USA > Indiana > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions > Part 70
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born February 14, 1791, at Lost Creek, Tennessee, married Nancy Stanley, died in Hamilton county, Indiana; Abner, born March 6, 1795, in Grayson county, Virginia, and died in Virginia July 6, 1796; Amy, born April 24, 1797, died December 4, 1892, in Hardin county, Ohio, at the advanced age of ninety-five years: she was the wife of Joseph Thompson; Daniel, born March 25, 1799, in Grayson county, Virginia, married (first) a Miss Had- ley, and after her death, Elizabeth Bray, and died in Lynn county, Missouri.
At the time when John Beals settled in this county in 1834, there were still Indians roaming the forest, although most of them had been taken to reservations west of the Mississippi. In this connection it is interesting to note a story concerning the Indians and John Beals, which is recorded in the old Beals family bible. On one occasion John Beals was chased by a party of Indians and sought shelter in the high stump of a hollow tree, and was followed into the same hole by two small cub bears. The Indians came up and rapped on the tree, but did not climb up to investigate the aperture where he had crawled in. After staying around the tree for a while they went away, but he remained there until after dark before he crawled out and started home. However, as he was crawling out, the old she-bear returned to the hollow tree, which was her den, and came down into the hole back- wards. He seized her short tail and held on so desperately that the bear
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climbed up inside the tree with John still holding fast to her tail, and finally scrambled to the ground, when she went one way and he the other.
Thomas Beals, the grandfather of Thomas Elwood Beals, was born February 14, 1791, at Lost Creek, Tennessee. He had a much better educa- tion than most of the pioneers of his day and when a young man became a school teacher in Clinton county, Ohio, where he made a record as a mathe- matician. He was married in the latter county, to Nancy Stanley, who was born in North Carolina, September 16, 1790. Her father was a Revo- lutionary soldier, who had served under Washington, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis in the fall of 1781. Thomas Beals continued to live in Clinton county, Ohio, until 1830, when he moved to Henry county, Indiana, and entered a farm of one hundred and sixty acres not far from Cadiz. In 1848 he moved to Hamilton county, this state, where he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 18, in Washington township. There was a rude log cabin on the farm when he purchased it and he lived in this until the following year, when he built a two-story frame house. Both he and his wife were members of the Friends church. His wife died July 18, 1870, and to them were born three children : Lemuel, born December 29, 1822; Mary, born June 27, 1828, and Daniel, born December 5, 1830.
Lemuel Beals, the father of Thomas Elwood Beals, was given a good common school education and accompanied his parents to Hamilton county, Indiana. He devoted his whole life in this county to farming, dying April 26, 1892. He was married in the Friends church at Westfield, Indiana, in 1849, to Emily Bray, who was born in 1828, in Morgan county, Indiana, the daughter of Edward and Elizabeth Bray. The Brays were an old Col- onial Quaker family of English stock, the mother of Mrs. Beals being a Shelton, of Scotch-Irish descent, but a Quaker in religion. Edward Bray was born in North Carolina, and came to Hamilton county, Indiana, as a pioneer in 1836, settling in Washington township. Although he was a cripple from the effects of an accident he managed to clear up a small farm, on which he lived until his death, at the advanced age of eighty. Edward Bray and wife reared several children: John, Edward, Wilson, Rhoda, Mary, Emily and Susannah. After his marriage, Lemuel Beals began farm- ing on the farm which he had inherited from his father, and to which he added by purchase until he was the owner of eight hundred acres in this county. Politically, he was a stanch Republican and cast his first vote for Fremont in 1856. Lemuel Beals and wife were the parents of the following children : Thomas Elwood, born November 7. 1850: Edward Newton,
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born June 7, 1852; John Wilson, born July 11, 1855; Milton C., born May 22, 1858; Elizabeth Ella, born April 26, 1866. The mother of these children died April 27, 1904.
Thomas Elwood Beals obtained a good common school education and then attended the Washington township high school for three years. He then settled down to the occupation of farming. After his marriage, in 1873, he settled in Jackson township, on a farm of eighty acres, which he had inherited from his father and to which he has since added, until he now owns five hundred and thirty-eight acres of fine farming land in this county. He is president of the State Draft Horse Breeders' Association and also president of the Hamilton County Draft Horse Breeders' Association. These associations were organized for the purpose of improving the breed of draft horses in the state and county, and Mr. Beals was one of the prime promoters of both associations, being the first president of each.
