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 59
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS.
Carolina, October 26, 1844, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Young) Briles, both of whom were natives of the same county.
John Briles, a farmer, came to Indiana in the fall of 1865, and located on a farm four and one-half miles from Fairmount. He was a Union man in sentiment, and bit- . terly opposed to both slavery and to seces- sion. He lost considerable property by rea- son of his devotion to the Union while he was living in the south, the Confederate troops devastating his farm and carrying off everything that was portable. John Briles after coming to Grant county, Indi- ana, continued to cultivate the soil, and died on his Liberty township farm at the age of sixty-four years; his widow, born in 1824, still lives on the home farm in Liberty town- ship. The children born to John and Eliza- beth Briles were three in number, Jacob being the eldest; Noah is a farmer in Mad- ison county, Indiana; and Elwood E., the youngest of the family, is now a student of law in Fairmount.
Jacob Briles received a sound English education in his native state. In 1864 he was conscripted into the Conferderate army, much against his will, as his sentiments were decidedly with the men whom he was com- pelled to fight. He would have deserted had an opportunity presented itself. He served until the close of the war in the east- ern part of North Carolina. In 1866 he came to Grant county, Indiana, and for two years worked in various lines of industry, after which he went into the lumber trade and erected a saw-mill on his premises, and for twenty-five years did a prosperous busi- ness in hard-wood lumber.
In May, 1900, Jacob Briles was elected city clerk and treasurer of Fairmount, a
position he still holds, and the duties of which he performs in a most satisfactory manner.
The first marriage of Jacob Briles took place in this county in 1868, when Miss Julia Ann Reeder became his bride. This lady is a daughter of Spencer Reeder, a pioneer and farmer. To this marriage there were born five children, three of whom are still living : Albert R., who is employed in rail- road work; John E., who is employed by the Atlas Engine Company, in Indianapolis, and Arminta Elizabeth, who is attending school; Charles S. Briles, the oldest grad- uated from the Fairmount Academy, was employed in the Exchange Bank at Marion for six years, then engaged in business for himself, but was soon afterward prostrated by disease and died in his twenty-seventh year; Robert died' at the age of twenty- four years.
Jacob Briles has been a Republican all his mature years, but in religion is independ- ent, yet his inclinations are toward the Soci- ety of Friends. Fraternally Jacob Briles is prominent in several orders or societies, being a past master of Samaritan Lodge, No. 104, F. & A. M .; past grand of Fair- mount Lodge No. 381, I. O. O. F., and past chancellor commander, Paragon Lodge, No. 219, K. of P., and of the latter he is a char- ter member; he is likewise P. C. P. in the I. O. O. F. Encampment.
Mrs. Julia Ann (Reeder) Briles was called away in 1884, and for a second help- mate Jacob Briles selected Miss Sarah Law- rence, a native of Grant county, but at the (late of her marriage was a resident of Wayne county. This second marriage has been crowned by the birth of two children, Walter and Maud, both at home. The
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Briles family stand very high in the social circles of Fairmount, being esteemed for their many good qualities of mind and heart.
JOHN AVERY KERSEY.
John Avery Kersey, lawyer at Marion, Indiana, deserves much more than a passing notice. He left the school room when but twelve years of age, at the age of thirteen enlisted in the service of his country as a soldier, and during the following fifteen years waged life's struggle in various ways and in many different states and territories, also in Mexico.
He was thirty years of age before he chose his profession, yet he has forged to the front in its ranks. His school days were few, but the hours of study at the fireside have been many, and he has thus secured a liberal education. He has been a close student and thinker, and has be- come a fluent writer. His writings have often appeared in public print, and he is the author of "Ethics of Literature," published in 1894. This work has attracted the at- tention of the press and people from ocean to ocean, and shows the author to be an independent thinker and reasoner. It is original and displays a deep research on the part of the author. It is impossible, in a notice of this character, to enter into a re- view of this volume, but below will be found a few of the encomiums it has received from critics :
"Enters the arena as a free lance against quack- ery, imposture and frivolity." Recien of Reries.
" The author talks about literature, freely criticis- ing a number of the old stand-bys."-Picayune, Nur Orleans.
" To be appreciated the work must be read, and it makes a valuable addition to any library."-Democrat, Howard, Dak.
