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 81
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JACOB PERRY PARKER.
Jacob Perry Parker, one of the most suc- cessful farmers and formerly for many years one of the most active and progressive teach- ers of Jackson township, Blackford county, Indiana, was born in Fayette county, Ohio, January 9, 1868. He is a son of George W. and Mary M. (Smith) Parker, both of whom have resided in the same township with himself since 1888. The boyhood of Mr. Parker was spent in Fayette county, Ohio,
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where, after attaining his thirteenth year, he attended for several years the district schools. When twenty-one years of age he began his active work as a school teacher, his first term being taught during the winter of 1889-90, in Jackson township. He next attended the normal school at Valparaiso, and then taught for ten terms in Blackford county, five of which were in district No. 7, Jackson township. During his active life as a teacher his constant aim was to be alive to all the improvements in methods of teaching that promised to be of import- ance. He was always full of energy, was ambitious to do good work, and in his studies made specialties of geography, mathematics and history, the latter more particularly with the view of keeping abreast of the times. His interest in educational and other matters is still kept alive by attendance upon reading circles and other means of intellectual im- provement.
Mr. Parker purchased his first farm in 1894, one of eighty acres, of which about seventy-five acres were improved. or perhaps it were better to say, cleared, as there were no buildings on it, nor ditches, nor well. At th .: present time he has on this farm about sixty acres under a high state of cultivation, with about three hundred rods of ditches, which reclaim much of the land. Some- thing has also been realized from the sale of timber. For some time Mr. Parker carried on his work in the school room together with the management of his farm, but not to the neglect of either.
Mr. Parker was married, May 6, 1894, to Miss Almeda E. Twibell, a daughter of Lewis Twibell, of Licking township, in which township she was born October 22, 1871, and there reared. Mr. and Mrs. Par- ker have one child, Ernest Paul, born Octo-
ber 3, 1899. Mr. Parker and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which for several years he has been a trus- tee. Ile is also a teacher in the Sunday school, and both himself and wife are fully alive to the necessity of all kinds of religious work, as a means of civilization and the amelioration of the condition of the human race.
JOSEPH DILDINE.
Joseph Dildine, a well and widely-known citizen of Jackson township, Blackford coun- ty, Indiana, whose postoffice is Hartford City, is a native of the latter place, having been born there April 8, 1838. He is a son of Samson and Sarah (Highland) Dil- dine, both of whom were natives of Penn- sylvania, and both of whom removed to Ohio when about thirteen years of age. They were married in Hancock county, that state.
The boyhood of Joseph Dildine was Dildine, a native of New Jersey, who died at the great age of eighty-five years. His father was a native of Germany. In 1837. with his wife and family of five children, he settled in Indiana, beginning life on a farm on a part of which the present Catholic church stands. To this land he added other acres from time to time until he was pos- sessed of two hundred and forty acres, a con- siderable portion of which is within the limits of the corporation, to which in 1839 he donated a portion of the first town plot. He was a citizen of the county at the time of its organization, and was thus one of its pioneers. He made the brick of which the first county court house was constructed, and also the first brick at Hartford City. In addition to his two hundred and forty acres
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of land in Jackson township, he also owned land in Wells county; but on his Jackson county farm he lived until his death, which occurred March 29. 1879, when in his eightieth year; his wife died in 1871, in her seventy-second year.
They were the parents of five children, as follows : Ralph, who died in Neosho county. Kansas, in his' fifty-third year, he having been one of the carly residents of Kansas; Jesse, a shoemaker of Hartford City; Maria, who married Ira Sharp, and died in Neosho county, Kansas, at the age of forty-four; Effie, who married Thomas Moore, and died in Jackson township at the age of forty-six; and Joseph, the subject of this sketch.
The boyhood of Joseph Dildine was passed at the home of his parents until he was eighteen years of age, and he worked with his father on the farm until he was married to Miss Elizabeth Williams, March 19, 1868. Mrs. Dildine is a daughter of James Wil- liams, and was born in Monmouthshire, England. She came to the United States, settling in Pennsylvania when ten years of age, and removed to Indiana in 1864. Upon their present farm, which was purchased when the former was fifteen years old, Mr. and Mrs. Dildine have lived since their mar- riage.
