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 38
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The origin of the Coon family is traced back to the German fatherland, the first of the name in Virginia being men of import- ance in the section that became their home. Soon after marriage Jacob had settled near Bellefontaine, Ohio, and, in 1842, came to Grant county, buying a tract of land which .
is now included in the city. He had be- come a brickmaker, and erected the first kiln ever put in operation in this county, burning the brick used in the building of the old Sweetser residence recently demolished, as well as for nearly all the earliest brick stores and residences. He continued in the manufacture for several years, being suc- ceeded by his son Michael, who conducted the business until quite recent years, and who is till living on a part of the old homestead. Doing an important part in the making of the town, and being identified with its growth for the greater part of a busy and honored life, he passed on to the "Farther Shore" in his seventy-second year. The family of this pioneer were ten, the eldest dying in infancy. Michael still resides on part of the old homestead; Andrew lives at Brooklyn, Iowa; Benjamin became a soklier and died at Sandy Hook, Maryland, at the age of twenty-six : Thomas died at twenty, as did Elizabeth, Martha also dying in young wo- manhood ; Mary was killed by being thrown from a horse, at the age of thirty; and Su- sellen married Bradley Wheeler and died at forty.
Th mother of these died when George was seven years old: and two years later he left the home, making his home with William Middleton in Center township, with whom he remained till he enlisted nearly six years thereafter. He had been compelled to work hard hauling wood into Marion, though on the whole it was a good home, but very little chance was given to attend school, not going more than two months during all those years. At eighteen he en- listed in the six-months service. being as- signed to Company C. One Hundred and Eighteenth Indiana Volunteers, which was
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placed under the command of General Wag- ner in eastern Tennessee, serving nine months in all, till his discharge. Not yet having his fill of the war, he in August. 1864, re-enlisted in Company K, Fortieth Indiana Volunteers, taking the place of his brother who had been drafted. He joined the regiment at Colun- bia, Tennessee, where General Thomas was then operating. The campaign from that time was after the Confederate genera .. Hood, the battles of Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville being fought, and in which the Fortieth sustained its already well won lau- rels. Following Hood on his retreat, the command went into winter quarters at Huntsville, Alabama, where it still remained until receiving the news of Lee's surrender. At Franklin, George was struck with a piece of shell and captured, being ordered by his captors to the rear ; but instead he went in the direction of the federal forces and regained the ranks in time to take a gun and assist in the capture of seven hundred and fifty of the rebels. He carried seven holes in his clothing, and did not regain his own regi- ment till after they had returned to Nash- ville.
He engaged in teaming in Marion, being with his cousin John Secrist, in the mill for a time; but at the building of the Pan- Handle railroad, he assisted in the grading. He then engaged in the livery business building a barn that occupied the present site of the Matter block, and for twenty-five years continued in that line of trade. He traded in farm property as well as in horses and in other lines, finally settling down to the conduct of his farm, in January, 1883. Here he has one hundred and forty-four acres of excellent land, much of it being cleared by himself, it being a new place when he se.
cured it. £ It is well improved with good buildings, the facilities for handling stock being of the best.
Mr. Coon was married August 30, 1868, to Miss Amanda J. Marshall, daughter of John D. and Mary A. (Roberts) Marshall. John D. Marshall, who has been intimately connected with the interests of Marion for upwards of fifty years, was born in Licking county, Ohio, coming to Marion in 1841. He became an extensive manufacturer of wind-mills, amassing a handsome property. Having great faith in the future of the city, he took leading steps toward the securing of a rail-road, becoming president of the Ohio, Indiana and Illinois Railroad, which was partially graded ; but the outbreak of the war placed a quietus on all such enterprises. He had been the owner of the old plank road extending to Jonesboro, the line of which was taken by the rail-road, when it was completed, and his investment there was rendered worthless. He was ever quite ac- tive in the political field being a Bell and Everett elector in the campaign of 1860. He served in the state senate from 1861 to '64, there then being so close a relation be- tween the Republicans and Democrats that his vote decided the selection of Thomas A. Hendricks as United States senator. He later became a Democrat and frequently stumped this section of the state for that party, having attained a high reputation as an able and honest advocate of the good and everlasting truths of Democracy. Realiz- ing the great possibilities of the state of Texas, he in 1877 removed to that state. making extensive investments in land in Crosby and Crawford counties, to which he has since devoted the greater part of his attention. Since the loss of his wife at
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Cleburne, Texas, he has made his home with his daughter-Mrs. Coon, though still re- taining his southern interests. He was made a Mason in 1848, and of the old members. but four-Alex. Barley, Lewis Foster, Alex. Buchanan and himself, remain.
