Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 4

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

USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 4

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His active career as a stockman began in 1879, when he took up the breeding of thoroughbred short-horn cattle. In 1890 tuberculosis appeared in his herd and he had to dispose of all the survivors. In 1889 he began the breeding of pure Shropshire sheep, and continued in that industry as long as he remained on the farm.

Mr. Strange in 1889 became actively identified with the gas boom in this county. He was one among a number of associates who organized the gas company and constructed a pipe line into the town of Van Buren. He was president of this company, the Arcana Gas Company, and finally became sole owner of its stock and equipment. While oper- ating in this field he struck the first oil well in the township, and when his gas wells gradually developed into oil he invented a separator which facilitated the production of the oil. In 1902 the American Window Glass Company bought out all his holdings and developments and leased his territory.

The flourishing town of Van Buren in the northeast corner of Grant county, will always owe a debt to Mr. Strange as the leader in its early development. In 1903 he secured options on two different tracts of land near the town and later bought them by the acre. They com- prised twenty acres within seventy-five feet of the center of town, and he platted this land and sold as business and residence lots. Subse- quently he bought another tract and influenced the railroad to build a new depot on his land. His enterprise made Van Buren largely what it is at the present time. His property there he sold almost entirely at a large profit during the days of rising values, and after completing his sales he retired largely from active business and has since turned over the management of his farm to his son. However, Mr. Strange has by no means given up his interest in scientific agriculture, and de- votes a large part of his activities and energies to means and practices for the improvement of country life.

His public and semi-public services have been so numerous and varied that it will be difficult to enumerate even the most important of them. First and foremost should be mentioned his interests in the good road movement. Mr. Strange is one of the vice presidents of the State Good Road Association, and was chosen one of the directors of the National Good Road Congress. He has been officially connected with a number of good road conventions, but has not been able to attend many of them. In' 1910 he was president of the Farmers National Congress which convened at Lincoln, Nebraska, and before which he delivered as his annual address a carefully thought out and worthy paper on "Federal Appropriation on Roads, as to its application and Work- able Plan," an article which in substance was recently submitted to Senator Bourne, chairman of the Congressional Committee on Federal aid to postal roads. Senator Bourne had requested Mr. Strange's opin-

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ion with regard to a series of questions relating to federal cooperation in promoting the good roads movement.

Mr. Strange has been a member of the Christian church since 1866. Fraternally he has been affiliated with the Odd-Fellows since 1890. In following out the varied activities of this remarkable citizen it is of interest to note that he was one of the original grangers in Grant county, having become active in that order during the early seventies. He was secretary of the first grange organized in the county, and subse- quently became master and later delegate to the state grange. He organized at Marion the largest grange with charter membership in the history of the order. Mr. Strange was also a member and was consti- . tuted state organizer for the Mutual Benefit Association, during its existence. Co-operative movements with objects for the extension of practical benefit and for educational ends have always enlisted the hearty cooperation of Mr. Strange, and he has been identified with a number of minor enterprises of kindred nature.

Politically his interests and activities have always been directed to the agrarian movement. In 1888 the Democrats, without his consent or knowledge, nominated him for the office of representative to the state legislature. In 1890 at the organization of the new, People's party, he was nominated for the legislature and the Democrats refused to name a candidate against him. However, he was defeated. In 1890 he was elected treasurer of the State Central Committee and in 1892 state chairman of the People's party with headquarters at Indianapolis. In the same year he was nominated and received the largest vote in the state for congress from the People's party. He was a delegate to the National Convention at Omaha, being chairman of the Indiana delega- tion and a member of the platform committee. The platform drafted at the Omaha convention by the committee of twenty-seven, of whom he was one, was one of the most remarkable documents in the history of American political parties, especially since it is said to have furnished more material for active legislation than any other platform before or since. Mr. Strange was also a member of the National Committee of the Populist party. In 1894 Mr. Strange was nominated for congress by the Peoples party, an honor which he declined, and in the same year was a delegate to the National People's party convention at St. Louis when the nominees were Bryan and Watson. He took an important part in the deliberations and actions of that convention. In 1902 he was given the honor of writing and introducing the first resolutions covering the initiative and referendum, that being the first time in the history of American party conventions that such a resolution was intro- duced, and actually constituted a part of the platform.

