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 74
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Jasper Baird married Elizabeth Willman, who died leaving two children, viz : Eveline, who is fourteen years okl, and Edna, who is eleven. Mr. Baird married for his second wife Effie Brogdon, who has no children.
James G. Baird is prominent in fraternal circles, being the oldest member in point of years of Hartford City Lodge. No. 262, I. O. O. F., having been a member for forty years. Hle is one of the enterprising, sub- stantial and highly regarded citizens of his county, surpassed by few if any in those things that go to make manhood and good citizenship.
WILLIAM G. ORT.
William G. Ort, linewalker for the Fort Wayne Gas Company, at station A, Jackson township, whose postoffice is Hartford City, was born in Allen county, Indiana, near New Haven, January 8, 1865. He is a son of William H. and Mary Ort, who were married in Pennsylvania, removed thence to Ohio and finally to Allen county, Indiana, in which county the former died about twelve years since, at the age of fifty-five. Mrs. Ort, mother of the subject, died in 1872, and his father, about two years later. married again.
The boyhood of the subject was passed
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upon the farm, and he acquired such a com- mon school education as the country then afforded. At the age of seventeen he began working in the woods, cutting logs, cord wood, etc., continuing thuis engaged for one year. One year be spent in building houses and barns, and the succeeding two years he worked upon the farm. At the expiration of this period, September 21, 1885, he was married in Allen county, Indiana, to Miss Alice M. Garver, who was also a native of Allen county, they being brought up as chil- dren together and attending the same school. After managing the farm two years he then worked it for one year with his brother, and then rented it for three years, working it alone. At the end of this period he en- tered the employ of the Fort Wayne Gas Company, beginning with them in June, 1890, and continuing up to the present time. Being employed at first as an ordinary labor- er, he was sent, in January, 1891, to his present position, and has ever since then re- mained in charge of the lines and wells in his district, which extends into Jay county, and which is fully eight miles in length. In this field there are about twenty-three pro- ducing wells, in the management and care of which Mr. Ort finds ample opportunity to keep himself employed. In politics Mr. Ort is a Republican, and he and his wife have the following children : Bertha, thirteen years of age; Jennie, eleven, and Charley, eight. Mr. and Mrs. Ort are members of the Christian church at Hartford, of which Mr. Ort is a deacon. He and his wife are both active in religious work, and are fully alive to the necessity of thoroughly educat- ing their children, in order that they may be respectable and useful citizens. They en- deavor to keep abreast of the progress of the age, fully informing themselves on all cur-
rent topics, and being interested in all mat- ters of material and moral importance to the race. They are highly respected be- cause of their character and disposition to do right unto all with whom they come in contact.
ZOPHAR EVANS.
Z .har Evans, one of the most promi- nent citizens of Blackford county, and a patriot of the war of the Rebellion, was born November 12, 1831, and is descended from Virginia parents, George W. and IJannah (Johnson) Evans, the former of whom was born in Jefferson county, Virginia, and the latter near Culpeper Court House, that state. George W. Evans was a son of Rev. George Evans, a minister of the Protestant Meth- odist church, who removed with his family to Fairfield county. Ohio, and it was near Lancaster, Ohio, that the subject of this sketch was born. Hannah Johnson was brought to Ohio by her parents when a young girl, they also settling in Fairfield county ; their names were Zophar and Elizabeth ( Romine) Johnson.
In 1837, when Zophar Evans was six years old, his parents removed from Fairfield county, Ohio, to Henry county, Indiana, his maternal grandparents removing to the same county at the same time. Here he lived un- til he was seventeen years of age, when he went. to Richmond to learn the carpenter trade, being apprenticed there for four years. His compensation, besides the learning of his trade, was his board and clothes. At the expiration of three years, so great had been his progress and such being his profi- ciency in the use of tools, that he was dis- charged from the further fulfillment of his
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agreement, and he received a suit of clothes and a set of tools. Then returning to his fa- ther's home he worked with him for one year, his father being also a carpenter and having a contract for the building of two brick houses in Dunkirk and a barn in Tack- son township. This was in 1851, and at the completion of the contract his father re- turned to Henry county, where he lived un- til 1854, when he removed to Blackford county, settling near Dunkirk, in Jackson township, and there died when sixty-four years of age.
