Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 101

Author: Rolland Lewis Whitson
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1034

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Jonathan Havens, the first son and second child of Benjamin and his first wife, was born in Fayette county, Ohio, November 17, 1819. He grew up in Ohio, and in November, 1841, came to Indiana, locating in Jefferson township. There his career was that of farming, and after some years he bought one hundred and twenty acres, on which he re- mained until his death, June 30, 1863. In religion he was a Methodist, and a strong Republican in politics.

Jonathan Havens was married in Fairmount, Jefferson township of Grant county, April 7, 1842, to Miss Gabrielle Clark. She was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1820. In 1837, when she was seventeen years of age, her family moved to Darke county, Ohio. and in 1838 to Fairmount township, Grant county. Her parents were James H. and Sarah (Simons) Clark, her father born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, February 10, 1794, and died May 23, 1878, in Fairmount township, four miles up the creek from Jonesboro. Her mother was born March 16, 1796, and died in Grant county, October 27, 1885. They were married July 3, 1816, on the banks of the Susque- hanna River in Pennsylvania. The Clark family were farmers, Meth- odists in religion, and the father first voted the Whig ticket and later the Republican. James H. Clark was a son of John T. and Cynthia (Cas- well) Clark, both natives of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, where they lived and died as farmers and Methodists. When John T. Clark was seven years of age, his father, Benjamin Clark, went away to serve as an American soldier in the Revolutionary war. Some time during that war the son John at one time was lost in the woods in Bradford . county, near Wilkesbarre, and was for ten years away from his family. He was finally located when seventeen years of age, having been taken up and cared for after straying about three weeks in a large woods 70 miles through, and spent the next ten years in the home of a man living 60 miles away from the Clark place. Benjamin Clark died in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, when in old age. He came of English parentage, and his first wife was a Miss Hojet who died in the prime of life. His second marriage was to a Mrs. Shaw, whose first husband had been killed in the massacre of Wyoming Valley during the Revolution.

Mrs. Jonathan Havens was educated much more liberally than was the custom for young women in her time. Since the death of her hus- band she has lived on the farm of eighty acres near Fowlerton, up to 1893 when she bought a home in the village of Fowlerton. Mrs. Havens

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is the mother of the following children: 1. Sarah E. died after her marriage to William Leach and the four living children are Scott, Kerr, Hancock and Leach. 2. Mary D. is the wife of Alonzo Roly of Grant county in Jefferson township, and their children are Bailley, Cappy, Winnie, Jesse, Jennie, and Arlee. 3. Tabitha A. died after her mar- riage to Samuel Carmichael, and had two children, Eva and Edward. 4. John M. married Flora Baird, and lives on a farm in Jefferson town- ship. The children are Jesse, Glen, Charles, Benjamin, Clyde, Ethel, and Edith. 5. Cynthia M. is the wife of William H. Mann, and has children, Roy, Charles, and one other; by a former marriage to Mark Norton she has one son, Benoni. 6. Martha is the wife of John Brewer, now living on a farm in Oklahoma, and their children are Ora O., Ernest O., Arnetta G., and James T. 7. Emma E. is the wife of Davis Peck, living at Eaton in Delaware county, and their children are Arlington, Barnett, Eva and Susan. 8. Clark J., who is now con- nected with the State Hospital, has the following children: William, Emma, Blanche, Hazel, Russell, and Cynthia E.

The descendants of Mrs. Havens are numerous, comprising thirty- seven grandchildren, fifty-nine great-grandchildren, and of her thirty- seven grandchildren, twenty-seven are married, and all are living and have children.

Mrs. Havens has been a worker in the Methodist Episcopal church since she was twenty-one years of age, and has been devoted to the cause of religion and morality. Though born February 25, 1820, while James Monroe was still president of the United States, she still possesses "a green and smiling age," and there is hardly a tremor in her hand to indicate any break in her physical faculties. There is no woman in the state who can so accurately call up dates and facts from the early half of the nineteenth century as Mrs. Havens. To indicate her remark- able powers of old age, in December, 1911, she made a trip alone to Oklahoma, where she celebrated her ninety-first birthday with a daughter, and on May 30, 1912, returned to Indiana, also alone.

