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 112

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 112

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They belonged to Friends' Meeting at Dunkirk, and were ac- tive in society.

Joseph Puckett, Sr., brother of Isom and Daniel Puckett, died in 1836, and his wife in 1846. He was a Friend, anti- slavery, and, in early times, a Whig. His son Benjamin was a physician of the Botanie school, and achieved a good reputation as a practitioner, being for many years a leading physician in Winchester.

Joseph Puckett, Jr., Winchester, was born in 1825, in Rau- dolph County, Ind., being the son of Joseph Puckett, Sr. He married Eliza Ann Muckey in 1851. They have only one child. Mr. Puckett was a farmer's son, and was brought up on the farm. He learned the carpenter's trade, following that business for several years. He afterward became a merchant, and, still later, was appointed United States Revenue Officer, holding the position four years. He adopted the fruit-growing business, and practiced it for ten years, after which he was appointed Cashier of the National Bank at Winchester, and served in that capacity for five years, leaving it in 1878. Since that time. he has been mostly at leisure, traveling for pleasure and for the health of himself and family somewhat extensively. When young, he was an Abolitionist and, since the rise of the Republican party, has belonged to that organization .. Mr. Puckett is one of the some- what numerous and constantly increasing body of citizens who believe that political parties aro simply combinations for the general good, for the establishment of general morality, and the protection and security of public and private rights, and that

party action should always be kept strictly subservient to this oud; in other words, that parties are not an end, but simply a means, and that not for privute, selfish advantage, but for sub. stantial, permanent general good.

Mr. Puckett, though never holding a public office by popular election, is yet highly esteemed by his friends, and by the com- munity in general.

James Pursley, White River, was born in 1807, in Virginia, and came to Indiana (Randolph County) in 1831. He was twice married. His first wife was the mother of seventeen children; his second, of five. His first wife was the mother of three chil- dren within the same year-first, of twins, that died at six weeks old; and then another in less than a year from the birth of the twins. Twelve of the children of James Pursley lived to be married. He died many years ago.

Jesse Pursley. White River, born in 1775, in Virginia, was in the war of 1812; came to Indiana about 1830; resided in Un- ion and Franklin Counties several years; came to Randolph County in 1833. He was twice married. His first wife was Winny Yardley, and the second was Nancy May, the latter dy- ing in 1877, seventy-six years old.

He had fourteen children by his first wife, and ten by the second. Fourteen lived to be married, and nine are living still. Jesse Pursley died some years ago.

He was in the army in 1799, when trouble with France was in prospect; again in 1812, and he greatly wished to go in 1861, when he was eighty-six years old.

There is an immense crowd of grandchildren, etc., his de- scendants.

Jesse Parsley, Jr., a son of his, was in a Missouri regiment, and died in service.

John May Pursley, in the Twelfth Illinois, died at Savannah, Tenn., shortly after the capture of Donelson, Tenn.

David Aker Pursley, of the Thirty-sixth Indiana. died at Pa- ducah, Ky.

Jesse Reynard, White River, son of Solomon Reynard, was born in 1819, in Randolph County, Ind .; married Anna Diggs, daughter of William Diggs, of White River, and also a native of Randolph County, in 1842, and has had seven children. He was an Abolitionist, and is a farmer, a Wesleyan and a Republican. He owns 270 acres of land, and resides east of Buena Vista. He is an intelligent, substantial citizen.

Solomou Reynard, White River, was born in North Carolina in 1788; came to Clinton County, Ohio, with his parents, in 1805; married Rachel Green in 1816, who was born in 1799; emigrated to Randolph County, Ind., in 1817; settled on Eight- Mile Creek, four miles west of Winchester. He had ten chil- dren, and died in 1861, about seventy-three years old. He was an Abolitionist and a Republican.

Mr. Reynard was one of the earliest pioneers of the county, coming the same year that the Ways and Diggses came, from South Carolina. He entered 160 acres of land.

