BARTON W. JAMESON
The gentleman whose name heads this sketch has the proud distinction of belonging to a class of brave men of but whom few remain. He served his country well and faithfully during the Civil War and feels that he has done his part toward the land of his birth. His record will make interesting reading for his descendants, who will, in turn, be able to tell their children what a brave and loyal man their ancestor was.

Barton W. Jameson, retired farmer, of Jackson township, was born on August 28, 1843, in Berks county, Pennsylvania, a son of Phineas P. and Jane (Wilson) Jameson. He lived at Milford with his father until his marriage, when he rented a place, on which he remained two years, and then moved to the old Handley farm in Jackson township. After living here for thirty-five years, Mr. Jameson moved to his present home, which, at that time, consisted of forty acres, to which he has since added twenty acres more, making sixty acres in all. Valuable improvements have been made on the place, including a comfortable house. After Mr. Handley's death, he took charge of his estate, and cared for his three sisters-in-law until their death. He went to war September 17, 1862, in Company E, Eighty-third Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, and arrived home, June 12, 1865, nearly three years later, after taking part in the following battles: Yazoo River, Siege of Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Mission Ridge, Atlanta campaign, and Sherman's march to the sea. He was in Savannah, and went from Columbia to Goldsboro. He claims that the Confederates set fire to cotton piled in the streets of Columbia, thus causing the burning of that city - the Union soldiers were not to blame. Mr. Jameson was also in many minor battles and skirmishes. His division made a charge on the Savannah forts, and he was in the thick of the fight, from which he escaped without a wound, and was never in a hospital. Mr. Jameson is a Republican. He is a member of the Christian church, and is a member of the West Point Fred Small Post No. 531, Grand Army of the Republic.

Phineas P. Jameson was born on September 19, 1815, and died, April 12, 1883. His wife, Jane (Wilson) Jameson, was born on February 5, 1810. Phineas P. Jameson was of old pioneer stock, and a native of Pennsylvania. His father was the Rev. Jacob Jameson. Phineas P. came to Bartholomew county in the spring of 1858, moving later to a farm on the county line, going later to a farm near Milford, after which he moved to the William Fix farm, three miles east of Hartsville, and then to the Levi Moore farm on the Hartsville pike. From there he went to the Davis farm west of Burney, finally settling on the Venner farm, where he died.

To Phineas and Jane (Wilson) Jameson were born five children, as follow: Mary Ann was born on October 5, 1836, and died on May 22, 1873; Sarah Jane, September 11, 1840, married Davis Hinton; Barton W., August 28, 1843, the subject of this sketch; Martha F., April 28, 1847, married William Pumphrey; Caroline L., March 18, 1853, married Joseph Oliphant.

The paternal grandfather was the Rev. Jacob Jameson, who was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, December 6, 1793, and was married, July 27, 1813, to Mary A. Saylor, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and united with the Baptist church, August 27, 1814, at Springfield, Pennsylvania, where he was licensed to preach, February 27, 1827. He was ordained a deacon in May, 1823, at Philadelphia. He later moved to Lawrenceburg, and was an elder there in 1839. His wife, Mary, died in 1868, and he afterward married Jane Smith, of Harrison, Ohio, who died in 1879. He died on March 22, 1881.

Barton W. Jameson was married, October 20, 1867, to Lizzie M. Handley, who was born, May 11, 1844, in Ohio, and died, March 4, 1874. She was a daughter of Robert and Nancy Handley, and came with her parents to Decatur in 1846. Robert Handley was born on November 6, 1801, and died in Decatur county on January 6, 1873. When he first came to Decatur county, he settled in Jackson township. His wife, Nancy, died on December 19, 1861. They were the parents of eight children, namely: James, Samuel, Margaret, Jane, Catherine, Rebecca, John and Elizabeth.

"History of Decatur County, Indiana"
Lewis A. Harding
B. F. Bowen & Co.
Indianapolis, Indiana
published in 1915.



DANIEL WEBSTER ELLIOTT
Among the successful farmers of a past generation in Jackson township, Decatur county, Indiana, was Daniel Webster Elliott, who was born on April 3, 1841, in Jennings county, and who died on May 4, 1897.

Daniel Webster Elliott was the son of David and Lucinda (Spears) Elliott, who came to Decatur county when Daniel Webster was a mere lad. The father having died when Daniel W. was a lad, his widow, the mother of Daniel W., lived in Greensburg for some time.

Daniel Webster Elliott was married on May 29, 1864, at Sardinia, to Cordelia Bake, the daughter of Eli and Catherine (Risley) Bake, the former of whom was born on June 23, 1813, in Union county, Indiana, and who died on January 9, 1899. Eli Bake was married to Catherine Risley on December 24, 1834. She was born on October 6, 1817, in New Jersey, and died on March 7, 1904. Eli Bake moved to Decatur county in 1842, where he and, his wife reared a large family and prospered. Of their twelve children, three died in infancy, Catherine, Elizabeth and one who died unnamed. The other children were as follow: Louis; Mrs. Amanda Gant, of Minneapolis, Kansas; Mrs. Clara Gant, of Kingfisher, Oklahoma; Mrs. Cordelia Elliott, widow of Daniel W. Elliott; Perry, of Seattle, Washington; Mrs. Lucinda Matthew, deceased; Mrs. Martha Keilley, of Sardinia; William, of Jackson township, and Mrs. Louisa Shaw, of Westport.

