History of Madison County, Indiana ; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 74

Author: Forkner, John La Rue, 1844-1926
Publication date: 1970
Publisher: Evansville Ind. : Unigraphic, Inc.
Number of Pages: 918

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 74

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Joel M. Jones as a boy attended the Mount Pisgah school, and while going to school also worked at home, and acquired a thorough knowl- edge of all the activities of farming. His schooling was completed in Boone township. At the age of twenty-two he had come into possession of a farm of his own, formerly owned by his grandfather, Joel Jones, who had come to Madison county from North Carolina.

Mr. Jones was married February 3, 1893, to Miss Anna Greenlee. They are the parents of four children: Henry, deceased; M. Belle; Altha; and Harry. The family attend church at the Christian denomi- nation and fraternally Mr. Jones is affiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men, Tribe No. 149; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 475; and the Knights of Pythias, Gas Belt Lodge No. 361. He is a Democrat in politics. His progressive industry has wrought many improvements in his rural home, and he and his family have a comfort- able home and one of the features about the place is the large new barn.

JAMES M. PARSONS. In the life history of the late James M. Parsons, one of Elwood's honored residents and substantial business men, is found exemplification of the truth that success is the result of labor- and untiring labor. Starting out in life with no advantages save those

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of an energetic nature, an inherent ability and a commendable determi- nation to gain a position for himself in the world, he worked ceaselessly and perseveringly, and became known as one of those belonging to the class which can lay claim to the American title of self-made man. Mr. Parsons was born in Butler county, Ohio, July 26, 1832, a son of James and Sarah Ann (Ward) Parsons.

The paternal grandfather of Mr. Parsons, John Parsons, was prob- ably a native of Maryland. He was a ship carpenter by trade, but when he went to Butler county, Ohio, as a pioneer of that section, turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, in which he was engaged during the remainder of his life. The name of his wife is not remembered, but it is known that he had two sons, James and William, and four daugh- ters, among whom was Ann. On the maternal side, the grandfather of Mr. Parsons was Joseph Ward, a native of New Jersey, who spent his life in the East. He had children as follows: Calvin, Luther, Amos, Jonathan, Sarah Ann, Phoebe and Malinda.

James Parsons, father of James M. Parsons, was born in Maryland, and there reared to manhood. As a youth he learned the trade of shoe- maker, and for three years was a sailor, but eventually accompanied his father to Butler county, Ohio, and settled near the city of Oxford. There he engaged in farming until coming to Madison county, Indiana, in 1835, and here he spent the remainder of his life, passing away in 1883, when about eighty-three years old, while his wife died in 1860, aged sixty-five years, and was buried at Comersville. They were Methodists in their religious belief. Mr. and Mrs. Parsons had a family of seven children, as follows: Charlotte Ann, who married Stephen Ball and makes her home at Arapahoe, Oklahoma; Jonathan W., who is deceased; Martha, also deceased, who was the wife of J. C. King, and later of John L. Milner; James M., of this review; John Wesley, who met his death in the battle of Murfreesboro, during the Civil war; George W., living at Rigdon, Indiana; and Frances Marion, who died when six years of age.

James M. Parsons was about two years of age when brought to Indi- ana by his parents, the family settling in Decatur county, where he resided until he was twelve years of age, there attending the public schools. They next located on a farm in Fayette county, and there he made his home until May 3, 1853, when he joined the old circus company of Spalding & Rogers, with which he traveled all over the United States during the next five years, starting as property boy and later becom- ing a performer. At the end of that time he had accumulated a fund of experience that decided him against circus life, this experience includ- ing being bitten on the head by an enraged lion. Accordingly he returned to his home and adopted the vocation of shoemaking, a calling which he followed for the greater part of his life. Mr. Parsons came to Elwood in 1860, and here followed his trade until 1885, at which time he was appointed postmaster, and after the expiration of his four-year term was made deputy sheriff for two years and city marshal for four years. After leaving the latter office he was engaged in shoemaking, and at the time of his death had a modern establishment in the Adams Block, No. 1515 Main street, and was enjoying an excellent trade. He was ever honorable in his methods and painstaking in his work, and his reputation was that of a thoroughly reliable man of business, and one who was to be trusted to live up to his obligations. During his long residence here he formed a wide acquaintance, and in this he numbered scores of per- sonal friends. The pleasant home is situated at No. 1353 South B. street.

