USA > Indiana > Boone County > History of Boone County, Indiana : With biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families, Volume II > Part 8
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Mrs. Halpin is a woman of strong mentality and rare industry and is well-liked wherever she is known. Her pleasant and tastily kept home is well located two and one-half miles south of Lebanon, and she owns one of the choice and well-improved farms of Center township, which consists of
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two hundred and five acres, and together with her four sons the family owns and operates successfully about six hundred acres of fine land.
The death of Dennis Halpin occurred August 31, 1912, and he will long be remembered and deplored by a wide circle of warm friends.
ROBERT T. ASHLEY.
It is a good sign when a county like Boone can boast of so many of her enterprising farmers, business and professional men who are native sons, for it indicates that here are to be found all the opportunities necessary to insure success in the material affairs of life and that her native sons, unlike so many from various sections, have found it to their advantage to remain at home. They have been wise in doing this, for Nature has offered the husbandman unusual advantages here and seldom fails to reward the honest worker with gratifying results, and when the tillers of the soil are prosperous, all lines of business flourish, consequently, not only the farmers have succeeded in Boone county but also the merchants, millers, lumbermen, stock dealers, and many others, and the county ranks well with the thriving sections of this or any other state. One of the worthy native-born citizens of this county, formerly a successful teacher, but for many years a progressive agriculturist is Robert T. Ashley, of Lebanon.
Mr. Ashley was born March 27, 1861, on a farm near Jamestown, In- diana. He is a son of A. J. and Lucretia' (Cassity) Ashley. The father was a native of Kentucky, from which state he came to Indiana when a young man, locating, after his marriage, in Boone county, and here he engaged in farming until his death, in 1863. His wife was born also in Kentucky, and has been deceased many years. He was a soldier in the Civil war. His family consisted of four children, one being now deceased, namely: Will- iam H. is the oldest; Josiah T. is deceased; Robert T., of this sketch; and Jackson C. is the youngest.
Robert T. Ashley grew up on the farm and he received his early educa- tion in the common schools, also spent a year in the State Normal at Terre Haute, then taught school for a period of nine years, three years of that time being spent in Hendricks county. He gave eminent satisfaction as an educa-
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tor, and his services were in great demand. In the fall of 1894 he came to Boone county and taught in New Brunswick for one term, then gave his whole attention to a farm of eighty-five acres in Harrison township, which he bought. This he operated successfully until 1896, when he removed to Lebanon, where he owns a cozy home at 330 North East street. He owns. a farm of thirty-eight acres at the west edge of Lebanon, which he is still managing.
Mr. Ashley was married March 3,. 1886, to Nettie F. Gillaspie, who was born in Boone county, near Jamestown, January 8, 1867. She is a daughter of Francis C. and Sarah A. (Shrout) Gillaspie, a highly respected family of that vicinity, and there Mrs. Ashley grew to womanhood and received a common school education.
Four children have been born to our subject and wife, namely: Bertha B., born March 16, 1887, died February 5, 1905; Ruby V., born May 19, 1889, died August 31, 1890 ; Winnie May, born June 3, 1895; Jerald Wayne,. born March 2, 1896, both at home.
Politically, Mr. Ashley is a Democrat, and has been active in the ranks. He was elected assessor of Boone county in 1906, and served four years in a manner that was highly creditable to himself and to the eminent satisfaction of all concerned. He was one of he organizers of the Farmers Co-operative. Insurance Association of Boone County and served as secretary-treasurer for twelve years. Fraternally, he belongs to the Knights of Pythias at Lebanon, and in religious matters he and his wife are members of the Christian church .. Mr. Ashley is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Lebanon.
GEORGE WASHINGTON SILVER.
Nearly eighty years have dissolved in the mists of the irrevocable past since George Washington Silver, venerable pioneer, now living retired in Worth township, Boone county, first saw the light of day. He has lived through one of the most remarkable, and in many respects the most wonder- ful, epoch in the world's history. There will never be another like it, for it embraced the period when the strong-armed homeseekers from the eastern states invaded the great Middle West (his parents being among the number)
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and redeemed it from the wilds, bringing it up through various stages to the present high state of civilization. To all this he has been a most interested, and by no means a passive, spectator, having sought to do his full share in the work in the progress of the various communities which he has selected as his place of abode. He talks most interestingly of the early days, when customs and manners were different, men and women were different, everything, in fact, unlike what our civilization is today. He and other old pioneers are of the opinion that those were better, at least happier, times than now, and this is, in the main, true.
