USA > Indiana > Henry County > Hazzard's history of Henry county, Indiana, 1822-1906, Volume II > Part 66
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On January 21, 1885, Frank Bundy was married to Ella, daughter of David M. and Julia E. ( Morris) Brown, of Lewisville, Henry County, Indiana. To them has been born one child, a daughter, named Frances Maria, born January 21, 1900. Little Frances is a very lovable child and is the light and life of her parents.
ANCESTRY OF MRS. FRANK (BROWN) BUNDY.
Ella (Brown) Bundy, wife of Frank Bundy, is the daughter of David Monroe Brown and his wife, Julia E. (Morris) Brown. John Brown, the father of David M., came to Indiana from Pennsylvania in 1833 and settled first in Henry County, but after- wards removed to Rush County. David M. was born at Lewisville, Henry County, March 10, 1841, and from the age of nineteen has made his own way in the world. Most of his life has been spent in agricultural pursuits, in which he has been phenomenally suc- cessful. He was married in June, 1864, to Julia E., daughter of Joseph R. and Mar- garet D. (Minor) Morris, a well educated and highly accomplished young lady of Frank- lin Township. Mr. Brown was connected for several years with the First National Bank of Lewisville, of which he was one of the organizers and of which he was for a time the president and a director. He is now one of the principal stockholders and a director of the Central Trust and Savings Company of New Castle.
David M. and Julia E. (Morris) Brown are the parents of the following named children: Ella, born January 31, 1866, now the wife of Frank Bundy; George M., now of Indianapolis, his wife being Valeta, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Arnold, of New Castle; and Margaret E., who died in infancy.
III4
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ROBERT HOLIDAY COOPER.
FARMER, COUNTY OFFICIAL AND BANK DIRECTOR.
Among the men who have risen to local distinction in Henry County, no one is more worthy than Robert Holiday Cooper. His grandparents were John and Ann ( Hayes) Cooper, who were natives of Pennsylvania, where the former was born about 1763 and the latter in 1765. They were members of the Society of Friends. They were married in their native State and had four sons, named Caleb, William, father of the subject of this sketch, John and Imla. They removed to Harrison County, Ohio, when their sons were young men and there the father died in 1825. His widow survived him a number of years and died in 1855 in Henry County, Indiana, where she had removed with her sons, all of whom became settlers in that county. She is buried in the Quaker Church Cemetery, Cadiz.
William Cooper, horn November 11, 1793, was married in Ohio to Nancy, the fifth child of Robert and Rebecca Holiday. She was born in Pennsylvania, March 3, 1802, but the family afterwards moved to Harrison County, Ohio, where the parents died at an advanced age. William Cooper and family removed in 1835 from Ohio to Indiana and settled in Harrison Township, Henry County, where he purchased eighty acres of land, just south of the present site of Cadiz, upon which he built a log cabin home and here prospered and reared a large family of eleven children, seven of whom were born in Ohio and four in Henry County, Indiana, namely: Ann, afterwards the wife of Joel Hiatt; Rebecca. afterwards the wife of Jehu Weesner: John P., who married Eliza Jane, daughter of Tabor W. McKee: Mary, whose first husband was William McKee and who after his death married Joshua Hiatt; Lewessa. afterwards wife of William P. Newby; Robert H., subject of this sketch; Jane H., widow of the late Nimrod R. Elliott; Israel: Eliza M., afterwards wife of M. A. Pickering, of Cadiz; Caleh and Imla W. The survivors of this family are Robert H., Jane H., Israel, of Cadiz, where he attends to his large farming interests, and Imla W., of Mechanicsburg, a one-time partner of the late Nimrod R. Elliott and now a retired farmer. Caleb, one of the dead sons, was a splendid young man, affahle in demeanor, companionable, polite and popular. He was a gallant cavalry officer who served his country well until the close of the Civil War, first as Second Lieu- tenant of Company E, 9th Indiana Cavalry and afterwards as First Lieutenant of the same company. He was mustered out of the service August 28, 1865. His military rec- ord will he found .set out elsewhere in this History. In civil life he was a promising attorney of the Henry County bar. He died December 14, 1867. Imla W. was also a soldier of the Civil War and his record will he found elsewhere in this History in con- nection with Company D. 147th Indiana Infantry, of which he was a member. William Cooper died August 17, 1876, and his widow, Nancy ( Holiday) Cooper, died March 19. 1893.
