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 67
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In the meantime, 1896, he was appointed receiver of the Indiana Steel Casting Com- pany, in which capacity he acted until 1898, when, in partnership with C. S. Bash, D. F. Bash, Max G. Hoffman, M. Goldberger, J. R. St. Clair, T. C. Morrison and James O'Donnell, all well-known capitalists and business men, the company was reorgan- ized, Mr. Neal being elected president and general manager of the same, a position he still retains.
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In addition to this connection with the above enterprise, Mr. Neal is a stockholder and director of the First National Bank, of Montpelier, of which he was one of the or- ganizers, owns a large amount of stock in the T. C. Neal Oil Company, besides being financially interested in the Columbia Build- ing Company, and several concerns of minor importance, all of which have been greatly promoted through his energy and wise busi- ness manager .nt. He also has large farm- ing interests in Blackford and other counties, and aside from his various business connec- tions takes an active part in public affairs, having twice served as a member of the board of county commissioners and one term in the common council of Montpelier.
Mr. Neal is a zealous . mber of Lodge No. 188, K. of P., which he assisted in or- ganizing, and he is also identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, though not an active worker at the present time.
The marriage of Mr. Neal was solem- nized November 7, 1872, with Susan A. Spaulding, daughter of Franklin B. and Anna (Baldwin) Spaulding, by whom he has one child, Charles Mitchell Neal, whose birth occurred on the 24th day of October, 1873. Charles M. married Miss Emma V. Bigler, daughter of Eli and Susan (Smith) Bigler, and is the father of one child, Su- san Eleanor, born January 21, 1900,
As a business man Mr. Neal is the peer of any of his fellows in Montpelier, and his reputation is by no means bounded by the limits of his town or county. He is widely known throughout the state, and the various enterprises with which he is identified have been the means of bringing him into per- sonal contact with many leading business men of the country. Years of close atten- tion to details in the management of large
interests have developed a discriminating mind and sound judgment seldom at fault, while association with the world in diverse ways has rounded out a symmetrical char- acter, of which keen foresight and superior executive ability are prominent traits. He is a man whose enterprise no difficulties can discourage, and whose tenacity of purpose, rare as it is admirable, seems to mold cir- cumstances to suit his ends rather than to permit them to mold him. His life forcibly illustrates what can be accomplished by con- centration of energies upon any one object, together with an indomitable perseverance which overcomes opposing obstacles, how- ever formidable, and wins success from what to the majority would prove sure defeat.
Mr. Neal is certainly a fine representative of the successful, self-made men of the day. Loyal to his conviction of right as he sees the right, firm in his friendships and devoted to those who repose confidence in him, he is a potent factor for good in the commu- nity and a gentleman whom to know is to honor. In the prime of mature manhood, with physical and mental faculties at their best, the past may be taken as earnest of what still remains for him to accomplish in the business and industrial world.
WILLIAM CARROLL. 1
William Carroll was born in Washing- ton county, Pennsylvania, on the Ioth of September, 1828. He is the son of Rob- ert and Margaret (Gregory) Carroll, both also of Pennsylvania birth. Robert Carroll, the father of our subject, was born June 14, 1800, and Margaret, his wife, was born
.
The barsoll
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April 5, 1806. They were married Novem- ber 24, 1825. Their children were as fol- lows: Wesley, born November 5, 1826; William, born September 10, 1828; Eliza- beth Jane, born September 28, 1830; Sam- uel, born January 20, 1832; Margaret, born January 28, 1834; and Anna, born August 2, 1837.
The great-grandfather was Robert Car- roll, who was born in Ireland and there mar- ried Mary Bell. Hc, with his two brothers and one sister, emigrated to America about 1770, and settled on a farm adjoining the joint school house in Morris township, Washington county, Pennsylvania.
