USA > Indiana > Miami County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 25
USA > Indiana > Howard County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 25
USA > Indiana > Cass County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 25
USA > Indiana > Tipton County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 25
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Mr. Rogers has a wife and two little daughters. He was married Sep- tember 28, 1892, to Miss Corda Michaels, a native of Logansport, and their children they have named Esther and Blanche.
On reaching his majority, Mr. Rogers espoused the cause of the Repub- lican party and has since been an ardent supporter of the same.
OSEPH M. CHESNUT .- Among the representative citizens of Cass J county, Indiana, none, perhaps, are more entitled to the high esteem in which they are held than is the subject of this review, Joseph M. Chesnut, whose home is at Adamsboro, in Clay township, and who is now practically retired from active life.
Mr. Chesnut was born in the neighboring state of Ohio, Clark county being the place of his nativity; the date, May 7, 1832. He is a son of David S. and Johannah (Bodkin) Chesnut, both natives of the "Old Domin- ion." Their family was composed of five children, namely: Mary M .; Lucretia; Joseph M., the subject of this sketch; David S., who was a soldier in the Civil war and who is now deceased; and John T.
Joseph Chesnut, the grandfather of Joseph M., was a Revolutionary soldier, who after that war moved with his family from Virginia, his native state, to Ohio, locating in Clark county. There David S. Chesnut, the father of Joseph M., carried on farming until 1840, when he came over into Indiana and took up his abode in Cass county, his settlement being on a farm in Bethlehem township, where he spent the rest of his life and where he died at the age of sixty-four years.
Joseph M. Chesnut was a boy of only seven years when he came with his parents to Indiana, and here he was reared to farm life and received his
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schoolng in one of the primitive log school-houses of the county, which stood not far distant from his home. The whole of his life has been devoted to agricultural pursuits. He started out when a young man with one hundred and sixty acres of timber land, the clearing of which he set about and which he accomplished in due time, and to this tract of land he subsequently added until now it comprises three hundred and twenty acres, all well improved. This farm is located in Bethlehem township; and besides it he owns his home, a nice little place of sixteen acres, in Clay township. While he is practically retired from the active work of the farm, he still exercises a general supervision over his farming operations, his land being devoted to general farming and stock raising.
Mr. Chesnut was married April 16, 1857, to Miss Mary F. Custer, a native of Fairfield county, Ohio, and a daughter of John and Nancy (Hedges) Custer, both natives of the "Buckeye state." Mr. and Mrs. Chesnut have no children. They are members of the Christian church, and, politically, he co-operates with the Republican party.
C HARLES W. FINCH, superintendent of bridges and buildings on the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad, residing at Logansport, has been engaged in this line of work from his boyhood up, having started out as water-boy with a bridge crew on the Columbus & Hocking Valley Railroad. From this humble position he worked his way to the superintendency, and his long continuance in the same is ample evidence of his qualifications for it.
Mr. Finch is a native of Ohio. He was born in Athens county, Sep- tember 29, 1850, son of Walter G. and Juliette (Smith) Finch, the latter a daughter of Henry Smith, of New York city. The senior Mr. Finch was left an orphan at an early age and was reared by a Mrs. Dean, sister of the late William P. Cutler, ex-congressman from Ohio, and the builder of the Vandalia Railroad. Farming has been his life occupation and he is now sixty-eight years of age, respected and esteemed by all who know him. Of his seven children, Charles Walter is the eldest.
Charles Walter Finch passed the first nineteen years of his life on his father's farm, and then, as above stated, joined a bridge crew on the Colum- bus & Hocking Valley Railroad, as water-boy. His next job was as a work-
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man on a bridge crew on the Logansport, Crawfordsville & Southwestern Railroad, now the Vandalia line. From there he went to the Eel River branch of the Wabash Railroad, where he had charge of the construction of bridges and buildings of the road. In 1874 he came back to the Vandalia and took charge of the bridge and building department, as superintendent, and has been employed in the capacity of superintendent ever since.
Mr. Finch has a wife and two daughters. He was married at Camden, Indiana, in April, 1874, to Miss Anna Jones, daughter of Enoch and Susanna Jones. Their children are Juliet and Alice B.