FRANCIS W. CHASE. The men of this generation cannot realize the situation which faced their fathers, when fresh from the excitement and stir of the battlefields of the Civil war, they returned to the quiet farm life and were required to settle down to what must have been not only a hard life but a commonplace one. That many of them could not endure it is evidenced by the great emigration to the west at this time, but that many did settle down our prosperous farms of the middle west bear evidence. Among the latter was Francis W. Chase, now one of the most successful farmers of Grant county, Indiana. He is not only suc- cessful but he has won the honor and respect of all who know him and is one of the most popular and influential men of this section.

Francis W. Chase was born at Eckford, Calhoun county, Michigan, on the twenty-fourth of September, 1843, a son of Eli T. and Margaret (Whitcomb) Chase. Eli T. Chase, a son of Daniel T. and Huldah (Youngs) Chase, was born in Rensselaer county, New York, near Troy, in 1815. His youth and early manhood were spent in the western part of New York in Genesee county, and at the age of sixteen he began to work for an uncle, with whom he made his home until he was twenty-one. Then after a mid-winter journey of twenty-two days, he accompanied a party from western New York to Southern Michigan. He arrived in Calhoun county, February 12, 1835, and lived there until his death on . January 19, 1897. He was one of the influential pioneers and helped to develop the prosperous and fertile land of Calhoun county. After paying for his first eighty acres, he had only three dollars left, with

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which to continue his improvements and provide for the necessities of life. Eli T. Chase during his active career had a very prominent place in Calhoun county, Michigan, and in view of his long and honorable career it seems appropriate to quote several paragraphs concerning his life as published in a Michigan paper at the time of his death.

"Mr. Chase was a public spirited citizen, and took a deep interest and an active part in political, educational and religious affairs during his long life. He was active in the organization of the township of Eckford, and was the last survivor of those who voted at the first township meet- ing in 1836, after its organization. While a young man he took a bold stand against the institution of slavery, and voted for the Liberty party candidates in 1844, and advocated the principles of that party until slavery was abolished. In those days it required strong convictions and manly courage to espouse the unpopular cause of the slaves. He was one of the three representatives from the town of Eckford in the his- toric convention of 1854, 'under the Oaks,' at Jackson, and assisted in the organization of the Republican party, and during his active years took a prominent part in its councils and conventions.

"While residing in western New York, Mr. Chase became a member of the Free-Will Baptist church, and upon settling in Michigan territory labored to establish a branch of his chosen denomination at his home. He was one of the thirteen charter members, and the last survivor of those devout pioneers who united together and organized the Free-Will Baptist church of Cook's Prairie, March 12, 1836. He was one of the members who procured the legal incorporation of the church and society and served on the building committee in erecting the church edifice, and served as trustee for many years and was chairman of the executive committee of the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the organization of the church, March 12, 1886. Mr. Chase was often sent as a delegate from his church to quarterly meetings and other conventions of his denomination and for more than sixty years was one of the most reliable and influential members of the Prairie church.

"In the educational movement, which, as an element in the church policy of the Free Will Baptist Denomination was a prominent question fifty years ago, Mr. Chase took advance position for progress. Long before the mass of communicants realized its importance, he was laboring to establish a denominational school in Michigan. He was one of the founders and liberal contributors to Michigan Central College at Spring Arbor, and served on its board of trustees. Being one of the first to perceive that the location of the school was unfortunate, he voted for its removal, and was on the committee which selected Hillsdale as the new location and which gave Hillsdale College to the denomination and the world. In this crisis of the school, Mr. Chase assumed heavy responsi- bilities, and for months held the title of the property until legislation could be procured and Hillsdale College incorporated and the title trans- ferred.

"His cheerful and genial nature and ready wit made him a welcome guest at every gathering. As a kind neighbor, devoted husband and father, useful citizen and a Christian gentleman, he reflected cheerful- ness and happiness all along the pathway, and he will long be remem-

. bered by his neighbors and friends. As a man of deeds, not words, Mr. Chase has taken an active part in the religious and secular questions in his church and community, and has participated in the educational and political affairs of his township, county and state. He has lived to see . his educational reforms triumph, his educational enterprises succeed, and not only to see the institution of slavery wiped out, but to see the slave an enfranchised citizen. He helped to make his history, and it was

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justly a source of great satisfaction to him in his declining years to feel that his life work had contributed to make his countrymen freer, wiser and better."

