USA > Indiana > Warren County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 4
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 4
USA > Indiana > White County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 4
USA > Indiana > Newton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 4
USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 4
USA > Indiana > Benton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 4
USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 4
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A son of William and Martha (Glascow) Baxter, natives of Ireland, Frank R. Baxter, as the names of his parents indicate, is of original Scotch- English stock, and his ancestors were adherents to the Protestant faith, probably Presbyterians. Frank R. was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, in 1847, and passed his happy boyhood and youth in the beautiful Emerald Isle. His parents never left that land, and when the young man, at nineteen years of age, determined to seek a new home and a fortune in the United States, it was well for him that he did not know that the leave-taking with friends and relatives was the last. So far as he knows, he is the only mem- ber of his family in America.
The civil war had closed and affairs in this country were just settling down to a safe basis when Mr. Baxter became a citizen of the United States in 1866, and for a few years he lived in Greenwich, New York. Thence he went to Kenosha county, Wisconsin, where he remained for about two years, after which he spent a year or so in Illinois. Then coming to Warren county, he has since made his home here, with every intention of being a perma-
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nent resident. At present he owns a finely improved tract of land, three hundred and sixty acres, altogether, and is extensively interested in the raising of grain, hay and live stock. Though not in any sense a politician, he is identified with the Democratic party.
In November, 1881, Mr. Baxter was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Mathis, daughter of Samuel B. Mathis, an early settler of Jordan township, Warren county. Six children bless the home of our subject and his estimable wife, and are named in the order of their birth, as follows: Dora, William, John, Sarah Jane, Maggie and Pearl, all born on their father's farm in Warren county.
JOSEPH BARGER.
One of the substantial, respected residents of Lauramie township, Tip- pecanoe county, is Joseph Barger, who, assisted only by his faithful, indus- trious wife, has won a competence and provided well for his family, and at - the same time has been loyal in the discharge of his duties as a citizen.
He is a worthy representative of an old and respected Pennsylvania family, founded in this country by a native of Germany. Henry Barger, the father of our subject, was born near Philadelphia, and in his early manhood was married to Catherine, daughter of John Kennedy, a prosperous farmer of Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, and sister of John, William and Betsey Kennedy, her family likewise being of hardy German stock. To this union five children, Joseph, Sarah, Elizabeth, Sevilla and Benjamin, were born. Henry Barger was engaged in farming in Lycoming county until he was well along in life, and died at the ripe age of eighty-five years. He was noted for industry, justice and reliable qualities, and was highly esteemed by every one. He adhered to the German Reformed church and put into daily prac- tice the noble principles of conduct in which he heartily believed.
Joseph Barger was born in Lycoming county, March 8, 1837, and there obtained a limited common-school education. As soon as he was able to work he was initiated into the various departments of farming, and during his life he has performed a vast amount of extremely arduous labor. When he had arrived at his majority he went to Ohio, and for some time was employed on farms near Troy, Miami county, his home being with his uncle, William Barger.
An important event in the life of our subject was his marriage, Septem- ber 1, 1861, to Maria Cruea, who is a daughter of Thomas and Charlotte (Thomas) Cruea, and was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, December 3, 1842. Her father, a son of John Cruea, was born in Montgomery or Miami county, Ohio, about 1810 or 1812. He learned the trade of shoemaker, but was chiefly engaged in farming. For years he owned a homestead in Miami
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county, but in old age he sold it and invested in town property. He was a member of the Christian church, and died happy in his faith when in his eighty-fifth year. His ancestors were Germans, who founded the family in America in the early colonial history of the Keystone state. Mrs. Barger had several brothers and sisters, namely: Anna, John, Joseph, Elizabeth, Henry, Prudence, Catherine, Nancy, Melissa, Sarah and Eunice.
After his marriage Mr. Barger rented land in the neighborhood of Troy, Ohio, and in 1865 came to Tippecanoe county, leasing a farm for the follow- ing year at a point four miles east of Lafayette. Making a little progress, he bought twenty acres, which he sold in 1869, and removed to his present prop- erty-one hundred and twenty acres-in Lauramie township. He later added eighty acres, and now has the entire place under fine cultivation. The land is very fertile, and good barns, fences and other improvements have been made by the enterprising owner, who erected a commodious dwelling-house in 1885. Now being well along in years, he expects to retire soon, and for that reason will sell his property at the very reasonable rate of sixty dollars an acre.
