Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 50

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

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Mr. Wise married in Center county, Pennsylvania, Miss Katherine, or Kate, as she was familiarly called, the daughter of a Mr. Bickel, a girl who was born and reared in Center county of good old Penn- sylvania stock. It was not until after the birth of their three sons, John Jacob, Henry and Samuel, that the family came to Grant county. That event took place in the year 1848, and they came all the long distance with oxteams, and in coming came in contact with only two railroads. They made their first settlement in Jefferson county, there purchasing 160 acres of wild land, whose only sign of civilization was presented in a deserted log cabin. Here they devoted themselves to the business of farming in genuine earnest, and the parents lived to see more than 100 acres of this wilderness well improved and in a fertile

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and blooming condition. It was, in truth, a fine farm, and there Samuel Wise and his wife lived for many years, later retiring, and both died at the home of their son, Jacob Wise, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere in this work. The father was then ninety years of age, and his widow died a few years afterward, she too being well advanced in years. They never faltered in their allegiance to the German Lutheran church, despite the fact that there were in those days no other churches of that denomination in their new home. The father was a Democrat and a splendid type of citizen.

Henry Wise is the only surviving one of the four sons born to his parents. Jacob, it should be said, is referred to fully in a sketch devoted to him, so that further mention is not necessary here. John died in Jefferson township, leaving a family, all of whom have since followed him. Samuel, the youngest of the family, was drafted into the army during the Civil war, but before his company reached the front he fell ill and died. He was unmarried.

Henry Wise was born in Center county, Pennsylvania, on March 25, 1835, and he was thirteen years of age when he came with his parents to Grant county. He was reared on his father's farm and had such schooling as the subscription schools of the day provided, in a log school house of the most primitive type. The puncheon floor, the rude bench, and the improvised writing desk made by resting rough boards on pins projecting from the log walls of the building, all were common to his day, and such training as went with the rough equipment was considered ample for the boy of that early period.

When Mr. Wise became of age he worked for his father on the home farm for three years, receiving for his services $100 yearly. After he had taken out $25 for what he called his "Sunday" clothes, he loaned the remainder to his father at five per cent per annum, and when his brother Samuel became of age a year or so later, they joined forces in the purchase of a horse power threshing machine. Together the young men each threshing season would traverse the country there- about, threshing for those small farmers and others who did not feel able to maintain a machine of their own. The money they made in this way the young men invested in an eighty acre farm in Jefferson town- ship, which they operated in connection with the home farm for some years. During the Civil war period they purchased and established the first portable saw mill in Grant county. After eighteen months of operation they sold the mill for $1,500 more than it had cost them. Later they employed substitutes to take their place in the army, the death of young Samuel before he reached the front having disheartened them for any similar service.

It was about then that Henry Wise began to farm on his own account. His first operations were in Jefferson township, but in 1869 he came to Mill township and here purchased 150 acres, partly improved, to which he later added 73 acres. Still later he purchased an additional 30 acres, and this total of 250 acres is now well drained and improved, and is held to be one of the best farms in the township. A fine house, commodious and complete, as well as a splendid barn, are in evidence, and the conditions existing about the' place reflect the energetic and progressive spirit of the man.

Mr. Wise has raised a quantity of fine shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs on the place, and his success as a breeder has been excellent.

In 1905 his success had reached a place where he felt able to retire from active business, and he purchased a fine house on North A and Sixth streets in Gas City. Here he lives quietly after a strenuous, but prosperous career.

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Mr. Wise was married in Jefferson township to Miss Margaret Simons, who was born there on April 1, 1861. She is a daughter of William and Mary (Walker) Simons, old settlers of Jefferson township. There Mrs. Simons died when past middle life and Mr. Simons resides in Summitville, Madison county, Indiana. Mrs. Wise is a Presbyterian in her religious faith.

Three children have blessed the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Wise. Lillian, the wife of Walter Vance, occupies the home farm with her husband; they have no issue. Chestie is the wife of Chester Carter, and they now live in Marion, Indiana. They have two daughters, Irene and Dorothy, Gladys married Frank Morrow, and they live at Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he is an overseer in a large factory of that city. They have no children.

