USA > Indiana > Rush County > Centennial history of Rush County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 53
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HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
commercial life of his home town, and for years was treasurer of the Park Furniture Company, an interest which he also disposed of in 1918. He was one of the organizers of the Peoples Gas Company at Rushville, and for the past fifteen years has been treasurer of the same ; he was also one of the organizers of the Peoples Loan and Trust Company of Rushville, and is a member of the board of di- rectors of the Peoples National Bank. Mr. Innis is a Republican and he and his family are members of the United Presbyterian church, in which he long has been an elder. In 1886 Robert A. Innis was united in marriage to Jennie Archer, daughter of Will- iam and Orma (Potter) Archer, then of Vevay, Ind., and to this union two children have been born, Orma, who married Chester Smith, of Monmouth, Ill., and has three children, Robert Innis, Fletcher, and Chester James; and Ruth, wife of Russell Kirkpatrick.
ELI E. MARTIN, an enterprising business man and farmer of Washington township, this county, belongs to a prominent family of this section and is a native of Washington township. He is a son of Benjamin Franklin and Cora E. (Elwell) Martin, who now live retired at Raleigh, the former of whom was born in Wayne county and the latter in Rush county. His paternal grandfather, who died in 1885, was a veteran of the Civil war in which he held rank as lieutenant. Eli E. Martin has one brother, Benjamin F., and had one sister, Myra G., now deceased. He was educated in the public schools of Raleigh and for a time was a student in the department of civil engi- neering, Purdue University. His father having extensive agricultural interests in Washington township, Mr. Martin has been closely identi- fied with the same since returning from the university and at present oversees 366 acres. He is progressive in his ideas and makes use of modern methods and machinery in carrying them to success. On December 24, 1913, Eli E. Martin married Mary, daughter of Samuel J. and Anna M. Finney, and they have two children, Martha P. and Mary Catherine. Mr. Martin is a thirty-second degree Mason and belongs also to the Elks and Knights of Pythias.
SHERMAN ONEAL, dealer in farm implements at Rushville, a member of the firm of Oneal Bros., and one of the well known busi- ness men of that city, is a native son of Rush county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in Washington township, son of James and Enfield (Stewart) Oneal, who were the parents of five sons, those besides the subject of this sketch being Jesse, William S., Lieu and Bert. James Oneal was born at Frederickstown, West Vir- ginia, and was but a child when his parents, Robert and Martha Oneal, came to Indiana with their family and settled in Noble town- ship, this county where they established their home on a farm. On that farm James Oneal grew to manhood and after his marriage estab- lished his home in the same township, where he reared his family. Reared on the farm, Sherman Oneal received his schooling in the schools of his home neighborhood. He early decided on a business career as better suited to his inclinations than that of farming and
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in pursuit of this inclination entered into the farm implement busi- ness at Rushville in association with his brother, Lieu Oneal, the brothers doing business under the firm style of Oneal Bros. They have an excellent stock of goods in their line and are doing well in business. Sherman Oneal married Mollie Browne, also of this county, and to this union two children have been born, Lea and Mrs. Mildred Beaver. Mr. Oneal is a Democrat and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local political affairs. He also has taken an interested part in local fraternal society affairs and is a member of the Rush- ville lodges of the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Red Men and the Woodmen.
