USA > Indiana > Wabash County > History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume 2 > Part 51
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The founders of the family in this part of Indiana were Alfred and Elizabeth (French) Purdy, who are yet remembered as splendid types of pioneer settlers in this county. Alfred Purdy was born in Anne Arundel county, Maryland, January 1, 1804, and was married in that
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county to Elizabeth French, who was also born in the same county May 7, 1809, a daughter of Daniel and Isabella French. During his resi- dence in Maryland Alfred Purdy was a tobacco planter. In 1832 he and his wife and two children moved out to Ohio, locating in Clermont county, which was their home for more than a score of years. In the fall of 1856 came another removal of the family, this time to Wabash county, Indiana. The journey was made overland with wagon and team, and they drove out to the farm now occupied by the Gurtner family, where Alfred Purdy bought a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of virgin land. It was almost an entirely new country, principally swamp and thick woods, and so thick was the timber that some difficulty was experienced in finding the little log house then standing on the place. Forty acres had already been cleared, and in the house occupied by the former owner, two fam- ilies, comprising sixteen members in all, found shelter and kept up domestic life until the following April, when Alfred Purdy's son-in-law, Mr. Gwinn, moved to the adjoining farm on the east. In the woods around the cabin home deer and wild turkey were plentiful, so that the larder never lacked for fresh meat. The cabin, like most houses of those days, was built of rough logs, with the cracks stuffed with sticks and mud to keep out wind and snow. Extending about half way from one end of the cabin to the other was a kind of loft, reached by a rough ladder from the ground floor. This loft was the sleeping quarters for the children, each climbing up the ladder at night, and in the winter time the snow frequently sifted in through the cracks and in the morn- ing the bed clothes were covered with a mantle of white. The roof was made of clapboards, held down by heavy-weight poles running from end to end. On the floor was the old familiar puncheon, and at one end of the house was an ample fireplace, the chimney constructed of sticks and mud. Notwithstanding the cramped quarters, the house was fre- quently thrown open to guests, and when the family and company were assembled they formed a half circle in front of the fireplace, with the children sitting tailor fashion on the floor in front of their elders. Here the younger ones sat and listened to the stories told, and that was after the old traditional manner of instruction, when books and newspapers were almost unknown. The autumn following the arrival of the family in Wabash county the household circle was made complete when grand- mother Hall came out from Ohio, and her coming was appreciated by none so much as the children. After the removal from the older and more comfortable surroundings of the East, mother Purdy frequently longed for the conveniences which she had abandoned, but the children were content and happy with the wilderness environment. They ran barefoot in summer, gathering berries and nuts, chopped brush, and one of their favorite sports was when three or four would bend down a tough sapling, and then would suddenly release it with one of their number clinging to its tip end and swung high in the air. That was years before the introduction of township wagons to carry the children to and from school, and no attention was paid by the school architects
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of the time to the question of which side of the building the light should come in. However, the children grew up happy and healthy, became useful citizens, and it should not be forgotten that from the men and women instructed in such schools were drawn the founders and build- ers of the present splendid civilization. In their young lives they experi- enced hardships almost in the light of pleasure, and by their sacrifices made possible the comforts which the present generation enjoy. On returning home from school cold and hungry, they would sit down to a meal of hot corn bread and other good but simple things, all cooked over the hot coals in the big fireplace. It was on that old homestead that grandmother Hall and also Alfred Purdy and wife spent their remaining years until called beyond. Alfred Purdy was first a voter for the Whig party, and later a Republican, in the early days was a supporter of Henry Clay, and cast his first Republican vote for John C. Fremont, and in the next campaign for Abraham Lincoln and others who succeeded him. He was reared a Methodist, but late in life joined the New Light church in Paw Paw township. He died in that faith on January 21, 1888, and thus one of the finest of Wabash county's early settlers passed to his reward. His wife, who survived until August 25, 1898, was one of the kind hearted and helpful women of her community, and besides her own children reared three orphans.
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One feature of the Purdy family reunion is the custom of having a portrait of one member of the family, with wife or husband, appear on the invitations. In that way each member of the family has a good picture of the others of the kin, and a sufficient number of reunions have already been held, so that all the older members of the family now appear in such likenesses, and a beginning has been made on the younger generation.
