USA > Indiana > Delaware County > A portrait and biographical record of Delaware county, 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 35
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OBERT MEEKS .- Without a thought of disparagement for the many excel- lent characters herein illustrated, perhaps none, taken as a whole, are more noteworthy and more favorably and extensively known than the Meeks family. As the oldest representative of that family now living, we begin our group of their biographies with that of Robert Meeks.
The parent stem of this sturdy old pioneer started in the eternal hills of West Virginia.
He is the son of Amos and Nancy Meeks. His mother's maiden name was Means. He was born in Monongalia county, of that state, on July 8, 1822. The educational facilities of that time and place were very meager, and he attended subscription school in winter only. He was the eldest of fifteen children, nine of whom were born in West Virginia. He immi- grated to Delaware county, with his father's family, in the year 1839, when about seven- teen years of age. The whole journey was made in an old fashioned Virginia wagon drawn by four horses, and it occupied sixteen days to make the trip. They located about three miles northeast of what is now the town of Selma, on or near what is known as Sugar Ridge. The country was then simply a vast wilderness, and the next five years were spent in helping to clear up his father's farm, he being the main dependence of his father in this work, as his brothers were younger, and hence unable to contribute much in this direc- tion. He came to Muncie in May, 1844, and began his career for himself as an apprentice with Nottingham & Swain, to learn the trade of cabinet-making, in a two story frame build- ing, located then on the ground where the Boyce block now stands. He worked thus about one year, and about eighteen months later bought an interest in the firm of John Nottingham. The partnership with Swain continued less than a year, when Nottingham purchased the interest of Job Swain. During this partnership, Robert's brother, Isaac Meeks, was apprenticed to the firm to learn the trade also. Still later on, Robert bought the interest of Nottingham, and was then the owner of the shop-building and ground. The firm then became known as R. & I. Meeks, and continued thus to be successfully operated for a series of years, during which time the old sign board, which hung out from the old shop, bearing the letters of this old firm, was
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synonymous with honesty and fair dealing. About the year 1871, James W. Meeks, the son of Robert, became a partner, and the style of the firm was then changed to R. & I. Meeks & Co. At this time a two story brick building was erected on the southeast corner of Washington and Elm streets and supplied with engine, boiler, and all the latest improved machinery, and the work of making furniture began on a scale up to the requirements of the times and the increasing demands for their products. In the meantime, Isaac Meeks was in charge of the sales department and storage rooms, located in their brick business block on east Main street, while Robert and his son James were in charge of the manufacturing shops as described.
This partnership between the elder Meeks brothers lasted until the death of Isaac, on the 16th day of January, 1891. It is a curious fact that, while the business of making and selling furniture, in connection with their large undertaking business and funeral directorship, has increased to almost abnormal proportions, Amos Meeks, the old father of Robert and Isaac, nearly fifty years ago seriously wondered what they would do with the vast accumula- tion of furniture after they had once supplied the local demand; when the real fact is, the demand has always increased in a ratio faster than their facilities were able to supply. The factory was run to its full capacity until 1890, when it took fire and was totally consumed. It was never rebuilt, and on January 2, 1892, old uncle Robert Meeks, as he is familiarly called, accidentally met with a fall, by which his leg and hip were broken, which confined him to his bed and house; since which time, owing to extreme lameness, he has lived in retirement, resting as well as possible on his well earned competency. This can certainly be all the better appreciated, when it is con- sidered that Mr. Meeks worked the first winter,
after he learned his trade, and received only seventy-five cents in money, and took the rest due him in other articles. During his term of apprenticeship, he got only his board and the making of one overcoat, and at the end of the first year, as such, he was as good a workman as any man in the shop, and was able, in 1848, to pay $450 for a half interest in their shop and building, and now the entire business of the concern, including undertaking, which he had carried on from the very start, is under the exclusive management of his three sons, James W., William A., and Martin L. Meeks, the last two having joined the firm of R. Meeks & Son in the year 1880, while his youngest son, Jacob Arthur, is associated in business with James Boyce, of Muncie, a sketch of each of them appearing in our lists of biographies. Robert Meeks was married, in 1846, to Miss Sarah Jones, daughter of Jacob and Beersheba Jones, who has been a faithful and devoted wife and mother and a helpmate, indeed, to a worthy husband.
