USA > Indiana > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Indiana > Part 69
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 | Part 84
The subject of this sketch attended the district schools and Hopewell Academy and Hanover College, thus obtaining a fair practical education. When twenty-five years old he married and sauted on his present farm, to which he has given his undivided attention. "Ins1877 he erected a fine farm residence, modern in all its departments, and remodeled the house in 1907. The farm also contains good, substantial and commodious barns and other buildings such as are needed on an .. up-to-date farm, The buildings are all attractive in general appearance and the residence is surrounded by splendid shade and fruit trees, presenting a very inviting prospect. Mr. Ditmars is the owner of sixty-three acres and also farms two hundred and twenty acres of his father's land, thus comprising nearly three hundred acres of land. He has planted eighty acres to corn, fifty-three acres to wheat and sixty-three acres to clover and hay. He handles from eighty to one hundred hogs an- nually, feeding a fine herd of Jerseys and also gives some attention to cattle, buying and feeding from fifty to sixty head annually. He has found the hand- ling of live stock a very profitable department of farm work and is considered an excellent judge of all kinds of live stock. Politically, Mr. Ditmars is a Republican, serving efficiently as a member of the township advisory board. Religiously, he is a member of the First Presbyterian church at Franklin, while his fraternal membership is with the Free and Accepted Masons, in the workings of which order he takes a deep interest.
Digitized by Google
.
714
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
In 1877, John W. Ditmars married Harriett Ong, the daughter of Oliver Ong. She died in 1881 and in 1887 Mr. Ditmars married Etta Graham, and to them have been born two children, Marie, and Edith, who is the wife of Iliff Brown, a successful farmer in Shelby county, this state, and they have one child, Iliff I. Mr. Ditmars has long had the best interests of this locality at heart and has sought to advance them in whatever way possible. His career has been characterized by untiring energy, uncompromising fidelity and an earnest desire to advance himself in his chosen vocation. He is quick of perception, forms his plans readily and executes them with alacrity, at the same time winning and retaining the high esteem of all with whom he comes into contact by the honorable course which he has pursued.
WILLIAM HARVEY HARRELL.
Prominent in the affairs of Johnson county and distinguished as a citi- zen whose influence is far extended beyond the limits of the community hon- ored by his residence, the name of William H. Harrell stands out a conspicu- ous figure among the successful farmers of the locality of which this volume treats. All of his undertakings have been actuated by noble motives and high resolves and characterized by breadth of wisdom and strong individuality and his success and achievements but represent the result of fit utilization of in- nate talent in directing effort along those lines where mature judgment and rare discrimination lead the way.
William Harvey Harrell, a successful agriculturist of White River town- ship, and who has been elected to the office of county commissioner, is a native of the county in which he now lives, having been born on December 15, 1863. He is a son of James M. and Anna (Davis) Harrell, the father a native of Johnson county. His paternal grandfather, Moses Harrell, was a native of Virginia, and came to Johnson county in 1830, where he entered land and spent the balance of his life in its improvement and cultivation. To the subject's father was born one other child besides himself, Margaret, now deceased. William Harvey Harrell was educated in the common schools of his township, and later became a student in the Center Grove high school, from which he was a member of the first graduating class. He then took up the vocation of teaching, which he followed successfully for three years, but having decided that the pursuit of agriculture promised better returns and more independence, he relinquished his pedagogical work and entered
Digitized by
-
715
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
upon the pursuit of husbandry. He is the owner of forty acres of land in White River township and forty acres in Pleasant township, and also operates one hundred acres belonging to the old home farm. He gives in- telligent direction to his efforts and carries on general farming in connection, with which he also raises Jersey cattle, which he has found to be a profita- ble source of income. Politically, a Democrat, Mr. Harrell has long taken a deep interest in the public affairs of the community and served as township assessor for one term. In 1912 he was nominated by his party for the office of county commissioner and, being elected, will take office in 1914 for a three- year term. Fraternally, he is a member of the Masonic and Pythian orders, in the workings of which he is deeply interested, while his religious member- ship is with the United Brethren church.
