History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume 2, Part 56

Author: Clarkson W. Weesner
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 619

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HENRY A. SWEET. The great fundamental industry of agriculture must ever constitute the basis of our national prosperity, and in this twentieth century the life of the farmer is one that is to be envied for its manifold advantages, its independence and its opportunities. For- tunate are they who, in peace and prosperity, are thus enabled to live "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife," and Wabash county has its full quota of progressive and affluent agriculturists, with attractive homes and with privileges and accessories that were unknown to farm life even a generation ago. In Liberty township a popular citizen and representative farmer is Henry A. Sweet, and he is well entitled to recognition in this history.

Mr. Sweet claims the fine old Bluegrass state as the place of his nativity, and there his paternal and maternal ancestors settled in an early day. He was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, on the 30th of October, 1861, and is a son of Marlin and Margaret (Boys) Sweet, both

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of whom passed their entire lives in Kentucky, the father having been a prosperous agriculturist in Fleming county, where both he and his wife died. Henry A. Sweet was but one year old at the time of his father's death and three years later his mother likewise passed to the life eternal. The orphaned child was taken into the home of his maternal grand- parents by whom he was reared to adult age, in his native county, where he continued to attend the public schools until he had attained to the age of seventeen years. In 1880, at the age of nineteen years, Mr. Sweet came to Indiana and became a resident of Liberty township, Wabash county. His financial rsources were to be designated only by their ab- sence, and he did not possess even a good suit of clothes. Dependent upon his own exertions in making his way in the world, he bravely faced the conditions that obtained, and he began work as a farm hand, with compensation fixed at fifteen dollars a month. He continued to be in the employ of others until the time of his marriage, and in the mean- while he had exercised the utmost economy, as evidenced by the fact that from his wages he had saved the sum of $800.00. At the time of his assumption of connubial responsibilities Mr. Sweet was employed as motorman on the street-car lines in the city of Marion, the judicial center of Grant county, and about one year after his marriage he returned to Wabash county, where he purchased forty-seven acres of land, in Liberty township, and initiated his independent career as an agricul- turist and stock-grower. He has since added forty acres to his farm, and thus has a place of eighty-seven acres, upon which he has made ex- cellent improvements and which he has brought under a fine state of productiveness, the attractive homestead being situated seven and one- half miles southeast of Wabash. His farm is well stocked, and he has an automobile for the pleasure of his family. Success is the natural pre- rogative of such valiant personalities as Mr. Sweet, and he has achieved independence and definite prosperity through his own ability and well ordered endeavors, the while he has guided his course in such a way as to merit and receive the implicit confidence and respect of his fellow men, none of whom can justly fail to accord to him praise for what he has accomplished as a member of the world's noble army of productive workers.

In politics Mr. Sweet gave unswerving allegiance to the republican party until the national campaign of 1912, when he enlisted under the leadership of Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and allied himself with the newly organized progressive party, the principles and policies of which are in accord with his judgment. Both he and his wife are zealous mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is a member of the official board of the church of this denomination at La Fontaine. The attractive family home is pervaded by hospitality and good cheer and is a favored rendezvous for the many friends of Mr. and Mrs. Sweet and their pop- ular daughter.

On the 22d of August, 1894, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Sweet to Miss Lulu MeNeil, who was born in the little village of Amer- ica, Wabash county, on the 15th of December, 1872, and who is a daugh-

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ter of Daniel and Laura (Thompson) McNeil, her father having been reared in Wabash county. Mr. and Mrs. Sweet have one daughter, Ruby L., who was born on the 7th of February, 1897, and who is a member of the class of 1915 in the high school at La Fontaine. She is a talented musician.

BENJAMIN BANISTER. Among the progressive business men and rep- resentative citizens of La Fontaine and vicinity is Benjamin Banister, who is associated with his brothers in the management of a prosperous grain business at the village of Treaty. He is a native son of Wabash county, has found in this locality the opportunities for definite and worthy achievement along normal lines of enterprise, and for a num- ber of years has been engaged in the buying and shipping of grain.

