USA > Indiana > Madison County > History of Madison County, Indiana ; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 69
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one term, was also assessor for that township in 1888 and was a justice of the peace in Boone township for four years.
JESSE D. GARR, M. D. A physician whose practice has brought him into relations with a large number of citizens in the northern and west- ern parts of Madison county, Dr. Garr has been a capable member of his profession for many years, and enjoys a high reputation both in the frater- nity and among his patients and fellow citizens.
Jesse D. Garr was born in 1856 in Howard county, Indiana, near Kokomo, a son of William and Lucy B. (Clore) Garr. William Garr was a native of Virginia, spent a number of years in Kentucky, and from that state moved to Indiana. The ten children in this family were Flo, Mil- dred, Mollie, Betty, Barbara, Abe, Crawford, Jesse D., John F., and Jennie, the last named being deceased.
Dr. Garr as a boy attended the common schools of Howard county, and spent a number of years as a farmer. He prepared for college in Howard county, and later entered the Cincinnati Eclectic Medical College where he was graduated M. D. in September, 1896. He practiced first in west Middleton, and Converse, then in Sims township, for two years had his office and practice at Campbellsburg, and since that time has been in Summitville.
Dr. Garr was first married to Miss Laura Parson, now deceased. Their six children were William, Fred, Lela, Roy, Ralph, and Homer. After the death of his first wife Dr. Garr married Miss Sadie Hatfield. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic Order at Summitville, and the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows No. 691. In politics he is a Democrat.
GEORGE LILLY. The late Mr. Lilly was one of the industrial leaders who in the past quarter of a century have placed Anderson among the large productive centers of manufacturing in Indiana. His death on December 5, 1913, was consequently a distinct loss to all of Madison county. He was one of the founders and until his death president of the National Tile Company. This is an industry of which the community is properly proud. It has been in continuous existence for nearly a quar- ter of a century, and during this time it has been as much of an institu- tion, and in many ways more valuable to the existence and welfare of a large portion of the population, as the court house, post office, or any other particular institution which is regarded distinctly as belonging to the public. The National Tile Company's plant was established in 1889. as the Columbia Encaustic Tile Works, with capital stock of seventy-five thousand dollars. Despite the fact that the plant was destroyed by fire in 1892, its growth was steady and its prosperity sure; and it has for some years been one of the most substantial of Anderson's larger indus- tries, with a capital of five hundred thousand dollars. Mr. B. O. Haugh and George Lilly were the principal partners in the original enterprise. For many years Mr. Lilly was vice president and treasurer of the com- pany, but on the death of Mr. Haugh became president, and the full official directory up to the time of Mr. Lilly's death was as follows : George Lilly, president; Louis E. Lathrop, vice president ; Harry IIaugh, secre- tary ; and Louis S. Jones, treasurer. The chief output of the National Tile Plant is tiles for walls, flooring and fireplaces. The company has made a reputation for the high quality of these wares, which are now shipped throughout the United States as well as South America. They are par- ticularly popular on account of their fine finish and durability, as well
Kommetilly
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as for their distinctive coloring. The company have on their payrolls from three hundred and fifty to four hundred persons. It needs little calculation to understand that such an industry should be a large fae- tor in the aggregate business enterprise and economie welfare of a city like Anderson. The works comprise a number of brick buildings, and the machinery used in the manufacture is of the latest and most im- proved pattern.
Mr. George Lilly was a native of Pennsylvania, born at Reading, Berks county, in February, 1860, and was therefore in his fifty-fourth year at his death. His parents were James W. and Mary E. (Kerper) Lilly. In 1860, the family came to Indiana, first locating in Madison, and later moving to Lafayette, where the father was employed in the railway service for some time. He subsequently engaged in farming, and served a term as sheriff of the county. Still later he was employed as superintendent in the railroad shops at Lafayette, and remained su- perintendent and machinist until his death in 1866. George Lilly at- tained his primary education in the public schools of Indianapolis, and after graduating from the high school he was connected with the Big Four Railroad. Leaving railroading in 1884, he became connected with the milling business in Indianapolis. Then in 1889 when twenty-nine years of age, he came to Anderson and associated himself with Mr. Haugh and Mr. Lathrop, in establishing the title factory.
