USA > Indiana > Hancock County > History of Hancock County, Indiana, from its earliest settlement by the "pale face," in 1818, down to 1882 > Part 27
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ART. IV .- The officers of this association shall be a Presi- dent, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and an executive committee of three.
ART. V .- The President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer shall perform the duties usually incumbent upon that office.
ART. VI .- It shall be the duty of the executive committee to decide upon the time and place of meeting ; to produce a programme to each meeting for the one following ; to see that those on duty are informed thereof, and to give them such as- sistance as is necessary in the preparation of their duties.
ART. VII .- This constitution may be altered or amended by a two-thirds vote, at any regular meeting.
JOHN WOLF.
398
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
Meetings have been held every two, three, or four weeks, as circumstances will admit, since its organization. circulating to all the school districts in the township; at each meeting soliciting signers to the pledge, which now numbers three hundred and seventy-five, of ages from five to seventy-seven years.
It is conducted principally as a literary association, aiming to instill into the minds of all classes the need of moral reform and true temperance principles.
Pleasant View Meeting, Friends-Was established under the authority of Spiceland quarterly meeting in the eleventh month, 1850. Meetings were held for a time. perhaps a year, in a frame school-house near by; then in the frame meeting-house, occupied as a place of worship at this date. Among the first members were William and Charity Hill, Libni Hunt and wife, Samuel Brown and wife, Phineas White, Matthew Hodson, Daniel Hastings. Alfred and John Hunt, Eli and Robert Brown, Daniel and John Reece, Albert White, Enoch Pierson, and Amos II .. Samuel B. and John Hill. Among those who have preached at this place ar: Melissa Hill and Jared P. Bin- ford. A Bible School, in connection with this meeting, is sustained the year round. Average attendance, thirty : Cynthia White, Superintendent. Samuel B. Hill was one of the first teachers, and has been connected therewith for more than thirty years. Alfred Hunt, one of the most prompt and punctual in attendance at both the Sabbath and week day meetings, faithfully times the sittings thereof.
Additional Suicides and Sudden Deaths in Bluc-River Township .- In 1839, Robert Marsh was killed by the fall- ing of a tree, while "coon hunting" one dark night.
Mrs. T. Ballenger, October 26, 1875, stepped on a piece of pumpkin rind, slipped and fell with her neck across the edge of a bucket, which dislocated the upper cervical vertebræ, producing sudden death.
John Kinder committed suicide by hanging, in his own stable, about 1870.
On May 29, 1875. Miss Mary A. Anderson, daughter of
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SEQUEL TO BLUE-RIVER TOWNSHIP.
James Anderson, of Blue-River township, while fishing in company with her sister, fell into Blue river, and was drowned. Mrs. Reed committed suicide by hanging, at Allentown, in 1870.
Farmers' Insurance Association-Of Hancock county was organized June 12, 1876, with William Marsh as President ; B. F. Luse, Vice-President ; Samuel B. Hill, Secretary and Treasurer, and one Director for each town- ship. It was reorganized under the statutes of Indiana, August 31, 1878. The present officers are John H. White, President ; T. E. Bentley, Vice-President ; S. B. Ifill, Sec- retary and Treasurer, and one Director for each township. The association has met with but three losses, amounting to $1,103, since its organization. It paid to officers for printing, postage, &c., last year, $154.75. Losses have been promptly paid, and the association is in good stand- ing where its workings are understood.
Westland Meeting, Friends .- Among the first Friends that settled in the vicinity of Westland were Joseph Andrews, in 1832 ; John Brown, in 1833 ; Elias Marsh, Elisha Butler, Nathan Perisha, William and Frederick Brown, et al., at different times until the year 1839, when the propriety of a meeting and school-house was discussed by these friends of education, and they agreed on a day to meet, in which they constructed a log school-house, 16x20 feet, soon after which they employed a teacher for the small children of the neighborhood. In 1840 a meet- ing was regularly organized, with about fifteen families. Among the early ministers were Mary Hodson and Me- lissa Hill. A First-day school was soon organized and conducted by Abigail Hubbard. After a few years, the society desired a separate house in which to hold their meetings, and all hands and friends of the cause joined in and built a small frame, without any estimate as to cost. About 1871, the present neat and commodious frame build- ing was erected, at a cost of $1.500. Present minister. Winbern Kerns : total membership, 102 : average attend- ance on the Sabbath, fifty-seven.
