USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 64
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119
.
672
DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.
ABRAM HENDRICKS TALBOTT.
The history of the Talbott and Hendricks families is closely inter- twined with the political, social, agricultural and commercial development of Decatur county, Henry H. Talbott, the father of Abram Hendrick Talbott, having, as deputy clerk of Jefferson county, Indiana, come to Decatur county as one of the organizers. It was his wife, Eliza Hendricks, who was the daughter of Thomas Hendricks and the cousin of Governor Thomas A. Hen- dricks, whose father, Major John Hendricks, was a brother of Governor William Hendricks, the second governor of Indiana. Thus is the promi- nence of the two families, from which Abram Hendricks Talbott is descended, apparent. Himself a merchant for many years of Greensburg and Decatur county, he is one of the best known men in this section of the state. Although now retired, he was engaged in the drug business at Greensburg for a period from 1869 to 1912, during all this time being actively interested in the farm- ing development of Decatur county, in which county he purchased his first land in the year 1885, owning at the present time a splendid farm of two hundred and nineteen acres, two miles east of Greensburg.
Abram H. Talbott was born on May 26, 1837, in the old home on the north side of the public square at Greensburg, and is the son of Henry H. and Eliza (Hendricks) Talbott, the former of whom was born on March 25, 1800, in Kentucky and who died in 1872.
The son of Richard C. and Drusilla (Grover) Talbott, who moved from Kentucky to Indiana and settled in Ripley county early in the nine- teenth century, Henry H. Talbott was reared by a relative and served as deputy clerk at Madison, Jefferson county, Indiana, for some time, acting in this capacity when he helped organize Decatur county, of which he was the first county clerk, serving for a period of thirty-seven years and eight months. He was also recorder of Decatur county for a period of twenty- eight years, or until the Legislature enacted a law prohibiting one man from holding two offices. Previous to the act of the Legislature he held both the office of county clerk and county recorder at the same time. For many years engaged in business as a partner with his father-in-law, Thomas Hen- dricks, he became well-to-do, and especially a large landowner. A Whig and a Republican in politics, he was also a member of the Centenary Meth- odist Episcopal church. During his life he was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity. His wife, who before her marriage was Eliza Hendricks, was born on September 4, 1802, at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Thomas Hendricks, who was an uncle of Governor and Vice-president
ABRAM H. TALBOTT.
673
DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.
Thomas A. Hendricks. They were the sons of Major John Hendricks and grandsons of Abram Hendricks, a descendant of the Huguenots, who immi- grated to New Jersey and thence to Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary War. Abram Hendricks served four terms in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, first in 1792, and the last in 1798. Abram Hendricks was not only the father of Major John Hendricks, but he also was the father of Will- iam Hendricks, the second governor of Indiana, who preceded his brother in removal from Ohio to this state. Major John Hendricks, prior to 1829, resided with his family at Zanesville, Ohio. His wife, whose maiden name was Jane Thompson, and a niece were the only members of the Thompson family who came West. Shortly after their marriage, Major John Hen- dricks and wife moved to Muskingum, Ohio, where they lived for some time in a ride house, in which were born two sons, Abram and Thomas A. The next year, 1830, Major John Hendricks moved with his little family to Madison, Indiana.
The first wife of Thomas Hendricks, the father of Mrs. Eliza Talbott, was a Miss Trimball, who died young. After her death, he married a Miss Paul. Thomas Hendricks was born in 1774 and died on March 31, 1835. He came down the Ohio river by flat-boat to Madison, and from there to Greensburg, bringing with him a load of iron and casting for trade and bar- ter. A successful merchant in the early days, he purchased and shipped live stock in great quantities, driving hogs and cattle to Madison, Cincinnati and Lawrenceburg and shipping from these points by boat. By his first marriage, Thomas Hendricks had four children : Mrs. Silas Stuart, Mrs. Jacob Stuart, Mrs. H. H. Talbott and Rachel. By the second marriage, there were two children, Eunice and Elizabeth, both deceased.
To Henry H. and Eliza (Hendricks) Talbott were born eight children : Rachel, deceased ; Sarah Ann, who married W. S. Woodfill, both now deceased : Drusilla G., who is now eighty-six years old and the mother of Cortez E. Moss and six other living sons, resides with her son on the farm; Abram H., the subject of this sketch; Richard C., in 1831 and now deceased ; Thomas H., January 13, 1835, died on May 26, 1836; Henry H., retired, who lives in Greensburg, and Mrs. Mary Eliza King, of Indianapolis.
