USA > Indiana > Greene County > Biographical memoirs of Greene County, Ind. : with reminiscences of pioneer days, Volume III > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
Mr. and Mrs. Lehman are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Lehman is a member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
MRS. ANNA B. RAY.
Mrs. Anna B. Ray, the subject of this article, is the widow of the late Daniel W. Ray, who was born in Shelby county, Indiana, August 5. 1846. He was a son of Jesse and Martha ( Allison) Ray, who were among the early pio- neers of Shelby county. Daniel W. Ray received a thor- ough educational training in the schools of his native county and studied law for some time, but afterward abandoned the legal profession as a life work and took up the study of telegraphy and railroading. In the lat- ter profession he was phenomenally successful. On the 9th of September. 1870, he took charge of the railroad business at Marco, Greene county, "and discharged the duties of that responsible office for twenty consecutive
1213
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
years without the loss of a day, a record prisfirpassel by any. During this period he was also m the mercantile business for about one year, in company with Isaac Weaver. In 1888, on the extension of the Indianapolis & Vincennes branch of the Pennsylvania system to Bush- rod, Mr. Ray was made the agent and general overseer at that junction point. There he died on the 6th of June. 1890. The untimely death of this prominent and useful citizen was greatly deplored throughout a very large circle of friends and relatives. "Dan" Ray was well and favorably known to nearly every employe on the railroad system with which he was connected, and they showed their appreciation of his worth by attending his funeral in a body and contributing beautiful and ap- propriate floral offerings, by published articles in the public press, commendatory of his life and character and by kindly offices to the bereaved family. Mr. Ray was prominently connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. both the subordinate and encampment branches, and his home lodge at Lyons served as a per- sonal escort, while large delegations were present from other lodges and encampments throughout the surround- ing country, thus forming the largest funeral procession ever convened in the town of Marco. He was a man of very strong domestic ties, and the happiness and com- fort of his family were his first considerations. Having nursed his little son, lovingly spoken of as "brother," through a severe attack of typhoid fever, the anxiety at- tendant upon the severe vigils of the sick room left the family prostrated from broken rest and constant labors. Mr. Ray never fully recovered his health, but soon suc- cumbed to the ravages of disease.
1211
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Anna B. Ray, whose name heads this sketch, was born in Bloomfield, Greene county. Indiana, and spent lier early life and girlhood days in her native town. She was educated in the excellent public schools of Bloomfield. Her parents, William H. and Mary C. ( Talbott) Fer- guson, represent two of the early pioneer families in Greene county. Her father enlisted as a member of Company E. Ninety-seventh Indiana Infantry, under Capt. J. T. Oliphant, now of Bloomfield ( see his sketch herein), and served until called to another life. He died on the 26th of January, 1864, and was buried at La- Grange, Tennessee. His wife has borne his name and cherished his memory from that far away day to the pres- ent, and has been a member of the family of her daugh- ter. Mrs. Anna Ray, during all the intervening years. She is a lady remarkably well preserved-a ray of sun- light in the home which connects with loving remem- brances of the distant past.
Mrs. Ferguson is a sister of Dr. James T. Talbott. of Linton, to whose personal sketch the interested reader is referred for more complete ancestral history. Mrs. Ray is the only survivor of a family of four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson, the eldest of whom was Mag- gie, who married James Stalcup, of Bloomfield, and died within three years after her marriage. July 6, 1876; Mil- ton E., lived to the years of maturity and died in Idaho in 1886, and Harry, the youngest of the family, died as the result of an accident in his mother's arms November 15. 1868. Anna B., now Mrs. Ray, was the second born. She was married to Daniel W. Ray on the 26th of Janu- ary. 1874, and this happy union was blessed with five
1215
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
children, of whom but two are now living. Minnie B. died at the age of four years and Lulu died in early in- fancy : Jesse O., the only son, and known to the family only as "Brother." married Lillie Haverly, of Clay City. Indiana. They have three children, Mary M., Kenneth and Daniel W. Pearl Ray became the wife of John Wicker. They are residing, temporarily, in Oklahoma. A son and a daughter have been born to this union, viz. : Helen Ray and John Lloyd. The fifth and youngest child of Mrs. Ray was Edgar Milton, who was an in- valid all his life and died at the age of seventeen years. The care of this beloved and unfortunate child was a source of greatly multiplied domestic labors for Mrs. Ray, though she bore it all in that spirit of "mother love" and Christian fortitude so characteristic of devoted mother- hood throughout the world. She refers to her family with great pride and says that the proudest thoughts in her varied life work is the solace of knowing that she has been a good mother. Her surviving children fully appreciate this fact and perfect peace and domestic har- mony, crowned with the higher and nobler sentiment of filial love, are the jewels which they are daily reaping.
