USA > Indiana > Blackford County > Blackford and Grant Counties : Indiana a chronicle of their past and present with family lineage and personal memoirs > Part 48
USA > Indiana > Grant County > Blackford and Grant Counties : Indiana a chronicle of their past and present with family lineage and personal memoirs > Part 48
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Bruce L. Pierce was born February 22, 1890, was educated in the Jonesboro high school, and attended the Marion Normal and Business College until the ill health of his father made it advisable for him to leave school and return home and assist in the store. He is one of the popular and prominent younger set of business men in Grant county and is well upholding the reputation of a good old name in Jonesboro.
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On January 1, 1909, he married Miss Olive K. Schriber, who was born in West Virginia, November 29, 1888, was reared and educated in Jonesboro, and is the mother of two children: Virginia M., born November 7, 1909, and Linn E., born January 12, 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce are members of the Presbyterian church, he has membership on the town board, is a Republican in politics, and is a member of Jones- boro Lodge No. 109, A. F. & A. M.
JOHN H. LAWSON. Among the prominent citizens of Grant county, Indiana, is John H. Lawson, the well known farmer of Sims town- ship. He owns a large and prosperous farm and is also an owner of a fine real estate property at 811 Fifth street, Marion, Indiana. Mr. Lawson is of fine old Kentucky stock, although himself a native of Indiana, and he has been a farmer all of his life. He is highly respected throughout the township and is a man of considerable influence.
John H. Lawson was born in Rush county, Indiana, on the 27th of December, 1846, a son of Theodore and Rebecca (Pickerell) Lawson, both of whom were born and reared in the state of Kentucky. They were married in Rush county, Indiana, and in 1850 came to Grant county to live. Here Theodore Lawson entered land in Richland town- ship and he lived there until during the later years of his life, after the death of his wife, when he made his home with his son, John, with whom he lived until he passed away. Theodore and Rebecca Lawson became the parents of four children, three of whom are now living, as follows: Elizabeth, who is the wife of David P. Draper, of Pleasant township; E. F. Lawson, who married Helena Mower and lives in Sweetser, Indiana; John H., and Frances J., who was the wife of Christian Shaffer.
John H. Lawson was reared in Richland township, attending the public schools of this township until he was fifteen years old. He did not receive a very thorough education for the schools in these early days were very crude and the life of the son of a backwoods farmer was filled to the brim with the many tasks that fell to the lot of a boy. After he became a man he continued along the lines for which he had been trained and became a farmer. He now owns 1512ยบ100 acres of land and is a general farmer and stock raiser. He also owns property on Fifth street in Marion. All of this he has gained through his own labor with the exception of about $1,400, his share of his father's estate.
Mr. Lawson has always been a member of the Democratic party, but he has never cared to hold office. His only fraternal allegiance is with the Knights of Pythias, his affiliations being with Swayzee lodge, No. 451.
Mr. Lawson was married to Miss Sarah Canady in 1872, and seven children were born of this union, two of whom are now living, namely : Emma, who is a graduate of the common schools and the wife of James Fear, of Marion, Indiana, and Ada, who married Charles Carver, of Kokomo, Indiana. Sarah Lawson, Mr. Lawson's first wife, died in 1905, and Mr. Lawson married Miss Mollie Sullivan in 1907. Mrs. Mollie Lawson was born in Wyandotte county, Ohio, and did not come to Grant county until after her marriage. She was educated in a Roman Catholic school at Cleveland, Ohio. The Lawson farm is located on section one, of Sims township, one mile east and four miles north of Swayzee, Indiana.
ELI ALLEN. In writing of the life and career of Eli Allen it is fitting and proper that mention should be made of such others of his
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family as have in recent generations, in the direct line, added their share to the development and upbuilding of the communities wherein they have lived. The first of the name to come to Indiana, was Hugh Allen, the great-grandfather of Eli Allen, and he came here in 1815 from Blount county, Tennessee. Hugh Allen moved to Tennessee from North Carolina prior to the birth of William Allen the grandfather of Eli Allen. It is not now known where Hugh Allen first settled in Indi- ana, but he moved from place to place until about the year 1831 or 1832, when he lived in Wayne county, and he probably came to Grant county in 1833.
