USA > Indiana > Greene County > Biographical memoirs of Greene County, Ind. : with reminiscences of pioneer days, Volume III > Part 11
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CHARLES F. HEIM.
The people who redeemed Greene county from the wilderness were hardy sons of the soil who hesitated at no difficulty and for whom hardships had little to appall.
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and their efficient efforts have been fully appreciated by those who came at a later period and builded on the foun- dation which they laid so broad and deep. Among the latter class is the prominent farmer and merchant by whose name this article is introduced.
Charles F. Heim is a native of Erie, Pennsylvania. where he was born August 19, 1858. His parents, Wil- liam C. and Louisa ( Heyer) Heim, were of sterling Ger- man stock and possessed of all those admirable traits of character which have made these people forerunners in many of the most important lines of the world's activities. They both came to America from Germany about 1852 and married in Pennsylvania, coming to Indiana about 1864. The father of the subject was one of that loyal class of foreigners who espoused the cause of the Union and fought as gallantly for the stars and stripes as they would have fought under the banners of their own fa- therland. He was a sergeant in Company A, Seventh Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry. He died in a hospital in Philadelphia before hostilities ceased. Mrs. Heim then married M. E. Philip. The subject was left a small boy by his parents and he was reared by his step- father, Mr. Philip. In 1880 he came from Brown county to Greene county, Indiana, settling at Marco. The fol- lowing April he opened up a little restaurant, which gradually grew in importance under his skillful man- agement until it became a large establishment. Mr. Heim had only three hundred dollars to invest when he first started in business in Marco. Now his splendid stock of goods is valued at four thousand dollars. He made all this unaided, besides getting possession of a very fine
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farm of one hundred and eighty acres adjoining Marco, for which he has refused one hundred dollars per acre. It is well improved and well managed and is a very desir- able piece of property. He is a breeder of Berkshire swine and White Plymouth Rock chickens. No man of small business capacity could have accomplished what Mr. Heim has, starting from the small beginning which he was compelled to do. He successfully manages his farm in connection with his store.
Our subject was married in 1882 to Belle Harvey, who was born in Morgan county, August 1, 1865. They have three sons, all living. They are Charles, Ray and Claude. Charles F. Heim & Son is the firm name of the business which Mr. Heim and his eldest son conduct in Marco. The subject is a Republican, but he has never taken an active part in politics. Fraternally Mr. Heim is a member of the Lyons Masonic Lodge, No. 634, and Linton Chapter, No. 132, Indianapolis Consistory, hav- ing reached the thirty-second degree in his work in Ma- sonry. He is also a member of Knights of Pythias Lodge, No. 312, at Marco. Mr. Heim is regarded as a man of sound judgment and he is highly respected for his hon- esty and industry by all who know him.
JOHN WESLEY RISHER.
(BY G. W. F.)
The subject of this biographical review seems to the writer to be a near relative whom he had lost in the evo-
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lutions of time and considered as dead many long years ago. They were schoolmates in childhood, attending the same "pioneer" school in northwestern Pennsylvania for a period of five years, or from 1854 to 1858, when they were separated, and have never heard of each other, by tradition or otherwise, until they met in Linton, Indiana, exactly fifty years from the day of separation. Each had served through the war for the preservation of the Union and escaped serious bodily injury ; and though widely sep- arated, their lives have been similar in many respects. John Risher, or "Rasher," as the broad dialect of the lo- cality put it in the days of our childhood, was the "chosen friend" of the homeles boy who came into the neighbor- hood to attend school, and who requited such friendship. in part, by sharing with "John" his big red apples, then a real luxury, even in Pennsylvania. Fifty years! The period of "history-making" in the United States and the world. We are proud to know that we have borne a small part, John, in bringing about the grand achieve- ments of our country during the last half century, and of none of these have we any greater reason to be proud than the part we bore in the perpetuation of "one country and one flag."