LEANDER N. MILLSPAUGH. Those who pass along the roads of Jeffer- son township are sure to comment with favor upon the attractive residence and farm of Leander N. Millspaugh, located in section six and on rural route No. 2 out of Gaston. The fences and the cultivation of the fields are an indication to the practical farmer that an energetic and businesslike farmer lives on that place, and the comfortable white dwelling house in the midst of fruit trees and the shade trees, and the large red barn and other buildings; also indicate thrift and prosperity. Prosperity has come to Mr. and Mrs. Millspaugh as a result of hard labor and close management, and while prospering themselves they have not been unmindful of the needs of the unfortunate and have borne a helpful share in community activities.

The Millspaugh family have a number of representatives in Grant and Delaware counties. Grandfather James Millspaugh, according to all information available, was born and spent all his life in New York state and was a farmer. Of his children one daughter was Sallie, who married a Mr. Clark, and their home was near Cincinnati, Ohio. The son Gilbert C. Millspaugh, the father of Leander N., was born in New York state in 1806. The ancestry of the Millspaugh is German. Gilbert Millspaugh was reared on a farm and when a young man settled in Fayette county, Indiana, among the pioneers. In that county he was married to Miss Lucy Williams who was born prob- ably in southern Indiana, about 1812. After their marriage they lived on a farm in Fayette county where their seven sons and one daugh. ter were all born. This family of children are described as fol- lows: Harvey, who was a carpenter by trade and died in Fayette county, leaving a family of children; Oliver H., who, after a long career as a carpenter and farmer is now living retired in California, was three times married and had children by his two wives; William, who was a veteran of the Thirty-Sixth Indiana Regiment, and was for a time a prisoner of war, was a farmer until his death in Washington township of Delaware county; Peter, who was a skilled workman and successful carpenter and builder, lived and died in Jefferson town- ship of Grant county, and by two marriages left two sons and some daughters; Catherine married Daniel Richards, a farmer of Delaware county, and there are two sons and a daughter still living of their union; Leander N; Milton J., who has a large family of children by two marriages, now lives on his farm near Marion in North Dakota.

The birth of Leander N. Millspaugh occurred in Fayette county, Indiana, January 8, 1847 .. There he was reared until 1860, and in that year the family moved to Delaware county. IIis father died in Delaware county in 1861 at the age of fifty-six, and when the mother was a second time married, Leander, though still but a boy in years,

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set out to make his own way, and soon afterwards came to Grant county. The second husband of his mother was William Hollis. Mr. Millspaugh's mother died in Grant county when threescore years of age. With a common school education, acquired in the country school, Leander Millspaugh got his practical training for life on a farm, and has made a prosperous business out of tilling the soil. His beauti- ful farm of eighty acres is in section six of Jefferson township, and he and his wife have lived there since their marriage. It was inherited by Mrs. Millspaugh from her mother. They not only have a good farm but a comfortable nine-room residence and good barns and other facilities for successful farming, and the growing of livestock is one of the chief industries of the Millspaugh place.

Mr. Millspaugh was married in Jefferson township February 16, 1871, to Miss Sarah E. Burgess, who was born in Fayette county, Indiana, March 28, 1850. She was partly reared and educated in her native county, and partly in Grant county, and she finished her educa- tion in the Delaware county public schools. Her father, Israel Burgess, was born in Indiana about 1822 and was married in Fayette county to Ruth Crawford, who was born in Fayette county, March 9, 1821. Israel Burgess was a farmer by occupation and died in Fayette county in 1851. Ilis widow was married February 17, 1857, to John D. Kirk- wood, of Fayette county. Mr. Kirkwood was born October 29, 1826, and in 1862 established his home in Grant county, locating on a farm of eighty acres in section six of Jefferson township. The Kirkwood farm was later increased by the addition of eighty acres more, and there on what is known as Kirkwood Creek, he and his wife passed the rest of their years. She died December 14, 1902. Mr. Kirkwood died on the old homestead in May, 1905. John Kirkwood was a Democrat in politics, and he and his wife held to no church creed, although they were excellent people, both morally and as citizens, were hard workers, and were charitable in all their relations. John D .. Kirkwood and wife had two sons, Frank H. Kirkwood, whose family history is given elsewhere in this publication, and Brooks, who died and left one son.

