Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 9

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

USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 9

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Eli J. Cox was born on his father's farm in Grant county, Indiana, January 6, 1853, and received his early education in the country schools. Subsequently he became a student in the Marion (Indiana) Normal school, and after a few terms at this institution he became a teacher and for seven years was engaged in educational work in the Grant county schools. In 1881 he went to the western part of Missouri, where for

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one year he was engaged in hay buying business, and in the following year went to Florida, where he embarked in the orange grove enterprise. In this he met with almost instantaneous success, and through good manage- ment and shrewd business foresight increased his holdings from time to time until he owned large interests in orange groves. He bought and sold this kind of land, established a packing house, and bought and shipped oranges extensively. His brand was well known in the eastern markets. With others, he was caught in the great "freeze" of the year 1895, but managed to recuperate his losses and to regain a part of his groves, and now owns and operates two very valuable orange properties. He has. large land holdings in Florida, and also owns valuable tracts in Texas, near the city of Houston. He is at this time an active member of the Florida State Horticultural Society, and is widely known as an expert in the orange industry. Mr. Cox has been an extensive traveler, having visited nearly every State in the Union, as well as various points in Canada and Mexico. He maintains a handsome home in Fairmount and here takes an active interest in all that affects the material welfare of the city or its people. In political matters Mr. Cox is a Republican but he has cared little for the struggles of the political arena.

Mr. Cox was married in Grant county, to a Miss Ballenger, and to this union there was born one daughter who died in infancy. His second marriage occurred in 1904, in Fairmount, Indiana, to Mrs. Ora D. (Luse) Osborn, who was born in Hancock county, Indiana, March 2, 1869. She came to Fairmount in 1882, with her parents, Walter S. and Elmira C. (Coffin) Luse, natives of Hancock county. Her father was for a number of years a successful agriculturist and tile manufacturer of Liberty township, Grant county, but in 1892 retired from active life, and he and his wife now make their home in Fairmount. He was a pioneer in the manufacture of tile and brick in Indiana, engaging therein as early as 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Cox have no children. Her former husband, Jesse Osborn, died some years ago, when still a young man. Mr. and Mrs. Cox are members of the Friends church.

JOHN R. BROWNE was born October 17, 1876, in Van Buren town- ship of Grant county, a son of William L. and Martha E. (Kirkpatrick) Browne. The maternal grandfather, William M. Kirkpatrick, was one of the pioneers of Van Buren township, Grant county. The father was a lawyer and for many years practiced his profession at Lincoln, Nebraska, where he died in 1908. The mother now lives at Landersville in this county. There were two children in the family, and Mr. Browne's brother is Frank D. Browne, a substantial farmer near Huntington, Indiana.

John R. Browne spent the first sixteen years of his life on a farm, and during that time attained a common school and part of a high school education. At the age of sixteen he began teaching, which occupation he continued for six years. Many of the nights and a large part of his vacation periods, while a teacher, were spent in reading law both at home and with Mr. O. L. Cline, and later with Paulus & Cline. In 1898 he was admitted to the bar and begun the practice on March 1, 1899. with Mr. J. F. Charles, as a partner. This partnership was continued as Charles & Browne until December 1, 1902, at which time Hiram Brownlee became the head of the new firm of Brownlee, Charles & Browne. This firm continued until May 6, 1903, at which date, Mr. Charles retired. Brownlee & Browne then continued together until November 1st, 1907, at which time, the partnership was dissolved by mutual consent. Mr.

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Browne was then engaged in practice alone until March 23, 1908, at which time the present partnership with Gus S. Condo was formed under the firm name of Condo & Browne. They practice in all the local, state and federal courts, both having been admitted to the United States Supreme Court at Washington, D. C., on December 2nd, 1912.

On May 17, 1899, Mr. Browne married Miss Grace Riley, of Van Buren, Grant county. Mrs. Browne is a native of this county and a daughter of James E. and Sarah E. Riley, a well known family here. The three children born of their marriage are named as follows : Miriam, aged eleven; Edward J., aged ten, and Ruth, aged eight.

