James H. and Nan- nie-all born in Boyle county, Ky., on a farm. Mr. Cox passed nearly all his life in that county, and in 1878 moved to Boone county, Ind., and is now living in Milliageville, Hen- dricks county, Ind. His first wife died in Ken- tucky, and he next married, in that state, a Miss Johnson. This lady died in Hendricks county, Ind., and he then married Jane Cogshill, who has borne one daughter-Emma.

Smith F. Cox, the subject of this sketch, was born in Boyle county, Ky., on his father's farm, February 6, 1852. He attended the common school and also learned farming, but left home when twelve years of age, since which time he has made his own way in life. He first hired out at farming at twenty cents per day, remaining with one employer for five years, his wages being increased as be became more able to work. He afterward worked for Judge Lee, of Danville, Ky., for three years. He married, February 4, 1873, Mary J., daugh- ter of Ezekiel and Julia A. (Dale) Shirley, of Boone county. (For early history of Shirley family, see sketch.) Two children have blessed this union-Claudie, who died aged seven years and six months, and Lola E. On October 8, 1871, Mr. Cox came to Lebanon and worked at farm work one winter, then worked one year as a carpenter, after which he farmed in Boone county, finally buying a small farm near Mill-

SMITH F. COX.

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OF BOONE COUNTY

edgeville. By hard work, thrift and good man- agement he added to his farm until he owned 102 acres of fertile land, some of which he has sold, until he now owns but forty acres. Mr. Cox was appointed ditch commissioner of Boone county a few years since and held this office three and one-half years. He then en- gaged in the buggy and implement business in Lebanon, and after this was engaged in the general mercantile business.

On July 4, 1890, he engaged in the livery business in Lebanon, and one year, in com- pany with I. T. Davis, was engaged in buying horses for the shipping and livery trade, and they did a successful business. He now owns and conducts one of the best livery stables in Boone county. He has many fine livery horses, buggies and carriages, and his equi- pages are always in fine condition. Mr. Cox and wife are members of the Methodist church, and he is a member of the I. O. O. F, and has held all the offices of his lodge." He is a mem- ber of the Red Men, Winnebago tribe, of Leb- anon. Mr. Cox is also a member of the Boone county lodge of Masons, No. 9, of Lebanon, and is also a K. P., Lebanon lodge, No. 45. In politics he is a democrat. Mr. Cox is an energetic and successful business man, genial and pleasant in his manners, accommodating and straightforward in his business methods. He is one of the most popular men in Lebanon, and is entirely self-made., having accumulated all his property by his own unaided exertions.

J OHN S. MASTERS, recorder of Boone county, Ind., is descended from an old colonial family that first settled in South Carolina, when Charleston was but a city in embryo, thence removed to Rich- mond, Va., and finally made settlement in Kentucky. The grandfather of our subject, John Masters, married Miss Holmes, who bore

him a son named James, who became a planter near Nicholasville, Jessamine county, Ky., and in that county married Elizabeth, daughter of John and Elizabeth Hambrick, and to this estimable couple were born ten children, named as follows: John S., Eliza- beth, William J., Madison (who died when a child), Jane, Sophina W., Mary, Henry G., Marcus L. and Joseph H. (who died in in- fancy). About the year 1825 or 1828, the Masters family came to Indiana and settled in the then wilderness of Decatur county, but on account of sickness Mr. Masters was compelled to return to Kentucky; in the spring of 1850, however, he again came to Indiana, and this time rented a farm in Johnson county, on which the family resided until abont the year 1863, when they came to Boone county and settled in Washington township, where James Masters arose to prominence as a citizen and farmer, and a democratic politician of con- siderable note. His demise took place on his homestead in Washington township in 1871, at the age of sixty-five years.

John S. Masters, the subject proper of this biographical notice, was born in Decatur county. Ind., July 19, 1830. He was early inured to the toughening processes of farm labor, through which his physical frame was strengthened and his mental faculties brighten- ed. His educational advantages were, how- ever, quite limited, as he had access only to the primitive schools of those pioneer days, and his father having met with business re- verses, he, at the early age of thirteen, with his brothers and sisters, manifested their filial affection by engaging at work in a woolen mill in Jessamine county, Ky., in order to add to the family income, and his time and attention were occupied by this humble but worthy em- ployment six long years. In the spring of 1850 the entire family returned to Indiana, and here John S. followed the woolen busi-

