USA > Indiana > Hendricks County > History of Hendricks County, Indiana, her people, industries and institutions > Part 58
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they are members of the Baptist church and are sincerely interested in the workings of same.
Mr. Tharp is a man who has ever made his influence felt for good in his community, being a man of sterling worth, whose life has been closely interwoven with the history of the community in which he resided. The well regulated life he has led, thereby gaining the respect and admiration of all his fellow citizens, entitles him to representation in a biographical work of the scope intended in the present one. Genial and unassuming in his re- lations with his fellow men, he has won and retains the confidence and good will of all with whom he comes in contact.
RICHARD D. PLUMMER.
The Plummer family has been identified with the history of Hendricks county, Indiana, since 1825, and during this period of nearly ninety years they have taken their part in the civic, moral, educational and religious life of their respective communities in such a way as to stamp them as a family of excellent characteristics. Richard D. Plummer has spent his whole career of more than three score years in this county, and no more public-spirited citizen has ever lived within the limits of the county. The interests of his county has been one of the mainsprings of his actions and he has done many disinterested deeds which stand to his credit. Starting life under pioneer conditions, he has risen to a position of prominence and during his long career in the county has aided in every way the growth of its material inter- ests and the progress of its prominent industries.
Richard D. Plummer, the proprietor of three farms in this county, ag- gregating three hundred and eighty-nine acres, was born on June 24, 1848, in Eel River township, this county. He is a son of Joseph and Ann (Day) Plummer, his father being a native of Greene county, Ohio, born on October 17, 1813, the son of Levi and Mary Plummer. Levi Plummer was born in Maryland and his wife in this state, and in 1815 they came to Fayette county, Indiana, where they lived for five years. They then moved to Morgan county, this state, and, after a residence of five years in that county, came to Hendricks county and spent the remainder of their days in this county.
Joseph Plummer, the father of Richard D., was reared to manhood amid the scenes of pioneer life in this county and received only a meager common school education. He was married August 2, 1832, to Ann Day, in Morgan
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county, this state, and to this union were born nine children, Mary, Martha, Thomas, Levi, Hannah, Fannie, John, Ann and Richard D. The mother of these children died January 18, 1870, and on May 14, 1872, Joseph Plummer married Lydia Burgen, the daughter of Isaac and Sarah Burgen, who were among the early settlers of Hendricks county. In the spring of 1835 Mr. Plummer settled in the eastern portion of Eel River township, where he lived the life of a prosperous farmer until his death, in November, 1896. He had started in life with nothing, but by careful business methods and strict attention to his business he became the owner of five hundred and sixty- · five acres of excellent farming land in this county.
Richard D. Plummer has lived his whole life in Eel River and Center townships. He attended the rude log school houses of his home neighbor- hood during his boyhood days and assisted his father on the farm during his summer vacations. The schools of that day were only three months in length and the instruction was confined principally to reading, writing and arithmetic. Mr. Plummer has devoted his whole life to agricultural pursuits and has met with a measure of success which has been commensurate with his efforts. He married in 1872, and in 1876 bought his first farm of eighty acres, and to this he has added from time to time until he is now the owner of three hundred and ninety acres of land in the county. He is a man of powerful physique and has done a great deal of hard manual labor in his time. In the days when wheat was cut with the cradle, he could cut as much wheat as any man in the neighborhood and keep it up day after day.
Mr. Plummer was married August 20, 1872, to Mary E. Margason, the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Griggs) Margason, early settlers of Center township, this county. The Margasons came from Kentucky to Jefferson county, Indiana, and later settled in this county, where they purchased land in Center township. Mr. and Mrs. Plummer are the parents of five children : Horace, a manufacturing jeweler and engraver in Indianapolis, with offices in the State Life building in that city; Marsalice, who is now in the West; Lydia is the wife of Richard Harrison, of Danville, and the mother of two children, Roy and Evangeline; Lula, who is still living with her parents; Oliver Earl, who is the chemist for a gypsum factory in Ohio, was recently married to Dora Padget.
