USA > Indiana > Warren County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 33
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 33
USA > Indiana > White County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 33
USA > Indiana > Newton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 33
USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 33
USA > Indiana > Benton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 33
USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 33
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Among the various enterprises which have more or less engaged the at- tention of Judge Burson was the buying and managing of the Pulaski Demo- crat, a paper published in the interests of the Republican party and the peo- ple of Winamac and the county in general, but at the end of a year he sold out and resumed his law practice. He was identified with the Republican party until the reconstruction, when he transferred his allegiance to the oppo- site party. In 1874 he was elected to the state legislature and served effi- ciently for two years, and in 1876 was made a presidential elector, casting his vote for S. J. Tilden in that memorable autumn. In 1860 he was initi- ated into the Masonic order in Winamac, and has passed all the chairs in the local lodge. In 1865, after his return from the war, he joined the Odd Fel- lows, and he also belongs to the Royal Arcanum and to the Logansport lodge of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.
On the 8th of July, 1860, Judge Burson and Miss Melinda Lowry were united in marriage. Mrs. Burson was born May 4, 1845, in Wyandot
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county, Ohio, and is a daughter of John Dixon and Margaret Pearl (Stotts) Lowry, who are represented in the sketch of Robert A. Lowry. The eldest child of the Judge and wife is George Lowry, born August 29, 1865, and now associated in business with his father. Estella, the only daughter, born Feb- ruary 14, 1867, is the wife of Edward M. Morehart, salesman for the firm of Meyer Brothers, druggists, of Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Burson have long been valued members of the Christian church, and are always confidently relied upon to do all within their power to elevate and aid their fellow men.
REV. ISAAC SAYLER.
Rev. Isaac Sayler, of Rensselaer, is one of a numerous family bearing that name and residents of Jasper county. The time of his coming to this county was October, 1850.
Mr. Sayler was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, April 18, 1809. His father, Henry Sayler, was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1776, and he was the son of Jacob Sayler. The Sayler family is of Holland de- scent, tracing its ancestry in this country back to colonial times. Jacob Say- ler was a member of the first continental congress, held at Philadelphia; he was a gunsmith, and manufactured guns and swords for use in the Revolu- tionary army. The chair in which he sat at the congress above mentioned was on exhibition, with those of the other members of the congress, at the great Centennial Exposition, held at Philadelphia in 1876. He continued to reside in Pennsylvania until his death. His wife, the grandmother of the subject of this biography, moved to Pickaway county, Ohio, with her children, and passed the remainder of her days there. Jacob Sayler and wife became the parents of five sons and four daughters who grew to mature years; and of these only David came to Jasper county, Indiana; but he and all his family have passed to the other world. The names of the children of Jacob Sayler, in order of their birth, were as follows: The sons were Jacob, John, Henry, Micah and David; and the daughters were Elizabeth, Mary, Hetty and Sally; but all of that generation have passed away.
Henry Sayler, the father of the Rev. Isaac Sayler, moved to Pickaway county, Ohio, in 1793, when he was seventeen years of age, and he was accompanied by his oldest brother, Jacob. They made a location for the family in the wilds of the frontier of civilization, planting a crop and making other preparations. Returning to the Keystone state, they brought out the family during the next autumn, and here in the extreme frontier they made their home and engaged in clearing land and in the pursuits of primitive agri- culture.
In 1805 Henry Sayler was married to Elizabeth Kepner, a native of
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Pennsylvania, and to them were born thirteen children, -ten sons and three daughters. One of the sons died in infancy and all the rest lived to have families of their own. These were Jacob, Benjamin, Isaac, John, Micah, Henry, Samuel, Barnhart and Lewis; the daughters were Caroline, Mary and Sarah. Five of the brothers are residents of Jasper county. John died a number of years ago; Jacob, the oldest of the five brothers, was born in 1805, and Lewis, the youngest, in 1830; perhaps a parallel case cannot be found in the state of Indiana. Another brother, Barnhart, lives near Watseka, Illinois; Samuel is a resident of Wood county, Ohio; and the only surviving sister is Mrs. Sarah Harrington, of Iowa City, Iowa.
Rev. Isaac Sayler, from whom the facts in this sketch are mostly ob- tained, was brought up to the age of fourteen years in Pickaway county, Ohio, and then the family removed to Marion county, same state, where they located in the woods, and with the help of the boys they cleared a fine farm. The father died there in 1854.