JOSEPH M. FARLOW, a retired farmer and one of the repre- sentative men of Anderson township, this county, a farmer all his active life and a citizen concerned all his days in promoting the best interests of his neighborhood, was born in Orange township, this county, July 22, 1841, a son of Hiram and Elizabeth (Townsend) Farlow. His father was born in North Carolina and in youth accom- panied his parents as pioneers to Indiana, where his father, George Farlow, entered eighty acres of land in Orange township, Rush county. George Farlow built a log cabin and as Hiram grew older he assisted his father to clear the land. Hiram Farlow was married in Orange township to Elizabeth Townsend, who was born in Dela- ware, and eleven children were born to them, three of these surviving: Joseph M .; Reuben, who lives also in Anderson township; and Amilda, who became the wife of Donald Seeright. Hiram Farlow had few educational advantages but he was a man of energy and sound judg- ment. To his first purchase of land he added until he owned 240 acres and both he and his son Joseph M. cleared many wild tracts of land. The Farlows were among the earliest substantial settlers in Orange township. Joseph M. Farlow had early school privileges in Orange township and assisted his father on the home farm until his own marriage, when he began farming for himself, for the first year and a half renting land in Anderson township. He then moved back to Orange township, where he rented land for ten years, at the end of which time he bought 124 acres in Anderson township, in the course of years adding to his holdings until he owned 264 acres. He has, however, sold all but his original homestead, which he continued to operate until 1912, when he retired. He has a beautiful property which he has finely improved, having erected all the substantial structures on the place. He carried on diversified farming and it was his policy to feed his corn to hogs, usually from seventy-five to 100 head a year. The wife of Mr. Farlow died on March 13, 1918. Of their six children the following are living: Maude, who married Leroy Lines and has two children, June and Joseph; Sallie, who married Roy Carr, of Homer, and had two children, Lena and Don, the latter of whom died at the Great Lakes Naval Station; Ruby, who Edna, who married Clifford Powers and has one child, Jean. Mertie who married Mary Powers and has two children, Enid and Lois; and
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Edna, who married Clifford Powers and has one child, Jean. Mertie Farlow served as a captain in the Medical corps of the army during the World war and is still in the service, now attending Walter Reid Medical college at Washington. Mr. Farlow is one of the older mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church at Milroy and has served on its official board. In political life he is a Democrat. He has always taken an interest in educational matters and for a long time served as school director in his home district.
SHELTON M. BARNES, one of the enterprising farmers and public-spirited citizens of Richland township, and whose family were among the pioneer settlers of Rush county, is a native son of Rush county, having been born in Noble township on November 22, 1848. He is the son of Edward and Mary Ann (Stockwell) Barnes, both of whom were born and reared in Kentucky. In October, 1831, they came to Rush county and their marriage occurred here shortly after- wards. They located in Noble township, where he acquired a farm, but he later sold that and bought another farm of 160 acres, this being the place now owned by the subject of this sketch, and there he resided until his death, which occurred on Angust 30, 1887. His wife had died on April 13, 1870. Edward Barnes started in life as a poor boy, and got his start by day's work and the most rigid economy and good management. It is said that he split rails for the magnificent remu- neration of 121/2 cents a hundred. To him and his wife were born ten children, of which number only four are now living, Allen, Shelton, Eliza and Gertrude. The subject of this sketch received his educa- tional training in the Richiland township schools, after which he took up farming with his father, with whom he remained until the latter's death. He then engaged in farming on his own account and is now the owner of seventy acres of excellent and well improved land. He gives some attention to the raising of live stock. However, during the past two years Mr. Barnes has rented his land and is not now so closely connected with the working of the farm as formerly. Mr. Barnes is an earnest supporter of the Republican party and takes a keen and intelligent interest in all public affairs, especially as per- taining to his home community. His religious affiliation is with the Christian church. He has been a witness of the wonderful transforma- tion which has taken place here during his life time of three score years and ten, always lending such aid as he could toward pushing forward the car of progress.
