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 63

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 63
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 63
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 63

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EZEKIAH M. COHEE, a progress- ive and successful young farmer of Michigan township, Clinton county, Ind., was born in Boone county, Ind., April 21, 1860, the son of Andrew and Amelia (Irwin) Cohee, who were early settlers of Boone county. The great-grandfather, Benja- min Cohee, the progenitor of the Cohee kin- dred of this country, came to America in early

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OF CLINTON COUNTY.

manhood and settled in the state of Delaware, where he married and reared a large family. Benjamin Cohee, the grandfather of our sub- ject, was one of the family and was born in the state of Delaware September 10, 1788. He grew to manhood's estate in his native county and there married Miss Nancy Holland, and sometime thereafter Mr. Cohee removed to Butler county, Ohio. By this marriage three sons were born, viz: Vincent D., Jona- than, and Henry H. Mrs. Nancy Cohee died while the children were yet small and Mr. Cohee married Miss Rebecca Wilson, and, September 30, 1830, moved to Clinton county, Ind., where he settled on 240 acres of land that he entered in 1828. They became the parents of eight children, four sons and four daughters, viz: Andrew, Wilson, James L., Hezekiah, Mary A., Rachel C., Hattie J., and Eliza C. Grandfather Benjamin Cohee died January 7, 1863, and his wife Rebecca, died March 4, 1868. Andrew Cohee, the father of our subject, being the eldest son born to Benjamin and Rebecca Cohee, dates his birth from March 14, 1823, in Butler county, Ohio, and, while yet a small boy, came with his parents to Indiana, where he grew to manhood, assisting his father in forging a home out of the wilderness. March 2, 1847, he married Miss Amelia Irwin, who was born in Ohio, November 27, 1828. This marriage took place near Eagle Village, in Boone county, Ind., and has been blessed by the birth of six children, three sons and three daughters, viz: Sarah E., born September 19, 1850: David D., born October 1, 1853; Rebecca J., born Octo- ber 30, 1856; Hezekiah M., born April 21, 1860; John A., born December 24, 1866; and Ella, born June 4, 1869. Mr. Cohee is one of the substantial and well-to-do farmers of Boone county, and, in 1854, located on his present farm, tbree and one-half miles north of Lebanon, where he has resided ever since.

He and wife have been worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal church upward of fifty years, and are highly respected by all who know them.

Hezekiah M. Cohee grew to manhood in his native county and became quite well educated, and is still a great student and reader of cur- rent literature. January 1, 1881, he married Margaret Wharry, daughter of James and Julia A. (Price) Wharry. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Cohee have been born the fol- lowing children: Cecil M., born December 4, 1882; Leslie W., born June 29, 1885, deceased; Clifton, born April 9, 1887; Leah I., born September 20, 1890, and Paul, born October 8, 1894. Mr. Cohee owns a good farm of 160 acres, of which, Mrs. Cohee inherited thirty- six acres from her father's estate. This is now well improved with a fine house and barn and is furnished with all modern improvements. In politics, Mr. Cohee is strongly republican. Both Mr. and Mrs. Cohee are members of the Methodist church, of which he is super- intendent of the Sunday-school. Mr. Cohee is a member of Herman lodge, No. 184, F. & A. M. He is heartily in favor of our school system, is a liberal supporter of the church, and is public-spirited and generally progressive.

S C. COHEE, a member of one of the oldest and most respectable families of Clinton county, Ind., was born in the city of Frankfort, August 11, 1858, and is one of a family of three sons and three daughters born to Ezekiel and Lydia (Michaels) Cohee, natives of Prebel county, Ohio. Samuel Cohee, father of Ezekiel, was born in 1802, was the father of five sons and four daughters, and died in Frankfort Febru- ary 22, 1892, his wife having preceded him to the grave in 1880. The latter was a daughter

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

of Fred Michaels, one of the pioneers of Clin- ton county.

S. C. Cohee, now the leading liveryman of Frankfort, has supported himself since he was twelve years of age, but until ten years old he lived on a farm. His first effort at self-sup- port was at teaming; he was then employed in a feed store and next engaged in draying. June 8, 1888, with a partner, he started his present livery barn, but two-and-a-half years later be- came sole proprietor, and by his affability, rectitude and strict attention to the wants of patrons, has met with more than ordinary suc- cess. In 1875, Mr. Cohee married Miss Ida Bell Wilson of Kempton, Ind., and this happy union has been blessed with three children, named Ethel, Clair, and Lela. Mr. Cohee is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, and, being a native of the county and city and a descendant of one of the pioneer families, stands socially in a very high position.

