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 42
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Mr. Swingley was wedded at Ner Castle, Indiana, April 9, 1890, to Miss An- netta Ilobson, who was born in Montpel: .. Blackford county, December 22, 1867, and this marriage has been blessed by the birth of one child, Clarence Dana. Mrs. Swingley and her child affiliate with the Methodist Episcopal church, while Mr. Swingley is a Lutheran and in politics a Republican. Fra- ternally he is an Odd Fellow and Wood- man, and his wife is a respected Daughter of Rebekah.
As an artist Mr. Swingicy is unexcelled in the county, and as an individual is one of the most genial and popular young men to be found anywhere in the country. Ile made the photographs from which the ma- jority of the plates in this work were en- graved.
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DAVID IL. HOLLINGSHEAD.
David Henry Hollingshead, sheriff of Blackford county, Indiana, is a native of Delaware county, sare state, wa horn March 17, 1861, and is a son of James aud Anna (Rutter) Hollingshead.
The family of James Hollingshead came from Ohio and that of his wife from Vir- ginia, but their marriage took place in Dela- ware county, Indiana. The father was a farmer and stock buyer, was an industrious and respectable citizen, and died in 1880, in the Methodist faith. The mother is a miem- ber of the same church and is now the wife of W. F. Reasoner, a prominent farmer of Licking township, Blackford county, she having located here eighteen years ago.
David Henry Hollingshead , was the fourth of the eigl,, children born to his par ents, was educated in Delaware county and reared on his father's farm until eighteen years of age, when he hired out by the month at farmi labor, his father having passed away. This engaged his time and attention until February, 1885, when he changed his con- dition in life by wedding Miss Susie C. Cline, who was born in Delaware county, Indiana, September 12, 1861, and is a daughter of Henry and Mary (Peck) Cline, natives of Ohio.
February 7, 1885, Mr. Hollingshead lo- rated in Licking township on a rented .rm, on which he lived until elected sheriff by the Democratic party in the fall of 1898, having made a practice of leasing ground from the time he began farming on his own account when a young an and living on one farm so leased eight years. Hle had served as supervisor by appointment for two years and had rendered himself very popular, and when nominated for sheriff was elected tri-
umphantly by a majority of one hundred and eighty five. He now owns a handsome resi- dence in the city, where he enjoys the society of his wife and two chikhen. Jason B. and Elias C., and his many wal and devoted friends.
The family attend the Methodist Episco- pal church, and fraternally Mr. Hollings- head is an odd Fellow and a Knight of the Tent of I sabees. He has proven himself. to be a vigilant and competent sheriff and has landed four culprits in the penitentiary si! he has held the office. He is an en- tirely self-made man, in the financial sense of the term, and all that he is is the result of his own practical sound sense and knowledge of human nature.
PETER L. MADDOX.
Peter L. Maddox, the accommodating livory man of Hartford City, Indiana, was born in Blackford county, September 16, 1858. His parents, James J. and Sophia M. ( Miller) Maddox, came from Highland county, Ohio, and Germany respectively, and were married in Jay county, Indiana, but later located in Blackford county, as will be ascertained by a perusal of a sketch of the father to be found adjacent to this, and here Peter L., the subject, lost his mother in November, 1894.
Peter L. Maddox attended the city schools until sixteen years of age and then engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1878, when he found himself to bo thoroughly practical and rented his father's homestead for four years, bat on the division of his father's estate he was awarded one hundred and twenty acres, which he continued t, cultivate until 1896, when
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he came to Hartford City and fitted up a first-class livery barn. Two years of this experience satisfied him for the nonce. although he found it to his taste and roll- ized that he could make money at it; so he went back to his farm and there remained until September, 1899, when he returned to the city and again opened his business in better style than before, now keeping ten horses, twelve buggies, three carriages and other traps and equippages suited to a first- class livery and the demands of a traveling and equestrian population. His premises extend eighty feet on Washington street, the barn and residence being adjacent, and everything is near. clean, compact and con- venient, and he also owns residence property on Chestnut street.