Three children constitute the Coon fam ily, John W. being in business at Converse ; George M. being the efficient assistant pros- ecuting attorney of Grant county, and Lil- lian E. being a young lady at home.
Mrs. Coon holds relation with the Pres- byterian church at Marion. Mr. Coon has ever taken part in all that has tended to the growth of the community, having ren- dered substantial encouragement to all public enterprises and recalls that he turned the first furrow ever turned in the county for the making of pike roads. Mr. Coon is a pleasant and companionable gentleman whom to know is to respect, and whose many friends have voluntary expressions of com- mendation and regard.
ELI B. MARSHALL.
Eli B. Marshall is a representative agri- culturist and stock-raiser of Franklin town - ship. Grant county, Indiana, and has gained a more than local reputation as a breeder of registered Poland China hogs, his breeding pens being the best in this section of the state. Ile is a native of Indiana, having first seen the light of day in Boone county, on May 6, 1846, in the humble home of Joshua and Tamer ( Osborne ) Marshall. Of the eleven children who composed the family, eight were sons and three of the number partici- pated in the Civil war, Levi dying soon after
the battle of Chickamauga. Joshua Mar- shall came to Grant county in 1847 and took up forty acres of government land in Frank- Im township, which is the property now occu- pied by John Glessner. He cut the first stick and built a one-room log cabin where he reared his family, making additions and im- provements to the property from time to time as occasion demanded. He lived to a good old age, dying in 1886 at the age of seventy- three years, his wife having been laid to rest some six years before.
Eli B. Marshall was a habe in arms when his parents settled in Franklin township and he remained with them during his youth, assisted his father with the work. The cause of the Union appealed strongly to his loyal young heart and it was his earnest de- sire to take up arms in defense of his country, but to this his parents would not hear as he was only a boy, and two sons had already entered the thickest of the fight, one of them giving his life on the field of battle. How- ever. the desire on his part was so strong that he found it almost impossible to con-
tinue tamely at his work when exciting ru- mors of the conflict were daily repeated in his northern home, and he finally ran away from home to enlist in Company C. One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Indiana Volun- teers on April 21, 1864, for a term of one hundred days. He was mustered in at In- clianapolis and at once sent to Munfordville, Kentucky, where he remained until July when he was stationed at Louisville, to do garrison duty until October, 1864. when he was mustered out and returned home. He was at that time only a little past eighteen. and the following three years was spent with his parents on their farm in Franklin town- ship. He was married soon after reaching
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his majority and purchased forty acres of land upon which he made his home until 187 1 when he moved on the farm he now occupies. He owns one hundred and thirty-three acres of land in sections twenty-eight and nine. seventy acres of which have been cleared and! 1: ade tillable by some six miles of tile which he has placed to advantage. The house and outbuildings have been changed and im- proved from time to time as occasion de- manded and are to-day among the best in the township. Besides the home farm he owned about three hundred and twenty acres of other land, some of which has been sold off. He carries on general farming and stock- raising and about four years ago embarked in a new line, i. e. : breeding fine Poland China hogs, a business that has made his name familiar with the admirers of that an- imal throughout the country. A visit to l;is pens will amply repay any lover of fine stock as his registered hogs are remarkable for symetry and size.
Mr. Marshall chose as his life companion, Miss Sarah A. Charles, a daughter of Dr. Charles, the ceremony being solemnized Sep- tember 26, 1867.
