USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 100
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Educated in the common schools of Clay township, Edward Pumphrey began life for himself after his marriage in 1890 to Jennie Johnson, the daughter of William and Lucretia Johnson, the former of whom was a prosperous farmer of Jackson township, a native of Ohio, and well known and highly respected by the citizens of this county.
Mr. and Mrs. Pumphrey have a lovely little home and enjoy life. He- is a progressive broad-minded citizen, well known and highly respected. A stanch Democrat, he has always taken a prominent part in the campaigns of his party, especially in Clay township. Between 1905 and 1909 he was trustee of Clay township and was very successful in the management of the township's business, having retired from office with the respect and confidence of all the people. Mr. Pumphirey is a stockholder in the Third National Bank at Greensburg, and a member of the Masonic lodge at Milford. Mr. and Mrs. Pumphrey are members of the Baptist church at Burney. He and his good wife believe that there are other things in life besides the accumula- tion of money. They believe in the enjoyment of life and they have enjoyed it so far as it has been possible to do so.
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JOHN WESLEY SPEARS.
Every community has, within its boundaries, men of exceptional ability and influence, to whom it points with pride and of whom it has every reason to be proud. Jackson township has many men who are well known through- out Decatur county by their success in agriculture. their prominence in busi- ness and their worth as citizens. Farmer, merchant, banker, public official and public-spirited man of affairs, John Wesley Spears, former county com- missioner of Decatur county and now a retired merchant of Alert, is a man who has always stood high in the estimation of his fellows; whose judgment has always been recognized as pre-eminently sound and whose counsel has been widely sought in the affairs of the community where he has lived. He has to his credit from the standpoint of length of service. perhaps the longest record of business of any man living in Jackson township. From 1870 to 1908 he was continuously engaged as a merchant at Alert, during which period of nearly forty years, he naturally became well acquainted with the people. not only of Jackson but of surrounding townships and men learned to admire hini for his many commendable traits of character.
Mr. Spears was born on March 23, 1847, in Switzerland county, Indiana. His father and mother were also natives of this county, the former, Abrahani L. Spears, having been born in 1828 and died in 1896, and the latter, who before her marriage was Martha Jane Day, having been born in 1829 and died at the age of forty-two years in 1872. Subject's father was a black- smith and merchant and was well known in the southeastern part of Indiana, having followed his trade for many years and also having conducted general stores at New Marion, Zenas, Hartsville and Holton, the last named in Ripley county, where he died. John Spears, who was the father of Abraham L. and the founder of the family in America, settled in Indiana after having immigrated to this country from England. He was a well-known farmer during his life.
Six children were born to Abraham L. and Martha Jane Spears, of whom three are now deceased: John Wesley, who was the eldest ; Tillman Webster, who was born on March 1, 1849: Phoebe Elizabeth, who died in 1854, at the age of two years ; Steplien D., who died in 1912; Abraham, who is a farmer near Alert; and Mrs. Lucinda Jane LaRue, who is the wife of Oliver LaRue, of Holton, Indiana, and William Aaron, who died at the age of twenty-six years.
During the boyhood of John W. Spears, the Hartsville Academy was
JOIIN W. SPEARS.
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perhaps the leading institution in this section of the state. After he had completed the course in the common schools near Zenas, where his family lived at the time, he attended Hartsville Academy for a time. During vaca- tions, he assisted his father in the store and here learned the mercantile busi- ness. When he was twenty-two years old, he engaged in business with his father at Alert. This partnership continued for six years or until 1875, when the son purchased the interest of the father and operated it alone until 1908, at which time he retired from the active management of the store. In the meantime, he had erected a large brick building, in which the store is housed, to replace a frame building which burned in January, 1906. Not very long ago, he erected a new house in Alert, one of the most comfortable homes in this section. Mr. Spears has eighty acres of land in Jackson town- ship, in Decatur county, and one hundred and fifty-nine acres in Bartholo- mew county. Although he himself has never been actively engaged as a farmer, his farm has proved a very profitable investinent under the direct operation of tenants.