In 1895 Governor Matthews appointed Mr. Strange a delegate to the Farmers National Congress at Atlanta, Georgia. He is a life mem- ber of that congress and has served it officially for eight years, four years as second vice president, two years as first vice president, and two years as president, and for six years on the program to respond to address. He was elected president at Raleigh, North Carolina in 1909, and made the program for the 1910-1911 session.

Mr. Strange is a member of the National Civic Federation, and at the meeting in January 1910 of the governors of the various states at Washington he was one of the committee at large on resolutions. The governor of Indiana subsequently appointed him one of the executive council of the Civic Federation on uniform legislation of the state. He is also a member of the executive committee of the State Conservation Association.

Mr. Strange was on the program at the meeting of December 11-12-13,

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1912, of the Good Roads Congress at Indianapolis, and was for ten years president of the State Farmers Congress. On the subject which in a general manner is covered by these organizations mentioned, and . on a great many other public questions, Mr. Strange has been for years a keen and advanced thinker, and it is a special satisfaction that in later years he has seen many of the plans and methods which he advo- cated anywhere from twenty to thirty years ago now instituted and a regular part of our civic code. In all matters pertaining to the farmer, Mr. Strange is readily recognized as a national figure. He is one of the vice presidents of the National Citizens League on currency and banking reforms. He was appointed from the National Civic Federa- tion, by its president, Seth Low, as one of the committee of one hundred on immigration, and also on other committees notably that on distribu- tion, and also on the one for the enforcement of the pure food laws.

Mr. Strange was one of the prime movers in the organization of the Grant County Farmers Mutual Insurance Company, a company which now carries an insurance business aggregating three and a half million dollars. He drafted the bill for the organization of the State Cyclone and Hailstorm Insurance Company of Indiana. For four years he was state secretary of the State Farmers Mutual Union Insurance Company, and at one time also represented Indiana in the National Union of the same company. He took a foremost part in the Farmers Institute of Indiana, and every honor and opportunity for service in these different capacities have come to him as a natural demand for one equipped and experienced for the best possible service, and he has given in their behalf a great deal of disinterestedness and totally unpaid service.

Mr. Strange was married on March 1, 1866, to Miss Eunice Leonard, . a daughter of George W. and Hannah Leonard, who were natives of Clinton county, Ohio. Mrs. Strange was born in Grant county, August 3, 1845. Of the six children born to their union, only two now survive, William T. Strange, who is active manager of the farm in Monroe town- ship; and Dr. Leonard Strange, D. D. S., who for the past three years has been supervising the operation of eight hundred acres of land in Saskatchewan, and is not now engaged in the practice of his profession.

J. NIXON ELLIOTT. Among his many Quaker friends and all classes of people, Mr. Elliott of Fairmount long enjoyed an esteem of the quality such as is only paid to persons of fine character and noble lives. He belongs to the good old pioneer stock of Indiana, and Grant county, as did also his wife; and in their own careers they have exemplified many of the finest attributes of the substantial Quaker people.

The history of the Elliott family, to which Mr. J. Nixon Elliott belongs goes back to great-grandfather James Elliott who was born in Perquimans county, North Carolina, in 1730. He married Mary Nixon, and they lived and died in their native county, farmers by occupation, and of the orthodox Fox Quaker sect. All the Elliott family were rigid adherents of the Quaker religion, and though they were settled in the Carolinas from the colonial days their principles of peaceful living pre- vented them from taking any part in the military history of the wars through which the family record runs.

