USA > Indiana > Delaware County > A twentieth century history of Delaware County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 4
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On the 9th of October. 1853, at Granville, Indiana, Dr. Mitchell mar- ried Miss Catherine Ash, who was born in Greene county, Ohio, May 30, 1837, a daughter of William and Elizabeth ( Driscoll) Ash, both of whom were also born in Ohio, from whence they removed to Delaware county, Indiana, in 1853, and later to Illinois. Two children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Mitchell, Sarah Florence, who died in 1866, aged eleven years, and Harriet B., the wife of Charles H. Anthony, of Muncie. They also have one grandchild, Harvey M. Anthony. Prior to the Civil war Dr. Mitchell allied his political interests with the Democracy, but since that time he has been identified with the Republican party. In his early life he became a member of the Christian church, but in later years has attended the Metho- dist Episcopal, of which his wife has long been a member.
JOHN W. DRAGOO, the secretary of the Western Reserve Life Insur- ance Company, is a member of one of the oldest and most prominent fam- ilies of Delaware county. His grandfather, Peter Dragoo, was one of the first to take up his abode within its borders, coming from West Virginia in
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
1835 and entering from the government eighty acres of land in section 19. Perry township, Delaware county. There he lived for many years, and there his death finally occurred at the advanced age of ninety-two years. He was born in West Virginia, but, as has been noted, came to Delaware county in a very early day in its history, when deer and other wild game roamed at will through its forests. Building him a little log cabin in the woods, he began life here in true pioneer style, and his time was thereafter devoted to clearing and cultivating his land. He married Martha Jones, and they became the parents of the following children: William, deceased ; Lemuel, a farmer of Perry township, this county: John, who died during his service in the Civil war : Sarah, now Mrs. Winget, and a resident of Liberty town- ship; Mary, Mrs. Kerns, of Monroe township, and Samuel J., on the old homestead farm. Mr. Peter Dragoo was a stanch and true pioneer, loved and honored by all who knew him, and he took an active part in the early history of his community.
William Dragoo, Sr., a son of this honored old Delaware county pio- neer, was born in West Virginia in 1828. and was seven years of age at the time of the family's removal to Delaware county. He followed the occupa- tion of farming throughout his entire business career, and his life's labors were ended in death in 1890. He married Amelia Gibson, who was born in 1833, and her father, Robert Gibson, was one of the early pioneers of Delaware county. Unto Mr. and Mrs Dragoo were born the following children: John W., whose name introduces this review; Laura B., now Mrs. Childs, and a resident of Benton township; Nancy J., Mrs. Clevenger, and a resident of Muncie. The Republican party received Mr. Dragoo's active support and cooperation, and he was a prominent and worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Dragoo is yet living.
Mr. John W. Dragoo was born in Perry township on the 7th of May, 1858, and the educational training which he received in the district schools near his home was supplemented by attendance at the Muncie High school and the State Normal at Terre Haute. This excellent training was received by his own efforts, and after its completion he taught until his twenty-sixth year. During the seven years which followed he was employed at farm labor, and then again entered the schoolroom as a teacher, spending two years in the schools of Center township and seven years as principal of the Roosevelt school in Congerville. During the following fourteen months Mr. Dragoo was paying teller of the Merchants' Bank, and in September, 1899, was elected trustee of Center township, remaining as the incumbent of that position for four years. Previous to this time he had served his county as its assessor for one term. He is a Republican in his political af- filiations. On the organization of the Western Reserve Life Insurance Company in 1906 he was elected its secretary, his present position.
Mr. Dragoo married, in 1884, Miss Frances R. Jump, a daughter of Dr. S. V. Jump, of Perry township. Mr. Dragoo is a member of the uni- formed rank of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, is also a Master Mason,
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and is a member of the Methodist church, in which he is serving as superin- tendent of the Sunday-school. He is also secretary of the Board of Chil- dren's Guardians. vice president of the Orphans' Home board and is a mem- ber of the town council of Riverside, where he resides.
The Western Reserve Life Insurance Company was incorporated July 27, 1906, as a mutual life insurance company, with twenty-one directors. It was later reorganized as a legal reserve company under the laws of In- diana, with the following officers: D. B. Campbell, president : J. W. Dragoo, secretary; D. A. McLain, treasurer ; Dr. L. L. Ball, medical director, and H. H. Orr, attorney. Its capital is over one million dollars, and it has offices in the Wysor block.
