From the History of Henry County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884.
Spiceland Township.
Page 804 and 805.
Submitted by: Janie

Walter Edgerton was a citizen of Henry County continuously from early manhood to the day of his death, part of the time in Dudley but mostly in Spiceland Township. He was born in Belmont County, Ohio, August, 1806. He was brought up on a farm but for a change sometimes tended his father's old water-mill on Coptine Creek. His parents, James and Sarah Edgerton, were members of the Society of Friends, which fact gave him a right in the society, and in mature years its doctrines and principles commended themselves to his judgment and were ever adhered to and often championed. In their defense he once engaged in a written debate with Rev. B. Franklin, of the Disciples, of Christian, church, in the course of which his friends at least thought he displayed more than ordinary logical force. As to temporals his parents had the blessing craved by the Prophet Agur - neither poverty nor riches - by they managed to give all their children ordinary facilities for school education, which Walter improved as well as circumstances would permit. Still "simple proportion," or "the single rule of three," was the boundary line of his mathematical knowledge. Before reaching his majority he married Rebecca, eldest daughter of Joseph Con, an influential Friend, also of Belmont County, and in company with his family moved to Indiana in 1829 and went to work vigorously "making" a farm, i. e., removing the forest. So when his friends persuaded him, in 1836, to sojourn and "keep school" one season at Milford, in Wayne County, before moving to Spiceland, as several of the big boys had already been as far in the book as he had his pluck and ability were put to the test. The modern fashion of gaiting a whole class by the slowest member had not been invented. Blackboards and written examinations were unheard of, and as everyone did his best to "get through" it was only by diligent use of the tallow-dip that he was able to prepare other lessons and keep ahead of the best of the "cyhperin' " class (as he did) and conceal how close the race was. As his own son and daughter grew he preceded or studied with and assisted them till his attainments in common-school branches were above ordinary for the times. When the phrenological mania swept over the country and everybody almost, from the hod carrier to the Doctor of Divinity, was paying some mountebank a dollar to feel their heads and guess at their characters, Fowler & Wells's publishers supplied the main part of the literature. He took up and reviewed some of their works on "Self-Culture," etc., with unsparing hand, exposing the sophistry, contradictions and nonsense of the whole scheme, as well as its subtle irreligious tendencies. The work was published in pamphlet form, and doubtless contributed somewhat toward dispelling the delusion. It was, however, as an Abolitionist that he was chiefly distinguished. The term was generally applied and intended as one of reproach from fifty down to twenty-five years ago. Though so seldom heard now as to be scarcely understood by the masses, it was as well understood then to mean an advocate of the abolition of chattel slavery - a friend of the bondman of the South, as prohibitionist is now to imply one who would prohibit the liquor traffic. The story of the black man's wrongs stirred the deep sympathies of his nature, and always as opportunity offered he aided the fleeing bondman, though his house was not a regular depot on the Underground Railroad. When principle was involved he was radical and uncompromising, and few people have had cleared cut convictions of right or consciences more sensitive than his to every demand of duty. The moral logic poetically expressed in Whittier's lines,

"Whoso gives the motive
Makes his brother's sin his own,"

had power to produce conviction, and conviction with him always resulted in action. The bondman's toil was extorted from him by the gory lash, simply for sake of the money to be obtained for the cotton, sugar, etc., produced thereby. Undeceived by all sophistry and special pleading, such as that those products would all find market anyway - that the gigantic system of slavery would never by jostled a particle by it - he with quite a number of others determined to maintain a consistent practical testimony against slavery, and not purchase nor use, even at others' houses, slave-grown goods, where they could possibly distinguish and keep clear of them. Sugar could be had from maple trees of the North and from the West Indies where slavery had been abolished. In cotton goods was the chief difficulty. He aided and encouraged the establishment of agencies in the South for the purchase of cotton by single or a few bales from families of poor free people which was collected, manufactured, and then distributed through wholesale and retail free labor stores, managed by such men as Levi Coffin, of Cincinnati, and Seth Hinshaw, of Greensboro, in this county, etc. For a number of years last before the Rebellion he constantly, and at a pecuniary sacrifice, patronized such stores only. He also encouraged the pioneer abolition lecturers Arnold Buffum, Dr. Bennett and others, and was active in organizing an anti-slavery society among Friends. This implied charge that the body of Friends were not anti-slavery of course aroused hostility. Though on record and by tradition opposed to slavery, a large majority of members from 1832 to 1842, by their adulation of Henry Clay and other actions, evinced more active opposition to abolition "fanaticism,' as they called it, than to that system. To such an extent did the dread of this odium control the Yearly Meeting in Indiana that eight members of the "meeting for sufferings" (the body having charge of the Society's interests) were declared disqualified for that position, really because they were identified with the unpopular Abolitionists, though no so stated on record. This action precipitated a formal separation in the society, and Walter Edgerton took part in the movement and officiated as clerk or presiding officer at nearly, if not quite, every annual gathering until the organization was disbanded. This course he never condemned, though he joined the society again in 1862 or 1863. The venerable Charles Osborn, long a minister, was a prominent leader, and W. E. edited his journal and also wrote a "History of the Separation," which was published about the time the A. S. Friends Society was dissolved. As early as 1840 he emphasized his protest against slavery by refusing to vote for General Harrison, the Whig candidate for President, because that party was pro-slavery. This action estranged many former friends and subjected him to a social ostracism calculated to try the soul of a man. He supported the Liberty, Free-territory and Free-Soil parties until the Republican party was formed, when he naturally allied himself with that, though protesting that it did not proclaim the whole truth. He never was a politician, but yet regarded his franchise as a trust to be conscientiously discharged, and only once was he named for a public office - the State Legislature - before the Republican party was organized. His social influence was remarkable for its power of repressing everything like "filthy jesting," or even foolish talking. He died at Minneapolis, Minn., October, 1879, among friends but no relatives near save his second wife. His remains were interred in the new cemetery at Spiceland. His tombstone bears the single line "A friend of the oppressed."

