Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 84

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

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Mr. John A. Jones was born on the old homestead in Liberty town- ship, March 29, 1863. There he grew up to manhood, had such educa- tion as the local schools afforded, and started out as a farmer, and has made a success of that vocation. He was married in Liberty township to Miss Frances K. Faust, who was born in Liberty township, July 15, 1867, and reared and educated there. Her parents, Frank and Laura (Felton) Faust, were natives of Pennsylvania and North Carolina respec- tively, but were married in Liberty township of Grant county, and were substantial farmers there. Her father died when eighty years of age, and her mother at the age of seventy-six. Both were members of the Christian church. Mr. and Mrs. Jones are the parents of three chil- dren : Bertha R., who had a public school education; Cora Alice, a graduate of the Fairmount Academy in 1910, and still at home; Edna Vol. 11-86

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May, who is a member of the Fairmount Academy Class of 1914. Mr. Jones and wife are both Quakers, and he was born in that church. His politics is Republican.

WILLIAM D. SHAFER. In a history of the prominent and influential citizens of Grant county, William D. Shafer is deserving of mention, for his well spent life, his ability, his loyalty to public duty and his fidelity in private life have all gained him a place among the leading residents of the community. He has been a resident of Mills town- ship for twenty-seven years, and during this time has improved an excellent farm of forty acres, located in section 3, and his career con- tinues to be one of constant progress and advancement. Mr. Shafer is a product of the Old Dominion, born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, November 30, 1847, and is a son of Philip and Catherine (McCorkle) Shafer.

Mr. Shafer is a member of an old and honored Virginia family. His grandfather, Jacob Shafer, a blacksmith by trade, also followed farming and passed his whole life in the vicinity of Natural Bridge, Virginia, where he passed away at the age of eighty-six years and was laid to rest on his own farm. He was a man of industry and integrity, endeavored to give his family the best of advantages and comforts, and won his community's esteem by a life of probity and clean living. He was for many years a member of the Presbyterian church, and in his political views adopted the principles of Democracy when that party was organized. Philip Shafer, son of Jacob Shafer, was one of six- teen children, all of whom grew to maturity, most of whom were mar- ried and had families, and now all deceased. This family was remark- able for its longevity, nearly all of its members attaining seventy or more years. Philip Shafer was born in 1812 in Rockbridge county, near Natural Bridge, and grew up a farmer, in the meantime securing an ordinary education in the public schools. His entire active career was devoted to the tilling of the soil, and when he retired for a well- earned rest went to live with his son, Robert Shafer, who was making his home in the vicinity of Tarkio, Atchison county, Missouri. There the father died at the age of eighty-six years. While living in Rock- bridge county, Virginia, Mr. Shafer was married to Miss Catherine McCorkle, who was born in that same county in 1822, and died there in 1909, when aged about eighty-six years. She came of Scotch stock, was a woman of strong religious views, and for many years was a devout member of the Presbyterian church. She was the mother of eight sons and one daughter, and of this family five sons still survive.

William D. Shafer was reared and educated in his native county, early adopted the vocation of farmer as the field in which to work out his success, and continued to be so engaged in the East until 1883. In that year Mr. Shafer left his home and came to Jonesboro, Indiana, where he was employed in the steel mill in Gas City, Indiana, several years, and for nearly a quarter of a century was a resident of that place. In 1906, however, he came to Mills township and purchased his present property in section 3, a tract of forty acres which is yielding him golden harvests for the work he expends upon it. Mr. Shafer is progressive and enterprising in his views and operations, using modern methods and being at all times ready to give a trial to new appliances and devices. He has improved his property with good substantial build- ings, and the general appearance of the homestead denotes the presence of thrift, prosperity and good management.

