USA > Indiana > Huntington County > History of Huntington County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 24
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On May 6, 1899, the holy bonds of wedlock united the life destinies of Mr. Roberts and Miss Laura B. Smethers, who was born and reared in Huntington county, and who is a daughter of John A. and Eliza (Cecil) Smethers. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have two children-Marcus D., who was born August 8, 1904, and who is now attending the district school; and Hester D., who was born March 10, 1914.
JAMES RILEY. Among the men of Huntington county who are main- taining this section's supremacy in the field of agriculture, James Riley is worthy of more than passing mention. After a long career of in-
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dustry and usefulness to his community, he is the owner of a good farm in Wayne township, and his worth as a man and a citizen is evidenced by the high esteem in which he is universally held. He was born in Mercer county, Ohio, March 25, 1855, and is a son of John and Mary (Allen) Riley.
John Riley was born in County Louth, Ireland, and was a poor emigrant lad when he came to the United States. In New York City he was married to Miss Mary Allen, who had been born in the same county in Erin, and in 1846 they emigrated to Mercer county, Ohio, and established a home. Although he had no financial means or influential friends, Mr. Riley had ambition and determination, and succeeded in accumulating a farm of forty acres on which he continued to carry on agricultural operations throughout the remainder of his career, both he and his worthy wife passing away in Ohio. They were the parents of six children, as follows: James, of this review; Patrick, who is still a resident of Mercer county, Ohio, engaged in farming the old homestead place; Jennie, on home place, who is single; Mary C., who is the wife of William Ax, of Mercer county ; Sarah, who is the wife of John McAvoy, of Auglaize county, Ohio; and John, who has large oil interests at Colingo, California.
The homestead farm in Mercer county, Ohio, was the scene of James Riley's boyhood youth, and the schools of that vicinity furnished him with his literary training. His educational advantages were not exten- sive, as they were confined to about three months each year during the winter, and at the age of sixteen years he laid aside his books to devote his whole energies to his farming operations. At the age of twenty-one years he left his parents' home and faced the world on his own account, going to the West and taking up a pre-emption in Ness county, Kansas. There he spent five years, at the end of which time he came to Indiana, and, locating in Van Buren township, Grant county, accepted employ- ment in the oil fields as a pumper. He was thus engaged for some eight years, in the meantime carefully saving his earnings, so that he was able to come to Wayne township and purchase a tract of eighty acres, to which he subsequently added thirty-five acres, and on this property began his agricultural operations.
On January 26, 1899, Mr. Riley was married to Miss Mary E. Hat- field, who was born in Howard county, Indiana, and she died December 23, 1908, having been the mother of two children: John, born April 22, 1900, and now in the seventh grade of the public schools; and Mary, born April 13, 1904, who is a pupil in the fourth grade. Mr. Riley has clearly won the right to the title of self-made man. Every dollar that is his today has been won fairly and through his own efforts, for when he entered upon his career he was without funds and was forced to depend upon his own resources in able to get a start in the world. Today he is one of the substantial men of his community, and his career should prove encouraging to those who feel that they are handicapped in life by a lack of financial support. He is a quiet, unassuming man, who has had no desire to hold public office, although ever ready to aid
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his community in any possible way. He exercises his franchise in behalf of the candidates of the republican party. In fraternal matters he is associated with Mount Etna Lodge, No. 304, F. & A. M., in which he has numerous friends, as he has indeed in all avenues of life's activ- ities.
ASA W. BONHAM. Huntington county has many fine farms and many prosperous farmers, and one of the men who has most ably cul- tivated his own ability and the resources of land is Asa W. Bonham of Salamonie township. Mr. Bonham has demonstrated that his peculiar fitness among the world's workers has been for the development of farming and stock enterprise, and through this avenue has done his greatest service not only to himself but to society. His life has been one of quiet but effective performance, has seldom brought him into politics or the conspicuous walks of the world, but in his relations to the com- munity and in what he has accomplished has reason to be exceptionally well satisfied with his career.