Robert and Mary (Bell) Carroll were the parents of seven children, five sons and two daughters. James, the eldest son, was the grandfather of our subject. He married Margaret Marshall, and they were the par- ents of ten children, eight sons and two daughters. Robert, the second son, was raised on a farm two miles below Nineveh, Pennsylvania, and in 1838 he moved to Dela- ware county, Indiana, about sixteen miles northwest of Muncie (Munseytown), on the Mississinewa river, the then extreme end of civilization. Robert Carroll was, at that time, nearing middle life, and had consid- erable means to start with, having sold quite a good farm in Pennsylvania for two thou- sand dollars. The home was made on the opposite side of the river from Eaton, which had then but recently started. He had but just gotten the family established in the new home when he was taken from them by a sudden sickness, leaving the widow with six chi! 'ren, the eldest being twelve and the youngest but two years of age. The hard times in Pennsylvania had made it impossi- ble for them to secure all that was due them, so that she was forced to sacrifice one eighty- 32
acre tract in order to save the remainder. She had but little beside the land, a horse brought from the cast and a little furniture. She saw hard times, experiencing the great- est difficulty in keeping her children together and bringing them up in the new country. She was alone and had to depend entirely upon her own resources, but being a weaver by trade was in that way able to live. She wove all the woolen and linen clothing worn, not only by her own children, but by many of the neighboring families as well. As the boys grew a farm was gradually cleared, till she had a comfortable home. After ten years of this sort of struggle, some of the children reaching maturity, she was called upon to experience a sorer trial than any that had preceded. In 1849 all the streams had been flooded for several weeks, after which a strange, heretofore unknown, dis- ease broke out, two of her own children dying. Of thirty-three stricken, but three survived, William being one of these. Will- iam, recalling some of the incidents of the early years and the benefits derived from having relatives to whom to look for assist- ance, grows eloquent in describing some of the impositions his mother and himself had practiced upon them. His mother's sister lived near, and having a large family Mrs. Carroll would do the family weaving, for which the brother-in-law agreed to give her two fine shoats, to be delivered in the fall. When the time came, two little, runty wild hogs of about seventy-five pounds each were brought. They were placed in a snug log pen and every inducement offered them to eat, but so long as anyone was looking not a grain of corn or drink of swill would they take. After keeping them all winter and their not having gained a pound, they were turned into the yard, which contained a well
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with no curb. They were still wild as deers, and after circling about the yard, both jumped squarely into the well to hide. One of the boys descended to get them out, but getting down about ten feet and within reach of the hogs, one of them bit him in the leg, causing his ascent and declaration that he would shoot them, running at the same time for the gun. However, when they had got- ten well tired out they were taken out, but never amounted to anything. Another good
Methodist uncle gave William a little lesson
in feeding cattle he is not liable to forget or forgive. Good crops were grown, but in order to realize cash to any extent it was nec-
essary to feed the grain to stock. When William was about seventeen he, having quite a corn crop and being anxious to real- ize some money, looked about for cattle to
feed. This uncle let him have a couple of
stantly to their needs all winter, and at the He fed all his crop to them, attending con- and a half per hundred for them in May. old oxen, agreeing to pay him two dollars
settlement received seven dollars for his
share. The good uncle said: "William, it will teach you a lesson." William's disap-
pointment was such that his love for relatives
one, who would ask a blessing over mush cooled several degrees, especially for that and skimmed milk, even much of his old
respect for the Methodist being lost. When
the gold fever affected every family, three
hundred dollars was borrowed by the widow
mained till the fall of 1854, having on his re- son, to California, where he went and re- and William to send John Wesley, the elder
turn two thousand dollars, one-half of which
