USA > Indiana > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Indiana, from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 30
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AMOS HAWKINS, brother of John Hawkins, Sen., settled in the township. He had but one son, Jonathan, and three daughters : Charity, Eliza, and Martha. Jonathan's sons were Newton, and Amos L., who married a daughter of Mor- decai Parry. Amos Hawkins was born in 1757, and died in 1837, aged 80 years.
BENJAMIN HILL was born in North Carolina, June 22, 1770. In 1802, he removed to Carroll county, Va., and thence, in the autumn of 1806, with his wife and five children, to the Whitewater country, and settled about 3 miles east from Rich- mond. The five children were, John, born February 20, 1797, and died in Rush county; Sarah, born June 17, 1798, who was married to Jehoshaphat Morris; Jacob, born February
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Nathan Hawkins.
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3, 1800, and died in Henry county ; William, born March 18, 1802, and died in Rush county ; Joseph, born August 4, 1804, and lives in Boon county. Soon after their arrival here, Mary was born December 27, 1806. The wife of Benj. Hill died soon after, and he was married to Martha Cox, who was born in Randolph county, N. C., November 28, 1779, and canie to Indiana in 1807. The children of this marriage were : 1. Benjamin, who married Sarah, a daughter of the late David Hoover. Their children are David H., Martha E., Albert G., Henry L., Anna C., George W. Benj. Hill resides 3 miles east of Richmond. 2. Harmon, who married Mary Henley. 3. Rebecca, the first wife of Thomas Newby. 4. Ezra, who married Mary Kirby. 5. Enos, who married Elizabeth Kirby.
Benj. Hill, Sen., died February 9, 1829, in his 59th year; Martha Hill, his widow, born November 28, 1779, died Janu- ary 25, 1867.
ROBERT HILL was born January 31, 1780, in North Carolina, where he married Susanna Morgan, and in 1806, settled about 3 miles east from Richmond. His children were; 1. Martha. 2. William, who married Zilpha Hallowell, and died in Iowa. 3. Benjamin, who married Ann Clark, and removed to Iowa. 4. Samuel, who married Susan Cook, and lives in Iowa. 5. Elizabeth, wife of Charles Shute, who died in this township. 6. Mary, wife of Wm. Parry. 7. Pennina, wife of Edward Shaw, in Richmond. 8. Charles, who married Jemima Clark, and lives in Richmond. 9. Robert, who married Elizabeth Clawson. 10. George, who married - Hibbard. Robert Hill, Sen., married for his second wife, Mrs. Rebecca Lathrop. He was a respected and worthy citizen and repre; sented the county one or two terms in the legislature.
GEORGE HOLMAN Was born in Maryland, February 11, 1762; and, when young, removed with his father to Pennsylvania. His mother having died when he was a child, his father placed him under the care of Henry Holman, a brother of his father. When about 16 years of age he removed with his uncle Henry to Kentucky. They were accompanied by a few other emi- grants, among whom was Edward Holman, Henry's brother, a member of whose family was Richard Rue, a year or two older than George Holman. The company settled near the
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site of the present city of Louisville. In February, 1781, as a historian dates the event, but probably about two years later, Irvin Hinton going to Harrodsburg for a load of flour, the young men, Rue and Holman, were sent with him as guards for his protection against the hostile Indians. While on their way out they were captured by a party of thirteen Indians, led by one Simon Girty, a white man, a native of Pennsylvania, and carried northward to Wa-puc-ca-nat-ta, on the Auglaize, where they were compelled to run the gauntlet, and barely escaped death. Hinton afterward made his escape, and was recaptured, and burned at the stake. Rue and Holman were afterward sentenced to a similar death. . Holman was rescued by an Indian, who adopted him as a son. After an affection- ate, mutual embrace, Rue was tied to a stake, encircled by dry brushwood. As the faggots were about to be applied to the dry brush, a young Shawnee sprang into the ring, and with a tomahawk chopped off the cord that bound him to the stake; led him out amidst the plaudits of some and the threats of others, and adopted him as a brother in the place of one he had recently lost.