Mr. Browne is a member and ex-president of the Marion Country Club; also of the Elks Club, and is now Exalted Ruler of Marion Lodge No. 195, B. P. O. Elks. In politics, he is a Republican.

WILLIAM .H. WILEY. With impregnable place in popular confidence and esteem, Mr. Wiley has not only attained to prominence as one of the representative members of the bar of his native county but he also is known as one of the most liberal and progressive citizens of Marion, the judicial center of Grant county, and has put forth splendid service in the furtherance of its civic and material progress and prosperity. He is an interested principal in important industrial activities in his home city and is still actively and successfully engaged in the general practice of law, in which his status is that of a man of high technical attainments and distinctive practical ability in the applying of his knowledge, as is evident from the many decisive victories he has won in connection with important litigations in the various courts. Further interest attaches to his career by reason of the fact that he is a scion of a family whose name has been identified with the history of Grant county for more than half a century.

William H. Wiley was born at Jonesboro, Grant county, Indiana, on the 27th of January, 1861, and is a son of George W. and Margaret H. ( Horne) Wiley, the former of whom was born near Piqua, Miami county, Ohio, a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of the Buckeye state, and the latter of whom was born near Vevay, Switzerland county, Indiana, her parents having been early settlers in the stanch colony there founded in the pioneer epoch of the state's history. George W. Wiley was a successful contractor during the greater part of his active business career and established his home in Grant county, Indiana, about 1858, here passing the residue of his long and useful life and ever com- manding unqualified popular esteem. He was summoned to eternal rest, at Jonesboro, this county, on the 28th of April, 1900, one of the well-known and highly honored pioneer citizens of this section of the state, and his wife, Mrs. Margaret H. (Horne) Wiley, died on the 15th of July, 1880. Of their children two sons and three daughters are now living.

The village schools of Jonesboro afforded to William H. Wiley his early educational advantages, and this discipline was supplemented by an effective course of study in the Marion Normal School. He applied himself with characteristic diligence and ambition and before he had attained to the age of eighteen years he proved himself eligible for peda- gogic honors, as he began teaching in the public schools, his initial venture having been in a district school. He proved a successful and popular instructor and continued to devote himself to pedagogic work for four and one-half years, during two of which he held incumbencies in the schools of Delaware county, his remaining service having been in Grant

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county, where he taught for a time in the schools of his native town of Jonesboro. He early began the technical reading through which he effectively equipped himself for the legal profession, but his energies have likewise been directed along divers other lines.

On the 1st of January, 1884, a few weeks prior to his twenty-third birthday anniversary, Mr. Wiley established his residence in the city of Marion, where he engaged in the abstract business, in which he became associated in a partnership with Addison M. Baldwin and William H. Irvine. Later he purchased the interest of Mr. Irvine, and Mr. Baldwin was succeeded by Joseph W. Stout. The firm of Wiley & Stout con- tinued the prosperous abstract enterprise until about 1890, when Mr. Stout sold his interest to Pearl Bogue, whereupon the firm name was changed to Wiley & Bogue, this alliance continuing until 1893.

Having directed his legal studies with much energy and under effec- tive preceptorship for a number of years, Mr. Wiley was admitted to the bar of his native state in 1899. The same year he engaged in the active practice of his profession at Marion, where he formed a partnership with William J. Houck and Charles M. Ratcliffe. The firm built up a substantial and representative practice and the alliance continued until 1904, when Mr. Houck retired from the firm, after which the business was continued under the title of Wiley & Ratcliffe for one and one-half years, with a general insurance business maintained in connection with that of the law. After the retirement of Mr. Ratcliffe the business was individually continued by Mr. Wiley until 1907, in December of which year he removed to Decatur, the judicial center of Adams county, where he became an executive of the Cappock Motor Car Company. In the meanwhile he still retained his law office in Marion, and to this city he returned in January, 1909, since which time he has continued in the practice of his profession, besides giving close attention to his other and varied interests.

