USA > Indiana > Grant County > Fairmount > The making of a township, being an account of the early settlement and subsequent development of Fairmount Township, Grant County, Indiana, 1829 to 1917, based upon data secured by personal interviews, from numerous communications > Part 20
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Henry Wilson settled in Washington County, Indiana, and died there. By his first wife, who died in 1855, there were six children, of whom, I believe, but two daughters married. One of them, Priscilla. wife of Samuel Trueblood, may be still living. If so, she is eighty-one years old this month. Henry Wilson's second wife was a minister in the Society of Friends, and died in 1894. Henry Wilson's father and mother having died when Henry was a boy of twelve years, he was taken and reared by Benajah Hiatt, at New Garden, Guilford County, North Carolina. His first marriage occurred October 9. 1816, at Springfield Meeting, and on the twenty-eighth of the same month he and his bride started on the long and tedious trip to Indiana. He was a saddler by trade, and the shop which he built soon after arriving in Washington County, this State, was still standing a few years ago.
Mary Wilson and Owen Lindley were married in Washington County. Indiana, on the last day of September, 1819. and settled in Orange County. Indiana, where their seven children were born and where three of them were still living a few years ago. Owen Lindley came with his parents from Orange County, North Carolina, in 1811, when eighteen years of age, and died in 1871.
AAbigail Wilson and Thomas Symons were married in 1818, in North Carolina. They moved to Indiana and Thomas died in 1839 near Dub- lin, in Wayne County. Abigail died near Carmel, Hamilton County, Indiana. They had seven children, of whom some are living, one or two of them in Hamilton County, Indiana.
The Wilsons are, I think, all of Irish descent, and I imagine that almost or quite all of the members of the family who were Friends ( Quakers) and went to the Carolinas in early times were closely related to each other, but I have had no occasion to study the matter and it would be a task that would take both time and money to learn, if, indeed. it could be done at all. There were Wilsons who came with or about
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the time of William Penn and landed at Philadelphia. Some of these settled there, and in the country near there, and others moved south to Virginia and the Carolinas.
Richmond, Indiana, May 29, 1905.
(Editor's Note .- This matter was prepared by Webster Parry, of Richmond, Indiana, who for many years has been engaged in tracing the genealogy of different prominent families of Indiana for interested relatives. Mr. Parry is regarded as one of the best authorities in the State in matters of family antecedents, and has earned a wide reputation for his careful research along this line. It will be well to note that this letter was written in 1905. It was addressed to Samuel C. Wilson.)
Jesse E. Wilson, an early settler in Fairmount Township, was born in North Carolina, July 14, 1816. and came with his parents to Grant County in 1838. He made this trip in the saddle, driving a four-horse team.
On June 21, 1838. he was mar- ried to Hannah Hill, daughter of Aaron Hill. They settled on the farm that remained his the rest of his life. It was a one hundred- acre farm eighty rods wide. ex- tending from what is now Mill Street west along Eighth Street and Fairmount and Western grav- el road for two hundred rods. Their home buildings were lo- cated on the hill, where Joe Shane now lives.
Jesse Wilson was long identi- fied with the history of Grant County and Fairmount Township. Hle was for many of the later years of his life head of the Society of Friends in Fairmount. His seat JESSE E. WILSON was seldom vacant. Only sickness prevented him from being in his place at church at the stated times for meeting. Horses were taken from the plow in the middle of the week, as well as from the binder in harvest. All work ceased on his farm
The Wilsons. 239
on meeting day from 10:30 a. m. to 2 o'clock p. m., and all went to meeting.
Jesse E. Wilson's name stood at the head of the list of active tem- perance and Sabbath school workers. He was for twenty years an elder in the church, and for several years belonged to the representative body of Indiana Yearly Meeting. His ability and honesty in settling decedents' estates were qualities well known in the County and Town- ship, and his services were sought by both court and people.
While being progressive, as shown in the lines just written, he was especially so in other ways. The best. up-to-date farm tools and machinery were always at hand on his farm. The public improvements in the way of ditching and road building found a ready helper in Jesse E. Wilson. He was for years an official in the Fairmount and Jones- boro Gravel Road Company, and at the same time he was President of the Fairmount and Western Gravel Road Company. These activi- ties antedate all laws for free gravel roads.