Mr. Bonham is known as the proprietor of the Cherry Lawn Farm, comprising three hundred and nincty-five acres located a mile north and three-quarters of a mile east of Warren, in Sections 15 and 21 of Salamonie township. Mr. Bonham was born in Rock Creek township, Huntington county, April 12, 1871, and though still in his early forties has won undoubted success. His parents were Carey W. and Sarah E. (Brown) Bonham. Both parents located in Huntington county when quite young. Carcy Bonham came from Fairfield county, Ohio, with his father, who located in Rock Creek township and he grew up in that locality and was a prosperous farmer. The family moved to Marion, Indiana, and he spent his last years therc. There were six children in the family, five of whom are still living, namely; Asa W .; Russell E .; Minnie C., wife of Samucl E. Culbert of Huntington ; Mary E., wife of T. J. Redding of Rock Creek township, Wells county; Bertha J., wife of W. E. Pribble of Rock Creek township.
The early training of Asa W. Bonham was in the country, his boy- hood was spent on the farm in Rock Creek township, and his education was supplied by the district schools of that community. From the time he was eighteen his energies have been directed toward farming and stock raising, and each succeeding year has seen a notable increase in his prosperity and along with experience has come greater capabilities as a tiller of the soil and a manager of his growing resources. On November 12, 1892, Mr. Bonham married Emma A. Thompson, daughter of John H. Thompson. Mrs. Bonham was born in Salamonie township, and like her husband received an education in the local schools. To their mar- riage have been born seven children, named as follows: Howard W., who is a graduate of the Warren high school and now lives at home and assists his father ; Edith L., a graduate of the Warren high school, also at home; Mary E., who finished the common school course and is now a student in the Warren school; Elijah R., fifteen years of age and who has finished the common school course; while the younger children are Ruth E., Lucy, and Bertha G.
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The family worship in the Christian church at Warren, and Mr. Bonham is an elder in that denomination. While a Republican in politics, he has seldom taken much part in party affairs, and has been content to contribute to the advancement of the eommunity through his indi- vidual business. Besides the Cherry Lawn Farm, Mr. Bonham owns one hundred and sixty acres in Rock Creek township in Section 35, and one hundred and eighty-eight aeres in Seetion 6 of Liberty township in Wells eounty. His wife is also one of the land owners in this section of Indiana, having two hundred and forty acres in Seetions 5 and 6 in Liberty township of Wells county, and the two together have aggregate holdings of nine hundred and eighty-three aeres in both counties. Further than a statement of these faets, it is not necessary to com- ment upon their position as among the prosperous people of Huntington county, and they deserve well of the present generation and of pos- terity.
PHILIP H. SHAFER. Since he was sixteen years of age Philip H. Shafer has been a resident of Huntington county, and at that date began to assist his father in the elearing of a portion of the wilderness, and some of the land which his boyhood labors helped to develop is still in his possession. Having lived in Huntington eounty for half a century, Mr. Shafer bears an unusual relation to the soil in this loeal- ity, and presents in his history elements of unusual interest. The dif- ferenee in the eondition of the land now from what it was when the Shafer family first settled here represents not only the aehievements of its oeeupants in eultivating and improving it, but also the general progress of this region sinee eivilization was first planted in it. Per- sonally Mr. Shafer is regarded as one of Huntington eounty's ablest and most prosperous farmer eitizens, and a man who has used his own success not selfishly, but to promote the welfare and progress of his eom- munity and has always taken a helpful part in bearing the burdens of his neighbors.
Butler eounty, Ohio, is the native home of Philip H. Shafer, and he was born three miles northwest of Middletown Mareh 6, 1846. His parents were George E. and Margaret (Wolf) Shafer, who moved to Huntington eounty in 1863, loeating in Salamonie township, where the father bought one hundred and sixty acres of land. That land was eov- ered practically as to every aere by heavy wood, and the original price paid for it was one thousand dollars. The father with the aid of his boys, of whom Philip was the oldest, started in to hew down the trees, to grub the stumps, and elear off a space for eultivation of field erops. That was a tremendous undertaking, and would be yet today, and it is with a natural pride that Mr. Shafer now regards his possession of one hundred aeres of the original quarter section, his own toil having as- sisted materially in the improvement of that plaee. The parents eon- tinued their residence on the old homstead until their death. The father was a devout member of the United Brethren church and one of the leaders in that denomination in Huntington county. There were six
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children in the family, five of whom are still living: Philip H .; Emily M., deceased; John W. Shafer, of Bluffton, Indiana; Mary A., wife of Jasper Jones of Warren; Sarah, who is unmarried and lives at Decatur, Indiana; and Jacob E. Shafer, of Salamonie township.
