Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 64

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

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prises three hundred and sixty acres in one body. Besides that he is the owner of one hundred and sixty acres elsewhere in Liberty township, and altogether has five hundred and twenty acres in that township, besides one hundred and sixty acres in Green township. Besides these generous landed possessions he is the owner of property in Marion and Fairmount.

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Dickey was born one son, Oscar Dickey, on December 26, 1874. He grew up on the home farm, received a good education, and has taken up the vocation of his father for whom he is the practical manager of the large estate under the family ownership. Mr. Dickey spends most of his time supervising his large property interests, and does little of the practical work of the farm. He and his wife are active members of the church of Christ at Rigdon. In politics his vote was cast in the Republican interests for a number of years, but during the past twenty-eight years he has always cast his ballot for the Prohibition ticket. Mr. and Mrs. Dickey have preferred to spend their declining years on their beautiful and attractive home place in the coun- try, and have surrounded themselves with many comforts and advan- tages, at the same time enjoying the increasing respect and esteem of all who know them.

JESSE JAY. It was in the year 1849 that Denny Jay settled in Grant county, and from then until now there have been found men of the name living worthily in and about the county, carrying on the name, which is one of the old southern origin, and generally conducting them- selves in a manner becoming and praiseworthy. They have filled useful places in the civic life of their various communities, and have builded homes that have reflected credit upon themselves and their progeny. They have come to be property holders, all generations having tilled the soil to excellent advantage, and best of all, they have been citizens of a high type from first to last.

Jesse Jay, representing the second generation of the family in Grant county, has been no exception to the general rule of the family. He is the grandson of Jesse Jay, born in South Carolina and the scion of a stanch old southern family of Quakers. More than a hundred years ago he was wedded in the Quaker church of his native community and with his bride set out for the north in search of a new home in a new land. They settled in Miami county, Ohio, at a time when the country was in a wholly unimproved and almost uncivilized state, located on a wilder- ness farm, and there passed their remaining days. He died at a fine old age, in 1840.

Of Jesse Jay's children, Denny Jay was the youngest, and he became the father of Jesse Jay of this review. He was born in Miami county, Ohio, in 1808, soon after the arrival of the parents in the north, at a time prior to the incorporation of the state as such, and it should be mentioned here that his parents were among the leaders in the organi- zation of the Friends church in Ohio. Denny Jay was reared in Miami county, farm life being his portion, and there in young manhood he married Mary, the daughter of Elisha Jones. Of the latter it should be said that he was born and reared in South Carolina, and there was mar- ried; that he came early in life to Miami county, Ohio, where his daugh- ter, Mary, was born in 1807, and that they passed the remainder of their lives in Miami county, well known as farming people and as fine old Quakers.

It was in 1849 that Denny Jay, accompanied by his wife and their five children, came to Indiana and settled on a 200 acre farm along the Mississinewa River in Mill township. They paid for their land $17.00

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per acre in gold, and it is a notable fact that they carried the golden coins in a bag that had its resting place under the seat of the buggy in which they made the long and tedious trip. The farm today is one of the ideally located ones in the district, and part is owned and occupied by Jesse Jay. In that early day Mr. Jay found a ready market for his every product, and they prospered there as long as they lived. The father died in 1870 and his widow survived him for three years. She was one year older than her husband, having been born in 1807. Mr. and Mrs. Jay were early members of the Back Creek Quarterly Meet- ing Association, and he was for some years an Elder in the church. Politically, Mr. Jay was in early life a Whig, but later he became a Republican with the birth of the new party, and he voted for John C. Fremont.

Of their five sons and five daughters, nine grew to years of matu- rity. All married but three of the nine. Three of the nine are yet living,-Jesse Jay of this review; a brother, Lambert B., for the past thirty-two years a resident of Kansas and now about sixty-one years of age; and Mrs. Cynthia Anne Winslow, aged eighty-two years. One brother, David, a graduate of the law department at Ann Arbor, Mich- igan, died at the untimely age of twenty-five years, though most of the others reached middle age before they passed on.

