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 78
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Methodist church of Marion, who gave it every encouragement possible. But Mr. Riley desired a church which they could have for their own, and he at once began the erection of a suitable building in which to hold their meetings. A lot was given him for this purpose by the Marion Land Com- pany, and kind friends came forward with «lonations of money until the church was completed, at a cost of fifteen hundred dol- lars. Space precludes details as to his struggles to maintain the work ; the obstacles to be overcome. Not all have been kindly disposed toward this work, but it has found some friends. One noble lady of Marion came to his aid at the very time when money was the most needed, when the church was being built. She saw to it that at the end of every week funds were available to pay the men who worked on the building. How many boys have been reclaimed and bene- fited by this work it would be impossible for any one to tell. Every encouragement is of- fered to boys to lead an upright life. Les- sons in all the better elements of manhood are constantly inculcated. The spirit of being something is aroused and a higher and better citizenship and true living the object to be gained. The fatherly care and tender love borne by Father Riley for the boys placed in his care is sufficient reason to com- mend his efforts, and whether his work is appreciated as it should be or not he will feel the consciousness of having done what he could to have the workl better for hav- ing lived in it. Father Riley, as he is fa- miliarly called. is now in his eightieth year. His estimable wife is but one year younger. "Grandma Riley." as every one tenderly calls her, is no less active than her husband. She takes a lively interest in all that her
husband does for the boys and is a teacher ir the Industrial School for Girls, which meets weekly in the little church of "The Boy's Brigade." This work of itself is a grand one of which we have not space to speak here. The long lives of this worthy couple have been full of good deeds, to enumerate them would be to fill volumes in- stead of pages. Their married life reaches over fifty years. They raised seven chil- dren, all of whom are living. They keep house, attending to their domestic duties and finding time to do for others. Their home life is ideal. Devoted to each other, they have demonstrated the fact that
Marriage rightly understood, Gives to the tender and the good, A Hea en here below.
The church and parsonage where they live is on West First street. No. 1710. Twenty-five feet from the door of the par- sonage they step into the church that was built for children. There every Sabbath, so long as it stands, they hope that a non- sectarian gospel will be preached to them of whom Jesus said "suffer little children to come unto me." And they, in great hu- mility, strive to imitate Him who went about doing good. The day will come when it will be said of them. "They builded better than they knew."
REV. J. B. FORD.
J. B. Ford, D. D .. the genial pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church of Upland,' Indiana, is a living example of what can be accomplished by untiring industry and perseverance. One of the most fluent and sympathetic speakers of the age, he has at-
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tained his present enviable eminence by im- proving the moments in his boyhood and youth-an example well worthy the emula- tion of the young men of to-day. He was blessed with earnest Christian parents who early inculcated principles of truth and re- ligion in his young mind, and the high ideal thus placed before him has never been for- gotten, and to attain that ideal and help others to attain it has been one of the chief aims of his life. He was born July 31, 1835, in Wheeling, West Virginia, to Ben- jamin and Sarah Ann (Barlow) Ford.
Benjamin Ford was a native of Stafford- shire, England, where he was born in 1810. while yet a young man he embarked on a sailing vessel for America, reaching Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, by canal. He was a skillful mechanic and it was not long until he was employed as engineer in one of the large iron works there. To a common-school education he had added a large fund of valuable information by reading and was well posted on current events. Add to this a character of firm decision and sterling worth, honest and upright, and you have the father of the subject. He was a man of splendid physique and commanding presence. He was an old-line Whig, but later became affiliated with the Republican party and sup- ported it up to his death. In religion he followed the teachings of his forefathers and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Leaving Pittsburg, he located in Wheeling, West Virginia, where he re- mained until 1859, thence moved to Steuben- ville. Ohio, and later to Pittsburg, whence he was called home in 1897. Mrs. Sarah Ann Barlow, a native of Delaware county, New York, was born May 10, 1815, and was a woman of most exemplary character and
generous impulses. Her father was a na- tive of Connecticut and inherited the fine Christian character of his Puritan ancestors. Her mother was of Mohawk-Dutch ances- try, but unfortunately the record of the past generations of the family are meager. Seven children were born to them, four sons and three daughters, Rev. J. B. being the eldest. The mother passed to her reward in 1888, while the family were residing in Steuben- ville, Ohio.