These young men were in captivity three years and a half. Rue, who had been the last six months at Detroit, escaped with two other captives. After traveling nights and resting by day for twenty days, and narrowly escaping death by starvation, they safely reached the Ohio river. The Indians who were dissatisfied with Holman's release, succeeded in getting him again put on trial, and by a majority of one vote he was ac- quitted, and again rescued from the stake.
The protracted war having brought great distress upon the Indians, they ceased hostilities for a time, with a view to re- cruiting themselves. Holman proposed that if they would send with him to Kentucky a young Indian warrior.who knew the way to the Falls of the Ohio, he would apply to a rich uncle for the needed supplies, and obtain for them what they wanted. To this they assented; and Holman, with another prisoner and the young warrior, left Wa-puc-ca-nat-ta. Strik- ing the Ohio a few miles above Louisville, they swam across the river with their guns and blankets lashed on their backs, and proceeded to Louisville, where Gen. Clark was then
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stationed with troops and military stores, with whom they staid all night, and who, having learned the object of their mission, offered them all they wanted to procure the ransom of the two prisoners. [The writer has been told by one likely to know, that it was the purpose of Holman to return with the Indian, and to become a trader with the northern tribes.] A few days after his arrival he met at Edward Hol- man's his friend and fellow-prisoner Rue, who had arrived but three days before. Prior to their captivity, Rue had been in several campaigns under Gen. Clark; after their return, Rue was in two and Holman in one.
In 1804, Mr. Holman, with his friend Rue and one or two others, came to the Whitewater country, bought their lands two miles south of the present city of Richmond, and re- turned. The next year they came with their families, ac- companied by a number of their Kentucky friends. Being remote from any settlement, their privations and sufferings were probably more severe than those of any who came after them.
Mr. Holman was married in Kentucky. He had twelve children : 1. Joseph. [Sk.] 2. William, who married Rue Meek, daughter of Jacob Meek; was a captain in the war of 1812, and became a Methodist preacher in 1815; died Aug. 1, 1861. 3. John, who died at 5. 4, 5. Benjamin and Joel, in infancy. 6. Patsey, who married Wm. Meek. 7. Rebecca, who married John Woodkirk, and died on the Wabash. 8. Sarah, who married John Odell; removed to Oregon, where he died, and where she still resides. 9. Greenup, who mar- ried Lethe Druley, and died in Marion, Grant Co. 10. Jesse, who married, first, Nancy Galbraith, who died in this county; second, Sarah Julian, and died at Mt. Vernon, O., in 1868. 11. Catharine, who married Adam Porter. They live at Del- phi, Carroll Co. 12. Isaac, who married, removed to Cali- fornia, and died there.
