USA > Indiana > Miami County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 42
USA > Indiana > Howard County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 42
USA > Indiana > Cass County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 42
USA > Indiana > Tipton County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 42
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Mr. Gvinn is a gentleman of genial manner and large heart, and he has many warm friends who have entertaine 1 for him the highest regard during his thirty-eight years' residence in the county.
JACKSON A. NEAL, who is a member of the firm of Mercer & Neal, mill- J ers at Peru, is a nitive of Indiana, being born near Walton, Cass county, August 4. 1856. His parents, Joseph Neal and Elizabeth (Powers) Neal, were natives of Putnan county. West Virginia, where they grew up and were married, and in the early '50s emigrated to Cass county, this state. Joseph Neal by occupation was a carpenter a id builder. Later the family became residents of Tipton and Howard counties, Indiana, and still later removed to 27
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Illinois, where the father died, in 1888. The mother passed the last years of her life at Kokomo, Indiana, where she died in 1897. In their family were five sons and five daughters, all of whom are living excepting one daughter.
The subject of this sketch passed the earlier portion of his life in How- ard and Tipton counties, this state, and received his education at the public schools. Previous to 1886 Mr. Neal was employed for a number of years in Isaac Miller's roller mills in Peru, and during the last three years of that time was general manager or superintendent of the same. At the time he assumed this charge there was a debt on the property of twenty-two thousand dollars. It is a deserved compliment to Mr. Neal's ability as a business man to say that at the end of three years the entire indebtedness on the property had been canceled. During this time Mr. Neal was employed on a limited salary, and, justly believing that his services might be better appreciated elsewhere, he severed his connection with Mr. Miller.
Mr. Shirk, the owner of the Peru Canal roller mill, ever prompt to recognize business ability and integrity in a young man, at once offered him the superintendency of his mill property and a share in the profits of the busi- ness. But the salary that Mr. Neal had received had not been sufficient to enable him to save the money necessary for his share in the enterprise; in fact, he was practically without a dollar, and promptly informed Mr. Shirk of this fact; but the latter came immediately to the rescue and informed Mr. Neal that that difficulty could be easily overcome. Mr. Shirk at once pro- ceeded to fit up the mill with modern machinery, and Mr. Neal took charge in February, 1886, Mr. Shirk placing at his disposal, with which to commence business, four thousand dollars, without security save his implicit faith in the honor and integrity of the man with whom he was dealing; and now Mr. Neal has been connected with this mill continuously since he first assumed its control, and its management is a part of the extensive business conducted by Mercer & Neal.
Mrs. Neal was formerly Mrs. Emma Langenbaugh, who was born at Plymouth, Indiana, in 1853. Her father, Cyrus Mumphrey, was a well- known representative citizen of Pierceton, Indiana. After the death of her first husband in Plymouth, Mrs. Neal (then Mrs. Langenbaugh) engaged in the millinery business at that place. Mr. Neal has four children by a former marriage,-John Alexander, Amelia, Don W. and Bessie.
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In his political relation Mr. Neal is a Republican, and in his religious. faith he is a member of the Baptist church, while Mrs. Neal is an Episco- palian in her religious connections. Mr. Neal is also a member of the fra- ternal orders of the Masons and Maccabees.
R EBECCA BISHOP, residing on section 25, Cicero township, Tiptoi county, was born in Henry county, this state, February 22, 1824. Her father, David Butler, a native of Virginia, emigrated in 1806 to Clinton county, Ohio, when nine years old, locating on a farm, and was there mar- ried, in 1822, to Mary Smith, immediately afterward coming to Indiana, set- tling in Henry county and locating in the woods, where his first wife died .. in 1843. On settling there he first built a small log cabin, in which Mrs. Bishop was born, and he improved that place, as well as others in the vicin -. ity. After the death of his first wife he married again and moved to How- ard county, Indiana, where his second wife died, and immediately after that event he returned to Henry county and lived with his youngest daughter until his death, in his eighty-second year.
Mrs. Bishop's mother also was born in Virginia. Her parents were the. first settlers in Clinton county, Ohio, where she was reared from the age of nine years. Mrs. Bishop's grandfather Butler, also a native of the Old Dominion, was a Quaker and probably of English descent, while on the mother's side the ancestry were Irish and English.
