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 38
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Mr. Weaver was born in Wayne Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, November 18, 1829, and is a son of Patrick Henry and Alice (Dimmitt) Weaver. The family is of German, English, Welsh and Scotch extraction, and the father was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, and the mother in Wayne County, Indiana. They were married in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, in February, 1827, and there the father was engaged in general farming and as a stock raiser. He was success- ful in his ventures, being a man of integrity, energy and industry, and became the owner of 160 acres in White County and 162 acres in Tippe- canoe County. Prior to the Black Hawk war, in which he participated, he was an old line Jackson whig, but after the close of that struggle became a republican and so continued to the time of his death. He took an active interest in the civic affairs of his locality, and was the incum- bent of a number of local offices. His religious faith was that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he was a home-lover, belonging to no fraternal or social orders. In his community he was esteemed and respected as a man in whom the utmost faith could be placed and who discharged every obligation faithfully and every responsibility ably. He and his wife were the parents of eleven children, as follows: Milton W., of this notice; Susanna, deceased, who was the wife of Nimrod Lester; Martha, deceased, who was the wife of William Chalk; Harriet, who married Daniel Jackson; Thursa, deceased, who was the wife of James Whicker; Peter, who is deceased; Elizabeth, deceased, who was the wife of Frank Spitzer; William, deceased; Amanda, deceased, who was the wife of David Reese; Alice, who died young; and Jane, who is the wife of Charles Toliver.
The education of Milton W. Weaver was secured in the primitive district schools of Tippecanoe and he grew up amid an agricultural atmosphere, early learning the meaning and value of hard work and the virtue of industry, honesty and fidelity. He remained on the home farm until reaching the age of twenty-two years, and September 16, 1852, was married to Miss Sarah Baltimore, daughter of Philip and Sarah
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(Perkins) Baltimore. Their married life covered a period of fifty-two vears and was a happy and contented union, Mr. Weaver proving an affectionate husband, able provider and indulgent father, while Mrs. Weaver was a capable and willing helpmate and a loving mother who taught her children to become good Christian people, and whose memory is still revered by them. Mrs. Weaver died April 23, 1904, and was laid to rest at the cemetery at Brookston. She was the mother of eleven children, as follows: Patrick Henry, a resident of White Pigeon, Michi- gan ; Martha E., who is the wife of John W. Holladay; Alice and Philip, who died young ; John and James, twins, also deceased; Americus Isabel, who is the wife of Henry Headley; Emma, who died at the age of seven years; Levi, who resides in Rush County, Indiana; Charley, who is assessor of Round Grove Township, White County ; and Della May, who was the wife of the late Ellsworth Balser, both now being deceased.
For several months after his marriage, Milton W. Weaver continued to make his home in Tippecanoe County, and January 26, 1853, entered upon his own career when he came to White County and took charge of 160 acres of land in section 10, which belonged to his father. He con- tinued to be engaged in farming until the Civil war came on, when, in 1863, he enlisted in Company I, Eleventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Cavalry, being mustered into the Union service at Lafayette. He served until the close of the war, participating in numerous engagements and at all times acquitting himself as a valiant and courageous soldier, and when peace was declared was at Nashville, from whence he was sent to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and there honorably discharged. He imme- diately returned to White County and resumed farming where he left off, subsequently proving himself as good a citizen as he had been a soldier. He added from time to time to his acreage, securing land also in section 17, Round Grove Township, made numerous improvements and erected substantial buildings, and continued to be engaged in farming and stockraising until his retirement, in 1903. Since that time he has lived quietly at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Ellen Holladay, in Round Grove Township.
Mr. Weaver is a Lincoln republican in his political views, and at various times has been honored by election to public office, having served as road supervisor, road superintendent and assessor of the township. He has never lost his interest in his old army comrades, and still retains his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic at Brookston, Indiana.
JOSEPH STEELE GLASGOW was born in Adams County, Ohio, March 6, 1832, and when but two years old his parents moved to Shelby
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County, Ohio, where he lived until 1865, when he located on a farm near Idaville, where he lived for forty-two years, after which he made his home with his children, dying at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Tam, at Haviland, Kansas, September 18, 1915, aged eighty-three years, six months and twelve days.
