USA > Indiana > Grant County > Biographical memoirs of Grant County, Indiana : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography with portraits of many national characters and well-known residents of Grant County, Indiana. > Part 113
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For a quarter of a century has both of them been actively identified with the Church of Christ, in which his father had been so prominent in early years. Being thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the Master and feeling that some good might result from his greater efforts to further the cause, he began some four years since to advocate publicly the great truths of the faith he be- lieved. He has already attained quite a local reputation as an earnest and consistent evan- gelist. He has at present two churches to which he administers regularly, one in Wells, the other in Tipton county. With a deep sensibility of the value of religious training, he has taken up the responsibility that goes with the work of a preacher, with a deter- mination to do all in his power to advance the morality and education of the entire neighborhood.
The family of Mr. Anderson consists of one son, Wilbur W., whose wife was Miss Ida Sparks, assisting in the operation of the home farm. They have two children, Stella and Paul. Edith Brown, a bright girl of thirteen, has been given a home in the family for some years.
CHARLES E. BARNETT.
Charles E. Barnett is a son of James and Rebecca F. (Oleacher) Barnett, and was born in Mason county, West Virginia, De- cember 13, 1854. He received a liberal ed- ucation in the public and private schools of his native state. At the age of twenty-four he started out in life on his own account and came to Delaware county, Indiana. There he engaged in teaching for two years. But the teacher's profession proving un- congenial and for the most part unprofitable,
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he began to look around for other employ- ment. This he found in the nursery busi- ness at Wabash, Indiana. He traveled for many years in the various duties of this business and has become thoroughly identi- fied with the horticultural interests of the state.
He has continued this business to the present as a grower, dealer and salesman of approved varieties of nursery stock, small fruit, shrubbery and flowers. In this busi- ness he has been financially successful and has established an enviable reputation for fair dealing, honesty and integrity.
On the 25th of December, 1888, Mr. Barnett was married to Miss Keturah Gor- con, daughter of William I. and Sarah A. Gordon. Her father was a native of Darke . county, Ohio, and her mother was born in Ripley county, Indiana. Ervin Gordon, pa- ternal grandfather of Mrs. Barnett, was one of the pioneers of Ripley county. He mar- ried his cousin, Sarah Gordon, and they had a family of twelve children, named as fol- lows: William I., Samuel, Newton, Jona- than, Sarah Ann (Mrs. Allen Carmichael), Virginia and Paul. These lived to years of maturity and the others died in infancy or early childhood.
Mrs. Barnett's parents also had a family of twelve children: Cicily, now Mrs. L. Ballard; Virginia, Mrs. Charles Brown; Mary, Mrs. Forrest Wheeler : Keturah, Mrs. C. E. Barnett, of this sketch; Minerva, who married Robert Augustine : May, Mrs. Sam- uel Auger; Anna, Mrs. Thomas Hamilton : Ervin W., William James and Sarah are cieceased.
The Gordon family was established in America by the great-grandparents of Mrs. Barnett. They were natives of Ireland.
The Barnett family was established in Amer- ica by William Barnett, the great-grandfa- ther of our subject. He was a Frenchman by birth, but emigrated from England and located in Mason county, Virginia, now West Virginia.
He reared a family of eight children, seven of whom lived to years of maturity. These were John, William, Robert, Ann (Mrs. Riffle ), Hannah (Mrs. Lewis), Ellen (Mrs. Thompson), Nancy (Mrs. Raymond).
The parents of our subject had ten chil- dren, viz .: Christopher Columbus, Will- iam Penn, Benjamin B., Isaac F., Charles E., George W., Mary Susan, who is now Mrs. Edward Green, of Montpelier, Indi- ana; Sarah Ellen, wife of John Childs, of Mason county, West Virginia; James L. and Rebecca F., twins; Rebecca is the wife of William Hall, of Wabash county, Indiana.
Mr. and Mrs. Barnett have two children : Gordon R., born January 25. 1889, and Cicily May, born December 25. 1895. Our subject and his estimable wife represent two long established families of America. The Gordon family was represented in the Rev- olutionary war.
Mr. Barnett is prominently identified with the public affairs in the town of Sway- zee and is an active working Republican in politics. He is a member of the town board or city council of Swayzee.
In religious views he is a Methodist. The family is prominent and well known in the community where they have lived for many years.
LEROY HIGHLEY.
