History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions, Part 77

Author: Harding, Lewis Albert, 1880- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1378

USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 77

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Albert Boling, who was born on October 4, 1867, on a farm near the Decatur and Franklin county line, is the son of William W. and Hannah (Humphrey) Boling, the former of whom was born on October 8, 1828. and

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

died in 1898, and the latter of whom was born in 1857 and is still living at Adams, in this county. William W. Boling was the son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Boling, natives of Virginia, who, after coming to Decatur county in 1818 and homesteading the farm of eighty acres now owned by Albert Boling, lived in an Indian wigwam for a time, or until they could clear a place for and erect a house. Benjamin Boling died at the age of twenty-eight, a few years after coming to Decatur county. His widow, who lived to be ninety-two years of age, died near Crawfordsville, Montgomery county, Indiana. William W. Boling spent the whole of his life on the ancestral farm.

To William W. and Hannah (Humphrey) Boling were born five daugh- ters and seven sons, two of whom, Alice, the first born, and Jasper, the seventh born, are deceased, the former dying in January, 1914. Of the surviving children, Mary lives in Clay township; Mrs. Martha Carr lives at Frankfort; Ada is the wife of Wilbur WV. Wright, of Adams; Edna lives in Indianapolis; Albert is the subject of this sketch; George is engaged in the hardware business at St. Paul, this county; Walter also lives in St. Paul; Clyde, Elmer and Owen live in Indianapolis, where the latter is an attorney.

Educated in the district school of his neighborhood, located near the Decatur and Franklin county line, and in the Stubbs high school, Albert Boling was engaged in farming until he was thirty years of age. He then engaged in the grain business at Adams, and remained there for seventeen years, or until his election as treasurer of Decatur county in the fall of 1912. Having been re-elected in the fall of 1914, he is now serving his second term. Mr. Boling owns the old home farm, which now comprises alto- gether a hundred and twenty acres, city property in Indianapolis, and in Adams, where he owns a large grain elevator and residence. He is therefore entitled to rank as one of the well-to-do farmers, business men and citizens of this county.

Albert Boling was married in April, 1893, when he was twenty-six years old, to Carrie Harrison, daughter of Robert Harrison, an early set- tler of Adams township, Decatur county, Indiana. To this union two chil- dren have been born, Dorothy and Robert, both of whom are attending school.

For three generations the politics of the Boling family has been decidedly Democratic. Benjamin Boling was a Democrat, William W. Boling was a Democrat, and the son and grandson, Albert, the subject of this sketch,

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is and has always been an ardent and enthusiastic Democrat and has been for years a leader in the councils of his party. Mr. and Mrs. Boling and family are members of the Christian church, and the former is a member of St. Paul Lodge No. 368, Knights of Pythias. Honorable in all the rela- tions of life. private as well as public, Albert Boling has a host of friends in Decatur county, men who have stood valiantly at his side and fought the battles waged for the political success that is now his. He is a man who never forgets and never fails to cherish his obligations to a friend and to those who have stood by him in a common thought and for a common cause. He well deserves the confidence of the people of the citizenship of this county.

RICHARD T. STOTT.

That the Stott family was among the first to settle in the state of Indi- ana is proved by a tax receipt now owned by the venerable Richard T. Stott, of near Westport, Sand Creek township, Decatur county, which shows that his father, Louis Lunsford Stott, in 1813, paid taxes in Indiana for the years 1810, 1811 and 1812. Of course this was before Indiana was admitted to the Union, and before in reality it was a state at all. The family was founded in America by the great-grandfather of Richard T. Stott, who emigrated from Germany to Scotland, and from Scotland came to America. Raleigh Stott, the grandfather of Richard T., was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, who migrated from one of the Eastern states to the Middle West. Raleigh Stott's son, who was Richard T.'s father, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and Richard T. Stott was a soldier in the Civil War, so that with the possible exception of the Mexican War, members of this family have fought valiantly in behalf of individual and personal free- dom in all of our great wars.

