USA > Indiana > Hancock County > History of Hancock county, Indiana; its people, industries and institutions > Part 96
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JOHN F. WIGGINS.
John F. Wiggins was born four miles northeast of Greenfield, Indiana. March 6, 1860. He was the son of John F. and Martha (Clayton) Wiggins : the father was born in Rush county, Indiana, in I840; the mother was born . in 1846 at the Clayton home, one-half mile cast of Greenfield. Indiana.
The paternal grandparents, Garret and Harriet (Toadvine ) Wiggins, were both natives of Kentucky, and lived on a farm. Coming to Indiana they lived for a short time in Rush county, and, in 1842, located on an eighty-acre farm in Hancock county, where they spent the remainder of their days. It was in the home on this farm that John F. Wiggins was born. Philip, the eldest son in this family, remained in Kentucky and was a soldier in the Con- federate army during the Civil War. The other sons were: Joseph. Loss. George and John F., the father of the subject of this sketch. Loss. George and John F. served in the Union army during the Civil War-George was never heard from after the war.
The grandparents on the maternal side were Joseph and Ruth ( Roberts) Clayton ; he was born in Pennsylvania and she in Virginia. Joseph Clayton went to Virginia when a boy of seven years and lived there until his majority. and there was married. In 1845 he came with his wife to Hancock county. Indiana, and located on a small farm one-half mile east of Greenfield, known as the Clayton homestead. There he died about 1870: his wife died on July 17. 1907, lacking but a few days of being one hundred years old. She was born in Washington county, Virginia, August 31, 1807. James Clayton, a son, served in the Union army during the Civil War.
John F. Wiggins, father of the subject of this sketch, was educated in the common schools and supplemented this elementary education by much reading in later years. Hle enlisted on August 25. 1861. in Company B. Eighth Regiment. Indiana Volunteer Infantry, a three-months regiment, and
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served until expiration of term : then re-enlisted in the Eighteenth Regiment. Volunteer Infantry, for a term of three years and served until the close of the war. After his discharge from the army he returned to Indiana and has since been engaged in farming, now living in Madison county, where he owns a farm of forty acres. He had ten children, eight of whom are still living : his wife is dead. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
John F. Wiggins, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the common schools, and afterward engaged in teaching school in Blue River town- ship. He attended the Normal school at Marion, and also the Indiana State Normal School at Terre Haute. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1896 and served until 1900, then returned to school teaching for several years. In 1908 he located in Fortville and engaged in the practice of law and has followed this vocation since. In his preparatory law studies he had for his preceptors Marsh & Cook and Jackson & Felt.
In 1894. John F. Wiggins was married to Maude Houk, of Fortville. and has two children, Bessie and Iona. He is a member of the Sons of Vet- erans order. the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, and has been a member of the Odd Fellows at Fortville since 1893.
RALPH G. LOGAN.
Ralph G. Logan was born in Morristown, Indiana, June 21. 1880, the son of John Q. and Mary Antionette (Gates) Logan. John Q. Logan was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 21. 1853. John Q. Logan's parents were born in County Down, Ireland, and emigrated to America, where the father enlisted in the Civil War and was killed in that struggle and his widow died soon afterward. They were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Carrie Pigman, who is living at Connersville, Indiana; William, John Q., who was the father of the subject of this sketch. and Jean. all dead except the first named. Both parents died when these children were very small and the chil- dren were taken to raise by different families in Fayette county.
John Q. Logan. the father of the subject of this sketch, was taken to raise by a farmer in Fayette county. He was bound to this farmer for a certain period of service, but began life for himself immediately at the ex- piration of this period, although he was but a mere lad. For a few years he followed various occupations, among which was the laundry business. He finally took up railroad work and learned telegraphy, which occupation he
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followed for the remainder of his life. For many years he was with the Cin- cinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway Company, and in 1882 he went to Col- orado and became associated with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Com- pany. In 1908 he went with the U'nintah Railway Company, in whose service he remained until shortly before his death. the loss of his sight compelling him to retire from active service.
