USA > Indiana > Greene County > Biographical memoirs of Greene County, Ind. : with reminiscences of pioneer days, Volume I > Part 13
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Buff was appointed by the governor as judge of the new circuit of Greene and Sullivan.
The Fourteenth Judicial circuit since then has had the following officials :
JUDGES.
George W. Buff, of Sullivan 1883-1888
John C. Briggs, of Sullivan. 1888-1894
William W. Moffett, of Greene. . 1894-1900 -
Orion B. Harris, of Sullivan.
. 1900-1906
Charles E. Henderson, of Greene
1906-
PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS.
John D. Alexander, of Greene 1882-1886
Samuel W. Axtell, of Greene. 1886-1888
Wlliam C. Hultz, of Sullivan. 1888-1892 .
William L. Slinkard, of Greene. 1892-1896
Charles D. Hunt, of Sullivan . 1896-1900
Edward W. McIntosh, of Greene . 1900-1902 John A. Riddle, of Greene. 1902-1904
John W. Lindley, of Sullivan 1904-1906
James B. Philbert, of Greene. 1906-1908
Walter F. Woods, of Sullivan 1908-1910
OFFICIAL RECORD OF GREENE COUNTY FROM 1884 TO 1908.
REPRESENTATIVE.
A. S. Helms, 1885. John D. Alexander, 1887.
William N. Darnell, 1889. Richard Huffman, 1891.
Thomas VanBuskirk, 1893. Howard M. Booher, 1895. Charles E. Henderson, 1897. Wilbur A. Hays, 1899. Cyrus E. Davis, 1901. William J. Hamilton, 1903. Columbus C. Ballard, 1905. Wilbur Hays, 1907.
AUDITOR.
John L. Harrel, 1879-1886. James Harrell, 1886. Andrew J. Cox, 1886-1900. Thomas C. Owen, 1890-1894. Harvey L. Doney, 1894-1903.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
William H. Deckard, 1903-1907. Peter M. Cook, 1907 -.
CLERK.
Henry Gastineau, 1882-1886. Franklin Ramsey, 1886-1894. John W. Graham, 1894-1898. Joseph W. Yakey, 1898-1907. Clyde O. Yoho, 1907 -.
TREASURER.
Henry T. Neal, 1879-1883.
E. R. Stropes, 1883-1887. J. E. Bull, 1887-1891. John French, 1891-1893. Noah Brown, 1893-1897. C. C. Ballard, 1897-1902. Joe Moss, 1902-1906. B. B. Mitten, 1906-1908. 1 Elmer Shirts, 1908 -.
SHERIFF.
Nelson M. Quillen, 1884-1886. Noah Elgan, 1886-1888.
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GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
William E. Thompson, 1888-1892.
John H. Johnson, 1892-1896.
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John E. Mclaughlin, 1896-1900. Alonzo F. Wilson, 1900-1904. John C. Huffman, 1904-1905. W. W. Edington, 1905-1909. RECORDER.
John A. Pate, 1879-1887.
Joseph G. Smith, 1887-1891.
Charles B. Kemp, 1891-1895.
James H. Persons, 1895-1904.
Edgar H. Sherwood, 1894-1908. Newton Vaughn, 1908 -.
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
Sherman Ogg, 1885-1886. John T. Lamb, 1886-1889.
William M. Moss, 1889-1893. John L. Cravens, 1893-1895.
Harvey L. Cushman, 1895-1903.
Newton V. Meredith, 1903-1907.
Christian Danielson, 1907 -.
COMMISSIONERS.
Members composing the board, and date of taking office :
Moses Crocket, first district, 1882. Wilbur A. Hays, second district, 1882.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
David L. Osborne, third district, 1885.
John T. Breeden, first district, 1887.
Wilbur A. Hays, second district.
David L. Osborne, third district.
Simon Bland, first district, 1900. Wilbur A. Hays, second district.
David L. Osborne, third district.
