USA > Indiana > Boone County > History of Boone County, Indiana : With biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families, Volume II > Part 30
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His last words were, 'leaving-leaving-leaving, all is complete.' He was leaving father and her, who through the ministry of years he had recog- nized as mother and the devoted wife, all honored and beloved; the children for whom he had joyfully planned and striven; many comrades and friends. He was leaving when he seemed most needed, with great tasks seemingly in- complete and with skies full of promise, but in that hour he could say, 'All is complete.' Surely this is the utterance of a sublime faith-a faith that be- lieves with the great John G. Paton, 'The servant does his work and passes on through the gates of sleep to the Happy Dawn; but the Divine Master lives and works and reigns, and by our death, as surely by our life, his holy . purposes shall be fulfilled.'
We have suffered loss and the sorrow will be keenest for those who knew and loved him best. These are left to mourn, 'tis true, but to be sus- tained, as well, by a Mighty Hand. The children too, may find that father's footsteps may be traced and father's God is nigh. He has been allured to brighter worlds and led the way."
ELISHA JACKSON.
In the person of this venerable pioneer farmer, long since deceased, we have a representative of a worthy race of people to whom the country is largely indebted for its development and progress. He was simply a plain, industrious tiller of the soil, who worked hard to get a start in the world, provided well for his family, did his duty to his fellow-men and made a good neighbor and citizen. To such as he, Indiana owes much. Here and there,
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scattered over the state in every county, on well-tilled acres, they toiled and worked, cleared, grubbed and ditched, fought the forces of Nature in the way of swamps and dense forests, gradually making headway, until in time we see the beautiful and highly cultivated farms as the result of their arduous labors. Such were the pioneer farmers. They did not figure in public life. Their names were seldom mentioned in the papers, for they lived quiet and unpretentious lives, but it was their work and self-sacrifice that was gradually building up the state, adding to its wealth and beauty, until it became one of the finest agricultural regions in the world. Mr. Jack- son was a public-spirited man in all that the term implies, was ever inter- ested in enterprises tending to promote the general welfare and withheld his support from no movement for the good of the locality so long honored by his residence. His personal relations with his fellow-men were ever mu- tually pleasant and agreeable, and he was highly regarded by all, ever oblig- ing, neighborly and honest.
Elisha Jackson was born in Putnam county, Indiana, May 3, 1830. He was a son of Joseph and Martha (Heady) Jackson, natives of South Caro- lina, from which state they came to Indiana in a very early day and estab- lished their home, pre-empting government land in Putnam county, and later they came to Boone county, locating in Jackson township, where they en- tered land from the government. There the father spent the rest of his life, the widow spending the rest of her life at the home of a daughter, dying some years afterwards.
Elisha Jackson grew up on the home farm, which he helped to clear and develop, finding plenty of hard work in those early times, and he received the usual meager educational advantages of those days. In November, 1855, he married Elizabeth J. Hendricks, who was born in Parke county, Indiana, March 11, 1835. She grew up in the same early environments and received her education in the old-time schools. She is a daughter of Adam and Sarah L. (Burke) Hendricks, both natives of Kentucky, the father born in Bath county and the mother in Fleming county. The paternal grandparents, Jacob and Catherine (Thompson) Hendricks, were also natives of Ken- tucky, while the maternal grandparents, Samuel and Margaret (Reeves) Burke, were natives of Virginia. After his marriage, Elisha Jackson rented a farm in Jackson township two years, then bought forty acres of partly timbered land, which he started to improve, and to which he kept adding
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other land and trading land until there was left one hundred and twenty acres, which is now all under excellent improvements. He carried on gen- eral farming successfully and was an extensive raiser of horses, mules, cat- tle and hogs, and ranked among the leading agriculturists of his day in Boone county.
The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Jackson: Margaret E., wife of James Dale of Jackson township; Armilda J., wife of Ephraim Kibbey, of this township; Sarah M., wife of George Dale of this township: Martha A., who was the wife of John Reese, of this township, died in 1905; George W., lives in Jackson township; Charles V. lives in Lebanon; Thomas M. lives in this township; Arie Alva died in 1890 at the age of twenty-two years; Joseph lives in Jackson township: Emma is the wife of Otto Patterson, of Center township.
