USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County Indiana : From its earliest settlement to the present time with biographical sketches and reference to biographies previously compiled, Volume II > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
JEHU T. ELLIOTT has long occupied a place of prominence in the com- mercial and civic life of Logansport, where he has been engaged in business since the year 1871. Many and varied are the changes which have marked the growth and development of this city, but every suc- ceeding change in the business of Mr. Elliott has served but to mark its greater advance and its higher status in the business interests of the city.
Born in Cambridge City, Indiana, on March 24, 1844, Mr. Elliott is the son of William and Eliza (Branson) Elliott. His early school priv- ileges were but meager, owing to the facilities for education which that period provided, and he was but twelve years old when he set about making his own way in the world. From then until the present time he has been self-supporting, and it is small wonder that success and pros- perity should attend the efforts of a man who as a lad of twelve had the courage and hardihood to shoulder the responsibility of his own future. His first independent work was as a salesman for his brother, Dewitt C.
826
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
Elliott, with whom he remained until he reached his majority, and in 1865 he engaged in the dry goods business as a partner with Henry and A. R. Shroyer, under the firm name of Shroyer, Elliott & Company, but some little time later they disposed of their business, and Mr. Elliott purchased the grocery store which his brother owned in Newcastle, Indiana. There he continued to operate until 1870, when he went to Chicago and secured a position as a bookkeeper in a packing house. After a year he gave up his work and came to Logansport, where he became identified with the wholesale grocery concern of Elliott, Pogue & Shroyer, which firm was later changed to Elliott, Shroyer & Company. In 1889 the brother of the subject died, he being a member of the firm, and in the next year Mr. Shroyer withdrew, leaving the firm Elliott & Company. In 1896 Mr. Elliott sold his interest to William M. and S. J. Elliott. His next business move was to engage in the wholesale grocery business again, the firm name being J. T. Elliott & Son. Some little time later Elliott & Company and J. T. Elliott & Son consolidated under the firm name of J. T. Elliott Company, and in 1907 was reorganized under the firm name of the Elliott Grocery Company (Incorporated), J. T. El- liot being president of the company. That firm still exists and is one of the most prosperous and well known institutions in the business directory of the city, bearing a reputation that is unassailable, and occupying a lead- ing place in the community. Since the reorganization in 1907 Mr. Elliott has been president and manager. The firm conducts a wholesale grocery business and furnishes employment to twenty-five people, including road salesmen. Mr. Elliott has been in his present quarters since 1874, and has been identified with the wholesale grocery business for forty-one years, a record of which he may well be proud.
Mr. Elliott is a Republican, and has ever taken an active and inter- ested part in the political and civic life of his city. He was for eighteen years a member of the Logansport school board, and much credit is due him for the work he did as a member of that board and a number of beautiful schoolhouses were built during his term of office as evidence of his achievement. He has long been a member of the Wholesale Gro- cer's Association of Indiana and of the Traveling Men's Protective Asso- ciation. He is a Mason of high degree, and has been since 1866. He was a member of the board of directors for the Masonic Association for the construction of the Masonic Temple of Logansport, which gave to the city a magnificent building in the Temple. Mr. Elliott was president of that board, and much of his enterprise, energy, loyalty to the order, and general public spirit is manifested in the splendid structure which resulted from the efforts of the society, under his direction. He has been for years also a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Modern Woodmen, as well as of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in later years. He was a director of the latter named order when their magnificent Temple was built in Logansport. A number of the Method- ist Episcopal church at Broadway, this city, Mr. Elliott has been its treasurer for thirty-five years, a splendid record for service, surely.
On May 16, 1865, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Elliott and Miss Caroline Shroyer, of Newcastle, Indiana. Three children were born to them : Harry S .; Esther E., the wife of Harry Uhl, and Arethusa, the wife of Edward B. Bliss. Mr. and Mrs. Elliott have occupied the
827
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
same residence in Logansport for the past thirty-eight years, and have a host of friends in the city.
