Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 41

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

USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 41

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John Sanders was born in Grant county, March 13, 1845, and this is one of the oldest of Grant county's pioneer names. His birthplace was in the township of Jefferson on his father's old homestead at New Cumberland. His father, William Sanders, was born in Ohio, Septem- ber 19, 1809, and was a son of Robert Sanders, whose birth occurred in Culpeper county, Virginia, about 1768. Robert Sanders was a soldier and one of the devoted followers of General Anthony Wayne, and par- ticipated in the campaigns on the northwest side of the Ohio River against the Indians, following the Revolutionary war, fighting at Fort Wayne and also at Fort Recovery, and was on the St. Mary's River. Robert Sanders, who came of English ancestry, married Sarah Mc- Cormick, a Virginia girl, and to their union were born the following children : John, Catherine, Mary, William, Amelia, Lavina, Colman, Abner, James, Joseph and Nancy-eleven in all. All of these grew up and were married and had children of their own and most of them lived to be threescore years or more in age. One attained the venerable age of ninety-three. The entire family of children came to the state of Indiana during the decade of the twenties, and lived and died in this state. Robert Sanders moved from Virginia to Ohio about 1800, estab- lished a home and developed a portion of the wilderness at that state and some of his children were born there. About 1820 he moved to Fayette county, Indiana, living near Connersville until 1826, and in that year became one of the first who ventured into the wilderness of Dela- ware county, entering land in what is now Washington township. Just two years later, in 1828, Robert Sanders moved across into Grant county, and here again was a pioneer. His name is thus to be found among the list of pioneers in three Indiana counties. In Grant county, he entered government land along the Mississinewa river in Jefferson township. The entire township was then a wilderness, most of it covered with dense timbers, and his was one of the first cabins and first establishments in that section. A distinction which will always attach to the name of Robert Sanders is that in 1833 he platted and laid out on his land a town to which he gave the name New Cumberland, and selling a number :

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of lots, started a village which has had a long history, and which under modern conditions has become somewhat submerged under the new vil- lage of Matthews, and is now designated as Old Town. In that vicinity Robert Sanders lived and labored, reared a family of children, and used his influence toward building up a community in which he was the lead- ing spirit. He died at his son William's home in 1861, at the age of ninety-three years. He was an old-line Whig, and later joined the Republican party which was organized only a few years before his death. His wife passed away about twenty years before his death, and was about seventy years old. They were both members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

William Sanders was only a boy when his parents came to Indiana, and was seventeen years old at the time the home was established in Jefferson township of Grant county. There the time passed until he became of age, and in 1834 he made his first important venture inde- pendently by entering one hundred and thirty-two acres of government land in section two of Jefferson township. During his younger and more active career, William Sanders was known as a hard worker and an expert in handling the ax and cradle, and could follow the plow up and down the fields all day long. He cleared away much of the timber from his land, and was always known as a man of substantial pros- perity and influence. He lived and died on his farm in Jefferson town- ship, passing away February 17, 1879. In April, 1837, he was married to Rachel Wharton, who was born either in Ohio or Pennsylvania, April 2, 1812, a daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Gray) Wharton, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of New Jersey. The Wharton family is likewise an old name in Grant county, and Thomas Wharton entered land in Jefferson township when the greater part of its area was a wilderness. The Whartons were Methodists in religion. Mrs. William Sanders died at her home in Jefferson township in January, 1893. She and her husband belonged to the Methodist church, and in politics he was a strong Republican. Their children are: Nancy J., the widow of David Collins, and living at New Cumberland, at the age of seventy-seven; Sarah, who is the wife of James H. Wills, a farmer in Delaware county, and they have three children, and John Sanders of this review.

Mr. John Sanders grew up in the pioneer times of Jefferson town- ship, had a common school education, and was about sixteen years old when the war broke out between the north and south. A year later, when seventeen years old, he enlisted in Company B of the Eighty- Fourth Indiana Volunteers, and made a record as an efficient and faith- ful soldier in the various campaigns until the close of the war. The date of his enlistment was August 11, 1862, and his honorable dis- charge came on May 29, 1865. He was in the army under General Rosecrans and other noted Union leaders, and most of his active service was in the campaigns of the middle west, including the battle of Chicka- mauga and others in Tennessee and Georgia.

