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 58
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Jacob M. Troutman, Miller, Yountsville, was born in Clear Spring, Maryland, May 6, 1831. His father, Samuel Troutman, was born in Pennsylvania about 1803. When about twenty-five years of age he moved to Washington county, Maryland, where he resided until his death, in 1837, engaged as a contractor. In 1829 he mar- ried Anna Fogwell, daughter of William and Catharine Fogwell, at Clear Spring, Maryland. They were the parents of two children :
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Jacob M. and John D., who died April 14, 1864, as a member of Co. G, 40th Ind. Vols., and was buried at Darlington. About five years after Mr. Troutman's death his widow married George W. Snyder, of Washington county, Maryland. In November, 1846, Mr. Snyder and family came to Montgomery county and located at Younts- ville, where he was engaged as clerk in the dry-goods house of Sny- der & Sickle for about four months, when he became dissatisfied and moved to Greene county, Ohio, near Xenia, where he resided until his death, in the fall of 1876. They became the parents of six chil- dren, three boys and three girls. Jacob M. was engaged upon the farm until he arrived at the age of seventeen years, when he began serving an apprenticeship of four years with Baughman & Snyder, millers, Greene county, on the Little Miami river. At the expira- tion of his time he came to Yountsville and was engaged four years as foreman in A. J. Snyder's mill. August 10, 1854, he was mar- ried, in Yountsville, to Mary Yount, second daughter of Dan Yount, an eminent pioneer of Montgomery county. She was born June 16, 1836, at Attica, Indiana. They are the parents of eight chil- dren, six of whom are living: Ida, Anna, Dan, died September 6, 1863; Sarah, died May 11, 1864; Gertrude, Harry, Beecher, and Edward C. Ida is married to E. H. O'Neal, of Yountsville, and Anna to Otto Shoen, of Detroit, Michigan. After his marriage Mr. Troutman was engaged as foreman of the mill at Norway, White county, but after six months he leased the mills at the Tippecanoe bat- tle-ground, which he operated two years. From here he moved to Darlington and purchased a farm, a saw and grist mill, the latter having a capacity of seventy-five barrels per day, where he carried on a very successful business until August, 1866, when he located at Troutman's and purchased the grist-mill built in 1858 by R. H. Craig. It has a capacity of 100 barrels per day, situated on the bank of Sugar creek, and is supplied with one of the best water-powers in the country. Troutman's, a station situated on the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western railroad, and three miles southwest of Crawfordsville, was named in honor of him. Mr. Troutman is the agent and the postmaster, receiving his commission in November 1870. He is a Methodist, as is also his wife. In 1858 he joined the Odd-Fellows at Darlington, and has taken every degree. He is also a Mason, joining at Darlington in 1856, and is now a member of Montgomery Lodge, No. 50, and a member of the chapter, the council, and the commandery. He is a stalwart republican and one of the most active of his party in the county.
Judge Albert D. Thomas, a prominent member of the Crawfords- .
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ville bar, was born in Warren county, Indiana, January 17, 1841, and is the son of Horatio J. Thomas. His father was a merchant in the city of Philadelphia before coming to Indiana. Erasmus Thomas, the father of Horatio Thomas, was a distinguished physi- cian of the city, and for several years clerk of the county, of Phila- delphia. The subject of this sketch lived on the farm until he was twenty-three years of age. He attended the common school, and in 1864 graduated in the scientific course of Wabash College. In the fall of 1864 he began reading law while clerking in a store, read- ing law at night and other odd times. In the fall of 1865 he entered the law department of Ann Arbor University, attending there one year. In January, 1867, he entered the law office of John M. But- ler, now the law partner of Senator McDonald, of Indianapolis. He studied with him four months and then opened an office with his brother, Charles L., and has been a member of the bar of this city ever since. In October, 1872, he was elected judge of the court of common pleas of Montgomery, Fountain, and Vermilion counties, and held this office until it was abolished by the state legislature in the spring of 1873. In the fall of the same year he was elected judge of the twenty-second judicial circuit of the State of Indiana, composed of Montgomery and Parke counties, carrying the circuit by over 1,200 majority, and Montgomery county by nearly 700, holding the office six years. During his judicial life Judge Thomas discharged the duties of his office with credit to himself, with honor to the bench, and with satisfaction to his constituents. Judge Thomas was married July 25, 1878, to Miss Ruth Vance, of this city. They have one child, Helen L., born October 7, 1879. Mr. Thomas is a member, and since 1874 has been an elder, in the Cen- ter Presbyterian church. In politics he is republican, and in the state convention, in 1880, received a large vote for the nomination for judge of the supreme court of the state, being beaten only by the wider acquaintance of an older competitor. Judge Thomas is a dignified, honorable gentleman, and an influencial member of society.
