Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 48

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

USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 48

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).

William D. Shafer was born in Virginia in 1847, grew up and received his education in that state, and in Rock Bridge county married Miss Nancy Ruley. She was born, reared and educated in the same county, her birth having occurred in 1846. After their marriage, they made their home in Virginia for some years, and in that state were born Burtney W., Margaret, Jennie and Esther. In 1884 the family moved to Grant county and located in Mill township on a farm. There William D. Shafer still lives and all their children were reared in that vicinity. The daughter Jennie died after her marriage to Frank B. Bourie, leaving children, May and Frank; Margaret married Harry W. Woot- ring, who is connected with the rubber works at Jonesboro; Esther mar- ried Professor George Carter, a son of Henry D. Carter, a sketch of which family appears elsewhere in this work. Professor George Carter is at the head of the department of manual training in the schools of Port Arthur, Texas, and they have one daughter, Margaret. Mr. Shafer's first wife, the mother of Senator Shafer, died in the early nineties and William D. Shafer in 1898 married Mrs, Lida E. Willson.

Burtney W. Shafer grew up in a time in which the inspiring influence was the mother, a highly educated and cultured woman, who afforded her children many advantages which schools could not supply. The local high school gave him an adequate literary training for busi- ness purposes, and he early engaged in brick mason work, and sub- sequently became a brick contractor, which is his principal business at the. present time. He also clerked for some time, and has had a thorough business experience and as a workman at a trade has a ready appreciation of all phases of the labor situation. In recent years, he has done a large and successful business in the higher grades of brick work, chiefly in decorative and chimney construction. Mr. Shafer has had his home about Jonesboro ever since 1884, with the exception of about eight years, during which he was on the road as a journeyman brick mason.

He was married in Grant county to Miss Myrtle Allison, who was born in Bartholomew county, Indiana, in 1874, was educated in the city of Columbus, Indiana, and to her marriage with Mr. Shafer has been born one daughter, Helen Margaret, born November 22, 1902, and now attending the Jonesboro city schools. Mrs. Shafer is a member of the Methodist church.

Mr. Shafer has been one of the working leaders in the Democratic party in Grant county since 1889. has served as delegate to county and state conventions, and is regarded as one of the most astute organ- izers and managers in this section of the state. In 1906 he consented to

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become a candidate for the state senate, and as already mentioned was the first Democrat elected from this district who ever succeeded in carrying Grant county. While in the senate Mr. Shafer was assigned to membership on several important committees, but his most con- spicuous service was done in the committee on labor, and his part in shaping legislation which came from that committee or was referred to it, was of such impartial and fair-minded character as to call forth the hearty commendation of laboring people all over the state, and was also indorsed by the regular press and political organization. Mr. Shafer has been appointed postmaster at Jonesboro by President Wilson. Mr. Shafer took his first degrees in Masonry in Jonesboro Lodge No. 109, F. & A. M., in 1890, and is a past master of the lodge and has been prominent both in that order and in the Knights of Pythias, which he has served as chancellor and for ten years as a member of the Grand Lodge. He is also a member of the Charter Lodge of the Order of Neptune at Marion.

