USA > Indiana > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 63
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William Michener was a son of Mordecai and Catherine (Eyestone) Michener, the former of whom was born in Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, and the latter in eastern Kentucky, her father having been a soldier of the Revolutionary War who emigrated to Kentucky shortly after the gen- eral opening of settlement in that state. Though a Quaker by birthright and inclination, Mordecai Michener served as a soldier of his country during the War of 1812. He was a cabinet-maker of much skill and a carpenter and builder. He used to make hall clocks, of the typical "grandfather-clock" variety, and not a few of these ancient clocks are said to be still in use and keeping excellent time. In 1828 Mordecai Michener and his family came over into Indiana and settled in this county, where he died a few years later. His widow survived him until 1865. They were the parents of six children, William, Rebecca, George, John, Jonathan and Thomas.
William Michener was but eight years of age when his parents settled in Fayette county and he grew to manhood on the home farm in Jackson township. He married Mary A. Blake, who had come to this county with her father from the Old Dominion, her mother having died in Virginia, the
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family settling here in 1835. Lewis Blake, her father, who became one of Fayette county's substantial pioneer citizens, was a soldier in the War of 1812 and was the father of six children, Maria, Mary A., Rosa J., Roberta, Polly L. and Elizabeth. Following his marriage William Michener moved from Jackson township to a farm in Columbia township, a place of one hun- dred and ninety-two acres, which he set about developing and improving and where he lived for years, later moving to Connersville, where he spent his last days, his death occurring there in 1906, he then being eighty-six years of age. His widow survived him until 1914 and she was eighty-nine years and ten months of age at the time of her death. They were earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church and their children were reared in that faith. There were six of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth, the others being as follow: Louis T., of Washington, D. C .; Helen M., who died unmarried; Perry G., of Washing- ton, D. C .; William M., deceased, and Scott Michener, of Connersville.
Edgar M. Michener was reared on the paternal farm in Columbia town- ship, this county, and his first schooling was received in the primitive sub- scription schools of that neighborhood. He finished the course in the public schools that later were established and supplemented the instruction there re- ceived by a course in the University of Indiana, from which he was gradu- ated in 1881, after which he was engaged in teaching school, supplemental to his labors on the farm, for about eleven years, at the end of which time he be- came connected with the Connersville Buggy Company in the capacity of bookkeeper. That was in 1892 and Mr. Michener has ever been connected with that concern. After awhile he was promoted from bookkeeper to the posi- tion of assistant secretary and treasurer of the company and since 1912 has been secretary and treasurer. The Connersville Buggy Company was organ- ized in 1883 by L. T. Bower, J. N. Huston and John D. Larned and was incorporated in that same year with a capital stock of twenty thousand dol- lars, which capital has since been increased to one hundred thousand dollars. The company employs from fifty to one hundred men and its buggies are sold in all parts of the United States. The present officers of the company are as follow : President, Scott Michener ; secretary and treasurer, Edgar M. Michener, and superintendent, C. C. Bower. Mr. Michener has other business interests in Connersville, including an interest in the Central State Bank of that city, of which he was one of the original stockholders and of which he is the present vice-president. The Central State Bank of Conners- ville was organized in 1907 with a capital stock of sixty thousand dollars.
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Mr. Michener is a stanch Republican and has ever given his close attention to local political affairs, but has not been an office seeker.
On December 23, 1885. Edgar M. Michener was united in marriage to Emma Baxter, who was born at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, October 11, 1860, daughter of Reuben and Margaret (Sutton) Baxter, the former of whom was an honored veteran of the Civil War, and the latter of whom died in 1907. Reuben Baxter and wife were the parents of two children, Mrs. Mich- ener having had a sister who died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Michener are earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the various beneficences of which they take a warm interest, Mr. Michener being a member of the board of trustees of the local congregation. They have ever taken a proper interest in the advancement of all movements having to do with the better- ment of local conditions and have been helpful in promoting the same.
JAMES A. CLIFTON.