In 1888 at a barn raising in this community, Mr. Spears suffered a very painful and dangerous injury. While the barn was being raised, the plate breaking loose, fell to the ground, striking him on the back and breaking his thigh. Nevertheless he recovered from the injury, a very marvelous circum- stance probably due to his wonderful vitality. Today he is still active and strong, although now about sixty-eight years old.
In 1914 Mr. Spears took a leading part in the organization of the Alert State Bank, which is capitalized at twenty-five thousand dollars and, when the directors were elected, Mr. Spears was chosen as one; later, when officers were elected, he was selected president of the institution. Although a very young institution, the bank is already doing a most satisfactory business. The vice-president of the institution is Dr. Thomas J. Norton and the cashier is Roy Campbell, formerly of Jennings county, Indiana. The directors include, besides Mr. Spears, Dr. Norton, James D. Anderson, Jolm H. Den- nison, Samuel Kelly, William James Carson, of Jennings county, and George Beasley.
In 1914 five of the leading business men of Jackson township also organ- ized the Alert Telephone Company with a capital of twenty-five hundred dol- lars and sixty subscribers. Mr. Spears became president of this company. The board of directors include Dr. Ray Bannister of Alert; Rev. Nicholson, Dr. Clarence L. Hill, a minister and farmer, who lives one mile north of Alert ; J. W. Spears, and D. H. Pike.
(65)
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On September 5, 1869, John W. Spears was married at Zenas to Mary L. Galloway, a native of Jennings county and the daughter of Wilham Gallo- way. They have no children.
Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. Spears are members of the Christian Union. Fraternally, Mr. Spears is a member of Alert Lodge, No. 395, Free and Accepted Masons. A Democrat in politics, he served eight years as a justice of the peace in Jackson township and in 1897 was elected a member of the board of county commissioners, on which he served for three years, giving the very highest measure of satisfaction.
It is a matter of interesting speculation to dwell on what men with the same ability as John W. Spears accomplish where the opportunities are wider. It is a matter of interest to consider what he might have accomplished had he by chance been reared in the city, where the opportunities for commercial and financial success are perhaps greater than they are in rural communities. Here, at least, Mr. Spears is a recognized leader in almost every form of enterprise, and there is good reason to believe that he might have become an equally successful leader in larger forms of enterprises in a larger commun- ity. He is first and foremost a man of character, and, as is usually the case, character is the determining factor in the life of an individual. There is no occasion for surprise that John W. Spears has enjoyed a large measure of success.
CYRUS W. PUMPHREY.
Of the well-known farmers of Clay township, this county, Indiana, there should be mentioned Cyrus W. Pumphrey, who owns a farm of sixty acres one-half mile west of Burney, who was born in that township on October 24. 1865, the son of Andrew and Melvina (Cooper) Pumphrey, the latter of whom was born in Clay township, and whose parents died when she was a small girl. After their death she lived with the family of John P. Elliott, and received her education in Clay township. Andrew Pumphrey was a native of Franklin county, born on the banks of the White Water river. His father, Andrew Pumphrey, who was a native of Kentucky, left Franklin county with his family when Andrew, Jr., was only two years old, and came to Decatur county, settling on Clifty creek, in Clay township, where he entered land, to which he added from time to time until at the time of his death he owned about one thousand acres in that township.
Andrew Johnson Pumphrey was one of the unique characters of his day.
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An ardent Democrat, he was prominent in the councils of his party. After his marriage to Elizabeth Lawrence in Kentucky, he moved to Franklin county, Indiana, and from Franklin county to Decatur county, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their days. Both Andrew Johnson Pumphrey and his wife were of English origin, their parents having come from Eng- land. Elizabeth (Lawrence) Pumphrey was heir to a large estate in Eng- land, but due to the trickery of lawyers was unable to establish proof of her claim. Andrew Johnson Pumphrey died about 1876, and his wife about 1875. the former at the age of eighty-two years. They were the parents of fourteen children, of whom Andrew Pumphrey was the sixth child in order of birth. He grew to manhood in Clay township on the old home farm and when about thirty-two years of age was married to Melinda Cooper. They spent their entire married life on a farm situated on the banks of Clifty creek. Although Andrew Pumphrey was a prosperous farmer and a well respected citizen, he was not a man of great wealth. He was a Democrat and both he and his wife were members of the Methodist church. Rugged hon- esty was one of his strong characteristics. After suffering for sixteen years with rheumatism, which he contracted in middle life, he was freed of this malady when about sixty years old and enjoyed several years of good health. He was a man who was especially kind to his family. and children, of whom there were five, namely: May, who married James B. Critser, both now deceased : Cyrus W., the subject of this sketch ; Mrs. Annie Elizabeth Drautz, who lives on the old home place in Clay township: Harvey, a resident of Hope. Bartholomew county, Indiana, and Mrs. Laura M. Applegate, who lives at Greensburg.