ANDREW HOOVER was born in Maryland about the year 1751. His father, Andrew Hoover, and his wife's father, Rudolph Waymire, both emigrated from Germany to this country. An- drew Hoover, Sen., married Margaret Fouts in Pennsylvania, and settled in Maryland, where his son Andrew, the subject of
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this notice, was born. The latter married Elizabeth Waymire, and removed to North Carolina, where he resided until the autumn of 1802, when, with a large family, he removed to the Miami country in Ohio. In 1806, the family settled on Middle Fork of Whitewater, a mile and a half north-east of where Richmond now stands. The circumstances attending his settlement have been related. He had 10 children, all of whom were married, as follows : 1. Mary, born March 3, 1777, married Thomas Newman, father of John S. Newman, now of Indianapolis, and died about 1803. 2. Elizabeth, born Dec. 25, 1778, married Wm. Bulla, and died about the year 1857. 3. David; [see Sketch below.] 4. Frederick, born Sept. 24, 1783, married Catharine Yount, cousin of Catharine, David's wife, and had 11 children. He removed to the Wabash, where he died April 30, 1868. 5. Susanna, born in 1785, married Elijah Wright ; had 10 children, and died in the spring of 1870. 6. Henry; [see Sketch.] 7. Rebecca; [see Sketch of Isaac Julian.] 8. Andrew, born June 26, 1793, married Guliel- ma Ratliff, and died in 1866. 9. Catharine, born Jan. 4, 1796, married John MeLane; removed to Illinois, and died in 1865. 10. Sarah, born July 15, 1798, married Jacob Sanders, and had two daughters : Mary, who married Wm. Burgess, and is not living, and Elizabeth, who married Samson Boon, with whom Sarah Sanders now resides, in Richmond. Jacob Sanders died in 1862. Andrew Hoover, father of the family sketched above, died near the close of the year 1834, aged about 83 years. He is said to have had, at the time of his death, upward of one hundred descendants. In a note by the editor of Judge Hoover's Memoir, he says: "Except the eldest, who died young, [Mary, at the age of about 26,] his children were all living until March, 1857; the oldest survivor being seventy-eight, and the youngest fifty-eight years of age. In December, 1854, an interesting reunion of these brothers and sisters was had, at the house of one of their number, in Richmond."
DAVID HOOVER, son of Andrew Hoover, was born in Ran- dolph Co., N. C., April 14, 1781. He removed with his father's family to Ohio, in 1802, and thence in 1807, to White- water. [See page 29, and Memoir written by himself.] He
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married, March 31, 1807, Catharine Yount, near the Great Miami, and removed to the land selected and entered in 1806, and on which he had, before his removal, built a log cabin. On this farm he resided until his death, in 1866. Although his opportunities for acquiring an education were exceedingly lim- ited, having, as he wrote, " never had an opportunity of read- ing a newspaper, nor seen a bank-note, until after he was a man grown," he accumulated a fund of practical knowledge which fitted hin for the various public trusts confided to him by his fellow-citizens. In 1810, he was appointed a justice of the peace of Wayne county. In 1815, he was appointed an associate judge of the Wayne county circuit court. In Feb., 1817, he was elected clerk of that court, and held the office by re-election nearly fourteen years; and, as is stated in a biographical sketch, he might have continued in the office " had it not been that, owing to his domestic tastes, he could not be prevailed on to remove to the county seat, which the people required him to do." It is mentioned as evidence of his having the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens, that he had in his possession seven commissions for offices which he had held, besides his having had a seat in the senate of the state for six years. The duties of these offices he faith- fully and acceptably discharged. He delighted in reading. He collected a large and valuable library, embracing a wide range of literature, science, and general knowledge. This more than supplied the deficiency in his school education ; and his example strongly commends itself to the thousands of young men who profess to deplore the want of early educational advantages. They may find, as he found in the course he pur- sued, more than a substitute for the acquisitions of some from a full collegiate course. IIis politics and religion he states distinctly in his Memoir : "In politics, I profess to belong to the Jeffersonian school;" and he takes his motto from Mr. Jefferson's first inaugural : "Equal and exact justice to all men." He declares himself " a firm believer in the Christian religion," and "opposed to all wars and to slavery."
Judge Hoover had seven children, all of whom were mar- ried : 1. Hiram, who married Elizabeth Marmon. After her death he removed to Kansas, where he married Mary Price, and
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died. 2. Elizabeth was married to Jacob Thornburg, of New- castle, and after his death, to Simon T. Powell, of the same place. 3. Susan, to Wm. L. Brady, of Richmond. 4. Sarah, to Benj. Hill, of Wayne township. 5. Isabel, to James M. Brown, of Richmond. 6. Esther, to Henry Shroyer, of New- castle. 7. David, to Phebe Maey, and lives on the homestead of his father. Judge Hoover died September 12, 1866.
