USA > Indiana > Gibson County > History of Gibson County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 56
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Willis H. Tichenor, the son of Timothy M. and Elizabeth ( Hudelson) Tichenor, was born in Owensville, Indiana, on October 8, 1850. Timothy Tichenor was a native of this county and followed the trade of a blacksmith all his life. His shop in Owensville became the center of an extensive trade and by his remarkable skill in iron work, he became one of the most impor- tant men in the whole county. No one can gainsay the fact that a good blacksmith is a big asset to any community, and especially was this so at the time when he was following the trade. Shortly before his death, he went into the saw-mill business in Owensville and followed that occupation very suc- cessfully. Timothy Tichenor was born July 11, 1829, was married Decem- ber 24, 1849, and his death occurred January 3, 1895. His wife, Elizabeth Hudelson, was born November 9, 1831. To them were born eight children: Willis H., the immediate subject of this sketch; Daniel Crawford, who mar- ried Louisa Roberts, lives on a farm about four miles north of Owensville and has one child, Elsie; Luther M., who married Almedia Daugherty, lives on a farm one mile south of Owensville and has four children, Mary, Anna, William and Hazel; William Seward, who lives with his mother in Owens- ville, she being now past eighty-two years of age; Florence, who married John Daugherty, a farmer of this township, is the mother of two children, Oscar and Frank. After the death of John Daugherty, which occurred in 1910, his widow married Elmer Coleman, also a farmer living about two miles east of Owensville; two children who died in infancy.
Willis H. Tichenor spent his boyhood days in Owensville, securing his education in the common school of his home town and learning the trade of a blacksmith in his father's shop, and continued in this occupation until about a year before his marriage, when he went into business for himself.
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About 1890 he sold out his blacksmithing establishment and entered into the implement business across the street from his old shop. He is the agent for the Deering and International Harvester Companies. He carries a full and complete line of farming implements of all sorts and has a large patronage throughout the county. No man stands higher in the community as a business man than does Mr. Tichenor.
Willis H. Tichenor was married first in December, 1874, to Louisa Lucas, the daughter of Francis and Mary ( Mauck) Lucas. This union was blessed with four daughters, Mary, who died at the early age of two years; Florence Belle, the wife of Arthur Brown, a farmer living near King's Station, is the mother of two children, Eunice and Mildred; Nellie W., the wife of Robert Redman, a farmer of this township, and they have four children, Eva, Howe, Birdena and Eugene: Emma Ethel, the wife of Fran- cis Thompson, a blacksmith of Owensville, and they are the parents of three children, Paul, Raymond and Mary Elizabeth. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Tichenor married Elizabeth ( Williams) Barker, klaughter of Perry and Nancy (Meadows) Williams, and to this union were born tour children, Warren, who died at the age of three years; Wallace P., who mar- ried Eva Speer, and lives in Owensville, following the trade of a blacksimth with his father; he has one child, Charles Willis; Erma, who is still at home with her parents, and Earl W., deceased.
Mr. Tichenor has always adhered to the principles of the Republican party, but has never been an office seeker, although he served for two terms as councilman in the town of Owensville, at the same time with Henry Dugan and Lewis Whitenbaugh. Fraternally, he is a member of the time- honored order of the Free and Accepted Masons, and has always taken an active part in the workings of that organization. He and his wife have been loyal and earnest church workers during their long residence in this county, he being a member of the General Baptist church of Owensville, and a deacon of that denomination at the present time, while his wife belongs to the Regular Baptist church. They contribute liberally of their substance to the support of their respective churches. Mr. Tichenor, by his industry and sound judgment, has been very successful in the management of his business and well merits a place of honor in this history. He has always been upright in his dealings with his fellow citizens and, because of his sterling qualities, he has made friends of all with whom he has come into contact. He has always actively identified himself with all those movements which have for their purpose the bettering of the moral, social or intellectual life of the community in which he lives.
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JACOB W. MAUCK.