Cyrus W. Pumphrey lived on the old home farm until his marriage in 1894 to Cora D. Myers, daughter of John and Semantha ( Stevens) Myers, who was born in Westport. Sand Creek township, and who there grew to womanhood. After her mother's death she lived with her grandmother until her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Pumphrey, after spending a short time in Burney, lived for three years on the old Andrew Pumphrey farm, at the end of which time he purchased twenty acres of land where he now lives. This land was without buildings of any kind, and Mr. Pumphrey was without funds, having purchased his land on his own note. Today he has sixty acres of as fine land as there is in Decatur county and a beautiful modern home. Ordinarily he feeds about two carloads of hogs every year. He is a stock- holder in the Burney State Bank and gives thoughtful attention to the best interests of the community in which he lives.
A prominent Democrat of Clay township, Mr. Pumphrey several times
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has been a delegate to the district conventions of his party and is keenly interested in politics. He is a progressive farmer and a good substantial citizen, well known and well liked by the people of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Pumphrey are members of the Baptist church, are interested in all local good works and enjoy the most cordial esteem of all their neighbors.
MRS. BENJAMIN F. LITTELL.
Few names in this section of Indiana are better known than those of the Littells and the Collicotts and few families hereabout have exerted a wider or more beneficent influence upon the general welfare of the community than these two. By the marriage, thirty-two years ago, of Benjamin Franklin Littell, Jr .. and Diantha Collicott there was effected a most happy union of these two honorable and influential families, and it is a pleasure on the part of the biographer to present here some of the salient points in the local history of these two interesting families, as a memorial both to the late Benjamin F. Littell, Jr., and to the Rev. John Collicott, of blessed memory throughout this section of Indiana.
Benjamin Franklin Littell, Jr., who died at his pleasant farm home in Washington township, this county, on August 7, 1907, at the age of fifty- eight years, was the son of the late Benjamin Franklin Littell, a well-known pioneer of Decatur county, who died in 1915, at his home in Greensburg, at the age of ninety-four years. The elder Benjamin F. Littell was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Benjamin F. Littell, who died during the cholera epidemic, leaving a widow and four children, Benjamin F., Elizabeth, Sarah Ann and Clara. The firstborn of these children, the only son, remained in Cincinnati until he had reached manhood's estate, at which time he married Jane Van Sant, daughter of Reuben Van Sant, one time treasurer of Ham- ilton county, Ohio, and moved to Mt. Pleasant, nine miles north of Cincin- nati, where he made his home until 1856, in which year he moved with his family to Ripley county, Indiana, where he engaged in farming until 1863, in which year he came to this county, locating at Greensburg, where he erected a brick-making plant, in the operation of which he subsequently became very successful, being counted among the most substantial citizens of Decatur county. This brick plant is now owned and operated at Greens- burg by its founder's son, George S. Littell, a biographical sketch of whom,
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presented elsewhere in this volume, contains much additional information re- garding the Littell family in this part of the state.
To Benjamin F. and Jane (Van Sant) Littell were born ten children, namely : Alanson, a retired merchant of Greensburg, this county; William T., a contractor in brickmasonry at Indianapolis; Benjamin F., deceased ; Mrs. Adelia McCoy, housekeeper for her brother, George; George S., brick manufacturer, of Greensburg; Eliza, who married Phillip Weyman, of Greensburg: Samuel B., a Greensburg merchant; James S., a Greensburg merchant : Mrs. C. D. Tillson, of Greensburg, and Curtis R .. of Washington, D. C. The mother of these children died in 1900, at the age of seventy-eight years, and the venerable father is making his home with his son, George, in Greensburg.
