USA > Indiana > Newton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 9
USA > Indiana > Benton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 9
USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 9
USA > Indiana > Warren County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 9
USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 9
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 9
USA > Indiana > White County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 9
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At the time of their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Brand began their domestic
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life in Perry township, Tippecanoe county, upon a farm of one hundred and eighty-six acres, of which eighty acres had been cleared. Mr. Brand contin- ued its further development, and transformed it into richly cultivated fields, which yielded to him a golded tribute in return for the care he bestowed upon them. As his financial resources increased he purchased other lands and extended the boundaries of his farm until it embraced two hundred and twenty-six acres. He erected a substantial residence and commodious barns and out buildings for the care of his stock and conducted his farming opera- tions on a most progressive and improved plan. His life was not uncheck- ered by difficulties and obstacles, but these he overcame by determined pur- pose and steadily advanced in the path to success.
Mr. Brand was a man of high moral character, of temperate habits and peaceable disposition, reliable in all business transactions, faithful to all duties of citizenship. Such qualities won him the esteem of his fellow men, and made his example one worthy of emulation. He died January 7, 1895, at the age of fifty-seven years, eleven months and seventeen days, and the entire community mourned his loss. He was a faithful member of the Pres- byterian church and held the office of church trustee. His wife is also a consistent member of the same church. Since the fall of 1898 she has made her home in Dayton, where she has recently completed a tasteful and pleas- ant residence. She is a lady of good business ability and many virtues, and to her husband was a practical helpmeet. She has many friends in the com- munity and enjoys the hospitality of the best homes of Dayton.
ISAAC H. MONTGOMERY.
One of the most extensive land-owners and substantial farmers of Indi- ana is Isaac Herrod Montgomery, who resides in the county which bears his name. His home is near the boundary line of Tippecanoe county, and he is so widely and favorably known throughout this section of the state that he well deserves mention in this volume. An honored pioneer, he has spent his entire life within the borders of the Hoosier state, and through many decades has been identified with the material progress and development of this cen- tral western section. His mind carries in one indissoluble chain the history of its frontier experiences, its early improvement and its later advancement, and at all times he has borne his part in the wonderful transformation that has converted the state from a wild region into richly cultivated farms and happy homes. Although he has reached the advanced age of eighty-five years, he is still enjoying good health, and looks after his business invest- ments, not caring to relegate his affairs entirely to others. He is truly a remarkable character, and his activity in the evening of life puts to shame
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many a man of half his years, who, grown weary of the struggles of a busi- ness career, rests from his labors content with little or nothing for old age.
The Montgomery family is of sterling Irish and English ancestry, and many of its members were distinguished in the Emerald Isle. General Rich- ard Montgomery, of the British army, who fell at the siege of Quebec, was of the same stock. He was an own cousin of Alexander Montgomery, the grandfather of our subject, who came to America in his seventeenth year. When the colonies attempted to throw off the yoke of British tyranny he entered the army and served for seven years, until the cause for which they fought was successfully accomplished. He was three times married. First in Bourbon county, Kentucky, where with his wife Elizabeth he located upon a farm. Their children were Alexander, Archibald, William and Jane. In Kentucky he was a contemporary of Daniel Boone, and participated in a number of the engagements with the Indians on the " dark and bloody ground," also experienced the hardships and privations of pioneer life. About 1812 he removed to Scott county, Indiana, where his wife died. His second wife was Sarah Agins, a widow, and they had two children: Polly, who married a Mr. Anderson, and Mahala. In 1823 he removed from Scott county to Crawfordsville, and his second wife having died he was married a third time, in 1825, when just a hundred years old, Mrs. Lucy Cox, a widow, becoming his wife. The same year he removed to Iowa, saying that he " would grow up with the country." He settled six miles west of the Miss- issippi, where he entered six hundred acres of land, which he improved, ten more years of life being vouchsafed to him. He was a man of very hardy constitution, six feet and two inches in height, very vigorous, strong and energetic, and he reached the truly remarkable age of one hundred and ten years. He received a pension from the United States government in recog- nition of his services in the Revolutionary war. In politics he was an old- line Whig, and in religious belief was a Methodist. His opposition to slavery had led him to leave Kentucky, but he never owned slaves even while in that state. He was a noted frontiersman and pioneer, and performed an impor- tant work toward opening up the states of Kentucky, Indiana and Iowa to the advance of civilization.