Jesse Jay was born on February 17, 1840, in Miami county, Ohio, and he was nine years old when the family came to Grant county. Bar- ring three years, he has spent the entire time here since the family migration thither in 1849. He was reared on the home farm which is now his property, or at least eighty-five acres of it is his, his place being one of the fine ones of the township, lying along the Marion and Jones- boro pike, and being admirably located for convenience and a pleasant outlook. Fine and commodious buildings grace the place, and his is one of the best kept and most productive farms in the township, according to common repute.

Mr. Jay was married in Fairmount on February 16, 1865, to Miss Susan Winslow, born near Fairmount village on August 2, 1846, and a daughter of Jesse Winslow, a representative of the old and honored Winslow family, already mentioned more or less fully in the history of the Winslow family appearing elsewhere in this work.

Mr. and Mrs. Jay have four children, concerning whom the following brief facts are set forth.

Lawrence, the eldest, is employed by the United States Glass Com- pany at Gas City : he married Miss Louise Richardson and they have two children, Erasta and Jessie, who live at home.

Adelpha, the wife of L. R. Gift, a druggist of Converse, Indiana, is the mother of six children : Wendel, Weldon, Juanita, Mary A., Robert and Elizabeth. The older children have received college educations, and the younger ones will doubtless share in the same privileges as they reach the proper age.

Mary became the wife of Albert Kiser, who is employed in the tire department of the Indiana Rubber Plant; they make their home with Mr. and Mrs. Jay and have one daughter, Fay Sue.

Watson D. is now assistant cashier of the Jonesboro State Bank, and he is one of the most progressive young business men of the town. He, like his brothers and sister, was given a splendid education, and is proving himself a capable man in matters of finance, having in charge the entire business of the Jonesboro institution with which he is con- nected, including loans, etc. He is making excellent progress in his work, and will doubtless be heard from in fields higher up in the future. He is unmarried and makes his home with his parents.

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The parents and their sons and daughters are members of the Quaker church, and Mr. Jay and his sons are stanch Republicans and citizens of the most approved type. Their place in popular confidence and esteem is no uncertain one, and they enjoy the friendship of a large circle of genuine friends in and about Jonesboro.

WATSON D. JAY. In estimating the financial strength of Grant county the banks and bankers of its smaller municipalities are deserv- ing of very prominent mention, for they are the tributaries of larger financial institutions and have an important part in swelling the stream of the county's prosperity. To the town bank comes the farmer from the surrounding countryside and deposits the golden fruits of his toil. From the proprietor of that bank his customers may ask and receive sound financial advice. He is their friend and adviser as well as their banker. The farm loan, that solid rock of financial investment, is placed with him or is negotiated through some larger banking institution through his agency. Upon the stability and security of these smaller banks as well as upon the honor and integrity of those in control of them, rests the whole superstructure of the confidence and trust reposed in them.

In this connection may be given a short review of one of Grant county's substantial citizens. Watson D. Jay, assistant cashier of the Citizens Bank of Jonesboro, an institution which has long occupied an es- tablished place in public confidence. Mr. Jay is a native of the county, having been born on a farm in Fairmount township, May 2, 1872, a son of Jesse Jay, a sketch of whose career will be found on another page of this work. Mr. Jay's education was secured in the public schools of Marion, the Normal school of that city, from which he secured his diploma, and the Stenographic Institute of Indianapolis. For five years he was employed in a business office in Gas City, and then became identified with banking in the First National Bank of Marion, where he arose to the position of teller and remained for ten years. He then came to his present position as assistant cashier of the Citizens Bank of Jones- boro, and during the past three years has been in practical charge of its affairs. The institution was founded in 1905 under the present offi- cials and is a branch of the Gas City Bank, being practically under the same management, although operated as a private bank under state supervision. The shareholders have a combined net worth of over $1,- 500,000, which is a pledge for the security of its depositors, and the stock of the bank is largely held by local business men. Mr. Jay has shown himself an able and conservative banker, who may be absolutely depended upon to protect the best interests of the bank and its patrons. He is courteous and obliging, and during his period in Jonesboro has made and retained numerous friends. He has been active in local mat- ters, although not a politician, and still makes his home with his father on the old Jay farm.

