Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 37

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

USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 37

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).

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first Quaker church in this community, although meetings had been held as early as 1831 in private houses, chiefly that of Joseph Winslow. In politics Mr. Rush was first a Whig and then became an Abolitionist and a Republican. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Rush were as follows: John, born at Derby, Wayne county, Indiana, November 30, 1830, died, aged fifty years; married Katura Jay, also deceased; Calvin, born in Grant county, Indiana, July 14, 1833, died about 1904, married and had no issue; Nixon, of this review, born March 30, 1836; Millicent, born November 10, 1838, widow of Elwood Haisley, now living with her chil- dren in Fairmount; Jane, Anna and Thomas, all of whom died when about twenty years of age; and Mary, born January 24, 1850, who mar- ried Robert Carter, and now lives at Riverside, Kansas, and has a family.

Nixon Rush grew up on his father's farm, located just outside of Fairmount, in Grant county, and here he has spent the greater part of his life, being the proprietor of most of the property at this time and living in the house which had almost been completed by his father at the time of the latter's death. He has an excellent property of 140 acres, in addi- tion to which he donated six acres of land to Fairmount Academy, located near his home, a Friends' preparatory school. Mr. Rush is an excellent business man and skilled farmer, and has made a decided success of his ventures. Although now practically retired from the activities of life, he still superintends the working of his land, and carries on his business matters in the same able manner that characterized his younger days.

On October 21, 1861, Mr. Rush was married to Miss Louisa Winslow, who was born in Grant county, Indiana, August 5, 1843, daughter of Daniel and Rebecca (Hiatt) Winslow. A devoted wife and mother, a consistent Friend and an upright Christian woman, the death of Mrs. Rush, which occurred May 24, 1911, was sincerely mourned by a wide circle of friends, who loved her for her many excellent qualities of mind and heart. To Mr. and Mrs. Rush there were born the following chil- dren : Axelina, Elmira, Emma, Walter, Olive, Calvin C., Charles E. Of these Axelina died at the age of two years. Elmira was born July 4, 1865, received excellent educational advantages, and now is city editor of the Fairmount News, of which her husband, Edgar Baldwin, is editor in chief. They have one son, Mark, who is a government soil analyzer, at the present time located in Iowa. Emma was born July 7, 1867, was well educated, and became the wife of William A. Beasley. They alter- nate between living on a farm and in the town of Fairmount, and are the parents of five children-Myron, Zola, Frank, John and Elizabeth. Walter was born April 4, 1870, was educated in the public schools, and is now the manager of his father's farming property. He married Elizabeth Johnson of Grant county, Indiana, and they have three chil- dren-Loretta O., at home, a graduate of the Academy; Isadore Alice, a graduate of the public schools and now attending the academy, and Dorothy E., the baby, two years old. Olive Rush was born June 10, 1873, and attended the Fairmount Academy and Earlham College. She early displayed marked artistic talent, and began her studies along this line in Earlham College. Subsequently she spent two years in the Cor- coran Art School, connected with the Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D. C., and was there awarded second prize in a class of eighty pupils for advancement. Later she became a student in the Art Student's League, New York City, and became a well-known illustrator for writers and authors, making first-page frontispieces for such well-known maga- zines as Scribner's, Harper's, the Ladies' Home Journal and the Woman's Home Companion. She conceived and provided studies for large cathedrals and churches, principally windows, and painted por- traits of well-known people throughout the country. With Ethel Brown,

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she occupied the studio at Wilmington, Delaware, left vacant by the death of Howard Pyle, at the request of his widow. Her pictures, largely subject pieces, have been exhibited at various art expositions and salons, and at this time she is successfully continuing her work near Paris, France. Calvin C. Rush, M. D., was born February. 16, 1876, and after graduating from the local academy and Earlham College, received a scholarship at Haverford. Subsequently he graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and now has a large prac- tice at Portage, Pennsylvania. He married Annette Johnson, and they have one daughter, Sylvia Louise; and one son, Norman J. Charles E. Rush was born March 23, 1885, was well educated in the academy and at Earlham College, and then took special courses in library work. He is now the overseer of three libraries at St. Joseph, Missouri. He mar- ried Lionne Adsit, daughter of Rev. Spencer M. Adsit, and they have one child, Alison A., who is now two years of age.

