USA > Indiana > Miami County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 17
USA > Indiana > Howard County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 17
USA > Indiana > Cass County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 17
USA > Indiana > Tipton County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 17
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
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New England, and prior to the war of the Revolution their descendants removed to North Carolina. They were members of the Society of Friends, or the Quaker church. Robert Carter, on leaving his native state, took up his residence in Warren county, Ohio, near Lebanon. He was a blacksmith and farmer and became a wealthy man, acquiring large realty holdings. In his later life he removed to Plainfield, Indiana, where he died when about seventy years of age. His children were Mary, Mordecai, Cath- erine, Lovey Ann, William, Samuel, Robert, Ann, Margaret, Sarah, Eliza- beth, Marley and James. In the war of 1812 the father had served his coun- try with an officer's rank.
After his marriage Samuel Darby located in Butler county, Ohio, and about 1831 removed to LaFayette, Indiana, where he remained for five years. He then returned to Butler county, and in 1846 came to Howard county, Indiana, locating in Jackson township, where he purchased of the govern- ment one hundred and sixty acres of wild land, upon which not a furrow had been turned or an improvement made.
It was covered with a growth of timber, but soon the woodman's ax awakened the echoes of the forest and as the trees fell before the sturdy strokes of the owner the plow was put into the virgin soil and at length the wild track was transformed into rich and fertile fields. Good buildings were also erected and the farm became one of the most desirable of the locality. During the days of its early development, however, the family experienced many of the hardships and trials of pioneer life, and also enjoyed the pleas- ures which are unknown to our more modern civilization. The children of the family were Thomas J., William S., John R., Mary A., James K., Sam- uel C., Caleb C., Elizabeth J., Joseph M. and Orange V.
Samuel Darby and his wife were very prominent members of the Meth- odist church. They were among the founders of the church of that denomi- nation in this locality, and their log cabin was in pioneer times the place of worship of the early Methodists. The first sermon ever preached in this part of the county was delivered in their home. Mr. Darby became a very active worker in the church and served as class- leader. In his political views he was a Democrat. He was well known as an honored pioneer and was greatly respected for his sterling character and fearless defense of what he believed to be right. During the civil war he was a stanch Union man, and sent six of his sons to fight the battles of their country. James and Samuel 11
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were privates of Company I, Eighth Indiana Infantry, and served for three years, participating in many battles and in the Vicksburg campaign. Caleb was a private of Company K, Thirty-fourth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, entered the service for three years and was wounded in the charge on Vicks- burg. Thomas J. was a private in the Regiment. William enlisted for one year's service, was sergeant in the Twelfth Indiana Volun- teer Battery, and took part in the engagement at Nashville. Joseph M. was a private of Company C, One Hundred and Fifty-first Indiana Infantry. He enlisted when only seventeen years of age, and was wounded in a skirmish. The family has always been noted for its loyalty, its patriotism and its devo- tion to any duty, and the name of Darby is one which is honored and respected in Howard county.
.The Doctor, whose name begins this review, is numbered among the county's native sons, his birth occurring May 13, 1847, and as before stated he has the distinction of being the first white child born in Jackson township. He was reared on the old family homestead amid the wild scenes of frontier life and pursued his education in the old-time log school-house. The work of the farm early became familiar to him and he assisted in the labors of the field until 1864, when he joined the Union army for one year's service,-a soldier boy of seventeen. He took part in a number of minor engagements and continued at the front until after the expiration of his term of enlistment. Later he attended school in Kokomo and in Xenia (now Conover), Indiana, and in January, 1870, went to Missouri, where he was engaged in merchandising. There he wedded Mary H. Smith, and made his home in that state for two and a half years. He then went to Colorado, arriving in Denver August 15, 1872. In that city he also engaged in mer- chandising for a time, but subsequently took up the study of dentistry in a dental college of Philadelphia, where he was graduated in 1882. He then returned to Denver, where he has built up a large and lucrative business, a liberal patronage being secured by reason of his pronounced ability.
