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 171

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 171

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Mr. Canady was elected magistrate of Nettle Creek Town- ship in the spring of 1879, against a candidate who had held office for twenty-five years, and had never before been beaten. Mr. Canady was the census enumerator for 1880 in the census district in which he resides. He is a Republican, and seems to be rising in popularity and growing in fitness for publie station.

Walter Canady came from North Carolina to Randolph Coun- ty, Ind., in 1829, and lived and died there. He had a wife and five children. Ho was a farmer of Nettle Creek Township, en- tering land there when he came to the county.

John Clevenger. father of William Clevenger, near Neff, was born in Virginia in 1780; came to Ohio in 1803; married Maria Stuthard in 1799 (born 1780); came to Randolph County, Ind., in 1828; entered 120 acres, being a part of William Clevenger's present farm. He had fourteen children; twelve lived to be grown and married and have large families, the whole twelve having 108 children, or an average on the twelve of exactly nine each. He died in 1872, aged ninety-two years and nine months. His wife diod in 1846, being sixty-six years old. His children are as follows: Dosha (Dudley). born 1800, had twelve children: Samuel, born 1802, had eleven children; John, born 1803, had nine children: Wesley, born 1805, had nine children; Eliza, born 1500, had seven children; James, 1811, had five children; Nancy, 1911 (Raines), had nine children; Seppy, 1815, had five children; Fielding, 1817, had twelve children; Maria, 1819

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NETTLE CREEK TOWNSHIP.

(Thornburg), had twelve children; William, 1821, had six chil- dren; Mahala, 1824 (Thornburg), thirteen children; grandchil- dren, 108.

With this multiplying process as a specimen, the Clevenger name ought to be widely scattered throughout the land. Twelve children, with? families having an average of nine apiece makes certainly an extensive connection.

Jonathan Clevenger came the same fall. The two families had arranged to meet on the way, and come the rest of the dis- tance together. The plan failed in some way, and the families did not meet, and each one found his way alone. Mr. Cleven- ger was a sturdy Democrat. He voted for Jackson in 1828. He was an active member of the Christian (New Light) Church, and a worthy and exemplary citizen.

John C. Clevenger was born in Randolph County, Ind., in 1836. He has eleven children. He has hold several local offices, having been Justice of the Peace four years and Township Trustee two years. It is quite remarkable that though a Demo- crat in a township that has a Republican majority of oighty, he was elected Trustee in the spring election of 1880 by twenty ma- jority. He is an active citizen, and a useful member of the body politic. He is a farmor, and lives northwest of Losantsville.

Isaac Crouse was born in Randolph County in 1837; mar- ried Irene Watkins in 1859, who was born in 1844. They have three children. He is a farmer and a member of the Christian (New Light) Church. His home is near Losantsville. It is a somewhat remarkable fact that his wife was at his marriage with her only fifteen years old. Although now old enough to have had several children, her age is only thirty three years. Should their married life last till she arrives at the age of ninety. her state of wedlock will have continued through the wonderful pe- riod of three-quarters of a century.

William Clovenger is the son of John Clevenger, who came to Randolph Co., Ind., in 1828. He was born in Ohio in 1821; came with his parents to Randolph County in 1828. He married Mary Jane Smithson in 1841, and has six children. He is an extensive farmer, and is a prominent citizen. He owns 320 acres of land. Al- though his father was a strong Jackson Democrat, yet William Clevenger on coming to his majority, after voting for Polk in 1844, radically changed his politics, and has voted the Abolition and Republican tickets ever since. His ballot was cast for Hall and Julian in 1848, when the ticket got only three votes in the town- ship. He made a temperance pledge for himself when a boy fifteen years old. Seeing the evils of drink, and resolving never to touch it, he has kept his vow to this day. He joined a tem- perance society only three or four years ago, but bas "lived" it from boyhood. A member of the Christian (New Light) Church, and a wide-awake, thriving, successful business man. In his youth and early manhood he did an immense amount of hard work, his brothers and himself, as he says, clearing more land than any other family in the township or ;perhaps in the county or even in the State. William Clevenger has been Road Supervisor for fifteen years, and is so still. Mr. Clevenger is a pleasant specimen of the prosperous and successful farmer. Hospitable, friendly, generons and enterprising, both himself and his wife are remarkable for their worthy and estimable characters. He has erected upon his extensive farm a substantial and commodi- ous mansion, which will doubtless yield them pleasure and com- fort during the remainder of their lives.