Simon Bland, first district. Wilbur A. Hays, second district. William McCloud, third district, 1891.
Simon Bland, first district. Henry C. Owen, second district, 1892. William McCloud, third district.
Stephen E. Anderson, first district, 1893. Henry C. Owen, second district. William McCloud, third district.
Stephen E. Anderson, first district. Henry C. Owen, second district. William Exline, third district, 1894.
Stephen E. Anderson, first district. Lafayette Jessup, second district, 1895. William Exline, third district.
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GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA. 233
Stephen E. Anderson, first district. Andrew Bucher, second district, 1898. William Exline, third district.
George W. Marshall, first district, 1899. Andrew Bucher, second district. William Exline, third district.
George W. Marshall, first district. Andrew Bucher; second district. James D. Haseman, third district, 1900.
George W. Marshall, first district. Andrew Bucher, second district. David L. Squires, third district, 1904.
George W. Marshall, first district. Horatio Hunt, second district, 1905. David L. Squires, third district.
Theodore Carmichael, first district, 1906. Horatio Hunt, second district. David L. Squires, third district.
Theodore Carmichael, first district. Horatio Hunt, second district. James T. Roach, third district, 1907.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
COUNTY ASSESSOR.
James Harrell, 1892-1896.
John F. Freeland, 1896-1900.
Andrew O'Donald, 1900-1906.
William O. Titus, 1906-
SURVEYOR.
Francis M. Parker, 1884-1886 ..
William W. Clogston, 1886-1890.
E. Fide Cox, 1890-1896.
William W. Clogston, 1896-1900.
Samuel N. Yeoman, 1900-1902.
Roland H. Blacklidge, 1902-1904.
Charles C. Parker, 1904.
CORONER.
William Axe, 1884-1888.
Phillip Franklin, 1888-1890.
James P. Denton, 1890-1892.
John H. Gheen, 1892-1896.
William Axe, 1896-1900.
Peter Oliphant, 1900-1902.
George B. Gray, 1902-1906.
Charles L. Bonham, 1906-
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GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
JOINT STATE SENATOR.
Liberty P. Mullinix, 1886-1890, for the district com- posed of Greene and Sullivan counties.
Charles T. Akin, 1890-1894, for the district com- posed of Greene and Sullivan counties.
Andrew Humphreys, 1894-1898, Greene and Sulli- van counties.
Edwin Corr, 1898-1802, for the district composed of Greene, Monroe and Brown counties.
Cyrus E. Davis, 1902-1906, Greene, Monroe and Brown counties.
Oscar E. Bland, 1906-, Greene, Monroe and Owen counties.
GREENE COUNTY TOWNS.
W. D. Ritter tells the names and origin of some of our towns as follows :
About 1819 Fair Play was laid out as a town by white men. Solomon Dixon, owner of the town site, the county's first representative in the legislature, the leading man of the neighborhood as to wealth and in- fluence, owner of valuable fast horses, a trainer and racer whose motto was "fair play," named the town.
Before this, for ages untold, a town had been there by the aborigines. Earthen pots have been dug up that were several feet in the ground. The pots had been cooked-the fire-black was fresh upon them. How the pots were made is a mystery.
On the outside is the print of grass, as if the mud of the pot had been plastered inside of a vessel platted out of prairies grass, then dried and burned. The grass burned off, the prints showing outside. What caused me to think of the grass pot was the fact that I saw at Col- onel DeWitt Wallace's, in the city of Lafayette, a pot platted from prairie grass that had been made out West, which was watertight. It was used to make soup in. Put the grasshoppers and water in, then put in hot peb- bles to boil it, take out cold pebbles and put in hot ones
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GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
until the cooking is done. The pottery is on both sides of the river-out on the Grismore and Heaton farms on the east side of the river, and in the north side of the town of Fair Play on the west side of the river. Jack Bradford, in digging his cellar forty years ago, took out some of the pots. The town of Fair Play is no longer in existence.
