USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 67
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marched to Chattanooga, which march was marked by skirmishes with For- ester's cavalry. At Chattanooga Mr. Smalley took part in the battle of Mis- sionary Ridge, at which time he was acting as first sergeant. After pursu- ing Johnson for some time, the army went into winter quarters and in the spring Grant's army joined Sherman's. Then followed the famous cam- paign of Sherman, with which every one is familiar.
Reuben Smalley was with his army throughout this campaign and marched with it from Atlanta to the sea. He was once taken prisoner, but, as he says, no one could hold him in those days, and as his captor had not taken the precaution to disarm him, he relates that after marching along quietly for about three hundred yards, he decided it was time to do some- thing and the time had come to determine whose hide was the tougher. In the struggle, his gun somehow came in contact with the rebel's head and- well, Reuben Smalley joined his command. He never missed being in any battle which it was possible to engage in. Fort McAllister was the last hard battle in which he was engaged. Finally he was present at the surrender of Johnson to Sherman, which was one of the incidents marking the close of the war.
Of Mr. Smalley's parentage, it may be said that his father was a native of France who came to America, and, after arriving in this country, set- tled in New York state. He died when Reuben was a lad of three years. When he was seven years old, he came to Jennings county, Indiana, with an uncle, with whom he lived until seventeen, at which time he began the business of life for himself. Two years later, at the age of nineteen, he was married to Martha Ann Johnson, the daughter of Elijah and Nancy ( Bowley) Johnson, the former of whom was a native of Decatur county, Indiana, and the latter of whom was a native of Vermont. Married in Ripley county, July 23, 1859, Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Smalley lived in that county until the beginning of the Civil War.
After the war, Mr. Smalley came back to Ripley county and, after two years, he and his wife, his two children having died while he was fighting for the cause of his country, immigrated to Decatur county. Mr. Smalley has been employed on railroad construction work for several years as a sta- tionary engineer. He has been a shrewd business man and successful in life.
An enthusiastic member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Reuben Smalley is a man of remarkable vitality and striking personality. He is well known and highly respected in this community and in surrounding counties. The medal of honor, which he wears for distinguished services and bravery at the siege of Vicksburg and elsewhere, is something of which
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he is extremely proud and for which he has every right to be. In 1914 he was elected constable on the Republican ticket by a majority of three hun- dred and fifty-two votes. Several years ago he had been elected to the same office. Mr. and Mrs. Smalley are a pleasant couple. She is seventy-three and her husband is seventy-six. With the exception of occasional heart trouble, both are still vigorous in body and mind and take a keen delight in living.
JOHN W. BECK.
The art of photography has reached such a state of perfection that it would seem there is little to be desired. The work, although accompanied by a certain amount of uncertainty in each instance, up to a given point. gives the operator more solid enjoyment, than most any other we know of.
John W. Beck, photographer, of Greensburg, Indiana, was born on March 30, 1865, in Jay county, Indiana, and is a son of Isaac and Millicent (Reeve) Beck. He was reared and educated in Columbiana and Mahoning counties, Ohio, including the schools at Canfield, Delaware, and Ohio W'es- leyan Universities. While attending the latter place, he was offered a position in Indiana, and came west, taught school for four years, and then became interested in photography at Mckeesport, where he spent three years. He then came to Indiana, and has been here ever since. After living for a time at Osgood, Knightstown, Carthage and Kokomo, he permanently set- tled at Greensburg, where he has built up a prosperous business and a large circle of warm friends. His political views are along the independent line. and in religion, he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He began his career as a photographer in 1885, his present place of business having been established in 1911, is known as Beck's studio. He has a fully equipped place and is prepared to do all kinds of inside and outside pho- tography, of the highest quality.
Isaac and Millicent (Reeve) Beck, parents of our subject, were pio- neers in Jay county, Ohio, settling there at a time when the ground was wet and mushy, and where the former died, in 1865. The mother then took her five children back to the old home in eastern Ohio, where she was reared. Her children were, Jonas Marion, Ellen, Anna May, Isaac Edwin and John WV. They were Quakers, and wore the Quaker garb. Their ancestors were "Friends" for several generations back.
John W. Beck was married, December 25, 1891, to Dollie Smith, of Decatur county. They have had two children, Adene and Serlett.
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JAMES B. ROBISON.
