Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 35

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

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William Keever was born on his father's farm in Monroe township, February 15, 1852. His early training was that of a farmer, and the facilities of the common schools in his neighborhood supplied him with his book learning. Since he reached his majority all his energies have been directed along the line of farming, and he has been a resident of Fairmount township since 1879. In that year he bought one hundred and thirteen acres of fertile land, though with few improvements, in sections five and six. Years of toil and good management have made this a beautiful and valuable estate. There are two large barns, one for stock and one for grain. With the exception of twelve acres of native timber. all the land is in cultivation, and there is practically no waste land, and everything responds to the enterprising management of Mr. Keever. The character of substantial comfort is everywhere evident, and a large house of ten rooms nicely painted white is the pleasant home of the Keevers. Almost every kind of cereal crops is grown on his land, with a high average of production per acre.

Mr. Keever was married in Jefferson township of Grant county to Miss Sarah E. Marine, who was born in that township, September 12, 1858, and educated there. Her parents were Jonathan and Mary (Fore- hand) Marine, the former born in Wayne county, Indiana, May 26,

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1831, and the latter in Grant county in 1842. Mrs. Marine died in 1865, both she and her husband being Quakers in religion. Their respective parents came to Indiana from North Carolina. Mr. Marine, who is still living, though now retired, making his home with Mrs. Keever, has had a life of industry as a farmer, passed chiefly in Jefferson township. He has been three times married and all his wives are now deceased. Mr. Marine in politics is a Democratic voter.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Keever are: Iva E., is the wife of Omer Harris, now a farmer in Delaware county, Indiana, and they have a daughter, Irene. Auda Jay is a graduate of the University of Michi- gan in 1907, was at once admitted to the bar, and has since been in successful practice of his profession at Jonesboro, this county. He married Etta Gift, but they have no children. Hanson, who was edu- cated in the public schools of Grant county, is a farmer in Sims county, married Cora Michales and has a daughter, Margarite. Ethel is the wife of Burnett Alred, and lives in Fairmount city. . Two of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Keever died in infancy, one of them being named Cleo. For their church affiliation Mr. and Mrs. Keever worship with the Friends, and in politics he is a Prohibitionist.

MILTON T. Cox. In section thirty of Fairmount township is located a small rural farmstead of eighteen acres, which might well be con- sidered a model of its kind, and one of the most profitable and best man- aged small farms in Grant county. It is the home of Milton T. Cox and family. Mr. Cox was born in the vicinity of Fairmount, December 20, 1854, of an old family whose members will be noted in the following paragraph. Mr. Cox has always lived within a few miles of his birth- place, which was in Liberty township, and has devoted himself to general farming, but with special attention to fruit growing. The Cox farm has almost every variety of fruit that can be grown in this section. There are no haphazard methods employed on the Cox place, and every bit of ground is put to some profitable use. Mr. Cox has a considerable part of his farm in orchards, and has done much in the way of growing small fruits. Throughout this section of the county, the Cox farm is known as Fruitland. In the midst of the perfect bower of trees which surround it, stands a fine modern dwelling of a quiet drab color, and containing eight rooms. Mr. Cox built this home in 1903. As a man who has succeeded well in his chosen industry, Mr. Cox is of the opinion that fruit growing is very profitable when properly handled, and is an industry which has been much neglected and should receive more atten- tion in this favored climatic region of Indiana.

The grandparents of Milton T. Cox were Joshua and Rachael Cox, both natives of Randolph county, North Carolina, and Quakers in religion. They reared their family in the same faith. In 1830, the grandparents accomplished the long journey westward to Indiana, and settled in Morgan county, where they improved some land from the wilderness in the vicinity of Monrovia. There Joshua Cox died a few years later when in middle life. His widow survived him some ten years, and died at the old homestead about 1846.

