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 42
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
3, 1888, at Daleville, Delaware county, Indiana, and is a son of Alex- ander and Clara (Bronnenberg) Quin.
The family was founded in the United States by Charles Quiun, the grandfather of Charles R. Quinn, who emigrated to this country from Ireland. He became a resident of Indiana at an early day, and here reared his family of six children, who were as follows: Daniel, James, Alexander, John, Mrs. Mary Mighmiller, and Mrs. Ella Rector. Alexander Quinn was born in Ireland, and was still an infant when brought to this country by his parents. He was reared to agricultura! pursuits, which he has followed throughout life, and the greater part of his career has been spent in Indiana. For some years he was the owner of a property in Delaware county, from which he subsequently moved to the farm in Madison county, on which his son now resides, and which he improved by the erection of a number of handsome struc- tures, including the present dwelling. He and his wife were the parents of three children: Earl and Marie, who are both deceased; and Charles Russell.
Charles R. Quiun received his education in the country schools of Moonville, which he attended during the winter terms, his summer months being spent in assisting his father with the work of the home- stead. He was still a lad when he came to Madison county, and here he has continued to follow the calling of a general farmer. He is also much interested in blooded horses, a great admirer of racing stock, and his future career will no doubt be directed along that line. He has continued to add to the improvements of the ninety-acre homestead, which is now considered one of the most valuable of its size in this section of the country, and has become known as a good, practical agriculturist, who is ever ready to test new methods and systems. Iu business affairs, he is a man of Leen discrimination and fine judgment of energy and perseverance, and the prosperity which has attended his efforts is the merited reward of his own intelligent labor. His resi- dence is pleasantly situated on Anderson Rural Free Delivery Route No. 1.
On July 19, 190S, Mr. Quinn was united in marriage with Miss Lena Click, who was born near Crawfordsville, Indiana, daughter of Isaay and Teresa (Utterbock) Click, the former of whom is deceased. Mr. Click was a native of Germany, from whence he emigrated to the United States and settled near Crawfordsville, Indiana, but later came to Madison county, and here spent his last years in farming. He and his wife were the parents of eight children : Eugene, Edgar, Earl, Kliner, Lottie, Lulu, Letha and Lena. Mr. and Mrs. Quinn have had one son, Carl, a bright lad of three years. They attend the Christian church, in the work of which they have been active, and have many friends in the younger social circle of Anderson.
JOHN L. THOMAS. One of the most substantial and prosperous farmers of Fall Creek township, likewise one of the men who enjoy the most profound and sineerc esteem and friendship of his fellow citizens in the community is John Lewis Thomas. His entire life has been passed in Madison county. The family was established here by his worthy parents, and the name has been honored by his consistent and meritorious career.
John Lewis Thomas was born on the 20th of November, 1837, a son of Lewis W. and Priscilla Moore (Fussel!) Thomas, the former being a
MR. AND MRS. JOHN L. TIIOMAS
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
son of Jonathan and Anne (Lewis) Thomas. The ancestry of the family is Welsh, and it is of record that three brothers of the name of Thomas came from England on the good ship Welcome in company with the immortal William Penn. The brothers located in eastern Pennsyl- vania, and John L. Thomas is a direct lineal descendant of one of the three brothers. Jonathan Thomas, the grandfather, and his wife, Anne Lewis, were reared in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and there they married, coming to Madison county, Indiana, in 1834, among the early settlers of the district known to-day as Spring Valley. This worthy pioneer was the founder of the Fall Creek church of the Society of Friends, and they held their first meeting in July, 1834, since which time no Sunday has passed without witnessing its similar Quaker service. Mr. Thomas located on the farm where Samuel Swain now lives, and there he and his wife ended their days and lie buried. They were the parents of three children: Rebecca, who became the wife of John J. Lewis; Lewis W. Thomas, who married Priscilla Fussell; and Mary A., who married Woolston Swain.
Lewis W. Thomas was about twenty-one years of age when he came to Madison county with his parents, and he was married on February 23, 1837, to Priscilla Fussell, as mentioned above. They became the parents of eleven children, of which goodly number six were living in 1913. They are named as follows: John L. Thomas, of this sketch; Martha M., the wife of Aaron Morris; Jonathan, who married Emma Rogers; Mary, the wife of William R. Kinnard, of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this work; Solomon F., who married Carrie Lang; and Alice, the wife of Edgar Whitely.
