USA > Indiana > Shelby County > Chadwick's History of Shelby County, Indiana, Vol. 2 > Part 42
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most popular comrades, owing to his genial disposition and capacity to make friends. In 1870 he was made a Mason in Sugar Creek Lodge, at Fairland and ever afterwards displayed a fraternal interest in the progress of the or- der. He married Mariah A. Bowen. of Ohio, by whom he had six children : Margaret Ann is the wife of Thomas Benton Carey, whose sketch will be found on another page of this volume: Orville is a resident of Rush county. Indiana: Abraham Lincoln Endsley is a resident of Brandywine township : Edward resides in Oklahoma: Fannie, who is the wife of Dr. Harry Good- rich, lives in Shelbyville: Flora married Frank Knuckles and they are resi- dents of Seattle, Washington.
THOMAS BENTON CAREY.
Everybody who has lived in or near Fairland for the last fifty-eight years has known "Bent Carey," and it would be safe to say that all of them liked him for he was always one of the most genial of men. His life in the county has been a busy one. full of activities in various lines. He was born in Brooks county, West Virginia. May 4. 1839. his parents being Thomas V. and Mar- garet ( Lee) Carey. He was the oldest of four children, of whom three were sisters, and in 1850 was brought to the town of Edinburg, but in the next year to Fairland. which place has ever since continued to be his home. . At the time of his arrival the village consisted of four or five houses, a mere ham- let, surrounded by swamps and stretches of timberland. The father and mother died, August 11, 1854. and May 14, 1856, respectively, leaving their son orphaned before he had attained a self-reliant age. During the next few years he worked on farms in summer and attended school in winter, where. in spite of adverse circumstances, he obtained a fair education. as he was naturally bright and ambitious to learn. The great event of his life, as well as that of millions of others, occurred about the tinte that he had completed his twenty-first year. The Civil war was begun and he lost no time adding his name to the roll of Company H. Sixteenth Regiment. Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under command of Capt. William Judkins. He enlisted as a pri- vate on April 23, 1861, within ten days after the first gun at Fort Sumter had made a conflict inevitable.
His command was sent east and saw its first service in Maryland and Virginia. Mr. Carey began as a private, was promoted to third sergeant, and later was made orderly sergeant of his company, which rank he held until mustered out at Washington. D. C .. in May. 1862. During this period he was confined in the general hospital at Richmond. Indiana, for several weeks as a result of an attack of the measles. He took part in the stirring
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campaign of General Banks, in West Virginia, and the Shenandoah Valley. After returning home he assisted in recruiting Company F. Seventieth Regi- ment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which entered the service under command of Gen. Benjamin Harrison. Ile re-enlisted in this company, at Fairland. and when it was mustered into the service at Indianapolis. Mr. Carey was made second lieutenant, being later promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. His regiment became a part of the Twenty-first Brigade. Second Division. Twentieth Army Corps, under General Hooker. They acted as guard for awhile on the railroad south of Nashville, as far as Stevenson. Alabama, and was for some time in charge of a block-house at Manscoe Station, on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. Lieutenant Carey resigned in 1863. after participating in engagements at Russelville and Hartsville, Kentucky, and taking part in other active parts of the service. During the winter of 1864 he assisted in recruiting the Ninth Indiana Cavalry, and was elected captain of a company, but was unable to pass the surgeon's examination on account of erysipelas. He then entered the recruiting and secret service and per- formed the duties assigned to him until in January, 1865. when he again en- listed as a private in Company G. One Hundred and Forty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war, in the army of the Cumberland. He was detailed as company clerk and was honor- ably discharged in July. 1865, at Nashville, Tennessee.