In the fall of 1838 Eli T. Chase married Miss Margaret Ann Whit- comb, who died October 7, 1894, at the age of seventy-six years. Her father Rev. Samuel Whitcomb was one of the pioneers in southern Mich- · igan, and very influential in the organization of the Free Will Baptist church at Cook's Prairie, being its first pastor. Eli and Margaret Chase were the parents of nine children, five of whom are now living: F. W. Chase; John E. Chase, who lives in Benton Harbor, Michigan; Mel- ville, of Oklahoma; Charles S., who lives in Michigan on the old home place; and Dora E., who is the widow of J. H. Graham, the founder of the Graham-Morton Transportation Company.

Francis W. Chase was reared on the old farm in Michigan and was early placed in school. After finishing the work of the public school, he entered Hillsdale College and it was his father's intention to give his son the best education possible, but the Civil war made an end of all his plans. Aflame with patriotism, the young collegian enlisted in Company A of the Twenty-Fifth Michigan infantry on August 5, 1862. He served until the close of the war, being in the Twenty-Third army corps. His first engagement was in the battle of Tibs Bend, on July 4, 1863, and then came the Atlanta campaign, which he passed through unscathed. He served as a corporal during part of this campaign. Later he was a participant in the Battle of Nashville, and his last fight was a little skirmish at Wilmington, North Carolina. After this his corps joined Sherman's command at Greensboro, and he was mustered out on June 30, 1865, at Salisbury, North Carolina.

After the war was at an end, he returned to Calhoun county, Mich- igan, and at first determined to complete his uninterrupted studies. He therefore entered the University of Michigan, and took a course in the medical department, but he was never graduated. However, for one year he practiced medicine, and then married Janet Robertson of Alle- gan county, Michigan.

With the responsibilities of a family he moved west to Kansas where he and his wife lived for seven years. In 1878 they returned to the middle west and settled in Grant county, Indiana. This has been his home ever since, and Mr. Chase has a farm in Franklin township on section five near Sweetser. Here he has attained prosperity, both as a farmer and as a crop raiser.

Mr. Chase is affiliated with the Masonic Order, with Samaritan Lodge No. 105, A. F. & A. M. He is also a member of Sweetser Lodge No. 433 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past noble grand, and a member of the Grand Lodge. In politics he is a member of the Republican party, and has been active in the affairs of that organization. While a resident of Kansas he served as trustee for a year, and had one term as commissioner of Sedgwick, Kansas. Since coming to Grant county, he has served as commissioner of the county, his term lasting from the fall of 1892 until 1898. Mr. Chase owns one hundred and eighty acres of land, and his farming operations are con- ducted along general lines.

Mr. and Mrs. Chase have become the parents of five children. The eldest, Margaret, after graduating from the public schools, entered the teaching profession, in which she has been engaged since 1892, now being located on the Island of Porto Rico. Frank is a resident of the state of California, being connected with the Standard Oil Company. Mary A. graduated from the Kindergarten department of the normal school at Benton Harbor, Michigan, and is now the wife of Edward

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Daniels of North Marion, Indiana. Harriette, who is a graduate of Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, is now a teacher in Idaho. Paul E., who is a graduate of the electrical engineering department of Purdue University, is now located in Porto Rico, being employed by the Electric Power Company of San Juan in that island, but also spent four years in the Philippine Islands.

JOHN M. SMITH. Since 1866 the Smith family, of which John M. Smith of this review is a worthy representative, has been located in Grant county and they have been prominently identified with the agri- cultural interests of the district in all the years that have elapsed. Fine farms have come into a state of productiveness highly creditable to them and the county under the influence of their effectual husbandry, and they have taken places of merit in their various communities as men who lived well up to the high standards of their localities.

John M. Smith was born in Adams county, Ohio, on February 15, 1864, and is a son of Joseph A. and Martha A. (Daggett) Smith. The father was also a native born son of Adams county, while the mother was born in Virginia, and they came to Grant county in 1866, when the subject was about two years old. Locating in Franklin township, they applied themselves to the task of carving out a home from the wilderness, and they succeeded beyond any doubt in that task. Until 1905 the father made his home there, but in that year moved to Swayzee, where he now resides, enjoying the fruits of many years of toil, and secure in the high esteem and friendship of a large circle of those people who have been his neighbors and acquaintances for a half century. The mother of John M. Smith died November 8, 1887. Mr. Smith is eighty-seven years of age now, but still retains a measure of his old time vigor. They became the parents of six children, four of whom were living in 1913. Anna is the wife.of Jordan Miller of Sims township ; Mary married Joseph Galbraith ; Joseph R. is a resident of Swayzee, and John M. Smith, whose name introduces this brief review.

