Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 60

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

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WILLIAM EDGAR WILLCUTS. For many years the name of Willcuts has been associated with the history of Grant county, and the head of the house to-day, William Edgar Willcuts, is ably upholding the repu- tation built by his father and grandfather for honesty, integrity and true worth. William E. Willcuts has been engaged in farming for many years, and he is also a well known contractor of Marion, having done some of the best work in that line which has ever been performed in Grant county.

William Edgar Willcuts was born in Franklin township, Grant county, Indiana, on the 4th of January, 1862. He is a son of the late Clarkson Willcuts and Hannah (Druckemiller) Willcuts. Clarkson Willcuts was born on the 2d of August, 1840, in Grant county, Indiana, the son of Clark and Eunice (Hall) Willcuts. Clark Willcuts was a native of the state of North Carolina, and he was one of the first settlers of Grant county when he migrated to this state in 1834. He settled one mile south of Marion, where he lived until 1843, when he removed to Franklin township. He was born in 1792, and died November 27, 1862. He was the first man to build a fence in Grant county, and at one time he built five miles of fence. He owned at one time nearly all of the land from Tenth street in Marion to the top of the hill, and most of the abstracts in the county records show his name. He was a strong char- acter, a staunch anti-slavery man and aided in the operation of the underground railroad. The Willcuts family were all Quakers, and Clark Willcuts was a charter member of the first Quaker meeting which was held in Grant county. He was three times married, and Clarkson Will- cuts and a sister were the only children by his marriage to Eunice Hall.

Clarkson Willcuts, who is given more extended mention elsewhere in this volume, was a farmer and a stockraiser, as well as being interested in the grain and lumber business. He spent his entire life in Grant county, and was one of the most beloved men this entire section. His sudden death on January 27, 1912, was a great loss to the community, deeply felt by everyone. His wife, who was born in Carroll county, Ohio, October 8, 1862, is still living. Clarkson Willcuts took an active part in the affairs of the church and in the civic life of the community. He was twice elected and once appointed a trustee of Franklin township. Four children were born to Clarkson and Hannah Willcuts, all of whom reside in Grant county.

William E. Willcuts was born on his father's farm, and he received his early education in the grammar and high schools of Grant county. He was one of the first two students who received diplomas from the Grant county schools. After leaving high school he attended Earlham College at Richmond, Indiana, and then became a student at Purdue University at Lafayette, Indiana. After leaving the university he became engaged in farming, and has been interested in that vocation more or less since that time. For the past twenty-five years, however,

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he has been actively interested in the contracting business, and has done much work in the line of bridge and sewer construction and in concrete work. He has built many bridges in Grant and adjoining counties, and he and the various men with whom he has been associated from time to time have filled a number of contracts in Georgia, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. He has built up a reputation for thorough and careful work- work that will last-and his services are in great demand. He was also engaged in the coal business for a time. He owns one farm in Franklin township, consisting of about two hundred acres, and has a half section of land in Van Buren township, he overseeing their management.

Mr. Willcuts was married on the 24th of September, 1885, to Margaret M. Johnson of Sims township. She died on the 18th of March, 1911, after nearly twenty-six years of an ideally happy married life. Mr. and Mrs. Willcuts were inseparable, traveling together a good deal. They had visited practically every part of the western hemisphere, and had also traveled abroad. They had no children, but adopted and reared with loving care a boy and a girl, who have been an honor to them.

Frank Carlton Loring was a babe of four years when he came to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Willcuts, and he is now a brilliant and successful electrical engineer. He attended the grammar schools of Grant county, and was later graduated from the Marion high school. He then entered Purdue University, from which he was graduated in 1904, having taken the course in electrical engineering. He next spent eighteen months in the east, from June, 1904, until September, 1906, in telephone work in Rochester and New York City, New York. In the fall of 1906 he entered Columbia University in New York, and during that year completed the work of his Master's degree. He then accepted a position as instructor in Cornell University, spending one year there. In 1909 he entered the employ of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company of New York City, remaining with them until January, 1912. After nine months spent at home resting he went back to University work once more, and has been an instructor in electrical engineering at the Univer- sity of Illinois since September, 1912.

