USA > Indiana > Clinton County > History of Clinton County, Indiana : With historical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families, Volume II > Part 53
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Dr. Lambert was married when twenty-one years of age to Nancy Mun- dell, a lady of many commendable traits of character, and the representative of a highly respected family. Of this union three children have been born : Nora, died when nineteen years of age: Hattie L., died at the age of four- teen months, and James O., residing in Ladysmith, Wisconsin. The wife and mother was called to her rest in 1883, and in 1886 the Doctor was united in marriage with Jennie Shannon, a lady of culture, and a descendant of a fine old Kentucky family.
Dr. Lambert is a member of the Masonic Order, Knights of Pythias and the County Medical Association. Ile is also a member of the Clinton Club. Personally, he is a man of splendid physique, impressive in manners. unassuming and obliging.
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CLINTON COUNTY, INDIAN.1.
WILLIAM A. FIELD.
Truc biography Das a more noble purpose than mere fulsome eulogy. The historic spirit, faithful to the record; the discerning judgment, unmoved by prejudice and une dlored by enthusiasm, are as essential in giving the life of the individual as in writing the history of a people. Indeed, the ingenu- ousness of the former picture is even more vital, because the individual is the national unit, and if the unit be justly estimated the complex organism will become correspondingly intelligible. The world today is what the leading men of the past generations have made it, and this rule must ever hold good. From the past comes the legacy of the present. Art, science, statesmanship and government are accumulations. They constitute an inheritance upon which the present generation have entered, and the advantages secured from so vast a bequeathment depend entirely upon the fidelity with which is con- dueted the study of the lives of the principal actors who have transmitted the legacy. Although William A. Field has long been sleeping the sleep of the just, lis record should not be permitted to perish, for he lived a helpful life. doing much in the earlier days of Frankfort and Clinton county to encourage general improvement, and he gave most gladly his services in defense of his country when its honor and very life were at stake in the dark days of the early sixties.
Mr. Field was born in Clinton county, Indiana, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Hyde) Field, the father a native of the New England states. and his death occurred in Clinton county. His wife, Elizabeth Hyde, was born in Albany, New York, May 18, 1809, and her death occurred on May 10, 1897. To Thomas Field and wife seven children were born.
William A. Field was for many years successfully engaged in the livery business in Frankfort, Indiana. During the Civil war he served faithfully in the Union army as a member of Company C, Fourth Michigan Volunteer Infantry. Politically, he was a Republican, religiously, a member of the Methodist church, and fraternally, he belonged to the Masonic Order, the Improved Order of Red Men, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
The death of William A. Field occurred on April 26, 1876, when in the prime of life.
On May 12, 1872. Mr. Field married Annie E. Fudge, daughter of Henry C. and Sophia (Thatcher) Fudge, and of this union one daughter was born, Mary S. Field, who has been for a period of twelve years bookkeeper at the
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CLINTON COUNTY, IN L.AA A.
store of Fred Coulter in Frankfort. She is an expert in her line of work and has given her employer eminent satisfaction, as might be surmised from her long retention. She makes her home with her mother.
Sophia Thatcher, mother of Mrs. Field, was born in Preble county, Ohio, July 23, 1818, and her death occurred in 1895. She came to Frank- fort, Clinton county, in 1835, with her father, Jesse Thatcher, and on Deceni- ber 27, 18jo, she married Heury C. Fudge, and to them nine children were born: Jessie C., May 7, 18441; Jacob N., May 26, 1843; Mary A., February 14. 1845; Sarah E., April 30, 1848; Annie E., widow of the subject of this memoir, January 10, 1850; Isabel J., March 25, 1852; Dicy D., June II, 1854; Amos M., September 13. 1856; George II., August 5, 1860.
Henry C. Fudge, father of Mrs. Field, was one of a family of twelve children: Mary, born December 10. 1792; Elizabeth. November 18, 1794; John, April 13. 1796: Jacob, September 11, 1797; Henry C., October 27, 1798; George, January 15, 1800; Annie, August 18, 1801; Peter, January 29, 1893; Sarah, February 24, 180 -; Mose, July 8, 1808; David, March 8, ISIO; Charlotte, October 17, ISII.
ALFRED AYRES BAYLESS.
There have been comparatively few to sound the praise of the brave and sturdy pioneer, though he is certainly deserving of at least a little space in the chronicles of the noble. To him more than to any other is civilization indebted, for it was he that blazed the way and acted as vanguard for the mighty army of progress that within the last century has conquered Indiana's wilderness and transformed it into one of the fairest and most enlightened of the American commonwealths.
