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 21
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 21
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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
On March 14, 1882, Mr. Hudson married Elizabeth Mather, daughter of S. P. and Julia ( Conger) Mather, who were both natives .of New York State and of old Yankee stock. To their marriage were born seven children. Bertha A., the oldest, is now deceased. Mabel E. is the wife of Fred Foreman and they live in Iroquois Township of Newton County. Clara B. married Arthur Clinton,
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and they live half a mile west of Ade in Newton County. George M. married Nora Branson and lives in Carroll County, between Burnettsville and Lockport. Florence L. and Maude E. both live at home, while Julia, the youngest, is now deceased.
In politics Mr. Hudson is a republican, and has exercised a good deal of influence in local affairs, though he has never been a secker for office. He has been in favor of all public improvements, and his own farm reflects some of his ideals as a business manager and has been not without value as an example of good farming manage- ment. Ile also owns property in Goodland and elsewhere.
CHARLES E. MEADAL. A young farmer who brought his wife and established himself in the fine rural district of Carpenter Town- ship seventeen years ago, Charles Meadal since then has made his name and influence count for a great deal in the affairs of his immediate locality and the county at large. Mr. Mcadal has for several years been identified with county politics, and is now a member of the county council. He has one of the fine farms located on Rural Route No. 3 out of Remington, and predicating his future on the accomplishment of the past it is safe to predict that Charles Meadal will for many years be one of the forces of progress and enlightenment in his part of the county.
An Illinois man by birth, he was born at Downers Grove, in DuPage County, October 27, 1872, a son of Charles and Lena (Hickel) Meadal. His father was born in New York State, though of.German ancestry, while his mother was a native of Germany. His father has spent all his active career as a farmer, is a German Lutheran, a republican in politics, and still lives at Downers Grove, Illinois.
Charles Meadal had his rearing and early training in DuPage County, Illinois, attended the local schools there, and after those experiences and occupations common to most young men he married and immediately after that event, in the spring of 1898, came to Jasper County, locating on Section 22, Range 7 West of Carpenter Township. That has been the scene of his sturdy endeavors as a farmer and stock feeder down to the present writing.
Mr. Meadal was married in his native county to Lena Veith, a daughter of Fred and Sarah (Schweichart) Veith, both of whom were natives of Germany. To their marriage were born four children : Howard, now deceased; Clarence E., Ruth and Marion, all of them at home.
As a republican Mr. Meadal served four years on the township advisory board, and in April, 1914, was appointed a member of the Jasper County Council, and was regularly elected to that office for the term of two years in the fall of 1914. Since July 1, 1915, . he has been assistant county superintendent of roads. Ile has been a factor in local improvements and one evidence of this is the . Mcadal Ditch, which runs through sections 21, 22, 27 and 28
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of Carpenter Township, and which starts on the land comprised within his own farm. Mr. Meadal is proprietor of 160 acres, situated 334 miles northwest of Remington. lle uses his land for general farming and stock raising purposes, and usually feeds some three or four carloads of cattle for the Chiacgo market each year. He also owns some stock in the Farmers Co-operative Ele- vator Company at Remington. Mr. Mcadal is a member of the German Lutheran Church, while Mrs. Mcadal is a Presbyterian. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias Lodge, No. 58, at Remington.
ROBERT F. IRWIN. Now one of the prosperous farmers in Car- penter Township, Robert F. Irwin is a man whose success, which is of a large and worthy nature, has been won entirely as the result of his own well directed efforts. Coming to Jasper County at the age of twenty-two, only recently discharged from the army with which he had fought for the sake of the Union, he had very little except his industry to depend upon as a means of advancement. In a few years he married, bought a small farm, and around that as a nucleus has built up in some forty or forty-five years one of the excellent agricultural properties in the township. Throughout his career he has been public spirited in his attitude toward local improvements, and stands high in the regard of his fellow men wherever known.
His parents were William and Sarah Ann (Cottingham) Irwin, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Delaware. The Irwins were originally from Scotland. When a very young man William Irwin moved to Hamilton County, Indiana, and lived there until 1865, when he moved to Jasper County, and in the spring of that year settled in Carpenter Township, which was his home until his death. In early days he followed the trade of shingle making, but on the whole was a farmer. Robert F. Irwin has one brother, John A. Irwin, who lives at Brook in Newton County.