Jacob Crouse was born in North Carolina in 1799; married Hannah Jolmson in 1824; emigrated to Randolph County, Ind., in 1832, settling one mile west of Losantsville. They have had seven children. His wife was a Baptist. He was not himself a member of any religious body, and in politics lived and died a Democrat of the Jacksonian stamp and style. Heentered eighty acres of land, and he resided on the tract till his death in 1873, forty-one years. His wife lived ouly till 1864. Charles Crouse, his son, still occupies the original homestead, one mile west of Losantsville, being, like his mother, a Baptist, and, like his fa- ther. a Democrat.

Mark Diggs was born in North Carolina 1799, and was the son of William Diggs, the elder, whose son William came to White River in 1816. Mark Diggs came to White River, Ran-

dolph County, in 1821; married Susannah Way, daughter of Mat- thew Way, who was brother of Paul and Henry Way, and who died in Carolina in 1826. They had one child which died in in- fancy. Mark Diggs settled in 1827 on the farm where his widow now lives, near Pleasant View. He was a Friend, belonging to the body; in politics, a Whig and a Republican. Ho was an Elder in the Friends' Society, greatly respected and altogether a solid member. He owned at the time of his death in 1878 600 acres of land. At first he entered 240 acres. His widow is living still on the old homestead, which has been her residence for fifty-five years. Mrs. Mark Diggs has in her possession the family record of old William Way, her grandfather, and the father of Paul, Henry, William, Robert and Matthew Way, which is here transcribed. William Way, son of Paul and Mary Way, born July 8, 1756; died April 9, 1839, eighty-three years; Abigail (Ozborn), born September 26. 1756, died; January 2, 1829, aged seventy-three years.

Names, etc., of their children-John, born February 27, 1777, died June 11, 1778; John, born December 9, 1778, died in 1856, aged seventy-eight years; Mary, born March 23, 1781; Matthew, born January 14, 1784, died in Carolina 1811; Paul W., born February 24, 1786, died October 20, 1856, seventy-two years old; Hannah, born November 14, 1788, died November 17, 1877; Lydia, born January 5, 1791; Honry H., born March 13, 1793, died an old man in Illinois; William, born June 7, 1795, died an old man in Wisconsin; Abigail (Clayton), born Novem- ber 27, 1797, died spring 1880.

Matthew Way (above) was married in Carolina. and had two children, dying in 1811 by being thrown from a horse. His wife died with her second child. Their children were: Susannah, born January 4, 1807; Moorman, born February 9, 1808, died in 1881. Susannah married Mark Diggs, but has no children living. Moorman Way was also married, but has no issue liv- ing.

NOTE .- For other particulars, see account by Stephen Moor- man.

[Moorman Way died in the fall of 1881, leaving his large fortune to his only heir, his sister. Mrs. Susannah Diggs, widow of Mark Diggs, as above, who was already the possessor of a considerable estate from her husband, as already described. ]

Wilkerson Gray was born in Kentucky in 1802; came to Wayne County. Tad., in 1816, and to Randolph County, Ind., in 1835. entoring a tract of land one-half milo west of Losantsville, and has lived there from that day to this. He married Matilda Long in 1820, and has been the father of ten children, eight of them being still living and married. His wife was born in 1805, and died in 1847. He has been a widower for thirty-four years. He was married very young, at eighteen years, and they had three children before he was twenty-one years of age. He lives on his old place with his son-in-law, Isaac Crouse, having attained the great age of fourscore years, and is strong and hearty, consider- ing the length of time that he has tarried amidst sublunary scenes.

Jordan Halstead was born on the way to Ohio, at Allegheny Point, on the Ohio River, in 1805. His parents came to Butler County, Ohio, and then to Wayne County, Ind., in 1825. He maried Nancy McClanahan in 1828, and came to Randolph Coun- ty, Ind., in 1831. They have had thirteen children. Nine are living and nine have been married. He has resided at his pres- ent home from the first (fifty-one years), and he now owns 244 acres of land.

Solomon Hanscom, Pleasant View, born in Maine; moved to Kentucky in 1839 and to Randolph County, Ind., in 1953; has had six children, and died in 1875, Ho was an undertaker and cabinet maker. His business has been continued by his two sons under the firm name of James W. Hanscom & Bro. He was a Pres- byterian, then a Baptist and lastly a Friend. In politics. he was at first a Democrat and afterward a Republican.

