USA > Indiana > Marshall County > A twentieth century history of Marshall County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 33
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The home of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas has been blessed with four
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children : Cora E., Herman J., Charles A. and Julia A. The parents hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and are much inter- ested in its work and growth. His political views are in harmony with the principles of Democracy, and his fellow-townsmen, recognizing his worth and ability, kept him in the office of township assessor for five years through the exercise of their franchise. Mr. Thomas is a member of Tent No. 263 of the Knights of the Maccabees. From the age of fourteen years he has lived in this county, covering a period of more than four decades, and has witnessed much of its growth and develop- ment. He can well remember a time when its prairies were largely covered with the native forest growth and the county gave little evidence of the improvement and progress which it today enjoys. As the years have gone by he has shared in the agricultural development of the county and through his enterprising labors has attained success.
WILLIAM T. YOUNG has for twenty years owned the farm upon which he now resides, but the tract that came into his possession bore little resemblance to the splendidly developed place which today returns to him a very gratifying income in reward for his care and labor. The farm is now equipped with excellent modern improvements and every- thing about the place indicates his careful and progressive spirit.
Mr. Young is one of Marshall county's native sons, his birth having occurred in Tippecanoe township, April 6, 1853, his parents being John W. and Mary (Stonner) Young, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Ohio. They were married, however, in Marion county, Indiana, and became the parents of nine children, of whom six are now living, namely: William T .; John; Alice, the wife of George W. Beltz, living in Walnut township; Benjamin N .; Anna; and James R. It was in the year 1851 that John W. Young came to Marshall county, settling in Tippecanoe township, where he made his home until called to his final rest. He first built a log cabin and in that primitive dwelling all of his children were born except two. His farm comprised one hundred and forty acres of land, which he cleared and developed, and later he built a fine home, where he spent his remaining days. He was one of the prominent men of Tippecanoe township, active and reliable in business and progressive in citizenship. His life, ever upright and honorable, was in consistent harmony with his professions as a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he also exemplified the beneficent spirit of the craft, for he affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the lodge at Bourbon. In politics he was a Democrat.
In his boyhood days William T. Young experienced all the hard- ships and privations that fall to the lot of the pioneer settler, being reared amid the wild scenes and environments of frontier life. As a boy he assisted his father in cutting away the wilderness and as opportunity offered he attended school, walking two and a half miles to the nearest schoolhouse. His father gave him his time when he was eighteen years of age and he then worked out by the month at clearing land. When he had saved some capital from his earnings he bought a team of horses and began the cultivation of rented land, thus carrying on general farming until the fall of 1888, when he purchased the farm upon which he now
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resides. There was a log house upon the land and it remained his resi- dence until 1899, when he built the modern farm house that he now occupies. In 1896 he put up a fine bank barn and all of the improve- ments upon the place are monuments to his enterprise and thrift, for the farm was largely undeveloped when it came into his possession and nearly the entire tract was covered with timber. His fields are now well tilled and he also raises graded stock.
On the 14th of February, 1875, Mr. Young was married to Miss Elizabeth Jane Borton, who was born in Walnut township, this county, June 5, 1856, a daughter of Albert and Minerva (Johnson) Borton. Her father, who was born in Stark county, Ohio, April 9, 1824, died April 14, 1886. He was first married in Ohio to Miss Levina Wood and by that union has one son, Alonzo. He afterward came to Indiana, making the journey with a horse team in 1853, and settled in Tippe- canoe township, Marshall county. A school teacher by profession, he followed that work throughout the greater part of his life and taught three generations. He owned a farm in Bourbon township, upon which he spent his last days, and in the community where he lived he was one of the prominent and influential men. It was after his removal to Marshall county that he was married a second time, the lady of his choice being Miss Minerva Johnson, who was born in Hancock county, Ohio, June 30, 1834. The wedding was celebrated in Walnut township and Mrs. Borton died August 14, 1876. In their family were five chil- dren: Mrs. Young, Luther H., Lillie M., Lura E. and Edith B. The parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Borton was a Republican in his political views following the organization of the party, prior to which time he had voted with the Whig party.
