USA > Indiana > Warren County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 11
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 11
USA > Indiana > White County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 11
USA > Indiana > Newton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 11
USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 11
USA > Indiana > Benton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 11
USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 11
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).
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
On the 18th of December, 1889, Mr. Bott became the owner of the
629
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
stock of hardware formerly the property of Charles Dennewitz, of Star City. This stock was invoiced at about four hundred dollars, and was contained in the small store-room now used as a post-office. For two years our subject carried on a hardware business in the W. E. Clark building, and in April, 1897, he came to his fine store in the J. W. Warick brick block. His large and well-selected stock of goods is valued at over four thousand dollars, and in addition to his hardware line he sells large bills of leather goods, and em- ploys a harness-maker in this department. The agricultural community are among his best customers, and he bears an enviable reputation among all classes for square dealing and uprightness.
The marriage of W. L. Bott and Anna Belle Bennett, daughter of Captain Nelson B. and Mary J. (Ward) Bennett, was celebrated August 22, 1888. She was born in Winamac, March 29, 1870, and by her marriage is the mother of three children: Sevilla Glenn, born July 11, 1889; Nelson Neil, March 6, 1891; and Alice Ruth, August 5, 1892.
Mrs. Bott's father was born in Cass county, Indiana, on his father's farm, and was but twenty years of age when he enlisted in Company E, Twenty- ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He served from September 12, 1861, to May II, 1864, when he was granted an honorable discharge, at Chatta- nooga, and the same day he re-enlisted, and remained stanchly at his post of duty, until he was finally discharged at Marietta, Georgia, several months after the close of the war, the date of his retirement from the army being December 2, 1865. He enlisted at first as a private soldier, and by gallantry and fidelity to duty rose to be corporal, then sergeant, then first lieutenant, his commission being dated April 1, 1864; and from May 19, 1864, until the end of the following year, he held the rank of captain.
Returning to Winamac, he conducted a wagon factory until his death, August 8, 1883, when in his forty-fifth year. He married, first, Mary J., daughter of Robert Stotts, and their eldest child, Melinda, died in infancy. Dora Ellen, the third, married Frank Keller, of this town; and Jessie L., born February 16, 1873, resides with our subject and wife. The second wife, whose former name was Linda Lane, survives Mr. Bennett. He was one of the eleven children of Thornton and Mary Jane (Ward) Bennett, the others being William C., Phœbe Ann, Samuel W., John W., Sarah Jane, Amelia, Elizabeth, Loretta, Mary and Martecia. Thornton Bennett was born June 27, 1809, in Kentucky, and died on the fifty-second anniversary of his birth. He removed from Kentucky to Preble county, Ohio, thence to Cass county, Indiana, in 1836. He entered three hundred and twenty acres in Bethlehem township, and resided there until his death. He married Miss Ward in Preble county, Ohio, in 1833.
Fraternally, W. B. Bott stands high in the Odd Fellows order, being a
630
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
trustee of Star City Lodge, No. 442, and having represented it in the grand lodge. He is also a Knight of Pythias, being a charter member of Star City Lodge, No. 427, and both he and his wife belong to the Daughters of Re- bekah. Politically, he is a Democrat.
LEWIS JONATHAN NOE.
The Noe family, which is worthily represented in Pulaski county by the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, originated in France. His great- grandfather, Abraham Noe, was born in the town of Noe, France, which had been founded and named by his ancestors many generations previously. Of his several children, the names of some are forgotten; but Daniel, who was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, and served in the colonial army under Wash- ington, and was with his heroic band at Valley Forge. His last years were spent in the vicinity of Columbus, Ohio, where he attained the advanced age of ninety-four years. Lewis, another son, settled in Franklin county, Ohio.
Robert Noe, a younger son, was born at Caldwell, New Jersey (the birthplace of ex-President Cleveland, also), prior to the Declaration of Inde- pendence. He married Polly Shipman, a native of Kentucky, and their chil- dren were Archibald, who was a resident of Grant county, Indiana, at the time of his death; William and Lysander, who also lived in Grant county; Emily, wife of Lemuel Taylor, of Ohio; Amanda, wife of William Huddles- ton; Lot, the father of our subject; Lewis, a citizen of the Buckeye state; Oscar, of Jones county, Iowa; and Lucindrella, who married William Rue and, lived in Ohio. The father of these children became a pioneer of Cham- paign county, Ohio, in 1804, removing thence from May's Lick, Kentucky, where he had spent about a year. He located permanently in Jackson town- ship, and on his homestead an old tree, which is a veritable landmark, is yet standing. The Indians had trimmed off the branches on one side and sharp- ened some of them into prongs, on which they would hang their game when it was being dressed. Robert Noe died on this farm about 1858, when he was in his eighty-ninth year.
