USA > Indiana > Union County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 5
USA > Indiana > Fayette County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 5
USA > Indiana > Franklin County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 5
USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 5
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
Abram B. Conwell came to Connersville in 1819 and established a tan- nery, on Eastern avenue. His first purchase of land consisted of but one acre. This he bought of John Conner, the founder of Connersville, and at once erected upon it a fine residence, which is still standing. As time passed. however, and his financial resources increased, he continued to add to his realty possessions until he was a large land-owner, having at one time twelve or fifteen hundred acres. His business interests covered a wide range. He was a man of resourceful and versatile ability, capable of managing varied concerns and carrying all forward to successful completion. He purchased of a Mr. De Camp a mill, and later erected a new one, which he supplied with the latest and best improved machinery. He soon secured an extensive busi- ness in this line, the patrons of the mill coming not only from all over Fayette but from adjoining counties. The farmers would come and camp on the green near by, awaiting their turn to have their grists ground. Mr. Conwell was also one of the leading representatives of the dry-goods business, con- ducting a very large store. He was also engaged in the pork-packing busi- ness for a number of years, his sales in that line amounting to more than six hundred thousand dollars a year. Over fifty years ago he built the Merrell block, for use in his pork-packing industry, and the volume of his business reached mammoth proportions.
Realizing how important to the prosperity and welfare of a community is transportation connection with the outside world, Mr. Conwell became one of the chief promoters of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad, in which he invested sixty thousand dollars, receiving no returns save that which indirectly came through the improvement of the town. In 1836 the state
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projected the Whitewater canal, and after the failure to complete the work a private company was organized for that purpose. Mr. Conwell became the leading spirit in that enterprise and was the heaviest stockholder in the company.
On the 22d of February, 1821, Mr. Conwell was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Sparks, a daughter of Matthew Sparks, then of Franklin county, Indiana, but formerly of Maryland. They became the parents of three children, who grew to mature years: Lafayette, who was associated in business with his father, but is now deceased; Anna K., widow of William Merrell, who was a prominent merchant and banker of Connersville; and Charles K., who died in 1876. In politics Mr. Conwell was a Jacksonian Democrat and took an intelligent and active interest in all political matters, but never aspired to public office. He was one of the early and prominent members of the Masonic fraternity, and was a valued citizen who gave an earnest support to all measures which he believed would prove of public benefit. He was a very successful man and accumulated a handsome estate, but his prosperity could not be attributed to a combination of lucky circum- stances, resulting, instead, from energy, enterprise, integrity and intellectual effort well directed. His business was ever conducted on the strictest princi- ples of honesty, and while it brought him personal success it also contributed to the public good and advancement.
THOMAS W. WORSTER.
Thomas W. Worster is one of the most influential and honored residents of Jennings township, Fayette county, Indiana, and is a member of one of the oldest families in the county. He is a son of James and Nancy (Milner) Worster, and was born on the farm upon which he now resides on February 8, 1828. His grandfather, the Rev. Robert Worster, was a native of England and came to America when a young man in early colonial times. He was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church and enjoyed the dis- tinction of being the first preacher of that denomination west of the Alle- ghany mountains. He first located in Pennsylvania, but later moved to Kentucky, and still later came to this county, where he died, in December, 1830, at the home of his son James. He was a remarkable man in many respects, and was an educator as well as a preacher, having taught school many years in this country. He was enthusiastic and earnest in his work and possessed great powers of endurance. That he was blessed with a hardy constitution, is shown by the extreme age which it was permitted him to attain, as he saw one hundred and one summers come and go. His wife was formerly Mary Gorman, a lady many years his junior, who died February I, 1832. The family have been noted for longevity, and the past and present
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generations are sustaining well the record. A large number of children were born to Robert Worster and wife, all of whom have passed to the great beyond.