W. C. Lockhart, lumberer, Crawfordsville, was born in Lexing- ton, Richland county, Ohio, May 27, 1834. His father, James Lock- hart, was a native of Ireland, his people having been driven from Scotland into north Ireland during the persecutions. James, at the age of twenty-five years, emigrated to Pennsylvania, and there met his future wife, Jane McBride. She was born in Pennsylvania, Cumberland county, and moved with her parents to Ohio. Mr. Lockhart followed in the following year and was married. He was a distiller by trade, and learned his business under a Presbyterian
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preacher. Customs then were different to those of the present day. dealing in "ardent spirits " being supported by public opinion, and engaged in even by the clergy. Mr. Lockhart raised his family for years under its influence. In 1856 he removed to De Kalb county, Indiana, and there died August 16, 1877. His wife died August 20, 1857. They were members of the Presbyterian church. He was a member of the society of Orangemen. W. C. Lockhart was raised. until twelve years of age, in the distillery. At that age he and his brother, Robert M., assisted largely by their mother, prevailed upon their father to quit the traffic and engage in farming. In 1855 he and his brother built a saw-mill in De Kalb county, Indiana, and en- gaged in the lumber business. In 1868 W. C. began the same busi- ness in Crawfordsville, and in 1869 moved his family to the same city. He built a saw-mill on East Jefferson street, which he still owns. He has since added a planing-mill. He, in connection with his brother, owned and ran a saw-mill in Parke county five years. In April, 1879, he began the same business in Iowa, and his brother continues in the lumber trade in De Kalb county. They have han- dled as high as 3,000,000 feet of lumber per year. In August, 1861, Mr. Lockhart, assisted by Wesley Park, recruited.a company of sol- diers in De Kalb county, of which he was to have been first lieuten- ant, but owing to sickness with typhoid fever, the position, after be- ing held vacant for him for two months, was filled by the afterward Col. Auldrich. When well, in August 1862, he entered as a private in Co. A, 100th Ind. Vol. Inf., and was elected fifth sergeant, and promoted second sergeant. In 1863 he was discharged on account of disability. He returned to his home, and December 22, 1864, was married to Elizabeth E. Spenser, of Shalersville, Ohio. She died October 16, 1867, leaving one child, Jennie M. She was a member of the Christian church. Mr. Lockhart was next married May 6, 1879, to Mary E. Hickox, daughter of Joseph W. and Sally (James) Hickox, of Mansfield, Ohio. She was born May 26, 1834, in Kent, Ohio. They have one child, Robert W. She is a member of the Missionary Baptist church. He is a member of the societies of A.F. and A.M., I.O.O.F., I.O.G.F., and G.A. of R., and a staunch republican.
James J. Insley, livery and feed stables, Crawfordsville, was born October 15, 1838, in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, and is a son of Andrew and Isabell (Johnson) Insley. His father, Andrew Insley, was a native of North Carolina, and died in 1861. He was an old- time whig, and in his later years a warm republican. Ile was postmas- ter of Sugar Grove, Tippecanoe county, for twenty-seven years, and
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used to say there was not a democrat in the county that could read and write, so they were obliged to keep him in the office, whatever the administration. His wife was a native of Ohio. Her grandparents came from Ireland. The Insleys are of English descent. Mr. and Mrs. Insley were members of the Methodist church, and their house was formerly used as the headquarters for the ministers. James spent his youth on the farm, also received a good common school education. When twenty-two years of age he was married to Aadine, daughter of Isaac H. and Elizabeth (Parks) Montgomery. They have three children : Grace, Morton H. and Elsie. Mr. Insley farmed until 1869, when he came to Crawfordsville and entered the livery business. Here he has made an extensive business. His stable is large, being 82×165, with sheds, and he keeps from twenty-five to forty horses. For some time he also controlled the om- nibus line, but sold this in 1880. Mr. Insley is a strong republican, and served one year in the quartermaster's department during the war. He is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias, and the Royal Arcanum. He and wife are members of the Methodist Epis- copal church.
