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 16
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
His father was born in Irwin, Ohio, from whence he came to Indiana during young manhood, and here carried on agricultural pursuits with well deserved success until his retirement several years ago. There were three children in the elder Palmer's family, namely: Charles Quincy ; George H., who makes his home in Logansport; and Dr. A. L., a well known physician of Logansport, who is acting in the official capacity of coroner of that city.
Charles Quincy Palmer was given the advantages of a good educa- tion, attending both the district schools of Washington township and the graded schools of Logansport, and after leaving the latter resumed work on the home farm. Subsequently, he learned the trade of horse- shoer, which he followed for six years in connection with his agricul- tural operations, but eventually gave up this vocation and now devotes his entire attention to tilling the soil. The two hundred-acre tract has been put in a high state of cultivation, the buildings thereon are modern and in a good state of repair, and altogether the property gives eloquent testimony to Mr. Palmer's skill as a farmer. He has realized and taken advantage of the use of modern methods in his operations, and may take pride in the fact that he has one of the valuable properties of his community. Among his neighbors he is known as a man of the strictest integrity in all matters of a business nature, and one who, having suc- ceeded himself, is at all times ready to assist others to a like success. Essentially a farmer, he has taken little interest in politics, but move- ments which have for their object the betterment of his community may always depend upon his support and co-operation. In fraternal matters, Mr. Palmer is popular with the members of the local lodge of the Frater- nal Order of Eagles, in which he has passed through all the chairs.
On March 21, 1900, Mr. Palmer was united in marriage with Miss Martina Miller, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Simmons) Miller. They have no children. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer attend the English Luth- eran church, in the work of which Mrs. Palmer has been very active, and both are popular in the social circles of Logansport, their home being but three miles south of that city.
NEWMAN H. SETTLES. Since earliest history the vocation of tilling the soil has been numbered among the most honored vocations. A lib- eral profession, embracing a knowledge of the physiology of the earth and the products that grow out of it, it requires also a philosophy of economics that understands the necessities of demand and supply by which these products are kept moving over the face of the earth. Among the good, practical agriculturists of Cass county, who thoroughly under- stand their vocation, and are securing a full measure of success through the application of intelligent treatment of the soil, none stand higher than Newman H. Settles, who for thirty-five years or more has been cultivating land in Noble township. Mr. Settles is a native of Ohio, born March 10, 1846, a son of John and Julia Settles, natives of Vir- ginia and New York, respectively. Mr. Settles' parents were married in Ohio, and from that state came to Adams county, Indiana, in 1859, and thence to Cass county, first locating in Harrison township, on a farm of eight acres. There the father erected a shop and followed the
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cooper trade until 1872 when he moved with his wife to Kansas and in that state died in 1904, Mrs. Settles having passed away in 1882.
Newman H. Settles was a lad of thirteen years when the family came to Cass county, Indiana, and here his education was completed in the common schools. On the completion of his studies he entered busi- ness with his father, from whom he had learned the trade of cooper, and after his father had moved to the West he continued to operate the business until 1877. At that time he took up his residence in Noble township where he rented a larger farm, and here, through tireless in- dustry, constant thrift and persevering determination, aided by a keen intellect and a comprehensive knowledge of land values, he has been able to accumulate a handsome property of eighty acres in section 12. In 1903, in which year Mr. Settles bought this farm, it was in poor con- dition, due to mismanagement on the part of the former owner, but during the ten years that it has been in Mr. Settles' possession, he has developed it into one of the valuable tracts of his township. Modern buildings have been erected, innovations have been introduced, and scientific treatment of the soil has tended to increase the productive ability of the property.
On October 28, 1864, Mr. Settles was married to Miss Anna Craw- ford, who was born in Ohio, September 15, 1852, daughter of Robert and Margaret Crawford, who came to Cass county in 1854 and settled on a farm in Boone township. Six children were born to this union: Julia, Willard, Margaret, Jennie, John and Franklin. Julia died in 1872, at the age of eleven months; Willard was married (first) in 1896 to Miss Ida Smith, of Cass county, and had two children: Eva and Paul. His first wife died in 1902, and in 1906 he was a second time married, the ceremony taking place in Detroit, Michigan. In 1904 Jennie Settles was married to William Wright, of Logansport, and they have two children : Dorothy, born in 1905; and Margaret, born in 1908. Margaret Settles was married in 1910 to Charles Lew, an engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad. On December 25, 1909, John Settles mar- ried Miss Florence Grable, of Cass county, and on September 17, 1912, Franklin Settles married Miss Anna Holland, also of Cass county.