John L. Thomas was reared on the farin which is now the property of William R. Kinnard. When old enough to enter the public schools he was sent to them in the summer months, but the winter seasons found him at home, in close application to the work of the farm. Until he was twenty years old he attended school intermittently and devoted hini- self to farm life exclusively from then until he was twenty-five. His education in the district schools, supplemented by his wide reading, had made it possible for him to teach a country school, and for eleven years he was engaged in that occupation during the winter months. On September 18, 1862, he married Caroline Swain, a daughter of Charles Swain, who came from Bucks county, Pennsylvania, to Madison county in 1852. She was born in Bucks county on the 15th of June, 1838, and was educated in the schools of Indiana principally. Of the four children which came into their home three have been spared to them, a little son, Lewis, having died in infancy. Emma is the wife of Frank P. Miller, of Romney, West Virginia, a farmer. Charles S. is a graduate of the University of Indiana, and was formerly a student at Harvard. He now occupies the chair of English in a high school at Newtonville, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Lewis W., who was a student in the public schools and the State University, now resides on the home farm, which he operates for his father. He married Margaret Willits, a daughter of Samuel E. and Virginia ( Wilson) Willits, both now deceased. The father was a native of Wayne county, Indiana. One child, Virginia, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Thomas on the 24th of March, 1913.
Mr. Thomas is a member of the Friends Chrarch and sits at the head of the church in this locality founded by his grandfather many years ago, and he frequently preaches therein. In 1868, with others, he organ-
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ized the Sunday-school, and has ever since held the offices of teacher or superintendent therein. He has the distinction of being the oldest living member of the church born in this section. He is a pronounced Republican in his political affiliations, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He has served in a number of the public offices of til. county, including that of trustee of Fall Creek township, in which he served three years. He has also served as a member of the County Cen- tral Committee, and has given valuable service to the cause of the party in Madison county. He was the principal organizer of the Farmers Mutual Fire & Lightning Insurance Company of Madison county, and served as secretary and treasurer of that society for eleven years and a. a director for two years. He is also one of the original members of the state organization bearing the same name, which he served two years as treasurer, has been prominent in the work of the Farmers Institute and is one of the most successful farmers of the county. He owns one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 36, in an excellent state ot cultivation and maintained in the most painstaking and businesslike manner.
Recently Mr. and Mrs. Thomas celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, known as the Golden Wedding Anniversary. Their married life has been beautiful in its harmony, and cach has won aud retained in a remarkable degree the confidence and esteem of many of the most representative people of the township. They have added much to the best interests and advancement of the community, and are eminently deserving of the high place they now occupy in the public mind.
WARD L. ROACH. Among the honored residents of Elwood, Indiana. none are held in higher esteem than Ward L. Roach, who has lived in this city for more than a quarter of a century, has occupied a high place at the Madison county bar, and for more than twenty years has served his fellow-citizens in the capacity of justice of the peace. A veteran of the great Civil war, in both times of war and times of peace he has ever displayed a characteristic devotion to whatever duty has devolved upon him, fairly earning the respect and confidence of all who have known him. Judge Roach was born December 20, 1838. at Huntsville, Madison county, Indiana, and is a son of Lanty and Louisa (Brown) Roach, the former a native of Monroe county, and the latter of Mason county, Virginia.
The paternal grandfather of Ward L. Roach was a native of the Old Dominion State, where he was engaged in farming for many years. and where both he and his wife, who was also a Virginian. died when well along in years. During the Revolutionary War, he enlisted in the Continental army, and when the War of 1812 broke out, he again took up arms in his country's defense. He became the father of a large family, among whom were Katie, who became the wife of Andrew McNear; Isaac; John; Thomas and Lanty. On the maternal side, the grandfather of Ward L. Roach was Martin Brown, who married Susanna McAllister, both being natives of Virginia. They were farming people. and became pioneers of Madison county, Indiana, where both died in advanced years, Mr. Brown on Fall Creek, about two miles east of Huntsville, and his wife in Anderson. Like Grandfather Roach. Mr. Brown served as an American soldier during the War of 1812. He and his wife were the parents of a large family, as follows: Mary Ann.