The children of Alfred and Elizabeth Purdy are mentioned as fol- lows: The first two were born in Maryland, and after they established their home in Ohio six other children were added to the household. Margaret, now deceased, was the wife of Henry Gwinn, who accom- panied the elder Purdy on his emigration to Wabash county. Elizabeth, also deceased, became the wife of Elijah Tatman. Henry, Nelson, Belle, who married Charles Clayton, were the first three born in Ohio; Martha Matilda, now the widow of Alexander Freeman, has a farm across the road near the Gurtner place; Maria, who was a twin sister of Martha Matilda, is now deceased, and married William Merrick; while the youngest of the family is Jeanette, now Mrs. Christian Gurtner.
HENRY LEE PURDY. A son of that fine old pioneer couple, Alfred and Elizabeth (French) Purdy, Henry Lee Purdy is himself now one of the oldest living residents of Noble township and his long and enter- prising career has identified him closely with the affairs of this county. He is the owner of an estate of eighty acres in Noble township, about five miles north of Wabash and on the east side of the Laketon road.
Henry Lee Purdy was born in Clermont county, Ohio, July 25, 1835, three years after the Black Hawk war. He was about twenty-one
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years old when the family came to Wabash county, and his education had been acquired by attending a log schoolhouse in Ohio. A short time after the family came to Wabash county he started to work for a neighbor as a farm hand. Mr. Purdy first married Anna Maria Giek, who died in 1864, and who was the mother of three sons:
Alfred married Della King, and has three sons: Lamoine, born May 1, 1888; Homer F., born January 4, 1891, and Russell L., born January 21, 1894.
George Purdy, the second son of A. L. Purdy, married Sarah Dawes, and their two children are Hazel M., born June 27, 1892, and Lawrence, born August 27, 1902.
Charles Purdy, the third son, died aged twenty-three years.
Mrs. Purdy was a Methodist in religion and a faithful wife and kindly member of the community in which she lived. On July 9, 1867, Mr. Purdy married Josephine Brown. She became the mother of twelve children, of whom nine are living: Mary Elizabeth is the wife of John Calvin Dawes, and they have eight children : Ethel May, born May 24, 1887, and who died at birth; Elsie Marie, born October 7, 1888, married Lorin Richardson, and they have two children, Marvin and Wilma Richardson; Lonie Josephine Dawes, born January 24, 1891, married Hugh Richardson; Mabel Leora Dawes, born August 3, 1895, died September 2, 1910; Everett Lee and Ernest Albert, twins, born May 22, 1901, and Ernest Albert, died when not quite a year old; Wilbur Calvin, born June 22, 1904; and Kenneth Werlin, born November 30, 1906.
William Henry Purdy, the second child of H. L. and Josephine Brown Purdy married Elizabeth Mills and lives in Canada. He had seven children : Ray M., Ruby June, wife of John Brown; Lester Elisha; Gladys Fern; Josephine Elizabeth; Clay, and Mary Rosabelle.
Rosie Belle, the third child, married Walter S. Walker, and they have two children : Dorothy Mildred and Jennie Josephine.
Elisha T., the fourth child, married Laura Tryon, and they have seven children : Lavone, Travis, Ella, Theodore (Teddy), Elisha Grant, Charlie and Corvin.
Edward, the fifth child, married Miss Grace M. Morford, and their four children are: Leo Charles, who died aged six weeks; Ralph Gerald, Kermit Dewan, and Vesta.
Nora, the sixth child, married B. F. Smyers, and has five children ; Hugh, Wayne, Wanda, Robert Henry and Doris.
Clara, the seventh child, married Philip Cramer and has two chil- dren, Bruce and Mildred.
Harley M., the eighth living child of H. L. and Josephine Brown Purdy, married January 10, 1914, Jessie Riddle of Nebraska. They were married in Montana, where she had taught school.
Roy, the ninth living child, married in Montana Myrtle M. Barnard, and they have one child, Millard Myrtle. Three children of H. L. and Josephine Brown Purdy are dead : John W., who died in infancy; Lillie,
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who also died when an infant, and Maudie May, who died aged two years, seven months and ten days.