Mr. and Mrs. Young have become the parents of six children : Franklin T., who is living in Montana; Charles L., who married Flora Trump; Willie E., who died in infancy; Anna May; Wilma Alice; and Lura E. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Young is a Democrat in his political views. He has always lived a life of activity and of uprightness and has been just and true in his relations to his fellowmen, never having a law suit in his life, nor was he ever sued by anyone. He has displayed tireless energy and reliability in business and in many respects his life record is well worthy of emulation.
ISAIAH HESS. The name of Isaiah Hess is recorded among those who bravely fought for their country during the Civil war. He enlisted for service on the 19th of July, 1862, entering Company E, Seventy- fourth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, at Goshen, Indiana. He was mustered into the service at Indianapolis, from whence he went to Louis- ville, Kentucky, then to Bowling Green and back to Louisville, on to Sheppardsville, from whence he was ordered to Perrysville and was held in reserve during the battle at that place. He was also in the Atlanta campaign, in the battles of Crab Orchard, Gallatin, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and at Jonesboro he was wounded and was subse- quently given a furlough. Rejoining his regiment at Goldsboro, North Carolina, he went with his command, under the leadership of General
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Sherman, to Rolla, North Carolina, thence to Richmond, Virginia, and on to Washington, D. C., to participate in the Grand Review. From there he went to Indianapolis, Indiana, and received his final discharge June 15, 1865, for the war had closed and his country no longer needed the services of her brave boys in blue. After his return from the front Mr. Hess followed agricultural pursuits until 1899 in Walnut township, Marshall county, and since then has had charge of a rural free delivery mail route.
Mr. Hess was born in Elkhart county, Indiana, October 30, 1842, a son of Elias and Lucinda (Wright) Hess, the former of whom was born in Franklin county, Ohio, March 12, 1812, and died October 19, 1894, aged eighty-two years seven months and nine days; the latter was born in Stark county of that state, and died July 4, 1880, aged sixty-three years five months and twenty-four days. The father came to Walnut township, Marshall county, Indiana, in 1868, and purchased three hundred and twenty acres of timber land, of which he cleared about one hundred and ten acres and made many improvements thereon. He later sold that farm and bought two hundred and ninety-six acres in Greene township, the year of the purchase being 1888, and in the following year he removed to near Springfield, Missouri, there spending the remainder of his life and dying in his eighty-third year. Mrs. Hess died in Marshall county. They were married in this county, and of their fourteen children nine are now living: Belinda, Levi, Isaiah, Jasper N., Enoch W., Susannah (the wife of Dr. Sutton), Erastus, Lewis J. and Henry. The brother, Ezra, was also a soldier during the Civil war, serving in the Twenty-first Indiana. Battery, and he lost his life near Winchester, on Sand Mountain, Tennessee, being but twenty-eight years of age at the time of his death. The son Levi served four years as a member of Company B, Twenty-ninth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, and was made the captain of his company. Mr. Hess, the father, was a second time married, wedding in 1889 Mrs. Delia Tatem, nee Beckmer, and it was in the year following his second marriage that he removed to Mis- souri. He was a member of the Baptist church in an early day, but died as a member of the Christian church, and his political affiliations were first with the Democratic party, later with the Whigs, and at the time of his death he was identified with the Republican party.
The early life of Isaiah Hess was spent with his father on the farm, remaining under the parental roof until his departure for the seat of war. On the 16th of August, 1867, he wedded Sarah A. Beckner, who was born in Elkhart county, Indiana, a daughter of Isaac and Mary (Studebaker) Beckner, both of whom were born in the state of Ohio. The following children were born of this union: Lorena M., the wife of James Herrin ; Loresta L., who died at the age of two and a half years; Evaline, the wife of Frank Pickerl, the postmaster of Argos; Albert F., who married Lue Stevenson; Elias B., who was in the war with Cuba in the Forty-ninth Iowa Regiment, and who married Ida Anglan ; Lura L., the wife of Ora McClure; one who died in infancy ; and Frank P. The first wife, Sarah A., died August 1. 1897, and Mr. Hess has been a second time married, wedding Mrs. Esther Callon, a native of Wayne county, Indiana, and a daughter of William and Mar-
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garet Cox. Mr. Hess is a member of the Christian church and also has membership relations with Lafayette Gordon Post, No. 132. His political affiliations are with the Republican party, and he is a stanch advocate of its principles.
