Biographical and historical record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana : containing portraits and biographies of some of the prominent men of the state : engravings of prominent citizens in Jay and Blackford Counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families and a concise history of Jay and Blackford Counties and their cities and villages., Part 75

Author:
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 922

USA > Indiana > Jay County > Biographical and historical record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana : containing portraits and biographies of some of the prominent men of the state : engravings of prominent citizens in Jay and Blackford Counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families and a concise history of Jay and Blackford Counties and their cities and villages. > Part 75
USA > Indiana > Blackford County > Biographical and historical record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana : containing portraits and biographies of some of the prominent men of the state : engravings of prominent citizens in Jay and Blackford Counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families and a concise history of Jay and Blackford Counties and their cities and villages. > Part 75

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

SAAC WHITENACK, one of Jay Coun- ty's prominent pioneers, is a native of New Jersey, born December 23, 1817, his parents, Cornelius and Mary Whitenack, be- ing natives of the same State. They settled in Warren County, Ohio, in the year 1821, where the father died. He served as a sol- dier in the war of 1812. The mother still survives, and is living with her son-in-law, David Harker, of Randolph County, Indiana, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. Isaac Whitenack, the subject of this sketch, was united in marriage September 16, 1838‹ in Warren County, Ohio, to Miss Maria Louisa Collins, a native of that county. The following summer they came to Jay County, Indiana, and settled near their present home, on seetion 29, Pike Township. Winter found them well sheltered in a hewed log house, and in the spring of 1840 they had five acres cleared and ready for planting. By persever- ing industry and striet economy they have succeeded well in life, and now own a fine farnı property of 140 acres in the south part of the same section, their present residence, the land being cleared and very productive. Ten ehildren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Whitenack-Joseph, of Pike Township, was a member of the One Hundredth Indiana Infantry during the war of the Rebellion; Cornelius, also of Pike Township, served a few months in the same war; Amos was a member of the Nineteenth Indiana Infantry, and was killed in Virginia at the battle of

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

the Wilderness; William and Newton reside in Pike Township; Sherman lives at home with his parents; Mrs. Mary C. Garinger lives in Pike Township; Mrs. Cynthia Collett lives in Randolph County; Mrs. Sarah Gar- inger resides in Pike Township, and Rachel, deceased. Mr. Whitenack is one of the pub- lic spirited men of Jay County, and has done his share toward building up Pike Township, being among the foremost men in promoting public enterprises. He is especially inter- ested in the building of churches and school houses, and improving the highways. Politi- cally he was in early life a Democrat, with free soil proclivities, and naturally became a Republican, having affiliated with that party since he voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. Mr. and Mrs. Whitenack are members of the Methodist church, and he has contributed to- ward the building of the Zoar church, and also to the United Brethren church.

2 ES. GREENWALT, manufacturer of carriages, surreys, joggers, buggies, etc., his factory situated on the east side of' Meridian street, near the old oak tree, Portland, Indiana, is one of the prominent business men of Portland. He understands every detail of his business, being master of three trades-woodwork, painting and trim- ming. Ile superintends his own business, ent- ploying a number of workmen. He has lived in Portland since 1870, with the exception of four years, from 1882 until 1886, when he was superintending a shop in Tippecanoe City, Ohio. He was born in Greenville, Ohio, in 1842, a son of Jacob Greenwalt, who was also a carriage manufacturer, our subject learning his trade of his father. In June, 1862, Mr. Greenwalt enlisted in Com- pany F, Ninety-fourth Ohio Infantry, his

regiment being assigned to the Fourteenth Army Corps. He participated in many of the most important battles and campaigns of the war, among which were Stone River, Chickamanga, the Atlanta campaign, with Sherman to the sea, and was present when General Johnston surrendered to General Sherman. He then went to Washington and took part in the grand review, and was there mustered out, and discharged at Columbus, Ohio, June 14, 1865. Mr. Greenwalt was married , , to

They have two sons-Harry, who works in the shop for his father, and Robert B.

