USA > Indiana > Gibson County > History of Gibson County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 69
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107
up a large and lucrative business.
In September, 1902, Doctor Morris was united in marriage to Ercel May Arburn, daughter of John M. Arburn, one of the earliest merchants of Gibson county. To this union has been born one child, Ludson D., born in September, 1907.
Besides holding membership in the Gibson County Medical Association and the State Medical Association, Doctor Morris is a member of the American Association of Railroad Surgeons, and is local surgeon for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Company. Fraternally, he holds mem-
698
GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
bership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Tribe of Ben-Hur at Fort Branch. He also belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church at Fort Branch.
EPHRAIM M. FOWLER.
. The Union soldier during the great war between the states wrought even better than he knew. Through four years of suffering and wasting hard- ships, through the horrors of prison pens and amid the shadows of death, he laid the superstructure of the greatest temple ever erected and dedicated to human freedom. The world looked on and called those soldiers sublime, for it was theirs to reach out the mighty arm of power and strike the chains from off the slave, preserve the country from dissolution, and to keep furled to the breeze the only flag that ever made tyrants tremble and whose majestic stripes and scintillating stars are still waving universal liberty to all the earth. For all their unmeasured deeds the living present will never repay them. Pension and political power may be thrown at their feet; art and sculpture may pre- serve upon canvas and in granite and bronze their unselfish deeds; history may commit to books and cold type may give to the future the tale of their sufferings and triumphs; but to the children of the generations yet unborn will it remain to accord the full measure of appreciation and undying re- membrance of the immortal character carved out by the American soldiers in the dark days of the early sixties, numbered among whom was the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch.
Ephraim M. Fowler was born on January 4, 1840, the son of Martin and Nancy (Wakeland) Fowler, the father a native of North Carolina and the mother of Kentucky. Martin Fowler was reared in his native state, where he first married Mary Cox, whose death occurred in Warrick county, Indiana. After the subject's marriage he located in Warrick county, Indiana, northeast of Boonville, where he obtained a piece of wild land, which he cleared and established a home. Later he added to it, and finally became the owner of a fine tract of six hundred and forty acres, all in one body. Here he followed farming and stock raising, in which he was very successful, shipping large numbers of stock to New Orleans. It was on one of his trips to that city in 1847 that his death occurred. He was very successful in his financial affairs and was well known and respected throughout the community. After his death his second wife married John Cherry, and her death occurred in War- rick county. To Martin Fowler and his first wife were born nine children:
699
GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
Wiley W., John, Matilda, Betsy Ann, Bettie, Lucy, Isaac B., Ruth and Mary Ann. By his second union Martin Fowler became the father of five children : William Henry, Ephraim Merritt, James Martin, Mary Jane and Sarah Elizabeth. To Mr. and Mrs. John Cherry were born six children : Richard, Lucinda, Martha, John, Absalom and Alexander. John Cherry also had been married twice, and to his first union, with a Miss McDaniel, there were born five children, George, Mary Jane, Marina Ann, Sarah and Allen.
Ephraim M. Fowler had but little opportunity to attend school, the nearest school house being four miles through the timber from his home. His stepfather, John Cherry, cut a log and hitched a horse to it and put the subject on the horse and led the horse through the woods, thus making a path through the leaves and brush to the school house, this path being known as the Hudson school house path and was used for nearly thirty years. In 1861 Mr. Fowler enlisted in the Seventeenth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry as a musician for three months' service, and at the end of his first period of enlistment he returned home and enlisted as a private in Company C, Forty- second Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which was sent to Kentucky and up the Green river. The regiment then went south to Huntsville, Ala- bama, and was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, with which it re- mained until the close of the war, taking part in all the engagements and cam- paigns in which that celebrated army had a part. Mr. Fowler was transferred to Company G, One Hundred and Forty-third Regiment, and was made a lieutenant in 1864 because of faithfulness to duty and courage in battle, which rank he held at the time of his discharge in 1865. After the war he returned to Warrick county, Indiana, and bought and shipped leaf tobacco until 1877. when he located in Oakland City, where he also engaged in buying and selling tobacco, as well as handling large quantities of grain. He later engaged in the grocery business and also operated a restaurant for some time. For sixty years Mr. Fowler has attended all of the county fairs in this section of the state, being widely known, and has sold lemonade and other articles of public consumption. He is a man of remarkable health, having never taken one dollar's worth of medicine in his life, and is of an intensely optimistic and cheerful disposition, being a welcome member of any circle which he chooses to enter.
