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 II > Part 11
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 II > Part 11
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
HENRY O. HARRIS. Jasper County, Indiana, owes much of its prosperity to natives of other states, who, coming here in early, or more mature, manhood, have taken a prominent part in its develop- ment and upbuilding. One of its best known citizens of this class
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is Henry O. Harris, now living in Rensselaer, who was born in Nansemond County, Virginia, on November 5, 1831. His parents were Benjamin T. and Elizabeth ( Faulk) Harris, and he is a grandson of Dr. Thomas Harris, a physician, who, born in 1740, married at the age of sixty years Unity Ladd, and lived to see two of his grandchildren, dying when eighty-eight years old. For nearly sixty years he was a medical practicioner in the Old Dominion. At one time he owned slaves, but his religious seruples as a Quaker finally caused him to set them free.
Benjamin T. Harris, son of the doctor and father of Henry O., was a farmer and trader. After marrying Elizabeth Faulk, he re- moved in 1835 to Indiana, settling on the edge of the Wea Plains in Tippecanoe County. There he passed the remainder of his life, dying about the year 1839. He and his wife had four sons and two daughters, of which children but three are now living, all being residents of Jasper County. In the fall of 1851 Mrs. Harris re- moved with her six children to Newton County, locating near Mount Ayr, on a farm now owned by the subject of this memoir. The land for the most part was entered and was obtained by Mexican war grants. Here Mrs. Harris kept her little family together, and finally died about the year 1857.
Henry O. Harris had preceded the rest of the family to Newton County, his arrival there being in the spring of 1851, at which time he selected the land upon which they subsequently located. He was reared after the manner of farmers' boys of his time, and was able to supplement his district school education by a two years' course at Franklin College. He has always followed farming and stock raising as an occupation, but in addition to this has been identified with other business ventures. In 1890, together with David Nowles, he organized the Rensselaer Bank, of which he became president, and of which his son, Joseph, later on became cashier. About two years after its organization Mr. Nowles re- tired from the bank and thereafter it was owned and conducted by Henry O. and Joseph Harris, father and son. This bank continued in active existence for some twenty years and was finally discon- tinued because, for one thing, of the death of Joseph Harris, the active partner, in 1908. Henry O. Harris, about the year 1892, established the Remington Bank, of which he was president until he finally disposed of it a year or so prior to the disposal of the Rensselaer Bank. Since that time he has devoted the greater part of his time to looking after his farming interests, having now over 2,000 acres in Newton and Jasper Counties. Mr. Harris is a mem- . ber of the Missionary Baptist Church and is a republican. He married in 1857 Margaret Kennedy of Newton County, and they became the parents of four children: Elbert T., Joseph C., Vir- ginia, and Jessie, who is the wife of Charles Roberts. Diligent in business, and honorable in all his relations with his fellow men,
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Mr. Harris may well be regarded as a type of the higher class of American citizenship.
GEORGE PARKER. On an excellent farinstead in Hanging Grove Township seven and a half miles Northeast of Rensselaer, George Parker is successfully engaged in diversified agriculture and the raising of stock. He is one of the honored citizens of Jasper County, was born here and has been a resident practically all his career, and commands the confidence and esteem of all who have known him from earliest youth. While his work as a farmer has brought him substantial prosperty, his relations with the community have also been useful and have contributed to the welfare of the vieinity and for many years he has held one or other office in the township.
