USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 53
USA > Indiana > Franklin County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 53
USA > Indiana > Union County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 53
USA > Indiana > Fayette County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 53
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JOHN W. MAZE.
John Wesley Maze, one of the well known and highly respected farmers of Liberty township, Union county, Indiana, was born in Harmony township, this county, near Quakertown, March 21, 1833, son of David and Sarah (Pigman) Maze. Sarah Pigman was a sister of Adam Pigman, the original
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settler of that name in Union county. David Maze was born near Cynthi- ana, Kentucky, where he spent the first twenty-one years of his life. His parents, John Maze and wife, were members of the Presbyterian church and were people of sterling worth. John Maze died in Kentucky, and after his death his widow came with her family of ten or twelve children to Indiana, David being then about twenty-one. They built a house in Union county, and lived here for several years, all the children, however, except David, finally settling in other parts of the state.
David Maze remained on the farm with his mother until his marriage, September 4, 1817, to Sarah Pigman and then settled on the farm, in Har- mony township, where his son, the subject of this sketch, was born. About the last work he did on this farm was to erect a brick house, and the family moved into it the week after his death. He died in August, 1850, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. His widow remained on the home place, reared her family there, and had charge of the farm during the rest of her life. She died June 23, 1874, at the age of seventy-two years. The farm is now owned by their grandson, Richard Maze. David Maze was a Presbyterian, while his wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of their family of eleven children that reached maturity, only three are now living (1899), all in Union county: John Wesley, whose name introduces this sketch; Hiram H., a resident of Harmony; and Mahala, widow of Andrew Crawford, a resident of Harmony township. :
John W. Maze was seventeen years of age at the time of his father's death as above recorded. June 7, 1855, he married Susannah Hollingsworth, daughter of Enoch and Margaret (Mills) Hollingsworth. After his marriage he continued on the home farm for eleven years, having charge of its opera- tions during that time, and then the estate was divided, he receiving a por- tion of the farm. In 1870 he bought a part of his present farm, in Liberty township, ninety acres of which were originally entered by Joshua Harlan. Shortly afterward Mr. Maze bought forty acres adjoining this tract, to which he kept adding until he owned over three hundred acres. His farm now com- prises two hundred and ninety acres, and he also owns half of another farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Fayette county. His home farm is a fine stretch of fertile land, lying along the west shore of Whitewater river and extending back on the uplands. His residence stands at the base of a beau- tiful hill, from which comes forth a crsytal spring, water from it being piped to the house, an abundant supply being always furnished. Mr. Maze carries on general farming, raising a diversity of crops and keeping his farm well stocked with a high grade of horses, cattle and hogs. His lowland fields are rendered more productive by being well drained, he having laid over five hundred rods of tile. An important industry which was maintained on his
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farm for twenty years, and which has recently been disposed of, was a sor- ghum factory. Some years he manufactured no less than five thousand gal- lons of molasses, for which he received over five hundred dollars in one year.
Mr. and Mrs. Maze have a large family of children, most of whom are married and settled in life, occupying honored and useful places in society. Their names in order of birth are as follows: Margaret, wife of Joseph Beck, Liberty township, Union county, Indiana; Enoch, who was for twelve years a traveling salesman for the Deering Harvester Company, is now engaged in farming; David and Charley, both farmers; George, who has charge of the home farm, married Miss Alice Keller and they have one child, Louis, at home; Joseph, of Brownsville township; William, on the farm owned by his father and himself, in Fayette county; Mary, wife of George Scholl, of Glen- wood, Indiana, who owns a farm nearly adjoining the home farm; and Rich- ard, on the home farm, married Miss Annie Smalley, and they have one child. All the sons are in Union county, with the exception of the one in Fayette.
Mr. and Mrs. Maze are identified with the Christian church at Browns- ville, of which he is an official member. Politically he gives his allegiance to the Democratic party.
VIRGINIA C. MEREDITH.
