USA > Indiana > Boone County > Early life and times in Boone County, Indiana, giving an account of the early settlement of each locality, church histories, county and township officers from the first down to 1886 Biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and women. > Part 26
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months' schooling, the father residing on a farm remote from school facilities, there then being no public school system in Kentucky. However, the subject of this sketch at the age of eight years had learned to read. The family's supply of books was scant, consisting of a few elementary school books, a few histories, biographies, and the bible. Our subject read and diligently studied all of these; and, as opportunity afforded, he would borrow books from the neighbors. Among these were the histories of Greece and Rome, Harvey's Meditations, and Wesley's Notes on the Bible. Such was his early home reading. He was an indefatigable student, though his school privileges had been so very limited. In his sixteenth year he went to reside with and labor for a neighbor by the name of John Rice, who had a fair supply of books, and with whom a school teacher named Thomas Nelson also resided. This teacher had a good library, and was a Latin and Greek scholar. While residing in this family our subject availed himself of the opportunity he then had, in reading in a promiscuous manner. In his eighteenth year he left this family and entered a country school, laboring of mornings, evenings and Satur- days to pay his way while attending school. In his nineteenth year he attended the academy at Moorefield, Ky., which was under the control of Prof. Henry T. Trimble, an educator of much excellence, and a graduate of Transylvania Uni- versity, Ky.
While in this academy our subject made a specialty of studying the Latin and Greek languages; he attended this school about one year, and was then employed to teach a coun- try school near Moorefield, Ky .; here he taught one year, be- ing a more diligent student than any of his scholars. In the twenty-second year of his age he was married to Frances Ann, daughter of William Atkinson. After this, he still continued to teach school, but being unwilling to follow this occupation for a life-time pursuit, he commenced the study of the law, reading what time was not devoted to his school work. In March, 1841, he went to the city of Madison, Ind., and con-
HON. JAMES B. DALE.
ء
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tinued his law studies in the law office of the Hon. Joseph G. Marshall, who had a very extensive law library. After study- ing here about one year, he returned to Carlisle, Ky., and staid for a while in the law office of Wm. Norvell, Esq. Here he applied for a license to practice his profession, and was examined as to his qualifications by Hon. Judge Reed, of Maysville, and Judge Simpson, of Mount Sterling, Ky., and by them he was licensed to practice law in all the courts of that commonwealth. He was first admitted to the bar at Car- lisle, Ky., and there he did his first legal practice. In the autumn of 1843 he removed to Lebanon, Indiana, and resided on a small farm one-half mile east of the town. In size, Lebanon was then a village, surrounded by swamps and lagoons of water, and much of the county was then a native wilderness. Here he resided on the farm until October, 1851, at which date his wife died, and he broke up housekeeping. Soon after coming to Lebanon in 1843 he entered into the practice of the law, but the legal business here was then mostly done by attorneys from Indianapolis, who came and attended court during its terms. In what legal work Mr. Neal did, and in farming some, he managed to obtain a support. In August, 1846, he was elected from this, Boone County, a Representa- tive to the state legislature, and again in August, 1847, he was re-elected to the same office.
During this last named session of the legislature the im- portant subject of a settlement of the state debt of Indiana was pending. During the years 1841 to 1847 the state had failed to pay even the interest on the state debt which had been incurred in the internal improvement system of the state. The debt then, on the outstanding bonds of the state, amounted to about eighteen million dollars. The creditors of the state were urgent for some adjustment of the debt. An able attor- ney from London, England, representing the bondholders, vis- ited that session of the legislature, urging the state to accept the proposition which he made on behalf of the bondholders.
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To this end, said attorney presented to the legislature a bill known as the Butler bill, for the adjustment of the state debt. This bill was so craftily and plausibly devised as to mislead and deceive all but the most skillful attorneys. It was put on its passage in the house and passed by a vote of seventy ayes against thirty nays. There was at that time a majority for it in the senate. With only the thirty members in the house opposed to it, and the minority in the the senate opposed to it, there seemed but little hope of defeating it. Mr. Neal co-op- erated with the minority, and by management the minority of the legislature defeated the Butler bill. But a detailed history of how this was effected can not be given here. Suffice to say, that the minority, in a bill which they had prepared, offered to transfer to the bondholders the Wabash and Erie Canal, and all its appurtenances and lands donated to construct it, for one- half of the state debt, and to issue new bonds for the other half, which was finally accepted by the bondholders. This ,was a measure of great importance to the state.
