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 53
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tian church and he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. In politics he has taken up with the new political party and is a Progressive.
Mr. Harold is one of the leading citizens of Alexandria. He owns a number of business houses and business interests, and has made his work a valued and important factor in the community. He is a man of genial personality, and one whose possessions have never rendered him vain, but on the contrary have increased his public spirit and his kindli- ness toward the community and toward his fellow-citizen. He takes much interest in the welfare and improvement of Alexandria, and is one of the local citizens who can be depended upon to support any. move- ment or enterprise which has the larger growth and the betterment of the city as its central purpose.
JAMES F. BRENAMAN. It is an honorable distinction to have been in one line of business in one city for thirty-seven years, especially when these years have also been filled with worthy activities and influence for the good of the community. Mr. Brenaman, who is a proprietor of a marble and granite yard in Alexandria, has been in this special line of business longer than any other dealer and cutter in Madison county. Through his wife's family he also represents one of the oldest pioneer families of the state.
James F. Brenaman was born in New York City, August 1, 1846, a son of James M. and Catherine Brenaman, the father a native of Penn- sylvania and the mother of New York. The father spent his early years in Pennsylvania, at the trade of machinist, and lived in New York City until his death, which occurred when his son James was twelve years of age. The mother died in that city in 1848 when Jaines was only two years old.
Mr. Brenaman, owing to the early deaths of his parents, was reared as an orphan boy. During a few terms, he attended the schools of New York City, but at the age of twelve came out to Bucyrus, Ohio, where he lived with John G. Sherwood. Mr. Sherwood taught him the trade of marble cutter, and thus prepared him for his permanent vocation in life. He also finished his education while at Bucyrus. From 1868 until 1873, having become a master workman, he traveled about the country, doing journeyman's work in his trade. Then in 1873 he located in Alexandria, and was employed in the firm of Ellison & Wood. In 1876 he bought out the interest of Mr. Ellison, and since that date has conducted a marble and monument business in this city.
In 1879 Mr. Brenaman married Miss Elizabeth Emily Tomlinson, a daughter of Nathan E. and Catherine E. (Henderson) Tomlinson. Mrs. Brenaman is now one of the oldest daughters of Alexandria, where she was born in 1848. Her mother came from South Carolina, and her father from North Carolina. The paternal grandfather was William C. Tomlinson, the maiden name of whose wife was Elizabeth Edwards. Both were born in North Carolina, and came out to Indiana, and settled at Richmond, about 1820, only four years after the territory of Indiana was made a state. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Brenaman was Shadrach Henderson, who married a Miss Fisher. They were both born in South Carolina, and came to Wayne county, Indiana, in the pioneer epoch and passed away there at a good old age. The parents of Mrs. Brenaman located in Alexandria, in 1833, and by comparison with the settlement of Madison county localities, they were among the early pioneers of this section. The father brought a stock of goods across the
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country and opened a general store in Alexandria, condueted in on- location for fifty years. Both parents died in Alexandria, the fathint at seventy-two and the mother at eighty-two years of age. Their children. were named: Mark, Alfred, Nathan E., William C., Martha, Elizabet :: E., and Catherine C. The four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Brenanan were Ralph, Lewis, James M. and Nathan E. Ralph died when about fifteen years of age, having served as one of the boy pages in the house of the Indiana legislature. Lewis is a granite and marble cutter in the employ of his father. James M. is a barber. Nathan is an electricia :. in Alexandria, and by his marriage to Helen Redenbaugh has two chil- dren, Ruth and Winifred, who are the only grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Brenaman.
Mr. Brenaman is an active member of the Methodist church. He is active in fraternal affairs, being specially prominent in Odd-Fellow- ship. He belongs to Necessity Lodge No. 222, I. O. O. F., and also to tl ... Encampment and the Canton, being a chevalier. For sixteen years in was trustee of Necessity Lodge and superintended the building of Od!d Fellows Hall in Alexandria from the foundation to the roof. He is also affiliated with Alexandria Lodge No. 478 B. P. O. of E. A Republican in politics, he has done much disinterested public service to his home city. He served as town clerk in 1880, and subsequently as city treasurer. For nine years he was a member of the school board and built two of the principal school buildings of the eity. During President Mckinley's administration he was appointed to the office of postmaster at Alexandrin. and received a reappointment under President Roosevelt, finally retiring after nine years of service from the office in July, 1906. His work of postmaster naturally interrupted his marble business, but since then he has applied his time exclusively to that vocation.