ROBERT HOLLIDAY COOPER.
Robert Holiday Cooper was born in Harrison County, Ohio, May 6, 1827. and came to Indiana with his parents in 1835. The educational advantages of the pioneers and their children were very meagre, but he acquired a knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic in the district schools of the neighborhood, and being naturally endowed with a large fund of common sense has always found his education equal to his needs.
He spent most of his boyhood on his father's tarm and there accumulated a prac- tical experience which determined him to follow farming as a business. His first ven- ture for himself was on a forty acre tract of land, not far from Cadiz, which had been given to his wife, Harriet ( Hiatt) Cooper, by her father. She suffered from ill health for some two or three years, which finally resulted in her death. Mr. Cooper then sold this land for seven hundred dollars, but the sickness and death of his wife, combined with other misfortunes in his family, had already consumed this for the times large sum of money, compelling him to start life anew. His second wife had some means of her own and this he used to purchase eighty acres of land on which he once more began farming. which he continued with such success that he has been ahle in his later years to retire from active work with a competency.
R.H. Cooler
III5
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
As early as 1856 Mr. Cooper became interested in political questions and during that critical period of great political changes allied himself with the Republican party and was a warm supporter of General John C. Fremont, its first candidate for the presi- dency. In 1860 he was again in line for the principles and party of Abraham Lincoln and has from that time to the present been an earnest advocate of the party and its policy. In Harrison Township he is prominent in the party councils He served four years as assessor of the township and has served one term (1871-4) as commissioner of Henry County for the middle district, having for his colleagues on the board, Williams Nicholson, Thomas N. White and Jabish Luellen. Mr. Cooper made an excellent record in this important office.
About 1874 Mr. Cooper became a stockholder and director in the First National Bank of New Castle and remained with the institution for a number of years. He sub- sequently became one of the organizers of the Central Trust and Savings Company, of New Castle, of which he is a stockholder and director. He takes a fatherly interest in that institution and uses his influence by word and deed to strengthen its hold upon the business of the community.
For a number of years he was a stockholder in the Henry County Agricultural Society, New Castle, and during a great portion of the time was its president. From the beginning he was recognized as a prime factor in the society and helped in many ways to make a success of its annual exhibitions.
Some three or four years ago Mr. Cooper under the pressure of advancing years retired from the active duties of life and rented his farm, which had grown from eighty to four hundred acres of the best land in Henry County. He removed to New Castle. where he expects to pass the remaining years of a hitherto very busy life.
Mr. Cooper during his whole life has been an industrious, hard working man and has exercised a vigilant economy in his affairs but while looking after his own interests he has not been amiss in his duty to friends and neighbors nor chary of extending a helping hand. He is a public spirited citizen of honest and upright life and it is to the labors of such men as he that the county is indebted for its exalted position among the counties of the State.
He has been for a number of years a member of the Christian Church and a worker in the cause of the Master. He has been liberal of his time and means in pro- moting the work of the church and in supporting its charities. Mr. Cooper finds sup- port for his religious views in the Masonic fraternity, which has for its cornerstone. faith in God, the King. He is a member of New Castle Lodge, Number 91, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and of New Castle Chapter, Number 50, Royal Arch Masons.
On February 22, 1847, when but twenty years of age, Robert H. Cooper married Harriet Hiatt, a daughter of David and Ruth ( Ratliff ) Hiatt. She was born June 15, 1830, and died March 29, 1853. They were the parents of two children: Eldred M .. born March 11, 1849; and David L., born March 8, 1851; died May 3, 1874. Eldred M. married Allie Trueblood, daughter of Edward Trueblood, and lives on his farm situated on the line between Henry and Madison counties. Eldred M. is a successful farmer as in early manhood he was a successful teacher.
After the death of his first wife. Robert H. Cooper married Margaret Haworth. daughter of James and Amelia Haworth. She was born June 6, 1837, at Wilmington. Ohio, and afterwards came with her parents to New London. Howard County, Indiana. where she was married to Mr. Cooper. They were the parents of eight children, namely: Belle, born January 20, 1857, who afterwards married John C. MeLucas, now of Fairbury, Nebraska: Ida J., born September 3, 1858; married Edmund H. Hinshaw; Frank W." born July 24. 1860: married Emma Depboye; Harriet E., born June 12, 1862. married Luther M. Nelson: Amelia H., born June 22, 1864; married Alvin J. Frazier; Minnie M., born September 25, 1866; married Dr. Edgar S. Ferris; Milton O., born July 24. 1869, married Bessie Woods: Bennie, born December 8, 1875; married Professor Charles R. Atkinson.
