Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 12

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

USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 12

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Mr. Solomon Duling was born on the old homestead in Fairmount township, December 1, 1850. He was reared there, and still owns half of the eighty acres which made up the old home place. His career has been that of a substantial farmer, and with the passing of years he has brought his land into a high state of cultivation and improvement. Solomon Duling in 1881 married Miss Alice Wright. She was born in Plainfield, Hendricks county, Indiana, January 26, 1861. When she was

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a young girl her parents, Joseph R. and Deborah (Dicker) Wright moved to Grant county. Both her parents were natives of Penn- sylvania, where they were married, and then came to Indiana. Her father Joseph Wright, now lives in Fairmount city, at the age of seventy-six. He is a veteran of the Sixty-third Indiana Infantry during the Civil war, and his home has been in Grant county since 1869. His wife died here about five years ago, when about seventy years of age. The Wright family were for a number of years members of the Methodist church, but later joined the Methodist Protestant, and finally became Dunkards. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Duling have been born no children, but in the kindness of their hearts they have adopted and reared two foster daughters. One, a niece, is now Mrs. Emma Rich. The other is Mrs. Verna Rogers, and has one son, Orville D. Rogers, their home being in New Castle, Indiana. Mr .. and Mrs. Duling are members of the Methodist Protestant Church, and in politics he is a Republican.

FRANK WILSON. The Wilson family, of whom Frank Wilson of Fair- mount township is one of several members to be found within the limits of Grant county, has an appropriate place among the list of pioneers in this part of Indiana, and their home has been here for more than seventy years. As farmers, stock raisers, public spirited citizens, moral and religious men and women, they have been wholesome factors in the life of the community throughout all these decades.

The originator of the family in America was Grandfather Thomas Wilson. Born in Ireland, he was of Scotch-Irish and Protestant ancestry. He married Anna Mackey, and immediately after their marriage they embarked on a vessel which brought them to the United States and they settled in Rockbridge county, Virginia. That county of old Virginia continued to be their home until their death. Thomas Wilson died about middle life, while his widow lived a good many years afterwards, and died on the old Virginia homestead when about eighty- nine. Farming was their occupation, and their church was the Presbyterian Society at Collierstown in Virginia. They had a family of a number of sons and daughters, and the sons are mentioned as follows: Thomas, Jr., lived and died in Grant county, was a farmer, and left three children, two sons and one daughter. John Mc., also a farmer, died in Jefferson township of Grant county, leaving a large family. The next in order of age among the sons was James S., mentioned in the following paragraph. Robert K., died on the old Rockbridge county farm in Virginia, and left a widow but no children. Samuel G., lived in the same county of Virginia, was never married, and held an influential station in his community serving as justice of the peace for some time.

James S. Wilson was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, January 13, 1813. There he grew up, had an education in the old field schools of his native commonwealth, and when ready for the serious occupations of life took up farming. When he was a young man of about twenty- five, in 1838, he rode all the way on horseback from Virginia to Grant county, Indiana. Here, with his brother Thomas, Jr., he took up one hundred and sixty acres of government land on section four in Mill township. While the country had been organized seven or eight years much of its landscape was still as nature had made it, and these brothers started out on their pioneer enterprise in the midst of the green woods. They did a good deal of work in development, and later sold the land to Isaac Rouse. James S. Wilson then moved to Fairmount township, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of almost new land, from John

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McCormick, who had entered it from the government. It was on that farm that James Wilson spent the rest of his years engaged in the quiet vocation of farming, and in his duties to family and friends. His death occurred when he was eighty-one years of age. He was a loyal Democrat, and at one time served as township trustee. His church was the Presbyterian. Some time after he had bought and occupied the Fairmount township farm he married Evaline Morgan, of Mason county, Kentucky. When she was a girl her parents moved to Piqua, Miami county, Ohio, and lived there for some years. Her father, Perry Morgan there married a second wife and moved out to Iowa, while the children of his first wife came to Grant county, Indiana, with his relatives. Mrs. James S. Wilson died in Grant county in 1874 at the age of fifty-four years and two months. She was also a Presbyterian, and became the mother of four sons and two daughters. These children are noted as follows: 1. Henry P., who died in young manhood after he had married Lyda Roush, a daughter of Isaac Roush. She then married a second time, William Schaefer becoming her husband, and she had one daughter, Bertha, by her first marriage. 2. Eugene N., a retired farmer living at Jonesboro, married Mary A. Templin, and their children are Albert, Marcus L., George G., and Ira. 3. Talitha died young. 4. James Mc. died unmarried and was educated at DePauw University at Greencastle and was an attorney at Marion. 5. Frank and Eva were twins, and the latter died unmarried at the age of twenty-two.