James Worster was born in the state of Pennsylvania, December 31, 1782, and was but a lad when his father removed to Kentucky. His early years were spent in running a flat-boat down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. He married Nancy, daughter of Amos Milner and a native of Kentucky: her father was a soldier of the Revolution and in the French and Indian wars, and was at Braddock's defeat. James Worster took part in the earlier engagements of the war of 1812, and in the fall of 1813 came to Brook- ville, Franklin county, this state. Previously he entered a tract of land in Jen- nings township, which has remained in the possession of the family ever since and is now the home of his only surviving son. This was one of the first places settled in this township and at the time it was entered the Indians were still numerous in this section, large numbers of them often being seen hunting for game. Although great numbers of Indians fought with England in the war then in progress, it was seldom that these settlers were molested by those infesting this part of the country, owing in a great measure, no doubt, to the kindness with which the whites invariably treated them. James Worster died on the 29th day of September, 1849, in his sixty-eighth year; and his wife, who was born September 1, 1789, died September 24, 1876. They were industrious and highly respected citizens and were promi- nent in the Methodist church. Nine children were born to them, all of whom, with one exception, reached advanced age. Only two, Mrs. Sarah E. Colby, of Delaware county, this state, and Thomas W., our subject, are now living. Hannah was born July 31, 1806, and died at the age of eighty- seven years; Mary J. was born October 16, 1808, and died February 6, 1899; Amos M. was born May 25, 1811, and died at the age of eighty-five years; Robert was born December 7, 1814, and died when about eighty-two; John O., born June 10, 1817, and Lucinda, born November 23, 1822, also attained advanced ages; while Elizabeth died at the age of thirty.
Thomas W. Worster was reared to manhood in this county, and Octo- ber 26, 1851, was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Blew, who was born in Union county, Indiana, February 16, 1833, and is a daughter of Jacob W. and Mary (Stout) Blew. The parents of Mrs. Worster were schoolmates and the friendship then formed ended in their marriage. Both parents died, the mother in 1840 and the father four years later, leaving two orphaned children,-Mary A. and James M. Mary was reared by her aunt, Mary Blew. Both parents were descended from Revolutionary stock. Her grandfather, Jonathan Stout, was born in Pittsburg. Pennsylvania, and was a son of a companion of Daniel Boone, the famous Kentucky scout. Both
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names, Stout and Blew, are familiar in the early history of Fayette county. Both Mrs. Worster and her children are doubly eligible to the orders of Sons and Daughters of the Revolution. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Worster was honored by the birth of six children, viz .: James Austin, born May 21, 1853; John O., October 26, 1856; Charlie S., October 24, 1860; Thomas Lincoln, April 18, 1863, deceased; Mary Jane, August 6, 1867; and Grace H., Novem- ber 21, 1872. They have four grandchildren: Thomas W., only child of James Austin; Melvin Paul, son of John; and Edna May and Robert Clifford, children of Charles. They are worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are citizens who would be a credit to any community. Frater- nally, Mr. Worster is a Master Mason and a member of the order of Odd Fellows.
NATHAN F. CANADAY, M. D.
Without missing a day for thirty years, this well known physician has faithfully labored to alleviate the sufferings of those afflicted with the ills to which flesh is heir, and with the exception of one year spent in the west this period has been passed in Hagerstown, Wayne county.
Charles Canaday, the grandfather of the Doctor, was a native of North Carolina, whence he removed at an early day to Indiana, becoming a pioneer of Richmond. None of his large family survive, but his descendants are numerous in this portion of the state, and are invariably noted for sterling traits of character. The father of our subject, Nathan Canaday, was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1812, and came to Indiana when young. He was . a birthright member of the Society of Friends, but upon his marriage to Nancy Leason, an outsider; he was disowned by the Quakers, and, with his wife, became a devoted member of the Christian church. After his marriage, which event took place in 1834, he removed to what was known as the Har- vey settlement, in Prairie township, Henry county, Indiana, and, locating on a tract of government land, improved a homestead. His death occurred there in 1877, and his widow survived him for several years. He was a Whig and Republican, and was progressive in his ideas, whether regarding agriculture, public affairs or religion, and enjoyed the sincere respect of his acquaintances and neighbors. Of the ten children born to himself and wife, all but one daughter arrived at maturity. James, the eldest, a blacksmith by trade, died many years ago, at Mount Summit, Henry county; Charles W., a hero of the civil war, was killed at the siege of Vicksburg, in 1863; Edmond T. died on a farm in Henry county; and John also is deceased. Those living are: William, a resident of Kansas; Mrs. Anna M. Gough, wife of J. M. Gough, a manufacturer of New Castle, Indiana; Henry H., a mechanic in the employ of Mr. Gough; Miles M., connected with the First National Bank of New Castle; and Nathan F.
