USA > Indiana > Wells County > Biographical memoirs of Wells County, Indiana : embracing a comprehensive compendium of local biography, memoirs of representative men and women of the county whose works of merit have made their names imperishable, and special articles by Hugh Dougherty [et al.] > Part 77
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Charles Earl was the fourteenth child of the family and was reared on his father's farm in Ohio. As a boy he showed a fond- ness for horses and has owned some fine ani- mals in his day, one of which had a mark of 2:15. Neglecting his early education, he worked on his father's farm until his mar- riage, in. 1848, to Miss Margaret A. Cart- wright, of Trumbull, Ohio. In 1850 they came to Wells county, settling on the farm in Jefferson township now occupied by their son George, where they lived and reared their family. They were the parents of ten children : Hames, married to Matilda Mc- Affee ; John, married to Eliza Confer, lives in Union township; Henry, the husband of Martha Byrd; Freeman, whose wife was Rebecca Robinson, lives in Fort Wayne, In- diana; George W., whose biography appears in another place ; Robert, deceased ; Charles, living in the west ; Mary, who is the wife of William Robinson; Stephen, whose biogra- phy appears later, and Sarah, the wife of Chester Greer, who lives in Allen county, Indiana. The wife of Charles Earl died in
December, 1892, since which time he has been living with his children, spending most of the time with his son, S. D. Earl.
Stephen Earl was born in 1864 and re- ceived his early education in the district schools of Jefferson township. He stayed at home with his parents until he was twen- ty-one years old and was married December 19, 1887, to Miss Henriette Crow, who was born in Allen county, Indiana, in 1865, her parents being natives of Ohio. Mr. Earl bought his present farm in 1895 and has continued to reside there since. He is the father of four children: Hazel, born May 15, 1892 ; Hershell, September, 1894; Ber- nell, July, 1897, and Bertha, November, 1900; he is also the guardian of Jennie Feighner, a child whom he has reared. Be- ·ing members of the United Brethren church, Mr. and Mrs. Earl are held in high esteem by their ancestors. In politics he is one of the substantial Democrats of Union town- ship.
Among the old families of Jefferson township and Wells county is the Earl fam- ily, as a representative of which George W. Earl is socially and politically prominent. He is a son of Charles and Margaret (Cart- wright) Earl and was born August 16, 1855, in Jefferson township, Wells county, Indiana, on the farm he now owns. His father, Charles Earl, came to Wells county, Indiana, from Trumbull county, Ohio, in 1853, and purchased the quarter section in Jefferson township, where he lived until he had reared his family of ten children. He has reached the advanced age of eighty-three years and is at present living with his son in Union township. George W. Earl was the fifth of ten children and was reared on the farm he now occupies. He attended the
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district school and received a fair education, all that could be obtained at that time. When he was twenty-one years old he, with his brother, rented the old farm, which they cul- tivated jointly. October 23, 1879, he was married to Miss Mary Hatfield, a daughter of John and Clarena ( Mills) Hatfield, and born in Ohio, September 10, 1858. The Hatfields came from Montgomery county, Ohio, and settled in Union township, Indi- ana, where the father tilled his farm and also held the position of justice of the peace for a number of years. The subject bought part of the old Earl farm and in 1887 built the present brick mansion, consisting of nine rooms, and in 1894 he built a large barn, thirty-six by eighty-two feet in size. He now owns one of the finest and best im- proved farms in Jefferson township, consist- ing of one hundred and twenty acres. He started out in life poor, but by successful management has succeeded in reaching a comfortable position, being now worth at least eight thousand dollars. He and his wife have one daughter, Ethel, born July 13, 1887, who is at present a student in the eighth grade in the Ossian schools, being also a student of music. The United Breth- ren church enrolls them among its members, their faith being cast with the liberal branch. Mr. Earl is a supporter of Democratic prin- ciples and has been an ardent worker in the party all his life, having been a member of the central committee from Jefferson town- ship. Mr. and Mrs. Earl are people of more than ordinary intelligence and have a wide influence in their community. They are good neighbors, excellent citizens and are highly respected by all with whom they come in contact, because of their many excellent personal qualities.