Richard T. Stott, who was born on November 14, 1842, in Jennings county, three miles south of Westport, is the son of Louis Lunsford and Sallie (Stewart) Stott, the former of whom was born in 1780 and who died in 1856. Louis Lunsford Stott had first married Miss Allen, who bore him eight children, all of whom are now deceased and the names of whom were as follow: Christopher, the father of Capt W. T. Stott, a former sheriff of Decatur county; Mrs. Hulda New, Allen, Mrs. Polly Griffin, Mrs. Mariah Kirtley, Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, Frances Marian and Mrs. Sarah Jane Gaston. By the second marriage there were three chil-

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dren: D. W., who is deceased; Richard T., the subject of this sketch, and Mrs. Susan Newsome, who lives at Azalia, Indiana.

After removing to Decatur from Bartholomew county, when Mr. Stott was four years old, his mother died, and he was taken by an uncle, Willis C. Stribbling, who lived near Sardinia, Decatur county, to be reared, together with a sister. Here he lived until he grew to manhood, attending, so far as possible, the pioneer country schools of the time and receiving a limited education. After the breaking out of the Civil War, Richard Stott was only nineteen years old. Nevertheless he enlisted on July 8, 1861, in Company H, Nineteenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served three years, three months and eleven days. Having been assigned to the com- missary department on detached service, he was under fire in nearly all of the battles and especially was on the firing line in the second battle of Bull Run, the battles of Fredericksburg, South Mountain, Antietam and Gettys- burg, as well as the Wilderness campaign.

Returning home at the close of the Civil War, Mr. Stott began farm- ing in Jackson township on rented land, and late in 1865 was married. During the earlier years of his married life he lived in Decatur and Bartholo- mew counties, spending two years in Illinois later on, in 1881 and 1882. For seven years he lived in Edinburg after his removal to Decatur county, in March, 1907. He now owns a farm of twenty acres adjoining Westport.

In 1865 Mr. Stott was married to Eliza Ann Chaille, who was born on April 3, 1844, in Jennings county, Indiana, near Butlerville, and who is the daughter of William D. and Hulda A. Chaille, the former of whom was a native of Indiana, born on December 26, 1814, and the latter of whom was born on February 19, 1806. William D. Chaille was the son of John and Jane (Duncan) Chaille, natives of Maryland, who came to Indiana after their marriage. A brother of Jane (Duncan) Chaille was a soldier in the Revolutionary army and was held a prisoner by the British for seven years.

Mr. and Mrs. Richard T. Stott have six living children, as follow : Dora C., who lives at Richmond, Indiana, has one daughter, Leota, by his first wife, who was a Miss Davis; his present wife is Birdellia (Rose) ; Hulda Elizabeth is the wife of William A. Knight, who lives near Sardinia, and has four sons, James R., Wallace L., George Taylor and John F .; William Preston lives near Auburn in the state of Washington; Louis Eldridge, of Indianapolis, married Rosa Smeiser, and they have three children, Louis Graves, Beryl Taylor and Russell Payne; John Franklin, of Colorado, married Mary Wilds, and they have one child, Martha Emily;

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James MI., of Edinburg, married Ethel Russell, and they have one child. Loring Russell.

Politically, Mr. Stott is a Republican. He and his good wife are mem- bers of the Baptist church. Fraternally, he is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men at Edinburg, and of the Knights of Pythias at West- port. He has filled all of the chairs in the Red Men's lodge. Mr. Stott is also a member of Fred Small Post No. 531, Grand Army of the Republic, at Westport.

HUBER C. MOORE.

Perhaps 110 county in the state is on a sounder basis as regards its banking and financial affairs than is Decatur county. In the hands of safe, conservative men, the banks of the county are noted for their solidity and for the careful manner in which the money entrusted to their care is handled. For the most part, the men engaged in banking in this county have had special training for their work and the mere technical side of banking is conducted with a degree of accuracy and a proper regard for the most conservative forms of investment, insuring to depositors a feeling of safety. Among the banks of more recent origin in this county, few, if any, have made larger strides in public confidence than the Burney State Bank, of Burney, the pleasant village in Clay township, which in late years has made such rapid progress in industrial, commercial and civic development. This bank, which was opened for business on December 22, 1913, had a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, and has enjoyed an unusual degree of success. Surrounded by richi farming territory, peopled by substantial stock raisers and shippers, the opportunities for modern banking methods were awaiting the coming of the gentlemen who organized the Burney bank and these opportunities have been promptly and properly utilized, the number of depositors of the bank growing from the very first day of the opening of the bank, until they now number more than four hundred and are increas- ing daily. The officers of this bank are as follow: William G. Smiley, president; Jolin W. Corya, vice-president; Huber C. Moore, cashier; the other directors being John Gartin, Frank Alexander, W. F. Mccullough.