DR. Dans

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On April 14, 1860, Mr. Parsons was married to Miss Caroline A. Shafer, daughter of James and Frances ( Wardwell) Shafer, and to this union there were born children as follows: Ella, Jonathan C., Charles M., Frank, James Edward, Joseph, William E., Ward, Maude and Bessie. Of these, Ella lives in Indianapolis. She married Charles Mount, by whom she had two children, both now deceased, as is Mr. Mount. For her second husband she married William Clark. Jonathan C., now super- intendent of police at Elwood, Indiana, was a painter and paper hanger in Elwood, where he married Lilly Long, and they have one daughter, Beulah. Charles M., who is his father's partner in the shoemaking business, married Metta P. Riley. Frank is a clothing salesman of Walla Walla, Washington, and is the husband of Vessie Mount, by whom he has two children-Elizabeth and Frances. James Edward died when five and one-half years old. Joseph, a traveling salesman living in Tacoma, Washington, married Ida Cheever, and they have one daugh- ter, Karline. William E., a tailor, who died in 1906, married Caroline Bentley, and they had four children, of whom two are now living- Charline and Thomas. Ward, Maude and Bessie all died in infancy. The first wife of Mr. Parsons, who was born in Butler county, Ohio, died in 1878, aged thirty-four years, in the faith of the Methodist church. Her father passed away in Elwood about 1893, while her mother is still living, aged eighty-seven years.

On May 25, 1881, Mr. Parsons was married to Mrs. Nellie Smith, who was born in Clermont county, Ohio, January 29, 1848, a daughter of George and Mary Van Trump, natives of Ohio, who died when Mrs. Parsons was still a child. They had seven children: John, George, Ann, Benjamin, Nellie, Mollie and Lula. Mrs. Parsons married Irvin Smith, who is now deceased. By her marriage with Mr. Parsons there have been four children: Raymond K., who is in the telephone and telegraph business at Phoenix, Arizona, married Mary Steele, and has one daughter, Rosaline; Chase J., a mail clerk in the Elwood postoffice, who married Hazel Creagmile, and has one child, Martha Nell; Leo, who is proprietor of a cigar store, Elwood, married Gladys Yelvington ; and one child who died in infancy.

Mrs. Parsons is a member of the Methodist Church. Mr. Parsons belonged to Quincy Lodge No. 200, I. O. O. F., and to the Knights of Pythias. A Democrat in politics, he was stanch in his support of his party's candidates and policies, and served four years as a member of the city council and one term as a member of the board of township trustees. James M. Parsons passed to his final reward May 19, 1913, aged eighty years, nine months, twenty-three days. He lies buried beside his children in Elwood cemetery.

DOCTOR BALL DAVIS, who resides on a fine farm in Stony Creek town- ship is an honored pioneer of this locality, having been identified with its interests for nearly sixty years. He has, therefore witnessed the many changes which have transformed it from a wild and uncultivated region into fine farms and comfortable homes, with here and there a thriv- ing town in which the various industrial and commercial interests are represented. He is a Civil war veteran and belongs to that class of enterprising energetic men to whom are due the progress and improve- ment of the Hoosier State, and his finely cultivated farm indicates in a measure the industrious and useful life he has led. Mr. Davis was born on a farm three miles west of Connorsville, in Fayette

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county, Indiana, November 13, 1840. and is a son of Thomas J. and Mariah ( Ball) Davis, the former of Virginia and the latter of Ohio. Mr. Davis's parents came to Fayette county as young people and were there married and in November, 1854, came to Madison county, here spending the remainder of their lives. Thomas J. Davis passed to his final reward November 5, 1855, while his widow survived him for many years, her demise occurring February 16, 1894. They were the parents of nine children, of whom seven are living at this time: William of Marion, Grant county, Indiana; James H., who lives at Anderson ; D. B .; Sarah, the wife of Guthrie Morris; Elizabeth, single, and residing at Anderson ; Rachel A., of Anderson, the widow of John F. Whitinger; and John E., also a resident of Anderson.

