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 63
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David Ballinger, deceased, was born in Grant county, Indiana, June 28, 1843, and
was reared to manhood in this community, where he had the respect and esteem of every one. He was a young man when the war of the Rebellion came as a menace to our land and he was one of the first to offer his services to his beloved country. After many months in camp and on field, enduring the privations and sufferings of soldier life, he returned to his native state and resumed the duties which had been so rudely interrupted. He had chosen as his vocation the life of a farmer and he now applied himself with untiring diligence to make that choice a successful and wise one. Hard-working and frugal, he soon began to accumulate property, adding a few acres from time to time as he had the means for its purchase until at his death he owned some two hundred and eighty-eight acres in Mon- roe and Jefferson townships. This it has been the pleasant duty of himself and wife to improve and the accomplished fact is a credit to the owners and the township as well. Mr. Ballinger was a man of sterling character and commanded the respect of all who had come in contact with him. The probity of his life, his honest and upright dealing made him a man among men, and in his death the township suffered a severe loss. His death was very sudden, the news coming as a shock to the community. His remains were laid to rest in the beautiful cemetery of Jefferson, the spot marked by a tasty monument which loving hands have erected to his memory. He had been a Re- publican in politics, but his time was too precious to be spent in the arena of politics. He was a member of the German Reformed church at Marion, Indiana, located at the corner of Seventeenth and Adams streets,
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which is also the church of Mrs. Ballinger's ! choice. She is a regular attendant of church and Sunday-school, as are her children, and is liberal in her contributions to both.
RILEY O. MALOTT.
One of the most enterprising and straightforward business men of Grant coun- ty and who is prominently identified with the building and manufacturing interests of Sweetser is R. O. Malott, of the firm of Malott & Ancil, manufacturers of hardwood lumber and dealers in pine lumber, builders' hardware, paints, oils, wire screens, etc. The manufacturing feature of the business was established by them some six years since, the other departments being added in Au- gust, 1899. About six thousand dollars is required as an investment and the mill out- fiting is all of the first class and comprises a circular saw of about six thousand feet capacity per day, operated by a thirty-horse- power engine. A planing mill is also op- erated in connection, and through this most all the finishing material used in the village is passed. Quite a leading feature of the business is the buying of standing timber, which is then cut into ordinary lumber, di- mension stuff or furniture material. and dis - posed of to an advantage. Ten years ago the firm of Malott & Son erected a mill at this place, but the same year sold to Moore & Ancil, the former retiring in 1894.
Riley O. Malott was born in Wabash county, Indiana, January 23, 1867, being the son of Barney and Catherine (Miley) Ma- lott, who were both natives of Ohio, but who were married in Wabash county. Bar- ney Malott was a practical millwright and in company with his father, Squire Malott,
crected a mill at Ionia, Michigan, which he operated for some years, later building one ar Rowan, Wabash county. Practically all his life he has been identified with the man- ufacturing interests, having at one time con- ducted a mill in Grant county, and finally, after becoming advanced in years, located at Sweetser, where he now resides.
Riley O. Malott became familiar with the operation of a saw-mill at a very early age, as when he was but fifteen he was at times given charge of the sawing, not long after having full charge of a mill for his father near Somerset. Becoming thoroughly familiar with the details of lumber manu- facture he became the principal manager and from 1894 had full control. Disaster overtook the business at one time, it being destroyed by fire on the 20th of December, 1896, entailing a loss of about six hundred dollars. For the past few years the busi- ness has experienced a steady and healthy growth, assuming an important place among the leading industries of Grant county.
Mr. Malott was married June 7, 1890, to Miss Jessie Minnick, daughter of John and Mary (Flook) Minnick, and who was born in Somerset, where she had graduated from the common schools. They have two interesting girls, Marjorie and Mary. Mr. Malott is recognized as one of the most active and influential of the Republican forces of the county, being generally found in the conventions and often a member of the election board. In religion he is a mem- ber of the Christian church, though he was reared under Lutheran teaching. While he is not recognized as a sportsman to any great extent he finds enjoyment in the com- panionship of dog and gun.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS.
JOHN EDWARD AUGUSTUS STE- PHENS.