Mr. Lilly married Miss Carrie Olmstead, of Cincinnati, a daughter of Hiram B. Olmstead, a prominent banker of that city. The one daugh- ter born to their marriage is Ella Marie, a graduate from Mount Ver- non Seminary in Washington, D. C. Mr. Lilly was one of the prominent Masons, being affiliated with Fellowship Lodge No. 681, A. F. & A. M .; Anderson Chapter No. 52, R. A. M .; Anderson Commandery of the Knights Templar; and also with the Scottish Rite, including the Thirty- Second Degree, his membership being in the Consistory at Indianapolis, and with Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Indianapolis. In pol- ities he was Republican, and had served one term as a member of the County Council. He was a member of the State Committee, and chair- man of the Eighth District at the time of his death. The Lilly home is at 416 West Twelfth Street.
Many tributes were paid by friends and business associates to the character and achievements of Mr. Lilly, but concerning his most inti- mate character, the most noteworthy was a brief discourse delivered by his pastor. Many of the more beautiful things of the intellectual and spiritual realm had been translated by Mr. Lilly into his practical rela- tions with his fellow men and he was ever an upright kindly gentleman, whether on the street or in the factory or in his own home.
"He was a citizen of the great business world, with spotless integ- rity. With him a good name was rather to be chosen than great riches, and through these years, with the ebb or flow of fortune, he was truly a man of God. Books were his passion. How eagerly he sought the most perfect specimens of the printer's art! How he demanded that the page should be illuminant with the mark of merit, and his splendid library was collected with the most splendid culture and taste.
"His heart, in the midst of all this, went out in such outpouring of love in those ways which lead up to books. What great care he bestowed upon that office to which he was called as trustee of one of our finest schools, Western College for Women, Oxford, Ohio, and one of the last visits I had with him he was seeking a man worthy to be trusted to be
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placed at its head. To his church he gave of himself and of his means. He cast his bread upon the water. He was a consecrated man and in his church he was truly a man sent from God.
"Then the love that abideth is the love that endureth. The love that for thirty years and more transformed the four walls into a paradise ; beautiful and absorbing in its beginning it seemed that each new day added sweetness to the sparkling cup of the new wine of passion in his household. These beautiful years ended with a sorrow like the great world's altar stairs, that slope through darkness up to God. There are intense moments when it is like this-'Oh for the touch of a vanished hand, and the sound of a voice that is stilled.' The good, the true, the pure, the just, take the charm for ever from them and they crumble into 'dust. The love that planned this home and for thirty years and more kept it holy is as eternal, and by far more imperishable, than the encaustic tile shapen, and put on the market under his directing care. "Death came to him as it will come to all men, but death came as the fruition of his life-as the dewdrop finds the heart of the rose. And when life's infinite summons came, it was with the sense of the Ever- lasting arms that were underneath, and that the eternal God is our abiding place."
CHANCEY VERMILLION. On the first day of January, 1910, Chancey Vermillion, a pioneer resident of Richland township, and Madison county, died at his home, full of years and leaving behind him a record for useful living that will be an honor to his memory far into the future. For seventy-six years he was a resident of Madison county, and few there are who won a more secure position in the hearts and minds of the people than did he. A farmer of the most prosperous order, he was long known to be a man of means, and he retained to his last years an active interest in farms and farming in and about the county.
A son of Jesse and Catherine (Justice) Vermillion, he was born on the 12th of May, 1834, on the home farm in Monroe township, where the family settled when they migrated from Lawrence county, Ohio. Jesse Vermillion was then a young man, just launching out into independent life, and he gained a foothold in the new country in 1835 by entering a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of government land in Monroe township, where the family home was maintained for years. There the children were reared, and there Chancey Vermillion passed the early years when character was being firmly moulded and habits of integrity and industry formed that were destined to direct the course of his future life. When Jesse Vermillion died he left a family of six children. Chancey was the oldest, and the others were Elizabeth, Cynthia, Colum- bus, Samuel and Sarah.