There was a great struggle to obtain the Big Four Railroad through the County and Township. A tax of fifty-six thousand dollars for a subsidy had been voted by the people. There arose quite a talk of enjoining its collection. This coming to the ears of the railroad offi- cials, they refused to proceed with the building of the road unless this subsidy was fully guaranteed by reliable real estate owners. One hun- dred and fifty farmers signed the bond. Jesse E. Wilson was the first. He was liberal with his means in assisting the poor. Lending money and endorsing for neighbors who found themselves in close places for funds were very characteristic of him. His credit at the only bank in the County was limited only by his own judgment.
WILLIAM S. ELLIOTT.
Fairmount, Indiana.
(Editor's Note .----- Jesse E. Wilson died at his home, near Fair- mount, April 5, 1883, aged sixty-seven years, nine months and twenty- one days.)
Nathan D. Wilson was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, December 21, 1817, and with his parents came to Fairmount Town- ship in May, 1837. Shortly after he settled on the farm now owned by the heirs of John Seale, situated west of the corporation limits of Fairmount, he was married to Mary Hill, daughter of Aaron Hill.
This land was heavily timbered. In clearing this farm there was enough good poplar and walnut burned and made into rails to pay for
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The Making of a Township.
the land today. After living in a log cabin several years he decided to build a frame house. He bought twenty-five large poplar trees of Nixon Winslow for twenty-five dollars. Either one of these trees would bring one hundred dollars now.
Nathan D. Wilson was a man of considerable ability, and was used in both church and business affairs. He was an elder in the Friends Church for thirty-five or forty years and served for many years as clerk of Back Creek Monthly Meeting. He settled many estates, one of which was David Stanfield's, giving bond in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars for the correct handling of . the business. He assessed Fair- mount Township several times and served on juries in county courts quite frequently. He went AUNT MARY WILSON through many privations that peo- ple now would not know how to endure. Jonesboro had the nearest water-power mill. He would put a boy on a horse with two bushels of wheat. Sometimes they would fall off. In the dry season pioneers had to go to the nearest steam flouring mill, which, then, was at Ches- terfield, Indiana. When he had wheat to sell he hauled it to Wabash. Thirty bushels made a good load for two horses in those days. It took two days to make the trip, and he got a yard of calico for a bushel of wheat. He was one of the company that went to Cincinnati with teams for the equipment to be installed at James Cammack's saw-mill that was built in Fairmount in the early day. The company was gone nearly four weeks, in the winter time, when the roads were very bad. Nathan and Mary Wilson were parents of thirteen children, namely: Joseph, born February 11, 18440; Emily, born June 21. 1841 ; Sarah, born June 12, 1843 : Deborah, born June 26, 1845 : Anna, born July 26. 1847: Peninah, born April 12, 1850 ; Henry, born April 12, 1852 : Rufus, born September 10, 1854 : Margaret, born June 26, 1857 ; Alvin J., born November 20, 1859: Jane, born August 30, 1862; Thomas, born Octo-
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The Wilsons.
ber 7, 1865 ; Hannah, born June 24, 1868. All are deceased except Joseph, who lives at Newberg, Oregon ; Thomas, who resides at For- mosa, Kansas: Henry, who lives in Fairmount, and Alvin J., former Township Trustee, who owns a good farm northwest of Fairmount, where he lives.
Nathan D. Wilson died at his home, near Fairmount, February 14. 1881, aged sixty-three years. His wife, Mary, who was born February II, 1822, died on November 19, 1909, aged eighty-seven years, surviv- ing her husband more than a quarter of a century.
The influence of this worthy man and wife will extend into the future generations, and their piety and rectitude are a memory and a heritage of which their progeny may be justly proud.
Samuel C. Wilson, farmer and pioneer, was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, October 14, 1834. His paternal grandparents were Joseph and Sarah (Charles) Wilson, also natives of North Caro- lina, and his parents were John and Mary (Winslow) Wilson, who came to Fairmount Town- ship in 1837 from Randolph County, North Carolina. John Wilson was born July 13, 1784, and died in Fairmount in 1864, lacking one day of being eighty years old. Mary, his wife, was born July 20, 1797, and died in 1871. They were parents of twelve children, namely: Jesse E., Nathan D., Cyrus, Henry, Nancy, Micajah, Elizabeth, Eliza Ann, John Milton, Lindsey, Sam- uel C., and Abigail, all deceased except Samuel C.
It is a tradition in the Wilson family that their early ancestors came to this country with William Penn, landing at Philadelphia. From this point members of the family drifted to different sec- tions of the Colonial States, some SAMUEL C. WILSON to New Jersey, others remaining in Pennsylvania, while many settled
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The Making of a Township.
in Virginia and North Carolina. The Fairmount Township family of Wilsons are descendants of the North Carolina branch.
