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 39
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When Mr. and Mrs. Sproal began their married life they were $1,100 in debt, but by persistency, industry and a determination to win, they accomplished the herculean task and today, in 1913, they have one of the valuable estates of the county. Mrs. Sproal has nobly filled her part as wife and mother. The homestead of Mr. and Mrs. Sproal is known as "Belle View Lodge."
The politics of Mr. Sproal is Democratic, and his church is the Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal.
NOAH A. SANDIFUR. A native son of Miami county, carrying on agricultural operations in the township in which he was born, Noah Sandifur belongs to a family that was founded in this locality as early as 1846 and has since been prominently identified with the farming interests here. He was born not far from his present home, February 18, 1864, and is a son of Oliver H. and Sarah (Beaver) Sandifur.
Oliver H. Sandifur was born in Fayette county, Indiana, July 17, 1824, a son of Noah Sandifur and a grandson of Robert and Winifred (Bailey) Sandifur, of old North Carolina stock, the Sandifurs being of French ancestry and the Baileys of English. Robert Sandifur was a mechanic who lived in Pasquotank county, North Carolina, and when a young man was a Revolutionary soldier, in the cavalry service, partici- pating in several battles. He was married in the Old North State and moved to South Carolina, and thence to Georgia, from whence he came to Indiana territory in 1807, settling in what is now Franklin county. He met an accidental death by drowning in the Whitewater river. His children were Martha, Noah and Peniah. He was reared in the faith of the Friends' Church, but in Indiana united with the Baptist Church. Noah Sandifur, the grandfather of Noah of this sketch, was born March 3, 1798, in South Carolina, and was seven or eight years of age when he accompanied his parents to this State. He attended the common school for nine months, but the greater part of his education was self- gained, and he was also widely known as a vocalist of talent. In Sep- tember. 1821, he was married in Fayette county, Indiana, to Miss Mary Williams, a native of Virginia and a daughter of George and Nancy (Newhouse) Williams. Mr. Williams was also a pioneer farmer of Franklin county, whence he came probably as early as 1820, clearing a tract of land and establishing a comfortable home for his children, who
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were, as far as is known, Mary, John, Isaac, Sarah and James, a daugh- ter who married a Mr. Wilson, and another who married a Mr. Walker. George Williams died in middle life in Fayette county. Noah Sandifur passed away November 13, 1884. After his marriage, Noah Sandifur continued his residence in Fayette county, but sold the forty-acre tract which his father had entered. In 1830 he moved to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, and resided there a year, and in the spring of 1832 purchased a quarter-section of land in Carroll county, which he cleared and brought under cultivation. Succeeding this he added forty acres to his possessions, and developed a handsome farm of 200 acres. He and his wife were the parents of the following children: Oliver H., the father of Noah; Nelson W., a merchant and school teacher, who died aged about thirty-one years; Albert S .; Christina; Benjamin F .; and Mary E. Mr. and Mrs. Sandifur were members of the Methodist Church, in which he was a class leader and trustee. He passed his remaining days in Carroll county and died at the age of eighty-six years. He was a Whig in politics, voting for Henry Clay for president, and later became one of the early Republicans of his locality. He was a sturdy, honest and open-hearted pioneer, and assisted materially in the erec- tion of churches of the Methodist faith for miles around his home.
Oliver H. Sandifur, father of Noah, was given an ordinary education in the pioneer schools, and was twenty-one years of age when he came to Miami county, in 1846. He here purchased a tract of 160 acres from a man who had indicated it only by cutting down a few trees, for which he paid the man five dollars. Here he built a log cabin, and when the land came into market, about 1847, he entered it. He proceeded to clear the land and make a farm, and by perseverance in much heavy work he at length had a good home, being greatly assisted by his industrious and faithful wife. By subsequent purchases, he added to this land until he owned 233 acres, on which he resided until his death, which occurred October 3, 1912, aged eighty-eight years, two months.
