USA > Indiana > Hendricks County > History of Hendricks County, Indiana, her people, industries and institutions > Part 59
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83
Frank Johnson, the proprietor of three hundred and twenty acres of fine farming land in Franklin township, Hendricks county, Indiana, was born in Morgan county, this state, April 20, 1858. His parents were Wesley and
605
HENDRICKS COUNTY, INDIANA.
Mary (Garrison) Johnson, his father being a native of North Carolina and his mother of Indiana. When Wesley Johnson was about seven years of age he came to this county from North Carolina with his father, who entered govern- ment land in Morgan county. Wesley Johnson received the very meager education which was afforded by the subscription schools of his day and when a mere lad started to work on his father's farm, where he learned as a lad all those lessons which must be a part of every successful farmer's equipment, and his success in after life may be in a large part attributed to the excellent teaching received at the hands of his father along agricultural lines. He con- tinued on the farm with his father until his marriage, and, in fact, lived all of his life on the farm, except one year which he spent in Danville. Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Johnson were the parents of two children, Frank, the immediate subject of this sketch, and Elizabeth, who married Oscar Weasner, and they have four children, Lee, Mary, Ina and Willis.
Frank Johnson was educated in the common schools of Hendricks county and during his school days he worked on his father's farm during the sum- mer, so that by the time he was twenty-one years of age he had received from his father a practical course in agriculture. When he reached his majority he married, rented a farm and started in to make his fortune with his good wife How well they have succeeded may be seen by the most casual ob- server who passes by his spacious residence and notes the broad fields which are his today. As a farmer and stock raiser he is the equal of any in this county of excellent farmers and his success is due to his persistent and perse- vering energy and good judgment in all things which pertain to the agricul- tural life.
Mr. Johnson was married January 20, 1879, to Mary Newman, the daughter of Lacy and Maria (Phillips) Newman, and to them have been born two children, Luna, who died May 3, 1899, and Clarence, who married Mabel Gambold, and they have three children, Allen, Edwin and Helen. Mr. John- son's wife's parents were both natives of North Carolina, her father having come from that state to Indiana when he was eighteen years of age and settled with his father upon one hundred and sixty acres of land which he entered from the government. Mr. Newman died in 1892, his wife having passed away six years previous. Mr. and Mrs. Newman were the parents of six children : Laura, who died at the age of five years; Jane, who married Galen Robinson; Mary, the wife of Mr. Johnson; Martha, who married Frank Masten; George died at the age of seventeen years; Julia married Harrison Shields.
Mr and Mrs. Johnson are both consistent and loyal members of the
606
HENDRICKS COUNTY, INDIANA.
Methodist Episcopal church at Stilesville, in the affairs of which they are much interested, Mr. Johnson being a trustee of the church. Mr. Jolinson has been a stanch Republican for many years and although he takes a deep interest in the current questions of the day and political issues of the hour, he has never been a seeker for any public office. His extensive farming interests have de- manded his time and attention so that he has not felt inclined to bother him- self with the question of holding office. Mr. Johnson has a fine residence and keeps his farm in a highly cultivated state of improvement at all times. He has a reputation for honesty and integrity which has been the direct result of his square dealings throughout his long years of residence in this county. He is a man who has won the esteem of his fellow men by the daily touch of his life.
CHARLES W. NEAL.
Among the well known farmers of a past generation who have been instrumental in placing Hendricks county in the front ranks of the agricultural counties of Indiana, was Charles W. Neal, who was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, March 29, 1834, and died March 18, 1905, on his farm in Lin- coln township, this county. His parents were Nathaniel and Sallie (San- dusky) Neal, his mother dying at his birth. She was the daughter of Jacob Sandusky, of Bourbon county, Kentucky. In the early history of the state Jacob Sandusky came to Indiana with twenty thousand dollars in his belt and walked around over the central part of the state barefooted and looking like a tramp in order to quietly pick out the best lands. He bought eleven hun- dred acres where Irvington now stands and four hundred and eighty acres two and one-half miles south of Brownsburg, six hundred and forty acres in Decatur county, this state, north of Greensburg, eight hundred acres in the south edge of Boone county and other lands in the central part of the state. However, he did not live on any of these tracts, but continued to reside in Kentucky, coming back to Indiana each year to look after his property and pay his taxes.