In the meantime, their son William, father of Milton T. Cox, had grown up and settled in Grant county. William Cox was born in North Carolina in 1824, and was six years of age when the family moved to Morgan county, Indiana. He was twenty-two years of age when his mother died, and had been recently married. There were no railroads between Grant county and Morgan county at that time, and the only means of travel were by horseback. When the news came of the impend- ing death of his mother, he and his young wife mounted on the back of

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their only horse, and rode as rapidly as possible to the old home in Morgan county, hoping to see her before her death. The distance was nearly ninety miles and, owing to the slow progress of their horse, they arrived after the burial. William Cox had been reared in Morgan county, and when about twenty years of age came to Grant county to visit his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Reeder, well known old pioneers of this section. While in their home he was introduced by his uncle to Betsey or Elizabeth Wilson. Miss Wilson was the belle of that neighborhood, and while she had numerous suitors among the country youth of Grant county, she soon acknowledged her attraction and choice of the stranger, William Cox. The latter went home to Morgan county, but did not remain long and soon came to Grant county to claim Miss Wilson as his wife. Elizabeth Wilson was born in North Carolina in 1826, a daughter of John Wilson, who brought his family north to Indiana, and located in Fairmount township in 1836. There John Wilson and wife lived the rest of their lives, and died when quite old. After their marriage William Cox and wife started life as farmers in a log cabin home in Liberty township. Their equipment was exceed- ingly limited, and, as already stated, they had only a single horse to perform the labors of cultivation. Their lonely cabin was situated on the edge of an Indian reservation, sparsely settled by white people, and it requires little imagination to understand how completely both the young girl and her husband were shut out from all social privileges and advantages. They were surrounded by the wilderness and wild animals still roamed at large, their horse being frequently frightened at night by the screams of a panther which skulked about the home. A few years later he bought and improved a farm in Fairmount township which he sold, then bought another homestead in Liberty township, and there continued his labors until he had made a splendid farm, well up to the standards of Grant. county at that time. He was the owner of one hundred acres, and the united industry of himself and wife brought it to rank among the best country estates in the township. In 1873, William Cox built a fine brick house, considered at that time one of the best in the county. There they lived the remainder of their peaceful lives, and his death occurred January 25, 1901, while she survived him only a few months and passed away June 12th of the same year. Both were members of the Quaker church, but were not married in the church, as required by the church rules, the ceremony being performed by his uncle, Spencer Reeder, who was a Justice of the Peace. They refused to express sorrow for the act and were disowned by the Society, and subsequently he and his wife became charter members of the Wesleyan Methodist church at Upper Back Creek. They both gave their allegiance to that faith throughout the remainder of their lives.

Milton T. Cox was reared and educated in a substantial way, had the environment of a good home and upright parents, and started out in life as a farmer and fruit grower. On November 24, 1881, in Fairmount he married Miss Martha E. Petty, who was born in Henry county, Indiana, June 9, 1862. She moved with her parents, Robert and Rachael (Vestal) Petty, to Madison county, Indiana, in 1870. In 1876 the family came to Grant county, locating on a farm near Little Ridge, in Liberty township. Her father, though not a land owner, was a very successful farmer. Her father died at the home of a daughter in Indianapolis, May 14, 1900, while the mother passed away January 8, 1898, at Summitville, in Madison county, Indiana. For a number of years they had worshipped in the United Brethren Church, but their last years were spent as Methodists.

The children of Milton T. Cox and wife are mentioned as follows:

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Muriel Joy, born March 2, 1885, was educated at Fairmount, and is the wife of Ernest T. Pearson of Indianapolis, and they have one son, Leonard E., born January 19, 1905. Eva Delight, born March 23, 1888, married Thomas Jenkins of Indianapolis, and their two living children are: Ronda, born December 5, 1907, and Ruth, born November 3, 1909. Garfield Vestal, the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Cox, was born May 4, 1893, and though but twenty years of age has made a splendid record for himself. Educated in the Fairmount high school and academy, he received the highest grade issued by that institution, and is now a student in the Earlham college. Garfield Cox has prepared the article on forestry published in this history of Grant, county. From early boyhood his interests and tastes have gone to trees, and he has won laurels in state work on forestry. He is also an orator of mo mean ability, and while a sophomore in Fairmount Academy won the ora- torical contest among the Friends Academies of the states of Indiana and Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Cox are both members of the Wesleyan Methodist church.

