USA > Indiana > Warren County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 35
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 35
USA > Indiana > White County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 35
USA > Indiana > Newton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 35
USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 35
USA > Indiana > Benton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 35
USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 35
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Neville I. Throckmorton was born in the village of Romney, December 25, 1839, a son of William I. and Delia M. (Neville) Throckmorton, and one of a family of four children, two of whom are now living-Neville I. and
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Delia E., the latter the widow of Joseph M. Hall. His parents were both natives of Virginia, his father born in Romney, Hampshire county; his mother at Moorefield, Hardy county, that state. William I. was a merchant. In 1837 he came with his wife to Indiana and located first at Romney, where they lived until 1844. That year they moved to Lawrence county, Indiana, where they both died a few years later, her death occurring in 1854, at the age of forty-six years; his in October, 1855, at the age of forty-three. Both were Presbyterians, and he was an elder in the church.
The paternal grandfather of our subject was Warner Throckmorton, a native of the old Dominion and by profession a lawyer. He died in the forty-third year of his age, and left a wife and five children, four sons and a daughter. The Throckmortons aud Nevilles trace their remote ancestry to England. The maternal grandfather of our subject was Dr. George Neville, who also was a native of Virginia and of English descent, and he died in the prime of life, in his native state, where he had been engaged in the practice of medicine. After his death his widow and children came west and located in Tippecanoe county, Indiana.
Neville I. Throckmorton was five years old when, as above recorded, his parents removed to Lawrence county, and there he lived until he was nearly sixteen, attending, a part of the time, the public schools. He began learning the carpenter's trade when a small boy, and has worked at this trade more or less all his life, but never followed it regularly. At the age of six- teen he returned to Tippecanoe county and the next two summers he was employed in farm work. After this he turned his attention to clerking in a general store in Romney, and clerked there until October, 1861, when he en- listed in Company C, Fortieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served until December, 1862. He was in the battle of Perryville in October, 1862, and his regiment followed General Bragg from McMinnville, Tennessee, to Ken- tucky, when they were under constant fire for a number of days. He en- tered the service as a private and came home with the rank of first ser- geant.
The six years immediately following the war found him engaged in agri- cultural pursuits, and the next eleven years he taught school during the win- ter and in vacation time traveled for A. H. Andrews & Company, selling school supplies. In 1880 he was elected county recorder of Tippecanoe county and for four years filled that office, most acceptably. Since his re- tirement from office he has been engaged in a fire-insurance and loan business at Lafayette. In 1888 he built his present home, a commodious frame resi- dence at 1105 Tippecanoe street, where he and his family are surrounded with all the comforts of life.
Mr. Throckmorton was married August 14, 1860, to Miss Sarah A.
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Brunton, daughter of John and Hannah (Pyke) Brunton, and their happy union has been blessed in the birth of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, viz .: William J., Henry N., Delia E., Mary E., Ayers, Charles P., Oliver P., Julia C., Neville I., Jr., and one, unnamed, that died in in- fancy. William J. died in infancy, while his father was in the army. Henry N. married Rosella J. Pyke, and they have one child, Howard. Henry is in the abstract, loan and insurance business, in partnership with Joseph W. McCrea. Delia E. married Frank C. Miller and they have one child, Helen C., their home being in Columbus, Ohio, where Mr. Miller is employed as civil engineer for the Columbus, Hocking & Sandusky Railroad Company. Mary E. married Edwin R. Taylor and has two children, - Helen B. and Robert N. Mr. Taylor is in the grain business at Montmor- enci, Indiana. Ayers died in childhood. Charles P. is unmarried and re- sides with his parents. Oliver P. is a soldier in Company C, One Hundred and Sixtieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in the American-Spanish war. Julia C. and Neville I., Jr., live at home.
Mr. and Mrs. Throckmorton are members of the St. Paul Methodist Episcopal church. He is identified with Lafayette Lodge, No. 123, F. & A. M .; Lafayette Chapter, No. 3, R. A. M .; and Lafayette Commandery, No. 3, K. T. Also he is a member of John A. Logan Post, No. 3, and is a past commander of the same. Politically, he came of old Whig stock and is a Republican.
JOHN FLINN.