Philip H. Shafer when the family moved to Huntington county in 1863 was already at an age where he was ready to take up the serious responsibilities of life. His education had been acquired by attendance at the district schools of Butler county, Ohio, and the intervals had been filled in by practical training in the work of farm and household. However, he continued his education by one term in Huntington county. When he was twenty years of age he started out to win his fortune, hav- ing no capital, and after working for two years was given a small piece of land by his father. His subsequent prosperity has been the result of his steady labor, economy, good business judgment, and from the generous reward which Indiana agriculture has paid to all its devotees during the last half century.
Mr. Shafer first married Mary J. Thompson, daughter of Ebenezer and Pamelia (Ware) Thompson, who were early settlers of Salamonie township. Mrs. Shafer lived as wife and mother for sixteen years, and in that time six children were born, three of whom are yet living, namely : George E. Shafer; Jennie A., wife of Charles F. Bonewitz, of Michigan ; and Fannie A., wife of Perry Keller of Huntington. After the death of his first wife Mr. Shafer was married on June 23, 1884, to Sarah L. E. Ruble, who was born in Salamonie township August 29, 1862, a daughter of Jonathan and Ruth (Rusc) Ruble. To this marriage were born eight, children, six of whom are living in 1914, namely : Mil- dred L., who graduated from the common schools and is now the wife of Webster J. Thompson; Ruth E., wife of Ernest Poling; Harry P., a graduate of the common schools and who married Dalta Garretson ; Howard M., who finished a common school course and lives at home : Frances E. W., who has also finished her work in the common schools and is now at home; Weir L., who is thirteen years old and completed the grade school work in 1913.
The family attend worship in the Christian church at Buckeye, Indiana, and Mr. Shafer is very much interested in church affairs. Politically he was always a straight republican up to the campaign of 1912, when he accepted the principles and platform of the new party and voted as a progressive. His many years as a practical farmer has brought ample possessions, comprising four hundred and seventy acres of fine farm lands in Sections 14, 15, 22 and 23 in Salamonie township, situated three miles northeast of Warren on the Marion and Bluffton Pike. At the same time he has employed his prosperity to give his family all needed comforts and luxuries, and the children have all been well trained both at home and in school.
SOLOMON F. JOHNSON. The Johnson stock farm, of Salamonie town- ship, located two miles north and one mile east of Warren, has for a number of years borne a high reputation among the live stock interests
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of Huntington county. It is noted as a breeding farm for Guernsey cattle, Shropshire sheep and Duroc hogs, and its owner has jealously guarded the substantial reputation of his stock, and as a result there are few men in the county who have upheld the standards of the stock business more uniformly. Mr. Johnson's farm is one of the best kept and managed in Huntington county, and its proprietor is thoroughly versed in his present profession. From the highway his farm impresses a traveler as one of more than ordinary good management, and besides the comfortable residence, the barns, sheds and feed lots, one feature that proves the modern spirit of enterprise is the fine silo, and a number of other first-class improvements might be cited as an evidence of Mr. Johnson's enterprise.
For a number of ycars Mr. Johnson was identified with education in both Huntington and Wells counties, and the success associated with his name as a teacher has been continued in his present vocation. Solomon F. Johnson was born on a farm in Salamonie township in April, 1863, a son of Solomon and Margaret (Wright) Johnson. His mother was born in West Virginia and his father in North Carolina, they were married in the east, and came to Huntington county at an early day, settling in Salamonie township, which continued to be their residence the remainder of their lives. They came to this county comparatively poor, but lived to enjoy a reasonable degree of comfort and prosperity and did well by their children. The father was an elder and quite prominent in the work of the church. Of the nine children six are still living, namely : Levi, of Wells county ; George, of Wells county ; Albert, of Wells county ; William, of Huntington county; Sarah J., wife of Eli Cox, of Wells county ; and Solomon F.