Mrs. Josephine Purdy was born in Miami county, Indiana, August 27, 1846, a daughter of George M. and Elizabeth (Van Mater) Brown. She was one of a family of eleven children, and all are now deceased except three. Her early life was spent in Wabash county, with an education in the public schools, and she has always been, in addition to the duties of her household and the responsibilities of community life, a great reader of instructive books.
After his first marriage Mr. Purdy became a renter, and for seven years provided for his family in that way. The death of his first wife was a severe blow to him, and in his discouragement he spent some time working for wages. His first purchase of land was eighty acres in Pleasant township. A few acres of that had been improved, and on it stood a log cabin and stable. Mr. Purdy had practically no money when he bought that place, and assumed a debt of sixteen hundred dollars, but used such good judgment that he subsequently sold it at a profit, and bought the eighty acres comprising his present homestead in Noble township. Mr. Purdy during his active career has done a great deal to develop and increase the area of cultivated land in his section of the county. His farm when it came into his possession had twenty acres cleared and improved, and the building equipments comprised a one-story log house and a small stable. Then followed many years of arduous labor and thrifty management, and the farm has been improved in many ways, ditches have been dug, eight hundred rods of tile have been laid, tight fences have been placed around the fields, and sixty-five acres are now cleared up and produce crops every season. Mr. Purdy has also put up a number of new buildings, and the entire farm is a monument to his excellent business ability. In 1888 he erected a nice frame residence which is now his home, and in 1884 had built a barn on a foundation 34x58 feet. On Thanksgiving night of 1899 the barn with its contents of grain, hay and farm machinery, was burned to the ground, with a loss of two thousand dollars. This was only a temporary setback to his fortune, and in the following year he had com- pleted a still more commodious barn on the same site, on a foundation of 60x36 feet. Besides his home farm Mr. Purdy has twenty-five acres in Paw Paw township.
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For a man who began his career without a dollar, and with many discouraging circumstances to thwart him, Mr. Purdy's success is all the more praiseworthy. He is now clear of debt, and with the aid of his hard-working and thrifty wife has accumulated a prosperity that will last him till the end and will give something to the children, whom he and his wife have already provided with good schooling and home training and has started each on a path to worthy and useful living. Mr. Purdy is a Democrat, but his first vote went for Abraham Lincoln. He and his wife are stanch friends of public education, and are active and liberal in support of church and charity.
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NATHAN KING. There are few better known men in Lagro town- ship than the popular old blacksmith and stanch Democrat, Nathan King. Mr. King is the type of hard-working and honorable citizen who is a pillar of society in every community, who can always be depended upon and whose business and civic activities and private life are alike above reproach. He has, for so many years that only the older citizens can remember the beginning, conducted a shop at the village of Dora, and is also owner of sixty-five acres of land situated in two tracts in Lagro township.
Nathan King is a son of William and Nancy Ann (Owens) King, both of whom were born in North Carolina, but were married in Indiana. William had a first wife whom he married in North Carolina, and she died in Madison county, Indiana. The children of that union were: William, David, Cornelius, George W., Daniel, Thomas, Jesse and Polly, all of whom are now deceased. Miss Owens, his second wife, came to Indiana when quite young with her parents, James Owens and wife, who located in Madison county. To this second union were born the following children : Richard, Lydia Ann, John W., James, Elizabeth, Nathan, Elisha and Henrietta. All are now deceased except Nathan and Elisha, who is a farmer in Jay county.
In 1861 William King moved his family to Wabash county from Madison county, buying a farm which has since been acquired by his son Nathan. Both he and his wife died in that old homestead, he at the age of seventy-nine and she when seventy-one.
Nathan King was born on his father's farm in Madison county, Indiana, September 23, 1846. Mr. King is one of the comparatively few men still in active life who received at least a portion of their schooling in one of the old-fashioned and primitive log cabins which were the predecessors of the little red schoolhouse. The schoolhouse in which he learned his first lessons had a puncheon floor, and the benches on which the scholars sat were slabs smoothed off on one side, and were supported from the floor by pins driven into the underside. There were other primitive facilities with which he was familiar, such as the old-fashioned goose-quill pen, made by the teacher, and the cur- riculum consisted of the familiar three R's. He was about fifteen years of age when the family moved to Wabash county, and at Dora in July of the year he celebrated his twentieth birthday he started to learn the blacksmith's trade under James Fulton. The shop changed hands sev- eral times, but in about five years from the time the young apprentice started to learn his trade he had acquired ownership of the establish- ment, and each year from that time has found him at his anvil and forge, and the merry clink of his hammer shows that the village black- smith is always busy. For a couple of years his son, H. W., was with him, but during most of the time he has worked alone, and his skillful services have so long been offered the people of this community that they are depended upon almost as a permanent institution.
