USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 58
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David G. Pulse, who was born in 1819, and who died in this county in March, 1889, was the son of a Virginian, of Pennsylvania-Dutch or High German extraction. He was united in marriage in Hamilton county, Ohio, to Rebecca VanCleave, and in that county the first three children of this union were born. About 1847, the Pulses moved to this county, buying a farm of about one hundred and twenty acres in Salt Creek township, hill and forest land, the forest being gradually cleared and the hills brought under cultiva- tion. David G. Pulse was a man of large influence in the community in which he made his home and he and his wife were regarded as among the leaders in that neighborhood. Both were. persons of excellent education, and it is undoubted that their influence had very much to do with bringing about bet- ter social and economic conditions in that now well-established farming region. Mr. Pulse was a Democrat and his first vote was cast for James K. Polk for President. For many years he served the township as justice of the peace, and his judgments always were regarded as equitable by his neighbors. The Pulses were Methodists and were leaders of the meetings which were conducted by the "circuit riders" thereabout in those days.
To David G. and Rebecca (VanCleave) Pulse were born five children : Olney E., who enlisted in Company E. One Hundred and Twenty-third Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, for service in behalf of the Union
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during the Civil War, and was killed in the battle of Kenesaw Mountain in June, 1864; John, who died in November, 1900; Oscar L., who now is living in Belle City, Missouri, to which place he moved in 1892; James C., who died in Paragould, Arkansas, in October. 1901, and William C., the imme- diate subject of this biographical sketch. In January, 1889. the Pulses retired from the farm and moved into the city of Greensburg, where Mr. Pulse died the following March, his widow continuing to make her residence there until the time of her death, twenty-four years later, June 17. 1913. she then being eighty-nine years, six months and seventeen days old.
William C. Pulse received his elementary education in the district school of his home neighborhood, which he supplemented with a course in Harts- ville College and a course in the university at Valparaiso, Indiana, lacking but half a year of finishing in the latter institution. In 1883. he resumed his studies, taking the regular scientific course. Mr. Pulse earned his way through college by teaching school in Decatur county, having taught for nine years, in which profession he was very successful, his well-recognized qualifications giving him the choice of positions in the county. Between terms of teaching. Mr. Pulse farmed or operated a saw-mill until the year 1888, when he engaged in the contracting business. The history of the well-estab- lished firm of Pulse & Porter is the story of the success of Mr. Pulse since that time.
On January 10, 1894, William C. Pulse was united in marriage to Ida E. Black, of Anderson, Indiana, a daughter of McFarland and Mary (Wood) Black, both of whom now are deceased, to which union two children were born, William McFarland. on August 17, 1895, died on August 17. 1896, and Mary Rebecca, January 17, 1897, died on August 14. 1900.
Mrs. Pulse is a member of the First Methodist church of Greensburg. and is active in its work. Mr. Pulse is a Republican and for years has been a leader in that party throughout this section of the state. In 1910, he was the party's candidate for joint senator for the district comprised of Bartholomew and Decatur counties, and was defeated in this Democratic district by a majority of but sixteen votes, the stress of his personal busi- ness preventing his close application to his campaign. He stands high in Masonry, having reached the thirty-second degree, and three times serving as the master of the Greensburg lodge of that order, of which lodge he was a trustee ; a member of the grand lodge of Indiana and grand marshal of the Grand Lodge of Masons of Indiana: a thirty-second degree Mason, and a member of the Shriners at Murat Temple in Indianapolis, and has taken everything in Masonry, both York and Scottish Rite. He also is a charter
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member and past exalted ruler of the Greensburg Lodge No. 475, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and past chancellor commander of Greensburg Lodge No. 188, Knights of Pythias. Mr. Pulse is one of the directors of the Sterling Fire Insurance Company, of Indianapolis, which has a paid-up capital of eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars, with assets of one inil- lion, six hundred thousand dollars, including surplus and reserves. For six years he was a member of the directorate of the Indiana Retail Lumber Dealers' Association, which association he served for two years as president and one year as vice-president. He is active in all movements having to do with the development of the best interests of his home community, both in material, moral and civic way and he and Mrs. Pulse also take an active inter- est in the social affairs of the city, none there being held in higher regard than they, where they own a beautiful home. Mr. and Mrs. Pulse live on East Washington street.
WALTER B. CORY.