Reared in Greensburg, Indiana, Abram H. Talbott attended the local schools. For many years he assisted his father in the county clerk's office, and in 1861 engaged in the hardware business with his brothers, his father having set him up in this business, which was conducted under the firm name of Talbott & Sons. During a part of this time he also operated a dry goods store in this city. Selling out both stores in 1867, he clerked for several
(43)
674
DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.
years in a drug store, and after saving enough money to purchase an inter- est in his uncle Abram Hendricks' store, he formed a partnership with his son Thomas, and three years after the partnership was formed bought out Thomas Hendricks and remained in business for thirty years. This store is now owned by Joe Moss. In 1912 he retired from business after a long and busy career, a career which had been crowned with unusual success.
In 1880 Mr. Talbott was married to Clara Armington, the daughter of Dr. William Armington, an early physician of this county, who practiced here for many years, but who was a native of New York state. He died during the early part of the Civil War, at the age of fifty-two. Mrs. Tal- bott was born on June 13, 1847. and died on February 15. 1914.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Talbott has never been active in the coun- cils of any party. He recalls that the first courthouse built in Greensburg was a double log structure with a driveway in the middle. It was built by Thomas Hendricks, his grandfather, during the early part of the nineteenth century. Abram H. Talbott has been a generous man during his entire life. He has always entertained great respect for the opinions of others, and if one differed from him in any subject he has always been kind, courteous and considerate, and has never engaged in needless debate nor fruitless contro- versies with those who held contrary opinions. Generous to a fault, he has never sought to deprive those with whom he has come in contact from act- ing and thinking along their own lines and in their own way. He has been a just man and has never exacted in friendship or business more than he was willing to grant or allow. He has believed that the weakest arm is strong enough when it strikes with the sword of justice.
EDWARD C. LOWE.
Among the early settlers of Decatur county, Indiana, were James and Cyrus Hamilton, who came in 1822. The Donnells, MeCoys, and Hopkins came in 1823. William Custer, who lived about a mile south of the old Lowe homestead at Kingston, Indiana, is supposed to have preceded Seth and Rebecca Lowe, the founders of the Lowe family in Decatur county, and from whom is sprung Edward C. Lowe, a prominent manufacturer of Greensburg, and the grandson of Seth and Rebecca Lowe. It may be said truly that this worthy representative of the third generation in Decatur county from the standpoint of industry, intelligence and citizenship is living
675
DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.
up worthily to the example of his progenitors, who blazed the trail into this county, and here established the ancestral home.
Edward C. Lowe, who was born on May 6, 1866, at Kingston, is the son of Alfred and Isabelle (Quigley) Lowe, the former of whom was born on May 7, 1826, and who died on September 5, 1887, and the latter of whom was born on May 9, 1835, and who died on December 22, 1910. The latter was the daughter of Thomas and Catherine Quigley, who was left an orphan when a small child. Alfred Lowe was the son of Seth and Rebecca Lowe, the former of whom was born in Glenwood, Wilkes county, North Carolina, on December 22, 1787, and who died in Mills county, Iowa, in May, 1871, in his eighty-fourth year. In 1879 he had moved with his father's family to Fayette county, Kentucky, not far from Lexington, and after living there for some years, had moved to Montgomery county, where, in 1810, he married Rebecca Ryan, who was born in Virginia, October 22, 1790, and who died on February 5, 1865, in her seventy-fifth year. They had seven children, Polly, Matilda, Jackson, George, Eliza, Franklin and Alfred. Eliza, born in 1819, died in her second year, and Franklin, the only survivor of this family, who was born in 1816, is now living in Carson, Iowa.
Seth and Rebecca Lowe, having come to Indiana, and settled in Dear- born county, in 1819, two years later removed to Kingston, Decatur county, and there entered land. On his trip to Decatur county, Seth Lowe was accompanied by two of his children, who after he had done some deaden- ing, went back to Dearborn county for the remainder of the family, leaving the children in the care of two men who were assisting him in the work.
