USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 34
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113
Digitized by Google
891
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
and has given a most proficient administration of the duties of his office. He is a Republican in politics, and fraternally is affiliated with Fairmount Lodge No. 635, F. & A. M., having formerly been a secre- tary of the lodge. Mr. Morris is unmarried.
JOSIAH WINSLOW. The Winslow family was the second to settle in Fairmount township. The time of their coming was two years before the organization of Grant county, and as substantial North Carolina Quakers they did much to influence other families of their faith and general social character to locate in the same community. Josiah Winslow is of the third generation in Grant county, is a native of Fair- mount township, and his active career was spent here and in other nearby sections of the state. His home is now in Fairmount, where he lives retired after a long and successful career in farming. Mrs. Wins- low, his wife, is a highly intellectual woman, and for many years has been identified with official affairs in the Quaker church, being one of the preachers in that society.
The Winslow family for a number of generations during the eight- eenth century lived in Randolph county, North Carolina. It was estab- lished in America when three brothers landed from the Mayflower at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. One of these brothers has become a familiar name to all American school children as a governor of the old Massachusetts Bay Colony. One of them went south and became the founder of the family in the Carolinas, and from that line has come the present Grant county family.
Joseph Winslow, grandfather of' Josiah, was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, at Back Creek Meeting, about 1780. He was there married to Penina Charles, likewise of an old family and both were strict adherents of the Fox Quaker sect. After all their children had been born, they loaded their possessions into wagons and with teams of horses crossed the Blue Ridge Mountain, journeyed day after day through the valleys and prairies and woods to the west of the Alleghanies, and finally arrived in Fairmount township of Grant county, though the country had no such names at that time, in November, 1829. As previously stated, Joseph Winslow was the second settler in Fair- mount township. His selection of land was made on the west side of a little stream which he called Back Creek, thus transplanting a familiar name from North Carolina. His first shelter was a log house, con- structed entirely without iron or steel, wooden pins and the familiar "tongue and groove" being employed to join the timbers. Later a two-story double hewed log house was erected and there the family lived for a good many years. During 1855-56 Henry Winslow, our subject's father, built a commodious frame house, and there Joseph Winslow lived until his death in September of either 1858 or 1859. He was at that time about eighty years of age. The homestead of one hundred and sixty acres which he had entered from the government, and which his labors had transformed from a wilderness to an improved farm has since passed out of his immediate family, and is now occupied by Ancil Winslow, of the same name, but no immediate relative. Joseph Win- slow played a very conspicuous part in early affairs in his community. His leadership was effective in the organization of the first Quaker meeting, the first church services were held in his house. This society has now for many years been the Back Creek Friends church, in which both he and his wife were prominent. The wife of Joseph Winslow died many years before him. They had a family of five sons and three daughters, namely: John, Seth, Matthew, Daniel, Sarah (Sallie), Caro- Vol. 1-15
Digitized by Google
892
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
line, and Nancy, all of whom were married and had children, and lived and died in Indiana with the exception of Matthew whose death occurred in Iowa; Henry, who was the youngest and the father of Josiah.
Henry Winslow was born in Randolph county. North Carolina, September 11, 1813, and died in Rush county, Indiana, in October, 1887. He was sixteen years old' when the family moved to Grant county, and the old homestead in Fairmount township was the scene of his industrious activities until after the death of his mother, and he eventually became owner of the place. He lived there until 1864, and then took his family to Rush county where he bought eighty-four acres of land. That was his home until his death, and his characteristics as a hard worker, a good neighbor and as one who advocated and practiced the laurel virtues, he always had an influential part in his community. In politics he was a Republican until 1884, and then joined the Prohi- bition party and voted for Governor St. John of Kansas, who was nominee for president on that party ticket. Before the Civil war he had been an equally strong prohibitionist, and his home was one of the stations on the underground railway. He himself had many times kept a black slave concealed about his premises during the day and had car- ried him by night to the next station. Henry Winslow was married in Rush county to Miss Anna Binford, who was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, in 1816. She died at the old Winslow home- stead in Fairmount township in September, 1863. Both she and her husband were active in the Quaker church. Her father, Micajah Bin- ford, of an old North Carolina Quaker family of English stock, died in Rush county, Indiana, when nearly ninety years of age. The ten chil- dren of Henry Winslow and wife are named as follows: Micajah B. died in Kansas in the prime of his life, leaving a family of children. Levi is married and a farmer in Mill township, of Grant county. Emily married Barker Hockett and died in Colorado, leaving a number of children. Jonathan is now a retired farmer in Leavenworth county, Kansas, and has a family. Ruth died the wife of Enos Hill, by whom she left three living children. Sarah died at the age of two years. Joseph and Josiah were twins, and the former is now a preacher in the Friends church in the state of Oklahoma, and has a family of children by his wife. who died twelve years ago. William died unmarried at the age of twenty-one. Mary was the wife of James Baker, and at her death left five children. .
