Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 46

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

USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 46

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).

From Michael Luther to Godfrey Luther, there is a break in the family genealogy, of one or perhaps two generations. Godfrey Luther

Digitized by Google

971

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

was born December 14, 1776, and died August 3, 1855. He grew up in Randolph county of North Carolina, and married Elizabeth Stride, who was born in 1779, and died in 1816. They were farming people and members of the Methodist faith. Godfrey and Elizabeth Luther had five children, Sarah, Jacob, Martin, William and Catherine. Of these children Martin was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, September 6, 1805. He grew up in his native vicinity, took up farming as his occupation, and married Sarah (Sally) Kearns. She was born in Randolph county in 1807. After their marriage, which occurred about 1830, they settled on a farm in Randolph county, and spent the rest of their lives there. He died March 26, 1883, and she on December 15, 1892. Their religious faith was Methodist.

The children of Martin and Sarah Luther were as follows: 1. Mary Ann, born August 18, 1832, died after her marriage to Richard Graves and left a family. 2. Ivy was born February 22, 1834, and is head of the well known Grant county family of that name. 3. James W. was born July 14, 1836, and died unmarried during the Civil war in North Carolina. 4. Josiah was born March 4, 1840, died in his native county, and married Anna Crawford, and their children were Elsa and Martin. 5. Martha E. died after her marriage to M. Lathrock, and left children, Ivy and Vetura. 6. Emily Maria is the wife of William Fletcher Hicks, and has seven children.

Ivy Luther, whose birth has been noted, and who is now in his eightieth year, has had a long and honorable career. Reared on a farm, he early found himself out of sympathy with the tide of public opinion before the war, and when the war broke out was conscripted for service in the Confederate army. Instead of going to the front he managed to secure an appointment in the Government Salt Works, but soon after left the south and journeyed to Henry county, Indiana. There he had his home for seven years, and then moved to Grant county, where he bought eighty acres of land adjoining the Fairmount corporation. He has placed many improvements including a fine home and barns and other out- buildings on that land, and is living in comfortable circumstances.

In Randolph county, North Carolina, Mr. Luther was married August 28, 1855, to Sarah Stuart, who was born in Randolph county, August 21, 1833. She was reared and educated in that vicinity, and she and her husband were school children together. Her parents were Jehu and Rebecca (Hicks) Stuart, natives of North Carolina, where they lived and died as substantial farmer people and strict adherents of the Quaker faith. The Stuart family has an interesting genealogy. Jehu Stuart, father of Mrs. Luther, was a son of Henry and Mary (Nelson) Stuart, both natives of Chatham county, North Carolina, and farmers and Quakers. Henry Stuart was in turn the son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Pike) Stuart. They were married in Frederick county, Virginia, in 1759, thence moving to Chatham county in North Carolina, where they died at a good old age. Alexander Stuart, going back still another gen- eration, was a son of Robert and Martha (Richardson) Stuart, natives of Pennsylvania, where they were married, and afterwards moved to Virginia. These last named couple were of English parents and were probably immediately descended from some of the Quakers who came over with or soon after William Penn and located in Chester county, Pennsylvania.

Mr. and Mrs. Ivy Luther have the following children : 1. Dorothy, was born in Grant county, received her education in the city high school, and also the Earlham College at Richmond and the State Normal School at Terre Haute. She was for seventeen years a successful teacher in the city public schools and now lives at home. 2. Narcissa is the wife Vol. 11-20

Digitized by Google

972

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

of Elias Bundy, an attorney of Marion. Their two children are Homer L., and Howard E., both in the city schools. 3. James A., is one of the prominent business men of Terre Haute, Indiana. He is one of the executive officials in the National Drain Tile Company, is connected with the Lower Vein Coal Company, and an official in various banks and other corporations. He married Lizzie Scott, and their children, Forest J., and E. Agnes, are both married. 4. Emily R., is the wife of Alvin B. Scott, a well known business man of Fairmount, whose family history will be found on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Luther are both prominent members of the Friends church at Fairmount, and at the present time in point of years are the oldest couple in the local con- gregation. Their children were all reared in the same faith. Mr. Luther in political allegiance is a Prohibitionist.

