USA > Indiana > Blackford County > Biographical memoirs of Blackford County, Ind. : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography embellished with portraits of many well known residents of Blackford County, Indiana > Part 36
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Before a jury he is at first calm and self- possessed, proceeds step by step to adduce in logical sequence arguments plainly but forcibly tated, but as he warms to the sub- ject his address frequently takes on an addi- tional aspect, becoming eloquent and seldom failing to convince. In his practice he is ab- solutely free from anything that savors of trickery or a resort to disreputable methods. He is always fair and open, conducts his cases with the dignity becoming the profes- sion, and his well known ability and integ- rity give him power and influence with court and jury.
Mr. Shinn is an exceedingly approach-
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able man, has the happy faculty of making friends at all times and while his reputa- tion is by no means confined to his place of residence he is certainly best known and most popular at home.
As a political leader his convictions of right have nearly always placed him in har- mony with the positive and avowed policies of his party, but he heartily endorses the maxim that he serves his party best who serves his country best, and upon all ques- tions affecting the intellectual, moral and 'material interests of society he can always be found endeavoring to ascertain the right involved with a view of acting in conformity therewith. In a word, Mr. Shinn is a sym- metrically developed man with versatile tal- ents. As a lawyer, politician or religious teacher he is first of all distinctively a man of the people, whose interest he has ever unselfishly had at heart and for whom he hesitates not to make any reasonable sacri- fice in his power. He recognizes no aris- tocracy except that of true and noble man- hood, based upon genuine worth and merit, regardless of race, color, sex or the accident of social rank and station.
Thoroughly American, and with faith in the ultimate glorious destiny of our free in- stitutions, he believes the best way to realize that destiny is for each member of the body politic to live up to his highest ideas of right. This, to the best of his ability. he has al- ways endeavored to do and whether or not he has succeeded let the people among whom the best years of his life have been spent testify.
His life has been fraught with good to the individual citizen and to the community, in the aggregate and it is a compliment woj - thily bestowed to class him among the noted men of his day and generation.
ARCHIE W. TRACY.
Archie Wilkinson Tracy, editor and pro- prietor of the Hartford City Daily and Weekly Times, is a native of Ohio, born in the county of Butler on the 12th day of Feb- ruary, 1872. His parents, D. A. and Re becca (Wilkinson) Tracy, both natives of the Buckeye state, became residents of In- diana in 1884, settling near New Castle, where the father for some years has been en- gaged in agricultural pursuits in connection with dealing in real estate and insurance. The family of D. A. and Rebecca Tracy consists of one child besides the subject of this sketch, a daughter, Mary E., a young lady still under the parental roof.
Archie Wilkinson Tracy received his pre -. Himinary education in the common schools of his native county and later pursued the more advanced branches of learning in the New Castle high school, and then spent two years as reporter on New Castle papers. The training thus received was afterwards sup- plemented by a two years' course in De- Pauw University, of Greencastle, which he attended for the purpose of p: paring him- self for journalism, and on leaving that in- stitution he began practical newspaper work in the city of Richmond. Meanwhile, how- ever, while a student in New Castle he start- cd a high-school paper and was also editor- in-chief of a college paper while at De- Pauw. The latter brought him to the notice of the public and it was then predicted that a future career of great promise as a journal- ist awaited him. After doing general work on the Richmond papers for one year Mr. Tracy purchased a half interest in the New Castle Press and shortly thereafter changed the paper to a daily and greatly increased its circulation. His connection with the Press
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covered a period of two years, at the end of which time, in 1895, he disposed of his in- terest in the plant and bought the Hart- ford City Times. He assumed editorial man- agement of the paper December Io, of the above year, from which date until the first of the year following it was issued as a weekly, and after that time it made daily visits to its many subscribers. In 1896 Mr. Tracy purchased the Daily and Weekly Re- publican, which he consolidated with the Times under the name of the latter, and he now has one of the best equipped offices in the central part of the state and also one of the sprightliest and best edited papers. In addition to his work upon the different papers mentioned, Mr. Tracy has at different times done considerable special correspond- ence for the metropolitan press, by means of which his reputation as a clear, forcible writer has become much more than local, many of his articles having been extensively copied by a number of the leading papers of the country.