In 1860 he was married to Sarah E. Sollenberger, who died in 1903. They had six children, all of whom survived him. At the age of seven- teen he lost his father by death, leaving Joseph to care for the family, which responsibility he cheerfully assumed. During the last twenty-five years of his life his sight was impaired to such an extent that he was never able to recognize the countenance of his nearest friends. Yet through all this affliction he never murmured, but faced death with the same patience that he had shown throughout his life. His remains were interred in the Idaville cemetery. Of his own family he was survived by a sister, Mrs. John W. Neel, of Idaville, and a brother, Samuel P. Glasgow, who survived him but a few days.
SAMUEL PRESTON GLASGOW, a former honored resident of Jackson Township, died at Idaville, October 8, 1915, in his seventy-third year. He was born in Shelby County, Ohio, December 18, 1842, being the third son of a family of nine children born to Arthur and Eliza Mc- Cullaugh Glasgow. When he was but seven years old his father died while returning from California and was buried at sea. On May 6, 1864, he enlisted in the One Hundred Thirty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry ยท and was honorably discharged on August 31st of the same year.
On October 15, 1867, he married Elizabeth J. Stipp of near Sidney, Ohio, by whom he had four children, three of whom survived him, Mrs. Thomas Melvin and Mrs. Albert Carson, of Idaville, and James S. Glas- gow, of Jay County, Indiana. In 1870 Mr. Glasgow located near Ida- ville, which, excepting about four years, was his home until his death. He was a consistent member of the United Presbyterian Church and was highly esteemed by all who knew him.
JAMES H. MCCOLLUM. For more than sixty years a resident of Monticello, few men in White County are better known than James H. McCollum, who was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, on Novem- ber 10, 1834, the son of Thomas M. and Sarah (Hughes) McCollum. Most of his early life was passed in Coshocton County, Ohio, and in 1854 he came to Monticello, where for six years he clerked in the general store of his uncle, Rowland Hughes, at the end of which time he was admitted as a member in the firm. His subsequent years have been spent in business in Monticello, where he still resides. He is a democrat
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in politics but has never been an aspirant for political honors, though for six years he was treasurer of the school board of Monticello and served the public with fidelity and zeal. On June 15, 1858, he married Nancy J. Hughes, who died March 22, 1862. On August 23, 1864, he was married to Miss Mary M. Turner and to this union was born four children : Lillie M. (deceased), Edna M. (now Mrs. Helm, of Greenville, Ohio), Stuart T. and William E. McCollum. Mr. McCollum's parents in 1874 came to White County, where his mother died January 2, 1878, and on August 13, 1880, his father also died. Mr. McCollum and his wife live in their beautiful home in Monticello, respected by their friends and in full enjoyment of health and prosperity.
JAMES BARR. One of the earliest settlers of what is now. White County was James Barr, who was born in Franklin County, Ohio, Janu- ary 4, 1813, and came to what is now White County in 1831. In 1842 he married Eliza J. Shaw, daughter of John Shaw, who located at Battle Ground about the year 1829. In 1843 James Barr located upon and cleared up a farm of 360 acres in Prairie Township and on this farm he died November 10, 1876. He was an industrious farmer, an honest man and a good citizen.
KILBOURN J. MILLS. One of the highly respected citizens of White County, Kilbourn J. Mills, son of Henry and Mary (Purdy) Mills, was born in Dutchess County, New York, October 15, 1829. His father was of Holland Dutch extraction, while his mother was English, and from such a union it was but natural that the offspring should possess those sterling qualities so predominant in the subject of this sketch. In 1833 his parents moved to Ohio, where they lived until 1860. On Saturday, December 23, 1851, Kilbourn J. Mills was married to Miss Caroline Belle Hemline, near Bolivar, Ohio, and to this marriage were born nine children : Mary, now Mrs. William Phillips, of White County; Samuel H. Mills, who died in Prairie Township March 31, 1908; Susan R., who married John H. Wallace, a former lawyer of Monticello and who died November 27, 1874; Caroline B. Mills, who died July 22, 1909; David H. Mills, now living in Ohio; Alice I. Mills, who died at the age of nine ; Loretta E., wife of Albert Stephan, of Chalmers; Lucretia A. Mills, de- ceased ; and Kilbourn J. Mills, who is still living.