Rev. J. B. Ford attended the public schools in his youth, but at an early age learned the trade of a practical engineer in Wheeling, his native place, and accepted a position as such. Reluctant to leave school and unwilling to forgo the benefits of an education, he determined to acquire what learning he could, and to this end kept his books near and in front of him when at work on his engine. The facts thus gleaned were stored in a retentive mind and became a part of himself and the lesson learned was a double one-that from the printed page and one of equal value which taught him independence and self-reliance. His money was carefully saved until he had sufficient to enter Allegheny College, at Meadville, Penn- sylvania, in 1857. Here he took a special course and devoted the year to hard study. He knew the value of time and improved it.
Leaving college, Mr. Ford again took up his trade of engineer, but the panic was now at its worst and he abandoned his cherished hopes of another year at college in order to assist his parents. After another year spent at his engine he entered the ministry, for which he had prepared himself and in which he has proven an efficient worker. While visiting at Piqua, Ohio, he met and courted Miss Josephine Horton, daughter of Col-
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onel J. C. Horton, of that place. Their nuptials were celebrated in September, 1865. The fruits of this union were eight chil- dren, four of whom have been transplanted to the heavenly home and four have been left to bless the declining years of their parents as they travel toward the golden glow of sunset. These are Anna, wife of B. J. Harris, a dry-goods merchant of Topeka, Kansas, and a lady of rare graces and con- siderable vocal talent ; John K., who makes his home with his parents and is employed as shipping clerk in the glass factory ; Belle. also a musician of both instrumental and vocal, and the wife of C. E. Myers, of Os- awatomie, Kansas: and Mary, wife of Grant Fogle, a miller residing in Topeka, Kansas. Mrs. Ford is a native of Miami county, Ohio, and was born May 10. 1844. Her primary education was received in the public schools and to this was added special teaching in a private establishment. She is an ideal minister's wife, giving cheerfully of her time and meeting the many demands made upon her with an enthusiasm that has never failed to win friends and has made her an able assistant to her husband in his chosen work. She is possessed of a charm- ing personality that is felt alike in social circle and in the home.
Rev. Ford has supported the national Republican ticket since 1864. He is a prom- inent Mason, uniting with the blue lodge at Rushville, Illinois, where he was also made a Royal Arch Mason and Knight Templar.
It had been the carnest wish of Mr. Ford to consecrate his life to the service of the Master and his studies had been prosecuted with that object in view. In 1858 he entered the ministry under Presiding Eller Moses Titchnell in West Virginia, under appoint-
ment, in the West Virginia conference. He said to his elder, "Give me the hard end of the work, I will go where you may send me." The appointment given him was a most onerous one, where he preached every day of the week, with headquarters in the saddle. The question was asked what recom- pense of salary he received, to which he re- plied : "Fifty thousand and forty-seven dol- lars; fifty thousand in fresh air and pure water, and forty-seven in money paid in full." His studies were prosecuted on horse- back or under the trees, and here he received the degree of A. M. from the East Tennes- see Wesleyan University, known as the Grant Memorial University, and later re- ceived the degree of D. D. from the same institution. He was received into the con- ference in the city of Parkersburg, West Virginia. March 12, 1859, and was sent to Point Pleasant as junior pastor to Rev. Sam- uel Jones. He remained at that station until the spring of 1861, when he was sent to Malden Station, adjoining Charleston. Here the congregation consisted of one hundred white and two hundred colored members, and for once the slaves were on top, as they occupied the gallery, while the whites were seated on the main floor of the building. He remained here but a short time, as his strong abolition sentiments did not take well with his congregation, and he was fear- less in speaking his views. When to his prayers for the guidance of the incoming president. Lincoln, he added the supplication that the Union might be spared as a grand whole and not separated, it was more than his hearers could stand and he was compelled to leave. Feeling was very bitter at that time against all sympathizers of the north and ofttimes their lives and property were
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jeopardized. Accordingly, in March, 1862, Rev. Ford went to Parkersburg and had his connection with the West Virginia confer- ence severed. He then went to his father's home in Ohio, locating at Steubenville. He was one of the first organizers of the Union League in Ohio and was elected a representa- tive of that state in the National League.
