History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships, Part 110

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman
Number of Pages: 664

USA > Indiana > Randolph County > History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships > Part 110

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Mr. Brandriff states the matter thus: "We traveled from Chen- oweth's, in Darke County, Ohio, to a brother Canada's (Will- iam Kennedy's), a few miles from Winchester, from there to Winchester. Winchester was then right in the woods, a very new place. My recollection is that there were two streets running at right angles, and on the northwest corner, was a log house, at which I preached. I think the name of the man was Odle, at any rate he was father-in-law of George Ritenour, at whose honse we preached on the Mississinewa, near Deerfield. From this place I went to Sumwalt's on White River. The good peo- ple had blazed the trees from Ritenonr's to Sumwalt's, and I fol- lowed them as my road. From this place 1 went to Hunt's, and from Hunt's I followed an Indian trail to the East Fork of White River, as there were no roads in that direction. When I arrived at Whitewater, I found a farm and a kind family who enter.

tained me. I made their acquaintance, obtained permission to preach in their house, formed a class and had it as a regular preaching place. Tho family was one by the name of Williams. Insco Williams, the painter and proprietor of the Bible Panorama, which was so celebrated many years ago, and which was burned at Philadelphia, was a son of this family, and so also was Dr. Williams, now of Kansas. From here we went to Wiggins', or New Garden, or Newport, as since called. From there we went to New Paris, and preached in the house of John Cottom, who has since been a resident of Winchester. I will only add here that I am the first Methodist who ever preached in Richmond, Ind. It was in the summer of 1822; some brother on the Oxford Circuit, which I was then traveling, made the arrangements. They had heard of the boy preacher, and desired that I should visit them. A friend entertained me. I preached in a small schoolhouse, and was astonished at the interest the good Quaker took in me."

This for Mr. Brandriff. He is still living, a sprightly old man, at Piqua, Ohio. During anti-slavery times, Mr. B. joined the "True Wesleyans," and was a preacher in their connection. ·What he is now we do not know.

Simeon Brickley, Maxville, born in 1822, in Preble County, Ohio; came to Randolph County, Ind., in 1843; married Eliza Ellen McIntyre; has four children, including two married daughters. Mr. Briekley is a farmer, a Methodist and a Repub- liean; he is also a lime-burner, owning a splendid lime quarry on the banks of, and on the bed of White River; he has burned as many as eighteen to twenty kilns in a single year, now about eight or ten kilns a year, from 600 to 800 bushels in a kilu. The other kilns in the neighborhood are smaller. There are three sets of kilns-Brickley, MeIntyre, MeNces. The State Geologist says that deeper down might be found building stone in abundance, of an excellent quality, but none of the proprietors have tested the matter. Mr. Brickley has taken no rock deeper than five feet. The rock that is quarried for lime is from two to six inches thick. The deposit of lime passes di- rectly under the channel of the river, and they quarry stone from both sides of the stream.

Stephen Clayton, born in 1788, in Maryland; married Mary Chivens; came to White River about 1822. entered 120 acres of land west of the 'Boundary;' he had eight children; seven grew up and four yet survive. He died in 1834, and his wife in 1859 His sons own abont 1,200 acres of land.

James Clayton (brother of Stephen), born in Maryland in perhaps 1798; came to Randolph County in 1822; married Abi- gail Way (sister of Panl W. Way); they had no children; he lived many years on his farm west of Winchester, afterward mov- ing to Winchester, to Middleboro, and finally to Newport, where he died some years ago. His wife died at Winchester in Jann- ary, 1880, while on a visit there. Mr. Clayton was an Abolition- ist, a Wesleyan and a Republican; he was a sterling citizen and an earnest Christian, active in every good work. though so firm and stern as not to be altogether genial in his intercourse with his fellow-men.

Thomas Clevenger, White River, was the son of Jonathan and Sarah Clevenger, of Warren County, Ohio, both of whom died in 1870; he was the third of ten children and the eldest of seven surviving; he was born in 1816, in Warren County, Ohio, and moved to Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1829; married Mary A. Clarion, in 1839; moved to Randolph County, Ind., one inile from Arba, in 1845, and to White River Township, five miles east of Winchester. in 1863, where he has resided ever since.

He has had ten children, six now living; he has been a farm er throughout his life; he has held several positions of honor and trust-Appraiser of Real Estate for Randolph, 1859; County Commissioner. 1868 to 1877. He came to Randolph early enough to get twenty-five years of log-rolling and to clear up 100 acres of her virgin forost.

