Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 65

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

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Here the great-grandfather of John V. Shugart died, as did also his devoted wife, and they are buried in the old Deer Creek cemetery of the Friends.

John Shugart was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, in about 1800, and there he married Miss Sarah Ratcliffe. They came to Grant county in the year 1835, and their first location was in section 30, Mill township, the place now being known as the Love Stock Farm. He first came north in the twenties, however, and located in Wayne county, Indiana, there carrying on farming operations for some years, and it was there that John, Jr., father of the subject was born, on Septem- ber 5, 1827. They had made the long journey to Wayne county in a one horse cart, and the experience was one they remembered to the end of their lives. John Shugart died at the age of fifty-four on the farm he had settled and partly improved in Grant county, death resulting from blood-poisoning, and his widow survived him for many years. They were of the Quaker faith, and helped to organize the church in their community, having deeded three acres to the Deer Creek church for a cemetery and school site. The first church erected was a humble log affair, the second a frame building and the third a fine appearing brick edifice.

John Shugart, Jr., father of the subject, was eight years of age when his parents moved to Grant county, and he was educated in a somewhat meagre fashion in the log schools of the period. Dirt or puncheon floors, rude slab benches and oiled paper for window lights was the equipment of the schools of that day, and if the attending chil- dren learned even the rudiments of the much talked of Three R's, they did well indeed, and should be congratulated upon their wit and enterprise.

Reared to the farm, John Shugart knew no other enterprise in which he might find a living, and he cared for no other, for the men of this family have for generations been successful and well equipped farmers, their inherent qualities insuring a measure of prosperity in their chosen work. Mr. Shugart in time acquired a tract of five hun- dred acres of land in Grant county, and this he placed largely under cultivation during his lifetime. In 1871 he erected a fine brick dwelling, and prior to that time had built two enormous barns, which were burned, whereupon he straightway erected two more, even larger and more mod- ern in their appointments. Mr. Shugart had by this time interested himself largely in cattle breeding, and he was known as a pioneer in the breeding of fine Holstein-Friesian cattle. He was a leader in that enterprise, and to him must be given the credit for having inspired the farming men of the community to the breeding of more and better stock on their places. His son has carried on the work most admirably, and is recognized as a leader in all matters pertaining thereto.

On April. 1st, 1910, John Shugart died, and his son has carried on his work since then, with all success. Mr. Shugart was a Quaker and a Republican but during the last twenty-five years of his life was a strong Prohibitionist. During all his days he was prominent in the com- munity that represented his home, and in which he had wielded a most excellent influence all his days. He exemplified many sterling traits in his every day life, and was a man whose word was quite as good as his bond. He always interested himself creditably in the civic affairs of the community, and might be ever relied upon to further the inter- ests of any enterprise calculated to result in a moral or spiritual uplift in the town and county.

Mr. Shugart was married in Miami county, Indiana, to Miss Rebecca Guyer, born in Darke county, Ohio, near Palestine, on September 13, Vol. 1-8

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1825, and who died at the family home on April 22, 1886. She was a daughter of Samuel and Rachel (Small) Guyer, who came to Miami county, Indiana, from Darke county, Ohio, there spending their remain- ing days in farming activities. They were members of the Christian church and were prominent in their community all their days.

Mrs. Shugart, like her husband, was a member of the Deer Creek Monthly Meeting of the Friends, and they were among the most ardent and dependable workers in the society. Mrs. Shugart especially was a devoted temperance worker and crusader, and it would be difficult and well nigh impossible to form any adequate estimate of the good she did in her life in this community. Mr. and Mrs. Shugart gave homes to eight orphaned children whom they helped to suitable educations, and did much missionary work among the poor and needy, for they were always mindful of the scriptural injunction, "The poor ye have always with you," and let no opportunity escape them to further the material and spiritual welfare of those with whom they came in contact, who might need their kindly aid. They were true Christian people, and their beautiful charity was one of the finest traits they possessed among many that were praiseworthy, indeed. When they died the community mourned their passing as only kindly and simple people of their stamp are ever mourned, and their influence is yet felt in Mill township.