A retrospective view of the past brings to mind the . crude instruments which the people of our childhood days were obliged to use in every line of human endeavor. The slab benches in the old school house were comfortable. because we knew no other : grandfather's scythe and cra- dle were far ahead of his father's sickle, which was de- signed to do the same work, and harvesting was an easy thing (?) after the cradle superseded the grain sickle,
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though the latter was still in use in "our day." We knew that electricity sometimes killed people and burned property, but we knew of no other uses to which it could be "put" or that it could be "manufactured" to supply all demands. Steam as a motive power was in its infancy, and we looked with awe and fear upon the first railroad train which came within our narrow horizon. All the means of "rapid" transportation known to us was by way of the Erie canal, whose boats, propelled by mule power. passed through West Middlesex at the rate of three or four miles an hour. Doubtless the sight of a bicycle. automobile, flying machine or "merry widow" hat would have driven all the natives to the woods. The telephone, electric cars, natural gas as a universal fuel in our im- mediate neighborhood (as now) would have driven them entirely "through the woods." We will not predict what the result would have been could they have seen a petro- leum lamp, or had an opportunity of reading their month- ly newspaper by the aid of an electric light. But. John, it is impossible to enumerate all the inventions and dis- coveries which have enriched the world and benefited mankind within the space of fifty years, or to portray the utter wretchedness and incapacity of the present genera- tion if deprived of them.
This personal introduction may be permissable in the light of the truth that there are hundreds of people now living in Greene county whose early experiences were similar to our own. If they have all kept pace with the rapid march of human events they are well qualified to entertain their children's children with the recital of pio- neer experiences, always interesting and instructive to the young.
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The subject of this sketch was born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, on the 4th day of May, 1844. His parents were David and Maria Ann (Cowan) Risher, both natives of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. The father was born in 1820 and the mother in 1824. David Risher spent his early life-i. e., from his sixteenth year until 1843-in boating on the canal between Philadelphia and Baltimore. He was married July 3. 1843, in Arm- strong county, and about two years later the family resi- dence was established at "Risher's Coal Bank," in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. For some time after the year 1843 father Risher was engaged at the blacksmith's trade, being an excellent workman in his line. In later life he was engaged in blacksmithing, and with his brother, John Risher, in various enterprises as coal operators and transporters. The firm of Schaeffer, Risher & Company, miners, and a firm under the same tile and composed of the same men operated a mine and transportation busi- ness at Newberg, Warrick county, Indiana. They were handsomely equipped for their business, and were pros- perous for a time, but rival miners nearer the market, to- gether with the destruction of a valuable steamer, which cost them twenty-seven thousand dollars, drove them out of business. The boilers of this vessel blew up and a total loss of boat and equipment was the result. The mother of the subject of this sketch died near Middlesex, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, January 25, 1869. Fa- ther survived her nearly twenty years, and died at What Cheer. Iowa, July 24. 1888. These were the parents of seven sons and two daughters, all of whom are now liv- ing. The eldest of the family is John Wesley, the sub-
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ject of this article; James Cowan, the second boru. 15 a resident of Nevada, Missouri; George Prosser is a farm- er near Linnville, Jasper county, Iowa; Silas C. is su- perintendent of the Vandalia mines at Terre Haute, In- diana ; Winfield Scott is foreman in a mine, of which his brother is superintendent, and lives in Linton : Mary Jane is the widow of Frank O'Brien, and lives at Oxford, Ne- braska; Alonzo Henderson is in the cold storage and meat business at Mystic, Iowa; Elmer Ellsworth is a coal op- erator at Boone, Iowa, and Lavona Caroline is the widow of Albert Bartmess, and lives in Omaha, Nebraska.
John W. Risher began his independent career as a coal miner and has followed mining, either as an owner and operator, superintendent for others, or in the ca- pacity of a miner, all his life with the exception of two years in the mercantile business at Brazil, Indiana. In this venture he was doing a good business, and had accumulated considerable property. A prolonged min- ers' strike necessitated his selling goods on credit, and soon the strikers had his goods and he had their worth- less accounts, very few of which were ever paid, even in part. He lost heavily through this effort to bene- fit his fellow man, and retired from business. He has operated mines of various capacities and values in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Iowa, being at times in affluent circumstances, and again clear down to the foot of the financial ladder. Few men have had a wider experience in all phases of coal production than John Risher. He left his native state in 1866, and after two years' absence returned to Middlesex and was su- perintendent of his uncle's mine. Later he was persuaded
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to go to Athens county, Ohio, and assume a similar posi- tion there. From Ohio he came to Brazil, Indiana, as previously mentioned, thence to Iowa, and again to In- diana, being in business for a time at Clinton. He then formed a partnership with David Murray as miners and shippers of coal. The story of his experiences there ( at Terre Haute) sounds like he may have been made the victim of a "salted mine," had he been producing gold instead of coal. At all events, the mine proved worth- less, after investing heavily in equipment and attaining fairly good results for a time. He came to Linton in the spring of 1897. and has been a resident of this city since.
