History of Fayette County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 76

Author: Barrows, Frederic Irving, 1873-1949
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1326

USA > Indiana > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 76

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of the Christian church, in the various beneficences of which they were uch interested. Mrs. Wright died on February 4, 1898, and Thomas M. Wright survived her for nearly three years, his death occurring on December 15, 1900.

JOHN W. HACKLEMAN.

John W. Hackleman, one of the best-known farmers of Fairview town- ship, former trustee of that township and proprietor of "Spring View Farm," a well-improved and profitably cultivated place of eighty-five acres on rural mail route No. 2 out of Connersville, is a native of Fayette county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm northeast of Harrisburg, in Harrison township, March 15, 1843, son of William and Nancy (Hawkins) Hackleman, substantial residents of that community and the latter of whom is still living, being now past ninety-five years of age.

William Hackleman was reared in Harrison township, a son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Hawkins) Hackleman, the former of whom, born on March 26, 1780, died on December 10, 1844, and the latter of whom, born on May 22, 1783, died on July 30, 1835. Isaac Hackleman was born in South Caro- lina, a son of Jacob and Mary Hackleman, the former of whom was born in Germany and who, with two brothers, came to this country by way of New Orleans, presently settling in what is now the state of Mississippi and later making his way into South Carolina, where he married and reared his family. It was on July 2, 1801, that Isaac Hackleman, in South Carolina, married Elizabeth Hawkins. Immediately after their marriage they started for the wilds of what then was the territory of Indiana, which at that time included all the territory west of Ohio to the Mississippi river and north of the Ohio river to the Canadian border, taking in the territory now included in the states of Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. They proceeded down the Ohio river by flatboat and upon arriving at Lawrenceburg decided there to stop. They picked out a farm about two miles and a half from Harrison, in Dearborn county, and there they made their home until 1815, in which year they decided to dispose of their interests there and come on up the White Water valley to Fayette county, this part of the territory at that time beginning to attract a great deal of attention on the part of prospective settlers. Upon coming up here Isaac Hackleman settled on a tract of land in Harrison township and there established his home, he and his wife spending the remainder of their lives there, useful pioneers of that community. Will-

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iam Hackleman grew up on that pioneer farm and early became a maker of boots and shoes, a skilled workman in that line, a trade he continued to follow as long as he was able to work. It is related of him that a neigh- bor offered to "shuck" one hundred and forty bushels of corn for him from sunrise to sunset, in consideration of a pair of boots. The man worked with desperate haste and by noon his hands were bleeding from the chafing of the corn husks. At sunset he had husked but one hundred and thirty-six bushels, four bushels short of the mark; but Mr. Hackleman was so well pleased with the pluck and skill displayed that he not only gave the man the pair of boots that were at stake, but five dollars besides. William Hackleman married Nancy Hawkins, who was born on a pioneer farm in the vicinity of Longwood, this county, December 7, 1821, a member of one of the first families in Fayette county, and to that union six sons were born, of whom the subject of this sketch and his brother Edward, who is now living on the old home farm with his mother, are the only survivors. One of these sons died when two years of age. The other three, Oliver, Isaac and Sylvester, all now deceased, served as soldiers of the Union during the Civil War. William Hackleman died when he was thirty-six years of age and his widow is still living on the old home farm in Harrison township, being now past the ninety-fifth year of her age. She possesses an excellent memory and is a veritable mine of information regarding incidents of pioneer days connected with this region.

John W. Hackleman was but a boy when his father died and he remained on the home farm with his mother until he was twenty-five years of age, when he married and started farming on his own account. During the Civil War he did not enlist for the regular service, his three elder brothers having gone to the front the family concluded that his place was at home with the widowed mother, but during the excitement incident to the Morgan raid he took part in the valiant operations of the home defenders and thus was able to feel that he had done something in the way of active service. After his marriage he lived for a year on the Broadus farm and then moved to the farm of his father-in-law, the old Shortridge farm, and there lived for three years, at the end of which time he moved to the Huston farm, where he lived for nine years and six months. He then, in July, 1891, bought the farm on which he is now living in Fairview township, moved there and has ever since made that his place of residence. The farm when Mr. Hackleman bought it con- tained fifty-five acres, but he shortly afterward bought an adjoining tract of thirty acres and now has a well-improved place of eighty-five acres, clear of all incumbrance. On this farm there are a number of excellent springs

