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 60
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Marcus W. Collett passed his youthful days on the home farm in Miami county, attending the district schools of that locality. He was but seventeen years of age when he enlisted, November 1, 1864, in the First Indiana Light Artillery, Capt. Lawrence Jacoby commanding, his command being in the Sixteenth Army Corps. This organization par- ticipated in the bombardment of old Spanish Fort, in Mobile Bay, and was with General Banks on the Red river expedition. Mr. Collett served bravely and faithfully, and after receiving his honorable discharge, at Indianapolis, August 22, 1865, returned to Miami county and at once began farming on his own account on his father's farm, receiving as his share one-third of all the produce he raised. He was thus en- gaged for three years, but on February 25, 1869, was married to Sarah A. Stroud, and following this he began farming on eighty acres of land in Miami county. Two years later he moved to the town of Mexico, in Miami county, and embarked in the hardware business, at which he continued about eight years, and in 1881 removed to Cass county, lo- cating on 320 acres of land in Bethlehem township, which he had pur- chased some time previously. Here, with the exception of the years 1895 and 1896, when he was living in Logansport, he farmed and raised stock until 1902, at which time he sold out and moved to Logansport, which city has since been his home. Mr. Collett is a Republican in politics, and has always taken an active interest in the councils of his party. While living in Bethlehem township, he served four years as township trustee. In 1894 he was the nominee of his party for state senator, and was elected in the following fall. He served one full term of four years and introduced two bills which became laws. For many years he was identified as a stockholder in the Farmers and Mar- chants State Bank of Logansport. He early became a director in the same and in 1910 was elected its president, a position he has since oc- cupied. He is also a stockholder in the banks at Twelve Mile, Walton, Royal Centre and Galveston, and in all of these institutions figured actively in their organization. Mr. Collett is a director at the present time in the Twelve Mile bank. He has been a member of the state board of trustees of the Indiana State Soldiers Home at LaFayette for the past four years and was reappointed February 25th, 1913, by Gov- ernor Balston for four years more. His fraternal connections are with
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the Masons and the Elks, and he is also a valued comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic.
DAVID FLORY, a native of Dayton, Ohio, came to Cass county, Indiana, in 1841, and for a time thereafter made his home with his brother, Emanuel Flory, who had preceded him hither and was then living in Clay township. He was born on November 23, 1820, and was thus twenty-one years old when he came to Cass county. It is as- sumed that the Flory family is one of French ancestry, their advent into this country having been in colonial days, and members of the family participated in the War of Independence. He received but a meager education in his youth, and the death of his parents when he was still young, caused him to be reared by relatives. In the year fol- lowing his arrival in Cass county, on July 17, 1842, he married Hester Richason, and started work at the trade of a cooper soon after, at a place now known as Adamsboro. Hester Richason Flory bore him two children, William, who became a physician, and is now deceased; and Henry, a blacksmith, now living retired at Minneapolis, Minnesota. The wife and mother died when her youngest born was five days old and on February 11, 1849, Mr. Flory married Sarah Heffley. Soon after his second marriage he moved to a farm in Miami township, a place com- prising one hundred and sixty-five acres of practically unimproved land. He built a double log cabin, which he later replaced with a more modern and commodious building, and there he made his home during the remainder of his life. He worked at his trade at intervals, and gave a portion of his time to the clearing and improving of his place, and eventually a fine farm resulted from his efforts.
Mr. Flory was a member of the Dunkard church, now known as the Brethren, his membership covering a period of seventy years. Although he had but slight educational advantages in his youth, he was a great reader and in this way became unusually well informed for one of his time. During his later years he gave considerable attention to fruit growing, and he was the originator of the famous winter banana-apple. He and his second wife reared a family of six sons and three daughters, as follows: Francis, now living at Geneva, Nebraska ; James, a resident of McPherson, Kansas; David M., of whom extended mention is made in an article following this; Charles A., Aaron Edward, both of Cass county ; Mary, the wife of Dr. J. C. Waite, is now deceased ; Margaret ; Isabelle; and Florence, the two latter being now deceased. Mr. Flory died on December 14, 1910, and was preceded by his wife on October 5, 1909.
