Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 13

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

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The second in this family, John L. Rigsbee was born in Rush county, March 26, 1857. Reared on the homestead, educated in the common schools, his life was spent on the old John Rigsbee farm, with the excep- tion of one year until he moved to Grant county in August, 1909. His

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first settlement was in Liberty township, where he bought the Harmon Buller farm of one hundred and sixty acres, also one hundred and twenty acres of the Gaddis Farm, having his home on the latter, and both were in section twenty-five. Later his estate was sold at one hun- dred and sixty-five dollars an acre, and he then bought ninety acres of Hezekiah Miller, in the same township. In September, 1912, Mr. Rigsbee moved into Fairmount .City, buying a nice home near the Academy grounds at the corner of Eighth and Rush Streets.

Mr. Rigsbee in 1880 married in Rush county, Miss Clara F. Hester, who was born and reared in Shelby county. Her birth occurred Decem- ber 24, 1860, and her parents were John and Emeline (Linville) Hester, natives of Guilford county, North Carolina, who at quite an early day settled in Shelby county, Indiana, which was their home throughout the rest of their days. John Hester for his first wife, married Mildred Cruze, who died in Shelby county, leaving six children. By his second marriage, there were four children, namely: Rev. Jacob, who lives in Rush county, a farmer, and has six children. Rev. Franklin, who lives in Jewel county, Kansas, is married and has six children : Jasper, whose home is in Shelby county, Indiana, and he has a family; and Clara F., wife of Mr. Rigsbee. Both Jacob and Franklin Hester have been for many years preachers in the Wesleyan church.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Rigsbee are mentioned as follows : Earl C., is a conductor on the Union Traction Lines, is married and has three children, Marvin, Wilma and John Walter; Otto H. married Harriet, a daughter of Rev. H. T. Hawkins, and has two children, Lavelda and Clarice; Otto H. is on the John L. Rigsbee farm in Liberty township. Wilbern is in the motor works at Marion, and is studying for the ministry of the Wesleyan church. He married Mary Cox, and has one daughter, Lucile. Opal E. is the wife of Rev. Sewell Baker, a prominent minister of the Wesleyan Methodist church at Marion. Sid- ney T., a student of dentistry in Indianapolis, married Nellie Allen, and they have one child, Edith. Mary is now living at home and attending high school. Mr. and Mrs. Rigsbee and members of their family are com- municants of the Wesleyan Methodist church, in which he is a trustee and superintendent of the Fairmount Camp Meeting Grounds, near Fairmount City.

WILLIAM W. MCFEELEY, assistant cashier of the Pennsylvania Rail- road at Marion, is a son of Alfred and Sarah (Worthington ) MeFeeley, residents of Marion, Indiana, and among the most popular and prom- inent people of this section of the state.

Alfred McFeeley, the head of the family in this state and in Grant county, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, on August 31, 1836, and he came from Union City to Marion in 1874, since which time he has been a continuous resident of this city. Early in life he became a miller, a business with which many of his name had been identified in prevous years, operating flouring mills throughout the country, and when he first located in Marion he was connected officially with the old mill in Ceme- tery Boulevard that was long known as the McFeeley mill. He and a brother, Thomas McFeeley, first owned the mill, and they later sold it to an uncle, one Joseph McFeeley, who thereafter operated it for many a year. During a heavy storm on one Fourth of July, the mill was moved from its foundations by the wind, and from that time on as long as a stone stood there, it was known as the McFeeley Cyclone Mill, for many years constituting a land mark along the way to the Marion I. O. O. F. cemetery.

When R. L. Jones was killed by a horsethief soon after he was elected to the office of county sheriff for Grant county in the year 1888, Mr.

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McFeeley received the appointment to the vacancy thus created, and since that time he has frequently been prominent in public life in the county. He was for several years the trustee of Center township before the Associated Charities had in charge the relief activities of the city of Marion, and he handled alone and unaided the local charities, in addition to school and other township business of important character. The trustees of Center township were entrusted with the care of the indigent of Marion, and it was a duty that other township trustees knew little or nothing about, most of the responsibility falling upon Mr. McFeeley.

