USA > Indiana > Warren County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 43
USA > Indiana > White County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Newton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Benton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 43
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Lewis Braden Badger was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, April 8, 1831, and in his early manhood came to Indiana, settling in Pulaski county. At first he worked for farmers in order to obtain sufficient money to purchase a farm, and the spring that he was twenty-three years old he was married. Subsequently he rented Reily Brown's farm on Stony prairie, and lived on two other rented homesteads ere he settled permanently. On the 21st of
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December, 1863, the property since owned by his widow came into his pos- session by purchase, it having previously belonged to D. W. Brown. The place comprises forty acres, situated on section 7, Van Buren township. With characteristic energy, the young farmer set about the improvement of his little home, and built a humble log cabin to shelter his loved ones. Every- thing was prospering with him, and his future outlook was very encouraging, when war, with its stern necessities, stepped in and blighted all his hopes and plans. In September, 1864, when the gravest fears were being enter- tained for the Union, Mr. Badger was drafted and placed in Company D, Twenty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Thus he was forced to leave his home, his young wife and their five little children, none of whom could be of much assistance to her, as the three elder ones were girls, and the elder son was but three years old. The young hero marched away bravely and hope- fully, believing and trusting that the war would soon be over and that a few months later, at most, he could return to his family. But destiny willed otherwise, and on the 3d of June, 1865, in the Haywood Military Hospital, near Washington, he succumbed to an attack of typhoid-pneumonia and passed to the reward of the true, virtuous and brave. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and used his franchise in favor of the Demo- cratic party.
It has been well said that not all of the hardest battles are fought with cannon and musketry, and in the humble home of Lewis Braden Badger, the patriot who died in the service of his country, another battle was waged for many years, bravely, patiently and hopefully. His widow, taking up the burden of life in earnest when he started for the southern battle-fields, reared her five children to be good and useful citizens. She remained on the homestead, and by industry and sacrifice, such as only a devoted mother per- forms, she kept her children together, and now enjoys a competence, as the result of well applied energy in years past. In 1865 she built a nice two- story frame dwelling, and she gradually improved her farm, which is now one of the best in this locality.
It was on the 5th of March, 1854, that Mr. Badger and Margaret Dovies Korner were joined in wedlock. She is a native of Seneca county, Ohio, born August 12, 1836, and is a sister of William Korner, whose sketch and family record is printed elsewhere in this work. Elizabeth Ann, the eldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Badger, was born April 11, 1855, married William Bowell, April 24, 1881, has one child, Nellie, born March 1, 1882, and re- sides at Argos, Indiana. Mary Ellen, born August 15, 1857, and now living at Star City, Indiana, married Thomas McKinsey, May 13, 1875, and is the mother of the following named children: Roy, born February 17, 1876; Cora Naomi, July 12, 1880; Elsie, October 29, 1882; Allen, April 13, 1891; and
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Floyd, September 13, 1893. Mr. Mckinsey is a son of Allen and Elizabeth (Sparks) Mckinsey, and was born in this state November 13, 1854. Sarah Jane, born May 13, 1859, became, on New Year's day, 1881, the wife of Elias O. Boyce, who was born near Argos, Indiana, December 14, 1853, and their present home is at Argos. They have three children, namely: Ger- trude, born September 23, 1881; Ethel, July 21, 1888, and Carl, June 25, 1890. Charles Alvin, born September 23, 1861, married Susan Washburn, April 18, 1882, and after her death he chose Laura Vernon. Their only child, Ray A., was born March 7, 1899.
Charles A. Badger is a successful farmer of this county, as is also his brother, William Franklin. The latter, born December 28, 1863, married, March 19, 1890, Della Frances, a daughter of William and Ellen (Wilson) Burk. She was born in Van Buren township, August 27, 1869, within four miles of her present home, and has passed her whole life thus far in this township. Their little daughter, Ethel, was born September 17, 1892. Their home is on the old homestead where he was born, and he and his amiable wife are ministering to the comforts of Mrs. Badger, with whom they reside.
VALENTINE KRICK.
