USA > Indiana > Gibson County > History of Gibson County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 50
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GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
He is a splendid type of the intelligent, up-to-date, self-made American in the full sense of the term, a man of the people, with their interests at heart. As a citizen he is progressive and abreast of the times in all that concerns the common weal. Although a partisan, with strong convictions and well de- fined opinions on questions on which men and parties divide, he has the esteem and confidence of the people of the community and his friends are in number as his acquaintances, regardless of party ties.
Luther Benson, the subject of this sketch, was born January 25, 1877, the son of Sylvester and Nancy A. (Ewing) Benson. Sylvester Benson was born in Montgomery township, Gibson county, July 10, 1823, and has re- mained in this county since, he now being its oldest living resident, having reached the age of ninety. During his long lifetime he has followed agricul- ture for a livelihood. He served three terms as a county commissioner, being elected in 1876, 1879 and 1882, and was a member of the board when the present court house was built. His wife died March 10, 1899. They were the parents of eight children, of whom seven survive: William C. lives in Owensville; James E., Benjamin F. and John G. are farmers, and live north- west of Owensville; Mrs. Margaret Johnson lives in Centralia, Illinois; Mrs. Lilly Scott 'lives on the old home place; Luther. The subject's grandfather, William Benson, came to Gibson county from Kentucky at an early date. 1816
Luther Benson was educated in the common schools of Montgomery township and the Owensville high school, this being supplemented by a course in Indiana University. Deciding on the practice of law for his life work, he began the study of that profession, and was admitted to the bar in 1900, since that time having been actively engaged in his profession, being highly respected, not only for his brilliant legal attainments, but for his intense in- terest in all that will advance the interests of his community.
On April 5. 1899, Mr. Benson was united in marriage with Gertrude Johnson, daughter of Henry Johnson, of Owensville. This union has been blessed by the birth of two daughters, Pauline and Mary.
The subject has always taken a deep interest in political affairs and was a member of the Indiana Legislature in the session of 1906-7, having been elected on the Republican ticket, during which term he was active in behalf of many good measures and his services as a legislator were highly appre- ciated by his constituents. Mr. Benson is now allied with the Progressive party.
The Benson family on the paternal side came from good old Irish stock, the great-grandfather, James Benson, having left the Emerald Isle and emi-
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Invester Benzene una w +, 31, 11/4 niey a. Benson died Mar 1, 10, 1899. Willingn Jenson died it 2.MX 80, Lut, Hewas 8 um marsh, 31, 1.783 MWbestnordland to, Pas Memarmand , 819 margaret euch e guy 13, 1503 in Va, diedaug 3, 1866 in fryl. renderers GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA. 519
grated to America before the Revolutionary war, and in that struggle he was a soldier under General Washington. He settled in Pennsylvania and re- sided in that state until 1787, when he removed to Miller's Station, Bourbon county, Kentucky, where he lived until his death. He married Mary Taylor, who was born at Little York, Pennsylvania, in 1760, and she died in Gibson county, Indiana. They were the parents of a large family of children, but none is now living. Sylvester Benson, father of the subject, was born July 10, 1823, and learned the trade of wheelwright with his father. He remained at home until the fall of 1845, when his father gave him eighty acres of land, only seven acres of which were improved. Devoting himself industriously to the cultivation and development of his holdings, the subject's father was so successful in his management of affairs that he eventually became one of the largest land owners in the county. He was married July 10, 1867, to Nancy Ann Ewing, who was born in Jasper, Dubois county, Indiana, the daughter of Moses and Nancy (Stillwell) Ewing. Judging from the emi- nently worthy record of Mr. Benson in the past and the fact that he is only in the prime of life, the future for him will evidently be replete with honor and greater success than he has yet achieved.
JAMES P. COX.
A man whose influence has been potent for the promotion and dissem- ination of the literature of the General Baptist church is James P. Cox, who is now editor of the Baptist Messenger, of Owensville, Indiana. He was born in Posey county, Indiana, October 5, 1859, the son of Joshua and Caroline (Britton) Cox, his father being a native of Indiana and his mother of Ken- tucky. Mr. Cox received his common school education in Posey county, and early in life entered a printing office to learn the practical side of printing. After qualifying as a printer he traveled for some years in the West and South as a journeyman printer, settling permanently in Owensville. Indiana, in 1887, where he established the Baptist Messenger, a weekly Baptist paper, which covers several states. In addition to his editorial duties as manager of the church paper, he also published the Gibson County Star, a local paper, for about fifteen years. In 1914 he sold this local organ to the present owner, but still continues as editor of the Baptist Messenger.
