USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 63
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GILBERT GORDON KINCAID.
Gilbert Gordon Kincaid is among the best known farmers of Fugit township, and he is also one of its most extensive farmers, owning three hundred and seventy-five acres of good land which is in an excellent state of cultivation. He has a splendid country home, beautifully set in elaborate and well-kept grounds; the large white barn appearing in the background is the most striking evidence of Mr. Kincaid's thrift and prosperity.
Born on November 6, 1857, on the farm where he now lives, Gilbert Gordon Kincaid is the son of John and Nancy Helen (Alexander) Kincaid, the former of whom was born in Kentucky in November, 1813, and who died in May. 1894. He was the son of John W. Kincaid, a native of Tennessee, who emigrated to Kentucky and who brought his family to Decatur county in 1831, shortly after the settlement of this county began.
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He was preceded to Indiana, however, by his two sons, Joseph and Andrew, to Decatur county where he entered government land and eventually came to own a large tract of land in Fugit township. John W. Kincaid had mar- ried a Miss English.
Gilbert Gordon Kincaid is the son of his father by the third marriage. The father was first married to Martha MeCracken, no children having been born to this marriage. Later he married a Miss Alexander, a sister of his third wife. By this marriage there were two daughters, Mrs. Martha Helen MeCracken and Mrs. Mary A. Martin. He then married Nancy Helen Alexander, to which third union there were six children, three of whom are deceased. The names of the children in the order of their birth, are as follow: Priscilla, who married Sutherland McCoy; Rhoda M., deceased; John, who died at the age of twenty; William, of Decatur county; Gilbert Gordon of this sketch, and Cyrus, deceased.
It was the good fortune of John Kincaid, whose home was northwest of his son's place and who also owned a house north of his son's farm, that he prospered as a farmer and became the owner of several farms and extremely wealthy. A Democrat in politics, he always took an active interest in the conneils of his party and was regarded as one of its leaders in Decatur county. The family were always active in the Springhill Presbyterian church.
Educated in the Clarksburg schools and the New Neighborhood school, Gilbert Gordon Kincaid farmed at home with his father for many years, residing with him and caring for him until his death. At different times his father gave him land, and he also purchased at various times tracts of land in the neighborhood where he lived, until now he owns, as heretofore stated, three hundred and seventy-five acres of land in Fugit township. Mr. Kin- caid has come to be an extensive breeder of mules, and ordinarily has from forty-five to fifty head on the farm where he also raises a great number of horses and cattle, and keeps only the very best grade of live stock.
On November 9. 1898, some years after the death of his father, Gilbert Gordon Kincaid was married to Grace McWilliams, daughter of Ephraim McWilliams. The marriage ceremony was solemnized at Mrs. Kincaid's grandmother's home, near Greensburg, the grandmother being Mrs. Sarah Meek. Four children have been born to this marriage, one of whom, the eldest, Mary Helen, died at the age of ten years. Of the others, Helen Mildred, who was born on February 9, 1904, is now eleven years old: John Alexander was born on May 20, 1909; William Gordon, Jr., was born on May 18, 1914.
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As a Democrat, Mr. Kincaid has always been interested in politics to some extent, but has never been a candidate for any office. Mr. and Mrs. Kincaid and family are members of the Springhill Presbyterian church. From any standpoint it must be admitted that he is a worthy son of one of the pioneer farmers of Decatur county, a worthy son of his noble mother, Nancy Helen (Alexander ) Kincaid. As a farmer and citizen. he is living up to the worthy example set by his grandfather. John W. Kincaid, and his grandfather, John Alexander, who came from other states to found pioneer homes in the Hoosier wilderness. Any man who is industrious, economical and thrifty, good to his family and interested in public exterprises, deserves to be considered as a good citizen. Gilbert Kincaid is such a man.
GLANTON G. WELSH.
