History of Boone County, Indiana : With biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families, Volume II, Part 31

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 31


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Mr. Stephenson was born in Rush county, Indiana, October 30, 18.47. He is a son of James A. and Jane (Duncan) Stephenson, both natives of Kentucky. . Robert Stephenson, also a native of Kentucky, and the paternal grandfather of our subject, removed to Ohio and was one of the early settlers


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of that state. Martin Duncan, the maternal grandfather, was a native of Scotland. He married Mary Henry, a native of Ireland. The parents of our subject came from their native state to Indiana, when young and were married in Decatur county, and settled in Rush county, and in the fall of 1860 they came on to Boone county, and purchased three hundred and twenty acres, all timbered but about ninety acres which had been cleared. Mr. Stephenson was a hard worker and he cleared and improved the place into a good farm, and in due course of time ranked among the leading farmers and citizens of his community. His death occurred in 1888, his wife surviv- ing until 1905, dying at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. To these parents the following children were born: Robert, of Clinton township, this county; Nancy, who has remained on the old home place; Mary married John Sample, of Elwood, Indiana ; Duncan lives in Morgan county, this state.


Samuel H. Stephenson, third in order of birth of the children above named, grew up on the home farm and received a good common school education. With the exception of a few months when he worked in a grocery store and also in the live stock business, he remained with his parents on the farm until he was thirty-one years of age. He then moved to his forty acres in Marion township which his father had given him. He purchased forty acres of timber adjoining and here he has continued to reside, prosper- ing with advancing years. His place is well improved and all but fourteen acres which is still in timber, is under a good state of cultivation. He has always carried on general farming and stock raising, specializing in hogs and sheep. He has a comfortable home and he is now living practically retired owing to failing health.


Mr. Stephenson was married December 24, 1878, to Laura Staton, who was born in Marion county, Indiana, and who was educated in the common schools. She was a daughter of Oliver and Mary (Crawford) Staton.


'To our subject and wife the following children were born: Edgar, who lives in Clinton county ; Dessie married Ollie McCoy, who operates our subject's farm; Metta married Charles Bishop and they live in Marion town- ship, this county ; Carroll died when one year old; Mary Grace lives with her aunt, Nancy Stephenson.


Politically, Mr. Stephenson is a Prohibitionist and he is a member of the Presbyterian church, of Elizaville, Indiana, in which he has been an elder since 1893, and is active in church affairs.


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ANSON MILLS.


Anson Mills, soldier and inventor, was born at Thorntown, Indiana, August 31, 1834, son of James P. and Sarah (Kenworthy) Mills, grandson of James and Marian Mills, great-grandson of James and Joanna (Neels) Mills, and great-great-grandson of Robert Mills, son of Amos and Mary, the first of the family in America, who came from England with William Penn in 1670 and lived in Newberry township, York, Pennsylvania. Both paternal and maternal ancestors were Quakers, and for several generations followed farming as a vocation. Anson Mills received his early education in the Charlotteville (N. Y.) Academy, and was a cadet at the United States Mili- tary Academy during 1855-57. He was appointed first lieutenant of the Eighteenth United States Infantry on May 14, 1861, having received the indorsement of the entire class at West Point in 1861. Appointed captain April 27, 1863; transferred to Third Cavalry April 4, 1871; major, Tenth Cavalry, April 4, 1878; lieutenant-colonel, Fourth Cavalry, March 25, 1890; colonel. Third Cavalry, August 16, 1892, and brigadier-general, June 16, 1897. Retired on his own application June 27, 1897. He was brevetted captain December 31, 1862, for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee; major, September 1, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, and during the Atlanta campaign; lieutenant-colonel, December 16, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Nashville, Tennessee, and colonel, Febru- ary 27, 1890, for gallant services in action against the Indians, at Slim Buttes, Dakota, September 9, 1876.


After leaving West Point he went to the frontier of Texas, and engaged in engineering and land surveying, and laid out the first plan of the city of El Paso. In 1859 he was surveyor on the part of Texas on the boundary commission establishing the boundary between New Mexico, Indian Terri- tory and Texas. In March, 1861, he went to Washington and joined the Cassius M. Clay Guards, which were quartered, armed and equipped by the Federal government, and served there, protecting Federal officers and prop- erty until relieved by volunteers. He was with his regiment in the army of the Ohio and department of the Cumberland to October 22, 1864, and was acting inspector-general, district of Etowah, to February 25, 1865. He participated in the siege of Corinthi, the battles of Perryville, Kentucky;


GEN. ANSON P. MILLS.


