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 34
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Jr. Neff. Logansport
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
Berry. Following their marriage they located on a farm in Deer Creek township, there spending the rest of their useful lives in the tilling of the soil. They became the parents of four sons, all of whom were well edu- cated and fitted for whatever positions they were called upon to fill, and all have reached honorable places in life, Joseph H. being a leading mem- ber of the bar of Logansport, Indiana; Dr. Jasper N., the well-known Logansport physician ; Francis M., being a musician of distinguished ability, residing here in Logansport, and Dr. Jacob L., having reached a recognized position antong the medical practitioners of Logansport, Indiana.
Until he was seventeen years of age Jasper N. Neff worked as a farm hand in Cass county, during which time he attended the neighborhood school. Subsequently he spent one year in the Lebanon (Ohio) Normal school, and was eighteen years of age when he passed the required exami- nation necessary to secure a teacher's certificate. At that time he was placed in charge of a school in Deer Creek township, and during the next three years he divided his time between teaching this school and attend- ing the normal. While here he decided to enter the profession of medi- cine, and accordingly gave special attention to the study of anatomy, physiology and chemistry, and in 1876 graduated with honors at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Indianapolis, where he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine. At this institution the late Dr. Robert N. Todd, president of the college, acted as his preceptor, and in addition to his kind encouragement and assistance, gave him his personal attention during a severe spell of sickness, for which Dr. Neff will ever hold his memory in grateful remembrance. After his graduation Dr. Neff estab- lished himself in practice in Walton, Indiana, where he continued in the enjoyment of a large and representative clientele during the next twenty years. During this time he had been a heavy investor in farming prop- erty, and through intelligent transactions and shrewd foresight his holdings had become so large and required so much attention, that it was his intention to retire from active practice, and with this end in view came to Logansport. He has not been permitted, however, to leave the ranks of active practitioners, although he now confines himself to office practice and consultation. He is widely known in professional and busi- ness activities of Logansport, and with his family enjoys the friendship of a wide circle of congenial friends, his home being a center of social re- finement.
In 1891, Dr. Neff was married to Miss Lavina Flynn, who died in 1894, and in the following year he was married to Mrs. Flora Bennett, daughter of Thomas Elwood Trueblood, for many years one of Howard county's most prominent and highly respected citizens.
DR. JOHN H. BARNFIELD was born in Jersey Shore, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, July 2, 1864, and is the son of William Nelson Barnfield, a Pennsylvania lumberman. Dr. Barnfield was reared in his native town, and after completing the course prescribed by the village schools became a student at Millersville state normal school. He then took up the study of medicine under Dr. J. F. McClure, of Watertown, Penn- sylvania, and in 1883 entered Jefferson Medical College, from which he was duly graduated in 1886.
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
Dr. Barnfield began the practice of his profession in Irvona, Penn- sylvania, and while there was surgeon for the Witmer Land and Coal Company. He remained in that place for three years, then became medi- cal examiner in the relief department of the Pennsylvania Railway Company, serving in that capacity for four and a half years. In June, 1894, he came to Logansport, and established himself in the general prac- tice of medicine, and this city has represented the scene of his professional activities since that time. In 1905 Dr. Barnfield took a post-graduate course in the Chicago Polyclinic, thus further fortifying himself in the knowledge of his profession.
Dr. Barnfield is a Democrat in his politics. He is a member of the Logansport Commercial Club, in which he is chairman of the executive committee. He is a member of the Cass county and state medical socie- ties, and of the American Medical Association.
Dr. Barnfield was married in 1894 to Miss Mae S. Schlater, of Rich- mond, Indiana.
IRA BLACKBURN. A native citizen of Cass county, whose worth and character are material factors in the recent progress of this community, is Ira Blackburn, whose rural home is situated in Harrison township, an old place which has been in the family for many years. Three genera- tions of the Blackburn family have been identified with Cass county, and they have always been known as thrifty citizens, and worthy members of the community. In ancestry they are of English and French descent.
Ira Blackburn was born in Harrison township, Cass county, Jannary 26, 1874. His grandfather was James Blackburn, and his father was David Blackburn. The latter, who is now a retired resident of Harrison township, married Susan Batty, a daughter of Thomas Batty. David Blackburn, the father, was also born in Cass county, and his father, the grandfather of Ira, put up the first building that stood on the farm now occupied by the grandson. This was in the pioneer days, when practically all the country was new, and the Blackburn family found their land in its virgin state, and have made practically all the improvements that have appeared thereon during the succeeding years.
