USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Past and present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 40
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his old business of grubbing and clearing, but in time had a pleasant and com- fortable home where he has resided for more than forty-two years. In 1864 Mr. Stewart married Elizabeth Kerr, who died in 1885. His second wife was Susan, daughter of Edfred C. and Elizabeth (Dunn) Cokry. She was born in Massachusetts, taken in infancy to Montgomery county, Ohio, by her parents and when six years old to Attica, Indiana, where she grew to woman- hood. Both her parents are dead. They were married in Ireland and brought four children with them to this country. Mr. Stewart had three brothers in the Civil war, and his wife also had a brother and two brothers- in-law in the Union army during that great conflict. Mr. Stewart was first a member of the Baptist church, but later joined the Methodist Episcopal church in Fountain county, of which he is a trustee and was long a class leader. He is a staunch Prohibitionist, and a man of high moral notions on all subjects. A farmer all of his life, he has done much arduous work and deserves as well as receives the esteem of all who know him.
WILLIAM W. YOUNG.
Among the honored and venerable citizens of Tippecanoe county is the subject of this review, who has here maintained his home for nearly six dec- ades, winning a definite success by means of the agricultural industry, to which he devoted his attention during the long years of an active business life. He is now practically retired and is enjoying that repose and rest which are due to him now that the shadows of his life begin to lengthen in the golden west. His career has been without shadow of wrong or sus- picion of evil, and thus he has ever commanded the confidence and esteem of his fellowmen, his nearly four-score years resting lightly upon him and being crowned with honor.
William Young was born in New Lisbon, Columbiana county, Ohio, on the 4th of June, 1830, and is a son of Joseph and Mary (Seydel) Young. Joseph Young was a native of Pennsylvania, but went to Ohio in young man- hood, and was there married. They first went to housekeeping in Columbiana county, but eventually located in Stark county, the same state, where they lived during the remainder of their lives. The father was a boot and shoe- maker by trade and followed that business all his life, being a good workman and successful in his business. He was in politics first a Whig, and after- wards a Republican. He was not in any sense a politician, though he always
W. W. YOUNG
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had the keenest interest in public affairs. He and wife were faithful and earnest members of the Christian church. The subject's mother was also a native of the Keystone state and removed to Ohio with her family when she was yet quite young. Joseph and Mary Young became the parents of a large family, several of the children dying in infancy. Those living are William, subject of this sketch; Joseph M., Andrew S., Sarah K. and Mary Elizabeth.
William Young has practically made his own way in the world since the death of his mother, which event occurred when he was but twelve years of age. He received some education in the subscription and free schools of Ohio, but the major part of his knowledge has been secured in the school of expe- rience. When old enough he commenced working on farms and agriculture has been his vocation ever since. He has been a close student of the great basic science and has thus been enabled to achieve a definite success along this line. After working in Ohio as a farm hand until about twenty years old, Mr. Young came to Indiana, locating first at Ft. Wayne. A year or two later he came to Tippecanoe county and it is noteworthy that his first meal here was eaten in the same house in which he now lives, the date having been the Fourth of July, 1852. He was here employed as a farm hand for a num- ber of years, being married in the meantime, and after the death of his wife's parents he settled on their farm, which has been his home ever since. The country was wild and unimproved when Mr. Young first came here, as an evidence of which it may be stated that there was but one house between his home and Lafayette, the country being mostly covered with timber and ponds, with an occasional small strip of prairie land. Thus he has been a witness to the wonderful development which has taken place in this favored section of Indiana.
The subject has consistently applied his efforts to agriculture, and has been rewarded with a fair element of success, so that now, in his later years, he is enabled to relinquish the arduous labors which was his portion for so many years, and now he simply keeps a general oversight of his farming interests.
In 1855 Mr. Young was married to Sarah McCormick, who was born in Ohio, but who accompanied her parents to Tippecanoe county, theirs being one of the first families to locate in this part of the county. Mrs. Young has been dead a number of years. Mr. Young served efficiently as a justice of the peace for one term, but has never had any inclination for public office. Soon after coming to Indiana he taught several terms of school in White and Tippecanoe counties, this constituting his only digression from his great life
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work. He has been a staunch Republican ever since that party was formed. His first vote was cast for Winfield Scott for President. Though never affili- ated with any religious denomination, Mr. Young has been a generous sup- porter of churches and other benevolent movements and has given his cordial support to everything looking to the moral and material advancement of his community. A man of many fine personal qualities of character, he has won and retains the confidence and highest esteem of his fellow-citizens, and he is eminently entitled to representation in a work of this nature.