Thomas E. Beals was married November 12, 1873, in the Friends church at Oak Ridge, Washington township, to Matilda Hodgin, who was born February 13, 1852, in Hamilton county. She is the daughter of Erastus and Lydia (Johnson) Hodgin. Erastus Hodgin was the son of Elias and Matilda (Perkins) Hodgin, and was born in North Carolina. Later Erastus Hodgin settled in Wayne county, Indiana, and subsequently moved to Washington township, this county, where he bought eighty acres of land. He married the daughter of Jesse Johnson and died at the age of sixty-four, at which time he was the owner of two hundred and sixty acres of land in the county, the greater part of which he had cleared himself. Erastus Hodgin and wife were the parents of nine children: Rhoda, Ma- tilda, Jesse E. Alva, Jonathan, Charles, Ira, Iva and Oliver.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Beals are the parents of the following chil- dren. Homer H., born August 23, 1874, now a traveling salesman, married Mabel Lindley, and has two sons, Thomas Elwood, Jr., born June 11, 1907. and Linden H., born October 16, 1910. Elias Edward, the second son of Thomas E. Beals, was born October 9, 1875, and married Bertha Woods. They have one daughter, Mary Emily, born December 23, 1880, married R. M. Pettijohn, a merchant of Westfield, and they had one son, Ward Beals. Mrs. Pettijohn died November 4, 1905.
Mr. Beals always has been identified with the Republican party, having cast his first vote for Gen. U. S. Grant. He served as county commissioner from 1905 to 1911 and during his incumbency of this office favored every measure which he felt would benefit his county in any way. He has been a frequent delegate to county, district and state conventions and for many
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years has been looked upon as one of the leaders of his party in this county. In August, 1910, Mr. Beals was elected president of the First National Bank, of Noblesville, and filled that important position up to January 1, 1914. He and his wife are loyal members of the Hinkle Creek Friends church, and Mr. Beals was an elder in this church for many years.
Mr. Beals unquestionably has the natural endowments which go to make up the successful farmer and business man, and he has left no stone unturned whereby he could advance himself. although he has at the same time main- tained a deep interest in the welfare of his fellow citizens. He has shown a public spirit that is ever commendable, being always willing to do his full share in the development of his community, and has so ordered his course as to keep untarnished the honorable escutcheon of a worthy old family.
JOHN HODSON.
The Hodson family is of Irish descent and the family has traced its history back to the year 1710, at which time George Hodson was the first member to come to America. George Hodson started to America with his parents and two brothers, but before the slow-going sailing vessel reached America, both his father and mother and his two brothers had died and been buried in the broad Atlantic. George Hodson settled near Philadelphia, reared a family there and later moved to North Carolina, members of his family subsequently locating in Clinton county, Ohio.
John Hodson, the son of Uriah and Mary (Thornburg) Hodson was born in the southeastern part of Adams township, Hamilton county, Indiana, on the southwest quarter, section 1, township 19, range 3, on October 7, 1839. Uriah Hodson was born in Clinton county, Ohio, in 1811, a son of Hur and Achsah Hodson. Uriah Hodson grew to manhood in his native county and there married Mary Thornburg, who was born in the same county and state, the daughter of Richard Thornburg. In 1838 Uriah Hodson and his wife moved from Clinton county, Ohio, to Hamilton county, Indiana, and entered government land in this county. Uriah and his brother, Ira, had come to Hamilton county about two years previous to this time, in 1836, and entered government land. The two brothers had walked here on foot and after entering one hundred and sixty acres in Adams township, returned in the same way to their old home in Clinton county, Ohio.
