USA > Indiana > Blackford County > Blackford and Grant Counties : Indiana a chronicle of their past and present with family lineage and personal memoirs > Part 43
USA > Indiana > Grant County > Blackford and Grant Counties : Indiana a chronicle of their past and present with family lineage and personal memoirs > Part 43
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 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
733
BLACKFORD AND GRANT COUNTIES
a Prohibitionist. By his second wife John Carey had eight children, and Leander was fourth among them. These children are mentioned as follows: Richard; John T., in whose sketch found elsewhere in this work are given a number of other details concerning this interesting family stock; Isaac; Leander; Lindlay M .; Hannah J .; Eliza, deceased ; and Anna. All are living and married except Eliza, who died after her marriage to Thomas J. Pierce and she left three children.
Leander Carey was first married in Fairmount on September 3, 1875, to Minerva, a daughter of Jesse and Sarah Reece. Her parents were early settlers of Grant county, and died in their county. Mrs. Minerva Carey died in Kansas July 3, 1882. She was the mother of three children : Lillie H., who died at the age of eighteen; Jesse R., and Eliza J., both of whom died in the same year as their mother. Rev. Jesse Reece, father of Mrs. Carey was a well known Quaker preacher, and his daughter was reared and held to that faith all her life.
While living in Nebraska, Mr. Carey married for his second wife, Miss Mary Julia Munns, who was born in Decatur county, Indiana, May 18, 1855, was reared in her native county, and was a daughter of Archibald and Sallie (Miller) Munns, both now deceased. Her father died in Rush county, Indiana, January 1, 1910, and her mother passed away in Grant county in 1908. The Munns family were Methodists in religion. Mr. and Mrs. Carey have no children. They are members of the Methodist Protestant church. For many years Mr. Carey sup- ported the Republican party, but is now a Prohibitionist, both in prin- ciple and in action.
Mr. Carey is the acknowledged leader of the Carey family in this part of Indiana, and was for two years president of the Carey Annual Reunion, and had done a great deal to keep the various branches of the name in touch with each other, and to stimulate pride and interest in the family lineage.
JOHN C. KNIGHT, M. D. After graduating with the class of 1881 from the Kentucky School of Medicine, Dr. Knight first offered his professional services to the community of Jonesboro, where he was already known as a hard-working student and later as a teacher. Pat- ronage was not long in coming, and for thirty years he has been well established, not only as a first-class doctor, but as a man of influential citizenship. Of the physicians in practice at Jonesboro, when he opened office, all are now gone, and he is therefore dean of the local fraternity. Dr. Knight has membership and is a former president of the County Medical Society, and also belongs to the State Society and the American Medical Association, while he is a member of the United States district examining board for marine and military service.
John C. Knight was born in Madison county, Indiana, October 24, 1856. His education was acquired in the Grant County schools, and owing to the early loss of his parents he was reared largely in the homes of friends and began doing for himself when a boy. His father, Seb- born G. Knight, was born in the County of Essex at Colchester. Eng- land, about 1820, and was the only one of his family to leave England and establish a home in America. He grew up and was educated in his native locality, and when a young man of about eighteen years started for the United States, making the voyage in a sailing vessel, and from the Atlantic Coast came on to Grant county and finally established himself in Madison county, where he married Mary E. Parsons. She was born about 1825, in Madison county, of one of the very earliest fam- ilies there, and after their marriage they located on a farm in Grant county but eventually returned to Madison county where the mother died
734
BLACKFORD AND GRANT COUNTIES
in 1858 while in middle life. The father died there in 1860. They were good Christian people, and their family of children are stated as fol- lows: William, who died in Iowa, in 1909 at the age of fifty-six was a farmer, and left three children as follows: John E., Birnet D., wife of William Dove; and Glenn, all of whom live in Iowa, and are married with the exception of Glenn. Mary E., the second child, married Syl- vanis C. Thompson, who died November 25, 1913, and she now lives in Marion. The next in order of birth was Dr. Knight. Charles E., a Grant county farmer in Jefferson township, had by his first marriage a daughter, Josephine, who is now the wife of Charles Lloyd of Fair- mount. One daughter was born to the doctor's father by a second wife, and is now Mrs. Elizabeth Davidson of Fairmount.
