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 7
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WILLIAM B. HOLMES. Apropos of the character and achievement of one who has become one of the honored and valued citizens of White County, Bartholomew Holmes, whose career is outlined in an article immediately following the one at hand, there is all of consistency in offering here a memoir to his father, with incidental review of the family history, though the father never became a resident of White County but was one of the honored pioneer citizens of Ford County, Illinois, at the time of his death.
William Bartholomew Holmes was born at Brimington, England, on the 23d of September, 1820, and was summoned to the life eternal, at his home in Melvin, Ford County, Illinois, on the 18th of July, 1897, the last in a family of seven children. It is a matter of well authenticated record that in Chestershire, England, the Holmes family occupied one sturdy old house for four centuries, the general vocation of the repre- sentatives of the name having been that of farming, as one generation followed another onto the stage of life's mortal endeavors.
When William B. Holmes was fourteen years of age he was appren- ticed, for a term of seven years, to the trade of railroad carriage making, at Chesterfield, England, and in this connection he completed a thorough apprenticeship and became a skilled carpenter. At the age of twenty- one years he entered the English army, but during his two years' service he was not called from the shores of his native land. The ordinary discipline of the army was of benefit and not in the least repugnant to him, but being compelled, with the rest of his company, to witness the horrible whipping of a comrade with the cat-o'-nine-tails, his naturally kind disposition revolted, and his father obtained his release from the army. For the ensuing six years he was engaged in the work of his trade.
In 1844 Mr. Holmes took unto himself a wife, and five years later he immigrated with his family to the United States, the month of June, 1849, recording their settlement in the midst of the forest wilds of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, where Mr. Holmes built for his family a primitive log house of the pioneer type and then essayed the arduous task of reclaiming his heavily timbered land to cultivation. He finally capitalized this experience in an effective way by removing to a section where the material handicaps were not so great. Realizing that in a prairie district he could make more rapid advancement along the line of
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successful agriculture, he removed, in 1852, to Georgetown, Vermilion County, Illinois, where, as a means to an end, he worked at his trade, as a contractor and builder, until 1855. He then purchased a half- section of land in what is now Ford County, Illinois, and for this property he paid 75 cents an acre. Two years after his purchase of this property Mr. Holmes established on the embryonic farm the home of himself and family, and for more than forty years he there lived and labored to goodly ends, increasing prosperity crowning his efforts as the march of development and progress made its way in that section of the great State of Illinois. The wonderful appreciation in the value of the land which he thus acquired in the pioneer days may be realized when it is stated that his only surviving daughter sold her inherited eighty acres, in 1912, for the sum of $16,000. During the last decade of his life Mr. Holmes lived in gracious retirement and well merited peace and prosperity in the village of Melvin, Ford County.
Mr. Holmes was the first settler in the prairie section of Ford County, where he established his home as noted above, and many years elapsed before he was able to get enough men together to organize a school district. When the Prince of Wales visited this country, a part of the shooting party of the future King Edward made the Holmes residence their headquarters for a week or more. Mr. Holmes never sought or desired public office, yet his eligibility and his unqualified popularity made it impossible for him to hold aloof from such service. He held the office of school director, was twice elected supervisor of his township, and served many years as justice of the peace. He was an uncompromising advocate of the principles of the democratic party and voted for its every presidential candidate from Buchanan, in 1856, to Bryan, in 1896. In the only lawsuit of importance in which he was ever involved, Mr. Holmes retained Abraham Lincoln as his lawyer.
A man whose strong mind and intrinsic loyalty and integrity of purpose made him appreciative of the highest ideals and the spiritual verities, Mr. Holmes may be said to have had the true religious tempera- ment, but he did not fully develop these tendencies until late in life, owing to the lack of opportunities in the pioneer days. Concerning this phase of his life history the following pertinent statements have been written : He was brought up in the faith of the Church of England, but when his people joined the Methodist Episcopal Church he could not reconcile himself to this denominational form of government, and thus he remained out of the church until he was sixty-eight years old. On the 30th of November, 1892, he became a member of the Melvin Congregational Church, during the pastorate of Rev. D. H. Snowden, and thereafter he continued an active and influential member of this church until his
Anro Hannah Nolines
Bartholomew Haline
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death, heartily entering into the deliberations of the church and often presiding over its meetings. Mr. Holmes was a man who was uniformly esteemed. His faith in God was strong and unwavering, and his life was one of righteousness, kindliness and worthy achievement."
