USA > Indiana > Madison County > History of Madison County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 23
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George W. Hupp was reared on the old home farm in Shenandoah county, up to the age of eighteen years, and as a boy he attended the old field school, as the common schools were popularly called in Virginia. At the age of eighteen he began learning the tinsmith's trade at New- market, where he was employed by Jacob Summers. and served a full
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apprenticeship of three years. After that he was actively engaged in his trade for a period of twenty-eight years.
In 1895 Mr. Hupp came west and located at Middletown, Indiana, and on May 26, 1862, came to Elwood, which has been his place of resi- dence now for more than half a century. He followed his trade at Elwood for a number of years, and finally engaged in business for him- self. For thirty years he was one of the prospering and enterprising merchants, and from a beginning in which he had a small stock, he added stoves, building material, and general hardware, and built up an estab- lishment which was a credit to the entire section of the county. On retiring from the hardware business, Mr. Hupp opened an insurance office, and did business in that line for eleven years. Since then he has lived retired. During his long and successful career he has accumulated much property, invested chiefly in residence property, numbering some twenty-two in Elwood, and his time and attention are now engaged in looking after this estate. He was in debt when he first came to Elwood, the result of a worthless partner.
On May 10, 1867, Mr. Hupp married Miss Isabel Stokes, daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth Stokes. Mrs. Stokes was born in Butler county, Ohio, where her parents were natives, and came in 1862 to Indiana, locating at Elwood, where they both died. The eight children com- prising the family of Mr. Hupp and wife are named: Charles C., Wil- liam A., Lola, Samuel S., Joab, Frederick, Alley and Maude. Charles, Joab and Frederick died in infancy, and William, who married a Miss Shaw and had two children, Fred and Drula, died in 1906. Samuel died unmarried. October 27, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Hupp are active mem- bers of the Methodist church, in which he has many positions officially, and he is affiliated with Quincy Lodge No. 200, I. O. O. F. He was one of the first councilmen of the corporation of Elwood, Indiana, holding that office for two terms, and he was the first landlord of R. L. Leeson & Sons. the old merchants of Elwood. Mr. Hupp is a Democrat in politics and cast his first vote for President Buchanan.
WADE H. FREE. Among the young Indiana men who in recent years have been gaining recognition and have been making their influence effective in business and political circles of the state, one whose name has now become well known far beyond the boundaries of his home county of Madison. is Wade H. Free, the present secretary of the state senate. He is a popular young lawyer of Anderson, where he has spent five or six years in general practice, and he is a native son of the county.
Wade H. Free was born in Lafayette township, Madison county, on a farm, February 16, 1878. His father is Nathaniel A. Free, a native of Ross county, Ohio, and one of the most prosperous farmers in Madison county. The farm which represents his life work comprises about four hundred and fifty acres, located in Richland and Lafayette townships, and it is a splendid estate, both from an agricultural point of view and as a center for fine stock, its proprietor having spent many years in study and diligent efforts to improve his live stock-cattle, hogs and horses. In his township community he is a man of political influence, but has never sought office. He married Miss Lavina Kirk, whose father. Wil- liam Kirk, was one of the pioneer stock buyers and farmers of this county, and a most respected citizen on account of his sterling qualities.
It was on the old home farm in Lafayette township that Wade H. Free spent his early years, and he enjoyed the rural training which is
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perhaps the best equipment for a man either in business or professional life. As a boy he attended the country schools of his neighborhood, and subsequently entered the public schools of Anderson, finishing at the high school. He then became a student in the Indiana University at Bloomington, where he was graduated in 1903, and he subsequently took his law degree from the law department of the University of Indiana at Indianapolis, in 1905. In the same year he was admitted to the bar, and he opened his office for practice, obtaining his first fec at Lapel in this county. Two years later he removed to Anderson, and has since built up an excellent general practice.
Wade H. Free is a Democrat in politics, and for a number of years has taken a lively interest in the success of his party and in the election of his friends. He served first as secretary and later as chairman of the Democratic Central Committee of Anderson, and has held other positions of minor importance. In 1913 he was appointed secretary of the state senate, and that position gives him opportunities for extended acquaintance among all the prominent Democrats of this state, so that his political career is likely to be watehed with much interest in the following years.