Samuel C. Wilson attended the common schools of this Township. his first teacher being David Stanfield, about the winter of 1840-1841. Stanfield had charge of a school in a log cabin southwest of where Fairmount now stands. John Wilson had settled on a three hundred and sixty-acre farm about two miles southwest. now partly owned by Joel B. Ware and partly by John Dare. Ed Woolen and Lon Payne. The first recollection Samuel Wilson has of the new country as a child was when a clock peddler came through the forest selling Seth Thomas clocks, driving from cabin to cabin with an ox team. His father bought a twenty-four-dollar clock. Another incident he recalls was the noisy approach of several Indians, with painted faces and wearing their moccasins and blankets. They came dashing up to his father's cabin one day, whooping and yelling like mad. The Indians announced that they were hungry and demanded something to eat. After a short par- ley the father provided each one with a case knife and turned them into his turnip patch. After satisfying their hunger they mounted their horses and single file galloped away in good humor.
"I was five years old at the time." remarked Mr. Wilson. in speak- ing of this visit of the red skins, "and to my childish mind the hideous noises made by this band of Indians were terrifying. I could not see much chance for a Tar Heel or a Hoosier in this country if that sort of thing happened very often. We got our mail at Summitville, where John Kelsay, uncle of John and A. W. Kelsay, was then serving as postmaster. My father was for many years a subscriber of the Louis- File Journal, edited in that day by George D. Prentice, one of the great American journalists and a contemporary of Horace Greeley. The Journal printed many descriptions of fugitive slaves, mostly copper- colored.
"When we were getting our mail at Summitville. Solomon Thomas established a postoffice called AI in his cabin about two miles south- east of Fairmount. We then changed our postoffice, as it was nearer to the Thomas cabin. It was while we were getting our mail here that James Cammack came into the neighborhood in quest of a location for a saw-mill. The building of this saw-mill in Fairmount was really the first start of the town.
"In 1847. Grant Postoffice was established at Fairmount and John Scarry was then in charge of it. Scarry went to Indianapolis from here.
"I recall as a boy twelve years old. in 1846. I went to Wabash with
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father. We traveled in a four-horse wagon. We took a load of ba- con. It required four days to make the trip. Once we stuck in the mud in front of Elizabeth Bogue's house on North Main Street.
"Father sold a great deal of stuff in Cincinnati. He sold wheat there for forty-five cents per bushel and brought back salt. It took twelve days to make this trip with a four-horse wagon:
"My brother, Cyrus, who had a good education for that day, taught school in a log cabin southeast of Fairmount, then at the Benbow cabin. I recall the Underground Railroad station at Aaron Hill's quite well. One station was also located at Solomon Knight's."
Mr. Wilson bought one hundred and three acres of land, now owned by his son, Lin Wilson, as productive a farm as there is in this Town- ship, which he drained and cleared. With the exception of fourteen months spent in Carthage, he has lived in the Township practically his entire life. He was one of the original stockholders in the Jonesboro and Fairmount Turnpike Company. He served four years as Trustee of Fairmount Academy. Believing that women should have representa- tion on the board, he finally withdrew in order that a place might be provided for Mrs. Anna K. Rook.
Mr. Wilson is a Republican in politics. His first vote was cast for Jolin C. Fremont. He has served as Township Assessor, and was a mem- ber of the Indiana State Legislature during the session of 1890-1891. serving on six important committees, among them being the committee on railroads, the committee on swamp lands, and the committee on natural gas. He has been a lifelong member of the Society of Friends.
Mr. Wilson's first wife was Rachel Overman, born near Marion, who died in 1865, aged twenty-two years. On January 10, 1867, at Carthage. Indiana, he married Elizabeth Jessup, a native of Rush County, who died in June, 1913, aged seventy years. Her parents were Thomas and Rebecca Jessup, to whom were born four children, namely. Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah, and Micajah, the latter being the only one now living. Samuel and Elizabeth (Jessup) Wilson were parents of three children, namely: Lin, born March 19, 1870: Jessup. born November 21, 1872, and Thomas, born December 19, 1874. Thomas died in 1880.
Lindsey Wilson, who lived during the last fourteen years of his life in Fairmount, was by training and occupation a farmer. He was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, December 19. 1832, and died at his home in Fairmount on May 20, 1906. His ancestry for nearly two hundred years has been traced.