" A wide range of investigation is shown in these discussions, and the writer evinces thorough study."- Dixpatch, Chicago.
" It is to criticism that Mr. Kersey turns boldly. He is evidently sincere, and is to be praised for the measure of his declarations."-Indianapolis Neix.
"Mr. Kersey believes that a great many of our judgments respecting famous authors and works of literature will not stand candid examination."-M .... Journal, Charlotte, N. C.
" It is impossible in a brief review to dwell as we should like upon the author's spirited criticism of But- ler's Analogy and the truculence of theology toward science."-Neir York Sun.
" The author engages with equal prowess in a sentimental tilt with Tennyson and a metaphysical combat with Emanuel Kant. His learning is pro- found and his methods fair and philosophical."-In - dianapolis Journal.
" It has a clearly defined purpose, and that pur- pose is to expose certain monstrous fallacies which have been paraded in the past as fundamental truths and infallible methods; errors in history, philosophy, literature, science, art and religion."-Indianapolis Sentinel.
"A frank and unconventional estimate of some of the great writers of the world in religion, philosophy, politics, poetry, history, etc. The author believes that if there was independence of thought and judg- ment many writers who are now world famous as great geniuses would sink into obscurity. He applies his searching methods of criticism to such works as But- ler's 'Analogy,' Drummond's Natural Law in the Spiritual World.' ' Paradise Lost,' Pope's ' Easay on Man,' Carlyle's writings, Bryant's Poems' 'Faust,' and many others."-Literary Nurx, New York City.
" The one thing more than all else conspicuous in Mr. Kersey's book is the desire to know, not what others have said about the celebrity but what is the truth about him. With this in mind he has scrutin- ized the works of a great number of authors and sub- jected them to an analysis remarkable for its keen- ness."-Chronicle, Marion, Ind.
"The demand for the work is growing, and the press notices and opinion of competent judges place the book with the best productions of the century. The light of the author's intelligence as set forth in ' Ethics of Literature ' will shine on for generations. It will be a monument more lasting than any other he might erect to his memory."-Morning News, Marion. Ind.
"A careful perusal of Mr. John A. Kersey's 'Eth-
John A. Kersey
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ics of Literature' has brought me to the conclusion that the hour has come at last when the cobwebs of ecstatic eulogy, absurd glorification and general hood- winking, which have gathered around some of the lit- erary idols of the last three generations, are about to be swept away, once and forever,"-Prof. II. Hensoldt, Columbia College, N. Y. ('ity.
" The author of this work presents a very careful analysis of the landmarks of English literature with an impartial hand, and it is our impression that he has furnished one of the most valuable criticisms that has ever been contributed on this subject. Nor is the book confined to specific writers, philosophies and schools of phylosophy; the Greek, Roman, mediæval and modern pass like a panorama before our eyes. Religions and their effects, atheism and polytheism, are discussed and dissected in the same spirit as the Legends of the North. the Myths of the East and the Traditions of the Middle Ages."- Transcript, Lynn, Maxs.
"John A. Kersey, of Marion, Ind., has excelled himself in his 'Ethics of Literature.' The work is dedicated to 'the candid and energetic thinker who would not stultify himself for an unintelligible faith, independent without insolence, incredulous without irreverence, who prefers his judgment (consience) to fashionable fancies and fanaticisms, and who loathes the gilded rot with which an exclusive regime regales a reading world.' Every page is a study, every sen- tence a gem, every chapter a literary treat. I know of no book better suited for the library of a thinking man."- Saxby's Magazine, l'irinnnati, Ohio.
"Ethics of Literature," by John A. Kersey, New York: The Humboldt Library. "The domain of letters is declared by its magnates to be a republic. Whether it be a republic or not, it is undeniably a very ancient region with institutions dating back to the re- mote past. The realm of literature has never been investigated from the purely objective point of view of the mere explorer. Our accounts of it come almost wholly from its own magnates, for literature tolerates no Marco Polo. The author of the book before us has endeavored to investigate the ' republic of letters' from its earliest times to the present day, and he arrives at the conclusion that the republic is all a sham, at least in its leading aspects. But to guard against doing Mr. Kersey an injustice, it should be stated that his book is not a history or a manual of literature. Like Dante, he touches only the summits of things. He surveys the whole field, out-lines its topography so far as to vast- ness and the vagueness of the region will permit, and then considers the striking features of the landscape one by one, according to each relative position. To be more literal, the work opens with an estimate of Butler's Analogy as a philosophic apologetic and then
carries us, chapter by chapter, through the literature of 'religion's obsequious homage to science,' through epic apologetics as instanced in the 'Paradise Lost,' and so on backward and forward until we arrive at Benjamin Kidd's ' Social Evolution,' where the work concludes. When it is pointed out that 'Faust,' and ' Lucretius," ' Idylls of the King' and ' Kant,' ' Thana- topsis ' and 'Carlyle,' every production, in a word, and every name belonging to world literature are brought under review, the vastness of his undertaking will be apparent. But throughout the 570 odd compactly printed pages the arrangement and method are so lucid that the reader is never confused.
