History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 96

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

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Mr. Castor was married October 6, 1896, to Marie Beals, who was born west of Noblesville, a daughter of E. N. and Julia (DeHart) Beals. Mrs. Castor is the eldest of three children born to her parents, both of whom are still living upon the Beals farm west of Noblesville.

Mr. Castor and his wife are both consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church and generous contributors to its maintenance. Mr. Castor joined the church when he was twelve years of age and has lived the life consistent with its teachings. He is a member of the Masonic order, be- longing to Clarksville, Indiana, Lodge No. 118. He and his wife are the parents of three children, two of whom died in infancy. The one son living, Worth H., was born November 28, 1908.

JAMES FISHER.

A highly respected citizen of a past generation was James Fisher, who lived in Hamilton county, Indiana, from 1834 until his death in 1900. He was a man of broad intelligence and was an interesting talker, possessed of a most informative fund of pioneer reminiscences. Genial in manner he easily won friends and for over a half century was one of the leaders in his com- munity. He grew up amidst the pioneer conditions in Hamilton county, and being possessed of a strong constitution and a personality which made him a natural leader of men was no inconsiderable factor in the improvement of the locality in which he lived.

James Fisher, the son of Samuel and Rebecca (Wilson) Fisher, was born in Clermont county, Ohio, September 11, 1819, and died at his home in Wayne township, Hamilton county, Indiana, April 6, 1900. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and emigrated to Ohio when about eighteen years of age in company with his parents, and settled on government land. The parents of Samuel Fisher continued to reside in Ohio until their death at an advanced age. Samuel Fisher grew to maturity in Ohio, and when about twenty-four years of age. married and lived at home until the death of

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his father, September 20, 1834. He at once sold out the Ohio farm and moved with his wife and children to Indiana, where he settled in Wayne township, Hamilton county. Samuel Fisher entered two hundred and forty acres of land from the government and built a rude log cabin, eighteen by twenty feet, in which the family lived for about twelve years. He then built a larger house of hewed logs, which was a great improvement over the first cabin, its greater dimensions being necessary for the needs of the increased family. In this second log house Samuel Fisher lived until he retired from active life and moved to Noblesville, where he died at about the age of seventy-five years. The wife of Samuel Fisher was born in Clermont county and died, after a long life of usefulness, at the old homestead in Wayne township, in this county at the age of seventy-six. She was a devoted wife and mother and highly esteemed by all who knew her. Her parents originally were from Pennsylvania, but had emigrated in early life to Ohio, where her father operated a salt manufacturing plant, becoming one of the leading busi- ness men of his locality.

James Fisher attended the subscription schools of Hamilton county in his boyhood days, and while his education there necessarily was very limited, yet by wide reading he became one of the best informed men of his com- munity. When twenty-one years of age he married Susan McDole. who was born near Steubenville, Ohio, to which union five children were born, two of whom are still living, Addison and Warren. Susan McDole was the daughter of John and Susan McDole, residents of Ohio, who came to Indi- ana about 1840. She died September 18, 1852. In the following year, on September 29, 1853, James Fisher was united in marriage with Nancy Sterns, who was born March 20, 1833, in Carroll county, Ohio, the daughter of Peter and Margaret ( Bushong) Sterns. Her parents came from Pennsyl- vania to Ohio and lived in the latter state until 1837. In that year the Sterns family came in a wagon to Hancock county, Indiana, and entered eighty acres of land, remaining there about ten years. Although Mrs. Fisher was only about four years of age when her parents came from Ohio to Hancock county. Indiana, she still has recollections of that journey, despite the fact that she is now eighty-two years of age. In 1847, the Sterns family moved to Hamilton county, and bought a farm of eighty acres east of Durbin, ad- joining Mrs. Fisher's present farm on the west. They lived there until old age, and then moved to Noblesville, where Mr. Sterns died in 1887. while Mrs. Sterns died in 1898.