John C. McLucas is a son of the late Wilson T. McLucas and was born near Cadiz. He is now a resident of Fairbury, Nebraska, where he has been in the employ of the Rock Island railroad for about twenty years. He also gives his attention to the buying and shipping of live stock.
III6
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
Edmund Howard Hinshaw was horn on a farm near Greensboro, Henry County, Indiana. His father was Lindsey Hinshaw and the late Seth Hinshaw, the well known philanthropist, was his great-uncle. He was educated in the home schools; at the Spice- land Academy and at Butler University, Indianapolis, graduating from the last named in 1885. He taught school for several years, among other places at Cadiz, where he hecame acquainted with lda J. Cooper, whom he subsequently married. He afterwards moved to Fairhury, Nebraska, where he was for a time superintendent of the public schools, hut finally declined to serve longer in that position. He was admitted to the bar in 1887 and soon became prominent in the practise of the law. He then entered politics and held several municipal and county offices. In 1898 he was nominated for Congress by the Republicans but was unable to overcome the fusion plurality. In 1901 he was candidate for United States Senator but after a contest which lasted three months he and all the other candidates withdrew and a new man was chosen. He was again nominated for Congress from the fourth Nebraska district in the Spring of 1902 and after a spirited contest was elected to the Fifty Eighth Congress. He was re- elected to the Fifty Ninth Congress by 7,700 majority and is now serving in that body. His district is composed of eleven counties, viz: Butler, Fillmore, Gage, Hamilton, Jeffer- son, Polk, Saline, Saunders, Seward, Thayer and York, the population of which is nearly 200,000. Mr. Hinshaw is a well informed and polished gentleman who has the confidence and good will of his constituency and, if he lives, will doubtless receive still higher honors from his adopted State.
Frank W. Cooper is a farmer of Fall Creek Township; he resides at Middletown and has charge of the estate of Mrs. Anna D. Welsh. Luther M. Nelson, hushand of Harriet E. Cooper, is a son of Joseph R. Nelson. He was born at Cadiz, but is now a resident of Fairbury, Nebraska, where he has been for a number of years assistant cashier of the Harbine Bank of that city. Alvin J. Frazier is a druggist at Muncie, Indiana. Dr. Edgar S. Ferris is a son of the late Dr. Samuel Ferris and is one of the successful practising physicians of New Castle. He gives special attention to diseases of the eye and ear. Milton O. Cooper is a farmer who lives four and a half miles south- west of New Castle, in the Clear Springs neighborhood. Charles R. Atkinson is superin- tendent of schools at Sheridan, Wyoming. Before going to Sheridan, he was for a number of years superintendent of schools at York, Nebraska. He is one of the promi- nent educators of the Great West.
Robert H. Cooper has been blessed beyond all other things in his children, and has every reason to be proud of them and their successes in life. They are all capable and honorable men and women and useful citizens. They are fathers and mothers them- selves and children and grandchildren alike always meet with a delightful welcome when they visit the old home.
Margaret (Haworth) Cooper, the second wife of Mr. Cooper, died April 6. 1889. He was again married on June 18, 1890, his present wife, who is a most estimable wo- man, being Mrs. Mary (Booth) Widup. Charles, her son by her first marriage, resides in New Castle.
Mr. Cooper enjoys a distinction hardly surpassed and probably not equaled in Indiana. In the presidential campaign of 1904, which resulted in the election of Theo- dore Roosevelt as President and Charles W. Fairbanks as Vice-President, he voted for the successful candidates, as did three of his sons, six of his sons-in-law, five grandsons and his youngest daughter, the wife of Professor Atkinson, of Sheridan, Wyoming, in which State the payment of a poll tax of two dollars admits women to the franchise. Before the election took place, the political preferences of the family were printed in the local papers and brought to the attention of President Roosevelt, who addressed to Mr. Cooper the following interesting communication:
"My Dear Mr. Cooper:
"OYSTER BAY, N. Y., August 30, 1904.