Ira Blackburn was reared in his native locality, attending the country schools, and on attaining manhood became a partner with his father in the management of the home farm. He and his father now conduct the homestead together, and make a very profitable business out of its culti- vation. Mr. Ira Blackburn is owner of forty acres of his own, situated opposite the old homestead. On June 1, 1898, he married Miss Mattie A. Herd, a daughter of John and Emma (Burton) Herd. The three chil- dren born to their union are: Blanche, born May 22, 1901; June, born June 24, 1904, and Mae, born June 2, 1911.
JESSE W. NEFF. One of the representative farming men of Bethle- hem township who is worthy of mention in this biographical and historical work by reason of his accomplishments as a tiller of the soil and one of the world's workers, is Jesse W. Neff, a resident of this township since July, 1889. He was born on May 15, 1852, in Darke county, Ohio, and is the son of Alfred J. and Nancy (Wilson) Neff. His paternal and
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
maternal grandparents were Wilson Neff and James Wilson, and his father's people were of German ancestry.
Alfred J. and Nancy (Wilson) Neff became the parents of seven children, four of whom are now deceased. John V. died in infancy ; Frank P. died in 1871; Laura died in 1879; Ira W. died in 1879 also. James L., Emma and Jesse W. yet survive.
Jesse W. Neff came to Cass county on July 15, 1889, from Miami county, where he had previously been located. He settled on a small farm and devoted his time to the improvement of that place and to the acquiring of more land. Today he and his wife have a fine place of one hundred and forty acres in an excellent state of cultivation, with com- fortable buildings of every description, all new and modern, and the work of their own hands.
On June 27, 1888, Mr. Neff was united in marriage with Miss Keren Harter, the daughter of John and Mary E. (Kreider) Harter. She was born in Miami county, Indiana, December 16, 1860, and there reared. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Neff, as follows: Ruth, who died at the age of three years; Leon H., born June 27, 1892; Paul V., born October 22, 1894; Jessie, born November 23, 1896, and Wayne B., born November 17, 1902.
The family are members of the Presbyterian church, and Mr. Neff is prominent in the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which he joined at the age of twenty-one years, and has been faithful and true, and in which he has held many offices. He is a Democrat and a leading citizen of his community. In 1910 Mr. Neff's father died, but his widowed mother still lives on the old home place in Miami county, where they located a number of years ago.
LEMUEL POWELL, a pioneer farmer of Bethlehem township, was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, on October 24, 1834. He came to Cass county with his parents, Josiah and Margaret (Mugg) Powell, when he was two years old, and has resided continuously in the county since that early date. At that time Bethlehem township was a wilderness, with a cabin in a small clearing here and there, and with no schools or churches in the community. Mr. Powell has borne a worthy part in the development of the township and making of it what it is today, and is by reason of that fact deserving of an honorable mention in the pages of this history.
Mr. Powell was educated in the old log school house of his boyhood days, and acquired a fair education for his time. He is a quiet, unas- suming man of the strictest honesty and probity, and no man in the county bears a better reputation for uprightness of character and genuine moral worth than does Mr. Powell. Although he is small in stature, he makes up for this in the excess of mental and physical energy he has ever displayed, and which have redounded to the good of the community which has represented his home so many years. With his wife he owns two hundred and fifty acres of fine land, all lying in Bethlehem town- ship.
Mr. Powell was married on February 7, 1864, to Sarah A. Roberts, who died on November 15, 1866, leaving one son, Choral G., born May 13, 1865. This son is now married, his marriage to Laura W. Douglass occurring on December 7, 1892, and they have a family of seven children.