Dr. Knight was fostered through his childhood and youth largely by Thomas Harvey and wife of Grant county, who are now deceased. He came to Jonesboro, and by his own efforts attained an education in the high school, and subsequently earned money as a teacher to put him through medical college. He was married in Jonesboro to Miss Josephine Wilson, who was born in 1860 in Grant county, received her education in this vicinity, and her parents were William G. and Keziah (Spence) Wilson, both now deceased. Her father was born in Virginia, and her mother in Ohio, and they were married in Grant county, and died at Jonesboro. William Wilson was one of the early cabinet makers and undertakers at Jonesboro, and his vocation recalls an older custom. In earlier days, at a death, an order was placed with a coffin maker for a coffin according to the proper measurements, since the undertakers car- ried no stock of such merchandise, and all the coffins were made by hand and to order. William Wilson filled that very important service in the community of Jonesboro for a number of years. The Wilsons were Presbyterians in religion. Mrs. Knight died at Jonesboro, Novem- ber 16, 1908. She was for many years an active worker in the Methodist church, a member of the Ladies Aid and the Missionary Society, and was greatly missed both in church circles and in her home. Dr. Knight and wife had no children. He has membership in the Jonesboro Lodge, No. 109, A. F. & A. M., and the Knight Templar Commandery, belongs to the subordinate lodge, No. 82, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Jonesboro, and has filled all the chairs in lodge, No. 102 of the Knights of Pythias. A Republican in politics, he has for the past twenty years at different times served as a member of the board of education, and is now secretary of the board.
WILLIAM EMBREE. One of the oldest families of Grant county, and one which has furnished prominent and useful citizens in every walk of life, is that bearing the name of Embree, which for eighty years has been represented in this part of Indiana. In business, in agriculture, in the professions and in public and private life, those bearing this name have proved themselves capable and worthy of every trust and the name has become known as synonymous with integrity and upright living. A worthy representative of this old and honored family is found in the person of William Embree, a farmer of the younger generation, who is carrying on successful operations in section 12, Center township. He was born on the farm on which he now resides, March 27, 1883, and is a son of Silas and Sarah A. (Lugar) Embree.
The founder of the family in Grant county was Jesse Embree, who came to this locality from Ohio, and passed the remaining years of his life in developing a farm from the timber. His son, John Embree, was a child of two years when brought here, and he continued his father's work in cultivating land and in maintaining the family reputation for
735
BLACKFORD AND GRANT COUNTIES
honesty and industry. John Embree married Sophia Yont, and they became the parents of several children, of whom two grew to maturity : Silas; and Mary, who became the wife of A. J. Lugar, and is now deceased, having been the mother of three children. Silas Embree, the father of William Embree, was born on the old family homestead place in section 12, Center township, and on reaching manhood adopted the vocation of his fathers, becoming a tiller of the soil, an occupation which occupied his attention during the entire period of his active life. He was successful in his operations, accumulating a nice property, and became known as one of his community's practical and substantial men. Mr. Embree married Sarah A. Lugar, and they became the parents of two children: Orville A. of Center township, who married Estella J. Love and has four children; and William.
William Embree received his education in district school No. 1, in Center township, and in the meantime was thoroughly trained in agri- cultural work, having decided upon farming as his chosen field of endeavor. He was industrious and ambitious, and when about sixteen years of age left school to devote his entire time to farming, and at the time of his father's retirement he took over the management of the home place, of which he is now the owner. Mr. Embree has 160 acres under a high state of cultivation, this land being located five miles east of Marion, on the Monroe pike, a handsome property which he is steadily improving. His buildings are commodious, his land well ditched and drained, his machinery of the latest manufacture, and his stock sleek and well fed, and the able manner in which he is handling his affairs gives him the right to be named among the progressive young farmers of the county.
On June 30, 1908, Mr. Embree was married to Miss Debbie Wright, who was born July 5, 1890, in Fairmount township, Grant county, Indiana, and a graduate of the public schools of that locality. Two chil- dren have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Embree: Dorothy E., born February 26, 1910; and Charles W., born November 3, 1911. In political matters Mr. Embree was a Republican until the campaign of 1912, at which time he transferred his allegiance to the new Progressive party, the policies of which he believed at the time to best protect the interests of the people. His activities in the political field, however, have been confined to supporting his party. He is a good and energetic citizen, and has made manifest a commendable publie spirit on a number of occasions, while personally he is possessed of qualities which have won him a wide circle of sincere friends.