John Q. Logan's death occurred on February 14, 1915. His first mar- riage was to Mary Antoinette Gates. This marriage took place on August 17. 1879. Mary Antoinette Gates was the daughter of Henry A. and Nancy ( Ball) Gates. Henry A. Gates was a native of Chillicothe, Ohio. He and his wife were both pioneers of Hancock county. Nancy ( Ball) Gates died on November 14. 1881. To this union only one child. Ralph G. Logan, who is the subject of this sketch, was born. In July, 1886, John Q. Logan was married to Sarah M. Hanna, of Gunnison, Colorado, who was at that time superintendent of schools of that county. To this union one child was born. but this child died in infancy. John Q. Logan was a life-long member of Phoenix Lodge. Free and Accepted Masons, of Rushville, Indiana, and was for many years a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Ralph G. Logan, whose mother died when he was in infancy, was taken to raise by his mother's father and step-mother. Mrs. Mary Ann ( Lewis ) Gates. He remained with them until his maturity. As a boy he attended the common schools of Sugar Creek township, until about his twelfth year. He then entered the grammar grade of the Greenfield schools and from there he entered the high school of Greenfield and after spending three years there he went to the University of Wisconsin and entered the agricultural department of that great university, from which he was graduated with the class of 1904. For the next few months he was attached to the faculty staff of the Agricul- tural College.
Mr. Logan then bought a tract of timber land in central Wisconsin, but was compelled to sell this land two years later on account of sickness. IIe then returned to Hancock county. Indiana, where he rented the old Higgin- bothan farm. The following year, in 1908, he rented the farm of Mrs. Col- umbus Jackson, and the next year. in 1909, he bought eighty acres of this farm, on which he lived until in 19ft, and then on account of his health he was again compelled to leave the farm and he engaged for some time in the railway mail service and traveled in lowa. In the fall of 1912 he returned " Hancock county and rented the farm of C. M. Jackson and in 1914 he returned to his home farm, where he has since resided.
Ralph G. Logan was married on April 18, 1906, to Carrie L. Jackson.
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who was born on January 31, 1882, and who is the daughter of Columbus and Mary ( Arnokl) Jackson. To this union were born the following chil- dren : Henry Virgil, who was born on March 6. 1907: John Jackson. . Au- gust 13, 1909. and Bard Arnold, AApril 4. 1912.
Mr. Logan's farm of eighty acres is situated two miles southeast of New Palestine. There is a fine five-room dwelling on this and other buildings in keeping with the surroundings. Mr. Logan is a progressive farmer. He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons at New Palestine. He was for two years secretary of this lodge. He is an independent Republican in politics. He is a man of admirable character and broad ideals and is highly respected by all who know him.
FRANK O. WELLING.
Frank O. Welling was born in Buck Creek township, Hancock county. Indiana, on August 18. 1857, youngest child of the family of nine children of Hamilton and Rachael (Corbin) Welling.
Hamilton Welling will be well remembered by many of the older residents of this county as a man of high ideals and sterling character, divid- ing his energies between preaching the Gospel as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, managing his farm, crying sales and doctoring horses. Few men live more active lives than he. Hamilton Welling was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, of Scotch-Irish parentage. February 18. 1816, and died at the home of his son, Frank, on March 18. 1913, at the age of ninety- seven years and one month. He passed the years of his youth and young manhood in Ohio, receiving such education as his day and community afforded and being early trained in farm work. He was united in marriage with Rachael Corbin, also born and reared in the same county. being of Pennsyl- vania-Dutch stock, and to their union were born nine children, eight of whom were born in Ohio. namely: Rebecca. William, Anna, Dorcas. John, Hannah, Sarah, Mary and Frank O., all deceased with the exception of Dorcas, Sarah, Mary and Frank.
In the early fifties the Welling family came to Hancock county, making the trip overland in a covered wagon. Arriving in Buck Creek township Hamilton Welling bought eighty acres in section 26, being the east half of the northeast quarter. This land was purchased from James Harvey and was entered from the government by a previous owner. The place, which is lo- cated near Buck creek, was covered with heavy timber, there being but three
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acres cleared and only a one-room log cabin and a stable on it. This cabin was most inadequate to the needs of so large a family and it is laughingly related that when night came, all the furniture would have to be moved out of doors while the beds were laid on the floor for the family, and in the morning the furniture would be moved back again, after removing the snow or rain which had fallen during the night. After enduring many inconven- iences and hardships. Hamilton Welling finally succeeded in clearing most all of the one hundred and forty-two acres which he owned and put it under the plow. Also a few years after settling here he built a hewed log house, six- teen by eighteen feet, which is a part of the present residence on the farm. This house was rebuilt about 1800. converting it into a six-room house, which is still in an excellent state of preservation. After Hamilton Welling's sons became old enough to assume partial charge of the work of the farm, he then devoted most of his energies along the lines above mentioned. He was very active in church circles, erecting two churches at different points and con- tinned preaching as long as health permitted.