Mr. Silver was born in Marion county, Indiana, May 17, 1834. He was a son of Samuel and Anna Eliza (Johnson) Silver, natives of New Jersey, where they spent their earlier days and from which state they made the long overland journey west, locating in Marion county, Indiana, about 1832, settling four miles from Indianapolis, having previously lived for a time in Ohio. They were of German descent. They purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land upon their arrival in the Hoosier state, for which they paid nine hundred dollars. Boone county at that time was a veritable swamp, with few inhabitants. The parents of our subject cleared and im- proved their land and there spent the rest of their days.
George W. Silver grew up on the home farm in Marion county, where he worked hard when a boy. He was compelled to work hard and therefore had little opportunity to obtain an education. He remained at home until he was twenty-one years of age, then went to Indianapolis, where he teamed, later worked at farming, and he paid board until his marriage, on September 3, 1858, to Lucinda Eaton, who was born in Marion county, this state, Sep- tember 3, 1838, and there grew to womanhood and received her education in the rural schools. She is a daughter of Bluford and Nancy (Tipps) Eaton, the father a native of Kentucky and the mother of Virginia.
After his marriage our subject rented land a few years, then he and his brother-in-law, George W. Harlin, bought a general store at New Bethel, Indiana, which they kept a year, then sold it, and Mr. Silver came to Boone county and bought forty-five acres of land in Center township, later buying and selling land until he owned one hundred and twenty acres, on which he carried on general farming and stock raising successfully. Retiring from active work, he rented his farm and moved to Lebanon, where he lived five years, then returned to his farm, where he remained about two years, then,
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In 1905, bought thirty-seven and one-half acres in Worth township. He rents his farm in Clinton township, and his son, A. B. Silver, looks after the home farm, where he and his wife reside.
To Mr. and Mrs. George W. Silver the following children have been born: Mary Etta died in infancy ; Calvery died when nineteen years of age; Arthur Bluford, of Worth township, who operates the home farm; Alva died when fifteen years of age; Irene died at the age of thirteen years.
Politically, Mr. Silver is a Republican, and he and his good wife are members of the Baptist church at Whitestown, of which he has been deacon since 1878, and was a trustee and deacon in the church for fifteen years at Elizaville. He has lived an upright and honorable life and has always borne a good reputation.
JAMES ISENHOUR.
A large number of the early pioneers of Boone county have passed to their reward and now rest from their labors, but here and there a scattered few remain, honored heroes of a former day and generation, bent under time's autograph indelibly stamped upon their brows, but still sturdy and independent of spirit, as when in the long ago it was common for young men to cut loose from their moorings of civilization and penetrate the woods and traverse the trackless wildernesses in search of new homes and new destinies. Among those who have borne an active part in the pioneer history of this locality is the Isenhour family, of whom the well-known farmer of Worth township whose name introduces this sketch is a member, whom to know is to honor and respect. James Isenhour, a Hoosier by birth, has long been one of the highly esteemed citizens of the vicinity of his residence and it is with pleasure that the following brief outline of his life and achievements is accorded a place in this volume which is devoted to a review of Boone county's repre- sentative men. That he is one of such, no one who has known him since his residence began in our midst, some sixty-six years ago, will deny.
Mr. Isenhour was born in Monroe county, Indiana, December II, 1847. He is a son of Jonathan and Margaret (Whisnand) Isenhour, the father a native of North Carolina and the mother of Tennessee. Grandfather John Isenhour was born in North Carolina, and Grandfather Isaac J. Whisnand
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was a native of Tennessee. They were both very early settlers in Monroe county, Indiana, and in that county the parents of our subject were married . and settled, removing from there in 1848 to Worth township, Boone county, where they purchased a large tract of land, which they cleared and developed into a fine farm, and here they spent the rest of their lives, the father dying August 22, 1895; the mother died November 22, 1910. They reached ad- vanced ages. Their children were: Rebecca, who married Jackson Laugh- ner; Isaac J. died in 1909; John E. lives in Marion county ; George died in September, 1910; James, of this review; William died in 1908; Ellen is the wife of John F. Day, of Lebanon.