Charles W. Neal never knew what it was to have a mother's protecting care and when he was four years of age he was taken away by relatives on horseback to Illinois, where he was kept for six years. He was then taken back to Kentucky, but remained there only a short time before he took a yearl- ing colt, with a sheepskin for a saddle and a rope bridle, and, fording the Ohio river, he returned to his relatives in Illinois. The first pair of shoes the lad
607
HENDRICKS COUNTY, INDIANA.
had he earned by driving oxen at ten cents a day. He again returned to Ken- tucky and spent the remainder of his boyhood days, and in that state he was married, July 4, 1861, to Emma S. Bradley, the second of seven children born to Shelton and Mildred (Simpson) Bradley. His wife was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, near Paris. It is interesting to note that both Charles Neal and his wife had been reared on farms where slaves did most of the work, and that neither of them had learned much of the hard realities of life when they were married. From his grandfather, Jacob Sandusky, he inherited four hundred acres of land two miles south of Brownsburg in Hendricks county, and in 1864 he and his wife came to this county to live. The only road to his farm was a blazed trail through the forests, swamps and underbrush, and the farm certainly could not have looked very inviting to him on the day on which he first saw it, as the land was low, wet, covered with a thick mat of underbrush. This was probably one reason why it had not been settled sooner. The Civil War had swept away what his family and relatives owned in Kentucky and that was one reason why he and his young wife decided to come to Indiana. They probably had little notion of the four hundred acres which was waiting for them in this county. Neighbors in Kentucky prophesied disaster for them in the new country, but Charles and his wife were not to be dismayed and with their little children they started in with brave hearts to make a living on their farm. For the first five years he did little. farming, spending most of his time hunting. However, dire necessity made him forsake his gun for the hoe and axe, and he gradually began clearing his land and dealing in live stock, buying and selling through- out the county. He cleared his land, rolled his logs, burned brush just as though he had always been used to it, drained his land, improved and fenced it, erected buildings and built a house which was one of the best in the county at that time. It must be remembered that he had lived in a state where white men did little work and where the slaves did all of it, and for this reason it took some time for him to understand that in Indiana white men did all of the work.
Charles W. Neal was a frank, plain-spoken man, even blunt of speech, but he had a host of friends who admired him for his sincerity. He was a man all the way through and was respected for his rugged honesty. He died in 1905, and his wife on September 27, 1908. Four children were born to them : Tavner, whose history is given elsewhere in this volume; Claudia, the wife of Alonzo Turpin; Forest, who is living; Lorenzo, deceased. The chil- dren all live in the southern part of Lincoln township, or near the old home farm.
608
HENDRICKS COUNTY, INDIANA.
E. W. SAWYER.
The history of a county or state, as well as that of a nation, is chiefly a chronicle of the lives and deeds of those who have conferred honor and dig- nity upon society. The world judges the character of a community by those of its representative citizens and yields its tribute of admiration and respect to those whose works and actions constitute the record of a community's prosperity and pride. Among the prominent citizens of Hendricks county who are well known because of their success in business affairs and the part they have taken in the civic affairs of the locality is he whose name appears at the head of this article and who is now the efficient and popular president of the Pittsboro Bank.
E. W. Sawyer, a business man of thirty years' experience in Pittsboro, Hendricks county, Indiana, was born in Sterling, Massachusetts, in 1854. He was given an excellent education and completed his schooling by gradu- ating from the Lancaster Academy. He spent his boyhood and early man- hood in the state of Massachusetts, where he operated a news-stand at Leo- minster for several years. In 1881 he came to Indiana and settled in Pitts- boro, this county, where he worked for Oliver W. Hill in his general store. He showed a marked aptitude for business and in 1888 he was able to engage in business for himself. His worth as a citizen and the popularity in which he was held in his own town is shown by the fact that he was appointed postmaster of Pittsboro by President Benjamin Harrison in 1888. In 1895 he built the Sawyer block in his home town and continued in business for the next ten years in this building. In 1909 he was elected president of the Pitts- boro Bank and has continued to hold this important office since that time. In addition to his mercantile and banking interests he has also been inter- ested in agriculture, having bought in 1898 the Samuel Hill farm of one hun- dred and forty acres, which he still owns and manages. He has proven as successful in the management of his farm as he did in his mercantile business. He is now living retired in Pittsboro, having given up the active management of his store and farm.
