USA > Indiana > Delaware County > A twentieth century history of Delaware County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 35
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"For years he had been an eminent and practical worker in the insti- tute. On entering the office of state superintendent of public instruction he gave direction to his work throughout the state by issuing an outline for institute work or instruction, the first in this state. This increased the value of institute work beyond measure. The financial statistics of the department received the most careful and patient attention. Many needed reforms were inaugurated, and a system of issuing and distributing lists of questions for teachers' licenses was adopted, by means of which was weeded out the evil of selling the list to applicants for teachers' licenses.
"During the term of Superintendent Bloss there was no great educa- tional exhibit, neither was there any material change in the school system, but everywhere was there growth and prosperity, and the department was administered to with justice, skill and magnanimity."
The writer was a teacher in the public schools of Indiana at the time Mr. Bloss was superintendent of public instruction and remembers that he introduced questions for examining candidates for teachers which called for the diacritical marking of words. This was altogether new and led to a special study of diacritical markings to the extent that the dictionary was in great demand and practically became a text book in the schools. I hold that in this way Mr. Bloss put in motion the influence that led to the use of school readers in which words were diacritically marked, and by reason of which the pronunciation of the Hoosier schoolmaster and his pupils has become wonderfully improved.
Mr. Bloss was an educator of national reputation and shared the honors of being the district school teacher, the village principal, city superintendent of schools in three large cities, president of a state college, county super- intendent of schools and state superintendent of public instruction, all of
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which positions he filled with remarkable ability. On account of failing health he retired but he could not remain idle. So while residing on his farm in Hamilton township there came to him another honor in his election to the office of township trustee of his township. While filling this position he advanced many ideas which have done much to make a better adminis- tration of township affairs in Indiana. During the time he was president of the state township trustees for one term and was particularly well and favorably known among the trustees. He was the father of the consoli- dated school system in Hamilton township, a plan which has since been adopted in many townships of the county. While trustee of Hamilton township he built at Royerton a handsome and modern school building, and here the pupils of the township under the consolidated system have all the advantages of an education from the primary work to high school work. Mr. Bloss was the primal factor in establishing the township high school on a successful basis. The object of this concentration of the township schools into one centralized building and school was to afford or give all pupils in the township the same curriculum of study as in the city schools of Indianapolis, Muncie or any city in the state of more than minor popu- lation. This plan of centralizing the township schools is being carried out in a number of the counties in the state of Indiana.
During his term the public roads were so improved that not a mile of unimproved roads are to be found in the township. In this township he developed and improved one of the best farms of Delaware county. He was never idle and his life was in the advance of the time, for with much wisdom he foresaw the future and anticipating it so planned for the con- stantly new changes as they came and was prepared for them.
In 1865 Mr. Bloss married Miss Emina McPheeters, a daughter of Colonel McPheeters, of Livonia, Indiana. Two children were the fruit of this marriage: William H., of Indianapolis; and Minnie, the wife of Mr. Dumont Lotz, of Royerton, Indiana. While Professor Bloss was superintendent of schools at Topeka, Kansas, his wife died there, and in 1893 he married Miss Mary A. Woods, who was a teacher in the Topeka schools, and who survives him, residing on the homestead in Hamilton township. Politically Professor Bloss was a supporter of the men and measures of the Republican party. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Loyal Legion. He was a thirty-second degree Mason and was given burial according to the rites of the Masonic order.
First of all John M. Bloss was a patriot who fought for his country. He was an educator of prominence and worth, not only in his native state, but also in others. Broad in his views, a scholar, possessed of high domestic virtues and kindness, and fair and just, he was beloved in his own family and esteemed by all who were fortunate to have known him. He may well be termed a Christian warrior. for he fought to maintain morality, and though always active, honored and in the forefront of life, discharging his duties with fitting zeal, he was modest and unostentatious. The following
John Smider SE ohn
and wife
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clipping from a newspaper editorial at the time of his death well illustrates the esteem paid him by his friends and the public :
"The many warm friends he made in many localities, the neighbors he fraternized with, the Masonic brethren he knew in lodge room, the soldiers he fought with, the family he left with a noble heritage, all classes of people, including thousands of young people whom he taught and trained in habits of beauty and honor-all mourn his death and pay tribute to his memory. Rest in peace, John M. Bloss."
