USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 52
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Educated in the public schools of Greensburg, Indiana, John F. Russell was graduated from the high school with the class of 1888, in the meantime, however, during 1886 and 1887, having worked on railroad construction, and during his vacations having learned the lineman's trade. During 1888 and 1889 he was engaged in driving a delivery wagon for a grocery. Two years later he was taken into the business of Doles & Russell. a grocery firm of this city. During 1896 and 1898 Mr. Russell was engaged in publishing the Nere Era, of which he was the business manager. In 1898 he entered the employ of the Garland Milling Company, and became finally a stockholder, was elected secretary and treasurer, then vice-president, and finally president of the company.
The Garland Milling Company was organized in 1898, and makes a specialty of manufacturing wheat flour from soft winter wheat. Its best
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known brands are "Pinnacle." "Old Times" and "Defender." With an out- put of five hundred barrels a day. it exports its products to all the leading markets of the world, and especially the markets of Great Britain and Ireland, South America. the Scandinavian Peninsula, and France. Drawing its raw products from Franklin, Shelby and other counties within a radius of seventy-five miles, the company employs twenty-eight men, and is one of the most thriving industries of this city. The capital of the concern is fifty thousand dollars. The vice-president is George B. Ayers, and the secretary- treasurer is George P. Shoemaker. Mr. Russell's knowledge and his popu- larity among his fellows, are well attested by the fact that he served two terms as president of the Indiana Millers' Association, and is at present a directer of this organization.
The prominence of John F. Russell as one of the leading Democrats of Decatur county is proved by his long-time connection with the Democratic organization, Mr. Russell having served as secretary for eight years and as treasurer for eight years of the Democratic city and county committees. Altogether he has served in various capacities connected with these commit- tees for a period of twenty years, having been elected in 1911 by the Greens- burg city council as a member of the board of education and re-elected in 1914, and served until his appointment by Governor Ralston as a member of the board of trustees of the southeastern hospital for the insane, at Madison, a board of which he is now secretary. During his administration the new high school building at Greensburg, which cost one hundred thousand dollars,
was erected. It is one of the very finest in the state of Indiana, and the people of Greensburg owe as much to Mr. Russell as to any other man, for the successful completion of this splendid building. During the Democratic state convention of 1914, Mr. Russell represented the fourth congressional district on the resolution committee. He also served two terms as a director and as president of the local associated charities, and was president of the commercial club for one term, an organization in which he is now a director. Mr. Russell is also a stockholder, vice-president and director of the Greens- burg Weekly Democrat and Greensburg Evening Times.
On November 22, 1891, John F. Russell was married to Ella E. Doles, daughter of Henry Doles, who, at the time of his death, in 1910, was the oldest native-born resident of Greensburg, having been born in 1822, and being at the time of his death eighty-eight years old. To Mr. and Mrs. Russell have been born two children, John Francis, familiarly known as Frank, Jr., graduated from the Greensburg high school and has been a
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student at Indiana State and Purdue Universities; the other child, Clara Margaret, died in 1910.
With his many duties, private and public, Mr. Russell is also devoted to the comfort and happiness of his home and to his wife and only son. The Russell family are favorites in Greensburg and Decatur county, and Mr. Russell, in his long career, has won a host of friends by his genial personal relations with the public and his cordial manner. In many respects he has displayed those sturdy traits of character common to the Scottish and Irish people, from whom he is sprung. His greatest asset in this community, however, is not so much the business he has conducted with such conspicuous success, or the position which he has held, as the good name he enjoys among his fellows.
EDEN T. RILEY, M. D.
Elsewhere in this volume, in connection with the biography of the late Hon. Zachariah T. Riley, the genealogy of the Riley family in this county is presented at some length, the Colonial and Revolutionary ancestry of the family being very clearly set out. In the presentation at this point of the biography of Dr. Eden T. Riley, one of Greensburg's best-known and most prominent physicians, the genealogical feature of the same therefore may properly be omitted, the reader being referred to the sketch above referred to for interesting information along that line, it being sufficient here to say that Doctor Riley is a member of one of the oklest and most prominent families in Decatur county, a family that has performed valuable service in the development of the best interests of the local commonwealth.