After his stirring army experiences Mr. Carey returned to his okl home in Fairland, and for many years followed the trade of carpenter and painter. which work he was at length compelled to abandon on account of ill-health. In 1872 he was elected Justice of the Peace and re-elected in 1876. but re- signed to accept the position of Deputy Sheriff. under Albert MeCorkle. serving in this office for two years. He has been Justice of the Peace for tex years and notary public for twenty-four years. He was made a Mason in Sugar Creek Lodge, No. 279, at Fairland, and has filled all the chairs of im- portance. Until it became extinct, he was a member of the Jerry Odell Post. Grand Army of the Republic, at Fairland, and served as its commander. He now belongs to Dumont Post. No. 18, at Shelbyville, and holds the position of quartermaster-sergeant. He has lived longer in Fairland than any other citizen, and enjoys the title of the "oldest and only original inhabitant" of
Fairland. He is one of the charter members of the Ozark Tribe of Red Mon, at Fairland. Early in 1909 Mr. Carey was appointed engrossing clerk of the House in the Indiana Legislature, and served throughout the session in that responsible position. On his mother's side Mr. Carey is connected with the celebrated Lee family, of Virginia, and G. W. Lee, one of his uncles. served throughout the War of 1812. His paternal grandfather served in a war in Scotland, and after coming to America his son was killed at the siege of the Alamo, with Col. David Crockett, and his fellow citizens.
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April 5. 1868. Mr. Carey married Susan E., daughter of Isham and Irene ( Ray) Reed. deceased. Mrs. Carey died, leaving three children, Charles G. and Mary Irene are residents of Fairland. the latter being a trained nurse. Margaret the youngest, is the wife of Alonzo Rommel, and lives in Benton county. In 1894 Mr. Carey married Mrs. Margaret M. ( Endsley) Powers, daughter of a Civil war veteran of distinction, Capt. Henry M. Endsley, and one of the most prominent men in the county. ( See his sketch on another page. ) Mr. and Mrs. Carey have one child. Lucille, who still remains with her parents. Mrs. Carey is a member of the Metho- dist church, at Fairland, and also a member of Pocahontas Degree, Ozark Council of the Improved Order of Red Men. The father of the first Mrs. Carey served as second lieutenant of Company F. Seventieth Regiment In- diana Volunteers, with which he was in the field for three years. At the present time and for some years past Mr. Carey has been in the real estate business at Fairland.
In politics Mr. Carey is a Democrat and prides himself on being what is commonly known as a "Jackson Democrat." He also became a news cor- respondent in the year 1861. to the old "Shelbyville Volunteer." which has since merged into the Shelby Democrat, on which he has ever since remained of the staff of correspondents. He writes under the nom de plume of "Gid."
ALBERT F. WRAY.
One of the conspicuous figures in the history of Shelby county is the distinguished lawyer whose career is briefly outlined in the following para- graphs. An honored citizen whose life has conferred credit upon the city in which he resides, in whom are combined the strong mentality, invincible courage, determined individuality, characteristic of the natural leader of men. Albert F. Wray was born in Brandywine township. Shelby county, Indiana, December 4. 1852. His father, Isom Wray, also a native of Shelby county. and for a number of years a wealthy farmer and prominent citizen, was born April 5. 1829, the son of James Wray, a North Carolinian by birth. who moved to this part of Indiana in an early day and settled three miles west of Shelbyville, where he developed a fine estate of three hundred and forty acres and became one of the enterprising agriculturists and leading men of his day. James Wray was born in 1703, and in early life read medicine, to the practice of which he devoted a number of years after coming to Indiana. He also acquired considerable prominence by his activity in religious work during the early settlement of the country, having been one of the first Methodist ministers to visit the pioneers of Shelby county and break to them the bread
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of life, and he also preached to the Indians from time to time, and was in- strumental in inducing many of them to discontinue their wild and barbarous practices and become more amenable to the customs of civilized life. Ile was indeed a true soldier of the cross in a field where fearful odds were of arrayed against him, but his earnestness, piety and zeal enabled him to over- come opposition and plant the cause of his Master in a section of country where it took root and flourished and where his name is still revered is a benefactor of his kind. This good man and able minister live 1 to see Shelby county redeemed from a wilderness and become one of the fairest among her sister counties of the commonwealth and to witness the steady advancement of Methodism to a foremost place among the religions bodies of southern In- diana. He was successful in material things also, having cleared and in- proved one of the best farms in the county and at the time of his death. in 1860. he left a large and valuable estate as well as the memory of a long and useful life.