Lindsey Wilson attended the common schools of the Township, and. considering the advantages of his early life, was well educated. Hc
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The Making of a Township.
was industrious and thrifty and owned a splendid farm of one hundred acres south of Fairmount, retiring from active pursuits only when ad- vancing years and failing health required him to do so. In politics he was a Republican. He was a birthright member of the Society of Friends. After his marriage he joined the Wesleyan Methodist Church, his wife being a member of this denomination, and for many years they were among the leading members of the Back Creek congregation. southwest of Fairmount. He entered the Union army as a member of Company D. Thirty-third Indiana Infantry, but was taken sick, and
LINDSEY AND JANE (DAVIS) WILSON
afterwards assigned to hospital work, he being physically unable for army service. On December 13, 1854, he was married to Miss Jane Davis, born in Wayne County, Indiana, February 6, 1836. She died July 26, 1908. Her parents were Harvey and Maria Davis, and their children were Thomas, Philip, Henry, Foster, Jane, Harvey and Mary, all now deceased.
Lindsey and Jane ( Davis) Wilson were parents of nine children. namely : John H. Wilson, of Fairmount, born October 5, 1855: Mary M. Harvey, born February 8, 1858, wife of Rev. Enos Harvey, of Noblesville, Indiana ; Lucy Rush, born February 28, 1861, wife of Miles Rush, of Fairmount : Rachel, deceased, born December 13. 1863 ; William E. Wilson, of Huntington, Indiana, born August 22, 1866;
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The Wilsons.
Elizabeth, deceased, born March 22, 1869, married John Dobson ; Charles S., deceased, born March 30, 1872; Martha J., born April 24, 1874, married Carson Payne, deceased ; and Merton L., deceased, born April 2, 1878. There are sixteen grandchildren and nine great-grand- children.
John Wilson and family left North Carolina in April, 1837, to find a home in the State of Indiana. Their journey was not attended by the difficulties which so frequently beset the path of other pioneers. It is evident that the circumstances of the Wilsons, from a material point of view, were more prosperous than those of a great many who settled in Fairmount Township and Grant County at that early date. They located on Section 6, of Fairmount Township, where the father bought 360 acres of land.
Lindsey Wilson was a good citizen, seeking to promote that which is best in government and best for his country and his community. He was a good neighbor, kind and ac- commodating to all. He was a man of sturdy characteristics, ex- ceedingly conscientious and scrup- ulously honest. He gave good quality and full measure in what he sold and paid promptly for what he bought. Every contract, whether verbal or written, he en- deavored to fill to the letter. He was always willing and anxious, when convinced of error, to make confession and proper restitution. He welcomed the stranger and vis- ited the sick and needy. He was a kind father, an indulgent hus- band and a splendid type of American.
Mrs. Eunice ( Pierce) Wilson came to Fairmount Township with her parents, William and Pru- dence (Pemberton) Pierce, on November 10, 1851. When the family arrived, from their home in MRS. EUNICE ( PIERCE , WILSON Ohio, the weather was cold and they found acres of water and ice as they passed along the winding roads of the forest.
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The Making of a Township.
"There's land that will never be worth anything." remarked one member of the party, as they traveled on their way to the site of the new home near Back Creek. And the prospects were not the most flattering.
Mrs. Wilson was born near West Milton, in Miami County, Ohio, July 8, 1848. She began teaching school at fifteen years of age, and taught several terms at Back Creek, Oak Ridge, and near Greentown, Indiana. On September 30, 1871. she was married to Robert L. Wilson.
About 1886, a local organization of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union was formed at Back Creek, Mrs. Wilson becom- ing one of the charter inembers and served as President for sev- eral years. In 1889 she was chosen President of the Grant County Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She filled this position with such skill and ability for eighteen or twenty years that her reputation as organizer and speaker spread to other sections of the State. Under her splendid guidance the Grant County organization attained to a prominent position in reform work in Indiana. She was honored by her associates in this movement, and in 1900 was elected President of the Indiana Woman's Christian Temperance Union. For three years- 1900, 1901, 1902-she was President of the Indiana Woman's Christian Temperance Union, declining re-election because of pressing household duties requiring attention. In this position she again demonstrated her capacity as a leader, and under her intelligent guidance the mem- bership grew and the power of the women of the State became more potent and their sphere of work and usefulness was broadened and deepened. Mrs. Wilson recently stated that the Woman's Christian Temperance Union has given the best opportunity for the development of woman's talents of any reform organization ever created. Discuss- ing this matter, she said :
"What is wanted in the Legislature, in the Congress and on the school boards is the home influence, and that is represented by the women. This is why woman needs representation on the various boards which have to do with the welfare of women and children."