Samson Dildine was an old-line Jackson Democrat. Joseph Dildine served two terms as township assessor, and has been township trustee continuously for five years, and has performed much labor in keeping the drains cleaned and in good repair. He has also labored to pay off the township debts, and has built three new school-houses, believ- ing that the better the school-houses and the better qualified the teachers, the better it is for the community at large and coming gen-
erations. The methods followed by Mr. Dil- dine in the performance of his duties are not in any way influenced by political con- siderations. He is a strong Democrat and believes in the principles advocated by Will- iam Jennings Bryan.
Mr. Dildine served thirteen months in Company H. Twelfth Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, under Lieutenant George Steele, en- listing in 1861. At the expiration of the above-mentioned period he was discharged for disability, for which disability he is now a pensioner. Mr. Dildine's services in the army of the United States were performed mainly in Maryland and Virginia, princi- pally in the vicinity of Washington, D. C .. but it was the fortune of his regiment not to be engaged in actual battle. He has not united with the Grand Army of the Re public.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Dildine are : Sarah Jane, a well-educated young lady. who has taught school several terms. and who is now assistant postmaster at Glen- wood. Colorado; and Estelle, who has also taught school several terms, beginning when she was seventeen years of age, and who. like her sister, was given the best education the times afforded. Mr. Dildine's family are all highly esteemed by all who know them for their high character and ennobling aims.
ISAIAH HILES.
Isaiah Hiles, one of the prominent citi- zens of Jackson township, whose postoffice i- Dunkirk, was born in Clermont county. Ohio, January 9. 1835. His father, whose name was also Isaiah, was born in New Jersey, and with his family, a wife and three
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children, removed from that state to Ohio. He was a miller by trade and died at Day- ton, Ohio, when seventy-five years of age. The parents of the latter-mentioned Isaiah Hiles were from Germany, but the wife of this family, Esther Thomas, was of Irish descent, and was the mother of fourteen children.
Isaiah Hiles, the subject of this sketch, remained at home until he was married, April 3, 1854, to Miss Sarah Jane Golden, who was born in Franklin, Indiana, but who later moved to Shelbyville, Indiana. She is a daughter of James and Sarah Wilson Golden, both of whom were born in In- diana, and the former of whom was a car- penter by trade.
After his marriage Mr. Hiles removed to Dayton, Ohio, where he engaged in shaving hoops, which business he followed for many years in both Ohio and Indiana. In 1860 he came to Indiana, locating at Converse, in Blackford county, on the Panhandle Rail- way, where he continued to follow his trade, that of shaving hoops. In 1872 he located on his present farm, then mostly covered with timber, but there was a small clearing and a log house had been erected. This farm he and his sons cleared of its timber. and he himself attended to the draining. It is now a most excellent farm, well drained and in a fine state of cultivation. Up to about 1885 Mr. Hiles continued to work at the shaving out of hoops, but then on account of the practical disappearance of hoop pole timber it became unprofitable and he ceased to follow it longer. In all he followed this business more than thirty years and earned at it a great deal of money, making some- times as high as seven dollars per day. The farm is devoted to the growing of grain and grass.
Mr. Ililes' family consists of three chil- dren, as follows: Charley, who is operat- ing the farm, is married to Miss Alice Ann Boles, and has six children, viz: Archibald Milton, a graduate of the common schools and preparing to teach; James Orville, Hes- ter Jane Golden, Charley Austin, Edith Es- tella and Verna Alice; James Henry, of Hartford City, who is married and has three children, viz : Crystal Jane, Ruth, Hester and Desdemona, wife of Benjamin F. Clore, of Hartford City, and has four children, viz : Clarence, Clara, James Arthur and Mattie Elmira.
Formerly Mr. Hiles was a Democrat, but at present does not belong to either party, reserving the right to act and think for him- self, and to vote as seems best at the time of the election. He and his wife are members of the Seventh Day Adventists of Hartford City. They are most excellent people and highly esteemed by all who know them, al- ways being ready to lend a hand to those in need and to give sympathy as well as assist- ance to the sick. Their family consisted in all of sixteen children, but only the four above mentioned attained to mature years. One daughter, Mollie, died at the age of eighteen, September 24, 1892. She was a most promising young lady, well educated and an active member of the Kingsley Meth- odist Episcopal church, and her loss was keenly felt by the entire community.