FREDERIC HOOVER, second son of Andrew Hoover, was born in North Carolina, Sept. 24, 1783, and came with his father's family to where they settled, on Middle Fork, in 1806. He married Catharine Yount, a cousin of Catharine Yount, the wife of his brother David, and settled in the neighborhood of his father, where he resided until the time of his death. Ilis occupation was that of a farmer during his life. He never sought public position or notoriety. He was a member of the society of Friends, and conscientious in the discharge of duty in the various relations of life. Christian philanthropy was a prominent trait in his character. He was an earnest advocate of the abolition of slavery, and of the principles of peace, as held by the Friends. He had in youth very limited educational advantages; but he availed himself, in after life, of such means as were afforded for the cultivation of his mind. He was withal personally agreeable and interesting; and his weight little less than three hundred pounds. Two or three years be- fore his death his mind began to fail, and, at the time of his decease, was nearly a blank. Yet his devotional habits were continued to the last, he being regularly in his place at the Friends' meeting. He died at the residence of his son, Alex- ander, in Thorntown, on the Wabash, April 30, 1868. His body was brought home and interred in the family burial- ground.
HENRY HOOVER, third son of Andrew Hoover, was born in North Carolina, Sept. 22, 1788, and came, when about 18 years of age, with his father's family to Whitewater in 1807. He married Susanna Clark, sister of the late Daniel Clark, of Wayne township, and settled in the vicinity of his father's residence. Like the sons of most of the early settlers, he had grown up where educational advantages were extremely limited. With little more learning than an imperfect knowledge of reading,
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Fleury Hoover
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writing, and the few simpler parts of arithmetic, he commenced life for himself on a new farm, a condition generally deemed unfavorable to mental and intellectual improvement. But, like his brother above noticed, he had recourse to home read- ing and study, which he, too, found more than a substitute for the mere learning of the schools. Few in this educational age commenced the business of life with so poor an education as he did; yet comparatively few became so well fitted for life's duties and responsibilities. Ile was right in considering the additions he was making to his fund of practical knowledge, as no, less valuable than the yearly products of a well-cultivated farm. He was carly appointed or elected to offices of greater or less responsibility. He was in 1825 a member of the legis- lature, the first that convened at Indianapolis. In 1832, he was appointed by Gen. Cass, then secretary of war, sec- retary to the commissioners appointed to hold two Indian treaties. In personal appearance, he is said to have been ex- celled by few; and his native dignity of bearing " gave the world assurance of a man." His religious history, though showing changes in his church relations, evinces, nevertheless, firmness of principle. He was a member of the society of Friends. In 1828, during the visit of Elias Hicks at Rich- mond, after his followers had separated from the meeting, Mr. Hoover several times attended his preaching, in consequence of which he lost his standing in the old society. He did not, however, join the new, but remained for about fifteen years without any church connection. In 1830, he removed to a farm he had purchased on Noland's Fork, a few miles from the town of Washington, where he united with the Methodist Church, of which he was a devoted and an active member. Trained from his childhood in the simpler modes and forms of worship, he was pained at the introduction of melodeons, or- gans and choirs, and absented himself from the meetings of the church, and finally withdrew. His wife died Aug. 9, 1853. In December, 1854, he married Mrs. Lydia Z. Vaughan ; and in 1855 he sold his farm and removed to Richmond, where he resided until his death, July 23, 1868, aged nearly 80 years. Within the last year of his life he united with the Fifth street
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society of Friends, of which he was a member at the time of his death.
Mr. Hoover had seven children: 1. Alfred, who married Mary Alred, and resides in Kosciusko Co. 2. Mary, who married David Culbertson, and died at Mt. Vernon, Iowa. 3. Anna, who married Thomas Harvey, who lives in Wayne township. 4. Martha, who married Daniel Culbertson, and lives in the town of Washington. 5. Allen, who married Ruth Jackson; both died at Mt. Vernon, Iowa. 6. Daniel, who married Henriett Heagy. 7. Henry, who married Louisa Lamb, and died at Mt. Vernon, Iowa. The two sons and one danghter were all buried within three years after their removal to Mt. Vernon.
