USA > Indiana > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 81
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John J. Burger was seven years of age when his parents moved from Wayne county to the farm about two miles west of Connersville and in the latter vicinity he has lived ever since. He grew up on the farm and in 1886 bought the farm where he now lives, one and one-half miles southwest of Connersville, and upon his marriage in the spring of 1891 established his
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home there. Mr. Burger has a well-kept farm of eighty acres and he and his family have a very comfortable home. They are members of the Catholic church and take a proper interest in parish affairs.
In April, 1891, John J. Burger was united in marriage to Katherine Meyer, who was born in Winningen, Bavaria, Germany, daughter of John and Elizabeth ( Peffer) Meyer, who, in 1883, came to this country with their nine children, proceeding at once to Connersville. Two weeks later the father bought a farm three and one-half miles east of Connersville, established his home there and there spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1904. His widow is now making her home with a daughter, Mrs. Keller, at Indi- anapolis. To Mr. and Mrs. Burger four children have been born, namely : Gertrude, who married George Seffrin, of Connersville, and has one child, a son, Walter Leo: John A., who continues to live on the home farm with his parents; Louise, who died at the age of three years, and Frankie, who died when eight months of age.
GEORGE M. FRIES.
George M. Fries, well-known manufacturer of drain tile and president of the Indiana State Association of Manufacturers of Clay Drain Tile, whose extensive plant for the manufacture of tile, just west of the city of Conners- ville, is one of the best-equipped plants of that kind in the state, was born at Stavetown, in the vicinity of Brookville, in the neighboring county of Franklin, and has lived in this part of the state all his life. He was born on April 15. 1866, son of Anthony and Margaret (Miller) Fries, natives of Germany, Bavarians both, who came to this country in the days of their youth and whose last days were spent in this county, the latter having been one of the victims of the flood of 1913.
Anthony Fries left his native Bavaria when he was sixteen years of age and came to the United States, locating at Cincinnati, where, when he became of age, he was naturalized as an American citizen. There he married Mar- garet Miller, who had come to this country from Bavaria when she was fifteen years of age, and, shortly after his marriage, he having learned the cooper's trade in Cincinnati, he moved to Hamilton, Ohio, where he lived until 1864, when he moved over into Indiana and started a cooper shop one mile south of Brookville, in Franklin county, building up quite an extensive business in that line, the settlement which grew up around his coopershop
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coming to be known as Stavetown, which name the village bears to this day, on account of the stave factory built up there by Mr. Fries. About 1882, the stave timber in that section having by that time become pretty well exhausted, Anthony Fries began to utilize extensive clay deposits that had been disclosed in that vicinity, and established, in the vicinity of Stavetown, the first steam-power brick plant in Indiana. The product of this factory soon attained a wide demand, especially in Cincinnati and in Connersville, some of the best buildings in the latter city, notably the Eighth street school building, the Fifth street school building, the First National Bank building, the McFarlan Carriage Company's building, the Connersville Furni- ture Company's warehouse and numerous other important buildings in that city having been constructed of Fries brick. In January, 1892, Anthony Fries organized the A. Fries & Sons Company, in partnership with his sons, John A. and George M. Fries, and was perfecting plans for the establishment of an extensive brick-manufacturing plant west of Connersville, the present site of the well-known Fries tile factory, but his plans were interrupted by his death in the next month, in February, 1892. The sons, however, went ahead with the perfection of these plans and established an extensive factory on the site. In 1902 they discontinued the manufacture of brick and took up the manufacture of drain tile, soon achieving a wide reputation for the durable quality of their output, and the brothers continued in business together until the tragedy of the flood of 1913 came upon them with all its overwhelm- ing force. During that flood, perhaps the most tragic incident in the history of Brookville, where the brick plant was located, the widow Fries, mother of the subject of this sketch, and John A. Fries and his family, a total of eight persons in the Fries family, were drowned and the big brick plant was prac- tically destroyed. George M. Fries, the remaining member of the firm, bought out the other heirs and has since continued the manufacture of tile at the Connersville plant, sole owner and manager of the plant, one of the best-established concerns of its kind in the state.
