USA > Indiana > Newton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 14
USA > Indiana > Benton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 14
USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 14
USA > Indiana > Warren County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 14
USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 14
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 14
USA > Indiana > White County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 14
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than any other supreme judge of this state. He is particularly well versed in all constitutional and statutory questions, and his opinion is deferred to in disputed points, where the meaning of the law is susceptible of more than one construction.
In the ranks of the Democratic party Judge McCabe has long been an important factor, and his counsels are often officially asked for, and when received are accorded that respect which they deserve, for unusual sagac- ity, foresight and judgment are certain to be embodied in the opinions of this gentleman. That he is a valued member of the Democratic party in his home state was manifested clearly in 1896, when he was appointed as a delegate from the state at large to the national convention in Chicago. There he was Indiana's representative on the committee on resolutions which framed the declaration of principles upon which Bryan made his memorable campaign. Thoroughly posted, as he is, upon the past and present history of the party, and being an easy, forceful speaker, the Judge often gives addresses in this line to audiences who are carried by storm and follow his arguments with wonderful enthusiasm.
In 1864 the Judge married Serena Van Cleve, of Crawfordsville, Indi- ana, and to 'them were born two sons and a daughter. The sons, Edwin F. and Charles N., are energetic and successful young lawyers, and the daughter is Mrs. Ella N. Givin, of Indianapolis.
JOHN N. RAY.
We are now permitted to review briefly the life history of one who stands distinctively as one of the most prominent and progressive farmers of Tippecanoe county, Indiana, and as one of the representative citizens of Wea township. This alone would render peculiarly consistent the consideration of his life and labors, but additional propriety comes from the fact that he is a representative of one of the old and honored pioneer families of the county and of a name which has been conspicuously identified with the annals of this section of the Union from a very early epoch. The Ray fam- ily is of stanch old German lineage, and the father of our subject, Ben- jamin Ray, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, of which section his parents were numbered among the pioneers. The father of Benjamin Ray was twice married, and the children of the first union were Jerry, John, George, Han- nah and Sarah. Of the second marriage the following children were born: Benjamin, Reuben and Elias. The paternal grandparents of our subject continued to reside in Pickaway county until their death, their son Benja- min having been but sixteen years of age at the time of the decease of his father.
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Benjamin Ray was reared to maturity in his native county, receiving his educational discipline in the pioneer schools, and early turning his attention to dealing in live-stock. His training had been such as to eminently fit him for the prosecution of this branch of industry, and his efforts were attended with excellent success. His marriage was celebrated near Circleville, Pick- away county, about the year 1840, when he was united to Miss Mary Fry- back, a sister of Edmund Fryback, to whom individual reference is made on another page of this work. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Ray continued their residence in Pickaway county, Ohio, for one year, after which they located in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, whence, at the expiration of one year, they removed to Vermilion county, Illinois, settling there in the year 1843. The death of Mrs. Ray occurred in November, 1845, and Mr. Ray continued his residence in Vermilion county four years longer, within which time he consummated a second marriage, being united to Miss Martha Smith, who was a native of England, whence, at the age of twelve years, she accom- panied her parents upon their emigration to America, the family settling in Vermilion county, Illinois. The children of the first marriage were John N., the immediate subject of this review, and Elias; and those born of the sec- ond marriage were Laura, Benjamin F., Clinton and Esther.
In 1849 Benjamin Ray returned with his family to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, where he purchased land in Wea township, three miles west of the fine farm where his son, the subject of this sketch, now resides. This land was originally entered from the government by a Mr. Bell, one of the pio- neers of the county, and Mr. Ray purchased one hundred and sixty acres, to which, by gradual accretions, were added other tracts, until the total area of his holdings in the county aggregated about four thousand five hun- dred acres, implying that he was one of the most extensive land-owners in the county. He was a very successful stock raiser and dealer, and his suc- cess was the result of his individual sagacity and efforts. After having given his attention to farm work as a youth, he early gave inception to his inde- pendent business career, initiating operations on an original capital of only sixteen hundred dollars, which he received from his father's estate. His life was one of distinct honor and integrity in all its relations and was prolonged in its usefulness, since he lived to be somewhat more than sixty years of age, his death occurring in Wea township, where he was known as a representa- tive citizen and a man of sterling character. In his political adherency he was a Republican, but was never an aspirant for political preferment. In religion he was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was a man of discriminating judgment, strong intellectual powers, unceasing industry and unbending integrity, and as the result of his well directed efforts left to his heirs a large landed estate. It may be incidentally noted that his
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son Elias participated in the war of the Rebellion, having enlisted in the one- hundred-day service.