In 1911 Mr. Free was married to Miss Jane L. Armstrong, whose former home was in Baltimore, Maryland. Fraternally Mr. Free is affiliated with Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 77, A. F. & A. M .. and he is also a prominent member of the Phi Kappa Phi college fraternity. His office is at 903 Meridian street, and the family home is maintained at 331 West Tenth street, Anderson.
WILLARD H. THOMAS, now residing on a forty acre homestead in Stony Creek township, has given the best years of his career to the most useful occupation that can employ the energies of man or woman, that of teaching. He has made an excellent record as an educator, and was for a number of years identified with the schools of Madison county, until he recently retired and went upon a farm.
Willard H. Thomas, who represents one of the oldest Indiana fam- ilies, was born in Floyd county, March 25, 1872, a son of William and Sarah (Boley) Thomas. The Thomas family originated in Virginia, where it was settled during the colonial period. John Thomas, the founder of the family name and fortunes in Indiana, came out to what was then regarded the west and located in southern Indiana, and spent the rest of his lifetime in Harrison county. At his death he was buried upon the old homestead, which he had entered from the government and to which he and his children had given many years of labor in the clear- ing and cultivation. He had a large family of children, and one of them was William, who in turn had a son named William, the latter William being the father of the educator above named. William Thomas. the father, is still a resident of Harrison county. He served in Company C of the Eighty-first Indiana Infantry, and was a soldier until ineapaci- tated from further service by ill health. He was the father of three children, named as follows: Willard H .; Veruette A., who graduated from the common schools and studied in the State Normal, after which she was a teacher for some time until her marriage to Mr. Harry Mark- well; Edwin M., principal of the Hamilton school in Jackson township of Madison county.
Mr. Willard H. Thomas spent his youth on a farm, and when old enough began walking back and forth to the neighboring district schools,
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in which he attained his early training and was finally graduated from the common schools. He secured a license to teach at the age of seven- teen, and at intervals between his work as teacher he attended the Cen- tral Normal College at Danville, Indiana, and in 1896 entered the State Normal School, where he was graduated in 1899. Mr. Thomas possesses a life certificate, granted by the state. He served as principal of the Georgetown school, resigning there and after a year spent at Hunting- burg came to Madison county in the fall of 1901. He became principal of the Perkinsville school, and in all the schools where he has taught the cause of education has prospered, and he has left his impress for good upon hundreds of young men and women. He continued actively in educational work until the fall of 1912, at which time he retired and took up his residence on the farm in Stoney Creek township.
On Christmas Day of 1895 Mr. Thomas married Miss Nellie Gresham. She was reared and educated in southern Indiana, and attained a high school education. The three children of their marriage are named Harold G., age thirteen; Roscoe E., age eleven; and Jessie Vernette, age eight. The family worship in the Methodist church at Lapel, and Mr. Thomas is secretary of Lapel Lodge No. 625, A. F. & A. M. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he and his wife have membership with the Eastern Star and with the Rebekahs. He belongs to the Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America. In polities he is a Democrat, though he has never taken much part in party affairs.
LAFE J. BURR. Among the substantial business firms of Anderson, Indiana, that of the Jackson-Burr Company, dealers in insurance and real estate, holds prominent place. Established over a quarter of a een- tury ago, the career of the coneern has been one of constant development in size and prominence, and its members are widely known in the eom- mereial eireles of the eity. Lafe J. Burr, president of the Jackson-Burr Company, has been a resident of Anderson for more than forty years, and during this time has so closely identified himself with its interests as to make himself a place among the men to whom the city owes its pres- tige. He was born at Middletown, Henry county, Indiana, December 15, 1845, his parents being Chauneey H. and Jane ( Williams) Burr, natives of Oneida county, New York, and Union county, Indiana, respectively.