Young Sayler had but little opportunity for a school education in his youth; but when he was twenty-one years old he enjoyed an opportunity of going from home to school, and he obtained sufficient education to enable him to teach, and he taught three winter terms of school. He was married March 21, 1833, to Elizabeth Grauel, who was born in Ohio September 25, 18II, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Grauel. Mr. and Mrs. Sayler con- tinued to live in Ohio until they came to Jasper county in 1850. Here Mr. Sayler purchased a farm of one hundred acres in Newton township, a place but slightly improved. A small house had been erected there, which the family occupied the first winter. On this place Mr. Sayler and family made their home until the death of the wife and mother, which occurred Novem- ber 21, 1893, when she had reached the age of eighty-two years. To Mr. and Mrs. Sayler were born eleven children, four of whom died in infancy. The sixth child and oldest son, Simon B., was a soldier for the Union in the war of the Rebellion, and died during service, of typhoid fever. Mr. Sayler's second and only surviving son is Andrew K., who owns and occu- pies a part of the old homestead in Newton township. One daughter, Mary Hopkins, died in 1896. The oldest surviving daughter is Mrs. Esther Daugh- erty. Mrs. Sarah A. Benjamin resides in Kansas; Mrs. Julia S. Daugherty is another daughter surviving; and Miss Ellen J. resides with her father in Rensselaer.
Rev. Isaac Sayler joined the Methodist church at the age of twenty-one years. In 1840 he was appointed class-leader; in 1844 was licensed as an exhorter; and in 1851 as a local preacher, and he preached regularly for many years. At length the failing health of his wife demanded so much of his attention that for a year previous to her death he could devote but little
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of his energies to the office of the pulpit. He is now retired and with his daughter resides at her pleasant home in Rensselaer. He has now attained the ripe age of eighty-nine years, and his physical and mental strength are remarkably well preserved. His life has ever been in accordance with a firm belief in the tenets of Christianity, and his faithful work in the Master's vine- yard has extended over a period of many, many years.
CHARLES A. ROBERTS.
Among the most prominent and well-known citizens of Rensselaer, Jasper county, Indiana, is Charles A. Roberts, who has spent many years in active business here, -first as a blacksmith, in which line his services were in constant demand, then as a dealer in agricultural implements, while now he is a retired citizen. He was born in the state of Pennsylvania, July 3, 1848, his parents being John and Mary E. (Evans) Roberts.
John Roberts also was a native of Pennsylvania, but was one of the pioneers of Decatur county, Indiana, to which locality he moved some forty-eight years ago. He was a carpenter, having mastered the trade by serving a regular apprenticeship, and followed it in his new home in con- nection with his farm work. He was a kind and obliging neighbor and his craft was of great value in that primitive time. He married Miss Mary E. Evans, a Maryland lady, whose youth was spent near the Potomac river, upon which she has enjoyed many a sleigh-ride. This most excel- lent couple are now residing at Newburg, the mother having reached her seventy-ninth milestone, while the father has passed beyond it to a more ad- vanced age. They are the parents of nine children, of whom but one, Cal- vin Thomas, has been called to a better life. The remaining eight have been reared to lives of usefulness and honor, and have been widely scattered over the United States. They are William Augustus, in the employ of an in- surance company at Indianapolis; John Edward, a resident of Westport, Indiana; Sarah Catherine, the wife of Captain J. A. H. Hosack, of Fort Worth, Texas; Calvin Thomas, deceased; Charles Amos, our subject; Mar- tha Priscilla, wife of John Nauman, of Garwin, Iowa; George Elwood, of Indianapolis; Lewis Finney, of Garwin, Iowa; and Francis Marion, of Indianapolis.
Charles A. Roberts was the fifth child of the family, and was but eight- een months old when his parents removed from Pennsylvania to Decatur county, this state. They located near Greensburg, the county-seat, and set- tled on a farm. When he became older he entered the common schools, helping about the work of the farm except when in school. The dis- tance which he had to traverse in going to the school-house was one and a half
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miles, so that he was obliged to carry his dinner, which too often consisted of nothing but corn bread. In those days it was not an easy matter to ob- tain an education, the effort costing inconvenience and sacrifice which are little understood and appreciated by the youth of these modern times. Still, our shrewdest, smartest men were confronted with these difficulties and sur- mounted them, giving to the world our ablest lawyers, wisest statesmen, and most successful business men. Our subject remained upon the farm until he was twenty years old, when he went to Newburg, and entered the shop of Jacob Smith, to learn the trade of blacksmith. He worked at this trade seventeen years, eleven of them in Rensselear. He was a good mechanic and a hard worker, many days putting in fourteen and sixteen hours during the busy season. He also added a small stock of implements and was in a flourishing condition, when his health gave out from overwork and he was obliged to abandon the blacksmith shop, and turned his entire attention to the implement business. He increased his stock until he carried a fine, large line of all kinds of machinery, buggies and wagons, and continued the store until 1891, when he disposed of the stock to Hammond Brothers, and rented out the building. The succeeding year or two he did not engage in busi- ness, but tried to rest and build up his health. He then furnished the capi- tal for a tailoring business, having an interest in the concern for about two years, when he bought the ground and erected the building in which he now conducts his business, putting in a small stock of implements and being content to carry a less extensive line of goods. He is successful and popu- lar, having a multitude of friends in the vicinity. He has always been a Democrat. Mr. Roberts was married October 3, 1875, to Miss Abbie Phillips, a native of this county, and a daughter of Simon Phillips, who is represented elsewhere in this book. She is a devout Christian and a mem- ber of the Church of God.
