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 77
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 77
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 77
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1892
THE JOURNAL
JOURNAL BUILDING, 119 SOUTH GREEN ST. CRAWFORDSVILLE , IND.
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
lican paper for six months, and in 1868 became a resident of Crawfordsville, Ind. He bought the Crawfordsville Journal, and has since published the same. In 1873 he was appointed Postmaster, and held the office eight years.
May 7, 1867, at Lebanon, Ind., he was married to Miss Salome S. Longley, daughter of A. H. and Sophronia (Snow) Longley. Mr. and Mrs. MeCain have had born to them two sons: Arthur A., who is business manager of the Journal; and Fred T., who is a student in Wabash College. Mr. McCain has al- ways been a Republican, and is recognized as influential in the ranks of his party in the State.
ON. JEREMIAH MORRIS. This well- known and highly respected citizen of Re- serve Township. Parke County, Ind., is a native of Georgetown, Ill .. born July 16, 1835, to Exum and Eleanor (Newlin) Morris. The grandfather of our subject was a carpenter and farmer of North Carolina, who died about 1826. He bore the name of Jeremiah Morris, and selected for his wife a lady by the name of Mar- garet Charles, who died in Indiana. To this couple were born four boys, viz .: Zachariah, Will- iam, Thomas and Exum; and three girls: Celia, Mary and Penina.
The father of our subject was born June 6, 1800, and was reared on his father's farm until he at- tained the age of twenty years, when he came to Washington County, Ind., on horseback. By his first marriage, which was with Mary Hollowell, Mr. Morris became the father of one child, Margaret, who is the wife of John E. Hall. After the death of his wife he returned to the old home, where he remained for a time, later bringing his mother and brother Thomas to Parke County, Ind. Here he married his second wife and removed to Illinois, where he settled on one hundred and sixty acres. In the year 1837 he sold his farm and bought one hundred and sixty acres east of Bloomingdale, on which he resided until 1860, when he again sold
out and moved to Plainfield, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. In December, 1862, he died, his wife surviving him but three years. Polit- ically, he was a Whig, and later became a Repub- lican. He was a conspicuous church member, serv- ing as an Elder in the Friends' Church for many years.
The wife of Exum Morris was the daughter of Nathaniel and Catherine (Hadley) Newlin, who were natives of North Carolina, and who came to Parke County in 1825, locating west of Rock- ville, then Bloomingdale. The father was a farmer and harness-maker, and died at the age of ninety- nine years. Our subject's mother reared eight children: Catherine, Mahala, Mary, Jeremiah, Na- thaniel, Matilda, Anna J. and Dr. Charles C. The maternal grandfather of our subject was a son of John Newlin, who came from the Keystone State to North Carolina. In tracing the ancestry back to the first representative in this country, Nicholas Newlin, we find him to be a native of England and a son of one Nicholas Newlin, of Canterbury, England, who was descended from Randolph de la Newland, Lord of the manor of Newland Hall, Essex.
Our subject came to Indiana with his parents, where he received his education in the common schools of Bloomingdale, but, not being satisfied, he attended the academy at that place and Earl- ham College for one year. At the age of twenty- one le clerked in his father's store, and two years later engaged in farming in Reserve Township on seventy acres of land, which he cleared and im- proved. For two years, ending in 1863, he en- gaged in the merchandise business with his uncle Thomas, at the end of which time he returned to the old home farm. In the fall of 1865 he bought and located on forty acres of land on section 34, where he still resides, having at the present time one hundred and three acres. During two years of this time he was in his own and his uncle's store at Coloma. In 1890 he was elected as rep- resentative of his county, and re-elected in 1892, also serving on five important committees-those of Roads, Phraseology, Apportionment and Re- formatory, which last position made for him an honorable record.
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The Hon. Mr. Morris was twice married, his first wife being Miss Martha J., daughter of Ben- jamin M. and Sarah (Thompson) Pritchard, both natives of Orange County, N. C., and early set- tlers of Orange County, Ind. To this worthy couple were born four children: Florence, wife of J. N. Brown, of Horton, Kan .; Elbert B., Allen J., and Emory L., whose wife died January 1, 1878, a faithful worker in the Friends' Church. His second companion, Mary Ann Trueblood, was born in Washington County, Ind., to Caleb and Mary (Pyle) Trueblood, who were natives of North Carolina. At the age of sixteen years Caleb eame with his brother William to Washington County, this State, where they settled on a farm. In 1857 Caleb passed away, leaving two children. Their father and grandfather were both of English ori- gin and bore the appellation of Caleb. During his life Caleb held to the Whig party in politics until the organization of the Republican party.
