USA > Indiana > Kosciusko County > Progressive men and women of Kosciusko County, Indiana : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography > Part 65
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At what time in the past the ancestors of the American branch of the Welch family came to America is not known, but it is sup- posed to have been at a period antedating the colonial struggle for independence. They settled in Virginia, as did also the Groves family, from which the subject is maternally descended. The Welches were planters and some of them appear to have been large slave-holders and firm believer. in the right of man to use his fellow man as a menial and an article of traffic. Among the descendants of the original ancestors was one Joseph Welch, who took issue with his relatives upon the matter of involuntary ser- vitude. Ile early manifested a profound antagonism to slave-holding and when ar- riving at the years of manhood determined to no longer live in a state cursed with the presence of this, to him, most nefarious in- stitution. Accordingly he left the familiar scenes of his native place and migrated to the free soil of Ohio, where for a number of years he worked at cabinetmaking, which
he had formerly learned in Virginia. Ile continued to follow his trade in the Buck- eye state until his removal, in an early day, to Lagrange county, Indiana, where he en- tered a quarter-section of land in what is How the township of Bloomfield. On com- ing to this state Joseph Welch turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and fol- lowed the same with good results until his retirement from active life, after which he took up his abode in the town of Lagrange. where he spent the remainder of his days. dying there in 1863. During the time spent on his farm he cleared and brought to a high state of tillage one hundred acres of fine land and was considered one of the model agriculturists of the community in which he lived. As a citizen he ranked with the best men of his township and county and his influence was invariably exerted upon the right side of every moral question. Po- litically he was one of the leading Repub- licans of his neighborhood, and as a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church he led a quiet, consistent church life. The maiden name of Mrs. Joseph Welch was Elizabeth Groves. She also was pronounced in her allegiance to the Methodist church, lived consistently with her religious profes- sion and died trusting in the merits of a Saviour whom she had so long and faith- fully served. Joseph and Elizabeth Welch were the parents of seven children, whose names are as follows: John W .. Thomas C., Cessna E., Jacob, R. S., Mary and Lucy. D. S. Welch, the direct subject of this review, was born in Madison county, Ohio, August 7. 1834. The advantages which come from a life in close touch with nature in all of its varied phases were his and un- til fifteen years old he spent his time in the
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fields, performing such duties as usually fall to the lot of lads reared amid the peaceful pursuits of the farm. Meanwhile he spent three winter seasons in such schools as the country afforded and at the above age took up carpentery, which he followed until at- taining his majority. When a little past twenty-one he engaged in the mercantile business at Lagrange in partnership with an older brother, going in debt for their stock of goods and trusting to the future to make good the amount they assumed. The busi- ness proved successful from the start and the firm continued for a period of sixteen years, during which time the store became one of the leading establishments of the kind in Lagrange. At the expiration of this period the subject severed his connection with the business and with a capital of about
of miscellaneous merchandise and again an- nounced himself a candidate for a share of public patronage. He opened his store at Atwood in 1866 and continued to sell goods until 1882, meantime purchasing a beauti- iul farm of seventy-five acres in Harrison township. besides making other fortunate investments. In connection with merchan- dising he began, some time prior to 1882. to buy and ship grain and ultimately dis- posed of his stock and devoted his attention to the latter business, which he has since car- ried on with flattering success.
every respect a most competent and popular agent, his relations with the company and with the public as well being of the most sat- isfactory character. He has discharged the duties of the position to the present time and no doubt can remain with the company as long as he sees fit to retain the place.
Mr. Welch has built up an extensive and lucrative grain business, the amount of his yearly shipments comparing favorably with those of the largest buyers in this section of of the state. Kind and obliging in all of his dealings and possessing the faculty of winning friends, he has attracted the major part of the trade of a large area of territory surrounding Atwood and numbers among his customers the best people of the country. By discriminating judgment, careful man- agement and judicious tact he has amassed 1 five thousand dollars came to Kosciusko : an ample competence and enjoys the repu- tation of being one of the strong financial county, locating at Atwood, where he in- vested a portion of his means in a large stock men of the county of Kosciusko.
