USA > Indiana > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 113
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To Joseph A. and Anna Catherine (Hornung) Moore eight children have been born, one son and seven daughters. The only son, Edwin L., died when three years of age. The daughters are all living, as follow; Caroline, who married Paul Kidd and lives near Everton; Lura May, who is living at Connersville: Ethel, who is teaching a school, and Mary Catherine, Nora Isabel, Freda Marine and Neva Lavonne, who are at home with their parents. The Moores have a very pleasant home and take a proper part in the general social activities of the community in which they live. Mr. Moore is a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization,
RICHARD A. S. McMULLEN.
Richard A. S. McMullen, one of Fayette county's best-known and most substantial retired farmers and landowners, proprietor of a fine farm in Waterloo township, now living in the nearby city of Richmond, is a native son of Fayette county and has lived here, actively engaged in farming, until his recent retirement and removal to Richmond, where he built a modern house on south Nineteenth street. where he now resides. He was born on May 10, 1845, in an old stone house which is still standing, on the farm which he now owns and on which he made his home until his recent retirement
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and removal to Richmond, a son of Henry Kendall and Ann (Cave) McMullen, early settlers in that part of this county, who spent their last days in Richmond, this state.
Henry Kendall McMullen was born near Stannardville, Virginia, Octo- ber 10, 1808, a son of James and Edy ( Kendall) McMullen, the former of whom was born in October, 1771, and the latter, February 25, 1775. He grew up in Virginia and there married Elizabeth Taylor, by whom were born four children, two of whom died in Virginia and two of whom came to Indiana, grew up in this county and here reared families. It was about the year 1836 that Henry K. McMullen came to Indiana with his family from Virginia, settling in Wayne county, where his wife died: On April 19, 1838, he niafried Mrs. Ann (Cave) McMullen, widow of his deceased brother, William McMullen. She was born in Orange county, Virginia. March 19, 1807, daughter of Abner and Ann Cave. In 1839 Henry K. McMullen moved over into Fayette county and settled on a farm in the northeastern part of Waterloo township, the place where the subject of this sketch was born, and there he remained, an active and prosperous farmer, until 1887, when he moved to Richmond, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring about two years later, in August, 1889. His widow sur- vived him for more than twelve years, her death occurring in February, 1902. Henry K. McMullen ever took an active part in local public affairs and held various local positions of trust, in the performance of the duties of which he ever had the best interest of the public at heart. He was progressive in his principles, voted for Fremont because of his detestation of the institution of slavery and in his later years warmly espoused the cause of the Prohi- bition party. He and his wife were earnest members of the Methodist Epis- copal church and he for years was a leader in the local church of that denom- ination.
Richard A. S. McMullen grew to manhood on the farm in the south- western part of Waterloo township, where he was born, and after his mar- riage in the fall of 1887, his father retiring from the farm about that time, established his home there and remained there until early in 1917, when he moved to Richmond, where he had built a comfortable home and where he now resides. Mr. McMullen is an able farmer and during his many years of residence on the farm came to be recognized as one of the most substan- tial citizens of that part of the county. He is the owner of about five hun- dred and seventy acres of excellent land and in his farming operations has done very well. His land is well improved and unincumbered and his farm plant is fully up to the standards of modern methods of agriculture.
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On November 26, 1887, Richard A. S. McMullen was united in. mar- riage to Sarah Gertrude Wood, who was born in the neighboring county of Union, a daughter of Alexander and Melinda (Lower) Wood, well-known residents of that county, and to that union five children were born, namely : Henry A, Fiske, who died in February, 1889, at the age of five months; Har- riet Ann, who married Walter G. Knollenberg, of Richmond, and has one child, a daughter, Gertrude Agnes; Frances Melinda, twin sister of Harriet, who married Hollis Ward Hanson, of Connersville; Dorothy Alexandria, who is at home with her father, and Mary Alice, who is at school at Glen- dale. The mother of these children died on June 23, 1916. She was a life- long member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the faith of which church Mr. McMullen also was born and reared, and was for years one of the lead- ers in the work of the congregation to which she was attached, so that in her death she was greatly missed in the community in which she had so long been an active influence for good.