JOHN W. LINDALE, SR., a well-known and substantial retired farmer of Noble township now living at Glenwood, and one of the few nonagenarians in Rush county, is a native of the state of Delaware but has been a resident of Indiana for nearly seventy years and has thus long accounted himself a Hoosier, "through and through." He was born in Kent county, Delaware, April 22, 1831, son of James M. and Eliza (Warren) Lindale, both of whom also were born in that state and who spent all their lives there. James M. Lindale was a farmer and his son John W. was thus reared on a farm. His school-
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ing was much restricted by the meager school facilities of that time and place and was confined to attendance on a few short terms of winter school during his boyhood. As a young man he worked at farm labor for twenty-five cents a day and he continued farming in Delaware until he was twenty-three years of age when, in 1854, he came to Indiana with a view to improving his condition in the then rapidly developing industrial field hereabout. Upon coming to this state Mr. Lindale first located at Fayetteville, now known as Orange, in Fayette county, but the next year, 1855, came over into Rush county and presently rented a farm in Noble township and began farming on his own account. He occupied that farm as a tenant farmer for twenty years and then, about 1880, bought the place of 170 acres and continued to farm the same until about 1894, when he rented the farm to his elder son, James M. Lindale, and retired from the active operations of farm life, though he continued to make his home on the farm until he moved in 1913 to Glenwood, where he since has been living. Mr. Lindale has been a member of the Methodist church for a half century or more and has during most of that period been an office bearer in the church. By political affiliation he is a Republican and has ever taken a warm interest in civic affairs, though never entertaining aspirations to hold political office. On November 22, 1854, at Philadelphia, on his way west, John W. Lin- dale, Sr., was united in marriage to Maria Striker, daughter of Dan- iel and Katherine Striker, and to that union were born six children, of whom three, Thomas, Edward and Elizabeth, died in infancy and Susan, James and John survive. Susan Lindale married Avery Putnam and has two children, Ruth and Roy, the first named of whom married Everett Smock and has one child, a daughter, Eliza- beth. James M. Lindale who died on January 22, 1915, married Lydia Ann Mack and had four children, Myrtle, Clarence, Myra and James, the latter of whom married Gladys Defibaugh. James Lindale served as a soldier during the time of America's participation in the World war and participated in the historic engagements at St. Mihiel, Verdun, the Argonne Forest and Chateau Thierry, suffering severe shell shock. Myrtle Lindale married the Rev. Eugene Lewis and has five children, Marion, Anna, Lindale, McGarvey and Vir- ginia. The second daughter, Myra, is the widow of the late Harry Scott. John Lindale, who recently bought the old home place, married Eva Holmes.
RUSSELL RUFF, a progressive young farmer of Union town- ship, was born in the house in which he is now living in that township on July 30, 1897, son of Earl and Elsie (Shortridge) Ruff, both of whom were born in the neighboring county of Fayette and who are now living retired at Glenwood. Earl Ruff, who as noted above was born in Fayette county, was bereft of his parents by death when he was but a small boy and he was reared by his grandmother in Union township, this county, where he grew to manhood, receiving his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood. He grew up to the
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farm and after his marriage became engaged in farming on his own account, starting as a renter on the farm of 275 acres on which his son Russell is now living and continued farming there until 1900 when he moved over into Fayette county and was there engaged in farming until 1908, in which year he came into his inheritance in the family estate and returned to his place in this county, the farm now operated by his son, where he remained until 1913 when he retired from the farm and moved to Glenwood, where he and his wife are now living. They have two children, the subject of this sketch and his sister, Edna. Russell Ruff was reared on the farm on which he was born and received his schooling in the schools at Fairview and Glen- wood. From the days of his boyhood he was interested with his father in the operations of the home farm and after his marriage in the spring of 1917 rented the home place from his father and established his home there, continuing his farming operations along up-to-date lines. In addition to his general farming Mr. Ruff gives considerable attention to the raising of live stock and annually feeds out about 125 head of hogs. On April 25, 1917, Russell Ruff, then in his twen- tieth year, was united in marriage to Effie Matney, daughter of Lewis and Rhoda (Winchell) Matney. Mr. and Mrs. Ruff have a pleasant home in the Glenwood neighborhood and have ever taken an interested part in the community's social activities. They are members of the Christian church at Glenwood and Mr. Ruff is a member of the Orange lodge of Masons. He and his wife are Republicans.
FRANKLIN D. MILES, a thoroughly experienced farmer and well known citizen of Washington township, this county, was born in that township, May 16, 1863, a son of Richard S. and Phoebe (Parish) Miles. Richard S. Miles was born in Steuben county, New York, a son of Loren and Phoebe (Wass) Miles and in boyhood accompanied his parents to Indiana, the family first settling in Rush county and in 1837 moving to Blackford county. When twenty years old he returned to Rush county and worked for farmers until his marriage, when he bought 160 acres of land in Washington township to which he subse- quently added until he owned 211 acres. To his marriage with Phoebe Parish two children were born, William and Franklin Dell- bert. After the death of his first wife he married, in 1870, Jane Spencer, who was born in Fayette county, and they had five children : Phoebe, Ola, Charles, Richard and Eliza, the last named being deceased. Franklin Dellbert Miles obtained his education in Wash- ington township and ever since leaving school has engaged in farming for himself. He bought eighty acres in Washington township, the value of which he has greatly increased through careful tillage and a large amount of substantial improving. He makes a specialty of pure bred Jersey cattle, carries on a general agricultural line and has always been numbered with the capable farmers of the township. On April 25, 1887, Franklin D. Miles married Ada Hall, who was born in Rush county, and they have one son, Ralph H., who was born at Anderson, Ind., but was reared in Washington township. Ralph H.
