Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 98

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

USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial History of Grant County Indiana > Part 98

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).

David W. Leisure lived in Rush county until he was twelve years of age having gone there with his father just before the death of his mother who died in Rush county. He then came to Grant county, Indiana. Here he attended school, receiving a good common school education. He remained with his father on the farm until he was twenty-three years of age when he began farming for himself. With the exception of the

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time which has been required for the performance of his duties in public offices he has devoted himself ever since to farming. He now owns eighty acres of land, this being located a mile west and a half mile north of Swayzee, Indiana. Mr. Leisure also owns stock in the Sims Telephone Company.

A stanch Democrat in politics Mr. Leisure has served his party well. He is at present a member of the Township Advisory Board and for four years he served as deputy assessor of Sims township. His father served as trustee of Sims township for twelve years. Mr. Leisure has taken an active and prominent part in the affairs of the various fraternal societies of which he is a member. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is a Past Noble Grand in the order and has been a member of the grand lodge three times. He is also a member of the Red Men and has been in their grand lodge twice. In the first mentioned fraternity he belongs to Swayzee Lodge No. 625.

On the 28th of March, 1878, Mr. Leisure was married to Miss Mary E. Maple, of Sims township, this township being her birthplace and the scene of her childhood and girlhood. It was directly after his marriage that Mr. Leisure settled on the farm where he has lived ever since. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Leisure: Eva L., after being graduated from the public schools, taught four terms of school and then married Charles E. Knote of Wayne county, Indiana; they have two children, Horace L. and Harold Thayer; Ross W., a graduate of the grammar school of the township, married Ora L. Curless and lives in Wabash county, Indiana; they have two children, Edgar C. and Marine Delight; Clyde B., after being graduated from the common schools and from the Swayzee high school, attended the University of Indiana for one term and then taught eight terms of school. He is married to Verna Sheek and lives in Green township, Grant county. Mrs. Leisure is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Sims, Indiana.

JAMES SHANAHAN. Those who know nothing of the matter think that anyone with average ability can make a good farmer, but to be a successful farmer requires the patience of the scientist, the perseverance of the lawyer, the care of the doctor, and the wisdom of all three com- bined with the energy of the business man. Such a man is James Shan- ahan of Sims township, Grant county, Indiana, one of that county's successful farmers. Of Irish ancestry, Mr. Shanahan has laughed at ill fortune and has steadily made his way upward, improving and mak- ing more profitable the old farm where he has spent most of his life and where his father lived before him.

James Shanahan was born in Wabash county, Indiana, in Lagro township, on the 3rd of September, 1845, the son of Michael and Lydia (Ozenbaugh) Shanahan. The former was born in Ireland and came to the United States in 1828 or 1829. He had a hand in building the canals that meant so much to this section of the country in the early days. He was a foreman on the Wabash and Erie Canal that went through Wabash county, Indiana. It was during the construction of this canal that he married Lydia Ozenbaugh, who was born near Lan- caster, Pennsylvania, and after the canal was finished the young couple came to Lagro township, Wabash county, and there Mr. Shanahan entered forty acres of land, entirely covered with timber. He cleared this land and after a few years had it under cultivation. It was in 1840 that they settled on this place and they lived here until 1858 when Mr. Shanahan traded the farm for eighty acres in Sims township, Grant county, the farm where his son, James Shanahan, now lives. Here he lived until 1885 when he died, his widow surviving him five years, her

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death occurring in 1890. Twelve children were born to Michael Shana- han and his wife, five of whom are now living, as follows: Mary, who is the widow of William Clover; James; Catharine, who is Mrs. Frier- mood, of Wabash county; Elizabeth, who married Allen Pence, of Sims township; William, who lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. Two of the sons, John and Nicholas, gave their lives for their country during the Civil war. John was a member of the Twelfth Indiana Infantry and he died in Winchester, Virginia. Nicholas was in the One Hundred and First Indiana Infantry. He was taken prisoner at Chickamauga and was in Libby prison at Richmond as well as other Southern prisons. He was drowned in the Mississippi river.

