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 4
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Until 1898 Adelbert M. Walker made his home with his parents. As a boy he attended the district schools, and ably assisted his father with the care of the home place, learning under the able instruction of his worthy parent much concerning farming activities that he has applied in his own enterprise. He married in 1893, but continued to remain at the home place with his young wife until 1898, when he ac- quired his present farm of one hundred and ten acres, also in Miami township, and here has continued to reside. He has a fine place, well kept and carefully cultivated, and has proven himself a farmer of no slight capacity. Since he came into the possession of his present place he has built another dwelling house, more suited to the demands of his family, and as a result, two commodious dwellings now grace his farm.
Mr. Walker married on September 2, 1893, Miss Mary Angle, the daughter of Benjamin Angle, of Virginia, and three children have been born to them,-Marie, Mildred and Alma. Marie received her diploma from the public schools in the class of 1912, and is taking musical in- struction ; Mildred is in the seventh grade; Alma is in the fifth grade.
The family are members of the Baptist church and Mrs. Walker is a member of the Ladies' Aid Society of the Baptist church. They have a worthy share in the activities of that body. Mr. Walker is a Repub- lican. They have lived quietly and conservatively, and are reckoned among the responsible and reliable people of Miami township, where the
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family have been known to the community for three successive genera- tions.
CHARLES OGLETHORPE FENTON. Among those who have made Cass county's history, it is fitting to record the name of Charles Oglethorpe Fenton. He was not a pioneer of the county ; he was not one of its old citizens. His brief race was run in forty-nine years, twenty-seven of which were spent in Logansport. Arriving here at the age of twenty- two, a stranger and without means, the advancement he made is worthy of note and emulation. How did he succeed to the title of brother, friend and counsellor? Those who knew him best would tell you he was dili- gent ; he never idled; he was prompt; he met his obligations the day they were due, not the day after. He hated gossip, for, he would say: "What an idle waste of time when there are so many good books to read!" It was his custom to carry a favorite book to his office, hoping to find some golden minutes of leisure during the stress of the day in which to read.
Charles Oglethorpe Fenton was of Irish descent, the great-grandson of Samuel and Ann (Shannon) Fenton, who sailed over the sea from Old Erin early in the eighteenth century. They settled in Newville, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and to them were born thirteen chil- dren, "all girls but eleven." One son, David, moved to Mantua, Port- age county, Ohio. His wife was Emily Dunscomb and their sons were Green and Grove. The former and Louisa Frost, the daughter of Elvira Kellogg and John Frost, were the parents of eight sons and one daughter, the fourth son being C. O. Fenton. He was born January 31, 1863, on the "old John Frost homestead," in Mantua, where his mother had been born thirty years before. When eleven years old he left the parental roof to make his own way, working for neighboring farmers evenings, Saturdays and vacations, and in the meantime attend- ing school at Ravenna. When seventeen years old he taught the district school at home, and for one summer he worked in a cheese factory, and while yet in his teens he engaged with the Central Publishing house, of Cincinnati, Ohio, to sell books, and spent eighteen monthes traveling in West Virginia, Tennessee and Texas. Returning home, he again taught school, himself attending school at such short periods as he could. So it is that we find him June 14, 1883, at the age of twenty, graduating from the Northwestern Ohio Normal school, at Ada, and it was to further his education he came to Logansport in April, 1885, to enter the American Normal College, then situated on College Hill, north of the city. In the winter of 1885-6 he taught in Pulaski county and it was there that he met Carrie Belle Tyler, whom he married May 25, 1887. To this union one daughter was born, Sagie Velle Fenton, August 17, 1888. Mrs. Fenton was born in VanBuren township, Clay county, In- diana, February 10, 1866, the youngest of the four children of Roxie Velle Usher and Sage R. Tyler. Her father was born at Cape May, New Jersey, August 18, 1836. His father, Nathaniel Tyler, was of Scotch-Irish extraction and his mother, Abigail Scull, was born in Eng- land. On the maternal side, Mrs. Fenton traces her lineage back to the year 1730, when Hezekiah Usher, who kept the first book store in Bos- ton, married Abigail Cleveland. The mother of Mrs. Fenton was born August 21, 1839, in Madison county, New York, the daughter of Isis
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CHARLES O. FENTON
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Burdick and Moses Usher. When five years old she came to Indiana with her parents and grandparents, the latter being Dr. Nathaniel Usher and Lucy Palmer, of West Haddon, Connecticut. Dr. and Mrs. Usher were the parents of Judge John P. Usher, secretary of interior in Abraham Lincoln's cabinet. This branch of the Usher family re- moved to the state of Kansas.