About 1860 Mr. Mills purchased and located on a farm of 270 acres three miles northeast of Brookston, which he developed into a fine home- stead. In 1894 he removed to a farm northwest of Brookston and in 1901 he moved to his present home about four miles south of Monticello. Mr. Mills in youth had learned the tinner's trade and for a few months
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conducted a business in that line in Monticello, but this not proving a lucrative venture he returned to the farm.
For sixty-four years Mr. and Mrs. Mills have lived together and both bid fair to live to celebrate their diamond wedding. He was a whig but when the republican party was organized he cast his lot with it and has remained true to its principles. He was one of the founders of the Brookston Presbyterian Church, but is now transferred to the same communion in Monticello. In 1857 he was made a Mason in Bethlehem, Ohio, and three years later transferred his membership to Brookston Lodge, of which he is a member. As the shadows lengthen, these two old people are cheerful, happy and contented. Their labors are almost done, but for them the future has no terrors.
THOMAS W. O'CONNOR. During the excitement occasioned by the assassination of President Lincoln, in April, 1865, Francis and Ellen O'Connor landed in New York, direct from London where they had resided the five previous years. They brought with them seven children, Catherine, Ellen, James, Joanna, Mary Anne, Daniel and Bridget. The entire family proceeded at once to White County, Indiana, and located on a farm in Cass Township, belonging to Mr. O'Connor's brother, Thomas, after whom the subject of this article was named. Here they resided five years, during which time two sons, Thomas W., (on July 4, 1868) and Francis J. were born. In 1870, the family removed to Boone Township, Cass County, where they lived until 1883, and where another son, Patrick, was born. Of this family of ten children all of the daugh- ters and two sons, Daniel and Thomas W. O'Connor, are now living.
In 1883, the family moved again to White County and bought a part of the farm on which they had formerly lived. Thomas W. O'Connor was educated in the common schools of White County, after which he attended the Monticello High School one year, the State Normal at Terre Haute one term, and one term of the law school at Indiana University. He taught school in White County for ten years and in 1892, was elected county assessor of White County which position he held for four years.
In 1895, he was married to Miss Honora O'Connell, daughter of John and Mary O'Connell, of Winamac, Indiana, and took up his resi- dence in Monticello. To this union were born four children, Margaret Gertrude, in 1897, Anna in 1900 (died in 1906), Mary Elizabeth in 1902 and Thomas Richard in 1909.
In 1896, Mr. O'Connor was elected state senator from the district composed of Carroll, Pulaski and White counties, serving for four years, and in the fall of 1909, was elected the first mayor of Monticello, defeat-
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ing his republican opponent, W. H. Hamelle, and served as mayor for four years.
In 1902, he organized the Monticello National Bank and became its president, which position he yet holds. He is also extensively engaged in the real estate and mortgage loan business.
In 1914, he was a candidate before the democratic state convention for the office of state treasurer but was defeated. Mr. O'Connor has always been a staunch democrat and is also a consistent member of the Catholic Church. His palatial home in Monticello, a family in which he has a just pride and his successful business career justly places him with our first citizens.
WILLIAM J. HUFF was born at Lafayette, Indiana, August 5, 1849, being the son of Samuel A. and Massie Farmer Huff, early settlers of that city. He was educated in the public schools and private academies of Lafayette and also in the Bryant & Stratton Business College. While still in the public schools, his father discovered his fondness for the printing business by his anxiety to collect old type, for which nothing he possessed was too good to barter in exchange, and the youthful student of the "art preservative" was supplied with an amateur outfit costing $125. With this equipment, in the basement of Basswood, his country home, he spent all of his spare moments in the publication of a 9 by 12 weekly euphoniously styled the Weekly Tickler. This venture perished under the scorching rays of the second summer, and after finishing his school life, he became shipping clerk and traveling salesman for a wholesale grocery and after two years thus employed, he embraced the dream of his youth and in 1870, before attaining his majority, engaged in the newspaper business at Monticello, in which he has since continued with the exception of five years spent in merchandising. He was post- master at Monticello from 1871 to 1885 and is the oldest newspaper man in White County at the present time actively engaged in the business, being the senior member of the firm publishing the Monon News. Eye trouble has resulted almost in the loss of sight and has been a handicap to his efforts for the past thirty-five years.