The late James B. Robison, of Greensburg, Indiana, not only was a successful farmer and stockman, but he was a prominent citizen of Decatur county, whose voice was respectfully heard in any council, because it was always raised in support of the right. While his most conspicuous service, perhaps, was performed as a member of the Indiana General Assembly, of which he was a member for two sessions, 1881 and 1889, yet his most impor- tant public service was performed in the community where he lived so long and where he was so well known. Broad-minded in his views, liberal in spirit, simple and kind-hearted in his charity, he was loved by the people of Decatur county, and today his memory is revered, not only by his widow and his two living children, but by the host of men and women who knew him, for his goodness of heart and for his unselfish generosity.
The late James B. Robison was enterprising as a private citizen, it is true, but he was public-spirited, which is even more important. More men of his type and spirit are needed today.
As a skillful farmer and a shrewd and far-seeing business man, espe- cially in the purchase and sale of live stock, the late James B. Robison had no superiors and few equals in Decatur county. Born on June 12, 1834, in Fugit township, and the son of Andrew and Polly (Donnell) Robison, he passed away quietly on his golden wedding anniversary, May 19, 1913. His father, a native of Pennsylvania and a tanner by trade, came to Decatur county during the early twenties, and lived and died on his farm in Fugit township. After his death, his son, the late James B. Robison, took charge of the homestead farm when he was only nineteen years old.
James B. Robison was married, May 19, 1863. to Margaret Meek, who was born on December 25, 1844. and who is the daughter of John Meek, of the Springhill community, and the great-granddaughter of Thomas Meck, a pioneer in the state of Kentucky, whose descendants have lived to populate Decatur county with many of its mose enterprising citizens, its successful farmers, bankers and mechanics. Mr. and Mrs. Robison had three children : William E., who was born in Fugit township on July 31, 1864, married Clara Taintor. December 31, 1887, in Sterling, Illinois, the daughter of George L. and Martha (Hughes) Taintor. They live on the old Robison homestead in Decatur county, and have three children, Mary, Margaret and Mildred : Stella, December 10, 1870. married Alva M. Reed, of Greensburg, January 21, 1891, and they now reside in Greensburg. They have one son,
JAMES B. ROBISON.
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Rollin Reed; Clara J., November 25, 1875, was married, April 2, 1902, to George Davis, and on October 30, 1909, she died in Alberta, Canada.
One of the largest farmers and one of the most extensive stockmen of Decatur county, in 1896 the late James B. Robison removed from the farm to Greensburg, leaving his son, William E., in charge of the homestead. Later, however, he bought a farm near Greensburg, and personally superin- tended it until the time of his death.
The late James B. Robison was not only a member of the Indiana Gen- eral Assembly for two terms, but, from 1906 to 1912, he served as a mem- ber of the Greensburg city council. In this office he used his best talents and energies for the promotion of enterprise, industry and wholesome living in this city. For more than a half century he was a well-recognized factor in all phases of life and was especially devout as a member of the Presby- terian church, having been an elder in the Kingston church from 1886 until the time of his death. To this church he not only gave his best personal services, but he also gave liberally of the means of which he was possessed, and which appeared without any apparent effort to grow from year to year. He regarded himself as a steward merely of the fortune which had come into his hands, and dispensed it with a liberality of one gifted with a patri- cian heart.
GEORGE W. SEFTON.
George W. Sefton, a retired farmer of Greensburg, Indiana, is one of those men who, at the first call for volunteers at the breaking out of the Civil War, enlisted in Company E, Seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, a reorganized regiment, and served for three years. In many hard- fought battles of the war, the only discomfiture he suffered, excepting the privations and hardships in the military service, was an attack of the measles. His brother, John, died of the measles while serving in the same regiment .; Attached to the First Brigade of the First Division of the First and Fifth Army Corps, Mr. Sefton contracted rheumatism as early as January, 1862, and was confined in the hospital at Cumberland, Maryland, on account of measles. After his recovery, he brought his brother's body home and then rejoined his command at Winchester, Virginia. He was discharged at Indianapolis on September 20. 1864. During his services, he was engaged in the battles of Greenbrier, Winchester, Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg,
(45)
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Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Mine Run, Wilderness, Campaign of 1864, Port Republic, Siege of Petersburg, Weklon Railroad, Antietam, South Mountain, Chancellorsville and many others. This is an honorable and valiant military record of which the subject of this sketch has reason to be. very proud.