NATHANIEL MCCLURE settled, in 1809, abont 3 miles south- east from Richmond. He had six sons and seven daughters, all of whom attained the age of majority, except a daughter, who died at 11. In 1847, the father and two sons died on or near the same day. The time between the death of the father and that of the younger son was but two hours. The father and the two sons, James and Alexander, were buried in one grave. Jane, a daughter, died but a few days before. Three daughters, Isabel D., Sarah W., and Elizabeth L., are still living in the city.
JOHN MARTIN was born in Delaware, November 17, 1780, and settled in Chester county, Pa .; was married to Ruth Stevens, and in 1837 removed to Wayne township, on Middle Fork of Whitewater, one mile south of Middleboro'. About " the year 1853, he removed to Linn Co., Iowa, where he died, March 18, 1871. He had six children who passed the age of infancy: 1. John S., who was killed by the running away of a team, at the age of 14. 2. Benjamin L. [Sk.] 3. Nathan W., unmarried, in Linn county, Iowa. 4. Isaac N., who mar- ried Elizabeth Reed, daughter of John Reed, now of Rich- mond, and lives in Linn county, Iowa. 5. Hannah, who married Jacob Brown, removed to Iowa, and died there. 6. John T., who married Lydia Moore, moved to Iowa, thence to Kansas, where he died. About the year 1833, John Mar- tin removed to Linn county, Iowa, and died there, March 18, 1871.
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Berg. L. Martin.
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BENJAMIN L. MARTIN, son of John Martin, was born in Chester county, Pa., December 27, 1806, and in 1831, was married to Sarah Chrisman. In 1839, he removed to Wayne township in this county, and in 1849 to Centerville, where he was engaged as clerk in the auditor's office until 1855, when he was elected county auditor, and in 1859 was re-elected for a second term. In 1863, he was appointed by President Lin- coln paymaster in the army in the Mississippi department, and served in the Cumberland, Potomac, and North-western departments ; and was mustered out of service in December, 1865. On his return from the army, he settled near Chester, on the farm on which he now resides. In 1866, he was elected a representative in the legislature, and re-elected in 1870, which office he now holds. He had seven children, besides two that died in infancy: 1. Rebecca N. S., who was married to Wm. S. Boyd. 2. Nathan W., to Artelissa Cheeseman, and is on a farm near Chester. 3. John Wesley, to Jennie Jones, and is a merchant at Chester. 4. Benjamin F., to Sarah Al- media Jemison, of Centerville. 5. William C., to Angelina Hunt, and lives in Lawrence, Kansas. 6. Isaac N., unmar- ried, in Harrisburg, Pa. 7. Theodore S., unmarried, at home.
MEEK FAMILIES .- JACOB MEEK, from Kentucky, in 1806, settled two miles south of Richmond, where Charles Price lately resided. His sons were : John, who removed from the county, and died. Jeremiah L., who came to the township in 1807. [Sk.] Isaac, who, after a residence here of many years, removed to Illinois, and died there. William, who mar- ried Patsey Holman. Jacob Meek's daughters were l'atsey, who married Elijah Fisher, an early sheriff of the county ; Effie, who married William Grimes.
JEREMIAn L. MEEK was born in Pennsylvania, in the year 1780, moved with his father to Kentucky ; and in the winter of 1805-6, his father came to Whitewater, and was soon fol- lowed by Jeremiah, who found his father there living in a cabin on the place where Alexander Grimes afterward lived and died. In the spring following, he, with others, went with five horses to Lawrenceburg, in quest of breadstuff, and were gone seven days. Lodging in the woods, they piled up brush to lie on for fear of snakes. They returned with a
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supply to last until fall. His pioneer experience was an interesting one. His sons were: 1. William, who married Sally, a daughter of Daniel Fouts; afterward removed to the west. 2. Franklin, who married a daughter of Wm. Lamb, and lives at Des Moines, Iowa, where Mr. Lamb died. 3. Morton, who married Jane, a daughter of Smith Hunt, and resides where his father died, two miles below Richmond, on the west side of the river. 4. Jeremiah L., who married a daughter of D. Wilson. 5. Alexander G., who died unmar- ried.
