USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 91
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There is an old saying that blood will tell, and if we believe in this statement we must say that Mr. and Mrs. Fee, by their every thought, word and act. are fulfilling the noble desires and traditions of two families which have figured prominently in the public and religious life of two continents.
J. MINOR GASTON.
Indianapolis, the state capital, has gained many very excellent citizens at the expense of Decatur county, the Decatur colony at the capital .being one of the most strongly marked and individualized of any of the state's numerous county colonies there. The attractive force of Indiana's chief city and political center has drawn from all ranks of Decatur county's social order, and most all the industries and professions in the capital are repre- sented among those who have left the borders of this county, seeking wider opportunity there for the exercise of their talents. Among those who thus have departed. few have left pleasanter memories among their friends who remain here than the family of the Gastous, who, in the spring of 1912, moved to Indianapolis, where Mr. Gaston has found an ample outlet for
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his enterprise and energy in the banking business, a business which he proved himself so well qualified for during his residence in the village of Westport, this county. Though he no longer is a resident of Decatur county, J. Minor Gaston still retains considerable property interest in and about his former home at Westport and still likes to regard himself as one of the Decatur county folk. It is quite fitting therefore that some record of his life in this county, together with a brief history of his interesting family, should be set out in this volume of biographical reference to the men and the women who have helped to make Decatur county what it is-one of the most favored sections of the proud old Hoosier state.
J. Minor Gaston was born at Sardinia, Decatur county, Indiana, on September 19, 1856, of excellent pioneer stock, the son of Francis M. and Margaret (Gray) Gaston, both natives of Butler county, Ohio, who came to this county in the year 1849, locating in Jackson township, in the village that at that time was known by the name of Maxwell, where Francis M. Gaston engaged in the general merchandise business. Upon opening his store in the village, Mr. Gaston gave a great sardine supper, free to all who would attend, as a means of advertising, in a day when newspaper adver- tising was not so much a factor in commercial enterprises as it is today. Needless to say, the sardine supper was attended by the entire countryside and the fame of the unique "spread" became enduring. About that time Maxwell attained the dignity of being made a postoffice, and, on account of there being another Maxwell postoffice in the state, it became necessary for the villagers to select another name for their town. In compliment to Mr. Gaston, and to perpetuate the fame of his sardine supper, the people unanimously agreed that the town should be called "Sardinia," and the post- office department so ordered. And Sardinia it is to this day.
Francis M. Gaston was reared on a farm in Butler county, Ohio, not far from the city of Cincinnati, and there he married Margaret Gray, one of the belles of his home neighborhood. As stated above, the Gastons cane to this county, locating at Sardinia, where Mr. Gaston operated a general store for five or six years, becoming one of the best known men in that entire section of the county. The success which attended his effort as a village storekeeper enabled him presently to purchase an excellent farm of two hundred and forty acres in the neighborhood, and on this farm he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, his death occurring in 1893 and hers in 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Gaston were among the most influential fac- tors in the life of that community. They both were persons of strong moral
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fiber and were active in promoting all causes designed to advance the gen- eral good.
J. Minor Gaston's youth was spent in and near the village of Sardinia, his elementary education being received in the schools of that village. This schooling he supplemented by a course in the National Normal College, at Lebanon, Ohio, following which he went to the village of Westport, this county, where he engaged in the general merchandise business, continuing this form of commercial activity for four years. He also owned farm lands near Westport and gave these his direct personal attention. About the year 1905, Mr. Minor engaged in the banking business in Westport with J. S. Morris, who previously had opened a bank there, operating the same as a private bank. In 1912 Mr. Gaston sold his interest in the Westport bank and moved to Indianapolis, in which city he aided in the organization of the Marion County State Bank, being elected to the position of vice-presi- dent of the same, holding that position until 1914, in which year he was elected president of the bank, a position in which he is still serving. The other officers of the bank are Mr. Minor's son-in-law, Clarence C. Deupree, another Decatur county man, who is cashier, and John Duvall. vice-presi- dent. With Mr. Gaston's and Mr. Deupree's connection with this bank, it is hardly necessary to say that all Decatur county people find a hearty wel- come when they step into that popular financial institution while visiting the capital city.