At Rocky Face Ridge he was wounded by a minie ball through the left foot. He was in the company commanded by Captain John H. Ellis, who was killed at Chickamauga and his son Franklin Ellis was promoted to captain, and he is now judge of the circuit court in Dela- ware county. The colonel of the regiment was Nelson Trusler. Mr. Sanders on returning home took up his work as a farmer, and has since become one of the most successful in that business in Jefferson town- ship. His home place comprises eighty acres of land in section thirty- two and its improvements and buildings, fences and cultivation mark it as one of the best estates in this vicinity. Recently Mr. Sanders and

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wife retired from their farm and are now residing in a comfortable seven-room dwelling in Matthews. Mr. Sanders also owns a fine farm near Old Town in section two, that being one hundred and twenty-six acres of his father's old homestead. As a farmer Mr. Sanders showed himself both practical and scientific, he always did mixed farming, raising both grain and live stock, did much to maintain the fertility of his soil, and in business as in civic affairs has always been a hustler, and a leader.

In 1890 Mr. Sanders was elected on the Republican ticket as sheriff and served one term until 1892. Two terms have been given to the office of township trustee, and wherever placed by his fellow citizens, his work has been commendable and beneficial. Fraternally he has been an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 1871, in both the subordinate Lodge No. 383, and in the Encampment No. 125, and also the Rebekah Lodge No. 447. He is a past noble grand in the lodge, and is past commander of the B. R. Dunn Post, No. 440, of the Grand Army of the Republic, formerly located at New Cumberland, that village being now merged into the village of Matthews.

In Blackford county on October 13, 1866, Mr. Sanders married Mary J. Reasoner, of an old and prominent family in Delaware county. She was born in Delaware county, in Washington township, October 27, 1848, and at the age of twelve years was taken by her parents to Blackford county. She is a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Dunn) Reasoner, who were born in Pennsylvania, but were married in Dela- ware county, and were farmers and good citizens. Mr. Reasoner was more than eighty years of age when he died and his wife lived to be about seventy. They were Presbyterians, and he was a Republican in politics. Jacob Reasoner was a son of Benjamin and Mary (Hill) Reasoner, of Pennsylvania, birth and of Scotch ancestry. The Rea- soners came to Delaware county in time to enter land from the govern- ment, and later moved into Blackford county, where they died old people and highly respected members of their community. The faith of the Presbyterian church they zealously maintained themselves, and were leaders in the extension of that religion in their various communi- ties.

Mr. and Mrs. Sanders are the parents of three living children : Geneva S. is the wife of Walter L. Gay, of Fairmount, and they have two children, Mary L. and Morris L .; William Frederick is now active manager of his father's farm, and married Gertrude Landis; Bernice R. is the wife of Leo Clyde Gossett, living in Van Buren, Grant county, and their children are Frederick C. and Martha. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders are members of the Presbyterian church.

CHARLES H. SNYDER. One of the largest and best farming estates in Jefferson township is that of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Snyder whose home is in section five. Mr. Snyder is one of the progressive young agriculturists, a man of great energy, a hard-worker, and is giving excellent account of himself in his chosen vocation. Their home place consists of one hundred and sixty acres, improved with a commodious white house of ten rooms, and a large red barn standing on a founda- tion one hundred by forty-two feet. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder own other lands and the aggregate of their possessions amounts to five hundred and eighty acres. It is divided into four different farms, and each has excellent improvements, including two full sets of farm buildings. The crops are corn, wheat and oats, and practically every pound of grain produced on the land is fed to livestock, and in that way the fertility of the soil is kept up to the highest point. Vol. II-18

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Mr. Charles H. Snyder was born in Hocking county, Ohio, January 26, 1878, was reared and educated there, and his parents were Jacob and Catherine (Eckstein) Snyder. They were also natives of Ohio, and of German stock. They were married in Hocking county, and began life on a farm in Laurel township of that county, where they spent the rest of their years. His father died in 1897 when sixty-five years old, and his mother was about fifty-two when her death occurred. They were good Christian people, substantial farmers, good neighbors, and his father was a Democrat in politics. Their six children are men- tioned as follows: Mary, is the wife of Jacob Lyghtle, a farmer in Monroe township of Grant county, and of their four children the only son died, leaving three daughters still living; Eliza is the wife of David Llama of Hocking county, Ohio, where he is a farmer, and they have six children; Flora is the wife of John D. Llama, a farmer in Marion county, Ohio, and they have a family; Kirk G. is a farmer in Michigan and has a wife and children. The next is Charles H .; Ira lives with his sister, Mrs. Lyghtle, in Grant county.