ICHIARD J. SUTTON, engaged in the insurance business in Dunkirk, is a native of Indiana, born in Blackford County, Jackson Township, May 29, 1849, his parents establishing their homestead there in an early day. With the exception of nine years' residence at Portland, while his father held official positions, our subject has lived in the vicinity of his birthi-place, where he was reared to the avocation of a farmer. He was married October 6, 1870, to Miss Mary Douglas, a native of Ohio, living in Darke County, that State, at the time of her marriage. They are the parents of two children, named Estella and Clyde. Mr. Sutton received good educational advan- tages by attending the common schools of his neighborhood, and Liber College, Jay County. His first occupation was as clerk in a grocery store in Dunkirk, and while there he received the appointment of postmaster in December, 1870, filling that position satisfactorily nntil February, 1885, when he resigned the office. Since then he has devoted his attention to in- surance, and now holds the local agency of

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HISTORY OF JAY COUNTY.

seven of the best insurance companies-the Ætna, Home of New York, Phoenix of Brooklyn, Phoenix and Hartford of Hart- ford, North British and Mercantile of Lon- don, England, and the Continental of New York. In 1885 Mr. Sutton was elected clerk of Dunkirk, which position he filled with credit to himself and his constituents. Ile is a member of the Baptist church at Dunkirk, in which he holds the position of treasurer. IIe is a Master Mason, belonging to Dunkirk Lodge, No. 275, of Dunkirk.

HARLES LARE is a native of Jay County, Indiana, and a representative of one of the pioneer families of Jeffer- son Township, where he was born May 28, 1840. Ilis parents, Peter and Mary (Bost) Lare, were born, reared and married in the State of Pennsylvania, the father born in the city of Philadelphia, his parents being natives of Germany, where they lived until after their marriage. The mother of our subject was of Dutch extraction. The father was a slioe- maker by trade, and plied that avocation in Mifflin, Pennsylvania, after his marriage nn- til he came to Jay County, Indiana, in 1835. He came to the county a poor man, having barely enough money to pay for his land, forty acres on section 24, Jefferson Township, at Government entry, having but fifty cents left after paying for his land. His personal property consisted of a horse and wagon, and a few household goods, and with his family, then consisting of his wife and four children, he found shelter under a rudely constructed cabin made of poles and bouglis until he had built their primitive log cabin. With strong arms and a stout heart, assisted by his excel- lent wife, who was one of the bravest and strongest of women, he commenced making a

home out of the forest. The first year or two Mr. Lare was obliged to work for early set- tlers in Randolph County, to earn bread for his family, and the improvement of his homestead was slow, but before many years had passed they had made a good home, and added eighty acres to the original purchase. His wife was the working partner in improv- ing the farm, taking her place in the harvest field, where she was able to bind after the fastest cradler to be found, and also cooked for her family and also the harvest help. They lived to see their land under excellent cultivation and well improved, and to have their children well settled in homes of their own. After a life of great usefulness the father died January 17, 1870, aged seventy- three years. His widow survived him several years, dying at the advanced age of eighty- two years December 29, 1883, in Steuben County, Indiana, at the home of her daughter Mrs. Hannah Kunce. The children born to them are as follows-Jeremiah, who died at the old home in Jefferson Township in his twenty-first year; Catherine, wife of Christian Smith, of De Kalb County; Hannah, wife of John Kunce, of Steuben County; Savilla, wife of William Sanders, of Pike Township, the above mentioned being natives of Pennsylva- nia; Charles, our subject, the first child born to them in Jay County; Josialı, was a mem- ber of the Thirty-ninth Indiana Infantry, in 1861, and died at the old homestead in Jef- ferson Township, aged twenty-one years; George P. is now living in California. Charles Lare, whose name heads this sketch, was reared at the homestead of his parents, liis yonth being spent in helping to improve the farm, and in attending the district school. When twenty-one years of age he began life for himself. He was married July 7, 1860, to Miss Eliza J. Bair, a native of Pennsylva- nia, born March 21, 1844, but at the time of

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

her marriage living in Jefferson Township, Jay County, a daughter of Samuel T. and Catherine Bair. Her father died at New Mount Pleasant February 7, 1877, and her mother was afterward married to Jacob Kerns, and is still living in Jefferson Township. Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lare five are living-George married Laura Barnes and lives in Jefferson Township; Samuel, Albert, William and Sarah. The two eldest children, William and Mollie, died young. Mr. Lare continued to reside in the vicinity of his birth-place several years after his marriage, where he improved and sold two small farms. He then bonglit a farm of eighty-six acres on section 12, Jefferson Town- ship, where he lived until the spring of 1883. This place was well improved, and was sold by our subject for $4,200, and the same year, 1883, he removed to New Mount Pleas- ant, remaining there almost one year. He then purchased his present homestead, on section 3, Jefferson Township, where he has eighty acres of well improved and well culti- vated land. Mr. Lare lias worked his own way in life, and by diligence and persevering industry has met with success. After leaving his home he worked more or less at the car- penter's trade for thirteen years, but of late years has devoted his entire attention to his agricultural pursuits. In politics Mr. Lare casts his suffrage with the Democratic party.

