USA > Indiana > Greene County > Biographical memoirs of Greene County, Ind. : with reminiscences of pioneer days, Volume II > Part 26
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at the hanging of thirty-eight braves. In the summer of 1863 he was in the Sibley expedition in Dakota. He had charge of the sick men and the field hospital for a short time. He then went overland to Fort Snelling, Minne- sota, and from there to St. Louis and remained at Scho- field's barracks for a short time, here he was promoted to First Lientenant of Company F, Sixty-fifth United States colored troops, and was sent to Louisiana under Generals Banks and Canby. He was engaged in garri- son duty there for some time. After hostilities ceased he was on garrison duty at Baton Rouge. The regiment was one of fine discipline and drill. Only one other was said to be as good. He continued in service from the day he en- listed until January 10, 1867, when the regiment was mustered out. He was promoted to captain a year and a half before he was discharged.
After closing his military career Mr. Darnell entered the Mississippi Mission conference. His professional work was looking after the freed men of the South. He was stationed at Jackson, Mississippi. He traveled, look- ing after the interests of the church and organizing churches, in which work he was very successful. In his district he increased the membership from two to six thousand and added $10,000 in value to the church property. During all this time his family remained in Minnesota. He was then transferred to the Missouri conference and was pastor for three years at De Soto and for two years at Lebanon, Missouri. He finished the work of one church while there and paid it entirely out of debt. He was then appointed presiding elder of the Kansas City district in which work he continued for
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two years. During this time the farmers were cursed with grasshoppers. In order to do what he could to re- lieve the situation, the Reverend Darnell came to Indiana and got four hundred bushels of seed corn and distributed it among the farmers whose early corn crops had been destroyed by the insects. He considered this one of the best acts of his life as to results.
Reverend Darnell resigned from his work in 1875 on account of the pople being too impoverished to stand the expenses of his services and came to Indiana, settling in Smith township, Greene county, near Worthington, where he has since resided. He settled on wild land, which he had cleared and improved until it is now an excellent farm.
He has given much attention to horticulture. His orchard contains all kinds of fruit that this climate will grow. He has three hundred acres of land.
The subject was married July 4, 1855, to Mary Adams, a native of Tennessee, and was brought to In- diana by her parents when young, living in Morgan and Putnam counties. She had a brother who was a soldier in General Harrison's regiment. Four children have been born to this union, namely : Alice, who was born in 1866, died when six years old; Martha, who was born in 1859, died within a few days of her sister; John, who was born in 1862 is living on his father's farm. He is married and has one son. Edward, the subject's fourth child, was born in 1868, is living in Kansas City, engaged in the rail- road business. He is married and has three sons. The wife of the subject has always been an active worker in the church. The oldest son belongs to the Methodist church.
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Reverend Darnell is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, post at Worthington, Indiana. He is a Republican, and was representative in the legislature the year General Harrison was elected President. He was nominated by the Republican party for congress, but was defeated by his opponent on the Democratic ticket, and he was a member of the county council for four years. The subject is holding two commissions signed by Presi- sident Lincoln, which he prizes very highly. The colored regiment which ne served, had the largest list of mortality of any regiment. There were eight hundred twenty deaths in three years from disease.
The life of the subject of this sketch has been one of unusual activity and is worthy of emulation and com- mendation. He is a remarkable man in many respects and a valuable citizen.
HENRY ADAM WOLF.
Not a few of the most interesting citizens, especially agriculturists of Greene county, are either natives of Ger- many or direct descendants of the thrifty sons of that country, and of this class our subject, who was born in Clay county. Indiana, February 12, 1861, is a worthy rep- resentative, having been born of German parents, Henry and Elizabeth (Croft) Wolf, the former being brought from that country to Ohio in his youth where he received his education. He finally came to Clay county, Indiana, when he entered eighty acres of land and in 1885 came to
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Greene county, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres which has since been divided among his heirs. He is now ( 1908) living at the age of seventy-six, his wife having died July 7, 1907, at the age of seventy-six years. In his early life he was a shoemaker, later a farmer. Grandfather Henry Wolf, who was born in Germany, came to America, settling on a farm in Owen county, this state, and spent the balance of his life there, dying in 1858, at the age of sixty-seven years, having been surviv- ed several years by his wife who was seventy years old when she joined her husband on the "undiscovered bourne." Grandfather George Croft was a German who settled in Owen county among the first settlers who en- tered land there. He was in Pennsylvania and later in Ohio, having spent his last days on a farm in the last named state. Adam Wolf, the subject's uncle, was an Indian soldier in the Union army and was killed in battle.