Mr. Sawyer was married to Forest Dean Hill in 1884, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Hill. He and his wife are members of the Christian church in Pittsboro and take a very active interest in the various organizations of the church. Mr. Sawyer was elected a deacon and trustee of the church in 1905. He has made his way in the business world because he has led a straightforward and commendable course in all of his business transactions,
Ell Sawyer
609
HENDRICKS COUNTY, INDIANA.
and has won the admiration of the people of Pittsboro and vicinity because he has been a progressive man of affairs. He is a broad-minded and public- spirited citizen, who has not been backward in giving his support to every movement for the upbuilding and advancement of his community. Person- ally he is a most companionable man and is a popular member of the circles in which he moves.
J. WESLEY AYERS.
The science of agriculture-for it is a science as well as an art-finds an able demonstrator as well as successful practitioner in the person of J. Wes- ley Ayers, who is widely known in Hendricks county, Indiana, maintaining a very productive and desirable farm in Franklin township. He comes of a very highly honored pioneer family, members of which have played well their parts in the general development of this favored section of the great Indiana commonwealth.
J. Wesley Ayers, the son of William P. and Mary E. (Bell) Ayers, was born in Danville, Indiana, April 4, 1865. His father was a native of Mary- land, while his mother was born in this county. William P. Ayers came to Indiana from Maryland with his parents when he was about four years of age. He received his education in this county, and after leaving school he worked on his father's farm until his marriage, at the age of twenty. To Mr. and Mrs. William P. Ayers were born ten children: Laura, the wife of Aaron Aldredge; Leander; Alice, who married Bradley Tout and, after his death, Henry Roland; Miranda, the wife of Frank Ryland; Dora, who married James West; Clara, the wife of Charles Garrison and, after his death, Frank Whitlock; Charles, who married Delia Denny; Otis, deceased; Albert, and J. Wesley, the immediate subject of this review.
J. Wesley Ayers secured his education by attending the common and high schools of Danville and attended the Central Normal College of Danville, and upon the completion of his education he came to Indianapolis, where he was in the employ of the Sherman, Occidental and Stubbins hotels as clerk for about four years. Upon the death of his father at Danville, he removed to the latter place and took up his father's occupation as brick maker and con- tractor, and for the succeeding eight years he followed this line of business, erecting, among other buildings, the First National Bank building, of Dan- ville. He then purchased a farm and began operations as an agriculturist,
(39)
610
HENDRICKS COUNTY, INDIANA.
securing his first farm of sixty-two acres north of Danville, and he managed this place for the next ten years, after which time he sold this tract and bought sixty acres two and one-half miles east of Danville. Two years later he sold this land and purchased his present farm of sixty acres in Franklin township, known as the William Tincher farm. a farm which he has brought to a high state of cultivation and made attractive with a good home, outbuildings and other extensive improvements.
Mr. Ayers was married April 2, 1908, to Ambrosia Hurst, the daughter of Charles R. and Mary E. (Bence) Hurst, and to this union there has been born one child, Mary Elizabeth. Mrs. Ayers' parents were both natives of Harrison county, Indiana, and Mrs. Ayers was born in that county. She has one brother, John, who married Frankie E. Thomas, and they live near Cory- don, Indiana.
Mr. Ayers has identified himself since his majority with the Republican party, but has never been an active participant in the campaigns of his party. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and also of the Sons of Veterans. He and his wife are loyal and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Danville, and are liberal contributors to the support of this denom- ination. Owing to his genuine worth as a man and his genial disposition, he easily wins friends and has always retained them. He enjoys a marked degree of popularity in the locality where so many of his active years have been spent.
JESSE MASTEN.
The student interested in Hendricks county, Indiana, does not have to carry his investigation far into its annals before learning that Jesse Masten has long been one of the leading and active representatives of its agricultural interests and that his labors have proven a potent force in making this a rich farming region. Through several decades he has carried on farming, gradu- ally improving his valuable place, and while he has prospered in this he has also found ample opportunity to assist in the material development of the county, and his co-operation has been of value for the general good.