LEWIS C. Cox. After many years spent in industrious and fruit- ful labor in Madison county, Lewis C. Cox is now living a life of quiet retirement on his farm of forty acres, located about four miles north of the county seat of Anderson. A self-made mau, who has accumu- a competence through his own persevering efforts, he was for many years identified with the agricultural interests of Henry and Madison counties, and for a period was also engaged in stationary engineering in Anderson. He was born September 19, 1848, at Granville, Monon- gahela county, West Virginia (then Virginia), and is a son of Levi and Mary (Dawson) Cox, agricultural people of West Virginia, who spent their entire lives in that State. There were three children in the family : Lewis C .; Jennie, who married a Mr. Weakley ; and Sallie. who became the wife of Mr. Shackleford.
Lewis C. Cox received his education in the public schools of his native State, completing his studies when he was fourteen years of age. At that time he embarked upon a career of his own, coming to Henry county, Indiana, and seeuring employment as a farm hand. He was an ambitious and industrious youth, working faithfully with the idea in view of accumulating a property of his own. When still a young man he came to Madison county, settling in Anderson, where he learned the trade of stationary engineer, and for some years made this his occupation. He subsequently returned to agricultural work however, investing his savings in a piece of property, to which he added from time to time as his finances would permit. His faithful and per- severing labor was rewarded by the accumulation of a handsome com-
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petence, and he eventually retired from active life, and is now living quietly with his son-in-law and daughter.
Mr. 'Cox was married June 9, 1895, to Mrs. Adelia Teeple, daughter of George D. and Anna (Kendall) Thompson, the foriner one of the earliest settlers of Madison county. Mr. and Mrs. Cox have had no children, but by her former marriage she had one daughter: Lettie. She was born August 29, 1888, on a farm in Madison county, and was well educated in the Elm Grove and Free schools. She was married here to James A. Kennedy, who was born in Chesterfield, Indiana, May 4, 1884, and moved to Madison county with his parents when a child. He was educated in the public schools, and as a youth learned the trade of tin plate worker, an occupation which he followed for some time, but during the past three years has been engaged in farming, being the manager of his father-in-law's property. He is a young man of steady habits and excellent abilities, and is attaining good results from his operations. He and his wife have two interesting children : Mary Catherine and Adelia Louise.
Mr. Cox is a valued member of Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 77, of the Masonic fraternity, at Anderson. With his family he attends the Methodist Episcopal Church at Florida. He has lived a long and useful life, ably performing his part in the great progress that has marked the history of Madison county during the past half century, and everywhere is esteemed as a good and public-spirited citizen, who has the welfare of his community and its people at heart.
WILLIAM MADISON GARRETSON, M. D. For a period of more than thirty years, Dr. Garretson has quietly and efficiently performed his services as a doctor at the village of Perkinsville and vicinity in Jackson township. Dr. Garretson is a man of high standing in his profession, and perhaps there are none who will say he has not chosen wisely in spending his career in a country community where the opportunities for service are just as great as in a city where he has enjoyed many of the rewards of community esteem in a richer degree than are ever paid to the city practitioner.
William Madison Garretson was born in Jackson township of Mad- ison county, October 22, 1860, and his father, Dr. James MI. Garretson, was likewise a physician in that vicinity, so that the profession has gone from father to son through a long number of years. Dr. Garret- son, Sr., was born in Tennessee, a son of John Garretson, a native of England. The latter was reared and educated in his native land, and was one of three brothers who came to the United States. John Gar- retson found a home in Tennessee, where he taught school and where he lived the rest of his life. He was twice married, and the three sons of his union were John, William and James M. Of the children of his second wife two sons were George and Job. The late Dr. James M. Garretson received a good education, as a young man taught school, and while teaching took up the study of medicine, and after a period of practice in Hamilton county, moved to Perkinsville in Madison county.