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

ness in Martinsville, Lebanon, and other towns for several years. January 1, 1857, he mar- ried Amanda Gully, daughter of Willis and Eli- zabeth (Land) Gully, and to this marriage have been born eleven children, viz: twoinfants that died unnamed, William A., John A., James A., Willis E., Albert E., Oda W., Lora L., Ezra H. and Daisy E. Mr. Masters resided in Leb- anon from 1873 to 1875 and then moved to Thorntown, which place he made his home until elected county recorder in 1890, when he returned to Lebanon, which has since been his home. In politics Mr. Masters is a thoroughgo- ing democrat and was post-master at Thorn- town four years under Cleveland's first admin- istration as president of the United States. He was elected to his present office as recorder by a very handsome majority, showing his great popularity with the people at large, of whom he is proud to rank himself as one-in sympa- thy, interest and action. He is assisted by his son, Lora L., as deputy reeorder, and Oda W. is Lora L.'s clerk. Mr. Masters is a devout member of the Christian church, and for fif- teen years was deacon of the congregation of that denomination at Thorntown. He is an Odd Fellow in high standing, having passed all the chairs of Osceola lodge, No. 173, of Thorntown, and having represented his sub- ordinate lodge in the grand lodge. Mr. Masters is a gentleman of quiet demeanor, is honorable and upright; painstaking and industrious, and enjoys the affection and esteem of innumerable friends throughout Boone county.

J OSEPH H. MAYES, a prosperous and skillful farmer of Center township, Boone county, Ind., was born in Parke county of the same state August 31, 1846. His maternal grandfather, William Jackson, of Illinois, was a cousin of Gen. Andrew Jackson, the hero of 1812. William

Jackson was the father of the following chil- dren: John, Joseph, James, Alfonsius, Lizzie, Minerva, Uphanda and Dorcas. Robert Mayes, father of Joseph H., was born in South Caro- lina, of which state his ancestors, who prob- ably came from Scotland, were early settlers. Robert Mayes was one of the early settlers of Parke county, Ind., and married Dorcas Jack- son. and to this union were born the following children: James, John, Leander, Albert, Joseph H., Elizabeth, Euphony, Mary and Sarah.

Joseph H. Mayes was only nine years of age when he lost his father, and a few months later his mother was taken from him. Being thus early left an orphan, he went to live in Montgomery county, with a farmer named Fullinwider, with whom he remained until the Civil war burst forth, when he enlisted in com- pany C, Fortieth Indiana volunteer infantry, at the remarkably young age of fifteen years and two months-undoubtedly the youngest lad to enter the service. He was shortly after- ward taken with measles and came near dying in the hospital at Nashville, Tenn., but became convalescent and returned home to recuperate. He then enlisted in company H, Fortieth Indiana, and was sent to Chattanooga, Tenn., being engaged the following four months in constant skirmishing and fighting, and partici- pating in all of the following battles: Dalton, Resaca, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mount- ain. Peach Tree Creek and others, all of theni very severe. He was sent, also, with Gen. Thomas, to harass the rebel Hood, and, beside several skirmishes, was in the terrific battle at Franklin, Tenn. Mr. Mayes was made pris- oner with a party of 600 men and sent to Cahaba, Ala., where they were confined six months, with rations too poor to be fed to swine. At Selma they found better quarters, and were finally sent to Vicksburg, where, after a detention of five or six weeks, they

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OF BOONE COUNTY.

were discharged September 19, 1865. Mr. Mayes, with hundreds of others, was placed. on board the ill-fated steamer Sultana for re- turn to his home, but the boiler of this boat soon exploded, and nearly all its living freight either scalded to death or drowned. The account of the escape of Mr. Mayes is here given in his own language:

"I was on the cabin deck of the Sultana when the boiler exploded. One of the smoke stacks about six feet from me fell and broke the deck in and I went through onto the lower deck. I noticed that every man had to take care of himself. I could not swim, so I got four slats, one inch thick, three inches wide, and about ten feet long, and took my tent rope and tied them together; then I was ready. I picked up the slats and jumped into the river and started to "paddle my own canoe;" I got along finely till a drowning man caught me by the ankle. I kicked him loose and then tried to pull for the shore; sometime I would get within fifty yards of the shore, and the current would carry me toward the other side of the river, and I would try for that side, but it would strike me again, so I just kept floating back and forth across the river. I came across a man from a Michigan regiment. I said 'Hello, comrade; advance and give the coun- tersign.' I asked him if he could swim. He sain 'No.' Then I asked him what kind of a plank he had. He replied, One three feet wide and ten feet long.' We got together and tried to reach the shore, but the current would carry us back and forth across the river as be- fore, and by this time we were getting cold and somewhat discouraged. The man from Michigan said he would have to let go and drown. I told him that would never do, and encouraged him to hold on. By this time we were so cold that we stopped trying to get out. We could move neither hand nor foot, and the Michigan man swore that he could not

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Author: Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 1080

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080