"Two facts stand out very prominently in this book. The first is that the author must have devoted an enormous amount of time to the perusal of books. For this reason alone his work is a positive curiosity to mere book-worms, although it must not be supposed that Mr. Kersey is a book-worm. Any one who cares for books at all knows what an amount of time and thought must be given wholly to all sorts of literature whereby to find out what is worth reading at all. In wading through literature something very like a navi- gating instinct is necessary to save one from the fate of drifting aimlessly upon a shoreless ocean. Mr. Kersey has apparently never lost his bearings from the first. He is able to tell us, in consequence, both, what institutions in the domain of letters are sound, and what are mere shams, useful only as bulwarks of the mock republic. For, as has been hinted above there is no republic of letters. It is a depotism sup- ported by special interests, a reflection, that is of the social system under which we live. The next con- spicuous fact in the volume is its author's freedom from the thraldom of books. Some men know noth- ing about life. All they know they get from books. But Mr. Kersey does not apparently know as much about life as he knows about books, yet he knows a great deal about both. He knows far more about thoughts than he knows about either life or books, and this circumstance is the source of all the power of his writing. There is an amazing wealth of ideas in his book. He can grasp any thought and analyze it with vivid insight. His criticism on ' Faust' is an extraordi- nary series of ideas.
" If Mr. Kersey were an Englishman and lived in London his book would by this time have appeared under the imprint of a London publisher. It would have been duly reviewed in 'The Academy ' and ' The Spectator,' and 'The Saturday Review.' It would have won its way to recognition, and then the Ameri- can publishers would be madly bidding against each other for it. No American book reviewer is taken seriously except, perhaps, by himself. Consequently the approval of every scribbler in the United States
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could not have given Mr. Kersey's book a place in literature. In short our position where letters is con- cerned is so provincial that no book written in Amer- ica by an American on the subject selected by Mr. Kersey can have any chance at all. Our position in that respect is the same as position in respect to finance. We must perforce let London make our mon- etary system because our financiers are in alliance with Englaud. So are our publishers. Putting aside mere difference of standpoint, it is beyond dispute that Mr. Kersey is a highly original and yet very acur- ete thinker. His chapters on Kant are the best ever written. What he says concerning Christianity and Buddhism it is impossible to speak of as they deserve without making use of a form of praise that has been rendered nauseating and silly by indiscriminate application. This book purports to be written for thinkers, but it would be more appropriately inscribed to those who want to think but cannot on account of the intellectual chains that link them with the 'read- ing rabble' of men who think they think. The au- thor's estimate of Carlyle is a downright stroke of genius."- Twentieth Century, N. Y.
Mr. Kersey is a native of Indiana, born in Valparaiso June 18, 1848, a son of Dr. Silas and Mary (Lomax) Kersey. Dr. Kersey was born in North Carolina. He was educated for his profession in New York city, where for five years he prose- cuted its practice, then removed to Indiana, and after a short stay at North Manchester located at Valparaiso and continued as phy- sician and surgeon until 1857, in which year he moved to Richmond, where he now re- sides and is engaged in active practice. He also served as principal surgeon of the Thirty-sixth Indiana throughout the war.
The mother of Mr. Kersey bore the maiden name of Mary Lomax. She was born in Wayne county, Indiana, and re- sides in Marion, a highly respected Chris- tian woman, hokling membership in the Presbyterian church. Dr. Silas and Mary Kersey became the parents of three chil- dren, viz. : Constantine died at the age of three years; John A., the subject of this
sketch: and James B., a physician and sur- geon of Illinois.
