History of Franklin County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 99

Author: Reifel, August J
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1648

USA > Indiana > Franklin County > History of Franklin County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 99

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Mr. Ronan's paternal grandfather, Charles Ronan, and his wife Elizabeth, both natives of the United States, came to Fayette county, Indiana, in an early day and cleared the land on which they made their home, erecting the old log cabin in which the subject of this sketch first saw the light of day. Grandfather Ronan was compelled to haul his wheat to Cincinnati, the nearest market in that early day, and often in later years he. was wont to remark on the fact that after all his long haul all the wheat brought him was thirty-seven cents the bushel. Both he and his pioneer wife died on the farm which they had wrested from the forest wilderness and are buried near there, resting well after the stern labors which their hands found to do.

Elias Matney, the maternal grandfather of Charles E. Ronan, was a native of the commonwealth of Kentucky, from which state he moved when a young man, locating in Fayette county, Indiana, where he became a large land owner. It was here he wooed and won the heart and hand of Miss Elizabeth Ayres, one of the belles of the pioneer neighborhood, who had settled with her parents in Fayette county, coming there from South Carolina by way of Kentucky, having for a time made their home in the latter state en route to that favored section of Indiana in which they made their final settlement.

Elias and Elizabeth (Ayres) Matney reared a large family on the Fayette county farm, and were among the most prominent of the pioneers of that section. Their oldest son, William Matney, gave his life for the preservation of the union of federal states, and his name is imperishably enrolled among that great host who were killed while struggling for the Union cause during the great Civil War. Beside several who died young, the children of Elias and Elizabeth Matney were: Elias, Jr., Alexander, Elijah, Steven, Sarah, Amanda Jane, Mary E. and Jerard.

Charles E. Ronan's father bought the old home on the Matney farm and he and his wife lived there until they died. They had a place comprising one hundred thirteen acres and successfully carried on the business of general farming. John W. Ronan served three years in the Union army during the = Civil War as a member of Company K of the Sixty-ninth Indiana regiment. Though present in many desperate engagements he escaped this whole period

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of service with but one slight wound. His son, Charles E. Ronan, whose name heads this sketch, received his education in the common schools of Fayette county and was trained by his father to the life of a practical farmer. He made a specialty of threshing and for more than twenty years gave this important department of agriculture his particular attention. One year he spent in Iowa, but the remainder of his service in threshing was given in Rush, Fayette and Franklin counties, Indiana, his service comprising one period of eighteen years with one man in Rush county. In October, 1910, Mr. Ronan bought the farm of one hundred thirty acres on which he lives in Laurel township and has made the work of general farming highly profit- able.

Charles E. Ronan was married in 1894 to Miss Lulu Stevens and to this union were born Roy. E., Earl D. and Myrtle, who is deceased, and Ruby B. Upon the death of his wife, Mr. Ronan married, secondly, Novem- ber 23, 1910, Miss Minnie L. Lewis. Mr. and Mrs. Ronan are charter members of the Sawes Creek Christian church, which was reorganized December 24, 1914, by the Rev. Guy Hoover, and Mr. Ronan is a member of the local organization of Red Men.

Mrs. Ronan's father, Wesley Lewis, was born near Andersonville, Indiana, February 23, 1826, the son of John and Susanna (Barber) Lewis, who came into Indiana from Pennsylvania at an early day in the settlement of the Indiana territory and located in what is now Salt Creek township, Franklin county. He was a noted "charm" doctor, of much renown in his day throughout that whole country, as well as one of the most progressive of the pioneer farmers of that section. Wesley Lewis upon reaching manhood's estate bought the farm in Posey township upon which his daughter. Mrs. Ronan, now resides, and remained there until his death, which occurred July 2, 1908. His wife survived him several years, her death occurring on the home farm January 29, 1913. The marriage of Wesley Lewis and Margaret Malone was solemnized June 20, 1851. She was a native of Butler county, Ohio, daughter of John and Johanna (Lindley) Malone, who settled near Andersonville when the daughter was four years of age. Mr. Malone bought, at various times, several farms in the Andersonville neigh- borhood, all of which he improved and sold to advantage. For a time he owned the farm where his granddaughter, Mrs. Ronan, now lives and erected the comfortable dwelling house in which Mr. and Mrs. Ronan make their home. Mr. Malone was a soldier in the war of 1812, and his father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He gave two sons to the service of their country during the Civil War, David and Milton Malone, the latter of whom was killed in battle. The former is still living, at Kelso, Washington.

