USA > Indiana > Miami County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Howard County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Cass County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Tipton County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 43
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Mr. Cochran, who is the subject proper of this sketch, was the second son and second child in the above family. He was reared in his native- county, attending school in the typical pioneer log school-house, and about 1852 came to Tipton county, while still unmarried, locating upon a part of the four hundred and eighty acres of land in this county which his father had entered. In 1856 he was married and located upon a farm a mile east of where he now resides; and in 1861 he moved to his present place. He has cleared many an acre of heavily timbered land, has done an immense amount of hard work in his life, and with his good judgment he has made it all effectual so that the ultimate fruits of his long protracted toil are com- mensurate, and he has a comfortable home and an abundant store to enjoy in his old age.
In politics, up to the time of the war of the Rebellion, Mr. Cochran was a Democrat, casting his first vote in Jefferson county; but the events con- nected with that great struggle constituted the occasion of his supporting the Republican party.
At the date previously mentioned, 1856, Mr. Cochran was united in matrimony with Miss Leah Newkirk, a native of Rush county, this state, born May 6, 1834. Her father, John Newkirk, was born in Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, of Irish and Dutch descent, and was about twenty-five years of age when he moved to Ohio, where he married and at once moved to Rush county, this state, when that section was all a wilderness, his nearest neigh- bor being nine miles distant. He lived there until 1855, when he moved, with his family, to Tipton county, Indiana, and lived there till his death, at the age of sixty-five years. He had married Sarah Wamsley, who was born in Ohio, near West Union, in Adams county, and died at the age of seventy- three years. They were the parents of six sons and four daughters, namely:
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Elizabeth Morris, who departed this life at the age of seventy years; Emily Simmons, who died about forty years of age; William, now a resident of Illinois; James R. and Christopher, farmers in Cicero township; Jonathan H., also of this township; John Wesley, who was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion; Hall, residing in Iowa; Leah, and Margaret, who became a Mrs. Techner and died at the age of thirty-five years. Mrs. Cochran, the fifth child and third daughter, also obtained her education at the old-time log school-house in Rush county, this state, and she was twenty-two years of age when she came to Tipton county.
Mr. and Mrs. Cochran are the parents of two daughters and six sons, all of whom grew up to years of maturity, namely: John A., a farmer of this county, who married Mary Boyer and has three sons and two daughters; William A., a farmer of Cicero township, who married Mary McNeal and has five sons and five daughters; Sarah M., wife of Jacob Boyer, of Cicero town- ship, a farmer, and they have five childern living and two deceased; Dr. Thomas C., of Sharpsville, whose sketch is given elsewhere; James R., also a farmer of Cicero township, who married Nora Yontze and resides in Dwight; George C., also a farmer in Cicero township, who married Mary A. Potts, and has one son, Clinton W .; Eliza A., wife of Robert Debalt, a farmer of Cicero township, and they have three sons and one daughter; and Edwin N., who died in 1891, at the age of twenty-two years. Mr. Cochran is thus a patriarch, having had twenty-nine grandchildren, all in Tipton county, twenty-six of whom are now living, still in this county. In early days Mrs. Cochran made all the clothes for the family, -spinning, weaving and making the cloth from the raw flax and wool, and also making table- cloths, bed-clothes, and in fact everything that was used in the house or worn.
C HARLES THOMAS, one of the most substantial farmers of Jackson township, Howard county, Indiana, is a native of Indiana, descending from its pioneers. He springs from sterling Welsh and English ancestry, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Jesse Thomas, coming from Wales in early times, bringing his family, and settling in North Carolina. Jesse Thomas was a Friend, or Quaker, in religious belief. He was a farmer, and after his settlement in North Carolina, passed the remainder of his days
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there. His children were Daniel, Elijah, Jesse and Stephen. These are- all who are remembered.
Stephen Thomas, the grandfather of Charles Thomas, was born in North Carolina. He also was a Quaker and farmer. He came to Wayne county, Indiana, when a young man, and settled one mile southeast of Foun- tain City and ten miles north of Richmond. He bought his land of the gov- ernment and cleared and improved a large farm. He married, in Indiana, Hannah Mendenhall, of Quaker stock, from North Carolina. This family was from New England, and settled in Guilford county, North Carolina, before the Revolutionary war. Stephen Thomas and wife were the parents. of Charles, Daniel, Cam, Ann, Celia, Nancy and Lydia. Stephen Thomas. lived to be about seventy years old, and died on his farm. He was a pioneer farmer of Indiana, wealthy for his day, and was respected by all who knew him.
