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 45
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wished to see every one succeed. He was generous to a fault, would give employment to men just because they needed help and not because he needed their services, and it is said that during his life here he boarded enough people free to have paid for a good-sized farm. He was a medium-sized man, but was strong and rugged and capable of doing an immense amount of work. In political matters he was originally a whig and later a republican, and served his county as surveyor for three terms, or from 1865 to 1870. He died March 12, 1873, and was buried near Chalmers, in White County.
While a, resident of Madison County, Ohio, Mr. Kious was married to Rebecca Bowers, who died leaving several children. He was married later to Harriet Pritchard, who was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, January 8, 1814, and died March 19, 1887, daughter of Edward and Harriet Pritchard, of that county. She was also laid to rest in White County. Their children were as follows: Amanda, who married Willis Gant, who died in Iowa, and later married a second time; Lasa Am, who married Rev. J. C. Mahin and after his death married Simon Bailey, and died at Battle Ground, Indiana, in 1903; Josephine, who died as the wife of John D. Cutler, in Prairie Township, in 1907; Napo- leon B., who died in Prairie Township, in 1882, unmarried; George W., who died young; Joseph H., of this notice; Harriet V .; and Eliza A., who died in infancy.
Joseph H. Kious grew up amid rural surroundings in the vicinity of Brookston, and was given good educational advantages in his youth, attending the district. schools and completing his studies at Battle Ground Academy, where Judge Palmer was a fellow-student. He inher- ited very little property from his father, but what was better he inherited the business judgment, acumen and ability that had made the elder man successful. While he has always carried on agricultural pursuits, he has specialized in handling cattle, and in this line of operation he has found his chief success. He owns broad acres of some of the most valuable land in White County, as well as in adjoining communities, and has interested himself in various enterprises which have added to the prestige of the community as well as to his material wealth. At the present time he is president of the Farmers Bank of Brookston, one of the leading financial institutions of the county, in the direction of which he has displayed the possession of marked capacity as a banker. He has been a supporter of the local Young Men's Christian Association, and while not. a member of any religious denomination has donated liber- ally to various movements of a religious and educational character. He has also shown an interest in the civic affairs of his community, and has contributed of his time and abilities in serving the community, acting as
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a member of the town school board for nine years, during which time he was variously president, treasurer and secretary.
On June 12, 1889, Mr. Kious was married to Miss Laura Finch, a daughter of George H. and Rebecca Finch, of Benton County, Indiana. To this union there has been born one daughter: Laura Blanche, who married L. A. Waugh, a manufacturer of Crawfordsville, Indiana.
JOHN HARTMAN. In a lifetime of more than seventy years John Hartman has fulfilled his many obligations with a credit which does him honor. In the dark days of the Civil war he displayed a loyalty which brought him into the service of the Union army when still a boy, and the same quality of public spirit has been manifest in all his subsequent relations with every community where he has lived. A resident of White County for forty-five years, his influence and activities have been associated in various ways for the benefit of his locality at Brookston.
The Hartman family is of Scotch-Irish descent. His father, Abel Hartman, was born in Virginia in 1808. He married Eveline Downs, who was a native of Pennsylvania. From Virginia he moved to Ross County, Ohio, later to Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and in the spring of 1870 established his home in Prairie Township of White County. He was a blacksmith by trade, but after coming to Indiana followed agri- culture. In politics a republican, he was more interested in church than in party affairs, and lived and died in the faith of the United Brethren denomination. He died July 1, 1897, at Fort Scott, Kansas, and was buried there. He was the father of a large family of ten children, whose names are: Rebecca, Henry, Catherine, Sarah, Margaret, Jemina, Lavina, Samuel, John and Libby. The only ones now living are Sarah, Libby and John.
Mr. John Hartman was born in Ross County, Ohio, May 20, 1844, but when less than two years of age the family moved to Indiana. He grew up with that education which most of the young men of his time have acquired in the common schools, and when about nineteen years of age, on May 3, 1864, enlisted at Brooklyn, New York, in Company D of the Second New York Cavalry. He saw active service with the Union army until his honorable discharge at Alexandria, Virginia, on June 23, 1865. On September 22, 1864, he was captured at Fisher Hill and spent twenty days in a Confederate prison.
