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 58
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Judge MeClure attends the Methodist church, with which his family has so long been identified, and is active in fraternal affairs, having passed all the chairs in the Knights of Pythias, served as representative in the Grand Lodge, and in 1892 was Captain of the Uniform Rank; and also has affiliations with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Camels of the World.
On December 14, 1888, Judge MeClure married Mary Falknor of Anderson. She was born in Ohio in 1865, a daughter of Elias and Julia Falknor, both natives of that state, and who located in Anderson after the Civil war. Mr. Falknor is a veteran of the Union Army, and both he and his wife are still living, having enjoyed a married com- panionship of sixty-five years. Mr. Falknor is now eighty-eight and his wife eighty-seven years of age. Through his active career he was engaged in the mercantile business, but has lived retired for some years, and has never sought any of the honors of public office. Judge
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McClure and wife became the parents of three sons: James C., who was born December 16, 1889, and died October 25, 1891; Horace, born September 17, 1893, and now a junior in DePauw University, and Mark F., born February 6, 1898, and a member of the junior class of the Anderson high school. .
WILLIAM R. MORRIS. Among the substantial citizens of Madison county who are contributing to the progress and development of their localities by their activities in various lines of endeavor, William R. Morris, of Anderson City, has attained deservedly high rank. A truck farmer by vocation, he has achieved success through the medium of his own efforts, and his career has been one of steady advancement, marked by close application and persistent effort. Mr. Morris was born on his father's farm in Anderson township, Madison county, Indiana, November 6, 1854, and is a son of John and Sarah Ann (Cather) Morris.
John Morris was a native of Darke county, Ohio, where he received the greater part of his education, and as a youth came to Madison county, settling on a farm of 120 acres. There he continued to follow agricultural pursuits during the remainder of his active career. He and his wife were the parents of six children: Serepta, Charles, Mary, Electa. Jasper N. and William R.
William R. Morris secured his education in the public schools of Anderson township and Anderson High School and grew to manhood on his father's farm, the greater part of which is now city property. As a young man he adopted the vocation of farmer, teaching school dur- ing the winter term, and this he followed until several years ago when he commenced devoting his attention to trucking. His operations along this line have met with decided success, and he has established a repu- tation for business acumen and strict integrity in his dealings. A Democrat in his political views, he has taken an active interest in the success of his party, but his only public office has been that of truant officer, a capacity in which he is acting at the present time. With his family, he attends the United Brethren church.
Mr. Morris married Miss Nevada Moss, and they have had six chil- dren : Earl, who married a Miss White; Myrtle, now Mrs. Ervin; Anna, who married a Mr. Beacom, and Bessie, Esther and Charles F., who are single. The Morris home is situated 2324 West Eighth street, Anderson.
WILLIAM HENRY. HARRISON QUICK. The really useful men of a community are those in whom their fellow-citizens can rely in affairs of public importance; to whom they can come for assistance in sea- sons of financial distress; men who by the wisdom of their own invest- ments and by the honorable lives they have led on every field of effort, and as neighbors and friends, have won the implicit faith of their fellows. Very often, in prosperous towns and cities, these men are retired farmers; frequently they are bankers, and in not a few cases it will be found that they are veterans of that great struggle which makes the memory of the Civil war yet fresh, even after the passage of half a century. Such a, man in every particular is William Henry Harrison Quick, of Anderson, than whom no citizen has been more closely identified with the financial interests of the city during the past several decades.
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Mr. Quick was born in Henry county, Indiana, February 18, 1841, a son of John and Nancy (Clary) Quiek. His grandparents were Cornelius and Hannah (Cox) Quick, natives of Virginia and New Jersey respectively. Cornelius Quick was a gallant soldier in the American army during the war of 1812. The maternal grandfather was Vachel Clary, a native of Kentucky. John Quick, who was a native of Ohio, while his wife was born in Kentucky, in 1816 moved to Henry county, Indiana, entering land two miles east of Middletown, and becoming one of the pioneers in that section. His home was there until about 1858, when having sold his farm he moved to Pipe Creek township in Madison county, where his pur- chase of five hundred aeres of land included a portion of the present site of the town of Frankton. A prosperous farmer, he became known not only for his prominence in the affairs of his locality, but for his many sterling qualities of mind and heart. For many years he was closely identified with the Christian church, in which his membership was more than that of an attendant at worship, and he exemplified the christian virtues in his daily life. His death occurred in 1879 at the advanced age of eighty-one years, his wife having passed away previously.