In all his transactions the worthy gentleman of whom we write has always displayed a scrupu- lons regard for the rights of others, has never been known to wilfully wrong or defraud another, and his reputation is unspotted in financial circles. He gives intelligent heed to politics, and has al- ways voted the Republican ticket. He and his estimable wife are members of the Friends' Church.
W ILLIAM RICE, a leading agriculturist of Madison Township, Montgomery County, Ind., may well be classed among the rep- resentative farmers, to whose ambition, energy and intelligence much of our national prosperity is due. Ile is a native of the Buckeye State, and was born in Clermont County in 1829. Soon af- ter his birth his parents removed from Ohio to Edgar County, Ill., and from there to Montgom- ery County, Ind., and for over sixty years our subject has been a constant resident of the State.
Ilis father and mother, Thomas and Ellen (Cook) Rice, were both born in the beginning of the pres-
ent century. Thomas Rice was a native of Penn- sylvania, and was born in 1802. His wife was also born in the same year, but in the State of Mary- land. They were both children of early settlers in this country, and each was well versed in the toils and struggles of pioneer life. Mr. Rice was reared away from his family, and, aside from the fact that he was one of five children, knew but little of his people, and had no certain informa- tion as regards his early ancestry. Mrs. Rice was a daughter in a family of six children, whose an- cestry has been recorded in the biography of George W. Cook, of Sugar Creek Township.
The records of Indiana for 1830 claimed for Montgomery County a specially fertile soil, and this was probably the chief attraction which drew so many settlers thither about that time. The population of Montgomery County at that date was but a trifle over seven thousand, all told. Miles and miles of unbroken prairie greeted the new-comers. The modern appliances which make the tilling of the soil and gathering in of the bar- vest a comparatively easy labor were then un- known, and even the humblest farming imple- ments were frequently almost unattainable; neigh- bors loaned of more fortunate neighbors, and each gave the other a helping hand as occasion required.
Locating permanently in Indiana in the early part of 1830, the parents of our subject soon made themselves a comfortable home and were prospered, gathering together a modest competence. Their son William went to the little district school in win- ter, but when large enough to aid his father on the farm remained at home in the summer, and soon learned to sow and plant and reap, and as the years went on he became the "good right arm" upon the homestead farm.
From his father's estate our subject, William Rice, received the sum of 81,800, and aside from that amount he has gained a valuable property by his own exertions and excellent management. Ile owns three hundred and eighty-one acres of fine land, most of it under a high state of cultivation. The large home farm, which contains three hun- dred and forty-one acres, is one of the best in that section of the country. Mr. Rice was married in 1855 to Miss Mary Hardwick, by whom he became
RESIDENCEOF PAUL G. SPENCER , SEC. 25., GREENE TP. PARKE CO. IND.
RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM RICE, SEC.23. MADISON TP. MONTGOMERY CO. IND.
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the father of six children, of whom two now sur- vive. In 1864, his wife died, and it was in the same year that he took possession of his present homestead. For a second time our subject entered into the bonds of matrimony, this time marrying Miss Mary Morin. This estimable lady has been the mother of five children, three of whom are de- ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Rice are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which they have been connected for many years. Mr. Rice is a stalwart Republican, and has held the official position of Supervisor, and in the discharge of his duty did much to develop and advance the coun- ty's interest. Our subject is also a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is widely known as a man of unimpeachable honor and integrity.
OHN BURNSIDE. Prominent among the many eminent and enterprising agriculturists of Fountain County, Ind., worthy of men- tion in these pages, is Mr. Burnside, who has been identified with the farming interests of this community for many years. Nowhere in the county can there be found a man who takes greater interest in farming and stock-raising than Mr. Burnside, or who strives continually to promote and advance these interests to a higher plane. Ile is one of the old and much esteemed citizens of the county, and is the owner of a fine farm on sec- tion 13, and liis postoffice address is Coal Creek.