-Argus-Enterprise.


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Murfreesboro, Tennessee ; Hoover's Gap, Tennessee; Chickamauga, Georgia ; the siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee ; Missionary Ridge, Tennessee; Tunnel Hill, Georgia; Buzzard's Roost, Georgia; the Atlanta campaign, Resaca. Georgia : Dallas, Georgia; New Hope Church, Georgia; Kenesaw Mountain, New Dow Station, Peach Tree Creek; Utoy Creek, Georgia, where he was wounded, and Jonesboro, Georgia, and while on the staff of General Sted- man, in the battles of Nashville, Tennessee, and Decatur, Alabama.


During the four years' war he was never absent, either on leave or from sickness, and was present in all the engagements of his regiment. Fox's "Regimental Losses" states that his regiment (Eighteenth Infantry), lost more in killed and wounded than any other regiment in the regular army, and that his company (H), First Battalion, lost more in killed and wounded than any other company in the regiment.


After the war he served at Fort Aubrey, Kansas; Forts Bridger and Fetterman, Wyoming; Fort Sedgwick, Colorado; Fort McPherson, Georgia, and Columbia, South Carolina. He joined the Third Cavalry April 15, 1871; and served with it at Forts Whipple and McDowell, Arizona; Fort McPher- son, Nebraska; North Platte, Nebraska, and was in the field commanding the Big Horn expedition from August to October, 1874. At Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, and Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming, to May 18, 1876. He com- manded expeditions against the Indians at Tongue River, Montana, June 9; at Rose Bud river, Montana, June 17, and at Slim Buttes, Dakota, September 9, 1876. At Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, to May 21, 1877, where he had charge of Chief Spotted Tail and his tribe of six thousand Ogalala Sioux Indians. He joined the Tenth Cavalry in April, 1879, and served at Forts Concho and Davis, Texas (and commanded battalion of regiment at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, during the Indian outbreak to November, 1881), to April 1, 1885; commanded Fort Thomas, Arizona, to August 26, 1886, and Fort Grant, Arizona, being frequently in the field, to September 24, 1888; on duty at Fort Bliss, Texas, under special orders, assisting officers of the interior department (U. S. geological survey) in surveys near El Paso, Texas, with the object of reclaiming arid lands in the Rio Grande valley, to April 2, 1890, when he was transferred to the 4th cavalry, and served at Presidio, California, to October 31, 1891. Commanded regiment and post of Fort Walla Walla, Washington, to February, 1893. Joined Third Cav-


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alry as colonel February 28, 1893, and commanded post at Fort McIntosh, Texas, and Fort Reno, Oklahoma, to August, 1893; made brigadier-general and retired.


General Mills invented the woven cartridge belt and loom for its manu- facture and founded the Mills Woven Cartridge Belt Company, of Wor- cester, Massachusetts, which manufactures woven cartridge belts and equip- ment for all the world. He was a member of the board of visitors at West Point in 1866, and was United States military attache at the Paris Exposi- tion of 1878. Since October, 1893, General Mills has been United States commissioner on the international boundary commission, United States and Mexico, during which he originated the principle of eliminating bancos (small islands) which are formed by the action of the Rio Grande and much complicated the boundary question previous to the treaty of 1905 for the "elimination of bancos in the Rio Grande," which he prepared. He was also appointed commissioner in 1896 to investigate and report upon a plan for an international dam near El Paso, Texas, for the purpose of equitably dis- tributing the waters of the Rio Grande between the United States and Mexico. The American section of the boundary commission has published, under Gen- eral Mills' direction, many valuable reports, including the proceedings of the commission, in two volumes ( 1903) ; two reports on Elimination of Bancos in the Rio Grande (1910-12), and Survey of the Rio Grande, Roma to the Gulf of Mexico ( 1913).


He sat on the arbitral commission for the hearing of the Chamizal case, Hon. Eugene La Fleur, of Canada, presiding, which case involved the ques- tion of international title to land forming part of the city of El Paso, Texas, and his dissenting opinion in the findings of the arbitral board was approved by his government.


General Mills is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and was commander of the Washington commandery in 1908; Order of the Indian Wars of the United States and was commander in 1911, Society of the Army of the Cumberland, American Society of Inter- national Law, honorary member Society of Indiana Engineers, Army and Navy Club and Metropolitan Club of Washington. He was married October 8. 1868, to Hannah Martin, daughter of William C. Cassell, of Zanesville. Ohio, and had two sons, Anson Cassel and William Cassel Mills (both de-


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ceased), and one daughter, Constance Lydia, wife of Capt. Winfield Scott Overton, United States army.