Benjamin F. Littell, Jr., was about fifteen years of age when his parents moved to Greensburg and he completed his schooling in that city. Upon reaching manhood he engaged in the grocery business in Greensburg, soon becoming one of the most popular and one of the most successful merchants in the city. The close confinement, however, was found to be detrimental to his health and he decided to live in the open and later purchased the beautiful farm on which his family now lives, and there spent the last twenty years of his life, his death occurring in 1907; the widow and six children being left to mourn their irreparable loss. These children, in the order of their birth, are : Elsie, who was graduated from the Greensburg high school, lives at home; John, who is very successfully managing the home farm, taking great interest in operating the same along the lines laid down by modern agriculturists; Lena, a successful milliner in Greensburg; Mrs. Charles Davis, of Greens- burg, who has one child; Anna, a teacher in the public schools, and Della, who was graduated from the Greensburg high school with the class of 1915.
Mrs. Diantha Littell, widow of B. F. Littell, Jr., was born in Ripley county, Indiana, daughter of Rev. John and Ruth (Williams) Collicott, the former of whom was a native of North Carolina and the latter a native of New Jersey. When a young man, John Collicott emigrated from North Carolina to Indiana, locating in Ripley county, not far from the Decatur county line, where he became a successful farmer and influential citizen. He was also a local Methodist preacher and few men of his day in this part of the state exerted a wider or more beneficent influence upon their fellowmen than he. He was noted for his tender-hearted ministrations in the community in which he so long was so useful a factor, his hand ever be- ing extended in behalf of those less fortunate than himself. The Rev. John Collicott possessed a most effective manner in the pulpit. his ability to impress
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upon his hearers the beauties of the Word, and to impart to them the wonder- ful lessons contained therein, being recalled to this day among those whose privilege it was to "sit at his feet." His knowledge of the Bible was accurate and profound and his great desire to extend the message of the Gospel ever was heavy on his heart. He was a splendid singer, an accomplishment which added much to the effectiveness of his manner of conducting public services. During the trying days of the Civil War, the Rev. John Collicott was a tower of strength in behalf of the Union cause hereabout, and gave two of his sons for the nation's preservation. Few men in the community in which he labored are held in such high esteem, and it is but fitting that a history of Decatur county should carry this modest memorial. During the last fifteen years of his life Mr. Collicott was sadly crippled, but affliction did not dampen his ardor ; the influence of his cheerful example under trial being radiated in all directions throughout the neighborhood of his home.
The first wife of Rey. John Collicott was Edna Goins, who died a few years after their marriage leaving no children. By his union with Ruth Williams, his second wife, there were born ten children, namely: Mary Jane, the wife of Wesley York. both deceased; Stephen, a soldier in the Union army, who went through the Civil War and died soon after the close of that great struggle, from the effects of the hardships he had endured ; Henry, who also enlisted in the Union army and died during the early part of that struggle of measles contracted in the service ; John, who died when eight years of age ; Letitia, deceased; Angelina, deceased, the wife of Steward Ross, deceased, and the mother of Charles Ross living near Moore's Hill, Indiana ; George, deceased ; Eliza, deceased : Dora, deceased, and Diantha, the widow of Mr. Littell. The mother of these children was a woman of noble character, an able helpmate to her husband in his difficult ministrations ; a woman of rare sympathy and understanding, who was greatly beloved throughout that whole countryside.
By his union with Hannah Thackery, the Rev. John Collicott was the father of the following children : Curtis, a well-known farmer of this county, who lives about three and one-half miles from Greensburg on the Vandalia pike: Jacob G., one of the best-known educators in the country, the present superintendent of the Indianapolis public schools; Harmon, who died in 1902, while pursuing his studies in the Greensburg high school, and Lettie, who married Charles Williams, a prosperous farmer of this county, whose home is near New Point. The mother of these children was a woman of refinement and education, who left the impress of her gentle character upon
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all with whom she came in contact, being also a great help to her husband in his ministrations and especially during his last feeble years.