Newman HI. Settles has never cared for public office, although a supporter of good government, and an active participant in progressive movements. With his wife and children, he attends the Methodist Episcopal church. .
HENRY RHOADES. It has been given to some to help develop the country, to shape their surroundings according to their needs, and to bring forth the present high degree of civilization. Cass county, Indiana, became the home of many a sturdy pioneer, who did not ask for anything more than raw land to work upon. Bravely, uncomplain- ingly, these forerunners of civilization went to work, and many of them still survive to see the fruits of their years of labor. Among these is Henry Rhoades, himself a pioneer and a member of an old and influen- tial family of the Hoosier state, who is now the owner of eighty acres of fine farming land about five miles from Logansport. Mr. Rhoades, who has the added distinction of being a veteran of the Civil war and an honor to those who wore the blue, was born October 17, 1846, in
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Pulaski county, Indiana, and is a son of Mike and Mary (Niss) Rhoades. His father, who was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, came from that city to Pulaski county, Indiana, in 1848, and there spent the rest of his life in cultivating a farm. He was the father of eight children, namely : William, deceased; Daniel, Henry, Sarah, deceased; Hattie, Kate and Angelina; and Silas, deceased.
Henry Rhoades was reared to agricultural pursuits, and received his education in the district schools, starting to work out on neighbor- ing farms when he was only twelve years of age. He was so engaged when the Civil war broke out, and with other youths of his locality, went to Winamac, Pulaski county, and there enlisted in the Union army, becoming a member of the Eighty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry. His regiment was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, and he subsequently participated in a number of hard-fought engage- ments and took part in the famous "March to the Sea," under Gen. W. T. Sherman. After completing a brave and honorable service, Mr. Rhoades returned to Pulaski county and to agricultural pursuits, re- maining in that section until he was about twenty-five years of age, when he came to Cass county. Being possessed of but little capital, commencing at the lowest round of the ladder of life he worked on shares until he was able to purchase his present land, which he has developed into one of the best tracts of its size in Washington township. General farming and stock-raising have held his attention, and he is known as an able agriculturist, who is thoroughly conversant with mod- ern ideas and methods, and whose activities have served to contribute to the farming importance of his township.
On December 23, 1869, Mr. Rhoades wedded Miss Florence C. Fink, daughter of Jacob and Mary (Skillen) Fink. Her parents came to Cass county from Pennsylvania in an early day. In the Fink family there were three children: Florence, Sarah and Eli, and all of the children are living.
Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rhoades: Daniel W., who married Miss Myrtle Lucy and they have four children: Orvilla, Henry, Lester L. and Wayne; Mary, wife of Burton Nether- cutt, the parents of six children: Orville, May, Henry, Russell Mosie, Bessie and Paul; Elizabeth, wife of Herman Leffert and they have five children : Herbert, Irene, Arthur, Mary and Wayne; Lottie, wife of Oliver Marshall, who have four children: Florence, Hazel, Harold and Opal; Walter, who married Flossie Reese and has no children; and Harvey, who wedded Edna Rush and has one child, Helena.
In his political views, Mr. Rhoades is a Democrat, but he has never sought public office, preferring to give his entire attention to his farming operations. With his wife and family, they attend the Lutheran church, of which he has always been a liberal supporter. Mr. Rhoades belongs to that class of men who appreciate their success the more because it has been self-gained, and because it has come through honest effort and by no questionable means, aided by his estimable wife. His standing as a citizen is high, and during his long residence in Cass county he has gained and maintained many sincere friendships. His good wife shares equally well the friendship and good wishes of their many friends.
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Mrs. Rhoades has a sunshiny smile and a royal welcome for all who may enter the portals of their pretty home.
NELSON WARNER CADY, M. D. In a career of thirty-five years as physician and surgeon of Cass county, Dr. Cady has come to rank among the foremost men of his profession in this county, has done much good service both as a doctor and as a citizen for the welfare of his home city, and is well known for his ability and high character in his profession over the state.
