USA > Indiana > Howard County > History of Howard County, Indiana, Vol II > Part 39
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JOHN WILDRIDGE.
The character of a community is determined in a large measure by the lives of a comparatively few of its members. If its moral and intellectual status be good, if in a social way it is a pleasant place in which to reside, if its reputation for the integrity of its citizens has extended into other localities, it will be found that the standards set by the leading men have been high and their influence such as to mould their characters and shape the lives of those with whom they
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mingle. In placing the subject of this sketch in the front rank of such men, justice is rendered a biographical fact universally recog- nized throughout Howard county by those at all familiar with his history. Although a quiet and unassuming man with no ambition for public position or leadership, he has contributed much to the material advancement of the community, while his admirable quali- ties of head and heart and the straight forward, upright course of his daily life, have tended greatly to the moral standing of the circles in which he moves and given him a reputation for integrity and cor- rect conduct such as few achieve.
John Wildridge was born in Franklin county, Indiana, Feb- ruary 10. 1833, the son of James and Nancy ( Abercrombie ) Wild- ridge. His paternal ancestors were among the early settlers of New Jersey, in which state his grandfather was born and reared and from which he migrated to southern Indiana during the pioneer period, locating in the county of Franklin, where he took up land, developed a farmi and spent the remainder of his days. This ancestor appears to have been a man of intelligence and influence among his neigh- bors and friends, also an enterprising farmer and distinctively a man of affairs. He reared a family of seven children and died in the prime of his powers, leaving a widow who lived to be quite old. James Wildridge grew to maturity in Franklin county and when a young man married Nancy Abercrombie, whose father. Alexander Abercrombie, a native of Ireland. was also a pioneer of southern Indiana, and by occupation a tiller of the soil. The Abercrombies were an eminently respectable and law-abiding family, devoutly re- ligious and their influence did much to promote the moral advance- ment of the community in which they lived. After the death of the parents some of the children, of whom there were quite a number, scattered to various parts of the state, others remaining in Franklin county where they became prosperous agriculturists and lived hon- orable and exemplary lives.
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
James Wildridge was reared a farmer and later in addition to agricultural pursuits worked as a mechanic, and at one time was engaged in the mercantile business. In the spring of 1849 he made the long and hazardous trip overland across the plains to California with the famous scout, Kit Carson, for a guide, and returning three years later to Indiana. In 1854 he disposed of his farm and other interests in the county of Franklin and moved to Howard county, where for some years he cultivated the soil as a renter, subsequently purchasing the place on which he lived, still later he bought an eighty acre tract on which a part of Kokomo now stands and in due time became one of the substantial and enterprising citizens of the community. He did not live long, however, to enjoy the fruits of his industry, dying in 1857, at the age of sixty years, leaving a widow and six children, the former departing this life in 1873, when sixty-eight years old.