In 1912 George M. Fries, who had long been recognized as one of the most expert and enterprising tile manufacturers in Indiana, organized the Indiana State Association of Manufacturers of Clay Drain Tile and has been president of that association from the date of its organization. This asso- ciation is maintained for the mutual protection of drain-tile manufacturers and has done much in the way of intelligent promotion of legislation for the purpose of facilitating tile draining and the reclamation of swamp lands. The association maintains a publicity and educational bureau, which publishes
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and disseminates information regarding the wonderful results that have attended underdraining and by this means has done much in the way of educating the public to the value of tiling as a means of reclaiming much otherwise waste land in the state. Mr. Fries is an enterprising, public-spir- ited citizen and has ever since becoming a resident of this county in 1892 taken an active part in the promotion of the manufacturing and other sub- stantial interests of the community.
In 1893, the year after taking up his residence in this county, George M. Fries was united in marriage to Carrie Hohman, of Indianapolis, who was born in Franklin county, this state, daughter of Tobias and Mary (Schubert) Hohman, who came from Bavaria, Germany, to this country, in 1859, pro- ceeding on out to Indiana and settling on a farm in Franklin county, where they spent the rest of their lives, Tobias Hohman dying in 1896 and his widow surviving until 1908. To Mr. and Mrs. Fries two daughters have been born, Helen, born in 1900, and Nellie, born in 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Fries are members of the Catholic church and take a proper interest in parish affairs. Mr. Fries is a member of the Knights of Columbus, in the affairs of which he takes a warm interest.
GEORGE W. PRIFOGLE.
George W. Prifogle, a well-known farmer and fruit grower of Orange township, this county, was born in the neighboring county of Franklin, Oc- tober 24, 1848, son of John and Eliza (Huber) Prifogle, the former of whom was born in that same county, a son of Peter Prifogle and wife, pion- eers of the Highland neighborhood. Peter Prifogle was born in Germany and was about eighteen years of age when he came to this country. For some time he made his home in Pennsylvania and then came to Indiana, entering a tract of government land in Highland township, Franklin county, and there establishing his home. On that pioneer farm he spent the remainder of his life and there his son, John Prifogle, spent all his life and there the subject of this sketch was born and reared.
Reared on the farm, George W. Prifogle became a farmer and con- tinued, after his marriage in 1877, to make his home in Franklin county until 1882, when he came up into Fayette county and located at Connersville, where he lived for nine years, engaged at work in the furniture factory. He then rented a farm in Columbia township and remained there for four years,
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at the end of which time he traded his house and lot in Connersville in part payment for a farm of eighty acres in the northeast part of Orange town- ship, where he has made his home for the past twenty years. In addition to his general farming, Mr. Prifogle has long given considerable attention to truck farming and to fruit growing. He has an excellent orchard and besides raises quantities of small fruit and berries, finding a ready market for the products of his farm along these lines. Mr. Prifogle is a Republican and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local civic affairs. Fraternally, he is affiliated with Guttenberg lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and takes a warm interest in lodge affairs.
George W. Prifogle has been thrice married. In 1877, while living in Franklin county, he married Amanda Tilden, who was born and reared in that county, and to that union seven children were born, of whom two died . in infancy and five of whom are still living, namely: Edward, a member of the police force at Bedford, Massachusetts, married Mary Agnes Carrol, born at Oldham, England, September 30, 1882, and they are the parents of two children; Frederick, of Connersville, who married Carrie Brooks and has two children; Alice, who married Glenn Loos, of Brookville, this state, and has four children; Joseph, of San Pedro, California, who married Catherine Abercrombie and has two children, and Harry, who is serving his third term of enlistment in the United States army, now serving as a surgeon in the military hospital at Columbus, Ohio. The mother of these children died at Connersville on February 23, 1889, and on April 11, 1893, Mr. Prifogle mar- ried Maggie Reif, who also was born in Franklin county, a daughter of Valentine Reif and wife, and who died on June 10, 1910, leaving two chil- dren, Julius, who married Linnie Snyder, of Columbus, this state, and now lives at Indianapolis, and Charles, who is at home with his father.