D. B. Davis accompanied his parents to Madison county in 1854, and as his father died during the next year, when he was a lad of but fifteen years, his early education was somewhat neglected. However, in later years, by study, observation and much reading, he has made up for his lack of early chances, and now has a better education than many who were granted much better opportunities. On settling on the new land, the family found it covered with a dense growth of timber, and it became the duty of the sons to clear, grub and prepare the land for planting, and at this hard, manual labor, Mr. Davis spent his youth and young manhood. He was so engaged at the time of the outbreak of the war between the northern and southern States, and with a number of other patriotic young men of his neighborhood he enlisted in September, 1861, in Company G, Forty-seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Mississippi. Although his service covered more than four years, during which he participated in some of the most bitterly-contested battles of the war, including the siege of Vieksburg, Mr. Davis was never taken prisoner, wounded or siek in the hospital, and when he received his honorable discharge, in November, 1865, he had a record for bravery, faithfulness and devotion to duty that was surpassed by no man of his command. The men of his com- pany admired him for his bravery and his officers respected him for the reason that he could be absolutely depended upon to perform whatever duty devolved upon him. It has been these characteristics, in large measure, which have made him so successful in his subsequent career. His military career entitles him to membership in Major May Post No. 144, Grand AArmy of the Republic, with which he is now connected, and in which he and his comrades are wont to discuss and live over the inci- dents and experiences of the days when secession reared its gory head and the youth of the land were called upon to save their country's honor.

On October 6, 1867, Mr. Davis was married to Miss Matilda E. Eads, who was born in Madison county, Indiana, September 12, 1848, and who died February 4, 1909. They became the parents of six children as fol- lows: Brittie M., who became the wife of Josiah Morrison; Arthur C., who married Harriet Werts; Joslin E., who is single, and is engaged as a bookkeeper in Dwiggins wire factory; Bessie, who is the wife of Wilson Newton and resides with her father; Roscoe C., who married Julia Unger; and Weaver B., who married Naney Marice. The members of this family are connected with the Methodist Episcopal church, where they have been active in the work of the Epworth League and large eon- tributors to its various movements. Mr. Davis always was a Republican until the campaign of 1912, at which time he transferred his allegiance to the new Progressive party. Ile has never been an office seeker, how-

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ever, and only takes a good citizen's interest in matters of a public nature.

Since returning from the army, Mr. Davis has been almost contin- uously engaged in agricultural pursuits, and his operations have been attended by the utmost measure of success. At one time he was the owner of 300 acres of land, but much of this has been distributed among his children, and he now has but 160 acres. He was also the builder of the Davis tile factory in Stony Creek township, and continued to con- duct that business from 1884 until 1904, when he disposed of his inter- ests. At all times he has manifested a commendable desire to be of benefit to his township and his fellow-citizens, and few men in the town- ship have a wider circle of friends or stand higher in general public esteem.

JOHN GEORGE HINDERER. Since 1889 a resident of Anderson, Mr. Hinderer has contributed in no small measure to the creative industry of this city. Though he has spent many years and is known to many local people chiefly as a market gardener, who supplies tables in hun- dreds of homes with choicest of vegetables, he has a special genius in mechanics, is an inventor of no mean ability, has manufactured musical instruments in Anderson and elsewhere, and at his plant in the suburbs is now making and distributing over a large territory some of the most practical devices used in poultry and general farming.

John George Hinderer is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Clarion county, April 25, 1858. His father was G. Hinderer, a native of Ger- many. John Hinderer, a brother of G. Hinderer, came to America and settled at Troy, Ohio. He is deceased. Other relatives of these two brothers came to America, one named Chris, settling at Goshen, Indiana, while Robert settled in Lafayette, Indiana, and Gottlieb was in Kanka- kee, Illinois, and Frederick in Columbus, Ohio. G. Hinderer was reared and educated in his native land, and while there served an apprentice- ship in learning the trade of weaver. When his apprenticeship was finished, he immigrated to America, settled in Clarion county, Penn- sylvania, and for some time was employed there in an iron ore smelter. After that he bought a farm one mile southeast of Lickingville, and be- came identified with general farming. He also put in a loom and wove woolens and linen goods for the local trade. Combining those industries until 1870, he then sold his farm and moved to Ohio, buying another farm at Troy, in Miami county. That was his home for five years. at the end of which time he sold out and bought a place three miles north of Greenville, in Darke county, and continued as a substantial farmer until his death on September 3, 1891, at the age of sixty-six years. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Anna Emminger. She was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of John George and Maria (Slater) Emmin- ger, and a granddaughter of Chris Emminger, a native of Pennsyl- vania, but of German parentage. The wife of G. Hinderer died May 5, 1900, at the age of sixty-four. She reared ten children named as fol- lows: John G., Herman B., Lizzie, Jennie, Daniel, Matilda, Jacob S., Henry, Christie, and Minnie.