Benjamin Banister was born on a farm in Liberty township, Wabash county, August 18, 1869, a son of John T. and Anna (Poston) Banister. His parents were both natives of Rush county, Indiana, and repre- sentatives of pioneer families. His father was for many years one of the substantial farmers of Wabash county, and is now retired from active labors after earnest and productive application, he and his wife having a pleasant home in the village of La Fontaine. Of their eight children four are living: Joseph, Benjamin and Harry, all associated in the grain business at Treaty, and Elizabeth, the wife of Albert S. Crawford of La Fontaine. The earliest memories of Benjamin Banister are asso- ciated with the old homestead on which he was reared and in the work of which he early began to lend his aid. He attended school during the winter months and devoted the intermediate seasons to the work of the home farm until he attained the age of seventeen. Mr. Banister has been dependent upon his own resources in winning for himself a position of independence and prosperity, and his early experiences gave him an appreciation of the dignity and value of honest toil and endeavor. His independent career began as a farmer on rented land, and he showed his original enterprise by purchasing a hay baler and operated it on different farms for several seasons. This experience was followed by his beginning as a buyer and shipper of grain, and his energies and abil- ities have found ample outlet in this work and have placed him among the substantial business leaders of this county. Mr. Banister realizes fully the duties of both private and civic life, and his course has been guided by the strictest principles of integrity and honor, so that he well merits the high esteem in which he is held. A broadminded citizen, entirely without ostentation, he pursues his duties in a manner to make him useful, but at the same time he has never shown a desire for political prominence, although an active member of the republican party and with a record in local offices that he has accepted as a matter of duty. Mr. Banister served four years as assessor of Liberty township, and is a member of the village council of La Fontaine. At primary elec- tions in 1914 he was nominated by the republicans for the office of county auditor. Mr. Banister owns a well improved farm of 160 acres

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in the southwest quarter of Section 20, Liberty township. He and his family are earnest members of the Christian church.

In November, 1890, Mr. Banister married Miss Neva Lane, who was born in Miami county, Indiana. At the age of five years she accompanied her parents to Wabash county, and was reared and educated in this county. Of the four children born to their union three are living : Catherine, who graduated from the La Fontaine high school, has been a successful teacher, and is now in the class of 1915 at the Indiana State Normal School at Muncie; Madge, who is a graduate of the La Fontaine high school and is the wife of Lawrence Blood, of Wabash; and Mary A., a student in the high school at La Fontaine.

BENJAMIN OPPENHEIM. One of the oldest and most firmly estab- lished mercantile enterprises in North Manchester is the general dry goods firm of B. Oppenheim & Company. Founded nearly forty years ago by the father of the present proprietors, the store has continued to improve with the development of the surrounding trade territory and in keeping with modern methods of merchandising, and it is generally conceded to be the largest and best stocked store in its line in that part of Wabash county. The senior partner, Benjamin Oppenheim, took active charge of the business at the death of his father more than thirty years ago, and the best evidence of his ability and standing as a mer- chant is found in the fact that the gross revenues of the store have in- creased fully fourfold in the past thirty years, showing a marked con- centration of business due to reliable dealings and progressive methods of merchandising.

Benjamin Oppenheim was born in Detroit, September 22, 1863, a son of Jacob and Pauline (Goldman) Oppenheim. In 1875 the family moved to North Manchester, and here Jacob Oppenheim opened a dry goods store and before his death, which occurred eight years later, had placed the business on a sound foundation. Jacob Oppenheim was a good business man and was esteemed for his excellent citizenship as well. In politics a democrat and a public spirited citizen of his com- munity, he lived quietly and was never in public affairs. In his death on October 1, 1893, the community of North Manchester and the entire county lost a valued business man and an able citizen. His widow passed away on Easter Sunday of 1913. Their six children were: Ben- jamin, Anna, Isaac, Fanny, Ida and Etta.

Benjamin Oppenheim spent the first twelve years of his life in De- troit, where he attended the public schools, and continued his education at North Manchester for a time. He was still a boy when he entered his father's store and his experience acquainted him with every detail of dry goods merchandising. Though only twenty years of age at the time of his father's death, he was well qualified for managing the busi- · ness, and has since continued its active head. In later years a younger brother, Isaac, was admitted to partnership, and the brothers are now sole owners of the establishment.

In June, 1892, Mr. Oppenheim married Nettie Kohn, a daughter of

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Marx Kohn of Wabash. They have one son, Gene J., now a student in the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois.