On April 18, 1872, Mr. Hartman married Mary A. Mansfield, a daughter of William H. and Elizabeth (Shigley) Mansfield of White County. To this union were born five children. Henry, who is a prac- tical farmer in Prairie Township, married Laura Stewart, and their three children are named Irma B., Ruth M. and John C. Amy A., the
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first daughter married Thomas J. Hanna, of the well known and promi- nent Hanna family of White County, and they live in Monticello. Effie I. is the wife of James I. Heman, of Tippecanoe County, and their two children are Lelia M. and Ray C. Carl E. is deceased. Mattie E. is the wife of Guy Stewart, and they live at Brookston.
Since his discharge from the army half a century ago, Mr. Hartman has made the farming the basis of his successful career. He has also participated actively in public affairs, and has been a republican voter throughout almost the entire period of the existence of that party. He served one term of four years as county assessor just prior to the begin- ning of the service of the present incumbent Mr. Snyder. For five years he was also township assessor of Prairie Township, and for three years deputy township assessor and in the fall of 1914 he was again elected township assessor. He is a director in the Perpetual Building & Loan Association of Brookston and is one of the substantial property holders of that community, being the owner of considerable town property and about forty acres of valuable and well improved farming land. He and his wife lend a liberal support and are regular attendants of the Baptist Church, in which he has served as trustee. He believes in the prin- ciples of fraternities, and has been particularly active in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, both the subordinate lodge, Brookston No. 164, and the Encampment at Brookston. He has been through the chairs of the local lodge and for three terms was representative to the Grand Lodge. He and his wife are members of the Rebekahs No. 376 at Brookston. He is also affiliated with Brookston Lodge No. 66, F. & A. M., and keeps up his associations with old army comrades as a member of Champion Hill Post No. 171, G. A. R. at Brookston and is the pres- ent commander of that post.
ALEXANDER LAWRIE TELFER. The name of Alexander Lawrie Telfer has been associated with the history of White County for more than a half century, from the time he took up his permanent residence here in 1863. A native of the Empire state, he brought to this undeveloped country a wealth of resource and unspoiled ambition, tempered with good judgment and business sagacity. In his veins flowed the blood of agriculturists, patriots and workers in the skilled vocations, and his actions were upheld by that dignity commonly associated with people accustomed in youth to the settled conditions of the East. His active career here was passed in the pursuits of the soil, but in 1914 he retired from active labor, and since that time has been living in quiet retire- ment at Brookston.
Alexander Lawrie Telfer was born April 17, 1848, in New York City,
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New York, and is a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Lawrie) Telfer. His paternal grandfather, Matthew Telfer, was born in England and came to the United States from borders of Scotland early in the Nineteenth Century. He passed the rest of his career at the trade of hairdressing, and died in New York City about 1843, in the faith of the Universalist Church. Matthew Telfer married Mary Ann Giles, who was born and passed her early years near Bound Brook, New Jersey, and whose par- ents came to the United States from England. Their children, all of whom are now deceased, were as follows: Mrs. Mary Ann Mook; Rob- ert; Matthew; Harriet Jane; Frederick, who served in the Civil war as a member of the Seventy-first Regiment, New York Volunteer In- fantry ; William, who was a member of the Seventh New York Infantry ; John, who also served as a soldier, in the Seventy-first Regiment; and two sons who died in infancy.
Robert Telfer, father of Alexander L., was born in New York City, May 14, 1825, and died in West Point Township, White County, Indiana, July 14, 1868, being buried there at West Point Burial Ground. He was an engraver and designer on wood and made illustrations for printing, and was considered one of the masters of his trade. He served as a captain of militia, was a Universalist in his religious belief, and was one of the organizers of the republican party, being a stalwart supporter of the candidacy of John C. Fremont for the presidency. Robert Telfer married Elizabeth Lawrie, who was born in New York City, April 1, 1823. Her mother's maiden name was Sarah Coombes and she was a daughter of Andrew Coombes, a captain in the patriot army during the War of the Revolution. One of his three brothers was the officer of the squad which captured Major Andre, near Tarrytown, New York. Sarah Coombes mother's ancestry dates back in this country to the year 1665. Under the name of Martin, the family came from Westphalia as. refugees from Germany, fleeing from persecution under the Edict of Nantes, and settled along the Hudson, in what is now known as Dutchess County, New York.
