USA > Indiana > Newton County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 37
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 37
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He was a man liberally endowed with those qualities of man- hood which made him a force in the community during his long and useful life. He was always fair and just, and no deserving person was ever denied a helping hand. He was a staunch tem- perance advocate, and zealously gave the influence of his example and precepts to the cause. He was a most indulgent husband and father, and his happiest moments were spent in his home, sur- rounded by his family and friends. He was a member of the Pres- byterian Church, being one of its most liberal supporters. In all
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matters of public concern he was public-spirited, at all times favor- ing and encouraging the development of the town and country in which he had great faith. He was industrious and frugal, careful and cautious, yet generous and broad-minded. In politics he was a republican, and a firm believer in the principles and efficacy of his party. He was a man wise in counsel, sound and deliberate in judgment, and his advice was sought and heeded by his neigh- bors and friends.
An overwhelming sorrow came to him in the evening of his life, when his devoted companion passed away on December 12, 1912. He never overcame this great blow, and surviving her death only by one year and one day, he passed over to the Great Beyond. His life's work was complete. He labored and wrought, and the heritage he left in good deeds, noble example, lofty purpose and righteous living, has left its impress on the community and all those who were blessed by coming in contact with his great personality. :
CHARLES T. DENHAM. The relationship of Charles T. Denham to Jasper County, and particularly to the Village of Remington, has been of a broad and varied and uniformly successful character. He is one of the old time merchants of Remington and only recently gave up the mercantile activities by which he was best known in that community. In business and in civic affairs he built up a reputation which still follows him for thorough integrity, fair and square dealing, and a judgment which led to continued advancement and prosperity.
He was born in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, now a part of the City of Cincinnati, February 14, 1851. His parents were Josiah W. and Isabelle (Scott) Denham. His grandfather, Joseph W. Denham, was an Englishman, entered the ministry in early life, and emi- grated to America when his son Josiah was twelve years of age. About 1832 he located at Cincinnati, and lived in that city or in the vicinity until his death at the age of eighty-eight. Josiah W. Den- ham, though quite well advanced in years at the time, made a record as a soldier in the Civil war which will always be cherished by his descendants. He became a lieutenant in Company G of the 70th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but finally was disabled and resigned his commission in 1863. In the fall of 1864 he moved his family to Starke County, Indiana, near Knox, and died there September 5, 1865. He is buried in the Round Lake Cemetery near Knox. He was twice married and had eight children: George H. has for many years been a successful educator and is now principal of the Hyde Park School in Cincinnati; he married Melissa Steele, now de- ceased, and by that marriage had Bertha, deceased; Grace Betts, who is now living at Middletown, Ohio, and Robert, also deceased. Professor Denham married for his second wife Carrie Wyatt, and their two children are Thomas W. and Martha. Of the other chil- dren of Josiah W. Denham Robert M. and Ann E. are both deceased,
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the fourth in age is Charles T., Joseph E. is a Baptist minister now located at Pleasanton, Kansas, and Josiah W., Jr., is deceased. The father's second wife was Phoebe Broom, and the two children of their union were: Hattie E., who is the wife of Ford Warner, and they live with their family of children at Dallas, Texas ; and Clara, now deceased.
After the death of his father Charles T. Denham in the spring of 1866 removed from Starke County, Indiana, to Grant Township in Newton County near Goodland, where he lived in the home of his step-uncle Eleazar Gorsline for two or three years. After that for several years he was employed as a farm hand by residents of that locality and then engaged in farming for himself. On Septem- ber 3, 1874, he married Margaret A. Thompson, daughter of George G. and Elizabeth D. (Beal) Thompson. The Thompson family were among the very early settlers of Carpenter Township.
Immediately after his marriage Mr. Denham moved to Reming- ton, and for a little more than forty years was closely identified with the development and mercantile affairs of that city. He was first proprietor of a meat market, and that was his regular line of trade for almost thirty-one years, when he sold out and in partner- ship with Carl Somers bought the hardware stock of J. D. Allman. Under their management this was continued as a prospering enter- prise until January, 1913, when Mr. Denham sold to G. I. Thomas. He conducted a variety store for one year, sold it to J. H. Hensler, and since then has been outside the main current of business activ- ities and has looked after his private interests. His permanent resi- dence is Brook, Indiana.