Mr. Fenton also taught school at the Stone and Clymer schools in Clinton township, Cass county. At the time of his marriage he had charge of the commercial department of the American Normal College and was writing editorials and reporting for the Logansport Times, receiving for his newspaper work one dollar per week. On May 28, 1888, he bought the Logansport Times, then owned by twenty Prohibi- tion stockholders. His first vote had been cast for James G. Blaine, although he was born of a line of Democrats. In November, 1888, he voted for Clinton B. Fisk and a straight Prohibition ticket, which ticket he continued to support throughout the remainder of his life. Through the medium of the Times, local though it was, he came to be known by the party leaders throughout the nation. The sagacity, the loyalty, the persistency of this fearless editor became an inspiration. He had a distinct literary style, writing prose full of fun and pathos and some verse, humorous for the most part. His prose writings have been said to be something after the style of Mark Twain and some of his verses like those of Riley. His pen was his power. He was a delegate to all Pro- hibition state and national conventions and at the last national conven- tion he attended, at Atlantic City, in July, 1912, was assistant secretary.
In 1900 Mr. Fenton added to his newspaper work the brokerage busi- ness and as investment broker enjoyed the confidence of a large clientele and was pre-eminently successful. At home his presence gave out an atmosphere of cheerfulness. It was his custom evenings to spend much of the time in reading, often aloud. He liked history, biography and travel and above all he loved the poets, Burns being his favorite. He knew most all of his poetry and said, from the moment that he turned the knob on his office door on Fourth street to the moment he turned his door-knob at home, nine squares distant, if uninterrupted, he could and often did repeat the whole of "Tam O'Shanter." In June, 1911. he and his wife attended their daughter's graduation at Vassar Col- lege and sailed from New York to spend the summer in the British Isles, in Holland, Belgium and France. It was in.the land of Burns he took the greatest delight and day after day followed lovingly in the footsteps of the plowman poet. Probably his best literary productions were his travel letters written for his newspaper.
Mr Fenton had often quoted: "Let me die in the harness," and so it was in the prime of a busy life that he was compelled to retire to the Battle Creek Sanitarium, Battle Creek, Michigan, for rest. Even here he was reading the "Life of Washington," by his favorite American author, Washington Irving, preparing to write an article on a visit to Mount Vernon, one of a series of articles descriptive of summer vacation trip to Atlantic City, Washington, Richmond and so forth. During the six weeks spent at Battle Creek he grew steadily weaker and weaker, and there, on the 31st of October, 1912, left this for a fuller life. It was said of William Morris by one of his biographers that he died of
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
being William Morris. So it was with C. O. Fenton, a man who was engaged in so many and so varied activities.
JOHN C. REA. In the annals of early settlement in Cass county, one of the names which is first to be mentioned is that of John R. Rea, whose son is now one of the prosperous farmers of Clay township. For more than eighty years this name has had a place in the history of Cass county, and has always been associated with solid worth and an industry which brings credit to the possessor and helped to create the resources and wealth of the community.
Mr. John C. Rea, the son of the old settler, was born in the village of Clymers, in Cass county, on the nineteenth of May, 1864. His grand- father's name was Daniel Rea. His parents were John R. and Elizabeth Rea. His father, who was first a resident of Connersville, this state, in 1832 came to Cass county, where he joined with the earliest settlers of this locality. A carpenter by trade, he was a very useful man in his community at Clymers, and many of the old honses of that locality were construeted by his hand and according to his plans.
His death occurred in 1884 at a venerable age, while his wife passed. away in 1886, and both are buried in the Clymers cemetery.
