Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 49

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

USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 49

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Baptist church. They had five children. Willard, a resident of Gas City, is married and has a family; Andrew lives in Gas City, and he also is married and has six children; Mrs. Overman was their third child; Elijah, a resident of Cass county, married and has two daughters; and Mary, who died after her marriage as the result of a gas explosion at the Soldiers' Home on January 21, 1904. Her husband, Charles O. Beitel, was killed at the same time. The explosion caused a falling of the walls of the place, and both were crushed in their beds. They left two children. Orval C. lives in the home of his aunt, Mrs. Overman, and Harry R. lives with Mrs. Rose, in Madison county.

The second marriage of Mr. Overman was blessed with two children : Ethel C., the wife of C. D. Smith, and Roy L., who lives with his sister, Mrs. Smith.

Following Mr. Overman's second marriage, they lived for ten years on a farm in Section 28, Mill township, the years from 1889 to 1899 being spent there. He then purchased a farm of 182 acres in Section 12, Mill township, and this place he has improved to a great extent in the years of his residence there. The place is now one of the finest in the whole county, and is noted for its bountiful crops of corn and other grains, Mr. Overman having demonstrated his capacity as a farmer of the finest merit. In 1899, when he took up his residence on the place, he built a fine barn, that being the crying need of the place, and in 1906 he further improved the farm by adding a splendid residence, in every way suited to the character and general quality of the farm. Here he lived until 1910, when he rented it to his son-in-law, C. D. Smith, and he and his wife retired from farm life and settled in Gas City, where they built a home on the corner of Fifth and B streets.

Mrs. Overman is a member of the Bible Students Association and is a woman of many excellent qualities of mind and heart. While Mr. Overman holds to no settled religious conviction as outlined by church doctrine and membership, he is a man of sterling character and one whose influence in his community has always been an excellent one. He is a Democrat, and at a recent election was elected Councilman-at-large for his community. His accomplishments have been most worthy, and after a busy career, in which he gained a considerable prosperity, he feels himself entitled to a few years of quiet life, in pursuit of those enterprises that appeal to his maturer wisdom and judgment.

MONTE SYLVESTER DUNN. Here is a name that has been identified with Grant county settlement and history for three-quarters of a cen- tury. It has become honored and respected, through long years of successive industry, business integrity, and Christian and moral char- acter. Few Grant county families have been 'longer established, and none have borne their part in community affairs with greater credit to themselves and with more practical usefulness to the community than the Dunns. Until death laid its restraining finger upon him, the late Monte S. Dunn was one of the ablest farmers and most public-spirited citizens of Jefferson township. His widow, who belongs to the old pioneer Littler family, has taken up the burdens laid down by her hus- band, and has quietly and effectively performed all the offices required of the head of a family. Mrs. Dunn is a woman of fine culture, of the essential qualities of heart and mind which are associated with the old-fashioned type of womanhood, and possesses a keen intelligence and interest much beyond the usual range of people who spend their lives quietly in one community.

This history of the Dunn family begins with John Dunn, grand- father of the late Monte S. Dunn. John Dunn was born either in

