USA > Indiana > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 106
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Alexander Maurer was born on December 22, 1848, son of Christian and Susan (Rosell) Maurer, also natives of Switzerland, who spent all their lives there. At the age of twenty-five years Alexander Maurer came to the United States and proceeding to Indiana, settled in Fayette county, where he ever since has made his home. In 1875 he began farming on shares on the Shields farm in Harrison township and after his marriage in 1878 established his home there, continuing to farm that place for thirty-one years, at the end of which time, finding that the farm was too big for him to handle as he grew older, he bought a farm of seventy-two acres, where he now lives, just east of Hawkins, in Harrison township. There he built a house and barn and made other improvements in keeping with the same and is very comfortably situated. He has for years given much attention to the raising of fine live stock and has done much to improve the strain of , the stock raised in his part of the county. He is a member of the German
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Lutheran church, as was his wife. The latter died on March 22, 1915. She also was born in Switzerland, Anna Wenger, and there grew to young wom- anhood, coming thence to this country and locating in Hamilton county, Ohio, where on January 24, 1878, she was united in marriage to Alexander Maurer. To that union two children were born, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Margaret.
Ernest A. Maurer was reared on the Shields farm, where he was born and which he now owns, and received his schooling in the schools of that neigh- borhood. During his youth and young manhood he was the victim of a series of distressing accidents and seemed to have had more than his normal share of misfortunes up to the time of his marriage in 1904, but since then his "luck" seems to have turned and he not only has had no further accidents, but has prospered beyond the average. Seven times during his youth he was laid up with broken bones, his last accident having befallen him on the night before the date set for his wedding, when he was tossed by an angry bull and one of his shoulders and four of his ribs were broken. Just a few days before he had paid out about all his ready cash for a fine horse and two days after coming into possession of the same, the animal killed itself. Though not at all superstitious, Mr. Maurer cannot help recalling that several of his most serious accidents befell him on a Friday.
The spring following his marriage in 1904, Ernest A. Maurer began farming on his own account, starting as a renter on the farm on which he was born, and six years later bought that entire farm of two hundred and fifty acres and has since done much in the way of improving the same and bringing the farm plant up to modern standards. The place has a large brick house on it and this, as well as the barn, he has remodeled in up-to-date fashion, has built a new garage and has otherwise improved the place until it is regarded as one of the best-kept farms in that part of the county. In addition to his general farming, Mr. Maurer has given considerable attention to the raising of pedigreed Hereford cattle and has quite a bunch of fine, pure-bred stock of that strain. He has been quite successful in his opera- tions and he and his family are quite comfortably situated.
In 1904 Ernest A. Maurer was united in marriage to Rannah B. Wil- liamson, who was born on a farm near Lyons, this county, daughter of Edmond R. and Lucinda (Strong) Williamson, both of whom also were born in this county and who are now living retired at Connersville. Edmond R. Williamson was born on June 29, 1851, on the old Williamson home- stead, one mile south of Springersville, in Jennings township, this county, a
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son of Samuel E. and Elizabeth (Conoway) Williamson, the former of whom was born in 1807, a son of Moses and Jane (Riggs) Williamson, the former born in 1774 and the latter in 1788, who came over into Indiana from Ohio and settled on a farm one mile south of Lyons, in this county, in pioneer days. There Moses Williamson became the owner of two hundred and forty- three acres and there he and his wife spent their last days. Samuel William- son spent all his life on that same farm, one of the best-known farmers in that part of the county in his generation, he having been one of the most extensive stockmen thereabout. He died in 1858, leaving his widow with a large family of children. She was born, Elizabeth Conoway, in North Caro- lina and had come to this part of the country with her parents in pioneer days. She remained on the home farm the rest of her life, her death occurring in 1884.