Dr. Darby and his wife became the parents of three children, two daugh- ters and a son: Norah, the eldest daughter, died at the age of fifteen; Frank W., of Company I, Second Regiment, United States Army Engineers, is now in Honolulu; Elma, the youngest daughter, is in school at Terre Haute, Indiana. Socially the Doctor is connected with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he is a stanch Demo-
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crat. He is a man cf broad experience, of strong mentality, and he is a genial, pleasant gentleman who has many friends in the neighborhood in which his boyhood and youth were passed.
OSEPH D. OATES. -- In the life history of this gentleman is found exem- J plication of the truth that success is the result of labor, -well directed and untiring labor. Starting out in life with no advantages and with the additional detriment caused by lameness, Mr. Oates has triumphed over every obstacle and steadily worked his way upward to prosperity. He is numbered among the leading and substantial citizens of Peru, where he has made his home since 1871.
He was born in New Buffalo, Berrien county, Michigan, June 30, 1851, his parents being Joseph D. and Hannah (Austin) Oates, the former a native of London, while the latter was born in Indiana. When the subject of this sketch was but two years of age his parents removed to Lake county, Indiana, and immediately after this change of residence he met with a most serious accident which rendered him permanently lame. His father died in 1856 and his mother in 1863, and thus at the early age of twelve years he was left an orphan. His father was for many years engaged in sailing on Lake Michigan, but finally retired to the farm in Lake county, where his death occurred.
Practically thrown upon his own resources in early boyhood and deprived of the kindly watchful care of loving parents, the childhood days of our sub- ject were fraught with many hardships and privations. He went to live in the home of a maternal aunt in La Porte, Indiana, but this relative seemed to manifest but little love for the orphan boy and his home was not a happy one. During the years of the war he sold newspapers on the streets of La Porte. That was his first business venture and proved to be a successful one. In 1865, when he had attained the age of fourteen years, he left La Porte and went to the home of his sister in Valparaiso. Soon afterward he went to live with a farmer in Porter county, with whom he remained until 1868, attending school for a part of three winter terms during that time. In the year mentioned he returned to La Porte, where he secured employment in a chair factory, and while working there he obtained considerable knowledge
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of cabinet-making. In July, 1871, he came to Peru and through the suc- ceeding twelve years was employed in the factory of the Howe Sewing Machine Company, and in 1883, owing to the influence of his wife and his own desires, he decided to leave the shop and endeavor to carry on business in another channel. He then opened a real-estate, insurance and loan agency, and his excellent business and executive ability, combined with integrity of character, has long since won him the confidence of his fellow citizens, and public pat- ronage has followed as a logical result.
In 1878 Mr. Oates was united in marriage to Miss Indiana E. Snively, daughter of John M. Snively, deceased, formerly a prominent citizen of Peru. Mrs. Oates was a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and died May 31, 1886, leaving to the care of her husband four little children, the youngest being only a year old. In order of birth they are as follows: Fred M., Alice E., Merle E. and Indiana M. Mr. Oates was again married in October, 1891, his second union being with Mrs. Sue N. Gregory, an estimable lady who pre- sides over their home with gracious hospitality.
Mr. Oates is one of Peru's valued and representative citizens. He is now a member of the city council, and at the expiration of his present term will have served in that body for a long period of fourteen years. What higher testimonial could be paid to his faithful service and his fidelity to the best interests of the community ? He is at present chairman of the com- mittees on finance and water-works, and at all times he has been a pro- gressive member of the council, giving his support to all measures which will promote the general good and advance the welfare of the city. For a number of years he has also been secretary of the Peru board of trade. He is a valued member of the orders of Knights of the Maccabees, the Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows, and in the last named has filled all the chairs and represented the subordinate lodge in the grand lodge. In religious belief he and his family are Methodists, holding their membership in the church of that denomination in Peru. Politically he has been a life- long Republican.
He has justly won the honored American title of "a self-made man." From his boyhood days he has depended upon his own exertions for a liveli- hood, and has not only secured a living, but has overcome many obstacles and disadvantages in acquiring a comfortable competence. He is now at the head of a good business and his success is justly deserved. He is a
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man of great energy and enterprise, of force of character and resolute pur- pose, and at all times his business has been conducted along the lines of commercial honor and integrity. He has the confidence and respect of his fellow men, and is well deserving of mention among the representative cit- izens of Miami county.
