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 66
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114
owns ninety-three acres of as well cultivated land as can be found in the county.
James R. Mayn was married in Richland township, in July, 1872, to Miss Sarah A. Clannin, a native of Indiana and a daugh- ter of Samuel and Susan (Duffield) Clan- nin, natives of Ohio, but early settlers of Richland township, Grant county, Indiana, where Mr. Clannin died February 13, 1900. Nirs. Clannin having departed this life some years previously. To Mr. and Mrs. Clannin were born eight children, namely: Mrs. Mayn; Mary, Mrs. Ansel; Isaac; Hannah, wife of Albert Davis; Tressie, Aaron Tro- bridge; Edward; Belle, deceased wife of William Coffman; and Margaret, wife of Charles Trook, all residents of Richland township. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Mayn has been blessed with four children, viz. : William; Mrs. Anna Anderson, of Wa- bash; and Carl and Earl, twins, at home.
In politics Mr. Mayn is an active Repub- lican, and has served as justice of the peace since April, 1899; has been a member of the school board for several years, and is one of the most popular and respected citizens of Richland township, as well as of Grant county.
ISAAC M. WRIGHT.
Isaac M. Wright, a rising young farmer and well-known citizen of Richland town- ship, Grant county, Indiana, and an ex-sol- dier of the Civil war, was born at Farmland, Randolph county, Indiana, December 4, 1847, and is the only child born to J. M. and Elizabeth (Fanning) Wright, natives of Coshocton county, Ohio, and respectively oi English-Quaker and German ancestry.
516
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS.
J. M. Wright was reared a miller and was married in Coshocton county, Ohio, and in 1845 removed to Randolph county. In diana, and thence to Somerset, Wabash coun - ty, in 1853. He died, however, in Jerome. Howard county, Indiana, in 1875, and his widow died in California in 1898.
Isaac M. Wright was reared and edu- cated in Somerset, Wabash county, and be- fore presenting his military career to the reader, some account will be given of his private and business life. He has been en- gaged in farming all his active life, not only in Wabash county, Indiana, but also in Neosho county, Kansas, in Howard county. Indiana, and in 1871 in Oklahoma, Indian Territory.
Mr. Wright married, in 1872, in Rich- land township, Grant county, Indiana, Miss Elvira Abbott, a native of the township and a daughter of John M. and Violetta (New- man) Abbott, natives of Ohio, who came to Grant county, Indiana, in 1851, and entered land in Richland township, where Mr. Abbott died in April, 1900, his wife having passed away in 1875. To Mr. and Mrs. Wright have been born seven children, viz. : Charles, a teacher at Sweetser ; Mrs. Eva Harter, of North Dakota; Lessie ; Oscar ; Ivy; Harrison and Ella.
In politics Mr. Wright is a stanch Re .. publican and takes great interest in his party's affairs. He is very popular with the Republican party and with the general pub- lic, and is at present road supervisor and su- perintendent : the duties of which office he has executed to the entire satisfaction of the public. Fraternally he is a member of the G. A. R. Post, No. 53, at Converse.
Isaac M. Wright entered the military service of the United States September 15,
1
1863, by enlisting in Wabash county, in Company G, One Hundred and Thirtieth 1. V. I., for three years, or for the war, pro- vided hostilities should cease before the ex- piration of the period mentioned, in which case he was subject to discharge at the pleas ure of the war department. Mr. Wright was sworn in at Kokomo. The One Hundred and Thirtieth was assigned to the army of the Cumberland, and with it Mr. Wright took part in the battle at Buzzard's Roost ; he was on the campaign through Georgia and the campaign through the Carolinas; was also with Gen. Schofield, who had command of the second division, Second Army Corps. He likewise took part in the battles of Burnt Hickory, New Hope Church, Lost Mountain. was at Atlanta on the left, was at Macon, was at Nashville in the pursuit of the Rebel Hood; was at Raleight, N. C., at Charlotte in the same state. He was honorably dis- charged December 13, 1865, at Charlotte, and was paid off and mustered out at Indian- apolis. Mr. Wright has left a military record of which he and family may indeed feel proud.
JOHN MINNICK.