Poets often tell the truth and the old song which contains the refrain, "The farmer feeds them all," states a very fundamental and economic truth. Without the farmer the rest of the country would starve within a week despite the large amount of food in cold storage. Every occupation might be done away with but farming and people could live, but a total cessation of farming for a very short time would actually depopulate the whole world. A man can live without banks all his life, but deprive him of his bread and his career is soon ended. Farming is becoming an honored profession ; our district schools are teaching it as a science and our colleges are granting degrees for agricultural courses. The farmers of any com- munity sustain the people dependent on every other profession. Without the farmer the banker would close his doors, the manufacturer would shut down his factory and the railroads would suspend operations. Among the honored men of Gibson county, Indiana, who help to keep the banker, the manufacturer and the railroads is the subject of this sketch.
Jacob Warrick Mauck, son of Thompson G. and America (Knowles) Mauck, was born August 25, 1852, one and one-half miles northwest of Owensville, Gibson county, the father and mother both being natives of this county. They were married in 1851, and immediately moved on to the old Rutter farm, about three-fourths of a mile east of the old homestead, where they lived for six years. He was engaged in general farming all his life and also bought and sold considerable live stock. For a number of years he was also agent for the old wooden binder in this county. They were the parents of five children: Abraham, who married Margaret Johnson, lives in Denver, Colorado, where he is engaged in the lumber business, and he has seven children, Harvey, May, John, Myrtle, Joseph, Ethel and Thompson; Asa, who died at the age of thirteen: Matilda married Henry W. Smith and lives on a farm between Owensville and Princeton, and has three children, Mrs. Nora Armstrong, America, who died at the age of two years, and Earl R .: John A., who married Ada Robinson, is a traveling man, and they have two children, Bernice and Hilda; Jacob W., the imme- diate subject of this sketch. Mrs. America Mauck died in 1891, and in the fall of 1892 Mr. Mauck married Augusta Emerson, of Gibson county. Thompson G. Mauck's death occurred in August, 1911, his widow surviving him two years, dying in the spring of 1913.
Jacob W. Mauck, the subject of this sketch, was married November 30.
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1876, to Lucy, the daughter of James S. and Parmelia (Davis) Mounts. Her father is a native of this county, his birth occurring about two miles south of Owensville. He followed the occupation of a farmer all his life, his death occurring on his farm on February 21, 1899. His widow sur- vived him several years, her death occurring on August 5, 1908. They were the parents of eleven children: Abijah; Joseph Lane, deceased; Silas L., deceased; Elijah, deceased; Lucy, the wife of the subject; Mary ; Martha, deceased; Ida A., the wife of Jefferson Welborn, a farmer of this county; Flora, deceased; Oscar, who married Flora Armstrong, is a farmer of this county, with five children and one who died in infancy.
Jacob W. Mauck spent his boyhood on the farm, attending the schools of his neighborhood in the winter seasons, and working on the farm during the summer. Early in life he decided to make farming his life's work and two years before marriage he began farming for himself, renting ground from his uncle, Samuel Mauck, of this township. He continued operations on this farm after his marriage until 1879, when he had the misfortune to have his house burned down. He then moved to the Jackie Simpson farm of fifty acres, where he remained for two years. Feeling that he could bet- ter his condition by buying a farm of his own, he purchased the Beard and Davis farm four miles northwest of Owensville, from his brother-in-law, Silas L. Mounts. On this farm of one hundred and twenty acres he farmed for thirty-two years, bringing it to a high state of cultivation and improving it in every way. He stocked his farm with the best stock obtainable and proved to be a very successful agriculturist. Upon the death of his father, he moved to his father's old place and remained there for about two years, when he moved to Owensville in August, 1911, having been appointed trustee of Montgomery township in February of that year. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob W. Mauck have four children : Nora, who died at the early age of two years; Asa, who married Mary Robb, lives on his grandfather's old farm, and he is the father of three children, Irene, Warren and Arva; Elijah, who died in 1897; George, who married Ethel Bush, lives on his father's old place near Owensville.
Fraternally, Mr. Mauck is a member of the time-honored order of Free and Accepted Masons, at Owensville, and takes an active interest in all the workings of this organization. Politically, he has always affiliated with the Democratic party and has always taken a live and active interest in the affairs of that political body. His sterling worth as a citizen and business man was recognized by his appointment as trustee of his township in February, 1911, and for the short time that he has been in the office he has discharged its
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arduous duties to the entire satisfaction of the community and township. Mr. Mauck is a quiet and unassuming man, of genial disposition, firm in his con- victions and one who has always looked out for the best welfare of his town- ship. As a public official he has shown an honesty and integrity which stamps him as a public citizen which makes for the best in our civilization. He has gained his success through legitimate and worthy means and stands today as an honorable type of the self-made man.