On this same homestead Lot Noe, the father of our subject, was born, in January, 1818, and there, after spending nearly four-score years, he de- parted this life, April 1, 1888. He purchased the farm of his father and was engaged in its cultivation from that time until his death, with the exception of a few years, when he operated a sawmill in Indiana. He was a man of considerable influence in his own community, and occupied various local offices. Politically he was a Democrat, and in religion was an old-school Baptist. For a wife he chose Sarah, daughter of William and Mary (Ral- ston) Mckinley, and sister of Nancy, Mahala, Lucinda, William, Mary and
631
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
Michael. William McKinley, Sr., was probably born in eastern Ohio, and he was an own cousin of President Mckinley. Mrs. Sarah Noe was born in Champaign county, Ohio, in October, 1820, and is still living on the old homestead in Ohio, which has been in the possession of the Noe family dur- ing almost the whole of this century. To the union of Lot Noe and wife eight children were born, namely: Lewis, Mary, Martha, Melissa, Amanda, Albert, Cyrus and Lucinda.
The birth of Lewis Jonathan Noe occurred on the old homestead in Ohio, March 16, 1846. He obtained a good education in the district schools and engaged in teaching when eighteen years of age, continuing in that voca- tion for five years steadily, in his home neighborhood. During this period he spent his Saturdays and holidays in surveying, and assisted in the laying out of railroads. In 1874 he came to Pulaski county, and, having been ap- pointed to the responsible position of county surveyor, he served to the en- tire satisfaction of every one for four years. In 1876 he bought thirty acres of land in Monroe township, adjoining the town of Winamac. This property he proceeded to clear and improve, placing ditches and planting small fruits and orchards. He makes a specialty of raising vegetables and berries for the local markets, finding a ready sale for all of the fine products of his farm. Six and a half acres are devoted to the culture of strawberries alone, and for many years he has transacted the most extensive business in his line in this portion of the county. In 1888 he was elected vice president of the State Horticultural Society and served four years, and was re-elected to this office five times. When he first settled in Winamac he did a large real-estate business, thousands of acres passing through his hands, but he lost heavily in the financial panic, and since then has given his attention to horticulture.
On the 21st of January, 1871, Mr. Noe joined the St. Paris lodge of Odd Fellows, at St. Paris, Ohio, and passed all the chairs there. He also belonged to Russell Encampment, No. 141, of the same order, and holds a regular withdrawal card from the same. In his political views Mr. Noe is quite independent, though he frequently favors the nominees of the Demo- cratic party with his ballot.
The marriage of Mr. Noe and Martha Florence Byers was celebrated July 1, 1874. She was born October 14, 1850, in Jefferson township, Clin- ton county, Indiana, a daughter of Jacob and Susan (Baughman) Byers, both of whom were of German descent. The father was born March 10, 1818, in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, and was one of the ten children of Ephraim and Catherine (White) Byers, the others being Eli, Joshua, Ellen, Abner, Agnes, Mary and Eliza (twins), and David and Patterson (twins). In 1836 he removed with his parents to Clinton county, Indiana; in 1855 went to Carroll county, this state, and two years later came to this county. Here
632
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
he resided, in Salem and White Post townships, until 1878, owning six hun- dred and forty acres, and having his homestead on section 26. He was elected to the office of county commissioner four years and county treasurer four years, and was very prominent as a live-stock dealer in this state. The last thirteen years of his life were passed in Cowley county, Kansas, where he died on Christmas day, 1891. His first wife, Susan, died in 1855, when but thirty years of age, and left several children: Frances, George, Ephraim, Catharine, William, Martha, Isadore and an infant. For his second wife he chose a cousin of his first wife, Harriet Baughman, and to them were born Reed, James, Mina and Irene. Susan Baughman was the only daughter of Jacob and Mary (Ober) Baughman, and her three brothers were Jacob, Jere- miah and Lewis.