The schooling of Chancey Vermillion was limited to a few months in a most inadequate and inefficient log-cabin school peculiar to that early day, but it is a significant fact that he did not permit himself to be restricted in the matter of improving his knowledge. He showed himself in many ways to be a man of ambition, but not the least of these was his application to books all through his life. He came to be thoroughly familiar with the world's best literature, and was ever a close student and withal an intelligent and understanding one, of Biblical history. When a boy at home he worked for his father, and later, when the elder man opened a store at Fairmonnt, he went into the
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store as his father's assistant. With the approach of manhood the young man undertook farming for himself, and he began his independent life on the old homestead that his father had entered from the govern- ment in earlier years. IIis farm of one hundred and forty acres on the Moonsville Pike, some six miles from Anderson, he came into possession of in later years, and there the bulk of his accumulations was brought together. He was a capable farmer, and one who kept well abreast of the times, willing and eager to know the best in relation to the performance of his regular daily tasks. That progressive and enterprising spirit wou for him his position of prominence in the community, his reputation for efficiency throughout the county and all the material success that came his way in life.
The first marriage of Mr. Vermillion was to Amanda Pence, deceased, a daughter of David Pence. Their children were: Mary, who has never married, and Amanda, who married a Mr. Alvin Curtis and has two children, Thurman and Cecil. On the 17th of November, 1863, Mr. Ver- million was married to Miss Esther Keicher, born on her present farm, a daughter of Peter and Katherine (Lambert) Keicher, the father from Tennessee and the mother from Virginia. They were old pioneer residents of Madison county and the first settlers in the neighborhood. To this second union of Mr. Vermillion were born five children, con- cerning whom brief mention is made as follows: Alice, the eldest, liv- ing at home; Willis, who married Hattie Broadbent, and has a family of four children, Oliver, Easter, Ernest and Stella; John married Bertha Matthew, and they have two daughters, Mary and Marjorie; Elmer married Emma Keicher, and they have four children, Rhea, Doris, Kenneth and Conrad Marshall; Cora is the wife of William Beall, and they have two children, Nondas and Curren.
From his marriage in early life until his passing away Mr. Vermil- lion was a consistent resident of Richland township, and his friends were legion. His advice was sought in matters of public welfare, and he served on many occasions as the arbiter of cases of dissension among his fellows. Good citizenship characterized him all his days, and none bore more stanchly their share in the civic responsibilities than did he. His fine country home was the center of hospitality in the town- ship, and a great good-will ever prevailed on his dominion. In early life he was an enthusiastic Mason, but in his later years withdrew from his activities in the order and held little or no intercourse with the society. But the spirit of brotherhood, despite that fact, was ever strong within him, as none will gainsay. A Democrat, he gave of his interest and energy to the furtherance of the cause of that party. Never a politician, he was yet one who felt a good citizen's interest in affairs of that ilk, and he played well his part as a member of the party all the years of his life. His death, which resulted from the effects of a paralytic stroke suffered some months previously, removed from Rich- land township one of the most honored and loved men that ever shared in the daily life of that community, and though three years have passed since his going, his memory is still fresh in the hearts of all who knew him.
JOSEPH CHAMBERS. The oldest living representative of one of the pioneer families of Madison county, Joseph Chambers, who lives retired at his home in Lafayette township, has had many varied and interest- ing experiences during nearly seventy years of residence in this vicinity.
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His home is a fine farm of two hundred acres, about five miles north- west of the city of Anderson. Concerning the Chambers family and his early reminiscences in this county, Mr. Chambers has furnished some valuable data which in succeeding paragraphs will be incorporated for preservation in this work. A brief outline of facts concerning his life and the family history is given preceding this account which comnes directly from this interesting old citizen.