While still a resident of his native county, Mr. Shafer was united in marriage with Miss Nancy J. Ruley, who was born in Rockbridge county in 1844, and she died in Jonesboro, Indiana, in 1892, and was

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there laid to rest. Four children were born to this union: Burtney, now a resident of Jonesboro, is married and has children; Margaret, who became the wife of Harry Wootring, resides in Jonesboro and has no children; Esther, who is the wife of George Carter, a school teacher of Port Arthur, Texas; and Jennie, who became the wife of Frank Bourie, and died leaving a son and a daughter. Mr. Shafer's second marriage occurred at Jonesboro, Indiana, when he was united with Mrs. Sarah Eliza Wilson, nee Roush, a sister of William P. Roush, a sketch of whose career will be found on another page of this volume. She was born, reared and educated in Mill township, and has always lived here. By her first marriage, with Henry Wilson, now deceased, she has one child living: Bertha, the wife of Morris Fowel, living at Chicago, Illi- nois, with no children.

Mrs. Shafer is a Presbyterian, while her husband is connected with the Methodist church. He is a stalwart Democrat, but takes only a good citizen's interest in affairs which affect the welfare of his com- munity and its people. Essentially a farmer, he has been content to devote his best energies to the tilling of the soil and to allow others to seek the sometimes doubtful honors of public life.

JESSE J. TIPPEY was born in section 31, of Van Buren township, Grant county, Indiana, February 24, 1847. He lived at home with his parents till he was past seventeen years of age, when he enlisted in the army, enlisting at Wabash, Wabash county, in Company D, One Hundred and Fifty-third Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, in which he served until mustered out at the close of the war.

He was diligent in school. After returning from the army he attended the old Academy at Marion for a few years, finishing his edu- cation at Crawfordsville College, Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he was socially prominent and a leading member of the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity. He receiving many invitations to attend meetings of the order as a member of the Alumni after leaving college.

He began his teaching career in the Fall and Winter term of 1867-8, and continued as one of the leading teachers in the common schools of Grant county for twelve years. In 1872 he was united in marriage with Elizabeth Westfall, to which union was born seven children, all of whom are now living. They are Macaulay E., of Wabash, Indiana ; Mrs. George B. Love of Marion, Indiana; Mrs. Edward S. Hawkins, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Mrs. Ora E. Talbert, of LaGro, Indiana; Mr. Frank H. Tippey, of Marion, Indiana; Flossie C. and Merritt J. Tippey, of Wabash, Indiana. He possessed a progressive spirit and was in every way considered successful.

In the year 1879 he sold his possessions in Grant county, and, with his family, removed in the Spring of 1880 to Cass county, Iowa, where he was successful as a farmer and stockraiser. In the Spring of 1891, together with his family, he removed to Pasadena, California, but not finding the school facilities and surroundings suitable for the family he decided to return to the place where the larger part of his life had been lived and at once returned to Marion, Indiana, and purchased a farm three miles east of Marion, where he lived for sixteen years, at which time he sold out and moved to a large farm seven miles northeast of Wabash. At the end of three years he retired from active farm life and purchased a splendid home on West Pike street, Wabash, Indiana, where he resided until called upon to leave this life, March 18, 1910, at the age of 63 years and 24 days.

He united with the Methodist Episcopal church in 1873. His early

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training was conducive to a strong, firm faith in God who doeth all things well. He was a student of the Word and often found pleasure in teaching the same. In all his dealings with men he was ever con- sidered honest and honorable. He loved the simple life. He was not ostentatious, but quiet and unassuming. To know him was but to find in him a friend; for he was truly a friend of man. .

His children were dearly loved by him and he ever sacrificed for them that they might have a good education and be intellectually and morally equipped for the battles of life.

GEORGE B. LOVE. In every community there are a few men whom everyone admire and respect, not on account of their business ability and worldly successes, but because of their personal characteristics. Such a man is George B, Love, of Marion, Indiana. Although he is one of the most successful farmers in the county, men do not speak of him as "one of our big farmers," but as "one of the finest men." He was born in this county and has spent his entire life in this section. His genial disposition and his public spiritedness, as well as his ability and practical common sense, have won him universal liking and respect, and since he is a young man the future looks very brilliant for him.