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Pennsylvania or Virginia, in 1790, and after seventy-five years of life passed away at the home of his son, Thomas, at New Cumberland in Grant county, on June 3, 1865. He was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His occupation was that of farming, and so far as information is obtainable it is believed that he married in Virginia, Miss Cassandra Knight. She was a Virginia girl, born in 1795, and died in 1862. For several years after their marriage they lived in Virginia, then moved to Ohio, and some years later, during the early thirties, established a home in what is now Washington township of Delaware county, where John Dunn entered one hundred and sixty acres of wild land. He and his wife lived and labored there until old age, and were pioneers who succeeded in clearing off a considerable part of the wilderness and establishing comfortable homes. They were devout members of the Primitive Bap- tist faith, and were active in the history of that church in the early days, both in Delaware and in Grant county. John Dunn and wife had a large family of children, and these are briefly mentioned under the following numerical heads: 1. Thomas, who was born in 1812 in Vir- ginia or Ohio, in young manhood entered government land, in Wash- ington township of Delaware county, where he lived many years, and later established a mill at New Cumberland in Grant county. His declining years were spent in Grant county and he died at the old home in New Cumberland, October 17, 1881, when past sixty-nine years of age. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Reasoner, of one of the old families of Grant county, died on the same place, July 19, 1891, being seventy-six years and four months of age. The children of Thomas and wife were: Mrs. Anna Lewis, deceased; John, who was a soldier in the Union army, and now lives in Mississippi; Mary, wife of Esley Stephenson, of Matthews; Benjamin R., who was killed at the battle of Chickamauga during the Civil war at the age of twenty-one; and Gehiel, who died unmarried at the age of twenty-one; Sarah J., wife of Richardson Watson, lives in Santa Paula, California; Car- olina, wife of James Littler, both of whom died without issue: Mrs. Samantha, wife of Monroe Darton, of Delaware county, and the parents of one son; Thomas J., who was a miller by occupation and died leav- ing one son. 2. James Dunn, father of the late Monte S., was born probably in Virginia in 1814, and died in 1863. He married Cassandra Evans, who was born in 1824, and died in 1903. Further details con- cerning these parents are given in a following paragraph. 3. William, who was born either in Virginia or Ohio, was married on the line be- tween Blackford and Grant county to Sebra Reasoner, followed farming in Delaware county, until his death, and had seven children. 4. Har- mon, who like the others adopted farming as his vocation, was also skilled in mechanical pursuits, and in early life followed wagonmaking. He spent practically all his life in Delaware county, where he had acquired land direct from the government, and at his death left a fam- ily of children. 5. Sarah, married Benjamin Lewis, a Delaware county farmer, and lived and died on the old place without children. 6. Mary, became the wife of Benjamin Reasoner, a well known farmer of Grant. county, and they left several children. 7. John, the youngest of the family, was a successful Delaware county farmer, where he died, leaving five children.

James Dunn, who was born October 12, 1814, and who died at his home on section four of Jefferson township in Grant county in 1863, was quite young when he first came to Grant county, and was a partic- ipant in the early development and history of his township, where he started his career as a farmer. After his marriage in 1847, he entered land and established his home at what is known now as the Dunn Home-

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stead, and having been originally entered by his father, John Dunn, about 1838. Mr. Dunn was a man of vigorous personality and in the course of his lifetime, although he died when in the prime of his years, made many improvements to his farm, and made his influence felt for good in the entire community. His place was improved in various ways, good barns were erected and a fine old frame house was the home in which he passed his last years. In 1847, James Dunn married Cas- sandra Evans, who was born in Allegany county, Pennsylvania, June 15, 1824, and died at the homestead, February 16, 1903. Her father was Thomas Evans. She joined the Presbyterian church on January 30, 1871, and died in that faith. She was a noble, whole-hearted woman, ever ready to assist in the troubles of her neighbors, and by her benev- olent activities and her kindly personal character was beloved through- out the entire country side. The children of James Dunn and wife were as follows: Randolph, who died in young manhood; Almira Jane, who died also when young; Oliver Perry, who lives on and operates a large farm in Delaware county, is married, but has no children living; Monte S., who is next in order of the children; and Sarah P., a twin sister of Monte and the wife of A. T. Wright, of Marion, and the mother of three daughters and one son.

The late Monte Sylvester Dunn was born on the farm he occupied all his life in Jefferson township, on March 10, 1857, and died at the Dunn Homestead, as it is familiarly known throughout Jefferson town- ship, April 23, 1913. Reared on the old place he had an education like that supplied most farmer boys in his generation, and after growing up came into the possession of the farm of one hundred and fifty-six acres, where he and his brothers and sisters had grown up. His was a very active life. He was a man of excellent judgment, and his indus- try and good management resulted in the addition of many improve- ments, besides those introduced by his father. He left a beautiful and valuable home for his widow and children. The old dwelling is a com- fortable ten-room house, mostly of frame construction, and beyond the house yard are a group of outbuildings, comprising red barns and other structures, required for up-to-date farming. As a farmer and stock raiser, the late Monte S. Dunn was probably as successful and as pro- gressive as any man in his township. His widow and her sons are still keeping up the standards set by the late Mr. Dunn, and have been no less successful in making the homestead pay regular annual dividends.

