History of Boone County, Indiana : With biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families, Volume II, Part 26

Author: Crist, L. M. (Leander Mead), 1837-1929
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : A.W. Bowen
Number of Pages: 522


USA > Indiana > Boone County > History of Boone County, Indiana : With biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families, Volume II > Part 26


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Mr. Haworth became very well established in business at Thorntown and had a pleasant residence here, where his death occurred on July 20, 1911, since which time his widow has remained alone in the old home. She is a woman of many praiseworthy characteristics and has a host of warm friends.


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She is a faithful member of the Society of Friends, of which Mr. Haworth was also a member. Politically, he was a Republican. Fraternally, he was a member of the Masonic order and he belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic.


NATHAN A. PERRILL.


The respect which should always be accorded the brave sons of the North who left their homes and the peaceful pursuits of civil life to give their services, and their lives, if need be, to preserve the integrity of the American Union is due Nathan A. Perrill, who, after successfully engaging in various pursuits is now engaged in the real estate and insurance business in Lebanon and is also ably discharging the duties of a justice of the peace. He proved his loyalty to the government on the long and tiresome marches, exposed to summer's withering heat and winter's freezing cold, where he was a target for the missile of the unseen foe, on the tented field and amid the flame and smoke of battle, where the rattle of the musketry mingled with the terrible concussion of the bursting shell and the deep diapason of the cannon's roar made up the sublime but awful chorus of death. To the heroes of the "grand army" all honor is due; to them the country is under a debt of gratitude which it cannot pay, and in generations yet to be, posterity will commemorate their chivalry in fitting eulogy and tell their knightly deeds in story and song. To this rapidly vanishing host into the phantom army of the silent land belongs Mr. Perrill, still left with us to thrill us with reminiscences of those stirring times a half century ago.


Mr. Perrill was born January 6, 1844 on a farm in Brown county, Ohio. He is a son of John and Eliza G. (Wilson) Perrill. The father was born near Winchester, Virginia, on November 29, 1806, and was a son of John and Elizabeth (Price) Perrill. John Perrill, Sr., was of English descent. He remained in Virginia until 1819 when he removed to Ross county, Ohio, but on account of the unhealthfulness of that locality he later sold out and moved to Highland county, that state, later to Pike county, where he and wife spent the rest of their lives. John Perrill, Jr., came to Ohio with his parents where he grew up amid pioneer surroundings. He settled in Brown county about 1834 where he farmed until 1856 when he moved to Osage county,


N. A. PERRILL


.


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Kansas, continuing farming there until 1877 when he came to Zionsville, Boone county, Indiana to live with his son, Nathan A., of this sketch. His death occurred January 8, 1879. Politically, he was first a Whig, later a Republican. Religiously, he was a Methodist. He married Eliza G. Wilson September, 15, 1831. She was born in Highland county, Ohio, on November 12, 1812, and her death occurred October 10, 1854.


Nathan A. Perrill grew to manhood on the farm in Osage county, Kan- sas, where he had gone in 1858, and he received a common school education. He came east to Ohio in December, 1861, expecting to attend school but on August 8, 1862, he enlisted in the Eighteenth Ohio Battery, Light Artillery, and he saw much hard service and proved himself to be a gallant soldier. He fought in the great battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Nashville, Franklin, two engagements at Triune, Thompson's Station, siege of Chatta- nooga, Decatur, Alabama; Shelbyville, Tennessee, Courtland, Alabama and in the engagements in the Tennessee campaign. He was ten months in camp at Nashville, and was in a hospital in Nashville for six weeks. He was honor- ably discharged June 29, 1865.


After his career in the army Mr. Perrill went to Kansas and farmed on the Marais des Cygnes river until 1877. In June of that year he moved to Zionsville, Boone county, Indiana, where he operated a drug store for four years, then lived in Lebanon two years where he worked as deputy county treasurer, then moved to a farm near Zionsville where he remained two and one-half years. In 1887 he was again appointed deputy county treasurer which position he filled until 1889 when he entered the grain business, in an elevator in Lebanon until 1894 when he opened a real estate and insurance office in the county-seat, and has also been justice of the peace since that year. He has built up a very satisfactory business and as a justice has given eminent satisfaction, as his long retention would indicate.


Politically, Mr. Perrill is a Republican and has long been active in party affairs. While living in Kansas he was representative from his district to the state legislature for two terms, serving his constituents in an able and highly acceptable manner. He was also township treasurer and justice of the peace there. Religiously, he is a member of the Presbyterian church, and frater- nally is a member of the Masonic Order. He belongs to Rich Mountain Post, No. 42, Grand Army of the Republic, at Lebanon.


