USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 53
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Shortly after the close of the Civil War, Mr. Smith was married, and some time afterwards lived at Smith's Crossing for three years. After this they moved to Boone county. Indiana, where they lived for three years and then moved to their present farm in Washington township, where they have lived ever since. For a period of eleven years, Mr. Smith was superintendent of the Greensburg gas and woolen works. He has always been known as a hard-working and industrious citizen, but the active period of his career is now passed and Mr. Smith has at his disposal a substantial competence for these unproductive years.
On March 15. 1866, William S. Smith was married to Sarah C. Williams, who was born February 4, 1847, in Washington township, and who is the daughter of George Washington and Drusilla (Van Cleave) Williams, natives of Kentucky, the former of whom was born in 1812 and died in 1879, and the latter of whom was born in 1816 and died in May, 1897. George W. Williams came to Decatur county in 1830 with his father, John Williams, who had been a soldier in the War of 1812. Mrs. George Williams was the daughter of David Van Cleave, a pioneer settler in Decatur county. Of the nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, only two are living: Mary Drusilla, born on April 17, 1867, died in infancy : Charles I., May 25, 1868, also died in infancy; William M., October 21, 1869, who married Eugene Petus, and has one child, Marion Stewart: Julia Olive, March 10, 1871, and died on March 1, 1908, who married Charles E. St. John and left four children, Hazel Catherine, Elton Livingston, William Sherman and Nadine Lavina; Martha Rosanna, November 2. 1872, who died in infancy : one died in infancy unnamed ; and Sarah Elizabeth, Septem- ber 5, 1880. who married Monteville Johnson, of near Indianapolis, and has
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three sons, Ivan William, George Franklin and Ralph Smith. William M., the only living son of Mr. Smith, served in Company F, One Hundred and Sixty-first Volunteer Infantry, recruited at Richmond, Indiana, by General Wilder for service in the Spanish-American War. William M., who was the second youngest captain of this company, served throughout the war. He is at present an electrician living in the city of Cincinnati. William Sherman St. John, the grandson of Mr. Smith, married Blanche Farlow and has one child, Edna Marguerite.
Fraternally, Mr. Smith is a member of Pap Thomas Post No. 5, Grand Army of the Republic, at Greensburg. Since the organization of the Pro- gressive party, in 1912, he has been identified with this party and is well- known throughout Decatur county as an ardent admirer of Colonel Roose- velt and of Senator Albert J. Beveridge. Religiously. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the United Brethren church.
ANDREW M. WILLOUGHBY.
Newspaper editors and publishers exert upon a community greater influence than any other institution. When a newspaper is well managed and well edited and when it sceks conscientiously to represent the best inter- ests in the community where it circulates, there is no means by which the breadth and depth of its influence can be accurately measured. In Decatur county the Greensburg Daily and Weekly Review has exerted a profound influence, socially, religiously and commercially for many years. It has always stood faithfully and valiantly in support of the highest ideals of American citizenship and its high standard is due, in a large measure, to the forcefulness of Andrew M. Willoughby, former mayor of Greensburg, who has been connected with the paper for thirty years.
Andrew M. Willoughby, the editor of the Greensburg Daily and Weekly Reviewe and the former Mayor of Greensburg, was born on April 1, 1857. Educated in the public schools, he began learning the printer's trade on August 17, 1874, when he was seventeen years old. After that he worked on metropolitan papers in the Central West in various capacities for a period of nine years, coming to Greensburg in 1883. Two years later he purchased an interest in the Review and has been continuously connected with this paper for thirty years. Mr. Willoughby is an able editor and a writer of rare force and ability. The Reviewe is a Republican newspaper and in the Fourth
ANDREW M. WILLOUGHBY.
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Congressional District there is no paper which has more worthily upheld the ideals of the Republican party and which has fought harder for the success of its candidates than the Greensburg Review.
Mr. Willoughby is a Republican and was elected mayor of Greensburg in 1898 and served alnost four years, during which time he looked honestly and sincerely after the interests of the city, endeavoring to uphold tlie patriotic traditions of its first citizenship and to promote its moral, civic and political welfare.