Three children came to bless the home of Mr. and Mrs. Barger, namely: Clifton, Elverson and Chelcie. Thirty-five years ago this estimable couple joined the United Brethren church, in which they have been interested workers, and at present Mr. Barger is one of the trustees. He is a strong temperance man and votes the Prohibition ticket.
JAMES GOODWINE.
For more than sixty years James Goodwine, now deceased, was a respected and honored resident of Warren county. He took up his abode here in pioneer days and not only witnessed its development from a wild frontier region to a district of rich farms, thriving villages and active indus- tries, but also bore his part in the work of improvement, and by his well directed efforts attained a position among the most substantial citizens of the county. 4
A native of Kentucky, he was born on the 19th of January, 1812, and in the autumn of the same year his parents, James and Elizabeth (Snyder) Goodwine, removed to Jackson county, Indiana, where they continued their residence six years. In 1818 they went to Bartholomew county, this state, where the mother died. In 1828 James Goodwine, Sr., came to Liberty township, Warren county, where his death occurred in 1851. He loyally served his country in two wars, entering the army at the time of the second trouble with England, and when the Indians began hostilities against the set- tlers of the central Mississippi he again shouldered his musket and participated
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in the Black Hawk war. A well known pioneer of Warren county, he took an active interest in everything pertaining to its early development and for many years held the office of county commissioner.
James Goodwine, whose name heads this review, was the third in order of birth in a family of eight children, and was about sixteen years of age when he came with his father to Warren county. His advantages for obtain- ing an education were limited to those afforded by the pioneer schools of the neighborhood. On the 15th of August, 1833, he was united in marriage to Miss Sophia Buckles, a native of Ohio and a daughter of William and Lois Buckles, and they began their domestic life upon a farm. Twelve children came to bless their home, of whom five are yet living: William H., Mrs. Christina Fleming, Mrs. India Fleming, Horace G. and Fremont-all resi- dents of Warren county.
After his marriage Mr. Goodwine applied himself assiduously to his busi- ness interests and became one of the most successful farmers of the county. He was in many respects a remarkable man. He possessed great energy, industry and business capacity, and to his first purchase of forty acres of land he added until his possessions aggregated more than twelve thousand acres. He was also one of the extensive stock-raisers of the state, and in both de- partments of his business met with most creditable prosperity. He followed progressive methods, planted only good seed, raised his stock from the best breeds, kept everything about his place neat and thrifty in appearance and was most practical and enterprising. He was long regarded as one of the leading and most successful farmers of the county, and his opinions were largely received as authority on agricultural matters. In 1871 he was chosen president of the Warren County Agricultural Society, and for many years acceptably filled that position. In 1890 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, and about two years later he passed away, his death occur- ring in Pike township, Warren county, on the third day of January, 1892. Thus a busy and useful life was ended, and over the record there falls no shadow of wrong. He always enjoyed and merited the high regard of his friends and neighbors, and in his death the community lost one of its best citizens.
PHILIP F. WARD.
An honored old resident of Chalmers is Philip F. Ward, a pioneer set- tler of Indiana, and for over two-score years a citizen of White county. During a period of nine years, while he carried on a hotel at Reynolds, he served as school treasurer of the district, and for many years he was a super- visor. Always a Democrat until the breaking out of the civil war, he has since been independent, voting as he deemed best.
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In tracing the history of the ancestors of Philip F. Ward it is found that both of his grandfathers were soldiers in the war of the Revolution, and, what is still more remarkable, they were both in the British army, but deserted to, the Americans and fought for the independence of the colonies. The paternal grandfather, John Ward, was born in England, and after he adopted. the cause of this country he thoroughly identified himself with it and passed! the remainder of his life in Delaware. He received a grant of land in return for his services to the colonists, and in the primitive style of that period,, which consisted in blazing the trees around as large a portion of land as was desired, he laid out his farm in Delaware. Both he and the maternal grand- father of our subject attained unusual longevity, he dying at the age of one hundred and five years, and the latter, John Price (for that was his name), at one hundred and seven years. John Price was a native of Germany, and one of the reasons for his desertion of the English army was that he found he was fighting against a large number of his own countrymen, who were in the American ranks. He, too, received land in Delaware for his able assistance in the war, and this land he plowed with a wooden plow which he con- structed himself. He died on his old farm in Delaware. He was the father of five sons and five daughters.