Mr. Risher was a member of Company A. Fifty- eighth Pennsylvania Militia, for ninety days during the year 1862, this organization being later merged into the Sixth Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, and he was assigned to Company I. With this organization he served until the close of the war, being discharged June 15. 1865, at Fort Ethan Allen, Virginia. The services were largely confined to the defense of Washington during the more aggressive movements at the front. He is a pensioner by reason of disability incurred in the army.
The subject of this article was married January 25. 1872, at Sharon, Pennsylvania, the lady of his choice being Leah Martin, a native of Trumbull county, Ohio, and a daughter of Henry and Mary Martin, who later were residents of Sharon, Pennsylvania.
This happy and most congenial union has been blessed with four children, the eldest of whom, Pearl Genoa, born December 21, 1872. died at What Cheer, Iowa, September 12, 1886: Silas Vesuvius is superintend-
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ent of the Vandalia mines at Brazil, Indiana. He wedded Catherine Fuller and their little son. Charles Wesley, is the only grandchild of Mr. and Mrs. Risher. It is scarcely necessary to add that "little Charlie" has only to command and the world is his if within the power of the Risher family to gratify his wishes. Mary Idella is the wife of J. Walter Baird, a practicing attorney at Muncie. Indiana. The youngest of the family is John Austin, a young man of seventeen, now wrestling with the intri- cate "machinery" of the Linton high school. Incidentally he is serving an apprenticeship at the printer's trade, his leisure hours and holidays being spent under the tuition of Ben Morgan, of the Linton Record.
Comrade Risher has always taken great interest in the welfare of his late comrades in arms, and is a very zealous worker and the principal officer in Lieutenant Yakey Post, No. 192, Grand Army of the Republic. He is now serving the fifth term as commander of this post. His estimable wife is also an active member of the Wo- man's Relief Corps in connection with the same post. They are also both members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Free and Accepted Masons fraternities. the lady, of course, being restricted to the Order of the Eastern Star and Daughters of Rebekah, of which the husband is a member. Being united in the temporal af- fairs of life, it is but natural that this unity of sentiment should extend to the spiritual side of their sojourn to- gether, hence the religious home of the family is the Methodist Episcopal church.
In closing this rather lengthy sketch we trust that neither the parties directly concerned nor the disinterested
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reader will consider the writer presumptuous in making personal references to himself and the subject of the sketch, for he has no other means of impressing upon his childhood companion and his worthy family the great pleasure which he feels in again being, even temporarily, in touch with him. To know that he is alive and well, the head of a happy, loving family, congenially mated and reasonably prosperous, is joy inexpressible.
SOLOMON PRYOR DIXSON.
The worthy and influential gentleman whose name appears above was born in Greene county, February 26. 1851, the son of John H. and Elizabeth (Stalcup) Dixson, and received his early education in the public schools of this county, working on his father's farm until he was twenty-three years old. when he bought a small farm, the old homestead of his Grandfather Stalcup, which he operated for two years and sold, later moving to Iowa, where he rented a farm for one year, then in 1877 he moved to Kansas and bought four hundred acres of land, partly improved. Remaining on this farm for a period of twenty-four years, he sold out and moved back to Greene county, Indiana, having inherited and purchased two hundred acres of bottom land on the White river. and he also bought three hundred and twenty acres of hill land, all of which was improved. In about three years he sold the later farm and bought one hundred acres, where he has since resided, still owning the bottom
S. P. Dixson
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land. The new farm is prairie land, well improved, and upon it has been built a comfortable residence and con- venient out-buildings ; most of the fencing being of woven and barbed wire. He carries on a general farming busi- ness, feeds hogs and cattle and sells small grains, renting the major part of the tillable land out. He raises corn for the most part, however he grows large crops of wheat and oats. His is one of Greene county's model farms.