Mr. Marshall is a never-failing Repub- lican and at one time was the efficient con- stable of Franklin township. He became an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 1868, belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, and is greatly interested in the success of the Grange. He is a zealous member of the Friend's church in which he has been an elder for thirty years, and is a man whose unflinching integrity and honesty has won the general approba- tion and esteem of the public.
Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have no chillren of their own, but out of the goodness of their
hearts they have adopted Virlin Winslow, who now bears the family name and now resides on a part of the home farm, and the name of E. B. Marshall & Son is the style under which all their business is trans- acted. Besides this young man, Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have had in the family nine- teen different unfortunate children whom they kept from six months to fifteen years, all of whom now thoroughly appreciate their kind treatment.
ALBERT E. SHUGART.
Albert E. Shugart is a prosperous dairy- man and farmer who resides about four and one-half miles south from the city of Ma- rion on the fine old farm in Franklin town- slip, Grant county, Indiana, upon which he first opened his eyes to the light of day on November 24, 1867. His parents were Cornelius and Harriet (Coleman) Shu- gart, and his maternal grandparents were Elias and Sarah Coleman. Cornelius Shu- gart was the father of seven children, viz. : Anna, wife of J. H. Rook, of Mill town- ship; Caroline, wife of W. K. Mendenhall, aiso of Mill township; Bennett L., a lecturer on prohibition who resides in Franklin town- ship; Mary A., wife of Robert White of Henry county ; Elnora N., deceased ; Isabelle H., wife of J. C. Overman of Fairmount ; and Albert E., the subject of these memoirs. Cornelius and Harriet Shugart were born in the Quaker church and were zealous in the cause all their lives, the husband being a minister in the church for twenty-five years. He was a man of many resources and was never lacking for employment as a means of adding to his goodly store. He moved to
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this farm soon after marriage and here spent the remainder of his life, building first a lit- tle log cabin, which in 1872 was replaced by the magnificent brick which is considered the largest, costliest, and most complete farm residence to be found in Grant county. For thirty years he was engaged in teaching dur- ing the winter months, while the summer was devoted to cultivating his broad acres and gathering in the abundant harvests which seemed always to spring from his sowing. He was very prosperous in life and at one time owned seven hundred acres of land. He was a Republican and in 1872 was seated in the legislative halls of Indiana to look af- ter the varied interests of his constituents. He was a friend of the oppressed and took an active part in the underground railway. assisting in the escape of many slaves. He died July 1, 1884, at the age of sixty-four years, but a great deal of good had been ac complished by him in that time. His wife died two years later and is resting beside her husband in the beautiful cemetery of Marion.
Albert E. Shugart was reared on his father's farm and received his primary edu- cation in the common schools, supplement- ing this with a course in Fairmount Academy and a complete course in the business college at Valparaiso, Indiana. He has always lived with his father and operated the farm with him, the full charge of it being given into the hands of our subject at an early age. He now owns the homestead of ninety acres, having bought the interest of the other heirs. He has carried on general farming and stock- raising and has also engaged in dairying. and is one of the wide-awake, enterprising men who have done so much to build up the county. He has established a splendid rep-
miation as a farmer, and his seed corn, of which he makes a specialty, is in great de .. mand throughout the country. Mr. Shugart married. November 28, 1888, Miss Jennie Hathaway by whom he has six children, Harold, Mabel, Ralph, Mark, Floyd and Lu .. cile. He and his wife are members of the Quaker church and are earnest, Christian people who have the best interest of the com- munity at heart. Mrs. Shugart is a daugh- ter of John and Mary ( Hall ) Hathaway and was born March 13, 1869. Mr. Shugart is a Maccabee fraternally and politically is a Republican. He owns city property in Fairmount. Indiana, and acts as salesman for the Hall Safe & Lock Company, and is also a notary public.
ELIJAH HARRELL.
This popular administrator of justice in Washington township. Grant county, and one of the leading mechanics, is Elijah Har- rell, of the village of Hanfield, who was born in Wabash county, Indiana, December 10, 1854. His father was Charles Harrell, who was born in Rush county, and while still a boy was taken to Wabash county, where he was married to Jane Scott, a native of the same county as himself. He made a valuable farm in Wabash county, upon which the greater part of his life was passed and where he died October 17, 1899, at the age of seventy-six.