William and Nancy (Price) Ward, the parents of the subject of this sketch, were likewise natives of Delaware. In 1830 the father removed to Lafayette, Indiana, and lived in a log cabin there for one year. Then, going to Clinton county, he entered two tracts of land, eighty acres in each, and bought two more similar pieces of adjoining property, thus making his home- stead one of three hundred and twenty acres. There were two log cabins on the land, one of which he occupied, and three years later his son Philip, married and began keeping house in the other. The father became very well off, according to the standard of those days, and by his own industrious. efforts accomplished a great deal. He was about eighty-two years of age at death, which event took place in 1855. His widow survived him three years, dying at eighty-two, likewise. Both were faithful members of the Methodist church. The father was a soldier of the war of 1812, and for years afterward used his old musket to shoot squirrels and rabbits. He was not an office-seeker, and though he was supervisor for some time it was merely out of regard for the wishes of his friends and neighbors.
Philip F. Ward was born in October, 1815, near Whiteleysburg, Mary- land, but across the state line, in Delaware. He was thus a lad of fifteen when the family came to Indiana, and he remembers well the condition of things here at that time. Luckily he had already acquired a fair general education, and was ready for any hard work that he could find, whereby he might earn his livelihood. For three years he worked in a distillery near 37
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Lafayette, at Durgee's Run, receiving his board and twenty-five dollars a month. All the mashing was done by hand, as no modern machinery was then in use. The young man thoroughly disliked the business and never touched the liquor while employed there. His next employment consisted in working on the government pike from Lafayette to Crawfordsville. By this time he had saved up a snng little sum of money, and this he invested in an eighty-acre farm in Clinton county, three miles from Frankfort. He partly improved the place during his seven years' residence thereon, and then traded it for a quarter-section of land in Wild-cat prairie, near Lafayette. After five years he moved to this county and bought one hundred acres in Big Creek township, four miles northwest of Chalmers. He subsequently added ninety-seven acres to his original purchase, and built a large house and barn and made other substantial improvements. For the first one hun- dred acres he had paid twelve dollars an acre, and at the end of seventeen years he sold it for thirty-five dollars per acre. His next investment was in three hundred and twenty acres of land four miles west of Chalmers, and this place he allowed his sons to improve and cultivate while he managed the hotel at Reynolds. Part of the farm he eventually exchanged for a stock of hardware, and in 1888 he brought this from Reynolds to Chalmers. After conducting a store here for seven years he disposed of the stock and has since been enjoying the rest which he has certainly earned. He owns eight good houses here, and rents them to tenants, and has a residence property in Lafayette and also one in Gas City. He was the architect of his own fortune and gave each of his children a good start in life.
The marriage of Mr. Ward and Miss Eliza Goldsberry took place in 1835. She was a daughter of Jonathan and Lucy Goldsberry. Five chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ward, viz .: William, who first married a Miss Bickenstaff, and after her death wedded a Miss Wilson, and has seven children; Francis, the next in order of birth; Eliza Jane, who became the wife of William Bowman, of Coffeyville, Kansas, and they have eight chil- dren, all but one of them now married; Emeline first married Andrew Adams and had two children, and she is now the wife of Rev. William Williams, an evangelist in the Christian church in Missouri, and by this marriage has had several children; and Susan, who married John Campbell and became the mother of four children, and died several years ago. After the death of his first wife Philip F. Ward married Miss Susan De Ford, and they became the parents of four sons and seven daughters, of whom the following are living: Nancy, George, Elias, Melissa, Elizabeth, Sarah (or Sally, as she was always called), Jennie and Philip. Mr. and Mrs. Ward are devoted members of the Christian church and are active in all good work. They possess the love and respect of all who know them, and in their declining days they can look back
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over lives well spent, good deeds performed for their fellow men, and feel assured that in them their children have had worthy examples of noble Chris- tian lives.