William Henry Harrison Quick spent his boyhood on a farm in Henry county, and was about nineteen years old when the family came to Madison county. His education was acquired by a more or less regular attendance at the country schools, the summer months being spent in assisting his father in the duties of the home place. When he was twenty years old the Civil war broke out, and with many other youthful patriots he enlisted in 1861 for service in. the Union army. Entering as a private, he subsequently became sergeant in Company E of the Thirty-Fourth Regiment of Indiana Infantry, a regiment commanded by Colonel Asbury Steel. His eommand was sent to Ken- tucky, thence to New Madrid, Missouri, on the Mississippi river, and . participated in the campaigns about that town and at Island No. 10 and the reduction of Port Pillow, coneluding with the fall of the eity of Memphis. His regiment was among the first troops to enter the latter city. His service as a Union soldier lasted for two years, and finally on account of illness he was granted an honorable discharge. His record in helping to preserve the Union was one of which his descendants may properly be proud. When he returned to the pursuits of peace he settled on a farm near Frankton in Madison county, and began a career of general farming and dealing in live stock, prinei- pally cattle and hogs, shipping from Frankton. He also became inter- ested in general merchandising and the grain trade with his brother, under the firm name of Quick Bros., a partnership which continued until 1887. Mr. Quiek continued in the grain trade until 1895. He transferred his home and business headquarters to Anderson in 1899. At the county seat he became one of the principal organizers of the Anderson Banking Company, of which he is vice-president and one of the leading stockholders. For more than a quarter of a century Mr. Quick has been one of the important factors in financial eireles of Madison county. He was one of the organizers of the Continental Na- tional Bank of Indianapolis, of which he is still a director and stock- holder, is a stockholder in the Anderson Trust Company at Anderson, and one of the largest individual stockholders in the People's National State Bank. He is interested in the Hoosier Fence Company of Frank-
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ton, and his varied investments include a large amount of Madison county farm lands, three excellent properties being owned by him and farmed on lease.
In 1870 Mr. Quick married Miss Clara M. Douglas, daughter of R. R. Douglas. The one daughter of this marriage is now Mrs: Sewell A. Nebeker, a resident of Indianapolis. Mr. Quick subsequently mar- ried Miss Rosa Grass, of Hancock county, Indiana, whose father, Dr. Grass, formerly of Pennsylvania, was a prominent physician of Char- lottesville, Indiana. In the Masonic order Mr. Quick has been a mem- ber for more than forty years, and has taken the principal degrees in both branches, his affiliations being with Frankton Lodge No. 77, A. F. & A. M., of Frankton; Anderson Chapter No. 52, R. A. M .: Anderson Commandery No. 32, K. T .: and he was made a Scottish Rite thirty- second degree Mason in 1899. Although he has reached the time of life when most men lay aside their business cares, content to retire and leave the helm to younger men, Mr. Quick continues to carry on his daily routine of duty and to take a keen interest in all that affects his city. For a man past seventy, and who saw service in the Civil war, he is exceedingly well preserved, and in his healthy and con- tented age can look back over a life of industry and useful endeavor.
