USA > Indiana > Union County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 37
USA > Indiana > Fayette County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 37
USA > Indiana > Franklin County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 37
USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 37
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In 1870, the Doctor married Miss Nancy M. Day, of Washington, Ohio, a native of that state and a daughter of Thomas L. Day. Two sons and two daughters have been born to our subject and wife, namely: Helena Florence, a successful teacher in the Hagerstown public schools; Thomas, a printer by trade and a resident of Richmond; Adda M., who was graduated in the class of 1898 in the Hagerstown high school; and Robert, who is attending school and is at home.
Dr. Thurston is an honored member of the Masonic order and is a Knight of Pythias. Politically he is a Republican. In 1888 he was made trustee of Jefferson township, in which capacity he served for one terin in a most accept- able manner to the public. Socially he occupies a distinguished position, to which he is justly entitled by his broad and liberal mind, his excellent attain- ments, and his high and exemplary character.
JAMES MCNEILL.
James McNeill is of the most enterprising citizens of Richmond, having been engaged in active business here for many years and having taken an interested part in the maintenance of the educational and commercial affairs of the place. He has fostered numerous local industries and contributed much of his means and influence to various undertakings calculated to bene- fit the people of this community.
Captain John McNeill, the father of our subject, was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and was born in the northern part of Ireland. When he was very young the family removed to Liverpool, England, where the boy, becoming infatuated with what he saw and heard of life on ship-board, improved an opportunity to go to sea as one of a crew, and from the time he was nine
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until he was sixteen he sailed upon the ocean. At length he concluded to try his fortunes in the United States, and though he located upon a farm in Clermont county, Ohio, and attended to the cultivation of the place, he was also a pilot and captain on a line of boats running to New Orleans for a num- ber of years, bought and sold hogs and cattle and was engaged in various gen- eral business transactions. In his later years he was a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church. He married Lovie Stairs, and of their thirteen chil- dren all but one grew to maturity and lived to attain three-score years or more.
James McNeill, born in Clermont county, Ohio, February 22, 1833, passed his boyhood on the old farm with his six brothers and six sisters. When he was about seventeen the gold excitement in California drew him to the Pacific coast, where for three years he worked in the mines. Return- ing home and feeling the need of a better education than he had as yet acquired, he became a student in Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, at the head of which institution at that time was the celebrated Horace Mann, the most noted educator in the United States. At intervals for the ensuing seven years, Mr. McNeill remained in the college, teaching a portion of the time and graduating in 1859, after having completed a five-years course. Subsequently he taught school at Laurel and Moscow, Clermont county, and then accepted the position of professor of Latin and Greek in Merom College, in Sullivan county, Indiana. After filling the last named place for two years he carried on a large school in Hagerstown, Indiana, for four years, or until 1869, when he was honored by being elected to the superintendency of the public schools of Richmond. During a period of four years he efficiently met the requirements of that difficult and important posi- tion, after which he organized the Richmond Normal and taught in the insti- tution for a year. In the meantime he had erected a house on the site of the present high school, and this property he sold to the city of Richmond, which used the house as a high school, and a few years later put up the large high-school building now in use.
Hoping to improve his health, Mr. McNeill went to California, in 1874, and after passing the winter there he returned and engaged in the buying and selling of city lots and building houses, which he sold. In 1877 he was called to a professorship in Antioch College, where for two years he was in charge of the normal department. His health once more broken down, he returned to Richmond, where he has since devoted his attention to the real- estate business, which he finds less taxing than educational work. He has built and sold over two hundred houses and has succeeded admirably in his various enterprises. Among other things he is interested in the production of oil in Jay county, this state, and is president of the Richmond Oil & Gas Company, which he assisted in organizing in 1894. For two or more years
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Mr. McNeill served as city commissioner of Richmond; and for five years, from 1870 to 1885, he was county examiner, serving as such until the offices of county and city superintendent were made two distinct positions. Years ago he belonged to the Christian church, but of late years he has been a Spiritualist. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic order.