It was while serving as Mayor of the city that Mr. Willoughby opened a correspondence withi Andrew Carnegie which resulted in the establishment of one of the handsomest public libraries in the state in Greensburg. He was a trustee of Decatur Lodge No. 103, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a member of the committee which located the State I. O. O. F. Home in Greensburg, an institution of which not only Greensburg but the entire state of Indiana is proud.
He resigned as mayor in February, 1902, to become postmaster of Greensburg, which position he held until March, 1906. During his terin as postmaster, Mr. Willoughby gave to Decatur county the excellent rural mail delivery service that it now enjoys, and in many other ways improved the postal service of the city and county. In 1900 Mr. Willoughby was chair- man of the Republican county central committee, and succeeded in restoring the county to the Republican column after the slump to the Democrats in 1898. Mr. Willoughby has also served as deacon of the Presbyterian church for fifteen years, as secretary and president of the Indiana Republican Edi- torial Association and as a member of the library board for two terms. He is a charter member of Greensburg Lodge No. 148, Knights of Pythias, and of the Elks.
Mr. Willoughby has been twice married, the first time to Minnie E. Christy, daughter of the late Samuel Christy, cashier of the Citizens National Bank. To them was born one son, Raymond C., who is now a well-known newspaper man of Indianapolis. On February 12, 1895, Mrs. Willoughby died at Greeley, Colorado, and on November 22, 1898, Mr. Willoughby was married to Clara B. Hollowell, of Harrison, Ohio.
Not only in the realm of public life, where he has been prominent for . more than a quarter of a century, is Andrew M. Willoughby admired and respected, but in the realm of private affairs, in the personal relations of life, he has won for himself an enviable position among the best people of this city and county. A worthy and capable editor, he is also an honored and courageous citizen.
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GEN. JAMES B. FOLEY.
The civic honors which were bestowed upon Gen. James Bradford Foley, during his long and useful life in Decatur county, and the high tribute which the people of this section of the state of Indiana continue lovingly to pay to his memory, must stand as an abiding earnest of his singular ability as a statesman and his eminent services to the public, in the various capacities to which his fellow citizens had called him. In his public service, General Foley played a dignified and forceful part; in his private life he was gen- crous and large-hearted, greatly beloved of all who had the pleasure of an intimate acquaintance with him-a fine type of man, a useful citizen, who, in all things is fully entitled to have his name engraved high on the roll of Decatur county's great men. Though himself a leader of men, none was more willing to take even the most modest part in the service of the com- mon weal, and, in all that he did, the good that might be done in behalf of the people, ever was uppermost in his mind. Beginning his service as county treasurer of Decatur county, then called to take his part in the framing of the basic law of Indiana in the constitutional convention of 1850, as a delegate from this district, to that historic convention ; then given by the governor of the state command of the Fourth Brigade of the Indiana state militia; next sent to Congress by his admiring constituents in this district in 1856, declin- ing a nomination to the same high honor in 1874; all the while regardful of the best interests of his home county in a moral, civic and commercial way, General Foley certainly did his part in the upbuilding of this community and did it well. Therefore, it is but fitting that in a historical and biographical work of this character, honorable tribute should be paid to his memory.
James Bradford Foley was born in Mason county, Kentucky, October 18, 1807, and died at his home near the city of Greensburg, in this county, December 5, 1886, in the ripe fullness of a green old age, honored and beloved of all throughout this entire section of the state. His father died when James B. was seven years of age, leaving to his mother the task of rearing and supporting a family of seven small children. This brave pio- neer mother, who was Mary, the daughter of Benjamin Bradford, superin- tendent of the arsenal at Harpers Ferry during the Revolutionary War, was stricken with blindness shortly after the death of her husband, and the boys of the Foley family very early began life as bread winners. At the age of sixteen, James B. Foley began as a "hand" on a flatboat plying the waters of the Mississippi, engaged in the New Orleans trade. Applying himself
fans. holy
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to the opportunities which thus were opened to his discerning and enter- prising mind, he presently engaged in the river trade for himself, and, by the time he had reached the age of twenty-one, had accumulated a fortune of twenty thousand dollars; no insignificant achievement for one of his years in that day. On June 15, 1834, Mr. Foley abandoned the river trade and opened a dry-goods store in the growing village of Greensburg, the scat of government in this county. For two years he operated this store, meeting with much success in his commercial venture, and then, in the year 1837, sold the store and bought a farm two miles from the city of Greensburg, on which he made his residence until the year 1880, at which time he sold this farm and bought a residence one mile out of town, in which he spent the rest of his life. For a period ending with 1877, General Foley was engaged in the pork-packing business in Cincinnati and in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, doing for years an aggregate business amounting to as much as eighty thousand dollars a year.