SHERMAN H. MAKEPEACE. Among Madison county's sons who have attained distinction in fields of active usefulness is Sherman H. Make- peace, attorney at law and dealer in real estate, with offices in the Union Building. Anderson. Mr. Makepeace has been connected with varied lines of activity, and has shown his versatility by making a success of each of his ventures. and since coming to Anderson, in 1901, has stead- ily advanced in his profession and in realty circles, until today he is recognized as one of his adopted city's foremost citizens. Like many of the men of influence and prominence in Anderson, Mr. Makepeace is a product of the farm, having been born on the family homestead at Chesterfield, Madison county, Indiana, August 23, 1864, a son of Wil- lard and Melvina (Godwin) Makepeace, the former born near York- town, Delaware county in 1836, and the latter in Chesterfield in 1839. Mrs. Makepeace was a daughter of Dr. G. W. Godwin, one of the pio- neer physicians of Madison county, who became widely and favorably known. Willard Makepeace was a miller by trade, a vocation which he followed for a number of years, but in later life removed to his farm near Chesterfield. There he was engaged in the various branches of agricultural work until his retirement, when he removed to Anderson, and in this city his death occurred July 5, 1891. His widow survived him for a long period, passing to her final rest April 7, 1911.
Sherman H. Makepeace received his education. in the public and high schools of Anderson, and for some years was engaged in assisting his father in his agricultural operations. He next turned his attention to journalistic work, identifying himself with the Anderson Weekly Herald, of which he was local editor from 1888 to 1890. On severing his connection with that newspaper, he embarked in the manufacture of brooms, as one of the principal stock-holders of what is known as the Anderson Broom Factory, but disposed of his interests two years after- wards. After his marriage, in 1894, to Miss Ida Charles of Wabash county, Mr. Makepeace settled in Chesterfield, where he engaged in business, and was elected justice of the peace, an office which he filled faithfully and capably for some eight years. In 1901 he came to Ander-
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son, where he opened an office in the Union Building and engaged in the real estate business, and also handles collections and rentals, as well as giving some attention to a law practice. He handles both city and farm property, has built up an excellent trade, and bears a high reputa- tion among realty men in Anderson. He is the owner of a farm of one hundred and twenty-nine acres, which is included within the city limits of Chesterfield, and the land has been put in a good state of culti- vation, the soil is rich, and the fine complement of substantial buildings makes it one of the model properties of the section. He has also made numerous profitable investments in city property, including his modern residence. Mr. Makepeace is a stalwart Republican in politics, but his only interest in political matters is in the election of his friends as he has never personally aspired to public office, and his service in the capacity of justice of the peace has been the only position of prefer- ment he has held.
In 1894, Mr. Makepeace was united in marriage with Miss Ida Charles, of Wabash county, Indiana, whose parents, Samuel B. and Jane Charles, both died in that county in 1900. One son has been born to this union: Charles Willard, a bright, interesting lad, who is now attending school.
TILLMAN FULLER. Among the younger generation of men of Madi- son county who are ably maintaining the high standard set by their fathers in agricultural matters, Tillman Fuller, of Richland township, holds deservedly high place. He is at present the owner of a well- cultivated tract of forty acres, located on Alexandria Rural Route No. 19, and the general confidence in which he is held by his fellow-citizens has been manifested by his election to the office of township trustee. a position which he is ably filling at this time. Mr. Fuller was born on the old Fuller homestead in Monroe township, Madison county, Indiana. September 2, 1876, and is a son of William H. and Ella (Millspaugh) Fuller.
William Fuller is also a native of Madison county, and has spent his entire career .on the farm which he is now cultivating. He is essentially an agriculturist, but has also been active in other lines of endeavor, and has interested himself in all matters pertaining to the welfare of his community. By his marriage with Ella Millspaugh he became the father of two children: Rena, who is now deceased, and Tillman. He married for his second wife Anna Shockey, and they had a family of nine children, of whom seven are now living: Frank M., Grover, Raymond, Pauline, who married Mr. L. C. Johnson; Hazel, who married Mr. E. T. Moehler ; Muriel and William.
Tillman Fuller received his education in the schools of Monroe township and the village of Alexandria, and in the latter took high school work. During the summer months he assisted his father in the work of the home farm, being thoroughly trained in all things neces- sary for a good agriculturist to be familiar with, and at the age of twenty-two years rented a traet of land from his father and embarked upon a career of his own. As time has passed and his finances have permitted, he has added to his buildings, his stock and his improve- ments, and the property is now considered one of the best of its size in the township. He is a stanch advocate of the use of modern meth- ods and improved machinery, and has made a careful and comprehen- sive study of agricultural conditions here. Although the greater part
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of his attention has been devoted to general farming, he has also made a success of his stock-breeding ventures.
