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 54
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Mr. Meeker has been active in public affairs, a lifelong republican, was elected city clerk in 1881, was president of the school board in 1893, was a member of the city council in 1902, and served in the State Legis- lature during the sessions of 1905 and 1907. Mr. Meeker is a Lodge and Chapter Mason, and affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His church home is the Presbyterian.
JOHN GRAVES. A life-long resident of White County, John Graves comes from substantial pioneer stock, his father, James Graves, having been an early settler of Monon Township, and for many years intimately associated with the promotion of the agricultural interests of his neigh- borhood. He was born, April 18, 1847, on the old Sheets farm, in Monon Township, being the oldest child of the parental household now living.
James Graves was born and reared in Coshocton County, Ohio, where he grew to man's estate. In 1838 he came with his wife to Monon Town -. ship, White County, moving here from Tippecanoe County, where he had spent the previous year, making the journey from Ohio to this state with teams. Taking up a tract of wild land, he improved a farm of eighty acres, and continued his residence in Monon Township until his death, January 6, 1873. He married, in Ohio, Christina Potter, a native of Pennsylvania, and of the eight children that brightened their union but three are now, in 1915, living, as follows: John; James; and Mrs. Catherine Culp, of White County. The mother lived to a good old age, dying January 26, 1894, and being buried beside her husband, in Monon Chapel.
Receiving a substantial common school education, John Graves, who was a wide-awake, industrious youth, started in life for himself when
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but eighteen years of age, embarking in business as a cattle dealer. Subsequently investing in land, he carried on farming and stock-growing until about 1905, when he moved to Monon, where he has since lived, retired, practically, from agricultural pursuits, although he farms some with his son, and performs such odd tasks as come his way. He, fol- lowing in the footsteps of his father, is identified with the democratic party, but has never sought political favors.
Mr. Graves married, October 17, 1869, Susan Webb, daughter of John and Martha (Long) Webb, who came from Wabash County to White County in the early '50s, settling in Monon Township. Eight children have been born into the household of Mr. and Mrs. Graves, namely : Lilly, wife of Louis Cooley ; Jesse, of Pulaski County; Martha, wife of Tom Newbold; Rosie, who married Edward Rogers, died in early woman- hood; Mary, deceased; Samuel, engaged in farming; Asa, a traveling salesman; and Clyde, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Graves are members of the Presbyterian Church at Monon.
HENRY LANE MURRAY. On the 6th of June, 1909, death took away from the active citizenship of White County Henry Lane Murray, after nearly seventy years of continuous residence in the neighborhood five miles east of Monon where he was born. At the funeral service, con- ducted under the impressive Masonic ceremonies and those of the Grand Army Post, his pastor chose as the text of the discourse the words- "And what shall the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God?" One of the best tributes that could be made to human life was the affirmative answer that could be returned to the questions of these Old Testament words. The late Mr. Murray during all his life sought to do justice and exercise mercy in his relations with himself, his family and his community, and in the commonplace and humble walks of life found such opportunities for real service as to make his character and influence a blessing to all those around him.
The Murray family has been identified with White County since pioneer times. Henry L. Murray was born on the farm where he spent almost his entire career, September 16, 1840, and was a son of Daniel and Mary (Kenton) Murray. His mother was a daughter of the noted Simon Kenton, a frontiersman in the Ohio Valley whose fame rests secure in early history and whose name is perpetuated in one of the thriving cities of Ohio. Daniel Murray came to White County about four years before the birth of his son Henry, and paid $1,000 for 800 acres of land, a portion of which the late Henry Murray long occupied as a farm. Daniel Murray was the father of a large family
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of children, and among them were five sons, Marshall, Wallace, Lewis, George and Henry, all of whom went from White County to serve the Union cause during the Civil war. Few families performed a greater sacrifice for the preservation of their country's integrity than the Mur- rays. The last survivor of these militant brothers was Wallace Murray, who at the time of his brother Henry's death was past eighty years of age and living in Oklahoma.
