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 52
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of the same represented the concrete results of his own energy and good management. He was one of the substantial, upright and honored cit- izens of Huntington county and continued to reside on his old homestead place until his death, which occurred in March, 1897. His cherished and devoted wife survived him by more than a decade and was summoned to eternal rest on the 16th of January, 1909, revered by all who had come within the compass of her gentle influence. Concerning the children the following brief record is entered : Eliza is the wife of Clayton Rodkey ; Christina K. is the wife of Samuel L. Emley; Lydia M. is the wife of George Loman ; William F., of this review, was the next in order of birth ; Emma A. is the wife of Edward F. Deemer; Jacob H. died on the 22nd of April, 1894; and Samuel F., who married Miss Della Farmer, con- tinues to maintain his residence in Huntington county. The parents were consistent members of the Evangelical Lutheran church and their lives. were guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity and honor, so that their memory is cherished in the county that long repre- sented their home.
William F. Eberhart found his childhood and youth compassed by the benignant influence and discipline of the old homestead farm and he was not denied the best available educational advantages, as he con- tinued to attend the district schools, during the winter terms, until he was twenty years of age, in the meanwhile having effectively assisted in the work and management of the home farm. That he made good use of his educational advantages is shown by the fact that he was a mem- ber of the first class to be graduated in the public schools of Warren township and that he passed the examination which gained to him a. teacher's certificate. As a representative pedagogic profession Mr. Eber. hart proved most popular and successful, and he continued to teach in the district schools from 1888 to 1900, his services in this line having been confined entirely to the schools of Warren and Clear Creek townships. The discipline, with incidental application to higher branches of study, enabled him to round out a symmetrical and academic education of liberal order, and he is known as a man of broad information and mature judg- inent.
At the time of his marriage, in 1889, the financial resources of Mr. Eberhart were very limited, and his first independent farming opera- tions thereafter were on rented land. Two years later, however, he pur- chased forty-eighty acres, in Clear Creek township, and from this modest nucleus he has developed his present fine landed estate, which comprises two hundred acres of most productive land, in Clear Creek and Warren townships. Mr. Eberhart has been indefatigable in his efforts, which have been directed with circumspection and marked discrimination, and through his own energy and ability he has become one of the substantial agriculturists and stock-growers of his native state, with his position further fortified by the unqualified esteem accorded to him by all who know him. He is one of the alert and progressive citizens of Hunting- ton county, liberal and public-spirited, and he is an influential citizen of the county which has ever been his home. He is treasurer of the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Association, a strong and popular corporation.
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In politics Mr. Eberhart is a stanch prohibitionist and he has been zealous and efficient in promoting the party cause, while he never fails to vote in harmony with his convictions. Both he and his wife are valued and active members of the United Brethren church at Makin, Warren township.
On the 27th of October, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Eberhart to Miss Cora E. Myers, who has proved a devoted wife and help- meet, so that the relations of the home are of ideal order. Mrs. Eberhart was born in Warren township, this county, on the 19th of April, 1866, and is a daughter of Anthony and Catherine (Angne) Myers, both natives of Germany and honored pioneers of Huntington county. Mrs. Eber- hart has been a resident of Huntington county from the time of her birth, received her early education in the public schools of Clear Creek township, and she has a wide circle of friends in her native county. Mr. and Mrs. Eberhart became the parents of five children: Edith M., who was born on the 30th of October, 1890, was graduated in the Clear Creek High school and she remains at the parental home; Ray C., who is like- wise a graduate of the high school, has proved an able and popular teacher in the district schools of his native county, where he has taught for four terms, his birth having occurred in March, 1893; Ruth M., who was born on the 22nd of November, 1896, has completed the curriculum of the high school and is teaching; Herbert L. was born on the 3rd of November, 1900, and is attending school in the home district; and Mer- ritt E., who was born on the 2nd of June, 1902, died on the 12th of the following October. The attractive family home is known for its gracious and unassuming hospitality, which is freely extended to the many friends of both parents and children, so that it is a center of much social activity.
