USA > Indiana > Miami County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 49
USA > Indiana > Howard County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 49
USA > Indiana > Cass County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 49
USA > Indiana > Tipton County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 49
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CASS, MIAMI, HOWARD AND TIPTON COUNTIES.
Educated in the common schools and reared upon the home farmn in the county of his nativity, Lanty Armstrong came with his parents to Howard county when eighteen years of age, and remained under their roof until he had attained the age of twenty-four. He was trained to habits of industry and economy and these have been important factors in his success. He was married in 1861, and then rented a farm which he operated until 1864, when he purchased a part of his present farm. He afterward extended its bound- aries by the purchase of an additional tract and has now a quarter-section, which is splendidly improved, the waving fields of grain giving evidence of his careful oversight and his unflagging industry. He practices rotation of crops and all modern methods of farming and is very progressive and practical, always ready to adopt new plans if they will stand the test of practical experience. He also raises fine stock, making a specialty of sheep and hogs, and has engaged in shipping stock for a number of years. He now raises the Duroc hogs and finds them a very profitable breed. Everything about his place is neat and thrifty in appearance and his well managed business affairs have brought him a very desirable competence.
In 1861 Mr. Armstrong married Hester E. Elliott, a native of Indiana and a representative of an honored pioneer family. Her father, William G. Elliott, was an Indiana farmer and married a Miss King, who was born in Decatur county. He was of Irish and English descent. To Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong was born one son, Burbridge G., a young man of sterling worth and high principles, who was his father's companion in private life and his associate in business affairs. Together they carried on their farming opera- tions and dealt in stock and the most pleasant relations ever existed between them. When the son was thirty-three years of age they went together into the timber to cut a tree and while thus engaged the son was struck by a fall- ing limb. Within an hour he died, leaving the father to mourn his loss throughout the coming years. The relation between them was ideal and the death came as a very hard blow to Mr. Armstrong. The son was married and left two children. He had wedded Iowa, daughter of Lloyd Mugg, and to them were born two sons, who are living with their mother and who are the delight and joy of the grandfather's heart. Mr. Armstrong was also called upon to mourn the death of his loving wife November 7, 1871. In 1872 he was again married, his second union being with Miss C. A. Arm- strong, a distant relative and a daughter of William Armstrong, of southern
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Indiana. They had a son and daughter, but both died in childhood and the mother was called to her final rest in 1880. She was a member of the Meth- odist church and a most estimable lady.
In his political affiliations Mr. Armstrong is a Republican, but has never sought or desired the honors or emoluments of public office. His time and attention have been devoted to his business interests and to the enjoyment of his home. He is a man of generous nature, especially considerate of those near and dear to him, and the loss of his children and wives has been partic- ularly hard to bear. He has many friends who respect him for his genuine worth and will be glad to see his history in the record of his adopted county.
JONATHAN J. WILSON .- Such men as Jonathan J. Wilson are a valu- J
able acquisition to any community, for in all the relations of life he is found true and faithful to the duties and obligations that rest upon him, and his sterling worth and rectitude of character commend him to the confidence and high regard of all with whom he is brought in contact. He is now fol- lowing farming in Taylor township, Howard county, where he owns a valu- able property that he has acquired entirely by his own labors.
Mr. Wilson was born in Highland county, Ohio, December 29, 1820, and is a son of James and Margaret (Keiger Wilson, the former of German and the latter of Irish descent. The father was twice married and had sev- eral children by the first union, but our subject was the only child of the second marriage. James Wilson died before the birth of his son Jonathan, and the mother afterward married John McCibben and with him removed to Missouri. In the meantime, when fourteen months old, Jonathan Wilson had been adopted by Charles Johnson, by whom he was tenderly and care- fully reared. His own father was a prosperous farmer and prominent citizen, and at his death left five hundred acres of valuable land, but the children of the first marriage squandered the property and our subject therefore received no share of the estate. He was educated in the common schools and con- tinued to make his home in the family of Mr. Johnson until he had attained his majority, when he entered upon an independent . usiness career, working as a teamster for five years. After his marriage he rented land and con- tinued his farming operations in Ohio until 1864, when he came to Howard
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county, Indiana, locating near the farm upon which he now resides. He first purchased a small tract of land, upon which a few improvements had been made, but soon sold that and rented land for eight years. He then purchased forty acres of heavy timber land and transformed the tract into a fine farm, on wh ch he has since made his home. Subsequent to that time he has bought and sold a number of tracts, but has always retained posses- sion of the homestead, never offering it for sale. Of recent years he has extended its boundaries, which now inclose wide fields of waving grain that indicate the careful supervision of a practical and progressive owner. He has been very successful as a farmer and stock-raiser, and his highly improved property is a monument to his thrift and enterprise.