As an officer, Mr. C. has been noted for his stern integrity and his firm resistance to every attempt to filch money from the treasury. Persons who wished for fat jobs would be found ery- ing out against his administration, but the people said, "Well done, good and faithful servant " by a double re-election. How-

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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

ever, thongh frugal, he was not parsimonious, and when the county, though strong and rich, had been for years withont a court house, he (with the other members) felt that the time had come to wipe that disgrace away and to redeem her fame by erecting a court house, which should be an honor in time to come; and, against great opposition and much detraction, the board went forward and accomplished the task, faithfully and well. By this bold and manly course, he lost a renomination to a fourth term. The retiring members felt satisfied with their own action, believing that time would vindicate them, which it has done. Randolph has a court house of rare and wondrous beauty, built at a cost marvelous for its cheapness; the debt incurred is now paid, and probably not a man now wishes to go back to the time whon this great and rich county had to go begging for a court room. Mr. C. is a worthy example of a diligent, thriving, hard- working farmer, proud of his calling, honoring his vocation, com- manding the esteem of his fellow-citizens and cheerfully and thankfully enjoying, not a fortune, but a competence, the worthy result of his life-long faithfulness, industry and frugality.

THE COATSES.

The Coatses have been and still are numerous in this region. They are of Scotch descent, and a brief account of their ancestry may be found in connection with the life of Rev. John Coats. late of Coatsville, Ind .. but now residing in Randolph County. Three brothers. Robert, James and William, belonging to the " House of Coats" and the family of the thread-makers, of Pais- ley, Scotland, came to Sonth Carolina before the Revolutionary war, but at what exact date cannot now be stated. These brothers settled in Carolina and resided there till their death.

John Coats, the first of the name in Randolph, was the son of William Coats, ono of the three brothers emigrants from Scotland, above named. William Coats was the son of Philip Coats, of Scotland, and a sister of William Coats was the mother of Rev. John Coats, of Coatsville, elsewhere noticed. William Coats had a large family, at least, seven of whom came to the North- west from Carolina, as follows: John Coats. William Coats, Jo- seph Coats, Hepsy (Wright), Rhoda ( Wrench), Hetty (Harrison), - (Beanblossom). John Coats was born in Carolina in 1786; married Sally Wright, daughter of Thomas Wright, in 1807 (she was born in 1789); they came to Ohio soon afterward, and, in 1819, moved upon White River, Randolph County, Ind. John Coats and Thomas Wright, his father-in-law, lived for awhile uear Covington, Ohio, upon what are now the famous and valu- able stone quarries at that place. While residing in that region, the Indians were troublesome. There was a fort not far off, and they moved into it for safety, the mother leading one child by the hand and carrying the other at hor breast.

At one time, Mrs. Thomas Wright and her daughter, Mrs John Coats, were emptying meal into a barrel. An old Indian came into the house. He said nothing, coming in unobserved, till he had reached the middle of the room. His hunting-knife had slipped around in front, and, as he undertook to move it back upon his hip, they thought he was going to kill them. The children were lying on the bed, and the women forgetting all about them, ran wildly past the Indian out of the house. Recol- Jecting the children, they rushed back, and, seizing them, ran with the whole group, five in all, to the shelter of the fort. Mr. Wright coming home in the evening found them there, and was much surprised at the fact. The Indian was peaceablo and in- tended no harm,

These families came to"Darko County, perhaps in 1809, and lived there during the war of 1811- 13, undergoing the manifold hardships and dangers of that perilous time. Messrs. Coats and Wright removed, in 1819, to Randolph County, Ind., and, in process of years, their descendants became very numerous in that whole region, as well as elsewhere.

John and Sally Coats were the parents of fourteen children; seven were born before their emigration to Randolph County, Ind., and seven afterward. The names of the children are as follows: Thomas W., born 1808, six children, died 1868; Isaac, born 1810, eight children, died 1876; Charlotte (Hiatt), born 1812, ten children, widow; Charity (Coffin), born 1813, sixteen

children, widow; Betsey Rose, born 1815, died 1816; William, born 1817, four children, living: James, born 1819, six children, and he is now living; Mary (Pogue), born 1821, four children, widow; Gabriel, born 1824, ten children, killed at Vicksburg by the bursting of a shell, he belonged to the Fifty-fourth Indiana Infantry, Capt. Carter; Joseph, born 1826, nine children, died 1878; John, born 1828, died 1833; Lewis, born 1830, six chil- dren. lives in Kansas; Andrew, born 1833, one child, and is dead; Dempsey, born in 1835, has six children, and is living in Miami County, Ind.