Uriah Hodson had hired a man when he left this county to return home
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to build his house, not a mere log house, but a house built out of boards split out of the logs. The builder whom he had hired took sick and when Mr. Hodson arrived with his family in November, 1838, the house was unfinished and no chimney had yet been erected. The weather was rapidly getting colder and in order to make provisions for fire they had to tear out a part of the house so they could light a fire on the floor on the inside. The first morning when they got up after spending the night in their new house, there was a heavy snow on the ground, and thus was ushered in their first day's experience in Hamilton county. There were few settlers in this county when Uriah Hodson and his family located here. Wolves, bears, deer and all kinds of wild game were to be found in abundance. There were no roads when the family came here, and whenever they made a trip away from their home they had to carry their axes in order to chop a road through the brush and fallen trees. Uriah Hodson was an active conductor on the "Under- ground Railroad" and furnished the means whereby many slaves escaped from the south to Canada. He was reared in the Friends church, but later joined the Wesleyan church, afterwards, however, rejoining the Friends, in whose faith he died. His first wife died in January, 1842. To this first union two children were born, both of whom are now living, Mary, the wife of John Foulke, and John, with whom this narrative deals. The second wife of Uriah Hodson was Ann Bailey, a native of Pennsylvania, and an early settler in Wayne county, Indiana. Uriah Hodson died in 1888, and his second wife died in 1886.
John Hodson lived at home until he was twenty-seven years of age, when he married Mary Bates, who was born in Howard county, Indiana, near London, the daughter of Townsend and Jemima Bates. Her parents came from Tennessee to Howard county, Indiana, and later moved to Wisconsin, finally locating in Iowa. After his marriage John Hodson went to farming for himself on land which he had bought before his marriage, the same being part of the farm which he now owns. He started with a small four-room house. When he settled on this land and built his house. the timber was so near the house that he chopped it and threw it in from where it fell. He had one hundred and sixty acres, and only seven acres of it was cleared. He now owns one hundred and ninety acres and has yet remaining thirty-five acres of natural timber. At one time he had five miles of rail fence on the farm, having split all these rails himself. In 1884 he built the substantial residence in which he is now living.
John Hodson and wife are the parents of six children : Harley, Myrtle, Mina, Anna, Ernest and Minnie. Harley married Ollie Ballard, and lives
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two miles north of his father's farm on a farm of his own. He has four children, Mary, Everett, Earl and Esther. Myrtle is the wife of Clark Coffin, and lives about three miles south of the old homestead. She has two sons, Merrill and Robert. Mina is the wife of Alfred Briles, and lives on a farm east of her father's homestead. She has one son, Raymond. Anna is the wife of Bernie Moore, and lives near Cicero. She has six children, Gladys, Wilna, John, Luther, Floyd and Paul. Ernest married Lizzie Herr, and lives on the home farm with his father. He also has a farm of his own two miles north of the old homestead. He has one daughter, Margaret. Minnie is the wife of Archie Wilson, and lives one and one-half miles north- east of the old homestead. She has two children, Mary Elizabeth and John William. The mother of these six children died July 19, 1912. Mr. Hod- son has six children and sixteen grandchildren and the children, grandchil- dren and relatives gather at the old paternal homestead every year for a family reunion. With the exception of Myrtle, all the members of these families are members of the Friends church, and contribute generously of their means to its maintenance.
JOHN B. FOULKE.
The Foulke family represented in Hamilton county, Indiana, by John B. Foulke, is of Welsh descent, and Edward Foulke, the first of the family to come to America, located in Pennsylvania in April, 1698. A very interest- ing document is a record written by Edward Foulke and handed down through succeeding generations. Inasmuch as this record is a summary of the early history of the family, it is here given.
"I, Edward Foulke, was the son of Evan, the son of Thomas, the son of Robert, the son of David Floyd, the son of David, the son of Evan Vaughn, the son of Griffith, the son of Maddock, the son of Jerworth, the son of Maddock, the son of Bird Black of the Poole, who was lord of Pen- rhyn, one of the. northern divisions of Wales. My mother's name was Fowry, the daughter of Edward, the son of David, the son of Ellis. the son of Robert of the Parish of Lanbor in Merioneth Shire.
"I was born on the thirteenth of the fifth month, 1651, and when arrived to mature age, I married Eleanor, the daughter of Hugh, the son of Cad- wallader, the son of. Reese, of the Parish of Apitue, in Derbyshire. Her mother's name was Given, the daughter of Ellis, the son of Hugh, the son of
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William, the son of David, the son of Maddock, the son of Evan, the son of Cott, the son of Evan, the son of Griffith, the son of Maddock, the son of Emion, the son of Meredith. of Cannadock, and was born in the same parish and shire with her husband."