Mr. Welch has a fine modern home in the town of Atwood, which was presided over for some years by his estimable wife. whose maiden name was Sarah J. Hill. She was the daughter of E. and Hannah Hill, natives of New York, and bore her husband five children, namely: Maggie E., wife of Oscar Wallace, of Warsaw: Cora B .. wife of Sherman A. Pyle, of Lagrange: Fred C., who married Grace Phillips and lives in Michigan : and Frank E., who entered into the marriage relation with Miss Blanche Blue and at the present time is his father's associate in the grain business.
Mr. Welch's well-known abilities in his I various lines of trade were early recognized The mother of these children was a lady of many excellent traits and for a number of years a pious and consistent member of by the management of the Pennsylvania rail- road, who offered him the position of local agent. This he accepted and proved in the United Brethren church. After a happy
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and contented married life she was called to the other world, her death occurring on the 6th day of Jannary, 1902.
Mr. Welch is not identified with any church, although he is a man of deep feeling and has pronounced views relative to re- ligions matters. He is a liberal supporter of the congregation to which his wife be- longed. but his benefactions are by no means confined to that society alone, as he gives with a free hand to all enterprises by means of which the moral and religious condition of the community may be benefited. He was made a Mason when twenty-one years of age, and since that time has been an active worker in the fraternity, belonging at pres- ent to the lodge at Warsaw. He has filled ' well and nobly earned.
all the principal official positions in the lodge, from master down, and is also a leading member of the chapter meeting in the above city.
Mr. Welch believes that all good citizens .. should take an active interest in politics, as the government of our country depends upon the elective franchise. His reading and investigation, as well as his natural in- clinations, early led him to espouse the prin- ciples of the Republican party and from the age of twenty-one to the present time he has been an ardent supporter of the party to which he belongs. During campaigns he is an active worker and not infrequently has · his advice been sought and his suggestion followed in some of the most stirring elec- tions in the history of the county. He has never been an office seeker, but in 1880, at the suggestion of many friends, his name was permitted to go before the convention for nomination as county treasurer. Other competitors with strong following being in the fieldl. he failed to receive the honor, but
this in no wise lessened his ardor in behalf of the successful candidate in the ensuing campaign.
Few citizens of Kosciusko county are more widely known or more highly esteemed than the honored subject of this sketch. Hle has been successful in business, respected in social life and as a neighbor has dis- charged his duty in a manner becoming a liberal-minded, intelligent citizen of the state where the essential qualities of manhood are duly recognized and prized at their true value. Ile has figured prominently in the public affairs of his township and county and the position he today occupies as a po- tential factor in the community has been
JAMES E. SMITH.
For a number of years the subject of this review enjoyed much more than local repute as an educator, but since 1898 he has devoted his entire time and attention to mer- cantile pursuits. He is one of the widely known young men of Kosciusko county, of which he is a native, and ever since early manhood has contributed much to the ma- terial development and intellectual growth of the different communities in which his lot was cast. The branch of the Smith family of which the subject is an honorable repre- sentative was known from very early times in Pennsylvania, in which state his grand- father was born and reared. This ancestor later moved to Fulton county, Ohio, where the family lived until about the year 1855. at which time they came to Kosciusko com- "ty and settled in the township of Harrison.
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Henry T. Smith, father of James E., was a young man when his parents moved to this county. He grew to maturity on the home farm in Harrison township and in 1862 was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Ames, whose parents were among the earliest settlers of Kosciusko county, their arrival antedating the year 1836. Mr. Ames became a large land owner and influ- ential citizen and to him as much as to any one man was Harrison township indebted for much of its earlier growth and pros- perity. Some years after his death his widow married Mr. Smith, the subject's grandfather, and she is still living at an ad- vanced age.