Mrs. Littell has a delightful home in Washington township, where, with her children, she is quite comfortably situated. Active in all the good works of the community and devoted to the care of her children her influence is exerted toward the promotion of all measures designed to further the best interests of the common good and she is held in the highest esteem by all who know her.
THOMAS E. DAY.
In the industrial annals of Decatur county there is no more notable example of the invariable rule that fitting rewards will attend faithful, ener- getic and industrious application to the duties of life, than is contained in a review of the life's history of the gentleman whose name serves as a caption for this interesting biographical sketch. Doing well what his hands found to do: faithful in all the relations of life, Mr. Day has risen from a position, which to one of less energy would have seemed disheartening indeed, to a position of commanding importance in the industrial life of Decatur county. Beginning life for himself upon attaining his majority without a dollar of capital, Mr. Day had the courage and the initiative to strike out on somewhat broader lines than most men so circumstanced and he has succeeded, as he deserved to have succeeded, so that now, in the vigor of his useful manhood, he has built up an industry which employs many men in useful and productive service in this county and through which there is distributed annually in wages no less a sum than fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Day's lumber manufac- turing industry is one of the most important enterprises in Decatur county and a review of the life of the man who has built up this industry to its present extensive proportions is a very proper tribute to the energy which made possible the building up of this industry.
Thomas E. Day. manufacturer of hard-wood lumber and wholesale dealer in the same at Greensburg, Indiana, was born on a farm in Ripley county, Indiana, on December 22, 1868, the son of Thomas G. and Rebecca (Spenddiff) Day, both natives of England, born in the county of Kent, the former on August 3, 1841, and the latter on June 4, 1841.
Thomas G. Day came to America with his father, Thomas Day, in the year 1844, the family locating on the shores of Rockland lake in the state of New York, where the elder Day established a nursery for the culture of fruit
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trees. The family remained in New York state until 1851, in which year they moved to Madison, Indiana, where the elder Thomas established another nursery on the edge of the city, where he spent the remainder of his life. It was in the town of Madison, this state, that Thomas G. Day grew to man- hood, getting a start in life that enabled him in 1865 to buy a farm in Ripley county, on which he is still living, despite a succession of serious wounds and shocking experiences during the progress of the Civil War that certainly would have killed any man of less rugged constitution than that possessed by him.
Upon the breaking out of the war in 1861. Thomas G. Day enlisted in Company E. Third Indiana Cavalry, for the sixty-day service called for at that time. At the close of this service he re-enlisted for the term of the war and served until peace had been declared. He participated in many battles, being in some of the bloodiest engagements of the war, and twice was left for dead on the field of battle. He suffered all the horrors of the Confederate prison pens, having been an inmate of Libby prison, Belle Isle, Florence and Andersonville. Of the squad of one hundred men with whom he was incar- cerated in the latter prison, he was one of but two who survived to reach free- dom and regain their own lines. He was once captured by John S. Mosby, the guerilla chief, who, with his men, was masquerading as a Unionist. On this occasion Mr. Day dropped his carbine. Many years later he revisited the scene of his capture and was surprised as well as delighted to find the old army carbine in the hands of the farmer who had picked it up at the time of the capture. Needless to say he has preserved the recovered firearm as a priceless relic of his service.
Upon returning to the pursuits of peace at the close of the war, Thomas E. Day married Rebecca Spenddiff, who was the daughter of James Spend- diff, a native of the same neighborhood in England in which Mr. Day was born. James Spenddiff came to America and spent three years working for enough money to pay the passage of his family to this side. The family arrived in 1850, the passage over requiring nine weeks on a slow-sailing vessel, most of which time heavy storms were raging. The Spenddiffs located first in the Rockland lake district of New York, neighbors to the Days, and later came with the latter family to Indiana, also locating at Madison, where James Spenddiff and his wife spent the remainder of their lives.
To Thomas E. and Rebecca (Spenddiff) Day were born eleven children, eight of whom are still living, namely: Mrs. Harriet Livingston, of Greens- burg, this county; Thomas E., the immediate subject of this sketch: Frank G., who lives at Cincinnati; Walter R., a farmer of Jefferson county, this
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