Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

WILLIAM G. BRADEN. The enterprise which has continued the development begun by the pioneers of Blackford county is well exemplified in the career of William G. Braden, whose home is in Harrison township, and whose farm is one of the best in its general equipment and productive management in that section of the county. Mr. Braden came to Blackford county some years ago to work in the oil fields, and finally turned his attention to farming, and the generous success which is his has been the result of his undivided attention to business.

William G. Braden is a native of Illinois, born in Sangamon county December 29, 1868, a son of Orlando and Mary J. (Farley) Braden. Both parents were also natives of Illinois. In 1859 the family moved out to Neosho county, in southeastern Kansas, and Orlando Braden was one of the pioneer settlers in that locality. He still lives there, is a prosperous farmer and stock raiser, and the father of a family of eight children. The five now living are Charles, George, William G., Alonzo and Melissa, the wife of J. M. Davis. All the children live in Kansas except William G. Pheba died aged twenty-six years; Roy died aged thirty-nine years, and Wallace died aged six years.

William G. Braden was a year old when the family moved from Illinois to Kansas, and it was in the Sunflower state that he grew up, acquired a district schooling, and on leaving school took up the serious business of life as a farmer. He married in Kansas Miss M. E. Bennett, and they began life as a renter on his father's farm. Five years were spent in that way, and in 1896 Mr. Braden was attracted to the oil fields of Eastern Indiana and thus located south of Montpelier in Blackford county. After about two years in the oil fields, he purchased a farm in 1898, and is now proprietor of sixty acres in Harrison township. His profits have come from the raising of cattle, hogs and horses, and all of his crops are fed on his land.

Mr. and Mrs. Braden have had three children: Wallace, who died at the age of three years; Samuel O., who is a graduate of the common schools, lives in Monpelier; Ilena, a graduate of the Montpelier high school, is now the wife of Oscar Iber, who lives in Chicago. The family are members of the Baptist church, and Mr. Braden is a deacon and trustee in that church at Montpelier. He also affiliates with Montpelier Lodge No. 188, Knights of Pythias. In politics he is a progressive.

Blackford and Grant Counties, Indiana A Chronicle of their People Past and Present with Family Lineage and Personal Memoirs Compiled Under the Editorial Supervision of Benjamin G. Shinn
Volume I Illustrated
The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago and New York 1914
Submitted by Peggy Karol

WILLIAM H. THARP. One of the highly progressive and thoroughly capable farmers of Blackford county, who now owns and operates a well improved farm in section 8, Washington township, was born on the old Tharp family homestead in Mercer county, Ohio, August 22, 1862, and is a son of William and Lucy (Woodard) Tharp, natives respectively of North Carolina and Virginia. They both came of Southern parentage, and soon after their marriage in Virginia moved to Mercer county, Ohio, locating on a new farm in Monroe township, where Mr. Tharp developed a property of sixty acres. There his family of ten children were born, eight of whom lived to come to Indiana, four sons and four daughters. On locating in Blackford county, the family settled on a partly improved farm of eighty acres, in section 7, Washington township, and there the eight children grew to maturity. One, John, married and is now deceased, as is also his wife, while one daughter survives him; George E., a merchant at Bluffton, was struck by an engine while crossing the Lake Erie tracks, hurled 300 feet and instantly killed in March, 1913, when he was forty-two years of age, he leaving a widow but no children.

William H. Tharp was the fifth in order of birth of his parents' children, and was fourteen years of age when he came to Blackford county in the fall of 1875. Two years later the father died, at the age of fifty-one years, while the mother survived until 1881, and was also fifty-one years old. They were well-known Christian people, and Mrs. Tharp was especially active in the work of the Christian church. Mr. Tharp was a lifelong adherent of the principles of the democratic party. Mr. William H. Tharp grew to manhood in Washington township, and entered upon a career of his own when he purchased a tract of forty acres, in 1892, on which he resided for some two years, then renting the William Kelley farm, which continued to be his home and the scene of his operations for eight years more. In 1901 he purchased thirty acres in section 17, to which he subsequently added thirty acres in section 8, and he now has the land all under a high state of improvement, with good barns, tool shed, granary and other buildings and an attractive eight-room white residence. Good water facilities are found on the farm, but it is well drained and very productive. Mr. Tharp is a good business man and bears a high reputation among his neighbors.