LeRoy Highley, a greatly respected farmer and stockman of Richland township, Grant county, Indiana, and a gallant ex-
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soldier of the Civil war, was born in Union county, Indiana, January 31, 1844, and is a son of Clarke and Telitha (Wright) Highley, the former of whom was born in Franklin county, Virginia, October II, 1813, and the latter was also a native of the same county, but their marriage took place in Union county, Indiana. Clarke and Telitha Highley brought their family to Richland township, Grant county, in 1846, and here Clarke Highley entered one hun- dred and sixty acres in section 15, while his parents, James and Mary (Wright) High- ley, also natives of Virginia, came here the same year and entered eighty acres in section 13. James Highley died here in 1860, but his wife had passed away some years pre- viously. To James and wife were born eight children, viz .: Clayborne, deceased ; Clarke, father of LeRoy Highley; Lydia (Mrs. Curlingham), deceased; Nicey, now residing in Michigan : Mary Ann, who died in LaPorte county, Indiana; John lives in Richland township, Grant county, Indiana; James died in this township, as also did Thomas.
Clarke Highley died on his farm of five hundred and fifteen acres, in Richland town- ship, in 1889, and here his widow also passed away some five or six years later. To their marriage were born seven children, namely : LeRoy, whose name opens this sketch; An- selom, also a resident of Richland town- ship; Daniel K. is a resident of Washington ; James O., William, Mary A., all of Rich- land township; and Marion, a resident of Carlisle, Indiana.
LeRoy Highley was reared and educated in Richland township, Grant county, Indi- ana, and here enlisted, in 1864, in Company P., Twenty-third Indiana Volunteer Infan-
try, for one year, was sworn into the United States service at Wabash, Indiana, and was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland. He took part in the battle of Kingston, North Carolina, and for some time was on picket duty at Dalton, Georgia. He was also with General Sherman through the Caro- lina campaign and was honorably discharged at Washington, D. C., May 20, 1865, after having seen service in thirteen states.
LeRoy Highley has made an excellent success both as a stock-raiser and cultivator of the soil, and has as neat a farm of one hundred and fifteen acres as any in the coun- ty of Grant. He found a true and faithful lielpmate in the person of Mary A. Easley, a native of Richland township and a daugh- ter of Joseph and Mary (Miller ) Easley, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in Pennsylvania. Mr. Easley died some time since on his farm in Richland township, where his widow still resides at the great age of ninety years.
Mrs. Mary A. (Easley) Highley was called away in 1884, and Mr. Highley mar- ried, in Richland township, Lola Helen Culp, who was born in West Virginia, and to this union have been born five children, viz. : Madge, Lula, Clara, Harriet and Edna Miller.
In politics Mr. Highley, as was his fa- ther, is a Republican, and for four years has served as assessor. He is a member of the G. A. R. post at Somerset, Wabash county, and is one of the most widely known residents of Grant county.
GEORGE DAVIS.
The Davis family is a very old family in America and has been very proimnently identified with the development of the coun-
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try as well as being conspicuous in busi- ness, political, social and religious life, and has also shown their patriotic spirit in times of war. There is much that can be said of this family in connection with the develop- ment of America and the prominent part they have taken.
Charles Davis, founder of the American Branch of this family, was born in Wales, about the year 1700, and in 1724 sailed from Wales to America and first located in Penn- sylvania. Here he married a Miss Metcalf and they settled in Chatham county, North Carolina and reared a family of eight chil- dren, viz .: John: Thomas, who moved to Grayson county, Virginia, and married a Miss Knox; Sallie married a man named Cox : Tamar, also married a Cox ; Retty mar- ried a man named Vestal; Hannah married a Mr. Moffett; Mollie married a Mr. Mof- fett : and Lydia married Mr. Doam, of whom Colonel Carter Doam of Civil war fame is a descendant.
John Davis, son of Charles, was born in Chatham county, North Carolina, and there married Mollie Chamness, and they be- came the parents of eleven children, as fol- lows: Charles; Joseph; William; John, the grandfather of Jeff Davis; Thomas; Sarah married Joshua Pickett; Mary married George Shugart: Tamar married Job Rat- liff : Hannah married Isaac Barker; Eliza- beth married Enoch Barker; and Rachel married William Pike.
William Davis, son of John and grand- son of Charles, was also born in North Caro- lina and married Ann Marshall, and their children are as follows: Jacob married Lucy Rose; Joseph : Mary married Stephen Jones : John married first Ruth Hadley and second Lydia Davis, whose first husband
was murdered in Wayne county, Indiana; Simon married Abigail Freeman; Rebecca married Ebenezer Adams; Rachael married joshua Bond; Ezra married Nellie Hadley ; Mark married Rebecca Osborn; and Anna married Ezra Williams.
