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 36
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a Republican. He was a member of the German Evangelical church, and at one time had fraternal affiliations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He continued his relations with his old army comrades by his membership in Blinn Post, Grand Army of the Republic. His death oc- curred on the 13th of December, 1891, long surviving his wife, who had died July 12, 1878. In their family were ten children, namely: Anna and Catherine, both deceased; Harriet, the wife of Jacob Woods, of Prairieton ; Margaret, the widow of Levi Dawson and a resident of Terre Haute ; George F., the subject of this review ; Elizabeth, deceased ; Daniel, who has been twice married, first to Flora Shisser and secondly to Clara Norton, and he resides in Clark county, Illinois ; William, who married Emma Smith. now deceased, and is living in Terre Haute ; Emma, who has also been twice married, first wedding Jacob Green and afterward her present husband, Thomas Van Allen, and they are living in West Terre Haute, and Mary, deceased.
When George F. Neff had reached his fifteenth year he left home and for two years worked as a blacksmith, while during the following eight years he was engaged in teaming and hauling logs. In the spring of 1876 he rented a farm in Prairieton township, and continued as a renter for twenty-one years, and at the close of that period purchasing the farm of two hundred and seven acres. He became the owner of the place in 1897, and he now has two hundred and ten acres and makes a specialty of grain farming. In 1907 he made several improvements on his residence, including the building of a porch, and the home is now modern and complete in all its appointments.
On the 25th of October, 1877, Mr. Neff married Belle Evans, who was born January 13. 1857, a daughter of Robert and Eliza Jane (Cor- nell) Evans, and their five children are: Vivian, who was born February 26, 1882, and died in September of the same year; Erma, born April 23. 1883, is the wife of Louis Hayworth, of Prairieton township; Catherine, born October 7, 1884, is the wife of Willard Butler, and they reside with her parents ; Georgia, born March 30, 1892, and Glen, born May 22, 1895, are both at home. All completed the course in the Prairieton school with the exception of Glen, and Catherine also attended the State Normal at Terre Haute for one term. Mr. Neff votes with the Democratic party, and is a Master Mason. He has filled all the offices in his local lodge with the exception of those of secretary and treasurer. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist church at Prairieton.
JOSEPHI DOSCH .- One of the well known German-American citizens of Vigo county, is Joseph Dosch, a farmer in Prairieton township. He
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was born in Baden, Germany, December 19, 1857, a son of Jacob and Mary (Bungy) Dosch. The mother lived to the age of seventy-two years, and the father was seventy-five when death claimed him. He was a cabinet-maker and the proprietor of a shop. Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Dosch the three eldest, Catherine, Stephen and Martin, are deceased ; Joseph was the fourth born: Philip resides in Terre Haute, and the two youngest, Francis and Susan, are also deceased.
Joseph Dosch came to the United States on the 5th of June, 1880, to escape service in the German army, and after landing at Baltimore made his way direct to Prairieton township, in Vigo county, Indiana. He was a florist in Germany, and after coming here worked for his uncle for two years. He was then married and began farming for himself on a rented farm which later his wife inherited, and the homestead con- sists of two hundred and fifty-six acres in Prairieton township. He is a successful grain and stock farmer.
On the 14th of September, 1882, Mr. Dosch wedded Alydia Rotz, born July 22, 1860, on the farm on which she now lives, a daughter of Frank and Helen (Meyer) Rotz, both of whom were born in Germany, the father in 1814, and they came to the United States in 1840 and located in Terre Haute, where the father worked in the sawmill during the summer months and at pork packing in the winter, for eight or nine years. He then purchased a little farm of one hundred and eighty acres, and at his death, May 1, 1905, his estate consisted of two hundred and fifty-six acres. He was one of the early pioneers of Prairieton town- ship, and in 1872 he built the brick residence in which Mr. and Mrs. Dosch now reside, one of the finest in the county, and it is now furnished and fitted with many of the latest improvements, including an acetylene gas plant of its own. Mr. Rotz was a Democrat and a member of the German Catholic church. Of his four children two died in infancy and Josephine, born March 31, 1857, lives with her sister, Mrs. Dosch. Mr. and Mrs. Dosch have six children: Frank J., who was born March 7, 1884, and is a farmer in the state of Washington; Mary N., born De- cember 7. 1886; George, February 18, 1899; Louis, who died in infancy ; Jacob B., born February 2, 1893, and Emma, born November 7, 1900. Mr. Dosch had fraternal relations with the Ancient Order of United Workmen until the lodge disbanded, and he is a Democrat politically. Both he and his wife are members of the German Catholic church at Terre Haute.