John Coats entered eighty acres of land three miles east of Winchester; he was a farmer and a chair-maker. At one time, he held the office of Justice of the Peace, and his jurisdiction extended at first to Fort Wayne, and possibly, to the northern limit of the State. Mr. Coats was County Commissioner during several years. In religious connection, he was a Friend; in poli- tics, in olden time, a Whig, and in later years, a Republican. His death occurred in 1878, he being ninety years old; his wife had preceded him three years, her death taking place in 1875, and her age being eighty-six years. Twelve of their children grew up and were married and had families. All the sons and all the sons-in-law but one were Republicans. A re-union of the connection was held about twenty years ago at the family homestead, at which about 300 descendants of John Coats were present. Several other like gatherings have since taken place, with the attendance of hundreds of children, grandchildren, etc. During later years, many of the relatives have removed from the county, yet a large number still remain.

At a re-union held near Harrisville, in the summer of 1882, at the request of Rev. John Coats, of Coatsville, nearly two hun- dred of the connection were present. William and Joseph Coats, brothers of John Coats, Sr., did not reside in Randolph County.

William Coats (son of John Coats, Sr.), was born in Ohio in 1817, was brought to Randolph County in 1819, and married Mary Moffatt, in 1837; they have had four children, all living and all married; his wife and himself are both living: he owns sixty-four acres of land east of Winchester, is a sound Repub- lican and a worthy and esteemed citizen.

Rev. John Coats, of Coatsville, Ind., was born in England, in the town of Lockton, Yorkshire, in 1810; his father was Robert Coats, who was the son of Robert Coats, who lived upon the es- tate which had been in possession of the family for 300 years, and doubtless will be for 300 years in time to come. John Coats is the lineal descendant of the famous Coats family of thread-makers, of Paisley, Scotland, who have come down from the fourteenth century to 1882, filling in rank and business every station of enterprise and usefulness among men.

The Coats family are found in every State and Territory. the sole representative in Washington Territory being the only son of Rev. John Coats. Glorious record! Failures, indeed. there have been, but, on the whole, the family presents a bright and shining scroll of honor and integrity and success. They aro a numerous line through six centuries, comprising twenty-four generations of active, energetic men. They extend far back of even that ancient time. They were once free shepherds of Rome, feeding their flocks upon the fertile pastures of sunny Italy, and. mayhap, are joined through the back-extending ages of the past with those who watched their flocks by night on the plains of Bethlehem in the sacred lund of Judea, when angelic strains resounded through the midnight air, announcing to their astonished ears a Savior horn-the wondrous babe of Bethlehem.

J. C. spent three years in searching through the 500 volumes of English history to find the traces of his ancestors. On the tented field they led their flocks, in the land of ancient Rome, and afterward. but how he cannot tell, they became dwellers npon the soil of Britain. In the fourteenth century, the family were divided. King Henry II. directed that every man of age might choose his own calling, and part chose farming and part chose to be shepherds. One group went to England and one to Scotland; one branch spelled their name Coats and the other Coates.

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WHITE RIVER TOWNSHIP.

Rev. John Coats was born in England; came to Canada in his ninth year; lived among the Indians for five years with no companions but the dusky sons of the forest, and in 1826 his home was transferred to Northern Ohio, in the neighborhood where lived the Garfield family, and still again, to the banks of the Mad River. Many a time has he been chased by the wolves, as his parents dwelt in the deep, dark forests; he has more than once seen his father and mother seated, one on each side of the huge cabin fire-place, weeping bitter tears because they had no food for themselves and their children, and knew not how nor where to obtain it, being sixteon miles from a white inhabitant. Hardship and poverty and toil have been his lot; but now, thank God, as ho stands trembling on the brink of the grave, he can look back and say with the sacred writer, "I have been young, and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread."