HENRY WHITE.
Examples that impress force of character on all who study them are worthy of record. By a few general observations may be conveyed some idea of the characteristics and worthy career of Henry White, for many years a well known farmer of Gibson county, Indiana, who is now living in honor- able retirement in Patoka township, having, through his industry and perse- verance, accumulated a competency. He has pursued the even tenor of his way in a quiet and unostentatious manner which never courts publicity, at- tending strictly to his own affairs, doing the right as he understands it and keeping his conscience void of offense towards God and man. It is not a matter of wonderment that the elements of a solid and practical nature, which unite in his composition, should win him a conspicuous place in his commun- ity, when we learn that he comes of a sterling family, a family that believed not only in keeping busy along legitimate lines of endeavor, but also in living up to the highest standard of citizenship in every respect.
Henry White was born in Westphalia, Germany, in November, 1834. the son of William and Minnie ( Schulmeier) White, both also natives of that place, where they lived and died. They were farming folk and people of eminent respectability in this community. They were the parents of four sons : William, who died in Germany; Henry, the immediate subject of this sketch; Charles, who came to America in 1851, and was taken sick and died at Cairo, Illinois; Ernest, who is living in Germany. The subject had but little opportunity to attend school in his native land, and as a boy he was hired out in order to reduce the expense of the family. When a lad of fifteen years he started to America alone, coming on a sailing vessel. and, after a rough and stormy voyage of eleven weeks, the boat having been held at Bremen for two weeks, they landed at New Orleans. The experiences of this
MR. AND MRS. HENRY WHITE.
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journey will never be forgotten by those who took part. When they crossed the North sea it was very rough and cold, and the subject froze his feet so badly that he could not walk, and when they reached the Atlantic ocean in March the sea was calm and the weather mild. The captain ordered all hands on deck, so they could fumigate the ship. They took tar buckets and, heating irons very hot, put them in the buckets to fumigate, and the tar caught fire and caused a panic among the passengers, who rushed in every direction. The subject, however, was unable to walk, and was badly fright- ened before the danger was over. There was much sickness, as well as vermin on the ship. After landing at New Orleans the subject came up to Princeton, Indiana, where he obtained employment with John Irvin for a short time, and then worked on a railroad eight miles west of Vincennes. Later he returned to Gibson county and worked in a saw-mill for Cleveland Polk, west of Princeton, on the Marsh creek, on the Owensville road, where he helped cut the timber from the land. He was married in 1863, and soon after settled at Cherry Grove, west of Princeton, where he remained about three years, and then went to Warrick county, this state, near the south line of Gibson county, and remained there for eleven years. He then obtained one hundred and sixty acres of land in White River township. Gibson county, which had on it an old log house and stable, and there the subject made many permanent and substantial improvements, cleared the land and created a splendid home. Here he reared and educated his children and carried on general farming and stock raising in such a way as to not only win a com- fortable competence, but also a reputation as a good business man.
On January 22, 1863, Mr. White was married to Mary Guise, who was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on December 1, 1844. the daughter of William and Mary (Grover) Guise, the father a native of Germany and the mother of Pennsylvania. William came in young manhood to America, locating in Indianapolis, where he engaged in the baking business, at which he was an expert. In 1852 he came to Gibson county, and bought a farm in Patoka township, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring at the age of sixty years. His wife died at the age of seventy-three years. He was a Lutheran in his religious belief, while his wife was a member of the Baptist church. They were the parents of eight children. Mary, Mrs. White; Nancy, the widow of George T. Burton, of Princeton; Sophia, who became the wife of Charles Hisey, a farmer of Patoka township: Augustus, of Oak -. land City, Indiana : William, a retired farmer in Princeton, Indiana : Christina.