"I have just received the enclosed clipping. Evidently you are the kind of an American in whom I believe, and I want to write and congratulate you on your family, while congratulating myself on the fact that I have your and their support. I have a great regard for your son-in-law, Representative Hinshaw.
"Sincerely yours,
"THEODORE ROOSEVELT."
En Finshows
III7
. HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF NIMROD RICHARD ELLIOTT.
FARMER, MERCHANT, BANKER.
Every man's success or failure in life depends to a large extent upon his own ef- forts. How true is the common expression, "every man is the architect of his own fortune." The man of substance and weight in his own particular community is usually one who has risen above the common level by sheer industry and economy, supported by a laudable ambition to excel. The present Governor of Indiana, J. Frank Hanly, was a poor boy who started in life as an humble digger of ditches but, while wielding the pick-axe and shovel, he was looking forward. He was a good ditcher and step by step arose until he found the honors and dignities of the governorship of a great State awaiting him. Such as he not only illustrate the equality of opportunity but indicate the sure pathway to success.
Nimrod Richard Elliott may be taken as another example in point. As a boy he was wholly dependent upon his own exertions but he was animated by a fixity of pur- pose that in the end brought him to the goal of his ambition. His life work was done mainly among his neighbors in Henry County and his story should be interesting and profitable to the generation of to day.
He was the son of Ephraim B. and Eliza (Harden) Elliott. His father was born in North Carolina, January 12, 1781, and his mother in Georgia, May 3, 1786. They were married in North Carolina in 1810. On June 20, 1829, they started from their old home in North Carolina for Wayne County, Indiana, reaching their destination near Greens- fork, after a two months' journey through mountain passes and over bridgeless streams. They did not tarry long in Wayne but in September, 1833, moved to Henry County and settled about two miles northwest of the site of the present town of Cadiz, in Harrison Township. Ephraim B. Elliott and his wife were the parents of seven chil- dren, four sons and three daughters, all of whom were born in North Carolina. Nim- rod R., the youngest of the family, was born in Perquimans County, that State, May 4, 1826, and was about three years of age when the family came to Indiana. His parents were poor people at the time of their coming west but were in this particular not very different from most of their neighbors who had come to the new country for the express purpose of hettering their condition. Ephraim B. Elliott died February 16, 1859. After the death of her husband, his widow lived with her son, Nimrod R., until the time of her death, November 18, 1861. Nimrod R. Elliott died January 15, 1905. All are buried in the cemetery at Mechanicsburg, Henry County, Indiana.
While a young man working at the carpenter trade, he said to his comrade at the bench, "I intend some day to be worth ten thousand dollars." He was then a poor man working for low wages and the sum mentioned by him was then regarded as a very large one, indeed. Compared with the colossal fortunes of the present day, that sum seems very insignificant. Before learning his trade, young Elliott had attended the district schools of his neighborhood and when sixteen years of age was examined and licensed to teach. He met with merited success as a teacher and was able to save some money, but he was not altogether satisfied with the meagre earnings of the profession in those days and abandoned it for the carpenter's bench, where he made money much more rapidly and soon had enough ahead to embark in his first mercantile venture, a desire which he had long cherished.
In 1851 he opened a country or general store at Mechanicsburg, Henry County, having as partner, Ezra Swain, of that village, the style of the firm being Elliott and Swain. After several years of successful business, Ezra Swain sold his interest in the business to his brother, Elihu Swain, the firm name remaining unchanged. During the Civil War, Mr. Elliott became the sole proprietor. He continued the business alone until 1873, when Imla W. Cooper, a brother of Mr. Elliott's wife, became his partner. This association continued until 1891, when Mr. Elliott again became the sole owner and continued the business alone until 1895, when he retired and from that time on gave his exclusive attention to the management of his farms, banking and other in- terests. At the time of his death, he owned seven hundred and fifty acres of land in
1118
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY,
Harrison and Fall Creek townships, all of it being well improved and in a high state of cultivation. He left an estate of an estimated value of $125,000.