ILLIAM W. BUTCHER, a son of George W. and Elizabetlı (Nelson) Butcher, is a dealer in general mer- cliandise produce, butter and eggs, etc. Ilees- tablished his business in 1872, and his annual sales amount to $50,000. In his store may be found dry goods, boots and shoes and staple

and fancy groceries. He lias a good trade and has secured the confidence of the people. He was born in this county April 6, 1851. He was reared on a farm and attended the common schools of his father's (listrict; also attended the Bluffton High-school in Wells County. He was married October 27, 1872, to Miss Samantha Mason, of Bear Creek Township, a daughter of Jacob Mason. They have four children-Luera, Irwin, Clara E., Laura May and Wilma. Politicaly Mr. Butcher is a Democrat. He owns forty acres of good land, lias a story and a half residence, and other commodious buildings. Everything about thic place indicates the thrift of the pro- prietor.

EORGE W. BUTCHER, SR., is one of the successful pioneers of Bear Creek Township. IIe was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, October 27, 1822, son of Jacob and Rachel (McCollmm) Butcher. The father was born in Virginia, married in Fairfield County, Ohio, and reared a family of ten chil- dren-Amanda, George W., Rebecca, Samne, Nancy, Julia Ann, Mary Jane, Salnda, Jacob and Delany. The Butcher family came to this county in 1838 or 1839, coming with a horse team, and located in the woods of Bear Creek Township. The father built a log house, 18 x 20 feet, the logs being split so that it was round-log on the outside and liewed-log on the inside. There was a clap- board roof and weight poles, a puncheon floor and one glass window. George W. passed his early life in assisting to clear the farm. He was married in March, 1845, to Miss Elizabeth Nelson, who was born in Licking County, Ohio, December 14, 1830, daughter of Charles and Saralı (Hilton) Nelson, who were tlic parents of sixteen children, two now

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HISTORY OF JAY COUNTY.

living-Mrs. Butcher and Mrs. Mary Arm- strong. The parents came to Adams County, this State, in 1840, where they remained nn- til their decease. After his marriage our subject located on section 2, where he lived until 1865, then removed to his present farm, where he owns 200 acres of excellent land, a good residence and comfortable farm build- ings. Mr. and Mrs. Butcher have twelve living children-Jacob, Perry, William W., James M., George W., Jr., Samne A. M., Isaac N., Charles II., Mary E., Rachel Ann, Julia Ann, Adam Clark and Alexander B. Mr. Butcher is a Democrat, and a worthy member of the United Brethren church.

LIVER P. STEED, section 27, Jefferson Township, is a native of Jay County, born on the homestead of his father, W. W. Steed, in Jefferson Township, Novem- ber 6, 1854. He was reared on his father's farm, where he early learned lessons of thrift and industry that have been of benefit to him since starting in life for himself. He was married April 20, 1876, to Eliza A. Flesher, a native also of Jefferson Township, born February 10, 1861, a daughter of John and Lydia (Bennett) Flesher. The mother died when Mrs. Steed was a child, and her father still lives in Jefferson Township. After his marriage Mr. Steed located on the farm where he still lives, which he has improved until all but twelve of his eighty acres are under cul- tivation, and has erected his residence and other farin buildings, which are comfortable and convenient. On his farm is located one of the largest gravel banks in the southern part of the county, and this has been the source of quite an income to him. Mr. and Mrs. Steed have seven children-Minnie E.,

Oliver Harry, Charles F., Dolly E., Clarence C., Glenny C. and Zenobia S. In politics Mr. Steed is a Democrat.

WILLIAMS, senior member of the firm of Williams & Kendrick, wagon makers, was born in Coshocton Connty, Ohio, February 2, 1847, son of Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Lake) Williams, who were the parents of six children, our subject being the third child. When he was six years of age his parents came to this county, where his youth was passed at farm work. After he reached his majority he worked at carpen- tering for some time, and then engaged in blacksmithing and wagon ironing. In 1863 he, with Mr. Kendrick for a partner, started the Briant Wagon Works. Mr. Williams was married March 17, 1860, to Miss Laura King, of this county, and they have one daughter-Gertrude.