Politically, Mr. Plummer is a supporter of the Republican party. The high standing which he occupies among the agriculturists of Hendricks county is attributable largely to his indefatigable perseverance and untiring energy. While his private affairs naturally receive the major portion of his time and
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attention, yet he is interested in matters of public interest and is prominent in the local affairs of his community. In business circles he is respected by all with whom he comes in contact and occupies a foremost position among the representative citizens of his county.
JOSEPH C. MORGAN.
The following is a brief sketch of one who, by close attention to business, has achieved marked success in the world's affairs and risen to an honorable place among the enterprising men of the county with which his interests are identified. It is a plain record, rendered remarkable by no strange or myster- ious adventure, no wonderful and lucky accident and no tragic situation. Mr. Morgan is one of those estimable citizens whose integrity and strong per- sonality must force them into an admirable notoriety, which their modesty never seeks, who command the respect of their contemporaries and their pos- terity and leaves the impress of their individuality upon the age in which they live.
Joseph C. Morgan, a plasterer and public-spirited citizen of Plainfield, was born April 3, 1859, at Monrovia, Morgan county, Indiana. His parents were William H. and Maria ( Marvin) Morgan, his father being a native of Kentucky and his mother of Ohio. His father was born in 1824 and learned the trade of a plasterer in Kentucky before coming to Morgan county, in 1855. In 1863 William Morgan moved to Plainfield, Indiana, where he fol- lowed his trade until his death, in 1894, at the age of seventy. He was a prominent Mason and was always very much interested in the affairs of the lodge. Mr. and Mrs. William Morgan were the parents of seven children, all of whom are living: Joseph C., the immediate subject of this sketch; O. P., of Plainfield; Mrs. Rolena Hagee, of Plainfield; Mary, who has been a teacher in the Plainfield schools for the past twenty years; Nannie, of Monrovia, In- diana; and Mrs. Minnie Bridges, the wife of Doctor Bridges, of Plainfield.
Joseph C. Morgan was given a good practical education in the public schools of Plainfield, and when a small lad began to help his father. He was thus early initiated into all of the details of the plasterer's trade and there is no trick in the trade with which he is not familiar. It is safe to say that there is no more efficient and artistic workman in this section of the state than Mr. Morgan, and as a result he has always had all the work he could handle, and yet his customers have been perfectly satisfied with his work in every par- ticular.
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Joseph C. Morgan has never married, but for many years has lived with his aunt in Plainfield. He owns a fine home, which is equipped with all the modern conveniences. In his fraternal relations he is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for the past twenty-five years. He has always voted the Republican ticket, and while he keeps well informed on all the current questions of the day, he has never been a seeker after political preferment.
The family history of Mr. Morgan is of more than ordinary interest, and he is justified in being proud of his progenitors on both sides of the family. His mother's father, Clare Marvin, was a pioneer of Morgan county, Indiana, having settled near Monrovia about 1840. Clare Marvin was born in New York city, and was in the War of 1812, taking part in the siege of Baltimore. The Marvin family is of English descent, the first representative of the family coming to America in 1793. Nancy Marvin, another one of the early mem- bers of the family to come to America, was born in London in 1788, and died in Morgan county, Indiana, in 1892, at the advanced age of one hundred and four years. She retained her faculties to the last and it was from her that most of the family history has been obtained.
Joseph C. Morgan has lived a life of usefulness and has always taken an active part in the civic life of the community where he has resided for so many years. Personally, he is genial and companionable, enjoys a wide ac- quaintance throughout this section of the state, and is a popular member of the circle in which he moves.
JONAH S. BRILL.
The biographies of enterprising men, especially of good men, are in- structive as guides and incentives to others. The examples they furnish of patient purpose and steadfast integrity strongly illustrate what it is in the power of each to accomplish. Some men belong to no exclusive class of life; apparently insurmountable obstacles have in many instances awakened their dormant faculties and served as a stimulus to carry them to ultimate renown. The instances of success in the face of adverse fate would seem almost to justify the conclusion that self-reliance, with a half chance, can accomplish any reasonable object. The gentleman whose life history is herewith outlined is a man who has lived to good purpose and achieved a splendid success. By a straightforward and commendable course he has made his way to a respect-
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able position in the business world, winning the hearty admiration of the people of his county, and earning a reputation as an enterprising and pro- gressive man of affairs which the public has not been slow to recognize and appreciate.