Fully appreciative of the advantages and attractions of the city of Marion, Mr. Wiley, having as his associate Thad Butler of Marion and Geo. L. Mason of New York, initiated the work of exploiting its claims in an effective and productive way, his initial efforts along this line hav- ing been instituted in 1889, and his labors having been most vigorous, circumspect and effective. Within the next few years he did much to aid in the securing of manufacturing industries to the city, and he was specially influential in the enlisting of the requisite capitalistic support. He was aggressive and versatile in his endeavors, as may be realized when it is stated that he arranged for and brought to successful comple- tion a number of special excursions to Marion, from Buffalo and other points in the western part of the state of New York, his work in this con- nection being projected for the purpose of bringing Marion to public attention and thus promoting its civic and material development and progress. Prominent among the important industrial concerns which he aided in securing to Marion may be noted the Marion Malleable Iron Works, which now gives employment to fully one thousand men; and the Hoosier Stove Company, the Central Foundry Company, the Western Drop Forge Company, and the Spencer Table Company. He was one of the organizers of the Canton Glass Company, the plant and head- quarters of which are at Marion, and he is at the present time a member of its directorate. He also gave timely and effective aid in the raising of the fund of one hundred thousand dollars for the promotion of manu- facturing enterprises in Marion. He was one of the foremost promoters and an active organizer of the Marion Commercial Club, of which he

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MRS. JASON B. SMITH

JASON B. SMITH

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has served consecutively as secretary, save. during the one year of his residence at Decatur.

Mr. Wiley is a man of broad and well fortified views concerning mat- ters of economic and governmental polity and accords unwavering al- legiance to the Democratic party, of whose principles and policies he has proved a most effective advocate. He has been an active and efficient worker in behalf of the party cause and in 1906 he was the Democratic . nominee for representative of his district in the state senate. He made a spirited canvass throughout the district, which was strongly Republican, and while he failed of election, as he had anticipated, he gained a rep- resentative support at the polls and reduced the normal majority of the Republican party, with the result that his defeat was compassed by only one hundred and eighty-four votes. Mr. Wiley is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Both he and his wife are zealous members of the Presbyterian church in their home city and he is serving as a member of its board of trustees.

The 10th of April, 1884, recorded the solemnization of the marriage of Mr. Wiley to Miss Millie J. Bogue, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Bogue, of Fairmount, Grant county, and she is a most popular factor in connection with the leading social activities of her home city. Mr. and Mrs. Wiley have had two children,-Forrest, who died in 1898, at the age of eleven years, and William Emmett, who was a member of the class of 1913 at the Culver Military Academy, winning the scholarship medal which carried with it a scholarship in the University of Chicago, where he will pursue his studies.

JASON B. SMITH. For a number of years Jason B. Smith has been a well known resident of Grant county, having been prominently identi- fied with gas development during the decade of the eighties. His head- quarters during his operations in that field were at Fairmount, but finally failing health compelled him to go south and he lived for some years out of the county. His first wife was Miss Seytha Dobbins, who died January 15, 1908, leaving the following children : Charles H., who resides in the state of Washington ; Harry D., who died as a young man ; Bernie, who resides in the state of Oregon; Roy, also residing in Oregon ; Willis, residing in Atlanta, Georgia ; Clyde, also residing in Atlanta, and Clare, residing in Fitzgerald, Georgia. After his return from Fitzgerald, Georgia, where he had been operating a saw mill, Mr. Smith was mar- ried in March, 1911, to Mrs. Rachael Lewis, whose maiden name was Wright. She was the widow of Leander L. Lewis, a late resident of Fairmount township. Mr. Smith since his marriage has successfully operated the large estate of his wife in Fairmount township, and both are actively interested in many affairs in that locality, giving much attention and assistance to those things which make for progress and a better social and moral condition of community life.