Eden T. Riley, of Greensburg, Indiana, was born on a farm in Clinton township, this county, June 23, 1868, the son of Zachariah Thompson and Mary Jane (Anderson) Riley, prominent residents of the Springhill neigh- borhood, the former of whom was a one-time representative in the Indiana General Assembly from this district, genealogies of both of whom the reader may find presented under another heading in this volume, and the latter of whom is still living at her home in Greensburg, this county, enjoying the evening of her life at the advanced age of eighty years. There were four children born to Z. T. and Mary J. (Anderson) Riley, Mary Libbie, who died at the tender age of sixteen years: Vessie, who is living at home with her aged mother ; Dr. Eden T., the immediate subject of this sketch, and one who died in infancy.
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Eden T. Riley was reared on the home farm in Clinton township, his preliminary schooling being received in the local schools of that township, supplemented by a course in the high school at Greensburg, from which latter school he was graduated. Ile then took a course in Butler University, at Indianapolis, Indiana, after which he entered Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, being graduated from that excellent institution with the class of 1895. Following his graduation. Doctor Riley located at Montpelier, in Blackford county. this state, where he remained for two years engaged in the practice of his profession. .At the end of this time he returned to Decatur county, locating at Greensburg, in which city he ever since has been very successfully engaged in practice, having made for himself a name as a practitioner that is known far beyond the precincts of the county. He served for six years as secretary of the city board of health at Greensburg and for two years as secretary of the Decatur county board of health, his services in that connection having met with the most appreciative approbation of the general public ; his interest in the public-health service having been very largely instrumental in bringing to its present high state of efficiency the department of health in this county and in the city of Greensburg.
In 1902 Dr. Eden T. Riley was united in marriage to Lottie McVey, who was born in Columbus, Ohio, daughter of C. P. McVey, and he and Mrs. Riley take a prominent part in the social affairs of their home city and are deeply interested in all the good works of the community. They are very popular among their many friends and are held in the highest esteem by all, being regarded as among the leaders in all movements having to do with the advancement of the best interests of this part of the state.
Doctor Riley is a prominent Mason, as were his father and grandfather before him, his grandfather, W. W. Riley, having been a charter member of the Greensburg lodge of that order and for many years master of the lodge at Adams, this county. Doctor Riley's membership is in Greensburg Lodge No. 136, Free and Accepted Masons, in which for four terms he has served as master, there being few Masons in this section of the state who display a more active interest in Masonic affairs than he. Doctor Riley has been high priest of the chapter, and past worthy patron of Eastern Star. He has had ten years' official connection with Masonic bodies. He is a highly-cultured gentleman, genial and affable and a prime favorite hereabout. His extensive practice takes him to all parts of the county, and the number of his friends is limited only by the number of his acquaintances, all who know him holding him in the highest respect and esteem.
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GEORGE E. ERDMANN.
George E. Erdmann, a well-known citizen of Decatur county, Indiana, and the postmaster at Greensburg, Indiana, was born, March 1, 1867, in Gilford, Dearborn county, Indiana, the son of Charles E. and Ellen Morris Erdmann, the former of whom was born in Switzerland in 1838, and the latter of whom was born in Ireland, March 17, 1836. Both the Erdmann and the Morris families emigrated to the United States about 1850, and settled in Cincinnati, where Charles E. Erdmann and Ellen Morris were married. They had four children: Charles J., a bond broker, of Greens- burg ; William W. and Frederick, who are engaged in the cigar business, and George E., the subject of this sketch.
The Erdmann family removed to Greensburg, Indiana, in March, 1868, when George E. was scarcely a year old. Here he attended the public schools, and, after completing his education, was engaged in the manufacture of cigars with his father and brothers, until 1895, when he engaged in the real estate and insurance business. During his active business career in this city he built and repaired many of Greensburg's most splendid residences and business houses, especially one now occupied by the "Shoe Feller." Mr. Erdmann, from the time he engaged in the real estate and insurance busi- ness, enjoyed a satisfactory measure and was able to build up a large patron- age in Decatur county.