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
On December 5, 1872, Lemuel Powell married a second time, when Mary Martha Gray became his wife. Three children were born to this latter union, as follows: John V., born on September 5, 1874; Warren, born April 17, 1876, died July 10, 1892, being drowned accidentally; and Edna, born October 12, 1880. John V. and Edna are still under the parental roof, and there care for their aged parents and the entire family are highly esteemed in Bethlehem township-the elder ones as worthy citizens who have helped to reclaim the district from a state of wilderness which existed when the white man made his first appearance in these parts in the early thirties, and the younger ones as worthy successors of their parents, who may be expected to do well their part in the further development of their native country. Mrs. Powell is a native of Jefferson township, Cass county, where she was born July 9, 1839. She is the youngest of six children and the only daughter born to James and Catharine (Duncan) Gray, and is the only survivor of the family. She was educated in the common schools of the neighborhood, and several terms walked two miles to attend the log cabin school, so well known at that time in that section of the county. Mrs. Powell was a member of the Presbyterian church.
Mr. Powell is a Republican politically and cast his first presidential vote for John Fremont, the first Republican candidate, and has voted for each Republican candidate since. Mr. and Mrs. Powell have two of the old parchment deeds executed March 30, 1837, that bear the signa- ture of President Van Buren.
LEVI B. HORN. The business of farming has occupied the best years of the life of Levi B. Horn thus far, and he is known for one of the suc- cessful and well-to-do agricultural men of the township of Bethlehem, where many of the leading citizens of Cass county may be found devoting their energies to the tilling of the soil and enjoying to the fullest their free communion with Dame Nature in the pursuit of their calling. Levi B. Horn, unlike many of his neighbors, is not a native resident of the county, nor of the state. He was born in Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, on September 12, 1851, and is the son of Thaddeus and Lina (Burson) Horn, his paternal grandfather being George Horn. The Horns are of German ancestry, while the Bursons are of Scotch descent.
Mr. Thaddeus Horn did not receive any but the most meager common or district school education, but the business of life has kept his wits sharp and his mind has been one ever open to impressions and to expan- sion, so that his lack of schooling has been in a large measure overcome. In 1852 Mr. Thaddeus Horn came to Bethlehem township and purchased the old John White farm from Joseph Sellers, and for a few years he lived on the place and gave diligent attention to its cultivation. He later sold the farm to a Methodist minister of the name of Terrill, and he him- self became identified, in a way, with sawmill work, where he continued for a year. He then turned back to farming, and bought the Noah Martin farm, another well-known place in Bethlehem township, and the Henry Barnett place. He later added to this by repeated purchases until today Levi Horn, his son, has a fine place of one hundred and sixty acres. When Thaddeus Horn came into possession of the farm it was covered with a heavy growth of timber, the most of which has given place to clean
"FOREST GLEN HOME, " RESIDENCE OF MR. AND MRS. ABIAH J. SHARTS
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
and smooth fields that are under the careful cultivation of their owner. Levi Horn saw to most of the building work that has been carried on at the place, and has a number of commodious buildings of all descriptions. On the whole, his enterprise has yielded a satisfactory income, and he has a home of which any man in the community might well be proud. In addition to his farming interests he is also a stockholder in the First Na- tional Bank.
On April 2, 1874, Mr. Horn married Fannie, the daughter of Aaron and Jane (Cuthberson) Tilton. Nine children have been born to them, of which number three are now deceased. Those who live are named as follows: Mary A., the wife of William Lemmon; Bertha E., the wife of R. J. Johnson ; Franklin Y., married to Amy Dreutzer; Ada wedded Kirk Wells; Flora and Burson. The deceased children were named Amy, Carrie and Fannie.
The family are members of the Presbyterian church, in which Mr. Horn has been an elder for forty years. His position in the community is wholly consistent with his place in the church, and he is known as one of the most estimable and honorable men in the township. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic order, belonging to Orient Lodge No. 272. The daughters, Bertha, Ada and Flora, are members of the Eastern Star. The present beautiful homestead of Mr. and Mrs. Horn is known as "The Aberdeen Stock Farm," as Mr. Horn is a breeder of the reg- istered Aberdeen cattle, which are known by cattle breeders throughout the United States.