In 1862 Mr. Fowler married Susan Harland, a native of Kentucky. Her death occurred in 1873 and subsequently he married Fannie Boner, of Boonville, Indiana. There were no children born to the first union, and the second union resulted in one daughter. Ethel May, who is now a milliner at Oakland City, Indiana.
700
GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
Mr. Fowler is a charter member of Cochran Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Oakland City, Indiana, has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 1866, and a member of the Free and Accepted Masons since 1882, taking an appreciative interest in the workings of all these orders. He is an earnest and faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Oakland City and is numbered among its loyal and earnest con- stituents. Mr. Fowler would be the last man to sit for romance or become a subject for fancy sketches, but his life presents much that is interesting and valuable, for he is one of those whose integrity and strength of character must force them into an admirable notoriety, which their modesty never seeks, but who command the respect of their contemporaries and leave the impress of their individuality upon the community.
SAMUEL S. REED.
A man's reputation is the property of the world, for the laws of nature have forbidden isolation. Every human being either submits to the control- ling influence of others or wields an influence which touches, controls, guides or misdirects others. If he be honest and successful in his chosen field of en- deavor, investigation will brighten his fame and point the way along which others may follow with like success. The reputation of Samuel S. Reed, one of the leading journalists of Gibson county, having been unassailable all along the highways of life, according to those who have known him best, it is be- lieved that a critical study of.his career will be of benefit to the reader, for it has been not only one of honor, but of usefulness also.
Samuel S. Reed, who, after an active and useful life, is now living re- tired in Oakland City, was born in Winslow, Pike county, Indiana, on No- vember 29. 1839, and is the son of Elijah and Rebecca (Slater) Reed, the former a native of North Carolina, and the latter of the Hoosier state. Elijah Reed came from his native state to Indiana in early manhood, locat- ing first at Bloomington, where he was later married. He was a carpenter by trade and in the early days here did much important building. Eventually he removed from Bloomington to Winslow, Pike county, and from there to Monroe, that county, where he located on a farm, to the operation of which he devoted his remaining years, dying there at the advanced age of eighty- four years. His widow survived him two years, also dying at the age of eighty-four. They had been married for the remarkable period of sixty-five years, and reared a family of thirteen children, eight boys and five girls, all
.
701
GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
of whom are now living but two, and all of whom came to mature years and married before their parents' death. These children are as follows: John WV., who is deceased: Samuel S., the immediate subject of this review ; Clark, of Oakland City; Richard, of Oakland City; Elisha, of Pike county; Mrs. Jane Riddle, of Gibson county ; Mrs. Phoebe English, deceased; Mrs. Milanda Bilbenback, of Princeton ; Elijah ; Joseph; Mrs. Rebecca Davis, of Princeton; Mrs. Sarah Ross, of New Albany, Indiana, and Peter, of Gibson county. Samuel S. Reed received his education in the public schools of Pike and Gib- son counties, and was reared to the life of a farmer on the paternal homestead in Monroe township, Pike county. In 1861, shortly after attaining his ma- jority, Mr. Reed enlisted as a private in Company K, Forty-second Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in which he served three years and three months. During his active service he took part in the engagement at Perryville, Ken- tucky, on October 8, 1862, and was with Sherman on his historic march from Chattanooga to Atlanta. After the war Mr. Reed spent five years in Spencer county, Indiana, near the town of Newtonville, where he engaged in farming, and then for nine years he was similarly occupied in Montgomery township, Gibson county. From there he removed to Oakland City, where he has since resided for a period of over thirty years. Here he has built a comfortable and attractive residence, and is numbered among the solid and substantial citizens of the community.
In 1866 Mr. Reed married Jane Hayden, of Warrick county, Indiana, though they married in Missouri, where she was temporarily living at that time. To this union has been born the following children: Laura E., the wife of Dr. J. W. McCord, a successful dentist of Oakland City ; Lydia A., the wife of John A. Carlisle, of Terre Haute, Indiana, and Lucy, the wife of Fred Benton, of Oakland City.