For many years prominent in the councils of the Democratic party in Decatur county, he has served as a member of the Democratic County Cen- tral committee as acting treasurer and secretary; as acting chairman, and, finally, as chairman by election. During his career as one of the leaders in the Democratic party in this county he had very much to do with its successes and victories. and as a reward for faithful service to his party he was appointed postmaster of Greensburg on March 10, 1914, and is now serving in this capacity.
Mr. Erdmann was married, October 9, 1889, to Kate Hamon, who died on March 25, 1895, leaving three children, Morris, Holden and William. Some three years later, Mr. Erdmann was married to Carrie L. Livenguth, the marriage taking place, June 22, 1898. Two children were born to this union, Alva, who died in 1899, and Robert L., who is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Erdmann reside at 432 East Main street, Greensburg, Indiana, where they have a comfortable home and where they are surrounded with all the conveniences of life.
A well-known citizen of this county, George E. Erdmann has won the
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confidence of the people and has worthily discharged the duties of every position of responsibility and trust bestowed upon him. lle is a man of engaging personality, affable, generous, broad-minded and liberal in his views.
He is a member of the Commercial Club since its organization, and was secretary for four years. He is also a member and director of the associated charities, and for many years has been affiliated to Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
JOHN J. FOLEY.
In the memorial literature of Decatur county, no name is more worthy of honorable mention in these pages than that which the reader notes above. Mr. Foley, a one-time well-known and wealthy grain dealer of the city of Greensburg and one of the most progressive and enterprising farmers of Decatur county, was the son of the late Hon. James Bradford Foley, one of the most noted men which this section of the state ever produced, and in all things lived worthy of the good name which had been bequeathed to him. Reared on a farm and following the vocation of farming, until he had sub- stantially established himself in a financial way, John J. Foley left the farm and engaged in the grain business in Greensburg, becoming the leading grain dealer of that city, a business which he followed with much success until he was ready to retire from active pursuits, after which he again took charge of his farm, but never left the city of Greensburg after locating there. At his death there was much mourning, for he was a man who made and retained friends as few men are able to do and he was held in the sincerest affection throughout the whole county. His widow is living in pleasant retirement at her delightful home in Greensburg, located at 222 South Broadway, enjoy- ing, in the evening of her life, the profoundest regard of all who know her.
John J. Foley was born on January 21, 1830, on a farm in Decatur county, Indiana, the son of Gen. James Bradford and Mary ( Hackleman) Foley, the former of whom was born in Kentucky on October 18, 1807, and became one of the pioneer settlers and most prominent citizens of this county, being honored by his fellow citizens in this district by election to a seat in the Indiana state constitutional convention in 1850; honored by Governor Wright by the appointment to the post of brigadier-general of the Indiana state militia for the fourth district, and by the voters of this congressional district
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· Margaret J. Alay
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to a seat in the national House of Representatives in 1856. General Foley also had served this county as treasurer, being elected to that responsible office in 1841, and in that and all other offices to which he was called, performed the most faithful public service. General Foley died at his home in this county on December 5, 1886, honored and respected of all throughout this entire section of the state.
Gen. James B. Foley was twice married. On April 2, 1829, he was united in marriage to Martha Carter, of Mason county, Kentucky, who was born on February 25, 1810, and died on April 22, 1847, to which union there were born three children, Mrs. Mary Mansfield, who lives on Broadway, in the city of Greensburg, this county; Mrs. Mary Zoller, also of Greensburg, and Mrs. Elizabeth Payne, of Franklin, Indiana. On March 4, 1848, General Foley married, secondly, Mrs. Mary Hackleman, of this county, to which latter union there were born three children, John J., the immediate subject of this memorial sketch. Alexander A., and William O., of Connersville, Indiana. Mrs. Mary (Hackleman) Foley was born on January 21, 1830, and died on October 18, 1888.