Daniel Thomas, the father of the subject. of this sketch, was born in 1818 in Wayne county, Indiana, on the Thomas homestead. He was- brought up a Quaker and strongly adhered to that faith. He became a farmer and married, in 1820, Ella O. Newby, daughter of Eleazer and Mary (Winslow) Newby, of Guilford county, North Carolina. After marriage Daniel Thomas settled in Fairmount township, Grant county. Indiana. Here he cleared up one hundred and twenty acres of land, which made an excellent farm. He built a substantial two-story brick house, after the fash- ion of the well-to-do Quakers. The children were Charles, Nancy, Emily and William, and two that died in infancy. In politics, he was a stanch Republican. He was a strong Abolitionist, and his house was a station on the "Underground Railroad." He was one of the conductors and assisteď' many of the fugitive slaves to escape to freedom. He had a large apple- orchard and was accustomed to sell his apples through the country, hauling them around in a large covered wagon. He often raised more than eight- een hundred bushels of apples. The runaway slaves would come to his- house, having been brought to the neighborhood by some one, call for Mr .. Thomas, and he would put them in his barn, feed them and after a time. get out his big two-horse apple wagon, put the colored people in it, cover them with hay, and some apples for a blind, and, with an apple stuck up on a stick in front for a sign, he would journey to the next station of the Under- ground Railroad, and in that way many slaves were taken in safety to
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Canada. He was a great friend to freedom, and took many risks in aiding the slaves to escape. At one time he assisted eight slaves in escaping. Sometimes they were carried from thirty to fifty miles a day. Mr. Thomas lived to be sixty-two years old, and died in 1880 on his farm. He was a man of deep piety, high moral character and conservatism, and was respected by all who knew him.
Charles Thomas, the subject of this sketch, was born August 25, 1847, on his father's farm in Fairmount township, Grant county, Indiana. He re- ceived a scanty education in the pioneer schools, and was brought up a farmer. He was married June 6, 1869, to Mary L. Hockett, born in Grant county, Indiana, March 15, 1850, the daughter of Elijah and Julia (Tharp) Hockett. Philip Hockett, the grandfather of Mrs. Thomas, was of old Quaker stock of North Carolina, and resided in Wayne county, Indiana. Elijah Hockett was a hardware merchant in Marion, Indiana. He died at the age of thirty-five years. His children were Emily, Alfred P., Mary L. and Catherine. Mr. Hockett was one of the leading operators of the Under- ground railroad, and spent much time and money in aiding the fugitive slaves to escape. He was a public-spirited man, and aided in building the first rail- road through his section of the country.
After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Thomas settled in Fairmount, Indiana, and he engaged in the general merchandise business. He sold out eight months later and settled west of Fairmount, where they lived two years, then moved to Clay county in the northwestern part of Iowa, where he took a homestead of one hundred and twenty acres and built a sod house, in which they lived four years. He improved his farm, and then sold out and returned to Indiana, and in September, 1875, he moved to his present farm. His father had entered one hundred and sixty acres of this land in February, 1848, and Mr. Thomas bought of it forty acres. The entire farm, except forty acres, was then all in natural forest of hickory, sugar, beech, white oak and walnut. He cleared it up by his thrift and industry and made a good farm of it. In 1894 he erected a tasteful, substantial residence with all the modern improvements. In 1889 he drilled a gas well on his farm and sup- plies himself and eight of his neighbors with gas. Mr. Thomas is extensively engaged in stock-raising and has been for years one of the principal stock- raisers of his part of the country, and has prospered in the business.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have one daughter, Iva, wife of William Rhodes.
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a farmer of Howard county, and they have two children, Vivian and Charles T.
Mrs. Thomas is a member of the Wesleyan church and Mr. Thomas a "birth-right" member of the Friends' church. In politics he is a Repub- lican. Mr. Thomas is a strong temperance man, strict in his honesty and of ·excellent moral character.
