USA > Indiana > Blackford County > Blackford and Grant Counties : Indiana a chronicle of their past and present with family lineage and personal memoirs > Part 38
USA > Indiana > Grant County > Blackford and Grant Counties : Indiana a chronicle of their past and present with family lineage and personal memoirs > Part 38
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Thomas W. Newby was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, in 1824, and he was two years of age when his father died. He was taken into the home of his uncle, Cajie Newby, and in 1830 came with them to Grant county, Indiana. He was reared in his uncle's home and was brought up in the faith of the Quakers, his uncle being a stanch ad- herent of the faith and a powerful example to his fellow men all his days. Thomas W. Newby had in him those qualities that ever make for signal success and prosperity in the life of the man who possesses them. He devoted his life to agricultural activities, and was one of the few men of his day who amassed in the neighborhood of a million dol- lars. He gave to each of his six children an eighty-acre farm, well de- veloped and rich in improvement, as well as giving to each a large sum of money in cash. He was recognized as one of the foremost men of the county, as well as one of the richest of his time. He died at his old home in Fairmount township on December 7, 1903, when he was seventy-nine years of age. Mr. Newby was a Whig in early life, and later became a Republican. He was a man of the most estimable qualities, and his ster- ling character made him an influence in his community that was far- reaching and beneficent at all times. In his citizenship he was a man among men, and his opinion in matters of civic duty and political ques- tions of all manner was one that was eagerly sought by his contempora- ries. When he died he was truly mourned and his loss is still felt in those places where he was best known.
In Fairmount township, Mr. Newby married Sarah Hill, who was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, on December 7, 1824, and who was a daughter of Aaron and Nancy ( Winslow) Hill. They came as pioneers to Grant county and entered land in the vicinity of Back Creek church, where they passed the remainder of their lives. They were Quakers, and were stanch and sturdy folk, who won and retained the esteem of their fellow townspeople as long as they lived. They were among the founders of the Back Creek church of Friends, and were among the influential people of their community. Six children were born to Thomas and Sarah Newby, and they lived to see their off- spring filling worthy places in the town and county. Mrs. Newhy died when she was eighty-six years and three months of age, and she too had been prominent in the church of the Friends.
Eleazar Newby was the eldest of the six children born to Thomas and Sarah Newby, and of that number three are now deceased. He was born on the family homestead on June 15, 1851. He was educated in the public schools and early began to devote himself to the business of farming. In 1875 he took up his residence on his present fine farm of
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eighty acres in Section 7, Mill township, and that place has been brought to a state of efficiency that is second to none in the county today. In 1888 he built his present commodious house on the place, having pre- viously, in 1883, reared ample barns for the needs of the farm. He is undeniably one of the most successful farming men in the county. His place is known as Forest Home, a name especially fitted to the actuali- ties, for a magnificent grove of native forest trees adorns the grounds about the house.
Mr. Newby was married in 1881 in Jefferson township to Miss Celia Mitchener, who was born in this county and here has spent her life thus far. She is a daughter of Albert and Elizabeth Mitchener, natives of . the state of Pennsylvania. They came to Grant county soon after their marriage and settled in Jefferson township, where they died in their old age.
To Mr. and Mrs. Newby have been born six children concerning whom brief mention is here made as follows: Mary E. married Charles Pitt, and they live in North Jonesboro. They are the parents of Geneva, Lucile and James Pitt. Elsie is the wife of Edgar Neal, of Grant county, and their children are named Hildreth, Harold and Donald. Gertha M. and Adelphia I. are both unmarried and make their home with their parents; while Jessie is the wife of Vergil Craig, and they also reside with the home folks. The youngest child, Clessie L., attends the public school.
Mr. and Mrs. Newby were both reared in the Quaker religion, and have imparted to their children the sterling characters that have been their most marked qualities. They are members of the New Reformed Friends Church, somewhat recently brought into being through a reor- ganization, and Mr. Newby is a stanch Prohibitionist, and the power of his example has been one of the most potent influences for good that his community has felt in its citizenship.