During all this time, General Foley was taking an active part in the civic affairs of this section and there were few men in this part of the state whose lives proved more useful to the general welfare. He was ever interested in the advancement of the best interests of this community and gave himself unselfishly and ungrudgingly to the public service. In 18H he was elected county treasurer of Decatur county, an office in which he performed good service. When the convention for the revision of the state constitution in 1850 was called, General Foley was elected as a delegate to that convention from this county and in the deliberations of that historic body, his counsel and advice, based upon his sound judgment and excellent executive ability, proved of high value. In 1852 Governor Wright appointed General Foley to be brigadier-general of militia for the fourth district of Indiana and, in 1856, he was elected to serve this district in the lower house of Congress, a service which he performed with an eye single to the public good, largely extending his reputation as a statesman and a public man. In 1874 he was importuned by his party to accept a second nomination to Congress, but he declined the honor, his extensive business interests and the inexorable encroachment of years, necessitating his gradual, though reluctant, retirement from a measure of his former public activities.
On April 2, 1829, General Foley was united in marriage to Martha Carter, of Mason county, who was born on February 25, 1810, and died on April 22, 1847. On March 4, 1848, General Foley married, secondly, Mrs. Mary Hackleman, who was born on January 21, 1830, and died on October 18, 1888. To each of these unions three children were born, as follow :
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Mrs. Mary Mansfield, who lives at Greensburg. this county; Mrs. Mary Zoller, who also lives at Greensburg; Mrs. Elizabeth Payne, of Franklin, Indiana; John J., born on January 21, 1830, died on February 16, 1903. a memorial and biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume ; Alexander A. and William O., of Connersville, Indiana.
General Foley was a liberal supporter of the Christian church at Greens- burg and also was a generous contributor to Bethany College, Virginia, and Butler College at Indianapolis, and was likewise active in all local good works in and about Greensburg. Ile was a Democrat and was one of the strongest supporters of that party in this county and throughout this section of the state, his sage counsel ever being sought by the party managers of this dis- trict. His large business affairs made him one of the leaders also in the commercial and financial life of this section, while his strong moral and religious convictions made him also one of the most potent factors in the general uplift of the community-a very faithful public servant of whom it truly may be said he did well his part: faithful, devoted and true in all the relations of life.
ROBERT CASSIUS HAMILTON.
One of the pleasantest and most hospitable homes in Decatur county, is that of Robert Cassius Hamilton, one of the best-known farmers of Wash- ington township, who is living on the farm, in the fine brick house ereceted by his father in 1863, and is active in the labors of the farm. His pleasant home is one of the landmarks in that part of the county and is a source of unbounded enjoyment to its genial owner, the well-kept lawn, driveway, evergreens and shrubbery testifying to the care with which the place is kept up. Cassius Hamilton is a member of the well-known Hamilton family of this county, of which further reference is made at other points in this bio- graphical history, particular reference being made to the genealogy of the family in the biographical sketch relating to Chester Ilamilton.
Robert Cassius Hamilton was born in Clinton township. Decatur county, Indiana, June 26, 1844, the son of William Warder and Isabelle Jane ( Ham- ilton) Hamilton, both natives of Kentucky, the former of whom was born in April. 1821, died on January 22, 1907, and the latter of whom was born on February 7, 1820, and died on June 18. 1899. William Warder Hamilton was the son of William and Polly (Bernau) Hamilton, the former of Scottish and the latter of French descent, residents of Nicholas county,
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Kentucky. Col. William Hamilton was a soldier and drilled a company for service in the War of 1812. Isabella Jane Hamilton was a daughter of Robert and Polly ( Henry) Hamilton, natives of Kentucky, both of whom died within three days of each other, at the age of fifty-two. To the union of William and Polly ( Bernau) Hamilton were born five children : Cincin- natus, who died in Kentucky; Thomas George, William Warder and Samuel Robert, all of whoin died in this county, and Mrs. Mary Menefee, who died in Missouri.
