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 3
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John Hughes, who carries the history of the next generation, was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, June 28, 1828, being the second child of John C. and Lucinda (Smith) Hughes. He was a lad when his parents removed to White County, grew up on the old farm in Liberty Township, attended the district schools, and, possessing a talent for the handling of tools, early learned the trade of carpenter,
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which he followed most of his life, although owning a farm. He was a republican, a member of the Baptist Church, and possessed the char- acteristics of sobriety and sterling citizenship which marked his honored father. On November 29, 1849, John Hughes married Emeline Morgan, daughter of Murrel and Violet (Haff) Morgan, farming people in this section of Indiana. She was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, July 15, 1833, and died July 30, 1907. To this union were born nine children, seven sons and two daughters, all of them still living. Their names are: George K .; Rosannah, wife of S. J. Carney, now of Logansport; Murrel Morgan; Logan; Elmer; Charles; Samuel; Nellie, wife of Albert Moss, of Cass County, Indiana; and Perry. The father of these children, John Hughes, died at his home in Liberty Township, August 7, 1901.
George K. Hughes, representing the third generation in this family in White County, still an honored resident and business man of Monti- cello, was born on his maternal grandfather Morgan's farm in Liberty. Township, November 3, 1852: He grew up in the country, and aside from the opportunities of the district schools his education has been acquired in. the larger school of experience. His early career was spent in farming, but in 1873 he became a clerk in the store of his great-uncle, Rowland Hughes, in Monticello, and continued to be connected with that business some twenty years. He then engaged in business for himself, and has since had one of the chief supply centers or the general dry goods trade at Monticello.
George K. Hughes was married March 13, 1873, to Miss Susannah Bullard, who was born in Logan County, Ohio, February 28, 1852, a daughter of John V. and Susannah (Lease) Bullard. Mr. and Mrs. Hughes have become the parents of six children, four of whom are living: Norine Elma, born May 9, 1874, is the wife of Robert F. Dobbins, of Wolcott; the next two children, twins, died in infancy ; John Henry, born June 19, 1880, married Harriet E. Heath on January 25, 1905, and lives in Monticello; Rowland E., born May 19, 1883, mar- ried Effie Mae Wysong, and they live in Monticello; Goldie F., born August 19, 1886, married Ralph L. Wolfe, and their home is in Mon- ticello.
The career of George K. Hughes has been an important factor in Monticello. He is a member of the Baptist Church, affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 107, at Monticello, Indiana, and politically is a republican. He was the first councilman from the First Ward in the first City Council of Monticello at the time it became a city. To Mr. Hughes it is but just to add the credit for his work in putting on a paying basis the present city waterworks plant, and in many other ways he has been instrumental in accomplishing good in this com- munity.
Jonathan Horny.
Laurinda Heinz
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JONATHAN HEINY. By a residence of almost three quarters of a cen- tury in the Idaville community the Heiny family has well established its position among the notable citizens, and there are many features of the record which deserve place in this publication. While Mr. Jonathan Heiny has during the greater part of his active life been in close touch with Idaville, his home up to two years ago was across the line in Carroll County. Hle and his wife now have one of the attractive homes of Idaville and are among the splendid people of that community.
The Heiny family in America was established about the middle of the eighteenth century by Jacob and Sebastian Heiny, who were natives of Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, and set out for the New World when Jacob was about seventeen and his brother fifteen years of age. They had no money to pay their passage, and according to a custom prevailing at that time, after arriving in this country, they were sold to labor to pay for their transportation. It is with Jacob that this history is particularly concerned. He worked out his passage money near Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania, and after gaining his freedom married a Miss Diefenbach. Their first child was born in 1759. Jacob Heiny during the Revolutionary war served in the Pennsylvania regiment of artillery, a fact which is estab- lished by a certificate from the custodian of public records in Pennsyl- vania. His family record is contained in an old Bible, still in possession of a member of the family, the record being written in German. Jacob and his wife had twelve sons and one daughter.