Mr. Tracy wields a facile and trenchant pen and his editorials are noted for their freshness and vigor, while the fearless man- ner with which he addresses himself to the leading political, economic, social and other great questions of the day has won for him the admiration of intelligent readers wher- ever his paper circulates. A potent factor in moulding public sentiment in the commu- nity, the Times is designed to be a reflex of the current thoughts of the age; through the medium of its columns the productions of local talent are given publicity, while free discussion is generally invited.
In its mechanical make- up the paper is a model of neatness, being presented in the best style of typography, pleasing to the eye, thus bespeaking for its editor a thorough
knowledge of the art preservative. Since taking possession of the paper Mr. Tracy has steadily increased its circulation until it now has a greater number of subscribers than any other sheet in the county; at the same time its advertising patronage, already quite liberal, is becoming more remunera- tive with each issue.
Mr. Tracy was married, in the city of Washington, D. C., February 12, 1895, to Miss Selma Alice Moffatt, whose birth oc- citrred in Indianapolis, Indiana, on the 30th day of September, 1874. Mrs. Tracy is the daughter of Charles and Elizabeth ( Adams ) Moffatt. natives respectively of New York and Pennsylvania, and has borne her hus- band two children, Archie and Paul.
Mr. Tracy wields a potent influence for the Republican party and fraternally belongs to the Maccabees and Pythian orders. In re- ligión he subscribes to the Methodist creed, of which body his wife is also a member.
CHARLES O. FLEMING .
Charles Odgen Fleming, county recorder of Blackford county, Indiana, is a native of Henry county, in the same state, was born May 1, 1865, and is the fourth of the six children born to Cornelius C. and Emily J. (Odgen) · Fleming.
Cornelius C. Fleming and wife were na- tives of Marion county, West Virginia, and Mr. Fleming was reared a farmer. He first came to Blackford county in 1867, pur- chased seventy acres of land in Washing- ton township, and there he has ever since resided, prosperously engaged in agricult- ural pursuits.
. Charles O. Fleming, the subject of this
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sketch, was but a babe when brought to Blackford county, and has here been reared to manhood. He received his carly oduca- tion in the common schools of his district, which he attended until eighteen years of age, and then entered the normal school in Portland, in the adjoining county of Jay, which he attended four terms, thus fully preparing himself for teaching, and at Dan- ville, Indiana, he took a commercial course. After finishing his schooling Mr. Fleming bogan teaching in his home township of Washington and in this trying vocation met with a phenomenal success for twelve years, at the same time carrying on farming.
Mr. Fleming has always taken a keen interest in politics and early identified him- self with the Democratic party, with which he has labored faithfully from the begin- ning to the present time, under adverse as well as propitious circumstances. He has made himself a factor in its councils and has become a favorite with its rank and file, and in 1896 was elected county recorder of Blackford county, by a majority of eighty- four votes, for the term of four years, and it is a recognized fact that no better man has ever filled the office.
Mr. Fleming was united in marriage, April 17, 1891, in Washington township, with Miss Mary A. Craft, who was born in Henry county, Indiana, November 7, 1869, a daughter of William L. and Eleanor (Bur- ris) Craft, and this union has been crowned with a son, Walter, and a daughter, Forest. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and fraternally Mr. Flem- ing is a Modern Woodman of America (adviser's station) and also of the Knights of Pythias.
William L. Craft, father of Mrs. Flem- ing, has been called to his long home, but
his widow still has her residence in Wash- ington township.
Mr. Fleming is what is known as a "solf- made man," and it is through his own energy and ability that he has raised himself to his present prominence among his townsmen.
EZRA M. STAHL.
In the following lines are briefly set forth the leading facts in the life of a very busy man; modest reference is also made to his character as a citizen and the salutary influence he has exerted as a member of the body politic. From the name it would ap- pear tha the Stahls are of German origin and from the most reliable information ob - tainable it is learned that the family was first represented in America by the sub- ject's great-great-grandfather, Henry Stahl, who came from Germany to the United States in a very early day and settled in Pennsylvania. Henry Stahl reared a large family, some of whom were born in Ger- many and some after the family made a home in America. Among his sons were Michael, born in December, 1745, and Jacob Stahl, Ezra M.'s grandfather, who was born in Pennsylvania and who also became the
father of a number of children. Their names are as follows: Sarah died in 1888; Abraham died at the age of eighty-one; Simon diod at the ripe old age of eighty- seven; Rachael, deceased; Michael died at fifty-five; Elizabeth; Bethuel; Rebecca died in December, 1890; Moses, Jonathan and Mary Jane. Jacob Stahl resided in the Keystone state until 1839, at which time he came to Blackford county, Indiana, where his death occurred in 1854.