The late Henry Murray was in his twenty-first year when the war broke out, and at Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers he at once joined the band of young men who had been hastily organized at Rensselaer by Captain, afterwards Major-General Milroy. This com- pany went across the country overland to Monon, and there took cars for Indianapolis to be mustered in. At Clark's Hill Henry was detained by the accidental death of his cousin John Brown, who fell under the wheels of the cars and whose death is thought to have been the first that befell any enlisted man in the Union service. Mr. Murray returned home with the body of his cousin, and after the funeral went to the camp at Indianapolis to join Company G. There he found three of his older brothers members of other regiments and they persuaded him to return home to care for their widowed mother and it was so arranged. For this reason he did not get into the three months' service. However, on the reorganization of the Ninth Indiana Infantry at LaPorte in August, 1861, for the three years' service, two of his brothers having returned home, Henry Murray then enlisted in Company B, and re- mained with that command until January, 1863, when he was honorably discharged on account of a wound received in the battle of Pittsburg Landing. It was in the second day's fight at Shiloh that he was severely wounded, but after recovering at the hospital he was on duty until discharged. The Ninth Regiment made a notable record in the war and lost from wounds and sickness more than 350 men. Mr. Murray was in several important engagements and was given the post of honor as an escort on General Nelson's staff for bravery at the battle of Perrysville.
When he returned from the army his health was almost wrecked by wounds and exposure, and it was some time before he was able to take active charge of his business as a farmer. After that for more than forty years he lived in the locality where he was born, prospered in his agri- cultural enterprise, and endeared himself to the entire community by his upright and honorable life. He was a man of unusual social quali- ties, was kindly and considerate in his conduct, and had a wide circle of loyal and devoted friends. In February, 1883, he was appointed trustee of Monon Township to fill a vacancy and was afterwards twice
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elected to the same office. He gave an excellent account of his admin- ยท istration as trustee. On July 22, 1865, he became a member of the Masonic order and at the time of his death was next to the oldest member of the Libanus Lodge of Monticello. He was also a member of Tippe- canoe Post. G. A. R., at Monticello, and the presence of these two organ- izations gave additional impressiveness to the funeral services.
In March, 1866, Mr. Murray married Emma J. Berkey, daughter of David and Rebecca (Wilson) Berkey. She died September 6, 1877, and of the seven children born to them three survived their father, Frank, Jennie and Clara. On December 30, 1882, Mr. Murray married Miss Mary E. Russell. Mrs. Murray is still living at Monon, and by her mar- riage was the mother of four children: Charles, Florence. James and Edward.
GEORGE R. CLAYTON, M. D. For thirty-four years a practicing phy- sician at Monon, the life of Doctor Clayton has been a benefit and an in- spiration to the people of his community. His work as a physician has long made him a familiar figure in that part of White County, and has been of an order eminently calculated to bring him the respect and love of all, and in those qualities his life has been richly endowed.
Dr. George R. Clayton was born April 20, 1854, at Pittsfield, Illinois. His parents were Thomas C. and Margaret (Carrier) Clayton, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Virginia. Thomas C. Clayton was a wagon maker, followed that trade at Pittsfield, and that was at a time when wagon manufacturing by machinery was still in the future. and all work was performed by hand. During the Civil war epoch Thomas C. Clayton was a pronounced Union man, and in the section of Illinois where he lived the lines of opinion were tightly drawn, and a man of pronounced Union sentiments was likely to be very unpopular. During the war he became provost marshal of Pike County and because of his official activities his life was often in danger. Listening to the entreaties of his wife, who feared for his safety, in 1866 he removed to Hancock County, where he and his good wife spent the rest of their days.
It was in Hancock County that Doctor Clayton was reared to man- hood, getting his early education in the public schools of Bowen. After the high school course he read medicine under the direction of Dr. A. E. McNeall, subsequently took one term of lectures in the Keokuk Medical College of Iowa, and in 1879 entered the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville, from which he was graduated in the June class of 1880.