JOHN SNIDER, SR. During many years the Snider family have been closely associated with the progress and development of Delaware county, and none of her citizens have manifested greater public spirit or more earnest interest in the reduction of the country from a wilderness to a fertile land of fine farms, with its flourishing towns and settlements. One of its leading representatives, John Snider, Sr., was born in Miami county, Ohio, April 25, 1829, his parents being Joseph and Catherine (Studebaker) Snider, both natives of Pennsylvania. They were also married in the state of their nativity and became the parents of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, but only three are now living, namely: Alexander, John and Abraham. In the fall of 1835 Mr. Joseph Snider drove across the country with horses to Union township, Delaware county, Indiana, entering eighty acres of land in what was then a dense wilderness, and later on he added a tract of forty acres to his original purchase, in the meantime clearing his land and placing his fields under an excellent state of cultivation. In 1844, with the brick of his own manufacture, he erected the residence which still stands upon this old homestead, and many other substantial improve- ments assist in 'making it the valuable estate which it now is. For many years Mr. Snider served in the office of school director, and in the early days he assisted in making the roads through the timber. He was also one of the organizers of the German Baptist Brethren church, of which he was one of the leaders for many years, and his political affiliations were with the Whigs. The death of this honored old Delaware county pioneer occurred on his homestead near Eaton, and his wife was called to the home. beyond when she had reached the age of seventy-five years.
When a little lad of six years, in 1835, Mr. Snider came with his parents to Indiana, and until his twenty-first year he remained with his parents and assisted in the work of the home farm. After his marriage he estab- lished his home on eighty acres of timber land, but later he received seventy- two acres of his father-in-law's, Mr. Cunkle, estate, and he is now the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of fertile and well improved land. His first residence was a little log cabin, and this primitive dwelling still stands as a mute reminder of the pioneer's early life in Delaware county. In 1868 he erected the pleasant and commodious residence in which he now makes his home. During his boyhood days Mr. Snider witnessed the life of a frontier settler in all its phases, wild game, such as deer, bear and wild
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turkey, being then plentiful, and his father killed many a deer in this com- munity. During many years Mr. Snider was the incumbent of the office of school director, the cause of education always finding in him a warm and helpful friend, and he is a stanch Republican in his political affiliations, voting for John C. Fremont. Since 1854 he has been a valued and worthy member of the Brethren church, now the German Baptist, and since 1855 he has served as one of its deacons, he and his brother being the two oldest members of this church now living.
On the 28th of August, 1854, Mr. Snider married Margaret Cunkle, whose death occurred on the 10th of July, 1893, and of the four children born of this union two are now living: William, who married Ellen Isgregg and lives in California ; and Mary, the wife of Samuel Dulinsky. On the 25th of December, 1894, Mr. Snider married Mrs. Mary J. Cartright, who was born in Mason county, Kentucky, January 14, 1839, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Dodson) Craig. She was first married to Charles Cartright, who was born in North Carolina April 22, 1831, and died June 3, 1894. They were married on the 14th of February, 1856, and became the parents of five children, of whom two are now living: Francis, who mar- ried Rosa Gump and is living in California; and Alice, the wife of James Hickman. Mr. Snider has four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, while Mrs. Snider has six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. They have just returned from a trip to California, visiting their children, and en route they stopped at Los Angeles and San Francisco, passed through Grand Canon and around Mount Hebron by stage, and returned via Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Peoria.