William W. Hamilton came to this county in 1823, when he was twenty- one years of age and spent the rest of his life here. He settled on a tract of sixty acres in Clinton township, his sole possessions at that time being a horse and saddle and fifteen dollars in cash. He prospered, his energy and initiative quickly making him one of the dominant factors in that part of the county, and gradually added to his farm lands until he presently was the owner of no less than two thousand acres of well-cultivated land in the county. In the very nature of things he took a prominent part in the affairs of this section of the state. his energy and fine executive ability giving him a place among the leaders of men and for many years was one of the directors of the state board of agriculture, part of which time he served as president of the board. He was widely known and his influence was more than local. He was one of the men most largely instrumental in securing the location of the old Vernon, Greensburg & Rushville railroad and the Greensburg & Hope railroad and assisted in building every church in Greensburg, even the Catho- lic church, although he was an Old School Presbyterian. He was singularly progressive in his business methods for that day and, in some things, might even have been looked upon as a "plunger," although it must be said for him that he invariably "made good" in his many financial transactions. There was no more popular man in the county than he in his day and he gained and held the warmest friendship of all his associates. Charitable to all, liberal- minded and kind-hearted, he was extremely well liked. In 1863 he moved to the farm on which his son, Cassius, now lives and, erecting a brick-kiln, burned the bricks which entered into the construction of the fine house which he built upon the place. In this home he spent the rest of his life and there his son, Cassius, now makes his home.
To William Warder and Isabella Jane Hamilton were born two sons, Robert Cassius and William Brutus. The latter died in 1905 in Greensburg, leaving four children, William Cassius Hamilton, of Indianapolis: Mrs. Mary Florine Roland, of Greensburg: Richard Ray Hamilton, of Greens- burg, and Harry Warder Hamilton, of Indianapolis.
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Cassius Hamilton received his elementary education in the district schools of his home neighborhood, supplementing the same with compre- hensive courses in Hanover College and in Monmouth College. His father was a dealer in mules in an extensive way and when a young man Cassius was given practical direction of this branch of his business and has followed the business all his life, having been very successful. During the Civil War he indirectly supplied the government with large numbers of mules and for years was one of the heaviest shippers of this class of stock in the country. He gives his personal attention to the direction of affairs on his place. This farm consists of four hundred acres of highly-cultivated land, one of the best farms in the county.
On October 7, 1879, Robert Cassius Hamilton was united in marriage to Estelle Fenton, who was born in Wisconsin on May 23, 1856, the daughter of William Warren and Mary Eliza ( Totten) Fenton, the former of whom was born in 1825 and died in 1906, and the latter of whom was born in 1826 and died in 1877. In 1859 the Fentons moved from the state of Wisconsin to Cincinnati. Mr. Fenton had been connected with large timber interests in Wisconsin and upon moving to Cincinnati was connected with the Little Miami Railroad Company. In 1871 the family moved to Greensburg, but after Mrs. Fenton's death, Mr. Fenton moved to Eaton, Ohio, later returning to Greensburg, where he died. Mrs. Hamilton has two sisters, Mrs. Iva Wooden, of Chicago, and Mrs. Phillip Auer, of Chicago.
Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton are members of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Hamilton is a Democrat. They have many friends throughout Decatur county, all of whom hold them in the highest regard and their pleasant home in Washington township is the center of much hospitable entertainment.
DAVID ANDREW ARDERY.