His father was the late Samuel Parker, whose was born in Virginia and his body is now at rest in the Osborne Cemetery in Hanging Grove Township. His parents were George and Rebecca Parker, both of whom were born in Virginia of German and French descent and died there. Four of the children, Jerome, Samuel, Isaac and Mary Ann, emigrated from Virginia to LaPorte County, Indiana, Samuel being at the time about fourteen years of age. He accordingly grew up in northern Indiana, and was married in LaPorte County to Elizabeth Evans, a daughter of Isaae Evans, who was born in Ohio of Welsh descent. Samuel and Elizabeth Parker became the parents of nine children, as follows: Almira, deceased; Isaae, who married Ella Cody and lives at Mitchell, South Dakota; Felix who married Celista Gwin and lives at Hersher, Illinois; Albert, deceased; Jacob, who married Etna English, and both are now deceased; Ida married Frank Kenton and lives near Mitchell, South Dakota; George, who is the next in line; Samuel, who married Cora Maxwell and lives at Mitchell, South Dakota; and Emma, deceased. It was in 1854, more than sixty years ago, that Samuel Parker brought his little family to Hanging Grove Township, and located on a tract of forty aeres, with very few improvements, in Section 8. At the time his posses- sions consisted of two yoke of oxen, one horse and $10 in money. He prospered by hard work, and at one time was considered among the wealthiest men in Hanging Grove Township. He was gen- erous to a fault, was always willing to accommodate his friends, and it is said that no one ever requested a favor which was not granted. This prompted him to place his name as security to many notes and other obligations, and for this reason and for various reverses he lost a great deal of his property and died a compara- tively poor man. Many years ago he kept a few race horses, though he never employed them for gambling. While a man of little education he enjoyed the perfeet esteem of his community, and was a useful and honorable citizen in every respect. He voted first the whig and later the republican ticket and for many years
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served as township supervisor, but would never consent to hold any other office. In church matters he was a Methodist.
His son, George Parker, was born January 19, 1864, in Section 17 of Hanging Grove Township, and in Jasper County he has spent all his subsequent years, and his residence has been in Hanging Grove Township with the exception of eighteen months. After get- ting his education in the local schools he applied the experience gained as a boy to the vocations of farming and stock raising, and from those sources has accumulated an ample prosperity for himself and family.
On September 8, 1886, George Parker married Elizabeth Pere- grine, a daughter of Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Robinson) Pere- grine, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Rush County, Indiana. The Peregrine stock is Welsh and English, though for many generations the family has been identified with America. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Parker: Verne E. is the wife of Royal L. Bussell, of one of the prominent old families of Jasper County, and they live at McCoysburg; Gaylord P. mar- ried Gertrude Downs and lives in Marion Township; Ethel M. is the wife of Morris Jacks and lives at Lee in White County ; Gladys is deceased.
Throughout his career Mr. Parker has been a loyal republican in politics, and while he has done much to promote party success he has likewise worked effectually to advance the best interests of his community and has filled several important offices. For eight years he was township supervisor, was township trustee six years, and since January, 1915, has filled the post of township assessor. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Parker have one of the old parchment deeds executed under the land and seal of President John Tyler, dated June 25, 1841. This is the first deed found in Jasper County, Indiana, by the biographer and is a valuable heirloom.
EZRA BOWMAN. Nearly half a century ago, in 1869, Mr. Bow- man established his residence and smithy in the scattering and ob- scure little hamlet of Remington, Jasper County, which was then represented by a comparatively small number of dwellings and a few business places of primitive order, the place having had no sidewalks and none of the municipal and general civic improve- ments that designate the thriving and attractive little city of the present day. During the long intervening years, as a staunch and loyal citizen, Mr. Bowman has here maintained his home, has participated in the activities that have made for social and material advancement and prosperity, and for many years he here plied his sturdy trade of blacksmith, like Tubal Cain, a man of might, even as he has been one true to principle and worthy purpose in all of the relations of life, so that he has not been denied the fullest measure of popular confidence and good will. He is now
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living virtually retired, in the enjoyment of the peace and comfort that justly reward former years of carnest toil and endeavor. It was his as a youth to render valiant service as a soldier of thé Union in the Civil war, and the same spirit of loyalty and patriotism has animated him during all the later years.
Mr. Bowman was born on the homestead farm of his father, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, on the 16th of November, 1844. the second in order of birth of a family of nine children, all of whom are living except one. They were all born and reared in Cumberland County and there they gained their carly education in the common schools of the period, the while the home discipline was such as to fortify them admirably for lives of honor and usefulness. Mr. Bowman is a son of Samuel and Mary (Monny- smith) Bowman, both of whom continued their residence on their old home farm in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, until their death, the mother having been summoned to the life eternal in 1862 and the father in 1866.
