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 150

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 150

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429

WAYNE TOWNSHIP.

through the entire war of the Revolution, being probably in the navnl service. His great-grandfather's children were Robert, William, Benjamin, Betsey, Samuel-only five. The connection has been numerous, influential, and spread extensively through the country.

EZRA R. CODDINGTON, a farmer of Wayne Township, was born May 12, 1809, in Alleghany County, Md .; he is the son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Coddington, who settled in Perry County, Ohio, in 1816. Mr. Coddington re- ceived his early education in the log-oahin schoolhouses of early days, and in 1834 married Elizabeth J. Kennedy. They are the parents of seven children, four of whom are now living, viz., Elizabeth, Nelson, Samuel and Jostion. Mr. Coddington came to Randolph County, Ind., in 1854; he has a farm of thirty-five acres noder good cultivation. He is a member of the Christian Church, and in politics is & Republican, having been a Whig during the exis- tence of that party.

JACOB CONKLYN is & native of this county, and was born April 14, 1846, being a son of Samuel and Catharine Conklyn, who were among the first settlers of the county. He received & common-school education, and in 1865 was married to Miss Mary A. Ingall, by whom he has had six children, four of whom are living. Mr. Conklyn is a successful farmer, living on his own form of 140 acres, three miles west of Union City, and, with his wife, is a member of the Christian Church at Harrisville.

WASHINGTON CONKLYN is & native of Randolph County, being com- paratively & young man, and horn April 17, 1850; he was brought up on his father's farm, and ie himself & farmer. His father, Samuel Conklyn (de- ceased) was a native of New Jersey, marrying, in 1831, Miss Sarah Smith, born in Ohio. They had six children, four of whom are still alive-Herriet, Catharine, Angeline and Washington. Samuel Conklyn was one of the enrli- est settlers of Wayne Township outside of Jericho, coming in 1834, when resi- dents in the region were indeed " few and far between," and selecting for himself and his beloved flock a home in the wild and pathless woods. Wash- ington Conklyn married Miss Jolis Engle May 18, 1867, and they are the par- ente of four children-Sarah E., Sylvester F., William S. and Franklin C. He ie a thriving and enterprising citizen, owning 160 acres of valuable land.

REV. DAVID S. DAVENPORT

was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, October 1, 1823. His parents, Nonh and Catharine (Stursman) Davenport, removed to Miami County, Ohio, in the spring of 1826, when the infant David was barely eighteen months old. When he had reached the age of twelve, they removed again to Eikhart County, Ind., and, after the Inpse of ten years, he returned to the home of his boyhood, and on the 10th of September, 1846, he married Miss Margaret Coats. Their family has consisted of nine children, of which number, how- ever, only three are living, all daughters, viz., Mary J., Martha A. and Cntha- rine. Mr. Davenport united with the Christian (New-Light) Church in 1849, and belongs to the same denomination still. In 1856, he entered the ministry and was ordained in 1859. He came to Randolph County in 1865, and soon afterward organized the church at Harrisville. Through his labors, a large and prosperous society has been built up, and he is still its pastor, having been so at different times in all during sixteen years. Mr. Davenport has been in- ceseant in labor both physical and ministerial. While resident in Ohio, he worked as a cooper. Becoming involved during the financial crisis, he came to Randolph well-nigh penniless. Taking up the business of bridge-building by day and preaching at night, he succeeded in paying his debts, and, more- over, leid by enough to purchase a small form ; he now owns sixty-six acres of land, and a dwelling and two lots nt Harrisville. He has a good standing in bis denomination, being Treasurer of the Eastern Indinon Christian Confer. ence, and Also Treasurer of the Indiana State Christian Missionary Board. Mr. Davenport was a member of the Ohio Home Guards who were ordered to the front by Gov. Brough May 2, 1864; he wos in several skirmishes; was with Hunter at Lynchburg, at Cumberland during the engagement with Early, etc. Mr. Davenport is still sotively and earnestly engaged in the work of preaching, rejoicing in the good measure of success with which the gracious Lord of the Vineyard has been pleased to vouchsafe to his Inbor of many years duration.