John V. Shugart, their son, was born on the old home place on Sep- tember 29, 1866. He attended the common schools of his community, which were well advanced over the efficiency they boasted in the days of his father's boyhood, and was carefully reared by his wise and gentle parents. He early learned lessons of honor and uprightness, which coupled with the habits of thrift and perseverance which he formed in boyhood, have been the basis of a splendid character and a praiseworthy material prosperity. Mr. Shugart admits that his schooling was not as complete as he could wish, but gives much credit to his actual busi- ness experience as having broadened and in a great measure educated him. He is now engaged in the automobile business, with automobile salesroom at the corner of 4th and Booth streets, Marion. He handles the Cadillac and the Chevrolet automobiles. He is a director of the Farmers' Trust & Savings Company of Marion, Indiana.

Mr. Shugart's farm today is admitted to be one of the finest in the county, and it is kept up to a high standard of efficiency and complete- ness in its equipment that will scarce be equaled anywhere.

Like his father, Mr. Shugart has especially devoted himself to the breeding of blooded Holstein-Friesian cattle, and he has been a leader in the enterprise in this part of the state. Many blue ribbon winners have gone forth from his stables. Some time ago he sold his herd and withdrew from the breeding business definitely, but his reputation as a breeder and as expert authority on these subjects still continues with him. He has made a substantial fortune in his agricultural and breed- ing activities, and his farm is one of the fine show places of the county. Mr. Shugart has been known as a shrewd man of business, and com- bined with his extraordinary business acumen are the wide-mindedness and gentleness that were so prominent as traits in the characters of his worthy parents.

Mr. Shugart was first married in Miami county in 1888 to Miss Mil- dred L. Canaday, who was born on September 2, 1867 and died on June 22, 1889, without issue. She was a birthright member of the Friends church. On December 1, 1891, Mr. Shugart married Miss Carrie Hatha- way, born in Fairmount, Indiana, on March 2, 1871. Her father died when she was a child of four years, after which she was reared in the home of Elias and Hannah Baldwin, in Marshalltown and later in Des

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Moines, Iowa, where they lived. She was a daughter of John and Mary (Hall) Hathaway.

To Mr. and Mrs. Shugart have been born two children. Frank, the eldest, is now attending a business college in Marion, having completed a high school course in his home town, and Nellie is attending common schools. The family is among the most prominent hereabout, and they enjoy the sincere regard of a host of good people in and about the county. Mr. Shugart is a Republican, and has always taken a more or less active interest in the politics of his county and state, while he is known to be a citizen of the highest type.

PETER ROBERTS. The Roberts family has given to Grant county, in Mrs. Margaret Spangler, a citizen of splendid worth, and one who has done a man's part in the way of keeping up a home and carrying on the work of a farm. She is the daughter of Peter Roberts, who was of Southern birth and ancestry, the Roberts family of Virginia having long been located in Scott county, in this particular branch of the name. He was born in Scott county, Virginia, and died there in 1863, when in the prime of his young life. His people were long identified with agriculture in Scott county as owners and operators of a magnificent plantation in the ante-bellum days, and he was a soldier in the Con- federate army for a time. He fell ill after a period of service extend- ing over several months, and was furloughed home on sick leave, soon after which he died.

Mr. Roberts had married in Scott county Miss Elizabeth Derting, born of Scott county parents on July 22, 1841, and in that county was reared. When Mr. Roberts died he left her with two daughters, one of them Margaret, the wife of John J. Spangler, and Susan, who died some years after her marriage to Melvin Wood, of Arkansas. She left a large family. Following the death of her husband Mrs. Roberts married J. S. Hilton, also of Scott county, Virginia, and they later came to Grant county, Indiana, their advent into the state being in the year 1891. They now live on the farm they acquired in Liberty township. To, them were born four children, Pearl, Darthula, Kellar and Elbert, all of whom are married and have families of their own.