In 1889, Mr. Harrell married Evelyn Smithey, daughter of Robert and Matilda (Scott) Smithey, the father being a native of Kentucky, who, in 1860, came to Johnson county. The Scott family were numbered among the early settlers of the county, having entered land from the government. To the subject and his wife have been born six children: Jessie, Edgar, Maggie, James Harvey, Mary and Everett. Mr. Harrell has been successful in every line of effort in which he has turned his attention. He has always taken an active interest in public affairs and was always ready to do his part in ad- vancing the interests of his community along all lines, especially educational. He has a pleasant, well-kept and attractive home and substantial outbuildings, and among his fellow agriculturists he occupies front rank. He is a man of sterling qualities of character, even-tempered, patient and scrupulously honest in all the relations of life, hospitable and charitable, and he has gained the approval and high esteem of his fellow citizens because of his upright life.
I. NEWT BROWN.
To write the personal record of men who have raised themselves from humble circumstances to a position of responsibility and trust in a community is no ordinary pleasure. Self-made men, men who have achieved success by reason of their personal qualities and left the impress of their individuality upon the business and growth of their place of residence and affect for good such institutions as are embraced in the sphere of their usefulness, unwit- tingly. perhaps, built monuments more enduring than marble obelisk or
Digitized by Google
716
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
granite shaft. Of such we have the unquestionable right to say belongs the gentleman whose name appears above.
I. Newt Brown, who owns a fine farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Pleasant township, Johnson county, Indiana, and who is now living quietly in his comfortable home in Franklin township, Hopewell neighbor- hood, is the son of Isaac S. and Mary Carnine (Carnine) Brown. Isaac S. Brown was born in Virginia in 1830, and in young manhood came to John- son county, where he was married. To him and his wife were born five children, namely : Robert A., C. A., Andrew C., I. Newton and Mrs. Lillie Freeman. The subject was reared to the life of a farmer and on the paternal farmstead in Pleasant township he lived until twenty-two years old, at which time he was married and located on his farm in Pleasant township, where he lived for thirty-nine years, being successfully engaged in the prosecution of agriculture, and at the end of that period he located in his present com- fortable and attractive home in Hopewell neighborhood, where he has lived for five years. His farm, which is one of the most fertile and well improved in Johnson county, is farmed by him and returns him a very comfortable income. Up-to-date and methodical in all his operations, during a long course of years he was numbered among the leading farmers of Johnson county, and because of his earnest life, practical business methods and ener- getic habits, he enjoys the warm regard of all who are familiar with his life
On October 23, 1889, Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Edith Lagrange, whose father, Daniel Lagrange, was a native of Kentucky. He came to Johnson county in an early day and here married Catherine List, a native of Indiana. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown has been born one child, a daugh- ter, Margaret K., who is now sixteen years of age and is in the third year at the Hopewell high school.
Mr. Brown has always been an ardent supporter of the Republican party and in 1900 was elected trustee of Pleasant township for a four-year term, during which period he rendered much valuable service to his fellow citizens. In 1912 he was nominated for auditor of state on the Republican ticket. Among the effective work accomplished by him was the erection of the Whiteland high school building, one of the best school buildings in John- son county. Mr. Brown was also appointed a member of the state board of agriculture, of which body he is still a member. In 1911 he was elected president of that body and re-elected in 1912. He has always taken a deep interest in all public matters and is regarded as one of the leading and in-
Digitized by Google
717
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
fluential citizens of the county. Religiously, he is a member of the Hope- well Presbyterian church, in which he is an elder and he and his family all attend regularly and contribute to the extent of his ability to the support of the society. There is much that is commendable in his life's record, for he has been found true to duty in every relation, whether of a public or private character, and while energy and untiring industry have been salient features , of his business career, he is equally well known for his uprightness and the honorable methods he has always followed, and 'for his loyalty to any trust reposed in him. Because of his genial and unassuming disposition and his genuine worth, he enjoys a well deserved popularity throughout his part of the state.
WALTER OWENS.
