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 6
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 6
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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
Eleven years of age when the family established a home in Jasper County, Alton Grant had previously attended the common schools of Wabash County, and afterwards gained some further instruction in such schools as existed in Marion Township during the decade of the '50s. He was a young man at the time of the Civil war and gave some service as a member of the Home Guard. His early experiences were all connected with farm life, and he has made that his regular vocation. He lived at home for a number of years, and did not establish a place of his own until he was thirty-five. On January 17, 1875, he married Maggie Dillon, a daughter of Abner and Nancy (Howe) Dillon. To this union were born three children: Charley, who married Millie Shipman ;
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Garland Hale, who is now active manager of his father's farm in Marion Township; and Josephine Gertrude. The son Garland, who was born in Jasper County August 21, 1879, is making a specialty of the raising and breeding of registered Belgian hares, and is one of the prominent young agriculturists and stock breeders of his community. He is a republican in his political affiliations, and cast his first presidential vote for William McKinley. The mother of these children died October 23, 1909, and is buried at Rensselaer. For more than thirty years they had lived together as man and wife, and she was a most devoted helpmate and her memory will always be cherished by her children and her children's children. She was an active member of the Church of God, and Mr. Grant is also identified with the same denomination. As a republican he has been interested in local affairs, though in the main his life has been spent in quiet accomplishment and upright living. He is a true pioneer of northwestern Indiana, and in the early history of his native county of Wabash he was a frequent visitor to the tepees of the Indians, whose reservation joined his father's farm. His home is on rural route No. 3 out of Rensselaer.
ANDREW HICKS. The honored subject of this memoir estab- lished his residence in Jasper County more than forty years ago and he passed the last two decades of his long and useful life in the Village of Remington, an upright citizen of strong mentality and of those kindly attributes of character that invariably beget popular confidence and esteem. The closing period of his life was passed in well earned retirement from the labors and responsibilities that had long rested upon him, and his high standing in the county that so long represented his home renders most consonant the tribute here paid to his memory.
Andrew Hicks was born in Devonshire, England, on the 14th of February, 1835, and was a scion of a family whose name has been identified with that section of the "right little, tight little isle" for many generations. He acquired his rudimentary education in his native land and was a lad of thirteen years when he accompanied his parents on their immigration to America, the family home being established in the Province of Ontario, Canada, where he was reared to manhood on a pioneer farm and where he measureably supple- mented his educational discipline, though his later status as a man of broad information and mature judgment was gained largely through self-application and association with the practical affairs of life. In Ontario was solemnized his marriage to Miss Isabella Banes, and thereafter he continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits in the old home province until 1870, when he came with his family to the United States and established his residence on a farm near Momence, Kankakee County, Illinois, where he remained until 1873. He then removed with his family to Jasper County, Indiana, and for three years thereafter he continued his operations
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М. П. Нска.
A. Hicks
Fria Hicks.
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as an agriculturist and stock-grower on a farm 21/2 miles east of Remington. In 1876 he purchased a farm in White County, just across the line from Jasper County, and there he continued to be successfully engaged in diversified agricultural pursuits and the raising of live stock in an incidental way until 1894, when he removed to Remington, where, in an attractive and comfortable home, he lived virtually retired until his death, which occurred on the 13th of January, 1909.
Mr. Hicks was reared in the faith of the Church of England, represented in the United States as the Protestant Episcopal Church, but later in life he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a man of well fortified convictions and after becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States he espoused the cause of the republican party, of whose principles he continued to be a loyal supporter until his death. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks became the parents of seven children, all of whom are living, and on other pages is given a brief review of the career of their son Fred A., who is a representative merchant at Remington.
FRED A. HICKS. Personal executive ability, fair and honorable dealings and effective service have given to Mr. Hicks secure prestige as one of the leading merchants of the Village of Remington, Jasper County, and his individual popularity in the community is effectively vouchsafed by the fact that at the time of this writing he is giving most loyal, progressive and effective administration in the office of president of the board of trustees or common council of the village. He is a son of the late Andrew Hicks, to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this work, so that further reference to the family history is not demanded at this juncture.