To Mr. and Mrs. Denham were born four children, two of whom died in infancy. Ina May married Blanchard Elmore and is now deceased. George H. is still living at home with his father.
The name of Charles T. Denham is probably as familiarly known throughout Jasper County as that of any other citizen. For sixteen years he served on the town board of Remington, and was president of the board for several terms. He was appointed a county com- missioner to fill a vacancy, and after that was regularly elected for successive terms, and altogether gave almost thirteen years of service in directing and managing the county affairs. He is republican, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Church, in which he has been treasurer and trustee four or five years. He takes much interest in fraternal affairs, particularly in Odd Fellowship, and has been identified with that order since he was twenty-one years of age, having taken his first degrees in Goodland Lodge, and trans- ferring to Schuyler Lodge No. 284 at Remington. He has been through all the chairs of this lodge, was a charter member of the encampment, and is a chief patriarch of that branch and also belongs to the Rebekahs. Mr. Denham i's also a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias at Remington, and is affiliated with the Masonic Vol. I-25
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Lodge and the Sons of Veterans. A successful business man, his prosperity is the more creditable since he has made it all by his own intelligent effort.
REUBEN HESS. Not only is the present prosecuting attorney of Newton County, Reuben Hess, an able lawyer who is thorough in his professional knowledge, but he is so well thought of as a trustworthy citizen, that at times prior to accepting his present office, he has been entrusted with important public responsibilities.
Reuben Hess was born on a farm near Momence, Illinois, August 22, 1869, and is a son of William Henry and Catherine (Ricks) Hess, both of whom were of predominating German ancestry, although William Henry Hess was born in Ontario, Canada. When he was six years old he was brought to the United States, where he grew to manhood and lated proved his loyalty to the Union by enlisting, when Civil war was declared, as a private in Company K, Forty- second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which he served about three years, taking part in such important engagements as Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth and the seige and capture of Vicksburg, after which he was honorably discharged on account of disability con- tracted while in the army. Of his three children, two yet sur- vive.
Reuben Hess grew to manhood in Kankakee County, Illinois, attending the public schools at Momence, and later taking a commer- cial course in the Northern Indiana Normal School, at Valparaiso, in 1896 being graduated from the scientific course, in the same institu- tion. While thus pursuing his higher education, Mr. Hess taught school in order to secure the means to defray his educational ex- penses, and when he found opportunity, studied the primary prin- ciples of law, so closely applying himself that he succeeded even beyond his hopes and in 1901 was rewarded by being able to be one of the graduating class of that year from the normal school, in its law department. In September of the same year he entered the law office at Morocco, Indiana, with Albert E. Chizum as a partner. In the following year he was elected clerk of Newton County, on the republican ticket, and in 1906 he was re-elected and served as county clerk for eight years, and subsequently was elected treasurer of the Town of Kentland. After serving one year as treasurer, he resigned in order to assume the duties of prosecuting attorney, to which office he was elected in the fall of 1914, his jurisdiction covering the Thirtieth Judicial District of Indiana Since the 22nd day of April, 1904, Mr. Hess has been a resident of Kentland, and aside from' his official duties has carried on a large private practice.
On February 15, 1905, Mr. Hess was united in marriage with Miss Love Dearduff, of Morocco, Indiana. They are members of the Presbyterian Church and their helpful interest may be depended upon along the benevolent avenues through which the church accom-
Aaron Lyons Hrs. Caron Lyons
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plishes so much in the way of charity. Mr. Hess is a Royal Arch Mason and is connected with the Eastern Star of that order, and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Pythian Sisters ..