John George Hinderer while a boy had the advantages of the rural schools of Washington township in Clarion county, Pennsylvania. In 1867 he was enabled to go to Europe, where he entered the Eslingen Uni- versity, at Eslingen, and took a course of three years in languages and other studies. At the end of that time he returned to America, and hav-

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ing a taste for mechanical work of the finer sort he located at Brattleboro, Vermont, where he served an apprenticeship in the Jacob Estey Organ factory. He was there five years, and became an expert workman, in organ manufacture. From there he went to Ohio, and for a time was employed in farming with his father until his marriage. He began domestic life on a farm in Darke county, lived there two years, and sell- ing out began the manufacture and trading in organs and pianos at Greenville, Ohio. That business he continued with fair success until 1899, and then moved to Anderson. On the upper floor of the Hancock and Ellison Building on Ninth Street, he established his organ factory, and continued in the musical business until 1894. He put out a very high grade of organs, and gave an individual touch to instruments such as those made in the immense factory never received. In 1894 Mr. Hinderer rented a tract of land in the southeastern part of the city, and began truck farming. On that place he also set up a little shop and began making a rotary slaw and vegetable cutter, a machine which was a great improvement over similar devices then in use. Five years later he was able to buy the tract of land which he had previously leased, and has since continued market gardening. In 1901 Mr. Hinderer began the manufacture of the incubator known as the Excellent Incubator, and since that time has made and distributed thousands of these articles. To breeders and raisers of poultry, the Excellent Incubator is known as one of the best of many on the market. In 1912, Mr. Hinderer has added to his local industry by establishing a mill for the grinding of corn and feed. His machinery is all operated by gasoline power.

On January 19, 1881, Mr. Hinderer married Mary Elizabeth Vorn- holt. She was born in New Bremen, Auglaize county, Ohio. Her father, John Vornholt, was a native of Hesse Cassel, Germany, and a son of John Vornholt, who brought his family to America, coming in a sail vessel that was six weeks between Europe and America. Grandfather Vornholt was one of the pioneers of Auglaize county, Ohio, bought a tract of land in the woods, hewed a farm from the wilderness and made it his home until his death. John Vornholt, the father of Mrs. Hinderer, was six years old when the family migrated to America. He was reared in Auglaize county, amid pioneer surroundings, and after attaining manhood secured a tract of eighty acres, three miles from New Bremen. There he built a log house, and that was the home to which he took his bride, and where all his children were born. In the course of years he improved an excellent farm, and continued to live there until his death in 1893. He married Dorothy Bidemier. She was born in Amster- dam, Holland. Her father was a soldier in the Dutch army, and died while in service. After his death his widow and five children started for America, taking passage in a sail vessel which had a long and tedious voyage of nine weeks. The little family settled in Auglaize county, Ohio, and the five Bidemier children were Hettie, William, August, Carrie and Dorothy. The mother of Mrs. Hinderer died in 1903.

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hinderer were born four children, named John G., Mary M., Lizzie D., and Martin L., and all are married. Mary M. is the wife of Robert Langley, and has one son Clinton. Lizzie married Samuel Farmer, and their three children are Bonita, Evelyn, and Albert. Martin married Artie Greene, and has three children named Jeanette, Paul, and Vivian. Mr. and Mrs. Hinderer are of the Spiritualist faith, and worship in the Spiritualist church in Anderson. Mr. Hinderer has membership in the Knights of the Orient.

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CASSIUS C. JACOBS was born on a farm in West Vincent township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, on September 1, 1845. At the age of five years he moved with his parents and older sister to Madison county, Indiana. He is the son of Charles P. and Esther A. Jacobs. The former is a son of Thomas and Sarah Jacobs.

Charles P. Jacobs was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, on Oc- tober 6, 1816, and died on October 6, 1901. He married Esther Ann Fus- sell, daughter of William and Jane Foulk Fussell in Chester county on October 27, 1842, and they came to Madison county, Indiana, on Novem- ber 28, 1850, locating near Pendleton, Indiana; taking eight days to make the trip, first by stage over the Allegheny mountains, then by steam boat down the Ohio river, then by train to Indianapolis from there tak- ing farm wagon to Pendleton, Indiana, where they continued to reside through the remainder of their lives. They became the parents of two children: Elmira, born September 17, 1843, and who died on March 27, 1865, unmarried; and Cassius C. Jacobs of this sketch.