At this session Mr. Neal was active in urging the adoption of a homestead law ; he wrote an able article on this subject, which was first published in the Indianapolis Sentinel and afterwards in the other papers; and so prepared the way that at the next session of the legislature a homestead law was enacted. Mr. Neal also introduced a joint resolution into the legislature prohibiting the legislature from granting divorces by legislative action. This resolution passed, and from that day to the present, the legislature has never granted another divorce. Mr. Neal's position was, that granting divorces belonged to the judicial department of the government, and not to the legislative department. This measure has since become a part of the state constitution. At the same session, Mr. Neal urged the adoption of a resolution instructing our senators and requesting our representatives in congress to adopt "the Wilmot proviso" forever inhibiting slavery in all the free territories. Mr. Neal had been educated in the Jef- fersonian theory of government, and was elected on both
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occasions as a Jeffersonian Democrat. In 1848 he co-operated with the free soil movement to inhibit the extension of slavery in the free territories of the United States. And when the Republican party was organized in 1856 he became an active worker in that party, and when the war of rebellion came in 1861 he acted with the union party, though on account of ill health he did not enter the military service. At that time he was partly paralyzed by neuralgia in his face and right arm. After the war had ended he still acted with the Republican party, until after the measures of reconstruction had been adopted and fixed in the constitution of the national govern- ment. As a means of reconstruction on a fixed basis, he pre- pared and advised the adoption of the fourteenth amendment, being the originator of that amendment to the constitution of the United States, which was recommended by the action of con- gress in June, 1866, and ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures soon after, and became a part of the constitution. Since the measures of reconstruction were consummated, he ceased to take any active part in political affairs, and has been regarded as a non-partisan. In 1878 he wrote several able articles in favor of a well regulated greenback, or full legal tender national currency; hence, he was by some called a Greenback partisan. But he never favored the extreme meas- ures of that party in its early days. He has taken no active part as a partisan since the adoption of the measures of national reconstruction. During the years that he took an active part in politics, he wrote extensively for different lead- ing newspapers, but most of his writings were published anonymou-ly.
In November, 1857, he married for his second wife Miss Clara, daughter of Charles Davis, Esq., and by her had born to him five sons and two daughters, of which children four sons and one daughter are yet living, their mother having died March 4, 1879. In May, 1880, he was married to Mrs. Laura A., widow of George Kernodle, deccased, and by her he has had one daughter and one son.
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In the year 1856 the celebrated phrenologist, Professor (). S. Fowler, of New York, delineated Mr. Neal's characteristic: as follows. He said : "Your constitution is first best-you are the toughest, hardiest, most enduring of men ; can wear through what would break down ninety-nine men in every one hundred. Such ability to learn and accomplish does not often come under my hands. You do not know how much you can do, if you simply observe the health conditions. Your functions work easily, like a machine well lubricated, so that you expend but little energy-that is, all work easily right up to the very mark. Your proclivities run altogether in the line of intellect ; they also run strongly in that of moral, and hence you might and perhaps should have made a minister, though you are not now as faithful to creeds as you once were, for you are doing your own thinking; yet the religious senti- ment grows. You are a natural theologian, but you love re- ligion discussed from the natural standpoint quite as well as the biblical ; are a real reformer-a true lover of your race, and interested in whatever promises good to man ; plenty be- nevolent enough, perhaps too much so ; are unable to witness or cause pain or death, even to animals ; would make a good criminal lawyer, for you would do the best you could to miti- .gate the punishment of your client; have an excellent talent for the practice of the law-are better adapted to that vocation than any other, except that you are a little too good and have not fight enough, so associate yourself with one more pugna- cious ; you are a little too good for your own good-will often settle difficulties rather than to litigate them. You enjoy the universal esteem of all who know you; are one of the most friendly men ; are every way popular, but destined to become more so, for you make friends of all you meet. You enjoy unlimited confidence ; are able to pass from thing to thing readily ; have a fair appetite to eat, but do not live to eat ; have a fair love of money, but do not live to get rich-infin- itely prefer honor to money ; are becoming more shrewd and politic of late than formerly, yet naturally candid; are very