Margaret Louisa Frances Roberts, the child of the first marriage of her mother, grew up in Scott county and was educated mainly in the public schools of that district. There she met and married John J. Spangler, and in 1890 came with him to Indiana. They lived in Mill township for a time and then in Liberty township, and in the latter place Mr. Spangler died on January 31, 1905. He had been born in Scott county, Virginia, on February 27, 1857, and came of Virginia people who had long been devoted to the soil in their industry, and while he was in many ways a successful farmer, he met with misfortunes in his career that in a measure shadowed his life. When he died Mrs. Spang- ler found herself with a family to support, and nothing beyond the pos- session of the farm to aid her in the maintenance of that family. She was a woman who had been reared to do earnest work all her life, and she was nothing daunted at the situation that presented itself with the death of Mr. Spangler. The result has been that she has succeeded in providing an excellent living for herself and her children on their farm in Mill township. In 1910 she purchased eighty acres in Mill township, having for eleven years previously lived in Liberty township, and this place, in charge of Charles G. Case, is proving a profitable investment for Mrs. Spangler.

Mrs. Spangler is the mother of five children. Ollie D., the eldest, was born March 15, 1888. She was graduated from the Fairmount Academy

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in the class of 1907 and is now a teacher in the graded schools of Mt. Ayer, Indiana. Clarence L. was born on October 27, 1890. He was educated in the public schools and the Marion Normal, and is now engaged as a bookkeeper in the Warner Glass Company at Summittville, Indiana. He is unmarried. Mary K., born in 1895, is a graduate of the Marion Normal and is now a teacher in the public schools. Fannie B., born October 12, 1900, is now attending the grade schools, and William H., born April 4, 1896, died on August 7, 1899. Mrs. Spangler has one daughter by adoption, Susan L., who was born August 9, 1899, and is now in the Jonesboro high school. Mrs. Spangler has a host of good friends in and about the township, who have watched with much and not a little approbation her career as a farmer, and the support of her little family.

ELI B. MARSHALL. A custom which in recent years has made much progress in the rural communities of the middle west, and which in itself is indicative of higher standards of comfort and independence in life, is the giving of names to the individual farms, a custom that probably adds no material value to the place, but is nonetheless attractive for that reason. The first country home in Grant county to be formally designated with a title was the Catalpa Stock Farm, of which Eli B. Marshall has been proprietor for over forty years, coming here March 1, 1871. The Catalpa farm is the home of Poland-China hogs, and some of the finest stock of this kind raised in eastern Indiana is to be found on the place of Mr. Marshall. He makes a specialty of breeding Poland- China hogs, and his public sales conducted every season have put his stock into nearly every state of the Union.

Mr. Marshall who is one of the larger and most prosperous farmers of Grant county was born in Boone county, Indiana, May 6, 1846, and belongs to one of the old families of the state. His parents were Joshua and Tamar ( Osborn) Marshall. The father was a son of Thomas Mar- shall and the latter a son of Joseph Marshall, who was born in Virginia. Thomas Marshall, the grandfather, came over the Blue Ridge Mountains to Henry county, Indiana, thence moving to Boone county, where he . died. Joshua Marshall was married in Boone county, and took up his residence in Grant county in 1847. In the latter county he spent the rest of his life. He was a man whose interest was identified with public affairs, and in the early days he was one of the leaders in the improve- ment of the roads of the county. In politics his vote and interest were at first in support of the Whig organization, and later was Republican. A story that is told of this old resident as a part of family tradition is that he voted in that county at a time when a hollow stump served as the ballot box of his precinct, and each voter marched up and deposited his ticket in the recess of this old stump. Joshua Marshall was a birth- right Quaker, and throughout his life continued an influential and inter- ested worker in his church. He was the father of ten children, of whom the three living in 1913 are: Ruth, wife of Samuel Small; Eli B. and William R., who is a minister of the Baptist church in Arkansas.