Cassius C. Jacobs came to Madison county at an early age and here has passed his life from an early period. He attended the public school lasting from two to three months in the year and working on the farm and in his teens was able to attend the Normal school at Lebanon, Ohio. He was twenty-eight years old when in 1873 he married Sarah A. Ver- non and settled down to farm life. She is a daughter of Ederd B. and Hannah (Rogers) Vernon, and she was born on January 23, 1850, and educated in the common schools of Madison county, Indiana. Her fa- ther, Edward B. Vernon, was born in 1816, in Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, and was married in 1843 in Madison county, having come here about 1837. He made this county his home until his death on October 7, 1912. Ife was the father of twelve children, five of whom are living at the present time.

As a member of the Republican party and an active worker in its ranks, Mr. Jacobs as in past years on many occasions has given valued service to the community in which he has lived. He was a member of the board of supervisors for six years and proved himself a most efficient member of that body. The one instance when Mr. Jacobs was separated from the communal life of this township and from his farming activities was when he located in Anderson and New Castle, Indiana, and had charge of a general agency for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. He eventually reverted to his farming interests, however, and has since been thus occupied in sawmilling, buying and selling logs and lumber in connection with his farming, and he has enjoyed much success in the industries. Mr. Jacobs has seen many changes in the life of the town- ship in the years of his association with the community, and of those who lived at Spring Valley and this part of Fall Creek when he first came here, not one is living today in his school district.

Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs have two sons, Arthur, born March 15, 1874, who was married to Anna Williams; they have two children, Eva M. and Edward W. Jacobs; and Charles Jacobs, born October 5, 1875. He married Fannie D. Budgurs, and they have two children, also: Audra M. and Horace Jacobs.

The Jacobs family through their long and praiseworthy identity with the county of Madison, occupy an enviable place in the esteem and regard of the representative citizenship of the communities in which the various members of the family are known, and taken as a whole, may Vol. 11-15

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well be said to be one of the standard type of resident that has borne so worthy a part in the growth and upward development of the county.

REV. ROBERT SELLERS, pastor of the East Main Street Christian Church, at Elwood, Indiana, was born near Franklin, Johnson county, Indiana, February 10, 1857, and is a son of Nelson and Sarah T. (Pritchard) Sellers. His paternal grandfather, Samuel Sellers, was a soldier during the War of 1812, and subsequently became a pioneer of Johnson county, Indiana, where he was for many years engaged in farming, and where his death occurred in advanced years, burial being made near Nineveh. He and his wife were the parents of six children: Martin, Cynthia, Pollie, Sallie, Betsey and Nelson. On the maternal side, the grandparents of Rev. Sellers were Lewis and Susan (Martin) Pritchard, natives of Kentucky, and early settlers and farmers of John- son county, where both passed away. Their children were: Curtis, James, John, Robert, Nancy, Sarah T. and Jane.

Nelson Sellers was born in Indiana, and was reared in Scott county, but subsequently went to Johnson county, where he secured a farm and spent the rest of his life in making a home for his family. A faithful member of the Christian Church, and a loyal and public-spirited citi- zen, he was widely knowu, and well merited the esteem in which he was universally held. Born July 8, 1825, his death occurred January 6, 1901, while his wife, also a native of Indiana, was born February 16, 1830, and passed to her final rest November 1, 1905. They were the par- ents of eight sons and three daughters, as follows: William T., a resi- dent of Indianapolis; Mary Elizabeth, who became the wife of II. A. Green, of Jacksonville, Florida; John, who is now deceased; Martin, residing at Franklin, Indiana; Rev. Robert, of this review; Lewis N., living at Franklin ; Susan Jane, who became the wife of S. H. Broughton, of Indianapolis; Rev. Elmer, who lives in Logansport, Indiana; Emma, who is the wife of William Pangburn, of Franklin; Dr. Blaine H., a dentist of Indianapolis; and Dr. Samuel N., engaged in the practice of dentistry at Clinton, Indiana.

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History of Madison County, Indiana ; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 74

Author: Forkner, John La Rue, 1844-1926 Publication date: 1970 Publisher: Evansville Ind. : Unigraphic, Inc. Number of Pages: 918

Author: Forkner, John La Rue, 1844-1926
Publication date: 1970
Publisher: Evansville Ind. : Unigraphic, Inc.
Number of Pages: 918