USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 43
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Mr. Jones was married in his native township to Miss Mary E. Ginn, who was born in Henry county, Indiana, and was fifty-eight years of age on October 1, 1913. When she was a young woman she came with her parents to Jefferson township, and the Ginn family to which she belongs has suitable representation on other pages of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Jones are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and very active in the affairs of their local society. Their two daughters are : Clara, the wife of A. J. Kuhn, who is associated with Mr. Jones in business at Upland, and they have a daughter, Hildred; Ginevra is the wife of Thomas L. Secrist, and they have one daughter, Martha E., and their home is in Santa Barbara, California.
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ELGE W. LEACH. One of the most competent and trusted young business men of Grant county is Elge W. Leach, cashier of the Farmers State Bank at Matthews. Mr. Leach has the entire executive manage- ment of this well known and substantial institution, and it is largely owing to his genial personality as cashier and his careful and sys- tematic conduct of the bank's affairs that the resources and business of the bank have been steadily mounting in importance since he first became connected with the business. As a man who has gained success and has gone considerable distance on the way to prosperity, Mr. Leach attributes his good fortune largely to the influence and counsel of his good wife, who for some time assisted him in the bank, and is not only an excellent housewife, but is thoroughly competent as an ac- countant and business woman.
Mr. Leach was appointed assistant cashier of the Farmers State Bank in March, 1909, and the following year was promoted to his present position, since which time he has had all the executive duties to perform. The Farmers State Bank of Matthews was established in 1907, with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars. In March, 1909, an entire new management took charge, and since that date its prosperity has been steadily increasing, but along natural and healthy lines. The personnel of the executive management is as follows: A. D. Mittank, president; George Fred Slater, vice president; E. W. Leach, cashier; and C. J. Jones, assistant cashier. The Farmers State Bank is a county, township and town depository; its total resources in February, 1913, were reported as about ane hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and its relation to the prosperity of this thriving farming com- munity is well indicated by the fact that in its vaults and on its books are accounts with depositors aggregating in the total nearly one hundred thousand dollars.
Elge W. Leach was born in Fairmount township, August 3, 1879. He was reared and educated in the public schools, graduated from the Fairmount Academy in the Class of 1901, and the following three years were spent as a teacher. At the same time his services were employed in an office, and he also did farm work. With this varied experience and equipment, he was well prepared for his present vocation. Mr. Leach's grandfather was Esom Leach, born in Virginia, reared in Frank- lin county, Indiana, and after his marriage there to Lucinda Corn, came to Grant county and acquired a large tract of land, comprising more than five hundred acres, partly by purchase and partly by entry from the government. The rest of his years were spent in residence at this estate in Grant county, and his career was one of special prosperity. He died when past seventy years of age, and his widow survived him ten or twelve years, and was a very old woman when taken away. They were both communicants of the Primitive Baptist Church. Their family comprised thirteen children in all, and eight sons and two daughters are still living. Of these children, John B. Leach, father of the Matthews banker, was born in Fairmount township, March 4, 1854, and has lived in this vicinity ever since, making his home on a farm there at the present time. He was married in Jefferson township to Miss Hester Richards, a daughter of Jacob and Susan (Gillespie) Richards. The Richards family has been identified with Grant county for all the years since early settlement, and both Mrs. Leach's parents died here when old people. Jacob Richards was an early minister of the Primitive Baptist Church at Matthews, the church usually being known as the Harmony church, and he lived and labored for many years in the cause of religion, spending much of his time in traveling and riding about the country horseback, covering the large territory and carrying
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the gospel to many isolated communities during the early days. Mrs. Hester Leach was born in Jefferson township in 1857, and still is smart and active and has been a good mother to her children. These children of John B. Leach and wife were: Elge W .; Jacob E., a farmer in Fair- mount township, who married Blanch Duling, and has three children, Lloyd, Carl, and Helen; Minnie is the wife of Ernest O. Crecraft, living in Fowlerton, and their children are John A. and Dora Lee; Fern is the wife of Nacy Wood, living in Fowlerton, and they have no children; Mr. Elge W. Leach was married in Jefferson township to Miss Sarah Anderson. Mrs. Leach, who was born in Jefferson township July 22, 1882, also graduated from the Fairmount Academy with the class of 1901, the same class with her husband, and is an intelligent and cul- tured woman whose presence in Matthews society is one of secure ad- vantage and esteem. Her parents were Augustus and Elizabeth (Dean) Anderson, who for many years were farmer residents of Jefferson town- ship. Her father died there in May, 1910, and the widow lives on the old farmstead, being about fifty-five years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Ander- son were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which Mrs. Leach is also associated. Mr. Leach is a Democrat in politics.