A. P. HELVIE, D. V. S.
Dr. A. P. Helvie, well-known veterinary surgeon at Connersville, was born at Muncie, this state, February 1, 1872, a son of S. H. and Jennie Helvie, who later settled in Fayette county. S. H. Helvie was born in Dela- ware county and after his marriage made his home in Muncie until 1881, when he came to this county and located on a farm in Jennings township, remaining a farmer here until his death.
Having been but about nine years of age when he came with his par- ents to this county, A. P. Helvie completed his common-school education in the schools of Connersville. He then attended the Central Normal School at Danville for a couple of terms, at the end of which time he returned to the home farm in this county and remained there until his marriage in 1892 to 'Emelia Moore, after which he engaged in farming on his own account and farmed for five years. He long had been a close student of live stock and the ailments of the same and finally concluded to turn his attention to veterinary surgery as a profession, and with that end in view then entered the Indiana Veterinary College at Indianapolis, from which he was graduated in 1900, with the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Surgery. Thus qualified for the practice of his profession, Doctor Helvie opened an office at Con- nersville and has since been engaged in practice there. Doctor Helvie keeps
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closely abreast of the advances being made in his humane profession and is a member of the Indiana State Veterinary Association and of the Fayette County Veterinary Association, in the deliberations of which bodies he takes an active interest.
Doctor Helvie is a Republican and has ever taken a good citizen's interest in local political affairs, but has not been a seeker after office. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodges of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and with the Knights of Pythias and in the affairs of these popular organizations takes a warm interest.
B. W. COOPER, M. D.
Dr. B. W. Cooper, one of Connersville's well-known physicians, is a native Hoosier and has lived in this state all his life. He was born on a farm in Hendricks county, this state, September 1, 1874, a son of the Rev. Shelby Cooper, for many years one of the best-known ministers of the Meth- odist Episcopal church in Indiana, having had charges in various parts of the state during his long and successful ministry.
Completing his common schooling in the high school at Cartersburg. B. W. Cooper entered the Central Normal School at Danville and after a comprehensive course there entered the Medical College of the University of Kentucky at Louisville, from which institution he was graduated, four years later, in 1907, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Upon receiving his diploma Doctor Cooper opened an office for the practice of his profession at Muncie, this state, and after a short time thus engaged there located at Straughn, where he practiced for about seven years, at the end of which time he moved to Connersville, where he opened an office and where he ever since has been engaged in practice. Doctor Cooper keeps fully abreast of the advances being made in modern medicine and is a member of the Indiana State Medical Association and of the American Medical Association, in the deliberations of which bodies he takes a warm interest. The Doctor is a Mason and a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and of the Knights of Pythias and in the affairs of these several organizations takes an active interest. In his political views he affiliates with the Republican party.
In 1904 Dr. B. W. Cooper was united in marriage to Jennie Pearson and to that union two children have been born, Helen and Hugh.
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JAMES HANKINS TATE ( FIRST.)
The Tate family is one of the oldest in Fayette county, having been represented here since the year 1812, four years before the admission of Indi- ana to statehood, and for many years the late James Hankins Tate, referred to here as the first, because his son, of that same name, is still living in this county, was one of the best-known and most influential farmers of Con- nersville township. He was born in this county and had been a witness to the development of the same since pioneer days, taking his part in that development, and had served the public in various capacities in a most accept- able manner.
The family of the Tates really had representation out here in the valley of the Whitewater previous to 1812, for in that year, when William A. H. Tate, then a boy of sixteen, came out here from Virginia, making the trip alone on horseback, he had an uncle here, a Mr. Reagan, who had settled some time before at a point about two miles south of where the important city of Connersville now is located, the Reagan place having been just west of where the canal later was put through. When young William A. H. Tate arrived here he liked the looks of things so well that he straightway returned to his Virginia home and induced his father, Major John Tate, to dispose of his interests in Virginia and with the other members of the family move out to the new country in the Indiana territory, and thus the family was established here in Fayette county.
