USA > Indiana > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Indiana, from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 31
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WILLIAM PARRY, son of Joseph Parry, was born in Mont- gomery county, Penn., in 1810, and came, in 1827, with his father, to Richmond. He worked for many years at his trade- that of plasterer, and then purchased the farm on which he
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
now resides, two miles north of Richmond. In 1849-51, he constructed the turnpike from Richmond to Williamsburg, and was elected president of the company, and has remained such to the present time. IIe was also president of the Wayne County Turnpike Company from 1858 till October, 1871, when the pressure of other business compelled him to resign. In 1868, he was elected president of the Cincinnati, Richmond, and Fort Wayne Railroad Company, which posi- tion he still occupies. Under his energetic supervision the road is rapidly approaching completion ; and before the close of the present year [1871,] will be opened to Fort Wayne. And since the year 1853, he has held the office of township trustee. He is an active and efficient member of the society of Friends. In 1833, he was married to Mary, daughter of Robert Hill. Their children are Joseph, who married Jen- nie Ivins ; Sarah ; Susannah ; Robert; Samuel, who married Mattie Smith, in October, 1871; Elizabeth, and Mary.
ENOCHI RAILSBACK, son of David, was born in North Caro- lina, May 26, 1798, and removed with his father's family to this county in 1807. He married Nancy Fouts, daughter of Jacob Fouts. After a temporary residence in several places, he settled permanently, where he now resides, on Wayne township west line, a part of his farm having been the site of Salisbury. He had six children : Sarah, wife of Andrew Elia- son. Elizabeth, wife of John Sellars, Mound City, Kansas. Elvonia, wife of John Pugh, and died at Centerville, Jan. 1, 1851. Jehiel, unmarried, attorney at law, at Richmond. Mary B., who married Fabius Fleming, Richmond. Lycur- gus, who married Lizzy Binford, of Ill., and lives in Marshall, Iowa. The Railsback family have an honorable connection with the war of the Revolution. The Colonel relates the fol- lowing reminiscences : His father, David Railsback, was as- sistant wagon-boy for his brother Edward, who drove a four- horse baggage-wagon for the Colonial army. At Gen. Gates' defeat in South Carolina, while the American forces were giving way, he drove his team hastily into a thicket, and soon saw the British light-horse pursuing our forces, who met with great slaughter. Late at night he left the place of his concealment, and returned safely with his team to North Carolina. IIenry Railsback, an older brother, was
Balliit
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WAYNE TOWNSHIP.
a company officer in Gen. Gates' army, and was captured by the British. On reaching their lines he saw many of his Tory neighbors who had joined the British army. He was taken sick, and never got home.
CORNELIUS RATLIFF, SEN, was born in Bucks Co., Pa., about the year 1755. He was a son of Joseph Ratliff, who came over from England with William Penn, and was present at the making of the famed treaty with the Indians under the great elm. He removed, when young, with his father to North Carolina. He there married widow Elizabeth Charles, and in November, 1810, came to Whitewater, and settled a mile north of Richmond, on the farm on which his son Cor- nelius now resides, and which he had purchased in 1808. He was a member of the society of Friends. He had eight children, all born in North Carolina. All lived to the age of majority, and were married as follows : Mary, in N. C., to Robert, son of John Smith; both deceased. Elizabeth, to Nathan Overman, who settled near Centerville. Gulielma, to Andrew Hoover, and resides in Clinton Co. Joseph, to Mary Shugart, of New Garden, and died near Marion, Grant Co. Sarah, to John Shugart, of New Garden. Millicent, first, to Benj. Albertson ; second, to Thomas Newman ; both deceased. Cornelius, to Mary Kinley. Abigail, to Joshua Albertson, and died in Clay township, where he still resides.
CORNELIUS RATLIFF, son of the above-named, was born in North Carolina, Dec. 25, 1798, and came to this county with his father in 1810. He 'still resides on the farm on which he settled with his father, having never left the old homestead. Hle was married to Mary Kinley, who was born March 15, 1802. They had ten children, of whom six are living and married : Margaret, to Simon Wood, and resides at Greens- boro, Henry Co. Joseph C., to Mary Crawford, and lives in Center township. Elizabeth, to Thompson Harris, and re- sides in Center. Sarah, to Timothy Thistlethwaite, and lives in Richmond. William P., to Jane Snyder, and resided in Richmond; was a merchant, and died in April, 1871. Cor- nelius, to Margaret Masterson, and resides on the farm with his father.