In 1842 Mr. Wilson was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Strange, who was also born and reared in Highland county, Ohio, a daughter of Ben- jamin Strange, who removed to Illinois. She was a faithful and earnest member of the Methodist church and died in March, 1885, mourned by all who knew her. The kindness and benevolence of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson led them to adopt four orphan children, two boys and two girls, whom they reared to manhood and womanhood. They gave them good educational privileges and fitted them for the practical and responsible duties of life, and all are now married and doing well in homes of their own. In 1890 Mr. Wilson was again married, his second union being with Miss Jane Morris, of Rush county, Indiana, a daughter of Charles and Mary (Bealer) Morris, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Tennessee. Her father was a chairmaker by trade, but in 1864 removed to Howard county, Indiana, where he turned his attention to farming, following that pursuit until his death in 1875. His wife is still living, at the advanced age of eighty-six years, and finds a pleasant home with Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. She is of German lineage and is a member of the Lutheran church. Her children are John, a farmer of Illinois; Elizabeth, deceased; Jane; and Charles, a resident of Kokomo. Like her husband the present Mrs. Wilson is a person of broad human sym- pathies, and they are now caring for Elsa Martin, an orphan girl, who is an inmate of their home. On the 2d of August, 1898, the family circle was enlarged again in a similar kindly and benevolent way, Virga Alta Himes becoming a member of the household. She is of excellent parentage and her foster parents will rear her as carefully as her own could possibly have done.
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In his political affiliations Mr. Wilson was a Whig in early life, and cast his first presidential vote for William Henry Harrison. On the dissolution of that party he joined the new Republican party and has since been a stalwart advocate of its principles, giving to it an intelligent support but never seeking office. His has been an upright and honorable life which will bear the closest scrutiny and inspection. Entirely without ostentation or display he has accomplished great good in the world by his care of orphan children, doing a work whose beneficent influence is immeasurable. He is honorable in his business dealings, friendly and genial in his social relations, and at all times is a courteous, estimable gentleman whom to know is to respect.
H ENRY KUHN, one of the trusted employes of the Vandalia line, acting in the capacity of engineer in the passenger service, with headquarters at Logansport, is a native Hoosier. He was born in Carroll county, Indiana, March 13, 1854, fourth in order of birth of fourteen children of David and Elizabeth (Millard) Kuhn.
David Kuhn was a native of Maryland, born near Hagerstown, from which place in the early part of the present century the Kuhn family removed to Ohio, a short time afterward continuing their way westward and taking up their abode in Carroll county, Indiana. Here Grandfather Kuhn passed the residue of his life and died. The maternal grandfather of our subject was Thomas Millard. Of the surviving children of David and Elizabeth Kuhn we make record as follows: Thomas J., a railroad man, is a resident of Logansport; Henry, the subject of this review; Eliza, wife of Hezekiah Shanks, of Carroll county; Sallie, wife of James Earnest, of Colby, Kansas; Ellen, wife of Leonard Shanks, Carroll county; and Nettie, wife of Perry Porter, also of Carroll county. Mary J., who died in 1896, was the widow of Daniel Arion.
Henry Kuhn spent the first nineteen years of his life on his father's farm. Then he left home and went to Camden, Indiana, where he was engaged in teaming for nearly a year, at the end of which time he began his railroad career, beginning as a workman on the bridge gang of the Vandalia Company in the construction of the road. In 1876 he secured a position as fireman on the road he had helped to build and made his first run with
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CASS, MIAMI, HOWARD AND TIPTON COUNTIES.
Engineer Benjamin Campbell. The same year he located in Logansport, where he has since maintained his home. He was promoted to the position of engineer in 1887 and ran a freight engine from that time until 1891, since which time he has been a regular passenger engineer.
