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 75
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Dr. McFarland is also one of the original stockholders of the Mill Grove Gas & Oil Company, which began operations in 1889,
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with about six miles of pipe. It is supplied with gas from a single well, which is con- sidered one of the best ever drilled in the Indiana gas belt, and which so far shows no signs of diminution in its flow. The stock in this company has proved to be an excellent investment, the stock having sold at twenty- eight dollars for twenty-dollar shares. The company supplies the village and surround- ing country with fuel, the well being in the southern part of the village. Dr. McFar- land owns a fine farm one mile north of the town.
Politically the Doctor is a Republican and often attends his party conventions, but he has never been an aspirant for office. His party, however, has often honored him by nominating him for different offices without any effort being made on his own part. The Doctor was married, December 24. 1875. to Miss Anna MeFarland, of Pittsburg, In- diana, no relation, though of the same name. She received an excellent education and is a lady of refinement and culture. They have two daughters, viz: Josie M., wife of George Barley, of Mill Grove, she having been educated at Taylor University, and Nel- lic M., living at home and attending the home school. The Doctor and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Mill Grove, he being one of the trustees. He is also an instructor in the Sunday school, having a young ladies' Bible class. He is a member of Wabasso Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men, and has passed all the chairs of the order besides being keeper of wampum for seven years, or ever since the order has been organized. He has taken the great coun- cil degree, thus having taken all there is in the order. The local tribe has about fifty members, and is in an unusually prosperous condition. Dr. McFarland stands high in
the community, not only as a physician, but also as a business man and as a promoter of industry.
GEORGE W. CLORE.
George W. Clore, a practical farmer of Jackson township, was born in Madison county, Virginia, August 14, 1826. He is a son of Charles and Frances (Snyder ) Clore, both of whom were natives of Madi- son county, removed to Ohio when he was nine years old, locating in Fayette county on a new farm in a new country, and were thus among the carliest of the pioneers of that state. Later they removed to Black- ford county, Indiana, and in Jackson town- ship Charles Clore became one of the promi- nent men. Such was the confidence in him felt by his fellow citizens that they elected him township trustee, which office he held four or five years, and then declined longer to serve. Mr. Clore had entered land in Blackford years before he came into the county to live; still he came early and re- mained a resident thercof until his death. which occurred when he was eighty-one years old, and he is well remembered as one of the distinguished characters of the pio- neer days.
George W. Clore remained a resident of Fayette county, Ohio, until he was twenty- one years of age, when he removed to In- diana, locating in Randolph county, where he remained about two years and then se- cured land in Jay county. near Red Key. which was to some extent improved, though essentially it was a ne. farm. Afterward he decided to go wes. is being in 1856. but in a few weeks he returned to Indiana, locating in. Jackson township, Blackford
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county, near the village of Trenton. 1876 he settled on his present farm, then covered over to some extent with woods, though the most valuable timber had been cut away. For his eighty acres he paid one thousand dollars, and he now has nearly all of the eighty acres under cultivation. Later he added twenty acres more, for which he paid five hundred and fifty dollars. Upon this there was some stave and tie timber standing, as well as many fine hickory trees, which he disposed of to good advantage.
Mr. Clore devotes his farn largely to the growing of grain, and has it well under- drained with twelve-inch tile, which extends to every field, so that he is able to raise ex- cellent crops. Mr. Clore is a Bryan Demo- crat, but is not particularly active in political work or affairs, preferring to cultivate his farm and the acquaintance of his friends and neighbors in a social way.
Mr. Clore married Frances Racer, who also came from Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Clore reared a family of six children, only two of whom are now at home, viz: James S. and Marietta, wife of Samuel Bolner, of Jackson township. Mrs. Clore died on the farm, leaving a family of small children. Mr. Clore is one of the substantial citizens of his county, and takes great interest in all mat- ters pertaining to the welfare of the com- munity, particularly in all educational and industrial at ars. He enjoys the highest regard a dl confidence of all that know him.