How fitting and proper it is that here and there in the pages of this history there should be presented memorials to certain aforetime residents of this county who performed well their respective parts in the life of the com- munity, and then passed on, leaving behind them pleasant memories of work well done, duties faithfully performed; having bequeathed to those near and dear to them the priceless heritage of a good name. Among all these memorial tributes there is none better deserved than that which here is paid to the memory of the man whose name is noted above, Walter B. Cory, a one-time well-known young farmer of Washington township, whose home, situated about three miles west of Greensburg, was a great source of pleasure to him during his life.
Walter B. Cory was born in Washington township. Decatur county, Indiana, the son of Joseph and Lenora (Deem) Cory, both natives of this county, whose parents were among the earliest settlers thereabout. The genealogy of the Cory family, together with an extended biographical sketch of Joseph Cory, will be found on another page in this volume. Walter B. Cory was reared on the paternal farm, receiving such education as the district schools offered in the days of his boyhood, and two years in Greensburg high school and a business course at Danville, Indiana, and on February 6, 1894, was united in marriage to Louisa Lynch, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Bentley) Lynch. the former of whom was born in Franklin county,
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Indiana, in 1825, and died at his home in this county in 1902, the latter of whom was born in this county in 1834, and died in 1900.
Benjamin Lynch came to this county from Franklin county as a young man and here he was married. He opened a store at the hamlet of Letts, which he conducted quite successfully for some years. Later he bought a farm near the village of Adams, and, in addition to operating the same, engaged extensively in the business of stock buying. It was on this farm near Adams that Mrs. Cory was born. Benjamin Lynch was the son of Pierce Lynch, a native of Pennsylvania, who emigrated to Indiana in an early day, locating in Franklin county, where he spent the remainder of his life, coming to be one of the most influential residents of the community in which he lived. Benjamin Lynch retired from the farm when encroaching years made impossible his further active labors, moving into the town of Adams, where he died in 1902. His wife had preceded him to the grave by two years, her death having occurred in the year 1900. She was the daugh- ter of William and Sarah M. (Howe) Bentley, pioneers of this county. For additional details of the genealogy of the Bentleys, together with a history of that family in this county, the reader is referred to the sketch of Alex- ander Bentley, presented elsewhere in this volume.
To Benjamin and Sarah (Bentley) Lynch four children were born, as follow : Mrs. Anna Wooley, who died at Lebanon, Indiana; Olive, who married Professor George L. Roberts, a member of the faculty of Purdue University, and lives at Lafayette, Indiana; Perry, who lives in Oklahoma, and Louisa, the widow of Mr. Cory.
For two years after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Cory resided in the Lynch home near Adams, after which they engaged in farming on their own account, buying a fine tract of land about three miles west of Greens- burg. This farm recently was sold by Mrs. Cory, who since then has been making her home in Greensburg. In addition to operating his farm, Walter B. Cory also operated a threshing outfit and was one of the best known men in the county.
To Walter B. and Louisa (Lynch) Cory two children were born, Cecil L. and Ernest J., both of whom are still at home with their mother, and the latter of whom is still in school. Mr. Cory was an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is his widow, and these children have been reared in the faith of that church. Mr. Cory's death in September, 1909, was a grievous blow to his family and was lamented also by his large circle of friends and acquaintances throughout the county the fact that he was
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removed from the scene of earth's activities in the very prime of his vigorous manhood making his passing all the more to be regretted.
Mr. Cory was a Republican and took a good citizen's part in the polit- ical affairs of the county though not what might be called a particularly active worker in politics. He, however, took an earnest interest in good government and was deeply interested in all measures designed to improve the general conditions of society. He was a good man and the community sustained a real loss when he was called away.
JOHN NICOLAS WALLINGFORD.
John Nicholas Wallingford was one of the few men who have had the good fortune to step into a business already established. He escaped all that anxiety which usually attends the building up of a new enterprise, and even after tiring of the life of a merchant, fortune continued to sinile upon him, holding open for him the door to a continued successful life, from a financial standpoint. His sterling qualities were recognized by the United States government, as he was rewarded with a very responsible position, the duties of which he performed with honest loyalty.
Jolın Nicholas Wallingford, deceased, a merchant of Greensburg, Indiana, was born on March 31, 1840, and died on August 13, 1907. He was a son of Hiram and Hannah ( Morris) Wallingford. He succeeded his father in the dry goods business, upon his retirement, and continued the business until 1885, from which he also retired later on, and was for eight years in the employment of the government, serving four years as deputy internal revenue collector, and then storekeeper gauger until his death.