AARON LYONS. In the venerable and honored citizen who died at his home in Brook February 28, 1915, that community possessed not only one of its oldest residents, but also a man who represented in his long career the prominent social and civic elements which compose the citizenship of this community throughout its growth from a frontier settlement. The late Aaron Lyons was a remarkable man. Eighty-three years of age at the time of his death, he was distinguished as being the first white child born within the limits of the present Newton and Jasper counties, and with the exception of two years spent in Benton County was a resident there all his life. He was both a witness and actor in the changing development in this long time. While a substantial degree of material prosperity rewarded his industrious efforts, the honor paid to his memory is more specially due to his fine independence of character, his active influence in the social and political movements experienced at dif- ferent times during the last century, and altogether he was a pioneer, a broad-minded vigorous citizen, and a Christian who lived his faith in his daily walk.
He was born February 5, 1832, in the pioneer cabin of his parents which stood on what is known as the Jerome Franklin farm and its site is now in an orchard on that place. This farm is in what is now Washington Township of Newton County.
His parents, John and Anna (Jones) Lyons were natives of Ross County, Ohio, and they came to Newton County in 1831, and spent the rest of their days in Iroquois, about 11/2 miles south of Brook, Indiana. John W. Lyons combined hunting with farming, and died in 1863. He was laid to rest in the Brook Cemetery, where more than half a century later his son Aaron was also laid to rest. John W. Lyons served as a justice of the peace in early days, when that official was appointed by the governor, and he was also a county commissioner. In politics he was a whig and later a republican, and an active supporter of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The year 1832 was notable in the history of the Middle West on account of the Black Hawk war. This Indian uprising caused alarm to all the settlements in Northern Indiana, and a few months after Aaron Lyons was born his parents took refuge at Sugar Grove on Pine Creek until the danger had passed. Thus Aaron Lyons grew to manhood in a typical frontier settlement, and as a boy he fre- quently played with Indians as comrades. While he had only moder- ate advantages in the way of schooling, he was a great reader and acquired a vast amount of information. He developed the traits of personal courage, honor and straightforwardness, and self reliance
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by actual contact with the rugged conditions and environment of his youth.
Most of his career was spent as a farmer. However, in 1855, he established the first store ever conducted in Brook, and that store was located on the lot where at the present time the structure known as the Airdome stands. He was in business as a merchant for six years, and he also served as postmaster at Brook from 1856 to 1862. In 1862 he resumed farming, at first on the farm now occupied by Samuel Conn, and then moved to the old homestead south of Brook. On this homestead stood in the early days a log cabin of three rooms, in which were conducted the first religious services Mr. Lyons attended as a boy, and he also attended school there. Still later Mr. Lyons moved to his own farm north of Brook which he continued to own until his death. In 1876 he and others established a Grange store at Brook. Bad crops, with inability to make collections, in- volved this concern, and Mr. Lyons and Andrew Hess shouldered the responsibilities and paid off the debts. In that time it was not un- common for business men to fail and to settle at a small per cent on the dollar, and this fact accentuates the sterling honesty of Mr. Lyons and Mr. Hess.
In 1899 Mr. Lyons moved into Brook and lived retired until his death. In the way of public service he was township trustee for about four years, and he made a hard fight to get the county seat located at Brook. It is recalled that he was a very able debater, and on many occasions he proved his ability in this respect. He was also a worker for reform and a temperance leader, and when about twenty years of age he united with the Methodist Church and was always one of its most loyal supporters, serving for years as church steward and trustee. He also became a class leader at the age of twenty- eight. In the early days he opened his home to the preaching of the gospel and maintained the family altar of worship until within the last few weeks of his death. He was a great lover of the bible and also was fond of some of the old fashioned hymns and he would usually open the day with singing some of the old tunes. His life was really a benediction to the community in which he lived and it is proper to quote some portions of an editorial tribute which appeared in the Brook Reporter at the time of his death :
"The church, the schools, temperance, good government, right thinking and right living as we see them in this community owe much to Mr. Lyons and the men like him who have stood out often alone in the battle for the moral uplift of the community, and he lived to see the things he worked for and prayed earnestly for come into being. Today as we stand shoulder to shoulder in the cause of temperance, the individual is lost sight of, but looking back through the vista of years, we see a small group of men, of which Mr. Lyons formed a part, fighting the great battle alone. How much we owe to them, how much we owe to him, we can never know, nor does it matter to him, as he now sleeps, for he took his
.