Mrs. Millspaugh was the younger of two daughters. Her sister, Margaret J., is the widow of William Millspaugh, a brother of Leander, who died in Delaware county in March, 1903, and his widow now occupies the old farm in Washington township. Mrs. William Mills- paugh has a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters, all of whom are living and all married but one. As already stated, William Millspaugh was a veteran of the Civil war

Leander N. Millspaugh and wife had two children : Orla Corwin, who was born in Grant county, January 9, 1874, is a carpenter by trade, his home being in Anderson, Indiana. He married Ola Beck, who died, leaving three children, Willard L., Mildred A., and Gar H. Orla C. Millspaugh married for his second wife, Virginia B. Scott, and their children are Everett and George A. Arthur Floyd Millspaugh, the second child was born November 15, 1882, and is a carpenter by trade, and resides six miles from Rennsalaer, in Jasper county, Indiana. IIe married Fleet Beck, and they have one daughter, Evelyn R. Mr. Millspaugh votes the Democratic ticket, and is always ready to enlist his services in behalf of any undertaking for the general good of his community.

DAVID LEMON RICHARDS. Probably the most attractive and valuable country estate in Jefferson township is that of David L. Richards in section six. Prosperity, comfort, enterprise and good management are in evidence at every turn, and if one should wish to form a fair

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judgment as to the highest possibilities of Grant county agriculture, he could select no better place for his studies than the Richards farm. The farm comprises one hundred and sixty acres of land and has been known as the Richards place for two generations. The farm was located and owned for .a number of years by Mr. L. G. Richards, father of David L. Richards. Mr. Richards likewise owns one hundred and fifty acres of land in Jefferson township of Delaware county. That place has fifteen acres of timber, but all the rest is in cultivation, and has an excellent building equipment consisting of a comfortable white house and a large red barn. The home farm has a residence probably not excelled for size and comfort in this part of Indiana. It contains fifteen rooms, the entire structure is modern in architecture and furnishings, and it is heated by a furnace. has hot and cold water on all floors, and an acetylene gas plant in the basement which furnishes modern lighting facilities. Outside of the house, which is surrounded by a grove of fruit and shade trees, there are two large red barns, one of them for stock purposes and the other a seed and grain barn. Mr. Richards has specialized both in livestock and in fruits. His home has been there since 1900 and though not all the improvements are to be credited to his management, he has introduced many changes both in the cultivation and in the facilities, and realizing his responsibilities as the son of one of the best known old settlers of Grant county, he has maintained the family traditions and has developed a farm which is creditable alike to his own enterprise and to the county in which it is situated. He is successful in the growing of both small and large grains, and he keeps a large number of hogs, sheep and cattle, and also twelve good horses.

Mr. L. G. Richards, father of this substantial farmer citizen, has a long and interesting career of his own, and it is told in appropriate manner on other pages. On the old homestead in section six of Jeffer- son township, and in a house which is still kept standing as a land- mark and for its family associations, David L. Richards was born April 16, 1870, and was reared and educated in this vicinity and has been known to the people from their youth up. He was one of a family of four children, and the others are: Rev. J. W. Richards, a farmer in Delaware county, and who was married and has a family ; Mrs. Ruphas C. Nottingham ; and Mrs. J. W. Himelick.

David L. Richards was married in Jefferson township to Miss Lois Alta Fergus, a daughter of Warren Fergus. Mrs. Richards was born on the old Fergus farm in Jefferson township, April 10, 1869, and was educated in the public schools of this vicinity. To their marriage have been born two children, as follows: Della, born May 15, 1892, a gradu- ate of the Matthews high school in the class of 1910, and by her mar- riage to William Lewis, who now operates the Richards farm in Dela- ware county, has one son, Richard R., born March 31, 1913. Ada Gulia, the second child was born May 19, 1896, and is a senior in the Matthews high school. Among his other interests and enterprises, Mr. Richards was one of the organizers of the Matthews State Bank, and is a stockholder and director in that substantial institution. He has always interested himself in matters of community welfare, is a public-spirited citizen and a supporter of moral and educational move- ments.