Jonah S. Brill, one of the successful and enterprising farmers of Hen- dricks county, who is now living a retired life in Plainfield, was born May 26, 1851, in Frederick county, Virginia. His parents, John Harrison and Sarah Ann ( (Millhorn) Brill, were both natives of Virginia, his father's birth oc- curring December 6, 1819, and died January 6, 1894, while his mother was born May 14, 1821, and died January 6, 1870. John H. Brill was a stage driver for many years and covered the route from Winchester, Virginia, to Knoxville, Tennessee. When Jonah S. was about one year old, his father came with his family to Indiana, settling in Liberty township, Hendricks county, where they lived until 1867, when they moved to Sheridan county, Missouri. John H. Brill and his wife both died in that state. They reared a large family of thirteen children, nine of whom are living, Dr. James H. Brill, of Indianapolis; Mrs. Mary F. Lambert, of Hadley, Hendricks county ; Jonah S., the immediate subject of this sketch; Mrs. Eliza Morgan, of Spring- field, Missouri; Mrs. Rachel E. Needham, of Mountain Grove, Missouri; Amos M., of Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Elizabeth C. Coctrell, of Okmulgee, Oklahoma; Charles W., of Lampher, Colorado, and Mrs. Harriett E. Elliott, of Forest Green, Missouri.
Jonah S. Brill came to Hendricks county from Virginia with his parents when he was a mere babe in arms and has lived here all his life except five years, when he lived in Sheridan county, Missouri. His education was re- ceived in this state and he finished his educational training in Missouri, where he lived from 1867 to 1872. At the age of twenty he began to learn the trade of a carriage trimmer in Indianapolis, and continued to work at this occupa- tion for six years. He then took up farming in Liberty township, this county, and continued to follow the vocation of a farmer until 1897, when he removed to Plainfield and left the active operation of the farm to younger hands. A few years ago, in 1907, he sold his farm and is now living a retired life in Plainfield.
Mr. Brill was married October 27, 1880, to Nannie Williams, the daughter of Nathan C. and Katherine (McPherson) Williams. The one child born to this union died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Brill are both de- voted and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Plain- field. Fraternally, Mr. Brill is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, but has never taken an active part in politics, although he has always voted
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with the Democratic party. Mr. Brill has the reputation of a progressive man of affairs, is broad minded and public spirited, and has not been backward in giving his support to every movement for the upbuilding and development of his community. Personally, he is a most companionable man and is an ap- preciative member of the circles in which he moves.
Mrs. Brill was born in Liberty township, Hendricks county. Her par- ents were both natives of North Carolina and both came to Hendricks county, Indiana, when they were small children, grew up and married here, and lived in Liberty township. He was a farmer. They were members of the Metho- dist Episcopal church. They had two children. One son, Luther, who was born in 1850, married Catherine Wheatley, and died in 1876. Nathan C. Williams died February 14, 1886; his wife died December 24, 1892.
MARTIN LUTHER JOHNSON.
. Among the thriving farmers and stock raisers of Hendricks county the gentleman whose name introduces this article is especially conspicuous. Start- ing out with practically no capital or assistance, he has gradually forged to the front and has long since become one of the substantial citizens of his com- munity, which he has seen develop to a foremost position in agricultural im- portance, and it is useless to add that he has played an important role in this work, having always had the affairs of his locality at heart and ready at all times to further any landable undertaking having as its object the general good.