After the death of his mother, Nathan King bought out the interest of the other heirs in the old farm, and has since been its owner, his son
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Joseph now running it. On Christmas Day of 1868, Mr. King married Anzeletta Holdren. To their union have been born twelve children, five of whom died young and the others are mentioned briefly as follows: Mrs. Daisy Huston, who is the mother of two children, Arnold and Florence; Amanda E., the wife of Harry Scully; William Otto, who was a bright and popular young man, went west on account of his . health, and died at the age of thirty in California; Joseph, who is man- ager of the farm; Hubert, who married Grace Lenol; Iva May, who married Loren Sayer, and has one child, Maxine; Kizzie, the wife of James Adams, and the mother of one child, Virginia.
Mrs. King was born in Blackford county, Indiana, a daughter of Joseph C. and Mary (Hewett) Holdren. Her father, Joseph, was a car- penter and also a schoolmaster, was born in Pennsylvania, married in that state, and was the son of the one-time owner of the Hocking Valley Coal Mines. Joseph Holdren died at Andrews, Huntington county, and his wife passed away in the city of Marion. There were twelve children in the Holdren household, as follows: Loretto; Mary Ann; Josephine; Anzeletta; Olive, deceased; Susanna; Elizabeth; Nancy, deceased; Sarah, deceased; Mildred; Joseph, and Washington. Mrs. King came to Wabash county with her parents when eight years old, and her father later traded his farm for one near Andrews in Huntington county. Like her husband, Mrs. King received her education in a little log school- house. Both have witnessed the tremendous changes which five or six decades have introduced into all parts of the country, and as prosperous people who have done their duty to society and to their children they have a pleasing retrospect upon the past. They reside in a comfortable home near the shop.
Nathan King has been a lifelong democrat. He began voting during the years following the close of the Civil war and has long been regarded as one of the most influential party workers in Wabash county. In all these years he has never asked for an office, but could always be depended upon to support the ticket and his influence has again and again counted for the election of his friends. He and his family are members of the Christian church.
CHARLES LEE DAUGHERTY. Of the exponents of progressive and sci- entific farming and stock raising, Liberty township may well place re- liance upon such enterprising and energetic native sons as Charles Lee Daugherty, who was born here April 24, 1870, and whose entire career, passed here, has been marked by consecutive advancement in the line of his vocation and public-spirited fidelity to the engagements and duties of good citizenship.
Thomas G. Daugherty, the father of Charles Lee Daugherty, was born July 27, 1832, in Ohio, where he was given a common school edu- cation and reared on a farm. Shortly after his marriage he came to Wabash county, where he embarked in the packing business at Wabash with his brothers, and for thirty years continued to be identified with that industry, his extensive operations making him widely and
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favorably known in business circles. He invested heavily in farming and pasture lands and at the time of his death, February 9, 1914, was known as one of the prosperous men of his locality, owning 520 acres in Liberty township and a cattle ranch of 420 acres in New Mexico. Mr. Daugherty married Edith S. Darling, who was also a native of the Buckeye state, and they became the parents of five children, as follows: Marion Ross, who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Liberty town- ship; Grace, who passed away at the age of eleven years; Charles Lee, of this review ; Hollis F., who was twenty-six years old at the time of his death; and Dema, who died when six months old.
The boyhood and youth of Charles Lee Daugherty were passed on the homestead farm in Liberty township, and his early education was secured in the district schools, this being supplemented by a course in a business college at Lexington, Kentucky. Thus admirably fitted for his career he returned to Liberty township and adopted the vocation of farmer, in which he has been engaged to the present time. Mr. Daugh- erty has had no reason to regret his choice of occupations, for in the line of agricultural work he has met with very satisfactory success. He has applied himself to general farming and stock raising, has developed an excellent property and has come to be numbered among the progres- sive men of his community. He has a thorough knowledge of farming methods and conditions and believes in the use of modern machinery in his work. In politics Mr. Daugherty is a democrat, but has not found time to enter public life in search of personal preferment.