BENJAMIN DIXON was born in North Carolina, emigrated thence to Butler County, Ohio, and yet again to Randolph County, about 1835. He was married four times; his wives were Sarah Gullett (sister of Ezekiel Gullett), the mother of ten children ; Sarah Eisenhour, married in Indinon, one child ; Nancy Bright, married in Indiana, no children ; Keziah (V) Barnes, a widow lady with a family of children. The fourth wife is still living with her son, John Barnes, at Spariansburg. Mr. Dixon died about 1876; he was very old; his hair white as snow, bis step feeble and tottering and his frame trembling and decrepit; his surviving widow is also venerable with age. Mr. Dixon's children were Zilpba, Alfred, Andrew, Levi, Mary (died at twenty-one from bleeding at the nose), John, Silas, Sarah, Hugh (died at two years). Eight grew up and were married and had families before any of the eight died. Mr. Dixon was n farmer by occupation, a Presbyterian in religious profession, and n Democrat in politics. Failing to maintain a Presbyterinn Church, those who had belonged thereto joined other denominations, and about 1850 he attached himself to the Disciple Church, and remained with it till his death. The older members of the Dixon connection are all dead. The Inst, Silas, de- parted this life, a feeble old man, in the winter of 1880-81. The settlers in 1835 were Peter Hoover, John Dixon, Smith Masterson, Mr. Kennon, Robert Murphy, two families by the name of Powell, James Griffis. John Dixon, brother of Benjamin Dixon, came before the other members of the connection.

SILAS DIXON was born .in 1800 in North Carolina ; came to Butler County, Ohio, in 1814, and to Randolph County, Ind., in 1840. He has been married four times; his wives were Mary Gullett, Kezia Cartwright, Mary Linton and Matilda Macy. They have had four children. He lived for many years, probably since his first settlement in the county, southwest of Union City aud northeast of South Salem ; he was a farmer. He was afflicted for

years during his old age, and finally died in the early winter of 1880-81, aged eighty years.