ISAAC LYMAN CARTER. Five years after the organization of Grant county as a separate civil government of Indiana, the Carter family was planted in the wilderness along the Mississinewa in Jefferson town- ship. Nearly eighty years have elapsed since they came to this region,

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and three generations, comprising many individuals have performed their duties and upheld their responsibilities as citizens and members of families, and the name has always been associated with honest worth and upright manhood and womanhood.

More than a century and a half ago, this family had its seat in New Hampshire. A few years before the Revolutionary War, Edward, the great-grandfather of Isaac Lyman Carter was born in Hollis, New Hampshire, April 22, 1770 .. He married Esther Powers, of the same place, and they lived and died there, Edward passing away September 18, 1826. There were a number of children in the family, including Isaac P. Carter, who was born in New Hampshire, probably at Hollis, July 3, 1793. The early youth was spent in New Hampshire, but he was probably married in Waldo county, Maine, where it is known that he lived for several years. In an early day, about the year 1825, he emigrated west to Ohio, landing in Muskingum county, Ohio, where he was a pioneer settler in the vicinity of Zanesville. There he fol- lowed farming, but in a few years his pioneer spirit led him to move on still farther west and in 1835 he arrived in Grant county, Indiana, locating on raw land in Jefferson township, situated on the banks of the Mississinewa. A log cabin home was the first shelter of the Carter family in Grant county, and Grandfather Isaac made a living partly by farming and partly by hunting and fishing. His labors were steadily directed towards the clearing and improvement of his land, and eventually a good homestead rewarded his efforts. For the con- struction of the second home replacing the old log cabin, a supply of brick was made, and from clay taken from the farm. That old brick house is still standing, but is no longer occupied as a dwelling. Isaac P. Carter spent his last years in that home, and died January 29, 1869. During his residence in Ohio he married Joanna Gage, and she was born June 9, 1802, in Waldo county, Maine, and died April 1, 1863. They were active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and possessed the kindly and substantial qualities of the old pioneer. Their family consisted of ten sons, and seven of those grew up and were married, as follows: Ira J., Howard, Joseph, Elijah, John H., Lewis, and Oliver, all of whom were married and are now deceased, and all but Oliver had children. Farming was their vocation, and very few members of the Carter family in the various generations have followed any other vocation.

Ira J. Carter, father of Isaac L., was born in Muskingum county, near Zanesville, Ohio, March 15, 1822, and died near Matthews, in Grant county, March 21, 1899. At the time of the family migration to Grant county, in 1835, he was thirteen years of age, and here his years were spent until manhood, and he acquired an education much better than most of his contemporaries. He possessed talent both in penman- ship and in mathematics, and for a number of years taught school. For two years he served as justice of the peace, and many people were married in his office throughout his part of the county, and some of those marriages have endured happily to the present time. For many years he also did the work of a notary, and for twenty-seven years was postmaster of the place locally known as Trask Post Office, an office which was discontinued in 1901 under competition from the rural free delivery service. While attending to the various duties of these offices, he conducted his farm either directly or supervised its management, and was the owner of eighty acres of fine land. Through- out his career he voted and supported the Democratic party. Ira J. Carter was married in Jefferson township on July 25, 1844, to Eliza Ann Corn. Her birth occurred in Rush county, Indiana, June 5, 1825,

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and she is still living a venerable woman, though quite active in body and mind, eighty-eight years of age, a lovely old woman whose char- acter has long been an asset in the community. She is a Baptist in religion and has been identified with church and its kindred activities for the greater part of a lifetime. Her age was eleven years when the family moved to Grant county, and her parents were Joseph and Nancy (Said) Corn. Her father was a native of Georgia, moved in early life to Kentucky, where he married a native daughter of that state, and after two children had been born to them in Kentucky, Louisa and Lucinda, the family all moved to Rush county, Indiana. In Rush county Mrs. Carter was born and also other children as follows: Permelia, Martha J., Joseph and John. All these children are now dead, except Mrs. Carter, and all except Louisa were married and had families of their own, some of them very large households, Joseph having twenty-one children by two wives.