Hiram Wallingford was a native of Kentucky, and came to Rush county directly after the Civil War. He finally located in Greensburg, where he conducted a mercantile business, and where he spent the last years of his life. His children were: Mary, Alicia, Eliza, Jolin, Kate, Fannie and Will- iam. Mary became Mrs. Tully, and is now deceased: Alicia lives in Decatur county ; Eliza, deceased ; Kate became the wife of a Mr. Grove, and is now deceased, as is also Fannie ; William lives at Farnham, Nebraska.
Jolın Nicholas Wallingford was twice married. First, about 1866, to- Alice Foster, a native of Pennsylvania, who died about 1893, leaving three children : John Devol, who lives in Des Moines, Iowa: William, who died at Des Moines, and Morris, also deceased. His second marriage took place on
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November 17, 1897, with Mary Louise Snodgrass, who was born in Ripley county, and is a daughter of William Harrison and Mary (Wood) Snod- grass, natives of Kentucky and Indiana, respectively. Mr. Wallingford was a Republican, and a member of the Christian church. Mrs. Walling- ford survives her husband.
William Harrison Snodgrass, father of Mrs. Wallingford, was born in 1818, and died in 1900, his wife, Mary, was born in 1823, and died in 1905. Mr. Snodgrass was a son of John Snodgrass, of Kentucky. He lived in Ripley county until 1884, and then came to Greensburg, where he retired from business, and where his last days were spent. Capt. William Harrison Snodgrass, of the Eighty-third Indiana, enlisted in Decatur county, and served throughout the Civil War. He was captain of Company A, and enlisted as second lieutenant, advanced to first lieutenant, then captain and brevet major. His children were: Josephine Callahan, who died in 1900; Emma Hatch, now a widow; Hester Dennison, deceased: Worth, deceased: Melissa Den- nison now living at Greensburg ; Mary Wallingford, and Dea Jenks, deceased. They were all members of the Christian church.
John Snodgrass, paternal grandfather of Mrs. Wallingford, was a native of Kentucky, and located in Indiana, in 1821, where he bought gov- ernment land, the deeds to which were signed by John Quincy Adams.
LUTHER D. BRADEN.
Luther D. Braden, the editor and publisher of the Standard, a family newspaper established at Greensburg, Indiana, in 1835, by John Thomson, is descended on his father's side from Irish ancestry, and one his mother's side from English ancestry.
Mr. Braden was born in Clay township, Decatur county, on November 5, 1861, the son of Robert and Pamelia ( Anderson ) Braden. William Braden, the paternal grandfather, was a native of County Tyrone, in the north of Ireland. He emigrated to the United States in 1795. and after settling tem- porarily in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, removed to Scott county, Kentucky, and. in 1822, removed to Clarksburg, Decatur county, where he died in 1825. He married Ufama Jackson, a native of Ireland, and they had nine children. Robert Braden, the father of Luther D., was born on July II, 1814, in Scott county, Kentucky, and was eight years old when brought to Decatur county, in 1822. In 1839 he located in Clay township, where he
LUTHER D. BRADEN.
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became an extensive farmer. He was a man of very aggressive disposition, and a leader in the community where he lived. A charter member of the Milford Christian church, founded in 1842, and a Republican in politics, he died in 1887. In 1838 he had married Pamela Anderson, the daughter of Joseph Anderson, who laid out and named the town of Andersonville, Franklin county, Indiana. They had four children: Joseph A., a veteran of the Civil War, a justice of the peace and an insurance and real estate dealer at Rossville, Illinois: Jane, the widow of Thomas A. Shirk; Jeremy A., a retired farmer, of Greensburg, and Luther D., the subject of this sketch.
Born and reared in Clay township, Decatur county, Indiana, Luther D. Braden entered Hartsville College in 1878, and after spending four years in that institution, began teaching in 1882. In the meantime he studied in the Northern Indiana Normal at Valparaiso. From 1889 to 1891, he served as county superintendent of Decatur county, and from 1891 to 1893, he was principal of St. Paul's school.
In 1893, Mr. Braden came to Greensburg, and for one year was a mem- ber of the firm of J. C. Pulse & Company, wholesale grocers. In October of the following year, Mr. Braden purchased the Standard, the oldest paper in Decatur county, and one which was established in 1835 by John Thom- son, the grandfather of Mrs. Braden. It is a family newspaper.
