USA > Indiana > Greene County > Biographical memoirs of Greene County, Ind. : with reminiscences of pioneer days, Volume III > Part 9
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Thomas J. Shields, our subject. spent his boyhood days on his father's farm, attending the common schools in that vicinity until he reached manhood, and gaining a knowledge of agriculture and stock raising from the careful methods employed by his father in these lines.
Our subject was united in marriage in 1884 to Anna Lisman, of Stockton township, and this union has proved a happy and fortunate one. resulting in the birth of the following bright children : Dova, Frank. David and Ha- zel. The second child born to them died in infancy.
Mr. Shields has been deputy assessor for four years. filling. this office in a most satisfactory manner. This of- fice in Stockton township is far more important than in the average township, owing to the fact that many large coal mines are situated here. Mr. Shields increased the assessment of many of the large coal companies, and has been vigorous and outspoken in his determination that these corporations shall be made to bear their just proportion of taxation. The county carried the fight be- fore the state tax commission and won. The splendid administration of this office has earned for him the ap- proval of the people in general and he is recognized as an authority in matters pertaining to taxation.
Mr. Shields resides on his farm, which lies three and one-half miles northwest of Linton. He has one hun- dred acres of well improved land, richly underlaid with deposits of coal, which will undoubtedly be worked to its fullest possibility in the future. Although considerable time is devoted to his official duties, Mr. Shields spends all the time necessary in keeping his farm up to the standard of the good farms in that locality, being re-
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garded as one of the most progressive men in the town- ship. Fraternally our subject is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge at Linton. In poli- tics he is a Republican. Mrs. Shields is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church."
ALEXANDER BEASLEY.
The subject of this sketch has well earned the honor to be addressed as one of the progressive, public-spirited men of Greene county, since from the beginning of his career he has been actively engaged in promoting impor- tant enterprises, besides laboring for the welfare of his community in other lines of endeavor, the meantime se- curing for himself the comforts of life and home and an ample competence for his declining years.
Mr. Beasley is a native of the county where he has elected to remain, making it the field of his life work, hav- ing been born in Stockton township, June 2. 1854, a son of Alexander Beasley, a hardy Tennesseean who came to Indiana when a young man, first casting his fortune with the Hoosiers in Lawrence county, then removing to Stockton township, Greene county. The elder Beasley was a prosperous farmer, which occupation he indus- triously pursued up to the time of his death in 1890. The mother of our subject was Frances ( Nimrod) Beas- ley, a native of North Carolina. Although twelve chil- dren, an equal number of boys and girls constituted the Beasley family, ten of whom are now living, in 1908, these
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children received the best home training and careful discipline possible, their home environment having always been wholesome and uplifting, which fact has largely at- tributed to the praiseworthy moulding of their subse- quent characters. The subject's devoted and estimable mother was called from her earthly labors in Stockton township, in 1884. The Beasley family is regarded as constituting one of the most substantial and best known in Greene county, and it forms a conspicuous part in the history of the various communities.
The subject of this sketch was united in marriage with Rebecca Moss, the refined and accomplished daugli- ter of William G. Moss, of Stockton township, the wed- ding occurring August 14, 1873. Two children born to this union, after cheering the home circle for a brief time, were taken from it by the hand of death early in life.
The boyhood life of our subject was not, generically considered, unlike in the main, from that of other young men of his community, for he attended the neighborhood schools and worked about his father's farm as necessity demanded, ever evincing a willingness to perform his share of the tasks assigned to him, but he was a good student and an industrious and promising boy from the start, and took up active farm work early in life and for a period of thirty happy and eminently successful years lived on the same farm in Stockton township. His farm was always a model in point of systematic management and up-to-date improvement, and much fine stock of va- rious kinds was to be found in its fields.