George W. Sefton was born on October 10, 1841, in Clinton township; Decatur county, Indiana, the son of Henry and Sarah (Brown ) Sefton, natives of Ohio and Fountain county, respectively. The former, who was born in 1808 and died in 1878, was the son of William Sefion, a native of Ireland, who came with his parents to Ohio, where he was reared. From Ohio he moved to Indiana and settled in Decatur county near Sandusky. Henry Sefton came with his parents and was reared in this county in the early twenties, and eventually settled in Clinton township, where he became a successful farmer. By his first wife, Sarah Brown, to whom he was mar- ried in 1848, he had six children, five of whom are now deceased. The only living child is George W., the subject of this sketch. The deceased children were: Preserve O .: William; John, who died of measles in the army ; Elizabeth and Jane. By his second marriage to Sarah Stine, Henry Sefton had two children, Mrs. Rachel Wilkinson, of Sandusky, and Isaac Stine. who lives on the home farm in Clinton township. Until March, 1903, George W. Sefton was engaged in farming. He owns one hundred and sixty acres in Clinton township.
Mr. Sefton has been married three times, the first time on October 1, 1866, to Julia Lanham, who was born in 1843 and who was the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Lanham. She died in 1869, leaving two children, Monnett O., born on September 5, 1867, who lives in Rush county, and Julia E., on June 27, 1869, who married John Frank Deem, of Adams town- ship. By his second marriage, April 25, 1871, to Elizabeth Brock, who died in 1875, there were two children, Mrs. Emma M. Brown, of Indianapolis, who was born on May 4, 1872. and Mrs. Mary E. Walker, of Newpoint, on October 7. 1873. By his third marriage to Harriett Weed. September 19. 1876, one child, Mrs. Stella Waters, of Indianapolis, was born on Sep- tember 18. 1878.
Mrs. Harriett ( Weed ) Sefton was born on July 16, 1847. near Milroy in Rush county and is the daughter of Alvin and Jane Ann ( Ross ) Weed. natives of Kentucky, the former of whom was born in 1810 and died in 1896, and the latter was born in 1814, died in 1886. Alvin Weed was the son of a well-known pioneer citizen who was drowned while traveling down
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the Ohio river in a flat-boat in 1812. Alvin Weed died in Howard county at the home of his son. His wife, who before her marriage, was Jane Ann Ross, was the daughter of Alexander Ross, a native of Ireland. Alvin and Jane Ann Weed had a large family of children, as follow: James Hiram, deceased ; Eliza, deceased; Robert Thomas, deceased ; Mrs. Lucinda Webster, of Hope, Indiana; Oliver, who died in infancy; Charles William, of Kokomo, Indiana; Mrs. Harriet Sefton, of Greensburg; Mrs. Melissa Margaret Dil- man, of Howard county; Mary Frances, deceased; Mrs. Alice Root, of Indianapolis : Alonzo and John Lincoln, deceased.
George W. Sefton cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln and since that time has always voted the Republican ticket and upheld vigorously Republican principles and Republican candidates. Fraternally, he is a mem- ber of Pap Thomas Post No. 5, Grand Army of the Republic. Mrs. Sefton is a member of the Christian church. George W. Sefton is one of the honored and highly respected citizens of Greensburg and Decatur county and a man who is well known and well liked by his neighbors and fellow townsmen.
HENRY THOMSON.
Among the well-known citizens of Decatur county, Indiana, and among the veterans of the Civil War living in this county, is the venerable Henry Thomson, a retired farmer of Greensburg, Indiana, who was born on De- cember 16, 1840, in Washington township on a pioneer farm, and who is the son of William Henry and Eliza Jane ( Hopkins ) Thomson, the former of whom was born on January 11, 1803, and who died in August, 1840, and the latter of whom was born on March, 1809, in Kentucky, and who died, December 26, 1864.
Henry Thomson had just reached his majority at the time of the breaking out of the Civil War, when he enlisted on September 5, 1861, in Company G, Seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, serving until May 5, 1864, when he was wounded in the first day's battle of the Wilderness. Seriously wounded in the right leg, the effects of which are felt to this day, he was not dismissed until September 6, 1864. During his service as a soldier in the Civil War his principal engagements were those at Green Briar in 1861, Winchester in 1862, where he was wounded in the right shoulder, the second battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Virginia, Gettysburg, Manassas Gap and the Wilderness. In 1910 Mr. Thomson and
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his good wife took an automobile trip over many of the battle scenes of the Civil War, taking along a complete camping outfit, and remaining away for several weeks. Starting on August 14, 1910, they did not return until September 1I, and during this period visited nearly all of Mr. Thomson's old battlefields.
