USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 60
USA > Indiana > Franklin County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 60
USA > Indiana > Union County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 60
USA > Indiana > Fayette County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 60
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A native of the Fatherland, he was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, May 1, 1832, his parents being John and Mary Getz, who spent their entire lives in that kingdom. Their family numbered five children. At an early age Jacob Getz was left an orphan and received no patrimony, for his father was in limited circumstances. His educational privileges were therefore meager, as in early life he was thrown upon his own resources. He worked at vari- ous kinds of employment that would yield him an honest living, until at length he resolved to try his fortune in America, and in 1854 crossed the Atlantic to the United States. He first located in New Jersey, where he made his home for three years, going thence to Ohio in 1857. The follow- ing year he came to Richmond, Indiana, where he resided until his death. He was employed in the oil mill until the spring of 1861, but at that time he. put aside all personal considerations in order to respond to the call of his. adopted country for aid. The trouble between the north and south had at length resulted in hostilities and he resolved to strike a blow in defense of the Union. On the 20th of April, he joined the command of Captain M. M .. Lacey, which became Company D, Eighth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers. He served for three months, and was then honorably discharged August 5, 1861, but on the 28th of the same month he re-enlisted in Company C, Sec- ond Indiana Cavalry, for three years under Captain Joseph W. Starr, hold- ing the rank of corporal. He participated in the battles of Pittsburg Land- ing, Vinegar Hill, and others, and was honorably discharged October 4, 1864. He was a brave and loyal soldier, ever found at his post of duty in the faith- ful discharge of the task assigned to him. In the thickest of the fight he never faltered, and with an honorable military record he returned to his home.
In the fall of 1864 Mr. Getz again began work in the oil mill, and the fact that he was given his old position is an unmistakable evidence of his ability and trustworthiness. He continued there for seven years, or until 1871, when he opened a grocery store at No. 829 North Tenth street, where-
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he remained until 1892, when he retired to private life, turning over the business to his son John, who still conducts the store. He was a successful merchant and built up a large trade by reason of his honorable methods, his earnest desire to please his patrons and the good line of stable and fancy groceries which he carried. He was industrious, economical and discrim- inating, and his prosperity was well merited.
On the 8th of November, 1866, Mr. Getz was united in marriage to Set- tie Scheibler, a native of Switzerland and a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Scheibler, who spent their entire lives in that country. She came to Amer- ica in 1855 with her brother John, and resided in Hagerstown, Wayne county, until 1861, since which time she has made her home in Richmond .. By the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Getz were born four children, two of whom died in infancy. The living are John J. and Clara E. The former conducts. the grocery store and the latter is at home with her mother.
In politics Mr. Getz was a Democrat but took no active part in the work of the party, preferring to devote his energies to his business interests. He was a consistent and devout Christian, and saw in his deliverance from death in battle and triumph over many obstacles the protection of the Divine Hand. He was a member of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church, served as elder for many years, contributed liberally to its support, and was a most active worker in its behalf. He was also an esteemed member of Harmony Lodge, I. O. O. F., and of the German Benevolent Society. He died November 17, 1895, and the community mourned the loss of one of its pro- gressive men and patriotic citizens, his associates a faithful friend, and his family a loving husband and father. His hopes of gaining a comfortable liv- ing in America was not only realized but to his family he left a very desirable competence. Mrs. Getz still occupies the old home at No. 829 North Tenth street. In 1891 she visited Europe, went to England and France and thence to Switzerland, where she visited her three sisters and a brother. She then traveled through the principal cities and places of interest in Germany, after which she returned home. She crossed the Atlantic with Mr. and Mrs. David Horner, but made the return trip alone. She and her family are members of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church, and are most highly esteemed in Richmond.
WILLIAM TEST.