Mr. Maddox was married in Montpelier, December 2.1. 1878, to Miss Lucinda Porter, who was born in Blackford county in 1862, and to this union have been born nine chil- dren. of whom two infants, unnamed, are dead ; Rolly and Charles are deceased ; Eddie, Clayton, George, Ilarry and Lucille still sur- vive to gladden the hearts of their parents. Mrs. Madde Is a member of the Meth- odist F.'scopal church and in politics Mr. Madde ; a Republican. The family are all held in the utmost respect by their neighbors, and as a business man Mr. Maddox is looked upon as the soul of integrity.
NORMAN J. WOOD.
Norman J. Wood, deputy county clerk, is the son of John G. and Jane (Bugh) Wood, and was born in Blackford county, Indiana, on the 25th day of April, 1872. In the public schools, which he attended quite regularly during the years of his minority, he obtained a good practical education, and
at the age of twenty left the parental roof and engaged in the pursuit of agriculture, which he followed with fair success until 1804. In the fall of that year Mr. Wood be- came deputy county treasurer under his fa- ther and continued to discharge the duties of the position until the latter part of 1890. when he took charge of his father's grocery business in this city, conducting the same for a peric 1 of one year. Severing his connec- tion with merchandising, Mr. Wood was appointed deputy county clerk of Blackford county, the duties of which po tion he has discharged in an eminently satisfactory man- ner since August, 1897. Our subject is well fitted for the responsible place with which he has been entrusted. As is well known, the office requires a clear brain, sound judg- ment and clerical ability of a high order. all of which he possesses in a marked de- gree, as is evidenced by the excellent rec- ords he has kept and the efficiency and dis- patch with which the routine business has been transacted. Ile enjoys the confidence of his superior and also of the court, is kind and obliging to all having business with the office, and among the officials and clerks in the court house none is more popular or stands higher in the estimation of the peo- ple. His faithfulness and efficiency in sub- ordinate ce cities, together with a wide ac- quaintauce untoughout the county, has given rise to the prediction that the future awaits him with a still more responsible and re- munerative position, the direct gift of the people.
WILLIAM H. BELL.
Willhun Henderson Bell, undertaker, Hartford City, Indiana, was born September 20, 1857, in Youngstown, Ohio, the son of
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O. J. Word
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Edmund and Isabella (Kelso) Bell. The father was a native of Missouri, where he resided until about eighteen years of age. when he went to New Castle, Pennsylvania, in which city he carried on the cooper trade for a period of several years, removing at the end of that time to Youngstown, Ohio, He made Youngstown his home until his death, which occurred on the 25th of De- cember. 1895, at the advanced age of seventy-nine years. For some time prior to his death Edmund Bell suffered much from impaired health, to improve which he made an extensive trip thre ghout the west, par- ticularly California. While benefited in some respects he failed to arrest entirely the malady which eventually carried hint off. though in all probability the journey was means of prolonging his life a number of years.
times refusing positions of trust and profit be assisted by wise advice in inducing proper persons to accept some of the most import- ant offices within the gift of the people of his city and county.
For a number of years he served as a member of the city school board of Youngs- town and to him as much as to any other individual is due the credit of bringing the school system up to the present state of efficiency. Denied the privilege of thor- ough scholastic training in youth, he supplied this deficiency in subsequent years by a careful and wide range of reading and at the time of his death he was considered one of the most intelligent and broad minded men of affairs in the community where he re- sided. His religious cr: ' was embodied in the Methodist church. which his wife also was an active member. and the influence of his godly life will always remain a bene- diction upon the local congregation with which he was identified. Financially his success was commensurate with the zeal manifested in his every undertaking and a number of years prior to retiring from active life he was the possessor of an ample competence estimated a more than $60,000, all of which representen the fruits of his own labor and industry. Hlis wife, a most exemplary Christian lady, widely known for her gentle virtue and unostentatious char- acter, departed this life at her home in Youngstown on the 21st day of April, 1800.
