USA > Indiana > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery county, Indiana; with personal sketches of representative citizens, Volume II > Part 39
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The mother of the above named children was called to her eternal rest in 1905, and in 1909 Nathan G. Kesler married for his second wife, Mrs. Rosa (Frankebarger) Brookshire, widow of John Brookshire, deceased. Three children were born of her first union, namely : William lives on a farm in the southern part of Scott township; Sarah is at home with her mother and
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step-father ; Charles is a railway telegrapher and lives in Sioux City, Iowa.
Nathan G. Kesler has farmed all his life in Scott township. Early in his career he bought a farm in the southern part of the township and lived there for a time, and, prospering from the first he eventually became the owner of a number of good farms, owning about five hundred acres of valu- able land at one time, a large part of which he divided among his children. He has been a man of industry, sound judgment and enterprise and he farmed and raised stock on a large scale. He is now living in the south- eastern part of Section II, Scott township. He is a stockholder in the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Ladoga, also a stockholder in the Montgom- ery County Agricultural Society.
Politically, Mr. Kesler is a Democrat and has been active in the affairs of his party. He was trustee of Scott township for three terms, having been elected first in 1880, again in 1882, and a third time in 1888. He gave eminent satisfaction in this capacity. He is a member of the Christian church, while his wife holds membership with the Baptist church.
DOREN CLORE.
Conspicuous among the representative business men and public-spirited citizens of Montgomery county is the well known gentleman whose name forms the caption of this article. Doren Clore, agriculturist and hardware merchant of Waveland, Brown township, has made his influence felt for good in his community, being a man of sterling worth, whose life has been closely interwoven with the history of the community in which he resides and whose efforts have always been for the material advancement of the same, as well as for the social and moral welfare of his fellow men, and the well regulated life he has led, thereby gaining the respect and admiration of all his fellow citizens, entitling him to representation in a biographical work of the scape in- tended in the present volume.
Mr. Clore was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, November 24. 1852. He is a son of Simeon and Mary (Lusk) Clore. The father was born in the state of Kentucky, in the year 1821 and his death occurred on May 27, 1902. The mother of our subject was born in Indiana in the year 1824 and her death occurred in 1859. These parents received very limited schooling, however, the father became a widely read man. He devoted his life successfully to general farming and stock raising. His family consisted
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of seven children, all still living, namely: Salmon, Joel, Julia Ann, Susan, Doren, Marvin and Mary. Five of them live in this county.
Doren Clore was reared on the home farm and there he assisted with the general work about the place when a boy, attending the common schools in the wintertime. He has been content to spend his life in Montgomery county. He was married on September 1, 1881 to Molly E. Gaines, a native of Boone county, Kentucky, having been born there on February 7, 1859. There she grew to womanhood and received a good common school educa- tion, subsequently attending Hamilton College at Lexington, thus becoming highly educated. She is a daughter of Alonzo and Mary (Christy) Gaines. The father was born on September 20, 1825, in Boone county, Kentucky, and his death occurred on January 26, 1885. The mother of our subject was also born in Boone county, Kentucky, on December 1, 1826, and she was called to her rest on March 10, 1874. Alonzo Gaines received a very good education for those early days and he followed school teaching until his mar- riage, then turned his attention to farming and was very successful as a gen- eral farmer and stock raiser. He was a loyal Democrat, but he was not a public man, staying close to his work on the farm. He and his wife were highly honored in their community, known for their hospitality and neigh- borliness. Regarding the latter we quote the following lines which appeared in a home paper at the time of her death :
"Died March 10, 1874 at her home in Boone county, at the age of forty- eight years, after an illness of several months, Mrs. Mary Gaines, wife of Alonzo Gaines and daughter of Simeon and Olivia Christy. Mrs. Gaines had been a member of the Christian church for seventeen years. She was a good and true woman in all the walks of life; sympathizing and charitable, and illustrating in her own conduct all the higher Christian virtues. She was ever ready with means and counsel to assist all who laid claim to her aid or attention. As a church member she was the stay and support of the weak, and her wise counsel and affectionate admonitions encouraged the doubting and the timid. It may truly be said of her that she served well her Master. As a neighbor she will be sadly missed from the community from whose midst she has been taken, and as a wife and mother her husband and children have been bereft of a true and devoted friend whose equal they can never know on earth, and for whose loss there is no consolation save that to be found in the contemplation of a happy meeting in the realms of eternal bliss where her pure soul has found a resting-place in the bosom of her God."