Of these Samuel Heiny continues this lineage. He was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, February 1, 1771, and died September 8, 1847. He was trained to read and write in the German, but had no knowledge of the English language so far as to write it. About 1795 he married Barbara Stern, daughter of Peter Stern, and she was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, March 3, 1774, and died February 31, 1862. They had ten children. About 1824 Samuel left Pennsylvania and lived a few months near Dayton, Ohio, and in 1825 moved to Wayne County, Indiana, locating on a farm about four miles from Cambridge City. Samuel died there as a result of a kick from a horse.
Benjamin Heiny, in the next generation, the first son of Samuel and Barbara Heiny, was born in Lancaster County, May 27, 1800, and died October 29, 1861. He was already a young man when the family came to Ohio and Eastern Indiana and in 1842 he moved to Carroll County, Indiana, and bought Wabash and Erie Canal land in section 3 of Adams Township. Benjamin Heiny married Elizabeth Lantz, who died Febru- ary 28, 1880. The first of their eleven children was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1829, the next five were born in Wayne County, Indiana, and the last four were born in Carroll County. Their names
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were Samuel, Joseph, Sarah, Rufus, Nancy, Henry, Jonathan, Jacob, Benjamin F., Elizabeth and Barbara.
Jonathan Heiny, who was the seventh of the children and the last to be born in Wayne County, was born January 15, 1840, and was three years of age when he came with his parents to Carroll County. He grew up on his father's farm in Adams Township, and prior to his army service had learned and worked at the carpenter's trade.
His army record is as follows: He enlisted October 10, 1861, at Logansport in Company F, Forty-Sixth Regiment of Indiana Infantry, and served as corporal and later as sergeant of the company. He was discharged January 1, 1864, at Algiers, Louisiana, but re-enlisted and was again enrolled January 2, 1864, as a veteran in the same company and regiment. His final discharge came September 4, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky. He participated in thirty-one battles: New Madrid, Island No. 10, Riddle's Point, Port Pillow, Osceola, Memphis, St. Charles, Clarenden, Helena, Napoleon, Grand Prairie, Plunkett's Bluff, Duvall's Bluff, Tallahatchie, Coldwater, Yazoo Pass, Fort Pemberton, Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, Fourteen-Mile Creek, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hills, Big Black River, Vicksburg, Jackson's second battle, Grand Choteau, Spanish Lake, Vermilionville, Nelson's Farm and Sabine Cross Roads. He was captured with his regiment at Sabine April 8, 1864, and was prisoner eight months and twelve days, four months at Tyler and four months at Hempstead, Texas. He was paroled in December, 1864, and was exchanged in the latter part of January, and rejoined his regiment in February, 1865, and continued with the command until his final muster out.
After returning to his old home in Carroll County Mr. Heiny took ยท up farming and also worked at the carpenter trade. In those years Idaville was his trading center, and three years ago he came to town, having sold his fine farm of 160 acres for $23,000. This was a property which he had accumulated through his own industry and good man- agement, and he is now prepared to spend his declining years in com- fort. He owns property in Idaville, and has a good home in the east part of the village, and operates his own automobile. He is a republican, has never sought any office, and he and his wife are members of the Church of God Incorporated. His father, Benjamin, owned about eighty acres of land, and combined its cultivation with work as a plasterer. He was a whig until 1856, and then became a democrat. Though a man of modest manner, he had hosts of friends, who called him affection- ately "Uncle Ben." He knew almost every person in the county, and for two terms served as township assessor.
On February 4, 1877, Mr. Heiny married Rosa Lytle, who was born
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in April, 1848, and died October 2, 1878. There were no children of this union. On February 4, 1880, he married Mrs. Amanda (McCully) Barnes, who was born August 19, 1855, and died' April 21, 1906, and is buried in the Idaville cemetery. By her former marriage there is a daughter, Mrs. Lorena B. Nicholas, who lives at Imperial, California. By his second wife Mr. Heiny had five children: Mabel Lucretia, who was born November 22, 1880, and died November 15, 1888; Frank Hamilton, who was born December 19, 1882, is now living at Santa Anna, California, and by his marriage to Ora Kennedy has a son Max; Wilda Vance, born November 26, 1885, was married June 7, 1905, to Nathaniel Benjamin, and their three children are Kathryn Josephine, John Cecil and Robert; the fourth child, a son, born October 3, 1893, died in infancy ; Dale McCully Heiny, born March 22, 1895, is unmarried and is living in California.
