USA > Indiana > White County > A standard history of White County Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and county, Vol. II > Part 2
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In the following spring Thomas Downey, having sold his farm west of Monticello, bought land on the Monon Creek in Monon Township that had a cabin on it. This he sold later, bought on the north side of the creek just east of the Hugh Lowe farm, where he constructed a hewed log house and a frame barn. In 1850 the New Albany Railroad was finished and the county began to improve and a home market was estab- lished. Prior to this time marketing was done at Lafayette and Mich- igan City. Farmers joined teams to take a load of wheat to market and lay in a supply of leather, salt, coffee, and other necessities. Wheat sold at sixty cents a bushel and salt was purchased at $7.00 a barrel. In Mon- ticello wheat was as low as 371/2 cents and corn 121/2 cents a bushel.
Of the children of Thomas and Catherine (Moore) Downey, Rachael, the oldest, never married and died on the old homestead and was buried in the Bedford Cemetery. It should be mentioned that her father was one of the leaders in founding the Bedford Church and cemetery. The next daughter, Martha, married Lewis Graves. Their family consisted of three sons: Thomas, Samuel, Cheever, and three daughters: Minnie, Grace and Belle. Mr. and Mrs. Graves lived to old age, but both are now deceased and buried in the Bedford Cemetery. The daughter Nancy married Eli Cowger, and their children were Alice, Charles, Wil-
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"THIE SPRING CREEK STOCK FARM" RESIDENCE OF MR. AND MRS. THOMAS F. DOWNEY
THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE DOWNEY CHILDREN
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liam, Ida, Elizabeth, Thomas and Clara, the first three now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Cowger and the other children are still living on the farm near Monon. Of the two sons of Thomas and Catherine Downey Thomas married Mary Gates of Ohio, and they are still living in Yel- low Springs, Ohio. They have a son, Gates, who lives with them, and their daughter, May, died at the age of twenty-five.
James Downey, father of Thomas F. Downey, grew up in White County and started farming on his place near Buffalo, where he resided continuously for thirty-six years. He then moved to Monticello for four years, after which he was again on the farm eight years, and re- turning to Monticello for five years died there March 5, 1909, at the age of seventy-six. He was a farmer all his life, toiling hard to clear the virgin forest and rocks from his land. He never held any public office, but what is better enjoyed the respect and esteem of all who knew him. Of unassuming character, he was firm in his convictions and ready to stand for what he believed to be right at any cost. He was one of those few men who would rather suffer himself than harm another; conse- quently his whole life was spent in laboring for others. He is buried in the little churchyard at Buffalo back of the church he helped to found. On December 24, 1856, James Downey married Mary Jane Cowger. To their union were born six children: William Homer, Thomas Francis, Silas Cowger, James Wigton, Elizabeth Catherine, and John Calvin. This family record will conclude with some brief men- tion of these individual children :
William H. Downey, who was for twenty-eight years a teacher in the public schools, married Leona M. Yount, and lives on his farm two miles east of Buffalo. His son William Carlyle is deceased, and he has a soul living named Homer Ray Downey.
Thomas Francis Downey married Ida B. Yount, and they had three children : Mary Catherine, who died in infancy ; Clarence O., who is still at home; and William Francis who died in his thirteenth year. Thomas F. Downey married for his second wife Iva B. Cover, and their three daughters were named Verda Mae, Verna Frances and Clara Catherine. Thomas F. Downey has spent all his life on the farm except two years in Monticello when he was sheriff of White County. He also served four years as trustee of Liberty Township.
Silas Downey, who has spent most of his life in Chicago, where he lives at present and is a contractor and builder, has recently adopted the old family name of MacDowney. By his marriage to Hanna S. Imler he has four children: Madge Inez, Golda Hazel, Claude Colum- bus who died in infancy, and Morris Linden.
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James Downey, who is a carpenter by trade, now resides in Monti- cello, married Emma S. Ross, and their only child died in infancy.
Elizabeth Downey, who is unmarried, is employed with the large Chicago house of Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company.
John C. Downey, the youngest of the family, is superintendent of schools at Chalmers, and married Daisy M. Plunkett of Crawfordsville.