Mr. Perrill was married June 8, 1871 to Ellen Conn, in Ripley, Brown


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county, Ohio. She was born in Brown county, that state, October 4, 1848, and her death occurred June 14, 1885. To this union five children were born, namely: Eliza E., born August 31, 1872, died when two months old; Harlan P., born November 27, 1874, in Osage county, Kansas, is now a lieu- tenant commander in the United States navy ; Hattie L., born April 29, 1877. in Ripley, Brown county, Ohio, is now the wife of C. W. Lang, of Man- chester, Ohio; Maggie Faye, born November 12, 1879, in Zionsville, Indiana. is a trained nurse, now living in Indianapolis being a supervisor of private floor in the Long hospital; John A., born June 2, 1882, in Lebanon, died August 26, 1904.


Mr. Perrill was again married on October 18, 1887, to Sarah M. Molden, who was born March 3. 1853, in Washington county, Ohio, and her death occurred March 17, 1903 in Lebanon. On June 10, 1908, our subject mar- ried Ada J. Pratt, who was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, July 4, 1860, and her death occurred January 7, 1913.


THOMAS V. CALDWELL.


In nearly every community have lived individuals who by their innate ability and sheer force of character have risen above their fellows who have been content to merely drift with the current. Of the former class was the late Thomas V. Caldwell, who for many years, was identified with the agri- cultural life of Sugar Creek township, Boone county, his career as a progressive man of affairs having been synonymous with all that was upright and honor- able in citizenship. He contributed freely to the maintenance of his church and all other institutions which he deemed would make for the general good, using his influence in a general way to advance the public good and the indi- vidual interests of his neighbors and close friends. He was a public-spirited citizen and a whole-souled gentleman, whom to know was to admire and respect, and he not only delighted in public improvements, but liked to see also the promotion of such interests as were conducive to the comfort and happi- ness of his fellow citizens. The life of Mr. Caldwell most happily illustrates what one may accomplish by faithful and persistent effort in carrying out noble purposes, even in the face of discouraging circumstances. It is the


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story of a life that has made the world better for his having lived in it, for his actions sprang from a heart filled with the best feeling for humanity and was a blessing to all who were within range of his influence. Personally, Mr. Caldwell was a broad-minded, obliging, genial gentleman, his private character having always been unassailable. His life may be safely imitated by the young, and the great amount of good which he did, while laboring for his own advancement and that of his family, will never be fully known until the last great day when the book of life shall be opened and every man receive due credit for his works. his actions and his influence while on earth.


Mr. Caldwell was born in Franklin county, Indiana, March 16, 1834. He was a son of David and Elizabeth (Wanzsly) Caldwell, natives of Ohio and early settlers in Franklin county, Indiana, later removing to Decatur county, this state, and finally to Warwick county where they died, having de- voted their lives to farming.


Thomas V. Caldwell was reared on the home farm and worked hard in those early times, and he received a meager education in the old-time sub- scription schools. When twenty-two years of age he began farming for himself on the home place and when the Civil war came on, he enlisted in the Forty-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry and proved to be a most faithful and gallant soldier for the Union. He was on furlough in Marion county, this state, when he married, February II, 1864, Elizabeth Clark, who was born February 10, 1834, in Jennings county, Indiana, from which her parents moved to Marion county in 1835. After his marriage Mr. Caldwell returned to his regiment in the field and he was in many battles but was never wounded. He was honorably discharged in July, 1865. After the war he moved to Boone county and purchased a farm in Jefferson township, forty acres lying in section 16, thirty acres of which was timbered and on it stood a log cabin and a log stable. He set to work with a will and cleared and developed the place and built a comfortable house and there he resided fifteen years when he sold out and moved to Washington township, buying one hundred and twenty acres. This he sold two years later and bought an eighty acre farm of which only about thirteen acres were cleared. He began farming here in 1883 and continued successfully as a general farmer and stock raiser until his death.


Politically, Mr. Caldwell was an ardent Republican. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic at Thorntown. He was a devout member


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of the Presbyterian church and active in the affairs of the same. He was for many years a member of the Presbyterian session.


Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell, namely: Edward M., who was killed in Nashville, Tennessee in 1896; Anna E. lives with her mother in Thorntown; and Irvin, who lives in LaFayette, Indiana.