In 1864 Mr. Ford entered the itinerancy of the Methodist church in the Cincinnati conference and was placed at Catawba, where he remained one year. His next charge was at Georgetown, the home of General Grant. At each location he won many friends among ali denominations and although the rules of the conference has worked hardship in that it severed ties between pastor and people when it would have pleased both parties to have the relation extended, yet it has been the means of opening new fields and form- ing new and lasting attachments that have proved both lasting and beneficial. This rule lias lately been changed, so that instead of the limited number of years allowed a min- ister in one place he may remain as long as it is the unanimous wish of his flock. At a meeting held in Cincinnati it was decided to send him to Knoxville, Tennessee, to or- ganize the church in the south, as he seemed to have an aptitude for that work. There he found a field which called forth his best executive ability. There was no church, no members, no anything, but as one of the prominent citizens remarked "plenty of ma- terial." He found a number who were not only willing but anxious to establish a church and he called his first meeting in the old court house, where a membership of twenty- five was secured and the first church in Knoxville established. This was in 1866 and in seventeen months' time the member-
ship had increased to one hundred and twen- ty-five, while two thousand dollars had been expended for a church lot. The congrega- tion numbered five hundred and the Sunday- school was in a most promising condition, with an enrollment of two hundred. The time spent there called for the hardest work of his life, but the result was gratifying in the extreme. Under his supervision a beauti- ful church edifice was erected with a seating capacity of one thousand, the property valued at twenty-two thousand dollars.
In October, 1867, Rev. Ford was trans- ferred to the Illinois conference and sent first to Shelbyville and later to Springfield. His next charge was the First Methodist Episcopal church of Danville, Illinois, in which he was permitted to accomplish a great gocd. The work there was agreeable and he was pleasantly situated, but duty called him elsewhere, as his former church in Knoxville was in trouble and had sent a strong petition to conference to send him to its aid. This was done, and the broken thread of intercourse between pastor and people resumed. Two years were passed in a profitable and pleasant manner, when, much to the regret of the congregation, he left them to accept the trust with which he had been favored-the office of presiding elder of the Chatanooga district. He at once set about finishing the organization of this district which was one hundred and sev- enty-one miles in length-larger than the entire conference in which he is at present located. He traversed four thousand miles yearly, making the journeys on horseback, often being compelled to swim the swollen streams and rivers, to sleep in log cabins and to undergo many privations and dangers. Some recreation was furnished him oc-
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casionally in hunting deer and bear, the lat- ter of which he was fortunate in capturing. Those long, hazardous journeys tried the nerve and mettle of the man and found him not wanting, and if a history of those days spent amidst the wildls of the Alleghany mountains, as graphically recalled by Rev. Ford, could be recounted in this volume, it would prove most instructive and entertain- ing.
.At a meeting of the General Conference held in 1876 it was the unanimous request of the southern delegates that he be recom- mended for the position of general agent of the Sunday-school Union of the southern states, and he was accordingly elected by the board to take charge of all Sunday-school work in the southern states from Virginia to Mexico. He served four years and was unanimously re-elected in 1880. His head- buarters were supposed to be in New York, yet his working headquarters were at Al- lanta, Georgia, where also he had his office and depository. The work was arduous but pleasant, yet he resigned in September, 1882, to take up his former vocation. He entered the Illinois Conference and was assigned to the Trinity Methodist Episcopal church of Quincy. His next church was at Rushville, whence he was transferred to Kansas, where he remained until 1893. when he came to the Northern Indiana Conference and took charge of the church at Fairmount. He re- mained there fifteen months and in 1895 North Manchester, Wabash county, was ap- pointed his abiding place. The time here , was profitable and a grand work accom- plished. In 1897 he was transferred to his present charge in Upland, where he is es- teemed and respected by all classes of citi- zens. He is a man of ripe experience, ex-
ceptional capacity, and has fearlessly dis- charged the duties required of him, shrink- ing from no danger and achieving repeated successes in his chosen field of labor. He was a fluent talker and his eloquence took the form of a moral mesmerism which con- verted his audience into an irresistable sym- pathy with him, and united their hearts in a common feeling of fellowship, and he will be known in future as an orator who adorned his pulpit.
