USA > Indiana > Union County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 6
USA > Indiana > Fayette County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 6
USA > Indiana > Franklin County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 6
USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 6
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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
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Luzena Wright; Mrs. Samara Leeson; Elwood and Jacob, who died at the old homestead. The devoted wife and mother survived all but three of her children, and now the sole survivor of the family is the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Beeson attained the extreme age of ninety-three, her death taking place January II, 1884.
The birth of Elwood Beeson occurred September 16, 1832, and from his boyhood he has given his whole time and attention to farming and stock- raising. He has known no other home than the one he is still managing, and success has crowned his well directed energy and fidelity of purpose. He cared for his parents in their declining years, has discharged every duty rest- ing upon him with the utmost fidelity, and the respect and praise of the whole community has been his lifelong portion. Politically he is a Demo- crat, but he has persistently kept himself in private life, disliking public hon- ors and emoluments.
March 3, 1868, the marriage of Mr. Beeson and Miss Sarah A. E. Lind- say was solemnized. She was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, June 20, 1844, her parents being William P. and Charity (Beeson) Lindsay, both likewise of North Carolina, where they reared their family. Mr. Lindsay was a son of William and grandson of Robert Lindsay, the latter of Scotland. He came to this country with his two brothers, and at New York they separ- ated, never seeing one another again. Robert went to North Carolina, and for years owned and operated a large plantation, carried on by numerous slaves, and in addition to this he was successfully engaged in merchandising for a long period. His children were: Mrs. Guila Fields; William; Robert, a physician; Lavina; Sarah; Henry; Andrew, a physician; and Amanda. William P. Lindsay grew to manhood upon a plantation, and learned the trade of carriage and wagon making. For several years he followed this calling at Kernersville, Forsyth county, and at Jamestown, but subsequently to the death of his wife he sold out and in 1857 came to Indiana. He died at the home of his youngest son, at Windfall, this state, December 29, ISSO. His wife, Charity, was the youngest of the ten children of David and Nancy Beeson, who lived and died in North Carolina, and of whom the father was a direct descendant of the Isaac Beeson already mentioned as being of the fifth generation from the founder of the family tree in America. The brothers and sisters of Mrs. Charity (Beeson) Lindsay were Richard, David, Isaac, Betsey, Polly, Letitia, Martecia and Sally. The eldest, Richard, came to Wayne county at an early day, and is still living at the home which he later founded in Tipton county.
Mrs. Elwood Beeson is the fourth in order of birth of her parents' six children, the others being Jessie F., who died when twenty-one years old; Robert W., who died in Kansas in the spring of 1899; Rufus P., now of this
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·county; Thomas F., who lives in Lafayette, Indiana; and David A., of Wind- fall, Indiana. Two children blessed the union of our subject and wife, namely: E. L., who is an enterprising farmer of Posey township, Fayette county; and one who died in infancy.
ELI JAY, A. B., A. M.
" The proper study of mankind is man," said Pope; and aside from this, in its broader sense, what base of study and information have we? Genea- logical research, then, has its value, be it in the tracing of an obscure and broken line or the following back of the course of a noble and illustrious line- age whose men have been valorous, whose women have been those of gentle refinement. We of this end-of-the-century, democratic type cannot afford to scoff at or hold in light esteem the bearing up of a 'scutcheon upon whose fair face appears no sign of blot; and he should thus be the more honored who honors a fair name and the memory of upright lives. In tracing the genealogy of our subject we find that he is descended from a long line of · sturdy, intelligent and honorable ancestors. The family was founded in America in colonial days.
The great-grandfather of Professor Jay was William Jay, who lived in Frederick county, Virginia. He married Mary Vestal and they were the parents of eight children: James, who was born in 1744; William; Joseph; John, the grandfather of our subject; Mary, born in 1755; Rachel, born in 1758; Lydia, born in 1761; and David, in 1765. After the death of the father of these children their mother removed with them to South Carolina.
John Jay, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Frederick county, Virginia, on the 26th of October, 1752, and as early as 1772 removed to Newberry county, South Carolina, locating about forty miles west of Colum- bia. About 1802 he emigrated to Ohio, and in 1808 located in Miami county, that state, where his death occurred, April 23, 1829. While in the south he followed teaming and farming, but after his removal to Ohio he carried on general merchandising, hauling his goods by wagon from Baltimore to Waynesville, Ohio. He took with him products of the country to exchange, -maple sugar, skins, etc. His means of transportation was his own five- horse team, which he drove through the forests and unsettled regions and over the mountains, for that was at an early period in the development of the country west of the Alleghanies. On these trips he was accompanied by his son, Walter Denny, as a companion and teamster. In connection with merchandising he also followed farming, conducting a successful business.
