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 59
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child, and after the death of hier ine, Has taken by an uncle. Joseph Atkinson. with whom she lived until her marriage, at the age of twenty-two.
When Mr. and Mrs. Ritter moved to their new home they found an unbroken ex- pause of woodland, with the exception of a small clearing. in the midst of which stond a diminutive log cabin. It required long and arduous work to remove the forest growth and fit the ground for tillage, but in due time this was accomplished and in 1888 the på neer dwelling gave place to a substantial frame edifice, which the family now occupy. Seventy acres were made ready for the plow. the greater part of the work being done by the strong arms of Mr. Ritter, whose de- votion to toil brought its reward in a com- fortable home and ample competence.
By a successful system of drainage, first the old style plank ditch and later tiling, hic greatly enhanced the fertility of his place and made it one of the most valuable farm: of its size in the township of Licking. He was a very careful farmer, studied well the nature and capability of soils, and by a proper rotation of crops always obtained the most satisfactory returns for his labor. He also made a specialty of good live stock, his breeds of cattle and hogs being of the best, and no one drove better horses or received higher prices for his animal products. In short, he was a man of method, did every- thing the best way and earned the reputa- tion of one of the most successful agricult- urists and stock men in the neighborhood where he lived. Mr. Ritter was the first man in Blackford county to lease land to a gas company, and the well on his place is considered one of the best the company now operates.
After nearly six years of happy welded
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life aIr. Ritter's home was invaded by j munity of which he was for so many years the death angel, who took therefrom, July 5. 1878, his devoted wife, who died at the early age of twenty nine. She left one child, Della, now the wife of William N. ! Secrest, who has charge of the home farm at the present time.
On the 18th day of December, 1878. Mr. Kitter entered into the marriage relation with Margaret Campbel chose parents, na- tives of Maryland, came to Blackford com- tv in 1865, and settled in the neighborhood of what is known as the Mt. Carmel church : her father died when she was nine years old and the mother departed this life a number of years later, at the advanced age of eighty- five. The second marriage was blessed by the birth of one chikl, Clara Alice. a young lady of culture and refinement, at this time a student of the Marion Normal College, where she is fitting herself for the profession of teaching. The child by the first wife was born and reared on the home place and has never left it; she also is a lady of many admirable traits, well known and highly es- tecmed in the community, and a worthy daughter of a worthy father.
In politics Captain Ritter was a Repub- lican, active in the councils of his party and usually attended all the county and township conventions, and sometimes those of district and state as a delegate, and at one time was the nominee for sheriff, but failed of elec tion by reason of the overwhelming Demo- cratic majority. Tle was prominent in G. A. R. circles, keeping up his interest in the organization as long as he lived, and was also at one time connected with Fellows brotherhood.
Captain Ritter was a gentleman of the highest character, and the rectitude of his intentions was never questioned in the com
an honored citizen. His word was his bond. his judgment in matters of business was seldom if ever at fault, an luo one knew him except to respect and love him for his many sterling qualities of manhood. ITis life was singularly free from imperfections, and in his death, which occurred on the 28th day of November, 1899, his family lost a kind and loving husband, an affectionate fa- ther, the com unity one of the most oblig- ing neighbors and the county one of its most highly esteemed and worthy citizens. He dli tas he lived, void of offense to God and man, and the great future awaited him with sure reward.
JOSEPH N. GETTYS.