On January 10, 1912, Mr. Heiny married Mrs. Laurinda (Dimmitt- Grantham) Wikle. This marriage was the termination of a most inter- esting romance, which attracted a great deal of attention and comment over the state. More than thirty-five years before the ceremony which pronounced them man and wife Mr. and Mrs. Heiny had been sweet- hearts and had plighted their troth to each other. Mrs. Heiny's maiden name was Dimmitt, and her grandfather, Miles Dimmitt, was one of the first settlers in Carroll County. The romantic plans of Jonathan Heiny and Miss Dimmitt were interrupted for some reason, and she became the wife of a Mr. Grantham. Later she married Mr. Wikle, and only when well advanced in years returned to the love of her youth.
MRS. LAURINDA HEINY. The wives and mothers of our nation play a most conspicuous part in its history, and amongst the noble ladies of White County, Indiana, none are more worthy than Mrs. Heiny. She is a native of Carroll County, Indiana, born June 15, 1855, and was the fourth in a family of nine children, three sons and six daughters, born to Robert and Matilda (Sibbitt) Dimmitt. Only three are living besides Mrs. Heiny : Sarah J., wife of Jeremiah Cramer, residents of La Fayette, Indiana, Mr. Cramer being a soldier in the Civil war. James F., who is married and resides in Burlington, Indiana, is proprietor of a hotel; and Miles Alva, a resident of La Fayette, Indiana, and who married Anna Orr. Father Dimmitt was a native of Carroll County, Indiana, born March 31, 1827, and died May 16, 1904. He was an agriculturist, was educated in the common schools, and politically was formerly a democrat, but when he died was a republican. Both he and his wife were members of the Christian Church. Mother Dimmitt was a native of Wayne
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County, Ohio, born August 20, 1829, and died January 29, 1892. She and her husband are interred in the Hickory Grove cemetery in Carroll County, Indiana.
Mrs. Heiny was the recipient of a good common school education. Her first marriage was with John Willard Grantham, November 26, 1879, and two children were born: Viola Bell, wife of Nelson Underhill, a resident of Colbourne, Indiana, and a motorman on the interurban railroad. Mrs. Underhill was educated in the common and high schools, and is a member of the Lutheran Church. They have three children : Dorothy L., Harold Robert and Gilbert C. Gertrude, the second daugh- ter, was the wife of Ezra Vayou, a mail carrier, and one little daughter, Mona Louise, was born to them, and she is now in the first year of the high school. Her mother died June 2, 1905. Mr. Grantham, who was an agriculturist, died April 12, 1885. Mrs. Grantham wedded George W. Wikle, but there were no children by this marriage. He was an agriculturist and also a machinist. He died August 26, 1910. Mrs. Wikle subsequently wedded Mr. Heiny. She is a lady of agreeable personality and cordial, and she and her husband enjoy their modern home in Eastern Idaville. They also have a five passenger Overland car and life is a fleeting pleasure. Their hospitable home is ever open to their many friends as well as the stranger.
SCOTT DONALDSON. For more than sixty years Scott Donaldson has lived in White County. He grew up on one of the farms in White County, attended the common schools such as existed here during the '50s and '60s, and for nearly half a century his efforts have been directed to the general agricultural activities with considerable inci- dental service to his community in matters of local improvement and betterment. Mr. Donaldson owns one of the substantial farms in Union Township, and his name is always mentioned with respect due to his character and accomplishments.
Scott Donaldson was born in Wabash County, Indiana, March 17, 1848, and an interesting fact concerning his career is that in all his life he has never been outside the State of Indiana. His parents were John and Sarah (Honeywell) Donaldson, who removed to White County in 1852. The father was a blacksmith by trade and also followed farming, and died in White County in 1876. His wife passed away in 1866. Scott Donaldson's brother, Sanford, a bachelor, lives at the home of the former in Union Township. Sanford was born October 24, 1834, and is now a man past eighty years of age. He was a member of the Forty-seventh Indiana Infantry during the Civil war, having enlisted October 17, 1861, and serving almost through the entire war until his
.
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honorable discharge, November 4, 1865. He participated in many of the important campaigns and battles in the South.
