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 93
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These were some of the conditions ex- isting when Mr. Johnson was a youth in his Buckeye home, and when at the age of twenty-four he came to Indiana, he found like conditions existing in the Hoosier state, for it was scarcely more advanced in the 'forties than was Ohio in the 'twenties, hence his youth and early manhood years were dis- tinctively of the pioneer character. Mr. Johnson moved to Howard county, Indiana, and settled on a farm which he improved and where he and his family made a home in the wilderness, occupying that farm until 1865, when they sold out and removed to Illinois. They lived in the Sucker state for twenty-nine years and were successful in the accumulation of property.
In 1895 the family returned to Indiana and located in Greentown, where nearly four years were spent. In 1898 Mr. Johnson purchased a handsome residence in Swayzee, Grant county, and located there to spend his declining years in retirement from active business. Throughout a long and active life Mr. Johnson's efforts have been crowned withsuccess, the unfailing result of industry, frugality and good management. He has retired full of years, and crowned with well- merited honors.
Mr. Johnson has never been an office seeker nor taken active interest in public life. While a resident of Howard county, he served as township assessor and township trustee. He joined the I. O. O. F. at Ox- ford, Ohio, in early manhood and was an
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active member of the "brotherhood of the triple links" for many years, but is now nonaffiliated.
Charles W. Johnson was married Janu- ary 20, 1859, choosing for his life compan- ion, Miss Marian F. Jessup, a native of Darke county, Ohio, and daughter of Isaac and Sarah (Elliott ) Jessup. For more than forty years this venerable pair have trav- eled life's pathway hand in hand, sharing together the joys and sorrows, trials and successes of their busy and active life, and now having passed the three score and ten years allotted to man, they are enjoying their well earned respite from life's activities, and being in peace and happiness awaiting the final summons ..
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are the parents of two children, Quincy S., born April 19, 1860, and Indiana G., born August 25, 1865. The latter is the wife of A. S. Burdick.
Mr. Johnson is descended from English ancestors, his grandfather being the founder of the family in America. He settled in New Jersey. The maternal grandfather (Stout), was also a resident of New Jersey, going from there to Pennsylvania, and later to Ohio, where he died. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war.
JOSEPH QUINTON HANNAH.
Joseph Quinton Hannah, a representa- tive farmer and stock raiser of Green town- ship, Grant county, is a native of Rush county, Indiana, born on the 15th of April, 1850. He is a son of David and Elizabeth (Carter) Hannah, who located in Grant county in 1858, and became prominently
identified with the agricultural interests of the county.
Joseph Q. was a lad of eight years when he accompanied his parents to this county, and hence almost his entire life has been spent here. He received his education in the district schools, and assisted his father in clearing up the land upon which the fam- ily home was located. As he approached the years of maturity and self-dependence, he identified himself with agricultural interests on his own account. At the present time he owns a valuable farm of one hundred and sixty acres upon which he has lived for many years. This has been improved with the surplus of its production, until it is to-day one of the finest farms in the community. The buildings are first class, and erected with due regard to convenience and comfort as well as adornment. Mr. Hannah is exten- sively interested in stock raising and gives due attention to improved strains of ani- mals. He markets annually about one hun- dred and fifty hogs and from seven to ten head of cattle, besides a number of well bred horses, in which he takes special in- terest.
Joseph Q. Hannah has been twice mar- ried, first to Miss Iva Tole, whom he wed- ded on the 14th day of October, 1868. She died January 8, 1878, leaving one child liv- ing, while one had preceded her to that mys- terious bourne whence no traveler returns, and another died a few months after the mo- ther's death. The children were Rosetta, born August 13, 1870, and died January 9, 1871; Mecy Myrtle was born June 28, 1873, and is the only one of the trio now living; Cora Ann was born December 29, 1877, and died September 1, 1878. The mother sur- vived the birth of this child but ten days.
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Mrs. Hannah was a daughter of Levi and Nancy ( Moke) Tole, early settlers of Grant county.