Eli and Catherine Bake came overland from New Jersey to Indiana, and after coming to this state faced many hardships, being compelled to live for a time on parched corn. Eventually, however, they became well-to-do, and Eli Bake, who was always a hard worker, kept three hands and owned several farms. During a part of his life he operated a broom factory and sold his brooms in Louisville, Kentucky, and in many other cities. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Webster Elliott lived the first year on a farm northeast of Westport and then moved to a farm one mile north of Sardinia, where they lived for three years. Subsequently, they purchased eighty acres of land, which is a part of the present farm, and in 1894 purchased eighty acres additional. After Mr. Elliott's death, Mrs. Elliott built a splendid new house and moved the barn. She has a very attractive place on a widely-traveled highway and is surrounded with all of the comforts possible on the farm.

To Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Webster Elliott were born seven children, namely: Mrs. Minerva Alice Gardner, born on September 27, 1865; Marion Monroe, a farmer, February 9, 1868; Cora May, November 18, 1870, married a Mr. Gant and lives at Columbus; Mrs. Rozenia Anderson, July 31, 1873, lives near Hartsville in Bartholomew county; Harry Clinton, March 19, 1876, lives in Elizabethtown, Indiana;. Mrs. Lucinda Isophene Tremain lives at Adams; Mrs. Lena Osthimer lives at home. Mrs. Elliott has thirteen grandchildren, as follow: Mrs. Minerva Gardner has three children, Agnes Collins, Olsa and Dora; Mrs. Cora Gant has four children, Audrey, Guy, Gertrude and Kenneth; Mrs. Rozenia Anderson has three children, Garnet, Hazel and Opal; Harry has one daughter, Thelma; Marion has one son, Lester, and Lucinda has one daughter, Margaret.

The late Daniel W. Elliott was a Democrat. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was active in church work throughout his life, and was a steward at Wesley Chapel. He joined the church in January, 1876, during the pastorate of Reverend Lathrop. Mrs. Elliott is a refined and cultured woman, a woman of exquisite tastes and one who is possessed of a keen sense for the beautiful. She is especially well known in Jackson township, as was her husband during his life.

"History of Decatur County, Indiana"
Lewis A. Harding
B. F. Bowen & Co.
Indianapolis, Indiana
published in 1915.



JOHN S. OWEN
A native Hoosier son, John S. Owen has been for many years a farmer in Jackson township, Decatur county, Indiana, where he and his sister own the old Owen homestead, comprising a hundred and twenty acres. He is one of a large family of children, of whom two brothers fought valiantly in the cause of their country during the Civil War, one of them giving up his life on the field of battle. These early days were associated with the first struggles of the Republican party, and with its first candidate elected to the presidency, Abraham Lincoln. It is not, therefore, surprising that he has been a Republican. His early recollections are associated with the enlistment of his two brothers and with their service during a period in which the new party and the beloved man it had elected to the chief executive office of this land were on trial.

John S. Owen, now a well-known farmer and the joint owner of one hundred and twenty acres of land in Jackson township, was born on September 13, 1847, in Fayette county, Indiana. His parents, Thomas and Mahala (Walker) Owen, were natives of South Carolina and Pulaski county, Kentucky, respectively. The former was a son of Edward Owen, a native of Scotland, who came to this country with his parents and settled in South Carolina in pioneer times. Thomas Owen was one of a large family of children, who made his way northward from South Carolina to Indiana, and here married. In 1849 he settled on a farm in Decatur county. This farm was located in Jackson township, and here he built a log cabin, and proceeded to establish a home in the wilderness. Some years later, in 1866, he built a frame house. Two of his sons, William and Anderson, served in the Civil War. William, who enlisted in Company D, Seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, was killed on June 18, 1864, at the assault on Petersburg, Virginia. Anderson was a private in Company E, Thirty-seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Other children of Thomas and Mahala Owen, several of whom died in infancy, were Mrs. Polly Johnson, deceased; Louisa, who is the housekeeper for the subject of this sketch, and who with him owns the old home farm; Mrs. Matilda Johnson, of Greensburg; Thomas, deceased; Mrs. Fannie M. Lett, of Califorina, and Richard M., who lives on the home farm. Thomas Owen died in February, 1884, at the age of seventy-seven, his wife surviving fourteen years and passing away at the age of eighty-four in 1898.

John S. Owen has always lived on the home farm, and until the death of his parents cared for them tenderly in conjunction with his beloved sister. Mr. Owen is a good farmer and has a highly productive farm in this township, a man honored and respected by the people of his community, devoted to all good works and all worthy public enterprises. Although an ardent Republican, he has held only minor township offices. He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons No. 36, at Westport. Neither Mr. Owen nor his sister, Miss Louisa Owen, has ever married.

"History of Decatur County, Indiana"
Lewis A. Harding
B. F. Bowen & Co.
Indianapolis, Indiana
published in 1915.



JACOB LESLIE THURSTON
Since the creation of the office of advisory board in Indiana some fifteen years ago, a board whose purpose it is to keep tab on the expenses and expenditures of the county and township, it is a known fact that in the men who have been elected to fill this office the farmer as a class has been far in the majority. The farmer as a class is often the butt of the humorist and is the stock in trade for the slapstick actor and the funny column writer, but when it comes to filling a place that is of particular importance from the standpoint of substantial honesty, the farmer is most often the man chosen, and so when Jackson township wanted a man of particular honesty and substantial worth to fill a vacancy on her advisory board, she choose Jacob Leslie Thurston.

Jacob Leslie Thurston was born on November 4, 1869, one mile north and one mile east of where he now resides, and when he was eighteen months old his father moved to the present site of the home of Mr. Thurston in Jackson township.

Jacob Leslie Thurston was the son of William and Mary Jane (Evans) Thurston. William Thurston was born on November 26, 1838, and died on September 11, 1897, and his wife, Mary Jane (Evans) was born on January 23, 1845, and died on August 27, 1897.