On the homestead farm of his father, in Princeton Township, White County. Indiana, Fred A. Hicks was born on the Sth of May, 1877, and the place of his birth, contiguous to the Jasper County line, is virtually within sight of the village in which he now main- tains his home and in which he availed himself of the advantages of the public schools after previously attending the district school near his home. Mr. Hicks continued to be associated with the work and management of his father's farm until he had attained to the age of twenty years, when he assumed a position as clerk in a general merchandise establishment, beginning at the bottom of what is now one of the largest mercantile establishments in Remington, Indiana. Within the four years that he maintained this association Mr. Hicks acquired excellent knowledge of the various details of the mercantile business, and thus he was well fortified when, in \ 1901, he initiated his independent enterprise as a dealer in dry- goods, shoes, men's furnishing goods and various other lines of merchandise. He has an establishment that is essentially modern in its equipment and appointments and the same controls a sub-
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stantial and representative trade, marking the popular appreciation of its facilities and of the sterling characteristics of its owner.
Mr. Hicks is entitled to be designated as one of the most progressive and public-spirited citizens of Remington, and that the local community has full appreciation of this fact is shown by its retaining him in the office of chief executive of the municipal gov -. ernment. He was first elected to this position in 1911, and by successive re-elections has continued his incumbency of the office to the present time, the autumn of 1915. He is affiliated with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and he and his wife are popular figures in connection with the leading social activities of the com- munity, their religious affiliation being with the Presbyterian Church.
On the 5th of June, 1901, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hicks to Miss Hattie Belle Yeoman, a daughter of Ira Yeoman, and a representative of a family that was founded in Jasper County in the early pioncer days, the Yeomans having, in fact, been numbered among the first settlers in the county, where they established their home when this section of the Hoosier State was little more than a forest wild. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks have two children, Doris Rosa- mond, in the eighth grade of school, and Donald Ross, a member of the fourth grade.
WILLIAM D. MEYERS. With a residence in Walker Township of Jasper County for forty-three years, William D. Meyers has played the part of an influential and public spirited citizen, and successful himself, he has used his resources for the benefit of the community in many ways. His name is perhaps as well known over Jasper County as that of any other local citizen.
Born January 21, 1852, in Hamilton County, Ohio, he was the second in a family of six children born to William and Mary (Dinkleman) Meyers, both of whom were natives of Germany. The names of the children are: John E., who is still living and married; William D .; Carrie and Louis S., both deceased; Henry C. and George F., who are married and have families of their own. The sons Henry and George finished their education after coming to Jasper County in the old Walker School in Walker Township.
William D. Meyers had limited educational advantages as a boy, largely because of the fact that schools were poorly equipped and scholastic advantages were not considered so requisite a part of equipment in those days as at the present time. At the age of twenty-one he started out to make his own way in the world, and in looking back over a period of more than forty years he can have few regrets in view of the success he has attained. The Meyers family came to Jasper County in 1872, and William D. Meyers has ever since lived in Walker Township. As a young man he worked as a farm hand, but soon engaged in buying cattle, and has been
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a stock trader practically all his active career. For a number of years he was associated with his brother in that business.
On February 25, 1890, in Jasper County Mr. Meyers married Lottie Holle. Two children were born to their marriage: William H., still unmarried; and Pearl Ruth, deceased.
When Mr. Meyers came to Jasper County in 1872 the entire country was little more than a wilderness of variegated marsh and brush land, and the favorite areas for cultivation were the sand ridges. He also recalls that at that time only three schools were maintained in Walker Township, known as the Walker, Hersh- man and Spriggs, the last being kept in a log cabin. Politically Mr. Meyers has always been identified with the republican party, and in 1882 he was elected township trustee, and gave a very efficient administration and from that day to this has always been interested and a worker for the advancement of the public schools in his town- ship and all other needed public improvements. From 1906 to 1910 he served as township assessor.