REUBEN FRITZ. On North Main Street in Fairmount, the meat mar- ket enterprise of R. Fritz & Son has been a very successful establishment since its opening in the fall of 1901. Mr. Reuben Fritz with his son is a practical butcher and meat man, and they conduct a high class shop, with all the facilities for serving their customers with good meat. They kill all their own stock, and buy their cattle and hogs from the local farmers. They also manufacture the by-products into salable stuffs for the local market, and both in their slaughter house and shop have every- thing arranged for sanitary and expeditious handling.

Reuben Fritz was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, January 22, 1851. His grandfather Peter Fritz was born near Pottstown, Pennsylvania, was a farmer, and of good German stock, known in that locality as Pennsylvania Germans. His wife was a native of the same state, and soon after their marriage they moved to Ohio with a little colony of Pennsylvania people, numbering about half a dozen families. They made settlement on new land in Liberty township of Fairfield county. There the grandparents developed a fine farm, and prospered. They died when well past seventy years of age and were members of the German Reformed Church, where the grandfather was a Democrat in politics. There was a large family of children, and two sons and about half a dozen daughters grew up, were married and had children. Two are still living. Mrs. Rachel Bowser is a widow living in Allen county, Indiana, while Mrs. Mary Mauger now lives at Etna, Ohio, with a daughter.

Martin Fritz, father of Reuben, was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1828, and died in the latter part of 1851, soon after the birth of his first and only child, Reuben. He was married in Fairfield county to Catherine Soliday, who was born in that county about 1830. Her parents came from Pennsylvania, at an early day, and were among the pioneers of Fairfield county, where they lived and died as prosperous farmers, and as members of the German Reformed church. Mrs. Cath- erine Fritz after the death of her husband married Absalom Arnold, of Fairfield county, where he was a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold lived in Fairfield county until their death, she at the age of seventy-six, while he preceded her in death. There were five Arnold children, and Nansen, George, Frederick, and Emma all married and have families, and all are residents of Fairfield county, except the daughter, whose home is in Denver, Colorado. Mr. Arnold married for his first wife a Miss Weist, and had two sons and two daughters, of whom the two sons are still living.

Martin Fritz was a member of the German Reformed church, while his wife after her second marriage joined the United Brethren church. Reuben Fritz, after the death of his father, lived in the home of his grandfather Peter Fritz, until he was about twelve years old, and after

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY 973

that with his step-father Mr. Arnold. When he reached his majority, he started out to make his way as a farmer. He was married at Baltimore, Ohio, to Catherine Gehring, who was born in Licking county, Ohio, a daughter of Henry and Mary Gehring, natives of Wuertemberg, Ger- many, and married in Newark, Ohio, where they lived, and also in other places in that state until locating at Baltimore. Mr. Henry Gehr- ing died at Baltimore fifteen years ago at the age of sixty-four, while his widow later moved to Fairmount in Grant county, and lived with her daughter Mrs. Fritz, until her death in November, 1910, at the age of seventy-six. The Gehring family were Methodists. There were a large number of children, and two sons and two daughters are still living.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Fritz lived in Baltimore, Ohio, where he learned the trade of butcher, and did business in that line there until 1900. He then moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and eighteen months later to Fairmount.

Mr. and Mrs. Fritz are the parents of two children. Nellie is the wife of William H. Lamb, a stock buyer and real estate dealer in Balti- more, Ohio. They have three children, William, Catherine L., and Vir- ginia. The son Harley H., the partner of his father in the meat market at Fairmount, was born, reared, and educated in Baltimore, Ohio. He learned the trade of butcher under his father, and has been in partner- ship since 1890. He was married in Fairmount to Miss Myrtle Hart, who was born and reared near Warsaw, Indiana. They have no chil- dren. Both Mr. Fritz and his son reside on South Main Street in Marion. Both are loyal Democrats, and all the family attend worship in the Methodist church.

JOHN ALPHEUS CARTER. The Carter family of which John A. Car- ter is a representative has lived long in Grant county, and has been characterized by many of the more substantial virtues of citizenship and private industry. The following article refers briefly to the main points in the family history since the beginning of its Grant county resi- dence, and mentions the different members of the family.

