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 43
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Mr. Hobaugh has filled no rear rank in any line tending to the general advancement his work in the Sunday-school for the past twenty years proving highly valuable to the shaping of a high standard of public morals.
He was reared in the Bethlehem church, every pulsation of whose existence has met in him an ardent sympathizer.
Believing in those grand principles of brotherly love and relation that is most beautifully illustrated in the practices of the fraternities, he became associated with the Odd Fellows at Marion, where he is held in the highest esteem.
DANIEL BRADFORD (DECEASED).
Daniel Bradford was one of the oldest citizens of Grant county, Indiana, was born in Hardy county, Virginia, on the 19th of April, 1813, and was a son of George W. and Marilla (Stingley) Bradford, he being na- tive to the same county, while she was born in Pennsylvania. While the origin of the family has not been traced with exactness, it is known that it is of English ancestry, the annals of the state making frequent ref- erence to its members. The mother of Daniel died rather early in life in the old home, after giving birth to four sons-Leon- ard. John, George and Daniel. The eldest of these was the first of the family to come to this state, which he did in the year 1837, entering land in Washington township, near the home of Daniel, where he reared his fam- ily. His death occurred in Marion, where he had resided for some years with his brother Moses. John, the second of the sons, died at the age of twenty-four. George came to this region in 1838, and made a fine farm, dying at the age of eighty-four at Idaville, Indiana.
The father had married a second time in Virginia, and feeling that he could render
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greater assistance to his children by remov- and secured a second one from his brother- in-law, thus giving them quite a substantial outfit to make the trip with. The cabin that became the new home had no door, no chim- ney, simply a roof; but this was sufficient for shelter and protection from the wolves, which howled about in great numbers. Two years later a cabin was erected on the site ! of the present home, and here Mr. Brad- ing to the newer country decided to follow the sons to this state, which he did in 1843, being met in Warren county, Ohio, by Daniel and his wife, who made a short visit to friends there. Further reference to this gentleman is made in the sketch of his son, Jesse Bradford, whose home is near where his father made his own permanent home, a few miles north of Marion. Three sons 1 ford has continued to reside for more than sixty years, devoting his energies to the mak- ing of a farm and the accumulation of a competence to care for the old age, beside providing to a considerable extent for the comfort and ease of his children. His sec- ond house on the present site was a hewed of the second marriage were already here before him. They were Casper, Henry and Moses, the latter being more fully treated in connection with his son, the present efficient sheriff of the county. Casper married here and settled where Jesse now lives, dying at the age of thirty. Henry settled in Hen- log one, and at the time was about as good dricks county, not far from Indianapolis, a one as could be found in the county. This where he is still living.
The minority years of Daniel Bradford were all passed with his father, working the succeeding six months to earn sufficient to carry him to Greene county, Ohio, where relatives were already living. He there worked by the month until his marriage, at the age of twenty-five, to Miss Louisa Romine, who was born in Henrico coun- ty, Virginia. In 1839, with two children- George and Mary Matilda-the latter an in- fant in arms, he set out for Indiana to join his brothers. He had been here two years before and entered the land, the trip being made on foot in twelve days, having two other good men as companions. His wife had worked out to buy a bureau, and her father had given them a bedstead, and these about constituted their furniture until he made a table out of slabs and puncheons, and a second bedstead by boring holes in the logs and placing poles for sides and a post for the only corner. He had one horse,
was replaced, toward the close of the war by a more pretentious one, which has ever been the home of the freest and most open- handed hospitality, the entertainment of friends being seasoned by the recital in a most interesting and agreeable manner by the many discouragements accompanying the life of the pioneer. It is worthy of note that the preparation for the erection of his late residence was going forward for a period of ten years, the timber being carefully se- lected from the farm. It was all black wal- nut, and when sawed into lumber was as carefully seasoned, so that when he was ready to build he had a fine assortment of the best timber and lumber possible. The erec- tion of the house was carried out with the same care, all being done in a thoroughly workmanlike manner, and it being finished on the interior with the same kind of lum- ber it stands to-day one of the best made and substantial residences of the many of which the county can well boast. During