MRS. HARRIET HARLAN was born February 6, 1848, in Ohio, but from her earliest girlhood days she has lived in Vigo county and is num-
Darnes Harlen
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
Astor, Lonox and Tilden Foundations. 1909
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bered among its honored pioneer women. Her parents, Nicholas Mul- likin and Ellen (Brown) Mullikin, were both natives of Maryland, born respectively on the 15th of March, 1801, and December 27, 1805, and both were of Scotch-Irish descent. They were married in that common- wealth, and for a number of years Mr. Mullikin worked there in a meat packing house, working for seven dollars a month, and on this small allowance he kept a wife and three children. From Maryland they moved to Ohio, and there he farmed until his removal in 1851 to Vigo county, Indiana. They established their home in Honey Creek township, on the old Joe Jenks farm, which they rented for seven years, and then, in 1858, bought forty acres in the same township. There they spent the remainder of their lives, Mr. Mullikin dying on the 26th of November, 1884, and his wife on the 20th of November, 1883. They became the parents of twelve children: Evaline, who died when young; William Joseph, Martha, Ann Mariah and Albert, also deceased; Samuel, on the old homestead in Honey Creek township: Andrew and Mary C., de- ceased ; John, of Terre Haute; Harriet, who became the wife of Mr. Harlan ; Louis, deceased, and the youngest died in infancy. Mr. Mullikin supported the Democratic party, and his first presidential vote was cast for Andrew Jackson. During one term he served his township as its supervisor.
On the 6th of December, 1870, Harriet Mullikin gave her hand in marriage to James Harlan. He was a son of Enoch and Catherine ( Pope) Harlan, the former of whom was born December 19, 1800, and died May 17, 1889, while the latter, born in 1810, died on the 29th of August, 1875. James Harlan, born January 24, 1836, died May 17, 1902, leaving his widow and five children. They had become the parents of eight children, namely : Albert, deceased ; Junior, a resident of Terre Haute ; Ray C., also deceased; Ida, the wife of Walter Payne, of Middletown ; James Elmer, deceased ; Herman, who married Clara Kennedy and lives in Lin- ton township; Ernest, who married Miss Edith Robinson and resided in Honey Creek, and Judge, at home. The children all attended the city schools of Prairieton, and with the exception of the youngest all were students in the Commercial College of Terre Haute. Mr. Harlan was a stock and grain farmer, and at his death he left a large estate of one thousand acres, all in Vigo county. He was an active politician as well as business man, but never desires the emoluments or honors of public office. At one time he was elected the squire of Honey Creek township, but refused to serve. He was a Democrat politically. In 1880 he built one of the finest farm homes in Vigo county, a beautiful and commodious residence of twelve rooms, and there his. widow now resides, the home-
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stead containing four hundred and thirty-six acres. Mrs. Harlan is a member of the Methodist church. She has two of the old parchment deeds, one dated November 7, 1837, and the other October 1. 1840. These valuable documents are signed by President Martin Van Buren.
JACOB HENRY ST. JOHN has been a resident of Prairieton township throughout his entire life, born on his father's farm here March 22, 1854. Charles St. John, his father, was of German descent and was born in Ulster county, New York, June 13. 1824. During his early manhood he moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he met and married Sarah Ogle, born in Hamilton county, that state, December 22. 1826, and she was of Welsh and German descent. In 1840 the young couple journeyed from Ohio to Vigo county, Indiana, where for ten years they rented land in Prairieton town- ship. They then became owners of one hundred and forty-three acres and here they spent the remainder of their lives, the wife dying in 1901 and the husband and father on the 17th of June, 1903. He was a Democrat and at one time a member of the Odd Fellows order, and both he and his wife were members of the United Brethren church. Their six children are as follows: Jacob H., the subject of this review; Edward. deceased ; James, a resident of Edgar county, Illinois : Clifford, deceased, and the two youngest died in infancy.
Jacob Henry St. John, the first born, grew to years of maturity on a farm in his native township of Prairieton, receiving his education in the district schools, and when he had attained the age of twenty-two he left home and for years lived on a rented farm. He then purchased and re- moved to his present homestead. As a representative of the Democracy he has served in the office of constable for two years and for a similar period as a supervisor.