Josiah Winslow was born on his father's homestead in Fairmount township, September 13, 1849. All the children were born there. The first fifteen years of his life were spent in Grant county, and his educa- tion was received chiefly in the old Back Creek schoolhouse. Later he attended school for a time at the Walnut Ridge school in Rush county. His career as a farmer has been spent in Rush county, in Blackford county, and in Grant county. In May, 1912, Mr. Winslow retired from active pursuits, and moved to Fairmount.
His first wife, whom he married in Marion county was Mary Pruitt, who was born there in 1848. Her death occurred in 1876 in Grant county, and her one son, William, died at the age of four years. For his second wife Mr. Winslow married Mrs. Abigail Bogue, whose maiden name was Cox, a daughter of William Cox, of the Cox family so promi- nent in Grant county, and whose histories are given elsewhere in these pages. Mrs. Winslow was born in Fairmount township, October 24, 1847. By her marriage to Jonathan Bogue she had seven children, named as follows: William S. Bogue, who lives in Marion, where he is a carpenter, married Anna Thackery, and has two children, Edwin and Milton and by a former marriage also has two children, Banna
Digitized by Google
893
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
Mandola and Howard; Eli G. Bogue died in early childhood; Lentine is the wife of Willard Allen of Marion, and has one son, Harry; John L. lives in Los Angeles, California, and by his marriage to Zelma Haves has two children, Neva and Olive; Laurel C., whose home is in Marion, married Hazel Hackelman, and has a daughter Margaret E., and by a former marriage has a son, Laurel R .; Otto G. is a miner at Kirby, Ore- gon, and spent six years as a soldier, serving in the Spanish American War; Milton C. is unmarried and is chef in a hotel at Berkeley, Cali- fornia; J. Burl operates a diamond drill in mines at Monmouth, Cal- ifornia.
Mr. and Mrs. Winslow and family are members of the Friends Church, and as already stated, Mrs. Winslow has been for twenty-five years a minister of the faith. Mr. Winslow was for many years an elder, and in politics is a Prohibitionist.
ZIMRI C. OSBORN. The Osborn farm in section three of Fairmount township is one of the old estates of Grant county, and has been the home of Zimri C. Osborn for nearly forty years. He comes of a family which has been identified with eastern Indiana, since pioneer days and is himself a Grant county native, whose memory goes back to the years before the first railroads were constructed in this locality. It has been his privilege to witness a remarkable development of all the modern facilities of life and industry, and in his home community his part has been that of an industrious, honorable, and intelligent citizen.
The Osborn family back in North Carolina, lived either in Ran- dolph or Guilford county. His grandfather Peter Osborn was born in one of those counties, owned some land and did farming on a small scale, but his regular occupation was that of skilled mechanic and wheel- wright. His life was prolonged to old age, and he passed away in his native county and state. His brother Charles Osborn was one of the most famous Quaker preachers in the early part of the nineteenth cen- tury, and extended mention of his career is printed in many books and can be found in standard collections of early American biographies. Peter Osborn married a North Carolina girl, and they had a number of children.
.