The following named children have blessed the union of our subject and wife: Sarah, born September 26, 1875; Lewis Jacob, born September 24, 1877, and died August 18, 1878; Thomas Wildey, born December 20, 1878; Mary Alice, born November 17, 1880; Lot, September 30, 1882; Eva, Febru- ary 8, 1884; Amy, March 22, 1886; Gulielma, born July 8, 1888, and named in honor of Mrs. William Penn; Crete, born December 29, 1890, and Laura, August 9, 1893.
HENRY LEAMING, JR.
The Leaming family is one of those who were prominent in the colonial history of New Jersey, as founders and participants in the development of the new country, and they have furnished not only to that state, but also to many others, a goodly number of distinguished citizens. Among these was Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Leaming, of New Haven, Connecticut. He was an Episcopalian clergyman and one of the most prominent in that church in colonial times. He was a graduate of Yale College, and crossed the ocean to be ordained by the bishop of Bath, England. It was in 1670 that the Leamings were first planted on American soil, by Christopher Leaming. Their history has been comparatively well preserved by Aaron Leaming, the second by that name in this line, who was the third in line of descent from Christopher. The last named was one of the wealthy and prominent men of his day, who preserved in his book of surveys a concise account of the family as known to him. On this stable foundation the following records and his- tory of the family rest.
The genealogical outline in lineal descent from Christopher Leaming to Henry Leaming, Jr., our subject, of Romney, Indiana, is as follows :
Christopher (Ist) was born in England in 1649, married Esther Bur- nett, became the founder of the family in America, and died in 1697, aged forty-eight years.
Henry Learning i
633
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
Aaron (Ist), his son, was born in 1687, married Lydia Shaw, née Persons, and died in 1740, aged fifty-three years.
Aaron (2d), son of the latter, was born in 1715, married Mary Furman, and died in 1780, at the age of sixty-five years.
Persons, his son, was born in 1756, married Charlotte Eldridge, and died in 1807, at the age of fifty-one years.
Furman, his son, was born in 1786, married Hannah Ludlam, and died in 1832, aged forty-six years.
Dr. Furman, son of the last mentioned, was born in 1815, married Mary Curwen and died in 1891, at the age of seventy-six years.
Henry, his son, was born in 1845, and married Martha Frances Fox.
Tradition says that Christopher Leaming, the immigrant, was born in Warwickshire, in England, and that the name was originally spelled Leo- mynge, which as a word means "fat pasture." From Aaron Leaming's Book of Surveys the following history of the family is obtained. The author records that many of his facts were gained from his mother and writings in his possession. He says that the first account he could obtain was, that Christopher and Jeremiah Leamyeng, as they spelled their name, were brothers, who left England, their native land, about 1670 for America, to seek their fortunes in the New World. Who their progenitors were, or from what part of England they came, or what were their occupations previous to that date, are matters unknown to their posterity.
In crossing the Atlantic Jeremiah was seized with severe sea-sickness. and bleeding at the nose, with which complaint he died on the voyage, and left his brother, the only man of the name, to establish the family in the New World. Christopher landed in some part of New England, -from the best information that can be gained, -probably at or near Boston. In 1674 he married Esther, a daughter of Aaron Burnett, of the east end of Long Island. Her father left her a tract of land at Sag Harbor, which still bears the name of Leaming's. Here he resided until about 1691, when, leaving his family on Long Island, he went to Cape May, New Jersey, which at that time was a new country, just beginning to be settled, and engaged in whale-fishing there, and at intervals followed his trade of cooper, whales at that time being abundant in the vicinity of the Delaware river and casks in good demand.
On the 9th of April, 1696, he caused to be surveyed for himself two hundred and four acres of land on Cape May (Aaron Leaming's Book of Surveys, page 93), which was purchased by his son Thomas. To this place he removed his family and here he passed the remainder of his life. The precise locality is near Cape Island, in Leaming's Neck. Christopher Leaming died of pleurisy, about the year 1697, aged forty-eight years, and his remains were buried at the place now called Town Bank, on the bay; 41
634
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORI.
shore, Lower township: that was then a village containing thirteen houses; but on account of the failure of the whaling industry about Delaware bay it began to dwindle and continued to do so until it finally disappeared alto- gether. In 1838 the site was covered by the farm of Israel Townsend. Aaron Leaming says that he saw the graves in 1734, about fifty rods from the bay, and the sand was then blown up to them.