Alexander Lawrie Telfer received his education in the public schools of New York, New Jersey, and in Philadelphia. He was five years of age when his parents first came to White County, Indiana, in 1853, the family settling in section 26, West Point Township, on a farm a part of which is still owned by Mr. Telfer and which has been known for sixty years as the Wolf Mound Farm. About 1854 the family returned to the East and remained until the spring of 1863, and there young Alexander saw much of the glamour of war, the recruiting, camping and departure of the troops to the front, experiencing also many of the hardships of the war days when almost all of the able-bodied men were
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in the army. In White County he was reared as a farmer boy, although ยท in the East he had served for about nine months as an office boy, copyist, etc., in a law office. When ready to enter upon his own career, he had no capital save his energy, determination and ambition to succeed, but with these he worked out an admirable success in his chosen field of effort. He followed the vocation of agriculturist from the time when the prairies were occupied not alone by droves of cattle, but by wolves and deer, to the present, when the land has been brought under cultiva- tion; from the time when the settlers only had tracks that sought to avoid sloughs and quick-sands to the present times of good roads, ditches and railroad facilities. In 1914 he left the scene of his many years of successful labor and moved to Brookston, where he bought a home. Before he had lived here a year, his faithful and devoted wife who had been both helpmate and adviser, was called to her final rest, dying January 20, 1915. Mr. Telfer is still the owner of about one-half sec- tion of land in Round Grove, West Point and Prairie townships, which he saw advance in value from a few dollars to $200 per acre. He also has some valuable town property.
Mr. Telfer has always owed allegiance to the republican party. He served eight years as president of the White County Council, during which period the present handsome infirmary was erected, and in 1900 was appointed to take the United States census in Round Grove Town- ship. He is a charter member of the Universalist Church at Brookston, and served eleven years as superintendent of the Sunday school. His fraternal connection is with Grand Prairie Lodge No. 164, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is treasurer, and as one of the oldest residents of his community is valued as a member of the White County Historical Society.
Mr. Telfer was married at Monticello, Indiana, December 26, 1876, to Mary Ellen Reddish, a daughter of Noah and Almina (Bartholomew) Reddish and a granddaughter of Robert Reddish, who was the first per- son buried (1848) in the Bunnell Burying Ground, east of the present site of Reynolds. Her father was a soldier during the Civil war, being out in the neighborhood of one year. Mrs. Telfer's mother, Almina Bar- tholomew, was a daughter of Robert and Mary Bartholomew, who came to White County, Indiana, about 1850, from Ashtabula County, Ohio, and were originally from Connecticut, going to Ohio as infants with their parents in 1800, and having the Indians for their playmates. Five chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Telfer, namely: Robert, born Novem- ber 4, 1877, a farmer of Round Grove Township, married December 30, 1903, to Estella Statton, and has six children-Rob Roy, Virgil, Statton, William Burdell, James Howard and Ralph Blanchard; Lawrie, born
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December 28, 1879, a farmer of West Point Township, married December 24, 1901, to Nannie North, and has four children-Ethel Veroca, Opal . Jeanette, Emily Elenore and Edna Irene; Wallace, who died in infancy ; Arthur, born September 30, 1884, married February 6, 1907, to Laura Sterner, and has two children-Bernard and Anna Valeria ; and Frank, born April 10, 1887, who is unmarried and resides in Brookston, Indiana.