JOHN R. MILLMAN. Among the enterprising and progressive young farmers and stock raisers of Cass county may be mentioned John R. Millman, who is engaged in cultivating his father's farm of one hundred and sixty acres, located on the Millman road, about four and one-half miles southeast of Logansport. Mr. Millman comes of a long line of agriculturists, and has spent his entire life in the work of cultivating the soil. Although still a young man he has demonstrated his ability, and his enthusiasm and progressive spirit has resulted in the cultivation of an excellent property. John R. Millman was born November 7, 1880, at Remington, Jasper county, Indiana, and is a son of Orville M. and Lizzie (Benson) Millman.
Orville M. Millman was born in Putnam county, where he was reared and educated, and when still in young manhood, in 1872, migrated to Jasper county. There he was engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1895, in which year he brought his family to Cass county and settled first north of and then in Tipton township. He is still engaged in active pursuits and is the owner of a fine farm of fifty-eight acres. Mr. Mill- man married Miss Lizzie Benson, of Jasper county, Indiana, and they became the parents of four children, namely : Jolin R .; Hattie, who lives with her parents in Tipton township; Lawson A., and William F., also at home.
John R. Millman secured his early education in the common schools of Jasper county, and finished it in the country schools of Cass county, whence he accompanied his parents when fifteen years of age. He has always lived at home, and his training in agricultural matters has been most thorough. At the age of eighteen years he began farming on his own account, and being the oldest of his parents' children was put in charge of the home farm upon attaining his majority. He has shown skill, good judgment and thorough knowledge of all the details of modern farming, believes in the use of modern machinery and methods, and is considered an excellent judge of stock. Like his father, he has always supported the principles and candidates of the Republican party, but has not cared to identify himself with public life, having been too busy in his farming operations. He has found time, however, to lend his support to those movements which he has been led to believe will benefit his community or its people, and has also been identified with fraternal work to some extent as a member of the Masonic order, Tipton, Lodge Logan, in which he has many warm friends, as he has, indeed, in the various walks of life.
On December 18, 1907, Mr. Millman was united in marriage with Miss Edna Martin, who was born in Cass county, a member of an old and honored family of this section, and a daughter of William P. and Eliza (Berry) Martin, farming people. Mr. and Mrs. Millman have one little daughter, Margaret R., born November 8, 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Mill- man are consistent members of the English Lutheran church. Their com- fortable home, situated on the Millman road, is often the scene of pleas- ant social gatherings, as both the young people are popular in social circles of the community.
828
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
JEROME MCCLAIN. Among the citizens of Cass county who devoted their lives to the development of the agricultural interests of this sec- tion, one who will be remembered by the older generation was the late Jerome McClain, who for many years cultivated a fine tract of land on the McClain road, about six miles south of Logansport. Coming to this vicinity in young manhood, when the country was still in its formative shape, he materially aided in bringing about the present prosperous con- ditions, and will be remembered as a man of the highest integrity and probity of character. Mr. McClain was born January 5, 1824, in Day- ton, Ohio, in a house on McClain street, named in honor of the family, and as a youth learned the trade of carpenter, and also worked at har- ness making and blacksmithing. He was still a young man when he migrated to Cass county, and here, in the city of Logansport, was mar- ried. After the birth of his oldest child, Frank McClain, he returned to Ohio in November, 1848, and for ten years worked at his trade in Dayton, but in November, 1858, again came to Cass county, this time taking up land and clearing a space for a log cabin. During the remain- der of his life, Mr. McClain was engaged in tilling the soil, and became one of the best known and most highly esteemed of his community's citi- zens. He cleared the greater part of a valuable eighty-acre farm, which is still in the possession of the family, and on which he erected good buildings, made other improvements and continued to carry on general farming and stock raising. In his death, which occurred September 2, 1911, Cass county lost a good, practical agriculturist, and a citizen who always had the best interests of his community at heart.
Jerome McClain was married in Logansport to Miss Cazaline Holly, a member of an old Cass county family, and they became the parents of eight children, as follows: Benjamin F., now a resident of Kokomo, Indiana, who is married and has nine children ; Pulaski, who is still operat- ing the old homestead; Sarah E .; Granville M., who also resides at Kokomo, and has four children; Dowell, who is deceased; Mary E .; Margaret C .; also Doc and Noah, deceased.
