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 38
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J WALLACE PERKINS is a native of Delaware county, Ind., born in the city of Muncie on the 8th day of Octo- ber, 1846, the son of William H. and Susan (Russey) Perkins. The father was a native of Kentucky and located in Muncie when it was but a mere village and started the first tailoring establishment in the place. He followed his trade in Muncie continuously until February, 1855, when he moved to Vandalia, Mich., thence two years later to the city of
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Niles, that state, where he resided until his death in 1875. William H. Perkins displayed commendable energy in his chosen calling and his death was the result of over exertion and exhaustion brought on by the sickness of his wife, who for a number of weeks had required his constant attention. He was the first man to introduce the sewing machine into Indiana, and the one he operated in Muncie cost him the sum of $250. He died at the age of sixty- three; his widow still survives, having reached the good old age of seventy-five years, and at this time resides with her youngest daughter in the town of Carthage, Ind. Mr. and Mrs. Perkins reared a family of three sons and three daughters, namely: Harvey W., Mary A., John S., J. Wallace, Martha J. and Minnie E. Of the above sons, Harvey W. and John S. served in the late war as members of Michigan regi- ments.
J. W. Perkins spent the first nine years of his life in Muncie, and in 1855 was taken by his parents to Michigan, in which state he re- ceived his educational training, attending the . common schools until his fourteenth year. On quitting school he entered a printing office in St. Joseph, Mich., where he worked for six months for $12.50 and board, and then se- cured a position in an office at Niles, where he was employed for about a half year at $30 and board. He remained at Niles until 1868, and for one year thereafter worked in a job office at Indianapolis, thence came to Muncie, where for six months he held a position in the office of the Muncie Times. Returning to Indianapolis at the end of that period, he fol- lowed his trade in that city until, in partner- ship with William Chandler, he became asso- ciate publisher of the Muncie Telegraph, with which paper he was identified for about eighteen months. On the suspension of the Telegraph, Mr. Perkins again accepted a posi- tion on the Times, with which he remained
until 1877, when he accepted a place in the government printing office at Washington, D. C., where he remained for a limited period. Returning to Muncie, he again engaged with the Times, and in 1880, started a job office, which he has since successfully conducted, and with judicious management has made one of the leading printing establishments of the city. Mr. Perkins is a practical printer, thor- oughly familiar with all the details of the trade, and his office is equipped with all the modern improvements and latest appliances, and its reputation for first class work is second to no other printing house in eastern Indiana.
Mr. Perkins is a republican in his political convictions and stands high in the councils of his party in Muncie and Delaware county. He is prominent in the Masonic order, having taken all the degrees of the York and Scottish rites of the fraternity, including the thirty- second degree. He held the responsible posi- tion of eminent commander of Muncie com- mandery, No. 18, for two years, and for the past twelve years has served as secretary of Muncie lodge, No. 403. Mr. Perkins was mar- ried on October 25, 1877, to Miss Mary L. Winton, daughter of Dr. R. Winton, a late prominent physician of Muncie, whose sketch appears elsewhere in these pages. Mrs. Per- kins was born in the town of Wheeling, Dela- ware county, and has passed the greater part of her life in Muncie, to which city she was brought, when a mere child, by her parents. Mr. Perkins has an enviable reputation both as a citizen and business man, and his success in life has been altogether due to his own efforts. He may be truly styled a self made man, in all the term implies, and his example should serve to encourage others who start out to fight life's battles empty handed. Person- ally, he enjoys great popularity in Muncie and is highly esteemed by all for his integrity, good character and sterling qualities of man-
JOHN S. PETTY.
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hood. He is strictly temperate in his habits, having always abstained from the use of all intoxicants and tobacco, and with his wife be- longs to the Episcopal church, in which he holds the office of vestryman. In a financial sense, Mr. Perkins has met with well deserved success and owns several valuable pieces of property in the city.