400
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
Samuel B. Hill-Was born February 22, 1832, in Ran- dolph county, Indiana. When one year old his parents, William and Charity Hill, moved to a farm in Rush county, two and a half miles south-west of Charlottesville, where he lived until his marriage, in 1852, to Mary M. Henley. In the following year he removed to the farm in Blue-River township, where he still resides. The years from sixteen to twenty-one were spent in teaching and attending school at Friends' Boarding School, near Richmond, Indiana, after- ward Earlham College, of which institution he has been a member of the Board of Managers for some years. He served as Trustee of Blue-River township six years. He is a farmer, and engages in raising grain and stock for a livelihood. In 1875 he was married to his second wife, Mary R. Hadley. He has five children living, two of whom are married and settled in Blue-River township. He is interested in education, holding that it is largely a means of preventing crime and pauperism.
In person Mr. H. is large, square built, dignified in bearing, with black hair, an expressive eye, of a bilious temperament, nearly six feet in height, and two hundred pounds in weight.
Gilboa Church, M. E .- About the year 1830 a few persons, who had been members of the M. E. Church in other places, settled in the vicinity of Gilboa, and soon began holding religious meetings at private dwellings. Occasionally a preacher would come into the neighbor- hood, a runner would be sent out announcing the fact, and thus meetings were held until the year 1832, when the society had so increased in numbers and interest that they decided on building a church. James Sample and Benja- min Miller, who then owned the land now comprised in the grave-yard, offered to give a half acre each if the society would erect a church building thereon, which prop- osition was accepted, and a small log house, twenty by twenty-four feet, made of hewed popular logs, was erected about three rods east of the present grave-yard gate. It stood, as the present one does, with the end fronting the
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SEQUEL TO BLUE-RIVER TOWNSHIP.
road, and had a door in either side and a fire-place in each end, and had one twelve-light window, with panes eight by ten inches. The floor was made of slabs and the benches of split poles, with the splinter side up. This building, like other pioneer public buildings, was erected by voluntary labor, each contributing as his conscience dictated his duty. Rev. Amos Sparks was the first preacher in this building. Among the first members were James and Polly Sample, John Sample and wife, Elizabeth Wood, Sarah Sample, Polly Meek, Arthur Lewis and wife, Adam Allen and wife, Benjamin Miller and wife, Johnson McGinnis, James Lamay and wife and James and Margaret McGinnis. All the above, with the exception of Mother Sample, are with us no more, but have changed their membership from the church militant to the church triumphant. The first revival of any note was under the. ministration of John B. Burk in 1841. The next revival was under the preaching of John T. McMullen in 1848-9. In the summer of 1852 the present house, a frame, thirty by fifty, was completed. The next and greatest revival in the history of the church was in 1860 or 1861, under the preaching of Rev. Layton. In the spring of 1871 the church was repaired, and the old box pulpit was replaced by one of more modern style, after which it was dedicated by Rev. Bowman, of Ohio, on the 13th day of August. 1871. The church is in a healthy, prosperous condition, with a membership of forty-five. In connection with this church is a large and prosperous Sunday-school, with an average attendance of forty-seven.
John Wolf-Was of German parentage, born in Cen- ter county, Pennsylvania, September 29, 1813. He came to Indiana with his father's family in the fall of 1835, and settled in Wayne county. In the spring of 1840 he was married to Charity Commons, with whom he lived hapily till the date of his death. Soon after his marriage he, with his older brother, Henry Wolf, moved to Blue-River township, and purchased the Watts Mill, where the broth- ers carried on an extensive business, their customers coming
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
from fifteen to eighteen miles, and sometimes staying two or three days waiting their turn. In 1849 they began preparations for the erection of a new mill, which is now run by his son, as noted elsewhere. This is the only water Hlouring mill now in the county. John Wolf was a very
Samil Harden
industrious, energetic man, and equally as successful in his business. No one labored more for the development and progress of the country. Ile was always ready with a helping hand for public improvements, and made his influence felt in religious, moral and educational matters. He was a consistent and exemplary member of the M. E. Church, and very strict in his religious duties. Owing to
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SEQUEL TO BLUE-RIVER TOWNSHIP.
exposure in building a dam he contracted typhoid pneu- monia, from which he died February 21, 1854, in the prime of life.