John E. A. Stephens, of Van Buren township, Grant county, Indiana, was born at Cambridge, Washington county, New York, on the 21st of April, 1842. his par- ents being John and Jane (Wiggins) Stephens, he being a native of Devonshire, England, and she being Scotch. They were married in Burlington, Vermont, where he worked at the trade of coopering, remov- ing in 1853 to Chicago, where he continued in the same general line of industry for the remainder of his life, dying at the age of seventy-five. John had learned the trade with his father, working in the shop from a small boy, and was so associated till his enlistment, July 3, 1861, in Company E. Nineteenth Illinois Regiment, which was principally raised in the city of Chicago. For some years prior to the outbreak of the war a military organization known as "The Highland Guards" had been organized in the city, the membership being almost ex- clusively of Scotch birth, and the old coun- try costume of the kilts was still worn by the entire body, retaining as closely as pos- sible the Scotch national costume. The regi- ment was first sent to Quincy and from there to Palmyra, Missouri. The entire state of Missouri was then traversed, going to Cape Girardeau by the way of Pilot Knob, and was later sent by boat to Cairo. Be- ing ordered to Washington, it started over the B. & O. Railroad, and in the crossing of the bridge over Beaver creek the train was precipitated into the stream, nearly fifty of the men being killed and about two hundred wounded. This disaster sent a thrill all through the nation, the loss being
more deplorable than to have sustained the same in battle. The course of the regi- ment was thus changed, and it was sent to Camp Dennison, and later attached to the Army of the Cumberland, taking part in the great struggle at Stone River. While standing in the line of battle on the last day of the year 1862 Mr. Stephens was shot in the shoulder, the effects of which have re- mained with him, his arm and shoulder be- ing partially paralyzed to this day, the ball having never been extracted. While still lying on the field a short time after receiv- ing the shot in the shoulder he was shot through both legs, the only thing that saved his life from bleeding being that the wound was so seared that the blood was stagnated. I! almost seems incredible that a man could stand what he passed through from the long exposure, being on the field till the next day before he was carried off on the shoulders of a comrade, having but part of a canteen of water to slake the terrible thirst in all that time. It was eighteen hours before he received surgical attention and seven days before he was taken to the gen- eral hospital at Nashville, the trip being made in an old army wagon, the jolting and agony being something terrible. After be- ing kept a week in this hospital he was transferred to Cincinnati, the trip by water requiring ten days for the slow-moving transports. He was placed in the West- End hospital, where is was thought each hour would be his last, but the vitality in that wounded body was remarkable and he began to make some headway toward re- covery. In seven days he was discharged, as the result of the unceasing efforts of Col- onel R. M. Hough, who wired Secretary Stanton, who in turn wired the surgeon in
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charge to examine him and if not found fit for service in thirty days to discharge him. It was apparent that months would pass be- fore he could possibly resume duty, if ever, which seemed the most likely, and the dis- charge came, being dated January 31, 1863. Mr. Stephens was more than a year in re- gaining sufficient strength to take up any occupation, the result of those terrible wounds still being a drawback in the ex- ercise of manual labor. The old colonel seemed to have a special sympathy for him and kept him in view, and when he was able for labor gave him a position as watch- man about his packing-house in Chicago.
Becoming associated with his brother in the coopering business Mr. Stephens came to Indiana to attend to the purchase and shipping of coopers' stuff, making his head- quarters at Farrville, as this section then supplied an immense amount of the material they needed. Bringing in several hands, he had the hoop-poles shaved here, and for about two years did a large business. paying out something like sixteen thousand dollars for material and labor. As the business changed and the material demanded in the Chicago market became scarce, though a great deal of other valuable cooper stuff re- mained, he started a small shop on his own account, and for the next eighteen years de- voted his attention largely to the making of pork and tripe barrels, employing gen- erally three or four hands. In the meantime he had secured a tract of land that he had cleared, and to the improvement and opera- tion of which he has turned the greatei part of his energies during these latter years, now having a very pleasant and comfortable home on a well-tilled and productive farm.
