USA > Indiana > Hendricks County > History of Hendricks County, Indiana, her people, industries and institutions > Part 24
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Quincy A. Davis grew up on his father's farm and after completing his common school education in the district schools he attended Northwes- tern Christian University, now Butler College, at Indianapolis, for eight terms, between the years of 1867 and 1870. In early manhood he clerked in a gas fitting and plumbing establishment in Indianapolis for three years and a half and also taught school for eight terms, which included one year at North Salem, near his home. In 1876 he moved to the farm east of North Salem where he has since resided. He is a man of excellent judicial ability and has the entire confidence of the community. He has served as administrator of a large number of estates, a fact which testifies to the con- fidence which the people of his community have in him. For thirty years he has been a farmer and has kept pace with modern movements in agri- culture, so that his farm today presents a very attractive appearance.
Mr. Davis was married February 8, 1872, to Betty (Linn) Scott, who was born near Mount Sterling, Kentucky, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Scott. Her parents came to this county early in its history and
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lived here to a good old age. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have three children living and one deceased : Sylvan B. died at the age of three; Alden has taken the civil service examination for railway mail clerk, having passed one exami- nation, another to be taken; he married Nora Higgins and has two children; Charles is in the blacksmith business at North Salem and Mary, who is still at home with her parents and who teaches music, having three large classes.
Mr. and Mrs. Davis belong to the Church of Christ at North Salem, and have lived true Christian lives through all of their career. Mr. Davis is a kind and courteous person, a worthy follower of Him who has been called the "world's first gentleman."
SILAS M. PEARSON.
The farmer is the bulwark of the nation and investigation has shown that a majority of our best business men, of our best lawyers, of our best men of every vocation of life, have been raised on the farm. George Wash- ington was a farmer and was proud of the fact; Abraham Lincoln was reared on a farm in the southern part of our own state. Probably the most popu- lar Democratic governor this state ever had was "Blue Jeans" Williams, who prided himself on being nothing but a farmer. The Republican party never had a better governor than that plain, unostentatious farmer, James A. Mount. Verily, the farmer is the bulwark of the nation, the salt of the earth. To be a farmer today is to be a king among men.
Silas M. Pearson, the son of Henry and Anne (Spears) Pearson, was born in 1840, in Miami county, near Troy, Ohio. Henry Pearson was born in South Carolina in 1799 and came to Ohio with his parents when he was about twelve years of age or younger. In 1858 he came to Hendricks county, Indiana, where he lived the life of a farmer and where his death occurred in 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearson were the parents of ten children : Rebecca, deceased; Sidney, deceased; Eunice, deceased; William, deceased at the age of two years; Robert, deceased; Hiram, deceased; Silas M .; John, deceased; Henry, of Grant county, and one child who died in infancy.
Silas M. Pearson received his education in Ohio, but has supplemented the meager education which he received in the public schools with con-
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tinuous reading all his life. He was married to Melissa J. Little, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Green) Little. Samuel Little was a native of Washington county, Indiana, and came to Hendricks county with his father, Alexander Little, when he was a small boy. Alexander Little was in the Legislature in 1822 when the present capital of the state received its name. He served in the first, second, eleventh, twelfth and fourteenth sessions of the Legislature. Alexander Little died in 1903 and his wife in 1883. To Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Little were born nine children: Mrs. Sarah Craw- ford; Elizabeth; Joseph, deceased; Alexander, deceased; Mary Ann, de- ceased; Robert; one who died in infancy; Melissa and Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. Pearson are the parents of seven children, five of whom are living: Edward; John, deceased; Mrs. Laura Esarey, whose husband is a member of the history department of Indiana University; Mrs. Cora Gard; Ada. deceased at four years ; Mrs. Pearl Lamy and Harry.