On that pioneer farm in Jennings township, Edmond R. Williamson grew to manhood. After his marriage in 1874 he continued to follow farm- ing and gardening in that vicinity, living on that portion of the old home- stead that fell to his share, and there remained until 1894, when he moved to the old Mount farm in Harrison township, north of Connersville, where he lived for eight years, at the end of which time he moved to the Huber place, where he spent two years and a half. He then returned to the old William- son homestead, where he remained until his retirement and removal, in March, 1912, to Connersville, where he and his wife are now making their home. Mrs. Williamson, before her marriage, was Lucinda Strong. She was born in Waterloo township, this county, daughter of Wilson and Eliza (Fiant) Strong, well-known 'residents of that part of the county, both now deceased. Wilson Strong, who was a veteran of the Civil War, was born and reared in Waterloo township, a son of Moses and Susie (Gebe) Strong, the former of whom was born in North Carolina and became one of the early settlers in Waterloo township, this county, and the owner of a quarter of a section of land there. Wilson Strong bought a farm just on the western edge of Union county and there spent his last days. His wife, Eliza Fiant, was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, and came here with her parents, Martin and Lucinda (Schack) Fiant, of Pennsylvania-Dutch parentage, who moved from Ohio to Indiana and settled in Waterloo township, this county. Rannah B. Williamson was a little girl when her parents moved to the farm north of Connersville and she lived in that locality until her marriage to Mr. Maurer.
Mr. and Mrs. Maurer have one child, a son, Gail Wenger, who was born on December 4, 1913. Mrs. Maurer is a member of the Christian church and
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Mr. Maurer is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a mem- ber of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in the affairs of that organization takes a warm interest.
LAFE COKEFAIR.
Lafe Cokefair, former trustee of Jackson township and a substantial farmer and landowner of that township, now living retired in the village of Alquina, is a member of one of the oldest and best-known families in this part of the state. He was born over the line in the neighboring county of Union, December 8, 1869, son of Sylvanus and Mary A. (Brookbank) Cokefair, the former a native of that same county and the latter of this county, both members of pioneer families.
In an early day the name of Cokefair was one of the best-known in this section of Indiana. Associated with the Cokefair mills it was a synonym of fair dealing and honest service and the first of the name hereabout, Elisha Cokefair, grandfather of the subject of this sketch and the founder of the Cokefair family in this section of Indiana, was widely known, not only up and down the valley of the White Water, but throughout all the eastern part of the state and adjacent section of Ohio by reason of the products of his mills along the creek over in Union county, near the line of Fayette county. Elisha Cokefair was a man of untiring energy and established a woolen- mill, a saw-mill, a flour-mill and other enterprises in that settlement. He prospered in his affairs and at his deatlı in 1864 left an estate valued at above one hundred thousand dollars, a considerable sum of money in those days. It is narrated of Elisha Cokefair that so scrupulously fair and just was he in his dealings with his fellow-men that there was a standing offer at his woolen-mill to replace any product of that mill that showed signs of wear or required patching within one year of service; and it is said that rarely indeed did it become necessary to apply this guaranty, for clothes made of Cokefair goods were expected to last for four or five years.
Elisha Cokefair had a somewhat eventful career in his younger days. He was born in New Jersey in 1798 and was early apprenticed to learn the dyeing trade. Dissatisfied with the nature of that employment he presently escaped the indenture and ran away to sea, but was caught and taken back. Three months later he again escaped and started out to make his fortune in his own way, walking to Philadelphia and thence to Pittsburgh, in which latter
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city he obtained employment in a mill. His restless spirit, however, caused him to leave that city after awhile and he went on down the river to Cincin- nati, whence he and another boy presently proceeded on down to New Orleans. After working awhile in the latter city they decided to make their way to New York and took passage on a vessel that turned out to be a privateer or sonie such character of piratical craft and before they were long at sea they found themselves involved with the crew of that vessel in an attempt to board a merchant ship with piratical design. The boarders were repulsed, however, and the boys, whose eyes were thus opened to the nature of the craft on which they had taken passage, secured return passage on the merchantman and presently found themselves again in New Orleans. After awhile Elisha Cokefair returned to Cincinnati and remained there and in that vicinity until after his marriage to Frances Miller, in the meantime perfect- ing himself in the knowledge of the details of the milling business, particu- larly with reference to woolen-mills, and started a woolen-mill in Ohio, where he remained until 1822, when he sold his interests there and moved over into Indiana and in Union county, near the line of this county, east of Everton, erected a small woolen-mill, operated by power supplied by the creek there. Afterward he built a larger mill and a brick house, hauling the brick for the same for some miles in a wagon, the wheels of which were transverse sec- tions of a poplar log. He also built a saw-mill and a flour-mill, which he operated with success, and was likewise actively interested in other enter- prises his various activities giving him a wide acquaintance throughout this whole section of the country.