The father of James Wray was Thomas Wray, a native of North Caro- lina and a veteran of the Revolutionary waar, in which he served with distinc tion under Gen. Nathaniel Greene. Among the many engagements in which he participated was the battle of Eutaw Springs, where the fighting under the blazing beams of a summer sun was so fierce that after the victory was gained many of the soldiers perished as a result of overslaking their burning thirst from the cold waters of a large spring which they captured from the enemy.
As already stated. Isom Wray became one of the prominent and well-to do men of the county, and was long a leader of thought and moulder of opinion among his neighbors and fellow citizens. He took an active int rest in the growth and development of the country and. being a fluent and force- ful speaker, exercised a strong influence in public affairs, and for a number of years enjoyed much more than local distinction in political circles. During the latter part of his life he spent considerable time in travel and in the winter seasons made his home in California. Hle died at the age of seventy-five years. respected by all who knew himn.
Miamia Bowen, wife of Isom Wray, was a danghter of Juel Bowen, a soldier of the War of 18:2, who settled near Ironton, Ohio, shortly after the close of that struggle, and there spent the remainder of his days. In 18;s. after the death of her father. Miamia Bowen, with other members of the fun- ily, moved to Shelby county, Indiana, and settled on a farm a short distance from Fairland, where she grew to womanhood and in due time married. Mr. and Mrs. Wray were the parents of three sons and one daughter. Albert F .. of this review, being the oldest of the family: the others are Newton and Jennie L., who married Jacob G. DePrez, a prominent hardware merchant. of Shelbyville: William W., the third in order of birth, being deceased. The
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mother of these children lived to the ripe old age of eighty years, and was a woman of excellent character and beautiful life.
Albert F. Wray was reared on the family homestead in Brandywine township. and his early experience amid active duties of the farm gave him a strong vitality. At the proper age he became a pupil of the school in his home district and such was his progress that at the age of sixteen he was sufficient- ly advanced to enter Asbury (now DePauw) University, where he prose- cuted his studies for a period of five years, being graduated in 1873 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Subsequently ( 1876) he was honored by his alma mater with the degree of Master of Arts, and still later taught for two years in the public schools, achieving a creditable record as an instructor. Discontinuing educational work at the expiration of the time indicated. Mr. Wray began the study of law at Franklin, Indiana, under direction of Col. S. P. Oyler, but after remaining one year with that gentleman he entered the office of Love & Conner, of Shelbyville, where he pursued his studies until his admission to the bar two years later. In 1879. the year in which he was admitted to practice in the courts of Indiana, Mr. Wray formed a partnership with Hon. E. P. Ferris, which lasted two years, at the end of which time he became associated with David L. Wilson, the firm thus constituted continuing for three years, during which period he rose to a conspicuous place among the leading members of the local bar and built up quite an extensive and lu- crative professional business. In 1882 he was appointed Deputy Prosecuting Attorney of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, in which capacity he served con- tinuously for eight years, having been successively re-appointed in 1884 and 1886, and while thus engaged he attended to all the criminal business of the county and added greatly to his reputation as an able, industrious and pains- taking lawyer.
Mr. Wray was reared a Democrat, having been early instructed in the principles of the party to which he has since yielded allegiance, with the re- sult that he soon became an active worker : in fact, a leader. He cast his first Presidential ballot in 1876 for Samuel J. Tilden, and has voted for every nom- ince of his party from that time to the present, besides taking an active in- terest in local. district and state politics. In 1892 he was elected to represent the district composed of Shelby and Decatur counties in the upper house of the General Assembly and served four years as Senator during which time he was untiring in his efforts to promote the interests of his constituency and the state at large, having been placed on a number of important committees, besides rendering affective service in the debates and general deliberations of the chambers. Since the expiration of his legislative term Mr. Wray has devoted himself to his profession in which, as already stated, he has attained a commanding position and in connection with his private practice is now serving as County Attorney to which office he was appointed by the Board of Commissioners in 1908.