JOHN PETER ERICKSON. Coming from his native land to the United States as a young man with but nominal financial resources but fully fortified in courage, ambitions and self-reliance, besides being animated by that integrity of purpose. that ever conserves individual advance- ment Mr. Erickson has achieved large and worthy success during his residence of more than forty years in Indiana, and tangible evidences of his splendid prosperity and thrift are by no means obscure or uncer- tain, for he is today the owner of a valuable and finely improved landed estate of 500 acres of land in White County, besides being in possession of real estate in the Village of Brookston and one of the stockholders and directors of the Bank of Brookston, one of the substantial and popular financial institutions of White County. He is a progressive and public- spirited citizen, is appreciative of the advantages that have here been afforded him for the achievement of success and has never failed in rec- ognition of the stewardship which such success involves, so that he has aided in the furtherance of those things which tend to enhance the general welfare of the community and has not denied his aid to those less fortunate, the Golden Rule seeming to have been a dominating force in his career and his being secure vantage-ground in the con -- fidence and good will of his fellowmen. Mr. Erickson has been a resi- dent of White County since the spring of 1873 and here he has advanced from the obscure position of a farm workman in the employ of others to the established and secure plane on which he stands as one of the representative agriculturists and capitalists of this section of the state.
Mr. Erickson is a scion of a long line of sterling Scandinavian ancestors and was born in the Duchy of Slesvig, Kingdom of Denmark- a district that was conquered by the Austrian and Prussians in 1863-64 and that since 1866 has been a part of the Prussian Province of Sleswick- Holstein. Mr. Erickson was born in the Grundhof district, on the 4th of May, 1851, and is the younger of the two sons of Claus and Elizabeth Erickson, who passed their entire lives in their native land, where the father followed the vocation of farming during the major part of his active career. Mr. Erickson was reared to adult age in the place of his birth, profited duly by the advantages of the local schools, and within a few years after the German conquest of Sleswick he severed the home
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ties and set forth to seek his fortunes in America, where he was assured of better opportunities for the winning of independence and prosperity through personal effort. He came to the United States in June, 1870, and when he landed in the port of New York City his cash capital did not exceed twenty dollars. From the national metropolis he soon made his way to Cincinnati, Ohio, and thence came to Franklin County, Indiana, where he remained about one year, was variously employed in Rush County, this state, until the spring of 1873, which witnessed his arrival in White County, this county having since continued the stage of his earnest and productive activities. In the early period of his resi- dence here he was employed on the farm of Christopher Sommerstadt, east of Brookston, and in his independent operations as a farmer and stock-grower he has advanced from a modest beginning to the control of a large and valuable landed estate and to a position of prominence and influence in community affairs. From the time of becoming a natural- ized citizen of the United States Mr. Erickson has not faltered in his allegiance to the democratic party and he is well fortified in his opinions concerning governmental and economic policies, as he has read widely and with discretion and has become a man of broad views and mature judgment. He served six years as a member of the village council of Brookston, within which he maintains his residence, and for four years of this period he was president of the board. Further evidence of his hold upon popular confidence was shown in his being called upon to serve as a member of the board of education of this village, a position of which he continues the incumbent, during the first year being presi- dent of the board and at the present time being its treasurer. He and his wife are zealous and valued members of the Presbyterian Church at Brookston, and he is serving as its treasurer, as well as elder of the church.
On the 24th of March, 1886, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Erickson to Miss Fannie S. Hornbeck, who was born and reared in White County, where her parents, Nelson and Phoebe Hornbeck, established their residence many years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Erickson have two chil- dren : Alta May is the wife of Lynn F. Rainier, a progressive young farmer of Prairie Township; and Morris HI. was graduated in the depart- ment of agriculture at Purdue University at Lafayette this state, as a member of the class of 1915.
JEREMIAH MURPHY. Material prosperity was in the possession of Jeremiah Murphy many years before his death, which occurred Janu- ary 8, 1912, and which was a grievous loss to the good citizenship of Prairie Township. The late Mr. Murphy earned all that he ever
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acquired, and few men performed a more skillful and industrious part in the life and activities of Prairie Township than this citizen, who at an early age was thrown upon his own resources, and who made a remarkable record of increasing his possessions, all his accumulations representing industry and honorable dealing. His life should prove an encouragement to younger men who have little more than perseverance and industry as their capital in life.