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Nathan and Richard Lewis, brothers of Wesley Lewis, served their country at the front during the time of its trial in the Civil War, while Wesley Lewis, father of Mrs. Ronan, gave efficient and necessary service to his country during the same trying time as a member of the Home Guards.

WILLIAM M. BAKER.

The Baker family, worthily represented by William M. Baker, the pres- ent clerk of Franklin county, have been residents of Franklin county for one hundred and ten years. Joshua Baker, grandfather of the subject of this interesting biographical sketch, located in what is now Franklin county in 1805, six years before the county was formally organized by the Territorial Legislature of Indiana. Consequently, the Bakers are one of the oldest families of the county and during their long residence here of more than a century they have been prominent in every phase of the county's development.

William M. Baker, the son of Maxwell and Margaret (Minnemann) Baker, was born December 31, 1873, in Brookville, Indiana. He is one of seven children born to his parents, the others being Anna, Emmet, Bertha, Frank R., Earl E. and Nellie H. All of these children are still living with the exception of Anna.

Maxwell Baker was born February 13, 1847, in Brookville township in this county, a son of Oliver and Catherine (Brown) Baker, both of whom were born in Brookville township. Oliver Baker was a son of Joshua Baker, a native of Pennsylvania. Joshua Baker was a basket-maker by trade and after marrying in Pennsylvania came to Indiana and located on Blue creek in Franklin county, Indiana, about 1805, where he lived the remainder of his life.

Oliver Baker, the 'grandfather of William M., was a farmer, timber- cutter and large land owner in Brookville township where he lived to be eighty-four years of age. He was an active worker in the Christian church as was his wife, the latter living to be eighty-five years of age. Oliver Baker was noted as a timber hewer and in his younger years cut the timber for the old Speer mill in Brookville. He also hewed the heavy timber for many barns and houses in the county. Fourteen children were born to Oliver Baker and wife, four boys and ten girls. The maternal grandparents of William M. Baker were Henry and Sophia (Meyer) Minnemann, both of whom were natives of Germany. - They were married in their native land and came to America in 1848 and located in Franklin county, Indiana. They

WILLIAM M. BAKER.

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bought a farm in Brookville township and lived there until late in life when they moved to Brookville to spend their declining years. Mr. Baker's great- grandfather Brown died when his wife was young and she later married Jesse O'Niel, a Revolutionary soldier, and lived in Brookville township.

Maxwell Baker was reared on his father's farm in Brookville township. He enlisted in September, 1864, as a member of Company A, Thirty-fifth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war. He engaged in the battles of Franklin and Nashville and after the close of the war, returned to his home in this county. He was twice married, the first union being with Anna Minnemann, a sister of his second wife. She died leaving two children, who died in infancy. He then married Mar- garet Minnemann and to this second union seven children were born. Max- well Baker bought a small farm after returning from the war, upon which he lived for four years. In 1873 he moved to Brookville and engaged in the mercantile business. At different times he owned a dry goods store, a grocery store and a clothing store, remaining in mercantile pursuits until 1908, when he retired from active work. In 1895 Maxwell Baker was elected trustee of Brookville township and held this position until 1900. He has also very acceptably served as assessor of his township. For four years he was in the United States revenue service, serving in this capacity under Cleveland's first administration. He is an active worker in the Christian church as is his wife and he is now a trustee of the denomination.

William M. Baker graduated from the Brookville high school in 1891 and then taught school with excellent success in Franklin county for the next thirteen years. In 1904 he became the deputy auditor of Franklin county and held this position for eight years. In 1910 he was elected clerk of the court of the county and took this office February 14. 1912. He was re- elected in November, 1914, for another term of four years.