Robert F. Irwin was born August 6, 1844, in a log house eight miles south of Noblesville in Hamilton County. In that environment he grew up, and at home and in school heard and learned much of the current agitation and discussions concerning slavery, and lived amidst the rumors of Civil warfare until he was about twenty years of age, when he enlisted March 31, 1864, at Indianapolis, in Com- pany I of the Twenty-sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He went South with his command and was stationed at New Orleans and also participated in the siege of Mobile. He remained in the service for a number of months after actual hostilities had closed, and was finally given his honorable discharge at Indianapolis January 24, 1866. He then rejoined his parents, who in the meantime had moved to Carpenter Township, and soon afterwards began his career as a farmer, which has now been continuous for almost half a century.
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On December 22, 1870, Mr. Irwin married Elizabeth A. Bauchert, a daughter of Jacob and Mary Bauchert, who were of Pennsylvania Dutch stock, but lived for many years in Hamilton County, Indiana. Of the seven children born to their marriage one died in infancy. The daughter Clara is now deceased. Celia M. married Levi Whit- moyer and they live in Noblesville and are the parents of four children. Julia M. lives at home. Carrie married William Pender and they live at Magdalena, New Mexico, their two children being Elizabeth and William. Walter married Bertha Bryan and lives in Powell, Wyoming. Faye L. is still at home.
In the spring of 1872 Mr. Irwin moved to his present farm in Section 16, Range 6 West, Carpenter Township, and with that one locality his activities have been identified now for fully forty- three years. He owns eighty acres of land, all well improved and cultivated, and his home is 314 miles northeast of Remington. Mrs. Irwin dicd December 5, 1913, after they had lived together for nearly forty-three years, and she was laid to rest in the Remington Cemetery.
Mr. Irwin as a farmer has combined general agriculture with stock raising to a degree of success that makes him now practically independent. He is a republican who has usually voted for the best man in local affairs. He has himself filled some of the important offices of local responsibility, and was a member of the township advisory board fourteen years, and township supervisor one term. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and belongs to . Remington Post No. 74, Grand Army of the Republic.
GEORGE H. MURPHEY. If there is one family name more than another which the little City of Morocco honors it is that of Murphey. The town and business community are to be congratu- lated on the fact that one of its livest and most energetic merchants is a grandson of the founder of the city.
Ilis grandfather, John Murphey, came from Ohio in early days, first settling in Lafayette, Indiana, and then moving as a pioneer to what was then Jasper County. He located on the site of Morocco, where he pre-empted 160 acres of government land. A man of great enterprise, foresight and liberality, he soon laid out a town, the first plat of which comprised only four blocks or squares. From that time forward John Murphey took the lead in promoting every movement of benefit to that community. He platted other land, and in every way laid the foundation for the present thriving city, which has its business houses, its homes, its schools, churches and is one of the best centers of trade and business in the two counties. He was a charter member of the Methodist Church, did much for the upbuilding of that denomination and of other churches in the town, and the first sermon preached in Morocco was in his residence. . He was an active republican.
William Murphey, the father of George H. of Morocco, was
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born near Battle Ground, Indiana, May 23, 1831, and died at his home in Morocco, February 6, 1905, aged seventy-three years, cight months and twelve days. He was a typical pioneer of Newton County, coming with his parents to this county in 1843. He spent most of his life here, with the exception of eighteen years in Illinois. Ile wedded Miss Luvina Roadruck April 3, 1851, and five children - four sons and one daughter-were born to this union. The daughter died in infancy and the sons were George II., John B., Ira W. and William E.
Soon after the organization of Lodge No. 378. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in Morocco, he became a member, and he was also a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was one of the staunch supporters of its doctrines. He was a man of the strictest integrity and honesty of character, and he inculcated those beautiful principles into the minds and hearts of his sons. The members of the Murphey family are citizens who have always been ready and willing to do their part in the advancement of all meas- ures and policies for the upbuilding of the county spiritually, morally and intellectually. They favor good churches and the excellent school system for which Indiana is noted.
Mrs. Murphey died September 20, 1907, in Morocco. For fifty- four years, more than a half century, Mr. and Mrs. William Murphey had traveled the journey of life hand in hand, sharing alike its joys and sorrows. She was an estimable lady, a loving and affectionate wife and a grand and noble mother to her children. She was born in Warren County, Indiana, November 23, 1834, and educated in her native state. From the time she was a little maiden of twelve years she was a member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church.