John Avery Kersey received the rudi- ments of his education in the country schools, but his school days were limited, as he was compelled to leave the school room when twelve years of age. He remained with his mother until 1863, when, although only a boy of fifteen years, he enlisted on the 14th day of August and was mustered into service as a private in Company I, Ninety-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry, for six months' service. He was discharged at the end of eight months at Indianapolis, having participated in engagements around Knoxville and Cumberland Gap. He at once re-enlisted for one hundred days' ser- vice as private in Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, and served five months. During this term he saw active service in central Kentucky and Tennessee, and for a time was orderly on the staff of General Hugh Ewing at Louisville, Kentucky. He was discharged the second time in November, 1864, and during the following sixteen months at- tended to the home farm for his mother.
In March, 1868, he went to Cassopolis, Michigan, and for eleven months was en- gaged on the construction of a railroad, now a part of the Grand Trunk system be- tween Cassopolis and Schoolcraft, his uncle, Joseph Lomax, being the chief contractor. Joseph Lomax is now more than ninety years of age and being employed in the gen- eral offices of the Grand Rapids & Indi- ana Railroad Company at Grand Rapids, Michigan: he is now the oldest railroad clerk in the United States. Mr. Lomax organized said railroad company and aided in the construction of the road.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS.
When Mr. Kersey had completed his work in Michigan he returned to Indiana and for a time remained with his mother. In August, 1869, he went to Wexford coun- ty, Michigan, and improved a piece of land, and during the winter of 1869-70 was at Kalamazoo, Michigan. In November, 1871, he accompanied Dr. Greenfield to New Or- leans. The Doctor owned large tracts of timber lands in Mississippi, and on one of these tracts, in Tunica county, Mr. Kersey established a wood yard and built a flat-boat and a house. He was also employed by General Stephen B. DeVois and later with Spencer DeMumbrie in building landing boats.
In April, 1872, he returned home, but only remained one night, then went to New- ton, Kansas, and shortly afterwards to Fort Zarah, then a frontier town, where he worked as carpenter on the construction of a railroad bridge. Here he met two Mor- mons, whom he accompanied to Bosque county, Texas, where they purchased a herd of cattle to drive to Salt Lake via Ellsworth, Kansas, where they stopped a short time. Mr. Kersey made this trip on horseback, and continued with them to Rock Springs, Wyoming, where he remained about three weeks with a celebrated ranchman named John Ferris. He then joined another cat- tle outfit and went to Salt Lake, and sub- sequently herded cattle in Rush Valley. In February, 1873, he went to Fillmore, Utah, and then to Pioche, Nevada, where for, eighteen months he was engaged in team- ing. His next stop was at Big Pine, Cali- fornia, but soon went to Cerro Gordo, in the same state, where he was engaged in mining about one year, then went to Los Angeles. Here he joined several Mexicans
and accompanied them on a prospecting tour through the states of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. In the fall of 1877 he returned to his native state and worked on his mo- ther's farm one year, devoting his leisure hours to the study of law, and in 1879 was admitted to practice by Judge J. R. Slack. Mr. Kersey was associated in law partnership with James Brownlee one year, J. F. McDowell one year, L. D. Baldwin nearly one year, and then practiced alone for some time. His next partner was A. E. Steele two years and four months; he was then alone eight years, when, in De- cember, 1898, he again joined A. E. Steele, and the firm of Steele & Kersey continued about two years, since which time Mr. Ker- sey has practiced his profession alone.
Mr. Kersey was first married in Port- land, Indiana, May 29, 1880, to Mary B. Miller, daughter of William B. Miller, an early settler of Jay county. She was born in Portland and died at Marion, leaving one daughter, Anna Mary. Mr. Kersey was married the second time, in Indianapo- lis, in May, 1887, when Sarah E. Schutt became his wife. She is a daughter of Ja- cob F. and Salina (Carmichael) Schutt, and was born in North Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Kersey have one daughter, Nellie D.
They are members of the Presbyterian church, and reside at No. 916 Spencer ave- nue. Mr. Kersey is a Democrat in politics, and in 1898 was his party's candidate for judge of the Forty-eighth judicial circuit, being defeated by Judge H. J. Paulus. Mr. Kersey has met with marked success as a lawyer, and has been counsel in many im- portant cases tried in the courts of Grant county. He was instrumental in reversing the life sentence of John Sage, but Sage
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was again convicted and given a life sen- tence ; however, he proved a model prisoner and was pardoned by the governor. Mr. Kersey also defended the election contest case of Major George W. Steele for his seat in congress and was triumphant. al- though he had worked and voted against Major Steele before election.