FRANK P. BOGGS, one of the prominent and well known business men of Marshall county, and also a representative of one of its earliest pioneer families, was born in its township of Center September 26, 1851, a son of Lewis and Sarah (Devault) Boggs, both natives of Ohio, the father born on the 16th of July, 1816, and the mother on the 29th of May, 1820. They were married in Kosciusko county, Indiana, and later cast their lot with the early pioneers of Marshall county, Indiana, coming here as early as 1838 and purchasing a farm in the then wilderness of Center township. Mr. Boggs owned one of the largest farms in the county and was one of the first in his community to breed Poland China hogs. He was a member of the Church of God and was a Jefferson Democrat in his political affiliations. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Boggs were born eight children: James T., Thomas J., Sarah Jane, Francis M. (who died when sixteen years of age, December 3, 1861), Frank P., Lewis B., Joseph W. and Axie L.
When twenty-one years of age Frank P. Boggs engaged in farming for himself on the old homestead, but in 1891 he left the farm and came to Argos to embark in the grain business, but three or four years later he returned to his agricultural pursuits, still maintaining his home in Argos. He is a progressive and energetic farmer, keeping pace with all the modern methods and improvements in farming, and on his farni of two hundred and twenty acres he is extensively engaged in the breed- ing of hogs, cattle and sheep. His political affiliations are with the Democracy, which he has represented in many of the town offices, and he is a member of the Church of God.
On the 6th of March, 1879, Mr. Boggs married Martha E. Busby, who was born in Center township, Marshall county, Indiana, December 14, 1859, the daughter of Benjamin and Rachel E. (Wood) Busby, both of whom claimed Ohio as the commonwealth of their nativity. The father, who was born June 3, 1835, is yet a resident of Walnut township. but the wife and mother has long since passed away, dying September 29, 1887. She was born on the 26th of August, 1821. From their native state of Ohio they journeyed to Wisconsin in 1854, spending one year there, and then came to Marshall county, Indiana. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Boggs has been blessed by the birth of one daughter, Ella, the wife of Eugene DeMont.
JAMES H. KIZER, M. D. During many years Dr. James H. Kizer has been a member of the medical profession in Marshall county, and his residence here dates from the year of 1860. His alma mater is the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Keokuk, Iowa, where he grad- uated with the class of 1887, and in his practice he has made a specialty of the curing of cancers. In this special branch he has achieved a commendable success.
Dr. Kizer was born in Wayne county, Ohio, near Wooster, March 2,
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1844, and is of German descent, for his paternal grandfather, Peter Kizer, Sr., was born in the fatherland, but coming to this country he was married in Pennsylvania, and his death occurred in Wayne county, Ohio, where he had taken up his abode in a very early day. His life's activities were devoted to the tilling of the soil. His son also bore the name of Peter and was born in Pennsylvania, but was reared in Wayne county, Ohio, and was there married to Cassie Anders, who was born in Virginia. Her father, John Anders, was also a native of the Old Dominion state, but was a member of a German family. In 1852, when his son James was a little lad of eight years, Peter Kizer, Jr., journeyed to St. Joseph county, Indiana, establishing his home on the north side of the river near South Bend, where he followed agricultural pursuits, although he was by trade a carpenter. In November, 1860, he left St. Joseph county and sought a home in Center township of Marshall county, his death here occurring when he had reached the advanced age of eighty-one years, long surviving his wife, who had passed away at the age of fifty. She was a member of the German Baptist church, and both were loved and honored in the community where they so long lived and labored. Mr. Kizer was a Methodist in his religious belief, and politically was a Democrat. In their family were the following children : John, who served in the Civil war as a member of the Twenty-ninth Indiana Infantry, Company K; David, who served in Company I, One Hundred and Fifty-first Indiana Volunteers; James H., the subject of this review; Delilah; Ethan Allen, a resident of Texas; Milton, who served his country as a member of the Twenty-ninth Indiana Infantry, Company K; and Jacob, who was drafted as a soldier but was rejected. Dr. Kizer was also numbered among the boys in blue of the Civil war, joining in February, 1865, Company I, One Hundred and Fifty-first Regiment, his lieutenant being D. A. White and his colonel Joshua Healy. From Indianapolis, Indiana, they were ordered to Tennessee, and in Sep- tember, 1865, at Nashville, Dr. Kizer was discharged from the service and returned home. He later began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. Bowers, of Plymouth, and subsequently removing to Fulton county, Indiana, he practiced his profession there from 1881 to 1884. In 1887, as above stated, he graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Keokuk, Iowa, and then returning to Indiana he located in Walnut, Marshall county, from whence he removed to Inwood, and since 1907 he has been numbered among the medical prac- titioners of Tippecanoe.