James Shanahan was reared in Wabash and Grant counties, being thirteen years old when his parents came to Grant county. He had attended school for a time in Wabash county and now he went to the little log school house in the newer county where he learned to read and write and mastered the rudiments of arithmetic. This completed his education but he has always been a student of life as well as books and is a well read and well informed man. He began to farm or rather to aid his father on his farm as soon as he was able to handle a hoe and he has been a farmer all of his life. He lives on the farm once owned by his father, this being located two miles north and a quarter of a mile east of Swayzee, Indiana. His only business interest outside of his farm is as a stockholder in the Swayzee Telephone Company.

In politics Mr. Shanahan is a member of the Democratic party and has been an active member of his party. He has served as supervisor of Sims township. Mr. Shanahan was married to Miss Nancy Buroker, on the 26th of January, 1866. Mrs. Shanahan was born in Champaign county, Ohio, on the 5th of September, 1844, and came to Grant county in 1846 with her parents, Josiah and Catharine Buroker. Here she received her education and here she was married. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Shanahan, four of whom are now living. Of these, Dr. A. A. Shanahan, the eldest, after studying in the schools of Valparaiso, Indiana, attended the College of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana, from which he was graduated. He is now a practicing physi- cian in Marion, Indiana. Jeanette is a graduate of the common schools and is the wife of Selby Mullen of Swayzee, Indiana. S. S. Shanahan after completing his education in the public schools married Hettie Friermood and lives on the home farm. Chlora is the wife of William S. Glessner, of Sims township. Noah, the eldest child, died, aged five years, two months and ten days.

WILLIAM S. GLESSNER. Among the successful farmers of Grant county, Indiana, is William S. Glessner, who comes from a long line of farming stock, and has also behind him the strength and hardihood of a German lineage. He is the owner now of a fine farm in Sims town- ship and he is of that class of farmers who realize how much the life of the farm is to be preferred to that of the city, for he is a man of education and breadth of thought.

William S. Glessner was born on section 33, in Franklin township, on the 17th of September, 1866, the son of Benjamin F. and Alcy Ann (Lloyd) Glessner. His grandfather, Moses Glessner, was a native of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, where he was born on August 14, 1809. Both of the parents of Moses Glessner were of German lineage, and he grew up in his native state. Later in life he came to Preble county, Ohio, where he located and lived until he emigrated to Indiana, and in 1858 he removed to Grant county, Indiana. Here he lived until he met his fate by being burned to death in his own home. Moses Gless- Vof. 11-42

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ner married Nancy Shoemaker, and their son, Benjamin F., was born in Randolph county, Indiana, on the 7th of June, 1842. He was but a boy when his parents came to Grant county, and when he grew to manhood he located on a farm in Franklin township: Save for one year he has lived on the farm in Franklin township where he now resides. He paid six dollars an acre for this land and it is now valued at two hundred dollars an acre. He has always been interested in securing public improvements and in every movement that would benefit the general public. He married Alcy Ann Lloyd on October 12, 1865, and three sons have been born to them, two of whom are living, William S., Charles A. and Herman. Charles A. Glessner married Nora Spangler and is a farmer in the state of Michigan. Herman having been graduated from the common schools of Franklin township entered Marion Normal College, from which he was graduated with the degree of B. S. in the class of 1898. He taught two terms of school and for One term was the assistant principal of the high school at Roseberg. He died July 1, 1899.

William S. Glessner was reared on the old farm in Franklin town- ship, and when he was of an age to go to school he entered the district school. After being graduated from the public schools he entered Marion Normal College where he spent two years. After finishing his education .he became a teacher in the public schools, and for ten years he followed this occupation, in the summer when there was no school, finding employment at farming or in working at the carpenter's trade. At the end of his years as a teacher he went to farming and has con- tinued as a farmer since that time. His farm which is called Elmhurst Farm is situated on section 24 of Sims township, a mile east, a half mile north of Swayzee and three quarters of a mile west of Herbst, on a gravel road.

In politics Mr. Glessner is a member of the Democratic party, but he has never taken a very active part in the political game. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to Swayzee Lodge, and he and his wife are both members of Harmony Lodge No. 400, of the Order of Rebekah.

