USA > Indiana > Fountain County > Portrait and biographical record of Montgomery, Parke and Fountain counties, Indiana : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens : together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 28
USA > Indiana > Montgomery County > Portrait and biographical record of Montgomery, Parke and Fountain counties, Indiana : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens : together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 28
USA > Indiana > Parke County > Portrait and biographical record of Montgomery, Parke and Fountain counties, Indiana : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens : together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 28
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in which he had engaged in his native land, that of farming. He reared a family of eight children : John, Benjamin, Martin, Rhoda, Hannah, Ann, Lancelot and Fanny. Our subject's father was born in England on February 28, 1797, and when he came with his parents to this country was about ten years old. His education was quite limited, but he was a great student and reader, and after devoting some time to studying medicine, prac- ticed the same considerably. In Dearborn Coun- ty was celebrated his marriage with the daughter of Enoch Blasdel, who with his family were early settlers of this State, and of French descent. Mr. Ewbank was a Whig aud afterward became a Re- publican, and with his estimable wife held mem- bership with the Methodist Protestant Church. HIe was a general mechanic, but his main occupa- tion was farming. With his family he emigrated to Parke County about the year 1839, settling on a farm in Liberty Township, on the Wabash River. A year later he bought the farm where our sub- jeet now lives, and this he carried on until his death, on October 16, 1857. Only a short time af- ter the family removed to this county the mother was called from this life, July 16, 1840, and then Mr. Ewbank married Mrs. Sarah Belcher, whose maiden name was Erwin.
There were ten children by the first marriage of our subject's father, namely: David; Susan, de- ceased, who was the wife of Miles Ratcliff; John and Enoch, deceased; Jacob; Jonathan; Ruth A., de- ceased, who was the wife of John Faucett; Mary C., wife of Wilham R. Rateliff; our subject; and Pa- mela, deceased, who was the wife of Charles Liv- ingston. Four children were born of the second marriage: Martin V .; Ilannah, deceased, who was the wife of James Crosby; George S. and Thomas.
Lancelot C. Ewbank remained with his father on the homestead until the death of , the latter. His common-school education was supplemented by a course of study at Georgetown, Ill., where he prepared himself for a teacher's duties, and taught seven terms in Parke County. He also worked at carpentering for a short time, after which he set- tled down to the peaceful vocation of a farmer.
On March 8, 1865, after returning from the war, he wedded Mary, daughter of John and
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Mary Ratcliff, and soon after came to his present farm. The house his father built soon after his arrival in this county was probably the first frame dwelling in Sugar Creek Township. Our subject has made a success of farming, and has acquired a snug little fortune.
The union of our subject and wife has been blessed with seven children: John H., Susanna E. (deceased), Thomas M., Barbara L., Ethel E., Sarah E. and William J. The parents are members of the Christian Church, and, politically, our subject is a Republican. He is a member of IIobson Post of Marshall, and has been an active member of the Order of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons. The eldest son, Jolm H., is a graduate of the Union Christian College, of Sullivan County, Ind., and is now a professor there. Susanna, the daugh- ter who died, would have graduated last June from the same institution had she lived, and the other daughters are now attending that college. Two of the sons are teachers in the county schools, and the youngest daughter, only fifteen years old, has graduated from the common school.
OSEPH M. HARVEY came of the pioneer stock of Montgomery County, and for many years materially contributed to its growth and prosperity by his work as a practical farmer on section 22, Wayne Township. Death closed his career in 1891, and his com- munity thus lost one of its most useful and ex- emplary citizens. He was born in Union County, in 1829, and was three years of age when the fam- ily settled in this county at Alamo. His parents were Hudson and Sarah (Rinker) Harvey, the father also a native of Union County. IIe died in Iowa in 1870, and the mother died in that State in 1876. Our subject had one brother and three sisters. Mary Ann, who was born in Union County in 1832, married John A. Fisher, of lowa, by whom she had six children, and died in 1868;
Martha Jane, who was born in this county in 1834, is the wife of Will Roe, of Iowa, and is the mother of seven children; Lydia, born March 28, 1839, married Will Rayborn, of Iowa, and they have five children: George N., who was born in 1836, volunteered during the late war in the Tenth Jowa Infantry, and died while in the army in 1862, at Davenport Camp, leaving a wife (formerly Lu- cinda Roe) and three children, who are still living in Iowa.