In 1902 Mr. Beasley moved to Linton where he
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soon became one of the leading business men, having trafficked in real estate principally, but after four success- ful years the love of the rural life called him back to its free and independent domains and he moved to the beautiful suburban home which he now occupies and which is one of the most pleasantly situated and most admirably kept of any like residence in the county. It stands just east of the city beside a natural and most attractive park, known as "Beasley's Park," which is frequently used by the public, in fact the city uses it for all its large public events. He is also the owner of many substantial business houses and much residence property in Linton, which places him among the prosperous and influential citizens of that community, where he is ad- mired and respected by all for his integrity and well ordered life.
AUGUST KRAMER.
It is not only a pleasure but profitable as well to study the life history of such a worthy gentleman as he whose name forms the heading of this review, for in it we find evidence of traits of character that cannot help but make for success in the life of any one who directs his efforts, as he has done, along proper paths with persist- ency and untiring zeal, toward a worthy goal, and hav- ing his concomitant upright principles, which as we shall see, have resulted in ultimate triumph.
August Kramer, while a member of that large class of foreign citizens who have benefited Greene county by
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their residence, stands in a comparatively small circle of those who have emigrated from his native country-Per- sia, where he was born September 15. 1832, the son of William Kramer, who migrated to America in 1838. accompanied by a sister. He was a poor man and selected a home and a few years later his family joined him. The mother of the subject was Minnie ( Gershmier) Kramer, who settled in Stockton township where they farmed and died. the father having passed away in 1854, at the age of fifty-two years, buried in the family cemetery near the subject's home, as there was no other cemetery then, and where the widowed mother some years later was laid to rest, dying at the age of eighty-two years.
In 1857 our subject was united in marriage with Ellen Wessel, who came to this country from Hanover. Germany, with her mother and two brothers, now de- ceased. The following children have been born to this union : Will, a prosperous farmer in Stockton township, who is married and has a family of seven children : Fred, who is also a Stockton township farmer: John, a carpen- ter, residing at Linton ; Minnie, wife of Carl Beggerman, residing near Sandborn, Indiana: Herman, Henry and Gerhart are all living at home with their father.
Mr. Kramer's indomitable courage is shown from the fact that he worked in his native land when a boy, for only five dollars a year and clothes. When he landed in Greene county he was displeased with the county and it was only his poverty which caused him to remain, as he did not have a cent. He now owns one hundred and eighty acres and has a comfortable home.
He has won a competency for himself and family and
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enjoys the honor and esteem of all who know him, being a consistent member of the German Reformed church, with which the members of his household are also identified.
PETER STOCKRAHM.
One of the best known and most highly esteemed German-American citizens of Stockton township and one of the most upright of its residents is the gentleman to a review of whose life we briefly call the attention of the reader, Peter Stockrahm, who can point with pride to the fact that he was born near the far famed "castled Rhine river." in Germany, October 16, 1851. having migrated two years later with his father to the land of stars and stripes, to which he has ever been loyal and which he loves equally as well as his fatherland. His parents were Wil- liam and Catherine (Smith) Stockrahm, who also had two other sons and five daughters whom they brought to America. The brothers and sisters of the subject are John, a farmer in Wright township; Malinda, wife of Robert Ellis, of Wright township: Elizabeth, who was the wife of John Booker, of Stockton township, is de- ceased : Catherine in the widow of John Wees; William is a prosperous farmer of Stockton township: Christiana Ann is the wife of Alexander Pope; Sophia is the wife of Joseph Rector,
On August 9. 1889. the subject's father and mother celebrated their golden wedding, the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, at which memorable social event in the lives of this family all their children were present.
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Mr. Stockrahm lived with his father until he was thirty-five years old working on the home place and en- joying the association of home, which usually character- izes our worthy foreign element, and which is indeed a commendable trait. The subject was united in marriage with Minerva Kendall on October 16, 1887. the daughter of Henry and Mary Kendall, a progressive farmer of Stockton township. The subsequent married life of this couple has been singularly happy and has resulted in the accomplishment of praiseworthy tasks which the subject could not have achieved alone and unaided. The follow- ing children constitute their family : Pansy Ethel, Lillian May, wife of Hodson Moss, of Stockton township; Mina Pearl, Lula Patsy, Mary Catherine, Lola Flo, Etta Altha, Hazel Helena, Henry and William, twins, died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Stockrahm reside about three miles north of Linton on a well improved farm. They have a com- fortable home, their residence being cozy and nicely fur- nished, surrounded by all the out buildings necessary to the successful carrying on of farming pursuits, and but few farms in the county are any better managed than that of the subject, who .devotes almost his undivided attention to its care.