3 AMES W. MEEKS is the eldest son of Robert and Sarah Meeks. He was born in Muncie, Ind., December 14, 1848, and received a common school education, graduating from the Muncie high school in the class of 1870. He had spent most all his vacations and other spare time in the furniture factory of R. & I. Meeks, of which firm his father was a member, and after graduation went into the employ of said firm and worked one year. In the year 1871, he became a member of the firm, when it was changed to R. & I. Meeks & Co., and has been actively engaged in this occupation ever since. From 1871 to 1890, he was superin- tendent and foreman of the furniture factory, which was established about 1871, located on
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Washington and Elm streets, and is now the oldest active member of the firm of R. Meeks & Sons, which is the oldest furniture and un- dertaking establishment in the county, cover- ing, as it does, a half century of continuous operation, and therefore one of the best and most favorably known institutions in eastern Indiana. Their storage and sales departments occupy the first, second and third floors of their large brick business block, No. 115 east Main street, in Muncie, where they carry a most complete line of the latest style and best made furniture and caskets, and from their well established reputation for honesty and fair dealing, do a very extensive retail business. He and all his brothers are practical under- takers and funeral directors. They furnish a free ambulance, and are often called to the most remote parts of the county. He was married on June 27, 1876, to Louisa C., daughter of Joseph and Mary Hummel. Three children have been born to them- Amelia B., Sarah M. and Robert H. Meeks. He has a beautiful home, and, being a tireless worker and having a taste for horticulture, has beautiful surroundings and all the home com- forts, and takes great delight in showing speci- mens of his home-grown grapes and other fruits. He is a worthy member of the I. O. O. F. and its encampment, and in the lodge he has passed all the officers' chairs. He was one of the incorporators of the Merchants' National bank of Muncie, and is one of the board of directors of the same. Mr. Meeks is also a faithful and consistent member of the High street Methodist Episcopal church, and at present fills the office of steward, and is treasurer of the Preachers' Aid society of the North Indiana conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. Charity never makes a call in vain on Mr. and Mrs. Meeks, and both are untiring in church work, while Sunday schools receive much of their attention.
PILLIAM A. MEEKS, second son of Robert and Sarah Meeks, was born in Muncie, Ind., April 8, 1851, and received the educational benefits of the Muncie schools, graduating in the higher branches in the class of 1870. He worked six- teen months at the harness making trade, then entered the furniture factory of his father and brother in the year 1872, where he continued to work until the steadily increasing demands made upon the Main street store and under- taking department had caused it to grow to such proportions that he was compelled to transfer his help to that department, where he has remained ever since. He became a part- ner in the concern in the year 1881, and by his zeal and efficient help has contributed his full share to the success of the business. He was married on October 17, 1883, to Miss Mary C. Dungan, daughter of ex-Sheriff John W. Dun- . gan. Her mother's maiden name was Edith Dragoo, who was a sister to John W. and Will- iam Dragoo, the latter being ex-auditor of Delaware county. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and K. of P. lodges, and is now the recording steward and secretary of the official board of the Methodist Episcopal church of this city.
ARTIN L. MEEKS is the third son of Robert and Sarah Meeks, and was born in Muncie, Ind., October I, 1853, and, like his brothers, grad- uated from the Muncie high school in 1872. In the fall of the same year he went into the furniture factory of R. & I. Meeks & Co. and learned the wood turning trade. Immediately thereafter he took charge of the undertaking business of that firm, and for the last twenty years has had exclusive charge of the same. During this time he has attended personally
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a large number of the funerals that have occur- red at various times in Muncie. He has re- ceived instructions in this art from the most eminent professional embalmers, and keeps up with all the improved methods that are con- stantly being made in the line of his profession. He became a partner in the firm of R. & I. Meeks & Co. in 1881, and now owns a one- third interest in the whole concern. He was married November 21, 1876, to Miss Carrie Clark, daughter of Robert and Fannie Clark, of Delaware county. Four children have been born to them, two sons and two daughters: Arthur C., Earnest S., Mary W. and Fannie, the latter having died October 29, 1887, at the age of eight years, seven months and fifteen days. Martin L. Meeks and family, in com- mon with all of the families of the name, are active and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
