USA > Indiana > Hendricks County > History of Hendricks County, Indiana, her people, industries and institutions > Part 23
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Charles F. Benbow was given the best common school education which his home township afforded, attending school in the Dover school district. He spent his summer vacations working on his father's farm, and after finishing his educational training he continued to work with his father until his marriage. About three years after he purchased seventy acres of land. part of which is now included in the present farm where he is living. He has been uniformly successful in all of his transactions and has improved his place in the way of buildings, fencing, drainage, etc., until it presents a very attractive appearance. He has inaugurated a scientific system of crop rotation which keeps the soil of his farm up to the highest point of pro- ductivity.
On December 18, 1894, Mr. Benbow was married to Nora Whicker, the daughter of Allen and Amanda J. (West) Whicker, and to this union there has been born one child, Leland W., who is still under the parental roof. Allen Whicker, the father of Mrs. Benbow, was a native of North Carolina and came to this state when a small lad with his parents. They located in Franklin township, this county, and in that township he received his education. He followed the occupation of a farmer all his life, and to him and his wife were born eleven children: Mary, who became the wife of John Bundy; George, deceased; Sinia, the wife of Louis Beasley; Simon, who married Nora Wright; Dennis married Gertrude Mason; Otto, who married Martha Schneider; Effie, deceased; Perman, deceased; Nora, the wife of Mr. Benbow and two who died in infancy. Mrs. Benbow's grand- parents were Frederick and Elizabeth (Cosmer) Whicker. Mrs. Benbow's . mother died April 1, 1910.
The grandparents of Mr. Benbow were Elam and Lydia ( Harvey) Ben- bow. Elam Benbow was a native of North Carolina and came to Hendricks
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county, Indiana, when a young man and here he married. To this union were born five children: Thirza, Nancy, Sarah, Rhoda and Harvey, the father of Charles F. Benbow. Thirza, deceased, married Woodson Bryant, also deceased; Nancy married Eli Duffey; Sarah married William Hunt, who is mentioned specifically elsewhere in this volume; Rhoda married George Tincher.
Mr. Benbow has been a life-long Republican, but has never felt any in- clination to take an active part in politics, his agricultural interests having required his attention to such an extent that he has left the political game to others. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church, at Amo, and are firm believers in the efficacy of church life in its relation to the good of the community. Mr. Benbow was treasurer of the church for a period of ten years. He is a man who is vitally interested in the educational, moral and civic advancement of his community and takes every opportunity to further every movement looking toward its welfare.
ENOCH HARLAN.
It is a pleasure to investigate the career of a successful, self-made man. Peculiar honor attaches to that individual who, beginning the great struggle of life alone and unaided, gradually overcomes unfavorable environment, removes one by one the obstacles from the pathway of success and by the master strokes of his own force and vitality succeeds in forging his way to the front and winning for himself a competency and a position of esteem and influence among his fellowmen. Such is the record of the popular citi- zen of Clay township to a brief synopsis of whose life and character the following pages are devoted.
Enoch Harlan, a gallant veteran of the Civil War and a prominent farmer in Hendricks county, Indiana, for three score and ten years, was born in this county, October 8, 1838. He is a son of Enoch and Rachel ( Osborne) Harlan, both natives of North Carolina. Enoch Harlan, Sr., spent the most of his life in the latter state, coming to Indiana after his marriage and locating in Franklin township, where he followed the vocation of a farmer. He had always been engaged in this calling with the exception of a short time when he worked in a gold mine in North Carolina. Enoch Har- lan, Sr., and his wife were the parents of eight children: Lydia, who died in 1838; John, who married Polly McAninch, and after her death, Araminta
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McAninch; Stephen, who married Dosia A. Johnson; Malinda, who married Jackson Ally; Mariam, who became the wife of William Holslaw; Eliz- abeth, who married Benjamin Bottorff; Jesse, who married Jemima Rob- inson ; Rachel, who married Madison Wright, and Enoch, the immediate subject of this sketch.
Enoch Harlan, Jr., received all of his education in the subscription schools of his home township, and when a mere lad engaged in the carpenter trade with his brother. He was following that vocation when the Civil War broke out and he immediately forsook the carpenter's bench for the battle- field and first enlisted in Company C of the Fifty-fifth Regiment Indiana Vol- unteer Infantry, in which he served for three months. At the expiration of his first enlistment hé re-enlisted in the One Hundred Seventeenth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry and served for about nine months, and upon the expiration of this enlistment he was enrolled for the third time with Company H, of the Eleventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which com- mand he served until the close of the war. His Civil War record was a remarkable one and yet with his modesty it is difficult to get him to say any- thing about it.