WALTER C. KEEGHLER. A very gratifying kind of success has been that of Walter C. Keeghler, the proprietor of the well appointed de- partment store of Matthews, carrying everything in stock which the public wants, from high grade pianos to needles and pins, including dry goods, groceries, all kinds of household supplies, queensware, brassware, and a full stock of five and ten cents goods, supplying the demands of both the country and town trade. Mr. Keeghler possessed a certain native ability in trade, otherwise he could hardly have made his record. He started out as a clerk, and with the experience and training thus acquired, finally borrowed a thousand dollars, and ventured on his own account. In a few years he had cleared up his indebtedness, and now has one of the best paying mercantile concerns in Grant county. Mr. Keeghler has been in business in Matthews since August, 1906, his location being at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Ninth Street. His store is forty-four by one hundred feet in dimension, and there is also a warehouse twenty-two by one hundred feet, while he is owner of a vacant lot adjoining his place of business. Mr. Keeghler also owns an attractive residence on Seventh Street, with three and a half lots of ground, a combined frame and cement structure, with a stone verandah, and all the modern improvements. Mr. Keeghler had several years experience as a clerk before starting out on his own account, and during that time was employed by his brother in-law, I. E. Powell, a merchant then at Matthews and now at Coffeyville, Kansas. In this way Mr. Keeghler learned the details of business, and then by his own efforts paid back the first thousand dollars he had borrowed and since that time his stock has been free from debt, and he has prospered steadily. Walter C. Keeghler was born at Half Acre Corner, in Wabash county, Indiana, October 9, 1870. He was reared and educated in and about Urbana, and worked at various occupations in several states before coming to Matthews in 1899. His parents were Oscar and Mary J. (Richardson) Keeghler. His father was a son of Henry Keeghler, of German parentage, and was five years old when brought to Wabash county, Indiana, by his widowed mother. Oscar Keeghler's mother died in Wabash county, and he himself lived there as a farmer, and died when still a young man at the age of thirty-two. His widow then married Joseph S. Sellers, and they both now reside in Long Beach, California.

Walter C. Keeghler was the only son, and the oldest of the family, his sisters being: Myrtle, wife of Mr. Powell of Coffeyville, Kansas, and the mother of two daughters; Drexel and Artemisia; and Clara

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Fleming, of Long Beach, California, and the mother of two sons, James and John.

Mr. Keeghler was married at Converse, in Miami county, Indiana, to Miss Inez N. Ross. She was born in Richland township of Grant county, November 22, 1871, but was reared and educated in Miami county, near Converse. To their marriage has been born one daughter, Gretchen, on October 28, 1891. Her education was acquired in the city high schools, and for several years she has assisted her father as clerk in the store. Mr. Keeghler's family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is one of the vigorous Republicans in his section of Grant county, and a worker for good government and local improve- ment in every direction. He is also connected with several fraternal orders. He is treasurer and trustee of the local Matthews Lodge, F. & A. M., is affiliated with the Red Men of Matthews; belongs to the council and chapter of the Masonic bodies at Hartford City, and has affiliations with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Converse.

WILLIAM MILLER. A life of quiet effectiveness marked by a record of many duties well done, and many responsibilities faithfully fulfilled was that of the late William Miller, who died at his home in Matthews, January 19, 1913. Outside of his service in the Civil war, where he made a record for coolness and bravery, he was never in the conspicu- ous activities of abnormal events, but in the faithful and intelligent performance of every task allotted to him during his long life, he left a record which may well be envied and admired by the generations to follow him.

William Miller was born in Clermont county, Ohio, October 6, 1836, and was in his seventy-seventh year when death came to him. His parents were Daniel and Mary (Chapman) Miller. His father was a native of Ohio, and of German ancestry, and his mother was born in Kentucky of English stock. Daniel Miller and wife were married in Clermont county, Ohio, and there their careers began and all their children were born. About the time the Civil war broke out they moved to Indiana, and bought and located on eighty acres of land, located two and a half miles south of Muncie on the Middletown Pike. That was their home until 1871. Like many dwellers in the middle states, they were attracted by the high sounding promises of western lands, and moved out to Montgomery county, Kansas, buying a half section there. Their residence and activity as farmers in Kansas was brief, since the grasshopper scourge and the drought soon compelled them to abandon their enterprise and return to a more hopeful country. Thus in 1873 they reestablished their homes in Delaware county, and finally traded their three hundred and twenty acres of Kansas land for eighty- four acres in Washington township of Delaware county. There Daniel Miller died when seventy-three years of age. His wife had passed away some years previously when sixty-seven years old. They were good citizens, prominent workers in the United Brethren church, and Daniel Miller during his early manhood was a vigorous supporter of the Whig politics, and later equally strong in his advocacy of Republican prin- ciples. There were eight children. Two of them died in Ohio, four died in Indiana, and the two living are: Miss Angie, who is unmarried and makes her home with Mrs. Miller at Matthews, and Mary, wife of Edward McClelland, of Muncie, and the mother of one son and one daughter.

