USA > Indiana > Fountain County > Past and present of Fountain and Warren Counties, Indiana, Volume 2 > Part 29
USA > Indiana > Warren County > Past and present of Fountain and Warren Counties, Indiana, Volume 2 > Part 29
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The subject is the son of William and Martha (Norris) Dice, and the grandson of John Dice, one of the early settlers of this county. For a fuller history of the Dice family the reader is directed to the sketch of Franklin Dice, appearing elsewhere in this volume. The father of the subject was a native of Rockbridge county, Virginia, and in early life he came to Fountain county, Indiana, and settled on the old Henry Dice farm and here he devoted his life successfully to general farming, and reared his family of five children, who were named as follows: Frank, deceased; Sarah, who married Frank Holowell, a miller, is.deceased; Frances married Harris Glascock, a farmer living at Sterling, this county ; Olive is deceased; William, Jr., subject of this sketch.
Politically, the father of the above named children was a Republican, but was not a public man, and in religious matters he was a member of the Christian church.
William Dice, Jr., grew to manhood on the home farm and there began working in the fields when but a boy, and he received his education in the common schools, and he has always devoted his life to farming, owning now the homestead, having purchased the interests of the other heirs, his place consisting of one hundred and sixty-seven acres, which he has kept so skill- fully tilled that it has retained its original fertility. He has kept the place well improved in every respect. He has remodeled the dwelling house, built a new barn, laid cement walks and porches, and he now lias a very desirable and pleasant place. He carries on general farming, devoting much time to his fine live stock, making a specialty of Poland China hogs and Jersey cattle.
Mr. Dice was married in 1887 to Susa Wilson, daughter of Fred and Anna (Epler) Wilson, natives of Pennsylvania, from which state they emi- grated to Fountain county, Indiana, in an early day. Mr. Wilson was a stone cutter by trade. He lived in Covington during the latter part of his life. His family consisted of four children, namely : Sarah, who died when three years old; Henry and John both live in Covington; Susa, who married Mr. Dice,
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of this sketch. One child has been born to the subject and wife, Ruth, who married James Thomas, a farmer living in Cain township.
Politically, Mr. Dice is a Republican, but he has never been active in political matters, nor has he held any office, preferring to lead a quiet home life.
G. E. FOSTER.
In looking over the list of progressive business men of Fountain county, Indiana, we find no name worthier of special mention in a work of the prov- ince of that at hand than the one which initiates this paragraph, G. E. Foster, well known grain dealer of Shawnee township. He has been a resident of this county all his life, and he has ever had its interests at heart, and, while advancing his own welfare he has done much toward promulgating the civic, industrial and moral tone of the community. His career has been one of hard work and integrity, consequently he is deserving of the respect in which he is held by everyone ..
Mr. Foster was born in Logan township, Fountain county, Indiana, March 9, 1860. He is a son of Basil and Eliza (Harlan) Foster, natives of Ohio and Alabama, respectively. Basil Foster farmed all his life in Logan township, this county, and became well known there. H. lived on the land entered by his father from the government, and there his death occurred in 1872, at the age of fifty-six years, his widow surviving many years, passing away in 1900 at the advanced age of eighty-one years. They were the par- ents of eleven children, namely : Clinton J. and M. L. are both rural mail car- riers, out of the town of Attica, Indiana; Alta married L. G. Martin, a lum- ber dealer at Attica; G. E., subject of this sketch. The other seven children are all deceased. Their father was a Republican in politics, and their mother was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
G. E. Foster grew to manhood on the home farm and he received his education in the common schools of the township and at Attica. Early in life, in 1878, he entered the grocery business in Attica and continued the same successfully until January, 1911, having been in partnership with his brother, Newman P. Foster, now deceased, during the first eighteen years of the period mentioned, and they enjoyed a large trade with the town and surrounding country, under the firm name of Foster Brothers. The rest of the time the subject operated his store alone. In January, 1911, he sold his grocery business and purchased the grain elevator at Rob Roy, which he has
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since operated, enjoying a large and rapidly growing trade with a wide terri- tory round about. He has managed well and has accumulated a comfortable competency.
