USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 42
USA > Indiana > Franklin County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 42
USA > Indiana > Union County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 42
USA > Indiana > Fayette County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 42
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Andrew Shirk, the father of our subject, was born on the farmn entered by his father in Springfield township, Franklin county, September 22, 1816, and was a farmer and merchant. He conducted a store at Whitcomb from 1838 until 1843, and was proprietor of a store in Springfield from 1856 until 23
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1860. He started out in life for himself empty-handed, but by industry and frugality acquired an ample fortune and became a large land-owner, having nine hundred acres in Springfield and Brookville townships. In matters of business he was very diligent and reliable, and was also a public-spirited and progressive citizen who favored good roads and general improvements that would benefit the community. He was president of the Brookville & Oxford Turnpike Company, was largely instrumental in securing the building of the railroad to Brookville, and aided largely in promoting the general welfare and advancement of the community. Of the Baptist church he was long a faith- ful member, contributing very liberally to its support. He died on his farm September 23, 1882, and the county thereby lost one of its most valued and honored citizens. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Wright, was a daughter of William Wright, who was born in England and married Ann Bardsley, in the parish church of Manchester, England. In 1817 they crossed the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, and at the end of a six-weeks voyage landed on the shores of the New World. They then made their way to Day- ton, Ohio, and in that locality Mr. Wright purchased a farm, upon which his daughter, Mrs. Shirk, was born, November 9, 1823. In 1824 the family came to Franklin county, Indiana, locating three miles east of Brookville, where Mr. Wright accumulated considerable property, owning over five hun- dred acres of valuable land at the time of his death. Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Wright, two-James and Ann-were born in Ashton-Under-Lyne, a suburb of Manchester, England. The latter was the wife of the late Dr. George Berry. Those born in this country are John, Hannah, Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary and William. The father of this family had been a hatter in England. Not being the eldest of his father's family he could not inherit the property, and therefore, hoping to better his financial condition in America, he came to the New World and here carried on agricultural pursuits. He died on the old home farm in Brookville township, Franklin county, in 1855, at the age of sixty-nine years.
Of his children, James, the eldest, became a prominent farmer and stock- raiser and took nearly all the prizes on the thoroughbred stock at the county fairs in his locality; Ann was the wife of Dr. George Berry; John was a suc- cessful farmer and large land-owner; Elizabeth was the wife of W. W. Butler, and after her death he married Hannah, the next of the family, who became the mother of A. W. Butler, of Indianapolis, secretary of the board of state charities; Mary became the wife of E. H. Shirk, an uncle of our subject, who, in 1844, went to Peru, Miami county, Indiana, where he engaged in merchandising, and, in 1863, established the First National Bank there, car- rying on banking till his death. They had four children, three of whom are living, Milton, one of the number, being president of the bank, while E. W.
BROOKVILLE BANK.
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is vice-president, and the sister, Alice, is the wife of R. A. Edwards, cashier of the bank. William, the youngest member of the Wright family, was an extensive farmer and stock-raiser in Bartholomew county, Indiana. He had three sons and one daughter, and one of his sons, Joseph Wright, is a grad- uate of DePauw University, Columbia University and the University of Ber- lin, and is now a corporation attorney of St. Louis, Missouri.
Mrs. Sarah Shirk came with her parents to Indiana in her infancy and was here reared. By her marriage to Andrew Shirk she became the mother of nine children: Elizabeth, who died at the age of two years; Elbert H., a banker of Tipton, Indiana; Mrs. Mary Williams, of Delhi, Ohio; William W., a hardware merchant and vice-president of the Union National Bank, of Muncie, Indiana; Samuel, who died at the age of thirteen; Mrs. Martha Goodwin, of Brookville; James A., cashier of the Citizens' National Bank, of Delphi, Indiana; John C., of this review, and George M., who is engaged in the manufacture of refrigerators in Chicago.