As a boy and youth Ezra Bowman contributed his quota to the work of the home farm, the while he availed himself also of the advantages of the local schools, and his first independent work was that rendered as an employe on a neighboring farm. When the Civil war was precipitated and the integrity of the nation was placed in jeopardy, young Bowman, as soon as circumstances per- mitted, gave distinctive. evidence of his patriotism by tendering his aid in defense of the Union. In June, 1863, about six months 'prior to his nineteenth birthday anniversary, he enlisted in Com- pany K, Twentieth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and after the expiration of his term he promptly re-enlisted, as a member of Company D, Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, with which gallant command he continued in active service until victory had crowned the Union arms and peace had been restored. Under his first enlistment he was in service with the forces operating in the more Eastern parts of the stage of conflict, and after his re-enlistment he proceeded with his command to join General Sherman's army, which had already fought the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Mr. Bowman took part with his regiment in the battle of Dallas, Georgia, in which he received a slight . wound, and thereafter he took part, in consecutive order, in the engagement at Noonday Creek, the battles of Kenesaw Mountain and Big Shanty, and the siege and capture of the city of Atlanta. After the capitulation of Atlanta his command was sent out to Jonesboro to destroy the railroad, and then fought at Lovejoy's Station. Upon the return to Atlanta the regiment was dismounted, its cavalry equipment being turned over to General Kilpatrick, and was sent back to Nashville, Tennessee, where its members, as dis- mounted cavalry, joined the army of General "Pap" Thomas. Somewhat later the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry was sent to Louisville, Kentucky, where it was remounted and provided with
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proper cavalry equipment once more, after which it was sent to Gravelly Springs, Alabama, to be formally organized into a cavalry corps. Proceeding under orders to the city of Mobile, the com- mand took part en route in the engagement of Ebenezer Church, after which he continued on to Columbus, Georgia, and finally to Macon, that State, where it received news of the surrender of General Lee and also the lamentable information of the assassina- tion of that revered and heroic patriot, President Lincoln. Mr. Bowman received his honorable discharge at Macon, Georgia, in August, 1865, and then proceeded with his command to Harris- burg, Pennsylvania, where the members of the regiment were mustered out.
In November, 1865, the gallant young veteran of the long and weary conflict through which the national integrity was. preserved, entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of blacksmith near the postoffice of Good Hope, Pennsylvania, and he soon mas- tered the sturdy art, with the result that he could qualify as a skilled artisan. The major part of his active career was marked by close application to his trade, and as an exponent of the same he established himself in business upon coming to Remington, Indiana, in 1869, his activities in this line of business having con- tinued until 1908, since which time he has lived virtually retired,- a man of brain and brawn and one who has played a man's part in all of the relations of life. As may be presupposed, Mr. Bow- man has given unfaltering allegiance to the republican party, and has been loyal to all the duties of citizenship, without being af- flicted with aught of ambition for public office of any description. HIc and his wife are members of the Christian Church, and he vitalizes the more pleasing memories and associations of his military carcer and signifies his abiding interest in his old comrades in arms by his affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he is a charter member of the post at Remington.
In December, 1870, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bow- man to Miss Sarah Harris, and of the seven children of this union five are living, brief record concerning them being entered in con- clusion of this review: Fred is engaged in the drug business at Monticello, White County; Mande is the wife of Novia E. Helvie; John is associated with his brother in the drug business at Monti- cello; June is the wife of Maurice Peck; and Dale continues his residence in Remington and is associated with Walter Gummn.
MRS. SARAH LOUISE JORDAN. One of the well known and highly esteemed residents of the vicinity of Gifford, Indiana, is Mrs. Sarah Louise Jordan, who has lived in this community since 1900 and has taken a leading participation in the affairs of the locality, par- ticularly in connection with the work of the Christian Church. Mrs. Jordan was born February 16, 1853, in Mercer County, Ohio, and is a daughter of Azariah and Lydia (Reigel) Denney.
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Azariah Denney was born at Gallipolis, Ohio, August IT, 1824, and was married at Greenville, Ohio, to Miss Reigel, who was born March 6, 1836. Mr. Denney's first playmates were Indians, and his education was of a somewhat limited character as school advan- tages were few on the Ohio and Indiana state line in the vicinity of his home at that day. He was, however, a man of business acu- men, good judgment and industry and in a long career spent in farming and stockraising was able to accumulate a valuable property in spite of his early limitations. He was a devout member of the Christian Church, as was his wife, and their children were reared in that faith. In political matters he was a democrat, and the high esteem in which he was held by his fellow-citizens was shown by the fact that although he was not a man of learning they elected him repeatedly to serve in the office of justice of the peace, a position in which his fairness and integrity served to satisfactorily settle the disputes of his neighbors. Ten children were born to Azariah and Lydia Denney, namely : Sarah Louise, James A., Anna M., Landon, deceased, Asenrath, Caroline, Florence, deceased, Jacob, Stella and Carlton.