ARTHUR L. LEWELLEN. In the history of the business interests of Union township the name of Arthur L. Lewellen cannot be omitted, for through a number of years he has been one of the leading agriculturists of the community, progressive, enterprising and persevering. His birth occurred in Smithfield, Liberty township, Delaware county, July 28, 1860, a son of Zerah M. and Sarah Ann (Truitt) Lewellen. The father was born in West Virginia, but when a little lad of nine years he came with his parents, Philip and Mary Ann Lewellen, to Indiana, locating in the then wilderness of Liberty township, and in time he became a well known wagon- maker in Smithfield, following that occupation in connection with Hubbard Feelder. He continued that vocation throughout his entire business career and in 1864 he purchased a farm near Smithfield, in Liberty township, which he operated in connection with his trade. Later he traded that property for a farm in Harrison township, Delaware county, which con- tinued as his home until 1870, in that year trading his land for property in Iowa and moving to Eaton. He subsequently traded his Iowa farm for land near Eaton, where he resided for six years, while during the following two years he was engaged in the farm implement business in Spiceland, Indiana, and at the close of that period removed to Selma, this state, which
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continued as his place of residence until his removal to Shideler. Here he spent the remainder of his busy and useful life, passing to the home beyond on the 2d of February, 1900, when seventy-one years of age. He served as the assessor of Union township, was a life-long member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and held membership relations with the Masonic order. He became a member of that fraternity at Selma, from which he was demitted to the Muncie lodge, and he received the honors of a Masonic burial. He was identified with the Republican party. Mrs. Lewellen was born in Delaware county, Indiana, and her death occurred on the 4th of June, 1893, when she had reached the age of sixty-two years, three months and twenty-six days, dying at Selma. Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lewellen five are now living: John O., who married Hulda E. Crampton and resides in Muncie; Mary E., the wife of William Bosman, of Eaton ; Arthur L., whose name introduces this review; Elizabeth, the wife of Tabor Allis, of Eaton; and Emery W., who married Lena Cook, and is living in Detroit, Michigan, where with H. G. Elliott he is engaged in the drapery and carpet business.
The early boyhood days of Arthur L. Lewellen were spent in assisting his father during the summers, while in the winter months he attended school, and when he had reached the age of twenty-two years he engaged in farming for himself in Niles township, where he remained about three years. During the following seven years he resided near Eaton, in Union township, while from the close of that time until in January, 1896, he made his home in Hamilton township, and then purchased his present farm in Union township. Throughout the period of his residence here he has been numbered among the leading agriculturists. and during the last ten years he has made a specialty of the raising of potatoes, having from eight to forty acres planted to that commodity each year. and he has raised as high as seven thousand bushels in a year. He was the first man in Delaware county to make the raising of potatoes a paying investment. He farms from seventy- five to eighty acres, and in 1904 he built the pleasant and commodious resi- dence which now adorns his valuable homestead.
On the Ist of March, 1883, Mr, Lewellen was united in marriage to. one of Delaware county's native daughters, Alena E. Modlin, whose birth occurred in Indiana on the 2d of March, 1863. Her father, David Modlin, born in Wayne county, Indiana, February 16, 1827, became a well known miller in Delaware county, Indiana, and he was a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal church. On the 27th of February, 1865, he enlisted for service in the Civil war, becoming a member of Company I, One Hun- dred and Forty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and he received his honorable discharge on the 7th of August following at Harper's Ferry, by Special Order No. II of the war department. His death occurred in Union township, Delaware county, May 8, 1897. At the old homestead of her parents, Adam and Arminda Kendall, in Delaware county, Mr. Modlin ntarried Celia Kendall, who was born in Wayne county, Indiana, and her
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death occurred at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Lewellen, June 22, 1904, when she had reached the age of seventy-two years. Four children were born to them, namely: Melissa, the widow of Charles Heath and a resi- dent of Iowa; Rachel, who became the wife of Calwell Johnson, now deceased, and she resides in McCowen, Indiana; Mary, who died when twenty-four years of age; and Alena, the wife-of Mr. Lewellen. Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lewellen six are now living: Hattie M., Edna E., Bertha H., Mary R., Elsie L. and Eunice C. In his political affiliations Mr. Lewellen is a Prohibitionist, while fraternally he has mem- bership relations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he is a valued and worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
SAMUEL O. BURRIS, M. D., a practicing physician of Shideler, was born near Carlisle, Nicholas county, Kentucky, May 30, 1847, a son of James D. and Rebecca (Miller) Burris, natives, respectively, of Maryland and Penn- sylvania. The father, born in 1812, died in 1873, and the mother, whose birth occurred in 1818, passed away in death in 1878. Ten children were born to this couple, seven sons and three daughters, of whom seven are now living : Albert, who married Margaret Crull and is living in Grant county, Indiana; John W., who is married and living in Kansas; Samuel O., the subject of this review; William, who married Allie Cook and is living in Waynetown, Montgomery county, Indiana; Isaac, who married Nancy Jones ; George; and Rachel, the wife of Jacob Kindall, living in Chicago. Mr. Burris, the father, removed from Kentucky, where he had followed agricultural pursuits, to Huntington county, Indiana, in 1862, and there he spent the remaining years of his life, becoming one of the county's promi- nent and influential citizens, and at one time serving in the office of town- ship trustee. He was a member of the United Brethren church in Ken- tucky, but after his removal to Indiana he joined the New Light denomination.