From that time on until his marriage Zophar made his home with his uncle, Will- iam Bowen, and continued working at his trade in Blackford county, building houses and barns, for eleven years, and he also built bridges on the Panhandle Railway, con- structing six bridges for the company. Dur- ing this period, from 1851 to 1861, he made considerable money, and in 1856 purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, for which he paid nine hundred dollars. Upon this farm he settled that year and has made it his home ever since. In 1862 he entered the service of his country, serving a short time that year. In 1863 he volunte red for thre. years, or during the war, in Company H, One Hundred and Thirtieth Indiana Vol- unteer Infantry, but remained in the state of Indiana, at Indianapolis and at Kokomo, tin- til about February, 1864, at which time he crossed the Ohio river for service at the front. He reached Schofield's corps in time to participate in the battle of Buzzards' Roost mountain, otherwise called the battle of Rocky Face Ridge, which occurred May II, 1864, and afterward went on with Sher- man to Atlanta. For thirty-one days he was in such constant action that he never took off his boots to rest, and after the fall of At-
lanta he belonged to the army under Gen- cral Thomas that pursued the rebel General Hood northward to Nashville, Tennessee, and there, on December 15 and 16, 1864, almost completely crushed that rebel gen- eral's army. After this most signal victory he was sent to join Sherman via Washing- ton, D. C., Fort Fisher and Kingston, North Carolina, where he was engaged in battle with the enemy, and finally joined the army of Sherman at Goldsboro the next day. He was present at the surrender of Johnston, and remained in the vicinity of Charlotte, North Carolina, until December 4, 1865, when he was mustered out. Mr. Evans served all through the war in the ranks, but at one time he was detailed to command twenty men whose duty it was to guard for three weeks a cotton warehouse, during which time he acted in the capacity of a sergeant. He had the good fortune not to be wounded or captured during his whole term of service, but nevertheless had many narrow escapes. He is now a pensioner, and belongs to General Shields Post, No. 289, G. A. R., at Dunkirk.
Ou returning to the pursuits of peace he gave his attention to his farm, putting one hundred and forty acres in cultivation, he and his sons doing the clearing themselves. Finding that it would be difficult for him to pay for his entire farm, even at the low price of nine hundred dollars, he sold eighty acres for five hundred dollars, and afterward bought it again for twelve hundred dollars, so that now he has his original farm intact. At first there were many ponds and low, wet places, but the farm is now so well drained with tile that the places are dry and con- stitute the best land upon the farm. Origi- nally this farm was covered with large oak, hickory and ash trees, but these he cut down,
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rolled the logs into heaps and burned them up, as many another farmer has done before and since, thus realizing but little except ashes from the burned log heaps. However, from hooppoles he did realize some money, hauling them to Muncie, a distance of about twenty-two miles, but this hauling could be done only when the ground was frozen or in dry seasons of the year. So numerous were the hooppoles hauled to Muncie that they were called by the business men of that place "Blackford county currency."
Mr Evans has aided his sons to secure a start in life by giving each thirty acres of land. His farm is best adapted to corn, wheat and grass. Soon after the close of the war he brought into the county its first steam thresher, this being about 1874-75, and with this new machine he threshed grain all over Blackford county, and in parts of Jay, Delaware and Grant coun es. 'He ran a threshing machine for twenty-five seasons, wearing out in that time five machines. He still owns an outfit. In 1880 he began oper- ating a portable saw-mill, continuing to op- erate it in various parts of the county for fifteen years, thus showing that there was scarcely an enterprise in which he could not engage, and making a success in all of those he entered upon.
Mr. Evans has been married three times : First, on November 18, 1852, to Avah Clouse, of Jackson township, who died Oc- tober 29, 1854; second, to Adelaide Alfrey, February 8, 1855, who died April 13, 1891; and, third, April 28, 1892, to Eliza A. Kitz- miller, also of Jackson township. By his first wife he had one son, William Wesley, born September 3. 1854, and living at home with his father. By his second wife he had the following children: George W., born February 29, 1856, and now a carpenter liv-
ing at Dunkirk: Isaac N., born August 8, 1858, now living on a portion of the home farm; Mary, born October 2, 1860, who lived at home and remained single until her death, March 27, 1895; Nancy B., born Sep- tember 25, 1862, and now the wife of Will- iam T. Whitsel, of Jay county, Indiana; Ed- ward C., born December 14, 1866, a farmer of Jackson township; John O., born Decem- ber 18, 1869, and died February 28, 1894; and Luther A., born February 19, 1872, liv- ing on a portion of the home farm.