Mrs. Ray has managed her own business affairs during all the years of her widowhood and has been successful beyond the average. She is the owner of valuable property in Linton, which is largely the result of her own business capabilities. For several years she owned and operated the Remington Hotel, from which business she realized handsome profits, and when she sold it to retire to more private life, she received a very hand- some advance above the original cost. She owns a fine home on A street, northwest, where she and her mother
1216
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
now live, besides some unimproved city property. But this has not been acquired through great self-denials, for she is open-hearted and generous with the poor, and is a Willing and liberal supporter of the Methodist Episcopal church, which has been her religious home since child- hood. She is a devout Christian, as is also her mother, the latter being a Presbyterian in religious faith. They stand very high in the social functions of Linton and Bloomfield, and count among their personal friends the leading people of the entire communities in which their lives have been spent.
HARVEY O. PEARCE.
Harvey O. Pearce, the subject, who is a successful contractor and builder of Linton, is a native of Warren county. Indiana, having been born there September 3. 1852, the son of Andrew and Eleanor (Woods) Pearce, both natives of Virginia, but the former, who was born in 1794, was reared at Urbana, Ohio, where he followed farming. His father, William Pearce, grandfather of the subject, owned the land upon which the city of Urbana now stands. The subject's father was a captain in the War of 1812. He raised a company and offered his serv- ives in the Civil war, but was rejected on account of his advanced age. Andrew Pearce drove cattle from Chilli- cothe, Ohio, to Chicago to market when the latter city was a small town, known as Ft. Dearborn. He later owned a small farm in Fountain county, Indiana, from
1217
GREENE COUNTY INDLAS A.
which he hauled wheat and other prislucts t. Chicago- Later he sokl this farm and bought another in Warren county, Indiana, where he lived until his death in 1880 The mother of the subject died in 1865, at the age of fifty-two years.
Harvey O. Pearce has four brothers and three sisters living and five brothers and three sisters dead. His par- ents were both twice married. Thomas W. was the only full brother the subject had. He died when twenty- seven years old in Warren county, Indiana, leaving a widow and four children. Two of the children are liv- ing with their mother in Indianapolis. The subject was educated in Warren county, Indiana. He worked on a farm and at the carpenter's trade until 1875, when he be- gan a regular apprenticeship of two years, since which time he has followed carpentry and contracting exclusive- ly. He has had large contracts in Illinois and various contracts throughout Indiana. For twenty years he has done nothing but contracting in triple building and mine equipment. This includes the erection of the buildings as well as the installation of the machinery.
The subject was married September 8, 1874, in War- ren county, Indiana, to Florence Morris, whose parents were Joseph and Isabel ( Hagar) Morris, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. Mr. Morris died in 1861. His widow survived until 1890. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey O. Pearce have but one living child, Alta, now the wife of Clarence Rardin, who is employed in the Brazil, Indiana, postoffice. They have one child, Flor- ence, who is two years old. The following children born to the subject and wife are deceased : Thomas T., Oliver
77
1218
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
A. and an unnamed infant. Both Thomas and Oliver died in infancy.
Although raised a Republican the subject is a Demo- crat in political belief. He has been a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity since he was twenty-one years old, hav- ing been initiated into Rainsville Lodge, No. 315. in War- ren county. He now holds a membership in the Brazil, (Indiana) Lodge, No. 264. Free and Accepted Masons. He has held various lodge offices. He is also a member of Linton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and a member of Linton (Indiana) Lodge, No. 866, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks.