J. C. KEGERREIS.
J. C. Kegerreis, one of the best-known citizens of Blackford county, whose post- office is Hartford City, was born near Fan-
nettsburg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, December 13, 1834. His parents were Thomas and Christina ( Lambertson) Keger- reis, the former of whom was a son of John Kegerreis, of German ancestry, and prob- ably born in Pennsylvania. Christina was a granddaughter of A. Balsley, through whose services in the Revolutionary war his widow received a pension from he govern- ment. But little is known of the Lambert- son family. The father of J. C. Kegerreis removed to Richland county, Ohio, when he was two years of age, and in 1846, when the subject of this sketch was thirteen years old, removed to Delaware county, Indiana, and still later to Randolph county, where he died when J. C. w 3 seventeen years of age. His widow was left in destitute cir- cumstances with seven children to support. and as J. C. was the eldest of the family the responsibility for this support of the family rested largely upon him, a responsibility which he nobly assumed and maintained. By his efforts the family was kept together until he was twenty-two, living on land rented of a neighbor .. He worked out by the month for a couple of years, when he se- cured a contract for carrying the mail on the route between Hagerstown, in Wayne coun- ty, and Penville or Camden, in Jay county, the distance between the places being fifty miles, he making the round trip once per week. This contract lasted for two years and seven months, expiring in 1858. It was necessary to carry the mails on horseback, as it was impossible to drive over the route. either with a wagon or stage coach. At times and in certain places the logs of the corduroy road floated on the surface of the water, and the horse, a very intelligent ani- mal, was accustomed to carefully set his foot on such logs and let them gradually settle
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before permitting his weight to rest upon them. This contrac brought him in four hundred and fifty dollars per year, and made it comparatively easy for him to support the family. It was secured for him through the influence of the ex-treasurer of Randolph county, whose name was Reece.
Before the expiration of this contract, in January, 1858, he was married to Miss Mar- garet A. Devoff, and all of the family except one were settled in life. Continuing to live on rented land until 1861, in that year he removed to Illinois, and for four years lived on rented land in that state. In February, 1865, he enlisted in Company D, One Hun- dred and Fifty-fourth Illinois Volunteer In- fantry, with which he served in middle Ten- nessee, being located mainly at Nashville doing garrison duty until September of that year, when he was mustered out as first ser- geant of his company. He had aided to en- list the men and to organize the company, and acted as sergeant during the whole pe- riod of his service.
Returning home after being discharged, he removed to Delaware county, Indiana, and there lived on rented land until 1878, when he settled down on his present farm, purchasing a tract of eighty acres, which had upon it a small log cabin and a few acres in cultivation. Of the entire eighty acres Mr. Kegerreis has placed about fifty acres in cultivation and has ditched the en- tire tract. Later he sold off forty acres, so that now he owns only about forty acres, all of which is well drained with tile, the extent of which on his land he increased every year until it was completely underlaid.
Mr. Kegerreis has devoted his land al- most wholly to fruit, and notwithstanding the fact that his first orchard was destroyed
by a severe winter, yet his success has been very great. At this time he has one and a half acres in peaches, four acres in straw- berries, three acres in apples, cherries, plums and other small fruit. Mr. Kegerreis has found this part of the country well adapted to the culture of plums, and he has exhibited his various fruits at the fairs held by the State Horticultural Society, carrying off the first prize for apples, his best display con- sist ig of nineteen different varieties. He also exhibited twelve varieties of plums, and won the prize given by the Noble County Horticultural Society, the state society not offering a prize for plums.
He has been a member of the State Hor- ticultural Society for some y's, and has served twice as chairman of the County Farmers' Institute. A great amount of in- terest in the growing of fruit has been awak- ened among the farmers of this section of the country and among the business men of Hartford City, who nearly all contribute to the success of the institutes held by the Farmers' Institute of Blackford county, which annually offers suitable prizes for the best exhibits, and the success of the insti- tutes has been unexpectedly satisfactory, the last one held continuing two days, and being attended by many people who had never be- fore taken any interest in the cultivation of fruits. The interest and the success of the institutte has come about largely through the labors of Mr. Kegerreis, either directly or indirectly. The gr ing of small fruits in this part of the state has assumed handsome proportions, and the consumption of them has as steadily increased, so much so that whereas in years gone by five bushels of strawberries would serve to glut the market, sixty bushels are now readily disposed of in
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a day. The plum crop gives promise also of great improvement and increase in the future.