Jason B. Smith was born in Pennsylvania, August 7, 1845, and was quite young when he accompanied his parents to Rush county, Indiana, where he was reared and well educated. After some years the family moved to Decatur county, in this state. Mr. Smith is the son of David B. and Malinda (Phillips) Smith, the former a native of New Jersey and of a line of prosperous and intelligent people. Mr. Smith moved to Pennsylvania when a young man, where he met and married Miss Phillips, a native of that state and several years after their marriage

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they set out and established a new home in Indiana. They made the journey west by way of the Allegany river and the Ohio river, as far as Cincinnati, from which city a large wagon drawn by six horses carried them to Rush county. In- Richland township of that county, they started life in almost a new country, and finally moved to Fugit township in Decatur county, where David Smith improved a substantial homestead. Later he retired to Rushville, where his wife died at the age of seventy-two. David B. Smith spent his last years with a daughter in Connersville, in Fayette county, where his death occurred at the very advanced age of eighty-nine years. He and his wife were active members and workers in the Methodist Episcopal church, with which denomination many years of their lives had been spent. He was also a strong abolitionist, and before the war his home was a station on the underground railway, and many a time he assisted the escape of a negro fleeing from the south for the Canadian boundary. After the war he was a Republican.

Jason B. Smith is a veteran of the Civil War on the Union side, having enlisted when a boy in Company B of the One IIundred and Twenty-third Indiana Regiment. Ilis services continued until the close of hostilities, and though unwounded he met with much exposure and hardships of army life.

Jason B. Smith is one of three living children. A sister, Emma, is the wife of John Carpenter, and lives in Rushville, having two sons, Clarence and Jesse. A brother, Frank, is unmarried, and is following the trade of carpenter and builder at his home in Rushville.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith have no children by their marriage, nor was she the mother of any children by her marriage to Mr. Lewis. They are both active in the Christian church of Fairmount City, and in politics he is a Republican.

Mrs. Smith is the daughter of John Wright, who was married in Fairfield township of Franklin county, Indiana, February 14, 1861, to Celia Glidwell. Her mother was born in Franklin county, November 10, 1832, and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Smith, September 29, 1912. The Glidwells were a well known southern family, and they still hold an annual reunion, Mrs. Smith being secretary of the family association.

Leander Lewis, the first husband of Mrs. Smith, was born in Barthol- omew county, Indiana, May 30, 1859, and died at Anderson, June 2, 1906, at the age of fifty-three years. He was a son of Armistead and Elizabeth (Carter) Lewis, the former a native of North Carolina, and a son of Michael Lewis. Michael Lewis lost his first wife in North Caro- lina, and later married again and came north about the middle of the decade of the thirties to Bartholomew county, settling at Old St. Louis, when the county was in its pioneer state of development. There Michael Lewis lived and died, attaining the age of almost four score. He was four times married after coming to Indiana, and had children by all his five wives. Armistead was the only child who lived in the immediate family of his father and mother, and grew up in Bartholomew county, where his father had accumulated a large property as a farmer and business man. Armistead Lewis became the owner of two hundred and forty acres of land in Bartholomew county, having made it almost entirely by his own labor and having cleared and placed it in cultivation from an area of stumps and woods. He also owned and operated a saw mill. He is now living retired at Columbus, Indiana, and was eighty years of age on January 13, 1913. His first wife, Elizabeth Carter, died at Hope, Indiana, at the age of seventy-three. She was an old-school Baptist in religion, while Armistead Lewis has long been prominent in

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the Methodist church, having helped to build one of the early churches of that denomination at St. Louis in Bartholomew county.

Leander Lewis, who was the oldest of three children, grew up in his native county, had a substantial education and during his early years followed his career as a farmer and sawmill man, working with his father. He was married in Brookville, Franklin county, Indiana, to Miss Rachael Wright, who was born and reared there, and was well educated, having served at different times as a supply teacher.