Reared in the faith of the Friends church, Rev. Rush was ordained as a minister in 1869, and for forty years has traveled all over this part of Indiana, where no minister of the faith is more widely known nor more greatly beloved. For years he was assisted by his wife. He has preached at hundreds of funerals and has married scores of people during his ministry. His influence, always for good, has been constantly felt in his community, where he has not alone become a conspicuous figure in the church, but has also gained a large place in the good will and love of all classes and denominations.

JOSEPH H. PEACOCK. For generations, wherever their home has been in America, whether in the Atlantic colonies and states or in Indiana, the Peacock family have been noted not only for its faithful adherence to the orthodox Quaker religion, but also for its exemplification of the virtues and thrifty qualities of that class of people. Grant county citizenship has been honored with the presence of the Peacock family here for a great many years, and one of its most highly esteemed repre- sentatives was the late Joseph H. Peacock, of Fairmount township, who died May 14, 1874.

Of English ancestry, it is said that three brothers named Peacock came to America during the colonial era, and located among the Penn colonies in Pennsylvania. Later some of their descendants moved in from South Carolina, where their home remained for several generations. The first definite members of the family to be mentioned in this article were Asa and his wife Dinah Peacock. Asa Peacock was born in the Rice belt of North Carolina, was married there and afterwards took his family into North Carolina. Then during the decade of the twenties they all came to Indiana. That journey was made in true pioneer style, with wagons and teams across the long distances of forest trail, and they finally located in the Friends settlement at Newport, now Fountain City in Wayne county. From there about 1830 they came to Grant county, and entered land from the government in Liberty township. Thus the Peacock name has been identified with Grant county for eighty- three years. Asa Peacock and his first wife lived and died in Grant county. He was past eighty years of age at the time of his death. His second wife was Dorcas Jones, nee Hale, who survived him and died in Kansas. By her first husband she had a family of children. Asa Pea- cock and his first wife were the parents of William, Levi, Joseph, Betsey D., Martha (Patsey) and John. Of these, Levi died recently at Rich- mond, Indiana, when past ninety years of age. Joseph is still living, over eighty years of age, in Kokomo. Patsey and another sister died young. Betsey D. married and reared a family of children. John died

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an old man and left a family of children. William Peacock, son of Asa and Dinah, was born in South Carolina, November 4, 1812. He was still a boy when his parents moved to Indiana, and he reached maturity in Grant county. In 1833 he went to Newgarden in Wayne, where he married Phoebe Haisley, who was born October 9, 1812. They began their married life in Grant county, and in a wild and unbroken section of Liberty township. They secured land direct from the government and improved a good farm. There William Peacock died April 30, 1867, and his remains were laid to rest at Oak Ridge. His death resulted from a fever contracted during attendance of his wife, who was stricken with the disease while on a visit to Newgarden, Wayne county, and died March 23, 1867. To William Peacock and wife were born eleven chil- dren, mentioned as follows: 1. Hannah, born in 1839, and died in 1913 in the state of Oregon, married Mordecai M. Davison, also deceased ; they had no children. 2. Josiah, born in 1836 and died in 1867, married Cynthia Rich, and they had five children. 3. Anna, born in 1839 and died in 1882, became wife of Barkley Moon and had four children. 4. Susanna, born in 1840, and died in 1912, married Lewis Hackett, and they died without issue. 5. Levina, born in 1842, and died in 1874, married Aaron Comer, and had no children. 6. Joseph H. born Feb- ruary 9, 1844, and died May 5, 1874, is the special subject of this article. 7. Jane, born in 1846 and died in 1868, married Thomas H. Johnson, and left one son. 8. Sarah died in infancy. 9. Diana, born in 1852, lives in Fairmount, the widow of Nathan Hinshaw. 10. William, Jr., born in 1854, lives in Sedgewick, Kansas, married Lyda Smith, and has children. 11. Levi died in infancy.

The late Joseph H. Peacock was reared on his father's farm in Lib- erty township, was educated, and trained in the local schools and in a good home where prevailed a high atmosphere of moral and religious influence. In 1869 in the Quaker church at Fairmount and with the orthodox Quaker ceremony, he married Elizabeth Radley, who was born near Chelmsford, Essex county, England, June 6, 1843.