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cautious and leave no stone unturned in accomplishing ends- are in fact too cautious, yet extremely stable when your mind is made up; are wanting in self-esteem-too apt to feel un- worthy and hang back ; are too diffident-need brass, sir, more than anything else. You are the personification of honor, and honorable; perfectly just, even too scrupulous ; are a dear lover of nature, her beauty, her perfections; have only fair mirth, and evince it more in argument than anything else ; excel in arguing by ridicule ; an accurate eye ; a great deal of method-are good in figures and a natural scholar, and capable of excelling in all the natural sciences. You are un- commonly well informed, and have one of the best memories that come under my hands; are a splendid writer, and would make as good an editor as there is. I recommend yon to try writing for the press ; would draw up good reports, resolu- tions, etc., and make a first-rate wheel horse in any conven- tion-in fact, anywhere; use beautiful language, and every word in its place, and the very word, though not as flippantly as correct ; are very discriminating, original, and will state your points so that everybody accedes to them." Such are the words of Professor Fowler. Those who are well and inti- mately acquainted with Mr. Neal can judge how exactly the foregoing language corresponds with his characteristics, hence we submit what Professor Fowler has said of him.
In religion, Mr. Neal is a member of the Church of Christ. His father and mother, and his first father-in-law and mother- in-law were Calvinistic or Predestinerian Baptists, hence his early religious impressions were under the influence of that dogma, which in early life came well-nigh carrying him into the opposite extreme of Universalism ; but after a careful and thorough consideration of these two theories, he discarded both as contrary to the revelation of God in the Word. After this, however, for a number of years he remained within the confusing clouds of partisan and unscriptural theories, much of which to him seemed not in harmony with divine revela-
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tion. He had never had any doubts that the holy bible con- tains the divinely inspired revelation of God to man. In the years of 1849-'50 he attended the meetings of a small band of the Disciples of Christ, which held their meetings in Lebanon, and at these meetings he learned that they took the bible as their "only guide in religions faith and practice," discarding all men-made creeds. This position met his hearty approval. So, in June, 1851, while the beloved Thomas Lockhart was holding a meeting, he united with this band of disciples, known as the congregation of the Church of Christ, at Lebanon. Being a ready and fluent speaker, he was urged to take part in the public exercises and labors of the congre- gation, and he did so heartily. His labors in " the word and doctrine" showed that he had made the holy scriptures a careful study, and hence were acceptable to the church. In February, 1852, he was, by the action of the church, ordained and licensed to preach " The Word," the gospel ; and during the next three years he devoted his whole time to the ministry ; traveled, and visited, and preached in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, besides laboring regularly, for a time, for several con- gregations, having been employed by the church at Frankfort, Ind .; at Christian Chapel, near Ladoga; also, at the church near Colfax, and at the church near Kirklin, and at Weah Prairie. But, being poor, and not receiving sufficient financial support, he had (sad as it was for him) to resume the law practice for a maintenance ; but he still continued, as oppor- tunity offered, to labor more or less in the word and doctrine, in the church mostly at the Lebanon congregation. And after resuming the law practice, and while so engaged, he has never sought or received any pecuniary compensation for his labors in the church services. In religion, he has studiously avoided being " sensational," and, though some of his sermons have been published in the religious publications, and highly com- mended, they were, by his request, published anonymously ; and so, also, most of his poetic and literary productions