WILLIAM A. BEASLEY. After a long and honorable career as a merchant in Fairmount, Mr. Beasley is now enjoying the peace and quiet pursuits of country life at his home in section thirty of Fairmount township, on the old Thomas estate. Mr. Beasley bought the Thomas farm on retiring from business, and thus enjoys ownership and occu- pancy of one of the landmarks in this section of Grant county. A large and comfortable brick house was constructed many years ago by Mr. Thomas, and the brick and sand entering into its construction were both materials taken from the farm, and manufactured on the place. The success of Mr. Beasley in business affairs has been equaled by his influential and public spirited citizenship, and his reputation has always been that of a reliable upright citizen, ever ready to do his part in bearing community responsibilities, and forwarding enterprise for the local good.

William A. Beasley is a grandson of George W. and Sarah (Stanley) Beasley. It is not known where these grandparents were born, but they were probably married in Tennessee, and most of their lives were spent on a farm east of Petersburg in Lincoln county, Tennessee. Finally they settled just outside the town limits of Petersburg on the west side, and died there, the grandfather when about seventy, and the grandmother when about sixty-seven years of age. They were farmers by occupation, members of the Methodist church and thrifty and esteemed people. Of their children, the following record is made : Anderson, deceased; Thomas, who is still living; William, deceased ; George; John, father of the Fairmount citizen; Martha, deceased ; Catherine; Tina; Louella, deceased. All these children grew up and were married and most of them had their homes in Tennessee. Those now deceased all passed away in that state.

John Beasley, who was second in order of birth, was born near Petersburg, Tennessee, in 1840, and died there in 1864, when only twenty-four years of age. His active career was spent in farming. He married in his native locality, Miss Susan E. Keith, who was born in Lincoln county, Tennessee, about 1840, and died in Fairmount, March 11, 1911. After the death of her first husband she never married. Her parents were Francis W. and Bethia (George) Keith, both natives of Tennessee, where they were farmers and Methodists and died when quite old. In 1875, Mrs. John Beasley brought her only son William to Indiana, being preceded to this state by her sister and husband, Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Brown. In 1879, she came to Fairmount.

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MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM GINN AND FAMILY

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William A. Beasley was born in Lincoln county, Tennessee, April 11, 1864, and practically all his education was obtained after he came to Grant county. His advantages were quite liberal while he was growing up, and he took a full course in the city schools. His first business experience was as a partner with J. H. Wilson at Fairmount, but after a year he sold his interest to Mr. Wilson and then became a clerk for Ezra N. Oakley. His connection with Mr. Oakley continued for six years, at the end of which time he bought a drug store, and during the first year was in partnership with Edward Cassell. Mr. Cassell was then unfortunately drowned, and Mr. Beasley bought all the interest and conducted the store as sole proprietor for twenty-three and a half years. In the meantime he had prospered steadily, and when he sold his business he possessed the means of enabling him to put some of his long-cherished plans, principal among which was the acquisition of a place in the country. Thus in 1913, having bought the Thomas estate west of the city of Fairmount, he moved to that old home, and now has a fine farm of one hundred acres. He gives all his attention to the management of this estate, and is applying the business judgment and . ability acquired through a long experience as a merchant to the culti- vation of land, and its resources.

In Fairmount township Mr. Beasley married Miss Emma Rush, a daughter of Rev. Nixon Rush, whose career is detailed on other pages of this work. Mrs. Beasley was born, reared, and educated in Fair- mount township and city, and completed her education at the Fairmount Academy. She is the mother of six children, namely: Zola B., was educated in the Fairmount high school and academy, the Earlham College, and the Marion Business College, and is now taking a special normal course at Rochester, New York; Myron R., is a graduate of the Fairmount high school, the Marion Business College, and is assistant teller and bookkeeper for the Farmers Trust & Savings Bank at Marion; Oren Keith, died at the age of fourteen months; Frank Adrian, is a member of the Fairmount Academy Class of 1915; John Otis, is a student in the Fairmount Academy; and Louisa Elizabeth is in the public school. Mrs. Beasley and children are members of the Friends church.

WILLIAM GINN. On section fifteen of Jefferson township is located the attractive rural estate of William Ginn, who has lived in this county for more than forty years, and stands high among his neighbors and friends for his success as a farmer and stock raiser, and for his kindly and useful relations with those who live in the same circle of social neighborhood.