MILES J. SHINN was born in New Jersey, October 3, 1820;
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
came to Richmond in 1838, with Reuben HI. Ivins, with whom he served an apprenticeship at shoemaking. In 1842, he set up business for himself; but sold out the same year to John Fleming, and engaged as a journeyman to Owen Edgerton. In 1845, he again established himself in the business. He married, September 18, 1849, Anna C., daughter of Thomas Newman. In 1850, he settled on the Newman farm, and in 1851 built on it the house in which he now resides, and where he still carries on his trade. In 1854, he formed a partner- ship with Joseph P. Ratliff and Timothy Thistlethwaite in establishing a paper mill, and in 1857 he sold his interest to Samuel C. IIill. He has been an active supporter of the cause of temperance; having been allied with various tem- perance associations, several of which were organized by him and with his assistance. And he is now a member of the State Temperance Alliance. He has never spent three cents for intoxicating liquor to be drank as a beverage, or for that other scourge of the human race, tobacco. IIe joined the Whitewater Lodge of I. O. O. F. in 1847, and he has ever since taken a prominent part in the organization and support of associations of the order. A friend of intellectual im- provement, he originated and assisted in organizing, in 1842, a literary society called the Washington Institute of Rich- mond; and, in 1850, took an active part in organizing a simi- lar society of the same name in the Ratliff school district, in which he resides. This society is still continued, and has a respectable library. He was also one of those who formed, many years ago, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Richmond, since discontinued. Mr. Shinn has had four children, three sons and a daughter: Newman Howard, Miles Webster, James Eddy, and Indiana C. Miles W. died Janu- ary 6, 1870.
SAMUEL SHUTE, from N. J., in 1818, settled where his son Aaron now lives, near the south-east corner of the town- ship, where he died about 1857. His son Charles, who mar- ried Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Hill, died about 1862. Aaron, Robert, and Samuel are the only sons living. The wives of Samuel Erwin and James L. Morrisson are daugh-
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WAYNE TOWNSHIP.
ters of Samuel Shute. Alice, daughter of Aaron Shute, is the wife of Dr. W. R. Webster, of Richmond.
WILLIAM THISTLETHWAITE was born in Yorkshire, England, in the year 1792, and emigrated to this country in 1817. He resided a short time in Delaware, and removed to Chester, Pa. Determined on removing to the west, he came to Cin- cinnati, where he made but a temporary stay, and, in the fall of 1829, came to Richmond, where he remained but a short time. Having a large family of minor children, and having been bred a farmer, he bought the farm originally owned by John Charles, an early settler, [1809,] now the farm of Wm. Baxter, near Richmond, to which he removed in the spring of 1830. After having remained a few years on this farm, which he condneted with unusual success, he sold it to Oliver Kinsey, and bought a larger and newer farm further west, on or near the line of Center township, where he continued farming on a more extensive seale for several years, and re- tired, leaving the farm in the care of a son, and purchasing a country seat about a mile west of Richmond. Here he lost the partner of his life and labors, and, in 1856, revisited the land of his birth, and returned to this country. In his 70th year he was again married; and died on the 16th of August, 1871, in the 80th year of his age.
JOSEPH WASSON was born in England. Soon after his mar- riage, he embarked with his wife for America. They settled for a brief period in Pennsylvania, and removed to the Caro- linas, where they resided until they had reared a family of seven sons and two daughters, a period embracing that of the American Revolution, in which he was a soldier. Gen. Greene, who had command of the southern forces, detailed a party to look after the tories who infested that part of the country. In a skirmish with them, Wasson was shot by one from behind a tree, and disabled for life. The ball lodged in his loins, where it remained nearly forty years, when it was extracted by a skillful surgeon a few years before his death in this township. After his children had nearly all arrived at mature age, he left North Carolina, and, in 1806, settled on East Fork, near the Ohio state line, where now Fleming Wasson resides. His children were: 1. Archi-
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
bald, who married, in N. C., Elizabeth Smith, and after about two years' sojourn in Kentucky, settled in 1809 near the resi- dence of his father. His children were : Calvin, who mar- ried Mary, daughter of Wm. Bond, and died in January, 1871, at Plainfield, Ind .; Jehiel, who married, first, Lydia Bond, sister of Calvin's wife ; second, Mrs. Mason, and re- sides at Milton ; Anselm, who married Ruth, daughter of Israel Clark, and died at Mansfield, Ind., February 9, 1871; Abigail and Sarah, who both died in infancy ; John Macamy, [Sk.] and Eliza, who married Jonathan Moore, and resides in Richmond. 2. Joseph, second son of Joseph Wasson, Sen., settled in Eaton, Ohio, and died there. 3. David married Elizabeth, a daughter of Judge Peter Fleming, and died about 1825. His son, Fleming Wasson, resides in this town- ship. 4. Nathaniel Mc Coy married Jane Strong, and died in 1863. 5. John married Mary Smith, in N. C., and died in Wayne township about the time of David's death. 6. Ezra married Jane Campbell, and died in 1847, in Whitley county, Ind. His son, John H. Wasson, lives in Richmond, and is agent of the Ohio Salt Company. 7. Lemuel, unmarried, re- sides in Richmond. 8. Mary married Josiah Campbell, and died at Logansport about fifteen years ago. 9. Elizabeth married Jonathan Lambert, and died at Union City about 1865.