Nelson Warner Cady was born October 3, 1850, at Indianapolis, and belongs to an old family of Indiana, and its members have been distin- guished for worthy and honorable position in practical affairs and social life. The parents of Dr. Cady were Charles Warner Cady and Abigail Aikman Kiersted. The father was born at Keene, New Hampshire, in 1810, located in Indianapolis about 1840 as the first general fire insur- ance agent in the state, and died in that city in 1855. The mother was born at Fort Washington, (now Cincinnati, Ohio), in 1824, and died at her home in Indianapolis in 1900. She was a type of Indiana's noble women during the last century. She was deeply interested in the work for the soldiers during the Civil war and made and presented a regimental banner to Lew Wallace's regiment of zouaves. The father, during his early manhood, learned and followed the trade of saddler, but subsequently took up fire insurance and after some years in the business had the distinction of establishing the first fire insurance office in the state of Indianapolis. Besides Dr. Cady, the other children of the family are mentioned as follows: Eudora Dunn Cady, who married Woodford Tousey, and who died at Indianapolis in 1913 in her seventieth year; Albermarle Cady, who died in infancy ; Anna Kiersted Cady, born in 1845, and died in 1901, first married W. O. Stone and second Dr. Hammond of Indianapolis; Ella Wilder Cady, who married John Lawrie, a merchant; Jeremiah Kiersted Cady, born in 1855, and married Paget Daniels, is now an architect in Chicago.
Dr. Cady after leaving the Indianapolis high school, entered Cornell university at Ithaca, New York, where he was graduated Ph. B. in 1874. His medical education was acquired in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York, and he was graduated M. D. in 1877. Many years ago Dr. Cady acquired the art of stenography, and was among the first young men in Indianapolis to use this art as a reporter on the Indianapolis Journal, and he has practiced more or less through all his career, being now a contributor to newspapers and medical journals.
Dr. Cady located in Logansport, Indiana, in June, 1877, and has practiced medicine in this city for more than thirty-five years. With a genius for mechanics, as well as for the subtler arts of his profession, Dr. Cady has used his skill in inventing a number of fracture splints of a new design, and now used extensively by the profession. For several years he held a position on the Logansport board of health, and has been as public-spirited in his citizenship as in his profession.
Dr. Cady for many years supported the Republican party, but his politics now is of the Progressive brand. He is a member of the Cass County and Indiana State Medical Society, and of the American Medi-
"SUNNY LAWN HOMESTEAD," RESIDENCE OF MR. AND MRS. HORACE M. FUNK
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
cal Association. His fraternal affiliations are with Orient Lodge No. 272 A. F. and A. M., Logan Chapter No. 2 R. A. M. and Logansport Council No. 11 R. and S. M.
Dr. Cady was married August 22, 1883, to Miss Jennie M. Miller, of Waverly, New York, a daughter of Samuel W. and Adaline Parmenter Miller, her father being a butcher by trade. Dr. Cady and wife have the following children: Margaret Abigail Cady, born August 20, 1864, died February 5, 1886; Eudora Helena Cady, born March 2, 1888, liv- ing at home with her father; and Wallis Albermarle Cady, born Feb- ruary 14, 1888, and now a newspaper reporter at Toledo, Ohio. The family worship with the Episcopal church.
HORACE MILTON FUNK. Among the progressive and enterprising agriculturists of Cass county, one who has gained success through the medium of his own efforts, and now holds an enviable position among his fellow-citizens, is Horace M. Funk, the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of well-cultivated land in Clay township. Mr. Funk has been an agriculturist all of his life, and has lived at various places in Indiana, and wherever his activities have been located he has gained the friendship and good will of all with whom he has come in contact. He is a native of Pennsylvania, and was born September 19, 1859, a son of Joseph G. and Mary ( Ward) Funk, and a grandson of George Funk.
The parents of Mr. Funk came to Cass county in 1867, Mrs. Funk, his grandmother, being the owner of the first farm on which they settled and this property Mr. Funk and his father worked on shares. For some time the family lived in a frame residence in Clay township. The farm of Mr. Funk's parents is now one of the valuable properties of the township. Joseph G. Funk is still operating this land, but the mother passed to her final rest on April 4, 1894.