William Test, the founder of the Richmond Woolen Mills, now con- ducted by James W. Test & Company, woolen manufacturers of Richmond, Indiana, was born near Dunlapsville, Union county, Indiana, April 21, 1830. His parents were Samuel and Hannah (Jones) Test. The mother was a native of Pennsylvania and the grandfather, Samuel Test, Sr., was born in New Jersey, from which state he came to Cincinnati. He operated a woolen. 33
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mill at Covington, Kentucky, for several years and later located on a farm at Quakertown. He then moved to Richmond, where he died in his eighty- fifth year. While on the farm at Quakertown, his son, Samuel Test, Jr., father of our subject, erected a woolen mill at that place, the building at present being used by J. Milton Stanton, as his store. Mr. Test conducted this mill until 1835, when he sold it and came to Richmond, where he built a carding mill on the site of the present woolen mill. He also engaged in the manufacture of cotton yarns. After his death, which occurred August 10, 1849, during the cholera epidemic, when he was about fifty years old, his plant was discontinued. The old farm is now the home of his son Oliver. His family consisted of seven sons, namely: Josiah; Zaccheus, a literary scholar, educated in German, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and a teacher of Greek and Latin in the Richmond high school; William, the subject of this biography; Rufus, who was associated in business with his brothers William and Josiah; Oliver, who now resides on a farm and is in the ice business; Erastus, a professor in Purdue University, at Lafayette, Indiana; and Linley M., in the insurance business in Peru, this state.
The three brothers, William, Josiah and Oliver, bought a woolen factory at Hagerstown, April 11, 1854. This they enlarged and improved, and operated it for many years. Josiah died in 1864, and Rufus (who had taken the place of Oliver in the firm) and William purchased his interest in the business. The firm was now known as William Test & Brother, manufact- urers. The original capital was six thousand dollars, but this was largely increased by their extensive trade. It had in later years become a manufactory of woolen goods and yarns and did a flourishing business, giving employment to from twenty-five to thirty hands. The present plant at Rich- mond was purchased soon after the war, by William, Rufus and Oliver. Alpheus Test, the youngest brother of their father, had put it in operation in 1857 and had operated it for nearly ten years when the brothers bought it, paying therefor the sum of sixteen thousand dollars. It was then manufact- uring all kinds of woolen goods and yarns. This plant was soon afterward destroyed by fire, and the brothers suffered an almost total loss, except for a small amount of insurance. They rebuilt on a much larger scale, adding a separate mill about an eighth of a mile below, almost on the site of their father's old mill, which employs some twenty hands and is devoted to the manufacture of yarns. They put in all the latest improvements, self-operat- ing mules, etc., and made up nearly one hundred thousand pounds of wool annually. Rufus retained the management at Hagerstown, while Oliver and William were in charge of the plant here. Then the hard times came and many of their debtors failed, causing them a loss of about thirty-five thou- sand dollars. The Hagerstown property was disposed of and the company
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here was reorganized under the name of James W. Test & Company, Rufus and William both retiring from the firm.
William Test was married in October, 1859, to Miss Emily Woodard, a daughter of Josiah and Millie Woodard, whose home was near Fountain City, Indiana. She died March 9, 1893. Their family consisted of Hannah M., who was a teacher in the country and city schools until her mother's death, since which time she is staying at home; Wilhelmina, a stenographer and typewriter in Peru, Indiana; James W .; William H., who is a graduate of Purdue University, and has occupied the chair as assistant professor of chem- try in that institution for the past six years; and Emily Janet, a student in the Richmond high school.
James W. Test is the manager of the present company, and has proven himself to be a man of remarkable business ability. He was married October 9, 1895, to Miss Grace Emswiler, of Peru, Indiana, and two bright children have blessed their home,-Sarah Emily and Philip Emswiler. William Test has two daughters belonging to the Friends church at Richmond. The family are well and favorably known, and stand high in the community.
HENRY H. MOORE, M. D.
An honored old citizen of Liberty, Union county, is the gentleman whose name stands at the beginning of this sketch. For more than half a century he labored unceasingly in his profession, striving to do all in his power toward the amelioration of the "ills to which flesh is heir," and succeeding to a gratifying degree in his noble endeavors.
A native of Frankford, Franklin county, Kentucky, born October 16, 1816, the Doctor is a son of Timothy and Mary (Burt) Moore, the former of Kentucky and of Virginia ancestry and the latter likewise a native of Ken- tucky. In 1831 the family removed to the vicinity of Marion, Hendricks county, Indiana, and there the father died when eighty-seven years of age, having survived his wife, who had died when in her sixty-ninth year.