Mr. Krick is a prosperous farmer living near Earl Park, Indiana, and probably no other one in Benton county is better known or more generally respected than he. He was born in Will county, Illinois, November 2, 1860, and is a son of Mathias and Elizabeth (Yank) Krick. The father, Mathias Krick, was born at Trier, Germany, and came to this country when but a young man. He settled in Chicago and followed his trade, that of a black- smith and wagonmaker, but afterward went to Will county, that state, and conducted a shop at Naperville for sixteen years. On the 4th of March, 1875, he came to Benton county, Indiana, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he lost three years later. After this misfortune he determined to try his luck in the west, and went to Nebraska, where he pur- chased three hundred and twenty acres of land, near Greeley Center, which he farmed until his death, in 1892. Two of his sons, Joseph and Lewis, now cultivate the land. He was married in Wheaton, Illinois, in 1852, to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Yank. She was born in Alsace, a province of Germany, formerly a province of France, in November, 1834. She still resides on the farm. They were the parents of eleven children, as follows: Joseph, who resides on the home farm; Paul (Ist) deceased; Henry, a resi- dent of Lochiel, Indiana; John, of Nebraska; Valentine, the subject of this biography; Frank, who owns three hundred and twenty acres of land near his mother's; Paul (2d), who has a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres;
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Mathias, located at Fowler, this state; Lewis, who conducts the farm for his mother; Albert, who also farms in Nebraska, near the home place; and Mary Elizabeth, who resides at home.
Valentine Krick attended the public schools in Illinois, and also in this county. At the age of twenty-one he began to farm for himself, and he is now the owner of a fertile piece of land, comprising one hundred and twenty acres, in Richland township, which he purchased in 1891, of Adams Earl. This he has improved and keeps in good cultivation. Some thirteen years ago he bought a threshing-machine and engine, and since that time has been employed all over this part of the country in the threshing season.
March 29, 1888. he was married, at the Denner church, by Father Streeter, of this county, to Miss Elizabeth Hubertz. She was born near Earl Park, September 30, 1848, and is a daughter of Mathias and Mary (Kilyon) Hubertz, of this county, formerly of Luxembourg, Germany. Six children have been born to them: Mathias, born January 28, 1889; Albert, born March 13, 1890; George Valentine, born February 14, 1892; Henry, born October 4, 1893; Frank, born July 24, 1895; and Lewis, born Novem- ber 17, 1897. Albert died in infancy.
Mr. Krick is a member of the Royal Arcanum and Catholic Order of Foresters. He is a consistent member of the Earl Park church, and in poli- tics is a strong Democrat. He served as supervisor from 1893 to 1896, and in the spring of 1898, was chosen as his own successor in that office, which he has filled in a most acceptable manner.
CHARLES A. GARNER.
Mr. Garner is a prominent and prosperous business man of Ambia, Ben- ton county, Indiana, where he has resided for the past fifteen years. He was born in the neighboring state of Illinois, at Milford, January 28, 1862, his parents being John and Sarah (Smiley) Garner. John Garner was born near Crawfordsville, Indiana, August 26, 1824, his father being a German and his mother native born. He remained at home until he was twenty years of age, when he went to White county and bought eighty acres of land. Ten years later he sold this and moved to Iroquois county, Illinois, where he purchased another eighty. He kept adding to this amount until he had acquired three hundred and sixty acres. He was a general farmer and stock-raiser. He died in 1891, and his widow still survives him. Mrs. Sarah (Smiley) Garner was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1828, and is a granddaughter of William Smiley, who fought in the Indian wars at Battle Ground, this state. Her parents were early settlers of Indiana. She was married in Warren county, and was the mother of ten children. The first born died in infancy;
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William is a farmer in the state of Washington; Peter is a retired farmer of Milford, Illinois; Sarah is the wife of James F. Vennum, of Jamestown, North Dakota; Ella is the wife of George H. Oppy, of Watseka, Illinois; Adelina is deceased; Emma is also deceased; Addie is the wife of Professor L. D. Stearns, of Danville, Illinois; Charles A., our subject, is next in order; and Frank is the wife of Cline Davis, of Milford, Illinois.
Charles A. Garner grew to manhood on his father's farm, about three miles east of Milford, Illinois. He attended the district school and then entered the school at Watseka, Illinois. He was reared to habits of industry, and worked on the home farm until he had attained his twenty-second year, when he came to Ambia and started in business for himself. He invested one thousand one hundred dollars in the hardware business, succeeding J. H. Myers, August 16, 1884. The stock now consists of general hardware and farm machinery, the business prospering under his management until he now carries a stock valued at four thousand dollars and has a large trade from the surrounding territory. He also has an interest in the home farm, and has erected a handsome, commodious residence, which cost about four thousand dollars.