On April 26, 1888, in Hartford City, Indiana, Monte Sylvester Dunn and Miss Mary E. Littler were united in the holy bonds of matri- mony by Rev. Mckean, then an old and beloved Presbyterian minister. She was born in Jefferson township, of Grant county, September 13, 1858, was liberally educated in the public schools, and was well prepared both by native character and by her early influences for the career of motherhood and social beneficence, which has been hers. Her parents were Nathan and Katherine (Whistler) Littler. Her father was born in Virginia, and her mother in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. They met and married in Ohio, and their companionship as man and wife was begun on the banks of the Mississinewa river in Jefferson township of Grant county. Their first home was built of logs, and in spite of the crudities and hardships of such existence, they had the courage and true wisdom of patience which made those years not un- happy. Later they established a better home, and lived quiet and useful lives. Mr. Littler died there during the Civil war in 1863, being then in the prime of life, and his widow followed him in 1870. They were active Methodists in religion, and Nathan Littler took much part in church work, being possessed of a naturally beautiful voice, which he

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cultivated, and which he used in church and social affairs. He was also a great reader of religious and secular literature. Mrs. Dunn has one brother living, Joseph W. Littler, who now owns and runs the old Littler homestead in Jefferson township. Joseph Littler married Elizabeth Dunn, a daughter of Harmon Dunn, and they have four daughters. The two sons of Mrs. Dunn are: Phillip, born May 18, 1890, was graduated from the Matthews high school as one of a class of ten in 1909, and after taking a course in animal husbandry at Purdue University, has applied his practical experience and scientific training to the management of the home farm, being a very successful young agriculturist. James Homer Dunn, who was born July 13, 1896, is a member of the class of 1915 in the Matthews high school. Mrs. Dunn and her two sons are members of the Epworth Methodist church at Matthews.

GEORGE FREDERICK SLATER. During the past quarter of a century it would not have been possible to estimate the sum total of Jefferson township enterprise without reference to the name of George Fred Slater, a man who has made farming a real business. He is one of the large land owners of the county and has been successful through the same qualities which brings prosperity to residence or factory owner. Beside the possession of a splendid homestead in section twenty-seven of Jefferson county, and land in other localities, Mr. Slater is vice president of the Matthews State Bank, having held that office since the reorganization of the bank three years ago. A further evidence of his standing in the community as a citizen is indicated by his service of five years in the office of township trustee from 1896 to 1901. The Slater farm in Jefferson township is well within the gas and oil belt, and has been the scene of much productive operation. During the past, six gas wells and twenty-one oil holes have been sunk on the Slater farm, and in only a few instances did they prove dry, and some of these wells are still producing.

Mr. Slater's grandfather, James Slater, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, about 1800. His death occurred in Henry county, Illinois, in 1893 or 1894. His ancestry was about three parts of English to one part of German. All his active years were spent in farming, and he had moved to Illinois about the close of the Civil war. He was twice married, and his first wife having died in Ohio before 1840, and his second wife, who became his wife in Ohio, died in Illinois. There were children by both wives. By the first union the children were: William ; John; and Benjamin, who died unmarried, while John was married and reared a large family of ten children, both he and his wife having passed away in Henry county, Illinois.

William Slater, father of the Grant county farmer and business man, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1834. When a small child he lost his mother, and then lived on the farm with his father and step- mother in Ohio until he became of age. He received what was in that time a liberal education, and for his practical career learned the trade of carpenter, a vocation which he followed for several years. At the age of twenty-three he married Miss Mary T. Marks, who was of English ancestry, and a native of old Virginia. Her parents having been born in Loudoun county, in that state. Mrs. William Slater was born in 1834 and accompanied her parents to Ohio in 1840, locating in Guernsey county, where her father died when about sixty years of age, and her mother at the age of seventy-six. There were twelve children in the Marks family, ten of whom grew up and most of them married, all being deceased. In 1852, William Slater and wife came to Indiana,

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where he bought an almost new farm on section twenty-seven of Jeffer- son township. In the meantime, however, a daughter, Hannah, had been born to them, but she died in infancy and another child, James Mason, died as a boy. On the quarter section of land which he acquired in Jefferson township, he made many improvements. A large barn ap- peared in 1861, and three years later was followed by the erection of a substantial residence, and these were only the more conspicuous among a number of improvements which made the Slater farm one of the best in that section. William Slater was a very prosperous man and besides the homestead he owned one hundred and twenty acres in one place and two hundred and ten acres including a part of the site of the city of Matthews. The death of William Slater occurred on the old farm in January, 1875. He was a Republican in politics, and he and his wife, who died in December, 1879, were active members in the Methodist Episcopal church. Of their six children, four are living and all are married.