Alexander Montgomery, father of our subject, was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, about 1789, and was reared among the pioneers of that state. He was married in that county, in 1813, when twenty-four years of age, to Annie Herrod, or Harrod, as the name is more frequently spelled. She was born in Kentucky, a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Herrod. Her father, it is believed, was a German, who settled in pioneer times in Kentucky, and as a companion of Daniel Boone participated in the Indian troubles. He was the founder of what was known as Harrod's Station, a
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frontier post in Indian times. Afterward he located in what was then called Lexington, but is now Harrodsburg, Scott county, Indiana, where he died at an advanced age. His children were Samuel, William, Isaac, Annie, Jemima, Polly, Betsy, Cynthia and Peggy. The father was a member of the Methodist church, and gave his political support to the Whig party.
At the time of his marriage Alexander Montgomery located in Jefferson county, Indiana, but afterward cleared up a farm in Scott county on the Ohio river, near the town of London and near the Jefferson county line. He removed to Crawfordsville about 1823 and opened a shoe shop, but finally purchased land near that place and resumed farming. He died in Mont- gomery county, in August, 1866, at the age of seventy-seven years. Like the others of his family, he was a Methodist in religious faith and served as class-leader in his church. Politically, he was a Whig. He served his country in the war of 1812, under General William Henry Harrison, and participated in the battle of Tippecanoe. The General did not fear an attack by the Indians, but as a matter of caution doubled his guard the night before the battle, and Alexander Montgomery was placed on duty. The red men made the attack very early in the morning, while it was yet dark. An Indian who was creeping toward the white men fired upon Mr. Montgomery and the bul- let grazed his head. Somewhat stunned, he dropped to his knees, but recov- ered quickly and as the Indian approached shot him through the body. The Indians carried away their dead during the battle, as was their custom, but the next day the Indian that Mr. Montgomery had shot was found where he fell.
To the parents of our subject were born the following children: Isaac H., Simpson, Archibald, Harvey, Samuel and Cynthia A. The mother died in Crawfordsville, in September, 1823, and in 1827 Alexander Montgomery married Hannah Kimbler, by whom he had three daughters, Mary, Eliza and Lucinda. She died and two years later he wedded Mrs. Ketchem, a widow.
Isaac Herrod Montgomery was born March 24, 1814, in Jefferson coun- ty, Indiana, near the line of Scott county, to which county the father re- moved when the son was about three years of age. He was educated in the old pioneer subscription schools, and also pursued his studies in the old brick school-house in Crawfordsville. He learned the shoemaker's trade at which he worked eight years, but through the greater part of his life carried on farming. He was married April 14, 1836, in Montgomery county, when about twenty-two years of age, to Elizabeth Parks, who was born in Dear- born county, Indiana, October 19, 1816, a daughter of Elija and Eveline (Hill) Parks. Her grandfather, Micajah Parks, was a native of New Jersey, and as a pioneer went to Ohio, settling at Elizabethtown, near the Indiana
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state line. He and his wife, Polly, whom he had married in New Jersey, had five children,-Jacob, Elizabeth, Isaac, Thompson and Harrison. The father was a substantial farmer, straightforward business man, worthy citizen and a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and died at the age of seventy years. Elija Parks, father of Mrs. Montgomery, accompanied his parents to Ohio, where he married Eveline Hill, who was born in Miami- town, Ohio, a daughter of Andrew Hill, an Ohio farmer, who died in middle life. His children were Jackson, Daniel, Eveline, Katie, Polly and Eliza- beth. Elija Parks became one of the pioneer settlers of Dearborn county, Indiana, prior to 1816, and about 1828 removed to Montgomery county, where he entered land and became a substantial farmer, owning about four hundred acres. His children were Elizabeth, Thompson, Charles, Oliver, Omar, Oscar, Polly A., Orrin and Elija. He spent his last days upon his farm and died when about seventy years of age. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and exercised his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Whig party. He gave all of his children some land, thus enabling them to gain a start in life, and at the end of a long, useful and honorable career passed to the reward prepared for the righteous.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery located on a tract of forty acres of prairie land which her father had given her. They worked hard and perseveringly, and in course of time the land was transformed into richly cultivated fields. In early manhood Mr. Montgomery began to raise and sell cattle, and in this enterprise was quite prosperous. By his good management and practical business methods he increased his capital and from time to time made judicious investments in land. He finally purchased all of his father-in-law's farm and other lands adjoining, until he now owns sixteen hundred acres in one body, and in addition has a quarter section in Arkansas, and a residence property in Crawfordsville. He is a man of great energy and keen discrimination in business affairs, and with the assistance of his estimable wife, who by her frugality and industry proved indeed a help- meet to him, he accumulated one of the best farming properties in the entire state. Mr. Montgomery recalls many interesting reminiscences of pioneer life, when land was unimproved, forests uncut and the work of civilization seemed scarcely begun. When he was a boy of but twelve years he carried the mail from Crawfordsville to Lafayette. The two towns were twenty- eight miles apart by direct route, but there were so many sloughs and bad places in the road that he was obliged to keep to the ridges and thus the distance was lengthened to thirty-five miles. This trip he made once each week on horseback, carrying the mail in saddle-bags. He was the first mail- carrier between the two towns, and was first appointed to the position