Mr. Garner was married October 22, 1884, at Milford, Illinois, to Miss Mary H. Fairman. She was born at Watseka, that state, June 15, 1863, and is a daughter of John F. and Mary Ellen (Park) Fairman, resi- dents of this state. She is a graduate of the Milford high school, and is a lady of pleasing address and great charm of manner. She has charge of the books in her husband's office. They have three children, -Ruby, born Jan- uary 28, 1886; Frank, born January 18, 1889; and Myrtle, born August 15,1892.
Mr. Garner is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and was made a Mason at Hoopeston, Illinois. In politics he is a Republican, and is presi- dent of the town board of trustees. He was appointed to this office in 1896, and elected the following year for a term of two years. He is a man of decided force of character, and exerts a power for good in the community.
JOHN P. HUNTER.
A succesful career in life is supposed by many to be the result of favor- ing circumstances, -fortunate environment and undoubted genius. While this is to a certain extent true it has been demonstrated time and again that a man may arise above disadvantages of almost every kind and make a name and place for himself in the esteem of his fellows worthy of the admiration of the public generally.
Born in Franklin county, Ohio, on a farm a few miles north of Colum-
John S. Stunten
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bus, December 12, 1818, John P. Hunter, a son of a pioneer tiller of the soil, passed his boyhood under the hard and trying circumstances of a front- ier life; and both he and his friends would have been utterly incredulous had they been told that the time would come when he would be one of the wealthiest men and most extensive land-owners in Indiana, his adopted state, and that his fine mind and intellectual attainments, entirely the result of pri- vate study, should one day command the admiration and respect of all his associates. One of the best public speakers in Indiana, a knowledge of things political, philosophical and historical equaled by few in the state, was his fortune to possess. He distinguished himself by acquiring a two-fold wealth-pecuniary and intellectual- that has never been equaled by any one who has lived in this rich connty of Warren. In these two acquirements John P. Hunter stands far above his associates.
The father of the above named gentleman was James Hunter, who was born in north Ireland in 1780, came to America in 1798, and drifted to Ohio, and afterward followed his son to Warren county, Indiana, where he died, in 1855. In Madison county, Ohio, May 26, 1842, John P. Hunter married Miss Elizabeth Anderson, a native of Loudoun county, Virginia. The young couple came to Warren county the year after their marriage, with one horse, one babe, one old dandy wagon, one old chair and fifty dollars in cash, and ever since that time have lived on land that he then purchased or on land which he afterward owned adjoining. The early years of Mr. and Mrs. Hun- ter were spent in the most persistent application to work and the strictest economy as far as their individual wants were concerned; but no beggar solic- ited in vain for something to eat, and no traveler was ever refused a share of their protecting roof and table fare. They always had a surplus which they were willing to divide with the deserving and needy, and they are loved and respected by a large circle of friends and neighbors where they have spent so many years, and loved most by those who have known them the longest and most thoroughly.
Mr. Hunter's business is purely that of a producer, -which means work and not speculation. His recreation and his rest have been his books. In work he produced material wealth, in recreation and leisure he produced intellectual wealth, each effort being a rest from the other and each inspired by the other. In this respect he has scarcely an equal in the state. His deep and acute reasoning, his sound judgment and his originality and natural ability as a converser, in which he is far superior, make him a very interest- ing and entertaining man for the highly educated to meet. To them he is a novel surprise and an intellectual and financial accumulative wonder, offering them new food for thought and expressing peculiar originalities, that is remarkable, coming as it does from one not used to mingling with the edu- 59
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cated except through the medium of books. His," Hunter" language and his Hunterisms, as to a slight extent illustrated below, entitle him to the audience of the educated who admire sound reasoning and entertaining qual- ities.
When debating the proposition that Christ was not the Messiah spoken of by the prophets, to strengthen his witness, the Bible, his opponent told him that he would not know himself from a horse if it were not for the Bible. He retorted that he would not know his opponent from an ass only from the shortness of his ears. Once, when traveling, he met a stranger who found great fault with the Declaration of Independence and with Jefferson for writ- ing it the way he did. The stranger asserted that it was badly done and that Jefferson was a hireling of the United States, -" did a bad job." Mr. Hunter retorted that if an ass undertakes to sing a song and makes a " bad job" of it he must not blame the man who wrote the song. This was when Mr. Hunter was endeavoring to explain that the construction the man placed on the Declaration was wrong. On another occasion, when told that his land was at a great distance from market, Mr. Hunter replied that no farmer is so far from a corn market as he who has no corn to sell.