Joseph Nathaniel Gettys, who is widely known as a prominent agriculturist, a native of the county in which he now resides and a representative of a family whose history was identified with the state in days of earlier and simpler styles of living, is possessed of a fine farm in Licking township upon which he was born, January 24, 1846. Ilis par- ents, James and Sarah (Moore) Gettys. were born and married in Greene county. Pennsylvania. Some eight years previous to the birth of Joseph his father had come to the then wilderness of Indiany and en- tered land of the government. But it was not until the year of his birth that the little family removed from the Keystone state to make their permanent home in the state of their adoption. The little one-room, round- log cabin in which Joseph first saw the light of day remained the home of the family until he had reached his ninth year, when it was replaced by a more pretentious residence,
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a building in which the parents passed their remaining years and which is still standing in a fairly good state of preservation. On their original coming to this home it was necessary to live in the most primitive man- ner, very few of what are now termed necessaries being available, even had the re- sources of the family enabled them to be secured. Having little but good health, strong constitutions and a determination to carve out a . me, James Gettys and wife set themselves resolutely to work with a vigor born of necessity and not many years passed before their efforts were crowned with a fair measure of success. Eighty acres of the one hundred and sixty he owned were converted into valuable fields through their unceasing endeavors. It gradually assumed the appearance of thrift atil it grew into a pretentious and valuable farm, which has not passed from the family, but is to-day the home of a truly popular citizen. James Gettys died here in September, 186g, in the sixty-first year of his age, while his companion during the vicissitudes and the successes of a busy life survived him about eleven years, dying at the age of sixty-seven. Joseph Gettys, the brother of James, had also been a pioneer of the county, having settled in it some years prior to the one whom we are more especi: : considering. His son, John R. Gettys. i. a well-known citizen of Hartford City.
The family of which Joseph N. is one consisted of three sons and two daughters. The latter were: Anna E., who married Joshua Kelley and who died at the age of forty; Hannah Jane beame the wife of M. Tarr, her own death coming when about the same age as her sister. The sons, beside our subject, are John ane amuel, both re- siding in Hartford. Joseph N. Gettys re-
mained on t'> farm till his twenty-first year, when, desiring to see the world for himself, he went west, spending some time in the state of Wisconsin. However, after his father's death he returned al soon be gan the purchase of the remain og interests. having now a very desirable farm of ninety acres, all of which was formerly included in the old homestead. Ile devotes his entire time to the management of the farm and has greatly increased the value of his land by extensive improvements, haring cleared twenty-five acres, and has laid over one thousand two hundred rods of tile, having an outlet in a county open drain. He has a very neat home, its surroundings indicating to a certain extent, the desire of himself and family to provide themselves with an attractive home.
Mr. Gettys was married, March 2, 1871, to Miss Elizabeth Kenmmer, daughter of Samuel and Enama Jane (Ellis) Kemmer. They were one of the early families in Black- ford county, removing to La Grange county, Indiana, when Mrs. Gettys was but two years of age. Here they remained till her sixteenth year, and then located in ilart- ford City. Mr. and Mrs. Gettys have no family, but lost two children who died in their infancy.
Reared a Republican, Mr. Gettys acted with that party for many years until the im- portance of the temperance movement as- sumed such proportions that he felt that his assistance should be given the organized effort to suppress the liquor traffic ; thence- forth he has been an important factor in the party work in Blackford county. His presence and influence are felt in all the con- ventions of the party, including not only those hell in the county, but those of a wider scope, Ilis personal popularity was recog-
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nized by the party when he was urged to make the canvass for the position of county treasurer, which he did. his efforts not only extending his own circle . f friends, but also adding materially to the strength of the party.
Our subject and wife are respected men- bers of the Wesleyan Methodist church at Hartford City, he being one of the trustees.
JOHN WESLEY BEATIL.
Among the prosperous farmers of Lick- ing township, aud of those whosc unflagging industry and business capacity have resulted in accruing handsome competence, is the above named gentleman, who is as well the representative of one of the early families of Blackford county.
His father, William A. Beath, who still resides at Hartford City, was the third white child born in what is now Blackford county, his birth occurring on the 25th of July, 1836. The place of birth: was on what is now the county farm, situated five miles southwest of Hartford City. His parents were John and Anna ( Kelly) Beath, who migrated from Ross county, Ohio, in the spring of that same year.
In 1860 William Beath was married to Miss Elizabeth R. Stewart, only daughter of Dr. Henry Stewart, whose biography is found elsewhere in this volume. Soon after he settled upon what has since remained the Beath homestead. It first consisted of fifty- two acres, and he subsequently purchased thirty five acres of the John Stewart farm. It was included in the former farm of John Stewart, brother of the Doctor, by whom it was entered from the government. Here i
he made a valuable farm, which he operated until his estimable companion was called away from earth, February 20, 1888, in her fifty-second year. Since that time he has lived in easy retirement in Hartford City. He has ever lived an unpretentious life, he- ing content to attend to the duties of citizen. ship that came to him, not yielding to am- bitious yearnings to occupy a prominent sta- tion in public life.
