USA > Indiana > Daviess County > History of Daviess County, Indiana : Its people, industries and institutions > Part 48
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Mary (Carroll) Allison, who was the mother of Isaac Allison, was the daughter of Dickson and Leutitia (May) Carroll, both of whom were natives of North Carolina, and who were married there. They came to Indiana in 1837, with five children, and located near Washington township. A short time later they purchased a farm in Veale township, where Owen Allison now lives. They owned one hundred and sixty acres there, only a little of which was cleared when it was purchased from a man who had entered it from the government. Dickson Carroll's sons, Nathaniel, William, John, Robert and Dickson, all served in the Civil War and all survived this war. Another son, Rufus, paid a substitute to go in his place.
Isaac Allison was married, in December, 1904, to Martha G. Ennis.
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Three children, Mary Elizabeth, John Albert and Beula Pearl, have been born to this union. All the family are members of the Methodist church. Martha G. was a daughter of Albert W. and Mary Jane (Samples) Ennis. They both lived in Washington township, this county. He was a farmer and died on April 15, 1915. His wife is still living. They were the parents of ten children, seven of whom are now living. He was a Democrat and was interested in the general welfare of his community.
Owen C. Allison, a brother of Isaac, who is associated with him in agricultural enterprises, was born on January 5, 1869, in Veale township. He was educated in the public schools of Veale township and became a farmer. Originally, Smith Allison, a third brother, was associated with Isaac and Owen in their farming enterprises. Smith is now deceased, and the remaining brother continues in partnership. They now operate seven hundred and forty acres, and make a specialty of Shorthorn cattle, as breed- ers and feeders.
On April 6, 1890, Owen C. Allison was married to Lillie Wilson. Two children, Luther M. and Charles Ray, have been born to this union. The family of Owen Allison are all members of the Methodist church. Mr. Allison formerly was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
JOSEPH H. MEADS.
By hard and laborious effort and continuous and well-directed energy, the subject of this review has risen from an humble station in his early life to a position of independent retirement. His unswerving loyalty to right principles of living and fidelity to duty has won him the respect and con- fidence of the people with whom he has been associated for so many years, and he is fully entitled to recognition in a work of this character, on account of his enterprise and achievements, which have brought him into prominence and earned for himself a conspicuous place in the lives of the men who have been successful and are the leaders in this community.
Joseph H. Meads was born on October 14, 1846, in Washington town- ship, Daviess county, Indiana, the son of William C. and his first wife, Deliah (Hays) Meads. His father was born in 1830, in Washington town- ship, this county and state, and received his early education in the neighbor- ing schools. He began farming as a very young man and owned a farm here which he sold out at a later date and decided to remove to the state of
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Kansas, where he purchased two hundred acres of land near Topeka, where- he continued to farm until the time of his death in the year 1900. His first wife lived until the year 1849, and during her life had given birth to the fol- lowing named children : Alfred D., born in 1844, who was in the Civil War as a member of Company E., Sixth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, was wounded in the battle of Dallas, Texas, and served his country three- years; Joseph, the subject of this review, and, John who died in infancy. His second marriage was to Sarah Grow, daughter of Christopher Grow, and. to that union were born, Christopher, drowned at the age of seventeen; Will- iam, living in Oklahoma; Rousseau, a resident of Kansas; Sentna, now re- siding in Oklahoma, and Emanuel, postmaster at North Topeka, Kansas. He was a practical member of the Christian church, an advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and personally, a man who was held in the highest esteem by all who knew him.
Receiving his early education in the public schools of Washington town- ship, this county, and when quite a young man, Joseph H. Meads left the parental home and went to the state of Illinois where he secured employment with the Illinois Central Railroad Company. In 1863 he went to New Albany, Indiana, where he clerked in a store for about a year. With the exception of a few months spent in the town of Harrisonville, Indiana,. Joseph Meads had farmed all of his life and until the time of his retirement from active work in 1912. During this time, he acquired a farm consisting of one hundred acres in Washington township, this county, where he lived until he sold out in 1912 and removed to Washington, and where he resides with his daughter, Lillian. The subject's wife was born on November 27, 1845, and her maiden name was Theresa McClellan. She was a native of Barr township, Daviess county, and died on December 10, 1910. To their union were born the following named children: Anna, who died at the age of seven years; James M., whose life history is given elsewhere in this volume : Lillian; Charles, who married Claudia Porter and lives on a farm in Barr township; Afred, who married Belle Edwards and lives in Wash- ington where he makes his headquarters as a railroad fireman; Harry, who died about the age of seven years; Elwood, who married Bettie Edwards and lives in Veale township, this county, and Gertrude, who is the wife of Elwood Williams.