One of these sterling pioneers is Alfred Ayers Bayless, a venerable and honored citizen of Frankfort, Clinton county, who has passed his eighty- eighth milepost and is yet hale and hearty because he has lived an active, conservative and even-tempered life, free from the usual vices that wreck so large a portion of mankind. He was for a long lapse of years one of the most widely known contractors and builders in this section of the Hosier state. He was born in Butler county, Ohio, February 17, 1825. Hle is a son of Platt and Frances (McGary) Bayless, the father born in New Jersey in 1794, and the mother born in Kentucky in 1796. The paternal grandpar-
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ents were New Jersey farmers and on the mother's side were natives of fre. land. Platt Bayless was one of a family of nine children. He and Frances McGary were married on March 2, 1812, and to them seven children were born. Platt Bayless was a soldier in the war of 1812. After the war he fol- lowed farming in the summer time and the shoemaker's trade during the winter months. Major Platt Bayless, an officer in the Revolutionary war and an aide to George Washington, was the great-grandfather of Mired .1. Bayless, of this review. Hle mortgaged his farm at Baskingridge. Nen Jer- sey, in order to obtain means to help support the Patriot army in the field
Alfred A. Bayless grew up amid early pioncer conditions, and he re- ceived only about six weeks' schooling in the winter, between corn husking and sugar making time. In 1833, when a small boy, he came with his parents overland from the old home in Ohio, to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, traveling by wagon to Cincinnati, thence by boat down the Offio river to the month of the Wabash, and up the latter stream to Vincennes, where the boat was burned. From there they proceeded by wagon to Tippecanoe county, the trip from Butler county, Ohio, requiring about six weeks. Upon their arrival in Tippecanoe county they had with them the only salt in the county, having brought two barrels with them. The wagons hauling grain to Chicago had gone on their regular trips and had not returned with supplies, about three weeks being required to go to the lake city and return. The family located on a farm about seven miles east of Lafayette, near the village of Dayton. Later the elder Bayless purchased a farm of eighty acres, for which he paid the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars. It lay on the line between Tippe- canoe and Clinton counties, and this they developed from the woods into a productive farm in due course of time by hard work.
Alfred A. Bayless assisted with the hard work on the home place when a boy, remaining there until he was twenty years of as He served as an apprentice in a carpenter shop for two years, for which he was paid five dollars a month and board, and the second year ten dollars a month and board. In 1845 he went to Lafayette, where he worked at his trade and re- ceived a dollar and twenty-five cents a day. He put in the first plate-glass windows ever used in Lafayette, making the sash for the whole front by hand. He also turned out the first machine-made sash used in that city, the machine having been run by horse-power.
On May 26, 1847, Mr. Bayless married Harriett Parke, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Parke, he a native of Pennsylvania, and the mother of
CLINTON COUNTY, INDIANA.
New Jersey. Elizabeth Parke's maiden name was Anderson. Mrs. Harriett Bayless is one of a family of four children, all still living in 1913.
To Mr. and Mrs. Bayless six children have been born, four of whomare living at this writing . Mrs. C. B. Sinc. of Indiamap dis; Sylvester. of Mem- phis, Tennessee ; William O., also of Memphis ; and Laura E., of Frankfort. Mrs. Sine has two daughters, Mrs. Harry MeLeland, who has two children George ledward and Charles Alfred; and Mrs. Edward Maurer, who also has two children, Russell and Frances. Sylvester had three children : Lenora, married to E. C. Bailey, of Tuscola, Illinois, has two children, twins, David Bayless and Edward Ozias; and Eva, married to J. C. Carson, of Lafayette, who died, leaving one child, Olive Crooks Carson. John Alfred Bayless is a clerk in a wholesale grocery in Champaign, Illinois. W. O. Bayles, and Laura E. Bayless have remained unmarried. The Jatter is reporter for the Clinton circuit court.
On Christmas day, 1847, Alfred A. Bayless was working in a pork house in Lafayette at one dollar a day and dinner, unheading barrels. IIe had his choice of either one hundred pounds of pork tenderloin or one dollar a day in cash. After living in Lafayette two years he removed to Dayton, where he remained until 1869. Then he went to Cass county and engaged in the saw mill business, operating a mill two years, when it was burned. He then moved to Logansport, where he did contracting until 1877, in which year he moved to Frankfort, Clinton county. His first contract work here was the Coulter House. He also built the Coulter opera house and many other large buildings in this city, which will long remain as monuments to his skill and honesty as a builder. He built the third ward school building twice. He remained in the carpenter and contracting business with much success. his services being in great demand until 1897, when he retired from contracting owing to advancing age, but retained a work shop in the basement of his home, where he still makes screens and ladders.