Two children were born to Alonzo Gaines and wife, Molly E., wife of
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Mr. Clore, of this review; and Alonzo, Jr. The latter was born on May 27, 1861. He married Addie Utz, and he has continued to reside in Boone county, Kentucky, where he is engaged in farming.
Doren Clore has devoted his active life to general farming and stock rais- ing in southwestern Montgomery county and now in addition he owns a half interest in a hardware store in Waveland. A large trade is carried on with the surrounding country, and as a farmer he has been very successful. He lives in Waveland where he has a fine modern home, attractive and com- modious, containing ten neatly furnished rooms. Through his able manage- ment and close application, Mr. Clore has become one of the substantial men of his community. Politically, he is a Progressive.
Mrs. Clore is a member of the Christian church, and is faithful in her support of the same.
THOMAS JEFFERSON ALLNUTT.
Another of the sterling Kentuckians who left their fair native land and braved the wilds of Montgomery county, Indiana, and did much for the subsequent upbuilding of the same was the late Thomas Jefferson Allnutt, a man of many commendable qualities, whose plain, honest life resulted in no little good to his community in many ways.
Mr. Allnutt was born in Owen county, Kentucky, June 15, 1838. He was a son of Ninian and Mary Ann Allnutt, both natives of Kentucky, the father born in 1785 and died on September 26, 1858; the mother was born in 1792, and died on February 16, 1858.
The subject of this memoir grew to manhood on the home farm and he lived with his parents until their deaths, remaining in his native state.
When the Civil war came on, unlike many of his neighbors, Mr. Allnutt cast his lot with the Southern army, enlisting in 1862, in Company C, Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, in which he served very gallantly for three and one-half years, during which he took part in twelve important engagements and was once wounded. He was honorably discharged at the close of the war and soon returned home and resumed farming, remaining in Kentucky until in October, 1869. He located in Montgomery county on January 27. 1870, and here he married Mrs. Georgia A. (Frame) Long, widow of William D. C. Long, deceased, and a daughter of John and Sarah Frame. She had one son by her first husband, James C. Long, who was born March 26, 1860.
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Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Allnutt, three of whom died in infancy, and two are still living, namely : Sallie B. is the wife of William Welch and lives on the William Goodbar place southeast of the mother's home. She has one daughter, Naomi. Gertrude May married Arthur Nicholas, who lives in the southwestern part of Scott townsip, where Mr. Nicholas is successfully engaged in farming. They have three daughters, namely : Ina Myrtle, Agnes Marie, and Gail Belle.
Mr. Allnutt was a successful farmer and stock raiser, was honest and a hard worker. He and his wife belonged to the Methodist church. His death occurred on December 1, 1901.
ELMER HESTER.
It is a pleasure to any one, whether a farmer or not, to look over a well improved and finely kept landed estate like that of Elmer Hester, of Scott township Montgomery county, for, like his honored father, he is a man who believes in keeping abreast of the times, in adopting, so far as practicable, the most approved twentieth century methods in general farming and stock raising. As a result of his careful study and investigation he has, while yet young in years, about solved the question of scientific farming as we know and understand it today. However, where agriculture has gained, the educa- tional element in this locality has lost, for Mr. Hester was formerly regarded as one of the leading public school teachers in this section of the state. He has always stood for progressiveness, not only in material and educational matters, but in political, moral and civic conditions, and he is an ardent advo- cate of wholesome living and honesty in public life, and while laboring for his individual advancement he has never been found neglectful of his duties to his neighbors and the general public.