While in South Carolina he joined the Friends church, but in that state the members of the society were persecuted by the Whigs and Tories during the Revolutionary war, especially by the latter. In his political views he
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was a Whig. On the 4th of March, 1773, he married Elizabeth Pugh, born also in Frederick county, Virginia, September 6, 1755. Her father, Thomas Pugh, was a great-grandson of Ellis Pugh, who was born in Wales, Great Britain, in 1656, and emigrated to the colony of Pennsylvania in 1687, where he died in 1718, being an approved minister in the Society of Friends and preaching in the Welsh language. John and Elizabeth (Pugh) Jay were married in South Carolina and eleven children were born to them there, - seven sons and four daughters, -namely: Jesse, who was born December 8, 1773, died September 25, 1840; Thomas, who was born June 18, 1775, died July 8, 1815; Mary, born January 11, 1777; Ann, December 17, 1778; John, born February 22, 1782, died September 1, 1844; Samuel, who was born January 12, 1784, died December 14, 1859; Walter D., born July 15, 1786, died July 8, 1865; William, who was born June 19, 1788, died August 9, 1843; James, who was born November 6, 1791, died October 22, 1845; Lydia, who was born May 15, 1793, died March 20, 1830; and Jane, who was born September 6, 1795, died December 22, 1871.
Walter Denny Jay, the father of Professor Jay, was born in Newberry county, South Carolina, and went to Ohio with his father about 1802, when in his seventeenth year. He spent the next five years in assisting his father on the farm, -in teaming and in his store. It was his father's wish that he should become associated with himselt in mercantile business; but neither that employment nor the indoor confinement was congenial to him, and he chose rather to go to Miami county, Ohio, and open out a farm there, where his father had entered land and where the family were expecting soon to settle, and where also, in 1810, he became the owner of a farm and carried on agricultural pursuits during his life. He also took contracts for hauling merchandise and produce. He built and operated a gristmill in the southern part of Miami county, Ohio, hewing the timber out of the woods. He was a very energetic and enterprising business man, of sound judgment and keen sagacity, and his various interests were conducted with good success. His political support was given to the Whig party. Of the Friends meeting he was a very active and influential member, speaking often at their meetings, and became known as a minister of that denomination.
On the 8th of January, 1810, Walter D. Jay was united in marriage to Miss Mary Macy, a daughter of Thomas and Anna (Sweet) Macy. The Macy family is of English origin, and the ancestry is traced back to Thomas Macy, who was born near Salisbury, county of Wilts, England, in 1608, and emi- grated to America about 1635 or 1640, locating in Salisbury, Massachusetts In connection with nine others he purchased the island of Nantucket, and in 1659 removed with his family to that place in order to escape the persecu- tions which the Puritans inflicted upon the Baptists, of which body he was a
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member. The island was then inhabited by about three thousand Indians and was a wild, unbroken forest. The Macy family is one of enterprise and distinction. Its line of descent is traced down from Thomas, 1608-1682, through John, 1653-1691, Thomas, 1687-1759, Joseph, 1709-1772, Paul, 1740-1832, and Thomas, 1765-1833, the last named being the grandfather of our subject. In 1772 the latter removed to Guilford county, North Caro- lina, where Mrs. Jay was born, in 1787. Her death occurred in Miami county, Ohio, in 1868. She had seven sons and two daughters, all born in Miami county, as follows: Isaac, who was born February 19, 1811, and died in Marion, Indiana, May 14, 1880; John, who was born June 28, 1812, and died near Union, Montgomery county, Ohio, February 6, 1840; Thomas, who was born November 22, 1813, and died at West Milton, Miami county, Ohio, April 14, 1890; Anna, who was born March 1, 1816, and died near West Milton, Ohio, February 24, 1883; Macy, who was born July 24, 1818, and died near Frederick, Miami county, Ohio, March 31, 1832; Elizabeth, who was born March 28, 1821, and died near Frederick, Ohio, February S, 1840; William, who was born December 17, 1823, and died in Frederick, Ohio, January 14, 1881; Eli, whose name introduces this article; and Levi, who was born June 16,. 1828, and died at Lyons, Kansas, February 22, 1884. Of this family Anna married Samuel Jones, who was born in Miami county, Ohio, November 10, 1815, and died near West Milton, Ohio. Novem- ber 19, 1898; he was a son of John and Sarah (Mendenhall) Jones. Their marriage took place in the Mill Creek meeting-house, Miami county, Octo- ber 23, 1839, and they resided near West Milton, that county.
