USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 102
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bushels, and as he has kept the product up to the highest standard of quality he gets correspondingly high prices. Mr. Stephens was reared on a farm, knows all the details of the general industry and finally drifted into his present specialty as a potato raiser. He is the owner of thirty acres, and controls seventy acres, a large part of which is devoted to his special crop.
Edgar E. Stephens was born in Pleasant township, Grant county, Indiana, January 19, 1862, a son of Alfred M. and Katherine M. (Porter) Stephens, both now deceased. His old home was near Mt. Olive church in Pleasant township, and it was in that community that Mr. Stephens spent his boyhood and youth. He had the advantages of the local school, and like many boys he aspired to adventures in new fields away from the old home locality, and accordingly at the age of nineteen went west, where he lived and followed various lines of work until December, 1884. Mr. Stephens married on January 28, 1889, Mary Catharine, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Moss) Burge. She was a student, after completing the common schools, at the State Normal, but never took up teaching as a regular occupation. They are the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters: Mabel E. is a graduate of the common schools and the Marion Normal schools in the classical course, and is principal of the high school at Onward, Indiana; Edgar E., Jr., graduated from the common schools, high school, and the Marion Normal College, and is teaching school near Mandan, North Dakota; Donald is also a graduate of these schools and is teaching school No. 4, Pleasant township; Rosella graduated in oratory from the Marion Normal College and is teaching near Mandan, North Dakota; - Floyd M. when eleven years old was graduated from the common schools and is now in the Sweetser, Indiana, high school. Junie Belle is a student in the grade schools. The family belong to the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics Mr. Stephens is one of the active supporters of the Prohibition cause, though in national affairs he has usually supported the Republican ticket.
W. ALLEN MOREHEAD. Washington township shows some of the best regulated and most valuable farms in Grant county. They have been made thus desirable through the industry and enterprise of the owners, who have realized the advantages of using modern methods and machinery in their work and whose long residence in this locality has made them familiar with soil and climatic conditions. In this class undeniably stands W. Allen Morehead, the owner of eighty acres of well-cultivated land located in section 10, and a citizen who is at pres- ent serving his township as assessor. Mr. Morehead is a native of Grant county, having been born in Pleasant township, May 7, 1876, a son of Alexander and Nancy (Sheron) Morehead.
Calvin Morehead, the grandfather of W. Allen Morehead, was born in Ohio, and migrated to Grant county, Indiana, in 1839, settling first in the vicinity of Jalapa, where he entered land from the govern- ment and continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits during the remainder of his life. Alexander Morehead was born in 1838, in Ohio, and was a babe of one year when brought by his parents to Grant county. His boyhood home was a pioneer log cabin on the old home- stead, and he was reared to the hard work of clearing the home farm. On reaching his majority he engaged in farming on his own account in Pleasant township, and became moderately successful in his opera- tions and a well known man in his community. A life-long sufferer from asthma, he spent the last few years in Oklahoma, seeking relief from his illness, and there his death occurred in March, 1913. He
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married Nancy Sheron, who was born January 1, 1841, in Ohio, and she still survives and makes her home in Marion. Two children were born to this union: W. Allen, of this review; and Lulu, the wife of Walter Bish, residing at No. 207 North F street, Marion.
W. Allen Morehead received his education in district school No. 4, in Washington township, and worked at home with his father until reaching the age of twenty years, at which time he struck out for him- self, for two years being employed by Francis A. Bradford, a Wash- ington township agriculturist. At the time of his marriage, in 1898, he rented a farm in the northern part of that township, and there continued to reside until 1910, in the meantime, in 1907, purchasing his eighty-acre farm in section 10. In 1909 he erected on this land a large and substantial barn, with the latest and best equipment, and in 1910 he built his present residence, a ten-room home, fitted with bath, running water furnished by a pneumatic water system and other con- veniences, and lighted by acetylene gas. Mr. Morehead has shown himself an able man of business and excellent farmer, and his prac- tical management of his affairs has made him one of his community's substantial citizens. In 1912 he raised 1,000 bushels of corn and 1,500 bushels of oats, and cut twelve tons of hay, in addition to raising and selling about 50 hogs at top-notch prices. He keeps seven draft and running horses, and has a herd of eight high-grade cattle. Seventy acres of his land are under cultivation, while of the ten remaining acres several are in pasture land and the remainder in timber. Among his neighbors and associates he has fairly won a reputation for integ- rity and honorable dealing, and his many pleasant personal qualities have gained him a wide circle of sincere friends.