Mr. Evans is a strong Republican, hav- ing voted for General Fremont for presi- dent in 1856, and for every subsequent Re- publican presidential candidate. He is nearly always in attendance upon his party conventions, and in service on party commit- tees. He was appointed trustce of Jackson township in 1891, against his own wishes and request, the bondsmen of his predecessor becoming his bondsmen, notwithstanding his predecessor, who was a Democrat, was a defaulter, and the selection of Mr. Evans to this important position was largely due to his Democratic friends.
For twenty years he has been a steward in the Methodist Episcopal church at Kings- ley, formerly at Dunkirk. He is a Master Mason, carrying that work into the chapter and council, and he served five years as wor- shipful master of Priam Lodge, No. 405, at Trenton. He has also sat in the grand lodge at different times. He is a director of the Linbark Gas & Oil Company, which has twenty-six stockholders and operates two wells, supplying about fifty families and hav- ing about fifteen miles of pipe, the line ex- tending into Tay county. The two wells are located within one-half mile of each other in Blackford county. Mr. Evans uses this gas not only for fuel and light, but also for
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power, pumping water with it at his home. His own farm lies in the gas belt, but he has no well opened on it. Taken all in all, Mr. Evans has been and is one of the most enter- prising and public-spirited men of his day, and has the full confidence and respect of all that know hin.
DAVID O. SNYDER.
Early in the present century many excel- lent people from the state of Virginia emi- grated thence to Ohio, which, in a certain sense, is a daughter of the former state, and many of her enterprising citizens and distin- guished men are descended from Virginia ancestry. David O. Snyder, though born in Fayette county, Ohio, January 7. 1845, is a son of John N. and Rhoda ( Racer) Snyder, both of whom were born and reared and married in Virginia, and who as a young married couple removed to Ohio, making that fair state their home until their son, David O., was four years of age. Then they removed to Randolph county, Indiana, living there one year, and in 1850 they finally located in Jackson township, Blackford coun- ty, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Both parents died on the farm which is now owned by Jesse N. Snyder, the fa- ther at the age of eighty and the mother at the age of seventy-nine. Upon arriving in Tackson township they settled in the woods and erected a hewed-log cabin, his only neighbors at first being George Whitsel ar James Craig. There was scarcely a clear- ing for a distance of two miles to the north, three miles to the west, where Robert Lan- ning lived, and for a mile and a half to the south.
At first John N. Snyder started with a farm of about sixty-five acres, and soon had |
it nearly all under cultivation, later adding two eighty-acre tracts. Ile assisted each of his sons to get a start in life by selling them forty acres each for one hundred dollars. Politically he was a conservative Demo- it, but neither sought, desired nor held vifice. He and his wife belonged to the Missionary Baptist church, being among the original members of that church at Dun- kirk, and Mr. Snyder was one of the main pillars of that church, the first preaching therefor being held in the old log school- house north of Trenton by Rev. Willis Hance. Of this first church Mr. Snyder was a trustee for many years, and was during his entire life a model churchfan, neighbor and citizen. In the earlier days he enjoyed hunting greatly, and killed many a deer, at one time bringing home three, two of them strting over his horse's back and the third tied to his horse's tail. £ He and his wife were the parents of three children that still live, and four that have died, as follows : Sarah E., wife of Benjamin Stover, of Jack- son township; Mary A., who married Ira Julian, and died at the age of thirty-five, leaving two children. Fanny, who died in childhood; Samuel, who died in childhood, at the same time as Fanny, of scarlet fever; David O., the subject of this sketch; John W., who died at the age of forty-one, leav- ing a wife and two children, and Jesse, who owns the old homestead.