The family in North Carolina was one of the old Quaker ones, and they brought to their new home the faith of their fathers, in which many of the later generations have continued. But few facts relative to the early life of the first of the Grant county Allens are available at this writing, but it is known that in 1811 William Allen was born in Blount county, Tennessee, and at the age of 20 or 21 he married Sarah Simons in Wayne county, Indiana, and they then came to Grant county perhaps in the year 1833; they entered on an 80 acre tract of land four miles northeast of what is now the Soldiers' Home. Resid- ing there for a number of years when they sold their farm and bought another three miles directly east of the Soldiers' Home and it was at this place that James Allen, the father of Eli Allen was born, and when he (James Allen) was four years old, William Allen sold this farm and moved to Jackson township, Miami county, Indiana, where he spent the remaining years of his life. He was 74 years old when he died, and his wife had preceded him almost thirteen years prior to the date of his passing, being then about sixty years old. They were a fine old couple, claiming a host of stanch friends in the county of their adoption, and they had twelve children. James Allen, who became the father of Eli Allen of this review, was the eighth child in this goodly family.
James Allen was born in Center township, Grant county, in July, 1847. He was yet a small boy when the family moved to Miami county and bought a farm of fifty acres, and he grew up on that place. When he came of age, he returned to Grant county and was married in Back Creek Friends' church to Mary Elliott,, a native daughter of the county and the daughter of Exum and Ruth (Thomas) Elliott, Quak- ers of Grant county, Indiana, Exum Elliott being reared on what is now the Soldiers' Home, and Ruth Thomas being reared on an adjoin- ing farm.
Exum and Ruth Elliott were united in marriage in the Mississinewa Friends' church, Grant county, and she died here in the full bloom of her young womanhood, being not more than twenty-three at the time of her passing. She left two daughters, one of them now the widow of James Allen, and Olive being the second one, who married Ancel Wilsey, now living in Texas. Both daughters are yet living.
Following the death of his young wife, Exum Elliott married Hannah Morris, and she died one year later without issue. A third time did Mr. Elliott marry, Huldah Knight becoming his wife, and they lived for years on the farm owned by Eli Allen of this review. Exum Elliott died in 1892 at the age of sixty-seven, having survived his third wife by six years. He was a devout Quaker all his life, and each of his wives were likewise stanch adherents of the faith.
After the marriage of James and Mary (Elliott) Allen, they lived intermittently in Grant, Miami and Tipton counties. In the latter named county they owned a tile mill and when they moved from Tipton county they took up their abode in Grant county. Here Mr. Allen spent his closing years of life on a Mill township farm, death
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claiming him on December 18, 1885. He was a birthright Quaker firm in his convictions, and a stanch Republican until the birth of the Prohibition party, when he turned his allegiance to that as the political organization best expressing his ideals. His widow, who yet survives him, makes her home with their son, Eli Allen, and despite advancing years, she is yet alert and active. She was born in 1847 and is a birthright Quaker, as was her husband. She became the mother of seven children, briefly named here as follows: Eli, of this brief family sketch; Ruth, who died at the age of sixteen months; Sarah, the wife of David Pearson, now living in Oregon in the vi- cinity of Salem, and the mother of Cecil, Gerald and Ernest. The two children next in order of birth died in infancy, and they were followed by Lucy, who died at the age of twenty-four. Nora is the wife of Elbert Douglas, and lives in Miami county, Indiana. They have three children,-Bernard, Elden and Willidene.
Eli Allen was born on the old homestead that is now a part of his farm, on June 3, 1871. He was reared in Miami county and in Tipton county to the age of about eleven years, then came with the family to Grant county and settled in Mill township on the place which is now his own property. His present farm consists of 105 acres, practically all of it subject to the plow, the few acres not under cultivation being covered with a growth of native timber. Fine farm buildings and a commodious dwelling house add much to the place, and Mr. Allen has a fine herd of Jersey cattle that are a source of pardonable pride with him. He is also considered one of the most successful men of the township, and has a secure position among the substantial and enterprising men here resident.
In 1897 Mr. Allen was married to Miss Idella Pearson, born in Miami county, Ohio, on February 20, 1873. She came to Grant county in girlhood and settled with her parents in Mill township. She is the daughter of John and Prudence (Pemberton) Pearson, both native Ohioans. The father died in Mill township at the early age of forty- six in 1877, and five years after that event his widow and children moved to Marshall county, Iowa, where she married Ruphas Chad- wick. He died there some years later, without issue, and his widow moved to Salem, Oregon, where she now lives at the age of seventy- seven.
