USA > Indiana > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, together with historic notes on the Wabash Valley; gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic sources > Part 44
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farmer's life till 1853, when he went to California and engaged in mining and Inmbering, also was awhile in the hotel business. Return- ing in 1860, he began business in Crawfordsville, and during 1861 and 1862 traded in horses, since which time he has been with his brother in their present trade. He is strictly democratic, and served six years as county commissioner, during which time the court-house, costing $35,- 000, was built, and all the streams bridged with iron bridges. He has been twice married : first to Martha Hutton, in 1847, of Virginia, who died in 1848; and second to Mary A. Bunch, of Kentucky. They have two children. Mrs. Lee is a member of the Missionary Baptist church. Mr. Lee is said to be the oldest living white inhabitant born in Montgomery county. David Lee, the other member of the firm, was born April 13, 1833, on the home farm, and raised a farmer. He was married in 1860, to Mahala Courtney, daughter of Mrs. Rebecca Jones, of Crawfordsville. They have six children. Mr. Lee is also a democrat, but quiet in the political arena.
Marshall H. Seller, farmer, Crawfordsville, a respectable and good- natured gentleman, was born October 26, 1826. He has been raised in the Presbyterian faith, and in politics is an ardent republican. His father, James Seller, was born in Harrison county, Kentucky, January 31, 1795. He lived near Dayton, Ohio, awhile, and settled in Mont- gomery county, Indiana, in October 1823. The country was then new and undeveloped. He first bought 240 acres of land, and when he died (1875) owned 480 acres. Mr. Seller was one of the active men who built up this country and made the civilization which we now enjoy. He came from Kentucky in a wagon and was seventeen days on the road. They traveled about ten miles a day, and endured the hardships of emigrating to a new country through forests and swamps without roads. Mr. Seller was county commissioner at an early day. The first time he ran for the state legislature he was de- feated, but the next time was elected and served one term as repre- sentative of this county. He took an active interest in all measures for the good of the people, and was an intelligent and efficient repre- sentative. Mr. Seller was a captain in the Black Hawk war, a whig in politics, and an elder in the Presbyterian church. He was married in 1820, to Mary D. Johnston, who was a member of the Presbyterian church, and was born in the year 1800. She has had six children, and they are all living: John M., William A., Thomas P., Marshall H., Eliphalet D. and Elizabeth J. Mrs. Seller and her son live together on the old homestead.
Meredith Rountree, retired, Crawfordsville, was born May 13, 1814, in Orange county, North Carolina. His parents, Charles and Sarah
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(Hayes) Rountree, were born, raised and married in Armaugh county, Ireland. They came to America in 1806, landing at New Castle, Del- aware, and thence went direct to North Carolina. There they farmed seventeen years, then six years in Butler county, Ohio, and in 1827 came to Montgomery county and settled in Ripley township, where the elder Rountree entered 160 acres of land in the N.W. } Sec. 24. Here the pioneers built the log hut, cleared the farm, and tilled the land, with but few to molest them. He was a stalwart republican and taught his boys the same grand principles for which he voted. Prior to re-
publicanism he had been a whig. Both he and wife were members of the Methodist church. He died at the age of eighty-four years, and his wife followed him in two years afterward at the age of eighty-six years. Both were interred in the Alamo cemetery. The son, Meredith Rountree, learned well the significance of the word toil, and but little of the word school. He aided his father until his majority, when his father gave him 200 acres of land. With this start Mr. Rountree be- gan for himself. By perseverance, industry and care he added to his possessions until in 1865 he was able to retire from hard labor own- ing 640 acres, 500 of which were under cultivation. Since retiring he has disposed of his farm until he now has but 240 acres. Mr. Rountree was married September 6, 1840, to Melinda Mann, of Mercer county, Illinois. They had four children : Rhoda A., Henry Clay, Sarah E. and Daniel Webster. All are deceased except the last named. Mrs. Roun- tree died March 27, 1871. Mr. Rountree was next married to Mrs. Mary A. McClellan, of Crawfordsville, January 1, 1872. His eldest son, Henry C., served his time in the civil war, and died at Jefferson- ville, Indiana, on his way home. His youngest son is now a member of the firm of Myers & Rountree, in the dry-goods business in Craw- fordsville. Mr. Rountree owns considerable property in the city.