There he continued in active practice until his death at the age of sixty-five. The elder Dr. Garretson married Elizabeth Weir. She was born in Pennsylvania, and at her death at the age of forty-five left four sons named : George, James Albert, Francis, and William Madison.
In the schools at Perkinsville, William Madison Garretson received his first training for life, and later was a student in the Noblesville
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high school. His first studies in medicine were under his father ; direction, and he later attended the Indianapolis medical college, wher he was graduated M. D. in 1882. In the same year he established hit ... self for practice at Perkinsville, and has since had his home in the, thriving agricultural community. Dr. Garretson has membership i :. the Madison County Medical Society, the State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association.
In 1884, he married Margaret Zeller. She was born in Jackson township, a daughter of Jacob and Matilda (Frazer) Zeller. He: father was a native of Germany, while her mother was born in Ohio. The one daughter of the Doctor and wife is Miss Nellie.
DANIEL GOEHLER. For thirty-seven years Mr. Goehler has been a resident of Anderson, Indiana, where he has devoted himself to the business of merchant tailoring and where his position in commercial circles is assured. Like thousands of his fellow country men he left his native land for America with little capital save willing hands, a strong heart and a spirit of determination and ambition, and with these qual- ities as his sole resource has made a place for himself among the citizens of his adopted land. Mr. Goehler is a native of Alsace, France, and was born in 1844. When six years of age he was sent to the public schools of his native place, and continued to study therein until reach- ing the age of fourteen years, when he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a merchant tailor, serving two and a half years at this trade. He then entered the army and served six years and three months in the Franco-German war.
At the time of receiving his honorable discharge Mr. Goehler was married, in 1871, to Mary J. Strile, and in 1872, with his wife, who was also a native of France, emigrated to the United States, landing first at New York city. From that metropolis he made his way to Louis- ville, Kentucky, where he worked at his trade until 1874, subsequently making a removal to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he continued at the same line until 1876. From the latter place he came to Anderson, Indiana, and entered business on his own account, continuing in the same to the present time. Mr. Goehler's thorough knowledge of every detail of his business has drawn to him a large and representative trade. He is a man of acknowledged skill in his line, handles only the best of goods and carries a full stock of foreign and domestic cloths. Members of both the older and younger generations of men in Anderson have de- pended upon his taste and knowledge of clothing values, while his abso- lute integrity and reliability have served to make him popular. His establishment is located at No. 920 Main street, while his residence is situated at No. 212 East Eleventh street.
Mr. Goehler is a prominent Mason, being a member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 57, A. F. & A. M .; Anderson Chapter, No. 57, R. A. M .; Anderson Commandery, K. T., No. . 16; and he has attained to the thirty-second degree of Masonry, holding membership in Mt. Moriah Temple, Indianapolis. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 209.
. Mr. and Mrs. Goehler are the parents of two daughters, Ida and Leonora. Ida became the wife of Frank Timmons, and they have one son and one daughter, Rheta Leonora Timmons and Daniel Benjamin Timmons. Mr. Goehler has traveled extensively in Europe.
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DANIEL GOEHLER
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LOUIS E. HALBOTH. Long experience in the mercantile business, from his youth up, has made Louis E. Halboth especially well qualified to conduct such a business on his own responsibility. As the assistant of his father who was engaged in the general merchandise business for many years, Mr. Halboth early learned the cardinal principles of con- dueting a general store along safe and successful methods, and he has put well to the test the lessons learned in those days. He has been a resident of Linwood since 1911, and here has come to be reckoned among the dependable and substantial business men of the place.
Mr. Halboth was born in Bloom Center, Ohio, and is the son of Andrew and Barbara M. (Huber) Halboth. The father was born in Baden, Germany, and was a boy in his teens when he came to these shores. In his native land he had learned the trade of a weaver, and when he settled in Laneaster county, Pennsylvania, soon after his coming to America, he occupied himself with his trade for some little time. He married in early manhood and twelve children were born to him and his wife. They are named as follows: Louise, Henry, Jacob, Emma, Sallie, Ida, Louis, Charles, Lillian J., deceased, Charlotte, George and Barbara.