In 1869, when Frank O. Welling was a little past eleven years of age. his mother died in June of that year. She was a strong and beautiful char- acter, a loving wife and mother, and after her death her daughter, Hannah. bravely assumed the duties of housekeeper and looked after the small brother. In that fashion they continued until April 8, 1885, when Frank was married and his sister Hannah passed from life on December 24 following. In this manner, Hamilton Welling came to pass his closing years with his son, Frank, having shortly after Frank's marriage presented him with the title to forty acres of the home farm as an inducement to him and his wife to remain there and keep a home for him.
Frank O. Welling attended school at Welling's Corners, being located on his father's farm, his first school being a summer term, presided over by his sister. Anna, his first winter teacher being Eh Graham. After school days were over, he took up his work on the old homestead, where he has spent his entire life with the exception of one month. When twenty-one years of age he rented the place from his father, which arrangement continued for some time. In addition to the forty acres of the old farm which he owns. Mr. Welling also owns forty acres about two miles north of Mt. Comfort. being a portion of the old Daniel Stoner place, and he also rents twenty-two acres of the okdl home from other heirs.
Mrs. Frank O. Welling before her marriage was Frances Olive Stoner. born in Buck Creek township. July 29. 1864, a daughter of Daniel and Mar- tha (Hatfield ) Stoner. The Stoners were also early pioneers of this section
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and were the parents of ten children, Frances being one of the younger mem- bers of the family. To Mr. and Mrs. Welling have been born six children, as follow : Vinton M., who married Mande Rasener and resides in Buck Creek township, has one child, Wilbur; Vernie is the wife of Anton Ploenges and resides in Warren township, Marion county: Earl married Frieda Kentworth and lives in Buck Creek township: Effie May, Martha and Isabelle are at home with the parents. Both Mr. Welling and his wife are devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Mt. Comfort. of which he also is a trustee. He is a Republican in politics, although never aspiring to office, and is generally conceded to be one of Buck Creek's most highly respected citizens.
HENRY MERLAU.
Henry Merlau, one of the prominent and successful farmers of Hancock county, Indiana, was born in Arnshein Hesse, Darmstadt, Germany, on May 18, 1835, the son of Henry Adam and Anna Katherine ( Stump) Merlan. The parents came to America in an early day and after a long voyage in a sailing vessel they landed in Baltimore from which place they traveled by railroad and canal boat to Pittsburgh and then down the Ohio to Cincinnati. From Cincinnati they came to New Palestine by wagon, which required two weeks to make the journey. The family landed at their new home on Sep- tember 15. 1846. It was here that a new home was made and the children grew to manhood and womanhood. They had the following children : John. Conrad. Elizabeth, George, Catherine, Anna M., Henry and Mary.
Lueindia Katherine, the daughter of Henry Merlau and wife, is the wife of George W. Hickman, of Marion county. They have an adopted daughter. Blanche. Henry Merlau was united in marriage to Malinda, the daughter of William and Lucinda ( Shockley) Leachman, the former of whom came from Ohio with his two elder brothers and was an early pioneer of the county. He and his brothers. George and Thomas, entered land on the banks of Sugar Creek in 1824. The country at that time was a dense woods and after remain- ing here for a time they sold their tracts and entered more land southwest of New Palestine. William Leachman walked to Indianapolis and with one hundred dollars entered the farm just west of the home place, and it was here that Malinda Merlan was born, in sight of their present residence. The mother died here when Mrs. Merlan was but two years of age. Many times she would accompany her father to the woods where she would watch him
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Henry Merlan, Malinda Meelau
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while at work cutting down the big trees. For a time her father worked for her uncle, Jacob Murnan, whose wife did much of her trading with the Indians. It was at the death of their twin babies that the present Crown Point ceme- tery was first dedicated. The grave for the children was dug by William Leachman and was the first in the cemetery, at that time called the Murnan burying ground. Henry Merlan is at present one of the directors of the ground. It is here that many of the family are buried.