David Butler, the father of Mrs. Bishop, had three daughters and one son. Mrs. Bishop, one of these daughters, attended her first school at the- old-time log school-house, which was characterized by the usual greased- paper windows, slab benches with no backs, etc. February 22, 1842, in Henry county, she married William Bishop, who was born in Preble county, Ohio, July 3, 1814; and his father, also named William, was a native of Maryland; and his father, Robert Bishop, was born in England. His. mother, whose maiden name was Nancy Freel, was a native of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Bishop, the fourth of twelve children, was brought up in Preble county, Ohio, and in 1839 moved to Henry county, this state, where he en- gaged in farming. Subsequently he moved to what is now Tipton county. settling upon land which he had entered and where Mrs. Bishop, his widow.
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our subject, now resides. On locating here he erected a log cabin, of only one room, eighteen feet square, with one window, and a door with a string latch, the latter always hanging on the outside when they were a vake. The surrounding scenery was an unbroken forest; only directly overhead could they see beyond the nearest trees; and wild animals of all kinds that ever prowled in this region abounded. Mr. Bishop cleared this place and carried on agricultural pursuits there till his death, which occurred in March, 1864. He was a Republican in his politics, and in every way an exemplary citizen.
Mr. and Mrs. Bishop were the parents of nine children. as follows: James F., who married Frances V. Howzer and has five children; Mary E., the wife of Daniel Goodykoontz and has two children; Henry Newton, who married Alice Fleming and has three children; John Q. A., deceased, who chose Lucy A. Bozell for his wife and had three children; Nancy Jane, who became the wife of Abram Parker and has three children; Alice R. and Will- iam E., at their parental home, the latter carrying on the farin. Two children died young. Mrs. Bishop has two great-grandchildren, grandchild- ren of James F., who now resides near Lincoln, Nebraska.
L OUIS P. HOLMAN .- The Holman family, of which the subject of this sketch, Louis P., is a representative, has been identified with Indiana since the earliest history of the state, he being a son of Solomon and grand- son of Joseph Holman, pioneers of Miami county.
Joseph Holman was born in Kentucky, son of George Holman, who fig- ured prominently in the Indian wars of colonial days in Kentucky. It is recorded of him that when a child he was stolen by the Indians, with whom he remained until his seventeenth year. While a captive in the hands of the savages he learned their language and became familiar with their habits and customs and so adapted himself to their mode of life as to secure their friendship. He was treated with comparative kindness b, them. He became an early settler of Wayne county, Indiana, where his d ath occurred many years ago, at the advanced age of one hundred and seven years. Joseph Holman came to Indiana about 1820 and located in Wayne county, where he lived till 1836, when he came to Miami county and settled at Miamisport, and purchased a tract of six hundred and forty acres of I nd on the Wabash.
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CASS, MIAMI. HOWARD AND TIPTON COUNTIES.
A large part of this land is now included within the city limits of Peru. On the eastern half of this land the original plat of the city was laid out by Will- iam H. Hood. Joseph Holman was prominently associated with the early growth of Peru and Miami county. He was land commissioner at Fort Wayne during the administration of John Quincy Adams, but soon after the inauguration of Andrew Jackson was relieved of the office for political reasons. He took part in the convention that framned the present constitu- tion of the state of Indiana, having been a delegate to that convention. He married Lydia Overman, and became the father of the following children: Mary, Solomon, Martha, Elizabeth, Rachel, Margaret, William and George. About 1839 he disposed of his interests in Miami county and returned to Wayne county, where he died in 1872, at the age of eighty-four years.
Solomon Holman, the second child and oldest son of Joseph Holman, was born in Wayne county, Indiana, in 1813. He learned the business of civil engineering, and was engaged on many of the public works of the state of Indiana, including the survey of the Whitewater canal, and subsequently was assistant superintendent, under Jesse Williams, in the construction of the Wabash & Erie canal. In addition to his duties as civil engineer, he conducted the cultivation of his farm, which is now within the corporate limits of Peru. He was a prominent citizen of Miami county, and a leading member of the Masonic order. His death occurred August 16, 1852. He was married in 1835 to Mary Forgy, daughter of Stewart and Margaret Forgy, who emigrated to Miami county from Ohio in the early '30s. Her death occurred April 5, 1889, at the age of seventy-four years. The surviv- ing children of Solomon Holman and wife are Mrs. Sarah M. Black, Louis P., Lydia J., wife of John A. Melchor, and William W. The deceased were Mrs. Emma Valentine, who died in July, 1875; Joseph S., who died June 10, 1888, and Edgar.