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who became the wife of John Howard, and lived on Liek Creek; Louisa, the mother of Judge Roach; Susanna, who married a Nicholson; Har- riet, who became the wife of a Veach; Emily, who married (first) a Johnson and later a Lemon; Lorenzo D .; Elizabeth, who married a Templin; and Garrett.
Lanty Roach, the father of Ward L. Roach, was reared in the state of his nativity, there received a common school education, and in young manhood learned the trade of carpenter. In the year 1835, looking for a wider field for his activities, he turned his face toward the young West, and made his way to Huntsville, Indiana, where he established him- self in business in the little but growing town. He became a power in his community, and during the early days served his county ably as sheriff, but later moved from Huntsville to a tract of 160 acres of government land, east of Elwood, and this he cleared and improved, making a comfortable home for his family, and spending his declining years in the comfort that came as a reward for his years of fruitful labor. Born October 28, 1814, he passed away October 13, 1887, while his wife, who was born February 8, 1818, passed to her final rest May 3, 1894. She was a member of the Methodist church. Mr. and Mrs. Roach were the parents of five children, namely : Ward L., Mary S., who became the wife of Josiah Canady. of near Frankton. Indiana; Martha, who is now deceased ; John M., who lives near Dundee, Indiana ; Emily O., who married and is living at Frankton, Indiana.
Ward L. Roach received liis education in the public schools of Huntsville, which he attended until he was twelve years of age, and at that time went to Anderson, where for two years he was employed as a clerk in a general store. Following this, he read law in the office and under the preceptorship of Judge Lake, of Anderson, and was admitted to the Indiana bar before he reached his majority. For two years he served as assistant prosecuting attorney at Anderson, but subsequently went to Barton county, Missouri, being engaged in prac- tice there at Lamar, at the time of the outbreak of hostilities between the North and the South. An ardent patriot, he returned to Indiana, and for a few weeks resided on his father's farm, from whence he went to enlist in the Forty-first Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. for service in the Union army. Later he was transferred to the Second Cavalry, with which organization he continued about two years, being detailed from the regiment and appointed sergeant of the corps of General Hazen. During his service, Mr. Roach participated in a num- ber of the bloodiest battles of the great war, these including Shiloh and Corinth, and when he received his honorable discharge, he had a rec- ord for gallantry and faithful devotion to duty that was excelled by no soldier in the army.
On the completion of his military career, Mr. Roach returned to Anderson and again took up the practice of law. He remained there until 1887, which year saw his advent in Elwood, and this place has been his home to the present time. Here he has served more than twenty years as justice of the peace, his fellow-citizens having the utmost confidence in his judginent, his conscientiousness and his impartiality. During the past twenty-two years he has resided on his farm of twenty- one aeres, on which he has a comfortable residence. In polities he is a Democrat, and his fraternal connection is with Quincy Lodge, No. 230, F. & A. M., he having been made a Mason at Frankton.
On October 25, 1866, Squire Roach was married to Miss Mary A.
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Waymire. Mr. Roach was married June 26, 1873, to Miss Martha West, who was born near Williamsport, Indiana, daughter of John A. and Azubah (Wilson) West of Illinois, the former a native of Georgia and the latter of Ohio. Mrs. Roach's parents had the following children : George, Samuel, William, Thomas, Moses, Betsey MeClish, Charlott .. Romine, Salina West, Anna and Martha. Judge and Mrs. Roach have one daughter : Louisa A., born October 17, 1877, who is single and lives at home with her parents. 1
JACOB HARTMAN. About seven miles northwest of the city of Ander- son, in Lafayette township, is located the eighty-acre farm of Jacob Hartman, whose work in developing this property into one of the finest in this section stamps him as an able agriculturist and sturdy, dependable citizen. He is a typical self-made man, having been given but indifferent educational advantages in his youth, and attaining his success through the medium of individual effort. Mr. Hartman was born on the Hughes farm, subsequently known as the Hartman farit, in Monroe township, Madison county, Indiana, and is a son of Johni and Lucinda (Clevinger) Hartman. His father was a native of Pen- sylvania, and as a young man learned the trade of pump-making, at which he was employed during his younger years. A steady, indus- trious workman, he carefully saved his earnings until he was able to purchase a small tract of land in Monroe township, and after develop- ing this property traded it for a farm of eighty acres in Pipe Creek township, northeast of Alexander. There he continued to follow agri- cultural pursuits during the remainder of his life. He married Lucinda Clevinger, whose family had come to Indiana from New Jersey, and they became the parents of seven children: John; Mary, who married Absolom Richwine; William, who is deceased, was married and had a son, Walter; Fred, who is deceased; Charles; Susan, who married Mr. Peniston ; and Jacob.