On June 28, 1897, Mr. Fuller was united in marriage with Martha Fosnot, who was born in Madison county, Indiana, daughter of Fred and Nola (Jones) Fosnot. Mr. Fosnot has long been prominent in county affairs and is the owner of a large property here. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fuller, namely: Mildred, Clifton, Delinas, Cletis and Audrey, the last named being deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Fuller are members of the Christian church, and have been liberal in their support of its movements. He is a valued member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has a number of warm friends.
LORANA (WISE) COY. One of the remarkable pioneer women of Madison county, is Mrs. Coy, now living at her home in Jackson town- ship, surrounded by children and grandchildren, and through the mist of recollections surveying a vast retrospect of scenes which have been enacted in Madison county since her girlhood. Her birth occurred in this county at a time when its settlement had hardly well begun, and no nanie in the annals of Madison county has older associations than that of Wise.
In the old commonwealth of Virginia, the Wises have been promi- nent and aristocratic since the colonial era, and it was from one of the earlier branches of the same stock, that the Madison county people of that name sprung. Mrs. Coy was born on the old Wise home- stead in Jackson township, January 22, 1832. Her father was Daniel Wise, Sr., who was born on the south branch of the Potomac River ia Virginia. Grandfather John Wise was a native of the same locality and spent most of his active career in Virginia, though late in life he moved to Indiana, and passed his last years in Madison county. His remains are buried in the Perkinsville cemetery.
Daniel Wise, Sr., grew up in old Virginia, and from there moved to Ohio, and after a short time made his way across the wilderness of forest and prairie into eastern Indiana. The journey was typical of many such which occurred during the twenties and thirties and which brought most of the settlers to Madison county. Ox teams and wagons transported the goods and carried the women and children overland through the trails made through the woods, and Daniel Wise arrived in Madison county in the year 1825. To him belongs the distinction of having entered the first government land in Jackson township. That land was in sections two and three, township nineteen, range six east. now called Jackson township. Others may have preceded him to this locality, but it is a justifiable conclusion that he was the first perma- nent settler. Arriving at his location, his first work was to cut down a few trees and clear off the underbrush to make space for the log cabin home. With the help perhaps of some distant neighbors, he put together and erected his house of logs, and the family occupied that residence for several years. It was in such a rude shelter that Mrs. Coy was born.
It may serve better to indicate how early the Wise family settled in Madison county, when it is recalled that a quarter of a century elapsed before the first railroad train went across the boundaries of the county. Madison county was not organized for several years afterward. Only a short time before had the capital of the state been moved from Cory- don to Indianapolis. Indiana had been a state less than ten years when
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the Wises made their settlement. In the woods and on the prairies ali about their lonely home was abundance of wild deer, turkeys, and Indians often stalked through these old hunting grounds. A number of years passed before what was known as the Indiana Canal era began, and in the early years of the Wise settlement all the people in this community took their surplus products to Cincinnati, over a long road, and laid in their annual supplies at that city.
The mother of Mrs. Coy was a fine type of the old pioneer house- wife. She carded, spun and wove the wool and flax with which she dressed all members of her family in homespun, and all the cooking was done by the old-fashioned fireplace. After a few years residence in the log home, Daniel Wise, Sr., built a substantial brick house, one of the first in that section of the county. This home which has since been badly damaged by cyclones on two different occasions, but each time repaired, is still in good condition, and a landmark in its vicinity. In that home, Daniel Wise lived until his death at the age of fifty-three years.
He married Mary Miller, who was born in Virginia, and who died at the age of seventy-two. She reared seven of her nine children.
Mrs. Coy has herself experienced and witnessed practically all phases of pioneer life. She attended school taught in a log cabin. She well remembers its earth and stick chimney, its large fire-place, the seats made of split logs, with wooden pins for legs, the absence of desks in the modern sense, and the broad boards slanting about the walls used as a writing desk for the larger scholars. In the work of the house- hold she assisted her mother, in the carding, spinning and weaving of cloth, and has done her share of cooking by the fire-place.