Alr. Kegerreis for a time conducted a store at Mill Grove, and engaged in the meat business at Ossier one season. Polit- ically he was a Republican until recent years, but now he accepts the Bryan idea of the free coinage of silver at sixteen to one, and he also to some extent looks favorably upon the principles of the Prohibition party.
The first wife of Mr. Kege eis died Jan- uary 26, 1887, having borne fifteen children, thirteen of whom are still living. Those fif- teen children were as follows: Hannah A., wife of William A. Thornbury, of Jackson township; He ry Lincoln, of Mill Grove; Catherine M., wife of Elmer E. Buckles, of Mill Grove; Thomas A., a practicing attor- ney of Hartford City; Charles F., of Mill Grove; Ulysses G., of Grant county ; Samuel W., who died when ten years of age; Lula V., wife of Charles Wentz, of Jackson to n- ship; Emma E., of Hartford City ; Bert E., of Mill Grove; Lillie M., wife of George Ritter, of Licking township; Jacob P., of Mill. Grove; one that died in infancy; Arlie Ray, of Mill Grove, and Ora Clyde, living -
at home. Mr. Kegerreis has thirty-five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, and occasionally his descendants hold a fam- ily reunion, all invariably being present, as they all live comparatively near the old home, to which they all love often to return.
Mr. Kegerreis was married, December 6, 1888, to Mrs. Elizabeth J. Stevenson, widow of Robert Stevenson, who was a har- nessmaker and dealer at Dunkirk. Her maiden name was Payton, and she was a daughter of Samuel and Mary (Gregory) Payton, the former of whom still lives at Eaton, Indiana, aged eighty-three. Mrs.
Kegerreis has two children, James E. Poage, a harnessmaker of Hartford City, and Sam- uel L. Stevenson, now of Milwaukee. Mr. and Mrs. Kegerreis are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Mill Grove, of which he is a trustee, and in which he has served as class leader for twenty years. Mr. Kegerreis has always been a hard- working and industrious man, but occasion- ally he "takes a day off" and goes fishing, a sport which he greatly enjoys. He is a man of ability and character and enjoys the respect and confidence of all.
PETER MANNIX.
Peter Mannix, of Jackson township, whose postoffice is Mill Grove, is a native of Tipperary county, Ireland, and when about eight years old was brought to the United States, together with a sister, landing at New York. Remaining in that city until he was about sixteen years of age he then started for the West, to "grow up with the country," locating in Illinois and engaging in farm labor. Later he worked on the levee along the Mississippi river and was thus engaged when the war of the Rebellion broke out, having begun on this work in the fall of 1860 and being in the southern states when the blockade of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts was declared. Being impressed into the Confederate army, he was placed on picket duty, and while thus engaged in company with another soldier, took "French leave" at night. This was before Richmond, Vir- ginia, and as the Union army was but a short distance away it was a comparatively easy matter to make good his escape. Soon after- ward he reached Pennsylvania and went to
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Pittsburg, where he worked in a nail factory. Again turning his feet toward the West, he reached Indianapolis in 1868, and there had his only railroad experience, working on the road for two weeks. Then he went to Union City in search of farn: work, which he at length found in Randolph county, and where he was married to Sarah Catherine Ens- minger, of that county. There be rented a farm, continuing thus until 1880. when ] located in Blackford county on his present farm, 'on which there was a small clearing with a little board cabin. By dint of hard and constant labor he gradually increased the amount of cleared land, and ditched the land nearly as fast as it was cleared; and at the present time has it all well drain'd and under a high state of cultivation. Upon pur- chasing his farm he went into debt somewhat for it, but paid off his notes as fast as they became due. Upon this farm Mr. Mannix carries on general farming and has a most pleasant home with all the conveniences of modern life.
Mr. Mannix and his wife own one hun- dred and twenty-eight acres of land in Ran- del ch county, which is the old Wallace home- stead.' She had been reared by her uncle, Thomas Wallace, who, not having any chil- dren, willed her two thousand dollars. This farm Mr. Mannix has since managed as well as his own home farm. Mr. and Mrs. Man- nix have a family of eight children, as fol- lows: John, living on a farm in Randolph county ; William, of Hartford City ; Charles, a teamster of Hartford City; Ira, Jane and Oscar, all three living at home ; Dora, wife of Oliver Holdcroft, of Jackson township, and Effie, living at home.
