USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 82
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ISAAC SHERA.
RESIDENCE OF ISAAC SIER.A.
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dred and twenty acres one mile south of Sardinia. A little later he added forty acres to the Sardinia tract, making one hundred and sixty acres, and in the meantime purchased eighty acres one mile west of the homestead. In a way, there is no complex chapter in his rise to success, except that he has fed all the grain he raises to live stock and has always striven to do the right thing at the right time and in the proper way. Although his farms are all rented they are kept in first-class condition, Mr. Shera devoting his time to looking after repairs and keeping up the land. In 1914, for instance, he had eight barns painted.
Isaac Shera was born on August 25, 1851, near Sardinia, in Decatur county, Indiana, the son of Caleb and Elizabeth (Shaffer ) Shera, the former of whom was born in 1815 and died in 1883, and the latter of whom died in 1868. Caleb Shera was a native of Ireland, who at the age of twenty-five came to America and settled in Bartholomew county, this state, moving westward to Decatur county after his marriage in Franklin county. Eliza- betli Shera was reared in Franklin county, the daughter of John and Cath- erine Shaffer, of Pennsylvania-German stock. Of the eleven children born to Caleb and Elizabeth (Shaffer) Shera, six are living and five are deceased. The deceased children are Mary Elizabeth; Isabelle, who died at the age of fifteen ; John Wesley; William, who died in the service of the Union army in a hospital at Nashville, Tennessee ; and Thomas M., who was a fariner. The living children are Catherine, of Lebanon, Indiana: James, of Lebanon ; Isaac, the subject of this sketch; Wilson M., a farmer of Jackson township; Sylvester C., who lives in Kansas; and Mrs. Martha A. Watkins, a widow who resides at Wellington, Kansas. The late Caleb Shera was a Republican, but had never aspired to office.
On November 28, 1878, Isaac Shera was married to Mary A. Updike, who was born on October 23, 1852, the daughter of Elijah and Matilda (Gilbert) Updike, the former of whom was born on August 4, 1818, and died on May 10, 1893. Peter Updike, the father of Elijah and grandfather of Mrs. Shera, was a native of Pennsylvania, who packed up his household goods in wagons and brought his family to the rough timber lands of Indi- ana, looking into the uncertain and dangerous future with faith in himself and in the God of his fathers. Nor was this pioneer's faith misplaced, as thie after years have proved. It was in Franklin county that Elijah Updike began life and when he had reached manhood he married and made his home on a farm two miles north of Westport, in this county. His wife, whose maiden name was Matilda Gilbert, was twice married, being at the time of
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her marriage to Elijah Updike, the widow of a Mr. Luse, who had a daugh- ter, Nancy J. Luse. Matilda Updike was a daughter of James Gilbert, whose enterprising spirit and ambition brought him from bonnie Scotland to this country in the days of his young manhood. He had a reputation in all the country around for his honesty and integrity, and his good business ability. His daughter, Matilda, was born in 1834 and passed away on July 1, 1889. On the farm on which Elijah Updike and wife settled in 1861 they spent the rest of their lives. They were the parents of four children, namely : William G., former commissioner of Decatur county; Mary Ann, who is the wife of Mr. Shera; Frank M., of Butler county, Ohio, and John Riley, who died in Franklin county when two years of age.
To Isaac and Mary A. (Updike) Shera have been born two children, the youngest of whom, Elmer Ray, was born on November 4, 1887, and died on April 22, 1889. Earl Leroy, the eldest, was born on November 2, 1885, and is a farmer in Jackson township. He married Mamie Clark and they have two children, Glen G. and Lucile.
Isaac Shera has one of the most beautiful country homes in Decatur county. His residence sets back fifty feet from the road, and is reached through an avenue of shade trees and shrubbery by a graveled driveway, the lawn being surrounded by a beautiful iron fence. Flowers are to be found everywhere, and everything is kept in the very neatest condition. There are two gas wells on the Shera farms. Isaac Shera erected all the buildings on his farm and is proud of his place and achievements, as he has a right to be. He has improved and remodeled more farms in Jackson township than any other resident thereof.