George B. Love is a son of Irvin Love, who was born in Miami county, Ohio, August 28, 1840. He was the third son in a family of eleven chil- dren born to William and Mary (Dungan) Love. Both his father and mother were born in Huntington county, Pennsylvania, his father in 1807 and his mother in 1809. Irvin Love was of Dutch and Irish descent. His parents moved to Grant county, Indiana, when he was but six months old, and there they settled on a farm in Washington township. William Love died on this farm when Irvin was only seven years of age, and it then devolved upon the entire family to obtain their sustenance, mean- ing hard work for all. Owing to this Irvin was deprived of the advan- tages of an education, but being of an observant nature he largely over- came this disadvantage later in life through study and observation. At the age of twenty-two Irvin Love enlisted in Company C, Fifty-fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, this being in October, 1862. He served in that regiment for a year, taking part in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Magnolia Hill, Champion Hill, Jackson and the siege of Vicksburg. In December, 1863, he was discharged at New Orleans, and then returned home. He at this time owned a part interest in the home farm in Washington township, the remainder being owned by the other heirs of the father. By hard work and thrift, he now managed to save enough to purchase the entire property and become the sole owner of the farm. He remained a farmer all of his life, though he had other interests. He assisted in the building of the Marion-Salem 'gravel road, one of the first in Grant county, and in 1885 he built a livery barn in Marion, at the corner of Adams and Third streets, which he conducted for several years. He also built a fine home in Marion on North Branson street, expecting to move into the city, but he died at the farm. In political matters he was an active member of the Demo- cratic party.

Irvin Love married Mrs. Emily Ballard on the 24th of October, 1868. She died on the 12th of April, 1882, leaving two children, George B. and .

Orville I. Love, the latter born March 20, 1878, and was killed by a horse on the 11th of April, 1892. On May 23, 1883, Mr. Love married Mrs. Hettie Pearman, a sister of his former wife, and his widow now resides in Marion. Mr. Love died on the 11th of May, 1899, and in his death Grant county lost one of her best and noblest citizens.

George B. Love was born July 12, 1871, in the old log cabin home on the farm in Washington township, Grant county, Indiana. He was

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MR. AND MRS. GEORGE B. LOVE AND FAMILY

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reared on the farm and received his education in the schools of Washing- ton township and in Marion Normal College. After completing his edu- cation he went to work on the farm with his father, and continued to work with him until the latter's death. He always lived at home, but previous to his father's death he rented a farm south of the old home and worked it. Upon the death of Irvin Love he took the home farm and also bought the eighty acres adjoining, thus making him the owner of two hundred and forty acres of fine land. Although he moved to Marion in November, 1909, he still manages his farm and has made it prosper greatly. He owns an attractive home at 417 North Washington street in Marion.

In religious matters Mr. Love is a member of the Methodist church, and fraternally he has affiliations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having been a member of this order since 1900.

Mr. Love was married on the 8th of March, 1899, to Miss Almynta Tippey, a daughter of Jesse J. and Elizabeth A. (Westfall) Tippey, both natives of Grant county, Indiana. Mrs. Love was prominent in musical circles and was engaged in teaching school for several years prior to marriage. She is a member of and a very active worker in the First Methodist Episcopal church at Marion. She is also prominent in W. C. T. U. circles, being vice president of the Grant county, Indiana, Women's Christian Temperance Union, and in 1907 the Love W. C. T. U., of Marion, was organized, and she was made its first president. The branch was organized with a membership of twenty-three, and it now enrolls one hundred members. Mrs. Love has been its president since its organization. Four children have graced the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Love, as follows: Earl R., who was born on the 26th of May, 1900; Emily A., born August 13, 1901; Elizabeth G., born May 21, 1903; and Mary E., born on the 15th of December, 1908.

RICHARD M. JOHNSON. This well known Grant county farmer and business man came here when a child more than sixty years ago, and long since acquired a substantial position as a man of affairs, and head of one of the important families of this community.

