USA > Indiana > Greene County > Biographical memoirs of Greene County, Ind. : with reminiscences of pioneer days, Volume III > Part 18
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Upon returning to Greene county after the close of the war Mr. Roberts purchased the tract of land which forms his present homestead. At the time there were no improvements whatever, nor was any of the land cleared. but by dint of hard and persevering effort Mr. Roberts succeeded in transforming the wilderness into a productive and well improved farm.
In 1867 Mr. Roberts was united in matrimony to Catherine Sheehy, who was born April 10, 1839. in Rich- land county, Ohio, and was the daughter of Edward and Mary (Stout) Sheehy, the former being a native of Ire- land and the latter of New Jersey. Eleven children were born into this family, consisting of: John, now deceased ; James, living in Ohio: Margaret, deceased: Catherine, wife of our subject : William, a soldier in the Sixty-fourth
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Ohio Regiment, having met his death at Knoxville, Ten- nessee; Julia, wife of Jesse Rector, now living at Linton, Indiana; Hiram, a farmer in Ohio; Simon, living in Fair Play township; Mary E. and Edward, deceased ; the last child (unnamed) died in infancy.
Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have become the parents of four children, the first two of whom died when still young. Lovezilla and Lillian R. are both married, the latter being the wife of Warren Tinstman, of Linton, and the former married John Ritter, now living at Indianap- olis. They have two sons, Roland and Charles Gray.
Mrs. Roberts is a member of the Roman Catholic church and has proved to be a mother most worthy of rearing such a praiseworthy family.
Mr. Roberts is a Republican and has given his town- ship most acecptable service as trustee. His interest in the political affairs of the community has been attended at all times with the desire to improve and raise higher the standard of public service. His industrious habits and uniform integrity have won for him the respect and es- teem of neighbors and friends.
WILLIAM HUNTER.
Special honor attaches to that individual who, im- aided and alone, begins the ascent of life's rugged path- way and removes the many obstacles that lie in his road to the goal of success and by the force of his own individ- uality forges to the front, winning for himself the esteem
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of his fellow men. Such is in brief the record of the pop- ular citizen of Greene county to a brief synopsis of whose life and character the following paragraphs are devoted.
William Hunter ranks in the best class of our great foreign population, that worthy class which we are glad to welcome, knowing that their labors here in the United States will benefit us as well as them. He was born in Yorkshire, England. July 14. 1844. the son of John and Elizabeth ( Wardell) Hunter, who moved to Ohio in 1853. John Hunter was a stonemason and a bricklayer of more than ordinary skill. He moved to Stafford township. Greene county, Indiana, in February, 1861, where he con- tinued to work at his trade until 1883, when he died in Marco. He and his wife were the parents of eight chil- dren, all of whom are in America except John, the eldest son, who never came to America and still resides in his native place. Francis and William, our subject, became sole proprietors of the mill in 1883. It was built by them and their father, and formerly operated under the firm name of Hunter & Sons, the sons assuming full control at their father's death. They do a general milling busi- ness, cutting each year many thousand feet of lumber. also custom milling, grinding feed, flour, etc., and they have made a great success in this business, as will be seen when we note the fact that when the Hunters came to Marco they were practically without funds, but being men of sound judgment and untiring industry they soon built up a good trade, and each of the sons mentioned above are now worth at least thirty thousand dollars. They are both men of families.
William Hunter was married in October, 1880, to
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Mrs. Druzilla Stafford, whose maiden name was Jeimson. She was born in Ohio and came to Indiana with her par- ents in 1864. To this union one bright and promising boy was born on May 6, 1881. He is now living on a farm in Stafford township, which he conducts success- fully. He married Myrtle Hudson.
The subject of this sketch was elected trustee of Staf- ford township in 1900, having been nominated by the Democrats by thirty votes. He carried the township by seventy-four votes. Something of Mr. Hunter's excellent executive and financial ability was shown in the success- ful manner in which he handled the duties of this impor- tant office. The township was in debt when he began his official duties, tuition being short. When he turned it over to his successor, Jacob R. Garrett, the sum of six thousand dollars was left in the treasury. During his term of office he built two new school houses and left two thousand eight hundred dollars in the special school fund and never raised the levy. Calvin Smith, William Fry and Presley Stafford were on the advisory board. Mr. Hunter was one of the most efficient and popular officials the township ever produced.