After his return from the Civil War Mr. Harlan was married to Su- sanna E. Phillips, the daughter of Samuel and Rachel Phillips, and to this union were born six children, two of whom died in infancy and one, Alvin, who died at the age of five. The other three are unmarried and are all under the parental roof : Eva, Ella and Albert.
The grandparents of Mr. Harlan reared a large family of twelve chil- . dren: Hiram, who married Sallie Hodson; Enoch, the father of the sub- ject of this sketch; John, who married Rebecca Hill; Nathan, who mar- ried Rachel Jordan; Ahi and William, who died in infancy; Eleazer, who married Rebecca Hodson; Eli; Alice, who became the wife of John Had- . ley; Carter, who married Nancy Tates; Mary and Jesse, who married Elizabeth Borders. Enoch Harlan, Sr., died July 8, 1840, and his wife on; March 14, 1871. The wife of Enoch Harlan, Jr., died November 20, 1903.
Mr. Harlan has been a life-long Republican and has been old enoughı to cast his vote for every Republican president from 1860 until the present time. He has never been a seeker for any political office, being content to devote all of his time and energy to his agricultural interests. He is and has been for many years a member of the Friends church, and has always been actively interested in every movement which was inaugurated by his denomination. He is still hale and hearty despite his years and enjoys life
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as befits a man who has lived a clean and wholesome life for so many years. His life has been so conducted that he has won the unbounded admiration of all of those with whom he has been associated, and because of his genial personality he is a welcome guest in any home in his community.
JOHN JAY CRITTENDEN CLAY.
One of the largest and most influential families in Hendricks county, Indiana, is the Clay family. They have traced their ancestry back to the Highland clans of Scotland, and from thence to Virginia, Kentucky and Indiana. Two of the most conspicuous members of this family were Henry Clay and Cassius M. Clay of Kentucky. Many members of this family are scattered throughout the central and western states of this country, and one of the most prominent branches of the family in the state is found in this county. Wherever they have been found, they are always numbered among the representative citizens of their respective communities.
John Jay Crittenden Clay was born December 17, 1853, in Eel River township, in this county, the son of James H. and Susan ( Fleece ) Clay. his father a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, his birth having occurred there January 20, 1819. James H. Clay was the son of Littleberry and Arabella (McCoun) Clay, and he was married July 29, 1841, to Susan Fleece, his marriage taking place shortly after his father and wife arrived in this county. They came to Indiana about 1840, settling in the southern part of. Eel River township where Littleberry Clay bought a section of land. A few years later he went to Missouri, but James remained in this county. Susan Fleece was born in Boyle county, Kentucky, near Danville, and came here with her parents, Charles Fleece and wife, in the early history of the county. Her parents settled west of North Salem near Eel River where they en- tered government land when that part of the county was a total wilderness. James H. Clay followed the vocation of a farmer for the remainder of his life and was a resident of this place about forty years, and here his death oc- curred. At one time he owned nearly a section of land, but before his death he divided it among his children, nine of whom grew to maturity : Mrs. Arabella Waters; Mrs. Mary Catherine Rose; Samuel C., of Lebanon; Mrs. Sallie Rogers, of Amo; James A., of Indianapolis; John J. C., whose history is here delineated: Nicholas, deceased; Arthur E., of Indianapolis.
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and Joseph F., living about six miles southwest of North Salem ; one daughter, Lillie, died in infancy.
John J. C. Clay grew to manhood on his father's farm and received such education as was afforded by his home schools. When he was about eighteen years of age he learned the carpenter's trade and followed this vocation for the next four years. However, farming offered better op- portunities for financial returns and he decided to engage in agricultural pursuits. Early in his career he turned his attention to the buying, feeding and breeding of live stock, and has been one of the largest shippers in the county. He has gradually added to his landed possessions until he is now the owner of over fifteen hundred acres of land in the northwestern part of Hendricks county and the northeastern part of Putnam county.