John C. Shirk was born in Springfield, Franklin county, Indiana, March 14, 1858, and acquired his preliminary education in the public schools. He was graduated in the Indiana University, at Bloomington, this state, in 1881, and then entered upon his business career as clerk in the Brookville Bank. In 1884 he became a partner in that institution, his associate being Charles F. Goodwin, his brother-in-law. The firm of Goodwin & Shirk continued to carry on business very successfully until the death of Mr. Goodwin, January 12, 1896. Since that time Mrs. Goodwin, a sister of our subject, has owned the interest formerly belonging to her husband, and the enterprise is con- ducted under the old name. It is regarded as one of the most reliable finan- cial concerns in this part of the state, and its constantly growing business attests its popularity. Mr. Shirk is also interested in other enterprises, and it is his custom to carry forward to successful completion everything that he undertakes. He is now treasurer of the A. M. Tucker Furniture Company, of Brookville, which was organized in 1897; has been president of the Brook- ville Telephone Company since its organization and president of the Brook- ville Business Men's Association.
Mr. Shirk was united in marriage to Miss Lura Chafee, daughter of Rev. John G. Chafee, D.D., now of Green Castle, Indiana, and the former pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church of Brookville. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Shirk, namely: Howard (deceased), Charles A., Grosvenor, Samuel, Ellen, Cornelia, Chafee W. and Horace Hamilton. John C. Shirk is a trustee and deacon in the Baptist church, to which his father and grandfather belonged, and is also a trustee of the Methodist church, to which his wife belongs. He holds membership in Penn Lodge, No. 30, I. O. O. F .; Brookville Camp, No. 32, I. O. O. F .; Harmony
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Lodge, No. 11, F. & A. M., is a Royal Arch Mason, and has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite Masonry, in Indianapolis Consistory. His life has been well spent and his activity in business affairs has been rewarded by a well merited competence. He forms his plans readily, is determined in their execution, is progressive and resolute, and as the result of his capable management he has gained a place among the substantial citi- zens and most highly esteemed business men of his county.
MARCUS D. L. REYNOLDS.
One of the able, representative agriculturists of Webster township, Wayne county, is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. He is one of the native sons of this county, his birth having occurred in Harrison township, in 1857. His parents were Abram and Melissa (Jones) Reynolds, the former of whom is still living, his home being in Center township, this county. He was born in 1824, in New Jersey, a son of Thomas Reynolds, a ship-builder, and since he was a lad of twelve years he has been a resident of this state. Mrs. Reynolds, who was born in 1835, a daughter of Lewis Jones, departed this life November 12, 1891. The only brother of our sub- ject, Wallace C., is a school-teacher and farmer of Wayne township.
In his boyhood Marcus D. L. Reynolds attended the public schools of his native township, and subsequently he pursued a course of study at the National Normal School, in Lebanon, Ohio. Later he engaged in teaching for about two years in Harrison township, taking charge of his first school when nineteen years of age. He then turned his attention to agriculture, and managed a farm for a couple of years. He next assumed the care of the old homestead in Center township, and in 1882 settled at his present location, in the southwest corner of Webster township. Here he has a finely improved farm of eighty acres, well adapted for the raising of a gen- eral line of crops. Good buildings stand upon the place, and everything bears evidence of the care and watchful attention bestowed upon it by the owner. He enjoys an enviable reputation for business sagacity and upright- ness in all his dealings, and one and all unite in praise of his manly, straight- forward course in life. He is a member of Hoosier Lodge, No. 23, Center- ville, and politically is associated with the Prohibition and Democratic parties.
The marriage of M. D. L. Reynolds and Miss Annetta Hornel was sol- emnized in 1879, in Wayne county. Mrs. Reynolds, who was a daughter of Jarvis Hornel, of Jackson township, departed this life March 27, 1892, when in her thirty-fifth year, leaving one son, Ralph Thomas, whose birth had occurred July 29, 1884. The present wife of our subject was formerly Miss Nena E. Bean, and their destinies were united upon the 14th of February,
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1894. She is the youngest of the six children of John and Elizabeth (Evans) Bean, well known citizens of Green township, the father being a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of Clay township. The only brother of Mrs. Reynolds, Oliver, is deceased; and her sisters are Rosalia, wife of G. W. Stiggleman; Della, wife of Robert Estep; Georgiana, wife of Frank Moorman; and Mary E., wife of Cyrus B. Quigg.
ELLIS THOMAS.
One of the leading citizens and influential business men of Richmond for the past thirty-two years, Ellis Thomas, is now in his seventy-eighth year, yet is extremely active in mind and body, retaining the keenest interest in whatever tends to promote the good of this community, where he has lived so many years and is so thoroughly esteemed. A review of the chief events in his life and in the history of his family will prove of interest to his hosts of friends.