The world instinctively pays deference to the man who has risen above his early surroundings, overcome the obstacles in his path and reached a high position in the business world. This is a progressive age, and he who does not advance is soon left far behind. Mr. Flinn, by the improvement of opportunities by which all are surrounded, has steadily and honorably worked his way upward and has attained a fair degree of prosperity, being to-day one of the leading business men of Earl Park, Indiana.
A native of this state, Mr. Flinn was born near West Point, Tippecanoe county, January 12, 1853, and is the only son of John and Nora Flinn, both natives of Ireland. At the age of twenty-five years the father came to the United States and first worked on the wharf at New Orleans, unloading boats. He was a very powerful man, being the strongest muscularly of the two hundred men employed there. At the age of thirty-five, having saved some money, he came north, and together with his sister, who cared for the domestic side of the farm life, worked on the place of Dr. Jewitt, near West Point, Indiana, for thirteen years. In Lafayette he was married, and his
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wife died in Tippecanoe county, in IS58, at the age of forty-five years. Shortly after her death he went to Maryland, where he spent five years, and on his return to West Point made his home with John Kern until he was called to his final rest in 1864, at the age of sixty years. He was one of the one-hundred-day men of the civil war.
After his father's death our subject, then twelve years old, was bound out to John Kern, who agreed to clothe, board and educate him, and when he reached his majority give him seventy-five dollars in money, two suits of clothes, a horse, saddle and bridle. Mr. Kern, however, did not fully live up to his part of the contract, as he frequently found it more convenient to keep Mr. Flinn out of school when there was farm work to do than to send him, during the short terms. He died two years before our subject was of age and his duties fell upon his widow. Thus well equipped at twenty-one he " decided to make a man of himself," and came to Benton county, in 1874. He first rented forty acres of land, and the next year bought a lease of eighty acres south of Fowler, both of which he farmed one year. In 1876 he re- turned to Tippecanoe county and for two years managed Mrs. Kern's farm.
On the 20th of December, 1876, Mr. Flinn was united in marriage with Miss Mary J. Sherry, a daughter of James Sherry, of Tippecanoe county, and they became the parents of four children: Lizzie Grace, born in Tippe- canoe county, December 3, 1877, is at home; Nellie Gertrude, born April 4, 1879, died January 12, following, at the age of nine months; Annie Mellie, born three miles east of Earl Park, June 20, 1882, is at home; and Mary Josephine, born October 10, 1883, is also with her father. The wife and mother departed this life October II, 1883, and on the 22d of January, 1885, Mr. Flinn married Miss Anna Dailey, daughter of John and Julia Dailey, natives of Ireland, which is also the burial place of the father. The mother now finds a pleasant home with our subject. Six children blessed the second union, all born three miles east of Earl Park: Kittie May, born May 5, 1886, who died at the age of three years four months and two days; John Earl, born February 20, 1890, who is at home; Bertha, May 22, 1892; William Leo, September 20, 1896; Nora Marie, June 7, 1897; and Margaret, Janu- ary 8, 1899.
The first year of his married life Mr. Flinn spent on Mrs. Kern's farm and then returned to Benton county, where he rented a farm of two hundred and forty acres, two miles east of Earl Park, for six years, and then removed to the farm three miles east of that place, where he superintends six thou- sand acres of land for Adams Earl. The place is under a high state of culti- vation and well improved. On the 8th of March, 1895, he formed a part- nership with Frank Carson, and as joint proprietors they conducted a general store at Earl Park for nine months, when Mr. Carson sold his interest to
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Edward Yeager; but on the first of January, 1898, Mr. Flinn became sole owner. He carries a large and well selected stock, valued at ten thousand dollars, and besides his valuable farm property of four hundred and eighty- three acres he owns the building in which he has his store and two other frame store buildings, and several lots adjoining. He is also interested in the hardware, coal and lumber business, as a member of the firm of W. C. Compton & Company. A man of keen perception, of unbounded enterprise, his success in life is entirely due to his own efforts, and he deserves a place as a prominent member among the leading and representative business men of the county. In political sentiment he is a Democrat, and he most ac- ceptably served as trustee of his township from April, 1889, to Angust 1, 1895.
DAVID L. FISHER.
One of the best known citizens of White county is David L. Fisher, of Jackson township, who has been identified with the milling and agricultural interests of the county for many years. He is a man of great force of character and possesses a fund of information upon general questions which renders his opinion worthy of consideration among those with whom he comes into contact.