JOSEPH WHITE was born in Kentucky in the year 1800, and came to Wayne township about 1810, with his mother, who settled with the family near Middleboro'. [See Sketch of the White family, Franklin township.] Joseph remained with his mother until 1836, when they removed 3 miles south to where he died in December, 1868, near the Ohio state line, east from Richmond. In 1821, he married Alice Clawson. Their children are: Josiah, who married Eliza Coburn, and after her death, he married the next year, [1852,] Hannah E. Frame. James, who married Anna T. Stedom. Lydia, wife of Reese Mendenhall. David, who married Nancy Straw- bridge. Anna E., wife of II. G. Nickle. John. William, who married Sarah HI. Strawbridge. Joseph C., who married Hannah D. Dilks. Mrs. White and all her children reside in Richmond and Wayne township.
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CITY OF RICHMOND.
RICHMOND.
A sketch of the settlement of the lands of John Smith and Jeremiah Cox on which Richmond stands, prior to its incor- poration as a town, has been given in the foregoing history of Wayne township. In 1816, Smith laid out into town lots the land along Front and Pearl streets, south of Main street. The survey was made by David Hoover; and the lots were "five poles wide, and eight poles back." An acre, called the Public Square, was reserved by Smith for such public uses as he should think proper. The plat, it appears, was a small one.
The date of the birth of the town is generally supposed to be 1816. It had no corporate existence, however, until after Cox's addition in 1818, which embraced lands north of Main street and west of Marion. Agreeably to an act of the legis- Jature, the citizens met on the 1st of Sept., 1818, at the house of Thomas and Justice, and unanimously declared themselves in favor of the incorporation of the town. Twenty-four votes were polled. On the 14th of Sept., at an election held at the same place, Ezra Boswell, Thomas Swain, Robert Morrisson, John McLane, and Peter Johnson were elected trustees. The proceedings of both meetings were signed by Thomas Swain, as president, and Ezra Boswell, as clerk.
The authority given to the trustees by the general act under which the town was incorporated being deemed inadequate to its efficient government, the citizens petitioned the legislature for a special charter, which was granted. The charter was adopted by a vote of the citizens; and on the 13th of March, 1834, the day appointed for the election of borough officers, the following named persons were chosen :
FIRST BURGESS-John Sailor. SECOND BURGESS -- Basil Bright- well. COUNCILMEN-John Finley, Daniel P. Wiggins, Benj. Fulghum, Samuel Stokes, Wm. S. Addleman, John Suffrins, Wm. Dulin, Edmund Grover, Albert C. Blanchard, Caleb Shearon, John Hughes, Joseph Parry, Joseph P. Osborn. As- SESSOR-Jacob Sanders. TREASURER-Eli Brown. HIGH CON- STABLE-Isaac Barnes.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
These officers, for reasons which do not appear, held their offices only until May, when another election was held, and the following were chosen :
FIRST BURGESS-John Brady. SECOND BURGESS - Basil Brightwell. COUNCILMEN-John Suffrins, Daniel P. Wiggins, John Sailor, Samuel Stokes, Albert C. Blanchard, Wm. S. Ad- dleman, Samuel W. Smith, Caleb Shearon, Wm. Dulin, John M. Laws, Joseph Block, Alexander Stokes, David Hook. As- SESSOR-Jacob Sanders. TREASURER-Eli Brown. HIGH CON- STABLE-Charles O'Harra.
Richmond was governed under this borough charter until 1840, when it was incorporated as a city, under a charter adopted by the citizens ; and on the 4th of May, the following officers were elected :
MAYOR -John Sailor. COUNCILMEN - First Ward, Basil Brightwell, Benj. Strattan. Second Ward, Henry Hollings- worth, Wm. Cox. Third Ward, Wm. Parry, Irvin Reed, Fourth Ward, Nathan Morgan, Stephen Swain. TREASURER- John Haines. MARSHAL-Jesse Meek. ASSESSOR-Eli Brown.