Miss Isabella Kelso, whom Mr. Bell met and married in the city of New Castle, Pennsylvania, became the mother of five children, namely : Lizzie B., wife of Henry S. Odbert, a coal merchant doing a large and successful business in Cleveland, Ohio ; Emma B., wife of George E. McNab, mer- chant of Youngstown ; Edward, also a resi- dent of Youngstown, where he is engaged in manufacturing ; William H., whose name appears at the head of this article, and Claudie, deceased. in many respects Ed- mund Bell was much more than an ordinary man. Possessing in a marked degree the characteristic of successful manhood known illiam Henderson Bell inherited from ex: ent ancestry a strong d vigorous physique and a rich endowme.it of mental and moral forces, which have enabled him to discharge very successfully the duties of an active and useful life. At the 1 mper age he entered the public schools of his na- as energy, he addressed himself to every matter in hand with a tenacity of purpose which, guided and controlled by intelligent forethought, seldom, if ever, failed in the accomplishment of his purposes. A Republi- can in politics, he became one of the leaders of his party in local affairs and while many i tive city, where he pursued his studies with
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commendable fidelity, completing the pre- scribed course and receiving a ces cate of graduation from the high school in the year 1877. Immediately on quitting school he became a member, with his father and brother, of the cooperage firm known as Edmund Bell & Sons, and was thus em- ployed until 1887, the meantime filling the responsible posite of superintendent of the concern, also discharging similar duties in connection with several other factories of like character, which the firm then op- crated.
Severing his connection with the afore- said firm, Mr. Bell, in 1887, located in Hammond, Indiana, where, until 1893, he carried on a large and lucrative business in the manufacture of cooperage, disposing of his factory in the latter year and removing to Hartford City, with the industrial inter- ests of which place he has since been actively dentified. On locating in Hartford City Mr. Bell engaged in the sale of furniture, to which he later added undertaking. He of- fected a co-partnership with W. H. Cox and built up a large and prosperous trade, be- coming widely and favorably known in busi- ness circles throughout central Indiana. After a few minor changes in the firm Mr. Bell succeeded in becoming sole owner of the establishment and since September, 1899, has operated it by himself, devoting his en- tire attention to undertaking, in which his success has more than met his former ex- pectations. As a busin s man Mr. Bell is painstaking and methodical, possesses ex- ecutive ability of a high order and his career thuis far, in Hartford City, presents a series of continued advancement , until at the pres- ent time he occupies a conspicuous pace an: og the most successful men of Blackford county. Additional to his undertaking busi-
ness he is also interested in hardware, furni ture and undertaking in the town of Van Buren, Grant county, under the firm name of Landes & Bell, having there, as at the old stand in Hartford, a large and constantly increasing share of public patronage.
The establishment at Hartford City is supplied with all the latest modern appli- ances, including two fine funeral cars, black and white, and teams in harmony therewith. Public spirited in all the term implies, alive to the material and moral advancement of his city and county, Mr. Bell has steadily grown in the public esteem, and using the past as a criterion, it is safe to predict for him a still larger measure of success in the future.
On the 26th day October, 1878, in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, Mr. Bell and Miss Loretta A. Hadley, a native of the Keystone state, were united in the bonds of wedlock. Mrs. Bell, the daughter of John and Mary ( McClure) Hadley, was born June 14, 1859, and is the mother of two children, both deceased.
Fraternally Mr. Bell occupies promi- nent positions in several secret orders, viz : F. & A. M., I. O. O. F., K. of ?. and Mac- cabees, and with his wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church of Hartford City.
HON. ELISHA PIERCE.
The gentleman by whose name this sketch is introduced has had a most remark- able and varied career, and his life, beset as it was in the beginning with discouraging environments, over which by sheer force of indomitable will he finally triumphed, may serve as a stimulus to those whose fortunes
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and destiny are still to be realized. He is in the best sense of the word a striking ex- ample of the successful self-made man, such as only our full institutions produce and the honorable positions to which he has attained in both public and private life mark him as possessing mental ability of a high order and a determination of purpose that hesitates at no difficulty and laughs at obstacles, how. ever numerous and formidable.
The paternal ancestors of Mr. Pierce werc for many generations residents of North Carolina, where some of them settled in the colonial period, and the name is still to be met with in various parts of that state. His grandfather, the first of the family of whom anything very definite has been learned, was a wealthy planter and slave- Holder and a man of more than local repute in the community where he lived. Like man of his progenitors, he became the possessor of a large landed estate, known far and wide as the abode of a genuine, open-hearted hos- pitality, which was generously disper I to all who laid claim to his friendship. Such free-handed hospitality was prevalent among the wealthy classes throughout the south during the ante bellum days, but with the changed conditions wrought by the war it is now only too rarely met with.