Mr. Ginn comes of Irish stock. His grandfather William Ginn. was born in Ireland, and in young manhood emigrated to America, first set- tling in Virginia. In that state he married and he and his bride came on to Indiana and settled in Henry county when the country was still new. Henry county was his home until his death, and he and his wife were about threescore and ten when they passed away. They were both Prot- estants in religion. His sons were : James, Joseph, John, Job, William, and Ezekiel. Their daughters were Nancy, Sarilda, Elsie, and Polly, all these children having married and having families except John, who was wounded as a Union soldier in the battle at Richmond, Kentucky, and died of gangrene. Job and William were likewise soldiers and saw service from the beginning to the end of the struggle.

Ezekiel, father of William Ginn, was a married man at the time of the Civil war and he had volunteered his services to put down the Rebellion. In 1863 he enlisted in the Ninth Indiana Cavalry in Henry county, and

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served until the war was over. Part of the time he was on detailed duty. Not knowing that Ezekiel Ginn had already enlisted, they drafted him, but he had already been gone two weeks and was with them in Nashville, Tennessee. After the war he continued to live on his farm in Henry county until February, 1869, and then moved to Grant county. Two years were spent in Fairmount township, and in the fall of 1870 he moved to Jefferson, where his wife died on October 15, 1875. She was born in Maryland in 1833, and her maiden name was Sally Nicodemus. She was still young when she came to Indiana, and her father died in Henry county, while her mother later moved to Fulton county and died at the age of eighty-seven years. The latter's maiden name was Catherine Eckers, who was born in Bremen, Germany, and her parents emigrated and settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where she lived until they came out to Henry county. After the death of his first wife Ezekiel Ginn married Betsie Aldred, and a year later, in 1878, went to Independence, Kansas, where he died when seventy-eight years of age. His wife passed away some years later.

Mr. William Ginn was one of twins, and he has two brothers and three sisters living, all of whom are now married. He was born on a farm in Henry county, Indiana, December 14, 1856. Part of his boyhood was spent in his native county, but he was only about thirteen years old when his family came to Grant county. Since the age of fifteen he has been practically self-supporting, and has made his own way in the world. In 1877 Mr. Ginn bought his present farm in section fifteen of Jefferson township, and has now a highly productive estate of eighty acres, im- proved with a comfortable, though not pretentious residence, and & place which on the whole represents a good return for his many years of steady and consistent labor and management. In Jefferson township Mr. Ginn married Miss Sarah Jones, who was born in Jefferson town- ship February 3, 1860. Her home has been in this vicinity all her life. Her parents were Joshua and Malinda (Owings) Jones, who came to Grant county in 1840, and lived on a farm in Jefferson township, until their death. The father was from Greene county, Ohio, and the mother from Muskingum county, Ohio. They were married in Grant county in February, 1843. Her father was ninety-one years old when he died on August 12, 1909, and his wife passed away some eight years before at the age of eighty-six. Mr. and Mrs. Ginn have the following children : Joshua, born July 13, 1885, is a progressive young farmer, and married Iva Fenton; Frank died in infancy ; James A., born Decem- ber 19, 1891, is a graduate of the high school, and follows the profession of electrician, being unmarried. Mr. and Mrs. Ginn attend the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal church and he and his sons are Republican voters.

PASCAL B. SMITH. Though not among the oldest residents of Grant county, which has been his home since 1890, Mr. Smith has so effectively identified himself with the spirit and activities of the county that he is regarded as one of the most valued citizens. Mr. Smith is a big man, not only in physical proportions, but in character and heart, is big hearted, generous and hospitable, and at the same time a very practical and successful farmer, who believes in going ahead all the time.

His ancestry is of old and substantial Virginia stock, whose members possessed the fine social characteristic of that old commonwealth, were loyal to the state through the Civil war, and as a rule were of the pros- perous planter class. The grandfather of Pascal B. Smith was Samuel Smith, born at Three Springs, in Washington county, Virginia, about 1790. He died at a good old age in 1861. His life work was farming. He married Rachael Stinson, a neighbor girl, and a native of the same

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county, of old Virginia stock. She died twelve years after her husband in 1873. They were Methodists in religion, and had seven children, all of whom grew up and six were married and had children. One of the children never married because he remained at home devoted to the welfare of his father and mother. The old homestead in Washington county is still owned by members of the family.