Doctor Clayton has had an active membership in the medical profes- sion for thirty-five years. He began his practice at Donaldson, Iowa,
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in the spring of 1881 located at Rockfield, Indiana, and in the following January removed to Monon and entered upon the practice which has kept him busied down to the present time. It is his distinction to be now the third oldest physician in point of years of practice in White County. He has been both a friend and physician to hundreds of fam- ilies, and is one of the best liked men in White County. He is a member of the White County and State Medical societies, and has fraternal affiliations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masonic order.
On January 17, 1882, Doctor Clayton married Nettie E. Sharrer, who was called away by death January 17, 1907, on her twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. There are two children: George R. Jr., a phy- sician at Fowler, but formerly was in practice at Monon. Anna Fay, the daughter, is the wife of Firman Thompson of Rensselaer, Indiana. Dr. Clayton is a republican, having cast his first vote in that party for President Hayes.
JAMES P. GWIN. During the last thirty or forty years probably no citizen of Monon has been more diligent at his business and has worked with better results to all concerned than James P. Gwin. Mr. Gwin is a former sheriff of White County, has filled practically all the impor- tant offices in his home community of Monon, and when his official duties have not interfered has had an almost continuous service as railway station agent for the Monon Railway Company for more than thirty- five years.
James P. Gwin was born at Lanesville, Harrison County, Indiana, January 6, 1854. He was one of a family of twelve children, and there were also four half brothers and sisters, but of the children of his parents only two are now living. His parents, James J. and America (Ellis) Gwin, were both natives of Harrison County, Indiana. James J. Gwin was a son of Thomas Gwin, a native of Virginia. Thomas Gwin was a grandson of the founder of the family in America. This founder was a Scotch Highlander and a man of considerable means and business enterprise, as is indicated by the fact that he was the owner of a ship. During the latter half of the eighteenth century he loaded this vessel with merchandise, and on it crossed the Atlantic to one of the American colonies with the intention of making his future home on this side of the ocean. About that time or a little later the colonies proclaimed their independence from England, and in order to secure means to carry on the war the new government requisitioned both the ship and its goods. This was a hardship undoubtedly on the new colonist, but he acquiesced in the imperative nature of the situation, and thus received his baptism as a loyal subject of the new republic.
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James J. Gwin, father of James P., was a blacksmith and farmer, and a man of no little distinction. For two years he was in the American army in the war against Mexico. In April, 1854, he removed from Harrison County to White County and improved the Governor Willard farm, four miles west and two miles north of Brookston. He later bought a tract of land five miles east of Brookston on the Tippecanoe River, improved that, and lived there about seven years. This property was then traded for half a section of land six miles west and two miles north of Brookston, and his home was there twelve years. The re- mainder of his days were spent in quiet retirement from the active cares of life at Battleground, and he died there in January, 1883. His widow died at Fair Oaks, Indiana, in 1899. James J. Gwin during his residence in Harrison County served as a justice of the peace. A man of but limited scholastic training. he had a fine mind, and was a mathe- matician of more than ordinary ability. It was his nature to make up his mind slowly, but when once convinced of the right he was almost insuperable in maintaining his position. He was kind in his family, neighborly in his intercourse with his fellow men, just in all his relations with life and commanded universal respect. There were few men of his generation who read more and with better judgment, and he was regarded as one of the best informed citizens of White County.
James P. Gwin has spent sixty-one years of his life as a resident of White County. He was three months old when his father came to this locality, grew to manhood here, acquiring his early education in the country schools and finishing in the high school at Battleground. His life up to the age of twenty-two was spent on a farm. As a means of introducing him to a field of larger opportunity he then learned teleg- raphy, and entered upon his career as a railway man. In June, 1877, Mr. Gwin was made railroad agent and telegraph operator at Monon, and Monon has practically ever since been his home.