James Isenhour grew to manhood on the home farm, where he worked hard when a boy, and he received his education in the common schools. He remained with his parents until his marriage, January 15, 1874, to Eliza Markland, who was born in Marion county, Indiana, September 10, 1850. She is a daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Stultz) Markland, both natives of North Carolina. After his marriage our subject rented land in Worth town- ship for over twenty years, then bought forty acres in the same township, part of his land having been improved, and he placed all of it under good improvement, and, as he prospered through close application and the exercise of good judgment, he added to his original purchase until he became owner of two hundred and fifteen acres of valuable land, in two farms, and he made a pronounced success as a general farmer and stock raiser. His son works part of his land. In the spring of 1895 our subject moved to his present resi- dence at Whitestown, where he is spending his declining years surrounded by all the comforts of life as a result of his earlier days of activity. Mr. Isenhour has met with misfortune, but he is not the kind to sit down and bemoan his fate, but with proper fortitude has born it uncomplainingly. In 1888, while shooting hawks, powder burned his right eye so severely that he lost the sight of that organ. In 1907 he was run over by a heavily loaded wagon. It was winter and the temperature was below zero. Unable to help himself and no one being near, he was compelled to lie three hours on the cold ground without attention. His right hip was badly injured and his right thigh broken. He was laid up three months from this accident, and then could go about only with crutches. Since that time his other eye has been failing him, and now he cannot distinguish objects.
Mr. Isenhour is a Democrat, and, religiously, he belongs to the Metho- dist Episcopal church.
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To our subject and wife the following children have been born: W. Hallie, of Fountaintown, Indiana; Walter died at the age of thirty-one years ; Bert lives in Worth township; Guy died when twenty-eight years of age; Cleveland lives in Whitestown; Arbie lives at home; John lives in Whites- town; Frank lives at home.
Our subject has lived an upright and helpful life and is highly respected throughout the county, being widely known, for here his long life has been spent, he having been but a year old when his parents brought him here.
ABRAHAM L. KLINGLER.
"The Song of the Forge" has ever been pleasant to the ears of Abraham L. Klingler, a skilful and popular blacksmith of the village of Terhune, Marion township, Boone county, whose well-equipped shop draws hundreds of patrons from remote parts of the locality, for here they know that they will receive prompt and careful attention. A criterion of his high-grade work is shown from the fact that many of his customers have patronized him for a number of years, refusing to have any other to do their blacksmithing. It is as much of an art to shoe a horse properly as it is to fill a tooth scientifically or adjust a pair of spectacles to failing eyes, and it takes close observation and long practice to become an expert farrier. Those personally acquainted with Mr. Klingler may note a similarity in Longfellow's "village smithy, a man with large and sinewy arms as strong as iron bands," not so much per- haps, from a physical resemblance and certainly not that he "stands under a spreading chestnut tree," for Mr. Klingler has one of the most up-to-date shops to be found in the county, but at least from a standpoint of honesty, for "he looks the whole world in the face, and goes on Sunday to the church."
Mr. Klingler was born in Union township, Boone county, January 9, 1862. He is a son of Francis and Mary (Mullen) Klingler, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of North Carolina. Both grandparents of our subject were early settlers in Boone county, and here the parents of the subject were early settlers in Boone county, and here the parents of the subject were married and settled on a farm in Union township. Fourteen children
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were born to them, six of whom are living at this writing, namely: Sarah is the wife of Jacob Dye, of Nebraska; John lives at Gadsden, Indiana ; William N. lives in Union township; George and Morton both live in Union township; Abraham L. lives in Marion township.