In the annals of Decatur county, no name stands out more prominently than that of the late Col. Merit C. Welsh, a veteran of two wars, a lawyer of ability, a faithful officer of the county in which nearly his whole life had been spent, and a man who had been found faithful to every trust. A fluent and eloquent speaker, Colonel Welsh was a powerful factor in the civic life of this county for many years, and the memory of his exceptional services to the public long will be fondly cherished. Colonel Welsh was a cousin of Edward Eggleston, through the Lowry connection, his mother having been a Lowry, and it is undoubted that the high character of the Colonel had much influence in shaping the lofty ideals of the genial and well-loved author of "The Hoosier Schoolmaster." "The Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood," and other works which have made so strong an impression upon American let- ters. It is related that Edward Eggleston was most devotedly attached to Colonel Welsh, holding the latter as his ideal of a man and a hero, and this affection found reflection in Eggleston's great story, "The Hoosier School- master," in the pages of which book the colonel is fondly mentioned. In attempting a biographical sketch of the gentleman whose name forms the caption of this sketch, Glanton G. Welsh, son of the late Colonel Welsh and for years the well-known assistant cashier of the Citizens National Bank of Greensburg, this county, the biographer is mindful of the obligation under which this community rests with relation to the memory of Colonel Welsh. and a brief summary of the salient points in the active life of that dis- tinguished soldier and brilliant lawyer will be incorporated in the same.
COL. MERIT C. WELSH.
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Glanton G. Welsh was born near the village of Milford, in Clay town- ship, this county, on July 10, 1867, son of Col. Merit C. and Elizabeth (Hanks) Welsh, the former of whom was born in Ripley county, this state, 011 May 22, 1825, a son of Oliver and Lucy H. (Lowry) Welsh, and the latter of whom was born in Owen county, Kentucky, on July 19, 1831, a daughter of Sydney D. and Mary (Graves) Hanks, natives of Kentucky and pioneer settlers in this county. Sydney D. Hanks was born in Kentucky in 1793, son of Benjamin Hanks, a Virginian, who married a Dale in the lat- ter state and emigrated to Kentucky, where he became prominent in pioneer affairs. His family is the same as that from which Nancy Hanks, the mother of Abraham Lincoln, sprang. Sydney D. Hanks married Mary Graves, who was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, in 1796, her mother having been a Cave, and came to Decatur county in the early days of the settlement of this region, his death occurring at Milford, this county, in the year 1855. her death occurring on November 28, 1886, in Greensburg.
Oliver Welsh was born in the state of Maryland in 1794, his father a native of Ireland and his mother a native of Scotland. He married Lucy H. Lowry, who was born in Scott county, Kentucky, in 1800, the daughter of Samuel Lowry, a native of Scotland, her mother having been a native of Ireland, who came to Indiana, locating first in Switzerland county, at a place near Vevay, the home of the Eggleston family. Shortly before the birth of Merit C., the Welshes moved to Ripley county, where they remained until 1828, in which year they came to Decatur county, locating in the Mil- ford neighborhood, where they spent the rest of their lives, the death of Oliver Welsh occurring on June 16, 1840, his widow dying on June 6, 1832.
Merit C. Welsh was born on a farm two and one-half miles east of the village of Napoleon, in Ripley county, on May 22, 1825, a son of Oliver and Lucy H. (Lowry ) Welsh, and when three years of age came with his parents to this county, locating in the Milford vicinity, where he grew to manhood. His father died when he was fifteen years of age, and, having lost his mother when he was seven years old, he was left an orphan, indeed. While his opportunities for receiving an early education were limited to six months of actual schooling, Merit C. Welsh possessed an extraordinary mind ; was a clear and direct thinker, far-seeing and broad-minded, and by the time he had attained his majority was a very well-informed man. He sedulously cultivated his remarkable native ability to recognize opportunities which men of lesser caliber would not have seen at all and early came to be recognized as a coming power for good in the community.