Mr. Bayless is a master Mason, being the oldest member of the Frank- fort Lodge. He was reared in the Presbyterian faith, and he has attended Sunday school regularly, seldom missing a Sunday for the long period of seventy-seven years, starting when a barefoot boy of eleven years. He still has a testament which he received for memorizing verses when a little boy. In politics, he votes the Prohibition ticket. He is the oldest Bayles living.
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CLINTON COUNTY, INDIANA.
ALBERT COCHRAN.
It is fitting that the career of Albert Cochran, as representative of Clin- ton county's argicultural men, should find ample space in this volume for a detailed account. He has been a successful man in his chosen vocation, and his prosperity has been the logical consequence of straight and honest busi- ness methods. He has kept in touch with the times, has not hesitated to adopt new and labor-saving devices for the cultivation of his crops, and he bears a well-earned reputation for progressiveness in the community hy rea- son of this spirit.
Mr. Cochran was born on Washington's birth lay, in the year of 1850. and was the son of Nathaniel and Harriet (Jones) Cochran, the father being a native of Marion county. Indiana, and the mother of West Virginia. When our subject wa two years of age his father died with typhoid fever, the mother died in Howard county in 1893, at the age of seventy-two years. The father was a farmer all of his life and was one of nine children. The mother was the oldest of a large family of thirteen children. Our subject's grandfather on his father's side was one of the earliest settlers in the Hoosier state. The grandfather on his mother's side came from Wales, settled in West Virginia at an early day, and died in Madison county, Indiana.
Our subject received his early education in a log cabin school that was built upon his grandfather's farm. He was prevented from attending regu- larly, for as soon as he was able he was compelled to aid his mother, as he was the oldest of six children. When he was half way through his teens he served a two-year apprenticeship in the wagon-maker's trade, receiving his board and clothes as a compensation. In 1868 he went into the wagon-making business for himself at Markleville, Madison county, Indiana, and remained there for a long period of twenty years. He also did carpenter work for seven years, making a success of it. In the spring of 1885 he came to Clinton ( unty, and took up farming, which he has followed ever since. For four years he farmed west of Russiaville, for two years west of Forest, and for thirteen yours one mile south of present farm. Where he is at present located he owns sixty-two acres of excellent land, and raises corn, oats, wheat and hogs.
Politically, Mr. Cochran is a Republican, but has never been a seeker of public office, although he served for six years on the advisory board of Center
CLINTON COUNTY, INDIANA.
township. Fraternally. he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Hle attends no church regularly.
On October 7, 1871 Mr. Cochran was married to Martha E. Cook, the daughter of Joel and Susan (Roger ) Cook, farmers of Hancock county. Her mother was a native of North Carolina and her father came from the Old Dominion. She was one of fifteen children, eleven of whom are living. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cochran : Charles Nathaniel ( deceased ). Maurice Edgar, farmer and school teacher of this county, has three children, Mural F., Lloyd and Morris G .: Austin, a Clinton county farmer, has one child. Mildred; Mrs. Arminta Cohee, wife of the city clerk of Frankfort, has one child, Dorotl., E. ; Mrs. Ada Richards, has one child. William A .; and Arthur, a Clinton county . farmer, has one child, Opal Pauline.
ADA MAISH.
It is interesting to note that among the prominent land owners and agri- culturists in Clinton county is a woman, Mrs. Ada Maish, who is the sub- ject of this review. In company with her brother-in-law she manages her farm in latest approved fashion, employing all of the modern methods of cultivating the crops. Her dealings with her fellow citizens have been above reproach, and she has been successful and prosperous in every undertaking which she has attempted. Mrs. Maish is a woman of charming personality who enjoys to the fullest the pleasures of life, particularly the pleasures of farming.
Mrs. Maishi was born in Clinton county on June 6, 1875, and is the daughter of O. P. and Laura ( Armantrout) Miller. Iler parents now live in the city of Frankfort. They were both born in Clinton county, and the father was a farmer all of his life. He owned four hundred and eleven acres of excellent land, which he has divided up among his three daughters, re- taining an interest in the same while living. Besides our subject there are two sisters, Mrs. James Mclntyre, of Frankfort, Indiana, and Mrs. E. C. Fisher, of Clinton county.