ROBERT I. PATTERSON, one of the best-known men in Delaware county, prominent in the Grand Army of the Republic and in politics, is a native son of Indiana. He was born in the city of Muncie on the 28th of March, 1843. His father, Samuel R. Patterson, who was born in the state of Ver- mont on the 16th of September, 1816, came to Indiana when a young and unmarried man, locating in Delaware county, where he followed his trade of a tin and copper smith in Muncie. He was at one time a tin and stove mer- chant at Chicago. and also at Ottawa and other points in Illinois. When the Civil war was inaugurated Samuel R. Patterson was residing near Win- chester, Indiana. He enlisted on the 16th of September, 1861, as a private in Company I, Thirty-sixth Indiana Infantry, and was in active service until after the battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, where he received a severe wound and died from its effects in the United States general hospital at Jeffersonville, Indiana, September 24. 1864. He had married, Novem- ber 15, 1839, Miss Jane Turner, who was born in Lexington, Kentucky, Au- gust 6, 1820, and is now. 1907, residing in Portland, Indiana. She is a daughter of Bevans and Percilla ( Beswick) Turner, the former of whom was a native of Delaware and the latter of Maryland. They came to Indi- ana in 1823, first settling in Wayne county, but in the year of 1826 took up their abode in Delaware county, thus becoming numbered among its earliest pioneers. Unto Samuel R. and Jane Patterson were born the following children : Eliza, who married J. S. Martin ; Robert I., the immediate sub- ject of this review; Agnes, now Mrs. Elam Osborne; Electa, the wife of E. P. Thornburg; Charles T., who died when twenty-eight years of age; Sarah E., the widow of J. P. Edwards; Jennie, now Mrs. John P. Willis, and Lucinda B., Mrs. Reece Coulter.
Robert I. Patterson received a common-school education, and on the 29th of July, 1861, when but seventeen years of age, he enlisted in Company E, Nineteenth Indiana Infantry, as a private, and after serving the term of his enlistment he reenlisted in the field for three years more. He was wounded at the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg, and at the latter was also taken prisoner. His services were with the celebrated Iron brigade, it being the First brigade, First division of the First army corps of the
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
Army of the Potomac, also the first brigade organized in the Union army. and the official records show that it sustained a greater loss in actual killed than any other. Mr. Patterson has an individual record of fourteen general engagements, besides the minor battles and skirmishes in which the brigade took part. On the 21st of March, 1864, he received an abdominal injury by being thrown from a railroad car, and in consequence was discharged September 9, 1864, as a corporal. The date of his reenlistment above re- ferred to was December 31, 1863.
Mr. Patterson has long been active in Grand Army affairs. He is a charter member of Williams Post No. 78, department of Indiana, G. A. R., of which he has been post commander. He has also been honored by his comrades by an election to the office of senior vice commander, Department of Indiana, G. A. R. In the Indiana legislature of 1876-7 Mr. Patterson was a clerk in the lower house, and from the expiration of that period until 1883 he was a railroad postal clerk. On the 7th of February, 1882, he was appointed postmaster at Muncie, continuing in the office to the 5th of March, 1887, when he took up the pension agency, and in 1889 was admitted to practice in the interior department as a pension attorney. This work he has ever since continued. In 1902 he was the successful Republican can- didate for clerk of the Delaware county circuit court, his term of office ex- piring on the Ist of January, 1908. Mr. Patterson is also the patentee of the "J. I. C." currycomb and a fruit jar fastener. But perhaps in all his varied attainments he is best known as a poet, many of his poems having been extensively published in newspapers and periodicals, while many of them have become well known through their rendition at national and state encampments of the Grand Army of the Republic and other occasions by his daughter Pearl, who has earned a wide reputation as an elocutionist.
In 1868 Mr. Patterson married Miss Mary E. LaFavour, who was born in Muncie, May 29, 1850, and they have reared the following named chil- dren : Arie Inez, the wife of Edwin H. Bath, a merchant of Muncie; J. Earl, deputy county clerk ; and Pearl, the wife of W. R. Bean, of Streator, Illinois. Mr. Patterson is a member of the Senior Order of American Me- chanics, and also affiliates with the Odd Fellows fraternity.