William Hendricks came early to the county, and was Justice of the Peaco twelve years. He married 100 couples during his term of office. He was also Township Trustee ten years, and was never defeated as a candidate for office till three years ago, at which timo (spring of 1879) he ran for magistrate, and was

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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

beaten by M. L. Kennedy. He moved to Kansas in the spring of 1880. He was an exceedingly popular and greatly influential man. But it happened with him as it does with scores of prom- inent men-there comes a time when the popular feeling begins to cool toward them. And if they are shrewd enough (which most, however, are not) to realize the fact and gracefully bow themselves out, all goes well; but all are not thus keen-sighted, and a struggle against fate followed by defeat is the result. Mr. Hendricks doubtless will continue in the future as during the past a personage of influence and usefulness, retaining, as he does, the estimable qualities which for so many years of his earlier life enabled him to hold so firmly à commanding position among his fellow-men.

Miles Hunt was born in Kentucky September 10, 1808. He came early to this county in 1824, at the age of sixteen, and has been a resident of Randolph fifty-eight years. He has been identified with the interests of the county for more than half a century, representing the county at one time in the State Legis- lature when comparatively a young man. Mr. Hunt has raised a large family, now grown men and women, who are now among the useful and worthy citizens of their native commonwealth. He has been a life-long Democrat, being one of the few who have clung to that political faith in the face of the overwhelming adverse majorities for many years in this Republican county. Since the time of the Murphy revival he has been an active and enthusiastic temperance worker, being now engaged along with his worthy companion in the advocacy of the prohibition move- ment. He was one of the proprietors of the town of Huntsville forty-seven years ago when a young man twenty-six years ago, and he has for many years been a resident of Losantsville. formerly Hunt's Cross Roads. Mr. Hunt, though past three- score years and ten, is still vigcrous and energetic, showing more strength and activity than many another person fifteen years his junior. Long may he survive to wave aloft the tem- perance banner. even nntil he shall behold it float in triumph over the last grim fortress of King Alcohol!

Antony Johnson came to Nettle Creek. Randolph County, Ind., as soon as 1829 (may be sooner than that). He and his wife are very old, he being eighty-six years old and she some younger. They reside on a small farm northeast of Losantsville, Full fifty years and even moro have passed over their heads, for weal and woe, in sunshine or in storm, since first this now aged couple reared their humble home beneath the leafy shade of the giant trees of Randolph forests. The ax, that mighty instru- ment of fate in the brawny hands of the stalwart pioneer. has accomplished its wondrous task, and the sun pours down upon those now denuded fields its fiery rays, where, for long ages be- fore, its utmost power could not avail to reach. And two gen- erations have disappeared from sight, and been hidden beneath the crumbling mold of the lonely graveyard. Yet these two still survive, almost the only remnants of that early race who made the heroic onslaught upon the mighty forests which had for so long a time hidden the earth's genial surface deep and dark be- neath its overreaching foliage. They yet remain. But not for long. Even while [ write these lines as this memorial to the coming ages, the decree may have gone forth for them. "The silver cord is loosed, the golden bowl is broken, the pitcher is broken at the fountain and the wheel is broken at the cistern. Let the dust return to dust as it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it " At any rate, for them speedily, for us all in God's in good time, the final summons will surely come.

Daniel E. Johnson ir the son of Reuben Johnson, and the brother of L. Williams Johnson, and perhaps of others by that name in the vicinity. Heis a wealthy farmer, residing northeast of Losantsville, in the fertile region of the Little White River. He is a thriving farmer, an active business man and a prominent Democrat. In much of Randolph County, Republican predomi - nance is so strong as to cut Democrats off from all hope of pre- forment, and in Nettlo Creek Township the Republican is generally the stronger side. But the Democrats in this township are a bold, defiant party, and sometimes, when the Republicans fall ont among themselves, the other sort strike all as one and make a success. All honor to the sincere, upright, honest yeomanry,

who fight for country and for principle, and not for spoil. And such, indeed, must the Democrats of Randolph be. For, buried deep under the weight of an opposing majority, sometimes of 2,200, what but solid convictions can keep the average Randolph County Democrat loyal and unyielding to his fealty? Party spoils there are none for him. His view of political duty holds him fast and firm as the "needle to the pole."

Reuben Johnson was born in Surry County, N. C., in 1796. He came to Hagerstown, Wayne Co., Ind., in 1830, and to Lo- santsville in 1832. He married Mary Harville, and had nine children. He died in 1857, and his wife in 1863. He was a farmer, a Baptist and a Democrat. Several of his sons are liv- ing, and are prominent citizens, residing in the vicinity of Lo- santsville.