GARN JETT. One of the younger generation of farming men of Mill township is Garn Jett, who has, since locating in Grant county, devoted his entire time to general farming. Thus far he has enjoyed a reason- able measure of success, and he is ranked among the more solid and stable agricultural men of his township. Mr. Jett, however, is no mere tyro at the business of agriculture for he comes of an old Virginia fam- ily that for generations back have devoted themselves to the soil. His widowed mother even now maintains her residence on the fine family plantation of some four hundred acres, and members of the Jett family have in many instances proven themselves masters of the business.
The Jett family is one that has for many years been established in Scott county, Virginia, and the first of the name who shall enter into this recital was John Jett, the paternal grandfather of Garn Jett of this review. All of John Jett's life was spent in Scott county and was devoted to farming. He came of one of the finest of Virginia families, and his life was one of singular completeness in his community. A slave holder and a man of considerable wealth, he busied himself chiefly with the care of his magnificent plantation of 2,000 acres, and in the ante-bellum days he was indeed a power to be reckoned with in the agricultural activities of Scott county. He was born in 1802, and died in 1877. after having suffered heavy losses as a result of the Civil war, from which he never really recovered.
John Jett married Irena Wolff, who was also born and reared in Scott county, and she survived her honored husband by some years, death claiming her on February 15, 1895, when she was just turned eighty years of age. She and her husband were both members of the Meth- odist church, South, and he was an ardent Democrat.
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Three sons were born to John and Irena Jett,-William, Stephen and John Jr. The two last named served in the Confederate army dur- ing the Civil war, and Stephen lost an arm while a Confederate soldier. He is now a resident of Boone county, Indiana, and has two sons. John Jett Jr. died in Scott county, leaving a widow and one daughter.
William Jett was born in Scott county on the old home plantation in 1852, and he died on January 14, 1910, when he was but fifty-eight years of age. He spent his entire life on the old home place, and in his native community was married, in early manhood, to Miss Susan Smith, a sister of Pascal Smith, a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere in this review. She, too, was a Scott county native, and all her life was passed within its confines. She was born in 1853, and is still living on the old homestead of 400 acres. Since the passing of the father, Wil- liam H. Jett, in 1910, Mrs. Jett, with two younger sons, has had the care of the plantation and they have done justice to the task in hand.
Seven children were born to William and Susan Jett, and of that number Garn Jett of this review is the eldest born. He was reared and educated in the home community, and when he was married in 1898 he was then just twenty-three years of age, his birth having having oc- curred on March 5, 1875. He married Miss Catherine Smith, who was born on October 30, 1887, a daughter of John S. and Eliza (Pope) Smith, both now residents of Scott county, Virginia, where they have long made their home. They have devoted themselves to farming activities all their days, and are among the prominent people of their community.
Soon after his marriage, Mr. Jett came to Grant county, and in 1909 he purchased in Mill township a small place of seventy-eight acres, all of which is under cultivation, and which is in a high state of productiveness. Small. grains and a quantity of clover comprise his crops, and the farm is well stocked and in every way reflects the enter- prise and ambition of its proprietor.
Two daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jett,-Margaret born February 14, 1896, a freshman student in Fairmount Academy, and Irene, born on May 25, 1898, and a student in the local public schools.
Considering that Mr. Jett has only spent fifteen years in the county, he has gained a place of no little prominence therein, and is reckoned among the progressive and influential men of the town and county. He is a Democrat, and possesses qualities that make for a high degree of efficiency in citizenship, so that his influence in and about the com- munity is one of the finest order. He and his family have a host of good friends in their new home, and are well content with the results of their migration to the north.
CLAYTON S. WRIGHT. Success consists in a steady betterment of one's material conditions, and an increase of one's ability to render service to others. Measured by this standard, one of the exceptionally successful men of Liberty township is Clayton S. Wright, proprietor of the attractive and beautiful Beech Grove farm on section thirty-five. About thirty years ago, when he took the step which precipitates most young meu into the serious work of life, and causes them to measure their ability with awkward circumstances-got married-he had a small capital of about five hundred dollars. From that point his career has been one of steady growth to independence, until he is now justly con- sidered one of the most substantial men in his township. At the same time he has accepted the many opportunities to show his good citizen- ship, and his work and influence has helped to make Liberty township a better place to live in.