The subject of this sketch was no less industrious from the first than his ancestors and he spent his youth working on his father's farm and attending the common schools until he was twenty-one years old when he rented a farm which he managed a few years, then he bought eighty acres which has been his home to the present day. having added forty acres, all of which is in cultivation with the exception of fifteen acres. The subject carries on a general farming, raises cattle and hogs and feeds all his grain tol his stock in preparing it for the market. He exercises splendid judgment in the rotation of crops, us- ing clover as a fertilizer, and in' the general management of his farm which is well improved and a valuable place. Mr. Wolf was married in 1883 to Rozena Yegerleh- 53
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ner, daughter of Christian and Elizabeth (Swartz) Yeger- lehner, both natives of Switzerland, who settled first in Ohio, later in Owen county, Indiana, then in Clay county, where they owned a farm and where the father died, be- ing yet survived by his widow. Eight children have been born to the subject and wife, as follows: Emma was born in : 1884; Anna was born in 1886; Ella, born in 1888; Minnie, born in 1890; William Henry, born 1892; Samuel, born in 1894; Pearl. born in 1896; Grace, born in 1898. All the children of the subject are at home most of the time. Mr. Wolf is a Democrat politically, and while he does not find time to devote his attention to local political affairs, yet he is al- ways ready to lend his aid in furthering any cause that will benefit the county in which he resides.
RALEIGH MORTON BUSKIRK.
Metaphorically speaking, we are told that success treads on the heels of every right effort, and amid all the theorizing as to the cause of success, there can be no doubt that this aphorism has its origin in the fact that character is the real basis in any field of thought or action. He of whom the biographer now writes is a successful farmer of Greene county, where he was born February 14, 1863, the son of Philander A. Buskirk, and a man whom his fellow citizens have honored with their fullest confidence and esteem. The subject's grandpar- ents were Alfred and Lithia (Dayhoff) Buskirk, natives
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of Spencer county, Kentucky, who came to Greene county, Indiana, in 1823, settleing in Highland township, among the first pioneers. Later they moved to Smith township where Mr. Buskirk operated a pottery kiln for a number of years. He died in Highland township in 1829 and in 1835 his widow married Joseph Myers, with whom she removed to Butler county, Kentucky, where she died in 1845. Philander A. Buskirk, the subject's fa- ther, went to his mother in Kentucky, but when eighteen years old returned to his native community in Greene county, Indiana, living with an uncle until 1848, when he began farming in Smith township, soon owning a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres which he divided up among his children, having moved to Worthington in 1902 and retiring from business. In August, 1862, the subject's father responded to the President's call for troops to suppress the great rebellion that was threatening the Union enlisting in Company H, Seventy-first In- diana Infantry, but shortly afterward he was transferred to the Sixth Indiana Cavalry. At. the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, Mr. Buskirk was captured and paroled. His parole having expired while he was at Terre Haute, he again enlisted and was sent to the front, but was soon afterward captured a second time in Kentucky. However, he was ex- changed and when his parole had expired went to Tennes- see, later returning to Kentucky, thence to Georgia, where he took part in the campaign around Atlanta, and on De- cember 15 and 16, 1864, was in the battle of Nashville against Hood's forces. He was honorably discharged June 21. 1865. The subject's father was first married to Nancy
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Elgin, April 9. 1848. Alfred D. was the only child born to this union. His second wife was Martha Godfry, daughter of Elijah and Theodosia (Clark) Godfry. Six children were born to this union, R. M. Buskirk, our sub- ject, being the youngest in the order of birth, having been raised on the same farm where he has ever since resided and from which he walked some distance to the neighbor- hood school during the winter months. His social busi- ness and religious life have always been lived in perfect harmony with the strict teachings of his just and wise parents. Mr. Buskirk is now the owner of a well im- proved farm of one hundred and sixty acres, all but eight acres of which are in cultivation. Although the superin- dence of the work in his fields requires a great deal of thought and attention, his time is taken up very largely with the breeding of and raising live stock, principally horses and mules for the market, raising both draft and road horses, the former being Percherons. He not only feeds all the corn that the place produces, which is a very large amount, but he buys large quantities of corn which he also feeds, and as a consequence of his sound business principles and his judgment in the rotation of crops, to- gether with systematic methods of tile drainage, the soil on his land is now in higher state of productiveness than when it came into his possession many years ago. It is interesting to note that his first tax receipts were only thirty-four cents : those for 1908 were for $163.50 cents. None other than a man of extraordinary ability could have made the great success that has attended the efforts of Mr. Buskirk. Besides his farm of one hundred and sixty acres he owns valuable property in Linton.