David Fisher, the father of our subject, was born in Virginia, March 25, 1804, and departed this life February 5, 1871. His wife, Susanna, a native of the same state, born on the 22d of September, 1804, died May 30, 1847. Both were of German descent, and their marriage took place in the Old Dominion, whence they emigrated to the vicinity of Dayton, Ohio, at an early day. A few years later they located in Montgomery county, Indiana, and about 1828 they settled upon a tract of land which the father purchased in Carroll county, this state, and on which he erected the first gristmill in that county; and it is related that he was often so busy that for a week at a time he would go without sleep in order to accommodate his patrons who came from Cass, White and Clinton counties as well as from all parts of his own county. There was no mill even at Logansport at that time. Fre- quently he would be two or three weeks behind in his work, though run- ning the mill day and night without intermission. Thoroughly just and honorable in all his transactions, and animated by noble motives, he was relied upon and consulted by his acquaintances, and his opinion bore more weight than that of any one in his section of the country. A zealous preacher in the German Baptist church, he held services far and near, and was a power for good. When the property of the Indian reservation came into the market he was selected as an appraiser of the improvements on squatters' claims, and adjusted numerous difficulties in that connection.
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The red men admired and had great respect for him, as he was just and manly in his treatment of them, and many a night he spent in the wigwam of some chief, when business took him far from his own home. Originally a Democrat, he later became a strong advocate of the Whig and later the Republican party, and though he was urged to become a candidate for the legislature he refused the honor. His wife was a daughter of Samuel Pfifley, who emigrated from Bedford county, Virginia, to Indiana, and lived and died on a farm near Ladoga. Of his numerous children the names of some are forgotten, and the others are Jacob, John, Samuel, Andrew, Susanna and Elizabeth. Each of the eight children born to David and Susanna Fisher lived to maturity, married and had children. They were named as follows: John, Benjamin, Peter, Ella (Mrs. Howard Amick), Hannah (Mrs. J. Mus- selman), Anna (Mrs. Edward Robinson), Andrew, now a resident of Sullivan, Indiana, and David L. All are now dead but Andrew and David.
The birth of David L. Fisher took place in Carroll county, October 14, 1839, and as soon as he reached a suitable age he was initiated into his father's pursuits. After managing the homestead for some time after his marriage, he rented his father's mill, which had been remodeled and en- larged, and a few years subsequently he leased another still larger mill at the falls of Pipe creek, Cass county. At the end of a year he came to White county and bought a quarter section of land in Union township. After building a house upon this place, which was unbroken prairie, and after making other good improvements, he exchanged the farm for a half interest in what was known as the Crooked Creek mill. Three years later he exchanged his interest in the mill for his present homestead, which he now has cultivated by hired help. For a number of years he was extensively engaged in the sale of agricultural implements, and when he found that his small shop at his farm was inadequate he opened a store at Burnettville and took Mr. Love into the business as a partner. One season he sold over ten thousand dollars' worth of machinery, and at the end of three years he sold out to P. Amick. During the following two years he traveled for the Bird- sell Manufacturing Company, of South Bend, Indiana, and then for a like period he represented the King Drill Company, of Logansport, on the road. Returning to the farm, he is still engaged in selling threshers and clover- hullers, and is the local agent for the Birdsell Company. His keen business and executive ability have brought to him substantial success, and the ad- miration of those who know of his brave and manly struggle with poverty in his early career. In 1876 he was elected to the office of county commis- sioner, and at the expiration of his term refused to run for the position again. Politically, he is a firm believer in the Republican party.