The marriage of Dr. Kizer was celebrated in Berrien county, Michi- gan, September 7, 1862, Filinda Harris becoming his wife. She was born in Holmes county, Ohio, to Barton and Lydia Harris, both now deceased, the father dying in Ohio and the mother in Marshall county, whither she had removed in 1852. Dr. and Mrs. Kizer have two sons- Jasper N., a lumber salesman of Menomonee, Wisconsin, and Martin R., a farmer near Talma, Indiana. Their only daughter, Nora L. Holmes, died in Inwood at the age of twenty years. The grandson of Dr. and Mrs. Kizer, Dean Kizer, is principal of the Center high school of Fulton county, Indiana, and is a young man of ability as an educator and orator. He is now a student at Bloomington, Indiana, in the State University.
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Dr. Kizer affiliates with the Democratic party and during his residence in Bigfoot, Indiana, he served as its postmaster during Garfield's admin- istration, was also for four years the postmaster of Inwood under Cleve- land, has been three times elected the coroner of Marshall county, and has served as a delegate to many of the conventions of his party. He is a self-made man in the truest sense of the word, for when but a small boy in his 'teens he ran away from home and has ever since depended upon his own resources. He has achieved success in his chosen calling, but the high position he now enjoys is the result of painstaking and persistent labor. Mrs. Kizer is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
JAMES B. SEVERNS. On the roster of the public officials of Marshall county is recorded the name of James B. Severns, who in 1906 was the choice of the Democratic party for the office of county commissioner. He assumed the duties of the position in January, 1907, and his career has been marked by signal usefulness to his constituents. For forty-five years he has been identified with the interests of Marshall county, but he is a native son of Wabash countv, Indiana, born April 3, 1857. His father, Isaac Severns, was of Scotch descent but a native of Coshocton county, Ohio. He was twice married, and by his first wife, a Miss Butler, he had three children, of whom two of the sons served as soldiers in the Civil war. Mary Ellen Woods, whose parents were numbered among the early pioneers of Wabash county, Indiana, but were formerly from Coshocton county, Ohio, subsequently became his wife, and in 1863 they journeyed to Tippecanoe township, Marshall county, where the father spent the remainder of his life and died at the age of fifty years. His political affiliations were with the Democratic party. Mrs. Severns has reached the age of seventy-seven years, and is loved and revered in the community in which she has so long made her home. The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Severns are: James B., the subject of this review ; Nancy, wife of Benjamin Bowman of Fulton county ; Amos, a resident of Fulton county, Indiana; Vina Martin; and Walter, a res- ident of Omaha, Nebraska.
When a little lad of six years James B. Severns accompanied his parents on their removal to Marshall county, Indiana, and thus through- out nearly his entire life he has been identified with its interests, promi- nent in both its business and political relations. The early years of his life were spent with his father on the farm, and when he had reached the age of twenty-two he married Rosetta Blue, born in Kosciusko county, Indiana, to Simeon and Priscilla (Vories) Blue, prominent early residents of Kosciusko county. The mother's death occurred at the age of thirty-eight years, but the father reached the age of seventy-eight ere he was called to the home beyond, his death occurring in Harrison township, Kosciusko county. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Severns-Howard I., Bertha and Stewart. Howard I. received his diploma from the common schools and then took a course in the Tippe- canoe high school. He married Miss Eva Van Tries, and they have one little son, Kenneth. The family resides in the township of Tippe-
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canoe, where he is an agriculturist. Bertha also received her diploma from the common schools and is the wife of Clyde Morarity, an agri- culturist of Tippecanoe township. They have three sons-Wendell, Floyd and Orlando. Stewart received a common school diploma and also took two terms in high school. He married Miss Grace Sellers and resides in the township of Tippecanoe. Mrs. Rosetta Blue Severns died at the age of forty-one years, and on the 19th of December, 1901, Mr. Severns wedded Mrs. Eva (Zehner) Clevenger, the widow of Nelson Clevenger, by whom she had two children-Lawrence E. and Pearl. Lawrence is a graduate of the common schools and the township high school and resides in Plymouth, Indiana, where he is engaged with a real estate firm. Pearl graduated in the common schools and began a high school training at the Tippecanoe high school. By her second marriage Mrs. Severns has become the mother of a little son, Raymond, now three years of age.