Mr. Finch was made a Mason at the time he reached his majority, and has maintained a membership in the order ever since, affiliating with Clinton Lodge, No. 54, at Frankfort, Indiana.
OHN L. SULLIVAN, one of the genial and popular young business men J of Kokomo, Indiana, has a grocery store at No. 40 West Mulberry street. He has been a resident of this city for the past fourteen years and is thoroughly identified with its interests.
Mr. Sullivan was born in Rush county, Indiana, December 7, 1860, son of Joseph P. and Mary (Lenan) Sullivan, both natives of Ireland. In the Sullivan family were twelve children, six sons and six daughters, whose names in order of birth are as follows: Maggie, wife of Thomas Comaford, Miami county, Indiana; Ella, wife of Pat Milet, Miami county; Mary, wife of Dennis Fitzgerald, of Rush county; Bridget wife of Thomas Cane, Kokomo; John L., whose name forms the heading of this sketch; Lizzie, wife of John McCoy, Rush county; James, deceased; Joseph; Katie, wife of Austin McGrail, Kokomo; Thomas, Kokomo; Leo, of Anderson, Indiana; and William, Kokomo. Joseph P. Sullivan, the father of this large family, left his native place on the Emerald Isle in 1837 and came to the United States, settling in Rush county, Indiana, of which place he was a pioneer farmer. There he reared his family. In 1884, having sold his farm in Rush county, he came to Howard county and purchased a tract of land three miles north of Kokomo, upon which he lived until three years ago, carrying on agricultural pursuits. The past three years he has been a resi- dent of Kokomo, and he still has a supervision over his farm.
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The paternal grandfather of our subject was Humphrey Sullivan. He reared a small family and passed his entire life in his native land, Ireland, being well advanced in years at the time of his death. The maternal grand- father of Mr. Sullivan was Thomas Lenan. He, too, was of Irish birth and on his native isle lived and died, his death occurring in old age. He was a farmer and was the father of six or seven children.
John L. Sullivan was reared in Rush county, receiving his education in the district schools near his home, and remaining a member of the home circle until he attained his twenty-fifth year. On leaving the farm, he secured a clerkship in Kokomo, having accompanied his parents to Howard county. He clerked for McCaffrey & Company, and Lyman & Company, both engaged in the grocery business in Kokomo, and in 1897 he opened an establishment of his own, which he has since conducted. His courteous manner and his honorable and upright business methods have already won for him a large trade and his prospect for the future is bright.
Mr. Sullivan was married January 13, 1892, to Miss Katie Williams, daughter of Frank and Mary Ann (McCarty) Williams, and they have two children, Mary Regina and Ida Loretta. Their residence is at No. 210 South Washington street, Kokomo.
Mr. Sullivan was reared by Catholic parents and both he and his wife are members of the Roman Catholic church. He is also identified with the Catholic Benevolent Legion.
I ESSE LEE .- The pioneers of Indiana are fast passing away and few are J now left to tell the tale of frontier life in the Hoosier state. Jesse Lee, however, is one who forms a connecting link between the past, when this section was on the border of civilization, and the present, when all the advantages of the older east are now enjoyed by the people of this region. The traveler of to-day seeing the richly cultivated farms, substantial homes, thriving towns and villages, industries, commercial interests, churches and schools can scarcely realize that half a century ago Mr. Lee and his con- temporaries were endeavoring to open up this section of the state to the advances of civilization; that the Indian wigwam was not an unusual feature of the landscape; that forests still stood in their native strength, and that
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furrows had never been turned on the rich prairies. But all this our hon- ored pioneer has seen, and with the passing years he has witnessed the trans- formation of wild land into rich farms, has seen the advent of the railroad and the telegraph and has watched the onward march of progress until Indi- ana is now occupying a leading position in the bright galaxy of states that form the Union.