Henry Osborn, father of Zimri C. was born in North Carolina, May 9, 1804, grew up in his native county, acquired a large part of his father's genius for mechanics, and while never following the trade regularly was able to make anything that could be fashioned with carpenter's tools. Practically all his household furniture was manu- factured by his own hands. He married, in North Carolina, Miss Mary Parson, who was born in that vicinity, and died in Grant county, Indiana. Her mother was a member of an old-school Baptist church. Mary Osborn was born about 1810, and was the second wife of Henry Osborn. His first wife was a Miss Wheeler, who died a few years after their marriage, leaving a son, Alveron. By the second marriage Henry Osborn and wife had one son, Jonathan, born in North Carolina. Then, with his wife and two sons, he started north, and one horse drew the wagon across the Blue Ridge Mountains and over the long distance in- tervening between North Carolina and Indiana. After a journey of some five or six weeks, they landed in Fairmount township, of Grant county, finding a location between Glacier Lake and the Mississinewa River. There he lived on the old McCormick land, and also entered forty acres of government land. Later, by trading and purchase, he acquired property near the village of Fairmount, where he and his wife spent the rest of their days. Henry Osborn died in 1886, at the age of eighty-two, and his wife survived and passed away when seventy-
Digitized by Google
894
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
eight. Their church was the Methodist, and for some years he had been a class leader. They were honored and substantial people, always held in high respect in their community. Henry Osborn is remembered as a skilled Nimrod, and the old gun with which he had killed many deer, wild turkey, and other game, is now owned as a prized heirloom by his son Zimri. In politics he was most of his life a Democrat. The children of Henry Osborn were as follows: Alveron, mentioned as the child of his first marriage, enlisted as a Union soldier, and died of ill- ness while in Kentucky, leaving a wife and children. Jonathan, the first child of the second marriage, was born in North Carolina, was married four times, and had children by two of his wives; he died at the age of sixty-two. Emeline became the wife of William G. Lewis, prominent among the old settlers of Grant county and equally noted as a hunter, a class leader and preacher in the Methodist church, having assisted in the organization of the church in Fairmount township, and as a farmer. William G. Lewis died about five years ago, while his widow is still living. Louisa J., first married James G. Payne, and is now Mrs. Charles Thom of Fairmount township, and is the mother of a number of children. Emma and John both died in childhood. William whose home is in Missouri has children by his first wife. The seventh child is Zimri C. Rachael died in the prime of life after her marriage to Milton Brewer, leaving no children.
Zimri C. Osborn was born in Fairmount township, March 2, 1845. His early training was received in this locality and his education was acquired by the somewhat primitive country schools of that day. All his life has been spent in Fairmount township, and farming with him has been a business pursued both profitably and pleasantly. In 1875 he bought the land in his home farm, amounting to one hundred and ten acres, lying in section two and section thirty-four, his residence being on section two. The improvements are of the best class, including a good eight-room house and a large barn, and one of the features about the place which distinguishes it from many of its neighbors is a large orchard, where he raises quantities of apples, peaches, plums, cherries, etc. His general crops are oats, wheat and corn, and he feeds most of them to his own stock.
. Mr. Osborn was first married in Fairmount township to Miss Nancy Leach, daughter of John Leach. She was born in this section of Grant county, May 17, 1849, and died at her home, May 24, 1893. She be- longed to the Methodist Protestant church. Her children were as fol- lows: John; a farmer in Rush county, Indiana, who married Clara Dugan, and they have one son, Luther. William, who lives on a farm in Fairmount township, married Lela Davis, and they had one son, Clyde, now deceased. Emeline, died at the age of three months. Louisa is the wife of Ellsworth Smith, a farmer, and their three children are Claude, Rosa, and Evert. Jane, is the wife of John Ayers, of Rush county, Indiana, a farmer, and they have as children, Maybell, Edna, and Irene. Cooper is a farmer in Whitley county, Indiana, and by his marriage to Ida Cash has four children, Arthur, Roy, Jesse, and Edna. Edmond whose home is in Fairmount township, married Nora Kirk- patrick and has a son Charles. Rachael, who lives with her father is the widow of Frank Monohan, and her two children are Ovid and Gladys.
The present wife of Mr. Osborn was a Georgian girl, Miss Martha Blair. They were married December 9, 1897. Mrs. Osborn was born in Georgia, in 1852, was reared and educated there, and her parents were Huston and Eliza (Yarber) Blair. Her father was born in Tennessee in 1831, and died in Georgia, in 1910, while her mother was
Digitized by Google
Digitized by Google
JOHN W. JONES AND WIFE AND THEIR NONC'TIL) (INVED) (INV NAH(T'IL.)