Huber C. Moore was born at Morgan, Kentucky, in 1890, a son of James P. and Sarah J. (Green) Moore, both natives of Kentucky, the latter of whom was born in the city of Lexington, a daughter of John Green. Mrs. Moore died some years ago and Mr. Moore continues to make his home in

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Kentucky, being one of the prominent and wealthy citizens of Pendleton county, that state. James P. Moore is one of the best-known bee breeders in the country, his apiary supplying a demand for queen bees in all parts of the world. He has been in the business of bee culture for the past twenty- five years and has been very successful, the variety of bees of which he makes a specialty having created a wonderful demand.

Huber C. Moore received his elementary education in the schools of Falmouth, Kentucky, following his graduation from the high school at that place with a course of one year at the Kentucky State University, after which he pursued a thorough course in a business college at Lexington. Thus equipped for a business career, Mr. Moore entered the employ of the Citizens State Bank, of Falmouth, Kentucky, as assistant cashier, remaining with this bank for two years, at the end of which time his services were secured by the Indiana National Bank, of Indianapolis, and he moved to the Indiana state capital, remaining with the Indiana National Bank at that place for a period of four years, at the end of which time his services were solicited as cashier of the newly organized bank at Burney, this county. Mr. Moore accepted this proffer and upon the opening of the Burney State Bank was installed as. cashier, a position which he since has occupied, his skilled and efficient service having proved most satisfactory, not only to the directors of the bank, but to the customers of the same.

On December 25, 1910, Huber C. Moore was united in marriage to Olive Ruby Williams, of Whiteland, Indiana, daughter of Dr. Luke P. V. and Sarah Jane (Woollen) Williams, the former of whom is a native of Kentucky and the latter of whom is a native of Ohio. Dr. Luke P. V. Williams was born in 1862, son of Luke P. and Elizabeth P. (Simer) Williams, both natives of Kentucky, the former of whom was of Welsh descent and the latter of whom was of German descent. Sarah Jane Wool- len was the daughter of John W. and Mary C. Woollen, who moved from Ohio to Kentucky in 1883, they also being of German descent.

Dr. Luke P. V. Williams, who is a direct descendant of Roger Williams, "that noble champion of religious liberty," of whom Milton thus sang, the founder of Rhode Island, who came to America from Wales in 1636, was a member of the last Kentucky constitutional convention. having repre- sented the counties of Bath and Rowan in that historic gathering. He was reared in Kentucky and from the days of his young manhood took an active part in the affairs of his community. He is a man of tremendous energy ; in fact, a veritable "human dynamo," as some of his friends characterize him. He early began to take a prominent part in Kentucky politics and,

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besides the distinction of being a member of the constitutional convention, above noted, served as an elector on the Democratic ticket from his district in the second Cleveland campaign. Some years ago he moved to Indiana, locating at Whiteland, in Johnson county, where he organized the White- land National bank. He also was active in the organization of the Jones- ville State Bank, of Jonesville, this state, and was one of the principal pro- moters of the organization of the Burney State Bank.

Mr. and Mrs. Moore are members of the Baptist church at Burney and are active in the good works of the community. Though comparatively recent additions to the society of that pleasant village, they have entered into the social life of the town with characteristic energy and are among the most enthusiastic promoters of the various and rapidly growing interests of the village. Mr. Moore is a Democrat and takes an intelligent and proper interest in the political affairs of the county, being an ardent advocate of all measures along the line of good government. He is a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias and at present is much interested in the plan which is being promoted for the erection of a fine new two-story Pythian hall in Burney. He is an enterprising and energetic young man and his native love for the intricacies of business and financial life has given him an interest in his life's work which rapidly is bringing him to the front as one of the most prominent young financiers of Decatur county, he having displayed an ability in this direction that has inspired in the breasts of his business associates the utmost confidence and respect, they having the high- est regard for the ability he has displayed in conducting the difficult trans- actions which confront him in connection with his important position in the bank.

HENRY CHRIS BOWMAN.

Henry Chris Bowman, an enterprising farmer of Washington township, Decatur county, Indiana, who owns one hundred and sixty acres for which he has worked and for which he has himself paid, is a splendid type of the self- made American citizen and his career forcibly illustrates what industry, economy and good management may accomplish. There is no man living in Decatur county who deserves more personal credit for what he has accom- plished than Mr. Bowman, since he has by his own hard toil and by his systematic and methodical saving, built up his own fortune and obtained for himself and his good wife all the comforts which they now enjoy.