The children born to Ira J. Carter and wife were: Permelia J., who died in infancy; Harriet, also deceased in infancy; Gilbert, who did not survive babyhood; J. Newton, a carpenter, who lives in Upland, Grant county, and has a family; Olive, who is the widow of John Kibby, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work; Levi L., who is a farmer in Delaware county, and is married and has one daugh- ter; Mary E., whose first husband was Noah Hardy, and whose second was Elmer Hiatt, and living now in Gary, Indiana, and there were three children by the second marriage. Isaac L .; Salina D., who died when seventeen years of age; Jerusha, who became the wife of John Croush, living in Clark county, Indiana, and they have two sons and three daughters; Anna A., the wife of Wood Helms, a farmer in Fairmount township, and their family consists of three sons and two daughters.

Isaac Lyman Carter was born in the house he still occupies, on October 30, 1860. That old homestead is in section twenty-one of Jefferson township. His home has always been in this locality and from boyhood he has followed farming successfully, and in a prac- tical, progressive manner, which marks him as a true son of the soil. His place of eighty acres is well stocked with graded sheep, hogs, and cattle, and he is one of the extensive feeders in this part of the county. His buildings are good and substantial, and represent prosperous management.

Near the old home, Isaac L. Carter married for his first wife, Miss Mary N .. Wilcoxon, who was born in Delaware county in 1848, and who died at her home in Jefferson township, January 21, 1901. She was an active communicant of the Methodist church. Her six children are mentioned as follows: Glenn, whose home is with his father, and who is unmarried, is a graduate of Purdue University, and is now a seed and fertilizer inspector for the state of Indiana; Alivila Blanche, died at the age of fifteen months; R. Emory, who lives on a farm in Fairmount township, married Miss Lula Goodnight, and their children are John and Blanche; John Burl, who is a graduate of the high school in the class of 1909, lives at home with his father on the farm; Asa E. was graduated in the home schools, and is living with his father; Mary A. is a sophomore in the Matthews high school. The present Mrs. Carter was before her marriage Margaret Ann Fitch, who was born in Marion county, Indiana, February 26, 1869, was edu- cated in Wabash county, and is a woman of thorough culture and an excellent housewife and mother. Her parents were John and Sarah (Wiley) Fitch, who were born respectively in Kentucky and Indiana, were married in Marion county of the latter state, and most of their lives were passed in Wabash county. Her father died in Huntington Vol. JI-22

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county, in 1907, at the age of sixty-four, while his widow now lives in Andrews, Indiana, and is seventy-one years of age. The Fitch family are members of the Methodist church. Mrs. Carter is the mother of three children: Lewis H., in the public schools; Sarah Ethlyn, aged two years; and Edith M. Mr. and Mrs. Carter belong to Kingsley Chapel Methodist church, and Mr. Carter is a trustee and for a number of years was steward in the church. His political affilia- tions are with the Democratic party.

J. CLAY Ross, M. D. After graduating from the Louisville Medical College, at Louisville, Kentucky, with the class of 1906, Dr. Ross spent two years in that city as interne, in St. Anthony's Hospital, then estab- lished an office at Florence, Indiana, where he remained about four years, and since April 21, 1910, has practiced at Gas City. Dr. Ross has already built up a large practice, both in the city and country. He takes his surgical cases to the Marion Hospital in conjunction with Dr. C. O. Bechtol. Dr. Ross is a very genial, happy-minded gentleman of a very sociable nature, and has friends wherever he has gone .. These personal characteristics combined with his thorough ability as a physi- cian have brought him a large business and he enjoys the confidence and respect of a large patronage and hosts of friends all over Grant county. He is a member of the Grant County and Indiana State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association.

J. Clay Ross, who comes of a fine old Kentucky family, was born in Gallatin county, Kentucky, October 17, 1877. He was reared on a farm until he was eighteen years old, and his first work was as a teacher, after graduating in the scientific course in the National Normal Uni- versity at Lebanon, Ohio. Through school teaching he paid his way through college and university, and on March 29, 1901, graduated from the Commercial department of the Kentucky State University. After that for a short while he was bookkeeper in the First National Bank at Vevay, Indiana. In his ancestry and family connections were a number of physicians, and this was one of the influences which prompted him to take up medicine as his chosen calling.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 50

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

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