J ACOB ARTHUR MEEKS, the young- est son of Robert and Sarah Meeks, was born in Muncie, January 15, 1856. He attended the public schools, and graduated from the high school in 1873. His vacations from boyhood had been utilized by clerking in a grocery, and he was thus largely employed by Maddy, Burt & Kirby until 1877. In that year he completed a commercial course in the Miami Commercial college, at Dayton, Ohio. In 1878 he was bookkeeper for a wholesale hat house at Toledo, Ohio. March 1, 1880, he entered the employ of James Boyce as bookkeeper in his bagging factory, and on August 1, 1881, he purchased an eighth inter- est in the plant. The day following his pur- chase the entire factory burned down, entailing a heavy loss, as the ratio of insurance was small, and the year following another dis- astrous conflagration occasioned a loss of $20, -
000, principally on manufactured stock. Mr. Meeks continued in the manufacture of bagging with Mr. Boyce until 1885, when they sold their entire plant to the Muncie Bagging com- pany. In the same year he purchased a half interest of James Boyce in the Muncie Handle works, and operated that plant successfully until it was destroyed by fire in April, 1893. The loss, however, was largely covered by in- surance, and in six weeks thereafter the works were rebuilt and ready for operation. They employ a complement of thirty hands, and an- nually make from 50,000 to 75,000 dozen of "D" and long shovel handles. Mr. Meeks is also interested in the Boyce Rivet company, and devotes his entire time to the management of these industries. He was married, in 1879, to Miss Lydia Gray, daughter of J. M, Gray, now a resident of Anderson, and of this union there is one son, Erle G. Meeks.
IRAM MESSERSMITH, real estate dealer of Muncie, was born near the Tippecanoe battle ground, Tippeca- noe county, Ind., September 11, 1840. His ancestors were early settlers of Virginia, from which state his grandparents immigrated to Indiana many years ago, locating in the county of Fayette. His father, Samuel Messer- smith, was born in the year 1807, and early in life became a skillful manufacturer of edged tools, in which line of work his antecedents for several generations had excelled. Samuel Messersmith married Miss Charity Freeman, a native of New York, and began housekeeping at Metamora, Franklin county, Ind., where Mr. Messersmith for some time carried on a general blacksmithing business. Subsequently he removed to Connersville and worked at his trade, and later moved to the country and for several years carried on farming in connection
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with blacksmithing. His next move was to Tippecanoe county, where he resided until one year after the birth of Hiram, at which time he emigrated to Iowa and entered government land in the vicinity of Des Moines, a part of which city now occupies a portion of his origi- nal purchase. Two years later he returned to Indiana and located in Rush county, where, owing to sickness, superinduced by the expo- sure incident to his constantly moving from place to place, he died in the fall of 1843. Six children were born to Samuel and Charity Messersmith, namely: Almarine, Ephraim, Nancy, Sarah, Hiram and Clarissa; of these Nancy and Sarah are dead; the mother still survives and makes her home with her young- est daughter at Connersville. She has reached the ripe old age of eighty-two years and pos- sesses, in a marked degree, her physical and mental faculties.
Hiram Messersmith was but three years of age when his father died, after which event he was taken by his mother to Columbia, Fayette county, where his boyhood days were passed. He worked at various occupations until the age of sixteen, when he learned the plasterer's trade, which he followed at Connersville and vicinity until 1865, in the meantime spending thirteen months in the army. In that year he went to Danville, Ill., and, after becoming comfortably located in that city, returned to Indiana and married, on the 4th day of Octo- ber, 1865, Miss Sarah H. Lister, who accom- panied him to his new home. In 1869 Mr. Messersmith purchased a farm about six miles southwest of Connersville, near his old home, and for eight years thereafter was engaged in agricultural pursuits. He abandoned farming in 1877, and, moving to +Glenwood, Rush county, embarked in the drug business, which he carried on for a period of eleven years. Disposing of his drug stock in 1888, Mr. Messersmith came to Muncie and engaged in
the grocery trade, but after a few months severed his connection with merchandising and opened a real estate office and has since been extensively engaged in real estate trans- actions in Delaware and other counties. The following are the names of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Messersmith: Della, wife of R. L. Gwynn; Gustave and a deceased infant. Mr. Messersmith is a democrat in politics and a member of the I. O O. F. While not a member of any church he is a believer in the truths of the Bible and contributes liberally to all religious and charitable purposes. His wife is a member of the Presbyterian denomination - a lady highly respected by all who know her.