Mr. St. John married, April 19. 1876, Mollie Lockhart, who was born in Evansville, Indiana, but as her father died when she was young she was reared in the home of George Nailer in Terre Haute, receiving her education in the city schools. She died on the 24th of July, 1882. when but twenty-two years of age, and left one son, Herbert, born February 27. 1878, who was married twice. His first wife, Bessie Hay- worth, by whom he has one daughter. Thelma, died, and his second wife was Myrla Whittaker, whom he married August 19. 1899. Jacob H. St. John married for his second wife Anna LeForge, who was born and educated in Vigo county, and their three children are: Jacob, deceased ; Orville, who lives with his father, and the youngest died in infancy. The wife and mother died in 1891, and on the 21st of March, 1892, Mr. St. John married Miss Hallie Whittaker, who was born in Lawrence
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county, Indiana, July 28. 1876, a daughter of James D. and Mary ( East- ham) Whittaker. They came to Vigo county, Indiana, when their daugh- ter Hallie was small and became prominent residents of Prairieton town- ship, where they are still living. Mr. and Mrs. St. John have had five children-Mary, finished eighth grade; Gertrude, deceased ; Ruby, Theo- dore and Commodore. Mr. St. John is a member of the United Brethren church, and his wife has membership relations with the Methodist denomination.
WILLIAM O. BURGETT .- Among the native sons of Vigo county is enrolled the name of William O. Burgett, who was born in the city of Terre Haute. January 12, 1842, a son of John and Julia (Webton) Burgett. From their native state of New York the parents journeyed to Terre Haute, Indiana, in the thirties, where the husband and father resumed his trade of carpentering. In their family were four children : Julia A., a resident of Indianapolis: Lawrence, of Terre Haute, and William O., the subject of this review. The father was a second time married, and by that union had four children: Richard, George, who was killed at Kitter's mill; Mary, the wife of Dr. Wolf, of Clay City, and Caroline, deceased.
William O. Burgett was left motherless when but six months old. and after being cared for by others for about a year he was taken by old Mrs. Norse, who kept him until he was three. He then returned home, for his father had married again, but after three years he again went to live with Mrs. Norse and remained with her until he enlisted for service in the Civil war, October 21, 1861. He was enrolled with Com- pany G, Forty-third Regiment of Indiana Infantry, and saw active service until his discharge, June 14, 1864. He served two years and six months as a private, was then made first orderly sergeant, and later received the rank respectively of second and first lieutenant. He continued as a brave and loyal soldier until the close of the conflict and participated in the battles of New Madrid, Riddle Point, Ft. Pillar, all in Missouri; Mem- phis, Tennessee, and Helena. Azor Pass, Little Rock and Mt. Adams, Arkansas. After returning from the war Mr. Burgett farmed on rented land for four years, and he is now the owner of an estate of thirty acres in Prairieton township and also a house and two lots in Prairieton. He is an active worker in the ranks of the Democratic party, and for twenty- one consecutive years served as the assessor of his township. He has received the third degree in Masonry and is the past master of his lodge, and he is also a member of Blinn Post. No. 394. Grand Army of the Republic. In compensation for his services as a soldier in the Civil war he now receives a pension of twenty-four dollars a month.
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In 1869 Mr. Burgett was married to Mary Adams, born in 1843, and her death occurred in 1883, after becoming the mother of four children : Lulu, the wife of Dan Manhart, of Terre Haute; Maude, a shorthand reporter in Galveston, Texas: Mabel, in Terre Haute, and one who died in infancy. In March, 1887, Mr. Burgett married Mary H. Ridges.
LEVI APPLEGATE was born in Kentucky October 15, 1842, but since his early manhood he has been identified with the interests of Vigo county. His father, Nicholas Applegate, born in 1811, came as a laborer to Parke county, Indiana, in 1843, and worked in the mines there most of the time during the remainder of his life, his death occurring on the 26th of November, 1887. He had been twice married, having three children by the first union, but the only one now living is Levi, the youngest child. The first born was Miranda and the second James. His second wife bore the maiden name of Rebecca Thomas, and their four children were: George, still living, of Parke county, and Jeannette, Presley and Rachel, all deceased. Mr. Nicholas Applegate voted with the Democratic party until the inauguration of the Civil war, when he espoused the Republican cause and remained true to its principles.
