USA > Indiana > Wabash County > History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume 2 > Part 3
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Mr. Todd is a republican, quite active and influential in local poli- tics, and is a member of the Presbyterian church. On October 2, 1906, he married Miss Eda B. Smith, of Union City, Indiana.
SOLOMON SIGNS AND LEWIS SIGNS. There are many older residents of Wabash county who well recall the industrious citizen and kindly friend and neighbor, Solomon Signs, who came to Wabash county and settled on a farm in Pleasant township in 1848. When he was finally called from the scenes of earth he had reached the venerable age of eighty- four years, and in that time had watched the growth of the village of North Manchester for many years, and had always taken his share of community responsibility. The generation following him, his son Lewis
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Signs, has for many years been closely identified with commercial affairs at North Manchester, and is now well known as secretary and general manager of the Eel River Telephone Company. The late Solomon Signs was a native of the State of Pennsylvania, born in March, 1810. His boyhood days were spent at home assisting his father and in attending the district schools. When quite young in years he started out to earn his own way, and practically his entire career was devoted to farming and stock raising. He lived for a number of years in Ohio, where he married Miss Mary Ann Lawrence, of that state. Their family of chil- dren are named as follows: David, deceased; Catherine, deceased; Peter; Mahlon, deceased; Wesley; Franklin, deceased; Lewis; Eudocia ; and Myron, deceased. It was in the year 1848 that the family joined the pioneers of Wabash county, where the name has been promi- nently identified with public and private affairs of importance ever since. Solomon Signs established his home in Pleasant township, buying eighty acres of land, and later moving to a farm between Wabash and Roann. In the course of his active farming life he made one other change, when he bought a quarter section of land on the Wabash road, near North Manchester, and there continued his successful supervision of farm and stock until ready to retire from active cares of life. His death occurred in 1894, and his place thus left vacant is such as was filled by a good man and valuable citizen. His wife had preceded him in death, passing away in 1878. Both are buried in Roann. Although a republican in politics, Solomon Signs never held office, preferring to confine his attention to the inconspicuous duties which come to every man in private life, and give him full opportunity for unselfish deeds.
Lewis Signs, son of Solomon and Mary Ann (Lawrence) Signs, was born in Wayne county, Ohio, December 2, 1846. He was thus only two years of age when the family moved to Wabash county, and all his conscious years of youth and boyhood were spent in Pleasant township, where he attended the public schools, such as were maintained there during the fifties and early sixties, and was also a student of the high school at Silver Lake. His employment outside of school hours was furnished in abundance at the home farm, and having shown consider- able aptitude as a student he spent the winter months of 1865-66-67-68 in teaching in Pleasant township and Steward township of Kosciusko county. In 1867 Mr. Signs identified himself with the little commun- ity of North Manchester. The first twelve years were spent as clerk in the general store of George Lawrence. Then for the succeeding twenty years he was a partner in the business. Having given a long and faithful service in merchandising annals to the people of that community for a period of thirty-one years, he disposed of his interests, and in 1898 entered upon his public duties as postmaster of the village. He resigned that office at the end of three years in order to accept the place of secretary and general manager for the Eel River Telephone Company. Under his energetic management this company has vastly increased and improved its service, and now furnishes the best of telephone facilities to a large and ever increasing patronage about North Manchester. An-
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other business relation which did him great credit personally and is grate- fully remembered by the people of this community, was his appointment as trustee in bankruptcy by the Creditors of the Bank of North Man- chester, when it closed its doors in 1894. Due to his careful handling of the tangled skein of that business, all depositors were given a settle- ment of about eighty-five cents on the dollar.
As a republican in politics Mr. Signs has always taken an active interest in public affairs, but has thus far steadfastly refused any official honors. In 1876 he married Miss Maria Simpson, a daughter of Richard Simpson, of Wabash county. Their three children died unnamed in in- fancy. Mr. Signs is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, having his membership in the lodge at North Manchester.