Mr. Merlan is the owner of one of the most valuable farms in this section of the county. Here he has one hundred and sixty-six acres of well improved and highly cultivated land. The house is a large and splendid structure and the barn is seventy by forty-two feet. On his other farm, west of the home place, he also has a barn fifty-four by forty-two feet.
Mr. and Mrs. Merlau have seen many transformations in the county. In the early day there were many wild animals in the dense woods that extended in all directions from their homes. Mrs. Merlau recalls seeing bears while in the woods with her father. Game was plentiful and the hunter was greatly rewarded for his efforts. The conveniences of the present day were, of course, unheard of, or even dreamed about. An okl clock in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Merlau is evidence of the good workmanship of those days, it is a twenty-four-hour clock with wooden works throughout and which is still in good repair and keeps good time.
EDWIN C. HUNTINGTON.
Edwin C. Huntington, a prominent and successful farmer and banker of Cumberland, Indiana, is a representative of one of the eminent families of the United States. Mr. Huntington is a native of Marion county, having been Forn on February 6, 1960, and is the son of Spencer W. and Sarah ( Taffe ) Huntington.
Spencer W. Huntington was a native of the state of New York, where he was born on September 1, 1812, and died at his home in Warren township. Marion county, Indiana, on January 6, 1805. He was the son of Chandler Huntington, who was a native of the state of New York and was of English descent. The family was a prominent one during the Revolutionary times and later in the early history of the state of New York.
The Articles of Confederation went into effect on March 1. 1781, and continued in operation until Washington was inaugurated President on April (63)
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30. 1789. Although the Constitution of 1787 provided that Washington should be inaugurated on March 4, 1789. it was not until the last day of April that he reached New York to take the oath of office. During the eight- year period. from 1781 to 1789. the colonies were governed by a unicameral congress, each state having from two to seven representatives. This congress had the power, each year, to select one of its members as its presiding officer and to select the judges who composed the supreme court. The first presiding officer thus selected was Samuel Huntington. a brother of the grandfather of Chandler Huntington. Thus he in a sense became the first head of the United States, that is; in so far as being the presiding officer of the first Congress provided by the Articles of Confederation.
Chandler Huntington was born and reared in New York state and was a farmer and carpenter. There he was married and there four of his children were born. after which he and his family decided to locate in Indiana. They traveled to Pittsburgh on the Alleghany river and thence down the Ohio to Cincinnati and from there they entered southeastern Indiana for a short dis- tance on one of the small streams. There they remained in the houseboat all winter, having landed the boat on the farm of General Harrison. . In the spring they exchanged the boat for three hundred pounds of bacon and thus supplied they proceeded on their journey to Shelby county, where they located on an eighty-acre tract of timber land, just south of Freeport. The farm is now known as the Hughes farm. After locating the tract, Mr. Huntington walked to Brookville, a distance of fifty miles. in order to enter the land from the government.
It was fortunate that a part of the land had been burned over, as this made a clearing where they could erect their house and stable. Mr. Hunt- ington at once began the task of clearing and cleaning some of the ground so that he might plant his first crop. This done he continued the task of learing more land and in time added another eighty acres to his farm. He !ater built the first grist-mill at Freeport. which was run by water power and is still in running order. Mr. Huntington spent the remaining days of his life on the old homestead.
Spencer W. Huntington came with his parents to their new home in Indiana when but seven years of age. Here he spent his boyhood and re- ceived his education. When twenty years of age he moved to Marion county with his brother. Nelson, and engaged in the saw-mill business on Buck Creek. just below Cumberland. He continued in the business for some years and at the same time bought live stock which he drove to Cincinnati and sold. When twenty-nine years of age, Spencer W. Huntington was united in mar-
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riage to Theresa Ann Buchanan, the daughter of Thomas Buchanan and wife. of Marion county. To this union were born seven children, on three of whom lived to maturity, Marion, Milton and George. Mrs. Huntington died in 1858.