In 1900 Mr. Cox took a trip to the Old World and visited England, France, Belgium, Holland and other countries. He attended the Interna-
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GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
tional Christian Endeavor convention held in London and also visited the Paris Exposition.
Mr. Cox has always been very active in the affairs of the General Bap- tist church, and has held various offices in this denomination. He is now secretary of the General Association of General Baptists, also of Liberty As- sociation of General Baptists, as well as secretary of the board of trustees of Oakland City College, which is managed by this church. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Tribe of Ben-Hur. Mr. Cox has been a leader in the affairs of his church for many years and his counsel and advice are frequently sought by the members of his denomination. His paper has a wide circulation among the members of this church and is recognized as one of the leading church papers of the country.
Mr. Cox was married in 1900 to Sabra Barton, the daughter of John and Isabel (Barnes) Barton, of Vanderburg county, Indiana. They are the parents of three children. Mr. Cox also has a daughter by a former marriage.
ALBERT MILLS.
Agriculture has been an honored vocation from the earliest ages and as a usual thing men of honorable and humane impulses, as well as those of energy and thrift, have been patrons of husbandry. The free out-of-door life of the farmer has a decided tendency to foster and develop that inde- pendence of mind and self-reliance which characterizes true manhood and no truer blessing can befall a boy than to be reared in close touch with nature in the healthful, life-inspiring labor of the fields. It has always been the fruitful soil from which have sprung the moral bone and sinew of the coun- try, and the majority of our nation's great warriors, renowned statesmen and distinguished men of letters were born on the farm and were indebted largely to its early influence for the distinction which they have attained.
Albert Mills, who was born about five miles east of Princeton, Gibson county, Indiana, on May 5, 1843, was the son of Durston and Louisa (Stapleton) Mills. Durston Mills was born on June 5, 1804, in Kennebec county, Maine, and was married on December 16, 1827, to Louisa Stapleton, who was born on April 28, 1808, in Robinson county, Tennessee. The subject's paternal grandfather, James Mills, was born in Kennebec county, Maine, in 1767, and married Rachel Courson. who was born in Maine in 1769, their marriage occurring in 1789. Their children were Effie, born
ALBERT MILLS AND FAMILY.
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GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
in 1790; Richard, born in 1792; Zyasa, born 1794; \sa, in 1796; Bracket, in 1798; Daniel, 1800; James, 1802; Durston, 1804: John, 1806; Mary, 1808; Samuel, 1810, and Caroline, 1812.
James Mills, with his wife and children, left Maine in October, 1810, and came to Indiana in 1811, the long and tiresome journey from Maine being they came by boat to Evansville, then known as Smithville, thence by wagon to Gibson county, settling four miles west of Princeton, on what is known as the Hudelson farm. They lived there for a while, but, on account of milk sickness, they moved to White Oak Hills, four miles east of Princeton, where James Mills bought eight hundred acres of timber land. Here he cleared a place, put up a frame building, in which they started to make a home and clear the land. Eventually they located on what is now known as the Hyslop farm on the Patoka river, where they spent the remaining years of their lives, their deaths occurring as the result of milk sickness. Mr. Mills was a deacon in the Quaker church and a man well known and highly respected. The sub- ject's father was married in November, 1827, and soon afterwards located on one hundred and twenty acres of land in what is now Center township, Gibson county, which he improved and developed into a good farm and which he operated until his death, which occurred on May 14, 1875, being survived by his widow, who died in 1882. He was a cabinet- maker by trade and also a farmer, and built many flat boats on the Patoka river at Wheeling, being one of the first to engage in that work there. He was one of the leading agriculturists of his time in Gibson county and assisted in the organization of the agricultural society here in the early days. He was a Whig in politics during his early years, but on the organization of the Republican party he cast his fortunes with that party. His children were as follows : Berrilla, born March 14, 1829. and a twin, who died in infancy; the former married Joseph Greek; Adelia, born February 14, 1831, became the wife of Charles King; Cecelia Ann, born September 2, 1832, became the wife of Henry Bucklin ; Zelissa, born November 8. 1833, became the wife of Samuel Greek; Byron, born January 6, 1835, married Mary Jane Curry; Horace Ames, born November 20, 1838, died at the age of eighteen years; Elvira, born August 15, 1840, died unmarried; Albert and Almena, twins, born May 5, 1843; the latter became the wife of Edgar Mills; John and Mary, twins, born November 19, 1846; John was married twice, first to a Miss Paul and, second, to Fannie King; Mary became the wife of Lewis Olds. Those living of these children are Albert, the subject of this sketch; John, who is
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GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
living at Huntingburg, Indiana, is employed with the Southern Railroad Company, and Mary, who lives with a son in California.