The second marriage of the subject oc- curred on the 22d of August, 1878, the lady of his choice being Ida Ann, daughter of Edgar and Deborah (Holden) Langston. They have been blessed with a family of eight children, six of whom are living. The eldest of this family is Breta May, who was born March 24, 1880; Clarence E. was born .August 6, 1881; Halsey Olive, born October 2, 1883; Herman Allen, July 20, 1887; Ada Gladis, born November 27, 1889; Hazel F., born November 1, 1892; Bona I., born November 23, 1894, and died March 18, 1897; Herald W. was born November 21, 1898, and died November 6, 1899. Lucy Myrtle the only survivor of Mr. Han- nah's first family is now the wife of War- ren Deher, by whom she has two children, Locia M., born January 22, 1893, and Estel, born December 14, 1898.
David Hannah, the father of Joseph Q., was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, February 29, 1812. His wife, Elizabeth Carter, was born in the same county, August 29. 1815. The family of our subject com- prised nine brothers and sisters, of whom John R., the eldest of the family, was born January 3, 1837 .. and died .August 30, 1899 ; Arthur was born December 25, 1838; Will- iam, October 9, 1840; Sarah Ann, Novem- ber 2. 1842: James, August 8, 1846; Henry P., April 20, 1848, and died in September of same year; Joseph Quinton, of this re- view : Willis born April 25. 1852; David F .. April 21, 1854, and Isaiah, born July 26. 1857.
who emigrated to America, and settled in Bourbon county, Kentucky, where he was twice married, his first wife being the grand- mother of our subject. The Hannah family is a numerous one, as they are also prominent and generally well-to-do. The family incli- nation has been largely towards agricultural pursuits.
During the Civil war they responded promptly to the country's needs, and served faithfully and honorably till the capitulation at Appomattox. Several of subject's broth- ers have this distinguished honor. They served principally in the One Hundred and First Indiana Infantry, an organization which met the enemy on many a bloody field, yet always with honor to themselves, and profit to the worthy cause which they rep- resented.
WILLIAM LEACHMAN.
William Leachman, son of George and Harriet (Huff ) Leachman, was born in Hancock county, Indiana, May 14. 1827. He attended a subscription school in early boyhood and persevered in his studies un- til nineteen years old, when he began learn- ing the cabinetmaker's trade, which he fol- lowed about fifteen consecutive years, and then purchased a farm in Hancock county, where he resided, engaged in its cultivation until October. 1880, when he came to Grant county and purchased sixty-eight acres of land in Green township, where he has been ever since. While still a resident of Han- cock county he was elected county assessor for three terms.
June 28, 1849. William Leachman mar-
The paternal grandfather of Joseph Q .. Joseph Hannah, was a native of Ireland, ried Emeline S., daughter of John and Sarah
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(Gard) Pugh, and born December 4, 1828. This marriage resulted in four children, viz. : Caroline, who was born June 17, 1850, was married to D. McDugal and had five chil- dren-Jessie, George L. (deceased ), George L. (second), Anna and a child that died in infancy ; AAllison Leachman, the second child of William and Emeline, was born Decem- ber 15, 1852, married Mrs. Peter Bonta, and died December 31, 1881, the father of one child, William H., who was born AAugust 10, 1881, was injured when a boy, has never been able to work, and since his mother's death, in 1881, has made his home with Will- iam, the subject of this sketch; Thomas M., was born November 18, 1855, and died Au- gust 16, 1861, and Mary E., the youngest of the four, was born August 8, 1859, was married to James A. Arthur, and bore him the following named children: Nellie G., Charles E., Cora B., Rachael MI. (deceased), Anda E. and Daisy O.
James Leachman, grandfather of Will- iam, the subject of this sketch, was a resi- dent of Bull Run, Virginia, married Ma- linda Brown and was the father of eight children, viz. : George; Thomas; Elizabeth, who was married to F. Shelton; William; James; Fannie, married to Jacob Huff ; John; and Richard.
George and Harriet Leachman, parents of William, the subject proper of this sketch, also had a family of eight children, of whom William was the eldest, the others being born in the following order: Elizabeth, Enoch, Maria (Mrs. M. Connor and later Mrs P. Esby), Thomas, Nancy ( second Mrs. P. Esby), George and Mary J. (Mrs. A. G. Smith). The maternal grandfather of William Leachman, Jacob Huff, was killed in the war of 1812. Jesse Pugh, pa-
ternal great-great-great-grandfather of Mrs. William Leachman, came to America in the historical "Mayflower;" her great-great- grandfather settled in Virginia, and bore a prominent part in the war of the Revolu- tion. Her grandfather, also named Jesse, married Sarah McDaniel, who bore him eight children, viz .: Jesse, Mary (Mrs H. Corns), Margaret ( Mrs. Jonathan Cramp- ton ), Benjamin, James, Rebecca ( Mrs. George Smith), Robert, and John (her fa- ther ).