Mrs. Maish, in her youth, received a good common school education, and on April 12, 1894, was united in marriage to William F. Maish, who is now employed as a guard at the Ohio state prison at Columbus. Mr. and Mrs. Maish are the parents of five children : Ruby Inez, born July 30. 1895;
CLINTON COUNTY, INDIANA.
Chalmer Edward, November 2, 1897; Hazel Esther, September 23, 1899; Russell Paul, May 12, 1901, died August 29, 1901; and Floyd Miller, May 19, 1903. All of the children live at home with their mother, who is taking care that they receive an education, and all the motherly attention th. t a child should have. She bears the reputation of being a kind and devoted mother, and holds the respect and admiration of all of her acquaintances. Mrs. Maish is a member of the Antioch Christian church, and is a devout and in- dustrious worker in that institution. Socially, she is a superior woman, and is deservedly popular among her friends.
CHARLES EDWIN FENNELL.
In 1901 Frankfort and Clinton county lost one of their most prominent and u .. eful citizens, a man comparatively young in public life, and one who gave promise of a great future. His untimely death was a hard blow to the community, and an irreparable loss to his relatives, his wife and children. Mr. Fennell was a man who believed in honest principles in business conduct, and his dealings were ever in accord. Consequently, success atteded his ef- forts in all the years of his life.
Charles E. Fennell was born April 19, 1866, in Burlington, Carroll county, Indiana, and was the son of James H. and Matilda (Long) Fennell, natives of Virginia. The father was a school teacher and grocery broker by occupation.
After a good common school education our subject went into business with his father in the grocery line. For five years he continued in this busi- ness. In partnership with Charles E. Shaw he organized the Clinton Cycle Company. In 18. he, in company with B. IT. Dorner, purchased the Cres- cent from the estate of Eli Brown. After one year of experience in the newspaper business, Mr. Fennell disposed of his interests to Bayard Gray. From that time until his death he was associated with his father in the insur- ance business. In all his ventures he was successful. Socially he was gen- ial, generous and kind-hearted and had a host of friends. He was a member of Clinton Chapter. Free and Accepted Masons; Frankfort Commandery No. 27, Knights Templar, and Shield Lodge No. 71. Knights of Pythias. Mr. Fennell died January 1, 1901.
On January 1. 1896, he was united in marriage with Jessie Ruddell. the
CLINTON COUNTY, INDIAN.A. 893
daughter of C. B. Vad Julia (Comhar Roddell, natives of Clark county. Her father was in the dry goods business for twenty-seven years at Charleston, Indiana, for eight years was a farmer, owning one hundred and seventy- three acres of land in Clinton count and two hundred and forty in Illinois. Ile was a graduate of the Louisville Medical College, but only practiced four years, not liking the profession. He died February 16, 1905. The mother is now making her home with her widowed daughter. Mrs. Fennell's brothers and sisters are: Mrs. S. B. Sims, of Frankfort ; C. M. Ruddell, of Jeffer-on- ville ; WV. N., of Almeda, California ; Albert, and Dr. Ben Ruddell, of Frank- fort.
Besides Mi. Pennell our subject is survived by two small children, Julia and Gertrude
JACOB SHOEMAKER.
If one wants to get an idea of how twentieth century farming is now successfully carried on in Forest township. Clinton county, one could do no better than to visit the well kept and well tilled farm of Jacob Shoenriker, f: " lie is a methodical, studions, persistent worker, believing in making the soil produce as much as it will without leaving the same depleted or robbing it of its natural elements, yet he makes everything count that he turns his attention to, and it is no wonder that he has succeeded admirably at his chosen vocation.
Mr. Shoemaker was born in the above named township and county on February 15, 1852, and he has been contented to spend his life right here in his native locality. He is a son of Eleazor and Christina (Snider ) Shoe- maker. The father was born in Highland county, Ohio. May 26th in the year 1821, where he spent his earlier years and where he received a meager education in the summon schools of the vicinity. When a young man he removed to Putnam county, Indiana, where he soon got a good start and where he was married September 14. 1842, to Christina Snider, soon after- wards removing to Clinton county, where he continued to reside until his death, January 30, 1876. He was a hard-working man, very strong and rugged. He elcared the land on which he settled in Forest township and liere developed an excellent farm through sheer hard labor. He was not only a shoemaker in name but also a shoemaker by trade as well, and spent such spare time as he could command in this work, although not professing
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CLINTON COUNTY, INDIANA.
to be a skilled coolman. Politically, he was a Republican. The ny the of our subject was born in the year 1826, June roth, in the city of kaneville. Tennessee, and there remained until she was about ten years old. when she removed with the & to the family to Putnam county. Indiana. She had no chance to attend bed and could not read or write but was a woman of rare common sense. Her death occurred September 4. 1904.