Politically, Mr. Reed has given his earnest support to the Republican party, and has served twelve years as justice of the peace and three or four times as a member of the Oakland City council. . He has maintained a deep interest in local public affairs, giving his support to every movement that promised to benefit the people, educationally, morally, socially and materially. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he has passed all the chairs in the subordinate lodge, and is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. His religious connection is with the Christian church, of which he is an elder. Because of his sterling qualities of character and upright life, Mr. Reed enjoys the confidence and esteem of the entire community with which he has been identified for so many years, standing as one of the representative citizens of the locality.
702
GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
ROBERT A. JENKINS.
This well-known citizen is another of the gallant boys who, a half cen- tury ago, enlisted to save the Union, and during that ever memorable strug- gle he was found ready for action, no matter how dangerous or arduous the duty. He did not enter the service as some did, from motives of sport or frolic, but saw beneath the surface and realized that the South was de- termined to break up the Union for the purpose of establishing a confederacy of slave-holding states. From his earliest years he had been taught to hate slavery and to do all he could to blot it from this country's escutcheon. He regarded it as a foul blot on the old flag, so that when the rebels precipitated the conflict he was ready to take up arms to preserve the Union.
Robert A. Jenkins was born in Butler county, Kentucky, May 7, 1838. the son of Thomas and Martha ( Webster ) Jenkins, both natives of Butler county. The father was a farmer and also a skilled mechanic, making shoes, looms, coffins, furniture and plows and was noted far and wide for his skill with tools. He came to Gibson county, Indiana, about 1858 and settled south of Oakland City, remaining there until 1867, when he removed to Carroll county, Missouri, where he died. He was a Democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. To Thomas and Martha Jenkins were born eight children, namely : Elizabeth married James Jenkins and lived in Colum- bia township. Gibson county; Benjamin was a member of the Eightieth In- diana Volunteer Infantry and died at Indianapolis from a wound received in the service; George died in Missouri; Robert A .; Willian T., who was a member of the Eleventh Kentucky in the Civil war, died in Missouri; Squire Mansfield, also a member of the Eleventh Kentucky in the Civil war, died at Lexington, Kentucky; Willis is living at Nevada, Missouri; Ferdinand re- sides in Carlton, Missouri.
The subject of this review attended the old subscription schools and ac- quired what education they had to offer, living at home and assisting in the cultivation of his father's farm until he reached the age of twenty-one, when he married Rebecca Lowney, of Carlton, Carroll county, Missouri. She died in 1910, and was the mother of the following children: Stephen is with the traction company at Springfield, Missouri; Ella is the wife of W. E. John, of Springfield, Missouri; Emma, deceased, was the wife of Al Brumfield; Fred, who was employed by the Bell Telephone Company, was killed while work- ing on a pole in Springfield, Missouri; Bertha and Robert are deceased; one child died in infancy.
703
GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
In the fall of 1861 Mr. Jenkins enlisted at Princeton, Indiana, in Com- pany F. Forty-second Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, the command first being sent to Evansville, Indiana, where they were in camp for several weeks, then going to Henderson and Calhoun, Kentucky, and from there to Owensboro. On a flat boat they patroled Green river from this place to the mouth of that stream, and also the Tennessee river to its mouth. After tak- ing part in the battle of Fort Donelson, they went to Nashville and Murfrees- boro, when the subject was taken sick and was sent home on a thirty days' furlough. Physicians advised him that he was too ill to again enter active service, but in spite of this he again reported, and attached himself to Cap- tain Pierce's company, a part of the Eleventh Kentucky, until he could reach his own command. With this company he was at Shiloh, Corinth and Quaker Springs, then being detailed to care for the sick and wounded of the Eleventh Kentucky in the hospital, later going to Huntsville, Alabama, where he re- joined his original company and with them marched to Deckard's Station, subsequently falling back with them to Louisville, where an order was given them to bring up the rear at Huntsville, Alabama. With five hundred of his comrades, Mr. Jenkins made the trip, being attacked several times. During the confusion the trains left fifteen hundred men at Stephenson, Alabama. and the Confederates bombarded the town and compelled them to retire to the Cumberland mountains, from where they proceeded to Murfreesboro and then to Louisville. Soon they were engaged in the battles at Perrysville and at Crab Orchard, and at New Market Mr. Jenkins was again taken ill, a gen- eral breakdown being the result of his strenuous activities in the service. He was taken to Lebanon, Kentucky, and placed in the hospital dead house and left for dead. However, he revived and after spending ten days in this hos- pital he was sent by way of Bowling Green to Louisville, where he was con- fined to the hospital for about a month, then being consigned to the Invalid Corps and sent to New Albany, Indiana. Here he remained until he felt able to resume active duties, when he went back on his own responsibility and joined his regiment at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. They took part in the Tallahoosa raid, but when they reached the foot of the Cumberland moun- tains, Mr. Jenkins broke down completely and was discharged at Stephenson, Alabama, in 1863, returning to his home. For a long time after his dis- charge the subject was incapacitated as a result of his illness.