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during the administration of John Quincy Adams, but was not removed when Andrew Jackson became president. He was employed by Colonel Vance, of Crawfordsville, who had a contract for carrying the mail, and gave to Mr. Montgomery about half of what he received from the government, the pay of the latter being fifty cents per trip. It was a very arduous undertaking for a boy of his age, and well illustrates the strength of character which he manifested even at that time.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery have been born the following children: William H .; Adaline, who was married, died at the age of twenty-seven years ; Elija ; Eveline ; Amanda ; Samantha ; Mary ; Alice, who died at the age of eleven years ; Wallace F., and Eudora. The parents have long been faithful and consistent members of the Methodist church, Mr. Montgomery having united with the church in his youth, while his wife became a member at the age of seventeen years. In politics he was originally a Whig, and after the death of that party aided in organizing the Republican party in this locality. He voted for Fremont and Lincoln, and since that time has never failed to support the candidates of the "grand old party." He is one of the best known of the Indiana pioneers now living. For years extensively engaged in farming and stock dealing, he is widely known for his sterling honesty and fairness in all trade transactions. He has led a strictly temperate life, using neither tobacco nor intoxicating drinks, and to his excellent habits his good health is certainly largely attributable. He has now reached the venerable age of eighty-five years, while his wife is more than eighty-three years of age. They both retain their sight and hearing to a remarkable degree, and are fine examples of Indiana's best pioneer citizens. They have spent sixty- three years of wedded life upon the old family homestead, where in the evening of life they may now be found, surrounded by every evidence of comfort and refinement.
WALTER H. CROW.
ยท To many a man the loss of his sight would be esteemed a calamity more unendurable than death; and it is in the same reverential spirit that one feels when reading the line, "He gave his life for his country," that the patriot says of Walter H. Crow, "He sacrificed his eyes for his country." Not- withstanding the fact that for thirty-two years and more he has been totally blind, from the effects of his army service, Mr. Crow's life has been, on the whole, a successful and happy one, and his genial, hospitable manner, and broad mind and generous disposition have won him the respect and genuine esteem of a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
A son of the well known pioneer, William Crow (whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work), our subject was born in Liberty township, Warren
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county, December 27, 1835, and grew to manhood on the old home place. April 20, 1861, he enlisted in Company B, Tenth Regiment of Indiana Vol- unteer Infantry, one of the first to spring to arms after the first shot had been fired signifying secession and rebellion. He served more than the three months of his enlistment, and in September of the same year was ready to offer himself for three years more. Enlisting in Company K, Thirty- third Indiana Infantry, he was sent to Kentucky and took part in the battles of Wild Cat and Richmond; then assisted in the capture of Cumberland Gap, and was active in nearly all the important military operations in Kentucky. Next he participated in the battles of Springfield, Tennessee, Resaca, Dallas Woods, New Hope Church, Cassville, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, and capture of Atlanta. Though he was eighty-five successive days under fire in this campaign, and passed through many other battles and encounters with the enemy, he was never severely wounded, but was struck with bullets several times and had numerous narrow escapes. In November, 1861, at London, Kentucky, Mr. Crow had an attack of the measles, and while he recovered sufficiently to stand at his post of duty until the termination of his enlistment, he never entirely regained his health, and his eyes were seriously affected. For two or three years he could see, more or less imperfectly, and in November, 1866, the light of day was for ever blotted from his sight. He was honorably discharged from the service September 30, 1864, when he had completed his full term of enlistment. He returned to his native county, and has passed his life here. He was a student in the common schools in his boyhood, and taught for three winter terms prior to his army service. He possesses more than ordinary ability and mental attainments, and is well informed on all subjects of general interest. In politics he is a "true-blue " Republican, and fraternally he is a member of W. B. Fleming Post, No. 316, Grand Army of the Republic.