Louis P. Holman, whose name appears at the head of this sketch, was born at the parental homestead in Miami county, Indiana, May 24, 1841. He was educated in the public schools, and was just emerging from his 'teens at the time the Civil war broke out. October 8, 1861, he enlisted in the Union army and became a member of Company G, Fifty-first Indiana Vol- unteer Infantry, and served in the army for four years and four months. He was in the Army of the Cumberland and with his regiment participated in all the engagements in which that famous army took part. These included
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Shiloh, Stone River, Franklin, Nashville, Perryville, and the two battles of Dalton, Georgia, besides many others of less importance. After the surrender of the Confederate armies and the consequent close of the war, he, with his regiment, accompanied General Sheridan to Texas, that general being sent there to observe the movements of Maximilian in Mexico. Immediately after his enlistment he was made a corporal, later was promoted to fourth duty sergeant, and still later to orderly sergeant. On the 2d of April, 1865, he was promoted to second lieutenant, which commission he held to the close of the war.
February 20, 1866, Mr. Holman was united in marriage to Miss Emma Black, a native of Miami county, Indiana, and a daughter of Samuel and Mary Black, early settlers of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Holman have two daughters: Mary R., wife of Frank Brainard, and Lou Emma, wife of Schuyler C. Miller.
After the close of his military service, Mr. Holman was engaged in the pursuit of agriculture till 1878, when he abandoned farming and engaged in the lumber business in Indianapolis, which he continued until 1882. That year he returned to Miami county, and turned his attention to the real-estate and insurance business in Peru, in which line of enterprise he continues to the present time. He has also for many years devoted a portion of his time to the official duties of pension agent and justice of the peace.
Politically Mr. Holman is a Republican. Socially he is identified with the Grand Army of the Republic, Free and Accepted Masons and Knights of the Maccabees.
EDWARD W. ALEXANDER .-- The subject of this sketch, a passenger conductor on the Chicago division of the Pan Handle and a resident of Logansport, Indiana, has been engaged in railroading for a period of twenty- five years. A native of Cass county and closely identified with its interests, his history is of importance in a work of this character. Briefly a review of his life is as follows:
Edward W. Alexander was born, as above stated, in Cass county, Indi- ana, the date of his birth being October 11, 1847. His father, Andrew H. Alexander, was born in New York state about eighty years ago, was by trade a cabinet-maker and in 1844 emigrated to Indiana, settling at Logansport.
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He went to the Pacific coast in 1856 and was in California at the time the Civil war came on. In answer to the call for volunteers he enlisted in Com- pany ,H, Second California Cavalry Regiment, as first sergeant, and was with his command quartered at Salt Lake City, Utah, during nearly the whole of his first term of enlistment. Immediately after his discharge he returned to Indiana and at Logansport enlisted in the Thirty-third Indiana Volunteers. His wife, whose maiden name was Miss Eliza Warren, was a danghter of John P. Warren, an Englishman who came to Cass county about 1833 and engaged in farming. To Andrew H. and Eliza Alexander two chil- dren were born, namely: Edward W., whose name appears above, and Kate, wife of Harry G. Wilson, of Chicago.
Edward W. Alexander was educated in the public schools of Logansport and on leaving school secured a position as clerk in a shoe store at this place. Later, and for seven years, he clerked in a store at La Fayette. February 11, 1873, he began railroading as a passenger brakeman on the Pan Handle. The following June he was transferred to the freight service, in the same capacity, and in the fall of 1875 he was promoted to the position of freight conductor. In 1880 he was placed in the passenger service, as an extra man, and two years later he became a regular passenger conductor, continuing as such up to the present time.
In June, 1879, Mr. Alexander was married, in Flint, Michigan, to Miss Elizabeth Symons, daughter of Thomas Symons. The children born to them are Florence, Edith and Thomas.
Fraternally Mr. Alexander is a Knight of Pythias and an Elk.