WILEY E. PRUNER, D. D. S. 1308843
More progress has been made in dentistry than in any other of the ap- plied sciences, perhaps, within the past few years, particularly in mechanical workmanship. The people desire nothing but the latest and best methods when the question of dentistry is before them, for they realize, much more than did their forefathers, the importance and value of good and well kept teeth. New discoveries and treatments are being made, continually, in diseases of the teeth and gums, and whereas, it was formerly the custom to have every aching tooth drawn, the offending member can usually be saved. Skill in mechanical dentistry has worked wonders, and now, in place of annoying plates, crowns and bridges are resorted to, and all defects of alignment can be remedied. The great advancement made in this profes- sion, and its yet greater possibilities, has attracted to the ranks many ambi- tious young men, and as the course of required study and preparation has become more and more exacting and severe ere degrees are granted, the pub- is placing greater confidence in them, and the outcome will redound to the mutual benefit of both sides.
Though he has been located in Monticello, White county, only about two years, Dr. Wiley E. Pruner has already established an enviable reputation in his chosen line of work. His experience has been quite extensive, and even when a student the excellence of his work was frequently the subject of remark among his instructors. He is a southerner by birth, and during the first fifteen years of his life he resided in Virginia, his native state. He was born in the town of Lebanon, January 10, 1873, being one of the eight children of George A. and Alvira (Ruth) Pruner, likewise natives of the Old Dominion. Nannie is deceased, but the others are still living and are named respectively, Walter, William, Samuel, John, Mollie and Lettie. George A. Pruner is a harness manufacturer, and has been actively engaged in that business for many years, formerly at Lebanon, and now at Bickley Mill, Virginia. He has been married three times, and by his first union had two children, -Tilden and Joseph. The mother of the Doctor was a second wife, and her father was a Baptist minister in Virginia. He reared five children to lives of usefulness, was loved and admired by all who came within the range of his acquaintance, and at the ripe age of eighty-eight years he received the summons to the silent land. Our subject's mother, a devoted member of the Methodist church, to which the father likewise belongs, has been called to her final reward.
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For several years Dr. Pruner attended the public schools of Abingdon, Virginia, and gained an excellent general education. Going west when he was eighteen years old, he engaged in business, taking charge of the drug store of his brother, and while there conceived the idea of entering his pres- ent line of endeavor. It was in 1892 that he seriously commenced the study of dentistry, and three years later he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery, at the Indiana College, in Indianapolis. He opened an office in Edinburg, Johnson county, Indiana, at first, and was engaged in practice there for about two years. In March, 1897, he came to Monticello, and judging from the success he has already achieved he has a most promis- ing future in his profession. Socially, he is identified with Monticello Lodge, No. 117, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and politically he is affiliated with the Democratic party.
JOHN R. WILLS.
John Ross Wills is one of the prosperous, substantial and highly respected citizens of Winamac, Pulaski county, Indiana, and his influence is a power for good in the community. Although a resident of the city but a short time, coming here with his family in 1898, his previous business trans- actions in this community gave him an extended acquaintance, and made him many friends. He was born in Pittsfield township, Pike county, Illi- nois, February 3, 1869, and is a son of Abner Vine and Elizabeth (Helm) Wills. The name is a contraction of Willis, that having been the original name, but in corresponding, the parties omitted the second "i," and for sev- eral generations they have been known by the present name of Wills. The antecedents were English, and took an active part in the " War of Roses." Their advent in America was prior to the Revolutionary war, in which some of them fought, and they have always been known as people of means, some members of the family having as much as two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The grandfather of our subject, William Ross Wills, was a native of Connecticut. He moved to Marietta, Ohio, and still later to Pike county, Illinois, reaching the latter place by means of a raft, which he chose as his conveyance down the Illinois river. He was yet a young man, and engaged in farming and stock-buying, afterward opening a pork-packing establishment at Atlas, that county.
Abner Vine Wills was born February 14, 1849, in Pike county, Illinois, on the same farm upon which our subject entered into existence. This farm of three hundred and twenty acres was an inheritance from his father, and is devoted to grazing, over two thousand head of stock being raised by him here annually. He also owns in that county two thousand acres, which are
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tended by two tenants. He is a Republican, and is prominent in fraternal societies, being a member of Pittsfield Lodge, Knights of Pythias, the Masonic order, Royal Arcanum, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of America. His wife, Elizabeth Helm, was born in Pike county, and her father, John Helm, is now a resident of the state of Wash- ington. Her grandfather was a native of England, and sought a home in America.