Mr. Frank Wilson, whose name has been placed at the head of this article was born on the old Fairmount township homestead of his father on July 25, 1857. Growing up on that farm, he now owns the estate, having secured through deed from his father one hundred and ninety acres. He is a practical and business-like farmer, and knows how to make Grant county soil produce abundantly. One hundred and fifty- four acres of his land are under cultivation, and the fields produce large quantities of oats, corn, wheat and hay, and his cattle and hogs consume practically all the products. Thus he has conserved the fertility of his land, and his farm is now in a better condition agriculturally speaking than when he received it from his father. With the fruits of his success after many years of continuous labors he is now living semi- retired, spending his winters in his home at Jonesboro, while during the summer he stays on the farm and manages its activities.

In Fairmount township, Mr. Wilson was married to Lou Wilson, who was born at Hardin, Shelby county, Ohio, April 15, 1861. When she was six years old she came to Mill township in Grant county, with her parents, Theodore and Margaret (Caldwell) Wilson. Her parents were both natives of Ireland, having come to Shelby county, Ohio, after their marriage, and their children were born in Ohio. Still later they moved to Grant county, and became substantial farmers in Mill town- ship, but after some years retired to Jonesboro. Theodore Wilson died at the age of sixty-seven, and his wife when sixty-two. They were Presbyterians, and left five children, all of whom are still living. All but one are married, and three of them have children of their own.

Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. Wade H., born September 15, 1889, was educated in the Marion high school, and now conducts his father's farm. He married Edith Kuntz, of Peru, Indiana, and they have one daughter, Mary L., born September 25, 1912. The other child of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson was Eva, who died when only eleven weeks old. Mr. Wilson with his wife and son belongs to the Presbyterian church, and he and his son are Democrats in politics.

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MRS. MAUD HOWARD GAINES. In a list of the prominent citizens of any community today, mention is made of women as well as men, for whether they are actively in the business world or not, the high position of woman as a factor in civilization is being recognized as it has never been before. Therefore in any account of those who have played a part in the history of Grant county, Indiana, Mrs. Maud Howard Gaines should have a place. Mrs. Gaines comes of one of the oldest .families, not only in Grant county, but in the United States, a family noted for its patriotism and sincere devotion to the country. She has lived in Marion for many years and has taken an active part in many phases of the city's activities.

Mrs. Gaines was born in 1866, the eldest of the five children born to John A. and Susan (Kirkpatrick) Howard. John A. Howard was born in Ohio in 1836, a son of Maurice and Matilda (Sabin) Howard. Matilda Sabin was the granddaughter of Elijah Sabin, who had been a commis- sioned officer during the Revolutionary war, and other ancestors who fought in this war give Mrs. Gaines the right to be proud of her family and the record they made in this memorable struggle. Coming further down in her ancestry, her own father left a splendid record for military service. The records in the Adjutant General's office in the War De- partment at Washington show that John A. Howard was enrolled on April 23, 1861, as a private in Company "I," Twelfth Indiana Infantry, that he served one year and was honorably discharged from the service as a private, together with the whole company on the 15th of May, 1862. In speaking of the experience of this year Captain Howard said that the whole regiment inclined to the opinion that one year of such hardships as they had endured was enough. But after they had once more become private citizens Lincoln asked them to visit their homes and then return and help him out and there was not a hand that was not raised in response to this plea. On the 22nd of October, 1862, therefore, Captain Howard returned to the service, this time with a commission as first lieutenant in Company "C," Fifty-fourth Infantry. He served in this capacity until December 8, 1863, when he was honorably discharged from the service at New Orleans, Louisiana. It was only a short time until he re-enlisted, this time at Marion, on the 7th of February, 1865. He was mustered into service on the same day as a private in Company "G," of the One-Hundred and Fifty-third Indiana Infantry to serve one year. A few days later, on the 22nd of February, 1865, he was commissioned captain of this company and served as such until his final honorable discharge from the service on the 4th of September, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky. This long record of military service as shown by the official documents in the war department at Washington is one which Mrs. Gaines treasures greatly, being proud not only of the actual service rendered to her country but also of the spirit of patriotism and self-sacrifice shown by her father. Maurice Howard, Mrs. Gaines' grand- father and father of John A. Howard, was a soldier in the War of 1812. He enlisted in the New York troops, serving most of his time around and near Detroit, Michigan.