Mr. Kuhn was married in Logansport, January 10, 1882, to Miss Edith Mulford, daughter of Jesse A. Mulford, a resident of this city, in the Vandalia employ, formerly an engineer. Mr. and Mrs. Kuhn have four children, - Jesse, Harry, Evert and Nina.
Like most of his fellow trainmen, Mr. Kuhn is of a social nature and maintains membership in fraternal orders. He is identified with the Masonic order and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
D AVID FAWCETT, one of the earliest settlers of Howard county and a prominent and representative farmer of Howard township, was born in Ohio, March 29, 1833, reared to farm life and educated in the old-time subscription school. His parents, Benjamin and Esther (Hinton) Fawcett, were natives of Rockingham county, Virginia, and of Irish ancestry. After their marriage, in their native county, they emigrated to Ohio, where Mr. Fawcett engaged in mercantile pursuits and in miscellaneous trading. In 1837 they emigrated to Indiana, first settling in Montgomery county, where Mr. Fawcett engaged in farming and teaming. In 1843 he moved to Howard county, which section, however, had not yet been organized as a distinct political division of the state. Kokomo was then an Indian village. He took a claim to one hundred and sixty acres of government land two and a half miles west of Kokomo, and when it came into market he entered the land and continued to improve it until he had made there a good farm, and there he spent the remainder of his life, dying at the age of about seventy-one years. He aided in the organization of the county and in laying out the town of Kokomo. At the first election, which was in 1844, he was chosen com- missioner. At that time there were still many Indians here. The next year they were moved by the government to a reservation. There were but few white families in the county when Mr. Fawcett first settled here, and he was therefore among the first to open a farm. He underwent all the priva- tions and hardships of pioneer life, did his trading at LaFayette, and it was
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a great distance also to any grist-mill. Ague, or chills and fever, the whole family suffered, the whole nine of them at one time, when they were too sick, feeble and poor to employ a doctor or obtain any medicine: they had to " shake it out!" The Hinton family remain in Virginia, and but very little is known of it.
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Fawcett had nine children, whose names, etc., are as follows: Silas, who died in Nebraska; Charles W., who died in 1891; Crawford and John M., residing on the old homestead; David, our subject, the next in order of age; Mrs. Henrietta Landreth, now living in Oregon; Mrs. Susan McClellan, deceased; Martha, who married D. H. Jackson and is deceased; and Mary, who died unmarried.
The father of the above family was a member of the Presbyterian church. In politics he was a Whig and later a Republican. He took an active inerest in all public affairs, and in public office he filled the postition of commis- sioner two ternis.
Mr. David Fawcett, the subject of this sketch, was ten years of age when he came to this county, at the time when heavy timber densely cov- ered this section and was alive with game and savage beasts, and he has seen all the progress and development of the county from the beginning to the present, doing his share, aiding in the clearing of the land for a comfortable homestead and in establishing thereon all the improvements required by modern civilization. He remained with his parents until he was married, and all his life since then he has resided in this county. He was married in 1861, then rented farms for several years, and in 1868 purchased the farm where he now lives, three miles east of Kokomo. To his original purchase he has added sixty acres more, so that he now has one hundred and ten acres; and all this tract he has cleared and reduced to cultivation, ditching, tiling, etc., and he is now in the possession and enjoyment of a well equipped homestead. He is an industrious man, a farmer of good judgment and a citizen of integrity. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, being affiliated with Kokomo Lodge, No. 193. In his political principles he is a Republican, but he has never aspired to office.
Mr. Fawcett was married to Miss Charity Smith, a daughter of William B. Smith, of Pennsylvania, who came to Indiana at an early day with his widowed mother and located in Montgomery county, where he grew up, and came to this county in 1844 and improved a large farm which he yet owns,
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CASS, MIAMI, HOWARD .IND TIPTON COUNTIES.
besides two other farms. He is now retired and resides in Kokomo. Is a Democrat, prominent as a citizen and popular in his party, so that, if the county were not strongly Republican, he would be honored with any office the people could give him. His children are: Mary E., now Mrs. R. McClellan; Cornelius C .; Mrs. Charity Fawcett; Dr. R. H., of Kokomo; Isaac V., of the canning factory; and William, an attorney. Mr. and Mrs. Fawcett's children are: Albert E., a farmer; William E., also a farmer, and at present an assessor; Charles and Frank, at their parental home; and John T. and Nelly, unmarried.