ANDREW KIENLY.
This well-known and prominent family originated in Germany. but since 1860 a number of members have lived in the United States, the first of the name to immigrate to this country being George Kienly and his wife Eliza- beth, who with their several children settled in May of the year indicated at Green Hill, formerly Indian Hill, in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, where Mr. Kienly secured one hundred and fifty acres of land and in due time became a successful tiller of the soil. The family of George and Elizabeth Kienly consisted of eleven children, the majority of whom were born in the Old World, and all of whom have since passed to their final rest.
Among these children was a son by the name of Andrew Kienly, who was born at the ancestral home in Wurttemberg, Germany, May I. 1842, and who accompanied his parents to the United States when a youth of eighteen and grew to maturity on the farm at Green Hill, this county. He was reared to agricultural pursuits, received a good education in the schools of his native land and Tippecanoe county, and began life for himself in the harness and saddlery business in Lafayette in 1866, which he conducted suc- cessfully up to the time of his death, in 1897.
On April 10, 1865, Mr. Kienly entered the marriage relation with Miss Amelia Ulrich, who was born March 17, 1850, in Lafayette, but whose par- ents, George and Amelia (Locher) Ulrich, came to this country from Rhein- fels, Germany, and for a number of years were prominent residents of Tippe- canoe county. George Ulrich was born July 16, 1823, immigrated to the United States about the year 1849 and during his residence in Lafayette was honored with several important official positions, including those of city treas- urer and mayor, to which he was elected in the years 1858 and 1865, re- spectively, being the first Republican mayor ever elected to that office. He
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was appointed United States consul to one of the South American countries in 1861. He was a man of strong character and wide influence, a leader of the Republican party in Tippecanoe county and did much to promote the material advancement of Lafayette and build up the business interests of that city. Enterprising and public-spirited, he filled a large place in the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens and was justly considered one of the lead- ing German-Americans of his day in this part of Indiana. Mrs. Ulrich, whose birth occurred on February 29, 1824, was a woman of beautiful life and character, a fit companion for her enterprising husband and, like him, gained the respect and love of a large circle of friends who learned to prize her for her many amiable qualities. Six children were born to this estimable couple, two sons and four daughters, five of whom are living and highly es- teemed in their respective places of residence.
Andrew and Amelia Kienly reared a family of six children, the oldest of whom is George A., who was born January 23, 1867, received a good education in the public schools of Lafayette, also a business training in a commercial college and for some years has been clerk in the Lahr House of this city. William J., born July 27, 1870, was educated for a business life and is now traveling salesman for a large wholesale firm, in addition to which he also owns and successfully operates a farm of over one hundred acres. He married Charlotte Ross, of Lafayette, but has no children. E. Louise, whose . birth occurred on February 27, 1874, married George L. Hunt, a dry goods salesman and resides in Lafayette. Alberta May, the fourth in succession, was born August 22, 1878, and is now the wife of Warren Sage Hall, of Cleveland, Ohio, and the mother of one daughter who answers to the name of Dorothy May Sage. Mr. Hall is the patentee of various improvements on the automobile, and operates a storage battery factory in the city of Cleve- land. Albert Barnard Charles Victor Kienly, the third son and fifth in order of birth, first saw the light of day October 11, 1884, and is engaged in the drug business on the corner of Sixth and Main streets. His wife, formerly Anna McCormick, daughter of Asbury and Maria McCormick of Lafayette, has borne him one child, to whom has been given the name of Georgiana Mc- Cormick Kienly. Ambrose Cornelius Kienly, the youngest of the family, was born September 26, 1885, and is unmarried. After graduating from the Lafayette high school, he engaged with the Underwood Typewriter Company, of Duluth, Minnesota, where he is now located as manager of the company's business at that place.