Joseph H. Meads bears the reputation of having been a successful farmer, due to his untiring energy and good management, and was able to retire with a fair competence. He has always been identified with the Republican party, but never took any active interest in its affairs. He is a
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member of the Christian church and renders support to that denomination in accordance with his means. Personally, Mr. Meads is congenial and unas- suming in his relations with his fellow men, leads a quiet life and is highly respected by all of his neighbors and acquaintances for the honorable and praiseworthy life he has led.
DANIEL CADDEN.
There are certain qualities which a man must possess who wishes to make a success of any profession. Among these are honesty and determina- tion. The career of Daniel Cadden, a passenger engineer on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, living at Washington, Indiana, has been strongly marked by these two characteristics. He has never known what it is to lay aside the cares of life and retire to ease, having been a hard-working man all of his life. Because of his honest endeavor to lay aside a comfortable competency for his declining years and because he has spent such a life as to win the commendation of his fellow men, he is eminently worthy of representation in this volume.
Daniel Cadden was born in West Marietta, Ohio, on January 24, 1865, the son of William and Bridget (Coleman) Cadden, both natives of County Mayo, Ireland, and who both came to America when young and were mar- ried in Wheeling, West Virginia. Martin Cadden, the paternal grandfather of Daniel Cadden, made a visit to America, but did not locate, returning to his native land, where he remained the rest of his life and where he was a farmer. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Cadden was Daniel Coleman, also a native of Ireland, who came to the United States in his younger days, but remained only a short time, returning to his native land, where he was engaged in the produce business.
William Cadden, the father of Daniel, was a railroad man nearly all his life. He came to America, in 1847, and lived for a time in New York, but later went to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he was engaged in railroad construction work, afterward working at this business in various parts of the United States. Later in life, he retired to a farm in Ohio, and still later moved to Chillicothe, Ohio, where his wife died, after which he came to Washington, Daviess county, Indiana, and lived with his son, Martin, until his death. Both he and his wife were devout members of the Catholic church.
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Daniel Cadden was educated in the public schools of Marietta, Ohio, and assisted his father on the farm until he was twenty years of age, when, in 1886, he became a fireman on the old Ohio & Mississippi railroad, now the Baltimore & Ohio, and since that time his name has never been off the pay-roll of this company. He became an engineer in 1895, between Cincin- nati and Washington, Indiana, and, in 1908, became a passenger engineer, and has since held this important and responsible position. In 1907, he built his present modern and attractive home in Washington and has made his home there ever since he entered the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company, with the exception of a few years when he lived in Jeffer- sonville, Indiana.
In 1894, Mr. Cadden was married to Agnes Swords, the daughter of Joshua and Mary (Conlin) Swords. They were Ohio people and have always lived there, both of whom are now deceased. He was a blacksmith by trade. They have six children, William, George, Harry, Mary, Annie and Agnes.
Mr. Cadden is a Democrat, but has never taken a very active part in political affairs. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi- neers, in which organization he takes an active interest. Both Mr. Cadden and his wife are devout and loyal members of the Catholic church, in whose welfare they are actively interested.
HENRY BACKES.
A review of the life and career of Henry Backes must of necessity be brief in character. To enter fully into the interesting details of his career, the early struggles and the successes of later years, would transcend the limits of this article. Mr. Backes has filled a large place in the ranks of public-spirited citizens and successful newspaper men of his day and gen- eration in Daviess county. His career has been a long, busy and useful one. Although he is a comparatively young man, Mr. Backes has been keenly devoted to the progress and prosperity of his native city, and as a joint owner of the Washington Democrat, has been in a position to contribute materially to its growth and prosperity.