Jeremiah Murphy was born at Castleisland, Ireland, March 6, 1830, a son of Jeremiah and Mary (Edenden) Murphy. In 1840 the family came to the United States, and for ten years resided at Dover, Delaware. The father died while in the East, and the mother and children subse- quently came West to Indianapolis, where she passed away. Of the ten children all are now deceased except Margaret and Daniel. The senior Murphy came to the United States in order to find better opportunities and provide a home for his family.
The late Mr. Murphy through the death of his parents was early thrown upon his own resources. When about eighteen years of age in 1848 he came to White County, and was thus one of the pioneers and helped to develop the country from its wilderness condition. He was soon established as an independent farmer, and for a great many years applied himself to that business with a rare judgment and exceptional skill which well account for the prosperity he gained. His first land ownership comprised eighty acres, and before his death his accumula- tions were represented in 800 acres, devoted to general farming and sheep and cattle raising. His widow and the children still own this generous estate, and the son is active manager. Mr. Murphy was one of the organizers of the Brookston Bank at Brookston, Indiana, and was one of the prominent men in that well known bank.
In 1863 Jeremiah Murphy married Miss Harrietta McIntyre, daugh- ter of Doctor Benjamin and Esther (Teck) McIntyre. Doctor McIn- tyre was a native of Vermont, and in the early days drove the entire distance from his native state to Tippecanoe County, Indiana, where he bought a small tract of land. Returning to Vermont, in a few years he became a permanent resident in Indiana, and lived here until his death. Mrs. Murphy's parents are both now at rest in Tippecanoe County. Mrs. Murphy was for four years a student in the seminary, St. Mary of the Woods at Terre Haute, and when only sixteen years of age taught her first term of school. She spent about four years in teaching before her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy became the par- ents of six children, and the two now living are: Charles, a member of the State Board of Equalization and one of the prominent farmers of White County ; and Henrietta, wife of J. Paul of Indianapolis.
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The late Mr. Murphy was a radical democrat, but too busy with other affairs to hold an office. He was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Masonic Order, and in religious matters favored the Presbyterian Church, of which Mrs. Murphy is an active member. The late Mr. Murphy was a great lover of home and of domestic animals, and in all the relations of his busy and long life commanded universal respect.
CHARLES W. BRACKNEY. Who would learn of one of the finest landed estates of White County need but investigate that of which Mr. Brackney is the owner, the same comprising about 850 acres and the entire tract being situated in Prairie Township, within whose borders he has resided from the time of his birth, his father having settled in this county seventy years ago and the family name having been most worthily linked with the civic and industrial development and progress of White County. He whose name introduces this paragraph is essen- tially one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of this section of his native state and is a citizen of prominence and influ- ence in his home community, where his unequivocal personal popu- larity effectually contraverts any application of the scriptural state- ment that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country."
On the old hometead farm of his father, in section 19, Prairie Town- ship, Charles W. Brackney was born on the 8th of October, 1859, the youngest of the four children of Arthur J. and Harriet C. (Bryan) Brackney. the former of whom, the seventh in a family of fourteen children, was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, on the 31st of Decem- ber, 1823, and the latter of whom was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, on the 16th of August, 1833, a daughter of John and Susan Bryan, who were numbered among the sterling pioneers of that county.
The marriage of the parents of the subject of this review was solem- nized, in Tippecanoe County, on the 29th of December, 1849, and of the children of this union Charles W. is the youngest, as previously stated ; Corydon, the first born, died in infancy; Melissa J. is the wife of. Stephen T. Cochran and they reside in the Village of Brookston, this county ; and Mary C. is the wife of Theodore Dimmitt, a prosperous farmer of Prairie Township.
Arthur J. Brackney was reared in Ohio till seven years of age and then came to Carroll County where his early environments were those of the pioneer days. About the year 1844, shortly after attaining to his legal majority, he came to White County, Indiana, where he essayed the herculean task of working his way from his status as a young man of but nominal financial means to the goal of definite independence and Vol. II-27
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