While a resident of Marion, November 16, 1913, Mr. Jay was mar- ried to Miss Marian F. Stover, who was born in Grant county and edu- cated in the high school, daughter of William J. and Rose (Housley) Stover, natives of this state, who were married in Grant county and now are residents of Marion, where the father is connected with a large business house. Mrs. Stover is a member of the Baptist church, and both she and her husband are well known in their community. Their two younger daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, reside at home and are still pursuing their studies. Mr. and Mrs. Jay are attendants of the Friends church. He is well known in fraternal circles having passed through the chairs of Masonic Blue' Lodge No. 109, and Lodge No. 102,

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Knights of Pythias, and has represented both in the Grand Lodge of the state.

DE WITT CARTER. Courageous grasping of opportunities, steadfast effort and hard, honest toil-these have been the means through which De Witt Carter, of Jonesboro, has brought himself to a position among the leading men of Grant county. Not only this, but he has gained among them the reputation of being a clear headed man whose advice is always sound, and now occupies a position in the office of the Indiana Rubber and Insulated Wire Company, Jonesboro, Indiana. Mr. Carter was born on his father's farm in Mill township, Grant county, Indiana, April 29, 1873, and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Knight) Carter.

George and Mary (Buller) Carter, the grandparents of DeWitt Car- ter, were natives of North Carolina and at a very early date left the Old North state and came overland to Grant county, here entering from the Government what became known as the William Carter farm, and which still bears that name. They erected a farm in the woods, living in the meanwhile in a little log cabin and sharing in the hardships and priva- tions always incident to life in a pioneer community. They became well and favorably known throughout their locality, and were regarded as substantial, Christian people and as devout members of the United Brethren church, in the faith of which they died. William Carter was born in 1847 on the old homestead farm in Mill township, and there grew up to agricultural pursuits, in the meantime securing his educa- tion in the early district schools. At the time of his father's death he became the owner of the home land, which he subsequently converted into one of the finest farms in the county, fitted with every modern im- provement known to country life, He erected a handsome white house, and two large and well-equipped barns, with every improvement, one for stock and one for grain, each with cement floors, while the latter had accommodation for sixty-five tons of hay and one thousand bushels of grain. The water was secured from a drilled well and drawn by a gaso- line engine and modern machinery did all of the heavy work. Fine live stock of all kinds were bred here, Mr. Carter taking a particular inter- est in this branch of agricultural work. On this fine property he died in 1911, aged sixty-four years, while the mother still survives at the age of sixty-one years and is making her home in the vicinity of Marion. She belongs to the Friends church at Marion, with which the father was also connected. A man of great industry and strict integrity, Mr. Car- ter occupied a prominent place in his community, and as a citizen al- ways demonstrated his willingness to support measures which promised to be of benefit to the community in which he lived and labored.

The only child of his parents, DeWitt Carter received his early education in the public schools, following which he took a course in Fair- mount Academy, being graduated in 1892. At that time he received his introduction to business life as assistant cashier of the First National Bank and later, in 1909, was made cashier of the Citizens Bank of Jones- boro. He was also for one year connected with the First State Bank of Gas City, and in 1912 became a stockholder and employee of the Indiana Rubber and Insulated Wire Company.

Mr. Carter was married to Miss Grace Lawson, who was born in 1878 in Grant county, Indiana, educated in Marion High school. Her mother makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Carter. They have one daughter : Colene, born April 8, 1895, and now a student in Jonesville High school, class of 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Carter are Methodists. He is a member of Masonic Blue Lodge and the Knights of Pythias and Tribe of Ben Hur. In politics a strong Republican, he has been a real worker in

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the cause of progress and advancement in his city, was a former mem- ber of the city board, and is now a member of the board of school di- rectors.

SAMUEL SMALL. Owning and occupying a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in the southeast quarter of section thirty-one of Franklin township, Samuel Small is one of the men whose careers have been effect- ive and valuable contribution to the progression and history of Grant county. He is now past his eightieth birthday and has spent the greater portion of his career in Grant county.