The Pearce family moved to Linton, Indiana, in June, 1900. They own a pleasant home at 60 G street, north- east. Mr. Pearce has always been fairly successful in his business career. His wife is a member of the Methodist church and of the ladies' societies connected therewith, in which she takes much interest.
ALVIN EMMETT GREENE.
As one reviews the history of Greene county and seeks to determine who were prominent in its early de- velopment, also seeks to know the worthy citizens who in a later generation carried on the work so magnificently begun by their forefathers to a more glorious issue. he will find that the subject of this sketch has long been iden- tified with the progress and advancement of this favored section of the Hoosier state, where he has maintained his
1219
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
home for nearly a half century and where he has attained gratifying success in connection with the development of its resources, being one of the representative farmers and stock raisers in Stockton township, and having one of the most productive landed estates in this part of the common- wealth.
Alvin E. Greene was born four miles south of Bloom- ington, Monroe, county, December 7. 1866. His father, Monroe Greene, was also a native of that county. His mother was Margaret Jane Houston in her maidenhood, a native of Illinois. The subject of our sketch is the old- est of four children, the others being Faun D., the wife of Curtis E. Claywell, of Linton; Zoe E., the wife of Emery Shepherd, of Linton; Otha E., lives at Harris- burg, Illinois. The lamented mother of this family of children was called from her earthly labors January 20, 1902. The father now resides with the subject.
Alvin E. Greene was united in marriage in 1889 to Sarah E. Evans, daughter of Nixon Evans, one of the oldest and best known citizens of Clark county, Illinois. The children of this marriage are Eva E., Flo and Faun. twins, the latter deceased; Julia, deceased; Manford and Charlotte.
The subject lived with his father, assisting him in his life work and attending the home schools until he was twenty-two years old. He has been a citizen of Stockton township for a period of sixteen years, where he has been identified with the industrial development of the com- munity and gained a solid reputation for honesty and sobriety.
In 1904 Mr. Greene was elected assessor of Stockton
1220
UINGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
towuslup, long shown ly his public-spirited disposition afol business ability also his loyalty to his party that he was the right man for such a responsible position of pub- lie trust, and he has shown by the able manner in which he has handled the affairs of the same that the public was not mistaken in its decision and faith in Mr. Greene. He is still (in 1908) holding this office, which is a very important one in Stockton township, owing to the fact that immense coal properties are located here, seventeen of the largest coal mines of the county being within the limits of Stockton township, and the corporations con- trolling these mines always make a determined effort to secure a low assessment of their properties , but Mr. Greene cannot be biased or influenced from his decisions when he believes he is right .. and he has instituted many reforms in his office. Taking his oath of office as his platform, he took a rigorous stand in favor of a just and equal appraisement alike for rich and poor. He reas- sessed the corporations, raising them to a figure nearer the valuation of the properties than had ever been assessed before.
Mr. Greene is popular with the citizens of Stockton township, officially, socially and industrially, and no more upright man is to be found within the borders of the township.
JAMES HENRY PERSONS.
On July 18, 1858. there was born in Jackson county, Ohio, the subject of this biography, a man whose sub-
I221
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
sequent life has been of singular service to his country- men. He was the son of William A. and Mary ( Squires) Persons, the former a native of Steuben county. New York, and the latter of Jackson county, Ohio. William was the second of a family of six children, the other five being Levi, dead : Hulda, Nathaniel, dead : Harriet, dead : and the sixth child is also deceased.
William A. Persons, father of our subject, is now a man of strong mental equipment and energetic tempera- ment. He taught school for fifty-two winters, missing during that time only one term, and that was owing to his absence in the army. He not only has this enviable rec- ord to his credit, but in addition to this he had the pleas- ure of teaching his last term in the same school in which he taught when he began his work over a half century before. He is still living (in 1908) and is in excellent health. He has been a most loyal Christian gentleman. affiliating with the Methodist faith, and has taken an active interest in the progress of education. Although a Republican he has never sought public office. Mrs. Per- sons, his companion in life, has attained the age of sev- enty-two years and is a woman possessing a beautiful Christian character.
