Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 3

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

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Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Desirous of fitting himself for a broader field of endeavor, Mr. Charles severed his association with his father's business and was matric- ulated in the law department of the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. In this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1898 and he received therefrom his well earned degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then returned to his native city and was forth- with admitted to the Indiana bar. He has become continuously engaged in the active practice of law in Marion since the autumn of 1898 and has gained secure prestige as one of the prominent and resourceful representatives of the bar of Grant county. He has won success through close application and the proper utilization of his admirable powers as a strong and versatile advocate and well fortified counselor. He continues a close student and is specially well fortified in the involved and exacting science of jurisprudence, the while he is a stickler in the observance of the unwritten ethical code of his profession, so that he commands the confidence and high regard of his confreres at the bar, as does he also those of the general public. In the practice of his profession he has had various partnership alliances but his law busi- ness is now conducted in an independent way, with a clientage of important and representative character.

Like his honored father Mr. Charles has been, unwavering and zeal- ous in the support of the cause of the Republican party and he is one

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ERI RICH AND FAMILY

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of its influential representatives in this section of the state. Through several important campaigns he served as vice-chairman of the Repub- lican central committee of Grant county and he has otherwise been active in furthering the party cause. He has served as city attorney of Marion for the past ten years, under three different administrations, and his long retention of this position indicates the value of his services and the estimate placed upon him in the community that has ever been his home. Upon the organization of the present Grant County Bar Association Mr. Charles had the distinction of being elected its first president, and he is one of its active and valued members at the present time. He is essentially progressive and liberal in his civic attitude and gives his support to those undertakings that tend to conserve the general good of the community. He is secretary and a director of the United States Glove Company, representing one of the important indus- trial enterprises of Marion, and is an influential member of the Marion Civic Assembly. He is Past Exalted Ruler of the Benevolent & Pro- tective Order of Elks and a member of the Knights of Pythias.

Connubial responsibilities were assumed by Mr. Charles on the 11th of June, 1907, when he wedded Miss Edith M. Esler, who was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, and the two children of this union are Robert Franklin, who was born May 12, 1908; and Edwin Esler, who was born June 26, 1911.

ERI RICH. Of the substantial old Quaker stock which has produced such wealth of character and citizenship in Grant county, the Rich fam- ily has been among the worthiest representatives. Eri Rich has spent his best years in this county, has prospered in health and lands, has reared a family to do him credit, and has possessed the esteem of all whose lives he has touched in business or social relations. Mr. Rich after a long career of farming has in recent years lived in Fairmount, and has made a reputation as a breeder of fine horses, his skill in this direction having made him well known among stock men of northeastern Indiana.

Eri Rich was born in the southern part of Hamilton county, Indiana, near Carmel, October 12, 1840. His father was Joseph Rich, his grand- father Peter Rich, Jr., both natives of Randolph county, North Carolina, while the great-grandfather was Peter Rich, Sr., a native of England. Peter Rich, Sr., was married in his native land, and came to America about the time of or a little before the Revolutionary war. He lived and died in Randolph county, North Carolina, and reached a good old age. His wife was also old at the time of her death. They had a family of children, among whom was Peter, Jr.

Peter Rich, Jr., was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, about 1776-1777. Growing up in his native locality he learned the trade of wagon making, and was also a farmer. For many years he followed these pursuits in his native county. He married Sarah Sanders. She was a Quakeress, but her husband held to no church. Born to their marriage in North Carolina were the following children: Aaron, Joseph, Isaac, Jesse, John, David, and three daughters, Mary, Rebecca and Martha.