The boyhood of Elijah Harrell was spent upon the farm with his father, having, be- side the common school, attended for a time the Wabash Seminary, and at the age of twenty began to teach. He taught for three terms, working in the meantime on the farm,
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and after reaching his majority began the trade of blacksmith, in connection with his brother-in-law, and from that time he has followed the trade till he came to Hanfield in the fall of 1883. He has devoted him- self assiduously to the anvil, the result being most satisfactory, he having made for him- self a nice little farm of thirty-six acres, which he has considerably improved, and which he operates. He has become proficient in the trade having taken it up with the spirit of making it his principle employment, acquiring skill that comes from constant practice of the hand guided by the intelligent brain.
He is a Republican in his political rela- tions and has ever taken a keen interest in the proceedings of the party, being general- ly sent as a delegate to the various conven- tions of the county and district. Recogniz- ing the fitness and ability of the man for the position, his townsmen chose him to fill the responsible post of justice of the peace, a position he has filled most acceptably to all concerned. It is his practice to give each case, as it comes before him, the careful study that its merits demand; and with a naturally logical mind, emphasized by the legal reading and research, he has been able to reach the innermost points involved, his decisions having invariably been accepted, no appeals having been taken from his rul- ings.
'Squire Harrell was married April 6, 1879, to Miss Sarah E. Logan, of Hunting- ton county, and as a result, three sons con- stitute the family : Hovey P .; Orville Waldo and Dewey A. Four children have been taken from them, the eldest-John C .- at the age of seventeen, Alvador Sherman at four years, an infant, and Ivy Montana, who
was severely burned, her clothes catching from the stove, but whose death nine hours thereafter came free from agony, the burns having been so severe as to destroy the sense of pain. She was a specially bright girl of ten years and a great favorite with all who knew her.
Mr. Harrell and wife are identified with the Protestant Methodist church at Hanfield, and in their daily lives the teachings of the Master are exemplified. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, and has served the subordinate lodge in all its official positions, having been, also, a representative to the grand lodge. Holding relation to the en- campment at Marion, he has there been hon- ored by his associates in being chosen as the representative to the grand encamp- ment.
It is to those who knew him best that Mr. Harrell's many amiable qualities are most apparent, the genial, whole-souled com- panion appearing to the greatest advantage when, in the fraternity of congenial spirits, he is found able to add much to the pleas- ure of the occasion.
HARVEY M. CREVISTON.
Beyond the possibility of a doubt one thing that has most contributed to the pres- ent wealth and prosperity of Grant county is the feature of drainage that has been so universally adopted by the citizens, and which has reclaimed thousands of acres of what was worthless swamp and marsh or even ponds, into the most fertile and pro- ductive land in this section of the state.
Fifty years ago, the country being cov-
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ered with dense growth of forest, and lying in a flat surface, was, the greater part of the year also covered, more or less, with water, so that the only parts suitable for cultivation, and upon the tilling of which the pioneers had to depend for their sus- tenance, were the knolls or higher places, and even these afforded but little opportunity for the enterprising agriculturist to extend his operations.
As settlers began to thicken and assist- ance could be obtained, the more ambitious men entered into a plan of co-operation and engaged in opening the few natural drains, thus affording more ample scope for the ex- pansion of tillable surface. While this was a step in the right direction, it but tended to prove the practicability of the scheme and to emphasize the importance of thorough drainage, converting the skeptical to the truth of the assertion that the entire ter- ritory could be made valuable if the oppor- tunity were but given the water to leave the surface.