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Henry Chris Bowman was born on March 9, 1867, in Franklin county, Indiana, the son of Henry and Johannah (Thesin) Bowman, natives of Germany, who were married after coming to this country. Henry C. Bow- man left home at the age of twenty-one and came to Decatur county, working for twelve years for William Warder Hamilton, a pioneer mule dealer of Decatur county. At the end of twelve years' hard toil, he had saved fifteen hundred dollars and out of this he paid one thousand dollars down on the farm he purchased at this time and used the other five hundred dollars to stock the farm. His father, who was born in 1825, was killed in 1870 while working as a carpenter on the Enochsburg church. He had come to America in 1841.

Henry, Sr., and Johannah Bowman had three children, Mary, who is deceased; Lena, who married Clem Rowling, a dairyman, who lives near Cincinnati, and Henry C., the subject of this sketch. After the death of Mr. Bowman, the mother married again, this time to Martin Frichtman, and they had eight children, George, who lives in Decatur county ; John, of Washington township: Matthew, who lives on the Robinson farm; Kate, the wife of Joseph Mincke, of Cincinnati, who died in October, 1914; Lizzie, the wife of George Lampe, of Shelbyville; Sophronia, the wife of William Oberlein, of St. Louis: Rosa, who married Chester Luther, of Shelbyville, and Celia, of Indianapolis. The mother of these children died in Shelbyville, Indiana, at the age of seventy-eight years, in 1908.

At the time Henry Chris Bowman purchased his farm in Washington township, the farm was very much run down. He and his good wife lived in an old house on the place until they were able to erect a handsome, modern farm residence. The house sets back from the road and leading down to it is a large, well-kept farm. The barn, which is sixty-four by sixty feet, was built in 1908, and a corn-crib built in 1911 cost five hundred dollars. Alto- gether about eight thousand dollars has been spent in various kinds of improvements, including fencing and tiling. When Mr. Bowman first pur- chased the farm, he sold hogs at three dollars a hundred. He has had a hard time to get on in the world and has always been a hard worker. One of the secrets of his success, perhaps, is that he never sells any grain, but feeds all that he raises to hogs and cattle, selling a hundred head of hogs and from twelve to fifteen head of cattle every year.

On September 2, 1884, Mr. Bowman was married to Bridget Woods, who was born on December 4, 1864, in County Clare. Ireland, and who is the daughter of John and Bridget (Kerivan) Woods, who came to America in 1880 and located on a farm three miles from Zenas, Indiana. It is a matter of interest to note here the St. Denis's church was named after Denis Woods,

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Mrs. Bowman's uncle, who gave ten acres of ground for the church. Mrs. Bowman's father died in 1889 and her mother in 1890, one year later. John and Bridget Woods had six children, Mrs. Marie Slattery, who lives in Ire- land; John, who died in Jennings county, in 1913; Sarah, the wife of William Vansickle, of Kansas; Thomas. of near St. Denis, who married Margaret Duffy : Denis, who died in 1888, and Mrs. Bowman.

To Mr. and Mrs. Henry C. Bowman have been born four children, Florine, the wife of Samuel Ardery, of Washington township; John, who lives at home on the farm; Rosa, who died at the age of twenty-three years, on April 6, 1912, and Sophia Lillian, fourteen years of age, is a student in the Greensburg high school.

Mr. and Mrs. Henry C. Bowman have at their command practically every convenience which is available to anyone who lives on the farm. They are fortunate in having at their disposal a natural gas well, located on the farm, and also an artesian well .. They have most comfortable and convenient buildings located on magnificent grounds which are always well kept, and they themselves are the people who most deserve to enjoy these conveniences. Although Mr. Bowman owns an automobile along with the other comforts of life, yet he still works very hard and he and his good wife deserve great credit and praise for what they have accomplished. Genial and hospitable by nature, they are popular in the community where they reside. Mr. Bowman is a Democrat. The Bowman family are all members of the St. Mary's Catholic church at Greensburg.

JAMES B. THROP.