Joseph Rich, the third in the above named family. and the father of Eri Rich was born in North Carolina, in 1811. In 1830 or 1831, before he was of age, he bought his time from his father and came north to Indiana, locating near Carmel, in Hamilton county, on eighty acres of government land. His home was in the wilderness, and in a clearing among the woods he put up a log cabin, cutting the timbers from the standing trees. An interesting fact concerning this old pioneer of Ham- ilton county is that he set out soon after locating there two acres of apples and peach trees, and that orchard grew and flourished, and for Vol. 1-2

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many years was one of the best in all that part of Indiana. Some years after his own settlement, his parents and other members of the family came on to Indiana, locating in Grant county, in Fairmount township, during the latter forties. Thus the latter years of Peter Rich and wife were spent in Grant county, where Peter died at the age of eighty-six years and his wife at the age of eighty-seven. After getting well started in his new home in Hamilton county, Joseph Rich met and married Miriam Newby. She was born in North Carolina, was a young woman when she accompanied her parents to Hamilton county, and her people spent their lives in that section. The first wife of Joseph Rich died in Hamilton county, August 22, 1851. She was born January 28, 1803. In 1852 Joseph Rich after the death of his wife, brought his family to Grant county, having sold his property in Hamilton county. He bought land in Liberty township and lived there a number of years finally retiring and making his home at Fairmount where he died about 1896. After coming to Grant county he was three times married, but had no children. His first wife left six children named as follows: Sarah, who married Abner Halloway, who died in Fairmount, and she now lives in Fairmount township, having a family, all of whom are married. Mary, the second child, is the wife of James Marley, of Fairmont, but has no children. The next in order is Eri Rich. Asenath is the wife of John Seale, an Englishman, now living in California, and they have a family of children. Jessie S. married Angeline Jenkins, now deceased, and he lives in the southeastern part of the state of Kansas near Baxter, and has a family. Eliza is the wife of Frank Davis, and lives in Fairmount having children.

Eri Rich was about twelve years old when his father moved from Hamilton county to Grant county. He grew up on a farm, received a substantial education in the local schools, and taking up the vocation to which he had been trained, he conducted a place in the country for a number of years. In 1869, he moved to Miami county, Indiana, where he improved the farm of sixty acres. That land was subsequently traded for a place in Grant county, comprising one hundred and sixty-eight acres. In 1897, Mr. Rich moved to Fairmount, retiring from active agri- culture, and has since devoted his time to trade and stock breeding. For five years he was a feed merchant at Fairmount. Since then practi- cally all his work has been in the raising of registered stock. He owns several excellent horses, including the Belgian horse named Ameer, a fine Percheron named Minstrel, and also a fine Belgian named Edmund. He has made a reputation as a careful breeder, and maintains one of the best stables in Grant county.

Mr. Rich was married in Grant county in 1861 to Elizabeth A. David- son. She was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, January 20, 1841, a daughter of Joseph and Rena (White) Davidson, who were Quaker people, farmers, and natives of North Carolina. The family moved to Indiana about 1858, leased a farm in Grant county, and later in the same year the parents moved to Minnesota where they died at a good old age. Mr. and Mrs. Rich became the parents of eleven children, whose names and careers are briefly stated as follows: Enos died when young ; Rena Ellen is the wife of Ray McHatten, and has three children, Grace, Effie and Fred; M. Etta is the wife of Micajah Thomas, living in Fairmount, and their children are Everett, who is married, Adelbert, Clarence W., and Cleo F., the youngest being at home and all the chil- dren well educated: Elwood lives in Huntington county, is married and has three sons, Robert, William and Ralph; John is married, and has a family of one son, Alvie, and two daughters, Lulu and Ethel, and lives in Fairmount; Lucina is the widow of Lewis Thomas, living in Hunt-

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ington, Indiana, and has two sons, Eri and Walter; Milton resides in Fairmount township, is married and has three sons, Doite, Earl and Glen; Eliza is the wife of Norman Little, living in Huntington county, and they are the parents of three sons, Orville, Willard and Virgil; May is the wife of Arthur Marsh, living in California, and they have two sons, Albert and Walter Eri; Eunice died after her marriage to Alfred Marine, leaving one son Eri. The twelfth and youngest child died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Rich are both birthright members of the Friends church. Mr. Rich was for a number of years a Republican voter, but latterly has supported the Democratic party.