Charley Hiles has his own home on part of the old homestead, which he erected him- self. It is a very neat and comfortable home, though not large, and he still has charge of the home farm. He is now one of the township supervisors, having held that office for five years.
William Wilson, the grandfather of Mrs. Hiles, on her mother's side of the family,
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her mother's maiden name having been Sa- rah Pounder Wilson, was a son of Indiana pioneers, who lived in the south part of the state. When about six years okl he and a younger sister were playing along the bank of the creek which ran near their home, and were both captured by Indians and carried away. He and his sister were soon sepa- rated from each other and she was never heard of or from afterward. He grew up among the Indians, and became almost an Indian, himself, but when he became a man he found a way of escape, and returned to civilization ; but his recollection of his family was so faint that he could not find them. He married in Indiana and lived near Mt. Carmel, Indiana, at which place he lived un- til late in life when he removed to Shelby- ville, and there reached the advanced age of eighty and upward. Upon returning to civilization he became what is now known as an old-line Whig, married twice and became a prominent man in his community, and on account of his captivity among the Indians in his youth was a most interesting char- acter.
STEPHEN WILLMAN.
Many of the most solid and patriotic citi- zens of the United States are of German an- cestry. They generally believe in liberty of conscience and thought, and are honest in what they think as well as in their ac- tions. One of these citizens is Stephen Willman, who was born within three miles of Hartford City, in Washington township. Blackford county, Indiana, October 10. 1844. He is a son of Peter and Sarah ( Per- rell) Willman, the former of whom was a native of Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and
who came to the United States as a boy . i ten years. The parents of Peter were St phen and Margaret Willman, who une reaching this country located first in Pen. sylvania, where they remained a few years and then removed to Hagerstown, Indiana. and still later to Blackford county, being there among the earliest settlers of Wash- ington township, when there were no neigh- bors within a distance of several miles. No roads had been cut out and but little timber had been cleared away. He died at the age of seventy-five and she at the age of eighty- two.
Peter Willman was married to Sarah Perrell in Blackford county when twenty three years in a hub and spoke factory, at county, Ohio, and when a girl was brought by her parents to Blackford county, Indiana. those parents being Jonas and Rebecca Per- rell. They settled in Washington township but a short time after the Willman family. Both attained a great age, he dying at up- ward of ninety and she at more than eighty years. Peter Willthan, when his son Stephen, the subject of this sketch, was ten years old, removed to Hartford and there en- gaged in the grocery, drygoods, hardware and livery business, besides other lines, and continued as a merchant until his death, which occurred when he was sixty-five years of age. He was one of the most successful men of his age,'and invested his means in land until he owned about four hundred acres in a body in Jackson and Licking town- ships. A portion of this land he rented out to others, thus securing its improvement more rapidly than if he had attempted to do all himself. During his lifetime he divided it up among his sons, assisting each to a good farm, to good buildings and to com- plete farm equipments. He also owned
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Hartford City property, upon which he erected business blocks as well as dwelling. houses. His farm was well managed, and upon it he kept a good deal of stock, so that he was considered by all one of the most substantial citizens of the county.
Politically he was a Democrat, but sel- dom gave attention to politics, preferring to devote his time and abilities to the manage- ment of his own private affairs, and was of so liberal a disposition that he frequently supported men of other parties, on the prin- ciple that local politics should be conducted on strictly business principles and should therefore be placed in the hands of the best men. Of his family four sons reached the age of maturity, viz: Stephen, the subject of this sketch; Peter, of Hartford City; John of Hartford City; and James Frank- lin, a liveryman of Hartford City.
Stephen is the only one of the four to live on a farm. As stated earlier in this sketch, his father divided his property among his children in such a way that each shared equally with the others, and cach received some town property. Stephen received the Hartford City home, a two-story brick resi- dence, which he still owns. He entered his fat! 'r's store when twelve years of age, and while a clerk in this store also attended the Hartford City schools, and also two terms at Marion City College under Professor Shover. Afterward he kept his father's books for ten or twelve years. He remained with his father even after he was married four or five years, or up to the time he was twenty-eight years old. Then he worked three years in a hub and spoke factory, at the end of which time he took full charge of one of his father's farms, continuing to op- erate one of them until his father gave him his present farm, consisting of eightv-two
acres, of which he has placed thirty acres un- der cultivation, and now has about seventy acres in all under an excellent state of culti- vation. This farm is well underdrained with tile so that all the fields are reached with these drains, which warm the soil by drying it out carlier after rains in the spring, and make it easier of cultivation and more productive. He devotes it mainly to grain and feeds his grain to hogs, turning out from sixty to seventy hogs each year.