Fraternally our subject is a member of Masonic Lodge, No. 166, at Newberry, Indiana, having joined this organization in 1865. He has always been one of its most active and influential members.
Mr. Hunter is a man of wide experience and is one of the most highly respected citizens of Marco, being ad- mired by every one for his honesty and uprightness and sound business principles.
Francis Hunter was born April 14, 1842. He came 72
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to the United States with the family and to Indiana in 1857, and since 1875 has been associated with his brother in the milling business. He was first married in 1863 to Sophia Higinbottom. She died in 1877, leaving two chil- dren-George died in 1877, aged eight years : Anna, wife of Franklin P. Alcar, of Linton. He was married a sec- ond time in 1883 to Phobe Baker. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
JOSEPH CULLEN.
Joseph Cullen, a prosperous farmer of Washington township. Greene county, Indiana, was born in Washing- ton county, Ohio, June 14, 1842. He was thirteen years old when he was brought to Greene county, Indiana, by his parents. He had attended the common schools before he left Ohio, and he continued to go to school for a short time after coming to Indiana. He remained at home un- til he went to war, after which he went to Kansas, where he worked at different things, being in that state less than a year. He returned to Washington township, Greene county, where he went to farming and where he has since resided. He has altogether one hundred and forty-nine acres of good land.
On December 10, 1861, the subject enlisted in Com- pany D. Fifty-ninth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infan- try. He took part in all the engagements in which the regiment was involved. He was discharged in April. 1865. having served four months overtime.
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Mr. Cullen was married in March, 1868, to Martha Gossner, who was born in Coshocton county, Ohio. She is the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth ( Wolford) Goss- ner, the former a native of Philadelphia and the latter a native of Ohio. They came to Washington township. Greene county, in an early day. The father of the wife of the subject died in Kansas and his widow died in Greene county, September 4. 1876. They had three chil- dren-Margaret, who is deceased, as is also Harriett : Martha, the third child, is the wife of the subject.
Joseph Cullen and wife have the following children : William, who was born in Missouri. He married Pearl Johnson, to whom two children have been born. Libbie, the subject's second child, is the wife of Oliver Brewer. They have two children, William, who is deceased, and Tressie A., who is living with the subject. Libbie married the second time, her last husband being Dow Birch. Two children were born to this union, Mattie and Margaret. The last named is deceased. John, the subject's third child, is deceased. Mary, the fourth child, is the wife of Joseph White, a farmer, living in Washington township, Greene county. They have four children, Joseph, Harry, Ivan and Herman.
Mr. Cullen usually votes the Republican ticket, but sometimes he votes independently. He is the son of James and Sarah ( Williams) Cullen, natives of Delaware and Virginia, respectively.
James is the son of Thomas Cullen, a native of Scot- land, who came to this country and settled in Delaware, where he died. The mother of James Cullen came to Ohio when he was three years old. James was raised there and
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came to Greene county in 1855, settling in Washington township, having bought new land there. He farmed on this until his death in 1867. He was an independent voter. Sarah Williams was a daughter of Joseph Williams, a native of Virginia, and one of the early settlers of Wash- ington county, Ohio. He died there. The mother of the subject was a member of the Christian church. The sub- ject's parents had ten children, as follows: William and Eliza, twins, are both dead; Thomas is living in Knox county, Indiana, on a farm; Joseph is the subject of this sketch : Emily is deceased : Ella, deceased, and Sarah. The last named was the wife of Henry Rusher. James, the eighth child of the subject's parents, died in Kansas : Cor- delia is also dead : John is living in Kansas.
REV. JOHN C. WARINNER.