For many years Mr. McFeeley, usually known as "Squire" Mc- Feeley, has served as justice of the peace of Center township, and he has in that time established a reputation as the "marrying squire," his record down to date accrediting him with three hundred and forty-four marriages. He ever has a pleasant word for the bride, and points out with pride the fact that the nuptial knots he ties are not immediately severed in the divorce courts. He is of the opinion, however, that when the Indiana legislature sees fit to enact a law permitting a justice of the peace to untie the marriage knot, he will have quite as much business at the other end of the line, for he maintains that divorce is as much in demand as marriage in these later days.

Squire McFeeley is a veteran of the Civil war, having served as a member of Company K, Fortieth Ohio Regiment for three years, after which he was transferred to the Fifty-first Ohio, and his total services amounted to four full years. Owing to his advanced age and the length of his service, he is now on the pension lists as a one dollar a day pensioner, which, in connection with the revenue that comes to him in his capacity as the "marrying justice," permits him to pass his declin- ing days in ample comfort. He visited Fort Recovery, Ohio, on July 1, 1913, where a $25,000 monument was unveiled in honor of General St. Clair, one hundred and twenty-two years after the battle he fought with the Indians at that point, and although a full century has passed by since the battle of Mississinewa, the Squire believes the Grant county battle field will in time be designated with a similar monument. He is familiar with the entire course of the Mississinewa, having been reared at the "spreads" in Mississinewa township, in Darke county, Ohio, where the river has its headwaters, and where for miles it is little more than a swamp drain.

Mr. McFeeley is one who enjoys a story well told, and few there are in these parts who can tell more apropos tales than he, all of them sug- gested by something in the circumstances of the moment, and always right to the point and glimmering with sparkle and brightness. Thus is it that the bride and groom are always started cheerily upon their way-a fact that seems to insure him of ample future patronage.

William W. McFeeley is one of the three children of his parents-one of them, Otto H. McFeeley, being a resident of Oak Park, Chicago, and a sister, Mrs. Gertrude Landauer, a resident of Marion. On December 11, 1905, Mr. McFeeley was married to Miss Ethel Morehead, who died on September 12, 1908. She was a daughter of O. H. P. Morehead and a granddaughter of William Morehead, who was among the last veterans of the Mexican war. The Morehead family have in recent years moved to Tennessee, after long years of continued residence in Grant county. Mr. McFeeley, since the death of his young wife, has taken up his residence with his aged parents, and there has continued to make his home as in earlier years.

WILLIAM T. WRIGHT. One of the prominent factors in the agri- culture and live stock industry of southern Grant county is William T.

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y. White

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Wright, who is perhaps best known over a wide section of country for his success in the breeding and handling of mules. For a number of years he has carried on a large business in this line, and has a farm well adapted with facilities and improvements for this work. His home is in section thirty-five of Fairmount township, and he has lived there for the past twelve years. His stock and feed barn stands two stories high, is painted white, and can be seen for several miles around. Its foundation dimensions are sixty by sixty-two feet, and its capacity is sixty tons of hay, nine head of horses and thirty head of mules, fifteen hundred bushels of corn, and two thousand bushels of small grain. Nearby is a commodious and well furnished nine-room residence, also painted white. Both the barn and dwelling were erected in 1906, and all the improvements were placed on the farm by Mr. Wright during his management. Mr. Wright owns one hundred acres, and seven acres of this is in timberland. The place is especially adapted to the raising of wheat, but for the purpose of feeding his mules, Mr. Wright has most of it in meadow, hay and clover. Mr. Wright's farm is a part of his father's estate of three hundred acres, and has been in the possession of the Wright family since the decade of the seventies.

William T. Wright was born December 1, 1866, in Franklin county, in the town of Brookville, near the home of Lew Wallace. His parents were John and Celia (Glidwell) Wright. His father, a native of Man- chester, England, was three years old when the Wrights came to the United States and was reared partly in Ohio and partly in Indiana. His death occurred in Franklin county in 1876 at the age of fifty-four. His occupation throughout his active career was that of farming. He was married in Franklin to Miss Glidwell, who was born in Indiana, of German ancestry. Her death occurred in 1912, when she was seventy years of age, having been born in 1832. Both parents were members of the Presbyterian faith. Willlam T. Wright was one of four children, three of whom are still living. His brother, Frank A., is married and is a miller and farmer in Franklin county. The sister is Mrs. Jason B. Smith, a sketch of whose family will be found elsewhere in this work.