As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but did not perceive it moving ; and it appears that the grass has grown, though nobody ever saw it grow ; so the advances we make in knowledge, as they consist of such insensible steps, are only perceivable by the distance. The same truly may be said of communities in a civic, social and industrial way. The present generation is conscious of the countless advantages shared by all the members of the community, but rarely is thought given as to how these advantages were secured, it requiring the perspective of the historian to
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bring into view the insensible steps by which the present lofty heights were reached. It is this perspective which volumes of this character design to lend to the view. A rigid comparison of the days of the pioneers in this community, with those of the present generation, is as startling as it is illuminating, and if this biographical work shall do no more than to create within the minds of the younger generation a vivid and comprehensive appreciation of the blessings they so readily accept as common gifts, the labor of its compilation shall have been well requited. There are still a few of the pioneers remaining in this section, who have seen these commonly- accepted blessings slowly bud and blossom and fructify, and it is of one of these that this biography shall treat, the venerable David Andrew Ardery, one of the best-known and most highly-regarded citizens of Decatur county, a man to whom his community owes much for the active part he has taken in the development of the same.
David Andrew Ardery was born on a farm in Fugit township, this county, July 8, 1837, the son of Thomas and Martha ( McKee) Ardery, both natives of Kentucky, the former of whom was born in ISO1 and died in 1846, the latter of whom was born in 1801 and died in 1872. Thomas Ardery and Martha McKee were married in Kentucky and their elder children were born in that state. In 1830 they moved to this county, settling in Fugit township, where they rented a farm. Fifteen years later, Thomas Ardery died, leaving his widow with the responsibilities of the farm and the care of a family of young children. She was of the true pioneer brand, however, and kept the family well together, managing the farm with rare ability. In her old age, Mrs. Ardery was tenderly cared for in her house- hold; David A., her son, thus lovingly requited the devotion of her earlier days.
To Thomas and Martha ( McKee) Ardery were born seven children, two sons and five daughters, all of whom now are deceased, save Mrs. Eliza Archibald Spear, of Rushville, this state, and David Ardery, the subject of this sketch. The other children were Mrs. Jane Wallace Smith, Mrs. Mary Alexander Walters, Mrs. Martha Thomas Thomson, Eliza Archi- bald Speer, Mrs. Nancy Margaret Throp and John William.
David Ardery was compelled, by the necessities of the case, to begin working for himself at an early age and received but a limited schooling, his attendance at school being confined to a few months in the season at the district schools, during his early boyhood. He was active, industrious and energetic and kept pushing along until. in 1872. he purchased his present farm of four hundred acres in Washington township, on which he ever since
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has made his residence. In ISSI his home was destroyed by fire and he then erected his present fine large farm residence, the same being completed in 1884. Mr. Ardery has his own private gas well on his farm, the house and barn being piped for lighting and heating purposes. On his farm he also is fortunate enough to have a fine artesian well, the water from which is piped through the house and barn. the local water system receiving its pressure from a hydraulic ram. This is one of the best farm houses in Decatur county and, with its many modern improvements, affords Mr. Ard- ery and his family much comfort and pleasure.
On January 4, 1872. David A. Ardery was united in marriage to Theresa J. Lowe, who was born at Kingston, this county, October 5, 1852, daughter of Alfred and Isabella (Quigley) Lowe, members of old families in that section of the county. Alfred Lowe was the son of Seth Lowe, one of the earliest settlers of the Kingston neighborhood. Seth Lowe was a native of Glenwood. North Carolina, born on December 27, 1787, and who emigrated to Kentucky, where he married and, in 1821, settled at Kingston, this county, homesteading the farm now occupied by Charles Throp. He was a fine, vigorous character and a strong force in the new settlement, his influence for good thereabout being felt in many ways during the pioneer days. Seth Lowe died in 1871, while on a visit to one his sons in Mills county, Iowa. Alfred Lowe, who was born in this county in 1826 and died in 1887, mar- ried Isabella Quigley, who was born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of Samuel and Catherine ( Spear) Quigley, who settled in the Kingston neighborhood in 1837, after living for a short time in Franklin county, this state. Isabella (Quigley) Lowe was born in 1835 and died in 1910. Her father. Samuel Quigley, died in 1847, the year the cholera was rampant in this section of the state. Both the Lowes and the Quigleys were strong and influential families in that part of the county.
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