On August 11, 1853, Mr. Sandifur was married to Miss Saralı Beaver, at Miamitown, Indiana. She was born October 6, 1830, in Rockingham county, Virginia, a daughter of Jacob and Barbara (Miley) Beaver, both the Beavers and Mileys being of good German ancestry. His children were John, Malinda Michael, Matthias, Jacob and a daughter whose name is not remembered. Matthias died in Virginia. Jacob Beaver was married in Rockingham county, Virginia, and moved to Wayne county, Indiana, in 1831, settling in the wilderness on Martin- dale's Creek, three miles south of Hagerstown, and there cleared eighty acres of land. In the autumn of 1846 he moved to Miami county, this State, locating in Clay township, where he cleared the land and opened a farm. His children were Elizabeth, Henry, Belinda, Adams, Lewis, Catherine, Sarah, Jacob and Peter. In 1854 Mr. Beaver moved to Page county, Iowa, where he purchased a homestead but died in Kansas, at the venerable age of eighty-seven or eighty-eight years. He was a mem- ber of the United Brethren Church. During the War of 1812 he served with the American forces.
The children born to Oliver H. and Saralı Sandifur were as follows : Jacob A., born December 5, 1854, married March 29, 1876, Melvina F. Williamson ; Mary E., born August 23, 1857, married Morton E. Haynes ; Emma R., born November 18, 1860, married September 20, 1882, Rev. Leander E. Knox; Noah, born Feb. 18, 1864; Oliver U., born April 28, 1868; and William H., born August 5, 1869. Mr. Sandifur was a Republican in his political views, and from 1855 to 1859 served as justice of the peace. He was widely and favorably known throughout Deer Creek ·township, and during his long residence here built up a
BIRDSEYE VIEW OF "BROAD ACRES" RESIDENCE OF MRS. CAROLINE C. PHELPS
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firmly-established reputation for honesty, industry and fidelity to every trust.
Noah Sandifur received his education in the common schools and was reared to agricultural pursuits in which he has been engaged all of his life. He remained under the parental roof until he was twenty-three years of age, at which time he located on his father-in-law's farm, and he now has forty acres in a high state of cultivation, on which he has erected a full set of modern buildings. He is a good practical farmer, at all times ready to embrace new ideas, and has made a decided success of his operations. A Republican in his political views, he has been chosen to fill the office of township trustee, in which he is at present serving his second term. He shows a commendable interest in all that affects the welfare of his community, ever being in favor of progress and advancement along all lines of endeavor. Mr. Sandifur is popular with the members of the local lodges of the Red Men and the Knights of Pythias, with which he is affiliated. With his family, he attends the Methodist Episcopal Church.
On December 23, 1886, Mr. Sandifur was married to Miss Ida Brown, daughter of James T. and Amanda (Elkins) Brown, and to this union there were born two children: Bertha G., born December 19, 1887, who married Coulter George; and Alva E., born February 17, 1890, single, and residing at home. Mrs. Sandifur died October 25, 1898, and on November 6, 1909, Mr. Sandifur was married to Carrie O. Duck- wall, daughter of John and Lydia (Meyers) Duckwall. Mr. Duck- wall was born at Montgomery county, Ohio, and in 1845 went to Cass county, Indiana, from whence he came to Miami county in 1849. He was a farmer, and an early sawmill and flourmill proprietor, but lost his mill by fire in 1857, entailing a loss of $5,000. He married Lydia Meyers March 21, 1845, and died September 26, 1894, she following him to the grave February 2, 1896. Mr. and Mrs. Sandifur have been the parents of two children: Verl D., born March 12, 1911; and Edna M., born July 16, 1912. The estate of Mr. and Mrs. Sandifur is known as "Sunny Banks Stock Farm."
THOMAS W. PHELPS. For sixty years the Phelps family has been prominently identified with Clay township of Miami county. When the home was established in Indiana in 1853, the family were in the midst of pioneer conditions, there were no railroads, very few schools, the roads were rough trails and Peru was a village, and hardly a single one of the numerous conveyances and facilities of the modern electric age were then dreamed of in this portion of the middle west. Since then the Phelps family have not only been witnesses, but have been worthy parts in the growth and development which history records.
A representative of this prominent family in its third generation, Thomas W. Phelps was born on the old homestead in Clay township, January 1, 1879. He is a son of Andrew J. and Caroline C. (Wyrick) Phelps, and a grandson of Bissell Phelps, who founded the name in this county. The Phelps family came to Indiana, in 1853 from Lewis county, New York, where both the father and grandfather were born. A more complete family record will be found on other pages of this volume, under the name of Albert J. Phelps. Thomas W. Phelps grew up on the old homestead, received a substantial education in the local schools, and has been a practical farmer for several years. He and his wife reside at the old farmstead with his mother. The estate left by his father, comprised 300 acres of land, but it now contains 500 acres. It has not been divided among the heirs, and Thomas W. is active manager of a portion of this attractive and valuable old homestead.