George Frederick Slater was born in Jefferson township August 20, 1864, and was reared to manhood in the locality which has always been his home. Like his father, he had more than ordinary advantages in preparation for life, and besides a public school course, he studied in Danville College, and later, in 1886, was a student in Bryant and Strat- ton's Business College, Indianapolis. A few years of his early manhood were spent in teaching school, but farming has been his regular vocation for upwards of thirty years.

In 1886 Mr. Slater took over the old homestead, and is now owner of two hundred and eighty acres of land in section twenty-seven, besides one hundred and twenty acres in Delaware county, that place being improved with fine large barns, and a very valuable estate in itself. General farming and stock raising have been the avenues through which Mr. Slater has prospered, and he has always been careful to keep up his grades of stock at high standard, and has profited accordingly. He raises and feeds a large number of hogs, cattle and fine sheep, and grows practically all the grain cereals.

Mr. Slater was married in Blackford county to Miss Joanna Cora Atkinson, who was born in Licking township of that county in 1865, and had a public school education. Her parents, Addison and Har- riet (McVicker) Atkinson now live retired in Blackford county, where they were among the earlier settlers, her father being seventy years of age, and her mother one year older. Mr. and Mrs. Slater have the following children: William A., who is a farmer in Washington town- ship in Delaware county, married Etha Linder, and has two children, Martha and George; Frank is a farmer on one of his father's farms, and by his marriage to Hazel Wills has a daughter, Bertha; Eva M., who lives at home is a graduate of the local high school, as were her two brothers, their school advantages having also been supplemented by business college courses; Mary died at the age of one year; and Mar- garet, the youngest, is now in the grade schools. Mr. and Mrs. Slater and family worship in the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is a trustee and steward. In politics he supports the Republican party.

WILLIAM C. WALKER. A citizen who was known and esteemed for his many substantial virtues and his success as a farmer and carpenter was the late William C. Walker, who was born in Jefferson township of Grant county, October 29, 1844, and who died at his homestead in section thirty-four of the same township on October 7, 1907. Since his death Mrs. Sarah Walker, his widow, has owned and controlled the fine farm of seventy acres one mile north of the little city of Matthews, and

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has continued to enjoy the esteem which is paid to her both for her own gracious personality and for the part which her late husband played in this community.

William C. Walker was a son of John Walker, whose birth occurred in Rock Bridge county, Virginia, and in young manhood moved to Ohio, where he was a substantial young farmer at the time of his mar- riage to Marion Case. She was born in Ohio, and of Irish parentage, while the Walkers of Scotch-Irish stock. After some of their children were born in Ohio, John Walker and wife moved to Jefferson township in Grant county. They were here among the early settlers, and the father undertook to clear up his land in the wooded section, but died in 1844, when his son William was but six months old. His widow sub- sequently married Jesse Ballenger, and they reared a family of children and spent their final years apart, he dying in Grant county and she in Delaware county, when past seventy years of age. Of the children besides William, the following are given brief mention: Samuel, who died at Upland, Indiana, after a career as a farmer, and whose widow and daughter and son live in Upland; Mary, now deceased, whose hus- band was William Simons, a retired farmer in Fairmont; Katherine, now deceased, was the wife of James Needler, also deceased, and they left three sons and four daughters; Margaret is the widow of Amos Pugh, and lives in Jefferson township on a farm, but has no living children.