WILLIAM LISK.
Mr. Lisk, the subject of this memoir, recently passed away. He was the pioneer merchant and business man of Wolcott, White county, Indiana, and was one of the best known and highly respected citizens of that county. He was born in Trenton, New Jersey, but was reared in Franklin county, Ohio, where he obtained his education in the district schools of his neighborhood. He remained at home until twenty-seven years of age, when he was married and removed to Chillicothe, Ohio. In 1847 he came to Indiana, locating near Lafayette, where he farmed for six years, and then removed to Wapello county, where he spent the following six years. He subsequently returned to Tippecanoe county and from there, in 1868, he went to White county,
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where, in partnership with J. P. Clute, he ran a general store for five months, at the end of which time the partnership was dissolved.
Mr. Lisk for one year after this was employed on a farm by Mr. A. Wolcott, but not being satisfied with this occupation he again entered into the mercantile business, which he carried on for twenty-eight years. He died at the advanced age of seventy-nine years, seven months and twenty-nine days. At the time of his death he owned one hundred acres of land, two residences in Elwood and three residences in Wolcott. He sold his stock to E. L. Tyner, in 1897.
The marriage of Mr. Lisk took place October 8, 1846, in Ross county, Ohio, where he was united to Miss Sarah A. Edmonds, who was born in that county, a daughter of Robert and Margaret (Fordman) Edmonds, also natives of that state. Of this union seven children were born, namely: John W., living in Purvis, Mississippi; Ezra, in Hammond, Indiana; Alice, wife of F. W. Warner, of Fowler, Indiana; Mary, who married Charles Elliott, of Toledo, Ohio; Lester E., the wife of E. B. Dibell, a banker at Wolcott; and Anna, the wife of H. E. Small, of Wolcott, Indiana.
The parents of our subject were Peter and Abigail (Moore) Lisk. The father was born in Trenton, New Jersey, leaving his native state in 1821 and removing to Franklin county, near Columbus, Ohio, where he lived for forty years and died aged about seventy. He was a shoemaker by trade. The mother was born in New York state, and died in Franklin county, Ohio, in 1843, aged fifty years. Their family comprised three children: Henry, William and John, all now deceased. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Lisk was John Lisk, who was of Dutch and Scotch descent and was a soldier in the war of 1812. His maternal grandfather was Samuel Moore.
Mr. Lisk spent a long and useful life, he always maintained an active interest in the growth of the town with which he was so long identified, and also in all the enterprises connected with the Methodist church, of which he was for many years a devoted member. His integrity of character and kind- ness of heart made him many warm friends and who were delighted to honor his old age, and who revere his memory. In politics he was a Republican and was always ready to assist as far as he was able in the deliberations and councils of that party.
DAVID NOWELS.
Mr. Nowels enjoys the distinction of being the first white boy in Jasper county, and he is to-day not only the oldest resident of the county, but is also one of the first settlers now living. He came here with his father and broth- er-in-law in 1834, when but a lad of thirteen. They made a settlement on
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the present site of Rensselaer and built the first house in Jasper county, a log cabin, hewed from the native timber, the site now being occupied by the Rensselaer Bank. Here they continued to live, the only companions of his youth being Indians. David Nowels' life was filled with hardships and trials, such as can hardly be imagined by the present inhabitants of this now flour- ishing community. He learned to depend on his own efforts, and this self- reliance enabled him to surmount all difficulties and achieve the success he so richly deserves. He is a son of John and Hetty (Vulgamer) Nowels, and he was born in Holmes county, Ohio, September 15, 1821.