Samuel Small is a native of Henry county, Indiana, where he was born November 25, 1831, a son of Nathan and Polly (Small) Small, the parents being distantly related. The father was born in Highland county, Ohio, and the grandfather came from Virginia. Nathan Small's wife came from Guilford county, North Carolina. . Nathan Small was a boy when he moved to Indiana, living near Richmond for some years, and worked until he got a little property, after which he was married, and then in 1838 brought his family to Grant county, locating in Center township. After three or four years of residence there they returned to Henry county, but a few months later moved back to Grant county, and finally located in Franklin township. The father in 1882 moved to Howard county, Indiana, living in Kokomo, until the time of his death. Farming was his regular occupation, and his residence in Kokomo was in the declining years of his life, after he had won sufficient competence to enable him to spend his latter years in comfort. He was the father of five children, three of whom are living in 1913, namely : Samuel; Sarah, widow of Boes Petty, and Louisa, who lives with her brother Samuel.

Samuel Small attended the common schools when a boy, and was on the home farm until he was twenty-five years of age. On January 8, 1857, he married Ruth Marshall, who was born in Hamilton county, Indiana, May 3, 1838, a daughter of Joshua and Tamer (Osborn) Mar- shall. Mrs. Small was educated in the schools of Indiana, and has proved a most valued helpmate to her husband. Their children are named as follows: Ellen, wife of Charles Lloyd; Lydia, wife of James T. Kelly; Abraham L. Small, who married Adeline Capron; Emma, widow of Caleb T. Jacques; Oliver, who married Martha E. Poe; Levi, deceased; Anna, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Small have twenty-eight grand- children and sixteen great-grandchildren. Mrs. Small worships with the Friends church. In politics Mr. Small is a Republican and has always taken an active part in local party affairs, having been a delegate to county and other conventions. He is one of the oldest men in Franklin township.

J. WILLIAM FURNISH. The progressive farmer of today is far from content to make merely a living from his land. It must pay him a full measure of gain for the labor he expends upon it, and he is constantly seeking new means and methods of increasing his production. It is through the efforts of such men that progress and advancement are accomplished, and because of such men in Grant county this has become one of the most prosperous farming communities of the Hoosier state. Not every man has the ability to aid in this progress, even though he possesses the inclination, but one who is possessed of both characteristics, and has gained the local title of "a hustler," is J. William Furnish, of section 4, Mill township, the owner of a nice property and a citizen who has fairly earned the esteem in which he is generally held.

Judge Benjamin Furnish, the grandfather of J. William Furnish, was a native of Kentucky, and came to Grant county as a pioneer in

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SAMUEL SMALL AND WIFE

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1832, entering land in Fairmount township. There he improved a good farm, became prosperous and was known as an influential citizen but was cut down in the prime of life when about forty years old. By rea- son of his good judgment, strict integrity and well-known impartiality he was chosen to serve his fellow-citizens in the office of circuit judge, and at all times upheld the honor and the dignity of the bench. Judge Furnish married Miss Rachael Leach, who outlived her husband for a long period of years and died in advanced age. Both were devout mem- bers of the Primitive Baptist church, led honest and God-fearing lives, and were numbered among their community's most highly respected people.

John Furnish, son of Judge Benjamin, and father of J. William Furnish, was born October 17, 1837, in Franklin county, Indiana, while his parents were spending a short time in that locality. As a lad he came to Grant county, here grew up and was educated, and was mar- ried in Jefferson township to Miss Martha J. Garrison, a native of Ohio, born October 13, 1837. Mr. and Mrs. Furnish still survive and are making their home on their fifty-five-acre farm, located in Mill town- ship, and in spite of advanced years are still alert in body and active in mind. Mr. Furnish has been essentially a farmer, yet he has found time also to engage prominently in Republican politics, and at one time was a candidate for the office of county recorder. At this time his views on the temperance question lead him to support the Prohibition party. With his wife he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, and both have taken an active part in its various movements and charities.

J. William Furnish was born on his father's farm in Jefferson town- ship, Grant county, Indiana, October 8, 1860, and was there reared to agricultural pursuits and given an ordinary educational training in the public schools. He early showed himself possessed of industry and thrift, and at the age of seventeen years, seeking to better himself, went to Sedgwick county, Kansas, and there learned the trade of plasterer. This he followed in Wichita, Kansas, for a period of ten years, and then returned to Grant county, Indiana, and resumed farming, in which he has met with marked success. At this time he is the owner of a hand- some tract of ninety-four acres, all under a high state of cultivation, located in section 4, Mill township, just outside of the limits of Jones- boro, of which he has been the owner for four years. He has devoted his attention to general farming, and the prosperity which he has gained has come through the medium of hard labor, intelligently ap- plied. During the time he has lived in this locality, Mr. Furnish has built up a reputation for honesty and integrity that makes his name a synonym for reliability and straightforward dealing. His methods are progressive, although practical, and his property shows the bene- ficial effects of good management.