Mr. Smith, as a boy at home, had the privilege of attending the dis- trict school, but beyond that he did not go. He early turned his atten- tion to independent farming, and today he resides on a farm of one hundred and sixty-nine acres, owned by his father, and has lived here ever since he was twenty-seven years old. He gives his attention to stock raising and general farming. He has achieved a most unqualified suc- cess as a farmer and stockman, and takes a leading place in his com- munity today as such.

In 1886 Mr. Smith was married to Miss Mary A. Martin, a daughter of John and Sarah Martin of Franklin township, and they have two children living; the oldest, Mabel Blanche was born in 1887, died aged eight months; Harold, born in 1889, is a graduate of the grade schools and attended the high school at Swayzee. He married Letha Tibbetts, and lives in Swayzee. Martha W. is the wife of Raymond Babb, of Sims township, and they have one child, Gilbert Babb.

Mr. Smith is a Democrat in his politics, and though a man of much civic pride and loyalty, is not deeply concerned in the political issues of the party. He lives well up to the demands of good citizenship, however, and like all the men of his family, his identification with his community is a beneficial one thereto.

HARRY L. CREVISTON. Bearing a name honored by three generations in Grant county, Harry L. Creviston is a young agriculturist who is not hiding his talents in a napkin, but is utilizing the knowledge and re-

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RESIDENCE OF MR. AND MRS. HARRY L. CREVISTON AND FAMILY. VAN REREN TOWNSTID

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sources of the twentieth century in producing bountiful increase in all the goods with which he has been endowed.

As a producer his record for 1912 stands about as follows: On his fields he gathered twenty-five hundred bushels of corn, harvested and threshed twenty-four hundred bushels of oats, and cut about twenty tons of hay from his meadows. For 1913 he has planted twenty acres of wheat, fifty acres of corn, and twenty-five acres of oats. A considerable portion of his land is in pasture with one hundred acres of timber. For live stock he sends about one hundred hogs to market every year, runs a hundred head of sheep, all high-class, and twenty-five head of cattle. He keeps seven horses and mules to work his estate. In 1912, from his timber he sold twelve thousand feet of lumber. Mr. Creviston's home is on section fourteen in Van Buren township, and his three hundred and twenty acres of land is located half in section eleven and half in section fourteen. His home, a comfortable residence of nine rooms, was erected by his father in 1905, and has all the modern improvements. In front of the house is an attractive lawn, set with evergreens. The large barns, well painted and substantially built, for their purposes are two in num- ber, one having ground dimensions of thirty-six by fifty-six feet and erected by Mr. Creviston's father in 1902, while the other is thirty-six by sixty feet and was built by Harry Creviston in 1908. On this farm are located twenty-six oil wells, all of which still produce some oil. Mr. Creviston has two large fruit orchards, and by carefully cultivating them and by spraying the trees, keeps them in good bearing condition, and is one of the large fruit raisers of Grant county.

Harry L. Creviston was born May 24, 1874, in Grant county, a son of Elijah J. and Lydia (Whinrey) Creviston, both of whom were natives of Indiana. The paternal grandparents were Daniel and Sarah A. Crev- iston, concerning which pioneer settlers much further detail will be found on other pages of this work. The family has been located in Grant county since 1840. The ancestry is Scotch. Elijah Creviston, the father, was born in Van Buren township February 8, 1844, and died June 4, 1907. Elijah was reared on the old Creviston homestead, became a teacher in early life, taught in Grant and Huntington counties, and afterwards engaged in farming, at which he was very successful. At the time of his death he was the owner of six hundred and forty acres in Washington and Van Buren townships. The three children who sur- vive him are: Mrs. Ella Nye, Otto and Harry L. The mother died in June, 1902. Among other members of the family were Henry C., Harvey and Ephraim Creviston, all of whom were brothers of Elijah; also Mrs. Carey, Mrs. Bradford, and Mrs. Dickens, sisters of Elijah.