John Alpheus Carter was one of the family of Isaac W. and Phebe (Whitson) Carter. Isaac W. Carter came from Clinton county, Ohio, in 1855. Two years earlier he had married a Grant county woman, Miss Phebe Whitson. She was a daughter of Amos Whitson, a pioneer of Liberty township in the Bethel Friends neighborhood. Her father moved to Valley Mills many years before his death. Phebe Whitson had three sisters, Mrs. Ann Shugart, Mrs. Hannah Ellis, and Mrs. Mary Metcalf, all of whom reared families in Grant county. Isaac W. Carter also had a sister, Mrs. Louisa Walthall, who reared a family in this county. Isaac and Phebe Carter were among the best known pioneer Quaker families in Grant county, and both were useful citizens in the Bethel community. He always looked out for the welfare of his family and she was a woman to go about the neighborhood wherever there was sickness and need of neighborly ministrations. Her death occurred at the family homestead, and he died at the home of a daughter in Marion, having abandoned the country as a place to live, although he always. maintained citizenship in Liberty, caring more to vote in that township.

The sons and daughters of Isaac W. and Phebe ( Whitson) Carter are : John A. Carter; Joseph E. Carter; Mrs. Louise C. Harmon; and Mrs. Ida C. Kem; William A. Carter, deceased, and Alice and Rosetta Carter, who died in childhood. All the other children have families about them.

William A. Carter, now deceased, married Miss Anna May Jay, and their children are: Chester, Eli, Jennie and David. Chester Carter

Digitized by Google

.974

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

. married Miss Chestie Wise, and has two children, Ilene and Margaret. Eli Carter married Miss Dessie Hubert, and has a son, Hubert Carter. Joseph E. Carter married Miss Della Coggeshall, now deceased, and their . children are: Pearl; Earl; Ray, who married Miss Marie Kelly; and Arthur, who married Miss Tabitha Emmons. Mrs. Louise C. Harmon is the wife of J. F. Harmon and their children are Madonna, Frances and Robert, and a daughter Glyde, who died in childhood. Mrs. Ida C. Kem is the wife of Oren E. Kem (see sketch of Augustin Kem), and their children are Edith and Carter Kem.

John Alpheus Carter, who recites the family history, married Miss Minerva Hiatt, and their children are: Omar Isaac Carter; Mrs. Lena H. Moore; and Miss Hazel May Carter; and Harry, who died in infancy. Mrs. Lena H. Moore is the wife of E. L. Moore, and has three children, Harold, Herbert and John Moore.

The will of Isaac W. Carter provided that the three sons have the farm land and that the two daughters be paid in cash for their interests, and thus the homestead remained in the family name. William A. Carter, who became owner of the old home, was the first to die, and a son lives on the farm, while Mrs. Carter lives in Fairmount.

John A. Carter left the farm several years before the death of his father, although he continued to reside in the country for a few years after taking a position as rural mail carrier. He began his duties in that position on July 16, 1900, while the system was still an experiment in Grant county. The first carrier over a country mail route out of Marion was A. B. Comer, and his service began in September, 1899. The second was L. E. Rinehart, who is still doing duty, while Mr. Carter has been on route No. 3 for more than thirteen years, and is the second oldest rural carrier. All the rural routes in Grant county were com- pletely covered for the first time on August 15, 1902, a little more than two years after Mr. Carter first began delivering mail to country patrons. In all his thirteen years he has missed less than a week except for his annual vacation, and he has always had the friendly support of his patrons.

The Carter family has always been relied upon in the community where these sons and daughters were reared, and their friendly inter- ests will always remain there, although J. E. Carter is now the only rep- resentative of the family in the township of Liberty. When the Straw- town road was built-the second gravel road in Grant county, I. W. Carter, the father, was a promoter, and with two neighbors, Willis Cammack and George Davis, undertook the contract for the mile begin- ning at the Liberty-Franklin Line, and passing the Carter farm to the Bethel road. The contract for the next half mile was taken by Tristam Conner, David M. V. Whitson, and Richard Jay. The neighbors thus concerned worked much together in developing the community, and it is that kind of cooperation that counts for community advancement. Isaac Carter, Willis Cammack, and David Whitson owned a horse-power threshing machine together for several years. That was at a time when it required many more men and horses to thresh the crop than now, and the dinners served all over the neighborhood were the products of many women clubbing together. Threshing was always a social event and there has always been a subsequent friendship among the younger gen- eration of all those families.

In speaking of this old neighborhood policy and the Carter partici- pation, J. A. Carter said the rule was "Always go or send a hand," no matter what was going on in the community that required cooperation. And even while the interview was in progress, arrangements were being made over the telephone for all the town relatives to go out to the old

Digitized by Google

Digitized by

Google

Dianna R Mich

John Q. Meele.

