History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 91

Author: John F. Haines
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051

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their birth are as follows: Hamilton H., Nancy J., John H., Samuel H., Martha A., Amanda P., Gilbert, Mary J., Eliza E., and Caleb A.

On his eighteenth birthday, February 22, 1862, Mr. Gray enlisted in Company F, Tenth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served until he was discharged on March 28, 1865. He saw hard service from the begin- ning of his enlistment and participated in many of the hardest-fought battles of the Civil War. Among these may be mentioned Rich Mountain, Vir- ginia ; Mill Springs, Kentucky; Corinth and Boonville, Mississippi; Perrys- ville, Kentucky; Hartsville, Tennessee; Beach Fork, Kentucky; Hoover's Gap, Tennessee: Chickamauga, Georgia; Mission Ridge, Tennessee; Taylors Ridge, Georgia ; Tullahoma, Tennessee; and all of the battle swhich Sherman fought on his march through Georgia to Savannah. He participated in twenty-one of the battles fought in the Civil War besides a number of skir- mishes and scouting expeditions. Mr. Gray prides himself on the fact that the company was never assembled for duty when he was not present. Sev- eral years after the war his company and regiment presented him with a large flag in appreciation of his excellent military record, and in 1894 his company presented him with a gold-headed cane, appropriately engraved, the presentation card reading : "Presented to Gilbert Gray, a true and worthy soldier, by his comrades of Company F, Tenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry."

Immediately after his enlistment expired he returned to peaceful pur- suits in Hamilton county. Upon his marriage, in 1867, he rented a farm near Carmel for two years. He then went to Missouri, where he purchased forty acres of land, later adding twenty additional acres. He lived in Missouri nine years, when he disposed of his farm and moved to Montgomery county, Indiana, where he lived for the next twenty-six years. He then sold this farm and came to Carmel and purchased his present home about 1900. He has lived about fourteen years in Carmel surrounded by all the comforts of life. He was a successful farmer in Montgomery county and during his residence there took active part in the life of his community.

Mr. Gray was married February 28, 1867, to Sarah Jane Richey, now deceased. She was born in Kentucky, and later lived in Jeffersonville, In- diana, where her father, who was a merchant, died. After her father's death her mother sold the store and moved to Hamilton county, later locating in Indianapolis. Mrs. Gray has one brother, William Richey, now living in Thorntown, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Gray are the parents of four children, three of whom are still living: Rosetta, Emma and Frank. Willie died when he was eight years of age. Rosetta married Thomas Lockridge and

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lives in Montgomery county on a farm. Thomas Lockridge died in 1909, leaving his widow with five children: Charles D., Jessie, Frank, Forrest and Louie. The eldest son of Mrs. Lockridge, Charles D., married Clara Woody. Emma married Marion I. Stewart and lives in Montgomery county, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart have two children: Cecil and Lula. Frank, the youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. Gray, married Edna Dice and lives on a farm three miles south of Crawfordsville, Indiana. He has one son, Carl D. The wife of Mr. Gray and the mother of these children died April 29, 1876.

Mr. Gray had been a strong Republican all of his life until the organ- ization of the Progressive party in the summer of 1912, when he became one of the first supporters of that party in Hamilton county. He assisted in the party's organization and took an active part in its campaign in the fall of 1912. He is a loyal member of the Grand Army of the Republic Post at Noblesville. He is an esteemed and respected citizen of this county and has always led a busy and a useful life. He has many friends and acquaint- among who admire him for his many good qualities.

CHARLES Y. FOSTER.

To write the personal record of men who have raised themselves from humble circumstances to a position of responsibility and trust in a commun- ity is no ordinary pleasure. Self-made men, men who have achieved sus- cess by reason of their personal qualities and left the impress of their in. dividuality upon the business and growth of their place of residence and affect for good such institutions as are embraced in the sphere of their use- fulness, unwittingly, perhaps build monuments more enduring than marble, or obelisk, or granite shaft. Such, we have the unquestionable right to say, belongs to the gentleman whose name appears above.