David O. Snyder lived at home until he was eighteen years of age. acquiring such education as the country then afforded, and performing such lahor as he was able to per- form. He was married, December 26, 1876. to Miss Sarah L. Sherry, a daughter of David Sherry, living near Mill Grove. Miss Sherry was born in Delaware county, In- diana, and when she came to Blackford
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county she was about fifteen years of age. During the first two years after their mar- riage Mr. and Mrs. Snyder lived on a rented farm, and then moved to their present farm, which was then new, and to which Mr. Sny- der has added forty acres, so that now he has a fine farm of eighty acres, nearly all of which is cleared, under cultivation and well drained. At first Mr. Suyder constructed drains of timber, but these drains have all been replaced with excellent tile drains. For the most part he has grown grain, corn being his principal crop, which he mainly feeds to his hogs, which he breeds and raises himself, and of which he raises from forty to cighty head per year. His farm is in excellent con- lition, and upon this farm he has erected a residence which is one of the best in Jack- son township. His barn and outbuildings are also in fine condition and convenient, these, as well as his house, having been erected by himself.
Mr. Snyder in politics is a Democrat, often attending his party conventions, but he is not an officeseeker. Ile and his wife are the parents of the following children : Martha, wife of Glen Bowen, of Jackson township, who has no children; Pearl a young man who is i ching school and at- tending high school at Cown, Indiana; Edith, a young lady living at home. Mr. Snyder is not a member of any church, but is nevertheless a good man, a good citizen and highly respected by all that know him.
WILLIAM HARLEY, SR.
Many of the be: 'citizens of the United States belong to the genial, warm-hearted Irish race. One of these is William Harley,
Sr., who was born in county Donegal, Irc- land, near Londonderry, March 10, 1836. He is a son of James and Eleanor (McGowan) Harley, the former of whom was of English ancestry, his father, John, having been born in England and emigrated to Ireland as a member of the family of General Hart. Tl .. McGowan family was from county Derry, one of the old families connected with the Tracys.
William Harley, Sr., on August 28, 1852, after a voyage on the Atlantic ocean of five weeks and three days, landed at New York, three of his brothers having come to the land of the free several years before. His brother Michael came in 1844, and in 1852 was with Commodore Perry in Japan. The other brothers were John and James, who were in 1852 living at Birmingham, Con- necticut, where William joined them, and in which place he worked in the brass, iron and steel works one year, his brothers being engaged in the same establishment. At this expiration of the one year William removed to Newark, New Jersey, in which city he was engaged as a turner and finisher in an axle factory for eight years, and for the next two years as foreman of the shop.
In the meantime, on April 19, 1857, at Newark, New Jersey, he was married to Margaret Morrisey, a native of Tipperary county, Ireland, who came to the United States with her parents when a young girl. Two years after William came to this coun- try his father, James Harley, died, and in 1863 his mother, three sisters and a brother, all that remained of the family in Ireland, came to this country, he having in 1862 re- moved from Newark, New Jersey, to Phila- delphia, in which city he kept a grocery store and also a cooper shop. It was, therefore, in Philadelphia that his mother and her four
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children whom she brought with her joined him, and as all of the brothers that had pre- viously come to this country had located in Philadelphia, the entire family made that city their home for some years.
In 1867 William Harley removed to Union county, Indiana, with the intention of making that his family's home but as business there became unexpectedly dull he decided to go further west, and removed to Randolph county. Indiana, and lived near Union, City two years. But as there was con- siderable malaria in that part of the state he moved to Baltimore, where he worked at his trade as cooper one year, supplying the Mer- chants' Sugar Refining Company during that time with barrels. Again returning to Philadelphia, he there followed the cooper trade until after the Centennial of 1876, and in 1877, as business again became dull with him, he returned to Randolph county. In- diana, and lived there seven years on a farm. In the spring of 1885 he removed finally to Blackford county, where he lived on a rented farm until 1890, the farm belonging to John Cronin, and lying in Harrison township. In the spring of 1890 Mr. Harley removed to his present farm on the Powell pike, ar 1 in Jackson county, seven miles east of Hart- ford City. Here he has eighty acres of land, which at the time of its purchase by him had over thirty-five acres cleared, but now all is cleared but five acres. It had on it a little clapboarded log cabin. But much of it needed draining, and Mr. Harley set him- self to this task. At first he used timber in constructing his drains, but now he has his farm all underlaid with tile drains, of which he has about six hundred rods, and the low lands thus drained, which when he took hold of the work would not raise anything, are now in excellent condition and among
the best land on his farm. From the tim- ber that still stood on his farm he realized something handsome, and thus was enabled rapidly make the many modern im- prvi ats now to be seen upon his farm. He che cotes his land to grain mainly, but keeps such stock upon it as will eat the products he raises, his stock consisting of cattle, hogs and sheep. To his farm Alr. Harley has given most of his time and at- tention, and the little log house in which he and his family lived for about eight years has been supplanted by a commodious and convenient dwelling.