Major John Tate, the pioneer, had his title by right of his service in the Virginia militia and was a fairly well-to-do person in his native state. He married a Poston, member of a family -that had its origin in England, the first representative of that family in this country having settled in Maryland, the family later becoming established in Virginia and representatives of the same becoming later pioneers in Indiana, notable among these latter having been "Sandy" Poston, a unique and well-known figure in the pioneer life of this part of the state. "Sandy" Poston was a brother of Major Tate's wife and he came out here early and settled among the Indians, becoming presently widely known as a horse trader and a man of huge capacity for the joyful things of life. Major Tate drove over from Virginia to the new Indiana country with his wife and their younger children, bringing their belongings in a wagon, and bought land in the southern part of Connersville township. Not long afterward he sold that tract and moved to the little hamlet that had grown up around John Conner's saw-mill, now the city of Connersville, and
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presently became one of the first postmasters of Connersville, if not the very first. He later was elected county recorder and still later county treasurer, his service in behalf of the public covering quite a stretch of years. His son, Joseph Tate, also served for years as recorder of Fayette county.
William .A. H. Tate, who was born in Virginia on March 30, 1796, and who rode out here, "spying out the land," when he was sixteen years of age. spent the rest of his life in Fayette county and for many years was justice of the peace in and for Connersville township, being widely known over the county as Squire Tate. He married Louisa Cunningham, who was born a short distance east of Connersville, daughter of the Reverend Cunningham, a pioneer minister of the Baptist church, who had come out here from the Carolinas. In a log cabin about four miles southwest of Connersville. Will- iam A. H. Tate and wife began housekeeping and in that log cabin, July 20. 1830, James Hankins Tate. the subject of this memorial sketch was born.
James Hankins Tate grew to manhood on the home farm in Conners- ville township, fully acquainted with the methods and manners of pioneer living. When but nine years of age he was entrusted with the responsible task of carrying the mail from Connersville on a route including Laurel. Dublin and Bentonville, and for twenty years or more continued carrying the mail on that and an extended route, braving the storms of winter and the blazing heat of the summer. For about sixteen years he also served as assessor of Connersville township and in other ways gave of his time and his energies to the public service. He became prosperous in his farming operations and gradually enlarged his land holdings until he became the owner of four hundred and eighty acres of choice land in his home township and was long accounted one of the most substantial farmers in that neighbor- hood. He and his wife were members of the Christian church and were long accounted among the leaders in good works in their neighborhood. For the last five or six years of his life, James H. Tate was an invalid. requiring his faithful wife's almost constant care. He died on October 6. 1916. and his widow survives, continuing to make her home on the old home farm in Connersville township.
On December 23, 1858, James H. Tate was united in marriage to Louisa Halstead, who was born in Columbia township, this county, on a farm abonit a mile north of Columbia, December 3. 1840, daughter of Hickson and Eliza (Jones) Halstead, the latter of whom was born in this county, member of a pioneer family. Hickson Halstead was born on a farm that is now covered by a section of the great city of New York, a son of Thomas Halstead, and
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when a young man came to Indiana, locating at Metamora, in Franklin county, and later coming over into Fayette county, where he married Delilah Martin, who lived in the northwest part of Connersville township, but was not related to the Martins now living there. After his marriage Hickson Halstead located on a farm in the south part of Connersville township, where his first wife died. He then married Eliza Jones, who was born on a pioneer farm in section 6 of Connersville township, daughter of William Jones, who had come out here from Virginia in the days when the Indians still held possession here and had later bought from the government a tract of land on which he established his home and reared his family. After his second marriage Hickson Halstead made his home on the Jones farm and there he spent the rest of his life and it was there that his daughter, Louisa, married James H. Tate, although much of her youth had been spent in the home of an aunt in Orange township.