Rachael Wright, who is now Mrs. J. B. Smith, as already stated, was a daughter of John Wright, and a granddaughter of William Wright, both of whom were born in Lancastershire, near Manchester, England. William Wright, her grandfather, was born February, 6, 1786. He married Elizabeth Bartsley, both being of old English families. In 1820 the family took passage for America, in a sailing vessel that was seventy-five days on the high seas. After landing they came up the Hudson River, and by the Erie Canal and through the great lakes, finally reaching Dayton, Ohio. Mr. William Wright followed the trade of hatter, in England and worked at the same line in Dayton. On coming to that city he had six hundred dollars in cash. With much faith in his fellowmen, owing to his own scrupulous integrity, he loaned all that money to a man without taking a note and lost it all. Although thus deprived of his capital he set about undiscouraged and soon earned two hundred dollars at his trade. In 1825, he moved to Franklin county, Indiana, and entered one hundred and sixty acres of land, and was one of the pioneers in that section. Later his holdings were increased by another one hundred and sixty acres, and eventually a large and commodious brick house was erected on his land, the brick having been made from clay dug and burned on his own farm, It was in that home that he died April 12, 1854, and his wife passed away there August 25, 1863. They were Church of England people for many years, but owing to the absence of a church of that denomination in their community they worshipped for convenience in the Presbyterian society. Their bodies now rest side by side in the Brookville cemetery. They had three sons and five daughters, all of whom grew up and married and had families except one. These children were: James, born in England, October 18, 1810, and lived in Fairfield township of Franklin county, and married Agnes Templeton, having one son, William. Ann married Dr. George Berry, a prominent physician, and for more than half a century lived in one home in Brookville, Ind., leaving three children. The next child in order was John Wright, father of Mrs. Smith. The fourth was Elizabeth, who married William Butler, and she died, aged 55. Hannah, born in Ohio June 1, 1821, married William Butler, her sister's former husband. Sarah, was born in Ohio, November 9, 1823, and died after her marriage to Andrew Shirk, and had eight children. Mary was born in Indiana, March 12, 1836, and married Elbert Shirk, and left three living children. William, Jr., was born in Indiana, July 21, 1828, and married Permelia Wynn, and they died in Bartholomew county, leaving three children.

John Wright, the father of Mrs. Smith, was born August 15, 1815, and died January 11, 1875.

Mr. and Mrs. Jason B. Smith own and reside on "The Clover Crest'' farm, a fine country estate of 225 acres, lying one mile southwest of Fowlerton in Fairmount township. Mrs. Smith moved to this farm in 1884, with her parents, and with the exception of seven years, which she lived in Fairmount, had resided here ever since. She worked very hard on this place and helped to clear it. They do general farming and have a fine silo with 100 ton capacity which they erected in 1911.

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HIRAM A. JONES. One of the fine old pioneer citizens of Grant county was the late Hiram A. Jones, who died at his home in Section 24 of Fairmount township on March 31, 1908. He was born on the old Jones farm in the same township, on October 17, 1843. The date of his birth indicates the early settlement of the family in this county. Mr. Jones was long a successful farmer, held a high position in the esteem of his community, and besides providing liberally for his immediate household was always helpful and liberal in his relations to the general welfare and advancement of the locality.

The founder of the family in Grant county was Grandfather Ellis Jones, who was born in Ohio, and it is believed that he came to this county with his family from Ohio, and after arriving did the pioneer work of establishing a home, and lived to a good old age in Jefferson township. The parents of the late H. A. Jones were Joseph and Catherine (McCormick) Jones. They were probably married in Ohio, and then moved to Grant county and settled on a farm in Fairmount township. There they continued their useful career until death. Joseph Jones was born April 15, 1811, and died September 15, 1856. His wife was born January 4, 1816, and died December 4, 1889. They were people of the highest character, and were active members of the Methodist church. The Methodist religion was characteristic of all generations of the family, while in politics the male representatives first supported the Whig ticket and later the Republican cause. In the family of Joseph and Catherine Jones, Hiram A. was the second among five sons. They were George; Burton, who lived in Marion, and was first married to Jane Duling, by whom he had one daughter Minnie A., and afterwards married a sister of his first wife, Sina Duling, and their children are Edith and Ralph. Robert L. Jones was a former sheriff of 'Grant county, and was killed by a prisoner, while performing his duties. He married Louisa Gadden, who lived in Marion and has two sons, Clinton and Paul. The youngest son was Joseph A., who died after his marriage to Malinda Whitson, a sister of R. L. Whitson, editor of this Grant County History.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 9

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

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