Chauncey H. Burr was born on March 11, 1806, and he was a tanner by trade, and a manufacturer of leather, lines of business that he fol- lowed extensively for a number of years at Middletown, Indiana. IIe died in his eighty-eighth year, having been identified with the commer- cial and industrial interests of Middletown since 1829, and as justice of the peace his service covered a continuous period of fifty years. His wife died on November 18, 1869. In politics Mr. Burr was an old line Whig, and upon the organization of the Republican party he transferred his support to that faction, of which he continued an active and inter- ested worker and member up to the time of his death.
Lafe Joseph Burr received his early education in the public school at Middletown, Indiana, and on completing his studies became a clerk in a general store in that place. Subsequently he went to Cincinnati, there attending a commercial college, after which he returned to Middletown. In March, 1863, he enlisted in the Union army for service in the Civil war, becoming a member of Company A, One Hundred Thirty-seventh Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Col. Len A. Harris, and participating in many sanguinary engagements. While in active service Vol. 0-11
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in Maryland, in 1864, Mr. Burr was captured by the enemy, but on the same day the Union troops made an attack that resulted in the rescue of their comrades. He continued to serve valiantly and faithfully until the expiration of his service, when he received his honorable discharge and returned to the pursuits of peace in Indiana. Not long thereafter the young soldier entered the employ of Vanuxem & Leeds, of Richmond, Indiana, wholesale dealers in tobacco and cigars, and remained with this firm from 1866 to 1870. In the latter year he was married to Miss Laura Sonnefield, of Brazil, Indiana, a daughter of Henry F. Sonne- field, a prominent merchant of that place. After his marriage Mr. Burr located at Middletown, Indiana, where he engaged in the drug business and continued therein until 1872. He then came to Anderson, Indiana, here engaging in the manufacture of wagon and carriage wood stoek and as a dealer in hardwood lumber, which he sold to the jobbing trade throughout the various States of the Middle West, doing business under the firm style of Lafe J. Burr & Company. This continued until 1886. In 1889 Mr. Burr engaged in the insurance and real estate business under the firm name of Jackson and Burr, the first office of this firm being located over the Nichol & Makepeace hardware store. From that place it was moved to the corner of Eleventh and Main streets, and there they now have a well appointed office, where they handle a large amount of business. They are conceded to be the leading dealers in their especial line in the city. and both Mr. Burr, who is president, and Mr. Jackson, who is secretary and treasurer, are men of high standing in business circles of the city.
Mr. Burr was for twelve years a member and president of the trustees of the Water Board of Anderson, and during his presidency the water works were constructed, the system now being entirely com- plete, with a recent installation of a water filter that renders the water absolutely pure. He was also county commissioner of Madison county for nine years. In his polities Mr. Burr is a member of the Progressive party and he is active in the party ranks. He is a member of Major May Post, G. A. R., and his wife has long been an active member of the Woman's Relief Corps, and is past department president of the organi- zation of Indiana. Mr. Burr was at one time a member of all the Masonie bodies, but is now demitted, belonging only to Mount Moriah Lodge No. 77, A. F. & A. M. He is prominent with its members and has many friends in business and social circles throughout the city. The family are members of the Presbyterian church.
Two sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Burr: Claude S., born March 6, 1871, a bright and promising boy, died on October 2. 1911. He was managing editor of the Guthrie State Capital, the leading Repub. lican daily of Oklahoma. Kenneth M., now chief inspector of the United States Steel Company at Gary, Indiana, was captain of Company L, One Hundred and Sixtieth Indiana Volunteers, and served one year in Cuba, and as major of the Thirtieth United States Volunteers served two years in the Philippine Islands. Both were educated at Peekskill Military Academy, on the Hudson River, New York.
ALVIN B. WILLIAMSON. Alvin B. Williamson has a well cultivated traet of eighty acres of land in Fall Creek township, where he carries on stock farming, and where he has reached a comfortable state of pros- perity in his agricultural activities. He ranks among the best known and most popular citizens of the township, and has a host of good friends
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in and about the community which represents his home. Born on Jan- uary 14, 1876, in Madison county, he is the son of Burwell and Mary J. (Mairifold) Williamson, both of whom are now deceased.