From the History of Henry County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884.
Spiceland Township.
Page 805 to 807.
Submitted by: Janie

Albert Greenstreet, farmer and stock-raiser, one of the oldest settlers of Spiceland Township, was born in Girard County, Ky., July 17, 1816, a son of Thomas and Mary (Johnson) Greenstreet, who moved from North Carolina to Kentucky, and soon after the war of 1812 came to Indiana and settled in Wayne County. Thomas Greenstreet entered eighty acres of land near the present site of Richmond, but was unable to pay for it and sold his improvements for enough to make the first payment on another tract and March 4, 1822, moved to Henry County and entered eighty acres near the present site of Spiceland. There was but one white family, that of Levi Butler, in the township at the time, their neighbors being Indians, bears, wolves, etc. Their first house was made of forked poles, with brush spread over them for a roof. They lived on this place seven years, and then sold it and moved to another near Knightstown, and cleared another wild farm. The sons were of some assistance in clearing the last farm, and there the father lived twenty-eight years, when he went to live with our subject in Spiceland Township. He died Sept. 29, 1867, aged eighty-five years. The mother died Aug. 31, 1870, aged eighty-three years. They had a family of seven children - Elsie, Elizabeth, Albert, Lucinda, Martha, Matilda and Emily. Albert Greenstreet remained with his parents till manhood. In 1855 he bought a farm in the eastern part of Spiceland Township, where he resided fifteen years, when he sold it and bought another in Franklin Township. Six years later he returned to Spiceland Township and bought the farm where he has since resided. He was married Oct. 20, 1842, to Eunice B., daughter of Stephen Macy, who died in 1850, leaving three children - Oliver, Elvin and Eli. Oct. 21, 1852, he married Mary T., daughter of James and Sarah Elliott. They have four children - James F., Morris, Thomas and Martha. Mr. and Mrs. Greenstreet are members of the Society of Friends.

From the History of Henry County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884.
Spiceland Township.
Page 808.
Submitted by: Janie