Digitized by Google
895
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
born in South Carolina in 1823, and died in 1885. They were members of the Missionary Baptist church, in which Mr. Blair was a deacon. Mr. and Mrs. Osborn are both very prominent members and workers in the Methodist Protestant church of Fairmount township. Mr. Osborn has been a class leader, exhorter, and is the oldest member of the society in this locality, having taken much part in the organization and the upbuilding of the church for many years. In politics he is a Prohibi- tionist.
JOHN W. JONES. About twenty-five years ago, after he had grown up in Grant county, had a practical experience on a farm, and had by hard work and close economy acquired a little capital, John W: Jones bought the land contained in his present homestead on section thirty of Jefferson township. Mr. Jones is a prosperous man, owns a fine farm, runs it in a business-like way, and is not only a man of independence and standing on his own ground, but anywhere in that community is looked upon with the esteem and respect which are paid to a citizen whose relations with the community have always been on a high plane of honor and integrity.
This branch of the Jones family was established in Grant county many years ago by Joshua Jones, father of John W. Joshua was the son of Lewis Jones, who lived and died in Ohio, was twice married, and had children by both wives. Joshua Jones, a son of the first marriage of his father, was born in Greene county, Ohio, March 31, 1819, and grew up on his father's farm. When he was about twenty years of age he crossed the state line into Indiana, and being a young man without capital, he found employment among the farmers of Blackford county, for several years. Then moving into Jefferson township of Grant county, he bought some land, most of it located in the wilderness which still covered most of this region, and by hard work cleared up and made a good farm. That was his home for nearly sixty years, and at his death in August, 1909, he was able to look back upon a lifetime of industry and gratifying accomplishment. He was a Democrat, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Joshua Jones was married in Jefferson township of Grant county to Miss Malinda Owings, who was born in Ohio, and came with her father Nicholas Owings, when a young child to Jefferson town- ship. Mrs. Joshua Jones died on the old homestead in Jefferson town- ship in 1905. She was an active member of the Methodist church. There were nine children, eight of whom she reared to adult age, and one Mary J., died in young womanhood. Those living are as follows: Harriet, the widow of Michael Houck, lives at Upland, without children; Lydia, is the widow of Edwin Fergus and lives in California,, having a son and a daughter; Lewis M. is a farmer of Jefferson township, and has four daughters, all of whom are married; the next in line is John W. George W. is a retired farmer, and conducts a feed store in Upland, is married and has two daughters, both of whom in turn are married; Thomas Lee lives in Jonesboro, and his son is married; Sarah E. is the wife of William Ginn, a farmer in Jefferson township, and they are the parents of two sons.
John W. Jones was born in Jefferson township, June 20, 1851. As a boy he saw much that was characteristic of pioneer life, and within his youthful recollection the first railroad was built through Grant county. His education was acquired in the district schools, and his home was with his parents, until he reached manhood. As already stated, in 1887 he bought eighty acres of his present place, and he now owns one hundred acres of highly improved and well cultivated land. With the passing of years he has introduced many improvements, and in 1903 erected the
Digitized by Google
896
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
comfortable and substantial nine-room house, a fine white building, which makes an attractive picture in the midst of the shade and fruit trees . surrounding it. Mr. Jones is a stock grower, and keeps livestock of only the better grades on his place.
In Fairmount township in 1877, occurred the marriage of John W. Jones and Terissa Moorman. Mrs. Jones was born in Fairmount town- ship, August 18, 1849, and her home has been in Grant county with the exception of three years, spent in Illinois and Iowa. Her parents are Lewis and Sarah Moorman, and the Moorman family long prominent in Grant county, received full treatment in the sketch of Levi Moorman, found elsewhere on these pages. Mr. and Mrs. Jones are the parents of seven children, named as follows: Gertrude, wife of Esley Thorn, farm- ers of Delaware county, and with one daughter, Geneva; Oscar, who lives at home and helps run the farm, and is unmarried; L. J., a farmer in Missouri, who married Mina Johnson, and has a daughter, Mildred P .; Eva, wife of Clyde R. Partridge, of Fowlerton, and has one child, Myron; Minnie and Frank, who died in early childhood; and Lora B., who was well educated in the township schools, and now lives at home.