In Dec., 1865, a general law was passed, anthorizing the people of any town to establish a city government without a special act of the legislature. Under this law, city officers were elected for two years. Of the councilmen, one was chosen in each ward every year for the term of two years.
John Sailor was, by successive elections, continued in the office of Mayor until January, 1852. He was succeeded by John Finley, who held the office until his death, in 1866. Lewis D. Stubbs was chosen at a special election to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term. Thomas N. Young was elected for the next two years; and in 1869, was succeeded by Thomas W. Bennett. James M. Poe, the present incumbent, was elected in 1871.
The clerk was appointed by the council until 1853; in which year, and since, he has been chosen at the city elections. The office was held by David P. Holloway until his resignation in November, 1853; by Wm. W. Lynde until January, 1856; by Wm. A. Biekle until 1858; by Benj. W. Davis until January, 1866, when he was succeeded by Peter P. Kirn, who still holds the office.
Strobridge & Co. Lith Cin .O.
John Sailor. you
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CITY OF RICHMOND.
In 1826, Charles W. Starr bought of Jeremiah Cox his un- sold lands; since which time several additions have been made to the town plat, by John and Samuel W. Smith, and by John Smith, in 1827 ; by Charles W. Starr, in 1828, 1833, 1834, and 1836; and by several other persons since.
The reason why North Front street was so run as not to form right angles with Main, is thus given by Dr. Plummer in his Reminiscences : "At that time there ran along the edge of the hill a county road, the first perhaps laid out in Wayne county. To continue South Front street directly north, would run it into wet grounds unsuitable for a street and for building lots; besides, the street would ultimately run into the river. On the hill was a road already established ; no ground would again have to be relinquished for a street. Forty feet was probably the width of the road, and that was sufficiently wide for the wants of the town. Lots were accordingly laid out along this road; and the corners of Main and Front streets became important points. These are the oldest streets, and for a long while were the only ones in Richmond."
The town was first called Smithstille, after the name of its proprietor ; but, as Judge Hoover says in his Memoir, " the name not giving general satisfaction, Thomas Roberts, James Pegg, and myself, were chosen to select another. Roberts pro- posed Waterford ; Pegg, Plainfield, and I, Richmond. The last was approved by the lot-holders."
Presuming that all the legal voters were present at the first election of officers, and allowing six inhabitants to each voter, which is generally about the average proportion, the popula- tion would have been about 150. In 1819, it was estimated at 350. Although this estimate shows a much more rapid in- crease than was maintained for several years afterward, it was probably not far from the truth. There were, when the town was incorporated, the stores of John Smith and Robert Mor- risson ; and there were mechanies of most or all of the more common trades, whose number continued to increase with the increase of the population of the surrounding country.
In accordance with the prescribed plan of our history, we give the names and occupations of some of the earlier citizens.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
It is impossible, however, at this late day, to state, in regard to most of them, the year in which each became a resident of the town.
Merchants.
As is usual in new countries, the early merchants of Rich- mond kept the various kinds of goods wanted by the settlers. They were not designated as dry goods merchants, hardware merchants, druggists, grocers, &c. Not until the country had be- come well settled, was it possible to keep up an establishment confined to any one of these branches of trade. This division of business, as it is called, was not commenced until about the year 1825, fifteen years after the first store had been established ; nor until after the advent of the first printer, by whom the mer- chants were enabled to advertise, in show-bills and the news- paper, the long lists of their wares, embracing dry goods, gro- ceries, queensware, glassware, hardware, nails, bar, band, hoop, and sheet-iron, school books and stationery, and dyestuffs ; sometimes adding drugs and medicines, and not excepting brandy, rum, gin, and whisky : and this list was generally sup- plemented with a string of etceteras, or " every other article usually kept in country stores."
The early business men were at length obliged to divide the gains of capital and labor with a new set of rivals. Fa- vorable reports from the flourishing town of Richmond had gone abroad, and immigrants from the east, especially Friends, came in. Edward L. Frost, from Long Island, N. Y., with whom, as already stated, John Smith was for a short time as- sociated in trade, was probably the first merchant in town after Robert Morrisson. Ile afterward traded alone on Front street, south of Main, and removed to the south-east corner of Main and Pearl streets, where he built, and for several years occu- pied, a two-story frame building, subsequently removed to make room for the present brick building made of the bricks which had formed the walls of the court-house at Salisbury, after the removal of the county-seat to Centerville. Philemon HI. Frost was a clerk for his brother Edward, and, some think, became a partner.
John Suffrins, a native of Virginia, came from Ohio to
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CITY OF RICHMOND.