Since the death of her husband, which occurred July 18, 1897, Mrs. Kienly has lived at the family home, No. 237 South Fourth street, where,
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surrounded by her friends and in the enjoyment of many material blessings, she is spending the passing years in a quiet but useful way, being interested in the social and moral welfare of the city and a generous donor to various charitable and benevolent enterprises. Religiously she subscribes to the Presbyterian creed and for a number of years her name has adorned the rec- ords of the Second church of that denomination in the city of her residence.
DANIEL JACKSON.
In the person of this old farmer, now deceased, we have a sample of a worthy race of people to whom the country is largely indebted for its de- velopment and progress. He was not a showy man, simply a plain, indus- trious tiller of the soil, who worked hard to get a start in the world, reared and provided for a large family, did his duty to his fellowman and made a good neighbor and citizen. To such as he, Indiana owes much. Here and there, scattered over the state in every county, on a few acres of land, they toiled and worked, cleared, grubbed and ditched, fought the forces of nature in the way of swamps and dense forests, gradually making headway, until in ime we see the beautiful and highly cultivated farms as the result of their arduous labors. Such were the pioneer farmers. They did not figure in public life. Their names were seldom mentioned in the papers, they lived quiet and unpretentious lives, but it was their work and self-sacrifice that was gradually building up the state, adding to its wealth and beauty, until it be- came one of the finest agricultural regions in the world.
Daniel Jackson was born in Ohio, September 10, 1829, spent his boy- hood in his native state and when eighteen years old started out to fight the battle of the world on his own behalf. Coming to Tippecanoe county in the spring of 1838, he worked for a time in a gristmill, but later accepted jobs on farms or other lines, such as he was able to do. February 24, 1853. he mar- ried Harriet, daughter of Patrick Henry Weaver, of whom a sketch will be found on another page of this work. In 1864 Mr. Jackson enlisted in Company F. One Hundred and Fifth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, at Lafay- ette, and served until the close of the war in the Army of the Cumberland. Being honorably discharged on the cessation of hostilities, he returned home and resumed work where he had left off. He first made a purchase of five acres of land, but from time to time added more until he eventually owned eighty acres of good soil. This land he cultivated with success until he be-
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came well-to-do and was able to provide satisfactorily for his family. He was entirely a self-made man, well respected in his neighborhood and re- garded as reliable in every way. He was elected several times to the office of justice of the peace, but always refused to serve, not caring for office of any kind. He died July 31, 1903, and his remains were interred at West Point cemetery. He had six children: Evon Andrew, the eldest, born July 13, 1854, married Alice Francis, and both are now dead; Lewilla Amintha, born January 19, 1858, married Thomas Dunigan, of Tippecanoe county ; Edward Albert, born January 22, 1860, resides at Hannibal, Missouri ; William Dallas, deceased, was born October 7, 1861 ; Oliver Morton, born August 19, 1864, resides at West Point; John S., born August 31, 1868, lives with his mother on the old homestead, first purchased by Mr. Jackson when he engaged in farming for himself.
JOSHUA CHEW.
This name has been borne by four generations in America, and has been familiar in Lafayette for more than half a century. The first Joshua Chew was born in Maryland, near Chesapeake bay, in August, 1770. His father was one of three brothers who came from England in colonial times and was killed by the Indians while locating land in Pennsylvania in 1774. His son, the second Joshua Chew, married Elizabeth, daughter of William McNelly, an Irish school teacher. The latter's wife, when a small child, was a resident of Trenton, New Jersey, and during the revolutionary battle at that place was found wandering the streets, lost from her parents. They were not found, nor did the child ever discover who they were, but she was adopted and reared by a family that moved to Virginia, where she sub- sequently obtained her husband. The third Joshua, who was the son of Joshua and Elizabeth (McNelly) Chew, was born in Berkeley county, Vir- ginia, September 8, 1830. He lived in this wild and mountainous region until eighteen years old, assisting his father in stonemasonry and farm work, meantime picking up a scanty education in the uncertain schools of those days. In 1848 the family crossed the mountains with teams, on their way to Urbana, Ohio, and when passing Wheeling saw the bridge-builders twisting wire cable for the first bridge over the Ohio. During his eight years' residence in Urbana, Mr. Chew learned both the cooper and brick- laying trades. After spending a year in Iowa, he came to Lafayette in 1857 and has ever since been one of the fixtures of this city. The first
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season was devoted to bricklaying, and during the two years or more follow- ing he and E. B. Lyman ran a lime kiln on the banks of the canal, near where the water-works now stand. Later he became a brick contractor and this business he followed until 1871, when he engaged in general building contracting. As a leader in this line he has performed a notable part in the construction of the city of Lafayette. Between 1872 and 1876 he erected many buildings on the Purdue University campus, including the farmhouse, the four-story dormitory, the boarding house (now Ladies' Hall), the or- iginal chemical laboratory, the boiler and engine house (now torn away), the gymnasium, now used as an armory, University Hall, and the buildings for the gas plant. In 1891 Mr. Chew erected the original building for the engineering laboratory, which afterwards was destroyed by fire. In 1904 he did the masonry work on the physics building, and the civil engineering building in 1905. In the last named work and in all his subsequent con- tracts at Purdue, he was associated with William F. Stillwell. In 1906 they built the chemistry building entire, besides doing much work on other buildings. In 1908 and 1909 they constructed the building for the new Memorial gymnasium.