Louis Halboth, in common with his brothers and sisters, attended the common schools at Bloom Center, Ohio, where the family home was established for many years, and where the father was occupied in the conduct of a general store. Here young Halboth assisted his father, when he had completed his schooling, and remained in the store until he reached the age of twenty-seven years. The Bloom Center post office was located in the store and Mr. Halboth was assistant post- master for a number of years, his father occupying the office of post- master. When Mr. Halboth was twenty-seven, he quitted the store and allied himself with a squad of government engineers who were engaged in running lines for and building the Ohio Southern Railroad, and he continued with them for some time, advancing rapidly in the work, and gaining a splendid working knowledge of the profession. When he finally withdrew from the civil engineering work, he engaged in the hardware business at Lakeview, Ohio, and was there located for seven years. He experienced a degree of success there, but was not wholly satisfied with conditions, and finally disposed of his interests and. accepted a position as traveling salesman for a coal concern, moving later to Alexander, Indiana, which place he made his headquarters. He was traveling for four years and had prospered in the work when he decided to once more establish himself in an independent business. and he accordingly came to Linwood where he opened up a general mer- chandise store and has here been stationed since that time. He is the sole owner and proprietor of his business, which is making excellent headway in the town, and prosperity continues to show favors to him.
Dr. Halboth is a Progressive Democrat, but not especially active in the party ranks.
THOMAS GROENDYKE. A number of Madison county's most sub- stantial agrieulturists are residing on farms which they have them- selves developed from the virgin soil and timber of this section of the state, and who have been active participants in the great work of development that has made Anderson and the adjoining townships the locality of some of the finest country places in Madison county. Among those entitled to more than passing mention in this connection is Thomas
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Groendyke, whose valuable property of 220 acres had its nucleus in a small forty-acre tract which, when he settled upon it, was entirely cov- ered with a dense growth of timber. Mr. Groendyke is a native of Indiana, having been born near the town of Frankton, October 2, 1852, and is a son of Elias and Nancy (Jenkins) Groendyke.
Elias Groendyke was born in Fayette county, Indiana, from whence he came to Madison county and engaged in farming, in which vocation he spent all the active years of his life. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, namely: Amanda, Sarah Jane, Catherine, Charity, Thomas, John, Amos and James. Thomas Groendyke com- menced his education in the Pruett school in Anderson township, and as a youth accompanied his father to Darke county, Ohio, in which locality he also attended school for one term. When eighteen years of age he returned to Madison county, and having been trained to farm work soon secured employment as a hand, at a salary of sixteen dollars per month. He continued to be employed thus for three years, at the end of which time, through his industry and faithful devotion to duty, he had been advanced to twenty-two dollars per month. Subsequently Mr. Groendyke went to live at the home of a widowed sister, whose property he worked until he had saved enough money to warrant his embarking upon a career of his own, and at that time he acquired. through purchase, a tract of forty acres, located in a heavily timbered section of Anderson township. In true pioneer fashion he erected a small log cabin, in which he lived while placing himself upon a sound financial footing, but this was later replaced by a comfortable frame dwelling, and as the years have passed various improvements of a modern character have been made to the buildings and property, this now being one of the valuable and desirable country homes of this part of the county. From time to time Mr. Groendyke has added to his holdings, and at the present time has 220 acres, all under cultivation. He carries on general farming and raises a good breed of cattle. and constant industry, able management and modern methods have brought their reward in the shape of substantial success.
Mr. Groendyke was married in February, 1876, to Emily Smith, a daughter of James Smith, of this county, and a member of one of the first families to settle here. Of this union there were two boys, James and Ernest, both deceased, and one daughter, Cora E., Mrs. Garland Hancock.