Richmond, and commenced trade in August, 1818, on the east side of North Front street, near Main, and soon after bought of Thomas and Justice their building on the north-east corner of Main and Front streets. He was in business four or five years, and returned to Ohio, where he worked again at his trade, [the hatter's] about three years; and about the year 1826, he came again to Richmond, and engaged in the hat- making business, which he carried on many years in Gilbert's block. He married Harriet, daughter of the late Samuel Shute, and after her death, a Mrs. Thompson, who also died. He is still in the hat trade, south side of Main street, between Pearl and Marion. James McGuire, an Irishman, after Suf- frins, traded a short time at the same place, corner of Main and Front streets.
Attiens Siddall, who had taught school in the village, suc- ceeded Frost at IIam's corner. He was for a time alone; af- terward in company with a Dr. Cook. His health failed, and he died many years ago. He was the father of Jesse P. Sid- dall, for many years, and at present, a prominent lawyer in Richmond.
About the year 1822, John Wright, from Maryland, com- menced business on Main street, between Front and Pearl. He remained a few years, and the family dispersed. The business was continned by his son-in-law, Basil Brightwell, who also built a flouring-mill near the site of Jackson, Swayne & Dunn's woolen mills, below the National bridge. He had an extensive trade, and was apparently-perhaps really- successful for several years. He became deeply embarrassed, and, apprehending bankruptcy, committed suicide, leaving only a son, his wife having died a few years before. His son also died a few years afterward.
Joseph P. Plummer, from Baltimore, after a brief stay in Cincinnati, came to Richmond in 1823, and commenced business on South Front street, in a building previously oc- cupied by Edward L. Frost, whence he removed to his new frame store, corner of Main and South Front, since known as Plummer's corner, where now stands the brick store of Thomas Nestor.
Joseph P. Strattan, a native of Virginia, came from Ohio
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
in 1824 or 1825 : was first a clerk for Edward L. Frost, and afterward for Robert Morrisson, on the north-west corner of Main and Pearl streets, where he built a store after the de- struction of his first by fire. Strattan, then in partnership with Morrisson, the latter furnishing the goods, com- menced trade at the corner first occupied by Morrisson, a building having been removed to that place-firm, J. P. Strattan & Co. Morrisson, who continued his store at the corner of Pearl street, sold a part of his goods to James Woods, a clerk of Frost, who took them to Liberty, where he established a store. Strattan having formed a partnership with Daniel Reid, a clerk of Morrisson, [firm, Strattan & Reid,] Morrisson sold them his remaining stock of goods, and retired finally from the mercantile business. After about three years Strattan bought out Reid, and a year or two after sold out to his brother Benjamin Strattan, and bought a farm 4 miles north of town, about the year 1833; remained there four years, and sold his farm to Oren Huntington, then a merchant in Richmond, taking his stock of goods in part payment. He took the goods to Dublin, a new town, where he traded about ten years ; was at Louisville, Henry Co., two years; and returned to Richmond in 1858.
David Holloway, who had removed in 1813 from Waynes- ville, Ohio, to Cincinnati, came in 1823 to Wayne township, and bought the homestead of Judge Peter Fleming, near the state line, and, in 1825, removed to Richmond, and com- menced business on the north-east corner of Main and Front streets. After a few years of successful business he retired, and was succeeded by Wm. Hill, son of Robert Hill, an early settler. IIe bought another farm a short distance north-east from the town, and a few years after returned to Richmond, corner of Pearl and Spring streets, where he died in 1855.
Jeremy Mansur, an early settler, and for several years a skillful edge-tool maker at Salisbury and for many years a farmer about 3 miles west from Richmond, commenced the mercantile business in the city in 1831, on the south-west corner of Main and Pearl streets, known as Plummer's cor- ner, and continued the business about eight years, and re-
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CITY OF RICHMOND.
turned to his farm. In 1852, he removed to Indianapolis, where he now resides.
Edmund Evans, of English birth, who came from Balti- more with a grown-up family about the year 1831, and bought a farm a short distance south-east from town, started, some years after, a wholesale and retail leather store, to which he finally added dry goods. His store was on Plummer's cor- ner, and had been previously occupied by Jeremy Mansur. He died many years ago, and more recently his wife.
Isaac Gray, from Virginia, came to Richmond in the fall of 1827, and was in the mercantile business about two years. His store was on the ground now occupied by T. J. Bargis's stove store, on Main street, north side, between Pearl and Front streets. In 1829, in company with others, he removed to Niles, Mich., where he was the first postmaster. A daugh- ter of his is the present wife of Daniel Reid. Other chil- dren of his are living in Niles and elsewhere.
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