Mr. and Mrs. Allen have four children. John J., the eldest, is now in his freshman year at Fairmount Academy. B. Verlou is attending school in the home community, as are also Orville E. and Ruth. All four of the children are birthright Friends, and the parents are also members of the Friends church. Mr. Allen is a Prohibitionist of sturdy conviction, and is of the most excellent standing in his com- munity.
HOUSE OF GOLDTHAIT, GOLDTHWAIT, GOLDTHWAITE. The Goldthait, Goldthwait, Goldthwaite family in Grant county all have the same family genealogy, which was published a few years ago by Char- lotte Goldthwaite of Hartford, Connecticut. Local information has been supplied by the family historian-E. L. Goldthwait of Marion, and the genealogy as prepared for the Centennial History is in con- formity with these two sources of information.
Thomas Goldthwaite, ancestor of all this name in America, was born in Yorkshire, near Pateley Bridge, West Riding, England, in 1610. The "Goldthwaite Hall" is still standing or was a few years ago. "Thwaite" is a very common suffix in that part of the country and means an open space cleared in a forest, or reclaimed land. The prefix indicates a local incident probably that gold was found Vol. II-21
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there, or copper, or silver, or weapons such as "Gar" a sword or spear or a tree remaining on the reclaimed or meadow land, or a prominent stone, or any object that furnished the prefix and nat- urally transmitted as a family name. The ancestry of this family in that region dates back to the twelfth century. "Thomas" was a very common name in the English family. One third of the Chris- tian names of the male members of this family in that country were called Thomas. Other Christian names occurring very frequently were William, Robert and John.
The American ancestors came to New England with Governor Winthrop in 1630, eight years after the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Practically all the early emigrants to New England were dissenters of the Cromwellian type. In 1636, Thomas became a citizen of Salem and the name appears very frequently in the an- nals of that historic city. Thomas was a cooper and died in 1683. In the development of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, this family bore its part. They fought on land and sea for independence and in the Revolution about twenty of them served with the Colonists. Among them was Thomas Goldthwaite (I), ancestor of the family of Marion. He was born in 1738 at Petersham, Massachusetts, entered the Con- tinental army in 1776, and served until the close of the war in 1782. He had previously served in the French-Indian war from Marble- head, Massachusetts. He was of the fifth generation in this country, and the father of John Goldthwaite (II) who emigrated with the Marietta Colony of Ohio from Long Meadow, Massachusetts, in 1788, and finally settled in Fairfield county, Ohio. There, according to the Wiseman Centennial History of Lancaster, "He was probably the first school teacher. He taught in the McCleery district north of town. He had previously in 1801, taught the first school in Athens. His work here began as early as 1802 or 1803. He was a man of horticultural tastes and he planted the first orchard in Fairfield county, on the old Levering farm. He was also the proprietor of the first nursery in Fairfield county, situated on his farm in Walnut township." He died in 1830, leaving a wife and eight children, born in the following order: (III) Elijah, Margaret, Oliver, William C., John W., Mary, Cimon and Lucy. William C. died in infancy ; Elijah in 1874; Margaret (wife of John Stevenson) in 1842; Oliver in 1873; Mary (wife of Judge John Brownlee) in 1847; John W. in 1890. In 1836 the widow Goldthait with all her children living, except Elijah, moved to Grant county. Her son Elijah remained several years in Ohio, and then removed to Whitley county, Indiana, and then to LaGro. He lived in Marion for about six years before his death. Mary Goldthait, the mother, died in 1847 in Marion.
The name is variously spelled Goldthait, Goldthwait, Goldthwaite and Goldthrite. It might be added that John and his wife and the seven children were devout Methodists. John is recorded in the Fair- field County History as one who was especially active in revival work, where "he was a power," and also an enthusiastic federalist. His nursery being among the first, was historic. Henry Clay, the great commoner, was entertained by him. He is spoken of as "the eccentric little Yankee."
The fetish of the family was education. Every one of the Grant county family was a school teacher at some time in their lives, a con- venient qualification in the pioneer annals of this community-it added materially to their meager income when it was most needed.
There were born and are yet living to Elijah Goldthwaite (III) and Emaline Taylor: Joanna (Howenstein) March 20, 1852, now
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residing at Bippus, Huntington county, Indiana; Howard Henry, June 20, 1854, married Lena Pichon, Ft. Wayne; William M., Spo- kane, Washington.