John and Sarah (Gordon) Pugh, par- ents of Mrs. Leachman, had eleven chil- (ren, viz: Alvira (Mrs. C. Wilson), Eme- line S., Jonathan G., Sarah Ellen (wife of Alfred Bobbitt ), John A., Madison F., Mary E. (Mrs. George Sharp), Thomas, Marcus and Rowena .A. ( Mrs. Van Dorn), and one who died in infancy.
January 4, 1901, William Leachman was called to everlasting rest. He was beloved and honored by all who knew him in life, and in his death Green township lost one of its most useful and valued citizens. Mrs. Emaline S. Leachman, the amiable and greatly respected widow of William Leach- man, still retains the old home in Green township.
CHARLES WILLIAM COLE.
Charles William Cole, cashier of the Grant County Bank, at Upland, Indiana, was born in Fremont, Ohio, February 21, 1868, and is a son of Sardis B. and Marga- ret E. (Hiatt) Cole, who were also natives of Ohio and were married at Fremont, Ohio, near which place Mr. Cole was engaged in farming for many years, but in 1896 re-
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moved his family to Blackford county, In- diana, and is now living a retired life in Hartford City, though in season he buys wool, etc.
To the union of Sardis B. and Margaret Cole have been born six children, five of whom are living. Charles W., whose name opens this biographical review; John B., re- siding near Fremont, Ohio, and engaged in farming; Sardis B., Jr., is a merchant in Hartford City, Blackford county; George D., assistant cashier of the Grant County Bank, of this city; Jessie R., residing in Hartford City, and Grace Estella, deceased. Sardis B. Cole and wife are devout members of the Methodist Episcoal church, in which faith they have also reared their family. Mr. Cole is a Republican in politics and has ever been known as a genial gentleman and a conservative business man and has been suc- cessful in his undertakings. He is also a stockholder in the Blackford County Bank of Hartford City, Indiana.
Charles William Cole was reared on a farm and received his early education in the common schools of his native county. At the age of fourteen he taught a term of sum- mer school in Sandusky county, Ohio, and in the fall entered the high school at Fremont, though he had previously attended two terms at this school. In 1884 he entered the Oberlin College, taking the literary course. After spending two years in this college he went to Toledo and there took a course in bookkeeping and banking. Returning home after completion of this course, he became engaged in assisting his father on the farm for a few months before accepting a position at bookkeeper at North Baltimore, Ohio, in the Peoples' Banking Company, where he re- mained until 1892, when he came to Hart-
ford City and in company with his father. and others organized the Merchants Bank of Hartford City, and he was elected cashier of this organization, which position he held until the consolidation with the Blackford County Bank when he was elected vice-pres- ident in 1896 and continued in this position until 1899, though in August, 1898, he came to Upland and here opened the private bank known as the Grant County Bank, of which he is the present cashier. This enterprise has been a financial success, and now has de- posits amounting to sixty-five thousand dollars.
Mr. Cole, like his father, is also engaged in buying wool. He had also accumulated some very valuable property, owning a sixty-acre farm in Grant county, an eighty- acre farm in Blackford county and valuable residence property in Hartford City, also some vacant building lots and property in Upland. He holds the position of secretary, and treasurer of the Upland Co-operative Glass Company, in which he is also a stock- holder. This is one of the largest glass plants in the state, manufacturing lantern globes, bottles and fruit jars. Mr. Cole also owns a grocery store in Hartford City, which is carried on by his brother.
In February, 1894, Charles W. Cole was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Winning, born in Ohio, and a daughter of J. E. and Sarah B. Winning. Mr. and Mrs. Cole are the parents of two children, viz: Charles E. and Helen.
Mr. and Mrs. Cole are members of the Methodist Episcopal church while their little ones take deep interest in the Sunday-school.
In politics Mr. Cole is a Republican and fraternally is a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge of North Baltimore. Ohio.
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REV. T. C. READE.