George W. Conrad, farmer, Darlington, was born in Preble county, Ohio, August 14, 1827, and is the son of James and Mahala Conrad. James Conrad, with his family, settled on Sugar creek, in Union town- ship, in 1827. He came with six other families from Ohio. They were fourteen days on the road, and had to cut their own way through the woods part of the time, the country being then nearly all wild. The subject of this sketch began farming for himself when twenty-four years old, in limited circumstances. He now has 214 acres eight miles northeast of Crawfordsville, raising stock and grain. He was married in 1852, and has six children living : Saralı E., Emma J., Joanna, James Wallace, Emory E. and John Clinton. Mr. Conrad is a republican, strong and true, a successful farmer and a good citizen.
S. H. Gregg & Son, dealers in hardware and implements, Craw-
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fordsville. The senior member of the firm, Samuel H. Gregg, was born in Montgomery county, June 11, 1827, and lived on the farm un- til he was twenty-four years old. He then entered as a partner in the first hardware store in Crawfordsville, and has ever since continued in that business. He is a member of the Methodist church, and was mar- ried, the first time, in 1847, to Sarah L. Christman, who died in 1861. He was married the second time in 1871, to Sarah J. Munns. She is also a member of the Methodist church. The junior member of the firm, Orpheus M. Gregg, was born October 7, 1848. He has always lived in this county, with the exception of about one year spent in Cal- ifornia. He graduated with the class of 1870 in the classical course of Wabash College. He was married in 1872 to Julia Mills, daughter of
Prof. C. Mills. They have two children, both boys. Mr. and Mrs. O. M. Gregg are both members of the Center Presbyterian church. Mr. Gregg is treasurer of the city school board, and in politics is a re- publican. "Gregg and Son " are honorable gentlemen, have a large store, a large corps of clerks, and are doing an extensive business.
John Breaks, farmer and stock feeder, Crawfordsville. His father emigrated from England in 1817. He came to Wayne county, Indi- ana. Here he married Jane Beard, and in 1823 brought his family to this county. He attended the first land sales at Crawfordsville, where he purchased three "eighties." These are now owned by Alvin, Har- rison and Richard Breaks. His wife died February 16, 1835, aged thirty-two. He lived to be eighty years old, and died in 1870. Our subject was born in this township December 14, 1832. He was raised a cultivator of the soil, and has devoted all his life to that vocation. November 21, 1854, he married Caroline Groenendyke, who was born June 20, 1836. Her parents, Peter and Hannah (Beard) came from Wayne county, this state, to Union township, in 1827. Her mother was from North Carolina. Her father was a native of New York, and died in 1854, aged fifty-four years. Mr. and Mrs. Breaks have had ten children born to them : John B., October 29, 1855; Sarah Ann, De- cember 8, 1857, died June 16, 1867; James Richard, March 13, 1860; Amos Gilbert, April 20, 1862; Ida May, March 27, 1864; William Thomas, August 28, 1866, died March 25, 1867; Mary Beard, Janu- ary 16, 1868, died August 24, 1869; Albert Lewis, September 14, 1869, died February 24, 1871; Edith Caroline, December 19, 1871, and Luther Zwingle, March 5, 1879. James is a senior in the clas- sical course at Wabash College. John is a jeweler, in business in Craw- fordsville. The parents have been professors of religion thirty years. Mr. Breaks owns a valuable farın of 804 acres, lying in Union town- ship, mostly improved, and valued at $40,000. He is a staunch repub-
12
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lican, and gave his first vote for president for John C. Fremont, in 1856.