Captain Howard took part in some of the most important engage- ments of the Civil war, among them being; Antietam, Arkansas Post, Raymond, Thompson Hills, Black River, Champion Hills, Chickasaw Bluffs, Vicksburg, and Jackson, Mississippi, being wounded at the latter battle. Captain Howard always wears an American flag as a buttoniere, and he is a regular attendant at the camp fires of the General Shunk post of the Grand Army of the Republic, although it is saddening to see his old comrades at arms rapidly diminishing in numbers. In slavery days the Howard homestead was one of the stations of the underground rail-

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way, and as a young boy Captain Howard conducted many negroes from the shelter of his own home to the next friendly resting place, his father remaining behind on guard. Later when the temperance question came before the attention of the people he was an active advocate of that side of the question which had the protection of the family and the home at heart. Captain Howard married Susan Kirkpatrick, who was born in Grant county, Indiana, in 1847, a daughter of William and Margaret (Carrothers) Kirkpatrick, and they spent many years on a farm near Marion. ' Several years ago, however, Captain Howard retired from active life and they now make their home in Marion, their daughter Mrs. Gaines living with them.

Mrs. Gaines, or Miss Maud Howard, as she was before her marriage, was in the first graduating class from the district schools of Washing- ton township, this being in 1881, and when she was only. sixteen she taught her first winter school at Salem, Indiana, having many pupils who were older than she was herself. Mrs. Gaines has two brothers, Maurice and Harry Howard, and two sisters, Mrs. Helen Howard Will- iams and Miss Mary Margaret Howard. It was when Miss Maud Howard was twenty-two years of age, on the 22nd of November, 1888, that she was married to Edmund Morton Gaines. Mr. Gaines, who was also born in 1866, was one of eight children born to Oliver and Mary Jane (Brad- ford) Gaines.

Both the Howard and Gaines families were pioneers in Grant county, and had lived side by side as neighbors and friends for three generations. The Howards came from New York, the Bradfords and Gaines from Virginia, and the Kirkpatricks from Ohio. Oliver Gaines is the son of Edmund P. and Polly (Bond) Gaines, and his wife, who is now deceased, was a daughter of George and Elizabeth (Schell) Bradford. The grand- parents in both the Howard and Gaines familes had come to Indiana as emigrants, but the parents were all born in the community. The link- ing together of the interests of the two families by the marriage in the third generation, only drew closer together those who had always been close friends.

Edmund Morton Gaines was christened Edmund because there had always been an Edmund in the family since the house of Gaines was established in America more than four hundred years ago, and the name of Morton was given in honor of Indiana's war governor. He and his wife had twenty years of perfect wedded happiness before he was taken from her, his death occurring on the 6th of January, 1909. Mr. Gaines was always active in church and fraternal affairs. Although he came of Quaker ancestry he and his wife were members of the First Methodist Episcopal church in Marion, and for several years he was a member of the official board. He belonged to the Knights of Pythias and the lodge emblem is engraved on the stone that marks his grave.

Mrs. Gaines is an enthusiastic member of the Home Missionary Society of the Methodist church, and takes special pleasure in the work of the so- ciety. She is a member of the Marion Central Woman's Christian Tem- perance Union, of which an aunt, Mrs. Mary Howard Williams, was an early member-in fact, the union really grew out of the crusade of which Mrs. Williams was a leader. Mrs. Gaines has always been an interested stu- dent of history and is a member of the Thursday Historical Club, and of the Grant County Historical Society. She is the historian of her native township in this Centennial history. Mrs. Gaines is every inch a patriot herself, her love for the flag being instilled into her from babyhood, and inherited from her ancestors, and since all heroes are not necessarily those who face the guns of an enemy on the battlefield, but are all those who do their part in the battle of life quietly and bravely, she is cer-

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tainly in line for recognition. Mrs. Gaines is a member of the General Francis Marion Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, having traced her lineal Revolutionary descent through her paternal grand- mother, Mrs. Matilda (Sabin) Howard, although she had other ancestral lines just as clearly defined.