Mr. Baker was married May 23, 1897 to Ada Dawson. She was born in Union county, Indiana, January 10, 1875 and is the daughter of Charles N. and Mary Ann Dawson, both of whom are deceased. To this union have been born two children: Charles Evan, born April 26, 1904, who was drowned July 6, 1914, and Mary Louise, born March 30, 1908.

Mr. Baker and his family are members of the Christian church and are interested in its various activities. In politics he has been a lifelong Demo- crat and has served as secretary of the Democratic County Central Committee since 1908. He is a director of the Business Men's Association of Brook- ville and takes a deep interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of his town and county.

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CHARLES W. JOHNSON.

The influence of Kentucky and Tennessee upon many of the communities of central and southern Indiana is quite as marked as is the, perhaps, some- what wider influence of Virginia exerted through the natives of those states who settled in these sections of the Hoosier commonwealth. Among the native Kentuckians who have made their homes in Franklin county perhaps none are better known than the gentleman whose name above confronts the reader of this valuable historical and biographical work.

Charles W. Johnson was born of old Virginia stock in Bracken county, Kentucky, May 19, 1864, the son of George L. and Judith ( Wood) Johnson, both of whom were natives of the same county. Our subject's paternal grand- · father, Lewis Johnson, removed from Virginia at an early day and located in Bracken county, Kentucky, where he was a farmer all his life. He there married Hannah Turner, a member of one of the old families of Kentucky, and the two lived to quite an old age, dying on the farm which their life's labors had brought to a high state of cultivation.

Lewis and Hannah (Turner) Johnson had four sons, Thomas, Noah. Jasper and George L., the latter of whom was the father of the subject of this sketch. Thomas, Noah and Jasper Johnson served during the Civil War as soldiers in the Union cause. Thomas died soon after the war from wounds sustained in that conflict between the states. The others survived many years and Noah is still living.

Charles W. Johnson's maternal grandfather Woods was born in Wood- ford county, Kentucky, and was one of Bracken county's best known and most progressive farmers. He married Miss Sallie Hamilton and to this union five sons were born, John W., King, George, Brook and August, all of whom served during the Civil War as soldiers in the cause of the Con- federate states, and all survived that great struggle.

George L. Johnson, father of the gentleman whose name heads this biographical review, was a farmer and tobacco buyer, keeping in the best state of cultivation more than two hundred fifty acres of Bracken county's choice soil, and was very successful in the management of his estate. He was a lifelong member of the Baptist church, as were his parents before him. His son, Charles W., received his education in the schools of his native county and upon growing to manhood gave his father valuable assistance in the management of the home farm. Upon his father's death, Charles W. sold the home farm and bought another in Bracken county, later owning various places in the same county, where he continued to live until 1913, when he

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came to Laurel township, Franklin county, Indiana, where he purchased the Feikert home, a well appointed farm of one hundred and fifty-two acres. Here he has been very successful as a general farmer.

On January 12, 1888, Charles W. Johnson was united in marriage with Miss Bessie Teel, a native of Campbell county, Kentucky, and raised in Bracken county, daughter of John P. and Ada (Barr) Teel, the former of whom was a native of Bracken county, Kentucky, the latter a native of Brown county, Kentucky. To this happy union four children were born, as follow : Vivian, who married J. K. L. Jarman, a Laurel township farmer, and who has one son, Charles Warner; George Warner (deceased), Audrey P. and Faber Gray, both of whom make their home with their parents, and all of whom are members of the Baptist church.

Mrs. Charles W. Johnson's paternal grandfather, Davil Teel, was a person who literally had been dragged from the jaws of death. He was found floating on a raft in the Ohio river, a helpless babe, apparently about four months old. The name of David Teel was found written on a box which contained the clothing of the parents of the child. Nothing on the deserted raft served to give any further identity to the little castaway, nor was the mystery of the raft ever cleared up. "Grandfather" Worthington, who found the infant, gave it the name of David Teel, following the hint conveyed by the box found with the child, and reared the foundling as care- fully as though it had been a child of his own. David Teel thus grew up on the farm of the excellent "Grandfather" Worthington, near Augusta. There he married Elizabeth Black, a native of Bracken county, and continued the life of a practical and successful farmer. David Teel was an ardent Democrat and always took an active part in the political affairs of his home county. The regard in which he was held by the community in which he had grown upon from the condition of a nameless waif to honored manhood was attested by his election to the important office of sheriff of Bracken county.