While a resident of Wichita, Kansas, Mr. Furnish was married (first) in 1881 to Ida L. Allphine, who was born in Schuyler county, Illinois, December 28, 1860, but was reared and educated in Kansas, where she went as a child with her parents. She died in Jonesboro, Indiana, having been the mother of four children: Maybelle, who died soon after her marriage to Warren Knowles; Mary J., who is the wife of Thomas Owens and the mother of four children, Verda, Elizabeth E., Della and Aidrie; Nellie, who died at the age of twenty-three years, unmarried; and Myrtle, who died aged six years.

Mr. Furnish's second marriage, which took place in Madison county, Indiana, was to Miss Pansy May Mason, who was born August 29, 1884, in Madison county, Indiana, and was educated in that county, where she grew up and resided until her marriage. She has been the mother

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of Minnie, Thelma Irene and Nancy L., who are all attending school; and Edmund, Elizabeth and Owen, the babies. One child, Martha J., died January 1, 1904, aged one year and four days. For many years Mr. Furnish voted with the Republican party, but becoming convinced of the necessity for following a principle rather than party ties, he became a pioneer worker in the Prohibition party, which he now gives his aid and voting influence. He and his wife are consistent members of the Jonesboro Friends' church, and have aided it in many ways. Mr. Furnish is prominent in fraternal circles as a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, his allegiance being given to Romania Lodge No. 82, in which he has passed through all the chairs and the degrees up to the Grand Lodge. He belongs to the class of men who are able to make their minds work with their hands, and who make their community's interests their own. Such men form the backbone of any locality.

JOHN V. SHUGART. One of the pioneer families of this county has its representative in John V. Shugart, himself a leading citizen of Mill township and one of the wealthy men of the county. Mr. Shugart has devoted himself to agricultural activities all his days and his success has been the reward of constant application to duty. The Shugart family is an old North Carolina one, long residents of Randolph county, that state, and Quakers of the old type. Like all their fellow religion- ists, they were stanch abolitionists, and in Civil war times the Shugarts were among the leading agents of the well known underground rail- road that aided in the escape of so many negroes. Their Grant county home was for years a station, the grandfather of the subject having aided the Negro on every possible occasion. His farm, upon which he now lives and on which he was born, was a station for the Underground Railroad.

Considering briefly the line of descent from the time of the first of the name to the present time, the facts are as follows: George Shugart, the first of whom there is authentic record, was born in North Carolina about the close of the Revolutionary war. He was a farmer and a Quaker, the family from first to last having adhered to its industrial and religious tendency and belief with but slight variation. This old patriarch lived to come north with his son, John Shugart, the grand- father of the subject. The family made the journey from North Caro- lina to Indiana after the manner affected by travelers of that early period, the year being 1835, and their first location was on section 30, Mill township, Grant county, on Deer creek. The land they chose was a dense forest wild, and they reared a rude log cabin in a spot that promised to be a convenient one, there setting up their household goods after the manner of pioneers of all periods and places. It is perhaps, quite unnecessary to say that this family suffered all the privation and hardships that might be expected to attend primitive conditions such as they were subject to, and though it is an undeniable fact that they did live a life attended by many discomforts, it is also true that they were happy and prosperous, according to the prosperity standards of the day. There was often a shortage of money. In fact, there were long seasons when the family never once gazed upon actual specie of the day, but their wants were few, and forest and field and stream pro- vided their simple needs. Wild game abounded at all seasons, and game laws, the plague of the woods dweller of today, were then unthought of. So it was that they lived simply, but content with their lot, and it is more than probable that the present generation, blessed with a goodly share in this world's goods, are not more happy than were their an- cestors in the wilderness homes they builded themselves.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 64

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

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