Fraternally Mr. Stockrahm is a Mason and he and his good wife affiliate with the Baptist church.
JAMES A. BEDWELL.
Among those men who by their industry and business activity have advanced the prosperity and wealth of south-
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ern Indiana, the subject of this sketch is prominent. A man of forceful individuality and marked acumen, he has had the foresight to take advantage of opportunities which presented themselves and has successfully con- ducted a well regulated farm.
James A. Bedwell, ex-trustee of Stockton township, Greene county, is a native of Sullivan county, this state, where he was born October 9, 1855. His father, Elisha Bedwell, was also a native of that county, whose parents came from Virginia in the pioneer days, being among the sturdy people who braved the vicissitudes of the pri- meval forests in the Hoosier state when it was in its in- fancy. The mother of the subject was, in her maiden- hood, Rebecca Jane Corothers, also a native of Sullivan county. Both father and mother passed to their reward long ago.
The subject is one of ten children, eight of whom are living, and all leading well ordered lives, following out the precepts set them by their worthy parents.
Mr. Bedwell was united in marriage to Martha Pad- gett, February 15, 1874. She is the daughter of Henry Padgett, a highly respected citizen of Greene county where the subject's wife was born and reared, and where she received a fairly good common school education, as did also her husband whose schooling was received in Sullivan county. No children have been to the subject and wife.
Mr. Bedwell came to Greene county in March, 1874. locating on his present farm of two hundred and thirty- one acres, four and one-half miles southwest of Linton, and he has since that time been regarded as a leading
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farmer and substantial citizen, having improved his farm up to the standard of those in this thriving community and showing by the careful way in which he has managed its affairs that he is abreast of the times in the matter of agricultural pursuits.
In 1900 Mr. Bedwell was elected by the Democratic party, to which he has always been loyal, as trustee of Stockton township, and he has made a most efficient and praiseworthy official.
The subject and his wife are held in high esteem by all their neighbors and friends in Greene county and elsewhere. Mrs. Bedwell is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
JOHN B. MORGAN.
The career of the subject of this sketch indicates the clear-cut, sane and distinct character. and reviewing the same from an unbiased and unprejudiced standpoint, inter- pretation follows fact in a straight line of derivation. In this work it is consistent that such a review be entered and that without the adulation which is sometimes intrinsical- ly distasteful to the man as he stands among his fellows. The city of Linton naturally takes pride in the work per- formed by Mr. Morgan, who has stamped the impress of definite accomplishment on the public mind, and, through the medium of one of the best local papers in the state. has done much to arouse interest in the material ad- vancement of the community, to say nothing of his in-
J. B. MORGAN.
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fluence in shaping the policies of the party of which hi- journal is a recognized exponent.
John B. Morgan, editor and proprietor of the Lin- ton Weekly Record. is a native of Greene county. In- diana, the younger of two children whose parents. Thomas C. and Melissa ( McGinnis) Morgan, were both born in Clay county, this state, in the year 1848. Thomas C. Morgan came to Greene county in 1875 and settled near the heart of what is locally known as "Bee Hunter- Marsh." in Stockton township, purchasing a portion of this swamp land, and. erecting his residence on a small hill nearly surrounded by water, at once addressed him- self to the task of draining and redeeming his possession. By persevering industry he succeeded in finally accom- plishing this undertaking, and where erstwhile was only a dense, marshy waste is now to be seen one of the finest and most productive farms in the township, the soil being of great depth and fertility and producing abundantly all crops grown in this part of the state.