Nixon Elliott, the grandfather, was born in Perquimans county, March 12, 1764. He married Rhoda, a daughter of Joseph and Anna Parker Scott, who was born November 10, 1773. Her father Joseph Scott was born about 1725, was a farmer, and Quaker in religion and lived and died in North Carolina. Nixon Elliott and wife had the following chil- dren : Job S., born October 7, 1795, was married in North Carolina to Mary Dillon, afterwards came to Indiana, and both died in Henry

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county; James, born September 4, 1800, was a soldier through the Seminole war and afterwards lived and died in Florida, raised a family . there and one of his sons, Nixon Elliott, now lives in Pueblo, Colorado; Elias, father of J. Nixon Elliott, was born January 12, 1803. The daughter Mary Elliott, born January 20, 1807, first married a Mr. Alber- son, who died early in life leaving one child, and then she married James Stelling, and came north and died near Greentown, Indiana, leaving no children by her second marriage.

Elias Elliott, the father of J. Nixon Elliott, grew up on a farm, and when a young man moved to Guilford county, in North Carolina. There he married Martha Saunders, of Deep River, where she was born in 1797, being six years older than her husband. After their marriage they began life as farmers in Guilford county, and all their children were born in that locality. In 1849 the family came north to Indiana, and after a few months in Wayne county, moved near to Ogden in Henry county, where they bought a farm, and in the following autumn the mother died. Elias Elliott married for his second wife Jane Cane, a Quakeress of North Carolina. They comtinued to live in Henry county for seven years, and afterwards moved to Dublin, Indiana, where Elias Elliott died in 1884. He was survived some years by his wife, who died at Richmond, Indiana, at the age of seventy-five. Both were lifelong members of the Friends church. By the second marriage of Elias Elliott, the following children are noted : John B., who lives in Richmond, In- diana, contractor and builder, and has one son and one daughter; Martha, who died early in life; Emma, who died in childhood.

By his first marriage Elias Elliott had the following children: 1. William S., died recently near Greentown, in Howard county, at the age of eighty-four. He was for many years a substantial farmer. He mar- ried Sarah Havenridge, and they had a large family, two of whom are yet living; after death of his first wife William S. married Avis Irish. One of their children died in infancy, the two living are Mrs. Mary Golding and Charles Elliott of Oregon. 2. Patrick H. lived and died in Henry county, was a farmer by occupation, and attained the age of seventy-eight years. His first wife was Sarah Applegate, and his second was Levina Reeves. They had a family of children. 3. Dr. David S. died at the age of thirty-three years. He was a graduate of the medical department of Michigan University at Ann Arbor, and was president of the County Medical Society at the time of his death. Dr. Elliott mar- ried Hanna Cobb and had two children, both girls, one, Delphina, died aged 16, Hettie is still living, a teacher in the public schools of Rich- mond, Indiana. 4. James Nixon Elliott is the next in line. 5. Mary Jane is the wife of J. W. Griffin, a farmer of Spiceland, Indiana. She was first married to Alfred Hall.

J. Nixon Elliott, was born at Deep River, Guilford county, North Carolina, October 28, 1837. When he was eleven years old the family moved to Henry county, Indiana, and there he grew up and received a practical training on a farm, and also some early educational advantages in the pioneer schools. At the close of the war he went south to Macon, Mississippi, and for one year was engaged in teaching the children of the Freedmen. In 1864 his brother David had moved to Grant county, and on J. Nixon Elliott's return from Mississippi he located in Fair- mount. He bought a drug store at that place and continued actively in the drug business for fourteen years. Afterwards he changed his line for dry goods and was an active merchant for a number of years. For a long time he has been retired, and now lives in his fine home at 127 E. Washington street in Fairmount.