Dr. Samuel O. Burris received his professional training in the Indian- apolis Medical College, where he completed the course and graduated with the class of 1880. In the spring of the same year he located for practice in Clinton county, Indiana, but after a residence there of six years he trans- ferred the scene of his operations to Terre Haute, this being in the year of 1886, and he continued in practice in that city until 1902. He then located in Marion, Grant county, this state, where he enjoyed a large and lucrative practice until his removal to Shideler in 1907. He is a member of Monatcha Tribe, No. 183, at Terre Haute.
On the 18th of November, 1882, Dr. Burris married Miss Mattie Black, who was born in Kentucky October 8, 1863, and her death occurred on the 5th of May, 1903. She was the daughter of Mathew D. and Zerelda (Berry) Black, both also natives of the Blue Grass state of Kentucky. Of their family of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, all are now deceased, with the exception of one son, William R., who is a minister
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in the Christian church in Chicago. Mr. Mathew D. Black was a promi- nent farmer in Putnam county, Indiana, from whence he removed to Green Castle, Indiana, and after a residence there of a number of years located in Terre Haute, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a member of Green Castle Lodge, A. F. & A. M., the Chapter, R. A. M., and the Commandery, K. T., at Indianapolis, and also of the Consistory of that city, attaining to the thirty-second degree in Masonry. Two children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Burris, but the first born, Frank, died at the age of twenty-two years. The younger son, Dayton A., a graduate of the Polytechnic College of Terre Haute, is a resident of that city.
Dr. Burris holds and merits a prominent place in the professional circles of Delaware county and he also bears an honorable war record, having enlisted during the Civil war in Company I, One Hundred and Thirty- eighth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, and served his full term of enlist- ment. The Republican party receives his active support and cooperation.
SAMUEL W. STAFFORD. An active, esteemed and thriving member of the agricultural community of Hamilton township, Samuel W. Stafford is prosperously engaged in his independent vocation on section 5, his well improved and judiciously cultivated farm being a model one in its appoint- ments and equipments. A native of this township, he was born January 9, 1852, a son of the late Thomas Stafford. Jr. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Stafford, Sr., was one of the early pioneers of Indiana, coming here from Ohio. The journey through the wilderness was made with teams, that being the most expeditious mode of traveling in those primitive days before the country was spanned by the network of railways that now render journeying so rapid and pleasant. Settling in the woods, the father cleared the land and was actively employed in tilling the soil the remainder of his years.