Among the first pioneers of this county to plant an orchard, was Seth Lowe and people came great distances to get apples from his orchard. He was truly a temperance man and never used tobacco or intoxicating bever- ages, and never used profane language. A public-spirited man, he was ardently favorable to public improvements, such as pikes and railroads, and gave his land upon which to build churches and schools. He was among the first citizens of the county to introduce improved breeds of stock, importing choice animals from other states. His worthy wife was remem- bered long after her death. The Lowe house became known far and near for the generous hospitality accorded strangers and men weary after a long day's ride in a wagon or on horseback found shelter from storm and darkness in the Lowe home. Although they were not members of any church, they believed in the kind of Christianity as set forth and practiced
676
DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.
by the lowly Nazarene, and the Reverend Mr. Stogdel is said to have preached in the Lowe home.
In an unbroken forest was performed the arduous toil upon which the family fortune was builded. Alfred Lowe was a farmer upon the old homestead until his father's death. He was crippled when twenty-one years old, while assisting in the construction of the Kingston church, while work- ing on the frame of the church, he fell and broke a leg. Later he spent one year in the West after the homestead was sold, accompanying Seth and Jackson, who were pioneers in the state of Iowa. He, however, went to Kansas, and after a time returned to Indiana, and lived in the village of Kingston until his death. Alfred and Isabelle (Quigley) Lowe had eight children, as follow: Theresa Jane Ardery, wife of David A. Ardery, of Washington township; Seth Samuel, of Greensburg; Charles, of Kansas, William Walter, deceased; Edward C., the subject of this sketch; Cather- ine Ella, wife of Thomas M. Hamilton, of Kingston; Marsh, of Greens- burg, and Arthur J., the assistant cashier of the Greensburg National Bank.
Born and reared in Decatur county, Indiana, and educated in the King- ston schools, Edward C. Lowe has had a most interesting career. After learning the blacksmith's trade early in life, he worked at the trade for one year in Greensburg, and then worked for the National Fireproofing Com- pany, of Jersey City, New Jersey, for one year, after which he worked six months in the Philadelphia car shops, and was engaged for four years in the restaurant business at Brooklyn, New York. Returning to Greensburg i11 1907, he engaged in the shoe business for five years, and then established the Rex salt business, the product of which is now manufactured by the Styers Mercantile Company, organized in 1912, with a capital of ten thon- sand dollars. This company manufactures and sells stock and poultry remedies, as well as One Minute Brand insect powder. The company presi- dent is Lemuel P. Dobyns, and the secretary and manager is Edward C. Lowe, Fred Styers, who was originally a member of the firm, retired, the interest having been purchased by Mr. Lowe. The firm does a business of more than five thousand dollars annually, and has its own brick building.
On May 18, 1902, Edward C. Lowe was married to Florence Heis- lier, of Philadelphia, the daughter of Mrs. Mary Heislier. To this happy marriage have been born two daughters and one son, Edna, Irma and Will- iam Alfred.
Mr. Lowe is a Republican, as was his father before him. He is also a Presbyterian, which was the faith of his father, the latter having been. during practically all his life, a member of the Kingston church. Edward
677
DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.
C. Lowe is a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Greensburg, and also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
When Edward C. Lowe's grandfather blazed his way through Decatur county over Flat Rock with two hired men, the country was all under water, and when he reached the high knoll in Fugit township, the present site of Kingston, the Indian camp-fires could be seen in the distance. Instead of the great trees and unbroken forest, there are now green pastures and fields of grain that feed the people in the uttermost parts of the earth. The wilderness of this pioneer country has been made to blossom as the rose. If the pioneers could have had the forward vision to see what nature has hidden in the air and earth, if Seth and Rebecca Lowe could have forseen the comfort and convenience of their children and grandchildren, it would . have been to them like an Oriental dream. The life career of Edward C. Lowe is a worldly realization of the aims and ideals of his pioneer grand- parents in this county.
CLIFFORD F. JONES.
One of the enterprising younger industries of Greensburg, Indiana, is the Jones Lumber Company, which has built up a large trade in lumber, building material of all kinds and coal. This firm was organized by Clifford S. and Clifford F. Jones on February 1, 1910, at which time it succeeded the Greensburg Lumber Company. Following the death of Clifford S. Jones, H. C. Kofoid became a partner in the enterprise. Mr. Kofoid sold out his interests on March 29, 1915, to the Jones Lumber Company, who have a well-equipped plant which covers one and one-half acres and does an excellent business in Greensburg and Decatur county.