Some time after his marriage Henry T. Smith took up his residence in the town of Bourbon, Marshall county, where he en- gaged in the manufacture of lumber. He was an honest, hard-working man and he continued to reside in the above town until the death of his wife, which occurred No- vember i, 1878. She bore him four chil- dren : Mary J., wife of Frank Day, a busi- ness man of Chicago; James E., of this re -. view: Cora E., who married Elias Hart, a farmer of North Dakota; and Minnie L., : wife of Prof. L. D. Vaughn, a teacher of Prairie township, living in Atwood.
James E. Smith was born in Harrison township, Kosciusko county, on the 21st day of August, 1865. Until his fourteenth year he lived with his parents in the town of Bourbon and at the proper age entered the public schools, which he attended at that place until the death of his mother. De- prived of the love and tender solicitude which only a mother knows, and that, too. w an age when a boy most needs her wis- 4 m and guidance, young Smith was thrown
upon his own resources and compelled to carve out, unaided, his destiny in a cold and uncharitable world.
The year following the breaking up of his home ties he worked for his board and clothing and such was the efficient service he rendered that the year following he was hired by a farmer at seven dollars per month. While thus engaged, he attended of winter seasons the public schools and realizing the value of education, not only as a means of intellectual development but also as a potent factor in aiding its possessor to surmount unfavorable environments and make his way through life successfully, he prosecuted his studies with zealous earnestness and soon outstripped the majority of his classmates. While attending the district schools he did chores for his board and by carefully huis- banding his earnings the rest of the year laid by in due time sufficient means to en- able him to attend a term at the Northern Indiana Normal College at Valparaiso. Mr. Smith entered that well known and popular institution in the fall of 1883 and by dili- gent application made such headway in his various studies that the following year he successfully passed an examination and ob- tained a teacher's license. He taught his first term in district No. 9, Prairie township. in the winter of 1884-5, and the following fall was graduated from the commercial de- partment of the Valparaiso Normal College with a creditable record.
Mr. Smith brought to his school work a mind well disciplined by close and critical study and from the beginning of his career as an educator his success was assured. While a student in college he paid especial attention to the art of imparting instruction and his methods of teaching. as well as his
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tact in governing, at once made him pay- ular with pupils and patrons. His second term was also taught in the township of Prairie, and he continued educational work in that part of the county until 1898, with the exception of the winter of 1885 and 1886, when he taught a term in Etna town- ship.
In October, 1880, Mr. Smith and Miss Della Hillery were made husband and wife; the latter was born in Prairie township. This union was severed by the death of Mrs. Smith, who answered the summons to the other life on the 30th day of May, 1888, leaving one child, Merlin O., whose birth occurred September 6, 1887. Hle is an ex- ceedingly bright and affable lad, devoted to his studies and gives promise of future use- fulness. He was graduated from the com- mon schools in 1901 and is now a student : ment on the hardware interest which he pur- of the Atwood high school, where he has al- | chased, and from that time on a better era ready made an honorable record both in his studies and general department. Mr. Smith's second marriage was solemnized with Miss Elizabeth Huffer, daughter of Daniel Huffer, a native of Pennsylvania and one of the enterprising farmers of Kosci- usko county; this union has been blessed with three children, one of whom is de- ceased : the other two are Rex Edwin, born December 28, 1898, and Ruby B., whose birth occurred August 18, 1901.
In the summer of 1893 Mr. Smith bought a half interest in a hardware store at Atwood and during the five years fol- lowing sold goods in connection with teach- ing, devoting the winter seasons to the lat- ter occupation and the other months to mer- chandising. In 1898 he purchased his part- ner's interest in the business and has since been sole proprietor, being now in the en-
joyment of a large and Incrative trade which is continually increasing in volume. His success in the mercantile line has more than met his expectations. He has a large and carefully selected stock and by always keep- ing on hand every article in the hardware line, and carefully attending to the wants of his customers, he has established his busi- hess on a solid basis and the future out- look is in every way bright and encourag- ing.