Mr. Harvey's first independent work as a farm- er when he began life for himself was on a tract of wild land, partly prairie and partly timber, in Iowa, which he had taken up from the Govern- ment. Ile resided on that some nine years, and then, returning to his native State and to Mont- gomery County, he bought the property on which his family lives, and which was destined to be his home the remaining years of a busy and fruitful life. He engaged in mixed farming, raising con- siderable grain, and a good class of stock, with which his farm was well supplied. He left an es- tate of two hundred acres of valuable land in a good condition. Ile was a man of genuine worth, of inflexible honesty, and was revered and trusted by all with whom he associated, who deplored his loss when death removed him from their midst. A Christian in every sense, he was deeply attached to the Christian Church, of which he was a devoted member until he passed beyond, and he was an Elder therein ten years, also an earnest teacher in the Sunday-school. For many years a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Wayne- town, his fellow-associates conducted his funeral with all the ceremonies of the fraternity. Polit- ically, he was allied with the Republicans, but was not an office-seeker. While the war was raging, however, he did noble service for his country for three years as a member of the Thirty-second lowa Infantry.
The wife who so ably assisted Mr. Ilarvey in his life work, and to whom he was married in lowa in 1853, bore the maiden name of Sarah Dwiggins. Their union was blessed with nine children, of whom we have the following record: Mary E., born in Iowa in 1853, was married in Indiana to Thomas D. Young, a carpenter, now residing in
Yours Truly Milton B. Haugh
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East St. Louis, Ill., and they have eight children; Sarah E., born in lowa October 17, 1856, married Fouts Sumner, a barber of Waynetown, and they have three children; Martha I., born in lowa No- vember 28, 1858, is the wife of W. Zuck, of Wayne- town; Albert II., born in Iowa in 1860, died the following year; Houston L., born in Iowa m 1862, married Laura Small, and resides on the paternal homestead; Carrie, born in this county in 1866, and Carl B., born in 1868, and married to Lulu Small, reside on the old homestead; Maud, born in 1870, died in 1878; Frank W., born in 1872, re- sides with his mother. The children have been well educated in the High School at Waynetown, from which Carrie and Burt were graduated in 1886, and, with the exception of Frank, have all taught school. They have nearly all been teachers in the Sunday-school connected with the Chris- tian Church, of which they are all active members, their mother also belonging to that church.
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ILTON B. WAUGH, the present President of the Montgomery County Board of Ag- riculture, was born on the farm on sec- tion 13, Sugar Creek Township, which is now in his possession and is his home, and by his intelligent and progressive methods of conduct- ing business he has contributed materially to ad- vance the farming and stock interests of his na- tive county.
Mr. Waugh's paternal grandfather was born amid the primeval wilds of New Jersey, in 1750. He married Elizabeth Hopkins, a native of Vir- ginia, and they had a numerous family of chil- dren. Their son, the father of our subject, was a native of Ross County, where he was born Jan- uary 25, 1804. In 1831, in the prime of early manhood, he came with his family to Indiana, and, casting in his fortunes with the pioneers of Mont- gomery County, he bought from the Government a quarter-section of land, on which his son of
whom we now write resides, half of it being prai- rie, and the remainder covered with forest.
The father worked hard to redeem his land from its natural wildness, and in the home that le and his faithful wife built up they have reared a large family of children to lives of sobriety and usefulness. Martha, the eldest, who was born in 1829, married Mr. Dunbar in 1846, and died in 1847; Joseph was born in Montgomery County, January 29, 1832, and is farming in Worth Coun- ty, Mo., where he owns a farm of three hundred acres; Harvey was born April 10, 1835, removed to Ringgold County, Iowa, before that connty was organized, and has a farm there of seventeen hun- dred acres, which he devotes to grain and stock- raising. John W. was born December 13, 1839, and resides on a farm of six hundred and forty acres in Missouri; Margaret was born February 14, 1842, is married, and resides in Henry County, Mo., where she owns seven hundred acres of land; Miletus A. was born in 1844, and removed to Ringgold County, Iowa; Melissa A., a resident of Henry County, Mo., was born in 1852, and mar- ried Mr. Ward, a farmer, who died in 1885, and left an estate of three hundred acres of land; William was born in 1854, and is now farming in Worth County, Mo., where he has a farm of two hundred and sixty acres. Miletus A. was a vol- unteer in the One Hundred and Sixteenth Indiana Infantry during the late war, and had an experi- ence in rebel prisons.
Milton B. Waugh was born into the pioneer home of his parents February 11, 1837. He early became familiar with all kinds of farm work, and in due season adopted that calling which Horace Greeley so aptly styled the "noblest of profes- sions," and he has long been regarded as one of the most competent and well-equipped farmers of his native township, owning some seven hundred acres. He is greatly interested in breeding Shorthorn cattle, Clydesdale horses and Cotswold sheep, his farm being well stocked with these famous breeds. He has a fine place-buildings of a good order and well arranged; fields under a high state of cultiva- tion, neatly fenced and well tiled, and everything about the farm betokening careful and able man- agement.