William Thurston was the son of Lewis Thurston and Martha (Birch) Thurston. Lewis Thurston was born on January I, 1806, in Pennsylvania, and came to Indiana when quite young and settled in Jackson township, where, on November 14, 1830, he married Martha Birch, who was born in Indiana, on May 31, 1813. To this union were born ten children, six sons and four daughters, namely: Elizabeth, who was born on August 15, 1831; Charles, January 14, 1834; Mary, August 31, 1836; William, the father of the subject of this sketch; Enos, July 4, 1841; Sarah, September 26, 1845; Benjamin, January 26, 1845; Thomas, December 19, 1848; Emily, May 28, 1852, and Morgan, January 24, 1854.

Lewis Thurston was one of the very earliest settlers in Decatur county and at the time of his death he was the owner of a fine tract of two hundred and seventy-five acres of land. William Thurston, who was the fourth child of Lewis Thurston, and the father of the subject of this sketch, was born and reared in Jackson township, and was the owner of two hundred and fifty-three acres of land. He was an active and stanch churchman and was an elder in the Christian church for many years. He married Mary Jane Evans on October 8, 1863.

Mary Jane Evans was the daughter of Ratcliffe and Melissa Lane (Vailes) Evans, who were married on August 7, 1829, and who were the parents of the following children: Laban, Daniel, Mary Jane, John Russ, Martha Ann, Sarah Ellen, James, William Calvin, Melinda Emeline, Thomas and Charles.

William Thurston was the father of the following children: Martha Helen Fear, who is the wife of S. W. Fear; an infant son, who died on March 29, 1866; Edward, who was born on April 23, 1867; Jacob Leslie, the subject of this sketch; Charles, March 31, 1874, and who is now deceased; Clarence, July 22, 1882, and who is now deceased, and Ora, January 6, 1892.

Jacob Leslie Thurston was educated in the common schools and began, at the age of twenty-two, to do for himself. He farmed on his own initiative on his father's farm for three years, and then, on January 12, 1895, he was married to Mabel E. Anderson, and they continued to live for another year with Mr. Thurston's parents, and then built a small cottage, in which they lived until the Thurston parents died, and the home place was then sold, and they purchased a portion of this (one hundred acres), on which Mr. Thurston, practically with his own hands, built one of the most beautiful farm houses to be found anywhere. This house is equipped with its own gas plant for lighting, with a water system, and it is heated by a furnace. A fine orchard is near the house.

Mabel E. (Anderson) Thurston, the wife of Jacob Leslie Thurston, was born in Bartholomew county near Clifty Falls on March 15, 1873. She was the daughter of Combs and Margaret Tetrick, natives of New Jersey and Ohio, respectively. Margaret Tetrick died on January 3, 1877, and her husband died on April 18, 1911.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Leslie Thurston are: Ruby May, who was born on March 25, 1897, and was graduated from the Greensburg high school in the class of 1915, and Marion Earl, who was born on November 6, 1899, and who is now in the Waynesburg high school.

Mr. Thurston takes great interest in local politics and affiliates with the Democratic party. He was elected a member of the advisory board of Jackson township in 1914. He is a deacon in the Christian church of Waynesburg, and is a man of power and influence in his community.

"History of Decatur County, Indiana"
Lewis A. Harding
B. F. Bowen & Co.
Indianapolis, Indiana
published in 1915.



NICHOLAS ANDERSON
No farmer of Jackson township is better known than Nicholas Anderson, who has lived on the farm he now occupies for a period of forty-one years. He has lived in this community a life of rare consecration, not only to his life's vocation, but of rare consecration as well to the interests of his neighbors and fellow citizens generally. He has lived to rear three children, who are well established in homes of their own and have families of their own. He has assisted his children to get a start in the world as only a kind, loving and wise father could do. He and his good wife have always been hard workers and, as a consequence of their frugal living, economy in many lines and saving, they have prospered until now they have, aside from the help they have given their married children, a substantial competence which will keep them in comfort the rest of their lives.

Nicholas Anderson was burn on October 1, 1844, in Jackson township, two and one-half miles north of Alert in a log cabin, the son of Charles and Lottie (Gross) Anderson, the former of whom was born in New Jersey. He was the son of Nicholas Anderson, the first to come to Decatur county at the time of the "Fallen Timbers" or during the thirties. Here he entered land and cleared it of the timber, establishing a home in the wilderness. Here Charles Anderson was reared and married to Lottie Gross, the daughter of Frederick Gross, a native of Germany, who came to this country when his daughter Lottie was a mere infant. Charles and Lottie Anderson had six children, of whom Nicholas, the subject of this sketch, was the eldest. The other children were Fred, John, Charles, Catherine and Margaret. John and Margaret are deceased. Charles makes his home with his brother, Nicholas. Catherine married a Mr. Irvin and lives in Nebraska. The mother of these children died in 1861 and after her death Charles Anderson married Mrs. Louisa Coleman. By this marriage there were five children: Mrs. Mary Etta Tremain, of Columbus; Annie, who lives in Kokomo; William, who resides in Connersville; Mrs. Cora Swartz, of Hope; and James, who lives at Alert.

On February 8, 1877, Nicholas Anderson was married to Hannah L. Carson, who was born on October 22, 1858, in Geneva township, Jennings county, Indiana, the daughter of David and Hannah (Bennett) Carson, the former of whom was a native of Pennsylvania and the latter a daughter of Samuel Bennett, a nobleman and excise officer, who, displeased with the government, left England quietly in 1820 and settled in Jennings county, Indiana. There he purchased over six hundred acres of land and became, within a few years, a famous leader of the people in his community. He was a justice of the peace for many years and, being a man of education and rare intelligence, transacted for the settlers of Decatur and Jennings counties all of their legal business. David Carson was the son of Hiram Carson, of Pennsylvania, who came to Jennings county in 1831.