Sylvanus Cokefair, one of the sons of Elisha Cokefair, the pioneer manufacturer, was born at the old woolen-mills over in Union county in 1832 and grew up to a thorough acquaintance with the details of his father's extensive business. In 1854 he and his brother took charge of the mills and continued to operate the same until 1888, ever maintaining the high standard of excellence which gave to the products of the Cokefair mills such a wide reputation, the mill becoming known to every wool grower in Indiana and eastern Ohio. When the mill finally was abandoned, Sylvanus Cokefair then being the surviving owner, he left it just as it was when the stern compe- tition of more modern and more extensive mills put it out of business and it is still standing there on the creek, its ancient machinery now rusted and useless, a fine old relic of the early industrialism of this section. Sylvanus Cokefair lived to be within four days of eighty years of age, his death occur- ring on October 25, 1912, while on a visit to his son and his widow is still living at the old home over the line in Union county, in company with a
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married niece. She was born on a farm in the southwestern part of Jennings township, this county, February 7, 1845, a daughter of Henry and Lucinda (Corbin) Brookbank, the former of whom was a lifelong farmer in that section. To Sylvanus and Mary (Brookbank) Cokefair two children were born, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Alice May, who married San- ford Keltner and now lives at Anderson, this state.
Lafe Cokefair grew to manhood over in Union county, his earlier years being spent in his father's mill and in labor on the home farm, remaining there until he was twenty-five years of age. He married in 1891 and about three years later came to this county and located on a farm a quarter of a mile north of Everton, where he remained, actively engaged in farming, for nearly twenty years and became the owner of an excellent farm of three hun- dred and twenty acres, the same having two sets of houses on it. In 1915 Mr. Cokefair sold an "eighty" of his half section, including one of the houses, and moved to Alquina, where he now resides. On April 20, 1916, he bought a tract of one hundred and twenty acres lying near his old home farm and is now the owner of three hundred and sixty acres, all well improved. Mr. Cokefair is an ardent Republican and for four years, 1904-08, served as trustee of Jackson township.
On April 9, 1891, Lafe Cokefair was united in marriage to Mary Caro- line Murphy, who was born on July 18, 1873, in Jennings township, this county, on a farm adjoining that now owned by Mr. Cokefair, daughter of Frank and Sarah Elizabeth (Corbin) Murphy, both of whom were born in that same neighborhood. Frank Murphy was born on a farm near the Coke- fair farms in Jackson township in 1844, a son of Samuel Murphy and wife, and was living there when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted for service in the Union army and served for three years and four months. Upon the completion of his military service he resumed farming in Jackson township and remained there until his retirement and removal to Connersville, where he is now living with a daughter, Mrs. Sarah E. Sefton. His wife died on July 15, 1916, while on a visit to her daughter, Mrs. Cokefair. She was born in that same neighborhood, a daughter of Alfred and Katura Caroline (Myers) Corbin, both members of old families thereabout. The Myers family came here in pioneer times from the Carolinas and settled on "Congress land" in Columbia township.
To Lafe and Mary Caroline (Murphy) Cokefair four children have been born, namely: Elisha Alfred Cokefair, born on May 18, 1892, now managing his father's farm north of Everton, who married Alma Hubbell and has one child, a daughter, Carolyn Elizabeth; Frank Sylvanus Cokefair,
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born on June 10, 1896, now living at Connersville; Sanford Keltner Coke- fair, born on September 16, 1899, who is living with his brother Elisha on the old home farm, and Lafe, Jr., born on May 28, 1908. The Cokefairs are members of the Universalist church. Mr. Cokefair is a member of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the Knights of Pythias, of the Improved Order of Red Men and of the Haymakers and is affiliated with the encampment of the Odd Fellow order.
WARREN B. MURRAY.