To James H. and Louisa (Halstead) Tate eleven children were born, two of whom died in infancy and one of whom, Eugene Preston, died when eleven years of age. The surviving members of this family are as follow : John E., a farmer, living on the northwest quarter of section 5 of Conners- ville township; Emery Edinburgh, who lives in Orange township; Minnie, wife of Levi Ballard, of Indianapolis; William H., who lives on Grandfather Halstead's old home farm in Columbia township; Curtis L., who lives on a farm on the Rushville pike, four miles west of Connersville; James Hankins (second), who lives on a farm southwest of Connersville, in the east part of section 32; Orlia Francis, who lives in Montana, and Grover C., who lives in Connersville. The Tate family are a hospitable people and are held in high respect in the several communities in which they live, helpful in pro- moting all movements having to do with the advancement of the common welfare.
JOHN L. DOENGES.
John L. Doenges, secretary-treasurer and general manager of the Con- nersville Ice Company at Connersville and long regarded as one of the sub- stantial and public-spirited business men of that city, was born at Lawrence- burg, Indiana, but has been a resident of Connersville since the year 1882. He was born on February 21, 1863, son of Simon and Amelia (Kring)
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Doenges, natives of Germany, who settled at Lawrenceburg, this state, upon coming to this country and there reared their family, Simon Doenges being engaged there as a stationary engineer. Simon Doenges and wife were the parents of nine children, seven of whom are still living, those besides the subject of this sketch being as follow: Simon Doenges, postmaster of Con- nersville, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume : Minnie, wife of Charles Richter, of Indianapolis: Henry, of Cincinnati; Louisea, wife of Henry Cramsey, of Indianapolis; Fred, of Connersville and Anna, wife of Fred Sholtz, of Indianapolis.
After completing his boyhood schooling at Lawrenceburg, John L. Doenges hegan working as a farm hand and was thus engaged for some time, presently taking up the trade of stationary engineer, later taking up the trade of cabinet-making, which he followed for about twenty-five years. It was in 1882 that he moved to Connersville and there found employment in the plant of the Connersville Furniture Company and was engaged with that concern for many years, presently becoming a stockholder in the concern. He also became interested as a stockholder in the Connersville Ice Company. of which his brother, Simon Doenges, now postmaster of Connersville, was the president and general manager, and was made secretary and treasurer of the same. When his brother left the active management of the company to enter upon his duties as postmaster, Mr. Doenges assumed the general management of the affairs of the Connersville Ice Company and is now occupying that position. Mr. Doenges is a Democrat and has ever taken an active part in local political affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office.
On April 21, 1883. John L. Doenges was united in marriage to Mary Reifel, who was born in Ripley county, this state, daughter of Philip Reifel and wife, natives of Germany and both now deceased, who were the parents of eight children, those besides Mrs. Doenges being George, Martin, Philip. Minnie, Kate, Lou and Anna. To Mr. and Mrs. Doenges two sons have been born, Ernest and Edward. Mr. and Mrs. Doenges are members of the German Presbyterian church at Connersville and for about twenty years Mr. Doenges was a member of the board of trustees of the same. He is a member of Warren Lodge No. 15, Free and Accepted Masons, and of Gutten- berg Lodge No. 319, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in the affairs of these organizations takes a warm interest.
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JAMES MONROE HAMILTON.
James Monroe Hamilton, proprietor of an excellent farm in Waterloo township, this county, where he makes his home, was born in that township and has lived there practically all his life, save for a short period during which he lived just over the line in Union county. He was born in 1859 on a pioneer farm in Waterloo township, in the same house in which his father was born, a son of Charles Henry and Rachel (Strong) Hamilton, both natives of that same township, members of pioneer families and for years prominent and influential residents of that community.