Mr. Huff was married to Miss Alice E. Wright of Monticello, April 1, 1874, to which union five children were born, two dying in infancy and three are still living, Edgar J. and Walter S., constituting the other two members of the Monon News firm, and Mrs. Florence Sullivan of Crawfordsville, Indiana. In addition to his duties as editor, Mr. Huff finds unalloyed pleasure in entertaining two grandchildren, who control his movements with a despotic hand, but in no sense galling to him.
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NICHOLAS WAGNER. In the ranks of White County citizens who are now enjoying a fair meed of prosperity, probably none was in early life more completely dependent upon his own exertions and few have solved more successfully the problems of existence than Nicholas Wagner. whose splendid country estate of 480 acres is located in section 15 of Princeton Township. The people of White County have a great deal of respect for Mr. Wagner's judgment and ability and this respect has been translated into a degree of community esteem which must make his material prosperity all the sweeter and more enjoyable.
Like many other sterling citizens of White County he is of German birth and ancestry. He was born in Prussia in one of the Rhine provinces on October 20, 1852, a son of Mathias and Mary (Krich) Wagner. The parents spent all their lives in the old country, and were simple, hard working and honest people and did all they could to bring up their children to useful careers. While in Germany Nicholas Wagner gained the usual education supplied to German boys and had reached the years of man's estate when he broke the ties of home and early associations and set out for the United States in 1873. He brought with him prac- tically no capital, and had to make his way through the difficulties involved in learning a new language, customs, and in providing himself with an adequate future. After spending about three months in the City of Chicago, he went on to Kendall County, Illinois, and was soon engaged in farming in that state. In 1877 he came to White County and viewing his present accomplishments White County can be con- gratulated on this important addition to its citizenship. At that time he invested in a tract of largely unimproved land comprising 160 acres, a portion of his present farm. By thrift and industry he has added to the original farm from time to time, and now has three times its original extent. All of it is excellently improved, nearly all of it productive in the staple crops of White County, and a handsome set of buildings represent some of the other improvements that he lias made in the course of his ownership. Mr. Wagner has never claimed to be a specialist in any branch of farming and has relied for his prosperity upon the general crops and the raising of first class live stock.
On April 19, 1877, the year he came to White County, Mr. Wagner married Miss Annie Zerdeen, daughter of Mathias Zerdeen. To her capable cooperation and encouragement he attributes no small degree of his success. Their household has been blessed with the arrival of ten children, all of whom are now living and are gaining for themselves reputations of honorable usefulness. These children are: Mary, Jacob. Henry, Annie, John, Frank, Theresa, Rosie, Anthony and Martin. Mr. Wagner and his family are members of the Sacred Heart Catholic
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Church at Remington. He himself has been somewhat independent in the matter of politics, has voted for the man rather than the party, and has been content to go without office, giving his best service to a diligent attention to his business as a farmer, to the responsibilities imposed upon him as father of a large family and by performing the kindly and simple offices that go with membership in a social community.
WILLIAM FRENCH. The activities and interests of the French family in White County have received considerable attention in these pages, and of the generation which was native to this locality none stood higher in esteem and compelled greater respect for his ability and attainments than the late William French, for may years a progressive and successful business man at Brookston.
William French was a son of William and Mary S. (Ash) French, and was born in Prairie Township of White County August 18, 1866. The family had located in White County many years before, and William French, Sr., was one of the powerful figures in the early development of the farming and stock raising industry in Prairie Township.
William French, Jr., was helping to earn his own support as early as eleven years of age. His education came both from schools and from practical experience, and he was always diligent, faithful to duty, a man of sure decision, and stood steadfastly by all the rules of honor. In 1887 he went to Brookston and for three months was engaged in conducting a meat market. In about the year 1891, with his brother James F., he bought the hardware establishment formerly conducted by D. E. Murphy and they continued this store on a partnership basis until August 1, 1910. The store was then sold to Mr. A. L. Brecken- ridge. The brothers had also become interested in a local canning factory about 1891 and under their direction this became one of the most sub- stantial business industries of Brookston.