The daughter of the family, Miss Mabel Willcuts, was taken from the orphans' home at the age of six years. She received her early educa- tion in the grammar and high schools of Grant county, being a graduate of the Marion high school. She then entered the Mechanics Institute in Rochester, New York, from which she was graduated from the domestic science course in 1910. She has spent two years of the time since leaving school as a demonstrator in the New England states. In that capacity she is in great demand by large corporations engaged in the manufacture of domestic utilities, especially gas.

On the 12th of June, 1913, William E. Willcuts was married to Mrs. Luella Hier Mosure. Mrs. Willcuts has a daughter, Lola Mosure, by her former marriage. Mr. Willcuts' household consists of himself and wife, his two foster children, Frank C. Loring and Miss Mabel Willcuts, and his stepdaughter, Miss Lola Mosure.

BENNETT B. COLEMAN. In early life accustomed to the hard work which sharpens the mind and develops the body, Bennett B. Coleman grew up in an agricultural neighborhood, and when he came to the time to make a decision regarding his life work, finally selected that of till- ing the soil. In the years that followed he had no reason to regret of his choice, for he arose to a substantial position among the farmers of Grant county, and now, in the evening of life, is able to enjoy the com- forts of a handsome home and congenial surroundings, content in the knowledge of a well-spent and useful life.

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Bennett B. Coleman was born in Wayne county, North Carolina, December 11, 1827, and is a son of Elias and Sallie (Peelle) Coleman, natives of that state, who came as pioneers to Indiana. The grandpar- ents on both sides were born in the Old North state, were of English descent and Quakers, a faith to which the family has always belonged. Elias Coleman was born November 25, 1798, and was a youth of eighteen years when with another young man he came on a single horse, the lads taking turns in riding and walking, and thus covering the dis- tance from North Carolina to the Arley Quaker settlement, the newly opened region of the wilds of Randolph county. There he remained for some time, looking over the land and preparing for his future, and when he had his arrangements complete returned to North Carolina and was married under the rules and discipline of the Quaker church to Sallie, the daughter of Willis and Betsey Peelle, who had been born in 1791. They were married in the Contentnea meeting house and con- tinued to reside in North Carolina until after the birth of four chil- dren : Edith, who died in North Carolina; Harriet, Nathan and Ben- nett B. In the summer of 1828 the little family started out for In- diana, Mr. Coleman hiring a man with a horse and wagon to take the family effects over the mountains northwest to Randolph county, to be paid for by the pound which the expressage weighed. There were three other men in the party beside the senior Mr. Coleman, and in ad- dition Mrs. Coleman carried her seven-months old baby, Bennett B., in her arms and over all the mountains save one. This journey con- sumed some weeks, and when the little party arrived, Mr. Coleman found that when he had paid for the trip at the rate of one dollar per pound, he would have about ten dollars left with which to make a start in the new community. He was a blacksmith by trade, but at once com- menced to engage in agricultural pursuits and his energy, thrift and indomitable perseverance enabled him to succeed in his undertakings. He resided in Randolph county, Indiana, until 1833, at which time he moved to Newport, now Fountain City, in Wayne county, Indiana, and, in partnership with Joel Parker was engaged in the manufacture of wagons for a time. Later he became interested in merchandising in Wayne county, and in 1848 came to Grant county, located at Jones- boro, and became a merchant. This place was then but a small ham- let, boasting of a tannery, a carding mill, a sawmill and a flouring mill, with a scattering of small houses. Mr. Coleman, with excellent ability, soon built up a handsome trade, assisted by his stalwart son, Bennett B., then a man of twenty-one years. Here Elias Coleman was known as one of the town's substantial men for many years. His first wife died in the old cabin home now located next to the home of Bennett B. Coleman, in 1864, at the age of seventy years, and Mr. Coleman then married Mrs. Susan (Ellis) Coffin, who survived for some years. Both passed away in Marion, Mr. Coleman in October, 1890, and she several years later, when seventy years of age. They were all members of the Friends Society, but, although bitterly opposed to war, were strong anti-Slavery people and expressed their opinion on the subject when- ever opportunity offered. After coming to Indiana there were two chil- dren born to Elias Coleman and his first wife: Jesse, who died young; and Mary, who married Enoch P. Small, and died advanced in years in Wabash county, this state.