He is the namesake of his paternal grandfather, Ellis Thomas, a most worthy man, of Welsh extraction, and a native of Greene county, Pennsyl- vania. The greater part of his life was spent in West Virginia, not far from Marietta, on the Ohio river, but later he settled in Wayne county, Indiana, where he purchased what was known as the Stafford farm, about 1836 or 1838. He had learned the blacksmith's trade in his younger days, but his chief attention was always given to agriculture. Politically he was a stanch Whig, and religiously he was an earnest believer in the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married Phobe Van Meter, and several children blessed their union.
Saul Thomas, the father of our subject, was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, September 5, 1789, and was a small boy when the family removed to their home on the Ohio river. There he grew to maturity, and upon embarking on his independent career, he took up his abode near New Madison (then known as Fort Black), Darke county, Ohio. Subsequently he dwelt in New Paris, where his death occurred in 1881, when he had attained the extreme age of ninety-two years. He was one of the pioneers of Darke county, where at an early day he had entered land and cleared a farm, and at one time he owned three hundred acres of valuable land there. For eight or ten years he operated woolen mills at New Paris, and in his various busi- ness ventures he met with success. Politically he was originally a Whig and later a Republican, and in religion he followed in the footsteps of his father. In local public affairs he took the interest of a patriotic citizen, and socially he was identified with the Masonic fraternity. The wife of his youth was Isabella Love, whose birth occurred April 9, 1795, and who was summoned to the better land at her home in New Paris, Ohio, April 30, 1851. They
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were the parents of eight children, two sons and six daughters. Subsequent to the death of his first wife Mr. Thomas wedded Mrs. Elizabeth Whitridge.
Ellis Thomas, of this sketch, was born near New Madison, Darke county, Ohio, January 26, 1822, and was five years old when the family removed to Preble county. There he passed the rest of his youthful days, continuing to devote his energies to agricultural labors until he was nearly thirty years old. He then conceived the idea of furnishing the railroads with wood for fuel, and employed from fifty to three hundred men to carry out the contracts which he managed to obtain from the various corporations. For a number of years he supplied all the wood used for fuel on the railroad between Columbus and Indianapolis, on the one between that city and St. Louis, and Indianapolis and Chicago, and on fifteen hundred miles of railroad in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. His prosperous business transactions were terminated in this direction by the adoption of coal as fuel for locomotives, and he was, perforce, obliged to turn his attention to some other enterprise. For nine years he made his home in Cambridge City, and in 1867 he became a per- manent citizen of Richmond. He still owns a fine farm of one hundred and thirty acres in Preble county, Ohio, and is connected with numerous local business concerns. He has been since its organization a stockholder in the Gaar, Scott & Company's works, is a stockholder and a director in the Sec- ond National Bank, a stockholder and director in the city water works, and is president of the Richmond Reclining Chair Company. In his political affiliations he is a Republican.
Forty-six years ago Mr. Thomas was united in marriage with Miss Emily W. Northrop, the ceremony being celebrated on May 1, 1853. They happily pursued the journey of life together, sharing each other's joys, perplexities and sorrows, until June 28, 1895, when Mrs. Thomas was summoned into eternal rest. Their only child, Mary E., is the wife of Charles W. Elmer, who is the ticket agent for the Panhandle Railroad Company at Richmond, Indiana.
THE RUDE FAMILY AND RUDE BROTHERS MANUFACT- URING COMPANY.
It is but placing truth upon the pages of history when we record that among the families whose lives, business activities and sterling characters have placed Union county in its present high position among the counties of the state, none occupies a more conspicuous place than the Rude family. The Rude brothers stand as the representatives of this family, and their lives have been so intermingled and intertwined that the sketch of either is to a degree the sketch of the others. They have been creators of large business enterprises which have given and now give employment to many people, and
-
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have increased not only the population but the wealth and importance of the community. This has been done year after year for a long time, and through their important industrial enterprise they have done much more in this and other important fields than any or all other factories of the county in the present or the past. They were all natural mechanics, and had worked from childhood in their odd days and hours at invention and devel- opment of different mechanical ideas and devices. Even as boys they had their workshop, where they are said to have produced mechanical contriv- ances which would have attracted attention anywhere. There they spent their spare hours, devising and making various articles of use on the farm and in the household, and there they learned the fundamental principles of mechanics and the proper handling of tools.