MATHEW P. CARR. It is not only as a pioneer settler, but as a man of broad usefulness and influence in the community, that the late Mathew P. Carr is recalled to the memory of the younger generation in Jasper County. He stood high among the older settlers, was industrious, quiet in his manner, seldom attracting much attention beyond the borders of his own neighborhood, but wherever known was recognized for his sterling merits and his efficiency in everything he undertook.
It was more than thirty years ago that the career of Mathew . P'. Carr came to a close with his death on February 10, 1884. He was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, February 9, 1822. His father, Thomas Carr, married a Miss Pittman, and while he was Scotch his wife was Scotch-Irish. About 1830 the Carr family moved to Tippecanoe County, Indiana, when the late Mathew P. Carr was eight years of age. His parents lived there until their death, and in the fall of 1851 Mathew P. Carr, who was then a vigorous young man, and had gained his early training in the log cabin subscription schoolhouses of Tippecanoe County, moved over into Jasper County and settled in Iroquois Township now Newton County. In that locality he made his home, gradually prospering, and helped to change pioneer conditions to those of a well settled and developed neighborhood. It was among people many of whom he had known by close ties of friendship and neighborly kindness that he passed away more than thirty years later, and was laid to rest in the Egypt cemetery in Jordan Township.
Mathew P. Carr married Adeline Graves. Her father was Ben- jamin Graves, who married a Miss Pierce. Of the nine children born to Mathew Carr and wife the two oldest died unnamed in infancy. The third, Margaret Eliza, is also deceased. The fourth is Nancy Ann; the next is James; Thomas, is now deceased; Vol. IT-4
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Rebecca Jane is Mrs. John A. Knowlton; Carey L .; and Philena, Mrs. John E. Medworth.
Those who remember Mathew Carr would have been surprised to have ever known him as a politician, since it was inconsistent with his quiet unostentatious demeanor to strive for political honors. However, he was a democrat in voting. He was devoted to his family, and made a great success as a farmer and stock dealer. Though reared in the Quaker faith he never joined that sect. His widow survived him many years and passed away in 1905, and they are buried side by side in Jordan Township.
For more than a quarter of a century two of the sons of the late Mathew P. Carr have been successfully identified with farm enterprise in Newton Township under the firm name Carr Brothers. These brothers are James and Carey, the former born April 16, 1852, and the latter March 2, 1860. Since reaching young manhood they have been partnership farmers, where they now own and manage five hundred forty-eight acres of high class land, besides eighty acres of which are located in Jordan Township. They have made many improvements upon the land, and carry on a large busi- ness as general farmers and stock raisers.
ABRAM. JACKSON FREELAND. Among the men who have helped forward that remarkable economic transformation by which the waste and wooded lands of Jasper County were reclaimed and con- verted into productive fields and the smiling landscape of happy homes, a place of practical usefulness belongs to Abram Jackson Freeland of Newton Township. Mr. Freeland is one of the few remaining of the early settlers in this county, which he first came to know as a boy, and during his life-time he has witnessed prac- tically all the changes of importance that have revolutionized not only the industry of agriculture but also practically every other department of civilized living.
Born in Crawford County, Ohio, July 24, 1838, he was eight years of age, when, in 1846, he was brought to Jasper County by his parents, Abram and Nancy (Tracey) Freeland. During the '3os and '4os the highways and byways that led from east to west were almost constantly traversed by the wagons bearing emigrants to their new homes, and it was in one of these little caravans that the Freeland family came into Jasper County. They drove two wagons, one drawn by two horses and the other by three, and also brought along with them a small herd of five cows. The season was the late fall, and heavy rains made such roads as were available almost impassable to the wagons. After reaching Jasper County the family spent the following winter at Rensselaer, and then for two years the father lived upon the rented land in section 21 owned by one of the Yeoman family. In the meantime he bought 160 acres in section 17, Newton Township, paying prices ranging from three dollars to four and a half dollars per acre. The property had two
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small cabins into which the family moved, but other improvements were hardly deserving of mention. The greater part of the land was covered with heavy woods and confronted by this task Abraham Freeland took up the work of clearing and improving. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, only two of whom are now living. Abraham Freeland was a man of medium size, and was best known in his generation and is best remembered by the old settlers more for his industry and quiet unobtrusiveness than for any other qualities. He belonged to no religious denomination or secret order, was held in high regard as a moral upright man, and good citizen. His wife died in 1859 and he afterward married Elizabeth Wiley.