Joseph Davis, son of William and Ann (Marshall) Davis, was born in North Caro- lina, Chatham county, October 3, 1785, and May 31, 1807, married Catharine Farmer, who was born January 15, 1787. They re- moved to Oliio in 1808 and settled in Mont- gomery county and lived there until 1823, then removed to Wayne county, Indiana, where they passed the remaining years of their lives, he dying January 16, 1876, and she September 9, 1870. Their children were named as follows: Nathan, born in June, 1808, married Hannah Moore and died Jan- uary 1. 1870; William married Abagail Wright, removed to Howard county, Indi- ana, and there died in 1861 ; Mary became the wife of David Baldwin and died in Hamilton county, Indiana : Anna was twice married, first to Newton Baldwin and sec- ond to Daniel Thornburg; George married Charlotte Baldwin; Hannah married Daniel Thornburg: John married Caroline Cham- ness : Edom W. married Keziah Bales; and Lewis died in 1840. All of the above named are deceased except Edom W. and George.
George Davis, son of Joseph and Cath- arine ( Farmer ) Davis, was born in Mont- gomery county, Ohio, May 12, 1818. Here he obtained an education such as could be obtained in the pioneer days there, and as the country was new and being developed into fine farm lands he was also obliged to work as only those who were there in those times can explain. Here he passed many long days in the hardest kind of work until
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1848, when he came to Grant county, Indi- ana, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land which had been entered by his uncle, John Davis, and the okl patents or deeds to this land are now in the possession of our subject. He gave one acre to school district No. I, of Liberty township; also gave a site occupied by the Friends church and now owns two hundred and twenty-nine and one-half acres.
On December 15, 1841, George Davis was united in marriage with Charlotte Bald- win, a daughter of John and Charlotte (Payne) Baldwin, and they have ten chil- dren born unto them, viz. : Liza Ann, born September 15, 1842, married Calvin Scott and die:1 January 24, 1875, leaving four children. John H., George D., Oliver James and Calvin H., all of whom have been reared by their grandfather, the subject of this sketch ; William Frank is a resident of Fair- mount and married Eliza Rich and has four children, Luther, Cordia, Stella and Clora; Emily married Levi Scott and reared a fam- ily of thirteen children, as follows: Ma- lissa married James Luther, Alvin married Emily Luther, Irvin married May Haisley, Arthur, deceased, Lillie, of Saginaw, Mich- igan, Lyda married Charles Wilburn and lives in North Carolina, Charlotte, of Cali- fornia, Alonzo, of California, Clellie, Louis, Harrison, and two died in infancy. Mary married John Dougherty, and has one child, Cora Alice; Malissa, deceased; Oliver S. married Eva Jay and has four children, Herman, Harvey, Ida and an infant, de- ceased ; Nathan F. married Hannah Bessom and resides in Tennessee, and she has seven children, Myrtle, a missionary in Mexico, Joseph, Nellie, Levi (deceased), Lawrence, Lloyd and Mary; J. Freemont is deceased ;
Catharine married E. Nail and has seven children, Anna, Charlotte, J. Edgar, Nora, Georgia, Lena and Emma; Joseph E. mar- ried Ellen Dougherty and had three children, Stella, Eva and Mary, the last named be- ing deceased; Malissa, the fifth child, died of diphtheria when eleven years old.
Charlotte Baldwin, the wife of George Davis, was born and reared to womanhood in Guilford county, North Carolina.
Nathan Farmer, the maternal grandfa- ther of George Davis, was a noted gunsmith during the Revolutionary war and made and repaired a great many of the guns used in the service. He married Hannah Woodard, a daughter of Catherine Best, who came from Germany in 1752; she is the maternal grandmother of our subject. Mr. Davis is a man of high moral character and has at all times opposed the use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, having united with the Washingtonian Temperance Union in 1842 and has been true to the obligations taken at that time. So emphatically is he opposed to the use of alcohol that he will not use it for the purpose of dissolving camphor gum.
His first vote was cast for William Henry Harrison and he remembers well when An- drew Jackson was first elected and when the Republican party was formed in 1856; he supported its nominee for the presidency and still affiliates with that party.
FRANKLIN RYBOLT.
Franklin Rybolt was born in Green township, Grant county, Indiana, Novem- ber 8, 1854. He is a son of Jarrett and Rachael (Foster) Rybolt, early settlers of
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the county. They were both natives of Brown county, Ohio, where they were mar- ried, in 1851 they came to Indiana and lo- cated at Point Isabel. The trip was made in a one-horse wagon, their earthly posses- sions being stowed away without serious encroachment upon the "rights of the pas- sengers."