DAVID C. STULTS. In Huntington county Mr. David C. Stults, the present efficient and honored township assessor of Clear Creek township, has maintained his residence since his childhood days, save for a period of six years passed in the state of Kansas and a brief residence in other Indiana counties. He is a worthy representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of Huntington county, where he is well known and where his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances. He has led a life of signal activity in the various fields of enterprise in which he has directed his efforts, and his standing in the community is such as to render most consonant a brief review of his career as a consistent con- tributor to the history of the county that has long been his home, and in which he has an impregnable place in popular confidence and esteem. Further honor is his by reason of his having been a soldier in an Indiana regiment of the Civil war.
Mr. Stults claims the old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity. He was born on a pioneer farm in Stark county, Ohio, on the 13th of February, 1845, and is a son of John and Mary (Becher) Stults, who were born and reared in Pennsylvania, where their marriage was sol- emnized and where they continued to reside until their removal to Ohio. In the latter state they maintained their home in Stark county until
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1848, when they came to Huntington county, Indiana, and settled on a partially improved farm in the northeast corner of Warren township. John Stults reclaimed much of his land to cultivation and became one of the representative agriculturists of Warren township, where he con- tinued to reside on his old homestead for many years, his death having occurred in 1881 and his devoted wife having survived him by several years. Of the seven children only two are now living-David C., of this review, and Amanda J., who is the widow of Jacob D. Howenstine.
David C. Stults was a child three years old at the time the family removed from Ohio to Huntington county, and he continued to reside on the old homestead farm until he had attained the age of fourteen years. His early educational advantages were limited to a somewhat desultory attendance in the primitive common schools of the locality and period, but he has not failed to profit duly from the lessons since learned in the stern school of experience, so that he has become a man of broad views and mature judgment. At the age of fourteen years Mr. Stults initiated his semi-independent career, by obtaining employment in a sawmill. He familiarized himself with the practical details of this line of industry and in a later period operated a sawmill on his own responsibility. At the age of twenty-four years Mr. Stults wedded Miss Henrietta Eva Minnich, their union having been solemnized on the 31st of May, 1869, and soon after this important event in his career Mr. Stults established his residence in the village of Roanoke, Huntington county, where he became associated with his father-in-law, Michael Min- nich, in the conducting of a gristmill. He was thus engaged for a period of three years and he then removed to Whitley county, this state, where he operated a sawmill for a number of years, his connection with this line of industrial enterprise having covered a total of about fourteen years, and his operations having been attended with substantial suc- cess. After his retirement from the sawmill business Mr. Stults de- voted his attention to agricultural pursuits in Huntington county until 1885, when he removed with his family to Kansas, where he was en- gaged in farming and working at the carpenter's trade during a term of six years. He then returned to his old home county and located at Goblesville, where he has since maintained his residence and where his attractive homestead is a comfortable dwelling, the property including an acre of ground and being owned by him. Mr. Stults has distinctive mechanical skill and ability and after his return to this county he was employed for several years as head sawyer in the sawmill operated by John Goble, at Goblesville.
Mr. Stults was but sixteen years of age at the time when the Civil war was precipitated on the nation, and in 1864, at the age of nineteen years, he was able to give decisive evidence of his patriotism, as he then enlisted as a private in Company I, One Hundred and Thirty-eighth In- diana Volunteer Infantry, with which command he proceeded to the front and with which he served six months, at the expiration of which he received his honorable discharge, the war having closed with victory for the cause in which he had tendered his services. He perpetuates
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the more gracious memories and associations of his military career by his affiliation with J. F. Miller Post, No. 399, Grand Army of the Re- public, at Leoti, Kansas, in which organization he has held various official preferments. He was likewise affiliated with the Leoti lodge of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he served as noble grand in 1887, and is a member of the adjunct organization, the Daughters of Rebekah, with which his wife is also affiliated. In later years the mem- bership of Mr. Stults has been with La Fontaine Lodge, I. O. O. F., Hunt- ington, Indiana, also the Encampment branch of the order.
