USA > Indiana > Miami County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 16
USA > Indiana > Howard County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 16
USA > Indiana > Cass County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 16
USA > Indiana > Tipton County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 16
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Daniel Paul, who also carried on farming operations, emigrated from Vir- ginia in 1820 to Indiana, locating in Henry county, where he entered eighty acres of land from the government. Later he added to that another eighty- acre tract and cleared and improved the place, raising his family upon that farm, which was situated near Dublin and nine miles from Newcastle, the county seat. He died there in 1872, at the age of seventy-five years. His
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widow survived him some years and died in Wabash county at an advanced age. They were members of the Christian church, and in politics Mr. Paul was a Democrat until 1840, when he voted for William Henry Harrison, and in his later years was a Republican. His family numbered twelve children, four sons and eight. daughters, of whom three are now living: Thomas; Elizabeth, wife of James Kendall, of Wabash county, Indiana; and John, also a resident of Wabash county.
We now take up the personal history of Thomas Paul, knowing that it will prove of interest to many of our readers by reason of his long residence in the county, his sterling worth and his extended acquaintance. He was reared to manhood on his father's farm in Henry county, and attended the subscription schools. He remained with his parents until twenty years of age and was then married, on the 8th of February, 1844, to Miss Elizabeth Rumsey, daughter of Charles and Sarah (Maples) Rumsey. They began their domestic life upon a rented farm in Henry county, and in 1845 Mr. Paul purchased a farm of eighty acres in Clinton county, Indiana, to which he removed the following year, making his home there until 1854. He then sold the property and entered upon a mercantile career in a little town in Clinton county, called Berlin, but in December, 1855, sold out and removed to Tipton county, locating on a rented farm in Jefferson township. In 1858 he removed to Tipton, where he engaged in the lumber and sawmill business, continuing the same until 1861, when the troubled condition of the country caused him to join the ranks of the defenders of the Union.
With a patriotic spirit, Mr. Paul enlisted in Company F, Eleventh Indi- ana Infantry, with which he served three months and a half. On the 27th of November, 1861, he re-enlisted and joined the " boys in blue " of Com- pany K, Forty-seventh Indiana Infantry, in which he was made orderly ser- geant. He served with that command four years, lacking twenty-seven days, and was promoted in regular order until he became captain of the company, with which rank he was mustered out. He participated in the battle of New Madrid and Island No. 10, where his command captured six thousand prisoners. He was in the battle of Port Gibson in 1863, also at Champion Hills, where sixteen of the thirty-three men of his company were lost. Cap- tain Paul was also all through the siege of Vicksburg, and on the 5th of July, 1863, started in pursuit of Johnston, driving him back into Mississippi. When that was accomplished the troops returned to Vicksburg and then started
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south, joining Banks at New Orleans. Later Captain Paul returned home on a thirty-days furlough, and when his leave of absence had expired rejoined General Banks' command and made a trip to Alexandria, being engaged in many skirmishes but no hard battles until the Mobile campaign in the spring of 1865. He was mustered out at Baton Rouge, October 23, 1865, and was honorably discharged at Indianapolis on the Ist of November. His son, Charles B., was also in the service as a member of the Forty-seventh Indiana Volunteers. Captain Paul was a brave and loyal soldier, his own courage inspiring his men to deeds of valor, and until after the cessation of hostilities he stood firm as a defender of the starry banner and the cause it represented.
When the war was over he returned to the north and purchased a farm of sixty acres two miles northeast of Tipton, where he resided for two years, when he sold out and opened a grocery store in Tipton, conducting the same for about five years. His store was then destroyed by fire, and as there was no insurance upon it he not only found himself penniless but even with a debt of twelve hundred dollars. With dauntless courage and resolution, however, he set to work to retrieve his lost possessions, paid off all indebt- edness, and through the two succeeding years engaged in the sawmill busi- ness. He then followed draying for eight years and was in the restaurant business for eight years, since which time he has lived retired in his pleasant home in Tipton. His well-directed labors have brought to him good finan- cial returns, and he is now the owner of three residences in Tipton and half owner in a business block. He and his wife are now living quietly, sur- rounded by many friends, and in the high regard of all they hold an enviable position.