DR. WILLIAM A. SPURGEON, who for many years has been actively en- gaged in the practice of medicine in Muncie, Indiana, is one of the most talented members of the profession in the city, and has done as much to elevate the standard of the medical profession in the state as any other man. He was born at Salem, Washington county, Indiana, February 1, 1852. He is the eldest son of Wiley and Mary F. (Mckinney) Spurgeon, both also natives of Washington county. The paternal grandfather, Josiah Spurgeon, was born in North Carolina, November 13, 1777. He came to Indiana in 1811 and settled near Salem. James A. Mckinney, father of Mary F. Spur- geon, was born in Tennessee, January 16, 1795; removed to Salem, Indiana, in 1811. Wiley Spurgeon, the father. was educated in the common schools
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near Salem. He served under General Taylor in the Mexican war. He became prominent in the history of his locality in Indiana, holding many official positions of honor and trust. He has for many years been an active member and elder in the Christian church. His home, with his aged com- panion, is now (1908) on the farm near Becks Grove, Indiana, where they enjoy a competency gained by years of industry and economy.
The early years of the life of Dr. Spurgeon were spent on a farm. He attended the common schools near his home until sixteen years of age. Dur- ing the following four years he was a student in the Clear Springs Academy, at Salem, Indiana, and at college in Bedford, Indiana. In 1871 he began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. George H. Chute, of Freetown, Indiana. The following year he entered the Physio- Medical Institute at Cincinnati, Ohio. After one college year in this insti- tution he matriculated as a student in the Physio-Medical College of Indiana, from which he graduated in 1875. He returned to his former preceptor, en- tered into partnership with him, which relation continued until 1877. Soon after his graduation Dr. Spurgeon was elected to the chair of descriptive and surgical anatomy in the college from which he graduated. He con- tinued a member of the faculty, delivering a course of lectures each year until 1893, when he resigned his professorship in order to devote more time to his practice. In April, 1880, Dr. Spurgeon located in the city of Muncie, Indiana, his present home. He very soon took high rank in the pro- fession. He has been an active member of the Physio-Medical Association of Indiana since 1875, serving one year as its president and contributing largely to its literature. He is a member of the American Association of Physio-Medical Physicians and Surgeons and served as a delegate from that society to the World's Congress of Physicians and Surgeons which met in New York in 1891. He was selected as a delegate from the American Association to the International Congress of Physicians and Surgeons which met in Madrid, Spain, in 1905. He is also a member of the Indiana Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He was appointed a member of the state board of medical registration and examination by Governor Mount in 1897, being twice reappointd to this position by Governors Durbin and Hanly, serving three years as vice president and three years as presi- dent of this body. He wrote the constitution and by-laws of the American Confederation of Examining Boards, and took active part in the organiza- tion of that body, which is made up of the state medical examining boards of the United States. For a number of years past he has served as president of this organization, in which position he now ( 1908) continues to serve.
For the most part the Doctor has given his political support to the Re- publican party. In 1886 he became actively identified with the prohibition movement and made a number of vigorous campaigns in the interest of that party. In 1888 he was its candidate for the legislature; in 1890 for the office of secretary of state. In 1892 he gave his political support to William McKinley and the Republican party, not being in sympathy with the free
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
silver doctrine of the Prohibition and Democratic parties. He is a forcible, fluent and dignified speaker whose honesty cannot fail to impress his hearers.
The doctor was married on August 29, 1872, to Miss Elvira Chute, daughter of his preceptor and partner. Of this union were born three sons and one daughter. The eldest son, George Wiley, and the second son, Alva Osten, died in infancy. The third son, Orville Elmer, and daughter, Mary Alice, are living in Muncie. The son, Dr. O. E. Spurgeon, is the junior member of the firm of Drs. Spurgeon and Spurgeon and is actively engaged in the practice of medicine. The daughter, Mary, is the wife of Dr. J. M. Quick, of Muncie. Mrs. Spurgeon died at Freetown in the summer of 1878. In the summer of 1883 Dr. Spurgeon was united in marriage to Miss Minerva A. Whitney, daughter of Lafayette Whitney, of Muncie. Of this union there were born five children. Nora June, Olive Fern, Kenneth Al- bertus, William Chase and Wiley Whitney, all now living in Muncie except the eldest daughter, Nora June, whose death occurred in the summer of 1905.
The doctor early united with the Christian church (Disciples), and has given much time to church work. He was ordained an elder in the First Christian church of Muncie, Indiana, in 1881. It was very largely due to Dr. Spurgeon's efforts that the present magnificent edifice of that denomina- tion was erected in the city of Muncie, he being at the time president of the board of trustees and chairman of the building committee. He drafted the plans and superintended the construction of this splendid edifice.