Immediately after his first marriage James Fisher settled on govern- ment land and built a log house in which he resided with his family until

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1868, when he erected a good, frame dwelling, in which he lived until his death in 1900. He applied himself diligently to the clearing of this farm and to its tillage with the result that in the course of years he became prosper- ous and was numbered among the most influential citizens of his county. He was personally a very approachable man and one who always took a great interest in the welfare of his community. His widow is now making her home with her son-in-law, Thomas E. McDonald in Wayne township.

FLOYD W. ZIMMERMAN.

A public school teacher in the schools of Hamilton county, Indiana, for the past thirty-three years, Floyd W. Zimmerman has exerted a most helpful influence upon the youth of this county. He is intensely practical in all of his teaching, and it is probably safe to say that no other teacher in the state has done so much to encourage the boy to remain on the farm as has Mr. Zimmerman. He has been particularly interested in the raising of fine corn, and has had the satisfaction not only of raising some fine corn himself, but of seeing many of his pupils take prizes for their corn. Mr. Zimmerman comes from a fine German family, one that has been at the forefront in Hamilton county for many years.

It is pertinent to note something concerning the spelling of the name "Zimmerman." Most of the family now in the county spell it "Simmermon," because in the early days when the first members of the family came here from Germany, they pronounced it as the Germans do. The Americans did not understand the German spelling, and spelled it as it was pronounced, namely, "Simmermon." The German spelling is "Zimmerman," which, in German, means "carpenter." To add to the confusion, one branch of the family, which has many members in the United States, has translated the name into English, and is known as the "Carpenter" family. The historian who attempts to write exhaustively of the Zimmerman family will in this way meet with much trouble, since this Carpenter family is directly descended from the great-grandfather of Floyd W. Zimmerman.

Floyd W. Zimmerman, the son of John Sullivan and Margaret Jane (Castor) Simmermon, was born in Wayne township, Hamilton county, Indiana, August 11, 1861. Inasmuch as a resume of the interesting history of John S. Simmermon is given elsewhere in this volume, the reader is re- ferred to the biographical sketch of that gentleman for further information concerning the Zimmerman family.

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Floyd W. Zimmerman was reared to manhood on his father's farm and attended the district schools of his home neighborhood, and later spent two years in the high school at Noblesville. Such was his excellent training that at the age of nineteen he began teaching in the public schools of Hamilton county and has been in continuous service in the school room since that time. His record is one which probably has never been equalled in Hamilton county and indicates the high esteem in which Mr. Zimmerman is held as an in- structor of the youth. He has taught the children of his earlier graduates, and has seen their children graduate as well. His long experience has given him unusual opportunities for noting family traits and thus he has been the better able to instruct the youth who have been entrusted to his minister- ing care. He always holds before his pupils the idea of going higher in the educational world and thus preparing themselves for more useful careers. He teaches because he likes the work. It is to him indeed a labor of love and he feels that in the school room he is performing a mission which is second to none.

Mr. Zimmerman practices what he teaches and is not only one of the most successful teachers of agriculture in the state, but is also a practical farmer, ranking among the most progressive farmers of his county. He is the owner of two hundred and thirty acres in Hamilton county, and one hun- dred acres in Madison county, this state. He bought his first one hundred and sixty acres with his earnings as a teacher, and has since, with the assist- ance of his sons, managed his farm as well as spent each winter in the school room. For the last ten years he and his sons have specialized in raising fine corn, particularly seed corn. He has won frequent prizes at the various corn shows held in the county and state, and has demonstrated what can be accomplished by scientific corn raising. In 1913, a boy on one of Mr. Zim- merman's farms by the name of Wilson Abney, was encouraged by Mr. Zimmerman to try for prizes in corn raising and the lad gave his best efforts in the summer of 1913 to the production of good corn, with the result that he won twenty-eight dollars in prizes. He won first on white corn giving the largest yield per acre-twenty dollars ; first on the best ten ears of white corn -five dollars; first on single ear of white corn-three dollars. His brother, Cecil Abney, won first on the best ten ears of yellow corn, receiving five dollars as a prize, and third on best single ear, winning a prize of one dollar. Mr. Zimmerman encourages all the boys in school who are reared on the farm to remain there and give their best efforts toward becoming successful farmers. He teaches manual training as well as agriculture and uses tools in the school room, the pupils under his direction having turned out some

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really remarkable work. As an illustration of his methods of teaching, it is interesting to note that he has gone into the fields with sacks and worked up and down the corn rows showing the boys the best ears to select for seed; then he explains to them the methods of caring for the corn and selecting it for seed the following spring.