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Mr. Waugh was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Saulsbury, of Clinton County, Ind., August 13, 1857. Mrs. Waugh was a daughter of James and Catherine Saulsbury, and was born May 15, 1837, in this township, and died deeply regret- ted August 29, 1892. IIer union with our sub- jeet brought them seven children. James W., who was born July 18, 1859, was graduated from Perdue University in 1883, and is a successful civil engineer. Ile married Miss Lulu Davidson in 1889; John M., a farmer, owning two hundred and forty acres in this county, was born Novem- ber 20, 1861, married Miss Sarah Clouser, and has two children; Emma O., born October 14, 1863, married Fielden II. Rice in 1884, and lives in this township; Mollie, born September 14, 1865, was married in 1885 to John D. Shriver, who is a farmer and stock-raiser, and has a farm of two hundred aeres in Tippecanoe County, Ind .; Mat- tie, born April 5, 1867, was married in 1887 to William Fisher, a farmer of this township; Clara B., born April 11, 1869, married February 14, 1889, William M. Reeves, a lawyer, and a member of the firm of White, Humphry & Reeves, of Craw- fordsville; Frank W., who resides at home with his parents, was born March 13, 1872.
Mr. Waugh has acquired a handsome fortune by his skillful management of his farming and financial operations, and is numbered among our most substantial citizens. He is a man of much force of character, is well informed in all that pertains to agriculture, and is an admirable presiding officer at the meetings of the County Board of Agriculture, in which he is deeply inter- ested, and to the usefulness of which as an or- ganization for the benefit of the farmers of this section of Indiana he has largely contributed. He is also connected with the Masonic order as a member of Plumb Lodge No. 472, A. F. & A. M., and of Lodge No. 40, R. A. M., and he also belongs to the Horse Thieves' Detec- tive Association. Our subject has an honorable record as a soldier. While the war was being waged between the North and South, he joined the Home Guards, of which he was one of the or- ganizers. Ile was commissioned Captain and took an active part in the movement against Morgan,
the bold rebel raider. Mr. Waugh contributes liberally to all worthy objects, including the Methodist Church, of which his wife was a mem- ber.
HOMAS J. WILSON, living on section 9, Wal- nut Township, has been a resident of Mont- gomery County for more than forty years, has won a substantial place among its farmers, and has occupied important publie positions. Ile . came here from Ohio, which is his native State, he having been born in Miami County, September 18, 1824. His father, John Wilson, was born in Ken- tucky in the early years of its settlement, January 6, 1782, the date of his birth. His parents were John and Lydia (Thatcher) Wilson, who were na- tives of New Jersey. The Thatchers came from Wales and the Wilsons from England during Co- lonial times, and the father of John Wilson, Sr., was a Revolutionary soldier.
John Wilson, Jr., was the youngest of nine chil- dren, and he grew to vigorous manhood in his na- tive State. IIe erossed the Ohio River, and for a while lived near Cincinnati, which was then but a village. He afterwards moved to Miami County, where he spent the greater part of his active life, although just after his marriage he spent a short time in Montgomery County, the same State. Ile bought a farm of one hundred and fifty acres in Miami County, and he became one of the foremost men of the county, which he represented in the State Legislature two terms, and for twenty-one years he was Clerk of the County Court. He also held the office of Justice of the Peace. He was a successful business man, and won his way to the confidence of the people by his unswerving integ- rity. He was a liberal supporter of all benevolent and religious objects, and was a leading member of the Reynolds Baptist Church, of which he was a deacon, and he took part in the exercises of the Sunday-school. His wife was also a valued mem- ber of that church. Politically, he was a Whig until that party ceased to exist, and he then
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identilied himself with the Democratic party. He and his wife left the old farm in Ohio in 1849 to pass their last days with their children, and he died April 10, 1866, she having preceded him to the grave ten years before, dying April 12, 1856, the father being buried in Ohio, and the mother in Indiana.