Settlement was just beginning in Decatur county, Indiana, in 1821, when Thomas Throp, a native of New Jersey, who had immigrated to Warren county, Ohio, in 1817, came on west to Decatur county, Indiana, and pur- chased the northeast one-quarter of section 23, township II, range IO, com- prising one hundred and sixty acres and located in what is now Fugit town- ship. The deed for this farm, which was signed by James Monroe, was dated on December 17, 1821, and this worthy pioneer had previously entered the farm where a daughter, Margaret J., now resides, an entire section which he purchased at one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. It was Thomas Throp. the father of the late James B. Throp, who established the family in Decatur county. When he came to Decatur county, the land was covered

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with heavy timber, but he cleared a place for a home and later built a log cabin. His granddaughter, Margaret J. Throp, lives in the first brick house which he erected.

The late James B. Throp, who at the time of his death was one of the wealthiest farmers in Decatur county, owning six hundred and eighty acres of well-cultivated and fertle land, the son of Thomas and Ellen (Emily) Throp, was born on December 22, 1815, in Monmouth county, New Jersey, and died April 6, 1864. His father, who was born on October 17, 1776, was married on November 29, 1800, to Ellen Emily, who was born on November 30, 1784, and who died on August 12, 1859. They had ten children, William F., who was born on August 7, 1802; Bethany, December 15, 1804, who married Daniel Eden, of near Adams: Jane, March 4, 1807, who married James Freeman, a merchant of Greensburg; John 1., March 15, 1810; Mary Ann, December 23, 1812, who married a Mr. Gilham; James B., the subject of this sketch: Eleanor, February 10, 1818, who married Granville Kindred; Margaret Finley, April 26, 1820, married a Mr. Clark ; Charles C., December 6, 1822, and Wesley, November 29, 1825. All of these children erected homes in the vicinity of the old home on the Throp land.

The late James B. Throp was six years old when his parents moved from Warren county, Ohio, to Decatur county, Indiana, and when he was twelve years old, he moved with his parents to a brick mansion erected about 1827. In this house he lived continuously until his death, on April 6, 1884. Owning six hundred and eighty acres of land, during the latter years of his life, and being one of the most extensive farmers in Decatur county, he was naturally well known.

The wife of the late James B. Throp was Mary Kerrick, who was born near Fairfield, in Franklin county, Indiana, on August 15, 1830, and died in 1907, at the age of seventy-six. She was the daughter of Thomas and Phoebe Kerrick, of Loudoun county, Virginia. The Kerricks comprised an old family of the Old Dominion state and included many teachers and preachers. Mrs. Thomas Kerrick's mother was a prominent member of the Quaker church. Thomas Kerrick taught a subscription school in Franklin county and was paid partly in supplies and partly in cash. He had come from Virginia to Ohio, and finally to Franklin county, Indiana. in 1857. After purchasing land in Decatur county, he moved here. Rev. Nimrod Kerrick, a son of Thomas and the brother of Mrs. Throp, was for many years a prominent teacher and minister in Decatur county. He was the eldest child and the others were James, Walter, Armisted, Mrs. Mary Throp, Joanna, Hugh and Stephen, fourth child.

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The late James B. Throp and wife had three children, Ella, the wife of Marshall Newhouse, who died in 1907: Phoebe A., the wife of George Wirt, who lives in Fugit township, and Margaret J., who lives on the old home- stead and who owns one hundred and sixty acres of this farm and one hun- dred and cighty acres of her mother's original old home farm, a total of three hundred and forty acres. She is an active member of the Mt. Carmel Methodist Episcopal church.

Not only was James B. Throp a prominent farmer, but he was also prominent in fraternal and religious circles in his community, being a charter member of the Masonic lodge at Clarksburg and a regular attendant at the services of the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics he was an ardent Republican, who believed strongly in the principles of Abraham Lincoln and the principles of the party which Lincoln helped to found.

No volume purporting to set forth the historical annals of Decatur county would be complete which did not contain a record of the life and works of James B. Throp, a well-known citizen and farmer during his day and generation, one who had a large part in the pioneer development of this splendid county now in a high state of development. James B. Throp belonged to a family which has never failed to measure up to the opportunities and obligations of their time. The Throp family has performed well its duties in all the multifarious relations of human existence.

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History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions, Part 77

Author: Harding, Lewis Albert, 1880- [from old catalog] ed Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, B. F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1378

Author: Harding, Lewis Albert, 1880- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1378