USA > Indiana > Blackford County > Blackford and Grant Counties : Indiana a chronicle of their past and present with family lineage and personal memoirs > Part 13
USA > Indiana > Grant County > Blackford and Grant Counties : Indiana a chronicle of their past and present with family lineage and personal memoirs > Part 13
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and on either side of the structure a log was left out to admit the light, which came dimly into the room through greased paper. The writing desk was a broad board supported on a slant by pins driven into the walls. During his early work at home he earned enough to buy eighty acres of land, and from that start, by industry, economy, and energy, increased his holdings until at one time he was the possessor of nine hundred and sixty acres of as fine land as was to be found in Jefferson township. A part of the land lay in Delaware county. To each of his children he has given a farm, and every one is improved with excellent buildings. Mr. Richards still keeps one hundred and ninety-two acres for the home place, on section three, and the improvements there are of the best class. For many years he has grown on a large scale, the regular crops of this country, and has fed his product to hogs and cattle. Though his prosperity has been exceptional, his dealings with his com- munity have always been of the strictest honor and probity, and as an illustration of this fact it can be said that he was never engaged in a law suit, either as defendant or plaintiff, in all his life.
In the accumulation of his generous property he had a noble and thrifty woman as his helpmate. Her maiden name was Mary E. Craw, and she was born in Jefferson township, December 11, 1834, dying May 27, 1900. She was the mother of three daughters and two sons, namely: 1. Rev. J. William, a farmer, has charge as pastor of the Harmony Primitive Baptist church. He married Emma Harris, and has two sons and one daughter. 2. David L., who now owns and occupies a part of the home farm, is an official in the Matthews State Bank; he married Lois Fergus, and they have two daughters. 3. Lucina, by her marriage to Harmon Newburger, has one son. She is now the wife of Rufus Nottingham, and they have one son and three daughters. 4. Mollie died after her marriage to Frank H. Kirkwood, whose sketch will be found elsewhere in these pages. 5. Rena is the wife of John W. Himelick, a well known Grant county citizen, sketched elsewhere.
Mr. Richards for his second wife married Miss Maria Martin, who was born in Fayette county, Indiana, February 18, 1837, and from four- teen years of age was reared in Delaware county, living in the city of Muncie. Her parents were Russell P. and Ida A. Martin. Her father was born in Ohio, October 26, 1807, and died March 22, 1874, while her mother was born in New Jersey, September 27, 1807, and died November 7, 1902. Both died in Delaware county. They were married in Ohio, and soon afterwards came to Fayette county, Indiana, where her father followed his regular trade of brick mason and plasterer. They belonged to the Primitive Baptist church. Mrs. Richards had three brothers, Wilson, Robert, and Maxwell, who were soldiers in the Civil war. Two of them were in a southern prison for some months and one died after leaving the battlefield stricken with illness. Mr. Richards is a leader in the Primitive Baptist church, and has long been one of its officials. In politics he is a Democrat.
REV. NIXON RUSH. The career of a just and good man, and the memory of his kindly, noble deeds, are in themselves his true biography. In the life of such an individual the observer of human character may find both precept and example. He may discover in such a life sermons that speak more eloquently and leave a more lasting impression upon the heart than any human words. Where eminent abilities and unblem- ished integrity, combined with unimpeachable virtue, derivable from the daily practice of religion and piety, contribute to adorn the character of an individual, then it is most proper to be prominently set forth as an example to those who would make themselves useful to the rest of man-
NIXON RUSH
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kind. And the writer cherishes the belief that he will perform this acceptable service in giving a brief sketch of the life and work of Rev. Nixon Rush, who for half a century was known to the citizens of Grant county as an industrious and successful agriculturist, but who, perhaps, was better known as a minister of the Quaker faith, as a member of which he had preached throughout this part of Indiana for more than forty years.
Rev. Nixon Rush traces his ancestry back to Colonial days, when it was founded in this country by five brothers, early settlers of Culpeper county, Virginia, possibly about the year 1700. The early generations resided in that locality, but the first definite data to be found is that concerning one Crawford, or Clifford Rush, who was born in that county about the year 1720. He became a large plantation owner, had many slaves and spent his entire life in his native county as did his wife Mary. Among their children was Benjamin Rush, who was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, April 19, 1752. When about of age he migrated to Randolph county, North Carolina, and there was married in 1772 to Dorcas Vickery, a native of the Old North State. They settled down as farming people and accumulated and improved a large property not far from Shepherd Mountain. There they spent their entire lives, dying in the faith of the Methodist church. It may have been that they were slave-holders. Their six sons and two daughters all grew to maturity and lived to advanced years, being large, portly people, and all had homes of their own and reared large families. The sons were all slave- holders, and were prominent in politics, being for the greater part Demo- crats. The members of this family were noted for their hospitality.