ALLEN KITSON AND FRANK S. KITSON, M. D. From about the year 1847 Wabash county has been the home and center of activities for the Kitson family. Daniel Kitson was one of the first lawyers to locate in Wabash county. Allen Kitson, of the next generation, was a soldier and for many years has been one of the honored residents of the city of North Manchester. In the third generation is Dr. Frank S. Kitson, who for nearly twenty years of successful professional work at North Manchester, has dignified his calling and has won a well merited recog- nition among the able members of the Wabash County Medical Fraternity.
Allen Kitson was born in Preble county, Ohio, on August 26, 1842, a son of Daniel and Susan (Knoff) Kitson. When he was about five years of age the family all came to Wabash county, locating in Chester township. Daniel Kitson was a man of varied activities, and besides being one of the first lawyers in the township, he served in various town- ship offices, and as constable and justice of the peace and had a promi- nent part in republican politics and community affairs. In November, 1872, he contracted a severe cold while on his way to the polls, and died shortly afterwards. His widow survived him until 1888, and both now rest in the cemetery at North Manchester.
, Allen Kitson grew up in Chester township, and until he was about twenty-five years of age most of his time was spent at home in attend- ing school and in assisting his father. He was nineteen years old when the war broke out, and he volunteered and went to the front, where he made a record of faithful performance of duty, and remained until his honorable discharge. On returning to Wabash county he devoted his ef- forts in the line of farming, but since the fall of 1870 has had his home in North Manchester, and is now living retired from the active cares of life. In August, 1869, Allen Kitson married Miss Gabrielle Parker, a. daughter of Jacob and Franey Parker. The children born to their mar- riage are given record as follows: Frank S., Ernest and Ina, both of whom died in infancy; and Amy, now deceased, who married Gilford Blickenstaff, and had one daughter, Mary Elizabeth, born in August, 1911. Mrs. Allen Kitson, the mother, died in March, 1908, and is buried in North Manchester.
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Dr. Frank S. Kitson, who since graduating from medical college has engaged in the general practice of medicine and surgery at North Manchester, was born in Chester township, June 20, 1870. His home has always been in Wabash county. Early in life he decided to take up the study and practice of medicine, and arranged all his work and plans with that object in view. After attending the local grade and high schools he entered Rush Medical College at Chicago, and was grad- uated M. D., May 22, 1895. Returning at once to his old home in North Manchester he began practice with Dr. M. O. Lower, a life-long friend. Two years later their partnership was dissolved, and since then Dr. Kitson has been alone. He is a member of the Wabash County Medical Society, the Indiana Medical State Society, the Eleventh Indiana Coun- selor District Society, and the American Medical Association. His fraternal relations are with the Masonic fraternity, including the Blue Lodge and Chapter at North Manchester, the Council and Commandery at Wabash, and the Scottish Rite Consistory and the Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Fort Wayne. He also belongs to the Knights of the Maccabees, and with his wife worships in the Methodist faith.
On June 3, 1896, Dr. Kitson married Miss Helen Swart Fuller, a daughter of G. E. and Martha Fuller, of Waukesha, Wisconsin. They are the parents of one son, Lower Fuller Kitson, who was born May 1, 1897.
JAMES WILSON, M. D. During nearly a quarter of a century Dr. James Wilson has been engaged in the practice of medicine in Wabash, and his long and faithful devotion to his calling, his strict adherence to the ethics thereof and his recognized skill have given him a high posi- tion among the foremost members of his profession in this part of the state. It is not alone in professional lines, however, that Dr. Wilson has attained distinction, for the signal services he has rendered his native city in exalted public position have won him the unqualified confidence of his fellow-citizens and as chief executive of the municipality he has been able to inaugurate many beneficial and lasting reforms. He was born in Wabash, Indiana, November 15, 1865, and is a son of William H. Wilson.