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
Nathan F. Canaday, who is the subject of this narrative, was born near New Castle, Indiana, February 9, 1845, and his boyhood was spent on the old homestead. After completing his studies in the district schools he attended the New Castle high school, and his initiation into the theories of medicine was under the tutelage of Dr. G. E. Swan. The young man favored the Homeopathic system, but circumstances were such that he found it better to attend the Eclectic Institute, at Cincinnati, at first. In 1869 he settled in Hagerstown, and in 1870 he was graduated in the Cleveland (Ohio) Homeo- pathic College. During the administration of President Benjamin Harrison he was government physician at the Colorado river Indian agency, in Arizona, for one year, when he resigned, on account of the illness of his wife, and with this exception he has been engaged in practice in Hagerstown since the beginning of 1869. He has been eminently successful in his chosen field of labor and has won the good will and respect of other members of his pro- fession, as well as that of his numerous patients.
In July, 1867, Dr. Canaday wedded Miss Elizabeth Clapper, whose father, Jacob Clapper, was an early settler of Wayne county, coming here from Pennsylvania. The only child of our subject and wife is Clifford E., who was born in 1876. After graduating in the Hagerstown high school he attended the state university for two terms, and then was occupied in teach- ing for a period. Then reading medicine with his father for a time, he entered the Pulte Homeopathic Medical College, in Cincinnati, Ohio, taking a four-years course. He is a member of the class of 1900, and gives promise of attaining a high degree of proficiency in his chosen profession. Dr. Can- aday and wife are members of the German Baptist church and are actively interested in all kinds of worthy philanthropies.
CAPTAIN DANIEL K. ZELLER.
After half a century of active, aggressive labors in the business world, the subject of this article is now living retired, having amassed a comfortable fortune, and for several decades having occupied positions of trust and honor in the service of the public. He has contributed generously in time, influ- ence, work and money, to various charitable and religious organizations, and now, in his declining days, can look back upon a past which has been filled with deeds of kindness and helpfulness toward his fellowmen.
About 1740 the paternal great-grandfather of the Captain came from Switzerland to the United States. He was then a small boy, and, with his parents, he settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania. He followed farming as a means of livelihood, and reared his six sons to the same occupation. In his religious attitude he was a Protestant. About 1805 five of his sons set- tled in Ohio, and the youngest of the number, John, was the grandfather of
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
our subject. He spent the rest of his life on a farm in Logan county, Ohio; and he and his five children, Benjamin, John, Jacob, Peter, and a daughter, Mrs .. Paulin, are deceased.
The father of Captain Zeller was John, born in Berks county, Pennsyl- vania, October 22, 1797. He was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade, and, after serving for four years, was considered an expert workman. The first house which he built was located on the bank of the Miami river, near Mid- dletown, and every nail in it was made by hand, the cost being twenty-five cents a pound. In 1821 he married Susannah Kumler, daughter of Rev. Henry Kumler, who for many years was a bishop in the United Brethren denomination, and whose paternal grandfather had emigrated from the can- ton of Basle, Switzerland, to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, within the first half of the eighteenth century. Henry Kumler was born January 3, 1775, and of his twelve children Susannah was the third in order of birth. In 1823 John Zeller and his young wife settled on a farm about two miles from the town of Seven Mile, Ohio, and in 1830 they took up their abode on a home- stead of one hundred and eighty acres, near Millville, to which place he later added seventy acres. Though he lived upon farms he hired men to manage them, while he gave his own time to the contracting and building business, and Butler county was thickly sprinkled with the houses and large bank barns which he constructed. In his own community he was a man of prominence, and at various times he was trustee of schools, township trustee or other local officer of some kind. Politically he was a Jackson Democrat, and a " Free- soiler," and was a stanch abolitionist. From his early manhood to old age he was a preacher, being licensed and ordained as a minister of the United Brethren church. During the week he worked at his trade and on Sunday, he usually occupied some pulpit, exhorting his hearers to lead a better life. Though he was not well educated, he spoke the German and English tongues, was a man of good common sense and was a great Bible student. He was summoned to his reward in October, 1857.