Abraham L. Klingler was reared on the home farm and educated in the rural schools. When seventeen years of age he started out for himself, and with his mother moved to Brown county, Indiana, where he remained seven months, then returned to Boone county and began working out by the day in Union township. In 1883 he took up his residence in Terhune and, with his brother, George, conducted a portable sawmill for a period of ten years; selling out he went to Kirklin and started with his brother. Two years later he returned to Terhune, took over the sawmill which his brother had con- ducted in the meantime, and since then he has also conducted a blacksmith shop here. His brother George went to Mississippi in 1897 and remained in that state three years, conducting a sawmill, and, coming back, he started a drug store, operating three years in Terhune.
Mr. Klingler carries on a general blacksmithing business, including re- pairing, horseshoeing and woodwork, and is kept very busy. His work in all lines is high-class. He owns a lot and a half in the village of Terhune where his shop is located. He also owns seven and one-half acres of valuable land just east of the village, on which he has a fine residence, which is neatly fur- nished. He has remained unmarried. Politically, he is a Republican, but has never been active in political affairs. Fraternally, he belongs to the Im- proved Order of Red Men, Lodge No. 117, of Sheridan, Indiana.
ROBERT D. BILLINGSLY.
There can be no impropriety in scanning the acts of any man as they affect his public, social and business relations, so in this biographical work will be found mention of worthy citizens of all vocations, and at this juncture we are permitted to offer a resume of the career of one of the substantial and highly esteemed representatives of the agricultural interests of Jefferson town- ship, Boone county, for Mr. Billingsly has maintained his home for many
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years and where he has not only attained a high degree of success in his chosen field of labor and enterprise, but also established an imperishable reputation for uprightness in all the relations of life.
Robert D. Billingsly was born in Johnson county, Indiana, November 4, 1841. He is a son of Samuel and Maria Louisa (Harbert) Billingsly, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Indiana. Samuel Billingsly came to this state in an early day, when he was a young man, making the long overland journey with three sisters. They located in John- son county, where he took up forty acres of land from the government. He improved this and added to it until he became owner of a half section and was one of the leading farmers of his vicinity. His death occurred in 1896, his widow surviving until in 1903.
Robert D. Billingsly grew to manhood on the home farm and he received his education in the district schools. He remained on the home place until he was twenty-eight years old then started in life for himself. In the spring of 1863 he enlisted in the Confederate army, in the Fourth Kentucky Mounted Infantry, under Colonel Giltner, and he served gallantly until the close of the war, having taken part in numerous campaigns and engagements, including the battle of Knoxville. Although he had two horses shot from under him he was never injured. After the war he returned home and remained with his parents four or five years. He was married February 12, 1871, to Delila Kaplinger, a native of Johnson county where she was reared and educated. He later removed to Boone county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres in section II, Jefferson township, the land being timbered, however, much of it had previously been blown down by a cyclone which swept a strip through Boone county in the sixties. Our subject lived in a tent a few days until he could erect a cabin, his wife remaining with him through it all. He began clearing the land and placing it under cultivation. Much ditching was re- quired, some of the land being swampy, and several years passed before he had it under proper improvement and cultivation, but he persevered, worked hard and managed well and in due time a large measure of success attended his efforts. It was not until 1880 that he got a ditch surveyed which gave him an outlet, then he began tiling, and laid one thousand rods of tile, and he now has one of the most productive and valuable farms in the township.
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He purchased and improved forty acres in his neighborhood, which he later sold and his place now consists of one hundred and sixty acres, his original homestead. In 1889 he built a large brick residence, also substantial barns and other buildings. He has been very successful as a general farmer and stock raiser.