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Mr. Wray is a member of the Order of Free and Accepte I Masons, be- longing to Shelby Lodge. No. 25. Shelby Chapter, No. 30. Royal Arch Ma- sons and Baldwin Commandery. No. 2. in all of which branches of the brotherhood he has been a zealous worker and at times an honored official. He is also identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Im- proved Order of Red Men, and professionally has long been a conspicnon- figure in the Shelbyville Bar Association and an active participant in the di -- cussions which come before the organization. He subscribes to the Metho- dist faith and for a number of years has been a member of the West Street Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is serving as trustee and superinten- dent of the Sunday scho J. the latter being one of the largest and most pop- ular schools of the kind in the city.
On the 14th day of August. 1880, was solemnized the ceremony by which Mr. Wray and Mary B. Armstrong. of Edinburg. Indiana, daughter of Rob- ert and Lydia Armstrong, the former a prominent merchant of that town. were united in the holy bonds of matrimony. This marriage has been blessed with two children, the older, who answers to the name of Edith, and whose birth occurred on May 2, 1891, being a graduate of the Shelbyville high school, and a pianist of considerable note for one of her years. Her school work was so satisfactory and her grades throughout so high that her teachers exempted her from all examinations, and she is now preparing to enter the Woman's College, of Baltimore, where her record will doubtless prove as honorable as that she has heretofore achieved. Robert lsom, the second in order of birth, first saw the light of day on May 14th, of the year 1895. and i- now a student of the Shelbyville public schools, with a bright and promising future before him.
WILLIAM S. TOTTEN.
Among the enterprising men of Shelby county whose lives have been closely identified with the settlement and subsequent development of their re- spective communities, the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch oc- cupies a deservedly conspicuous place, coming to this part of Indiana when the few sparse settlements were mere niches in the dense forests, his early life being spent amid the stern experiences of the pioneer period and. during a residence of seventy-six years, he has seen the country transformed from an almost unbroken wilderness to a veritable garden, and he has contributed to the bringing about of conditions which have won for Shelby county a proud position among her sister counties.
William S. Totten, for many years an enterprising farmer of Brandy- wine township, but now Being a retired life in the town of Fairland, is a na-
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tive of Virginia, and a son of William and Elizabeth Totten, both born in that state and of English descent. A few months after the birth of William S., which occurred April 12. 1833, these parents moved overland to Shelby county, Indiana, and settled in the forests of Van Buren township. experienc- ing for several years all of the vicissitudes of pioneer life. Arriving at their destination before any preparations had been made for their reception, the family were obliged to live for some weeks in the covered wagon, but in due time a rude log cabin was erected. after which prospects became brighter and more encouraging. This primitive domicile of a single room and supplied with rough hand-made furniture, served as a shelter for many years, and within its homely walls some of the happiest days of the pioneer family were experienced. After clearing a portion of his land and adding very materially to its value. Mr. Totten moved to Missouri, where he lost his wife ; later he returned to Shelby county, and here spent the remainder of his days, dying a number of years ago in Fairland. He died April 1. 1890, aged ninety years and ten days.
The family of William and Elizabeth Totten consisted of two sons and two daughters, the oldest of whom was Eliza, wife of Granville S. Harrell, both deceased: Samuel, the second in order of birth, died in Missouri, and Rachael, who married H. Whitehead, departed this life in Shelby county, as also did her husband. William S .. of this review, being the youngest of the family, is its only living representative.
As stated in a preceding paragraph, the childhood and youth of the sub- ject were spent amid the stirring scenes of pioneer times, and he early ex- perienced his full share of the rugged usages and hardships so inseparably a part of the life in a new and undeveloped country. While still a mere lad he became inured to such hard work as clearing land and fitting it for cultiva- tion, and during a part of the winter months attended such indifferent schools as the country afforded. He obtained his first knowledge of the mysteries of learning in a little log house not far from his home, the buikling a rude struc- ture with puncheon floor, and lighted by a window in which greased paper was used in lieu of glass, being the first house for school purposes in the township.