In 1897 Mr. Chew and Adam Herzog erected the following buildings at the Soldiers' Home: The old men's home, the assembly hall, and the east wing of the dining room. In 1905 he and Mr. Stillwell built the old women's building and in 1907 and 1908 they put up the new hospital at the same place. He built three school houses in Tippecanoe township, six in Lafayette and took part in building five of the city's largest churches. He superintended all of the brick work of the Lafayette Box Board and Paper Company's plant and built twelve tall smoke stacks, ranging from eighty- five to one hundred and seventy-five feet in height, besides many large dwellings and big business houses.
In 1857 Mr. Chew married Mary Ellen Funk, of Kosciusko county, Indiana, whom he had known in Urbana, Ohio, where she was born. Her family came from Pennsylvania in 1810 and located at Urbana, where her grandfather ran an old-time wagon factory. Mr. Chew's father died in 1858, when nearly eighty-eight years old. Mr. and Mrs. Chew have had four sons, all of whom grew to manhood and learned the bricklayer's trade. Samuel C., the eldest, was born in 1858 and died in 1887, unmarried. Wil- liam L., born July 18, 1861, married Augusta Hurtzburg and has one daugh- ter, Evalene; Frank, born October 23, 1863, married Alice Peck, of Mis- souri; Joshua Chew, Jr., the youngest, was born February 17, 1866, married Fannie B. Stoner and has a son also named Joshua, who was born on
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Christmas day, 1906. Fannie B. (Stoner) Chew is a native of Pennsylvania and her parents, John Stoner and wife, came to Lafayette when she was only six weeks old. Her father was a native of England and her mother of Scotch ancestry, but Pennsylvania birth. Mary Ellen (Funk) Chew, wife of the contractor, died in May, 1869. In 1886 Mr. Chew was appointed street commissioner of Lafayette and served three years. Although nearly eighty years old, he is still active and attends to business as well as many men of fifty. About four years ago he was in a railroad accident in which he received injuries that would have caused younger men to succumb. He, however, speedily recovered and now shows little sign of having been hurt. He not only stands at the head of Lafayette builders in amount of work, but also in its quality, which is always reliable, substantial and workman- like.
ROBERT ALEXANDER.
The United States is indebted to Canada for many of its best citizens. Similar in race, religion and general views of business and government, the Canadians need no assimilating, as they readily dovetail with those on this side of the line. The Canadians as a class are ingenious and industrious, adapt themselves easily to conditions and almost invariably prove valuable ac- quisitions to the communities where they settle. Good examples of the truth of all this are found in the members of the Alexander family, who came across the line thirty-odd years ago to cast their lots with the people of the states. John and Catharine Alexander had four sons, John, William, Alexander and Robert, who after spending their youth and early manhood in their native Canada, emigrated to New York. Robert Alexander, the youngest, was born in Canada in 1857, and, as he grew up, attended the public schools in his native province. After leaving school he learned the milling trade, which he followed for some time after coming to the city of Buffalo. In the spring of 1881 he concluded to move farther west, found an opening at Marion, Indiana, where he remained about a year, then went to Danville, Illinois, for a while, but in 1884 settled permanently at Lafayette. In partnership with the other brothers before mentioned a business concern was formed which, under the title of Alexander Brothers, embarked in the sale of feeds, which they ground and prepared in a mill of their own, also producing flour and catering to the trade in various lines. In 1891 Robert purchased the interests of the
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other brothers, moved the mill to Buck Creek, in Tippecanoe county, and since then has continued the business with an increasing trade. In 1907 he bought an elevator from the Colburn Grain Company at Colburn, and branched out more extensively as a dealer in grain. He also owns two farms in the county, one of fifty-one and another of one hundred and forty-nine acres, and altogether is quite a prosperous and useful citizen.