The late William French took a general interest in public affairs, but not as a politician or office holder. His death occurred August 16, 1911, from the effects of severe burns inflicted in an accident in the canning factory. Mrs. Ruth French, his widow, is the only survivor, their marriage having brought no children.
On April 6, 1898, Mr. French married Miss Ruth Burget, who was born in White County, Indiana, September 2, 1870, the eldest of three children, two sons and one daughter, of Henderson and Mary E. (Cawood) Burget. Only two of the children are living, Mrs. French and her brother Ross, who is a farmer in Prairie Township. He wedded Miss Eliza Mohler, and they have two children, a son and a daughter. Mr. Burget, the father, was born in Indiana, was educated in the schools
Nm French
Mrs Ruth Freuch,
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"ERCELDENE LODGE," RESIDENCE OF MRS. RUTH FRENCH, BROOKSTON, INDIANA
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of his native state, and his life's work has been that of an agriculturist. He owns a fine farm of 160 acres in White County and also land in South Dakota, and he is a resident of Brookston. His political party is the republican, but he is not bound by party ties and supports the men which are, in his judgment, best fitted for official positions. Mrs. Burget was born in Ohio and was fifteen years of age when she came to Indiana. Mrs. French graduated from the Brookston High School with the class of 1890, and was a student in the University of Valparaiso for a short time. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Brookston and also of the Ladies Literary Club, known as the "Thurs- day P. M. Ladies Club," of which she is the treasurer. She presides over a beautiful and modern home at the corner of Prairie and Second streets in Brookston, a home of beauty, culture and refinement, whose portals are ever open to her many friends. She enjoys life to its fullest, and has crossed the continent several times, visiting Portland, Seattle, Van- couver and Canada, and the past year she spent in the eastern states, including Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and Pennsylvania. Her home in Brookston is known as "Erceldene Lodge."
PERRY P. O'CONNOR. In the career of Perry O'Connor there is found an expression of well directed and intelligent industry, of devotion to the best interests of the community, and of promotion of the best prin- ciples of agriculture. His financial standing is indicated by the possession of a well-cultivated farm of 190 acres, located in Round Grove Township, which has come to him through the exercise of thrift, good management and business sagacity.
Mr. O'Connor was born in Prairie Township, White County, Indiana, May 5, 1857, and is a son of Patrick and Julia (Murphy) O'Connor, natives respectively of County Limerick and County Kerry, Ireland. About the year 1849 the father emigrated to the United States, his cash capital at the time being 121/2 cents, but his stock of ambition and determination unlimited. Upon landing in this country he was hired, was drawn by number and became the employe of Mr. Ducket, who also became the employer of Julia Murphy who arrived in this country some time later in the same year, and who afterward married Mr. O'Connor. The Ducket property was located eighteen miles from Philadelphia, and there Mr. O'Connor received his board and $4 per month during the first three years, and his board and $6 per month during the next like period. In 1855 he came to Indiana and located in the mud at Chalmers, subsequently moving out to the old Dowling place, where he worked out one winter. In the winter of 1856-57 he worked for James Gwinn, after having passed a year in the employ of Governor Willard, and in the Vol. II -- 23
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spring of 1857 began farming on his own account on the Kent farm, having, with thrift and industry saved enough out of his meager wages to establish himself as a proprietor. In April, 1858, he moved to Round Grove Township, where he bought forty acres in section 19, and to this property added until he had eighty acres, on which he carried on general farming and stockraising, gaining success through hard, continuous work and good management of his affairs. He was a democrat in his political views, but took only a good citizen's interest in public matters, as they affected his community. He was married about the year 1851 and became the father of nine children, of whom three survive: Perry, Mrs. Maggie Rayman and Mrs. Annie Lampe. Patrick O'Connor died December 21, 1898, and his wife September 18, 1908, and both are at rest in Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery, at Lafayette, Indiana. They were members of Saint Bridget's Roman Catholic Church, just over the line in Benton County. While Mr. O'Connor's advantages in his youth for the gaining of an education were not many, he made the most of his opportunities, was a well read man for his day and locality, and was never so happy as when at home with a favorite author.
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