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Thomas W. Phelps was married December 5, 1912, to Lula Rhine- barger, a daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Warfeldt) Rhinebarger. Her father, a native of Germany, has lived in America since he was about ten years of age. His home for a number of years was in Miami county, but he now resides in Kokomo, and is employed by the Pan Handle Railroad Company. Previous to his removal to Kokomo, for a number of years Jacob Rhinebarger carried the mail from Bennett's Switch to Waupecong. Also at one time he served as township assessor. and his name is remembered as one of substantial worth and personal popularity in this county.
Mr. Phelps is a member of Castle Hall Lodge No. 362, K. of P., at Galveston, Ind., and the Improved Order of Red Men, Mongotha Tribe No. 267. The pretty estate of the Phelps is known as "Broad Acres."
MARSHALL SMITH. A lifelong residence in Grant county and many years of business activities within its borders has given to Marshall Smith a wide acquaintance and an enviable reputation in these parts. He was for years prominent in the lumber industry in this and sur- rounding counties, and when the scarcity of standing timber made that no longer an attractive business, he shrewdly turned his attention to the farming industry, in which he has since been prosperously engaged. He has been a man to whom fortune has ever accorded a due measure of success, and his position in the county has long been and still is, an enviable one.
Born in Grant county, November 15, 1858, Marshall Smith is the son of George W. and Caroline (Gilpen) Smith. The mother was a daughter of John Gilpen of Grant county, who lived to reach the age of ninety-two years. They became the parents of a large family of eleven children, the mother dying in 1880 and the father in 1903. They were farming people and passed their lives in the old familiar district in Grant county where their sons and daughters were born and reared.
Marshall Smith was about twenty years old when his mother died. He had lived at home up to that time, and his educational advantages had been of the very slightest, covering not more than a few months in all. In those early days the public school system was not the most efficient, and especially in their home community were school matters given but little consideration. Never of a studious nature as a boy, Mr. Smith admits today that he paid more attention in his school-days to devising new plans for annoying the school-master than he ever accorded to his duties, and there are many of his day who might well make the same confession if they would, even as the youth of today might often do.
In 1886 Mr. Smith left the Grant county home and came to Miami county, and in Xenia, now known as Converse, he engaged in the lumber business, buying and selling logs, and gradually increasing his opera- tions until he was regarded as one of the big dealers of the community. After a time he went to Peru and there also began operating in timber, where he remained for about three years, and then went to Loree, in Clay township, Miami county, where he engaged in the sawmill business, -an industry that is never but one step distant from the logging busi- ness. When he first identified himself with the saw mill line he was associated with John Flowers, and together they continued prosperously until the mill was destroyed by fire. They were nothing daunted by that misfortune and together built up a newer and better plant than they had previously owned, and continued under the same firm name for about three years. Mr. Smith had by this time begun to see the end of the lumber business in his section of Indiana, and he began to buy up farm lands, beginning to farm some in connection with the mill work,
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thus familiarizing himself with the agricultural industry, and he has since continued in active farming, after with the exception of a saw mill he operates in Southeast Missouri, having withdrawn from all other industries. He spent three years at Winamac, then came to Pipe Creek township, adjacent to Bunker Hill, and when he settled in Bunker Hill his first home was on the farm adjoining his present place. His home today is one of the finest and most modern to be found in the township, and is one of the attractive and showy places in the district.
Mr. Smith was married in 1883 to Miss Fannie Lawson, a daughter of Frank and Helena (Morro) Lawson. Mrs. Smith was one of four daughters, the others being: Minnie, married to George Smith; Maggie, the wife of Marion Retherford; and Lillie, who married Lon Smith (not related).
To Mr. and Mrs. Smith seven children have been born, concerning whom brief mention is made here as follows: Edward, the eldest, married May Liston, and they have two children; Josephine and Liston; Grover, Mabel, Shelia, Noble, Mary and Rose, are all unmarried, and share the fine home of their parents. The family are members of the United Brethren church in Bunker Hill, and all are highly esteemed and honored in the community which has long represented their home.