Elisha Jackson was a Democrat, and religiously he belonged to the New- light Christian church. His death occurred November 4. 1888. After that time Mrs. Jackson lived among her children for seven years, then returned to the old home place, and her brother, John M. Hendricks, is looking after her farm, his wife assisting in the housekeeping. Mrs. Jackson is a fine elderly lady whom everybody likes. She tells many interesting things of the pioneer days, and although she is now long past her three score and ten she is comparatively hearty.
LARKIN BECK.
Year has been added to year and decade to decade until four score and five years have been numbered with the irrevocable past since Larkin Beck, a venerable and highly honored pioneer citizen, now living in retirement in his cozy home at Zionsville, Boone county, first opened his eyes to the light in Hoosierdom and he has been contented to spend his long, active and use- ful life upon her soil and has thus lived throughout her real historic period. little being recorded on the printed page before the year of his advent into the world. When he was a boy, the state, except in a few places, was an unde- veloped region, wilderness, in fact, awaiting the awakening touch of the sturdy pioneers to transform its wild lands into rich farms and beautiful
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homes, to found towns, establish schools and churches and in many other ways to reclaim the country for the use of man. As one of the early work- ers in this locality he led the van of civilization into this favored region. Mr. Beck.well deserves mention with the historical characters of this locality, and it is with pleasure that a brief review of his life is herewith presented, for the present generation owes to him and to his contemporaries who paved the way by their laborious endeavor for the present advanced state of society, which we can never repay.
Mr. Beck was born in Union county, Indiana, April 11, 1829. He is a son of John Beck, a native of North Carolina. He was a son of Solomon Beck, also a native of the old Tar state, but the latter's parents were natives of Germany, from which country they emigrated to the United States and settled in North Carolina in the old colonial days and there the family be- came widely known and well established. The parents of our subject grew up in their native state and emigrated to Indiana in a very early day, settling in Union county when the wide reaching woods were yet filled with all kinds of wild beasts and nomadic bands of red men. They were people of courage, honesty and hospitality, which traits are marked in our subject also. They erected a log cabin, cleared by degrees their virgin land and eventually had a good farm and a comfortable home. And in that pioneer environment Larkin Beck grew to manhood and worked hard assisting his father on the homestead. Like other pioneer children his education, obtained in the log- cabin subscription schools, was meager. Upon reaching manhood he mar- ried Sarah Pauley, who was born in Alabama, of English ancestry, and she was young in years when she came to Indiana. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Beck, named as follows: Mrs. Margaret Ann Beeter, Joseph, John, Oliver, Alice and Julia. The mother of these children passed to her rest in 1901, after a long record as a faithful helpmeet and good mother and neighbor.
Mr. Beck came to Boone county in early years and lived near Thorntown many years and is well known in that part of the county. He later owned the Berry Hill farm in Eagle township, now the property of his son-in-law, James E. Holler, who married Alice Beck. This place consists of forty acres and is an excellent fruit, berry and dairy farm. Our subject has been living retired for a number of years and is spending the December of his
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years in quiet and comfort. He has always been noted for his honesty and uprightness, and, like a number of his brothers, is well known in both Boone and Union counties. He is a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
CHARLES D. OREAR.
One of the leading members of the Boone county bar is Charles D. Orear, of Lebanon. His treatment of his case is always full of compre- hension and accuracy, his analysis of the facts clear and exhaustive, and he seems to grasp without effort, the relation and dependence of facts and so groups them as to enable him to throw their combined force upon the point they tend to prove. He is now only an able and reliable counsellor, with a thorough acquaintance of the principles, intricacies and complexities of juris- prudence, but his honesty is such that he frequently advises against long and expensive litigation, and this too, at the loss of liberal fees which otherwise he could easily earn. Mr. Orear is also a leader in Republican politics in this section of the state. He has ever acted upon the principle that he who serves his country best serves his party best, and with this object in view his political efforts. although strenuous and in the highest degree influential, have been above the slightest suspicion of dishonor and his counsels have not only met with the approval of his party associates but commanded the respect of the opposition as well.
