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 53
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Edward C. Snyder, attorney. Crawfordsville, was born in Wash- ington county, Maryland, October 7, 1843, and is the son of George and Annie (Fogwell) Snyder. The Suyders are of German descent, while the Fogwells are English. Mr. Snyder's parents came from Ohio to Indiana when he was a small child, and settled near Craw- fordsville, but in the following year returned to Ohio, hence Mr. Sny- der spent his youth mostly in the "Buckeye State." When nearly eighteen years of age he enlisted for the war, but on account of the failure to organize the regiment to which he allied himself he enlisted again, on his eighteenth birthday, in Co. E, 74th Ohio, under Col. Granville Moody. Mr. Snyder fought for his country in the battle of Stone River, where he was wounded and taken prisoner, and in three days paroled. After one week's stay in Murfreesboro he re- sumed his place in the ranks and participated in the battles of Hoo- ver's Gap, Tullahoma, Dug Gap, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge. Tun- nel Hill, Atlanta, and on to the sea. At Jonesboro he was again wounded, but continued in the ranks. Mr. Snyder enlisted a private, and was mustered out July 10, 1865, a commissioned sergeant. In 1866 he came to Indiana, and was engaged in the saw and flour mill near Darlington, and in one year returned to Ohio, clerking at Xenia. He soon returned to Indiana, and worked in the mill of his half-bro- ther. J. M. Troutman, near Yountsville. In 1872 Mr. Snyder began the study of law with Hon. M. D. White, of Crawfordsville. In 1878 he was elected city attorney, and reëlected in 1880. By application to study and fair dealing with men he has become established in his pro- fession. He is a thorough republican, his father having been a rad- ical abolitionist.
Daniel Gilkey was born May 9, 1805, in Butler county, Ohio. His parents, Robert and Sally (Kercheval) Gilkey, came to Mont-
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gomery county in 1826, and settled in Ripley township. Robert Gil- key was a native of North Carolina, fought in the war of 1812, was a whig in politics, and a farmer by occupation. Besides farming he built a saw-mill and a distillery, and afterward a grist-mill, in Mont- gomery county. His wife, Sally Gilkey, was a Virginian. She died in 1849, having survived ber husband but one year. They were both members of the old Baptist church. Daniel Gilkey received his edu- cation mostly behind the plow, or in the mill. When twenty-four years of age he began farming for himself. During the years front 1837 to 1840 he built a carding and grist-mill on Gilkey's branch, in Ripley township. The mill had two sets of burrs, and was run until 1850, when Mr. Gilkey sold and moved to Crawfordsville, and engaged in the grain trade and flour commission business, which he continued for ten years, in the firm of Lee, Gilkey & Co. He next became director in the First National Bank of Crawfordsville, with one-tenth interest in a capital stock of $100,000. Mr. Gilkey im- proved the city also by adding to the extent of one-half in the Craw- fordsville Opera House and one-fourth in Union Block. When Daniel started for himself his father gave him a quarter section of land, and by industry and economy he has added to his purse until he is now able to live a retired life. Mr. Gilkey was for many years a whig, but when republicanism took its rise he embraced its principles. Octo- ber 30, 1871, he was married to Julia Mitchell, daughter of Mrs. Laura Mitchell, of Crawfordsville. She was born and raised in the same place. They have one child. Mary D., born November 18, 1873. Mr. Gilkey well remembers when he, his father, and his brother Squire, came to the woods of Indiana, built a log cabin 20×20, then brought out the family, traveling from Connersville, 115 miles, in seventeen days. Now the trip can be made in about five hours.
C. W. Eltzroth, merchant, Crawfordsville, was born May 6, 1825, in Randolph county, Indiana, and is a son of John Eltzroth. His father came to Indiana in 1818 and settled in Randolph county, on the land afterward laid out for the county seat. He became a large property owner. He filled the offices of county commissioner and sheriff. He died January 2, 1880, at the age of ninety-four years. C. W. Eltzroth came from Wabash county to Crawfordsville in 1850, and engaged in pork packing and merchandising. He has improved the city by numer- ous buildings. In 1864 he began the real-estate business. He has built six houses, and bought and sold property quite extensively. He built a public hall, which he controlled seventeen years. He now owns three store-buildings and three residences. He has made his fortune by industry and rigid economy. At the beginning of the war he
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left his business with his clerks and assisted in getting volunteers to fill the quota of the county, and later furnished horses for government use. Mr. Eltzroth was married October 12, 1853, to Elizabeth Bene- fiel, daughter of George W. Benefiel, of Montgomery county. She died in July 1854. He was next married to Eliza M. Snook, daughter of Dr. Henry T. Snook, an early settler of Montgomery county. They have four children. Both are members of the Presbyterian church, and he is a Mason. He is at present dealing in all kinds of second- hand goods at No. 19 North Green street, at the store known as the " Old Curiosity Shop."