When Mr. Smith was first married his prospects were any thing but brilliant. ile had no means worth mentioning and it re- quired all of his salary as a teacher to main- tain his humble domestic establishment and keep hunger from the door. By the closest kind of economy he succeeded in laying aside a small amount, sufficient to make a pay- began to dawn. Since obtaining entire con- "trol of the business he has forged rapidly : to the front until he is now worth in excess of five thousand dollars, all of which has come to him within the last three or four years. Not the least of the factors which have contributed to his success are his genial manners and desire to please. Kind and affable to all, he possesses the tact to win friends and his place of business is well known to the farming community adjacent to the town, his customers being among the best and most reliable men of the village and surrounding country.
Not only as a teacher and business man has Mr. Smith won a respectable standing in the community, but as a public-spirited citizen, interested in general improvements and matters political, he has also become widely and favorably known. As a Repub-
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lean he has wielded a potential influence in his township, which he now represents on the county central committee, and in the management of campaigns his services have contributed much to the success of his party at the polls. He is a charter member of Lodge No. 320. K. of P., of which he was the first chancellor commander, and was honored by being chosen its first representa- tive to the grand lodge.
Much of the success which has recently crowned Mr. Smith's efforts is due to his estimable wife, who has proven herself not only a companion but a helpmate in the widest sense of the term. She is a well ed- ucated lady, deeply interested in religious and charitable work, and as a zealous mem- her of the United Brethren church of At- wood has endeared herself to the commu- nity by her beautiful Christian benevolence. as well as her activity in the cause of re- ligion. After completing the common school course she took full courses in busi- ness and stenography and for several years enjoyed the distinction of being one of the most successful teachers in the Kosciusko county public schools. Mr. Smith is also identified with the United Brethren denom- ination and for several years past has been zealous in the Sunday school work, serving as superintendent, and at the present time is teacher of one of the largest and most in- telligent classes of any Bible school in the town.
Briefly and as succinctly as possible have been recorded in the foregoing lines the Heading facts in the life of a very active and successful man, and it remains for a future writer to prepare a more complete and ap- propriate biography.
WILLIAM W. MCKINLEY.
In a quiet cemetery near the thriving city of South Bend, Indiana, may be seen an old grave of an unusually large size, at the head of which stands a modest stone containing a simple epitaph to the memory of James and Mary McKinley. These were the grandparents on the paternal side of the subject of this sketch, also of the late William McKinley, one of America's most distinguished statesmen and the beloved president of the United States, whose recent tragic death at the hand of a cowardly as- sassin caused sorrow in every loyal Amer- ican home and awakened the profound sym- pathy of the civilized world. The name Mckinley is destined to occupy an honored place in American history as long as time endures. It will remain forever a monu- ment of the grand possibilities which may he realized under the benign influence of our free institutions and will continue in the future, as it has been in the past, a stimulus to nobler deeds and greater activities on the part of a young man of intelligence and en- ergy upon whom fortune casts no benignant smiles.
Paternally the Mckinley family is de- scended from sturdy Scotch-Irish ancestry, the antecedents of the American branch coming to this country in an early day from the Emerald Isle. In a quiet rural bury- ing ground in that beautiful, romantic and historic sea-girt land. sleeping the sleep that knows no waking on the side of the valley of shadows, lie the bodies of many of the Mckinley family, some of whose graves are marked by appropriate epitaphs, while others rest beneath unknown sod which time
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for untold years has clothed with recurring vestures of living green.