Eleven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Paul, -six sons and five daughters: Edgar R., who died at the age of sixteen years; Charles B .. who married Miss Josie Turpin and has a daughter, Grace; Mary E., who died in 1863, at the age of fifteen years; William D., who died in 1876; Daniel C., who died in childhood; Edmond C., who died at the age of two years; John E., who also died at the age of two years; Martha L., wife of Charles F. Waffler, of Tipton, by whom she has one living child, Marie; Margaret Viola, wife of Henry Fritz, of Tipton, by whom she has a daughter, Leona; Georgia A., wife of Charles M. Short, of Henry county, by whom she has two children, Benton Paul and Lillian; and Sarah Alice, wife of Allen Bates, of Tipton.
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The parents have traveled life's journey together for fifty-four years, and in 1894 they celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding. Mr. Paul is a member of the Christian church, his wife of the Presbyterian. He belongs to James Price Post, No. 203, G. A. R., and is now serving his third term as its commander. He was a member of the town council for one term before the organization of the city and for a short time was city marshal. He has always been deeply interested in the welfare and advance- ment of the county, and in all the relations of life has been found true and faithful to the trust reposed in him and the obligations resting upon him. No man in Tipton county is more worthy of the high regard of his fellow citizens than Captain Paul.
JOHN W. O'HARA .- The firm of Reasoner & O'Hara is one of the lead- ing law firms of Miami county, the present partnership having been entered into April 1, 1892. Mr. O'Hara is a native of Indiana, born at Connersville, Fayette county, September 22, 1853, of Irish parentage. His father, James O'Hara, was born in county Clare, in 1825. He was the eldest child of his father and the only child of his mother. By his father's second marriage there were three children.
In 1847 James O'Hara came to the United States, and about 1852 settled at Connersville, Indiana, removing thence to Rush county, where he died, October 21, 1861. His wife, whose maiden name was Catherine Galvin, was also a native of county Clare, Ireland. The sudden death of the father, at the early age of about thirty-five years, left the mother with a large family of small children to rear and provide for. James O'Hara had been an industrious man, and from his earnings had saved some money which he had applied on the purchase of a new and unimproved tract of land near Galveston, Cass county. Here he had intended to locate and make a home for his family, and to this place the widow removed soon after her husband's death, with her six children, the eldest but ten years old and the youngest born after the death of the father.
And now began the struggle of this truly noble woman. Addison said that " poverty palls most generous spirits, cows industry and casts resolution itself into despair;" but against all this, Mrs. O'Hara kept up her resolution
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and with her own hands assisted in the clearing of the land while she struggled to provide for the wants of her children. As the latter became old enough to be of service they assisted their mother and ultimately, as a local writer says of them, " by unremitting energy the woodland was converted into the growing field, and the poverty which the family had long endured gave way to prosperity." The good mother lived to see her children all grown to mature years and settled in life. She passed to the other world in September, 1897, " full of years" and dearly beloved by her children and esteemed and respected by all who knew her.
Of the seven children born to James O'Hara and wife, five are living, - three sons and two daughters. Of these the immediate subject of this sketch is the eldest. Mary E. is the wife of Cornelius Fitzgerald, a resident of the state of Illinois; Elizabeth is the wife of M. A. Harbert, the station agent at Hoopeston, Illinois; Henry is station agent at Lagro, Indiana, for the Wabash Railroad; and Thomas J. lives at Alexandria, Madison county, this state.
At the age of fourteen years John W. O'Hara, our subject, left home to work in a mill, continuing to assist his mother by the wages he earned, in the meantime attending the winter terms of the public school. At the age of nineteen he began to feel the value of a more thorough educational training, and for some time he was a student at the Galveston high school, the normal school at Walton and the school at Bunker Hill. In October, 1875, he entered upon a career as teacher of district schools, which he continued for a number of terms, finally becoming the principal of the Bunker Hill graded school.
In June, 1883, he bought the office and equipments of the Bunker Hill Press and became its editor and proprietor, and successfully conducted it for four years, as a Democratic journal, in the meantime serving as postmaster at Bunker Hill, to which office he was appointed in September, 1885.