William Miller, who was the oldest in the family of children, was reared in the home of his parents, and lived on the old farm in Clermont

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county, until the breaking out of the war. Then in May, 1862, he en- listed in Company C of the Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, going in as a private and saw nearly three years of active service before his honorable discharge. He participated in the second battle of Bull Run, and later was in the armies under Sherman and other leaders and fought in the battle of Lookout Mountain, and many other engagements of the campaign, Much of his military experience was as driver of an ammunition wagon, and at the battle of Lookout Mountain he had a very narrow escape. His wagon in going up an incline road was stalled between two trees and was exposed to a crossfire, while the bullets were flying fast from both directions, he never flinched and stayed by the wagon until an orderly rode up and directed him to cut loose his mules and make a hasty escape. After the war he returned and rejoined his family, who in the meantime had taken up their residence in Delaware county, Indiana. He remained at home from 1865 until 1867, and in the latter year started out for himself and was married.

Mr. Miller married Miss Martha Pittser. Mrs. Miller, who survives her husband, and enjoys the high esteem of her neighbors in Jefferson township, was born in Henry county, Indiana, September 28, 1845, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Stewart) Pittser. Both her father and mother were born in Brown county, Ohio, but grew up in Henry county, where they were married. John Pittser was the son of Mathias and Sarah (Jones) Pittser. Mathias Pittser, who was born in Germany, came to America in early life, married in Ohio, and during the decade of the twenties, settled as a pioneer in Henry county, Indiana, where he entered eighty acres of wild land, direct from the government, and many years of his active career were devoted to the development and improvement of that estate. It was finally made a good home, and con- tinued to be the residence of Mathias and wife until they were both about threescore and ten years of age, at which time death came and removed them from the scenes of useful work and enjoyment. They were Methodist Protestants in religion. On her mother's side, Mrs. Miller is likewise related to pioneers in Henry county, Indiana, and the Stewart family has an ancestry which goes back to Scotland, and to the ancient clan of Stuarts, including the noted Mary Queen of Scots. Mrs. Miller's maternal grandparents, William and Margaret Stewart, built and established a home in Henry county, during the pioneer epoch, and lived there until a ripe old age. They were both members of the Christian church.

After their marriage, William Miller and wife took up their careers as farmers, and spent two years in Kansas, during 1871-73. There they experienced a share in the disasters already mentioned, and returned with other members of the family to Delaware county. Their home was on a farm in Delaware county until 1905, when they retired, and selected a home situated on five lots of land at the corner of Massachu- setts Avenue and Fourth Street in the village of Matthews. There Mrs. Miller still lives, and she is also owner of the farm of forty-two acres in Delaware county. Mrs. Miller is a fine type of the old-fashioned woman, a true lady, and possessed of the graces and the courtesies of the heart and mind which are so characteristic of the older generation.

Mrs. Miller is the mother of the following children: Lillian, who died in infancy; Ida, who died May 20, 1902, unmarried, and who for fifteen years was a successful educator in Delaware county, being a graduate of Fairmount Academy and the Terre Haute Normal School. Arthur, who was born May 13, 1877, was educated in the public schools, and in Valparaiso University, now operates his mother's farm in Dela- ware county. Arthur Miller married Miss Myrtle Carmin of Delaware Vol. II-21

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county, and they have four children-Ralph William, Walter I., Myra N., and Helen C. Mrs. Miller and family are members of the Christian church, and her husband was also a communicant in the same faith. His politics was Republican, and his son Arthur follows in the same political line.

RUPHAS C. NOTTINGHAM. On section thirty-three of Jefferson town- ship, not far from the little city of Matthews, is a fine home and farm, and its proprietor, Mr. Nottingham, has a record which in many ways identifies him with Grant county, and his interest in the history of this locality is due not only to his own long residence, but to the fact that his family has lived here since the days of early settlement.