On September 24, 1911, Mr. Prifogle married Mrs. Mary (Miller) Berger, who was born in Cincinnati, a daughter of Charles and Francesco (Miller) Miller, both of whom were born in Germany, but were not of blood kinship, though both bearing the same name. Charles Miller spent his last days in Cincinnati and there his daughter Mary grew to womanhood and married William Berger, who was born in the Hartz mountains, in Ger- many, and who had come to this country in the days of his youth. In 1881 William Berger moved with his family from Cincinnati to Connersville and in the latter city became employed as a joiner in the furniture factory and was thus engaged at the time of his death on January 31, 1886. To William and Mary ( Miller ) Berger eight children were born, namely : Katherine Mary,
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who married Fred Bronnert (now deceased) and still lives in Cincinnati; Charles, who married Ida Rydman and is now living at Olmsted Falls, Ohio; Freda, who married John Murray, a Connersville druggist, and has four children : Otto, who married Grace Spangler and is living in Connersville; Louisa, who married Eugenio Dahne, the Brazilian commissioner-general of agriculture, commerce and industry, whom she met at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, and who is now living at San Diego, California, where Mr. Dahne installed an exhibit of his own at the San Diego Exposi- tion, and William, Jr., who died at El Paso in his seventeenth year. Besides these, two children died in infancy. After the death of Mr. Berger his widow continued to make her home in Connersville until her marriage to Mr. Pri- fogle. While a member of the German Presbyterian church at Connersville, Mrs. Prifogle served for four years as secretary of the Ladies' Society.
MILLARD FILLMORE CUMMINS.
Millard Fillmore Cummins, one of Fayette county's best-known and most substantial retired farmers and horsemen, now living at the north edge of the city of Connersville at the foot of Grand avenue, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a pioneer farm in Posey township, November 19, 1856, son of John D. and Caroline ( Williams) Cummins, both of whom were born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and whose last days were spent in Fayette county, substantial and influential pioneers of the northern part of the county.
John D. Cummins was born about 1818 and grew to manhood in Bour- bon county, Kentucky. On July 30, 1840, he married there Caroline Will- iams, who also was born in that county, a daughter of Eli and Elizabeth (Hanna) Williams, also natives of that county, the former born on January 30, 1800, and the latter, a daughter of Joseph Hanna, September 4, 1796. After their marriage John D. Cummins and his wife established their home on a farm in their native county and there remained until five of their chil- dren were born, Charles, Noah, Jolin, Oliva and Elizabeth. In November, 1851, the baby, Elizabeth, then being but two months of age, the family came up into Indiana, driving through, and settled in Fayette county. John D. Cummins bought the southeast quarter of section 22, in Posey township, three miles southwest of the village of Bentonville, and there established his home, he and his wife spending the remainder of their lives there. Mr.
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Cummins died in October, 1885, and his widow survived him more than eighteen years, her death occurring on March 16, 1904.
Millard F. Cummins grew up on the farm on which he was born in Posey township and received his schooling in the district school in that neigh- borhood. Conditions in that region still were in a pretty primitive state during the days of his boyhood and he grew up familiar with the ways of pioneer living. As a boy he used to watch his mother sitting at the spinning wheel and he learned to spin, a boyish accomplishment which he now recalls with much interest. His father was an excellent horseman and took much pride in keeping up his stock, his horses and mules frequently winning prizes in the local fairs and horse shows; and it was thus that, even from boyhood, Millard T. Cummins acquired an interest in good horses that he has retained to this day. After his marriage in 1877 Mr. Cummins continued to make his home on the home farm and there continued to reside until in April, 1917, when he retired from the active labors of the farm and moved to Con- nersville, where he now resides and where he is very comfortably situated in a pleasant home on the north side of the city, at the foot of Grand avenue. He had long ago bought the interests of the other heirs in the old family home and still owns that quarter-section tract, which is well improved and profitably cultivated, his youngest son now being in charge of the same. As noted above, Mr. Cummins has from the days of his boyhood taken a warm interest in good horses and he formerly maintained a race track on his farm, raising and training horses for the track. He bought a trotting stallion, "Robert B.," 2:291/2, and one of the first colts from this sire, "Lucy C.," developed, under Mr. Cummin's training, a speed of 2:12 and had an official mark of 2:201/4. Her first colt, "Pine Bush," did even better. Mr. Cum- mins has exhibited several other horses of more than local note and is now the owner of "Indiana Belle," 2:151/4.