In 1821 Burlington was laid out as the county seat. It was where Sam Harrah lives, two miles northwest of Bloomfield.
The water well at the Harrah home was the public well on the public square of the county seat in the woods. The name was possibly given it by old Hiram Howard, of Vermont, in memory of the town of that name in his native state. Three years of dignity was all that was al- lowed to Burlington. The well did not supply enough water, so the county seat was moved. Burlington is no longer a town.
About this time John O'Neal, my mother's father, started the town of Newberry, so named in memory of Newberry, South Carolina.
Judge L. B. Edwards, in his history of Greene coun- ty, published in the "Indiana Atlas and Gazetteer," says it was named for a town in North Carolina, or, at least, the types made him say so.
This is the only mistake in his excellent history. South Carolina was an English colony, and Newberry an English name.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
In St. Paul churchyard, London, England, is a fam- ily named Newberry, who were booksellers for ages. Sir Humphrey Gilbert was a promoter of colonies in the South. My mother's mother, Hephzebah Gilbert, a dis- tant relative of his, always spoke of England as "home." Dr. H. E. Gilbert, D. D., was a man of exceptional ability.
Looking back in the dim past of Greene county, Scot- land was named by David Wallace and Jimmy Haig, the latter the grandfather of the Haigs of Bloomfield, after the land of their nativity.
Other persons of the same land were of the early colony-the Anderson family for one, of whom Jack An- derson, of Taylor township, is a descendant.
Davy Wallace cut a straight tree, cut off a rail cut and mauled all day ; at night he had two rails. Now, this would not do, so he got Thomas Plummer, Sr., the man for whom Plummer creek and township were named (the township since divided into Taylor and Cass). a man who knew what it was to be in the woods and what to do in the woods, to show him some trees that would split. After that Davy could have some rails. The tree that cost so much work and gave so few rails, he said, he believed they called it "goom" (gum). This en- tire story, as told by the sufferer in his very broad Scot- tish dialect, was one of the much-repeated "tales" of the log cabin age of the county. Scotland now has the en-
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GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
viable reputation of being a place where people mind their own business, earn an honest living, have no doggery, pay their debts, are prosperous and happy.
Marco was one of the first settlements of the county. The first entry of land was made by Allen Reaves, in 1816. The Stafford family, who gave the name to the township, is of the fine old English stock who have for ages made England famous and wealthy by her splendid stock, especially cattle. One of the last times I ever talked with a Stafford he had just been buying some cow halt- ers. The very rich corn land attracted the Dixons as well as Staffords. That same land is now feeding the great herds of the present Morgans. Before these Morgans a family of the same name lived in the township, who came from Virginia. These men of the present are sons of "Georgie" Morgan, a Yankee, who was in the sixties of the last century a county commissioner.
Members of the Virginia family were relatives of the famous General Dan Morgan, of the Revolution. Zack Morgan, of the second generation of the family, is yet remembered by a very few. The name "Marco" I re- member a very little about in connection with Hugh Mas- sey, a useful and very early citizen of African descent. who had a "cotton gin" when cotton was raised in Greene county. My father had a cotton gin in Daviess county at the same time. My mother had cotton cards, with which she carded cotton into "rolls" to be spun. Our an-
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
cestors' clothes were made in part of that material. Who gave the name, and for what reason, I do not know. The present town is some distance from the old one.
Jonesboro was so named by the carly citizens, and when the postoffice department was applied to for an of- fice they could not call the office by the town name because there was an office of that name in Grant county, so they named the office "Hobbieville."
The two names have had a hard time of it-many people don't know "which is t'other." In the long ago the name of "Screamersville" was used because the peo- ple expressed themselves "out loud" in time of election. Fifty years ago in Louisville, Kentucky, a woman asked mne if I lived near "Bibbsville." Long afterward I learned that that was the best she could do with the name Hobbie-' ville. So in time passed three names that had done serv- ice for one town.