Mr. Burnside first saw the light of day in Vir- ginia, born in 1819, being the son of William and Marion (Anderson) Burnside, both native Virgin- ians and of Scotch-Irish origin. Their children were nine in number, four sons and five daughters. Abigail, born in 1821, died in infancy; Anthony, born in 1823, died when a young man; Isaac, born in Fountain County, Ind., in 1825, resides in Knox County, Ill., and is engaged in farming; Elizabeth, born in the year 1827, married John Hadley, a farm- er, and now resides in Kansas, and they have five children; William, born in Fountain County, Ind.,
in the year 1829, married Miss Renick and is en- gaged in farming; Mary, born in 1831, married Samuel Coffman, and they now reside in Chicago, he being engaged in the cattle business at the stock yards; George, born in Fountain County, is married and has two children, and he resides in Knox County, Ill .; and Julia is deceased.
The early life of our subject was passed in his native State, but in 1834 he came to this county with his parents, who bought two hundred and forty acres of land. This farm was covered with timber, but the elder Mr. Burnside, with the help of his sons, began at once to clear and develop this tract of land, erected a comfortable log cabin, and in this resided for many years. He was one of the pioneers and a man universally respected. Young Burnside was educated up to fifteen years of age in the Old Dominion, but after coming with his parents to this State his educational ad- vantages were not of the best, much of his time being spent in assisting his father to clear the farm. In the year 1852 he was united in marriage to Miss Naney Lewis, a native of Fountain County, Ind., born in the year 1821, and the daughter of C. Lewis.
After his marriage the original of this notice resided in Parke County, Ind., for some time, but subsequently moved on the old homestead. He now resides on a tract of land that he purchased from his father, and altogether has thirteen hun- dred acres of some of the best land in the section. He has his farm well improved and in an excellent state of cultivation. Everything about the place proves the owner to be a man of advanced ideas and excellent judgment, and one who is authority on all agricultural matters. He has a comfortable house, good, substantial ontbuildings, and is sur- rounded by all the conveniences of life. He en- joys the distinction of being not only one of the pioneers of Fountain County, but one of its highly esteemed and honored citizens. He is known throughout the section as a man of kind disposi- tion and an intelligent and worthy gentleman.
Mr. and Mrs. Burnside had born of their union six children, who are named as follows: Charles, a native of Fountain County, born in February, 1854, died when eighteen years of age; Hattie,
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born in 1857, died when fifteen years of age; Rose, born in 1859, died in infancy; Amy M., born February 15, 1861, married Will Phelps; Al- bert, a farmer of Fountain County, born in 1851, married Ella Morrison, daughter of Capt. Morri- son, and they have three children; Ora Bell, born in 1871, and who resides in Fountain County, married E. Randolph, and has one child. All these children were educated at Greencastle. Albert and Amy graduated from the Greencastle School.
Mr. and Mrs. Burnside have been members of the Methodist Church for thirty years, and are deeply interested in all good work. They are active workers in the Sunday-school and hberal supporters of their church. In politics Mr. Burn- side is a strong Republican.
P ROF. HENRY SEYMOUR KRITZ, PH. D., Principal of the Preparatory Department of Wabash College, is one of the most valuable men in the institution. His is the task of laying the foundation for later instructors to build upon. Ile is a very pleasant and genial gentleman, and by his earnest, conscientious devo- tion to dnty has won the esteem and confidence alike of professors, students and citizens.
The subject of this sketch was born in .Jefferson County, Ind., February 14, 1826, of parents who had emigrated a few years before from New York and Pennsylvania. After receiving the best edu- cation afforded in the public schools of that day, he learned the trade of paper-making. While working at his business in Indianapolis in 1845, he was caught in the machinery and so disabled in his right hand as to be disqualified for working longer at this employment. Finding a change of occupation necessary, he entered Hanover College in 1847, with a view to becoming a professional teacher. Here he applied himself with such dill- gence that, although he was working his way through college by tutoring the preparatory classes two hours a day, he completed the full classical
course in a year's less time than that usually re- quired, and graduated second in a class of twenty.
