USA > Indiana > Hendricks County > History of Hendricks County, Indiana, her people, industries and institutions > Part 55
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Mr. and Mrs. Woody have three children who are still at home, Merle, Clara and Miller. Mr. Woody is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men at Lizton and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Pittsboro. While he casts his vote for the Republican party, yet he has never been an active worker in the ranks, preferring to devote all of his attention to his business. Religiously, he is by birthright a member of the Friends church, while his wife holds her membership in the Christian church. He is a man of optimistic nature, kind, considerate and one who is devoted to his home circle. He is a man to admire and esteem, for his industry and ex- emplary character has made him one of the highest respected citizens of his community.
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CUNNING HERBERT STEWARD.
Among the thriving farmers and stock raisers of Eel River township is Cunning Herbert Steward, who, although a resident of this county only three years, has nevertheless demonstrated his ability as a farmer of the first rank. He has tried to measure up to the standard of correct citizenship and this township is proud to number him among its progressive and repre- sentative residents.
Cunning Herbert Steward, the son of Maurice and Lou (Yeager) Steward, was born in 1883 in Morgan county, Indiana. Maurice Steward was born at Brooklyn, Morgan county, and his wife was a native of the same county. Maurice Steward is the son of William and Serelda (Rinker) Steward, and his wife was the daughter of Whalen Yeager and wife. The wife of Maurice Steward died in 1893, leaving five living children, and one who died in infancy. Shortly after Mrs. Steward's death her husband and the children moved to Putnam county, this state, and settled on a farm near Maysville. Maurice Steward is now living on a farm near Delma, in Put- nam county.
Cunning H. Steward received a good common school education in the Putnam county schools and worked out by the month for twelve years, until his marriage. In 1910 he became interested in the buying and selling of horses, but after his marriage he turned his attention to farming and the feeding of cattle for the markets. In September, 1911, he bought forty acres where he now lives in the southeastern part of Eel River township and adjoining eighty acres which belongs to his wife. Their farm of one hun- dred and twenty acres is very fertile and under the present excellent system of tillage produces abundant crops of wheat, oats, corn, hay, vegetables, fruits, etc. Mr. Steward makes a specialty of no particular crop, but gives his atten- tion to general farming in which his success has been more than ordinarily gratifying. For the past three years he has been interested quite extensively in the raising of cattle, which he finds more remunerative than agriculture alone, and by a judicious combination of the two he has achieved his greatest success.
Mr. Steward was married May 7, 1911, to Murl Case, a native of this township and the daughter of Lewis and Josie (Call) Case. Lewis Case, the son of Rev. John and Julia Case, was born near Maysville, Kentucky. John Case was a Baptist minister who came from Kentucky to Putnam county early in the history of that part of the state and entered government land
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near New Maysville. He and his good wife reared a family of thirteen children, all of whom grew to maturity. He became one of the most sub- stantial farmers of the county and presented several of his children with a farm upon their marriage. All of his children are now deceased. Lewis Case was a lifelong farmer and stock dealer and owned two hundred and sixty acres of land in the southeastern part of Eel River township, where he lived until his death, in April, 1904. Josie Call, the wife of Lewis Case, was a native of Kentucky, the daughter of John and Julia Call, and came to this county with her parents when she was about three years of age and lived here until her death in 1906.
Mr. Steward is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Daughters of Rebekah and Order of Eastern Star. His wife is also a devout member of the Christian church. Personally, Mr. Steward is a very popular man, and with a personality which endears him to his many friends. He is honest, straightforward and upright in all the relations of life and he and his wife are favorites with a wide circle of friends.
OSCAR HADLEY.