SCHUYLER C. DOBBINS. Seventy years ago, when White County was little removed from the wilderness conditions, the Dobbins family located in Princeton Township, and forthwith took up the work of im- provement and cultivation, as a result of which they added a number of acres to the productive area of this section. Of his family in its second generation, Schuyler C. Dobbins is a representative, and has been a well known citizen both in his home locality and in the county seat.
Schuyler C. Dobbins was born in Princeton Township, White County, October 10, 1859, one of the five children of Jackson and Sarah (Miller) Dobbins. The paternal ancestry is Scotch-Irish, and the mother's family was German. Jackson Dobbins was born in Virginia, his wife in Mary- land. They were married in the latter state, and in 1844 came to Indiana and settled in Princeton Township. There Jackson Dobbins followed farming and stock raising, but in 1865 removed to Logansport, lived there eighteen years, and finally returned to White County, and died at Wolcott December 19, 1877. His widow survived until July 13, 1909, and the bodies of both now rest at Wolcott. Jackson Dobbins was a republican in his usual political affiliations, but in 1878 identified himself with the greenback party. He was a deacon and elder in the Christian Church, and gave both time and means to the church activities. He was never a lodge man, and the only official positions he ever held were as trustee and assessor after the township was organized. A brief record of the five children is as follows: Matilda W., who became the wife of Charles F. Jones; Moses G., on the old farm in Princeton Township; Samuel I., who died at Warsaw in 1912; Robert F., at Wolcott; and Schuyler C.
Schuyler C. Dobbins completed his education in the Logansport Seminary and business college, and took up life for himself at the age of twenty-two. On February 14, 1885, he married Lucy Kinney, daugh- ter of John and Eliza Kinney. Mrs. Dobbins died in 1889. On June 15, 1894, Mr. Dobbins married for his second wife Miss Ollie Swick, daughter of Oliver P. and Margaret (Griffith) Swick. There are two' children : Winifred C., born December 7, 1899; and Dorrance D., born May 18, 1902. Mrs. Dobbins and her daughter are members of the Christian Church.
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In politics Mr. Dobbins is a democrat. When his brother Robert was elected sheriff of White County in 1892, he served under him as deputy, and in 1908 was elected city marshal of Monticello and spent six years of faithful work in that office. In the earlier part of his career he was associated with his father in the grain business at Wolcott until the latter's death. Mr. Dobbins has lived in Monticello since 1892. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, Castle Hall Lodge, No. 73; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 107; and the Improved Order of Red Men, Council No. 518.
JAMES MONAHAN LEFFEL. The career of James Monahan Leffel, city superintendent of schools at Monticello, Indiana, is one remarkable in a number of ways and is an illustration of the value of constant applica- tion and untiring effort in the overcoming of early environment and the surmounting of obstacles. He was born in the City of Boston, Massa- chusetts, May 3, 1880, a son of Michael A. and Lucy Louise (Molann) Monahan. He was but ten years of age when his father died, and arrangements were made by his mother for the lad's admission into the New England Home for Little Wanderers, at No. 202 West Newton Street, Boston. In June, 1890, he was brought from the East to Warsaw, Indiana, with twenty-four other children, and was adopted by Joshua Leffel, whose name he later took as his own.
The Leffel family is one that is widely and favorably known in Kos- ciusko County, Indiana, where its members have lived for many years and where they have taken a prominent part in the various affairs of life. William Leffel, the father of Joshua Leffel, migrated to Lake Township in that county at an early date and secured a Government land grant bearing the signature of Andrew Jackson. His wife was Julianne Tridle, of an old Kosciusko County family. The wife of Joshua Leffel was Mary Isabel Homman before her marriage, and she also belonged to a family of pioneers of that county.
James Monahan Leffel received his elementary training in the com- mon schools of Lake Township, District No. 6, Kosciusko County, and in 1898 was graduated from the Commission High School of Silver Lake, Indiana. In 1908 he graduated from the department of history and political science, University of Indiana, and since that time has been doing work in the universities of the Middle West, especially at the University of Chicago. For fifteen years Mr. Leffel has been engaged in teaching in various capacities and at different points. He began his career as an educator in Lake Township, where he taught in the district schools for two years, was for one year principal of the grammar school at Pierceton, Indiana, and for three years was principal of the central-
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ized schools of Jackson Township. For four years he was at the head of the history department at Brazil, Indiana, and then became super- intendent of schools at Knox, Indiana, where he remained for a like period. In 1914 Mr. Leffel was called to the superintendency of the schools of Monticello, his present position, and under his administration the system has been improved to an efficiency never before attained. Mr. Leffel, aside from being a thoroughly learned and capable educator, is a man of much executive and business ability, and is popular with his teachers as well as with the pupils and their parents. His entire career has been devoted to his profession, his advancement in which has come to him through individual merit, combined with hard work and constant study. Mr. Leffel is a member of the Beta Theta Chapter of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, University of Indiana, and of Lodge No. 579, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Sidney, Indiana, and Monticello Chapter, No. 103.