The father of Dr. Wilson was born in Rush county, Indiana, in 1840, and was a lad of two years when he came to Wabash with his parents, James and Elizabeth (Ambers) Wilson. The elder James Wilson joined the great throng of gold seekers who went to the Golden State in 1849, making the trip around the Horn, and upon his return to Indiana served in the capacity of constable for some years, although he died at a comparatively early age. William H. Wilson was a man of wide prac- tical information, although he was granted but meagre educational ad- vantages in his youth. During the early days he carried mail between Huntington and Wabash, and subsequently served as a clerk in various general stores and at one time was the proprietor of a meat market. He was a man of decided views, was an influential factor in the life of the community in which he lived, and earnestly endeavored to make a success of every undertaking in which he was engaged. At the outbreak
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JAMES WILSON, M. D.
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of the Civil War he offered his services to the Union and became a mem- ber of the Seventy-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in which he rose to the rank of lieutenant, and his service was marked by the utmost bravery and faithfulness to duty. In later years he was active in the Grand Army of the Republic, and likewise took an interest in the welfare of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with which he was identified for a long period. A democrat in his political views, he served efficiently for three years as postmaster of Wabash under President Cleveland's first administration. Mr. Wilson married Margaret Mountz, who was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1840, and who is still living. They became the parents of three children: Anna, who is the wife of Harry B. Clark; Elizabeth, who is now Mrs. John Whisler; and James. The father of these children passed to his final rest September 3, 1911.
James Wilson was reared to manhood in Wabash, and has always made this city his home. His early education was secured in the public schools, and in 1885 he was graduated from high school and then for one year was a student at DePauw University. Succeeding this he spent two years at the Michigan State University, at Ann Arbor, Michi- gan, there studying chemistry, and matriculated at Bellevue Medical College, New York, in 1888, being graduated from that institution in March, 1890. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession in his native city, and here he has built up an excellent business and gained a high place in the profession of which he is a master. During the Spanish-American War he became assistant surgeon of the 161st Regi- ment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, serving ten months, the greater part of which time was passed in Cuba. Like his father, Dr. Wilson is a stalwart democrat, and was elected mayor of Wabash in November, 1909, and reelected in November, 1913. He is rendering his fellow-townsmen excellent services as chief executive and his administration has been marked by prosperous conditions and beneficial reforms. He is widely known in fraternal circles, being a Thirty-second Degree and Knight Templar Mason, a Shriner, an Elk, an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias, and has numerous friends in all of these orders. He also holds membership in the various societies of his profession.
On May 31, 1894, Dr. Wilson was married to Miss Cora F. Ebbing- house, of Wabash, and they are the parents of four children: Eloise, Alice, William A. and Frances. Mrs. Wilson belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.
PETER KING. In the early years of Wabash county, probably no name had a greater significance in business and industrial affairs than that of Peter King. If for no other reason, he should be remembered in history for the mills which he built along the Wabash valley in this county, all of which did a good service .to the people of the time, and one of which remained a landmark until recently. While a man of rather conspicuous ability and success, it was not his nature to seek prominence in a public way, and he chiefly contributed to the making of
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Wabash county through his business and through the notable family which has since continued his work in varied and important lines.
Peter King was born in York county, Pennsylvania, in 1805, was reared in that locality, and when a youth learned the milling business at York Haven, near his birthplace. Soon afterward he moved to John- son's Corners in Summit county, Ohio, where he was engaged to operate a flouring mill on the shares. There he met and in 1830 married Eliza- beth Boyer. His next removal took him to Seville in Medina county, where he built and managed a mill.
With his wife and three children (Mary Ann, George N. and Thomas Wellman), he moved to Indiana in August, 1842. His object was .to secure land at a less cost than it could be had then in northeastern Ohio. The village of Wabash was his first location, but later he moved out to the farm he had bought near town. The four hundred and twenty acres acquired by him in this vicinity cost him on the average about four dollars an acre. Subsequently his home was returned to Wabash, and that city was practically his place of residence throughout the rest of his life.