Mr. Snyder came to Grant county because his sister lived here, and he had his home with her for several years. In 1898 he married Miss Bertha Johnson, who was born and reared and educated in Jefferson township, and belongs to the Johnson family which has been identified with Grant county as early settlers and among the largest land owners since pioneer times. She is a great-granddaughter of John Johnson, who spent most of his life in Guernsey county, Ohio, but in 1835 came to Indiana on horseback and entered and bought a tract of land in section eight of Jefferson township, and also land in Delaware county. His son James Johnson some years later came out to Grant county and took possession of the quarter section in Jefferson township, settled down to farming on a large scale, was a business man of exceptional energy and foresight, and eventually was regarded as the largest land owner in Grant county, possessing twenty-seven hundred acres, lying chiefly within the limits of this county. He died only a few years ago on the old home- stead. Noah Johnson, a son of James and father of Mrs. Snyder, was born on the Jefferson township farm, and died in Upland in 1893 when in middle life. He was cashier of the Upland Bank at the time of his death. His wife was Bell Conley, who was born at Upland and died May 16, 1890, on the old farm. They were the parents of three chil- dren : Elva and Alva, twins, the former being the wife of Charles F. Marley, and more details concerning the Johnson family will be found in a sketch under his name elsewhere in this publication, while Alva is a well known real estate man in Marion. Bertha Johnson, the oldest of these children, was born on the old family estate in 1883, was reared and educated here and at her grandfather's death inherited a large amount of his land. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have two children : Clarence Alva, fourteen years of age, and now in the second year of the Upland high school; and Harry Clyde, aged twelve and in the graded schools. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder attend the New Light Christian church in Jeffer- son township, and in politics Mr. Snyder votes the Democratic ticket.

FRANCIS MARION WYCKOFF. The attractive homestead of Francis M. Wyckoff is in section eleven of Jefferson township. Mr. Wyckoff came in young manhood to Grant county, possessed the qualities and training which make the successful farmer, and by concentrating his efforts along one line through a succession of years has accumulated more than the average prosperity, and at the same time has won a high place of esteem in his neighborhood.

Concerning his family, it should be said that his grandfather Nicholas

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FRANK H. KIRKWOOD AND FAMILY

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Wyckoff was of German parentage, and was probably born in Kentucky, in which state he was married. All the children by his first marriage were born in Kentucky, including Henry, Abraham, Margaret, Susan, and William. Somewhat later the family moved to Indiana, and located west of the west fork of White River in Union township of Bartholomew county. There Nicholas Wyckoff bought two hundred acres of partly improved land, and before his death had the satisfaction of owning a fine property. He was past sixty when he died, and after the death of his first wife he married a Mrs. Tucker, who by that marriage had three daughters, and by her union to Michael Tucker had one daughter.

Henry Wyckoff, father of Francis M., was born in Kentucky in 1823, and died in Bartholomew county, Indiana, in 1868. His vocation was that of farming, his politics was Democratic, and he was a member and supported the church. In Johnson county, Indiana, he married Mar- garet Boucher, who was born in Indiana about 1832 and was of a pioneer family in Johnson county. Her death occurred in April, 1883. Her parents were natives of Germany. The children of Henry Wyckoff and wife were John W., who is unmarried and lives in Michigan; Susan, who died unmarried; Thomas H., who was born in Union township, Bartholo- mew county, where he is now a successful farmer, and has six sons and one daughter; James N., who died in young manhood; Francis M .; Sarah, wife of Simon Stucker, who lives in Louisville, Kentucky ; George, who died young; Martha, wife of Fred Mitler, of Louisville, Kentucky, and they have one son; and Edward, a farmer in Monroe township of Grant county, and the father of four children.

Francis Marion Wyckoff was born in Union township, Bartholomew county, Indiana, April 12, 1850, was educated there, grew up on a farm, had a practical training in its management, and on coming to Grant county bought some land in Fairmount township. That township was his home for fourteen years, and on leaving there be bought ninety-two acres in section eleven of Jefferson township. His place is considered one of the very best tracts of country real estate in that vicinity, and he has managed it in a manner worthy of its real value. His permanent improvements include a big red barn, a comfortable eight-room white house, his crops are fed to his stock on the place, and he is a man who believes in keeping only the better grades of live stock, runs a little dairy, and makes a good deal of butter, which is one of the sources of his annual revenue.