When in his twentieth year, David L. Fisher married Miss Nancy Mur-
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ray, who is the eldest child of Samuel and Sarah (Garber) Murray, her birth having occurred May 8, 1838. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania, while her mother was born in Virginia, and their marriage was solemnized in Ohio. Mr. Murray was a farmer, and in 1852 removed to Miami county, Indiana, where he cleared a tract of heavily wooded land and made a fine farm in the depths of the forest. Recently he sold that homestead, and is now living retired in the town of Mexico, Miami county, having attained the advanced age of ninety-three years. He has been for years a minister in the German Baptist church, and three of his sons are doing noble and effective work as preachers of the gospel. Abram, who is now laboring among the Oklahoma territory Iridians, in the interests of the Methodist denomination, was a soldier of the civil war for four years. He held a commission as lieu- tenant, and when Colonel Strait of his regiment was captured by the enemy he stepped into the command, and though he was in many encounters with the Confederates was never wounded or taken prisoner. Levi is a minister of the Christian church in Indiana; and David is connected with the Methodist church as a minister. Ezra M., another son, also served in the ranks of the Union army during the war of the Rebellion; and Absalom, the sixth of the children in order of birth, is at present a resident of Louisiana. The daugh- ters were Nancy, Hester (Mrs. Abijah Vore), Susan (Mrs. Henry Leedy), Elizabeth (who died when fifteen years of age), and Catherine, deceased, wife of John Tudor. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Fisher five children were born, namely: Samuel, who is a farmer of Cass county; Mrs. Laura Seiber; Mrs. Mattie Beall, and Pearl and Millard, who are still living at home. The parents are members of the German Baptist church and practice the noblest principles of living.
BERRY PARIS.
Among the retired farmers of Jasper county, Indiana, who have sought a quiet home in Rensselaer, where they can enjoy the evening of life free from active cares, we find the gentleman whose name we are pleased to place as an introduction to this sketch, Berry Paris.
James Paris, the grandfather of our subject, was a Pennsylvania farmer,. and his son James, the father of Berry, was born in Pennsylvania. The latter moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky and thence to Ohio, and died in Highland county, Ohio. His wife, whose maiden name was Anna May, was of Virginia birth. She died in Ohio about 1865. They were the parents. of a large family of children, fifteen in all, namely : Sarah, deceased ; John, a resident of Kentucky ; Nancy and Fannie, deceased ; Stephen, Joshua and Mary, deceased ; Berry, the subject of this sketch ; Asa, now of Fer-
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ris, Illinois ; Amanda, who died in early womanhood ; James M., deceased; Harrison and George, deceased ; Eliza (Mrs. Michael Lawler), a resident of Ohio ; and Parmelia, the widow of James Parker, who was living in Cla- rinda, Iowa, when last heard from.
On a farm near Winchester, in Clark county, Kentucky, June 25, 1825, Berry Paris was ushered into life, and was reared on the farm and early inured to hard work. He was eight years old when the family moved north into Ohio and settled in Highland county, and distinctly remembers the long, tedious journey and experience in a pioneer settlement. His advantages for obtaining an education were naturally limited. His few months' schooling each year was in a log shanty school-house. At the age of nineteen years he left home to make his own way in the world, and went back to Kentucky, where he served an apprenticeship to the trade of blacksmith, and for a time worked at that trade. Having a brother-in-law who was a carpenter, and being handy with tools himself, he drifted into work at the carpenter's trade. For nine years he remained in Kentucky. Coming back to Indiana, he secured a piece of timber land in Grant county and built a house on it, in which he commenced housekeeping, in pioneer style, having married in the meantime. After six years spent at that place he came to Jasper county and rented land in Marion township, which he cul- tivated one summer. Then he moved to Hanging Grove township, where he was engaged in farming four years, and whence he returned to Marion township. He carried on farming operations in Marion township until the fall of 1884, when he sold his farm and moved to Rensselaer, where he has since lived retired.
Mr. Paris married Miss Sarah J. Dwiggins, daughter of Daniel and Mary (Starbuck) Dwiggins, of North Carolina. Their union has been blessed in the birth of seven children, viz .: Louisa, wife of Willis J. Imes, Rensselaer; Lydia, wife of Arthur Kimball, Yonkers, New York; Zimri, whose wife, née Ellen Nicholson, Railsback, died, leaving him with two children, -Lloyd and Ellen; Amanda, wife of Frank Lewis, Oxford, Indiana; John, Yonkers, New York, is married and has three children,-Rex, Irene and Helen; Robert, Yonkers; and Rosa, wife of William Ladd, Oxford, Indiana.
Mr. Paris is a Prohibitionist of Republican antecedents, and religiously is a member of the Church of God.
PHILIP J. WARD.