John N. Ray, whose name initiates this sketch, was born in Wea town- ship, Tippecanoe county, on the 26th of November, 1842, and was afforded excellent educational advantages in the common schools, taking a thorough course in the high school and proving an earnest and efficient student. Reared upon the farm, he has always maintained his allegiance to the basic art of husbandry, and has been very successful in his endeavors, though handicapped in a measure by impaired health, as will be noted later on.
On New Year's day, 1866, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ray and Miss Mary C. Baker, daughter of Abner Baker, of Jefferson township, Clinton county, Indiana, and the children of this union were three in number, name- ly: John B., Mary C. and Benjamin F. The devoted wife and mother was summoned into eternal life on the 4th of May, 1878, and on the 6th of August, 1886, Mr. Ray was again married, in Ross county, Ohio, where he was united to Miss Maria McCoy, who was born January 18, 1856, the daughter of Joseph and Nancy McCoy. Her father was a native of Ross county, Ohio, and was descended from sterling Scotch ancestry, the family having been pioneers of both Kentucky and Ohio. The great-grandfather of Mrs. Ray likewise bore the old scriptural name of Joseph, and he was a native of Kentucky, whence he removed to Ohio, becoming one of the pio- neers of Ross county, and doing valiant service as a soldier in the war of 1812. His children were James; Dickson; two daughters, whose names can- not be recalled; and Alexander, who was captured by the Indians in Ken- tucky and held in captivity for five years, his release being secured by the payment of a ransom consisting of a barrel of whisky, the prized " fire water " which worked such havoc among the red men. That worthy pioneer of Ross county, Joseph McCoy, died there, having developed an excellent farm and owning about three hundred acres at the time of his death.
His son, James McCoy, grandfather of Mrs. Ray, also devoted his life to agricultural pursuits in Ross county, Ohio, where, it is supposed, his par- ents were the second family to take up their residence. He married Katie Anderson, and their children were Joseph, James, John, William and Maria. James McCoy settled on the old homestead, in Ross county, where he became a substantial and prosperous farmer and one of the prominent and honored citizens of the community. Like his father before him, he was an elder in the Presbyterian church, and he ordered his life upon the high plane which his religious faith implied. He lived to attain the age of sixty-seven years, his death occurring in his native state.
Joseph McCoy, son of James and father of Mrs. Ray, was born in Ross county, Ohio, in 1820, receiving his educational discipline in the common
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schools of the place and period. Upon reaching maturity he continued in the time-honored industry with which his ancestors had been identified, becoming a farmer and carrying on operations with success. He married Nancy Dawley, daughter of Moses and Maria (Cook) Dawley, the former of whom was born in Baltimore, Maryland, whence he removed to Ohio, becom- ing a pioneer farmer of Ross county. His children were as follows: James, Nancy and John. Mr. Dawley died in Ross county, in middle life; in relig- ious faith he was a Methodist.
After his marriage Joseph McCoy settled within a mile of the parental hornestead, giving his attention to the development and cultivation of an excellent farm of two hundred acres. His children were seven in number, namely : Emma, John, James, Katie, Maria, Lucy and George. In his religious adherency Mr. McCoy was a Presbyterian, and in politics was a Republican. He entered the Union service during the war of the Rebellion, at the time of Morgan's raid, furnishing two horses. He was captured, with both horses, by the celebrated guerrilla general, but was released after a short time. He was an energetic and successful farmer and honored citizen, living to attain the age of about seventy-three years.