ASA M. BALLINGER.
The gentleman whose brief biography is herewith presented is a native of Grant county, and has become widely and favora- bly known by reason of his personal con- tact with so many people in the discharge of his official duties.
Asa M. Ballinger, the present postmas- ter of Upland, was born in Jefferson town- ship, Grant county, Indiana, November 2, 1852, and lived on a farm in Jefferson (Marine) Ballinger. The father was a na- tive of Tennessee and the mother of Wayne county, Indiana, though her parents were formerly from North Carolina.
James K. and Julia A. (Marine) Bal- linger were married in Grant county in 1853. and lived on a farm in Jefferson township until the time of her death. They were the parents of eight children, named in the order of birth as follows: Josiah, deceased: Elizabeth, deceased; Asa M., the subject of this sketch; Ella T., deceased; Daniel, deceased; William R., deceased; Jennie, deceased; and Charles C., who is at present employed in the postoffice in Marion, Indiana. The parents of this large
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but interesting family were devoted mem- bers of the Newlight church, in which they were active workers and to which they were liberal contributors; they now lie in the Jefferson township cemetery, which is one and a half miles west of Upland. Mr. Bal- linger, while he had but a limited educa- tion, was a thoroughly well-read man, al- ways keeping abreast with the current top- ics and able to converse intelligently upon the issues of the day. He was a stanch Republican and an able supporter of the party. He was small of stature, but large of heart and mind.
Asa M. Ballinger obtained his prelimi- nary education in the common schools. When but fifteen years of age he went to make his home with his uncle, Daniel Ma- rine, assisting him on the farm in summer and attending school during the winter months, remaining here until twenty-one years of age, when he successfully passed the examination and taught his first term of school; but not being satisfied with his present education entered the normal in Valparaiso for one year. The following five years of his life were spent in teach- ing school during the winter and farming in summer, which he carried on quite suc- cessfully until appointed postmaster, under President Arthur, which office he filled for one and a half years, after which he re- sumed teaching until the spring of 1885, when he was appointed to the railway mail service on the Toledo & St. Louis route ; he served the government for three months there, then was on the Clover Leaf, run- ning from Toledo to Frankfort, Indiana, for three months, when the administration changed and Grover Cleveland was put at the head of our government. Mr. Ballin-
ger again became engaged in teaching for two years, when he engaged in the drug business in Upland in company with F. N. Haines, continuing in this business until the spring of 1889, when, under President Har- rison, he received an appointment to the mail service on the Wabash Railroad, be- ing transferred after three months from this road to the Pan-Handle, having as his route from Logansport, Indiana, to Columbus, Ohio, for four years. April 29, 1893, he again engaged in the drug business, buy- ing out the firm of Richards & Dicker- son, and carried on a nice business until April, 1897, when he was appointed under President McKinley as the postmaster of Upland. At that time it was classed as a fourth-class office, paying but six hundred dollars, while now it is paying fourteen hundred dollars.
Mr. Ballinger has been a successful business manager, and now owns real es- tate both in farms and residence property in Upland, and is also a stockholder in the Upland Water Works Company.
On May 20, 1882, Mr. Ballinger led. to the altar as his bride Miss Rose Ballin- ger; while she bore the same name, they find no trace of relationship. Miss Rose Ballinger was born in Grant county Decem- ber 5, 1862, the daughter of Huston and Electa (McCoy) Ballinger, both natives of Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Ballinger are the proud parents of three children, viz. : Jes- sie F., who is now deputy postmaster; Al- vin Charles and Julia Marie. This family as a whole attend the Methodist Episcopal church.