B ENJAMIN R. ROWE, the leading harness manufacturer of Portland, was born in the village of Etna, Licking County, Ohio, the date of his birth being October 19, 1856. He was about eight years old when his father, R. T. Rowe, came to Jay County with his family and settled in Noble Township, where he still owns a fine farm. For many years the father followed mercantile pursuits, but later has been engaged as traveling salesman. Benjamin R. spent his youth in alternately working on his father's farm and clerking in the store, being thins engaged until he began learning his trade. He came to Portland in the spring of 1873, in May of that year be- coming apprenticed to John Bradley to learn the trade of harness-making. He remained

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

with Mr. Bradley three years, and at the ex- piration of his apprenticeship, wishing to learn more thoroughly the details of his trade, he went to Columbus, Ohio, and worked nn- der instruction for eighteen months. He worked at his trade at Portland, Greenville, Ohio, and Unionville, Indiana, until March, 1881, when he established his present business in Miller's Block, Meridian street. Ile is master of his trade, understanding thoroughly

all its details, and has met with excellent suc- cess in business. In addition to a large and complete stock of harness, he also deals in boots and shoes, his store-room, which is 22 x 70 feet in size, being well filled with his stock of goods. Quiet, industrious in his habits and strictly honorable in hisdealings, he has gained the confidence and esteem of all who know him, and is classed among the respected citizens of Portland.

بهورم

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HISTORY

BLACKFORD

COUNTY.

BAKER-CO

لنا

GENERAL'

HISTORY

703

INTRODUCTORY.

LACKFORD COUNTY, Indiana, is located in tlie® northeast part of the State, and is bounded on the north by Wells County, on the east by Jay County, on the south by Delaware County, on the west by Grant County, and has a population at this time of 13,000. The name Black- ford was given in honor of Judge Blackford, one of the pioneer judges of In- diana. Hartford City, the county seat, is located at the crossing of the Pittsburg, Cincinnati & St. Louis, and the Fort Wayne, Muncie & Cincinnati railroads, and has direct commu- nication with Columbus, Toledo, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Chicago. The county in the past has labored under difficulties on account of insufficient drainage, but during the past twelve years a thorough systeui of drainage has been inaugurated, and thousands of aeres

of land, which has heretofore been unculti- vated, is now reclaimed, and has become the richest and most productive land in the State. Some of this reclaimed land produced in one year 550 bushels of potatoes to the acre. The soil is good throughout the county, and is well adapted for the culture of wheat, rye, oats, flax, corn and vegetables. The upland is timbered with a heavy growth of oak, aslı, beech, poplar, sugar tree, elm and hickory. There is not a county in the State that eau present better inducements for agriculturists in the future than Blackford. There is a large breadth of this reclaimed prairie land in the county, and it is emphatically as good a quality of land as can be found on the face of the earth.

The principal water courses draining Blackford County are the Salamonia, flowing northwestward through the northeastern part of the county, the Big and Little Liek creeks in the southern part, and Prairie Creek. The high, flat, swampy land between Hartford City and Montpelier along the railroad is the worst part of the county, giving to travelers

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HISTORY OF BLACKFORD COUNTY.

on the trains a more unfavorable impression of Blackford than it deserves.

GEOLOGY.

For the benefit of the thousands of pupils who receive instruction in the excellent schools of Jay and Blackford counties, and because the greater part of those who have come to mature years are unacquainted with the subject of general geology, it is advisa- ble, before saying anything of the special features of these counties, to describe the formation of the world as a whole and give such an account of the great periods of the earth's history that we may be able to find our place in that history, and thus, as in locating a place upon a map first, we may be the better able afterward to study it more satisfactorily and understandingly. Indeed, without this method of procedure, all our ideas are vague and the entire work unsatis- factory and unscientific.

Omitting the nebular hypothesis, which assumes the earth, together with all our bodies of the solar system, to have been in primeval times in the form of an incandescent gas of in- comprehensible dimensions, and the second step derived from the former, through long cycles of whirling motion, radiation, and condensation, the liquid or molten earth, with its wonderful processes of crust formation, we begin our brief description with the pro- cess of

Rock formation .- The first or original rock is what was first "formed as a crust, igneous rock, rock without form or strata-a mere slag. The earth, losing heat by radia- tion and becoming smaller, the crust, in ac- commodating itself to the smaller sphere, must necessarily rise in some places and sink in others, just as by the shrinking of an orange the rind becomes wrinkled. Then the water, having been previously formed as the

result of the great world formation, the resi- due, the ash-heap of the great conflagration, obeying the law of gravity, is gathered to- gether into the depressed areas and thus the " dry land," or rather the dry rock, appears.