Mr. Morehead was married in 1898 to Miss Maud B. Dicken, daugh- ter of George Dicken, a well-known Grant county farmer, and to this union one child was born: Thelma Delight, July 6, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Morehead are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He has always been a Democrat in his political views, and as assessor of Washington township is giving his fellow-citizens excellent service.
FRANK L. WHITE. One of the best improved properties of Van Buren township is the 160-acre farm owned by Frank L. White, located on the Washington and Van Buren gravel road, in sections 6 and 7. Although not a native of Grant county, Mr. White has resided here since infancy, and since attaining his majority has been identified with the agricultural interests of his adopted locality. He was born in Hocking county, Ohio, October 8, 1872, and is a son of Levi and Caroline (Burns) White, and a grandson of William White, a native of Pennsylvania, who spent his last years in Hocking county, Ohio.
Levi White was born in the Keystone State, and as a lad was taken to Ohio by his parents, there being reared to farming. At the out- break of the Civil War he enlisted in an Ohio volunteer infantry regiment, and upon his return to the pursuits of peace again engaged as a tiller of the soil. In 1873 he left Ohio for Grant county and pur- chased a farm of eighty acres in Washington township, and here the remainder of his life was passed. He became successful in his opera- tions, and at the time of his death, in 1907, was the owner of 240 acres. His wife, who was born in Ohio, passed away three months and five days later. They were the parents of five sons: Curtis A., who resides at Marion ; Yearsley F., now sheriff of Grant county; William E., a
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resident of Marion; Frank L., of this review; and John I., engaged in farming in Washington township.
The education of Frank L. White was secured in district school No. 1, in Washington township, and as a lad began his operations in agricultural work in clearing land for his father. He remained on the home farm until his twenty-second year, when he was married, and one year later bought his present farm, on which he has since made numerous improvements. For six years he and his wife resided in a log cabin which stood on the land, but at this time the family home is a twelve-room modern residence fronting the Washington and Van Buren gravel road, with a wide lawn and the latest improvements, the water for which is secured from a drilled well with a wind pump. The upper farm, which Mr. White rents to a tenant, is also equipped with good buildings and improvements, and both of these eighty-acre properties are very productive. The crops therefrom in 1912 included 1200 bushels of corn, 1300 bushels of oats, and seventy tons of hay, and in 1913 Mr. White planted eleven acres in wheat, forty acres in corn and thirty-six acres in oats. He feeds sixty hogs annually, and also has met with success in raising fine horses. He has become pros- perous through industry, persistence and energetic effort, and the appearance of his land denotes the presence of thrift and good manage- ment.
Mr. White was married in 1894 to Miss Eva Etta Landess, who was born in 1876, daughter of Oscar E. Landess, and she died June 29, 1911, having been the mother of two children: Florence C. and Landess L. In his political views, Mr. White is a stalwart Democrat, although he has not cared for nor sought public office. His religious connection is with the United Brethren church. A man of progressive ideas, he has ever been a willing contributor to and supporter of movements tending to advance his community, and his integrity in matters of a business nature has gained him the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens.
ALEXANDER BUTLER, a farmer and prominent citizen of Van Buren township, Grant county, Indiana, is one of the successful and influential men in this section of the county. He has been a farmer all of his life and from a small beginning is now, through hard work and wise management, counted one of the prosperous men of the community. This has meant that he has had to be a very busy and hard working man, but in spite of this he has always found time to give in behalf of his fellows and the interest of the general public, and as a trustee of the township accomplished much toward the upbuilding of this section.