In 1872 in Fairmount township, Mr. Elliott married Ruth Winslow,

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who was born in Fairmount township, July 1, 1839. Her home was always in Grant county, and she represented old pioneer stock. Her parents were Seth and Mary (Hill) Winslow, both natives of Randolph county, North Carolina, her father born August 23, 1807, and her mother March 2, 1802. They were married in Wayne county, Indiana. Seth Winslow's father was Joseph Winslow, who married Paulina Pritchard, and came north to Indiana in 1830, entering government land in section twenty-three of Fairmount township. On part of that land is now located the Back Creek Quaker cemetery. There Joseph Winslow and wife spent the remainder of their years. Mary (Hill) Winslow was the daughter of Jesse and Mary Hill, who were pioneer settlers of Grant county, entering land in Fairmount township, and living there until their death at a good old age. The Hill family came to Grant county about 1830, and like the Winslows were prominent early members of the Quaker church. All the various members of these early families are buried in Back Creek cemetery. Seth Winslow was married in Wayne county, and then moved to Fairmount township, entering one hundred and sixty acres of government land. It was on that pioneer farm that he and his wife reared their family, and lived and died. Twelve acres of the old Winslow farm is now the present beautiful Park cemetery of Fairmount. Seth Winslow died at the age of eighty-one years and his wife was seventy-seven at the time of her death. In their family were the following children: Sarah, Elizabeth, Caroline, Jesse, and Ruth, who became Mrs. Elliott. She fell heir to most of her father's large estate and the value of the property has been donated to Earlham Col. lege at Richmond, the property to pass to that institution when Mr. and Mrs. Elliott die. Mr. Elliott is an active member of the local Quaker church, as was also his wife and in which he has been a member for many years. In church and civic affairs he has always borne his full share of responsibilities. He has given service as township trustee, and in politics has been active in the Prohibition cause. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Elliott was born one child, Metella, who lived less than one year and was buried on her first anniversary. Mrs. J. Nixon Elliott died August 19, 1913, and is buried in Park cemetery, Fairmount.

SAMUEL MCCLURE. In any account of the history of Grant county, mention must be made of Samuel McClure, who had a large share in shaping the destinies of this section. He was one of the men of the pioneer type, who were willing to sacrifice much for the sake of the community, and who bent all their efforts towards building up the country in which they had made their homes. The name of Samuel McClure is especially associated with the early Indian affairs of this region and no man did a more unselfish work for the Indians than did Mr. McClure. In the memories of all the older settlers of this country he is remembered as a man of splendid business ability and of great strength and nobility of character.

Samuel McClure was descended from Scotch and English-Irish an- cestors. His great-grandfather emigrated from Scotland at a very early day and settled in Richmond, Virginia. Here a son was born, named Robert, and the latter about 1770, emigrated to Newberry District, South Carolina. Here Samuel McClure, the first, was born on the 11th of November, 1777. He grew up in this state and in 1804 married Mary Stewart, who was born on the 31st of January, 1777, in South Carolina. In the same year in which they were married the young couple set forth on a journey to Ohio, which was then the Northwest territory and here they located near Dayton, on the Little Miami river. After living here for five years they removed to Shelby county, Ohio,

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where they remained until the outbreak of the War of 1812. At that time Samuel McClure returned to South Carolina and there remained until the fall of 1813. During his return trip to Ohio he and his team were seized and impressed for United States service. They were taken to Fort St. Mary's and there he assisted in building the fort and block- house, and after its completion returned to his home. In 1815 he settled on Nine Mile Creek, two miles above his former home and here he remained until Christmas Day, 1826. At this time he left Ohio and came to Indiana, settling on the present site of the city of Wabash. He only remained here a short time before removing to Grant county. This was in 1827, and during this year, or the year following, he built the first mill on the Mississinewa river that was located within the limits of Grant county, and this mill was only the second to be erected in the county. He managed this mill successfully for some years and then returned to his former home in Wabash, where he died on the 22nd of September, 1838. His widow survived him only a short time, dying on May 27, 1839.

