USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 28
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Andrew Cunningham, the father, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania; went from his native state into Ross county, Ohio, and in 1851 or 1852 migrated to Miami county, locating in Washington township, about half a mile east of where his son, J. A., now has his home. It was on that original homestead that the son J. A. was born. The father's home contained one hundred and twenty acres and the land at the time he occupied it was mostly in timber. There was a frame house and a log barn, and the land had been originally entered from the government by a man named Baker.
The schooling which Mr. Jacob A. Cunningham received was limited, owing to the fact that public school facilities everywhere in the state at that time, with the possible exception of the larger cities, were far below those furnished in the district schools of the present era. The school term lasted only three months, and during the other months of the year the boys worked at home on the farm. Mr. Cunningham at- tended such a school every winter until he was sixteen years of age.
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He recalls the old schoolhouse in his neighborhood as a log structure, but somewhat advanced in its furnishings beyond the earliest log schoolhouses which are usually described in pioneer communities. The desks were made of broad planks, fashioned almost in the form of a bench and set in front of the bench upon which the pupils sat. This bench was another plank similar to the kind used for the desks, and was an improvement over the seats which an earlier generation of chil- dren enjoyed ; this had the plank nailed at the back, so that the tired body of the boy or girl had some support other than bending over on its knee. When Mr. Cunningham was twenty-six years of age he married and then located on his present farm of one hundred and eighty acres. The principal buildings on this estate were erected by his father, but Mr. Cunningham has put up many outbuildings for grain and stock and implements, and has done a great deal of clearing and fencing. In this section of Miami county Mr. Cunningham has acquired con- siderable reputation for stock raising, and breeds high-grade shorthorn cattle for market purposes. He has the entire confidence of his fellow- citizens. He was made a member of the county advisory board, but resigned from the board and was duly elected a representative of Miami county in the Indiana State Legislature, and filled his office with credit to his constituents and home county. He and his family usually attend the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Cunningham's people were of Swiss and German stock, and all of them were members of the Lutheran church. Her father was a Mason of high standing and had one of the first Masonic funerals in Miami county. Three of his moth- er's brothers-Samuel, Daniel and Michael Mason-were soldiers in the Civil war. On October 28, 1886, Mr. Cunningham married Miss Ida E. Meyers, a daughter of Jacob Meyers and Louise (Weckler) Meyers. Her father died about 1860 and her mother in 1893. The Meyers family came to Miami county from Ohio about 1848, locating in Washington township, where Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham were mar- ried. Mrs. Cunningham had six brothers and two sisters, the names of all the children being as follows: Mary L., who married Jerry Hoffine ; Jacob, who married Elizabeth Meyers; Samuel, who married Sarah O'Brien ; John, Edward, Lucinda and Franklin, all of whom died in infancy; Charles, who died at the age of fifty-seven; and John, who lives in Peru and is a bachelor.
WILLIAM A. SUTTON. A resident of Miami county for nearly sixty- five years, Mr. Sutton has had many varied relations with the county and its people during these years, and is one of the most respected families of Washington township. Mr. Sutton is a veteran of the Civil war, and is a self-made man, whose rewards have always been worthily won.
William A. Sutton was born in Champaign county, Ohio, February 14, 1843, a son of John Daniel and Mary (Long) Sutton. The maternal grandparents were Robert and Mary (Hassard) Long. The parents moved to Miami county in 1847, locating in Peru township, where the father was engaged in farming what was known as the Boone farm. He remained there as a renter for one year, then moved to Pipe Creek township, which was his home for a number of years, living on two places and clearing off the timber on both farms in that township. He then moved into Washington township, locating on the creek, on what was known as the Frick farm. From there he returned to Peru town- ship, renting the Daniel R. Bearss farm. He again returned to Wash- ington township and lived for some time on a farm owned by H. C. Mosely, later to the farm of Orlando Mosely in the same township, and
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while there the mother passed away and thus the home was broken up. The father then lived with his son for eight years and then with a brother, N. W. Sutton, in Clay township, where he passed away at the end of seventy-three years of useful and honorable life. The father was in many senses a pioneer, and his labor was extremely useful in clearing out the forests and making the land habitable and cultivable. He was possessed of religious inclinations, and for forty years was an active member of the Baptist church.