FRANK E. LOOSE.


Agriculture has been the true source of man's dominion on earth ever since the primal existence of labor and has been the pivotal industry that has controlled for the most part all the fields of action to which his intelligence and energy have been devoted. In a civilized community no calling is so certain of yielding a compensatory return as that which is culled from a kindly soil, albeit the husbandman at times is sorely taxed in coaxing from Mother Earth all he desires or even expects; yet she is a kind mother and seldom chastens with disappointment the child whose diligence and frugality she deems it but just should be rewarded. One of those who have found a bene- factress in Mother Earth is Frank E. Loose, one of the successful farmers in Worth township, Boone county, who is now living in honorable retirement. He has never found allurements for any kind of work outside the realm of Nature, and, having been a close student of the soils, the climate, the crops and all the phases that contribute to husbandry he has profited by his observation and always kept well abreast of the times as an agriculturist.


Mr. Loose was born in Springfield, Illinois, December 5, 1859. He is a son of Jacob G. and Elizabeth (Iles) Loose, the father born near Greencastle, Pennsylvania, and the mother in Bath county, Kentucky. Jacob G. Loose was a neighbor and close friend of Abraham Lincoln, and helped nominate and elect him President. In the latter state was also born Washington Iles, the maternal grandfather, who was one of the first settlers in Illinois, locating at Springfield when there was but a few hundred inhabitants there. Mr. Iles spent the rest of his life at Springfield. Mr. Loose was married and there he clerked in a store for five dollars a week. He finally bought an interest in the store, which was owned by a Mr. Hawley. Later he began buying land and was the first to start a coal mine in that locality, which mine he finally


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developed, becoming an extensive land owner and coal mine operator, owning the Springfield Junction Coal Mines and was one of the substantial citizens there at the time of his death, November 4, 1874. His widow survived to an advanced age, dying February 12, 1908.


Frank E. Loose was reared on the home farm and educated in the com- mon schools, also attended school at St. James College, Hagerstown, Mary- land, for a time. He was an assiduous student and finally lost an eye as the result of close study. After his father's death, he operated the home farm until he was seventeen years old, and then was assistant superintendent of a coal mine until he was nineteen, remaining at home until his marriage on September 3, 1879, to Fannie R. Madison, who was born in Tuscola, Illinois, and was a daughter of John M. and Jennie (Rankin) Madison, natives of Cynthiana, Kentucky, and a highly respected family. Mrs. Loose was edu- cated in the public schools. Three daughters have been born to our subject and wife, Jennie L., who married Wilbur Allen and lives with her father, and two daughters, both of whom died in infancy. The wife of our subject passed to her eternal rest June 25, 1897, and on July 27, 1898, Mr. Loose married Mary Estelle Faris, who was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and is a daughter of S. J. and Drucilla (Rector) Faris, natives of Ohio. One daugh- ter, Helen Louise, born May 29, 1902, was born of his second marriage. Politically, he is a Republican. He belongs to the Masonic order, both the Chapter and Conimandery. He was formerly a member of the Christian church, but is now a Presbyterian as is also his wife.


After his marriage Mr. Loose lived one year with his mother, then moved to Tuscola, Illinois, spending a year on a farm near there, after which he went to Staunton and started a grocery store which he continued two years and sold out, returned to Tuscola and bought the farm he had lived on before and this he operated until 1902, when he purchased four hundred and thirty- nine acres in Harrison township, Boone county, Indiana. However, he then went to California where he spent a year, then came to Lebanon and lived there two years, after which he moved to his farm where he fed cattle and hogs, but rented his land out, later selling it, intending to return to California to make his future home. He finally purchased a home in Worth township, Boone county, and bought stock in the First National Bank of Lebanon, of which he was one of the principal stock holders until he sold his stock. He


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purchased a farm in Worth township of one hundred and thirty acres, later bought two hundred twenty-one and one-half acres in Center township, which he oversees but hires worked. He also owns valuable property in Lebanon, and he is now living in retirement at his commodious and attractive home in Worth township, three-fourths of a mile west of Whitestown. He has managed well, exercised keen business judgment and has accumulated a handsome competency.


BEN. F. McKEY.