George H. Murphey, a son of William and Luvina ( Roadruck) Murphey, was born in Morocco January 11, 1852. George Murphey was the oldest of the five children of his parents. At the age of twenty-one, on May 13, 1873, he married Miss Flora Frances Graves, and there was one child born to that union, Bessie L., who married Edwin Hamilton, and he is engaged in the dredge business on a large scale. Mr. Murphey afterward married Miss Stella Tombs.
Mr. Murphey has been in business in Morocco for over thirty-five years, and is one of the oldest merchants of Newton County. A number of years ago he established a partnership with Mr. Joseph Kennedy, and since then they have conducted one of the leading dry goods and grocery houses of Morocco, Mr. Murphey being now . the active manager of that enterprise. He is affiliated with the Masonic and Knights of Pythias fraternities at Morocco.
CHARLES DLUZAK. Had agricultural and industrial conditions been easier than they were in Posen, Germany, fifty years ago, it is probable that that province would not have lost such worthy Vol. II-12
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people as the Dluzaks, who came from there to the United States in 1865. The head of the family was Jacob Dluzak. He was of old Polish ancestry. They were accompanied to America by their children, Charles, at that time being twelve years old.
Charles Dluzak, who is one of Jasper County's respected men and substantial farmers, was born April 23, 1853, in the Village of Allynkavo, Posen, Germany, and thus was old enough to enjoy and remember the adventures of the long journey by land and sea that separated the old home from the new. After reaching the United States the family located first just south of Michigan City, Indiana, moving from there to Porter County, and later to Momence, in Kankakee County, and from there to Jasper County, reaching Remington in 1875. The parents died in Indiana, the father surviv- ing until September, 1914, and both father and mothier rest in the Catholic cemetery at Remington.
Being strong and sturdy and very industrious, Charles Dluzak had no difficulty in finding employment and after coming to Jasper County made general farming his main business. His father in those early days had often told of the heavy yields of grain, nfillet, flax, hemp and tobacco on the farms in Posen and of the green hop fields of their native land and at that time it is probable that Charles had little idea that the day would come when more than these crops would be produced abundantly on his own land and through his own labor, in Jasper County. Through hard work and excellent management he soon began to acquire land, and now owns 367 aeres, favorably located, lying 434 miles northwest of Remington, Indiana. He is also one of the stockholders in the Farmers' Co- operative Elevator Company, at that place. He is accounted one of the leading men of Carpenter Township, although he has never allied himself with any political party and has never sought any public office. He votes intelligently for the man he believes will best serve the people and make the community safe and law-abiding.
Charles Dluzak was married in 1881 to Miss Katherine Ulm, of German and French descent, and a daughter of James and Eva (Eck) Ulm, well known people of Carpenter Township. To this marriage the following children were born : Justina Ann, who resides with her parents; Charles H., who is a resident of Wabash County, married Alice Carver ; Lillian, who is deceased; John H. and Albert E., both of whom give their father help on the home farm; Aloysius, who is now deceased; Evalyn M., who married Labie Hill; Allic, who married Verne Peters, a resident of Wabash County; and Florence L. and Lorene M., both of whom reside at home. This family belongs to the Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Remington. Mr. Dluzak is a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters at this place.
JOHN WILLIAM RYAN. If any citizen of Newton County deserves credit for his success won by hard work beginning in early
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boyhood and a constant display of energy and close application, it is John William Ryan. Ile has been through all the grades of service, office boy, clerk, traveling salesman, junior partner and senior partner, and no one could justly begrudge him his enviable position in the community.
The record of his life begins with his birth at Lafayette, Indiana, on October 31. 1862. His parents, John William and Bridget (Cun- ningham) Ryan, natives of Ireland, came to the United States in 1854, and lived in Lafayette. Indiana, for a number of years. In May, 1863, six months after the son's birth, the family moved to Kentland, where the father was in the mercantile business there until his death on May 27, 1869, being one of the pioneer business men of the village. Bridget Cunningham Ryan after his death continued to reside in Kentland until she passed away in May, 1909. Her two surviving children are John W. and Mamie Ryan.