Ruphas C. Nottingham was born in Jefferson township of Grant county, August 29, 1855, so that he himself has lived here nearly sixty years. His grandfather, James Nottingham, who was of an old English family, and took its name from the Nottingham district in England, was a Virginian by birth and was four times married. His first wife was Elizabeth Russell, who died in Delaware county, after their settle- ment there at an early day. James Nottingham was a cabinet maker by trade and had a little shop in the pioneer village of Muncie, Indiana, when that town consisted of only a few houses in the woods and in the Hazel brush on the banks of White River. Mr. Nottingham and Miss Russell were married in Muncie. Later he traded his business to Bing- ham Simons for one hundred and twenty acres of land in Jefferson township, of Grant county. Mr. Simons had obtained that land direct from the government and had placed some improvements. James Not- tingham's first wife died in Muncie, leaving the following children: Owen P .; Julia, who married Simon Clark, and left nine children; James Chaplain and Ellen, who died in girlhood, By his second wife, whom he married in Muncie, James Nottingham had one child, Thomas, who died aged about sixty years. James Nottingham then came to Grant county and married his third wife, who died without children. His fourth marriage was with Mrs. Sarah Litler, whose maiden name was Heal. She was a widow with nine children, and by James Notting- ham had four other children. James Nottingham and wife spent their last years in retirement in Jonesboro in Grant county, where they died when seventy-two years of age. They were active Methodists.

Owen P. Nottingham, father of Ruphas C., was born in Muncietown, as the city of Muncie was then called, on October 18, 1832. His prac- tical experience in business affairs began when a mere boy. He was given a contract to carry the mail, and on horseback and in all kinds of weather, and over all kinds of roads, he rode throughout this part of the state, and went through hardships that now seem almost incredible. Oftentimes he was on the road and in the saddle all night long in order to get his mail to its proper connections. The very fact of his success- ful performance of those duties indicate his pluck and energy. He was a very capable horseman, and his skill in the management of the handling of horses enabled him the more easily to carry out his work as a mail carrier. When nineteen years of age he left the mail service, and in 1832 was married in Grant county to Miss Mary Ann Couch, who was born in Darke county, Ohio, February 1, 1830, and came to Indiana when young with her mother and grandfather, Samuel Todd. Her people settled in Jefferson township of Grant county. After his marriage, Owen P. Nottingham started out as a farmer in Jefferson township. Previously, however, he had acquired the trade of harnessmaker, and followed that occupation for some time. In 1863, quiet vocations of civil life were exchanged for

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MR. AND MRS. ELISHA OVERMAN

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military duties, and he enlisted in the Fifty-fourth Indiana Infantry, serving as teamster and wagon master, for fourteen months. After his return to Grant county, he spent the rest of his years in farming pursuits in Jefferson township, and died January 25, 1907. His wife had died some years before on October 10, 1883, at the age of fifty-two years. She was a noble wife and mother, and both of them were influential and very worthy people, acting as counsellors to the community on many occasions, and Owen Nottingham many times was able to secure peace among his neighbors. His politics was Republican. There were ten children, six sons and four daughters in the family, and five of the sons and four of the daughters are still living. All are married, and all have families and homes of their own.

Ruphas C. Nottingham, who was the second in number in this large family of children, was reared and educated in Jefferson township, and has always given his attention to farming. His home is in section thirty- three of Jefferson township, and comprises a fine farm estate of one hundred and seven acres, one of the conspicuous improvements on which is the fine brick house, surrounded with excellent barns and other facil- ities which indicate the progressive manner in which Mr. Nottingham carries on his farming operations. Directly across the road, only lying in Delaware county, he also owns eighty acres.

On November 11, 1874, Mr. Nottingham married Miss Ida Kirstead. She was born June 1, 1855, near Jackson, Michigan, was reared and educated in Indiana, and died March 14, 1889. She was survived by one daughter, Florence, the wife of Walter W. Slain, and they now live on a farm in Jefferson township, and have two children, Virgil and Ormal. Mr. Nottingham, on September 10, 1891, in Jefferson township, married for his second wife, Mrs. Lasina Newberger, whose maiden name was Richards. Her father is L. G. Richards, a prominent Grant county citizen, whose sketch will be found on other pages of this work. Mrs. Nottingham by the first marriage has one son, Clarence Newberger. Clarence Newberger was married in Philadelphia to Mrs. Anna Mann, and they now live in Richmond, Virginia, and have five children. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Nottingham : Goldie, born November 26, 1891, and now the wife of Clyde E. Harris, and living in Madison county, Indiana; Ray and May, twins, born March 27, 1895; Ray married Pauline Lambert, and is a farmer in Washing- ton township of Delaware county; May is the wife of Earl Parkerson, of Delaware county; Mary, born September 5; 1898, is at home and attending the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Nottingahm are members of the Harmony Primitive Baptist church at Matthews.