His widow is still living with her son Jesse Reynard, about eighty-two years old. She is active and sprightly, retuining the possession of her bodily and mental faculties in an unusual de- gree.

Jehu Robinson, White River, born in Virginia in 1784; Ran- dolph County, Ind., 1822, one and a half miles east of Winches- ter: owned the Kemp farm, and then to Western Missouri; died 1858, seventy-four years old; married Mary Williams; came to Ohio in 1811, and to Washington County, Ind., in 1815; twelve children; farmer. His wife was a Friend, and he was a strong Democrat.

William Robinson, White River, born in Washington County, Ind., in 1816; Randolph County, Ind., 1822; married Mariani Hill, daughter of Benoni Hill, in 1838, and afterward Ruth (Test) Bundrant; ten children, nine living; none married but two. He resides four miles east of Winchester; fariner, Friend, Republican.

Walter Ruble, White River, was born in Tennessee in 1790; moved to Clinton County, Ohio, in 1802; married Sarah Wright in Clinton County in 1811, and was married twice afterward. He had eleven children, four of them still living.

340

HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

He emigrated to Randolph County, Ind., in 1824, and entered eighty acres of land on the north side of White River, near Is- rael Wright's, about four miles west of Winchester. He was a farmer and a Friend, and died in 1878, eighty-eight years old, and was buried in Maxville Cemetery.

Durant Smith, White River, was born in Jones County, N. C., in 1802; was taken by his parents to Stokes County, N. C., in 1808; married Elizabeth Keyes in 1825, who was born in 1806. They came to Randolph County, Ind., in 1829, and set- tled at first on the farm where he has lived ever since (fifty-one years). His wife died in the fall of 1879. They had been married fifty-four years.

Their family consisted of twelve children. Ten of them are now living;

Nancy (Gray), 1827, four children, White River.

Alexander, 1829, ten children.

William, 1831, nine children. Lucinda, 1832, seven children.

Willis, 1833, three children, Logansport. Hannah, 1834, seven children, died 1876.

Asenath, 1838, nino children.

Andrew, 1842, six children.

Lavina, 1844, seven children.

Emeline, 1846, two children.

Eleanor, 1840, four children.

Durant Smith has sixty-eight grandchildren and six great- grandchildren. He is seventy-eight years old, and quite feeble, and resides with his daughter, Mrs. Simon Gray.

John Starbuck, White River. His parents resided in Surry County, N. C., and he was born there. They came to Virginia in 1823, and to Randolph County, Ind., in 1831. He married Beulah Garrett; had nine children, six of whom are living, and died in 1850. His widow is still living, with her son, Welcome Starbuck, east of Buena Vista. She is eighty-six years old, be- ing feeble and nearly disabled.

Leroy Starbuck, White River, son of John Starbuck and brother of Walter and Welcome Starbuck, was born in 1817, in Stokes County, N. C., moved to Virginia in 1823, and to Ran- dolph County, Ind., in 1831; married Mary Johnson in 1847, and has one child, born in 1850. He is a Republican; a farmer, owning 160 acres of land east of Buena Vista, in White River Township. He used to belong to the Wesleyans, and now to the Christians.

Randolph Turner, White River, was born in Virginia about 1788; married Elizabeth Heaston, daughter of Abram Heaston and sister of David Heaston; moved to Tennessee in 1818; kept a hotel at the foot of Cumberland Mountains, on the west side, near Crab Orchard; went to Alabama in 1826, and died in 1828. In Alabama he was a farmer. They had seven children, three of whom came to Randolph County, Ind. Mrs. Turner, widow of Randolph Turner. came to Indiana in 1833, with her father, Abram Heaston, bringing three children. She lived with her father till he died, and then with her son, William Turner, until she died, in 1861, being at the time sixty-five years old.