Horace N. Funk received his education in the district schools of Clay township, and his boyhood and youth were spent in assisting his father, and in learning the multitude of details with which a good farmer must be conversant. On attaining his majority he began opera- tions on his own account, but he continued under the parental roof until 1889, when he went to Miami township, and there carried on operations for one year. Returning to Clay township in 1890, he con- tinued farming there until the following year, when he went to Peru, Indiana, and continued to live there until removing to Adams town- ship in the fall of 1892. He spent about four and one-half years in that vicinity, and then purchased another property, but before he had settled thereon grasped an opportunity to sell it at a satisfactory advance, and then came to his present farm, a tract of one hundred and twenty acres in Clay township. Here he has made a number of valuable improvements, having a handsome residence situated on Logansport Rural Free Delivery Route No. 5, with appropriate barns and out- buildings. His land is in a high state of cultivation, and yields bumper crops in return for the intelligent labors which Mr. Funk expends upon it. Through honorable dealing and strict integrity in all his trans- actions, he has gained a reputation for honesty and straightforwardness, and no citizen of his locality stands higher in public esteem. He is a
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
Republican in his political views, and, although not a politician in the generally accepted meaning of the term, has recognized the duties of citizenship, and has served his township both as trustee and supervisor. With his family, he attends the Christian church, and has ever been a liberal supporter of those movements which go to make for morality, education and good citizenship.
Mr. Funk was married to Miss Mattie G. Scott, February 6, 1889, daughter of Benjamin D. and Belinda (Carr) Scott, and they have had three children, namely : Ruth A., who became the wife of William English, and lives in Clay township; Ward S., eighteen years old, and Eveleen E., ten years of age. Ruth and Ward both received their diplomas from the public schools, and the daughter Ruth was a student one year in the high school and Ward has finished the full curriculum of the high school. Eveleen is in the sixth grade. Mrs. Funk was a daughter of Benjamin D. and Belinda (Carr) Scott. Benjamin Scott was a native of Cass county, born in 1831, and he died in 1895, aged about 64 years. He was a carpenter and joiner, also an agriculturist and a Republican in his political sentiment. His wife was a member of the Christian church. Mrs. Funk was educated in the common schools and the American Normal, formerly of Logansport, and she was a suc- cessful teacher in Clay and Miami townships.
Mr. Funk is an honored member of the Knights of Pythias, also of the Maccabees. The comfortable home of Mr. and Mrs. Funk is known as "The Sunny Lawn Homestead," and their home is ever open to their many friends.
JAMES ALVIN HIGGINS is well known among the farming men of Cass county as one of the most successful breeders of hogs in the vicin- ity of Logansport. He has devoted his entire life to the farm and its diversified interests, winning prosperity and success in all his under- takings, and his position is one of no little prominence in the city and county which has represented his home and the center of his activities all his life. Born on the 6th day of December, 1848, in Logansport, James Alvin Higgins is the son of Alvin McCaslin and Eliza Jane (Reyburn) Higgins.
Alvin M. Higgins was a man of eastern birth and ancestry, and he came to Indiana in 1834 from Portland, Maine. En route to Fort Dearborn (Chicago) in company with his brother, both were stricken with a dangerous illness at Peru. The brothers were taken into the home of Col. William M. Reyburn and there were cared for by those kindly and gentle people. The brother died, but Alvin Higgins was nursed into convalescence by the daughter of his good samaritan host, and upon his ultimate recovery he married the lady who had saved his life. Alvin and Eliza Higgins, upon the happy culmination of their romantic acquaintance and courtship, established a home in Logansport, and here Mr. Higgins took up the trade in which he had been trained in his boyhood-that of a tin and copper smith. He opened a small shop, which was later supplemented by a line of stoves and hardware, and to him was accorded the distinction of having been the first man to introduce the heating stove into Cass county. Mr. Higgins, it may also be said, was the first man in Cass county to own
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
a thoroughbred Durham bull, and it was about the year 1855 that he made the purchase. He was one of the first to recognize the importance of introducing blooded stock into the country, and with a Mr. Buchanan, made the purchase. The transaction was one fraught with considerable difficulty, as they were obliged to go to Kentucky to make the purchase -a big undertaking in those early days.