Mr. John C. Rea received most of his education in Clinton township, and also for two years enjoyed the advantage of college training at Logansport. He has had a varied, but generally progressive career, and since attaining manhood has been advancing every year to a better posi- tion in life and inereased esteem of his fellow citizens. For about three years, he was engaged in teaching school in Cass county, but the greater part of his aetive lifetime has been devoted to farming. His present farm was formerly owned by his wife's father. The estate contains one hundred and ten acres, and Mr. Rea since locating here has made many improvements upon it, although most of the buildings were placed there by old Mr. Swigart.
On April 25, 1888, Mr. Rea married Miss Anna F. Patterson, a daughter of Simon E. and Cicely ( Amos) Patterson. Mrs. John C. Rea is a native of Cass county, Indiana, and was born April 29, 1866. She was reared and educated in her native county and is a lady of pleasing and social address, ever ready to fulfill her part as wife and mother. Her cheerful and pleasant home is ever open to their many friends. She traees her lineage tô the "Emerald Isle," as her early progenitors came from the "Land of the Shamrock." Mr. Rea is of Seotch ancestry. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rea, and all are living : Harry Ralph, now a student in the Franklin College, fitting himself for the ministry ; Royden K. received his diploma from the public school in the class of 1908, and has finished the high school course in Logans- port ; Ruth E. received her diploma in the class of 1909, and has taken one year's work in the high school at Logansport, and has also been a student in instrumental music. All three of the children are members of the Baptist church and Mrs. Rea is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church. Mr. Rea is affiliated with Burroughs Lodge, No. 495, I. O. O. F. The homestead of the Rea family is known in Clay township as "The Cedars."
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ALEXANDER MILTON BUCHANAN, M. D. Of the pioneer families of Cass county probably none deserved mention and permanent records in the annals of this vicinity more than the Buchanan family, which be- came identified with Logansport in 1839, and continued prominent in this part of the state through the career of the late Dr. Buchanan up to the time of the latter's death on November 29, 1905.
Alexander Milton Buchanan was born at Chambersburg, Pennsyl- vania, on March 24, 1823, and belonged to a Scotch-Irish family, which. had been settled in Pennsylvania for many years. The parents of the late Dr. Buchanan were Rev. James and Harriet (Berryhill) Buchanan, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter a native of the capital city of that state. They moved west with their family to Logansport, Indiana, in 1839, where Rev. James Buchanan was pastor of the First Presbyterian church from 1840 to 1843. He had previously been minister of the Presbyterian church at Greencastle, Indiana. His death occurred in Logansport in 1843, and his name is permanently identified with the early church annals of this city. There were eight sons and two daughters in the family, and all of them are now deceased. One of the sons, Dr. Andrew Buchanan, was educted at Princeton Col- lege and Philadelphia Medical College, and for a time practiced in Cass county.
The late Alexander M. Buchanan was a boy when the family came west to Cass county, and the years he spent here were during the pioneer period. Among many families, education at that time was not con- sidered a fundamental matter, but the Reverend James Buchanan was probably in advance of ordinary public opinion in that respect, and no doubt encouraged his sons to prepare for their careers with the best professional equipment that could be obtained. Dr. Alexander M. Buchanan therefore began his studies in medicine in La Porte, Indiana, and then went east and entered the Philadelphia Medical College, the oldest and one of the best known institutions of medical learning of the time. After graduating he began practice in Illinois, where he was first married. Later he moved to Cass county, and spent many years of practice in both town and country. He really represents the old- time doctor in this locality, and many of the older residents now living in Cass county will recall his kindly character and personality and his helpful and sympathetic attitude to all who were in distress. He con- tinned in active practice up to 1895, at which time he retired and moved into Logansport, where his death occurred in 1905. He lived at Metea, this county, before retiring. He was a member of the Presbyterian church. His first marriage occurred at Kankakee, Illinois, in 1851, when Miss Nichals became his wife. He married on October 24, 1867, in Logansport, New York, Miss Minnie York, a daughter of Lewis and Delia (Babcock) York, who lived near Canandaigua, New York. One daughter, Mrs. Bertha L. Collett, wife of W. S. Collett, an engineer of Logansport, Indiana, was born of this union.