It is probably within the truth to state that it is since Mr. Mannix married that he
has made the greatest progress, so great is the influence of a good wife on the life of her husband. Formerly Mr. Mannix was a Re- i publican, but at the present time he has but little confidence in that party, and his affilia- tions are with the Democratic party. He is a man of energy and industry, and devotes most of his attention to the management of his private affairs.
CHARLES WESLEY BARR.
Charles Wesley Barr. of Jackson town- ship, whose postoffice address is Hartford City, a successful teacher and farmer, was born on the farm where he now lives, July 23, 1867. He is a son of Henry and Emma ( Ast baugh) Barr, the former of whom was born in Richland county. Ohio, and was taken by his parents, when a child to Fair- field county, of the same state. His father was John Barr, and his mother Martha Hemphill, both from Pennsylvania. Emma Ashbaugh was a daughter of Frederick and Mary Elizabeth (Musser) Ashbaugh, the former of whom came from Pennsylvania, the latter from Maryland. They were brought to Ohio by their respective parents and were married in Fairfield county, thus being among the pioneers of that state. Mr. Ashbaugh was a soldier in the war of 1812- 1815, serving his country faithfully.
Henry Bart served for a time in the Union army during the latter part of the war of the Rebellion, and in 1866 settled on the present farm of the subject of this sketch, which contained eighty acres, about thirty- five of which was cleared, and there was a log house on the farm. It was about the only farın that had been opened up in this section of the country at that time. Mr. Barr fin- ished clearing up the farm and brought it all
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under cultivation. The last few months of his life he spent at Mill Grove, dying October 31, 1892, when in his sixty-sixth year. His widow still survives, and is living on the old homestead. He and his wife, who were married May 6, 1852, had the following children: Martha Elizabeth, wife of Dr. John Sage, late of Hartford City; Jennie, who married David Vance, of Jackson town- ship; Florence Gertrude, wife of Marion Bartlett, of Jackson township; Augusta Mis- souri, wife of Edwin Milton Shroyer, of Jackson township, and Charles Wesley, the subject of this sketch. The parents of these children were members of the first Metho- dist Episcopal church established in this vi- cinity at the Barr school house, and later they went with the class that was established at Mill Grove. Mrs. Barr is the only surviving member of the original class of which for some years her husband was the leader. He was also a trustee of the church at Mill Grove, and gave material assistance to both churches. Politically he was a Repub- lican but never sought nor desired official preferment, his own private affairs being his chief concern.
Charles Wesley Barr remained on the home farm until he was twenty years of age, receiving his primary education at the com- mon schools and by private study, and began to teach at a youthful age. After teaching one term, perceiving more clearly than be- fore the importance of the work in which he was engaged and the necessity of a more thorough preparation therefor than most teachers make, he attended the Central Nor- mal College at Danville, Indiana, and after- ward continued to teach for twelve succes- sive terms. His first term was taught in Licking township, but all the subsequent ones were taught in Jackson township, four
of them being in the home school. He has steadily kept himself in the front rank of good teachers, neglecting nothing calculated to advance the cause of education which lay in his power to accomplish.
Mr. Barr has purchased the interests of the several heirs in the old homestead upon which he has erected a large and fine frame residence and has greatly improved the farm by intelligent cultivation and by a thorough system of drainage. He is engaged mainly in general farming and in the raising of stock. The improvements he has made in the lines mentioned above have brought his farm up to such a high standard that it is excelled by few in the vicinity.
Mr. Barr was married, October 17, 1891, to Miss Hannah Letitia Shrack, a daughter of William M. and M. Barnes Shrack, of Jackson township, in which township she was born and in which township she grad- uated from the common schools. Mr. and Mrs. Barr have three children, viz. : Ralph Fernly, Goldie Jeannette and Marcia Anita. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Mill Grove, and he belongs to Wabasso Tribe of the Im- proved Order of Red Men at Mill Grove. being one of the trustees of the tribe. Po- litically he is a Republican, has often been sent as a delegate to his party conventions and takes an active part in every campaign. In every respect Mr. Barr is one of the good citizens of his county and enjoys the con- fidence of all that know him.
ALVIN CHANDLER.
