USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 113
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Caleb Stark Wright was born on the farm on which he still lives, in Clay township, Decatur county, Indiana, five miles southwest of the town of Greensburg, sixty-three years ago and has consequently seen the greater part of the development of that section of the county and has been an active par- ticipant in the same. He is the son of Richard and Lovica ( Stark ) Wright, pioneers of Clay township, the former of whom was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, in 1821 and died at his home in this county in 1884. When about twenty-one years of age Richard Wright came to Decatur county from Virginia, settling in Clay township, near the village of Liberty. The Christian church in that village now stands on the part of the farm which he bought at the time of his arrival in this county. He bought a quarter section
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of land which practically was in its primeval state, and in the wilderness made his home, gradually bringing the farm to a fine state of cultivation, the same now being of the very first quality. The Wright family is of English origin and Richard Wright was the son of Charles Wright, the latter of whom came to this county from Virginia some time after his son, Richard, had located here and spent the rest of his life in the home of his son, dying when Caleb S., the subject of this sketch, was about seven years of age.
Richard Wright became one of the substantial residents of Clay town- ship and was held in very high repute in that neighborhood. He married Lovica Stark, daughter of Caleb and Anne (Boone) Stark, who came to Decatur county from Kentucky in 1826, settling in Clay township, and found- ing the well-known Stark family of this county, a now numerous progeny. Caleb Stark was the son of Joseph Stark, who was a son of John Stark, a native of New Hampshire, who moved from that state to Virginia, later migrating to Kentucky, where he became an influential pioneer in Henry county, in the latter state. Joseph Stark was a member of the local guards of Virginia, the "minute men," who constituted the militia organization of the Old Dominion, and was sent with his company into what then was known as Kentucky county, Virginia, now the state of Kentucky, to put down an uprising of the Cherokee Indians, and for two years was engaged in Indian warfare. During that time he became so impressed with the value of Ken- tucky lands, particularly in the blue-grass region, over which he had ranged as an Indian fighter, that he decided to locate there as soon as the oppor- tunity presented. In 1780 when Daniel Boone headed his famous band of Virginia settlers into Kentucky, Joseph Stark joined the colony; first settling in Shelby county, where his children were born and where his wife died. Upon the death of his wife he moved to Henry county, in Kentucky, where he bought a farm at Floyd's Fork, near the headwaters of the Little Kentucky river and established his home, remaining there the rest of his life and found- ing a numerous family, the descendants of which now are widely scattered.
The Stark family is of ancient and honorable descent, having had its origin in Scotland in the days of the last James, when John Muirhead, a German soldier, for an act of signal bravery by which he saved the life of the king, was created bishop of Glasgow and his name changed, by royal decree, to Stark, German for "strength." In succeeding generations the first son in the family invariably was christened John until John Stark, born in 1665, named his first son AArchibald. This John Stark was the founder of the family in America, he having emigrated to this country in 1710. His eldest son, Archibald Stark, was the father of General Stark, of Revolution-
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ary fame. John Stark, the founder of the American family of that name, was the father of nine children: Archibald, born in 1693 ; James, 1695 : John, 1697; Richard, 1699: Louise, 1701 ; Daniel, 1703; Samuel, 1705; Susannah, 1707; Silas, 1709. In 1716 James Stark married Elizabeth Thornton, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, sister of Matthew Thornton, one of the sign- ers of the Declaration of Independence, and in 1730 moved with his family to Stafford, Virginia.
To James and Elizabeth (Thornton) Stark were born fifteen children, namely : John, born in 1717: James, 1719; Thomas, 1721; Jeremiah, 1722; William, 1725: Mary, 1727; Susannah, 1729: Elizabeth, 1730; Sarah, 1731; Jane, 1733; Anne, 1736; Benjamin, 1738; Donald, 1744: Isabella, 1746; Lydia, 1748. It is to the firstborn of this family, John Stark, born in 1717, that the Stark family in Decatur county owes its descent. John Stark was a minister of the gospel. In 1746 he married Hanson Porter, who died, whereupon he married, secondly, in 1756, Hannah Eaves, a beautiful English governess who had been giving lessons in the family. To this first union there were born the following children: Anne, born in 1746; Eliza, 1749; Sarah, 1752, and William, 1754. To the second union there were born: James, born in 1757; Thomas, 1759: John, 1761; Mary, 1762; John, 1766; Susan, 1768, and Joseph, 1771, the latter of whom moved to Kentucky, as noted above and was the father of Caleb Stark, who married Anne Boone and was the father of Lovica Stark, who married Richard Wright and is the mother of Caleb Stark Wright, the immediate subject of this sketch. Joseph Stark had three other sons beside Caleb, they being Effner, Phillip and Rheuben.