Richard M. Johnson was born in Green county, Ohio, September 21, 1842, a son of Enos and Martha (Pierce) Johnson. The family are of old Southern stock, and the parents were born in North Carolina, were married in North Carolina, and then joined in the great migra- tion from those states, moving out with a horse and cart, and finally arrived in Green county, Ohio, with only twenty-five cents of available capital. Enos Johnson followed his trade of a shoemaker, which he had learned in the south, until he was about forty years of age, when he moved on to the west and arrived in Grant county in 1850. He bought eighty acres of school land in Blackford county, but later sold that and lived in Center and afterwards in Monroe Township of Grant county, where he was a prosperous farmer and owned a good quantity of well im- proved land. His wife died there in August, 1880, when about three score years of age. She was a devout Methodist. Enos Johnson died in Monroe township at the home of his daughter, during the winter of 1895, being then an old man, his birth having occurred May 30, 1812. He was likewise a Methodist, a Domocrat in politics, and a man of sub- stantial character. Of the thirteen children some died young, and seven are still living, all of whom have been married and have had children, and there are now two widows.

Richard M. Johnson, who was the fifth child, and the first son in this large family, was eight years old when his people came to Grant county, and grew up and received his education in Monroe township.

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He early acquired an interest in the land and more or less actively identified with farming, he has spent much of his time and acquired much of his prosperity from trading and speculation. In 1908 Mr. Johnson and wife spent a winter in California, and since then all their winters have been passed in Florida, returning to Grant county only with the opening of the summer season. Mr. Johnson was identified with the Democratic party as a voter until 1884, when he transferred his support to St. John, and has ever since been an active Prohibitionist, and very decided in his advocacy of that party. He has served officially as assessor in his home township.

Richard M. Johnson first married Phama Gage, of Grant county, who was born in Licking county, Ohio, March 23, 1840, but was reared in Grant county, where she died June 7, 1873. She was the mother of two children: Phama E., who died in infancy, and one that died un- named. Mr. Johnson for his second wife was married in Monroe town- ship to Sarah E. Moon. She was born in Clinton county, Ohio, August 23, 1854, at the age of five years came to Grant county, with her parents, Thomas Moon, and lived in this vicinity ever since. Her father, Thomas Moon was born in North Carolina in 1798, a son of Joseph and Ann Moon, who spent all their lives in North Carolina, and were of English stock. They were farmers, and close adherents of the Friends church. Thomas Moon and wife were married in Clinton county, Ohio, and were farmers there and also in Monroe township in Grant county, where he died. His wife passed away in Clinton county, Ohio, when her daughter now Mrs. Johnson was three years old. Thomas Moon married for his second wife, about the time he came to Indiana, Eleanor (Hinshaw) Holloway, who died in 1893. Thomas Moon died in 1868.

Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Johnson have the following children : Margaret E., born September 26, 1880; Jason, born January 6, 1883, educated in the Jonesboro school, and now a farmer in Whitley county, married Emma L. Knick, but has no children; Edith, born March 31, 1886, graduated from the Jonesboro high school, completed her educa- tion in the Marion Normal College, was for some years a teacher, and is the wife of James Arthur Loughry, a dentist of Ohio, and a graduate of the Ohio Medical College, their home now being in Cleveland, Ohio, and they have one son, James R., born July 19, 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and family are all members of the Friends Church, Mrs. John- son's birthright being Quaker.

Margaret E. Johnson, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Johnson was born September 26, 1880, was educated at Jonesboro and in the Marion Normal College, graduating in oratory in 1901, and for some time was a teacher of expression. She married Forrest C. Miller, who was born in Henry county, Illinois, April 25, 1881, and is also a graduate of the Marion Normal College, with the class of August 1903. After his commercial education he was a teacher in the commercial de- partment of the Muncie business college, and then accepted a place of trust and responsibility with the Thompson Bottle Company at Gas City as credit man and cashier, and was with that large plant for eight years. Mr. Miller is now regarded as one of the best equipped young business men of Gas City, and is associated with Mr. A. L. Prickett in the lumber business. Mr. and Mrs. Miller own a beautiful home on east Main Street in Gas City, are educated and cultured young people, and leaders in the younger social set. They have one daughter, Dorothy M., born April 12, 1905, and now in the third grade of school.

ZEBEDEE F. RUSH was twelve years old when he came to Grant county and here took up his residence, and since that time he has

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been a constant resident of the district, barring a season spent in Kansas. He owns and operates a truck farm in Mill township, and his place is one of the most prolific spots in the county, bar none. Mr. Rush comes of a family that has for generations been identified with the soil, and the secrets of nature have been unfolded to them because they have devoted themselves to the horticultural art with all diligence and perseverance.