On the 26th of December, 1844, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Holmes to Miss Eliza Wrenn, at Sheffield, England, and this noble and gracious companion and helpmeet survived him by several years, her death having occurred on December 9, 1903, at which time she was eighty-three years of age. She was of the same family line as was the distinguished English statesman and architect, Sir Christopher Wren, 1632-1723, whose most enduring monument is the great St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London, he having been the designer of this wonderful and historie edifice. Mr. and Mrs. Holmes became the parents of ten children, four of whom died in infancy and three of whom have passed away after attaining to years of maturity. Of the three surviving children the eldest is Bartholomew, a sketch of whose career immediately follows this article. William Spencer Holmes, who is a representative lawyer and influential citizen of Effingham, Illinois, married Miss Lena Heilaganstein, and they have three children,-Edith, Elizabeth and William. He and his wife are members of the Presby- terian Church. Fannie A. Holmes, the only surviving daughter, is the widow of Paul Koestner, and she now maintains her home in White County, Indiana, where she is the owner of a finely improved farm of 180 acres. She has two sons. Frank and William. Frank Koestner, who has the active management of his mother's farm and is one of the progressive agriculturists of White County, married Miss Nettie Cope- land, and they have two sons. William Koestner received his higher education in the University of Illinois, is a civil engineer by profession and as such is retained in a responsible position of service by the Illinois Central Railroad Company. It is worthy of special note that he had supervision of the engineering corps that dredged the harbor of the City of New Orleans, Louisiana, and made the same adequate for the passage of the large type of vessels.
BARTHOLOMEW HOLMES. One of the finely improved and essentially model landed estates of White County is that owned and occupied by Bartholomew Holmes, who is one of the substantial and progressive men who have come into this favored county within recent years and who have stood exponent of the best type of citizenship. Mr. Holmes has upheld the high standard of agricultural industry in White County with as great ability and loyalty as have the representatives of pioneer families in this section of the state, and such sterling citizens always prove a
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valuable and welcome acquisition in any community. The fine home- stead of Mr. Holmes comprises 630 acres and is eligibly situated in sections 22 and 30, Union Township. He was for many years a successful farmer in Illinois and upon coming to White County, Indiana, he was admirably fortified with the experience and financial resources gained in his effective association with the agricultural interests of Illinois. His prosperity is consistently to be designated as the direct result of his energy, industry, progressiveness and administrative ability, and since establishing his home in White County he has brought his energies into effective play in developing his broad acres into one of the most valuable and fruitful rural demesnes in this part of the Hoosier common- wealth.
ยท The family history of Mr. Holmes is one of specially interesting order and its record in England is one of ancient and worthy order. In the article that immediately precedes the one here presented the family history is reviewed somewhat in detail, and though the father of Mr. Holmes never became a resident of Indiana there is all of consonance in entering in this publication the memoir which precedes this article, since the same offers most interesting data pertinent to the son who has become an honored and influential citizen of Union Township, this county.
Bartholomew Holmes was born in the City of Crew, Chestershire, England, on the 3d of February, 1847, and is a son of William B. and Eliza (Wrenn) Holmes, concerning whose lives adequate record is given in the article immediately preceding this. In 1849 the family came to America and after remaining about three years as pioneers in Wisconsin they removed to Vermilion County, Illinois, whence, in 1854, removal was made to a farm in Ford County, that state, where the parents of the subject of this review passed the remainder of their lives.