The father of Henry Thomson died before his son Henry was born, and the latter was reared in the home of his grandfather Hopkins. His father, who was born in Kentucky, was the son of James Henry Thomson, who was born on April 2, 1778, and who in turn was the son of James and Mary ( Henry) Thonison, the former of whom was born in 1731, and the latter of whom was born in 1736. They had three children, as follow : Will- iam Henry, who was born in 1743: Elizabeth Davis, in 1750; James Henry, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, April 2, 1778, and who was married to Sarah Henry, in 1776.
James Henry and Sarah ( Henry) Thomson had eight children, as follow : Almira, who was born in 1800, and who married the Reverend Mr. Lowry, the first pastor of the Presbyterian church at Kingston; Will- iam Henry, January 11, 1803, the father of the subject of this sketch; John Davis. April 7, 1805. and who married Susanna Howe; James IIenry. October 26, 1807, and who married Nancy Ann McLeod; Alexander Brown, January 8, ISI0, who first married Johanna S. Howe, September 1, 1815, and for his second wife, Elizabeth R. Carson; Samuel Harrison, August 26. 1813, was a professor at Hanover College for twenty-five years. and married Magdelena Sophronia Clifton; Preston Wallace, January 17, 1816; married Mary Ann Ashman : Mary Elizabeth, the last born, who first saw the light of day, June 2, 1818, married George F. Whitworth.
William Henry, the father of Henry, was married to Eliza Jane Hop- kins, who was the daughter of John and Jane Hopkins, natives of Kentucky and early settlers in Washington township. Decatur county. John Hopkins became a judge of the appellate court, and was a man of ability and great power. It was Judge John Hopkins who practically reared Henry Thomson, the subject of this sketch. Judge Hopkins died in 1852, and his wife in IS54, two years later. Mrs. Eliza Jane ( Hopkins) Thomson died in 1864, on December 26.
After the Civil War, Henry Thomson entered Hanover College, where he was a student for some time. but he later returned to the farm in Wash- ington township, and was actively engaged as a farmer until 1903, when, after a trip to the West, including the National Park, the Pacific coast,
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Oregon, the Pacific coast cities, New Mexico, Arizona, and the Grand Canon of Colorado, he and his wife settled at their present home in Greensburg, Indiana. The one-hundred-and-twenty-acre farm, with which he started life, in the meantime has been increased to one hundred and sixty acres. Mr. Thomson still owns this farm, which is well improved.
On December 15, 1881, Mr. Thomson was married to Laura Alice Mc- Cracken, who was born on January 31, 1852, and who is the daughter of Adam and Mary Jane ( Rankin) McCracken, natives of Kentucky. Adam was the son of James and Sallie ( Meek) McCracken, and was born on May 20, 1824, and died in 1901. His wife was the daughter of Adam and Hester (Logan) Rankin, natives of Kentucky, who settled at Springhill in Decatur county in the early twenties. Here they homesteaded a farm and it was here that the mother of Mrs. Thomson was reared. Adam MeCracken and Mary Jane Rankin were married in 1851. The latter was born in 1827. Mrs. Thomson is one of three children born to her parents. The others were James Logan, who was born on Jannary 9, 1858, and who lives at Wat- seka, Illinois, and Whilma, November 7, 1864, died, July 24, 1889.
An ardent believer in temperance and in the suppression of the liquor traffic, Henry Thomson has been an active and influential member of the Prohibition party. Mr. and Mrs. Thomson are members of the Presbyterian church. Henry Thomson is a member of Pap Thomas Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Greensburg, Indiana.
JOHN WESLEY DEEM
John Wesley Deem, a retired farmer and merchant of Greensburg, Indiana, whose active life dates back to the pioneer history of the Hoosier state, is a native of Preble county, Ohio, his birth having occurred on November 22, 1831. He is a son of Thomas and Sarah (Sayler) Deem, natives of Kentucky, whose family came originally from Virginia, and who removed from Kentucky to Ohio in an early day, and from that state to Indiana, settling in Decatur county in 1834, where they purchased land and Thomas Deem became a large landowner, possessing at one time five hun- dred acres. He was born on May 30, 1796, and died on September 24, 1853. His wife was born October 20, 1809, and died March 3, 1895. The Deem homestead, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, was pur-
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chased from Ella and Elizabeth Warriner, December 3, 1834, for nine hundred dollars. The deed was recorded on September 24, 1835.