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have been published anonymously ; because he was careful to avoid notoriety. From 1843 to the present time he has been a resident of Boone County, Indiana, except about two years, from 1883 to 1885, he resided in the state of Iowa. He is emphatically a self-made man. His life has been one of great labor-constant and incessant industry ; as an indefatigable student, his reading has been extensive and varied. In jurisprudence, in the sciences, in theology, in history, in the classics, in poetry, his reading has been incal- culable. It seems that to study and to think was to him as natural as to breathe. Idleness found no place with him. In the judicial forum, in the halls of legislation, in the church, he has been unobtrusive, carefully avoiding attracting atten- tion, and, as far as practicable, seeking no public notoriety, but carefully seeking to be unknown. The most important political act of his life remained unknown for twenty years after its accomplishment, except to a few confidential friends who were enjoined to secrecy. The ruling purpose and aim of his life seems to have been to acquire knowledge, and to use it for the welfare of others, rather than in the acquisition of property or public fame. To secure and promote the equal civil and religious rights of humanity, with him, has been a ruling motive, as his labors fully prove. Beginning life, he had to rely on his own efforts solely ; and, through life. he has relied solely on his own industry and economy for a support. If his energies and industry had been directed in the acquisi- tion of property, he could undoubtedly have been financially a man of wealth; but the acquisition of property was a subordinate and secondary consideration with him. He pre- ferred knowledge to dollars. He had, however, in the latter years of his busy life, acquired a sufficient property for a com- peteney ; but during the last five years, through sickness, and on account of an unfortunate investment of all the property he had in real estate in Kansas, he lost it all; but in the meantime, having regained his health, he is again able to labor. Though now in his seventieth year, he is almost as active,
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physically, as a young man, and, mentally, seems to be as vigorous as at the age of forty, thus evincing that through life he has lived in conformity to the laws of health.
WILLIAM NICELY,
One of the early citizens of Jackson Township, was born in the state of Tennessee, on the 11th day of March, 1808; en- tered eighty acres of land in Jackson Township near where he now resides in 1834. Mr. Nicely was first married to Catharine Christman, who was born in Virginia, in 1808; died in 1862; is buried at Mount Zion Cemetery. Mr. Nicely was again married, to Jane Farlow; died in the year 1862 ;. is also buried at Mount Zion Cemetery. He was the third time married, this time to Susannah C. Duncan, August 16, 1863; born September 29, 1830. Of the first set of children : John M., George W., Martha J., Mary J., William F., Albert and Sarah C .; of the second marriage: Emily M., Cynthia A., James C., Jane A. (two last named are deceased). Mr. Nicely and his wife belong to the Christian Church .. Mr. Nicely is among the early pioneers of Boone County. Though quite old, he is a boy yet, a good fireside talker, and was well fitted for the frontier life. He lives four miles north of Jamestown, in Jackson Township.
JAMES NEILES
Was a son of James and Sarah Neiles, born in Fleming Coun- ty, Kentucky, March 15, 1830, and from this point came to Rush County, near Rushville, stopping here for a short time, and then came to Boone County in 1852. Mr. Neiles was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Neiles, of Fleming County, Ky .; she survived until 1859, the result of this mar- riage being three children, of which two survive and reside in Boone County. He then was united in marriage to Miss
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Mary J. Shelby, of Fleming County, Ky., she living but a short time. For his third wife he married Miss Emma Good- win, of Boone County, a daughter of the well-known Aaron Goodwin, the result of this marriage being ten children, of whom two are deceased; all reside in Boone County, Ind. Mr. Neiles is a man of great ambition and energy, and pos- sesses all the acquirements of business with a strong mind and a head of his own. He filled the office of marshal of Lebanon when it was yet a small town, in 1865, just after the war, when it took pluck and sand to keep order, but nevertheless he always maintained the same. Politically speaking Mr. Neiles is a Democrat of the true type. His occupation has been that of farming principally, trading in real estate, settling up estates and loaning money.
BENJAMIN PAULY.
The subject of this sketch was born in Kentucky, Jannary 13, 1816, and is just the age of his adopted state. He became a resident of Boone County in 1835, settling near where Holmes Station now is. Married to Virginia Smith in 1852. There were no children born to them. They, however, raised two children, Martha Leap, who was married to John Shoe- maker, and Samantha Smith, who married Jacob Shoemaker. After leaving Holmes Station, Mr. Pauly resided on White- liek several years. Then he moved to Mount's Run, where he resided over thirty years. He now resides in the city of Lebanon, a retired life. He has gained a handsome property during a long and eventful life in Boone County. He has been a hard working man. His best days were spent in a struggle with the privations attending the carly frontier life. Mr. Pauly is a member of the Baptist Church in good stand- ing, and a Democrat of the Jeffersonian school.
