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 66
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 66
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 66
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
The children of Charles Willie and Margaret Huxford were named Elizabeth, wife of William Melliken, of Liberty Township, this county; Will- iam; Catherine, wife of Alpheus Warner, who died in Reserve Township, leaving a family of three children; Roxana, who died when a young lady; Andrew Jackson, who married Miss Dilema Bur- ton and resides at Central City, Neb .; Polly, wife of Thomas Causy, who died in Reserve Township leaving three children; Margaret, wife of J. M. Bowser, of Liberty Township; Charles W., de- ceased; and Benjamin, who married Miss Eliza- beth Griffith and is deceased. The father of these children was in his early life a blacksmith, but when John was a boy he went on a farm, his father's occupation being distasteful to him. He was a poor man when he came to this county, but at the time of his death, May 11, 1863, he left a fortune of about $50,000 as a symbol of his labor. He was a life-long Democrat in politics and a Universalist in religious belief. He was for many years Magistrate and Captain of a company of state militia.
At the age of twenty-one years Mr. Huxford, our subject, was united in marriage to Miss Ma- tilda Driver, a daughter of Aaron Driver, one of the early settlers of this township. After their marriage the young couple came to the farm where they now live, where they toiled bravely, but hap- pily together. They became the parents of a large family of children: Margaret, who married George Griffin, was born May 20, 1858, and died leaving one child-Charles, also deceased. Vor- hees, named after the tall sycamore of the Wa- bash, was born Angust 27, 1862, and married Elizabeth Nevins. They have two children, Rose and Charles (twins). John, Jr., born February 21, 1865, married Miss Rhoda Hawkins, who bore him two children. Matilda, twin to John, Jr., married J. L. Smith and has three children-Leona, John and Claude. Perry, born April 9, 1867, married Mary Geller. They have three children: Evan, Matilda and Chrisilla. William, born June 18, 1869, married Jennie Geller. Benjamin Emmitt, May 29, 1872, married Miss Lulur Vestell. An- drew Jackson, born October 1, 1874, now lives with his father.
Mr. Huxford has given to each of his children a farm from his large estate. He did much toward building the gravel roads in his township, contributing liberally and superintending the work. Socially he is a member of the Masonic Lodge and in political life has lent his influence to the Democratic party, although he has had but little time to devote to political matters. His wife is an influential member and zealous worker in the Christian Church of this vicinity.
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N OAH J. CLODFELTER, a Poet.
Blessings be with them, and eternal praise, Who gave us nobler loves and nobler cares, The poets, who on earth have made us heirs, Of truth and pure delight by heavenly lays.
It is with the utmost satisfaction that the biog- rapher places before the reader of this record a brief notice of the talented gentleman whose name appears at the opening of this article. In these practical days the poetic fire with the gentle, dreamy temperament belonging to it, comes too seldom to the notice of the world. When among us is born one of the gifted, the life of this individual holds superior interest, as the existence of a different kind of being.
The subject of the present sketch was born in Alamo, Ind., December 14, 1853, and he has been affectionately and proudly named "The Wabash Poet." He is scarcely conscious of the time when his thoughts did not run in rhythm, some of his published poems having been the emanations from the pen of a lad of only seventeen years. Perhaps the best known and most ambitious book of poems is the one entitled, "Early Vanitas." This is to be found in the most of the larger libraries, and although it has received slashes from the critics, Mr. Clodfelter can point even now to the critics of Shakespeare.
Our subject has not confined his pen to poetry, his novel, "Snatched from the Poor House," hav- ing been kindly received, and having had a sale of over four hundred thousand copies. His first publication took place in 1866, since which time he has contributed to the papers and periodicals over the country. His residence is at "Knoll
*
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Cottage," a beautiful home erected at a cost of over $20,000.
Probably more will be heard from this western poet in the future. Inspiring themes are not lacking, and the valley of the Wabash has many spots beautiful enough to encourage the poetic flame.
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AMES BRENTON MACK is one of the pio- neer settlers of Montgomery County, and a citizen whom Crawfordsville is glad to num- ber as her own. For the greater part of his life he has been a farmer, but retired from active work in 1881, leaving his son Charles in charge of the fine old place. He still gives it much of his attention, however, and has not outgrown his in- terest in the business which is one of the most reliable and independent that man can engage in.