Charles V. Foster, of the firm of Foster & Gannon, of Carmel, Indiana. was born in Indianapolis on February 5, 1872. His father, William W., was born in Madison, and his mother, Joan Hensley, was born near Law- rence, in Marion county, Indiana. William W. Foster was the son of Andrew J. Foster. a native of Virginia and an early settler in Indiana. Andrew J. Foster came to Indiana after the Mexican War. He served during the Mex- ican War and later in the Civil War. He was one of the first engineers on the old Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis railroad, which ran its first

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train into Indianapolis, October 8, 1848. Andrew J. Foster and wife were the parents of a large family. William W. Foster also was in the Civil War, serving in the Fifth Regiment of Indiana Cavalry. He enlisted as a drum- mer boy when seventeen years of age, but before the end of the war was a regular trooper in the cavalry service. William W. Foster was married about 1870 to Joan Hensley, the daughter of William Hensley, whose wife was a Hardsock. She was one of sixteen children, fourteen of whom lived to maturity. Charles Y. Foster lost his mother when he was eight years of age, and until his marriage in 1894 made his home with four different fami- lies. Immediately after his marriage he located in Carmel, where he opened up a barber shop, and for the next three years he operated this during the summer season, and traveled for a Chicago bicycle firm during the winter. Later he traveled for an Indianapolis firm for two years, after which he pur- chased the Newlin & Thomas hardware and implement store in Carmel and has been in business in Carmel for the past fifteen years. Shortly after ac- quiring the store he disposed of the hardware department, continuing in the implement business. Later he added a line of feed, coal, automobiles and automobile accessories. He makes a specialty of clover seed, which is shipped to him from Idaho. In addition to his business interests in Carmel, Mr. Foster owns two hundred and thirty-six acres of land two miles east of Carmel and takes a great deal of pride in the fact that he knows how to manage a farm. He makes a specialty of registered stock, having thorough- bred hogs and horses on his farm at all times. He is president of the Car- mel Horse Show Association, and a member of the Indiana Swine Breeders' Association. He takes much interest in agricultural matters, keeping his farm up to the highest state of efficiency at all times.

Mr. Foster was married March 9, 1894, to Jennie Wilson, the daugh- ter of John and Martha (Evans) Wilson, who was born October 18, 1876. Mrs. Foster was one of the two children born to her parents, her mother dying when she was fifteen years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Foster have one son, Dallas, who graduated from the Carmel high school when he was sixteen years old. He is now attending business college in Indianapolis, and ex- pects to graduate in the spring of 1915, after which he will join his father in business.

Politically, Mr. Foster adheres to the principles of the Republican party, and is deeply interested in the political issues of the day. Having made a study of politics, he has given his support to the Republican party, whose principles, he believes, are well fitted to promote the welfare of the people of this country. He takes an active part in the affairs of his town

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and is now president of the town board of Carmel. He is active in matters of home improvement and local public enterprises, and ever ready to lend a helping hand to the mutual welfare. He is esteemed a valuable citizen of his community.

ALVIN S. POWER.

One of the most enterprising of our younger generation of farmers in Hamilton county, the man whose name forms the caption of this interesting biography, has believed from the outset of his career that the "wisdom of yesterday is sometimes the folly of today," and that while the methods of our grandfathers in tilling the soil were all right in their day, in the twen- tieth century we are compelled to adopt new methods and farm along dif- ferent lines, in view of the fact that condition of climate, soil, grains, etc., have changed since the days of the pioneers. He has been a close observer of modern methods and is a diligent student of whatever things pertain to his chosen life work. It is not cause for wonder, therefore, that he has met with encouraging success all along the line. Judging from his past record, he will undoubtedly achieve much in the future years and take his place among the leading agriculturists of a community noted for its fine farms and adroit husbandmen.

Alvin S. Power, a prosperous farmer in Clay township, this county, was born on the farm where he is now living, four miles south of Carmel, on July 3, 1879. His father, William D. Power, was born on the same farm May 13, 1848, while his mother, Annie Quick, was born in Johnson county, Indiana. April 15. 1855, the daughter of Nicholas Quick and wife. The Power family is one of the many who came to this state from Kentucky. Joseph Power, the first member of the family concerning whom definite in- formation has been found. was a native of Kentucky and served in the War of 1812. At an early date he came to Rush county, Indiana, where he en- tered government land and lived the remainder of his days. He was the father of several children: Richard, Darius, the grandfather of Alvin S., Stephen. Charles, Joseph and one daughter.