Henry Backes was born on February 19, 1873, in Washington, Indiana, a son of John P. and Laura (Maher) Backes, who were married in Wash- ington, Indiana, on January 30, 1871. The paternal grandparents of Henry Backes, Henry and Katherine (Barens) Backes, were among the early set-
HENRY BACKES.
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tlers of Washington, coming from Bitburgh, Germany, in July, 1854, after a seventy-two-day voyage on a sailing vessel. No railway passed through Washington then, and the trip from Little Orleans, Indiana, to Daviess county's capital was made by wagon.
Henry Backes received his education in the public schools of his native city, and served his apprenticeship as a printer in the offices of the Gazette and the Advertiser. On January 1, 1906, he purchased a half interest in the Democrat from S. B. Boyd, and since then he and Mr. Boyd have been associated together as equal partners in the enterprise. Mr. Backes has been identified with the Democrat in the capacity of printer, foreman, city editor and business manager since 1891. Although an ardent Democrat and active in the councils of his party, and especially in organization work, he has never sought political reward in the form of an elective or an appointive office. He has been content, rather, to work in the trenches for the party's welfare.
On May 29, 1893, Mr. Backes was married to Laversa J. Quick, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. Francis Torbeck, pastor of St. Mary's church. Mrs. Backes was born in this county on September 24, 1874, a daughter of John and Mary Ellen (Johnson) Quick, who were married at Pleasant Hill, Daviess county, on May 2, 1872. Mr. Quick served his country during the Civil War as a member of Capt. James K. Brown's Com- pany L, Fifth Regiment Illinois Cavalry. He died at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on October 24, 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Backes are the parents of three children, Bertha Katherine, John Joseph and Richard Paul.
Mr. and Mrs. Backes are members of St. Simon's Catholic church, and Mr. Backes is a member of the Knights of Columbus. He is also a mem- ber of the Royal Arcanum.
ALFRED SIMS.
The attention of the reader is called, at this point, to the following brief biography of the gentleman whose name appears above, one of the most progressive farmers of that fine agricultural section comprised in Elmore township, Daviess county, a section dotted with fine farm houses, comfortable homes, spacious and well-filled barns, overflowing granaries; a section on whose rolling pastures sleek cattle graze and in whose happy homes a contented population find life very well worth living. Among the agriculturists of that section, who are carrying on their operations in a large
(33)
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way, few are better known than Alfred Sims, and few families thereabout are more popular and well-liked than his. Having realized, in his own life, something of the hardships attending the efforts of the struggling farmer, but having courageously and industriously faced and overcome the difficulties which confronted him in the earlier part of his career, Mr. Sims is happy in the thought that he is able to give to his family advantages that he did not possess in his day of small things, his children being given a chance to- acquire a college training.
Alfred Sims was born on a farm situated on the line separating Daviess and Martin counties in Brown township, on July 10, 1864, the son of Starlin and Susan (Holt) Sims, the former of whom was a native of Lawrence county, a member of one of the most prominent pioneer families of the county, and the latter of whom was born in Tennessee, the daughter of Henry and Catherine (Gray) Holt.
Asbury Sims, father of Starlin Sims and grandfather of the immediate subject of this biographical sketch, was of English descent and born in Laurel county, Kentucky, near London, on March 29, 1808. He moved to Indiana with his father, Starlin Sims, Sr., and located on the site of Bedford, Indiana, about 1820, and died on December 31, 1897. He was one of the early settlers in Lawrence county, Indiana, but not finding conditions there just to his liking, after a brief residence, removed to Daviess county, settling in the Raglesville neighborhood, where he, eventually, purchased a farm and spent the remainder of his life. His wife, who was Katura Killgore, was of Scottish-Irish descent and was born in Sequacha valley, in Tennessee, on May 15, 1811, and died on January 6, 1897. She came to Indiana with her parents, Hiram and Nancy Killgore. One of the immediate ancestors of Mrs. Asbury Sims was Nancy Grant, who was born in South Carolina in 1790. Hiram Killgore was born in Tennessee in 1790. The mother of Asbury Sims was Sarah Howard, a native of Kentucky. This lady had large-jointed or crooked fingers, a peculiarity incident to a great many of the younger generation, among them the subject of this sketch. Starlin Sims, Jr., was a native of Georgia, who came to Kentucky on foot, when a young man. Asbury Sims had four brothers, John, Nicholas, William and Zachariah. John and William moved west in an early day; Nicholas and Zachariah remained in Indiana, spending their entire lives in Martin county. Zachariah was a soldier in the Mexican War and a captain in the War of the Rebellion. Asbury Sims also had four sisters, who lived in Martin county. Charlotte married a Crook; Cynthia Ann married a Rector ; Patsy married a Payton, and Elizabeth married a Rainey. Asbury Sims is believed to have
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cleared the first ground where Raglesville is now located. The grandfather of Asbury Sims' wife was killed and scalped by the Indians in what is now the state of Tennessee.