Joseph Hiram Chambers was born in Bartholomew county, Indiana, on the 4th of January, 1845. His parents were Franklin and Mary (Drybread) Chambers. Franklin Chambers, the father, was born in Lawrence county, Indiana, a son of Hiram and Hannah (Thompson) Chambers. Hiram Chambers brought his family to Madison county in 1840. His children were named as follows: Franklin, John, Ma- linda, Miller, William, Emily, Jane, Elijah, Caroline and Bassald. Hiram Chambers spent the remainder of his life in this county. He had four brothers, James, Francis, William and Smith, and one sister, Nancy Short, but all are deceased. James lived on the farm in Dela- ware county now owned by Miles Walters, and of his family there are but two children living, Polly Walters and Julia Ann Walters. Francis Chambers lived on the farm now owned by Weems Bronnenberg, and of his family there are also but two children living, Adeline Wigner and Mary Young. William Chambers lived in the southern part of the state, and it is not known whether he has children living. Smith Chambers lived on the farm now owned by Henry Boner. In about 1848 or 1850 Mary Chambers, the mother of Joseph Chambers, bought the property of Smith Chambers, and he then moved to Clinton county, Indiana, and died there a few years later. He has but one child liv- ing, Angeline Hart. Hiram, Francis and Smith Chambers had adjoin- ing farms and reared their families together. As they married they located their new homes around in the same vicinity, and it became known as the Chambers neighborhood.
Franklin Chambers, the oldest of the children of Hiram and Han- nah Chambers, was educated for the most part in Lawrence county, Indiana. He was a farmer, and by his marriage to Mary Drybread, which occurred in Delaware county, this state, he had three children : Julian, deceased, who married John Michaels; Joseph H., the subject of this sketch; and Hannah, deceased. The mother was twice married, first to Thomas Camby, and they had one child, Melcena, deceased.
Joseph Chambers was a baby when he was brought to Madison county, and he was four years of age when his father died. For the three following years his home was in Delaware county, after which they moved to Richland township, where they lived for seven years and then moved to Lafayette township, where he has resided ever since. When fourteen years of age he took charge of the home farm, con- sisting of eighty acres, and thus at an early age had severe responsibili- ties thrust upon him, but it has been the tribute paid him by his old associates that he always bore his burdens faithfully and discharged every debt, whether in money or obligation, ever imposed upon him.
On February 1, 1866, he married Rebecca Pritchard. a daughter of Samuel and Martha (Davis) Pritchard. Samuel Pritchard, who came from South Carolina, was a farmer and located in Madison county, spending many years in Adams township. He was a son of Benjamin Pritchard, who was among the oldest settlers of Madison county. Samuel Pritchard and wife were the parents of the following sixteen
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children : Mary, Lucinda, Clarinda, Phillip, George, Louisa, Jane, Margaret, Rebecca, Peter, Sallie, Calvin (who was killed in the Civil war while serving for the Union), Martha, Samuel, Susan and Benjamin. Mrs. Rebecca Chambers was the last of her family in Madison county with the exception of one sister, Martha Davis, now living in this town- ship. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers became the parents of five children : Mary 1., now deceased. Martha, the wife of S. A. Alexander, who lives near Frankton in Lafayette township, and is the mother of four children, Joseph, Herchel, Forrest and Ernest. James C. married Emma Bolin, is a resident of Lafayette township and has the following seven chil- dren, Edna, Thelma, Mildred, Dorothy, Joseph Theodore, Robert Lee and Howard. Anna is the wife of Byron Stevens, and has four chil- dren. Everett, Mary, Donna and Marcus. Arthur, who married Addie Bilby, has the following six children : Alice, George, Hazel, Mabel, Earl and Chester Lee. Mr. Joseph Chambers has been a farmer all his life, and is a successful one. He has interested himself little in politics except so far as to be always ready to promote the welfare of his home community. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers are members of the Christian church.
Mr. Joseph Chambers, so far as known, is the oldest of the Chambers name now living, and as he looks back over the past receding years it seems but a short while to him since Smith Chambers and Ann, his wife, gave a turkey roast on Christmas' day of 1864. As well as he can recollect the ones who attended that celebration, and who have since passed away, are: Smith Chambers and his wife Ann, George Cham- bers and wife Rebecca, John Chambers and wife, William Chambers, Mary Chambers, Rachel Chitty, Susan Chitty, Mary Bodle, William Barnes, Lindy Barnes, Juliann Michaels, Samuel Rick, Elizabeth Rick, Daniel Walters, Elizabeth Walters, Free Boner and wife, James Short, and Henry Walters and wife. The attendants on that occasion still liv- ing are: Polly Walters, Juliann Walters, Miles Walters, John Michaels, Tishy Boner, Sarah S. Eshelman, and Joseph Chambers. Out of thirty- two only nine are living, but there may have been others in attend- ance whom he has forgotten.