On November 14, 1894, Mr. Daugherty was married to Miss Lou Bright, who was born, reared and educated at Treaty, Indiana, and to this union there have been born three children, of whom two survive: Thomas A., who is attending the public schools of Wabash; and Grace, born January 3, 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Daugherty are consistent members of the Liberty Presbyterian church.
MARION ROSS DAUGHERTY. The agricultural interests of Liberty township have a worthy and capable representative in the person of Marion Ross Daugherty, the owner of 200 acres of well-improved land. A lifelong resident of this prosperous farming community, he has contributed materially to its progress and advancement, and is worthily entitled to the esteem in which he is held by the people among whom he has spent so many years. Mr. Daugherty was born in Liberty town- ship, January 12, 1865, and is a son of Thomas G. and Edith S. (Darling) Daugherty.
Thomas G. Daugherty was born in Ohio, July 27, 1832, was reared to manhood on a farm in the Buckeye state and there married, shortly after which he came to Wabash county and for thirty years was engaged in the packing business in partnership with his brothers. Through wise and well-directed management of his affairs Mr. Daugherty became the owner of 520 acres of valuable land in Wabash county, as well as a cat- tle ranch of 420 acres in New Mexico, and at the time of his death, Feb- ruary 9, 1914, was known as one of the prosperous men of Liberty town-
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ship. Mr. Daugherty married Edith S. Darling, who was also born in Ohio, and they became the parents of five children, namely: Marion Ross; Grace, who died at the age of eleven years; Charles Lee, who is engaged in farming in Liberty township; Hollis F., who died at the age of twenty-six years; and Dema, who died when six months old.
Marion Ross Daugherty was given good educational advantages in his youth, first completing the curriculum of the public schools of Liberty township, subsequently entering Otterbein University at Wester- ville, which he left during his sophomore year, and finally taking a course in a business college at Columbus, Ohio, from which he was grad- uated. Succeeding this Mr. Daugherty embarked upon his career at Columbus in a wholesale and retail queensware establishment, but after one year thus spent returned to Liberty township to engage in farming, to which he has since devoted his energies. For some years he gave a large part of his attention to breeding fine horses, and at one time was the owner of the famous stallion "Poem," 2:111/4, but of later years has applied himself to general farming and stock raising. A wide- awake and progressive agriculturist, a public-spirited and enlightened citizen, and a promoter of good government and education, he has been a distinctively helpful factor in the advancement of his community, where the members of his family have been so long and so favorably known. Politically Mr. Daugherty is inclined to be liberal in his views, exercising his franchise in support of the men and measures which his judgment tells him will be the best contributing forces to the general welfare.
Mr. Daugherty was married (first) in Liberty township to Miss Josephine Unthank, of Henry county, Indiana, who was a graduate of Spiceland Academy, and to this union there were born two children: Edith S., who is the wife of John Richards of Liberty township; and Helen, a graduate of the high school at Spiceland and resides with her father. Mrs. Daugherty died in March, 1901, and in April, 1903, Mr. Daugherty was married (second) to Miss Lizzie Hunt, daughter of the late Lieutenant William R. Hunt. They have no children. Mr. Daugh- erty has taken some interest in fraternal work, being a member of Wabash Lodge, Knights of Pythias, but is essentially a home man, pre- ferring the pleasures and comforts of his home surroundings to any to be secured in social circles. He has a wide acquaintance in Liberty town- ship, and his numerous friends give evidence of his general popularity.
HENRY THOMAS. One of the fine landed estates of Wabash county is the La Fontaine Stock Farm, which comprises 1941/2 acres and which is most eligibly situated in Liberty township, one and one-half miles east of the thriving little city of La Fontaine. Mr. Thomas is the owner of this admirably improved farmstead, and in the pursuance of his farm enterprise he has brought to bear much dynamic energy and marked circumspection, so that his success has been of high order and gives him status as one of the progressive and representative farmers and stockgrowers of this favored section of the Hoosier State. He gives
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