Father Rybolt purchased forty acres of land at one dollar and a quarter per acre, the payment for which exhausted all his sur- plus cash. He then cleared away a plat of ground sufficiently large that the house would be beyond the reach of falling trees, and there erected a primitive log cabin, into which the family moved before the house was daubed or the door hung. But his mother, who was a member of the family, was made so nervous by the howling of wolves near by that she could not sleep, and her husband made a temporary door of clap- boards to prevent the wolves entering the cabin.
Soon after locating Mr. Rybolt's horse died, which was a great misfortune to the family. He bought another horse on time and that one died before it was paid for. This experiment was very discouraging, but as time passed the reward of industry be- came apparent, and ere many years the fam- ily was in comfortable circumstances. Franklin Rybolt was born in this pioneer cabin. He attended the public school and a private subscription school taught by Prof. Beaver. At the age of seventeen he passed a teacher's examination and received a cer- tificate from Rev. T. B. Thorpe. LL. D. He taught school one term in Green town- ship, after which he took a teacher's course of Holbrook's Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio. Returning home he re-engaged in
teaching, being thus employed in Green township for seven terms, and also taught two terms in Howard county. His teach- ing was confined to the winter terms, and his summers he devoted to farming. With the close of the term of 1881-2 he abandoned teaching and devoted himself exclusively to agricultural pursuits until 1888. In that year he was elected county recorder of Grant county and assumed the duties of that of- fice in August, 1889, serving four years. In the autumn of 1894 he returned to his farm in Sims township, where he now lives. Mr. Rybolt was elected township assessor of Green township at the age of twenty-one. He was census enumerator of the same township in 1880 and served two years as postmaster of Point Isabel-1880 to 1883.
In connection with his farming interests Mr. Rybolt has been extensively engaged in the stock business, buying, fattening and shipping live stock to distant markets.
Franklin Rybolt became a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows about 1878, being initiated in Point Isabel Lodge, No. 503. In this lodge he passed the prin- cipal official stations and was elected as rep- resentative to the grand lodge of Indiana. On being elected county recorder he trans- ferred his membership to Marion Lodge, No. 96, where he now belongs.
October 24, 1874. Mr. Rybolt was mar- ried to Miss Mary Jane Devora, daughter of Elbridge and Deborah (Lenington) De- vora. She was born in Grant county, Indi- ana, of pioneer parents. Mr. and Mrs. Ry- bolt have had nine children born to them, three of whom are deceased. Cassinna Maria was born October 26, 1875, and died July 6, 1880: Minnie L. was born February 6, 1877, and is now the wife of Homer L.
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Trueblood, of Whittier, California; Rachel Blanch, now Mrs. Shockley, was born Jan- uary 30, 1879; Jarrett was born January 5, 1881, and died September 18, 1883 ; William Earl was born August 6, 1882, and mar- ried Otha Sharp; Christian, born June 21, 1884; Luella was born October 11, 1887; Oral was born November 18, 1889; and Grace D. was born November 9, 1894, and died February 21, 1897. The Rybolt fam- ily is of German antecedents and was first established in America by the great-grand- father, William Rybolt, who was the grand- father of Franklin ; William located in Penn- sylvania and later moved to Ohio.
Franklin Rybolt of this sketch is well and favorably known throughout the entire county of Grant. His official career was an event in his life history of great praise and special commendation, while his life as a private citizen and business man is not . only above reproach but a high tribute to his memory when future generations shall have taken the place of the present.
JOEL B. WRIGHT.
Joel B. Wright, a retired farmer now re- siding in Fairmount, Grant county, Indi- ana, was born in east Tennessee, near Greeneville, July 7, 1832, and is a son of Jesse and Charity (Reese) Wright, both natives of the state last named.
To Jesse and Charity Wright, the for- mer of whom was a practicing physician, there were born ten children, as follows: Joel B., Elizabeth Jane, Phebe Ann, Jemima Ruth, Peter Harmon, John M., Melinda, Margaret, Adeline and David William.
These children all reached mature years save one, and all have been called away except- ing Joel B., of this sketch, and his brother, John M., a practicing physician in Texas, and who lives in the path of the disastrous storm that recently devastated Galveston and other parts of the Lone Star state. David William was the only one of the fam- ily born in Grant county, Indiana; Peter Harmon was a practicing physician in Fair- mount for several years and here died; all his daughters, except Jemima and Mary, were married and left families.
The Wright family all came to Grant county, Indiana, in 1855, excepting the youngest child, who was born here, as stated above. They settled in Little Ridge settle- ment, four miles from Fairmount, on a tract of land in the dense wilderness, and here the sons passed their early years in clearing up a farm.