DAVID M. FLORY is a native son of Cass county, born on the home farm on November 10, 1861, and is the son of David and Sarah (Heffley ) Flory. Of David Flory a detailed account will be found preceding this article, so that further mention of the family and ancestry of the subject is not called for at this point.
A common school education was all that David M. Flory received. and he remained on the home farm until he was eighteen years old, when he started out on his own responsibility. He engaged in farming at first, but for the past twenty years the best part of his time has been
"THE MAPLES," RESIDENCE OF MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM MURDEN
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devoted to horticulture. For nearly fifteen years of that time he has also been engaged in handling fencing, red cedar posts, windmills and a patent heater of his own invention. He is the owner of a farm of eighty-seven and a half acres in Cass county, but for the past two years he has made his home in Logansport.
Mr. Flory is a Democrat and a member of the Brethren church, formerly known as the Dunkards, in which faith he was reared by his parents.
On February 28, 1885, he married Margaret Kelly, daughter of Nelson Kelly, of Cass county, and to them have been born five chil- dren, as follows: Schuyler M .; Harry Byron, who died at the age of fifteen months; Jasper R .; Orville M .; and Ursula M.
WILLIAM MURDEN. The man who buys land today in Cass county has no conception of the obstacles which confronted the pioneers who began developing this property. Now fertile fields yield banner crops ; the ground once covered with mighty forest trees smiles beneath modern cultivation, and where worthless swamps gathered green slime and sent forth pestilential fevers the rich soil eagerly responds to the hand of the farmer. All this was not attained without endless hard work through all seasons. When summer's erops did not require attention, fences were in need of building or repairing, new buildings were to be erected and numerous other improvements were constantly requir- ing the farmer's labors. No man who has brought success out of his years of endeavor ever attained it unless he was ready and willing to make any kind of a sacrifice of inclination and strength to bring it about. One of the men who has been the architect of his own fortunes and has brought his present handsome farm from a state of wilderness to one of high cultivation is William Murden, of Adams township, farmer, public-spirited citizen and veteran of the Civil war. Mr. Murden was born in Miami county, Indiana, May 25, 1841, and is a son of Imri and Rebecca (Woolpert) Murden, the former of whom died in 1900 and the latter in 1904.
Mr. Murden attended the schools of Miami county, and was reared on the farm of his father, whom he remembers telling of the Indians with whom he played in boyhood when the family first moved to that county. Reared to agricultural pursuits, Mr. Murden was so engaged at the outbreak of the Civil war, and, with other youths of his vicinity, he hastened to offer his services to his country, enlisting in the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. With this organization he served his full term of four months, and would have re-enlisted but was compelled to remain at home on account of the ill health of his father at that time. In 1871 Mr. Murden first came to Cass county, settling in a log house near Hoover, in Adams township, but subsequently removed to Miami for a short period, and then again came to Adams township and located on his present tract. This farm was covered with heavy timber, and the only improvements which had been made were several small log buildings which were nearly worthless. With determination and industry, Mr. Murden at once set to work to clear his land, a task that took many years in the completing, but which he finally accomplished. As the years passed, and his finances
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permitted, he erected modern buildings for the shelter of his stock and the housing of his grain and implements, and a comfortable residence was also built. The land is highly cultivated, and the farm now embraces 137 acres of some of the most valuable soil in Adams township. Mr. Murden is an able agriculturist, farming his land along scientific lines and taking advantage of all the aids which have been brought about by invention and discovery. He is a Republican in his political views, but has not aspired to public office, being content to devote himself to the cultivation of his land. With his family, he attends the Methodist church, and is known as a man of high business ideals and probity of character.