W ILLIAM E. HANEY .- A man of subjective inodesty whose life, how- ever, has been one of signal usefulness, William E. Haney bears an unsullied reputation in the trade circles of his native state, and his integrity and honesty have gained him the unqualified regard of all with whom he has come in contact. He manages large business interests and in the control of his property his time is largely spent, yet he finds opportunity to faithfully discharge every duty of citizenship and to lend active support and co-oper- ation to every movement for the public good.
Mr. Haney was born in Lewisburg, Indiana, on the 28th of December, 1837, and in the common schools acquired a fair English education. On entering upon his business career he began dealing in produce and followed that industry for a year, after which he turned his attention to farming. For twelve years he carried on agricultural pursuits, but upon the death of his wife he abandoned that occupation and located in Logansport, where he has since made his home. For a few months he was interested in a shoe store, and then selling out he became associated with his father in the real-estate and private-banking business. Upon his father's death he succeeded to the management of the business, which he still carries on, and by his able administration, careful foresight and executive ability he has materially increased the value of the large estate which was left by his honored father.
In the spring of 1859, Mr. Henry was united in marriage to Miss Chris- tina Conrad, a daughter of William Conrad, a pioneer settler of Cass county. Mrs. Haney died in 1871, leaving two children, -Carrie E. and Jessie N. Mr. Haney is content to be known as a man of affairs, and seeks not the spoils of political office. He is entirely free from ostentation, is kindly and genial in manner and has the friendship of many who esteem him for his genuine personal worth.
Dr. E. Haney
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CASS, MIAMI, HOWARD AND TIPTON COUNTIES.
G EORGE W. SOWERS .- On section 34, Cicero township, Tipton county, resides a prominent representative farmer, Mr. George W. Sowers, who was born in Wayne county, Indiana, October 10, 1834. His father, Henry E. Sowers, was a native of Virginia, who after reaching man- hood emigrated in early day to this state, settling in Hamilton county, in Jackson township, on a wild tract of eighty acres, which he proceeded to clear. He died there at the age of fifty-five years. His father was born in Germany and emigrated to the United States, settling in Montgomery county, Virginia.
Mr. Sowers' mother, whose name before marriage was Hannah Crull, was a native of Wayne county, this state. Her father, Jacob Crull, came from Maryland, sojourning at different places on his way westward. One of his children was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and became one of the first settlers of Wayne county, this state. There in the heavy forests he cleared a tract of land for a farm and built a mill and was both farmer and miller. Mrs. Hannah Sowers died at the age of about fifty-one years. In her family were five sons and two daughters, six of whom grew up to years of maturity, one son being drowned at the age of three years.
Mr. George W. Sowers, our subject, the oldest of the children, was six years of age when his father moved to Hamilton county, this state, locating in a forest characterized by a dense growth of underbrush. His first school- ing he received at a school taught by his own father in a log school-house in the shady forest. He attended two terms of three months each at a point called Arcadia. He remained an inmate of his parental home, assisting his father on the farm, until he was twenty-four years of age, when he left the old farmstead to take care of himself, with only a horse and saddle, which he had received from his father at the age of twenty-one. Then, in the fall of 1858, he was married and settled on the farm where he still resides, engaged in general farming, in which he has always been successful. He has lived here ever since 1858 with the exception of four years. He had six forties, and he has deeded forty acres to each of his children.
In his political principles Mr. Sowers is a Democrat and in respect to religion he is a member of the Lutheran church, in which he holds the office of elder and is active in promoting the cause of Christianity.
October 7, 1858, is the date of his union in matrimony with Elizabeth Bishop, a native of Hamilton county, this state, born May 8, 1840. Her 28
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father, James Bishop, a native of Ohio, settled in that county when, in the unbroken forest, he was at first obliged to live in a tent until he could erect a cabin. He remained there and labored industriously in clearing a farm and establishing a good home. He died there at the age of forty-eight years. Mrs. Sowers' mother, whose name before marriage was Jane Gauff, was also a native of the Buckeye state and reached the venerable age of eighty-two years. In their family were seven children, six of whom grew up and of whom she was the second in order of age. She was reared in Hamilton county. receiving the ordinary schooling of the time.