As soon as outlets were secured and the surface water disposed of, it was recognized that under-draining was as badly needed in order to continue the anticipated exten- sion of farming lands. To this end blind ditches, made of timbers, were laid by the more progressive, when all were surprised by the result, what had been swamp giving way to fields of growing grain. As soon as the value of this feature of ditching had been demonstrated, farms began to extend their boundaries, the wilderness giving way to cleared and productive farms. Hun- «reds who, heretofore, had but existed and who had felt little hope of ever more than existing, took heart seeing the possibility that lay before them. Hundreds more who
had been discouraged from any attempt at making a farm, began with an energy born of something tangible ; not many years pass- ing till the entire company was dotted with the evidences of thrift and prosperity, the old one-room log cabin giving place to more pretentious hewed-log houses, and the former winding trails being superseded by the direct, though sometimes muddy roads.
A few years later it was seen that these primitive drains were rotting and a more substantial and lasting substitute was sought, the investigation and experiments which fol- lowed determining the value and utility of drain tile. To this all soon turned for re- lief, the decaying timbers being replaced by the more substantial material. Thus a new industry was established in the county, no more important one being within its borders, the demand for the modern tiling exceeding the facilities of manufacture, though hun- dreds of men were thus employed. The wealth of farms increased, the drained fields yielding bountifully of the harvests and on every side was seen the growth and new vigor of each community.
As these crude and independent efforts were extended beyond the limits of neigh- borhoods, the question of further outlets became one of such general importance, and the formation of districts for drainage pur- poses, according to the legislation, that had grown out of the necessities of the case, it became essential that there be some recog- nized authority to render suitable super- vision of the public drains which were be- ing constructed by the county at an immense expense. AAccordingly the position of drainage commissioner was created, the present efficient incumbent being the gen- tleman whose name preludes this article.
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Being a practical farmer and one of those who had greatly improved his own farm by drainage, he is well qualified for the position that comes in closer contact with the farmers than any other official place. He had taken an active part in the securing and making of suitable outlets for his neigh- borhood, paying himself more than four hundred dollars toward it, when but a few rods of the larger tile had reached his own property. His interest and ability being so thoroughly demonstrated, he was selected by the commissioners as the county superin- tendent of this line of improvement, taking possession of the office in April, 1899. The value of the work done under the commis- sion during the past five years is beyond computation, and of which but a brief sum- mary can here be given. At least seventy- two miles of drain have been laid, upward of forty-five thousand dollars being expend- ed under the direction of the office. Some eight thousand rods are in process of con- struction at present, in various sections, be- ing well distributed over the county-the townships of Fairmount and Liberty and others in the southern part being the great- est beneficiaries. Since the systematizing of the work, during the eighteen years that there has been suitable supervision, the county has been fairly well improved in this respect, the more essential and larger outlets being so enlarged and improved as to make the continuance of the work a com- paratively easy matter. The duties of the position occupy the entire attention of Mr. Creviston, to the almost exclusion of private business.
He has introduced several innovations, such as the use of larger tile and the mak- ing of catch basins to prevent overflow and
washing out of the drains. Being well in- formed in the details relating to the office, and with a life-long training in the eco- nomical conduct of business and that en- thusiasm so essential in the man who at- tends to the duties of the public, no mistake was made by the commissioners when Mr. Creviston was chosen.
Beside being a competent and obliging official as well as cultured gentleman, he has other claims for notice at the hands of the biographer, being the representative of one of those families to whom much of the present wealth of the community is due. He is a native of the county and was born on the farm in Van Buren township, where his mother still resides, on the 19th of August, 1852. His father was Daniel Creviston, of German ancestry but of Ohio birth, and the mother being Sarah A. Pippinger. In 1841, they settled in the woods, on the Van Buren farm, and there the father's life was passed, he becoming one of the best known men, and one whose life was devoted wholly to the interests of his own farm and family. Largely as the result of the demands of the times, he was of a peculiarly economical and saving nature, amassing a handsome com- petence, and becoming one of the wealthiest citizens of the community in which he lived. He passed from earth on March 25, 1880, in the sixty-sixth year of his life. The pres- ent residence of the widow was erected by him in 1846, succeeding the one-room cabin. She now resides at the scenes of so many happy days, taking pleasure in being sur- rounded by her children, all of whom owe much of their present prosperity to the self- denial and abnegation of a devoted mother and father, whose memories will be cher- ished by at least a few of those children;
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