James A. Clifton, prosecuting attorney of Fayette county, is a native Hoosier and has been a resident of this state all his life. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of Wheeling, Carroll county, October 20, 1885, and after completing the course in the Wheeling high school entered the normal col- lege at Marion, this state, which he attended for three years, varying his attendance there by teaching school in the schools of his home county. Dur- ing all this time he was directing his studies with a view to the law and upon completing his work at college was admitted to the bar and located at Connersville, where he ever since has been engaged in the practice of his profession, now having offices in the First National Bank building.
It was on January 2, 1908, that Mr. Clifton opened his office at Conners- ville and he at once began to give his close attention to local affairs. In January, 1914, he was elected by the city council to the office of city attorney and served in that capacity until he resigned to enter upon the duties of the office of prosecuting attorney of Fayette county on January 1, 1916, having been elected to that office, as the nominee of the Democratic party, in the election of November, 1914. Mr. Clifton is an ardent Democrat and for some time served as chairman of the Fayette county Democratic central com- mittee, in which capacity he rendered admirable service in behalf of his party.
On October 2, 1913. James A. Clifton was united in marriage to Iona
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Ochiltree. Mr. and Mrs. Clifton are members of the Presbyterian church at Connersville and Mr. Clifton is a member of the local lodges of the Knights of Pythias, of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Loyal Order of Moose, in the affairs of all of which organizations he takes a warm interest.
JOHN MILTON HIGGS.
Inseparably linked with the history and fortunes of Connersville and of Fayette county since the days before the Civil War period, the name and the fame of the late John Milton Higgs, founder and for many years editor and proprietor of the Connersville Examiner, are as secure as those of any institution in the county; for, through his many years of devoted and untir- ing service in behalf of this local commonwealth, "John Milton," as he was familiarly and lovingly known in the community, came to be regarded, even as the paper he reared here, as one of the institutions of the social order hereabout. Establishing his Examiner as a straight-out, uncompro- mising and fearless champion of the principles of the Democratic party at a time in the history of Fayette county when to be an outspoken Democrat was to encounter a form of opposition and even opprobrium altogether incomprehensible to the present generation, John Milton Higgs pursued the not always even tenor of his way, fighting his own fight, using such weapons as came to his hand-and he was as resourceful in defense as he was skilful in attack-and won out in the face of as determined opposition as any Indiana newspaper man ever met. Just how many opposition newspapers were laid away in "John Milton's" newspaper grave-yard, falling by the wayside in ineffectual attempts to put his paper out of business, is difficult to compute at this date, but they were numerous, the opposition being long in arriving at the conclusion that "John Milton" and his Examiner were at least fixtures, if not institutions, in this community. In the end, John Milton Higgs outfought and outfaced the opposition and without further serious molestation pursued the course he had marked out from the begin- ning of his career, calmly and serenely, and his last days were filled with content, for he had fought a good fight-and the world ever honors a good fighter. Always an ardent champion of the best interests of Connersville and of Fayette county, John Milton Higgs lived to be a witness to the development of this community such as his early contemporaries hardly could have dreamed, and he was content, for much of this same development
JOHN MILTON HIGGS.
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undoubtedly was due to his unceasing advocacy of progress and the things for which progress stands. He lived to near the traditional three-score- years-and-ten stage of man's life and at his passing in 1909 left a good memory, for he had earned the honor and respect not only of the community in which he had so long and unselfishly labored, but of the state in which he had lived all his life.
John Milton Higgs, an honored veteran of the Civil War, founder of the Connersville Examiner and former postmaster of Connersville, was a native Hoosier and was ever proud of that fact. He was born on a farmi in the neighboring county of Franklin, April 5, 1842, son of George and Melinda (Irwin) Higgs, also natives of that county, members of pioneer families there. George Higgs was a son of William Higgs, who came over from North Carolina to Indiana in the early days of the settlement of this state and established his home in the then "wilds" of Franklin county. There George Higgs grew to manhood, married, reared his family and continued farming until old age, when, in 1890, he retired from the farm and moved to Connersville, where he spent his last days, his death occur- ring there on July 29, 1895.