Asbury and Katura (Killgore) Sims had twelve children, Starlin; Alfred; Edward, who died in his early youth; Zachariah; Noah; Hiram; Sarah, who married Aaron Williams; Abbie, who married Joseph Hastings; Malinda, who married James H. Holt; Nancy, who married Michael O'Con- nor; Elizabeth and Mary, who died young. Elizabeth married William Marshall.
Starlin Sims was reared on the paternal farm in Van Buren township and as a young man started farming and stock raising for himself, a voca- tion which he followed all his life, save for the period during which his services were given to the nation in the dark days of the sixties, he having served as a soldier in the Union army. At the close of his military serv- ice, Starlin Sims returned to Brown township, Martin county, Indiana, even- tually becoming a large landowner in that part of the county, and in Daviess county, where he and his wife also were prominent in all good works, their memory being cherished by many in that region for the good they did during their lives.
Henry Holt, who married Catherine Gray, and who was the father of Mrs. Starlin Sims, was born about 1785, and died in 1880. He was of Eng- lish descent and a native of the Sequacha valley, in Tennessee. Catherine Gray was of Irish descent also. They had thirteen children, eight sons and five daughters, as follow: Dawswell, Calvin, Henry, Jr., James, Chrispen, John, Emerson, Drury, Sarah, Margaret, Elizabeth, Anna and Susan. Of these children all are deceased except two: Mrs. Anna Woodruff, of near Epsom, who is eighty-seven years old; and Mrs. Sally Ledgerwood, of Scot- land, who is ninety-two years old. Susan, the last named and the youngest of the family, was the mother of Alfred Sims.
The Holt family came to the wilds of Martin county and settled one and one-half miles northeast of Burns City about 1833. There was not a spot of cleared land to be found anywhere on the heavy wooded tract which was selected as a homestead. There was a small tract of three or four acres of the homestead very nearly surrounded by a high protective cliff with a fine spring. The family appropriated this enclosure for their few head of live stock, and the projecting rock gave the family their only shelter from spring until the following fall. The first essential was to clear some ground and raise some bread-stuff for the coming winter. Meat was plentiful for the killing. There was the howl of wolves and the scream of panthers on all
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sides. Susan, being the youngest, slept with her father and mother in the wagon under the cliff and felt somewhat more secure. Other members of the family had to be content with whatever arrangement of their beds could be made. The dogs stood guard. By late fall the family had constructed a substantial hewn log house into which they moved and where they felt more secure at least from the numerous rattlesnakes of the time.