Clifford F. Jones, the present head of the firm, who was born on Sep- tember 30, 1886, in Chicago, Illinois, is the son of Clifford S. and Delia (Flageole) Jones, natives of Canada and Illinois, respectively. The former was born in 1865 and died, August 18, 1912. Until 1897 he was engaged in the lumber business at Chicago, and in that year located at Stanford, Illinois, where he was engaged in the lumber business until February I, 1910. At that time he located in Greensburg and engaged in the lumber business, first under the firm name of C. S. Jones Lumber Company, but upon his death, the change in the firm, heretofore referred to, was made. A very successful business man and highly respected in the various com- munities where he was engaged in business, he was a member of the Demo-
678
DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.
cratic party, the Christian church, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks. His wife, who before her marriage was Delia Flageole, was born in Illinois in 1864, and was of French descent. Clifford F. Jones was the only child born to this union.
Educated in the public schools of Chicago and Stanford. Illinois, and especially in the Stanford high school and the Eureka College at Eureka, Illinois, Clifford F. Jones enjoyed exceptionally fine preparation for a busi- ness career. With the exception of two years, 1907-1909, during which he was located in Colorado, and there engaged in operating a lumber yard, he was with his father continuously from the time he arrived at maturity until the father's death.
Mr. Jones was married, July 10, 1910, to Litta Woodson, a native and resident of Phillips, Nebraska. To this union have been born two children, Forbes and Gail.
Clifford F. Jones is a member of the Christian church. He is a Demo- crat and is a member of the Knights of Pythias. the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
Popular in Decatur county, Clifford F. Jones has made many friends, since moving to Greensburg with his father in 1910. Not only has he established a reputation as one of the enterprising young business men of the city, but he is a man of so agreeable a personality that he has naturally attracted to himself friends in large numbers.
GEORGE N. REED.
Specific mention is made of many of the worthy citizens of Decatur county within the pages of this book, citizens who have figured in the growth and development of the county and whose interests are identified with its progress. Hundreds of persons have contributed to the well-being of its various communities and among them should be mentioned George N. Reed, a successful farmer of Washington township.
George N. Reed was born in St. Paul, Decatur county, Indiana, on November 9. 1873, the son of E. R. and Mary E. (Neff) Reed, the former of whom was born near North Vernon, Indiana, and who is now sixty-seven years old and living retired in Adams. His father, Reasonable E. Reed, was an early settler of Indiana and a brick-mason by trade. Reasonable E. Reed was also one of the successful contractors of pioneer times in Decatur
679
DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.
county and built several of the best brick houses now standing in Greens- burg. He was a member of the Methodist church and a stanch Democrat throughout life. His son, E. R., the father of George N., also was a Demo- crat and a member of the Methodist church. Mary E. Neff was a native of Decatur county, born in old St. Omer, and died twenty-six years ago on a farm near her birthplace. Her father, William. Neff, was a native of Pennsylvania, and of German extraction. Her mother was of Irish extrac- tion and a devout Christian woman and noble character. At the time of his mother's death, George N. Reed was only fourteen years old, and one of a family of seven children. His mother was a woman of gentle disposition and a firm believer in principles of right living. Her memory has been long cherished by the family of children she left and she is honored today for the noble part she bore in the early trials of married life.
George N. Reed lived in St. Paul until seven years of age when the family moved to a farm north of St. Paul, where they remained until he was thirteen, when the family moved back to St. Paul and, after remaining two or three years, moved to a farm north of St. Omer, living there until George N. Reed was nineteen years old. At this time he purchased a livery stable at Adams in partnership with his uncle, George T. Reed, and continued in this business for about two years, when he sold out his interest to his uncle and began working for C. E. Shields, buying grain and selling implements for three or four years. After this time Mr. Reed rented a farm near Adams known as the Griff Adkins farm and cultivated this for ten years.
In 1909 Mr. Reed went to Oklahoma, where he purchased two hun- dred and forty acres of land in what was known as Comanche, but what is now known as Tillman county. He owned eighty acres of this tract two and one-half years and the remainder three and a half years. As a result of his speculation in Oklahoma real estate, he made a great deal of money and upon coming to Decatur county in 1909 purchased a farm east of Greensburg, known as the Henry Duncan farm of ninety-four acres. Later he sold this farm at a profit and bought the land where he now lives, about three-quarters of a mile from Adams, situated in Washington township.