This esteemed minister and representative citizen of Linton is a native of Pulaski county, Kentucky, where his birth occurred on the 26th of January, 1839. His father, Iverson L. Warinner, was born at Creelsburg, Virginia, in 1811, and his mother, Margaret D. Vaught, also a na- tive of that state, was born in 1818 in the city of Rich- mond. Their parents were married in Somerset. Ken- tucky, where they made their home until November, 1856, when they moved to Marshall county, Indiana, where Mr. Warinner died at the age of sixty-five years, his widow subsequently changing her residence to Greene county. where she died in 1900, in her eighty-fifth year. The
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following sons and daughters constituted the family of this couple, of whom but two survive. Mrs. Mary E. Sylvester, of Newberry, Greene county, and John C., of this review. Nancy died in 1848. Harriet E. in 1890, Amanda Frances in 1857 and William F. in 1870.
The subject's grandfather was James Warinner, a native of England, as was also his wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Johns. He was a minister of the Baptist faith, as were two of his brothers, Jacob and Iver- son, all three of whom devoted their lives to the preaching of the Gospel. Henry Vaught, the subject's maternal grandfather. was born in North Carolina, of German par- entage, and in early life went to Virginia, where he mar- ried Mary Wampler, who was also of North Carolina birth. He was a man of patriotic impulses and soldierly qualities, serving with an honorable record during the War of 1812 and in the war with Mexico. The Johns family as represented by the subject's grandmother inher- ited an immense fortune in England, but, like so many similar cases, the descendants have received no part of the much desired wealth.
The early life of John C. Warinner was spent in his native county and state, where he received a good educa- tion in private schools and under tutors. In young man- hood he learned the trade of carriage and wagon making and followed the same for a number of years. becoming a very efficient workman. He experienced conversion in 1854, and feeling his duty to lie in the direction of the ministry he soon began fitting himself for that holy call- ing, and in due time entered upon the active work of the same as an evangelist, in which capacity he traveled ex-
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tensively, practicing with great acceptance at many differ- ent points.
Rev. Warinner devoted about twenty-five years to ministerial work as a settled pastor, during which time he had charge of churches in Kentucky, Indiana and other states, his labors proving very successful in the strength- ening of weak congregations, establishing churches in lo- calities of religious influences and in the conversion of many hundreds of souls to God. At the expiration of the above period he engaged in evangelistic work, to which he devoted some six or seven years, and in 1872 resumed his labors as a local minister, to which he has since given his time and energies, having been regularly ordained in 1875. During the thirty-five years in which he has been actively engaged in the duties of his sacred office.
In politics Rev. Warinner holds the principles of the Prohibition party. He is a member of the Greene county bar, and served as deputy prosecuting attorney for one year, and at the present time is justice of the peace at Linton, which position he fills very acceptably, as the amount of business brought to his court attests. Frater- nally he belongs to Newberry Lodge, No. 166, Free and Accepted Masons, in which he holds the office of senior warden. He is also identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men and the Temple of Honor, besides being an influential factor in the Grand Army of the Republic post at Linton, having served about one year in the late Civil war in Company G. Thirty-first Indiana Infantry, his discharge from the service at the end of that time being on account of failing health caused by a severe attack of measles ..
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In July. 1863, Mr. Warinner and Eliza Butcher, daughter of David and Sallie (Flora) Butcher, of Mon- roe county, Indiana, were made husband and wife, the following children having been born to this union, name- ly : Mary Elizabeth, now Mrs. Louis Trisler, of Bloom- ington, and William Henry, who died when eleven years old: Laura Alice, wife of James Denny, a farmer of Greene county : Ida M., who married John Moore, a farm- er residing near the city of Bloomington ; Elma L., now Mrs. Brinson, of Monroe county ; James R., also a resi- dent of the county of Monroe ; Ella lives in Switz City, and Willis Wayne, a youth of thirteen in 1908, still under the parental roof. Those deceased are William Henry, Eliza Belle and two infant daughters, who died unnamed. The wife and mother departed this life in 1869, and in 1871 Mr. Warinner entered the marriage relation with Melcina Cruse, of Knoxville, Tennessee, who, after a happy wedded experience of a few years, was called from earth, dying in 1876, after bearing her husband two children, both of whom died in infancy. Later Rev. Warinner married Mary E. Chambers. She died April 25, 1902.