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JOSEPH B. PITZER,
A native of Virginia, was born there in the year 1813; came to Eagle Creek, in Marion County, about the year 1839 or 1840. In the same year, or about that time, he was married to Susan Stephenson, of Knightstown, with whom he is now living in Zionsville. Mr. Pitzer is the father of but one child ( Rufus), who died at the age of eighteen or twenty years. In 1846 Mr. Pitzer, in connection with John P. Welch, started a store in Eagle Village, where they built np one of the largest trades ever gained in that town. This firm continued three or four years. Mr. Welch died in 1850. Soon after Mr. Pitzer was elected county auditor ; served four years with credit to all. Mr. Pitzer was an old-time Whig and recently has aeted with the Republican party, and as such was elected to the office referred to. Mr. Pitzer has gained, through industry and economy, a competeney for himself in his now declining days. Having retired from business the past eight or ten years, he is living quietly at Zionsville, where he enjoys the respeet of all. In person he is rather under medium size. He is a brother of the late Judge Nash L. Pitzer. The writer has known Mr. Pitzer since 1846, and can testify of his worth. We hope he and his wife may live many years to enjoy their well earned estate.
SETH W. PORTER.
The subject of this sketch, Seth W. Porter, was of Irish extraction and was born at Snow Hill, on the eastern shore of Maryland, May 30, 1791. Came to Kentucky in 1811; eu- listed in Colonel Dudley's regiment and followed the fortunes of his gallant commander to the relief of General Harrison. at Fort Meigs. He was in the disastrous defeat of Dudley, and was captured by the Indians, with whom he remained a prisoner for several months. He came to Parke County,
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Indiana, in 1828, and to Boone County, where he settled in Jefferson Township, in June, 1836. In the midst of the howl- ing wilderness, with his family, he began life anew. They slept in the wagon until the cabin could be prepared so as to shelter them. He died on the same spot, May 9, 1870. His widow, who was born in Fleming County, Kentucky, May 25, 1800, survived him and died at the same place in 1879. He was the father of Dr. A. G. Porter, of Lebanon ; Dr. A. M. Porter, of State Line City, Indiana; M. B. Porter, farmer, of Jefferson Township, this county ; and Dr. W. D. Porter, of Higginsville, Illinois. The aggregate ages of these four sons is two hundred and forty-nine years.
ISAAC POWELL
Was born in Nicholas County, Kentucky, in 1780. He was married to Sarah Boyd in the above county, remained there until the year 1835, when he came to Boone County, Indiana. His parents were from England, and came to Kentucky in an early day, where they were pioneers, indeed. Isaac Powell died in the year 1843, and was buried on the farm where he settled, now known as the Watson farm. Sarah Powell, his wife died in 1858, and was buried at the same place. The fol- lowing are the names of the family: Ann, Mary, Martin, Charles, Sarah, Marena, Elizabeth, Martha, William C., Eliza, and Jeremiah. Five of the above are now living in Boone County, viz: Martin, Marena Stephenson, Sarah McCann, Elizabeth, and William C. Powell. This is one of the early families of the county, as well as the largest. William C., who is one of the best citizens of Clinton Township, furnished the above facts of his father's family ; is a resident of Clinton Township, where he owns a fine farm.
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JOHN M. PATTON.
Mr. Patton's first entrance to the county was at Eagle Vil- lage, in 1847, as a school teacher, when a young man, perhaps twenty-four or twenty-five years of age. I think he was from Southern Indiana. He remained at the village only a year or two when he went to Lebanon, and from there to Thorntown, where most of his life was spent, dying there a few years ago highly respected as a citizen and successful business man. He was associated in the banking interest there for several years as stockholder and one of its officers. He was a few years after coming to Thorntown married to a lady by the name of Allen, who is also deceased. James Pattor, their son, resides in Thorntown at this time. John M. Patton will be remem- bered as a jovial, kind hearted man. I call to mind going to school to him in an early day. In person he was of good · features, dark hair and complexion, and all through life a cripple, using his cane as far back as I can recollect him. His political or religious notions I do not know anything about. His social qualities when young were good.
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