On December 28, 1904, Mr. Leffel was married to Miss Ruby Caroline Patterson, daughter of James W. and Henrietta (Copeland) Patterson, who reside on Rural Free Delivery Route No. 3, North Manchester, Lake Township, Koscuisko County. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Leffel; James Monahan, Jr., born June 21, 1909. Mrs. Leffel's great- grandfather, Joel Hidy, was a native of Virginia, who migrated to Kos- ciusko County, Indiana, at an early date, settling on Government land along the Eel River. He assisted to establish the first boundary lines of section and range in that county, was a prominent man in the affairs of that locality, and was one of the organizers of Masonic Lodge No. 579, at Sidney, Indiana. Mrs. Leffel's paternal grandfather was Joseph Pat- terson, who migrated from Pennsylvania to the same locality many years ago, and for a long period conducted a tanning establishment at Liberty Mills, Indiana.
WILLIAM A. BARNES. For thirty-five years William A. Barnes has been a resident of White County, and practically all his life has been passed in this section of Indiana. His interests and activities have iden- tified him with the rural community, and it was only after developing a fine farm and reaping the fruits of a well spent career in an ample com- petence for his future needs that he retired from the farm and moved into Monticello about three years ago. His active years have been accom- panied with definite achievements and his sterling integrity is recog- nized by all.
William A. Barnes was born in Adams Township, Carroll County, Indiana, June 3, 1840, one of seven children, three of whom are living, born to John and Sarah (Allen) Barnes. His father was a native of
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Ohio, and his mother of Pennsylvania, and they were married in Carroll County, Indiana, and spent the rest of their lives on land they had secured from the Government. They had acquired this homestead of a quarter section immediately after their marriage, and lived there as hard workers, good neighbors and on an increasing scale of prosperity till taken away by death. At his death John Barnes left an estate of about 240 acres. He died about 1880, his wife having preceded him two years, and both were laid to rest in Carroll County.
William A. Barnes was reared and educated in his native township and his early experience on a farm he turned to good account when taking up life for himself. He first came to White County in 1869, but a year later returned to Carroll County, lived there nine years, and then identified himself permanently with White County. His location was in Jackson Township, where he conducted and improved a tract of land, raised stock and worked up his graded live stock finally into a herd of blooded Durham cattle. At one time he owned 320 acres of Jackson Township, but gave eighty acres to his son and sold the rest when he retired and came into Monticello in 1912. Mr. Barnes has been a stanch republican for fifty years or more, but has never cared for political office.
On August 6, 1863, he married Margaret J. Carson, who died March 8, 1903, after they had lived together in married companionship nearly forty years. Of her five children, three died many years ago. Elsie G., one of the survivors, married Harry W. Sharp, and died in 1905, leav- ing two children, Walter and Blanche. The only living child is Elmer, now engaged in the grocery business at Monticello. On October 7, 1908, Mr. Barnes married for his present wife Mrs. Emma G. (Gress) Barnes, widow of George T. Barnes, and daughter of Morris and Delilah (Hall) Gress. Her parents came to Carroll County from Pennsylvania about 1865. Her father, who was a carpenter by trade, died in Carroll County, and her mother in White County. After the death of Mr. Gress his widow married Cornelius Nicholas in February, 1880, and they came to White County. Morris and Delilah (Hall) Gress had seven children, four of whom are now living: Susan, who is Mrs. Edward Dixon ; John ; Mahlon ; and Emma, who is Mrs. Barnes. Mrs. Barnes lost her father in 1870, and her mother died in 1894. Mrs. Barnes' grandmother, Kesiah Gress, was a daughter of Sir Henry Clinton. Mr. Gress was a repub- lican, though never an officeholder. Mrs. Barnes is a great-grand- daughter of Sir Henry Clinton, who was one of the chief commanders of the British forces in the War of the Revolution. By her first marriage Mrs. Barnes was the mother of five children: Aura Dell, wife of Allen Cossell, and they have a child, Helen, born November 6, 1906; Georgia Vol. II-2
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V., wife of C. C. Baker; Lawrence G., of New York State; Hazel, who died in October, 1893, at the age of sixteen months; and Gilbert Paul, of Monticello.