Charles Henry Hamitlon was born on a pioneer farm in Waterloo town- ship in 1834, in the same house, as noted above, in which his eldest son, the subject of this sketch, was born, a son of Capt. James Scott and Eliza (Court- ney) Hamilton, who were among the early settlers in that part of Fayette county. Capt. James Scott Hamilton came out to Indiana from Virginia, where he had served during the War of 1812 as captain of a company stationed at Norfolk. He was born on the ocean while his parents were en route from Ireland to this country and was reared in Maryland, in which state his father died. His mother, Mrs. Jane (Scott) Hamilton, later, in 1833, came to Indiana and settled in section 3 of Waterloo township, this county, where she spent her last days. Capt. James S. Hamilton previously, in Virginia, had married Eliza Courtney, who was born in Ireland and who was but ten years of age when her parents came to this country, locating in the Old Dominion, and he and his family also came to Fayette county, settling in Waterloo township, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, honored and useful pioneers of that community. Captain Hamilton was a man of ability and was a successful farmer, gradually accumulating quite a bit of property in his new home out here in the "wilds" of Indiana. He and his wife were earnest members of the Methodist church and took an active part in the general social life of the settlement during the formative period of this now well-established and prosperous farming community. She died in 1872 and he survived her for six years, his death occurring in 1878. They were the parents of eleven children and a numerous progeny, in the present generation, trace to that sterling pioneer pair.
Reared on the pioneer farm on which he was born and where his parents settled in 1833, Charles H. Hamilton grew up to the life of the farm and upon reaching manhood began farming there on his own account. In 1859 he married Rachel Strong, who was born on a farm in the southeastern part of that same township, the place where William Maze now lives, a daughter
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of Richard and Susanna ( Gaby ) Strong, both members of pioneer families in this county and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. Richard Strong was born in Virginia on June 9, 1802, and was but ten or twelve years of age when his parents came out to Indiana and settled in this county in 1813 or 1814. Here he grew to manhood and married Susanna Gaby, who was born in Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania-Dutch stock, on June 9, 1802, and who was but a girl when she came to this county with her parents in pioneer times. After his marriage Richard Strong settled on the farm where William Maze now lives, in the southeastern part of Waterloo town- ship, and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, the latter living to be past eighty years of age, her death occurring on November 9, 1883. They were the parents of thirteen children. Charles H. Hamilton remained a farmer all his life and was the owner of a well-improved and profitably operated farm. For some years he served as assessor of his home township and in other ways contributed his share of time and energy to the public service. He died on April 4, 1901, and his wife died on December 21; 1885. They were the parents of ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being as follow: Anna Belle, who died on January 28, 1878; Mrs. Laura Helen Bullard, of Indianapolis; Charles Henson Hamilton, who died on December 11, 1915; John William Hamilton, who died on November 7, 1896; Mrs. Maude Riggs, of Conners- ville ; Oliver Lafayette Hamilton, who died on October 4, 1870; Mrs. Rebecca Jane Garrett, of Wayne county, this state; Mrs. Catherine Funk, of Water- loo township, and Robert Washington Hamilton, who died on June 16, 1876.
James M. Hamilton was reared on the paternal farm in Waterloo town- ship, receiving his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood, and has lived in that township all his life with the exception of short periods, a part of the time living over the line in Union county. He married in 1880 and in 1889 bought the farm on which he is now living, in Waterloo township, and has ever since made his home there, he and his family being very com- fortably situated. He has a farm of one hundred and forty acres and his place is well kept and well improved, his farm plant being up-to-date and operated in accordance with modern methods of agriculture.
As noted above, it was in 1880 that James M. Hamilton was united in marriage to Sarah Elizabeth White, who was born on the old White home- stead in the southwestern part of Waterloo township, this county, a daughter of John and Catherine ( Miller) White, the former of whom also was born on that farm. a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Boyd) White, the former of whom also was born on that farm, a son of Joseph White and wife, who were
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among the very earliest settlers in that part of Fayette county, the Whites, in their respective generations being successful farmers and substantial citizens. John White, who died in September, 1904, was twice married. His first wife, who was Jane Dugan, died, leaving two children, Emma L. ' and Daniel O., and in 1862 he married Catherine Miller; who was born in Pennsylvania and who came to this county about 1853, she then being about sixteen years of age, with her parents, Isaac and Sarah (Myers) Miller, the family settling in Waterloo township. To that second union three children were born, Mrs. Hamilton having two brothers, Emmet Theodore and Isaac Omar White. Mrs. Catherine White died in 191I.
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