To a great extent the prosperity of the agricultural sections of our coun- try is due to the honest industry, the sturdy persistence, the unswerving per- severance and the wise economy which so prominently characterize the farm- ing element of the Hoosier state. Among this class may be mentioned the subject of this life record, who, by reason of years of indefatigable labor and honest effort, has not only acquired a well merited material prosperity, but has also richly earned the highest esteem of all with whom he is associated.
Walter. Owens was born October 5, 1878, in the vicinity of his present home in Needham township, Johnson county, Indiana, and is the son of George W. Owens, also a native of this county, who was born March 30, 1840, and died August 13, 1904. George was the son of John Owens, a native of Virginia, who settled in Grant county, Indiana, in the late twenties, being a pioneer of that locality. George W. Owens was a farmer by vocation and became the owner of two hundred and sixteen acres of land, to the cul- tivation of which he devoted his active years. He married Eliza A. Patter- son, who was born in Johnson county, Indiana, in 1849, and to them were born six children, two of whom died in infancy, the others being Della, de- ceased ; Alice (Mrs. Hedden), of Mobile, Alabama; Bertha (Mrs. Webb), of Johnson county; and Walter, the subject of this review.
Walter Owens was reared by his parents and received his education in the common schools. At the age of twenty-one years he assumed the manage- ment of his father's farm, which he continued about four years, and then started out in life on his own account, having fallen heir to fifty-six acres of
Digitized by Google
718
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
his father's estate. Subsequently he bought another tract of the same area from his sister and is thus the owner now of a splendid tract of land which is not excelled for fertility by any land in the neighborhood. All of the land is in cultivation and is devoted to the raising of general crops, the major part of the grain being fed to live stock on the place, about fifty to seventy- five head of hogs being fed annually. Persistent industry and sound judg- ment have contributed to Mr. Owen's success, and among his fellow agri- culturists he occupies an enviable standing because of his business success and personal characteristics.
Politically, Mr. Owens is identified with the Progressive party and takes an intelligent interest in the current issues of the day. Fraternally, he. is a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Franklin, and his religious mem- bership is with the Second Mt. Pleasant Baptist church.
On September 12, 1894, Walter Owens was united in marriage with Hattie R. Patterson, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Patterson, of Johnson county, the father being deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Owens has been born one child: Minor O., who was born on May 14, 1897.
Mr. Owens' career, although strenuous and to a marked degree progres- sive and successful, has always been characterized by honorable dealing. He is well known throughout the county and is highly respected by all be- cause of his public spirit and upright dealings with his fellow men.
WILLIAM P. THRELKELD.
That the plenitude of satiety is seldom attained in the affairs of life is to be considered a most beneficial deprivation, for where ambition is satis- fied and every ultimate end realized, if such be possible, apathy must follow. Effort would cease, accomplishment be prostrate, and creative talent waste its energies in inactivity. The men who have pushed forward the wheels of progress have been those to whom satisfaction lies ever in the future, who have labored continuously, always finding in each transition stage an incen- tive for further effort. Mr. Threlkeld is one whose well directed efforts have gained for him a position of desirable prominence in the agricultural circles of Johnson county, and his energy and enterprise have been crowned by a gratifying degree of success.
William Threlkeld is a native of the old Blue Grass state of Kentucky, where he was born on July 31, 1855, and is a son of Daniel G. and Mary
Digitized by Google
719
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
( Bradley) Threlkeld, both of whom also were natives of that state. Daniel G. Threlkeld reared his family in Kentucky and came to Johnson county, Indiana, some time after the arrival here of his son, the subject of this sketch. To Daniel and Mary Threlkeld were born five children: William P., Melinda J., Elenora, Edward and Frank, the last three named being deceased. The subject of this sketch received his education in his native state, and followed the pursuit of farming there until about twenty-four years of age when, on February 22, 1879, he came to Johnson county, Indiana, set- tling in Pleasant township, where he has made his home continuously since. He has always followed the pursuit of agriculture, in which he has achieved a pronounced degree of success, and today is the owner of a fine farm of over one hundred and fifty acres, which he devotes to the raising of all the crops common to this section of the country, and also gives some attention to dairying, having now a fine herd of sixteen Jersey and Holstein cattle, which, however, he expects to materially enlarge. Every detail of the farm work receives Mr. Threlkeld's careful and painstaking attention, with the result that he has usually been rewarded with abundant harvests. Every feature of the farm indicates that the owner is a man of careful and systematic methods, and among his fellow agriculturists he is held in high esteem because of the success that he has achieved and his high personal character.