Mr. Tharp was married in Washington township, to Miss H. Ella Cunningham, who was born in Darke county, Ohio, January 3, 1862, and came to Blackford county as a young woman with her parents, George W. and Elizabeth (Haskett) Cunningham. Mr. Cunningham died at Gas City, Grant county, Indiana, at the age of sixty-five years, while the mother passed away at the age of fifty-one years, at Muncie, Indiana. They were faithful members of the Christian church. These children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Tharp: Harry, born September 2, 1884, educated here and married Verdie Frank, lives on his father's farm and has two children,�L. Twylah, born October 22, 1912, and Opal Deloris, born May 31, 1914; Burr F., born August 8, 1887, educated in the graded schools and now employed with a fire extinguisher concern, married Pearl Pry, of Grant county, and has one child,�Nevil Clare; Marie, born October 29, 1896, a graduate of the Hartford City High school, class of 1915; and I. Maybell, born November 6, 1900, attending the graded schools. Mr. and Mrs. Tharp attend various churches and are generous in their support of religious and charitable movements. In politics Mr. Tharp is a democrat.

SOLOMON E. HARTER. The oil industry has brought a number of enterprising citizens to Blackford county, and among them is Solomon E. Harter, who a few years ago retired from a work in which he had gained a reputation as since applied himself no less successfully to its management and cultivation.

Mr. Harter comes of German ancestry on the paternal side. His grandfather Henry Harter, who was born of German parents at Ilion, New York, more than a hundred and ten years ago, spent all his career in that state, and died near the town of Panama near Chautauqua not long after the close of the Civil War. His last few years had been spent in retirement. As an active man he was a successful farmer. His wife was also a New York state woman and her death occurred at Panama, when about four score years of age. They were Methodists, and Henry Harter was first a whig and later a republican voter.

Of the children born to Henry Harter and wife, Jared L., father of Solomon, was one of the older. He was born June 21, 1818. His brothers and sisters were: Henry, Jr., who lived and died at Buffalo, New York, where he was a business man, and reared a family; James lived and died on his father's homestead in Chautauqua county, New York, and was about eighty years of age at the time of his death, leaving two sons and three daughters; Harvey, who spent most of his life in New York state but subsequently went out to Minnesota and died there when about seventy years of age, was in business lines and married and had a family; Mary married Samuel Paddock of New York state, both died in Panama when about seventy years of age, and they reared a family of several children; Eliza first married George Johnson, by whom she had two sons, and later married a widower, Solomon Edwards; Vera became the wife of Henry Woodrick, and when they died in Jamestown, New York, they left a family.

Jared L. Harter grew up in New York state near the town of Ilion, and eventually became a thrifty farmer in Chautauqua county. He married Cynthia E. Paddock, who was born in Chautauqua county and was reared there coming of English ancestry. After four children had been born to them, named Henry, Darwin, Vera and John, the parents in 1854 moved to Pennsylvania, settling in the western part of the state in Crawford county, and a farm in that locality was the home of Jared and wife until the close of their years. Jared died January 14, 1905, and his widow, who was born March 26, 1820, survived him two years. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and while in politics he was a Republican, he was especially strong in his support of the prohibition principles. He was one of the influential citizens of Richmond township in Crawford county. In addition to the four children born in New York state the three born in Pennsylvania were Solomon E., Lucy and Gilbert. These seven children are all now living, and are the heads of families.