The politics of Mr. Nottingham is Republican, in which political faith he has acted and believed since he cast his first vote during the Hayes campaign.

ELISHA OVERMAN. One of the most interesting and best known families in Grant county is the Overman family, several generations of whom have been identified with the growth and progress of this section of the state, and many of whom have done more than the average citizen toward the upbuilding and advancement of their communities.

Elisha Overman, whose name introduces this brief family sketch, comes of Pennsylvania ancestry. His grandfather, one Elijah Over- man, came from that state to Ohio in the early days of Clinton county, . and there he settled upon and improved a farm. He passed the remainder of his life there, and when he died he was but little beyond middle life. He left four children-Jesse, Benjamin and two daughters whose names do not appear in this record. All grew to years of maturity,

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all married and all reared families. All are now deceased. After the death of Elijah Overman, his widow married Amos Davis, and they came to Grant county and located in Center township. There they passed the remainder of their lives on the farm they settled upon, Amos Davis being about seventy-one when he passed away, while his widow survived him a few years. All were members of the Friends church. Mr. Davis was a Whig and later was a Republican, and was always an excellent citizen in his community. He and his wife had two children. Henry married and lives on a farm in the vicinity of Sweetser, in Grant county, and is without issue. Melissa became the wife of Reuben Small and lives in Anthony, Kansas. They have four sons.

. Benjamin Overman was born in November, 1814, and died in March, 1906. When a young man he came to Grant county and located in Franklin township, but he had lived for some years prior to that with his mother and step-father in Center township. He was twice married. His first wife was a Miss Burson, who died a few years later in Franklin township where he settled soon after his marriage. She left him one daughter, Melissa, who is now married and who lives in North Marion and has two sons. The second wife of Benjamin Overman was Clarissa Marshall. She was born in this county and was here reared, for the most part, and she died in Franklin township while she was yet a young woman, death coming to her in 1857. Thus was Benjamin Overman

. widowed a second time in his young life. She was mother of three children-Henry, deceased; Elisha, our subject; and Riley, deceased.

A third time did Benjamin Overman marry, and the woman of his choice was a half sister of his second wife. Her name was Rebecca Marshall, and she too was a Grant county girl. She died some few years after the passing of her husband, her death occurring in 1908, when she was about fifty-three years of age. She was the mother of the following children: Elizabeth, who married Albert Brown and lives in Mill township; they have two children, Della and Virgil. Dora, the wife of Abe Gross, lives in Wabash county; they have three children. Mahala, the wife of George Shaw, lives in Mill township, and is the mother of seven children.

Elisha Overman is the son of Benjamin and Clarissa (Marshall) Overman, and he was born in Franklin township, Grant county, on May 28, 1853. After the death of his young mother in 1857 he lived at the home of his Grandfather Davis, and was educated in the common schools of that period. When he reached young manhood he married in Mill township Martha Enterminger, who was born in Mill town- ship in 1856 and died at her home in this township in 1886. She was the mother of three children. Leland died in infancy. David E. was born on November 9, 1884. He now owns and operates his own farm of 124 acres in Section 27, Mill township, the place being a .well improved and productive one. He is unmarried and lives at home. William died at the age of twelve years.

Mr. Overman was married a second time in White county, Indiana, to Miss Minnie McGinnis, who was born in Carroll county on December 29, 1869, near Delphi. She is a daughter of Freeman and Hannah (Snethen) McGinnis, natives of Indiana who were engaged in farming in White, Carroll and Cass counties in later years of their lives. Late in life they took up their residence in Gas City, and they died in this place-the father in 1906, when he was sixty-two years of age, and the mother in 1904, at the age of fifty-eight. They were long members of the Christian church, both having been baptized at the same time, but later in life, as a matter of convenience, they united with the

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 48

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

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