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The subject was united in marriage in 1894 to Har- riet Inman, daughter of Robert and Rhoda (Wines) In- man, natives of Ireland, the former having come to America when twenty-one years of age and settled in Greene county, Indiana, having spent his life on a farm and dying in 1864, at the age of sixty-one years, leaving a wife and seven children, one of whom, John, was a sol- dier in the Union army, a member of the Sixty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, having died of disease in a St. Louis hospital while in the army. Mrs. Buskirk was for thirteen years a teacher in the public schools, five years of that time having been spent in Nebraska. There has not been any issue from this union, but the subject and wife are raising an orphan boy. Mr. Buskirk is a Repub- lican and a member of the Baptist church, while his wife is affiliated with the Presbyterian church. No people liv- ing in the vicinity of Linton, Indiana, are spoken of in any higher terms than they, everyone admiring their up- right lives and their congenial dispositions.
WILLIAM ALVEN MURRAY.
The popular and efficient proprietor of "Murray's Annex," the finest confectionery store in Linton, Indiana. is regarded as one of the prominent young business men of this vicinity and is well entitled to representation in this work, for a biographer delights to write a sketch that shows the worthy traits in a man's nature, shows how the subject has overcome obstacles that beset his early
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life and at last landed in a pleasant and well paying busi- ness and established a comfortable home. These are some of the things that Mr. Murray has accomplished in his youth and early manhood years, all of which augurs a prosperous and bright future.
William A. Murry was born in Rockport, Spencer county. Indiana, December 27, 1870, the son of John S. and Sarah C. (Ebright) Murray, the former having been born in Western Tennessee, April 17, 1840, and the latter in Ohio, April 12, 1841. Both are living at Boonville, Warrick county, Indiana, where the father held many political offices of minor importance. He also held several important offices in the gift of the people in Spencer county. He has a family of seven sons and five daughters ; three of the sons having died in infancy: James N. is a miner at Boonville, Indiana; Joseph is a farmer in Okla- homa : William A., the subject of this sketch; Felix P. is a first sergeant in the United States army. One Hundred Forty-eighth Coast Artillery, at present stationed at Fort Baker, California. He has spent the past fifteen years in the army, having been in Cuba and the Philippines during the Spanish-American war. The following daughters were born after the seven sons: Sarah and Clara, twins; the former having married William Collins, and the lat- ter, Malcomb Strain, a tobacco merchant. Both sisters live in Boonville. Ida, the third daughter, is the wife of James Hemenway, a miner. Ada, the fourth daughter, is single and living at home. Laura is the fifth daughter.
William A. Murray lived in Spencer county, Indiana, until he was fourteen years old. He felt the "call of the wild" early in life and permitted himself to be led out by
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the wanderlust until he visited nearly every state in the Union. He talks fluently and interestingly of his travels and he has become broad minded and generally educated by reason of his contact with the world. After returning from his tour of the United States, Mr. Murray located in Daviess county, in 1895, engaging in mining for a period of eight years, during which time he accumulated consid- erable money by habits of industry.