Mr. Mack was born December 8, 1819, in Ham- ilton County, Ohio, sixteen miles north of Cincin- nati. His father was Erastus Mack, a native of Connecticut, who came to Ohio about the year 1802, at the age of twelve years. His mother, Martha (Brenton) Mack, was born in Kentucky and came to Ohio when she was seven years old. Both parents lived and died in Ohio, the father at the age of fifty-six, the mother when she had reached seventeen years more than the allotted three score and ten. James was the third of ten children, seven of whom lived to maturity, and five are still left. He is the only representative of the family in Montgomery County. One brother, William, is an attorney at Terre Haute and ex-circuit judge of that district; Alexander in Chicago; Joseph in Norfolk, Va .; Elizabeth Hus- ort in Terre Haute, Ind.
Mr. Mack grew up on the Ohio and remained there until he was twenty-six. December 14, 1843, he took for his wife Miss Sarah Jane Rog- ers, of Butler County, and a year and a half after that they moved to Montgomery County, Ind., and located four miles southeast of Crawfordsville, get- ing an eighty-acre tract of partly improved land and soon after adding another eighty. They had moved to the farm in 1845; in 1852 they sold this
and moved to a tract of two hundred and twenty acres one mile distant, where they lived until May, 1881. Mr. Mack's business was that of mixed farming, and he carried it on very successfully; but Mrs. Mack's health being poor, it was thought that the care was too much for her, and that a change might prove beneficial, so they moved to Crawfordsville. Their hopes proved unwarranted, for the beloved wife passed away August 29, 1888, only seven years after the change had been made. She was sixty-eight years of age, having been born January 4, 1822. Her birth-place was in Butler County, Ohio.
Mr. and Mrs. Mack's family consisted of Mar- tha C., who is now Mrs. Charles Edwards, living near Wesley, Montgomery County, her husband being a farmer; Isabel L., who is now Mrs. David Martin, of Crawfordsville, her husband being a farmer and dairyman; Mary A., the wife of Archi- bald Martin, of the firm of Tinsley & Martin, hardware; Charlie E., who lives on his father's farm and has a milk dairy; Lena, still unmarried and the housekeeper at home. Charlie E. mar- ried Ida Edwards. There are twenty grandchil- dren and five great-grandchildren. Mr. Mack's home is at 614 East College street.
Mr. Mack was one of the nine voters that voted the Abolition ticket in Union Township in 1848; he is the only living one of the nine at this time. Mr. Mack has never been an active politician. He has led a quiet upright life, and by strict in- tegrity, natural ability, clear insight and attention to business, he has won a competence for himself and a place in the respect and confidence of all who know him. Such lives often exert an influ- ence as powerful as it is nndemonstrative.
W A. LOFLAND, M. D. Possessing a clear comprehension of the science of medicine and theory of practice, our subject has also a sympathetic and appreciative effort which causes him to go forth in every case in every effort for the alleviation of suffering and for the restoration of health. He is engaged in the practice of medicine in the village of Lindon, Montgomery
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
County. He grew to mature years in Tippecanoe County, and in the fall of 1887 entered the Rush Medical College at Chicago, where he earnestly and diligently pursued his studies and graduated in the spring of 1889.
After leaving college Mr. Lotland located at Linden, where he has since resided and built up a very lucrative practice. He became a member of the American Medical Association in the same year that he graduated, and has since been one of its most active and most reliable members. In social life he is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, in which he is a promoter of its social and benevolent enterprises. He is also a member of a Chapter at Crawfordsville, and of the Blue Lodge at Linden. In political affiliations the Doctor is a Republican, and is ever interested in local and national enter- prises. An intelligent, liberal and upright citizen and kind friend and good neighbor, Dr. Loffand has the good will and best wishes of a large num- ber of the old-time acquaintances, who appreciate his sterling integrity. He is reputed to be an active and zealous worker in his practice, his skill having brought him an extensive trade in his pro- fession.
*** > **
D R. DAYTON K. BLACK, a successful physician and prosperous citizen of New Richmond, Montgomery County, Ind., is a native of Kentucky, and was born in Bour- bon County, April, 1852. His paternal grand- parents, Alec and Mary Black, were of Scotch par- entage, and gave to their descendants the energy, thrift and business ability which characterizes so many of "Old Scotias" sons and daughters. Our subject was a son of Matthew and Zerilda (Berry) Black, both natives of Kentucky.