Reared on a farm in the neighborhood of Brooklyn, John Milton Higgs completed his schooling in the Brooklyn high school and at the age of fifteen years began his newspaper career as the "devil" in the office of the Brookville Democrat. He early and readily mastered the details of the "art preservative of all arts," evincing from the very beginning an apparent natural aptitude for the newspaper business, and after working in the office of the Brookville Democrat for some years came up into Fayette county and started a newspaper at Connersville, the Connersville Telegraph, and was still conducting that newspaper when, two or three years later, the Civil War broke out. Abandoning his paper and his other interests, Mr. Higgs enlisted his services in behalf of the Union and on September 18, 1861. was mustered in as a member of Company L, Forty-first Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, afterward the Second Indiana Cavalry, and with that command served for three years and nine days, being mustered out as quartermaster of his company. During this term of service Mr. Higgs served mainly with the Army of the Cumberland and was present at such important battles as that of Shiloh, Perryville, Chickamauga, Stone's River and many skirmishes and engagements of lesser import.
Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Higgs returned to Indiana and located at Indianapolis, where for a time he was employed in the offices of the Sentinel and the Gazette. The Democrats of Fayette
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county then demanding a newspaper to represent their party in this county Mr. Higgs returned to Connersville and on December 24, 1867, issued the first number of the Connersville Examiner, which paper ever since has ably represented the interests of Connersville and of Fayette county and as ably espoused the principles of the Democratic party in this commun- ity and throughout the state. When the Examiner was founded the Demo- cratic party, undeniably, was not in the best repute in certain quarters in Fayette county and Mr. Higg's ardent and uncompromising advocacy of the principles of that party through the columns of his newspaper created antagonism that more than once threatened his very life, but he persisted in the face of all opposition and it was not long until the Examiner came to be recognized as one of the leading Democratic newspapers in the Middle States, a position it ever has maintained. From the first the Examiner was a friend to Connersville and in every way promoted the industrial and general development of that city and of the county at large and Mr. Higgs soon came to be known as a persistent, consistent and effective "booster," his paper ever standing for progress and development, and it is undoubted that the Examiner exerted a very large influence in the way of directing" the course of industrialism and of civic progress hereabout. As time passed the old party rancors gradually subsided and the valiant editor found him- self firmly fixed in the hearts and the affections of the people whose inter- ests he ever sought to serve, only the most inveterate withholding from him his due meed of honor. During the Cleveland administration Mr. Higgs was commissioned postmaster of Connersville and served for two terms in that important public position. He served three terms as a mem- ber of the county council and two terms as a member of the local school board. In 1872 he was nominated for the office of county treasurer and despite the then overwhelming Republican majority in this county was defeated by but ninety-nine votes. Mr. Higgs was a member of the Con- nersville post of the Grand Army of the Republic and ever took an active part in the affairs of that patriotic organization.
On October 31, 1861, shortly after enlisting as a soldier of the Union, John Milton Higgs was united in marriage to Catherine Davis, daughter of A. M. and Mary (Crawford) Davis, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Ohio, early and prominent residents of Connersville. A. M. Davis, locally and familiarly known as "Colonel" Davis, was born near Far- rington, in Hanover county, Virginia, and as a young man moved to New Paris, Ohio, whence, after some years, he came to Indiana and located at Connersville. Colonel Davis was a merchant tailor and at Connersville
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he engaged in that business in partnership with William Collins and later with W. H. Beck, and was thus engaged when the Civil War broke out. In 1862 he and Gilbert Trusler recruited a company attached to the Thirty-sixth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and he was elected first lieutenant of the company. At the battle of Shiloh his company was stationed at the rear to guard the wagons, which form of service so disgusted the Colonel, who was chafing to be in action, that he resigned his commission and was later given command of a Richmond (Indiana) company, at the head of which he later was killed in battle. Colonel Davis had served as deputy sheriff of Fayette county. He was a master .Mason and took an active interest in Masonic affairs. At Middleton, Ohio, before coming to Indiana. Colonel Davis was married to Mary Crawford, who survived him many years. Mrs. Davis was a member of the Presbyterian church, as was her husband, and their children were reared in that faith. There were seven of these children, those besides Mrs. Higgs, the first-born, being as follow : George M., who married Eliza Winters and is now deceased; John R., who married Stella Lowery and is now deceased; Permilla, who married Perry McElvain and is now deceased; Viola, wife of John Caldwell, of Cam- bridge City, this state, and Ida L. and Maude, deceased. John Milton Higgs died at his home in Connersville on November 17, 1909, and his widow is still making her home in that city.