WILLIAM KEEVER. The Progress Farm is the name of the rural homestead occupied by William Keever and family in section six of Fairmount township, on the rural delivery route number twenty-one out of Fairmount. The place is well named and progressive methods are everywhere in evidence. Mr. Keever applies business sense and judgment to every operation on his estate and few business houses in Grant county are run any more systematically or with greater net profit according to the investment than the Progress Farm. The Keever family have been identified with Grant county for more than seventy years, and a number of its members are well known citizens.
The grandfather of William Keever was Adam Keever, a native of Pennsylvania, of old German stock which settled in that province probably during the early colonial era. Adam Keever grew up on a farm, took that as his occupation and married a Pennsylvania girl. The most, if not all of their children were born in Pennsylvania. About the year 1828 Adam Keever and family moved west and located for some years in Ohio and later became pioneer settlers in Randolph county, Indiana, where he entered land, improved a farm from the wilderness, and died there at the venerable age of eighty-eight years. His first wife had died many years previously, at the age of sixty. By a later marriage Adam Keever had two children.
Daniel C. Keever, a son of Adam, and father of William Keever, was born in Pennsylvania, July 3, 1816, and was twelve years of age when the family came to Ohio. He was the oldest of three sons, his two brothers being Adam Jr., and George. There were a number of sisters. Daniel C. Keever was reared in Randolph county on his father's farm, and after becoming of age married Elizabeth J. Asher. While he came from Pennsylvania, her birthplace was in the old commonwealth of Virginia, where she was born January 18, 1819, a daughter of Virginia people who moved to Randolph county, Indiana, among the early settlers there. Elizabeth at the time of this removal was a child. Later her parents moved to Ohio, and died in Fayette county, when in old age. They were in religion Methodists. The marriage of Daniel C. Keever and wife occurred about 1840, and in that year they moved to Grant county. The county was still new and undeveloped, much of the land had never been touched by the hand of civilization, and Mr. Keever entered one hundred and sixty acres in Monroe township. His industry resulted in the improvement of an excellent farm and he continued a
Digitized by Google
897
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
prosperous farmer, quiet citizen and a man of influence until his death in 1895. His wife preceded him in death on September 12, 1876. In many respects Daniel C. Keever was a remarkable man. Without edu- cational advantages, his native ability enabled him to succeed far above the average, and he was never at disadvantage in his association and rela- tions with his fellows. By his industry and good judgment, he accumu- lated an estate of six hundred acres, and died comparatively wealthy. In local affairs his influence was strong, and he was during his career one of the best known Republicans in Monroe township, assisting many of his friends to office, though never an aspirant for political honors himself. His judgment was often trusted in the settlement of estates, and in other ways much honor was shown to him by his fellow citizens. During the early years of the family residence in Grant county, his wife showed her individual capability as a good pioneer housemother by spinning and weaving practically all the clothes worn by members of the household. She was especially skillful in this kind of work, and some of the articles made by her are still kept as precious heirlooms by her descendants. One or two of those articles now existing are sixty years old, and Mr. William Keever has one example of her handiwork. Daniel Keever was a Quaker in religion and his wife probably held to the same convictions.
Mr. William Keever was the fifth in a family of eight sons and one daughter, and their names and brief mention of their individual careers are given as follows: 1. Addison, who died July 11, 1913, in Upland, Grant county, was a retired farmer during his latter years and left two children. His widow still resides at Upland. 2. Martin, now living retired on his farm in Smith county, Kansas, had ten children, his wife being now deceased. 3. Eliza, died at the age of thirteen years. 4. George, who died December 8, 1912, lived some years as a retired farmer in Smith county, Kansas, and his widow still has her home there, the mother of eleven children. 5. John is a farmer on the old home- stead in Monroe township, and had three children, one of whom is now deceased. 6. William is next in order of the children. 7. Frank, who is married and a farmer in Monroe township, has four children living. 8. Walter, now lives in Upland, a retired farmer, and has two sons and two daughters. 9. Elmer is still actively engaged in farming in Monroe township and has one son.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.