When the Civil War broke out, in the spring of 1861, Mr. Pearson, then a young man of twenty-one years, was seized with the same patriotic fervor which caused two hundred thousand of Indiana's native sons to go to the front, and as soon as an opportunity offered itself he enlisted for the service. He was mustered in during August, 1861, in Company I, of the Eleventh Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry. His company was at- tached to the Army of the Cumberland, and was in the field three years and three months. He saw hard service in the battle of Fort Donelson and many other battles. At the battle of Shiloh Mr. Pearson had the good fortune to escape unharmed, although the men on both sides of him were shot. He was not so lucky in the battle of Champion's Hill, for on this bloody battle- field, on May 16, 1863, he was twice wounded and then taken prisoner. He lay on the battle field of Champion's Hill for twenty-four days and for eight days was without food of any kind. He remained a prisoner until the 30th of September, 1863. when he was paroled and then transferred to Company Ninety-one of the Veteran Reserve Corps, and assigned to the quartermaster's office, at Madison, Indiana, where he remained until the end of his enlistment, being mustered out at Indianapolis in 1864. Imme- diately after being mustered out Mr. Pearson returned to his home county and settled down on the homestead farm south of Danville, where he remained until his marriage, two years later. He lived on various farms in the immediate neighborhood and then moved to Danville, where he re- mained for five years. In 1898 he moved to his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres, where he is still active and able to manage his farm in a
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very efficient manner. He raises all the crops common to this section of the country and in addition gives considerable attention to the breeding of live- stock. As a farmer he has been very successful, because he has kept pace with modern methods of agriculture.
Mr. Pearson has been a member of the Free and Accepted Masons for fifty years, having been initiated at Madison in this state, during the last years of the war. In politics, he has been a Republican since reaching his majority, but in 1912 allied himself with the Progressive party, feeling that the old-line Republicans were not conducting the affairs of the nation as they should. He keeps well informed on all the current questions of the day and is able to discuss intelligently the political issues which are before the people. Although he has always been very much interested in politics, he has never held any public offices, being content to devote all of his energies to the man- agement of his agricultural interests. He and the members of his family are adherents of the Presbyterian church of Danville and contribute of their means to its support. Mr. Pearson is a keen, alert and progressive farmer in every sense of the word. He has always been a great reader and this has made him an entertaining conversationalist. He is a quiet man, who attends strictly to his own affairs, a man of strict integrity and high ideals, who has never failed to ally himself with all enterprises which have for their object the improvement and betterment of the conditions in the community in which he lives.
JULIAN D. HOGATE.
It is universally conceded that there are three factors which are more potent than all others in the advancement of civilization, the pulpit, the plat- form and the press. Of these three the press reaches places and conditions which the other two are never able to touch. Public opinion as voiced by the newspapers has as much influence in molding legislation, advancing reforms and eliminating corrupt politics as all other agencies put together. A good newspaper, one which stands for the best interests of the community, is a blessing and the good that it can do is incalculable. It is the paper of the town which often is the only means of driving graft out of city affairs and placing the government of the city in the hands of the best class of citizens. The editor of a good newspaper touches the daily life of the community on every side and the editor who does his work honestly, fearlessly and conscien-
JULIAN D. HOGATE
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tiously deserves the praise of the community in which he lives. Such a man is the subject of this brief review.
Julian D. Hogate, the editor and proprietor of the Hendricks County Republican, was born in Danville, Indiana, October 14, 1868. His parents were Charles F. and Sarah E. (DePew) Hogate, his father being a native of Salem county, New Jersey, where his birth occurred June 7, 1838. He came to Indiana when he was nineteen years of age and settled in Danville, where he was employed as a clerk until the opening of the Civil War, when he enlisted first in the Seventh Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry for the three-months service and later, upon the expiration of his enlistment, he re- enlisted in the One Hundred Seventeenth Regiment Indiana Volunteer In- fantry as second lieutenant of Company B. He served to the end of the war with honor, participating in some of the fiercest battles of that great struggle. He was a man of marked ability and popularity and in 1864 was elected on the Republican ticket to the Legislature from Hendricks county. He was one of the organizers of the Meridian National Bank, of Indianapolis, of which he was cashier until 1869, when he was appointed internal revenue collector for the sixth district of Indiana. He held this position until his death, which occurred March 16, 1874. Charles F. Hogate was twice mar- ried, his first wife being Julia A. DePew and his second wife Sarah E. De- Pew, both being daughters of Jeremiah and Ann J. DePew. To the second union were born two children, Clair, deceased, and Julian D., the immediate subject of this sketch. Charles F. Hogate was a Methodist in his religious affiliations and always took a deep and abiding interest in the affairs of his church. In the Republican party he was for years a man to whom the party looked for counsel. He was a member of the Republican national conven- tion in 1868, which nominated General Grant for the Presidency.