WILLIAM J. HAMILTON.
The subject's father was a native of Illinois, where his birth occurred in the year 1840. Mrs. Hamilton, who bore the maiden name of Margaret Pickerin, was also born in that state, and their marriage took place in Sa- line county, where they continued to reside until the end
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of their days. The Hamiltons are of Scotch descent. Re- mote ancestors of the subject came to America in an early clay and settled originally in the South, thence scattered over various parts of the country until representatives of the family are now to be met in a number of the southern and central northern states. William T. Hamilton fol- lowed mechanical pursuits for a livelihood and was killed some years ago in a railway accident. His first wife, by whom he had three children, died in March, 1878, at the age of thirty-five. The oldest of those children is William J., of this review, after whom comes Mary F., wife of Robert Bruce, of Aakansas. The youngest of the number, Edgar, formerly a jeweler of Linton, died in this city on July 1. 1901. There were also three children by the sec- ond marriage.
William J. Hamilton is a native of Illinois, born in the county of Saline. December 30, 1861. Reared to agri- cultural pursuits, he early formed habits of industry and thrift, which, with well learned lessons of self-reliance. gave to his life, while yet in the formation period. the proper bent, that as the years went by led to the develop- ment of a well rounded character and the laying of plans for his future course of action. His educational training embraced about the usual attendance at the public schools, and as soon as old enough to be of service his labors were utilized on the farm. Later he worked for a period of eight years mining coal, meantime moving to Greene county. Indiana, of which he has since been an honored resident. In 1888 Mr. Hamilton effected a co-partnership in the drug business with William Ferrell, opening a store in Linton, which they conducted together about three or
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four years, when the subject purchased his partner's in- terest and has since conducted the establishment alone. From a modest beginning he has gradually enlarged the scope and volume of the business until he has the largest and most complete establishment of the kind in the city. carrying full lines of drugs, patent medicines, sundries and other kinds of goods which druggists usually handle. to which he has also added a jewelry department, where. in connection with the retail trade, all kinds of repairing and refining are done by skillful artisans employed for the purpose. Mr. Hamilton is an accomplished pharmacist, careful in the compounding of medicines and filling pre- scriptions, and his long experience in the business has made him thoroughly familiar with every detail of the drug trade.
In addition to his private interests Mr. Hamilton is identified with various other enterprises, having been one of the leading spirits in establishing the Linton State Bank, which was organized in 1903, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars. On September 4. 1904. it was reorganized as the First National Bank of Linton and the capital increased to fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Ham- ilton being elected president, which responsible position he still holds and the duties of which he has discharged with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the stock- holders, depositors and all who transact business with the institution. He is also a stockholder and director in the Linton Rolling Mills, besides owning valuable property interests in both city and country, including a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Stockton township, a beautiful modern residence in Linton and considerable
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other real estate, which is growing in value with each suc- ceeding year. He has been more than ordinarily success- ful in the accumulation of material wealth, being one of the financially solid men of Linton, and to his credit be it said that the handsome competence now in his possession and the liberal income of which he is the recipient are the result of his well directed efforts, being in the full sense of the term a self-made man and the architect of his own fortune.
Mr. Hamilton is a Republican, and keeps fully posted on the leading public and political questions of the day. on all of which he has broad views and well defined opin- ions. At one time he was his party's candidate for the legislature, and though making a gallant fight, failed by the insignificant majority of only two votes in favor of his opponent. Not satisfied with this result, the matter was carried to the house of representatives, where, after a careful examination of the returns and a searching in- quiry into the manner in which the election was conducted, he was seated about the middle of the term and served with a creditable record as a lawmaker from 1902 to 1904 inclusive, was placed on several important committees and took an active and influential part in the general delibera- tions of the house. As a member of the city council he has been instrumental in bringing about much important municipal legislation and he has also served on the local school board, besides filling various other positions of honor and trust. He is a Royal Arch Mason and a mem- ber of the Order of Elks, in both of which he has been an active worker, serving each at different times in official capacities.