Darius Power was born near Elizabethtown, Kentucky, in 1803, and when a youth he came with his parents to Rush county, Indiana. He grew to maturity in Rush county and married Catherine Jackson, shortly after his marriage coming to Hamilton county, where he entered eighty acres of gov- ernment land in the midst of the wilderness. He was a successful farmer, and in all of his dealings showed marked business ability. At the time of

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his death he owned four hundred and forty acres of fine land in this county. He died December 12, 1863, his wife passing away in October, 1878. They were the parents of eleven children: Thomas, who died at the age of eight; William, who died at the age of eighteen; Elizabeth J., the wife of Charles Moffitt; Margaret, the wife of Silas Wise; Joseph; James; Richard; Mary C., the wife of Luther Hessong; William D., the father of Alvin S., with whom this narrative deals; and two who died in infancy.

William Darius Power, the father of Alvin S., was born in this county, on the farm where the son is now living, the same that was entered by his father, Darius Power. William D. Power grew to manhood in this county and married Anna Quick. The reader is referred to the biography of Nich- olas Quick elsewhere in this volume for further details of the Quick family history. William D. and wife were the parents of two children: Maude Ethel and Alvin. Ethel is the wife of David Combs, and lives near the old Power homestead.

The whole career of Alvin S. Power has been spent on the farm where he was born, with the exception of two years immediately after his mar- riage, when he lived in Marion county on his aunt's farm. He is a progres- sive young farmer, who believes in adopting the latest improved methods in agriculture, with the result that he is having the satisfaction of seeing his farm return a good crop each year. He raises all the crops suitable to this locality and also handles a considerable amount of live stock each year.

Mr. Power was married November 11, 1908, to Harriet Beecher Elliott. She is a daughter of Oliver and Martha (Hussey) Elliott, and was born October 18, 1880, near the Poplar Ridge church in Clay township, in this county. Her father was born in Wayne county, Indiana, September 12, 1844, and is a son of Absalom and Polly (Maxwell) Elliott. Mrs. Martha Hussey, the mother of Mrs. Power, was born July 28, 1844, in Fayette county, Indiana, and is the daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Frazier) Hus- sey. Her history is referred to in the sketch of Oliver C. Elliott found elsewhere in this volume, which gives further details on the family history. Mr. and Mrs. Power have two children: Fletcher William, born April 6, 19II, and Maxwell Elliott, born October 2, 1913. These make up the fourth generation of the family that has lived on this place, three genera- tions of whom were born here.

The father of Mr. Power died February 11, 1910, and since that time Mr. Power has had full charge of the old home place. He has been farm- · ing one hundred and nine acres across the road from the old home farm, and with the eighty acres which his father owned, now has a large farm to

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manage. His mother is still living and makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Power.

Politically, Mr. Power is a Progressive and was the first man in Ham- ilton county to make the race for county office on the Progressive ticket. Fraternally, he is a member of the Free and Accepted .Masons. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and his wife is a member of the Friends church. Personally, Mr. Power is genial and agreeable and has a host of loyal friends in the community where he has lived all of his life.

ANSON V. ALMOND.

Agriculture has been honored 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 outdoor life of the farm has a decided tendency to foster and develop that independence 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 always has been the fruitful soil from which have sprung the moral bone and sinew of the country, and the ma- jority 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.

Anson V. Almond, a prosperous farmer in this township and this county, and the son of David H. and Julia A. (Gossett) Almond, was born in Hendricks county, July 21, 1869. David H. Almond was the son of James and Emily (Weir) Almond, and was born in Iowa, near Salem. Julia A. Gossett was the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Jones) Gossett. James Almond was born in Hendricks county, Indiana, and his wife was born in Ohio. At different times they lived in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, and in all of these states James Almond owned land. The log cabin which he built in Clay township in this county is still standing and is one of the in- teresting landmarks of the township.

Thomas Gossett, the father of Mrs. David H. Almond, was a Methodist Episcopal minister as well as a farmer. His wife, Elizabeth Jones, was a native of Indiana. David H. Almond was one of ten children born to James and Emily (Weir) Almond and he lived at home until he was married and then began farming for himself. He has been a farmer most of his life, although he was engaged in the implement business in both Zionsville and

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Indianapolis for a time. David Almond was twice married, having one son, Alva A., by his first wife. His second wife, Julia A. Gossett, was the mother of four children: Anson V., with whom this narrative deals; John, Mary and Jennie.