J. C. Fry, grocer and baker, Crawfordsville, is a native of Foun- tain county, Indiana, and was born March 19, 1848. His father, Solo- mon Fry, was a Pennsylvanian, born in 1820, and died May 1, 1879, and his mother, Catharine (Bever) Fry, was born in Fountain county, and died in October 1853. His father was a blacksmith by trade, but in his later years followed farming. He was a whig and republican. Both he and his wife were members of the Methodist church. He was deacon at the time of his death. His grandfather, Jacob Fry, was one of the Hessians hired by England to fight in the revolution, and after the war closed he settled in Pennsylvania, from whence come the Frys. J. C. Fry was raised a farmer, educated in common schools, also for awhile at Wabash College, and afterward at the Commercial College at Greencastle, In 1869 he became clerk in the grocery store of A. F. Ramsay, in Crawfordsville, with whom he stayed four years. In 1873 he associated himself with J. F. Shean in the same trade, and at the end of three years bought the interest of Mr. Shean, and con- tinued the business alone, west of the court-house, with a stock of about $1,800, and doing a trade of about $15,000 per year. In 1878 he moved his stock into the large brick building he now occupies. Here he carries a stock of $3,500, and does a business of about $25,000 per year, employing four men. Mr. Fry enlisted, in 1865, in the 154th Ind. Vols., under Jacob Dice. Returning from the war he worked his own way in both his educational and business careers, and richly de-
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serves the prosperity he enjoys. He is a solid republican and a mem- ber of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He was married July 8, 1872, to Anna E., daughter of Pleasant and Elizabeth Ramsay, of Crawfordsville. She is a member of the Baptist church. They have four children: Pearl A., Elizabeth C., Maud E. and Myrtle M.
William S. Steele, retired, Crawfordsville, an old settler of Mont- gomery county, was born January 24, 1809, in Kentucky, and is a son of Thomas and Catharine (McClure) Steele. His father was a Vir- ginian, and his mother was born in South Carolina. They came to Montgomery county in 1827, and settled near Yountsville, where they engaged in milling. They ran about the first mill built in the county, controlling it about fifteen years, then rented the Spring mill, near Yountsville. Thomas Steele taking ill, was conveyed to the home of his son, William Steele, where he died at the age of seventy-two years, and his wife followed him a few years afterward. They sleep the sleep of pioneers, and it is well their names should live as such. William S. Steele knew how to use the axe and follow the plow, and has seen the time when he could not own a team, yet by hard labor and care he has accumulated until he now owns 400 acres of land, well stocked, in Ripley township. In 1870 he retired from active labor, and moved to Crawfordsville to spend his old days in comfort. He was married August 3, 1837, to Rebecca Smith, daughter of Jacob and Ellen Smith, of Ripley township. Her people came from Ohio. She died in 1851, at the age of thirty-two. They had six children. James S. and Anna are living. James S. was born April 27, 1838, in Wayne township, Montgomery county, Indiana. He was raised on the farm, and educated in the common school on rainy days. Jan- uary 3, 1866, he was married to Louisa McClure, daughter of Matthew and Teressa (Gudgell) McClure, of Kentucky. Her father was a broth- er to D. F. McClure, of Crawfordsville. Mrs. Steele was born July 15, 1847, in Kentucky. They have had four children: two dead, James W. and William M., and two living, Guy and Roy. Both Mr. and Mrs. Steele are members of the Christian church. He is a democrat, as is also his father. Mr. Steele came to Crawfordsville in 1870 and teamed for some time, then in 1874 opened a grocery store on Wash- ington street, where he kept until the spring of 1880, when he built the present neat building on Chestnut street and moved his stock in July. He is now engaged in a lucrative trade on the corner of Col- lege and Walnut streets.
Marquis L. Bass, physician and surgeon, Crawfordsville, was born July 5, 1831, in Vermont. When twenty-one years old he came west, and traveled for about two years. In 1853 he began the study of
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medicine with Dr. R. S. Newton, continuing three years, and in Feb- ruary, 1857, graduated from the Ohio Eclectic Medical Institute. Af- ter this he practiced medicine, and also spent three years in the south. The doctor settled in this county in 1861, and lived in Younts- ville four years, Waynetown six years, and settled in the city of Crawfordsville in 1871. He has had a large practice, and is the pro- prietor of the medicines known as "Dr. Bass'Great Remedies." While practicing at Yountsville he performed a surgical operation which makes an interesting item in his history. A veteran soldier by the name of George Bunker was home on furlough, and while out hunt- ing shot his arm, shattering the bone and grazing an artery. The artery burst and the arm had to be amputated, and as the roads were muddy the doctor could not get his instruments in time ; so with jack-knife and carpenter's saw he performed the operation, in about fifteen minutes, between sundown and dark. Jesse Titus adminis- tered the chloroform, Elijah Clark examined the pulse, and Caleb Stonebreaker helped bind the arteries. The man was able to walk around in ten days, and his arm healed and got well all right.