In 1888 Mr. Threlkeld married Electa Agnes Demaree, daughter of William W. and Lydia Ann (Canine) Demaree, both families having been long residents of this county, although they originally came from Kentucky. To Mr. and Mrs. Threlkeld have been born four children, Chester D., Carl C., William Clifton and Myrtle May.
In the public life of the township in which he lives, Mr. Threlkeld has long taken an active interest, and is now serving as a member of the advisory board of Pleasant township, giving eminent satisfaction to his fellow citizens. Religiously, he is a Methodist and gives earnest support to that society, both with his time and with his means. He is one of those solid men of brains and substance so essential to the material growth and prosperity of a com- munity, and his influence has been willingly extended in behalf of every de- serving enterprise that has for its object the advancement or welfare of his fellow citizens. His estimable qualities of head and heart and the straight- forward, upright course of his daily life have won for him the esteem and confidence of the circles in which he has moved, and has given him a reputa- tion for integrity and correct conduct such as should be coveted by every man.
Digitized by Google
720
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
JOHN T. DITMARS.
The gentleman of whom the biographer now writes is widely known as one of the honored pioneers of Johnson county and for over a half century he has been a valued factor in the development of the same, prominently iden- tified with the varied interests of his community. His well-directed energies in the practical affairs of life. his capable management of his own business interests and his sound judgment have demonstrated what may be accom- plished by the man of energy and ambition, who, persevering often in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, proves that he is the possessor of those innate qualities that never fail to bring success if property directed, as they have evidently been in the case of Mr. Ditmars.
John T. Ditmars, whose fine farm of three hundred and seventy acres in Franklin township is numbered among the best farms in Johnson county, was born on January 7. 1830, in Somerset county. New Jersey, and is de- scended from good old Holland-Dutch stock. His parents were Garrett and Sarah (Verbryck) Ditmars, natives also of New Jersey, while his paternal grandfather, Peter Ditmars, was also a native of that state. In April, 1830, Garrett Ditmars emigrated to Warren county, Ohio, where he remained six years, and in the spring of 1836 the family settled in Johnson county, In- diana, where the father occupied a farm two miles north of Franklin. Two years later they moved to Union township, where the son resided until the father's death. Sarah Verbryck, the subject's mother, was born January 20. 1785, and was the daughter of : William and Rebecca (Low) Verbryck, the father having been an honored citizen of his locality. He was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, attaining to the rank of major and lived to the advanced age of ninety-six years. To the subject's parents were born thir- teen children, of whom twelve were reared to maturity, and four are now liv- ing, namely : Cornelius, who lives west of Franklin : John T., of Hopewell ; Rebecca (Mrs. Donnell), of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Richard V., of Franklin. The deceased are William, Mrs. Mary Hall, Mrs. Jane Van Nuys, Mrs. Margaret McCaslin, Mrs. Caroline Van Nuys, Peter, Magdalena, Jacob and Edward.
The subject of this sketch received but little opportunity for securing an education, as the facilities in that line were primitive and somewhat limited in his youth. He attended for awhile what was known as the Turkey Hill school house, but the greater portion of his early years was given to assist- ing in the cultivation of the home farm. At the age of twenty-one years he
Digitized by Google
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R
L
Digitized by Google
MRS. REBECCA DITN
Digitized by
.
...
.
. and
.
.