Mr. and Mrs. Shera are members of the Baptist church, Mr. Shera hav- ing joined that church at Westport on February 10, 1913. He is treasurer of the congregation and a trustee of the church. He gave land valued at sixteen hundred dollars on which the new church is to be erected, and also presented the congregation with a house and lot for a parsonage. In addi- tion he also donated the cash for the erection of the church and in this com- munity he is known as one of its most liberal citizens. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Letts, and he is a Republican, although he has never aspired to office.
A man who believes in public improvements and who believes not only in publie improvements, but in private improvements : who is industrious, frugal and business-like in habits; who is honorable and upright in his deal- ings with his fellows, Mr. Shera is entitled to the profoundest respect of the
A
JUDGE SAMUEL A. BONNER.
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public. Isaac Shera has been all of these things and today he not only is one of the more well-to-do citizens of the county, but he has also, in his race for fame and fortune, attained what is even more valuable, the good will of the people with whom he has come into contact.
JUDGE SAMUEL ALEXANDER BONNER.
The late Samuel Alexander Bonner, one of the judges of the common pleas court of Decatur county during the Civil War and a later judge of the circuit court, was one of the leading citizens of Decatur county for many years. Inheriting a love for righteousness and justice from his distinguished father, who left his home in Alabama in 1836 to escape the iniquities of slavery, Judge Bonner lived up to the high ideals of his worthy father in all things.
The late Judge Samuel Alexander Bonner was born on a plantation in Wilcox county, Alabama, on December 5, 1826, the son of James and Mary (Foster) Bonner. His parents were both of Scotch-Irish ancestry and descended from families who first settled in South Carolina. About 1830 the serious agitation against slavery was beginning in this country, started by men and women, first called fanatics, it was carried forward during a period of thirty years, culminating in the most serious civil crisis in the history of the world. James Bonner was bitterly opposed to the institution of slavery, and, finding that he could accomplish nothing against it in the state of his residence, he left the Southland in 1836 and came to the North, where slavery was an illegal institution. There were six children, four sons and two daugh- ters, who came North with the parents, when they located in 1836 near Springhill in Fugit township in the old United Presbyterian settlement. Of these four sons, James Foster died in 1913 at the age of ninety-two, in the city of Greensburg; Rev. John Irwin settled in Due West, South Carolina, and died in 1881, in the midst of eminent usefulness in ecclesiastical, editorial and educational service, as leader from 1847, in every department of church activity, and, for many years, editor of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian, and president of the Due West Female College : William Harvey died in 1874; Samuel A., is the subject of this sketch; two daughters, Margaret E. and Mary J. died in 1858 and 1864. respectively, while visiting a brother in South Carolina. The father, James Bonner, passed away in 1844.
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Any student of history will know that the educational advantages in pioneer settlements of the Hoosier state during the forties, were exceedingly limited. Fortunately, Samuel A. Bonner was not compelled to rely upon the pioneer schools for his education. He was able to attend the Richland Academy in Rush county, and, subsequently. Miami University, at Oxford. Ohio. Still later he was a student at Central College at Danville, Kentucky, and was graduated there in 1849. These two institutions, Miami University and Center College, at this period. offered perhaps the widest educational advantages west of the Alleghany mountains and it would be difficult to esti- mate what they did for the pioneer educational life of Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Samuel A. Bonner was only one of the young men of this early period who came under their protecting aegis.
After studying law in the office of Judge Andrew Davison. in Greens- burg, he was graduated from the law department of Indiana University in 1852. He then began the practice of his profession in Greensburg with Barton W. Wilson. Two years later he was elected a member of the Indiana General Assembly and was re-elected for a second term. About this time he was elected judge of the common pleas court of Rush and Decatur counties and served four years. In 1860 he became a law partner of the late Will Cumback, which partnership continued until Mr. Cumback retired from prac- tice. In 1877 Judge Bonner was elected to the circuit bench and served twelve years, when, upon his retirement from the bench. he became the senior part- ner of the law firm of Bonner, Tackett & Bennett, which firm continued for several years, with a few changes in the partnership meanwhile. It is note- worthy and shows the estimation in which he was held as a learned and impartial jurist that he was unopposed for his second term by both parties, and that no decision of his was ever reversed by a superior court. Judge Bonner loved the bench and cared little for the active practice of law, either as a counselor or as a solicitor. In fact, he rarely went into the court room after retiring from the bench. For nine years Judge Bonner was a member of the board of trustees of the Indiana School for the Deaf.
