USA > Indiana > Vigo County > Terre Haute > Greater Terre Haute and Vigo County : closing the first century's history of city and county, showing the growth of their people, industries and wealth > Part 26
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Mr. Kendrick married Miss Matilda Havens, February 16, 1868. She was born in Otter Creek township, Vigo county, August 15, 1842,
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and died on the 23d of March, 1905. Her father, Thomas Havens, was born in Indiana, August 14, 1818, and soon after his marriage he moved to Otter Creek township, Vigo county, and began work in a pork packing house in Terre Haute. He later spent seven years as a farmer in White- side county, Illinois, and returning thence to Indiana spent some time in Newton county. From there he moved to Crawfordsville, Montgomery county, but in 1860 sold his saw mill there and came to Otter Creek township, Vigo county, and engaged in farming. In August, 1861, he became a soldier in the Civil war as a member of Company M, Seventy- second Indiana Volunteers, which went out as the Seventy-seventh regi- ment and was reorganized as the Fourth Regiment of Indiana Cavalry. He died in the hospital at Nashville, Tennessee, and was buried in the National Soldiers' Cemetery there. He was a Republican politically. At Knightstown. Indiana. June 8, 1840, Mr. Havens married Mary Miller, who was born in Pennsylvania, January 28, 1824, and her death oc- curred in 1874. There were born of this union twelve children, and the five now living are: William H., Amanda M., Albert, Mary and Walter S. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kendrick, Eveline and Asa. The daughter is the wife of D. F. Humphrey, and the son married Mabel Howard. Mrs. Kendrick was a noble wife and mother, and to her memory her husband has placed a memorial window in the Methodist Episcopal church at Elsworth. Mr. Kendrick is a member of Fort Harrison Lodge, No. 157, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and upholds and supports the principles of the Republican party.
THOMAS J. WELSH, who is now living retired at his home in Ed- wards, was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, August 16, 1853, a son of James M. Welsh, and a grandson of John Welsh. The last named moved from Kentucky to Clark county, Illinois, and there his son James grew to manhood's estate. In 1849, soon after his marriage, he moved to Sullivan county, Indiana, where he bought timber land and built the hewed log house which is still standing and in which his son Thomas was born. He owned at one time about three hundred acres of land in that county, the most of which he cleared, and was extensively en- gaged in the raising of cattle, sheep and hogs. He was a Jackson Democrat and a member of the Presbyterian church, dying in its faith on the Ioth of September, 1902. His birth occurred in Kentucky, De- cember 27, 1820. He was married in Sullivan county, Indiana, Septem- ber 2, 1849, to one of its native daughters, Eliza Thixton, born January 19, 1833, and she died July 22, 1895. Seven are living of their nine chil- dren, namely: Angeline, Thomas J., Charles, Clara B., Mary, John S. and Carrie.
- THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
Aster , Lenox and Tilden Foundations. 1909
MR. AND MRS. THOMAS STEVENSON
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During the days of his boyhood and youth Thomas J. Welsh at- tended school and worked on the farm, and soon after his marriage he began farming for himself in Sullivan county. But in 1877 he moved from there to Clark county, Illinois, and from there, in 1887, went to West York, in Crawford county, that state, and built a flour mill. In 1898, after selling his mill, he became interested in the grocery business in Terre Haute, which he sold, and on the 31st of March, 1899, came to Otter Creek township and bought the Markel flour mill, now known as the Forest Park mill. In May, 1907, he disposed of his milling property and has since lived retired in Edwards.
Mr. Welsh married, November 12, 1876, Miss Emmet Pogue, who was born in Fairbanks, Sullivan county, Indiana, September 4. 1853. a daughter of Albert and Sarah (Perry) Pogue. His father was born in Fairbanks, this state. April 6, 1828, and he spent his life in his native county as a farmer, dying December 30, 1886. He owned at one time two hundred acres of land, and was a grain grower and general farmer, also serving for many years as a school director. In 1851 he united with the Christian church and continued a devoted Christian during the remainder of his life. He was a Whig politically. Mrs. Pogue was born in Vigo county, Indiana, May 3. 1830, and was a granddaughter of William Perry, who came to Indiana in an early day in its history and located in what is now Vigo county. He built the first tannery here and traded with the Indians for pelts, shipping the leather to New Or- leans and Chicago on flat boats. Mr. and Mrs. Pogue were married July 23, 1851, and became the parents of seven children. Those now liv- ing are Mrs. Welsh, John, Emma Zetta, James M. and May F. The two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Welsh are Florence S., married January 2, 1908, to Harry D. White, a farmer, of Otter Creek township, and Gertrude C. Mr. Welsh exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Democratic party. Mrs. Welsh and daughters are members of the Christian church. Mr. Welsh has a hand- some modern residence, which was erected in 190.5.