Millard F. Cummins has been twice married. In 1877 he was united in marriage to Samantha Hyatt, who was born in Henry county, this state, daughter of Frank Hyatt and wife, the latter of whom was a Plummer, both representatives of old Quaker families in the Dublin neighborhood, and who died in March, 1883, leaving three children, John, Rufus, living on the old Hyatt farm near Strawns, who married Grace Ward and has five children, Elbert, Geraldine, Pauline, Dorothy and Ward, and Lota, who married Howard Sherwood and died in 1908, leaving a daughter, Mildred.
In 1886 Mr. Cummins married Kate McHatton, who was born in Owen county, Kentucky, a daughter of John and Eliza (Sharpe) McHatton, both
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of whom were born and reared in that same county, and to that union two children have been born, Walter and Nettie. Walter Cummins, who is now operating the old home farm in Posey township, married Lola Saxon and has two children, Leroy and Roscoe. Nettie Cummins married Roscoe Hall, of Richmond, and has one child, a daughter, Avis.
GUS BOWEN.
Gus Bowen, a farmer living a short distance southeast of Orange and who is a member of the advisory board of Orange township, was born on a farm over the line in Noble township, Rush county, and has lived in that neighborhood all his life, being, therefore, one of the best-known residents of that part of the county. He was born on February 14, 1879, the youngest son of Rufus P. and Desdemona (Stone) Bowen, the former of whom also was born in Noble township, Rush county, and the latter, who is still living, now making her home in Rushville, a native of Fayette county.
Rufus P. Bowen was a son of Solomon Bowen, who came to Indiana from Bourbon county, Kentucky, in pioneer days and entered a tract of "Congress land" in Noble township, Rush county, where he established his home and where he spent the rest of his life, one of the substantial pioneers of that part of the county. There Rufus P. Bowen grew up amid pioneer conditions and in turn became a farmer on his own account, farming all his life in Noble township, where his death occurred in 1896. His widow is now living at Rushville. She was born in Orange township, this county, daughter of Silas H. and Martha (Dicken) Stone, pioneers of Fayette county, a record of whose lives is interwoven with the history of that part of the county in which they lived.
Silas H. Stone was a native of Kentucky, born in Scott county, that state, who became a carpenter, millwright and wagon-maker. In the early twenties he came up into Indiana, prospecting in Fayette county, and here married Martha Dicken, who also was born in Scott county, Kentucky, in 1806, and who had come to Indiana with her parents, Henry Dicken and wife, who settled in the west half of the southwest quarter of section 14 of Orange township, this county, and who later moved to the eighty just east of the above described eighty. After his marriage Silas H. Stone returned to Kentucky, but in 1825 he and his wife returned to this county, coming through with a considerable company of Kentuckians who were seeking
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homes in this region. Upon settling here Silas H. Stone entered an "eighty" in the southwest quarter of section II of Orange township and there estab- lished his home. As a miller he worked in a grist-mill during the days and as a carpenter he built his house, working on the latter at night. The mill in which he worked was the pioneer mill erected by his brother, Elias Stone, on Garrison creek, in section II of Orange township, in 1821. It was in this latter year that Elias Stone had come up here from Kentucky and had settled in Fayette county. He platted that part of the village of Orange that lies north of the cross road. About 1840 Silas H. Stone bought the mill that had been started by his brother, afterward selling the same and building another mill farther down the creek, in the northeast part of the southeast quarter of section 14, and later added to that grist-mill a saw-mill. In connection with the latter he also carried on a carriage shop and made a considerable number of the old-style "Rockaway" carriages, besides buggies and wagons and any other kind of vehicle demanded by the people of that vicinity, his wife oper- ating the grist-mill while he would be thus engaged. He and his brother, Elias, built the Christian church at Orange, said to have been the first house of worship erected for the uses of that denomination in the state of Indiana, the local congregation having been organized on July 4, 1829. Silas H. Stone was a devoted member of the Christian church, but his loyalty to the founder of that sect (Alexander Campbell) was such that he never referred to the church only as the "Campbellite" church. He was always the first per- son on hand at the meetings of the local congregation and in many ways did all he could to promote the interests of the church. For some time he also served as a member of the board of school directors and in that capacity was able to gratify an early wish to build a good frame school house to supplant the first school house, built of logs, in the settlement. About 1880 he and his wife moved to the village of Orange, where their last days were spent, his death occurring in 1882 and hers in 1883.