Joel B. Wright received a good educa- tion in the common schools of his native state, and was there married February I, 1854, to Miss Sarah J. Beals, also a native of Greene county, Tennessee, and to this union were born five children, viz .: Abner J., who died unmarried when about thirty years old; Cornelius died when three years old; Milton died of typhoid fever at the age of nineteen years; Charles died in in- fancy; and Serena M. is now the wife of Leroy Jay, a retired farmer, living in Ham- ilton county, Indiana.
Mrs. Sarah J. (Beales) Wright died in Fairmount in 1873 and her mortal remains were interred in Little Ridge cemetery, where two of her children are also buried. Mr. Wright next married Harriet Hite, who died eighteen months later of consump- tion, leaving one child, who passed away
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shortly afterward, afflicted with the same disease.
June 12, 1875, Mr. Wright married his third and present wife, Mrs. Adeline E. Haisley, whose maiden name was Howell, and who was born in Clinton county, Ohio. Two children were born to this last men- tioned marriage, but both are now deceased.
On coming to Indiana Mr. Wright en- gaged in the milling business, sawing lum- ber and grinding grain; he later was em- ployed in a woolen mill for a couple of years, and for the next four years was a shoe mer- chant in Fairmount. On marrying his pres- ent wife Mr. Wright disposed of his stock of merchandise and took upon himself the management of his wife's farm, which he conducted about fourteen years.
About 1889 Mr. Wright and family came to Fairmount to live, but here he was not engaged in any special business. He has served as administrator of several estates, makes collections, pays taxes, deals in real estate, etc. He has been one of the trus- tees of the Fairmount Academy for nearly thirteen years and in this capacity has handled considerably property.
In politics Joel B. Wright was a Repub- lican from the formation of that party until 1884, when he allied himself with the Pro- hibition party, to which he still continues to be loyal. He has never sought a public office, yet he has filled several of the minor offices of his township as a matter of public ciuty or patriotism. He was at one time a "know-nothing," and this was the only secret order with which he ever affiliated. With his wife and daughter he is a member of the Society of Frends, as were his parents before him.
The paternal grandparents of Joel B.
Wright were of English extraction, and in an early day removed from South Carolina to Tennessee : the paternal grandmother was of German descent.
JOHN FURNISH.
John Furnish, one of the prominent and highly respected citizens of Mill township. Grant county, Indiana, was born October 17. 1838, in what is now known as Fair- mount township, Grant county, and is a son of James and Nancy (Higgins) Furnish, parents of four children, born in the follow- ing order: John, whose name opens this paragraph ; Tamar Jane, deceased : Frances Q., widow of John Hinton; and Martha James, deceased.
James Furnish, father of the above named children, was born in Kentucky, and in 1818 came to Indiana and located in Franklin county, where he lived until 1837. He next lived in Jefferson township, Grant county, one year, and then moved to the township in which his son John was born, settled on a farm entered from the govern- ment by his father. Benjamin W. Furnish, judge of the probate court in an early day. The father of Benjamin W. was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and the ma- ternal grandfather, John Higgins, was cap- tain of a company in the war of 1812. Mil- ton Furnish, an uncle of John Furnishs fought through the Mexican war, and Mrs, John Furnish's great-grandfather and grand- father. John Garrison and Benjamin Ha- vens, were also soldiers in the war of 1812, military ardor seemingly being an inherent essential in the nature of each family, pa- ternal and maternal.
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John Furnish was about six years of age when he lost his parents and was taken by his paternal grandfather to be reared. John assisted on his grandfather's farms until fifteen years old, and then began to learn the carpenter's trade, at which he worked five years, and then, at the age of twenty, rented his grandfather's old farm, which he cultivated until the spring of 1861, when he removed to another farm in Fair- mount township.
August 6, 1861, John Furnish enlisted in Company F, Thirty-fourth Indiana Vol- unteer Infantry, and was mustered in at Anderson, Indiana, and assigned to General Buell's command. Later he was transferred to the Second Brigade, Third Division, Thirteenth Army Corps. His first engage- ment was at New Madrid, Missouri, but he later fought at Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hill, siege of Vicksburg ยท ( as a sapper and miner ), and Carrion Crow Bayou, his last engagement taking place in March, 1863. While in camp at Algiers (opposite New Orleans, on the Mississippi river), in February, 1864, Mr. Furnish was wounded by the accidental discharge of a gun in the hands of a comrade, the result being the amputation of the left arm at the shoulder, the operation taking place at the New Orleans University Hospital March 1I, 1864, when he was honorably discharged.
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