The late William C. Walker was only three years old when he went to live with his Aunt Jane, wife of Joseph Reasoner. His home was with that worthy couple until he was about seventeen years old, and in the meantime he was given such advantages in the local school as most boys of his time receive. Soon after the outbreak of the Rebellion, he enlisted in the Eighth Indiana Infantry, and saw three years of hard military service, only excepting a few months in which he was on an invalid's furlough, after drinking some poisoned spring water in Mis- souri. He was never hit with a bullet or captured, though one ball passed through his hat. On his return from the Civil war he remained on the farm of his uncle until his marriage.

In 1865 Mr. Walker married Mrs. Sarah Forsythe, whose maiden name was Graham. Mrs. Walker was born in Mercer county, Illinois. October 10, 1840. A year or so later her mother died in that state at the birth of twins, and John Graham, her father, in 1843, moved to Indiana, and lived in Grant county until 1846. He then took his chil- dren back to Illinois, and a few years later went to Wisconsin, which remained his home until 1860. In the meantime he had married a Mrs. Mary McMichael. In 1860 he once more came to Grant county for the purpose of securing treatment for cancer, and died at New Cumberland in the same year, at the age of seventy-six. He was three times married, and by each wife had children, he having been the father of sixteen. He also raised two orphans, having raised in all eighteen children.

Mrs. Walker first married Elijah Forsythe who died in the prime of life. He had gone to the front as a soldier in Company C of the Eighteenth Wisconsin Regiment of Infantry as a private and served faithfully as a soldier up to and including the battle of Shiloh. In that historic conflict he fought all day long in the rain without any food, and as a result he was taken ill and furloughed home, but died while on the way in a soldier's hospital at Keokuk, Iowa. He was buried at Keokuk, and his remains now rest in the soldier's cemetery at that city. Mr. Forsythe was of a good family, of Scotch stock, belonging to the old seceder faith, and most of the male members were men of

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MR. AND MRS. HENRY WISE

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wealth or at least more than ordinary circumstance. Elijah Forsythe was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, in 1849. At his death he left one daughter that died in infancy. Mrs. Walker by her marriage to the late Mr. Walker had two daughters: Blanche, who is unmarried, is a young woman of splendid education and lives at home with her mother; Jennie, who is also well educated and was for some time a teacher, is the wife of Alvin Dickerson of Upland, and has two chil- dren, Cloyd and Geneva; Cloyd Dickerson is now a student in Purdue University, and his sister is a graduate of the Upland high school, and is now a student of music at Marion. Mrs. Walker has a foster son, Christian Ed. Walker, a noted tenor singer, with an established repu- tation in musical circles in Chicago. In April, 1913, he married Jennie Dancy. Mrs. Walker and family are members of the Presbyterian faith.

HENRY WISE comes of a sturdy old Pennsylvania family, of German ancestry, and one that has through many generations furnished stanch and true men to the affairs of the nation. The Wise family was estab- lished in Pennsylvania, in Center county, prior to the Revolutionary war, and from then down to the present day men of the name have filled worthy places in their proper niches in life. The names of the grand- parents of Henry Wise are not now known to him, but he does know that they were born, reared and died in Center county, and that his grandsire was a blacksmith of unusual ability and merit, and that in his day he made many of the farm implements used by the sturdy Ger- man farmers of his region. Mr. Wise has in his possession a pair of nail nippers, interesting in their appearance, showing as they do their hand made origin, and valuable to him as having been made by his grandfather at his forge. The old stock were of the German Lutheran faith, and stanch religionists in every generation.

Samuel Wise, son of the blacksmith and the father of Henry Wise, whose name heads this review, was born in Center county in about 1812. He grew up in his native community and early learned the trade of a carpenter. When a young man he determined to come west, believing that greater opportunities lay in store for the ambitious young adventurer, and he walked the entire distance to Canton, Ohio, where he secured work at his trade at fifty cents per day. Later he advanced to the prosperous state where he was paid seventy-five cents a day for his labors, and was considered a high priced man at that figure in those early days. After a season he returned to Pennsylvania and there worked at his trade in his native state. He was an expert cabinet maker, and he was occupied in that work and in coffin making, as well as in making furniture. He enjoyed a busy trade in that work, and it is a notable fact that certain articles of furniture that came from his hands are now in the possession of his son.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 49

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

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