I. berry Pierce, father of Elisha, was born ou the paternal plantation in North Carolina and there grew to maturity, re- maining with his parents until twenty-two years of age. He then engaged in agricult- ural pursuits for himself, but did not re- main long in his native state, going thence to Ohio in 1842 and settling in the county of Clinton, where he purchased land and made his home until 1851. Thinking to better his condition in a country abounding in better opportunities for a man in mod-
erate circumstances, Mr. Pierce, in the latter year, moved to Blackford county, Indiana, and bought eighty acres of woodland in Licking township, which in due time was cleared and developed into a first class farm. At the time of his settling there the place contained a small clearing of fifteen acres. the remainder of the tract being in its primi- tive condition of dense wie 's and thick un- derbrush, in short, an almost unbroken wil- derness, penetrated only by a few foot paths. Addressing himself to the herculean task be- fore him, Mr. Pierce, by working carly and late, soon felled the forest monarchs, en- larged the area of cultivable land and within a few years had a comfortable home, pat- terned in many respects after the old plan- tation in North Carolina, though by no means so large in extent as the latter. Here he lived and reared his family and until ad- vancing ge and the infirmities incident thereto compelled him to desist somewhat from manual toil, he followed agricultural pursuits profitably and earned the reputa- tion of a high-minded and honorable Chris- tian gentleman. In 1896 he moved to Hart- ford City, where he passed the residue of life yet remaining, and here, amid a large circle of friends who respected him or his many sterling qualities, this good man was called to the higher life in September, 1808
For over twenty years Littleberry Pierce held the office of justice of the peace in Licking township and as a dispenser of jus- tice and adviser of his neighbors in matters of law he is remembered for the impartiality of his decisions and the disinterested man- mer with which he compromised much troublesome and expensive litigation. early life he united with the Methodist church, to which he ever afterwards re- mained loyal, and for nearly a quarter of a
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century he was a licensed preacher in his , and Minute, wife of 1. Smith, a farm- denomination, though not at any time regu- er of Delaware county, this state. The moth er of these children is still sing, at the age of sixty-nine, her home at this time being in Hartford City. larly employed or in charge of a circuit of station. He ministered & the people of his neighborhood in holy things without finan- cial renumeration and did much to spread the cause of religion in Blackford and neighboring counties. Ilis intellectual at- tainments were far . have those possessed by the average man a mis wide reading and general inforination upon all tho leading questions of the day, both secular and relig- jous, made him a leader of thought in the community where he lived so many years. In addition to hi agricultural interests, he gave much attention to stock dealing, trad- mg : realty, etc., which added considerable to his income, although: at no time was he what might be considered a wealthy man --- only a good liver and a liberal contributor to all benevolent and religious enterprises.
As stated in a preceding paragraph Mr. Pierce gave considerable attention to the law and in addition to his office as justice of the peace he was frequently retained as coun- sel in justice courts.