From the humble shop on the farm to the fine modern building of the present Rude Brothers Manufacturing Company is a long step, but the gap was filled in with gradual improvement and advancement along all the lines of the business, and to this development the brothers, each with his special gifts of mind, devoted his life. Quite early they built grain-drills which com- mended themselves to farmers round about as in many respects superior to all others. At Liberty they re-established their factory in a two-story build- ing, with dimensions forty by sixty feet, which with the machinery and appli- ances it contained cost about twelve hundred dollars. They employed four or five men and were themselves employed either at the forge or at the bench whenever they were not required elsewhere. John was the inventor and had charge of the manufacturing department, George W. attended to the affairs of the office, the accounts and the correspondence, and Squire B. gave much of his time to the interests of the concern outside the factory. Their other brothers, La Fayette, Franklin and Clem, were later connected with the business for different periods. At one time the six were all identified with the enterprise. Each was an expert mechanic and could have superintended any part of the mechanical work. All are now dead except Squire B. and La Fayette. George W., Franklin and John all died in 1886 or 1887, of tuberculosis. One sister died earlier than either of them, of scarlet fever, and three other sisters had passed away before the last of the brothers men- tioned, all dying of consumption.
The business of the Rude Brothers Manufacturing Company has had a continuous growth, but it has not been without reverses. It has twice passed through fire, once with a loss of fifty thousand dollars. About eighty to one hundred and twenty-five men are now employed. The company is incorpor- ated and has a paid up capital of eighty thousand dollars. From fourteen to twenty per cent. per annum has been paid in dividends since 1870, and this only partially represents the growth of the business. The annual output of
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the factory is from one hundred thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The company has extensive warehouses at Indianapolis, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio; Kansas City, Missouri; Springfield, Missouri; and has facilities for distribution in every market. It owns eighty different patents on parts of drills and makes drills of a dozen different patterns. At different times it has been involved in expensive and protracted litigation in the federal courts. The suits it has prosecuted and defended number twelve to date, and every one of them has been decided finally in favor of the Rude Brothers Company. To these suits and the questions upon which they were brought Squire B. Rude gave constant and steady attention. In every one of them he has planned the attack or defence and clearly outlined the lawyer's mode of pro- cedure.
The relations of the Rude brothers among themselves were most harmonious, and with their associates and employes have been almost uni- formly pleasant. There has been but one strike in the factory in all its history and that Mr. Rude met so promptly and decisively as to prevent others. It was not long after establishing the molding department that the molders sought an advance, by going out on a strike. They presented their grievances and their claim to Mr. Rude and he paid them off and showed them out and filled their places at once. The policy of the concern toward their employes has been a liberal one, and some of them have been constantly employed in the factory since 1870, and many from fifteen to eighteen years. It has been a rule of the company to pay the wages of any employe incapaci- tated by accident.
HON. SQUIRE B. RUDE.
Hon. Squire B. Rude, the present president of the Rude Brothers Manufacturing Company, of Liberty, Indiana, was born five miles from Cin- cinnati, in Hamilton county, Ohio, December 28, 1833. His parents were David J. and Maria M. (Preston) Rude. His father was born there also, a son of Squire Rude, who came from New Jersey about 1815 and removed to Indiana April 11, 1842, and located on a farm in Brownsville township, three miles north of Liberty. He died in Liberty, in 1873, and there his widow died a few years later. Squire B. Rude passed his childhood, youth and early manhood on the farm, and came to Liberty with his brothers, George W. and John R., in 1860.
Mr. Rude's ability as a man of affairs has been widely recognized and he has been solicited repeatedly to accept important public offices. In politics he is a Democrat. He was a member of the Indiana assembly of 1891 that elected Dan W. Voorhees United States senator from Indiana.