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The birthplace of Mr. Wright was just three-quarters of a mile from where he now lives. He was born there, February 13, 1860, Moses and Elizabeth (Hollingsworth) Wright, his parents, both spent the latter years of their life on the old homestead in Liberty township. Moses Wright was a native of Tennessee, and was brought, when a boy, to Henry county, Indiana, where he grew up, was married, and after a short time, about 1850, moved to Grant county, locating in Liberty township, on the estate where the son Clayton S. was born. They held membership in the Wesleyan church, but after the father's death the mother found a home in the Friends church. They were the parents of six children, only two of whom are now living, the brother of Clayton being Thomas C. Wright, a farmer in Wabash county, Indiana. Catherine died at the age of fourteen ; Lydia, also deceased, became the wife of Clinton Moon; Jacob, died when about thirty-five years of age, and Alpheus died at the age of twenty-two.
Clayton S. Wright was reared on a farm, had a district school educa- tion, and lived the existence of the average farmer boy of Grant county, alternating between school in winter and farm work in summer. That was his bringing up until he was about nineteen years old, and he then gave his attention to the home place and worked for his mother, until he was married.
On March 4, 1882, Mr. Wright married Mary Harvey, who was born just across the road from where they now reside. She was educated in the common schools. Mr. and Mrs. Wright are the parents of nine chil- dren : Harvey A., is a graduate of Fairmount Academy, of the Pacific College at Newberg, Oregon, and from Earlham College at Richmond, Indiana, and is now superintendent of the Grade and High School of Fountain City, Indiana. Adda E., who graduated from Fairmount Academy and Earlham college, with the degree of A. B. has been a very successful teacher, and since 1910 has been a member of the faculty of the Fairmount Academy. Ora E., also a graduate of Earlham College, is superintendent of Friendsville Academy, at Friendsville, Tennessee. Vida, graduated from Fairmount Academy, and is a student of music. Mahlon M. graduated from the Academy at Fairmount. Lester B. is a student in the Fairmount Academy and Frank completed his course in the common schools in 1913, is now a student at the Fairmount Acad- emy. Ralph H., was born June 10, 1903, and Ruth E., the youngest, was born June 9, 1909. Great credit is due to Mr. and Mrs. Wright for their liberality and care in providing exceptional educational advan- tages for their children. The older ones are all college graduates, and are proving themselves worthy and useful and worthy members of the community.
The Wright family have membership in the Friends church at Little Ridge in Liberty township. Mr. Wright is one of the trustees of the Fairmount Monthly Meeting, and is at the head of the local church. In politics he supports the Prohibition cause. His fine farm lies one mile south and three miles west of Fairmount, on the rural free delivery route No. 21. It comprises one hundred and forty acres of land, and has been brought to a high state of cultivation, and improvement.
ALBERT R. LAZURE. The United States Glass Company, which was organized as a corporation in 1891 with main offices at Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, established and began the operation of its plant at Gas City in 1893, and this has ever since been one of the important industries of Grant county, and a very large contributing factor to the prosperity of the immediate locality. The president of the corporation is Marion G. Bryce, Ernest Nickel is secretary and treasurer, general factory man-
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ager is William M. Anderson, all these gentlemen being at Pittsburg. The Gas City plant is known as Factory U. The output consists of table glass ware, packers' goods, lamps and lantern globes, and special novelties and custom work. The plant at Gas City employs about three hundred and thirty people on the average, and its output in terms of weight amounts to about a million pounds each month. Besides other staple lines, they turn out a large amount of bar goods. The products are shipped all over the United States and for export to most civilized countries.
The factory comprises a sixteen-pot furnace, and a continuous ten- ring tank, and some automatic machinery is employed. The local man- agers and officials are Albert R. Lazure, superintendent ; D. J. McGrail, factory manager; Harry M. Kelly, sales manager; H. Taudte, manager of the mould department; J. C. Adams, manager of the shipping de- partment; H. P. Lazure, manager of selecting; A. F. Wiegel, night manager of the factory; James D. Denning, assistant factory manager.