Mr. Foster was married on January 28, 1886, to Hattie G. Mosier, daughter of Daniel and Amanda (Tuttle) Mosier, a highly respected Foun- tain county family. To this union have been born the following children : Alta Mary, a graduate of Lake Forest; Herbert Edward, a graduate of the University of Illinois and an architectural engineer of Chicago; Donald Daniel, the youngest.
Politically, Mr. Foster is a Republican, but he has never been active in political affairs. He devotes all his time and attention to his grain business.
FRANKLIN DICE.
It is a well known fact, fully recognized by physicians and by all others who have made the subject a study, that a quiet life and steady habits pro- mote longevity. In the cities where the people are falling over each other in their desperate attempts to get rich suddenly, and where they are, of a conse- quence, on a severe nervous strain all the time, the mortality tables are much higher than in the country. The farmer may, therefore, congratulate him- self that, though his life may be less eventful, it is certainly much longer and more satisfactory in the main than that of his cousin in the city. This important fact should be borne in mind when the young men of the rural districts contemplate going into the cities and taking some poorly-paid posi- tion in a store or machine shop, and thus grind out their lives. How much better is the healthful life of the farmer who has developed a productive place from the virgin soil, reared his family in the comfortable home which he has himself made and is known and respected by his neighbors near and far. Some such man is Franklin Dice, a venerable and honored agriculturist of Van Buren township, whose sturdy old age is no doubt the result of right living in the country.
Mr. Dice is one of the oldest native sons of Fountain county, and here he has spent his long and industrious life, having lived to see the community advance from a wilderness to one of the leading farming sections of the state. His birth occurred in Van Buren township, this county, May 10, 1830. He is the son of John and Elizabeth (Hop) Dice, both parents born in 1817, the
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father in Rockbridge county, Virginia, and the mother in West Virginia. The subject's paternal grandfather came here in 1827 and settled in Van Buren township, having purchased land from a Mr. Funk, the place being partly improved, and here he spent the rest of his life engaged in farming, and was well known among the pioneers. His son, Jolin Dice, lived on an eighty-acre farm here also. His family consisted of seven children, namely : William, John and Jacob are all deceased; Henry, deceased ; Franklin, of this sketch; George, also deceased; James is deceased.
Politically, the father of the above named children was a Democrat, and he belonged to the Presbyterian church. He was a plain, hard-working, honest man who had many friends.
Franklin Dice grew to manhood on the home farm and he knew the meaning of hard work when but a boy. He received such education as he could in the old log school house, in which was a fire place across one end, greased paper for window panes and slabs for seats. He began his life work by clerking in a general store at Chambersburg, this township, but desiring to make agriculture his life work, he purchased his present farm, on which he has lived for a period of sixty years, having taken up his residence here in 1852 and he has been very successful as a general farmer and stock raiser, his fine place of two hundred and forty-two acres, all tillable, being one of the choice farms of the township. He has rotated his crops and so skillfully manipulated the soil that it has retained its original fertility. He has a pleasant home and large, convenient outbuildings. For years he has made a specialty of raising graded hogs and sheep. He has made all the improve- ments on the place, which is very admirably situated just east of Stone Bluff. He is now living in practical retirement, merely overseeing his farm.
Mr. Dice was married in 1851 to Melinda Redden, daughter of William and Kittora (Glascock) Redden, old settlers of this county, having come here from Kentucky. Six children have been born to the subject and wife, namely: Ollie, deceased; Ginevra married Wallace Campbell, of Cain town- ship, this county ; Walsey married Lottie Romine, and they live on part of the subject's farm; Hattie, who married John Campbell, lives in Troy township, this county, her husband being deceased; Flora is deceased; Boswick lives in Van Buren township.
Politically, Mr. Dice is a Republican and he has always been loyal to his party. He has served the people as township clerk to the satisfaction of all concerned. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Stone
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Bluff. Religiously, he is a member of the United Brethren church. He is deserving of a great deal of credit for what he has accomplished, having made what he has by his own efforts.