About two years of age at the time of the family immigration to the United States, Bartholomew Holmes was reared to years of maturity in Ford County, Illinois, and he received his early education in the common schools of the locality and period. Upon attaining to his legal majority he initiated his independent career as a farmer in Ford County, and the passing years brought to him generous prosperity in reward for his earnest and well ordered efforts. For a number of years he was engaged also in the buying of horses for shipment to the Boston markets, and in this connection his operations covered a large area of territory in Illinois. He was recognized as one of the substantial and representa- tive citizens of Ford County for many years and there accumulated a valuable farm estate, of which he disposed at the time of his removal
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to Indiana. He was there prominent and influential in public affairs of a local order and he served eight years as postmaster at Melvin, a village in his home county.
In 1906 Mr. Holmes came to White County, Indiana, and pur- chased his present fine homestead in Union Township. His progressive- ness has been shown not only in the excellent permanent improvements he has made upon the place but also in the effective methods and policies which he has employed in carrying forward all departments of the farm enterprise. His homestead place is in section 22, Union Township, and comprises 300 acres, all under effective cultivation except 40 acres. In section 30 of the same township he owns another well improved farm of 330 acres, and thus he is one of the large landholders of this county, even as he is one who makes his land yield forth its maximum increase and who makes his course one altogether worthy of emulation on the part of other tillers of the willing soil.
Mr. Holmes and his wife are persons of strong mentality, sterling integrity and gracious and genial personality so that in White County they have gained and retained the respect and confidence of those with whom they have come in contact in the various relations of life. Their comfortable home is known for its generous and unostentatious hos- pitality and there a cordial welcome is always assured to their many friends.
In politics Mr. Holmes has always given stalwart allegiance to the democratic party, and he was active in party affairs while a resident of Ford County, Illinois, where he served as postmaster at Melvin for a period of eight years, as previously noted. In White County he has not given much attention to practical politics and has not become an aspirant for any public office. He is a charter member of Melvin Lodge, No. 811, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, at Melvin, Illinois, and is affiliated also with the chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Monticello, judicial center of White County, and with Mount Olive Commandery, Knights Templars, at Paxton, the county seat of Ford County, Illinois. Mrs. Holmes is a member of Crystal Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, at Monticello, and in that city both she and her husband hold membership in the Presbyterian Church.
On the 9th of December, 1869, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Holmes to Miss Hannah Bullis, who was born at Pinckney, Livingston County, Michigan, on the 30th of January, 1852 and who received good educational advantages in her youth. She is a daughter of William and Caroline (Slatford) Bullis who removed from Michigan and became early settlers in Grundy County, Illinois. Mrs. Holmes has been to her husband a devoted companion and helpmeet and he ascribes much of his
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success to her effective co-operation the while her unfailing solicitude in the rearing of her children shall cause her name to be ever revered by them and by her children. In the following paragraphs is given brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Holmes:
Jennie Elizabeth, who was born October 15, 1870, is the wife of William N. Scott, of White County, and her husband is in the employ of the great Chicago meat-packing firm of Swift & Company. They have five daughters: Maude Eliza and Mabel Rebecca are twins, and both received excellent educational advantages, Mabel having been grad- uated in the Monticello High School and having been a successful teacher in White County prior to her marriage. She is now the wife of Ray Fauber, of Carroll County, and her twin sister, Maude, is the wife of Charles Teator, of White County. Hannah Ruth, the third daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Scott, is a member of the class of 1916 in the Monticello High School, and the two younger daughters, Alta G. and Fannie, are in the sixth and fifth grades, respectively, in the Monticello public schools.
William B. Holmes was born April 25, 1872, and died November 15, 1880.
Carrie is the wife of Jacob S. Holvarson, a prosperous farmer of White County, and they have three children, Marjorie, Bartholomew and Maurice.
Calvin Henry Holmes, who was born April 13, 1876, is a resident of Calexico, California, and is engaged in railroad employment. He wedded Miss Lillie Sullens, of Toronto, Canada, and they have two children, Genevieve Alice and Ellenor Rose.
Fannie B. Holmes was born August 14, 1878, and died December 6, 1880.
Ella Maude Holmes, who was born September 17, 1880, is the wife of Robert Elgene Yolton, and they reside at Austin, one of the beautiful suburbs of the City of Chicago, Mr. Yolton being a civil engineer in the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. Mr. and Mrs. Yolton have one child, Robert Holmes.