Before Mr. Reed rented the Adkins farm, he was married to Nora Wright, who was born in August, 1872, in Bartholomew county, and who is a member of the famous Wright family, the genealogy of which is given in the sketch of Caleb Stark Wright, found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Reed were married on September 12. 1896. Mrs. Reed's father, John Wright, has been deceased for fifteen years and was seventy-five years old at the time of his death. He was born in Virginia and came to Decatur
680
DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.
county, Indiana, when twenty-five years old and engaged in farming, at which occupation he was very successful. He was a shrewd, capable busi- ness man and a student of public affairs and politics, a man who loved to read the Bible and who took a great interest in public movenients.
Mr. and Mrs. Reed have had four children. as follow: Florence, Francis William, Orliff, who died in infancy, and Arthur. Besides rearing their own children, Mr. and Mrs. Reed have reared Mr. Reed's sister's son from the age of four to the age of fourteen. This nephew was Henry C. Lowe, who died in Oklahoma.
Mr. Reed for several years has made a specialty of raising hogs, corn and clover. His farm consists of level land. There is not a foot of waste in the entire tract.
George N. Reed is a Republican. He has never aspired to office and has never been especially prominent in political affairs. He is a man, how- ever, who is well-respected by the people of his neighborhood.
ANDREW S. WILLEY.
One of the "top-notch" farms of Decatur county is that of the late Louis Willey, pleasantly situated on the Michigan road, about two and one- half miles northwest of Greensburg, in Washington township. This farm of two hundred and thirty-five acres, all in one tract, was purchased by Louis Willey about half a century ago and is now being very successfully operated by his son, Andrew S. Willey, who remains on the old home place with his widowed mother, Mrs. Mary S. Willey.
Louis Willey, who was born on February 25, 1826, died at his home in Washington township, this county, on July 23, 1911, was born in Hamil- ton county, Ohio, the son of Horace and Anna (Tate) Willey, the former of whom was born in Massachusetts on February 13, 1792, emigrated to Ohio as a young man, locating in Hamilton county, where he spent the remainder of his life. Horace and Anna ( Tate) Willey were married, March 7. 1822. His wife, who was Anna Tate, was born in Pennsylvania on June 16, 1792. Horace Willey, a very substantial citizen of Hamilton county, Ohio, died on March 3. ISSO. Louis Willey was a Whig until the organiza- tion of the Republican party in 1856, in which year he allied himself with the latter party and remained stanchly loyal to the principles of the same the rest of his life. During the last year of the Civil War he enlisted in behalf
68 I
DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.
of the cause of the Union and served in the ranks of the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, until that regiment was mustered out of service at the close of the war.
Louis Willey was reared on the paternal farm in Hamilton county, Ohio, and when a young man came to Decatur county. For a year he re- mained in the city of Greensburg, at the end of which time he settled on a tract of land in Washington township, which his family still owns and occu- pies. That was about fifty years ago, since which time the farm has been brought to a high state of cultivation, being one of the most productive and valuable farms, according to its acreage, in the county. It is unusually well improved, the farm house and outlying buildings being of a rich and sub- stantial character, everything about the place indicating thrift, industry and good management. The Willeys have their own gas well on the place and the fuel and light question is thus quite easily disposed of by them. Louis Willey was an excellent farmer and a successful stock raiser and became known as one of the most substantial and enterprising farmers of the county. His methods were progressive and were consequently attended by good results, the Willey farm being regarded as a model throughout that section of the community. The methods so successfully adopted by his father have been followed by Andrew S. Willey, who is now managing the place, every- thing about the farm being kept up in first-class condition.
On April 26, 1863, Louis Willey was united in marriage to Mary Sefton, who was born on April 19, 1840, the daughter of William and Catherine (Shuck) Sefton, prominent residents of this county, the former of whom was born in 1805 and died on October 29, 1868, and the latter of whom was born on May 15, 1806, and died on October 15, 1869. William Sefton, who for years was familiarly known in this county as "Ohio Billie" Sefton, was born in Butler county, Ohio, his father having been a native of Ireland. William Sefton married Catherine Shuck, also a native of Butler county, and came to Decatur county, settling on a farm in Clinton township, the farm now owned by Samuel Shirk, where he and his wife spent the remain- der of their lives, becoming recognized as among the most influential of the pioneer residents of that neighborhood. They were the parents of nine children, namely: Henry T., who went to Colorado some years ago and died in 1914; Eliza Ellen, deceased; Elizabeth, deceased; Michael, deceased ; Isaac, a well-known resident of Greensburg, this county; Edward, deceased ; Mary, who married Louis Willey, still living on the Willey farm; Sarah, who lives in Greensburg, and William W., retired, who lives in Kokomo, Indiana.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.