Libern Owen built a blacksmith shop, laid out a town in the green woods and named it "Owensburg" in 1842. "Dresden" was so named in memory of the native town in Ohio from which some of the first settlers had emi- grated. "Mineral City" (Fellow's Mill) was so named by the railroad authorities because there is coal in the vi- cinity. Rockwood (Ruth's-ford) by the same authority ; Robinson also.
In the state of New York there are two Bloomfields (east and west), and in many other states towns of the same name.
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POINT COMMERCE, WHERE THE WATERS MEET.
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GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
Twenty years ago I received a letter from England, directed "Bloomfield, United States of America." It had been to six Bloomfields --- one in Iowa, one in Illinois, one in Missouri and one in New Jersey, where the postmaster had directed, "Try Bloomfield, Indiana." The writer did not know that the state must be on the direction.
When Bloomfield, Greene county, was laid out and ready for a name, Dr. Hallet B. Dean, who had been a citizen of the first county seat, and was raised in one of the Bloomfields of New York, proposed the name.
Point Commerce was laid out by J. M. H. Allison and his brother, John F. Allison, in April, 1836, and was so named because of their intention of buying and ship- ping produce down the river. An average of fifteen flat- boats a year for many years were run to New Orleans by these very enterprising men. Their business was larger than has been done by any firm in the county. This town is no longer in existence.
When the canal was built on the west side of Eel river opposite Point Commerce, Andrews and Barrack- man, in April, 1849, laid out Worthington, so named be- cause Mr. Andrews came from a town of that name in Ohio, which town was named after one of the first gov- ernors of that state.
Jasonville was named for Jason Rogers, one of the proprietors of the place.
Linton was named for a Terre Haute man who ran for congress at the time of the laying out of the town.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Dixon, after Daniel G. Dixon, its proprietor.
Switz City, for the landowner of the town site.
Lyons was named by the proprietor, 'Squire Joe Lyon, of Bloomfield, who for years had been treasurer and auditor of the county.
Solsberry, for Solomon Wilkerson, one of her citi- zens, who was a son of William Wilkerson, the Revolu- tionary soldier, who split a hundred rails on Solsberry hill the day he was a hundred years old.
Newark was named for the town of that name in Ohio.
Koleen was named by the railroad authorities be- cause "koleen" clay, used in making dishes, is found in that vicinity.
PIONEER REMINISCENCES.
. BY W. D. RITTER. .
As to high connection and good blood, Hugh L. Liv- ingston possibly stood above any who ever made their home in Greene county.
Colonel John Stokely, the county's first surveyor, was "aide" to General Washington and well connected. One of the family was mayor of Philadelphia in time of the Centennial, but of his ancestry we know nothing.
Of the Livingstons it is known that four earls (lords) of Linilthgow, in Scotland, lived before the days of
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GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
"Mary Queen of Scots," and that at her birth ( 1542) the fifth Lord Alexander Livingston was one of her guard- ians, and that his daughter Mary was one of the four lit- tle girls (all Marys) appointed to be companions and play- mates of the little queen. In an old ballad of the time it was said :
"Last night the queen had four Marys, Tonight she'll ha'e but three ; She had Mary Seaton and Mary Beaton And Mary Livingston and me."
It is known that Queen Mary had attendants of the greatest devotion, who stayed with her through her long imprisonment and forsook her not at the tragedy of the scaffold, but whether Mary Livingston was one of these is not known.
The first American Livingston crossed the Atlantic in 1674 and settled in Albany, New York. His name was Robert. At twenty-one years of age he became secre- tary of Indian affairs. In twelve years he had bought of the Indians one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, now nearly all of the counties of Dutchess and Columbia. He was a tall, handsome man, of courtly manner. Gov- ernor Dongan, of New York, erected his estate into the "manor and lordship of Livingston," which act was con- firmed by King George I. Down to the Revolution four
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of the family were British lords. At that time Robert R. (chancellor) was lord of the manor. One of the family was married to the Scottish Lord Stirling, who became General Stirling of the Revolution.