JOHN A. VINEY, of the firm of Cummings & Viney, has been a res- ident of Logansport for the past forty-six years, and for the four years previous, from 1861 to 1865, he was a resident of Columbus, Indiana. He was born on March 11, 1856, in Greenbrier county, West Vir-
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
ginia, and is one of the four children born to John M. and Rachel (Lewis) Viney, two of the four yet living.
John M. Viney was a farmer by occupation and was originally descended from French ancestry. In the subsequent history of the family they immigrated to the British Isles, and there by intermarriage became the possessors of English and Scotch-Irish blood. John M. Viney moved to Carroll county, Indiana, in 1860, and resided there until spring in 1866, when he came to Logansport. Here ill health caused him to relinquish all active pursuits for the remainder of his days, and he died in 1871. His widow survived him six years, passing away in 1887.
John A. Viney came to Logansport with his parents when a boy of ten years. He received but a very limited education in the district sehools, and from the age of fifteen, when his father died, was compelled to fight the battle of life entirely on his own responsibility. Until he was nineteen years old he worked in the mills on the south side of the Wabash river, and in 1875 he began learning the upholsterers trade. He duly completed his apprenticeship and thereafter worked at the trade for twenty-three years, being associated with various firms in those years.
In 1899, he formed his present partnership with Harvey R. Cum- mings, under the firm name of Cummings and Viney, and the new firm embarked in the retail furniture and upholstering business in Logans- port. This association has continued from then until the present time, and as both partners are practical and experienced men in their busi- ness, they have enjoyed their full share of the local trade, and are ac- counted among the prosperous business men of the eity.
Mr. Viney is the president of the Logansport Credit Exchange and a director in the Logansport Commercial Club. In 1881, he became a member of the Knights of Pythias, Apollo lodge No. 62, in which he has served in all chairs, and is yet a member of that society. He is also a member of the Knights of the Maccabees. He is a Democrat, with regard to his politieal affiliations.
On December 24, 1877, Mr. Viney married Iona E. Morgan of Logans- port. Mr. and Mrs. Viney are members of the Broadway Methodist Episcopal church, of which denomination Mr. Viney has been a member for forty-four years.
HOMER CLOSSON. For seventeen years Homer Closson has been identified with the drug business of Logansport, as an independent man of business, previous to which he was employed in the city for nine years in the same line. His venture, which he launched in 1895, has proven to be a thorough-going success, and Mr. Closson is rightly regarded as one of the ablest business men of the city of Logansport today.
Born near Jackson, Michigan, on September 22, 1871, Homer Closson is the son of Seymour M. and Kate (Smith) Closson. The father came to Logansport some thirty-five years ago, just following the death of his wife, and some years after he located in Logansport, Mr. Closson married Ella MeIntyre. Both are living in Logansport. Nine children were born to them, seven of whom are yet living.
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Homer Closson was a small child when his mother died, and until he was nine years of age he lived in his native county, making his home with relatives of the family, and in 1880 he came to Logansport, where he joined his father who had previously settled here and had married, as is noted above. The boy attended the public schools of Logansport until he reached the age of fifteen, when he secured employment in the drug store of B. F. Keesling. From then until the present time he has been identified with the retail drug business, either in the capacity of employe or employer. For nine years he remained with Mr. Keesling, and in 1895 he began in business for himself in the place which he now occupies, his independent experience thus covering a period of seventeen years, which have been marked by a generous measure of success and general prosperity. The business has increased along conservative lines, and Mr. Closson has one of the most complete and modern establish- ments of its kind in the city.
On December 1, 1897, Mr. Closson was united in marriage with Miss Alpha Hilton, of Logansport, daughter of William Hilton, an old resident of this city. Five children have been born to them: Ralph W., Gertrude L., George D., Frances Jean and John H. Mrs. Closson is a member of the Baptist church of Logansport and of the Order of the Eastern Star.
MARVIN M. MINNICK. Among the popular and capable officials of Cass county, none stands higher in public esteem than Marvin M. Min- nick, the present incumbent of the county treasurer's office, whose serv- ices have contributed materially to the public welfare. A long and careful training, followed by an extended period spent in the school- room, as an educator, was succeeded by much experience in banking matters, thus fitting him thoroughly to discharge the duties of his office, the conscientious performance of which has thoroughly established him in the confidence of his fellow-citizens. Mr. Minnick bears the added distinction of being a native son of Cass county, having been born in Tipton township, near Walton, December 21, 1867, one of the six chil- dren, all living, born to Elias and Elizabeth A. (Lindesmith) Minnick.