Levi Applegate spent the first sixteen years of his life at home with his parents and then worked with different employers until his enlist- ment for the Civil war, October 15, 1861, entering Company G, Forty- third Indiana Infantry. He entered the ranks as a private and was dis- charged June 14, 1865, having been in active service during all that time and participating in the battles of New Madrid, Riddle Point, Fort Pillar, all in Missouri ; Memphis, Tennessee, and Helena, Azor Pass, Little Rock and Mark Mill, Arkansas. He was captured in the last engagement but made his escape after two weeks, and throughout his entire service he was never wounded. He now receives a pension of fourteen dollars a month. After returning from the war Mr. Applegate conducted a saw mill for one year in Fountain county and then farmed rented land there for a similar period. In the spring of 1867 he came to Prairieton township, Vigo county, where for four years he rented land, and then, in 1871, purchased a tract of sixty acres, to which he later added thirty acres more, but in 1903 he sold the farm and bought three lots and a residence in Prairieton.
He cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, at his second term, and has voted the Republican ticket ever since. For fourteen years, represent- ing the Republican party, he served as the constable of Prairie Creek township, and for four years was a justice of the peace in the same
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township. He is a member of Blinn Post, No. 394, Grand Army of the Republic. In 1865 Mr. Applegate married Eleanor Phillips, who was born April 7. 1840, and both he and his wife are members of the Metho- dist church.
WILLIAM F. FARMER was born in the house where he now lives February 3, 1859, a son of Hiram and Alvina (Davis) Farmer. His paternal grandparents came from Butler county, Ohio, to Indiana, in 1832, first locating in Waveland, and in 1857 came to Prairieton township, where they purchased seven hundred acres of land. The grandfather was a blacksmith, general merchant and farmer, and spent the latter part of his life on his farm.
Their son Hiram was born August 7, 1836, and remained at home until twenty-one years of age, and then married and bought a farm in Prairie Creek township of one hundred and fifty acres, where he has lived ever since with the exception of about two years spent in Illinois. He has been a life-long agriculturist, and is a member of the Missionary Baptist church. Hiram Farmer married, first, Alvira Davis, who was born in 1843 and died in 1865, after becoming the mother of three chil- dren : William F., Fannie, who was born in 1861 and died in 1876, and Harvey, who is married and living in Terre Haute. By his second mar- riage, to Clara Pinkston, Mr. Farmer also had three children: Mintie, the wife of Edgar Lloyd, of Pottawatomie county, Oklahoma; Mattie, the deceased wife of William Weir, and Edward, who married Effie Man- hart.and resides in Terre Haute. For his third wife Mr. Farmer wedded Cordelia Taylor, but there were no children of that union. He is a Republican politically.
William F. Farmer lived in his father's home but a short time and then went to his grandmother, who cared for him until her death. He has lived on his present homestead farm all his life with the exception of five years, and has been a life-long farmer, owning at the present time an estate of three hundred and twenty-five acres. He is a Republican and a member of the Methodist church, as is also his wife.
On the 8th of November, 1881, Mr. Farmer married Blanche Ogle, who was born February 25, 1860, and they have four children: Bert O .. born July 31, 1882, and now employed by the Terre Haute Theater Com- pany in Terre Haute ; Leo J., born May 28, 1884, married Louise Pugh, of Honey Creek township: Fred H., born February 25, 1886, and Willie C., born January 19, 1894, both at home. All were educated in the Prairieton schools, and the eldest son, Bert, completed a course at the Wabash Business College.
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Mrs. Farmer is a daughter of Jacob W. Ogle and a granddaughter of Jacob and Sarah (Beatty) Ogle, natives of Dauphin county, Pennsyl- vania, and of English and German descent. Jacob's father, William Ogle, was a tailor and merchant and he located in Butler county, Ohio, in 1813, and remained there until 1839, coming thence to Vigo county. Indiana. He was a son of John Ogle, and the latter's father, the great- great-great-grandfather of Mrs. Farmer, was surnamed "John the Emi- grant." He came to this country from England with Lord Baltimore and received grants of land. Col. Jacob Ogle, the grandfather of Mrs. Farmer, was born October 9, 1791, and died June 28, 1867, and his wife, Sarah (Beatty) Ogle, was born December 28, 1790, and died October 3. 1871. They had eight children, of whom Jacob W. Ogle was the fourth, and he was born in Butler county, Ohio. February 10, 1823, and was a physician and farmer. He was a graduate of Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, with the class of 1845, and was also a graduate of Rush Medical College of Chicago. He owned three well cultivated farms of four hundred acres, and served two terms as township assessor, voting with the Democratic party. He had in his possession a box of copper and brass, which was taken from the Indians, and according to the record of his grandfather this box was given to the Indians by William Penn. Dr. Ogle died March 4, 1896. He married, December 2, 1851, Eliza J. Ferguson, a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Lee) Ferguson, natives of Butler county, Ohio, the former of Scotch and the latter of English descent. Eight of their children grew to years of maturity and Eliza J. (Ferguson) Ogle was the youngest. Dr. and Mrs. Ogle had six children : Mary M., the deceased wife of Laney White: Sarah E., wife of B. R. White ; J. B., deceased ; Fred H. L., who married Agnes Ball ; Blanche E .. wife of William Farmer, and Frank T.