In March, 1873, Mr. Crow married Miss Martha K. Long, daughter of John Long, of Williamsport, Indiana. Six children were born to them: Benjamin, who died when about a year old; Lulu, who is the wife of Orlando Spellman, of Danville, Illinois; Thaddeus S .; Walter Scott; William T. and Russell L. Thaddeus and Walter S. enlisted in the late Spanish-American war, in Company G, One Hundred Fifty-eighth Regiment of Indiana Volun- teer Infantry, and were in the service for about six months. Orlando Spell- man, the son-in-law, above mentioned, also offered his services in this war for humanity, and, as a member of Battery A, of Illinois, went to Porto. Rico and took part in that memorable campaign. The devoted wife and mother, Mrs. Martha Crow, was summoned to her final rest August 24, 1892. Her loss is deeply felt in the bereaved household of our subject and. and in the community as well.
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CAPTAIN WARREN SHEETZ.
Captain Sheetz is a native of Tippecanoe county, Indiana, his birth occurring on the 9th of October, 1837. He was the third child of the eleven children of Frederick and Eliza C. (Taylor) Sheetz, the parents being natives of Hampshire county, Virginia, and very early pioneers of Tippecanoe county, locating on a farm near Lafayette in 1821. There Frederick grew to man- hood, learning the miller's trade, an occupation which he followed for many years, and in 1845 he bought a farm and ended his days in agricultural pur- suits, his death occurring there in 1864; and his wife survived till 1867. The Captain's ancestors on his father's side were German, and on his mother's side they were Scotch-Irish. Of their large family all are living so far as known to the subject of this sketch, excepting a brother who died in the army. Edward F. is a farmer in Spink county, North Dakota; Harriet became the wife of W. S. Van Natta, whose sketch is given elsewhere in this work; Warren, whose name heads this sketch; Alfred, who was a member of Company D, Tenth Indiana Infantry, and died in the army service in 1863; Margaret, the wife of Mr. Kelso, lives near Indianapolis: her first hus- band was George Shigley; Charles is a farmer near Lafayette; William T. has been lost to his family for many years and is presumed to be in the far west, if living; Frederick is a bookkeeper at Indianapolis; Frank is a farmer near Lafayette; Robert is a prosperous machinist at Muncie, this state; and Maria Virginia is the wife of Dr. B. F. Beasley, who is a successful physician at Lafayette, this state.
The paternal grandfather of our subject was a native of Virginia, Fred- erick Sheetz by name; and the maternal grandfather was Robert Taylor, also a native of the Old Dominion; and both families were prominently identified with the history of that state.