Edwin Quick, farmer, Crawfordsville, is of German descent on the paternal side. His great-grandfather first settled in Westchester county, New York. Leaving a son and a daughter there, he moved to the Mohawk and raised another family of children, among whom was Thomas Quick, a famous hunter. The Indians murdered a near relation of his, and he dedicated himself to the work of vengeance. In the contest between the red and the white men he pursued the work of killing Indians with remorseless energy. His exploits sound like legendary tales, or the creations of weird romance. It is related that on one occasion, while splitting a log, a party of seven Indians, looking for him with the purpose of taking his life, came suddenly upon him and demanded to have him pointed out to them. He agreed to accede to their request when he should have the log rived, and asked them to assist him. Ranging themselves on either side and taking hold with their hands, at the right juncture of the stratagem he instantly knocked out the wedge and brained every one of them with a club. The subject of this sketch was born in Westchester county, New York, August 28, 1805. In 1816 his parents, Elijah and Sally (Reynolds) Quick, came down from the headwaters of the Alle- ghany on a flat-boat, and settled near Cleavetown, just above Lawrence- burg, on the Big Miami. This was in the neighborhood of Gen. Harrison's home, and during the residence of the family there he worked more or less for Judge Short, the general's son-in-law ; and an older sister, living at the present time in Terre Haute, was employed in the general's own family. In 1824 Mr. Quick came to Montgomery county with James Bryant, who had been here and entered land and was now moving his family. They arrived on the 19th of October. After Bryant's house was up Mr. Quick, in company with James Turner, a man thoroughly acquainted with woodcraft, went through the dense woods and trackless country on foot to Terre Haute; and after visiting there awhile with his brother Richard, returned and hired to Bryant for one year for $65-$15 to be taken in " store pay" and the rest in " land office money"-gold, silver, and United States scrip. After the corn was "made" that season he went back to Ohio and brought out Bryant's father and his family. Next year he took a job of cutting, rolling, and burning the logs and brush on five acres of Bryant's land for all the corn he could raise on the cleared ground. He was consid- erably stimulated by the thought that he was " working for himself," but the outcome was not satisfactory in adding to his gains. But he managed about this time to enter eighty acres of land, and then went
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to work for Major William Crooks, who owned a saw and grist mill where Snyder's mill stands, at Yountsville, receiving, the first year, one-fourth of the net profits of the business and his board. The second year he got one-half, and operated the mills alone. This was not ex- actly a signal financial success. About 1828 his father moved with his family to this place. He now gave his attention to clearing his land and making a home. Taking a supply of Johnny-cake and a frying- pan with him he would go from his father's house on Monday morning and spend the whole week in the woods chopping down timber, with- out seeing a man, and subsisting on corn-bread and wild meat. In 1830 he went to New York with a power of attorney from his father to collect several hundred dollars due him. He traveled a large part of the distance on horseback and the remainder by boat. Immediately on his return, the same year, he was married to Abigal Ball, by whom he had seven children : Nathaniel, Stebbens, Martha Ann, now Mrs. William Teeter of White county; Sarah Ellen, wife of Henry Wild- man, living near Bement, Illinois ; Huldah, who was married to John Utterback, and died leaving three children ; Margaret Jane, who mar- ried Omar Mason, became the mother of six children and died; and Albert J. Mrs. Quick died September 30, 1846, and Mr. Qnick took for his second wife, in the March following, Mary W. Groenendyke. She bore him three children : Alice C., now Mrs. George Widener ; Hannah A., wife of Samuel Bratton, of Iowa, and Amos B. This wife died September 15, 1853. Mr. Quick celebrated his third mar- riage with Elizabeth B. Bennett, January 15, 1856. He came to this county a poor, ragged boy; to-day he owns 400 acres of land lying in a body where he lives, less five acres he has donated to the new Christian church called Liberty chapel. He has also 200 acres in Coal Creek township, and 320 in Iowa. Fifty years ago Mr. Quick joined the Missionary Baptists; the society becoming divided, he united with the Free Will Baptists, who in time drifted into the Christian denomination. By this church, at the head of Coal creek, in this county, Mr. Quick was ordained a minister June 13, 1847. For nearly thirty years he has been in the active work of the ministry, and in the whole time has not received a dollar as pay. He has made sev- eral liberal donations of money, the principal of which have been $500 to Liberty chapel and $500 to the Christian Publishing Company of Dayton, Ohio. He holds two shares of stock of $100 each in Union Merom College, and four shares of $50 each in the New Albany and Salem railroad.