Way family, White River. Paul W. Way. Henry H. Way, William Way, Robert Way (a lad of sixteen, and son of John Way, who was brother to Paul. Henry and William Way) and William Diggs left South Carolina in the spring of 1816 and came to Randolph County, Ind., prospecting for land in that new and wilderness country. They came to White River, west of where Winchester now stands. They located and entered several tracts of land, as follows:

William Way, Jr., west half of the northwest quarter of Section 23, Township 20, Range 13, February 7, 1816.

William Way (father), northeast quarter of Section 22, Town- ship 20, Range 13, June 5, 1816.

Henry Way, northwest quarter of Section 22, Township 20, Range 13, June 5, 1816.

William Diggs, Jr., northwest quarter of Section 24, Town- ship 20, Range 13, September 27, 1816.

Henry H. Way, northeast quarter of Section 27, Township 29, Range 13. October 29, 1816.

In the fall. Paul Way went back to South Carolina for his

family and friends; the others stayed. Henry Way and William Diggs went to Greensfork, in Wayne County, during the winter of 1816-17; both got married, and settled in White River before March, 1817.

Paul Way's family, seven in number; John Way's family, seven in number; Armsbee Diggs and wife; John Moorman and family, six in number; and George Wilson and family, number- ing five-a company of twenty-seven persons in all, came to Indiana in 1817. The Ways started from South Carolina in the fall of 1816, and the company arrived in White River March, 1817, snow ten inches deep. [Note-John Moorman and George Wil- son stopped on Greensfork, southwest of Lynn.] Snow fell on them at the top of the Blue Ridge, and there was snow all the way to White River, melting off in April. They crossed the Ohio on the ice at the foot of Main street. Cincinnati. They came by Richmond, Newport, Williamsburg, Cherry Grove (Brocks and Frazier lived near Cherry Grove); from Cherry Grove the route was through the woods, with no track for fifteen miles. John Way, father of Jesse Way, stretched a tent, and the family lived in it all summer.

William Way, Sr., White River, born in 1756, came to Ran- dolph County, Ind., in the spring of 1817.

He had ten children (see account elsewhere). He settled be- low Winchester. He was a Friend, a Whig, and died in 1839. Several of his children were somewhat noted.

Paul W. Way, County Agent, surveyor, hotel-keeper, etc., died in Winchester.

John Way, blacksmith, died in Winchester.

Henry H. Way, physician, died in Illinois.

Matthew Way died in Carolina.

Hannah (Moorman), wife of Tarlton Moorman, mother of twelve children, and died in Carolina in 1877, aged years. Abigail (Clayton), wife of James Clayton, died at Winchester in 1880, eighty-three years old.

Lydia (Diggs), wife of William Diggs, died many years ago. Mary (Beverly), mother of Dr. Beverly, of Winchester.

John Way, father of Jesse Way, Winchester, blacksmith, was born in North Carolina; married Patience Green in North Carolina, and they came to Randolph County, Ind., on White River, in the spring of 1817.

They had seven children:

Mary (Armsbee Diggs), nine children.

Robert (Judith Willson), six children.

Matthew (Hannah Reeder), six children.

Jesse (Fanny Diggs), eleven children.

Rachel (Liston), eight children.

John, died at six years old.

John Way was a blacksmith in South Carolina; a farmer from 1817 to 1830, and a blacksmith from 1830 to the end of his life. He entered 160 acres five and a half miles west of Win- chester, and lived there till 1830, then moved to Winchester, and died there in 1856; his wife dying also in 1858. He was a Friend, Whig, Abolitionist, Republican.

Matthew Way died in Carolina.

Paul W. Way eame to White River in 1816. He was a fa- mous man, active and prominent. He was County Agent, County Surveyor, many years. etc .. etc. He surveyed the town plat of Winchester, laid out the State and county roads, etc. He was Justice of the Peace, farmer, hotel-keeper in Winchester, etc. Many an old lawyer and Judge remembers the times at Paul Way's Tavern. Paul Way died in 1856, age 71 years. He was a Whig, an active, enterprising citizen, and greatly esteemed among his fellow-townsmen and by the public at large. He had four children:

Anna, married Nathan Reed.