At the outbreak of the Mexican War, Merit C. Welsh volunteered for
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service and was attached to the regiment led by Col. Jim Lane. He served through that war, having been present at the battle of Buena Vista and other notable engagements of the campaign, in which Lane's regiment was engaged. At the close of the war, Merit C. returned to Milford, where he engaged in the grocery business, in which he was quite successful, becoming a very influential citizen and a leading factor in the early development of the con- munity in which he lived. After three years spent in operating a grocery store at Milford, Mr. Welsh sold the store and engaged in the live-stock business. in which, for fifteen years, he was very successfully employed. When Lincoln's first call was issued for volunteers to put down the rebellion in the Southern states, Merit C. Welsh was one of the first to tender his services, being attached to the Second Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infan- try, for the first ninety days' service. Before this regiment could be reor- ganized for the three years' service, Mr. Welsh was made captain of a com- pany which had been recruited in this county, most of the members of which had enlisted from the Milford neighborhood. This company was assigned to the Seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, being desig- · nated D company, and it was with this regiment that this distinguished sol- dier served for three thrilling and perilous years. At the Battle of the Wil- derness, Captain Welsh was made major of the Seventh Regiment, by pro- motion on the field. At a later moment in this same battle, Col. Ira G. Grover, commanding the Seventh Regiment, was put out of commission by reason of a serious wound received on the field, and Major Welsh, as the ranking officer, assumed command of the regiment, being thereafter recog- nized as colonel of the same. On September 20, 1864, the Seventh Regi- ment was mustered out of the service, its three years having expired, and Colonel Welsh, in March. 1865, was appointed colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-sixth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war in command of that regiment. It is a notable and singular fact that, although Colonel Welsh performed valorous service in both the Mexican and the Civil Wars, being in the very thick of many of the blood- iest engagements of those two wars, he never received a scratch on the field of battle. He was a fearless soldier and capable officer and was greatly loved and respected by the men under his command, all of whom were devotedly attached to him. For several years before his death. Colonel Welsh was the sole surviving field officer of the Seventh Regiment.
Colonel Welsh was a lawyer of force and ability and was admitted to the bar of the Decatur circuit court about the year 1875. He was a pleasing and eloquent speaker and was known as a powerful pleader before the court.
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In 1884 he was elected sheriff of Decatur county, and in that year moved to Greensburg, where he spent the rest of his life. Before the organization of the Republican party, Colonel Welsh was an ardent Whig, but upon the for- mation of the former party, gave his undivided and unswerving allegiance thereto, and for many years was one of the leaders of the party in this county and throughout this section of the state.
On October 19, 1848, Merit C. Welsh was united in marriage to Eliza- beth Hanks, of the family from which descended Nancy Hanks, mother of Abraham Lincoln, as set out above, and to this union there were born four children, namely: Ardry, who lives at Anderson, Indiana; Glanton G., assistant cashier of the Citizens National Bank of Greensburg, the immediate subject of this biographical sketch : S. Dale, of Greensburg, and Mrs. Clara Martin, of Lawton, Oklahoma. The mother of these children died on December 15, 1910, after which time Colonel Welsh made his home with his son, Glanton G. Welsh, in Greensburg, until his death, February 17. 1913.
Glanton G. Welsh was reared in Adams, receiving his elementary edu- cation in the schools of that town, supplementing the same by a course in the Greensburg high school, from which he was graduated with the class of 1889. Following his graduation, he taught school for ten years. at the end of which valuable term of public service he entered the Citizens National Bank at Greensburg and has been continuously connected with that sound old financial institution since 1899, during the past nine years of which time he has occupied the responsible position of assistant cashier.
On December 28, 1892, Glanton G. Welsh was united in marriage to Alice McConnell. daughter of James M. and Elizabeth (Hardy) McCon- nell, both members of old families in this county, and to this union one child has been born, a daughter, Mabel Elizabeth, born on March 19, 1894.
Mr. and Mrs. Welsh are members of the Baptist church and take an active part in all good works in Greensburg, being regarded as among the leaders in all movements designed to elevate the social and cultural life of the community. Mr. Welsh is a Republican, one of the local leaders in that party. In 1892 he was elected city clerk of Greensburg and served in that important capacity until 1899. giving the city most excellent service. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and takes a warm interest in the affairs of these two popular fra- ternal societies. Mr. Welsh is known as a progressive business man of sound judgment in financial and commercial matters and he is held in the highest regard in business circles in Greensburg and throughout the county. He and Mrs. Welsh take an interested part in the social affairs of the city and are very popular in their large circle of friends.
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WILLIAM G. SMILEY.