Cornelius Blair, gardener and seedsman, Crawfordsville, was born November 9, 1819, in Butler county, Ohio, and is the son of Rob- ert and Rachel (Wortman) Blair, both born and married in New Jersey, and of Scotch descent. The parents of Mr. Blair settled in Warren county, Ohio, in 1812, and two years afterward in Butler county. His mother died in 1826, and his father in 1839 moved to Illinois, where in 1851 he died. They were good, plain farmers. He was a federalist and a whig. She was a member of the Presbyterian church. Cornelius Blair was the youngest of ten children, of whom there are but four now living. He spent his young days on a farm till 1847, when he began learning the wagon trade in Greencastle, Indiana, hav- ing prior to this time gone to Illinois with his father. In 1851 he came to Crawfordsville and engaged in market gardening, which he still follows. In connection with his garden he keeps a fruit and veg- etable supply store. He is well known in the county as the Crawfords- ville seedsman. Mr. Blair was married March 3, 1850, to Susan D. Johnson, daughter of Chillion and Ann Johnson. She was born No- vember 24, 1825, is a member of the Regular Baptist church, and he is a Methodist. They have one child, Millie, born December 25, 1853. Mr. Blair is a republican.
Charles J. Bowles, minister, Crawfordsville, second cousin to the late Samuel Bowles, of Massachusetts, was born in Huron (now Erie) county, Ohio, June 2, 1818. His grandfather was a sea captain, and when his son, Thomas J. Bowles, was fifteen years old was on a mer- chant ship to the West Indies, where he died. Thomas was then adopted by his uncle, who took him to New York city. In 1811 he moved to Ohio, where he lived till his death, in 1847. He was a Meth- odist, and an anti-slavery democrat. He was the father of the subject of this sketch. In 1649 there were three brothers came from England and settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts. After a few years one moved to New Haven, Connecticut, another to Virginia, and the third re- mained in Massachusetts. Mr. Bowles only went to school six weeks
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before he was married. When eleven years old he went on the lakes, where he experienced the checkered scenes of a sailor's life. In 1840 he went to Vermilion county, Illinois, where he was converted, and united with the Baptist church. In 1841 he returned to Ohio, where he entered the ministry. He preached three years, and then went to school for four years and a half. In 1851 he came to Covington, Foun- tain county. He has preached at Newtown, Grand Prairie, Tippe- canoe county, Crawfordsville, and once a month in Waynetown, Mont- gomery county, preaching for twenty-six years. He has organized three churches, and resuscitated two, and has been the means of building five church buildings. He has received over 800 persons into the church. When he took charge of the church in Crawfordsville it had only four- teen members, and when he left it there were over 100. He was mar- ried December 2, 1841, to Nancy Knapper. They have had five children, three of whom are living : Calista (deceased), Delia, Charles J. Jr., Frank, and Edwin. The last one graduated in Crawfordsville high school. Charles is a minister of the gospel. Edwin is a student of law. Delia is married to Capt. James York, and resides in Wayne- town. In politics Mr. Bowles is a greenbacker. In 1874 he was a candidate for congress in this district, receiving over 6,000 votes, nearly 1,200 of which were in this county. He has been a Mason for twenty- five years, and belongs to the Crawfordsville Chapter. Mr. Bowles can look back upon a life well spent in the service of the Master, and for the good of his fellows.
Taylor Buffington, carpenter, contractor, and builder, Crawfords- ville, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, March 24, 1813, on the battle-ground of Brandywine. He lived there until he was twenty-three years old, five years of this being used in learning his trade. He then went to Louisville, Kentucky, and studied architect- ure for about two years. He next went to Shelby county, where he did an extensive business, building houses for many of the prominent men. He afterward lived in Fayette county, Kentucky, and was mar- ried March 6, 1845. He has had three children, two boys and one girl. Mr. Buffington settled in Crawfordsville in 1852. He has assisted in building the Wabash College, and built many of the finest and largest buildings in the city. He is an Odd-Fellow, a republican, a member of the First Presbyterian church, and the oldest architect in the city. His wife is a member of the Christian church. Julian, the son of Taylor Buffington, enlisted in the 135th Ind. Vols. when he was sixteen years old. He was enrolled April 26, 1864, discharged September 21, 1864. He reënlisted in the 154th Ind. Vols., and was enrolled March 17, 1865, and discharged August 4, 1865.