Of the above eight children, Azel Rush, the grandfather of Rev. Nixon Rush, was born August 8, 1780. He grew up a farmer, and in 1806 was married to Elizabeth Beckerdite, who was born in Randolph county, and she died in 1818. Mr. Rush had joined the Friends Church, the only one of the family to do so, and later his wife joined and died in that faith. He was married a second time to a Miss White, a member of an old North Carolina family of Randolph county, and she died there prior to 1836. She left a family, but her descendants all reside in North Carolina. Mr. Rush was married a third time, and in 1846 came to Fair- mount township, Grant county, settling on undeveloped land, which they reclaimed from the wilderness, and here spent the balance of their lives. They were life-long Quakers and remained true to the teachings of that faith. They had a family of four children: Dorinda, Iredell, Dorcas and Nancy, all of whom married and all spent their entire lives in Grant county.
Iredell Rush, the father of Rev. Nixon Rush, was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, January 14, 1807, as a birthright Quaker. He was married in his native county to Miss Elizabeth Bogue, who was born February 7, 1808, in southern North Carolina, the ceremony taking place in 1829, and being performed after the custom of the Friends Church. They commenced in a humble manner, securing a horse and small wagon, and two weeks after their marriage bid a final farewell to a large circle of friends and, with Mr. Rush's uncle, Mathew Winslow, set out north far over the mountains for the wilderness of Indiana. After a long and tedious journey, replete with dangers and exciting experiences, the young couple reached the Friends' settlements at Derby, Wayne county, there renting a small farm. The neighbors, in the kindly, encouraging way that always marked those of this faith in the early days and has con- tinued to do so to the present time, assisted them to start house, giving them various articles needed, as well as chickens and young pigs to raise for their own. Amid these pioneer surroundings they remained until
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March, 1831, when they pushed on to Grant county, Mr. Rush securing forty acres of government land, the deed for which was signed by Andrew Jackson. Here he cut a space 18x20 feet, in the timber, on which was erected a rude log cabin, with the under boards held down by poles, the floor made of slabs, and the stick and mortar chimney serving all pur- poses. It was some time before the quilt used as a door covering was replaced by a wooden door, and not one nail was used in the entire con- struction of this pioneer home.
This was the first home to be erected between this section and Alex- andria, Madison county. Game was plentiful and kept the family table well supplied; the tasks that otherwise would have seemed onerous and distasteful were made light in the atmosphere of love that hovered over the little home; and although riches and plenty came in later years, Mr. and Mrs. Rush both stated in later life that the first ten years of their married life had been their happiest ones. Industry and economy, thrift and perseverance, soon placed Mr. and Mrs. Rush in a position where they could afford a finer home. When this had been erected, they added to their acres, their stock and their equipment, and finally became known as one of the substantial families of this section of the county, owning 160 acres here and 400 acres in another part of the State. Mr. Rush passed away May 29, 1853, while his wife survived him until April 12, 1877, both dying in the faith of the Quaker church in which they had been lifelong members and active workers. They assisted in building the first Quaker church in this community, although meetings had been held as early as 1831 in private houses, chiefly that of Joseph Winslow. In politics Mr. Rush was first a Whig and then became an Abolitionist and a Republican. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Rush were as follows: John, born at Derby, Wayne county, Indiana, November 30, 1830, died, aged fifty years; married Katura Jay, also deceased; Calvin, born in Graut county, Indiana, July 14, 1833, died about 1904, married and had no issue; Nixon, of this review, born March 30, 1836; Millicent, born November 10, 1838, widow of Elwood Haisley, now living with her chil- dren in Fairmount; Jane, Anna and Thomas, all of whom died when about twenty years of age; and Mary, born January 24, 1850, who mar- ried Robert Carter, and now lives at Riverside, Kansas, and has a family.