Flis family comprises Give sons : Marion L. being a thriving farmer of Woodson county, Kansas; George Riley, who owns part of the homestead; John Wesley : Henry A., who also owns and lives on the original fifty two acres, and Owen Van Edam, sec- retary of the Diamond Flint Glass Company, of Hartford.
John Wesley E ith was born on the homestead, November 12, 1865. His boy- hood and youth was spent with his father, receiving the average educational advant- ages the district school supplied. February 16, 1887, he was joined in bonds of matri- mony with Miss Lydia A. Baugher, daugh- ter of George and Matikla Baugher. He is well remembered by Hartford citizens as one of the city's former reputable blacksmiths. being a superior workman, and one whose industry and integrity made hosts of friends.
Lydia was born in Hartford, and being of an ambitious and independent spirit. learned the dressmaker's art, at which she was engaged at the date of her marriage.
After one season on the old homestead John worked in the spoke factory of Charles Hubbard, in Hartford City, for nearly two years, his wife in the meantime resuming her trade. Her reputation as an expert dressmaker was such that her services were eagerly sought, not only by her old cus )- mers, but by many others as well. T
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thus continued until the death of his mother. when they returned to a tract of eighty acres, near the old home he had just purchased in company with his brother, George.
Mrs. Beath received an inheritance of four hundred dollars from her father's cs- tate, which, with six hundred dollars they had saved from their joint carnings, they invested in that farm. Here they operated for three years, when they sold their personal property and with the proceeds cleared off - the remaining indebtedness on the farm. They returned to Hartford City, created a pleasant residence, and he engaged as a clerk, in which capacity he labored till Jan- vary, 1804, when the city property was sold and they again took up the conduct of the farm. He at once set about to improve it by erecting a barn. He soon afterward ac- quired his brother's interest in h, and verv greatly enhanced its value by clearing some hirty acres additional and in laying over Dve hundred rods of tile, thus bringing it to a productive condition.
in July, 1897, he purchased his present home farm of seventy-six acres, lying one mile distant from the former one. It is widely known as the Andrew Quackenbush homestead, lying on the Ritter pike, five miles south of Hartford City. The spirit of improvement has not abated, as shown by the present residence, which he rebuilt, and the other necessary improvements he has made. His good judgment and careful attention to details have ; on him a handsome com- petence, and a condition of ease, if not lux- try. While all farm products have pro- duced revenue, he has received largest re- turns from the growing and feeding of hogs, into which most of the grain grown is fed. He finds the celebrated Duroc breed very sat - isfactory, and breeds and fattens annually not
less than one hundred choice parkers. He also keeps several Jersey cows, From which most delici is butter is made by Mrs. Beath. whose excellence as a skilled butter-maker i. recognized by her many private customers. who depend upon her to supply their tables with that most delectable article.
They have recently purchased a home in Hartford City, to which it is proposed to retire to educate their children : Audry E .. born October 9. 1800; John, born May 15. 1896.
Mr. Beath holds to the Democratic faith in politics, realizing that upon a strict ad- herence to its principles the country's honor and future prosperity depends.
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ELWOOD QUACKENBUSH.
Elwood Quackenbash, deceased, late of Licking township, was born in Wayne colin- tv, Indiana, on the 18th day of May, in the year 1848. His death occurred at his home, five miles south of Hartford City, on the 15th of January. 1895. . His parents were frew and Charity Elmina ( Potter) Quackenbush, he being born in Chatham county, North Carolina; they. however, were married in Wayne county, Indiana. About the year !: 55 they came to Blackford county and sett I on a tract of land in the southern part of Licking township, which is, at present, inchided in the home farm of J. W. Beath. There Andrew lived and died in March, 1888, having survived his wife three years. Their family consisted of two sons and two daughters, the latter be- ing Mary, who married Henry Bowman, whose death occurred while serving in the army. She then became the wife of Charles
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Haynes, her own death following when painstaking care. In addition to the home about thirty five years of age: Ruth Ann is the wife of Henry Flatter, of the vicinity of Millgrove: Washington Stafford, residing in Hartford City, and Elwood, whose carly life was spent upon the farm, much of the work devolving upon him.