No name figures more conspicuously or is mentioned with greater honor on the pages of the history concerning the connection of women with the great World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893, than that of Mrs. Virginia Claypool Meredith, yet her wide and brilliant reputation comes not alone from her association with that triumph of American skill and ingenuity. She is always found taking an advanced stand in favor of higher and broader education and of great business possibilities for women, and is to-day one of the most competent authorities on agricultural, and especially stock-raising, interests in the entire country. Thus leading an advance move- ment that cannot fail to prove of permanent benefit to the race, she may well be termed a public benefactor, for her broad missionary spirit and her splen- did intellectual attainments have combined to engrave her name enduringly on the history of the world's progress.
Mrs. Meredith was born November 5, 1848, in Fayette county, Indiana, a daughter of Austin B. and Hannah A. (Petty) Claypool, who are still resi- dents of that place. She completed her school course by her graduation in Glendale College, but to such a woman as Mrs. Meredith education is never completed this side of the grave. She is a student and reader, and experi- ence, observation and thought have continually broadened her knowledge. She was married April 28, 1870, to Henry Clay Meredith, and they spent the
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greater part of their married life on Oakland Farm, adjoining Cambridge City, Indiana. Upon her husband's death, in 1882, she assumed the man- agement of the farm, for which work she was well fitted, for during his active business career she was closely associated with him and had become an expert in the history and pedigrees of shorthorn cattle. She continues the breeding of blooded stock and has sold into every part of the United States representatives from her fine herd of shorthorns and from her South- down flock of sheep.
When the state authorized the holding of farmers' institutes and placed the management of the same with Purdue University, Mrs. Meredith was invited to address these meetings, and within the course of four years, from 1889 until 1892, inclusive, visited almost every county in the state, return- ing by special invitation again and again to various counties. She has been invited to speak on farm and stock topics in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Wiscon- sin, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, and also in England, and at the spe- cial request of the state commissioners, in 1893, she prepared for the Colum- bian Exposition a monograph upon the live stock of Indiana. In the winter of 1896-7 she delivered a special course of lectures upon cattle at Purdue University. She has been a paid contributor to the leading agricultural and stock papers in the United States, and some of her articles have been copied in every English speaking country. In 1897, at the request of the regents of the University of Minnesota, she inaugurated and organized the depart- ment for young women in the school of agriculture. This work had no prec- edent, and has been laid out on new and independent lines. In the second year sixty-three young women were enrolled, with most pronounced expres- sions of confidence in this new practical department of education.
In 1891 Mrs. Meredith was appointed a member of the national board of lady managers, charged with the care of all the interests of women in the World's Columbian Exposition. In Chicago, in November of that year, at the first meeting of this board of more than one hundred members, represent- ing each state in the Union, Mrs. Meredith demonstrated her grasp of the possibilities and formulated what afterward proved to be the policy of the board. She was elected vice-chairman of the executive committee,-with Mrs. Potter Palmer, president of the board, chairman ex officio,-and in that position had a large share in formulating the plans and methods which at last embraced the extensive interests of women all over the world. Later she was appointed chairman of the committee on awards, and in that capac- ity had charge of the selection of the women judges-one hundred or more- from all the several countries participating as exhibitors. Women had never before had representation in an international board of judges, although their
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industrial importance was well known and widely acknowledged. Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Meredith were invited to meet the senate and house com- mittees on appropriations of congress, and were able to make such a presen- tation of the merits of this new feature of the exposition as to secure an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars to be expended by the com- mittee, of which Mrs. Meredith was chairman, in payment of judges and for other expenses which must be incurred in that connection. The difficulty of finding in the various countries women expert in particular lines and possess- ing also the other qualifications entitling them to membership in such an important international body, was very great; and that the one hundred lady judges served with ability, even distinction, is highly creditable to the admin- istration of Mrs. Meredith, as chairman of the committee on awards.