When young, in England, the family were very poor, yet when a lad seven years old, J. C. had himself carned 30 shil- lings " tending crows." The gentlemen keep immense rookcries, with, perhaps, one hundred nests in a single tree, and, in time of harvest, they have to be watched. When twenty years of age, he could not speak a word of English, though born and bred in England. Broad, rough, rugged " Yorkshire" was all he knew; he could not tell a letter in a book or make a character with a pen. After his marriage and the birth of his first child, his wife said, "John, I don't want to be the mother of thy children while thou art so ignorant as thou art." And he built a schoolhouse and went to school and learned to read and write, and kept on study- ing and acquiring knowledge till he might have graduated in the medical schools of the times. But he cared not for the empty honor of a conferred degree, and went back to his farm. Ho has never been sick (excepta brief attack of paralysis), has never had a physician feel of his flesh and never took a potion of medi- cine; and his only son, a man in middle life, can truthfully say the same. He is now engaged in traveling through the country visiting his numerous relatives and gathering up a history of the Coats connection.

And both branches of the family have prospered and greatly helped the world to achieve success. As an example of high re- sults may be named Mr. Boyer. of Lancaster County, Penn., who married the daughter of Henry Coats, and who has a world- wide famo as a prince among agriculturists, known and honored in France, in England, in Russia. in Germany, as well as throughout America itself. Among scholars may be namned Rus- sell Coats, eminent in physiological learning among the scion- tists of the day.

They have everywhere been noted for energy, for decision, for strength, for hardy endurance and for firm and steady perse- verance against every obstacle and against hardships in their severest form.

Benjamin Cox, White River, born in North Carolina about 1785, moved to Ohio in 1806, and to White River, east of Win- chester, in the fall of 1817: he married Ann Rhoads and had eight children -- William, John, Ruth, Ann, Patience, Lydia, Mary. Benjamin. All grew up, were married and had families. and three are still living. He entered land on White River and lived there till he died (in about 1852), sixty-seven years of age; he was a recorded minister among Friends; his work was accept- able and useful; his wife died in her sixty-third year, while her husband was absent on a religions mission in North Carolina (he was gone about three months). Mr. Cox also taught school, having tanght the first school in the settlement. about 1820 prob- ably.

Littleberry Diggs, White River. was born in South Carolina in 1793; he was the son of William Diggs, Sr., and a brother of William Diggs, Jr., now called "Old Billy Diggs " and still living, residing at Earlham, lowa. L. D. married Lydia Way, in South Carolina in 1811. He emigrated to Randolph County in 1817; his wife died in 1827, and he married Hannah Menden- hall, March 11, 1841, dying himself in 1946. He had eleven children, eight by his first wife and three by his second; his second wife has lived a widow thirty-five years, residing at the present time with Isaiah P. Watts, her son-in-law, in Winchester.

The children of Littleberry Diggs wore these: Lucy (Macy), born 1812, resides in Iowa; Caroline (Thomas), born 1813, died in 1844; Eveline (Overman), born 1815, lives in South western Kansas; Lydia, died young; Littleberry C., 1820, died 1850; William Way, 1822, died young: Marshall Way, 1824, resides at Pisgah, Ohio: Benjamin Franklin, 1827, died at Lawrence. Kan., 1880: Ann Eliza (Watts), born 1842, resides in Winches- ter; Francis C., born 1845, resides in Kansas; Elizabeth, horn 1843, died at seven years. Littleberry Diggs was at one time Associate Judge of Randolph County.

Henry Edwards, White River, was born in Guilford County, N. C., March 2, 1795; married Polly Hamilton, October IS, 1815; came to Wayne County, Ind., in the fall of 1821, and to Randolph County in the spring of 1831; died at the residence of his son, Hamilton Edwards, November 6, 1881, aged eighty-six years, six months and two days. He had been married sixty- six years, and had resided on his homestead fifty years; he is the father of eleven children, and his wife is living, still, as also seven of the children. He was, in early life, a Whig, and later, an Anti-slavery man, and still later a Republican; in religion, a Friend, and in occupation a farmer.

Mr. E. was buried in the Friends' Cemetery, at White River Meeting-House, in the presence of a large and sympathizing as- sembly. The discourse was delivered by Rev. Nathan Butts from the text, " When a few years are gone I shall go whence I shall not return."-Job, xvi, 22.