GEORGE A. . H. SHIDELER. One of the best known men in the state of Indiana is George A. H. Shideler, secretary and general manager of the Marion Flint Glass Company, and practically all his life a resi- dent of Grant county. Few men in Marion are so well known as he, and his is a familiar figure to every man, woman and child in the city. A product of Grant county, he was born in Jonesboro, on Novem- ber 23, 1863, and is the son of a well known family of that place.

When nine years of age Mr. Shideler removed to Indianapolis, Indiana, in company with his parents and there he attended school until the age of fifteen, when he took a position as cash boy in the New York Store, in that city. He was an ambitious youth, and it was but a few years before he was able to take a place as traveling salesman for a prominent dry goods house of the city, but when natural gas was discovered in Marion in 1887 he left his traveling position and came to Marion, becoming interested as a stockholder in the Marion. Flint Glass Company, being elected secretary of the company. The factory has long been rated among the most solidly established enter- prises in the city, and is operated in accordance with the most advanced methods in vogue today among glass manufacturers.

Mr. Shideler is a man who has always taken an active and prominent part in local and district politics, and his public usefulness. has extended to the state legislature, to which he was elected in 1896 and re-elected in 1899. He was appointed a member of the Board of Control of the Reform School for Boys, located at Plainfield, his appointment coming from Governor Mount in 1897. He resigned the place in 1899 when he was elected a second time to the legislature, but was re-ap- pointed in 1900, in consequence of the excellent work he did as a member of that board. In 1899 he was tendered the position of Warden of the Indiana State Prison at Michigan City, receiving the appointment through the governor and the board of managers, and he accepted the office, holding it for two years, when he resigned, since which time he has devoted his entire time and activities to the care of his many and varied private interests. As warden of the Indiana State Prison Mr. Shideler gained a nation wide reputation and no penal institution in the country was better managed than was that institution under his regime. A man of broad human sympathies, keen understanding and humanitarian tendencies, he was eminently fitted for the duties of his position, and he was ever found to be a friend to the unfortunate, who most needed a friend and counselor. He is especially interested in the boy problem, so potent a one in the present day social scheme, and his wide experience in state criminal institutions has taught him that the secret of true manhood lies in controlling the early tendencies of the boy and surrounding him with every safeguard that is- humanly possible in early life. It is not too much to say that Mr. Shideler is one of the most popular men in Grant county today, and one who is most deserving of mention in a historical and biographical work of this order.

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Mr. Shideler married July 26, 1894, Margaret Ball, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Ball, of Marion. They have two boys, Robert, aged eighteen, and Richard, aged twelve.

MARCUS M. KILGORE. The Farmer's Trust & Savings Company of Marion,is one of the solidest and most representative financial institu- tions of Grant county. Every financial institution during its earlier years acquires estimation and influence in a community largely through the character and reputation of the men whose names are most inti- mately associated with the undertaking. Some institutions of this kind which have enjoyed prosperous careers of many years apparently lose this personal element in their composition, and continue to exist and enjoy the confidence of the public with apparently little regard to the business managers. But with a new banking house or similar concern, whose prosperity rests upon commercial credit, the personal factor is always the indispensable quality. The success and prosperity of the Farmer's Trust & Savings Company of Marion, which was established only a few years ago, have been to a large degree a reflection of the personal integrity and high business standing of its president, Mr. Marcus M. Kilgore. Mr. Kilgore has been identified with Grant county nearly all the years of his life, and is a plain man of solid worth, whose life and activities have always been above board, and such as to stimu- late and give permanence to the confidence reposed in him by a large community.

Marcus M. Kilgore was born on a farm in Franklin county, Indiana, . June 26, 1850. He is a son of David and Charity (Sislove) Kilgore. His father, who was born in Pennsylvania, in 1808, and who was a lifelong farmer by occupation, and the mother, who was born in Frank- lin county, Indiana, in 1811, both came to Grant county in 1852 and spent the remainder of their lives in this vicinity. His father died in this county in 1896. There were eight children in the family, and besides the banker, the three others still living are: Hercules Kilgore of Marion; G. W. Kilgore, of Port Lisbon, Grant county; and Mrs. Susanna Keever, of Marion.