In 1859 Spencer W. Huntington was married to Sarah Taffe, who was born in 1822 and was the daughter of George and Catherine ( Herod ) Tatie. of Clark county, Indiana. George A. Taffe was a native of Kentucky and came to Indiana in an early day, where he was a pioneer in both Marion and Clark counties. In Marion county he entered land where Brookside Park. Indianapolis, is now situated. To this union four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Huntington: Edwin C., John T., Laura and Maud H. John T. is a resident of Indianapolis; Laura is the wife of Frank Askern, of Warren township, and Maude H. is the wife of Eugene Darrach and resides in Indian- apolis.
After his first marriage. Spencer W. Huntington engaged in farming on sixty acres just west of Cumberland, and which place he bought a few years later and after the railroad was built. There he lived the remainder of his life. He was most successful in farming and during the Civil War made considerable money from the sale of hogs, cattle and hay. Before his death he was the possessor of some eight hundred acres of land in Marion and Han- cock counties. He was a man of high ideals and strict integrity. believing in the teachings of the Universalist doctrine, although he did not belong to the church. He died on January 5. 1895. his wife having died in February, 1894.
Edwin C. Huntington spent his early life on the farm of his father and attended the district school. After finishing the common school course he attended the State Normal College at Bloomington, Illinois, one year, then after nearly two years at Butler College he completed a course at the Bryant & Stratton Business College at Indianapolis. He returned to his home after completing his school work and took charge of the home farm.
On January 6, 1885, Edwin C. Huntington was united in marriage 10 Carry May Furgason, who was born in Sugar Creek township on February 22. 1862. She is the daughter of Thomas C. and Margaret ( Pickle ) Fur- gason, both of whom were old settlers in the county.
One year after his marriage Mr. Huntington and his wife moved to the north part of the township, where he rented one hundred and sixty acres of his father. A few years later Mr. Huntington bought the east eighty and at the same time his father presented him with the other eighty. This has been his home since that time. He later purchased more land and received some of the old home place, making him some two hundred and thirty-five acres.
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The farm is under a high state of cultivation and well improved, with a beautiful ten-room house, a large barn and other substantial buildings. Here Mr. Huntington engages in general farming and stock raising. le raises about one hundred head of hogs and seventy-five head of cattle each year. He also keeps eight or ten head of horses.
To Mr. and Mrs. Huntington have been born the following children : Anna E., Sallie, Irene, Edwin, Paul and Carrie May. Anna E. is the wife of Russell Bartlow, of Warren township, Marion county. They are the parents of one child : Irene. Edwin died in infancy : Irene is the wife of John Hill, of Sandborn, Indiana : Paul, Sallie and Carrie May are at home.
Mr. Huntington was one of the incorporators of the Cumberland Bank. in 1908, and was elected the first president, which position he filled until 1912, when he was elected assistant cashier. He is still a member of the official board. Fraternally, Mr. Huntington is a Mason and a Knight of Pythias, belonging to the former order at New Palestine and the latter at Greenfield. He is a Republican in pohtics, but does not aspire to office.
CHRISTIAN F. H. DEERBERG.
Christian F. H. Deerberg, residing near Mt. Comfort, in Buck Creek township. Hancock county, Indiana, is a native of that same county, born on March 25, 1872, a son of Henry H. and Louise C. E. ( Hartman) Deerberg. both of whom were born in Germany. Henry H. Deerberg was born on May 2. 1845, and died at his home in Buck Creek township. May 7, 1914, at the age of sixty-nine years. Louise Hartman was born on September 23. 1839. a daughter of Christian Hartman and wife, both of whom were also born in Germany and later were residents of Indianapolis. They had four children. of whom Louise was the eklest.
Henry H. Deerberg came to America in 1866 when a young man and located first in Indianapolis and for four or five years worked among the farmers of Marion county. He was married in 1870 and immediately there- after came to Hancock county, where he bought eighty acres of the east half of the southwest quarter of section 36, of Buck Creek township. This was almost entirely covered with timber, having but a small log cabin and barn. and through years of tireless energy he managed to get the land cleared and drained. He purchased other tracts from time to time until he owned two hundred and sixty-six acres, part in Sugar Creek township, but the most in Buck Creek township. Henry El. Deerberg was a successful farmer in every
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