Mr. Rude was married on November 25, 1875, to Anna C. Perkins, of
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Union county, daughter of John and Anna (Keilty) Perkins, who has borne him two children, named Walter S. and John Franklin. Walter S. died in infancy. John Franklin Rude was born December 3. 1878, passed through the high school of Indianapolis and was matriculated in the law department of U. S. Grant University, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, graduating there with the degree of LL. B. in June, 1899. He was at the same time admitted to the practice of law in the courts of Tennessee. In 1891 he was state mes- senger of the legislature of Indiana. He is now a student in the law depart- ment of Michigan State University, at Ann Arbor, entering with an advanced standing.
In 1861 Mr. Rude was " made a Mason " in Brownsville Lodge, and is now affiliated with Liberty Lodge, No. 58, F. & A. M. He has taken much interest in Masonry. With forty-two others he was admitted to partake of the mysteries of the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, at Indianapolis, in December, 1886. He is now connected with Liberty Chapter, No. 41, R. A. M., Liberty Council and Connersville Com- mandery and Indiana Consistory, S. P. R. S. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rude were charter members of Violet Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, and are valued members of the same. He was a charter member of the local lodge of the Knights of the Mystic Chain and of the Knights of Pythias and in his fraternal relations has ever been a worthy brother.
GEORGE WASHINGTON RUDE.
For a number of years the subject of this memoir was classed among the prominent and influential citizens of Liberty, Union county. He was one of the founders of the Rude Brothers Manufacturing Company, which has been an important commercial element in this community, affording employment to many of our citizens and aiding materially in the prosperity of the town. His genius as a financier and his ability to cope with the great business world led to his being chosen to act as president of the company, which responsible position he held at the time of his death, August 31, 1883. Success almost invariably is the result of long years of persevering effort, of well applied business methods, of talent amounting nearly to genius, of courage undaunted by repeated failures. In tracing the life of G. W. Rude all of these qualities are to be found, and to him is due, in a large measure, the flourishing condition of the company with which he was identified. He took particular pains to have the plant well represented at fairs. to advertise systematically and judiciously, and to keep the merits of their goods con- stantly before the public. He strove for superiority of workmanship and improvements along all lines, and thoroughness and skill were qualities which he always strongly commended in his workmen. When he was a
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mere boy, on the old home farm in this county, he and his brothers, as before mentioned, spent much of their time in a little shop where they kept their tools and constructed wonderful pieces of machinery, and that small shop was the parent of the large manufactory at Liberty.
A son of David J. and Maria M. (Preston) Rude, George W. Rude was. born on his father's farm in Brownsville township, this county, on December 2, 1842, and such education as he gained was obtained in the district schools of the neighborhood. He married Miss Mary Frances Shafer, daughter of Amos and Eliza M. . (Robeson) Shafer, the wedding being celebrated Novem- ber 30, 1873. Mrs. Rude was born in Preble county, Ohio, and was a lady of amiable character, beloved by a large circle of friends. She was devoted to her home and. family and possessed rare qualities of mind and heart. During the last years of her life she traveled considerably with her husband, who hoped that change of air and climate would prove of lasting benefit to. to her. That dread disease, consumption, had fastened upon her, and after two years of illness she passed to the better land, her death occurring December 10, 1881. Two daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rude, namely: Bertha and Mary, and after the death of their parents they went to live with their maternal grandparents. They are now young ladies, attractive and cultured, educated at Oxford Female College, of Oxford, Ohio, where the youngest is pursuing the last year of the college course.
JOHN FRANKLIN RUDE.
The death of John Franklin Rude occurred when he was yet in the prime of life, October 6, 1884. He was born about forty-three years before, on his father's farm in this county, the date of his birth being Febru- ary 5, 1840. He had but limited advantages in the way of an education, but was of a studious and thoughtful disposition, and was very well informed on general subjects. From his youth he seemed to have but one aim in life,- that of invention and the perfecting of machinery already in use by the pub- lic. Planning and studying, thinking and working, by day and at night, haunted by an idea which struggles to be embodied in practical form and will give the possessor no peace until it has found a satisfactory expression, - such is the life of the man of genius, an inventor. After a partnership of some years, the Rude Brothers' Manufacturing Company was incorporated, and ere long the business had assumed large proportions and was ranked among the leading industries of this section of the state. Mr. Rude made his own patterns and personally supervised their working out, attending to the practical details of the concern, while his brothers attended to the finan- cial and business departments. There was one especial feature of the part- nership of these brothers. Usually when plans are made or schemes pro-
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