William M. Way, lives in Champaign County, III.

Caroline (Woody).

Anderson Way.

They are all dead but William.

Hannah (Littleberry Diggs) came in I817. They had five children. She died long ago, as early as 1827.

Lydia (Tarlton Moorman), see account of Tarlton Moorman elsewhere.

341

WHITE RIVER TOWNSHIP.

Henry H. (Dr.), had ten children; was n Friend, Whig, Ab- olitionist; went with the " Separation; " Republican. He first came to White River, but moved early to Newport, and later to Nora, Ill., where he died, an old man.

William Way, Jr., brother of H. H. Way, emigrated to Ran- dolph County, Ind., in 1817; moved to Newport (Fountain City), Ind., and, many years afterward, to Wisconsin. He was twice married; had several children, and died in Wisconsin in ripe old age. He was a Friend, a Whig, an Abolitionist, an Anti-slavery Friend and a Republican. He was throughout his life a farmer, and possessed the esteem of his fellow-citizens.

Jacob A. White, White River, was born in 1793, in Rocking- ham County. Va. He came to Preble County, Ohio, marrying there Mary Neff, sister of Henry H. and John Neff. Mr. White emigrated to Randolph County, Ind., about 1822. He had ten children, all of whom were grown; seven have been married, and all but two are now dead. Himself and eight children have died of consumption. He died in November, 1848, having been taken in a buggy, a few days before his death, to the polls to cast his vote for Gen. Taylor, and being in the fifty-fifth year of his age.

His wife died at Muncie in 1878, aged seventy-six years.

He was a tailor by trade, and, in the Western country, worked both as a tailor and a farmer.

In politics, he was a Whig of the sternest sort, and almost. the last words he said were, " Boys, never vote for the Democrats." And they, true to their father's injunction, have obeyed his dying request.

His settlement was made and his residence maintained south of the Poor Farm, where he entered 160 acres.

George T. Wilson, White River, was one of the earliest emigrants from Carolina to the Northwest. He was born in Vir- ginia in 1780; emigrated to North Carolina; married Anna Moorman, daughter of John Moorman, who came to Randolph County with the Ways, etc.

Mr. Wilson had six children, one of whom, Judith, afterward became the wife of Robert Way, and who is now living, an aged widow, in Winchester, strong and healthy, and with sound mind and memory.

Mr. Wilson stopped awhile in Wayne County, cropping for old Francis Thomas, not far from Newport (Fountain City). He entered land (160 acres) several miles north of Newport, on Green's Fork, but in 1819 he moved to Randolph County, and died there in 1855, aged seventy-five years. He was a carpenter by vocation.

William Wolf, White River, was born in 1806, in Augusta County, Va. His father was John Wolf, who had a family of five children.

They came to Preble County, Ohio, in 1812. John Wolf and his wife both died in Preble County, Ohio, his age being ninety-six years, and hers seventy-six years.

William Wolf came to Randolph County in 1833, and set- tled in White River, five milos west of Winchester. He entered 144 acres southwest of Winchester, near Elisha Martin's, but never resided on the land he entered. He has been a farmer and carpenter.

He has lived on the same (rented) farm, belonging to Moor- man Way, Esq., for nineteen years.

He married Mary Magdalena Bower, in Randolph County, in 1837. They have had nine children; eight of them lived to be grown and married, and seven are living still. His wife also is living, having been born in 1815.

He is a Republican in politics, and belongs to the Christian (New Light) Church. He was in early times a Whig. His fa- ther was a Jackson Democrat, but, during the civil war, although very old and blind, he was an enthusiastic war man. He de. clared, with much spirit, that the man who claimed to be a Dem- ocrat and would not sustain his Government claimed what was not true.