The homestead farm of Mr. and Mrs. Severns, known as "Sunny Banks," consists of two hundred and sixteen acres in Tippecanoe town- ship, adjoining the village of Tippecanoe. This pretty estate was brought from almost a wilderness and much credit is due Mr. and Mrs. Severns for what they have done and are doing to make their beautiful home an ornament as well as a rich and productive estate. Mr. Severns is an active worker in the ranks of the Democratic party, which he has repre- sented as a delegate in many of its conventions, and when elected to his present position he received a majority of five hundred and one votes.
CHARLES F. COOPER. For twenty years Charles F. Cooper was identified with the educational interests of Marshall county, and he is also a representative of the county's earliest and best known families. His paternal grandfather, Jeremiah Cooper, was of Irish descent, and his death occurred when his son Solomon was but four years of age, leaving his widow, nee Bridget Rafferty, of Irish parentage, with five children. Solomon Cooper, one of their sons, was born near Doylestown, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1826, and in 1846 he served his country as a soldier in the Mexican war. In 1849, during the ever memorable emigration to the gold fields of California, he came to Marshall county, Indiana, in company with Joseph Hall, the pioneer miller of Tippecanoe river and the best known of the old pioneers of the Tippecanoe valley. When he had reached the age of twenty-six Solomon Cooper married, in Tippecanoe township, Elizabeth McWhorter, who was born in Franklin county, Indiana, near Metamora, and she is now living in the village of Tippecanoe, aged seventy-six years. During his life in Marshall county Solomon Cooper farmed five different farms and achieved success in his chosen calling of agriculture. His death occurred when he had reached the age of seventy-one years. He was both a Whig and a Republican in his political affiliations, a strong Lincoln man, and although not a church member he was a fine Bible student. At his death he left seven children : John H., a farmer and formerly a teacher of Tippecanoe township; Charles F., of this review; Hugh M., in the telephone business in Argos ; Cora B., the wife of Orville Smith, agent for the Nickel Plate railroad in Argos ; William L., who resides with his mother in Tippe-
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canoe; Pleasant, a railroad agent in Hammond, Indiana; and Winnie, wife of William Crane, of Tippecanoe township. Three children are also deceased, two having died in infancy, and one, Ulysses G., at the age of fifteen years.
Charles F. Cooper was born in one of the old-time log cabins of Marshall county, about one hundred rods east of where he now lives, September 25, 1856, and his educational training was received in the district schools of the neighborhood, by study at home and by attendance at the old Methodist college of Ft. Wayne. At the age of twenty we find him teaching a country school, and he continued his educational labors in Marshall county for twenty years, and to his credit let it be said that many of his pupils have in the meantime gone forth to battle for themselves and have achieved success in the business world. On leaving the school room Mr. Cooper turned his attention to farming pur- suits, and he is now the owner of the old homestead of his father, a beautiful estate of sixty-four acres and known as Fairview.
On the 4th of September, 1881, Mr. Cooper married Marian Ellen Tea, who was born in Stark county, Ohio, near Canton, to Samuel B. and Rebecca (Hoppes) Tea, prominent early settlers of Marshall county, Indiana, but now residents of Wisconsin. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, namely : Loreva, formerly identified with the educational interests of this county, but now the business manager and bookkeeper for a large business house in Indianapolis, Indiana ; Opal E., Mabel E., Charles N. and Arthur S. As a Republican Mr. Cooper has been an active worker in the public affairs of his community, and many times has served as a delegate to his party's conventions, while at one time he served as a justice of the peace, this having been when the office was similar to that of a judge of the present time. He is a member of the Methodist church, and is now serving as one of his church officers.
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