M ARSHAL EDWARDS, the late proprietor of Edwards' feed yard, Kokomo, is a native of Indiana, born in Hamilton county July 19, 1861, son of William and Martha (Beard) Edwards, natives of North Carolina. In their family were twelve children, three sons and nine daughters, nine of whom are now living, namely: Elias; Caroline, wife of Martin Weishaar; Mary, wife of Leonard Thomas; Delaney, wife of John C. Lore; Ruth, wife of William Benson; Amanda, wife of David Custer; Marshal, whose name appears at the head of this sketch; Hannah, wife of Eugene Barnes; and Elvira, wife of James L. Monday. William Edwards, the father of this fam-
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF
ily, was by occupation a farmer. He came from North Carolina to Indiana about the year 1858 and settled in Hamilton county, where he lived for nine years. The next nine years he lived in Boone county and the nine years following that was a resident of Howard county. After this he moved back to Hamilton county where he purchased fifty acres of land and where he lived for five years, returning at the end of that time to Howard county, where he and his son Marshal purchased ground and established barns and a feed yard at Kokomo. This they ran under the firm name of Edwards & Son until the father's death, which occurred December 19, 1895, at the age of seventy-two years. His wife died in October, 1890, she being sixty-four at the time of death. Both were members of the Friends' church, were devoted Christians and were highly respected in the various localities in which they lived.
The Edwards family is of English origin. William Edwards, the grand- father of our subject, was probably a native of North Carolina, where he died in middle life. He had an only child. The maternal grandfather was Anthony Beard. He, too, was a native of North Carolina and there passed his life and died, the father of several children. By trade he was a hatter.
Marshal Edwards, the immediate subject of this sketch, accompanied his parents on their several moves, as above recorded, and was reared on the farm and educated in the district schools. It was in March, 1893, that he and his father engaged in business in Kokomo, and after his father's death he conducted the business under his own name. For two years he ran a livery business in connection with the feed yards and he sold out in September, 1898.
Mr. Edwards has a pleasant home and an interesting family, his resi- dence being at No. 150 North Buckey street. December 31, 1884, he mar- ried Miss Clara Culbertson, daughter of C. G. and Martha (Woods) Culbert- son, and they have three children, -Allen Lorenzo, Florence and Nellie. Mrs. Edwards is a member of the Friends' church.
OHN RICH .- Taylor township, Howard county, Indiana, counts among J its respected citizens the subject of this sketch, John Rich, who has been engaged in farming here for thirty years.
John Rich was born in Rush county, Indiana, August 4, 1842. His
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parents, Davis and Margaret (Kolb) Rich, were born in Ohio and Georgia respectively and were married in Indiana. John Rich, the grandfather of onr subject, was a farmer who lived and died in Ohio. He was a member of the Primitive Baptist church and was a man who stood high in the com- munity in which he lived. His children, besides Davis were: John, William, Joseph, Samuel, Tillman, Keziah, Phoebe and Elizabeth, and all are deceased, except Keziah. The mother of our subject is a daughter of Richard Kolb, a highly respected farmer who died in Fayette county, Indiana. He, too, was of the Primitive Baptist faith. His family was composed of nine chil- dren, named as follows: Tillman, Silas, Richard, William, Jemima, Susan, Nancy, Margaret and Leannar. The children of Davis and Margaret Rich are as follows: Wheeler, a resident of Porter county, Indiana; Silas, of Kansas; Tillman, deceased; Leannar, wife of S. Scott; Charity, wife of B. Bitner; Elizabeth, widow of E. North; Mary, who died at the age of twenty- one years; John, whose name forms the heading of this sketch: Rebecca, now Mrs. Petro; Josephus, of Missouri, and Mrs. Margaret Curlee.
John Rich passed his boyhood days on his father's farm, receiving his education in the subscription schools of his native county. He remained at home, having charge of the farm after his father's death, and in 1868 left Rush county and came up into Howard, being accompanied by his mother and two of the children. Here he bought land and here he has since resided. He now has one hundred and twenty-two acres of fine land, which he has improved and placed under a high state of cultivation, the commodious house and barn having been erected by him and the orchard being of his own planting.
He was married here in 1872 to Miss Martha J. Knight, who was born and reared in Howard county, the date of her birth being July 11, 1846. She is an accomplished and amiable woman, daughter of John and Candacy (Mitchell) Knight, natives respectively of Virginia and Onio, their marriage having been consummated in the latter state. They came to Indiana in 1834, entered land in Howard county, and here they were ranked with the leading pioneer settlers. Mr. Knight served as county commissioner four terms. He also served as township trustee and filled other minor offices. He was born in 1802 and died in 1888. His father, James V Knight, was a son of Ephraim Knight, and the Knights are of Scotch-Irish origin. Ephraim Knight died in Virginia. James V. was a native of the Oll Dominion,
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and came from there at an early day to Ohio. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. Mrs. Rich's mother was a daughter of Frederick Mitchell, who was a farmer of eastern Indiana, having come hither from Ohio. John Knight and wife were the parents of ten children, namely: Matthew, deceased; Valentine, a Baptist minister, now deceased; Henrietta, who died at the age of twelve years; John, a resident of Missouri; Mrs. Elizabeth Golding; Mrs. Priscilla Morlan; Mrs. Anna Murphy; Mrs. Martha J. Rich; Lewis, ex-postmaster of Greentown, Indiana; and Isaac, a carpenter. Mr. and Mrs. Rich have been blessed in the birth of five children, all at home at this writ- ing-Roy F., Grace C., Birchie, Muriel and Hazel.