John Minnick, an ex-soklier of the Civil war and now a prominent citizen and farmer of Richland township, Grant county, Indi- ana, was born in Wayne county November 13. 1844. and is a son of William and Nancy (Good) Minnick, natives of Virginia, where they were reared and married and soon after- ward came to Indiana and first located in Wayne county, where they resided until 1851, when they removed to Waltz township, Wabash county, where the father developed
517
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS.
a fine farm near Somerset, on which his wife clied in 1871, and where his own death oc- curred in 1882. They were the parents of nine children, namely : Anthony, who died in Madison county, Indiana, in 1898; Jacob settled in Richland township, Grant county, in 1852, opened up a first-class farm and died in May, 1900; William died in Wayne county ; Mrs. Malinda Wimer is living near Mount Etna, Huntington county ; Samuel died in Wabash county in 1888; David Mon- roe in Waltz township, Wabash county ; Noah died in Carroll county; and John is the subject of this sketch.
John Minnick, from the the age of seven years, was reared on a farm until the date of his enlistment, in March, 1862, in Waltz township, Wabash county, in the Thirteenth Battery, Indiana Light Artillery, for three years, but was transferred to the Sixty- fourth Infantry, was mustered in at Indian- apolis and was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland. In 1864 he veteranized in the same company and regiment and took part from the beginning in all the marches, skirmishes, battles and seiges in which his regiment was engaged, but which it is not necessary here to enumerate. He was hon- orably discharged at Indianapolis on July 10, 1865, and returned to his home in Wa- bash county, Indiana.
In 1877 Mr. Minnick came to Richland township, Grant county, and purchased his present farm of one hundred and seventy acres, which he has cleared off and improved with every modern farming convenience and made the equal of any farm of its dimensions in the county.
Mr. Minnick was most happily united in marriage, in 1867, in Wabash county, with Miss Mary E. Flook, a native of Grant
county and a daughter of Isaac and Sarah (Gaylor) Flook, natives of the state and early settlers in Grant. Isaac Flook was a gallant soldier in the Union army during the Civil war and lost his life in the battle of the Wilderness, while serving with the Twentieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Minnick has been made the more happy by the birth of four children, named as follows: Mrs. Cora Neff, of Wabash county ; Mrs. Jessie Malott, of Sweetser, Grant county; Mrs. Myrtle Slusser, on the home farm; and Hallie, also at home.
An active Republican in politics, Mr. Minnick has served as trustee of his town- ship and also as assessor, and is now a mem- ber of the Republican central county com- mittee. Fraternallv he is a member of Som- erset Lodge, No. 383, F. & A. M., and also of G. W. Robinson Post, G. A. R., at Somer- set. He is one of the most widely known citizens of the county, and is honored and respected wherever known.
HARVEY W. CORY, M. D.
The homeopathic school of medicine is ably represented in Marion by the subject of this sketch. Though there are many col- leges of homeopathy, none are comparable in thoroughness and national popularity to the Hahnemann Medical College, of Chi- cago. The birth of modern homeopathy traces its origin to the renowned Dr. Hahn- emann, in whose honor this institution was named, and it has been the purpose of the college officials to keep the institution up to the high standard of success so fully achived and maintained by its worthy founder.
After completing his elementary educa-
518
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS.
tion in the common schools and South Wa- bash Academy, Dr. Cory engaged in teach- ing for a time, meanwhile pursuing the ele- mentary studies in medicine under the tutor- ship of Dr. W. A. Dunn, a prominent and successful physician at Wabash, Indiana.
In 1887 he became a student in Hahne- mann Medical College, where he completed a three-years' course in 1890. Eighteen months of practical work in medicine and surgery at Grace Hospital, Detroit, Michi- gan, tended to round out his theoretical knowledge, and he entered upon the regular practice of his profession fully equipped for the honorable position in the professional world to which his aspirations had led him. He engaged in general practice at Hunting- ton, Indiana, and remained there in success- ful practice for seven and a half years.
June 1, 1899, he located at Marion and established his office in the Iroquois build- ing, where we now find him. His highest anticipations have been fully realized in this new field of professional labor. The Doctor has attained an enviable position in the social circles of Marion, and his future looks bright and promising.
Of the professional societies, he holds membership in the Indiana Institute of Homeopathy, and in the Practitioners' So- ciety, of Detroit. Socially, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, being past chan- cellor commander of his home lodge, and a member of the Marion lodge at present. Of the beneficial orders, he holds membership in the I. O. F. and Pathfinders. Hle is a member of the Christian church, the religious home of all his people.
Politically, he is an active working Re- publican, in which party he is following pa- ternal guidance, as do his brothers.