CHARLES H. TERRELL. A man of fine intellectual attainments and marked executive ability, Mr. Terrell is eminently qualified for the im- portant office of which he is the able and popular incumbent, that of superintendent of schools for Grant county. His administration has been marked by circumspection, indefatigable energy and careful discrim- ination, and the beneficent results of the same are definitely manifest in the high standard of the public schools of the county, which has the distinction of possessing a greater number of commissioned high schools than any other county in the state. Mr. Terrell has had varied and practical experience in the field of educational work and is recognized as one of the representative factors in the pedagogic profession in his native state, the while his sterling character, effective services and genial personality have gained to him inviolable hold upon popular confidence and esteem. He has been a resident of Grant county since his boyhood days and is one of its loyal and progressive citizens.

Mr. Terrell was born in the city of Kokomo, Indiana, on the 3d of November, 1879, and he is a son of George and Elizabeth (Myers) Ter- rell, both of whom were born in Decatur county, this state, a fact that indicates that the respective families were founded in Indiana in the pioneer era of its history. George Terrell, who was a mechanic by voca- tion, died in 1881, when the subject of this review was but two years old, and the devoted mother passed to the life eternal in 1891, so that Charles H. Terrell was doubly orphaned when a lad of about twelve years.

He whose name initiates this article gained his rudimentary educa- tion in the common schools of Decatur and Grant counties, to which latter he came on the 22d of February, 1892, a short time after the death of his devoted mother, he being the only child of this union. At Gas City, this county, he was graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1899, after which he pursued his higher academic studies in turn in Taylor University, at Upland, and the University of Indiana, at Bloomington. In the latter institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1910 and received the well earned degree of Bachelor of Arts. Mr. Terrell initiated his pedagogic career in the autumn of 1900, and after teaching successfully in the country schools of Grant county for a period of four years he became a teacher in the public schools of Jonesboro, this county, where he was thus engaged for four years, 1905-9, and where he held during the last two years the position of principal of the high school, in connection with which his entire period of service was given. In 1910-11 he was at the head of the department of history in the high school in the city of Marion, where he maintains his official headquarters, and on the 5th of June, 1911, there came high recognition of his character and ability, in that he was elected county superintendent of schools, for a term of four years. His administration has in every way justified his selection for this important and responsible post, and through his mature judgment and earnest efforts much has been done to unify the work and advance the standard of all departments of public-school work in Grant county, even the most obscure and diminu- tive of the district schools having received careful attention from him, the while he has effectively supervised the work of the more advanced grades of work, including that of the high schools. As a man of scholar- ship and administrative ability he has shown himself essentially broad-

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minded and progressive, and within his regime in his present office he has instituted many improvements in service and a number of wise innova- tions. He has warmly and ably advocated the teaching of scientific and practical agriculture in connection with the other phases of public- school work, has earnestly labored to advance the standard of scholar- ship on the part of teachers, and has advised the consolidation of schools in country districts wherever this policy has tended to improve standards and service. It may again be noted that the county has nine commis- sioned high schools, and that in this provision it takes precedence of all counties in the state. Mr. Terrell is essentially an enthusiast in his chosen profession, is alert, practical and ambitious, with naught of the proclivities of the visionary or day-dreamer, and the most effective voucher for his ability is that given in the results of his work as a teacher and as an official. He holds from the state a life certificate as a teacher, the same having been granted to him in 1910, and of the thirty-nine persons who received state licenses in that year he stood second in the examination. He is affiliated with the Phi Delta Kappa fraternity of the University of Indiana and this implies no slight distinc- tion, as the organization is maintained as a means for educational advance- ment and eligibility for membership being predicated from the scholastic status, rather than from the fictitious standard maintained in various other college fraternities.