Mr. Zimmerman was married December 27, 1885, to Pauline Wright, the daughter of Jesse W. and Ann M. (Aldred) Wright, to which union have been born six children, three living and three deceased. Benjamin Hanson died the day after his birth; John Vernon died at the age of five years and three months; Catherine Marie was graduated from the State University in 1912 and is now the principal of the Camden, Indiana, schools; Jesse Griffith was graduated from the high school at Lapel and has taught three years; Margaret Ruth is now a senior in Indiana University, and will be graduated in the class of 1915; Rex Wright died at the age of nine months. Mr. Zimmerman and his wife have given their children the advantages of the best education which is provided by the state of Indiana, and have had the satis- faction of seeing them take their places as useful members of society.

Mrs. Zimmerman's father was born in Stokes county, North Carolina, on April 19, 1823, and was the sixth in a family of eight children. His par- ents were Jesse and Ruhanna Wright, Jesse Wright being born in North Carolina, July 15, 1787, and his wife's birth occurring in the same state, Novmeber 28, 1788. James Wright settled in Stokes county, North Caro- lina, shortly after his marriage, and there all his children were born, Jesse W. spending his earlier years in that county. The Wright family held a deep-seated hatred of slavery and in 1839 they left North Carolina and located in Bartholomew county, Indiana, a year later settling in Marion county, this state, where Jesse W. Wright lived with his parents until 1851, when he moved to Hamilton county. In 1845 Jesse W. Wright was married to Ann M. Aldred, the daughter of William A. and Eliza F. Aldred. His wife was a native of the state of Delaware, born November 14, 1826, and came to Indiana with her parents in 1836, her father previously having entered one thousand acres of land in this state. Mr. Wright and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the fathers of each were local preachers in that denomination.

Mr. Zimmerman is an active worker in the Democratic party, and has been the nominee of his party at various times, although the Republican majority is such that he has never been elected. Fraternally, he is a mem- ber of the Free and Accepted Masons, and he and his wife are both members of the Order of the Eastern Star. He also is a member of the Knights of

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Pythias, and he and his wife both belong to the Pythian Sisters. Mr. Zim- merman also holds membership in the Improved Order of Red Men and the Modern Woodmen of America.

Although he does not tell these things himself, many others have told of the many substantial deeds of kindness and generosity on the part of Mr. Zimmerman. He is a man of strong convictions, earnestly following any course of action decided upon, straightforward and upright, a man with so many friends because he is sincerely a real friend to so many others. .

JOHN SULLIVAN SIMMERMON.

The late John S. Simmermon, spent his entire life of seventy-two years within the limits of Hamilton county, Indiana, and when he died in 1909 he left a name which' was untarnished before the world. No more sterling citizen has ever lived in the county than he, and his career is typical of the lives of the pioneers of the county.

John Sullivan Simmermon, the son of John and Mary (Fisher) Sim- mermon, was born in Wayne township, Hamilton county, Indiana, March 15, 1837, and died in the same township, November 9, 1909. John Simmer- mon was a native of Pennsylvania, the son of Benjamin and Margaret (Nagol) Simmermon, also natives of the same state. Benjamin Simmermon came to Ohio when John, Sr., was nine years of age, and in this state Benjamin Simmermon died at the age of sixty. The Simmermons were of German ancestry and were the descendants of a thrifty family who possessed a large estate in Germany. John Simmermon, Sr., was only eleven years of age when the death of his father threw upon him in a large measure the care of the family. He worked at home and also worked out by the month at whatever he could find to do. In 1833 he came to Indiana and located in Hamilton county, not long afterwards marrying Mary Fisher, the daughter of Benjamin and Hannah (Atherton) Fisher.