Mr. and Mrs. Higgins were the parents of eight children, of whom the following brief facts are here incorporated : William R., who was educated for the ministry. He began preaching in 1865 and was called out of Cass county. He died in Terre Haute, Indiana, on July 4, 1895. Emma B. died on the 8th of January, 1846; Sarah C. died February 12, 1890; Mary C. died on the 4th of November, 1902; Eliza Jane died on May 4, 1894; James A., of this review; Ella F. died on June 19, 1907; Elizabeth A. died on January 8, 1902. With but a single exception, the deceased members of this family lived past middle age, Emma B. having died when she was about five years old. The wife and mother died on August 8, 1859, and Mr. Higgins died on March 5, 1885. Mr. Higgins was a captain of a military company, organized in Logansport and he saw active service on various occasions when Indiana troops were called into action, in the troubles incident to those early days. He was a man of much public spirit and a citizen who never shirked his duties and responsibilities in the way of public serv- ice. He served two terms as city councilman and one term as probate judge. He was county treasurer during two terms of office and was a member of the school board during practically all of his life in Cass county. In all of these offices he served faithfully and well, winning the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens and establishing a reputa- tion for solid worth and integrity that will live while the same endures. He was a member of Logansport Lodge, A. F. and A. M., and was a charter member of the first Odd Fellows lodge in Logansport, and had a similar experience with regard to a lodge known as the Sons of Tem- perance. In about the year 1858, Mr. Higgins disposed of his tinsmith and hardware business and engaged in the lumber industry, making black walnut the principal item to which he devoted his operations. He died on March 5, 1885, after an illness of a year or more, and his death deprived Logansport and Cass county of one of the most worthy men they had ever known.
James Alvin Higgins was educated in the schools of Logansport, . finishing his education with the high school. He saw himself as one of the successful farmers of the future in Cass county, and early in life set about the realization of his young ambition. Thus all of his busi- ness life has been devoted to farms and farming, and success has most generously rewarded his efforts. In later years Mr. Higgins turned his attention to hog raising, and that enterprise has taken the best part of his time since then.
On the 22nd of Jannary, 1873, Mr. Higgins was united in marriage with Miss Emma Thornton, the eldest daughter of Harvey and Catherine (Murray) Thornton. Mrs. Higgins was born in Cass county and was given her early education in the schools of Noble township, later at- tending school in Cincinnati, for a year, and completing her studies
.
,
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
at the Presbyterian Academy in Logansport-that institution stand- ing in the relation to Logansport as the high school of today.
Three children came to Mr. and Mrs. Higgins, as follows: Warren T., born on August 5, 1874; Reyburn A., born on February 27, 1877; and Mary E., whose natal day is September 23, 1881. All three are living. The second son, Reyburn, married Lillian Stewart Jones on July 8, 1909, and he is engaged in educational work as a teacher in the schools of Louisville, Kentucky. Mary is also a teacher, and is carry- ing on her work in the schools of North Vernon, Indiana.
The family are members of the Presbyterian church, in which Mr. Higgins was carefully reared by his staunch Presbyterian parents, and all are worthy members of society, filling admirably the places they have made for themselves in their various communities.
WILLIAM H. DRITT. Cass county, it will not be denied, owes much of its present day prosperity and growth to the pioneer farmer who came in and opened up the waste places of the county more than a half century ago and set on foot a cycle of solid improvement that has gone on from then until now and is still in progress. In 1848 the father of William Dritt settled on the identical spot now occupied by the latter, and devoted the remainder of his life to the business of con- verting the rugged wilderness into a series of blossoming meadows. How well he succeeded in his work, self-imposed, though it was, is no secret to any who are familiar with the history of Noble township, and the worthy work of that sturdy pioneer has been worthily carried on by his son, who is the subject of this review.
Born February 24, 1865, William Dritt is the son of Daniel and Sarah (Schilling) Dritt. They had seven children, but only two are living. Daniel Dritt was born in Pennsylvania, of German parentage and ancestry, on January 29, 1826, and was the son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Fishel) Dritt. He died on July 9, 1881, and the wife and mother died June 18, 1898.
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