John J. Foley was reared on the paternal farm in Washington township, this county, and received excellent schooling, the course in the public schools being supplemented by careful reading in his father's excellent private library. He was a great reader and one of the most devoted lovers of books in this county, being recognized as a person of very fine literary tastes. On January 13, 1853, Mr. Foley was united in marriage to Margaret J. Hillis and for ten year he and his wife resided on a farm in Washington township. At the end of that time they sold the farm and moved into the city of Greensburg, where, for years, Mr. Foley was successfully engaged in the business of buy- ing and selling grain, becoming one of the most extensive dealers in grain in this part of the state, amassing quite a comfortable fortune in the pursuit of this business. Some years before his death, Mr. Foley retired from business and bought a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres on the Madison road, near Greensburg, which he took charge of until his death. Mr. Foley's death occurred on February 16, 1903, and there was since mourning among his friends at his passing, for he was a good man.
Mrs. Foley, widow of John J. Foley, was born on March 13. 1835, on a farm in this county, the daughter of John and Ann ( Hazelrigg) Hillis, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. the former of whom was born on February 1, 1801, and died on May 6, 1876, and the latter of whom was born on May 23, 1811, and died on November 8, 1870. John Hillis was the son
(36)
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of William and Margaret (Wilson) Hillis, who were the parents of three sons and one daughter, William, John, who married Ann Hazelrigg; David, who married "Patsey" McConnell, and Jane, who married John Hazelrigg. The brothers and sisters of William Hillis were John, James, Ebenezer, who married Jane Lile; David, who married Sarah Burke; Matthew, Mrs. Nancy McConnell, Mrs. Cynthia Stevenson and Mrs. Jane Legerwood.
John Hillis and his wife came to this county in the early twenties of the last century, when Greensburg was a mere hamlet, and here they reared their family. Mrs. Foley well remembers when a log cabin served as a court house and jail for Decatur county, and she has been a witness of the mar- velous development which has taken place in this section of the country since the time of her girlhood, a development to which she and her late hus- band were among the most active contributors in their day and generation.
To John and Margaret J. (Hillis) Foley two children were born, Edwin Wallace, born on February 18, 1854, died on September 8, 1867, and Anna Belle, born on November 18, 1855, died on August 21, 1868.
Though not a member of the same, Mr. Foley was an attendant of the services of the Christian church and was active in the good works of his community, an honest, honorable and upright man, who believed in doing his full duty in the observance of all the principles of good citizenship. He was a Democrat and took an earnest interest in the political affairs of the county, though not an office seeker. He was a member of the Greensburg lodge of Odd Fellows, which he joined on January 15, 1855, and in the affairs of which he ever took an active and interested part. In the development of the best interests of both city and county, Mr. Foley was an active worker and few men labored in this region in the past, are more rightly entitled to an honorable memorial in the hearts of the people than he.
CLARENCE FAY KERCIIEVAL, M. D.
Clarence Fay Kercheval, now a well established physician of Greens- burg, Indiana, who was born. October 18, 1872, in Rush county, Indiana, on a farm, is the son of J. Louis and Martha (Martin) Kercheval. the former of whom was born in 1846. Decatur county, and the latter of whom was born in 1848, Decatur county. J. Lonis Kercheval was the son of William Kercheval, a native of Virginia, who was married in that state to Mary Parmore. and who, in 1840, came to Decatur county and settled in Adams
John Hillis
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township, where he was a farmer, blacksmith and wagon maker. His shop was located on the site of the Kammerling residence, the first door west of the Centenary church. He died in 1872, after having been twice married. William Kercheval had seven children: Courtney and Margaret, deceased ; Louis, Oren, William and Mary, deceased, and Mabel, the wife of James Caskey. Louis Kercheval has been a farmer most of his life. In 1870 he moved to Rush county, but moved back to Decatur county and settled in Adams township in 1872. He resided on the farm until 1914, when he removed to Greensburg, but he still looks after his farming interests. Mrs. Louis Kercheval, who, before her marriage, was Martha Martin, was born in Decatur county in 1848. and is the daughter of Dr. Matthew Martin, a native of Harrison county, Kentucky, and a practicing physician in Decatur county until his death of typhoid fever in 1856, at the age of thirty-five.
Of the three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Louis Kercheval, Albert lives in Indianapolis, Earl died at the age of one year, and Clarence Fay is the subject of this sketch.