In 1856 Mr. McNeill married Miss Mary J. Fee, of Clermont county, Ohio, and their four sons are prosperous and influential business men and citizens of the several places in which they make their homes. Jerome, the eldest, is a professor of biology in the University of Arkansas, and is a grad- ate of the University of Indiana; Gregg Fee, the second son, is the passenger ticket agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad at Minneapolis, Minnesota; Harry F. is the agent for the same railroad at Spokane, Washington; and Howard R. is superintendent of the large cooperage interests of Graff Broth- ers, with headquarters at Cleveland, Ohio.
WILLIAM PARRY.
In the death of the honored subject of this memoir there passed away another member of that little group of distinctively representative business men who were the pioneers in inaugurating the development and upbuilding of the states of the Mississippi valley. His name is familiar not alone to the residents of Richmond and Wayne county, but to all who have been in the least intimately informed as to the history of eastern Indiana. He was identified with this section of the state from 1827 until his death in April, 1894, and contributed to its material progress and prosperity to an extent equaled by but few of his contemporaries. He early had the sagacity and prescience to discern the eminence which the future had in store for this great and grow- ing section of the country, and, acting in accordance with the dictates of his faith and judgment, he garnered, in the fullness of time, the generous harvest which is the just recompense of indomitable industry, spotless integrity and marvelous enterprise. Few lives furnish so striking an example of the wise application of sound principles and safe conservatism as does his. The story of his success is short and simple, containing no exciting chapters, but in it lies one of the most valuable secrets of the great prosperity which it records, -the record of a life consistent with itself and its possibilities in every particular.
Mr. Parry was born July 20, 1810, in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, a son of Joseph and Sarah (Webster) Parry, who were also natives of the same county, the father born December 1, 1788, the inother January 27, 1789. The former died September 1, 1870, and the latter April 5, 1861. They were the parents of eight children. When a young man of seventeen years William Parry came with his parents to Wayne county, and here worked
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at the plasterer's trade until 1844, when he assumed the management of the old home farm, thus relieving his father of that labor. In 1850 he purchased the property, and conducted it most successfully. His business interests were managed with such care and energy that he gained a handsome compe- tence thereby, and was accordingly enabled to extend his labors into other fields. He was a most progressive and public-spirited man, and, realizing the value which good roads and transportation facilities are to a locality, he was largely instrumental in securing these for Wayne county, and thus contributed materially to its prosperity and welfare. In 1859 he became engaged on the construction of the turnpike between Richmond and Williamsburg, was made president of the company having the work in charge, and continued to fill that office until his death. He was president of the Wayne Turnpike Com- pany from 1858 until 1871, but at the latter date was compelled to resign on account of the pressing duties connected with his railroad and other business interests. In 1868 he was elected to the presidency of the Cincinnati, Rich- mond & Fort Wayne Railroad Company, and to his wise management, sound judgment and enterprise in this regard the success of the road is largely due. It proved, too, of the greatest benefit to this section of the state, connecting the home markets with the outside world and thus advancing commercial activity, upon which the growth and development so largely depend.
While extensive business affairs largely engrossed the time and attention of Mr. Parry, he yet found opportunity to devote to his duties of citizenship, and was many times called to public office. Again and again he was elected a member of the city council of Richmond, and for nineteen consecutive years was township trustee, being the first to fill that office after its creation. His duties were discharged in the most faithful manner, and he was ever zealous in his advocacy of the measures and movements calculated to pro- mote the educational, moral and material interests of his adopted county.
In 1833 Mr. Parry was united in marriage to Miss Mary Hill, daughter of Robert Hill. She was born in Wayne county, Indiana. in 1813, and by her marriage became the mother of twelve children.
WALTER HAMLYN.
Walter Hamlyn was born in Devonshire, England, in 1847, and is a son of Richard and Mary (Hex) Hamlyn, of that country. The father was one of three brothers,-Richard, John and William-who came to America in 1848. John and William made their homes in Ohio, while Richard settled in Franklin county, Indiana, where he engaged in farming. He was a hard- working, capable man, and a member of the Christian church. His deatlı occurred in 1859, in the prime of his life, he being but little past fifty years. His wife is now a resident of Butler county, Ohio, and is in her eighty-sixth
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year. Their children are, James; Harriet, wife of Moses Hyler, of Butler county, Ohio; Betsey Elizabeth (Mrs. David Inloes) deceased; Mary (Mrs. Thomas Thompson), deceased; Walter; Thomas; Richard; and Sarah, wife of Charles Blackford, of Eldorado, Ohio.