William T. Wright was reared and educated in Franklin county, and his home was there until 1901, at which time he took possession of his present place. In his native community he was married to Miss Hester May McCowen, who was born in Franklin county, Indiana, and reared and educated there. Her parents, John and Mary (Cole) Mc- Cowen, were born in Franklin county, being of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and farmers by occupation. Her father was seventy years of age at the time of his death.

Seven children had been born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Wright, as follows: W. Ralph, now twenty-two years of age, is a grad- nate of the Fairmount high school, and has charge of a grain elevator at Laurel, Indiana; Frances W., aged nineteen, graduated from the Fair- mount high school in the class of 1911; Mary C., is a student in the Fairmount high school; Helen Gould is in the grade schools; Floyd E. is in the third grade of the district school; and the two youngest are Howard M. and Keith. In politics Mr. Wright votes the Democratic ticket.

Y. F. WHITE. In November, 1912, the people of Grant county chose for the office of sheriff a citizen whose fitness for such responsibility and honor is unquestioned and exceptional. Sheriff White has been a resi- dent of Grant county most of his life, has been a practical and success- ful farmer, and has always been noted for his honesty and efficiency in every undertaking with which his name has been connected.

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Y. F. White was born February 4, 1867, in Fairfield county, Ohio, a son of Levi and Carrie (Borns) White. The father, a native of Penn- sylvania, was a farmer by occupation and during the Civil war served as a soldier of the Union. From Pennsylvania he moved into Ohio, where he spent ten years, and then came to Indiana when his son Y. F. was six years of age, locating in Monroe township, Grant county. The fol- lowing year he transferred his residence into Washington township, where he bought a farm which remained his own home for many years, and was the place where the children grew to manhood. About eight years before his death the father moved into Marion, where he died in 1908. The mother passed away in the same year. They were the parents of five sons, who are all living and named as follows: Curtis A. White of Marion; Y. F .; William E. of Marion; Frank L., and owner of a farm in Van Buren township in this county; and John I., on the old home farm. Mr. Y. F. White was born on the farm, remained a farmer prac- tically all his career, being still engaged in that occupation, though he has for four years resided in Marion. His early education was attained in the district schools and was completed at the Marion Normal College. When twenty-two years of age he left the home farm and spent the next three years on another place owned by his father in Van Buren township. At the end of that time his industry and good management had enabled him to begin business on his own account, and he bought a farm in Huntington county, close to the Grant county line. That remained his place of residence and activities until his removal to Marion four years ago. He lived in Texas with his family, in the winter of 1909, but then returned and opened a real estate office in Marion.

An influential Democrat in this county for many years, Mr. White was nominated on May 11, 1912, for the office of sheriff, made a success- ful campaign and entered upon the duties of his office on January 1, 1913. Mr. White still retains ownership of a farm in Washington township, and the old home place in Huntington county. In 1889 he married Miss Sarah E. Ridenour, daughter of Solomon Ridenour of Hocking county, Ohio. The two children born to their marriage are Boyd C. and Blanche White, both at home. Fraternally Mr. White is affiliated with the Loyal Order of Moose and the Elks Lodge, and he and his family worship in the United Brethren church.

HARMON BULLER. Randolph county, North Carolina, the source of so many early settlers in Grant county, was the place of origin of the Buller family, the first members of which came to Grant county eighty- five years ago, among the earliest pioneers, and three years before the county was organized. In the third generation of the family is Harmon, for so many years prominent as a farmer and stockman in Fairmount township and the owner of a splendid rural estate just outside the city of Fairmount. His fellow citizens have paid him many tributes for his thrift and excellent judgment in business affairs, and he has been remarkably successful in stock trading and dealing. Mr. Buller is a man of the energetic, nervous temperament, always active in mind and body, and has been a forceful leader in every undertaking whether on his own initiative or in community matters.