Early in life Mr. Clay was married to Mattie J. Walker. In fact, he was only a youth of nineteen when he assumed the responsibilities of mar- ried life. Mrs. Clay was reared in Eel River township, the daughter of David and Mary Walker. Her father came to this state from North Caro- lina. One son was born to the first marriage of Mr. Clay. Charles C., who is now living in North Salem. Mr. Clay's first wife died in 1875, and in 1881 he was married to Mary E. Ballard, the daughter of George and Margaret (Polk) Ballard. Margaret Polk was born in Wayne county, Indiana, on May 9, 1831, and came to Marion county in this state in child- hood with her parents. She was married June 12, 1849, to George Ballard, and her death occurred November 25, 1898. George Ballard was born in Scott county, Indiana, January 14, 1822, and moved to Marion county in 1834, where he lived most of the remainder of his life, following the trade of a carpenter. He lived a part of the time in the city of Indianapolis, but spent his declining years at North Salem, where his death occurred in 1912. He and his wife were both members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. and Mrs. Clay have two children living and one deceased: Edna Coral, born in 1882. is the wife of Taylor Owen, and lives in North Salen1; James Henry, born in 1885, married Ina Sparks, and is a farmer in this township.
Mr. Clay and his wife are both loyal and earnest members of the Chris- tian church, and are zealous in the support of the various organizations of that denomination. He has spent most of his life in North Salem, from which point he ships a large amount of live stock annually. Personally, Mr. Clay is a man of unblemished reputation and the strictest integrity, and his private life has always been above reproach. He is a vigorous, as well
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as an independent thinker and has the courage of his convictions upon all subjects which he investigates. He is essentially cosmopolitian in his ideas. a man of the people and a fine type of the strong American manhood which commands the respect of all classes by reason of genuine worth. Thus he has so impressed his individuality upon the community as to win the con- fidence and esteem of his fellow citizens and become influential in leading them to better things.
W. J. HOADLEY, M. D.
The present age is essentially utilitarian and the life of every successful man carries a lesson which, told in contemporary narrative, is productive of much good in shaping the destiny of others. There is, therefore, a due measure of satisfaction in presenting, even in brief resume, the life and achievements of such men, and in preparing the following history of the scholarly physician whose name appears above it is with the hope that it may prove not only interesting and instructive, but also serve as an incentive to those who contemplate making the medical profession their life work.
Dr. W. J. Hoadley, the oldest physician in Hendricks county, was born March 2, 1831, in Chatham county, North Carolina. His parents, Abram and Sophia (Staley) Hoadley, came to Hendricks county, Indiana, in 1837, where they lived the remainder of their lives. Abram Hoadley was born in Bramford, Connecticut, in 1793, and began the practice of medicine in Chat- ham county, North Carolina, as a young man. His wife was a native of Randolph county, that state. After Dr. Abram Hoadley came to Hendricks county, Indiana, he practiced medicine in this and adjoining counties and was one of the best known men in Hendricks county at the time of his death in 1865. When he and his family came from North Carolina to this state, they made the long trip in a wagon and carriage, and such was the condition of the roads at that time that it took them over six weeks to make the journey. The widow of Dr. Abram Hoadley died in 1898, at the advanced age of ninety-two years. Dr. Abram Hoadley and wife were the parents of twelve children, only three of whom are now living, Abram Hoadley, who lives on the old homestead farm in Washington township, this county; Mrs. Alvira Hornaday, who is the oldest of the family and lives with her children in this county, and Dr. W. J. Hoadley, the immediate subject of this review.
Doctor W. J. Hoadley was only six years of age when his parents made
W. J. HOADLEY, M. D.
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the overland trip from North Carolina to Indiana. He received his primary education in his home township schools and then spent two years in Asbury University. He then took up the study of medicine and, as was the custom in those days, read in the office of his father. Although he did not graduate from the Medical College of Ohio until 1866, he had practiced medicine for nine years before that time at Pittsboro, this county. In 1866, immediately after his graduation, he opened offices in Danville and has practiced there continuously, although he is now practically retired from the active duties of his profession. He is now, and has been for the past eighteen years, secretary of the Hendricks county board of health.
Doctor Hoadley was married on April 11, 1861, to Louisa F. Shirley, the daughter of James and Demirah Shirley, a well known family of Hendricks county, and to his marriage there were born four children: Willis F., who lives in central California; Eva, the wife of Nathan J. Thompson, of this county; Harry H., who also is a resident of California; Anna May, deceased, who was the wife of Benjamin Lingenfelter. Doctor Hoadley's wife has been dead for about twenty years.