Six years of age when his father died, John W. Ryan spent his boyhood in conditions of slender resources and did not have the privilege of attending school after he was eleven years old. At that age he became and for some years continued as the bread winner for his mother and sister. He proved his ability and made himself useful to the prominent old merchant and founder of the town, A. J. Kent, working as clerk in his general store. He remained with Mr. Kent until the latter's death. In May, 1882, the business was taken over by Mrs. Kent, and Mr. Ryan continued under the new organization until she passed away, when the old firm was closed out. With this experience as a country merchant, Mr. Ryan then became traveling representative for Arbuckle Brothers of New York. After some years on the road he took the junior partnership in the firm of Keefe & Ryan at Kentland, and with the death of Mr. Keefe formed a partnership with C. C. Kent as senior in the firm of J. W. Ryan & Company, which is one of the largest mer- cantile organizations in Newton County.
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At the same time Mr. Ryan has taken a public spirited part in local affairs. In 1884 he was elected clerk of the Town of Kent- land. Politically he is a democrat. Ile is a charter member, stock- holder and a director of the Kent State Bank. Other associations are with the Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus at Kentland and the Hlazelden Golf Club. On April 21, 1908, Mr. Ryan was married in Chicago to Mrs. Natalie Frailey Cones, daughter of Joseph Frailey.
FRANK KENNEDY, M. D. A physician is usually content to have his abilities appreciated and known in the one community where he resides and carries on his practice.
Born at Paragon, Indiana, April 17, 1879, Dr. Frank Kennedy is a son of John and Anna ( Laughlin) Kennedy, both of whom were natives of Morgan County, Indiana, and of Scotch-Irish descent. Doctor Kennedy's great-grandfather was Peter Kennedy, an early
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settler in Kentucky in the period closely following the Revolution, and he was captured and held prisoner for some time by the Indians in that state. His maternal grandfather, Richard Laughlin, came from South Carolina to Owen County, Indiana, as one of the earliest pioneers of that section. Doctor Kennedy's father was born in Morgan County, Indiana, in 1832, and is still living at the age of eighty-three in Paragon. He likewise has given his active career to the profession of medicine.
Dr. Frank Kennedy was reared in Paragon, attended the com- mon schools there, the high school at Martinsville, was a student in the University of Indiana, and then entered the Medical College of Indiana, where he graduated in 1902. For a year he was con- nected as an interne with the City Dispensary at Indianapolis, and also spent about a year as physician in the Julietta Insane Hospital. Since 1903 Doctor Kennedy has been located at Goodland and was associated in practice with Doctor Pratt until the latter's retire- ment. He is a member of the Jasper and Newton County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Association, the American Medi- cal Association, and the American Association of Railway Surgeons. He is also local surgeon at Goodland for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railway.
In 1907 he married Mary E. Hardy. Her mother is Emma D. (Strawn) Hardy, and both the Strawn and Hardy families were early settlers in Newton County. To their marriage has been born one child, Richard H. Doctor Kennedy is affiliated with the Masonic L'odge and the Knights of Pythias at Goodland. He is a director of the First National Bank of that town.
ALONZO E. PURKEY. It is not only as a prosperous agriculturist but also as a business man and public official that Alonzo E. Purkey is known to the community of Morocco and Newton County, where he has spent practically all his life. The Purkey family has been identified with Newton County more than sixty years, and all the various members have been noted for hard working ability and shrewd business judgment.
Brought to this county when a small child, Mr. Purkey was born September 13. 1853, near Knightstown in Henry County, Indiana. His parents, Clayborn L. and Sarah Ann (Carmichael) Purkey, moved to Henry County, Indiana, from Tennessee, a short time before the birth of their son. Clayborn L. Purkey was a shoemaker by trade, and after removing to Newton County in 1856 he followed that occupation in Morocco. Ile lived a long and useful life, fifty years of which were spent in Newton County, and his death occurred in 1906. Mr. Purkey's mother died in 1863, when he was ten years of age. The paternal ancestry is traced back to German stock and from that country the great-grandfather emigrated to North Carolina. Clayborn L. Purkey was a member of the Meth- odist Church and was closely identified with that denomination in
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Bryn thia & Pturkey
يحبدا
IFP
رجال الملية
alongo @, Purkey.
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Newton County for half a century. Politically he was a democrat. In a family of ten children, seven are still living, with Alonzo E. Purkey the oldest.