B. F. KAIN.
To be twice honored by his party with a nomination for an important county office and to be twice elected, each time with a very pronounced majority, a man must be pos- sessed of at least some of the virtues which commend him to his fellow men. Of course, some time, a wily politician may so pull the strings and manipulate affairs that he can boost himself into a lucrative office, but the "wily politician" who lives on a farm and earns his bread by the sweat of his brow is an unknown species of politician in this country. B. F. Kain, of Union township, Wells county, Indiana, the subject of this sketch, was, like Cincinnatus, taken from the plow to be installed into office. For two terms he took charge of the finances of Wells county and at the close of his adminis- tration turned over to his successor the funds, books and papers, accounting to the utmost penny for all the money that had passed through his hands.
B. F. Kain was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, October 5, 1845. He was the son of John and Polly Kain. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania, but his pater- nal grandparents had emigrated to this coun- try from Ireland, while his maternal grand- parents were natives of the Keystone state. John and Polly Kain were married in their native state and soon thereafter moved to Ohio, where he took up the occupation of farming and continued to prosper. With a view of bettering his condition and secur- ing advantages not to be had in Ohio, he, about October 1, 1850, moved his family to Union township, Wells county, Indiana, tak- ing up a piece of unimproved government land. Upon this land, which was situated
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in the woods, he immediately proceeded to create a home. The first house was of the rudest kind, built of fresh-cut logs and roofed with clapboards. Before half the roof was on the family moved in with their few effects and necessary furniture. Hard work, continued in during long hours and eternally persisted in, will almost work miracles in the way of improving and clearing land. But a few years sufficed to give the Kain homestead a far different aspect from that which it represented in its original condition. It had materially increased in value, while its owner thrived and prospered to such an extent that in 1861 better buildings and a more comfortable home was erected. Here the parents of B. F. Kain spent their days until the summons of the grim reaper called them from this to the better world.
John Kain was a man of much public spirit, whose influence was felt far beyond the limits of his immediate neighborhood. In those days the township assessor was an important official. He was elected to this position and held the office for some sixteen years. He was a believer in the principles of the Democratic party and was always suf- ficiently consistent to vote the way he be- lieved. Democracy seems to have had a firm hold on the pioneers of that section and the complexion of the returns from Wells coun- ty after each successive election in present years would indicate that it has not lost much of its grip. John and Polly Kain were the parents of the following children: Daniel, Isabella, J. D., Mary A., Hugh, D. F., Alex- ander, B. F., J. W., Sarah, William H. and Eliza J. One, D. F., is a minister of the gospel.
B. F. Kain was five years old when his father moved into the woods of Union town-
ship. When he was old enough he assisted in the work of the clearing and of the farm, attending the district school when it was in session in the winter and through it securing an education which has been ample to him for every purpose. When he grew to man- hood he spent several years in the school room as a teacher, being quite successful. It was while he was engaged in this vocation that he met, wooed and won Miss Caroline Ellingham, daughter of Charles E. and Han- nah (Scolton) Ellingham, she being also a teacher in the schools of Wells county. The Ellinghams were natives of England who emigrated to America and located in Rock Creek township in 1838. The young couple were married in 1869, when the groom was twenty-one years old. Soon after his mar- riage B. F. Kain rented the farm of his wife's father and continued in the work of agriculture quite successfully for many years. In 1880 he bought a farm of eighty acres on which he made his home until 1890, when, for the purpose of educating his children, he removed temporarily to Bluffton.
Mr. and Mrs. Kain are the parents of five children : George F., the first born, is dead ; Esther A., the wife of C. P. Hannah, is a graduate of the Bluffton high school and has taught a number of terms in the county, also in the state of Nebraska, where she resided some time; Alonzo is a barber and doing a good business in Bluffton; Charles is a graduate of the Northern Indiana Nor- mal School at Valparaiso and is now a tele- graph operator on the Clover Leaf; Homer F. is still single and living at home. The Kains are members of the Christian church, Mr. Kain having served for a number of years as a trustee. He is a Democrat in poli- tics and was nominated and elected by his
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party to the office of county treasurer and so acceptably did he discharge the duties of the position that in 1896 he was renominated and re-elected by an increased majority. On retiring from office he again took up his home on his farm, where he resided three years, when he sold out and removed to
Bluffton, where he now resides. He is the owner of eighty acres, known as the John Johnson farm, the management of which is conducted under his own supervision. Per- sonally he is a quiet, modest, unassuming man, well known and highly respected throughout the county.
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