The subject was married June 22, 1897, to Anna B. Brown, the accomplished daughter of George B. and Anna Brown, of Montgomery, Daviess county. Mrs. Murray is a native of Illinois. Her parents were born in Scotland, where two of their six children were born. Mr. and Mrs. Murray have five children, namely: Maude, Avery, Jessie, Johnny and Russell.
In 1902 the subject of this sketch came to Linton, Indiana, where he was employed in the mines for three years. Finding that his business ability and opportunity lay in a more profitable and pleasanter field, he abandoned the mines and engaged in the confectionery business on Main street for a year. Then he moved to his present lo- cation, which is an annex to the Grand Opera House, a conveniently situated business point, in fact, one of the best locations in the city, on A street, northeast. It opens into the lobby of the opera house, and a crowd of custo- mers is to be found gathered at the place most of the time. He serves ice cream, fruits and confectionery of his own excellent manufacture ; also carries a choice line of cigars and tobacco, and he has a fine trade in his line, in fact, the largest in Linton-everybody knows where "Murray's Annex" is, and it has long ago become generally popular.
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Fraternally Mr. Murray is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows encampment, and also a member of the Rebekahs. His wife is also a member of the latter. He is indepen- dent in politics, always voting for the best man, regard- less of party prejudice. Both he and his wife are mem- bers of the First Presbyterian church, and no members in that congregation stand higher than they.
WILLIAM AXE.
William Axe, the worthy subject of this sketch, is a prosperous farmer living in Bloomfield, Indiana, who was born in Wayne county, Ohio, April 22, 1837, and who traces his ancestors back to Germany, from which country his grandfather, Jacob Axe, came to America before the Revolutionary war and settled in Pennsylvania, where he followed the profession of charcoal burner. He spent his life in the Keystone state and raised the follow- ing children : Jacob, father of the subject of this sketch ; Isaac, John, William, Reuben, Sarah and Katherine. The subject's father, Jacob Axe, married Eliza Darrough, both natives of Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, but they were married in Wayne county, Ohio. About 1855 they moved to Greene county, Indiana, and settled in Richland town- ship, where they bought one hundred and thirty acres of land, mostly unimproved, from Jacob Moore, but the father and son soon cleared the land and had a comfort- able home. He and his wife were members of the Church
WILLIAM AXE FAMILY GROUP.
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of God and were good Christians. Jacob was a Demo- crat. They had the following children : Catherine, Mar- garet, William, Thomas, John, Daniel, all living; Jacob, Elizabeth, Reuben and Almeda, all deceased. The sub- ject's father died in 1866. His wife died in 1871.
The subject of this sketch was seventeen years old when the family came to Greene county, Indiana. Hav- ing remained at home until he was twenty-one years old, he was able to obtain a limited education in subscription schools, taught in log school houses with puncheon floors and seats. In 1858 he married Mary Henry, and soon afterwards hired out, working by the day for fifty cents. He split rails for fifty cents per hundred, splitting five thousand five hundred in one spring at fifty cents per day for Alfred Cutch in Richland township. He finally bought a team and rented ground until 1878, when he bought a ,twenty acre farm in Fair Play town- ship, Greene county, Indiana, which he still owns. In 1884 he bought another forty acre farm in the same township, which he still owns. He also owns thirty acres in the White River bottom in Washington township and his home place in Bloomfield, Indiana. In 1896 he retired and moved to town, to enjoy the rest he had so well earned by an unusually active career.
The wife of the subject is a native of Richland county, Ohio. She is the daughter of Lewis and Susie Henry, who came to Greene county, Indiana, about 1851, where they farmed and spent the remainder of their lives. The Henry family was highly respected, and took great interest in the work in the Church of God. Mary (Henry) Axe, wife of the subject, was called to her reward March
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27, 1908. The subject and wife had the following chil- dren : Elizabeth, deceased, who was the wife of William Briles. She had five children, namely; the first, died in infancy, Everet, Oscar, Walter, Lela. Lewis was the subject's second child, who died in early life; William lives in Kansas. He is a farmer and married Rachel Terrell. They have four children. Jacob, the fourth child of the subject, has been deceased for some time. He married Mary Bond. They had one child, Mary E. John, the fifth son of the subject, lives on his father's farm in Fair Play township, Greene county, Indiana. He first married Rettie Sheppard, who died, leaving one child, Harold. He married the second time, his last wife being Minnie Rusher. They have three children, Naoma, Her- bert and Esther. Thomas, the sixth son of the subject, is living in Grant township, Greene county, Indiana, on a farm, having married Catherine Muterspaugh. They have seven children. Rettie, the seventh child of the sub- ject, is the wife of William Daily, who lives in Richland township on a farm. He has three children, Mary, Robert and Renie. Catherine is the eighth child. She is the wife of William Retter, a dairyman, who lives in Rich- land township. They have three children, Morris. Mary and Paul. The subject's wife was a member of the Pres- byterian church.