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those first years' residence in the new coun- try the woods abounded with game, and af- forded in fact the only source of cash in- come, for several years his taxes being paid from the money obtained by selling coon skins. Beside the skins but one other means for cash was known, and that was what could be earned by his wife as a weaver. Before marriage she had worked at seventy- five cents per week, and now being an expert with the spinning wheel and the loom she did a great deal of this kind of work. In addition to what she did in this way she as- sisted her husband in the burning of the brush and much other outdoor work, and did the housework for a family of seven, making all their clothing. Shoes were ob- tained by getting leather at the Weeks tan- yard and an itinerant shoemaker would come around each season and make the shoes. The women of those days were no less skilled in the use of the gun than were the men, and it was nothing unusual for Mrs. Brad- ford to take the gun and in a little while re- turn with a wild turkey as her reward. She was one of the most helpful of women to her neighbors, the night never being too cold or the weather too inclement for her to respond to the needs of a sick neighbor ; and, when once at the bedside, her atten- tions and services were equal to those of the skilled and trained physician. After travel- ing the pathway together for more than six- ty-four years she was called to a place in the Great Beyond on the 11th of March, 1 899.
At the first election held in Washington township Daniel Bradford was elected as one of three trustees, who were designated as judge, treasurer and clerk, he being known as the judge. But twenty-three votes were
cast at that election, and it is believed that he was the last survivor of them all.
Having been raised in close proximity to slavery Mr. Bradford had become dis- gusted with it and became a pronounced abolitionist, though he never acted with those enthusiasts who operated what was known as the underground railroad. Never very radical in his views, he ever adhered to the Republican party, the basis of the existence of that party embodying the destruction of that curse to humanity and to the nation.
The Bradford family were five children who grew to maturity. the eldest being George, who became a soldier in Company K of the Fortieth Indiana Volunteer Infan- try, and died of that worst scourge to armies-measles-at Pulaski. Tennessee. The second is Mary Matilda, who was mar- ried, at eighteen, to Benjamin Johnson, who was born in Harrison county, Indiana, July 31. 1834, and came to Washington town- ship almost fifty years ago in company with his parents, Elias and Anna ( Harvey ) John- son. He became a recruit in Company K. Fortieth Indiana, joining the regiment in Tennessee and remaining with it till mus- tered out at the end of the war. He was in the battles at Spring Hill. Franklin and Nashville, being shot through the hat in the action at Franklin. He and wife re- turned to the Bradford home in 1897, and since have devoted their attention to the con- duct of the farm, carrying out that gospel injunction to properly respect and care for one's parents. Their five children are Har- vey. Ella, Della. Jesse and Ada. The third of the Bradford family was Emily Eliza- beth, who became the wife of Samuel Ebert and died at the age of thirty. Moses Til- den is the next. and he is a prosperous
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farmer of the same township. Jesse Wil- burn, the youngest, died when still a young man of thirty.
Mr. Bradford was born less than one year after the great battle with the Indians, a few miles from his late home, which was the death note to many, and the warning to all that fate decreed that this section of the country should pass into the hands of the white race. What wonderful changes took place during this old gentleman's life! The eighty-seven years of his existence on earth witnessed more and greater changes that have worked to the advancement of human- ity than all the previous centuries had known. It was worth something to have lived during this wonderful period, and when he had stepped into the twentieth cen- tury he had not been a cipher in the great problem of human destiny, but had an active hand and part in the making of this region, bringing it from the wilderness into its pres- ent highly civilized and productive condi- tion. When he, too, had passed to regions of celestial joy to rejoin her with whom he lived and worked for more than three-score years, it was well recorded on the slab that marked his last resting place "that here lies the body of a completed man." Of those brave men, and no less deserving women, whose sacrifices made it possible for their husbands to accomplish what they did, scarce none remain, all having answered the call of nature that carries them back to their origin, the "Land of Shadows." Mr. Brad- ford stood the last of a noble and respected race, but for whom the well tilled farms, crowned with almost palatial homes, the great business centers, scattered all over this western land, and the teeming millions of the great American people would not exist as
they do, with the center of population of the republic lying within the boundaries of our own state. His long and useful life closed November 30, 1900, but-
There is no Death, what seems such is transition ; This life of mortal breath
Is but the suburbs of the life elysian, Whose portals we call death.