Melvin B. Holmes was born January 6, 1883, and died on the 27th of March, 1889.
In their home Mr. and Mrs. Holmes have two interesting and valued family heirlooms. One is an old parchment deed executed under the hand of President James Buchanan, under date of April 15, 1857. This deed lay in the Government land office in Washington for forty-two years. It was recorded in the office of the register of deeds at Paxton, Ford County, Illinois, on the 8th of April, 1898. The deed is to a tract of land that cost William B. Holmes, father of the subject of this sketch,
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75 cents an acre, and his daughter, Mrs. Koestner, retained eighty acres, her inheritance, until 1912, when she sold this amount of the land cov- ered by the deed mentioned for a consideration of $16,000. The other heirloom is an old English Bible in which appears the family record of births, marriages, deaths, etc., of the Holmes family. This ancient and interesting volume was printed about 1710 and was brought to America by the father of Mr. Holmes.
JOHN W. NEEL. Every quality of integrity, straightforward hon- esty, industry and public spirit is associated with John W. Neel, who has spent practically all his life as a farmer in Jackson Township.
John W. Neel was born at the old homestead on section 33 in Jack- son Township, May 13, 1849, a son of Abram and Elizabeth (Gibson) Neel. His grandfather, Samuel Neel, was the son of an Irish emigrant, and in 1832 journeyed from Logan County, Ohio, to Greene County, that state, and then to Carroll County, Indiana. Later he moved to White County, and after passing through many pioneer experiences and doing his part in clearing up the land of a new country, died in August, 1863, and was laid to rest in Pleasant Run Cemetery. In politics he was first a whig and later a republican, and belonged to the seceder branch of the Presbyterian Church. Samuel Neel married Elizabeth Ginn, who was born in Ohio.
Abram Neel, the third in the family of seven children, was born in Ohio, September 5, 1816, and was about sixteen years of age when the family came to Indiana. He subsequently became one of the pioneer farmers of White County, and though starting life a poor man he was able to rear and support a large family of children, and was the owner of seventy acres at the time of his death. He lived a straightforward, honest career, was cheerful and patient in the face of difficulties, and to the end enjoyed the respect and esteem of his entire community. He was a democrat in politics, but never sought office. Originally he be- longed to the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, but at the time of his death both he and his wife were members of the Reformed Presbyterian denomination. He died January 28, 1878. He married Eliza Gibson, a daughter of John Gibson, one of the early settlers of White County. She was born October 12, 1817, and died January 12, 1883, and was laid to rest beside her husband in Idaville Cemetery. Abram and Elizabeth Neel were the parents of eleven children, named as follows: George C .; Anna G .; Samuel G .; Mary M., deceased ; Jane Elizabeth, deceased; John W .; Sarah E .; Cyrus F .; James H .; Effie A .; and Emma T., deceased. Eight of these are still living.
John W. Neel was married March 20, 1873, to Miss Mary J. Glas- Vol. II-5
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gow, a daughter of Arthur and Eliza (Mccullough) Glasgow, of Jack- son Township. To this union, which has continued unbroken for a period of more than forty years, were born five children, as follows : Eva A., who married John Tate and has two children, Mary Gertrude and Mildred, the Tate family living in Jackson Township; Clara E., who lives at home; Edgar E., who lives in Union Township and by his marriage to Jennie Johnsonbaugh has one child, Eva Belle; Ada J., who lives at home; and Clair Stanley, also at home.
Mrs. Neel is a native of Shelby County, Ohio, born November 4, 1848, the seventh in a family of nine children, four sons and five daugh- ters, born to Arthur and Eliza (McCullough) Glasgow. Only two are living besides Mrs. Neel. Samuel, a resident of Idaville, Indiana, mar- ried Miss Elizabeth Stipp. He was a soldier in the Civil war and they are members of the United Presbyterian Church. Joseph is a resident of Garden City, Kansas, and he was an agriculturist. He was also in the Federal army. Mr. Glasgow was a native of Adams County, Ohio, and reared as an agriculturist. He was educated only in the com- mon schools. His religion was that of the Presbyterian Church. He died in 1853, on the ocean on his return from California, and was one of the forty-niners. Mrs. Glasgow was a native of Ohio and she died in her native state in 1870. Mrs. Neel is a pleasant and affable lady, and received a good common school education and taught school in her native state of Ohio. She is a devout member of the United Pres- byterian Church at Idaville, Indiana.