Jacob Hartman was compelled to walk two and one-half niles to reach the district school during his boyhood, and his education was thus secured during three months each winter. The rest of the year he passed in assisting in the work of the home farm from the time he was large enough to grasp the plowhandles. However, he made the most of his somewhat limited opportunities, and much reading and close observation have made him a very well informed man, especially upon the live issues of the day. He was reared to habits of industry and economy, and continued to remain upon the home place until he reached his thirty-second year, when he entered agricultural pursuits upon his own account. His present property has been developed solely by him, and he has fairly won the right to be named among his town- ship's best agriculturists.
Mr. Hartman was married to Miss Sarah Graves, daughter of Joseph and Luey (Kendall) Graves, and five children were born to this union : Joseph, Bessie, Elsie, Grace and Lela, the last two of whom are now deceased. The comfortable Hartman home is located on Anderson Rural Route, No. 6, and in this vicinity both Mr. and Mrs. Hartman have numerous friends. They take an interest in the activities of their community and are rearing their children to perpetuate the honorable name which the family has ever borne. Mr. Hartman is a local poli- tician and wields an influence in his locality as a Democratic worker.
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His advice and support are sought by all who aspire to office in Madi- son county.
ELMER SCHLEGEL. It is probable that were the gentleman whose name heads this review asked to define the secret of success in life, from his own standpoint and experience, his reply would be that it is hard work, availing itself of fair opportunities. Always and everywhere he remembers that he has worked faithfully and conscientiously, and that to himself, and all Madison county men of his caliber, is peculiarly applicable the well-worn maxim, that "nothing succeeds like success." Today he is the owner of a well-cultivated tract of fifty aeres, lying in Lafayette township, on which he is carrying on operations in modern farming and cattle raising. Mr. Schlegel is a native son of Madison county, and was born in April, 1866, a son of Henry C. and Laura J. (Myers) Schlegel. His father, Henry C., a native of Germany, emi- grated to the United States with his parents when still a lad, and after spending a period of years in Pennsylvania came to Chesterfield, Madi- son county, Indiana. Subsequently, he bought land in Delaware county, and there settled down to agricultural pursuits. He remained on the farm until the death of his wife in 1898. Since that time he has lived in Daleville, Indiana, his daughter keeping house for him. He and his wife were the parents of four children, namely : William H., who makes his home in Delaware county on the old homestead; Elmer; Mollie, also a resident of Delaware county ; and J. C., who lives at Lima, Ohio.
Elmer Schlegel received his education in the public schools of Dela- ware county, whence he was taken by his parents when still a child. That county continued to be his home for upwards of forty years. and there he was reared and received his entire business training. Thor- oughly trained in the thousand and one subjects which go to make for proficiency in the various branches of agricultural work, at the age of twenty-two years he began renting land from his father, and thus con- tinued until March 6, 1906, when he came to his present property, returning to the county of his birth, and settling on a property in Lafayette township which he had purchased October 21, 1905. He has continued to be engaged in general farming and stock raising, and his operations have all proved uniformly successful. He is an able man- ager, with inherent business ability and agricultural knowledge that has come to him from a long line of tillers of the soil. Mr. Schlegel's career presents a striking example of enterprise, industry and integrity, con- ducting to eminent success, and of political consistencies based on enlightened and moderate views-views at all times compatible with a generous toleration of the sentiments entertained by others, and com- manding general confidence and esteem. While he has not been a poli- tician, being essentially a business man, he has shown an interest in those matters which affect the welfare of Madison county and its people, and has at all times supported men and measures calculated to bring about good government. With his family, he attends the United Brethren Church, of which he is a liberal supporter.