He married in Clinton county, Ohio, soon after locating there, Huldah Graham, a de- scendant of an old Scotch family, and be- came the father of twelve children whose names are as follows : Elisha, the subject of this mention; James, a soldier in the Civil war, died in 1864 at Raleigh, North Caro- Jina; Rebecca, wife of William Spence, of Eaton, Ohio; Franklin, deceased: Will- iam, a merchant of St. Louis, Missouri; Stephen D., a farmer of Blackford county: Handford resides in the state of Nebraska : Wilev, a resident of Hartford City; Mary married D. Adkinson and lives in Kansas; Charles, attorney at law and deputy prosecut- ing attorney of the county of Blackford,
Elisha Pier e, the ellest member of the above large 1 dly, was born Deceraber 14. 1846, in Climon county, Ohio, and when five years of age was brought by his parents to the county of Blackford. His youth was passed on the little farm in Licking township which at that time was being fitted for tivation, young Elisha contributing his share towards clearing the land and preparing it for the plow. This labor, hard and exact- ing as it was, developed strength of muscle and resoluteness of purpose and served not only as the foundation for a vigorous , y- siquo, but also as a lesson of self relia .ce. With limited educational advantages Mr. Pierce learned bis most important les ous by direct contact with nature and he states that the sum total of his schooling until young man embraced a period of less than four months. During the progress of the great Rebellion, when it became necessary for the government to resort to the draft in order to procure the necessary number of men, his father was included among those required to fill the quota from Blackford county. Immediately after the draft Elisha offered himself in his father's stead, and although. quite a young man at that time, volunteered in Company I, Fifty-fourth In- diana Infantry, for one year's service. His regiment was assigned to the Army of the Mississippi undor Generals Sherman and Grant, and among the battles in which he bore a gallant part were the siege of Vicks- burg and engagements in that vicinity --. Jack on, Mississippi; Port Gibson, . chan- sas Post, Milligan's Bend and minor en-
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gagoments in various parts of the south. At the expiration of his period of culistinent Mr. Pierce was mustered out at New Orleans, and returning home, again entered the army as substituto for a gentleman by the name of Glascoe, of Wells county, join- ing Company C, Twenty-sixth Indiana Vol- unteers, in the fall of 1864. For two months following his enlistment be was en- gaged in drilling drafted men and substi- tutes at Camp Carrington, Indianapolis, aftor which his company was assigned to various reginients. Mr. Pierce again found himself in the Army of the Mississippi under General Smith, and took part in all the varied experiences of his command until the close of the war. He was first station . at Fort Butler, seventy-five miles above New Orleans on the Mississippi river, where he remained one month and then was placed in charge of one of the heavy guns forwarded from that place to Mobile. At the latter place he took part in the battles of Forts Spanish and Blakely, directly in front of the city, after which be accompanied his command in a forced march of fourteen days duration to Montgomery. From the latter city his company was subsequently sent to Louisville, thirty miles west, whero he remained until the cessation of hostili- ties. At the close of the war Mr. Pierce was placed in command of a squad of mon to gather in government property, and he w. thus engaged for six months, during whit period he traversed the greater part of Mi sissippi and Alabama, collecting vast store: which wore turned over to the proper au- thorities. To the fall of 1865 he received his final discharge at Jackson, Mississippi, and immediately thereafter turned his face towards the dear old home from which he had been so long absent.
The itary career of Mr. Pierce was replete w .a duty faithfully and heroically performed in behalf of one of the Boblest causes that was ever setthal by the arbitra- ment of war. Actuated by motives of filial regard he saved his good ather from a long and probably fatal service, and through- out his entire experience at the front he over lost sight of the high obligation he was under to the government, which at that time was almost stranded upon the rugged rocks of disunion. If narrated in detail his experiences would fill a volume. On the firing line in many bloody battles. with death upon every hand, in dangerous situations from which escape appeared impossible, on the forced march, tired and footsore, in the hasty bivouac, exposed to the inclemencics of the elements, standing picket in the dark and Jonesome night a target for the hidden foe, through these and inany other expe- riences fraught with dangers seen and unfor- seen, he passed inscratched and returned to tell the story of the struggle which struck the shackles from the limbs of three millions of bondmen and made them free, and re- united a disrupted country in the ties of an indissoluble brotherhood.
The experience of army life, although fraught with dangers manifekl and great, is not without its ludicrous side, as many an old soklier can testify. Mr. Pier e relates many incidents and being an entertaining story teller is always sure of appreciative auditors. Among his numerous advent- ures he relates with much interest the inci- dent of the bee hive. Being very fond of honey and knowing that a liberal store was in a farm house near by, he hurriedly left his post and securing a full hive was returning with it in his arms when whom should he meet but the colonel of his regiment. With
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Beer reprimand | ply himself that he's on outstripped his class .
him, at the same time off his ser- mates and became a fairly good scholar. geant's stripes and reduci : to the ranks When the school closed he continued his for such flagrant viol :. ry discipline. studies at home with such advantage to him- self that in due time he was enabled to enter the Hartford city high school, where he re- mained one year and for the same length of time was a student in the high school at Jonesboro, Grant county,
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