While still a resident of Miami county, Mr. Murden was married December 27, 1864, to Miss Sarah Jane Willson, daughter of Joseph R. Willson. Three sons have been born to this union: Mahlon, born June 13, 1866; Joseph R., born July 13, 1873; and Truman G., born November 10, 1879. Mahlon married Florence Sylvana Funk, daughter of Joseph G. Funk, and they have had four children: Harry F., born June 10, 1890; Iva Louise and Ida Grace, twins, born October 31, 1891, the latter of whom died in 1892; and Jennie E., born July 10, 1897. Joseph R. is a resident of Cass county. He wedded Myrtie Irene Wood- house, and has four children-Marion M., Lyman R., Mabel Fern and Ralph Orion. Truman G. Murden married Edith Irene Barnhart, daughter of George Barnhart, and they have one son, Homer Clare, born October 19, 1903. Mrs. Murden is a native of Miami county, Indiana, born August 17, 1846, and reared and educated in her home county. Both her parents are deceased. The present estate of Mr. and Mrs. Murden is called "The Maples."
ALBERT H. DOUGLASS. It is in connection with the cause of education that Albert H. Douglass is entitled to a leading place among the men whose services have made them benefactors of Cass county. Entering upon his career as an educator when still a lad, in 1891 he was appointed superintendent of public schools of Logansport, and has continued to faithfully give his time, his thought and his work to the cause which enlisted the earliest sympathies of his boyhood and the ma- tured interest of his later life. Few men have given better service to their city ; none are more widely or favorably known. Mr. Douglass was born on the family farm in Clay township, Cass county, Indiana, April 23, 1858, the only child of Joseph and Harriet (Pugh) Douglass. His father, who was an agriculturist all of his life, died in 1891, having been twice married, his first wife being a Miss Keith, by whom he had five children, of whom three are living. The second Mrs. Douglass sur- vived her husband ten years.
Like many youths of his day and locality, Albert H. Douglass di- vided his boyhood between the farm and the school room, attending the district institutions during the winter terms and assisting his father to till the soil during the summer months. Of an ambitious and in- dustrious nature, he applied himself closely to his studies, and at the age of seventeen years, in 1875, graduated from the Logansport high school. At this time he entered upon the career in which he has won such high honors. His first term as a school teacher was taught in
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Rock county, Wisconsin, in a country school, and for the seven terms that followed he had charge of country schools in Cass county, In- diana. Succeeding this, he was advanced to the principalship of the Walton (Indiana) schools, and then spent two years as principal of the Mckinley school in Logansport and one year as principal of the Franklin school. During the next three years he was principal of the Logansport high school, and in 1891 became superintendent of the schools of Logansport, a position he has dignified to the present time. Mr. Douglass possesses in high degree that very desirable ability of be- ing able to impart his own deep knowledge to others, without which no educator is ever really successful. During his administration numerous innovations have been made that have considerably raised the standard of excellence in the Logansport institutions, and modern methods and ideas have served to place the system here on a high plane. He has made himself a general favorite with pupils and teachers alike, who not only respect and esteem him for his many scholarly attainments, but have been drawn to him because of the manner in which he has been able to advise and assist them in various ways. His career has been one worthy of emulation by those entering upon an educational life and illustrates forcibly the high honors to be gained through constant prac- tice of industry and probity.
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Mr. Douglass was married May 10, 1881, to Miss Elizabeth Barnett, and they have had three children, namely: Bessie S., who is now de- ceased ; Nina M., now Mrs. C. A. Ballard, of Logansport; and Albert E.
JAMES G. GISH. An excellent farm of 120 acres, in Deer Creek town- ship, pays tribute to the care and labor of James G. Gish, who has been one of his locality's leading representatives of agricultural in- terests for some years. Numbered among those who have aided their community while aiding themselves, whatever success he has achieved is attributable entirely to his own efforts and his life of industry has been followed by a goodly share of prosperity. Essentially a farmer, he has not cared for other interests than those which center around his property and his home, content to gain a reputation in the peaceful pursuits of the soil, free from the strife of politics and the busy mart of trade and commerce. Mr. Gish is a native of the Hoosier State, and was born July 7, 1860, in Carroll county, a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Garst) Gish. The family was founded in Cass county by Mr. Gish's father, who had come from Virginia to Carroll county, with the grand- father of James G. Gish, Abraham Gish and his wife. Abraham Gish entered land from the United States government at an early day, and the remainder of his life was spent in Carroll county, where both he and his wife died. Following in the footsteps of his parent, Henry Gish early became a tiller of the soil, and for years was prominent in agri- cultural circles of Carroll county, and there both parents died. They had a family of five children, as follows: Hester, who is now deceased; Catherine; Jeremiah, who is deceased; Mary; and James G.