Henry Holt was accustomed to have his young cattle killed by the wolves and at such times made it a point to take a portion of the carcass and bait one of his large bear traps to catch a wolf. He had much better success in catching them by setting his trap in a stream or pool of water. These traps were constructed so that there were two or three steps of stone for the wolf to start in on. A small footing was then made of leaves off the trees encircled by small stakes. The wolf would step on this footing, thinking it was secure, falling into the water would next land in the trap. On one occasion, Henry Holt and his sons took a wolf home alive, thinking they would permit the family to admire it at close range. They cut the ten- dons in his hind legs and put him down in the yard, thinking he would be helpless. No sooner had he reached the ground than, in some mysterious way, he sprang up and caught one of the children by the arm, pulling her from the door. At this turn of affairs the boys dispatched him at once. On another occasion, one of the sons was watching a deer lick far out in the woods at night. He had constructed a scaffold in a tree, at the side of the lick, upon which he hid himself with a gun in hand and lay in wait for the coming deer. Before climbing the scaffold he had made a trip around the brush to obtain dry material from which he might make a little light, should he hear a deer at the lick, in order to facilitate his aim. While waiting he heard something making the same rounds that he had made in search for material for a torch, and which finally trailed him to the very tree in which he had his scaffold. The animal leaped high up the tree and made a second leap. The son, who by the way was Henry, Jr., had discovered by this time that he was confronted by a panther which was ready to spring upon him at the next jump. Being very much frightened and not knowing what else to do, he screamed at the top of his voice, whereupon the panther dropped to the ground and slowly slunk away. Henry got no deer that night and did not venture down until morning.
To the union of Starlin and Susan (Holt) Sims there were born ten children, as follow: Sarah A., who died at the age of nineteen; William, who married Rosa Burns; Francis, who married Mary Cowan; John, who married Nancy Bowman; Alfred, the immediate subject of this sketch;
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Elizabeth, who married Willet Shiveley; Harvey, who married Effie Will- iams; James, who died in his youth; Anna, deceased, and Margaret, who married William H. Bowman. Starlin Sims was a life-long Republican and gave close attention to the political affairs of the county, state and nation, ever being interested in all movements which promised the better- ment of the conditions surrounding the lives of the common people. He reared his family in the faith of the Christian church and he and his wife were actively interested in all the beneficences of the congregation to which they were attached.
Alfred Sims grew to manhood on the paternal farm in Van Buren town- ship, receiving his education in the excellent schools of that township, and, as a young man, started to farm for himself, his first venture being made on a tract of eighty acres. This he cultivated so diligently and so success- fully that he has been able to add to his original holdings until now he owns a farm of three hundred and sixty and one-half acres, practically all of which is under a high state of cultivation. In addition to his work as a general farmer, he has engaged extensively in stock raising, his production of Perch- eron horses, Shorthorn cattle, Shropshire sheep, the large type of Poland China hogs and mammoth jacks and jennets having more than a local repu- tation for excellence. In 1895, Mr. Sims built his present fine residence in which his family is very pleasantly and happily situated and has built two large barns and two silos, the other outbuildings and general appointments of the farm being in keeping, so that he has today one of the most attractive places in that part of the county.
On March 15, 1888, Mr. Sims was united in marriage to Laura A. Ketcham, daughter of Seth L. and Almira (Benham) Ketcham, the former of whom was born in this county on November 8, 1839, the son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Goodwin) Ketcham. Daniel Ketcham, who was born in the year 1810, came to Daviess county from Shelby county, Kentucky, the place of his birth, in the year 1838, and spent the rest of his life here, becoming one of the largest land owners in the county, owning at the time of his death in October, 1865, six hundred acres of land. His wife, who was Elizabeth Goodwin, was a native of Jackson county, this state, born in 1817, a member of a prominent pioneer family of that part of the state.
Seth L. Ketcham received his early education in the schools of Daviess county, which he supplemented by a two-years' course in the Indiana State University at Bloomington, following which he entered the ranks of the school teachers in this county and for twenty years was one of the county's best-known instructors. When the Civil War broke out, Mr. Ketcham en-
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listed in Company B, Twenty-seventh Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, but after a service of seven months was discharged on account of chronic rheumatism. On July 16, 1864, Seth L. Ketcham was united in marriage to Almira Benham, who was born in 1839, the daughter of Ira and Mary Ben- ham, and who died in 1881. To this union there were born five children, Mary, Daniel W., Laura A., John M., and W. Evert, the second daughter becoming the wife of Mr. Sims.
To the union of Alfred and Laura A. (Ketcham) Sims there have been born nine children, as follow: Firman C., who married Eldena Caress, has two children, Samuel K. and Sara Cathleen; Susan Almira, who mar- ried R. Elmer Killion; Luava; Seth D .; Adolphus, who died at the age of twelve; Laura Bernice ; a son who died in infancy ; Janet and Madge.
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