JOHN L. MILLER. The Miller homestead is an eighty-acre place in Deer Creek township. It represents the accumulated energies and the good management of John L. Miller, who is one of the ablest crop pro- ducers and most substantial citizen of Miami county. His career has much encouragement for young men who start without resources, except those contained in themselves. He was a renter for several years, pros- percd in every undertaking, and thriftily turned his surplus into more land, until he found himself independent and with better provision for the future of himself and family than most men have at the close of a long lifetime. John L. Miller was born in Deer Creek township of Miami county, October 5, 1867, and belongs to a family whose residence in this county goes back for about seventy years. His parents were Philip and Amanda (Wilson) Miller. The maternal grandfather was John Wilson. Philip Miller came to Indiana towards the end of the forties, and settled in Miami county years before the building of the first railroad, when all transportation was by canal or by wagon route, and his own toil contributed a part of the development which has made the modern Miami county possible. During the war he enlisted in an Indiana regiment, and went south to do service in defense of the union, being frequently ,engaged in battle, and on one occasion was wounded by a shot in the army.
John L. Miller grew to manhood on his father's place, early becom- ing familiar with all kinds of farm labor, and receiving his education in the district school near his home. In 1889 occurred his marriage to Miss Ida Poff, a daughter of Elias and Alice (Isler) Poff. Mr. and Mrs. Miller since their marriage have worked hard, and have taken pains to give their children the best possible advantages in the local schools, and also to provide them good influences in correct habits and morals at home. Their eight children are still within the home circle, and are named as follows: Claude F., Emma, Marie, Edna, Lula, Raymond, Russell and Tavola.
When Mr. Miller came into possession of his present place of eighty acres in Deer Creek township, it was quite well improved with buildings, but during his ownership he has made many other improvements, and it now ranks as a first class homestead. Mr. Miller is affiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men and the Masonic Order, being a post-
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master, and having filled all the chairs in Crescent Lodge No. 280, A. F. & A. M. He and his family worship in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
ALFRED GLASSBURN. The year 1848 was the date of the establish- ment of the Glassburn family in Miami county. That date is also memorable for the discovery of gold in California. Two generations have given the substance of their character and energy to Miami county since then and it is a name nowhere mentioned without commanding the respect due to worth and integrity. Substantial success has fol- lowed the efforts of Alfred Glassburn during a long and active career in Clay township.
Alfred Glassburn was born in Miami county, October 30, 1850, a son of Peter and Catherine (Bishop) Glassburn. Peter Glassburn, who was born in the old Dominion of Virginia came from that common- wealth to Indiana, at an early day, and for a time lived in Johnson county. In 1848, the family home was transferred from Johnson county to Miami county, and here he spent the rest of his days. In Johnson county, Peter Glassburn married Catherine Bishop, a daughter of Abraham Bishop and they became the parents of seven children, five sons and two daughters. One daughter died in childhood. He and his good wife were identified with the Methodist church, and in that faitlı reared their family. When he came to Miami county, Peter Glassburn was a poor man. He took out land from the government in the year 1848, worked hard and exercised good judgment in the management of his affairs, and at the time of his death his estate comprised four hundred acres.
Alfred Glassburn grew to manhood on his father's farm, and has been a farmer all his life. The farm on which he now lives, and which comprises forty acres was formerly owned by his father-in-law, William Sims. Mr. Glassburn has improved this place and also a farm of eighty acres just north of it, and erected a good barn on each place. Having made a business of farming, Mr. Glassburn has applied his energies diligently, and while he would not claim to be scientific, he is in the best sense of the term practical, and his neighbors have a high regard for his judgment and example in matters of farm management.
On November 2, 1882, Alfred Glassburn and Nancy Sims were united in marriage, and to them have been given seven children, five of whom are living. The family record is as follows: Minnie, born June 24, 1883, and she married Lambert Waisner; Guy, born May 7, 1887, who married Cesta Spurgeon; Pearl, who died at the age of seventeen years ; Rubie, who died at the age of two years; Eva, born August 18, 1891, married Omer Saul, an agriculturist; Ada, born March 12, 1894; and Clara, born May 5, 1901. Mrs. Glassburn's parents, William and Salome (Studebaker) Sims came to Indiana from Ohio, and settled in Miami county, where they reared a family of eight children. It was in 1850 that they took up their residence here, and they are still living and their present home is at Bunker Hill. William Sims has attained the good old age of four score, while his wife is in her seventy-seventh year.