S S. RICHARDS figures as one of the leading citizens of Russiaville, Indiana. He occupies the position of township trustee of Honey Creek township, is one of the editors and proprietors of the Observer, and is prom- inently identified in various ways with the best interests of the town.
S. S. Richards was born in Bartholomew county, Indiana. January 18, 1855, son of Robert O. Richards, also a native of this state, his birth having occurred in Switzerland county sixty-eight years ago. Jeremiah Richards, the grandfather of S. S., was a North Carolinian who emigrated to Indiana at an early period in the history of this state and made settlement in Switz- erland county. His father was an Englishman and a pioneer of North Car- olina. Robert O. Richards was a successful farmer. During the Civil war he acted the part of a brave soldier, and in the early part of his army life he was a member of the Thirty-ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and later was with the Eighth Indiana Cavalry, which was commanded by Kilpatrick, and was a veteran of four years. On moving to Howard county he located four miles southeast of Russiaville, where he remained until 1892, when he moved to Russiaville, where he still lives, retired from active business. Mr. Richards' mother, nec Mary Howbert, was a native of Pennsylvania and of German descent. She also is living, -seventy-two years old. They are parents of six children, four of whom are living, of the following names: Elwood A., a resident of Kansas and an ex-soldier; S. S., our subject; Kate; Clara F., wife of Gilbert Ratcliff, a successful farmer of Honey Creek township.
S. S. Richards, the second child, received his early training in the coin- mon schools of Honey Creek township and finished his education in the Kokomo high school, graduating there with the class of 1875. On complet- ing his high-school course he accepted a position as deputy in the office of the county recorder, which he filled six years. The next nine years he was employed as express messenger on the road for the American Express Com-
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pany. In January, 1891, he resigned his position and came to Russiaville. Here he engaged in the furniture business, which he conducted successfully for five years, at the end of that time disposing of his furniture establishment and turning his attention to the hardware business. Two years later, in November, 1897, he sold his hardware store, and for a time was retired from business. Since then he has given more or less time and attention to his fruit farm of seven acres at Russiaville. In December, 1897, he bought the Observer, which he has since owned and edited, in connection with his son- in-law, under the firm name of Richards & Zenor.
Politically, Mr. Richards affiliates with the Republican party, and is active in promoting its interests. He was in the fall of 1894 elected to the office of township trustee of Honey Creek township and is now the incumbent of this office. In fraternal circles also he is prominent and active. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he maintains a mem- bership in the Knights of Pythias. His religious creed is that of the Method- ist Episcopal church, of which he is an active member and one of its lead- ing supporters.
Mr. Richards was married June 15, 1876, to Miss Mary E. Ream, daughter of Captain L. V. Ream, a prominent citizen of Kokomo. They are the parents of three children, namely: Daisy D., wife of James M. Zenor, who, as already stated, is associated with Mr. Richards in the publi- cation of the Observer; and Cora C. and Mary M., both at home.
AMES JACKSON, of Logansport, arrived in Cass county, Indiana, in that J year which marked the middle of the century and here he has since main- tained his home and in various ways has been identified with the best interests of the county.
Mr. Jackson was born in Stark county, Ohio, February 8, 1822, and is a son of James and Nancy (McGahey) Jackson, the former a native of Nova Scotia and the latter of Ireland. Their family was composed of three chil- dren, Maria, Robert and James.
The grandfather of our subject, James Jackson, was a native of Liver- pool, England, and was by occupation a sailor, running between Liverpool and America, touching at Nova Scotia and New York. He never settled in
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the United States. His son James, the father of our subject, was reared in Nova Scotia and remained there until he reached manhood. In 1811, at the age of twenty-two, he came to Ohio, and in Stark county settled on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he purchased from the government, and there he passed the rest of his life, dying in 1865, at the venerable age of seventy-six years.