Mr. James McKinley, above referred to, . the state. He continued as an itinerant a
was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, September 19. 1783. married Mary Rose on the 20th day of August, 1804. and in an , tion as an earnest, eloquent preacher of the gospel became widely known and the various . churches over which he exercised pastoral control grew in numbers and influence, thus causing his services to be in great demand at the meeting of the conference when cir- cuits and charges were apportioned among the various ministers. In the higher and most responsible position of presiding elder he was equally energetic and displayed fine executive abilities in the management of the district in his charge. John McKinley lived a useful life unselfishly devoted to the serv- ice of God in saving men, and in the church triumphant he no doubt wears many jeweis in his crown of rejoicing by reason of the large number of souls brought into the Kingdom through his earnest efforts as an able minister of the Word. He departed this life at Muncie in 1896; his wife pre- ceded him to the other world by five years, aying in the year 1891.
John McKinley remained in eastern Ohio until 1855. at which time he disposed of his interests there and came to Indiana. locating on a farm near Muncie, Delaware county, where for a few years he followed agricultural pursuits. When & young man be prepared himself for the Methodist min- istry and some time after coming to Indi- 1
containing several churches in Delaware and other counties in the west central part of number of years and at one time served as presiding elder of his district. His reputa-
carly day moved to eastern Ohio. Subse- quently he came to Indiana and located near South Bend, where he spent the remainder of his life. A remarkable coincidence in connection with the death of this sturdy couple is the fact that both were called away on the forty-third anniversary of their mar- riage, August 20, 1847. and their bodies were buried in the same grave. At the time of his death James McKinley was aged six- ty-three years, eleven months and one day, and his wife's age was fifty-eight years. nine months and five days when she ex- changed the earthly life for immortality. Among the children of James and Mary Mc- . Kinley was a son by the name of John, whose birth occurred either in Mercer coun- ty. Pennsylvania, or in eastern Ohio. He married in the latter state Miss Eliza J. Boyle and became the father of eleven chi !- dren, whose names are as follows: James, Benjamin H., Alexander H., Mary. John William W. McKinley, whose name ap- W., Lucius B., William W., Sarah E., Ira , pears at the head of this article, is the ser- and Henry M .. seven of whom are living at the present time.
enth child of John and Eliza Mckinley and was born in the town of Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio, August 20, 1850. He was five years old when brought to Indiana. from which time until nineteen he remained with his parents and assisted with the varied duties of the farm in Delaware county. In his twentieth year he left the home fireside and went to Missouri, in which state he worked at any honorable employment he could find until 1873. when he returned
ana he entered upon the active duties of! the holy office by taking charge of a circuit . home and made arrangements to improve
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His education, which unfortunately had been greatly neglected during his childhood and youthful years. With the exception of a few broken terms in the district schools he had received little intellectual training, and. realizing the need of greater knowledge than he then possessed and appreciating the ad- vantages which education would bring to han, he determined to subordinate every other consideration to the one great end of becoming a scholar. %
Having perfected his plans, Mr. MeKin- jey in 1881 entered the Northern Indiana Normal University at Valparaiso, taking a select course of studying with the two-fold object in view of enlarging his intellectual horizon and preparing himself for the pro- fession of teaching. Applying himself as- siduously to his studies, he labored zealous- ly until completing the prescribed course. after which he received a high-grade license. enabling him to teach in the public schools of Kosciusko county. He taught his first term at the town of Oswego and there dem- onstrated much more than average ability as an instructor and disciplinarian. Meet- ing with success and encouragement in his first attempt. he was encouraged to con- tinue the work and for a period of ten con- secutive years he taught at various places in the county and earned an enviable reputa- tion as a scholarly and skillful educator.
While engaged in educational work Mr. Mckinley always carried first-class licenses and never permitted himself to fall behind in any matters of progressive pedagogy. By diligent application. he kept himself fully abreast the age both in scholarship and method, was an active participant in the de- liberation- of institutes and teachers' ass ... ciations, in which he exercised a decided in-
fluence upon the public-school system of Kosciusko county. For several years he taught common district schools, but as his name and reputation became more widely recognized he was chosen principal of a number of graded schools, notably among which were those in the towns of Burket and Atwood. He also had charge of three normal institutions at Atwood and Warsaw respectively, and as an instructor of teach- ers fully sustained the reputation he had formerly won in the subordinate positions.
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