The old veteran was a soldier in the war of 1812, and for nine years was wholly blind, but his bodily health was sound, and his mind was bright and clear to the close of life.

William Wolf's mother's mother lived to be one hundred and eight years old. She died a great many years ago.

Mr. Wolf is hale and hearty, and looks as though he might survive to the age of his venerable father.

Valentine Wysong. White River, was born at Philadelphia; removed thence to Virginia, to Ohio, and at last to Randolph County, in Indiana. The last removal was made about 1817 or 1818.

He had nine children, as follows: Valentine, Jacob, Joseph. Henry, Jolin, Lewis, David, Elizabeth (Oyler) and Catharine (Oyler). They are now all dead.

Valentine Wysong was a brick mason, and he had, when he moved to Randolph County, considerable property for those times. He died many years ago, over eighty years old. HP was of German descent.

David Wysong, White River, was the son of Valentine Wy- song. He was born in Virginia in 1799, and came with his fa- ther to Randolph County in 1817 or 1818.

He married Eliza Irvin, daughter of John Irvin. They had twelve children, eight of whom are still living.

He followed principally farming, though he was also a brick- maker and a brick-mason. He built the first brick court house, making the bricks therefor. His first wife died in 1853, and he married as his second wife Rebecca (Morrison) Hill, and upon her death, he took for his third wife Mary (Edwards) Pugh. He died April 27, 1878, but his widow still resides on the old homestead, where her husband had lived for nearly sixty years. He was in politics a Democrat.

BIOGRAPHIES.

Besides the biographies already given under other heads, we present a large number of histories of persons connected with Winchester in the past, or in the present, or in both.

Michael'Aker, son of John Aker. lived in the county seven or eight years; removed to Illinois, and remained a year; returned to Randolph and stayed two or three years, going then to Preble County, Ohio, where he still resides.

Thomas Aker, brother of Michael Aker. has been a preacher of the Christian denomination for twenty years or more; is a farmer and pump-maker, and lives in Wells County, near Not- tingham.

Samuel Aker, brother of Michael and Thomas Aker, resides at Westville, Preble Co., Ohio. He has been a pump-maker. but is now nearly blind.

William Aker, brother of the above, came to Randolph short- ly after Andrew did, and died forty years ago.

Thomas Brown, died May 20, 1877, aged eighty-four years six months and fourteen days, having lived in the county forty- three years. He was a kind friend, a good citizen, an affection- ate husband and father, and an exemplary member of society. He had belonged to the Christian Church for many years. His wife died five or six years before him. He leaves three sons and two daughters. The funeral services were held at the Method- ist Church at Winchester, being conducted by Rev. John A. Moor- man, of Farmland.

Edmund B. Carter, Winchester, was born in Maryland about 1794. He emigrated to Dayton, Ohio, 1818; moved to Madison County, Ind., 1832; to Delaware County, also, and afterward to Randolph County about 1840. He died in 1873, almost eighty years old.

He married Mary Deltz in 1823, who was born in 1804.

They had nine children, eight grown, eight married, and seven are living still. Their names, etc., are as follows:

Henry, produce and poultry, Winchester; no children. Levi D., wagon-inaker, Winchester: three children. John D., woolen factory. Winchester; three children. George U., farmer; one child. Bennet D., died in infancy. Francis B., works with Henry; two children. Elizabeth J. (Comer) Anderson, Ind. ; hus- band a hand in a stave factory: has four children; she is dead. Edmund D., farmer; Nancy A. (Hoffman), Winchester; husband a marble worker; five children.

The families all reside in or near Winchester, except Eliza- beth's, and they live at Anderson.

342

HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

Mr. E. B. Carter was an enterprising business man, having owned two or three mills and a good farm, but he was broken down by being obliged to pay security money, and he became greatly discouraged, and lost measurably his spirit of enterprise. As stated, he died in 1873, but his widow is living yet.