In this state, the birth place of so many eminent men and women, closely identified with the early history of our country, the parents of Dr. Black spent their early years, were educated, grew up to man and womanhood, married and carefully reared eleven children, of whom ten lived to adult age. William W., a minister and disciple of the Christian Church, is now located in Chicago. The
Rev. Dr. Black has won a national reputation for force of argument, and earnest eloquence. The second son, Harvey, is deceased; Lydia married Norman Nichols, and now resides in Terre Haute; Wallace is a citizen of Memphis, Scotland County, Mo. ; Marion and Harrison are both dead; Dayton R., our subject, is the next in order of birth; Mary P. married a physician, Dr. Payne, of Terre Hante; Albert D. is a popular conductor on the Vandalia Railroad; Mattie E. is the wife of Dr. Burrows, now practicing in Terre Haute.
Our subject was but a little boy when his par- ents removed from Kentucky, to Putnam County, Ind. It was in the eventful year of 1860, that the family bidding adeiu to familiar scenes and old and tried friends, located in their new home. As Dayton Black grew up to manhood he devel- oped a taste for study, which finally determined him to pursue a professional life. He laid a firm foundation for his future collegiate course in the public schools of Indiana. But his boyhood was not all devoted to study. His father was a farmer, and the sons were trained to assist in the daily work incidental to agricultural pursuits, and thus alternately busy with his books and working on the farm our subject made his preparation for college the goal of his ambition.
At the early age of seventeen, Doctor Black entered the Depew University, then Asbury, and remained there three years, and then deciding not to complete the course, the following year began at twenty-one years of age, the study of medicine, under Dr. Wilcox, one of the leading physicians of the state. For two years he dili- gently read medicine, under that successful prac- titioner, and then entered the college in Indiana, where he attended one year, afterward completing his thorough course of instruction at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, from which well- known institution of learning he graduated with honor during the college year of 1874 to 1875.
Doctor Black was now fully equipped for the intelligent practice of one of the most difficult and wearing of all professions. He first located in Coatesville, Ind. For two years he remained there, but in 1878 was induced to remove to his present field of labor, in New Richmond, where
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
he soon gained the confidence of the public, and rapidly built up a large and lucrative practice. In 1888 our subject was married to Miss Maggie Jones, daughter of George W. Jones, an old resi- dent and highly respected citizen of Montgomery County. Dr. and Mrs. Black are an important element in the society of New Richmond, and both have a wide circle of friends. Our subject is a progressive man, takes an active interest in public affairs and is politically a Democrat. He is a member of the State Medical Society, also belongs to the Masonic Fraternity and is a Knight of Pythias.
C YRUS BROWN. The name of Brown has been a familiar one in Fountain County from the first years of its settlement in that Simon Brown, the father of the subject of the sketch, was one of its early pioneers, who was prominent in the development of its agricultural resources, and was for many years a valued citizen, who sought to promote the highest interests of his community, socially and religiously.
Simon Brown was born in Adams County, Pa., in 1804, and was of German antecedents. He was married in his native county to Nancy Reed, whose father was a prominent miller of that section of the country. After marriage Mr. Brown and his bride established themselves in Ohio, near Cin- cinnati, in 1824. In November 1827, they came from that point to Indiana and Mr. Brown entered the land upon which his son, Cyrus lives, and made it his home until his death. He also purchased government land in Benton County. He settled in the wilderness, his homestead being covered with primeval forest trees, and deer, bears, wild turkeys and other game abounded, while the Indians still lingered in their old haunts. With characteristic energy Mr. Brown set about clear- ing his land, and in due time became one of the most prosperous of the pioneer farmers, accumu- lating a valuable property, and at the time of his death he had over one thousand acres of fine land. He was a man of strong, vigorous, keen intellect, and was very influential among his fellow-citizens.