On this farm, June 18. 1882, occurred the birth of the subject of this review, and amid its environments he spent the years of his childhood and youth, assisting his father in the fields when old enough to be of service, and at intervals prosecuting his studies in the district school hard by. His sister, who was his playmate in youth and who shared with him the various experiences of rural life, grew to young womanhood in due time and left the parental roof for a home of her own, becoming the wife of Alf M. Beasley, a well known attorney of Linton, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in these pages. The mother, a most estimable lady of beautiful character, de-
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parted this life on the first day of October. 1896. The father, me of the substantial citizens of Stockton town- ship, is still the occupant of the farm he redeemed under such adverse conditions. Although a mere youth at the breaking out of the Civil war, he was early fired with a patriotic fervor to enter the army and do battle for his country, which desire he was finally enabled to gratify. When only fifteen years of age he enlisted in Company K. One Hundred and Thirty-third Indiana Volunteer Infan- try, with which he served until the close of the war, and later joined the Nineteenth Kansas Regiment, with which, during the late sixties, he was engaged in numerous opera- tions against the Indians in Kansas, New Mexico and other parts of the west. At one time he was a wagon master and conducted wagon trains from Leavenworth to Santa Fe. several years before the advent of railroads, his western experience both as Indian fighter and freight- er being replete with many interesting and some tragic in- cidents.
That young Morgan took advantage of both time and opportunity to add to his mental discipline is indi- cated by the fact of his having finished the common school course and received a certificate of graduation at the early age of fourteen, following which he spent three and a half years in the Linton high school, the training thus received being afterward supplemented by a business course in the Indianapolis Commercial College, where, in 1900, he was graduated with honors of his class. While attending the latter institution he was obliged to pay his own way as best he could. The limited capital in his possession being soon exhausted, he afterward had re-
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course to waiting on tables in restaurants and doing any other honorable labor he could find, but he never became discouraged, however forbidding the outlook, as is indi- cated by the successful manner in which he finished his course.
Mr. Morgan also attended several normal terms, and, receiving a teacher's license, devoted about five years to educational work, four of which as principal of the Island City school, and during the sessions of 1903 he pursued the higher branches of learning in the Indiana State Uni- versity. On the establishment of the rural mail delivery system he saw an opportunity to make some money han- dling private mail boxes, and, devoting his vacations to this enterprise, disposed of over five thousand in the counties of Greene, Clay and Sullivan during the years of 1905, '06 and '07, realizing a handsome profit on his time and labor. While thus engaged he was also special rural free delivery agent for the Indianapolis News, and in addition to this paper he handled several other dailies, taking over three thousand orders in his territory. besides acting as circulating manager in Clay City for the Brazil Democrat and in the county of Sullivan for the Sullivan Union, meeting with like success in increasing . their patronage.
In May, 1907. Mr. Morgan purchased the Linton Record, a weekly Republican organ established in 1896, which he has since enlarged and otherwise improved, in- creasing the circulation from less than seven hundred to considerably in excess of three thousand, also securing liberal advertising patronage, and in many other respects adding to the value of the property and making the paper
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one of the best local sheets in the country. Mr. Morgan has a well-equipped office, in which all kinds of commer- cal and job work are done with neatness and dispatch, and being an enterprising business man of progressive pleas, it is but reasonable to predict for him a continuance of the success which thus far has signalized his career and to anticipate for his paper a still larger growth in public favor than it now enjoys.
Mechanically the Record is a model of typographical art and editorially it compares favorably with the best local papers of southern Indiana, being clean cut and fear- less in discussing the issues of the day, loyally true to the Republican principles and as a family paper filled with the lastest happenings at home and abroad and replete with interesting matter for the general reader, its period- ical visits are always welcome at the households of nu- merous patrons. Through the medium of his paper Mr. Morgan has done much to advance the interests of his city and county, and on all laudable enterprises and worthy reforms its voice is heard in no uncertain sound, being ever on the side of right and an earnest advocate of every influence that makes for the social and moral welfare of the community. Since his twenty-first year Mr. Morgan has been a zealous member of the Masonic fraternity and is also identified with the Independent Or- der of Odd Fellows, in which he holds high rank in both subordinate lodge and encampment. He is an influential member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Modern Woodmen of the World, having been honored with important official positions in both organizations, and in religion he subscribes to the Methodist Episcopal creed.