The surviving children are four boys and three girls, all of whom were present at the funeral. Their son Hamilton occupies the homestead, and the aged widow still views the old familiar sconos, upon which, for half a century, they have rested. She was born in 1798, in North Carolina. Seven of her children were daughters and four sons. Four girls are dead and three are living, as are also the four sons,

Edwards Family .- There were six brothers- William, Eli. David, Robert, Henry and Jonathan. Some of them came from North Carolina about 1818 to Randolph County. William was Judge for many years, omigrated to Missouri and died four years ago, a very old man. Eli died near Indianapolis, perhaps ten years ago. Henry remained in Randolph County, and died in the fall of 1881, more than oighty years old; his wife is living still with her son Hamilton, south of Winchester. Jonathan Edwards also ended his days in Randolph County, four or five years ago. Robert died in Randolph County more than forty years ago. Henry, Eli and Jonathan settled south of Winches- ter. Robert bought land and settled northwest of the same place. David did not come to Randolph. Eli was Sheriff of the connty for some years during the carly times.

John Elzroth fived near Henry Edwards (their farms joining). Mr. E. was an early settler and died on the Miami Reservo, in the fall of 1880, more than eighty years old.

There was another sot of Elzroths, one of whom was Justice of the Peaco in Winchester more than forty years. and a brother of his died at the age of nearly or quite ninety years, in the southern part of the State, in the spring of ISS1.

Other early settlers were John Irving, Mr. Hill, David Wy. bong, Willis Willmore, John Lykins, Jones Lykins, the MeNeals, Jacob, White, Felty Iler, Ellis Pugh, Abram Karnes. the Lasleys. the Heastons. Christopher, Jacob, Big Dave, Little Dave, and In- cle David (making three Davids). John Monks, the Elzroths, Jo Locke, Henry White, etc.

All the brothers Edwards (five in number) left North Caro- lina together. Henry stopped a year or two near Richmond. and then moved up into Randolph, and had resided in the vi- cinity of Winchester more than sixty years.

Jacob Fisher, White River. was born in Pennsylvania in 1811: came to Randolph County, Ind., in 1826: married Delila Ruble, in 1837; had a large family of children; resided on White River, some miles west of Winchester, and died some twenty years ago: his widow still lives on the same farm,

John Fisher, White River, came from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and from Ohio to Randolph County, Ind .. in 1824; he had fif- teen children: twelve lived at home at one time, a ruther lively. wide-awake family, one would think. Mr. F. has been dead

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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

more than forty years; he was a Methodist; his children have mostly moved away to the West; he lived in White River Town- ship near White River.

Absalom Gray, White River, born in North Carolina in 1796; came to White River in 1818; married Margery Cox (sister of Simon Cox), and afterward, Mary Pickett, who is still living; he had fourteen children, eleven grown, eleven married and eight living; two in Randolph County, three in Iowa, one in Missouri, one in Nebraska and one in Oregon. A. G. entered eighty acres of land in Randolph County; moved to Iowa in 1845, and died there in 1875, seventy-nine years old; he was a farmer by occupation; in religion, a Friend; in politics, a Whig, an Abolitionist and a Republican.

Simon Gray, White River (son of A. Gray), born in 1826 in White River; married Nancy Smith, in 1846: has had four chil- dren, three of whom are now living; he is a farmer, and a thriving business man; his residence was burned down a few years ago, but he has built another fine dwelling. S. G. is an enterprising and influential member of religious society and of the community; he is a Friend and a Republican.

Stephen Harris, born in North Carolina in 1787; married Hannah Mace (who was born in 1784); came to Randolph County, Ind., in 1831, and settled east of Winchester two milos. He bought land of Samuel Cox, 160 acres for $223, entirely unim- proved. He resided there nearly all the rest of his life, but died at Cherry Grove at the house of his son, William Harris, with whom he had made his home for a time. . His death occurred in 1857, in his seventieth year; his wife died near Farmland in 1864, aged eighty years and three months. She, too, was resid- ing with her son William.

Mr. H. was a farmer, steady, sober-minded, thoughtful, in- dustrious, upright; he was an Abolitionist and Anti-slavery Friend, and altogether a worthy citizen and a valuable member of society; he had five children-Benjamin, living on Sparrow Creek, farmer, six children; William, died in 1869, six children; David, three children; Henry, died in 1854, seven children, Stephen, living in Winchester, single.

They were all Friends and all Abolitionists, and all lived to be grown and married; they were every one born, moreover, in North Carolina, and came with their father to Randolph County.

Stephen Harris' father, Jesse Harris, came to Wayne Connty, Ind., in 1843, a very old man aged ninety years; he was born in 1753, and died a few weeks after his removal to this State; he was of Virginia stock and of English descent.

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History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships, Part 110

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman Number of Pages: 664

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman
Number of Pages: 664