The subject of this sketch was deprived of many opportunities for se- curing education in his youth, the only school in the neighborhood being one of the typical log subscription schools of that period. He lived on the pater- nal homestead until 1865, when, after his marriage, he and his wife located on a farm in Center township, one and one-half miles northeast of his father's old home. There he obtained eighty acres of land known as the Weidenhach farm, which he cleared and improved, and which he made his home until 1870, when he moved to Princeton. He was elected constable of Patoka township, in which position he served four years and was then interested in the saw-mill business for twenty-five years, also following carpenter work about ten years. He has been employed by the Southern Railroad Company at their shops for the past ten years, and is numbered among their most faithful and efficient employes.
On September 20, 1865, Mr. Mills married Polly Ann Yeager, who was born in Center township. Gibson county, Indiana, the daughter of J. V. and Polly Duncan Yeager. These parents, who were both born and reared in Virginia, came in an early day to Gibson county, Indiana, settling in Center township. Mrs. Mills' paternal grandfather, Daniel Yeager, settled near Owensville, Indiana, where he successfully conducted a farm. His son, J. V., also obtained a tract of wild land in Center township, which he cleared and where he established his permanent home. He died on his uncle Nicholas Yeager's old homestead near Owensville. He was three times married, his second marriage being with Catherine Taylor, and his third wife was Mrs. Elizabeth (Johnson) McCleary, the widow of Willis McCleary. To J. V. Yeager's first marriage were born the following children: Nancy, the widow of Chesterfield Woolsy, who lives near Owensville; Chatty, who became the wife of Samuel Mauck, of near Owensville, and both are now deceased; Greenberry was a soldier in the Civil war, serving for two years with Com- pany B, Fifty-eighth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and later being a member of the First Indiana Cavalry. He later became a farmer in Ringold. Texas. He married Sallie Creek. To Albert Mills and wife the following children have been born : Clarence R., who was chief clerk for the roadmaster of the Southern Railroad Company, married Mantha Redmond, and his death occurred on March 27, 1912. His widow now makes her home at New Albany, Indiana. They had two children, Helen and Mildred; Ida M. is at home with her parents; Hortense became the wife of John F. Ligon, of
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Williamson, West Virginia, and they have two children, Norman P. and John F., Jr .; Rollin married Willie Marie Mayfield, of Walnut Springs, Texas, a mechanic for the Southern Railroad Company, and they have one child, Rollin Vincent; Hazel, the wife of Ronald E. Mangrum, of Pittsburg, Kansas, and they have two children, Margaret E. and Ronald M.
Reverting to the subject's ancestral history, it is stated that his maternal grandmother, Louisa ( Stapleton ) Mills, was a daughter of Joshua Stapleton, who was born on January 28, 1782, and who married Elizabeth Elmore, whose birth occurred on July 100, 1788. They came from Robinson county, Tennessee, to Gibson county, Indiana, in 1816, settling five miles east of Princeton in the woods, where they obtained a tract of wild land and here they established their permanent home, the father following the pursuit of farming here until his death. To them were born the following children: Louisa, the subject's mother ; Polly, born May 7, 1810; Thirza, born March 9, 1812 ; Catherine, born April 5, 1814; Minerva, born April 21, 1816; Han- nah, born July 13, 1818; Elizabeth, born August 28, 1820; Alexander D., born January 29, 1823; Travis E., born April 22, 1825; Rachel, born Novem- ber 13, 1827, and Amanda, born October 5, 1830.