THOMAS STEVENSON .- The life span of Thomas Stevenson covered the period of seventy-five years, years marked with success and the at- tainment of a leading position among the agriculturists of Vigo county. This was also the county of his nativity, born in section 8, Otter Creek township, March 31, 1826, to Mahlon and Ruth (Durham) Stevenson. natives respectively of Tennessee and Virginia. They were of English descent and were among the earliest residents of Vigo county. It was in 1816 that Mahlon Stevenson enrolled his name as a resident of Vigo
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county, and in 1819 he came to Otter Creek township and set about the opening of a farm in the wilderness, for the country was then new and undeveloped, and he spent the remaining portion of his life here. He had learned the wheelwright's trade and could turn his hand to other work with success, having with other articles manufactured chairs quite extensively. Both he and his wife died and were laid to rest in Otter Creek township. Of their ten children eight grew to years of maturity.
Thomas Stevenson was next to the youngest of the children, and he supplemented his district school training by a course in Bloomington Academy. In time he became one of the prominent farmers of Otter Creek township and the owner of three hundred acres, following both general farming and stock raising. He voted with both the Whig and Republican parties, and served his township for one term as a supervisor and a similar period as a trustee.
On the 27th of February, 1862, in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, Mr. Stevenson married Miss Eliza Aholtz. She was born in York county, Pennsylvania, September 1, 1838, to George S. and Sarah (Coffman) Aholtz, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania and were of German origin. They were married in Lancaster county of that state, and in an early day moved to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, where Mr. Aholtz was a farmer for many years, but retiring spent his last days in Lafayette. He gave his political allegiance to the Whig party and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of the eleven children, nine sons and two daughters, born to Mr. and Mrs. Aholtz, only two are now living, Mrs. Stevenson and her brother Ambrose, now of Chicago. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson: Nora, George L., Sarah I., Archibald, Norma, Octavia and Frederick. - Nora died in infancy. George L. married Minnie Crabb, who died in 1904, and he then married Clara Dickerson. He is a farmer of Otter Creek township. Sarah I., widow of John Orth. Archibald married Stella Keeper. He now lives in California. Norma married Ed Small, and resides in Urbana, Illinois. Octavia is single, and at her mother's home. Frederick married Emma Watkins and lives in Otter Creek township. Mr. Stevenson remained true to the religion of his parents, the Society of Friends, until his useful and beneficent life was ended in death, November 26, 1901. Mrs. Ste- venson is a member of the Methodist church.
MARK A. CREAL .- One of Vigo county's oldest and best known citizens, Mark A. Creal, was laid to rest on the 14th of October, 1906. For many years he was numbered among the leading business men of the community, prominently identified with its milling, farming and
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stock interests, and his sterling worth gained him respect and confidence. Otter Creek township was his birthplace, where he was born on October 12, 1840. a son of Anthony and Malinda ( Williams) Creal. The father was born in Jamestown, New York, November 22, 1800, and became one of the early pioneers of Otter Creek township, where he conducted a tannery and a mill. He was both a Whig and a Methodist. Mrs. Creal was born in Kentucky, January 10, 1806, and died in September, 1878, surviving her husband for five years, his death having occurred November 27. 1873. They were married in 1825, and of their large family of nine children none are now living. Hulda, the last of them, dying at a sani- tarium at Benton Harbor, Michigan, on April 8, 1908, aged seventy-five years, two months and seventeen days. She was the widow of Thomas Hobbs.
During his early manhood Mark A. Creal taught school. He re- mained at home with his parents until his marriage, and then began farming for himself, and in 1888 erected the fine farm home in which his widow now resides. For some years he was also prominently identi- fied with the milling business, and for three years bought and shipped stock, becoming one of the prominent business men of Otter Creek township.