Mr. and Mrs. Farmer have one of the old parchment deeds executed under the hand of President Van Buren, which bears the date of March 18, 1837. This is the fifth deed of the kind found in Vigo county.
JOHN M. FERGUSON .- From an early epoch in its history, repre- sentatives of the Ferguson name have been prominently identified with the interests of Vigo county, more especially with its agricultural pur- suits. As early as 1818 James Ferguson, who was born in Ohio, Decem- ber 29, 1809, and died February 10, 1882, came with his father and grandfather Thomas to the county, and they entered three hundred and twenty acres of land. becoming prominent grain and stock farmers. James Ferguson was the eldest of a large family of children, including Nancy, born March II, 1811; Anderson, born March 20, 1814; John,
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March 1, 1816; Thomas, March 14, 1817; Henry, December 16, 1819; Mary Ann, October 5, 1820, and Eliza, June 28, 1826, all now deceased. At his death James Ferguson left a large estate of two hundred and thirty acres. He was a Democrat and a member of the Baptist church. His wife bore the maiden name of Mary Simmons, and was born July 15, 1819, and is now living in Terre Haute. Their children numbered eleven, namely: John M., the subject of this review ; Thomas L., born Septem- ber 2, 1836, died May 30, 1859: Eliza Jane, born September 27, 1840, the wife of Dr. Drake, of Prairieton; Sarah A., born August 23, 1842, died in infancy ; James P., born March 6, 1845, died in infancy ; Sarah Ann, born May 15, 1847, wife of A. M. Hurst, in Vigo county, died in September, 1904: Wilson, born February 11, 1850, died in infancy ; William, born February 8, 1853, died in infancy; Martha Ellen, born November 2, 1854. wife of A. G. Hurst, died in Kansas in February, 1904; Malinda, born December 2, 1856, died in childhood, and Mary E., born June 20, 1859, the wife of Charles Davis, of Prairieton.
John M. Ferguson had reached his twenty-third year when he mar- ried and left home, his birth occurring December 16, 1836, in Vigo county. During the seven years following his marriage he rented a farm in Prairieton township, and then purchasing one hundred acres in Prairie Creek township he farmed there for another seven years. Selling that farm he then bought his present estate of two hundred and eleven acres, where he has ever since followed grain farming. He is a Democrat polit- ically and has served one term each as a justice of the peace and road supervisor.
On the IIth of October, 1859, Mr. Ferguson married Martha Rigney, born April 26, 1842, in Orange county, Indiana, a daughter of Samuel and Mary ( McPheeters ) Rigney. They have had four children, namely : Cora M., born September 19, 1860, is the wife of William H. Paddock, and has two children, William M. and Clara A, of Terre Haute ; Alice L., born July 7, 1862, is the wife of James W. Lee, of West Terre Haute, and has two daughters, Laura and Leare: Thomas E., born October 2, 1862, married Emma A. Roberts, resides in Honey Creek township and has three children, Harry, Charles and Dean, and Charles R., born May 3, 1872, died March 28, 1905. The daughters completed their edu- cational training in the Prairieton schools and the sons graduated from Brown's Business College. Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson are members of the Baptist church.
JOHN F. NELSON .- The name of Nelson has been prominently as- sociated with the agricultural interests of Vigo county since an early
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period in its history, and the founder of the family here was James Nelson, who came from his native state of Kentucky and cast his lot with the earliest residents of Honey Creek township. Shortly after his arrival he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land from the government, and farming continued as his life occupation. In his family were seven children : Al, James, William, John F., Betsy, Teshia and Polly.
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