Anson V. Almond received a good common school education in the schools of his township and then attended the high school for two years. He remained at home, assisting his father with the work on the farm. After his marriage in 1891 he continued to live at home, managing his father's farm.

Mr. Almond was married August 9, 1891, to Ella Harvey, who was born in Clay township, on July 31, 1872. Her parents were Nathan and Eunice (Leonard) Harvey. Nathan Harvey, the son of Anthony and Sarah (Trueblood) Harvey, both natives of North Carolina, was but four years of age when his father died, and consequently very little is known of the early history of the Harvey family. When Nathan was twenty years of age he came to Indiana under very interesting circumstances. He was living in North Carolina at the time the Civil War broke out, and being ordered to join the Southern army, although in sympathy with the North and a Quaker, he ran away from the state in order to escape the draft. He left his home at night with fourteen other men, who also were in sympathy with the North, and started to make the long overland trip to the free states. Out of the fifteen who started on that dark night, only three ever reached Indiana. Eight of them were captured by the Confederate soldiers and some of them were shot to death. Four others got faint-hearted and went back home. When Mason Harvey reached Indiana his clothes were in rags, all of his money was gone and he was in debt $5 to a cousin who helped him to reach this state. Eunice Leonard, the wife of Mason Harvey, was the · daughter of Salethial and Sarah (Thornburg) Leonard, also natives of North Carolina. The Leonards came to this state when Eunice was about twelve years of age. Salethial Leonard was the son of William Leonard and wife, and Sarah Thornburg was the daughter of George Thornburg and wife.

Mr. and Mrs. Anson V. Almond have one son, Lawrence H., who was born October 10, 1894. He is a young man with a brilliant future before him and is well worthy the advantages which his parents are giving hin ... After graduating from the Carmel high school, he entered the Ohio North- ern University, where he is pursuing a course in mechanical engineering with a view to following that professon after graduation.

Mr. Almond is now managing his father's farm of one hundred and sixty acres and also fifty acres of his own adjoining his father's farm. He

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is a skillful farmer, in that he understands the best methods of securing good results from his land and at the same time keeping it in a high state of pro- ductivity. The difference between the old-fashioned farmer and the scien- tific farmer, is that the scientific farmer understands the value of crop rota- tion and scientific fertilizing. Mr. Almond is a loyal member of the Repub- lican party but has never been a candidate for any public office, preferring to devote all of his time to his agricultural pursuit. He is a member of the National Horse Thief Detective Association, an association which enrolls many of the farmers of this county. Mr. Almond is a man of high ideals and is respected by every one who is associated with him, giving his hearty support at all times to all worthy enterprises for the best interests of his community.

OTHNIEL B. HARVEY.

As the young man of today spins through the picturesque valleys and along level roads in his automobile and sees the white roadbed unwind itself like a ribbon under the wheels, he does not think of the day when his father and grandfather laboriously toiled along through the same country in a slow- going wagon over stumps and logs, fording streams and ever pushing into a new country ; nor does he reckon that the cost of the car and the motor that hums so powerfully would have kept a pioneer family for many years in the midst of plenty. At that time the high cost of living never was heard of, for the pioneers raised everything that they ate and wore, and their homes were not constructed by contractors, but were hewed and fitted and covered by the calloused hands of the father and his sons. Among the pioneers of Hamilton county, whose memory runs to the days before the war is Othniel B. Harvey, who has lived nearly three score and ten years within the precincts of this county.