John Nowels was born in the state of Kentucky, March 13, 1769, and his wife was a native of Ohio. John Nowels went from his native state to the then territory of Ohio at a very early day. He was not a rugged youth, as was usual with those times, and was unfit for the work of clearing off land and farming. In lien of this he took to hunting, which served as a recreation and also a profitable business. Game of all kinds was abundant in the wild country at that time and afforded a large part of the food of the pioneers. He was a good huntsman and killed a great deal of game, having a contract to supply the table of the government surveyors when they were making the original survey of Ohio lands. In 1824, when David was three years old, John Nowels moved with his family to Fountain county, Indiana. There the wife and mother died, and in consequence the family, comprising eight sons and one daughter, became broken and separated. In 1834, with his son-in- law, Joseph Yeoman, and David, Mr. Nowels came to this county, where he continued to hunt until his death, May 21, 1865, at the advanced age of ninety-six years, three months and some days.
Sarah (Nowels) Yeoman, the only sister of our subject, was the first white woman of Jasper county. She died in Union township a few years after her husband, Joseph Yeoman, who was a native of Ohio, but became a well known citizen of this county, where he died in the spring of 1859. Stephen Nowels, an elder brother of our subject, became a resident of Jas- per county in 1836, but removed to Kansas, where he died a number of years ago.
David Nowels came to this country when a lad of thirteen years, and as he was the first and only white boy here at that time, his early education was obtained from Mother Nature, a most excellent teacher, and was sup- plemented by his own earnest endeavors in after life. Living, as he did, among the Indians, he acquired much of their accuracy of observation, keen ear, quick eye and steady hand. He became an expert marksman at an early age, and killed many deer in a day's hunt. He grew up amidst these surroundings, and soon after reaching his majority he embarked on the sea of matrimony. He took his bride to the northern part of Marion township,
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and they set earnestly to work to make for themselves a home. They have led lives of industry and activity, and their thrift has been rewarded by bountiful harvests and increasing flocks until he became known as one of the most prosperous men in this part of the state. He owned at one time forty- · five hundred acres of land, thirty-five hundred acres of which were in Jasper
county. Much of this has been divided among his children in Rensselaer. He erected what is known as the Nowels block, consisting of the Nowels hotel and four business apartments used as stores, and also containing the Rensselaer Bank. He also owns considerable other valuable property in the city. In 1882 he retired from the more active duties of life and moved to this city, where he occupies a pleasant and commodious home at the corner of Cherry and Webster streets.
March 10, 1842, eight years after coming to this county, Mr. Nowels was united in marriage to Miss Phœbe Ann Benjamin, a daughter of Jared and Mary (Yeoman) Benjamin. She was born in Ohio, February 22, 1819. Her father died in that state, and in 1838, her mother, with her three chil- dren, came to Jasper county. Here the mother died March 20, 1852. Mrs. Nowels was one of three children and was an only daughter. Samuel, the elder brother, was for many years a resident of this county, and died many years ago. Jared, the younger brother, is a resident of Rensselaer. The union of this worthy couple has been blessed by the birth of nine children, six of whom are now living. They are as follows: Ezra C., William R., Charles D., David B., Mary H. (Mrs. Henry Grow), and Ida A. (Mrs. Rob- ert Randle). Ezra is a resident of Colorado; the others live in Rensselaer. The living descendants of this worthy couple at this writing (June 30, 1899) number as follows: Six children, twenty-six grandchildren and seven great- grandchildren.
Mr. Nowels and his estimable wife have lived in this vicinity for over sixty years, and have seen the wild uncultivated prairie give place to flourish- ing fields of grain, the wild beast and the red man supplanted by white men and domestic animals, and a spirit of progress and prosperity take the place of seeming desolation. They have also seen friend after friend journey to the better country until few of the friends of their youth remain to call up the reminiscences of the olden time still so green in their memory. Mr. and Mrs. Nowels have been permitted to pass the golden milestone together, cheering each other in the trials that have come to them, and knowing they have the respect and affection of the entire community, not alone for the endurance and perseverance that helped make possible our present condition of things, but for the unostentatious and kindly disposition they have main- tained. It is a pleasure to know that they are able to pass the sunset years of their lives in quiet and comfort, reaping the fruits of industry and toil.
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JAMES R. DUKES.