Mr. John W. Neel is a democrat and a man who takes broad views in local affairs and always stands for the good of the community. He has been a liberal supporter of the United Presbyterian Church, and the neighborhood always counts upon him as a ready worker in any public enterprise. Mr. Neel, as the result of many years of successful effort in farming, has a fine place of 170 acres of land and lives in the southwest part of Idaville. He is a stockholder in the Idaville Co- Operative Telephone Company. He was one of the first jurors em- panelled for service in the new courthouse at Monticello. Mr. Neel has lived at peace with his neighbors and has never had a lawsuit in all his career.
FRANK J. WHITE. There has been a noticeable movement in recent years of farmers from the high-priced land districts of Illinois not only to the new states of the West, but also to the less developed agricultural area of Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. One of the prosperous men who have been introduced to the citizenship of White County as a result of this movement is Mr. F. J. White, of Union Township, the owner
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of a splendid farm in that district, and a man who brought the ex- perience and judgment of an Illinois farmer and also a considerable amount of capital, representing the proceeds of an Illinois farm, to his new home in White County.
F. J. White was born at Henry, Livingston County, Illinois, Janu- ary 13, 1867. He has no recollection of his father, John White, since the latter met death at the hands of the Indians in the West in 1870, when the son was only three years old. John White had been in the gold fields of the West, and with four other men was engaged in driv- ing cattle back to Illinois. Four of these men were driving a wagon and the other was on horseback. When in Colorado, not many miles. away from Pike's Peak, the party was attacked in the rear by a band of Indians, and all four men in the wagon were killed, including John White. The horseback rider managed to make his escape and carried the details of this tragedy to the friends and families of the victims. Mrs. John White subsequently married William McClure, and by that union there was one child, who died at the age of twelve years.
Frank J. White lived in Illinois with his mother and step-father until his marriage. He married Eva Harrison, daughter of Doc and Martha (Porch) Harrison. Mrs. White was reared near Pattonsburg, Illinois, her people being farmers. She had four brothers and sisters and is the oldest of her immediate family. Her mother is still living.
After his marriage Mr. White located on a farm in Livingston County, Illinois. He had practically no capital to begin with, although he had shown ability in farm management, and with the aid of his: capable wife started out to make a home and gain a competence. He eventually made a purchase of 120 acres of land, forty acres of it un- broken. The contract price was $35 an acre, and he lived there, worked hard early and late, paid for the land, improved it, and finally sold out at a price averaging $112 an acre. That was some years ago when land values in Illinois had not yet reached the maximum, and the same land is now said to be worth $275 per acre. In the meantime Mr. White had invested his surplus capital in some land in White County, and now has 465 acres in Union Township. There are two sets of farm buildings, and by his own labor and by the judicious use of his surplus capital he has effected numerous improvements in the way of buildings, fences, tiling and fertilization, and now has a country place equal to, if not superior to, almost any that could be found in White County.
Mr. and Mrs. White are the parents of seven children: Pearl Phebe; Myrtle Martha; Lelah Belle; Florine E., wife of Clifford Martin; Elva; Delbert E., and William. During his residence in
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Illinois Mr. White served as trustee of his township in that state, and was also a director on the school board. He is a man who enjoys a well won success, has proved trustworthy in all his relations as a business man or citizen and is a valuable factor in White County citizenship.
CHARLES S. PRESTON. Although a comparatively recent acquisition to the citizenship of Monticello, Charles S. Preston has already accomplished much as a business man, in public life and as a private citizen. When he first came here it was as a school teacher, fresh from college halls, but since that time he has developed and broadened his interests, and at the present time is the secretary of the Monticello Herald Company and the active manager of the publication.
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