Alexander Butler was born in Rush county, Indiana, on the 9th of March, 1846, son of Alpheus and Rhoda (English) Butler, both of whom were born in Kentucky. Alpheus Butler, who was born in 1807, was the son of Nathan and Mary (Davis) Butler, who were natives of Virginia, and early settlers of Kentucky. Soon after his marriage to Rhoda English, in 1831, Alpheus Butler emigrated to Rush county, Indiana, where he bought a farm. He improved this place which was then in the wilderness and here he lived and reared a family of eight children. His death occurred in 1889. He moved to Van Buren town- ship, Grant county, Indiana, in 1875, and died on his farm in this township. His children are as follows: Andrew D., who is dead; Nathan, who is also deceased ; John, a resident of Van Buren township : Alexander; Rhoda and George, both of whom are dead; Artemesia, who is now Mrs. J. B. Green; and Eda, who is deceased.
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Alexander Butler received his education in the district schools which at that time were very primitive institutions. As soon as he was old enough to earn his own living he went to farming and after his marriage he bought a farm of eighty acres in Rush county. Here he lived until '1872 when he sold this property and removed' to Van Buren township, Grant county, Indiana, in October of that year. He first bought eighty acres and in 1889 added forty acres to his first purchase. In 1907 he made a third purchase of forty acres. He bought his first land for $22 an acre, the farm having a small clearing and a log cabin upon it. He has cleared and ditched and fenced the land, built a house and barn and in other ways improved it and now the land is valued at $150 an acre. He erected his home in 1874 and in 1899 built an addition to it, making it a modern and attractive dwell- ing. Altogether Mr. Butler owns 160 acres, 80 of which is contained in the home farm, 40 acres lie across the road from the home place and 40 acres is located on the county line. In 1912 Mr. Butler raised 1,200 bushels of corn and 1,200 bushels of oats. His acreage in 1913 was 20 acres of oats and 45 acres of corn. He also devotes considerable attention to raising swine, his average output being 75 head yearly. Mr. Butler has the assistance of his son in the manage- ment of the farm.
In politics Mr. Butler is a member of the Democratic party and has taken a prominent part in party affairs in the township. Ile was elected township trustee in 1878 and served in this office for two years. He was again elected to the office in 1886 and re-elected in 1888. It was while he was in office that the first two-room brick school house was built in the township, it being located at Van Buren. He has also served as a member of the Township Advisory Board for Van Buren township, and is now on his thirteenth consecutive year as such, and is chairman of the board.
Mr. Butler was married on the 8th of August, 1867, to Ann Maria Alexander, a daughter of John Alexander, a native of Kentucky, but then a resident of Rush county, Indiana, where Mrs. Butler was born and raised. Her death occurred on March 17, 1881. They had six children, of whom four are living: Winnie E., wife of Clinton R. Witmer, of Van Buren township, and they have five children; Lacy G., who manages the home farm, married Luetta Wearley, and they have three children; Etta A., wife of M. J. Powell, an oil worker, and they live in Illinois and have five children; Josie W., wife of E. W. Cook, an oil worker, resides in Illinois, and they have one child; the two deceased children were Esca A., who died aged one year, and an infant, who died unnamed.
Mr. Butler, on October 30, 1882, married Mary E. Alexander, a daughter of Azel Alexander, of Rush county, Illinois. There were four children by this marriage: Morris, who died aged about one year; Lena, wife of H. F. Haupthof, and they have two children; Sallie. wife of J. O. Shafer, of Oklahoma, and they also have two children; Mable, wife of Mark Coon, and they have one child.
JAMES T. BRADFORD. Success in his chosen vocation was worthily attained by the late James T. Bradford, who was accounted one of the progressive and enterprising farmers of Van Buren township, and this was attributable to his energy, careful management and keen diserim- ination. He was an excellent example of the self-made men who have advanced their community's interests while furthering their own, and in his death, which occurred August 5, 1904, his township lost one of its best and most highly esteemed citizens. Mr. Bradford was born
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May 1, 1864, on what is now the Otto Creviston farm in Washington township, Grant county, Indiana, and was a son of George and Sarah (Gardner) Bradford.
The grandfather of James T. Bradford, Daniel Bradford, emigrated from his native state of Virginia to Ohio, and was there married, and some time during the early 'thirties came to Indiana with his wife, Lou- isa Romine, who was born in the Buckeye State. With his brother, George, he entered 160 acres of farming land, but this was later divided, and Mr. Bradford continued agricultural pursuits alone until his death. George Bradford, the father of James T., was born in Indiana, and was engaged in agriculture on a forty-acre farm in Washington township until being drafted into the Union army, in 1865. Not long thereafter, he contracted measles and pneumonia and his death occurred in the army hospital at Pulaski, Tennessee. He married Sarah Gardner, daughter of George Gardner, and they became the parents of two children : James T. : and Robert W., a farmer of Van Buren township, a sketch of whose career will be found in another part of this work.