SAMUEL DOWNING, M. D., was horn in Chester Co., S. C., April 6, 1805 ; his parents were John and Margaret. The father died in 1870, aged ninety-three years, and the mother about 1866, also very old. Dr. Downing was one of eight children. His father came from South Carolina to Bourbon Co., Ky., in 1813, to New Paris, Prehle Co., Ohio, in 1815, and to Darke County, Ohio, in 1817, which latter point beosme his permanent residence, Samuel Downing being then twelve years old. In 1828, he began the study of medicine, privately for the most part, in which Inborious but greatly useful profession he finally achieved an honorable succe. s. In 1829, he married Elizabeth Baird, and to them were born ten children, seven of whom, as also his wife, survived him. They re- moved to the wilds of Randolph County, Ind., in 1837, settling four miles southwest of what is now Union City, Ind., near what afterward became South Sulem, upon a tract of land containing 215 acres. At first, he was largely a farmer, but, as the country became more thickly settled, his medical duties chiefiy absorbed his time and strength, for in those backwoods regione, to ride on horseback day and night, winter and summer, was no " child's play," hnt the business rather of a robust, stalwart man. February 5, 1843, he was bap- tized into the Christinu faith by Rev. Elihu Harlan, to which profession he held fast with greater or less steadfastness to the end of his days. In 1859, he made an extended tour into Missouri and through the farther West in search of a new location, and in 1864 he removed to Northern Michigan as a pioneer into those regions. After a residence of some five years in that Siate, be returned in 1870 to Randolph Conuty, Ind., and died atter a stay of eight months there, July 7, 1871, at the house of his son, James L. Downing, At the age of sixty-six years three months and one day, leaving behind him his wife,' seven children and twenty-five grandchildren to mourn his departure from the scenes of this mortal life. Dr. Downing was a genuine pioneer from his boy- hood to his death. Born in South Carolina, an emigrant to Kentucky in 1813, to Ohio in 1815, and to Darke County, Ohio, in 1817, sixty-five years ago, coming to Randolph County, Ind., where all was wild and new, in 1837, forty- five years gone by, and to Northern Michigan in 1864, his whole career wss that of one whose talents and whose strength were expended in those hardy and rugged Inhors the sternness and vigor of which none but an early settler can realize or even imagine. And during all this life-struggle, Dr. Downing was n man of ceaseless energy and unflagging perseverance, and he possessed, moreover, the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens in a high degree, serving them, in addition to his labors as & physician, in the position of a mag- istrate both in Randolph County and in Michigan, performing the duties of that station with faithfulness and success. He may have had faults (and who among men is sinless ?), but they may well be buried, if any indeed there were, in the tomb of forgetfuluess. Be it ours to speak rather of his excel- lences, which, indeed, were many, and of his praiseworthy characteristics, which were neither few nor small. While he was frank und outspoken, Dr. Downing was nevertheless genial, warm-hearted, hospitable and generous, quick and willing to bestow ever a helping hand, ng ready to minister to the distresses of the poor and neody ns to respond to the call of those who could bonst abundance. Possessing a firm and resolute will, he could not be swerved from his convictions of justice and right, and, during a long and adventurous life, he was enabled to accomplish important and lasting results of good and blessing to his fellow-men for which many, now and in time to come, may well rejoice and be gind. His family and friends cherish the nemory of his many virtues with deep and strong affection, and his fellow-citizens mournfully regret that they have been deprived of his companionship and assistance in the stero and active duties of life, and that he was cut off in his enrly old age from beholding and sharing the grand and triumphant successe, of the later years produced by the abundant and persevering labors and hardships per- formed and endured by himself and such as he in that rugged older day when this blocming, smiling Western land was a dark and howling wilderness,

" Full fifty years ago."

FRANCIS FRAZIER, bell-maker, was born in 1803 in North Carolina; came to McCowan's Creek, Ohio, in 1811 : came to Randolph County, Ind., one mile east of Lyno, in 1817. His father was James Frazier, also a bell-maker ; he (F. F.) married Lucinda Claywater in Clinton County, Ohio, in 1823, and they have had & eleven children, seven of whom are living. Mr. F. and his wife are both alive, though nged and somewhat feeble. Their children are ns given below: Samuel, boro 1824, eight children ; John, born 1826, six children, resides in Iowa ; Elisha, born 1827, eight children, resides at Saratoga, Randolph Co., Ind., is n farmer and blacksmith ; James, born 1829, seven children, is a farmer ; Lucinda, born 1831, one child, she died on Greensfork ; Cyrus, born 1833, nine children, resides in Kansas, is a farmer ; Hannah, born in 1835, two children. she died in 1870; Isniah, born in 1837, six children, resides in Iowa, is & farmer ; Thomas, horn in 1839, died an in- funt ; Francis born in 1842, eix children, resides in Wayne Township, near his father's, is a farmer : Elihu, born 1843, four children, lives on his father's place, is a farmer. Mr. F. has had fifty-seven grandchildren. F. F. has been a farmer and a bell-maker. In his duy, he was greatly famous for the excellence of hie belle, and there was n great demand for them, as in those forest days every herd of cows and sheep, and the horses also, needed a bell to keep the herd to- gether and to tell the anxious hunter of stock where his wandering herd might be. He used to sell readily all the bells he could make, getting orders from a dis- tance which he could not fill. He tells some good stories in his reminiscences of the clearnese and power of his bells. Mr. F. claims also that even now, old as he is, he can maken razor of better temper and keener edge than can be found in the stores. He is now very old nod getting feeble, but he is still n jovial, genial companion, and an active, humble Christian, trusting God for daily bread, and waiting on the Lord in humility and sincerity, praising Him for all His tender mercies, and looking forward in joyful hope to the time now not far in the future, of final deliverance from all earthly troubles and cores, and of an abundant entrance into the Heavenly kingdom. F. F. is a member of the