Mrs. Johnson's maternal grandfather, Michael Barr, was born in Dublin, Ireland. As a young man he joined the great tide of immigration which had set in from the Emerald Isle about that time, and came to America, where he followed the trade of hatter, a vocation which he had learned in Dublin. In Marietta, Ohio, Michael Barr married Mrs. Elizabeth (Woodward) Wright, a widow who was born in the state of Maine. Their son, Andrew Jackson Barr, served through the Civil War as a soldier in the Union army. Michael Barr died in Feesburg, Ohio, and his wife died in Philista, Ohio.

John P. Teel, father of Mrs. Johnson, was educated in the common schools of his home county and all his life followed the vocation of farming. His death occurred at his home in Kentucky in 1913, his wife having preceded

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him to the grave many years, her death having occurred in 1881. He and his family were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Johnson's mother was a woman of high education and brilliant attainments. She was graduated at Cincinnati under A. Pittenger and equipped herself for the profession of teaching. As an example of the thoroughness of her prepara- tion for her chosen calling, it is related that during her school work in Cin- cinnati, she was the only one in a class of five hundred who successfully accomplished the difficult test of "stringing" a human skeleton without making an error in the articulation. Her first school work was done in Brown county, Ohio, where she taught in the public schools for a time and then went to Bracken county. Supplemental to her public school work, she gave private lessons in French, Latin and German.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Johnson are among the most highly esteemed residents of Franklin county and though they have lived but a few years here have made themselves so thoroughly "at home" that they are received as among the oldest families of the county.

MRS. JACOB FRITZ.

In these days when there is so much of the spectacular side of the "woman's rights" question presenting itself to the gaze of an astonished world, it is cheering to note the many instances where women are going about quietly doing the work that their hands find to do, making no complaint of the stern part they are compelled to take in the onward struggle of life, facing from day to day the manifold duties that have been thrust upon them by untoward circumstances or compelled, by the loss of the natural protector who is no longer at their side to protect them from the storms and buffetings of life, to take what formerly was considered only a man's part in the world's activities and who are succeeding grandly in maintaining their inde- pendence in the face of adverse fortune.

Among this brave class of women none are more entitled to the respect and encouragement of their neighbors than is the large number of widows who, upon the death of husband, thus deprived of the natural prop upon which the comfort and the safety of their homes had been thought to depend, have taken up the work where death interrupted and who have made a success of farming. There is a notable example of this form of success in Franklin county 'and a historical and biographical work of this

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character hardly would be complete without mention of the worthy endeavors of the courageous woman whose name heads this sketch.

Left a widow by the death of her husband, Jacob Fritz, one of the best- known farmers of Laurel township, Franklin county, in the year 1904, Mrs. Fritz has continued to manage the fine farm which her husband left and is making a pronounced success of the same. This farm, known throughout Franklin county as "Daisy Dairy," has made its dairy products widely familiar by reason of their recognized excellence and to the careful forethought of the widowed general manager of the dairy full credit is given among her neighbors for the success she has made. Her son, John Fritz, who is his mother's able assistant in the management of "Daisy Dairy," also is engaged in the sale of silos.

Jacob Fritz, deceased husband of Mrs. Fritz, was born on a farm south- east of South Gate, Dearborn county, Indiana, September 13, 1857, and was the son of John and Dorothy (Mettle) Fritz, both natives of Germany, who were married in the neighborhood of South Gate. Jacob Fritz died in November, 1904, leaving a widow and five children, Laura, who is the wife of Charles Reibold, of Laurel, Indiana; John, who makes his home with his mother on "Daisy Dairy"; Edna (deceased), Charles, who is in the bakery business at Lewisville, Indiana, and Clarence, who also remains with his mother on the farm. All are members of the German Lutheran church, in the strict tenets of which faith they were brought up to revere the teachings of their fathers before them. Politically, the Fritz family always has adhered to the historic principles of the Republican party.