Of the children born to Elias Coleman, Bennett B. is the only sur- vivor. He grew up largely in Wayne county, where he was given the educational advantages to be secured in the primitive schools, and was about twenty-one years of age when he came to Jonesboro. For some time he was associated with his father in conducting the general store, but subsequently adopted agricultural work in Franklin township, a Vol. II-26

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section which at that time was still practically in its virgin state. There both he and his father killed numerous deer, especially on what was known as Deer Creek. Mr. Coleman inherited much of his father's industry and energetic nature, and set about to make a home for him- self in the wilderness. His good management and persistent labor brought its reward, and when he disposed of his land in 1861 he was able to realize a handsome profit. In the fall of that year he returned to Jonesboro, and here purchased sixty acres of land, the greater part of which is now included within the corporation limits of the city, and to this he added from time to time until he had over 100 acres. When the Indiana Rubber and Insulated Wire Company decided to place its plant here, Mr. Coleman's land was found to be included in the prop- erty selected, and he accordingly disposed of ninety-five acres, in 1893, although he still retains several choice lots and has a handsome home. Mr. Coleman is now passing his declining years in peaceful rest. In spite of the fact that he has passed his eighty-sixth birthday, he is still active in body and alert in mind, in full possession of his faculties and able to read without glasses. Although retired from active pursuits, he takes a keen interest in the events that go to make history, and to matters that directly affect the welfare of his community or its people. Mr. Coleman has had the privilege of seeing great changes take place and a great development effected in Grant county, and has played no small part in this growth and advancement himself. He has been a life-long Republican, casting his first vote for Hale and his next two votes for Lincoln. He was formerly a Quaker, a member of the Anti- Slavery branch of that denomination, but for many years he has been a Presbyterian.

Mr. Coleman was married first to Sarah Shugart, who was born in Wayne county, Indiana, in 1829, married in 1849, and died Septem- ber 4, 1861, in the faith of the Friends church. She was the mother of four children : Emma C., who married E. M. Whitson, M. D., who died at Jonesboro, November 7, 1905, was a soldier for three years in the Civil War as a private of the 101st Regiment, Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, later studied and practiced medicine until his death, had two children by his first marriage, one of whom is a prominent educator, and is survived by his second wife, who is a resident of Jonesboro; William H., a sketch of whose career will be found on another page of this work; Isadora, who died at the age of six years; and Lillian, who died single as a young lady of twenty-two years. Mr. Coleman's sec- ond marriage was to Miss Anna Wilson of Ohio, who met an accidental death in 1880 when attacked by a maddened bull. She left one daugh- ter, Ida, the wife of William Weddington, now living in New Mexico, and the mother of seven children, of whom six are living. Mr. Cole- man was married (third) at Crayton, Indiana, in August, 1883, to Mrs. Anna Martin, nee Hartsock, who was born in Indiana, February 16, 1843. She had two children by her former marriage to James Martin, deceased, Josephine and Lew Wallace, both of whom died young. Mr. Coleman is now a member of the Presbyterian church and Mrs. Cole- man is a member of the Universalist church at Anderson, Indiana.

WILLIAM H. COLEMAN. The only male representative of the family of Bennett B. and Sarah (Shugart) Coleman, William H. Coleman has for sixty years lived in Grant county, and during the greater part of his life has been a prosperous farmer of Mill township.

William H. Coleman was born on the old Deer Creek farm in Mill township, Grant county, on May 4, 1854, and has never permanently resided outside of his native community. Reared in the country, and

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OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS OF THE UPLAND STATE BANK, UPLAND, INDIANA

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in the wholesome moral atmosphere of old Mill, he has been engaged in farming since he reached the years of maturity, and has applied to his work the same principles and industry which would have enabled him to succeed had he chosen a business in the city or a profession. In 1877 he acquired his present home on Section 32 of Mill township, and has lived there and developed a good estate through a period of more than thirty-five years. His is one of the excellent farms of that township, and from the products of his labors he has kept himself and family in comfort and enjoyed a fair degree of success.