Mrs. Creal bore the maiden name of Catherine D. Gray, and it was on the 14th of February, 1865, that she was married to Mark A. Creal. She was born in Butler county, Ohio, April 7, 1845, a daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Vansickle) Gray, the former of whom was born in the southwestern part of Virginia, of Irish parents, and the latter in Pennsylvania, in 1814. They were married in Butler county, Ohio. Jan- uary 19, 1832. and became the parents of six children: Sarah J., the wife of Noah Doty; Moses V., Hannah M., the widow of Henry S. Creal; Mrs. Creal, the youngest of the children, and two deceased. Mr. Gray was quite extensively engaged in the cooperage business, employing a number of men, and he found a market for his barrels in Cincinnati. He was also a farmer, and at one time owned one hundred and sixty acres of land in Michigan, while at the time of his death he owned one hundred and sixty acres in Ohio. Both he and his wife were charter members of the Christian church at Carthage, Ohio, where they spent their lives, and he affiliated with the Whig party. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Creal: Oscar, who married Nettie F. Beal ; Hubert, who died at the age of twelve years; Charles T., who married Jessie Beal; Lena I. and Wilfred, both of whom died in infancy. For forty years Mr. Creal was a true and loyal member of the Christian church, and one of its elders, and his life was in harmony with his pro- fessions. He voted with the Republican party until late in life, when
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he became an independent voter, voting for the man rather than for the party.
GEORGE A. PAINE is prominently known as a farmer of Otter Creek township, where he was born on the 4th of November, 1829, to Alva and Sarah (Searing) Paine, natives of Massachusetts and Saratoga county, New York. Soon after their marriage in the early twenties they entered government land at Vincennes, Indiana, and located in Otter Creek township, of Vigo county, where their first home was a little log cabin and where for a number of years Mr. Paine served as a justice of the peace. He was a Whig politically. Of the five children, three sons and two daughters, born to Mr. and Mrs. Paine, three are now living : John J., George A. and Marvin.
George A. Paine was left fatherless when but a mere child, and when he had attained his sixteenth year he began work with his brother John at the currier's trade, with whom he remained for two years. Dur- ing the following ten or twelve years he was employed as a farm hand, and he then engaged to drive an ox team for the government from Fort Leavenworth. When only a few days out from the fort the Indians headed them off from going through to Santa Fe, and instead they went into southwestern Missouri and thence on to Forts Riley and Bents. Their train was composed of thirty-three wagons loaded with suppplies for the forts, and they were nine months out. On his return journey through Missouri to Indiana Mr. Paine covered about four hundred miles on horseback. This was in the summer of 1855, when the Indians and buffaloes were plentiful and were seen on every hand, and after arriving at his old home in Indiana he worked out as a farm hand at from eleven to thirteen dollars a month. In this way he saved enough money with which to buy, in company with William Baldwin, the Webster farm, while in 1862 he purchased Mr. Baldwin's interest in the land, and in 1886 erected thereon a pleasant farm home. This took the place of their former home, which had burned, and in which they lost their only daughter, Lucinda, a beautiful girl of fourteen years. Mr. Paine has owned as high as four hundred acres of land in Vigo county, and his present estate consists of three hundred and twenty acres of rich and well improved land. For a number of years he has also served his community as a school director and has served as an administrator for three families of orphaned children. His first presidential vote was cast for John C. Fremont.
On the 26th of March, 1862, Mr. Paine married Miss Clarissa Mills, who was born in Kentucky, January 22. 1839, a daughter of Henry B.
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and Lucinda (Somers) Mills, both also natives of the Blue Grass state, and born respectively in 1811 and April 20, 1810. They came to Vigo county, Indiana, in 1858, and spent the remainder of their lives here as farming people. He affiliated with the Whig party and the Christian church. The mother died in 1886. They were married in 1834 and became the parents of ten children, of whom the four now living are Luther, Evan, George and Mrs. Paine.
Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Paine, namely : Henry, who died when a young man of twenty years; Edward, who married Clara Evans, now holding position in the office of the auditor of the Vandalia Railroad in Terre Haute; Luna, who died in infancy, and Lucinda, who, as noted above, lost her life when a girl of fourteen years in the burning of her parents' home.
SAMUEL R. JONES is one of the best known and most prominent farmers and stock raisers of Vigo county. He is also a member of one of Indiana's early pioneer families, for it was in the early year of 1833 that Robert and Sophia Jones, grandparents of Samuel, came with ox teams from North Carolina and established their home in Green county. The family were later cruelly mistreated by the Indians and the women were scalped, but Mrs. Jones' mother survived the terrible ordeal and lived for many years afterward. One of the sons, John Jones, was captured and carried into captivity, and it was only after thirteen years of diligent search and the expenditure of all his money that his father at last found and recovered him.