Eli B. Marshall has spent practically all his career in Grant county. He was reared during the days of primitive schools and school facilities, and had only such education as was given by the local institutions, and had the training of the farm and the wholesome rural environment of more than half a century ago. Farming has been his regular career, and he is one of the men who have prospered to an exceptional degree. In 1870 he bought the Sidney Harvey farm, and still owns that place. Since locating with his family there in March, 1871, he has lived and prospered for more than forty years, and from that place his foster chil-

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ELI B. MARSHALL

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY

dren have gone out into independent work and existence. He married Sarah A. Charles, a daughter of Dr. Henry Charles. This wife died with- out issue, having been killed on June 27, 1901, when she was thrown from her buggy in front of her home. Though they had no children of their own, they adopted in their home and reared or partly reared nineteen boys and girls. Such practical benevolence is seldom met with. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall dressed, fed and provided home and educational facili- ties to these children, who in turn have honored their adopted parents. For his second wife Mr. Marshall married Myra (Vickey) Webster. Mrs. Marshall has been for many years a minister of the Friends church. At the present time they have in their home a boy who is being reared under their care, and that completes the total of twenty children, who have been assisted and have found homes and shelter and protection under the Marshall roof-tree. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall are members of the Quaker church, and he is an elder in the church and has held that distinction since he was twenty-two years of age. He assisted in build- ing the church in Franklin township, having contributed liberally to that organization in the erection of both the buildings, which have fur- nished its religious home during the last forty or fifty years. Mr. Mar- shall was formerly a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a Republican, without special party activities. The Catalpa farm contains one hundred and thirty-three acres, and is situated on section twenty-seven in Franklin township. In 1886 Mr. Marshall erected a comfortable brick house, and the other buildings include good barns, granaries and places for the shelter of stock and machinery. The improvements are excellent and the farm well upholds the dignity conferred by its name Catalpa Stock Farm.

Mrs. Marshall, as already stated, preaches in the Friends church, and has a regular charge at Maple Run church. She has been promi- nently identified with organization work in the church in Grant, Wabash, Huntington, Wells, and Henry counties. She was born in Rush county, Indiana, being a native Hoosier. Mr. Marshall when little more than a boy answered the call of patriotism, and enlisted in April, 1864, in Company C of the One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Indiana Infantry. His regiment was attached to the Army of the Cumberland, but he was never in any engagements or fighting. His duty and that of the regi- ment was the transportation of captured Confederates to Chicago and other Federal places of imprisonment. He was mustered out at the end of his term of enlistment in November, 1864, having been away from home about seven months. He now has membership in the Swayzee Post of the Grand Army of the Republic. His brother Levi Marshall was a member of the One Hundred and First Indiana Regiment, and served from the beginning of the war until his death a few days after the battle of Chickamauga, although he was not wounded therein. Joseph Mar- · shall, another brother, was a member of the Thirty-fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was with Sherman on his march to the sea and then on until the close of the war.

THOMAS WINSLOW. The late Thomas Winslow was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, more than one hundred and twenty years ago, and he came of one of the oldest families of that state, descended directly from Mayflower stock of the New England states. The blood of the Pilgrim Fathers flowed in his veins, and he was a worthy specimen of the old stock. His career was one well worthy of perpetuation in these records, and though the facts at hand are meagre, there is sufficient to establish him as one of the true pioneers of Grant county, and as such he is presented in these columns. Though the sketch is rather a review

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of the family from his time to the present day, it is deemed fitting and proper to enter the facts under the heading of him who, properly speak- ing, established the Winslow family in Grant county.

It was in the early thirties that the Winslow family came from its native habitat, North Carolina, into the newer and less tried state of Indiana. They located in Fairmount township, or what has since come to be so designated, taking up government land and there hewing out of the wilderness country a farm that afforded them a real home. The head of this family was Ancil Winslow, a brief sketch of whom may be found elsewhere in this work. He died in the home he established here and left his family to carry on the name and the work he had begun.

This family began even in those early days to leave its indelible imprint upon the community in which it settled, and in the early days of its residence in Fairmount township aided in the organization of the Society of Friends known as the Mississinewa Monthly Meeting. Thomas Winslow, it should be said, was the first clerk of the meeting, and he was known in the town as a young man of the finest qualities, and of a type that added much to the moral and spiritual advancement of the community.

