USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 55
USA > Indiana > Franklin County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 55
USA > Indiana > Union County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 55
USA > Indiana > Fayette County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 55
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John Witter was less than five years old when his grandfather, Christ- opher Witter, died. He remained at home until after the death of his father. He was married March 5, 1857, to Mrs. Amy Stewart (nee French). She was a native of Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, and when seven years of age she came with her mother to this state and lived on the place from which she was married. Later her mother moved to Cass county, where she died. After his marriage John Witter lived on his farm in Center town- ship until about four years ago, when he bought his present farm. His son now resides on and operates the old farm, which comprises two hundred and forty acres. The house on this farm was burned, and the same year he rebuilt, erecting the handsome residence now standing there. The farm now occupied by our subject contains eighty acres, which he devotes to general farming. He is a Republican, but has not aspired to office. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church at College Corner, in which he holds the office of trustee. The family consists of Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Ida, wife of James Munns, of College Corner; George, who con- ducts the homestead farm; Lydia M., wife of Everett Doner, of Billingsville; and Alfred Martin, at home, who married Miss Maud Brown and had four children: Marie, Carl, Hobart, and Florence, -- the last named dying in infancy.
Martin Witter was married to Miss Lydia Eikenberry and passed from this life March 20, 1882. His wife was spared until September, 1895, when she joined her husband in that better land. Their family comprised the following children: Lizzie, wife of Henry Eaton, of Flora, Carroll county; George, also of that place; Abraham, of Delphi, Indiana; Henry, of Connersville; Francis, wife of Charles Quick, who resides on the old horne- stead; Joseph, our subject; Emma, who is unmarried and lives at College Corner; Rosa, who died in young womanhood; Johnnie, who died in early childhood; Annie, wife of George Williams, of College Corner; and four others who died in infancy. Martin Witter owned some two hundred and seventy acres of land and carried on general farming, attending to all the details in person. He was a Republican and served as trustee of the county. He was a member of the Four Mile German Baptist, or Dunkard, church, at Beechy Mire, and was an active worker in that organization.
Joseph Witter passed his boyhood on the farm and remained at home until after he was twenty-one. He carried on the farm after his father's death until the death of his mother, when the place was sold. His farm
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consists of one hundred and ten acres and was a part of the old home. Some seven years ago he began raising shorthorn cattle, and he now has a fine herd of registered animals of that class. He has sixteen head registered, with "Cham- pion," No. 114667 in the American Herd Book, a light roan five-year-old ani- mal, weighing twenty-four hundred pounds. He exhibited nine head at fairs at Carthage, Ohio, and Hagerstown, Lawrenceburg, and Rushville, Indiana, "and took premiums at each of these places, over strong competition. He has one of the famous World's Fair cows, Verbena Lady, which was bred in Can- ada and belongs to one of the champion beef breeds, the prize being one thou- sand dollars. This cow has a white bull calf, eleven months old, that has never missed a ribbon in his class whenever exhibited. Mr. Witter has well arranged stock barns, and the county is fortunate in numbering among its citizens a gentleman of such laudable enterprise.
He was joined in marriage October 20, 1887, to Miss Mary Clark, a daughter of Hezekiah Clark, of Cottage Grove, where she was born. They have three children,-Ross, Elbert and Lulu Sarah. Mr. Witter is a Republican, but in no manner a politician. He built a large, commodious house and barn about two years ago, and has one of the most attractive places in this part of the state.
DANIEL SURFACE.
Perhaps no enterprise to which man directs his energies brings one into closer touch with the people and the vital interests of the time than the labor of the newspaper correspondent. Through many years Mr. Surface has been connected with journalism, and the positions which he has filled have demanded peculiar skill and tact, in addition to literary ability and a calm, unbiased judgment. Through the civil war his duties led him to the battle fields of the south, that the news of the movements of the armies might be transmitted throughout the land to the anxious ones who awaited such mes- sages from the front. Now he is at the head of a leading paper of eastern Indiana, the Palladium, of Richmond, his labors advancing it to a foremost position in journalistic circles.