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Miles attended the common school here and the high school at Rush- ville and afterward Purdue University. He married Lorene Smith, daughter of Dr. Frank Smith, of Rushville, and they have two chil- dren, Olive Marjorie and Richard Smith. Mr. Miles has always taken an intelligent interest in public affairs and in his political views is a Democrat. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity at Raleigh.
MRS. JOHN B. MCCARTY, of Rushville, was born in this county and has resided here all her life save a period during the days of her girlhood when her parents for some years made their home in Madison county. Her father, Peter Mauzy, was a native of the Blue Grass state, born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, who was but five years of age when his parents came up into Indiana and located on a farm in Union township, this county, where he grew to manhood and where he married Mary Jane Wilson. Some years after his marriage he moved with his family to Madison county, this state, where he pur- chased a farm and for sixteen years thereafter was engaged in farm- ing there. At the end of this time he returned to Rush county and bought a farm in Jackson township, which tract is still in the owner- ship of the family, being now jointly owned by Mrs. McCarty and her brother, Greeley Mauzy. Mrs. McCarty was but a babe when her parents moved from this county to Madison county and she received her early schooling in the schools of the latter county, completing the same in the schools of Jackson township, this county, upon the family's return here. At her home in Jackson township she was united in mar- riage to John B. McCarty, of Madison county, and for fifteen years after their marriage she and Mr. MeCarty continued to reside on the home place there. At the end of that time they retired from the farm and moved to Rushville, where Mr. McCarty spent his last days, his death occurring there on January 18, 1918. Since the death of her husband Mrs. McCarty has continued to make her home in Rushville and has a very pleasant home at 321 West Tenth street, where she and her children are quite comfortably situated. Mrs. McCarty has five children, Ida J., Greeley P., Ithemer M., Carl R. and Pearl S. Ida J. McCarty married R. Brooks, of Hancock county, and has three children. Pearl S. McCarty married Robert Kraig and has one child, Castle M. Bell, a son by a former marriage.
ALBERT McMICHAEL, who spent the greater part of a busy, useful life in Rush county, where he is well remembered for many estimable traits of character, was born at Manilla, Rush county, on May 25, 1849, and died on August 9, 1915. He was a son of John and Margaret McMichael, who removed with their children to Illinois during Albert's infancy. He obtained his schooling in that state and remained there until sixteen years old, then returned to Rush county, which section continued to be his home during the rest of his life. From boyhood he was industrious and never had any difficulty in securing farm work for his employers found him steady and reliable. Following his marriage he continued to work on farms and by the day for about ten years, then rented land and operated it and also
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worked through the county with a threshing outfit. Later he bought the farm of 100 acres on which his widow yet resides. On November 23, 1871, he married Emily Smith, daughter of James T. and Sarah A. (Scott) Smith, and three children were born to them, Frank, Edith and Ethel. all of whom now have family circles of their own. Frank McMichael married Nina Wertz, the only surviving child of Hiram and Louise (Posey) Wertz, her father born in Preble county, Ohio, and her mother born in Walker township, Rush county. Mrs. McMichael was born in Posey township, Rush county, and had two brothers, Hanson and Charles. Her father came to Rush county in 1870, bought 103 acres of land in Rushville township, operated it for some years and then sold, moving at that time to Rushville, where his death occurred on March 28, 1912. Her mother survives and resides in Jackson township. Edith MeMichael married George Lawson. Ethel McMichael married William Cameron, and they have the following children: Carl, Lillian, John, Weldon, Denzel, Lavon, Catherine and William. In politics Mr. McMichael was a Democrat, to which party organization his son Frank also belongs. The McMichael family has membership in the Methodist Protestant church at New Salem.