Mrs. Wilson has done a vast amount of good work for humanity. and her official connection with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of the County, State and Nation has been of benefit in a large way to this splendid organization, which has played so important a part in making this a Prohibition State.
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The Wilsons.
LIN WILSON
Lin Wilson, son of Samuel C. and Elizabeth (Jessup) Wilson, is one of Fairmount Township's prominent farmers. Born March 19, 1870, he has lived all his life on the home place. He was educated in the common schools of the Township and attended Fairmount Academy. He has always affiliated with the Republican party, is a member of Masonic Lodge No. 635, of Fairmount, and of the Friends Church. On December, 1894, he was married to Miss Effie G. Davis, a native of Fairmount Township, born August 8, 1869, and a daughter of Foster and Dorinda (Rush) Davis. To this union two children were born,
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The Making of a Township.
namely, Dora E., now a member of the faculty of Fairmount Academy, and Hubert D., a graduate of Fairmount Academy. Lin Wilson is inter- ested in all phases of up-to-date farming, and has for several years done his part in promoting the agricultural welfare of the Township. He has served as President of the Fairmount Township Farmers' Institute, sec- retary of the Grant County Farmers' Institute, treasurer Grant County Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company for several years and also a di- rector of this organization. His farm shows the energetic and pains- taking care given to it, and the results of his labor from year to year bespeak the diligent student of agricultural matters combined with the capacity of applying in a practical way the best and most modern meth- ods of farming.
Nathan D. W. Elliott, son of Elijah and Deborah (Wilson) Elliott. was born at Marion, Indiana, August 28, 1866. His paternal grandpar- ents were Isaac and Rachel (Overman) Elliott and his maternal grand- parents were Nathan D. and Mary (Hill) Wilson. The subject of this sketch was educated in the Fairmount Public Schools and at the Holmes Business College, Portland, Oregon. He learned the printer's trade. working in the office of The Fairmount News, being employed later at Warren and Marion. In 1887 he went West, working on The Newberg (Oregon) Graphic, and later on The Daily Statesman and in the State printing office at Salem, the capital of the State. In 1903 he engaged in the printing business at Salem, and has been quite succesful. In poli- tics he is a Republican, serving as Secretary of the Republican County Central Committee 1914-1918; member of Salem City Council 1908- 1912, and again elected for the term of two years, 1916-1918. In 1910 he was chairman of the committee that installed a seven hundred and fifty thousand-dollar sewer system ; in 1917 he is chairman of the com- mittee that is building over one hundred thousand dollars' worth of new pavement. He is a member of Pacific Lodge No. 50, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Multnomah Chapter No. I. Royal Arch Masons ; Ilodson Council No. 1, Illustrious Royal and Select Masters, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 336. He is a member of the Society of Friends at Salem. He was a charter member of the Marion Light Infantry, in 1886, and was first sergeant in 1891 and cap- tain in 1892. Mr. Elliott was married in Newberg, Oregon, April 19. 1898, to Miss Clara E. Hodson, born at Carthage, Indiana, a daughter of Gideon and Delphina (Coffin) Hodson, both natives of Indiana, and of the same family of Coffins that played an important part in the Underground Railroad in early days. For generations back the Hod-
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The Wilsons.
sons and Coffins were Quakers. Mr. and Mrs. Elliott are parents of one daughter, Maxine, born February 20, 1899, at Salem. They have
NATHAN D. W. ELLIOTT
an adopted daughter, Marjorie Elliott, born September 8, 1907, and a granddaughter of Dr. Henry Charles, pioneer Fairmount physician.
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Clyde N. Wilson., son of Alvin J. and Margaret (Neal) Wilson, and a grandson of Nathan D. Wilson, is a native of Fairmount Town- ship. Mr. Wilson now holds an excellent position as head of the Busi- ness Department of the Sheboygan (Wisconsin) High School.
Jesse Webster Wilson, son of C. M. and Olive (Charles) Wilson, was born at Fairmount, Indiana, October 23. 1884. He attended the common schools, finishing his education at St. Louis and Paragould, Ar- kansas. While at Paragould he graduated in a business college and then accepted a position on The Paragould Soliphone, a daily newspaper published there. He remained with this paper until he was seventeen
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