Mr. William A. Sutton left home on the 9th of April, 1861, and entered Company B of the Thirteenth Indiana Infantry, this being the first company which left Peru for the service of the Union. Few men in Miami county, equaled in length or fidelity the service of Mr. Sutton as a soldier. He was in the army from the date of his first enlistment until 1865, a period of four and a half years. The officers of that pioneer company were Captain John M. Wilson, First Lieutenant Wil- liam H. Shields, Second Lieutenant William F. Wallick, and First Ser- geant Henry Sterns.
After his return from the army as a veteran Union soldier, Mr. Sutton began work in a sawmill, continuing in that line for eighteen months. He was then married and he and his bride began housekeeping on a rented farm, where they remained one year. Hc next moved to Clay township, and in 1868 made a trip out west. During his residence in Clay township he worked as miller at McGrawsville, and then for two years was employed in what was known as the Chicago mills in Clay township. He next moved to Wabash county, and kept a boarding house for sixteen months near North Manchester. Mr. Sutton, after this variety of experience, moved on to a farm owned by H. C. Mosely, and lived and farmed there for fourteen years. After that he bought the place where he now has his home, and this farm has furnished a good living and an attractive home for himself and family for the past twenty-four years. The present buildings on the place have all been renewed since he took possession and in every way the Sutton home- stead is worthy of comparison with any of the country places in Miami county.
In 1895 Mr. Sutton was appointed doorkeeper in the House of Representatives in Indianapolis. In the same year he was appointed to a position in the Northern Indiana Prison at Michigan City, and discharged the duties of his position for four years. He was then elected coroner of Miami county, and such was the esteem in which he was held that he never had to file a bond. Mr. Sutton owns a nice little farm of twenty acres, and is living there in the comforts of life and spending his declining years in quiet.
He was reared in the Baptist faith, and is affiliated with Crescent Lodge No. 280 of the Masonic order at Miami town. He also belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Sutton was married June 6, 1867, to Rebecca Kessler, daughter of Joseph and Nancy (Baltimore) Kessler. The six children born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Sutton are mentioned as follows: Minnie May, who married Benjamin Sher- ick; Charles Homer, who married Pearl Clemmons; David Oliver, who married Rosie Shivley; Ursula, wife of John Laninger; Edith M., wife of Edgar S. Swovelend; and John Henry, who is unmarried. The daughter, Ursula, died August 11, 1904.
JAMES P. BINKERD. One of the successful farmers and well known citizens of Butler township, James P. Binkerd, is a native son of this locality, and is one of the comparatively few residents still living in Miami county who were products of the old-fashioned log schoolhouse.
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He went to school in such a building, sat on a slab bench, walked on the puneheon floors of the building, made use of the other primitive furnishings, including the old-fashioned quill pen, and both inside and outside played the sports common to the boys of that period. Though his education consisted largely of the three R's, and his attendance at school was easily limited to three months in the winter, he has acquitted himself worthily of the duties and responsibilities of mature manhood, and has not only prospered in material circumstances, but has reared up a sturdy new generation of able men and women who are a eredit to themselves and to the county.
James P. Binkerd was born in Butler township, September 2, 1851, a son of George and Mary E. (Miller) Binkerd, and a grandson of John Binkerd, the maternal grandfather having been John Miller. The father and grandfather were both residents of Armstrong eounty, Pennsylvania, where the father was born. The latter in 1844 eame over- land to Miami county. He was a poor young man, and had no posses- sions in the world except what he carried with him. Hc first settled in Butler township, where he entered one hundred and twenty-eight acres and received his patent from the government. This land was all in timber, and in a small elearing under the trees he built a log cabin, fastening its doors with wooden pins, and with his own ax and saw manufacturing the rough furniture which comprised its equipment. A couple of times, after locating in Miami county, he went back on foot to Pennsylvania. In his log eabin he lived and kept "bateh" for several years, and by working for other farmers in the neighborhood earned the money which enabled him to pay for his place, at the regular purchase price of one dollar and a quarter per acre. Afterwards he married, and he and his bride commenced housekeeping in the log cabin. Later, as life became easier and resources more plentiful, he built a house of hewed logs, and in that house made his home until 1860. In 1860 he built a frame house, which was quite a pretentious mansion for that time. Its timbers were about one foot in thickness, and was so construeted that it might last for generations. In the last dwelling both father and mother died, and their bodies now rest in the Butler cemetery. The father was eighty years of age, and the mother eighty- four when death eame to them. They were both members of the Pres- byterian church.