For more than eighteen years after the Civil War, Doctor Hoadley was pension examiner and was known for his absolute honesty in the conduct of this office. He bore an unblemished reputation for honesty and high in- tegrity. While active in the practice he was wholly devoted to his profession and no man stands higher in the community than the venerable Doctor Hoad- ley. He is the oldest physician in the county, both as to years and as to length of service. His health is excellent for a man of his age and his physical and mental powers are intact after a busy life of over eighty-three years. He has a hopeful disposition and is of an optimistic nature and has always made it a practice to look for the silver lining on every cloud which has swept across his horizon. He is a stanch member of the Christian church and has been one of its elders for more than twenty-five years. For many years he was a Mason, but now has a demit from the local lodge at Danville.
Doctor Hoadley's father came of English ancestry, while his mother was of German descent. The Hoadleys trace their lineage back to the year 1600, when there was a man by the name of Hoadle, who reared four sons, who married and in turn reared large families of their own. Doctor Hoad- ley is the sixth generation from this Hoadle of 1600. There are now about eighteen hundred Hoadleys in the United States alone.
Doctor Hoadley is a remarkably strong and active man for one who has lived fourscore and three years, with a self-governed body and a mind ot
(17)
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sterling quality. With a generous nature, he has been in the forefront among the good men of this county, leading the wonderful development that has marked Hendricks county the past seven decades. Few men here have done longer or equal service in the progress of this community.
LINCOLN A. MASTEN.
There is no calling, however humble, in which enterprise and industry, coupled with a well directed purpose, will not be productive of some measure of success, and in the pursuit of agriculture the qualities mentioned are quite essential. Among the well known and highly respected farmers of Hendricks county who have attained to a definite degree of success in their line and who at the same time have greatly benefited the community in which they have lived, is the gentleman to a review of whose career we now direct the reader's attention.
Lincoln A. Masten, the proprietor of a one-hundred-ten-acre farm in Clay township, Hendricks county, was born in this county, September 21, 1860, the son of William and Delphinia (Johnson) Masten. His father was a native of North Carolina, his birth having occurred there in 1832, while his mother was a native of Indiana, having been born here in 1833. When a small child, William Masten was brought from North Carolina to Indi- ana by his parents, and his father entered land from the government, south of Amo, Franklin township, and here William Masten spent his boyhood and was married. After his marriage his father gave him a small farm to start with, and being a farmer of more than ordinary ability he gradually added to his possessions. However, he did not always reside in this county. For some years he lived in Morgan county, Indiana, and for three years he farmed in the state of Kansas, but the love for his home state drew him back and he died in Greencastle, where he spent the last twenty-six years of his life, dying March 13, 1910.
William Masten was married three times, first to Janie Jackson, to which union were born three children, namely: Ursula Ann, who became the wife of Simon Allen, and they have three sons; Ellwood, who is married and is the father of a son and a daughter; Nathan, deceased, married Dora Cook, of Indianapolis, and they had a son, Otis. For his second wife William Masten married Delphinia Johnson, and to them were born four children, namely : Charles, who married Ida Ingold; Fred, who died in 1907; Rosella,
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who married Lewis Phillips, and Lincoln, the immediate subject of this sketch. Mr. Masten's third wife was Elizabeth Wells, of Greencastle, Indi- ana, who died on February 3, 1914, there being no issue to this union. The subject's mother had the following brothers and sisters: Snyder, who mar- ried Patsy Shoemaker; Euphemia Curtis; Sarah Shields; Maria Wilhite ; Wesley was married twice, first to Mary Garrison and second to Sallie Bryant ; Belinda McClelland, and Jesse, who married a Miss Seaton.
Lincoln Masten attended school in Morgan county, and when his par- ents went to Kansas he spent three years in the public schools of that state, and upon their return to Hendricks county he finished his education in the district schools of this county, after which he worked on the farm with his father until his marriage, when he purchased forty acres of land and start- ed farming for himself. Being a man of good sound judgment and a farm- er of up-to-date methods, he has been uniformly successful in all his tran- sactions and to-day is the owner of one hundred ten acres of fine farming land in Clay township. He has his farm well improved and has a fine home and good barns and other outbuildings which add not a little to the value and attractiveness of his home.