Hannah L. Carson was one of eight children born to her parents, she being the seventh. 'The others were as follow: George, of Council Bluffs, Iona, who served three years and eight months in the Sixty-eighth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War; James B., of near Celina, Kansas; Dr. C. H., who died in Kansas City, Missouri; Mary A., deceased; Davit1 Taylor, deceased: Elizabeth, the wife of D. F. Shera, of Columbus; and Mrs. Rachel Galloway, of Jackson township.

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have lived on their present farm for thirty-eight years together and Mr. Anderson has lived on it for forty-one years. He bought his first tract of forty acres in 1874. when he had only five hundred dollars, paying fifty dollars an acre for the land. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are the parents of three children, namely: George E., who lives in the northwestern part of Missouri, married Edith Strader and has four children, Jeannette, James, Marguerite and Mildred; James D., of Jackson township, who married Mollie Beesley and has two children, Beatrice Elizabeth and Ruth Helen; and Leroy, who died in 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have given each of the two married sons forty acres apiece and, including the land which has been given to the sons, they have owned three hundred and forty acres altogether. Eighty acres of the farm land belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson is located in Bartholomew county.

Democracy it seems is a political prepossession of the Anderson family, the family having been Democrats for several generations. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are members of the Christian Union church. They have done their part not only to promote the physical development of the soil of Jackson township, Decatur county, but they have done their part to develop a wholesome and interesting community spirit. Mr. Anderson is a man of strong convictions and a leader in his neighborhood. He is a man whose opinions and belief are respected by all who know him.

"History of Decatur County, Indiana"
Lewis A. Harding
B. F. Bowen & Co.
Indianapolis, Indiana
published in 1915.



SAMUEL KELLY
The burdens of the Civil War were not alone on the men who went out in the field to fight, but often on the mothers and children who were left at home and in too many cases were orphaned and widowed. The immediate burdens of war are scarcely ever as terrible as the subsequent burdens that are inflicted on its victims. Many a son is compelled in his early youth to take up the family burdens of a father lost in war. Such was the case of the subject of this sketch, Samuel Kelly.

Samuel Kelly is as the son of John W. and Harriet (Russell) Kelly, natives of West Virginia, who came to Decatur county at the time of their marriage. John W. Kelly enlisted in the Eighty-third Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry and contracted measles at Memphis, Tennessee, in 1865, and died. Harriet (Russell) Kelly died in 1901.

John W. and Harriet (Russell) Kelly were the parents of six children, all now deceased except Samuel and Matthew. There were three sons, Samuel, Joshua and Matthew, and three daughters, Minerva, Mary A. and Anna.

Samuel Kelly, after his father's death, lived with Matthew Kelly, a great-uncle of his father, south of Waynesburg until he was twenty-one years old. He then took employment in Columbus for a year with Mooney & Company, tinners. He then married and settled two years in Grant county and then came to Alert and engaged in a profitable nursery business which he conducted until 1912, when he sold out this business and engaged in the grain and coal business in Alert until in the spring of 1914, when he again sold out his business and worked for the company to which he had sold until November at which time he was elected to the office of township trustee for Jackson township. His term of office was not to begin until in January of 1915, but on account of the death of Trustee Evans, he was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by Evans' death and so began his duties as township trustee at once.

Samuel Kelly has been an active worker in the Democratic party in Jackson township for many years. He has served as township chairman of his party and was elected and re-elected to the office of township assessor for a period of ten years and was four years a deputy in this office. He is always present at township and county conventions of his party and has served more than once as a delegate to state conventions. He is a member of the Methodist church, and is an active and loyal lodge man, holding membership in the following fraternal organizations, the Free and Accepted Masons, of Alert and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Westport.

Samuel Kelly was married on March 16, 1880, to Cynthia A. Hamilton, a native of Decatur county, and the only living child of William and Nancy Hamilton, who came to Decatur county from Kentucky and settled in Sand Creek township. Samuel Kelly is a fair type of the citizen who has struggled against hardships and has won a position of trust and influence among his neighbors.

"History of Decatur County, Indiana"
Lewis A. Harding
B. F. Bowen & Co.
Indianapolis, Indiana
published in 1915.



JAMES HAMLIN SHAFER
One of the well-known farmers of Jackson township, the proprietor of "Maple Leaf Farm," located one-half mile south of Alert, a man who is well known in this part of Decatur county, and who comes from an old family, is James Hamlin Shafer.

James Hamlin Shafer, who was born on the old Shafer homestead in a covered log house on May 21, 1853, is the son of a pioneer Methodist minister in this section, Rev. Daniel W. Shafer, who was born in 1817 and who died in April, 1897. He was a native of Franklin county, the son of John Shafer, of Pennsylvania, and came to Decatur county with his father at the same time the father of W. M. Shafer came here. James H. is a cousin of W. M. Shafer, of Westport. After coming to Jackson township about 1848, the Rev. Daniel W. Shafer became a prosperous and well-to-do citizen of this community. He assisted in the building of Wesley Chapel and also of Mt. Olivet, located near his home, as well as in the construction of several neighboring churches, all of which he served as a minister. Before the breaking up of the Whig party, he was firmly attached to the principles of this party and when the Republican party was organized, he became a Republican and remained so all of his life. In 1878 he built a fine large house which is now occupied by his son. The home of James H. is just across the road from the old Shafer homestead, and the log house in which many members of the family were born and reared is partly standing today. Rev. Daniel W. Shafer married Audriah Shera, a native of Ireland, who was born in 1815 and who died in August, 1892. They were the parents of six children, all of whom are living: William Glover, a veteran of the Civil War, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri; John Whitmore, who lives at St. Paul, Minnesota; Mrs. Eliza Ann McGaughey, of Rogers, Arkansas; Sarah Ellen Shafer, of Indianapolis; Mrs. Julia Frances White, of Albany, Indiana; and James H., the subject of this sketch. At the time of his death, Rev. Daniel W. Shafer owned one hundred and sixty acres of land and his son, James H., received a sixth interest in this estate and, after eighty acres were sold, purchased the interest of the other heirs in the remainder. He has fifty-eight acres of land in his present farm and one hundred and sixty acres in Colorado. In 1910 Mr. Shafer and his wife went to Colorado and homesteaded a quarter section of government land. It is a splendid farm and is located near Ft. Morgan, Colorado.