WAR DEPARTMENT.


ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, February 24, 1897.


Statement of the military service of Anson Mills, of the United States Army, compiled from the records of this office :


He was a cadet at the United States Military Academy, July 1, 1855, to February 18, 1857.


He was appointed first lieutenant, Eighteenth Infantry, 14th May, 1861 ; captain, 27th April, 1863; transferred to Third Cavalry, Ist January, 1871 ; major, Tenth Cavalry, 4th April. 1878; lieutenant-colonel, Fourth Cavalry, 25th March, 1890; colonel, Third Cavalry, 16th August, 1892.


He was brevetted captain, 31st December, 1862, for gallant and meri- torious services in the battle of Murfreesboro; Tennessee ; major, Ist Septem- ber, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, and during the Atlanta campaign, lieutenant-colonel, 16th Decem- ber, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Nashville, Tennessee, and colonel, 27th February, 1890, for gallant services in action against Indians, at Slim Buttes, Dakota, September 9, 1876.


SERVICE.


He was on recruiting service July 19, 1861, to February 17, 1862, with regiment in Army of the Ohio, and Department of the Cumberland, to Octo- ber 22, 1864, and Acting Inspector-General, District of Etowah, to February 25, 1865. He participated in the siege of Corinth, April 29th, to June 5, 1862; battles of Perrysville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862; Murfreesboro, Tennessee, December 29, 1862, to January 5, 1863 ; Hoover's Gap, Tennessee, June 25 and 26, 1863; Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19 and 20, 1873; siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee, September 21, to November 4, 1863; Mis- sionary Ridge, Tennessee, November 24 and 25, 1863; Tunnel Hill, Georgia, February 23 and 24; 1864; Buzzard's Roost, Georgia, February 25 and 26, 1864; Atlanta campaign, May 3 to September 8, 1864; Resaca, Georgia, May 13 to 15, 1864; Dallas, Georgia, May 24 to June 5, 1864; New Hope Church,


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Georgia, May 29 to 31, 1864; Kenesaw Mountain, June 22 to July 3, 1864; Neal Dow Station, July 4, 1864; Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, July 20, 1864, where he was slightly wounded ; Utoy Creek, Georgia, August 7, 1864; Jones- boro, Georgia, September 1, 1864, and Nashville, Tennessee, December 15 and 16, 1864.


He was on recruiting service from February 25, 1865, to November 15, 1865, when he rejoined his regiment and served with it in Kansas to March, 1866; on leave to October, 1866; (member of Board of Visitors at United States Military Academy, in June, 1866) ; with regiment at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, to October, 1867, and at Fort Fetterman, Wyoming, to May 10, 1868; on leave to July 10, 1868; with regiment at Fort Sedgwick, Colorado, to April, 1869, and in Georgia and South Carolina, to January 15, 1871.


He joined the Third Cavalry, April 15, 1871, and served with it in Arizona, to December 1, 1871.


He commanded his troop at Fort McPherson, Nebraska, January 17 to May I, 1872; at North Platte, Nebraska (on leave December 2, 1872, to March 9, 1873), to August 13, 1874; in the field commanding the Big Horn expedition, to October 13, 1874; on leave to January 18, 1875; commanding troop and post of North Platte, Nebraska, to April 14, 1875; at Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, to November 20, 1875; at Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming (in field February 21 to April 26, 1876, being engaged in action against Indians at Little Powder river, Montana, March 17, 1876), to May 18, 1876; commanding battalion of regiment in the field on expedition against hostile Indians, to October 24, 1876, being engaged against them at Tongue River, Montana, June 9, at Rose Bud River, Montana, June 17, and at Slim Buttes, Dakota, September 9, 1876 (where he commanded), commanding his troop at Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, November, 1876, to May 21, 1877, and on leave of absence to February 27, 1878; on duty in Paris, France, with the United States Commissioner, Paris Exposition, to November, 1878, and on delay to March, 1879.