Possibly the secret of his determination
to remain in this vicinity was the attraction of one of the young ladies of the neighbor- hood, whom he had met soon after entering the community. This was Miss Mary N. Farr, daughter of Thompson H. Farr, and who was born in Wayne county, Indiana, having come to this section of the country when but a child, and to whom he was mar- ried December 22, 1869. The Farr family is one of the prominent ones in the making of this region "to blossom as the rose," and further notice will be found of them in an- cther part of this volume. The land now comprised in the Stephens farm was orig- inally entered by one of the Farrs, as was quite an extensive tract in this immediate section of the county. Not being blessed with children of their own, Mr. Stephens and wife have given homes to two young girls who had been left partially destitute. Ida A. is now the wife of Jacob Stroup, of Blackford county, and who herself now has three children. The other is Jessie B. Lind- say, a young miss of fifteen.
Mr. Stephens is a member of Wiley An- lerson Post at Van Buren and enjoys meet- ing with the old comrades at the various re- unions. His pension was raised by a spe- cial act of Congress to forty-five dollars per month. While he holds to the Republican faith, he has not cared to devote attention to the holding of official station. He is a Mason and a member of Farrville church, in which he is a trustee.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STEVENS.
Benjamin Franklin Stevens, justice of the peace, dealer in real estate, insurance agent, etc., at Fairmount, Grant county, Indiana, and ex-soldier of the Civil war, was born
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near Blanchester, Clinton county, Ohio, March 26, 1835, a son of John and Elizabeth Stevens, the former a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, and the latter a native of Chillicothe, Ohio.
John Stevens, father of Benjamin F., was a natural-born mechanic and could make anything; nevertheless he served an apprenticeship at milling. Although a Vir- ginian, he was like the rest of his family opposed to slavery and was loyal to the Union during the Civil war, although long past the age for military service. He had, however, served in the war of 1812 and re- sided on a farm which he had entered in Clinton county, Ohio, after the close of that war until his death, which occurred Decem- ber 10, 1880, when he was ninety-seven years, five months and eleven days old; his wife had passed away on the same farm at the age of seventy-three.
The children born to John and Elizabeth Stevens comprised seven sons and five : daughters, of whom four only are now liv- ing, viz. : Elizabeth H., now Mrs. Andrew Donahue, of Clinton county, Ohio; Joseph N., a retired farmer, bank stockholler, etc., of Blanchester. Clinton county, Ohio: Ben- jamin F. ; and Lucinda M., wife of William Tufts, also of Clinton county, Ohio. Ben- jamin F. is the third in order of birth of those living. John and Elizabeth Stevens had four sons and three sons-in-law in the Civil war, besides a number of nephews and other relatives, and of the sons Joseph N. was severely wounded.
Benjamin F. Stevens received a good Common-school education in his native coun- ty and spent his early manhood on the home farm. In August, 1862, he enlisted, having recruited forty-three men for Company I,
Sixtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for one year, and served in the Army of the Potomac as a member of the Fourth Army Corps. At the surrender of Harper's Ferry he was taken prisoner, but was paroled and sent to Camp Douglas, Chicago, where he was con- fined until the expiration of his term of service, when he returned to his home in Brown county, Ohio, where he had left a wife and two small children to enter the army.
The year following his discharge from Camp Douglas Mr. Stevens sold his Ohio farm and came to Grant county, Indiana, purchasing a farm in Green township, and on this he resided for about nineteen years. In 1879 he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners by the Re- publican party, served three years, and dur- ing his incumbency .was a member of the building committee on the erection of the court house in Marion-being inspector of material and work-his name appearing on the slab imbedded in the wall of that pre- tentious edifice.
On the expiration of his term of serv- ice as county commissioner. Mr. Stevens re- moved to Brown county, South Dakota, pre-empting a farm and followed agricult- ure and the carpenter's trade until 1885, when, having lost several thousand dollars in his South Dakota venture, he left his claim and returned east and for four years was engaged in the hardware trade at Day- ton, Ohio. In 1889 he returned to his Da- kota farm, on which he lived a year, then passed a year in Minneapolis, Minnesota. and in 1891 returned to Marion, Indiana, bought property in Fairmount in October of the same year and here settled. He still, however, owns his Dakota property.