The district school which supplied Mr. Johnson's carly training and with which his first associations of school life are connected was known as the Swamp school, and he later attended the Wells county Normal and Valparaiso College, taking the normal courses in preparation for his work as a teacher. For seventeen years Mr. Johnson was one of the capable instructors of the young in Wells and Huntington coun- ties, and all of his work was done in the district schools. In that time he had charge of schools with enrollment running from fifty to eighty- seven pupils, and there are hundreds of these pupils now active men and women who remember with much gratitude his kindly and helpful services as a teacher during their youth. On leaving the work of the schoolroom Mr. Johnson spent four years in the S. A. Pulse store at Warren.
Mr. Johnson married Hattie B. (Mallow) Van Camp. She was a daughter of H. M. Mallow, and by her marriage to Mr. Van Camp has one daughter, Ruby, a student in the Warren high school. Mrs. John- son received her education in the common schools and is a graduate of the Warren high school. Mr. Johnson affiliates with King Lodge No. 246, A. F. & A. M., and with Salamonie Lodge No. 392, I. O. O. F., and also with the Encampment. He is Past Grand and Past Chief Patriarch of the Odd Fellows and both he and his wife are members of the Lodge of
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Rebekahs of which she is a Past Grand. In politics he has always been a Democrat, and quite active in local and county party affairs.
GEORGE H. THOMPSON, JR. Few Huntington county families have been more closely identified with the agricultural activities and the good citizenship of the county than that of Thompson, represented by George H. Thompson, Jr., whose valuable and productive farmstead is in Sala- monie township. Mr. Thompson is a native son of Huntington county, and representatives of three preceding generations have lived in the county beginning with the pioneer times. It is now more than sev- enty years since the family became identified with Huntington county.
George H. Thompson, Jr., was born on a farm half a mile north of Buckeye, October 9, 1852. He is a son of Ebenezer and Mary A. (Rich- ards) Thompson. Ebenezer Thompson was born in Bracken county, Kentucky, a son of John H. Thompson, and a grandson of Ebenezer Thompson. They all came north and located in Huntington county in 1842, Ebenezer Thompson settling in Union township, while John H. Thompson located in Salamonie township. The latter was a resident of Salamonie until 1870, when he moved into the town of Warren, and re- mained there until his death. Ebenezer Thompson, father of George H., was seventeen years of age when the family located in Salamonie town- ship, and was married in Jackson township of Wells county. Of the seven children born to their union five are still living: Ezra, of Marion, Indiana; George H., Jr .; Lewis Thompson of Marion; Byron E., of Salamonie township; and Lucretia Thompson of Liberty township in Wells county.
The old homestead in Salamonie was the scene and afforded the envi- ronment for the early boyhood of George H. Thompson. While attend- ing district school No. 6 about three months every winter he was trained under the careful supervision of his father in habits of industry and honesty, and from an early age has been more than self-supporting. One of his early lines of work was in connection with a sawmill, and he worked about the mill and also hauled logs to be cut up into lumber. As a result of his thrift and work he gradually acquired the means which enabled him to make a start in life on his own account.
In March, 1881, he married Arminta Fix. She was born in Jackson township of Wells county, attended the common school, and for more than thirty years has faithfully performed her duties as wife and mother. After their marriage Mr. Thompson and wife moved to the quarter section, one hundred and sixty acres, where he now lives. While this is now one of the best improved farms in the neighborhood, it is so largely as a result of the labor and management of Mr. Thompson, who has put in ditches and tile, has extended the area of cultivation, has put up new buildings, and in many ways has increased the value and fertility of his land.
He and his wife are the parents of eight children still living in 1914, namely : Forrest Thompson, who finished the common school course, is unmarried; Charles, also single, is a resident in Oklahoma; Nellie, a
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graduate of the common schools, is the wife of Jesse Krinn, of Liberty township in Wells county; Roy, who finished a course in the common schools and Warren high school, is in the employ of the government in Nicaragua; Ora, after finishing the common school was a student in Warren, and is now married and a prosperous farmer in Liberty town- ship in Wells county ; Nora married Guy Warc and lives in Wells county ; Eugene has finished common school course and is a student in the War- ren high school and Nora is living at home. Two children are deceased, Harry H. and Ralph V.