Randolph, North Carolina, has contributed some of her best old stock to the newer portions of Indiana, and Grant county has come in for a share of it in the acquisition of the Rush family, as well as a good many others who will be found mentioned in other pages of this historical and biographical work. Captain Zebedee Rush, the grandfather of the subject, was born in Randolph county, of sterling Scotch ancestry. He was a farmer by occupation, and in the War of 1812 he served his coun- try as a captain. He passed his life in his native county, a citizen of splendid type, and he died in about 1870, when he was in the neigh- borhood of eighty-five years of age. He was married in the vicinity of his birthplace to Miss Fannie Fuller, also born and reared in that community, and she died in 1863 when she was about seventy years of age. She bore her husband a fine family of eleven children as follows: Duncan K., born September 11, 1815; Benjamin C., born December 13, 1816; Archibald F., born March 17, 1818; Martha, born July 9, 1819; Noah, born August 13, 1820; Henry, born March 17, 1822; Dorcas, born September 29, 1824; Fanna, born April 6, 1826; Zebedee Franklin, born December 28, 1827; Eliza and Calvin, twins, born June 7, 1829. All lived to years of maturity, a fact worthy of mention in so large a family, and all are married and had families of their own, every one reaching the age of fifty and many of them being much older before they passed on. Two of the number, Fuller A. and Duncan, served in the Confed- erate army, the latter from choice, but the former was pressed into the service, though his heart was with the North and the Union cause, as, indeed, were most of the family.

Benjamin Clarence Rush was reared to farm life in his native com- munity, and in early manhood there he married Susanna P. Henley. She was born in Randolph county in about 1820, and was the daughter of Jesse Henley, a farmer, distiller and miller. In 1866 the family came north to Indiana, settling in Grant county. They made the long trip with teams and were from April to June on the way, reaching Grant county on the 6th day of June, 1866. In 1867 they came to Mill township, and they continued to live there until 1878, when they returned to North Carolina, and there Benjamin Clarence Rush died in 1879. His widow later returned to the north and located in Fairmount township, and continued a resident of this place until her death, which took place on February 14, 1903. She and her husband were members of the Friends church, and he was ever a staunch Union man and a Republican in politics. They had fourteen children, and one of them, Calvin Rush, served as a substitute for his uncle in the Confederate army, though, as has been already stated, he was at heart a Union man. He died before he was twenty-one years of age. Of this large family nine are yet living, and all but one have children.

Zebedee Rush was twelve years of age when his parents moved from Randolph county, North Carolina, to Grant county, Indiana, and but for a year he spent in Kansas in 1870 this county has been his perma- nent home. He was born in February, 1854, and is the seventh in order of birth in the large family of which he was one. Mr. Rush has since reaching manhood devoted himself to truck farming, and in recent years has operated on a large scale. His place is in Section 8, Mills

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township, and his activities are confined to a tract of twelve acres, which are devoted chiefly to small fruits. He is an extensive grower of the choicest varieties of strawberries that are known to the horticul- turist's art, and his success in his work has been exceedingly good. Vegetables, however, have their proper place in his garden, and almost every variety of vegetable peculiar to the climate is produced in this well conducted spot.

Mr. Rush was married in Liberty township to Miss Jennie Wall, who was born in Liberty township on March 20, 1859. She is the daughter of Jonathan Wall, who died when she was a small child. Her mother, Mary (Rush) Wall, died some years ago, well advanced in years. Mrs. Rush was reared by her maternal grandfather, Nixon Rush, a prom- inent man of Liberty township all his days, and she is the mother of four children. Mary Margaret Rush, born May 9, 1879, died May 17, 1879. Helen Demaris, who was born on June 10, 1882, died at the age of twenty-four, soon after her marriage to Roy Manlove, without issue. Clio C. Rush, born March 20, 1885, is unmarried and makes his home with his parents. D. Benton, born October 12, 1887, is a farmer of Mill township, and is married to Blanche Burr, of Mill township, and they have a daughter, Helen Lucile, born August 18, 1913.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 84

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

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