Nixon Rush grew up on his father's farm, located just outside of Fairmount, in Grant county, and here he has spent the greater part of his life, being the proprietor of most of the property at this time and living in the house which had almost been completed by his father at the time of the latter's death. He has an excellent property of 140 acres, in addi- tion to which he donated six acres of land to Fairmount Academy, located near his home, a Friends' preparatory school. Mr. Rush is an excellent business man and skilled farmer, and has made a decided success of his ventures. Although now practically retired from the activities of life, he still superintends the working of his land. and carries on his business matters in the same able manner that characterized his younger days.
On October 21, 1861, Mr. Rush was married to Miss Louisa Winslow, who was born in Grant county, Indiana, August 5, 1843, daughter of Daniel and Rebecca (Hiatt) Winslow. A devoted wife and mother, a consistent Friend and an upright Christian woman, the death of Mrs. Rush, which occurred May 24, 1911, was sincerely mourned by a wide circle of friends, who loved her for her many excellent qualities of mind and heart. To Mr. and Mrs. Rush there were born the following chil- dren : Axelina, Elmira, Emma, Walter, Olive, Calvin C., Charles E. Of these Axelina died at the age of two years. Elmira was born July 4, 1865, received excellent educational advantages, and now is city editor of the Fairmount News, of which her husband, Edgar Baldwin, is editor
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in chief. They have one son, Mark, who is a government soil analyzer, at the present time located in Iowa. Emma was born July 7, 1867, was well educated, and became the wife of William A. Beasley. They alter- nate between living on a farm and in the town of Fairmount, and are the parents of five children-Myron, Zola, Frank, John and Elizabeth. Walter was born April 4, 1870, was educated in the public schools, and is now the manager of his father's farming property. He married Elizabeth Johnson of Grant county, Indiana, and they have three chil- dren-Loretta O., at home, a graduate of the Academy; Isadore Alice, a graduate of the public schools and now attending the academy, and Dorothy E., the baby, two years old. Olive Rush was born June 10, 1873, and attended the Fairmount Academy and Earlham College. She early displayed marked artistic talent, and began her studies along this line in Earlham College. Subsequently she spent two years in the Cor- coran Art School, connected with the Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D. C., and was there awarded second prize in a class of eighty pupils for advancement. Later she became a student in the Art Student's League, New York City, and became a well-known illustrator for writers and authors, making first-page frontispieces for such well-known maga- zines as Scribner's, Harper's, the Ladies' Home Journal and the Woman's Home Companion. She conceived and provided studies for . large cathedrals and churches, principally windows, and painted por- traits of well-known people throughout the country. With Ethel Brown, she occupied the studio at Wilmington, Delaware, left vacant by the death of Howard Pyle, at the request of his widow. Her pictures, largely subject pieces, have been exhibited at various art expositions and salons, and at this time she is successfully continuing her work near Paris, France. Calvin C. Rush, M. D., was born February 16, 1876, and after graduating from the local academy and Earlham College, received a scholarship at Haverford. Subsequently he graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and now has a large prac- tice at Portage, Pennsylvania. He married Annette Johnson, and they have one daughter, Sylvia Louise; and one son, Norman J. Charles E. Rush was born March 23, 1885, was well educated in the academy and at Earlham College, and then took special courses in library work. He is now the overseer of three libraries at St. Joseph, Missouri. He mar- ried Lionne Adsit, daughter of Rev. Spencer M. Adsit, and they have one child, Alison A., who is now two years of age.
Reared in the faith of the Friends church, Rev. Rush was ordained as a minister in 1869, and for forty years has traveled all over this part of Indiana, where no minister of the faith is more widely known nor more greatly beloved. For years he was assisted by his wife. He has preached at hundreds of funerals and has married scores of people during his ministry. His influence, always for good, has been constantly felt in his community, where he has not alone become a conspicuous figure in the church, but has also gained a large place in the good will and love of all classes and denominations.
JOSEPH H. PEACOCK. For generations, wherever their home has been in America, whether in the Atlantic colonies and states or in Indiana, the Peacock family have been noted not only for its faithful adherence to the orthodox Quaker religion, but also for its exemplification of the virtues and thrifty qualities of that class of people. Grant county citizenship has been honored with the presence of the Peacock family here for a great many years, and one of its most highly esteemed repre- sentatives was the late Joseph H. Peacock, of Fairmount township, who died May 14, 1874.