In 1852 Prof. Kritz took charge of the Presby- terian Academy at Waveland, Montgomery County, Ind., and remained there more than twenty years, or till 1873. The academy was of high school grade, preparing students also for college. At that time it employed a corps of four teachers, and had from one hundred to one hundred and fifty students. Under the administration of Prof. Kritz the school became widely known, receiving students from ten different States, many of whom have since become distinguished in the professions, and in the various pursuits of business life. The school also made a splendid record during the civil war, furnishing not only a large number who served in the ranks, but also many who attained distinction as colonels, majors and captains in the armies of the Union.
In 1873 Prof. Kritz came to Crawfordsville as Principal of the High School, and three years later was made Superintendent of the city schools. While serving in this capacity, he was, at the earnest request of Prof. Bassett, then principal of the Preparatory Department of Wabash College, made his associate. Entering Wabashı College in 1877 with the rank of full Professor he taught the Preparatory Greek and English until 1881. On the resignation of Prof. Bassett in that year he was made principal of the department, and has since had charge of the preparatory Greek and Latin classes. He has been aided by able assist- ants, especially by Prof. J. II. Osborn, who is now his associate. The department has from seventy- five to a hundred students annually and has ac- quired a reputation for efficiency and thorough- ness enjoyed by very few preparatory schools.
While engaged in the public school work Prof. Kritz was a frequent and very acceptable insti- tute worker and teacher, and has been long and widely known as an enthusiastic, progressive edu- cator. He has always taken great interest in pub- lic affairs, and, although he has never sought or desired office, he is a constant and intelligent reader of political journals, and always votes the Republican ticket.
le has also very decided religious convictions,
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
and since his college days has been a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he has been for many years a ruling elder.
Prof. Kritz was married in 1855 to Miss Mary A. Brush, of Waveland. They have a family of eleven children, five sons and six daughters. The family have always lived at Waveland, where they have a pleasant home with spacious grounds in town, and a farm adjoining. The oldest of the sons, Charles S., recently married, is a druggist at Montezuma. Frank W. and Herbert S. are mer- chants at Waveland. The other sons are not in business. Four of the daughters are married. Stella K. is the wife of Rev. R. V. Hunter, of Terre Haute; Alice is the wife of James W. Rob- ertson, a retired druggist of Waveland; Jessie is the wife of George M. Cowan, of the Woolen Man- ufacturing Co., of Yountsville, Ind .; Victoria is the wife of Dr. Reese Kelso, of Waveland; and Lena and Nellie, twins, sixteen years old, are at home with their parents.
But few professional teachers have made so long and so successful a record, and still fewer have so impressed their personality on their pupils. Hun- dreds of young men and men now in middle life, widely scattered in many States, regard with the highest respect and veneration their old friend and teacher, and rejoice that he still retains so mueh of the vigor and all the enthusiasm of his earlier years.
ENRY WARNER, a brother of James and John Warner, sketehes of whom will be found in this volume, is an honored rep- resentative of Reserve Township, Parke County, and stands among those who have con- tributed their means to make this eounty one of the best-developed farming regions in the State, and he has rendered invaluable aid in reclaiming it from the wilderness by putting under a high state of cultivation an extensive farm.
Our subject is the son of Peter and Frances
(Milbourn) Warner, and was born on section 16, in this township, the event taking place April 27, 1837, on the same farm which his father had pur- chased six years previously. Mr. Warner received but a meagre education in the distriet and sub- seription schools of this eounty. At the age of twenty-one years he began farming on the home- stead in his own interest, and here he has re- mained all his life. By skillful management and economical habits he has become the proud posses- sor of eighty acres of the original estate, and aside from this farm, on which he now resides, he has as- sisted in clearing and now owns four other farms, aggregating three hundred and seventy-five aeres. The eye of the passer-by is at once attracted by the neat appearance of the place, which indicates that the owner is a man of considerable experi- ence in various ways, and one who is justly re- garded as a progressive farmer, with a clear under- standing of his business and a knowledge of how to carry on his pursuit so as to reap the best re- sults.
Peter Warner, the father of this worthy gentle- man, emigrated from his native State, Virginia, to Indiana, twenty years after the War of 1812. Being one of the early settlers here, all honor is due him for the fortitude he displayed in sur- mounting the many obstaeles and difficulties whiel beset him on every hand. Henry is one of the eleven children born to his parents, who were Alpheus, John, Mary, James, Sarah, Robert, Henry, Elizabeth and Nancy, and two who died when young.