Under a popular form of government, like ours, where the democratic idea of equality is as fully developed as the present imperfect condition of mankind will permit, we expect as its legitimate result the triumph of in- dividual worth and energy over all the competition that wealth and class may array against them. Here the avenues of wealth and distinction are fully opened to all, which fact enhances rather than detracts from the merits of those whose energy and integrity have triumphed over all obstacles intervening between an humble position and the attainment of those laudable ends. Obscurity and labor, at no time dishonorable, never assume more attractive features than when the former appears as the nurse of those virtues which the latter, by years of honest and persevering effort, trans- plant to a higher and richer soil; hence the biographer of those men of ex- ceptional worth whose active enterprise has won for them the distinction, pre-eminence and commanding influence in the society in which they move must be replete with facts which encourage and instruct.
Oscar Hadley, president of the Standard Live Stock Insurance Com- pany, of Indianapolis, has for many years held marked prestige in business and civic circles, occupied important official trusts, and by the exercise of
Oscar stadler
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those talents and qualities which were cultivated from his youth, reached an honorable position in the public mind and earned the respect and high re- gard of his fellow citizens.
Mr. Hadley was born on a farm in Guilford township, near Plainfield, Hendricks county, Indiana, May 3, 1858, and in order of nativity is the fifteenth of the sixteen children born to Elias and Lucinda (Carter) Had- ley, the former of whom was born in the state of North Carolina and the latter in Butler county, Ohio. Elias Hadley was a boy when his father, Jeremiah Hadley, removed with his family from North Carolina to Butler county, Ohio, where he was reared to maturity and received the limited educational advantages offered by the primitive schools of the pioneer days. Prior to the attaining of his legal majority, Elias Hadley came to Indiana and selected a favorable location in Hendricks county, after which he re- turned to Ohio and there married Lucinda Carter, who was then in her seventeenth year. Immediately after their marriage the young couple came to Hendricks county, Indiana, and established their little home in a pioneer log house erected on the land in Guilford township which he had secured from the government, and which represented at that time a veritable forest wilderness. His father also removed to the locality at the same time and both secured tracts of government land, on a portion of which the town of Plainfield now stands. Here the young man and the old grappled vigorously with the giants of the forest and in due time reclaimed their farms to civili- zation. Jeremiah Hadley and his good wife passed the residue of their lives in Hendricks county, and on their old homestead Elias and Lucinda (Carter) Hadley continued to reside until they, too, were summoned to the life eternal, honored pioneers of the county in which they took up their abode about the year 1822. Elias Hadley was seventy-five years of age at the time of his demise, and his devoted wife passed away at the venerable age of eighty-four years, a true mother in Israel, whose children may well "rise up and call her blessed," and whose memory they hold in lasting reverence. Both she and her husband were zealous members of the Christian church, and in politics he was originally a Whig, and later a Republican, having united with the "grand old party" at the time of its organization. Of the sixteen children nine are now living. The Hadley family has been one of the best known and most highly honored in Hendricks county for many years. and its members have contributed in liberal measure to the civic and indus- trial development of that favored section of the state. Twelve of the six- teen children in the Hadley family lived to maturity and all were members of the same church.
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Oscar Hadley was reared as a farmer boy on the old homestead farm which was the place of his nativity. His boyhood days gained to him through personal experience an appreciation of the dignity and value of honest toil. He early learned the lessons of industry, self-reliance and sturdy integrity that have proved so potent in the guiding and guarding of his career as a man among men. After completing the prescribed course of the public schools, Mr. Hadley continued his studies for one year at Butler College, at Irvington, and much of his business career has been one of intimate and successful identification with general farming and stock growing, in which latter department of industry he has gained a specially wide reputation as a successful breeder of high-grade cattle. For many years he has been num- bered among the representative farmers and stock raisers of Hendricks county, where he owns a fine landed estate of two hundred and fifty acres, equipped with the best of improvements in all lines. He holds prestige as one of the leading exponents of agriculture and stock enterprises in the entire state. For several years he has been a member of the Indiana state board of agriculture, of which he served as president in 1909, giving to the work of the organization the benefits of his wide and practical experience and fine ad- ministrative ability. In 1902 Mr. Hadley became one of the organizers and incorporators of the Polled Durham Breeders' Association of the United States, the largest and most substantial organization of its kind in the world, and of which he was elected president in 1908. He has made a specialty of the breeding of the Polled Durham cattle, and on his farm are to be found the finest of specimens of this breed. He is a member of both the state and National Shorthorn Breeders' Association.