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and on this account Mr. Hackleman has given his place the name of "Spring View Farm." He has a comfortable, two-story brick house, with a broad lawn in front bounded by a neat iron fence, fine maple and locust trees grow- ing about the house; altogether one of the most attractive places in that part of the county. Mr. Hackleman has for years given his earnest attention to local civic affairs and twenty-five years or more ago served for some time as trustee of his home township. During that incumbency he caused to be erected the first graded-school building in Fairview township and possibly the first such school house in the county. That school house was a four- room, furnace-heated building which stood between Fairview and Falmouth, at the point where the present handsome brick school building now stands.

John W. Hackleman has been twice married. In October, 1867, he was united in marriage to Martha Shortridge, who was born in Fairview town- ship, a daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (King) Shortridge, pioneers of that community and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. She died on February 13, 1892, leaving six sons and one daughter, namely : Charles, who is living at Indianapolis, where he is engaged with the Stafford Engraving Company, and who married Grace Lamberson, of Posey township, this county, and has two daughters, Helen and Margaret; Frank, trustee of Posey township, engaged in the hardware and blacksmithing busi- ness at Bentonville, who married Jennie Patterson; Fred, an extensive dealer in live stock, living on one of his three farms one mile south of Benton- ville, who married Alice Caldwell and has three children, Ina, Frances and Chester; Emery, engaged in the undertaking and farm supplies business at Falmouth and for the past three years secretary of the Falmouth Telephone Company, who married Ruby Crawford and has two children, Mary and Daniel; Huston, a jeweler and optician at Appleton, Wisconsin, who married Bessie Miller, who died, leaving one child, a son, Willard, after which he married Catherine Jones; Carl, employed in Kahl's jewelry store at Conners- ville, who married Helen Westburg, and Lillie, who died when twelve years of age.

On February 8, 1894, Mr. Hackleman married, secondly, Lena Scofield, who was born on a farm near Connersville, a daughter of Sherman and Eliza (Ross) Scofield, the former of whom was born in 1810 at Stamford, Connecticut, and who, at the age of eleven years, came to Indiana with his parents, the family settling in Fayette county. Here Sherman Scofield grew to manhood and in later life was variously engaged, for some time a brick- mason, later a canal boatman, afterward a building contractor and for some years a merchant, and was also a farm owner. He was twice married. His

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first wife, Eliza Milner, was the mother of six children, Eliza, who died in infancy, Melinda, Thaddeus, Frank, Cecelia and Eliza Jane, the latter of whom died in infancy, the mother dying at the birth of the child. Mr. Sco- field's second wife, Eliza Ross, was born in Kentucky and also was the mother of six children, Balzora, Ella, Lena, Sherman, Jr., Eugene and Albert. The mother of these children died in October, 1860, and the father survived until October, 1877. He gave the ground on which to erect the first Christian church in his community and was ever a pillar in that church, an active contributor to all its works. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hackleman also are members of the Christian church, which Mr. Hackleman joined when twenty years of age and in which he has been an elder for the past quarter of a century. All his sons save Carl are members of the same church and the Scofields also have been leaders in the work of that denomination ever since the first of that name settled in this county back in the twenties.

ALFRED COLLYER.

Alfred Collyer, well-known merchant at Falmouth, this county, was born in the neighboring county of Franklin on June 26, 1855, a son of Ezekiel and Eliza (Coleman) Collyer, both of whom were born in that same county, members of pioneer families in that section of the state. Ezekiel Collyer grew up on a pioneer farm about eight miles southeast of Brook- ville and his wife was born at Laurel. Late in life they moved to Wayne county and there Ezekiel Collyer was killed by a log rolling off a wagon he was helping to load. His widow afterward moved to Rush county, where her last days were spent.