To have inspired sufficient confidence in the breast of shrewd men of affairs, who constitute directorates of banks, to insure one's election to the dignified and responsible position of president of a bank at the age of thirty- six years, is no small distinction. When, upon turning to the formal statis- tics covering banking affairs, one finds that there are but two other men in the United States who have been elected to a bank presidency at an earlier age, this distinction seems all the more notable. Upon the organization of the Burney State Bank, at Burney, in Clay township, this county, in the year 1913. the directors of that now well-established and substantial financial institution, in their search for a president who would inspire the confidence of all, turned, as by common consent, to William G. Smiley, whose suc- cessful management of his own extensive personal affairs in that neigh- borhood had excited the admiration of older men in the community, and Mr. Smiley was unanimously elevated to that position ; a singularly happy choice on the part of the bank's directorate, which neither that body nor the citizens at large ever have had occasion to regret. Mr. Smiley is one of the large landowners of Decatur county and the enterprise and energy which he had displayed in the operation of his extensive farming interests gave assurrance that the same wise judgment and energy would be brought to bear upon the management of the affairs of the bank, and this conclusion on the part of the directors of the Burney State Bank has been amply veri- fied by time, the bank having been unusually successful for an institution so recently organized, there being now more than four hundred depositors patronizing the same, a list of pleased customers that is constantly growing.
William G. Smiley was born on the old Smiley homestead in Clay town- ship, Decatur county, Indiana, on January 20, 1877, son of George W. and Eliza ( Blackmore) Smiley, both members of old and prominent families in this county. George W. Smiley, who died in 1907, was the son of William and Mary Ann ( Kenny) Smiley, the former of whom was born in Pennsyl- vania on March 14, 1814, the son of Irish parents. Upon arriving at man- hood, William Smiley moved to Butler county, Ohio, where he married Mary Ann Kenny, about the year 1836, and on January 7. 1849, came to Decatur county, locating in Clay township, on what is now known as the Smiley homestead, and by the exercise of energy and a display of enter- prise that made him one of the foremost men in his community, presently became one of the most extensive landowners in the county, he being at one
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time the owner of nearly one thousand acres of land. As they advanced in years and as their children arrived at manhood and womanhood, William Smiley and his wife divided the home acres among the children and moved to Greensburg, where for nearly twenty years they lived in quiet retire- ment, his death occurring in 1893, she surviving him by three years, both dying at the age of seventy-nine. In a biographical sketch relating to Will- iam G. Smiley's uncle, T. K. Smiley, presented elsewhere in this volume, there are additional details regarding the genealogy of this interesting fam- ily, to which the reader is respectfully referred for further information.
William G. Smiley was reared on the paternal farm, his father always having remained on the old Smiley homestead, and received his early school- ing in the excellent local schools. This he supplemented by a course in the Hartsville Normal College, which he further supplemented by a comprehen- sive course in a business college at Hope, this state. He entered upon the life of a farmer amply equipped to give to his vocation the most thoughtful attention and from the start he brought to bear upon his extensive opera- tions the most approved methods of modern agricultural schools. Mr. Smiley is the owner of seven hundred acres of fine land, three hundred acres of which lies east of the village of Burney and four hundred acres of which lies south of that town. He gives much attention to the raising of thoroughbred stock, horses, mules and hogs being his specialties, he paying little attention to the breeding of cattle. He annually ships about one hundred head of mules to Atlanta, Georgia, for the Southern market and usually ships from five to six hundred hogs each year. "Fred S.," bred on his farm, was the first horse bred in Decatur county to step a mile in 2:071/2. "Burney Patch," also bred on Mr. Smiley's farm, has a record of 2:121/4. Mr. Smiley also is an enthusiastic corn grower, giving particular attention to the raising of Yellow Dent and Volger's White corn and is locally noted for his fine crops. Since being elected to the presidency of the Burney State Bank. Mr. Smiley has given much attention to that rapidly growing institution and is now recognized as one of the foremost bankers of the county, his sound judgment and excellent executive ability giving to his conclusions regarding questions of conservative investment much weight among his business associates.
At the age of thirty years, William G. Smiley was united in marriage to Martha Inez Ardery, daughter of William Ardery, who died on March II, 1913, leaving one child, a son seven months of age, since which time Mr. Smiley has made his home with his widowed mother in Burney. It is not too much to say that in the thirty-eight years of his life, Mr. Smiley has
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accomplished remarkable things in the way of successfully conducting the affairs under his immediate direction, and his associates very properly rank him among the leading men of affairs in Decatur county. He is a member of the Methodist church at Burney and is devoted to all good works affecting that neighborhood as well as to the best interests of the county at large and is held in the highest esteem in his large circle of friends and acquaintances.