(37)
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the wife of Fred Hasselbrink, a farmer in Patoka township; Henrietta, de- ceased, the wife of John Kiefer; Lizzie, who remains single and is living in Indianapolis. To Mr. and Mrs. White have been born four children: Emma, the wife of Fred Kohlmeier, of Center township, where he operates a farm. They have eight children: Myrtle, who died at the age of eleven years; Sadie, the wife of Fred Gasper, a farmer in Center township, and they have two children, Freda and Henry; Henry, a teacher at Francisco, and John, Leroy, Etliel, Ruth and Fred, Jr., at home. Albert White, who is a successful farmer in Patoka township, married Annie Hasselbrink, and they have five children, Arthur, Althe, Adelbert, Henry and an infant daughter, dead. Sallie S. White became the wife of Thomas Carithers, a farmer in Patoka town- ship, and they have one son, Kenneth, living and one son dead. Cassius, who also is a farmer in Patoka township, married Ida Key, and they have two children, Kermit and Leland.
Mr. White retired from active farming operations in 1900 and settled on the old home place, north of Princeton, where he bought a ten-acre tract, and is now comfortably situated and able to spend the rest of his days in com- fort and quiet. He and his wife are faithful and earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church and they take a deep interest in all religious efforts. Mr. White derives great comfort from the reading of the Blessed Word. He has always been a staunch Republican in politics, though never very active in public affairs. A man of splendid personal character, because of his correct life and his genuine worth, Mr. White has long enjoyed the good will and confidence of his neighbors, and he is eminently worthy of representation in a work of the character of the one at hand.
COLUMBUS EMERSON.
The twentieth-century farmer knows very little of the disadvantages which surrounded the pioneer farmer of this state. No longer is the farmer compelled to rise early in the morning and continue his labors far into the evening. The farmer of today can do as much work in a half day as his father could fifty years ago in a whole day. The free mail delivery leaves the daily paper on his doorstep each morning; his telephone puts him in com- munication with his neighbors, while the interurban car and automobile enable him to participate in all the features of city life. The present genera- tion of farmers have no forest to clear, few swamps to drain, while hundreds
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of inventions designed to lighten the labors of the farmers have been put into their hands. The flail of our fathers has given way to the threshing machine of today and even the old-fashioned corn cutter is laid on the shelf and the corn is now cut by machinery. The old-fashioned shucking peg has given way to the modern corn husker, and, surrounded by such conditions, the farmer of today can have all the advantages of the citizens in the city with few of his disadvantages. The pioneer farmers are fast passing away and within the next few years they will be gone. The subject of this brief biog- raphy is one of those farmers who struggled in the early fifties and sixties of our state's history to build for himself a comfortable competency on the farm. Columbus Emerson has known what it was to clear the forest, to drain the swamps, to build the roads through the morasses, to cut wheat by hand and perform all those multitudinous tasks which fell to the lot of the pioneer farmer.
Columbus Emerson, the son of Jesse and Margaret ( Redman ) Emerson, was born July 28, 1842, in Johnson township, Gibson county, Indiana. Jesse Emerson was born in Kentucky, the son of Reuben Emerson, and came to this county early in life. Reuben settled in Johnson township, between Cynthiana and Haubstadt. Margaret, the wife of Jesse Emerson, was born in Adair county, Kentucky, and lived there until she was about six years of age, when her parents moved to Montgomery township, this county, and pur- chased the farm northeast of Owensville, where her father's death occurred shortly after the close of the Civil war, while her mother lived a few years longer, her death occurring at Princeton.
Columbus Emerson is one of eight children born to Jesse and Margaret (Redman) Emerson : Reuben, Charles, Logan, Columbus, the immediate subject of this sketch; James J., Mrs. Augusta Mauck, Josephus and Mrs. Martha W. Smith. Columbus was reared on his father's farm and enjoyed all the advantages, as well as the disadvantages, incident to farm life at that time. Here he learned those habits of industry and economy which have characterized him throughout his long career in the county.