In November, 1889, Mr. Alexander married Minnie Kullmer, of Attica, Indiana. He is a member of Lafayette Lodge, No. 123, Free and Accepted Masons; Lafayette Chapter, No. 3, Royal Arch Masons; Tippecanoe Coun- cil, No. 69, Royal and Select Masters, and Lafayette Command- ery, No. 3, Knights Templar. He is also a thirty-second-degree member of the consistory of the Scottish Rite, and of Murat Temple, Mystic Shrine. In politics, his convictions are in line with those of the Republican party, though he is no politician or seeker of office. The family attends the Second Presbyterian church. Mr. Alexander recently built a new house on one of the best residence streets. It is a large frame structure, with hardwood floors and tastefully furnished throughout.
HARRISON GAYLORD.
One of the most straightforward, energetic and successful agriculturists of Tippecanoe county is he whose name appears as the caption of this sketch. He is public-spirited and thoroughly interested in whatever tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material welfare of his locality, and for many years he has been numbered among the county's most valued and honored citizens.
Harrison Gaylord is a native of the old Buckeye state, having first seen the light of day in Lucas county, Ohio, on the 4th of September, 1839. His parents were William S. and Eliza (Williams) Gaylord, William S. Gay- lord was born in Erie county, New York, in 1803, the family having original- ly come from Connecticut, where the family had been conspicuous for many years. William S. received his early education in his native state and on attaining mature years learned the trade of wagon-making, in which he be- came very proficient, following that line of work all his life. During the construction of the Erie canal, in New York state, he was engaged in making wheelbarrows for that work. In 1833 he came to Toledo, Ohio, where he remained, working at his trade until 1858, when he moved to Covington, Indiana, and in 1865 he finally located in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, where
MR. AND MRS. HARRISON GAYLORD
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he spent the remainder of his days. He was an active man in politics, having been first a Whig and later a Republican, and his first vote was for Andrew Jackson for President. He took a strong stand for the Union cause during the Civil war and was ever a stanch champion of whatever cause seemed to him to be right. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, as was his wife, and they were held in high esteem by all who knew them. He was eighty-one years old when he died. Eliza Williams was born in New York state in 1805, and her death occurred when she was seventy-one years old. Her immediate family were from Massachusetts, while her ancestors were English. Her remains are buried beside those of her husband in the Burton cemetery in Wabash township. To this worthy couple were born the follow- ing children : Franklin A., deceased; Charles E., deceased; William F., who was a Union soldier during the Civil war, died in the military hospital at Evansville ; Harrison, the subject, was the next in order of birth; Emily H .. deceased ; George C. is a resident of Wabash township.
Harrison Gaylord received his early education in the schools of Toledo, Ohio, and after the family moved to Fountain county, Indiana, in 1858, he engaged in teaching school for six or seven years. On coming to Tippecanoe county he engaged in farming, locating on the farm on which he now re sides, comprising about eighty-five acres in section 3, township 23, range 5 west. The land had been cultivated but little and he and his brother George applied their energies to the task of clearing and improving it. They con- tinued to farm this land in partnership until about fifteen years ago, when the subject secured his brother's interest and has since operated it alone. He has carried on a diversified system of agriculture, raising all the crops com- mon to this locality and meeting with marked success in his calling. He keeps the place up to a high standard of excellence and the well-kept property stands in unmistakable evidence of the wise discrimination and sound judg- ment of the owner. Up to about five years ago Mr. Gaylord gave much at- tention to the raising of hogs, but of late he has abandoned that line of in- dustry and confined his attention more exclusively to the tilling of the soil.
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