Christopher Leaming's children were Thomas, Jane, Hannah, Christo- pher, Aaron, Jeremiah and Elizabeth,-whom, with the widow, he left at his death, to be scattered as the caprice of youth or fortune might direct. Upon the introduction of this house of orphans into the world they took the privilege of changing the orthography of their names. Thomas wrote his Leamyeng, preserving the spelling of his father, as he was the eldest son, in case any property might descend to him in England that he might claim by the original family name. Aaron called himself Leaming, and all the remaining members of the family wrote it the same way. Thomas inherited his mother's land at Sag Harbor, and he purchased the two hundred and four acres originally surveyed by his father on Cape May; but he sold the Sag Harbor property after his mother's death and moved to Cape May.
Aaron Leaming, the fifth child of Christopher Leamyeng (Ist), and of the second generation from England, was born at Sag Harbor, Long Island, October 12, 1687. Upon the death of his father he was bound an appren- tice to one Collins, a tanner and shoemaker in Connecticut. Disliking either his master or the trade, or both, he left them, after about three years' serv- ice, and when he was about sixteen years of age, and, with the assistance of a sea captain by the name of Mathews, he transported himself in a vessel to Amboy, New Jersey, where he accidentally met his brother Christopher, who had been with a military expedition to Canada and suffered many hardships. Leaving him there he wandered to Salem, in West Jersey, and for some time resided at Alloway's Creek, where he was fortunate in becoming acquainted with, and securing the friendship of, an aged Quaker lady named Sarah Hall, who was an excellent scholar and famous in those times for her legal knowledge as well as for other literary attainments. She had an extensive library, and, being rich as well as benevolent, she took much pains to instruct this friendless and desolate orphan, and under her kind treatment and tuition he became a fair accountant, learned something of surveying, obtained a smattering of legal knowledge and of the Latin language. Aaron Leaming, Sr., remarks that in Connecticut the person with whom he lived, being a Presbyterian, stunted him in his youth with hard work (the boy turning out to be a small man) and crammed and cramped his mind with predestinarian- ism and superstition. At Salem he became a Quaker, under the instruction of his benefactor.
635
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
In the summer of 1703 he went to Cape May, with his brother Thomas. Being of feeble constitution, the new climate caused him a severe sickness, which left him just alive. He afterward purchased property of Philip Hill. Aaron Leaming, Sr., was five feet and six inches in height and weighed about one hundred and sixty pounds, and was very active and sprightly. His con- stitution was injured by incessant labor when young. He ate but little flesh meat, his diet being principally milk. He always had a cough and his lungs appeared to be affected, and still he was obliged to endure many hardships, as he settled in a new country. He first located at Goshen, New Jersey, and commenced raising cattle, which industry he carried to a greater extent than any other man in his county at that period, and possibly even to a greater extent than any other man in the state of New Jersey. Also he purchased a boat and followed freighting for a time, which business proved very lucrative. By means of incessant industry and frugality, Aaron Leaming became the wealthiest man in his county. For several years he was clerk of the county; was a member of the colonial legislature of New Jersey from 1727 to 1744; and he died in Philadelphia, on the 20th of June, 1746, of pleurisy, and was buried in one of the Arch street burying-grounds. October 12, 1714, he mar- ried Lydia Shaw, the widow of Captain W. Shaw; she was born in East Hamp- ton, Long Island, April 10, 1680, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Persons. She had an uncommonly strong and robust constitution and was a woman of great industry, rising early in the morning and retiring to bed at sundown. Throughout life she was a member of the Baptist church, and died. October 2, 1762, at the age of eighty-two years, of the gout, on her own plantation, where she had lived seventy-one years. She was first married to William Shaw, who died in 1712.
Aaron Leaming had four children : Aaron, born July 6, 1715; Jere- miah, February 12, 1716; Matthias, March 24, 1718; and Elizabeth, Sep- tember 18, 1721.
Aaron Leaming (2d), the son of Aaron and Lydia (Persons) Leaming, was born July 6, 1715, and married Mary Furman, the daughter of Jona- than Frayman (or Furman, as the name was afterward spelled). She was born at Cape May, March 12, 1720. Their children were Jonathan, born July 5, 1738; Aaron, who was born August 28, 1740, and died August 31, 1764; Sarah, born February 21, 1743, died when about eight years of age; Matthias, born September 19, 1749, died September 27, 1763; Mary, born October 19, 1753, died about 1798; and Persons, born July 23, 1756, died March 29, 1807, at the age of fifty-one years.