In 1865 Mr. Emerson was united in marriage to Sarah Skelton, the daughter of Joseph and Nancy ( Montgomery) Skelton, and they are the parents of five children, namely : Mrs. Morton Woods, who has one daugh- ter, Edith, lives two miles north of Owensville; Joseph, who married Agnes Pegram, has three children. Herman, Hildred and Eugene, and lives four miles north of Owensville; Jesse D., who married Daisy Strihl, has one son, Robert, is a dentist at Owensville; Otis married .Anna C. Cushman, and has
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1
five children, Earl, Mark, Byron, Eleanor and Margaret, lives on the old home place four miles northeast of Owensville belonging to the subject's father; Gussie L., wife of W. Oscar Dougherty, lives two and one-half miles southwest of Fort Branch, and they have one son, Doris. The mother of these children died about twelve years after her marriage and subsequently Mr. Emerson married Mary A. (DePriest) Dougherty, of Owensville, the daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Franklin Dougherty, and her death occurred in 1903. In 1905 Mr. Emerson married Mrs. Hannah J. (DePriest) (Baldwin) Mounts, who was born between Princeton and Patoka, the daughter of James M. and Rebecca (Devin) DePriest. Her father was born near Nashville, Tennessee, and was brought in infancy by his mother to this state, his father having died in Tennessee. James M. DePriest grew up on the farm and after his marriage farmed for a short time. Before the breaking out of the Civil war he moved to Princeton, where he engaged in general merchandising, and for a period of nineteen years he was in partnership with a Mr. Mauck, the firm being known as Mauck & DePriest, and was located on the north- west corner of the public square. Rebecca Devin, the mother of Mrs. Hannah J. Emerson, was born near Devin Hill, north of Princeton, the daughter of James and Hannah (Chapman) Devin, the father having come from Pittsyl- vania county, Virginia, with a number of others of the Devin family. His father, Alexander Devin, was a Baptist minister, and is buried at Princeton. Her mother, Hannah Chapman, came from on Barren river, near Hartford, Kentucky. She lived on her father's farm north of Princeton until she was fifteen years of age, and then moved with her parents to Princeton, where her father engaged in general merchandising. In June, 1865, she married John L. Baldwin, and resided in Princeton for a time, later removing to the West, where her husband engaged in business. They were the parents of four children, Anna, who died in infancy; May, the wife of William L. Jones, of Carlisle, Indiana, and they are the parents of eight children; John, who lives in St. Louis, has one son, John W. Baldwin. of Indianapolis, is a railroader ; Will, who married Myrtle Mills, has five children, three of whom are living, is in the railroad shops at The Dals, Oregon. John L. Baldwin died in 1874, and his widow afterwards married John Mounts, and lived at Iola, Kansas, on a farm. There were two children by this marriage, Myrtle and Fred. Myrtle died in infancy and Fred is a sailor on a Pacific coast vessel. Mr. Mounts' death occurred in Princeton in 1900, and his widow continued to re- side in Princeton until her marriage to Mr. Emerson in 1905.
Columbus Emerson has been a life-long farmer in Montgomery town-
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ship, this county. His whole life has been spent in eivil pursuits with the ex- ception of three years which he spent at the front during the Civil war. His military record is a matter of congratulation among his friends and is a pride to his country. His career as a soldier was attended with the same good for- tune which has followed him in his eivil pursuits. Brave and true, he well deserves, however, the success with which he met while gallantly serving in defense of his country's flag during the Civil war. He enlisted in Company B, Sixty-fifth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was assigned to duty in the Army of the Ohio. From the date of his enlistment, August 9, 1862, until the close of the war, he was in every campaign of this regiment. He served through Tennessee and saw Sherman to Atlanta, where he fought in that memorable summer's campaign around that city. From Atlanta he went back to Nashville with Thomas and later, after the bloody battle of Stone River, in January, 1864, his regiment was transferred to Columbia in eastern Tennessee. In the summer of 1864 he was on duty in the Carolinas and followed after Joseph W. Thomas to Greensboro, North Carolina, where he was stationed when Lee surrendered to Grant, and on April 8. 1865, at the close of the war, was mustered out with an honorable record. During this period of three years he was in more than fifty battles and skirmishes and yet he was fortunate to come through unscathed.
Immediately after the close of the war Mr. Emerson came back to his home county, and after a short time he purchased a farm five miles north of Owensville, which he continued to operate for a number of years, and then sold it and bought his father's old farm, where he lived until 1904, when he retired from active farming operations and moved to Owensville, where he still resides.
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