Two years of age when the parents came to Grant county, Marcus M. Kilgore was reared on the old home farm in this county and attained most of his education by attending the district schools, chiefly during the winter seasons. He left the farm when a young man and entered the merchandise business at Port Lisbon in this county and he was one of the successful merchants of that town for twenty years. From there he moved to Converse in Miami county, and in that vicinity was chiefly known as a farmer. During his residence in Miami county, he was elected to the legislature for the session of 1891 on the Demo- cratic ticket, representative of the counties of Cass and Miami. In 1895 Mr. Kilgore returned to Grant county, and for the following seven years was a resident upon his farm and actively engaged in its operation. In 1907 occurred his election to the office of assessor of Grant county, and he held this honorable distinction for four years. Mr. Kilgore since 1902 has been a resident of Marion, and active in business affairs of this city. In 1910 he was one of the organizers of the Farmer's Trust & Savings Company, and was chosen by other members of the company to the office of president, a place which he has held ever since. He is still engaged in farming and has a splendid farm of three hundred and twenty acres in Liberty and Green township of this county. Mr. Kilgore is now regarded as one of the men of substantial means in Grant county, and yet looking back over a career of forty years, it can truthfully be said that he has acquired practically

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every dollar as a result of his own industry and straightforward busi- ness dealings.

July 15, 1870, Mr. Kilgore married Miss Elizabeth J. Lane, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Mordicai and Charity (Foster) Lane. Mrs. Kilgore died October 18, 1909, and the three children left at her death were: Myrtle, wife of Warren C. Pinkeman of Marion; Miss Olive Kilgore, of Marion, and Karl, who resides on his father's farm, and who married Mary Overman, and their one son is also named Karl. On June 12, 1912, Mr. Kilgore married for his second wife Mrs. Isabelle Edmundson of Marion. Mrs. Kilgore is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their home at 501 Wabash avenue is one of the most attractive residences of the city. Fraternally Mr. Kilgore is affiliated with the Elks' Club of Marion.

JOSHUA STRANGE. The prosperity and advancement of a community depends upon the social character and public spirit of its members. In every prosperous town and country center will be found citizens who take the lead and give their energies not alone to their well being, but to the things that mean better and fuller life for all. Such a citizen in Grant county has Mr. Joshua Strange been recognized for many years.

As to his position in life and the work to which he has chiefly devoted himself it is somewhat difficult to classify Mr. Strange. A large number of the years of his active career were spent in farming and stock raising on a large scale in the eastern part of the county in Monroe township, but for a long time his name has been prominently associated with business, industrial and financial organizations in this part of the state. There is no question, however, but that Mr. Strange represents first and foremost the rural interests of this county. That he is by no means restricted in his activities and sympathies, since he has for some years been a national and state figure in everything that pertains to the development of the country and the welfare of the rural residents. With Joshua Strange it is a belief like the gospel that civilization rests at bottom on the wholesomeness, the attractiveness, and the completeness of life in the country. In the accomplishments of his long and useful life, if he might be privileged to express a signifi- cance for what he has done he would undoubtedly desire that his life work might stand for something actually done in developing country life to its greater efficiency and prosperity.

Joshua Strange is one of the oldest native sons of Grant county. He was born in this county November 18, 1844, a son of George and Lydia (Buckwall) Strange. His father was born in Highland county, Ohio, November 12, 1819, and gave practically all his life to the occupa- tion of farming. A few years were spent in partnership with William Hayes in the packing and shipping of hogs. This enterprise had its seat in Grant county, and the partners bought a large number, of hogs at 10c per pound, after which the market immediately dropped to 7c before they had accepted delivery of the hogs. The partners, however, stood by their contract, and paid the ten cents, and in order to equalize things they had to buy a great quantity at the price of seven cents per pound. These transactions occurred about 1863, during the height of the Civil war period. The late George Strange came to Grant county in 1841, making his permanent settlement here in that year. Two years previously he had come to the county and selected the site on which he subsequently built his cabin home. After making this selection of his home he walked all the way back to Highland county, Ohio. The set- tlement of George Strange was one hundred and twenty acres of land in section nine of Monroe township, that land having previously been