On the Mississinewa river near Vernon he bought a site at which he erected about 1849 a mill which was under his direct management sev- eral years. Its machinery continued grinding for a long time, and its framework stood the shock of many years, a venerable landmark, until destroyed by the great flood of March, 1913. While milling was his primary calling, Peter King was one of the ablest business men of his time. He operated extensively in the buying of wheat, which he shipped over canal and railroad to the east. He was also one of the men who made the pork-packing industry valuable before the war. For the time his transactions were on a large scale, and in a good sense of the term he was a man of affairs.
In 1858 he returned to his first vocation, and built at Wabash a steam flouring mill, which began operations in 1859. In 1861, with William Whiteside as partner, this mill was converted into a furniture factory. Two years later Mr. King disposed of his interest in the busi- ness, and bought a mill at North Manchester on the Eel river, spend- ing about two and a half years in the operation of that plant. With James McCrea, he later bought the water mill, on the old canal, at Wabash, and that was practically the last enterprise to which he gave his active attention. At the end of about eight years he retired, and lived in the quiet of his home until his death in August, 1891. His wife had passed away in September, 1890, after a happy companionship of sixty years. After they came to Indiana one other son was born to them, Allen W. King.
EDSON D. PEARSON, M. D. For the past fourteen years a practic- ing physician at Wabash, Dr. Pearson represents the homeopathic school in this county, and has practiced with continuing success since he returned from medical college to the locality in which he was born and reared. The Pearson family and its connections have helped to make
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history in Wabash county since the pioneer days, and Dr. Pearson is one of the later generations.
He was born about two miles west of Wabash, on his father's farm, on the old Mill Creek Pike, February 28, 1871. He is one of three chil- dren, all of whom are still living, born to Ephraim and Alwilda (Hutch- ens) Pearson. His grandfather was William Pearson and his great- grandfather was Powell Pearson, who was born in South Carolina, of English parentage. For many generations the Pearsons were active in the Quaker faith, but the doctor's grandfather, having married, outside the pale of the church and having refused to express contrition for his act as required by the church authorities was deprived of his religious connections, and thus broke the continuity of the family adherents in that sect. The Hutchens family were among the pioneers of Wabash county, and also of English ancestry. Jesse Hutchens and his son Daniel came to Wabash county from Ohio, and located on land where the city of South Wabash now stands. Two owners had preceded them in the ownership of that property, which is now very valuable and the site for many homes and industries. The Pearsons were in Wabash county when the entire region was a wilderness and Grandfather William Pear- son built and operated one of the early vertical sawmills on Mill Creek, an institution which was well known in its day, and was located five miles west of the city of Wabash.
Dr. Edson D. Pearson has always made Wabash county his home. He was graduated from the south Wabash high school, and subsequently for two terms attended the University of Indiana. Like many others in professional life, he entered upon his present vocation through the avenue of school teaching, and during and after his college career was a teacher for four terms. During the last term he taught school, he had begun the study of medicine with Dr. J. W. G. Stewart, after which he entered the Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago, from which he graduated in 1889. He then returned to Wabash county and began practice of medicine in the county seat, and in a few years had gained a practice of very practical proportions. Dr. Pearson has membership in the State and American Institutes of Homeopathy. In politics he is a Republican, and he and his wife worship in the Methodist Episcopal church. His marriage occurred September 7, 1898, when Miss Blanche Jones became his wife. Their four children are: Dorwin, William, James and Martha.
HON. JAMES DICKEN CONNER. Both as a lawyer and as a jurist, James D. Conner, who so ably occupied the bench of the Twenty-seventh Indiana Judicial Circuit for six years from 1884, made a record which entitles him not only to a foremost distinction in his home county, but also among the notable figures in the Indiana Bar, and at the same time he was not without distinction of an even broader significance. He was a member of the pioneer Wabash bar, belonging to that group of early attorneys who composed the local bar, beginning with the decade of the
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forties. A brief outline of his career needs no apology for being inserted in this history of Wabash county.