J OHN S. PETTY, deceased, was probably one of the most extraordinary, as well as one of the most successful business men that ever resided in the city of Muncie. He was a son of Joshua and Sarah E. (Sheets) Petty, was born at New Paris, Ohio, July 12, 1830, and when a child was taken, by his father, to Wayne county, Ind., where he was reared on the home farm and received a good common school education. At the age of eighteen years, his father having a large family to maintain, he was given his "freedom," and his first business venture was to work one hundred days, at fifty cents per day, for Alvah Macy; he also worked for a while in the saw mill at Economy, Ind., near Hagerstown, and even at that early day the spirit of speculation was made manifest within him. He was commissioned by an old Quaker gentleman to make a purchase of live stock, and his great success in filling this order confirmed this spirit. His father, who origi- nally came from near Winston, N. C., and was married at New Paris, Ohio, moved from Wayne county to Miami county, Ind., and thither young Petty followed, and began buy- ing stock in a comparatively small way, on his own account, realizing handsome profits on every venture. At the age of twenty-three, April 22, 1855, he made his first venture on the sea of matrimony, and wedded Miss Fran- ces Bailey, of Wayne county, Ind., and then
made his appearance in the city of Muncie, the scene of his future business exploits and triumphs. Here he was employed as a clerk in the dry goods store of S. P. & E. Anthony, whom he served about two years, and while with them sus- tained the most serious accidental injury of his life. The firm carried, in addition to their stock of dry goods, a line of groceries, and in an effort to lift a barrel of rice somewhat heavier than the scope of his strength, Mr. Petty strained his spine, and for a year after- ward was invalided. The effect of this injury was to reduce his stature and to render his posture a stoop, but he recovered his health in a general sense, albeit somewhat malformed physically. On his coming to Muncie, with his usual astuteness Mr. Petty had invested his early earnings in western lands, and these he sold at the proper time at handsome profits. With the proceeds he embarked in the dry goods trade about a year before the breaking out of the Civil war. As an instance of his business sagacity, it may be mentioned that on one occasion during the war he had pur- chased a bill of dry goods from a firm in Cin- cinnati, foreseeing the advance in prices forthcoming, and at the same time took an option at duplicating the order-which he did -but the Cincinnati firm saw how they had been overreached by a superior tradesman, and offered Mr. Petty $2,000 to be released from the contract-but Mr. Petty was too far- seeing to consent to any such scheme, and realized a handsome profit. His surplus earn- ings were wisely and judiciously invested in town and city real estate, and with invariably remunerative results. So well established was his reputation for sagacity in business, that he was constantly consulted by his fellow mer- chants and others on all important ventures, and his advice never went amiss. During his mercantile career he never lost sight of the
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fact that there was money in live-stock, and his farm was in a great measure devoted to grazing and breeding, and profitably so.
.April 3, 1865, Mr. Petty had the misfortune to lose his wife by consumption. Her four children were also swept away by the same fell disease, two in infancy and two after having reached the years of maturity. The second marriage of Mr. Petty took place September 24, 1867, to Melissa A. Lewis, but a second time death deprived him of his companion, May 28, 1868. August 1, 1869, he was most happily married to Melissa J. Bole, daughter of William Bole, Esq., of Delaware county, Ind., and to this felicitous union two children were born, Wilbur A. and Walter E., both now at home. Mr. Petty continued in active business until 1875, when failing health warned him to retire, and the last seventeen years of his life were devoted to the care of his farm and vast city property, not so much for the purpose of adding to his already large fortune, but more for the reason that he was of that nervous temperament that precluded his being unemployed. He could not abstain, indeed, from working early and late, and while his health was unimpaired, he was vigorous to an extreme. When the time came, however, as it must come to all, he went to Martinsville for a week's rest and recuperation, but he went too late. Tired nature asserted herself, and for two years had tampered with his stomach and eventually with his heart, and on September 13, 1892, the strong man yielded to the inevi- table, and passed to the spirit land at the age of sixty-two years and two months. He had been a life long communicant of the Methodist Episcopal church, and had lived faithfully up to its precepts, and yet he had had an abiding faith in the return to earth of the disembodied spirits of those who had gone before, and with whom he felt assured that he was in constant communication. Mr. Petty was a member of
the I. O. O. F., and was fully in accord by nature with that benevolent fraternity, exercis- ing the doctrine of friendship, love and truth in and out of the order, none, really deserving, appealing to him in vain.