THOMAS F. SCOTT. People who lead busy and useful lives are not often portrayed in public prints, for it is only the abnormal that is observed by the current press. That work of homemaking, of efficient performance of daily duties and responsibilities is at the same time the most vital and important as well as the least likely to attract general attention. Among Grant county people who excel in this matter of running a business with quiet efficiency and making a fine home, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Scott are well worthy of a record in the Centennial history. Their attractive rural home is in section twenty-eight of Jefferson township.
Mr. Thomas F. Scott is the third bearer of that Christian name in as many successive generations. His grandfather, Thomas Scott, was born in Ireland in 1775, was of what is known as Scotch-Irish stock, and after his marriage to an Irish girl came to America about 1800. The only means of crossing the Atlantic at that time was by sailing vessels, and a number of years elapsed before the introduction of steam navigation. From the Atlantic coast Thomas and his young wife came on to Ohio, lived for a few years at Steubenville, on the Ohio river, where his son Thomas Jr. was born about 1804 or 1805. Later the family moved to Noble county in the same state where Grandfather Thomas died when probably quite an old man. His sons and his widow later went to Guernsey county, Ohio, where she died when very old. She was the mother of five sons and three daughters who grew up and married.
Thomas Scott, second of the name, was married during his resi- dence in Noble county, where he became of age, and the maiden name of his wife was Nancy McCoy, who was probably born in Ohio and of similar ancestry to her husband. After their marriage, Thomas and wife located in Guernsey county, where they were pioneers and undertook the tasks allotted usually to the pioneers in the middle west of clearing the dense forests and making a landscape of cultivated fields where had formerly been only the haunts of wild beasts and Indians. By his labor he improved one hundred and sixty acres of land. During the early years of their residence there the nearest town or village was five miles away and the mill and post office was three miles from their house. Thomas Scott II, was remarkably well fitted for the hard labor of pioneering. He was regarded as one of the most skillful wielders of an ax in his entire community, and it was his greatest pleasure to
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swing that implement hour after hour in the woods, that kind of work as hard as any that man does, being with him a part of athletic pleasure. His first home was a little cabin built of round logs, which was replaced somewhat later by a hewed log house, of a story and a half, and what was known as a double building, being divided by a partition, and with a stone fireplace and chimney. It was a somewhat pretentious home for that community, and had the same place as a brown-stone front mansion would in later years. In 1842, having sold his Ohio home, Thomas Scott came out to Grant county, and again became a pioneer, securing one hundred and sixty acres of wild land in section thirty-four of Jefferson township. There he made a large clearing and by his own efforts or under his supervision nearly all the land was cleared up. His death occurred in Jefferson township in 1870. A hard-working, thrifty and honorable gentleman, he lived long years and ever enjoyed the confidence and esteem of the community. His wife followed him in death in 1874. They were both Methodists, and from his affiliation with the Whig party he came naturally into the ranks of the Republicans. There were nine children born to them, three were married, and two are still living. Hugh married and left a wife and four children, in order to enlist in the Civil war, as a member of the Eighty-Fourth Indiana Regiment, going out in 1862, and after participation in a number of campaigns contracted smallpox at Nashville, and died from that disease in Nashville. The living sons are John A., who is now married and lives in Kansas with his family, and Thomas F.
Thomas F. Scott III, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, February 24, 1842. He was nine years old when his parents moved to Grant county. He has spent practically all his life in this county, and until his father's death was an active assistant on the home farm.
A great mutual confidence and esteem existed between father and son. Mr. Scott has spent nearly all his life on the farm he now occu- pies, which was the homestead cleared by the sturdy hands and skillful ax of his father. It is regarded as one of the best homes in the vicinity, all the land is highly improved and cultivated through the maximum of production, and of its building improvements a big red barn was erected some twenty-five years ago, and the commodious nine-room house has long been the shelter of the Scott family. Mr. Scott is an extensive raiser of good cattle, hogs and horses, and keeps the only herd of Angora goats in his township, and perhaps the only one in the county.