Politically, Mr. Rich is an ardent Democrat, enthusiastic in the support of his party but never seeking official honors. He is a member of the Christian church and his wife is a Baptist.
F RANCIS M. BOZER, D. D. S .- For the past seven years Dr. Bozer, of Logansport, Cass county, has been engaged in the practice of dentistry here and has gained an enviable reputation for skill and thorough knowledge of his profession. He is associated with the leading dental societies of the county and state, as well as with others of national importance, and keeps well posted upon all new methods of treatment and discoveries in the line of his work. In few, if any, departments of science are more radical changes for the better being instituted than in that of dentistry; the public being aware of this fact, are consequently difficult to please and will accept nothing but the best and most skilled work. Thus it becomes necessary for the man who would succeed in this profession to devote a great amount of study and time to the subject.
On the paternal side the Doctor is of French descent, as his father, John F. Bozer, is a native of France. He came to the United States in 1835, and thenceforth was occupied in carrying on a farm. He married Miss Mary E. Read, a native of New Jersey, and of the nine children who came to bless their union four are deceased. In 1840 John F. Bozer settled in Indiana, and for a period of forty-five years he was one of the prosperous and respected citizens of La Grange county.
F. M. Bozer, of this sketch, was born on the old homestead in La Grange
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county, December 13, 1864, and passed his boyhood in that locality. His early education was obtained in the district school in the neighborhood of his home, and later it was his good fortune to attend the Wolcottville, Indiana, high school and the Normal School of Northern Indiana in Angola, Steuben county. During the two years that followed his leaving school the Doctor engaged in teaching, meeting with gratifying success.
In 1889 Dr. Bozer began studying dentistry under the tutelage of Dr. A. Gants, of Ligonier, Indiana. Having mastered the theories of the profession the young man went to Chicago and took a full course in the College of Den- tal Surgery, one of the best institutions of the kind in the United States. He was duly graduated at the college in 1891, with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. From that time until the present he has been constantly engaged in practice in this city, and numbers among his clients many of the leading people of the place. He is a member of the Indiana State Dental Association and the Alumni Association of the Chicago College of Dental Surgery. Fraternally, he is identified with the Knights of Pythias.
In September, 1893, the marriage of Dr. Bozer and Jennie A. Herrmann, of Logansport, was celebrated at the home of the bride's father, Dr. John Herrmann, a prominent citizen of this place for many years. The Doctor is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is active in all worthy enterprises. Mrs. Bozer is a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Catholic church.
T' THOMAS COCHRAN .- Now we come to the compilation of a few items concerning the life and character of a pioneer whose long career in Tip- ton county has given him a prestige enjoyed by very few persons living. He is a representative citizen, a typical Indianian and an upright gentleman whom all his neighbors reverence.
Mr. Thomas Cochran, of whom we speak, is a resident of section 13, Cicero township. He is a native of this state, born in Jefferson county, June 30, 1825. His father, Alexander Cochran, was a native of Scotland, who some time in the year 1812 emigrated to America, being twelve weeks on the voyage and not seeing land during the whole of that period. He was on a sail vessel, which was lost on the sea for a time, and was finally landed at Baltimore; and Mr. Cochran, then unmarried, came at once to Indiana,
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locating in Jefferson county. Soon after his arrival here he was united in. marriage with Margaret Anderson, who also was a native of the bonnie lanď of "Scotia dear," and they remained residents of that county for the rest of their lives, both dying at the age of eighty-four years and they were buried in Mount Carmel cemetery. Of their seven children, all born in that county, four sons and one daughter lived to years of maturity. John is deceased; Thomas is the subject of this sketch; James and William are residents of Jefferson county; Eliza is the wife of William Crosby and also a resident of Jefferson county; and two children died young.
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