J AMES W. COLLINS is a well-known business man and prominent official of Frankfort. He was born in Highland county, Ohio, August 14, 1848, and inherits in a marked degree the characteristics of the sturdy Scotch-Irish ancestors from which he is descended. The family of which he is a representative settled at an early day in Mary- land, and from there his grandparents emi- grated to Highland county, Ohio, about the year 1820, and died in the latter state some time in the early fifties. They reared a family of five children, viz: Thomas, John, Mary, William and George W .- the latter the father of the subject of this notice. George W. Collins was reared to agricultural pursuits, and in early life assisted his father in the manufac- ture of the old-fashioned spinning-wheels so common in the pioneer times, and he exercised his mechanical skill in this way until his twenty-

fourth year. He then married Mary J. Patton, and immediately afterward began carpentering and building, which he followed until 1854 in Ohio, and then came to Clinton county, Ind., where he was similarly engaged for two years, returning to his native state at the end of that period. He died in Ross county, Ohio, March 16, 1858; his widow survives him, and resides at this time with a daughter at the town of South Salem. George W. and Mary J. Col- lins were the parents of the following children: James W., Mary E., Edgar F., a physician of Mt. Sterling, Ohio, and Laura, deceased. The father of Mrs. Collins was James Patton, and the maiden name of her mother was Margaret Edgar, a native of Kentucky and a relative of the Todd family to which Mrs. Abraham Lin- coln belonged.

James W. Collins, who grew to manhood on a farm in Ross county, Ohio, attended in his boyhood the common schools and later South Salem academy. When twenty-one years of age he left Ross county, Ohio, and came to Indiana, locating at Frankfort, where he accepted the position of deputy in the county recorder's office under David B. Car- ter, the duties of which he discharged for a period of three years. During the three years succeeding Mr. Collins taught in the schools of Clinton county, and in the meantime began the study of law in the office of Messrs. Page & Bayless, under whose instruction he con- tinued for some months, and then went to La Fayette, where he remained about two years, with the law firm of Behm, Park & Behm. For the next two years he resided at Colfax, and in 1879 returned to Frankfort, where he entered the practice of law. In December, 1881,. he accepted the position of deputy county treasurer under Alexander B. Given, in which capacity he continued two years; and later, for about the same length of time, con- ducted a thriving drug business. In the spring

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OF CLINTON COUNTY.

of 1892 he was complimented by being elected mayor of the city, which honorable position he filled with ability for one term of two years

. Mr. Collins was married in Frankfort on the thirty-first day of December, 1884, to Miss Jessie B. Mulhallen, who was born in Rockville, Ind., June 16, 1856. The union thus consummated has resulted in the birth of three children, namely-Esther, Todd and James C. Mr. Collins is one of the leading republicans of Frankfort and has always taken a lively interest in the success of his party. He is a knight templar Mason and an Episcc- palian in his religious belief, belonging to the Frankfort congregation, as does also his wife. In every relation of life Mr. Collins has shown himself to be a man of prudence, sa- gacity, discretion of judgment, of scrupulous integrity and gentlemanly demeanor. In the capacity as mayor, he proved a most excellent executive, and in the public positions to which he was called from time to time the ability and faithfulness which were displayed in the dis- charge of the duties incident thereto show him to have been a most competent and obliging public servant.

3 OHN NELSON COOPER, who is numbered among the prominent farmers of Sugar Creek township, Clinton county, Ind , deserves representation in this volume, for he is both widely and favor- ably known. He came from Irish and English ancestry. His grandfather, Malachi Cooper, was a native of Kentucky, and an old Hard- shell Baptist preacher. He voted with the Whig party, and removed to Rush county, Ind., where he died at the age of seventy-four. His children were James, John, Asa, Levi, Delilah and Jane. John Cooper was born in Kentucky in 1800, and on the fifth of March, 1820, married Jane King, who was born in

Kentucky, March 9, 1801, and was a daughter of William King. They became the parents of nine children: William E., Malachi, James, Polly A., John N., Lucinda, Stanley, Angeline and Jane. In February, 1838, John Cooper came with his family to Clinton county, and entered 160 acres of wild land, covered with heavy timber. He was an expert marksman and was known to kill eight deer in two days. He served as justice of the peace both in Rush , and Clinton counties, and was a man of good judgment, who had the confidence and re- pect of the entire comunity. In politics he was an old-line whig. He died November 30, 1851. at the age of fifty-one, and his wife in 1841. aged forty years.