Mr. Groendyke was married to Mrs. Hettie (Ballard) Thomas, the widow of J. U. Thomas. Mr. Groendyke has devoted himself to the . work of his farm, leaving public matters to those who have had more desire for the activities of political life. He is a friend of progress, however, and gives his support, moral and financial, to all worthy movements. He enjoys the privileges of membership in the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having been one of the charter members of this order. His comfortable home is situated not far from the city of Linwood.
GEORGE RAPP. The great excitement caused in the early 'nineties by, the discovery of the existence of natural gas in Madison county brought to this section many young men eager to win their fortunes in the newly-opened fields. While but few were fortunate enough to secure land from which the valuable product could be obtained, there were many who settled down to labor in other fields of endeavor. and to this class the county owes some of its best citizenship. Lying about
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eeight miles north of the city of Anderson, on Alexander Rural Route \No220, is the 120-acre farm of Morgan Wilson, where George Rapp is Idlocated. : He came to this locality when he had just passed his majority, a and he has continued since that time to be one of this section's sub- sstantial men. He is a native of Salem, Ohio, and was born February 6, 14871, a son of Christopher and Dorothea (Sehaff) Rapp.
Christopher Rapp was born in Germany, and as a young man emi- ggrated to the United States, locating first in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, PPennsylvania, where he was for some years engaged in farming. Sub- s sequently he drifted down the Ohio river to Marietta, Ohio, and later r.removed to Salem, where he met an accidental death when his son GGeorge. was still a youth. Christopher and Dorothea Rapp were the pparents of seven children, as follows: . John, who is deceased; Sophia, who . married : Marion Willison ;. Jacob and Charles, who are both c deceased ; Daniel, a resident of Marietta, Ohio; Carrie, who married Mr. LLindamood; and George.
(George Rapp. received the customary school education granted to :. farmers' sons of his day and locality, and in the summer months devoted 1. his attention to the honest and instructive work of the home farm. He ( continued to remain under the parental roof until attaining his major- i-ity, when, anxious to embark upon a career of his own, he came to Madison county with a number of other aspirants for fortune in the gas fields, and for a short time was engaged in contracting in Alex- a andria. Subsequently, however, he turned his attention to the vocation itin which he had been trained in his youth. Mr. Rapp was trained in the s'old school of practical farming, but to this substantial training he has added the knowledge of modern, scientifie agriculture, and has taken advantage of every advancement made in his vocation. His farm is productive and profitable, and its general appearance denotes the pres- renee of able management. Mr. Rapp has been connected only with :legitimate enterprises since making his home here, and his dealings have given him the reputation of an honorable man of business, who, while Fever alert to grasp an opportunity, has shown the strictest integrity in alall of his operations.
(On October 20, 1898, Mr. Rapp was united in marriage in Lafayette tctownship, with Miss Catherine Wilson, daughter of Morgan and Rhoda K(Barker) Wilson, who live in Frankton and are now retired from active p pursuits. "There were three daughters in the Wilson family : Pearl, r. who married Mr. \Alexander, and has two children-Fred and Marie; MMyrtle, who. married Mr !. Ruley and lives at Portland, Indiana; and C .Catherine, now Mrs.' Rapp. . One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. RRapp : " Harold H., a bright and interesting lad who is now attending s school in Lafayette township .: Mr, Rapp enjoys the privileges of mem- b-bership in the Knights of Pythias, and is decidedly popular with the members of the local lodge. He is a Republican in politics, but has : taken only a good citizen's interest in matters of a public nature, alalthough ever ready to assist in all movements making for the better- ment of his seetion. " With his wife and son, he attends the Methodist ¿ Episcopal church.
C.CICERO. RILEY, REEVES .. In the field of expert photography, Madison cccounty. has furnished one of the most capable men in the entire country. MME: Reeves, who has followed his profession at Anderson for more than a a quarter of a century, has been honored in such a way as to prove his
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leadership in not only his home county but in the country at large as a photographer. He has been honored with the office of secretary and later as president of the Indiana Photographers' Association, and as secretary, first vice-president and then as president of the National Association of Photographers. His services have also been called in as eritie and judge on many art exhibits, and his own work has won numerous medals in exhibitions of artistic photography.
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