Benjamin Fisher was the son of Benjamin Fisher, of Pennsylvania, where both father and son were born. In 1800 Benjamin Fisher, Jr., came to Ohio, having been married shortly before, and located on thirty-three acres in Cleremont county, where he lived until 1819, when he came to Hamilton county, Indiana, and located in what is now White River township. At that time there were thousands of Indians and very few white people in the central part of Indiana. The city of Anderson was then only an Indian

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village and Chief Anderson held undisputed sway over the Indian wigwams clustered along the banks of White river. Elsewhere in this history is found an account of Benjamin Fisher's tragic end at the hands of Indians. He was killed by the redskins in the fall of 1821, being the only white man as far as history records, who was killed by the Indians in Hamilton county. Hannah Atherton, the wife of Benjamin Fisher, was born in Vermont, and became the mother of three children, John, Mary and Charles. After Mr. Fisher's tragic death in the fall of 1821 the widow and children remained nearly twelve years on the farm and then moved to Stony Creek township, Madison county, Indiana. The tomahawk which the Indians used in killing Benjamin Fisher still is in the possession of the family.

After John Simmermon, Sr., was married, he and his wife located in Hamilton county, which was then a dense woods. He built a rude log cabin, sixteen by eighteen feet, and in it four of his children, including John S., were born. In 1849, the family moved to the north part of Wayne town- ship, where John Simmermon, Sr., bought the farm on which he lived until his'death at the age of sixty-five. He was a Democrat in politics, a Meth- odist in religious belief and a man who was sincerely devoted to all public- spirited enterprises. His wife died at the age of sixty-eight.

John S. Simmermon grew to maturity amid the pioneer scenes of the county, and a few months after reaching his majority he was married Novem- ber 4, 1860, to Margaret J. Castor. She was born in Wayne township, this county, November 24, 1840, and was the daughter of John and Margaret (Beatty) Castor. Five children were born to John S. Simmermon and wife : Floyd W., who is represented elsewhere in this volume; Alma, the wife of George Anderson, of Durbin. Indiana; Marion G., who married Metta Guinn; Minnie, the wife of Edwin C. Aldred, and John B., a farmer of Wayne township.

Mr. Simmermon started in life as a poor boy, working as a farm hand on the farms in his home neighborhood. He drove oxen to break the prairie sod on the Gray farm for the first time and ploughed it with eight oxen. It is said that he yelled so lustily at the oxen that his voice was heard as far away as Strawtown. After his marriage Mr. Simmermon settled on a farm of eighty acres and for five years he and his family lived in a little log cabin and then he built a larger and much better house. In 1884 he erected a hand- some dwelling at a cost of five thousand dollars, one of the most attractive country homes in Wayne township. He devoted his attention to farming and stock raising, and was very successful in handling high grade cattle and horses. He was a man of exceptional business and executive ability for a

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farmer. An interesting story is told of his shrewdness in financial matters. While buying timber at one time he saw a lot of walnut timber which had been cut and the trunks hauled away, leaving the tops and knots. He bought what was left for ten dollars in order to make his title secure, although he could have had it for a gift if he would remove it. He worked it up one winter and found many knots which were valuable for veneer, selling one par- ticular fine knot for five hundred dollars. Another knot which was still more valuable was stolen. From his ten-dollar investment he realized thirty-five hundred dollars and with this he bought his first eighty acres of land. He had many interesting experiences as a youth in this then unsettled county. When about eighteen years of age he had an encounter with a young panther which proved to be more exciting than dangerous. On this particular night he was going to see his girl, the same girl who later became his wife, when he met a bear in the road, and things looked serious for a while. However, he frightened the bear away, only to run into a panther, and fortunately he had little difficulty in eluding the panther.

Mr. Simmermon was reared a Democrat, but when he married it hap- pened that his wife was a Republican in belief. He had never voted before his marriage, being, in fact, but a little past his majority at that time. Elec- tion day came shortly afterwards and to please his bride he voted for Abraham Lincoln, and from that time forward voted the Republican ticket. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church until he was about fifty years of age and then he and his wife became members of the Wesleyan Methodist church. He was an active church worker and took a great interest in every- thing pertaining to its welfare. He not only assisted his own denomination . financially, but helped other denominations as well as all local benevolent enterprises. He was a generous supporter of all movements having as their object the public welfare and was a public-spirited citizen who gave gener- ously of his means to the support of all worthy institutions.