Mrs. Peacock, who now lives in Fairmount with her children, comes of an old English ancestry. Her parents were Samuel and Mary (Bull) Radley, her mother a sister of John Bull, one of the early settlers of Fairmount. Samuel Radley and wife were married in Essex county, England, and all their four children, Mary A., Elizabeth, Alice C., and Samuel John were born in England. The father was by trade a plas- terer and brick layer. While the children were all small the family embarked on a sailing vessel named Westminster, under Captain Doan, and voyaged from London to New York, six weeks being spent on the ocean. Locating near Fairmount, Mr. Radley followed his trade and engaged in farming, his later years being mostly spent on the farm. He died March 11, 1877, when about sixty years of age. His wife passed away October 24, 1888. She was born in the Presbyterian faith, but early in life joined the Friends church, and her father was a birthright Friend. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Peacock were the parents of two sons. William A., born November 23, 1871, and died at the age of eighteen; John Henry, born June 14, 1873, received a substantial education in the Fairmount Public Schools, and graduated from the biblical department of the Fairmount Academy and also the Wesleyan Theological Semi- nary. He with his mother now owns 230 acres of land and is a thrifty and successful farmer and devoted Christian. He married Ruth Reese, of Michigan. Their two sons are Myron R., at home, and a graduate of the Fairmount Academy; and Joseph Edward, who died when nearly seven years of age. The farm upon which Joseph H. Peacock died lies northwest of Fairmount, near where Fairmount Academy now stands.

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lies just northeast of Fairmount. There are over two hundred acres of land, and a comfortable farm house, the well painted barns, the improve- ments in fences and cultivation, all indicate the thrift and prosperity which have been associated with the Peacock name throughout its con- nection with Grant county.

RICHARD H. DILLON. Through all his career Mr. Dillon has quietly followed the vocation of farmer. Since he left school each recurring spring has meant to him a time of opportunity, the planting for the later harvest. Many of his hopes have had fruition, as well as his crops. He has been prospered, has performed his share of the responsibilities that come to every man and the extent of his riches is not to be meas- ured alone by his material store.

Concerning the family of Mr. Dillon it may be said that his grand- father was also Richard H. Dillon, and was probably born in one of the southern states, of Irish ancestry. His death occurred in Ohio. He married Elizabeth Unthank. They lived in Clinton county, Ohio, for some years, and in 1848 moved to Madison county, Indiana, where they were among the early Quaker settlers. Of their children, the youngest son, Oliver, lived to be 60 or 65 years of age and died near Indianapolis, and Allen became the father of Richard H. Dillon.

Allen Dillon was born in Clinton county, Ohio, March 13, 1836, and was twelve years of age when the family moved to Madison county, Indiana. There he grew to manhood, and for a number of years con- ducted a saw mill, did carpenter work, lived on a farm which he owned. In 1856 he moved to Grant county, and lived in this county until his death on January 3, 1899, passing away in Fairmount. In 1857 Allen Dillon married in Fairmount township Kaziah Henly, who was born in North Carolina in 1832, and came north from Randolph county, North Carolina, to Grant county with her parents in 1837, and continued to reside in Grant county either in Fairmount township or the city until her death in 1911. Her parents were staunch Quakers whose ancestors came to America with William Penn, and Allen Dillon was also of that faith. She was the mother of two children, one of whom died in infancy.

Richard H. Dillon was born on the old home farm in Fairmount township, August 14, 1858, received his education in the public schools and Purdue University, and has always followed the vocation of farm- ing. He built his present good brick home at 919 North Buckeye Street in Fairmount in 1891. He and his wife own seventeen acres of land in an adjacent section, also another tract of 40 acres in Fairmount town- ship and valuable farm lands in Marshall county, Indiana.

Mr. Dillon was married in Grant county to Alice R. Coahran, who was born April 4, 1861. When she was six years of age, she moved to Madison county, Indiana, with her parents, who were John and Susan (Hammond) Coahran. Her parents lived on a farm in Madison county until 1879, when they moved to Fairmount City, and here they both died, the father at the age of eighty-four and the mother at the age of seventy-two. They were also of Quaker religion. Mr. and Mrs. Dillon are the parents of one child, Mary Allen, born July 14, 1892. She received her early educational advantages in the Fairmount public schools and the Academy, and is a member of the class of 1914 at Earl- ham College at Richmond. In politics Mr. Dillon is a Republican voter.