His grandfather Buller was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, and spent all his life in that state as a farmer, his death occurring when quite old. The grandfather married Mary, better known as Polly, Leonard, also of North Carolina. After her husband died, with her family of two sons and three daughters she came over- land by wagon and team across the long distance intervening between North Carolina and Indiana. This journey was made in 1833, and she

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located on section twenty-eight in Fairmount township of Grant county. The land was altogether new, in the state of primeval wilderness, though it had been entered a year or two before by other parties. Mrs. Buller after several years of residence in Grant county married Job David of North Carolina. Later they moved to a small farm in Liberty township, where they both died. Mrs. Buller reached a good old age, and in many ways was one of the remarkable pioneer women. She was a Wesleyan Methodist in religion, and brought up her children in that faith. She survived her second husband by several years. Of her five children, all grew up and married and were farming people.

Lindsay Buller, father of Harmon Buller, was a young man when his mother moved to Grant county. He was born in North Carolina in 1815, and on reaching maturity entered forty acres of land on section twenty- five in Liberty township. There he did well as a farmer, and after a long and honorable career died in 1895 at the home of his son B. F. Buller. He was a Wesleyan Methodist and a Republican in politics. Lindsay Buller married Miss Polly Lytle, who was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, in 1814, and was a girl when she came with her father to Grant county, locating in Liberty township. Her father there entered eighty acres of land, and that continued to be the Lytle home- stead for many years. Later her father and a second wife moved out to Missouri where they died. Mrs. Polly Buller died in 1863, while her son Harmon was away fighting as a soldier for the Union.

Harmon Buller was born on his father's old farm in Liberty town- ship, February 23, 1844. There he grew up, attended the district schools such as were maintained in the rural communities of that time, and when nineteen years of age enlisted in Company G of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Indiana Infantry as a private. With that regiment he served during 1863 and 1864, nearly a full year. He was in some of the hardest campaigns of the war and saw much fighting and many marches, but went through service without injury, was never confined a day in a hospital, and escaped capture. On his discharge from the army he returned to Grant county, and soon after acquired his first land in Liberty township. He improved his place with good buildings, and lived there until he sold out in the fall of 1875. In that year he moved to Fairmount township, and bought eighty acres of fine land, just outside the corporation limits of the city. By his thrift and enterprise he gradually extended his landed possessions and at the present time owns two hundred acres in one body. This is improved with a commodious brick dwelling house besides excellent barn buildings of all descriptions. The keynote of his success has been energy, combined with a certain talent for managing soil and in handling and dealing in live stock.

In Fairmount City Mr. Buller married Mary Little, who was born in North Carolina in 1840, and came to Grant county with her parents. She died in Fairmount, in 1904, the mother of three children. The son John E. is now a prosperous young farmer, is the owner of eighty acres of land near Fairmount, and married Salina Arnett. They have one son, Carmen A. Charles I .. , the second son, is a substantial farmer in Fairmount township, and is regarded as one of the most successful men. His first marriage was to Bertha Plock, who died leaving one child, Harmon, Jr. His present wife is Anna Yarber. Mr. Buller and sons are Republican voters.

JOHN W. HIMELICK. The Himelick family has been identified with Grant county for about forty years, and John W. has spent nearly all his life here, being remembered for his work as a teacher, during his

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early manhood and is now one of the exceedingly prosperous and pro- gressive farmers of section one in Fairmount township. His ability as a stock raiser, is recognized beyond the limits of his own community, and many of his fine shorthorns have won ribbons in the live stock shows.

The ancestry is German, and the name was first established in Pennsylvania. In that state John Himelick, great-grandfather of the Fairmount township stock raiser, located towards the close of the eighteenth century, where he lived the life of a farmer, and died when an old man. His marriage probably occurred in Pennsylvania. There were three sons: Joseph, George and John, Jr., all of whom moved west and found homes in Franklin county, Indiana, where they were married, John, Jr., lived his last years in Jennings county, Indiana, where he died and left a family. George, some years after his marriage moved out to Kansas, and his home for a number of years was in the vicinity of Leavenworth, where he died. Some of his children are still living.