He joined the Tenth Cavalry, April 11, 1879, and served with regiment in Texas (on leave March 23 to June 30, 1880, and August 26, 1880, to March 21. 1881), to May 21, 1881 ; commanding battalion of regiment at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, to November, 1881; on duty at Fort Concho, Texas, to July, 1882; at Fort Davis, Texas (on leave October 26, 1883, to January 2, 1884), to April I, 1885; commanding post of Fort Thomas,


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Arizona, to August 26, 1886; on leave to March 27, 1887; on duty at Fort Grant, Arizona, being frequently in field to September 24, 1888; on sick leave to May, 1889; on duty at Fort Bliss, Texas, assisting officers of the Interior Department in surveys (before Congressional Committee in this city, Janu- ary to March, 1890), to April 2, 1890, and on leave and under orders to July, 1890.


He joined the Fourth Cavalry, July 13, 1890, and served at the Presidio of San Francisco, California, to October 31, 1891 ; commanding regiment and post of Fort Walla Walla, Washington, to February 11, 1893.


He joined the Third Cavalry, February 28, 1893, and commanded it and the post of Fort McIntosh, Texas, to June 21, 1893, and the post of Fort Reno, Oklahoma, to August 12, 1893; on leave to October 26, 1893, and since then on duty as Commissioner of the United States International Boundary Commission of the United States and Mexico.


(Signed) GEO. D. RUGGLES, Adjutant General.


ADDITION TO THE RECORD OF COLONEL ANSON MILLS, UNITED STATES ARMY, NOT INCLUDED IN THE ADJUTANT GENERAL'S CERTIFICATE OF MILI- TARY SERVICE.


He left West Point in 1857, went to the frontier of Texas and engaged in engineering and land surveying; laid out the first plan of the city of El Paso; in 1859 was surveyor to the Boundary Commission establishing the boundary between New Mexico, Indian Territory and Texas; in February, 1861, on submission to the popular vote of the state of Texas, the question of "Separation" or "No Separation," he cast one of the lonely two votes in the county of El Paso against separation, to nine hundred and eighty-five for separation ; in March, 1861, he abandoned the state, going to Washington, and there joined the military organization known as the "Cassius M. Clay" Guards, quartered, armed and equipped by the United States government, and served there protecting federal officers and property, until relieved by volunteer forces called out by the President. On May 14, 1861, was appointed first lieutenant Eighteenth Infantry on the following recommenda- tion from the then first class at the military academy.


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BOONE COUNTY, INDIANA.


UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY, West Point, N. Y., April 30, 1861.


Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General, Washington, D. C.


Dear Sir; We, the undersigned, members of the First Class at the United States Military Academy, respectfully recommend to your favorable consideration the claims of Mr. Anson Mills, an applicant for a commission as second lieutenant in the United States army.


Mr. Mills was formerly a member, for nearly two years, of the class preceding ours, when he resigned.


During that time his habits and character conformed to the strictest military propriety and discipline, and we feel assured that he would be an honor to the service and that its interests would be promoted by his appoint- ment.


Respectfully submitted.


James F. McQuesten, Charles E. Hazlett, Henry B. Noble, Francis A. Davies, John I. Rogers, J. W. Barlow, W. A. Elderkin, A. R. Cham- bliss, Emory Upton, Eugene B. Beaumont, J. Ford Kent, J. S. Poland. Addelbert Ames, A. R. Buffington, C. E. Patterson, Leonard Martin, Sheldon Sturgeon, Wright Rives, Charles C. Campbell, M. F. Watson, Ohio F. Rice, Erskine Gittings, Franklin Howard, Charles Henry Gib- son, J. H. Simper, H. A. Dupont. J. Benson Williams, Charles M. K. Leoser, R. L. Eastman, Leroy L. Janes, Guy V. Henry, N. W. Henry. John Adair, Jr., Judson Kilpatrick, S. O. Sokalski, Samuel N. Benja- min, J. B. Rawles, L. G. Hoxton.


During the four years of the war he was never absent either on leave or from sickness and was present in all of the engagements of his regiment.


Fox's "Regimental Losses" states on page 3, that his regiment (Eigh- teenth Infantry), lost more in killed and mortally wounded than any other regiment in the regular army and that his company. H. First Battalion (page 420), lost more in killed and mortally wounded than any company in his regiment.


He invented the woven cartridge belt (and loom for manufacture) now adopted and exclusively used by the army and navy of the United States.


He stands No. 24 on the lineal list of seventy-one colonels in the army ..


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.


PRIVATE RESOLUTION NO. I.


Joint resolution permitting Anson Mills, colonel of Third Regiment United States Cavalry, to accept and exercise the functions of boundary commissioner on the part of the United States.


Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Anson Mills, colonel Third Regiment United States Cavalry, having been nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate as a commissioner of the United States under the convention between the United States of America and the United States of Mexico concluded and signed by the contracting parties at the city of Washington, March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, is hereby per- mitted to accept and exercise the functions of said office of commissioner ; Provided, Said officer shall continue to receive his emoluments in pay and allowances as colonel in the army while holding said office of commissioner the same as he would receive were he performing such duty under military orders and no other or additional pay or emoluments for his services as such commissioner.


Approved, December 12, 1893.


HONORED GENERAL MILLS.


One of the final acts of the Indiana Engineering Society convention at Indianapolis, was the election of three honorary members, one of whom was Gen. Anson Mills, of Washington, D. C. General Mills was born in Thorntown, Indiana, seventy-two years ago. In answer to the tele- gram notifying him of his election, he sent the following: "I appreciate most highly my election as an honorary member of the Indiana Engineering Society and accept the honor. This is especially grateful as coming from my native state and from a society which has accomplished so much for the profession."


DEATH OF WILLIAM W. MILLS.


William W. Mills, son of James P. and Sarah Kenworthy Mills was born in Boone county, Indiana, February 10, 1836 and died at Austin, Texas, February 10, 1913, on his seventy-seventh birthday. He remained at home on the farm until he attained his majority and in 1857 went to El Paso, Texas, of which place later in life he wrote a book.


Early in the Civil war he enlisted and was commissioned lieutenant of


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volunteers. He resigned his position and in 1862 was appointed collector of customs in which service he continued until 1869. In the year 1869 he was married to Miss Mary, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of governor A. J. Hamilton, of Texas. After his marriage he was appointed deputy col- lector of internal revenue serving for several years. In 1897 to 1907 he served as American Consul at Chihuahua, Mexico. He and his wife were at Thorntown, October, 1909, at the dedication of the memorial fountain erected here by his brother, General Anson Mills, of Washington, D. C., in memory of his father and mother. They greatly enjoyed every hour of their visit at the old home. The scenes of his youth and renewal of fond recol- lections crowded upon him, and he lived them over again.


Through all his strenuous life amid the stirring activities of Texas and Mexico and through the turmoils of the Civil war, in private and public life he was delicate in health. Patient through suffering, brave in conflict and tender and loving in domestic life, he lived and struggled until crowned with life eternal. It was a long strenuous life faithful until the close when he rested from his labors and became free from pain.


He left a devoted wife, two sisters, Mrs. Mary Burckhalter and Mrs. Jane Smiley, of Thorntown, and two brothers, General Anson Mills, of Washington, D. C. and Allen Mills, of Thorntown and a host of relatives and friends at his home and over the land to mourn his departure.


JAMES P. AND SARAH KENWORTHY MILLS.


One hundred years ago there was born August 22, 1808, at York, Penn- sylvania, a male child, who was christened James P. Mills. At the early age of eight years he was left an orphan. He was bound out and apprenticed to learn the tanner's trade. When he reached his majority he caught the fever of Greeley's advice to go west, before that sage thought of giving it. and in his twenty-second year crossed the Alleghanies in a Dearborn wagon and continued his journey towards the setting sun, until he reached Craw- fordsville. Here he became a citizen of the young state of Indiana, and as such we wish to follow him closely as a factor in the development of the state. His life is typical of the body of men that laid the foundations of the commonwealth. In this age he would not be termed educated.


The opportunities in Pennsylvania were meager a century ago, for the average young man, yet many of her sons, possessing brawn, grit and a sense


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of honor, forged to the west, and laid strong arms against the dense forests of Indiana. Our hero was one of that number. As soon as he was in Crawfordsville, he began to cast about for land. He had the ambition of ownership. He had planned in his mind to be a freeholder and purposed in his heart to own land with intent to build a home. On this sentiment the basis of this story is cemented. It's the same old story that lies at the foundation of every pioneer family in the state. Mr. Mills' employer recom- mended him to go to Thorntown in lieu of there not being desirable land to enter around Crawfordsville. This was the time when the question of organizing Boone county was before the legislature of the state. There were about six hundred souls living in this section of territory at that time. The county was organized in 1830. James P. Mills was one of the stalwart young men that stepped upon its wild soil with the nerve to build a county. In that year he came to Thorntown and sought employment with one Gapen, a tanner. It was not long until he drove his stake for life and received title to his homestead from Uncle Sam for portions of sections 6 and 7, in town- ship 19 north and range I west.




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