C HARLES P. GOODWINE, an enterprising Howard county farmer resid- ing in Howard township, is a native of Germany, born March 25, 1834, and, having been brought to America when only three years old, he was edu- cated in the common schools here.
His parents, Charles and Catharine (Miller) Goodwine, were likewise natives of the Fatherland, who came to America, the land of opportunity, in 1837. landing at New York and coming on to Cleveland, Ohio, where they remained two years; next were residents of Lancaster, that state, two years, and in 1841 moved into the country and engaged in agriculture. Being a blacksmith by trade, Mr. Goodwine followed that while living in the cities. In 1855 he moved to Indiana, locating in Howard county and in Howard township, where he purchased land, etc., and continued to reside there until his death, which took place in 1884, at the residence of his son, Charles P .; his wife had died in 1873, also at this place. They had seven children, as follows: Mrs. Phebe Piercy; Charles P .; Lewis, of Kokomo; Mrs. Margaret Markland; Jacob, engaged in the pursuits of agriculture; John, a resident of Kansas; and Mary, who had one child by her first marriage, to Mr. Trees, and after the death of her first husband married Mr. Kerfus. She is now deceased. The parents of these children were German Reformed Presbyterians.
Charles P. Goodwine was married in 1855 and settled that year upon a farm in Howard township, where he has made most of the improvements. After a residence there of eight years he sold the place and bought the farm where he now lives, which then had a small log house and a small clearing, and all the improvements made upon the place besides these are the result of
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF
his own handiwork. He has erected a commodious dwelling, a capacious barn, cleared, ditched and tiled inost of the place, which now has long been in a state of good cultivation. To agriculture he has given his entire attention.
In his political principles he is a stanch Democrat, public-spirited, well posted and aspires to no public office. He and all the family are zealous and consistent members of the United Brethren church.
Mr. Goodwine was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Rarey, daugh- ter of Benjamin and Mary (Arnold) Rarey, the former a native of Pennsyl- vania and the latter of Ohio, in which latter state they were married. Mr. Rarey was a son of Adam Rarey, a native of Germany. Benjamin Rarey died in Ohio. She, surviving her husband a number of years, kept together and brought up the many children which her husband had left her. Their names, etc., are as follows: Mrs. Charlotte Bunn; Parker, residing in Ohio; Daniel, a farmer of Howard township, Howard county; Emanuel, deceased; Mrs. Catharine Funk; Benjamin, a resident of the Buckeye state; Nancy, who married Mr. Shafer, both of whom emigrated to Indiana and are now deceased; Elizabeth, who first married Mr. Finch and after his death Mr. Fordsman; Mrs. Mary A. Vogle is next in order of age; Margaret, the wife of Mr. Goodwine, is next; Alfred, still living in Ohio; and Serutious, who died at the age of sixteen years. Both the parents are members of the Methodist church. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Goodwine are: Lewis, a farmer; Mary C., now Mrs. J. A. Miller; William, who conducts the agri- cultural interests of the homestead; and Cory, who is the wife of L. C. Learner, a farmer.
JASPER NEWTON NEFF, M. D .- In the fall of 1895 this gentleman, J who is numbered among the oldest and representative physicians of Cass county, became a resident of Logansport, and is now engaged in the prac- tice of his profession. He has a wide and varied experience, and is espe- cially qualified by nature and education for his chosen life-work. He is a valued member of the Medical and Surgical Association of this county and is a great student, devoting much of his leisure time to research and to review- ing the leading medical journals of the day.
The Doctor's parents were Jacob and. Henrietta (Berry) Neff, natives of
JASPER N. NEFF.
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VISS, JHIAJH, HOWARD AND TIPTON COUNTIES.