John Rice, retired, Crawfordsville, is a member of the family which includes the Rices of Rockville, La Fayette, Attica, etc. About 1760 ten families emigrated from Maryland and settled on Short creek, near the old town of Washington, Virginia. Here they built a fort to protect them against the Indians, and called it Rice Fort, in honor of the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. This fort stood till recent years. Within it played two children, Henry Rice and Elizabeth Lessler. They were raised amid the wilds of frontier life, and danger on every hand from savage Indians. Elizabeth Lessler, while playing with a lad without the fort, was chased by the redmen to the fort, and leaning a ladder against the fort wall she gained safety, but the boy was wounded, and rescued by means of a rope. Many were the exciting times experienced by the inmates of Rice Fort, and at times narrowly escaped extermination. Henry Rice and Elizabeth Lessler were married, and in 1807 settled in Har- rison county, Indiana, bringing six children. Here Henry Rice died, about 1825, and about 1835 his wife followed him. He was a builder by trade. The Rices have been Presbyterians far back, and Henry was an elder in the first church at Corydon, Indiana. John Rice, son of the above, was born April 16, 1804, near Wheeling, Virginia. He attended school perhaps three months in his life. He early began the cabinet trade and carpentering. He first worked with his father, and continued this trade till 1845, when he built a grist and saw mill at Corydon. In 1859 the mill burned, and Mr. Rice removed to New
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Albany, and there built a mill and successfully ran it till 1861, when he had $7,000 or $8,000 worth of flour at Memphis and New Orleans, which was all confiscated by the rebels. In 1865 he moved to Bloom- ington, Indiana, and engaged in the stock business, remaining there six years and doing an extensive trade. In 1871 he came to Crawfords- ville, and engaged in stock and wheat trade. He is at present retired from active life and rents his business property. Mr. Rice is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church, and has been an elder in former places. He is a staunch republican, and used to be a whig. He was married June 29, 1829, to Sophia Hinsdill, a school teacher of Ver- mont. She died September 14, 1846. They had ten children, five of whom preceded their mother in death. She was a good, amiable, and religious woman, and her last words to her husband were: "I take five children with me and leave five with you." She was a Presbyterian. Mr. Rice was next married February 20, 1849, to Nancy Baldwin, of Louisville, by whom he had five children. She is also a Presbyterian. Mr. Rice is not a politician, and has refused the nomination for sheriff and representative.
J. H. Coffman, lumber merchant, Crawfordsville, was born in Botetourt county, Virginia, July 18, 1824. His father, Christopher Coffman, died July 18, 1830, in his sixty-fifth year. Frequently in his life the latter boasted of being able to trace his lineage as far back as the sixteenth century, to Catharine Von Bora, the wife of Martin Luther, whose mother was a Coffman. His mother, Margaret Lottz, was a daughter of George Lottz, a native of Germany. Hav- ing married, and wishing to escape conscription, he came to America, and settled in Philadelphia. Soon the war for independence broke out and he enlisted under Washington, remaining with him till the close of the war, when he removed to Augusta county, Virginia. There he bought a large tract of land, and raised his family, and died in 1850, at the age of one hundred and four years. After the death of the father of J. H. Coffman the mother, with her family, returned to Augusta county, Virginia, where she had been raised. Here the subject of this sketch spent his winters in school and summers in fishing, hunting, and other sports. At the age of sixteen years, be- ginning to entertain concern for the future battles of life, he entered Shemaria Academy, where he remained two years, then pursued a course through the junior year at Virginia Collegiate Institute, near Staunton, Virginia. He next entered and completed a three years' course in the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Lexington, South Carolina. After graduating he settled in Salisbury, North Carolina, and soon engaged in the book and stationery business. About this