MARK JONES. Among the early settlers who deserve a permanent place in the records of their county was Mark Jones, who located in Noble township in 1847. He was an interesting character and a man of solid worth and accomplishments. He was one of those old-fashioned Quakers, who were not only devoted to the tenets of their faith, but lived up to their teachings in all respects. When he came here the country was in a primitive condition. The Indians were still here, and wild ani- mals and game abounded. He possessed the courage of the pioneer and by the hardest kind of manual labor bore his part in converting Wabash lands from a wild condition. His creed was to do unto others as he would be done by, to worship God after the teachings of his father, to walk uprightly in all the paths of life, to which he was appointed, and to rear his children to fear God and to honorable citizenship. If success in life is measured by succeeding in undertakings, then Mark Jones' life was eminently successful.

He married Esther Jenkins, and both he and his wife were natives of Darke county, Ohio. After coming to Wabash county, Mr. Jones farmed until about the close of the Civil war, when he turned his at- tention to the manufacture of lumber, having previously in connection with farming, operated a "muley" sawmill, on the Somerset Pike. From 1865 to 1868 he had a circular sawmill, one of the first in the county. In 1868, he started a hub and spoke factory in Wabash, but later, in partnership with Eli Hutchins and W. D. Jones, converted this into a concern for the manufacture of a cheap grade of furniture for which there was at that time a large demand.

Mr. Jones was uniformly successful, but success was attained only through discouraging circumstances at times, hard work and sound busi- ness judgment. Few men have left a better impress for good upon the minds of the people than Mark Jones. He died February 5, 1877, when fifty-two years of age. To this marriage four sons and three daughters were born.

WILLIAM PRESTON JONES. The record of William Preston Jones in his independent relation with commercial enterprise in the city of Wabash will soon have covered a period of forty years. Men do not re- main in one locality and steadily prosper without furnishing an adequate service to the community, and a veteran merchant like Mr. Jones always has a place of peculiar esteem among a large patronage, and in the gen- eral citizenship. Mr. Jones has been furnishing the homes of Wabash county citizens with furniture and household goods for more than a gen- eration, and in point of continuous years is one of the oldest of Wabash merchants.

A son of Mark Jones, whose career is briefly sketched in preceding paragraphs, William Preston Jones was born on his father's farm three miles southwest of Wabash, November 25, 1849. When a baby he was taken to another place, two and a half miles from Wabash on the Yankee Vol. II-31

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Road, where he lived until twelve years of age. After that his home was in south Wabash until he was married. In the meantime he had ac- quired an education in the neighboring district schools, and was em- ployed as a farmhand until about twenty years of age. His father in the meantime had become identified with the lumber industry, and also had a shop for the manufacture of cabinet work, and in this shop William P. Jones learned the trade of cabinent maker, and gained a practical ex- perience in the turning and fabrication of various kinds of furniture. He remained until 1875 in that factory, and in 1876 began his inde- pendent career when he bought an interest in the retail furniture store with Nelson Rector of Jone, Hutchins & Company in Canal street. Three years later, in 1879, Mr. Jones bought the interest of his partner, and has continued at the head of the establishment ever since. With the progress of time other lines have been added to his furniture busi- ness, such as carpets, stoves, certain lines of leather goods, curtains and a general stock of household equipment. Undertaking was a feature of the establishment when he bought the property, and Mr. Jones now has a record of having officiated as undertaker at the burial of more people in Wabash county than any other in that profession. In this line of work he has bestowed a care which harmonizes with the affection felt by the living for the dead.

Mr. Jones is a republican, and for four years served in the city council. He has taken the Knights Templar degrees in Masonry, and is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In April, 1875, he married Miss Louise S. Coble. Four children have been born to their marriage as follows: Howard C .; Homer M .; Porter E .; and Paula L., who is the wife of Goldwin Small. Of his sons, Howard C. and Homer M. since 1905 have been associated with their father in busi- ness. Porter E. is the manager of the Dearborn Drug & Chemical Com- pany over the states of Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, with headquarters at Philadelphia. Mr. Jones holds a birthright membership in the Quaker church.