Mr. Billingsly's first wife died in 1875, leaving two children, Maria Ann, born January 13, 1872, married Melvin Eddington, a farmer of Jefferson township and they have two children, Edna and Gracie; and Jane, born May 9, 1873. married Thomas DeBard, a farmer of Michigan, and they have five children, Bertha, Maria (deceased), Harry, Raymond and Wilbur; Edgar born January 17, 1875, died in infancy. On March 10, 1878, our subject married Mary J. Miller, who was born in Boone county, August 5, 1854 ; she is a daughter of Morgan M. Brenninger. She had been previously married and had one child, Gertrude Miller, who married Clinton DeBard, and they live in Lebanon. The following children have been born to our subject and his second wife: Carrie B., born December 31, 1879, married Judge W. H. Parr, of Lebanon, and they have three children ; a sketch of Judge Parr and family appears elsewhere in this work. Samuel Z. Billingsly was born August 22, 1881, and he married Lenna Knox, a native of Boone county ; they live on a farm in Jefferson township, and have two children, Rush and Mary. Amy, born March 1, 1883, married Carl Ferguson, a farmer of Jefferson township, and they have two children, Ray and Freda; Ada, born February 14, 1887, married D. Butler of Jamestown and they have one child, Pauline ; Minnie, born January 20, 1889, married Roy Kibbey, a farmer of Hendricks county, and they have three children: Bessie, born September 20, 1891, married Ralph Painter and they live in Lebanon; Robert M., born January 5, 1894 is attending school at Valparaiso, Indiana; Nova, born February 18, 1896 is the youngest of the family, and is at home with her parents. There are eighteen grandchildren. The second wife of our sub- ject was called to her rest February 26, 1896.
Mr. Billingsly belongs to the Christian church at Advance. Politically, he is a strong Democrat and is influential in party affairs. Fraternally, he belongs to the Masonic Order. Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, No. 664 at Advance. He is now practically retired from active life. his son taking charge of the farm about a year ago.
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BENJAMIN L. STOKER.
It is perhaps one of the ironies of fate that commissions, boards and special investigators-oftentimes more romantic than practical-sent out by the government, organizations or philanthropists, invariably conclude that the farmer is an incompetent. Then there are agricultural adventurers that frighten us with prophecies of hunger, mischievous statisticians that argue the decadence of agriculture, and the theorists with their cure-alls- all of them deploring the incapacity of the farmer. Such is not the case. The American farmer of today is the most capable workman in the history of the world's agriculture. The farms of the United States produce an annual farm value greater than any other agricultural country on the globe. The American farm is the largest, it is true, but the final test of a successful producer is net receipts per farmer, and that is in favor of the American plowman. One of the best examples of successful farming under advanced twentieth-century methods to be found in Boone county is the fine farm of Benjamin L. Stoker, of Center township.
Mr. Stoker was born January 22, 1853, in Hendricks county, Indiana. He is a son of Tyrie and Sinna (Leatherman) Stoker. The father was born in Kentucky, from which state he came to Boone county, Indiana, with his parents when eight years old, later removing to Hendricks county. Sub- sequently he removed to Missouri, where he lived with the family, but finally returned to Boone county, Indiana, he spent the rest of his life. He was a farmer all his active years. The mother of our subject was a native of Putnam county, Indiana. To these parents twelve children were born, seven of whom are still living, namely: John is the oldest; William, Mary and Sarah are all three deceased; James and Nancy are both living; Benja- man L., of this sketch; Cenith and Christana are both living; Fred and Nellie are both deceased; Narcissus is the youngest child.
Benjamin L. Stoker grew to manhood in Hendricks county and there received a common school education; also attended school in Perry township, Boone county. When he was twenty-two years of age he went west and joined the regular army, serving under Captain Shinnel in Company H, Sixth Infantry. He was stationed in the Dakotas and Minnesota and for a time was in Canada. He remained in the service five years, proving to be an
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efficient and able soldier. After an honorable discharge he lived in Minne- sota a few years, finally returning to Boone county, Indiana, where he has since resided. He has been very successful as a general farmer and stock raiser, and is owner of one hundred and twenty acres of valuable land in Center township, which is all cleared, well tilled and under an excellent state of cultivation. Mr. Stoker has a pleasant dwelling, which he himself built. Mr. Stoker is a natural mechanic and does his own carpentering and black- smithing, and has his own blacksmith shop. He raises Shorthorn and Jer- sey cows, Duroc hogs and draft horses, and no small portion of his annual income is derived from his judicious handling of live stock.
Politically, Mr. Stoker is a Democrat, and fraternally, he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Lebanon. His wife is a member of the Christian church.
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