John Stark, the Virginian, the great-great-grandfather of Mr. Wright was a man of superb courage and a great hunter. On one occasion while hunting in the depths of the great forest in the vicinity of his home he was captured by Indians and taken to the Indian camp, where the chief decided that he should be compelled to "run the gauntlet." Stalwart warriors of the tribe were lined up in parallel rows, each brave armed with a war club, and Mr. Stark was commanded to seek what safety he might find in flight between these two formidable rows of armed redskins. With a cat-like spring, the courageous hunter leaped upon the two nearest redskins and tear- ing from their hands the clubs which they held, laid about him, right and left, knocking the two astonished warriors to the ground, rendering them hors de combat. This act of strength and courage so impressed the magnanimous chief that he gave Mr. Stark his liberty and a safe escort to his home. there ever afterward existing a firm friendship between the chief and the mighty
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hunter. Afterward this same John Stark served as a colonel in the British army in the French and Indian wars.
To Richard and Lovica (Stark) Wright were born nine children, four of whom died in infancy, the others being as follow : Mrs. Sarah L. McGee, who lives in Iowa : Caleb Stark, the subject of this sketch ; Richard Todd, who lives in Colorado : Mrs. Minnie M. Myers, of Clay township, this county, and Loda, who lives at Westport, this county.
In 1882 Caleb Stark Wright was united in marriage to Alpha B. Rob- bins, member of a pioneer family of Decatur county, daughter of Holman Robbins, who was a son of William Robbins, and to this union one child has been born. a daughter, Alma, who married James Calvin Thornburg, of this county, and has one son, Merritt, who was born on March 25, 1910.
Mr. and Mrs. Wright are members af the Baptist church and always have taken a deep interest in the moral development of the community in which for so many years they have labored with an unselfish devotion to the common good. They are active in all good works affecting that community and are held in the very highest esteem throughout that whole countryside.
ALEXANDER PORTER.
In the industrial life of Decatur county there is one name, a firm of large building contractors, that stands out strong and dominant, and no .review of the history of the times in this county would be complete without fitting mention of the same, together with proper reference to the men who have brought the business which they represent to its present proud emi- nence. Alexander Porter, of the firm of Pulse & Porter, contractors and builders, at Greensburg, Indiana, the biggest concern of its kind in the state, is too well known locally to require an introduction to the readers of this volume living in this county, but, in the interest of the future, the biogra- pher takes pleasure in setting out at this point a brief resume of his notably successful and useful career.
The firm with which Mr. Porter is associated, Pulse & Porter, was ·organized in December, 1886, by William C. Pulse, William R. Porter and Alexander Porter. This firm has employed as high as seven hundred men at one time, and has been engaged in the construction of some of the most notable buildings in Indiana, among which may be mentioned the Baptist church, the Swan block, two main buildings of the Odd Fellows' state home,
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the Odd Fellows' block, the Carnegie library, remodeling the Presbyterian and the Centenary Methodist churches, the high school building, the sani- tary sewer system, all at Greensburg; the power-house of the Indiana Union Traction company, at Anderson; power-house of the Indianapolis & New- castle Railroad Company, at Newcastle; the Maxwell-Brisco motor plant, at Newcastle; the Gentry hotel, at Bloomington; Science hall, at Indiana State University; Science hall, at Hanover College; Hendricks library, at the same college; Spring Hill Presbyterian church and the Southeastern Indiana Hospital for the Insane, at Madison, the latter, contract involving the expenditure of one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Alexander Porter was born on a farm three and one-half miles south- west of the city of Greensburg, Indiana, December 2, 1861, the son of Mat- thew E. and Rebecca (Mckinney) Porter, the former of whom also was a native of Decatur county, and the latter of whom was born in Orange county, this state.