Joseph Himelick, grandfather of John W. was married in Franklin county to Mary Curry, of a pioneer family, either in Franklin county or Union county. After their marriage their home was for some years in Franklin county, where all their children were born. Their son John, father of John W., was married about the time the family moved to Washington township in Madison county, where Joseph Himelick bought eighty acres of land near the corporation of Summitville, developed a good farm and spent the rest of his days there. His death occurred about 1880, and he was born in 1815. His widow is still living, a venerable old lady of ninety-one, having been born in 1822. Her home is in Summitville. She has been almost a lifelong member of the Christian church, in which denomination her husband was also a member. In politics he supported the Democratic party.

John Himelick, Sr., was born in Franklin county, Indiana, December 25, 1840, and moved to Madison county about the close of the war. Some years later, in 1875, he came to Grant county, and bought one hundred and five acres in section fourteen of Fairmount township. That farm was later sold, and another bought in Mill township near Jones- boro, where his last days were spent, and his death occurred July 12, 1906. His widow now makes her home in Summitville in Madison county. Before her marriage she was Mary C. Morris, born in Franklin county, Indiana, September 28, 1844. Her parents were Nicholas and Elizabeth (Ringer) Morris, both natives of Pennsylvania and her mother of pure German stock. Her parents were married in Franklin county, Indiana, later moving to Madison county, where they died after a long and happy married companionship of nearly sixty years. Both were seventy-five years of age, and their deaths occurred within two weeks of each other. John and Mary Himelick had a family of six sons and three daughters, among whom John W. was fifth in order of birth. George, who is a farmer in Jefferson township of Grant county married Lydia, a daughter of Jacob Wise, and has six sons and four daughters. Joseph, a farmer in Madison county, married Ella Webster, and has three sons. Elizabeth, who died when twenty-six years old was the wife of the late Ulysses Horner, and had one son and one daughter. Robert is a teacher in the state of Wisconsin, and his children are Frances and Jesse. The next is John W. Himelick. Olive, is the wife of Virgil Duling, a farmer in Fairmount township and has a daughter, Mary. Maude is the wife of William D. Moss, of Marion. Orville, who lives at Upland, married Nancy Ruley, and their children are Louise, John, Paul and Elizabeth. Earl, who is a glass worker at

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Jonesboro, married Dora Nelson, and has three children, Lucile, Ray- mond, and Robert.

John W. Himelick was born in Madison county, April 27, 1872. His education began in the public schools, was continued in the Fairmount Academy, with a course in the Danville Normal College and at De Pauw University. With this liberal equipment he devoted ten years of his young life to teaching and there are hundreds of his pupils who still recall his work and influence in kindly memories. Nearly all his work as a teacher was done in Jefferson and Fairmount townships. From teaching he turned his attention to farming, and is now the possessor of one hundred and sixty acres of fine land in section one of Fairmount township. His specialty is the breeding of thoroughbred shorthorn cattle, and his animals when exhibited have taken a number of blue ribbons. His farm has many improvements, and among those that attract the eye is a splendid stock and grain barn painted red, and a large white house, containing twelve rooms, and comfortably and tastefully furnished. Mr. Himelick married Miss Sarah Lorena Richards, a native of Jefferson township in this county. Her parents were L. G. and Mary E. Craw Richards, both natives of Indiana and married in Grant county. Mrs. Richards died in Jefferson township in 1893 at the age of fifty-six. Mr. Richards married the second time, and now lives on his farm in Jefferson township, October 20, 1913, being his eightieth birthday. The Richards family are members of the Primitive Baptist church, and in politics Mr. Richards is a Democrat. Mrs. Himelick has two brothers, William and Leman, both of whom are married and have children, and one of his sisters is Lucina, wife of R. C. Nottingham, with children, and another sister Molly died after her mar- riage to Frank H. Kirkwood. Mr. and Mrs. Himelick, who have no children of their own, are members of the Methodist Protestant church, and his politics is described as Independent Democratic.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 13

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

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