Politically, Albert Mills was a stanch supporter of the Republican party up to 1884. when he cast his vote for James G. Blaine for President, but since that time he has been aligned with the Prohibition party, of which he is an enthusiastic supporter, believing that the temperance question is the greatest issue now before the American people. Religiously, he and his wife are members of the United Presbyterian church at Princeton. Mr. Mills is a member of Archer Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Princeton, of which he is a charter member, his connection with this organization being particu- larly consistent from the fact that on October 21, 1861, he enlisted in de- fense of his country as a private in Company B, Fifty-eighth Regiment In- diana Volunteer Infantry, at Princeton. The command went by boat to Louisville, Kentucky, and then on to the front, taking part in the battles of La Vergne, Stone's River, and at Chickamauga, Tennessee, on September 20, 1863, where Mr. Mills was captured and taken to Richmond, being confined first in Libby prison and later in the Pemberton building. In November, 1863, he was taken to Danville, Virginia, and kept a prisoner there until May, 1864, and was confined in the notorious Andersonville prison until September 10th of that year. when he was taken to Charles- ton, South Carolina, and kept a prisoner at the Race Course near that point until November 7, 1864, when he was taken to Florence, South
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Carolina, remaining there until February 22, 1865. From that point he was taken first to Wilmington, North Carolina, and thence to Goldsboro, that state, and on February 27, 1865, was paroled. While at Wilmington, North Carolina, Mr. Mills was taken very sick with swamp fever and was in the hospital from February until April. He was honorably discharged from the service on April 10, 1865, after an experience of more than ordinary priva- tions and hardships, having been a prisoner of war and in prison seventeen months and six days. Of these experiences he retains a vivid memory and recounts in an interesting manner his experiences in Southern prison pens and stockades. Despite the tremendous hardships undergone by him, he is remarkably well preserved physically, and is keenly alive to passing events, keeping in close touch with the current issues of the day. For some time Mr. Mills has been weather observer for Gibson county. He is widely known throughout this locality and is held in high esteem by all who know him.
LOUIS WIRTH.
Dividing his time between the pursuit of agriculture and the management of a grain elevator, Louis Wirth naturally leads a very busy life, but as he is the possessor of a large amount of energy and perseverance he seems to derive pleasure from the fact that he is kept so busy. Mr. Wirth traces his lineage on both sides of the family back to the land of the Kaiser and the thrift and frugal habits which characterize all of our German population are found in him. He is a man who has known what it is to take disappoint- ments and discouragements and yet through it all he has maintained his optimistic nature and today stands as one of the prosperous citizens of Gib- son county.
Louis Wirth, the son of Nicholas and Fredericka (Stolpp) Wirth, was born November 6, 1866, in Baltimore, Maryland. His father was a native of Germany and came to this country when a young man and settled in Balti- more, where he was married. His wife's parents also were natives of Ger- many. Nicholas Wirth was a tinner by trade and during a long and busy life he was compelled by the force of circumstances to change his place of resi- dence several times in order to obtain employment. In 1860 he moved from Baltimore to Gibson county, and located near Fort Branch on a farm. Previous to his coming to Gibson county he worked in an oyster canning fac-
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tory as a tinner at Baltimore, and was also in the employ of the United States government as a tinner. After he lost his place in the government service he came to Gibson county, Indiana. He was more than an ordinary tinner; in fact, he was a positive genius at the work. The government recognized his ability in this line and made him a foreman at Galveston, Texas, with a gang of men under his employ and paid him a salary of seven dollars a day. He invented the first ice cream freezer which had a turning paddle in it, and several other minor inventions, none of which, however, netted him the finan- cial returns which he deserved. Before coming to Gibson county the first time Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Wirth had one child, Lula, who was born in Baltimore and died at the age of four years. The second child, Mrs. Cather- ine Brothers, who lives about four miles east of Fort Branch, was born in Gibson county, and after her birth the family moved back to Baltimore, where the third child, Mrs. Caroline Woods, of Gibson county, was born. The next child was born on the second return to Gibson county from Mary- land. This child, Fredericka Cannavan, now lives on a farm in Patoka town- ship. His fortunes turned again and for the third time the family returned to Baltimore from Gibson county, and there the fifth child, Louis, the im- mediate subject of this brief sketch, was born in 1866. Some time later Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Wirth again moved back to Indiana, settling in Pike county, where the sixth and seventh children, Charles W. and Joseph, were born. Charles W. is a farmer living two and one-half miles northwest of Buckskin, Indiana; Joseph died in infancy. Some time after the birth of the two last named children, the family moved to Gibson county, where the eighth child, Nicholas, was born, and he now lives on the old home place near Fort Branch, where his father died March 21, 1895, his wife surviving him until June 7. 1907. Thus ends the career of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Wirth, who were good, substantial German citizens, rearing a large family and doing their full duty toward their home and the nation throughout their whole career. The fact that when Mr. Wirth was out of work in one place he had that he was a man of more than ordinary ability and certainly more than the courage to go to some other place in order to secure employment, shows ordinary courage.