Mr. Willman was married, at the age of twenty, to Miss Nancy Ann Huffman, who at the time was eighteen years of age. Her death occurred about ten years later, she having been the mother of three children, one of whom is living, viz: John K. McIntire Willman, named in honor of John K. Mc- Intire, of Dayton, who had held close busi- ness relations with Peter Willman. One child died in infancy, and a daughter, Sa- rah Elizabeth, married Jasper Baird, and died at the age of thirty years. She is also mentioned on another page of this work in the biography of James G. Baird.
For his second wife Stephen Willman married Alic. Harter, a widow whose maiden name was Alice Smith. She died about four years later of consumption, as was the case with Mr. Willman's first wife. She left no children. Mr. Willman's third wife was Mrs. Mary Jane Hedge. whose maiden name was Tollody. By this mar- riage Mr. Willman has one child. Peter Stephen, aged three years. Mrs. Hedge had had three children, all of whom lived for a time with Mr. Willman, and one son, Otto Hedge, a boy of thirteen, still lives . with them. ,
Politically Mr. Willman is a Democrat, and was named once by his party for county recorder, but did not make the campaign,
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He goes as delegate to his party's conven- tions, and does a great deal of campaign work. While Mr. Willman is not a mem- ber of any church, yet he is looked upon by all who know him as an honest, upright citi- zen, one whose character is above reproach or suspicion, and it is well to remember that with all men, whether they do or do not be- long to a church, character is the principal thing.
DR. DAVID COLMAN CALDWELL.
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Few young men in this or any other county in the state of Indiana have been iden- tified with so many spheres of activity and have been so uniformly successful in them all as the subject of this memoir. David C. Caldwell was born in Hancock county, In- diana, December 25, 1852, and is the eldest child and only son of Benjamin Franklin and Mary J. Caldwell, with whom he lived for many years, and with the former of whom he has been in partnership in the stock business since he was a boy. At the age of 'eight years his father was shipping stock. David Colman was in the saddle, having charge of the shipping department, and was constantly on the road for years except when attending school. In 1872 he graduated from the Knightstown Academy, and imme- diately afterward began a successful career as a school teacher, taking charge of a school at Nashville, Hancock county, Indiana, in 1873, this being his first school. On Octo- ber 8, 1874, he came to Blackford county, teaching each winter in Jackson township until 1889, nine terms being in his own dis- trict, and there he graduated a class that be- gan with him in the "A, B, C's." He read
medicine with Dr. N. D. Clouser at Hartford City, in 1875, and remained with him until 1879, practicing at Mill Grove, where he and his father had located, and where he practiced medicine and taught school until 1 889. In that year he was the regular nominee of the Democratic party for county clerk, was elected to the office, and four years later was re-elected by an increased ma- jority. As showing the popularity of Dr. Caldwell with his party, it may be stated that at the age of twenty he was sent as a dele- gate to his congressional convention, and from that time on he has been a delegate to numerous conventions, always having been an intelligent and able worker for his party. Since retiring from the office of county clerk he has served as chairman of the county central committee in which his effective work has increased the Democratic major- ity from seventy to two hundred and twenty- five. 'While he has laid particular stress on local affairs and has been liberal in his views and tolerant of differences of opinion therein, he stands with the Bryan party in national politics. Upon retiring from the office of county clerk he was presented with a resolution commendatory of his services and with a Masonic emblem by the bar of Hartford City, of which he was then made an honorary member. Dr. Cald- well has a very pretty farm of forty acres of 'land two and a half miles south of Hartford City, a farm of one hundred and twenty-six acres two miles east of Hartford City and one of seventy-five acres at Mill Grove, all of them devoted to the raising of stock. As stated above, he became a partner with his father when a boy, and even when he was ten or 'twelve years of age checks were made out in favor of and were also signed in the name of "B.