Mr. Surface is a native of Preble county, Ohio, born May 19, 1836, and is a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Redman) Surface. He was graduated in Otterbein University, in the class of 1862, and immediately afterward accepted the position of principal of the Michigan Collegiate Institute, at Leoni. At the close of the school year he entered a wider and far different field of labor, becoming war correspondent for the Cincinnati Gazette. He was first sent to West Virginia, and three months afterward to Chattanooga, joining General Hooker when he took command of the Army of the Cum- berland. His duties were of an exceedingly difficult nature, for he was not
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only obliged to encounter hardships and dangers, but also the jealousies and opposition of officers, on account of the greater liberties granted him. The fact that some correspondents had unwittingly given information to the enemy also made his place much harder, but he succeeded in winning the confidence of the authorities, especially of General Grant, who accorded him a privilege allowed only two other correspondents in the west. The order was as follows:
HEADQUARTERS OF THE MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, NASHVILLE, December 26, 1863.
Guards, pickets and military authorities will pass the bearer, Mr. D. Surface, correspondent Cincinnati Gazette, throughout the entire command, without hindrance; and the government steamers and military railroads will furnish him free transportation to and from any point within the military division until further orders.
By Order of
MAJOR-GENERAL GRANT.
George K. Leet, Assistant Adjutant-General.
Mr. Surface was a witness of the entire series of battles from Mission Ridge until the capture of Atlanta, and the Cincinnati Gazette of that period contains many interesting letters from his pen. One which attracted partic- ular attention was a clear and comprehensive account of Sherman's " great field movement " which compelled Hood to evacuate Atlanta and demoral- ized the Confederate army. The letter also contains a description of the captured city. After the fall of Atlanta Mr. Surface remained for a few months in Washington with Whitelaw Reid, then of the Gazette's bureau of correspondence, and also acted as correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. He accompanied General Grant through the battles of the Wilderness and then went by ship to Savannah to meet Sherman, at the close of the famous " march to the sea." Mr. Surface remained at that place as correspondent for the Cincinnati Gazette and the Philadelphia Enquirer until the termina- tion of the war.
On his return from the south he purchased an interest in the Toledo Commercial and became its editor, but on the expiration of a year sold his interests and resumed his connection with the Gazette. From July until October, 1866, he traveled through the south, attending the state conven- tions held there for the purpose of reconstruction. His communications dur- ing that period are replete with information, not only concerning the pro- ceedings of those conventions, but of the spirit of the southern people and the conditions that prevailed in that section of the country. In 1870 Mr. Surface purchased an interest in the Richmond Telegram, which he edited for some time and then sold his interest and became secretary and treasurer of the Richmond Chair Company, thus engaging in the manufacture of chairs
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for eight years. In 1896, in connection with Samuel J. Flickinger, of Cin- cinnati, he purchased the Palladium, which is now being conducted under the firm name of Surface & Flickinger, with the senior partner as manager and editor. This is one of the oldest journals in the state, having been founded in 1831. It has always been Republican in politics since the organ- ization of the party, and wields a strong influence in support of the princi- ples advocated by that political organization. Mr. Surface is a man of scholarly attainments and is a most able writer, his style being fluent, yet not verbose, his diction correct, and his utterances clear. In addition to his prose compositions he has also produced a number of poems of considerable merit, among which may be mentioned an address to the alumni of Otterbein University, and "Symposaic," which won an encomium from Charles G. Leland, the editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine.
On the 24th of December, 1867, Mr. Surface was united in marriage to Miss Kate Kumler, of Butler county, Ohio, who died December 20, 1894. They had one daughter, who is now Mrs. T. S. Allee, of Chicago. For twelve years Mr. Surface has been a member of the school board of Rich- mond and has done effective service in the interests of the schools. He is a public-spirited citizen and advocates all measures of progress and reform, doing all in his power to promote the general welfare. He is especially act- ive in support of the Republican party, and his influence in political circles is most marked. He possesses a cordial, genial manner, is uniformly courteous and inspires personal friendships of unusual strength.
HENRY CUTTER.
For almost a third of a century Henry Cutter has been engaged in the grocery business in Richmond, and is accounted one of the leading and sub- stantial merchants of the city. He represents that class of worthy German citizens who, allying their interests with those of the New World, have adapted themselves to its different methods and customs with great readi- ness, and by consecutive effort and honorable dealing have gained a place among the successful and prominent men in the communities in which their lots have been cast.