ABIAH J. SHARTS. In naming the representative farmers of Cass county, any work would be incomplete that did not give a sketch of the career of Abiah J. Sharts, of Tipton township, located on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres on the Anoka road, about one-half mile east of Anoka. Mr. Sharts was born October 24, 1845, in Montgomery county, Ohio, and is a son of George P. and Frances (Bear) Sharts. His parents were natives of Maryland, born in the vicinity of Hagers- town, from whence they moved to Frederick county, Maryland, and later to Montgomery county, Ohio. In 1849 they came to Tipton town- ship, Cass county, Indiana, settling first on the farm now occupied by N. B. Richinson, and lived in a little log house until this primitive dwell- ing was replaced by one more modern in character. A great deal of the land was covered with a heavy growth of timber, which was cleared by Mr. Sharts and his sons, and here he continued to reside during the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1853, when he was fifty- two years of age, while his wife passed away in 1875, being seventy-two years old. From a small beginning they became wealthy citizens of their community, while their standing among their neighbors was that of honest, God-fearing people who always endeavored to live up to the dictates of their conscience. They were the parents of the following children : Mary M. and Rose Ann, who are deceased; Elizabeth, also deceased ; Mrs. Catherine Hahn; Mrs. Jane P. Phillips, who died Jan- uary 7, 1913; Abraham and John, who are both deceased; George P., an agriculturist of Tipton township; William O., who is deceased; A. J. and Carolina Lucas, deceased.
Abiah J. Sharts received his education in the old Wilson district Vol. II-17
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
school, a log building which was standing until within recent years, although it had not been used for a long period. He was only eight years of age when his father died, and this necessarily cut his schooling off before it was completed, as his services were needed to help in the work of the homestead. He was so engaged when the Civil war broke over the country, and when not yet eighteen years old, in June, 1863, enlisted for service in the Union army, as a private of Company F, One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Capt. Sangford C. Thomas, Army of the Cumberland. He was mus- tered in at Indianapolis, and from there went with his command to Lafayette, Indiana, and later to Detroit, Michigan, where he was in camp until sent to Cleveland, Ohio. Later he was transferred to Camp Nelson, Kentucky, subsequently participating in the battle of Knox- ville. During the greater part of his services he was under General Burnside, doing guard duty at Cumberland Gap, Greenville, and Taze- well, Tennessee. He served until March, 1864, when he was mustered out of the service at Lafayette, Indiana, and returned to the pursuits of peace. On returning home, he once more took charge of the farm, which he operated until 1879, and then removed to his present prop- erty, a tract of one hundred and sixty acres, which he has brought to a high state of cultivation and improved with substantial buildings and other modern improvements. He is known as an excellent agricul- turist, with a thorough knowledge of all the details of his vocation, and as a business man whose word is as good as his bond. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Anoka, Indiana, was a mem- ber of the Grand Army of the Republic, and has many friends in both. With his family, he attends the United Brethren church, where for years he has been a liberal supporter of its movements.
On October 10, 1867, Mr. Sharts was married to Miss Ellen Alice Wilson, and to this union there have been born six children: Harry who is deceased; Benjamin F., graduated from the common schools and is at present cashier of the City State Bank of Logansport, In- diana. He taught two terms of school in Tipton and one in Washington township. He belongs to the Masons, and both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. He married Pearl McManus and has two children, Victor and Robert. Elmer E., graduated from the common schools and spent one term in Logansport Business College. He married for his first wife Mamie Richinson, and had one child, Truman ; he married a second time and by this marriage has two chil- dren : Thomas and Alice. Blanche M., graduated from the public schools and from the business college and is a finished stenographer. She is the wife of George D. DeYoe, and they are residents of Chicago. Walter, deceased. Charles, a resident of Tipton township and one of the young progressive farmers, was born on the farm on which his father originally came on many years ago, and has here resided all of his life. He is now the manager of his father's property, and is known as one of Tipton township's good, practical young agriculturists. He resides in a modern residence erected by his father. He graduated from the public schools and spent one year in high school. He wedded Miss Edith Mason, and they have two little children, Paul and Margaret. Mr. and Mrs. Sharts may well be proud of their children, as they all hold high places in the esteem of the people who know them.
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
Mrs. Sharts is a native of Cass county, Indiana, born December 26, 1848, and she is the fourth in a family of twelve children, five sons and seven daughters, born to Andrew and Eleanor (Tucker) Wilson, and there are five of the children of the Wilson family still living, and all are residents of Indiana, except Mrs. Carrie Stukey, of Los Angeles, California, and Harry G. Wilson, a resident of Chicago. Mrs. Sharts was reared and educated in her native county. She has worthily filled her place as wife and mother in the building up of their beautiful home in Tipton township which is known as "Forest Glen Home," and it is the abode of hospitality. Mr. and Mrs. Sharts have a fine Great Western five-passenger touring car, and they enjoy life.