Harry L. Creviston received his early education in district No. 1 of . Washington township. When twenty-four years of age he left home, was married, and settled on the farm where he now lives. Part of his land he obtained by inheritance, and he bought the rest on the settlement of the estate. In 1898 he was married to Miss Dora A. Shinholt, a daughter of Samuel H. Shinholt of Washington township. They are the parents of two children. Ralph C. and Mark S., both of whom are at home. In politics, Mr. Creviston is a Republican voter.

JAMES W. CEMER. A representative of the sturdy pioneer stock of the Middle West, James W. Cemer, of Grant county, Indiana, has shown the same characteristics that enabled his ancestors to brave the dangers of the frontier. Mr. Cemer has been a successful farmer in this section for many years, and is a well known and popular citizen of Franklin township.

The son of Jacob Cemer and Charlotte (Clark) Cemer, James W.

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Cemer was born on the 11th of February, 1863, in Niles township, Delaware county, Indiana. His father was a native of Piqua, Ohio, and his mother was born in Delaware county, Indiana. Jacob and Charlotte Cemer were the parents of ten children and of this large family eight are yet living. Susan is the wife of William Wingfield of Bluffton; Emma is the wife of George Swisher, of Marion, Indiana; John Cemer married Phoebe Ridley; James W., who married Victoria Rader; Monice, who married Sam Kiser; George, who married Clara Iles; Charles A., who married Minna Lane, and J. V. Cemer, who mar- ried Louise Eleman and now lives in Portland, Oregon.

James W. Cemer was reared on his father's farm and being one of the older members of the family early learned how to work. When he was two years of age his father removed to Van Buren and it was in this town that he received his education. However, he had to help his father on the farm and little time was found for study. He worked for his father until he was twenty-five years of age and then he received from his father five hundred dollars in cash, horse and a buggy, and some stock. With this as a foundation he has built up his present comfortable fortune. He is the owner of forty acres of well cultivated land in section 5, Franklin township.

On the 24th of April, 1887, Mr. Cemer was married to Miss Vic- toria Rader. She was born in Jefferson township, Grant county, on November 4, 1866, a daughter of Simeon W. and Matilda (Thomas) Rader. Simeon W. Rader was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, not far from Cambridge, and his wife was born at Winchester, Indiana. They were married near Swayzee on March 17, 1861, Mr. Rader having come to Grant county, with his parents, about 1843. Mrs. Rader lived in Indiana all of her life, though part of the time her home was in Tipton county. She and her husband were the parents of ten children, of whom only four lived to maturity. Victoria was the eldest of these and she grew up in Grant county and received a good education in the public schools. of this county. Simeon W. Rader, the father, enlisted in Company "B" in the Eighty-fourth Indiana Infantry, in 1862, to serve in the war against the Confederacy. He was a soldier of great bravery and true patriotism and in the battle of Chickamauga, on the 19th of September, 1863, he was severely wounded. He was shot three times that day and was thus totally disabled for further active duty. He was consequently discharged in June, 1864, and from 1868 until 1878 he lived in Marion. He then moved to Fairmount where he lived until June, 1898, when he moved to Roseberg and there died. J. P. Rader, the eldest son, married Ansie Davidson and the youngest son, George W., married Dora M. Campton and lives at Anderson, Indiana. Arminta B. Rader died January 20, 1910, age 22 years.

Mr. and Mrs. Cemer have had two children born to them. Char- lotte D., who was born on the 12th of June, 1893, graduated from the public school and is now a student at the E. M. College at Ber- rien Springs, Michigan. Van W. who was born on the 10th of April, 1897, died on June 20, 1897.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Cemer are prominent members of the Seventh Day Adventist church at Michaels. He is an elder of this church and she is clerk of the congregation. In politics Mr. Cemer is a mem- ber of the Republican party.

EDGAR E. STEPHENS. An agricultural enterprise of somewhat dis- tinctive character is that of Edgar E. Stephens of Pleasant township. Mr. Stephens has made a reputation as a grower of potatoes, and prob- ably raises more of that staple food product than any other man in Grant county. His annual crops have run as high as four thousand

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 101

Author: Rolland Lewis Whitson Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Rolland Lewis Whitson
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1034