In 1913 Mr. Gaston also helped organize the Beech Grove State Bank, at Beech Grove, a suburb of Indianapolis. While officially known as the assistant cashier of this latter institution, Mr. Gaston is practically manager of the same, devoting nearly all of his time to this bank, being the only member of the management who does so. He has disposed of most of his holdings in this county, though still retaining some property at Westpoint. which place, through long association, he still likes to think of as home.
In 1885 J. Minor Gaston was united in marriage to Lottie Beesley, who was born at Brewersville, Indiana, daughter of Robert and Charlotte (Brum- ley) Beesley, the latter of whom is a native of England, having been brought to this country by her parents in her girlhood, and the former of whom was born in this country, of English parents, his birth having oc- curred shortly after his parents arrived in America. Robert Beesley and Charlotte Brumley were married at Brookville, this state, later moving to Jennings county, this state, where their daughter, Lottie, was reared on a farm. Mr. and Mr. Beesley remained on the Jennings county farm until the year 1910, when they moved to Sardinia, this county, where their old
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age is being spent in quiet and pleasant retirement. During his residence in Westport Mr. Gaston was accounted one of the most forceful and ener- getic men thereabout and much credit is given him by the people of that village for the part he took in public affairs there. In 1906 he was the president of the town board. During the years since its establishment as a hamlet, the town had grown up around the old cemetery, creating a situa- tion that was very distasteful to many of the townspeople. Mr. Gaston promoted a movement for the location of a new cemetery, well outside the town limits. An ordinance to this effect was adopted by the town board and bonds were offered for sale. For some reason, however, these village bonds would not sell. Upon consulting an attorney, Mr. Gaston found that he was not barred from being a buyer of the bonds, even though a member of the board which authorized their issue, and he purchased the entire issue on his individual responsibility, thus insuring to the village the location of the cemetery at the point most popularly favored by the people thereabout. Though the action in moving the cemetery for a time aroused some opposi- tion in the neighborhood, some desiring to retain the time-honored burial ground, that opposition long since has vanished, all now agreeing upon the desirability of the change. Westport cemetery, the new burial ground, is a beautiful plot, a credit to the town, and the townspeople are proud of it. The first interment in the new Westport cemetery was that of the body of Christopher Stott, who, at the time of his death, was the oldest man in Sand Creek township.
To J. Minor and Lottie (Beesley) Gaston one child has been born, a daughter, Stella Edith, who was born and reared on the same farm as was her father. On October 20, 1910, Stella Edith Gaston was united in mar- riage to Clarence C. Deupree, son of Thomas M. and Laura V. (Pritchard) Deupree, a member of one of the old families of this section of the state, who was born at Westport, this county, on January 8. 1888, and to this union there has been born one child, a son, Robert Gaston. Mr. Deupree is cashier of the Marion County State Bank at Indianapolis, and a bio- graphical sketch of him. with a genealogy of his family, is presented else- where in this volume.
Mr. and Mrs. Gaston are members of the First Baptist church at Indian- apolis and are earnest in good works, the same kindly influence they exerted for so many years during the time of their residence in this county having been extended to their new field of labor in the state capital, where they have made many friends and are held in the highest esteem by all who know them.
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ISAAC H. TAYLOR.
The late Isaac H. Taylor, a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- vania, who came to Decatur county, Indiana, with his parents in 1842, became, during his life, one of the most prominent farmers of Decatur county, and was rated by the friends he had and the men who knew him as one of the best citizens of the county. His goodness of heart and gener- ous, lovable disposition naturally attracted to him many warm and ardent friends whom he cherished highly. Ever tender and loving to his wife and children, all were left, at his death, well provided with the comforts of life which the husband and father had worked so patiently and so diligently to acquire.