James P. Binkerd grew up in the environments which have been briefly deseribed, and attained his education in the sehoolhouse. In order to reach that temple of learning he had to pass, both mornings and evenings, through the dense woods which separated the home from the sehoolhouse. He did not begin his attendance at school until he was eight years of age and, after that, only three or four months in the year, and as soon as he was old enough he gave his active assistanee in the work of the farm. He performed a large share of the labor in clearing up the old homestead. At the age of twenty-eight he started out for himself, and located on his present farm in 1879. In Butler township he owns one hundred and twenty-eight acres, and of this he inherited from his father ninety aeres, and has bought the rest. On his farm he has practically done all the improving, the buildings are all the results of his construction, and he has provided a home which is both comfortable and attractive, a fine place in which to spend his later years. About the dwelling house is a niee orchard, and he raises enough fruit for the family usc. Mr. Binkerd is a believer in religion, and attends church occasionally. At the present time he is serving on the township advisory board, having been four years in the office, and has always been a Democratie voter.
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In December, 1879, Mr. Binkerd married Martha McDowell. The two children of their marriage are: Anna Belle, who married John Kader, Jr .; and William, who married Lillie Eller. The mother of these children died, and Mr. Binkerd married, for his second wife, Kate McDowell, a daughter of Alfred and Jane McDowell of Carroll county. There are no children by the second union.
Mr. Binkerd is a true, typical, pioneer son of Miami county, Indiana. Besides attending the old log schoolhouse, described above, he remem- bers distinctly of secing crowds of the Indians in the neighborhood; he has seen droves of wild turkeys and plenty of foxes, and has broken many an acre of ground with the ox team, and attended many of the log rollings and the "frolics" which followed. He is a gentleman whose memory of the past is vivid, and he can recall the early epoch of the history of Miami county, which would be very interesting to the boys and girls of today. He has in his possession one of the old parchment deeds, which is a relic of the past and one of the few to be found in 1913.
WILLIAM WEBB YOUNCE. In the pioneer days of Butler township, more than seventy years ago, the Younce family was established at the little community then known as Peoria, now known as Reserve. The older members of the family were industrious, law-abiding citizens, and performed a very useful service to the community in the early days as blacksmiths, their shop having been one of the first establish- ments at the little village just named. Mr. W. W. Younce is a repre- sentative of the third generation of the name in this county, and in his turn has pursued a life of honorable activity, and at the present time conducts the old homestead and has one of the best improved and most valuable places in Butler township.
William Webb Younce was born on the farm where he now lives, April 28, 1866. His father was John Younce, and his grandfather, Joseph Youncc. John Younce married Irena Smith, a daughter of William Smith. She died when her son, W. W., was an infant. The father came to Miami county in 1842 from North Carolina, in com- pany with his father. He was born in Ashe county, North Carolina, and was a young man when he located at the community then known as Peoria. Both he and his father were blacksmiths, and they set up a shop which they conducted for several years. All the settlers in that neighborhood brought their plows and other implements to the Younce blacksmith shop for repairs and sharpening. John Younce, the father, soon married, and then settled on what is now known as the old Slocum farm, in Wabash county, renting that place for two or three years. He then returned to Miami county and bought the old home- stead in Butler township. All the children were born on this farm, and it was the residence of the father until his death, which occurred October 24, 1903. He was a man highly respected in his community, and lived such a career as had great usefulness to both his family and fellow-citizens. When he first took possession of the homestead in Butler township, the land was covered with wood, and the first building he erected was a little cabin. In that cabin all the children were born, and some of them have memories and recollections of the time when the family lived in a house of logs. Later the father put up a more commodious building, and at the same time gave his industry to the clearing up of the land, a task in which the children also assisted. He was a man who believed in the advantages of education, and gave his children opportunities for acquiring the best possible training in schools of that time.