James Dicken Conner was born near Connersville, Fayette county, Indiana, July 11, 1819, and died at his home in Wabash January 28, 1909, aged nearly 90 years. His father, Daniel Conner, a Kentuckian by birth, and of English ancestry, came to Indiana, where there were very few white settlements within the borders of the territory, and was of that hardy type of pioneers who composed the vanguard of civilization and by their dauntless resolution and strength of body and character cleared the path for later generations. He located on an unbroken tract of land not far from the seat of justice of Fayette county, and there he lived until death came to him after a long and useful life.
While a farmer by occupation, Daniel Conner early experienced reli- gion, and for a number of years was minister for the local Baptist con- gregation. When a young man he married Elizabeth Dicken, a native of Virginia, and a descendant of Scottish ancestors.
James Dicken Conner was reared to hard work on his father's farm, and learned the lessons of self-reliance among the first in the book of life's instructions. When it is remembered that his birth occurred only three years after Indiana's admission to the union, it is easy to understand that his youth was spent in an altogether pioneer environment, and his advantages had none of the breadth of culture afforded to the boys of modern times. Not content, however, with the education afforded by the district schools of his neighborhood, he obtained a knowledge of the higher branches of learning at a seminary in Connersville, and for two years was himself a teacher during the winters, the summer months being devoted to the labors of the old homestead. The ambition to become a lawyer, once fixed in his mind, never deserted him and kept inspired for all the difficulties which he had to meet and overcome before gaining his goal. He became a student in the office of Hon. Caleb B. Smith, who afterwards became secretary of the Interior in the cabinet of President Lincoln. After an examination as to his fitness and qualification he was admitted to the bar in 1840.
In October of that year Judge Conner came to Wabash, and started the practice of his chosen calling, in a town that was still on the frontier, though deriving great commercial advantage from its position on the canal, yet having a population of only about six hundred inhabitants, while the surrounding country was very sparsely settled. Mr. Conner had that inestimable faculty of being able to grow in power and resources along with his community, and by the time he had been in Wabash ten years, he was recognized as the foremost lawyer of the county bar. He also took rank among the leading men in public life in the state, and not only was one of the organizers of the republican party in Indiana, but was sent as a delegate to the national convention at Philadelphia, in 1856, when John C. Fremont was nominated as the first republican stand- ard bearer in a presidential campaign. It was in the campaign of the same year that Mr. Conner was nominated for representative to the legislature and elected. In 1859 he was elected to the state senate as
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joint senator from Wabash and Kosciusko counties. By appointment of Governor Morton, he was a member of the committee that met President-Elect Lincoln at the state line and that welcomed the latter to Indianapolis, when Mr. Lincoln was on his way to the nation's capital to take the oath of office as president. Later President Lincoln offered to Mr. Conner the unsolicited appointment of Judge of the United States District Court of Nebraska territory, a position which he declined owing to other personal matters, interfering with the performance of his duties as judge.
Judge Conner practiced law continuously and with splendid success at Wabash from 1840 until 1884, and in that year was elected judge of the twenty-seventh judicial district composed of Wabash and Miami counties. During his six years on the bench he drew from his profound experience as a lawyer, and as a public man, the wisdom and impartial attitude which gave distinguished dignity to his service as a judge, and it has been well said that as a lawyer and as a jurist Judge Conner never had a superior in Wabash county. Judge Conner was reared a Baptist, but in his later life was a communicant of the Presbyterian church. He was broad and charitable in his views on all matters, and was a man of unassailable character.
On October 2, 1842, he married Julia A. Hanna, and their marriage linked in one home life the foremost member of the bar and the daughter of Col. Hugh Hanna, whose name will always have a conspicuous place in the history of Wabash county as the founder of the city of Wabash. The children born to Judge and Mrs. Conner were: Ovid W., Horatio H., James D., and Rosalind. Mrs. Conner died October 16, 1898, after a married life of over half a century.
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