Selling out his paper in 1887, he resolved to resume his legal studies, which he had begun some time previously. Accordingly he entered the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he took an elective course of study, condensing a two-years course into one. On com- pleting his course he located at Bunker Hill to begin the practice of his pro- fession, but in May, 1889, removed to Peru. In 1892 he formed the present partnership, in connection with Ethan T. Reasoner.
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Mr. O'Hara was formerly a Democrat in his political sympathies, hav- ing been brought up in the principles of that party; but in the presidential campaign of 1892, which resulted in the election of Benjamin Harrison, he espoused the principles of the Republican party on the tariff issue and has since affiliated with that party. He occupies a prominent place in the bar of Miami county and is esteemed as a worthy and enterprising citizen.
In matrimony he was united, January 15, 1878, with Miss Ella C. Thornton, a most estimable and cultured lady and a writer of acknowledged merit. She is a native of Galveston, Cass county, Indiana. Her father, James Thornton, was born in county Lowth, Ireland, resided several years in England, crossed the ocean to New Orleans about 1850, came to Indiana in 1853 and for a time operated on the Wabash & Erie canal. Finally he opened a store at Lewisburg, and he there married Ellen Brown, a native of county Kerry, Ireland. In 1856 he removed to Galveston, Cass county, where he resumed merchandising, and where his death finally occurred in 1872. Mrs. O'Hara was born at Galveston in 1857. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. O'Hara are seven children, -Bessie G., James H., Genevieve, John, Patrick L., Helen and Thomas Joseph. Alice May and Catherine are the names of the deceased children. In their religious connections the family are devout members of the Catholic church. Mr. O'Hara is a prominent member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, being president of that organi- zation in Indiana. He was also state treasurer of the same for two years.
A C. MERRICK .- The gentleman whose name initiates this review is one of the well-known citizens of Russiaville, Indiana,-a lawyer and pen- sion agent. His history is that of a self-made man, and is as follows:
A. C. Merrick was born in Brookville, Franklin county, Indiana, May 22, 1844, and traces his ancestry through the agnatic line back to Ireland. His father, Samuel H. Merrick, was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, son of John Merrick, Sr. John Merrick settled in southern Indiana in 1836, when his son, Samuel H., was a boy of thirteen years. Samuel H. made Ripley county his home until 1845, when he came to Clinton county and located three miles west of Russiaville. He was a successful farmer and a man of local prominence, esteemed for his many excellent traits of character.
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From an early age he was a great worker in the Baptist church. He died July 1, 1880, and his widow, who still survives him, is now seventy-seven years of age. Her maiden name was Rachel Vanzile, and she was a daugh- ter of William and Mary Vanzile, of Ripley county, Indiana, long since deceased. Her father was a soldier in the war of 1812. Six children were born to Samuel H. and Rachel Merrick, of whom three are living: A. C., whose name heads this sketch; Perry V., of Clinton county; and W. T., also of Clinton county.
A. C. Merrick was a year old at the time he was brought by his parents to Clinton county, Indiana. His early training received in the common schools was supplemented by a high-school course at Frankfort, Indiana, and in 1866 he entered the school-room as teacher, in Warren township. Clinton county. For several years he farined in the summer and taught school in the winter, and in the meantime he took up the study of law, spending all his leisure time in study along this line at home, and in 1873 he was admitted to the bar. He continued farming, however, until 1880, keeping up all the while his legal studies. In 1880 he moved to Russiaville, where he has since devoted his time and attention to a general law practice. He has made a study of the pension laws, has a large clientage in this department of his practice, and has been successful in securing many pensions the claims for which had been previously rejected.
Mr. Merrick is a Republican. He has for years been an active campaign worker and has rendered his party much valued and effective service. March 8, 1898, he was nominated at the primary election of Howard county as a candidate for representative to the state legislature.