Captain Sheetz received a common-school education in his native county, and his early life was spent on his father's farm, where he remained until his enlistment in the army, at the age of twenty-four. He was one of those who promptly responded to their country's needs, and enlisted on the 18th of September, 1861, as a private in Company D, Tenth Indiana Infantry. On the organization of the company he was appointed one of the five sergeants and served in that capacity one year. In recognition of his special fitness to command, his devotion to duty and bravery on the battlefield, he was com- missioned first lieutenant and soon thereafter was promoted to the rank of captain; and for two years he commanded his company and was present with it in all the dangers of three years' active service at the front. The first rendez- vous of the regiment was at Louisville, Kentucky, where it was assigned to the command of General Thomas; and it afterward participated in active
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maneuvering and skirmishing against guerrillas in Kentucky. The first gen- eral engagement was at Mill Springs, which was quickly followed by the ter- rific battles at Shiloh and Corinth, Mississippi. It was next attached to the Fourteenth Army Corps and marched upon Nashville, Tennessee; made a forced march from Nashville to Louisville in pursuit of General Bragg, of the rebel forces, and had various skirmishes in Tennessee; returned to Nashville, and thence went out on the Chickamauga campaign, where, going into the battle of Chickamauga with forty men, Captain Sheetz brought his company out with only thirteen men capable for service, twenty having been killed or wounded. He remained at Chickamauga from September 15, 1863, until February, 1864, during which time the regiment was recruited and given the opportunity to re-enlist in the field. Captain Sheetz was detailed to bring the soldiers home on return furlough, and was home thirty days; but as an organization they did not improve the opportunity. The siege of Chattanooga being raised, the Captain and his company started out on the Atlanta cain- paign, but his term of service expired before he reached Atlanta, and the regiment was relieved at Ringgold, Georgia, and returned to Indianapolis, where it was mustered out of service, September 18, 1864.
Returning from the war, Captain Sheetz resumed agricultural pursuits, purchasing a farm of two hundred and forty acres southeast of Fowler, upon which he lived till 1885. By reason of failing health he retired from active labors of all kinds and located in Fowler, where he has resided since his retirement from the farm.
Of the social orders Captain Sheetz selected only the one which brings together for mutual protection and counsel his old army comrades, and accordingly he has been a member of the Grand Army post from its earliest history, and in this he has taken great interest. He recognizes the G. A. R. button as a " badge of honor," conveying to him in unmistakable language the mortality of man. He realizes that it is a society with a " time limit," and that soon the final reveille will call the last veteran to his eternal rest. He recognizes the emblem of the order as the "insignia of rank," telling to the world that the wearer was not only a defender of liberty and union, but also that his military record bore the closest scrutiny, for no traitor or con- victed coward can enter the portals of the order. Captain Sheetz has served in all the official capacities of the local post, excepting that of adjutant, and is proud of his connection with the "time-limited and fire-tested fraternity."
In matrimony Captain Sheetz was united, September 6, 1870, with Miss Harriet H. Johnson, a daughter of William R. and Margaret (Finch) John- son, early settlers of Benton county. Her father was a prosperous farmer and stock-grower, who died in 1863, at the age of fifty years, and her mother is still living on the old home farm near Oxford, at the age of seventy-five
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years. Mr. and Mrs. Sheetz became the parents of four sons and two daughters. The two first born-Theodore M. and Margaret E .- died of diphtheria, the latter in infancy, their deaths occurring within a few days of each other; Laura A. is the wife of Charles B. McKnight, an attorney in Fowler; David C. is a clerk in the shoe store of Van Natta & Evans, also in Fowler; Warren, Jr., is a student in the Fowler schools; and Chester is liv- ing with his aunt at Lafayette.
On the 31st of August, 1885, having but recently returned from the farm to Fowler, Mrs. Sheetz died. This was a severe blow to the family, and the Captain still realizes his loneliness and the disruption of family affairs. Since the occurrence of this sad event he has made his home for the most part with his married daughter, Mrs. McKnight.
In his political sympathies Captain Sheetz has always voted with the Republican party, in whose councils he has always been active and influen- tial; but with advancing years and bodily infirmity he has relinquished to some extent his former political enthusiasm. He has held the position of trustee of Pine township two terms, or four years, and he held a similar position in Center township (Fowler) for a like period. He is not connected with any church organization, though his wife was a devout Christian lady, a. member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
BENJAMIN F. CROW.
A veteran of the civil war and an esteemed citizen of Jordan township, Warren county, is the subject of this review, B. F. Crow. He is a son of the well known pioneer, William Crow, and was born on the parental home- stead in Liberty township, this county, January 7, 1846. The lessons in good citizenship and devotion to country which he and his brothers learned at their father's knee found early fruition, for all three of them were true to the noble principles which had been instilled into their youthful minds, and when the nation was threatened with disruption, they promptly responded with the offer of their services and lives, should the final sacrifice be required. William H. paid with his life the penalty of his devotion to his native land, his death occurring while he was with his regiment in Louisville, Kentucky. The other brother, Walter, as a result of his army life, lost his eyesight. (For further family history see sketch of William Crow, which is printed on another page of this work.)
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