Ben. F. McKey, the editor of the Pioneer, at Lebanon, Boone county, Indiana, was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, December 5. 1857, and springs from an old family of Scotch-Irish extraction. His great-grandfa- ther, Benjamin McKey. was born in Ireland in 1775. and married Polly Potter in eastern Tennessee. Here his grandfather, Benjamin McKey, was born June 18. 1807. He married Catharine, daughter of John Coon, in cast Tennessee, and died at Crawfordsville, Indiana, July 27, 1839. Jeffer- son C. McKey, father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of east Ten- nessee, born near Knoxville, and was quite young when he came to Indiana and located in Montgomery county, where he followed farming and also his vocation as carpenter and builder. In 1856 he married, in that county, Miss Sarah A. Sering, daughter of George A. and Nancy Sering, the former of whom came from a family of prominent farmers in Union county, but later became a citizen of Boone county, where he passed the last years of his life. Jefferson C. McKey is now a citizen of Boone, and resides in Lebanon.


Ben. F. McKey, in 1865, came to Boone county with his father, who settled on a farm near what is now the town of Advance. He attended the district schools of the county and worked on the farm until March, 1870. when the family moved to Lebanon where Ben. F. attended the public schools for three years, and in 1873 entered the Pioneer office as an apprentice under Ben A. Smith. He then went to Covington, Indiana, with Mr. Smith and for two years worked on the People's Friend. In 1876 he returned to Leb- anon, worked for some time on the Democrat, a newspaper venture which found an early grave, and then went with Mr. Smith to Laurel, Franklin county, where he worked on the Review for a year. He next came back to Lebanon and here attended the public school under Prof. John W. Kise.


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Mr. McKey then went to work on the Patriot for John A. Abbott, until January 1, 1879, when he became foreman of the Lebanon Pioneer, after- ward, under Dr. T. H. Harrison, took the management of the paper, be- came a local writer, and soon had thrust upon him the entire responsibility of the establishment. In 1889 he leased the office from Dr. Harrison for a year and at the end of that time purchased the plant and has since been editor and proprietor. Mr. McKey began at the bottom of the ladder; by thor- ough ability, foresight and good management he has placed the Pioneer in its present prosperous condition. He has recently sold an interest in the Pioneer to his son, Claude D. McKey, and his son-in-law, Norman O. Edwards:


The marriage of Mr. McKey took place March 31, 1880, to Miss Jennie Dyson, of Lebanon, who died April 28, 1902. On July 12, 1904, he married Miss Fronia B. Shaw. Mr. McKey is a member of the Centenary Metho- dist Episcopal church, and has for over thirty years or more held an official position in that church. Fraternally he is a Knight of Pythias, Red Man, Odd Fellow and a Mason.


ROY N. OTTINGER.


The various agricultural congresses, exhibits of the products of the soil, frequently given here and there over the land, agents from government bureaus and experiment stations and a number of others aim to teach the farmer how to raise bigger and better crops, and also to help the producer to get a larger share of the price the consumer has to pay for what he eats. They aim to help the farmer to make farming more profitable without mak- ing the increased profit a burden to the consumer. One of the ways of bring- ing this about, we are told, is to devise a system of marketing that will get to the consumer vast quantities of perishable stuff that now goes to waste in field and orchard because the farmer cannot get enough for it to pay him to ship it. One of the younger generation of farmers of Worth township, Boone county, who is a student of present-day conditions as relates to the various phases of agriculture, production and consumption, and who is making a success because of his industry and thoughtfulness along these vital lines is Roy N. Ottinger.


Mr. Ottinger was born in eastern Tennessee, December 25, 1884. He is


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a son of Timothy and Emma (Rader) Ottinger, both natives of eastern Tennessee, where they grew to maturity, were educated in the rural schools and there were married. They established themselves on a farm where the father spent the rest of his life, dying about 1896, and there his widow still resides. To these parents the following children were born: Rufus, who lives in eastern Tennessee ; Calvin lives in Morristown, Tennessee; Mack lives in Boone county, Indiana ; Roy N., of this sketch; Carl lives in Boone county.


Roy N. Ottinger grew to manhood on the home farm in his native state, and received a common school education. In September, 1904, he left Tennessee and came to Worth township, Boone county, where he worked out at farming three years, then rented land. He now owns fourteen acres and in connection with this, works one hundred acres of his mother-in-law's farm, successfully carrying on general farming and stock raising, and keeping the land not only well cultivated but well improved.


Mr. Ottinger was married July 26, 1908, to Lovie Ottinger, who was born in this township and county and here grew to womanhood and was edu- cated. She is a daughter of John and Dema (Liebhardt) Ottinger, natives of Boone county, where they grew up and were married and here established the family home. Mr. Ottinger died in 1904, but his widow is living in Whitestown, Indiana.