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Wilson H. Laymon, merchant, Crawfordsville, was born November 4, 1823, in Butler county, Ohio. His parents, Joseph and Hannah (Harper) Laymon, were natives of the same county. The Laymons are of German and the Harpers of English descent. Joseph Laymon was a merchant, and was located at different times in West Chester, Ohio, then in Cincinnati, and later in Crawfordsville, where, April 26, 1856, he died, at the age of fifty-six years. He had been a prominent democrat, having been county treasurer in Butler county, Ohio, for many years. He and wife were members of the Baptist church. W. H. Laymon spent his first fourteen years in the place of his nativity. At that age he was sent to Middletown high school, where he remained three years, then attended Miami University, at Oxford, two years, after which he read law with Thomas Millikin, an eminent lawyer of Hamilton, Ohio. After three years reading he was admitted to the bar at Columbus, Ohio, January 8, 1845. He immediately formed a copartnership with a Mr. Layne, of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, a demo- cratic politician and member of congress. During this time Mr. Lay- mon was associated with John B. Hall as editor of the Lawrenceburg " Register " for one year. He removed from Lawrenceburg to Hamil- ton, Ohio, for the practice of law, where, in 1847, he was elected clerk of St. Clair township, which office he filled three years. In 1848 he was elected justice of the peace; in 1849, county auditor, on the inde- pendent democratic ticket, and served one term, and in connection with official duties edited and published the Miami " Democrat." In 1852 he went to Cincinnati and became local editor of the daily "Citizen." To gratify his father, who was getting old, he severed his connec- tion with that paper and came to Crawfordsville, where he and his father engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery business, which they continued until the senior partner's death, when Milton P. Laymon took his father's place in the firm and continued till 1859. August 25, 1862, Mr. Laymon enlisted in Co. F, 86th Ind. Vols., and October 1, 1862, was appointed fifth sergeant. He was made first sergeant December 31, 1862, by Col. Hamilton, for gallant services at Stone River, then commissioned second lientenant for similar reason, and December 1863, was commissioned first lieutenant for meritorious con- duct at Mission Ridge. In June, 1864, he was promoted to the cap- taincy of his company. He served at the battles of Perryville, Stone River, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, all the battles from Tunnel Hill to Atlanta, which city he entered at the head of his com- pany. He then engaged against Hood on the skirmish line from Pu- laski to Nashville. He fought in fifty-eight battles. At Stone River he was stunned by the explosion of a shell, and while lying on the
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ground the rebel army passed over him. At the close of the war he returned to Crawfordsville. Shortly after the incorporation of Craw- fordsville as a city, at a citizens' meeting, without regard to politics, Mr. Laymon was nominated for the mayorality and afterward elected. He filled the mayor's chair two terms and was then appointed assistant assessor of the eighth internal revenue district, and held the position four years, till the office was abolished. He was then again elected mayor, but at the end of the first year he resigned and engaged in the restaurant business, which he still continues. He was married No- vember 13, 1845, to Sarah A. Cooch, daughter of Lowen R. and Elea- nor (Taylor) Cooch, of Hamilton, Ohio. She was born in Butler county, Ohio. They have had three children : Emma D. deceased, and William H. and James [T. living. Mrs. Laymon is a member of the Methodist church. Mr. Laymon was a democrat till 1860, but is now a republican.
Anson H. Blair, stave-dealer, Crawfordsville, was born in Jefferson, Clinton county, Indiana, November 16, 1831. His boyhood was spent in working and going to school. His parents came to Crawfordsville in 1852. His father, John W., died about 1874, and his mother, Eliza, in 1877. Mr. Blair began for himself by selling dry goods in this city, when twenty years old, and followed that about two years, and then went into general merchandising for four years. He was also engaged for twelve years in pork packing and groceries. Since then he has been engaged in the manufacture of staves and headings. Mr. Blair has been quite successful in life. In politics he is a strong ad- herent to the principles of the republican party. He was married in 1861, to Miss Helen L. Elston. She is a graduate of Star Seminary. They have one child, Anna E., born September 28, 1863, and has attended the high school of this city, and the female seminary at Indi- anapolis one year. She and her mother are members of the Methodist church. Mr. Blair has a fine residence on Main street.