Google

Digitized by

975

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

farm on the following day for the annual threshing event. Although Isaac W. and Phebe Carter are gone, they will not soon be forgotten in the neighborhood centering about Bethel Friends church in Liberty. J. A. Carter's mail route is past the old home, and while he no longer follows the plow, he is in daily communication with the people who look after affairs, and the Carter ambition, as in the past, is to be abreast of the times in everything. The young people in the second and third gen- erations have all been given splendid educational advantages, and citi- zenship is of a high type in the family. The Carter farm in Liberty has always been a model and when results are in evidence anywhere the crops there have been abundant. The Carter burial plot is near the entrance to Friends Cemetery, and a beautiful shaft marks the last resting place of the family.

JOHN A. MEEK, M. D. For a period of more than forty years the late Dr. John A. Meek was engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Jonesboro, and during this time rose to a commanding posi- tion among the members of the profession in Grant county. The pioneer physician of Jonesboro, he gained a widespread reputation for his skill, his devotion to his calling and his broad sympathy, and was equally well known and respected for his sterling citizenship and his upright and honorable life. Doctor Meek was of Scotch descent and came of a southern family which was for many years prominent in Kentucky. His father, Joseph Meek, was born in that state about the year 1790, and came about the year 1810 to Indiana, locating on a farm in the vicinity of Richmond, Wayne county, where he was married to Miss Julia Smith, daughter of John Smith, the founder of Richmond. Mr. Smith was a native of North Carolina, where he married a Quakeress, and soon thereafter moved to Wayne county, where he became one of his community's best known citizens, was Richmond's first blacksmith and merchant, and donated large tracts of land to his adopted place. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Meek located on a new farm near Richmond, and there were born their eleven children: William, Samuel, Dr. John A., James R., Sarah J., Nathan, Margaret, Alfred, Allen, Sarah Ellen and Jane. All grew up and were married except William, Samuel and Sarah Ellen, and but two now survive, Dr. Allen Meek of Hollingsburg, Ohio, and Margaret, an eighty-year-old resident of Wayne county. Joseph Meek and his wife continued to live on the old home- stead throughout the remainder of their lives, and were both about eighty-nine years of age when they died. They were faithful members of the Methodist church, and Mr. Meek was a Democrat in his political views.

John A. Meek was born on the home farm in Abington township, Wayne county, Indiana, December 8, 1820. He was reared to the pursuits of the farm, but early decided upon a professional career and accordingly began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Doctor Swaller, an early physician of Abington, Wayne county. There he was married to Miss Sarah Weaver, daughter of Adam Weaver, a native of Pennsylvania of German parents and one of the very first settlers of Abington township.

After the birth of three children, Perry S., James R. and Mary E., Doctor Meek came to Jonesboro, where on February 14, 1848, he estab- lished himself as the first physician of this place. Here he was engaged in a successful practice until August, 1862, when he enlisted in the Federal army as a surgeon for service during the Civil War, and became 2nd Lieutenant and Surgeon, serving as a field officer of the Eighty- ninth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. After more than two

Digitized by Google

976

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

years of active service he received his honorable discharge, and returned to the duties of his practice at Jonesboro, where he continued one of the leading members of his profession until his retirement in 1889. From that time until his death he lived quietly at his home, although he never ceased to be interested in the advancement made by the calling or the progress made by his adopted city. Probably few physicians of Grant county have been more favorably known. His high ability, his devotion to the interests of his patients and the broad and unfailing sympathy which he displayed at all times endeared him to those who came in contact with him whether in a professional or social way, and in the affairs of his city he ever maintained a sterling citizenship that made him a promoter of all things that stood for the advancement of education, religion and morality. He was a Democrat in his political views, and his religious belief was that of the Methodist church, in the faith of which he died July 11, 1901.

Doctor Meek's first wife died in 1854, and on June 4, 1862, he was married to Miss Diana R. Pool, who was born at Petersburg, Pennsyl- vania, December 25, 1840. When she was eight years of age she was taken to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, by her parents John V. and Hannah (Milburn) Pool, the former born in Maryland and the latter in the city of Baltimore, that state. The Pool grandparents were German birth, while John and Ursula (Drake) Milburn, Mrs. Meek's maternal grandparents, were natives of England. John Milburn served as sheriff of Baltimore county, Maryland, for some years, but later moved to Ohio, where he died at the age of eighty-eight years. John V. Pool came to Grant county in 1852, and spent the remainder of his life in Jonesboro, where he died in 1854, at the age of fifty-two years, while his wife, who was born May 2, 1808, passed away February 17, 1887. They were members of the Methodist church, in which Mr. Pool was for many years a class worker.