Professor Jay, to whom we now direct attention, was born in Miami county, Ohio, February 19, 1826, and was reared on a farm there, acquiring his early education in the common schools. On attaining his majority he began teaching, and when in the twenty-fourth year of his age he was mar- ried to Mahalah Pearson, in Miami county, Ohio, October 24, 1849. She was born in that county December 7, 1827. Her parents were both named Pearson, her paternal great-grandfather, Samuel Pearson, and her maternal great-great-grandfather, Thomas Pearson, being brothers, born in Pennsyl- vania, sons of Enoch Pearson, whose father came from England to the colony of Pennsylvania under William Penn, about 1682. These Pearson brothers removed to Newberry county, South Carolina, about 1770, where Samuel died, in 1790; but Thomas Pearson, born in 1728, removed to Ohio, with his children, his grandchildren and a one-year-old great-grandchild. Sarah Pearson, afterward the mother of Mrs. Jay, and settled in Monroe township, Miami county. He died there, in 1820, in his ninety-third year. Her paternal grandparents, Benjamin and Esther (Furnas) Pearson, also came to Ohio, from South Carolina, in 1805, and with their family, of which Moses,
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the father of Mrs. Jay, was the fifth child, settled in Newton township, Miami county.
Mr. and Mrs. Jay, after their marriage, conducted a private school of their own until they entered Oberlin College, Ohio, where they studied chiefly the Latin and Greek languages for two years. They then entered Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, which was opened in 1853, and took a four-years course, graduating in the class of 1857. Horace Mann was then president of that institution. After their graduation Professor and Mrs. Jay again engaged in teaching, the latter in the preparatory department of Antioch College, while the former was connected with the village schools of Yellow Springs for two years. He then taught for one year at Farmers' Institute, in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, and together Mr. and Mrs. Jay taught in Spiceland Academy, Indiana, for two years. They next had charge of the Tippecanoe City (Ohio) public schools for a year, followed by a continuance of their educational labors in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
In the fall of 1864 they came to Earlham College at Richmond, Indi- ana, Professor Jay having charge of the boys' boarding hall as governor, and Mrs. Jay being a teacher in the school, after which, in conjunction, they had charge of the preparatory department of Earlham College for two years. The succeeding year, 1869-70, was passed in the Indian Territory, both of them acting as clerks for an Indian agent. In the latter year they returned to Indiana and from 1871 until 1873 were engaged in teaching near Lewis- ville, Henry county, this state. In the autumn of 1873 he returned to Earl- ham College, where he remained until 1883. During the first year he taught Latin and history, in 1874 and 1875 was acting president and during the three succeeding years Mrs. Jay was principal of the preparatory department, while Professor Jay was the instructor in mathematics, natural sciences and history. In 1878 he was elected professor of mathematics and filled that position for five years, his wife teaching during the same period, mostly as principal of the preparatory department.
Since 1884 Professor Jay has lived practically retired from teaching. He was long numbered among the most able educators of the state and occu- pied a prominent position in educational circles by reason of his marked ability to impart clearly and concisely to others the knowledge he had acquired. His explanations were lucid, his reasoning logical and easily fol- lowed, and his labors were attended by most satisfactory results. Mrs. Jay also shared in the high opinion which the public entertained for her husband, and her womanly culture and refinement, added to her intellectual powers, made her influence a very potent element in the college with which they were so long connected. The closest companionship has always existed between them. Associated in their work, drawn together by mental tastes as well as 37
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compatibility of temperament, their home associations have been of an ideal character. Like her husband Mrs. Jay has the degrees of A. B. and A. M.
Their union has been blessed with a daughter, now Mrs. Mary A. Jay Ballard, of Richmond, Indiana, having removed. from Ohio to Richmond in 1864, which has since been their home. They are both birth-right members of the Society of Friends and are active workers in the church, both being elders of the Whitewater monthly meeting.
To all that tends to uplift humanity, to advance the social, educational and moral interests of the race they give their support, and their upright lives, characterized by all that is highest and best, furnish examples well worthy of emulation.
ELMER M. DRULEY, M. D.
Dr. Elmer Morton Druley, who is engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Falmouth, Fayette county, Indiana, is a native " Hoosier." He was born in the village of Boston, Wayne county, Indiana, August 27, 1862, and comes from one of the early pioneer families of the state, his parents being Smith and Anna (Evans) Druley.