This Edward Foulke, the first member of the family to locate in America, gives much more of the family history, but space forbids further quotation from the family record. He came to America, arriving here on July 17, 1698, after spending eleven weeks on the ocean. During the voyage across, two or three died each day, but Mr. Foulke and his wife and nine children were all spared. Upon arriving in Pennsylvania, Edward Foulke bought seven hundred acres of land sixteen miles from Philadelphia. One of his sons was Hugh Foulke, who was the father of Samuel, the father of Judah, who was the grandfather of John B., with whom this narrative deals.
John B. Foulke, the son of Jesse M. and Mary (Baker) Foulke, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, 'March 31, 1844. His father and mother were both born near Philadelphia. Jesse Foulke came to Harrison county, Ohio, with his parents, Judah and Sarah Foulke.
John B. Foulke was a lad of six years when his parents came to Hamil- ton county, Indiana, in the fall of 1850, and settled near Cicero. Some time later the father bought two hundred and eighty-five acres of land in the south- western part of Jackson township, and there the family made their permanent home. Jesse Foulke was a cooper by trade, but after coming to Indiana, he devoted all of his time to farming, although he made a few barrels and kegs for himself and neighbors. He died February 18, 1875, leaving his widow and five children, John B., George, Sarah Ann, William and Amassa. The widow remained on the farm for three or four years, and then spent the rest of her days with her children, her death occurring in 1888.
John B. Foulke remained at home until his marriage at the age of twenty. He then rented a farm one mile north of Baker's Corners, in this county and lived for six months on this farm. He then moved to the farm where he is now living, one-half mile south of Baker's Corners, and for fifty years has been tilling the fields of this farm of one hundred and eighty-nine acres. The farm is well improved with a good home, large and commodious barns and outbuildings. He has devoted his attention to general farming and the raising of Percheron horses.
Mr. Foulke was married April 2, 1864, to Mary Hodson, a sister of John Hodson, whose history elsewhere in this volume presents the family ancestry. To this union four children have been born: Cora, Amba, Frank and Marvin. Cora married Oscar Teter, a farmer of this township, and has
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two daughters, Leina and Lucile. Amba is the wife of Frank Simmonds, and lives on a farm near her father. Frank married Cora Hester, and has two daughters, Hester and La Vonne. Frank is the manager of the telephone exchange at Sheridan. Marvin married Vernie Phillips, and has one son, Maurice. He lives on the home farm with his father.
On April 2, 1914, Mr. Foulke and his wife celebrated their golden wed- ding anniversary, and their children and grandchildren and relatives to the number of seventy-two were present to help in the celebration of this event. Mr. Foulke and his wife are both members of the Friends church, and one of the most highly respected couples in the county, where they have lived their more than half century of wedded life.
OLIVER C. ELLIOTT.
The history of any county is the chronicle of the people, of the men and women who live in the county. The value of any one man to .a com- munity is determined by two things, by what he does for himself, and what he does for the community at large. There are, unfortunately, some men who do a great deal for themselves, but who are very remiss when it comes to doing something for the locality in which they live. On the other hand, there are a few men who neglect their own individual welfare for the wel- fare of the rest of their immediate neighborhood. The most valuable man to a particular community is he who neglects neither his own welfare nor that of his community. It is said that no man lives unto himself, and this phrase was never truer than at the present time. With the pioneers in this state there was not the division of labor which marks our civilization of to- day. Our good forefather was not noly a farmer, but he was his own doctor, his own blacksmith, his own carpenter, his own shoemaker, and fre- quently his own lawyer. But his son of today calls upon a score of men trained in their respective professions in order to do the work which the father did himself. The rail-fence age is gone forever, and while we are now in the wire-fence age, there is much evidence to prove that we are approach- ing a period when there will be a fenceless age altogether. A few of our old rail-fence pioneers are still living, but many of their wire-fence sons are now living a life of luxury and ease compared to what their forefathers en- dured. Among the pioneer farmers in Hamilton county, the name of Oliver C. Elliott occupies a prominent place.