The early life of John Wildridge on the family homestead in Franklin county was conducive to a well rounded physical develop- ment and his home influences were such as to give him, while still young, correct views of life and its responsibilities and enable him to prepare for its duties. Owing to the lack of educational facili- ties he was deprived of school advantages, but by private study and the reading of such books and papers as he could procure he made up in a large measure for the deficiency and in the course of a few years became widely informed on many subjects and was recog- nized as one of the most intelligent young men of his neighborhood. He accompanied his parents upon their removal to Howard county, and assisted his father on the farm until the latter's death, after which he managed the place to the satisfaction of all concerned un- til its division among the several heirs. Following this he accepted a position in a store at Kokomo and was thus engaged until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he entered the service as clerk
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to the quarter master in which and other capacities he continued with the army until 1865, though not regularly enlisted. At the close of the war Mr. Wildridge assumed the pursuits of civil life to which he has since devoted his attention, the meantime by ju- dicious investments and successful management adding greatly to his possessions until he is now recognized as one of financially strong and reliable men of the county. The first line of business in which he engaged after the war was over was merchandising, in connection with which he also devoted considerable attention trad- ing in various commodities, live stock, etc., meeting with encourag- ing success in his ventures and within a short time laying the foundation of the liberal fortune which he now commands. He was for some time in the real estate and loan business which, like his other enterprises, proved satisfactory and added much to his income while the near proximity of his landed estate to Kokomo made it very valuable and was also the means of augmenting his fortunes. Mr. Wildridge has a beautiful and attractive home within a short distance of the city and is well situated to enjoy the fruits of his many years of endeavor and to make the most of the pleasant life which he is now living. He manifests an abiding interest in whatever makes for the good of the city and county, materially or otherwise, and all enterprises having for their object the social welfare and moral uplift of his fellow men are sure to enlist his in- fluences and active co-operation. He is liberal in assisting worthy measures, not the least of his donations being a gift of one thou- sand dollars to the Grand Army Post of Kokomo, to be expended for the benefit of suffering survivors of the war. and their families. This liberal benefaction, indicative of his interest in a most praise- worthy object, not only greatly endeared him to the members of the organization but made him popular with the general public, and gave his name publicity as a loyal citizen and true lover and bene- factor of his kind.
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
Since the organization of the Republican party Mr. Wildridge has been one of its ardent and active supporters, believing thor- oughly in the principles upon which it is founded and the great mission which it is designed to fulfill. Originally he was an old line Whig, but when that historic party went out of existence he was fitted by sturdy observation and experience to become alligned with its successor. Although interested in matters of public moment and well informed on the issues of the times he has never had any ambition in the direction of official preferment. neither has he disturbed his quiet by entering the arena of partisan politics as a campaigner or leader.
Mr. Wildridge has been twice married, the first time in 1863 to Sarah Robinson, the second in 1876 to Olia B. Davis, daughter of Dr. Samuel and Hannah ( Case) Davis, of Indiana- polis. Dr. Davis was an native of New York and after finishing his medical course, practiced in Franklin county, Indiana, from 1836 to 1873, during a part of which period he served as sur- geon of the Eighty-third Indiana Volunteers in the Civil war, re- ceiving a serious injury while at the front. In 1873 he moved to Indianapolis where he built up a large and lucrative professional business which he carried on until his death in 1886, at the age of seventy-two years. Mrs. Davis, who was born in the state of Indiana, departed this life in 1877, when fifty-six years of age. after bearing her husband a family of ten children. Mr. and Mrs. Wildridge have not been blessed with children of their own, but have always taken great delight in young people, and devoted much time to their interests. Mr. Wildridge has been a member of the Masonic Brotherhood for over a half century. having risen to high standing in the order and held many posi- tions of honor and trust in the local lodge with which he is identi- fied. As already indicated he has long been deeply interested in
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the Grand Army of the Republic and at one time was made an honorary member of the Kokomo Post, not being eligible to full membership. When the first fire department of Kokomo was or- ganized he became a member and as long as able reported for active duty, but by reason of advancing age he was placed some years ago on the retired list, though he still keeps in touch with the department and is familiar with everything concerning the same.
Mr. Wildridge is recognized as one of the honored and influential citizens of his county and stands high in the esteem of the people of his immediate community as a true type of the intelligent broad-minded gentleman of the old school. In the largest and most liberal sense his life has been successful and fraught with good to his fellow men, and the future awaits him with great and abundant rewards.
- WILLIAM MIDDLETON.
The family name of the subject of this sketch is familiar throughout the county of Howard and as highly esteemed per- haps as that of any other in this part of the state. It was in honor of this family that the thriving town of Middletown received its name. the land on which it stands having formerly belonged to the subject to whom is also due the credit of attracting attention to the place and making it an important trading point for a large and enterprising community.