Scott Donaldson married Sarah Elizabeth Hardy, daughter of Alex- ander Hardy. They are the parents of three children: Araminta, wife of Clyde Wheeler; Fred E .; and Pearl Edna, who married Wilson Christy. All these children were born in White County. In 1891 Scott Donaldson located on his present farm in Union Township, where he owns 112 acres of well improved land, and most of these improve- ments were put in by himself. In the course of his active career he has performed a great deal of the work which might be classified as pioneer labor, including much breaking of the virgin soil in Union Township. His own experiences in buying land indicate how property values have risen in White County during the last quarter of a century. In 1887 Mr. Donaldson paid $33.33 per acre for some land, a little later paid $35, and in 1900 paid $100 an acre for land similarly situated. Mr. Donaldson has served on the township advisory board, is a republican in politics, and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
MARION PARRISH. A citizen who merited in the fullest degree the high esteem in which he was long held in White County was the late Marion Parrish, who died at Monticello November 9, 1909. He had made an honorable record as a soldier of the Union during the Civil war, and such success as flowed from his life's activities was due entirely to his own efforts, since he had begun life as a poor boy. Of more account than the property which he left behind him at his death was the honored name which he always bore in whatever community he lived.
Marion Parrish was a native of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and when a young lad went to Southern Indiana and at Vallonia learned the blacksmith's trade. He had but little time to go to school, and had to respond to the call of duty beginning at an age when most boys are under the fond care of parents. From Vallonia he moved to Frances- ville in Pulaski County, and about 1877 took up his residence at Monti- cello. Here he was engaged in the blacksmith business, with Mat Hen- derson as a partner. Later he returned to Francesville, spent three years there, and then came back to Monticello and was more or less active in business affairs in this community until his death. During the war he enlisted and served with the Twenty-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry. In one engagement in which he participated he received a gunshot wound through the left leg, and as a result was enrolled on the pension list. He always was interested in his comrades and enjoyed their full esteem. Politically he was a republican, and at one time
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was affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Marion Parrish, to sum up his career, lived an upright life, tried his best to follow the precepts of the golden rule, and in civil affairs as well as in the war had fought a good fight before his course was ended. Marion Parrish married Margaret E. Rush, who is also deceased. They were the parents of seven children, and four of these are still living.
Edward L. Parrish, a son of the late Marion Parrish, was born February 14, 1870, at Vallonia, Jackson County, Indiana. His educa- tion came from the public schools of Monticello and Francesville, and as a boy he found employment in a livery stable, as a farm hand, and eventually began clerking in a store then operated by his father at Monticello. Edward L. Parrish subsequently succeeded to the business, and has since been one of Monticello's leading merchants.
In politics he is a republican, and is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp No. 4503, at Monticello, Indiana. May 6, 1891, he married Marietta Sterrett. Their two children are Tracy and Helen. Tracy graduated from the Monticello High School and is a student at the Art Institute of Chicago. She was a teacher in the county schools two winters, but her forte is painting and art. Helen is in the ninth grade of the public schools. Mrs. Parrish was educated in Rockfield, Indiana.
MORTON COONROD. An intelligent and purposeful participation in the events that have made White County's history during recent years has made Morton Coonrod, of Monticello, one of the best known of his community's citizens. He was still a lad when he took his place among the world's workers, being called upon to bear his share of responsi- bility much earlier than most young men, and from that time forward has worked sturdily to a position of importance in the community. Mr. Coonrod has served as recorder of White County since 1910, and there is probably no more popular or efficient public servant at the county seat.
Mr. Coonrod has the distinction of being a native son of White County, born on his father's homestead farm in Liberty Township, September 2, 1865, his parents being William and Sarah Ann (Shields) Coonrod, natives of Ohio. Both William Coonrod and his wife had been previously married, Mrs. Coonrod having come to this county at an early day with her parents. William Coonrod, by his first marriage, had one child. He came with his family to White County about the year 1860, and here continued to be engaged in farming up to the time of his death. He was an industrious man, a capable farmer and a good man of business, and because of his many sterling traits of character was held in high esteem in Liberty Township. After the death of his
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first wife he married Mrs. Sarah Ann (Shields) Custer, the widow of Washington Custer, who had three children by her first union, only one of whom is living at this time.