Solomon E. Harter, who was born January 20, 1857, grew up on the western Pennsylvania farm, was educated in the local schools, and his early youth was spent near the great oil district of Pennsylvania. On becoming of age he went to what was then the far west, the state of Nebraska, and entered one hundred and sixty acres of government land in Holt county, thirty miles from O'Neil, the county seat. After proving up his claim he returned to Pennsylvania, and later was married in Ohio to Miss Hattie J. Counts. She was born in Allen county, Ohio, April 15, 1875, was reared and educated there, and has many noteworthy family connections. Her parents were Squire and Eliza (Monroe) Counts. Squire Counts was born in Virginia August 7, 1839, and his wife in Putnam county, Ohio, October 2, 1836. They were married in Allen county, Ohio, and he began his career as a groceryman at Delphos and later Spencerville, in Allen county. Subsequently he was engaged in business as contractor, and now lives in Spencerville, Ohio, the possessor of means and the honor and esteem that accompany good citizenship. He and his wife are members of the Chirstian church, and he is a republican. Squire Counts when a young man ran away from home in order to give his service to the preservation of the Union during the Civil War. He was a member of the Thirty-first Ohio Infantry, and escaped with only a slight gunshot wound in the right shoulder. He was one of five brothers, all of whom saw military service, the others being Isaac, Conrad, William and John. John was killed on one of the battlefields of the South. The parents of Squire Counts were Virginia people who moved to Ohio and were pioneers of Allen county, where they died on the farm that their labors had improved from the wilderness, and both were quite old. Mrs. Eliza Counts, the wife of Squire Counts, was born in Ohio, the daughter of Dr. John and Adelaid (Stewart) Monroe. Her mother was a daughter of Nathaniel Keziah Stewart. Dr. John Monroe was born in New York state about 1820 and came with his parents to Ohio in 1836. Both the Stewart and Monroe families were pioneer settlers in Union county, Ohio, and in that vicinity Dr. John Monroe and wife were married, later moving to Putnam county, and finally to Allen county, where Dr. Monroe practiced medicine at Spencerville until his death. He was a prominent physician, served as a member of the state legislature for some time, and was one of the leading men in the Democratic party in that section of Ohio. His widow, who was born August 24, 1820, died February 2, 1906. She was a prominent worker in the Chirstian church at Spencerville, of which she was a charter member.

Solomon E. Harter first became interested in the oil development in Blackford county in 1892, and after his marriage in Ohio moved his home to this county. As a contractor drilling wells for the Standard Oil Company and other parties in the Eastern Indiana field, he was for some years constantly employed, and his record as a driller includes the sinking of an aggregate of two hundred thousand feet of wells in Blackford, Wells and Grant counties. In the developing of oil fields he was for some time associated with Frank Corn. No man in eastern Indiana had a reputation for more skillful or successful work as a well driller than Mr. Harter. In 1906, having bought a fine farm of one hundred and forty-five acres in Sections 11 and 12 of Washington township, Mr. Harter retired from the oil industry and is now a contented and prosperous producer of the crops of the soil. His farm when he bought it was well improved, and since that time he has erected in 1907 an excellent barn, and also a comfortable dwelling house. After the completion of his residence he moved his family from Montpelier. His land is made to produce heavy crops of corn, oats and hay, but very little of this finds its way to market, since he derives his revenues chiefly from horses and cattle. His excellent business judgment has stood him in good stead as a practical farmer.

Mr. and Mrs. Harter are the parents of two children: Ruth Emma, born October 7, 1903, is a bright young lady now in the sixth grade of the public schools; Boyd Edward was born May 21, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Harter attend the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics he is a republican.

PHILIP SCHMIDT. The agricultural labor of Philip Schmidt has spanned upwards of a half a century of Blackford county history, and has resulted in the ownership of valuable tracts of land in Washington township. During thirty-seven years of this time Mr. Schmidt has been the owner of the property on which he now resides, a handsome, well cultivated tract lying in section 2, to the improvement of which he has devoted his constant time and attention. In his community he is recognized as a man of substance and worth, and his accomplishments have been such as to give him a prominent place among the developers of his county.

Mr Schmidt, as his name would indicate, is of German descent, his grandparents spending their entire lives in the German province of Hesse-Darmstadt. There his father, Wilhelm Schmidt was born in 1807, was educated in the public schools, and learned the trade of weaver. Wilhelm Schmidt was married in 1839 to Anna M. Schwinn, who had been born in the same province, February 23, 1819, and whose parents died when she was a child. Soon after their union they started for the United States, the trip across the ocean in a sailing vessel requiring seven weeks, and the young couple settled at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where the father pursued his trade for some time, receiving as wages eighteen cents per day. He accepted whatever honorable employment presented itself, and out of his meager earnings was able to purchase an outfit, and with this moved to Indiana and established a home in Delaware county, where his wife's half-brother had located some time before. There Mr. Schmidt cleared land under lease, improved and drained it, and developed one of the fine farms of the locality, a tract of eighty acres. Within five years, through tireless industry, thrift and economy, he had saved enough money to come to Blackford county and purchase 204 acres of excellent land, located in section 3, Washington township, which was partly improved, with ordinary farm buildings and a few primitive implements. Mr. Schmidt settled down to drain this land, putting in the greater amount of drains himself and these being constructed of wood. Probably no man in the state has done more hard work in clearing, draining and improving land than did Mr. Schmidt, for he was a large and powerful man, capable of accomplishing much, and with tireless ambition and determination. Mr. Schmidt died on his farm in 1869 and was buried in a small cemetery on his farm which he had donated for the use of the public while his widow survived him many years, and passed away at the old place in May, 1905. She was a true and faithful wife and devoted mother, and like the father was industrious, energetic and painstaking. They were faithful members of the Lutheran church, and in politics Mr. Schmidt was a strong democrat. The children of Wilhelm and Anna M. (Schwinn) Schmidt were as follows: William, who was drafted into an Indiana regiment during the Civil War, served about two years, returned safely to his home and engaged in farming, and died at the age of seventy-three years, leaving a widow and five sons; Peter, who had a similar military experience, was married in Wells county, Indiana, and has two sons and one still is living,�Daniel; Margaret, deceased, who married Christopher Blody, also deceased, and left two daughters,�Mary A. and Dora; Jacob, who died some twenty-five years ago, after his marriage, leaving a son and a daughter,�William J. and Maggie, who both married and had children: Michael, a farmer and miller, who conducted a mill for many years in Washington township, married Hannah, the only daughter of David McConkey, both deceased, and later married Miss Hughes, and at his death left two children,�Lena M. Ray and Laura, now deceased; Mary A., who became the wife of Jasper McConkey, and died without issue; Louisa, who married late in life, after the death of her sister, Mr. McConkey, and had no children; Adam, a sketch of whose career will be found in another part of this work; Philip, of this review; and Harmon, who died at the age of eleven years.