Mr. Wyckoff was married in Grant county to Mary E. Monroe, who was born in this county forty-five years ago, being reared and educated in her native vicinity. Her parents were Jesse and Catherine (Hineline) Monroe. Her father, who died in Jefferson township in middle life, was a son of Joseph Monroe, a pioneer settler who entered land from the government and gave many years of his life to its improvement. Part of the land he entered is now occupied in the farm of Francis M. Wyckoff. Mrs. Jesse Monroe is still living, being past seventy years of age, and her home is with her daughter Ada Marine at the old Monroe farm in Jefferson township. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Wyckoff are: Arthur J., who is employed at Marion, and by his marriage to Marie Draper, has one son, Richard H .; Bertha A. was educated in the high school and Fairmount Academy and lives at home; and Gertrude May was also educated in the high school and is the wife of Roscoe San- born of Upland.

FRANK H. KIRKWOOD. The year 1832 is the first date at which the Kirkwood family became identified with Grant county. For fully eighty years, covering practically the entire period of the history of civilization

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in this section of the state, the name has been identified with the pioneer and modern activities in farming, business and public and social and religious affairs in this county and in Delaware county, as well as in other adjacent counties of Indiana. The immediate family of Frank H. Kirkwood was introduced to Grant county a short time before the Civil war and Mr. Frank H. Kirkwood has spent practically all his life in the county, and for many years has been one of the prosperous farmer citizens of Fairmount township, his home being on section 27 of that township. The family record is one of such importance in different sec- tions of the state, that it is appropriate that extended mention be made of its earlier generations. The following paragraphs are the substance of a family sketch prepared by Mr. L. A. Kirkwood of Muncie, for Frank H. Kirkwood, and written under date of September 20, 1909. This sketch covers the different generations quite fully, up to that in which Mr. Frank H. Kirkwood belongs.

The name Kirkwood is Scotch and signifies a "church in the woods," or a "wooden church." The late Samuel J. Kirkwood, who was governor of Iowa during the Civil war, and later secretary of the interior in the cabinet of President Garfield, once wrote in reply to some inquiries from Mr. L. A. Kirkwood, that his ancestors were natives of the north of Ireland, and were commonly called "Scotch-Irish or Presbyterian Irish, Presbyterianism being as natural to them as water to a duck." Daniel Kirkwood, for many years professor of mathematics in the Indiana State University at Bloomington, and an astronomer of note in both Europe and America, was a cousin to the Iowa statesman. He, too, was of Scotch- Irish origin with the usual pronounced Presbyterian religious faith so peculiar to the earlier generations of the family. In a letter written by him in 1871, he expressed the belief that his ancestors and those of the Indiana family were of the same family in the north of Ireland.

The earliest known ancestors of the Kirkwood branch as related to the well known McCormick family, of Eastern Indiana, were from Knock- narney, County Down, Ireland, namely : James Reed Kirkwood and his wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Stewart. James Reed Kirkwood was born May 10, 1763, and Margaret Stewart on March 15, 1765. The exact date of their marriage is not known, but probably occurred about the year 1784, their first child being born October 11, 1785. In their old bible, printed in Belfast, Ireland, in 1764, on a blank page, plainly written and in a fine state of preservation, is found this inscription, penned there more than one hundred years ago :

"James Kirkwood is my name And Ireland is my nation, Knocknarney my dwelling place, And Heaven my habitation." "His hand wrote May sixth, 1785."

James Reed Kirkwood and wife reared a family of several children of record as follows: Martha Kirkwood, born October 11, 1785, in Ireland; Mary Kirkwood, born June 9, 1786, on the Atlantic ocean; Annie Kirk- wood, born July 26, 1791; William Nesbit Kirkwood, born January 19, 1794; Thomas Kirkwood, born November 18, 1796; James Stewart, born September 23, 1801; Margaret Kirkwood, born October 4, 1803-all the last five having Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, as their birthplace. There is nothing of record to show when these parents first left the shores of Ireland or of their landing on American soil; save that it was in the

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summer of the year 1778. It would seem that they located in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, where they continued to reside until some time subsequent to October, 1803. Of the children just mentioned, Martha married William Starkey; Mary married John Gilland; Annie married James Gilland; William Nesbit married Matilda Randall; Thomas married Jane McCormick and James Stewart married Catherine McCormick.