In politics Mr. Stults has been found arrayed as a stanch sup- porter of the basic principles of the republican party, and lie now desig- nates himself a progressive republican, as he keeps himself fortified in the questions and issues of the day and never lacks the courage of his convictions. He served a number of terms in the office of justice of the peace of Clear Creek township, and has been township assessor since 1911, his administration having been marked by utmost fidelity and effi- ciency.
Mrs. Stults has proved a devoted companion and helpmeet to her husband, and their home is known for its ideal relations and generous hospitality. Mrs. Stults likewise is a native of Ohio, but was a child at the time of her parents' removal to Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Stults have four children, concerning whom brief record is here given: Emmett· D. is engaged in the transfer business at Hoisington, Kansas; Charles H., who maintains his home in Huntington, Indiana, is a locomotive engineer by vocation and is employed as such by the Erie Railroad Company ; Bessie D., who likewise resides in Huntington, is the widow of William Karnes; and Ora J. is also a resident of the city of Huntington.
JAMES W. CAMPBELL. Actively and industriously engaged in the prosecution of a calling upon which the wealth and support of the na- tion largely depends, James W. Campbell, of Jefferson township, has long been an important factor in advancing the agricultural interests of Huntington county, where he owns and operates a large and valuable farm. A son of Thomas Campbell, he was born in Van Buren township, Grant county, Indiana, October 17, 1862, coming from pioneer stock, his Grandfather Campbell having at an early day settled in section 33, Jefferson township, where he cleared and improved a homestead and on which he resided until his death.
Born in Ohio, Thomas Campbell was young when he was brought by his parents to Jefferson township. Growing to manhood on the home farm, he assisted in clearing it, and later was for many years actively engaged in the timber and ditching business, his working taking him into various parts of the state. He spent his last days in Warren, Indiana, dying March 27, 1907. In Jefferson township he married Nancy Hed- rick, who is still living. Three children were born of their union: Mar- garet C .; Leah L. (who died at the age of ten years) and James W.
James W. Campbell spent his boyhood days in Wayne township and in Liberty township of Wabash county, attending school in both places.
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Choosing farming as his life occupation, he made a study of the different branches of agriculture, and when he had accumulated enough money wisely invested it in land. In 1890 he bought his present farm in Jefferson township, where he owns two hundred and thirty-four and three-fourths acres of land, lying in the east half, southeast quarter of section 8, and in the east half of the northeast quarter of section 17, and a part of the northwest quarter of section 16. Since taking possession of his farm in 1891 Mr. Campbell erected a dwelling in the opening that he cleared, has tiled the land or ditched it, and each year adds to its im- provements and value, as well as to its attractiveness.
Mr. Campbell married, July 14, 1883, Emma Johnson, who was born in Van Buren township, Grant county, Indiana, a daughter of William Johnson. Left motherless when she was an infant, she early developed a taste and talent for domestic duties, and at the age of eleven years was keeping house for her father, she being the youngest of a family of four- teen children. She subsequently worked for herself until her marriage. Four sons and two daughters have been born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, but the daughters, Nellie and Hazel E., died in infancy. The sons are: Burr E., of Jefferson township, who married Izora Cain ; Cliff L., a resident of Illinois, who married Dessie Long; Russell H., of Jefferson township, who married Geraldine Mote; and Roy Mc., a pupil in the public schools.
Two years after his marriage Mr. Campbell commenced carrying the mail on the Star route from Pleasant Plain to Marion, and thus con- tinued for two years. He then went to Warren and carried the mail from there to Huntington, and after four years there he in 1891 moved to his farm. In politics he is an adherent of the republican party. Re- ligiously he and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist Epis- copal church, in which he has served as class leader for sixteen years and of which he is steward.