Ohio. The father was a son of Joseph and Polly (Sink) Neff, who settled in this county in 1838, and made their home in what was then the wilderness of Deer Creek township. Their family comprised the following named chil- dren, all of whom who are deceased: Jacob, Allen, Josiah, Frank, Alex- ander and Mary. Jacob Neff accompanied his parents to Cass county at the time that the family removed from his native place, Ohio, and grew up on a farm. When he arrived at suitable years, he married Henrietta Henderson Berry, a daughter of Henderson Berry. Soon after their mar- riage the young couple settled upon a farm in Deer Creek township, and there spent the remainder of their useful and happy lives. The father died in 1856, and was survived but eight years by his devoted wife. They were the parents of several sons but had no daughters. Joseph H. is a leading mem- ber of the bar in Bunker Hill, Indiana; Jasper N. is the subject of this sketch ; Francis M. is a musician of distinguished ability, and has been a resident of Trinidad. Colorado, for the past twenty years; and Dr. Jacob L. is a practic- ing physician of Walton, Indiana.
The birth of Dr. J. N. Neff occurred upon his father's farm January 2, 1852, and the first seventeen years of his life were quietly spent in rural pur- suits. After having completed his elementary education in the neighborhood school he continued his studies in the Lebanon (Ohio) Normal for the follow- ing year. He was but eighteen when he passed the required examination necessary to secure a teacher's certificate and was placed in charge of a school ยท in Deer Creek township, Cass county, Indiana. During the next three years he alternately attended the normal and taught school, and for two years of this period he gave particular attention to anatomy, physiology and chemis- try, with a view to entering the medical profession as soon as possible. In 1876 he graduated with honors at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Indianapolis, the degree of Doctor of Medicine being conferred upon him. The late Dr. Robert N. Todd was at that time the president of the college, and to his kind encouragement and help, especially during a serious illness of our subject, the latter feels that he owes much of his success in life, for "a friend in need is a friend indeed," as the old rhyme states it. Immediately after his graduation Dr. Neff opened an office in Walton, Indiana, and for twenty years was actively occupied in attending to the needs of his numerous patients. At last, desiring yet greater opportunities in his profession, he reluctantly left the home and many friends who had become dear to him by
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF
long association and took up his residence in Logansport, where he has suc- ceeded in building up a large and paying practice. His right of franchise is used in behalf of the Republican party.
The Doctor's first marriage was solemnized in 1891, the lady of his choice being Lavina Flynn, who died in 1894. In the following year he wedded Mrs. Flora Bennett, daughter of Thomas Elwood Trueblood, one of the most respected citizens of Howard county. The Doctor and his estimable wife have a very pleasant home and move in the best society of the place.
BIJAH J. RIDGWAY .- This venerable citizen of Amboy is a represent-
A ative of a very large Quaker family of English ancestry, long established in this country.
Richard Ridgway came from England among the members of the Society of Friends of the Penn colony in 1682 and from him a direct line of Richards followed down to Richard the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and whose son Timothy, his grandfather, was born in Sussex county, New Jersey, where the family settled. The last mentioned, a farmer by occupa- tion, was a soldier in the Revolution, who rejoined the Friends after the expiration of his service in the army. He married Michael Johnson and their children were David, Paul, Job, Levina, John, Richard and Keziah. Timothy Ridgway emigrated to Greene county, Pennsylvania, in 1794 and resided there until 1812, when he moved to Ohio, settling in Harrison county, where he cleared a tract of land in the dense forest and made a good farm, also entering land for his children. He died in that county in 1834, an hon- ored and respected citizen of sterling worth, who reared a number of children to be excellent citizens.
John Ridgway, the father of Abijah J., was born in Sussex county, New Jersey, August 8, 1792, reared to farm work and went with his father in 1812 to Harrison county, Ohio, in which county in 1817 he married Ruth Nevitt, who was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, in 1792,a daughter of Isaac and Rachel (Barrett) Nevitt. Mr. Nevitt was of Irish ancestry, prob- ably a native of the north of Ireland, as he was a Friend. He was a farmer and millwright, well known in that mechanical trade. He, too, settled in Harrison county, Ohio, in 1812, where he operated a mill for many years.
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CASS, MIAMI, HOWARD AND TIPTON COUNTIES.
He lived to be more than eighty years of age, passing away in Harrison county, a life-long member of the Society of Friends and an exemplary citi- zen. His children were Sarah, Hannah, Ruth, Isaac, Thomas, John, Joseph, Elizabeth, Grace and Rachel.
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