Mr. Lee was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, October 30, 1820, and is a son of Dennis and Annie (Hagerman) Lee. It is thought that the Lee family is of English origin, but there is no history to substantiate this belief, for Dennis Lee was left an orphan in infancy and knew nothing of his ances- tors. His parents both died very suddenly of yellow fever and he was reared by strangers. It is believed, however, that his mother was a Miss Morris, as one of the early territorial governors of Ohio, Governor Morris, claimed to be her brother and the uncle of Dennis Lee. The latter became an inmate of the home of Mrs. Shafer, of New Jersey. He was born about 1781, and in his early boyhood accompanied Mrs. Shafer to Warren county, Ohio, a location being made on the banks of the Miami river, where he was reared to manhood. He attended school but fifteen days during his entire life. He educated himself, however, and became very proficent in mathematics and German, being considered the best German scholar in Circleville, Ohio, which fact was the occasion of his being called frequently into court to act as inter- preter for witnesses. He was a saddletree-maker by trade, following that business for many years. In Pickaway county, Ohio, he married Annie Hagerman, a native of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Abraham Hagerman, of Pennsylvania-Dutch ancestry. Mr. Lee resided in Circleville for a long period and there followed his trade. In 1834 he went to Hancock county, Ohio, where he purchased land, making his home in Findlay. There in the midst of the forest he developed a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres, upon which he spent his remaining days, his death occurring in 1873, at the age of ninety-one years and six months. By his marriage to Annie Hagerman they became the parents of the following named: Abraham H., who was a wealthy steamboat owner, having vessels on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and in later life became the owner of the famous Crosby House, of Chicago, which was put up at a lottery and sold for two hundred thousand dollars, Abraham holding the lucky ticket which drew this rich prize. The other children of the family were Jesse, Morris
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and Harriet. Morris served as a soldier throughout the Mexican war, par- ticipating in all the engagements from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, and died six months after his return home. Dennis Lee, the father, was a Meth- odist in religious belief and in early life a Jacksonian Democrat in political faith, but subsequently became a strong Republican.
Jesse Lee received only such educational privileges as were afforded in in the pioneer schools of that day. In his youth he learned the cigar-maker's trade, and later the printer's trade in Circleville, Ohio, becoming an expert type-setter. He worked for two years at the latter trade, and when fifteen years of age went with his father to Hancock county, Ohio, where he followed farming. He was married November 8, 1840, in that county, to Nancy Bond, who was born June 26, 1820, a daughter of William and Catherine (Thomas) Bond. Her father, who was of English descent, was born near Baltimore, Maryland, his parents being Benjamin and Nancy (Barney) Bond, the former a member of one of the old and honored colonial families of that state. His father was a native of England, and on coming to America located on land where the city of Baltimore now stands. This he leased for ninety-nine years, and subsequently returned to England, where he became a Tory. His property is now in the heart of the city and is very valuable. Benjamin Bond, grandfather of Mrs. Lee, had a large family, including Will- iam, Thomas, John, Barney, George, Sarah, Betsey, Nancy, Michael, Atti- cus and Temperance. Benjamin Bond was married in Virginia and later removed to Brooke county, now West Virginia, and subsequently to Tyler county, where he cleared up a farm. He had several sons in the war of 1812, among them John, who lived to be eighty-four years of age and died on his farm in Virginia.
William Bond, the father of Mrs. Lee, was a farmer and blacksmith and possessed much mechanical ingenuity. When fourteen years of age he went with his father to Tyler county, where he afterward married Catherine Thomas, who was of Pennsylvania-Dutch descent. Their children were Thomas, Jacob, Bolton, Benjamin, Charles, William, George, John, Sarah, Nancy, Atticus and Elizabeth. The mother died in Virginia, and Mr. Bond afterward married Elizabeth Harbor, by whom he had three children: Mary A., Selina and Lewis. In 1836 William Bond removed to Hancock county, Ohio, locating in the midst of a forest, where he developed a good farm. He came to Miami county, Indiana, in 1844, locating on a quarter section of