The genealogical ristory of our subject is as follows: He was born at Wabash, In- diana, on the 18th day of August, 1866. His parents were Marcus C. and Harriet (Rose) Cory. Father was born in 1841, and served as a distinguished officer in the Civil war. His later years were spent in farming, where he was successful, and lat- terly has retired with a competence, except as he serves the city of Wabash in official capacity. The Doctor's mother is a daugh- ter of Colonel Jolin R. Rose, who served his country under General Scott in the Mex- ican war. These were chivalrous days, when wounded dignity could only be vindicated with the sword or pistol. Colonel Rose and an American officer of like rank became in- volved in a misunderstanding which resulted in a duel, the weapons chosen being pistols. Each was wounded, the antagonist of Col- onel Rose dying within an hour after the encounter, and Colonel Rose carried a bullet in his body all his remaining years. He died in Wabash, Indiana, at the age of eighty-four.
The Doctor has two brothers, both of whom are engaged in mercantile pursuits. William M., the eldest of the family, is a shoe merchant at Peru, Indiana, and Thomas E. is engaged in a like business in Marion. Both are prominent and successful business men.
Dr. Cory is "heart whole and fancy free," in making which statement the biog- rapher has not betrayed any confidence.
JESSE STANLEY.
Jesse Stanley was born September 20, 1852, in Grant county, Indiana, and is the younger of two children born to Evan and
519
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS.
Mary Jane (Vincent) Stanley. The family are of English extraction, but the immediate ancestors of Mr. Stanley were from North Carolina and Delaware. Evan Stanley was born near Elizabeth City, North Carolina, about the year 1817, and was but a lad when he came with his parents to southern In- diana. He entered the home of a gentle- man by the name of Gillen and worked for him many years, receiving a meager educa- tion from the common schools. In 1837 he came to this county and entered eighty acres of land from the government. Two years later two more tracts of forty acres each were entered, and the three deeds, signed by Martin Van Buren, one in 1838 and two in 1840, are now in the possession of Mr. Stanley. These are the original sheepskin deeds and are a valued possession, inasmuch as they are very scarce, few being left at the present day. The first eighty acres are included in the present estate of the sub- ject, never having been out of the family since they were entered.
1
A clearing was made and a log house erected in the forest, where the inhabitants could listen to the beautiful feathered songs- ter or to the noiser, if less musical, wolf as he roamed the timber in search of food. Deer were also plentiful and often furnished their table with a toothsome repast. It has been said that the luxuries of yesterday are the comforts of to-day and the necessities of tomorrow, but that can scarcely be said of venison, for it was so often an article of diet that the frontier became exceedingly tired of it, while to-day it commands a fab- ulous price because of its rarity. Railroads had not yet knocked for admittance to the state and the material from which most of to-day's improvements are made were locked 1
in nature's storehouse, unhewn from the timber or delved from the earth.
Evan Stanley was united in matrimony with Miss Mary Jane Vincent, a native of Delaware, who was born about 1819 and died April 1, 1869. One son (Jesse) and one daughter were born to them, the daugh- ter, Margretta, being the elder. She is the wife of William S. Russel, a prominent farmer residing in Blackford county. Mrs. Stanley was a devoted member of the New Light church and a woman of fervent Chris- tian character. Evan Stanley departed this life in 1878 and was laid beside his wife in the Jefferson township cemetery, their rest- ing place designated by a neat and tasty monument erected by their son.
Jesse Stanley was reared to manhood in this vicinity and attended the old log school- house which was two miles and one-half from his home. He early exhibited a fond- ness for agriculture and assisted his father cultivating his fields, remaining with him until the death of the latter. Four years later, in 1882, he was joined in marriage with Miss Mary Jane Wise, daughter of Jacob Wise, whose biography is given on another page. She was born and reared in this county, where her family are among the most prominent and desirable citizens, her birth occurring October 13, 1859. The young couple began their married life on the old homestead in the little cabin in which our subject was born. They bought out the other heirs to the estate, going in debt to the amount of sixteen hundred dollars in order to do so, and every energy was exerted to the utmost to clear off this indebtedness. I :. 1884 they built a large barn, and the year following the little cabin was superseded by the commodious, conveniently arranged resi-
520
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS.
cence which is now their home. Other im- provements have been added from time to time and also eighty acres of land, giving them a farm of two hundred and forty acres. They have in contemplation still other im- provements, one of which is a large barn for sheep, which is to be built in the shape of a "T," the main part to be 18x58, and the "T" 18x20. He has been very success- fully engaged in sheep-growing and has a large flock of Shropshires which bring him good returns. Their industry and the prac- tical management of their business have placed them in independence and their prop- erty free from indebtedness. Six children were born to them, five of whom are living. One son has preceded them to the world of light above. Four sons and a daughter re- side at home, namely : Clinton, Retta May, Clarence, John and an infant unnamed. They are all students and it is the wish of their parents to give them the advantage of a good education to better prepare them for their various walks in life.