He assisted in the management of public affairs as Trustee of the Township, and he was well known as a Republican in politics. In early life he was a member of the United Brethren Church in this Township. He was one of the founders, giving the land upon which it is built, and also land for a cemetery. He afterward abandoned that faith, becoming more liberal in his religious views, and he became one of the leading members of the Pro- gressive Friends Church, helping to build its house of worship, the Van Buren Church, in which he preached until his death in 1874. His good wife, who shared with him the hardships and trials of pioneer life survives him at the venerable age of ninety-two years, making her home on the old homestead with her son. She was born October 12, 1800, in Adams County, Pa., and is one of the oldest settlers in the county. When she came here with her husband not a tree had been felled on the place, and their first habitation was a log shanty, in which they lived until they could replace it with a log house. She is still strong and active for one of her advanced years, as she has led a quiet, busy, healthful life, her interests center- ing in the home which she helped her husband to upbuild, and from which she has never wandered far, never even taking a journey on the cars.
The subject of this biographical review was born December 5, 1845, on the old home farm, on Sec- tion 2, Shawnee Township where he still lives. He is one of eight children, of whom four are living besides himself, as follows: Susanna, widow of Jeremiah Brown, and a resident of Jasper County; Esau and Sarah, twins, the former a farmer of Shawnee Township, and the latter the wife of Elias Pugh and Mary, wife of William H. Marcus, a farmer of Benton County. Josiah died in infancy; Isaiah died at the age of nine years, and Levina was six years old when she died.
Our subject obtained his education in the dis- trict school and he was well trained in all that pertains to farming under his father's instruction. Since he began life on his own account he has devoted himself to agricultural pursuits, and one hundred and ninety acres of the old farm has come into his possession. The land has an excellent natural drainage, is well fenced into convenient
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
fields, which are under the best of cultivation, and a substantial and commodious set of buildings for every needed purpose add greatly to the value and appearance of the place. Mr. Brown is a general farmer, and aims to keep a good variety of stock, from which he derives a fruitful income.
Mr. Brown is an intelligent, thoughtful man, of quick discernment, a clear judgment and high principles, and an honor to the citizenship of his native county. Politically, he is a strong Repub- lican, and has mingled somewhat in public life as Supervisor of his Township. He is now an active member of the Progressive Friend's Church, of which he is trustee.
The marriage of our subject with Miss Isabella Crook was solemnized November 26, 1874, and he brought his bride to his old home where they have lived ever since. Mrs. Brown was born November 12, 1857, and is a daughter of Bennett and Emily Crook. Her father is a prominent farmer of this township. The wedded life of Mr. and Mrs. Brown has been hallowed to them by the birth of four children, of whom these three are living: Ella Gertrude, who is fifteen years old; Atchie Earl, aged nine years; and Charles Edwin, five years of age. Nora Belle died at the age of five months.
A BRAM HARSHBARGER, who is a worthy representative of the Harshbarger family that has played such an important part in the upbuilding of Montgomery County since the early days of its settlement, is a prominent and prosperous farmer of North Union Township, where he has a well-equipped and well stocked farm, lo- cated on Section 3. Our subject is a native of Union Township, boru in one of its pioneer homes May 4, 1832.
The father of our subject was Isaac Harshbar- ger, who was a native of Ohio, and was in turn a son of Christian Harshbarger, who was born in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, Va., where the Harshbargers settled in the latter part of the last century. Christian Harshbarger migrated from his early home to Ohio, where he lived until 1828, when he came with his family to Indiana, and was
among the first pioneers to locate within the pres- ent bounds of Montgomery County, settling on a tract of government land that he had purchased west of Crawfordsville, and making it his home until he closed his eyes in death after a life of pioneer experiences and hard toil in reclaiming a farm from the wilderness. He married a Miss Booker, and they had a large family of children.
Isaac Harshbarger was young when his parents came here to settle, and he grew to a stalwart, act- ive manhood on his father's farm. He wedded Miss Sarah Crouch, a daughter of James Crouch, a pioneer farmer of Montgomery County, who came here as early as 1829. Isaac continued to live on the paternal acres for twelve or fifteen years after marriage, and then entered a traet of government land on Section 3. He was a hard worker, a good farmer, who knew well how to make every stroke of labor tell, and he accumulated a comfortable property, including a farm of two hundred and seventy-eight acres of highly productive soil. His death occurred in the home that he had founded here in 1856. He was a devoted christian, and was long identified with the Baptist Church as one of its most earnest and useful members. His good wife lived to an advanced age, her demise occurring in 1878. Our subject is the only one living of their children. The others were Christopher, who died in Illinois; Jane who died on the old homestead; Susan, who died at the age of fourteen; and Liz- zie, who was married.