Among the pioneer settlers in this county was Mr. Randolph Davis and family, Mr. Davis having emigrated in his youth from the State of
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New Jersey to Ohio, where he was united in marriage with Miss Abi- gal Hoel, of Butler county, who was also born in New Jersey. Re- moved from Butler connty, Ohio, to Montgomery county, Indiana, in the year 1826, and settled in the almost unbroken forest of Brown township. The first family residence was in a rude logcabin, roofed with boards and floored with puncheons, then occupied for some time without any chimney. The fire for cooking being placed against the logs at the side or end of the cabin, where the chimney was to be built, an opening was thus gradnally burned out, and then a chimney of sticks and mud was erected and completed, with mud back, jambs and hearth. The cracks between the logs were filled with the same mate- rial, of which there was an abundant supply. The cabin now com- pleted was found to be quite comfortable and convenient, answering admirably the purposes of kitchen, dining-room, bed-room, sitting- room and parlor. Having none of the modern inventions, such as stoves, for cooking, Mrs. Davis, as all the pioneer women did, baked corn-dodgers on the skillet and pone in the big oven. The same table, though not of the extension pattern, suited well for both kitchen and dining-room. Other furniture, such as chairs and stools, was plain, unvarnished and substantial. The bedsteads had each one post, and neither the mark of chisel, plane, screw or nail about them. Instead of an organ or piano the parlor was furnished with a well-made and rich-toned instrument of the spinning-wheel variety. A flax-brake, scutching-board and knife, a hatchel, wheel and loom, constituted a complete ontfit for a first-class domestic manufactory of coarse and fine linens, convertible into trousers, shirts, sheets, table-cloths, towels, etc. Mr. Davis being a man of energy and will, as well as muscular force, soon made an opening in the woods, which was enlarged from year to year until a farm yielding abundant crops of grain and grass was opened up. He possessed some military genius and taste, and took an active part in some of the first military organizations in the county, holding for years the rank and title of major. Mr. and Mrs. Davis raised a family of four sons and three daughters. The boys, Isaac, Jacob, Thompson and John, received such home training on the farm as qual- ified them for future success in life. After many years of varied suc- .cess in business and trade, Jacob died at Crawfordsville in 1876. Isaac, Thompson and John are still living in this county, successfully ·engaged in farming and trading in stock.
John L. Davis, farmer and stock raiser, Crawfordsville, is descended from Welsh ancestry. His parents were natives of New Jersey. His father, Randolph Davis, married Abigal Hoel in Butler county, Ohio, and in the autumn of 1826 removed to this county and improved a
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homestead on Indian creek, in Brown township, on Sec. 13, T. 18, R. 5. The mother is yet living at this place, and has passed several years in her fifth score. The first day after the arrival of the family the men in the company built a cabin, which they all occupied at night. A fire was kindled against the green logs, where the fire-place was soon after made, and the forked flames smiled with a glow of comfort on the new home and its happy inmates. A deer, killed by one of the men, was hung up in a corner. Here it was that the subject of this biography was born April 4, 1831. He was the sixth child of his parents. His early life was occupied with the usual employments of that period, such as farming and clearing land ; and he wrung mean- while a common school education from the scanty privileges of the time. He married Miss Eliza E. Van Cleve, daughter of George W. and Margery (Benefiel) Van Cleve, who were natives of Kentucky, and were married in Shelby county, of that state, in 1826. Mrs. Davis was born on the farm where she resides December 24, 1834. Her parents were Presbyterians, and she has been a communicant in the Old School Presbyterian church since her childhood. Three children have blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Davis: George E., born December 8, 1862; Little Harry, April 13, 1864, died August 30, 1864, and Margery S., November 8, 1866. Mr. Davis is a prominent representative of the Mystic Tie in Montgomery county. He was made a Master Mason in Montgomery Lodge, No. 50, June 11, 1852 ; a Royal Arch Mason in Crawfordsville Chapter, No. 40, July 30, 1857 ; re- ceived the council degrees in Montgomery Council, No. 34, May 5, 1869, and attained the honorable position of a Knight Templar in Greencastle Commandery, No. 11, November 11, 1870. He is a char- ter member of Crawfordsville Commandery, No. 25; was the first treasurer, and except one year has held that office continuously since. He has attended three triennial conclaves of the Knights Templar: the first at Baltimore in 1871, the second in Cleveland in 1877, and the third in Chicago in 1880. Mr. Davis owns a valuable farm pleasantly situated about four miles south of Crawfordsville, on the Terre Haute turnpike. His real estate comprises 460 acres, 220 being under plow and the rest in meadow and pasture. This fine property, valued at $34,000, has been accumulated mainly by his own hard labor and busi- ness industry. His superb private residence, one of the best in the county, was erected in 1875 at a cost of $6,000. Exclusive of cellar and attic, it contains fifteen handsome rooms. On New Year's eve, 1879, Mr. and Mrs. Davis entertained at their home upward of forty, including Knights Templar, their wives, and others. An elegant sup- per was spread before a brilliant assemblage of guests, and the affair
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throughout was too enjoyable not to be conspicuous for a long time in the pleasing recollections of all who were present on that occasion.