John Nelson Cooper was born in Rush county. Ind., January 15, 1832, was reared on a farm, and acquired his education in the old log school-house, with its puncheon floors, slab seats and mud and stick chimney, where for some years he spent about three months each season. When in his twentieth year he was married, March 2, 1851, to Elizabeth Ward. also a native of Rush county, born Jan- nary 18, 1832, and a daughter of Newton and Sarah Parkins) Ward of Indiana. They began life in true pioneer style in a log house, the furniture of which was made by Mr. Cooper, but those were happy days, neverthe- less. In 1857, he went to California, by way of New Orleans and Cuba, and after sixteen months returned home, for the trip was not very successful. He then resumed farming and became owner of forty acres of land. In August, 1862, Mr. Cooper responded to the call for troops and joined company B, Seventy- fifth Indiana infantry, which went from Indian- apolis to Lebanon, Ky., thence to Chicka- mauga, and Missionary Ridge, participating in the entire Sherman campaign. His brother who stood at his side was killed at Chicka- mauga, and his brother-in-law was wounded.

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Mr. Cooper escaped uninjured throughout the struggle, and at it close returned home in June, 1865. He was with Sherman on the celebrated march to the sea and participated in the grand review in Washington.

To Mr. Mrs. Cooper were born three chil- dren: James M., who married Siotha Amos; William E., who wedded Anna B. Nelson, and Charles M., who died at the age of six months. The mother died January 4, 1886, and on the twenty-seventh of August, 1887, Mr. Cooper wedded Mrs. Priscilla Purdy, née Amos, who was born February 24, 1841, in Indiana. Their home is upon a good farm of 120 acres, which is well drained and cultivated, and therefore yields to the owner a golden tribute in return for his care and labor. Mr. Cooper is a republican, but has never aspired to office. His wife belongs to the Methodist church, and both are prominent and highly respected people, who well deserve representation in this volume.

RTHUR L. COOPER, a representa- tive business man and manufacturer of Frankfort, Ind., of which city he has been a resident since the spring of 1883, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., March 4, 1861. His parents were Jacob and Re- becca (Shurtz) Cooper, both natives of the Keystone state and of German lineage. The father was born in the town of Coopersburg, where the Cooper family have lived for gener- ations. He was a son of Daniel Cooper, whose father, David Cooper, a son of a Hes- sian soldier in the war of the Revolution, was born in Virginia. Jacob Cooper was a soldier in the Civil war and died while in the service, the subject of this sketch being hardly two years old at the time. Mrs. Cooper after- wards married Alonzo Koons, of Allentown, Pa,, and died when Arthur had reached the age of six years.

Arthur L. Cooper was brought up in Allen- town, in the schools of which he obtained a good English education, which was afterward supplemented by a business course in what was known as Blackman's business college. At the age of fifteen he went to Philadelphia, where he remained until attaining his major- ity, in the meantime learning the cigar-maker's trade. In 18St Mr. Cooper was united in marriage to Miss Eleanora Anewalt, imme- diately thereafter located in Allentown, and thence, in 1883, moved to Frankfort. Ind. On coming to the latter place Mr. Cooper em- barked in the machine business, and later he became associated with F. A. Colver, under the firm name of F. A. Colver & Co., by which the Excelsior machine works have since been known. Both Mr. Cooper and his part- ner are practical machinists, and their estab- lishment is well equipped for all kinds of foundry and machine work in their line. They manufacture steam engines, boilers, do all kinds of heavy work and make a specialty of wrought iron and steel fencing, malleable iron cresting and rail work, turning out over seventy different styles of fences, which have a large sale throughout the United States. They also do a great deal of jail work, and all in all their establishment is one of the most im- portant manufacturing institutions of Frank- fort. Politically Mr. Cooper is a republican, and as such was elected, in the spring of 1894. a member of the common council of Frank- fort. He is a prominent member of the knights templar Masons, also the Pythian order and captain of the uniform rank, and with his wife is identified with the Presbyterian church. Socially Mr. and Mrs. Cooper are very popu- lar in Frankfort, and during their residence in the city have gained a large circle of friends and acquaintances. Their home is blessed with the presence of four interesting children, namely: Warren, Grace, June and Aurora.