"The first school I ever attended," says Joseph Chambers in his reminiscences, "was in a little schoolhouse in Richland township not more than twenty feet square, made of round logs. It had a fireplace in the north end that burned wood about four feet long. The chimney was made of mud and slats driven out above one inch square. The door was in the east side, and on the south end was the window. It was a log cut out, and the window glass was put in about one foot wide the entire width of the room. Under that window was the writing desk. It was a plank about eighteen inches wide. Holes were bored in the logs of the wall, pins stuck in and this board was laid on those pins. The benches were made of slabs. Mose Treadway was the teacher. I went to this school two or three terms. The house stood about eighty rods west of where Henry Boner now lives. The ones living who went to that school are: Betsy Ann Bigsby, A. J. Barracks, Adaline Wigner, Gil- bert Scott, Hester Ann Delp and myself. If there are any more I have forgotten them. In about 1854 they built a frame schoolhouse about eighty rods north of the old one. Isaac Scott was the first teacher that taught in the new house. The last school I went to in that house was in 1859. taught by A. J. Barracks. He gave a prize for spelling, and three of us tied-Mary Young, Ned Johns and myself, and the teacher
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gave each one a prize. All three of us are living. The Chambers Chris- tian church was organized in that house by Ebenezer Thompson with seven members-Hiram Chambers and wife, John Chambers and wife, Susan Chambers, Mary Chambers and Nancy Scott. They held meet- ings in that house until it burned in 1869. Hiram Chambers deeded to the church the ground and they built a church house there and it is still standing.
"We had no buggies then in which to go to church. If we went to church with our best girl we walked, if it were not too far; if it were too far to walk we rode horseback. If the girl had a horse and side- saddle we rode a horse apiece, if not we both rode the same horse, the girl riding behind. Our clothing was home made. My mother kept a few sheep, and we would shear them and wash the wool, pick it. take it to the woolen factory, have it carded into rolls, take it home. and mother would spin it into yarn. She would then color it and weave it into cloth. She would make flannel for herself and the girls and jeans for me, and this is what our clothing consisted of for the' winter.
"I rode on the first steam car that came to Anderson. They gave a free ride to Pendleton and back. Anderson was but a small place then, and they called it Anderson town. There were but about three stores in the place. I have seen it grow to be quite a city. We had no family reunions then, and the last was the seventh reunion of the Chambers family. These reunions have been a particularly pleasant occasions for the older members especially, of the Chambers family." Mr. Chambers also speaks of the somewhat melancholy circumstance that each year witnessed the passing of some face which had been visible in the previous assembly, but that each year new young faces came to fill in the picture where the old were blotted out.
EDGAR W. FARMER, a railway postal clerk on the New York Central Lines between Cleveland, Ohio, and St. Louis, Missouri, lives on Indiana Avenne, North Anderson. He was born here February 23, 1868.
The Farmer family is better known, probably, than any other fam- ily in Anderson township outside of the city of Anderson and ranks among the older ones in the county. Charles M. Farmer (April 16, 1846-June 27, 1910) and Mary L. Cummins. Farmer (Nov. 27, 1848- Nov. 16, 1900), the parents of Edgar, moved from Henry county. In- diana, immediately after their marriage and bought two acres of land of Isaac Clifford. There were then about six houses in what is now known as North Anderson. Indiana Avenue was then a mud road lined by woods on both sides except an occasional clearing for a dwelling. A little house was built on the land purchased, and here the children, Ed- gar W., Harold W., and Jessie M., and John S. were born. Charles, the father, had been left an orphan at the age of nine years and was the old- est of a family of four children. His first work was in a brick vard at twenty-five cents a day. From this on he toiled early and late, managed carefully and lived frugally. By this means he kept his mother in com- fort, supported his brothers until their death in early manhood as well as his sister until her marriage. Besides this he raised and educated his children, added a little to his land from time to time and established the wholesale market garden and greenhouse business which is now eon- ducted by his son, Harold.
The Farmer family is one of the pioneer families of Indiana. John Farmer was a captain in the Revolutionary army and is credited to Lan-
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