Politically Mr. Ilarley is a Democrat. and has been a delegate to several of the county conventions of his party. Hle and his wife have had eleven children, of whom nine grew to mature years and seven are still living. One died in infancy; Elea- nor, now Mrs. John B. Buckley, and living near Dunkirk: William, county surveyor. living at Hartford City, whose biography appears elsewhere in this work; Sarah, who died at the age of nineteen : Mary, who quali- fied herself to teach and died at the age of seventeen; James, of Hartford City, con- tractor for public works: John, civil engin- eer, who makes county maps, having made maps of several adjacent counties ; Lizz: who died single at the age of twenty-four: Edward, living at home on the farm, and Agnes, a successful school teacher who has taught four terms of school, three of them in the home district.
Mr. Hartley and his family are members of the St. James Catholic church at Hart- ford City, to the unbuilding of which he has largely contributed in material and moral ways. When he first came to this part of the country mass was said in the homes of the members once a month. He was one of
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three who erected the church, and the parish is now in excellent condition. Mr. Harley and his family are well known to all, and are favor ibly regarded by all as valuable citizens and excellent members of the com- munity.
DR. JOHN E. MCFARLAND.
John E. McFarland, M. D., a successful physician of Mill Grove, was born in Darke county, Ohio, November 5, 1847. He is a son of Lewis McFarland, a native of Ohio, and now a retired farmer living at Union City. Indiana. His father was Samuel Mc- Farland, who was six years of age when brought to the United States from Scotland by his parents, who for a time lived in Mary- land, but later removed to Ohio, becoming pioneers of that state. Lewis McFarland married Miss Charity Stingley, who was of English parentage, but a native of one of the United States. She is not now living.
When John E. McFarland was eight years of age his father settled in Indiana, in Randolph county, near the Ohio line. His education was obtained in the common schools ! at the Union City high schools. For some years he followed the useful pro- fession of teaching. beginning in 1868 in Randolph county. In 1869 and 1870 1 taught in Douglas county, Kansas, but pre vious to going to this state he had begun the study of medicine with Dr. Simmons, of Union City, Indiana. But now as Dr. Sim- mons had removed to Lawrence, Kansas. young McFarland also went to that city on the Kaw to further pursue his medical stud- ies, teaching school at the same time in Douglas county. In 1873-74 he attended
medical lectures at Fields' Medical College at St. Louis, returning to Indiana in the summer of the latter year, locating first in Randolph county, and on May 1, 1875, re- moved to Mill Grove, in Blackford county, his present home.
It was in Mill Grove that he began the practice of medicine, but continued his stud- ies by taking lectures at the Indiana Eclectic Medical College at Indianapolis. Since May 1, 1875, he has been in constant and successful practice, which has always been extensive and requiring him to ride over a wide extent of country. When he located in Mill Grove there were there but eight houses and one store, while now it is a thriv- ing town of four hundred inhabitants. For many years he gave his exclusive attention to his profession. Dr. McFarland is one of the public-spirited citizens of his county, and has largely contributed to the building up of the industries of Mill Grove. In 1898 through his efforts a glass factory was se- cured for the village, he being one of the original stockholders and is now one of the directors. This is the most important in- flustry of the place. Its capital stock is twelve thousand dollars, and it employs about seventy mechanics, its pay roll amount. ing each two weeks to from seven hundred dollars to one thousand dollars. It makes flasks exclusively, and has a daily output of about one hundred and forty gross. The company has platted about ten acres of ground which is adjacent to and an addi- tion to the town. The enterprise is purely a local one, its stock being owned by resi- dents of the town, to the prosperity of which it has materially contribute ...
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