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Abraham Stahl, the second child and eldest son of the above Jacob, was married in November, 1834, to Elizabeth Waltz and reared a family of eight children, namely : Esther, wife of John Frash; Anna married Dr. Chaffee, of Huntington, Indiana; Ezra M., born February 21, 1839; Jacob, born March II, 1841, killed in the battle of Rocky Face Ridge, Georgia, May 9, 1864, Mary Elizabeth married Nathaniel H. Peck, of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania; Sarah died in infancy ; Rebecca died in July, 1876, and Joseph, born June 7, 1853, died in the year 1872. The Waltz family were also from Germany and among the early settlers of Pennsylvania.
Ezra M. Stahl, the date of whose birth has been mentioned, first saw the light of day in Fulton county, Pennsylvania, and when but seven months old was brought by his parents to Blackford county, Indiana. In the district schools he pursued, until his seventeenth year, such studies as at that time constituted the curriculum and then experi- enced his first independent contact with the world as clerk in a mercantile establishment at Hartford City. After a brief period in that capacity he accepted a position in the county auditor's office, where he worked . upon the records four years, and then again engaged in clerking in the general store of William H. Campbell, where he remained for a limited period. Mr. Stahl's next ven- ture was a trip to Pike's Peak before the or- ganization of Colorado as a territory, where for the greater part of a year he tried his fortunes at mining with but fair financial results. This was in the spring of 1860 and after remaining in the west till 1862 he disposed of his mining interests and re- turned home for the purpose of entering the army in response to President Lincoln's
call that year for 600,000 additional men. After a visit with his people of one week, he enlisted at Cincinnati, Ohio, in October, 1862, in Company K, Eighty-fourth Indiana Infantry, being mustered into service at Guyandotte, Virginia, November following. He took part in every engagement in which the regiment participated until the close of the war and received an honorable discharge at Nashville, Tennessee, on the 14th day of June, 1865. His military career is replete with duty bravely and unflinchingly per- formed and his record as a soldier is one of which any man might feel deservedly proud.
On leaving the service, Mr. Stahl re- turned to Blackford county and made the race for county auditor, his party, the Re- publican, having nominated him during his absence against an ex-rebel soldier, who came to Hartford City after his release from a federal prison and became a factor in local politics. Mr. Stahl polled an unusually heavy vote, overcoming an overwhelming Democratic majority, and was the first Re- publican to hold the office of auditor. He discharged his official functions in a highly creditable manner and at the expiration of his term accepted the position of station agent for the Pan Handle Railroad Company at Hartford City which place he filled ac- ceptably for one and a half years. He then resigned to become deputy county treasurer under his father, who held the office one term. By reason of his father's ill health the responsibility of the office rosted entirely upon the son's shoulders and he acquitted himself so efficiently as custodian of the county funds as to win the highest praise from all parties. During the two years succeeding he again held the position of deputy auditor, after which he became.book- keeper for the mercantile firm of Kirshbaum
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& May, and later was similarly employed by Kirshbaum & Weiler, his connection with these two houses covering a period of six years. In June, 1883. Mr. Stahl was elected cashier of the Citizens State Bank of Hart- ford City, a place he has filled uninterrupt- edly for seventeen years, being the present incumbent.
Mr. Stahl's marriage was solemnized, on the 9th day of September. 1866, with Miss Dillia A. Shelton, daughter of Sylvester R. and Hannah ( Dragoo) Shelton, the issue of which union is four children, whose names and dates of birth are as follows: Jacob Bert, June 11, 1867; Ruth A., February 16, 1872, died August 4, 1874; Elizabeth, April 6, 1875, and Charles Edgar, March 9, 1877.