After his first marriage Mr. Ray took up his abode upon his present farm, in Wea township, having inherited three hundred and twenty acres of his father's estate. At the time he located here the present fine farmstead was principally in its original and unimproved condition, being covered with heavy timber. He at once initiated the work of improvement, devoting himself to this end with such energy and zeal that he eventually developed one of the most highly cultivated and most valuable farms in this section of the state. In 1878 he erected a very fine barn, which was destroyed by fire in the spring of 1895, entailing a very considerable loss. In the year 1898 he also built an attractive and commodious frame residence, of modern architectural design and two stories in height. The pleasant home is located on an elevated site and commands a fine view of the surrounding country. In politics Mr. Ray renders a stanch support to the Republican party, and he is an attendant of the Presbyterian church, of which his wife has been a member from her girlhood.
Mr. Ray is in enfeebled health, resulting from exposure in cattle- feeding when he was a young man, and for the past fifteen years he has been practically an invalid. As a young man he was ambitious and hard-working, being faithful and industrious in his work upon the farın, and now that physical infirmities are his portion he may look back with satisfaction upon duties fulfilled and feel thankful that fortune has so favored him with goodly gifts which render his affliction less severe. He is known as one of the representative citizens of the community, and holds the confidence and
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esteem of those among whom his useful life has been passed. In addition to his homestead farm he has other farming property, the aggregate area of his estate being five hundred and eighty acres.
The children of John N. and Maria (McCoy) Ray are four in number, namely : Cecil, Ruth, Alathea and Hazel K. The family home is one of distinctive culture and refinement, and there the most genial hospitality is shown to a wide circle of friends.
JESSE E. WILSON.
This well known attorney at law of Rensselaer, Indiana, like many of our prominent public men, began life on a farm and worked his way up from teaching a country school to the study of law, and from the bar to a promi- nent place before the public. He first saw the light of day in Clay town- ship, Owen county, October 4, 1867, and is a son of John W. and P. J. (Maners) Wilson. His father was a native of North Carolina, but moved to Owen county, this state, when about eight years of age. Here he became a prosperous farmer and married Miss P. J. Maners, whose father was a native of Tennessee. She is still living. John Wilson, the grandfather of our subject, came to Indiana in 1833, and was one of the pioneers of the state. He was formerly a slave-owner, but, realizing the injustice of such bondage, he lived up to his convictions and set his slaves at liberty.
Jesse E. Wilson was the sixth child in a family of eleven children. They grew up to be a credit to their early teaching, and are now useful and honored citizens of Indiana, as follows: John F. is a farmer of Spencer, Indiana ; James B. is an attorney at Bloomington, Indiana ; Frank A. is postmaster at Stinesville, Indiana; Charles E. is a traveling man from Indianapolis ; Jesse E. is the subject of this sketch ; Emma is the wife of B. B. DeMarcus, of Danville, Indiana ; William H. is a traveling salesman of Indianapolis ; Mack D. is a druggist at Spencer ; and Effie resides in Danville. The other two children are dead and buried in the family lot in a cemetery near their old homestead, where also is the resting place of their father.
The childhood and early youth of Mr. Wilson was spent on the farm in Owen county, where he attended the common schools. Later he entered the high school at Spencer, and after that engaged in teaching school for a period of four years. He then became a clerk in a dry-goods store, remain- ing until he had secured sufficient means to defray his expenses through the State University at Bloomington, Indiana, from which he graduated in June, 1895. He came to Rensselaer the 20th of the following month, and formed his present partnership with Mr. Ferguson. They are engaged in general
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practice, and have built up a clientele that bears favorable comparison with the old-established firms of the city. He appears to be particularly adapted to the legal profession and promises to occupy a high place in the legal fraternity. He belongs to the uniform rank of the Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons.
Mr. Wilson has been reared in the pure atmosphere of Christianity, his people being worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal church, with which he affiliates, although his name is not on the roll of membership. He is a young man of pleasing address and far more than ordinary ability, and his worth as a public speaker was soon recognized and taken advantage of by the Republican party, in which he is an active and intelligent worker. He has gained an extended reputation as a stump speaker, having been called upon by the central committee to make political speeches in different parts of Indiana. He has a large fund of information and has entire confidence in the position he takes, giving unanswerable reasons for his views, and thus bringing his audience into sympathy with himself and his subject.
SYLVESTER TAYLOR.
This honored citizen of Shadeland, Indiana, is a well known representa- tive business man. He springs from the Virginia branch of the Taylor fam- ily, who were well known in Revolutionary times and previously. They were of English descent.