Born on July 26, 1838, Isaac H. Taylor passed away quietly on January 21, 1903, a few months after moving to Greensburg, Indiana. Mr. Taylor first settled on a farm near Horan, Indiana, which he later sold and then moved to a farm near Gaynorsville, on which he lived until his removal to Greensburg. This latter farm consisted of one hundred and sixty acres and. due to Mr. Taylor's prodigious toil, it was brought up to a high state of cultivation.
The late Isaac H. Taylor was twice married, the first time to Mary E. Miller, November 18, 1860. She died on November 30, 1863, and he mar- ried, secondly, March 9, 1865, Emily A. McConnell, who was born March 8, 1841, in Decatur county, the daughter of Archibald and Emily ( Burk) McConnell, natives of Kentucky and early settlers in Decatur county. Of their family of seven children, only one, Mrs. Taylor, is now living. The parents died in 1851, when Mrs. Taylor was only ten years old. Her mother was the daughter of John Burk, a native of Kentucky, who built Burk's Chapel. The six deceased children, brothers and sisters of Mrs. Taylor, were: Elizabeth, Patsy Jane. John Burk, Archibald, Nancy and Chesley.
Of the children born to Isaac H. and Emily A. (McConnell) Taylor, three are deceased and four are still living : Emma, born on July 18. 1866, is the wife of Ira Scripture and lives at Moores Hill; George died in infancy ; John, October 10, 1867, married Mollie S. Jackson on December 29, 1895, and lives in Henry county ; James, October 2, 1871, lives on a farm near Sandusky, Decatur county; Mary died in infancy ; Gertrude, October 2, 1875, died December 31, 1893. and Hugh, February 2, 1879. living on a farm two miles north of Greensburg, married Otie Fiscus.
Of the late Isaac HT. Taylor it may be said that he was one of the best
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men in all Decatur county, a man whose heart was pure, whose motives sincere and aboveboard, and whose will was centered on any means which might be taken to uplift his neighbors or his fellows. During his residence in the country, he and his wife were loyal and faithful members of Burk's Chapel of the Methodist Episcopal church, a building which had been ori- ginally erected by Mrs. Taylor's maternal grandfather. Faithful in all of the duties of life, Isaac H. Taylor well deserved the confidence of his fellow- men. This confidence, so freely bestowed upon him, was the result of true merit.
R. RAY HAMILTON.
The Hamilton family in Greensburg township, this county, is descended from William Warder Hamilton, who was one of the best-known farmers and citizens of the state, a native of Carlisle, Kentucky, born in 1821, who died in 1907. Coming to Decatur county, Indiana, during the forties, he settled in Fugit township and became one of the largest farmers in this sec- tion of Indiana. He was especially well known because of his connection with the board of agriculture, having for some time served as president of that body. R. Ray Hamilton, the subject of this sketch, is a representative of the third generation of this family in Decatur county, a grandson of Will- iam Warder Hamilton.
R. Ray Hamilton was born on April 8, 1876. the son of William Brutus and Catherine (Cunningham) Hamilton, the former of whom was born in 1848 and died on September 17, 1903, and the latter of whom was born in Warren county, Ohio, in 1849 and died in February, 1905. William Brutus Hamilton was one of two sons born to William Warder Hamilton and wife. Cassins, the other son, is a farmer living near Greensburg and is well known throughout the county. Mrs. Catherine Hamilton was a well-educated, intelligent and refined woman, who, after coming to Decatur county from Ohio. tanght school for several years until her marriage to William Brutus Hamilton. They had four children: William Cassins, who is a coal dealer in Indianapolis; Florine, the wife of Elmer Roland, formerly of Columbus, Indiana, who has one child, Kathryn; Richard Ray, the subject of this sketch, and Harry Warder, a well-known manufacturer of Indianapolis, who mar- ried Disney Bird, to which union three children were born, two now living and one deceased, William Warder, Helen Florine and Harry Cassius. the latter of whom died in 1914 at the age of three years.