Martin Luther Johnson, one of the prosperous farmers of Middle town- ship, was born in 1853 in Boone county, Indiana. His parents were Patrick and Clemens (Hanna) Johnson. Patrick Johnson was a native of Ken- tucky and came in 1829 to Boone county with his parents when he was eleven years of age. His father entered eighty acres near Brunswick, upon first settling in Boone county, but in 1865 moved into Hendricks county and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Brown township. He received his deed on the same day that Lincoln was shot, April 14, 1865. Patrick John- son, in addition to his farming, bought and sold a large amount of stock, driving his stock to Indianapolis to market. He continued to farm his one hundred and sixty acres until about two years before his death, which occurred November 22, 1906. The wife of Patrick Johnson was a native of
MARTIN L. JOHNSON
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Kentucky, who came to Boone county with her parents when a small girl. She died in 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Johnson were the parents of a large family of thirteen children: George H., Mrs. Mary Johnson (de- ceased), James F., John C., Albert N., Martin Luther, Mrs. Nancy E. Burks, Mrs. Martha Caroline Cassaday, William P., Wilson T., Willard P., Mrs. Hanna Florence Davis and Herbert M.
Martin Luther Johnson spent the first twelve years of his life in Boone county and there received part of his education. After moving to this county he attended school for several years, receiving most of his schooling in Hendricks county. When he was married he only had twenty acres, but by honest endeavor and hard toil he has added to his land holdings from time to time, until now he owns a farm of one hundred and forty acres. He raises the crops of this locality and adds to his annual income by handling a considerable amount of live stock every year. In 1899 he built a large barn and has his whole farm improved in every way, in order to produce the best results with the minimum amount of effort. For fifteen years he operated a threshing machine outfit in connection with his farming, deriving no small in- come from this line of business.
Mr. Johnson was married in 1876 to Leonora Schenck, the daughter of Isaac Harvey and Nancy J. (Harris) Schenck. Isaac Schenck was born in Butler county, Ohio, and his wife in Pulaski county, Kentucky. After mar- riage Mr. and Mrs. Schenck settled in Brown township, where he died in 1895 and she in 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Schenck were the parents of eleven children: Mary Elizabeth, deceased; Mrs. Rebecca A. Young, deceased ; Tilghman Howard, deceased; Mrs. Caroline Pitzer, deceased; Mary Ellen, deceased; Levi H .; Samuel Riley ; James B .; Leonora, the wife of Mr. John- son; Thomas Jefferson and George. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are the parents of seven daughters, six of whom are living and five are married. Emma is deceased. The daughters living are : Mrs. Della Garner, Mrs. Ota Weaver, Mrs. Luella Stonebreaker, Mrs. Pearl Coleman, Miss Mary Etta Johnson and Mrs. Fern Hubble.
Politically, Mr. Johnson has always advocated the principles of the Republican party and has never seen any reason why he should change his adherence to that of any other party. He and his wife are members of the Regular Baptist church and he is a deacon and trustee in the church. Mr. Johnson has made a success of his life work, because he has been a hard worker and honest in his dealings with his fellow men. He is known among his friends and neighbors as a man who deals justly and a man who has ac-
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quired his present position, only through the dint of saving, honesty and good management. He is a man of strong will and obliging, a friend to the needy and distressed, one of those sterling men who makes good in any community.
REV. JOSEPH N. GREENE.
The life of the scholarly or professional man seldom exhibits any of those striking incidents that seize upon public feeling and attract attention to himself. His character is generally made up of the aggregate qualities and qualifications he may possess as these may be elicited by the exercise of the duties of his vocation or the particular profession to which he belongs. The highly honored and esteemed subject of this sketch is a man of well rounded character, sincere, devoted and loyal, so that there are many salient points which render consonant a tribute to him in this compilation. He has not been content to hide his talents amid life's sequestered ways, but has by force of will and a laudable ambition to succeed, forged to the front into a position which stamps him as a man of extraordinary ability. His life has been one of hard study and he stands today a man well equipped to perform his work in life. There is no higher calling than that of a minister of the Gospel and the good that he does never receives its full reward in this world. Rev. Joseph N. Greene has not only made a notable success as a minister, but has also earned a wide reputation as a lecturer on Shakesperian subjects. In addition he has entered the literary field and produced three books which have added not a little to his prestige.