Jeremiah Griffin, son of Samuel and Lydia Griffin, was born Dec. 25 (Christmas), 1823, near Centreville, Wayne Co., Ind. He came to Henry County with his parents in the spring of 1824, about eight years after Indiana was admitted as a State, and settled near where Spiceland, in Spiceland Township, now is, and for nearly the whole time since has made this county his home - now sixty years. He claims to be one of the pioneers - one of the earliest settlers in Spiceland Township now living; was here when deer, bears and wolves presumed to promenade the forest at will. He received his first schooling in a log school-house, also used for a meeting-house, near the spot where the Spiceland brick school building now stands; attended the schools taught by Isaac White, Solomon Macy, Levi Lane, Verling Kersey, Robert Harrison and others, and after receiving what was then called a common-school education commenced teaching, being then in his seventeenth-year, and having received a certificate from Martin L. Bundy and Joel Reed, examiners of teachers of common schools for Henry County, certifying his competency to teach a common school, he taught three months, winter of 1840-'41, for $45, or $15 a month, and boarded himself. Board was 50 cents a week. Farm hands were getting $6 and $8 a month. From 1840 to 1857 he was teaching or attending school, teaching in Wayne, Henry and Rush counties, attending the Wayne County Seminary and the Academy at Cambridge City, taught by the late Rev. S. K. Hoshour, during the intervals of teaching. He became a proficient in mathematics, and was recognized for some years as a prominent instructor, noted for order and discipline. He was Principal of the West Grove Academy and Union Seminary for six years; taught the Spiceland school for two and a half years. He was a teacher about sixteen years, and during that time gave instruction to about 2,000 pupils, many of whom are now distinguished men and women, filling prominent stations in life, of honor and trust, and the writer of this often hears him spoken of by his former pupils, and never otherwise than with reverence and respect. He always took a kindly interest in their welfare and such an earnest care for their advancement, that he was regarded by them with much esteem, and many of them claim that to him they owe the inspiration that guided them and led them on to success in life. He assisted in organizing the first County Teachers' Association ever held in Henry County. It was auxiliary to the State Teachers' Association. He was obliged to quit teaching on account of ill health. He is modest and unassuming in his disposition, strictly conscientious, a man of good judgment and exact business habits; order and precision characterize all his work, whether on his farm or in legal transactions, and he is a man of perfect integrity. He was married in 1847, Oct. 27, to Ann Kenworthy, daughter of Amos and Mary Kenworthy, of Raysville, Ind., formerly of Pennsylvania. In 1857 he moved on the farm where he now resides near Dunreith. They have nine children, only four of whom are living - Mattie E., wife of George Detwiler, of Adel, Iowa, graduated at the State Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio, and was a successful teacher some years prior to her marriage. She is the wife of a highly respected minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is the mother of three interesting little girls. Their other children, Willis, Elbert S. and Emma, are at home with their parents.

From the History of Henry County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884.
Spiceland Township.
Page 808 to 810.
Submitted by: Janie

John W. Griffin was born on the farm where he now resides, Dec. 3, 1831, a son of Joseph and Rebecca (Burgess) Griffin. He was reared on his father's farm, his early education being received in the Spiceland schools. He subsequently attended one term at the Friends' boarding-school, now Earlham College. Before he was twenty-one years of age he engaged in the mercantile business at Spiceland and Ogden three years. In 1856 he went to Richmond, Ind., and engaged in the manufacturing business with Nordyke & Co. He subsequently traded his interests there for a half-section of unimproved land in Lake County, Ind., where he removed. A small colony of his acquaintances and relatives settled and improved a considerable portion of Lake County. After making a farm of something over half a section he exchanged it for other farms in Rush County and returned to his native county, buying and settling upon the old homestead, where he has since been engaged in farming and dealing in real estate. He has taken an active interest in all enterprises of benefit to the community. The organization and construction of turnpikes in southern Henry and northern Rush counties are largely due to his active and enterprising efforts, as was also the railroad running north and south through Spiceland Township. In politics Mr. Griffin is very enthusiastic. He was formerly a member of the Republican party, but in 1872 transferred his allegiance to Horace Greeley and has since cast his suffrage with the Democratic party. He was married May 2, 1855, to Anna C. Price, a daughter of Rice and Susanna Price, of Greensboro Township. To them have been born nine children; but four are living - Emily, John S., Virginia and Susanna P. The deceased are - George, Joseph, Robert, Ernest and Rebecca J.

From the History of Henry County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884.
Spiceland Township.
Page 810.
Submitted by: Janie

Joseph Griffin was born in Highland County, Ohio, July 26, 1806, a son of Jacob and Mary (Copeland) Griffin, who emigrated from North Carolina to Ohio in 1803, and in 1808 removed to Indiana, Wayne County, near where Richmond was afterward laid out. In 1814 they removed and settled in the wilderness two miles north of the present site of Centreville, where his mother died in 1823. In 1825 his father married Sarah Wickersham. Joseph Griffin remained with his father until he attained his majority, and then came to Henry County and entered eighty acres of land, cutting cord-wood at 18 and 20 cents a cord to get the money to pay for it. He afterward cut wood and made rails at 25 cents a hundred, and in this way paid for eighty acres more land, which he improved. He planted an orchard of apple and peach trees, and in 1830 they began bearing. He built a two-story hewed-log house. He was married Dec. 30, 1830, to Rebecca, daughter of John and Sarah Burgess, and moved to his home, where they lived until 1860, when they bought a little farm and moved upon it, at Ogden, Ind., where they continued to reside until 1877. Mrs. Griffin's health now being too feeble to continue her household duties, they joined their youngest surviving daughter, Mrs. Sarah A. Pleas, and built their present dwelling-house upon the old homestead, where they started in life together, and where they now reside. They have had four children; but two are living - John W. and Sarah A. (Pleas). Emily J. (Clark) and Mary B. are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Griffin are members of the Society of Friends. They are among the oldest and most influential citizens of the county.