James Hamlin Shafer received a liberal education early in life and for seven years was a teacher in the public schools of Decatur county. His education having begun in the common schools of Decatur county, it was finished in Hartsville College.

On April 20, 1886, James Hamlin Shafer was married to Kate Wright, who was born on September 6, 1860, near Burnsville in Bartholomew county. She was the daughter of John H. and Ann (Brown) Wright, natives of Delaware and Ohio, respectively. Both are now deceased, the father having died in August, 1892, and the mother on April 21, 1885. Mrs. Shafer's mother belonged to the Randall family, an old and wealthy family of Revolutionary ancestry. Mrs. Shafer had four brothers in the Civil War; Dr. Charles H., who died near Madison, Indiana, and who was an orderly sergeant; George Washington, who was captain of an Indiana company; John Francis, who was a teacher for many years and who was a corporal in the Union army, now lives at Topeka, Kansas; and James Kellogg, who was also a soldier and who died at the age of twenty-two years. Mrs. Shafer also had two sisters: Mrs. Mary J. Shafer, the wife of William Shafer, of Kansas City; and Sidney Ann, who died in 1910.

With the exception of nine years in which Mr. Shafer was engaged in the furniture business at North Vernon, he has lived on his present farm practically all of his life. James Hamlin and Kate (Wright) Shafer are the parents of seven children, as follow: Daisy E., who is at home; Edna A., who is a teacher in the in Amora schools; Lloyd Hamlin, who was a student in Moores Hill College and was graduated with the class of 1915; Ruth, who is a teacher at Sunman, in Ripley county; Sydney Daniel, who is a student at Moores Hill College; Olive and Irene, who are students in the school at Alert. Mr. Shafer's eldest son served one year in the United States army.

Mr. and Mrs. Shafer have lived to rear a splendid family of children and one of which they have every reason to be proud. All of the members of the family are bright and capable young men and women who will undoubtedly achieve for themselves marks of no small importance. In Jackson township, the Shafers are well known for their interest in education, Mr. Shafer having been during all of his life, one of the ablest and ardent exponents of public education. The Shafer family stands very high in this community.

"History of Decatur County, Indiana"
Lewis A. Harding
B. F. Bowen & Co.
Indianapolis, Indiana
published in 1915.



CALEB STARK WRIGHT
Few men now living in Clay township, this county, have exerted a wider or more beneficent influence therein than Caleb Stark Wright, former township trustee and one of the most prosperous and progressive farmers in the western part of Decatur county. Mr. Wright has a fine farm of one hundred and fifty-three acres in Clay township, on which he has erected one of the best farm houses in this part of the state, his home being one of the pleasantest and most delightful homes thereabout. The mammoth barn and large silo, together with the other outbuildings on the place, bespeak the enterprise of the owner and attest his excellent business qualities, for Mr. Wright looks upon farming as a business instead of a mere haphazard proceeding in which the elements of nature are expected to relieve the tiller of the soil of any responsibility in the matter. The hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Wright is of that type so often referred to as real "old southern hospitality," and their home is one of the most popular gathering places in that whole neighborhood. In his public service Mr. Wright placed Clay township under a debt of obligation which never properly can he paid and his fellow citizens hold him in the highest esteem, his counsel and advice being sought generally on matters of public concern. He is warmly interested in the educational affairs of the township and during his administration of the office of trustee devoted the most thoughtful care to the interests of the schools, it being his theory that in the education of the children none but the very best and most approved methods should be employed. It was during his administration that the fine high school building at Burney was erected and the people of Clay township are unanimous in the declaration that the schools of the township were very largely advanced by reason of his constant application of sound business principles thereto.

Broad in his views and liberal in his dealings with his fellow men, Mr. Wright has a well-deserved popularity in the part of the county in which he resides, this popularity having been proved upon the occasion of his election to the office of trustee. Though the head of the Republican ticket carried the township by a majority of about thirty-five, Mr. Wright, who stood for election on the Democratic ticket, was elected by a clear majority of twenty-seven votes, amply attesting the esteem in which he was held. The same broad business policies enter into his transactions in connection with his extensive farming interests. He believes in handling only pure bred stock and his sales of live stock prove the soundness of his judgment in this direction, his stock invariably bringing fancy prices; a policy which has proved highly profitable to him. Mr. Wright has his own gas well on his farm and the question of light and heat, so far as he is concerned, is thus effectually solved. Energetic, industrious and capable, Mr. Wright, now in the sixth decade of his life, finds himself quite well circumstanced and capable of enjoying life to the full. Full of the zest of living, he takes a close interest in current affairs and is fully informed on all matters of public concern, being a most entertaining conversationalist and a right genial gentleman.