Abram Jackson Freeland had his bringing up on the old home farm in Newton Township, around which locality most of his early associations center. As an indication of the scope of his individual experience it should be stated that in the early days and when suffi- cient strength came to his youthful arms, he helped to mow grass with a sickle and reap grain with a cradle. The sowing of the fields was done by hand, broadcast. As a boy he also rode the horse which monotonously tramped back and forth over the floor covered by the grain in the stalk, which was the manner of threshing most generally used in this community fifty or sixty years ago. Though only eight years of age at the time he recalls many incidents of the trip from Ohio to Jasper County, and one fact in particular which indicates the primitive condition of the country at that time is that in all the many miles traversed the wagons never once crossed a railroad track. Thus under his individual observation the great changes for which the nineteenth century was responsible have taken place one after the other, and he has lived to witness the great modern age of electricity and invention. Almost his entire life has been spent in Newton Township, and largely on the farm where he now resides. Mr. Freeland has one of the valuable and well improved country homes in Newton Township, comprising 240 acres of land.
In citizenship he has been honored with those positions of trust and responsibility that furnish large opportunities for service, and has served two terms of two years each as township trustee and one term of four years in that office, and did a valuable work to the community in looking after the property and management of the local schools. In politics he is a democrat, and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Rensselaer.
On June 9, 1875, Mr. Freeland married Josephine Sayler, daughter of Jacob and Elenore (Hendricks) Sayler. To their marriage have been born five children : Marion, a farmer of New- ton Township; Merrill A., who lives with his parents; Eva; Annie, who died at the age of thirteen years; and Ray, who died when two months old.
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JOHN BARNETT. One of Jasper County's most respected citizens passed out of life at his home at Remington, November 16, 1908, John Barnett, who was well known all through this section for his sterling character, his kind heart and his generous hospitality. Mr. Barnett was a native of Ohio, born February 15, 1838. His parents were James and Phoebe (Huckins) Barnett, natives of Vermont. While John Barnett was young his people moved from Ohio to Illinois and settled eight miles distant from Kankakee. There he attended school and assisted his father on the farm. Early in the Civil war he enlisted in Company G, Twenty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, later transferring to Company H, and served throughout the entire period of strife. He was an efficient soldier but in later years suffered somewhat from rheumatism brought on through necessary exposure during his army service.
Mr. Barnett was united in marriage with Miss Cynthia Nagley, on November 3, 1874. She is a daughter of Josiah and Nancy (Hawkins) Nagley, well known and highly respected people who lived near Watseka, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett had one daugh- ter, Jessie, who died young.
Shortly after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Barnett moved on a farm of 160 acres situated in Carpenter Township and later an addi- tional 160-acre farm, located near Bluffton, Indiana, was added to their possessions, both of these properties being owned yet by Mrs. Barnett. Together they worked to improve their two farmis and Mr. Barnett lived to see them under high cultivation and well repay- ing the care put on them. Mrs. Barnett devotes the larger part of her land to corn and oats and also keeps considerable high grade stock. She is a member of the Women's Relief Corps.
In 1903 Mr. and Mrs. Barnett left the farm and moved to Rem- ington where they lived in great comfort, Mr. Barnett taking delight in his home. He was genial and social by nature and loved to have his friends around him. He joined no secret society nor was he very active in politics and never was willing to accept any public office. He was a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln and adopted his political faith.