They had a family of twelve children, of whom cleven grew to maturity, and two are still living: Matilda, a resident of Crawfordsville, and the widow of Jeremiah West, who was a farmer; and Lydia, a resident of Indianapolis, and widow of Jeliel Crane. The deceased children are Annie, who died in infaney; Patsy, who married Joseph Hance, and died in Miami County, Ohio; Luein- da, who married David Sutton, and died in this county; Lewis M., who was a farmer, and died in this county; Catherine C., who married Augustus Brown, and died in Miami County, Ohio; Saralı Ann, who married Jacob Counts, a farmer of this county, and died here; John, who died in early manhood; Letitia, who married Davis Counts, a farmer of Ohio, and died in this county; Eliz- abeth, who married Robert Buckles, who was orig- inally a farmer in Miami County, Ohio, whence he emigrated to Nebraska, where she died; and Thom- son J., who died April 8, 1893, in this county.
Thomas Wilson was reared and educated in his native county, attending the public schools in his youth whenever the opportunity offered. After his marriage he settled on his father's farm, and was actively engaged in agricultural pursuits in Ohio until 1850. In that year he came to Indi- ana to take advantage of the cheap and exceed- ingly fertile land of Montgomery County that had not been worn out by extensive cultivation. He selected his present location in Walnut Town- ship, buying at that time eighty acres of land, to which he has added more by subsequent purchase. and he now has one of the most desirable farms in this section, comprising one hundred and twenty acres of well-cultivated soil. His improvements are of a substantial order, and include a neat and cozy dwelling, built in 1890 at a cost of $1,000. The farm is given up to general farming, and a fine class of stock is raised upon it.
Onr subject was married in his native county to
Miss Annie Jane Counts, daughter of Elijah Counts, who was a prominent farmer in Miami County in pioneer times. He had been reared in Kentucky, and was there married to Margaret Wiley, who was a native of South Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have five children living, name- ly: Sallie, who was born September 2, 1849, and is now the wife of Manoah Brown, a resident of Coal Creek; Edwin Davis, who was born July 29, 1851, married Ellen, daughter of George Fanst, and is engaged in farming in Walnut Township; Canzada N., who was born August 29, 1854, and is now the wife of John Campbell, of New Market; Lewis Sylvester, who was born April 12, 1857, and lives with his parents, assisting in carrying on the farm; and Gilbert B., who was born July 26, 1866. The Wilsons have lost one child, Nevada A., who was born December 17, 1853, and died in infancy.
Our subject has excellent business qualifications that have not only gained him a competency, but have won him recognition among his fellow-eiti- zens as good material for a publie officer. He has held the important position of County Commis- sioner for six years, was Trustee of the township one term, and has been a member of the National Horse Thief Detective Association. In politics he is a true Demoerat.
AMES M. WANN. The village of Water- man owes not a little to the enterprise and push of this prominent citizen and popular proprietor of the hotel. Our subject was born in Vermillion County, Ind., August 14, 1840, and is the son of Daniel and Susan (Givens) Wann. The paternal grandparents removed from Penn- sylvania shortly after the birth of their son Dan- iel, and made settlement in Circleville, Ohio, where the grandfather died; his wife passed away in Indiana. They had four sons: Jacob, David, John and Daniel, and one daughter, Chesty.
After coming to Parke County, Ind., about 1821,
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Daniel Wann worked at various occupations, but subsequently settled on a farm comprising four hundred acres in Fountain County, Ind., where his death occurred in 1863. In his political opinions be affiliated with the Whigs during the existence of that party, and at the organization of the Re- publican party joined its ranks. In his religious convictions he was a Presbyterian. Of his first union six children were born, namely: William; Jolin, who served as a soldier during the Civil War; Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, deceased; James M., of this sketch; Elisha, a soldier in the late war, and a member of the One Hundred and Forty-ninth Indiana Infantry; and Mrs. Margaret Self. The second union of Daniel Wann was with Mrs. Charlotte (Lunger) Randolph, who bore him the fol- lowing children, viz .: Daniel, Isaac, Sarah (Mrs. Cartwright), Harriet, Charles and Dana. The last- named died in childhood, and one other died in infancy. The third marriage of Daniel Wann united him with Mrs. Margaret Carman, a sister of the second wife.
The childhood of our subject was passed unevent- fully on his father's farm, and he acquired a prac- tical education in the common schools of the neigh- borhood. At the opening of the Civil War, he en- listed in the service of the Union in August, 1861, and his name was enrolled as a member of Com- pany A, Thirty-first Indiana Infantry. He partici- pated in the battles of Ft. Donelson and Shiloh, and in the latter engagement was wounded in the right side. He remained in the hospital until Jan- uary, 1863, and upon his recovery rejoined his regiment near Murfreesboro, Tenn. He was pres- ent at Chickamauga, Bridgeport, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca and Kenesaw Mountain. In the battle of the last-named place he was wounded in the left shoulder, and was afterward in the hospitals at Chattanooga and Nashville. Upon receiving a furlough, he returned home, and in October, 1865, was discharged at Indianapolis, where he was serving in the veteran corps for a year.