In the fall of 1866 Mr. Jenkins went to Springfield, Missouri, and en- gaged in farming for a year, then removing to Carroll county, that state, where he purchased eighty acres of land and remained for seven years. In 1874 he returned to Gibson county, Indiana, and bought several town lots in
.
704
GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
Oakland City and later a small tract of land west of that place, where he re- sided for a while, then acquiring seventy-two acres of land near Augusta, Indiana, which he farmed for three years. Subsequently he sold his hold- ings and removed to Missouri, where he rented land near Springfield and car- ried on gardening until 1912, returning then to Oakland City, where he has since lived in retirement. On December 25th of that year, Mr. Jenkins was united in marriage to Martha Jenkins, the widow of Lemuel Jenkins.
The subject is a member of John Mathews Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Springfield, Missouri. His belief in matters of religion is indi- cated by his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.
JOHN SLOAN.
In the early days the middle West was often a tempting field to energetic, ambitious, strong-minded men, and Indiana was filled with them during the time she was struggling up to a respectable position in the sisterhood of states. There was a fascination in the broad field and great promise which this newer region presented to activity that attracted many men and induced them to brave the discomforts of the early life here for the pleasure and gratification of constructing their fortunes in their own way and after their own methods. The late John Sloan, for a long lapse of years one of the most substantial and prominent citizens of Gibson county, was a native son of this favored section of the country, and for many years wielded a potent influence. He gave to the world the best of an essentially virile, loyal and noble nature, and his standard of honor was absolutely inflexible. He was a citizen of high civic ideals and ever manifested his liberality in connection with measures and enterprises tending to advance the general welfare of the community honored by his residence. He was the architect of his own fortune and upon his career there rests no blemish, for he was true to the highest ideals and principles in business, civic and social life. He lived and labored to worthy ends and as one of the sterling citizens and representative men of this locality in a past generation his memory merits a tribute of honor on the pages of history.
John Sloan was born March 9, 1838, on the old Sloan homestead in Patoka, Gibson county, Indiana, and was a son of Richard and Nancy (Bell) Sloan. These parents were born and reared near Charleston, South Carolina, and later went to the state of Kentucky. and eventually located in Gibson
JOHN SLOAN.
705
GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
county, Indiana, settling near Hazelton, of which locality they were among the first settlers. There they obtained a tract of wild land, which the father cleared and on which he built a typical log cabin, in which they established their home and here the father was accidentally killed while leaning on his gun during a deer hunt near Patoka, in 1841. He was survived more than three decades by his widow, whose death occurred in August, 1872. Mr. Sloan was a farmer by vocation, and also gave attention in his early years here to freighting, having hauled many loads of goods from Evansville to Vincennes. A man of genial disposition and sterling qualities of character, he enjoyed a large acquaintance, among whom were many loyal friends. He was the father of six children, James, Robert, Samuel, John, Eliza and Martha.
John Sloan had little opportunity for securing a school education. his early days being spent on the home farm, and, because of the untimely death of his father, the support of his mother and the rest of the family was largely thrown upon his shoulders. After his marriage, which occurred in 1860, he and his wife located on a part of his father's old homestead, and eventually bought the home where they spent their remaining days and where Mrs. Sloan now resides. The farm comprises one hundred and eleven acres, and is numbered among the choice agricultural tracts in this locality. Mr. Sloan, who followed farming throughout his active life, was a man of indus- trious habits and exercised sound judgment in the management of his estate, with the result that he was enabled to realize a handsome profit from its operation. He was up-to-date and methodical in his methods, raising all the crops common to this section and also giving some attention to the handling of live stock. In addition to the home farm, Mrs. Sloan also owns eighty acres of land in the Patoka bottoms and forty acres in White River town- ship, both of which are valuable lands.