In Mill township on November 29, 1877, Mr. Coleman married Miss Rachel Compton, who was born in Warren county, Ohio, on November 11, 1852, and was reared and educated in her native county. Her parents were Stephen and Susan L. (Carter) Compton. Her mother was born at Mill Grove, Warren county, Ohio, in 1817, and her father in Culpeper county, Virginia, on August 22, 1801. They were married in 1844 in Warren county, Ohio, and spent the rest of their lives in that vicinity, where Stephen Compton, who was a shoemaker by trade, died in 1880, and she passed away on April 2, 1868. The Comptons were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and Stephen Comp- ton voted the Democratic ticket.

Mr. and Mrs. Coleman have the following children: Sarah M., a graduate from the Jonesboro high school with the class of 1899, lives at home and has been a constant helper and companion to her parents; Bennett B., the second child, while living at home is employed in a factory in Marion; Lawrence E. is also at home and unmarried; Lillian Bell is the wife of Professor G. A. Roush, who is an instructor in the Lehigh University of South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where they reside, and is also assistant secretary of the Electro Chemical Society ; Howard is a graduate of the Jonesboro high school and still remains at home. Mr. and Mrs. Coleman are members of the Presbyterian church of Jonesboro, and their sons and daughters worship in the same faith. Mr. Coleman and his sons are stanch Republicans, and all are active members of the Knights of Pythias order, all three sons being past Chancellors in the Jonesboro Lodge. Father and sons add a quartet of excellent citizens to Mill township, and are among the most highly esteemed men of the community.

HARRY T. CONNELLY. Cashier of the Upland State Bank, Mr. Con- nelly is one of the most successful farmers and stockmen of the county, and since 1909 has divided his time and attention between the business of agriculture and banking. The Upland State Bank was incorporated November 22, 1909, with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars and at the present time its surplus is four thousand dollars. The total resources amount to one hundred and forty thousand dollars, and the deposits of one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars indicate better than any other item the complete confidence placed by the community in this institution. Since it opened its doors for business, the bank has made a most remarkable growth, and its position is due both to its suc- cessful management and to the fact that all its officials and directors are well known residents of Grant county. The officers are: John Smith, president; Herman Fisherbuck, vice president; Harry T. Con- nelly, cashier; R. O. Smith, assistant cashier; and the directors are John Smith, H. Fisherbuck, R. J. Spencer, Edward Block, N. E. Duck- wall, Daniel Marine, A. L. Horner, Charles W. Reed, and A. N. Kizer. All except Mr. Kizer were on the original board, and he has been con- nected with the institution since its second year. The Upland State Bank has correspondents in Chicago and Pittsburgh, and carries an

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account with the Grant Trust and Savings Bank at Marion. The bank has membership in the State Bank Association.

Harry T. Connelly was born on a farm near Upland on February 10, 1874, a son of John W. and Rebecca J. (Clevenger) Connelly. He comes of old Scotch-Irish ancestry. His grandfather, Rev. John Con- nelly, who was born in Virginia, was a prominent Methodist minister of his time. In 1808 he was made presiding elder over a district com- prising portions of Virginia, Maryland and western Pennsylvania, and his last appointment to that office was made in 1821. He died in Wayne county, Indina, when past eighty years of age in 1846. Rev. Connelly married Elizabeth Fell, a Virginia girl, and of an old family in that commonwealth. Her ancestors came from England to Balti- more during the seventeenth century, and played active parts in their respective communities, both in that state and in Virginia. Elizabeth (Fell) Connelly, died in Wayne county, Indiana, about 1830, being under forty years of age at the time. She became the mother of three children, namely: Joseph, who was one of the pioneer settlers of Kan- sas, a farmer there, and died leaving a family of six children; one daughter died early in life, and John W. Connelly.

John W. Connelly, father of the Upland banker, was born in Wil- liamsburg, Virginia, May 11, 1825, and was a very small child when his parents moved out to Wayne county, Indiana, where they were among the pioneers and took an active part in the establishment of Methodism in that section.