John Ross Wills received a common-school education, was a student of the high school at Pittsfield for eighteen months, and then matriculated at the Illinois College, at Jacksonville, Illinois, taking a scientific course and receiving his diploma in June, 1891. He at once began working with Wills & Company, composed of his father and Henry Whitner, whose business it was to construct ditches. He began taking contracts in Pulaski and Logan counties, Illinois, and secured forty miles of work. To facilitate matters, the company purchased a dredge, at a cost of eleven thousand dollars, which was used there and then taken to Kenton, Ohio, where they dug ten miles. The firm was now dissolved, our subject, with his father and brother, pur- chasing the dredge of the Gibney Company, at Celina, Ohio, and finishing one contract of six miles and another of three miles. They then bought another dredge, which was put to work in Logan county, Illinois, while a third was bought and put in Lawrence county, Illinois. This was afterward taken to Wayne county, Ohio, where there were twelve miles of ditch to be dug, and after completing it, was taken to Fulton county, Illinois, where it is at work on a nine-mile contract. The second machine was brought to Pulaski county in 1894, and did its first work here on Dickey creek, a ditch seven miles in length and an outlet for Bruce's lake. It was next taken to Newton county, this state, where a twelve-mile ditch was dug, and then back to Illinois, to Tazewell county, in December, 1898, where they are at present working on a thirteen-mile job. The third machine was placed in Champaign county, Illi- nois, where a stretch of nine miles was put through, when they took it to East Peoria for two miles of work, then to Momence, that state, to work on a ten-mile ditch. That contract completed, they brought this machine to this county in March, 1898, and first constructed the Budd & Fisher ditch, nine miles in length, and then began on the Steinberg and Monon ditches, which will be thirty-two miles in extent when completed. It was found nec- essary to purchase a fourth dredge in order to keep up with their contracts, and this machine was purchased of Mr. Joslin, of Wooster, Ohio, and sent to White county, this state. After finishing an eight-mile branch to Big creek, they will proceed to Ford county, Illinois, and put in a five-mile stretch, then back to White county, where they have an eight-mile contract. In addition to this they have a machine leased with which they are digging a
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stump-slough ditch, four and one-half miles long, near Medaryville, this state. The firm is A. V. Wills & Sons, but the business belongs to the sons exclusively, the father lending his name to give them a good start. They are one of the best known ditching companies in the west, and their financial standing is unexcelled.
Mr. Wills was married October 13, 1895, to Miss Estella Venard, a native of this county, born May 12, 1876. They have one child, Everett Ross, born July 24, 1898. Mr. Wills is a member of the Pittsfield, Illinois, lodge of Knights of Pythias, and in politics affiliates with the Republican party. He built a fine residence here in 1898, and also owns a farm of two hundred and forty acres, in Harrison township, this county.
HENRY O. HATHAWAY.
Henry Owen Hathaway, a successful and enterprising business man of Winamac, Pulaski county, was born September 17, 1855, in Troy, Ohio, a son of Joseph C. and Mary Elizabeth (Wooley) Hathaway. The father, now a resident of Clyde, Ohio, was born October 5, 1831, in Miami county, Ohio, and in his early manhood was engaged in farming. Removing to Shelby county, Ohio, he carried on a cheese factory there for three years, after which he cultivated a farm in Wood county, Ohio, for four years. His next location was in the vicinity of Sandusky, where he had a milk route two years, and then operated a cheese factory for four years, in the meantime carrying on a farm. His next enterprise was the management of a grocery and restaurant at Bryan, Ohio, and in 1877 he came to Pulaski county. Buying seventy-one acres of land of Henry Zellers, in what is now the town of Pulaski, he engaged in agriculture for three years, then trading the home- stead for a saloon owned by Gideon Shank, and running it for two years. About this time Albert Field, whom he had known in Ohio, came to Wina- mac to paint the stage scenery of the Vurpllat opera-house, and, yielding to his representations, Mr. Hathaway was induced to invest all of his capital, some three thousand dollars, in the organization of a theatrical company which was to produce plays in the smaller cities and towns throughout the country. This enterprise was a financial failure, and ere long the means which had taken many years of hard labor to amass were dissipated. As previously stated, Mr. Hathaway is now living in Clyde, Ohio, where he is employed on a salary at present. He is an Odd Fellow in high standing, and was a justice of the peace at one time.
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