JOHN VAN REED.
Through a residence of nearly sixty years in Warren county, John Van Reed, long one of the most progressive and careful tillers of the soil in Liberty township, and who, having accumulated a competency, is now spend- ing his declining years in quiet and in the midst of plenty in his comfortable home in Liberty township, is a man who can be trusted at all times and places, one who has been honorable and successful in business, loyal to his duties of citizenship and faithful to his many friends. His career and the agricultural history of Liberty township have been very closely interwoven, therefore, as well for his long and prominent connection with the growth and prosperity of the community as for his sterling rectitude of character is his life record presented to the readers of this volume.
John Van Reed was born on May 29, 1853, in Liberty township, War- ren county, Indiana, about two and a half miles west of Williamsport, on the old Van Reed farm, which was purchased from the government in 1832. His parents were Levi R. and Amelia (Bowman) Van Reed. The father, who was a native of Pennsylvania, made three trips to Indiana on horseback, bringing his wife with him on the last trip and settling in Warren county. Prior to coming to this state, however, he had lived in the state of Missis- sippi for a short period.
John Van Reed secured his elementary education in the common schools of his neighborhood, supplementing this study at Stockwell and Lafayette schools. During the interims between school terms he had applied himself to the work of the farm and before he had attained his majority he was, be- cause of the death of his father, compelled to take upon himself the man- agement and operation of the home farm. He is now the owner of two hun- dred and seventy acres of as fine land as can be found in this part of Warren county. To the operation of this 'farm Mr. Van Reed gives 'his entire atten- tion and he has met with a success fully commensurate with the labor be- stowed.' The place is'well improved in every respect and bears abundant evidence of the careful and painstaking habits of the owner. In addition to the cultivation"of the soil, some live stock is raised, and twentieth-century methods are employed in the conduct of the farm.
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In. 1875 Mr. Van Reed was united in marriage to. Zuillah Burr, .. the daughter of Nelson Burr, of an old Eastern family. To Mr. and Mrs. Van Reed have been born two children, namely : Eugene N., who married Pearl Cavalt, and they have four children, Lucile, Louis, Marguerite and John E .; Earl married Julia Gilliett. Eugene possesses unusual musical talent and has composed much good music. He is also one of the best penmen in the United States, being now engaged as a teacher in that art. Earl graduated from the Attica public schools and the State Normal School at Terre Haute, after which he took a full course in medicine in the Indiana Medical College at Indianapolis, and he is now a successful practicing physician at Lafayette. He belongs. to the state and county medical societies and is now serving as coroner of Tippecanoe county.
Politically, Mr. Van Reed is a Republican and is now a member of the county board of commissioners. He has served efficiently on the county cen- tral committee of his party, representing the West Liberty precinct.
Fraternally, Mr. Van Reed is a member of the Knights of Pythias and endeavors to exemplify in his daily life the sublime principles of that splendid order. Religiously, the family are identified with the Presbyterian church. The Van Reed home is an attractive one and is known to the many friends of the family as a place of old-time hospitality.
JOHN A. JOHNSON.
One of the enterprising farmers of Wabash township, who has spent his life in Fountain county; where his family has been well and favorably- known since the pioneer epoch is John A. Johnson, a man who believes in doing well whatever is worth doing at all and in leading an upright and helpful life while he is laboring to advance his individual interests and for these and other commendable traits he is deserving of the high respect which is freely accorded him by all who know him.
Mr.' Johnson's birth occurred in the township where he still resides on January 25, 1854. He is the son of Alexander and Melvina (Spinks): Jolin-, son, the former also a native of Wabash township, Fountain county. Jamie's Johnson, the paternal grandfather, who was a native of Pennsylvania, moved from that state to Ohio, thence to Indiana and took up his residence in Wa- baslı township, Fountain county, entering the present Johnson homestead- from the government in the year 1826, thus being among the earliest settlers
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in this ser ion of the state, having begun life here when neighbors were far remote and he literally carved out a home from the primeval woods. And here Alexander Johnson grew to manhood and lie spent his life engaged in general agricultural pursuits, with the exception of four years, when he lived in Perrysville, during which time he operated a ferry on the Wabash river. He was a good farmer and had a well improved place and a good liome. His wife, Melvina Spinks, was a native of Kentucky, from which state she came to this county when a young woman. They became the parents of six chil- dren, namely : Gavan Manford is deceased; Eliza J. married William I. Snoddy; John A., subject of this sketch; James H., who lives at Parrysville, Indiana, is agent there for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Com- pany ; Mary D. and Iola A. are both deceased.