Mr. Hester was born in Brown township, this county, in 1880. He is a son of James and Lucy ( Eads) Hester, a complete sketch of whom appears on other pages of this volume. It was on the home place, north of the village of Parkersburg, that Elmer Hester grew to manhood, and when a boy did his share of the work during crop seasons, and there he continued to reside until his marriage. He attended the district schools and later the Ladoga high school, from which he was graduated with the class of 1901. Having long entertained an ambition to enter the profession as teacher and desiring to properly equip himself for the same, he entered the State Normal School at Terre Haute, where he made an excellent record.
MR. AND MRS. ELMER HESTER
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Thus well equipped for his vocation he began teaching, which he fol- lowed for a period of seven years, beginning in Walnut township, his native county. He taught five years in Scott township. His services were in great demand, for he was soon recognized as an instructor of exceptional ability, one who spared no pains in giving his pupils the best and latest according to advanced methods of instruction. During this period he farmed during the summer months.
Finally, tiring of the close confinement of the school room, he turned his attention exclusively to general farming and stock raising. He has en- joyed to the full the freedom of the country and has prospered through his close application and good management. He is the owner of a fine improved and productive farm of one hundred and eighty-four acres in the south- western part of Section 3, Scott township, all under a fine state of cultivation and is one of the choice farms in the southern part of the county. He has a good set of buildings on the place, and in connection with general farming he raises a good grade of live stock from year to year.
In 1906 Mr. Hester married Salome Kesler, daughter of Nathan Kesler, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Hester grew to womanhood and received her education in her native community.
To Mr. and Mrs. Hester was born one son, Donald.
Politically. Mr. Hester is a Republican, but he has never been active in public affairs, preferring to devote his attention to his individual affairs and to his family. He and his wife, being pleasant, agreeable and neighborly have made a host of friends since settling on the farm in Scott township.
DAVID W. GERARD.
Distinctively one of the great men of his day and generation in the Mid- dle West, and one of humanity's benefactors, was the late David W. Gerard, supreme chief and founder of the Tribe of Ben-Hur. Involuntarily our minds reach out for the threads of history that made the fabric of this char- acter, the character of this man's worth. Were those elements resident in pioneer days alone? Or is it length of years, or is it stirring times, or any one of these, or all of them, blended in one composite whole? Or rather were these the canvas? The Divine Artist drew the picture and put in it its worth immortal and traced therein "the character of releasing," the song of triumph, the voice of history. The business period of this man's life is worth relating ;
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the obstacles encountered, overcome; the self-reliant honesty, the equipoise, the absence of resentment-these supplement a tale that is not always told of those who are "diligent in business"; but is told of those who, diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serve humanity, and it has been well said by one of our wisest and greatest of men that "They who serve humanity most, serve God best."
David W. Gerard, who for many years ranked as the most influential citizens of Crawfordsville and one of Indiana's foremost citizens, was born on a farm near Port Jefferson, Shelby county, Ohio, July 7, 1844. His par- ents were pioneer residents of that county, his father, Abner H. Gerard, being a farmer and merchant. The latter also owned and operated a large tan- nery in the village. He was a man of great force of character and excellent business methods, a devout Methodist and a pronounced abolitionist. Com- ing as he did of heroic stock, his many admirable qualities were inherited by his son.
The Gerard family is of French Huguenot ancestry. The founder of the family in this country came from France after the St. Bartholomew massa- cre. The immediate founder of the family in the middle western part of the United States, Nathaniel Gerard, came to Cincinnati, Ohio, from Pennsyl- vania, with his five brothers, in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Three of the brothers settled in Miami county, Ohio, one in Kentucky, and one in southern Indiana.
The grandfather of David W. Gerard, after whom he was named, was killed by the Indians in 1816 while making rails near his cabin on Lost creek, in Miami county, Ohio. Mr. Gerard's father left Ohio in 1849, coming to Indiana and opening a general store near Romney, in Tippecanoe county. In six months he died, leaving a wife and three small boys. The oldest of these boys was David W. Gerard, then less than six years of age. There were six children by a former marriage. Gathering the remnants of a meagre property, the brave little mother returned on a canal boat to Sidney, Ohio. Then came the terrible years of struggle with poverty, but this woman of courage never faltered.