James Ross Dukes, one of the leading farmers of Pulaski county for many years, and now retired from active life, is a prominent citizen of Win- amac, Indiana. He was born April 6, 1833, in Eel township, Cass county, Indiana, and is a son of Ephraim and Jane (Eslinger) Dukes. The family were of Irish descent, the great-grandfather coming from Ireland to this country. His wife was a German. The grandfather of our subject was Ephraim Dukes, who in his early youth followed the sea, having been a sea captain. He was employed on the water for fifteen years by his uncle, Robert Groves. After coming inland he followed the trade of a shoemaker, working at it in Indiana. He was a native of Maryland, as was his wife, née Rebecca Miller. They moved to Kentucky in 1796, to Ohio in 1801, and in 1818 to Putnam county, Indiana, and later to La Porte county, Indiana, where he died in 1839, at the age of seventy-nine years. His children were as follows: Ephraim was the father of our subject. Elizabeth Dukes, who married John Wesley Clark, and became the mother of five children-Jesse D. (deceased), John, Jane, William and Mary. Her second husband was Levi Moore, who lived but a short time. John Dukes attained maturity and lived and died in Ohio. Malinda Dukes married George McCollum, of McHenry county, Illinois.
Ephraim Dukes was born on his father's farm June 17, 1801, near Lex- ington, Kentucky. Soon after his birth his parents moved to Clermont county, Ohio, where they lived for seventeen years, moving, in March, 1818, to Monroe county, Indiana. Four years later they located in Putnam county, this state, the land owned and farmed by them being the present site of the city of Greencastle. He always took advantage of an opportunity to dispose of his land at a profit, immediately purchasing another tract and getting it under improvement and in desirable shape. In July, 1828, he went to Cass county, locating near Logansport, and two years later returned to Putnam county, where he lived two years, when he again returned to Cass county and made his home near Logansport, in Eel township. In 1834 he entered a tract of government land in Cass county. In February, 1842, he moved to Fulton county, on a farm north of Rochester, and in April of the same year came to Harrison township, Pulaski county, where he bought forty acres in section 15, of a Mr. Phillips. He then entered land around this forty until he owned two hundred acres. There was a log cabin on the land, which was replaced by a hewed-log house in 1845, and ten years afterward this was torn down and a neat frame dwelling erected. This building was destroyed by fire in 1883. Three acres of the land purchased from Mr. Phillips were improved, the remainder of the improvements being added by Mr. Dukes.
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He had learned the trade of a tanner and worked at that business until he moved from Logansport, and from that time he gave his entire time to farming. He was a Democrat in politics, and a man of intelligence and rare good judgment. He was appointed by the governor of Indiana as associate judge of the circuit court of Pulaski county, a position he held for a number of years, discharging the duties incumbent upon him in a manner which proved the wisdom of the choice. He was a man of deep religious convictions, had united with the Christian church at an early age and began preaching when in his twentieth year. He had charge of the Kewanna Christian church and later preached in Jasper, Fulton, Cass and White counties. He was of cheerful disposition and sanguine tem- perament, and would travel long distances through wild, unbroken country in order to keep an appointment. These journeys were sometimes made on horseback, though more often on foot, and the services thus held were among the most pleasant features of pioneer life. He died in this county April 28, 1872, loved and respected by all who knew him. His body was taken to Kewanna and placed beside that of his wife, who had died December 13, 1868.
Jane Eslinger Dukes was sixty-four years of age at the time of her death. She was a native of Tennessee, born near the city of Memphis, and came to Indiana with her parents in 1818. September 22, 1822, she was married to Ephraim Dukes, the father of our subject, and was indeed a helpmate and support to him. She was the mother of twelve children, namely: Christo- pher Eslinger, born July 6, 1824; Andrew Eslinger, born July 20, 1826; Dan- iel B., born September 7, 1828, died October 24 of the same year; Eliza- beth, born October 21, 1830; James Ross, our subject; John Sutton, born April 19, 1835, died September 9, 1838; Samuel Ward, born April 16, 1837; Sarah Jane, born March 31, 1839; Ann Marie, born March 2, 1841, was married February 13, 1856, to Jacob M. Megahan, of Winamac; Rachel, born March 28, 1843; Amanda, born April 29, 1845, and Cordelia, born August 20, 1847. Christopher E. married Malinda Troutman, November 9, 1843. Two sons were born to them-Ozra and Andrew, both deceased. Christopher died September 2, 1847, and was survived by his widow, who later married a Mr. Polk, whom she also survived, and she died in Kewan- na, her home for so many years, on May 29, 1891. Andrew E. Dukes lives in Kewanna, this state, a retired farmer. He married May Troutman, a sis- ter to Malinda, on October 22, 1846. Thirteen children were born to them, of whom six are now living. Elizabeth Dukes married Dr. Oliver Thomas on November 25, 1843. Her oldest child, Mary (the only one by this mar- riage), removed from Pulaski county to Nebraska and later to Missouri, where she now resides, being the wife of Mr. Layton. June 14, 1847, Dr. Thomas died, and January 13, 1849, his widow was married to John
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