was given to William for remaining at home
with the mother and two sisters. This he at once invested in two hundred and fifty acres of land, which is now included in the
present farm. Wesley remaining on the home farm, William devoted his attentions to the new tract, which then had but fifty acres cleared and a log cabin to live in. Wesley was anxious to return to California, saying he would rather be there without a dollar than here with pockets full. Visit- ing his old western partner in Connecticut, he returned, determined to rejoin him in Cali- fornia; but financial matters not developing to suit, he sold the farm and went to Wis- consin, where he erected a mill and operated
this for two years, till the Pike's Peak ex- citement again aroused the young men all over the country, and it was decided to go
there as soon as possible. The mill. was traded for land in Missouri, and arrange-
ments completed for both of them to go. In 1858 William Campbell had been elected county treasurer, and being in delicate health decided to join the gold seekers. Ac-
cordingly, in the spring of 1859, he and William join. : Wesley in Missouri, where they fitted out two yoke of oxen and drove to Leavenworth. Here they met others and
set out across the plains, taking the old Santa Fe trail and encountered a few Indian scares, finally reaching Denver on the hind wheels
of a wagon drawn by three yoke of oxen. They took about four hundred pounds of provisions up the mountain, and within three days were getting gold in paying quanti- ties. Water was scarce, but being fortu- nate enough to get a claim with a spring upon it, they needed a sluice. On the Fourth of July, 1859. Wesley, William, their uncle, Samuel Greger, and his son, Sam, now of Eaton, with ax, whip-saw and broad- ax, cut a pine tree, dressed the sides to twelve feet long and cut the log into boards, with which they made sluice boxes and were prepared to work for gold to some advan-
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tage. Soon after this Wesley went over the ridge and staked a claim on the creek bar at Tarryall. They remained at these mines from August, 1859, to the fall of 1863. Wesley had, however, soll two years before and settling at Oakland, California, resided there till his death. William and his cousin, Sam Gregory, had purchased the interests of the remainder, continuing, as before stated, until 1863, when, having made con- siderable money, they sold and invested in cattle. The next year, after selling all but about eighty head of oxen, they fitted out freighting wagons and, loading with bacon and other groceries, started for Montana. Crossing the mountains twice and traveling upwards of a thousand miles, they finally sold out at Virginia City, making a nice thing out of the transaction. Now, after seven years of western life, being in part- nership all that time, without even the form- ality of keeping books, he and his cousin de- cided to return to the states and old associa- tions. While they had seen a good many hardships, experiencing the vicissitudes of frontier life and the ups and downs expected in connection with mining, the result as a whole had proven very satisfactory, they clearing up about thirty thousand dollars be- tween them.
Our subject now turned his attention to the less exciting occupation of farming, and in 1864 he located in Licking township, in- vesting in land till his farm now contains eight hundred and fifty acres in a body, lying about six miles to the southwest of Hartford City, and composed of several former well- known farms, including the L wid Hart farm of two hundred and fifty acres, the Jake Gear farm of one hundred and sixty acres, the Jim Romain tract of eighty acres, and the Henry Secrist farm of three hundred and
sixty acres. The farm is by far the most desirable stock farm in the county, consist- ing of nicely rolling fields, all well watered by living springs and having abundance of cooling shade. It has been largely devoted to the growing of sheep, being stocked by no less than from one thousand to fifteen hundred head at all times. A great many hogs are also fed and a fine herd of fat cattle are disposed of each year, bringing the best market price. Mr. Carroll recalls some in- teresting facts in connection with the sheep husbandry, one being that he hauled one wagon load of wool to market that sold for twenty-four hundred and twenty-four dol- lars. While his business interests have not branched to include other lines than those connected with the farm, he has not resided at all times on the farm, living for about ten years in Hartford City.