Mr. Stanley is a stanch Democrat in pol- itics, yet in local elections he regards the man rather than the party, and the candi- date best fitted to serve the people in the discharge of his duties is the one who re- ceives our subject's support. He has been chosen delegate to the county conventions, but has not aspired to office, as his personal affairs have received his close attention leav- ing little time for public service. The wel- fare of the public is always close to the hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley, and their support and material aid given to worthy cause. Although not members of the church they have been liberal in their aid to the different denominations and are people who help to make up the better element in the
community. Conscientious and loyal to the right, they have won the respect and good will of all who know them for their kindly natures and upright lives.
JOHN MASQUELET.
John Masquelet, glass-bottle manufac- turer in the town of Sims, in Sims town- ship, Grant county, Indiana, with his post- office address at Marion, was born in Teu- topolis, Effingham county, Illinois, Febru- ary 9, 1848, and is a son of John and Mary (Schleper) Masquelet, of French and Ger- man descent, Frank Masquelet, the paternal grandfather, having come to America from France with his son John, and his maternal grandfather, Frank Schleper, having come from Germany, and both having settled in Illinois in an early day.
John Masquelet, Sr., on arriving in America, located in New Orleans, where he lived from 1845 until about 1848, when he moved to Effingham county, Illinois, and there had born to him three children-John, Joseph and Frank-and there, also, his death occurred, in March, 1852. For her second husband Mrs. Masquelet accepted Ferdi- nand Nacke, to whom she bore four chil- dren, viz. : Catherine, now Mrs. Schoen- hoff ; Anthony, of Grant county, Indiana; Mary, who died when two years old; and Bernard, of Illinois.
John Masquelet, Jr., whose name opens this sketch, was educated in the district schools of Effingham county, Illinois, and at St. Joseph's College in Teutopolis, Illi- nois, where he also took a course in. phar- macy, and was graduated in June, 1869.
John " Masquelet,
521
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS.
For the following eight years he taught school in the districts of Perry county, Illi- nois, and then embarked in the drug busi- ness, establishing three distinct pharmacies in Chicago, and continuing in the business from 1880 until 1893, when he sold out and came to Indiana and became actively identi- fied with the Western Bottle Works at Ma- rion, in which he had been a stockholder for some years previously. In December, 1893, only a few months after Mr. Mas- quelet had located in Marion, the glass plant was totally destroyed by fire, and through the manager's inattention to the insurance policies, proved a total loss. Through this disaster Mr. Masquelet was left penniless, but he was not a man to be discouraged by disaster, and finally succeeded in organiz- ing the Standard Co-operative Glass Com- pany, and acted as its secretary and treas, urer for three years.
In 1897 Mr. Masquelet sold out his in- terest in the Standard Co-operative Glass Company in Marion and came to Sims, Sims township, Grant county, and estab- lished the Sims Glass Company, which now has a capacity of one hundred and seventy- five boxes for three hundred and sixty-five days in the year, working one hundred and fifty men, and turning out bottles of all kinds, from quarts down to one-eighth of an ounce. This plant was organized with Joseph Oswald as president, John Masque- let as secretary and Mrs. Margaret Masque- let as vice-president. Later on Mr. Oswald resigned the presidency and was succeeded by Frank, the eldest son of Mr. Masquelet, who at present fills that important position.
Frank Masquelet was born April 5, 1875, John Masquelet having married, Au- gust 26, 1873, Bridget Reddington, daugh- 32
ter of Owen and Catherine (Ward) Red- dington. There were three children born to this marriage, viz .: Frank, as above mentioned; Albert, born November 30, 1877, and married to Ella Stebbins; Ed- ward, the third child, died in infancy. Mrs. Bridget (Reddington) Masquelet passed away October 8, 1884, and John Masquelet next married, February 3, 1886, Margaret Oswald, daughter of Joseph and Margaret (Koeppel) Oswald. To this marriage were born seven children, of whom Joseph, John and Harry died in infancy; Rosa was born March 24, 1893; Oswald, January 19, 1896; Paul, born November 7, 1897, died Febru- ary 26, 1899; and Margaret was born Oc- tober 8, 1899.
It is to be doubted whether any man, in so short a time, has done so much for the village of Sims as has Mr. Masquelet, for, where there is now a hive of industry, there was but a few years ago, before his coming, a village hardly known to the map. The family are members of the Catholic church, and the subject has been the organ- ist at St. Paul's, in Marion, for several years past.