Mr. Cutter was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1840, and is a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Menke) Cutter, also natives of the same country. The father died in 1854, and in 1857 the mother came with her family to the United States, locating in Richmond, Indiana. She died December 13, 1878. In her family were four children, -Louise, Henry, Anna and Cathe- rine, the last named the wife of Adam Boess, of Richmond.
In the land of his nativity Henry Cutter acquired his education and spent the first seventeen years of his life. After his emigration to America
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he secured work as a farm hand in Wayne county, and afterward learned the tanner's trade in Wiggins' tan-yard, where he was employed for ten years. Acquiring some capital as the result of his industry and economy, he then began business for himself, opening a grocery store in Richmond on the 17th of September, 1867. He has carried on business at the same place continu- ously since, and has been very successful, owing to his straightforward busi- ness methods, his close application, energy and the good quality of groceries which he carries. He has also been a member of the German Fire Insurance Association since 1869, and for five years served as its president.
On the 5th of March, 1863, Mr. Cutter married Miss Minnie, daughter of Henry H. and Mary (Erk) Drifmeyer, natives of Hanover, Germany. The daughter was also born in that province, but since her seventh year, in 1848, has been a resident of Richmond. Her father died at the age of seventy- seven years, her mother in the sixty-fourth year of her age. They were the parents of seven children: Minnie, wife of our subject; Henry, Adam and William, -all three deceased; John; Charles; and Mary, wife of David Folk- ner. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Cutter were born three sons: John A. L., who married Elida Snyder, daughter of Garrett Snyder, of Richmond; E. W. F., who marrled Riecka Roser, of Richmond; and G. H., who wedded Ida, daughter of Garrett Mashmeyer.
Mr. Cutter has long been numbered among the wide-awake and enter- prising citizens of Wayne county, and has been honored with public office by his fellow townsmen, who have thus given evidence of their recognition of his worth and ability. He served as a member of the city council of Rich- mond from 1885 until 1891, and from 1894 until 1897 was city commissioner. He is a member of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church, and has filled nearly all of its offices. He is also treasurer and trustee of the Wernle Orphans' Homc, an institution with which he lias been connected since its inception. He possesses a benevolent nature, is liberal and charitable, in manner is kindly and genial, and well merits the high regard in which he is uniformly held.
JOHN MCKEOWN.
John McKeown is one of the most widely known farmers of Brookville township, Franklin county, Indiana, where he has resided for more than half a century. He was born in Ireland, almost seventy-nine years ago, and remained in that beautiful but down-trodden island until the '40s, when he accompanied his parents to America. He is a son of Francis and Mary Mckeown, who lived in the north of Ireland, whence, with their fourteen children, they came to the new country,-America. An ocean voyage in those days was attended with peril, and their vessel, after leaving Liverpool,
mr. and Mrs. John mcKeown.
5
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was driven back a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. Eight weeks were consumed by the trip, and when port was reached, in Philadelphia, it was found the vessel had a broken mast. The family first settled on Indian creek, and one year later moved to the banks of the Whitewater, in the southern part of Brookville township, where they lived the remainder of their days. The father died in 1851 at the age of seventy years, and the mother two years later, when in her sixty-ninth year. But three of this fam- ily are living at this time,-John, our subject; Hester, wife of Dr. Johnson; and Eliza, wife of Jacob Hoffman. One of the daughters, Mary Ann, mar- ried Andrew Fleming, in Ireland, and moved to Canada, where she died; Ella married Charles White and resided in Ripley county, this state; while another son, Robert, was drowned in the Whitewater river, when in his twentieth year.