ELIAS CAREY.
Elias Carey, proprietor of the Rose Hill Dairy and a prominent farmer of Center township, Grant county, Indiana, was born near Hillsboro, in Highland county, Ohio, November 9, 1836. His father, John Carey, was a native of the same locality and was a farmer of Highland county, who moved to Clinton county in 1843, where he remained six years when he moved here, settling in Fairmount township on an eighty-acre tract of land which he had purchased. This prop- erty had on it a log cabin, into which he moved, and he afterward purchased two . more eighties adjoining, making him a farm of two hundred and forty acres, upon which he died, in Jonesborough, in 1896, in his eightieth year. He was a man of large pro- portions and commanding presence, and for forty years was an able minister in the Quaker church. He was a strong abolitionist and an active friend of the colored race when they most needed friends. He was twice married, first to the wife of his youth, Eliza Moon, who bore him four sons and four daughters, our subject being of this number. His second union was with Lydia Jones, whose children were five sons and three daughters. Of the sixteen children, fourteen grew to adult years.
Elias Carey was a lad of thirteen when
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his father located in Fairmount township. At the age of eighteen he began working at the carpenter trade, which he continued in addition to farming for a period of twenty years. In 1867 he moved to Franklin town- ship, still working at his trade and farming until 1870, when he abandoned the trade and gave his entire attention to his farm. In 1880 he located in Center township and opened a dairy, moving eight years later to the farm he now occupies, as being more convenient for his business. He milks from thirty to forty cows, and in the twenty years he has been thus engaged he has built up a most substantial patronage among the bet- ter class of citizens who appreciate his in- tegrity and the superior grade of milk he furnishes. His dairy is neat and clean, great care being taken to place the goods on the market in the best possible shape. He has forty acres of land in the home farm and in addition owns seventy acres in Franklin township.
Mr. Carey is a devout member of the Quaker church and a strong Republican. He was married, at the age of nineteen, to Miss Hulda Overman, daughter of Ephraim Over- man, ten children resulting from their union, namely: Mary E., wife of Jesse Hobson; Mariam, deceased; Miranda, wife of Irven Overman; Rachel W., wife of Elmer Bogue; Emma, wife of W. S. Jennings; Almira, wife of B. G. Patterson; Charles D .; William L .; Dayton J .; and Rosamand, who is mar- ried to Herman L. Davis.
FRANK E. ALWARD.
Frank E. Alward, superintendent and secretary of the Indiana Pulp and Paper Mills, of Marion, Indiana, presents a strik-
ing example of the success that may be at- tained by the American youth who possesses perseverance, industry and the laudable am- bition to achieve something more than a hand-to-mouth existence. One of a large family who were only in moderate circum- stances, he began his struggle for prosperity at the age of fifteen, and with unabated ardor has applied himself to the task in hand until he has attained a position of honor and responsibility which is well merited. He was born November 29, 1855, in South Bend, Indiana, and is a son of Cyrus and Mary D. (Gilbert) Alward.
Cyrus Alward was born in York state, where he grew to manhood and was educated to the profession of law. About the year 1850 he located in Niles, Michigan, and was one of the first attorneys to practice there. He was quite a successful lawyer and remained in Niles until 1888, when he moved to Warsaw, this state, where he died in the month of October, ten years later, in his seventy-third year. He was a Republi- can and served his party in various offices. It was not his fortune to accumulate great wealth, as he had a large family and it made a heavy draft on his income to edu- cate them and rear them as he wished. His wife was formerly Mary D. Gilbert, a na- tive of the city of London, England, who came to America with her parents when she was in her first year. They settled in Niles when Michigan was a territory, and was wild and almost unbroken, and it was there she met and fell in love with Cyrus Alward, the rising young attorney. She is now in her seventy-second year and a zealous mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal ch :h Nine children were born to her, eight sons and one daughter.