At the breaking out of the war Mr. Messer- smith enlisted, at the age of twenty, in company E, One Hundred and Sixteenth Indiana volun- teer infantry, which was mustered in at Con- nersville for the three months' service. His military record began at the first call of the president for volunteers, three days after the firing on Fort Sumter. While he was absent at home on a furlough his regiment left for the front. In company with five others he solic- ited aid from the citizens of Richmond to enable him to rejoin it. He rode in a cattle car to Baltimore, Md., but on reaching that city learned, to his great surprise and vexation, that the regiment had left sometime previous. Accordingly, he remained with the Twenty-first regiment for two weeks, in the meantime doing his utmost to ascertain the whereabouts of his command. Through the kind offices of Gen. Hicks he secured transportation to Point of Rocks, Md., but the only information he received there was that the regiment had passed through the place about two weeks before. He at once formed the resolution of following on foot, and after a number of days' rambling from place to place, at length succeeded in over- taking his comrades one nightfall in camp near what was then known as Sugar Loaf Mountain.
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Mr. Messersmith was in the army for a period of thirteen months and received an honorable discharge from the service at Washington, D. C.
J AMES MILLER, a brief review of whose life is herewith presented, was born October 27, 1836, in Dayton, Montgomery county, Ohio. James Miller, the father, a farmer by occupation, was a native of Adams county, Ohio, and later became a resident of Dayton, to which city he removed about the year 1830. He married, in his native state, Martha J. Lynn, who bore him eleven children, six of whom are living at this time, James being the sixth member of the family. James Miller, Sr., died in 1876, while on a tour through the west in search of a location; Mrs. Miller is still living at her home in Dayton, Ohio.
James Miller was reared on a farm near Dayton, and received his education in the schools of that city. When the war cloud appeared in 1861, he enlisted in the fall of that year in the Seventy-fourth Ohio volun- teer infantry, was mustered into the service at Xenia, Ohio, after which the regiment went into camp at Columbus. From Camp Chase the command went to Nashville, Tenn., and joined the army of the Cumberland under Gen. Rosecrans, and its first active participa- tion in the war was at Bowling Green, Ky. Mr. Miller took part at Stone River, Chicka- mauga, Mission Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Manetta, Chattahoochee, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Savannah and Bentonville, and was with Sherman in the celebrated march from Atlanta to the sea. He was fortunate in escaping with but a single wound, received at Stone River, and he points with pride to the fact that during the long period of service
he never missed a muster, or a battle in which his regiment was engaged. Mr. Miller received his discharge at Golds- boro, N. C., and immediately returned to Ohio and resumed the pursuit of agriculture in Montgomery county. After three years thus spent he located on a farm in Madison county, Ind., not far from Anderson, where a little later he was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Jane Myer. After farming there seven years he removed to the city of Muncie, where for a period of five years he followed the tim- ber business, buying extensively throughout Delaware, Madison and other counties of cen- tral and eastern Indiana. In the spring of 1883 Mr. Miller was appointed a patrolman of Muncie, served with great credit for eight years, and was then elected city marshal. His popularity with the people, irrespective of political affiliation, is sufficiently attested by the fact of his having been elected to the office of marshal as a democrat, overcoming a republican majority of 700, and receiving 622 more votes than his competitor. Mr. Miller proved himself a very capable and efficient guardian of the peace, was popular with all, courteous in the discharge of his official func- tions, and it is a compliment well deserved to accord him a prominent place among the most capable and painstaking officials of Mun- cie, having been appointed superintendent of police March 17, 1893, and holding that posi- tion at present. Mr. Miller belongs to the G. A. R. and I. O. R. M., in both of which fraternities he is an active worker. The fol- lowing are the names of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Miller: Margaret Jane, Charles Andrew, James Franklin, John Andrew, Mary Frances, William Wilbert, Earl Clarence and Harry Miller. It will be seen from the above that James Miller was not only a brave soldier in conquering a peace, but has been equally brave in preserving it.