MADISON T. DIDLAKE, M. D. In point of years of continuous service, probably the oldest practicing physician in White County is Dr. Madison T. Didlake, who located at Wolcott nearly forty-five years ago, and for thirty-five years has practiced at Monticello. Doctor Didlake is of old and prominent American stock and his work has made him a credit to the profession, and his name is connected with the public life of White County.
Madison T. Didlake was born March 29, 1844, in Kentucky, a son of Edmond H. and Mildred Gregory (Woodford) Didlake. His mother was a granddaughter of Brig .- Gen. William Woodford, who served under Washington in the Revolutionary war, and died in a British prison at New York and was buried with the highest military honors by the British. The founder of the Woodford family in America was Maj. William Woodford, an Englishman who after coming to the United States located in Virginia. Doctor Didlake has a copy of the genealogy of the Woodford family, which shows its relations with many well known and important people.
In 1851 Edmond H. Didlake and wife removed from Kentucky to Bloomington, Illinois, and there spent the rest of their lives. Edmond H. Didlake took a prominent part in public affairs, and at Bloomington platted and put on the market an addition to the city. He and his wife were parents of eleven children, Doctor Didlake being the only survivor.
As a boy his ambitions were directed to the medical profession largely through his associations with an uncle, Dr. Thomas Madison Taylor, of Clark County, Kentucky. He began his studies with Dr. Charles R. Park, and in 1867 was graduated from the Chicago Medical College. While in college he came under the preceptorship of several distinguished men in the profession, among them Dr. Nathan S. Davis and Doctors Andrews, Byford and Johnson. After being admitted to practice Doctor Didlake was located for two years at Augusta, Arkansas, and for three years in Stanford, Illinois, and in the spring of 1871 came to White County, Indiana, and for the following ten years practiced, with office at Wolcott. Since then he has lived in Monticello, and has been the family physician to more than a generation of people in that town and vicinity.
In 1880 Doctor Didlake was elected county treasurer on the demo- cratic ticket, and was re-elected in 1882. For eighteen years he served as a member of the school board at Monticello, and was treasurer of the
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board. He and his wife have been members of the Christian Church since early childhood, and he has served in official positions in the local church. On December 30, 1880, Doctor Didlake married Miss Litta H. Johnson, daughter of Dr. John B. Johnson, and a sister of Hale Johnson, who a number of years ago was a candidate for President on the prohibition ticket, and was killed on election day. Doctor Didlake and wife are the parents of three children: Roy P., a civil engineer located at St. Cloud, Minnesota; Lucile, a teacher in the high school at West Lafayette; and Edmond H., a civil engineer in the employ of the Big Four Railway Company, with headquarters at Cincinnati.
HON. BENJAMIN F. CARR. Of the individuals whose ability, industry and forethought have contributed to the character, wealth and good government of Monticello, none is better known than Hon. Benjamin F. Carr, mayor of the city and junior member of the law firm of Palmer & Carr. Mr. Carr is an attorney, not only by education and long practice but by temperament and preference, and for twenty years has been en- gaged in practice at Monticello.
Benjamin F. Carr was born on a farm in Prairie Township, White County, Indiana, January 16, 1874, and is a son of Martin L. and Olive J. (Laylin) Carr, natives of Fayette and Huron counties, Ohio, respect- ively. Martin L. Carr was in early life a physician, and about the close of the Civil war was commissioned a captain in the Union army, but his regiment never went to the front and he accordingly saw no active service. In later years he gave up his practice and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, which, with various other occupations, occupied his time until his death. The boyhood and early youth of Benjamin F. Carr were passed on the home farm, and his education was secured in the public school at Chalmers. That he was a precocious lad is shown by the fact that he conceived the idea of becoming a school teacher when but fourteen years old, and with this end in view applied for examina- tion and successfully passed the grades but was refused a teacher's license by John A. Rothrock, the county superintendent of schools, who wrote across his certificate: "This is not a license, but simply indicates the grade of the applicant, who, in my estimation, is too young to enable him to successfully teach." It is more remarkable that he thus passed the examination in that his advantages for an education had been of a somewhat limited character.