The family . Elespor Shoemaker and wife was a large one, thirteen children having In a Den to them, named as follows: Elizabeth and Christ- > jana (both deceased) : Solomon. Rebecca (deceased ) : Jacob, of this review ; Mandy. Calvin, Allen, and Martin (all deceased) : Louis, Enoch (deceased). Elija. and Rachel od ceased ).
Jacob Shoen. we grew to manhood on the home farm and there dil his full share of the work when a boy, he receiving a common school educa tion. In an interesting sketch of his early home life he writes: "My father settled on the land on which the north half of the town of Forest now stands. on the first day of January. 1852, in a little log cabin on a half acre of cleared ground in the midst of a dense forest. The roof of this cabin was of clap- boards, fastened down with weight poles Not a nail or piece of iron was in the whole building. The doors were swung on wooden hinges and the floor was made of split slabs. Our huge fireplace had a stick and clay chim- ney, and clay back jams and hearth furnished warmth and a cooking place for the family. At this old fireplace, oft have I seen my dear old sainted mother cooking 'hoe cakes and Johnny cakes.' In early fall the meal from which our bread was made, was grated on a piece of tin through which hofes had been made with a nail, the corn being gathered before it would shell and ofttimes our 'mush' was stirred with a large cornstalk.
"Our clothing consisted of home fabrics, made into our simple garments by our mother. Our drinking water was provided by a hole eight or ten feet deep dug in one corner of our dooryard and into which a large hollow sycamore log had been placed on end for watering purposes. The water being drawn with the old well sweep. Our tillable fields were only the high knolls surrounded by swamps. We planted our corn on a ridge thrown up with a barshare plow. two furrows together to keep it out of the water. We neither had drains nor roads excepting as we wouldl 'blaze' them out through the woods, often having to change them on account of mud. All our crops had to be divided with the coons, squirrels, deer, foxes, wild turkeys and other animals and fowls that infested the then dense forests and ofttimes
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CLINTON COUNTY, INDIANA.
our father would send myself and a brother at night to our little well to protect the crops and we would sometimes drive four of five coons to a single tree. Our forage for our little herd consisted of slough grass. Many times do I remember when sent to drive the cows in, that there would be more deer than cows in the herd, attracted, seemingly, by the cow bell."
On December 13, 1880. Mr. Shoemaker married Martha E. Fletcher. who was in this county and state January 3. 1850, and she grew to woman- hood here and received her education in the public schools. She is a daughter of William and Elizabeth Ann Fletcher.
Three children have been born to our subject and wife: Anna Myrtle. born in 1883. married to Monroe Huffer, living near her father's farm; Christina Merle, born July 7. 1883. diel March 1, 1902: Bert M are the son and youngest child, born October 3. 1886, absent from his home after March 25, 1902, and his whereabouts are unknown to his parents.
Jacob Shoemaker has followed farming all his life with uninterrupted success. He is an owner of a valuable and well kept place of one hundred and fifteen acres, all tillable but about eight acres. It is fairly well tiled and otherwise properly improved. He built his own home and is comfortably situated in every respect. He is now living retired, renting his farm. Ile formerly made a specialty of raising Jersey cows and Poland China and Duroc hogs. Ile still raises the latter, and a good general breed of horses.
Politically, Mr. Shoemaker is a Prohibitionist, being bitter against the vile stuff which he has seen ruin so many of his acquaintances. He is a member of and a trustee and earnest worker in the Holiness Christian church.
HARRY C. McCLAMROCH.
Harry C. McClamroch is a native of Montgomery county, and has held residence in Clinton county only since 1907, but in those few years he has won the esteem and friendship of scores of people. He was born in Craw- fordsville, Montgomery county, Indiana, on New Year's day, 1873. and is the son of John and Mary ( Barr ) McClamroch, the father a native of Hamil- ton, Ohio, and the mother of Montgomery county. Indiana, but of Pennsyl- vania stock. The mother died in the year 1882. John McClamroch came to Montgomery county in an early day with his parents and settled on a farm north of Crawfordsville, where he stayed for a number of years. Then
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