Mr. and Mrs. Sowers are the parents of seven children, viz .: James H., who married Laura La Fary and has two daughters, -Hazel and Martha; Alman L., who married Appeles Boyer and has one child, -- Ethel; Mary Jane, the wife of Jesse Mendenhall, and they have five children, -- Winnie, Flossie, Earl, Ellis and Esther; Nancy Ellen, wife of Asher E. Goodykuntz, with one son, -George; John E., who married Bertha McConnell and was killed by lightning May 19, 1898; George W., at home; and one who died in infancy.
W TILLIAM PYKE .- Prominent among the pioneers of Prairie township, Tipton county, and one of those sturdy citizens who paved the way for civilization, is the subject of this sketch. He has been closly associated with its development and industries since the days when it was naught but a wilderness, covered with heavy timber, through which wild beasts prowled, and where fever and ague and malaria added to the hardships and discom- forts of living. With a brave heart and the hardihood of the true frontiers- man, he suffered all kinds of privations and endured an amount of hard labor that the present generation can hardly imagine, and now has the comfort of. looking back upon a well spent life, free from malice and uncharitableness, and filled with kindly deeds and love towards his fellows.
A son of John and Nancy (Hastings) Pyke, both natives of Ohio, our sub- ject was born in the same state, June 14, 1825, and was reared upon a farm. Mrs. Pyke was a daughter of Robert Hastings, a farmer, and her death occurred when William, of this sketch, was about sixteen years of age. John Pyke had removed to Rush county, Indiana, in 1827, and there entered land and improved a farm. At the end of twenty years' residence there he pur-
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chased a farm in Howard county, and a few years later he retired from active labor to make his home thenceforth in Kokomo. He died as he had lived, strong in the Christian faith and a devoted member of the Methodist Episco- pal church. His second wife, now deceased, was a Miss Ruth Howell, and their eldest child, a son, was named Howell. Their two daughters were Elizabeth and Sarah. The children of the first marriage of John Pyke are; Matthew, a farmer; William, our subject; Mary, Mrs. H. Hawk; Robert, John, George and China M.
When he attained his majority William Pyke rented a farm and brought home a bride as a companion and helpmeet. A few years later he bought a small farm in Rush county, and in 1857 came to this section and became the owner of the tract of one hundred and sixty acres he yet cultivates here. The place had a tiny cabin situated in an open clearing of perhaps two acres, and, with this exception, there was no improvement upon the homestead. There were no roads, and the few neighbors, the smoke from whose cabins could sometimes be seen on a clear day, far in the distance, lived miles away and were rarely seen. Coming here in September, Mr. Pyke worked so diligently all that winter that he had nine acres ready for the plow in the spring, and from that time onward his success was sure and steadily increasing. To his. original farm he has since added adjacent property until he now owns two hundred and sixty-four acres. All but twenty-four acres of this is cleared and improved with good ditches and tiles, and the farm produces abundant harvests. He has a fine orchard upon the place, good house and barns, and, besides, has established two of his sons in comfortable houses on the farm, each of their places being provided with barns and necessary improvements.
In his political opinions Mr. Pyke is a Republican but has never desired public positions. In 1864 he enlisted in the Twenty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry for one year, or as long as the war continued, and was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee, under command of the gallant General Sherman. Joining him at Newberne, North Carolina, the Twenty-third participated in a hard fight at Kingston and took part in many severe skirmishes and encount- ers with the enemy. They were mustered out and honorably discharged from the service in April, 1865, and returned to Indianapolis.
The first marriage of Mr. Pyke was to Mrs. Harriet Wyatt, widow of P. A. Wyatt and daughter of John Stingle, who came from Pennsylvania to Fayette county, Indiana, at an early day and died on the farm which he owned
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and improved here. He was of German ancestry. His six children were named respectively : Isaac, Edward, Harriet, Lucetta, Levi and Thomas. Mrs. Harriet Pyke departed this life in March, 1866, a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of the children born to herself and our subject, Elizabeth married a Mr. Hutto; Matthew died in California; Levi is deceased; James and George are farmers, and Mary is the wife of D. Coleman. In 1867 William Pike married Melinda, widow of A. J. Biddinger, by whom she had three children : Samuel H. (deceased), Florence and James H., who died while young. Mrs. Pyke is a daughter of James and Judy (Owens) Hamilton, who were natives of Kentucky and were pioneers of Decatur county, Indiana. The father died October 2, 1873, and the mother lived to the extreme age of ninety-nine years, her death occurring in February, 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Pyke had two children, John W. and China M., but both died when young. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Pyke has been a trustee and sexton.