Mr. Terrell is not only a valued and popular factor in connection with educational activities in his native state but is also a well fortified and zealous advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor. He has served with effectiveness as a member of the Democratic executive committee of Grant county and has been otherwise influential in connection with party affairs. He is affiliated with Jonesboro Lodge, No. 109, Free & Accepted Masons, at Jonesboro, where he also holds membership in Jonesboro Lodge, No. 102, Knights of Pythias, besides which he is identified with the Benevolent Crew of Nep- tune in the city of Marion. His name remains on the list of eligible bachelors and it may consistently be said that this fact in no way mili- tates against his unqualified popularity in the social circles of his home county, where his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances. 1

JOHN L. RIGSBEE. Although the Rigsbee family represented by Mr. John L. Rigsbee of Fairmount, has been identified with Grant county only a few years, there are many characteristics and incidents in the family history which make the family "bone and sinew" with the bulk of Grant county citizenship. They all came from Randolph county, North Carolina, the source of so many of Grant county's early settlers; they have been identified with the Quaker and the Wesleyan churches, and the first generation were pioneers in this section of Indiana. The grandfather of John L. Rigsbee was John Rigsbee, born in Guilford county, North Carolina, and of English ancestry. In his native county he married Lydia Worth, also of English stock, and a native of the same county. In that old state and county were born their three sons, Martin, Madison and Zimri. When these sons were children the family started north. With several horses to draw their old wagons, they came along the roads leading from the Atlantic slope over the Allegany Mountains, and across the valleys and prairies, camping by night at the roadside, and finally after six weeks of tedious following the trail, they arrived in Wayne county, Indiana. One incident of the journey which is remem- bered by the descendants is that one evening, after camp had been pitched, a large ram butted one of the horses in the head, and the Vol. II-6

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horse was instantly killed. Their first location was on a farm at Col- lege Corners in Wayne county, where they remained to raise two crops. From there they moved to Posey township in Rush county, where Grand- father Rigsbee purchased eighty acres of slightly improved land, with a characteristic habitation of logs. There they lived and gradually prospered, and a number of years later a substantial frame house was built. That house is still standing, and the farm is owned by his descendants. John and Lydia Rigsbee lived on that farm in Rush county until their death. The former passed away in 1855, when past middle life, having been born about 1795. The death of his widow occurred nearly twenty years later in 1873. She was a strong and energetic woman, and at her husband's death there were many obliga- tions which she bravely met, paying off all the old bills and rearing her three sons. Of these sons, Zimrie was a soldier in the Fifty-Second Indiana Regiment during the Civil war, returned home without wounds, but died a few years later from the severe exposure of army life. The son Madison was a farmer, spent all his active career in Rush county, where he married, and of their union two children are living, each of whom has a household of children, and all live in Rush county.

Martin Rigsbee, the father of John L., was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, December 24, 1818, and was a boy when the family made its long journey north to Indiana. Growing up in Rush county, he finally succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead, and by his energy and thrift added one hundred and sixty acres, making two hundred and forty altogether. In 1860 the home was improved by the erection of a large barn, and a large two-story eight-room house was the residence he occupied until his death, December 29, 1908. At that · time he was ninety years and five days old. Martin Rigsbee was a man of small but wiry stature, and his energy and zest for living continued until the last two years of his life. He passed away in the faith of the Quaker church. In Rush county, Lucinda Barnard became his wife. She was born in Guilford county, North Carolina in 1824, and when a girl of six years, her parents came north to Posey township in Rush county. John and Betsey Barnard, her parents, were substantial farm- ers, and lived and died in Rush county, the former about the close of the war, and the latter a good many years afterwards. They were both members of the Friends church. Of their several children all are now deceased but one. Phoebe Folger, who lives in Rush county at the age of eighty-five. She married, but has no issue. Lucinda Rigsbee, died at the age of sixty-eight in 1892. Later her husband, when more than seventy-five years of age, went out to Nebraska and married a woman who had once been a neighbor, Mrs. Adeline Leonard whose maiden name was Folger. She was at that time sixty years of age, and she survived her husband, passing away in March, 1894, at the age of seventy-four. John L. Rigsbee was one of four children. Alveron died at the age of thirty-five on the old farm in Rush county. He married Clara Swain, who is living with a son, Albert W., in Rush county. Florella F. is the widow of H. C. Pitts, who died in Shelby county, where she now lives on the old farm with her two children, Lois and Wendell W. Adrian now lives on a farm in Posey town- ship of Rush county. His first wife was Alice Powell, who died leaving one daughter, Lula. His second marriage was to Maude Miller, and there is one daughter, Iva.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 12

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

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