A man of fine intellectual attainments and forceful personality, Mr. Had- ley has naturally taken a laudable interest in public affairs in Indiana and done all in his power to conserve its progress and prosperity. A stalwart in the camp of the Republican party from the time of attaining his legal ma- jority, he has rendered most efficient service in the promotion of its cause and has been a prominent factor in connection with the party work in his native state. His eligibility for positions of public trust was early recognized in his home community, where, it may be said, he set at naught all incidental appli- cation of the scriptural adage that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country." At the age of twenty-one he became a precinct committee- man of his party in his home precinct, and he was chairman of the precinct committee for his township for a continuous period of fifteen years. The first elective office to which he was called was that of trustee of his native township, of which position he continued incumbent for five and one-half
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years, at the close of which, in 1900, he was nominated and elected treasurer of Hendricks county. Local political precedent prescribes that in this county the county treasurer shall not become a candidate for a second term, and thus Mr. Hadley served only the one term, within which he showed marked ability in handling the fiscal affairs of the county.
In 1906 Mr. Hadley's name was placed before his party as a candidate for state treasurer, and after a spirited preliminary campaign he was duly nominated for this office in the Republican state convention of that year. In November of the same year he rolled up a gratifying majority at the polls, having led the ticket, and on the 10th of February, 1907, he assumed the duties of the office. Within his term of two years he amply justified the wis- dom of the people's choice, bringing to bear marked capacity for handling the details of the work and doing much to improve the system of handling the fiscal affairs of the state. Popular appreciation of his fidelity, ability and integrity of purpose was indicated both in his nomination as his own suc- cessor by his party in the state convention of 1908, and also by the unequivo- cal support accorded him in the ensuing election, through which he was re- turned to office for a second term of two years, which expired on the 10th of February, 1911. His record as state treasurer was signally clean, straight- forward and successful, redounding alike to his credit and to the conservation of the best interests of the commonwealth. His administration is generally conceded as one of the best the office ever had.
Upon leaving official life Mr. Hadley became identified with the Stand- ard Live Stock Insurance Company of Indianapolis, of which he was one of the organizers and incorporators, and he has served as president of this cor- poration continuously since its organization to the present time. The Stand- ard Live Stock Insurance Company is the largest organization of its kind in the world, having a capitalization of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and having business in many states of the Union.
Mr. Hadley is vice-president of the First National Bank of Plainfield, being also a director and one of the organizers of this well-known Hendricks county bank.
Fraternally, Mr. Hadley is a member of the Masonic order, in which he has taken the capitular degrees, being affiliated with Plainfield Lodge No. 653, Free and Accepted Masons, in Plainfield, and with Danville Chapter No. 46, Royal Arch Masons, of Danville. He also holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Hadley was married March 10, 1880, to Emma Talbott, daughter of Lorenzo Talbott, a well-known stock dealer and farmer. Three children
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were born of this union: Chester, born February 26, 1882, is engaged in the nursery business at Danville, Indiana; Vivian, born December 18, 1885, is the wife of Dr. T. A. Bryan, of Mattoon, Illinois; Nancy, born October 20, 1889, lives in Indianapolis.
Mr. and Mrs. Hadley are consistent members of the Christian church. The Hadley home is at No. 2745 College avenue, Indianapolis.
DANIEL M. JONES.
Descended from a family who were in Indiana when it was admitted to the Union in 1816 is Daniel M. Jones, whose history is briefly reviewed in the following pages. He is distinguished as a citizen whose influence has extended far beyond the community honored by his residence and he has for years stood out as a conspicuous figure among the successful farmers of his township and county. All of his undertakings have been actuated by noble motives and high resolves and characterized by that breadth of wisdom which distinguishes strong men. His success and achievements along agricultural lines represent the result of fit utilization of innate talent, directed along those lines where mature judgment and rare discrimination lead the way.