Conrad Moenich (as the name was originally spelled), the grand- father of Marvin M. Minnick, was a native of Hesse Cassel, Germany, whence he emigrated to the United States in young manhood, set- tling in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, where Elias Minnick was born in 1843. The latter was reared in his native county, educated in the public schools, and tanght the blacksmith trade, but when not yet nine- teen years of age enlisted, in 1861, in Company K, Ninth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, as a private, for service during the Civil war. Enlisting at Laporte, Indiana, he was transferred to the Army of the East, with which he fought at Cheat Mountain, Grafton and Green- brier. Subsequently his regiment joined the Army of the Cumberland, under General Rosecrans, Mr. Minnick's captain being Dyer B McCon- nell, of Logansport. With this organization he fought at Corinth, Inka, Murfreesboro and Pittsburg Landing, and September 20, 1863, at the battle of Chickamauga, he was captured by the enemy. For seven months he was incarcerated in the awful stockade at Andersonville, and later he was transferred to Belle Isle and Florence, spending, in all,
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
about fifteen months in Confederate prisons. IIe was finally released on account of the close of hostilities, received his honorable discharge, and returned to the vocations of peace. Settling on a farm in Tipton township, Cass county, Mr. Minnick engaged in farming, and his sub- sequent life was devoted to the tilling of the soil. He was a Democrat in politics, but, although often solicited to allow his name to be used as a candidate for public office, steadfastly refused, preferring the peace and quietude of private life to the turmoil of the public arena. He was a popular comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic, and his religions belief was that of the Christian church, in the faith of which he died April 14, 1892. His widow still survives and makes her home at Walton, Indiana. .
Marvin M. Minnick was reared to manhood on the home farm, and was given good educational advantages, attending the public schools and for three years being a student in the American Normal College. He next entered Hall's Business College, at Logansport, and after his graduation therefrom entered upon a career of teaching which covered the next seventeen years. He became widely and popularly known as an educator, but resigned from his position to enter commercial life, attaching himself to a private bank at Bunker Hill, Indiana, and later a like institution at Walton, Indiana, and for six years was cashier of these institutions. He was a resident of the latter place, in 1910, when he became the candidate of the Democratic party for the office of county treasurer, and in the active campaign that followed Mr. Minnick was returned the winner, greatly aided, no doubt, by his wide acquaintance and high reputation gained during his days as a teacher. Mr. Minnick gave the people of Cass county an excellent and economical administra- tion, and in 1912 was again his party's choice for the office and elected by an increased majority. IIe is a Knight Templar Mason, and also holds membership in the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. With Mrs. Minnick, he attends the Methodist Episcopal church, at Walton, Indiana.
On September 15, 1896, Mr. Minnick was married to Miss Lavina H. Green, of Walton, Indiana, and they have had three children: Edgar E., who is deceased ; and Dallas D. and Dorothy L.
ARTHUR E. DUNN. The rapid growth of the automobile interests of the country in recent years has created an industry which has given a wide field of opportunity and enterprise to many of the young men of the present generation, who have a predilection for mechanics, and Arthur E. Dunn, of Logansport, Indiana, is one of those who have made the most of his opportunities along these lines. Since 1908 he has been in the garage business, for a part of the time in partnership with one Harry Case, but since 1909 he has conducted the business entirely upon his own responsibility, winning a reputation for efficiency and service in the work that has brought him a considerable prominence in the city.
Arthur E. Dunn was born on April 14, 1882, at Cissna Park, Illinois, and is one of the two sons of Edward A. and Lydia L. (Ashley) Dunn. The father was a farmer all his life. He came to Royal Center, Cass county, Indiana. in 1898, and continued farming there until 1903, when he moved to Logansport, and there he died in October, 1908. His wife
W. W. Haney: 8
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
passed away in April of the same year, so their two sons, Arthur E. and Herbert A., were bereft of both parents in the short space of six months.
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