Rev. T. C. Reade, A. M., D. D., was born in Steuben county, New York, on the 29th day of March, 1846. His father was named David Reade, and was of English ancestry. He was born in the town of Hope, Warren county, New Jersey, in the year 1800, and died in 1874. His mother was of Dutch Huguenot extraction, and she belonged to the French families that came from the east of Holland and settled in Canada. Her name was DeWitt and she claimed to be a descendant of the celebrated DeWitt family which for a long time stood at the head of the Dutch nation.
Dr. Reade's early life was spent most- ly in Ohio, where he grew to manhood in the enjoyment of the ordinary privileges of a country school and a country com- munity. He was converted and united with the M. E. church in his thirteenth year. At the age of fifteen he taught a success- ful term of country school, and before he arrived at the age of sixteen he was licensed to preach and began work as a Methodist circuit rider in the northwest part of Ohio, which was then a wilderness, the people liv- ing in cabins and all preaching appointments being in school houses. There were two ministers on the circuit and thirteen preach- ings places. The circuit extended one hun- dred miles in circumference.
After pursuing this work for two years, he felt that his education was too limited, and at the suggestion of some friends, he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University in 1864. Being almost wholly without means, he was obliged to work his way through school, which he did mostly with an ax. Many a tall beech and stately oak yielded
to his sturdy blows, and fields of growing corn in the vicinity of Deleware now grace the spot where he cleared the primeval forest and opened the way for the plow.
In 1869 he graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan University, in a class of twenty- nine, and was immediately engaged to take charge of the Fairfield Union Academy, a young and successful institution in the county of Fairfield, near Lancaster, Ohio. He had already married, in 1868, Miss Ella Dodge, who was a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan Female Academy, and who at the time of their marriage was principal of the high school at Mt. Vernon, Ohio. She was a teacher of more than usual merit, and impressed herself upon all her pupils as an original thinker and a fine instructor. The three years spent by Dr. Reade in charge of Fairfield Union Academy were spent in the education of a number of unusually bright scholars, among whom were Dr. W. A. Kellarman of the Ohio State University, who received his first lessons in botany from Dr. Reade, and who has since become the greatest botanist west of the Allegheny mountains, if not in the United States.
In 1872 Dr. Reade united with the Cen- tral Ohio Conference and was stationed at the city of Defiance, Ohio, where he built the large and beautiful church in which the congregation still worship. After spending two years in this place, he was transferred to Sidney, Ohio, where he spent a success- ful pastorate of two years and was then, owing to the loss of his voice, compelled to desist from the work of the ministry for five years, during which time he engaged in business and traveled extensively in search of health. His travels led him into the far southwest, where he camped, sleep-
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ing often in his blanket with his saddle for his pillow and his gun by his side to pro- tect him from the wild beasts which were numerous in that section of the country.
After the lapse of five years, having re- covered his health, he re-engaged in the work of the ministry at .Ansonia, Ohio, and one year at Hicksville, Ohio. Four years were next spent in the city of Fostoria, Ohio, where he did perhaps the greatest work of his life, in clearing the church of a debt of sixteen thousand dollars, and bringing the membership up from three hundred to over seven hundred.
From Fostoria he was transferred, at the request of the membership of the Sec- ond street church of Zanesville. Ohio, to that city, where he remained two years, and from which he resigned to take charge of Taylor University in 1891. The University is the successor of the Fort Wayne College, which was founded by the Northern Indi- ana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1847. It had run a long and eventful course in which it had accomplished great good, but it had become almost em- barrassed at the time Dr. Reade came to the presidency ; there was a debt of twenty-five thousand dollars resting upon it. It was believed by Dr. Reade that he could raise this amount in five years, at the same time furnishing the necessary funds to keep the university in progress and the trustees promised to give him that time to do it before he came to the presidency, but found themselves unable to do it and at the end of ninety days he was notified to desist fur- ther solicitation and to meet the trustees to arrange for the sale of the buildings. Dr. Reade requested the privilege of hold- ing the school together at his own risk and
expense, and to look out for a new and more favorable location for the institution. The school was continued for one year in the city of Fort Wayne, after which a propo- sition came from the citizens of Upland, Indiana, to furnish ten acres of ground eligibly situated, and ten thousand dollars as a bonus to secure the University in that place. This was accepted and in 1893 the ground was broken for the present university building.