. Jesse Masten. the proprietor of five hundred and fifty-five acres of fine farming land in Franklin township, Hendricks county, Indiana, was born in this township, February 26, 1847, the son of Reuben and Margaret (Garrison) Masten, both of whom were natives of North Carolina. Reuben Masten re- ceived his education in that state and after leaving school he worked on his
611
HENDRICKS COUNTY, INDIANA.
father's farm for a few years. After his marriage in North Carolina, he, together with his father, moved to Daviess county, Indiana, but remained there only a short time. He then came to Hendricks county and entered one hundred and sixty acres of land from the government in Franklin township, and there he lived the simple, unostentatious life of a farmer and was very successful in all his undertakings, having four hundred and seventy acres of land at the time of his death, October 10, 1892. Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Masten were the parents of eleven children: Hezekiah, who married Ann Jackson; John, deceased; Derias, who married Margaret DeMott; Mahala, the wife of David Pike, both deceased; Mary, who married Marshall Roberts, deceased: Matthias, who married Nancy Elmore; Harry, deceased; Sarah, deceased; Ann, deceased, who married L. Buis; Emmazetti, the wife of John Hodson, of Coatesville, Indiana, and Jesse, the immediate subject of this review.
Jesse Masten received the best education which the country schools of Franklin township afforded in the stirring days preceding the Civil War. His education was naturally limited because there were no schools which really merited the name. After completing his meager educational training, he started to work with his father on the home farm. The land which his father had entered was a virgin forest, and the sound of the axe and the crackle of the burning brush was the finest kind of music to the ears of the pioneers of that day. While still a young man he was married to Mary Ellen Baird, the daughter of Boles and Emmeline (Coons) Baird, and to this union there were born six children: Irene, who married Albert Smith, and is the mother of three children, Nina, Carl and Jesse; Ira, who married Ida Bowen, and they are the parents of three children, Mabel, Vivian and Mary; Maude, who married Frank Powers, and is the mother of two children, Lucile and Ralph; Arthur married Elizabeth Powers, and Clyde and Willis, who are unmarried and at home.
Mrs. Masten's parents were both natives of Kentucky and reared a fam- ily of eight children: William, who married Katie Starkey; Lucinda, the wife of Wesley Richardson; Eliza became the wife of Martin Mason ; Bence, married Allie Bandy; Mary, wife of Mr. Masten; Frankie married Jacob Shoptaugh ; Clay married Eva Marshall; Charles, deceased.
Mr. Masten was reared to the life of a farmer and has never seen any good reason to forsake that time-honored calling, in which he has met with such distinctive success. On his splendid farm of five hundred and fifty-five acres in Franklin township he carried on general farming and also gives con- siderable attention to the breeding and raising of high grade live stock, having found this to be a very valuable and profitable auxiliary to his agricultural
612
HENDRICKS COUNTY, INDIANA.
interests. His farm is well improved in every respect and is a pleasing sight to the passerby.
In politics Mr. Masten is a Progressive, having allied himself with that party upon its organization in the fall of 1912. He and his wife are inter- ested in all movements looking toward the welfare of the community in which they live, Mrs. Masten being a member of the Missionary Baptist church at Coatesville. Mr. Masten is financially interested in the First Na- tional Bank at Coatesville and is now vice-president of that institution.
JOHN A. WEST.
Among the strong and influential citizens of Hendricks county the record of whose lives have become an essential part of the history of this section, the gentleman whose name appears above occupies a prominent place and for years he has exerted a beneficial influence in the locality where he resides. His chief characteristics are keenness of perception, a tireless energy, honesty of purpose and motive, and every-day common sense, which have enabled him not only to advance his own interests, but also largely contribute to the moral and material advancement of the community.