Having been elected a ruling elder in the Greensburg Presbyterian church in 1862. he served in this capacity until his death on April 5. 1904. He was always prominent in church work and six times was commissioner to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church, an exceptionally high honor for any layman and a fitting testimonial to his service in the church.
Judge Samuel A. Bonner was twice married, the first time in 1852 to Ella M. Carter, a niece of John I. Morrison, who was prominent in the pioneer
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educational affairs of the state. She died on October 27, 1861, leaving two daughters, Mrs. Lizzie C. Wampler, and Mrs. Minnie E. Dechant, a widow, both of Richmond, Indiana. The latter has one son, Frederick Bonner Dechant, a student at Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio. The former also has one son, John Bonner Wampler, a graduate of Purdue University, a civil engineer by profession, who is employed by the Chicago Lift Bridge Com- pany. He was married in June, 1913, to Hester Light, of Chicago.
Judge Bonner was again married on August 22, 1867, the second time to Abbie A. Snell, who was born at East Randolph, now Holbrook, Massa- chusetts, the daughter of Alvan and Anna ( Holbrook) Snell. Both the Hol- brook and Snell families were pioneers in the Old Bay state. Mrs. Bonner is descended from eight persons who came over to this country on the "May- flower," among them being Miles Standish, John Alden, Priscilla Mullins and Governor Bradford. On the Snell side of the family, several members fought in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Bonner is a direct descendant of both Joseph and Sarah Alden, children of John and Priscilla Alden. One child born to Judge and Mrs. Bonner, Anna Bingly, died in infancy.
Mrs. Abbie Bonner lives in her home in Greensburg, where the family located in 1869. She has traveled extensively during her lifetime. Edu- cated in Maplewood Institute at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, she began teaching in 1859 in Holly Springs, Mississippi, leaving there in June, after war was declared. After teaching in Massachusetts until 1865, she came to Greens- burg and was employed for two years as a teacher in the public schools. For six years after her marriage, she taught a private school in Greensburg at the solicitation of a number of residents. For thirty-five years she has been officially identified with the women's missionary work of the Presbyterian church in both Presbytery and Synod, being president for seven years in the latter and thirty-five years in the former.
Judge Samuel A. Bonner will be remembered in this county, not only as an eminent jurist and lawyer, but as one of the organizers of the Third National Bank at Greensburg, one of the leading financial institutions in the city. He was a director of this institution at the time of his death. Legis- lator, lawyer, jurist and banker, Judge Bonner was more than all of these, since he was an eminent, trustworthy and honorable citizen, a man who had a part in the best interests of the great county and state in which he lived. His life's career reflects high credit upon the personnel of the Decatur citizens during the last century, in which most of Judge Bonner's work was done. Whether he ruled over rich or poor, he administered justice conscientiously and impartially.
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WILSON M. SHAFER.
Among the earlier settlers of Ohio and Indiana we find none with sturdier ambition and more forceful character than those of Dutch lineage. Here was combined a spiritual ideal, along with a sense of the necessity of the material, the two making such a balance that such progeny was almost universally progressive and constructive, and consequently successful. It was a common phrase among the earlier inhabitants of these states, that "who- ever carries within his veins Dutch blood, carries a key to success," and this rule seems not to hay been altered when, on June 27, 1850, Wilson M. Shafer was born down in Jackson township, Decatur county, Indiana.
Wilson M. Shafer was the son of Rev. John Shafer, whose father was of Dutch ancestry born and reared in Pennsylvania, but who afterward removed to Butler county, Ohio, where, on Christmas day, 1813, John Shafer was born.
Rev. John Shafer, after spending his boyhood days in Butler county. moved to near Hamilton, Ohio, and after some years residence there, moved to Springfield, Indiana, in Franklin county, where he met and later married Ada McCaw, which union proved a most helpful and happy one, lasting until Mrs. Shafer's death on November 18, 1876.