Caleb Stark Wright was born on the farm on which he still lives, in Clay township, Decatur county, Indiana, five miles southwest of the town of Greensburg, sixty-three years ago and has consequently seen the greater part of the development of that section of the county and has been an active participant in the same. He is the son of Richard and Lovica (Stark) Wright, pioneers of Clay township, the former of whom was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, in 1821 and died at his home in this county in 1884. When about twenty-one years of age Richard Wright came to Decatur county from Virginia, settling in Clay township, near the village of Liberty. The Christian church in that village now stands on the part of the farm which he bought at the time of his arrival in this county. He bought a quarter section of land which practically was in its primeval state, and in the wilderness made his home, gradually bringing the farm to a fine state of cultivation, the same now being of the very first quality. The Wright family is of English origin and Richard Wright was the son of Charles Wright, the latter of whom came to this county from Virginia some time after his son, Richard, had located here and spent the rest of his life in the home of his son, dying when Caleb S., the subject of this sketch, was about seven years of age.

Richard Wright became one of the substantial residents of Clay township and was held in very high repute in that neighborhood. He married Lovica Stark, daughter of Caleb and Anne (Boone) Stark, who came to Decatur county from Kentucky in 1826, settling in Clay township, and founding the well-known Stark family of this county, a now numerous progeny.

Caleb Stark was the son of Joseph Stark, who was a son of John Stark, a native of New Hampshire, who moved from that state to Virginia, later migrating to Kentucky, where he became an influential pioneer in Henry county, in the latter state. Joseph Stark was a member of the local guards of Virginia, the "minute men," who constituted the militia organization of the Old Dominion, and was sent with his company into what then was known as Kentucky county, Virginia, now the state of Kentucky, to put down an uprising of the Cherokee Indians, and for two years was engaged in Indian warfare. During that time he became so impressed with the value of Kentucky lands, particularly in the blue-grass region, over which he had ranged as an Indian fighter, that he decided to locate there as soon as the opportunity presented. In 1780 when Daniel Boone headed his famous band of Virginia settlers into Kentucky, Joseph Stark joined the colony; first settling in Shelby county, where his children were born and where his wife died. Upon the death of his wife he moved to Henry county, in Kentucky, where he bought a farm at Floyd's Fork, near the headwaters of the Little Kentucky river and established his home, remaining there the rest of his life and founding a numerous family, the descendants of which now are widely scattered.

The Stark family is of ancient and honorable descent, having had its origin in Scotland in the days of the last James, when John Muirhead, a German soldier, for an act of signal bravery by which he saved the life of the king, was created bishop of Glasgow and his name changed, by royal decree, to Stark, German for "strength." In succeeding generations the first son in the family invariably was christened John until John Stark, born in 1665, named his first son Archibald. This John Stark was the founder of the family in America, he having emigrated to this country in 1710. His eldest son, Archibald Stark, was the father of General Stark, of Revolutionary fame. John Stark, the founder of the American family of that name, was the father of nine children: Archibald, born in 1693; James, 1695; John, 1697; Richard, 1699; Louise, 1701; Daniel, 1703; Samuel, 1705; Susannah, 1707; Silas, 1709. In 1716 James Stark married Elizabeth Thornton, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, sister of Matthew Thornton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and in 1730 moved with his family to Stafford, Virginia.

To James and Elizabeth (Thornton) Stark were born fifteen children, namely: John, born in 1717; James, 1719; Thomas, 1721; Jeremiah, 1722; William, 1725; Mary, 1727; Susannah, 1729; Elizabeth, 1730; Sarah, 1731; Jane, 1733; Anne, 1736; Benjamin, 1738; Donald, 1744; Isabella, 1746; Lydia, 1748. It is to the firstborn of this family, John Stark, born in 1717, that the Stark family in Decatur county owes its descent. John Stark was a minister of the gospel. In 1746 he married Hanson Porter, who died, whereupon he married, secondly, in 1756, Hannah Eaves, a beautiful English governess who had been giving lessons in the family. To this first union there were born the following children: Anne, born in 1746; Eliza, 1749; Sarah, 1752, and William, 1754. To the second union there were born: James, born in 1757; Thomas, 1759; John, 1761; Mary, 1762; John, 1766; Susan, 1768, and Joseph, 1771, the latter of whom moved to Kentucky, as noted above and was the father of Caleb Stark, who married Anne Boone and was the father of Lovica Stark, who married Richard Wright and is the mother of Caleb Stark Wright, the immediate subject of this sketch. Joseph Stark had three other sons beside Caleb, they being Effner, Phillip and Rheuben.

John Stark, the Virginian, the great-great-grandfather of Mr. Wright was a man of superb courage and a great hunter. On one occasion while hunting in the depths of the great forest in the vicinity of his home he was captured by Indians and taken to the Indian camp, where the chief decided that he should be compelled to "run the gauntlet." Stalwart warriors of the tribe were lined up in parallel rows, each brave armed with a war club, and Mr. Stark was commanded to seek what safety he might find in flight between these two formidable rows of armed redskins. With a cat-like spring, the courageous hunter leaped upon the two nearest redskins and tearing from their hands the clubs which they held, laid about him, right and left, knocking the two astonished warriors to the ground, rendering them hors de Combat. This act of strength and courage so impressed the magnanimous chief that he gave Mr. Stark his liberty and a safe escort to his home, there ever afterward existing a firm friendship between the chief and the mighty hunter. Afterward this same John Stark served as a colonel in the British army in the French and Indian wars.

To Richard and Lovica (Stark) Wright were born nine children, four of whom died in infancy, the others being as follow: Mrs. Sarah L. McGee, who lives in Iowa; Caleb Stark, the subject of this sketch; Richard Todd, who lives in Colorado; Mrs. Minnie M. Myers, of Clay township, this county, and Loda, who lives at Westport, this county.