Walter Hamlyn is among the most prominent citizens of Brookville, having grown to manhood in this county and gaining the friendship and good will of every one. At the age of thirteen years he began to earn wages, working for Frank Struggle. He remained with thisemployer some thirteen years and continued at farm work by the month until his marriage to Miss Eudora Cleaver, of Drewersburg, in October, 1870. Mrs. Hamlyn is a daugh- ter of Samuel and Sarah (Jeanes) Cleaver, and is the eldest of a family of four children, all of whom are living. They are Eudora, John, Rolla, and Ida. Some time after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Hamlyn moved to Fay- ette county, where they resided about four years. then returning to Brookville. They remained there a short time and then removed to Preble county, Ohio, where they resided about four years. Soon after returning to Brookville the second time, Mr. Hamlyn received the appointment as superintendent of the Children's Home, and took charge of it in 1889. Prior to 1882 the children were kept in the county asylum for the poor, but in July of that year they were taken from that institution and placed in the care of Miss Hanna, and not only were their physical wants supplied, but their educational and spirit- ual needs were looked after as well. The Hanna homestead was located on the east fork of the Whitewater, five miles from Brookville, and this was the children's home until their present quarters were established, in 1889. The location selected for the site of the present home is adjoining the county farm, and many additions and improvements have been added since Mr. Hamlyn and his wife have been in charge. His previous experience at the county home showed him to be the man for the place, and the care exercised in every detail of the management proves the excellence of the choice. The closest economy is practiced consistent with the comfort and welfare of the inmates, who now number sixteen, and the work done by Mr. Hamlyn and his most excellent wife is appreciated by the public no less than by the children, who hold them in great affection.
JOSEPH CORRINGTON.
This prominent citizen of Union county was born in the eastern part of Butler county, Ohio, January 22, 1816, the son of Samuel and Ruth (Dicker- son) Corrington. The Corrington family is of old English ancestry, domi- ciled in New Jersey, however, before the Revolution. Joseph Corrington, grandfather of the subject of this review, removed from New Jersey to Cin- cinnati in 1792, when Samuel was six years of age. Soon after this, Mr.
Joseph Currington
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Sims, the father-in-law of General W. H. Harrison, obtained a grant of the lands lying between the Miami rivers; and to open the country for settlement he made public proclamation that he would deed without cash payment, the northeastern sixth part of each section in fee simple to such settlers as would locate thereon and make the improvements necessary to develop a home.
Among the number accepting this offer, as early as or before 1795, was Joseph Corrington; and to this unbroken wilderness, peopled with all kinds of wild game, he brought his wife and three children, -Samuel, Margaret and Freeman. When Samuel was eight or ten years old his parents went away from home, leaving the children under charge of Samuel, with strict instruc- tions, however, for him not to touch the gun. He was an obedient lad, but when a drove of wild turkeys marched by the house he forgot all instructions and brought down a large fat gobbler, which was a timely addition to the fam- ily larder. This farm was the lifelong residence of these worthy pioneers and here came these other children to bless their home: Isaac, Elizabeth, Lina, Fanny, Joseph, John and Ezra. All are now dead, and after years of honest and useful life the honored parents peacefully sleep their last sleep in the little family burying-ground on their own land, which is still in possession of the family.