JOHN SEYMOUR ELLIS. One of the most interesting of the prominent characters whose worth and merit have graced the history of Delaware county is to be found in the personnel of John S. Ellis, at this date one of the three commissioners of his county. He is genial and entertaining in man- ner, bright and keen of intellect, his writings are entertaining, and his edu- cation has been supplemented by extensive reading and a wide and varied experience.
The birth of Mr. Ellis occurred in Knox county, Ohio, August 15, 1839, his parents being Robert and Casander (Schweckard) Ellis. The father was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, October 11, 1796, and died in Dela- ware county, Indiana, in December, 1864. He was a son of William and Eleanor Ellis, the former of whom was a native of Montgomeryshire, Wales, and was a soldier in the Colonial army during the American revolution. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Ellis, John Schweckard, was of German line- age, and his daughter, the mother of Mr. Ellis, was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1810, while her death occurred in Delaware county in 1865. With her husband she now lies buried in Beech Grove cemetery at Muncie. They were married in Licking county, Ohio, and afterward lo- cated in Knox county, Ohio, where they resided until 1849, the year of their removal to Delaware county. In the spring of 1850 they took up their
Jahn & Ellis
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
abode in Hamilton township, from whence they removed to the township of Delaware, and there they spent the remainder of their lives. Mr. Ellis was reared a Friend or Quaker, and the mother was for many years a worthy and acceptable member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He gave his political support to the Republican party. During his early life he followed the trade of a stone mason, but his later and the greater part of his life was devoted to farming. In their family were ten children, of whom one daugh- ter died at the age of three years, while the remainder grew to manhood and womanhood.
When a little lad of ten years John Seymour Ellis accompanied his parents on their removal to Delaware county, Indiana, where he completed his educational training, and thereafter taught school for two terms. At the early age of thirteen years he began the battle of life for himself, and four years later he went to Iowa and engaged in herding cattle. One year later, when he had reached his eighteenth year, he took up carpentering, thus con- tinuing for three years, and after his marriage, in 1860, he located two miles south of Muncie and resumed the work of his trade. About four years afterward he moved into Muncie, where for several years he held clerical positions with mercantile concerns, was also a traveling salesman for a time, served as deputy postmaster of Muncie, and has been prominently engaged in newspaper work. Mr. Ellis also served as a justice of the peace for four years, and in 1902 was elected to his present position as a commissioner of Delaware county, to which he was reelected in 1904, and is also vice presi- dent of the State Association of County Commissioners. The Republican party receives his active support and cooperation, and his fraternal relations are with the Masonic order, he having served as a member of the building committee during the erection of the Masonic Temple.
Mr. Ellis has been twice married, wedding first, on the 28th of August, 1860, Sina E. Rickard, who was born in Delaware county, Indiana, April 20, 1842, and her death occurred in the city of Detroit, Michigan, July 3, 1895, leaving two children-Fred M., who was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Au- gust 3, 1870, and is now manager of a brewing company in Columbus, Ohio, and Charles H., who was born in Muncie, May 31, 1879, and is cashier of the People's National Bank of Muncie. December 17, 1896, Mr. Ellis mar- ried Mrs. Milla Sanders, the widow of John F. Sanders, an attorney of Muncie. She was born in this city, Jannuary 1, 1845, a daughter of William Barnes, who was one of the first residents of Muncie. His wife, Evaline (Watchell) Barnes, was also a member of a pioneer family.
As has been noted, Mr. Ellis is a writer of ability and note, and has contributed to the public much well-accepted poetry of various thought. He is the author of an interesting work entitled "Songs of St. Matthew," a met- rical paraphrase of the gospel of St. Matthew. He is also the author of a condensed history of Delaware county, Indiana. He is bright and strong in his writings, and is a member of the Association of Western Writers.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
J. HARV. KOONTZ, prominently identified with the agricultural develop- ment of Delaware county, was born in Fayette county, Indiana, December 27, 1827. He obtained a good elementary education in the local public schools and later attended the academy. He is a son of Jacob and Debra (Combs) Koontz, both natives of Virginia.