William Taylor, the grandfather of our subject, was a native of Virginia, a farmer of Monroe county, that state, and a slaveholder. William Taylor, Jr., the father of Sylvester, was born in the last named county December 23, 1783, received a common-school education and was always a farmer. In that county also he married Florence Graham, May 3, 1808, and their chil- dren were James E., Mary, Hiram, Elizabeth, John, William, Joel, Samuel, Virginia, Sylvester and Florence,-all born in that county excepting Syl- vester and Florence, who were born in Tippecanoe county, Indiana. Mr. Taylor was a farmer and slaveholder in the Old Dominion, and financially was in fair circumstances.
In the autumn of 1828 he moved with his family to this county, Tippe- canoe, arriving October 28. He made the journey with covered wagons and a carriage, and two teams of horses, camping out of nights. He entered land where Sylvester now lives, then comprising three hundred and twenty acres, partly prairie and partly timber, and here he made a good farm, and also added to the area of his landed possessions until he had an aggregate of six hundred acres. He was a reliable and prosperous farmer. Politically, he was a Democrat, and morally he was upright and straightforward, being
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honored as a typical pioneer and one of the first settlers of Union township. When he came here Lafayette consisted of only a few houses, and they were log structures. He died about ten years after coming here, August 19, 1839, aged about fifty-five years.
Following is the record of William Taylor's children: James G., born May 27, 1809; Mary, November 11, 1810, Elizabeth, January 9, 1812; Hiram, September 30, 1813; John, August 27, 1816; William, June 19, 1818; Joel, October 22, 1820; Samuel M., September 14, 1822; Virginia, February 14, 1824; Christopher, January 30, 1826; Sylvester, January 14, 1829; and Flora, July 16, 1831. Florence (Graham) Taylor died April 26, 1856.
Sylvester Taylor, whose name heads this sketch, was born on the old Taylor homestead in the original log cabin, received a good common-school education in the old pioneer log-cabin school and for a time afterward in a better building, a frame structure. Both these schools were sustained by subscription. Mr. Taylor finished school at the academy in Lafayette, Indiana. Mr. Taylor, of course, was brought up a farmer. At the age of twenty-eight years, namely, October 27, 1857, in Bell county, Texas, he married Sarah E. Beasley, who was born June 16, 1833, at Wheelersburg, ten miles from Portsmouth, Ohio, a daughter of Rev. Allen D. and Millie Ann (Truitt) Beasley. Until 1882 this couple resided on the old Taylor homestead in this county, and then they removed to their present place, which is a part of the original tract entered by his father.
Their children are Florence, Fannie, Franklin, Annie, Edward, Bennett and Blanch.
Mr. Taylor engaged in the grain business with his brother John, and in 1854 built an elevator at Taylor's Station, where for many years they con- ducted a large and successful business. Our subject is still engaged in this business at Montmorenci, Indiana, and resides at his attractive home, where he has a farm of two hundred and fifty acres and a tasteful and commodious brick residence, surrounded with all the evidences of taste and refinement. In politics he is a stanch Democrat, and he and his wife are highly respected members of the Presbyterian church. He was reared among the pioneers, and being a native here, born in 1829, he has lived here longer than almost any other man in the whole community. He is a man of fine personality and an excellent example of the pioneer men who have made Tippecanoe county what it is. He stands high as a man of business integrity and moral worth.
His father, on arrival here from Virginia in 1828, first erected a log cabin on the homestead, and in 1833 built a substantial two-story brick house, which is still standing, in a good state of preservation. The clay for the brick was tramped into mortar of the proper condition by oxen. Mr. Taylor
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himself went to Delphi and burned the lime from the stone there with which the brick were laid and the plastering done, and he hauled it hither with ox teams.
Mrs. Sylvester Taylor is the daughter of Rev. Allen Davis and Millie Ann (Truitt) Beasley. Her father was the son of Major Nathaniel and Sarah (Sutton) Beasley. The Beasleys were of English descent and an old colonial family of Virginia, whose home was for a long time near Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia. There are branches of this family in the Carolinas, Arkan- sas, New Jersey, New England, and the west; and it is probable that the southern families sprang from the same original stock as those of the Old Dominion.