Mr. Mckeown has lived on his present farm continuously since it first came into the family, in 1841, at which time it contained but fifty acres. He has added to this since, mostly wooded land, until he now has one hun- dred and thirty-seven acres, and has cleared off all but about thirty acres. His sole possession when he started in life was a blind horse and eighty-five dollars in money. He was married May 8, 1850, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Cole, a daughter of William and Eliza (Case) Cole. Mrs. McKeown was born in New Jersey in 1826. They became the parents of the following named children: Robert Andrew, of Ellenwood, Kansas; Francis Alexander, of this township; John, of Fort Smith, Arkansas; Eliza, wife of John Reister; Stephen, of this township; Mary, wife of George McCarthy; Maggie, deceased; Belle, who became the wife of George Smith, of Brookville, on the 3d of August, 1889; and Hester, wife of William Wright, also of this township. Mrs. McKeown was a child of three years when her parents crossed the Alleghany mountains to make their home in Harrison, Ohio, where they resided one year before coming on to this county. So vivid an impression did the journey make on her young mind that she plainly recalls many of the incidents. The journey was made by wagon, and much of the route was through an unbroken country, requiring frequent stops in order to clear the obstructions from the path. The country was thinly populated, neighbors being two or three miles apart, and when the family reached their destina- tion they proceeded to make themselves as comfortable as circumstances would permit, and set about the improvement of their new home.
Mr. Mckeown left his native country with the determination of making a success of his life in this country, and his energy and frugality have placed in his hands a competency which will enable him to pass his remaining days in comfort and ease, attended with the satisfaction that it is the result of honest toil and well directed energy.
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REV. ISAAC M. HUGHES, D. D.
Rev. Isaac M. Hughes, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, of Richmond, Indiana, is a son of Rev. William and Martha B. (Wells) Hughes, and was born at Loudenville, Ashland county, Ohio, December 23, 1834.
Dr. Hughes' lineal ancestors emigrated from Wales during the early colonial history of this country, and settled in eastern Pennsylvania. Some of their descendants migrated to Washington county, Pennsylvania, where Rev. Thomas Edgar Hughes, the grandfather of our subject, was born April 7, 1769. He was a minister of the Presbyterian faith, and spent his entire life in his native county, laboring earnestly and faithfully in disseminating the word of God. He took a deep interest in educational matters, and was the founder of Greersburg Academy, one of the early and substantial educational institutions of Washington county. He died May 2, 1838, at the ripe old age of seventy-eight years. He married Mary Donahey, and they were the parents of ten children, four of whom,-John D., James R., Watson and William, -were Presbyterian clergyman.
Rev. William Hughes (father) was born in Washington county, Penn- sylvania, May 20, 1802. He was educated at Washington and Jefferson College, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and Princeton Seminary, at Princeton, New Jersey, graduating from both institutions. Immediately after his ordination to the ministry he removed to Ashland county, Ohio, where he spent his entire life as pastor of various churches in that county, passing away on August 25, 1883. As a minister he was zealous in the interests of his church; as a citizen he was active in every movement for the advance- ment of the public, and he took a deep interest in the organization of Ver- million Institute, being president of the board of trustees for many years. His marriage with Martha B. Wells, on April 13, 1830, resulted in the birth of six children, five sons and one daughter.
Dr. Hughes was educated at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, graduat- ing in 1855, with the honor of standing second in a class of twenty-five. After his graduation, he became professor of languages in Westminster Col- lege, Fulton, Missouri, where he remained four years. He subsequently became principal of the Seven Mile Academy, at Seven Mile, Ohio, which position he filled two years.
In 1861 he was ordained and accepted the pastorate of the Presbyterian church, at Venice, Butler county, Ohio, where he labored successfully nine. years. In 1870 he was called to the First Presbyterian church, of Richmond, in which he has since earnestly and zealously ministered to the spiritual welfare of his congregation. When he accepted this charge, the congregation was small and in debt. The debt was soon liquidated and the building materially
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improved. In 1885 the church edifice was destroyed by lightning, but the congregation now being a large and wealthy one, soon rebuilt at the corner of Tenth and North A street. This is a commodius structure of modern architecture, and altogether a fit shrine for the worship of the penitent heart and contrite spirit.