In addition to the above original feature of the Columbian Exposition there was another, also originated by the board of lady managers, -that was the bestowal of diplomas of honorable mention upon artisans who had assisted in the production of an article that received an award. Indeed this feature is by some thought to be the finest thing originated by the Colum- bion Exposition. Congress especially authorized these diplomas by a reso- lution, which, by the way, was drafted by Mrs. Meredith and passed as she phrased it. The work of discovering to whom these diplomas-recognition of the man or woman who labors-should go, their proper engrossing, signa- tures, etc., was placed in charge of Mrs. Meredith, and eighteen thousand of these " Honorable Mentions " were sent out to inventors and artisans in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. It is certainly a great honor that the only two really new, original, unprecedented features of the exposi- tion should have fallen to the administration of one woman, -Mrs. Meredith.
In another way Mrs. Meredith was also honored in connection with the important international events of 1893. Governor Hovey had construed the Indiana law authorizing him to appoint a certain number of "citizens " to constitute the state commission, to include women, and he therefore made Mrs. Meredith a member of the commission. On the occasion of the dedica- tion of the Indiana building, in Jackson Park, she made an address, follow- ing Governor Matthews and ex-President Harrison.
She has always been interested in progressive work for women, and was the first, and for nine years continued, president of the Helen Hunt Club, of Cambridge City, a literary organization of high standing. In 1895 she was elected president of the Indiana Union of Literary Clubs, a strong state federation of about two hundred clubs, which is doing much to advance the literary taste in this commonwealth. She is also one of the stockholders of the Propylaeum, at Indianapolis, a notable building, unique among the under-
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takings of women; and on the occasion of its dedication she made the con- gratulatory address. In religious belief she is a Presbyterian, and has long been a member of the church and a teacher in the Sunday-school.
Having no children of her own, she has adopted into her home two chil- dren left orphans by the death of one of her friends, securing thereby the love and home ties that brighten a busy life. She has a mind above all personal con- siderations, concerned with those large, loving interests that belong to human- ity, and her true womanly qualities of mind and heart, her sympathy and kindly purpose indicate that she has the spirit of Him who came to min- ister unto others.
SAMUEL S. CLEVENGER.
Representing as he does two of the oldest families of Wayne county, the Sparrs and the Clevengers, the subject of this sketch is well entitled to an honored place in the records of this section of Indiana. He and his relatives have borne a very important part in the development of this county, which was a wilderness at the time of their first settlement here, in the early part of this century. In tracing the history of this locality it is found that the three families who first permanently located in Washington township, Wayne county, as early as 1814, were the Jenkins, Sparrs and Doddridges, whose homes were near what was known as the Doddridge church. Our subject's maternal grandfather, Mr. Sparr, was the first, as it is believed, to take up his abode in the section which later was organized and named Abington township. The paternal grandfather, Daniel Clevenger, of Ver- mont, came west, and for a brief period resided in Preble county, Ohio. In 1819 he settled in the forest at a point about a mile and a half west of the present village of Abington, and the property which then came into his pos- session by purchase has remained in the hands of the Clevenger family ever since,-four-score years. On the place, which now belongs to the subject of this sketch, is an old pear-tree, in a good state of preservation, which was planted by the grandfather some seventy-two years ago.
A son of Samuel and Ruth (Sparr) Clevenger, Samuel S., of this sketch, was born in a humble log cabin in the midst of the forest, in 1844. The father, whose birth had occurred in 1810, died in 1881, after a career of honest industry and integrity. The wife and mother, a most estimable woman, who had bravely shared the vicissitudes of pioneer life, was called to her reward in 1894, when in her eighty-second year. Of the ten children born to this worthy couple two are deceased, namely: Susan and Daniel. Those who survive are as follows: Rebecca J., Sabrah L., Mary E., Samuel S., Joseph, Nancy, Thomas J. and Francis M.