ERNEST B. THOMAS, secretary of the Peoples Loan and Trust Company of Rushville and former recorder of Rush county, is a native son of Rush county and has lived here all his life save for a brief period spent in the West, during the days of his young manhood. Mr. Thomas was born at Milroy on November 25, 1867, and is a son of the late Dr. Samuel C. and Emily (Clements) Thomas, the latter of whom was born in Franklin county, Indiana, daughter of Isaac and Nancy (Birt) Clements, natives of Maryland. Dr. Samuel C. Thomas, who was for many years engaged in the prac- tice of medicine at Milroy, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, March 5, 1832, first born of the eleven children born to John and Abigail (Carter) Thomas, the latter of whom was born in New Jer- sey in 1814, her parents afterward becoming residents of Darke county, Ohio. John Thomas was born in Bourbon county, Ken- tucky, in 1806, a son of Daniel Thomas, a member of one of the real pioneer families of the old Blue Grass state. John Thomas moved with his family from Hamilton county to Darke county (Ohio) and for more than twenty-five years served as a justice of the peace in and for his home township in the latter county. He died there in 1879, and his widow's last days were spent in Rush county, her death occurring at Milroy in 1887. Doctor Thomas's boyhood was spent at Carthage, Ohio, and he was eleven years of age when he went to live with the family of his Grand- father Carter in Darke county, where he remained until 1850, when, he then being eighteen years of age, he came over into Indi- ana and became engaged as a schoolteacher at Milroy. He con- tinued thus engaged for three years, in the meantime taking pre- paratory studies in medicine, and in 1853 entered old Asbury
E. B. THOMAS
SAMUEL C. THOMAS, M. D.
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(DePauw) University at Greencastle. After two years at the uni- versity he matriculated at the Eclectic College of Medicine, Cin- cinnati, and in 1858 was graduated from that institution. Thus qualified for the practice of the profession to which he had devoted his life, Doctor Thomas returned to Milroy and there entered upon his long and useful career as a physician. In the fall of that same year he married and established his home at Milroy, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there on April 7, 1914. His wife had preceded him to the grave nearly fifteen years, her death having occurred on April 12, 1899. It was on October 14, 1858, that Dr. Samuel C. Thomas was united in marriage to Emily Clements, who had been engaged as a teacher in the schools of this county, and to that union were born six children, Abigail F., Kate A., Ernest B. and Perlee W. (twins), Clifford C. and Claude B. Perlee W. Thomas died on May 20, 1885, and Clifford C. died in April of the same year. Doctor Thomas was a Republican and a Freemason. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and their children were reared in that faith. Ernest B. Thomas was reared at Milroy, where he received his early schooling. He supplemented this by a course in Moores Hill College and then in the winter of 1886-87 was engaged as a teacher in the schools of this county, in the following spring going to Cimar- ron, Kan., where he became engaged as a bookkeeper in the local offices of the St. John & Marsh Lumber Co. A year later he re- turned to Indiana and entered DePauw University, but before completing the course there his health declined and he returned west, resuming his connection with the lumber company with which he formerly had been connected, this time in that company's To- peka offices. In 1891 Mr. Thomas returned to Milroy and was for four years thereafter engaged in the hardware business at that place, in association with W. L. McKee. In 1894 he received the Republican nomination for recorder of Rush county and in the November election of that year was elected. He was re-elected in 1898 and thus served for more than eight years, his term of service beginning on August 25, 1895, and terminating on January 1, 1904. Upon the completion of his term of public service Mr. Thomas en- gaged in the abstract business at Rushville, and has since main- tained that line. When the Peoples Loan and Trust Company was organized at Rushville in 1909 he was made assistant secretary and was presently advanced to the position of secretary of the trust company, which position he now occupies. During the time of America's participation in the World war Mr. Thomas served as chairman of the Rush county chapter of the American Red Cross and is still serving on the executive board of this chapter. In June, 1921, he was called on by the Federal Loan Board to make a trip to Porto Rico and investigate the advisability of establishing a Federal farm loan bank there, on which mission he sailed on June 29. Mr.
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