Digitized by
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R L
Digitized by
RESIDENCE OF JOHN T. DITMARS
Digitized by Google
721
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
hired himself to his eldest brother at twelve dollars a month and was em- ployed by him at farm labor for two years. A few years later he bought a small tract of land near Hopewell, which he farmed for about four years, but sold this and planned to buy better land. In 1866 he bought the nucleus of his present farm, for which he paid sixty dollars an acre, and as he was prospered he added to the farm until he became the owner of one of the best farms in the county, now comprising about three hundred and seventy acres. Mr. Ditmars has farmed according to the best methods of the period and has been intelligent and progressive in adopting new ideas when their practicability has been demonstrated. The present splendid and comfortable residence was erected in November, 1884, and there are also other excellent buildings on the farm, all of which are surrounded by nice lawns and ever- green hedge, which gives the place an attractive and inviting appearance.
Politically, Mr. Ditmars has been a life-long Republican, having voted for General Scott, John C. Fremont, Abraham Lincoln and every Republican candidate for President since. His religious affiliation is with the Franklin Presbyterian church, of which he became a member in 1887, and in the win- ter of 1913 he donated to that church a ten-thousand-dollar pipe organ, a donation which has been duly appreciated by the membership and the con- gregation. He is extremely liberal in all his views as to local improvement and his hand is active in advancing the welfare of the community in every way possible. A man of generous impulses and genial disposition, he readily makes friends and always retains them. Having gained by his earnest ef- forts and consecutive labor a competence for himself, he is now enabled to take life easy and he is every ready and willing to help those less fortunate than himself. Because of his earnest character and business success he is eminently entitled to representation in a work of the character of the one at hand.
GEORGE W. KERLIN.
Agriculture has been an honored vocation from the earliest ages and as a usual thing men of honorable and humane impulses, as well as those of energy and thrift, have been patrons of husbandry. The free, outdoor life of the farm has a decided tendency to foster and develop that independence of mind and self-reliance which characterize true manhood and no greater blessing can befall a boy than to be reared in close touch with nature in the (46)
Digitized by Google
1
:
.
;
1
722
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
healthful, life-inspiring labor of the fields. It has always been the fruitful soil from which have sprung the moral bone and sinew of the country, and the majority of our nation's scholars and distinguished men of letters were born on the farm and are indebted to its early influence for the distinction which they have attained.
George W. Kerlin, who operates one hundred and seventy-eight acres of land in Needham township, comprising the Kerlin estate, and also owns one hundred and four acres of his own in the same township, was born February 22, 1863, in Franklin township, Johnson county, Indiana, and is a son of Joseph and Sarah E. (Bergen) Kerlin, natives respectively of Ken- tucky and Indiana. Joseph Kerlin, who was born in 1828 and died in 1885, at the age of fifty-seven years, was a son of George Kerlin, also a native of Kentucky, who moved to Indiana in about 1835, settling in Johnson county. For several years he operated rented land here and eventually acquired a farm in the northwest part of this county. In March, 1865, he bought the land comprising the present Kerlin estate, to the improvement and opera- tion of which he devoted his attention and here lived until his death. He was twice married, first to Miss Covert, who died while young in years, and second to Sarah Bergen, who survives him, being now about eighty years of age. They were the. parents of five children, namely: Ward B., who died in January, 1912; George W., the immediate subject of this sketch; Charles B., who is engaged in the operation of a saw mill at Bargersville, and Viola and Mabel, who are at home with their mother.
George W. Kerlin was reared under the parental roof and received his elementary education in the Whiteside school, after which he entered the Franklin high school, where he graduated at the age of twenty-one years. He early learned the habit of industry and during his vacation periods, while attending school he was constantly employed on the home farm, to the culti- vation of which he devoted himself continuously since attaining his majority. Upon the death of his father he assumed control and possession of the place and has since been operating it in the interests of the estate, in addition to which he also cultivates his own farm in Needham township. He is energetic and enterprising and carries on a diversified style of agriculture, raising all the crops common to this section of the country and meeting with marked success in his work. He gives a good deal of attention to the raising of live stock, shipping from fifty to eighty head of cattle annually, from which he realizes good profits.
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.