Reared and educated in Wayne county, John W, Connelly gave perhaps the greater part of his productive years to the cause of educa- tion. He taught school in Wayne county, and in 1856 came to Grant county, where he bought land in Jefferson township, now a part of the Millerton Farm. He combined the occupations of teaching and farm- ing, and his record as a teacher aggregated about thirty years. In 1871 he bought one hundred and ten acres in Monroe township, later increased his holdings, and lived there in prosperous circumstances until his death on October 27, 1893. In politics he was a Republican after the war. IIis first vote was cast for Franklin Pierce, and after voting for Douglas in 1860 he transferred his allegiance to the Republican candi- dates, and voted in 1892 for Harrison. John W. Connelly was married in Wayne county to Miss Rebecca Clevenger, who was born in that county, September 6, 1834, and who died in Monroe township of Grant county, December 28, 1909. Early in her life she joined the Methodist church and she and her husband had membership in the Doddridge church in Wayne county, one of the oldest societies of that denomina- tion in Indiana. Later they were among the leading members of the Upland church in this county. Rebecca Clevenger was a daughter of Samuel and Ruth (Spahr) Clevenger, who were both natives of Vir- ginia, but were married in .Wayne county, Indiana. Samuel Clevenger was born in 1808, and his wife in 1812. He died in 1881 and she in 1884. They were pioneers, upright and worthy people, both as neigh- bors and citizens, and active members of the Doddridge church in Wayne county. Mrs. John W. Connelly was the oldest in a family of eight children, and all of them lived in Indiana. Her sister Sabra died at the age of seventy-six. John W. Connelly and wife had eight chil- dren, named as follows: John, who lives at home and is unmarried; Belle, who died after her marriage to Noah Johnson, leaving three children, Alva, Elva, and Bertha; Samuel, now postmaster of Upland; Mary, who died in infancy; Joseph, who is an oil man in Oklahoma,

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and is married but has no children; Dora, wife of J. P. Richard, a resident of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and their children are Hugo and Homer; Flora, who died at the age of twenty-two years, and Harry T., the youngest.

Harry T. Connelly was educated in the schools and at the Fair- mount Academy, and in the Marion Normal College. From 1893 until 1302 he was one of the successful teachers, most of his work being done in Jefferson and Monroe township. While a man of extended activities in business, Mr. Connelly's life is also distinguished for much public service, and his record as a teacher might be well included under that head. From 1905 until January 1, 1909, he gave four years of capable administration in the office of township trustee of Monroe township. He was elected on the Republican ticket, and was the second Repub- lican ever elected to that office in the 'township. His majority of sixty- four votes was a noteworthy showing in a Democratic community. In the fall of 1908 Mr. Connelly was elected to the state legislature and served during the sessions of 1909-10 and in 1911. During the first session he was on the committee of education and roads, and in 1911 was on the committee of counties and townships and also on the com- mittee of banks and trusts companies.

In 1899 Mr. Connelly came into the possession of the old home place by buying out the other heirs, and soon after settled down to farm life. The farm, located in section thirty-four of Monroe town- ship, comprises one hundred and eighty acres of land, all under the plow, with the exception of a timber lot of thirty-five acres. In 1912, his crops were represented by the following figures: Eight hundred bushels of corn, nine hundred bushels of oats, and one hundred and sixty bushels of rye. He sold about one hundred head of hogs during that year, and he averages from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five hogs a year. He has a herd of twenty-three short horn cattle on the place, twenty-five sheep and four horses. These figures, without further comment, are sufficient to show that Mr. Connelly is in the farming business for something besides recreation, and he is rightly entitled to his reputation as one of the most progressive and successful farming men in the county.

On June 23, 1904, at Upland, was solemnized the marriage of Harry T. Connelly, with Miss Edith Kline. Mrs. Connelly was born in Mill Grove, Blackford county, Indiana, August 5, 1874, and is a woman of splendid education and thorough culture. Her schooling was in Hartford City, and in the well known private school kept by Mrs. Bleaker. For eleven years Mrs. Connelly was a successful teacher in Hartford City, and in Upland. Her father is Henry J. Kline, who for the past twenty years has had his home in Upland, and in early years made a record as one of the popular teachers in this part of the state.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 60

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

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