A NDREW J. OSBORN, one of the representative citizens of Logansport, Indiana, is a passenger conductor on the Chicago division of the Pan Handle Railroad, and has for more than a score of years been engaged in railroading.
Mr. Osborn is a native of Indiana. He comes from a family which, several generations ago, lived at Saybrook, Connecticut, and which furnished Wayne county, Indiana, with some of its earliest and most prominent pio- neer settlers. Isaac P. Osborn, the father of Andrew J., was born in Wayne county in 1823, passed a long and useful life and died in 1895. His occupa- tion was that of an honest tiller of the soil. He married a Miss Sarah L. Neese, who was of German descent and whose parents were residents of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Her mother was before marriage a Miss Moore and lived in the vicinity of Myerstown, Pennsylvania. To them were born two children, a son and daughter, the first named being the subject of this review. The daughter is married and lives in Madison county, Indiana.
Andrew J. Osborn was born in Madison county, Indiana, in October, 1851, and spent the first eighteen years of his life on his father's farm. At that age he turned his attention to railroading, beginning his career as a brakeman on the Richmond division of the Pan Handle. His earnest, faith-
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ful service as such was appreciated from the first and promotion followed. Then he served as freight conductor. In 1883 he was again promoted, this time to the passenger service, and since that date has occupied his present position. He has been a resident of the city of Logansport since 1872.
Mr. Osborn is thoroughly devoted to his work and is seldom off duty. Nevertheless his travels are not confined to the route over which his daily work takes him. His vacations are spent largely in travel. Few men in his branch of railroad service are more familiar with the country and better acquainted with railroads and railroad men than he. He is an intelligent sight-seer and each point of special interest is gathered the more closely to him by the possession of its photograph, his collection embracing a large number of Rocky mountain and Pacific coast views.
In October, 1876, in Logansport, Mr. Osborn married Miss Mary A. Kirkham, daughter of John Kirkham and wife, the latter having been before marriage a Miss Henry. The Henrys are of Scotch origin. Mr. and Mrs. Osborn have two children, -Harry and Ethel. .
Fraternally, our subject is a Knight of Pythias and a Mason. In the last named order he has advanced to the Knight Templar degree and is a member of St. John Commandery, No. 24.
D ANIEL A. SHENK .- Classed with the leading farmers of Taylor town- ship, Howard county. Indiana, we find Daniel A. Shenk, who dates his birth in this county, February 25, 1859.
Mr. Shenk is a son of Reuben and Julia A. (Hendrixson) Shenk, both natives of Ohio. His grandfather, Daniel Shenk, Jr., was a son of Daniel Shenk, Sr., whose parents came from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania, and Daniel, Sr., was of the first generation born in America. Daniel, Jr., was born in Pennsylvania, whence he removed to Ohio and settled in Holmes county. The family of which he was a member composed the following named: Barbara, Tobias, John, Daniel and Susan. In 1848 the younger Daniel Shenk continued his way westward and took up his abode in Howard county, Indiana, where he entered a tract of government land and improved a farm. He died in 1870; and his wife passed away two years later. Both were consistent members of the Christian church, and, politically, he was
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first a Whig and subsequently a Republican. They were blessed with three children, viz .: Susan, wife of William Helms, is deceased; Elizabeth, wife of J. Helms, resides in Missouri; and Reuben. The first two were born in Pennsylvania and the last named in Ohio. Reuben Shenk was eighteen years of age at the time he accompanied his parents to Howard county, Indiana, and to the work of improving their frontier farm he gave a helping hand. Being the only son he remained with his parents during their life-time, assum- ing control of the farm and business in his father's old age. He was married in 1858 to Miss Julia A. Hendrixson, a native of Pennsylvania, who had moved with her parents to Ohio and later to Indiana, where her father made permanent settlement. He and two of his sons were Union soldiers during the Civil war, and his closing years were spent at the Soldiers' Home in Day- ton, Ohio, where he died. One son is the only survivor of the Hendrixson family, he being now a resident of Indianapolis. Reuben and Julia A. Shenk were the parents of five children, as follows: Daniel A., whose name appears at the head of this review; David A. ; William E. ; Mary, wife of C. Wolf; and Stella, wife of C. W. Trees.
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