Mr. Orear was born April 20, 1868 on a farm in Hendricks county, Indiana. He is a son of Dr. John H. and Mary E. (Kirkpatrick) Orear, both natives of Montgomery county, Kentucky where they spent their earlier years, emigrating to Montgomery county, Indiana, in pioneer days, and there they were married, the Kirkpatrick family having preceded our sub- ject's father, they having been early settlers there. Dr. John H. Orear was a practicing physician at Brown's Valley, Montgomery county for many years, removing, about 1867 to a farm in Hendricks county where he engaged in farming about five years. In 1872 he moved his family to Jamestown, Boone county and practiced medicine there until his death, December 25 1891 at the age of seventy years. He was a successful physician of the old school and a highly respected citizen. His widow is still living, making her
C. D. OREAR
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home in the city of Lebanon, and is now eighty-two years of age. Politically, Doctor Orear was first a Whig, later a Republican and was a strong party man. of decided opinions. Hon. Edward C. Orear, the Kentucky jurist and politician is a half-brother of our subject's father. Nine children were born to Dr. John H. Orear and wife, namely: William H., of Lebanon ; Armilda Jane, wife of Emory F. Lowry, a veterinary surgeon of Ottumwa, Iowa; Lillie A., now Mrs. Edward E. Camplin, of Jamestown, Indiana; Elizabeth, deceased; Oliver, postmaster; Charles D., of this sketch; Mary Scott, now the wife of Eldred E. Emmons, of Omaha, Nebraska; Katherine is at home with her mother; and Margaret who died in infancy.
Charles D. Orear was only five years old when the family moved to Jamestown. He received his early education in the public schools of Boone county, graduating from the Lebanon high school in 1886. He then taught school for some time, in alternate years, his last year being in the high school at Mason City, Iowa. During this period he attended DePauw University every other year. He gave every promise of becoming an able educator, but deciding that the law held greater attractions for him he turned his attention to that, and in the fall of 1892 he entered the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from which he was graduated in 1894. having made an excellent record for scholarship there. Soon there- after he was admitted to the Marion county bar at Indianapolis to practice in all the state courts. He first located in Crawfordsville, Indiana, in the office of Hon. M. D. White in which he remained about a year, then came to Jamestown, Boone county where he remained, enjoying a good business, until January, 1899. In 1898 the Republicans of Boone county induced Mr. Orear to become a candidate for prosecuting attorney, but the county being hopelessly democratic he was defeated, although making a very creditable race. After the campaign he located in Lebanon for the practice of his pro- fession and here he has since continued and has built up an extensive prac- tice, and stands in the front rank of the local attorneys-at-law. He has been admitted to practice in the federal court and is one of the best known and most successful lawyers in this section of the state. He is a member of the county and state bar associations. From 1906 to 1908, inclusive, he was county attorney and since 1910 has been city attorney in Lebanon, both posi- tions coming to him unsought. As a public servant he has ever discharged his duties with rare ability and fidelity, giving the utmost satisfaction to all
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concerned. He served as a member of the Republican County Executive Committee, and in 1902 and 1904 was secretary of the County Committee, and his efforts were very largely responsible for the successful work of the committee in those years. He has been a frequent delegate to county, district and state conventions.
Mr. Orear was married November 30, 1911 to Lucile Wilson, of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, the home of his ancestors. She is a daughter of William and Sarah Mynheir, an excellent family of the old Blue Grass state. Mrs. Orear is a lady of refinement and was well educated. The union of our sub- ject and wife has been without issue.
Fraternally, Mr. Orear belongs to the Masonic Order in which he has attained the thirty-second degree, and he has served two terms as eminent commander of Lebanon Commandery No. 43, Knights Templars. While in college he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He and his wife be- long to the Methodist Episcopal church and are active in church and Sunday school work. For some time Mr. Orear was president of the Methodist Brotherhood. He carries his Christianity into his every-day affairs and is a man of exemplary habits and honorable impulses, an obliging. genial gentle- man whom it is a pleasure to meet.