G. EDWIN JOHNSTON.
G. Edwin Johnston, one of Connersville's best-known lawyers, attorney for the board of commissioners of Fayette county and attorney for the Con- nersville city council, was born in a suburb of the city of Pittsburgh, in Alle- gheny county, Pennsylvania, November 30, 1878, son of John C. and Amy E. (Anderson) Johnston, both natives of that same state and the former of whom is still living, now a resident of Tarentum, a suburb of Pittsburgh.
John C. Johnston was born and reared in Allegheny county, Pennsyl- vania, and has been engaged in the practice of veterinary surgery there for many years. He is a son of George and Margaret ( Mehaffy ) Johnston, the former of whom was born in Ireland and the latter in the state of Pennsyl- vania, of Irish parentage. George Johnston was about nine years of age when he came to the United States with his parents, the family settling on a farm in Pennsylvania, where he grew to manhood. He continued a farmer
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and he and his wife spent the rest of their lives in Pennsylvania. They were the parents of two sons, Mr. Johnston having a sister, Belle. John C. Johnston married Amy E. Anderson, who was born in Pennsylvania, daugh- ter of . Elias and Elizabeth ( Hazelett ) Anderson, both born in that same state, of New England stock. Elias Anderson was a farmer. His wife died when past middle age and he survived her for some years, he being seventy- eight years of age at the time of his death. They were the parents of four children, Mrs. Johnston having had two brothers, Samuel and John, and a sister, Eleanor. Mrs. Johnston died on September 5, 1914, she then being sixty-eight years of age. She was an earnest member of the United Presby- terian church, as is Mr. Johnston, and their children were reared in that faith. There were six of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being as follow: Dr. Robert C. Johnston, of Springdale, Pennsylvania; Franklin H., of that same place ; Nellie, who died in girlhood; Edna M., wife of Charles E. Stottler, of Steubenville, Ohio; and Frances G., who is at home with her father at Taren- tum, Pennsylvania.
G. Edwin Johnston was reared in the suburbs of Pittsburgh and upon completing the course in the common schools took a further course in the Pittsburgh Academy and afterward taught school for three terms, mean- while continuing his schooling in vacations, and later entered the university at Valparaiso, Indiana, from the elocution department of which he presently was graduated. He later took the scientific course there and a year in the law school, after which he entered the Indianapolis Law School, from which he received his Bachelor degree in 1904 and his Master degree in 1905. In that same year Mr. Johnston was admitted to the bar of the Marion circuit court, of the Indiana state supreme court and of the United States circuit court at Indianapolis, and thus equipped for the practice of his profession opened an office at Columbus, this state, and was there engaged in practice for eighteen months, at the end of which time, in the fall of 1907, he moved to Connersville, opened an office there and has ever since been engaged in the practice of his profession in that city. In 1915 Mr. Johnston was appointed attorney for the board of county commissioners and was reappointed by that board in 1916. In this latter year he was elected by the city council as attorney for the city of Connersville and is now filling both the office of county attorney and city attorney.
On June 15, 1905, G. Edwin Johnston was united in marriage to Zella R. Ralston, who was born near New Salem in Rush county, Indiana, Sep- tember 10, 1884, daughter of Elias V. and Mary (McCorkle) Ralston, both
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natives of this state and the latter of whom. is still living. Elias V. Ralston and wife were the parents of five children, Mrs. Johnston having three sisters, May, Esther and Hattie. and a brother, Carl Ralston. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston are members of the Presbyterian church and take a proper interest in the various beneficences of the same, as well as in the general social activities of their home town. Mr. Johnston is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the Knights of Pythias, of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and of the Modern Woodmen of America, in the affairs of which several organizations he takes a warm interest.