Lincoln A. Masten was married to Rosa Sanders, the daughter of Oliver S. and Saluda (Shirley) Sanders, and to this union there have been born three children; Clarence H., Blanche G. and Sanders W. Clarence married Mary Derr, daughter of John Derr; Blanche married Thomas Wol- from, and has one sor .. Maynard. The paternal grandparents of Mr. Mas- ten reared a family of ten children, Eli, Nathan, Hanna, Mathias, Cyrus, William, Manuel, John, Reuben and David. Mrs. Masten was one of two children born to Oliver and Saluda Sanders, her sister being Minnie. Minnie married Louis Wilcox, of Los Angeles. The maternal grandparents were Aaron and Abigail Sanders and they had a family of ten children, Abra- ham. William, Jesse, Oliver, Ebenezer, Mary Ann, Lucinda, Emmeline, Martha and Jane. Mrs. Masten's mother's parents were Richard and Jeru- sha Shirley, and to them were born eleven children, Absalom, Minerva. Jennie, William, Mary Ann, Ruth, Saluda, Winerd, Stillwell, John and Benton. Absalom died at the age of twenty-two; Minerva married Joseph Scott; Jennie married James Chenoweth; William died at the age of nine- teen ; Mary Ann married Samuel Brazell; Ruth died at the age of twenty-four ; Saluda is the mother of Mrs. Masten; Winerd died in infancy; Stillwell married Jennie Logan; John; Benton died in infancy.
Mr. Masten has been a life-long Republican and has been very much
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interested in politics, taking an active part in local elections. However, he· is not a strict partisan, but reserves the right to vote for the best men in local affairs, regardless of political affiliations. He and the members of his family are adherents of the Methodist Episcopal church of Amo. Mr. Mas- ten has been interested in all the civic and moral movements of the com- munity and casts his influence in the scale in favor of all worthy causes.
QUINCY ADAMS DAVIS.
Among the earliest settlers of Hendricks county, the Davis family oc- cupy a prominent and conspicuous part. From 1835 down to the present time they have been important factors in the material and civic advancement of the county. The Davis family, of Hendricks county, trace their an- cestors back to one Josiah Davis, who, according to the records, was born about the year 1665 in Wales. The family history has recorded only one son of Josiah Davis, who crossed the Atlantic ocean about the year 177[. stopping first in Pennsylvania, thence, after a residence there of some years, he moved to Virginia and later settled near Mount Sterling, the county seat of Montgomery county, Kentucky. He was married four times and was the father of twelve children in all, six sons and six daughters. Two of these sons, Enoch and Nathan, with their families, were among the early set- tlers of Eel River township, in this county, and from these two sons was sprung a numerous progeny, whose descendants are now residents of Ten- nessee, Texas, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, California, Washington, Oregon and probably other states.
Nathan Davis, who has been mentioned, was born in Kentucky some- time during the latter part of the eighteenth century, and married Nancy Kidd, a native of that state After several children were born in Kentucky, Nathan, with his family, and his brother Enoch and his family, came to Hendricks county and settled in Eel River township. Nathan settled east of North Salem, bought part of his land from the government, and became the owner of more land from time to time until at his death he owned about five hundred acres of land. Nathan Davis and wife were the parents of nine children : John ; Walter, the father of Quincy A., whose history is herein presented ; Quincy, William, Frank, Marion, Mrs. Louisa Hunt, Mrs. John Fleece, Mrs. Catherine Tucker and Mrs. Susan Ann Riner.
Walter Davis, the father of Quincy A., was born December 12, 1822,
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near Mount Sterling, in Montgomery county. Kentucky, and was twelve years of age when his parents came to Hendricks county. Here he grew to manhood and here he married Mary Margaret Speers, who was born near Danville, Kentucky, and came here about 1835 with her parents, John and Martha (Mitchell) Speers. . They settled about one and a half miles north- east of North Salem, where John Speers bought land and became a large owner in several townships in Hendricks and Boone counties. Ile bought lowland at a time when others were choosing the highlands, believing the lowland would eventually become the most profitable. To Walter Davis by his first wife were born eight children : John, Quincy A., Lafayette, Robert, Charles (the last two being deceased), Martha E., Nancy A. and Frances A. The first wife of Walter Davis died June 16, 1861, and he then married Mary A. Scott, of Montgomery county, Kentucky. To this second marriage were born six children: Walter; Lorenzo; Thomas Clarence; Edgar L .; Betty L., who died at the age of five, and Mrs. Myrtle D. Hendricks, the wife of Edgar Hendricks, of Jamestown, Boone county. The second wife of Wal- ter Davis died in the summer of 1873 and two years later he married Mrs. Matilda (Free) South, of Danville. Walter Davis died January II, 1893. in his seventieth year, a man highly respected and honored by everyone be- cause of his upright and unostentatious life. He was a member of the Metho- dist church from his childhood and so conductd his life that he was beloved by everyone who knew him.
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