Politically Mr. Ballinger is a stanchi Republican, ever ready to lend a "helping hand" to the betterment of his party. He
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was also president of the school board for three years, during which time he rendered valuale service and has always been inter- ested in the educational welfare of not only his own children, but the community at large. He also served as deputy township assessor for four years. Fraternally Mr. Ballinger is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the I. O. O. F .; also member of the Encampment and Rebeccas.
In Mr. Ballinger one finds a true, up- right citizen, who is always spoken of in the highest terms by his many friends and associates, and has well earned the high esteem in which he is held by all. While in the postal service he passed the examina- tion with only one error in the whole state and the last year was only charged with five errors, and this is a record Mr. Ballinger is proud of, and well he may be. He started in life without one cent, and all his clothes after he was fifteen he bought himself. From many of the hardships he has gone through, it is surprising Mr. Bal- linger looks as young as he does.
JOHN M. ABBOTT.
John M. Abbott, a thriving farmer of Sims township, Grant county, Indiana, was born in Richland township, in the same county, March II, 1853, and is a son of John M. and Viletta (Newman) Abbott, the former of whom was born in Brown county, Ohio, February 6, 1820, and the latter in the same county August 16, 1820, were married October 17, 1839, came from Brown county, Ohio, to Indiana in 1850, settled in Richland township, Grant coun- ty, and died respectively April 19, 1900,
and December 10, 1874, the parents of twelve children, viz .: Francis M., born August 24, 1841; Sarah Jane, born Jan- uary 15, 1843, was married November 30, 1872, and died in Richland township No- vember 7, 1877; Eliza Ann, born January 13, 1845, was married February 21, 1869; Greer N., born February 8, 1847, was mar- ried September 11, 1870; David S., born April 17, 1849, died January 27, 1875; Elvira E., born February 14, 1851, was married October 12, 1872; John M. is the subject of this sketch; Charles E. was born May 12, 1855; Amanda E., born March 3, 1858, died July 23, 1860; Abner T., born November 30, 1860, died January 6, 1861; Emerson D., born September II, 1862, died August 2, 1881; and Hamer U. was born July 4, 1866. After making a record of the life career of John M. Ab- bott, the subject proper of this sketch, the genealogy of the family will be given from remote date.
John M. Abbott was educated in the district school of Richland township, which he attended until twenty-one years old, and then settled down to the pursuit of agricul- ture, the primeval and most ennobling labor of man.
February 5, 1876, Mr. Abbott married Miss Ruth Loveland, daughter of August B. and Sophia (Cumerine) Loveland, a highly respected family of the township, and to this union were born four children : Belle, on February 14, 1877, now the wife of Charles Freshwater and the mother ther of one child, Erma Lenore, born Oc- tober 17, 1898. The three other children Mr. and Mrs. Abbott had the misfortune to lose in their infancy.
The father of Mrs. Abbott came from
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Darke county, Ohio, and was of English descent, and her mother, from the same state, was of German extraction, and they settled in Indiana about 1840, the father having been born in 1826 and the mother in 1827. They were the parents of ten children, viz .: Mary, deceased wife of Aaron Aukerman; Barbara, deceased; John, deceased; Emily; Elizabeth, deceased; Ruth, now Mrs. Abbott; Arthelia and Oli- ver, deceased; William and Martha. The mother of this family died in May, 1877, and the father is still living, with his resi- dence at Herbst, Grant county.
In 1895 John M. Abbott brought his family to Sims township, Grant county, where he purchased a farm of fifty-two acres, on which he still has his home and has under a perfect state of cultivation, being one of the most skillful and success- ful farmers in the township. He and his family are members of the Universalist church, and in politics he is a stanch Demo- crat. He is at present a member of the township board, to which he was appoint- ed in 1898 by the judge of the county court of Grant, and the duties of which office he has performed to the entire satis- faction of all concerned.
It is now necessary to revert to the genealogy of the Abbott family, as it was hinted would be done in the early part of this biographical review. The origin of the family in America is traced to three brothers who came from England to Amer- ica at a date so remote that it has sunk into oblivion. One of these three settled in the north, one went south and one came west and settled in the territory of Ohio. From this last mentioned brother John M. Abbott is a lineal descendant.
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