Mr. and Mrs. Glassburn have two hundred and seventy acres all in Clay township, as fine land as can be found in the state. They also have the original parchment deed of their farm, signed by the president, which makes eight deeds of the kind found in the county.
SAMUEL M. SHARP. Forty years ago Mr. Sharp settled on a tract of raw land in Clay township, and beginning the pioneer work of trans- forming the barren acres into cultivated field made a homestead which
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has ever since been identified with the Sharp name. That a farm should remain in one family for so long a time is an honor to the steady industry and citizenship of its owners, and the Sharp family have always been known for their quiet prosperity and solid integrity. Mr. Sharp now has an attractive well improved farm, which is the result of his own hard work and good management. He is descended from a worthy ancestry, and is himself continuing his hardy family stock through a large household of children.
Samuel M. Sharp was born November 11, 1837, in Franklin county, Ohio, a son of William, and a grandson of Abraham Sharp. Abraham Sharp was a Scotch-Irishman, who on coming to this country, first settled in Ohio. By trade he was a carpenter and millwright. A tool chest built by him for his own use while in Ohio is still preserved. At an early date Grandfather Sharp was the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land where Peoria, Illinois, now stands, and which he traded off for a small sum. Formerly he was a resident of Franklin county, Ohio, where he married a Miss Howard of that county, who lived to the extreme old age of one hundred and two years, three months and seven days. The family comprised the following: William, father of Samuel M .; Elizabeth, wife of John Reager, of Ohio; George, who married Rose Avon Cramer; Nancy ; Rachael, wife of Andrew Shanklin ; Nathaniel, who married Mary Gregg.
Nathaniel Sharp was shot by three men, recruiting officers of the Union army, after an altercation, that event adding one more of the many similar tragedies enacted during the war and outside of the actual lines of battle. Subsequently one of those men was skinned alive by the Indians, and still later the other two were killed.
William Sharp married into the Teegardin family. Abraham, George and William Teegardin came to Ohio in 1811, and settled near Ashville, on land which their father from Westmoreland county, Penn- sylvania, had entered. The Teegardins were pioneers in Pickaway county, Ohio, were members of the Lutheran church and John Teegardin was a soldier in the War of 1812. William Sharp, after his marriage, settled on a farm in. his native county of Franklin, prospered as a result of hard labor, and lived there until his death on June 30, 1845, at the age of thirty-seven years. His children were: Nancy, Peter, Samuel M., Aaron T., and Margaret.
Samuel M. Sharp was not yet eight years of age when his father died, and he was reared by his mother and uncle Aaron Teegardin, a farmer of Pickaway county, with whom he remained until he was twenty-one years of age. In his home county of Pickaway, he married Miss Isabel Bailey. She was born in Madison county, Ohio, but at the time of their marriage she was living in Pickaway county. Her parents were Reason W. and Anna (Hoyman) Bailey, the father from Mary- land and the mother from Ohio, and subsequently they came to Indiana, settling in Clay township. Here Reason W. Bailey died in 1873 at the age of sixty-two years. He was a man of excellent qualities, and a member of the Lutheran church. His children in order of birth were: Eliza Ann, Mary, Mahala Isabel, Fame, Solomon L., Joseph L. Lewis B., Phoebe, and Ellis. Mr. Sharp worked by the day, and at the time of his marriage he had five dollars, which he gave to the preacher. He worked at wages for about eight years, and then settled on a rented farm in Pickaway county. On March 4, 1872, his home was transferred to Indiana, and since that year he has been a well known resident of Clay township, in Miami county. The date of his arrival in this county was March 4, 1872, the date of President Grant's second inauguration. Here he bought a hundred acres of land, and at once bent all his energies
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in the direction of its improvement and cultivation. Subsequently his estate was increased by the purchase of an adjoining tract of a little more than twenty-eight acres, and today his fine farm with its attractive buildings and other improvements has few equals in this part of Miami county, and everything about the place indicates modern and progress- ive methods.
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