In 1882 he was elected trustee of Monon Township, but resigned that office about a year later. The people of White County in the fall of 1888 elected him to the office of sheriff, and after one term of two years, he was re-elected, and gave four years to the duties of one of the most important offices in county government. While sheriff he was of course a resident of Monticello. On the expiration of his official term he re- sumed his railway work at Monon, and has continued faithfully and efficiently to act as a medium of service between the railway company and the general public.
In politics Mr. Gwin is an active democrat. He is a Knight Templar Mason, belongs to the encampment degree of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. On
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October 17, 1878, he married Miss Jennie McManus, who died June 17, 1881, and both his children died in infancy. On September 21, 1882, Mr. Gwin married Miss Martha Alice Funderburg. To this union have been born three children: Myrtie Alvene, wife of Claude C. Wright; Carrie Ethel, wife of Nelson B. Reed; and David Monroe, who is an accomplished musician, now in his twenty-third year.
For fifteen years Mr. Gwin was a member of the Monon School Board, and during that time the present school building, which cost $18,000, was erected. In 1907 he was elected a member of the board of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Monon, and has served as such to the present time, a term marked by the erection of the handsome Methodist Church now used by the congregation in Monon. In 1912 he was appointed a member of the Monon Library Board, and during his term the present Carnegie Library Building was arranged for and completed. Thus in every way his life has been identified with con- structive service.
WILLIAM A. MCPHERSON. The rewards attainable in a life of in- dustry and consecutive effort, are illustrated in the career of William A. McPherson, now one of the successful business men of Monticello and Monon. When he entered upon his career he was only a lad, and was compelled to accept such employment as was offered, but he sturdily and independently worked his way upward until now he is the occupant of a position of prominence in the business world of White County, and is accumulating the material emoluments that accompany such distinc- tion.
Mr. McPherson was born near Hamilton, in the Province of On- tario, Canada, August 21, 1872, and is one of two living children in a family of three born to the marriage of Robert McPherson and Elizabeth (Knowles) McPherson, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Canada. Robert McPherson died in 1879, while his widow survived him for many years, passing away in 1905. William A. McPherson, after his father's death, went to the public schools to a limited extent and made his home for a time with his mother who had remarried. At twelve years of age he began working on a farm, subsequently took a position in a sawmill, and for a time accepted any honorable employ- ment that would attain him the means with which to keep body and soul together. He was about sixteen years of age when he began to learn the trade of baker, a vocation which he followed during the next twenty years. In the meantime, in 1892, he came to the United States and located at Detroit, Michigan, where he lived for a couple of years, then going to Lexington, Kentucky, and later to many other large cities of Vol. II-32
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the Union. During the period that he worked as a journeyman baker, Mr. McPherson visited three countries, and in the United States has been in twenty-six states. He took out his first papers of citizenship in Minnesota, in 1894, and his final papers were granted him at Indian- apolis, Indiana, in 1900.
At LaCrosse, Wisconsin, Mr. McPherson was married January 25, 1894, to Miss Anne Kletske, and in 1902 they came to White County, Indiana. For the two years following Mr. McPherson worked at his trade at Brookston, but in 1904 moved to Monon, which has continued to be his home ever since. Here he started working at his trade, sub- sequently began buying cream from the farmers of the locality, and thus started handling butter. Gradually he drifted into manufacturing ice cream, and when this business assumed large proportions turned his entire attention thereto. Later Mr. McPherson added the manufacture of soda water and bottling thereof, a side line which has also met with satisfactory success. In December, 1913, he established an ice cream factory at Monticello, and a year later added there the bottling of milk. In pursuance of the latter enterprise, Mr. McPherson first standardizes his milk, then cleans it of all impurities by centrifugal force, then bottles it, and finally the milk is sterilized and pasteurized, thus going to the consumer in an absolutely pure condition. In preparing all of his prod- ucts for the market, Mr. McPherson has instituted "cleanliness and purity" as a motto, and this has become generally known by the public, which perhaps is the chief reason for the success which he has attained within a few short years. Mr. McPherson is well known in fraternal circles, being a member of the American Yeomen, the Tent and Encamp- ment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and also belongs to the Traveling Men's Protective Association. In his political belief Mr. McPherson is an independent republican. He is the father of two children: Bernita, who is the wife of John Hands, Jr., of Monon; and Miss Frances, who resides with her parents. All the members of the family are connected with the Presbyterian Church.