Darwin F. Hills, wool manufacturer, Crawfordsville, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, December 6, 1806. His father, James H. Hills, was a successful physician. He wanted to go to the war of 1812, but his fellow-citizens petitioned him to remain at home, because his medi- cal services were needed ; but when General Hull, the patriot and cow- ard, surrendered, the doctor could stay at home no longer ; so he went to the army. The subject of this sketch had the meager advantages afforded by the common schools of his day. At sixteen years of age he began an apprenticeship of four years in a woolen manufactory. After this he went in partnership with a man in Greene county, Ohio. In 1834 he went to Union county, Indiana; in 1842 to Richmond, In-
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diana ; in 1844 back to Greene county, Ohio, and in the spring of 1852 settled in Crawfordsville, where he has ever since been engaged in the woolen business. He began life without anything, and has been quite successful. He was first a whig, is now a republican, and has been an elder in the Presbyterian church for thirty-five years. Mr. Hills was married November, 1828, to Sarah Anderson, who was born Jan- uary 1, 1804, and is a member of the Presbyterian church. They have eight children living : Edwin H., Darwin F., Henry H., Richard M., Oscar A., David A., Francis E. and Benlah I. The latter is a gradu- ate of Glendale Seminary, and has tanght school two years. Oscar graduated in the classical course of Wabash College, and from Alle- gheny Seminary, Pennsylvania, where he is now preaching in the Old South church. David and Francis enlisted, in 1861, in Co. I, 11th Ind. Vols., of which David was made captain. They served to the close of the war, and were in many battles and did good service for the Union.
William J. Fisher, farmer and stock raiser, Whitesville, was born on a farm near La Grange, in Oldham county, October 29, 1827. His father, Brandes Fisher, was born March 15, 1797, in Shelby county, Kentucky, and here resided beneath the parental roof until his mar- riage, when he took up his residence in Oldham county, where he was engaged in farming until his death, which occurred December 31, 1870. He received but a meager education, but added thereto by a wide range of reading. March 15, 1821, he was married to Nancy Mount, daughter of John and Lydia (Jennings) Mount, who was born in Old- ham county, Kentucky, February 12, 1800. They were the parents of six children, five of whom are still living: John M., James M. (died October 20, 1826), William J., David O., Thomas C. and Brandes. They were both Baptists, and he a life-long democrat. William J. commenced for himself at the age of twenty, working upon the home farm until his twenty-fourth year, at which time (August 1852) he arrived in Montgomery county, after a five days' journey overland, accompanied with his wife, whom he had married in this county the year previous. Upon his arrival he rented a farm of William Mount, where he labored with fair success three years. He then purchased the eighty acres of his present farm upon which the dwelling stands, and in August, 1855, moved to a portion of his present house, situated in the green woods, and has here remained, making improvements from time to time, until he now has a well improved home and a farm of 210 acres. October 29, 1851, he was married, in Union township, to Louisa C., daughter of James and Phebe B. (Fisher) Montgomery, who was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, September 20, 1830. They
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are the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living : Ada A. is married to 'J. M. Cohoon ; Joe Edwin to Lizzie Walker, who died November 13, 1877; George M., born May 31, 1856, died November 16, 1863; Nannie B .; Kizza J., married to George W. Anderson ; Mount B .; James A .; Mary A. B., and Willie, born March 7, 1870, and died July 12, 1870. Mr. Fisher is a member of the Missionary Baptist church, and a democrat, casting his first presidential vote for Franklin Pierce, in 1852.