In her nineteenth year she married Matthew Coy, he was born in Hamilton county, Indiana, a son of Benjamin and Jennie (Conner) Coy, pioneer settlers of that county. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Coy moved to the northside of White River, where they bought a tract of land in the southeast quarter of section thirty-five, range six, Jackson township, Madison county. There they began their housekeep- ing in a hewed log house of four rooms. For twelve years that con- tinued to be their home and then they traded for land in sections one and two of the same township. Mr. Coy was a very successful farmer and business man. Industrious, he cleared a large farm, erected good buildings, and the homestead in its improvement might compare favor- ably with any in the township. There he lived until the close of his life on April 14, 1904.
Mrs. Coy has since occupied the homestead, her household also com- prising the family of her youngest daughter. She reared eleven chil- dren, whose names were: Benjamin, Henry A., John W., George W .. Mary J., Daniel W., Martin Luther, Seth Thomas, Sanford, Lillie, and Perry.
There are a large number of grandchildren, and the marriages of the different children are noted as follows: Benjamin married Emma Johnson. Henry A. married Alice Mcclintock, and their four children are Minnie, Walter, Ivy and Grace. George married Sarah Williams. John W. married Cynthia Lee, and their two children are Eva and Alvah. Mary, married Allen Wise. Daniel married Lou Lutz. Martin Luther married Ida Anderson and has two children, June and Reba. Seth married Pearl Shaul, and their one son is Harris. Sanford mar- ried Gertrude De Witt, and their four children are Hallie, Leah, Mary
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and Loel. Lillie became the wife of William Busby and their children are Matthew and Lorana. Perry married Dora Morris, and their two children are Fern and Lois.
NOAH RYAN. Jackson township in Madison county probably has no older native son than Noah Ryan, who has lived here since his birth, nearly seventy years ago. Through his father and mother he repre- sents some of the oldest families to be established in this section of Madison county, and the name has always been associated with honest worth and excellent citizenship. Mr. Ryan is himself numbered among the prosperous agriculturists of Madison county, and for many years he has followed the quiet vocation of tilling the soil and at the same time has borne his share in local civic and social affairs.
Noah Ryan was born in Jackson township, October 24, 1845. He is a son of John Ryan, a grandson of Davis Ryan, a great-grandson of George Ryan. The last named was a native of Scotland, coming to America and settling in Pennsylvania. A millwright by trade he fol- lowed that occupation in Pennsylvania until his death. Grandfather David Ryan learned the same trade, and from Pennsylvania moved to Ohio, becoming an early settler in Ross county. Davis Ryan was a native of near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In Ross county, Ohio, he con- tinued to work at his mechanical occupation until about 1837, when he moved to Indiana, and found a home near Strawtown, where he remained until his death at the age of seventy-six. Davis Ryan married Mary Peck. Born in Virginia and of German ancestry, she came to Indiana with her parents, who became pioneers in Hamilton county, leaving many descendants of that name in that section. Her death occurred at the age of seventy-five and the five children in her family were: John, Cyrus, Julia A., George and William.
John Ryan, father of Noah, was born in Ross county, Ohio, March 11, 1822, and was about fifteen years old when the family was trans- planted to Indiana soil. Growing to manhood he bought a tract of timbered land in section three of Township County, range six east and had to clear a space among the woods in order to make room for a log cabin home. This first shelter of the family was a substantial house for its time, twenty by twenty-four feet, and in that rude structure his children were born. In time he had cleared away most of the forest, and continued in the worthy occupation of agriculture, until his death at the age of fifty-five. John Ryan married Lovina Wise of the pioneer Wise family, which has been so conspicuous in the settlement and devel- opment of Jackson township. She was born in Madison county, a daughter of Daniel and Mary (Miller) Wise. Daniel Wise entered the first tract of government land in Jackson township. Further details concerning this old family will be found under the names of Wise and Coy elsewhere in this volume. Lovina Wise died at the age of fifty-six having reared seven children namely : Noah, David, Mary, John, Martha, Grant and William.
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