These four generations were all eminent for culture and high usefulness, intermarried with the very highest class. One was the wife of General Montgomery, who fell at Quebec in 1775.
A three-story mansion of hewn stone in New York city-the mansion on the "manor"-and one in Albany, for generations were kept up by the family, in all of which much "entertaining" was given to those of the highest in- fluence in the land. The family of the "chancellor" was specially noted in all respects-for numbers (five sons and seven daughters), talent, beauty and the utmost use- fulness. Three daughters married leading generals of the Revolution. One (Catherine) married the noted preacher, Freeborn Garretson. Of her a very fine steel engraving exists, which shows her to have been superb in appearance. The Livingstons of the present-one of them is an admiral in the navy, has been for many years- there were college presidents, judges, doctors of divinity, doctors of law, etc. Alexander Hamilton was befriended when a penniless boy by them. The wife of John Jay was a Livingston. Among their very particular friends were George and Martha Washington, especially while the cap- itol was at New York.
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GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
Robert R. (Chancellor) was on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence; would have signed it, but other duties to his state kept him out of congress just then. His brother Philip did sign it. The "Chancellor" administered the oath to Washington at his first inauguration ; he also assisted Robert Fulton and made possible the first steamboat, which was named "Clermont," after his home. This boat ran on the Hud- son. He sent his friend Roosevelt to Pittsburg, who went from there to New Orleans in a canoe to see if the Ohio and Mississippi would do for steamboats. He then gave money to build the "New Orleans," which made the first trip to New Orleans in 18II.
Edward, his brother, was our minister to France, and bought Louisiana from the first Napoleon for fifteen million dollars.
When the states were invited by congress to set mon- uments of their greatest Revolutionary leaders in the ro- tunda of the national capitol, New York responded with statues of Robert R. Livingston and George Clinton. Gil- bert Livingston, brother of Robert R., had a son who mar- ried a Laurens, a relative of the gifted, eminent Colonel Laurens, of the Revolution. At the old "manor" on the Hudson, in the year 1800, Hugh L. was born. While a child the father moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where he was reared. In youth he entered West Point, but did not graduate; went under Captain Bainbridge on
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
a cruise on the Mediterranean; also one on the Carib- bean sca.
I have heard him name the mathematical terms used in the navy in training the gunners. From certain causes Americans have been exceptional in skill to shoot. The first Napoleon was so astonished at their shooting on sea in the War of 1812 that he sent for two of their guns to see what kind they were. He saw at once that it was not in the gun, but the man.
Once a member of the British parliament moved that they use means to train their gunners. In his speech he said: "You might put Americans on a raft and they would sink the best battleship England owns."
On his return he studied law. His studies finished, he came to Indiana in 1822. In his very nature dwelt the instinct of courtly manner and bearing. Such manner I have never seen equaled.
Dr. Franklin called Robert R. the "Cicero of Amer- ica"; Hugh L. was called the "American Chesterfield" by those who knew him best.
When a child in my father's log cabin home (my father was a justice of the peace) often have I seen him address the "court." The phrase "Your Honor" he spoke with a genuine politeness that was perfect-could not be more so if the "court" had been the supreme court of the nation instead of an humble dwelling where the children had to be-no other place to hold court.
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GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
The first circuit court ever held in the county ( 1812) was by a large log-heap fire, a mile south of Bloom- field, where Thomas Patterson now lives. I knew him very well. Forty-two years he has been in the grave.