On November 28, 1900, Gus Bowen was united in marriage to Ethel Murphy, who also was born in Noble township, Rush county, a daughter of George and Julia (Thompson) Murphy, the former of whom also was born in that township, a son of John and Anna ( McCrory) Murphy. John Murphy was born in Butler county, Ohio, a son of Jesse and Charlotte Murphy, who came from New Jersey and after a sometime residence in Butler county, Ohio, came on up the valley of the White Water and settled in the near vicinity of Glenwood. John Murphy was but a child when his parents came up here and he grew to manhood on the farm and remained a farmer all his
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life. His wife, Anna McCrory, was born in this county, a daughter of Robert and Celina (Saxon) McCrory, the former of whom, a native of Ireland, walked from Cincinnati to the land office at Indianapolis and there entered a quarter of a section of land two and one-half miles northeast of Glenwood, in this county, where he established his home. He married Celina Saxon, who was born in Georgia and who was but a child when her parents came to Indiana, settling in Fayette county at a time when Indians still were numerous hereabout. The Indians at that time were continuing to give such cause for apprehension on the part of the settlers that the little Celina was not permitted to wander far from the house in her play, lest she should be stolen by the Indians. Ethel Murphy was bereft of her mother when she was eight days old and she was reared by her grandmother and by her aunt, Mrs. George, of Orange. She completed her schooling in the high school at Rushville and taught school for a year before her marriage to Mr. Bowen. To that union one child has been born, a daughter, Lela Myrl. The grand- father of Mrs. Bowen, John P. Thompson, was the founder of the Christian church at Orange.
Gus Bowen has been a member of the Orange township advisory board for the past two years or more and gives his earnest attention to public affairs. He is a member of the local lodge of the Improved Order of Red Men and takes a warm interest in the affairs of the same. He and his wife have a pleasant home and take a proper part in the general social activities of their community.
RALPH WRIGHT BOWEN.
Ralph Wright Bowen, a well-known and progressive young farmer of the Orange neighborhood, is a native son of Fayette county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm southeast of the village of Orange, in Orange township, March 25, 1885, son and only child of Nicholas F. and Sarah C. (Wright) Bowen, both of whom are natives of this part of the state, the former born on January 24, 1859, in Noble township, Rush county, son of Rufus P. and Desdemona M. (Stone) Bowen, members of pioneer families, whose family record extending back to the early settlement of this part of the country is set out elsewhere in this volume in a biographical sketch relating to Gus Bowen, a member of the Orange township advisory board and uncle of the subject of this sketch.
Nicholas F. Bowen grew up on the home farm over in Rush county and
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in the spring after he was twenty-one years of age he began farming for him- self on a rented farm. A year later he married and continued as a renter until in March, 1892, when he bought a farm of eighty acres in the north- east corner of section 22 of Orange township, this county, and there estab- lished his home. About eight years later he bought the eighty adjoining that place, in the northwest corner of section 23, and has since been the owner of an excellent farm of one hundred and sixty acres, all in one body. There he continued farming and stock raising until in March, 1909, when he retired from the active labors of the farm, turning the management of the place over to his son Ralph, and he and his wife moved to Orange, where they have a pleasant home and one and one-fourth acres in the village, together with a good barn, garage and orchard. In the fall of 1908 N. F. Bowen was elected assessor of Orange township, entering upon the duties of that office in Janu- ary of the following year. His official term of four years was extended by legislative enactment and thus served for six years, his term of office expir- ing on January 1, 1915. He was urged by both political parties to accept the nomination for a second term, but he declined to become a candidate.
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