During the war an old, wealthy Irish neighbor delighted in asserting his own superiority and the inferiority of the negro race, stating that they were fit only for being slaves. He took every opportunity to annoy Mr. Hunter because of his being a friend to the negro and the downtrodden. Mr. Hun- ter finally caught fire and replied: "There were the negroes of Hayti, naked slaves as they were, who rose up and fought like men and conquered like men and to-day have a country they can call their own, a flag they can call their own; but if there is an Irishman who has a country he can call his own, or a flag he can call his own, it is in hell, Bill Woods."
Following are specimens of Mr. Hunter's poetic effusions:
ADVICE AT A WEDDING.
If you to your friend prove kind and true, The Lord will your path with many a laurel strew. Try and love each other's heart; It will to you the brightest joy impart; But strife, oh, strife! if you should harbor such alloy It will your brightest hopes destroy.
DENOUNCING SALOONS.
Rise up, ye mountains! Cast down your ponderous heads And bury them in oblivious grave! Ye waves, roll Vesuvius high and wrap them in your briny folds! May gall be their sugar! May an adder be their bedfellow! May destruction be their end!
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SALUTATION TO THE AMERICAN FLAG.
When all empires have passed away, When all kingdoms have been dissolved
And the winds of heaven have wafted away The last grain of sand from Bunker Hill monument, Oh, gracious God, may the Star Spangled Banner be the last monument to fall before the all-conquering hand of time!
On account of his great knowledge of the Bible, Mr. Hunter has often been asked to leave his occupation and preach some doctrine, -which by the way he did not believe. He replied:
Reason is my polar star To which I'll ride o'er straighter bar. If I should drive it from my head I'd make myself a quadruped. To truth, eternal truth, I'll cleave: Its floods can never drown me.
Mr. Hunter is an evidence of what a man can do as purely a producer. He acquired more wealth than any other man in the state in that way. His plan has always been a sure one. On the rich farm he owns he so manages that he has never been obliged to sell a load of grain except when he could get a good price for it. In this way he has prospered even beyond his own expectations; and he has long been considered one of the most thrifty and progressive farmers of this portion of the state. In 1879 he made his first purchase of land in Liberty township, and he now owns altogether nearly five thousand acres of valuable improved farm property, besides the famous Hunter Mineral Springs,-a property worth about forty thousand dollars.
For nine years Mr. Hunter was a justice of the peace, and no judgment that he rendered was ever set aside. He was president of the board that organized Jordan township. He is a charter member, and is now president, of the Warren County Bank, the oldest and strongest bank in the county. He has a beautiful home, where, surrounded by all the comforts of modern life and blessed with the companionship of his wife and his beloved books, he is passing his declining years. His son, James M., is a prominent citizen of Williamsport, this state, who has been a member of the Indiana legislature; Harriet is the widow of Charles Van Ness; Susan is deceased; William A. is a successful business man of Liberty township; Uszas is the wife of Walter Gladden, of Tippecanoe county, this state; Almira is the wife of Wilber Brier; Matilda is Mrs. John F. Judy, of Liberty township; and Arvilla is the wife of H. H. Bertrand, of Williamsport. The children are peculiarly strong,- strong also in the characteristics of their parents, each being able to manage
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well. They are respected citizens of their communities, and Mr. Hunter en- joys the peace and comfort with his family that but few old people know.