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R. Ray Hamilton received a splendid educational training for business. After completing the prescribed course in the public schools of Greensburg, being graduated from the high school, he was for some time a student in one of the business colleges at Indianapolis, where he was especially well prepared for business. For several years he was engaged in the stone busi- ness with his father-in-law, Ira J. Hollenshe. At the present time they are engaged in the manufacture of antomobile radiators, the firm being known as the Take-Apart Radiator Company, the auto radiator being an invention controlled by the firm. This company has enjoyed an unusual success, due in a large measure to the business foresight of Mr. Hamilton. His excep- tional business ability is not unusual, since his father, William Brutus Hamn- ilton, was a very successful business man. Reared on a farm, his father was engaged for many years in the hardware business and later became a pioneer promoter of telephone enterprises, in association with the Bell Tele- phone Company. He was the manager of many telephone companies and at one time, in association with five other members of the family, owned the Hamilton Gas Company, a concern which was finally sold to the Muddy- fork company. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church and he was politically identified with the Democratic party.
On June 8, 1898, R. Ray Hamilton was married to Myrtle Hollensbe, the daughter of Ira J. Hollensbe, for many years a well-known manufac- turer of Decatur county, and to this union three children have been born : Ira Brutus, born on September 4, 1899: Richard Ray, July 13. 1901, and William Hollensbe, November 5. 1909.
Mr. Hamilton is a Democrat and is at present a member of the Greens- burg board of education. He was a member of the board at the time the new high school building was erected. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton are active members of the Presbyterian church at Greensburg.
Not only has R. Ray Hamilton made a gratifying success in business, but his success has not been won by any sacrifice of principle or yielding up of the respect of those with whom he has had dealings. As a citizen, he has been especially active in educational affairs and is entitled to no small part of the credit for the high standard of the Greensburg schools today. - Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton are socially popular in Greensburg and are among the most hospitable entertainers in the city.
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CLIFFORD G. ASKIN.
Among all the numerous county reunions held at Indianapolis during the summer months, meetings for the foregathering of the former residents of the respective counties of the state who, for one reason or another, have found their ways to the capital city, none is more largely attended or marked by a larger flow of real fraternal feeling than is the annual reunion of Decatur county folk now living in the capital. Much of the success and good fellowship of these annually recurring reunions of exiled Decatur county folk undoubtedly may be attributed to the untiring zeal of the genial . president of the Decatur County Association of Indianapolis, Clifford G. AAskin, a former well-known resident of Forest Hill, this county, who for niany years has been engaged in business at Indianapolis, where he has made . a distinctive place for himself as a funeral director. Mr. Askin is one of the best-known undertakers in the state of Indiana, his reputation, indeed. extending beyond the borders of the state. He is proprietor of the well- known Askin Training School of Embalmers at Indianapolis, an institution which counts its graduates in all parts of the country, and since 1911 he has held the chair of embalming in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, a position which has given him a most unusual opportunity to aid in the dissemination of proper information regarding the best and most hygienic disposition of the dead. In the councils of the National Undertakers' Asso- ciation and of the Indiana State Undertakers' Association, Mr. Askin occu- pies an important and leading position, his counsels ever being accepted with respect and consideration in those bodies. Among all the many Decatur county folk who have gone out into the wider world none is held in higher esteem here at home than he, and it very properly may be said that none retains a livelier interest in old home affairs. It is his constant delight to keep in touch with his old home and with his many friends in this county, and he is acknowledged by the Decatur county colony at Indianapolis to be the very life of the annual reunions of that colony in the capital city.