Dr. Hughes is a man of fine literary taste and scholarly attainments, and is thoroughly schooled in Biblical lore, in recognition of which Hanover Col- lege conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity upon him in 1885. He was a member of the board of trustees of Wooster University before coming to this state and has been a trustee of Hanover College, and is now a trustee of Westminster Seminary, of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Dr. Hughes has been twice married. On November 18, 1856, he mar- ried Anna M., a daughter of Rev. Dr. Claybough, a distinguished theologian of the United Presbyterian church. They were the parents of four children, all of whom are deceased. Mrs. Hughes died May 14, 1864, and on August 14, 1866, Dr. Hughes wedded Jane P. Carnahan, of Venice, Ohio. Their children are Rev. Stanley C. Hughes, pastor of the Second Presbyterian church of Richmond, and James Rowland, a graduate of the civil-engineering department of Princeton University, who served as a soldier in the Spanish- American war.
BENJAMIN F. CODDINGTON.
Of the stanch and hardy. pioneers who settled in the wilds of Union county in the '20s none were more worthy than the ancestors of the subject of this memoir, and the same sterling traits of character which they possessed have been noticeable in him.
Born on a farm about half a mile north of his present farm, May 3, 1829, Benjamin Franklin Coddington is a son of Enoch and Martha (Yaryan) Cod- dington. The father came to this state with his parents, Moses and Amy Coddington, who settled upon the farm where our subject was born, and there they lived until their death, at an advanced age. They had two sons, the other, David, later removing to Boone county, Indiana, where his son still represents the family. Enoch remained on the old homestead above mentioned, and cared for his venerable parents while they lived. Some years after their death he sold the farm and took up his abode in Macomb, Illinois, dying there within a year. His widow came back to Wayne county, this state, and died when about three-score and ten years of age, at the home of a daughter in Centerville, where she is buried. She was a child of Fred- erick and Mary Yaryan, who came to this locality as early as 1818, and in 1821 built the brick house on the homestead now owned by our subject, which farm they owned and operated for many years.
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The seven sons and two daughters born to Enoch and Martha Codding- ton were: Benjamin F .; William, who resides at Oxford, Ohio; Charles, of Goshen, Ringgold county, Iowa; Esther Ann, who married Y. M. Powell, and died at Connersville; John, of Centerville, Wayne county; Asbury, who died at home, when but twenty years of age, suffering from the effects of the hardships which he had endured in the army during the civil war; Ella, who first married Thaddeus Green, and after his death became the wife of Dr. A. W. Fisher, of Indianapolis; James, a resident of Harrison township; and Melville, who died in infancy.
As previously stated, Benjamin F. Coddington was born seventy years ago, and has spent his entire life in this immediate locality, thoroughly iden- tified with the best interests of the county and township in which he has dwelt. For twenty-two years he lived on the old homestead, assisting in the cultivation of the place, and there forming correct habits and laying the foundations of his future career. After his marriage he commenced improv- ing and caring for a farm of seventy acres, which he purchased of his father- in-law, and this place is the fine homestead which he operates at the present time. He has added to the original Immel farm a portion of his maternal grandfather's land, and now has two hundred and twenty acres in one body, besides having sold sixty acres to his sons. He has raised a general line of grain, hay and other crops commonly grown in this latitude, and has made a business of feeding cattle and hogs for the market.
On the 3d of April, 1851, Mr. Coddington married Miss Catherine Immel, a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Smith) Immel. The parents were both natives of Pennsylvania, as was likewise Mrs. Coddington, whose birth occurred July 6, 1829. They removed to Indiana, about 1831, and were accompanied by John and Jacob Immel, brothers of Joseph Immel. The three settled upon farms in Brownsville township, their homes being within sight of one another. John Immel left four sons, -Andrew Jackson (now deceased), Thomas J., George W. and James Benton. Jacob has one son, James Benton, now residing near the line of Boone and Montgomery counties, Indiana. Jacob Immel's daughters were Elizabeth (Mrs. H. Stoughton, deceased), and Ella, who is the wife of W. W. Leviston, of Lib- erty, Indiana. Mrs. Coddington is one of eight children, four of whom have passed to the better land. Their father, a man loved and honored by all who had the pleasure of knowing him, died on his old farm when in his sixty- ninth year. The wife and mother survived him some twelve years.
The marriage of our subject and wife was blessed with five sons and one daughter, of whom Homer, the eldest, is at home; Emmett is living on the old Yaryan place; Lucy is the wife of John C. LaFuze Turner, of Greene county, Missouri; Clinton is at home; Benjamin F., living a mile and a half
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