Pulaski McClain, son of Jerome McClain, was born in Dayton, Aug- ust 8, 1853 and his sister, Mary E., who lives with him and manages the household affairs, was born on the old home place on McClain road. His early education was secured in the Galveston schools, and later he attended the district schools, his summer months always being spent in the work of the home place. His sister secured her education in the West school in Washington township. On completing his education, Mr. McClain commenced working at odd occupations, and being pos- sessed of much more than the average mechanical ability, has had little trouble in finding plenty of employment, in addition to managing the home farm of eighty acres. He is known as one of the enterprising men of his community, and both he and his sister have many warm friends in the vicinity of their home. They are attendants of the Chris- tian church in Washington township. The McClains are of Scottish lineage, and the original spelling of the name was McLean.
JOHN M. LAROSE. In the earlier history of this country, there are many accounts of the trials and brave sacrifices of those who are num- bered among the pioneers of certain districts. The tide of civilization
family
€
-
"HIGH VIEW STOCK FARM," RESIDENCE OF MR. AND MRS. JOHN M. LAROSE
829
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
was then ever moving westward, and as soon as a section was fairly well developed, there would always be some venturesome souls eager to press still further towards the frontier, making new boundary lines for the outposts of civilization. Without these the United States would not lie from ocean to ocean, but would still be clustered along the At- lantic seaboard; without these courageous pioneers, who braved the sav- age Indian and wild beast, the great commonwealth of Indiana would still be a waste of prairie and timber land, and where is now heard the cheerful bustle of urban existence, the prairie chicken and wild turkey would wing their low flight. Among the families that are largely responsible for the Cass county of today, that bearing the name of LaRose is well known, and a worthy representative of this name is found in the person of John M. LaRose, of Clay township, the owner of a part of the old LaRose homestead. He was born on the property which he now occupies, April 25, 1854, and is a son of John S. and Lucretia (Chestnut) LaRose, natives of Ohio.
The ancestry of the LaRose family can be traced back to John Lewis LaRose, the great-great-grandfather of John M. LaRose, who was a native of Germany and came to America in 1740, locating in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, where the Rev. John Jacob LaRose, the great- grandfather of John M., was born and reared. He was a tailor by trade, but when the War of the Revolution was inaugurated he put aside all business and personal consideration to aid in the cause of independence. The son of this Revolutionary soldier, Philip J. LaRose, was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, and was there married to Mary Shearer, also a native of that county. In 1826 they left their southern home and came to Wayne county, Indiana, and in 1834 made removal to Cass county, locating on an eighty-acre tract of land in Clay town- ship. To that property Mr. LaRose kept adding from time to time as his financial resources increased until his landed possessions aggregated over 700 acres. His was a busy and useful life, and his success was well merited. He died March 28, 1871, at the advanced age of ninety-one years, and the community thereby lost one of its honored pioneer set- tlers. He and his wife had a family of eight children, among whom was John S. LaRose. The latter, following in the footsteps of his father, made agricultural pursuits his life work, and became one of the success- ful and greatly esteemed citizens of Clay township. He married Miss Lucretia Chestnut, and they had two living children: John Marion and Annie V.
John Marion LaRose attended the district schools of the vicinity of his home, and supplemented this by three years of attendance in the city schools of Logansport. On completing his studies he at once settled down to agricultural pursuits, which he has followed with uniform suc- cess throughout his career. He now has 210 acres of land, all in a high state of cultivation, on which he has made numerous modern improve- ments which have greatly enhanced the value of the property. The family residence, which succeeded the little log house in which Mr. La- Rose was born, is located on an elevation on the farm, and can be seen for miles in every direction. Mr. LaRose is known as a good, practical agriculturist, and as one whose abilities are such as to allow him to gain a full measure of success from his labors. His standing as a citi- Vol. II-8
830
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
zen is equally high, and among his business associates he is known as a man who lives up to all of his obligations. The homestead house is known as "The High View Stock Farm," and he raises the "Mule Foot" swine which is registered.