Thomas and Sarah (Sayler) Deem were the parents of ten children. whose names in the order of their birth are as follow: Mrs. Mary Ann Heaton, who was born on December 10, 1826, died on March 6, 1915; Mrs. Eliza A. Stewart, April 11, 1828, died in December, 1911; Mrs. Catharine Dailey, the widow of E. G. Dailey, of Greensburg; Mrs. Elizabeth Hoodlow, of Topeka, Kansas, in 1829; Mrs. Lenora Corey, November 22. 1830, lives on the old homestead; John Wesley, the immediate subject of this review; Lemuel, in 1836, is now deceased; Oliver, in 1840, lives in Greensburg; William Henry, in 1844. died in the service of his country during the Civil War, and Thomas Harvey, in 1847, died in 1864. and was also a soldier in the Civil War.
After his father had purchased the homestead farm, John Wesley Deen assisted in clearing the land, and did his share toward the improvement and cultivation of the home farm. The family lived at this time in a hewed log house. and experienced all the privations and hardships, as well as the joys of true pioneer life in southern Indiana. When he was twenty-four years of age. in 1855. John W. Deem removed to Shelby county, Indiana, where he lived for two years. During this period he and his wife lived in a round log cabin which was notched, daubed and chinked with mud. It consisted of one room, eighteen by fifteen feet, with one window and a door on the opposite side from the window. The chimney was built of mud and sticks with mud jambs and a clapboard roof. It was a typical pioneer's cabin. the door having a wooden latch with a string on the outside, which could be locked by pulling the string on the inside. Mr. Deem sawed lum- ber at night during the winter season, by the use of the water-mill, four miles away, and in this way secured lumber enough to build a new house. His father had built what is believed to have been the first brick house in Decatur county. After two years' residence in Shelby county, Mr. Deem returned with his family to Decatur county, and here he engaged in the mercantile and grain business at Adams, where he remained for six years. He operated a saw-mill for a number of years and then moved to his farm in Adams township. At one time he was the owner of four hundred acres of land. but has sold the greater portion of this land and now has two hundred and fifty acres. In 1894 Mr. Deem retired from active farm life and moved to Greensburg, where he engaged in the hardware and implement business. in which he continued for a period of eighteen years. On account of the
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poor health of Mrs. Deem, he retired from business at this time and cared for his wife until her death.
John Wesley Deem was married on September 20, 1855, to Margaret Jane Logan, who was born on November 9, 1832, in Decatur county, the daughter of Samuel Logan and wife. Mrs. Decm died on September 28, 1903. John W. Deem and wife were the parents of six children, Sarah Susanna, who was born on August 11, 1856, was married to Arthur Doggett, March 4, 1875, and died ten years later on October 17, 1885, leaving two children, Mrs. Sarah Alberta Brockelmeier and Otis; Samuel Logan, Febru- ary 15, 1858, married Flora King; Kate, March 25, 1860, died on December 20, 1865; William Henry Ellsworth, August 13, 1862, died August 22, 1863; Mary, October 13, 1864, married J. C. Bird, December 21, 1881, and on May 29, 1895, her death occurred, leaving two children, Mrs. Ethel Koester, who is a resident of Cincinnati, and has two children, Robert and one unnamed, and Harry Bird, a resident of Greensburg; John Franklin, who was born on March 29, 1871, lives on the home place. He married Julia E. Sefton, December 24, 1890.
John Wesley Deem, during his lifetime, has been an ardent believer in Republican principles and has always voted the Republican ticket. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, but on account of defect in hearing, cannot enjoy attending. He is a member of the Masonic lodge, in which he is deeply interested.
IRA CLARK.
Of pioncer descent, the gentleman whose name is here noted, maintains in his own life and manner of living all the sterling traditions of a stalwart and vigorous race of God-fearing, home-loving, temperate and industrious forbears, men and women who wrought well during the early days of this section of the state and who, upon passing, bequeathed to their posterity the priceless legacy of a good name. Born and reared in this county, Mr. Clark has created at Greensburg, the county seat, a business which aids very materially in carrying the name of that pleasant city to distant parts of this country. The beautiful flowers which are cultivated in the famous green- houses of Ira Clark & Company at Greensburg are shipped to cities at far distant points, being one of the most delightful contributions this county makes to the commerce of the land. Roses and carnations are the special
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