FRANCIS M. LEAVELL. Numbered among the residents of Hunting- ton county is Francis M. Leavell, prominent among the substantial citi- zens of Rock Creek township and one of the well-to-do farming men of the township and county. He has been identified with farming activi- ties in this county since 1874, when he came here from his native county of Randolph in Indiana, and Rock Creek township has had the good fortune to claim him as a citizen from the time when he reached his majority to the present day. He has been a potent influence in the mat- ter of furthering the development of the farming centers of the com- munity, and progressive ideas have not been strangers to him in the ad- ministration of his affairs.
Francis M. Leavell was born in Randolph county, Indiana, December 26, 1849, coming as a belated Christmas gift to his parents and being the seventh in order of birth in a family of eight. Four of the number are now living: William H. is a resident of Missouri; Richard A. is living in Seattle, Washington; Nancy A. is the wife of Jacob A. Hoover, of Bluffton, Indiana ; and Francis M. is the subject of this brief family
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review. He is the son of James M. and Ruth (Corwine) Leavell, the father a native of Kentucky, but reared in Henry county, Indiana, where he met and married Ruth Corwine. After their marriage they moved to Randolph county, where they identified themselves worthily and suc- cessfully with the substantial farming activities of their community. They were industrious and sober-minded people, possessing many worthy characteristics that made them valuable in their citizenship, and as mem- bers of the Christian church they were known for thorough-going Christian people, active in the work of the church and in the practice of Christian virtues and principles seven days in every week. Both died in Randolph county, the father in 1863 and the mother in 1852.
It was on the Randolph county farm that Francis M. Leavell was reared to the age of thirteen. He obtained his education in the common schools of that community, assisting in the work of the farm from his earliest boyhood until the time when he became dependent on his own responsibility. He was nineteen when he made his advent into Huntington county, and he located immediately in Rock Creek township. He worked as a farm hand by the year until he married Mary Sheets, the daughter of John Sheets, his employer. His marriage took place in 1874, and since that time he has been the operator of a farm of his own in this community. His place contains one hundred acres, and is one of the creditable farms of the township.
Although Mr. and Mrs. Leavell have had no children of their own they have reared two: Emma Crandall became the wife of Ulysses Coolman, of this county, and a nephew of Mr. Leavell, Martin E. Leavell, was reared in this home from the age of eight years. He is now one of the useful and prosperous citizens of Rock Creek township.
The family are members of the Christian church at Buckeye, In- diana. Mr. Leavell is a stockholder in the Farmers and Traders Bank at Markle, Indiana, and is in other ways identified with the best interests of the community of his trading point. Mrs. Leavell died on March 1, 1913, leaving a host of friends who mourn her loss. She was a good wife, and in the community where she was best known she was loved by many who knew her for her many noble attributes of character and per- sonality.
. ARTHUR S. THOMAS. One of the valuable and splendidly improved landed estates of Wayne township is that owned by the well known and representative citizen whose name initiates this paragraph. Mr. Thomas is proprietor of Glenville and Caledonia farms, which comprise 240 acres of most productive land, and his homestead place, the first mentioned, has 160 acres, leaving eighty acres in the Caledonia farm. He is liberal and loyal as a citizen and in his chosen field of endeavor ex- emplifies the progressive spirit that has made Huntington county one of the most attractive and opulent sections of his native state.
Mr. Thomas was born in Wabash county, Indiana, on the 26th of May, 1877, and is a son of Daniel and Mary E. (Michael) Thomas, who still maintain their home in Wabash county, where they are known and
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honored for their sterling attributes of character and for what they have accomplished in the world. Arthur S. Thomas, of this review, is the youngest of the three children and passed the days of his childhood and early youth on the home farm of his parents, in Liberty township, Wabash county. He supplemented the education received in the public schools by attending the Indiana State Normal School at Terre Haute for two years and Purdue University, at Lafayette for one year. His admirable educational training has been of great aid to him in directing his business and the general operations of his farms, and his success has been of unequivocal order, giving him prestige as one of the essentially representative farmers and stock-growers of Huntington county, where his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances. Mr. Thomas has been a supporter of the cause of the republican party until the campaign of 1912, when he joined its progressive wing, under the leadership of Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, whom he supported for the presidency, as candidate of the newly formed progressive party. He lias made the best of improvements on his farms, his Glenville farm being the southeast quarter of Section 15, Wayne township, and his Caledonia farm being the east half of the southwest quarter of Section 10. Both places receive his careful and effective supervision and he gives special attention to raising cattle, horses and hogs and to the feeding of beef cattle.