HOMER WILSON CHARLES. The Charles family was established in Wabash county in 1863, and has been well known in different sections of Indiana since pioneer times. Among the former residents of Wabash county who have gained distinction in their respective fields in other states is Homer W. Charles, who was reared in Wabash county and thirty years ago was at the beginning of his career as an educator in this county. Mr. Charles has for many years been prominent in educational affairs in the State of Kansas, and for the past thirteen years has been superintendent of the State Industrial School for boys at Topeka, and is a recognized authority on that branch of sociology and education con- nected with the problems of delinquent boys.

Homer Wilson Charles was born October 17, 1855, in Henry county, Indiana. The founder of the Charles family in America was probably William Charles, who at the age of twenty-one years sailed from Grave- send, England, on the ship Assurance on July 24, 1635, for Virginia.

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Later the family emigrated to what was then Albermarle county, North Carolina, and took a prominent part in the development of that colony. Being Quakers, they were opposed to the oppression of the English church, and lent their influence towards the establishment of freedom of conscience among the colonists. They were large land owners in the country lying immediately north of Albermarle town, and bore a prom- inent part in the development of that locality. On account of their re- ligious scruples they were opposed to the bearing of arms, and for this reason few of them enlisted in the Revolutionary army, although they gave material aid to the cause, and one of the family, Elijah Charles, is said to have served as a guide to General Nathaniel Greene during his campaign in the South. On account of their opposition to the institution of slavery, most of the family who still remained in the Southern states at that time emigrated North about the beginning of the nineteenth cen- tury. The authentic history of the Charles family in this branch begins with Samuel Charles, great-great-grandfather of H. W. Charles. Samuel Charles married Abigail Anderson, daughter of John Anderson and his wife Elizabeth, in February, 1755, in Perquimans county, North Caro- lina. Benjamin Charles, the great-grandfather, was married in April, 1794, in Perquimans county, North Carolina, to Sarah Jones, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Overman) Jones. Grandfather William Charles was born in North Carolina, May 21, 1900, and died in Henry county, Indiana, August 4, 1849. In early life he removed to Henry county, where he secured land from the government. On August 8, 1828, he mar- ried Phariba Pike, daughter of Jesse and Nancy Ann (Waymouth) Pike.

Jesse Pike Charles, father of the Topeka educator, was born Novem- ber 6, 1831. On October 8, 1854, he married Lorinda Miner. The family continued to live in Henry county, Indiana, until the autumn of 1863, when they removed to Wabash county. Following the example of the family as far back as the early colonial times, Jesse P. Charles was a tiller of the soil. His education was limited to that which could be ac- quired in the common schools of the period. In religion he was a Quaker in early life, but later became a member of the Methodist church. In politics he was a republican, having cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont in 1856. His last vote was cast for William H. Taft in 1908. This was in fact his last public act as he was stricken with his fatal illness on the day following the election. Jesse P. Charles, though not a wealthy man, left his family in comfortable circumstances. He never sought preferment or worldly honors, and as measured by the standards of the world his lot was a humble one, but he loved his family, his neighbors, his country and his God. His ideals were few, but he lived up to their full measure. Honesty and integrity were his measure of a man, and he never fell below the standard he set for others. His death occurred November 17, 1908, and he was buried in the family lot in Center Grove cemetery, nine miles southeast of Wabash.

Lorinda Miner, wife of Jesse P. Charles, came of an English family, the history of which dates back to the year 1339, when Henry Miner, the

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first of the name, who lived in Somersetshire, England, was given a coat of arms by King Edward III to whom he offered his services in Edward's war against France. The first of the family in America was Thomas Miner, who came to New England in 1630 with John Winthrop. He landed at Salem, afterwards went to Saybrook, Connecticut, and still later removing to Stonington. He was buried in the ancient burial ground near Stonington, and his headstone bears the oldest inscription of any in the yard. When King Philip's war broke out he was ap- pointed a lieutenant in the colonial troops. The grandfather of Lorinda Miner was Peter Miner, whose death occurred August 16, 1822. Her father's nume was James Miner, who was born December 18, 1794, and died near Lewisville, Indiana, February 20, 1851. On April 3, 1820, he was married to Elizabeth Cartwright, who was born April 13, 1803, and who died April 28, 1880. Lorinda Miner, who was born in Henry county, Indiana, December 14, 1836, had only a common school educa- tion.