The first twenty-one years of his life he spent in the home of his father. During that time he acquired his education in the public schools of Morocco and on leaving home he began an active career as a farmer. He also followed teaming until 1882, and then engaged in the mercantile business at Morocco. After two years he opened a stock of drugs and hardware, and was identified with those lines from 1884 to 1893. Early in President Cleveland's second admin- istration he was appointed postmaster of Morocco, and filled the office until 1897. He then resumed the drug business under the name Alonzo E. Purkey & Son, and for the past twenty years the leading drug house of Morocco has been conducted under that name and title.
Politically Mr. Purkey is a stanch democrat. He served as jus- tice of the peace and for three years as a member of the school board of Morocco. In 1904 he was elected county auditor of Newton County, a position he filled until 1909, and while in that office his son, Jesse R. Purkey, conducted the drug store. An enthusiastic Mason, Mr. Purkey is affiliated with Morocco Lodge No. 372, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, with the Royal Arch Chapter and with the Council at Monticello.
Mr. Purkey was married in Morocco by Elder D. M. Johnson to Miss Cynthia Iva Roadruck, a daughter of Benjamin F. and Catherine (Stoner ) Roadruck. Her parents came from Germany, first settling in Ohio, and in the very early days coming to Newton County. Indiana, where her father followed farming. Benjamin Roadruck died at Morocco April 24, 1877, aged seventy-four years, eleven months and twenty-six days. IIc was born in Hampshire County, Virginia, April 28, 1801. In 1807 his parents came to Carleton County, Ohio. In 1823 he wedded Elizabeth James. They settled in Warren County. Indiana, in 1829, and were among the earliest inhabitants there. Mrs. Roadruck died April 14, 1840, the mother of seven children. On May 3, 1843, Mr. Roadruck married Catherine Stoner, and she was the mother of six children.
In 1867 Benjamin Roadruck went to the wilds of Minnesota, on the homestead plan, but returned in 1875. While in Minnesota he encountered many dangers with the Indians, and he often related the incidents and hair breadth escapes from the red men of his eight years of pioneer life in the wilds. Many a time he would sit up all night long with his rifle to protect himself and family from the red men, and it was necessary at one time for him to treat with the Indians in the shape of $60 worth of furs and other commodi- ties to save their lives, all because of the killing of an Indian dog.
When quite young Mr. Roadruck joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, and ever remained a faithful and consistent member. Of "Father" Roadruck it can truly he said: "Servant of God, well
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done." He will long be remembered as an honest and upright man, and the following lines are dedicated to his memory :
"Finished thy work, then go in peace; Life's battle fought and won, Hear from the throne the Master's voice, 'Well' done. Well done.'"
Mr. and Mrs. Purkey became the parents of ten children, and the seven now living are Jesse R., Mattie Louie Amy, Grover B., Carrie Lucile, Warren Bayard, Esther C. and Alonzo E.
The eldest son, Jesse R., is one of the leading young men of Morocco, Indiana. He was educated in the Morocco schools and graduated from Purdue University with the class of 1903 as a pharmacist. He is a High Maroon, affiliated with Lodge No. 372, A. F. & A. M., at Morocco, with the Royal Arch of Kentland, the Scottish Rite at Indianapolis and is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner. He is a democrat and is secretary of the Newton County Democratic Central Committee. He is a stockholder of the Rexall Stores. Mattie Louie Amy is the wife of Charles D. Martin, who is manager of the Grand Ridge (Ill.) Lumber Company. They have one son, V'erle. Mrs. Martin was educated in the Morocco High School and the Kentland High School. Grover B. Purkey is a graduate of the Kentland High School and took a four years' course in Purdue University in pharmaceutical chemistry. He is now chemist for Eli Lilly & Co. of Indianapolis. He is a democrat and a Royal Arch Mason of Indianapolis. Carrie Lucile is the wife of Everett Camblin, an agriculturist of Morocco. She was educated in the Morocco schools and also received a hospital training in Chicago as a nurse. They have one daughter. Mrs. Camblin is a member of the Christian Church at Morocco and Mr. Camblin is a democrat and a member of the Democratic Central Committee. Warren Bayard was educated in Morocco schools and is now a freshman in Purdue University. Esther C. is now in the first year of high school at Morocco. Alonzo E. is a sophomore in the Morocco High School and is an enthusiast on athletics, especially foot ball. ·
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