JOHN G. BROWN. A little more than twenty years ago a young Illinois farmer, burdened with debt and with the responsibilities of a family, arrived in White County. With uncompromising earnestness he faced difficulties that would have discouraged many persons. To day John G. Brown is one of the honored and successful men of the county, owns a valuable farm immediately adjacent to the town of Monon, has been repeatedly honored with public office, and is a former member of the State Legislature.
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In Ford County, Illinois, John G. Brown was born May 11, 1865. His parents were John and Catherine (Hunt) Brown, the former a native of Union County, Indiana, and the latter of Union County, Ohio. The Browns are of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and both parents are now deceased. John Brown was an Illinois farmer and died in August, 1873. He was the father of ten children and at his death left his widow with the care of eight, five of whom are still living. The mother was a woman of great strength of character and by her self-sacrificing efforts kept her family together and reared them to worthy parts in the world, where they have since been a credit to her love and instruction. She was a Christian woman, living the life as Christ taught, and reared her chil- dren to tell the truth, to live clean, upright lives and to love the works of the Almighty. Her death occurred in April, 1912.
Eight years of age when his father died, John G. Brown began strug- gling with the problems of life at an early age. He shared the burdens of the household, and remained with his mother until reaching manhood. On September 15, 1887, he assumed new responsibilities by his marriage to Lizzie Jones. They began housekeeping on a rented farm, finally Mr. Brown moved to Hoopeston, Illinois, where he conducted a livery and seed store. His arrival in White County, Indiana, was in the fall of 1892. At that time his family consisted of his wife and two children, and to offset a debt of six hundred dollars he had only a wagon and team and a few household goods. Strong, self reliant and industrious, he was able to acquire forty acres of land on credit, and with that started out to make a success as a White County farmer. For a number of years Mr. Brown handled real estate and was instrumental in bringing a large number of solid and substantial farming people to White County. In this connection few men have done so much as Mr. Brown in the im- provement and betterment of the community. No worthy enterprise in the past twenty years has been launched but what he has been one of its supporters. His prosperity is now indicated by the ownership of 235 acres in his homestead, and he also has 200 acres of pasture land. He has lived on his farm close to Monon for the past fifteen years. Mr. Brown has been an extensive raiser, buyer and seller of stock, shipping to Indianapolis and Chicago.
Through all his privations and successes his ablest source of help and encouragement was his wife. They are the parents of eleven children and those that lived have had the benefit of a good home and excellent advantages both in the home circle and in the schools. The names of these children are: Gladys, who died at the age of three; Reva C., wife of Edward L. Lowe of Monon Township ; Bonnie E .; Archie D .; Vera F. ; Gail W .; Floyd J .; Galena; Nellie, who died in infancy ; Deward D .; and Helen May.
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The public activities of Mr. Brown have been largely directed through the avenue of the republican party in which political faith he was reared, and he has been a strong advocate for all that is best in its principles and policies. At the same time he is a man of conviction who does not hesitate to condemn what he does not approve. His fellow townsmen speak highly of his service of four years as trustee of Monon Township. The efficiency with which he administered that office gave him strong support and in 1908 he became a candidate for the lower house of the State Legislature and two years later he was re-elected to that position. In 1911 Governor Marshall appointed him a member of the Industrial and Agricultural Commission, and in the work of that state board he gained considerable prominence. Such in brief is the record of one of the men who are especially loyal to White County as the scene of their successful endeavors in the world and whom the people esteem in accord- ance with his achievements.
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