There is a prevalent notion that the average minister is so engrossed with the affairs of his congregation that he is apt to neglect his own house- hold, but this never could have been said of John Shafer, for while he was at all times faithful to his ministerial obligations, he was also equally faithful to his parental duties. John Shafer was a regularly ordained Methodist min- ister and was subject to all of the hardships to which the "circuit rider" of his day was accustomed, yet this did not prevent him from accumulating, through the persistent efforts of himself and his faithful wife, the means wherewith to rear a large family.
John Shafer came from Ohio about 1835 and settled in Decatur county, Indiana, where he bought, at a very low price, a tract of timber land and. during the intervals between his ministerial and other duties, cleared this farm and soon had it under cultivation. He prospered, and soon another tract was entered and cleared, and thus his land investments increased until he at one time owned five hundred acres of good farming land. His thought was always of his home and of his children, of which the following were born into his family: Catherine, James and John, who, after they were almost fully grown, were stricken with typhoid fever, during an epidemic of that disease, and died: Asbury and Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Isaiah, who
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died in 1887, was a Union soldier who enlisted with the Seventh Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was wounded in battle at Port Republic, Virginia; Mary Jane, wife of John Shaw, of Greensburg, died in 1909; Amaretta (McComb), who died in 1874; Wilson M., the subject of this sketch; Josephine ( Rice), whose husband was a minister, died in Iowa; Richard William, now a resident of Greencastle, and Ada, who died at the age of eight.
Wilson M. Shafer, the ninth child of this notable family, was educated in the common schools of Indiana, but, like many of the sturdy settlers of the earlier days, secured his real education in the pioneer school of "Hard Knocks." He also attended Moores Hill College for one year. On August 15, 1877, he married Emma Clendenning, of Franklin county, and to them three children were born, J. Carl, of Anderson, Indiana, who married Ethel Ping, born in Virginia and a daughter of Senator Henry Ping, of Virginia. She is a fine musician. Ada Delse, who died at the age of two years, and Earl L., also of Anderson, Indiana, with the Union Traction Company.
Emma Clendening was born in Franklin county on May 16, 1856, and was the daughter of John and Hannah (Creager) Clendenning, natives of Ohio and of Franklin county, respectively. They were of Scotch ancestry and both died in Franklin county. John Clendenning was a son of John Clendenning, who emigrated from Scotland to this country and married a Miss Elliott, whose brother, John Elliott, was the first editor of the Western Christian Advocate.
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson M. Shafer, at the time of their marriage, secured a tract of eighty acres of partly cultivated land, cleared, ditched and other- wise so improved it that today it is said to be the best tract of land to be found anywhere in Jackson township. In 1882 they sold this farm at a highly profitable figure and purchased a one-hundred-and-sixty-acre tract, a part of the old home place, known as the Petree farm, located two miles west of Westport. Here the same process of improvement was pursued until this farm was brought up to standard in the way of soil requirements and modern buildings. A beautiful home was built and here Mr. and Mrs. Shafer lived and labored until in December, 191I.
Wilson M. Shafer, by his honesty and persistency, had won not only the admiration and respect of his neighbors, but of the whole county. He was a stanch Republican, and during the summer of 1911 was placed in nomination for county commissioner and elected to that office for a term of three years. After his election he decided to leave the farm and bought a beautiful resi- dence in Westport and in December of 1911 established his residence as a citizen of that town.
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It is almost useless to state that Mr. Shafer filled the office of county commissioner in a creditable and honorable manner, because one should know that character so well-grounded through years of service in knowledge of community needs would not sit idle when the moment and opportunity for action arrived. The three years of service which Mr. Shafer rendered his community in this office, showed many needed and constructive activities in which his ability and influence was in no manner negative.
Throughout their married life, Mr. and Mrs. Shafer have been active church workers and, while their activities have been not wholly sectarian, they are members of the Methodist church. Nor have they in any manner neglected their social and humanitarian obligations. Mr. Shafer is a mem- ber of the Westport Knights of Pythias, while Mrs. Shafer is a very ardent and active member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, of the Woman's Relief Corps and of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society.