Mr. Kersey is a man of scrupulous in- tegrity. He is courteous in his general in- tercourse, and especially so, with members of his own profession, and is a general fa- vorite among his many friends.
DANIEL O. WINGER.
Daniel O. Winger, a thriving and great- ly respected farmer of Richland township. was born in Pleasant township. Grant coun- ty, Indiana, February 28, 1860, and is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Showalter) Winger, the former of whom was born in Roanoke county, Virginia, in 1825. and the latter in Preble county, Ohio, in 1837.
Henry Winger, father of Joseph Winger and the grandfather of Daniel O., was also a native of Virginia, was of German de- scent, and traced his ancestry in this country back to the original Winger immigrants, who settled in Pennsylvania prior to the Revolu- tion, and whence several members of the fam- ily went to Virginia. From Virginia Henry Winger came in an early day to Indiana and settled in Wabash county, where he devel- oped a fine farm from the wilderness, and where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. Of their eight children, Daniel died in Missouri : Mrs. Anna Barnhart lives in Kansas: Mrs. Eliza Stambaugh is a res-
ident of Wabash county, Indiana; Mrs Katie Miller is in Allen county, Kansas : Jo- seph is the father of Daniel (). ; Mrs. Maria Whiteneck died in Grant county, Indiana, in 1896, and Michael died in Richland town- ship.
Joseph Winger was reared in Virginia and thence came to Elkhart, Indiana, in 1847. Shortly afterward he returned to Virginia . and there married Mary Dermon, came to Wabash county, Indiana, leased a tract of thirty acres of land in the wilderness, which he improved and resided upon it for five years, and then came to Pleasant township, Grant county, and purchased a tract of forty acres. This farm he also improved, and added to from time to time until he became the possessor of four hundred and seventy acres, besides other land which he gave to his children. He passed all his active life in farming and stock-raising, and was one of the most successful farmers that lived in Grant county. In politics he was a Demo- crat, but paid more attention to his personal than to party affairs. His death occurred April 6. 1895, and in him the county lost one of its best citizens ; his widow makes her home in Pleasant township, respected and beloved by all who know her. Of the eleven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Winger, John M. lives in Pleasant township; Mrs. Sarah Ellen Moss died in Wabash county ; Madison and Samuel died in Pleasant township, Grant county; Daniel O., subject of this sketch; Orlando and Joseph P. live in Pleasant town- ship: Mrs. Abigail Wimmer resides in Rich- land township: Mrs. Ida Landis and Mahlon live in Pleasant township.
Daniel O. Winger was reared and edu- cated in Pleasant township, and assisted on the home farm until twenty-three years old,
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS.
469
when he purchased from his father one hun- dred and forty-five acres in Richland town- ship, and here he has been engaged in gen- eral farming and stock-raising ever since. He has made every conceivable improvement on the place, and besides a profitable farm, has made of it a delightful home.
Mr. Winger was united in marriage in Pleasant township, in 1883, with Miss Ida V. Bechtel a native of the township and a daughter of Samuel and Julia (York) Bech !- tel, natives of the same township, where Mr. Bechtel died in 1898; his widow is now a resident of Sweetser. To Mr. and Mrs. Winger have been born five children, named as follows: Nellie G., Alma F., Joseph, Clem- ent A., and Roger D.
Mr. Winger and family are members of the German Baptist church, and in politics is a Democrat. He is classed among the substantial people of Grant county, and no family in the township of Richland is more highly respected than his.
HARMON FISHERBUCK.
Harmon Fisherbuck is a prominent ag- riculturist of Monroe township, Grant coun- ty, Indiana, and one of the largest land hold- ers in this section. This large accumula- tion of property has been realized from hard work and strict economy. Mr. Fisherbuck is a native of the principality of Lippen, Detmold, Germany, and was born August 27, 1847. His parents were Frederick and Doretta (Sinchlaw) Fisherbuck, whose fam- ily consisted of three sons and two daugh- ters. But two of the sons are now living, our subject and Frederick who is a resident
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