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Mr. Hamilton has been twice married, the first time in 1889 to Laura Turner, daughter of Thomas and Sarah M. Turner, of Linton, who died January 9, 1892, leaving one child, a son by the name of Wayne, who is now in the third year of the city high school. Mr. Hamilton mar- ried his present wife, Emma Hatfield, daughter of Ale and Christian Hatfield, of Bedford, who are engaged in the hotel business there, in the month of July, 1897, two children resulting from the union, Mary H. and Mildred, both bright and promising misses in whom are centered many fond hopes for the future.
Mr. Hamilton is essentially a man of affairs, and it is to his clear brain, well balanced judgment and sound business ability that many important interests of Greene county are indebted for their success.
HON. JOHN A. RIDDLE.
To the subject of this review we may refer with pro- priety and satisfaction as being one of the able and repre- sentative members of the legal profession in Greene county, and that he is a native son of this part of the Hoosier state lends something to the significance of the prestige which he has here attained. John A. Riddle was born September 16, 1872, near Cincinnati, Greene county, the son of Jonathan and Amanda E. (Carmichael) Riddle. natives, respectively, of North Carolina and Indiana. These parents reared a family of the following children : Daniel V., Jasper, Sarah J., wife of R. B. Yerian ; Sey-
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mour, John A. Milford, Oscar, Mrs. Ida E. Mitchell and Bertha, who married J. F. Weisman, all living and doing well in their respective place of residence. John W. Car- michael, father of Mrs. Riddle, served in the Civil war as captain in the Thirty-first Indiana Infantry, and three of Mrs. Riddle's brothers also took part in that struggle, viz. : Andrew J., William and Stephen Riddle, all of whom did noble service in defending their country's flag and earned honorable reputations as brave and gallant soldiers.
The early educational training of John A. Riddle was acquired in the public schools, followed by a full course in the high school in Bloomfield, and later he pursued the more advanced branches of learning in the State Uni- versity, where he made substantial progress and earned an honorable reputation as a student. In his choice of pro- fessions he decided upon the law, and in due time began the study of the same under competent instruction, and after acquiring a knowledge of the fundamental principles of jurisprudence was duly admitted to the bar and com- menced practicing at Bloomfield and remained there four years ; then at Linton in 1901. where he soon worked into a lucrative legal business and won a conspicuous place among the rising attorneys of Greene county. From 1898 to 1900 he served as deputy prosecuting attorney under the Hon. Charles D. Hunt, and so efficiently did he dis- charge the duties of the position that in the latter year he was nominated and elected prosecutor of the judicial dis- trict by the largest majority ever given a candidate for prosecuting attorney in this district, filling the office one term. As prosecutor Mr. Riddle gained credit for him- self by ably and judiciously attending the duties devolv-
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ing upon him, and during his incumbency his name be- came a terror to lawbreakers and wrongdoers within his jurisdiction. Untiring in his efforts to) subserve one of the highest interests of the people, he brought many offenders to the bar of justice and secured their conviction, sending quite a number to the state prison. Among the more noted criminal cases with which his name is connected and which occurred while he was deputy under Mr. Hunt was one for murder, in which he did a skillful bit of detective work by unearthing all the facts of the case and bringing the guilty party to answer for his heinous crime.
This record of this noted case appears in No. 155 of the reports of the Indiana supreme court, under the title of "The Newark Murder Case." Mr. Riddle not only instituted proceedings which resulted in the discovery of the crime, the victim having been thrown in an old cis- tern nine years before, and after this lapse of time Mr. Riddle apprehended the woman's husband, one William Wagoner, as the murderer and demonstrating his guilt by such indisputable proof as to secure his conviction and a sentence of life imprisonment in the penitentiary. An- other matter which will always redound to his credit and give his name an honored place among the high-minded public servants of Indiana was the securing of indictments against some thirty odd individuals for selling their votes, all of whom were convicted and disfranchised for a term of years, over twenty of the number suffering a most severe penalty. This signal victory for the purity and individuality of the ballot, the like of which was never before or since attempted in Greene county, speaks vol-
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