Matthew E. Porter was born on July 5, 1836, a son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Elder) Porter, the former of whom was the first white child born in Dearborn county, Indiana. Alexander Porter was born in 1799, the son of David Porter, a native of Virginia, who, after having served for five years as a British soldier in the French and Indian wars, took up arms in the cause of the patriots during the Revolutionary War and for five years served valiantly in the army of General Washington. Following the Revo- lution, David Porter came west and for a time was located at the point where the city of Cincinnati later sprang up. While there, in 1795, he waited until General Wayne made a treaty with the Indians. He later proceeded down the river and settled in Dearborn county, this state. At that time there was but one brick house in Cincinnati and but one log house in what since has come to be the city of Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Locating permanently in Dearborn county, David Porter carved a home out of the wilderness and there reared his family, his other children, beside Alexander, above mentioned, being David, John, James and Mrs. Mary Evans.
Alexander Porter left his father's place in Dearborn county when he was twenty-three years of age and moved to this county, where he for a time leased school land, later entering from the government the land three and one-half miles southwest of Greensburg on which his grandson and namesake, Alexander Porter, the immediate subject of this sketch, was born, and which is still owned by the family, Mr. Porter and his two brothers being in possession of the same. On this farm of two hundred and fifty- (73)
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six acres this pioneer spent the remainder of his life and on the same farm his son, Matthew E., father of the present Alexander Porter, spent his entire life, rearing his family there.
When he was thirty-six years of age, Alexander Porter married Eliza- beth Elder, the daughter of the Rev. Matthew Elder, a pioneer Baptist min- ister, who came to Decatur county in 1824 and located four miles south of Greensburg, where he founded the Union Baptist church, which still is in existence. He was a farmer as well as a preacher, and there he reared his family, living to a ripe old age, proving a very tower of strength to the pioneer settlement. Rev. Matthew Elder organized the first Baptist church in Decatur county. He died on July 7, 1865, at the age of seventy-nine years. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, namely: Mrs. William Goodwin: Elizabeth, who married Alexander Porter; Jane, who married Silas Porter; Martha, who married Elijah Goodwin; Rebecca, who married William McCormick; Andrew, deceased, married a Miss Jackson, and Asenath, who married Peter Martin. To Alexander and Elizabeth (Elder) Porter were born two children, Matthew E. and Asenath, the latter of whom died at the age of three years. Alexander Porter died on Sep- tember 9, 1891, aged ninety-two, and his widow died on October 22, 1893, at the age of eighty.
Matthew E. Porter remained on the home farm all his life, being the stay and comfort of his parents in their latter days. In 1857 he was united in marriage to Rebecca Clarice McKinney, who was born on February 20, 1836, near Paoli, in Orange county, Indiana, the daughter of John and Martha (Van Cleave) Mckinney, natives of Kentucky and early settlers in Indiana, where John McKinney was a prominent farmer in the neighbor- hood in which he lived, an ardent Republican and a leader in the congrega- tion of the Presbyterian church thereabout. John McKinney and his wife were the parents of the following children: James; Mrs. Sarah J. Porter ; William R .: Margaret; Mary, wife of William Goddard; Rebecca, wife of Matthew E. Porter; Emily, wife of John Pulse, and Matthew, who died in his youth.
To Matthew E. and Rebecca Clarice (Mckinney) Porter were born nine children, namely: Martha A., who married J. W. McConnell and lives on a farm six miles south of Greensburg: Alexander, the immediate subject of this sketch; John, who died in 1893, at the age of twenty-nine years; Elizabeth, who died in 1881, at the age of eleven years; William R., a member of the firm of Pulse & Porter, in charge of the branch plant at Hope, Indiana; Barton, who died in 1902; Dr. Edward A., a practicing physician
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at Burney, Indiana; James, who occupies the old home farm in this county, and Andrew, who resides in Greensburg. These children all were born in the house in which their father had been rocked in the cradle and all were rocked in the same cradle in which their father had been rocked. While remaining on the old homestead, Matthew E. Porter made an extensive addition thereto, in 1892 buying a farm adjoining and ereeting a fine home, in which he and his wife spent their last days in happy comfort. He was recognized as one of the most solidly-established farmers in Decatur county. He was one of the organizers of the well-known Farmers Insurance Com- pany and was active in all works looking to the development of the best interests of the community in which his whole life was spent. His death occurred in 1908, his wife having preceded him to the grave in 1901.