It was on his father's farm in Stark county that the subject of our sketch was born and reared. His education was obtained in the schools of Akron, Ohio. Early in life he engaged in teaching school, a work for which he seemed particularly adapted, and followed this profession for a period of thirty-six years, in Ohio and Indiana. He came to Indiana in 1850, and as above recorded, at that time settled in Cass county, making Logansport his home. In this county he has performed much public service, both as a dep- uty and as an office-holder. He has served as a deputy in the county clerk's office and also in the office of the auditor. In 1869 he was elected township trustee of Ecl township and was re-elected in 1872 and again in 1888, his service altogether covering a period of twelve years. In politics he is a Democrat.
Mr. Jackson was a sufferer for forty-seven years from white swelling, and finally, in 1886, was induced to have his limb amputated, which was done just above the knee, thus rendering him a cripple for life.
He was married in October, 1851, to Miss Ann Sanderson, a native of England and a daughter of Austin Sanderson, who came to this country with his family and settled in Stark county, Ohio. Mrs. Jackson died June 18, 1892, at the age of about sixty-four years, leaving two children, Jennie, wife of John Wagner, of Detroit, Michigan, an engineer, and Frank P., who mar- ried Lucy P. Kirk. They reside in Logansport at the old home of our subject.
I W. GARDNER, justice of the peace at Russiaville, Howard county, In- diana, is a venerable citizen of this place who at this writing is nearing his seventy-fifth mile-post. The history of his life, in brief, is as follows ::
I. W. Gardner was born in Hart county, Kentucky, August 25, 1823. Both his father and grandfather, Elisha and Haith Gardner, were natives of Pittsylvania county, Virginia, and the latter's father was when a babe
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picked up from a vessel that was wrecked off the isle of Nantucket. Beyond that their history cannot be traced. Haith Gardner was a soldier all through the Revolutionary war, and was also a participant in the war of 1812, coming out of the latter with the rank of captain. His son Elisha also was in the war of 1812. Elisha Gardner was a prominent and successful farmer, own- ing a thousand acres of land in Kentucky, and by all who knew him was highly respected for his many excellent traits of character. For many years he was a worthy member of the Baptist church. He died in 1865. His wife, whose maiden name was Hannah Wadkins, was a daughter of James. Wadkins, who removed from Maryland to Kentucky at an early day, being among the pioneers of Kentucky. She died in 1854. Of the nine children composing their family, only two are now living: I. W., whose name forms the heading of this review; and Lydia, wife of Abner Gooch, of Hart county, Kentucky.
I. W. Gardner received his early training in one of the log school-houses of his native state. He remained in Kentucky and was engaged in farming there until 1864, when he came up into Indiana and settled in Tipton county, and there he carried on farming operations till 1881. That year he disposed of his farm and moved to Russiaville, Howard county, where he has since lived retired.
Until the outbreak of civil war, Mr. Gardner was a Democrat and since that time he has been a stanch supporter of the Republican party. He was in 1890 elected a justice of the peace, and is now serving in that capacity, his present term to expire in 1900. During the war and previous to it he saw some trying times in Kentucky. He offered his own services to the Union cause, and when he was not accepted he sent his sixteen-year-old son. For fifty years Mr. Gardner has been a member of the Baptist church, and also he has long been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having membership in both the subordinate lodge and encampment. He is a charter member of Sharpsville Lodge, No. 347, I. O. O. F., and he and one other are the only ones of the charter members now living.
Mr. Gardner was married November 25, 1845, to Miss Elizabeth Sey- mour, a daughter of Powan Seymour, of Virginia. She is still living, and although now seventy years of age has not a silver thread among her dark tresses. Eleven children were born to this worthy couple, seven of whom are now living, namely: Thomas, a Baptist minister of Kokomo, Indiana;
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William L., Russiaville, Indiana; James, Sedalia, Missouri; Henry, St. Louis, Missouri; Edward, Frankfort, Indiana; Eliza, wife of Isaac Grashau, Sharpsville, Indiana; and Katie B., at home.