Daniel M. Jones, the son of Samuel and Nancy (Ramsey) Jones, was born August 12, 1849, in Morgan county, Indiana. His father was born May 24, 1803, in Tennessee, and his mother on March 25, 1812. Samuel Jones came to Indiana with his parents in 1815 and settled in that part of the state which was still under the control of the Indians. It was bought from the Indians by the United States government in the fall of 1818 and from it the territory in which the Joneses located was organized into Morgan county. Samuel Jones died in 1875 and his wife in 1898. They were the parents of eight children, only two of whom are now living, Daniel M., and Mrs. Eliza- beth A. Snipes, of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Mr. Jones was educated in the common schools of Hendricks county and later at Lafayette Farmers Institute. Early in life he decided that he wished to follow the occupation of his father. In accordance with the cus- toms of those days, he was married very young and when nineteen years of age led to the nuptial altar Nancy Blair, of Guilford township, of this county, their wedding day falling on September 30, 1868. Immediately after their marriage they went to housekeeping on the farm where they have lived their married life of the past forty-six years one mile east of Plainfield. Mr.
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Jones has always been a successful farmer and, while he has been very care- ful, he has not let his conservatism hinder him in taking advantage of all the latest improvements in farming. He has wisely divided his attention be- tween the raising of grain and stock, with the result that he has acquired in the course of the last half century a very comfortable competence. He now has a fine farm of three hundred and seventy acres, which he has brought to a high state of cultivation and productivity. He has taken a great deal of interest in farmers' institutes and stock farm courses as provided by our ex- cellent state school.
Mr. Jones has been a life-long Republican, but has never indulged in the fervor of political campaigns. Religiously, he is a member of the Friends church and has always been an active worker in this denomination. He has always had the best interests of this locality at heart and has sought to ad- vance them in whatever way possible. His career has been characterized by untiring energy, uncompromising fidelity and an earnest desire to serve his fellow men. He has been very much interested in education and particularly in the career of Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, to which he has sub- scribed liberally. He has been a member of the Free and Accepted Masons and Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Plainfield for the past twenty years, being active in lodge work. Such has been his life during his long career that he has at the same time won and retains the high esteem of all with whom he has come in contact by the honorable course which he has at all times pursued.
NATHANIEL CLARK GOSSETT.
Agriculture has been an honored vocation from the earliest ages and, as a usual thing, men of honorable and humane impulses, as well as those of energy and thrift, have been patrons of husbandry. The free out-door life of the farm has a decided tendency to foster and develop that independence of mind and self-reliance which characterizes true manhood and no truer bless- ing can befall a boy than to be reared in close touch with nature in the health- ful, life-inspiring labor of the fields. It has always been the fruitful soil from which have sprung the moral bone and sinew of the country, and the majority of our nation's great warriors, renowned statesmen and distin- guished men of letters were born on the farin and were indebted largely to its early influence for the distinction which they have attained.
Nathaniel Clark Gossett, one of the many successful farmers of Brown
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township, Hendricks county, Indiana, is a native of this county, born on a farm of which his present holdings constituted a part, on January 28, 1856, being one of twelve children of Nathaniel Walton and Mary Greenfield (Fox) Gossett, the former of whom was a son of John and Dorcas ( Clark) Gossett, John Gossett was a son of Thomas and Sarah (Walton) Gossett. Dorcas Clark, paternal grandmother of the immediate subject of this sketch, was a daughter of Samuel E. and Rachael (Bratton) Clark, the former of whom was a veteran of the War of the Revolution. Mary Greenfield Fox, mother of the subject of this sketch, was a daughter of John and Hannah (Barker) Fox, and both she and the father of the subject were natives of the state of North Carolina, being brought to Indiana by their parents while they were still children. Nathaniel W. Gossett was twelve years of age at that time, while Mary Greenfield Fox was but eight years old. Both families settled in Hendricks county, about two and one-half miles north of Plainfield. Here the young people in question grew to maturity and there their marriage was later solemnized.