Lewis Williams Johnson is the son of Reuben Johnson. He was born in North Carolina in 1819, came to Hagerstown, Wayne Co .. Ind., in 1831, and to Nettle Creek, Randolph Co., Ind., in 1832. He married Eunice Hodgson in 1841, and Martha A. Canada in 1864 (who was born in 1845). He has had sixteen children; thirteen of them are living, seven have been married, and seven are at home. He is a prominent citizen and farmer. He is a member of the Christian (New Light) Church, and in politics a Democrat. He has been Township Trustee and Town- ship Assessor. He is also a local preacher in the denomination to which he belongs, au estimable man and a valuable member of society.

George Leaky was born in Tennessee in 1804, emigrated to Clinton County, Ohio, in 1816, married Lydia Hiatt in 1823, and moved to Randolph County, Ind., in 1834. His first wife died in 1834, and he married Jane (Sanders) Peters in 1836. He was the father of ten children. all of whom are living, and all are married but one. He died in 1877 at the age of seventy-three. He entered at first eighty acres, and afterward 160 more, making for himself and family an extensive and profitable farm. He was a member of the Christian denomination, and died in 1877, leaving behind a large and interesting group of descendants and relatives.

Christian Leaky was the son of George Leaky, being born in Clinton County, Ohio, in 1829, and coming to Randolph County. Ind., in 1834. He married Sidney A. Snodgrass in 1854, and they have had six children. He is a member of the Christian (New Light) Church, a farmer by vocation, living north of Lo- santsville, and the owner of 360 acres of excellent land.

Henry Leaky was born in Tennessee in 1794, being an older brother of George Leaky. He came to Ohio in early life, and to Randolph County, Ind., in 1831, having married Jane Frery a considerable time previous. They had seven children, and he died in 1867, being sixty-seven years old. He was a farmer and had filled the office of Justice of the Peace, both in Indiana and for a long time in Ohio, besides which, moreover, he held, dur- ing one term, the position of County Commissioner of Randolph. In religious connection, he belonged to the body calling them- selves Christians.

Anna Leaky (McGunnigill Snodgrass) married Charles Mc- Gunnigill, who came from South Carolina to Randolph County, Ind., in 1834. Mr. MeGunnigill was born in 1801, and died in 1862. She has had ten children; seven of the children are liv- ing, and six have been married. She is now the wife of William Snodgrass, whose biography is given elsewhere.

David Metzgar lived south of Losantsville. He died in 1874. One of his sons died in Andersonville Prison. His daughter (wife of Frank Burroughs) lives on the old homestead, one and one-half miles south of Losantsville. He was a prominent citizen of Nottle Creek, but we have not at hand at this writing ma- terial for a more extended biography.

William Shullabarger came io Randolph County sixty years since. When he settled in Nettle Creek is not certainly known. He was killed many years ago by the falling of a tree upon him. His widow married William C. Hendricks, an account of whom is elsewhere given.

Hamilton Snodgrass has been a resident of Nettle Creek for more than half a century. His boyhood days were spent in dif- ferent places, and in three States-Tennessee, Ohio and Indiana.

RES. OF ISAAC ROUTH, NETTLE CREEK TP. RANDOLPH, CO. IND.

MARK DIGGS.

MARK DIGGs, deceased, was born in North Carolina April 23, 1799. Ho was the son of William and Fannie Diggs, and was the fifth of a family of nine children. He was raised on a farm and received a meager education from the schools of his native State. As a boy, he was remarkable for his honesty, morality and industry. In his earlier life were planted the seeds of Christian integrity, which ripened into an abundant harvest in later years. He came to this county in company with his parents, in the year 1822, aud settled two miles west of Winchester, his father purchasing 160 acres of land with slight improvements, having a log cabin, a few acres cleared and an orchard. At the time of his settlement on this farm, there were but two log cabins upon the ground now occupied by the town of Winchester. His father lived on this farm until the death of his wife, when he made his home with his daughter, Ann Moor-

man, with whom he lived until his death. Mark Diggs was mar- ried to Susannah Way, November 9, 1826. After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Diggs settled on a farm in Nettle Creek Township, the same upon which the widow now resides. He entered 160 acres of fer- tile land, and through his untiring industry put it in a high state of cultivation. He lived on this farm until his death, which oc- curred June 6, 1878, at the age of seventy-nine years. He has but one brother living, William Diggs, who lives at Earlham, Iowa. Mark Diggs was a hard working man, and very economical in his habits. He accumulated quite a large estate, a portion of which his wife inherited. He had a birthright in the Society of Friends, and was a valuable and useful member of the church, having fillod many important places of trust. He was quiet and reserved in his habits, and it was those who knew him best that loved him much.