CHARLES J. DEAN. One of the most valuable services supplied in any community, new or old, is that represented by the real estate dealer. Both the buyer and seller of realty needs the keen judg- ment and experience of a man who makes this line of business a profession, and when in addition to long experience there is com- bined a thorough integrity the real estate dealer at once becomes one of the leaders in a community's business men. This is the position enjoyed at Rensselaer by Charles J. Dean, who has handled real estate and insurance for a number of years, and has spent most of his active career in Jasper County.
It was in 1859 that he came to Jasper County with his parents, who drove across the country in a two-horse wagon from Blooming- ton, Indiana. Charles J. Dean was born near Smithville, Indiana, April 1, 1855, and all but one of the ten children of his parents are
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John Barnett
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ford) Dean, the former a native of Delaware and the latter of Kentucky. Eli B. Dean was a farmer, was born in 1828, and came West as far as Muskingum County, Ohio, at the age of twenty, and after moving his family to Jasper County in 1859 was engaged in farming in Marion Township up to 1882. In that year he moved ont to Kansas, and lived in that state until his death in November, 1910. His widow is still living at an advanced age, and has her home in Kansas. .
With his boyhood days spent on the home farm in Jasper County, Charles J. Dean in addition to the usual experiences of a farmer boy has recollections growing out of a considerable work as cattle herder on the prairie. Such education as he acquired was from the public schools, which were then few, meager in equip- ment and deficient in instruction, as compared with those that exist at the present time. His preliminary instruction was supplemented by a course in the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso.
Mr. Dean married Minnie W. Troxell, daughter of Jacob Troxell. Following his marriage he took up farming as a career, and made that his regular vocation for about seven years, and from it acquired much of the knowledge and experience in estimating land values which have proved exceedingly valuable to him in his present line of undertaking. For four years he lived at Washington, Illinois, and conducted a store in that community. Returning to Jasper County, he was in the hardware business at Rensselaer until selling his stock to the present proprietor, Edward D. Rhoades. Since going out of the mercantile business Mr. Dean has concen- trated all his efforts upon the real estate, insurance and loan business.
In politics he is a republican, and is a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 82. He and his wife have two fine sons: Charles Ross, who is now superintendent of the Rensselaer public schools; and David Delos, who is a graduate of the law depart- ment of the State University and is now a young lawyer at Rensselaer.
OMAR J. KENTON. One of the progressive and enterprising farmers and stock raisers of Newton Township, Jasper County, traces his ancestry in an unbroken line to Mark Kenton, who was born in Ireland, March I, 1701, and was the progenitor of the family in America. He settled in Virginia and was the father of William, Benjamin, Mark, Simon (the famous Indian fighter), and John. William Kenton, the eldest, was born September 20, 1737, and married Mary Cleland, and with his family and other pioneers, under the leadership of his brother, the celebrated Simon Kenton, left Fauquier County, Virginia, for Kentucky, in September, 1783. They crossed the Allegheny Mountains in wagons and came down the Ohio River to near the present site of Louisville, without serious molestation from the savages. William Kenton and his family resided for some eleven years in what is now Mercer County, Kentucky, but in December, 1794, located near Washing- Inn in 1
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migrated to the wilderness of the community of what was known as Mad River, a tributary of the Great Miami, in the Northwest Territory. William Kenton died in Champaign County, Ohio, May 21, 1822.
William Kenton and his wife were the parents of nine children, the eldest being Philip Conrad Kenton, who was born December 5, 1765, and was the father of William, Thomas, Elizabeth, Mark, John, Edmund, Sarah and Benjamin. John Kenton, of the fore- going, was born in June, 1799, and after the death of his first wife, who was Nancy Anderson, married Polly McDougal. John Ken- ton, widely known as "Coon" Kenton, came from Ohio to Jasper. County, Indiana, in 1843, and died here December 28, 1879. Simon Kenton, one of the children of John, was born in 1836, and was seven years old when brought to Jasper County. He was here reared and made this community his home during the greater part of his life. He served the Union cause during the Civil war and had an honorable record as a soldier. He married Josephine Spry, and Omar J. Kenton, of this review, is the youngest of their children.
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