Reared in Franklin county, Alfred Collyer remained there until his mar- riage in 1879, after which he began farming for himself in the southeastern part of Rush county, where he remained about two years, at the end of which time he came to this county and located at Falmouth, farming in that vicinity until 1900, in which year he bought a store at Falmouth and has ever since been engaged in business there, doing an extensive business in the way of general merchandise, and long regarded as one of the leaders in the general business activities of that village.

In 1879 Alfred Collyer was united in marriage to Hattie Quenzer, who was born at Falmouth, a daughter of Philip and Elizabeth Quenzer, who were born in the city of Strasburg, capital of Alsace-Lorraine, who located

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at Cincinnati upon coming to this country about 1856 and there remained until about 1860, when they came up into Indiana and located at Falmouth, where Mr. Quenzer engaged in the shoemaking business and where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1875. His widow survived him for years, her death occurring on June 15, 1915, she then being eighty- four years of age. They were the parents of four children, those besides Mrs. Collyer, the second in order of birth, being Mrs. Emma Blesch, of San Diego, California; Louis, of East Connersville, and Mrs. Rose Grose.

To Mr. and Mrs. Collyer five children have been born, Will, Fred, Gertie, Gus and Lowell. Will Collyer is a successful farmer, living near Falmouth, the owner of one hundred and fifteen acres of land, part of which lies in this county and part in Rush county. Fred Collyer, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume, is proprietor of the greenhouse at Falmouth. Gertie Collyer married Fred Knotts and lives on a farm one and one-half miles north of Falmouth. Gus Collyer, who lives on a farm a half mile west of Falmouth, in Rush county, married Gleda Link and has one child, a son, Deloris. Lowell Collyer is an able assistant to his father in the management of the store at Falmouth. Mr. Collyer is a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.

MISS CAROLINE LOUISE SUMNER.

Miss Caroline Louise Sumner, one of the founders and owners of the Elmhurst School for Girls at Connersville and a leader among the educators in private schools in Indiana and throughout the Central States, is of dis- tinguished lineage, on the paternal side of the family being related to the great Charles Sumner and on the maternal side, is descended from Richard Warren, who came over in the "Mayflower," and from Capt. Samuel Morey, the inventor of the steamboat. She was born at Holyoke, Massachusetts, a daughter of William James and Eveline Sturtevant Sumner, and grew up amid the refining influences of New England, from youth evincing an extra- ordinary interest in her, studies and early devoting her life to the cause of education.

Following her graduation from Smith College, Miss Sumner was engaged as a teacher of Greek and Latin in the high school at Titusville, Pennsylvania, and after five years of service there returned to Smith Col-

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lege to teach Latin. At the end of six years she transferred her services to Miss Wheeler's school at Providence, Rhode Island, where she remained as an instructor for three years. She then returned to Smith as instructor of Latin and a year later she became a student in the American School of Classical Studies at Rome and Athens. She spent a summer in travel in Germany and another summer in France and England. In 1909 Miss Sum- ner became one of the founders of the Elmhurst School for Girls at Con- nersville and has ever since been thus engaged.

Miss Sumner is a member of the Unitarian church and is a member of the Archaeological Institute of America, of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, and of the Smith College Alumnae Association, in the deliberations of which learned societies she takes a warm and active interest.

NOAH CUMMINS.

Noah Cummins, one of the real "old settlers" of Fayette county and a well-known and substantial farmer of Fairview township, former trustee of that township and the proprietor of a fine farm of one hundred and forty- seven and one-half acres on the north edge of Fairview township, a little more than a mile east of the Rush county line, is a native of the old BIne Grass state, but has been a resident of Fayette county since he was five or six years of age and may thus be accounted one of the pioneers of that part of the county in which he lives. He was born on a farm in Bourbon county, Kentucky, a son of John D. and Caroline (Williams) Cummins, both natives of Kentucky, who came to Indiana nearly seventy years ago and settled in this county, where they spent their last days.