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Of English ancestry, it is said that three brothers named Peacock came to America during the colonial era, and located among the Penn colonies in Pennsylvania. Later some of their descendants moved in from South Carolina, where their home remained for several generations. The first definite members of the family to be mentioned in this article were Asa and his wife Dinah Peacock. Asa Peacock was born in the Rice belt of North Carolina, was married there and afterwards took his family into North Carolina. Then during the decade of the twenties they all came to Indiana. That journey was made in true pioneer style, with wagons and teams across the long distances of forest trail, and they finally located in the Friends settlement at Newport, now Fountain City in Wayne county. From there about 1830 they came to Grant county, and entered land from the government in Liberty township. Thus the Peacock name has been identified with Grant county for eighty- three years. Asa Peacock and his first wife lived and died in Grant county. He was past eighty years of age at the time of his death. His second wife was Dorcas Jones, nee Hale, who survived him and died in Kansas. By her first husband she had a family of children. Asa Pea- cock and his first wife were the parents of William, Levi, Joseph, Betsey D., Martha (Patsey) and John. Of these, Levi died recently at Rich- mond, Indiana, when past ninety years of age. Joseph is still living, over eighty years of age, in Kokomo. Patsey and another sister died young. Betsey D. married and reared a family of children. John died an old man and left a family of children. William Peacock, son of Asa and Dinah, was born in South Carolina, November 4, 1812. He was still a boy when his parents moved to Indiana, and he reached maturity in Grant county. In 1833 he went to Newgarden in Wayne, where he married Phoebe Haisley, who was born October 9, 1812. They began their married life in Grant county, and in a wild and unbroken section of Liberty township. They secured land direct from the government and improved a good farm. There William Peacock died April 30, 1867, and his remains were laid to rest at Oak Ridge. His death resulted from a fever contracted during attendance of his wife, who was stricken with the disease while on a visit to Newgarden, Wayne county, and died March 23, 1867. To William Peacock and wife were born eleven chil- dren, mentioned as follows: 1. Hannah, born in 1839, and died in 1913 in the state of Oregon, married Mordecai M. Davison, also deceased ; they had no children. 2. Josiah, born in 1836 and died in 1867, married Cynthia Rich, and they had five children. 3. Anna, born in 1839 and died in 1882, became wife of Barkley Moon and had four children. 4. Susanna, born in 1840, and died in 1912, married Lewis Hackett, and they died without issue. 5. Levina, born in 1842, and died in 1874, married Aaron Comer, and had no children. 6. Joseph H. born Feb- ruary 9, 1844, and died May 5, 1874, is the special subject of this article. 7. Jane, born in 1846 and died in 1868, married Thomas H. Johnson, and left one son. 8. Sarah died in infancy. 9. Diana, born in 1852, lives in Fairmount, the widow of Nathan Hinshaw. 10. William, Jr., born in 1854, lives in Sedgewick, Kansas, married Lyda Smith, and has children. 11. Levi died in infancy.
The late Joseph H. Peacock was reared on his father's farm in Lib- erty township, was educated, and trained in the local schools and in a good home where prevailed a high atmosphere of moral and religious influence. In 1869 in the Quaker church at Fairmount and with the orthodox Quaker ceremony, he married Elizabeth Radley, who was born near Chelmsford, Essex county, England, June 6, 1843.
Mrs. Peacock, who now lives in Fairmount with her children, comes of an old English ancestry. Her parents were Samuel and Mary (Bull)
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Radley, her mother a sister of John Bull, one of the early settlers of Fairmount. Samuel Radley and wife were married in Essex county, England, and all their four children, Mary A., Elizabeth, Alice C., and Samuel John were born in England. The father was by trade a plas- terer and brick layer. While the children were all small the family embarked on a sailing vessel named Westminster, under Captain Doan, and voyaged from London to New York, six weeks being spent on the ocean. Locating near Fairmount, Mr. Radley followed his trade and engaged in farming, his later years being mostly spent on the farm. He died March 11, 1877, when about sixty years of age. His wife passed away October 24, 1888. She was born in the Presbyterian faith, but early in life joined the Friends church, and her father was a birthright Friend. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Peacock were the parents of two sons. William A., born November 23, 1871, and died at the age of eighteen; John Henry, born June 14, 1873, received a substantial education in the Fairmount Public Schools, and graduated from the biblical department of the Fairmount Academy and also the Wesleyan Theological Semi- nary. He with his mother now owns 230 acres of land and is a thrifty and successful farmer and devoted Christian. He married Ruth Reese, of Michigan. Their two sons are Myron R., at home, and a graduate of the Fairmount Academy; and Joseph Edward, who died when nearly seven years of age. The farm upon which Joseph H. Peacock died lies northwest of Fairmount, near where Fairmount Academy now stands. lies just northeast of Fairmount. There are over two hundred acres of land, and a comfortable farm house, the well painted barns, the improve- ments in fences and cultivation, all indicate the thrift and prosperity which have been associated with the Peacock name throughout its con- nection with Grant county.