John Fritz, father of the above, was born January 14, 1834, at Lilboch, Germany, where he received his early education, and came to this country when a youth of eighteen to try his fortunes on the promising shores of the new world. He landed at New Orleans, and making his way north decided to make his home at Lapland, near South Gate, Franklin county. Here he married Dorothy Mettle, also a native of the German Fatherland, who was born in Wethert, daughter of Jacob and Dorothy (Schlemmer) Mettle, who brought their family to this country, locating near South Gate. There was a bit of a romance connected with this marriage, for John and Dorothy had been engaged to marry before they left Germany, and the fact that the Mettle family had put in its lot with the people of the South Gate neighborhood had very much to do with the decision of the sturdy German lad to locate on the same spot upon his arrival in this country. Like the family of the Fritzes in the old country, the Mettles family also held to the Lutheran faith.

John Fritz was a farmer through life. He had a farm of eighty

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acres in Highland township and on this farm his last days were spent. John and Dorothy ( Mettle) Fritz had five children, as follows: John, Carolina, Dorothy, Jacob and Katherine, all of which were raised in the Lutheran faith.

Jacob Fritz, second son and third child of above, received his youthful education at South Gate and took up farming as his life's occupation. For two years after reaching manhood's estate he continued to farm his father's old place and then bought the farm in Laurel township, now known as "Daisy Dairy," upon which his widow still resides. The original extent of Jacob Fritz's purchase was sixty-four acres. To this he later added ninety-two acres, which he continued to improve to the time of his death, which occurred on November 4, 1904. At the time of his death there ivas not remaining on the farm a single one of the buildings which were there when he bought it, he having replaced all with structures of model design.

In the month of December, 1888, Jacob Fritz was united in marriage with Miss Mary Kolb, who was born at Logan, in Dearborn county, daughter of George and Christina ( Widau) Kolb. George Kolb, father of Mrs. Fritz, was born in Cincinnati, son of John and Elizabeth (Smith) Kolb, both of whom left their homes on the Rhine in their early youth, both landing at New Orleans, whence they made their way to Cincinnati. Here they were married and for a time worked in a baker's shop. Finding this form of occupation not to their liking, and desiring the broader freedom of the farm, John Kolb took employment as a farm hand and later bought a farm for himself near the town of Harrison, Indiana. His first purchase was of a tract of forty acres, which he presently increased to one hundred forty acres and became a very successful farmer. Upon their decision to retire from active life, Mr. Kolb and his wife moved into the town of Harrison, where they died.

George Kolb, father of Mrs. Fritz, was educated in the district schools about Harrison and was always a farmer. He first rented the old home place for a period of four years, and then bought, on Logan Creek, a tract of eighty acres, to which he later added twenty acres, erecting new buildings upon the same. Upon reaching the period in his life when he felt that he had earned a right to a relaxation from the more active duties of life, he sold his farm and is now making his home with his daughter, Mrs. Fritz, at "Daisy Dairy." Politically, Mr. Kolb always was a Democrat, and for five years had served his old home township as township trustee. He also had been elected to the office of supervisor of roads for two terms, and in all his public duties had so served the common welfare as to receive the highest com- mendation of his constituency.

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Mrs. Fritz's maternal grandparents, Christopher and Wilhelmina ( Well- man) Widau, were both natives of Hanover, Germany. They married in the Fatherland and then came to America, the land of promise to so many of the German people about that time. They landed in Baltimore in the year 1831, having been more than one hundred days making the passage across the sea, a journey which now is commonly made in less than a week. Deciding to push west, and attracted by the promise held out by the members of the large German colony in Cincinnati, the Widaus pushed on to the Queen City of the Ohio river. After a sometime residence in the city, they decided that the wide stretches of practically free farming land which lay all about them gave better promise of ultimate success in the new country and they moved onto a farm of sixty-eight acres on Logan creek in Dear- born county, Indiana, to which they added until they had a finely cultivated farm of one hundred twenty acres. On this farm they passed the rest of their lives and their bodies are resting in the cemetery nar by.

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History of Franklin County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 99

Author: Reifel, August J Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1648

Author: Reifel, August J
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1648