JAMES SHAREN.
Among those men whose labors over a long period of years have won for them a well-merited repose in the enjoyment of the fruits of earlier effort and who are now liv- ing free from the cares and urgent respon- sibilities that formerly beset them is James Sharen, of Sweetser, Indiana, who is spend- ing the fall and winter of life in the ease that comes from competence and the grati- fication that comes from being surrounded with those who are near and dear.
522
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS.
Mr. Sharen was born in Perry county, Ohio, October 10, 1830, and is the son of John and Matilda ( Havener ) Sharen, he be- ing a native of Delaware and she of Mary- land, where they were married, settling soon afterward in Ohio. The boyhood of James was passed with his parents, receiving the advantages of such slender schools as the new country afforded, which were none of the best. Having entered his twenty-third year he was married, January 13, 1853, in Hocking county, Ohio, to Miss Nancy Lytle, who was born in Perry but reared in Hock- ing. The following year they accompanied his father to Grant county, a farm being purchased on Hummels creek, Pleasant township. For ten years he operated his fa- ther's farm, and his father retired to pass his latter years in Marion, where he died at the age of eighty-five. He had retained to a remarkable degree all his faculties, be- ing well preserved to the last. The mother of James had passed away several years be- fore, but not till they had traveled the jour- ney of life hand in hand for more than fifty years. Of the nine children born to them all but one were living at the deaths of their parents, Sidney having died but a few weeks previous to his mother. John lives at Bluff- ton, while all the remainder are residents of Grant county. William and Barney being among the citizens of Marion.
Having made reasonable progress during the ten years he operated his father's farm, . James bought a tract of two hundred and thirty-five acres in Monroe township and cleared about one hundred acres. Realizing the possibilities of that section of the coun- ty, he invested as rapidly as circumstances would permit in more land, being at times 1
as deeply as three thousand dollars in debt.
Debt did not scare him so long as he was getting property that would enhance in value. After making extensive improvements he took advantage of the opportunity to sell to advantage, and invested in a one-hundred- and-sixty-acre tract just at the west of the city of Marion, feeling that the future of the city was so accurately assured that the prop- erty must enhance in value by the proximity to the town, though not yet realizing that so great a demand would ever exist as actually came. He passed eleven years upon this farm, making extensive improvements here also, building a good house and barn beside the laying of a great amount of tiling. The discovery of gas quickly extended the city limits in his direction and fancy prices were realized for land all about him. The infec- tion caught and being offered one hundred dollars per acre for the farm he decided to let others have the opportunity to realize such further advance as might result.
Mr. Sharen's next purchase was on the Mississinewa river, north of Marion, where he secured one hundred and eighty-three acres and upon which he placed good build- ings. Four years later, thinking that Sweet- ser promised a safe growth, he purchased his present home, being a one-hundred-and- fourteen-acre tract lying just to the north outskirts of the village. He has since platted forty acres, adding it to the village and ex- tending the capacity for residences, most of it having been covered with pleasant homes. He has erected for his own family a hand- some and commodious residence on the re- mainder of the tract and here has a very pleasant and attractive home, where he and his estimable companion are passing the re- n:ainder of a busy and industrious life, free from the uncertainties that followed them
523
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS.
in their younger years. He has, beside the home, some village property, as well as a business house in Marion, that brings in a handsome income. He is also a stockholder in two gas companies, having been among the earlier ones who tested the possibilities of the fluid in paying quantities in this region. While this worthy couple have been accumulating the competence that makes the decline of life free from all cares and uncer- tainties, they have not been remiss in their duty to the state, having in the meantime reared eleven children, of whom ten are now living, as follows: John is a farmer in Pleasant ; Thomas died at thirty ; Benton is also in Pleasant; William is an employe in a wholesale paper house in Marion: Levi is a tile manufacturer at Sweetser; Lemuel is a carpenter at Marion; Matilda is the wife of Albert Stevens, a farmer near Sweetser; Eddie operates the home farm; and Anna is the wife of LeRoy Prickett, the manager of a lumber company at Gas City. Besides these of their own, they have taken into the family the two grandchildren-Cleveland and Matilda-the children of Thomas, their mother having remarried. Twenty-nine grandchildren give credit to this worthy couple as their ancestors. All of their chil- dren have received assistance upon leaving the parental roof, and it affords the parents no little pleasure to know that all are well situated in life and hold high place in the esteem of their fellows.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.