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timber land, which he entered from the government. Indians were yet in the county, and all the usual experiences and hardships of pioneer life were to be met by these brave frontiersmen. Mr. Bond cleared his land and be- came a substantial and respected farmer of the community. In politics he was an old-line Whig. His death occurred in 1853, at the age of sixty-six years. His son John served for four years in the Civil war and participated in many battles for the defense of the Union. He was a member of the One Hundred and Thirty-third Indiana Infantry, which was reorganized into the Eighth Indiana Cavalry.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Lee located on his father's farm in Hancock county, Ohio, and in 1845 came to Miami county, Indiana, where our subject secured one hundred and sixty acres of land, upon which he now resides. The government survey had not been made, but was accomplished in August, 1847, at which time he entered his land and found that he had made most of his improvements on land adjoining his own farm, so that much of his two years' labor was lost. He lived in a log cabin for many years and the trials and difficulties encountered by the pioneer fell to his lot. The Miami Indians were located on the east side of Pipe creek, where the bridge now crosses that stream, but later were sent by the United States govern- ment to Kansas. They were peaceable, but not very communicative, and Mr. Lee several times saw Frances Slocum, " the white squaw," but she would not talk much to the white settlers. At one time an Indian visited Mr. Lee's cabin and was so much pleased with the silver-mounted rifle which he there saw that he started away with it, saying, "Me take gun and give pony;" but Mr. Lee did not wish to exchange the rifle for the pony and started after the Indian, who, after some talk, was induced to return it. From his cabin door our subject has shot wild turkey, and other game was also plentiful. He performed the arduous task of developing the wild land, and through his own efforts has cleared in Harrison township two hundred and five acres. He now owns four hundred acres of valuable land, and his property is the reward of his own well-directed labors and indefatigable industry. In an early day he also made shingles, cutting and riving them out of the logs and shaving them by hand. Such were his experiences in pioneer times, but the years have wrought many changes, and an occasional log cabin is now the only landmark which indicates that mode of life. Mr. Lee's early home was replaced by a frame residence, and in 1873 his present brick residence was
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erected. While cherishing pleasant memories of by-gone days, he has always kept pace with the progress and improvement of the times, and is regarded as a practical, enterprising farmer.
Mr. and Mrs. Lee became the parents of the following children: Cath- erine, Dennis, Alice, Harriet, Frances and John. Dennis served in the war of the Rebellion as a defender of the Union. After a service of six months he re-enlisted, in 1864, in the One Hundred and Fifty-first Indiana Infantry, and remained at the front until the close of the war, participating in several engagements. He died soon after his return to the north. In politics Mr. Lee was first an old-line Whig, and was one of the first twelve Republicans in the county. When his township was organized he served as the first township trustee, which position he filled three terms, and for two terms was assessor. At the first election only eighteen votes were cast. He was also superintendent of pikes in the southeastern part of the county for two years, having charge of forty miles of turnpike. More than half a century has passed since he and his estimable wife came to Miami county .. He is now seventy-seven, Mrs. Lee seventy-eight years of age, and together they have traveled life's journey for fifty-eight years, sharing with each other its joys and sorrows, its adversity and prosperity. All who have known them esteem them for their sterling worth, and they enjoy the warm regard of many friends who will be glad to see the history of these honored pioneers in the record of the county with which they have so long been prominently identified.
OHN RILEY COX is a son of one of the early pioneers of Miami county, J Indiana, residing here since he was a boy of twelve years.
Elijah Cox, the father of John Riley Cox, was born in the state of Ten- nessee, March 23, 1795, and when ten years of age went to Ohio with his parents, where he grew to manhood and married Miss Barbara Brannaman, a native of Virginia. In 1834 he removed with his family to Miami county, Indiana, and settled on a tract of government land in the valley of Eel river. The family consisted of parents and four sons and three daughters. The land was all heavily timbered and the father and sons cleared away the for- est and developed the tract into a fine farm. Here the father died October 13, 1854. The wife and mother survived her husband a number of years,
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passing away June 20, 1866. Elijah Cox was a typical pioneer, and an hon- est, upright man. He and his wife were faithful members of the Christian church, and were among the earliest representatives of that denomination in Miami county. John Riley Cox and two sisters-Mrs. Mahala Reed, on the old homestead, and Mrs. Mary Johnson, of Des Moines, Iowa-are all of the family now living.
John Riley Cox was born in Ohio, June 25, 1822, and was twelve years of age at the time he came with his parents to Indiana. He well remembers the appearance of the country sixty-five years ago when Indians and wild game abounded throughout this part of the state. Miami county was then chiefly a wilderness. His youth and early manhood were spent in helping to clear his father's land and his later years were devoted to agricultural pur- suits on the home farm, which came into his possession. In 1874 he left the farm and moved with his family to Peru, and they now reside in their pleas- ant home at No. 216 West Main street.
February 18, 1862, Mr. Cox married Miss Elizabeth Young, who was born in Indiana in 1839. They have two daughters, namely: Jennie Belle, born January 4, 1863, now the wife of John C. Stoke, a railroad conductor, and resides in Peru; and Mary Fayetta, born December 30, 1865, at home.