Mr. Glessner was married on the 7th of September, 1898, to Miss Chlora C. Shanahan, a native of Sims township. She attended school in her native township and is a graduate of the public school here, of the class of 1898. Two sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Glessner. J. Herman was born on July 16, 1899, and in 1913 he was graduated from the grammar school in Swayzee. George Raymond, who was born · on the 22nd of February, 1904, is now attending the public school in Swayzee.

BENJAMIN F. BRYANT. On the line between Sims and Green town- ship, on section thirty-four of the former township is the farm and home- stead of Benjamin F. Bryant, a substantial farmer citizen, who has spent nearly all his life in Grant county, and whose career has been one of substantial prosperity and with his share of civic influence.

Benjamin F. Bryant was born in Blue River township of Henry county, Indiana, April 3, 1859, a son of Edmond and Esther (Downing) Bryant, both parents being from North Carolina, and now residents in Swayzee. They were the parents of twelve children, nine of whom are living in 1913, namely : Ellen, wife of William C. Koons; Benjamin F .; Sadie, wife of John B. Koons; Joseph F. of Howard county; Louis of Miami county ; Charles O., of Sims township; Maggie, wife of Eck. Allen of Kokomo; Anna, wife of William Ammons of Swayzee.

Mr. Benjamin F. Bryant was seven years old when the family came

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MR. AND MRS. ARTHUR E. CURLESS

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to Grant county, and as a boy he attended the district schools, and con- tinued his education and training at home until he was eighteen. From that time until he was twenty-one he gave all his time to the work of the farm, and when he started out on his own account he had little or no capital. On March 11, 1885, he married Miss Laura E. Shaw, who was born in Henry county, Indiana. They are the parents of three children : Earl, a graduate of the common schools and now living at home; Ralph, a graduate of the local schools and engaged in farming; and Ada, wife of Rev. Robert Wearly of Swayzee, pastor of the Christian Church. The family are members of the Christian church, in Green township, and Mr. Bryant is a deacon in the church and until recently was superintendent of the Sunday school, a position which he had filled for twelve years. In politics he is a Prohibitionist, and has always been a worker to promote religion and morality and temperance in his community. The Bryant homestead is located two miles south and three quarters of a mile west of Swayzee, and is one of the centers from which emanate wholesome influences for the betterment of the social and moral life of the county. .

ARTHUR E. CURLESS. To the community of Swayzee and vicinity Arthur E. Curless has many important and varied relationships. To begin with, Mr. Curless is one of the men who located in what was then the new and scarcely developed section of western Grant county, soon after the war, and by his own thrift and industry improved and made himself the possessor of a large body of fine farming land. He is essen- tially a farmer, and from the soil has gained the nucleus of his substan- tial prosperity. In later years, Mr. Curless has undertaken various enterprises more closely affecting the general welfare of Sims township. He was one of the founders of the town of Swayzee, established the first bank in that village, was active promoter of the first improved roads through the township, and his name has been connected in one way or other with practically every movement for improvement and betterment in this part of the county.

Mr. Curless now has his comfortable home in section twenty-seven of Sims township, where he enjoys the fruits of a well spent career. He was born in Brown county, Ohio, January 17, 1846, a son of Byard and Eliza A. (Hall) Curless. The father was born in New Jersey, a son of Asher Curless, who came from Scotland to the United States, first locating in New Jersey, which remained his home the balance of his life. Byard Curless was reared in New Jersey, and later moved out to Brown county. Ohio, where he married. He was a poor man at the beginning of his career, but prospered, and later in life moved to Grant county, where his death occurred. His wife also passed away in this county. They were members of the Methodist Protestant church. Of their eleven children two are still living, one being Arthur E. and the other Eliza, wife of John T. Fryermood, of Wabash county. The sons, Morris L. and Samuel B., were both Union soldiers during the Civil war.