430

HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

Friends' Meeting at Jerichn, and a meek, faithful, joyful Christian. He moved to Wayne Township many years ago. He and his wife have been joined in matrimony fifty-nine years, and they have dwelt in tenderness of connubial, love and the sweet and bappy comfort of holy wedlock, hearing together the sorrows and trials of the family state in the patience of joyful hope, and look- ing forward together to the time of their glorious deliverance from all the burdens of this mortal existence, and & blissful entrance into the mansions prepared on the shining shore behind the dark rolling river.

SAMUEL L. FULKS is & son of William Fulks, now n resident of this county, and was born in Monroe County, Vn., on the 28th day of December, 1850. lle was brought up on n farm and educated in the common schools. In 1870, he came to this county, und was married to Miss Lucy Chenowith, daugh- ter of the late Abraham Chenoweth, on August 30, 1872. They have had four children, one of whom is dead. Mr. Fulks is & farmer, living on his own farm of sixty-four neres, in Section 26, this township, and, with his wife, is a member of the M. E. Church.

PAUL GITTINGER (P. G. Union City), was born in Baltimore County, M.l., January 25, 1820, being a son of Jacob and Mary E. Gittinger, who emi- grated to Darke County, Ohio, in the autumn of 1833, and to Randolph County, Ind., in 1838. They settled in the dense, nearly unbroken forests of Jackson Township among the deer, turkeys und wolves, locating in the northeastern por- tion of the township and of the county. P. G. was nearly grown when he came to Randolph County, and having enjoycel some opportunity of early education, had engaged sovo afterward in the business of teaching school, and continued in thut employment (during the winter season) for twenty years. The schoolhouses at the time in that new and half-settled region were rude enough, made of round logs, with puncheon Hoor, clapboard door, stick chini- ney, dirt fire-place and hearth and a clipboard roof held to its place by weight- poles. The furniture consisted of split saplings for seats and puncheon writing desk, supported by pins driven into auger holes bored in the logs forming the walls of the house. Mr. G. has lived to see these rustic cabins replaced by comfortable and tasteful edifices, substantially and even elegantly built, and supplied with convenient and often benntiful furniture. He has himself done much toward accomplishing this pleasing change, serving as a Trustee for Jackson Township during several years, hesides his efficient and successful labors in the school-room. His marriage took place November 13, 1844, the maiden name of bis wife having been Miss Berilha Gist, whose parents were natives of Kentucky, removing to Darke County, Ohio, in the early time. Mr. G. has had six children, only two of whom are living, viz .: Martha G. and Sarah L. One son, Andrew, died in 1876, at the age of thirty years. They re- moved in 1865 to Darke Conuty, Ohio, and returned to Randolph in 1869, settling at that time in Wayne Township. Mr. Gittinger nod his family are worthy members of the Christian Church (called sometimes " New Lights)."