During the winter of 1914-15, Mr. and Mrs. Shafer spent a period of time visiting in Florida and the Southern states. They visited many points of historical as well as of educational interest, and returned to Westport with renewed interest in life. Though they have announced to their friends that they have retired from active life, it is generally thought that the habits of an active life are so deep in the dye that Wilson and Emma Shafer will yet be busy with their Master's work.
FRANCIS D. ARMSTRONG.
Francis D. Armstrong, president of the First National Bank, of West- port, Indiana, is a scion of one of the old and honored families of the state, his grandfather having come here from Pennsylvania nearly a century ago. Deeply engraved in the history of Decatur county are the name and achieve- ments of Mr. Armstrong whose influence in the social and economic life of his community has been most potent and of the highest possible order. Not only because of his success as a man of affairs, but because of his strength of character and inflexibility of purpose, does his life history deserve to be incorporated in this publication whose function it is to record those personal biographies which have contributed to the advancement of the state as a national power. As a business man, as a farmer and banker, as well as in his religious, political and social relationships, Mr .. Armstrong has won a place of leadership, and the confidence of his associates.
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Ancestry plays such an important part in our lives that it seems that it is the silent, forceful background of every picture, and in the present instance, it is especially worthy of record. The honored citizen whose name forins the caption of this article, was born on March 15, 1847, in a place called "Jericho" in Sand Creek, but his father, Robert Armstrong, was a native of Pennsyl- vania. The latter was born in 1817, and when three years of age came with his parents to Decatur county, where they settled in Sand Creek township, east of Westport. Robert's father died soon after coming to this state, and the boy was reared in a rude pioneer cabin, surrounded by the love of his mother and brothers and sisters. In early manhood, Robert married Rebecca Jane Hamilton who later became the mother of nine children of whom Francis D. Armstrong was third in chronological order. Rebecca Hamilton was born in 1818, and was the daughter of James Hamilton, a relative of the Hamiltons of Fugit township. James Hamilton came here at an early date, and in passing, it is interesting to note that his wife, Judy, lived to the ripe age of ninety-nine years. The mother of Francis Armstrong died in 1856. His father settled on a farm east of Letts, first clearing the land in true pioneer fashion. It was in 1857 that he moved near Westport, and so proficient was he in the management of his agricultural interests, that by the time of the Civil War, he had become a large and influential landowner, hav- ing come into possession of three hundrd acres of well-improved land. He was also a speculator. It was one of his ambitions to be able to give each of his sons a farm, believing that with this much to start with, they should be able to succeed in life. The esteem in which he was held, is evidenced by the fact that for many years Robert Armstrong served as justice of the peace, and for several terms as township trustee. His interest in public affairs made him a political leader in the Democratic party. and he was equally force- ful as a church member. He was always a close student of the Bible, a supporter of the church and charities, and altogether, a public-spirited citizen in his sphere of influence in all civic and social matters, using the word social in its broad sense. His genial, whole-souled nature found pleasure in organ- ization, so it is not surprising to learn that he was a charter member of the Free and Accepted Masons of Westport. It is said that he never missed a meet- ing of his favorite lodge. The life history of this interesting personality might be said to close with his death in 1878, but his influence still lives in the hearts and lives of those who knew him, and of the town in which he made his home.
Returning for a moment to his immediate family, it is necessary to record that he had a number of brothers and sisters whose names were as
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follow: James, who died in 1877, William, also deceased; Sallie Barnes ; Jane Singleton ; Mary Falkenberg : Rebecca Boicourt, and Elizabeth Long- necker, all of whom have passed away.
With this significant ancestral setting in mind, we can approach the life history of Francis D. Armstrong, which .we are permitted only to sketch briefly, with added interest and undertaking. With parents such as he had, it is not surprising that Francis Armstrong has come to occupy the place he does in the locality of his home and in the hearts of his fellow citizens. Of Mr. Armstrong's two elder brothers, James W., died in 1909, and John lives four miles south of Greensburg in Marion township. Of his younger brothers, Oliver P., lives in Fayette county. Illinois ; George W. is deceased and Albert M., the latter, is a resident of Sand Creek township. Robert Armstrong married, secondly, Eliza June McDonald, who died in 1910. They were the parents of Robert F., of Letts, Sand Creek township; Mary Jane (Harding) of Westport, and Louisa Helen (Updike), also of Westport.
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