Dr. Reade immediately took the train for the east and succeeded in raising the necessary funds to complete the building at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars. The first year the school was conducted without buildings and at a great disadvantage, and it was feared by its friends that the students who came from abroad could not be induced to remain, but Dr. Reade always had a . good and competent faculty and succeeded in impressing the students with the fact that with suitable text-books and competent teachers school can be maintained under the most disadvantageous circumstances, and students, if they are disposed to learn, can prosecute their studies successfully. The university has run a course of seven years in its present location, and at the last meet- ing of the board of trustees the committee appointed for that purpose estimated the property of the institution at eighty thou- sand dollars, and it has not a single penny of incumbrance upon it.
The special mission of the university, aside from its general work of educating such as desire a regular college course, and such as propose to teach, is to prepare young people for the work of the ministry, and especially poor boys who are called to preach and have not means to be educated at a more
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expensive college. At the present time there are from seventy-five to one hundred young ministers in constant attendance upon the school, and already more than forty have been educated at this institution, and are holding charges in different places in our country.
Dr. Reade has some little notoriety as an author, having successfully published a book entitled "Sunday-school Concerts," in 1878, which was pronounced by Dr. Vin- cent, since Bishop Vincent, to be the finest book of its class published in America. He is also the author of a sketch of the life of Sammy Morris, which has had the phenom- enal sale of one hundred and twenty thou- sand copies, and is still selling rapidly. It has been translated into the Dutch or Hol- landese language, the Norwegian, the Span- ish, the Swedish, and at least two dialects of India, and is also published by individual firms in Canada and in London, England. He is also the author of a little volume of poems which has met with considerable fa- vor and is entitled "The Exodus and Other Poems."
For a number of years, Dr. Reade ap- peared upon the lecture platform with the following subjects, "The Hymns We Sing," "The Dutch" and the "The Talking Ani- mal." These lectures he gave at Island Park Assembly, and in many of the lead- ing cities of the west. In order to make his lecture on the Dutch more graphic and impressive, in 1888, he took a trip to Eu- rope, and spent a considerable time in the little kingdom of Holland. His lecture on "The Hynms We Sing" was rendered es- pecially interesting by the fact that he has written a number of hymns himself, and 45
one in particular that has found its way ii:to the permanent list of hymns of the Methodist church.
TAYLOR UNIVERSITY.
Taylor University was first organized as Fort Wayne Female College, at Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1846. In 1847 the first building was erected. In 1855 the college was united with the Collegiate Institute of the same place and became a co-educational school known as Fort Wayne College. Un- til 1890 it was owned by the North Indiana Conference. Becoming heavily in debt, it was at this time transferred to the National Association of Local Preachers, and its name changed to Taylor University, in honor of Bishop William Taylor. It was hoped that the Local Preachers would rally to its support and save it in Fort Wayne; but failing to secure the twenty-five thou- sand dollars necessary to liquidate the in- debtedness, the trustees turned over the property to the creditors. Before this was done, however, Rev. T.C. Reade, A. M.,D. D., became president of the institution and finding it impossible to maintain it in Fort Wayne, sought a new location for it. This he found in Upland, whose citizens gener- ously donated ten acres of ground beauti- fully located and ten thousand dollars ($10,- 000.00) in money. Funds were secured from local preachers and others and the present beautiful and commodious building erected at the cost of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25.000.00). John R. Wright, D. D. and his wife H. Maria Wright, of Wash-
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ington, D. C., being the largest contributors. the building is called in honor of Mrs. Wright, the H. Maria Wright Literary Hall. It is controlled by a board of trustees com- posed of nineteen men and two women, who are elected by the National Local Preachers' Asociation. The officers of the Board of Trustees are as follows: J. R. Wright, D. D., Washington, D. C., president ; O. L. Stout, M. D., Upland, Indiana, vice-presi- dent ; George W. Mooney, D. D., secretary ; T. W. Williams, Upland, Indiana, treasurer.
The presidents since its foundation have been as follows: Hon. J. A. C. Heustis, 1847-48; G. H. Rounds, 1848-49; Horace Cyrus Nutt, 1849-50; J. A. C. Heustis, (second term) 1850-52; S. F. Gillette, 1852; Rev. S. Brenton, 1852-55; Rev. D. R. D. Robinson, 1855-72; Rev. W. F. Yocum, D. D., 1872-88; Rev. H. H. Herrick, 1889; C. B. Stemen, M. D., LL. D., 1890-91; Rev. T. C. Reade, A. M., D. D., 1891.
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