Henry Crawford (deceased). Montgomery county desires to keep in remembrance her honored dead. Among her early pioneers the name of Henry Crawford is prominent. To him, with others in that early day, the " present " is indebted for many of the elements of strength that place Crawfordsville on the high business, intellectual, and moral plain she now occupies. Henry Crawford was born in Charleston, Virginia, December 15, 1802, and was the son of Alexan- der and Catharine Crawford. His father was a native of Ireland, and his mother of Union City, Pennsylvania. She died when he was a boy, in Lebanon, Ohio, where the family were living at the time. In 1827 he came to Crawfordsville, where he was constantly engaged in mercantile pursuits till within a few years of his death. He early opened a store and kept a general stock on the ground now occupied by the Nutt hotel, and about 1830 moved his store and stock to the spot on which the present Crawford store stands, first door east of the court-house. On that spot he made his reputation as a business man. To sell and buy goods was a pleasure to him, and by close attention and care, by strict integrity and faithfulness to promises, he became a successful merchant. Those early days tried the courage of a young man. Then six weeks were required in which to make the trip to New York for goods; now only a few days. In 1843 he nnited with the Center Presbyterian church, and became one of the most liberal and earnest supporters of the Gospel. Mr. Crawford also took an earnest interest in the Wabash College and all progressive measures. A little more than a year before his death sickness prostrated him, and it seemed impossible for him to rally. At last, surrounded by his friends and loved ones, he passed from the toils and pleasures of earth April 2, 1878, after fifty-one years' residence in Crawfordsville. Mr. Crawford was a whig in the times of that party, and with the rise of republicanism he espoused its principles, and although he never sought political distinction yet was earnest in his political opinions. He was twice married : first to Mary Cochran, by whom there is one surviving son, Henry E .; his second marriage took place in 1841, this time to Lydia M. Marshall, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Marshall, of Dunbarton, New Hampshire. Mr. Crawford left a second family, con- sisting of a wife and two children, Clara R. and Charles M., now pro- prietor of the stone front dry-goods store just cast of the court-house.
Joab Elliot, retired, Crawfordsville, now a man of seventy-three years, has spent his life in Indiana. He has seen the state grow as he grew to manhood, and as he has grown gray has beheld his state con-
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tinue to develop. His father was a native of Randolph county, North Carolina, and in 1806 made a trip to Indiana territory and purchased 160 acres of land in the twelve-mile purchase. In the following year he moved his family in a four-horse wagon a distance of 700 miles, from Tennessee to his lately purchased farm. Stopping over night in a log-cabin just within the Indiana border, and within six miles of their destination, where all was wild and only wild animal or wilder savage broke the silence, a child was born November 18, 1807, and they called his name Joab. This was on Green's Fork, one and a half miles north- west of the present city of Richmond. They soon settled on their frontier home and there in the then Far West they lived several years. Here Joab was raised with few other companions than nature furnishes where civilized foot has never yet trod. The Elliots lived within the bounds of the friendly Indians ; but just beyond, the whoop of hostile foes rent the air, and made the forest more weird. Forts or block-houses were built on the Elliot farm, in which the few whites of the region took refuge. In 1811 they experienced the earthquake of that time, and which Tecumseh threatened the Indians of the south when they refused to join him in the attempt to exterminate the whites . This was a peculiar occurrence and the Indians imagined it was the fulfillment of the chief's threat. The war of 1812 brought the blood- thirsty savage closer to the threshold of the pioneer. The Elliots, be- coming tired of risking danger, moved to Warren county in 1813, where they remained three years. Then Mr. Elliot went to Cincinnati, and with five families took a flat-boat for Jefferson county. After wander- ing considerably he settled eight miles south of Terre Hante. The head of the family ceased the toils of earth May 30, 1821, at the age of fifty-six years. His wife had died November 26, 1819. The boy Joab was left parentless, yet hardships were not new to him. While among the red men he became quite efficient in the use of the Indian language. Many a time he has been carried on the back of John Green, the chief of the friendly tribe, and he relates with freshness and vigor thrilling incidents of his early days. His brother served in the war of 1812. His people in early times were Quakers. His grandfather being called upon to fight by the tories during Revolutionary times refused, on ac- count of his religions scruples, wherenpon the tories tied him to a tree and gave him his choice to fight or die. He preferred death to a viola- tion of his oath. The tories arranged themselves in line sixty steps distance, preparatory to shooting the steadfast man. All was ready when a son of the doomed man, and brother to Joab's father, interfered with these words: " Men, if you must shoot anyone, shoot me, as father has a family to support." Saying this, the brave son placed himself in
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