The Gas City plant was constructed during the winter of 1892-93, and began operations in May, 1893. The original reasons for establish- ing the plant here was of course the plentiful supply of natural gas. That was the fuel used until 1903, at which time the factory was equipped with gas producers, which have since been relied upon for the greater . part of the fuel. However, in the finishing department, fuel oil and natural gas are combined. The power plant consists of four one hun- dred and fifty horse-power boilers. This power is used in many ways, for driving the electric generators, for producing compressed and volumn air, and in other ways. Volumn air is used not only for cooling the moulds, but is necessary to supply ample quantities of fresh and cool air in the work-rooms and about the furnaces. The factory has all facilities for sanitary conditions, and is regarded as a model in this respect by factory inspectors.
The fundamental materials used for the production of glass are sand, soda ash, lime, and potash. To these are added in various combi- nations such chemicals as manganese, arsenic, and powder blue, special machinery being employed to mix these various ingredients. Two grades of glass are manufactured, and different mixing is required for each. The pot furnace glass is the more expensive, and of the higher quality, being a glass of greater brilliancy and quality. In the pot furnace there are sixteen clay pots, each with a capacity of one and a half tons, and when each pot is filled with the ingredients, it is hermetically sealed, and is kept closed until the melting process is finished, at which time the seal is removed and the actual work of converting the molten mass into glassware is begun. This process requires about twenty-four hours for each pot. In the continuous tank are mixed and melted the materials for the cheaper grades of ware. This furnace receives the raw material from the rear, the fire coming in direct contact with the material, and the molten composition is drawn off from the front of the tank. The company also manufacture on its own grounds all the packing barrels and cases used for shipping the ware, and this in itself is a considerable industry, since many thousands of barrels are manufactured each year.
Mr. Lazure has been associated with the Gas City Plant since April, 1893, before it began operations, and took charge as superintendent in October of the same year. Next oldest among the local officials is Mr. Denning, assistant factory manager, who has been connected with the business since 1894, and has held his present position since November. 1913. Albert R. Lazure was born at Bellaire, Ohio, a noted center of glass industry, on December 13, 1869. After graduating from high school in 1886, he at once accepted employment with W. A. Gorby of
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the Bellaire Goblet Company. In 1889 he went to Findlay, Ohio, did general office work there, and in 1892 took charge of the glass factory at Findlay, and continued until it was dismantled in January, 1893. During the following months he traveled in Canada and the United States, until locating permanently in Gas City.
In 1901 Mr. Lazure was married in Jonesboro to Miss Daisy B. Bates, who was born and reared and educated at Jonesboro, and was for some time a student of music in the conservatory at Fort Wayne. They have one child, Marjorie, three and a half years old. Mr. Lazure and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a trustee, and he served four years in the city council, and on Novem- ber 4, 1913, was reelected for another period of four years, being chair- man of the board. He affiliates with Jonesboro Lodge of Masons, with the Knight Templar Commandery at Marion and of the Marion Lodge. B. P. O. E. He is regarded as one of the leading men of Gas City, and having been identified with one of its most important industries since the beginning has filled a very useful place in the community.
ALBERT FRANK SEIBERLING. Probably one of the leading enterprises in its line in the world, the Indiana Rubber and Insulated Wire Com- pany has been developed to its present large proportions by a group of progressive, energetic and enterprising business men, whose fortunes are connected with this industry, and who have prospered with its re- markable prosperity. Ever since its organization, during a period of more than twenty years, Albert Frank Seiberling has held a responsible position with this concern, and has contributed much to its growth and steady advancement. A man of foresight, judgment and modern ideas, in the capacities of assistant treasurer, member of the board of directors and general superintendent, he is assisting his associates to still further forward the company's interests, but at the same time has found leisure in which to help other public-spirited men in their activities for the public welfare, and in social life has become widely known in Jonesboro.