WILLIAM VALENTINE Cox. Beautiful Greenwood Place in section thirty-one of Fairmount township and twenty acres across the range line in section thirty-six of Liberty township is the home of William Valentine Cox. This is one of the small, but in many ways, most attrac- tive and valuable places in the farming area of Grant county. A farmer all his life, Mr. Cox has devoted his energies rather to the inten- sive cultivation of his land than to the wholesale and somewhat waste- ful methods of old-fashioned agriculture. His specialty is the pro- duction of fruits, and the results he obtains from his small place are certainly gratifying. Practically every foot of the forty acres in Green- wood Place is employed for profitable use. The crops are apples, pears, plums, cherries and other varieties of fruits and his long experience as a fruit grower gives his judgment an authority which is safe to fol- low. Every acre of his land has been brought to a point of fertility where it produces at full capacity. Eighty or ninety bushels of corn
736
BLACKFORD AND GRANT COUNTIES
to the acre are not an unusual yield on the Cox place, while in his special crop of tomatoes he grows from twelve to fifteen tons of that fruit to the acre. His oats will average more than fifty-five bushels to the acre, and a part of his farm is also down in alfalfa. The pre- vailing color of all the buildings on the place is white, and the white farm house and barns with silo, in the midst of the green of the sur- rounding trees, makes a very effective rural picture. His silo has a capacity of fifty-five tons, and indicates another progressive feature of his farming methods, since he allows nothing to go to waste, and employs the best methods for keeping up the fertility of his land.
William Valentine Cox was born in Liberty township, of Grant county, forty-six years ago. His parents were William and Elizabeth (Wilson) Cox, an old and prominent family whose members and con- nections have long been identified with Grant county, and detailed information concerning the genealogy and careers of the family since it was established in this county will be found on other pages of this volume, particularly in the sketch of Nathan D. Cox.
William V. Cox grew up and received his education in the district schools. Farming has been his activity since boyhood and he has owned and occupied his present place since 1891, a period of twenty-two years. Mr. Cox was married in Fairmount City to Miss Idella Rush, who was born in Fairmount two months later in the same year in which her husband's birth occurred. Her early training was received in the Fair- mount City schools. She was a daughter of Joseph and Ursulla (Tharp) Rush. Her father was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, and her grandfather, Azel Rush, came north to Grant county, Indiana, when Joseph was a boy. Here he grew up and during early manhood he mar- ried Mrs. Ursulla McFarland, whose maiden name was Tharp. Her first husband was Uriah McFarland, a soldier of the Union, who in one engagement was unhorsed, and from the effects of the wound received at that time never recovered. Joseph Rush died about 1871, and his widow subsequently married James Tuttle, who is also deceased, while she lives a hale and hearty old lady at her home in Fairmount. She and her three husbands were active members of the Wesleyan Methodist faith. Mrs. Cox was the only child of her father, and was still young when his death occurred. No children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Cox, but they reared a foster-daughter, Muriel, who was carefully trained in their home and had her education in the local schools. She was graduated from the Fairmount high school in 1910, and has given special attention to the study of music, in which she is unusually tal- ented. Mrs. Cox died October 6th, 1913. She was long a member of Black Creek Wesleyan church, and her husband still retains his mem- bership in that church. Formerly a Republican in politics, Mr. Cox in later years has given his allegiance to the Prohibition party, voting the ticket straight and doing what he can for the cause.
JESSE DAVID WRIGHT. About this name can be associated many interesting facts of Grant county family and local history. In the group of people related and in successive generations are a number of personalities who through practical business and influence have helped to mould the Grant county in its present form. Jesse David Wright has attained the distinction of threescore years and ten nearly all spent in this county, and while successful in a business way has also won esteem and the dignity attaching to an honorable gentleman.
Jesse David Wright was born October 10, 1843, in Henry county, but in January of the next year his parents removed to Grant county, and his life has been spent in this locality. Caroline Sears was born Octo- ber 21, 1842, and October 30, 1866, they were married and lived together
737
BLACKFORD AND GRANT COUNTIES
until her death on September 2, 1906. The children born to them are: Mrs. Lelia J. Jones, wife of Paul Jones; Arthur C. Wright, who mar- ried Miss Eva Johnson; Mrs. Mary Aber, wife of Max Aber; and Orville C. Wright, who married Miss Jessie Springer.