Mr. Stahl has been identified with the fraternity of Odd Fellows for twenty-nine years, having passed through all the chairs in Hartford City Lodge, No. 262, besides filling the office of district deputy three terms and being twice sent as delegate to the grand lodge. He has also served many years as trustee for the order and is a inem- ber of the Jacob Stahl Post, G. A. R., named in honor of his brother, and always takes an active part in the deliborations of that body. In matters educational he has always been a leading spirit. A member of the first board that organized the present effi- cient graded school system of Hartford City, he did much in the way of procuring professionally prepared teachers and for a period of fifteen consocutive years watched over this important trust with an unwaver- ing interest. In religion he is a Methodist and for twenty-eight years has been a mem- ber of the official board of the Hartford City congregation. He also took a lead- ing part in the buying and laying out of the beautiful city cemetery and its present
artistic condition is largely due to his in- terest and oversight. In all matters per- taining to the moral and religious advance- ment of the community his words have had great weight and his influence, always on the side of right, has been potent in produc ing a high order of citizenship.
By the foregoing it will be seen that the life of Mr. Stahl has been one of great ac- tivity and usefulness and the impress of his character has been indelibly stamped upon the public mind of Hartford City and Black- ford county. Politically he is a stanch Re- publican and while a partisan in the sense of always putting forth his best efforts to promoto the interests of the party, he never resorts to trickery or disreputable practices, consequently many of his warmest friends are found in the ranks of the opposition. He is highly respected by his neighbors ; his word is his bond and his hand is free in extending aid to those less fortunate than himself. His career as a soldier, official and civilian has been consistent with the principles of true manliness, and there is nothing thorein but what reflects credit upon his good name.
JOHN F. WRIGHT.
John F. Wright, a prominent farmer of Licking township, and assessor of the same, was born in Greene county, Ohio, February II, 1842. Ilis parents, William T. and Mariah S. (Reid ) Wright, were natives re- spectively of South Carolina and Ohio, av- ing been married in the latter state, to which the father moved when eighteen years of age. William T. and Mariah Wright lo- cated in Muncie, Indiana, about the year
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1850, and made that place their home until their removal, in 1857, to the county of Blackford. By occupation William T. Wright was a carpenter; he worked at his trade in Muncie for several years and then abandoned mechanical pursuits and engaged in merchandizing as a dealer in boots and shoes. -
On coming to Blackford county he pur- chased a farm about five and a half miles southwest of Hartford City, on what is known as the Williams turnpike, the place at that time consisting of two hundred and twenty-two acres of land, only partly im- proved. Here he carried on agriculture in connection with carpentering and became a successful man and one of the leading citizens of the community. Originally a Democrat, he became dissatisfied with the policy of the party in 1856 and became a Republican, to which political faith he re- mained true until Cleveland's second race for the presidency, when he again espoused the cause of Democracy. For a number of years he was an elder of the Presbyterian church at Matthews. He was a man of ex- cellent parts, high minded and true, and his influence was ever exerted in favor of religion and the moral upbuilding of the community. Sustained and comforted by an abiding faith in Him who is the Resurrection and the Life, he passed into immortality on the 30th day of April, 1894; his wife pre- ceded him to the grave, departing this life February 21, 1883.
The family of William T. and Mariah Wright consisted of three sons and two daughters: Howard R. resides on the home place: Andrew T., of Marión; Sally Ann died June 21, 1878, at the age of twenty- eight; and Rachel Louise, who married David R. Craw and died when forty years
old. In addition to the above there was a son, William Harvey, who died in child- hood, and Joseph Fleming died in infancy.
John F. Wright was a youth in his `teens when the family came to Licking township, since which time, with the ex- ception of his army experience, his life has been spent within the confines of Blackford county. He assisted his father on the farm 1: til 1862. in August of which year he en- listed in Company B, Eighty-fourth Indi- ana Infantry, with which he served in the Army of the Cumberland during some of the most active campaigns of the war, and otherwise deporting himself as a brave and gallant defender of the nation's honor. In the spring of 1863 he was detached at Frank- lin, Tennessee, for pioneer work, principally railroad repairing, and in June, 1864, trans- ferred to the First United States V. V. En- gineers, and was constantly in service until discharged, July, 1865.
At the expiration of his period of en- listment Mr. Wright returned to Blackford county and resumed farming on the old homestead, where he continued to reside un- til 1870. About 1872 he moved to his pres- ent place, a beautiful little farm of sixty- two acres, well tilled and otherwise well im- proved, the general condition bespeaking for the owner a thorough mastery of agricult- ure.