Aquilla Jones, the father of Samuel, was born in North Carolina, March 15, 1822, and was therefore a boy of eleven years when the home was transferred to Greene county, Indiana. His younger days were spent at work on the Erie canal, and in March, 1854, he started from Bloom- field on the overland journey with ox teams, via the Kit Carson route, to Santa Fe and California, and was nine months and two weeks on the road. At one point enroute they were obliged to pay fifty dollars for fifty pounds of flour. Eventually arriving at their destination Mr. Jones spent four years in the Golden state, one year as a miner and three years at burning charcoal, which was a very remunerative business at that time, and then started on the return journey by the Isthmus route to New York, and thence to Riley township, Vigo county, where he lived for about four years. He was killed in a railroad accident November 29, 1901. In Greene county he had married Mary Burcham, born in North Carolina, August 22, 1821, and died in August. 1892. Of their six chil- dren only two are now living, John and Samuel, and those deceased are
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Silas, Rachel, Betty and Robert. Mr. Jones married for his second wife Dorothy Sanders, and six of their seven children are living. They were William W., Louise B., James T., Luella Moody, Clem, Aquilla Jackson and Minnie. He was a member of the Christian church and was an active worker in the local ranks of the Democratic party. During the presidential campaign of James K. Polk he rode a steer through the streets of Bloomfield and carried a Polk staff.
Samuel R. Jones was born in Greene county, Indiana, June 4, 1854, and soon after his marriage he began farming in Lost Creek township, Vigo county. His farm was located near Seeleyville and his cash capital at the time he began life for himself consisted of seventeen dollars. In 1884 he removed to Harrison township and worked one year for C. T. Smith, and in 1889 entered upon his three years' career as the proprietor of a boarding house. In 1892 he moved to the Jacob Jackson farm, in 1897 rented the Jenks and Blocksom farm of about twelve hundred acres, and in 1898 assumed the management of Mr. Jenks' farm of seven hundred acres, his present home. On this land he has raised as high as nine thousand bushels of corn and sixteen hundred and thirty-eight bushels of wheat in a single year. In 1906 ten acres netted him five hundred and fifty bushels of wheat and twenty acres ten hundred and fifty-two bushels. He also is extensively engaged in the breeding of full-blood Berkshire hogs, imported from England, and he has an American Berkshire record boar, son of Durham Prince, 2d, No. 83682, and Dutchess of Devonshire, Eastbourne, England. He now has fourteen full-blood Berkshire sows, and in all owns over one hundred head of hogs. He also breeds full- blood Jersey cattle. Mr. Jones has won many premiums, both in his stock and cereals. a bronze medal having been conferred upon him at the Universal Exposition in St. Louis in 1904 for his excellent production of corn, and in 1906 won the Purdue medal for hominy corn. He also secured the first premium and sweepstakes on Berkshire hogs at the Vigo county fair in 1907.
Mr. Jones married, March 23. 1873. Miss Jane Jackson. Her father, Solomon B. Jackson, was an own cousin of Gen. Stonewall Jackson and was born in Maryland February 18, 1817. He in subsequent years be- came a farmer in Ohio, and in 1859 came from that state to Indiana and located first in Clay county. In 1871 he came to Vigo county, but after ten years here returned to Clay county, and after the death of his wife lived with his children, dying October 24, 1904. Mrs. Jackson bore the maiden name of Eliza Slayback and was born near Rising Sun, Indiana, in 1826. and died October 24. 1894. Of their family of eleven children four sons and three daughters are living: John, William, Mrs. Jones,
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James, Alonzo, Mary and Ella. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jones: Jesse A., who married Miss Emma Milligan; John B., who married Ida Lawson; Ennis A., who married Emma Miller : Nellie Lee, the wife of Allie M. Lewis; Glenn D., the wife of Charles Russell, and one deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Jones also have eleven grand- children.
SHOVER DOUGLAS HUMPHREY, a farmer in section 17, Otter Creek township, was born in Parke county, Indiana, April 28, 1856, a son of David and Elizabeth ( Myers) Humphrey, born respectively in Ohio in 1821 and at White's Mill, Parke county, Indiana, in 1832. David Humphrey came in an early day to Indiana with his parents, Robert and Hepsey Humphrey. Robert Humphrey was left an orphan when a small boy. and having been bound out to a gentleman in Ohio was reared as a Quaker. After coming to Indiana he entered government land in Parke county, and there his little son David grew to manhood's estate. He be- came a millwright, blacksmith and farmer, and he erected a number of mills in Parke county, from whence he moved in 1866 to Otter Creek township, Vigo county, and bought two hundred and sixty acres of land. The log house which stood on the farm when he took possession con- tinued as the family home until the erection, in 1876, of the two-story frame dwelling in which he spent the residue of his life, dying December 20, 1879. For many years he served as postmaster in Parke county and was a member of old Roseville Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, He voted with the Democratic party. Mrs. Humphrey died in 1890, after becoming the mother of five sons and a daughter, but only four of the sons are now living : H. D., S. D., David F. and Hiram.