Thomas Stafford, Jr., was born January 1, 1819, in Clark county, Ohio, and died in Delaware county, Indiana. A child when he was brought here by his parents, he grew to manhood on the parental homestead, as a youth taking kindly to agricultural pursuits. Prudent and economical, he saved his earnings, and when ready to establish a household of his own purchased a tract of land that was still in its original wildness, cleared a space, and on it erected a log cabin as his first dwelling. As a farmer he succeeded beyond his most sanguine expectations, in course of time becoming the owner of four hundred acres of good land, which he had earned through his own sturdy efforts. He added to the size of his cabin by additional rooms and in it lived until his death. He was a man of honor and integrity, a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics a Whig. On January 20, 1846, he married Matilda J. Black, who was born in Clinton county, Ohio, and died on the home farm here. Of the five children born to them three survive, as follows: Sylvester, living
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in Muncie, married Clara Gerard; Joseph M., of whom a brief sketch may be found elsewhere in this work ; and Samuel W.
Brought up on the parental homestead, Samuel W. Stafford had such educational advantages as were afforded by the pioneer schools of his district, which he attended three months each winter. On attaining his majority his father bought him eighty acres of heavily timbered land, built a two-room frame house for a domicile, and he began his career as an inde- pendent farmer. Meeting with encouraging success in his labors, Mr. Stafford has added by purchase to his original acreage, and has now a finely improved farm of one hundred and twenty acres, all but twenty of which he has himself cleared from its pristine wildness. In 1904 Mr. Stafford erected his present substantial frame residence, and is continuing his energetic labors as a tiller of the soil, carrying on general farming and stock raising with exceptionally good pecuniary results.
Mr. Stafford married first, in 1871, Annie Flinn, who was born in this county, and here spent her entire life, dying in 1894. Her parents, James and Melissa ( Taylor) Flinn, were born, bred and married in Miami county, Ohio, from there coming to Indiana and locating in Union township as pioneers. Mr. Flinn was a man of much force of character, a Jeffersonian Democrat in politics, and, with his wife, belonged to the Christian church. On January 6, 1898, Mr. Stafford married for his second wife Susan Oral Gable, who was born in Blackford county, Indiana, February 2, 1862, a daughter of William H. Gable. Mr. Gable was born in Pennsylvania eighty-two years ago and is now residing in Hartford City, Indiana, a strong and vigorous man for one of his years. He learned the trade of a cabinet maker when young, and followed it for a time in his native state. Of a daring and venturesome spirit, he started for California in 1844, going in a sailing vessel by way of the Isthmus of Panama. Arriving at his point of destination, he was engaged in mining until 1850, when he returned east- ward as far as Indiana. Two years later, in 1852, Mr. Gable located in Hartford city, his present place of residence, as a cabinet maker. In those early days he used to make coffins by hand from black walnut and had to go to Muncie to buy the linings for the coffins, oftentimes making the round trip on foot in twelve hours. He is now living retired from active pursuits, enjoying a well earned leisure from business cares and troubles. During the Civil war Mr. Gable served valiantly in the Thirty-fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was identified with the Whig party until 1856, when he joined the Republican ranks, and for many years he has been a valued member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is prominent in social organizations, belonging to both the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and to the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.
Mr. Stafford has three children, all born of his first marriage, namely : Cora, wife of Frank McClain; Harry, and Viola. He is a man of sterling qualities and has always enjoyed the fullest confidence and esteem of his
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J. W. Comold, M.D.
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neighbors and friends. In politics he is a Prohibitionist, and in religion is a member of the United Brethren church.
JAMES W. ARNOLD, M. D. The medical profession of Delaware county numbers among its younger but most prominent members Dr. James W. Arnold, who has been an earnest and discriminating student and has gained distinction in the line of his chosen calling. He was born at Valley Station, Jefferson county, Kentucky, September 23, 1873, a son of William Z. and Prudence (Moore) Arnold, the father a native of Louisville, Kentucky, born in 1837. and the mother of Moor's Hill, that state, born in 1845. Seven children were born to them, but only three are now living: Charles B., who is living in Illinois ; Lillian A., the wife of Dr. Albert Arnold, of Louisville, Kentucky, and James W., the subject of this review. The father was a teacher in Bardstown Academy, of his native state, for many years, while later on he became a successful farmer and stock raiser, but at the present time is living retired, residing with his wife in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and supports the Democratic party.
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