John A. West, the proprietor of one hundred six and a half acres of land in Clay township, Hendricks county, was born March 8, 1867, in the county where he has spent his entire life. His father was also a native of this county, his birth having occurred near Pecksburg, in 1833, and died in Clay township, March 5, 1908. Columbus West, father of the subject, received a limited common school education in the schools of his day, and worked on his father's farm and in the grist mill and, after his marriage, began farming on a forty-acre tract which was given him by his father. He proved to be a remarkably successful farmer, and at one time had eight hundred and sixty acres of fine land in the county. He married Tabitha Staley, and to this union eight children were born: Ellen, deceased; Lucy, the wife of George Harvey ; Jane, who married John Baron; Morton married Effie Walls; George married Alva Walls; Henry, who first married Albia Harlan and, after her death, Mary Bartholomew; Milo, who married Naomi Barow, and John A., the immediate subject of this sketch.
The West family trace their ancestry back to North Carolina, Abra- ham West, grandfather of John A., being a native of North Carolina, who
613
HENDRICKS COUNTY, INDIANA.
came to Hendricks county with his parents when he was a small boy. Upon reaching manhood he married Sinia Hadley, and to this union nine chil- dren were born: William; Washington, who married Lucinda Staley; Co- lumbus, the father of John 'A .; Diego, who first married Endemile Asher, and, after her death, Elizabeth Whicker; Sipio, who married Della Parker; Ellen, deceased; Narcissus, who married Alpeus Harlan; Amanda, the wife of Allen Whicker; Malissa, the wife of Milton Asher, and who married Manly Justice after the death of her first husband.
John A. West attended the district schools of Clay township, and was early initiated into all the mysteries of agriculture by his practical father. Upon becoming of age his father gave him a farm and he immediately de- cided to provide a helpmate for himself. Accordingly he was married to Ada B. Harrison, the daughter of William and Eliza (Bartholomew) Har- rison, and through the many years during which they have walked together theirs has been truly a happy marriage. His wife's father was a native of Hendricks county, and followed the occupation of a farmer all his life. His wife, Eliza Bartholomew, was the daughter of Benjamin and Sabina (John- son) Bartholomew, and to them were born five children, Iva, Oscar, Ada (the wife of Mr. West), Benjamin and Wilma. Iva married Luther Trester ; Oscar married Nettie Rushton; Benjamin died when small and Wilma is still unmarried. William Harrison was born in 1834 and died in 1873. His wife was born in 1837, and her death occurred September 23, 1913. Thomas Harrison, the father of William Harrison, was a native of Ken- tucky, and later moved to Tennessee, from which state he moved to Hen- dricks county. Indiana, early after his marriage. He was married to Nancy Bryan, and to this union six children were born: John, who married Mar- garet Clark; Martha, the wife of Reuben P. Wall; William, who married Eliza Bartholomew; James and Nathan died when young; Thomas died in 1853. the grandmother surviving nearly a half century afterwards, passing . away in 1899.
Mr. West has always cast his ballot for the Republican party, because he felt that in this party were the leaders who were well qualified to direct the destinies of the nation. In his fraternal relations he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while, religiously, he is a loyal and consistent member of the Baptist church at Amo. He has always taken a keen interest in the various movements of his locality which were organized for the purpose of civic or intellectual betterment, and has always been a sympathetic helper in all such movements. His clean life and integrity of
614
HENDRICKS COUNTY, INDIANA.
high rank have won for him the approbation of a large number of friends throughout his home township. Mr. and Mrs. West have an adopted daugh- ter, Carrie Trester, born February 2, 1893.
JAMES MONTGOMERY.
One of the sturdy pioneers of Hendricks county who has lived within its borders for more than three score and ten years is James Montgomery. His family were among the very first people in the county and during the whole history of the county the Montgomerys have been important factors in the material advancement of the county. They have seen the wilderness and swamps give way to broad, cultivated fields and flourishing towns and villages, and in all this change they have borne an honorable part.
James Montgomery, the son of George and Nancy (Sturman) Mont- gomery, was born near Plainfield, Hendricks county, in 1841 and has spent his whole life in this county. When he was two years of age his father moved from Plainfield to Marion township and in this township James Mont- gomery has lived since that time. He was given the best education afforded by the subscription schools of his time and at an early age began to assist his father upon the farm. He remained at home until his marriage, at the age of twenty-one, when he started out for himself on a farm adjoining his father's, and remained on the same farm until he retired from active life.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.