The accumulation and possession of such extensive property interests would so absorb the time of most men that they would be left no opportunity, even had they the desire, for mental improvement; but this has not been the case with Mr. Hunter. When a mere boy he mastered Smith's arithmetic- a comprehensive treatise on the science of mathematics,-in eight weeks, without assistance. His knowledge of astronomy and of ancient and mod- ern history would docred it to any college man, and, in addition to all this, he has explored the labyrinths of science, philosophy and literature in many other directions. His investigations and study have made him broad- minded and liberal, and his views are both orginal and interesting. Relig- iously speaking, he is a "deist;" and, while he does not believe in a revealed God, save as he is manifested in nature, he has faith in the doctrine of immortality, and believes that under favorable circumstances the spirits of the dead can and do return to cheer us on our way through this " vale of tears." On the occasion of the celebration of the fifty-ninth anniversary of the mar- rage of Mr. and Mrs. Hunter, when many of their children and old-tinie friends were present, Mr. Hunter delivered an extemporaneous address, which was taken down in short-hand by one of the guests and deemed well worthy of being printed; and it was later printed, in pamphlet form. After stating that Mr. Hunter has composed a number of short poems of noticeable merit on his favorite subjects, we proceed to quote a few paragraphs from the memora- ble speech above mentioned, believing that all who peruse the lines will be instructed and interested:
" Credulity is the foundation of miracles. Many good people believe they can be performed; but in these later days a man who sets out to prove his doctrines by a miracle is a demagogue. Those who wrote of miracles never saw one performed. Still I am a believer in ' miracles.' Here is a world that is twenty-five thousand miles in circumference. It is swinging in space. Why does it stay there? By the great law that emanated from the divine hand. There is a law of centripetal motion, a law that would bring the earth to the sun in a short time; but the power that governs the universe constructed another law, and that is centrifugal motion; so, when the centripetal law is drawing the earth to the sun the other law takes effect, and for thousands of years have these two laws been so nicely balanced by the hand of the great Architect that not one second of time has been lost. Is not that a ' miracle?'
" I will tell you of another 'miracle.' Water is eight hundred times heavier than air. By what means can I make that water rise into the air? Who could devise a means but the Power that governs the world? Let the warm rays of the sun fall upon the water and it will rise upon the bosom of the cloud, and, falling again, will moisten the parched plains.
" These are 'miracles' that I believe in; and a man who would exchange such ' miracles ' for those reported by man would exchange a kingdom for a chariot. There are two sets of laws-divine and legislative. They never coalesce. There never was a legislative body on earth that could set aside a divine law. All divine laws emanate from a divine being, and there is a sure penalty attached to the violation of them. There is no atonement for the violation of God's laws. They are fixed and eternal.
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"I cannot prove immortality, but I can prove that all changes that take place are never backward. They go forward to a higher sphere. Let us hold a dialogue with a bud. The bud says, 'Oh, could I be but immortal! Why should I be created to be stricken down in a few days?' But when the bright rays of the sun shines upon it, and the winds are wafted from the torrid zone, the inner life breaks forth, and, peradventure, we have a beautiful flower. In the autumn, when the winds are blowing from the north and we come to do homage at the scene of death, we find that in place of the bud or blossom is a melting pear or a blushing peach as the resulting 'death.' I believe that when the time comes that you are lying on your bed of death, congenial spirits will descend from the eternal world, and, folding you in their arms, will bear you over the sea of time to the land of eternal peace."
HENRY ROBERTSON.
Henry Robertson, one of the oldest, as he is one of the most respected, citizens of Boswell, Benton county, came to this country over sixty years ago, and has seen it transformed from a wild and broken waste to a thrifty, popu- lated and productive region. At that time the nearest settlement on the north was distant twenty miles, and to the south eight miles, while at the present day flourishing hamlets and villages dot the landscape at short inter- vals. Mr. Robertson is a son of John H. and Anna (Benton) Robertson, of Bath county, Kentucky, at which place he was born February 19, 1813.
John H. Robertson was born January 10, 1783, in Franklin county, Virginia, and in 1803 went with his parents, William and Rebecca (House) Robertson. to Bath county, Kentucky. Here they remained until 1835, when he came to what is now Parish Grove township, Benton county, Indiana, and entered four hundred acres of land. In 1850 he sold this and moved to Attica, where he remained fifteen years. From 1865 until his death in 1874, he made his home with his son Henry, the subject of this biography. His wife, whose maiden name was Anna Benton, was born September 19. 1785, in Virginia, and went with her parents to Kentucky about the same time the Robertson family took up their residence there. She was married to Mr. Robertson in 1805, and died in Attica in 1863. Fifteen children were born to this union, viz .: Josiah, who was born October 23, 1806, and died in 1834; William, who resides in Monticello, Kansas, at the age of ninety-one years; Henry, the subject of this sketch, who was the third child; Thomas, George, Samuel, Eliza, Rebecca and John, who are dead; Jesse, who was born December 6, 1819, and resides at Monroe, Wisconsin; James, who was born April 19, 1821, and resides in Fayette county, Iowa; Charles, who was born July 8, 1822, and is now in Labette county, Kansas; Mary (Mrs. Gray), who was born August 8, 1824; and Martha, Louis and Nancy are dead. Mrs. J. Robertson's parents were Josiah and Elizabeth (Johnston) Benton, also of Virginia.
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