James G. Gish received his early education in the old Blue school- house in Carroll county, and after coming to Cass county continued to attend the district schools during the winter months, while helping his father in the summers. He was reared to habits of industry and in-
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tegrity and taught to work hard and realize the value of money, and by the time he had reached his majority he was thoroughly trained in all branches of farm work. He early learned to make a study of soil and climatic conditions, and a knowledge of crop rotation was also included in his curriculum. On coming to manhood, he began operations on his own account on 80 acres of land which he purchased, from which he cleared the incumbrance by faithful and persistent labor, well ap- plied along well-defined lines. He has continued to add to the improve- ments and buildings on his property, and has met with a full measure of success both in general farming and stock raising, being now ac- counted one of Deer Creek's substantial men. He has every modern improvement for the cultivation of the soil, his buildings are large and substantial, and everything about the property gives evidence of his skill and good management. Mr. Gish has always labored faithfully in behalf of his community and its people, and holds a high place in the esteem of those with whom he has been brought into contact.
Mr. Gish was married to Miss Emma Wills, and to them there have been born two children: Bruce, who married Maud Kay, and has four children-Ruth, Owen, Gertrude and Grace; and Grace, who became the wife of Harry Miller, and has one child, Wilbur. With his wife and children, Mr. Gish attends the United Brethren church, of which he is a liberal supporter.
STEPHEN B. BOYER. A more notable illustration of the exercise of American energy, ability, integrity and superior skill would be hard to find than that exhibited by the firm of Obenchain & Boyer, which controls one of the leading enterprises of Logansport, and which has achieved a wide-spread reputation, and by its able management, and steady development, has secured at Logansport the undoubted suprem- acy as regards the manufacture of a superior grade of chemical fire en- gines and automatic boiler cleaners. One of the proprietors of this concern, Stephen B. Boyer, belongs to that class of men who have risen to prominence through the exercise of native ability, and not through outside assistance or influence. A veteran of the Civil war, he came to Logansport, at the close of that struggle, poor in purse, but rich in ambition and ideas, and in the years that have followed has not only gained a position of signal prominence in the commercial world, but has contributed materially to the welfare of his adopted city, both as a manufacturer and as the incumbent of important office. Mr. Boyer was born at New Bloomfield, Perry county, Pennsylvania, December 7, 1842, and is a son of William D. and Mariah (Fritz) Boyer. His parents, natives of Germany, and on the paternal side with an ad- mixture of French, had nine children, of whom one son and one daughter still survive. Stephen Boyer, the paternal grandfather, was a minister of the Presbyterian church at Little York, Pennsylvania. William D. Boyer was a soldier, and fought through the Indian wars, in Florida.
Before he had reached the age of twelve years, Stephen B. Boyer had learned to set type in the office with his father, foreman of the Perry County Freeman, a Whig newspaper, and thus added to the few years of education he had secured in the New Bloomfield schools. In 1854 the death of his father broke up the family and Stephen B. Boyer
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went to his uncle's farm in the same county, and with the exception of one or two terms while here, this completed his scholastic training. When about fifteen years of age he began driving a mule team on the Pennsylvania Canal, after which he accepted a position as a clerk in a grocery store at Duncannon, on the Pennsylvania Railway, fifteen miles from Harrisburg. He was thus employed at the outbreak of the Civil war, and, fired with the patriotism of youth and with the ideas that had been instilled in him while he was working in the office with his father, he enlisted, November 10, 1861, in the Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry, Company A, which rendezvoused at Harrisburg. This regi- ment was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, and went into camp on the farm of Jesse D. Bright, in Indiana, this gentleman having been previously expelled from the United States senate for treasonable utterances. The command was ordered to Munfordville, Kentucky, on the Green river, and subsequently marched to Nashville, Tennessee, in the meantime being employed to a considerable extent in scouting. After spending a short time in camp at Springfield, the regiment fell back at the invasion of Bragg, and was in camp at Crab Orchard when the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, was fought. On that same day they were ordered to Richmond, but arrived after the retreat of the Federal forces, and became their rear guard as far as Louisville. Upon the reorganization, in 1862, with Gen. Buell in command, the army moved against Bragg and contested the battle of Perryville, the cavalry then following Bragg's retreat entirely out of Kentucky. By a special re- quest of the Kentucky Legislature, the Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry was asked to remain in Kentucky and there they continued throughout the balance of the year, 1862, doing cavalry and scout work. The battle of Stone river approaching, the Ninth Cavalry was consolidated with other commands and sent to destroy bridges on the railroad near Knox- ville, to prevent reinforcements being thrown to Bragg's relief, and this mission was successfully completed, being known officially as Car- ter's Raid. Returning, after twenty-seven days, to camp at Nicholas- ville, Kentucky, the regiment then went to Nashville, and on to Frank- lin, where they occupied the extreme right of Rosecrans' army, taking part in the campaigns of middle Tennessee, Chattanooga, the Grant campaigns around Chattanooga to Knoxville and with Sherman to At- lanta and to the sea and through the Carolinas to the end of the war.