Of the children born to John and Susannah Zeller, Daniel K. is the eld- est. Henry, the second son, died in 1840, when fifteen years of age. Rev. Solomon Zeller, a graduate of Otterbein University, is a minister of the Pres- byterian church, living at Westfield, Illinois. Susannah is the widow of David Zartman, and resides in Carroll county, Indiana. Jacob A. has been a prominent educator for years, is a graduate of Miami University, and is now a professor in the high school of Jacksonville, Illinois. The sixth child, a son, died in infancy. Elizabeth, who died in 1864, was the wife of Jacob Schell; and it is a notable fact, that of their five sons four were ministers of the gospel, one of the number, the Rev. Edward Schell, being very well known in the Methodist Episcopal church, and holding the office of secretary
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of the National Epworth League. John M., born in 1839, died in 1840. Catherine, deceased, was the wife of Jacob A. Carr, and her son, James A. Carr, is the superintendent of the Hoosier Drill Works. Joseph S., of Rich- mond, is in the tile and slate business; and E. R., now a farmer near Winter- set, Iowa, is a graduate of Oxford Seminary, and for some years was actively engaged in teaching and in journalistic work.
Born in the vicinity of Middleton, Ohio, October 2, 1822, Captain Daniel K. Zeller passed his boyhood on the farm, and from the time that he was eighteen until 1847 he managed the homestead. That year he was married, and having bought a portion of the parental farm he cultivated the property until the spring of 1864, when he organized Company K, of the One Hundred and Sixty-seventh Ohio Volunteers, and was made captain of the same. They had enlisted for one hundred days, were assembled at Camp Butler on the 2d of May, and thence sent into West Virginia, where they served on garrison duty until September 8, 1864, when they were mus- tered out at Hamilton, Ohio.
On the memorable day, in November, 1864, when Lincoln was a second time elected to the presidency, Captain Zeller left home and came to Rich- mond to engage in business. Here, for fourteen months, he was a inember of the firm of W. H. Lanthurn & Company, but in the beginning of 1866 he sold out his interest, and in partnership with his brother, J. S. Zeller, engaged in the manufacture of bread and crackers. The present location of the business, 915-917 Main street, has been maintained since August, 1869, a new block having been built by Captain D. K. Zeller for the purposes of the business. In 1871 our subject's son, John G., was admitted to the com- pany, which was known as Zeller & Company. In January, 1872, the brother, J. S., sold his interest to B. F. Crawford (now the president of the National Biscuit Company, of Chicago,) and in August, 1874, the business was increased by the purchase of a bakery at Mansfield, Ohio. Mr. Craw- ford undertook the management of the Mansfield bakery, and in October, 1881, our subject and his son disposed of their interest in that concern to William Taylor. In June, 1890, Zeller & Company sold their Richmond business to the United States Baking Company, taking stock in that great enterprise, which controlled six plants in Indiana, a like number in Michi- gan, thirteen in Ohio, and several in Pennsylvania. The company was capitalized at five million dollars, and later this was increased by half a million. D. K. Zeller became the manager of the Richmond branch and continued as such until September, 1892, when he retired from business. He retains his stock in the company, which was consolidated with the New York Cracker Company and the American Biscuit Company, in Feb- ruary, 1898, their combined capital being fifty-five million dollars.