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entered by his father Absalom Strange, who had attained his grant from the government. Absalom Strange had gone from Ohio to Indiana to enter land, going via Indianapolis to Fort Wayne from Highland county, Ohio, where he returned after entering this land and where he remained until his death. George Strange spent most of the years of his active life in Monroe township, where at one time he owned seven hundred and twenty acres of land. He was a man of remarkable energy, and kept active supervision over his affairs until he was eighty years of age. He and his wife kept their own house and managed their own affairs even when extremely old. In the fall of 1908 Mr. George Strange was stricken with heart trouble and never fully recovered previous to his death which occurred October 1, 1909. In politics he was an "old hickory Democrat." For twelve years he served as trustee of Monroe township, and during that time his annual service to the township never cost the public to exceed $67.00.

Lydia (Buckwall) Strange, the mother of Joshua Strange, was born in Highland county, Ohio, September 18, 1819, and died February 19, 1910, being then past ninety years of age. Although at that extreme age her death resulted from a fall when she broke her hip. She was a lineal descendant in the fourth generation from the Princess Louisa of the female side of the house of Hapsburg. Her grandfather, whose name was Ellis, was a Revolutionary soldier, and accompanied Wash- ington on his stormy voyage across the Delaware River to surprise the Hessians at Trenton. The late George Strange and wife were parents of eight children, five of whom are still living.

It was the fortune, of which he is now proud, of Joshua Strange to have been born under a primitive old homestead in the woods of Monroe township, in surroundings where the wolves and other wild animals were more numerous than domestic cattle, and at a time when this country was only a few years distant from its earliest settlement. When old enough to attend school he went to the first school in the district, at Arcana, originally called Mouron, and platted in 1852 for a town, of which Mr. Strange has the original plat. At this school the teacher and his family lived in half of the school building, only a slight parti- tion separating the two apartments. This school was taught by William Harrison. There are many novel and interesting reminiscences of those days which Mr. Strange relates, and they would all be valuable material for local history. His attendance at the district school was completed in a school house erected by the community and it is noteworthy that Mr. Strange now owns all the land where this school house stood; the old site at the present is abandoned, and the school was supplanted by a new frame building with the Masonic Hall over the school rooms.

When he was nineteen years of age, Mr. Strange entered the old seminary at Marion, where he was a student thirty-six days, and at the end of that time attained eighteen months' license for teaching. His first term of school was at Griffin school district, where he taught two terms during the years of 1864-65-66. He also taught two terms at the Number One school house in Monroe township. At the subsequent examination he obtained a certificate for two years, but declined any further solicitations to teach, and thence forward devoted all his time to stock raising and farming.

It is one of the distinctions of Mr. Strange as a farmer that he was probably the first man in the county to undertake the breeding of thorough-bred short-horn cattle on any commercial basis and produced the first herd of show cattle in the county. His business of farming was begun on eighty acres of land in section twelve of Monroe town- ship, where he remained for two years. During that residence he

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built a log house, and began housekeeping in a room eleven by fifteen feet. Two years later, having sold out, he bought the northeast quarter of section fifteen in Monroe township, and this fine body of land is still among his possessions. He remained there until 1883, in which year he built his present beautiful country home at the little village of Arcana, which is located just north of his former place and in section ten of Monroe township. He moved into the new home in January, 1884, and continued his residence there until November, 1903, at which latter date he moved to Marion, locating first at 3628 South Washington Street, a property which he still owns, and where he lived until he bought and built his present home at 612 South Bronson Street. Mr. Strange is a large land owner and at the present time has 600 acres in this county.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 3

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

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