BENJAMIN F. GRAVES, is a son of the late Levi S. tiraves, Esq .. und was. born in Wayne Township, Wayne County, Iud., January 11, 1849. When quite young, his father removed to Darke County, Ohio, and to Wayne Town- ship. in this county, in 1862, buying and settling on a farm near Bartonia, where the subject of this sketch grew up, trained to farm labor, and receiving soch education as was afforded by the common district schools. In 1870, he was elected as one of the Constables of Wayne Township, but resigned the office at the end of one year ; wns re-elected in 1873, but declined to qualify In 1875, he was appointed a special agent of the Treasury Department at Washington, but on account of the great risks attending the position, as well ns the uncongeniality of the business, the place was soon abandoned. In 1876, he was elected a Justice of the Peace tor Wayne Township, being commissioned by Gov. T. A. Hendricks. to serve as such magistrate for four years, from No- vember 4, 1876. On January 4, 1877, he was admitted as an attorney to prnotice at the bar of Randolph County, but owing to the duties of his office, never engaged in a general practice. In August, 1878, he removed his office to Uninn City, and for a portion of that year was Acting Mayor of the city. In 1879, he was appointed a teacher for one of the Indian tribes in the Indian Territory, but declined to enter upon the work. In the spring of 1880, he removed to Kansas, intending to make it his future home, but not liking the prospects of the country, he at once returned to his obl home in Randolph County, and was appointed the enumerator for Wayne Township, outside the corporation of Union City, for taking the tenth United States census, On the 17th day of May, 1879, ho was married to Mary M. Note, youngest daughter of the Inte Henry Note, of this township, and by her has one child, larry Bruce Fremont Grave, born March 2, 1880.

JAMES GRIFFIS, was born in Virginia about 1797. His parents brought him, when but a child, to Ross County, Ohio, settling in the Scioto Valley, not far from the year 1800, when even that region was well-nigh buried in tho decp woods. They both died when he was young ; and as a lone orphan-boy, poor and destitute, he was obliged to struggle up to manhood as he could, The means of education were but scanty, and he got but little, and that little "by the hardest." In youth, he worked mostly on the farm. In carly manhood, however, he practiced flat-bontiag and rafting, taking hont loads of pork and Hour and corn, etc., down the Scioto River to the Ohio and down that river to its mouth, and so along the Mississippi to the points for market along its banks, and frequently to New Orleans itself. He was engagedl alyo at times in taking droves of cattle from Ohio ncross the Alleghany Mountains to the New York, l'hiladelphia and Baltimore markets, Tons he passed his life till about thirty- five years old, still remaining, notwithstanding all his hard toil, comparatively a poor man, realizing, by all this hard and rough traveling through the land and along the water-courses, not very much more than a livelihood. In 1832, he emigrated from the valley of the Scioto in the banks of Greenville Creek in Randolph County. Ind. (the obl Williamson farm, just west of the thio line), in the unbroken torests of Wayne Township. After residing a few years at the place of his first settlement, he removed to the truet of land which continued to be his residence to the end of his life, the beautiful knoll where, years after- ward, stood, as a waymark for the weary traveler, and where stands, till this