D ANIEL CLOSE .- Among that large class of substantial, trustworthy rail- road men who make their homes in the city of Logansport, is found the subject of this review, Daniel Close, an engineer on the Indianapolis division of the Pan Handle.
Mr. Close is a native of Michigan. He was born in Summerfield, Mon- roe county, June 20, 1838, son of Patrick and Catherine (Close) Close, the former a native of Vermont who emigrated to the southern peninsula of Michigan at an early day and on a farm in Monroe county passed the rest of his life, dying there February 12, 1849, at the age of forty-six years; the mother was a native of St. John, Canada. Daniel was the fifth in order of birth in their family of nine children, the surviving members being as follows: James, of Carlton, Michigan; Mary A., a resident of Ann Arbor, that state; Carrie C., widow of James Ely, Chicago, Illinois; Helen J., Chicago; Daniel; Margaret, married and settled at Hartford, Connecticut; and Elizabeth C., widow of James Bodle, Chicago.
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Daniel Close spent his youth on his father's farm, and was engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1865. The next four years he was engaged in saw- milling in one of the lumber regions of Michigan. In 1870 he turned his attention to railroading, being employed first as a fireman on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, and running between Adrian and Detroit. He covered the roads between Adrian and Jackson, Coldwater and Toledo, and . Adrian and Monroe the few short years he was on the pay rolls of that com- pany. For a time immediately succeeding his " lay-off " he was engaged in repairing telegraph lines, building new ones, etc., aiding in the construction of the line from Jonesville to Lansing. This work was ended by his securing a position as brakeman on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. Later he spent one year on the Adrian and Detroit line, and for a short time was on the Elkhart & Toledo main line. He resigned his place in 1874 and came to Logansport to enter the service of the Pan Handle Company, with which he has been connected for a period of nearly twenty-five years. He made his first run out of Logansport on the 9th of January, 1874. On the 22d of Sep- tember following he was promoted to the position of engineer. For eighteen months he ran a yard engine, at the end of that time was placed in charge of a freight engine, and since 1888 has been in the regular passenger service.
Mr. Close was married, in the township of Bedford, Monroe county, Michigan, December 5, 1860, to Miss Margaret W., daughter of William and Margaret (Logan) Downs, natives of England. She is one of two children, her sister being Lydia A., wife of Henry Smith, of Summerfield, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Close's children are: Frances L., wife of George B. Tanguy, an employe of the Pan Handle Company and a resident of Logansport, their five children being Helen, Frederick, Lillian, Edwin and Russell; William, an engineer and a promising young man, died at the age of thirty; Gertrude A., of Washington, Iowa; and Carrie M., at home.
AMES H. ARNETT, JR., of Kokomo, is the county coroner and the J bailiff of both the circuit and superior courts. He was born in New Bur- lington, Greene. county, Ohio, January 26, 1847, a son of Valentine M. and Mary (Jones) Arnett: His father was a native of Guilford county, North Carolina, and his mother of Ohio. The name Arnett is probably derived
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from the old French Arnault, which was pronounced Arno. The ancestry in the paternal line were French Huguenots. In the family of Valentine M. Arnett there were but two children, -Sarah, who is now the widow of Dr. Calvin Hess, and is now living at Indianapolis; and James H., the subject of this sketch. The father was a blacksmith by trade, a justice of the peace for twenty years. He was but nine years of age when his parents removed with him from North Carolina to Ohio and settled in Greene county, where the lad grew to manhood and was married. In 1852 he emigrated to this state and located in Wayne county, and in 1854 in Westfield, Hamilton county, where he still resides. He has passed through all kinds of pioneer privation, hard work, monotonous life and peculiar experiences. He has cut cord-wood for the compensation of twenty-five cents a cord, and done much other heavy work. He followed his trade of blacksmithing until the break- ing out of the war of the Rebellion, when he received a special commission from Governor Morton as a recruiting officer; and later he entered active service himself in the ranks, in Company G, One Hundred and Forty-seventh Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry, of which he was made sergeant, and was stationed on Maryland Heights, where Lee surrendered. He was faithful to all his posts of duty and at length honorably discharged.
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