Major Nathaniel Beasley, grandfather of Mrs. Taylor, was born March 19, 1774, in Virginia, was a farmer near Spottsylvania Court House, and November 3, 1796, married Sarah Sutton, who was born May 4, 1780; and their children were: Susannah, who was born September 3, 1797, and died in 1865; Sarah, who was born April 5, 1799, and died in 1838; Jane, who was born January 24, 1801, and died September 29, 1803; Alfred, who was born January 27, 1803, and died April 17, 1868; Allen Davis, who was born Decem- ber 4, 1804, and died July 3, 1863; John Sutton, who was born March 18, 1807, and died May 25, 1872; George Washington, who was born December 29, 1808, and died January 10, 1831; Mason, who was born January 3, 1810, and died October 1, 1812; Nathaniel Harrison, was born October 12, 1812, and died in January, 1899; Benjamin Franklin, born December 1, 1814, and died April 20, 1898; James Cogswell, born November 29, 1816, and died Decem- ber 25, 1835; Martha Ann, born March 15, 1819; and Angelica, born Febru- ary 1, 1823, and died December 24, 1843. Martha Ann's second husband was General Ammen. of the United States Army.
Major Beasley moved to Ohio as a pioneer in the early settlement of that state, became prominent as a citizen and was noticed in published his- tories, in connection with the well known General Massie, of Chillicothe. Major Beasley received his military title from the commission he had in the Ohio state militia. He died March 27, 1835, and his wife, Sarah, died August 19, 1841. His first wife died previously to his going to Brush Creek.
Rev. Allen Davis Beasley, his son, was the father of Mrs. Taylor. He was born at Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia, attended a college at Cin- cinnati and also studied law there. His brother Alfred also was educated there, studied medicine and became a prominent and well known physician. Allen D. first engaged in the practice of law in Decatur, Ohio, for a few years. He was married twice, the first time to Elizabeth Cannon, in Ohio, and they had one child, named Rebecca, who died at the age of twenty-one years, unmarried. On one of his trips in the practice of his profession of the law
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he became a convert to Methodism, which event resulted in his abandoning the legal profession for that of divinity. His first regular circuit was White Oak, in Clermont county, Ohio; the next was Brush Creek, on the Ohio river. While on this circuit, March 20, 1832, he married Miss Millie Ann Truitt, who was born January 15, 1811, a daughter of George and Millie (Prater) Truitt, of English ancestry. After his marriage Mr. Beasley was at Lawrenceburg, Scioto county, a year, and soon afterward he abandoned the itinerant ministry and engaged in the iron business near Marietta for about three years. Resuming his ministerial work he was stationed on the Brush Creek circuit.
In 1838 he moved to Indiana, settling in Cicero, where for a short time he was engaged in the mercantile business, but at the same time was con- stantly engaged in religious work among the pioneers: he founded the first Methodist class-meeting and church in his community. In the fall of 1839 he moved to Odell, Tippecanoe county, where he taught school. Being naturally a musician and a good singer, he took great interest in organizing and conducting Sunday-schools. In 1841 he purchased a home at Walnut Grove, in Montgomery county, which he greatly improved, making a com- fortable residence, meanwhile continuing to be very active in religious work. He organized the first church of his denomination at Potatoe Creek, near Kirkpatrick, this state, and he assisted in organizing a camp-meeting, giving the land for the purpose on his own farm, and here the old-fashioned Meth- odist camp-meetings were held for many years. Subsequently he traveled the Dayton circuit. He was one of the well known pioneer Methodist preachers who traveled on horseback through the woods with their outfit in their saddlebags, preaching the gospel to the poor on the frontier of civiliza- tion, who shared with them the hearty hospitality of the famous old-time log cabin. These men were the real founders of the powerful Methodist church of to-day. They instilled their doctrines thoroughly into the minds: of the people, to bear fruit in this generation. Frequently Mr. Beasley would be gone from his family three weeks at a time, fording streams on horseback, traveling many miles and enduring many hardships and privations. Among the circuits over which he traveled were those of Monticello and Greenfield, living with his family at the latter place two years. His knowledge of law was of much benefit when title to church property was in litigation.
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