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As previously stated, Mr. Zeller has not neglected his duties as a citizen, and to his foresight and enterprise many of the leading improvements, indus- tries and public institutions of Richmond may be attributed. For ten years he has been the president of the city water-works company, and has been a member of the board of directors of the natural-gas company and the Rich- niond City Mill Works ever since their organization, and holds stock in the Westcott Carriage Manufacturing Company. For almost a score of years he has held the position of trustee in the Home for the Friendless, and has. officiated in a similar capacity in St. Stephen's Hospital. Socially, he belongs to Sol Meredith Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He voted for Henry Clay in 1844, and has been a Republican since the formation of the party. During one term he was a member of the city council, and for one term he was a commissioner of the county. The fine court-house, costing nearly half a million dollars, was commenced while he was in the last mentioned office. Nearly thirty years has he been a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church, and was a member of the building committee, and treasurer of the same, at the time that the First Presbyterian church was erected, and when the second church was being erected he also took an important part in the enterprise .. His contributions to worthy benevolences and religious work have been gen- erous, as he thoroughly enjoys the task of aiding others less fortunate than himself.
The marriage of the Captain and Mary C. Koerner, of Union county, Indiana, was celebrated March 18, 1847. Her father, John G. Koerner, was. a native of Germany, and left the Fatherland in order to escape being drafted into Napoleon's army. He settled in Virginia at first, and later came to this state, locating in Union county, where he died and lies buried. He was a carriage and wagon manufacturer, as well as a farmer, and was successful and influential in his own locality. John G., the eldest son of our subject and wife, and a resident of Richmond, has been mentioned previously, and is. now the general superintendent of construction in the National Biscuit Com- pany. Emma C., who is now at home, was successfully engaged in teaching for some years, has visited Europe on two occasions, and occupies a leading place in local society. Silas A. is employed in the Zeller branch of the National Cracker Works, in this city. Jacob A. died in childhood.
ELWOOD BEESON.
No more honored family exists in eastern Indiana than that of the Bee- sons, now very numerous and influential, and from the early part of the. present century intimately associated with the development and increasing prosperity of Wayne and Fayette counties. Originally of the Society of.
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Friends, they have followed the foundation principles of that sect, and have been noted for all worthy traits of character. Industrious, just and upright, they have merited the high esteem in which they have been universally held, and, as far as known, either in this state or elsewhere, there have been no criminals or paupers bearing the name and being descendants of the same American ancestor.
In 1682 one Edward Beeson, of Lancashire, England, emigrated to this country with one of the colonies, who, under William Penn, settled Pennsyl- vania. Some years later, Mr. Beeson removed to a Virginia settlement of Quakers, and still later he bought a tract of land on the Brandywine, in Delaware, a portion of this property being now included within the corporate limits of Wilmington. There he spent his remaining days and reared his four sons. Isaac Beeson, of the fifth generation from Edward, left the Dela- ware relatives and went to North Carolina, and from him is descended the Indiana branch of the family. His son Benjamin was the father of Ben- jamin, Jr., and he, in turn, the father of Thomas, who was the father of the subject of this sketch. Thomas Beeson came to this state in 1818 and four years later took up his abode upon the identical land now owned by his son Elwood. A brother, Isaac, came here first, about 1812, settling near Rich- mond, and another brother, Benjamin, became a resident of this town- ship as early as 1814. To the original quarter-section of land, upon which stood a humble log cabin in a partially cleared tract of scarcely twelve acres, Thomas Beeson added land from time to time, gradually improving the same until, at the time of his death, he owned nine hundred acres of valuable property. He was very industrious, and, having mastered the blacksmith's and wagon-maker's trades, followed these, in connection with his farming. He died in 1867, when in his seventy-fifth year, beloved and honored by all who knew him. Though a zealous Democrat, he never aspired to office and quietly pursued the even tenor of his way, doing innumerable deeds of love and kindness to those with whom his lot was cast.
In Guilford county, North Carolina, his native county, Thomas Beeson married Eunice Starbuck and one child was born to this estimable couple prior to their removal to Indiana. Mrs. Beeson was the youngest of the nine children of Gear and Eunice Starbuck, who were from Nantucket island, Massachusetts. Their other children were named as follows: Peter, Eliza- beth, Rachel, Thomas, Ruth, Lydia, Dorcas and Reuben. The union of Thomas and Eunice Beeson was blessed with ten children, who, in order of birth were: Junius, who died in Rush county; Mrs. Arenia Knipe; Tremilius, who died in Madison county; Mrs. Mahala Jackson; Ariel, who died in Madi- son county; Lexemuel, whose death occurred in Hamilton county; Mrs.
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