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In 1893 Mr. Stevens was appointed a justice of the peace, served out the term, was re-appointed and then elected to the same office, and was also commissioned a notary public, and has thus served about six years as a justice. Mr. Stevens cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont and has clung to the Republican party ever since. His father was a strong Democrat, but through the arguments and influence of Ben- jamin F. and his brother was induced to change politics and became a strong Re- publican. Indeed, Mr. Stevens is a rec- ognized leader in local politics and his coun- sels are eagerly sought by party candidates.
Mr. Stevens has been thrice married. His first marriage took place in Brown county, Ohio, in 1856, to Miss Alice A. Covalt, a native of that county, who bore him two children-Fannie I. and Harvey F. Of these, Fannie I. is now the widow of Robert L. Lake and resides at Elwood, Madison county, Indiana, and Harvey F. is a pharmacist of the same place. Harvey F. was educated really for the ministry, was graduated from Butler College after a five- years' course of study, and for seven or eight years was engaged in ministerial work.
September 13. 1870, Mrs. Alice A. Stevens died in Grant county and her re- mains were interred at Knox chapel. In 1884 Mr. Stevens married in South Da- kota Mrs. Sarah. Myers, a native of Lon- cion, Ohio, but this happy union was broken by her death May II, 1900.
October 25, 1900, Mr. Stevens married Mrs. Lydia A. McCourtney nce Byrum, a native of Darke county, Ohio. She has five children -- Elizabeth, William, Dove, Harry and Daisy. Mrs. Stevens is a member of the Christian church.
B. Frank Stevens in 1870 joined Point Isabel Lodge, No. 510, I. O. O. F., in Green township, Grant county, Indiana, and while living in Dayton, Ohio, transferred his membership from this lodge to that, which by a coincidence bore the same designating number and is still in good standing there. He is a member, likewise, of the encamp- ment and Rebekah degree, is a P. G. and : P. C. P., and has represented both branches : in the grand lodge. Mr. Stevens was a charter member of General Shunk Post, No. 21, G. A. R., at Marion, and is its present chaplain ; he is also a member of Martha Washington Circle, Ladies of the G. A. R.
B. F. Stevens joined the United Brethren church when foruteen years oldl and held his membership until he joined the I. O. O. F. in 1870, when he withdrew from that de- nomination and was taken in full member- ship by the M. E. church without probation. In going to Dayton he reunited with the church of his early youth. After his re- turn from Dakota, he reached Fairmount at a time when the United Brethren church was greatly agitated over the secret-order question, and recent changes in the discip- line, and for the sake of peace and religious freedom Mr. Stevens united with the Con- gregational church, for which he has served two years as clerk, and of which he is now a deacon.
MAHLON M. WALL, M. D.
Mahlon M. Wall, M. D., homeopathic physician and practical surgeon with his of- fice in the Mark block, south side of the square in Marion, is a native of Monroe township, Grant county, Indiana, and was
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born February 15, 1849. His parents David and Sarah (Dwiggins) Wall, natives of Clinton county, Ohio, were married Au- gust 18, 1840; they came to Indiana about the Ist day of October following and en- tered land in the wilderness of Monroe town- ship. There the mother died in 1895 and the father now passes his time alternately with his two sons, as his inclination leads him. The latter descends from an English fam- ily that came to America before the Rev- olutionary war and settled in Pennsylvania, and whose progeny is now very numerous and spreads over various part of the Union.
Dr. M. M. Wall is the youngest of three brothers: Mills was a soldier in the Fifth Indiana Cavalry during the Civil war and clied in a Rebel prison-pen at Florence, South Carolina; Isaiah is a farmer near the old home ; and of the Doctor mention will now he made in full.
Dr. Mahlon M. Wall was primarily ed- ucated in the common schools, the graded schools of Grant county and at Lebanon, Ohio, where he attended the Normal school with the thought of preparing himself for teaching ; in this he succeeded and followed the vocation for three years in his native township during the winter seasons, and in the summer seasons employed himself in farming. He next engaged in merchandis- ing for five years, and at the age of thirty took his first course of medical lectures at the Hahnemann Homeopathic College in Chicago, Illinois, and finished the course in 1881. He then began practicing in Marion, and for several years was the only home- opathic graduate in Grant county. He soon proved the efficacy of the "mild power." es- tablished a fine practice and is now the lead- ing physician of his school.