On December 17, 1890, Luther D. Braden was married to Ella Thomson, the daughter of Orville Thomson, of Greensburg. To this happy union has been born one child, Marie.
Mr. Braden is a Republican in politics, and a very active worker in the Christian church, of which he is an elder. He is a member of the official board of the Greensburg congregation and was superintendent of the Sun- day school for seven years. Fraternally, he is a member of Greensburg Lodge No. 36, Free and Accepted Masons ; of Chapter No. 8, Royal Arch Masons, and Greensburg Council No. 74. Royal and Select Masters. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias.
As a man who exerts a silent and unostentatious influence for good. Luther D. Braden has no superior in Decatur county. Not only does he possess the confidence and esteem of his fellow townsmen, but of the people wherever he is known. He is an eminently worthy citizen of this great county.
Mr. Braden has taken great interest in collecting carly historical data of Decatur county, and his paper for the past twenty years lias presented many valuable facts that otherwise might have been lost to posterity. Since
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the death of Orville Thomson, in 1910, he is generally conceded to be the best-informed person in the county on all matters pertaining to its general history.
WILLIAM F. SMILEY.
William F. Smiley, a retired farmer of Decatur county, who, after completing an educational course of training as was exceptional for his generation, began farming in Clay township, Decatur county, Indiana, on a farm of eighty acres presented to him by his father, increased the acreage from time to time until he now owns two hundred and forty acres and is regarded as one of the most successful farmers of the county. The Smiley family, which was established in Decatur county early in 1849, was founded here by William Smiley, who became, during his career, as a farmer, one of the most prosperous and extensive landowners and stockmen in this section of the state.
William F. Smiley, now a resident of Greensburg, Indiana, and a retired farmer of Decatur county, was born on November 21, 1848, in Butler county, Ohio, the son of William and Mary Ann ( Kinney) Smiley, natives of Miflin county, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, respectively, the former of whom was born in 1814 and died on June 6, 1893, and the latter of whom was born in 1817 and died in 1906. William Smiley was the son of Patrick Smiley, a gentleman of Irish descent, who lived in Pennsylvania, from whence the son moved to Butler county, Ohio, and, after being married there, in 1835. came, when seventeen years old, to Decatur county, arriving in February, 1849. Settling in Clay township, he purchased land and became a prosperous farmer. Starting with eighty acres of land which was pur- chased with a capital of three hundred dollars, inherited by his wife, he returned for his family and drove through from Ohio to Decatur county with an ox team. From time to time he bought more land and owned, at the time of his death, one thousand acres. A large farmer and stockman, he was also an ardent Democrat and a member of the Primitive Methodist church. He and his wife had nine children. four of whom are deceased. The names of the children, in the order of their birth, are as follow: Mrs. Parmelia Henry, deceased; Mrs. Caroline Sefton, the wife of Ed. Sefton, of Greensburg: George Washington, who died in 1907: Harvey, who died on January 8. 1915: Thomas K., a farmer near Hartsville, Indiana ; Mary, who died on August 16, 1914: William F., the subject of this sketch; Sov-
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creign P., a hotel proprietor in Texas: and Mrs. Margaret Johnson, of Greensburg.
Educated in Hartsville College, Mr. Smiley has always farmed. He began with a tract of eighty acres given to him by his father and, after locating upon this farm, which is situated in Clay township, he built a new house and, upon his marriage, settled there, residing on the farm from 1878 to 1897, after which he moved to Greensburg for one year and then moved to Burney, where he lived until 1911. He later returned to Greensburg and now resides in this city. In the meantime. Mr. Smiley has increased the acreage of his farm to two hundred and forty acres and has two sets of farm buildings. He is one of the most extensive raisers of cattle and hogs in the county.
On October 29. 1878. William F. Smiley was married to Jennie Ewing, who was born on July 20, 1857, in Milford, Decatur county, Indiana, and who is the daughter of Joshua and Alice ( Russell) Ewing, natives of Decatur county, the former of whom was born in 1833 and who died in March, 1891. Joshua Ewing, who was the son of Patrick Ewing, a native of Maryland, was one of a large family and was also one of triplets, born to his parents. The other two children born at the same time were Putman and Abraham.