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time he was married to Elizabeth Ann Locke, daughter Richard Locke, of Rowan county. She had one son, Harry Locke, but in less than eighteen months after marriage mother and son were laid side by side in the Salisbury cemetery. His second wife was a Miss Margaret C. Anderson, whose mother was the daughter of Capt. John Dickey, who greatly distinguished himself in the American revolution, and was alluded to by Wheeler, a southern historian, as the "hero of King's Mountain." By this marriage two children were born : Bettie Virginia (Minnie), and Margaret Catharine (Mag- gie). Minnie died a short time since in Kansas, Illinois, at the inter- esting age of twenty. Maggie is living at home. In 1854 Mr. Coff- man returned with his two children to his native state and settled in Rockbridge county, where he agained married. This third choice was Miss Martha P. Eads, daughter of John W. and Catharine Eads. Mr. Eads was of French extraction, and Mrs. Eads was a daughter of a Scotch Douglas family, and cousin of Stephen A. Douglas. Mr. Coffman's family by his third marriage is four children, three of whom are dead, and one, Samuel M., living, and now at Wabash College, in the class of 1882. When the civil war came Mr. Coff- man was bitterly opposed to secession, but when his state withdrew from the Union he clasped hands with her, and enlisted in Co. I, 4th Vir. reg., in the Stonewall brigade. He followed Jackson in most of his marches, and participated in his battles till at Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864, he was badly wounded and sent home. He rejoined his regiment in the spring of 1865 at Petersburg. In a heavy engagement before Petersburg, a few days before the evacua- tion of Richmond, he was captured and taken to Lookout, where he was kept till June 15, when he was sent home. In the spring of 1866 he removed his family to Kansas, Illinois, and lived there eleven years, and then came to Crawfordsville in the spring of 1877. Mr. Coffman at once entered a copartnership with Isaac M. Kelsey in the lumber business. At the close of the first year, Mr. Kelsey retiring, the business was carried on by Mr. Coffman alone. He then took as a partner J. L. Williams, an experienced lumberman, and who had been with Mr. Kelsey, his father-in-law, several years, the firm becoming Coffman & Williams. The new firm began busi- ness together February 10, 1879, and on the night of July 29 follow- ing lost their stock by fire. Although partly secured by insurance they lost heavily. However, they immediately made a new start, and now carry a business second to none in the city. Their head- quarters are near the New Albany depot, North Green street, and Mr. Coffman's residence is 21 West Main street. Mr. Coffman's
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parents were members of the Methodist church, while he and his family belong to the First Presbyterian church of Crawfordsville.
Prof. William T. Fry, teacher, Crawfordsville, was born in Ohio, May 14, 1840. He lived on the farm and had the advantages of the public school until he was seventeen years old; he then entered Oberlin College and went about three years. He enlisted in May, 1861, in Co. D, 11th Ind. Vols., and served about four months. His father having died he returned to his home in Ohio and taught school that winter. May 30 he enlisted in Co. H, 18th Inf., 1st bat., for three years, and served full time. He was in the battles of Stone River, Hoover's Gap, and Chickamauga. In this last battle he was captured and was a prisoner seventeen months in Richmond, Danville, Andersonville, and Charleston. In 1865 he again at- tended school at Oberlin, and in 1866 began teaching. He has been principal of the schools at Trenton one year; at Uhricksville, two years ; Upper Sandusky, three years. He then traveled three years in the interest of G. H. Grant, dealer in school furniture. In Sep- tember, 1874, he became superintendent of the schools at Washing- ton, in Daviess county, Indiana. He resigned his position there in 1877 to accept the superintendency of the city schools of Crawfords- ville, which position he now successfully fills. Prof. Fry is consid- erable of a reader, and keeps up with the times. He was married September 27, 1867, to Miss Mary Fenner, a member of the Cen- ter Presbyterian church. Prof. Fry belongs to the Masons, Odd- Fellows, Knights of Pythias, the Presbyterian church, and is a re- publican. Their children are: Ernest E., Oliver R., William F., John C. E. and Mary. As proof of Prof. Fry's efficiency and popularity we will state that he has never asked for a school.
Elder James W. Conner, pastor of the Christian church, Craw- fordsville, was born in Rush county, Indiana, December 18, 1837, eight miles north of Rushville. His father, Elder James Conner, was born in Tennessee, and was a preacher in the Christian church for about fifty years. He is now living with his son, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Conner attended high school in Greensburg and Morristown and then went to the Northwestern University, at In- dianapolis, now known as Butler University. Mr. Conner has . preached in Milton, Humboldt, West Lebanon, Veedersburg, Koko- mo, Rushville, and also traveled in Illinois about five years evangel- izing. He settled in Crawfordsville January 1, 1878. Mr. Conner has been very successful as a minister, has made many friends, and has left his different appointments against the wishes of his congre- gations ; is an able expounder of the truths of the bible, and is one
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