After the death of his father, Mr. W. W. Younce took charge of the
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"GREEN LAWN" RESIDENCE OF MR. AND MRS. EDWARD D. SHINN
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homestead, and in the past ten years has gone ahead with its improve- ment, and has made many changes for the better. During his father's lifetime he contributed a great deal of the work performed about the place, and in later years has also had the assistance of his own boys, who represent the fourth generation of the Younce family in Miami county. The father was an active member and a trustee of the Metho- dist church at Santa Fe, and the son and other members of the family also worship in the same society. Mr. Younce, since taking charge of the homestead, has increased the property until he is now proprietor of one hundred and two acres of fine land. In politics he is a Repub- lican, and his father before him voted for and supported the same party.
Mr. W. W. Younce was married October 13, 1887, to Miss Ida Knight, a daughter of James and Rebecca Weisner Knight. The four children born to Mr. Younce and wife are mentioned as follows: Lenna, born September 21, 1888, and now associated with his father in the management of the homestead; Ralph, born December 14, 1890, married Effie E. Bowman; Roscoe, born July 1, 1897; and Walter E., born December 5, 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Younce's beautiful estate is known as "'Maplehurst."
EDWARD D. SHINN. Now owner of one of the attractive farms of Butler township, Mr. Shinn spent the early years of his career in the employ of others, working at wages, and gradually progressed until he was independent and, though still a young man, has acquired a good home and has laid a solid foundation for the prosperity of his future years.
Edward D. Shinn was born in Wabash county, Indiana, April 14, 1872. His father was John Shinn, and his grandfather, Samuel Shinn. The mother, who is still living, was before her marriage Margaret Deal, a daughter of Jacob Deal. In 1876 the family moved from Wabash county into Miami county, and the father first located in Clay town- ship, although a considerable portion of his land lay in Washington township. He built the barn still standing on the estate, but the house now occupied by members of the family was put up by the mother and her son. There were one hundred and thirty-three acres in the home place in Clay and Washington townships, and when the Shinn family first came into possession of it, much of the land was covered with timber and stumps. That furnished a great field for labor, both for the father and the boys, and they all received a thorough course of training in the clearing and grubbing which are necessary prelim- inaries for the cultivation of Indiana soil. When the family first moved there, they lived in a frame house with mud walls, and there was a double log barn on the place. The father gave his energies to the im- provement of the land, until his death. He was of Scotch descent, a native of Ohio, and died in 1898 and is buried in Harrison township. He was a member of the German Baptist church. The mother is still living, her home being in MeGrawsville, in this county.
Edward D. Shinn received his education in Miami county by at- tendance at the common schools, and learned the trade of carpenter. He worked at this for several years, in different localities, and then married and settled on a farm in Wabash county. He and his wife lived as renters for some time, and then came to their present place in Butler township. He owned a share in the old home place, but sold that and applied the proceeds to the present farm. Mr. Shinn has ninety-two and a half acres, and it is valuable land, most of its value having been the result of his steady industry for a number of years. He has instituted all the improvements, consisting of the house, barn
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and fencing, and has ditched a large portion of the lower land. The farm has been brought up to modern standards in every respect, and is one of the most productive in this part of the county.
Mr. Shinn was married in 1895, at Peru, to Miss Nettie Emehisen, a daughter of John and Susan ( Williams) Emehisen. They have no children. Mr. Shinn and wife are members of the Methodist church, and he has been superintendent of the Sunday School. He is also a trustee of the parsonage. In politics he is a Republican. Hc has asso- ciated himself with many of the local activities of his community, be- longs to the Horse Thief Protective Association, and at one time was a member of the Carpenters' Union of Chicago.
JOHN RICHER. It is most consonant that in this history be incor- porated a memoir to John Richer, who was one of the honored pioneers of Miami county and whose life was one guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity, even as it was prolific in accomplishment in connection with practical affairs. He established his home on a farm in Peru township about the year 1849 and, through his industry and civic liberality, he did his part in furthering the development and up- building of the county which long represented his home and the stage of his earnest and fruitful endeavors.