From the most reliable data obtainable the Middletons ap- pear to have been among the early pioneers of eastern Ohio, espe- cially the old county of Columbiana, in which the subject's grand-
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
father was born and spent the greater part of his life. This an- cestor was a farmer by occupation, a birth-right member of the society of Friends and a man of sterling worth and high standing in his community. He moved to Highland county about the be- ginning of the nineteenth century and there spent the remainder of his days, dying at the ripe old age of eighty-five years, and leaving a family of five children. Levi Middleton, the subject's father, was born in the latter county in 1802. received his early training on the family homestead, and later turned his attention to carpentry, at which he became a very efficient workman. About the year 1820 he moved to Montgomery county, Indiana, and settled near Crawfordsville, the 'site of which at the time of his arrival was covered with a dense forest growth and gave little promise of what the seat of justice would ultimately become. When the county- seat was located and surveyed, Mr. Middleton erected the first house in the town. After a residence of a number of years in Mont- gomery county, he came to the county of Howard shortly after the latter was opened for settlement, locating near the village of Russia- ville, where he purchased three quarter sections of land, to which he subsequently added another quarter, thus becoming one of the largest land owners of that part of the county. A portion of this land was improved before he made his investment, the latter tract costing him three thousand dollars, a mere pittance compared with its present value. While looking after his interests in the county he was taken sick and within a brief time passed away, dying in the year 1853. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Posgate and who became the mother of nine children, departed this life six years later. It is a fact worthy of note that the land in Mont- gomery county which Mr. Middleton purchased from the govern- ment and which he soll for three thousand five hundred has be- come very valuable, the present owner having frequently refused
34
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to sell though offered the sum. of twenty-two thousand dollars for the farm. About one-third of the land in Howard county which Mr. Middleton entered is now in possession of two of his de- scendants, a son and a granddaughter, both of whom reside in the town of Middleton. Of the seven sons and two daughters that constituted the family of Levi and Mary Middleton, four of the former and one of the latter are still living, one of the sons be- ing a well known minister whose labors take him into other and remote- fields.
William Middleton, whose name introduces this article, was born December 6, 1830, in Montgomery county, Indiana and spent his early life on the home farm in the vicinity of Crawfordsville. He was reared to agricultural pursuits with the strenuous duties of which he became familiar while still a mere lad and grew up to the full stature of manhood with proper conception of life and its responsibilities. What educational discipline he secured was ob- tained entirely in the subscription schools, there being at that time no public funds for tuition, but in due time he mastered the ordi- nary branches of study which with the reading of such books and papers as he could procure made him quite a well informed young man. After remaining with his father and assisting with the farm work until his twenty-fourth year he moved into the woods of Howard county to carve his own way through life, clearing and developing a good farm in the course of a few years, and accu- mulating a sufficiency of material wealth to place him in independent circumstances.
Mr. Middleton long ranked among the most enterprising and successful agriculturists and stock raisers of his part of the country, but in the year 1900 he discontinued active farm labor and has since been living a retired life in his pleasant and comfortable home in the town of Middleton. He still owns his farm, consisting of a
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
quarter section of fertile and admirably situated land, all of which is susceptible to cultivation, being thoroughly drained and im- proved with substantial buildings, fences, etc., and comparing fa- vorably with any like number of acres in the county. By recourse to modern methods and the judicious rotation of crops, together with ample fertilizing and a successful system of tile drainage, this farm produces more grain and vegetables to the acre now than when first cleared. Mr. Middleton having made a close and critical study of the science of agriculture and knowing how to obtain the largest possible results from his labors. He also raises cattle and hogs and sheep of the best breeds to which he feeds all the corn his land will produce, and like many enterprising farmers, he finds good live stock much more remunerative than the cultivation of the soil. In addition to his farm he also owns three lots in Middleton, besides valuable personal property and, as already indicated. he oc- cupies a prominent place in the front rank of the county's substan- tial and well-to-do agriculturists and representative men of affairs.