Arthur E. Curless was reared on the home farm in Brown county, where he attended district school during three months of each year. He is one of the men who can look back to the old log school house days, and recalls the time when a school house was of the rudest type of con- struction and furnished with rough hewn benches and with a puncheon floor. In 1863, he first came to Grant county, and during the winter of 1863-64 taught a term of school in Sims township. After that he returned to Ohio to the old farm, remaining with his parents until his marriage. His marriage occurred July 13, 1865, when Miss Ada E. Hite became his wife. She was born in Brown county, Ohio, December 3, 1846, a daughter of Noah and Elizabeth (Boyce) Hite. Her father was born

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in Virginia, and her mother in Maryland, and they came separately to Brown county, Ohio. Noah Hite's father was in the war of 1812. Mrs. Curless received her education in the common schools of Ohio.

Mr. and Mrs. Curless began their married career without capital, and with their youthful energy as the chief insurance against the future. On January 1, 1870, they came to Grant county and located in Sims township, where Mr. Curless bought eighty acres of raw land. He and his wife went to work with a will to improve and to make this place pro- ductive, and in a few years, they were well on the high road to substan- tial prosperity. As their resources have increased, Mr. Curless has added more land, and now owns two hundred and eighty acres of the Sims township soil, all of which is well drained, has the best of improvements in the way of fences and buildings, and each season's crops represent a very desirable income. Mr. and Mrs. Curless have no children. They are both active members of the Methodist church in Sims township, and fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both have membership in the Lodge of the Rebekahs. He is a past noble grand, and a member of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellowship in Indiana. Politically he is Republican, and at different times has done active work for the support of his ticket in this county.

Mr. Curless with Morris L. Curless, Willis Zirkle and James Mark laid out and named the town of Swayzee in Sims township. They made a contract with what is now the Toledo, St. Louis & Western R. R., then a narrow-gauge line, according to which the local parties were to donate the land, build a depot, grade and put ties on for a switch, and after this contract was fulfilled the railroad established it as one of its stations and thus gave birth to the town, which is now one of the flourishing smaller centers of Grant county.

In 1901 Mr. Curless established at Swayzee a private bank known as the Curless bank. He was the sole proprietor of the institution, and so conducted it until August, 1907, when it was a constituent factor in the organization of the First National Bank of Swayzee, an institution which is elsewhere mentioned in this history. Mr. Curless took a large amount of the stock of the new bank, but has since disposed of it. He was elected first president of the First National Bank.

Mr. Curless has the distinction of having been associated with the company of men who drilled the first gas well in Sims township and was president of the local Gas Company for thirteen years, the company having put in a plant at Swayzee. Mr. Curless has always been pro- gressive in all matters affecting the improvement of his community, and was the petitioner for the first gravel road ever constructed in Sims township. That road commenced at the Roseburg range line, and ex- tended through Sims township to Howard county, and was called the Curless extension. He also petitioned for another road from Swayzee to Miertown, and an extension from the southeast corner of section twenty- seven to Point Isabel. These were the first modern high-roads ever built in Sims township.

HENRY T. MUNEA. A successful merchant at Swayzee, Mr. Munea has been identified with this community for about thirty years, and with the aid of his loyal wife has founded a substantial home and pros- perity, and is one of the most influential men in Sims township.

Henry T. Munea is a native of Clinton county, Indiana, where he was born March 14, 1855, a son of Michael and Phoebe (Thorp) Munea. His father was of French birth, born near the city of Paris, March 10, 1827, and came with his parents to America, their settlement in Clinton county, Indiana, occurring about 1833, the pioneer year. The father was reared at the old home at Rossville, later moved to Carroll county,

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and from there to Tippecanoe county, and in 1885 moved to Swayzee, where he spent the last years of his life and died May 22, 1905. He was the father of nine children, three of whom are now living. Joseph D. is a merchant at Buck Creek, Indiana, and Edward T. is a grocer at Miamisburg, Ohio.

Henry T. Munea was reared on the home farm in Clinton and Carroll counties, and received his education by attendance at the district schools. From the time he was eighteen until he was twenty-seven he remained at home working a farm, and then was married and established a home of his own. His first wife was Martha J. Lewis, who died three years after their marriage. On January 31, 1884, he married Miss Margaret Eyler, who was born in Maryland, October 19, 1855, and was twelve years old when her family moved to Indiana, where she was educated in the common schools. Mr. and Mrs. Munea have one living daughter, Oral, who is a graduate of the Swayzee high school and is the wife of J. O. Connor, of Indianapolis. Mr. and Mrs. Munea are members of the Methodist church, of which he is one of the trustees and also treasurer of the aid society and assistant treasurer of the church.