JOHN W. REDD. Continued hard work and persistent effort have won for John W. Redd a degree of prosperity he might never otherwise have attained, and he has to thank his own sturdy energy for his present suc- cess, rather than any outside agency. He was born on April 7, 1835, at Battle Ground, Indiana, and is the son of William and Martha (Shigley) Redd, the people of the latter being of German descent. The father was a son of Joseph Redd, a native Pennsylvanian, and was born in Wash- ington county, that state. He was yet very young when he left his native state and moved to the Pan Handle in Virginia, where he engaged in the operating of a distillery, going thence to Wayne county, Ohio, and from there to Tippecanoe, Indiana. Bethlehem township, in Cass county, saw him next, and it was in the year 1838 that he arrived here and settled down on a farm.
Thus it was that William Redd came to be reared in Bethlehem town- ship, and here he has passed practically all his life. He was reared amid the quiet country scenes peculiar to the time, attended the country schools at intervals, and was well taught in the business of farming. In due time he chose a wife, who in her maiden days was Mary Ann McCarthy, the daughter of Berryman McCarthy, who in his young man- hood was shot and killed while on his way to the house of a friend, being mistaken for a deer by a careless hunter, John Rush by name. The mother of Mrs. Redd in her maiden days was Phoebe Marsh, and she and her family were residents of Fulton county. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Redd, as follows: William B., the eldest, married Lou Burrows; Phoebe E., married Charles White; Ida F., married R. E. Merritt, and Joseph A., married Dollie Livingston.
Mr. Redd has lived on his present farm since 1862, and with the pass- ing years many goodly improvements have found place upon the prem- ises, so that he farm is one of the finest in Bethlehem township today. He has not always been a landed proprietor, as one might say, and the first forty-five acres of land he acquired caused him much hardship and many hours of honest toil. But to toil he has never been a stranger, and work is no hardship to one of his energetic and wholesome nature, so that with the years that have gone, he has been able to add bit by bit to his place until it is now represented by two hundred and eighteen acres of well cultivated lands. The first thirteen years of his residence here was
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
4
marked by his occupancy of the log cabin home that stood upon the place when it came into his possession, and which has later given place to the present commodious dwelling.
Mr. Redd is a Methodist and politically he is of the Progressive party. He has taken a lively interest in the political activities of his community, and is known for a man of excellent qualities of citizenship.
ANDERSON B. STANTON came to Cass county, Indiana, from Indianapolis, in 1874, thus having lived here for thirty-nine years. He was born in Shelby county, Indiana, on December 13, 1843, and was the son of Eli and Eunice (Barnard) Stanton. Eli Stanton followed farming through the greater part of his life. He was a pioneer of Shelby county, having located there when the district was practically all dense woods. He was a Quaker, reared in that rugged and simple faith by his parents, and his life exemplified in every way the train- ing he had received in the faith. His faithful wife died in March, 1850, and he later married Elizabeth Gardner, a cousin of his first wife. She, like his earlier helpmate, was a Quaker. Three children were born of this second marriage. In 1864 he sold his place and returned to Union county, Indiana, where he had lived previous to his Shelby county experience, and there he passed the remainder of his life, death claim- ing him in 1895.
Anderson B. Stanton, the immediate subject of this somewhat brief review, was reared in a Quaker home and under the strict influences which characterize a home in which that sturdy old religion predomi- nates. Plenty of hard work was provided for him in the work of the farm, and three months schooling in each year constituted his educational privileges. When he had attained his majority, he still continued on the home place with his father. When he was twenty-three years old he found himself in debt to the amount of forty dollars, and he left home and hired out as a farm hand, in order to secure the money to pay his obligations. He soon found work more remunerative and also more suited to him, and for a number of years was employed by the Singer Manufacturing Company as general agent in Indiana and Illinois. In the latter part of 1874 he opened a music store in Logans- port, and since that time he has continued to make his home in this city. He continued in the music store until the year 1877, when he sold the place, and has since been engaged in farming and in handling stock. He owns a fine farm of four hundred and three acres in Washington township, which he oversees, and is known as one of the most successful men in an agricultural way in the county-a fact no doubt due in large measure to his thorough early training in farming in his boyhood home.
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