Abraham Harshbarger was reared under whole- some home influences, and was educated in the schools of his native township. He remained au inmate of the paternal household until he was twenty-two, assisting his father in the care of his farm. He was married in 1856 to Miss Lydia Booker, a daughter of Henry Booker, a farmer of Union Township, and after marriage he resided on the old home place eight or nine years, and then settled upon the farm upon which he is now living. It comprises three hundred and fifty acres of choice land, which is in a good state of cultivation, and its improvements are of a high order, a neat and well-built residence, which was erected in 1880, adorning the place, and there are commodious barns and other out-buildings. Grain and all prod-
HENRY BURFORD
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
ucts common in this part of the country thrive on the rich soil of the farm, and our subject raises standard stock of various kinds. He has accumu- lated the most of his property himself by judicious management of his affairs, the only help that he received in starting out in life being the forty acres of land given him by his father. He is a member of the Horse Thief Detective Associatiou, and in politics is a strong Democrat. He is very genial, with a cheery word for all, and his neigh- bors and associates generally find in him a warm and steadfast friend, whose many fine traits of head and heart make him thoroughly respected and esteemed throughout the community where his entire life has been passed.
In 1866 death shadowed the pleasant home of onr subject and removed the beloved wife and mother, whose helpful hand had aided in mold- ing the fortunes of her husband, and was tenderly guiding their children to useful and happy lives. Of these children, but one survives, Charles H., who lives on and operates his father's farm. He married Annie, daughter of David and Miranda Cowan. Her father is dead. Her mother still lives in Uniou Township. The other children of our subject were, Sarah Ann, who died when a young lady; Elizabeth, who married Frank Pittin- ger, and died at the age of thirty-one, and Daniel, the youngest, who died at the age of twenty-five.
H ENRY BURFORD (deceased) came with his parents to this locality when an infant of ouly two years, and from that time until his death, August 22, 1883, he was con- nected with the prosperity and development of this region. In short the history of Parke County, of its worthy founders and early settlers, would be sadly incomplete without the record of the gentle- man whose name heads this sketch. He was born in 1825 in Mercer County, Ky., his parents beiug William and Mary (Noel) Burford. The former was a son of Daniel and Anny Burford, who were natives of the Old Dominion and early settlers of Kentucky. Our subject's father migrated to
Parke County in 1827, locating ou land which he took up of the Government.
In the year 1852 Henry Burford was united in the bonds of matrimony to Elizabeth A., daughter of Jacob and Mary A. (Dorrow) Mull. Mrs. Bur- ford's paternal grandparents were Nicholas and Barbara (Cosner) Mull, the grandfather a native of Germany, who located in Lancaster County, Pa., where he engaged in farming and stock-rais- ing and reared a family of eight children in the faith of the German Lutheran Church. Mr. Mull was a Democrat politically, until Jackson's time, and then a Whig. His death occurred in Lancas- ter County at the age of seventy one years, his wife surviving him for some time.
The father of Mrs. Burford began to learn the car- penter's trade when fifteen years of age, following that occupation in connection with farming all bis life. While living in Lancaster County he married the daughter of William and Elizabeth (Hummell) Dorrow, of Chester County, Pa. In 1840 he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of timbered land in this county, and cut trees on the spot where he built his house of round logs. He improved his original farm and added eighty acres more. When he had reached his seventy first year, in 1875, he was called to his final home. His wife survived him until about 1888.
Mrs. Burford was born in Lancaster County, Pa., in 1832, being one of ten children. She re- ceived such education as could be obtained iu the common schools of that early day and became the wife of our subject in her twentieth year. Their union was graced with six children: Samuel H., who married Luella Smith and has five children; John M., who took for his wife Sarah Elizabeth Bascom, who became the mother of five children; Charles F., whose wife was formerly Isabelle Boyd, they having four children; May E., wife of J. L. Swaim; William, who wedded Irena Howe; and Albert J., whose wife, formerly Serena Strickler, is the mother of one child. Mr. and Mrs. Burford were both members of the Baptist Church, to which the latter still belongs. Our subject was formerly a Whig, and afterward became a Repub- lican.
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