Mr. Carroll was married, in 1869, to Miss Elizabeth Elton, of Highland county, Ohio, her parents being natives of New Jer- sey. The Carroll family number four chil- dren, being : Charles, who gives personal at- tention to the details of the farm manage- ment; Anna, Margaret and Bessie. All have been given the best opportunities for education, and each contributes to the good fellowship and sociability that makes their home one of the most popular resorts of their many friends, young and old. The resi- dence, erected by Henry Secrist more than fifty years ago, is one of the oldest of the county, and stands upon a naturally beauti- ful eminence, which is kept in splendid con- dition. The house, built in the style of a half century past, embodies the ideas of the colonial, adapted to western needs, and with the surrounding details makes one of the handsomest suburban homes in this section of the state. Mr. Carroll has ever indicated
:
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a live interest in the general growth and im- provement of the county, being one of those whose efforts secured the first public pike in Blackford county, that known as the Atkin- son pike, reaching from the county seat to the Delaware county line. He then built at individual expense one and one-half miles passing through his own farm. The first rural free delivery was established in 1899 through his active co-operation, the repre- sentations made by him to the government officials deciding the exact location of the route. When we consider the political rela- tions of Mr. Carroll we touch especially in- teresting ground. The conditions of pub- lic questions of his youth made him an out- spoken Whig, dropping into the Knoiv- Nothing ranks, when it seemed as if the free ins tutions of the country were threatened by the rapid influx of foreigners. It was soon demonstrated that this fear was not based upon sound reason, and at the organi- zation of the Republican party he voted for Fremont, following up his allegiance by com- ing seven hundred miles, in 1860, to cast his franchise for Lincoln. Realizing that the mission of that great party was accom- plished, and seeing its ablest men leaving it, in 1876, he, too, became active and enthusi- astic in the support of that noble philan- thropist and world-famed Peter Cooper. The same line of argument made him an ar- dent, dyed-in-the-wool Greenbacker, being then, as before and since, opposed to the centralizing tendencies of the Republican party. His maturer reading and reflection but emphasized the accuracy of his position, adhering firmly to this line until, seeing the hopelessness of the then organization, he, in 1888, returned to the flesh pots of his youth and became an important factor in the cam- paign that resulted in the election of Benja-
min Harrison. Having made up his mind to the association, he entered upon the work outlined by the party leaders, though at times the old self-respect would assert itself and turn with disgust from the nauseating proceedings. That campaign has been justly damned as the most disreputable ever known in the history of American politics, and the proceedings of the party leaders in Blackford county were distinguished for the zeal exercised in furthering "blocks of five." It is a sad commentary that Democratic votes can sometimes be purchased. No means were spared in this case to secure such votes, and Carroll was one of the liberal contribu- tors to the cause that carried Indiana into the party column. No attempt is made to justify that association more than that he has seldom failed to do his duty, when once a line of action is decided upon. Those methods, coupled with the absolute failure of the party to legislate for the common people, but on the contrary constantly pan- dered to the classes, drove him from it, real- izing that the only hopes of the perpetuity of free constitutional republican government lays in the principles laid down by Jefferson and Madison, and reiterated in these days in the platform of the Democratic party. The campaign of 1896 found him where he was bound to come, where stands every man who, like him, has followed the course of events and whose greatest ambition is to live to see the firm establishment of the govern- ment in the interests of the great toiling millions. Reviewing the past, Mr. Carroll takes a commendable pride in having voted for Lincoln and for Cooper, and above all for being once more back in line with the efforts of human freedom, casting an honest ballot for that grand champion of the Ameri- can people, William Jennings Bryan. Now,
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after this imperfect review of William Car- roll, it is but just to add that no man, prob- ably, in Blackford county is more extensively known than he, not only for his recognized ability and success as an agriculturist, but also equally so for his vigorous personality and honest, outspoken character. His strong and sometimes unpolished expressions of honest conviction have made for him a reputation for fearlessness and intrepidity in advocating the cause he espouses, even though many friends may not coincide with the position he occupies. When reproached for change of political affiliations, he has reason in the retort, that . "he stands the same, that changing parties have left him in different company."
At the request of Mr. William Carroll, the subject of this biography, we quote from the history of Joseph M. Carroll of the mur- der of two of the early members of the Car- roll family by Indians in Pennsylvania.
"I wish to give an account of two broth- ers of Robert Carroll, who came from Ire- land with him, that were killed by the In- dians near the joint school house. This occurred about the year 1781. Word had come from the spies that the Indians had crossed at Grave Creek and were coming to- wards the forts. Robert Carroll had gone to the mill at Redstone, near Brownsville, Fayette county. He and his family had in- tended going to the fort as soon as he re- turned. Mrs. Templeton was at their house to go with them to the fort, and Robert was expected to return that night, but did not come.