The Ewing family is of Scotch-Irish extraction, Patrick Ewing, the founder of the family in America, having immigrated from Ireland before the Revolution, a son, Putnam, being born on the voyage to America. Pat- rick Ewing settled at Elkton, Maryland, and became the father of four sons, Samuel, Joshua, Nathan and Putnam. The first three sons settled in Vir- ginia. Putnam Ewing married Jennie McClelland, the daughter of a Doctor McClelland, of Maryland, and moved to Bourbon county, Kentucky, in 1806, settling in Bath county, where he died. Eleven children were born to Putnam and Jennie Ewing, Robert, Patrick, Joshua, Polly, Samuel, Jennie, James, Eliza, George, McClelland and Andrew Jackson. Of this family, Patrick. the immediate ancestor of Mrs. Smiley, was born in 1803 in Cecil county, Maryland, and was married to Lydia Morgan. September 5. 1827, who was a native of Montgomery county, Kentucky. Patrick and his wife. the former of whom was the captain of the militia during his residence in Kentucky, came to Decatur county in 1827 and settled in Clay township, where they reared a family of fifteen children, Sarah J., Mary, Eliza, Putnam, Abel. Joshua, Robert. Cortez, Samuel H., Lydia, James K., George M., Martha C .. Morgan J. and Alice J. Of this family, Sarah J. was first married to John G. King, and after her death, he married her sister, Eliza: Mary married Jesse Howard. Of the three sons, Putnam, Abel and Joshua, triplets. Putnam
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married Mary DeArmond and after her death married Sarah A. Hackleman ; Joshua married Alice Russell and they were the parents of Mrs. Smiley; Abel married Nancy J. G. Patton : Robert married Sallie King: Cortez, an attorney-at-law, married Elizabeth H. Matthews : Samuel H. married Mahala Braden ; Lydia married James W. Barclay ; James K. is referred to elsewhere in this volume: Martha C. is the wife of James C. Davis, and Alice J. is the wife of James M. Hiner.
Alice Russell, who became the wife of Joshua Ewing and the mother of Mrs. William F. Smiley, was born in 1841, at Milford, the daughter of Robert Russell, a pioneer citizen of the county. She died in 1905. Of the seven children born to Joshua and Alice ( Russell) Ewing, Jennie married the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Lydia Russell lives at Flat Rock, Indiana ; Mrs. Hessie Arnold, who lives one-half mile from Burney, is the wife of a music dealer, and Mrs. Lucy Alley lives five miles south of Burney on a farm.
Mr. and Mrs. William F. Smiley have had no children. Mr. Smiley is a Democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Smiley are members of the Methodist Episco- pal church. Mrs. Smiley is a member of the Department Club, the After- 1001 Lecture Course, the Art Circle and the Music Circle. Mr. Smiley is a member of Burney Lodge, Knights of Pythias.
WILLIAM C. WOODFILL.
As the senior member of the firm of J. M. Woodfill's Sons, of Greens- burg. William C. Woodfill has contributed his quota to the progress and development of the town. If it were true that the commercial interests of a locality form the foundation upon which its other civic life rests, and around which its activities are built, then, the honest, upright merchant is an import- ant factor of that community. He helps largely in the formation of public sentiment. and his views and opinions are generally looked upon as being worthy of respect and consideration. William C. Woodfill has been, in this sense, conspicuous in the commercial affairs of Greensburg. He is a native of this town, having been born here on May 8, 1870, and is a son of James M. Woodfill, president of the Greensburg National Bank.
The store now owned by W. C., C. M. and J. V. Woodfill was estab- lished by their grandfather. Gabriel Woodfill, in November. 1830, this being carried on in connection with a banking business made necessary because, at that time, there were no banks. It will thus be seen that the business instinct
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has been strong in this family for several generations back, but it has also been connected with high moral principles and an ethical consciousness, for Greensburg's first banker assisted in building the First Methodist Episcopal church. We shall have occasion to refer more definitely to Mr. Woodfill's ancestry later on in this sketch.
William C. Woodfill graduated from the Greensburg high school, and then took a course in a business school in Cincinnati. Returning, he began work in his father's store. then known by the firm name of Hittle & Christ- ian. As the sons in this family came of age, they were given an interest in the store, and William was no exception to the rule. From that time on, he has taken a keen interest in the management on good business principles of the oldest merchandise store in Greensburg, and as its leading merchant, has attained an enviable place in the community.
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