After her husband's death, Mrs. Bradford went with her two small sons to the home of her father, and there James T. Bradford was reared, his education being received in the district schools. When Mr. Gardner died, in 1878, Mrs. Bradford located on a farm of eighty acres, which was ditched and cleared by her sons, and when their grandmother died the boys engaged in operations together on the Plummer farm. In 1897 they dissolved partnership, and James T. Bradford secured undi- vided possession of 110 acres in section 3, on which the remainder of his life was passed. An earnest, industrious, hard-working farmer, he put his property into excellent shape, and at the time of his death was known as one of his locality's substantial men. This land is now owned by his widow, and is operated by her son-in-law, who in 1912 produced 1,341 bushels of oats, 1,400 bushels of corn and seventeen tons of timothy and eighteen tons of clover. He sells forty hogs and gives his entire time to the cultivation of the land, the work being overseen by Mrs. Bradford, a lady of exceptional business ability. The nine- room residence on this property was erected by Mr. Bradford in 1903, and is an attractive white structure, surrounded by a wide, luxuriant lawn and a neat iron fence, and a large red barn and other substantial buildings add to the value and beauty of the place, which shows the beneficial effects of good management and thrift.
On September 19, 1885, James T. Bradford was united in marriage with Miss Nora Love, daughter of James and Lydia Ann (Tinkle) Love, natives of Ohio, the former of whom died when Mrs. Bradford was a child, while the latter is still living at the age of seventy-eight years. There were nine children in the Love family, as follows: Mrs. Mary Heckard; Mrs. Anna Bradford; Mrs. Emma Pully, who is deceased; William, a resident of Van Buren township; Mrs. Ellen Huff, of Wells county ; Mrs. Nancy Losure, of Van Buren township ; Mrs. Nora Brad- ford ; Mrs. Clara Braun, of Van Buren township; and Jacob, a resident of Huntington county.
Mr. and Mrs. Bradford became the parents of four children, namely : Ollie M., who married George A. Lytle, of Oklahoma, and has one son, James; Lizzie B., who married Alpheus Green, of Van Buren town- ship, operator of the Bradford farm, and has one son, Kenneth Leroy ; and Zola and Helen D., who reside with their mother. The family attends the Van Buren Church of Christ, of which Mr. Bradford was a member for many years.
ROBERT W. BRADFORD. It is due to the efforts of such progressive. intelligent and enterprising agriculturists as Robert W. Bradford, of
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Van Buren township, that Grant county has made such rapid strides in farming during the past several decades. With all the practicality of the old school of farmers, he has not been content to follow in the rut of hit-or-miss tilling of the soil, but by well-directed application of scientific methods as advanced by the present generation has so system- atized his operations as to make his farm one of the most productive of its size in his section of the county. Such methods are calculated to not alone advance his personal interests but to further those of his community as well and to thus give him prestige as one of his locality's most useful citizens. Mr. Bradford is a native of Grant county, having been born on the Otto Creviston farm in Washington township, Decem- ber 16, 1860, a son of George and Sarah (Gardner) Bradford.
Daniel Bradford, the grandfather of Robert W. Bradford, was born in Virginia, from whence he migrated as a young man to Ohio. There he was married, and subsequently, during the thirties, came to Indiana, where, with his brother, George, he entered 160 acres of land, this property being later divided. His wife, Louisa Romine, was a native of Ohio. George Bradford, father of Robert W. Bradford, was born in Indiana in 1838, and was here educated, reared to agricultural pur- suits, and married. He became the father of two sons, James T. and Robert W., the former of whom is now deceased, and was carrying on operations on a forty-acre property, where he had settled at the time of his marriage, when he was drafted for service in the Union army during the Civil war, in 1865. He joined the Indiana infantry, and not long after his enlistment contracted measles and pneumonia, and died in the army hospital at Pulaski, Tennessee.