Burwell and Mary Williamson were born in Madison county, Indiana, and within its confines passed their entire lives. They devoted their lives to the farming industry, and reared a family of eight children, five of whom are now living,-as follows: William L. is a farmer, in Green township, Madison county ; Leora E. is the wife of J. T. Ford of Pendle- ton; Alice M. is the wife of Allen Swain; Howard C. is another Green township farmer ; and Albin B., the subject of this brief review.
Alvin B. Williamson was reared on the farm that was his birthplace, three miles west of the town of Pendleton, and when he reached a suffi- cient age he entered the public schools of Pendleton and there completed his education. His schooling was not of a comprehensive order, and consisted of attendance at the schools of the community during the win- ter months, while the remainder of his years up to the age of nineteen were devoted to the work of the home place, in which he was well trained under the direction of his father. He attended the Nobleville high school for a time after he was nineteen, and then set himself to learn carriage trimming, a work in which he was engaged for three years.
It was not until the marriage of Mr. Williamson in 1900 that hic moved his farm in Green township, where they lived until 1909, in which year they moved to Pendleton in Fall Creek township, and here he has since been engaged in general farming and stock raising.
The wife of Mr. Williamson was in her maiden days Miss Mary F. France, and she was born in Noblesville, Indiana, on December 8, 1878, and educated in the schools of Noblesville. She is a daughter of Jason and Lettie (Flinchman) France, well known people of that community. Two children have been born to the Williamsons,-Thelma I .. now eleven years old, and Donna B., aged nine years. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and Mr. Williamson has membership in Sicilian Lodge No. 234, Knights of Pythias, while his wife is a mem- ber of the Pythian Sisters, Lodge No. 99. Mr. Williamson is a Repub- lican, but is not one who takes any activity in political matters beyond the dictates of good citizenship. The family is one that has a pleasing - position in Pendleton and the vicinity by reason of the many excellent qualities which its members possess, and they have a host of friends throughout the county.
EUGENE L. FORD. In Green township are located many of the best improved and most valuable farmsteads of Madison county, and one of these which is conspicnous for its improvement, for its general appear- ance of thrift and prosperity, and for the value of the crops which are every year produced in its field and in the barns is that of Engene L. Ford. Mr. Ford has spent about sixty years of his life in Madison county, and lacks only about a year of being able to claim it as his birth . place. He was born in Wayne county, Indiana, December 9, 1852, and was a son of John W. and Martha. A. Williamson Ford, a native of Mars- land, was a carpenter by trade and came to Madison county in 1853. His mother was a native of Virginia. For a number of years the father was engaged in sawmilling and in contracting, and during his residence in Madison county he constructed many of the school houses in Green township, besides a large amount of other work. He and his wife were members of the Methodist church, and they were well known and in-
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fluential people. There were seven children in the family, and three are living in 1913, Eugene L., Emily L., wife of J. M. Johnson, and Amanda I., wife of Henry Beekner.
Eugene L. Ford spent his early life on the farm which he now owns in Green township, and attended the same district schools which the children of another generation attended, although in a very different building and with very different facilities from what he enjoyed as a boy. He completed his education in the public schools of Pendleton. His first regular occupation was as a carriage blacksmith in Pendleton, and he worked at that occupation for eighteen months. He then returned to the farm and soon afterwards was married to Miss Mary E. Taylor, a daughter of James A. Taylor. After their marriage he engaged in farming, and then moved to Lapel, where he was in business for several years. He next bought the balance of the farm of one hundred and sixty acres at his present location, and has given it all the energy and judgment which he possesses in making it a productive and valuable estate.
Mr. Ford and wife are the parents of seven children, and the three living at the present time are Horace A., who is a farmer and who mar- ried Ina M. Bright; Gale A., who is a graduate of the Lapel high school, and is now a student of music; Olin F., who was educated in the public schools of Lapel. Mr. Ford is affiliated with Lapel Lodge No. 625, A. F. & A. M., being a past master of the lodge, and is also a member of Lapel Lodge No. 386, Knights of Pythias, being past chancellor. He is also a member of the Grand Lodge of the Masons, and has been a delegate to the State Lodge of the Knights of Pythias. Politically he belongs to the new party, the Progressive.