Philip Schmidt was born in Delaware county, Indiana, February 18, 1856, and was six years of age when he accompanied his parents to Blackford county. Since that time he has resided within the county's borders. He received his education in the public schools, and inherited the farm which he still owns in section 3, in November, 1877, a tract of eighty acres to which he subsequently added twenty acres by purchase. All of this land is now under a high state of cultivation, and is known as Forest Grove Farm. The large barn, 36 x 56, built in 1902, is well equipped with the most modern improvements, and is well adapted to stock feeding. He built his comfortable eight-room, yellow house in 1886, and has various other structures, which all combine to give the farm an attractive and prosperous appearance. In addition to carrying on general farming Mr. Schmidt grows Poland-china registered swine, blooded cattle of the Short Horn breed, a good grade of horses and Cotswold sheep. His business transactions have ever been characterized by a strict adherence to the highest principles and his reputation among his associates is therefore an enviable one.

Mr. Schmidt was married in Washington township, to Miss Martha J. Shrader, who was born May 8, 1858, in Blackford county, Indiana, daughter of John R. and Mary Ann (Cochran) Shrader. The family was founded in this locality by Absalom Shrader, the grandfather of Mrs. Schmidt, who came from Germany and entered land in Washington township which is now owned by Mr. Schmidt, and here the grandparents spent the remainder of their lives, as did the parents. All were well known and highly honored people of their community, where they were numbered among the solid and substantial residents. To Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt there have been born the following children: Orville, a mechanic of Dundee (Roll P. O.), married Dora Stevenson, and has three daughters and two sons,�Lillie M., Bertha, Milo W., Laura and Glenn; Rexford, a farmer of Washington township, married Addie Sills, and they have no children; Herbert L., born January 11, 1887, was well educated in the public schools and the Marion Normal school, for eight years has been a teacher and has been very popular with his pupils and their parents alike since taking his first school at the age of eighteen years, married Bertha Littlebridge, who was born in Blackford county in 1889, educated at Eaton, Indiana, and Celina, Ohio, and is the mother of two children,�Martha E. and Herbert L.; and Frances Cordelia, who was well educated, being a graduate of the Dundee High school, and is now residing at home with her parents.

Philip Schmidt is a member of the Lutheran church, but Mrs. Schmidt, while supporting all religious bodies, is affiliated with none. The father and sons are all earnest democrats, but merely as voters. Herbert L. is a member of the Indiana State Teachers' Association.

NOAH DEARDUFF. In every community are found men who started in life with little education, without capital or influence, and who have established themselves securely in their communities by means of unrestricted industry, by adherence to the best ideals of citizenship and personal worth, and enjoy their prosperity all the more for the fact that it is of their own creation. In this class of Blackford county citizens Noah Dearduff of Harrison township is a sterling representative, and he also belongs to an old and respected family of the county.