Cornelius Smock was born January 16, 1801, in Mercer county, Kentucky, and is the son of John and Ann (Vanarsdall) Smock. His parents moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, and settled soon after the revolutionary war. His mother's father was Maj. Simon Vanars- dall, in the revolution. The Smocks have been federalists, whigs, and republicans. Both parents of Mr. Smock were early members of the Dutch Reformed church, and later Presbyterians. His father died August 4, 1824, in Kentucky, his mother in 1854 or 1856. Cornelius was married November 13, 1823, to Elizabeth Adams, and in 1829 came to Johnson county, Indiana, with wife, three children, and his mother. He resided there until 1839, when he moved to Putnamville, Putnam county. There he sold goods for some years. August 1, 1852, his wife died, leaving a husband, son, and seven daughters, to mourn her loss. She had united with the Presbyterian church at the same time as her husband, at Harrodsburg, Kentucky. In 1853 Mr. Smock moved to Crawfordsville, and settled in a pleasant location near the Wabash College. His children are : William A., married, and living in Indianapolis ; Ellen V., Jane, Hannah, Mary, Martha W. (died Decem- ber 22, 1879), Louisa, and Elizabeth. Mr. Smock served as justice of the peace for four years, and county commissioner three years, in Put- nam county. His two brothers, John B. and Simon, were in the war of 1812. He united with the Presbyterian church in September 1824. At the death of his uncle, Elder James Smock, February, 1830, he was elected to the vacancy in the church near Greenwood, Johnson county. Soon after settling in Putnam county he was elected elder in the church at Putnamville, March, 1839, and in September, 1853, con- ing to Crawfordsville, united with Center church, and in the following month was elected elder in that church. Thus he has enjoyed the honors and benefits, and shared the responsibilities, of the eldership for about fifty years. In looking over the past he sees many things that he wishes had been otherwise, but recalls not a word or deed that was intended to unsettle men's belief in God or the bible. He has seen all his children unite with the same church, and in his old age, in the days
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that cluster around the last of his fourscore years, he finds comfort in the faith he has endeavored to teach so many years.
Hector S. Braden, coal dealer, insurance and railroad agent, Craw- fordsville. Among the active business men of Crawfordsville, and those who have aided in improving the city both in individual and pub- lic service, Mr. Braden occupies an important place. He is a native of Clinton county, Indiana, having been born there November 22, 1830, and is the son of Burr and Mary (Jenners) Braden. His father was a merchant in Jefferson, Indiana, so that young Braden served some years behind his father's counter. He attended Wabash College two years, then entered a mercantile college in Cincinnati, and in 1853 graduated. Mr. Braden now came to Crawfordsville and became a partner in the firm of Lee, Gilkey & Co. This firm built a large ele- vator, 60×100, four stories, with railroad track passing through it. For about ten years this firm carried on a business of 50,000 to 75,000 bushels of grain, and a commission trade in flour of about 15,000 bar- rels. Throughout Lincoln's administration Mr. Braden filled the office of internal revenue collector. In 1863 he was appointed agent for the American Express Company, which position he held until 1878. From 1874 to 1878 he was a prominent member of the city council, occupy- ing the chair in the public and finance committee. During the build- ing of the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western railroad Mr. Braden was general manager; then for several years was local agent at Craw- fordsville. In 1878 he purchased the Sand creek coal banks, and is now proprietor of the same, with a commodious office in Crawfords- ville. In connection with his general coal trade he also carries a com- mission business in flour, is agent for the Union and National Through Fast Freight lines, and agent for New York Underwriters' Insurance Company. He is president of the Crawfordsville and Yountsville Gravel Road Company. It is needless to comment upon the activity of a life so fraught with business. Mr. Braden was married September 16, 1862, to Mary Elston, daughter of Maj. I. C. and Marie E. (Aiken) Elston. Mrs. Braden is a native of Crawfordsville.
John C. Maxwell, farmer, fruit grower, and stock raiser, Crawfords- ville, was born in Union county, Indiana, July 21, 1822, and is the son of Thomas and Jemima Maxwell. In 1853 Mr. Maxwell settled in the city of Crawfordsville. He lived in the city eleven years and then traded for the property where he now lives. He had the advan- tages of a common school education. At the age of twenty-four his father died, and he stayed and took care of his mother until he was thirty-one years old. He began life without any capital, but industry and integrity. He was first married in 1853, to Anna Oneall, of this
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county. She died September 23, 1870. By this union there were five children : Ella, Frank O., Mary G., Fred. F. and Harry L. Frank attended the common school, and also Wabash College three years. He taught school in the winters for three years. Ella attended the common school, the city schools of Crawfordsville, and one term at Logansport. She has taught school for five years. Mary also has a good education, and is a school teacher. Mr. Maxwell was married the second time, February 14, 1872, to Mrs. Catherine Paddock, of Union county. By this marriage there are three children, George, John and Ira. Mr. Maxwell has been township assessor, city appraiser twice, and is now vice-president of the Montgomery County Agricultural So- ciety. He is a Mason, and a republican. Mr. Maxwell is now giving special attention to small fruits; and for about five years he has been engaged in raising Jersey cows.
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