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OF CLINTON COUNTY

ELSON W. COSNER is a well- known and highly respected citizen of Frankfort, where for a number of years he has acceptably held the of-

cian, and by two marriages had seventeen children. After his marriage, William Cosner purchased a tract of government land in Hen- dricks county, consisting of 160 acres, to which he subsequently added a similar area, and became the possessor of ample means. Mr. and Mrs. Cosner lived where they origi- nally settled the remainder of their days, the former dying December 23, 1852, and the lat- ter in August, 1890. The following are the names of their seven children: Emily, wife of J. H. Rudd ; Malinda, wife of S. S. Shields ; Daniel, deceased ; Peggy, wife of J. M. Champion ; Nelson W., Mary A., wife of T. Vaughan, and an infant that died unnamed.

fice of justice of the peace. His ancestors in the United States were North Carolina people, in which state his grandfather, John Cosner, was born and reared. John Cosner and Mar- garet Pike were married in North Carolina, and lived there until 1831, when they emi- grated to Indiana and settled in the county of Hendricks, where their deaths occurred in the years 1851 and 1856, respectively. They were the parents of eight children, whose names are as follows : Anthony, William, Mary, Elizabeth, Sally, Lovy, Hannah, Peg- Nelson W. Cosner was born October 11, 1844. in Hendricks county, Ind., and, like the majority of country lads, passed his youthful years amid the active but uneventful scenes of the farm, and early learned to appreciate the true dignity of honest labor. Deprived of a father's care and advice when but eight years' old, he remained with his widowed mother un- til his twenty-first year, looking after her in- terests, and when twenty-two, he married and settled on the old farm, which he had previ- ously purchased, and began the contented life of a tiller of the soil. He remained in Hen- dricks county until 1874. when he removed to the county of Marion and engaged in the mill- ing business, continuing the same about one year, and then accepted a position as railroad bridge carpenter, which he followed for about the same length of time. During the succeed- ing thirteen years Mr. Cosner followed carpen- tering and building, after which he engaged in the manufacture of lumber at Frankfort, where he operated a mill very successfully un- til meeting with a severe accident, which re- sulted in the loss of his good right arm, since which time he has not been able to perform any kind of manual labor. In 1890, Mr. Cosner was gy ; all living but four, Mary, Anthony, Eliza- beth and Sally. Both parants were devoted members of the Society of Friends, in which Mr. Cosner was an able minister for many years, and they both are remembered as most exemplary and pious people. They were among the pioneers of Hendricks county, and did much in a quiet way for the moral im- provement of the community which they as- sisted in founding. William Cosner, second son of the above, and father of the immediate subject of this sketch, was born January 14, 1806, in Forsythe county, N. C., and there grew to manhood on a farm, acquiring in the mean time a common school education. He accompanied his parents to Indiana in 1831, and assisted in clearing the home farm in Hendricks county, which is still in possession of members of the family. In 1832 was sol- emnized his marriage with Epervia Orrell, daughter of Daniel and Mary ( Black ) Orrell, natives of North Carolina, in which state Mrs. Cosner first saw the light of day on the 7th of March, 1816. Daniel and Mary Orrell both lived to be very old people, the former dying at the remarkable age of 102 years. He was a saddler in early life, later became a physi- | elected justice of the peace in Frankfort, the

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

functions of which office he has since performed . in an able and satisfactory manner. He votes the republican ticket, and with his wife belongs to the Methodist church, in which both are valuable workers. Mr. Cosner has a military record of six months' duration, having served from April, 1864, till September of the same year, in the army of the Cumberland as a priv- ate in company C, One Hundred and Seven- teenth Indiana infantry. He was discharged at Knoxville, Tenn., on account of expiration of period of enlistment, then became a mem- ber of company B, One Hundred and Forty- eighth Indiana volunteer infantry, from Janu- ary, 1864, to October, 1864, and is now the recipient of a pension of four dollars a month. Mr. Cosner owns a pleasant home in Frank- fort, which is presided over by his wife, whom he married on the ist day of September, 1866, in Hendricks county. Mrs. Cosner's maiden name was Sally Phillips, daughter of Levi and Elizabeth Phillips, and she has borne her hus- band the following children: Edgar O., book- keeper in Chicago stock yards; Orra, a railroad employe; Anna, deceased; Mark, connected with the Times office, Frankfort; Verne, de- ceased, and Harry, who lives at home with his parents. Mr. Cosner is a member of the G. A. R., of Frankfort; was a charter member of the Reuben Masten post, No. 431, and was transferred to this place.