RICHARD H. DILLON. Through all his career Mr. Dillon has quietly followed the vocation of farmer. Since he left school each recurring spring has meant to him a time of opportunity, the planting for the later harvest. Many of his hopes have had fruition, as well as his crops. He has been prospered, has performed his share of the responsibilities that come to every man and the extent of his riches is not to be meas- ured alone by his material store.
Concerning the family of Mr. Dillon it may be said that his grand- father was also Richard H. Dillon, and was probably born in one of the southern states, of Irish ancestry. His death occurred in Ohio. He married Elizabeth Unthank. They lived in Clinton county, Ohio, for some years, and in 1848 moved to Madison county, Indiana, where they were among the early Quaker settlers. Of their children, the youngest son, Oliver, lived to be 60 or 65 years of age and died near Indianapolis, and. Allen became the father of Richard H. Dillon.
Allen Dillon was born in Clinton county, Ohio, March 13, 1836, and was twelve years of age when the family moved to Madison county, Indiana. There he grew to manhood, and for a number of years con- ducted a saw mill, did carpenter work, lived on a farm which he owned. In 1856 he moved to Grant county, and lived in this county until his death on January 3, 1899, passing away in Fairmount. In 1857 Allen Dillon married in Fairmount township Kaziah Henly, who was born in North Carolina in 1832, and came north from Randolph county, North Carolina, to Grant county with her parents in 1837, and continued to reside in Grant county either in Fairmount township or the city until her death in 1911. Her parents were staunch Quakers whose ancestors came to America with William Penn, and Allen Dillon was also of that faith. She was the mother of two children, one of whom died in infancy.
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Richard H. Dillon was born on the old home farm in Fairmount township, August 14, 1858, received his education in the public schools and Purdue University, and has always followed the vocation of farm- ing. He built his present good brick home at 919 North Buckeye Street in Fairmount in 1891. He and his wife own seventeen acres of land in an adjacent section, also another tract of 40 acres in Fairmount town- ship and valuable farm lands in Marshall county, Indiana.
Mr. Dillon was married in Grant county to Alice R. Coahran, who was born April 4, 1861. When she was six years of age, she moved to Madison county, Indiana, with her parents, who were John and Susan (Hammond) Coahran. Her parents lived on a farm in Madison county until 1879, when they moved to Fairmount City, and here they both died, the father at the age of eighty-four and the mother at the age of seventy-two. They were also of Quaker religion. Mr. and Mrs. Dillon are the parents of one child, Mary Allen, born July 14, 1892. She received her early educational advantages in the Fairmount public schools and the Academy, and is a member of the class of 1914 at Earl- ham College at Richmond. In politics Mr. Dillon is a Republican voter.
JOHN SMITH. For many years one of the most prosperous farming men in the county, John Smith, with the organization of the Upland State Bank, stepped into the office of president of that young financial institution, and he has since continued in his dual capacity of farmer Some time after her husband's death Mrs. Peacock sold that farm and later purchased the farm upon which the Peacocks now live. This farm and banker, with equal success in both enterprises. As a well-to-do agricultural man, he is widely known in the county, and his land hold- ings aggregate something like 525 acres, designated much as follows: The home farm of 210 acres located in section 25 and section 26; forty acres adjoining the home place on the north; forty acres in section 24; and one hundred acres in section 36, making about four hundred acres in Monroe township. He also owns one hundred and twenty acres in Blackford county. The bulk of the land he rents for a yearly cash rental, but the home place of two hundred and ten acres he operates himself. He is also a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted February 1, 1865, in Company B, 153d Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served until September 4, 1865, when he was discharged at Louisville, Ken- tucky. Did detached duty during the most of his service.
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