Returning to the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, Mr. Wann engaged in farming until 1885, since which time he has been proprietor of an hotel. He is one of the influential Republicans of the com- munity, and has served as Justice of the Peace for
twelve years. His marriage, in April, 1866, united him with Miss Melissa, daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Lunger) Carman, and they are the par- ents of one child, Frank II., who is in Fernwood, near Chicago, Ill. Mrs. Wann is a prominent and devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and labors un weariedly in behalf of re- ligious and benevolent enterprises. As may be imagined, Mr. Wann takes great interest in the work of the Grand Army of the Republic, and is also identified with the Masonic fraternity.
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P. SHOOP is proprietor of one of the largest livery stables in Rockville, and has a good share of the patronage of this place. He is one of the enterprising young business men of Rockville, and has been quite successful in his present business enterprise. His birth occurred in Dauphin County, Pa., on July 10, 1855. He is a son of Jolin Shoop, who was a native of the same county in the Keystone State, where he was reared to mature years. In the late war he was in the service for three years and was severely wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. His wife, who was before her marriage Miss Sarah Deidrich, died about the close of the war, leaving five chil- dren, our subject being the second in order of birth. The father was called from the shores of time in 1886.
Our subject was reared in the county of his birth until reaching his eighteenth year. His edu- cational privileges being somewhat limited in his youth, he has had to rely mainly upon experience, observation, private reading and study. He was only eighteen years old when he left his father's roof-tree and came to Montgomery County, Ind., where he engaged in working for his uncle, J. L. Deidrich, who was engaged in the livery business at Waveland. While in his employ he acquired a practical knowledge of the business, and at the expiration of eleven years of faithful service in that place he came to Rockville. For eight
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months he was in the employ of N. W. Cummings, at the end of which time he started in business for himself at Montezuma. After three years of successful trade in that village, Mr. Shoop re- turned to Rockville, buying out his former em- ployer, N. W. Cummings, the date of the trans- action being in 1887.
Mr. Shoop was united in holy matrimony in the year 1881 with Miss Ella Davis, whose father, Joseph Davis, was killed during the late war, prior to which time he was a resident of Mont- gomery County. Two children grace the union of our subject and wife, Cleona and Clande.
The gentleman of whom this is a brief life rec- ord is much interested in civie societies, being a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, and also of the Eastern Star of the Masonic lodge. His right of fran- chise is used in favor of the nominees and in sup- port of the principles advocated by the Republi- ean party. His father was a loyal defender of the Umon in the time of her great peril, and the son, our subject, now in times of peace, when the nation alinost equally demands true citizens and patriotic sons, is true to her interests and endeav- ors to promote her welfare in every possible way.
G EORGE W. SPENCER is a prominent far- mer of Greene Township, Parke County, his home being on section 10. He was born on the old homestead February 12, 1840, and is a son of John Spencer, whose birth occurred in Maryland about the year 1793. The latter was a son of James, also a native of Maryland. When he was two years old he removed to Fleming Coun- ty, Ky., and in 1835 came to Indiana, settling one- half mile east of the place on which he soon after located, and there resided until his death. His wife before her marriage bore the name of Mary Gott.
John Spencer was next to the eldest in a family of four sous and two daughters. He was reared
in Fleming County, Ky., where he lived until 1835, when he came to Indiana. The previous year he had married Miss Nancy Alexander, who was a daughter of James Alexander, a native of North Carolina, and an early settler in Mason County, Ky., from where he later removed to Fleming County, in the same State. The two broth- ers of Mrs. Nancy Spencer served in the War of 1812. After his marriage John Spencer engaged in farming, and in 1834, coming to Parke County, he became the owner of the farm now carried on by our subject. Only a few acres had been cleared at that time, but with energy and undaunted cour- age he pursued the work of its improvement. Ile was called to his final rest on the 9th of April, 1867. His family consisted of eleven children, one of whom died in childhood. The following are yet living: Mary E., wife of Milton Robert- son, living near Winterset, Iowa; Martha Jane, wife of Greenberry MeDuffy, of Union County, lowa; Amanda, widow of Robert Bloomfield; Ed- na, wife of David Patton, who lives southwest of Crawfordsville, Montgomery County; and our sub- ject. The mother of these children, who was born November 28, 1801, is still living, though so ad- vaneed in years, and makes her home with our subjeet. ller mind is clear, and her health is re- markably good. Her husband was a Democrat, politically, and as a farmer successfully carried on his two hundred acres of land.
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