John A. Johnson was reared on the home farm and there he worked hard when a boy, and he received a very fair education in the common schools of his district. Early in life he took up general farming for a livelihood, which he has continued to follow to the present time, and he is now the owner of a very productive place of eighty-nine and one-fourth acres, which he has kept well improved and well cultivated, located eight miles south of the county line in one of the rich farining districts of the county, and here he is making a very comfortable living.
Mr. Johnson was married to Ann M. Spinks, daughter of James H. and Adeline (Wilson) Spinks, both natives of Kentucky, from which state they came to Fountain county, Indiana, in an early day and here they still reside. Two children have been born to the subject and wife, named as follows: Alexander H. and Grace E., both living at home.
Politically, Mr. Johnson is a Democrat, but he does not aspire to be a public man.
REV. ALFRED R. HEATH.
The good that a noble character like the Rev. A. R. Heath can do in the course of a long and active life is indeed incalculable and cannot be measured in metes and bounds, in fact, cannot be known until the "last great day, when the trump shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible." He has devoted his life to the good of others, has lived an unselfish, helpful and altruistic life and thousands have been made better and had their life-paths made easier and brighter by having known him. So that to-day he is
A. R. HEATH
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eminently entitled to the high esteem in which he is universally held. How- ever, he cares naught for the plaudits of men, being happy in the thought that he is following in the footsteps of the lowly Nazarene and doing his every duty as he sees and understands it.
Rev. Heath was born in Fountain county February 7, 1826, and is therefore one of our honored pioneers, his parents having come here when the country was the home of but a few widely scattered families and when there were no roads or conveniences of any kind, but they were courageous people and braved the winds in order that future generations might be bene- fited. He is the son of Jeremiah and Nellie (Johnston) Heath. The father was born in Rowan county, North Carolina, and when a young man he came overland to Indiana, settling in what is now Troy township, Fountain county, where by dint of hard and persistent toil he developed a farm from the woods and established the permanent family home, devoting the rest of his life to agricultural pursuits. He began life here in a rude log cabin and was ten miles from any neighbor. The town of Covington had not then been thought of, its site being covered with the primeval forest. Here he became influential in the early development of the county and was known as a strong character, honest, hospitable and public spirited. He served as the first assessor of the county, the position requiring a great deal of traveling, which had to be made on horseback along the paths through the woods, and there was not much property to be assessed in those days. He was a fine old gentleman and known and loved by all the early settlers. His latchstring was always out to all passersby. His only child was A. R. Heath, subject of this sketch. He was a Democrat, and he belonged to the Christian church.
Archibald Johnston, the maternal grandfather of the subject, was also a native of North Carolina. During the Revolutionary war, when the soldiers were in his community, he was in danger of being shot, for though but ten years of age, he was almost as large as a grown man. However, he donned his sister's dress and worked in the fields without being molested. During the three days that his life hung in the balance he learned to pray and thereby became a devout Christian the balance of his life, and he did all he could to unite the churches, and was a great churchman. When a young man he left his native state and moved to Tennessee where he entered land from the government, on which he lived several years, then sold out for six dollars per acre, having paid one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre for the same. From Tennessee he came to Whitewater, Indiana, where he took up govern- ment land which he improved and later sold at a profit, then came to Wabash township, Fountain county, where he again took up government land which he
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developed into a fine farm and there spent the rest of his life. Ile was a typical pioneer in every respect, a brave, large-hearted man. He had a family of nine children, and before he died he gave each of those living forty acres. At one time he owned the farm on which the subject now resides. His house was used for church purposes for many years. He would move out his beds and other furnishings in order to make room for the meetings. It was in the year 1821 that he took up his residence here, being thus one of the very first to brave the wilds of this section of the state.