Robison Johns-Was born January 19, 1813, in Scott county, Kentucky, and at the age of four came with his parents to the New Purchase in October, 1823, and settled in what is now Blue-River township, Hancock county, Indiana. Abram Johns, father of the subject of this sketch, had made a trip to the new site in March, and entered eighty acres at the land-office at Brookville, Franklin county. The Johns family, which were twelve in number, resided for a time in a bark shed, then in a pole cabin, eighteen by twenty, rude in its every part. Mr. Johns remembers well the building of the first school-house, in the fall of 1823, and the first teacher therein, Lewis Tyner, son of Solomon Tyner, who agreed to teach a short term, and take his pay in work on his father's farm. Light was admitted to the room through greased paper. Webster's blue-back speller was the chief book. Mr. Johns says at that date they went to Freeport for meal and Connersville for flour, being the nearest points at which they could be accommodated.
The first death in the township was that of John Smith, who was killed at a cabin raising* by the falling of a log which had slipped from a skid in nearing the gable, from which he died that night, in March, 1824. Harmon War- rum, Thomas Phillips, Solomon Tyner, John Osborn, George Penwell and George Smith, the remaining settlers at that date, were part or all present.
Abram and Elizabeth Johns, the father and mother of this sketch, died respectively in 1834 and 1863, the latter at the ripe age of ninety-five. If any of our readers wish to spend an hour or two pleasantly with some of the oldest living residents of Hancock county, let them call on Robison or Wilson Johns.
* See page 27.
CHAPTER XXVI.
SEQUEL TO BRANDYWINE TOWNSHIP.
INTRODUCTORY.
In the eastern part of Brandywine township settled James Smith, who built a mill on Brandywine creek, four miles south of Greenfield. This mill ground about two bushels of grain every twelve hours. He run it day and night, and furnished the meal for a large scope of country. If a customer came in the evening with a grist, it was put in the hopper, and he was told to come back next morning and get his grinding. The miller in the meantime went to bed and left the mill faithfully at work all night while he slept. Said Smith was a member of the Protestant Methodist Church, and gave the ground for the old Mt. Lebanon Church, besides giving more money than any other member. East of him, on what was called Hominy Ridge, lived old man Porter, father of the late Harry Porter. He started a tan-yard, which supplied the neigh- borhood with leather. His nearest neighbor was Mark Whitaker, a Justice of the Peace for a great many years. There also lived on the Ridge George Dillard, J. and Henry Duncan and William Marts.
In the south part of the township settled John Arnett, who built the first still-house in the township. Soon after, John Trent built another distillery on an adjoining eighty acres, and at this place was made the last whisky ever manufactured in the township. John P. Banks was the pioneer preacher for the Christian Church. James Baker preached both for the Protestant Methodist and Christian Churches. The men used to meet to muster at James Gooding's, the place now occupied by John Richie. The first meeting-house was built at Mt. Lebanon, and was
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SEQUEL TO BRANDYWINE TOWNSHIP.
a Protestant Methodist Church. The next was a Christian Church, built on the land of James Baker. Eleazar Snod- grass was the preacher in charge. Mr. Snodgrass did great good as a minister, and as the fruits of his labor there now stands a nice church-house, where congregate for worship Wellington Collyer, George Furry, John S. Thomas, Smith Hutchinson, Hiram Thomas, the Lows, and other prominent citizens of this township. The first school teachers were Peter Newhouse, Jackson Porter and William Whitaker. Jackson Porter was arrested and tried in the Hancock Circuit Court on a charge of murder for severely whipping one of his pupils one evening, from which he died on the following day. James Brown was the first colored man that ever lived in the township. He was a blacksmith by trade, and lived on the Harry Porter place.
JOHN P. BANKS,
now residing in Brandywine township, in his seventy-third year, moved from Boone county, and settled in Greenfield in 1830, and followed teaming for two years, hauling pro- duce to Cincinnati and goods in return. He afterwards purchased a farm, and moved to Brandywine township, and engaged in agriculture, which business he has followed ever since. Mr. B. has been failing very rapidly for the past few years, yet we are still permitted to look into his honest face occasionally upon our streets. Mr. B. was a preacher in good standing for a number of years, and is ever recognized as an honest, conscientious man.
EPHRAIM . BENTLEY
was born November 15, 1829, in Ripley township, Rush county, Indiana, where he received his early education, attending the Friends' school at Walnut Ridge. His father living on a farm, young Ephraim's time was occu- pied in working thereon, and aiding in the support of a
406
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
large family. Mr. B. was married September 26, 1855, to Pheriba Mundon, with whom he is still happily living. Mr. B. has spent most of his life farming, stock raising. and milling. For a time he run a saw-mill, and for ten years was the proprietor of what is now known as the Blue-River Flouring Mills. Mr. B. became a member of the I. O. O. F. in 1857, and is still an honored member thereof. In October, 1878, he was elected County Com- missioner for the middle, or second, commissioner's dis- trict, which position he is still holding.