From the History of Henry County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884.
Spiceland Township.
Page 810 and 811.
Submitted by: Jeanie

Samuel Griffin, one of the pioneers of Spiceland Township, Henry Co., Ind., was born in Randolph County, N. C., Jan. 22, 1804. He was the third son of Jacob and Mary Griffin. His parents emigrated to Indiana when he was about three years old and settled in Wayne County. Here he grew to manhood, having few facilities for acquiring an education, consequently his knowledge of books was of a limited character. But inheriting from his ancestors energy, decision, promptness, order and an excellent judgment, he became a man whose counsel was often sought by a large circle of business acquaintances. He possessed a keen sense of justice. Apart from the legality or the illegality of a thing, the advantage or the disadvantage, the expediency or the inexpediency, the question considered by him was - Is it right? is it just? To genius, to education, to natural abilities, he gave due respect and reverence; but he was servile to no man. He had a modest independence of character that was maintained on all occasions. His genius for mathematics was of an uncommon order. He could solve any question in any practical arithmetic without the aid of pen or pencil. He had natural skill in mechanical contrivances, and it was often said of him that he had only to look at a thing in that line to be able to make it. He at one time monopolized pretty much all the trade in the manufacture of wooden mold-boards for breaking plows. He usually required the purchaser of one to work for him twice the time it took him to make the board. He was married to Lydia Reynard, daughter of Adam and Catherine Reynard, of Wilmington, Ohio, Feb. 26, 1823. They resided in Wayne County about one year, where one son was born to them. They came to Henry County in the spring of 1824; settled where Spiceland, in Spiceland Township, is now located. The country was then literally a "howling wilderness," for the wolves made night hideous with their doleful howls, and it was not uncommon to see a bear skulking thought the dense forest, and herds of deer could be seen almost any day. Here they builded them a home in true primitive fashion - a log cabin, without using a nail in the building - cleared the forest, made them a farm, and as he planted and gathered the crops, his faithful helpmate spun and wove, rocked the cradle and did her housework. They were members of Duck Creek Meeting of Friends for some time after settling in Henry County. This meeting was a distance of over three miles from their home; but they were seldom absent from the Sabbath or the mid-week meetings. Having but one horse the wife rode it and he walked, and part of the time carried his eldest son. Other Friends settling around them, they together conceived the idea of a Meeting in Spiceland. Samuel Griffin gave the ground for the house, the same on which the present meeting-house now stands, and did his part with others in building it; and as his family increased he became one of the prominent supporters of the school at the same place. Having but a limited education himself, and feeling the need of it, he used his best endeavors to give all his children a good common-school education. In bringing up his children he used great care never to prejudice them against a neighbor, teacher or minister, regarding prejudice as baneful in its tendencies and a foe to justice. He was esteemed in an unusual degree as an honest, conscientious man. He was genial and hospitable, without ostentation, always careful to do his duty as he understood it. About the year 1851 he moved to his farm adjoining the village of Ogden. He built here a commodious house, delighted in entertaining his friends, carefully kept his farm, gathered around him an abundance of the comforts of life, gave all his younger children the advantages of a more extensive education. Samuel and Lydia Griffin had seven sons and five daughters, all of whom are living in Indiana except one, who is in Illinois - Jeremiah, near Dunreith, whose history will be found elsewhere in this book; Jacob of Hamilton County, is a farmer, and has also served the county in some of its official capacities; Adam, of Indianapolis, a merchant of considerable business ability; Elihu, a prominent attorney at law, of Crown Point, Ind.; Mary Ann, wife of Alexander Steel, of Dunreith; Isom, a commission merchant of Columbus; William, teacher and farmer, Hamilton County; Lydia Ellen, wife of Amos Carson, is a minister in the Society of Friends, living near Cicero, in Hamilton County; Martha Jane was married to Robert N. Broadbent, who died in 1875; in 1881 she was married to Mercer Brown, and lives near Spiceland; Nancy Alice was married to Dr. John W. Broadbent, who died in 1880; she is now married to Adam Stewart, and lives near Paris, Ill.; Samuel, an attorney at law, is a young man of promise in his profession, and is already a successful practitioner, resides at Cumberland, Marion County; Sarah Catherine, wife of James Moffitt, of Ogden. After a life of earnest work conscientiously performed, Samuel Griffin passed from works to rewards rich in faith and hope and love. He died Jan. 12, 1875. He was a life member of the Society of Friends. Lydia Griffin still survives her husband, and is now past eighty years of age. She is, as was her husband, greatly beloved and reverenced by all her children and her childrens' children, her neighbors and her friends. Especially do the people of her own village treat her with the utmost respect; she is invited to their reunions and birthday anniversaries, and they are always pleased when it is practicable for her to attend. She is a woman of great faith, and is always diligent in doing her duty in her family and in the church. She is now serenely enjoying the evening of life in the old homestead secured to her by her kind and thoughtful husband. She seems to be in the full possession of her faculties, young in heart, keenly alive to the beauty and poetry of life, ever looking through nature up to nature's God, ever tender and true to the interests of all her children and interested in the welfare of all mankind. She has been a life member of the Society of Friends, but is altogether unsectarian. The following lines of Whittier are a true echo of sentiments often expressed by her:

"Enough and too much of the sect and the name!
What matters our label so truth be our aim?
The creed may be wrong, but the life may be true,
And hearts beat the same under drab coats or blue.
So the man be a man let him worship at will
In Jerusalem's courts or on Gerizim's hill."

As the shadows lengthen and the twilight of age comes on, her body is feebler, but she is placidly looking forward to a life beyond.

From the History of Henry County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884.
Spiceland Township.
Page 811 to 814.
Submitted by: Jeanie

Alfred Hall, farmer and stock-raiser, section 16, Spiceland Township, was born on the farm where he now resides Aug. 7, 1842, a son of the late Caleb and Hannah (Sanders) Hall. He was reared on his father's farm and received a good education in the town of Spiceland. He was married May 27, 1875, to Mary J., daughter of Elias and Martha (Sanders) Elliott, a native of Guilford Co., N. C., who came to Henry County with her parents when a child and afterward went to Wayne County where she was living at the time of her marriage. The farm contains 113 acres of valuable land. Mr. and Mrs. Hall are members of the Society of Friends.

From the History of Henry County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884.
Spiceland Township.
Page 814.
Submitted by: Jeanie

Caleb Hall, deceased, was among the prominent pioneers of Henry County. He was a native of Guilford Co., N. C., born Sept. 7, 1804, a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Hall, also natives of North Carolina. In 1814 his parents came to Indiana and settled on Green's Fork in Wayne County, where he was reared. In 1832 he came to Henry County and entered eighty acres of wild land in Spiceland Township, which he cleared and improved. He subsequently bought eighty acres adjoining his farm. His parents followed him to Henry County and passed the remainder of their lives with him. He was married Jan. 4, 1832, to Hannah, daughter of Joseph and Martha (Wells) Sanders, who died Sept. 9, 1864, leaving six children - Lydia, Elizabeth, Joseph S., Jehu W., Alfred B. and Nancy E. June 27, 1866, Mr. Hall married Mrs. Isabella Kennedy. He died March 17, 1881. He and his family were members of the Society of Friends.

From the History of Henry County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884.
Spiceland Township.
Page 814.
Submitted by: Jeanie

Edwin Hall, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Dudley Township, Henry Co., Ind., Jan. 3, 1849, a son of Moses and Anna M. (Macy) Hall. He remained at home till manhood, assisting his father and attending school. He received a good education and subsequently taught several years. He was married Sept. 18, 1873, to Ella, daughter of Ferris and Delitha (Bailey) Compton. They have two children - Clarence, born Aug. 3, 1875, and Carroll, born Oct. 18, 1880. After his marriage Mr. Hall settled in Dudley Township, remaining there till 1879, when he bought a farm in Franklin Township where he lived till November, 1883, when he bought the farm in Spiceland Township, where he now lives. He has 106 acres of fine land, all under cultivation. Mr. and Mrs. Hall are members of the Society of Friends, and among the most influential and respected citizens of the county. Politically he is a Republican.

From the History of Henry County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884.
Spiceland Township.
Page 814 and 815.
Submitted by: Jeanie

Jehu W. Hall, farmer and stock-raiser, Spiceland Township, was born in Henry County, Ind., Oct. 2, 1839, a son of Caleb and Hannah (Sanders) Hall. He received a good education in the schools of Spiceland and a practical knowledge of agriculture on his father's farm. He was married May 11, 1864, to Huldah, daughter of Eli and Jane Ratliff. They have two children - Isadore and Mary Bell. After his marriage Mr. Hall settled on part of the old homestead where he has since resided, successfully engaged in farming and stock-raising. He is one of the most influential citizens of the township, a public-spirited, energetic, liberal man. He and his family are members of the Society of Friends.

From the History of Henry County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884.
Spiceland Township.
Page 815.
Submitted by: Jeanie