As was necessary, Samuel S. Clevenger aided in the.clearing and culti- vation of his father's frontier farm, and had very limited educational advan-
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tages. When he became old enough to earn something independently he commenced working for neighboring farmers, and in this manner managed to obtain a start toward success. While still quite young, he rented a tract of land and raised some crops upon this property, and in the autumn of 1867 he settled upon the homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, where he has remained ever since. The place, which is now well improved and accordingly valuable, is situated in the western part of Abington township. On the 2d of December, 1869, his house was burned; but this disaster was not so great as it might have been, for, with the genuine kindliness of heart which prevailed among the sturdy pioneers of this section, they assembled and cut logs, hewed them, and erected a new dwelling for the Clevenger fam- ily within a short time, so that they moved into it and commenced the new year of 1870 under its friendly shelter.
During the years which have since rapidly rolled away, our subject has prospered and has occupied an enviable position in the community. As a business man his judgment is excellent, and all of his dealings with others are marked with the utmost fairness and justice. Thus he has steadily risen in the esteem of those who are associated with him in any manner, and it was deemed most suitable and fitting that he should be called upon to serve in the capacity of supervisor of his township, and later, that his name should be presented for the higher office of county treasurer. He was duly nomi- nated to this responsible position, on the Democratic ticket, and, though his party was defeated. he polled a good vote at the ensuing election. Upon the 27th of April. 1890, Mr. Clevenger joined Cornelius Lodge, No. 232, F. & A. M., in which he has held several offices, besides being past master.
The marriage of Mr. Clevenger and Miss Nancy V. Simmons was solem- nized October 15. 1867. Their eldest child, Florence E., is the wife of William Plankenhorns; and the next daughter, Margaret Alice, now deceased, was the wife of Edward Garthwait. The other children are: David M., Thomas F., John S., Mary Edna, Leota Rebecca and Eva, -all living save the last mentioned. The father of Mrs. Clevenger, Thomas Simmons, formerly of Union county, Indiana, died in 1873, at the age of fifty-six years. His widow, Margaret, for the past two years a resident of Missouri, has attained the advanced age of eighty-one years.
IRVEN REED.
The subject of this memoir was a son of Arthur and Martha Reed and was born in Zanesville, Muskingum county, Ohio, January 8, 1809, and later removed to Richmond, Indiana, where he resided for many years and gained many warm friends who appreciated his sterling worth and true nobility of character. He was educated and grew to manhood in his native town. In
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1831 he moved to this city, where in 1833 he started the first drug store in the village. At that time the population was small, and he went on horse- back to Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and other towns throughout the state, soliciting orders, which he returned to his store and filled. This store was continued until 1850, when he went to Cincinnati and embarked in the whole- sale drug business, under the firm name of Irven Reed & Company, doing business at Nos. 16 and 18 Main street, in that city. This enterprise was conducted until 1854, when he returned to Richmond and permanently retired from the drug business, as it did not agree with his health. Three years later he engaged in the hardware business, opening a store on Main street, between Fifth and Sixth streets, under the name of Reed & Swayne. He afterward purchased the interest of Mr. Swayne, and in 1872 moved to the corner of Seventh and Main streets, where the business was conducted under the name of Irven Reed & Son. He continued in this business until his death, April 25, 1891, one son succeeding the other until the present pro- prietor, Frank Irven Reed, became a member of the firm. For two years Mr. Reed was out of the hardware business and dealt in saddlery hardware. The first son to enter the firm was Albert W. Reed, now of Washington, D. C., who retired in 1875 and was succeeded by Charles H., who remained a number of years and then withdrew to start a similar store for himself in the west. His place was taken by Frank Irven, who still conducts the business, under the name of Irven Reed & Son. .
Mr. Reed was a councilman for many years and was a prominent Repub- lican, entertaining many eminent personages at his home in Richmond. Henry Clay visited this city when running for the presidency, and was the guest of Mr. Reed. He also entertained O. P. Morton, the war governor of Indiana, Governor Burbank and President Hayes. During the reunion of the Ohio and Indiana National Guards, he entertained Governor Foster of Ohio. He took an active interest in the election of William Henry Harrison and assisted the local clubs by painting their flags, banners, etc. He was one of the originators and officers of the Fort Wayne Railroad, now the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad. He was reared in the Methodist faith, but united with the First Presbyterian church. A brother, Colonel Hugh B. Reed, of the Forty-fourth Indiana, commanded that regiment through the entire war and was mustered out at Fort Wayne. He was a brave com- mander and had four horses shot from under him, while he was spared, and died in New Jersey. One of his sons, Charles A. Reed, an able attorney of Somerville, New Jersey, has been elected president of the senate in that state.