JAMES TYNER
was born in Aberville District, South Carolina, September 19, 1807. His father moved to Indiana Territory in 180S. and settled where Franklin county is now located. Here they resided until 1813, when they moved to the territory now embodied in Fayette county. In 1829 the subject of this sketch was married to Lucinda Caldwell, with whom he is still happily living. In 1835 Mr. T., with his small family, moved to Hancock county, and settled in the green woods in Brandywine township, cleared an extensive farm. on which he still resides, and is enjoying the fruits of his labors at this date. Although Mr. T. is now past his three-score and ten, he truthfully says what probably few can say at his age, that he never was under the necessity of having a doctor to attend him except through one " spell of sickness." Mr. T. is a member of the orthodox Baptist Church, known as Shiloh, a substantial Democrat. and has served a number of terms as County Commissioner of the second commissioner's district, being elected in 1849, 1861, 1866 and 1872. During his official life he was recognized as a safe custodian of the county's best interests.
JOHN H. POPE
was born in Brandywine township, July 11, 1852. He was the son of Elijah Pope, one of the early settlers in the township. His early education he received at the common
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SEQUEL TO BRANDYWINE TOWNSHIP.
schools of his neighborhood, after which he took a course in the business college of Hannibal, Missouri, from which he graduated in 1873. Mr. P. traveled, taught school, and worked on the farm for a few years, when he was married, March 25, 1879, to Miss Almedia Moore, daugh- ter of the late Roland Moore, of Green township, with whom he lived happily until the date of her death. which occurred February 2, 1880. Referring to his early life, his father died when he was but about four years of age, and, notwithstanding he was left without paternal care, he grew up an exemplary, modest, un- assuming young man. After a short sickness, Mr. P. was called from works to rewards, January 26, 1882, leaving surviving him a mother and Coleman, an only brother, and his remains were followed by a large con- course of weeping friends to their last resting place, in Mt. Lebanon cemetery.
JAMES ALYEA
was born in New Jersey in 1797, moved to Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1812, thence to Hancock county in 1835, and entered land in Brandywine township, upon which he now resides. He is now in his eighty-fifth year, is a well- to-do farmer, a good citizen, and was one of the carly blacksmiths in the township.
HIRAM THOMAS
was born in Knox county, Kentucky, in 1810. His parents moved to Franklin county, Indiana, in 1811. There he resided until eighteen years of age. He came with his parents to Hancock county in the year 1829, and settled on Little Sugar creek, three miles north of the Brookville road. His nearest neighbors were John Baker on the south, James Gooding on the east, and Joseph Bellis on the west. Hiram Thomas is the father of ex-Sheriff Thomas, as has been noticed elsewhere.
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
GEORGE MUTH,
now residing in Brandywine township, emigrated to this country from Europe in 1819, and located in Baltimore, where he engaged in the mercantile business for a time, and afterwards in manufacturing cloth, but not liking the latter business, he soon came to Indiana, and settled in Brandywine township, where he still resides. Here he began farming through the week and preaching on Sun- day. Mr. M., as noted elsewhere, was the second preacher for the Albright Church, in Sugar-Creek town- ship, and is still standing on the walls of Zion. He served as captain of a company in the late civil war at the advanced age of sixty-six years, and did his duty well, and was honorably discharged. About two years since a few remaining members of his company made him an agreeable surprise in the presentation of a gold-headed cane as a token of their high regard for his faithful services.
WELLINGTON COLLYER
was born in the State of Ohio in the year IS16, and can therefore compare ages with the State of Indiana, and lose nothing by such comparison. In 1836 he came to Hancock county, and entered land, on which he now resides. Mr. Collyer is a strict, exemplary member of the Christian Church, in good standing, and has given freely of his means for its support. He is a staunch Democrat from education and principle rather than policy. Though firm in his convictions of right, he is not dogmatic in his views, but accords to others what he reserves for himself, the privilege of independent thought.
Mr. C. is one of our most industrious, pains-taking farmers, is in hearty sympathy with the poor and oppressed everywhere, and is one of the representative men of the township.
CHAPTER XXVII.
BIOGRAPHIES AND SKETCHES.