Galward,
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Frank E. Alward attended public school until he was fifteen, when his energetic na- ture asserted itself and he joined the large army of wage earners, beginning in the humble capacity of delivery boy for the flour mill at Niles. His shrewdness and dili- gence were soon seen by his employer and he was given a place in the office as book- keeper, a position he retained nine years. resigning it to accept a better one with thx Michigan Wood Pulp Mills at Niles. He was first employed there as bookkeeper and soon mastered the details of the business so thoroughly that he was made superintendent of the plant and conducted the business in a manner to elicit the praise of all concerned, When he had been with this firm about ten years, the Indiana plant in Marion was com- pleted and he was employed to take it in charge in 1892. He is superintendent of the business, in which he is a director and stockholder, and also fills the responsible position of secretary. Under his efficient management this mill has become one of the largest and best in the United States, ad- mitting few, if any, superiors.
Mr. Alward labors under the disadvan- tage of being quite deaf and is obliged to resort to the use of a trumpet, but this has not stood in the way of his rapid advance- ment in business. Unlike most men of his prominence, he is without an enemy in the world, his uniform good nature and kindness having gained for him the love of his em- ployes and the respect of all who have come in contact with him. His services in the paper mills are so much in demand that he was offered a large salary-five thousand dollars per year-to take charge of a large plant in Michigan, but so valuable is his knowledge of the great business that the 21
Marion plant would not hear of him leaving them.
Mr. Alward was married to Miss Ella F. Hatfield, in Niles, in 1876, their wed- ding being the culmination of a romance begun in the school-room when they were children. Three daughters have blessed their union-Bessie, Florence and Ida- and all are living at home.
Fraternally Mr. Alward is a prominent member of the Royal Arcanum, the Mod- ern Woodmen of America, and for twenty years has been a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
His home paper, the Niles Star, has this. to say concerning him "It is always a great pleasure to note the success of a Niles. boy, and certainly Mr. Frank Alward is en- titled to unstinted praise for his rapid ad- vancement within a very short time. Such. attainments do not fall to the lot of many, yet Mr. Alward's good fortune is due to. his individual efforts. The services of Frank Alward were so much in demand that he was offered five thousand dollars to take the management of a large paper mill in Mich- igan, but the Indiana Pulp and Paper Com- pany would not part with him. Mr. Al- ward is called one of the best paper board mill men in the United States, and it is through his personal efforts that the Indiana Pulp and Paper Company's mill stands at the head of all other like institutions in that section."
WILLIAM K. FRAIZER.
It is safe to say that the greater per- centage of the better class of improvements, including the farming communities as well as the towns, have been made during the
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latter fifteen years of the century. The in- crease of wealth during this period has been equally marked, and in treating of the coun- ty's growth and prosperity all credit should be accorded to those of the younger citi- zens whose untiring energies and unflagging industry have done so much to the general growth and development.
Among those well deserving attention at the hands of the biographer is the gentle- man whose name introduces this article, William K. Fraizer, who is the proprietor of one of the most highly improved and desirable farms in Van Buren township, Grant county, Indiana, was born, within a short distance of his present home, in Huntington county, on the 15th of August, 1858. He is a son of Elisha and Mary ( Kirkpatrick) Fraizer, who were natives re- spectively of Clinton and Guernsey counties, Ohio. His father, Alexander Fraizer, dying when Elisha was but an infant in arms, left a widow in straightened circumstances, who by her industry and economy managed to keep her little family together, coming to Indiana when Elisha had reached the age of seventeen years.