EV. ABNER PERDUIE was born, reared and married in Guilford county, N. C. He obtained a most ecxellent classical education and was trained to preach in the Methodist Episcopal church when about seventeen years of age. He was actively engaged in the ministry in his native state and Virginia until about 1831, when he removed his family to Indiana, stopping first, for a few years, in Henry county, then coming to Delaware county. He entered land and settled two miles west of Muncie, where he made a good farm. He taught several schools and did much preaching, and after his remov- al to Indiana changed his relation in church from his early choice to the Protestant Meth- odist. In this relation he organized and started most of the churches of that denomi- nation in Delaware and Henry counties. Mr. Perdiue was a good orator, fine preacher, well versed in the theology of the Bible, always earnest for what he believed was the right, and popular in the pulpit and out. In his day he preached more funeral sermons and solem- nized more marriages than any minister in this part of Indiana. He died in 1876, aged 72 years.
R EV. NER H. PHILLIPS, retired Methodist Episcopal divine, of Mun- cie, Ind., was born in Washington township, Randolph county, Ind., September 11, 1829, and is a son of Thomas and Rebecca (Hammitt) Phillips, natives of
REV. NER H. PHILLIPS.
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Burlington county, N. J., and pioneers of In- diana, who entered 160 acres of land in Ran- dolph county in 1818, and made settlement thereon in 1819. On this farm the father passed the remainder of his life, being called to his final home April 9, 1874, and the mother followed him to his heavenly abode October 10, 1886. They were parents of nine chil- dren, viz: Lydia A., wife of William Millman; Thomas, who died at the age of six years; Welsey, deceased, and William, twins; Rebec- ca, widow of John H. Bakehorn; Ner H., the reverend gentleman whose name opens this sketch; M. H., a merchant of Warsaw; Ancił B., a grocer of Muncie, and Hester Ann, wid- ow of John Hudson, of Lynn, Ind. The par- ents were both sincere in their belief in the - tenets of the Methodist church. The father was an industrious, hard-working man, had cleared from the wilderness over 100 acres of his 160 acre farm, and paid for his land twice over through going security for either unscru- pulous or unfortunate neighbors.
Ner H. Phillips assisted in the clearing and the cultivating of his father's farm until he had attained twenty-four years of age, in the meantime, however, availing himself of the means of education that the neighboring schools of the period afforded. He never at- tended college, as the expense of tuition would be too great a hardship for his father to meet; but, following an opposite course, became a mechanic by learning the carpenter's trade, which he followed as an adjunct to farming from the age of eighteen until that of twenty- four-working in the spring and fall, or before and after the crops had been cared for. Dur- ing the winters of 1850-51-52 he taught school, and then at twenty-four years of age entered the ministry of the Methodist Episco- pal church, receiving appointments to circuits and stations in the following consecutive order: Selma circuit, Delaware county, Ind., one
year; Windsor, Randolph county, one year; Peru station, one year; Selma, again one year; Albany, Delaware county, one year; Marion station, one year; Pendleton, Ind., two years; Williamsburg and Centreville circuit, one year; Knightstown station, two years; Pearl street, Richmond, Ind., two years; Berry street, Fort Wayne, two years; thence to the Simpson chapel, now High Street church, Muncie, and was presiding elder of the Muncie district for four years; then on the Warsaw district for four years, two years in Goshen, Ind., and then again at Knightstown, for two years, but during his second year here his health broke down and he was compelled to rest for a year and one half; he then went to Hartford City for three years, then to Kendall- ville, Ind., two years; to Fishersburg three years. and finally was retired to Muncie with impaired health. But he remains actively em- ployed in church work. During all these years of labor in the ministerial field his piety and eloquence have been duly recognized, and his work in the vineyard of the Lord perforce ac- knowledged. He holds membership in North Indiana conference, which came to him with- out seeking for it, and was twice a delegate to and member of the general conference-once in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1872, and once in Baltimore, Md., in 1876 -- an honor not to be slightingly looked upon.
Rev. Phillips was joined in the holy bonds of matrimony, August 14, 1851, in Blooming- ton, Randolph county, Ind., to Mary Garrett, who bore him five children, of whom three are living, viz: Katie, wife of O. B. Thacher, of Spokane, Wash., Mary J., wife of A. B. Kline, of Bluffton, Ind., and Emma G., at home with her father. The mother of this family was called from earth January 24, 1879, at Goshen, Ind., and her mortal remains lie interred at that place. The second marriage of Mr. Phillips was solemnized April 13, 1880,
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in Circleville, Clinton county, Ind., with Nancy E. (Wilson) White, widow of Dr. J. B. White. This lady is also a devout mem- ber of the Methodist church. In politics Mr. Phillips is a republican. He is at present a non-affiliating member of the I. O. O. F., but before his voluntary withdrawal from active work in the order was an honored and promi- nent member and had attained a high rank in the brotherhood. Mr. Phillips is a strong ad- vocate of temperance. He has never tasted an intoxicant during all his life, and never loses an opportunity to inveigh against the accursed traffic in liquor.