Henry Carter, Winchester, was born in 1824, at Dayton, Ohio. He moved with his father, Edmund B. Carter, to Madi- son, Delaware and Randolph Counties, Ind., coming to the latter in 1840.

Henry Carter moved to Troy, Ohio, in 1842; to Dayton, Ohio, in 1845; to Camden, Preble County in 1845; to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1848, and to Winchester, Ind., in 1852, which place has been his residence up to this time. As a boy, he did general work; at Troy he drove a stage, etc .; at Dayton, he worked in a milk dairy; at Camden, he was apprenticed to cabinet-making three years; at Cincinnati, he worked as a journeyman at the carriage business; and at Winchester, he was engaged in the manufacture of carriages till 1862, and in that year he enlisted in the Fifty-fourth Regiment Indiana Volun- teer Infantry, being made Captain of Company I. He was severely injured by a bomb-shell December 28, 1863; was taken care of by his comrades until February, 1863, and was dis- charged for disability in the fall of that year.

In 1864, he began the poultry and egg und general produce business, and has continued it till now.

He has had several partners: M. A. Reeder one year; Ira Tripp, two years, and the rest of the time mostly alone.

He was married February 22, 1849, to Abigail J. Hull (who was born at Elizabethtown, N. J., in 1823), at Cincinnati, Ohio. They have no children.

Mr. Carter is an active business man, and solid and substan- tial citizen. He is independent in politics, acting mostly, how- ever with the Republican party. His wife belongs to the Chris- tian Church. He has been a member of the F. & A. M. for about twenty-six years. His business is extensive and thriving, and he takes delight in a life of energetic activity, believing fully in the Scripture injunction: " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might," and dreading to be counted among that number who by the manner of their lives prove to be

" Creation's blot, creation's blank,

Whom none may praise, whom none may thank."

Abigail (Way), wife of James Clayton, lived for many years west of Winchester, some years in Winchester, also at Newport (Fountain City), Ind. Her husband, James Clayton, died at Newport. His widow survived him for several years, and died at Winchester (while on a visit there) in the spring of 1880, and was buried at Fountain City, Ind. She was nearly eighty years of age. Mrs. Clayton was a woman of high intelligence, ster- ling integrity, and firm devotion to principles. She had no chil- dren, though she had been married more than fifty years.

John Conner, Winchester, was born near Atlanta, Ga., in 1801. He came to Cincinnati in 1814, and learned the tinuer's trade; marrying in Greene County, Ohio, and moving to Ran- dolph County, Ind., in 1831: kept store awhile with his brother, William Conner. John Conner rented forty acres of land near Lynn; moved to Winchester in 1835, and to Portland in 1840, living near the latter place ou a farm south of the Big Sala- monie River, and in 1857 returned to Winchester. Ho began in 1835 to carry the United States mail from Winchester to Fort Wayne, and continned that employment till 1861. Enlisting in the army in the fall of 1861, he died near Atlanta, Ga., in 1863, so that he died in sight of the place at which he was born.

Mr. Conner had three children; his wife dying in 1874. by a collision with a railroad train, at the age of seventy-nine years.

Mr. Conner was an old-time Democrat, but he became a Re- publican in 1860, or thereabouts.

His life was one of great and peculiar hardship; transport- ing the mail over the northern route, mostly on horseback, through mud and frost; fording and swimming creeks at times in the earlier period; sleeping in the woods one night each trip between Winchester and Fort Wayne. For a few years he carried loads of Born in Pennsylvania as follows: silver for the entries of land at the Fort Wayne Land Office. In some cases, thousands of dollars were taken at one trip. Ed- beth, August 9, 1694; Joshua, November 15, 1696 or 1697.

ward Edger, then Postmaster of Deerfield, states that at one trip in about 1837, Mr. Conner had $2,000 (in silver) stowed away in his mail bag.

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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 112

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