RUFUS CONRAD.
Farming is the biggest business in the world, but there is room for great improvement, and there is much that the farmers of Indiana and everywhere can learn, although our farmers are already capable workmen, and construc- tive work that will permanently benefit agriculture must be planned on a big, broad, comprehensive basis. Co-operating with the farmer as an individual does not seem to be sufficient and does not reach the heart of the problem. The more important work can be done only through organization. There should be a partnership between industries and each line of organized industry within its own orbit. The bankers can render a service by working out a system of credits better adapted to the business of farming ; the transportation lines can help the tillers of the soil by locating markets and reaching them in best condition at the lowest expense : the agricultural departments of govern-
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ment by co-ordinating supply and demand and the study of market conditions and methods.
One of the most progressive farmers of Marion township, Boone county, who has proven his ability to succeed unaided under existing conditions, is Rufus Conrad, who was born in Clay township, Hamilton county, August 26, 1860. He is a son of Martin and Phereba (Bishop) Conrad, the father born in Forsyth county, North Carolina, in 1819, and the mother was born in Edinburg, Indiana, in 1832. It was in 1834 that the father of our subject came to Clay township, Hamilton county, with his parents, Daniel and Johanna (Lineback) Conrad. However, they had spent the preceding winter in Boone county. The grandfather was a native of Pennsylvania and the grandmother was born in North Carolina. The maternal grandparents of our subject were Joseph and Mary (Denidger) Bishop, and were both natives of Tennessee, from which state they came to Indiana in an early day. Both grandfathers entered land from the government and here established their future homes. Martin Conrad, mentioned above, established his home after his marriage on a farm on the line of Hamilton and Boone county, and a year later he purchased a farm of his father in Hamilton county. He first married Juliann Carter, and spent ten years engaged in merchandising in Indianapolis, but after his second marriage, followed farming, but moved to Zionsville three different times, spending a year there each time. He was in the grocery business there about three years. His death occurred in 1897, his widow surviving until 1900. He had two children by his first wife and eight by his second.
Rufus Conrad grew up on the home farm and there worked until he was twenty years old, during crop seasons, attending the common schools in Hamilton county and the high school at Westfield, during the winter months. He then lived with his brother on the old home place with the exception of one summer, 1881, which he spent on the State Fruit Farm of Minnesota. of which Peter M. Gideon was superintendent. On April 8. 1885, he mar- ried Mattie Hawkins, who was a native of Union township and a daugh- ter of Rev. John and Elizabeth (Stoghill) Hawkins, of Kentucky. The father was a minister of the Baptist denomination and he established the church at Elizaville, Indiana, and preached for years at different places in this locality. After spending six months on his father's farm in Eagle township, Boone county, Rufus Conrad moved on the old farm of his grandfather
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Conrad, which he rented two years, later buying fifty-five acres in section 13, Union township, this county. He began at once to make substantial im- provements, and erected splendid buildings, good fences and did many things in making this one of the valuable and desirable places in the township, and as he prospered through good management and close application he added to his original holdings until he became owner of two hundred and thirteen acres of fine land which constitute his present holdings in Union township, comprising three farms, all of which he rents except ten acres. He makes a specialty of raising Chester White hogs.
Mr. Conrad and wife have the following children : Hazel, wife of Glenn Bradshaw, of Union township; Cecil Hadin died in infancy ; Magelle is at- tending high school at Zionsville.
Politically, Mr. Conrad is a Democrat and has been a loyal supporter of the party. He was elected trustee of Union township in 1908 and has held the office ever since. Previous to that he was a member of the advisory board. As a public servant he has been most faithful in the discharge of his duties. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and religiously belongs to the Christian church, in which he has been a deacon since 1903 and is active in church affairs.
JOHN STEPHENSON.