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of which errorch his mother was a faithful and consistent member. Mr. Morgan has never assumed the duties and responsibilities of married life, and supports his state of single blessedness with a grace and dignity that have won many warm friends and made him a general favorite in the best society circles of the city in which he resides.
GEORGE WASHINGTON BROOKSHIRE.
Our enterprising subject first saw the light of day April 25, 1868, in the county where he has always re- sided. George W. Brookshire, his father, was a native of the Hoosier state, who passed from his earthly labors three months before our subject was born. The mother of Mr. Brookshire was, before her marriage, Mary Ann Rigel, who was born in Ohio, and who now lives on her farm in Grant township, three miles north of Lyons. Both she and her husband spared no pains in raising their children in the paths of duty and rectitude from which they have not departed in their later years, which fact gives the mother great satisfaction and cheer in her de- clining age.
The subject of this sketch was united in marriage in 1893 with Rosetta Winters, daughter of Quince B. and Elizabeth Winters, a well known citizen of Stockton township. Constituting Mr. Brookshire's family are the following children: Francis P., Edith M., Walter L., Dorris M.
The subject has devoted his life work to farming
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with evident success, having always been a hard worker and a good manager. He came to Stockton township about 1893, when he purchased a farm of eighty acres which he sold and bought a like farm near Switz City. sold out and came to the farm which he now owns, located two miles east of Linton and which is equal to any in his neighborhood in point of improvements and the pro- ductiveness of its soil, the owner having been a close ob- server of the best methods employed by the other agricul- turalists of his township, and adopting their plans so far as consistent with his own ideas in bringing his place up to a high standard of efficiency. Considerable atten- tion is devoted by our subject to the care and raising of stock which forms year to year no small part of his in- come. His barn was destroyed by fire in 1907 and he rebuilt the same year.
Mr. Brookshire is regarded by all who know him as an honest, industrious farmer, a substantial citizen and a kindly neighbor. Both he and his wife are members of the Baptist church and are known among the best members of the local congregation.
LUCIAN GILLETT.
One of the most straightforward, energetic and successful agriculturists of Stockton township is the sub- ject, who is thoroughly interested in whatever tends to promote the welfare of the community, and he has long been one of the honored citizens of Greene county, having
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been born in Jefferson county, Indiana, July 8, 1855. His father was William A. Gillett and his mother was Lucy Virginia Comstock before she was married, also a native of Virginia. William Gillett came to Greene county in 1860. He was a plasterer by trade, also gave some attention to farming, having successfully followed both until his death, which occurred in Fair Play town- ship, February 12, 1876. He was known as a man of sterling worth and endeavored to lead a reproachless life
The subject of this sketch is the oldest of the chil- dren. The brothers and sisters are, Mrs. Francis N. Shilkett, Mrs. Lucella E. Bough, Ulysses G., George R., John C., William H., Fred-the last three deceased. Lu- cian lived on his father's farm assisting in the work on the place until he was twenty-two years old, attending the common schools in he meantime, receiving a fairly good foundation for an education : then he moved on the Shil- kett farm near Switz City, where he remained for two years, leaving there to take up his residence on the McCon- nell farm, northwest of Switz City, where he also re- mained two years when he bought a farm in Smith town- ship, northwest of Worthington. He spent four success- ful years on this farm; then he became a citizen of Stock- ton township, purchasing in 1888, the farm of eighty- three and one-half acres which is now his home and which he has by careful thought and hard work brought up to a high standard of efficiency, making it productive and at- tractive and causing it to yield a comfortable living.
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