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F. Caldwell & Son." Dr. Caldwell is a member of Blackford Lodge, No. 106, F. & A. M., at Hartford City. He has always enjoyed good horses, dogs and guns, and has made a reputation as a target marker with the rifle. He also enjoys all varic- ties of field sports, and at one time was a successful base ball player, in which Ameri- can game he still takes an interest. lle often visits the Kankakee region to shoot ducks, snipes, etc., and makes fishing ex- cursions to Celina, Ohio.
He was one of the promoters of the first gas well drilled in this section of Jackson township, retaining his interest to the pres- ent time. He solicited subscriptions to and incorporated the Mill Grove Glass Com- pany, and is still one of the stockholders, and has been a director since its organiza- tion. His uncle, John W. Caldwell, or "Uncle John," as he was always called, had his home for five years where the Doctor now lives, and died when living with the Doctor in Hartford City, having survived his wife three years; she died at Columbus, Ohio, while undergoing an operation for tumor. "Uncle John" Caldwell willed to the Doctor his home with considerable per- sonal property. This uncle had formerly been a partner with his brother, Benjamin F., in the stock business, but much of the latter portion of his life was spent in visiting many of the most noted health resorts, he being a firm believer in the efficacy of medi- cine provided by nature in mineral springs.
Though a rider of running horses and a driver of pacers and trotters, the Doctor never made a bet in his life, nor has he ever bought a pool ticket. He is well versed on all matters pertaining to agriculture and the raising of stock of all kinds, and though not now in practice he still maintains his in-
terest in all matters pertaining to medicine and in both medical and educational affairs keeps himself fully abreast of the times. Though not a member of any church, the Golden Rule is his religion and the guide of his life, and he has always been deter- mined to build up a character which should be above reproach. The firm of B. F. Cald- well & Son has its headquarters at Mill Grove, in Jackson township, where B. F. resides, but Dr. Caldwell, the junior partner, resides in Licking township, five miles distant.
Dr. Caldwell was married, June 7, 1885, to Miss Sarah O. Fleming, of Huntington county, Indiana, she having been reared, however, in Delaware county. They have no children.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CALDWELL.
Benjamin Franklin Caldwell, leading member of the firm of Caldwell & Son, pro- prietors of the Mill Grove stock farm, was born in Campbell county, Kentucky, May 6, 1828, and came with his parents in 1836 to Indiana, settling in Hancock county. He is a son of David Caldwell, who was born in Pennsylvania, but who was taken to Ken- tucky when a young boy, and who died in Hancock county, Indiana, in 1841, when the subject of this memoir was thirteen years of age, leaving his widow with seven children, two girls being the older ones of the family and Benjamin F. being the eldest
of the sons. The maiden name of the mother of these children was Ann Anderson, and she was a daughter of Captain John An- derson, of Campbell county, Kentucky, in which county she was born. Her father was originally from Maryland, and was a man of
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considerable ability and importance. Her husband owned three tracts of land, cach containing eighty acres, and at the time of his death had made an excellent beginning in the world. The widow, filled with am- bition for her children's success in life and with deep motherly affection, did all she could to keep her family together until all should be settled in life, and in doing this she often performed even severe manual labor, such as chopping the firewood and other outdoor work. Frequently she wove cloth until midnight in order that she might be enabled to hire men to clear up her land, in the meantime living in a large, old-fashi- ioned hewed-log house erected by her hus- band to take the place of the little log cabin which stood there when the farm was pur- chased. She and her children succeeded in making a good living from the farm. Ben- jamin F. taking hold of the work in a most determined and ambitious manner, and being a boy of unusual strength, was able to do a great deal of work. But the necessity for his doing this interfered materially with his obtaining a thorough common school educa- tion, the little that he did obtain being se- cured in a log school-house with a log cut out for a window, which let in light through a piece of greased paper. A board hewed out with a broad ax or adze and mounted or pegs served for a desk, and the seats were slabs supported by logs long enough to pre- vent the feet of the children from reaching down to the floor. The fireplace was nearly half the length of the side of the building, and into this huge fireplace large logs were rolled to keep the pupils warm. All things were on a par, even the teachers being of the most primitive kind, and the studies were generally limited to a little reading, writing and arithmetic to proportion or "the
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