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Jones live in Zanesville, Ohio, where he is super- intendent of a division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Mr. and Mrs. O. C. Wright live in Fort Wayne, where he is employed as an electrical engineer, and Mr. and Mrs. Aber live in Kansas City, where he is engaged in the practice of law. Arthur C. Wright is the only one of Mr. Wright's children living in Marion, where he deals in builder's supplies. There are four children and four grandchildren. Mrs. Lelia Jones has a daughter, Miss Hilda Jones; Mrs. Mary Aber has two daughters, Misses Caroline and Mary Aber; and A. C. Wright has a son bearing the full name of his grandfather, Jesse David Wright.
When Mr. Wright's family was about him, the education of his children was uppermost in importance. Miss Lelia Wright, graduated from Earlham College, Miss Mary from DePauw University, and the two sons from Purdue-Arthur in scientific and Orville in the electrical course. All are doing well for themselves since assuming the responsi- bilities of life away from the childhood home. The Wright family home- stead is on Lincoln Boulevard-the Jonesboro road when the children lived there. Beside this family homestead Mr. Wright owns the farm where his father reared a family, just across the McFeely bridge along the Monroe pike, and it has always been profitable both as farm land and for the gravel-pit operated there. It is the first bottom along the Mississinewa and there are hills as high as the Grant county court house, a variety in landscape being a feature of this old farmstead of the Wright family. While the Wright family home remains furnished, Mr. Wright has divided his time among his children, also staying much at the hotel.
Jesse David Wright is a son of Joab and Melinda (Elliott) Wright. There were four sons and four daughters in the family, and the two brothers living are Milton Wright of Michigan, and Walter Wright of Oregon. Mrs. Belle Overman, wife of Clarkson Overman of Fair- mount, is a sister. Mrs. Wright was a daughter of Christopher and Jeannette Sears, a prominent early-day Washington township family. Her sisters, Mrs. Maria Campbell, Mrs. Mary Kem and Mrs. Alice Brown are all that remain of the family.
While the Wrights were Quakers the Sears were Wesleyan Meth- odists at Fairview. Joab Wright had been a Friends' minister for many years-the old-fashioned type of honest Quaker, but in his early and active business life he combined farming and stock buying, and the son J. D. Wright has had the same occupation for twenty-five years being associated with Henry Wise in buying and shipping live- stock, and while subject to market fluctuations they seldom lost money on shipments.
While the Wright pioneer ancestry came from Tennessce, and the Elliotts from North Carolina, they were all actuated by the same impulse-the Northwest territory offered them a home free from the institution of slavery. The Sears' ancestry came into Indiana from Ohio, all coming early to Grant county, and all obtaining land while it was cheap and holding it for the advance in value. John and Jesse Wright, who were well known pioneer Friends, were brothers of Joab Wright. While J. D. Wright is not a native of Grant county, he has been here since only a few months old, and does not remember any- thing about any other home. While now very much alone in family relations, he is surrounded with every comfort for his material well- being
Vol. II-19
738
BLACKFORD AND GRANT COUNTIES
NELSON DONELSON. The firm of Donelson & Broderick, formerly Donelson & Otto, butchers and meat dealers, began business at Upland in July, 1900. Mr. Donelson is an old and thoroughly experienced man, in this particular line of work, and has given to the people of Upland and vicinity the most sanitary and best stock market in the history of the village. Five years after Donelson & Otto began busi- ness, Mr. Broderick bought the interests of Mr. Otto, and since then the present firm has existed and flourished for eight years. They kill largely from their own stock, which they purchase in this locality, and they manufacture some table meat, such as sausage and other products. The business is well located in the center of the village, and they main- tain a well equipped shop, with a rendering room, a large cold storage plant, besides a slaughter house near the village limits. Mr. Donelson who is a practical butcher, looks after the business end very largely, while Mr. Broderick, his partner, is an expert meat cutter, and has given his attention to the actual work of the market. Nelson Donelson was born in LaSalle county, Illinois, near Seneca, on March 6, 1854. He was reared and educated there, and when a young man learned his trade, and in Angust, 1892, came to Marion, and with his brother, Oscar, bought a meat shop. Two years later they sold their first busi- ness and bought another establishment in South Marion, and after some years the brothers dissolved partnership. Nelson then invested in a shop in North Marion, and sixteen months later sold out and came to Upland. Here he has since concentrated his business energies with the exception of about two years, when he had a shop at Anderson, and also one at Converse. He returned to Upland and has been permanently identified with that village since 1905, when Mr. Broderick joined him.