Julian D. Hogate was reared in Danville, where he received his elemen- tary education. After finishing the common and high school courses at Dan- ville, he attended DePauw University. In 1888 he became connected with the Danville Republican as local editor, a paper which had been established in 1847. In 1890 he purchased the establishment and since that time has con- ducted the paper alone. His paper is the official organ of the Republican party of Hendricks county and, under the able editorial management of editor Hogate, it has forged its way to the front until it is recognized as one of the leading weekly Republican papers in the central part of Indiana.
Mr. Hogate was married October 5, 1893, to Etta B. Craven, the daugh-
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ter of W. R. and Sarah E. Craven, and they are the parents of two very promising sons, who are now approaching manhood.
Mr. and Mrs. Hogate are devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Danville and have great faith in the efficacy of the various activities of the church. Mr. Hogate is a member of the order of Free and Accepted Masons and the Knights of Pythias. He has been a stanch Republican for many years and has served two terms as a member of the state central com- mittee of his party. He served also as secretary of the state Senate during the sessions of 1905 and 1907 and the special session of 1908. As editor of the party organ for the county, he has been of inestimable value to his party. He has not been a rank partisan, but has stood for the better elements in his party during all these years in which he has been at the helm. He has always taken an active interest in the civic affairs of his town and every movement which seeks to uplift the community always finds in him a hearty and sympa- thetic supporter. He and his wife are very hospitable people, and number their friends everywhere throughout the county.
STEPHEN DOUGLAS NOLAND.
Farming was the original profession of man. Through the countless ages which elapsed since the first tiller of the soil grew the first crop, the farmer has been the bulwark of all nations. Today more attention is paid to farming than to any other profession, and there is a reason for it. When a railroad thinks of expansion, it first examines crop conditions, and when a great insurance company has money to invest, it first examines crop condi- tions also. When the secretary of the treasury, Mr. McAdoo, and his com- mittee sought to locate the new American original bank, they examined the crop productions of the various bank regions. When Dun & Company pre- pare a general statement of business they examine crop conditions and always find the farmers' wealth most secure and increasing, and there is a reason for all of this. Land itself is the foundation of prosperity. The farmer not only feeds them all, but acts as the balance wheel and wealtlı builder of the nations and lives a more happy and contented life than his misguided brother. The interurban, telephone, rural mail route and automobile makes his farm a city improved estate. He is the final force that turns the wheels of factories; his land is the basis of security, the foundation of credit, the great factor of prosperity and constitutes ninety per cent. of our nation's
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wealth at the present time. Eliminate the farmer from Hendricks county and no other profession could exist. Thus it is that the farmer is the main- spring of prosperity in any county and the better farmers a county has the greater the material prosperity which that county will enjoy. Among the many substantial and wide-awake farmers of Hendricks county, there is no one who is making more strenuous effort for the advancement of his county's interests today than is Stephen Douglas Noland, the present trustee of Eel River township.
Stephen Douglas Noland, the son of William and Elizabeth (Under- wood) Noland, was born October 19, 1852, in Putnam county, Indiana. His father was born in Madison county, Kentucky, and grew to manhood, mar- ried and reared six children there. After the death of his first wife, William Noland married Elizabeth Underwood, a native of Virginia, who had come to Kentucky with her parents when a small girl. In the fall of 1852, a short time before the birth of Stephen Noland, the family moved to Putnam county, this state, and temporarily located near Cloverdale. While in this county Stephen D., whose history is herein presented, was born. A year later the Noland family moved to Center township, in Hendricks county, and located near Danville on the land where the Mount Pleasant church is now standing. William Noland was a life-long farmer and died at a ripe old age, honored and respected by all of his fellow citizens. There were six children born to the second marriage of William Noland, of whom Stephen D. is the eldest; Melinda, deceased, was the wife of Marene Bonifield; Perry; Julia, deceased, was the wife of Walter Eastes; Mary, the wife of James Mannings, of Danville; John, of Indianapolis, who married Lulu Thrift.