Noah Dearduff was born on a farm in Harrison township, July 24, 1862, a son of Jacob and Ellen (Miller) Dearduff. Both parents were Ohio people, came to Blackford county many years ago, and established a home in Section 31 of Harrison township. At that place the father died in 1892 and the mother in 1891. They became the parents of a large family of eleven children, and the eight who are now living are mentioned briefly as follows: Jane, wife of William Randolph, living in Hartford City, Indiana; James L., a farmer in Harrison township; Ann, wife of John Todd, of Marion, Indiana; Thomas, of Montpelier; Mary E., wife of Charles Blair of Harrison township; Noah, John, of Illinois; and Stella, wife of Abe Coulter of Hartford City.

While Noah Dearduff was growing up on the old farm in Harrison township his services were required at home somewhat to the neglect of his school education, but his own industry and energy have supplied the deficiencies of early training. He lived at home until twenty-one, and then was employed partly on the home farm and partly in the service of neighboring farmers until the age of twenty-four. On February 19, 1888, occurred his marriage and the beginning of his independent start in the world. The maiden name of his wife was Mary E. Taylor, who was born in Harrison township of Blackford county, April 4, 1863, a daughter of William C. and Mary E. (Canter) Taylor. Both her parents came to Indiana from Clinton county, Ohio, and her girlhood was spent in Blackford county. Mr. and Mrs. Dearduff started out without money, and made their first capital as renters, and worked land of others for a period of nine years until ready to invest in their own home. Their present place was bought in 1897, and they own a good farm of fifty-three acres.

They are the parents of three children: Charles, deceased; Esther, who is a graduate of the common schools and the wife of Chauncey Roush, living in Montpelier; Albert E., born May 3, 1905, and now in the third grade of the district school. The family have membership in the United Brethren church, and they attend worship close to their own home. In politics Mr. Dearduff is a prohibitionist and a strict believer in the principles of temperance.

GEORGE W. PERSINGER. Nearly fifty years ago the Persinger family was established in this section of Indiana, and George W. Persinger through a long and active career has been identified with both Grant and Blackford counties, and his accomplishments have been of such a varied nature as to make him known not only as a prosperous farmer but also as a building contractor whose operations have covered a large scope of territory.

George W. Persinger is a native of West Virginia, although at the time of his birth on April 7, 1850, it was Virginia. He was born near Newcastle in Gregg county. His parents were Alexander and Pathina (Robertson) Persinger. His father was born in what is now West Virginia in 1822, and his wife in North Carolina about 1825. They were married in West Virginia, began life there as farmers, and continued to live there until after the war and the separation of the western section of old Virginia and its establishment as a sovereign state. In May, 1865, the Persinger family migrated to Indiana, locating in Monroe township of Grant county. The father continued his vocation as a farmer, and late in life moved to Washington township in Blackford county, where his closing years were spent in peace and comfort. He died in 1904 at the age of eighty-two. His widow had passed away some twenty years previously. Both were people of many excellent qualities of heart and mind, and while communicants of no church were in every essential true Christians. In politics he was a democrat. Their children are briefly mentioned as follows: Zachariah, who died leaving a family; George W.; Martha A., who married Benjamin Clark, both of whom are deceased, being survived by a son and a daughter; John Oliver, a Grant county farmer, who is married and has a son and daughter; Emily, the widow of Isaac Emmett, lives in Grant county and has a son and three daughters; James E. is now a mechanic employed in Gas City and has a son and two daughters; Frank is a farmer in Grant county and has a son and daughter; Lewis died in young childhood; Mary D. is a resident of New York.

George W. Persinger was about fifteen years old when his parents moved to Indiana. From that time until beginning for himself, he attended school and trained himself for the serious business of life, and then took up the pursuits of farming and carpentry. Some years ago he came to Blackford county and bought one hundred and twelve acres in Washington township. Subsequently he sold thirty acres of his land, but still has eighty-two acres, and it is practically all improved land and a very valuable estate. It is his home, but he rents the land and devotes all his active attention to the building business. His homestead is well improved with buildings. There are two barns, and he recently erected one of these for stock purposes, the dimensions being 30 x 50 feet. The large house or dwelling was built by him in 1911.

Mr. Persinger was married in Blackford county to Miss Hannah Smithgall. She was born in Wells county, Ohio, May 7, 1855, was reared and educated there, a daughter of George Smithgall, an early Wells county settler and now deceased. Mrs. Persinger's mother died many years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Persinger are the parents of two children: Harley died at the age of fifteen; Lulu Fay, who was educated in the common schools and now lives at home. The family are members of the United Brethren church, and politically Mr. Persinger affiliates with the democratic party.

Deb Murray