Jacob Koontz, the youngest of a family of four children, was reared in Virginia, and emigrated to Ohio in 1820, settling at Brownsville, where he remained for about five years. Following this he moved to Fayette county, Indiana, and located at Alquina. He moved next to Henry county and in 1829 plotted the town of Middletown, which town developed into a pros- perous and successful business community. Mr. Koontz was intimately connected with the industrial and material development of that section of the state until 1850, when he died as a result of the milk sickness, at that time so prevalent. The mother of our subject, after the death of Jacob Koontz, was married to William Doherty, of Ohio. To the first union were born the following children: Mary, Jane, Adison (deceased), B. Frank, Lorenzo D. and J. Harv., the subject of this sketch. To the latter marriage four children were born: Sarah, Mrs. Guthrie; Isabell; Debra. Mrs. Williams, and B. Frank.
J. Harv. Koontz remained at home until he reached the age of sixteen, when he decided to strike out for himself, and began chopping wood on the banks of the Ohio river. He had a great variety of experiences on the river, devoting himself to several different lines of work, and in 1871 settled upon the farm where he now resides.
His marriage occurred in 1855 to Miss Anna Brown, a daughter of John B. Brown, a pioneer settler of Delaware county. Her death occurred in 1856. In 1857 he was married for the second time to Miss Amanda E. Shinner, who was born in Madison county, Indiana, in 1840. She was the daughter of Jacob and Catherine Shinner. To this second union five child- ren were born. Through a long residence Mr. Koontz has become well known and enjoys the respect and esteem of all who know him.
HARV M. KOONTZ, secretary of the Muncie Trust Company and presi- dent of the Muncie police commission, is one of the best and most favorably known men in Delaware county, where he was born on the 14th of Novem- ber, 1863, a son of J. Harv and Amanda (Shimer ) Koontz, among the oldest and most highly respected citizens of Mount Pleasant township. There they have spent many years of their active and useful lives, and the father is not only well and prominently known but is also a successful farmer and an ex-legislator, having represented Delaware county in the state legislature, and has been otherwise prominent in the political and public life of the com- munity.
The early years of Hary M. Koontz were spent on his father's farm in Mount Pleasant township, and after graduating from the Muncie high school he pursued a course in the Valparaiso University, of Valparaiso, In-
Jos a Goddard
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
diana. Returning thence to his home, he accepted the position of deputy county auditor in 1886, a position he held for one year, and after an inter- mission of short duration he was again made the deputy in this office, where he remained for about one year more. Mr. Koontz was then variously em- ployed for several years, during which time he was in the abstract and in- surance business for a period and was also connected with the Merchants' National Bank for one and a half years. In 1901, when the Muncie Trust Company was organized, he was elected secretary of the organization, and has since been the incumbent of the position. During Mayor Sheritt's ad- ministration he served as city comptroller for one and a half years. In pol- itics he has long been active as a Republican, and for two years was chairman of the county central committee, serving well his fellow men whether in political or professional life. His fraternal relations connect him with the order of Knights of Pythias. In 1888 Mr. Koontz married Miss Wynona Long.
JOSEPII A. GODDARD is an honored soldier of the Civil war and a man who for a number of years has held a representative place among the leading business men of Muncie. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, December 17, 1840, his parents being John Henry and Ann ( Wilson) Goddard, both na- tives of England. They left their native land during their childhood days, coming to America, the mother with her parents and the father came when a boy alone, and for a time after his arrival, the father resided in Buffalo, New York, removing thence to Ohio, where he spent the remainder of his life. The mother died in 1847, aged thirty-seven. The father's labors were ended in death in 1882, aged seventy-one years.
Joseph A. Goddard attended the public schools in his native state of Ohio until his thirteenth year, when he laid aside his text books and entered upon a six years' apprenticeship at the printer's trade in Ravenna, that state, but after two years gave up the idea of becoming a printer and instead was employed at farm labor until 1858. In that year he went to Cincinnati and entered his uncle's wholesale grocery store, with whom he remained until 1862, when, believing that his country needed his services and putting aside all personal considerations he entered the Fourth Ohio Cavalry as a private soldier. He was promoted and commissioned after six months' service in the ranks, as second lieutenant, first lieutenant and then captain, and was assigned to Company D, the same regiment, on detached service. He con- tinued as a soldier throughout the entire campaign, serving with the Army of the Cumberland and participating. in many of the historic battles of the war, including those of Chickamauga and Nashville. In January, 1864, he was made staff quartermaster and aide on General Elliott's staff, cavalry commander of the Army of the Cumberland, serving later with General J. H. Wilson, who succeeded General Elliott. In June, 1865, he was mustered out of the service as captain, his loyalty having won him his various promotions,
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