LINTON W. SANDS.
Almost without exception the world is willing to do honor to those to- whom honor is due. Men who have lived long and useful lives in a com- munity, who have borne their share of the public duties and who have, dis- charged worthily their obligations as citizens in a free country, seldom go without their reward. The Republican party of Decatur county was not slow to recognize the superior merit and large personal worth of its present county auditor, Linton W. Sands, who during a long term as deputy auditor discharged capably the duties of that important office. Appointed deputy in 1904, he remained in this responsible position for eight years, and in 1912 he was elected auditor for a term of four years.
Linton W. Sands was born in Fugit township, Decatur county. Indi- ana, and is the son of James P. and Eliza Ann ( Williams) Sands, the for- mer of whom was one of the early settlers of Decatur county, having come here from Ripley county where he was a wagon maker. He settled at St. Maurice in Fugit township, and later removed to Springhill, and the latter was a native of Ohio, who came to Indiana in pioneer times, living here with her aunt, her mother having died when she was a small child.
In 1861 James P. Sands enlisted in Wilder's Battery, and served throughout the war. Three weeks from the day, however, when he left home, he was taken prisoner at Harpers Ferry, but was soon paroled and, after a short furlough home, returned to his regiment with which he remained until the close of the war, when he was mustered out of service. He saw a great deal of hard service, but fortune seemed to smile upon him, and during the long war he was neither wounded nor in the hospital. His first duty was to carry ammunition for the cannon, but afterward he was promoted to the position of artificer. He was an intense patriot at heart, loyal to his country and loyal to his flag. At the close of the war he came home to Decatur county and resumed his trade as a wagon maker. He was
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a well-known and highly respected citizen in this community. Shortly after coming back from the front, he moved his family to Fugit township, settling in Springhill, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their days. He was an ardent Republican, and he was also a member of the United Presby- terian church. Early in her life she was a school teacher and was engaged in teaching school while her husband was a soldier in the Civil War. She taught for twenty-five or thirty years altogether, and was a cultured and highly educated woman. Her father was a dairyman in Cincinnati, Ohio, during his prime, and owned the largest herd of dairy cattle in the state of Ohio. He was one of the wealthiest and most substantial citizens of Hamil- ton county, Ohio. Few men of his day and generation living in Hamilton county, Ohio, surpassed him în capacity for business or in business accom- plishments. To James P. and Eliza Ann Sands were born one daughter and one son, Mrs. Clara C. (Sands) Henry, the wife of James Henry, is a resi- dent of Fair Haven, Ohio, and Linton W. Sands, a resident of Greensburg, Indiana.
Educated both in the common and high schools of Springhill, Linton W. Sands, after leaving the latter, became a telegraph operator at New Point in Decatur county, and when he had mastered telegraphy, took a position at that place in the railroad office there 'and remained for twenty-three years.
Mr. Sands' wife before her marriage was Mrs. Anna E. (Wise), whose father was a soldier in the Civil War and was killed in the service.
After quitting service in the railroad office in 1904, Mr. Sands came to Greensburg as deputy auditor and served eight years, or until 1912, when he was himself elected county auditor. He is still holding this office. Mr. Sands has been a stanch Republican all his life, and each campaign he has been on the firing line, and his personal efforts have had much to do with the success of the Republican party in Decatur county.
Mr. and Mrs. Sands have two children, Mrs. Cora M. Clouds and Mrs. Grace M. Gray, the former of whom lives in Indianapolis, and the latter of whom lives on a farm in Decatur county.
Linton W. Sands is a member of the United Presbyterian church at Springhill, while Mrs. Sands is a member of the Baptist church at Rossburg. Mr. Sands is a liberal contributor to the support of religious enterprises, as well as all other public movements. His election to the important office he now holds is a forcible testimonial to his popularity as a citizen and his standing as an honorable, upright and conscientious man. He is a very worthy citizen of this great county.
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