JOHN SMITH. For many years one of the most prosperous farming men in the county, John Smith, with the organization of the Upland State Bank, stepped into the office of president of that young financial institution, and he has since continued in his dual capacity of farmer

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MONROE TOWNSHIP MR. AND MRS. JOHN SMITH'S RESIDENCE,

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MR. AND MRS. JOHN SMITH

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Some time after her husband's death Mrs. Peacock sold that farm and later purchased the farm upon which the Peacocks now live. This farm and banker, with equal success in both enterprises. As a well-to-do agricultural man, he is widely known in the county, and his land hold- ings aggregate something like 525 acres, designated much as follows: The home farm of 210 acres located in section 25 and section 26; forty acres adjoining the home place on the north; forty acres in section 24; and one hundred acres in section 36, making about four hundred acres in Monroe township. He also owns one hundred and twenty acres in Blackford county. The bulk of the land he rents for a yearly cash rental, but the home place of two hundred and ten acres he operates himself. . He is also a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted February 1, 1865, in Company B, 153d Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served until September 4, 1865, when he was discharged at Louisville, Ken- tucky. Did detached duty during the most of his service.

John Smith was born in the northeast part of Mahoning county, Ohio, on November 15, 1843, and is a son of Thomas and Mary (Leonard) . Smith, who reared a family of seven children, as follows: Wesley, of Huntingdon county ; John, of this review; Jane, who is deceased; Emily and Lavina, also deceased; Mrs. Maria Smith, a resident of Milford Cen- ter, Ohio; and Hiram, of Hartford City. The father of this family, Thomas Smith, moved to Grant county in the spring of 1845 and here entered a tract of government land, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, and the home of John Smith is built upon one forty of this original acreage. The land was a dense wood at that time, and before he was able to build the rude log cabin that sheltered his little family in those early days, he was obliged to cut a road from the nearest settlement through his place. He gradually cleared up the place, and in later years came to be the owner of one hundred and twenty acres in Blackford county, together with another forty adjoining, but he was swindled out of this land through his investment in a railroad line that was projected through those parts. Thomas Smith died July 23, 1876, and his wife passed away January 7, 1901.

Mr. John Smith's progress has been fairly rapid, and at all times certain. No element of chance has entered into his operations, and when he bought a new piece of land, he did so secure in the knowledge that he was getting it at a fair price, and that the top of the market had not yet been reached. When he married in 1873 he was the owner of a 100- acre tract. He soon bought another forty from his father and engaged in potato growing, sometimes having as high as forty acres planted to that indispensable tuber. He has raised as high as four hundred bushels to the acre, but would average about three hundred bushels, which at a market of twenty-five to thirty cents, made money for him every year. He was dubbed the "Potato King" of his locality, and was well entitled to the name. For twenty-five years he devoted himself to the cultivation of this crop, his shipments running well into the carloads each season. He continued to buy land until he had a large acreage to his credit, and as has already been stated, much of the land he rents, confining himself to the cultivation of the home place alone. An example of his thrift in the matter of buying land may be cited in the instance of his purchase, with his brother, of a forty lying on a creek. The price paid was $100 and the consideration was offered in a colt and $50 in cash. This forty, then considered worth little or nothing, is today well drained and worth $100 an acre. Mr. Smith has paid high prices for some of his land, however, much of it coming at $25 and $30, while some of it cost him as high as $50 an acre.

Mr. Smith's home farm is one of the finest in the county, and is

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likewise one of the best improved and kept up. In 1889 a fine eleven-room house was built on the place, modern in many ways, and decidedly orna- mental to the landscape. A beautiful sloping lawn adds to the natural beauty of the place, and numerous barns and other buildings contribute to the general attractiveness of the ensemble.