Mr. Wright's first marriage was solem- nized with Miss Rebecca Polsley, who died after two years of happy married life. His second wife, to whom he was married in 1871, was Sarah E. Reasoner, daughter of Jacob Reasoner, one of the oldest settlers of Blackford county, of whom a biography appears on another page of this volume. The following are the names of Mr. Wright's children : Wilbur L., George T., Harmon
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D., Bert R., Clarence R. and Mary, all of whom are still under the parental roof.
Mr. Wright is a member of the G. A. R. post at Matthews and always takes an active interest in its deliberations. Ile was one of the organizers of the original society in 1867, and nothing affords him greater satisfaction than meeting with his old com- rades in arms and recalling the stirring and bloody days when the fate of the Union hung as in a balance. In politics he is an unswerv- · ing Republican, a leader of the party in his township and always a delegate to conven- tions, state, district, county and township. He cast his first presidential vote at Chat- tanooga, Tennessee, for Lincoln and John- son, and from that time to the present his belief has been that the practical application of Republican principles is for the best in- terest of the country. In 1894 he was elected township assessor and still holds the office; he has discharged his official functions in a highly creditable manner and enjoys the full confidence of the people of his township, ir- respective of politics.
In religion he is a Presbyterian, having been reared in that faith, and at the present time he is a trustee of the congregation wor- shiping at Matthews.
Mr. Wright is a commendable example of the successful, self-made man, such as are only produced under the favorable aus- pices of our free institutions. Well informed upon all the leading questions of the day. a reader and a thinker, he is highly re- garded in the community where so many of his years have been spent. As an agri- culturist, he keeps abreast the times, believes in the dignity of that ancient and honorable calling, and his example of industry may safely be imitated by the young man who desires to obtain from life the greatest ben-
efits it can bestow. As a brave soldier of the great Rebellion, his record is without a blemish and in every walk of life he is in the full sense of the term an upright, broad minded, God-fearing gentleman, whose greatest aim is to know his duty and conse- quently perform it.
WILLIAM A. CURRY.
William Amos Curry, clerk of the circuit court of Blackford county, is a native of Indiana and a son of Aaron S. and Eliza Curry, both parents born in the state of Ohio.
The elder Curry, a farmer by occupation, remained in the state of his nativity until late in the '40s, when he came to Randolph county, Indiana, thence later, in 1857, to the county of Blackford, purchasing a farm in Jackson township, where he made his home until 1889. He married, in Randolph county, Indiana, Eliza Ewing, who bore him eight children, namely: Margaret Ann, deceased ; James M., a farmer living in Kan- sas; William A., subject of this sketch; Thomas H., who lives on the old home place in Jackson township; Harri Levina, wife of D. G. Dean, a resident of the township of Jackson; Alfred, foreman of the glass works at Millgrove; Sarah, deceased; and Edward M., who resides in the vicinity of Millgrove. After the death of his wife, which occurred in March, 1875, Mr. Curry returned to Ohio and in Franklin county, that state, subsequently entered into the mar- riage relation with Mrs. Mary Price, widow of John Price, and there he has since re- sided.
Aaron Curry is a substantial man, suc-
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cessful in life, and has made his presence felt wherever his lot has been cast. Intelli- gent bey : the average, and progressive, he has ber : successful in the accumulation of worldly goods, and as a politician of local repute first wielded an influence for the Re- publican party and later, failing to agree with its financial policy, cast his lot with the Greenback party, of which he remained an earnest advocate until its dissolution as an active organization. For some years past he has been a Prohibitionist, the principles of which he believes to be for the best in- terests of the American people.
William Amos Curry was born on the 18th day of February, 1857, in Randolph county, Indiana, and when one year old was brought to the county of Blackford. Like the majority of men of Indiana birth, his first experience was upon the farm, with the rugged duties of which he early became familiar, and the country schools afforded him the means of a practical English edu- cation. The knowledge thus derived was afterward supplemented by three terms at Ridgeville College, where he obtained a knowledge of the higher branches of learn- ing, after which he completed a commercial . course in the Capitol City Business College of Columbus. Fortified with exceptional scholastic training, Mr. Curry entered the educational field as teacher, and for five con- secutive years had charge of schools in Black- ford county, principally Jackson township, and while thus engaged earned the reputa- tion of a painstaking and efficient instructor. With no desire to devote his life to educa- tional work, he finally abandoned the same and, in partnership with a friend, Thomas HI. Racer, of Jackson township, engaged in farming and stock raising. Additional to this they bought and shipped stock upon 18
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