Warren B. Murray, a well-known and substantial young farmer of Columbia township, this county, and former trustee of that township, is a native son of Fayette county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in Connersville township, a short distance west of the city of Con- nersville, June 6, 1882, son of William T. and Mary A. (Goble) Murray, well-known residents of this county, who are now living quietly and con- fortably retired at Connersville, where they have a pleasant home.
William T. Murray, who for years was actively engaged in farming and in buying and selling of live stock in this county, is a native of the Blue Grass state, born in Mason county, Kentucky, December 17, 1846, son of Jeremiah and Melinda (Steele) Murray, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Kentucky. Jeremiah Murray was about six years of age when he came with his parents, George Murray and wife, to this country, the family settling in Mason county, Kentucky, where he grew to manhood. His father later moved to Cincinnati, where he died in 1863. Jeremiah Murray married Melinda Steele, a daughter of William Steele and wife, natives of Pennsyl- vania, who had moved to Mason county, Kentucky. William Steel was a sol- dier in the War of 1812, a member of a Pennsylvania regiment, and partici- pated in the battles at Ft. Defiance, Ohio, and at Camden border. He later moved to Mason county, Kentucky, as above noted, and in 1854 moved to Cass county, this state, where he died in February, 1864, he then being seventy- six years of age. Some time after his marriage, Jeremiah Murray moved from Mason county, Kentucky, to the city of Louisville and thence to Cass county, Indiana, where he died at the age of thirty-six years. He was both a carpenter and a farmer. His widow later came to this county and here spent the remainder of her life, her death occurring in 1892. They were the parents of five children, of whom William T. Murray was the third in order of birth and the only one now living.
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William T. Murray was six years of age when his parents moved from Mason county, Kentucky, to Louisville, and was eiglit years of age when they moved to Cass county, this state, in 1854. He was but a boy when the Civil War broke out, but on January 23, 1864, he then being but little more than seventeen years of age, he and two brothers enlisted for service in Company K, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was attached to General Sherman's army, thus serving through the Atlanta campaign. He then returned with General Thomas to Nashville, where he was taken ill in 1865 and after recovering was transferred to the Seventeenth Veteran Reserve Corps, with which he was serving when honorably discharged on November 22, 1865. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Murray returned to his home in Cass county and was there engaged in farm- ing for a couple of years, at the end of which time he moved to Rush county, where he learned the harness-making trade and was engaged working at that trade until 1873, when, he having married the year before, he located on a farm in the Connersville neighborhood and for many years thereafter was actively engaged in farming, stock raising and in the buying and selling of live stock in this county, and has long been regarded as one of Fayette county's substantial citizens. He lived in the southern part of Connersville township until 1901, when he moved to a farm one mile north of Connersville, in Harri- son township, where he lived for seven years, at the end of which time he retired and moved to Connersville, where he and his wife are now living, and where they are pleasantly situated.
In 1872, at Connersville, William T. Murray was united in marriage to Mary A. Goble, of that city, and to that union eight children have been born, all of whom are living. Mr. Murray is an active Republican and has for many years paid close attention to local political affairs, a frequent delegate to county, district and state conventions. In 1896 he was elected assessor of Fayette county and for twenty years gave good service in that office. He is a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic and has for years given his earnest attention to the affairs of that patriotic organization.
Warren B. Murray grew to manhood in this county, early trained to the work of the farm and has been engaged in farming most of his life. After his marriage in 1904 he began farming for himself on the old Heman Jones homestead in Columbia township, where he now resides, their farm being one of the best-kept and most profitably cultivated places in that part of the county. In addition to his general farming Mr. Murray has given considerable atten- tion to the raising of live stock and in buying and selling the same and has
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done very well. He is a Republican and served for some time as trustee of Columbia township, his term of office expiring on January 1, 1915.