James received his education in the public schools of Ohio and remained on his father's farm until 1886, at which time he removed to Greene county. He became en- gaged in coal mining, operating at Linton, Indiana, and continued at this for nine years, with the exception of one year, during which he was in Michigan. He was a man of considerable executive ability and one that inspired confidence in those who knew him best. Although not
1222
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
a political aspirant, his colleagues recognized in him a valuable leader, and in 1894 he was prevailed upon to make the race for recorder of Greene county, to which office he was easily elected. He thereupon removed to Bloomfield in order to better discharge his official duties. He performed the functions of his office in a straightfor- ward and business-like manner, and at the end of his first term was re-elected, serving a total period of eight years and two months. He made a clean record and set a high standard for official integrity. Since the close of his pub- lic career he has returned to his mining interests, to which he is giving his attention at the present time.
On October 29. 1887, Mr. Persons was married to Florence E. Stover, who was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, but reared to womanhood in Sullivan county, Indiana. She was the daughter of Benjamin F. and Fidelia (Hawkins) Stover. The former was a soldier in the Civil war.
Mr. and Mrs. Persons are the parents of one daugh- ter, who was born in April, 1889. She is the wife of Grover C. Rader. Mr. Persons is a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen, in all of which he takes an active interest and lends them his hearty support. He and his wife are peo- ple of irreproachable characters and are substantial chiam- pions of Christian work, affiliating with the Methodist Episcopal denomination.
LEWIS EINSLEY LETSINGER.
The subject of this sketch is descended from English and Scotch ancestry and has inherited many of the ster-
I223
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
ling qualities for which those nationalities have always been distinguished. His father, Lewis P. Letsinger, a native of Tennessee, moved to Owen county, Indiana, in 1843, and a little later changed his place of abode to the county of Greene, where he entered land, improved a farm and spent the rest of his life, dying in 1878 at the age of sixty-eight years. Margaret Thornton, who be- . came the wife of Lewis P. Letsinger, was the daughter of a Scotch immigrant who came to the United States in an early day and settled in Tennessee. She bore her hus- band thirteen children and lived to a ripe old age, de- parting this life in December, 1906, in her ninety-seventh year. This estimable couple were highly esteemed in the community of their residence, and as members of the Methodist Episcopal church took an active interest in dis- seminating religion and morality among their neighbors and friends, having been especially zealous in the work of the Sunday school and teachers of more than ordinary ability. Mr. Letsinger serving as class leader many years and was counted one of the leading members. Of their children the following grew to mature years and acted well their respective parts in life: John Calvin, a soldier in the Eighty-fifth Indiana Infantry during the Civil war, was wounded while in the service, now residing at Mid- dletown, Indiana; William M., a member of the Four- teenth Indiana Infantry, also wounded in battle, is de- ceased; Phillip J. served in the Fourteenth Indiana Regi- ment and was killed in the battle of Antietam. James B. entered the army in the Thirty-first Indiana and fell near Atlanta, Georgia, while defending the flag of his country.
Alexander, also a member of the Thirty-first, died
1224
BIOGRAPILICAL MEMOIRS
while in the service, and the subject of this review, whose military career will receive notice further on. It is doubt- ful if the state of Indiana affords a similar instance of a family noted for patriotism and gallant service in defense of the Nation's honor. Six brothers who nobly responded to the country's call for assistance during the dark days of the Rebellion and who freely gave their all that treason might be crushed, three of them sacrificing their very lives upon the altar of duty, is a record that finds few parallels in the annals of warfare.
Lewis E. Letsinger was born in Greene county, In- (liana. April 26, 1844, and spent his early life on the home farm, where he learned the lessons of industry and thrift which formed the bans of his subsequent career as an intelligent, broad-minded man and typical American citizen. His educational advantages were limited to the subscription and public schools of the neighborhood in which he spent his youthful years, and until the age of eighteen years he assisted in carrying on the farm work and contributed to the support of the family. Actuated ly a patriotic impulse, which at that time appeared t) animate the young men throughout the north, Mr. Let- singer on August 12, 1862, enlisted in Company K. Eighty-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and at once pro- ceeded to the front, where he bore his full share in the arduous duty of campaign and battle, taking part in the engagement at Thompson Station, Tennessee, and the months of continuous fighting in Georgia under General Sherman, when that redoubtable leader was operating against Atlanta. He was with his command at Peach Tree Creek. Dallas, Resaca. Kenesaw Mountain and other actions, and after the fall of the above stronghold took
1225
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
part in the celebrated march to the sea and later to Rich- mond, Virginia, thence to Washington, D. C., where he took part in the grand review, and was mustered out June 28. 1865, with the rank of sergeant.