Mr. Middleton was married November 12. 1854. to Jane Moulder, whose parents, John and Eleanor ( Maris) Moulder, were natives of North Carolina and early settlers of Orange county. Indiana, subsequently moving to the county of Parke and still later to Howard. Mr. and Mrs. Moulder became husband and wife while living in Parke county, but spent the greater part of their married life in Howard, both living far beyond the allotted span of three score and ten, the father dying in 1900, at the remarkable age of ninety-six years, the mother preceding him to the grave when eighty-five years old. This estimable and God-fearing couple were greatly respected by all who came within the range of their in- fluence and as earnest and devout members of the Society of Friends, their lives were practical examples of the plain simple teachings of their church and made for the moral and spiritual
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good of everybody with whom they come into contact. Their family consisted of eleven children. six of whom survive, the others having rejoined their parents on the other side of death's mystic stream.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Middleton has been blessed with three children, the oldest of whom, a son by the name of Charles E., born November 19. 1856, is the present efficient deputy clerk of the Howard county circuit court ; he married some years ago and is the father of two children, one of each sex; Florence R., born in 1860, is the wife of W. H. Orr. of Chicago, and the mother of three offspring: John M .. the youngest of the family, born in 1870, is a farmer by occupation and resides at the present time on the home place near Middleton; he, too, is married, and the father of one child. a daughter.
Mr. Middleton has been an active and influential member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for thirty-five years during which time he has achieved an enviable standing in the society and filled many positions of honor and trust, including among others, that of representative to the grand lodge on two different occa- sions. Politically he espouses the principles of the Republican party, but has never disturbed his quiet by seeking office or aspiring to leadership.
H. F. SHOWALTER.
Among the enterprising farmers and representative citizens of Howard county is H. F. Showalter, of Taylor township, a man widely and favorably known for his intelligence and the wisdom with which he has directed his life, as well as noble purposes and high ideals he has ever had in view. Mr. Showalter hails from the grand old commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where his birth occurred in the
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
year 1853. having first seen the light of day in the historic town of Gettysburg, the scene of one of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare, which settled decisively the impossibility of a northern invasion by the armed hosts of the Confederacy. The Showalters are an oldl family of the Keystone state and the name appears at fre- quent intervals in the annals of Adams and adjacent counties, the ancestors of the American branch moving in a very early day from Germany. The subject's paternal grandparents, who were of Ger- man origin, spent their lives in Pennsylvania, and his father. Isaac Showalter, who was born there in the year of 1832. came to Indiana in 1856 and settled in Franklin county, where he worked for a number of years as a contractor and builder and where he is still living at the ripe old age of seventy-six years. Susan Halderman, wife of Isaac Showalter, is also of Pennsylvania birth and German descent and like her husband, a member of an old and higly re- spected family which at the present time has many representatives in different parts of the United States. She, too, is living, having reached the age of seventy-four years and with her husband be- longs to the Methodist church, in the good work of which both have been long and actively engaged. Of the six children born to this estimable couple. Henry Fleming. of this review is the oklest and doubtless far the best known. He was a child of three years when his parents disposed of their interests in Pennsylvania and moved west. Since that time his life has been spent within the geograph- ical limits of Indiana, principally in the county of Howard, to which he removed in 1883. from Franklin county. His early education embraced the common school curriculum, this training being after- wards supplemented by a course in the Brookville College. from which he was graduated in 1872. Following this event he spent the succeeding thirteen years in educational work, acquiring during that period enviable repute as a capable and popular instructor and
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judicious disciplinarian. At the expiration of the time indicated he gave up teaching and moving to Howard county purchased the beautiful farm of one hundred acres in Taylor township which he soon improved in many ways and brought to a high state of tillage and on which he has since lived and prospered.