Sarah Louise Denney started to attend the country schools of Mercer County when she was six years of age, and continued to pursue her studies until reaching young womanhood, acquiring a thorough grammar and high school education. When she was nineteen years of age she entered upon a career as a teacher in Darke County, Ohio, receiving a salary of $1 per day, and for the next five years continued her educational labors in Ohio and Indiana, principally in the country districts. She ceased teaching at the time of her marriage, September 25, 1876, at Celina, Ohio, to Wil- liam Nicholas Jordan, a son of Andrew and Amanda (Devore.) Jor- dan, and a brother of James, John, Elizabeth and Charles Jordan. William N. Jordan was given excellent educational advantages and following his graduation from college engaged in farming in Ford County, Illinois, eventually becoming a renter on the great Sibley estate in that county. In February, 1900, Mr. and Mrs. Jordan came to Jasper County, Indiana, locating on the Cherry Island farm, where they resided for five years, and then moving to the West headquarters in Barkley Township, where Mrs. Jordan still makes her home and where her husband passed away February 5, 1910. He was a faithful member of the Christian Church, and in political matters was a republican. As a farmer he was a friend of progress, and this quality he carried into his citizenship, being ever ready to donate of his time, his ability or his means in the support of move- ments calculated to benefit the communty or to advance the cause of education, religion or good citizenship. While residing on the Cherry Island Farm, with Mrs. Jordan's assistance, he organized the first Union Sunday school in the county, thus proving the nucleus for a work which has gone forward with much vigor. Mr. and Mrs. Jordan became the parents of nine children : Orvis, Nettie,
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Day, Nellie, James, Acenath, William M., Homer and Rowena, of whom the last named is now deceased.
At the time of his death the Rensselaer Republican announcing the death of this fine citizen as a victim of pneumonia, spoke of him as follows:
"In the death of William N. Jordan of Barkley township at 1:30 o'clock this Saturday morning, the county loses one of its most upright and highly esteemed citizens and the community a man of noble life whose aim was to live righteously and to give his children a good education in order to equip them formidably for the problem of life. Mr. Jordan came to Jasper county from Ili- nois about ten years ago and located on one of B. J. Gifford's farms in Barkley township. Later he purchased the old Headquarters farm, which is well known as the old Sim Dowell farm, where him- self and family have since resided.
"He was the father of eight children, the oldest son being a Christian minister at Evanston, Illinois; one daughter, Miss Nettie, being a trained nurse at Omaha, Nebraska, (at present superintend- ent of Aurora hospital, Aurora, Illinois) ; one daughter married and living in Hagerman, New Mexico; one daughter, Day, teaching school in Barkley township; his son James who graduated from the Rensselaer schools last year and is now a student at Purdue University. From Purdue he entered the University of Indiana and is now professor of mathematics and electricity; and three younger children, all attending the Rensselaer high school.
"Mr. Jordan was not extensively known in Rensselaer being somewhat of a retired disposition, although very jovial when he became well acquainted. Wherever known he was greatly admired and no death in Jasper county could have caused more genuine regret. A few days ago in apparent health and vigor, in anticipa- tion of a long life of continued usefulness, the sorrow of his sud- den demise sank deep into the happy home and cast a gloom among all his acquaintances."
CHARLES W. BUSSELL. Of the families who have been dis- tinguished not only by long residence but by many useful activities in Jasper and Newton counties that of Charles W. Bussell and his relatives deserves mention among the very first. More than eighty years have passed since the first of this sterling stock be- came identified with Jasper County, and the history and develop- ment of Hanging Grove Township might easily be told in the annals of this single relationship. Charles W. Bussell is one of the progressive farmers in the Hanging Grove Township, and is owner of 200 acres in what is known as the Wild Game Preserve farm, situated in Sections 17, 18 and 20. His residence is just eight miles northeast of Rensselaer. Mr. Bussell has been suc- cessful in iganaging the resources of the soil, and has probably filled more of the local offices and for a longer continuous time
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than any other local citizen. Mr. Bussell is also a practical natural- ist, and has a greater fund.of information concerning the birds, beasts and other features of Indiana natural history than any resident of Jasper County.