Mr. Seiberling was born at Doylestown, Ohio, May 16, 1866, the third of the six children born to James H. Seiberling, president of the com- pany, a sketch of the family being found iu the father's sketch on an- other page of this work. Mr. Seiberling was given good educational advantages, first attending the public and high schools of Doylestown and later attending Eastman's Business College, at Poughkeepsie, New York, where he received his diploma with the class of 1886. He received his introduction to business life with the Diamond Plate Glass Com- pany, of Kokomo, Indiana, of which his father was a director, and with which the son continued to be associated during a period of two years, between the time of leaving Eastman and going to Kokomo. Later he joined his father in the manufacture of farming machinery at Doyles- town, and continued there until 1891, when he helped to organize the Indiana Rubber and Insulated Wire Company. At that time he was made secretary of the concern, but in 1892 became superintendent, and in that same year joined the board of directors. The superintendency of this large business carries with it a great load of responsibilities. There are 400 people employed in the plant, manufacturing approxi- mately $1,250,000 worth of goods annually, the product being automo- bile tires and inner tubes, a full line of rubber goods of all kinds, bi- eyele tires (about 1,000 per day fall and winter and 1,800 per day spring and summer) and insulated wire. The business was organized for the manufacture of the last-named product, but after three years began making rubber goods, and this has since become one of the most im- portant features of the trade. The company has the reputation of
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making goods that are unexcelled in quality, a reputation that is being steadfastly maintained. Every market of any size the world over car- ries a line of these Indiana goods, and the company has done much to spread the name and fame of Jonesboro as a manufacturing center. Mr. Seiberling is a man of energy and one able to achieve results. His associates rely upon him absolutely and he has never given them reason to regret their confidence.
In 1892, not long after coming to Jonesboro, Mr. Seiberling was united in marriage with Miss Angie B. Cline, who was born at Elwood, Indiana, July 30, 1870, but who was reared and educated in Jonesboro. She is a daughter of Adam H. Cline, a business man of Jonesboro, and a stalwart citizen and supporter of the Republican party. Mrs. Cline, whose maiden name was Mary Thamburg, died in middle life, Mrs. Sei- berling at that time being twelve years of age. She was a devoted mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church and a capable, Christian woman. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Seiberling, namely : Paul A., a graduate of the class of 1913, Marion High School, and now a student in Purdue University, where he is taking a course in chemical engineering; Mary Katherine, aged twelve years, who is attending the Jonesboro graded schools; the oldest and youngest died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Seiberling are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and have been active in its various movements and charities. Mr. Seiberling is a Republican in his political views, and, while he has not been an office seeker, has fulfilled the duties of citizenship as a mem- ber of the town board for thirteen years, and has been able to do much for his adopted locality. Fraternally he is popular as a member of the Masons, in which he belongs to the Blue Lodge and Chapter at Jonesboro and the Commandery at Marion, and also holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias.
JOHN H. WALDRON has taken no inconsiderable part in the public affairs of Gas City, where for more than twenty-five years he has been identified with business affairs as a carpenter and contractor. It was his distinction to have been the first city treasurer elected after the incorporation of Gas City, and he served as a clerk of the old town board, and has twice been a member of the city council as alderman. In business he is one of the successful men, and is well known in the com- munity.
Born in Adams county, Ohio, October 16, 1856, John H. Waldron came to Grant county when six years old. His mother, then a widow, located at Jalapa in Pleasant township, where he grew up and learned the trade of carpenter under Stephen Sherman. With the exception of four years he has been in business on his own account, since he acquired the principals and details of the trade.
Mr. Waldron is a son of Elijah and Lydia (Ross) Waldron. His father was a native of Ohio, as was his wife, and they were married in Adams county, locating on a farm on Brush Creek. He followed a com- bination of arming and coopering. A skilled mechanic, he did consid- erable business as a maker of tubs, and buckets and other woodenware. These wares were manufactured out of cedar. The father died in Adams county in 1861, when about thirty-six years of age, and left his widow with two sons, the other being Elijah A., who died in Mill township of Grant county in 1909, when fifty-three years old, and un- married. The mother brought her children to Jalapa in Grant county in I861. Later she married, but had no children by her second union. Her death occurred in Japala in 1873, when forty-nine years old. She was a member and a regular attendant of the Methodist Protestant church. Vol. II-17
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