As a farmer, Mr. Showalter is the peer of any man in Howard county who follows tilling the soil for a livelihood. being enterpris- ing and progressive in his ideas and prosecuting his labors after the most approved methods and with the aid of the best modern ma- chinery and mechanical ingenuity has thus far devised. By a care- ful study of the soil and systematic cropping by rotation, together with plentiful use of fertilizers both natural and artificial and thor- ough under drainage, he has greatly increased the fertility of his land, and seldom a season passes that he does not realize bountiful returns from the time and labor expended on the farm. Although well adapted to all the crops grown in this latitude the land is especially rich in the elements that enter into the growth of corn. large yields of which he gathers every year while wheat. oats, vege- tables of all kinds and a number of varieties of fruits are also sure of certain growth and ample returns.
In connection with general agriculture, Mr. Showalter, like the majority of enterprising farmers, pays much attention to the raising of live stock, in which his success has been most gratifying. He raises the Poland China breeds of hogs which he markets in large numbers every year and he also ranks among the most suc- cessful raisers of cattle and sheep in the county, his breeds of Black and Angus cattle and Shropshire sheep commanding the highest prices that buyers can afford to pay. In the matter of general im- provements, including fences, outbuildings, barns and dwelling, his place compares favorably with the best farms in Taylor township, everything on the premises being kept in neat and systematic order
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
and bespeaking on the part of the proprietor a thorough acquain- tance with agricultural science, together with the good taste that renders the country home pleasant and attractive and rural life de- sirable.
Mr. Showalter is a reader and a thinker and has a wide and profound acquaintance with many subjects. His collegiate train- ing has enabled him to take broad and intelligent views of men and affairs and to get all the satisfaction and enjoyment out of life there is in it. to which end he has become a close observer, an admirer of nature and a close and diligent student of the many wonderful things which his mind constantly grasps and which tend to unfold to him the wisdom displayed by the God of the universe in the work of His hands.
Mr. Showalter, in the year of 1876, chose a wife and help- meet in the person of Sarah Pyke, whose parents, J. W. and Ruth ( Howell ) Pyke, were among the early pioneers of Howard and Tip- ton counties and representatives of a large and eminently respecta- ble family that bore an active and influential part in the development of the various communities in which they originally settled. Four brothers of Mrs. «Showalter served during the Civil war. one of whom was killed in battle while bravely battling for the honor of his country, one died from disease contracted while in the line of duty, the other two returning at the cessation of hostilities with honorable records as loyal and gallant defenders of the national U'nion.
Mr. and Mrs. Showalter have a family of four children whose names and the dates of birth are as follows: Vera, born 1878, wife of L. P. Hutto: J. R., born in 1883, lives in the city of Chicago; E. P., born in 1887, and W. E., born in 1890, are at home, assisting their father to run the farm. Both are intelligent young men and above the average in educational training. E. P. being a student of De Pauw University and W. A. a high school graduate.
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In his political views Mr. Showalter is a pronounced Republi- can and as such wields a strong influence for his party in the town- ship of his residence. He serves at present very acceptably as trustee of Taylor township and has been a member of the county council in which capacity his judgment carries weight and his opinions and suggestions command respect. In matters religious he subscribes to the creed of the Methodist Episcopal church. to which body his wife and children also belong.
J. E. FREDRICK.
This gentleman to whom more than to any one man is due the inception and success of the great manufacturing establishment with which his name is so closely identified holds worthy prestige among the captains of industry throughout the West, and for a number of years has been the leader in an enterprise upon which the city of Kokomo largely depends for much of the prosperity it now en- joys. J. E. Fredrick was born in 1865 near the village of l'itts- burg. Randolph county, Indiana, and when four years of age was taken by his parents to Greenville, Ohio, where he grew to maturity and received his educational training. After finishing the curric- ulum of the schools which he attended during his youth and young manhood, he in due time entered the Heidelberg College at Tiffin. where he pursued a literary course. Later he entered the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati where he was graduated with an honorable record in the year 1892. The same year in which he received his degree Mr. Fredrick located at Ridgeville. Indiana. where he practiced medicine until 1896, in February of which year he discontinued his profession by reason of becoming interested in a
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