Ilis ancestry includes a Revolutionary soldier, William Smith Bussell, great-grandfather of Charles W. This patriot fought with the Kentucky troops in the Revolutionary war. His grandfather was William S. Bussell, who was born in Rush County, Indiana, at an extremely early date in the history of this state. He served as sheriff of that county and officiated at the hanging of a noted criminal, Swanson, at Rushville in the early days. He was also a colonel in the state troops and served in that capacity under William Henry Harrison at the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. After his death, his wife Maria ( Ward) Bussell married Turner A. Knox of Rushville. Then in the fall of 1833 the family came to what is now Hanging Grove Township in Jasper County and entered 160 acres in section 23, range 5 west, township 29 north. With Mr. and Mrs. Knox came the five Bussell children; and thus was established on what was then the wild frontier the first generation of a large and extensive relationship. The five children of William S. Bus- sell who thus came to Jasper County in the early days were: Mary E. Westerfield, who lived at Anderson, Indiana; Matilda Eden, who became a resident of Illinois; Erastus T., of Indianapolis ; Martha A. Hamilton of St. Joseph, Missouri; and William W. Their mother died in Jasper County December 25, Christmas Day, 1885, and was laid to rest in the Osborne Cemetery in Hanging Grove Township. She was born February 4, 1788, near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Her first husband, William S. Bussell, was born November 5, 1790, near Bowling Green, Kentucky, and died while taking a load of horses overland to Georgia. His death occurred in the State of Georgia in 1832. He was noted for his strength, his genial character, and was one of the conspicuous citizens of early Rushville. He was a Scotch-Irishman by ancestry.
William W. Bussell, who came when a child of five years to Jasper County with his mother, was born February 24, 1828, in Rush County near Rushville, and lived in Jasper County con- tinuously from the fall of 1833 until the date of his death on December 8, 1901. He was also laid to rest in the Osborne Ceme- tery, where many deceased members of the family and their rela- tives repose. By occupation he was a farmer and stock raiser, and a man who was exceptionally progressive. He had the distinc- tion of owning the first reaper, the first steel hay rake, and the first mower in Hanging Grove Township.
Clarissa P. Lefler, who married William W. Bussell February 14, 1850, and became the mother of Charles W. Bussell, was also of one of the most prominent carly families in this section of Indiana. Her parents were John and Catherine (Chamberlain) Lefler, who came to Hanging Grove Township from Rush County.
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Indiana, in the spring of 1837, entering 160 acres in section 29, range 5 west, township 29 north. This quarter section is now known as the Evaline Randall farm. John Lefler was one of the organizers of Ilanging Grove Township, and as its first tax col- lector made the rounds and performed his official duties on horse- back. North P. Lefler, a son of John Lefler, was the first school teacher in Hanging Grove Township, and the school house was the typical old-fashioned log cabin school, with its bench seats, its puncheon floor and greased paper windows, and the pupils wrote their copies with the goose quill pen fashioned by the schoolmaster. The school was maintained by subscriptions. The Lefler family is of German descent. To the marriage of William W. Bussell and wife were born eight children: Mary E. is the widow of Hugh Lowe and lives in Rensselaer; Charles W. is the second child and . oldest son; Matilda E. married William E. Jacks and lives in Marion Township; Martin L. died at the age of nineteen; Florence J. passed away when two years of age; Erastus J. died in infancy as did also Cicero; and Clara Belle married Sidney B. Holmes, and lives in Miles City, Montana. The late William W. Bussell, father of these children, represented all the better things in the life of a growing community. For a number of years after coming to Jasper County he voted regularly the Whig ticket and was one of the first republicans after the organization of that party and continued a faithful member until his death. He gave much public service, serving as township trustee during 1858-59, was for years a supervisor and a member of the township board. He and his family belong to the Christian Church, and he was a charter mem- ber of Francisville Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, and was honored with its different chairs.
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