Stephen Douglas Noland remained on his father's farm until his mar- riage. He was given such education as was afforded in his home neighbor- hood and in October, 1874, married Ella Whitenack, daughter of Abraham and Caroline E. (Reynolds) Whitenack. The Whitenack family originated in Holland and were driven from, or rather left, the country on account of religious differences. They belonged to the nobility and upon coming to America in the colonial days they first settled in New Jersey and later emi- grated to Ohio, where Mrs. Noland was born. When she was a year old, her parents located in Eel River township, this county, between Danville and North Salem, where her father bought a farm in 1856. Here the family lived until her father's death in 1882. He was a farmer and during the sum- mer operated a threshing machine and at other times operated a tile factory, employing more men in his various enterprises than any other man in the
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township. He was a life-long Democrat and at one time was nominated on the ticket for county treasurer, but inasmuch as his party was in a hopeless minority he had no chance of election. Mr. and Mrs. Whitenack reared a family of eight children, namely: Ella, Mrs. Noland; Llewellyn, deceased; Isalona, the wife of John F. Jeffries; Viola, the wife of Marshall Gardner, of Indianapolis; Levona, the wife of Harry Dean, of North Salem; Theresa, wife of G. W. Lackey, of Lawrenceville, Illinois; Oscar Odell, of Denver, Colorado, and Leon A., of Indianapolis. Mrs. Whitenack is still living at North Salem, at the age of seventy-eight years.
After Mr. Noland's marriage, he spent two years working with his father-in-law in the tile factory and then engaged in farming for himself. In 1881 he bought the farm where he now lives, two and one-half miles southeast of North Salem, on the Jamestown road. As a Democrat, he was nominated by his party for the office of township trustee and elected to this office in 1908. He is still holding this office by virtue of the fact that the 1913 Legislature increased the length of the trustee's term by two years, thus giving all trustees in the state who were elected in 1908 a six-year tenure.
Mr. and Mrs. Noland have reared a very interesting family of children, all of whom have received, or are receiving, the best educational advantages which it is possible for them to get. Mona, the oldest child, is the wife of H. F. Adams, a farmer in Eel River township, and has two children, Edna and Harmon ; Ralph W., who lives in West Lafayette, is now an instructor in machine designing, heating and ventilating at Purdue University, from which he graduated in 1910 in mechanical engineering. He is a brilliant young man with a very promising future before him; he married Madge Holloway, of Lafayette; Vera is a graduate of Indiana University, completing her course in 1911, and she is now teaching history and English in the North Salem high school; Ernest D., the youngest child, is a student in Purdue University, where he is taking the full course in agriculture. Mr. Noland has always been a stanch supporter of education, believing that in the train- ing of the mind there lies the greatest hope for our future generations. As township trustee he has been interested in securing the best possible teachers for his district schools, and, moreover, believes in paying them the best salaries which the law will allow him to pay. He has seven schools under his charge, as well as an excellent high school at North Salem, where there are now seventy-five enrolled in the high school.
Mr. Noland has been a Mason for many years and his son, Ernest, is also a member of that fraternal order. Sufficient has been said to indicate
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the esteem in which Mr. Noland is held by the people of his township, and it is shown that he is essentially cosmopolitan in his ideas, a man of the people . in all that the term implies and, in the best sense of the word, a representative type of the strong, virile American manhood which demands and retains respect by reason of his worth, sound sense and correct conduct. None have made better use of their talent and opportunities and today he stands as one of the representative men of his county and, measured by the accepted standard of excellence, his career has been in every way eminently honorable and useful and his life fraught with good to his fellowmen at large.
WILLIAM I. GILL.