When David W. was ten years of age his mother removed to Greenville, Ohio, where he began his struggle for an education, his youth and early man- hood being surrounded with the hardships, limitations and privations known to the poor, but, being endowed by nature with a resolute will, this school of harsh experience developed his faculties into the broadest manhood and so eminently qualified hin to master difficult problems of life which were to con-
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front him in his after years of usefulness. He worked on farms, in black- smith shops, sawed wood and studied hard. In those primitive days it was difficult for children to acquire good educations, and because he was a father- less boy, Mr. Gerard experienced unusual difficulty at a time when he was most anxious to be in school. However, he succeeded and when scarcely sixteen years of age was able to bgein teaching school. A boy with less am- bition and natural ability would have failed where he succeeded.
While Mr. Gerard was teaching school the Civil war broke out. He was then living at Greenville, Ohio. In 1861, shortly after the firing on Fort Sumter, Mr. Gerard enlisted in the Eighth Ohio Battery and served through- out the four years of the war. He bore the scars of that titanic struggle, where he displayed that chivalrous spirit which has ever dominated his entire life. He fought gallantly for his country and gave of his best towards the perpetuation of the Union, participating in many of the important campaigns and great battles. He was mustered out in August, 1865.
When that memorable conflict was ended, Mr. Gerard, with his widowed mother and his brothers, came to Montgomery county. Indiana, and there he again took up the task of teaching school. He had not lived there long until he met and was married to Elizabeth Krug, daughter of one of the prominent families of near Crawfordsville. The marriage occurred in January, 1866. Miss Krug's home was at Crawfordsville, but she was born near Pleasant Hill, now Wingate, Indiana, and there was married.
Mr. Gerard gave up the work of school teaching to engage in the real estate and insurance business in Crawfordsville, continuing in this line of endeavor until 1873, when he removed to Indianapolis, continuing in the same business there until 1878, when he returned to Crawfordsville, and there he resided the rest of his life. He resumed the real estate and insurance busi- ness there with his usual success. In 1886 he and Frank L. Snyder were associated together with some other citizens in forming the Indiana and Ohio Live Stock Insurance Company, of Crawfordsville, now one of the leading live stock insurance companies of the United States. S. E. Voris, former mayor of Crawfordsville, was an original stockholder and at one time was the president of the company. He and Mr. Gerard later disposed of their holdings to Harry N. Naylor, John R. Bonnell and other Crawfordsville citizens.
During the years that he was in the insurance and real estate business Mr. Gerard worked hard, accomplished large results and at the same time did some serious thinking. He joined several insurance orders and became a
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firm believer in fraternal insurance. Early in the nineties he conceived the idea of organizing a fraternal insurance society in his own city of Crawfords- ville. He profited by his experience in selling insurance, his experience gained from membership in other fraternal societies and his wide experience as a business man. He was engaged for many weeks and perhaps months in thinking over the details of the organization and in perfecting the plans which have their fruition today in the wonderful Supreme Tribe of Ben-Hur, one of the largest, most flourishing and greatest fraternal insurance organizations in the world.
Mr. Gerard was the moving spirit behind this organization. Associated with him were Frank L. Snyder, who died six years ago; ex-Mayor S. E. Voris, now supreme keeper of tribute of the order, and Dr. J. F. Davidson, supreme medical examiner. Mr. Gerard was of that class of men who stood for progressive movements and the uplift of humanity. He was a great ad- mirer of the late Gen. Lew Wallace, in fact, was a close personal friend of the author of "Ben-Hur," and had read and pondered on the book until he caught the up-lift of the spirit of the Lowly Nazarene, "who went about doing good." He lived and moved among men, stirring them to enthusiastic effort, and the broad principles of brotherhood and benevolence were so deeply in- carnated in him that they contributed greatly in achieving the success attained by the society from its organization, and which now is, and ever will remain, a living testimonial of his service in the cause of the fraternities, ever ex- emplifying their highest principles and precepts. While thinking about the organization of a fraternal insurance society, it occurred to Mr. Gerard that the story of Ben-Hur could be used as a foundation for the society. He secured the written permission of General Wallace to make such use of the story as he desired and to call his new society the Tribe of Ben-Hur. Indeed, it was Lew Wallace who suggested the name as it is now. It had been in Mr. Gerard's mind to call the order the "Knights of Ben-Hur." When the name was suggested to General Wallace during a talk the two men had, the General placed his hand on Mr. Gerard's shoulder and said : "Well, my dear boy, there were no knights in those days: Tribes there were, however; so why wouldn't it be well to call it the 'Tribe of Ben-Hur.'" Mr. Gerard, of course, readily acquiesced, and thus the Tribe of Ben-Hur secured its name.