ANDREW MILBURN. The meet reward of a well spent and active career is an honorable retirement from labor and a season of rest in which to enjoy the fruits of former toil. Consecutive endeavor, resolute purpose, sound judgment and unfaltering energy bring success in the active affairs of life, and when prosperity is attained these should be followed by a . period of leisure, when one may carry out his individual desires and find pleasure in pursuing plans from which business cares had formerly with- held him. For many years Andrew Milburn was prominently identified with the agricultural interests of Madison county. His career was an honorable one, in which his straightforward dealing and indefatigable labor brought him a handsome competence that now enables him to put aside the heavier burdens and find pleasurable recreation in his home and among his friends.
Mr. Milburn was born on the homestead in Stony Creek township which he now owns, June 3, 1856, a son of Isaac and Nancy (Gwinn) Milburn, natives of West Virginia (then Virginia). From their native place Mr. Milburn's parents migrated to Madison county in a wagon, pioneer fashion, and located in Stony Creek township, where the grand- father of the subject of this review bought one hundred and sixty acres of land from the government, paying a dollar and a quarter an aere, and this he deeded to his son Isaac. On his arrival here Isaac Milburn's cash capital consisted of two dollars and a half, and this sum he paid a neighbor to assist him in digging a well, but from this humble start he became one of the leading land owners of his section of the county. He was a quiet, unassuming man and never aspired to publie prominence, but lived a clean and upright life, was greatly respected by his neighbors,
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and in his death, February 12, 1901, his township lost one of its best citizens. He and his wife had three children, of whom but the subject of this sketch now survives.
The educational advantages of Andrew Milburn were somewhat limited, being confined to three terms of three months each in the dis- trict schools and a short attendance in a subscription school, but in later years this has been supplemented by much observation and study, which have made him a well educated man. He was reared on the home farm, but at the age of fifteen years, his home life not proving congenial because of a eritieal stepmother, he left the parental roof and faced the world on his own account. Making his way to Kansas, he there found work in the farming regions at a salary of twenty dollars a month, but with youthful irresponsibility failed to save his earnings, and when he met the lady of his choice he was possessed of a capital of but seventy- five dollars. However, his optimism and self reliance were as great as had been his free heartedness, and on April 29, 1884, he was married to Miss Minnie Holmes, who had been born in Nebraska June 17, 1860. She had received a common school education, but having lost her parents when young had, like her husband, been compelled to make her own way. To this union there were born thirteen children: Ella, who is the wife of Orville MeDole; Ethel, who is deceased; Bessie, the wife of Roy Adams; and Willie, Cyrus, Isaac, Earl, Jessie, Bertha, Ernest, Orville, Grace and Andrew, Jr. Of these Bertha and Ernest are twins.
After his marriage Mr. Milburn returned to Madison county, where he took charge of his father's farm, and here he has been carrying on operations ever since. He is now the owner of four hundred acres, all in a high state of cultivation, with substantial and handsome buildings and modern improvements of all kinds. Although he left the farm in December, 1905, and settled in his comfortable home in Lapel, Mr. Milburn still continues to buy and sell horses and to deal in and ship stock, and he is known as a shrewd trader and an excellent judge of live stock of all kinds. He has ever been known for his strict integrity and reliability in business matters, and few men are better known in the township. His life has been one of temperance and probity, and he is a liberal contributor to all religious and charitable movements, being, with his family, a consistent member of the United Brethren church. His polities are those of the Democratic party, and, while he has not been an office seeker. he has not been indifferent to the duties of citizenship and has served as a member of the town board of Lapel and as treasurer of the board of trustees of his church. During his long residence in this section he has formed a wide acquaintance and his numerous friends testify to his popularity among all classes.
MARTIN C. NORTON. By various services and diversified gifts, men contribute to the building up of a city, and it is in connection with the opening up of the avenues of commerce and the furnishing of facilities for the transactions of trade that Martin C. Norton has bent his energies to the common weal. As president of the T. M. Norton Brewing Com- pany, at Anderson, he is the directing head of one of the largest industries of its kind in this part of Indiana, while his connection with various other enterprises of an extensive nature has been such as to make his name a familiar one in business cireles of Madison county. Mr. Norton was born in the city of Anderson, July 30, 1867, and has spent his entire
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