The subject of this sketch gladly offered his services in the defense of his country, and enlisted in August, .1862, as a recruit to the Sixty-ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Company C, and participated in the following battles: Corinth, Raymond, Mississippi; Jackson, Cham- pion Hill, Vicksburg, where he was wounded in the right
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arm from which over six inches of bone had to be re- moved. He was sent to a hospital where he remained until the close of the war, having been discharged at Madison, Indiana, in June, 1865.
The subject is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters and of the Grand Army of the Republic, and he is a loyal Republican. He was coroner of Greene county, Indiana, for twelve years, having performed the duties of this important office with the greatest satisfac- tion. Mr. Axe is not only well but favorably known for his honesty and sound business principles.
THOMAS FRANKLIN BALLARD.
Among the prominent and successful citizens of Greene county may be mentioned the subject, who is a prosperous farmer and a respected and useful member of society. His valuable estate, which is located in Smith township, attracts attention and favorable comment. His entire life has been spent on the same farm, in the same house, of which fact he is justly proud, for many and obvious reasons.
Thomas Franklin Ballard was born August 29, 1865, the son of James F. and Mahulda (Danley) Bal- lard. The great-grandfather of the subject spent his life in Kentucky. His grandfather was born in that state but later moved to Greene county, Indiana, settling on a farm which his father had given him and where he spent the remainder of his life, raising four children by his first
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wife of which the father of the subject was the second in order of birth, having been born in Kentucky but was brought to Greene county, Indiana, and spent part of his life on a farm which is now owned by John J. Ballard. Three children were born to the subject's grandfather by his second wife. The subject's father was always a farm- er, remaining in Greene county after he first took up his residence there until his death, which occurred in 1880, when he was fifty years old. Five children were born to this union, three of whom are now living, namely : Benja- min, deceased; Columbus, connected with the Citizens' State Bank at Bloomfield; he has been county treasurer for two terms. William was the third son; he is in the elevator business at Worthington, Indiana. Ella, the fourth child, is deceased; T. F., our subject, was the youngest.
The subject spent his youth working on the farm and attending the country schools. Inheriting his fa- ther's homestead of two hundred acres, he has added eighty acres, all of which comprises one of the most de- sirable farms in the county. Much of this large farm was cleared and put under the plow by Mr. Ballard; in fact, his unexcelled judgment as an agriculturist has transformed this naturally excellent tract of land into a model farm that would bring a high figure if thrown on the market. It is now practically all in grass and pasture, over which range large herds of cattle, droves of sheep and hogs, all of good quality. His sheep are sold for mutton and he also sells much wool, while he is prepar- ing his other stock for market. All of this farm is nat- urally drained, being rolling for the most part, and the
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soil not only rich but in perfect order, the fencing be- ing mostly of wire.
Mr. Ballard was united in marriage to Laura Sim- mers in 1892, a native of Greene county and the daughter of William and Mary (Gamble) Simmers, the former having been a soldier in the Union army, as was also his brother John. Thomas Ballard, an uncle of the subject, was a member of an Indiana regiment, and was lost in battle. The wife of the subject was called to her reward in 1907. There was no issue from this union. Mrs. Bal- lard was a consecrated Christian, being a member of the Christian church, of which the subject is also a member. Politically he is a stanch Republican. His probity, fidel- ity and sterling worth have won him the unqualified con- fidence of his fellow citizens and he receives the respect and esteem which ever follow an upright career.
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