Among those who came to Boone county when this section of Indiana was in its primitive wildness, infested by wild animals and nomadic bands of red men, was the Stephenson family, members of which have figured more or less conspicuously in the affairs of the locality for upwards of a century ; and they have performed well their parts in the work of developing the county from a wilderness to one of the foremost agricultural sections in the great Hoosier commonwealth, so they together with other early actors in the drama which witnessed the passing of the old and the introductions of the new conditions in which are now the fine farms and thriving towns of this county, are deserving of every consideration. We of today cannot pay such sterling characters too great a meed of praise. in view of the sacrifices they made in order that their descendants and others of a later day should
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enjoy the blessings of life, only a few of which they were permitted to have. One of this noble band to whom we desire to call especial attention was John Stephenson, who has long been sleeping the sleep of the just but who is of that number "whose works do follow them."
Mr. Stephenson was born in Kentucky in November, 1825. He was a son of John, Sr., and Elizabeth (Stark) Stephenson, also natives of the Blue Grass state, form which they came in a very early day to what is now Marion township, Boone county, Indiana, when the subject of this memoir was a child. The elder Stephenson secured a tract of timber land, which he cleared and developed, and he also kept a tavern on the Michigan road for many years, which was a favorite stopping place for the travelers, some of them distinguished, to the middle west in those early times. His first wife, the mother of our subject, died and he married again, and our subject, not par- ticularly fancying his step-mother, left home when a lad and worked out until his marriage in 1850.
John Stephenson grew up amid pioneer environment, worked hard when a boy and had little opportunity to secure an education. His wife, Mary Jones, was born in Rush county, Indiana, and was a daughter of John and Mary (Richardson) Jones, the father a native of Culpeper county, Virginia, and the mother was a native of Kentucky. After his marriage our subject rented a farm near Mud creek for four years, then purchased one hundred and seventy-three acres of timber land in Marion township. He soon had a space cleared and on this erected a log cabin and a barn, subsequently clear- ing the major portion of his farm and here he continued general farming and stock raising successfully the rest of his life, with the exception of two years spent in McLean county, Illinois, spending one year in Bloomington and one year in Saybrook. He and his father owned a valuable tract of land there and when they returned to Boone county they sold their holdings in McLean county.
The death of John Stephenson, Jr., occurred in December, 1873, after which his widow purchased the place south of the old home farm where she lived five years, then sold out and bought eighty acres adjoining, but moved back to the old place where she lived five years and during that time had built a substantial frame dwelling and in this she has since resided comfort- ably and surrounded with plenty. Her son-in-law, who lives with her, oper- ates the farm. She is now advanced in years but is comparatively well and in
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possession of her faculties. She has always been known to her many friends as a woman of strong character, a kind neighbor and earnest Christian, be- longing to the Methodist Episcopal church for the past forty years. Mr. Stephenson was a Presbyterian and was a good man in every respect. Politically, he was a Republican. During the Civil war he served as a soldier in the repelling of the Morgan raid into Indiana.
To Mr. and Mrs. Stephenson the following children were born: James A., of Champaign, Illinois; Sarah is the wife of John A. Fancher, who lives in the Stephenson home; Grant lives in Bison, Oklahoma; Sherman lives in Solomon, Kansas; Joseph makes his home in Dolan, South Dakota; Elenore is the wife of U. G. Wade, of Marion township, Boone county ; Emery lives with his mother on the home place.
SAMUEL H. STEPHENSON.
"Through struggle to triumph" seems to be the maxim which holds sway for the majority of our citizens, and, although it is undoubtedly true that many fall exhausted in the conflict, a few by their inherent force of char- acter and strong mentality, rise above their environment and all which seems to hinder them, until they reach the plane of affluence toward which their face was set through the long years of struggle that must necessarily precede any accomplishment of great magnitude. Such has been the history of Samuel H. Stephenson, who, after a busy and useful life is living in retire- ment on his splendid farm in Marion township, Boone county. From his life record many useful lessons may be learned, which might well be heeded by the youth starting out on the road to fortune and renown, for he has been a man who believed in the old adage, "Lose no time in getting off the wrong road as soon as you discover that you are traveling it." He has been an advocate of progress in all phases of agriculture, and has made a success of his chosen vocation.
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