R. ARTHUR JOHN PHINNEY, phy- sician, botanist and geologist, of Muncie, Ind., was born in Russell township, Geauga county, Ohio, Au- gust 27, 1850. He was reared on the home farm until of age, receiving in the meantime a good common school education, supplemented by an attendance at Geauga seminary and two terms at Oberlin college, and at Allegheny col- lege, Meadville, Pa., until he reached the ju- nior year, devoting special attention to the sciences and mathematics. During his colle- giate course, also, he employed his spare time in teaching in the common schools of Geauga and adjoining counties for six terms. In 1875 he took his first course of medical lectures, be- ginning in the medical department of Wooster university; his second course was at Pulte Medical college, of Cincinnati, in 1876-77, from which he graduated in the last named year. For little over a year he practiced in Galion, Ohio, and in October, 1878, come to Muncie, where he has had an excellent prac- tice ever since. He turned his especial atten- tion to botany at the time he left college, and his last work in this line ended with 1882,
when he was employed to prepare a complete record of the flora of Delaware county, Ind., which was published in the report of the state geological survey of that year. In this record he classified 720 plants, including grasses, sedges, rushes and flowers, and the task occu- pied him several years. The doctor has been a student of geology for many years, but his first official recognition was in 1881, when he was employed to make a geological survey of Delaware county, which proved to be so satis- factory that he was subsequently employed to survey Randolph, Grant, Henry and the north- ern portion of Wayne, and the results were in- cluded in the state report of 1882, 1883 and 1885-86 (two in one). This was a labor of five or six years, taken in connection with the practice of his profession. On the discovery of natural gas, the doctor began the study of the phenomenon minutely and scientifically, keeping a record of all the data obtainable throughout the state of Indiana, including records of all the geological strata passed through in drilling-thickness, altitude, depth of Trenton limestone; whether gas, oil or water was found, total depth of well, and other minute facts, and securing and label- ing samples of drillings. By these data he was enabled to determine the limits of the field, and was the first to accurately define it. These reports were made the base of a series of articles, by the doctor, published in the American Manufacturer and Iron World, in December, 1887, and afterward, in full, in the Indianapolis News, and in the Petroleum Age, at Bradford, Pa., and attracted profound at- tention throughout the country. Major J. W. Powell, director of the United States geologi- cal survey, impressed with the thoroughness of the work done, appointed the doctor United States geological surveyor for a continuation of the survey of the Indiana gas field and di- rected a complete report to be made thereon.
THOS. PORT.
MRS. THOS. PORT.
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This was a labor of three years, and forms a part of the eleventh annual report of the United States geological survey. It is amply illustrated with maps and sectional views, and embraces everything of interest in relation to the gas field. The doctor has also been called to different parts of the United States at various times, in connection with his work. He has secured one of the most comprehen- sive working geological libraries in the state, and has collected an extensive variety of fos- sils, minerals and fresh water and land shells, embracing over 17,000 species, all classified and labeled. In the fall of 1892, this collect- ion was sold, and donated to Buchtel college, Akron, Ohio. The bulk of this immense re- search, study and labor has been accomplished within the past twelve years, and yet the doctor has assidiously attended to his daily professional duties, to which he now exclu- sively devotes himself, and in which he holds high rank. Music affords him his only pastime.
The marriage of Dr. Phinney took place, October 16, 1879, to Miss Mary E. Little, daughter of John L. Little, of Muncie, and to this union one child, Louise, has been born.