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0 ARIUS CLINTON MITCHELL oc- cupies a very important position among the well known and promi- nent business men of Muncie, Ind. He was born in Clarke county, Ohio, April 3, 1851, son of Joseph R. and Sarah (Saylor) Mitchell, natives of that county, who in 1865 came to Muncie, where the father was engaged in contracting and building for about twelve years, but is now living retired. The mother passed from earth in 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell reared four sons, as follows: William H., superintendent of the Indiana Bridge company, of Muncie; Alpheus, of Detroit, Mich .; Joseph, a resident of Indianapolis, and Darius C. Darius C. Mitchell was educated in the public schools of Muncie, served an apprenticeship to the trade of carpenter in Indianapolis, and as early as 1872 began con- tracting in Muncie, which has resulted in the following record of fine buildings erected by him: The New Southern hotel, at a cost of $17,000; Central block, at a cost of $16,000; Fred Klopfer's building, $9, 800; George Bow- er's block, $7,000; Eagle block, $9,000; Branch Brothers' block, $8,000; Leager Block, $5,000; Boyce block (rebuilt), $9,000; Or- phans' Home, $8, 500; Architectural Iron works, $7,500; Shoe factory, $7,000; Muncie Glass factory, $4, 500; Muncie Casket factory, $10,000; Ball Bros. Glass works, $5,000; Muncie Rubber works, $3,000; David Cam- mack, residence, $5,000; twenty-five houses in Boyceton, $15,000; twenty houses in Avon- dale, $16,000; fifty houses, Homestead com- pany, $28,000; the Common Sense Engine works; J. H. Smith's residence; William E. Hitchcock's residence; the R. E. Hill Knit- ting works, and the Nelson Glass works.
Mr. Mitchell has always taken a prominent part in everything that has seemed to offer benefit to the city, and was one of the largest contributors to the Citizens' Enterprise com-
pany, and was a stockholder in the first gas well company. In politics Mr. Mitchell is a firm republican, and stanchly upholds the prin- ciples of his party upon every occasion. In a social way, he is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, having gone from the Blue lodge on to the Mystic Shrine, and takes a deep interest in the workings of the different lodges. Mr. Mitchell was married, in 1872, to Miss Elmira Newcomb, a daughter of Lyman B. Newcomb, of Yorktown, Ind .. and he is the father of four children, as follows: Lillian, Gertrude, Fern and Horace Irvin. He and family are members of the High street Metho- dist Episcopal church, in which he holds the office of steward. He is a free supporter of all churches and benevolent organizations, and is considered one of the most enterprising and valuable of the business men of the city of Muncie.
The high standing in the social circles of Muncie occupied by Mr. Mitchell and his family has been worthily won by that gentleman, and the citizens may well congratulate themselves on the fact that he so early took up his resi- dence among them, for his presence here has certainly done much toward lifting the city to its present high position as the chief among the manufacturing points of the natural gas belt.
ARVEY MITCHELL, M. D., was born in Greene county, Pa., July 21, 1825, and is the son of Thomas and Sarah Mitchell, both parents natives of the same county and state. Thomas Mitchell was born March, 1801, married in 1822 Sarah Shideler, whose birth occurred in the year 1802, and in 1830 emigrated to Ohio, locating in Miami county, where he engaged in the pursuit of agriculture. He died in Ohio, September, 1861, after which event his widow went to
D. C. MITCHELL.
MRS. ELMIRA MITCHELL.
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California, where she departed this life at the home of her only daughter, Mrs. Carl, in the year 1866. Thomas and Sarah Mitchell were people of sterling worth and for many years leading members of the Christian church. They reared the following children: John A., a successful farmer of Troy, Ohio; Dr. Harvey. the subject of this mention; Isaac, a well known physician of Greenville, Ohio; Margaret, wife of Wesley Carl, a miner of California; Shadrach, farmer, residing in Dane county, Wis., and David, a railroad engineer, whose home is in California.
The early years of Dr. Mitchell were spent on the home farm, and his educational train- ing embraced the studies usually taught in the common schools of that period. At the age of seventeen he yielded to an inclination of sev- eral years' standing and began the study of medicine, subsequently taking a full course in the Medical college at Columbus, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1850. Thoroughly prepared for the active duties of his chosen calling, the doctor began the practice of the same at the town of Granville, Delaware county, Ind., in 1850, and continued there with most flattering success for a period of fourteen years, removing to Muncie in 1864. From that date until 1890 he continued in the active practice, but in the latter year, on account of failing health, was compelled to take a long needed rest, since which time he has gradually retired from the profession. In 1893 he met with a painful accident, resulting in the fracture of the bone in one of his lower limbs, the effect of which has made him an invalid, though he still retains, unimpaired, all of his strong mental faculties. Dr. Mitchell has met with encour- aging success in his profession, and financially his expectations have been more than realized, being at this time one of the wealthy men of Muncie. He is largely interested in real estate, owning valuable property in the country and
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