Alexander Porter received his elementary education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home, following which he spent one year at the normnal school at Danville, Indiana, and three years at the Indiana State Normal at Terre Haute. He then taught school for four years, at the end of which time he engaged in the lumber and construction business, in 1886 forming the association with his brother, William R., and William C. Pulse, mentioned in the introductory paragraph of this review, which, from a small beginning, has grown to the great concern which is now recognized as the leading construction company in the state of Indiana.
In 1892 Alexander Porter was united in marriage to Ada R. Richard- son, of Hartwell, Ohio, the daughter of Colonel Richardson, of Civil War fame. To this union five children have been born, as follow: Elder A., who is a student in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor; Sarah M., who is a student in the Randolph-Macon School, at Lynchburg, Virginia; William B., a student in the Greensburg high school: Marietta, who is still in the grade school, and one son, John, who died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Porter are members of the Presbyterian church and have reared their chil- dren in the faith of that church.
Mr. Porter is a Democrat and gives the most earnest attention to the political affairs of his home county. Notwithstanding his extensive private business, he ever has been able to find time to devote a good citizen's atten- tion to the public business, and served as eity treasurer of Greensburg for six years, 1898-1904. He is one of the most progressive and publie-spirited citizens of Decatur county and no movement having to do with the welfare of the county finds him hanging back when it comes time to promote the same. He and his wife take an active part in the social affairs of their home town and are deservedly popular in their large cirele of friends. Mr. Porter
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also is actively concerned in the fraternal societies of the town, and is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, an Elk and a Red Man, in the affairs of which lodges he is warmly interested.
CLARENCE LEORA HILL, D. D. S.
Clarence Leora Hill, who was educated for the practice of dentistry and practiced this profession of six years in Valparaiso, Indiana, is a striking example of a man who has turned his attention from professional life to the farm and it must be admitted that he has enjoyed since coming to the farm in 1907 a most gratifying success in agriculture. He is a man who is fond of life in the open; having been reared in the country and having spent the most of his life there.
Clarence Leora Hill, farmer and dentist of Jackson township, Decatur county, Indiana, who owns one hundred and twenty acres of land at his home place one mile north of Alert, and a hundred and sixty-five acres one-half mile north and one and one-half miles west of Sardinia, was born on May 24, 1877, in Bartholomew county, near the Bartholomew and Decatur county line. He is the son of Martin and Elizabeth (McManiman) Hill, the former of whom was a native of Bartholomew county, born in 1848, and the latter of whom was a native of Decatur county, born in 1852. Elizabeth McMani- man was the daughter of William McManiman, an early settler of Decatur county, who lived near Waynesburg. In 1884 Martin Hill moved to a farm one-half mile east of Waynesburg, and there he still resides. He is the son of J. C. Hill, an early settler of Decatur county.
Clarence Leora Hill was educated in the district schools of Decatur county, at the Danville Normal School, the Indianapolis College of Com- merce, the Louisville College of Dentistry, and the Indiana Dental College at Indianapolis where he was graduated in 1901. He practiced his profession at Valparaiso, Indiana, for six years after his graduation, and then came to Decatur county, Indiana, to take charge of his firm.
About a year after his graduation from the Indiana Dental College at Indianapolis, Clarence Leora Hill was married on August 1, 1902, to Joeva Green, of Rensselaer, Indiana, who is a native of Ohio, and the daughter of Joseph and Jane (Crumley ) Green. The Greens came from Ohio to Indiana, and settled near Rennselaer, where Joseph died. He was a "forty-niner," having gone to California when gold was first discovered. Mrs. Hill's mother
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resides in the home of her daughter and son-in-law in Decatur county. Doc- tor and Mrs. Hill have had six children, Joseph Graydon, Martin Dwight, Mary Josephene, Paul Eugene, Rose Wendall and John Wesley.
On Doctor Hill's farm, located one mile north of Alert in Jackson town- ship, Decatur county, Indiana, there are two sets of buildings. He has a modern house, a large barn, fifty by sixty-eight feet in diameter, and a silo which was erected in 1914. Doctor Hill is an extensive raiser of mules. He buys weanling mule colts, and raises them until they are ready for the market. At the present time he has twenty-five head on the farm. Aside from his interest in mules he is engaged in general farming and stock raising.