Samuel Corrington, born in New Jersey. August 29, 1786, married, in 18II, Ruth, daughter of Walter and Penelope (Heaton) Dickerson: she was probably born in New Jersey. She came at an early age to Warren county, Ohio, with her parents, who were long representative farmers of that section, and there she was reared to womanhood. Mr. Corrington became a fine worker in wood, excelled in cabinet work and resided near the Miami home of his parents nearly all of his life. He was in the war of 1812, and on account of his skill as a workman was employed the. most of his period of service in the ship-yards at Fort Meigs. His last years were passed in Liberty, Indiana, with his son Joseph, aind here he died on March 29, 1872. His wife, Ruth, died in Ohio July 20, 1832. Their children were: Washing- ton; Walter; Joseph; Stephen, who died young; Eliza, born in November, 1818; Mary, born in 1820, married John Calhoun and lives in Peoria, Illinois; Samuel, deceased; Nancy, deceased; and Ellen, deceased. Washington is living in Peoria, Illinois, aged eighty-seven years; Eliza married William H. Linn and lives near Crawfordsville, Indiana. The family were Methodists in faith, like their pioneer ancestors, and in politics the voters have been unswervingly Whig and Republican, with one exception, since the days of Jackson, when they were Democrats.
Walter Dickerson, Sr., was born June 26, 1763, and died October 1, 1855. He married, on March 24, 1785, Penelope Heaton, who was born December 6, 1762, and died November 22, 1849. Coming early to Warren 54
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county, Ohio, Mr. Dickerson lived most of his life there, but in 1811 sold out and settled on college land at Oxford, Ohio, and in 1836 went with his children to Indiana and died near Terre Haute. He was a pensioner of the Revolution. His children were Caleb, born March 14, 1786; Elizabeth, born June 29, 1787; Samuel. born April 4, 1789; John, born February 5, 1791; Ruth (Mrs. Samuel Corrington), born August 19, 1792; Walter, born October 11, 1794; Penelope, born October 13, 1796; Martha, born Septem- ber 2, 1798; Nancy, born October 18, 1800; Mary, born February 27, 1803, and Daniel, born December 21, 1804.
Joseph Corrington, now an honored resident of Liberty, Indiana, lived at home until he was passed eighteen, aiding in the hard physical labor by which, with slight remuneration, the hardy pioneers reduced forests to culti- vated fields and rendered possible the civilization of to-day. Here he acquired strength, activity and endurance, and was taught those practical virtues of economy, frugality and thrift that have been such potent factors in his successful career. Working out by the month until he was twenty- three, and carefully preserving his earnings, he had inoney enough to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of government land, near Terre Haute. He married, however, on January 19, 1842, Eliza, the daughter of Philetus and Rebecca (Clark) Munson, and traded his land for a place on which was a cabin, where the young couple commenced their frugal housekeeping. Mr. Corrington passed his honeymoon in cutting cord-wood to pay for the rent of a field which he put into corn. The disposition of this crop indicates so clearly the thoughtful sagacity of Mr. Corrington and his wise perception of the fundamental principles of successful business life that we place it on record to be read with profit by young men emulous of attaining his promi- nence as a financier. To draw this crop to market, where the price received would be twelve and a half cents a bushel, would require a long day of time. for himself and a team, to market twenty-five bushels, not a great return surely. His fertile brain suggested the feeding of the corn to hogs, but he had no money to buy them. He sought, however, and obtained the endorsement of his father-in-law to a note for the purchase money of the hogs, and it was not long before he had thirty-seven good, fat hogs, from whose sale he real- ized two hundred dollars.
Living on this first place of residence for nearly six years, Mr. Corring- ton purchased one hundred and fourteen and three-quarter acres adjoining his home and made his residence on this place. From this time on his industry and ability placed him on the road to prosperity. He continued farming until 1855, adding land from time to time to his possessions and selling tracts occasionally where good sales could be made. He became extensively known as a practical farmer of high ability, -one who made everything count. InI
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1855, having disposed of his land, he engaged in merchandising at Dunlaps- ville and was in flourishing trade for nine years. The desire for agriculture again came to him, and selling his store he purchased the quarter-section of fine land, in Brownsville township, where his daughter, Mrs. B. F. Snyder, now resides. For thirteen years he conducted this farm, but his mental and physical labors were not confined to the cultivation of these acres. He had become a capitalist with a keen eye to good investments, and a wide-awake knowledge of where these investments were to be found. He had frequently come into contact with financiers of known ability, and they had learned to know and respect his power in this field, as well, also, as his simple, unas- suming manners and his sterling integrity. So it came to pass that, in Janu- ary, 1880, he was chosen president of the First National Bank of Liberty, of which he was a large stockholder, and he served in this office until the bank building was burned and the bank wound up its affairs. He moved to his present residence twenty-three years ago.