On the ad of September, 1868, he was united in bonds of matrimony to Miss Susan Campbell, daughter of Levan and Mary ( Heffner) Campbell. At the time of their marriage the mother was a widow, living in the vicinity of the Quackenbush home, i the young couple having been schoolmates for three years, her mother having come i from Greene county, Ohio, in 1865. After their marriage he operated his father's farm for three years and for several years con- timed to rent, until he bought eighty acres. to the improvement of which his attention was devoted and upon which they resided until about ten years since, when he secured the present farm, on the county line be- tween Blackford and Delaware counties. It is most pleasantly located, on the Ritter pike, six miles south of Hartford City, and com-, prises eighty acres of valuable land. Its original condition was such that an immense amount of hard labor was necessary to bring it into the present highly improved condition : it had but a small clearing with no buildings. He drained it in a mo hor- ough and systematic manner, laying many hundred of rods of tile, extending it to all parts of the farm. Good buildings were erected and by careful and judicious atten- tion to the many details that indicate the successful farmer, he made a very desirable and attractive farm. He was of the method- ical nature that takes just pride in having everything done in a businesslike manner and on every hand is witnessed the result of that
farm he had another smaller place near by. which he had operated by tenants. His death wank suddenly as the result of blood-poison- ing. While never an ardent partisan, he held decided views on public matters, which were usually in accord with the Republican party. \ Methodist in his religions views and affil- iations, he was held in the highest respect by his fellow members in Mt. Carmel Methodist Episcopal church.
His family consisted of three children, of whom one, Mary Agnes, died at eleven ; Willian Andrew married Anna Brown, they having one son. Floyd Lawson. The youngest is Frank Leslie, a schoolboy of thirteen. Mrs. Quackenbush remains on the homestead, taking an active part in all that pertains to the advancement of the neighbor- hood.
ISAAC L. HUGHES.
Isaac L. Hughes, ex-county commis- sioner and prominent farmer, was born in the house in which he now resides, Novem- her 27. 1852. The house was erected the preceding year, and is, doubtless, the oldest house i Blackford county still in use as a residence.
In 1835 Jonathan and Keziah ( Slater) Hughes, he of Morgan county and she of Guernsey county, Ohio, migrated with a family of two children to Blackford county. entering government land in section 34, upon which they located temporarily, trading the following year for the tract embodied in the present homestead. It was in a heavy wooded section and the cabin was ob- structed from the eyes of passers till they had come within a few rods of it, His
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brother, Aaron Hughes had entered the ad- influence being over cast or popular joining eighty acres of land, and his life was . eroment and local cont: if local allting. Socially he had qualitie that made him popular with all, regardless of political opin ions, his own home being ever open to the
thenceforth passed upon that tract. Many settlers and land seekers were coming to this county at that time, and the service of j Jonathan, who was an expert woodman, I was faring of the stranger, as much as to the was in constant demand to pilot then is nearest neighbor or relative. Liberal in all Fort Wayne, where the land office was lo- 1 things, his consistency demanded a liberal cated. With his compass for a guide, he | family, ten, of whom four only survive in would set into the forest and though some- times bewildered, never got completely lost, but would soon strike some familiar trai! or stream, and thus never failed to reach his destination, experiencing, however, many thrilling incidents that would have deterred a less brave man from repeating the trips.
He was born in Morgan county, Ohio. April 2. 1800, and died when within but five days of his seventy-fourth year. His exertions placed nearly all the farm in cul- tivation, and his efforts towards the general improvement and advancement of the com- munity were not inconsiderable. His widow. born June 6, 1813, and whose courage was not less marked than his own, survived him about five years, dying April 6, 1888. They were joined in wedlock on December 15, : 1831. They rest in the Stewart graveyard, beside many others of those hardy pioneers, whose lives cannot be too highly extolled.