On March 5, 1876, Mr. LaRose was united in marriage with Miss Nancy Miranda Brown, who was born in Cass county, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth J. (Custer) Brown, for years a prosperous farmer of this locality. To this union there has come one child : John Brown, born in 1895. Mr. and Mrs. LaRose are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, while his political affiliation is with the Democratic party.
GEORGE W. BURKHART. A resident of Cass county since 1866, George W. Burkhart, veteran of the Civil war, former manufacturer of lumber, retired farmer and public-spirited citizen, has had a long and honorable career, and has been closely identified with the growth and development of this section. His life furnishes an example of the success that is to be gained through upright living, strict integrity and constant devotion to the principles of honorable dealing and public-spirited citzenship, and among the people of his community he is held in the highest esteem, Mr. Burkhart was born September 17, 1846, in Center county, Penn- sylvania, and is a son of John G. and Susan (Felmey) Burkhart. His father, a native of the Fatherland, came to the United States when about sixteen years of age, and subsequently followed the trades of miller and baker, in addition to carrying on agricultural pursuits. He successively lived in Pennsylvania, Ohio (where he worked at his trades in Bucyrus and Sandusky), Fulton county, Indiana, and finally Cass county, where his death occurred in his sixty-sixth year, some time during the Civil war. A thrifty and industrious German, he accumulated a competency and some years before his death was able to retire. Mr. Burkhart mar- ried Susan C. Felmey, a native of Pennsylvania, who passed away at the age of fifty-five years, and they became the parents of three children : John W., who now lives in Kent, Wisconsin; George W .; and Cecelia, who married Thomas Detmore, and had three children,-Oliver, Lucinda and Nora.
George W. Burkhart was five years of age when taken to Ohio by his parents, and there he was reared to hard work, being given only three months schooling in all his life. If his education was slight, his opportunities for culture of a genuine sort were more so, but one cannot be in Mr. Burkhart's presence long before realizing that he is a man of wide knowledge and general information, close observation and much reading having given him an education that has made up for what the earlier years lacked. He was thrown upon his own resources at the age of thirteen years, at which time he began to work at odd jobs, chopping wood and working as a farm hand, in fact accepting whatever honorable employment presented itself. In 1861 the family came to Fulton county, Indiana, where young Burkhart worked on a farm for about one year, and in 1862 he began his military career as a private in Company A, Twenty-sixth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Col. John G. Clark commanding, with which organization he served faithfully for three years. He was in the Thirteenth and Sixteenth Army Corps, and later connected with the Department of the Gulf, and throughout a long and
831
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
arduous service maintained the reputation of a cheerful, brave and faithful soldier, winning alike the respect of his comrades and superior officers. Among his battles were Vicksburg, Nashville, Yazoo Pass, Prai- rie Grove, Sterling Plantation, Mobile Bay and Spanish Fort, and numerous minor engagements and skirmishes. For about a year he also participated in the Missouri troubles, during the time when the notorious Quantrell and his gang of desperadoes were terrorizing that state.
On the completion of his military service, Mr. Burkhart returned to the vocations of peace, and for a number of years he followed lumber- ing and engaged in the manufacturing and sale of building material, but eventually turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, and still owns forty acres of land south of Logansport and a well-cultivated prop- erty of one hundred and seventy and three-fourths acres on the Kokomo Road. His ventures have been characterized by honest dealing, and although he is now retired from active pursuits he still holds the con- fidence of a wide business acquaintance. For a number of years Mr. Burkhart was actively engaged in Democratic politics, especially as a "stump" speaker, but in 1912 cast his fortunes with the young Pro- gressive party, whose candidate he became for joint representative. In the years of 1898 and 1899 he was representative of Cass county, Indi- ana, in the state legislature. In a number of township offices he demon- strated his ability as a public executive, and his services are still in demand as an orator at various gatherings, celebrations and social events. Probably no other man in his part of the county is better posted upon the history of the country, especially as to its presidents and eminent statesmen.