Louis Wirth, as may be seen from the foregoing account, must have inherited some of the wonderful stamina and perseverance which character- ized his parents and a review of his life shows this to be the fact. He was educated in common schools and completed the course in the Fort Branch
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high school in Gibson county. His boyhood days were spent on the farm where he learned the science of farming in a very practical manner. When he became twenty-five years of age he married and immediately moved onto a farm and started to make his fortune. After working on the farm for three years, he moved to Haubstadt and clerked in a store there for three or four months, but seeing a better chance of success on the farm, he returned to his agricultural pursuits. In August, 1899, he went to work for the Cumberland Telephone Company at Nashville, Tennessee, and learned all of the intricacies of this business. Within a short time he came back to Indiana and took charge of the telephone exchange at Boonville, where he remained for one year. He then returned to his farm, where he worked with a will for the next five years, getting his farm into a high state of cultivation and adding to it. He inherited forty acres of land from his father, and by his thrift and economical way of living he added another forty acres to this. After a pros- perous five years on the farm he received an opportunity of taking control of the Evansville Melrose Milling Company, having worked prior for the Princeton Elevator Company, and shortly afterward was transferred to the grain elevator at King's Station in his home county. The company sold this elevator and he then went to the Weese Welborn Company, of Princeton, where he has continued in charge for the past nine years. During all of this time he has lived on his own farm and has had general management of it. He rents out his fields and in this way keeps a close supervision upon every- thing that is done on his farm. He now has a fine home, good barns and out- buildings and his farm is in first class condition in every particular.
Louis Wirth was married June 2, 1891, to Lillie Olmstadt. the daughter of S. L. and Martha (Montgomery) Olmstadt, both of her parents being natives of Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Wirth are the parents of two children, one who died in infancy, and Gladys, born June 24, 1904. Mr. Wirth, in his political affiliations, has always identified himself with the Democratic party, but has always confined his political activities to the casting of his vote at all elections. Fraternally, he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America at Princeton. He is a member of the Christian church at Princeton and his wife of the General Baptist church at White church, near Princeton. Mr. Wirth is one of the best known of the German citizens of Gibson county, and his career has been without a blemish in every respect. He is a pleasant man to meet, possessing sociable qualities and bears a reputation for honesty throughout the county.
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JOHN K. KING.
A review of the life of the honored and lamented subject of this sketch must of necessity be brief and general in its character. To enter fully into the interesting details of his career, touching the struggles of his early man- hood and successes of later days, would far transcend the limits of this article. He filled a large place in the ranks of the enterprising and public-spirited men of his day and generation and the luster of his deeds and the memories which attach to his name and character form no inconsiderable chapter in the history of the community where he did his work and achieved his success. Sufficient is submitted, we believe, to prove him entitled to the honorable position he long occupied among the brave and energetic self-made men of Indiana, who by enterprise and unswerving integrity forged to the front despite all opposition and won for the grand old Hoosier state a place second to none in the bright constellation comprising the Union of American states. That he did his part nobly and well cannot be gainsaid, and, though dead, he yet speaketh in the work which he accomplished and in the many kindly deeds and wholesome influence which not only his friends, but the community as well, prize as a grateful heritage.
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