In 1850 John D. Cummins and his family came up here from Kentucky and settled on a farm in the southwest part of Posey township, this county, the trip through from Kentucky being made in covered wagons. Upon com- ing here John D. Cummins bought a tract of land that was for the most part covered by timber and spice bush and it required years of toil to bring that farm under proper cultivation. There John D. Cummins farmed the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1885. His widow survived him for nearly twenty years, her death occurring in 1904. They were the parents of nine children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being as follow: Charles, who married Elizabeth Hood, of Rush county, and spent his last days farming on a farm adjoining that

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of his father, his death occurring on November 27, 1911; John T., also a farmer, who lived near the old home place and who was killed by a train at Dublin, Wayne county, leaving a widow and three children; Olivia, who died when about eighteen years of age; Sarah Elizabeth, who married James Freeman and is living on a farm near the old home place; Amanda, who died at the same time as her sister Olivia, both girls falling victims to the dread spotted fever; Fillmore, who lives just east of the Maplewood school in Connersville; Frank, who lives on a farm a half mile west of Bentonville, in Posey township, and Grant, who died when about seven years of age.

As noted above, Noah Cummins was but a child when he came to this county with his parents from Kentucky and he grew to manhood on the pio- neer farm in Posey township, even from the days of his boyhood a valued assistant to his father in developing and improving the home place. After his marriage in 1869 he began farming on his own account on a farm near the old home and in 1872 bought the place on which he is now living on the north edge of Fairview township a little more than a mile east of the Rush county line. That place then was a veritable swamp and Mr. Cummins's father very strongly urged him not to invest in what then generally was regarded as worthless land; but, with a clear idea of what could be done with such land, Mr. Cummins took over the place and there established his home. His original purchase there comprised one hundred and seven and one-half acres, about half of which had been cleared and on which stood an old log house back from the road. There was a regular lake of water almost surrounding the house and the initial outlook was not very encouraging, but Mr. Cummins went to work bravely and it was not long until he had his place properly drained and cleared and was beginning to see his way clear to the making of a fine farm. In 1881 he built a new barn out by the road and the next year built the house in which he now lives. Ever since he has been adding to his farm plant in the way of buildings and now has one of the best-kept farms in that part of the county. As he prospered in his farm- ing operations he bought an adjoining "forty" and now has a well-improved farm of one hundred and forty-seven and one-half acres. In addition to liis general farming Mr. Cummins has given considerable attention to the raising of pure-bred Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs and has done quite well. Mr. Cummins has ever given a good citizen's attention to local civic affairs and for some time served as trustee of his home township, resigning that office in 1910.

Noah Cummins has been twice married. In 1869 he was united in marriage to Jane Manlove, who was born on a pioneer farm in the south-

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western part of Posey township, this county, daughter of Jesse and Ann (Colvin) Manlove, and to that union four children were born, namely : Carrie, who died when about five years of age; Edith, who married James Clifton, a farmer, of Rush county, and has three children, Harold, Ray and Paul; Emory, who died when about two years of age, and Estella, who died in infancy. The mother of these children died in 1879 and in 1881 Mr. Cummins married Ella F. Swift, who was born on a farm near Greenfield, Hancock county, this state, a daughter of Asbury C. and Clarissa Jane (Grubb) Swift, formerly and for years well-known residents of this county, who later moved West and there spent their last days.

Asbury C. Swift was born at Connersville on December 25, 1836, a son of John Swift and wife, the former of whom was one of the pioneers of Connersville and who for some time conducted one of the first hotels in that city, doing an extensive business with the drovers and canal boatmen of that day. He left the hotel and bought a farm south of East Connersville, .now known as the Jemison farm, which he later sold to the Jemisons. He not only was the owner of a considerable tract of land in that section, but owned four or five farms in other parts of the county and was long recognized as one of Fayette county's most substantial residents. Asbury C. Swift grew to manhood on his father's farm and from there went to Colmar, Illinois, where he married Clarissa Jane Grubb, who was born on a farm near Lexing- ton, Kentucky, and who had moved to Colmar with her widowed mother when a girl, her mother afterward marrying a Hanks. After his marriage A. C. Swift returned to this county and spent a year or two on his father's farm, after which he moved to a farm west of Alquina, where he made his home for about four years, at the end of which time he sold that place and moved to one of his father's farms in the adjoining county of Rush, a mile or more west of Fairview, where he lived for about ten years. He then returned to the old home farm-the present Jemison place-and was there probably five years, at the end of which time he quit farming and he and Thomas Ruff opened a carriage shop at Glenwood, from which place Mr. Swift presently moved to Colorado and was for some time engaged in the hotel business in that state. He then moved to Topeka, Kansas, where he engaged in the grocery business and where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on February II, 1898. His widow spent her last days in St. Louis, Missouri, where her death occurred on November 6, 1916, she then being eighty-two years of age.