Mr. Corrington has very shrewdly invested in real estate from time to time. In 1869 he purchased for a few thousand dollars a farm of three hun- dred and sixty acres, near Rantoul, Champaign county, Illinois, for which he has been offered twenty-eight thousand dollars. He purchased his present home of two hundred and ten acres in 1876, owns three hundred and two acres in Union township, two hundred and twenty-seven acres in one tract in Liberty township, eighty-five acres in another tract and fifty acres in another part of the same township, and owns four hundred and eighty acres in Nebraska. He also owns much valuable property, business blocks, etc., in the village of Liberty, and in 1882 built the four-story hotel, the Corrington House, in Liberty, which is still his property. Though past the hale old age of " four-score years," his eye is undimmed, his mind is keen and active, and he stands at the head of all his extensive business operations, conducting them with youthful vigor and acuteness, and with such skill that he ranks as one of the wealthiest men in a wide area of territory. He has ever placed himself on the side of the better element of the community, is Methodist in belief, like his parents, and the charities and benefactions of that church find in him a hearty respondent, and he cheerfully aids all good enterprises meet- ing his approval. He voted for Van Buren for president in 1840, for Polk in 1844, for Cass in 1848, for Pierce in 1852, for Fremont in 1856, and since then has been a true Republican.
Mr. Corrington's first wife, as before mentioned, was a daughter of Philetus Munson, a member of the noted Munson family so prominent in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She was born in Butler county, Ohio, where her people were farmers, on August 16, 1818. She died Decem- ber 26, 1853, in Union county, leaving four children: Rebecca (Mrs. George
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Rose) lives at Liberty with her father (her son, Joseph N. Rose, is in the United States service at Washington, D). C., where he is first assistant in botany at the United States National Museum); Samuel, a farmer in Lib- erty township; Mary E. (Mrs. Benjamin F. Snyder) resides about two miles from Liberty; and Stephen M., a large land-owner and capitalist of Cali- fornia. Mr. Corrington married, secondly, on March 27, 1855, Mrs. Eliza- beth R. Shumway, whose maiden name was McDonald. Her death occurred at the family residence in Liberty, on April 2, 1899, at the advanced age of more than eighty-seven years. Her memory is fondly cherished by a host of friends. . This sketch can be fittingly closed by a condensed extract from an obituary notice published in the Liberty Herald: " Among the British sol- diers who came to this country in the days of the Revolution to subdue the colonists was a sturdy Scotchman named John McDonald. When the war was over he married a lady of Virginia and became a citizen of that state. He soon became a patriot of the patriots, and when the war of 1812 com- menced he had a son, also John McDonald, who went as a soldier to defend the flag of the new republic. Just previous to his enlistment there came into his home a little daughter. They called her Elizabeth. She was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, on January 31, 1812. The feet of that daughter trav- eled across almost a century of time. Through winter and summer, through storm and sunshine, her footfalls were heard on life's highway, for eighty- seven years. Her parents died when she was quite young, and she went to live with her grandparents. In after years, when they were old and help- less, she repaid their kindness by her loving care. By her marriage to Mr. Shumway, in 1831, she had six children, of whom two, Mrs. Milo Stanton, of Liberty, and Mrs. Van Eaton, of Thornton, Indiana, survived her, as did twelve grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Mrs. Corrington was of a very religious disposition. From her twentieth year she was a member of the Presbyterian church, and her devotion to her church and the cause of Christ was a marked characteristic of her life. Kind and amiable in a very high degree, she filled a true woman's place in the world during a remark- ably long life."
CHARLES R. WILLIAMS.
Few men are more widely known or more highly respected in the enter- prising city of Connersville than Charles R. Williams. He is public-spirited and progressive and thoroughly interested in whatever tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material welfare of his community. His faithful serv- ice in public life, as well as his personal worth, make the following history of general interest, not only to the readers of the present day, but also to future historians of this section.
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