D R. ANDREW S. DICKEY .- " Every man who rises in any profession must tread a path more or less bedewed by the tears of those he passes on his way." Talent forges ahead. Genius cannot wait. Nor can those at the head support all the others. Scanning the life and career of the physi- cian whom we have selected as the subject of these few remarks, we cannot but see that he is one of those persevering men whose ambition leads them to the goal of success.
Dr. Dickey, who is a member of the firm of Newcomer & Dickey, phy- sicians and surgeons, Tipton, Indiana, was born in Fayette county, this state, September 7, 1850, a son of Hugh and Hannah (Manlove) Dickey, also natives of the Hoosier state and of Fayette county. They had two sons, - George A., a farmer and dairyman, and the subject of this sketch. The father, also a farmer, grew to manhood in his native county, and moved to Tipton county in 1852, settling upon a farm of one hundred and twenty acres six miles south- west of Tipton, which he cleared and reduced to cultivation, and to which he subsequently added one hundred and sixty acres. From 1864 to 1869 he resided in the town of Tipton, during which time he purchased another farm, consisting of one hundred and eighty-eight acres, a mile and a half west of town, and in the latter year moved out upon the place and continued to make that his home for ten years. Then he removed back to the old farm southwest of town and lived there till 1891, when he exchanged it for another of one hundred and fifty acres east of Tipton, where he made his home during the remainder of his life, passing to the other world on the 9th of June, that year, aged seventy-one years; and his widow still resides there, with her son, George A. From 1861 to 1865 he was sheriff of Tipton county, and for the next two years was county treasurer. For one term he was also trustee of Cicero township. He was an exemplary member of the United Presbyterian ·church, in which religious body he was a ruling elder. Mrs. Dickey is also a faithful member of the same church.
William Dickey, father of the preceding, was a native of Washington
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county, Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish descent, a farmer by vocation, moved to Ohio, inarried Margaret Spence in Kentucky and came as a pioneer to Fayette county, Indiana, locating upon a farm, and in 1851 came to Tipton county, where he died, at the age of eighty-four years, while still engaged in agricultural pursuits. He also was a man held in high esteem, for during one term he served the public as county collector for Fayette county, in which he discharged his duties faithfully and promptly. He had twelve children.
George Manlove, maternal grandfather of our subject, emigrated from North Carolina when a young man, locating on a farm in Fayette county, this state, and in his family was born the first white child in Posey township. Of his nine children, eight grew up, married and had children. He died at the age of forty-seven or eight years, of Asiatic cholera.
The subject of this sketch was but two years of age when his parents came to Tipton county, and he has ever since been a citizen of this county. He attended the public schools of Tipton, the Waveland Academy at Wave- land, Indiana, and finally graduated at the Indiana State University at Bloomington, in 1877. His home up to this time was with his parents on the farm, where he was employed at manual labor during the intervals of school.
In 1878 he began the study of medicine at the Miami Medical College, at Cincinnati, and he completed the course at the Central College of Physi- cians and Surgeons at Indianapolis, in 1881, when he received his diploma. The same year he commenced the practice of his chosen profession at Tipton, not confining himself to any specialty, and here has since continued, with the success that attends a faithful application of modern methods. He is a mem- ber of the Tipton County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society, the Mississippi Valley Medical Association, was for a time a member of the board of examining surgeons for pensions at Tipton, during Cleveland's administration, and for the past fifteen years has been county health officer. Politically he is a Democrat, and religiously he is a member of the United Presbyterian church. His home and office are together, on Court street. He has never been married. He is a genial gentleman whom it is a pleasure to meet. He and his partner, Dr. M. V. B. Newcomer, have been asso- ciated together for the past seventeen years, and they are among Tipton's leading physicians, as well as the leading citizens in all local interests. The
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medical library which they possess is an exceptionally large and well selected collection of books, and with this and the medical periodicals they study they keep themselves abreast with the discoveries and improvements which so prominently characterize the science of medicine.
S P. HOLLINGSWORTH .- Prominent among the industries of Russia- ville, Howard county, Indiana, is the milling business owned and con- ducted by the subject of this sketch, S. P. Hollingsworth.
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