Now, by the action of winds, rain, waves and the various chemical and mechanical agencies, the exposed rock is decomposed, carried to the sea, and deposited in horizontal strata, which, in process of time, becomes stratified rock, just as is being done at the mouths of the rivers and the beach and bot- tom of the oceans of to-day.

From the preceding we may conclude that there is everywhere beneath the waters and soil of the earth's surface a basement of rock, sometimes called " bed rock." The outcrop- ping of rock above the surface, the rocky bluffs forming the sides of many valleys, the ledges projecting from the sides of moun- tains, and the cliffs of the sea-shore are por- tions of this rock exposed to view. Now, the various strata which compose thie stratified rocks of the globe, with their included fossils, are the leaves of that great book which un- folds to us the history of the earth through its incomprehensibly long periods of time. The lowest strata, of course, furnishes us the first chapter in that history. In no part of . the earth's surface is the record complete, but all have their long blanks-periods in which llo strata occur. This is caused by the ele- vating of the crust above the waters of the ocean, and, when this is continental, finis is appended to the chapter, and the history of the rock is finished forever.

In North America we have an excel- lent example of the unfolding and devel- opment of geological history, and as the continent gradually emerged from the ocean it left us the record almost complete. The following section is a representation of the successive geological ages, with the corres-

705

INTRODUCTORY.

ponding formations and periods of the globe, by the side of which is placed that of Jay and Blackford counties, with its many and immensely long blanks between the Devonian and Quaternary or Paleozoic ages.

Thus a glance at the section will show us our place in the history of the formation of the globe, not the least interesting part of which is the long blank between the Devo- nian and Quaternary ages, showing us con- clusively that our soil rests upon the Devonian. At the close of the above-named period all Northern Indiana and a strip ex- tending through the central part of the State to the Olio River emerged from bencath the sea and the history of the rocks of this sec- tion of Indiana was finished forever.

To enable the reader to grasp more readily the rock formation of the globe and of this part of the country during the six geologi- cal periods of the earthi's formation-the Quaternary, Tertiary, Reptilian, Carbonifer- ous, Devonian and Silurian-we append the carefully prepared diagram, which appears on the following page.

The Devonian Formation," so named by Sedgwick and Murchison, from Devon- shire, England, where it occurs well de- veloped and abounds in fossils, with its age, the Age of Fishes, so called because in it the first known fishes are found, is in no part of the country exposed to view, neither lias it been reached in the sinking of wells; hence all our knowledge of it must be gained from exposed areas and sections ill other localities. Omitting the rock forma-

tion, because completely hidden from view, we come to the study of that which is appar- ent to all, and in which the farmer plows. upon which our wagon roads and railroads are builded, and upon which we all depend for our daily bread-the immense superin- cumbent mass of soil known as

Drift .- The farmer boy, as he walks over the ineadow with its carpet of green and wanders beside the babbling brook, or, as with sturdy hand he turns the grassy sward, uncultured though he be, asks himself the question. " Whence came all this that is spread out so beautifully aronnd mc? These huge stones which I see lying upon the surface or im bedded within the soil -- how came they here? Do they grow? ' The hills, rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,' how were they formed? and what is their history?" Ah! If they could speak and tell us what scenes they have witnessed the story would be far more interesting than that of Belzoni's mummy, for it could tell us of the world not merely as it was " three thousand years ago," but stretching far back into the illimitable past, they could tell much of the Creator's plans in fitting up the earth as the abode of man.

All soil, with the trifling exception of the thin stratum of vegetable mold that covers the ground in many localities, is formed from the disintegration of rocks. Now, there are two great classes of soil, to one of which every kind of soil may be referred, that is, soil formed in situ-in the place where found --- and that which has been transported, when formed, to places more or less remote from the parent rock. It is to the latter of these that our soil belongs and hence that which we wish to treat.

Strewed all over the northern part of North America, over hill and dale, over field and plain, covering alike, in places, all the country rock to a depth of thirty to three

* For a description of the rocks of this age, and also of its Life System, both animal and vegetable, the reader is referred to the three excellent works of Pro. fessor Dana, the "Geological Story," the "Text Book," and the "Manual," the masterly work of Professor Le Comte, and to the many and valuable Geological Reports of Ohio and Indiana.

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Author: Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 922

Author:
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 922