The late Judge Mack, of Terre Haute, once a citi- zen of Bloomfield, wrote for the Louisville Journal that he had to contend with Dewy, Dunbar, Blackford, Whit- comb, General Howard, Colonel Thompson, at times Rowan, of Kentucky, George C. Dunn and others who were equal, but such was his ability that he soon rose to the head of the bar, where he stood thirty-five years. He had a great deal of practice in the supreme court. He died in Bloomfield, May 16, 1857. His surviving chil- dren by two marriages are: Mrs. Colonel Alexander, of Denver, Colorado; Mrs. A. G. Cavins, of Bloomfield; Edward, of Missouri, and Mrs. Throop, of Linton, In- diana.
EARLY SETTLERS.
BY W. D. RITTER.
THE DIXON FAMILIES IN GREENE COUNTY.
By far the most numerous and in some respects most important connections of people who settled first in this county were the Dixons.
Ancestry .- The Romans called England "Albion"
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
while they had it; the ancient inhabitants called it "Brit- ain"; the Saxons called it "Eng" (grass) land. They were a pastoral people, and wanted the land to raise cat- tle on. For ages that island has been famous for her cat- tle. When King Alfred was a fugitive he stayed with a cow herder, whose wife gave him that good scolding for letting the cakes burn on the hearth while she went out to milk the cows (he was in disguise and she did not know who he was). She told him he was willing enough to eat them, but was "too good for nothing" to watch them a little.
The Dixons are of the fine old English stock that has paid attention to cattle and horses for many gen- erations. With other immigrants they came to Virginia as long as two centuries ago; from there to Tennes- see, then to Indiana, the first of them in 1816. The very best of the land in Stafford, Fair Play and Jefferson town- ships is where they made their homes.
Solomon Dixon entered land first in 1816; in 1821 he was the county's first representative. His home was near Fair Play, where the old house still stands. They had a "deer park" for the pets, of which he generally had as many as a dozen. The old aristocratic habit of hav- ing peafowls he kept up to the end of life.
The old English love of good horses, and fast ones, too, was strong in their breasts. To test the speed and "bottom" of their young horses, they had a race track
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GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
of their own a mile below Fair Play. High old times were had there for many years. The land is excellent and in late years used to raise corn. When eight years old, with others, I went to a big race on that track.
We were too late to see the great race of the day. Smaller races were in progress. The first thing I saw was a fine young Mr. Dixon roll off to a great distance from the horse he had been riding in a race. The horse had fallen with great violence in the struggle. The rider lay as one dead, but revived, if I remember rightly. The horse, a very valuable one, was ruined entirely. The nice proportioned young man, his fine clothes, he laying so still when he stopped rolling toward the fence-all are a picture in my memory yet plain as can be. Old Solomon Dixon had a clock which he took to "time" his horses on the track. No "new-fangled" stop-watches would do him -his clock had a second hand to it.
At the tornado at Natchez, about 1842, young Jo- seph Dixon, who was on his way down the Mississippi with a boatload of corn, was killed. He was blown two miles up the river and out into the back-water, where he was found. This storm was something like the one at Gal- veston, Texas. This young man was said to have been the most promising one of all the then numerous con- nection.
Major John R. Dixon, his cousin, searched several days for his body before finding it. The major was sher-
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iff of the county of Greene many years, and later was rep- resentative. The Dixons were relatives of the Pryors, of Virginia. One son of Solomon Dixon was named Pryor. He died while a youth. The Pryors are and have been very high-classed, chivalrous "F. F. V's."
Roger A. Pryor took a very active part in the rebel- lion. He it was who crawled in at a port-hole of Fort Sumter to talk to the commander, Major Anderson, in re- gard to surrender. A lady of the family is now a very fine writer of very high standing among the elite of the Old Dominion.
William Dixon, to whom so much of the property fell by heirship, has long been numbered with the things that were. He died-without heirs. He was nearly the last of the once powerful race in the county, where they had held sway so long. Some of the descendants of John H. Dixon, of Highland township, as well as those of Ste- phen and Eli, who owned the best farms south of Worth- ington, are living in the states west of here. Dixon coun- ty, Tennessee, and the city of Dixon, in Illinois, were named for the family on account of their settlement there, their numbers and importance.
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