The Doctor has always kept in touch with educational matters and usually at- tends and takes an active part in teachers' meetings in the city and county, and for four successive years was a member of the Marion board of education.
Dr. Wall was united in marriage Sep- tember 29, 1873, with Miss Deborah Moore, a native of Wells county, Indiana, though reared and educated in Plymouth, Marshall county, with an additional course of in- struction in the Marion schools. She is a daughter of Samuel Moore, who was a suc- cessful merchant of Plymouth. Her parents are deceased.
To Dr. and Mrs. Wall have been born two children-Lena and Ray D. Miss Lena Wall was graduated from the Marion high school and also spent two years at Purdue University, but delicate health com- pelled her to retire without completing the entire course of study. She is still a very studious young lady, and takes a deep inter- est in current events, especially in the lit- erature of the day. The son, Ray D., has been well qualified for business life and is now employed in Muncie, Indiana, where he enjoys the entire confidence of his em- ployers.
In politics Dr. Wall is an active and earnest Republican, and has done service for his party as a member of the Republican county central committee and of the Repub- lican county executive committee the greater part of the time since reaching his majority.
The Doctor is a member of the Indi- ana Institute of Homeopathy and of several beneficial societies, of which he is the med- ical examiner. In social circles he and fam- ily hold an exalted standing. holding the unfeigned esteem of all their associates.
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OLIVER GAINES.
Oliver Gaines, of Van Buren township, Grant county, Indiana, was born near Xenia, Greene county, Ohio, July 4, 1830, coming into the world as the cannon were booming forth the greeting for the fifty- fourth anniversary of the independence of the nation. A peculiar coincidence being that exactly two years later a brother- George-was born, July 4, 1832. Men were yet living at his birth who had taken active part in the making of the nation, so that his early years were filled with the stories of the brave and true men who were then passing to the great beyond.
His parents were Edmond P. and Mary (Bond) Gaines, she being a daughter of the old and renowned Quaker, Benjamin Bond, whose life meant so much to the pioneers of Grant county. In 1834 some five families from the same vicinity in Ohio, consisting of Benjamin and Moses Bond, Samuel Woolman, James Hix, Samuel McNeery and Edmond P. Gaines, came to the then wilds of Grant county and settled north of Marion in what is now Washington town- ship, Edmond Gaines securing the tract that later became noted as the Hummel farm. Not long after, however, he got a farm some six miles northeast of Marion, trading with his brother-in-law Woolman, who had en- tered it, and here made his permanent home. This lay in the vicinity of the Bradford family, who became his neighbors and with whom he often exchanged work in clearing. logging and building. Here he hewed from the wilderness quite a valuable farm, the log house he erected in 1840 still standing, though not in use as a residence. All his. active business life was passed upon this
place, retiring in his latter years to live with his son Oliver, both himself and lifetime companion passing to the hereafter in the same year, after having attained the ripe age of nearly eighty. He was a life-long Demo- crat, holding tenaciously to the doctrines upon which the strength of the party had been founded-personal liberty-and the benefit of the masses. He was honored by his compeers in their placing him in some of the various offices of the township, though his tastes were not of the kind satisfied with minor positions. He was a man of strong personality whose efforts were ever stable, seldom yielding, but with fixed determina- tion went the even tenor of his way regard- less of the consequences. She had been reared a Friend, but in the later years be- came associated with the Wesleyan Meth- odists, though her life was a living example of the simplicity and abiding faith of the society of her fathers.
Of eight children born to this worthy couple who reached maturity, two are still living. Melinda married Jacob Wyant and with him became a pioneer of Lucas county, Iowa. She died in Taylor county, Iowa, at an advanced age. Benjamin passed his life on a farm in Washington township, dying at the age of sixty-six. Susan married Rev. Ezra Conn, a minister of the Protest- ant Methodist faith, and passed away at fifty.
Oliver remained at home with his par- ents till attaining his majority, being mar- ried January 1, 1852, to Miss Jane Brad- ford, daughter of George Bradford. For some years he rented land near his father's, securing finally a tract of forty acres near the Center school-house, where he remained till 1858, when he secured the present tract
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