In 1882 Caleb Stark Wright was united in marriage to Alpha B. Robbins, member of a pioneer family of Decatur county, daughter of Holman Robbins, who was a son of William Robbins, and to this union one child has been born, a daughter, Alma, who married James Calvin Thornburg, of this county, and has one son, Merritt, who was born on March 25, 1910.

Mr. and Mrs. Wright are members of the Baptist church and always have taken a deep interest in the moral development of the community in which for so many years they have labored with an unselfish devotion to the common good. They are active in all good works affecting that community and are held in the very highest esteem throughout that whole countryside.

"History of Decatur County, Indiana"
Lewis A. Harding
B. F. Bowen & Co.
Indianapolis, Indiana
published in 1915.



ALEXANDER PORTER
In the industrial life of Decatur county there is one name, a firm of large building contractors, that stands out strong and dominant, and no review of the history of the times in this county would be complete without fitting mention of the same, together with proper reference to the men who have brought the business which they represent to its present proud eminence. Alexander Porter, of the firm of Pulse & Porter, contractors and builders, at Greensburg, Indiana, the biggest concern of its kind in the state, is too well known locally to require an introduction to the readers of this volume living in this county, but, in the interest of the future, the biographer takes pleasure in setting out at this point a brief resume of his notably successful and useful career.

The firm with which Mr. Porter is associated, Pulse & Porter, was organized in December, 1886, by William C. Pulse, William R. Porter and Alexander Porter. This firm has employed as high as seven hundred men at one time, and has been engaged in the construction of some of the most notable buildings in Indiana, among which may be mentioned the Baptist church, the Swan block, two main buildings of the Odd Fellows' state home, the Odd Fellows' block, the Carnegie library, remodeling the Presbyterian and the Centenary Methodist churches, the high school building, the sanitary sewer system, all at Greensburg; the power-house of the Indiana Union Traction company, at Anderson; power-house of the Indianapolis & Newcastle Railroad Company, at Newcastle; the Maxwell-Brisco motor plant, at Newcastle; the Gentry hotel, at Bloomington; Science hall, at Indiana State University; Science hall, at Hanover College; Hendricks library, at the same college; Spring Hill Presbyterian church and the Southeastern Indiana Hospital for the Insane, at Madison, the latter contract involving the expenditure of one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Alexander Porter was born on a farm three and one-half miles southwest of the city of Greensburg, Indiana, December 2, 1861, the son of Matthew E. and Rebecca (McKinney) Porter, the former of whom also was a native of Decatur county, and the latter of whom was born in Orange county, this state.

Matthew E. Porter was born on July 5, 1836, a son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Elder) Porter, the former of whom was the first white child born in Dearborn county, Indiana. Alexander Porter was born in 1799, the son of David Porter, a native of Virginia, who, after having served for five years as a British soldier in the French and Indian wars, took up arms in the cause of the patriots during the Revolutionary War and for five years served valiantly in the army of General Washington. Following the Revolution, David Porter came west and for a time was located at the point where the city of Cincinnati later sprang up. While there, in 1795, he waited until General Wayne made a treaty with the Indians. He later proceeded down the river and settled in Dearborn county, this state. At that time there was but one brick house in Cincinnati and but one log house in what since has come to be the city of Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Locating permanently in Dearborn county, David Porter carved a home out of the wilderness and there reared his family, his other children, beside Alexander, above mentioned, being David, John, James and Mrs. Mary Evans.

Alexander Porter left his father's place in Dearborn county when he was twenty-three years of age and moved to this county, where he for a time leased school land, later entering from the government the land three and one-half miles southwest of Greensburg on which his grandson and namesake, Alexander Porter, the immediate subject of this sketch, was born, and which is still owned by the family, Mr. Porter and his two brothers being in possession of the same. On this farm of two hundred and fifty-six acres this pioneer spent the remainder of his life and on the same farm his son, Matthew E., father of the present Alexander Porter, spent his entire life, rearing his family there.

When he was thirty-six years of age, Alexander Porter married Elizabeth Elder, the daughter of the Rev. Matthew Elder, a pioneer Baptist minister, who came to Decatur county in 1824 and located four miles south of Greensburg, where he founded the Union Baptist church, which still is in existence. He was a farmer as well as a preacher, and there he reared his family, living to a ripe old age, proving a very tower of strength to the pioneer settlement. Rev. Matthew Elder organized the first Baptist church in Decatur county. He died on July 7, 1865, at the age of seventy-nine years. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, namely: Mrs. William Goodwin; Elizabeth, who married Alexander Porter; Jane, who married Silas Porter; Martha, who married Elijah Goodwin; Rebecca, who married William McCormick; Andrew, deceased, married a Miss Jackson, and Asenath, who married Peter Martin. To Alexander and Elizabeth (Elder) Porter were born two children, Matthew E. and Asenath, the latter of whom died at the age of three years. Alexander Porter died on September 9, 1891, aged ninety-two, and his widow died on October 22, 1893, at the age of eighty.

Matthew E. Porter remained on the home farm all his life, being the stay and comfort of his parents in their latter days. In 1857 he was united in marriage to Rebecca Clarice McKinney, who was born on February 20, 1836, near Paoli, in Orange county, Indiana, the daughter of John and Martha (Van Cleave) McKinney, natives of Kentucky and early settlers in Indiana, where John McKinney was a prominent farmer in the neighborhood in which he lived, an ardent Republican and a leader in the congregation of the Presbyterian church thereabout. John McKinney and his wife were the parents of the following children: James; Mrs. Sarah J. Porter; William R.; Margaret; Mary, wife of William Goddard; Rebecca, wife of Matthew E. Porter; Emily, wife of John Pulse, and Matthew, who died in his youth.