In 1834 Mr. Reed was united in marriage to Miss Mary M. Evans, of Baltimore, the ceremony being celebrated in Richmond. Six sons survive
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them, viz. : Colonel Arthur F., who was colonel of the Twelfth Indiana and served through the war, being mustered out at Fort Wayne; he now con- ducts a bookstore in St. Louis, Missouri. Albert W. is a retired commission inerchant of Washington, D. C. Charles H. is a hardware merchant of San Luis Obispo, California. Lieutenant Hugh T., a retired United States Army officer of the First Infantry, is now residing in Chicago; he was appointed to West Point through George Julian, representative of the sixth congressional district of Indiana, and graduated from West Point in 1873, and retired, in 1893, on account of ill health. He is the author of "Military Science and Tactics," also "Cadet Life at West Point,"-both well-known works. He had raised a company of fourteen hundred men in Chicago, of which he was made colonel; but before they were mustered into service the war closed. Horace B., the fifth son, is the manufacturer of a patent fence, in McMinn- ville, Oregon. Frank I., who has always been engaged in the hardware busi- ness, is the successor to the business of Irven Reed & Son. He attended school in Richmond, and graduated from the Richmond Business College, after which he took a trip through the west. He was appointed postmaster of Fort Sully, Dakota, in 1875, and served seven months. This place was about twenty-five miles from Pierce City, North Dakota, and was an impor- tant post, being the distributing point for the mail along the Missouri river. In 1876 he entered his father's store and became a partner of the firm. He has conducted the business most successfully, and is a wide-awake business man, whose friends are legion. He is a prominent Mason, belonging to the commandery of Knights Templar.
DAVID J. DODDRIDGE.
David Jenkins Doddridge, the only survivor of the once large and happy family which gathered around the table of the pioneer settler, John Dodd- ridge, of Washington township, Wayne county, is living upon the old home- stead which was entered by his grandfather, Philip Doddridge, and which has. descended from father to son. Probably no family has been more influential for good in this section of the state, and the name is favorably known far and near on account of the active part which the owners have borne in the history of local Methodism.
Joseph Doddridge sailed from England to the United States in the early part of the last century, and, after spending some time in New Jersey, located in Maryland, where several of his children were born. One of the number, Philip, the paternal grandfather of our subject, lived in Maryland until he was grown, and then went to Washington county, Pennsylvania. There he. was married, and all of his children were born ere he removed to the west. One of the greatest sorrows of his life befel him there also: three of his
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daughters were carried off by Indians and for years nothing could be learned of their fate. Long afterward, when the brother had returned upon a visit to his old home in the Keystone state, he followed up a clue which came into his possession, and upon an Indian reservation in eastern Ohio he found two of his sisters. They had grown up with Indian children and had become the wives of chiefs of the tribe, and later they were sent to a western reservation. The third daughter had died soon after being taken captive. In 1814 a party of pioneers, including Philip Doddridge and David Jenkins (his son-in-law), John Spahr and John, the father of our subject, came to Indiana and entered land. Philip Doddridge, who had some capital, not only entered the quarter-section of land in what was called " the twelve-mile purchase, " but farms for all of his children, thus keeping them near him, and in this manner the numerous representatives of the family became fixtures in this region and founders of its prosperity. The long and useful career of Philip Doddridge was brought to a close by his sudden death, when he had arrived at the advanced age of eighty-five years. His widow, who survived him about two years, was about the same age at the time of her demise. They had but the one son, John, and their three daughters were Mrs. Han- nah Jenkins, Mrs. Sabra Spahr and Mrs. Walters.
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