On the 1st of April, 1906, Mr. Thomas wedded Miss Bertha A. Sparks, who was born and reared in Huntington county and who was graduated in the high school at Banquo. She is a daughter of the late John J. Sparks, whose death occurred October 27, 1912, and the maiden name of her mother, who still resides in this county, was Emma E. Hale. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have three children, whose names and respective ages (1914) are here noted: Helen E., eight years; John S., six years ; and Hildah L., three years. Mr. Thomas holds membership in the United Brethren church and his wife is a member of the Christian church.
FRANCIS M. SMITH. A representative farmer and citizen of Rock Creek township, Francis M. Smith has spent all his life in that com- munity, was for a number of years identified with teaching and is a man of university training and culture who has found agriculture a profitable field of enterprise. His home is in Section 16 of Rock Creek township, eight miles southeast of Huntington, the same distance north of Warren, and five miles southwest of Markle. Many improvements have been in- augurated on the place since it came into the possession of Mr. Smith, and he has proved himself a worthy pupil of his father, who was one of the successful early farmers of the township. Mr. Smith has made more than a local reputation as a breeder of the thoroughbred Big Type Poland- China hogs, and that is both an interesting and very profitable depart- ment of his farm activities.
Francis M. Smith was born in Rock Creek township, February 9, 1860, a son of Nathan and Susan (McConner) Smith. Nathan Smith was born in the state of New York, January 7, 1818, and reared to
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manhood there. A short time after his marriage he lost his wife, and in his efforts to divert his mind from his loss migrated to the West, coming to Huntington county, Indiana, in 1846. He bought a small piece of land and settled down to farm life, but on account of ill health became discontented, and in a short time sold his land for an Indian pony and ten dollars in cash. The pony he rode back over the lonely trail to his native state, and lived there two years. Once again seeking a home in the western state of Indiana, he came to Huntington county, settled in Rock Creek township, and was identified with that community the rest of his life. His savings of one hundred and thirty dollars were invested in a tract of land now occupied by J. W. McClurg. On April 15, 1851, he married Susan McConner, and they established a home one- half mile north of the present village of Plum Tree. They lived in this home for five and a half years, then moved to a farm one-half mile north of Rock Creek Center, which was their home about six years, and after selling they bought the farm adjoining on the north, which he kept as long as he lived.
Susan McConner was a daughter of Samuel and Clarissa (Wright) McConner, and was a native of Columbiana county, Ohio, her parents being of New Jersey birth and ancestry. To Nathan and Susan Smith were born the following children: Mary F., wife of Isaiah Dill of Michigan ; Laura O., who married Charles E. Hunt, F. D. of Rock Creek township ; Francis M. Cassius E., a farmer of Wexford county, Michigan. Nathan Smith was a man of many sterling qualities, and his wife, an old school teacher, was a woman of more than ordinary intellect and of pro- nounced moral and religious convictions. In early life Mr. Smith was a whig, later adopting the principles of republicanism, but later helped to organize the prohibition party in Indiana and was afterwards an ardent supporter of the same. A quiet man, he yet accomplished a great deal of good work in his own way in the community, and always active in public affairs and occupying a prominent position in Rock Creek, never sought public office. He died at the age of eighty-one in 1899, while his wife preceded him in death by eight years.
Francis M. Smith was reared on the home farm and had his early training in the district schools. At the age of eighteen he attended the normal school at Huntington, and after finishing his term there began to teach in Rock Creek Center. The following ten years were spent al- ternatively in teaching and attending school, and for some time he was a student in the University of Valparaiso. In 1888 Mr. Smith withdrew from the pursuits of the schoolroom turning his attention to farming in Rock Creek township, and has since been identified with the industry for which his early training so admirably fitted him.
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