On January 26, 1860, John Sloan was united in marriage with Catherine Phillips, who was born January 6, 1841, the daughter of Alexander and Christina (Decker) Phillips, the father a native of Tennessee and the mother of Washington township. Gibson county, Indiana. Alexander Phillips came with his parents to Washington township, this county, being among the earliest settlers of that locality, and here he grew to maturity and married, and spent the remainder of his days there. He was a farmer and passed through all the hardships incident to frontier life. Their first home in which they lived on coming here was but a rail pen, which was later followed by a
(45)
-
706
GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
log cabin, and eventually an attractive and modern residence was built. To Mr. and Mrs. Phillips were born the following children: Polly, deceased. was twice married, first to John Foster, and the second time to Michael Murphy, their home being in Washington township, and both are now de- ceased. Nancy married William Hargrove, and both are now deceased. Henry, who lives in Washington township, married Jane McRoberts. Cath- erine, Mrs. Sloan. Elizabeth became the wife of Hiram Keith, who lives about six miles west of Princeton. Serena is the wife of Thomas Boswell, at Madison, Illinois. Christina was twice married, first to Riley Decker and second to George Hays, of Washington township, this county. Some time after the death of his first wife, Alexander Phillips married Nancy Bullard, and to this union was born one child, Alice, deceased, who was the wife of Charles Thompson. To Mr. and Mrs. Sloan were born ten children, namely : Richard A., born October 23, 1860, and who is a farmer in Patoka township, married Etta Smith, and to their union were born eight children, Galen, Bar- ney, Jess, Stella, Ethel, deceased, Avilla, Frank, deceased, and Alonzo, also deceased. Caleb T., born December 5, 1862, is a retired farmer living at Princeton. He married Catherine Thompson and they have three children, Howard, deceased, Ruth and Frank. James Henry, born November 24, 1864, died on August 28, 1877. Nancy Cordelia, born November 1, 1866, married William Smith, and her death occurred August 4, 1898. They were the parents of four children, Gilbert, Ida, Mary and Bertha. Isaac Newton, born March 1, 1869, married Ida Decker and after her death married Minnie Pritchett, a native of Illinois. To the first union were born two children, namely : Mabel Mary, who became the wife of Fred Warthe, of Evansville, Indiana, and Dennis Panl, who lives at home with his grandmother, and who is a brakeman on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad. By his second marriage, Isaac Newton Sloan became the father of three children, Thelma Olive, the wife of Gustan Sward, Charles Newton and Callis. Isaac Newton now lives at Pine Bluffs, Arkansas, and is a conductor on the Cotton Belt Railroad, having followed railroading since sixteen years of age. West Sloan, born May 5. 1871, was killed by the accidental discharge of a gun on June II, 1889. John W., born April 27, 1873, and who now lives at Stonington, Colo- rado, married, first, Ella Eaton, and to them were born five children: Morris, who married Martha Walker and lives in Patoka township, Bessie, who died in 1911, Lennie, George and Ralph. For his second wife John W. Sloan mar- ried Myrtle Finch and they are the parents of four children, a daughter that died in infancy, Henry, Perry and John Robert. Christina Sloan, born
707
GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
November 2, 1875. married. on September 22, 1806, Charles Neimeier, a merchant at Princeton, Indiana, and they have two children, Harold, who died at the age of eight years, and Helen. David D. Sloan, born March 18. 1878, married, on December 17, 1910, AAllie Lynch, and they live on a part of the old homestead farm. He was formerly a railroad man, but is now engaged in a store. They have two children, Charles and Mabel. Charles B. Sloan, born February 6, 1881, died on September 5, 1896. The death of John W. Sloan, the subject of this sketch, occurred on November 20, 1911, and his passing away was considered a distinct loss to the community. His death removed from Gibson county one of her most substantial and highly esteemed citizens and the many beautiful tributes to his high standing as a man and citizen attested to the abiding place he had in the hearts and affec- tions of his friends. His life was an inspiration to all who knew him, and his memory remains to his friends and children as a blessed benediction of an noble and upright character. Although his life was one, his every-day affairs making heavy demands upon his time, Mr. Sloan never shrank from his duties as a citizen and his obligations to his neighbors and his friends. Always calm and dignified, never demonstrative, his life was, nevertheless, a persistent plea, more by precept and example than by public action and spoken word, for the surety and guarantee of right principles in the elevation of wholesome character. To him home life was a sacred trust, friendship was inviolable and nothing could swerve him from the path of rectitude and honor.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.