To Matthew E. and Rebecca Clarice (McKinney) Porter were born nine children, namely: Martha A., who married J. W. McConnell and lives on a farm six miles south of Greensburg; Alexander, the immediate subject of this sketch; John, who died in 1893, at the age of twenty-nine years; Elizabeth, who died in 1881, at the age of eleven years; William R., a member of the firm of Pulse & Porter, in charge of the branch plant at Hope, Indiana; Barton, who died in 1902; Dr. Edward A., a practicing physician at Burney, Indiana; James, who occupies the old home farm in this county, and Andrew, who resides in Greensburg. These children all were born in the house in which their father had been rocked in the cradle and all were rocked in the same cradle in which their father had been rocked. While remaining on the old homestead, Matthew E. Porter made an extensive addition thereto, in 1892 buying a farm adjoining and erecting a fine home, in which he and his wife spent their last days in happy comfort. He was recognized as one of the most solidly-established farmers in Decatur county. He was one of the organizers of the well-known Farmers Insurance Company and was active in all works looking to the development of the best interests of the community in which his whole life was spent. His death occurred in 1908, his wife having preceded him to the grave in 1901.

Alexander Porter received his elementary education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home, following which he spent one year at the normal school at Danville, Indiana, and three years at the Indiana State Normal at Terre Haute. He then taught school for four years, at the end of which time he engaged in the lumber and construction business, in 1886 forming the association with his brother, William R., and William C. Pulse, mentioned in the introductory paragraph of this review, which, from a small beginning, has grown to the great concern which is now recognized as the leading construction company in the state of Indiana.

In 1892 Alexander Porter was united in marriage to Ada R. Richardson, of Hartwell, Ohio, the daughter of Colonel Richardson, of Civil War fame. To this union five children have been born, as follow: Elder A., who is a student in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor; Sarah M., who is a student in the Randolph-Macon School, at Lynchburg, Virginia; William B., a student in the Greensburg high school; Marietta, who is still in the grade school, and one son, John, who died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Porter are members of the Presbyterian church and have reared their children in the faith of that church.

Mr. Porter is a Democrat and gives the most earnest attention to the political affairs of his home county. Notwithstanding his extensive private business, he ever has been able to find time to devote a good citizen's attention to the public business, and served as city treasurer of Greensburg for six years, 1898-1904. He is one of the most progressive and public-spirited citizens of Decatur county and no movement having to do with the welfare of the county finds him hanging back when it comes time to promote the same. He and his wife take an active part in the social affairs of their home town and are deservedly popular in their large circle of friends. Mr. Porter also is actively concerned in the fraternal societies of the town, and is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, an Elk and a Red Man, in the affairs of which lodges he is warmly interested.

"History of Decatur County, Indiana"
Lewis A. Harding
B. F. Bowen & Co.
Indianapolis, Indiana
published in 1915.



CLARENCE LEORA HILL, D. D. S.
Clarence Leora Hill, who was educated for the practice of dentistry and practiced this profession of six years in Valparaiso, Indiana, is a striking example of a man who has turned his attention from professional life to the farm and it must be admitted that he has enjoyed since coming to the farm in 1907 a most gratifying success in agriculture. He is a man who is fond of life in the open, having been reared in the country and having spent the most of his life there.

Clarence Leora Hill, farmer and dentist of Jackson township, Decatur county, Indiana, who owns one hundred and twenty acres of land at his home place one mile north of Alert, and a hundred and sixty-five acres one-half mile north and one and one-half miles west of Sardinia, was born on May 24, 1877, in Bartholomew county, near the Bartholomew and Decatur county line. He is the son of Martin and Elizabeth (McManiman) Hill, the former of whom was a native of Bartholomew county, born in 1848, and the latter of whom was a native of Decatur county, born in 1852. Elizabeth McManiman was the daughter of William McManiman, an early settler of Decatur county, who lived near Waynesburg. In 1884 Martin Hill moved to a farm one-half mile east of Waynesburg, and there he still resides. He is the son of J. C. Hill, an early settler of Decatur county.

Clarence Leora Hill was educated in the district schools of Decatur county, at the Danville Normal School, the Indianapolis College of Commerce, the Louisville College of Dentistry, and the Indiana Dental College at Indianapolis where he was graduated in 1901. He practiced his profession at Valparaiso, Indiana, for six years after his graduation, and then came to Decatur county, Indiana, to take charge of his firm.

About a year after his graduation from the Indiana Dental College at Indianapolis, Clarence Leora Hill was married on August 1, 1902, to Joeva Green, of Rensselaer, Indiana, who is a native of Ohio, and the daughter of Joseph and Jane (Crumley) Green. The Greens came from Ohio to Indiana, and settled near Rennselaer, where Joseph died. He was a "forty-niner," having gone to California when gold was first discovered. Mrs. Hill's mother resides in the home of her daughter and son-in-law in Decatur county. Doctor and Mrs. Hill have had six children, Joseph Graydon, Martin Dwight, Mary Josephene, Paul Eugene, Rose Wendall and John Wesley.

On Doctor Hill's farm, located one mile north of Alert in Jackson township, Decatur county, Indiana, there are two sets of buildings. He has a modern house, a large barn, fifty by sixty-eight feet in diameter, and a silo which was erected in 1914. Doctor Hill is an extensive raiser of mules. He buys weanling mule colts, and raises them until they are ready for the market. At the present time he has twenty-five head on the farm. Aside from his interest in mules he is engaged in general farming and stock raising. Although a Democrat in politics, Doctor Hill has never taken any special interest in political matters. He is a member of Porter Lodge No. 137, Free and Accepted Masons.

"History of Decatur County, Indiana"
Lewis A. Harding
B. F. Bowen & Co.
Indianapolis, Indiana
published in 1915.



Deb Murray