The family record of Oliver Goldthwaite (III) and wife, Marilla Ellen Eward, who married in 1846, is as follows:
1. Orlando L., born May 5, 1847, was married to Georgiana Street, May 11, 1871. Their children: Homer DeKalb, February 13, 1872, now in the U. S. service, having enlisted in 1892. Harry, now man- ager of the Boston Department Store, born September 28, 1874, served in the United States Navy throughout the war with Spain on the Olympia, Admiral Dewey's flagship, and was at the battle of Manila, and afterwards was elected auditor of Grant county for four years; he was married to Kitty Boroff on May 14, 1901. Charles Goldthwaite was born November 10, 1879, and is manager of the Goldthwaite Loan Company ; he was married March 31, 1906, to Sylvia Carmichael, to whom was born March 24, 1907, Sylvia Jane.
2. Edgar L. Goldthwaite was born August 7, 1850, and at twelve years of age became a printer apprentice, remaining in the trade in one capacity or another for more than forty years, twenty-five years of which he was editor and publisher of the Marion Chronicle. He married Candace Zombro. Children: Mary Agnes, January 15, 1887, is a student at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; George Edgar, October 18, 1889, electrical engineer, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Margaret, January 15, 1892, is student in Western College at Oxford, Ohio; James S., March 27, 1894; John L., March 19, 1896; Rebecca, March 7, 1898; Robert S., March 30, 1900; Ellen M., June 11, 1905.
3. Fannie, born October 10, 1855, died April 30, 1894. She mar- ried October 10, 1874, Dr. John A. Hiatt. Their children were: Georgia Miriam, August 28, 1875, married Ralph P. Whistler, Octo- ber 2, 1895. Euretta Guernsey, born January 17, 1878, married Charles Arnold, in 1897.
John Wesley Goldthwaite (III), born October, 1816, married Mary Bedsaul, and their children were: Caroline, born August 20, 1845, married Daniel Wood, and died in Tulare, California; Emily, born July 6, 1849, married William Elmendorf, and resides in Santa Ana, California.
Mary Goldthwaite (III), wife of Judge John Brownlee, died April 2, 1844. Her children were: Margaret, who married Gilbert Will- son, and is the mother of John Willson, mayor of Marion in 1913; and Laura, born in 1876.
In the early history of Grant county several members of the Gold- thait family located in Marion, and Goldthait & Sons Company, the oldest continuous mercantile establishment in the country, was founded by Cimon Goldthait. (III) Cimon Goldthait was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, December 18, 1820, and while a young man came to Grant county. His marriage to Martha Emily Stevens occurred No- vember 12, 1848. Miss Stevens had come with her parents to Marion in 1846, having lived for a time in Ohio, although born in Peun- sylvania. There were nine children born to Cimon Goldthait and his wife. Mr. Goldthait and the four oldest children are deceased, these four children being named: Simon, John W. James C., and Mary M. The surviving children are: William E., Frank B., Mrs. Lucy Lindhard, Miss Alice and Miss Emily Goldthait. W. E. Goldthait married Miss Florence Reasoner, and their son, Harman Reasoner Goldthait, is the only grandchild in the family of Mrs. Goldthait. Miss Lucy Goldthait is the wife of William L. Lindhard.
When Cimon Goldthait located in Marion, his life was before him and his fortune was to be made, and after taking employment
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for a while he opened a business for himself, being in partnership at different times with other pioneer merchants although it had been Goldthait & Sons for several years before his death, October 16, 1875. By the terms of his will everything went to his wife, and the firm name has remained unchanged, although since 1902 it is a corporation with all the stockholders members of the family.
Cimon Goldthait was a pioneer merchant who always had confi- dence in the future of the town. At one time and another he was associated in business with Aaron Swayzee, T. J. Neal, D. S. Hogin, and C. W. Mather, but after the Civil war he was alone. His older sons were of assistance to him, and both Simon and James Goldthait, were active in business. After the death of the father, Simon Gold- thait, who was the oldest son, began collecting the pictures of all of his father's business contemporaries, and a galaxy of early Marion faces may be seen in the office of the present Goldthait store.
The senior Cimon Goldthait had long had an eye on the business site now occupied by the store he founded, and soon after his death the corner was acquired by the family, and in 1881 the store build- ing was erected. Five years later the adjoining property was ac- quired, and the capacity of the store was doubled, and several times since then improvements have been made until it is now one of the most commodious store buildings, and one of the largest department stores in Indiana. The trade has learned to expect goods of quality, when patronizing the Goldthait store.