Rev. A. R. Heath grew to manhood on the homestead in this county and there assisted with the general work and received such education as the old- time schools afforded, but he is principally self-taught, having ever been a profound student and is widely read and well versed in Holy Writ. He has devoted his life to farming and the ministry, and was also in the mercantile business, owning at different times three general stores. At one time he was the owner of four hundred acres of valuable, productive land in Troy township, but this has been divided among his children, and he now lives on the old'home place. 'At one time he owned two thousand two hundred acres of land in Kansas which he bought at fifty-seven cents and a half per acre, and has sold all but thirty-seven acres at prices ranging up to fifty dollars per acre. By the increase in value and the sale of his Kansas land he was enabled to travel for seven years, soliciting funds for the erection and endow- ment of Union Christian College at Merom, Indiana, and was so successful that when he finished his labors, the buildings were completed, the college out of debt, and in addition had an endowment fund of one hundred thousand dol- lars. He also traveled two years for the Christian Publishing House of Dayton, Ohio, and secured funds for the equipment of a' printing plant and book bindery. He was a member of the building committee which erected the. college and publishing house, He has been very successful as a general farmer and stock raiser, being one of the leading general agriculturists of the county, having kept his land well improved and well cultivated so that it has. retained its original fertility and strength of soil. He has preached for the past sixty years wherever he found a place to carry the Gospel message and he has done great good in revivals and in strengthening various churches. He is. an earnest, logical and not infrequently an eloquent speaker and he is always listened to with much interest wherever 'he preaches.
Rev. Mr. Heath was married on June 15, 1847, to Mary Maxwell, daugh- ter of John B. and Sarah (Conover) Maxwell, old settlers of this county, Mrs. Maxwell now being deceased.
Six children have been born to the subject and wife, named as follows:
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Della; Bloomer, the third, died in infancy; Harpin L .; Orieta married D. T. Morgan, who is at present a member of Congress from Oklahoma; Evin W. was the youngest in order of birth.
Personally, the Rev. Mr. Heath is a pleasant man to meet, a kind, friendly, hospitable and large-hearted gentleman who strives to do all the good he can while passing through the world, for he realizes that he will never pass this way again. He has lived an upright, useful and honorable life, one that has resulted in great good to those whom it has touched, and he is emi- nently worthy of the high respect in which he is held by all classes.
ALBERT W. GRAHAM.
It will always be a mark of distinction to have served in the Federal ariny during the great Civil war between the states. The old soldier will receive attention no matter where he goes if he will but make himself known, partic- ularly if he puts on the old faded uniform. And when he passes away, which he will soon do, friends will pay him suitable eulogy for the sacrifices he made a half century ago on the battle field or in the no less dreaded hos- pital. And ever afterwards his descendants will revere his memory and take pride in recounting his services for his country in the hour of peril. Albert W. Graham, well known and successful farmer of Troy township, Fountain county, is one of the old soldiers who went forth to fight to save the union of states. He is the scion of one of our earliest and hardiest pioneer families, his father having braved the wilds of primeval banks of the Wabash when the dense woods had scarcely heard the ring of the axe or the clear skies been stained ·by the smoke of a white man's cabin fire-place,"and from that re-" mote period to the present, covering a stretch of ninety years, the Grahams have been well and favorably known in this locality and have done much for the development of the same, so that there is for many reasons a peculiar interest in giving their records historical setting.
Albert W. Graham was born July 10, 1839, in Fountain county, In- diana, about one and one-half miles from his present home. He is the son of Washington and Elizabeth L. (Alkire) Graham. The father was born in May, 1800, and when a young man he came to this county from Ohio in 1822, and entered land from the government, and after arranging for a log cabin he returned to Madison county, Ohio, and spent about two years, then. returned to his land in Wabash township, Fountain county, cleared and im-
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