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stand on these questions not for the applause of men but because he believed them to be right. He was a pioneer in all things. He discovered the 'promised land' and sought to bring his world to it. His was an intelligent Christian home. What he believed he lived in his daily life, he taught his children and with courtesy impressed on his friends and neighbors. They testified their regard for him by gathering at the Methodist church at Tuesday afternoon March 2, 1915, to pay tribute to his life."
In 1854 Mr. Lyons married Sarah Smith, who died December II, 1856. Both their children died in infancy. On April 12, 1860, he married Solinda Edmondson, who lived and grew with him into ripe old age. She was born in Hamilton County, Indiana, a daugh- ter of Thomas and Nancy (Box) Edmondson, who were natives of Tennessee and moved to Hamilton County at a very early day. The Edmondsons were of Irish stock. After the death of her hus- band Mrs. Edmondson moved to White County, Indiana, and in 1856 established her home at Morocco, but she died in Brook in 1867.
Mr. and Mrs. Lyons had eight children, but two died in infancy. All of the children received a common school training, and some college or normal training, and all were teachers in the public schools and active workers in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Annie N. Lyons married, in 1884, Hudson Reed, who had also been a teacher. They moved to a farm about 412 miles southeast of Brook, where they continued to live until the death of Mr. Reed. He was 2 member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge and a man highly respected in his community. After the death of her husband Mrs. Reed with her three children moved to Brook. Ethel, the eldest of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Reed, is a graduate of DePauw Univer- sity, of Greencastle, Indiana, and holds the position of librarian of the Brook Public Library ; Glenn is a student in Purdue University ; and Grace is attending DePauw University. Ella M. Lyons, the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Lyons, is a graduate of the State Normal at Terre Haute, and supplemented this training with at- tendance at the Indiana State University and the University of Chicago, after which she taught for several years in the graded schools and the high school. In 1904 she accepted the chair of English in the Elkhart High School, resigning that position after nine years of service to take care of her aged parents. With her sister Grace she traveled quite extensively in Continental Europe in the year of 1908. Grace Lyons, after attending the Indiana State Normal, taught in Newton County, but, preferring a business life, entered a business college in St. Louis, Missouri, where she grad- uated, and afterward took additional work and training in a busi- ness college of Indianapolis. She has since been in the employ of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York and located at Indianapolis. Luther C. Lyons after a common school training pur- sued a business course in the Bryant & Stratton Business College of
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Chicago, and is now senior member of the firm of Lyons & Hersh- man, hardware merchants of Brook. He married Miss Etta Bur- ford, who studied in Franklin College and was a teacher in the Brook schools at the time of her marriage. They have three chil- dren, Burford W., in the eighth grade of school, Ruth F., in the seventh, and Everett A. Flora Lyons taught a few years in the Newton County schools, and subsequently completed a teachers' course of music in Chicago and still later graduated in the College of Musical Arts in Indianapolis. She is now a teacher in her Alma Mater. Arthur H. Lyons fitted himself for a business life in the State Normal at Terre Haute, and is now engaged in the lumber and coal business at Brook and is one of the successful men of his town. He is a lover of music, and has been a member of the orches- tra and band of Brook. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge. He married Miss Nellie Zuck, a daughter of the Rev. R. N. Zuck, former pastor of the United Brethren Church at Brook. Mrs. Lyons was a teacher in the Brook schools at the time of her marriage, and both she and her husband are Methodists. Their three children are Virginia L., in the fourth grade of school, Alford, in the second grade, and Eleanor. Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Lyons also took into their home when six years of age a little boy, Marion Hoke, whom they reared and educated, and who became a farmer. He married in the State of Washington and became a great worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church and a student of the Bible, and has frequently preached funeral services in his local- ity. He is a Prohibitionist and a strong advocate of temperance.