The early days of our subject, Henry Harrison Moore, were spent in farm- ing and in the acquisition of an education, after which he engaged in teaching for a few terms. He took up the study of medicine at Brownsburg, Hen- dricks county, with Dr. Thomas Griffith, who died in 1848. Dr. Moore then assumed the responsibility of his former preceptor's practice, and at the end of about four years went to Indianapolis, Indiana, and pursued a course in the Central Medical College. After he had been successfully occupied in practice in Brownsville for nineteen years the Doctor sought a wider field of enterprise, and for the next fifteen years was located in Indianapolis, where he built up a very extensive patronage. In 1874 he came to Liberty, where he has since made his home and carried on a general practice. After leav-
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ing Brownsville, he was frequently called back in special cases, from the capital, for his old patients were very loth to give him up. During the civil war Governor Morton sent him to the front to look after our sick and suffer- ing soldier boys, and for several weeks he worked night and day in the hos- pital at Whitehouse Landing, Tennessee. He has been city physician in Liberty and has been identified with various medical societies. Though a "doctor of the old school," he favors mild treatment in most cases and is averse to the use of strong drugs, believing, most of all, in the efficacy of good nursing and the use of nature's simple remedies. In his political views he has been a stanch Republican since the party was organized, and it would be hard to find a truer patriot or more public-spirited citizen. Temperate throughout his life, upright, just and honorable in all his dealings, a worthy member and now an elder in the Christian church, his career is one of which his children have reason to be proud, and when the summons comes to him, he will surely hear the verdict on his life: " Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
In 1859 the marriage of Dr. Moore and Emeline Swaim was solemnized in Brownsburg. She was a loving helpmate, a loyal companion and friend, and was admired and respected by every one. Six years ago she passed into the silent land, dying in her home at Liberty, of typhoid pneumonia, which dread disease she had conquered twice before. Three children born to the Doctor and wife survive: Henry Clay, after serving one enlistment in the Indiana Volunteer Infantry in the Spanish-American war, has enlisted in the United States regular army for service in the Philippines; Monterey is the wife of Dr. Clay McConnell, of Oxford, Indiana; and Sarah J. is the wife of C. E. Hughes, a merchant of Liberty (see his sketch), with whom Dr. Moore is now making his home.
EVERETT R. BEARD, M. D.
In the early settlement and subsequent history of Union county the ancestors and relatives of Dr. Everett Riley Beard were prominent. His great-grandfather, William Beard, was born in Guilford county, North Caro- lina, December 6, 1787, and married there Rachel Pearson. In 1816 he · came to what is now Union county, and entered land in Center township, there passing the rest of his useful life. His death took place October 6, 1873. In his youth he had learned the potter's trade, and this calling he followed to some extent, in connection with agriculture. For his day he was considered a man of much knowledge, and he not only practiced medicine for a period, but preached to congregations of the Society of Friends, with which organization he was connected, and for more than half a century he did not fail to keep his appointments as a minister of the gospel. His great
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heart was filled with love and sympathy for the poor and oppressed, and at an early day he enlisted in the earnest fight against slavery which at last resulted in the breaking of the shackles which bound millions of the colored race in the south. The fugitive slave found in him one ready to aid with food, shelter and clothing, -one who was ready to put aside all other business in order to help him on his way toward freedom, and besides this he gave much time and money to the great cause. Twice he was chosen as solicitor for aid for runaway slaves, and traveled in the eastern states on this errand, and twice he was selected by his religious brethren to distribute money and sup- plies to those who had been fortunate enough to cross the Canadian border. He made the long trip on horseback and met many whom he had personally assisted years before. In politics he was a Whig and Republican. His wife, Rebecca, died April 6, 1856. Their children were named as follows: Mary, Elizabeth, John, Abigail, Sarah, Thomas, Phœbe, Lida, Elihu, William, Hannah and George.