Mr. Dixson was married October 6, 1874, to Sarah Jane Owen, daughter of Armstead and Lucinda (Danely) Owen, both natives of Indiana. Grandfather Owen was a native of North Carolina, who came to Greene county, Indiana, and entered land. John Hunter Owen, grand- father of the wife of the subject, was the son of John Thomas Owen, who came to America from England with the army of General Cornwallis and surrendered at Yorktown. He was born in 1784 and died in 1834. The former, J. H. Owen, settled in Greene county, Indiana. Mrs. Dixson's father, Armstead Owen, was the youngest son. He was born January 16, 1825, and died January 29, 1870. He inherited a part of the old homestead which was entered from the government by Mrs. Dixson's grandfather, John Hunter Owen. Mrs. Dixson and the other two children were born on this farm. She attended the public schools in the winter and the subscription schools in the summer, later attending the graded schools in Bloomfield; also went to school at Franklin, Indiana. She was the oldest in her father's family. Mary E. Owen, the wife of J. A. Wood, is living in New Mexico. She attended DePauw University at Greencastle. Indiana. She has two children, Owen L., a draughtsman in the employ
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of the government at Reno, Nevada, is a graduate of the Rose Polytechnic School at Terre Haute. Her sec- ond child, Laura W., is now (1908) in college at Ottawa, Kansas. Hugh A. Owen, brother of the subject's wife, graduated in the class of 1908 in Chicago University. He has one son. George B., who was born in 1905. Two children have been born to the subject and wife-Clay- ton C. died in infancy, Mary M., who was born in 1880, living at home. Mrs. Dixson's people were Baptists, but she has joined her husband in the Christian church. Solomon P. Dixson is a Republican. His daughter at- tended Butler University and is active in Sunday school work in the Christian church, being a teacher and doing excellent work with her students.
The family of Solomon and Sarah Dixson, grand- parents of the subject of this sketch, lived in Virginia and consisted of seven sons and three daughters, namely : Samuel, who came to Indiana and died in Greene county. August 30, 1820, aged fifty-three years: Solomon was born in 1771 and died in 1824. Both he and Samuel re- mained unmarried. Joseph died at his residence in Greene county. He was married in Georgia to Mary Hurd, an aunt of Jemima Dixson, of Roseville, Illinois. The former died in Indiana. Henry married in Georgia. His wife was a step-sister of Mary Hurd. He died in Tennessee. Eli was born in Virginia, near the Blue Ridge mountains in 1769. and came to Indiana in 1806. Stephen, the seventh son of Solomon and Sarah Dixson, was killed by Indians during the war of 1812. - while boarding with a family near Kirk's Prairie, Indiana. The man of the house and Stephen were away from home
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when the Indians came and took the family, three Indians staying behind to wait for the men. Stephen came home first and the Indians came from their hiding place and killed him, hanging his body near the door where the owner of the home found it when he rturned. The daughters of Solomon and Sarah Dixson were Ruth, Sarah and Elizabeth.
Eli Dixson was born in 1769 in Virginia, near the Blue Ridge mountains, and he emigrated to Georgia where the city of Augusta now stands. He was married to Rebecca Hart in 1799 and moved to Preble county. Ohio, in 1806, settling in Dixson's township, where he remained for twelve years, during which time he cleared a farm and exercised a great influence in settling the neighborhood. He moved to Smith township, Greene county, Indiana, where he bought a farm and improved. it. He was noted for his liberality and benevolence in helping all who were in need. He served two terms in the state legislature from Greene, Putnam and Owen counties, and his successful life closed March 9, 1836.
Rebecca. the wife of Eli Dixson, was the daughter of Isaac and Hester Hart, born near Augusta, Georgia. September 2, 1779, and died October 1, 1852. She had four brothers, William, Isaac, Thomas and Phineas. She also had two half-brothers, Amos and Jerry. She had a half-sister, who married a Mr. Jones. William died in Georgia. Isaac and Thomas died in Preble county, Ohio. Phineas died in Peoria county, Illinois. Her mother, half-brother and sister emigrated to Michigan in an early day. Eli and Rebecca (Hart) Dixson's family consisted of eight sons and three daughters, namely: Samuel.