Smith Druley was the seventh son in a family of fourteen children. His father, Samuel Druley, was a native of North Carolina, where he was reared and where he married Elizabeth Stanley. He came with his family to Indi- ana in its territorial days, making the journey north in the usual way, by team, and on his arrival here entered land in Union county, near the Ohio state line, getting the patent from James Monroe. There have been only two transfers of that land since then, -to Smith Druley and then to E. Druley, who still occupies the place. At the time Samuel Druley settled here this section of the country was an unbroken forest. He cleared and improved his farm and on it passed the rest of his life and died. Politic- ally he was a Democrat, and religiously a Methodist. Smith Druley was born and reared here, and for the most part spent his life in agricultural pur- suits. He was, however, for some years engaged in merchandising in Boston and Richmond, Indiana, and while he was in the main successful in his busi- ness he had heavy financial losses, entailed by fire and by going security for his friends. He was a Republican and a leading and influential citizen, always having at heart the best interests of the community in which he lived. Too old to enter the army during the civil war, he rendered useful service to the Union at home. His reputation for honorable and upright dealing was such that it made his word always as good as his bond. He died January 18, 1890, at the age of seventy-one years. His wife died in April, 1896. Both were Universalists. Anna (Evans) Druley, the mother of our subject, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and was a cousin of Senator Peffer.
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The Evans family were originally Welsh, were among the early settlers of Pennsylvania, and were for the most part farmers. Mrs. Druley's brothers and sisters were: Lewis Evans, a physician who died of cholera in Indiana; David Evans, a physician and surgeon, veteran of the civil war and a promi- nent Mason, died in Indiana; Owen Evans, a resident of Columbus, Ohio; Jonathan, a prominent manufacturer of Springfield, Ohio; Caroline Smith, of Ohio; Mary Paul, of Whitley county, Indiana; and Blanch Edmundson, of Springfield, Ohio. The members composing the family of Smith and Anna Druley are as follows: Thaddeus C., a veteran of the civil war, now engaged in the ministry of the Universalist church, at Stafford, Connecticut; Edwin E., also a veteran of the civil war; Theodore S., of Middletown, Ohio; Lewis C., foreman of a dynamo factory in Ontario; Lawrence A., a merchant of Liberty, Indiana; Stella, wife of S. Hayes; and Elmer Morton, whose name introduces this sketch.
When Elmer M. Druley was quite small his parents moved from the little town of Boston to a farm in Union county, where he was reared, receiv- ing his early education in the common schools. Later he spent three years in the study of art and in 1887 he took up the study of medicine, which he at first pursued in the office of Dr. O. E. Carr, at Boston. After spending a year there he entered the Eclectic Medical College at Indianapolis, and continued his studies in that institution one year. He then took charge of a drug store at Dublin, Indiana, of which he was manager three years, at the end of which time he went to Cincinnati and continued his studies in Eclectic Medical Institute of that city, where he graduated in January, 1891. After his graduation he went east to Stafford, Connecticut, where he began the practice of his profession and where he remained four years. His next location was at Montville, where he practiced until the fall of 1898, when he came to Falmouth, Fayette county, Indiana. Here by his gentlemanly manner, his strict attention to business and the success he has had, he is gaining the confidence of the people and has already established a considerable practice.
Dr. Druley was married in 1891 to Miss Leona Brown, who was born in Dublin, Indiana, in 1865, daughter of Solomon and Elizabeth (Morris) Brown, the former of Scotch-Irish descent and by trade a carpenter. In Joseph Brown's family were five children: Jefferson, George, Calvin, Solo- mon and Susan. Solomon Brown was reared in Dublin and worked there at the same trade which his father followed. He married Miss Elizabeth Mor- ris, a daughter of Elisha and Elizabeth (Schowalter) Morris, the former a native of New York and the latter of Virginia. The Morris family is related to the Davis family of which the famous Jefferson Davis, of the Confederacy, avas a member. Solomon Brown was a soldier in the Union army during the
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civil war. His first wife died in 1873. By her he had five children: Theo- dosia, now Mrs. Ogborn; Arlington, who died young; Leona, wife of Dr. Druley; Allen, who died young; and Frances, now Mrs. Emshwiller. For his second wife Mr. Brown married Miss Mary Waddell, of Dublin, in 1877, and she died in 1879, leaving no issue. In 1881 Mr. Brown married Mrs. Phœbe Sahins, a widow with two children. She bore Mr. Brown two chil- dren: Charles, who died in infancy, and Oliver, at home. Doctor and Mrs. Druley have two children: Morris, born November 18, 1891; and Rogers B., born October 21, 1894. Mrs. Druley was reared a Universalist and is identi- fied with that church. The Doctor is not a member of any church. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a past grand of his lodge. Politically he harmonizes with the Republican party.