When Benjamin F. Carr was seventeen years of age his father died and in the fall of the same year he came to Monticello. Acting upon the advice of Judge T. F. Palmer, he went to Bloomington and entered the law department of the State University, and while attending that de-
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partment, also carried several studies in the literary department. He was duly graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, but could not be admitted to the bar, as he was but nineteen years of age, and he accord- ingly returned to the university, where he specialized on several subjects. In 1895, having attained his majority, Mr. Carr was admitted to the bar, and in November of that year began practice with his brother, R. R. Carr, under the firm style of Carr & Carr. This partnership continued for two years, after which Mr. Carr was alone for seven or eight years, and then became the partner of Judge Palmer, under the style of Palmer & Carr, which style has since obtained. While Mr. Carr's practice is broad and general in character, he has become generally recognized as an authority on real estate law, and in this department has a large and prominent clientele. During his early law practice Mr. Carr, during his leisure time, compiled a set of abstract books of White County, and organized the White County Abstract Company, of which he was for several years the directing head. He belongs to the various organiza- tions of his profession and is held in the highest esteem by his fellow- practitioners in the county. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons, having passed the York Rite and Knight Templar degrees, and also holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. A strong and uncompromising republican, he has long taken a part in the activities of his party at Monticello, and in 1913 was elected to the office of mayor, his administration having been marked by much progression.
Mayor Carr was married, December 2, 1897, to Miss Luella Crowell, daughter of Dr. W. P. Crowell, and to this union there have been born two daughters: Amy Louise, and Martha Helen.
THE HUGHES FAMILY. It is a substantial tribute to a family when it can be said that what one generation has secured and won from the dominion of the wilderness the next following has continued to improve and has increased in value many fold. That is real progress and without its manifestation a community must stand still. Exceptional attributes of character, the sterling qualities of sobriety, industry and individual worth, and a continuing influence in community affairs have been conspicuous in the Hughes family during its residence in White County from the time of earliest settlement and the first attempts to clear up the wilderness. Several names representing as many different generations are given brief record in the following paragraph, and there is no family of White County that better deserves the memorial of the written page.
The branch of the family with which this sketch is immediately
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concerned was headed by John C. Hughes, who was the oldest son of Ellis and Sarah (Crooks) Hughes, and was born in Washington County, in that rugged district of Southwestern Pennsylvania, February 18, 1800. In passing it should be mentioned that a younger brother of John C. Hughes was the first representative of the family in White County, Indiana. The name of this brother was Rowland Hughes, who was born in Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, December 9, 1813, was mar- ried in Greene County, Pennsylvania, April 25, 1833, to Miss Nancy Imes, and soon after his marriage, in 1834, came out to White County. John C. Hughes was probably of English descent. He was married October 1, 1820, to Lucinda Smith, a daughter of Stephen and Phoebe (Cooper) Smith. Though her parents came from Canada, she was born in Brooklyn, New York, November 18, 1802, and was drowned while fording the Tippecanoe River in White County, May 31, 1863. Some years after his marriage, and with a family of children, John C. Hughes emigrated by stage and wagon from Pennsylvania to White County. He came to the county as early as 1837, since his entry of land on section 35 in Liberty Township is dated August 14, 1837. He did not settle permanently on his land until October, 1846. In the woods of Liberty Township he lived for a time in a hewed log cabin containing two rooms and an attic. His land had previously been occupied by a squatter, but he secured a deed to it direct from the Government, and with the aid of his children cleared and improved the property, which is still owned by his descendants. John C. Hughes was a farmer, for many years held the office of justice of the peace, and was widely known as "Squire" Hughes, and was a member of the Baptist Church. He was a fine type of the early settler, and while he accomplished no great results in a noted or conspicuous way, he was liberal, steady, of decided opinions, a man whose character was for good in the community and universally respected. John C. Hughes died at his old home in Liberty Township, White County, January 13, 1872. He and his wife had seven children : Phoebe, John, Rowland, Thomas, Stephen, James and Nancy Anna Hughes. All these children were born in Pennsylvnia, and the sons Rowland, Stephen and James were soldiers in the Civil war, the two former in the One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Indiana Infantry.
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