Rev. Joseph N. Greene, now pastor of the Broadway Methodist Episcopal church of Indianapolis, and a former resident of Danville, Indiana, was born in Valparaiso, Indiana, June 25, 1868. His parents were Nelson and Mary Jane (Funk) Greene, his father also being a minister in the Methodist church. Nelson Greene was a native of Ohio and came to this state as a young man, married at Warsaw and was a pastor in the Methodist churches of Indiana for more than half a century. Among the places where he held charges were Warsaw, Valparaiso, Brazil, Greencastle, Marion and Danville. He first came to Danville about 1869 and upon his retirement from the ministry he bought a home in that town and continued to reside there until his death, September 29, 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Greene were the parents of eight children, six of whom are living: Mrs. M. A. Keeney, of Danville; Edward J., of Danville; Charles, of West Lafayette; Mrs. John F. Way, of Mitchell,
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South Dakota; Anan C., of South Bend, Indiana. His widow, the mother of Rev. Greene, is still living at Danville at the advanced age of eighty six.
Rev. Joseph N. Greene received his elementary and high school education in the public schools of Danville and his theological training in the Boston School of Theology, graduating from the latter institution in 1897. Im- mediately after graduating from the high school he went into business in Dan- ville, but within a short time he began to make preparations to enter the ministry. By the time he was twenty-six years of age he had passed all of the examinations and was admitted to the Northwest Indiana conference. Then in order to prepare himself for more efficient work he entered the Boston School of Theology and after completing the course in that school he received a call to the Grace Methodist Episcopal church at Terre Haute ( 1897-1899). The appointments which he has held since that time are as follows: Williams- port, Indiana ( 1899-1901) ; Maple Avenue church, Terre Haute (1901- 1905); Brazil, Indiana (1905-1910); Watertown, South Dakota (1910- 1912) ; Broadway church, Indianapolis (1910 to the present time). All of these appointments have been under the Northwest Indiana conference except the Watertown charge, which was under the jurisdiction of the Dakota con- ference, and the Broadway, Indianapolis, charge, which is in the Indiana conference.
Rev. Greene was married to Adah L. Titus, of Williamsport, the daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse W. Titus, on October 18, 1900. They have one son, Warren Nelson, born October 18, 1912.
The minister who can reach the public through the printed page is an exception and if he can do so his field of usefulness is vastly increased. Rev. Greene is one of the very few ministers who can write as well as preach, and two of his books have had many favorable notices. His first volume was entitled "The Gospel in Literature" and is a book of genuine merit. In it he displays a wide range of scholarship and erudition which gives to the book a solidity often lacking in volumes of a similar nature. His second publica- tion, "The Funeral," is for the use of ministers and the hearty reception which it has received indicates that it is of real worth. A third book, under the title "The Exalted Fisherman," has just been issued by the Methodist Book Concern of Cincinnati and New York.
Rev. Greene has always been a student of literature and has made a special study of Shakespeare. He frequently gives lectures on Shakesperian subjects before literary clubs, on such topics as "The Women of Shakespeare," "The Supernatural in Shakespeare," "Hamlet," and "Retributive Justice in Shakespeare." In these lectures he displays a deep insight in the literature of
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the Elizabethan period and analyzes the mysteries of the Bard of Avon in a manner which bespeaks the profound student.
It is interesting to note that while Rev. Greene was the pastor of the Brazil church, he was the moving figure in the movement to increase the attendance of the Sunday school. The result has been that the Sunday school in that town now is the largest in the world.
Rev. Greene is quite actively interested in public affairs, taking the part of a good citizen in public measures and reforms; strong and alert, energetic and persistent, he has had marked influence for good in his community. In his politics he is independent, always voting for the best men regardless of their political affiliations. In all the pastorates he has held he has been popular and has built up the congregation, strengthened the work in all its departments and quickly won his way into the affections of his parishioners. He is profoundly versed in theology, a scholarly, high-minded, whole-souled gentleman, fearless in his denunciation of sin wherever found and, above all, a man who has the courage of his convictions. As a pulpit orator he is sur- passed by few, always logical, forceful, earnest and often truly eloquent. Truly, he is a born leader of men, and as Shakespeare has said, "His life was gentle and the elements so mixed in him that the whole world might stand up and say, This was a man."
FRANK JOHNSON.
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-of-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 blessing can befall a boy than to be reared in close touch with nature in the healthful, 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 dis- tinguished men of letters were born on the farm and were indebted largely to its early influence for the distinction which they have attained.
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