After having been reared on the farm and living on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age, Clarence Fay Kercheval. who, in the inean- time, had attended the district schools, was married upon reaching his majority. For several years he taught in the public schools of Decatur county, and later entered Illinois Medical College of Chicago, where, after paying his own expenses, he was graduated with the class of 1898. Doctor Kercheval began the practice of his profession at Harris City, in Decatur county, and after remaining one and one-half years, located at Greensburg. Here he has built up an excellent practice, and here he has won the confi- dence of the public to an unusual degree.
On September 24. 1893, Doctor Kercheval was married to Nellie McKee, of St. Paul, Indiana, and the daughter of John McKee, a merchant of that place. To this happy union, one son, John Marine, has been born. He is now fifteen years old, and a junior in the Greensburg high school. He is well known in educational circles of this city as an earnest student, and was able to do the first and second year of high school work in a single year. He is a young man of splendid attainments and a son of whom his parents are very proud.
A member of the Decatur County Medical Society and the Indiana State Medical Association. Doctor Kercheval is also a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and the Loyal Order of Moose. Doctor and Mrs. Kercheval are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and both take a prominent part in the work of
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the church. Doctor Kercheval is not only an eminent physician of Decatur county, but he is likewise respected and honored as one of the most enter- prising citizens of Greensburg.
WILLIAM STEWART SMITH.
Of the hundreds of young men who left home and friends at the out- break of the Civil War, to serve their country and to assist in the preserva- tion of the American union, no private soldier had a better record than William Stewart Smith, who served out three enlistments during this war. At the first call for volunteers, lie enlisted on April 22, 1861, in the Bemin- stuffer Company, of Greensburg, and was with the Seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, for three months. He then enlisted in the Seventeenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served eighteen montlis, and later in Wilder's Battery until the close of the war. The principal battles in which he was engaged were those of Cross Keys, Port Republic. Win- chester, Harpers Ferry, Knoxville, and several engagements in the Atlantic campaign. At Harpers Ferry he was captured by the enemy and set free twenty-four hours later, while on parade. After returning to Springfield, Illinois, he rejoined his regiment and proceeded south to Kentucky, and participated in the siege of Knoxville and Sherman's campaign to the sea as far as Resaca. At the close of the war, Mr. Smith returned to his Decatur county home and here took up the peaceful pursuits of life.
William Stewart Smith, a retired farmer of Washington township. and the owner of sixty-two acres of land in this township, was born on October 22, 1839, in Switzerland county, Indiana, the son of Simeon and Roxanna (Jayne) Smith, natives of Indiana, whose parents came from Ire- land and settled in Switzerland county. Simeon Smith was the son of Walter Smith, a native of Ireland, and his wife was the daughter of Daniel Jayne, also of Ireland. In 1853 his parents moved from Switzerland to Ripley county and William Smith came with them. Upon the death of his mother, July 11, 1854, and the remarriage shortly afterwards of his father, William Smith left home. The father, who was born on January 29, 1812, and who was married the first time. April 4, 1829, died on June 14, 1886.
Simeon and Roxanna Smith had eleven children, of whom only one other besides William S., is living. The other living child is a daughter, Rosanna, the fifth born, who lives near Lebanon, Indiana. The eleven chil-
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dren, in the order of their birth, are as follow: Mrs. Jane Dilks, born on February 9, 1830, and died June 16, 1883; who married Isaac Dilks, July 18, 1849; Beniah, November 11, 1831, and died February 18, 1832; Cilicia, in November, 1832, and died May 16, 1859, who married Sylvester M. Rudy- cyla, in August, 1855; Celestia, January 19, 1835, and died on November 6, 1891, who married James A. Burton : Rosanna. April 14, 1837, who married John Williams, October, 1860; William S., the subject of this sketch; Marian D., February 28, 1842, and died on March 14, 1892; Maria E., September 28, 1844, and died on March 13, 1861 ; Mary Alice, January 20, 1848, and died August 4. 1908; Eunice Ellen. August 5, 1850, and died August 9, 1851, and Harriet Olive, November 4, 1853, and died on August 20, 1854. Simeon Smith married Laura MI. Bowers and had one child born to this marriage, Dillard M., May 13, 1856, and died on August 21, 1908.
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