On August 12, 1862, Mr. Scott enlisted in Company C of the Eighty- Fourth Indiana Regiment of Infantry, the same regiment in which his brother saw service. His service continued with that regiment until June 14, 1865, and his record of military performance was notable for its regularity and faithful performance. He was in every engagement in which his regiment participated excepting one, and twelve of these were quite severe fights. He had one narrow escape from death when a bullet cut a hole through his hat above his right ear, but otherwise he went through without injury. He came out as corporal of his company.
Mr. Scott was married in Jefferson township to Miss Uree A. Slater, who was born, reared and educated in Jefferson township, had spent all her life here, and belongs to a family long prominent among the leading farmer citizens of the vicinity. Her parents were William and Mary (Tacy) Slater, both of whom came to Grant county from Noble county, Ohio, and made settlement on land that was new, although it had known one or two owners since being acquired from the government. Their location was on section twenty-seven of Jefferson township where they developed a good home and farmstead and lived until death took them away when about sixty years of age. There were four children in the Slater family, and all are living and married.
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Mr. and Mrs. Scott have the following children: 1. Charles married Florida James, lives on a farm in Scott county, Indiana, and their chil- dren are Hugh and Dorothy. 2. Carrie is the wife of Clarence Needler, farmers of Jefferson township and their children are Carl, Ray, Cecil, Ernest, Harmon, Thomas and. Anna Emeline. 3. Minnie R. is one of the most popular teachers in Jefferson township, has taught in the Matthews schools for the past twelve years, and lives at home. 4. Harry, who is a farmer in Scott county, married Ella Lizenbeck, and their children are Frances, Florence J. and Ruth. 5. Norah, is unmarried, and is a clerical worker at Muncie. 6. Bertha, is also employed at Muncie. 7. Ella lives at home. 8. Clarence W. is now his father's assistant in the management of the homestead. 9. Thomas W. also lives at home and works on the farm. 10. Anna M. was edu- cated in the local public schools like the other children, and lives at home. 11. Ada Z. is a sophomore in the Matthews high school.
Mr. and Mrs. Scott and family are members of the Methodist Epis- copal church, and Mr. Scott and sons are regular voters of the Repub- lican ticket. Mrs. Scott is one of the vigorous minded and capable women of Grant county, possessing an alert intelligence, is broadly informed on the issues of the day, and has many progressive ideas in home management and in affairs of social improvement. She deserves much credit for her success in rearing and educating her large family of children, and all of them are exceedingly proud of their mother. Mrs. Scott owns in her own right a fine tract of improved land, com- prising one hundred and seventeen acres, in section thirty-two and thirty-three of. Jefferson township.
JOHN H. SCOTT. On section twenty-six of Jefferson township is located one of the substantial country homes of Grant county. It is not a pretentious homestead, its owner is a quiet, efficient worker, and man- ager of his resources, and his farm indicates his individual character. It comprises seventy-five acres of as good land as can be found in the vicinity, and one of the evidences of his thrift and prosperity is a com- fortable white house, standing in the midst of a grove of trees, erected by him in 1898. A good barn and all other facilities for up-to-date farming are on the place. Mr. Scott is one of the very excellent farmers, and he and his wife, who has worked alongside of him throughout their married career, have succeeded in building up a modest little fortune and in rearing a family of good children. More than that could hardly be said in praise of anyone, and it is an accomplishment to be proud of.
Mr. Scott is a great-grandson of Thomas Scott, who was born in Ireland in 1775, and was of what is known as Scotch-Irish stock, and after his marriage to an Irish girl, came to America about 1800. A full account of the family history will be found in the sketch of Thomas F. Scott which precedes this.