Returning to Indiana at the close of the war, Mr. Letsinger farmed the home place one season and then purchased land of his own which he at once proceeded to improve by erecting buildings and clearing the ground. In due time he developed a good farm, which was his home for a period of nine years, at the expiration of which period he sold the place and removed to the family homestead, where he has since prospered, being the owner of the place at the present time. In connection with agricultural pursuits he is largely interested in the coal business, there being a very productive mine on the farm. operated by the Letsinger Coal Company. He also con- ducts a general mercantile business, which adds very ma- terially to his income, giving to this and his other in- terests the personal attention which has made all of his enterprises succeed.
Mr. Letsinger is a man of intelligence and wide ex- perience and believes in progress and improvement in all the terms imply. He keeps pace with the times in all mat ters of public import, is well informed on the leading questions before the people, and as a Republican wields a strong influence for the party in the township of his resi- dence. With the single exception of township assessor. he has held no public or political office, having little taste in this direction, preferring to devote his entire at- tention to his business interests and to be known by the simple title of citizen. He is a Mason of high standing. takes an active part in the deliberations of the local lodge
1226
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
to which he belongs, and exemplifies the beautiful and sublime principle of the order in all of his relations with his fellow men.
Mr. Letsinger was married in 1866 to Harriett Price, of Owen county, Indiana, and is the father of ten chil- dren : Eva, born January 29, 1867, is the wife of James Letsinger ; Asbury B., born February 19, 1870, is a man of family, living in Jasonville ; Belle, born November 18, 1871. died October 11, 1872 : Ella, now Mrs. Oscar Daugh- erty, was born January 4. 1874: Green P., born October 29. 1875: Lewis C. was born July 21. 1877: Mary D .. wife of A. Elsworth, was born January 16, 1879: Mila, born November 19. 1880, is the wife of William Leach; Philip Ray, born June 27. 1882, and Robert A., born May 11, 1885. The mother of these children departed this life in 1899.
Mr. Letsinger is an esteemed member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, in which he has long been an in- fluential worker, also a trusted and honored official, hold- ing at the time the positions of steward, trustee and super- intendent of the Sunday school. His wife also was identi- fied with the same religious body and her daily life and conversation were ever in accordance with the pure teach- ings of the church. January 6. 1902, Mr. Letsinger mar- ried Mrs. Letetia Neal (nee Warricks), of Paso Robles, California. She is a native of Pennsylvania and moved to Greene county.
LOREN A. HYDE. M. D.
The subject of this review not only takes high rank among the leading physicians and surgeons of Greene
I227
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
county, but stands equally well as a citizen, being keenly interested in whatever tends to promote the material ad- vancement of the city in which he resides, and making his influence felt in behalf of those measures and enterprises having for their object the intellectual and moral eleva- tion of his fellow men. Dr. Loren A. Hyde is an honor- able representative of one of the oldest pioneer families of Switzerland county, Indiana, where his great-grand- father, Amasa Hyde, a New Englander by birth, located when that part of the Hoosier state was a wilderness, into which but few hardy explorers had dared to pene- trate. The family is English and the name first appears in connection with certain stirring events that transpired during the Cromwelian period, shortly after which it was transferred to America and seems to have taken root in the New England states, where descendants of the orig- inal immigrants are still to be found. The doctor's grand- father was Samuel B. Hyde, who spent his life in Swit- zerland county, and it was there also that his father, the Rev. Marshall Bennett Hyde, was born, and who, in due time, became one of the learned and influential Methodist divines of Indiana, being at this time presiding elder of the Seymour district, with headquarters in the city of that name.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.