Homer Wilson Charles, who through his ancestry thus represents old and strong American stock, was eight years of age when his parents moved to Wabash county in 1863. He attended the public schools, and at the age of eighteen began teaching. Like many others, educational work was no stepping stone to other professions, but has remained the object of his studious endeavors and active energies throughout his career. Mr. Charles subsequently attended the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio, and still later the Northern Indiana Normal Schools, now known as Valparaiso University, where he was graduated in 1879. In the fall of the latter year he became principal of Amboy Academy at Amboy, Indiana, remaining there two years, for the following two years was principal of schools at Somerset, Indiana, and then for one year was principal in the schools of South Wabash.

In September, 1885, a few weeks after his marriage, Mr. Charles moved to Sedgwick, Kansas, where he had been elected principal of schools. That was his position for eight years, and he was then elected superintendent of city schools at Washington, Kansas, where he likewise gave his services for eight years. Mr. Charles in 1901 was appointed superintendent of the State Industrial School for Boys at Topeka. His experience in public school work had fitted him for that position of responsibility, and his success is shown by the fact that he has served the state through five administrations and is now finishing his thirteenth year as superintendent. Mr. Charles has always been a student of social affairs and brought into this new field of effort a broad view of the prob- lems with which he deals in his educational capacity. He now has one of the largest private libraries in the United States, of works relating to the problem of juvenile delinquency. Mr. Charles has delivered ad- dresses in many states upon subjects relating to delinquent boys, has been president of the State Conference of Charities and Correction in Kan- sas; was vice president and for several years was a member of the ex- ecutive committee of the National Conference on the education of Back- ward, Truant and Delinquent Children, and was also a member of the ex-

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ecutive committee of the National Conference of Charities and Cor- rection. As an author Mr. Charles has contributed a number of articles on subjects relating to the work in which he is engaged, including among other titles "Physical Defects that Contribute to Delinquency," "A Study in Juvenile Delinquency," and "Till the Doctor Comes : A First Aid Manual." At the present time he has in manuscript form a work upon The Delinquent Boy which is to be published at an early date.

Mr. Charles cast his first vote for Rutherford B. Hayes, and has al- ways been a republican, but with little time for matters outside of the strict lines of his profession. Although never in active military service, he has been interested in military affairs, and at this time holds a major's commission from the governor of Kansas. Mr. Charles has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for more than forty years, and almost his entire life has been a worker in Sunday school and in the various departments of church activity. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for many years, and has attained thirty-two degrees in the Scottish Rite.

On August 20, 1885, shortly before moving to Kansas, Mr. Charles married Maude Harvey of Somerset, Indiana. She was born at Somerset, November 16, 1865, a daughter of Elmer Gordon and Alice E. (Jones) Harvey. Mrs. Charles is a graduate of the Somerset high school and has been a close student of social problems, especially those relating to the social conditions that produce juvenile delinquency. Her father, Elmer G. Harvey, was a member of a prominent family of Knox (now Morris) county, Ohio, where he was born May 20, 1835, and at an early age removed with his parents to Kosciusko county, Indiana, where he lived until the breaking out of the Civil war. He enlisted in the Twelfth In- diana Volunteer Infantry, and was with his regiment until discharged. By trade a wagon maker, he followed that occupation many years, and died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. G. E. Barley, at Washington, Kansas, March 10, 1914. Alice E. Jones, the mother of Mrs. Charles, came from an old and respected family of early colonial times, two of her ancestors having served in the Revolutionary army during the war for independence. She was born in Peru, Indiana, August 26, 1846, and died at Somerset, Indiana, March 1, 1875. Mr. Charles and wife have had two children: Beatrice Alice, born May 20, 1886; and Margaret Harvey, born September 5, 1888, both at Sedgwick, Kansas. Beatrice died September 4, 1903, at Topeka. At the time of her death she was a member of the sophomore class of the Topeka high school and a young woman of great promise. Margaret completed the grades in the schools of Topeka, entered the College of the Sisters of Bethany at Topeka, where she was graduated in music in 1908, and the following year continued her studies in the conservatory of Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois. On October 16, 1912, she married Alfred Lirch Thiele of Orofino, Idaho. They immediately took up their residence at Orofino, where Mr. Thiele is engaged in the banking business. On August 1, 1914, a son, Homer Charles Thiele, was born to them.

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History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume 2, Part 56

Author: Clarkson W. Weesner Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Number of Pages: 619

Author: Clarkson W. Weesner
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 619