Othniel B. Harvey, the son of William and Cinderella ( Beeson) Harvey, was born December 18, 1847, in Hamilton county, Indiana. on the farm where he is now living in Washington township. His father was born in Franklin county, this state, and his mother in Wayne county, this state, and after their marriage they came to Hamilton county, in the fall of 1842, and settled on the farm where Othniel B. Harvey is now living. William Harvey entered one hundred and sixty acres of government land and started to make a home in the primeval wilderness for his family. William Harvey was a life-long farmer and an influential man in his township during his life. He was a member of the county board of commissioners under the old constitu-

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tion, a position which corresponds to the township trusteeship at the present time. William Harvey and wife reared a family of eight children, all of whom lived lives of usefulness : Mrs. Malvina Stultz, deceased; Mrs. Malinda Stultz, whose husband is a farmer in Washington township, this county; Othniel B., whose history is here related; Sanford M., a farmer of Wash- ington township; Mrs. Parentha E. Spaugh, deceased; Mrs. Orendo E. Scott, who resides in Noblesville; Marcus B., a banker of Zionsville and Mrs. Ludema Stultz, whose husband is a farmer in Washington township. Will- iam Harvey died March 4, 1874, and his widow passed away October 12, 1890.

Othniel B. Harvey received such education as was afforded by the country schools of his day and early in life decided to follow the vocation of farming. Upon his marriage in 1872, his father gave him thirty-three and one-half acres of land, on which he has since resided. He has improved this farm in various ways and now has a beautiful home with excellent barns and outbuildings. He has always paid particular attention to the raising of live stock, having found by experience that the most successful farmers are those who combine the raising of their crops with the raising of live stock.

Mr. Harvey was married April 20, 1872, to Sybilla E. Spaugh, a daugh- ter of Joshua and Christina ( Petry) Spaugh, both of whom were natives of North Carolina. Joshua Spaugh was born March 14, 1821, and died in 1896. His wife was born May 13, 1820, and died January 3. 1901. To this worthy couple were born seven children : Sanda, deceased: Mrs. Cath- erine Hand, deceased; Sybilla, the wife of Mr. Harvey: John E., a farmer of Washington township: Mrs. Missouri Harvey, whose husband is a farmer in Washington township; Frank, deceased, and Allen, a farmer of this country.

Mr. and Mrs. Harvey reared a family of three children, Iva, William J. and Oris. Iva is the wife of Vanetta H. Johnson, a farmer of Washing- ton township; William J. is married and lives on a farm in Washington town- ship, and has one daughter, Geneva: Oris, a farmer of Boone county, Indi- ana, is married and has one son, Clark Beeson.

Mr. Harvey is a stanch Prohibitionist. believing that the suppression of the liquor traffic constitutes the biggest problem before the American people today. He and his wife are loyal members of the Christian church and are interested in its various activities. Mr. Harvey always has been deeply interested in whatever tends to promote the prosperity of his community, and the section of the county where he has resided for so many years is greatly indebted to him for its material, educational and moral development.

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ENOCH M. PASSWATER.

The Passwater family were among the first pioneers of Hamilton county. Indiana. and the members of this family have been connected with the his- tory of this section for more than ninety years. When the grandfather of Enoch M. Passwater came here in 1844, the Indians still roamed the deep forests which then were practically untouched by the white man's axe. Enoch M. Passwater is a worthy scion of this sterling family, and has so managed his affairs as to win the high esteem of his fellow citizens.

Enoch M. Passwater, a widely known farmer of Wayne township, Hamilton county, Indiana, was born January 6, 1856, in the same township where he has since resided. He is the son of Zadok and Martha Jane (Brattain) Passwater. Zadok Passwater was the son of Clement and Rachel (Cloverdale) Passwater. Clement Passwater was a native of the state of Delaware, his birth occurring in that state April 26, 1797, and Zadok Passwater was born December 25. 1822, in the state of Ohio. Clement Pass- water located in Wayne township, Hamilton county, Indiana, in 1824. and entered one hundred and forty acres of land in Wayne township. There were very few settlers in the county at that time and the roads to his farm had to be cut through the tangled woods. The family had to go to the Conner mill south of Noblesville in order to get their corn ground, and then frequently had to wait over night for their grist. Clement Passwater was a fine, public-spirited and progressive man, peaceable and thoroughly reliable. He never carried a gun to protect himself from the Indians, and even when the Indians were drunk they came to him, patted him on the back and said, "Good man-no gun." The first cabin which Clement Passwater built. a rude log structure, had no door other than a quilt which was suspended from the top of the doorway. He was killed by a cave-in at a gravel pit at the age of seventy-one. His wife lived to be past eighty years of age.

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History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 91

Author: John F. Haines Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1051

Author: John F. Haines
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051