While Cimon Goldthait founded the business with but little cap- ital invested not much capital was required at the time. A credit system was in vogue, not known today, when business is on a strictly cash basis, and goods are handled at smaller profit and money is turned over oftener. "In my time," said W. E. Goldthait, "my father did ten times the credit business done by the store today." Merchandise is handled on smaller margins and the money is paid out and returned several times more frequently than in the older days.
In her home on North Washington Street, Mrs. Goldthait has the pictured faces of her husband and children who are gone. She is among the older residents of the community. The grounds about the home are always well kept, and the garden and pasture land toward the Mississinewa are like farm property. Good care is given to the lawn, and with the shade and commodious porches, this old- time homestead is an inviting retreat. When the family went across the river to live it was not called North Marion, and Mrs. Goldthait has seen that locality grow very rapidly in recent years. She is much interested in all that concerns community advancement and the business has been conducted since the death of her husband as she thought he would have had it.
While the active oversight of the business is in the hand of W. E. and F. B. Goldthait, the Misses Alice and Emily Goldthait are actively connected with many social movements. Miss Goldthait is presi- dent of the Marion Play Ground Association, and Miss Emily is re- gent of the General Francis Marion Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Goldthait has been interested in all that has been going on in the community, although her own life is in the privacy of her home, and those who know her see her there. The Goldthait family stands for the advancement of Marion and all Grant county.
MOSES BRADFORD. An old-time Quaker who in spite of his religion of peace held convictions with a moral and physical courage which
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sometimes led him to fight vigorously for their maintenance, Moses Bradford was one of the men who played a role of great importance in the early history and development of Grant county. In many re- spects he was one of the most interesting characters who has ever lived within the borders of this county. To only a few men can credit be given that they have definitely shaped the course of events in progress and one of these was the late Moses Bradford.
He was born in Hardy county, Virginia, and was married Sep- tember 21, 1819, to Mary E. Vanhorn in Zanesville, Ohio. To this union were born twelve children-four sons and eight daughters. They came to Indiana in 1841, and located on the banks of the Mis- sissinewa river in North Marion. But two houses stood on the north side of the river at that time, and he obtained a quarter section of good land, all of which is now embraced within the limits of the city and built over with hundreds of residences, shops and factories. To these factories he gave much of his valuable land without price or cost. There he devoted his energies to farming and butchering and is said to have been the second butcher in the town of Marion. For thirty-five years Moses Bradford was the largest stock buyer in Grant county, and in his dealings he became known throughout this section of Indiana. His old home, which was erected by Riley Mar- shall in 1839, has been one of the historic landmarks of the city. And during the Civil War was many times the scene of thrilling preparation to resist capture by the Kuklux or border ruffians abroad at that time, a reward having been offered for his capture.
To no other man is so much credit due for the promotion and construction of the first railroad through Grant county. The town of Wabash, twenty miles to the north, on the canal, was the only outlet for commerce except the irregular undependable route of the Mississinewa and all goods for Marion and all produce that went out from this city had to be carried over all kinds of roads, and in all kinds of weather to Wabash. It was a situation with which the pioneers had to cope the best way they could, but as soon as civiliza- tion had advanced beyond the pioneer stage, and especially after the great era of construction had begun in America, such means of trans- portation was looked upon everywhere as too primitive to be tolerated. However, in spite of a more or less general and deep-seated appre- ciation of the needs of improvement in transportation, Moses Brad- ford almost alone possessed the practical insight and ability of lead- ership which were required to place the county within easy com- munication of the markets of the outside world. Secure in his own convictions in the matter, he made a thorough canvas of the opin- ions of all other citizens, and before long his enthusiasm had aroused the entire community on the railroad question. It was his leader- ship and aggressive action in the campaign which brought about the construction of the Panhandle Railroad through this county. He was the chief local promoter of the enterprise, and the right of way was obtained principally through his personal efforts. He freely gave the right of way through the entire length of his lands and bought and traded for the same between his home town and adjoin- ing towns. His idea was to have a grand union depot and to have North Marion a live, progressive center. Hardly had this railroad been constructed when his commercial sense perceived the need of a competing line, and this led to his becoming president of the old narrow-gauge, now the reconstructed line of the Clover Leaf. As a matter of fact Moses Bradford was actual owner of about forty miles of the old narrow-gauge line running between Kokomo and
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