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Sarah, Solomon, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Eli, Stephen, Phin- eas, William and Prior. Samuel was born in 1800 and died in 1844. Sarah was born in 1801 and died in 1839. Solomon was born in 1803 and died in 1851. Elizabeth lived three years. Rebecca was born in 1807 and died in 1834. Eli was born in 1811 and died in 1857. Stephen was born in 1817 and died in 1879. John was born in 1816 and died in 1890. William was born in 1822 and died in 1870. Prior died when twenty-seven years old.
Ancestors of the subject's mother, the Stalcups, came to Indiana in an early day and have been prominent factors in the history of the southern part of the state ever since. They were natives of Tennessee, who came to Greene county, Indiana, and entered government land, where they raised cotton and flax on the ground where the city of Worthington now stands. One of the Stal- cup women lived to be one hundred and fifteen years old. All the Stalcup family are very long-lived people.
Thus it will be seen by this review that our subject is a member of an unusually meritorious family, and that he is well worthy to bear the honored name of his ancestors.
MRS. MARY E. BREWER.
Mrs. Mary E. Brewer, widow of John W. Brewer,' was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, August 25, 1842. the daughter of James M. and Margaret A. (Hinkle) Enochs. The latter was a native of Kentucky, who was brought to Greene county by her parents when six months
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uld. The former was a native of North Carolina, who was nine years old when he was brought to Kentucky by his parents, who later moved to Sullivan county, Indiana, living there the remainder of their lives, having been con- sistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Enochs' earthly career ended April 14, 1894, having sur- vived his wife seven years.
Mrs. Brewer, our subject, was reared on a farm and attended the common schools, securing a fairly generous education. She was united in marriage October 27, 1885. to John W. Brewer, and they immediately moved on a splendid farm in Stafford township, on which our sub- ject still resides and which has been so skillfully man- aged that it has always been very productive. It con- sists of one hundred and two acres. She rents the land but keeps some good stock. Mr. and Mrs. Brewer never had any children. September 7. 1895, Mr. Brewer's spirit passed into the "silent land" after a busy and hon- orable career. He was a member of the Baptist church, in which he always took a delight, and his political in- clinations were always with the Democrats. However, he was not an active worker in his party. Our subject was Mr. Brewer's second wife. He raised one daughter, Martha A., by his first wife. This child is now the wife of Charles B. Heim, of Marco, Indiana.
Mrs. Brewer is a member of the Methodist Episco- pal church, her membership being at Stafford chapel. She is regarded as a lady of estimable traits, having a kind and generous disposition, according to her neighbors, and she is much liked and highly respected by all who know her.
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HENRY GARRETT BREDEWEG.
This honored and stalwart German-American came direct from the fatherland, where he was born at Han- over, Germany. October 24. 1843, being one of nine chil- dren born to Herman and Elizabeth (Angelbeck) Brede- weg. The father was a highly skilled and industrious carpenter and builder of more than local repute. The other children of this worthy family were: Elizabeth. Mary and Annie, living, and Herman, Fritz, Minnie, William and another son, also named William, all de- ceased.
Henry G. Bredeweg left Germany for Holland in the early sixties, where he engaged in the mercantile busi- ness for two years, after which he returned to Germany and was drafted for military service, and elected to come to America, where he believed greater opportunities awaited him, landing in New York on the day that our martyred, President. Abraham Lincoln, was assassinated. He came to Stockton township. Greene county, and has since lived continuously, with the exception of a short time spent in a neighboring state, in the community wherein he first settled, having not only been eminently successful in his vocation, but at the same time establish- ing a reputation among the citizens of Greene county for sturdy industry and honesty. He first sought and found work as a farm hand, working for Dr. Sherwood for one year. Then he went to Illinois and worked for two years, but still claiming Stockton township as his home, where he returned and, having been frugal and prosperous, pur- chased a forty-acre farm about two and one-half miles
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north of Linton. By industry and close application to business he has since been able to add to this original farm, until he now has a fine place of one hundred and forty-six acres. His land is all well improved and on it he has erected a splendid and comfortable residence. As a careful and industrious farmer he is not surpassed in Greene county, having well understood from the first the nature of our soils and what grains were best adapted for them and how best to rotate crops.
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