He was born ncar the city of Berne, Switzerland, in the year 1815, and he was a scion of one of the old and influential families of that section of his fatherland, where he was reared to manhood and where he received a liberal education. He was well versed in both the German and French languages, both of which he read, spoke and wrote with practically equal fluency, besides which, after coming to America, he gained an admirable command of the English language. As a young man he was a successful teacher in the schools of France and shortly after attaining his legal majority he immigrated to the United States. Soon after his arrival in America he established his home in Wayne county, Ohio, where he gave his attention to farming during the sum- mer seasons and found requisition for his services as a teacher in the common schools during the intervening winter terms. There was sol- emnized his marriage to Miss Magdalenc Naftzger, who was born in France, and who was a girl at the time of the family removal to America. Of this gracious and ideal union were born in Ohio three children- Christian, John and Catherine -- and in 1849 Mr. Richer came with his family to Miami county, Indiana, where he secured a tract of heavily timbered land, in Peru township, and set himself to the task of reclaim- ing a farm from the virtual wilderness. He labored with unremitting diligence and proved his physical powers to be as potent in results as those of his fine mentality. During the winter months he was a suc- cessful and popular teacher in the pioneer schools, and not a few who later attained to prominence in connection with civic and business affairs in Miami county profited greatly from his instruction and ad- . monition in the formative period of their lives. He was a inan of high intellectuality and fine ideals, and his influence was ever benignant and grateful. Three sons were born after the removal to Indiana, and to them were given the respective names of Daniel, Joseph and David Elias. In their original religious faith the parents were Amish Men- nonites, but for many years prior to their death they were devout and zealous members of the United Brethren church. Mr. Richer died on his old homestead farm in 1890, at the age of seventy-five years, and his loved and devoted wife passed to the life beyond in 1886, at the venerable age of eighty-six years. All of their children are still living and all hold in reverent affection the gracious memories of their noble
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father and mother, whose names merit enduring place on the roll of the honored pioneers of the county. Christian, the eldest of the children, still resides in Miami county ; John is a resident of North Manchester, Wabash county, Indiana; Catherine is the wife of Joseph B. Speicher, deceased, and resides in Wabash county, Indiana; and the three younger sons, Daniel, Joseph and David E., likewise continued to represent the family name in Miami county.
Joseph Richer, the fifth in order of birth of the six children of his parents, was born on the old homestead farm in Peru township, on the 3d of February, 1853, and thus his memory forms an indissoluble link between the middle pioneer era and the latter days of opulent progress and prosperity in this favored section of the Hoosier state. He duly availed himself of the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period, and was signally favorcd in being reared in a home of distinctive culture and refinement. He is a man of broad mental ken and mature judgment and has greatly amplified his education through well directed reading and other self-discipline, as well as through as- sociation with the practical affairs of life. Miami county is endeared to him through many gracious memories and hallowed associations, and he has never faltered in his loyalty to his native heath, as here has he found ample opportunity for productive endeavor and also maintained a secure place in the confidence and esteem of a host of friends who are tried and true. He remained at the parental home and continued to be associated in the work and management of the farm until he had reached man's estate, and in the meanwhile he proved his eligibility for pedagogic honors by successfully teaching in a dis- trict school for one term. Thereafter he gave his attention to agricul- tural pursuits and stock-growing, on a well improved farm in Peru township, continuing thus until 1896, when he removed with his family to the city of Peru, where has since been maintained the family home- a home known for its gracious and unostentatious hospitality and good cheer. A few years after his removal to Peru Mr. Richer here engaged in the lumber business, and in amplification of the same he later pur- chased an interest in the sawmill owned and operated by the firm of Miller, Eisaman & Company, Somewhat later Mr. Miller retired from the business, whereupon the firm title was changed to Eisaman & Richer. In January, 1912, Elmer Eisaman, a son of the senior member, and Mr. Richer's son-in-law, J. W. Bossard, were admitted to partner- ship in the business, which has since been continued under the original firm name. The concern does a general manufacturing business in hardwood lumber, and the annual output of the well equipped and essentially modern plant runs from two and one-half to three million feet of lumber, so that the industry represents one of the important business enterprises of Miami county, a general lumber trade being conducted in connection with the manufacturing department.
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