JOSEPH M. THURSTON, M. D.
To minister to the sick and suffering, to carry cheer, sympathy and aid to those in pain and affliction-can a nobler field of usefulness be found? Perhaps no one can quite fill the place of the Christian physician, as he goes from house to house in a community, carrying with him an atmosphere of strength, faith and courage. One of the loved and esteemed physicians and surgeons of Richmond is the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this sketch, -one who has attained distinction and wide-spread celebrity for his skill and research, and is a valued member of several medical associations.
Dr. Thurston comes from a family in which there have been many representative physicians. His paternal grandfather, William Thurston, was a native of Berkeley county, Virginia (now West Virginia), where he spent his whole life. He was the owner of a large plantation, which was cultivated by his slaves. He was a Whig in politics, and in his religious faith he was a Presbyterian of the old school. For a wife he chose Elizabeth Houck, by whom he had several children. One of the number, William H., the father of our subject, was born near Berkeley Springs, May 2, 1801, his death occurring May 21, 1873, at Greenfield, Ohio. As early as 1811 he went to Cincinnati, and from that time forward, during his active life, he was exten- sively engaged in the milling business. He owned four mills on the Little Miami river, and bought and shipped wheat and flour in large quantities down the river on flat-boats. Though quiet and unassuming in manner, he took part in local affairs, as a patriotic citizen should. but always shunned public office. Like his forefathers, he was a strict Presbyterian, and reared his children in stern, inflexible ideas of duty. To himself and wife, whose maiden name was Delila Miller, eight sons and two daughters were born. One of the sons, Jacob, was a graduate of the Cincinnati Medical College, and for many years practiced his profession at Burlingham, Ohio. He died at the
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age of seventy-two years, August 28, 1898. Another son, E. H., is a physi- cian at Hagerstown, Wayne county.
Dr. Joseph M. Thurston was born in Warren county, Ohio, July 2, 1842, and after he had obtained a liberal English education he took up the study of medicine under the tutelage of Dr. Davis, of New Holland, Ohio. At the end of two years the war of the Rebellion came on, and the young man was among the first to respond to the president's call for troops to defend the flag. He enlisted for the three months' service, in Company G, Second Ohio Volun- teer Infantry, as a private, and ere long he participated in the dreadful first battle of Bull Run. Upon the expiration of his term of service he re-enlisted in Company F, Ninetieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and continued in the army until the war had terminated. Among the numerous battles in which he gallantly took part were Murfreesboro, Perryville, Wild Cat, Stone river and Chickamauga. In the last-mentioned engagement he was taken prisoner, and for one year and eighteen days he suffered the horrors of Libby and other prisons. At length released on parole, he was sent to Annapolis, Maryland, where he was mustered out of service, the war closing a few weeks after his exchange. After his recovery from pneumonia, with which he was attacked after participating in the battle of Stone river, he acted as ward ,master, hospital steward, and assistant to the surgeons in charge.
When his country, for which he had endured so much, no longer had need of him, Dr. Thurston returned home, and became a student in the Physio-Medical Institute, at Cincinnati, Ohio. After his graduation, in 1866, he located at Hagerstown, Wayne county, and for twenty years was success- fully engaged in practice there. Inr 1888 he came to Richmond, and enjoys an extensive and remunerative patronage. He has made somewhat of a specialty of chronic diseases, the treatment of the eye and ear, and surgery, though his practice includes every department of the "ills to which flesh is heir." As a surgeon he is particularly skillful, having performed some truly wonderful operations with marked success. In 1875 he was honored by an appointment to the chair of physiology and anatomy in the Physio-Medical College in Indianapolis, and two years later he was placed in charge of the department of instruction on the eye and ear, in the same institution in which he at present has the chair of nervous and mental diseases. In addition to belonging to several county medical societies, the Doctor is a member of the State and American Medical Associations, and that of northwestern Ohio, and bas filled the office of president of many of them at different times. At present he is a member of the medical board of Saint Stephen's Hospital, and for a period of eight years he was a surgeon for the Panhandle Railroad. Fraternally he is a Mason and Odd Fellow, and in religion adheres to the faith long kept in the family, that of Presbyterianism.
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