The eldest of a family of five children, Morton Coonrod was reared on the home farm, and his boyhood and youth were passed in much the same manner as other farmer boys of his day and locality, the winter months being spent in attending the district school, while during the rest of the year he assisted his father in the work of the home place. His father, however, died when Morton was a mere lad, and the youth was thus forced into the management of the home property, being the eldest child. With the aid of his affectionate mother, he was able to help to rear the other children and to complete his own education, and thus grew to strong, self-reliant manhood.
About the time he attained his majority, Mr. Coonrod became in- terested in public affairs, and soon became known as a hard and enthu- siastic worker in behalf of the policies and candidates of the republican party. In 1910 he became the candidate of that organization for the office of recorder of White County, and in this capacity has continued to serve to the present time, his administration having been characterized by a conscientious discharge of the duties of his office which has gained him widespread regard. He still has agricultural interests and pays attention to agricultural affairs, but his time is largely taken up by the responsibilities of his position. He has not been indifferent to the pleasures of companionship with his fellows, and at this time holds mem- bership in the local lodges of the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men.
ROLANDUS L. SMOKER. The thirty-six years that Rolandus L. Smoker has spent in White County have been years productive of useful effort, a growing prosperity, and a valuable influence to the community. Mr. Smoker's chief work has been as a substantial farmer, but for the past ten years he has been identified with the urban life of Monticello, both as a business man and as a public-spirited citizen.
Rolandus L. Smoker comes of an old Pennsylvania family, and was born in Mifflin County of that state, at Lewistown, September 30, 1850. His parents were Felix and Margaret (Keever) Smoker, both natives of Pennsylvania, and of German parentage. The Smoker family was brought to America from Germany in the days before the introduction of steam-propelled vessels, and found homes in Pennsylvania when that was compaartively new country.
One of a family of twelve children, only five of whom are still liv- ing, Rolandus L. Smoker was reared in his native state of Pennsylvania,
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spent his boyhood on a farm and had an education from the district schools of that period, his attendance being frequently interrupted owing to the need of his services at home. Mr. Smoker began battling with the world on his own responsibility at the age of twenty-one, and in 1878 came west to White County. Here he invested in 200 acres of land, in Monon Township, and employed the judgment and industry characteristic of the man in the improvement and cultivation of that tract, which is now one of the fine farmsteads of White County.
In 1904, with an assured competence, Mr. Smoker sold his farm in the country and has since lived in Monticello. Here he has been engaged in the livery business, and is also a member of the undertaking firm of Smoker & Russell. His interest in local affairs led to his election in 1914 as a member of the city council, where he is doing all he can to manage the city's affairs to the interest of its inhabitants. Mr. Smoker is a democrat in politics, and fraternally is affiliated with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1882 he married Alice C. Imes. Their two children are: Effie May, wife of Luther Hobaugh, and Charles L. Mr. and Mrs. Smoker are members of the Presbyterian Church.
GEORGE W. VAN ALSTINE. Prominent among the business men of White County whose activities have served to materially advance the interests of the community, and whose superior talents have contributed to the business and financial prestige of their various communities, is found George W. Van Alstine, president of the White County Loan, Savings and Trust Company, of Monticello. A native of Hillsdale County, Michigan, Mr. Van Alstine was born February 12, 1843, the second of the four children born to the marriage of Adam Van Alstine and Catherine Gay, the former for many years employed as a telegraph lineman and later as a retired farmer. Prior to the outbreak of the Civil war the father removed with his family to Illinois, and during that struggle served the Union as a soldier, it being a rather remarkable fact that he was a member of the same company and regiment as two of his sons, the One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment, Company K, Illi- nois Volunteer Infantry. In his later life Adam Van Alstine moved to Rose Lawn, Indiana, and there his death occurred.
George W. Van Alstine lost his mother when he was four years of age, and his early education was largely secured in the schools of hard work, hard knocks and experience. Such literary training as he obtained was secured in the common schools, and, as stated by Mr. Van Alstine, "there was but little of that," as he was compelled to stir himself con- tinually to make a living. As a lad he worked hard on the farm, receiving as compensation a wage of $13 a month, and he was thus
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