JEREMIAH MEEK, from Kentucky, a cousin of Jeremiah L., also came about the year 1807. He was one of the first asso- ciate judges of the county courts; a member of the consti- tutional convention of 1816, and afterward a member of the legislature.
JOHN MEEK, sometimes called "little John," was a brother of Jeremiah, the judge. His sons were: 1. William, who removed from the county about fifty years ago. 2. Joseph, who married a daughter of John Smith, of Richmond, and resides in Abington. 3. John, who married Polly, a daugh- ter of Jeremiah L. Meek, and removed from the county. 4. Jeptha, who removed west some forty years ago. A daugh- ter of John Meek married John Smith, Jun., who lives in Wabash county. Another daughter married Daniel Fraley, and removed from the county.
JOSHUA MEEK, also a brother of Jeremiah, the judge, died in the township. He had a son, Jacob, who resides in Cen- ter. Rachel, a sister of Judge Meek, was the wife of Hugh Cull.
CHARLES MOFFITT was born in North Carolina, September 25, 1774, and was married, in 1804, to Elizabeth Cox, who was born July 6, 1784, and was a sister of Jeremiah Cox, Sen. Moffitt removed to Wayne township in 1811, and settled on the farm on which his son IIngh Moffitt resides, near Rich- mond, where he lived until his decease, December, 1845. IIis widow died November 30, 1860. They had twelve children, besides one that died in infancy : 1. Hugh, above mentioned. 2. Jeremiah, who married Cynthia Ann Cook, and settled at Thorntown, Ind., where he died, and where she lives with a
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1
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second husband, James Woody. 3. Tacy, who married Wm. Cloud; both reside there. 4. Eunice, unmarried, at Rich- mond. 5. Hannah, who married, first. Jacob Craig, who died of cholera, in 1834; second, Dr. James W. Marmon, who died of cholera in 1849; she died a month after. 6. John, who married Martha Caldwell, and after her death, Laura Alred ; he lives in Indianapolis. 7. Mary, who died young. 8. Na- than, who married Rhoda Ann Johnson, daughter of James Johnson, late of Richmond, and died at 29. She married Wm. Butler, of Ohio, and removed to Iowa. 9. Ruth, who married Dr. Joseph J. Perry, of Richmond. 10. Elizabeth, wife of Alpheus Test, of Boston towhship. 11. Abijah, who married Lydia, daughter of Wm. Townsend, deceased, and owns the homestead of his father, but resides at Thorntown, Boone county. 12. Anna F., wife of Eli Stubbs, of Rich- mond.
HUGH MOFFITT, son of Charles Moffitt, was born March 21, 1806, in North Carolina, and came, when young, with his father to Wayne, in 1811. He married Mary Childre, of Ohio. They never had children. They have, however, adopted and reared a number, one of whom was Mary Barker, now the wife of Wm. Baxter. Hugh Moffitt settled soon after marriage at Thorntown, Boone county, and returned in January, 1845, having, with his brother Nathan, bought his father's grist-mill, now owned by Benjamin and Ezra Hill, with the land adjoining, where he now resides, in the enjoy- ment, in large measure, of the comforts and blessings of a well-ordered life.
JOSEPH PARRY was born in Pennsylvania in 1788, and re- moved, in 1827, to Richmond, and died in 1870. With him came six children, all of them still living : William, Robert, Isaac, Grace, Mordecai, George. William, [Sk.] Robert, Grace, wife of Cornelius Vanzant, and Mordecai, reside in Richmond; Isaac in Norristown, Penn .; George, since 1849, in California.
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