Though not a native Indianian, Philip J. Ward is practically a son of the Hoosier state, as he has lived within its boundaries for more than three-score years, and was a child of scarcely three years when he was brought here by
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his parents. The greater part of his mature life has been spent in White county, at his home on section 9, Big Creek township. By honest labor and persevering toil he accumulated a goodly fortune for himself and family, and while doing this never neglected the duties which he owed to his country and community as a patriotic citizen.
Of five children born to Henry and Mary (Hurd) Ward, natives of Dela- ware and Maryland, respectively, only three survive, -Philip J., Thomas and Minerva. Philip J. Ward's birthplace was on the border line between those two states, near Felton, Delaware, but in Kent county, Maryland, and the date of the event was May 28, 1833. The father, who was a farmer by oc- cupation, determined that he would seek a new home and wider opportuni- ties in the west, then being opened up to civilization, and accordingly, in 1836 he made a settlement in Tippecanoe county, Indiana. There he resided until 1850, when he came to this county and township, and purchased two hundred and forty acres, later buying another tract of fifteen acres. Three years prior to his death he took up his residence in Reynolds. He died in 1867, aged fifty-four years, and his wife departed this life in 1843. Her father, Thomas Hurd, lived and died in Delaware, where he owned a farm. Formerly a Democrat, Mr. Ward affiliated with the Republican party in his later years.
Until he was eighteen years old Philip J. Ward lived under the parental roof in Tippecanoe county, and such education as he acquired was obtained in the old-fashioned subscription schools. At that time he commenced his independent career by seeking employment with neighboring farmers, and later he rented land for six or eight years. Subsequently he took charge of his father's homestead for several years and finally bought four hundred and eighty acres of land, bounding the old farm on two sides, and to this he added twenty-five acres at a later date. When the old home place came into his possession he was thus the owner of over seven hundred acres. When his children had grown to maturity he gave his son three hundred and thirty-one acres, and to his daughter one hundred and twenty acres (he had already given her exceptional musical and educational advantages), and he still re- tains two hundred and fifty acres of the old homestead.
During the civil war Mr. Ward offered his services to the Union, and for ten months was a member of Company C, Forty-second Regiment, Indi- ana Volunteer Infantry, in the Fourteenth Army Corps. It so happened that the duties to which he was assigned kept him on the march much of the time, but he did not participate in many engagements with the enemy. In his political attitude Mr. Ward is independent of party ties.
The marriage of Philip J. Ward and Miss Catherine G. Brady was sol- emnized September 10, 1860. Mrs. Ward, who was of Scotch-Irish ex-
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traction, was a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Britton) Brady, and by her marriage she became the mother of three children-Paul, Stella and Emma. Paul married Rosalina Rosentrater; Stella died at the age of five years; and Emma is the wife of Virgil Ryder, and with him is teach- ing in a college in Searcy, Arkansas. She is a fine musician, both with the piano and violin, has frequently given recitals and entertainments, and is very highly spoken of by competent judges of musical talent. Mrs. Catherine Ward was summoned to the silent land November 3, 1896, when fifty-four years of age. October 27, 1898, Mr. Ward married Mrs. Florence J. Pierce, née Ogborn. She is a daughter of Dr. Ogborn, formerly of Lafayette, and her first marriage was to George Pierce. They became the parents of three children-Mattie, Birney and Mary.
WARREN W. BORDERS.
Warren William Borders is a young lawyer of pronounced ability and one of the foremost citizens of Winamac, Pulaski county, Indiana. He was born March 11, 1870, in this city and here grew to manhood. He comes from an old and highly respected family, his parents and grandparents having long been residents here and having done much toward the development of his county. He is a son of John F. and Nancy Elizabeth (Benefield) Borders, a grandson of Wesley and Sarah (Eidson) Borders, and a great-grandson of Christopher Borders, who was a native of Pennsylvania. Wesley Borders is a man of ripe experience, having come to this state when it was in a state of undevelopment and semi-barbarity that made life within its borders one of privation and hardships. His early life was spent in farming and in 1840 he was licensed to preach in the Methodist church, a calling which he followed in this state and Kansas for upward of half a century. He was an earnest, pleasant speaker whose words carried conviction to the hearts of many, and it was only when advancing age made it a necessity, that he gave up the work and repaired to the home of his son, John F., to spend the remainder of his days in well-earned rest and comfort. He is now in his ninety-second year and in the enjoyment of splendid health.
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