On April 11, 1872, Mr. Burkhart was united in marriage with Miss Rosetta H. Seybold, daughter of John G. and Ursula (Munger) Seybold, and six children have been born to this union : John Irvin, who married Pearl Kay; Harry F., of Fulton county, who married Susan Weisner, and has two children,-Zoe and Luretta; Joseph A., who married Anna Leffert, and has two children,-George and Harry; Frank, who married Ethel Kochel, and has two children,-Rosetta and Bernice; Clarence, residing in Logansport; and Geneva, who is single and resides with her parents.
HARRY C. JONES. On the Kokomo road, about four miles from Logansport, is situated the finely cultivated eighty-acre farm of Harry C. Jones, a tract which has been in the family since 1857, and on which Mr. Jones was born. He is one of his section's enterprising and ener- getic agriculturists, belonging to that class of farmers who are quick to adopt advanced methods and progressive ideas, and among his neigh- bors and associates is recognized as a man who at all times is ready to aid movements tending to better his community. Mr. Jones was born on his present property, August 10, 1855, and is a son of Josiah and Emily (Updegraff) Jones. His father, a native of New York, spent his early years in the Empire State, where he was engaged in farming, and was about forty years old when he migrated to Indiana. Here he set- tled in Cass county on the present farm of Harry C. Jones, then a wild tract on which there had been no improvements made. He spent his sub-
832
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
sequent years in clearing and cultivating this land, and died with a comfortable competency and the esteem and respect of those with whom he had come into contact. Josiah and Emily Jones had two children : Harry C .; and Jennie, now Mrs. John M. Burkit.
Like all country boys of his day and locality, Harry C. Jones divided his early years between attendance at school in the winter terms and working on the farm in the summer months. He was reared to habits of industry and sobriety, taught to realize the value of hard work, and thoroughly trained in all the details of farm labor. In the meantime his mind was being trained in the district schools and the old stone seminary in Logansport, after leaving which he continued to work on the home place. At the time of his father's death, Mr. Jones inherited one-half of the homestead, and after a few years, when he decided to make a home of his own he puchased his sister's interest in the property, and since that time has been its proprietor. At that time Mr. Jones was mar- ried to Miss Sarah J. Vernon, March 25, 1875, and they have had a family of nine children, as follows: William H., who married Anna Ramer, and has one child,-Blanch J .; Arthur C., who married Pearl Nichols, and has one child,-Howard N .; Josiah P., who married Flora Barnes, and has one child,-Harry E .; Frank V., who married Elsie Bopp and they have one daughter, Dorothy; Charles E., who married Ida Mosby, and has one child,-Ralph V .; Thomas E., who married Mae Condon; and Quincy A., who wedded Miss Mildred Dussard; Paul Revere and Carl B., all of whom reside at home and assist their father in the work of the farm. This eighty-acre tract is one of the finest of its size in Washington township. Years of intelligent, practical and painstaking cultivation have resulted in the development of an excellent property, which produces large crops annually. Mr. Jones is a Repub- lican in his political views, but is not a politician in the generally ac- cepted use of the term, although in 1912 he allowed his name to be used as a nominee for the office of commissioner. His fraternal connection is with Lodge No. 417, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which the family is well represented, six of Mr. Jones' sons also belonging to this order. He also holds membership in St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church, which he attends constantly and supports liberally. The home- stead of Mr. and Mrs. Jones is called "The Cedars" and is the abode of hospitality.
CHARLES QUINCY PALMER. Industry, perseverance, intelligence and good judgment are the price of success in agricultural work in these modern days of farming, when the hard, unremitting toil of former days has given way to scientific use of modern machinery and a knowl- edge of the proper treatment of the soil. Cass county boasts of many skilled farmers who treat their vocation more as a profession than as a mere occupation and take a justifiable pride in their accomplishments. In this class may be mentioned Charles Quincy Palmer, of Washington township, the well-tilled tract of two hundred acres owned by his father and himself being located not far from Logansport and who is also carrying on operations on his father's tract, the latter being retired from active life. Mr. Palmer was born in Washington township, Cass county, Indiana, May 28, 1874, and is a son of John and Mary (Best) Palmer.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.