In church and fraternal circles also Mr. Merrick is prominent and active. He has long been identified with the Baptist church, in which he is promi- nent and influential, at different times serving on important committees. He is secretary of the local organization of Odd Fellows, and in the Masonic lodge has passed all the chairs, having been a Mason since 1865, also a member of the Knights of Pythias order and of the Grand Army of the Republic, and in his post has filled the offices of commander and quartermaster. As a mem- ber of the Ninth Indiana Cavalry, he entered the United States service in September, 1863, and served until July 28, 1865, when he was honorably discharged, having participated in eleven engagements.
Mr. Merrick married April 26, 1866, Miss Sarah E. Childers, daughter
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of Benjamin Childers, of Clinton county, Indiana. She died November 14, 1896. Of her four children, three are living: May, wife of Charles B. Tal- bert; Samuel B., Clinton county, Indiana; and Fay, at home.
EWIS McMILLEN .- One of the fine farms of Cass county is the prop- L
erty of Lewis McMillen. It comprises two hundred and forty-eight acres of rich and arable land, and the well-tilled fields surround substantial build- ings, a pleasant residence, commodious barns and outbuildings. The owner is accounted one of the most practical and progressive agriculturists of the community; he uses the latest improved machinery in the development of his farm, studies the best methods for producing the various cereals adapted to this climate, practices rotation of crops, and above all brings to his work that unflagging industry which seldom fails of accomplishment. It is this factor that has brought him a desired success and gained him a place among the well-to-do farmers of the community.
Mr. McMillen is a worthy representative of one of the pioneer families of the county, the family name having been interwoven with the history of development and advancement here through the alloted period of human existence, three-score years and ten. In 1828 his parents, George and Susan (McMillen) McMillen, became residents of Cass county, and entered upon life in the west in true pioneer style. The father was a native of Pennsylvania, and the mother of Highland county, Ohio. Locating on a farm in Noble township, Cass county, they there reared their family of four children, Lewis, Milton, William and Elizabeth J. They experienced many of the hardships and difficulties incident to frontier life and to the development of a new farm in the forest, but as the years passed theirs became one of the comfortable homes of the community and their labors contributed not a little to the sub- stantial development of the community. The father took a prominent part in public affairs and for four years filled the office of trustee of Noble town- ship. He gave his political support to the Republican party, and in his church relationship was a Presbyterian. His death occurred in 1849, at the age of forty-four years.
Lewis McMillen, the only surviving member of his father's family, first opened his eyes to the light of day March 2, 1832, his birth occurring on the
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old homestead. That farm was also his playground in youth and the train- ing school in which he was fitted for business cares. Having attained his majority he married Miss Frances Jane McCauley, the wedding being cele- brated on the 2d of October, 1861. The lady was a native of Noble town- ship, Cass county, and a daughter of Elias McCauley. By her marriage she became the mother of three children: James E., Minnie and William L. Her death occurred on the 24th of October, 1886, at the age of forty-four years, and many friends mourned her loss, for her sterling traits of character had endeared her to all with whom she came in contact.
Mr. McMillen exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Republican party, and for one year served as supervisor of Noble township. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, and lends his aid and influence to all movements for the public good. His business methods are ever honorable and straightforward, and his close application, perseverance and unabating energy have enabled him to work his way steadily upward to a position of affluence. He is loyal as a citizen, faithful in his friendships, devoted to his family, and enjoys the warm regard of all with whom he has been brought in contact.
D R. M. V. B. NEWCOMER .- The profession of medicine is character- ized in these times with more discoveries and inventions than any other, -- probably more than even are embraced in any one trade. A medical stu- dent or practitioner must "run fast to keep up with the profession." Dr. Newcomer, aware of this fact from the start, has been a laborious student, furnishing himself with all the necessary books and periodicals and availing himself of the aid of his fellow practitioners throughout county, state, nation and the world. He is a member of the firm of Newcomer & Dickey, who have a large library and a fine office in Tipton, where they have been prac- ticing together for the last seventeen years. But to give the details more systematically, let us glance first at our subject's genealogy and early life.