This was in the year 1840, at which time it was still possible to secure land of the government; however, in their case it was necessary to make the entry in the name of the mother, on account of the boys being under age. They secured the tract of land that has since been his home, he now having resided on the same farm for a period of sixty years. He remained in close relation- ship with his mother for many years before taking to himself a wife, which he finally did, in 1855. in the person of Mary Ann, daughter of William and Margaret Kirk- patrick. She was born in Guernsey county,
Ohio, being a child of five when brought by her parents to Van Buren, where she grew to womanhood. Her parents were natives of Ireland, and coming to America young. were married in Ohio. This lady passed from earth in 1897, at the age of sixty-three.
The mother of Elisha Fraizer continued to reside at the old home till her own de- mise, having attained the ripe age of eighty- five. She was a woman of remarkable strength of character, much of which has been transmitted in undimished vigor to her descendants. Possessed to a remarkable degree of that virility of character that dis- tinguishes the grand woman of pioneer life, her impress was left in indelible lines upon the youth of the entire community.
Elisha Fraizer himself has carried his burden of life with such equanimity and per- severance as to distinguish him as one of the prominent characters of his township. He has amassed a handsome competence, and, believing in the policy of being of as much assistance to his family while living as pos- sible, has rendered each of the children sub- stantial aid, and finds greatest enjoyment in realizing the satisfaction they derive from it.
Now, in the seventy-sixth year of an active and honorable career, he lives sur- rounded by the many friends who recognize in him one of the substantial and respected men whose efforts have brought to this sec- tion of the state a position second to none in its natural wealth and in the development and improvement of its various resources.
The Fraizer family consists of three chil- dren, viz. : Mary M., wife of George Rob- erts, who operates the old homestead; Will- iam K .: and George, who is a farmer near the old home.
William K. Fraizer, whose worth as a
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citizen of Grant county is recognized by all, grew to manhood on the farm, his boy- hood years being not dissimilar to those of the average youth of the vicinity, but, giv- ing more than ordinary attention to his books, prepared himself to teach, a work he entered upon when in his twentieth year. Feeling the need of thorough preparation for the duties he has assumed, he became a student at the Warren Normal, finally at- tending the larger school at Valparaiso-a school of national reputation for its value in fitting ambitious young men and women for responsible positions as teachers. The suc- ceeding ten years were spent by Mr. Fraizer in the school-room, his love for educational work leading him to throw his best efforts toward advancement in school methods. The benefits derived to himself during this period were almost equal to those reaped by his students, many of whom now give much credit to his enthusiasm and careful super- vison in shaping their own inclinations and establishing firm and lasting impressions of the value of proper training. Many of the warmest friendships of his life date from these associations of the school-room, as, in many instances, the relation between teacher and pupil more resembled that found between companions.
During this period Mr. Fraizer began his interests in farming, having, in 1881, purchased part of what is his present farm. He has since made such additions by the purchase of two other farms that his estate now embraces two hundred acres of valuable land lying in a body, on the Washington pike, some twelve miles to the northeast of Marion. By the exercise of those qualities that have ever been features of his character he has made this tract into one very desir-
able and productive farm. Many thousands of rods of tiling have been laid, the drain- age extending to all essential parts of the entire farm, in some instances acres that were originally marsh or swamp being re- claimed by the judicious extension of the system of tiling,thus bringing them into high state of cultivation. Commodious barns have been erected, and, in 1897, the present handsome residence was constructed, com- pleting an arrangement of the improvements that places this in the front rank of fine farms in Grant county. The place is de- voted to general farming, the well tilled fields yielding bountifully of the golden har- vest in return for the care and labor be- stowed upon them. The greater part of the crops grown are converted into stock for the market, hogs being the principal dependence, nearly two hundred and fifty of these being placed on the market annually.
Lying within the great oil and gas field of Indiana, development of the industry has reached this farm, ten wells being already in active operation, with ample room for as many more, which will doubtless be sunk within a short time. The royalty received for those now working has been of great advantage in the improvement of the place, besides assisting Mr. Fraizer to engage in such other interests as his inclination sug- gested. Thousands of dollars have already been realized and the value of the entire tract so enhanced in the market that one hundred dollars per acre has been offered and refused.
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