Ten children were born to Doctor and Mrs. Meek, of whom five died in infancy, while one son, William, passed away after marriage. The living are as follows: Charles M., born August 28, 1865, and educated in the schools of Jonesboro, is a cornicemaker by trade and now a resident of California. He married Miss Emma Brewer, and has one child, A. Milburn, who is sixteen years of age. Herman W., born June 5, 1874, a barber by trade with an establishment at Marion, married Lillian Gagen. Frank, born January 19, 1880, and educated at Oberlin, Ohio, is a telegraph operator of Jonesboro and single; Harry Clyde, born May 29, 1884, was educated in the graded and high schools of Jonesboro, and at Marion, Indiana. He was formerly a telegraph operator and is now connected with the Indiana Rubber and Insulated Wire Company as an automobile tire maker. He married in Jones- boro Miss Lelia F. Dunn, who was born in South Carolina, they have one daughter, Mary Belle, born August 24, 1910.

Mrs. Meek still survives the Doctor and resides in her pleasant home in Jonesboro. She is widely known in social circles, and among the members of the Methodist Episcopal church which she joined as a child of fourteen years.

MERRILL L. LEWIS. The Marion hardware store is a familiar institu- tion, not only to the citizens of the county seat, but to practically all the people from the surrounding country who buy their goods in the city. The manager of this store is Merrill L. Lewis. Mr. Lewis is a native of Genesee county, New York, but most of his early life was spent in Michigan. He was married on Christmas Day of 1873 to Miss Julia Breckenridge of Hillsdale county, Michigan, and after living in Lansing

Digitized by Google

977

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

and Indianapolis, the family located in Marion in 1886. Since that time Mr. Lewis has been actively identified with the community. To this marriage were born three daughters: Gennie, Iva and Marjorie. The mother died October 5, 1896, ten years after the family located in Marion. Mr. Lewis afterwards married Mrs. Mary Roehm, and a daughter, Florence, was born to them.

When Mr. Lewis located in Marion he was a traveling hardware sales- man through Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, and Marion was central to his territory. He could be home frequently, and the family much en- joyed a home built to their own order on West Fourth Street, but later an opportunity came for entering a retail business and the residence was sold toward the investment.

Mr. Lewis first bought an interest in the Campbell and Ludlum Hard- ware Store, and later organized the Marion Hardware Store, of which he is business manager. He had his first experience in selling hardware in Lansing, and after five years as a retail clerk went into the wholesale trade as a knight of the grip. For fourteen years he traveled over three states, where he developed a splendid trade among hardware dealers.

Mr. Lewis associated himself with others in the hardware trade in Marion, the store being in the Wilson block, but as the business increased more room was required, and W. C. Webster built the present store room to fill the demands, planning ventilation, light and heat to suit the re- quirements. There is no better equipped hardware store about the country. Miss Gennie Lewis is the efficient bookkeeper, and it is nothing unusual for her to go on the floor and wait on the trade-an unusual occupation for a woman. Miss Lewis has specialized on seeds, a fine stock always carried by the store.

It was in 1910 that the Marion Hardware store was moved into the present location, Washington and Fifth Streets, and a large force of men is required to take care of the trade. The firm has an extensive patronage from Marion factories, and from building contractors, and its farm patronage is excellent. No business in the city has better patron- age, and there is no more efficient corps of salesmen waiting on trade than at the Marion Hardware Store. There is no man in town who has the good of the community more at heart, and Mr. Lewis has always been a "booster." He is always allied with any advance movement, and when a subsidy must be raised he is always ready to solicit funds. The whole community recognizes the worth of a man who labors in its inter- ests. Some of the business men who have subscribed to factory subsidies have learned what to expect when they see M. L. Lewis and other busi- ness men enter their doors-there is need of money to boost some local industry. The community effort to equip the Marion Normal Institute was his special ambition, and he was gratified at the response of the people when the subsidy was raised for it.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 46

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

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