Thus for a period of more than half a century, Mr. Elliott was a very busy and a very successful man 'and his fortune at the end far outran the highest hopes of his youth. In 1851, when he went to Mechanicsburg. then a straggling village, the outlook could not be called promising. The locality was in a measure isolated; the country comparatively new, and there were no improved roads and hut few improved farms. He lived, however, to see the surrounding country become almost a garden. He pros- pered with the community which has always given him its confidence and to day is united in honoring his excellent name and in keeping green the memory of his good deeds, his good citizenship and his long, unselfish and useful life. In the galaxy of eminent men of Henry County, from its organization to the present time, must be included the name of Nimrod R. Elliott.
In 1850 Nimrod R. Elliott, while working as a carpenter in and around Cadiz, married Jane H., daughter of William Cooper, and in 1851 moved to Mechanicsburg as already stated. His accumulated fortune was mostly invested in farm lands in that locality, but he embraced other opportunities for investment, among the first in im- portance heing the establishment of the Farmers' Bank at Middletown, Henry County, in 1873. This bank, with a capital of thirty thousand dollars, was organized by George Hazzard, the author of this History, John H. Terhune, now of Anderson, and Nimrod R. Elliott. It was conducted for several months at Middletown and then, in order to reach a larger field of operations, was moved to Anderson, where it became the Madison County Bank, with a capital of $100.000. The officers of the Farmers' Bank at Middle- town were Nimrod R. Elliott, president, George Hazzard, vice-president, and John H. Terhune, cashier. The officers of the Madison County Bank were John E. Corwin, presi- dent, Nimrod R. Elliott, vice-president. John H. Terhune, cashier, and John W. Pence, assistant cashier. This bank, at the end of about four years, was converted into the Madison County National Bank, which subsequently went out of business, being suc- ceeded by the present Citizens' Bank of Anderson. Before the organization of the Madison County National Bank. Mr. Elliott had disposed of his stock and in May, 1882. was the prime mover in organizing what became the present Farmers' State Bank of Middletown, of which he was made president, a position held by him until his death; Thomas Wilhoit was vice-president, Erastus L. Elliott, cashier, and Benjamin H. Davis, assistant cashier. The present officers of the bank are Adolph Cooper, president, William H. Keesling, vice-president, and Erastus L. Elliott, cashier. It is one of the best and most successful banks in Henry County, or for that matter, in Eastern Indiana. Further information regarding this institution will be found in the chapter of this History entitled "Banks and Banking."
Politically, Nimrod R. Elliott was a life long Democrat. He was an earnest advo- cate of the principles of that party and gave it his warmest support. In Henry County and in the districts of which it formed a part, he was regarded as one of its prominent leaders and by those of his immediate party constituency, his advice and direction were implicitly followed. He was faithful in attendance upon the meetings and conventions of his party, local, State and National, and, if he failed by any chance to be present, it was cause for remark. A Democratic convention in Henry County without his presence would at any time during his life have been regarded as an anomaly. He was a strict partisan but never permitted feeling to sway his judgment nor did he permit it to come between him and his friends of opposite political views. He advocated and voted for the principles in which he believed, but never permitted politics to interfere with his business. He was a successful candidate for presidential elector in 1884 and cast his vote for Grover Cleveland. He was the Democratic candidate for Congress in 1894. against Henry U. Johnson, and ran several hundred votes ahead of his party ticket in the district. He had often been tendered the nomination before but had always declined. He was also often solicited to lead the county ticket, but he preferred to remain a worker in the ranks of the party. He was once a candidate for joint representative for the counties of Henry and Madison.
For a long time he belonged to but one secret organization, the Masonic, of which he was a member for more than half a century. He joined the fraternity at Middletown
s. Williott
1119
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
in 1852 and when a lodge was formed at Mechanicsburg, he was a charter member and the first Worshipful Master, a position held by him for a number of years. In addition to being a Free and Accepted Mason, he was also a member of New Castle Chapter, Number 50, Royal Arch Masons, and a Sir Knight, belonging to the Knightstown Com- mandery. He was a thorough heliever in the tenets of the order and invariably prac- tised its precepts. Late in life, when the Improved Order of Red Men was organized at Mechanicsburg, he joined the order and was a faithful and consistent member until his death. He was a supporter of the Universalist Church but was in nowise contentious with regard to religious beliefs. As in politics so in religion, it was his belief, but he had no quarrel with those who preferred other denominations. He was earnest in his support of the church and was regular in attendance upon its services and contributed liberally of his means for its support.
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