On April 16, 1865, a very important event oc- curred in the life of our subject, when he was married to Nancy J., a daughter of John S. and Mary (Wright) Thompson, of Kentucky. Mrs. Warner was born in Mercer, Ky., June 14, 1845. Her father was a tailor by trade, and died in his native place, leaving three children: William, Mary P. and Naney J. The two former are now de- eeased. Mrs. Mary Thompson came to Indiana in 1850 with her three children and settled in Parke County, near the village of Brockport. She still survives, aged seventy-four years, and makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Warner. To our subject and his wife have been born twelve chil-
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dren, five of whom are living: Eli, Martin J., Eva J., Mary L., Lois and John G., who died at the age of twenty years. Like his brothers, Mr. War- ner is a supporter of the Democracy in his politi- cal views.
OHN P. WIRT, a prosperous general mer- chant at Alamo, is also identified with the agricultural interests of Montgomery Coun- ty, owning and successfully managing a well-ordered farm in Jackson Township, Fountain County. Ile is a native of this county, born on the old Wirt homestead in Ripley Township Jan- uary 26, 1854. IIis father, David Wirt, was born in New Jersey in 1815, and was married to Miss Rebecca Bolser in 1840. They began their wedded life in Brown Township, where Mr. Wirt purchased forty acres of wild land. Ten years later they re- moved from that place to this township, and at the time of his death he had a well-improved farm of two hundred and eighty acres. He was the father of a numerous family of children. The eldest, Nancy, was born in Brown Township in 1841, was united in marriage to Francis Humphrey in 1859, and died in 1877, leaving three children: Edna, O. D., and W. E. Miss Edna Humphrey, a resident of Crawfordsville, was born in Ripley Township in 1862. Her eldest brother, W. E., was born in the same township in 1864, is a graduate of Wabash College, and is practicing law in partner- ship with M. D. White, at Crawfordsville. The other brother was born in 1867, is a graduate of Wabash College, and a teacher in the Iligh School at Crawfordsville. Irena, the second daughter of the Wirt family, was born in 1844, married John M. White in 1863, and they reside on the old Wirt homestead. Aaron Wirt, who was born in 1815, gave up his life for his country during the great rebellion. In 1862 he volunteered, became a member of Company I, Eleventh Indiana Infan- try, commanded by Col. Wallis and Capt. Ross,
and served until his death in 1864, from the effects of a wound received in the battle of Cedar Creek. Moses G., who was born in 1848, and died at his mother's home in 1886, married Elizabeth T. Hnın- phrey, who died leaving two children. Sylvia was born in 1855, and married Patrick Daily in 1871. Their first child was born in 1872, and was married in 1892. Nellie was born in 1856, and married Mr. Byerly, of Carroll County. Rose was born in 1859, was married in 1877 to Gilbert Titus, of the firm of Wirt & Co., and they have one child.
John P. Wirt, of whom this biography is more especially written, has had a somewhat varied career in business. When he was but nineteen years old he established himself as a druggist in his native town. He afterward sold out his stock and store, and for several years has been actively engaged in a general mercantile business. He has a fine, central location in a neat and well- built block on one of the busiest thoroughfares of the village of Alamo, has a store well fitted up and completely stocked with everything in his line, and he also carries a full stock of undertak- ers' supplies, he being the only undertaker in town. Ile is a man of good business habits, is prompt and methodical in his dealings, carrying on an extensive trade with profit, and has made his name honored in financial circles. IIe is promi- nent in the publie life of the town as Town Clerk, which office he has held four years, and he is also Notary Public. In politics, he is an ardent Repub- lican, and stands by his party through good and ill report. Mr. Wirt is energetic in church mat- ters, as is also his estimable wife, and both are valued members of the Methodist Episcopal Chureli, giving it moral and material support. Both teach in the Sunday-school, which be has served as Sup- erintendent five or six terms. In his social rela- tions, he affiliates with the Masons as a member of Lodge No. 144, Alamo, and of De Barnard Lodge No. 29, K. P., at Crawfordsville.
Mr. Wirt was married in 1875 to Miss Mandy C., a daughter of Joseph Myers, their marriage taking place in Fountain County, at the home of the bride's parents, and the ceremony was per- formed by the Rev. T. S. Buckles. They are blessed with three children, all of whom are at home with
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