Clifford G. Askin was born at Forest Hill, this county, on March 31, 1878, the son of George and Hannah (Harris) Askin, the former of whom was born in 1836 and died on March 10, 1910. George Askin was born at Tobbercurry, near Sligo, Ireland, a son of Richard and Ann Askin, the latter of whom was of English birth. Richard Askin died when his son, George, was ten years old, and his widow emigrated to America with her little family of four sons and one daughter, of whom George was the young-
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est. The family landed in New York City, proceeding thence to Rochester, New York, in which city George remained, the other members of the fan- ily coming to this county, where the eldest son established a permanent home for his mother and brothers and sister in the Forest Hill neighborhood. George Askin was apprenticed to the cabinet maker's trade at Rochester. and remained there until he had completed his trade, at the end of which time he rejoined his family in this county. Here he followed his trade for a few years, after which he entered a general store at Forest Hill as a clerk. This form of business appealed to him so strongly that he presently bought the store from his employer and continued in business at Forest Hill for more than twenty-five years, becoming a man of large and admir- able influence throughout that whole section of the county. In the spring of 1896 he sold his store and bought a farm at the edge of Forest Hill, where he engaged in farming until 1909, in which year lie retired and moved to Indianapolis, where his death occurred the following March. Mr. Askin ever was interested in movements affecting the public welfare in the county and particularly in that section of the county in which for so many years he was a leader in business affairs. During the seventies and early eighties he was postmaster of Forest Hill and was very popular as an offi- cial, his service in that connection being fondly remembered by the older people thereabout. He was a member of the Methodist church, in the affairs of which he ever took a warm interest, and was a potent factor for good in the community. He was a stanch Republican, though not in any way offensive in his partisanship, respecting the views of others, even as he was firm in his own views and opinions. As a leader of the party in his section of the county, his political services throughout the county ever were appre- ciated by the managers of the party in this section of the state.
In 1868 George Askin was united in marriage to Hannah Harris, who was born at Dunlapsville, near Liberty, Indiana, a daughter of Isaac and Sarah ( Kromb) Harris. Isaac Harris was born in New Jersey, in which state his youth was spent. He became a very proficient shoemaker and in his early manhood came to Indiana, locating at Dunlapsville, where he opened a shoeshop and where the rest of his life was spent. His wife, Saralı Kromb, was born in Union county, this state, a daughter of John and Saralı (Combs) Kromb, the foriner of whom was a native of Holland, and the latter a native of New Jersey. John Kromb emigrated to this country in his young manhood, coming to Indiana, where he became a well-known pioneer of the Liberty neighborhood. Sarah Kromb grew up in Union . county and was married there to Isaac Harris. In 1855 Isaac Harris and
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his family moved to Boone county, this state, where, in 1858, Mrs. Harris died, leaving seven children, Mrs. Askin being one of these. Upon the death of his wife, Isaac Harris moved back to Union county, where he remarried and moved to Rush county, where his second wife died. He married again and spent the rest of his life in Rush county, his death occur- ring in the town of Glenwood. Mrs. Askin spent her girlhood partly in Franklin and partly in Union county, later living at Lebanon, in Boone county. Upon her marriage to Mr. Askin her home was changed to Forest Hill, in this county, where she immediately became a strong factor in the social and religious life of that community, her influence ever being exerted for the good. She is now living in Indianapolis, honored and respected by all who know her.
To George and Hannah (Harris) Askin were born three children, namely: Clifford G., the immediate subject of this sketch; Henry J., a well-known member of the Indianapolis detective force, and Effie M., who married John M. Barbour and lives at Lawrence, Indiana.
Clifford G. Askin spent his early youth in the town of Forest Hill, his education being received in the excellent schools of that town. When he was eighteen years of age his father moved to the farm, and there Clifford G. remained until he was twenty-four years of age, at which time he moved to Indianapolis, entering upon a position there with an undertaking firm. He remained with this firm one year, at the end of which time he formed a partnership with Charles H. Royster, and went into business for himself, the establishment of Royster & Askin at that time being located in the western part of the city. This firm continued operations there for five years, and in 1910 moved to its present centrally located and commodious quarters at 837 North Illinois street, in the city of Indianapolis, where it has a large and constantly growing patronage among the best families in the city. This establishment is one of the finest and most thoroughly equipped in the state of Indiana.
Clifford G. Askin, as stated in the introduction to this narrative, has made for himself a distinctive place in undertaking circles over the state and throughout the middle states, and enjoys the unreserved confidence of business circles generally in Indianapolis. Two years after he had estab- lished the Askin Training School of Embalming, Mr. Askin associated with him in that branch of the business Dr. W. B. Ryan, another Decatur county man, who was added to the staff as instructor. Doctor Ryan died two years or more ago, since which time Mr. Askin has conducted this valuable train-
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