The Doctor's grandparents were John and Catherine (DuBois) Beard. The former was born in North Carolina, and was a pioneer of Indiana. The old house, which he built of brick made on the premises, is still standing on the old home place, two miles east of Liberty, and has but recently passed out of the possession of the family. He helped put up the first log cabin in the woods on the present site of Richmond, and during the several years in which he was a county commissioner he assisted in the construction of the largest bridge in the county, an old-style covered bridge, but two specimens of which order are now standing in the county. The original parchment deed to the tract of land which he owned here, signed by James Monroe and dated in 1818, is now in the hands of the Doctor, his grandson. He was a stock- holder in the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad and aided in getting the road through this county. He was one of the most extensive buyers of live stock in the county at one time, and drove cattle to Cincinnati, where he found a ready market. One of the founders of the Quaker church in this state, he preached its doctrines for years in the pulpit and was an earnest supporter of the work. He died in 1893, aged nearly eighty years. His widow, who came from an old Quaker family, still represented in this county, was two years his junior, and survived him but two weeks. They owned over one thousand acres of land here at one time, and to each of their chil- dren they gave a farm, reserving but a quarter-section of land for themselves. Alexander lives on a farm adjoining the old homestead; Oscar is a resident of Harrison township; Wellington owns a home in Center township; Allen lives on the old home place; Alonzo and Elihu are citizens of Liberty; John died at the age of nineteen years; and Delphina married Daniel Maxwell, of Liberty.
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Oscar Beard, father of our subject, is still living on his farm in Harrison township, but the wife and mother, whose maiden name was Mary Nutter, died about two years ago. She was a daughter of Benjamin Nutter, an early settler in these parts, formerly of Virginia. The old Nutter homestead is the one adjoining that of Oscar Beard. The latter started out in his independent career as the owner of eighty acres of wild land, and later added a tract of of similar size to his original farm. He has improved the whole, and long since was ranked as one of the practical, thrifty farmers of his locality. He is a member of the Christian church and is highly esteemed by all who know him.
Dr. Everett R. Beard is an only son, born April 11, 1871, on the parental homestead. He received superior educational advantages, being graduated in 1893 in Miami University, at Oxford, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in 1897 the degree of Doctor of Medicine was bestowed upon him at the time of his completion of the medical course of the Ohio Medical College, in Cincinnati. At college he gained unusual honors, and in the final oratorical contests he came off victor. For some time he was editor of the college societies paper, was prominent in the Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and in 1893 was its delegate to the national convention of the order in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Dr. Beard has built up a good practice in Liberty and is rapidly winning the commendation of the public and his professional brethren. He is now the secretary and treasurer of the Union County Medical Society and is a member of the local medical society. Socially he is connected with the Order of Red Men.
On the Ist of September, 1897, Dr. Beard married Miss Jennie Agnes McElroy, who had been a student at Western College, in Oxford, when he was attending college there, and graduated in June, 1897. Mrs. Beard, who was born and grew to womanhood in Ottumwa, Iowa, is a daughter of Rev. J. M. McElroy, an early settler of that place, and the founder of the first Presbyterian church there. He is a graduate of Washington and Jefferson University, of Pennsylvania, and of Princeton Theological Seminary, and for years was a member of the faculty of Salem Academy, at Salem, Ohio. Mrs. Beard is an active member of the church in whose doctrines she was reared.
CHARLES E. HUGHES.
One of the enterprising merchants of Liberty is Charles E. Hughes, who has been the proprietor of a general store here for several years, and who is ranked with the representative citizens of this place. He is an Odd Fellow of twenty-five years standing, has passed all the chairs in the local lodge and is a member of the grand lodge and encampment. He is a very active and zealous Republican and -tr ves to do his whole duty as a citizen and voter. In
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the Presbyterian church he has been an elder for the past fifteen years, and both he and his estimable wife are valued members of the congregation and workers in the Sunday-school.