Samuel and Mary McClure became the parents of ten children, of whom Samuel McClure, the second, was born on the 16th of November, 1807, in Shelby county, Ohio. He lived with his father until he was about twenty years of age and he then concluded to enter the Indian trade, his interest in the Indian tribes scattered throughout his region having always been a very deep one. At this time there were about eighteen hundred Indians settled along the Wabash and Mississinewa rivers and prospects for trade among them were very good. In the spring of 1822 he therefore went to live with W. G. and G. W. Ewing, who were Indian traders, in order that he might learn the business. He remained with them for several seasons, but in the fall of 1828 he procured a small stock of goods with which to carry on a winter trade from the Ewings, and then, building two log cabins on the banks of the Wabash, he started out in business for himself. In one of his cabins he placed his stock of goods and made a trading post while he used the other as a place to cook and sleep in. Using as his motto the word "Efficiency" he set to work to do everything within his power to make his business a success, and with this in view struggled over the intricacies of the Indian language and various dialects, and exerted all his powers to win the confidence and friendship of the tribes among whom he traded. He was extremely successful in both endeavors, after a time becoming a fluent speaker of the Indian tongue, and everywhere he went he obtained the confidence of the natives. In the winter of 1832-33 he moved his post to a point three miles below the Wabash river, and located it on his father's farm. He now became a farmer in the summer while continuing his trading operations in the winter. In 1833 he and his brother Robert cut the first state road that ran through Wabash county.

It was in 1833 that Samuel McClure was married to Susannah Fur- row, the ceremony taking place on the 10th of January. Mrs. McClure was a daughter of James G. Furrow, of Fort Laramie, Ohio. After his marriage Mr. McClure remained in Wabash county until February, 1834, when he removed to Marion, in Grant county. Here he rented store room from his father and engaged in the mercantile business, trading with both the white settlers and the Indians, but in particular carrying on trading operations with the Meshingomesia band. He at this time had very little capital and it was only through the kindness of Jacob and Abel Furrow that he was able to obtain his first stock of goods from New York City. These two men were merchants in Piqua, Ohio, and were uncles of his wife's. It was shortly after he had opened

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his store and when he had just about exhausted his first stock of goods that he paid a visit to Dayton, Ohio, where he met Mr. Phillips, a whole- sale merchant of that city, and from him obtained another small stock of goods. It was in this way that he struggled forward, but after a time prosperity began to come to him, and this was chiefly through his strict adherence to the principles of honesty and square dealing. In Indian trading at that time there were untold opportunities to cheat the red men, but Mr. McClure was cast in a mold in which dishonesty was utterly impossible to his nature. He consequently won their implicit trust and at the same time the confidence and friendship of the white settlers. It was not long before his creditors discovered that he paid his debts promptly and he was soon established on a solid business basis. He was engaged in business along mercantile lines in the city of Marion from 1834 to 1880 and during this time his business grew steadily until he became one of the wealthiest men of this section, very influential in all matters of public interest ..

It was for his interest in the affairs of the Indians that Mr. McClure was best known in the community, for during all these years his activity, engendered by his acquaintance with the Indians during his early years as a trader, was steadily directed toward bettering their conditions and seeing that they received fair play. He early became intimately ac- quainted with the business affairs of the Indians of the surrounding tribes and in all transactions which they had with the white people he became their chief counsellor. He had their implicit confidence and in time came to have almost entire charge of the business relations of all the surrounding tribes. They never had any occasion to regret this trust which they placed in him, ever finding him a wise and able adviser. Several times he went to Washington to intercede with the government in their behalf. Assisted by Mr. Miller, he was instrumental in securing the payment of their annuity at Peru, Indiana, and in 1853, with the assistance of the same gentleman, and accompanied by a dele- gation of Miamis, he succeeded in having a census taken of all the Miami Indians. He also assisted in making the treaty of 1854, and in securing the legislation for the partition of the Meshingomesia reservation in 1873, and in every way manifested the deepest interest in the affairs of the Indians.

From one of the poorest men to one of the wealthiest in a community is no small rise, and this is what Mr. McClure did. He at one time owned over five hundred acres of land and much valuable city realty in Marion and Toledo, Ohio. However, many men become wealthy, and that is not the reason the citizens of Marion honor his memory, but the fact that in gaining his wealth he used only clean, upright business methods and the good name which he left is a priceless heritage to his sons. He died in 1889 at the age of eighty-two. He and his wife became the parents of the following children : James M., Mary A., Eliza J., Rosetta M., Louis A., and Erastus P., the latter being elsewhere mentioned in this volume. Eliza J. and Erastus P., are the only surviving children.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 4

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

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