Thomas Winslow married Martha L. Bogue in North Carolina, and before they migrated to Indiana in the early thirties, a number of chil- dren were born to them. John Winslow, one of their sons, was born in North Carolina in 1833, and he was reared in the new home of the family in Fairmount township. No great advantages in a worldly or material way were his, but he was blessed in the possession of a home where the principles of honesty and Christian charity were daily and hourly demonstrated, and he grew up in an atmosphere of truth and purity that many another youth of his day was denied. A simple farmer boy was he, and when he reached young manhood he took a wife and settled down on one of his father's farms. Later he took up his abode with his wife's people, who had a well cared for farm in section 8 of Mill town- ship, and he died there on July 3, 1888. He was what was termed a birthright Friend, and was a stanch Republican in his political faith. In his community he enjoyed a generous measure of the esteem and regard of his fellow beings, and was known for a sincere, honest and gentle soul, a host of friends being his. He served in numerous town- ship offices, and was a trustee for several consecutive years. He was married on December 16, 1869, to Miss Mary L. Russell, who was born on the farm she now owns and occupies, her birth date being May 7, 1842. With the exception of a brief period of three years, her entire life has been spent on this farm, and she is one of the best known and loved women of the community, and a leader among the Friends of the township. She is a daughter of John and Mary P. (Smith) Russell, the father having been a native of the Keystone state, born there in 1800. His father, Samuel Smith, was born there during the Revolu -. tionary war period, and came of Irish stock, with a possible Scotch mixture. He married a native Pennsylvanian and they both ended their lives in the state of their birth. John Russell grew up to farm life in Pennsylvania, and it was not long after the birth of his second child that the family left the state and came west, making the long and tedious journey across the country with ox teams, in the year 1828 or 1829. They settled in Indiana, locating on new and wild land in section 8, Mill town- ship, that spot representing the home today of Mrs. Winslow, their daughter.

The Russells proved themselves to be pioneers of an approved and worthy type, for the passing years witnessed the full blooming of the wilderness spot they had chosen for their home, and their 160 acre tract

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took on a look of prosperity and cultivation that made it one of the desirable farms of the township in later years. They first built a log house, in common with the other pioneers, to which they later added a frame addition, but still later, in about 1855, they reared a handsome brick house. This house still stands and is in a good state of preserva- tion. The barn they built about the same time is still in good condi- tion and bears silent witness to the excellent workmanship that entered into the simple structures of that period. The weatherboards and roof of the barn have been replaced in recent years, but aside from those improvements, the barn stands as it did when built by the Russells almost sixty years ago. Here John Russell died in 1870, having sur- vived his wife by a good many years, her death coming in the late for- ties. Mrs. Russell, it may be said here, was the daughter of Judge Caleb Smith, a man of North Carolina birth, who after spending some years in Pennsylvania, came to Grant county, Indiana, and settled upon a new farm which he improved in accordance with the spirit of the time. The place was in close proximity to the Winslow farm, and there Judge Smith died, when in advanced years. He was one of the talented and prominent men of the county, and one of its earliest judges.

Mrs. Russell, the mother of Mrs. Winslow, was a member of the Methodist church, though her husband held to no religious creed. He was married a second time, but of his later marriage there was no issue.

Mrs. Winslow is the youngest of her mother's children, of whom there were eight, and she is the only one living at this writing. Prior to her marriage with Mr. Winslow, Mrs. Winslow was the wife of Capt. William Shugert, who died in the south in the prime of life. He was a soldier in the Union Army in the Civil war, and after the return to peaceful pursuits he engaged in the cotton business, dying in Arkan- sas. His only child, William R., died as a young man. Of her second marriage, Mrs. Winslow has one son, Glen B. Winslow, who runs the old home farm. He was born on August 3, 1870, and lives on the home place with his mother, being unmarried.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 65

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

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