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NETTLE CREEK TOWNSHIP.

He was born in Tennessee in 1807, came to Ohio in 1811 and to Indiana in 1813, and to Randolph County in 1830. He has been twice married, and both his wives are dead. The first was Bet. sey Dixon, married in 1828. The second was Polly Ann (Street) Burroughs. She died in 1880. Mr. Snodgrass has had six chil- dren, is a farmer by occupation and a Democrat in politics. He resides a mile north of Losantsville. As would appear by the dates given above, his entire early and middle life was that of a pioneer. Born in Tennessee, near the opening of the century, brought to Ohio about the commencement of Tecumseh's war of 1811, and taken to Indiana in 1813 when only nine years old, changing his residence still again while yet only a young man in his prime, barely twenty-three years of age, this time to the then wild and unsettled regions of Randolph, it is clear that for him his calling in life was to march at the front and be a strong and gallant leader and one of the advance guard to the mighty army of civilization that were erelong to take full and permanent pos- session of the beautiful and glorious western wilderness. And he could well and worthily sing to the echoes of his resounding ax-blows and to the crackling crash of the mighty tree-trunks. But that song is for this region nearly done-the giants of the " grand old woods " have disappeared, and in their stead a puny, sickly race shabbily and scantily fill the places so long and so splendidly hiding the face of the ground beneath their deep. dark shades.

John Snodgrass was born in Virginia in 1763, moved to Ten- nessee in 1803, to Ohio in 1811, to Henry County, Ind., in 1813, and to Randolph County, Ind., in 1830. He had eight children. His wife was Rhoda Mays, and he was married in Virginia long before he began his wanderings to find a suitable home. He was an old man when he came to Randolph, sixty-seven years of age, but his stay was but short among his children and friends. He died in 1834, and his wife eleven years after her husband, in 1845. Four of the children are living still. His residence was about a mile north of Losantsville. He was a farmer and a Dem- ocrat. Think of the life of this sturdy pioneer. Forty years among the rugged mountains of Virginia, eight years amid the forests of Tennessee, two years in Ohio through the Indian war of 1811-13, seventeen years buried in the woods of Henry Coun- ty, Ind, and when within three years of his allotted threescore and ten, plunging yet once more, and for the last time, into the heart of the deep, unbroken forests of Randolph County, and lying down at length after so many tedious and wearisome years, beneath the oaks and the beeches, to die and be forever at rest, while his friends and his comrades, gathering around his mortal remains, sadly but hopefully say, "Life's fitful fever over, he sleeps well."

William Snodgrass is the son of John Snodgrass and the brother of Hamilton Snodgrass. He was born in Tennessee in 1809. He married Betsey Gray in 1836, and Anna (Leaky) Mc- Gunnigill in 1876. He has had eight children; seven are living, and all married. He came to Randolph County, Ind., in 1830, moved to Iowa in 1854, and returned to Nettle Creek, in 1869. Mr. Snodgrass is a farmer and a Democrat, somewhat advanced in years, but active and attentive to business. He is quiet, mod- est, unobtrusive in his manners, diligent and frugal in his busi- ness and careful and economical in his management, sincere in his own convictions and tolerant of those who may chance to differ with him. He resides on a farm north of Losantville, car- rying on an extensive business in that line.

Lemuel Wiggins, Losantville, was born in Hocking County, Ohio, in 1820; came to Hagerstown, Ind .; thence he removed to Blountsville, Henry County, and lastly, to Losantville, in 1858. His first wife died of cholera in Blountsville. His second wife was Mary Stanley. He has had ten children. Mr. W. is an en- terprising man, a sterling Republican and an active Methodist. He has been Township Trustee two years, is a merchant, a hotel- keeper; also a farmer, owning several farms; is Postmaster of the town, and a wide-awake, positive, energetic business man. He has been an extensive stock-raiser, as also a producer of fruit, since he has on the land he owns twelve orchards.

George W. Wine was a native of Loudoun County. Va., being born in 1793, and he died in Kosciusko County, Ind., in 1864,

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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 171

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