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Oliver C. Elliott, one of the farmers of Hamilton county, who has reached the allotted age of three score and ten years, was born September 12, 1844, in Wayne county, Indiana. He is the son of Absalom and Polly (Maxwell) Elliott. His father was born June 18, 1813, in North Carolina, and was the son of Jacob and Mary ( Peele) Elliott, both of whom were born in North Carolina, of Irish descent. His mother, Polly Maxwell, was born September 5, 1816, in Wayne county, Indiana Territory, three months before it was admitted as a state. She was the daughter of John and Han- nah (Whitlock) Maxwell, who came to Wayne county, Indiana Territory, from Knoxville, Tennessee. Absalom Elliott was born in North Carolina and came to Indiana with his parents when he was three years of age. His grandfather, Exum Elliott, was born April 10, 1765, and the latter's wife, Catherine Lamb, was born April 8, 1774. Exum Elliott and wife were in all probability natives of North Carolina. The parents of Polly Maxwell, the mother of Oliver C., whose history is here related, were natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively, John Maxwell being born May 10, 1789, and his wife July 30, 1787. John Maxwell and wife were married in Tennessee and came to Indiana Territory about 1814, settling on the land which is now occupied by Earlham College at Richmond, Indiana.
John Maxwell, the maternal grandfather of Oliver C. Elliott, was a blacksmith in the eastern part of the state when it was taken into the Union in 1816. He made nearly all of the axes used in clearing and opening up the land in that section of the state and was a noted man in his trade. Set- tlers would come from miles around in order to get axes which he made and often stayed over night at his home. He was of Dutch descent and a Quaker, as were the Elliotts. While living at Richmond, John Maxwell entered land north of Centerville and manufactured brick, subsequently, in 1825, erecting on his farm a brick house, which is still standing in a good state of preserva- tion. In this house he lived until his death.
Absalom Elliott, the father of Oliver C., lived with his parents until he was married. The year before he married, he entered one hundred and sixty acres in Hamilton county, in the northern part, but sold the land before he moved upon it. Later he purchased eighty acres of land, where his son, Oliver C., is now living. He was a prosperous farmer and later added the forty acres adjoining his original purchase and on this farm of one hundred and twenty acres he lived from 1858 until his death, November 24, 1893, aged eighty years and three months. His widow, Polly, died June 1, 1911, being nearly ninety-five years of age at the time of her death.
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Oliver C. Elliott was fourteen years of age when his parents moved from Wayne county to Hamilton, and, consequently, received most of his common school education in Wayne county. He was married December I, 1865, to Martha Hussey, the daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Frazier) Hus- sey. His wife was born July 28, 1844, in Fayette county. Joseph Hussey was born in North Carolina, while his wife, Sarah Frazier, was born and reared in Fayette county, Indiana. In 1853 Joseph Hussey and his family moved to Hamilton county, Indiana, where he purchased land in the south- western part of the county. Joseph Hussey and wife were the parents of ten children : John, who was killed in the battle of Chickamauga, September 19, 1863; William; Martha, the wife of Mr. Elliott; Mary; Thomas; Elizabeth, Harriett, Rachael, Milton and Franklin.
Mr. and Mrs. Elliott reared a family of four children, all of whom are living and married: Sarah is the wife of Louis J. Symons, and lives one mile northwest of the old Elliott homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Symons have three children, Mary, Malcolm and Helen; Frederick married Cora Dixon and lives just across the road from his father; Thomas married Henrietta Spitzer and lives in Hong Kong, China. He was graduated from Earlham College and after his graduation was appointed the boys' secretary of the Milwaukee Young Men's Christian Association, remaining there five years, at the end of which time he was appointed the secretary of the Korea Young Men's Christian Association, but three months later was transferred to Hong Kong, where he has been for the past seven years. He has two children, Robert and Martha, both born in China; Harriett, the youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. Elliott, is the wife of Alvin Powers, and lives in the southern part of Hamilton county. Mr. and Mrs. Powers have two children, Fletcher and Maxwell E. Mrs. Elliott, the mother of the above family of children, was taken to her final rest April 15, 1914, after over forty-eight years of married life. She was a member of the Christian church in her youth, but a few years after her marriage united with the Friends church. She was a good and faithful wife and mother, whose loss was keenly felt by all her friends. In her home she found her chief delight, she having been a home builder in the truest sense of the word.
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