Dr. Francis Hughes, the father of the above named gentleman, was one of the early practitioners of Liberty. He was a member of one of the pioneer families in Franklin county, Indiana, his father, John Hughes, hav- ing emigrated here from Virginia. His mother, whose maiden name was Mary Ogden, was a native of New Jersey. Dr. Francis Hughes married Miss Mary Adams, who was born and reared in the same neighborhood as himself, Fairfield, Franklin county, and two children were born to them, namely: Charles E. and Prudence, the latter now the wife of Joseph Landis, of Chi- cago. For two or more years Dr. Hughes practiced in Kingston, Decatur county, Indiana, after which he settled in Liberty, and had been here about as long when death put an abrupt end to his labors. His death was par- ticularly sad, owing to the causes which led up to it. A dreadful epidemic of typhoid fever was prevalent in this vicinity . at that time, -the winter and spring of 1852, -and medical services were at a premium. The young doc- tor rode night and day from the bedside of one patient to another, sparing himself not in the least, and even attempting to nurse some of his friends. There were five deaths in one family alone, and terror seemed to reign supreme, especially in Harrison township. At last the Doctor was stricken, and died in April, aged but twenty-seven years, and four weeks afterward the death summons came to his sorrowing wife, who was likewise a victim of the disease. The two orphans were reared in the home of their maternal grand- parents, in Fairfield.
Charles E. Hughes was born October 30, 1851, in Liberty, and returned here with his grandparents when he was fifteen years old, and has since been identified with this town, the place of his birth. His grandfather, William Adams, who took the place of his father toward the boy, was born in North Carolina, in 1799, and came to this state with his parents, settling in Frank- lin county. He married Prudence Powers, and was engaged in farming until two years prior to his death, in 1868. His widow survived him about ten years, dying at the age of seventy-four.
When seventeen years old Charles E. Hughes entered the commercial world by becoming a clerk for David Gibson, a dry-goods merchant of Liberty. He remained with that firm until 1879, which year he opened a grocery on his own account. He has since been actively and successfully engaged in business here, and in February, 1893, extended his trade mate- rially by adding a stock of dry-goods, boots and shoes, clothing, etc. For two years he was associated with Benjamin F. Adams, his mother's brother, an old merchant and for thirty-three years a citizen of Liberty.
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On the Ist of December, 1880, Charles E. Hughes married Miss Sadie Moore, daughter of Dr. Moore, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Four children have blessed the hearts and home of our subject and wife. The three elder ones, Herbert, Hazel and Hallie, are attending school, and baby Harold, now two and a half years old, is the sunshine of the household.
BENJAMIN L. MARTIN.
For sixty years Benjamin Lloyd Martin has been a resident of Wayne county, and has been identified with many of the interests that have con- tributed to its substantial development and improvement. His probity, fidel- ity and sterling worth have won him the unqualified confidence of his fellow townsmen, and now, in the evening of life, his pathway is brightened by the veneration and respect which ever follow an upright career.
Mr. Martin was born December 27, 1806, in Coventry, Chester county, Pennsylvania, at the village where iron was first manufactured in the Key- stone state. The family is of English and Welsh lineage, and his early ancestors were among the first settlers of Pennsylvania and Delaware. George Martin, one of the uncles of our subject, was a minister of the Society of Friends. John and Ruth (Stephens) Martin, the parents of our subject, spent their early life in the east, and in 1837 took up their abode in Wayne county, Indiana, where they remained until 1851, when they joined their son, Nathan W., who had settled in Linn county, Iowa. There they spent the remainder of their days, the father dying in his ninety-first year, the mother in her ninety-third year. Many times their son Benjamin visited them in their Iowa home, and he was present at the burial of both the father and mother. The former, while in Wayne county, was the owner of a sawmill at Goshen and also had a small farm at the middle fork of White- water river.
Reared in the county of his nativity, Benjamin L. Martin there remained until 1839, and when a young man engaged in hanling freight across the mountains to Pittsburg, Wheeling, and even to Columbus, Ohio, using six- horse teams and great, high wagons. He is probably the only surviving wag- oner of that period. He was married January 12, 1831, to Sarah Chrisman, and in 1839 came with his family to Wayne county. Through that and the succeeding year he lived in the log cabin a half mile west of Chester. He had come to the west with the intention of engaging in surveying and convey- ancing, but there was no favorable opening in that vocation and he was per- suaded to accept a school. He had previously taught in Pennsylvania, and now engaged in following that profession in Wayne county until 1849, when through the influence of friends he was appointed, by Thomas Adams, to the position of deputy county anditor, in which capacity he served for five
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