He was born in Cambridge City, Indiana, October 30, 1836, a son of Christian and Elizabeth (Hartman) Newcomer, natives of Pennsylvania, who had thirteen children, -nine sons and four daughters. Of these only five are living, -- Benjamin F., of Hesper, Iowa; the subject of this sketch is the next
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in order of age; Martha M., widow of C. F. Curnutt, now of Sheridan, Indiana; Melissa J., widow of C. S. W. Pettijohn, living in the vicinity of Hortonville, Indiana; and Levi N., residing near Sheridan.
Christian Newcomer, the father, was a tailor by trade, who came from the Keystone state to Wayne county, Indiana, about 1825, and followed his trade several years at Cambridge City. Then he moved to Hamilton county, settling upon a farm of one hundred and twenty acres which he had pur- chased west of Noblesville, from the government early in the 'twenties, and he continued to make that his residence for over forty years, dying in the year 1877, aged nearly eighty-seven years. Being a pioneer there, he cleared the farm and labored industriously and long, but with his skillful manage- ment he succeeded in making and for many years enjoying a comfortable home. There he brought up his children. His wife passed to the other world only six months previous to his death, at the age of eighty years, after a married life of over sixty years. They were members of the Methodist church. He was a captain of militia, and while holding that office took part in the war of 1812, commanding a company.
John Newcomer, father of Christian, was also a native of the Keystone state, of German descent, married a lady who was born on the Atlantic ocean during the emigration of her parents to America, had two sons and three daughters, and died in his native state.
Frederick Hartman, the Doctor's maternal grandfather, was a native of Pennsylvania and of German ancestry, and emigrated to Bartholomew county, Indiana, during the earliest period of its settlement and lived there till his death. He had a large number of children, one of whom lived to be over ninety years of age.
Dr. Newcomer, of this sketch, was reared in Hamilton county, on a farm, attending the district and subscription schools, and just before he was twenty-one years of age he began teaching school and followed the profession for several years. About 1858 he commenced the study of law, and the next year was admitted to the bar, and practiced his profession as an attor- ney until some time in the year 1861, when he took up the study of medicine; in 1865 he began its practice; March 1, 1867, he graduated at the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, alternating, however, two years of study with intervals of practice. He has now been engaged in the general practice of medicine and surgery for thirty-four years, in Tipton, and is therefore the
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best and most favorably known physician in the county. His office building and business block is on the east side of the court-house square, and this building he erected in 1887. In company with Joseph A. Moore, he also built a business block on the northwest corner of the square; and his beauti- ful residence he built in 1884. Dr. Newcomer is the surgeon for all the railroads running through Tipton; is a member of the Tipton County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society, the American Medical Associa- tion, the Mississippi Valley Medical Society, the International Association of Railway Surgeons, the Railway Academy of Surgeons, the New York Medico-legal Society, the Indiana Medico-legal Society; and is an honorary member of the Rush County Medical Society and of the Academy of Kala- mazoo, Michigan. In politics he is a Republican.
December 14, 1865, the Doctor was united in matrimony with Miss Izora J. Wilson, a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Craig) Wilson, and they have had three daughters, namely: Ora B., who became the wife of James A. Shirk, of Delphi, Indiana, and has one son, whose entire name is Herbert Newcomer Shirk; Miss Clelia C., who is at her parental home; and Ethel May, who died when five weeks old. The two daughters living are graduates of De Pauw University. Mrs. Newcomer is an exemplary member of the Methodist church.
OSEPH M. DARBY, D. D. S .- It is eminently fitting that Dr. Joseph J M. Darby, a prominent dentist of Denver, Colorado, be represented in this volume, for he was the first white child born in Jackson township, How- ard county, and represents a family that for more than half a century has been connected with the substantial development and progress of this section of the state, the name being inseparably interwoven with its history. His father, Samuel Darby, was born in Butler county, Ohio, October 30, 1807, and was a son of Owen and Margaret (Frits) Darby. He spent his boyhood days in that locality, acquired his education in the district schools, and in Butler county married Lovey Ann Carter, a native of Warren county, Ohio, and a daughter of Robert and Ann (Morley) Carter. Her father was a native of North Carolina and was of English descent. In early colonial days repre- sentatives of the name crossed the Atlantic from the "merrie isle " to
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