DAVID WILSON McKEE.
David Wilson McKee, veteran lawyer of Connersville, dean of the Fay- ette county bar and senior member of the law firm of McKee, Wiles & Elliott, of Connersville, is a native Hoosier and has lived in this state all his life. He was born on a pioneer farm in Noble township, in the neighboring county of Rush, December 14, 1845, son of David and Martha L. (Woods) McKee, natives of Kentucky, whose last days were spent in Rush county, honored and influential pioneer residents of that county.
David Mckee was a son of John and Ann ( Platt) Mckee, natives of Pennsylvania, who came into Indiana by way of Kentucky and became pioneers in Rush county, where they lived to ripe old age and where they reared a family of seven children, those besides David having been Mrs. Mary Ann Stewart, Henry Platt, John, Robert, Samuel and James. David McKee studied with a view to the law in his young manhood, but later became a farmer and followed that vocation the rest of his life, occupying his winters for many years during the earlier part of his manhood by teach- ing in the schools of Rush county. He married Martha L. Woods, who was born in Kentucky, daughter of Richard Woods and wife, who became pioneers in Indiana and who were the parents of a good-sized family, Mrs. McKee having had four brothers, John, Samuel, James and Richard Woods, and . two sisters, Nancy and Rebecca. David Mckee died at his home in Rush county in 1884, he then being seventy-four years of age. His wife had pre- ceded him to the grave about two years, her death having occurred in 1882, she then being seventy-three years of age. They were earnest members of the Presbyterian church and their children were reared in that faith. There were seven of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fifth
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in order of birth, the others being as follow: John H., deceased; Richard Woods, deceased; Martha Ann, wife of Samuel Logan, of Rush county, this state; James, who died in infancy; Ezra, deceased, and Mary Jane, wife of Samuel H. Trabue, of Rushville, this state.
David W. McKee was reared on the paternal farm in Rush county and his first schooling was received in the little old log church building, which also served as a school house, in the neighborhood of his home in Noble township. He also received careful instruction at home from his father and his studies early were directed with a view to the law, a subject to which his father had given close study years before and in which he ever main- tained an earnest interest. While continuing to help in the labors of the home farm, David W. McKee taught school during the winters for five years, meantime prosecuting his law studies, and was admitted to the bar in 1871. In 1873 he married and located at Brookville, this state, where he engaged in the practice of his profession for a little more than thirteen years, or until in December, 1886, when he located at Connersville, where he ever' since has been engaged in practice, now dean of the Fayette county bar. Mr. McKee is a Democrat and has for years been looked upon as one of the leaders of his party in this part of the state. During his residence in Brookville he was for some time the president of the town council there and after moving to Connersville served for some years as city attorney of that city. In 1900 Mr. McKee was the nominee of his party to represent the sixth Indiana district in Congress, but that was a Republican year and he was defeated by his Republican opponent, James E. Watson.
Mr. McKee has been twice married. It was on June 19, 1873, that he was united in marriage to Martha Eleanor . McKee, of Woodford county, Kentucky, daughter of Henry Platt and Ann ( Hutchison) McKee, and to that union were born four children, namely: Josie B., who married Elmer C. Green, of Newcastle, this state, and has two children, Margaret Eleanor and Woodford McKee; Ethel L., now living at Santa Fe, New Mexico, who married David Blaine Thomas, who died leaving one child, a son, Robert McKee Thomas, after which she married Joseph W. O'Byrne and by this * second marriage has a daughter, Joy Elizabeth; Grace L., society editor of the Connersville Examiner, who is also an expert violinist, and Louise V., who married Edward E. Miller, of St. Bernard, near Cincinnati. The mother of these daughters died on February 22, 1914, and on December 23, 1915, Mr. McKee married Mrs. Ada R. Harrison, widow of William H. Harrison and sister of his deceased wife. Mr. and Mrs. McKee are mem-
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