Nathaniel W. Gossett spent his boyhood days on the paternal farmstead, where he early learned the secrets of successful agriculture under the intelli- gent direction of his father. He devoted himself assiduously to the cultiva- tion of the soil all his life and was eminently successful in his chosen vocation. At the age of nineteen he was married and at that time purchased a portion of his father's farm, remaining on that tract until in 1853. His original holdings were then disposed of to advantage and he purchased two hundred and ten acres of land in the northeast portion of Brown township, Hendricks county, where he passed the remainder of his life. His death occurred on October 28, 1903, and at that time he was living, together with his son, Nathaniel C., the immediate subject of this sketch, in a house he had built on his farm some distance from the old homestead, having disposed of all but eighty acres of his original farm. A short time before his death he sold that tract to the subject of this sketch, who has continued to reside there. There too, the mother of subject passed away on October 23, 1910. Mr Gossett has never married. He keeps his farm up to the highest type of modern agricultural methods and conducts his business in such a manner as to win for himself the reputation of being a thorough agriculturist. Mr. Gossett's oldest brother was one of the leading men of his community, serving as county superintendent of school for several years. He was also a veteran of the Civil War. Personally, Mr. Gossett is a man of strong personal qualities, easily makes friends and always retains them. United in his composition are so many elements of a provident, practical nature, which during a series
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of years have brought him into prominence and earned for him a first place among the enterprising men of his county, that it is but just recognition of his worthiness that he receive specific mention in this work.
ALBERT WESLEY BEAMAN.
Among the progressive farmers of Hendricks county Albert W. Beaman occupies a prominent place for the reason that he is a man of education and self confidence. Real self confidence is not a matter of many words, but it is the quiet chap with square jaw and the silent tongue who is the man to be afraid of. He is the man who wins. Out of self confidence grow enthusiasm and earnestness, and for the man who is in earnest nothing is impossible. Many of us make the mistake of not taking ourselves seriously. If we are inclined to look upon life as a joke it is pretty certain that the joke is on us. Mr. Beaman is a man who has believed in himself ; he has selected a goal and marched straightforward toward it. Although he has found many difficulties in his way, he has believed that they were only there in order to prove his strength, to test his self confidence. One by one he has cleared the difficulties out of his way and today he stands a self-reliant, aggressive man who takes a prominent and influential part in the community where he lives.
Albert Wesley Beaman, the son of Adam and Rebecca A. (McDaniels) Beaman, was born February 22, 1874, in Brown township, Hendricks county, Indiana. Adam Beaman was a native of Boone county, this state, who came to Hendricks county after he was married, settling in Brown township, on eighty acres of land. He died in March, 1909. Rebecca A. McDaniels, the mother of Mr. Beaman, was born in Hendricks county in April, 1844, her birth occurring about one mile west of Brownsburg, and she is still living at Pittsboro, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Adam Beaman were the parents of seven children, Charles S .. Willard E., Otis B., deceased, Albert Wesley, William Edgar, Ada, deceased, George Byron, deceased.
Albert W. Beaman spent his earlier life on a farm in Brown township, where he was born in a log cabin. This log cabin, around which cluster so many memories of the Beaman family, was destroyed by fire in May, 1879, when Albert was five years of age. When he was born this farm was an unbroken forest and his boyhood days were alternated between his school books and the clearing. He was quick to learn and acquired knowledge read- ily and easily. Upon his finishing his common school course, he was suffi-
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ciently advanced to receive a teacher's license, and for two years taught school in Brown township, in this county. However, he preferred the life of a farmer, and upon his marriage began to farm and has since continued to follow that vocation, but taught one term near home recently, in Middle township.
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