They are well known in fraternal circles at Swayzee, Mr. Munea having membership in the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and the Modern Woodmen of America. Both have membership in the Rebekahs. Mrs. Munea and her daughter, Oral, are active in the Order of the Eastern Star, in which they have passed all the chairs. In politics Mr. Munea is a Democrat.

Mr. Munea began business in Swayzee on a small scale, and by close attention to business and a study of the wants of his patronage has developed an establishment which is a credit to the town. Besides this business he is one of the directors of the First National Bank of Swayzee. He is also a stockholder in the Grant County Trust Company of Marion. They have a delightful home in Swayzee, and are among the best people socially of that little town.

CHARLES S. LOY. A member of the Grant county bar for the past ten years, Mr. Loy, while not an old resident of the county, has identi- fied himself closely with the activities of this locality, and is one of the most progressive and influential citizens of Swayzee, which has been his home and place of practice since coming to Grant county.

Charles S. Loy was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, June 20, 1875, a son of Samuel and Jennetta (Foust) Loy. The father died at Orient, South Dakota, May 19, 1913, and the mother still lives there. The oldest of the family, Charles S. Loy, spent his boyhood days in Pennsylvania, in Kansas, and afterwards in South Dakota, and received his early education in the common and high schools of these different localities. He was the first white child to appear in Faulk county, South Dakota, where the family took up their homestead during the pioneer times. Later he attended the University of South Dakota at Vermilion, South Dakota, and from there came to Indiana, and entered the North- ern Indiana Law School at Valparaiso, where, after a full course, he was graduated with the degree of LL. B. on May 21, 1899, and admitted to the bar at the same time. He then moved to Chicago, where he was in the employ of the Deering Harvester Company, a concern which a year or so later became merged in the International Harvester Company. He continued with that great corporation until 1903, and then moved to Swayzee, where he began the practice of law, and has since done very well. He is a member of the Grant County Bar Association, and has been admitted to all of the courts of the state, and to the circuit courts of the United States District Court in Indiana.

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Mr. Loy was married April 12, 1902, in the city of Minneapolis to Miss Vera Grove, a native of Clinton county, Indiana, and a graduate of the Valparaiso schools. She taught school previous to her marriage in Clinton county, Indiana. They have one son, Gean, born September 5, 1903. Mr. Loy is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of which he is a past chancellor. In politics he is a Republican, and both as a lawyer and citizen is a young man of much public spirit who readily co-operates in such movements and enterprises as tend to advance the general welfare of the county -

EMANUEL R. NICCUM. For a number of years known to the citizen- ship of Swayzee and western Grant county as a miller, Mr. Niccum is the second generation of his family to follow in the same line of indus- try, and has known no other trade since he entered his father's mill as a boy. He is a highly respected citizen of Swayzee, and was appointed postmaster May 20, 1913.

Mr. Niceum was born in Wabash county, Indiana, October 5, 1870, a son of Elias and Ellen (Brownsfield) Niccum. His father was born in Darke county, Ohio, and his mother in Pennsylvania, from which localities each came separately to Wabash county, where they were married. The father for a number of years conducted the Pearson Flouring Mills at Vernon, and was in charge of those mills during the Civil war period. At the present time he is a resident of Amboy in Miami county, where he is well known as a miller. He was the father of six children, three of whom are now living. Oren M. Niccum is with the Grant County Lumber Company at Swayzee, and Julia E. is the wife of F. E. Hagen, of Wyoming.

Emanuel R. Niccum was reared in Wabash and Miami counties, and from the common schools attended the Amboy Academy, an institution from which many of the successful men in this part of the state have been graduated. He remained a student there until he was about sev- enteen years old, and then went into the mill, managed by his father. under whose supervision he acquired the intricate art of milling. For eight years he was head miller at Greentown, Indiana, and then came to Swayzee, where for eight years he was in the employ of the local milling concern, until it was sold in March, 1912.

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 98

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

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