Of the family of Thomas Scott II, Hugh Scott was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1829. He married a native girl of the same county, Elizabeth Deeren, who was born May 26, 1834. After his marriage and the birth of one child, Adeline, Hugh Scott and wife moved to Indiana, and in 1851 bought some new land with a log cabin standing upon it in Grant county. They were in very moderate circumstances, and their first place comprised only forty acres. However, by the combined industry and thrift of husband and wife they were beginning to see light ahead, and in fair way to prosperity when the war broke out. With the many responsibilities of a family, Hugh Scott remained at home dur- ing the first year, but when the heavy calls for volunteers came, in the summer of 1862, he enlisted on August 9 of that year in the Eighty-
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FAMILY GATHERING AT HOME OF M. V. MONTGOMERY,
POST OFFICE.
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fourth Regiment of Indiana Infantry. Much hard fighting and many campaigns did he participate in, but it was not the bullets of an enemy which brought his death. The fatal disease of smallpox again and again attacked the armies on both sides, and after one scourge he was vacci- nated and returned home for a furlough, and finally got well. He then returned to the army, though unfit for service, and at Nashville con- tracted the most virulent form of the disease, and died while in the hos- pital, March 10, 1865, just as the war was entering its final stage. He left a widow with five small children, and four of these by her frugality and care she reared to manhood and womanhood. She kept the little home, kept her children about her, inculcated good morals and habits of thrift and industry, and there she died, honored and respected by her descendants, February 5, 1909. She, as well as her husband, was a mem- ber of the Methodist church. Of their little family the following are still living: Sallie, wife of H. H. Walker, a farmer in Jefferson township, and the father of a large family. Fletcher, a resident of Hartford City, Indiana, and who by his marriage to Melissa Hudson has six children; and John H.
John H. Scott was born on the old Scott farm, in Jefferson township, November 23, 1861, and was reared and educated in that vicinity. As soon as his youthful strength permitted he did all he could to assist his widowed mother, and lived at home until his marriage to Lucinda Leach, in 1890. She was born in Fairmount township, May 7, 1868, a daughter of. William J. and Ellen J. (Havens) Leach, of the prominent family of that name in southern Grant county. Her father still lives on the Leach farm at Fowlerton. He was born February 2, 1840, and has lived as a farmer all his life. His wife, who was born April 23, 1843, died April 17, 1888. They were members of the Primitive Baptist church. The other children in the Leach family were as follows: Charles E. of Fowlerton, who has five children; Anna, the wife of Chalmer Kerr of Fairmount township, and the mother of five children; Martha C., wife of Shirley Hancock, of Jefferson township, and they have four children. The little family of Mr. and Mrs. Scott are as follows: Effie, who died in infancy; Ira Pearl, who was educated in the grade schools and lives at home; Sarah Ellen, aged eighteen and living at home, hav- ing completed the common school course; William Harvey, who assists his father on the home farm; Ancil Everett, who is attending school; and Arlie W., also a school boy. Mr. and Mrs. Scott are members of the Methodist church, and his political affiliation is with the Republican party.
MARTIN V. MONTGOMERY. A half a century ago hundreds of thou- sands of men and boys marched away from comfortable homes and dear ones, to offer up their lives on the altar of patriotism. Some dyed that altar with their life blood and never returned; others came back but have borne through the succeeding years the indelible imprint left by the hardships and privations of war. Those who were spared to return found difficulties awaiting them ; after years of strenuous endeavor, when each minute might be their last-when a nation's life hung upon their bravery and endurance, it was no easy matter to resume the ordinary occupations of work-a-day life. Yet thousands did this very thing, and even today a larger proportion of the best citizenship of this country is composed of veterans of the great struggle between the North and the South-men of sound principle, possessed of high moral and physical courage who have rounded out lives that will set an enduring example for generations to come. Grant county furnished its full quota of volunteers during the dark days of the Civil war, and among these was Martin V. Vol. 11-19
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Montgomery, now a highly respected farmer-citizen of Center township, where he has passed many years in the tilling of the soil.