RANCIS G. COVELY, a well known farmer of Washington township, Clinton county, Ind., was born Aug- ust 31, 1847, in Berks county, Pa., and is a son of David and Mary (Gery) Covely, both parents natives of the Key- stone state and of German descent. David Covely was the son of William Covely, who was also a native of Pennsylvania, where his ancestors settled in a very early day, mov-

ing there from Germany. David Covely was born in the year of 1820 in Berks county, Pa , where all his life was passed and where his death occurred in 1892; his widow is still living. David and Mary Covely were the parents of sixteen children, the subject of this sketch being first in order of birth. The names of the others are as follows: David, Sarah. wife of Edwin Bower; William, de- ceased; Mary, wife of James Sallada; John, Michael, Joseph; Matilda, wife of James Grice; Henry, Caroline, deceased; Jerry, and four that died in infancy.

. Francis G. Covely at the early age of fifteen years began life for himself, working at anything that his hands found to do, and after his twenty-first year turned his atten- tion to the carpenter's trade, at which he became a skillful workman. In 1870 he be- came a resident of Clinton county, Ind., locating at the village of Mulberry, where he carried on his trade for eight years, after which he engaged in farming on rented land until 1880. In that year Le purchased his present farm of eighty acres in Washington township, upon which he has made many substantial improvements, including a good house and barn, and his place is under a very successful state of cultivation.

Mr. Covely was married November 17, 1872, to Mary Freas, daughter of John and Rachel (Brown) Freas, the father a native of France and the mother born in Lehigh eounty, Pa. John Freas came to America when eighteen years old in company with a brother and died in Clinton county, Ind., in the year 1888; his widow is still living and makes her home with the subject of this sketch. The following are the names of the nine children born to John and Rachel Freas: Samuel, Thomas, Williamn, John, Lary, Lena, wife of Henry Green; Susan, wife of Henry Gary; Emma, wife of Edward

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OF CLINTON COUNTY.

Lipp, and Ella, wife of Walter Suit. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Covely have been born the following children: William, Gertie, Rachel and John. Mr. Covely affili- ates with the democratic party and belongs to the Improved Order of Red Men, holding membership with Dakota tribe, No. 42, of Frankfort. He is a man of character and high social standing in the comunity, popular with his neighbors and fellow-citizens, and for a number of years has been an active member of the German Reform church. Mrs. Covely belongs to the same denomination and is esteemed as a lady of intelligence and piety.

3 ACOB COYNER, the subject of this sketch, one of the leading farmers and a well-known old settler of Perry town- ship, Clinton county, Ind., traces his ancestry back through several generations to Germany. His father, Michael Coyner, was the son of Jacob Coyner, whose father, also named Jacob, was born January 29, 1720, in Germany, where the family name was known as Kainath, and he became the progenitor of the family in America. In the records, which the pastor of the state church at Wurtemburg, Germany, showed to Dr. A. J. Coyner in 1877, the family name was traced back to the reformation, a Jacob Kainath being discovered in the fifteenth century. A Michael Kainath was born in 1650, and Jacob Kainath, sup- posed to be his son, was married to Anna M-, November 7, 1708, Michael Kainath alluded to at the beginning of this sketch being their youngest son. The family was quite numerous in Europe; and tradition reports a number of them as having served in the thirty years' war as Protestants in the armies of Gus- tavus Adolphus. On coming to America, the family settled in Virginia, where numerous de-

scendants are still found. Michael Coyner, the the subject's father, was born in Augusta county, Va., reared on a farm, and married Phoebe Peterson. He reared the following children: Jacob, John, David D., Martin, William, Mary, Elizabeth, Susan, Fanny, Jane and Melissa. He emigrated in company with his brother to Greene county, Ohio, where he followed agricultural pursuits until 1831, at which time he moved to Indiana, locating in the county of Clinton, where he purchased a tract of land consisting of 320 acres. He was one of the pioneers of Clinton, and became very successful financially, owning at one time over 400 acres of land, which became quite valuable. He was hard-working and indus- trious, a Methodist in his religious belief, and died in the year 1851; his wife survived him a number of years, departing this life in Sep- tember, 1877.

Jacob Coyner, the leading facts of whose life are here set forth, was born in Greene county, Ohio, January 20, 1820, and since his eleventh year has been an honored resident of Clinton county, Ind., of the rapid growth and development of which he has been a living witness. He recalls the journey from the old Ohio home through an almost unbroken wil- derness to the new home in the forests of Clinton, and recounts with pleasure many of the stirring scenes and incidents of the early pioneer times. Game of all kinds was quite plentiful at that period, especially deer, bear, wild hogs and turkeys, upon which the family chiefly relied for a large portion of their pro- vision for several years following their first settlement. Like all the pioneer boys, the early life of Mr. Coyner was spent in clearing land, working in the field, hunting and other athletic sports common to that day. In the primitive log school-house, with the puncheon floor, large fire-place, mud and stick chimney, he acquired the rudiments of an education

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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