Mr. Thompson in politics has always identified himself with the republican party, but aside from casting his vote regularly has not been a prominent party man. Besides his fine farm in Huntington county he is the owner of half a section of land in Texas.
HIRAM U. SATTERTHWAITE is one of the expert farmers and stock- men of Polk township, where through good management, constant in dustry and consistent perseverance he has risen to a recognized place among the substantial men of his community. He was born in this township, November 22, 1868, and is a son of Hiram and Margaret (Weller) Satterthwaite. The father, one of the pioncer residents of Huntington county, Indiana, was born April 24, 1830, in Warren county, Ohio, the second in order of birth of a family of six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Joel Satterthwaite. His parents and family emi- grated to Huntington county in 1840, locating in Polk township, where the parents resided continuously until their respective deaths. Young Hiram Satterthwaite received a common school education, and was reared on the home farm. As he grew to manhood he accepted farming as his life work and remained on the homestead place, superintending the work there until his twenty-sixth ycar, when, in 1855, he married Miss Margaret Weller, a native of Montgomery county, Ohio, who moved to Polk township with her parents a number of years before. To this union eleven children were born.
Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Satterthwaite first established their home on a small tract of land two miles west of Mount Etna and a mile south of Monument City. In the years following, by dint of much hard work, economy, perseverance and push, always guided by the valuable counsel of his wife, Mr. Satterthwaite became the owner of 700 acres of land in Polk township and the adjacent vicinity. This acreage was kept under a good state of cultivation and the property was improved in a comfortable and substantial manner. Parents of a large family, they lived in the happiness of domestic contentment which was their due, especially in their later years, as they had started life in limited cir- cumstances. Having accumulated a competence of this world's goods and established the members of their family well, Mr. and Mrs. Satterth- waite gave up the active labors of farm life in 1897 and moved to a modernly appointed residence on Henry street, Huntington. By fol- lowing the high standard of life that was his wont, Mr. Satterthwaite attained an enviable position in the esteem of the community. Many
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years he was a member of the Grange society, when that organization was so popularly recognized. In matters political he was a Republican and was the candidate of his party in 1882 for the office of county commis- sioner, but was defcated by a small vote. On all subjects of interest to the advancement of the community, Mr. Satterthwaite was public spirited, and he stood high in the councils of his friends. He and his wife were stricken with pneumonia about the same time, although he had been in ailing health for about a year. He was in a critical condition previous to the death of his wife, which occurred in March, 1909, and on her demise it was thought that he could not survive the shock. However, he rallied slightly, but at no time was it considered probable that he would leave his bed. Not long after his rally he relapsed again and the vitality of his once sturdy constitution ebbed gradually until he passed away in May, 1909.
Hiram U. Satterthwaite was given a good education in the public schools, and like his father early chose farm work as the field in which to hew out his success. He was married November 26, 1892, to Miss Mary E. Wiles, a descendant of an old pioneer family of Huntington county, her grandfather being a pioneer minister of the Christian church and a well known and highly esteemed citizen of the county. She was born July 21, 1870, in Lancaster township, Huntington county, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Wiles, and reared and educated there. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Satterthwaite, namely: Iris F., a graduate of the common and high schools of Monument City; Hiram P., a graduate of the common schools; and Charles C., also a graduate of the common schools. Mrs. Satterthwaite is a member of the Salamonie Christian church, which is located on a corner of the old homestead farm. In politics he is a republican, and has been an active worker in the party ranks in township and county affairs. He has always been a money maker, because of his industry, and in the management of the old homestead place displays a high order of business ability. Although he engages to some extent in general farming, with which he is thoroughly familiar, he also devotes a great deal of his time to stockraising, and in this branch of agricultural work has attained great success. He is well and favorably known in business circles of the county, and his name is an honored one on commercial paper. Although not a professed member of any denomination, he is ready to assist all religious and charitable organizations, and in every way does all in his power to advance the cause of probity, morality and good citizenship.
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