Mr. Simmermon's wife died January 27, 1909. Immediately after her death, Mr. Simmermon's health began to fail, and although he was a strong, robust man at the time of her death, from that time on his health gradually gave way and he passed away nine months later. They had been close com- panions throughout their long married life and his grief at her death was such that he did not seem to care to live any longer. Such, in brief, is the career of one of the most honored citizens of the past generation in Hamil- ton county, and it is indeed fitting that his career be set forth in the annals of the county to whose welfare his whole life so consistently had been devoted.

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CURTIS H. MALLERY.

The Mallery family was one of the first families to locate in Hamilton county, Indiana, and during all the years which the members of the family have lived here, they have been prominently identified with every phase of the county's development. Curtis Mallery, the grandfather of Curtis H., was born in the state of New York, April 8, 1774, and died in this county October 1, 1851. His worthy wife, Nancy Bolter, was born June 16, 1782, and suffered all the privations and sacrifices of frontier life with her hus- band. She died of the cholera in Noblesville August 19, 1850. She was a devoted wife and mother and tenderly cared for the ten children who came to bless this union. Curtis Mallery was the second treasurer of Hamilton county, and held this office for twenty years. He was a man of sterling integrity and ambition and was peculiarly well adapted for successfully fac- ing the privations of the life which must be lived in a frontier country.

Horace C. Mallery, the son of Curtis Mallery, and the father of Curtis H., with whom this narrative deals, was born April 6, 1815, in Herkimer county, New York, and came with his parents to Hamilton county, Indiana, arriving here May 4, 1820. Horace C. Mallery was a farmer and an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mary Pugh, the wife of Horace C. Mallery, was born September 19. 1817, in Green county, Ohio, near Cedar- ville, and was the daughter of Hulit and Abigail Pugh. Her parents came to Hamilton county in old age and died soon after arriving here of malarial fever, and they are buried in the Bethel church cemetery in Wayne township. Horace C. Mallery died November 11, 1879, and his wife passed away March 31, 1875. They were the parents of six children, Curtis H. and his sister, Mrs. Belinda Grange, of Noblesville, being the only ones now living.

Curtis H. Mallery was born August 13, 1840, near where the carbon works are now located at the southern edge of Noblesville. He lived there until he was eleven years of age and then moved with his parents to the west side of Wayne township, where he has since resided. He attended the dis- trict schools and at the age of seventeen began teaching in the schools of his county and for several years taught school in Noblesville and Wayne town- ship. While his father was living he rented the farm from his father and worked on it all the time except when he.was teaching. After his marriage in 1860 Curtis H. Mallery and his wife began life in a log cabin, where they spent five happy years. He now has a substantial brick residence on an ele- vation overlooking the winding road that follows the valley of Stony creek in the western part of Wayne township. He also has another substantial resi-

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dence on the farm now occupied by his son, Horace Francis. His well im- proved farm of over two hundred acres is one of the most productive farms of the county and is now successfully managed by his son, Horace F.

Curtis H. Mallery was married in 1860 to Lydia R. Richmond, who was a native of Madison county, Indiana, a daughter of Rev. Francis M. and Sarah (Holliday) Richmond. Her father was a Methodist minister who died in 1853. Mr. and Mrs. Mallery are the parents of three children, their first child dying at the age of five months, while two sons are now living, Arza and Horace Francis. Arza is a decorator and painter and now lives in Los Angeles, California. He has been twice married, his first wife being Margaret Passwater, to which union one son, Ralph, was born. His present wife was Mrs. Bessie ( Pierce) Small, who was born in Noblesville. Horace Francis, the other son, commonly known as "Frank," is living on the old home place and now has the management of it. He married Kate Pass- water, the daughter of M. F. and Clementina Passwater, and they have one son and three daughters, Martin, Jennie, Maggie and Lucile.

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History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 96

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

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