. On March 21, 1889, Mr. Schlegel was married to Miss Martha Stew. art, a native of Delaware county, Indiana, and a daughter of John A. and Mary E. Stewart. They have had two children: Bertha B., born October 14, 1890, and Elmer Stewart, Jr., born May 16, 1905. The son had very poor health during the most of his life, and he died
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December 7, 1911. Bertha B., the daughter was married September 2, 1912, to Mr. Elmer Rodecap and now resides in Anderson, Indiana.
PHILIP A. CHILDERS. One of the old and honored residents of Madi- son county, who has spent his life in agricultural pursuits and is now numbered among his community's substantial men, is Philip A. Chil- ders, the owner of a farm of eighty acres, located on the Childers road, two miles from Florida. He has been a witness to the wonderful growth and development of the section which has resulted in making Lafayette township one of the garden spots of the Hoosier State, aud has contributed his share of energy to the work which has brought this development about. Mr. Childers is an Indianian and was born on the old Samuel Hicks farm, in the vicinity of Columbus, December 8, 1844, a son of Alfred and Mary (Keller) Childers. His father was a suc- cessful agriculturist, and on his mother's side he is a descendant of eu old family which came from Greenbrier county, Virginia (now West Virginia). There were three children in the Childers family: Jane, who married J. R. Surber; Philip A., and Mary E., now Mrs. Bevel- himer. Mr. Childers' father died in 1847 and his mother was married a few years later, on the Childers homestead, to C. A. Betterton. To this union there was one child born, Eliza, who is now deceased.
Philip A. Childers received an ordinary public school education, pursuing his studies in the Kellar school, and during his boyhood and youth passed the summer months in the hard and honest toil of the home farm. He was thoroughly trained in farm work, and as he grew to manhood carefully saved his earnings, with the end ever in view of becoming the owner of a property. At the time of his mother's death he realized his ambition by inheriting a part of the homestead, and subsequently purchased the interests of his sisters, becoming sole owner of the Childers homestead, which he has since continued to perate. With the exception of several years spent in the West, he has always made his home in Madison county, and his success in his operations has given him no cause to regret his location. While he has all the prac- ticality of the old-school agriculturist, Mr. Childers has not been back- ward in adopting modern methods, and his well-tilled fields give evi- dence of his able management and untiring industry. He uses machinery of modern manufacture, thoroughly understands rotation of crops, and is widely known as a judge of livestock. Personally, he is a man of the strictest integrity, having fairly won a reputation for square dealing in all matters of business.
On January 23, 1874, Mr. Childers was married in Lafayette town- ship, to Miss Elizabeth Hannah, a member of a family which crigi- nated in Pennsylvania, subsequently moved to Ohio, and came from that state to Madison county, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Childers have been the parents of four children, namely: Bertha, who is deceased; Jeannette, who married John Kennedy, and has two children,-Murrell and Herman; Mary, who became the wife of Vernon Melsom; Ethelyn. single and residing with her father; James C., who is married and has one child, Elizabeth. Mrs. Childers died January 7, 1887, in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Childers has been a stanch Democrat all of his life, and while he has not aspired to public office, has ever been known as one of the mainstays of his party in his locality. His comfortable home is located on Anderson Route No. 3, and in the rear of the property is located one of the landmarks of this section. the
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old pioneer log home in which his mother first settled when she arrived in Lafayette township, and which was the fifth house built here.
ABSALOM RICHWINE. This venerable man, now in the sixty-eighth year of his age, who with firm step and unclouded mind still attends to his daily routine of affairs, has, during his more than a half a century of residence in Madison county, witnessed almost its entire development and borne a share in the startling course of its progress. During some- thing like twenty years of this time he has been a resident of Lafayette township, where he has been identified with agricultural pursuits, and where he still owns one of the finest properties in this section, a ninety- acre tract of land located about seven miles from Anderson. Mr. Rich- wine was born July 16, 1845, in Wayne county, Indiana, and is a son of Gideon and Elizabeth (Rader) Richwine. He was still a lad when the family migrated to Madison county, the father taking up land in Jackson township, where he became one of the community's most repre- sentative and substantial farmers and stockmen. He was known as å man of progress and public-spirit, gave his children good educational advantages, and died honored and respected by all who knew him. He and his wife were the parents of four sons and three daughters, as fol- lows :. Noah, who is engaged in farming in Pipe Creek township ; Allen, who is a resident of Anderson; Absalom; Mary; Amanda, who became the wife of a Mr. Sigler; Martha and David.
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