day, the substantial and comfortable dwelling erected by him many years ago. This tract was not utterly " in the woods," since a settlement had been made upon it many years before, say in 1816 or thereabouts. Still, the clearing was but small, and there was, for a long time, nothing upon the premises, even after his occupation thereof, but ordinary log-cabin buildings of the most primitive kind ;. and he was obliged for many years to engage in chopping and burning and grubbing and clenring, and the laborious, weurisome toil of a pioneer life. Ilis son, Jolin W. Griffis, now resident in Chase County, Kan., in a narrative furnished by him, says: Living in a small log-cabin, he grabbed np the green saplings, and chopped down and rolled into huge heaps the large timber ; he would burn brush at night and often would split rails by moonlight 'and carry them on his shoulder to the fence row. Now and then, though not ollen indeed, he became discouraged, throwing down his grubhing hoe, or his ax, und, going into his cabin to tell his wife that they never could make a living there in the woods, with his clothes all torn up with the brush, and his hands scratched and bleeding ; and the giant free-trunks, like mighty monsters, roar- ing their hanghty hends on high and laughing at his feeble warfare against their supremacy. But, being a good deer-hunter, he would, after condoling their hardships awhile, shoulder his rifle, and, taking a stroll in the woods, would shoot a deer or two, and go out to his work nguin with fresh encouragement to continue the struggle. It may be ns well to say here that he killed in the woods of Indiana, while resident there, npward of one hundred deer. Many, of course, did far more than that ; but he spent his time mostly on the farm, hunting only from necessity or for recreation. Little money was needed in those times, but that was obtained chiefly, especially at first, by selling deer- skins ; taxes, salt, powiler and lead and iron required money ; most articles of food nud clothing could be raised or made. The milling was done st the White- water about Richmond, or on Stillwater beyond Greenville, and his trading mostly at Greenville. Once after having paid a " store-bitl" of $50 at that village, he said to his wife: " Margaret, after this, if we can pay for a thing we will get it, and not otherwise," which he ever afterward made his rule. As he gradually opened his farm on the State road, and after people hegan to move in large numbers nlong that old thoroughfare toward the new and boundless West, his double log cnhin became a general stopping place. And, when in n few years afterward, cattle-driving from the prairies of Western Indiann and from Illinois became an extensive occupation, vast numbers of such passed along the same grand thoroughfare, and Mr. Griffis having opened a large tract, preparing extensive pasture room, and rising heavy crops of corn as well, used to entertain drovers and feed their herds and flocks. The fact that he had himself been a drover in earlier life increased his acquaintance with this class of men, and induced many to incline to stop with him whenever they could well do so. This business of feeding droves was for years a very large one. In the year 1848, for instance, he kept, overnight, 18,634 head of cattle. Mr. Grithis raised a family of ten children, five boys and tive girls, all of whom, as well as his wife, survived him. He died October 2, 1859, of hemorrhage of the bowels, being buried in the cemetery on the land owned by him. His wife died February 22, 1864, aged fifty-four years, and lies buried beside him. Mr. Griffis was no longer young when he married, heing probably about thirty- three years old. He had worked several years for un employer in the Scioto Valley, at SI per day and expenses paid. Not needing very much of his wages, he had permitted them to accumulate in his employer's hands to the nmionnt of some $900; and after his marriage, he was induced to take, in lieu of his wages, some 400 acres of land in the woods of Wayne Township ; and moved to the region in a one-horse wagon, having almost nothing remain- ing but his land. Mr. Griffis was an excellent citizen and a most active, and enterprising business man, industrious and economical, but generous and hospitable, his friendly spirit and genial manners, as well as his principles of truth. honor and integrity, won him universal respect. Prompt and reliable in all his habits and methods, charitable to the poor, plain and unassuming in his personal deportment, deeply interested in the public welfare, strongly attached to his family nud considerate for the welfare of friende -- strictly moral and upright in all bis conduct, his example was one commanding the publio esteem and endenring him to all who knew him. In political faith, he was an earnest Whig of the old-time lleury Clay stamp. In 1846, he represented Randolph County in the State Legislature; and the energy displayed by him during his lifetime in the improvement of the region, and in the development of its resources, was remarkable. He was tall in person and robust in health, in so much that, during his last illness, he remarked that he had never before been so sick that he could not ride on horseback. His weight was about 200 pounds and his bodily strength was grent, performing as he did, in his earlier years, a vast amount of physical labor, flis children were as follows : Cynthia, twice married, four children, resides in Lincoln, Neb., husband An artist; Sarah Ann (Cadwallader), three children, resides at Union City, Ind., husband a banker; John W., several children, resides in Chase County, Kan .; Maria ( Walker), resided in Darke County, Ohio, three children, i: dead; Eliza. beth (Studebaker), two children, resides io Greenville, Ohio, husband Presi- dent of Farmers' Bank; W. Creighton, Union City, route agent from Indian. apolis to St. Louis ; Rebecca ( Elston), Shurpege, Darke County, Ohio, three children, hnshand a farmer and stock dealer; Edward, unmarried, resides with Mr. Studebaker at Greenville, Ohio; James llibbeo, twice married, no children, Intely grocer, Union City, Ind .; llenry Chty, a lad, killed at the " Brough Rally " in 1863 hy falling from a wagon, filled with men, and the passing of the wheel over his head.

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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 150

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