The record of William I. Gill, who is one of the leading citizens and progressive men of North Salem, Hendricks county, is that of a man who, from a modest beginning, has, without the aid of anyone, made a comfortable living, secured valuable property and laid by a competency for his old age, and at the same time won the undivided respect of all who know him as a result of his clean living and evident desire to promote the community in which he resides.
William I. Gill, the son of James and Jane E. (Williams) Gill, was born in Floyd county, Virginia, on July 21, 1847. James Gill was a brick layer by trade and in 1867, when William I. was twenty-one years of age, the . family came to Indiana, settling in Eel River township, this county, where James Gill engaged in farming and also followed his trade of brick laying as opportunity presented itself, and here he lived the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1876. His wife survived him several years, dying in 1887. James Gill was a member of the Masonic order and both he and his wife were earnest and consistent members of the Christian church. They were the parents of seven children who grew to maturity and three who died in childhood. Those who lived were William I., Amanda, John T., Eli, Emma, James, Alfred and Mary.
William I. Gill was educated in the common schools of his native state, and early in life learned the brick-laying trade with his father and continued to assist his father until the latter's death in 1876. He then operated a brick yard of his own for about fifteen years at North Salem and in the mean- time engaged in contracting and building. In 1891 he erected the town hall
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and opera house building in North Salem. Later he built the bank building, which contains the Masonic hall in the upper stories, and since then has built most of the business houses of North Salem. He has also built all of the brick school houses in Eel River township except two, and a large number of concrete bridges over Hendricks county. At the present time he manages the opera house and also owns and operates a cement tile factory at North Salem. As a contractor he is recognized as one of the most efficient and trustworthy artisans in the county, and his various buildings are a tribute to his skill as a workman.
Mr. Gill was married in 1877 to Lydia M. Henry, who was a native of Putnam county, Indiana, and a daughter of John B. and Elizabeth (La- Follette) Henry, her father being a farmer of that county. To Mr. Gill and his first wife were born nine children :. Ora, who is a bricklayer, lives at Indianapolis, and is the secretary of the bricklayers' union of that city; Mary, who became the wife of Ollie Graves, of Marion township, this county; Beryl, the wife of Otha Williams, of Brownsburg, who is engaged in the retail meat business in that place, and they are the parents of three children, Martha, Kenneth and Louise; Malta and Brewer are still under the parental roof, Malta being the telephone operator in the local exchange; Vesta is em- ployed in the North Salem postoffice. The mother of these children died in March, 1897, and in 1903 Mr. Gill married Sarah Elizabeth Bunten, a native of Marion township, this county .. She was the daughter of Henry Harvey and Frances (Robbins) Bunten. Henry H. Bunten was born in Mercer county, Kentucky, in 1818, and came to Hendricks county, Indiana, in 1833; with his parents, William and Leanna Bunten. They entered government land near New Winchester and lived there the remainder of their lives. Frances Robbins was a native of North Carolina, the daughter of William and Leah Robbins, and came here in 1834 with her parents, who located in the northern part of Marion township, where her father entered government land. Henry Bunten was a life-long farmer and was county commissioner and also held other public offices of trust. He spent his entire life here near North Salem, his death occurring in 1899, his wife surviving him until 1902. Mrs. Gill lived at home with her parents until their death.
Mr. and Mrs. Gill are both earnest and consistent members of the Christian church and he is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, both of them also belonging to the Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Gill is a man of unusual business abilities and has been one of the most important factors in the upbuilding of his home town. He is a quiet, friendly man, always
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progressive and has always thrown his influence in favor of all worthy enter- prises.
The family history of the LaFollettes, to which Mr. Gill's first wife belonged, is very interesting. The family originally came to the United States from France, during the time when the Huguenots were being perse- cuted, and first settled in New Jersey. The one male representative of the family who first came to America is the ancestor of a large and influential family, among whom are to be found Senator Robert M. LaFollette, of Wis- consin. Many of the LaFollettes have been prominent in the history of this state and nation and the Lafollettes of Putnam county have long been one of the prominent families of the county.
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