"The two brothers, John and Hamilton, lived with them, and in the morning before it was light they went out to get wood to make fire to get breakfast. The house was under a bank and they had gone over where
the ground sloped westward to get the wood. The Indians were in hiding and without a word of warning fired on them, killing one instantly. The other brother ran in an op- posite direction from the house, but was overtaken and killed. Both were scalped. North about two hundred yards from where they were killed was a colt stable, which the Indians thought was the house. They soon (liscovered their mistake, however.
"In the meantime the women at the house had heard the reports of the guns and the blood-curdling war whoops of the redskins, and knowing full, well the danger that con- fronted them, took the children and started for the fort. James, then their eldest son, was six years of age.
"The house had a high picket fence with two gates, which were fastened with hickory withes.
"The women had gone through a corn field and were in a woods when they heard the guns go off at the house. The Indians had shot the dog and ransacked the house, taking all they could carry.
"Robert Carroll came home soon after and, seeing the blood of the dog, thought his family had been killed. He immediately started for Achison's fort, and arriving there he received word they were at Lindley's fort.
"An old soldier was sent to bury the boys. They were the first persons buried in the Carroll burying ground."
The following account of the murder of the Crow girls is quoted from Joseph M. Carroll's history of the Carroll family :
"Jacob Crow came from Germany and located at Crow's Mill, on Wheeling creek, in the time of the Indians. He had four daughters and two sons. The eldest son's name was Peter and the younger Michael.
"One day the four girls started to a
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
neighbor's house, about a mile and a half up the creek, on an errand. When about half a mile from the place they were going, they met their brother, Michael, who was about fifteen years of age. He insisted on his youngest sister going back with him, but she refused. This was near a rock which stood in the bottom. The rock is about twelve feet long and ten feet high.
"The Indians at this time were concealed about the rock. Michael went on towards home and the girls pursued their way until they came to the creek. Here they saw a water' snake and while attempting to kill it they were surrounded and captured by the Indians. They were taken about two hun- dred yards from the path near the creek and made to sit down on a log while they held a consultation. The girls, thinking they were going to be killed, began praying. This the Indians would not allow. One Indian was holding two of the girls while another was doing the killing. One of the girls, Susan, managed to get loose from her captor and ran for her life. While going over a bank she was in the act of falling, when one of the Indians threw a tomahawk at her, but fortu- nately did not kill her. The Indian thought she had gone in the direction of her home, but she had hid and he failed to find her. Among this band of Indians was a white man by the name of Spicer.
"Several years passed by when one day at a log rolling at Crow's a white man and an Indian appeared at the house and were in- stantly recognized by Susan as the parties who so foully murdered her sisters. They asked for something to eat, but were refused. The men were notified, and Michael Crow and a friend started in pursuit. Up Wheel- ing creek to the headwaters, over the ridge to Hart's run, down to Big Fish creek and
over to the head of Dunkard, a distance of thirty miles over a rough and broken coun- try, went the two men. Just at sun-down they overtook Spicer and the Indian, who were in the act of preparing their supper. Without one word of warning they were shot down. Their horses were turned loose and Spicer was skinned and his hide taken home and tanned, a piece of which is now in the hands of the writer."
WILLIAM F. M. FRAZIER.
Probably the most widely known gen- tleman in the northern part of Blackford county is he whose name introduces this ar- ticle, and whose versatility in numerous lines, not only of a mechanical but also of an in- tellectual nature, mark him as a man whose lack of opportunity only has stood in the way of a brilliant and enviable career. He was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, Sep- tember 2, 1828, being the son of William N. and Julia Ann (Pickens) Frazier, he being of Huguenot ancestry and in direct line of one of four brothers who settled in the south before the Revolution. The
mother was of the famous Pickens family of the Carolinas, her father being one of Marion's troopers. He became an early resident of Ohio, and our subject has the honor of having. his name chosen for him by this old hero, the Pickens of the troopers. When William was a lad of five the family came into Franklin county, Indiana. Two years later, however, the permanent home was chosen in Henry county, where the par- ents resided during a long and eventful ca- reer, the father reaching the age of ninety- nine years, four months and four days.
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