James Reed Kirkwood passed away May 10, 1836, his wife having preceded him September 25, 1835. At the time of their death they made their home with their youngest son, James S. Kirkwood in Posey town- ship, Fayette county, Indiana. Their earthly remains are in a neglected pioneer graveyard about one-fourth of a mile north of Bentonville, Fayette county. It has long since been utterly abandoned as a burial place and is part of an open field used for farming. There are now no signs whatever of a cemetery there, save the two base-stones, from which the marble .slabs have been broken off and removed to the fence which encloses the field. These were the only graves with stone markers in this early pioneer burial place, and not a sign of other graves therein is visible.

The Kirkwood relationship with the McCormick family began with the marriage of Thomas Kirkwood and Jane McCormick, which event took place March 4, 1824, at the old McCormick homestead near Con- nersville, Fayette county. They settled on land in Posey township in that county, living the life of the settlers of that early time in Indiana. They remained in Fayette county, until 1832, when they moved to Grant county, and located on a farm, near where the town of Mathews now stands. In about the year 1850 they removed to a farm near Eaton, in Union township of Delaware county, on the west bank of the Mississinewa River, remaining there the rest of their days. They had fourteen children, the first five born in Fayette county and the other nine in Grant county, their names with dates of birth being as follows: William Nesbit, December 9, 1824; Joseph Stewart, October 12, 1826; James Lewis, January 17, 1828; John Reed, July 20, 1829; Elizabeth Margaret, March 18, 1831; Samuel Drennan, October 2, 1832; Sarah Catherine, April 26, 1834; Thomas Cousins, April 27, 1836; Amos Washington, May 15, 1838; David McCormick, May 20, 1840; a son stillborn, October 10, 1841; Robert Lewis, May 25, 1843; Mary Jane, March 4, 1846; and Martha Ann, November 24, 1848. Thomas Kirk- wood, father of these children, died October 2, 1851, aged fifty-four years, ten months and fourteen days. His widow, Jane Kirkwood, sur- vived him forty-five years, passing away April 30, 1896, aged ninety- three years, eleven months and four days. Their remains rest in Mount Zion cemetery, Union township, Delaware county.

The further relationship of the Kirkwoods and the McCormicks took place June 24, 1825, when James Stewart Kirkwood, a brother to Thomas, was united in marriage with Catherine McCormick, a sister to Jane. This event, like the other, was celebrated at the old McCormick home- stead near Connersville, in Fayette county. They also settled on land in Posey township, adjoining that of Thomas Kirkwood and John Gil- land. They also had born to them a family of fourteen children, of rec- ord as follows: John Drennen, born October 9, 1826; James Reed, October 24, 1828; William Morrison, June 24, 1830; Thomas Boston, August 18, 1832; Mary Jane, July 21, 1834; David McCormick, Novem- ber 12, 1836; Joseph Lewis, December 22, 1838; Jefferson Stewart, May 23, 1841; Elizabeth Ann, March 3. 1843; Margaret, May 10, 1845; Levingston Alexander, February 11, 1847; Savannah Caroline, Decem- ber 25, 1849; Amanda Samira, March 1, 1851; Almyra Frances Helen, January 30, 1854.

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James Stewart Kirkwood, father of the last mentioned children, continued on the same farm until the time of his death, October 9, 1860, aged fifty-nine years and sixteen days. His widow, Catherine (McCor- mick) Kirkwood, survived him forty years, passing away July 11, 1900, aged ninety-one years, six months and twenty-five days. In 1874, Cathe- rine Kirkwood moved from Fayette county to Muncie, Indiana, where she spent the remaining twenty-six years of her life. Their remains rest in the cemetery one-half mile south of Bentonville in Fayette county. Of the fourteen children above named, the following had passed away at the time Mr. L. A. Kirkwood wrote in September, 1909: Mary Jane, wife of Lexemuel Beeson, June 8, 1853; Almira Frances Helen Kirk- wood, August 26, 1860; James Reed Kirkwood, November 16, 1903; and John Drennen Kirkwood, May 6, 1905.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 41

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

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