JOHN BENNETT LYONS. The Lyons family has been a resident of Newton County more than three quarters of a century. It is probable that as many of the substantial activities in and about the Village of Brook revolve about this name as that of any other of the old families. As pioneers they helped to clear up the wilder- ness and develop the succession of woodland and swamp into fertile tracts of agricultural and grazing land. Their individual enterprise has also extended to those movements instituted for community benefit. The name Lyons is traceable to the Holland Dutch. and at one time it was spelled Leab and Lieb.
Since the organization of the Bank of Brook, the only banking institution of the village, John Bennett Lyons has been very promi- nent in its management and operation. Mr. Lyons made his success as a farmer and stockman, and has spent all his life in Newton County.
He was born February 23, 1845, on section 22 of what is now Iroquois Township of Newton County. When he was a boy his parents removed to section 17 of the same township and the old homestead is now located just outside the limits of the Village of Brook. His parents were Samuel and Margaret (Smith) Lyons. About 1840 they moved from the country south of Chillicothe in
John A Pour
le . Lyons
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Ross County, Ohio, to Iroquois Township of Newton County. John B. Lyons' great-grandfather came from Holland and was a colonial settler. The name as stated was originally spelled Leab or Leib, and what reason prompted the change to Lyons is not recalled. Samuel Lyons' mother was of Welsh descent. Margaret Smith was born near Hoboken, New Jersey, of Dutch stock, and her parents, Joseph and Mary (Earl) Smith, moved from New Jersey and located first near Crawfordsville, Indiana, on Coles Creek during the decade of the '20s, and about 1832 or 1833 moved to Iroquois Township and were among the first pioneers to invade the wilderness of Newton County. They settled just across the branch from the old Spitler residence, and were close to the location of the first courthouse in Jasper County in section 29. Samuel Lyons died June 5, 1905, at the age of ninety-two. As a young man he learned and practiced the trade of blacksmith, but after coming to Newton County was a practical farmer. He was a whig, abolitionist and republican, but never sought office.
John Bennett Lyons had a taste of pioneer life while growing to manhood. He attended one of the pioneer schools and his first teacher was Samantha McQueary.
He was still a boy less than seventeen years of age when on November 5, 1861, he was mustered into service in Company B of the noted Fifty-first Regiment of Indiana Infantry. With the excep- tion of a portion of the year 1863 he was continuously in service with this command, and was honorably discharged as hospital steward of the Fifty-first Regiment at San Antonio, Texas, Decem- ber 13, 1865. He is one of the honored members of the Grand Army Post at Brook. Mr. Lyons was among the first to respond to his country's call for troops, and when the beautiful Carnegie Library was erected in Brook he had placed at his own expense a beautiful metal tablet giving the names of the original volunteers in Company B of the First Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry, it being his company and the first enrolled in Newton County. This is a tribute paid to the boys of blue of 1861-65 which will ever hold the name of John Bennett Lyon dear to the citizens of Brook and Newton County.
On returning home from the war he took up farming, and on May 8, 1868, married Mary C. Hess, a member of the prominent Hess family of Newton County, and a daughter of Andrew and Sarah (Holman) Hess. Her family was of Holland stock, and the Hesses moved from Ross County, Ohio, to Brook in 1855. Much is said about the Hess family on other pages of this publication.
Mr. and Mrs. Lyons have a family of nine children, and it testi- fies to the strong and vigorous stock that all the children and grand- children born into the family circle are still living. Lawrence E., the oldest, is a resident at Brook, and by his marriage to Catherine Robertson has a child named Lawrence E. Oliver MI. is also a resident of Brook, and married Lilly Sterner, and their children are
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William S., Dorothy and Lucile. Fred, of Brook, married Larra B. Esson, and they have five children, Pauline, Gladys, William, Fielder and Fred. Elsie married B. B. Gragg of Brook, and they are the parents of three children, Bernard B., Gaylord and Phyllis. James G., a farmer in Jackson Township, married Miss Frances Hays. Lou is the wife of Fred B. Snyder of Brook. John B., Jr., is now assistant cashier of the Bank of Brook, and married Sue C. Esson. Charles H. and Verna are both at home with their parents.
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