Mr. Donelson is a son of Charles Donelson, who was born in Norway, grew up there, and learned the trade of blacksmith, and when still unmarried took passage on a sailing vessel which after a long and tedious voyage landed him in New York City. He went westward and found a home in Illinois, and after a few years of work at his trade established a shop of his own in Ottawa, and besides the regular work of blacksmith manufactured plows and wagons, and developed a large enterprise. In 1853 he purchased a tract of land two and a quarter miles northeast of Seneca in LaSalle county, and in time became one of the largest and most prosperous land holders in that county. His death occurred on the old homestead there in 1897, and at his death he left an estate of six hundred and sixty acres. His wife had preceded him in death several years. Her maiden name was Susan Nelson, but she was a widow of a Mr. Thorson at the time of her marriage. She was born at Kendall Corners, New York, a daughter of Norwegian parents who had come to America about 1800 on a sailing vessel which brought some three hundred Norwegians to this country. Her parents lived for a number of years in the East and about 1848 went to Illinois, and died at a good old age in LaSalle county, where they were known as farmers, and devout members of the Lutheran church. Mr. Nelson Donelson is one of a number of children as follows: Charles, Nelson, Isabelle, who died at the age of two years; Cornelia, George, Oscar, now deceased; Mary and Bertha. All those still living are married except Mary, but the only one in Indiana is the Upland business man. Nelson Donelson was married in Grant county to Miss Lillie B. Mulkin, who was born in this state. They have no children. Mrs. Donelson is a working member in the Methodist Episcopal church.
FINLEY H. STEPHENS. Few Grant county families have a longer period of residence to their credit than the Stephenses. As farmers
739
BLACKFORD AND GRANT COUNTIES
and useful citizens, three generations have lived wholesome, normal lives, and have left the impress of their activity and influence in better communities, better farms, better roads and better social conditions. Finley H. Stephens of the third generation is proprietor of the Maple Grove Farm in Richland township, and while now a substantial farmer, was for a number of years among the successful teachers of the county.
Finley H. Stephens was born in Pleasant township, Grant county, September 9, 1860, a son of Allen N. and Nancy (Elliott) Stephens. The father was born in either Wayne or Randolph county, Indiana, and came to Grant county when six years of age. He lived in Center, Pleas- ant and Richland townships, all his life, and died April 20, 1904, in Sweetser. He served one term as a commissioner of Grant county, and in politics was a Republican, and very active in his own party and a man of recognized ability and integrity of character. He belonged to the Methodist church, and was for many years active in both church and Sunday school, serving as a local preacher. He and his wife had eleven children, seven of whom are living in 1913 as follows: Sidney A., of Marion; F. H. Stephens; Helena, wife of John W. Stricler of Missouri; Alfred F., of Marion; Oliver B., of North Marion; Cruea L., wife of John H. Plummer of Wisconsin; Elbert R., of Marion, who is employed in the post office at the county seat.
Finley H. Stephens was reared on the home farm, and received his education first in the district schools and later in the Marion Normal College, then called just Marion Normal, and also the Angola school. For sixteen years he devoted the greater part of his time to teaching in Richland township, and during that time had no superior in the town- ship public school system as an instructor.
Mr. Stephens first married Anna B. Bash, a daughter of Michael Bash, a pioneer resident of Richland township, who entered land direct from the government, and its ownership has never been changed in name since his settlement. Mr. and Mrs. Stephens were married March 2, 1890, and the one son is Guy D., a graduate of the common schools, also a graduate in the scientific course from Marion Normal, and now connected with the National Cash Register Company at Dayton, Ohio. The mother of this son and the first wife of Mr. Stephens died in 1893. For his second wife he married Theodosia Grose on August 3, 1895. She was born in Howard county, Indiana. They are the parents of two living children: Agnes L., who graduated from the common schools in 1913; and Gladys. The family are members of the Methodist church, and Mr. Stephens has for many years been a Sunday school teacher. He is affiliated with Somerset Lodge No. 383, F. & A. M., and in politics is an active Republican. He served one year as township assessor, and has long been active in local affairs. His farm comprises eighty-nine acres, and he keeps it highly improved and stocked with the best grade of animals, including thoroughbred Duroc and Poland China hogs. He raises all the general crops and feeds most of his grain to stock on his place.
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.