At the time of her husband's death, Mrs. Bradford took her two small sons to the home of her father, George Gardner, and there Robert W. Bradford was reared, securing his education in the public schools. Mr. Gardner died in 1878, and at that time Mrs. Bradford purchased eighty acres of land, and with one horse and three cows, settled down to develop a farm. The boys, aged eighteen and fourteen years, cleared and ditched this land and put it into excellent shape. At the time of their grandmother's death they purchased what was known as the Plummer farm, and here they worked together until 1899, when Robert W. Bradford bought what is now the Losure farm, but soon sold this property in order to go into business in Van Buren. In 1905 he bought his present property of eighty acres, located in section 10, Van Buren township, and this he now has in a high state of cultivation, having been improved by the most approved modern methods. Mr. Bradford manures heavily, restores soil with clover and alternates his crops, being thoroughly conversant with rotation. He believes in hard work and constant cultivation. His large red barn measures forty by sixty feet, in addition to which he is now erecting another building twenty- four by sixty feet, and his residence and outbuildings are all substan- tial in character and handsome in architectural design. An excellent man of business, he is ever alert to grasp a favorable opportunity, but has never taken advantage of another's needs, and through upright and honorable dealing has established himself firmly in the confidence of the people of his community.
Mr. Bradford was married in 1882 to Miss Alfaretta Dunwoodie, and six children have been born to this union: four who died in infancy ; George, who died in February, 1909, at the age of twenty-five years; and Clay, born in October, 1888, and now engaged in farming with his father, married Delight Stockhouse, and has one son, Robert. Mr. Bradford has ever been a supporter of temperance and has given his vote to the Prohibition party for many years. With his family, he attends the Church of Christ, at Van Buren.
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GEORGE DICKEN. In the following paragraphs is sketched the career and accomplishments of one of Grant county's most prosperous farmer citizens. For every one who has not yet lost hope that the door of opportunity stands open to industry and enterprise, there is encour- agement and inspiration in the life work of George Dicken. When he came home from the war he possessed practically nothing and yet . in a few years had established an ownership of a good farm and at the present time possesses some of the best farming property in Wash- ington township, where he is regarded as one of the most substantial citizens.
George Dicken belongs to one of the old families of Grant county. He was born August 23, 1844, on the farm in this county which his father, Richard H. Dicken, had entered from the government in 1838. Richard H. Dicken was born in Scott county, Kentucky, in 1816, and died in 1890. Grandfather Henry Dicken moved from Kentucky to Fayette county, Indiana, in 1821, being one of the earliest settlers in that vicinity, and he died in Wabash county at the good old age of eighty-three years. As the date of his settlement indicates, Richard H. Dicken was one of the pioneers of Grant county, having settled here only seven years after the county organization was completed. The maiden name of his wife was Matilda Cook, who was born in 1816 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and who died in 1891. They reared ten chil- dren, whose names are Elmer, deceased ; Martha Ann, deceased; Mary Ann, deceased; George; James; Thomas; Nancy A .; Amanda; America ; and Archie.
As a boy George Dicken was reared in Washington township, and the first school house he attended in old district number two was built of logs and had the rude and uncomfortable furnishings of the old time school house. Later he attended a better structure, which was of frame construction. His period of youth had not yet come to a close when the war broke out. When he was eighteen years old he enlisted in Company F of the One Hundred and First Indiana Volunteer Infantry, on August 16, 1862. He served until June 24, 1865, a period of nearly three years. The captain of his company was B. F. Williams, and the colonel of the regiment was Col. Thomas Doane of Marion. The regiment belonged to the army which fought most of the time under Gen. George H. Thomas, "the rock of Chickamauga," and at that great battle Mr. Dicken was shot through the left instep on September 19, 1863. He was taken prisoner and spent six months and two days in a rebel prison at Belle Isle, on the James River, and also in Richmond hospital No. 21 and in Pemberton's old tobacco plant. On March 22, 1864, he was sent to the lines and on June 1, 1864, was exchanged. He rejoined his regiment and served out his time, being with Sherman on his famous march to the sea. Except for the time he was in prison he never missed a roll call nor failed to stack his gun at the bugle call. He was.in many battles and always on duty for fight, and has a record of seventeen major engagements. When the war was over he accompanied the victorious troops to Washington and there passed in front of the reviewing stand in what has been known in history as the "Grand Review."
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