The supreme tribe of Ben-Hur was founded March 1, 1894, Simonides Court No. I, of Crawfordsville, being the mother court. The society had a very meagre beginning, although it was launched with flattering prospects, as Mr. Gerard had worked untiringly to secure a good list of charter members.
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Associated with him in the formation of the order were a mumber of promin- ent public, business and professional men of Indiana. The first supreme officers elected were as follows: Supreme chief, ex-Governor, Ira J. Chase ; supreme scribe, F. L. Snyder ; supreme medical examiner, J. F. Davidson, M. D .: supreme keeper of tribute, S. E. Voris, and an executive committee consisting of D. W. Gerard, F. L. Snyder and W. T. Royse. The election of ex-Governor, Ira J. Chase, as supreme chief, was made at the request of Mr. Gerard, who desired to devote all his time to the organization work. Upon the death of Ira J. Chase, which occurred in May 11, 1895, Col. L. T. Dickason was chosen by the executive committee to fill out the unexpired term of Mr. Chase as supreme chief.
After Simonides Court had been organized and the actual start made toward securing members and writing insurance, Mr. Gerard industriously began the work of establishing other courts in nearby Indiana towns. That year a number of courts were organized with good prospects. With beautiful ritualistic work, with emphasis placed upon sociability and good fellowship among the members and with good insurance written in attractive form and at reasonable rates, there was much in the principles of the Tribe of Ben- Hur that appealed to the people. Hard work, earnest efforts and many difficulties confronted the founders of the tribe the first year, but at its close the order had 759 members and there was a surplus of $2,653 in the treasury. The year of 1905 witnessed wonderful strides in the order, which pushed out and entered other states. Its membership was increased to 3.551 and its surplus to $13.945. Since then the order has flourished in a most remark- able manner. At the end of the year 1908 there were 104,250 members, while the surplus amounted to $1, 174.545. The surplus was $1.403,493.40 at the close of 1909. In 1910 the society had 1.400 courts and was doing busi- ness in no less than twenty-nine states in the Union. Up to that year the total sum that had been paid to the families of deceased members was $7.013,859.38. Indeed, the growth of the society during the eighteen years of its existence has been a splendid one, having enrolled in that time consider- ably over a quarter of a million men and women from the thirty-odd states in which the order is now represented. The report of the supreme scribe and supreme keeper of tribute under date of December 31. 1911, gave the follow- ing figures : Number of members, 119,953, in thirty-two states of the Union ; insurance in force, $139,825,900 ; deaths benefits paid in 1911, 1,022, amount- ing to $1,146,124 ; balances, all funds, $1,651,410.71 ; net assets, $1,525,218. It has never shown a loss of membership or funds in any year of its existence,
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but on the contrary has made a steady and conservative growth, sacrificing quantity often to quality, and it stands today in the fraternal world an order famous for the personnel of its large and loyal membership.
The plan and name of the order were popular from the beginning. The beneficial feature was entirely new and novel; the amount of protection granted each member depended upon the age of admission, but a uniform amount of contribution was charged each member. This plan was simple, equitable and easily understood. No assessments were levied on the death of a member, but a regular stipulated sum was collected each month. An emergency fund was created from the beginning, and women were admitted on an absolutely equal basis with men.
In 1896, Mr. Gerard was elected supreme chief of the order and he held that important and responsible position until his death, in a manner that re- flected much credit upon his ability and to the eminent satisfaction of all con- cerned. He had endeared himself to the thousands of Ben-Hur members throughout the country and one has but to attend even for a few minutes a supreme meeting of the order to learn in what great esteem and respect he is held.
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