Captain William Smith, the father of Pascal B., was born at Three Springs, Virginia, in 1821, and died near his birth place in July, 1907. Throughout his life he was a planter, and a man of unusual prominence in his section of Virginia. When the war broke out between the. states, he enlisted and went to the front as captain in the Forty-eighth Virginia regiment. In the battle at Saltville, Virginia, he was badly wounded. The gun which effected the wound carried a charge of a minie-ball and four buckshots, and the minie-ball and three of the buckshot took effect in him, while he was lying on the ground, one of the bullets striking his shoulder and others injuring his hand and fingers. This wound was given him about the close of the war and peace was declared about the time he got well. He had formerly served as captain of the local militia, and after the war was brevetted colonel of his home regiment of state militia. He also for many years served as a justice of the peace. In politics he was a Democrat, and was looked upon as a leader in the public life of his community. Near his old birth place, Captain Smith married Miss Darsey Fleener, who was born in that locality, about 1826, also representing an old Virginia family. She died in May, 1911. She was of the Lutheran faith in religion, and kept her membership with that church all her life. Her husband was a Methodist. They were the parents of twelve children, nine of whom grew up and are yet living. All are married and all have families of children. Two now live in Indiana. Pascal B. Smith has a sister, Margaret, the wife of Colonel Columbus Pullin, a resident of Muncie, Indiana, and they have seven living children.

Pascal B. Smith, the oldest of the children, was born on the old Virginia homestead, February 24, 1852. His education was received in the common schools, and as he grew up he became acquainted by prac- tical experience with the activities of his father's farm. There he con- tinued to live until twenty-three years of age. On July 4, 1875, just one year before the centennial celebration of American Independence, he married Elizabeth Gardner, a native of Scott county, Virginia, where she was born September 22, 1856. Her parents were Ural and Margaret (Barnhart) Gardner, natives of Scott county, where they lived and died prosperous farmers. Mr. Gardner was a California forty-niner, spend- ing more than three years on the western coast, and having exceptional fortune in mining and his other ventures. After returning to Virginia, he gave all his attention to the cultivation of a large plantation. He was born in 1810, and died August 17, 1890. His wife died March 6, 1904, when past eighty years of age. They were a Methodist family. Of the large family of children in the Gardner household, Mrs. Smith and a brother live in Indiana, the latter being J. Perry Gardner of Gas City in Grant county.

After the marriage of Mr. Smith and wife, they lived on a farm in Virginia, until 1890. They then came to Grant county and located on the Schrader farm, near Jonesboro, and three years later took posses- sion and began operating one hundred and sixty acres in the Solomon Wise farm in section fifteen of Fairmount township. He has proved very successful in Grant county agriculture, grows large quantities of hay, clover, corn, oats and wheat, and with the exception of the wheat practically every pound of his crops is fed to the stock on the place.

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As already noted, Mr. Smith is a hustler, and one of the best farmers in this section of the county.

He and his wife have seven sons and three daughters living, men- tioned as follows: 1. Stephen R., a farmer in Mill township, married Lillie Freener, without children. 2. Calvin D., who married Ethel Overman, lives on a farm in Jefferson township, and had two children, Virginia, and Ilene, the latter dying in infancy. 3. Charles L. is a farmer in Mill township, and by his marriage to Bertha Clay has three children, L. Vern, Virgil Lee, and Edgar R. 4. James C., who is fore- man in the Jonesboro Rubber Company, married Margaret Jones, and their two children are Warren H. and E. E. 5. Henry C. married Susan Swartz, lives in Jonesboro, and has a daughter, Delene. 6. Daisy E. was liberally educated in the grade and high schools, and is now living at home with her parents. 7. Maudella, a graduate of the high school, and the Marion Normal College, and holding a teacher's license, lives at home. 8. Woodie M. is a junior in the Fairmount Academy. 9. Joseph L. attends the public school, and the youngest, Gladys D., is also a student. One child, Orville S., died at the age of twenty-eight years unmarried. Mr. and Mrs. Smith hold to no particular church, though their children attend the Methodist Protestant Sunday school. In politics he is a Democrat.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 35

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

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