Although a Democrat in politics, Doctor Hill has never taken any special interest in political matters. He is a member of Porter Lodge No. 137, Free and Accepted Masons.
CHARLES CLAY ROBBINS.
Occupying a commanding position on a hill, overlooking the river val- ley in Sand Creek township, this county, the elegant farm house of Charles C. Robbins presents to the eye of the traveler who may be journeying that way a most attractive appearance. This eleven-room farm house, erected in I911, is one of the best-appointed houses of its kind in Decatur county. It was built along modern plans, is enclosed on three sides with an orna- mental stone wall and is piped throughout for gas and water. Mr. Rob- bins has an admirable water-pressure system on his farm, and his private gas well, which flows with a pressure of three hundred and twenty-five pounds, gives him, in addition to ample gas for heating and lighting pur- poses throughout the house and barn, fine power for the operation of grind- ing-machines and other machinery on the place. His beautiful grounds also are well lighted from the gas thus supplied. The water plant not only sup- plies the house and barn with running water, but affords ample irrigation for the grounds and garden.
Mr. Robbins' farm of one hundred and seventy acres is one of the most fertile and productive in the county, including a fine stretch of river bottom, one hundred acres in extent, and seventy acres of hill land. The bottom lands produce about eighty bushels of corn and twenty bushels of wheat to the acre. There is excellent pasture land, through which a pretty, never-failing stream flows, and his meadows produce as much as two tons of hay to the acre. A copiously-flowing well, driven to a depth of one lun-
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dred and fifteen feet, supplies water to the uplands. The barn, a commo- dious structure, sixty by one hundred feet, is equipped with cement floors for the stalls and has all the modern appliances for the most expeditious operation of a well-conducted farm. The carriage house, fifty by fifty feet, also has cement floor, as have the ample corn cribs and granaries, while the cement watering troughs are well shaded, a pleasant sidelight on Mr. Rob- bins' humane regard for his live stock.
One of the attractive features of the Robbins farm is a beautiful grove of sugar-maple trees, seventy-five or more in number, which supplies the Robbins table with a fine quality of maple syrup, besides quantities of choice maple sugar. A well-kept chicken park offers a fine range for the extensive brood of Plymouth Rock chickens which Mr. Robbins raises. There are few farms in Decatur county more carefully tended than is that of Mr. Robbins, and it is but natural that he takes a high degree of pride in his place, finding much comfort and content thereon. In addition to his gen- eral farm operations, Mr. Robbins is an extensive breeder and feeder of live stock. He formerly handled from sixty-five to seventy carloads of stock annually, but lately has reduced his operations in this direction and now handles about twenty-five car loads annually, his stock all being of high grade.
Charles C. Robbins has lived all his life on this same farm, having been born there on September 2, 1860, the son of Merritt Holmand and Jeannette (Gilchrist ) Robbins, the former of whom, born on August 30, 1832, died on August 14, 1882, was the son of a pioneer settler of Decatur county, and the latter of whom, born on June 25, 1837, died on February 13, IQII, was a native of Steubenville, Ohio. Merritt H. Robbins was the son of William Robbins, who settled in this county in an early day and became one of the most influential pioneers of Sand Creek township. Will- iam Robbins was the son of William Robbins, a Virginian who served in the arm of the patriots during the War of the Revolution and located in Kentucky after the close of that war. Further interesting details regarding the genealogy of this family may be found in the biographical sketch relat- ing to J. B. Kitchin, presented elsewhere in this volume. Jeannette Gil- christ was the daughter of Hugh Gilchrist, one of the early and influential settlers of this county.
Merritt H. Robbins and his wife were members of the Liberty Baptist church and took a large part in the good works of their community in an early day. Mr. Robbins was a Republican and was one of the leaders of
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that party in his part of the county. He was not inclined to seek office, however, and several times declined to accept positions of public trust and responsibility which his neighbors sought to thrust upon him. He was an active, energetic farmer and became the owner of four hundred and eighty- four acres of fine land in Sand Creek township. At the age of fifty, Mr. Robbins was overcome by an illness which would not respond to local treat- ment. He was taken to Sheppard sanitarium at Columbus, Ohio, where treatment likewise proved unavailing, and there he died. His land was all sold with the exception of the tract of one hundred and seventy acres sur- rounding the home, and which now is occupied by his son, Charles C.
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