To Noah and Ella F. (Swift) Cummins six children have been born, namely : Eva Marie, who married Charles D. Ertle and now lives at Ft. Col-

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lins, near Greeley, Colorado; Blanch Caroline, who married George F. Ertle, a brother of Charles D., and who died in December, 1912, leaving her hus- band and one son, Carl H .; Murl Donald, a farmer, living in the south edge of Posey township, across the road from his father's place, and a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume, who married Rhoda Suter and has four children, Juanita, Murl Garnet, Donald C. and Webb Suter; Fred C., now living in Falmouth, who married Mary Suter, who came from Owenton, Kentucky, a sister of his brother Murl's wife, Mary, and has two children, Edna C. and Ercell S .; Guerney, who also lives in Fal- mouth and who married Maude Golden, of this county, and has two chil- dren, Vivien E. and Eileen, and Maggie Grace, who married John Suter, a farmer living in Rush county, six miles west of the Cummins place, and has one child, a daughter, Nina Marie. Mr. and Mrs. Cummins have a very pleasant country home and have ever taken a proper part in the general social activities of the community in which they live, helpful in promoting all worthy causes thereabout.

JOHN THOMAS BLEVINS.

John Thomas Blevins, one of Fairview township's substantial farmers and the proprietor of a well-improved farm of more than one hundred acres about two and one-half miles northeast of Glenwood, is a native of the Blue Grass state, but has been a resident of this county since his childhood. He was born on a farm in Montgomery county, Kentucky, August 15, 1861, son of James and Mary (Kinney) Blevins, also natives of Kentucky, who came to this state during the days of the Civil War and settled in Fayette county.

James Blevins was the son of Virginian parents, who had settled in Kentucky, and he grew up in the state of his birth and was there married. About 1863 he and his family came to this county and located on the Bates farm, east of Falmouth, in Fairview township, later moving to Cambridge City and thence to Richmond, whence they later moved to Centerville, where Mrs. Blevins died during the later seventies. About ten years later James Blevins remarried and again established his home in Richmond, where he spent practically all the remainder of his life. He died at the home of his son, the subject of this sketch, in Fairview township, this county, February 15, 1912.

John T. Blevins began farming for himself at the time of his marriage

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in 1884, he and his wife going to housekeeping on the farm on which Bert Rich now lives in Fairview township. After renting that place for two years he moved to the Ludlow farm on which he made his home for seven years, at the end of which time he rented a farm southeast of Glenwood, where he made his home for two years, or until 1898, when he moved to the place on which he now lives in the southwest quarter of section 23, about two and one-half miles northeast of Glenwood, where he has lived ever since. About ten years ago Mr. Blevins bought that place and is now the owner of a well-kept and substantially improved farm of one hundred and fourteen and one-half acres, on which he has two sets of buildings and on which he has been quite successfully engaged in general farming.

On November 25, 1884, John T. Blevins was united in marriage to Vic- toria McConnell, who was born on a farm about a half mile east of her present home, a daughter of James Wilson and Rachel (Reese) McConnell, both natives of this county, members of pioneer families in Fairview town- ship. James W. McConnell was born on a farm just east of the Blevins farm on March 2, 1826, a son of Ellis and Nancy McConnell, who had come here from Ohio in pioneer days. Ellis McConnell and his brother, James, came here together from Ohio and settled on adjoining farms, James on the farm now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Blevins and Ellis, on the farm just east of the same, each brother owning a tract of one hundred and fourteen and one-half acres. They cleared the land, established their homes and there spent the remainder of their lives.

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History of Fayette County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 76

Author: Barrows, Frederic Irving, 1873-1949 Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1326

Author: Barrows, Frederic Irving, 1873-1949
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1326