NATHANIEL H. ROBERTS
was born in East Virginia, September 30, 1818. When quite young he moved with his parents to West Virginia. and settled in Nicols county, where he resided until eighteen years of age, when he moved to Union, the county seat of Monroe county, and engaged as clerk in the general store of Carpenter & Alexander, in which he remained until 1845, at which time he became a partner. He was also the proprietor of an extensive tobacco manu- factory until the late civil war. In 1852 he was married to Mary J. Campbell, who died in 1880. In 1869 he emi- grated to Indiana, and settled in Hancock county, where he farmed for one year, after which he became proprietor of the Guymon House hotel of this city. In the spring of 1873 he was appointed Recorder of Hancock county. In 1874 he was elected Recorder, and re-elected in 1878, which position he filled till the date of his death, which occurred July 7, 1881. Mr. R. was a liberal, consistent member of the Presbyterian faith, having joined the church when but a boy, and also an honored member of the F. and A. M., according to the rites and ceremonies of which he was decently and respectfully interred in the new cemetery in Greenfield.
"Colonel" R., as he was usually called, had been declining in health for sometime, and had therefore, like a wise man, arranged his business and set his house in order for the anticipated call, and, in order that his children might have a means of support, he had, a short time prior to his death, purchased and presented to Mary the only abstract of titles in the county.
27
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
Mr. R. was a very kind-hearted, accommodating man, who would suffer himself imposed upon rather than not seem courteous and obliging. In official life he was ever faithful and efficient, as the many neat and complete records of his own making are competent, unimpeached witnesses, ever ready to testify in his behalf.
MRS. ELIZABETH BRADLEY, NEE GRAY,
was born in Clermont county, Ohio, July 27, 1826. Her education was received at the common schools of her neighborhood. Being of a pious turn of mind, she joined the M. E. Church in July, 1842, at the early age of sixteen, and has since been an earnest, consistent and faithful member, always contributing liberally with her means and influence for the promotion of truth and the advancement of the church. At the age of eighteen she was married to . Nelson Bradley, a poor but promising young man of her 'native county. In 1852 she came with her husband to McCordsville, and was there a useful member in society and one of the sisters in the church from whom many received counsel and encouragement. In 1866 she moved to Greenfield, where she has since resided. Mrs. Bradley · having no children of her own, has kindly furnished a home, educated and given a mother's care to two orphan children. Mrs. B. is naturally of a charitable, philan- thropic turn of mind, and, having the means at her command, has done much to alleviate the wants of the worthy poor of our city. She has been an earnest worker in the M. E. Sunday-school for a great many years, and has done much for its advancement by a liberal support thereof. She was President of the W. C. T. U. for two years.
JOHN FOSTER
was born in South Carolina in the year 1796. When quite young his parents moved to Tennessee, where he was reared. He emigrated to Indiana in 1816, and first located
4II
BIOGRAPHIES AND SKETCHES.
at or near the present town of Bloomington. He was employed as an assistant to the Government surveyors for several years. Ile removed to Shelby county, near Wolf's Mill. in 1821. In 1824 he was married to Miss Aberilla Tyner. In the year 1829 he came to Hancock county, and settled in Greenfield. He afterward removed to the country, and engaged in farming, which occupation he followed until the time of his death, which occurred April 7. 1867.
Mr. Foster filled many places of honor and trust in the county and State, among which were the following : He was the first Sheriff of the county, being elected in 1828 and 1836. He represented the lower house in the Legis- lature in 1838 and 1851, and was Treasurer of the county in 1854.
The portrait which we present of him on page 255 was cut from a daguerreotype taken while he was a member of the Legislature. He belonged to the Presbyterian Church in this city, and was one of the earliest members thereof.
GEORGE L. KNOX,
the son of a free mulatto woman and a colored Baptist preacher, was born September 16, 1841, and, though legally born free, was held in bondage and treated as a slave until the taking effect of the emancipation proclama- tion, in 1863, when, by quietly leaving between two days. traveling at night and hiding in the bushes and under old houses in the day, he finally reached the land of freedom. arriving at Indianapolis in 1864. At the age of four, young Knox was sold to one of the heirs of his master's estate for $300. Being a portly, promising " darkey," his new master was offered for him, at the age of sixteen, the neat sum of $1,600 in gold, cash down, but, being a kind of favorite in the family, the offer was promptly rejected. He worked on a farm until eighteen years of age, when he went to the town of Statesville, Wilson county, Tennessee. and engaged in shoemaking for two years, after which he entered the Union army for a year as a teamster.
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