On February 12, 1874, Mr. Smith was married to Lucy Bocock, the daughter of James and Hester Ann (Shannon) Bocock, of Clark county, Ohio, and Brown county, Ohio, respectively. They were married in Indiana and lived many years in Grant and Blackford counties, this state. They have reared a family of eight children: Raleigh, former principal of the Jonesboro schools, is now assistant cashier of the Upland State Bank; Pluma is at home; Arthur is a furniture dealer in Hart- ford City; Thana is deceased; Ira, also deceased ; Harry A. is a practic- ing dentist in Seattle, Washington; Charles is a farmer in Monroe town- ship; Lelah is at the Lewis Institute, Chicago, Ill., studying domestic science.

Concerning Raleigh O. Smith, who is assistant cashier of the Upland State Bank, it may be stated that he was born on November 22, 1874. in Monroe township, and received his education in the district schools in Fairmount Academy and Marion Normal College, finishing his train- ing in the State Normal College at Terra Haute, Indiana, in 1906. He began teaching at the age of nineteen in 1894, and taught seven terms in Marion at different times; two terms were taught in Franklin township, and he served as teacher of the Mississinewa schools, finishing his peda- gogie service with three years as principal of the Jonesboro High School. In May, 1912, he became assistant cashier of the bank, of which his father is president, and which was organized in 1909.

John Smith is a Republican and is a member of the Friends church. his son Raleigh sharing in his politics and his religion. The parents of Mr. Smith were Methodists, but he embraced the faith of the Friends some years ago, and has ordered his life largely in accordance with the demands of that sect. He is especially enthusiastic on the subject of temperance, and is one of the stanch and true citizens of the community. where he has done his full share in the good work of development and upbuilding.

SAMUEL CHARLES WILSON. A resident in Grant county since pioneer times, large family relationship, with a high character of moral and industrious citizenship, strict and active membership in the Friends church,-such are some of the significant attributes attaching to the Wilson family in Grant county. There are a number of Wilson families included within the general scope of the name, but this particular article is concerned with the immediate ancestors and the individual career of Samuel C. Wilson, who is now living retired at his beautiful country home in Fairmount township on section sixteen, and is almost eligible to the Grant county octogenarian club.

If the history of the family were written in detail, it would be found that the first members came over to America with William Penn and assisted that great Quaker in founding and developing the city of Phila- delphia. Through all the generations, with hardly an exception, the different members of the families have been orthodox Quakers. Some years after the family was founded, one of its members moved into North Carolina, that being before the Revolutionary war. He located in Randolph county, a county which probably sent more settlers to Grant county, Indiana, than any. other eastern locality. There he be- came one of the organizers and early builders of the Back Creek Quaker meeting. It is not known exactly how many years elapsed between this

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first settlement and the birth of Joseph Wilson, grandfather of the Samuel C. Wilson of this sketch. Grandfather Joseph Wilson was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, about 1760. His occupation was farming. He was a faithful atendant at the Quaker meeting, and it is related that he would desist his labors in so important an undertaking as a barn raising in order to attend church services. His death occurred in North Carolina, and it is supposed that he was quite old. He was married in his native locality to a Miss Charles, whose family had also for a long time been residents in North Carolina, and of the same strict sect of Friends. At her death she left three sons and two daughters. These children, so far as information is obtainable, are mentioned as follows: 1. Samuel, born in Randolph county, was married there to Ruth Thornburg, and came north to Indiana about 1836 or 1837, settling and developing a fine homestead and all that goes with it in Hamilton county, Indiana. His wife Ruth died in Hamilton county, at a good old age, and he then went out to Kansas, where he died shortly afterwards at the home of a son. 2. Henry was born on a North Caro- lina farm, was married there, and soon afterwards moved to Washington county, Indiana, where he improved a good farm and established his home and family on a substantial basis. His wife died in Indiana, at a comparatively early age, and for his second marriage he was united with a Mrs. Alberson. He had children by his first marriage, as did his second wife, though there was no issue by their second union. 3. Abigail was married in Randolph county, North Carolina, to a Mr. Simons, came to Henry county, Indiana, where both died, after careers of substantial and honorable prosperity. They left a family of children. 4. This was a daughter who married Owen Lindsley, and they moved to Orange county, Indiana, where Mr. Lindsley was a prominent and wealthy man and farmer. It is a curious circumstance that all these children on coming north to Indiana located in different counties, and all of them in staunch communities of Friends.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 37

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

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