After remaining at home until his twentieth year and helping prepare for cultivation the greater part of the quarter section of land which his father pur- chased from the government. Mr. Totten leit the parental roof to make his own way in the world. To assist him in this enterprise he chose a partner in the person of Mary Jane Anders, a young lady of the neighborhood. to whom he was united in the holy bonds of wedlock on the 6th day of January, 1853. immediately after which the young couple set up their domestic establishment on a farm in Van Buren township, where they lived until moving to the town- ship of Brandywine a few years later. Reared to agricultural pursuits and
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familiar with the vocation from his childhood. Mr. Totten addressed himself resolutely to his labors with the result that in due time he became the owner of a fine farm, earning an honorable reputation as a successful farmer and stock raiser, accumulating a handsome competency, after which he rented the place and retired from active business, though still in touch with his business interests. His farm, consisting of one hundred and forty acres, and contain- ing some of the best improvements in Brandywine township, lies bat a short distance south of the village of Fairland and easily accessible to good markets. Politically Mr. Totten gives his support to the Republican party. Religiously the Methodist Episcopal church represents his creed, having been a faithful and consistent member for many years, besides holling official positions from time to time. being now a trustee of the church at Fairland, and a generous contributor to its support.
Mrs. Totten, who is also a Methodist and earnest church worker, was born January 6, 1836, near Harrison, Indiana, where her parents, Basil and Mary ( Jackson) Anders, settled on moving to this state from their former home in Virginia. Subsequently, in 1846, they changed their residence to Shelby county, locating in Van Buren township, near the Totten farm, where they spent most of the remainder of their lives, and died in Fairland. Mrs. Totten has three sisters and three brothers living. viz: Elisha lives in Kansas: Eliza lives in Indianapolis, Indiana : Martha lives in Shelby county, Indiana ; Elvy resides in Shelby county; Thomas G., of Indianapolis, and John, who lives in Colorado.
Mr. and Mrs. Totten have been blessed with a large family. their de- scendants numbering fifty-two, having twelve living children and forty grand- children and great-grandchildren. John J., the oldest son, lives in Brandy- wine township. his wife having formerly been Mary M. Oldham: Mary E .. wife of John McCollum, lives at Boggstown: Thomas J .. who married Mar- garet Leaper. is a farmer of Sugar Creek township: Sarah J., wife of James Nail, lives with her parents: Martha M., now Mrs. Frank Rule. resides at Fairland : Charles F. married Audrey Leslie, and is a farmer of Brandywine township: William, deceased, is survived by his widow, whose maiden name was Martha Jones: Ira B., of Point Richmond. California, married Jennie McQueen : Elizabeth and Grace are still members of the home circle : Albert. whose wife's maiden name was Myrtle Larison, is a farmer by occupation and a resident of Sugar Creek township: Joseph. the twelfth in order of birth, lives with his parents, and is a conductor on the Indianapolis & Cincinnati traction line, and Goldie. the youngest of the family. is now the wife of Este Bass, and lives on a farm a few miles from the homestead. This large and respectable family has experienced the presence of death in a single instance only, a remarkable fact when compared with the great majority of households.
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EDWARD II. CHADWICK.
The Chadwick family to which the subject of this sketch belongs is oi English descent. The family is doubtless an old one; we find mention made in veritable English history of a young Chadwick who was knighted In Queen Elizabeth, back in the sixteenth century, for gallant conduct in her presence. The Chadwick name has spread into every state of the Union and often we find Chadwicks in a number of different communities in the same state. The Chadwick name is still extant in old England, as is evidenced by the fact that only recently the writer met one of a family of five brothers and a sister. native-born in England, who had only recently migrated to America. domiciling in the Western States, one of them, Sammuel W. Chadwick, now residing and engaged in business in Madison, Indiana.
Edward II. Chadwick. of Shelbyville. Indiana, comes in line of descent from one of the Chadwick family that settled in Massachusetts quite a while before the Revolutionary war. There is a tradition in the Chadwick family, verified from generation to generation, that four brothers of this Massachmu- setts family, comparatively young men, served a long term together in the Rev - olutionary war, under the more immediate command of General Washington, and that, at the close of the war one of them settled and married in New Jersey ; another went down to Virginia, married there and reared a family : that a third brother went over into Pennsylvania and settled in or not far from the city of Philadelphia: while the fourth brother went back to native Massachusetts, married and reared a family there. The inherent probability of this tradition has been many times verified to the writer of this sketch in meeting men bearing the Chadwick name who come, some of them from a Virginia family. others from a Pennsylvania family and others from a Mas- sachusetts family.
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