S. D. Humphrey accompanied his parents on their removal to Vigo county in 1866, and when convenient attended the public schools. He re- ceived a good business education and learned the carpenter's trade, and many of the buildings in Otter Creek township now stand as monuments of his handiwork. From 1879 until 1904 he also operated a threshing machine, and has won a reputation of threshing more wheat in the same length of time than any other man in the county. From one o'clock in the afternoon until seven in the evening he threshed ten hundred and eighty-six bushels. During these years in which he operated his machine he also served as supervisor under the appointment of Dr. Watkins, of Otter Creek township. In 1896 Mr. Humphrey opened a general store at Heckland, which he conducted in connection with his other interests for twelve years.
He first married Elizabeth Sayler, a native of Montgomery county,
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Indiana, and she bore him five daughters, but only two, Maranda and Hepseybeth, are now living. On the 4th of June, 1879, he married Julia A. Melton, who was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, November 28, 1855, a daughter of William S. and Julia E. (Williams) Melton. This union has been blessed by the birth of six sons: Montcliff, born April 22, 1880. and died February 26, 1881 ; David W., born June 20, 1882; Franklin, born March 27, 1885, died March 9, 1886; John R., born January 18, 1887 : Sethi B., born March 25, 1889, and Homer D., born March 19, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey also have three grand- children. Mr. Humphrey is a charter member of Burnett Lodge, No. 709, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Encampment, No. 276. He votes with the Democratic party. David W. belongs to the Terre Haute Lodge of Eagles; Seth B. belongs to the Junior Order of American Mechanics, Burnett Council No. 2, and Homer D. is in the United States navy.
JACOB STUMP, the owner of one of the largest green houses in Vigo county, was born in York county. Pennsylvania, March 9, 1862. a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Cooke) Stump. both of whom also claimed York as the county of their nativity, born respectively in 1817 and 1824. Some years after their marriage they came to Indiana, arriving in Terre Haute in 1868, and here the husband and father resumed his trade of a hatter. For over fifty years he was a member of the fraternal order of Odd Fellows, joining the order in Pennsylvania, and he was a Whig politically. Both he and his wife now lie buried in Terre Haute, Mrs. Stump dying in 1889, and just ten years later her husband was also laid to rest. Of their twelve children, six are now living: Obediah, George, Rebecca, Albert, Jacob and Hattie.
When he had attained to the age of nineteen years, Jacob Stump engaged in business, adding in 1890, a stock of groceries, and in 1897 he became interested in a green house, building one of the best hothouse plants in Vigo county. In 1905 he disposed of his grocery interest in Terre Haute, and in the same year he completed the building of a beau- tiful residence, five miles north of Terre Haute, in Otter Creek town- ship. It is one of the finest stone and brick homes in the entire county and is complete in all its appointments. He has installed therein a water plant which furnishes hot and cold water for the entire building, and also has his own gas plant for heating and lighting purposes. His hot house contains over ten thousand square feet of glass, heated by a hot water system. Mr. Stump is also quite extensively engaged in the breeding of fine horses, and now has two standard-bred stallions, one the son of Axtel and the other of Jersey Wilkes. He also raises yellow leg game chickens.
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On the 30th of September, 1890, Mr. Stump married Miss Anna Smith, born in Terre Haute, Indiana, March 17, 1867, to Lewis and Mary (Shea) Smith. Lewis Smith was born in Germany, and in his early manhood made the journey to the United States on a sailing ship, and from the harbor of New York he made his way to Illinois and thence on to Vigo county, Indiana, where he resumed his former work of gar- dening near Terre Haute. He gave his political allegiance to the Dem- ocratic party. He died when fifty-seven years of age. Mrs. Smith was born in Ireland in 1833, and is now living in Terre Haute. They were married in Illinois, and of their eight children four are now living : L. D., Mamie (wife of Woodford Helms), Mrs. Stump and William. Mr. Stump supports the principles of the Republican party.
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