Here, at the organization of the county as a political entity, Jonathan Hughes be- came its first assessor; the first assessment re- quired but a few . ays for him to visit every home in the county. Like the great ma- jority of frontiersmen, to whom Andrew Jackson was of finer clay than ordinary mor- tals, he early became filled with the grand doctrine of individual liberty, as espoused by the Democratic party, which then, as now; d for masses as against the classes no mean factor in every campai; his
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1900: Lucy M., born November 7. 1847. is now the wife of Robert Stewart; Rachael K., born April = 1850, married Edward Jones, of Hartford City : Isaac L., born No- vember 27. 1852, is the subject of this sketch; Eniily V., born June 1, 1856, is the wife of George W. Campbell, of Licking. Those deceased were the following : Ames born September 21, 1832, Alied at the ag of sixteen years; Jacob S., born December 7, 1834, died when aged twenty-eight years : Jolin W., born May 31, 1837, passed his life in the county and died from heart disease while on his way home from a neighbor's; Caroline, born September 15, 1839, married Heury Cunningham and died leaving two chil tren : Eveline, horn March 4, 1842, be co . the wife of Samuel R. Ross, and died ! leaving two children; Sarah, born March 25, 1845, remained unmarried and died at the age of twenty-three years.
The boyhood of Isaac L. was passed upon the farin, where he remained so long as his parents fived, giving them the filial devotion (Iuc them in their declining years. After they had been called away he bought the interests of the other heirs, and has also another farm of forty acres in another neighborhood. He was married, December 23, 1875. to Miss Caroline Martin, de liter of William and Rachael (Long) Martin, who was born in Delaware county, coming to this county when a child of ten. They have one son
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Charley Augustus, born October 20, 1876, Odd Fellow at Hartford City, he is also who married Ruth Osenbaugh and who !a member of the encampment, though dis- operates the small farm above mentioned. tance prevents his activity in the lodge work as inclination and fitness might dictate. Like his father, Isaac L. espoused Democ- vacy, in which party's organization he has been no cipher, having been found in the councils of the party upon almost every oc- casion. EZRA A. STALLSMITH.
At the resignation of James G. Baird from the board of county commissioners, on account of failing health. Mr. Hughes was appointed to fill the vacancy, the mmexpired term continuing for upwards of two years. I He was then the unanimous choice of his party for another term, the duties of which he ably filled to the county's betterment and general satisfaction. His colleagues were Join Clore, Thomas T. McGeath and A. W. Miles, with all of whom he acted in most cordial relationship. The new court house was erected during his service, at a cost of thirteen thousand, nine hundred dollars. fully equipped with furniture, etc. .. Though bonds were placed upon the open market at a tinie of great financial depression, the second issue was sold at a handsome pre- mium, showing the excellent condition of the fmances. Improvements in pikes and public drains were inaugurated and extended, and in all of these important matters it is a matter of great satisfaction to the members of the board of commission 's that they were always um mous in their action. Very little friction existed and no man of such public service holds a warmer place in the estimation of the people than does Isaac L. IJughes.
In his private business, to which his at- tention has been wholly devoted since the expiration of his public service, he breeds thoroughbred roadster and Norman horses, in which he has been quite successful. An
One of the more pretentious and attred. tive farins that attract the attention of the traveler passing the southwest of Hartford C City is that of Ezra A. Stallsmith, which with: its well appointed buiklings and neatly ar- ranged fields, demands more than a passing notice. The propri. For Ezra A. Stallsmith, is one of the most p. estive men of the com.
munity, conducti- e farm operations in a business-I've and scientific manner. He was born two and one-half miles northeast of Hartford City, in Washington township, De- cember 25, 1856. His parents were George and Margaret (Troxel) Stallsmith. both of whom were natives of Gettysburg, Adams county, Pennsylvania, where they were reared and married. They at once came to Connersville, Indiana, where he, having served a three-years apprenticeship, worked at the carpenter's trade.
He came to Blackford county when Hart- ford City was just starting. Buying eighty acres of wild land, he settled in the woods and began to clear up the farm. Being a skilled mechanic, his services were sought in both town and o antry. His skill as a workman was such that he was placed in charge of nearly all of the finer grades of work. In 1867 he returned to Gettysburg for two years and in 1870 he bought one hundred acres of land where Ezra now lives. It had but .a small clearing and no buildings. Though he had met with financial losses, he
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