Politically, our subject votes independently, and religiously he is a mem- ber of the Lutheran church.


PHIL ADLER.


Phil Adler was born in Weston, Platte county, Missouri, September I, 1858. His father, Morris Adler, was born at Frankfurt on the Main. His mother, Zelia Wise, was born at Wurzburg, Germany. They emigrated to the United States and settled in Missouri. Later Mr. Adler's father re- moved to Ohio, residing for a time at Columbus and Cincinnati.


Mr. Adler, the subject of this sketch, was reared in Cincinnati and his education was obtained in its city schools, which, however, was meager. After passing the fifth grade, he, by force of circumstance, was compelled to assist in earning a livlihood and began business as a newsboy, later securing a position as a clerk in a wholesale house, mastering the ins and outs of the


PHILIP ADLER


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mercantile business. For a number of years he was a traveling salesman; seeing the great advantages of Lebanon and Boone county he engaged in business in his adopted city, in March, 1884, and has continued in the mer- cantile business in Lebanon, with a short interruption ever since.


From the small beginning on South Lebanon street he developed the well known Cincinnati Store. In 1904 he reorganized his commercial activ- ities and greatly enlarged his business. His success has been constant; his business establishment is one of the most modern of the city and would do credit to cities many times the size of Lebanon. He carries a large stock of up-to-date goods and enjoys the largest trade in the drygoods line in his home city. His customers are numerous and come from the remote portions of the county.


Mr. Adler was married September 22, 1886, to Miss Minnie Valentine, of Cincinnati, Ohio, who was born in New York City and moved to Cin- cinnati, where she grew to womanhood. She was a daughter of Mark and Hannah Valentine, both being natives of London, England, who emigrated to the United States in early life. Mrs. Adler is a lady of much refinement and possesses many admirable qualities.


Mr. and Mrs. Adler have three children, Mark, who resides in Lebanon and is engaged in business with his father and is a promising young business man of capacity ; Miss Cecil, who is at home, as well as Mr. Philip Adler, Jr., who is now in school.


Mr. Adler has been the architect of his own success; he is truly a self- made man. During his early years adverses made demands upon him, which would have discouraged those of less force and will power. His indomitable courage, large hope and determined purpose, brooked no opposition. He is a leader among men as a man of affairs, sound of judgment, liberal in views and strong in purpose. He has been a most useful citizen in the upbuilding of Lebanon, being identified with all of its prominent undertakings in the past twenty-five years.


In all his business undertakings he has been most enthusiastically sup- ported by Miss Hattie Adler, his sister, who has been associated with him in business and upon whom Mr. Adler relies for counsel and advice and to whom he gives great credit for his own success.


Mr. Adler has not held public office, but has been identified with com- mercial undertakings in the upbuilding of his home city.


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DAVID M. BURNS.


There is no profession in life of more importance and usefulness thar that of surveyor and civil engineer. Until a country is surveyed, and the towns, roads and ditches laid out, there is no system in its settlement, and its crooked by-paths and by-roads of the early settlers marks its state of un- civilization. With the surveyor comes system and prosperity. Another vo- cation of equal importance and civilization is that of the school teacher and it is safe to say that without his efforts, the people of the United States would have lapsed into barbarism, or at least would have retrograded from the condition of their European ancestors. David M. Burns, our subject, has honored both of these professions and his life is marked by his efforts as a public benefactor. He springs from sterling Scotch ancestry. John Burns, the grandfather of our subject was a descendant of the famous Scotch Presbyterian covenanters who fled from Scotland to Ireland on account of religious persecution. The founders of the family in America were three brothers-John, Andrew and one whose name is not remembered. John was the original pioneer, coming before his brothers and settling in Penn- sylvania a short time before the Revolutionary war. He served throughout that war, nearly eight years, and was in the battles of Trenton, Camden and many others. He was wounded in the arm at the battle of Brandywine and was one of those heroes who passed through the terrible winter with Wash- ington at Valley Forge. He married Catherine Gray and settled in Nicho- las county, Kentucky, among the pioneers, a short time after the Revolu- tionary war. Here he cleared up a farm in the wilderness and his home was blessed with ten children-William, John, James, David, Andrew, Jen- nie, Polly, Robert, Thomas and Joseph. He became an extensive landowner and gave all the children good farms. He lived to be seventy-four years of age and both he and wife were members of the Presbyterian church. In political opinions he was an old-time Whig. He was a typical American pioneer and a man of high character.




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