On February 1I, 1904, Warren B. Murray was united in marriage to Nellie Utter, who was born in Columbia township, this county, daughter of Robert and Mary F. (Joues) Utter, the latter of whom is still living on her old home farin in that township, a farm adjoining the farm on which she was born. Robert Utter was born on the farm on which his widow is now living, on January 2, 1843, a son of Zimri and Susan (Winchell ) Utter, natives of New York state, the former of whom was born on August 14, 1796, and the latter, June II, 1798, who came to Indiana with their respective parents in 1816, the families settling in Fayette county, where Zimri Utter and Susan Winchell were married on December 25, 1817, and where both spent the remainder of their lives, the latter dying on November 6, 1864, and the former surviving until January 30, 1880. Zimri Utter was one of the best-known and most substantial farmers of Columbia township in his day and. for years served as justice of the peace in and for that township.
Robert Utter grew up on the farm where he was born and on August 22, 1862, he then being nineteen years of age, enlisted at Indianapolis for service during the Civil War, as a member of Company L: Third, Indiana Cavalry, serving in General Kilpatrick's command until his term of enlistment expired, when he re-enlisted in Company A, Eighth Indiana Cavalry, and was mustered out with that command on July 20, 1865, with the rank of sergeant. During his service he received an injury to his right arm, which proved permanent and his armı was thereafter seriously crippled. Upon the completion of his mili- tary service Robert Utter returned to the farm and engaged in the practical labors of the same. He married in 1877 and continued to make his home on the old home place until his election to the office of county treasurer in. 1880, when he moved to Connersville, the county seat. He was re-elected in 1882 and thus served as treasurer of the county for two terms. He had previously, in 1868 and in 1869, served as trustee of Columbia township and was ever interested in local civic affairs. Following his service as county treasurer Rob- ert Utter became part owner of a flour-mill at Connersville and was for a couple of years engaged in the milling business there. He then returned to the old home farm in Columbia township, and there spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on April 1, 1907. His widow, who still survives, continues to make her home there. where she owns two hundred acres of land, besides two hundred and forty acres of the adjoining farm on which she was born, a total of four hundred and forty acres.
In 1877 Robert Utter was united in marriage to Mary F. Jones, who
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was born on the farm adjoining that on which she now lives, July 12, 1839, daughter of Heman and Lydia A. (Hughes) Jones, the former a native of the state of New Hampshire and the latter of Virginia, early settlers in Columbia township, this county. Heman Jones was born near Hanover, New Hamp- shire, June 10, 1812, a son of Nathan and Elizabeth (Spaulding) Jones, natives of Massachusetts, of English extraction, who had moved to New Hampshire and after a sometime residence in the vicinity of Hanover had moved to Vermont; thence back to New Hampshire and thence, in 1820, to Huron county, Ohio, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Heman Jones was but a boy when his parents moved to Ohio and when about six- teen years of age he went to Mt. Vernon, that state, where he began learning the shoemaker's trade, completing his apprenticeship at Springfield, Ohio. He spent the winter of 1829 working at his trade at Hamilton, Ohio, and then went to Mason county, Kentucky, where he followed his trade until 1831, when he came up into Indiana and bought a boot-and-shoe store at Liberty, in Union county, where he married in 1835 and where he continued in busi- ness until October, 1838, when he sold his store and moved over into Fayette county, where he bought a farm of eighty acres in Columbia township. A few years later he traded that place for a quarter of a section of unimproved land in the same township and there established his home. As he prospered he added to his holdings until he became the owner of a fine farm of about six hundred acres, besides other valuable holdings, being regarded as one of the well-to-do citizens of Fayette county in his day. In the fall of 1884 Heman Jones retired and moved to Connersville, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on November 22, 1905, he then being ninety-four years and five months of age. His wife had preceded him to the grave about ten years, her death having occurred on July 7, 1895, she then being seventy- seven years of age. She was born, Lydia A. Hughes, in Campbell county, Virginia, November 26, 1817, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Fosdick) Hughes, who became early residents on this part of Indiana, settling in Union county at an early day. Robert Utter was a member of the Chris- tian church, as is his widow, and their children were reared in that faith, There are two of these children living, Mrs. Murray having a brother, Ottis, who is farming his mother's farm. There was another daughter, who died in childhood, while the family was living at Connersville. Mr. and Mrs. Murray have four children living and one, a daughter, who died in infancy, those living being Mary Candace, Frederick Maynard, Robert Milton and John Richard.
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