Returning to the occupations of peace, Mr. Boyer taught school in Pennsylvania for a short time, and in the spring of 1865 entered a com- mercial school in Philadelphia, where he found himself at the close of the Civil war. Believing that the west was the place for young men having nothing but the desire to do, Mr. Boyer came in June, 1865, to Logansport, Indiana, and this city has been his home ever since. He first took a position as bookkeeper with C. B. Knowlton and con- tinued as bookkeeper and superintendent for Knowlton & Dykeman and Knowlton & Dolan up to 1882. In 1881, in connection with John S. Obenchain, he erected the Logan Flouring Mills, which they operated some twenty years. This mill was destroyed by fire in 1901 and the business was closed out. About 1888 the firm of Obenchain & Boyer was organized, for the manufacture of an automatic boiler cleaner and in 1898 they commenced the manufacture of chemical fire engines, this
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business and the mill being operated at the same time. In January, 1902, a new building was erected on the site of the burned mill, and the business was continued with the exception of the flouring mill. Since the death of Mr. Obenchain, in 1909, Mr. Boyer has continued the busi- ness as surviving partner. This enterprise has a large trade all over Indiana and the surrounding states, and under Mr. Boyer's manage- ment is constantly adding to its prestige. Not only in business life has Mr. Boyer left the impress of his influence upon that city, but also in public life, and during the sixteen years he served as a member of the city council and three years which he was police commissioner, he dis- played the highest executive ability. During his service in the com- mon council many measures of a public interest were secured. Among these was the building of the Electric Light Plant. This plant was erected by a special committee of which Mr. Boyer was chairman and the plant was enlarged and extended under his management as chair- man of the electric light committee. This plant is a financial success. The Wabash and Erie Canal running through the city was purchased and Erie avenue built which is now one of the great thoroughfares of the city. The natural gas situation was fought out and settled in favor of the city and the Interurban policy of the city was settled after passing through a situation bordering on civil war. Mr. Boyer has been a Republican in his political views but joined the progressive movement of 1912. He is a valued member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and with his wife attends the First Presbyterian church of which he has been elder for years.
On September 12, 1872, Mr. Boyer was married to Miss Josephine Goodwin, and they have three children : Alexander B., Mary J., and Helen T.
HOWARD H. YORK, chief engineer of the Northern Indiana Hospital for the Insane, at Logansport, has been connected with this institution for many years, and during his long and honorable residence in the city has firmly established himself as one of its representative citizens. Mr. York is a native of the Hoosier state, having been born in Hendricks county, June 11, 1849, a son of Aquilla and Rebecca M. (Barker) York. His father, a native of Alamance county, North Carolina, was born March 4, 1818, and came to Indiana in 1834, locating in Hendricks county, where he spent the remainder of his life in farming, and passed away in September, 1876. He was married in Hendricks county to Miss Rebecca M. Barker, also a native of North Carolina, who died in 1866, and they became the parents of nine children, of whom six are now living: John M., of Indianapolis, Indiana; Charles, a resident of California; Austin, living in Washington; Ellen, a resident of Indianapolis; Nettie, of Pekin, Illinois; and Howard H.
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