The subject of this sketch is a well- known mechanic of Hartford City and a de- scendant of an old English family, the Amer- ican branch of which is traceable as far back
Abriu Chandler
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es 1687. In that year one George Chandler, with his wife Jane and seven children, left their home at Greathodge, Wiltshire, Eng- land, and came to America, settling in the wilderness of Pennsylvania. George Chand- ler did not live to see the shores of the new world, but died at sea, leaving his widow with the care of seven young children, in the rearing of whom she was afterwards assist- ed by her brother-in-law. John Chandler. who accompanied the family on their voyage. Subsequently Mrs. Chandler en- tered into the marriage relation with Will- iam Hawkes, an early pioneer of Pennsyl- vania, but of whom little is now known.
The following children were born to George and Jane Chandler : Jane, George, Swithin, Thomas, William, Charity and Ann. Jane married Robert Jeffries and lived for many years in Chester county, Penn yl- vania, where she rea ad a family of twelve children. George married, about 1698, Ruth Bezer and became the father of at least five children. Swithin married after coming to America and settled on the Brandywine, in what is now the state of Delaware, where he died in 1742. He was the father of twelve children, the descendants of whom are still living in various parts of the Keystone state and elsewhere. Thomas married Mary Man- kin and located on the Brandywine, adjoin- ing his brother Swithin's estate, and for sev- eral years represented Chester county in the general assembly. William married Ann Bowater and died in the county of Chester in the year 1746. He was the father of ten children, all of whom became well known in their native county. Charity died unmarried. Ann became the wife of Samuel Robbins, of Philadelphia, after whose death she married George Jones. She died in the year 1758,
leaving four children. It is a noteworthy fact that nearly all the children of these sons and daughters of George and Jane Chandler reared large families and their descendants areat this time scattered over the greater part of the United States. To trace in detail the history of each is found to be an impossible task by reason of breaks in the genealogical record.
Among the numerous descendants was John Chandler, whose father, also John was the son of William Chandler, fifth in the family of George and Jane Chandler, above mentioned. A son of this John was Spencer Chandler, who reared a family, one of whom was James Chandler.
James Chandler, a native of Pennsyl- vania, came to Blackford county, Indiana, in 1847, and here married Frances Ardelia Rice. Mrs. Chandler was born in Albany, New York, and became a resident of Black- ford county in 1838, locating at Montpelier, where her death occurred March 13, 1887. She was the daughter of Ira P. and Ardelia (Stevens) Rice, both parents natives of New York state. James Chandler died June 28, 1864, at Montpelier.
Alvin Chandler, whose name introduces this article, is a son of James and Ardelia Chandler, and was born in Harrison town- ship, Blackford county, Indiana, October 10, 1854. At the age of four years he began attending a public school taught in a little building on his father's farm, and here he pursued his studies with commendable zeal until his seventeenth year. From sixteen until twenty-five he followed agriculture in his native township, and then abandoned farming and turned his a. ention to mechan- ical pursuits. Purchasing a complete set of blacksmith tools and apparatus, he began
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learning the trade under the direction of a gentleman by the name of Binderman, a skillful mechanic whom he hired for the purpose.
After Mr. Binderman left his employ Mr. Chandler secured the services of another expert workman, under whose instructions the shop was successfully conducted until he thoroughly mastered every detail of the trade. His first shop was located on Walnut street, Hartford City, and later he erected the building he now occupies, where is carried on an extensive blacksmithing business, wagon making, general repairing and all kinds of work in these lines of mechanics.
For a number of years Mr. Chandler has carried on a large and lucrative business and his shops are the most extensive of the kind in the city. He has pursued his calling with an intelligence that in time placed him in the front rank of skillful workmen and his services are in great demand in all mechan- ics requiring the knowledge and operations of an expert.
Mr. Chandler's long residence in Black- ford county, together with his integrity of purpose, has brought him to the favorable notice of the people, and no one occupies a more commendable station in the public es- teem. His ancestors for many generations were noted for sterling qualities and high morality and in his character are blended the same traits, which are universally recog- nized as essential to a vigorous type of man- hood and high order of citizenship. His life has always been above reproach and "to do unto others as he would be done by" has been the controlling principle of his daily conduct.
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