The father of the aforenamed children inherited all the good qualities of his father; was a man of untiring industry and noted for his frugality; and he added greatly to his landed estate. He also held a number of public offices;
636
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
was clerk of the county, a member of the colonial legislature for thirty years, and appointed by the governor and legislature, in connection with Jacob Spicer, to revise the laws of New Jersey; and the volume of the laws bearing the title Leaming and Spicer's Revision was the result of their labors. He was an excellent draughtsman and did a great deal of survey- ing and conveyancing, being generally applied to for advice in legal matters; and so far as can be judged from his writings he was doubtless a man of unusually strong mind and natural abilities, matured by much practical ex- perience and study. An inventory of his real and personal estate gave the value as nine hundred thousand dollars, which in those days was an enormous fortune, far exceeding that of any other man of his county, either before or since.
Mr. Leaming was frequently chairman of meetings and committees on the most important questions that agitated the colonial legislature, particu- larly in the controversies which were constantly occurring between the gov- ernors and the legislature. There is good reason to believe that he was a useful member of the legislative bodies and that he contributed his full share toward the prevention of the encroachments of the governors of the British colonies, who were appointed to office by the king as sinecures, while they were both ignorant and careless of the people's interests. These tyrannical officers came from England for the main purpose of controlling the people and enriching themselves, and at length to return to England to spend their ill-gotten fortune in dissipation.
Mr. Aaron Leaming, the subject of the foregoing paragraphs, died August 27, 1780, at the age of sixty-five years, at Cape May.
Persons Leaming, son of the preceding, was born July 23, 1756, and named after his maternal grandfather, John Persons. He married Charlotte Eldridge October 24, 1781. She was a daughter of Samuel Eldridge, an Englishman, who moved to Cape May from Long Island in the first settle-
ment of the county. At the time of her marriage she was under sixteen years of age. She died December 12, 1812, aged nearly forty-six years. After the death of her first husband she married John Thompson, about 1809. The children of Persons and Charlotte Leaming were: Aaron, born May 15, 1784, and died January 7, 1836; Furman, born October 3, 1786, and died March 18, 1832; Mary, born in 1788, died February 5, 1861; Per- sons, born September 3, 1790, died November 20, 1820; Jeremiah, born May 25, 1792, and died April 26, 1839; James Ramsey, born June 6, 1794, and died May 20, 1821; and Charlotte, born August, 1800, and died at the age of eighteen months.
Persons Leaming was a man of quick and strong temper, which in its excitements subsided as suddenly as it rose. He was strictly honest and
637
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
upright, not a member of any religious society, and was of a kind disposition. He passed all his life after marriage on a farm which had belonged to his maternal grandfather, John Persons, and died March 29, 1807.
Furman Leaming, his son, was born at Cape May, New Jersey, October 13, 1786, and May 14, 1809, married Hannah Ludlam, who was the daugh- ter of Henry and Hannah Ludlam, of the Upper township of Cape May, where she was born November 29, 1789. The children by this marriage were Mary, born March 31, 1810 ; Henry, November 29, 1811 ; Sarah, May, 1813; Furman, August 30, 1815 (the foregoing were born at Cape May); Lewis, November 20, 1817, at Philadelphia ; Elizabeth, November 19, 1821; Hannah, January 5, 1824 ; Henry, November 25, 1825 ; Persons, October 15, 1827 ; and Emma, March 26, 1829. Of this number only three survived to May 18, 1894, at which time Mary, the eldest, was eighty-four years old, and Henry and Emma, the two youngest, were then living.
The mother of the foregoing children departed this life July 6, 1836, at the age of forty-seven years and eight months. Her parents, Henry and Hannah (Smith) Ludlam, were people of sterling worth and integrity, and both were members of the Baptist church at Dennis Creek, Cape May. They were the parents of eight children. Henry Ludlam died October 5, 1838, aged nearly ninety years.
Furman Leaming was ordained an elder in the Tenth Presbyterian church a few years before his death. He was a sincere Christian, of excel- lent education and of the strictest integrity. He first settled on a farm at Dyer's Creek, Cape May ; in 1815 he moved to Philadelphia, where he was extensively engaged as a hardware merchant until the time of his death. He was a zealous and exemplary member of the Presbyterian church ; was the founder of the Presbyterian church at the corner of Twelfth and Walnut streets, in Philadelphia, in whose vault his remains now lie. He was a man of remarkable character. In his last moments, when disease had probably affected his mind, he requested another person, who chanced to be in the room with him, to retire, as he did not wish his last moments to be observed. His death took place March 18, 1832.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.