Martin V. Montgomery was born March 26, 1841, in Guernsey county, Ohio, and is a son of James and Jane (Smith) Montgomery, also natives of that state. Some time after their marriage, Mr. Montgomery's par- ents removed to Vinton county, Ohio, and in 1854 came to Grant county, Indiana, locating in Center township, where they passed the remainder of their lives. They were honest, sturdy people, industrious and thrifty, and Mr. Montgomery was well known in public affairs in his community, serving in a number of offices. They had a family of ten children, of whom two are living at this time : Martin V .; and Thomas M., now a resi- dent of Pekin, Illinois, who during the Civil war served for three years as a member of Company C, Eighty-ninth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
Martin V. Montgomery received his education in the district schools of Vinton county, Ohio, and Grant county, Indiana, and was still little than a lad when he enlisted for service in Company H, Sixtieth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, after the outbreak of hostilities between the States. This company was later attached to Company D, of the same regiment, and of the 104 men who originally composed the organization, but four returned to Grant county at the close of the war, Mr. Montgomery being one of the four. Mr. Montgomery participated in some of the most sanguinary engagements that marked the great struggle, and at all times deported himself as a gallant and faithful soldier, ever ready and eager to perform the duties which fell to his lot. At the battle of Mumfordsville he was taken prisoner, and confined for seventeen days, and after Vicksburg took part in the operations on the Mississippi, being again captured by the Confederates at New Iberia, Louisiana, when he was held for three months before receiving his exchange. Later, under Gen. U. S. Grant, he served in Arkansas.
At the close of the war Mr. Montgomery returned to Grant county, and in the same year was married to Miss Martha J. Taylor, now de- ceased. He moved to Michigan in 1873, and was there married to Mary E. Camper. Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery never had children of their own, but they raised three boys and one girl. Mrs. Montgomery died October 24, 1913. While a resident of Big Rapids, Michigan, Mr. Mont- gomery met with an accident which cost him an arm, and following this misfortune he returned to Grant county, Indiana, and again engaged in agricultural pursuits, in which he has continued to the present time. He makes a specialty of raising Poland-China hogs. His farm is in excellent condition and is located on the Soldiers' Home pike, about five miles southeast of Marion. He is a Republican in his political views, but has taken only a good citizen's interest in public matters. He receives a pension from the government in recognition of his services in behalf of his country's flag at a time when secession reared its gory head.
JESSE STANLEY. In the pioneer days of Grant county, when the heavy timber covered the greater part of this section of Indiana, and naught but blazed trails through the forest marked the way for the sturdy set- tlers, the Stanley family became identified with the county's history, and from that time to the present its representatives have continued to reside here and to be prominent in various lines of endeavor. Industry, energy, honesty and fidelity-these are some of the most marked charac- teristics of the Stanleys, and the elemental strength of character in Jesse Stanley, of Jefferson township, shows that these qualities are predomi- nant in his nature. Mr. Stanley's career has been spent in agricultural pursuits, and his history is an open book, capable of bearing the closest scrutiny with honor.
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Evan Stanley, the father of Jesse Stanley, was born in North Carolina in 1817, and was still a boy when he left the parental roof to seek his fortune in the growing West. He first located in Fayette county, Indi- ana, where he secured employment as a farm hand, but in 1838, still single, made his way to Grant county and entered a tract of forty acres of land, on which he erected a small log cabin. There he began life alone in the woods, surrounded by the heavy timber, through which he would have to search his way to the homes of his few neighbors, miles distant, but as the time went on he managed to clear, grub and improve his original purchase, and in 1840 he added to his holdings by the pur- chase of eighty acres more of land. This was also covered with virgin forests, but this enterprising and energetic pioneer, who is remembered as a short, stout and very rugged man, worked faithfully and constantly, put his land under a good state of cultivation, and when he died, in 1879, was in very comfortable financial circumstances. He was a Democrat in politics, and a good and public-spirited citizen, although never a poli- 'tician. His friends were legion, and although he was not a member of any religious denomination, he bore a spotless reputation for upright dealing and integrity. Mr. Stanley found his wife in Grant county. She was Mary J. Vincent, born in Madison county, Indiana, about 1822, and died in 1867, a good wife and loving mother, and a faithful member of the New Light Christian church. She was a daughter of Elisha and Elizabeth Smith Vincent, of Virginia, who were married there and at an early day came to Delaware county, Indiana, locating on eighty acres of land. Mr. Vincent died in middle life, while the mother survived until eighty-five years of age, both passing away in the faith of the Christian church. Mr. and Mrs. Stanley were the parents of two chil- dren : Margaretta, who is the widow of William Russel, a former farmer of Blackford county, Indiana, and the mother of two children, Melville and John; and Jesse.
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