ILLIAM N. PIXLEY, painter, was born in Adams county, Ohio, Sep- tember 11, 1851, son of Elijah and Harriet A. (Abbot) Pixley. Elijah and Harriet Pixley were born and married in the above county and state and reared a fam- ily of three children: William N., Jennie, (deceased), and James, who resides in Tacoma, Washington. The father died of cholera July 4, 1855, and the mother is living at this time with her son in the city of Tacoma. William N. received his education in the common schools of Ohio, and at the age of eighteen began learning the painter's trade, which he has made
his life work. In February, 1869, Mr. Pixley came to Muncie and engaged in painting with Alexander Wiley, and three years later became one of the principal workmen for the firm of Slinger & Wiley, and was thus employed until 1892, when he became a member of the firm. Mr. Pixley is a skillful painter, as is proved by the many specimens of his handiwork, as seen in the signs he has turned out. He is a repub- lican in his political affiliations, a member of the Odd Fellows' fraternity, and, for some years, has been an active worker in the Meth- odist Episcopal church. Mr. Pixley was mar- ried July 3, 1861, to Miss Rebecca J. Richey, of Delaware county, Ind., and their home has been gladdened by two children: Gertrude and Arvil.
HOMAS PORT began life at the bot- tom of the ladder, which he has climbed to the top with no help but a brave heart, industrious hands and an intelligent brain, and is a living example of what may be accomplished in this country by thrift and perseverance, even under discour- aging circumstances. He was born in Belfast, Ireland, May 3, 1836, a son of John and Mary Jane (Carlton) Port. The parents were na- tives of the same place, married there and were in comfortable circumstances, but the long trip across the water to America pretty well drained their resources. They located in Fayette county, Ind., where they engaged in a general merchandise business, and Mr. Port followed this all of his life, which ended in 1839, his wife dying in 1841, and they were buried in Fayette county. They had been members of the Presbyterian church, and in his political views he was a tory. Four chil- dren were born to them-William, Margaret and Eliza J., all deceased, Thomas being the
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only one yet living. The mother afterwards inarried Jacob Troxall, and Thomas was reared by his step-father until he was seventeen years old, when he left home, possessing one pair of pants, one shirt and a straw hat, and reached the home of his sister, the wife of William Wilson, in the same county, bare-footed. Here he was given a good home and worked for a year for his board and clothes, at which time he decided to begin farming for himself. He engaged to buy an old horse for $60 on one year's time, and rented twenty-five acres of land. He tended a crop on this piece of land, sold it for $20 per acre, and thus gained a start in life.
Coming to Muncie the next winter, his quick intelligence showed him that money could be made in the buying and selling of horses, and he traded all winter, buying in Muncie and selling in Fayette county, but when summer came he engaged in farming again. In 1860 he bought eighty acres of land in Centre town- ship, Delaware county, paying $2,400 for it, and was able to pay down $1, 100, with notes for the balance, which long before they became due were fully paid. In 1864 he sold this land and then bought in Mount Pleasant township 120 acres, upon which he lived until 1885, owning at that time 400 acres, and then he came to where he now resides. Here he bought 160 acres and has made a pleasant home. In 1891 he sold 140 acres, the city of Muncie having so encroached upon him, and for this land he received $225 per acre. He has reserv- ed twenty acres around his home just outside the city, and he also owns 100 acres in Mount Pleasant township, which he has well improved.
In 1870 Mr. Port began the buying and selling of stock very extensively, and has made it very profitable, managing his business with good judgment and unceasing care. He was married September 4, 1859, in Centre town- ship, to Miss Catherine Williams, a native of
the township, born March 11, 1842, a daughter of William Y. and Sarah (Tomblison) Will- iams, who were natives of Ohio and early pioneers of Delaware county. Mr. and Mrs. Port had a family of seven children, as follows: Laura M., wife of Charles Koontz, a glass manufacturer of Muncie, who was deputy treas- urer for the term of eight years; Ellsworth, deceased; John W .. the secretary of the Port Glass works; Charles H. and two infants, de- ceased, and Maud, who resides at home. Politi- cally, Mr. Port is a believer in the principles of the democratic party, which he cordially sup- ports Mr. Port is one of the stockholders in the Port Glass works and is considered one of the strong financial men of Muncie. The father of Mrs. Port was born in 1811, and now resides in Centre township. The mother of Mrs. Port died in this township in 1856, at about forty-one years of age. They had a family of nine children, as follows: John (de- ceased), Zadoc, Isaac, Catherine, Henry, Sarah Ann, William (deceased), Perry and Nathan. Mr. Williams is a republican and a member of the Protestant Methodist church.
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