Other surnames mentioned: Jones, Beedy, Cadwallader, Davis, Edmundson, Gray, Jones, Vore, Ward, Williams, Wright
Josiah Wilbur JONES, a well known and substantial farmer and landowner of Jay county and proprietor of a well improved farm on rural mail route No. 2 out of Pennville, in Penn township, is a member of one of the real pioneer families of this county, his grandfather, John D. JONES, having built the first house erected on the present site of Pennville and was the first postmaster there, the post-office at first being known as New Lisbon, later as Camden and then as Pennville, as is pointed out elsewhere in this work. John D. JONES, the pioneer, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, May 27, 1793, and was a son of Morgan and Hannah ( DAVIS ) JONES, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania of Welsh stock. In 1817 John D. JONES married Lydia VORE, who was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Jesse and Lydia (CADWALLADER) VORE, and in 1823 moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio and settled in Clinton county in this latter state. In the fall of the
following year, 1824, he came over into Indiana with his family and located in Wayne county, where he became engaged in farming and saw milling and where he remained until 1836 when he came up into Jay county, which was set off from Randolph county in that year, and located at the point where the town of Pennville later came to be established, his house having been the first erected at that point. When the post-office of New Lisbon was established there in 1839 he was appointed postmaster. He also was proprietor of the tavern which was the popular stopping place for travelers through that part of the country in those days. The 200 acre tract which he had entered from the Government presently was brought under cultivation and on that farm he and his wife spent their last days, her death occurring on February 12, 1870, and his on January 13, 1876. Both were members of the Society of Friends and were influential among those who established the first meeting
in Penn township. Josiah V. JONES, one of the ten children of this pioneer pair and father of the subject of this sketch, was eight years of age when he came here with his parents from Wayne county, where he was born on April 15, 1828, and he grew to manhood here. He completed his schooling in the old Quaker school at Richmond, the forerunner of Earlham College, and for more than ten years thereafter was engaged in teaching school during the winters, meantime continuing his work on the home farm during the summers. He then married and settled on a farm of his own in Penn township, where he continued to reside for nine years, or until 1866, when he returned to Wayne county and there became engaged in the woolen mill business. Nine years later he disposed of that interest and came back to Jay county and resumed farming on a farm of 100 acres, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was long an active Republican and for four years, 1876-80, served as
trustee of Penn township, but in 1888 espoused the cause of the Prohibition party and became active in that behalf. He earlier had been an ardent Abolitionist and was one of the active agents of the old "underground railroad" through whose agency runaway slaves were helped on their way north through this region. On March 19, 1857, Josiah V. JONES was united in marriage to Elmira BEEDY, who was horn in Portage county, Ohio, a daughter of Abraham and Hannah (WARD) BEEDY, who later became residents of Columbiana county, Ohio. Elmira BEEDY was given a good education in her girlhood and had been teaching school for some years prior to her marriage to Josiah V. JONES. She survived him some years. Of the eight children born to Josiah V. and Elmira ( BEEDY ) JONES four are now living, the subject of this sketch having two sisters, Ida E. and Olive L., and a brother, John D. JONES. Josiah Wilbur JONES was born on November 19, 1868, during the time of his parents
residence in Wayne county and he was about seven years of age when they returned to Jay c! ounty and settled in Penn township. He grew to manhood on the home farm, receiving his schooling in the JONES school, and remained with his father, helpful in the labors of developing the home place, until the death of his father, after which he managed the place in his mother's's behalf. After his mother's death he bought the interests of the other heirs in the place and has continued to make his home there. Mr. JONES has a well improved farm of 100 acres and is regarded as one of the substantial citizens of the community. Josiah Wilbur JONES has been twice married. His first wife was Clara GRAY, daughter of Thomas I. and Jennie GRAY. To that union was born one child, a daughter, Gladys, who married Ward WILLIAMS and has three children, Juanita, Shirley and Ward Lee. Following the death of his first wife Mr. JONES married Mrs. Marietta ( EDMUNDSON ) WRIGHT, who
also is of Quaker parentage and a member of one of the real pioneer families of this county. Mr. and Mrs. JONES have their birthright in the church of the Hicksite Friends, but now are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Pennville and are Republicans. Mr. JONES is a member of the local grange of the Patrons of Husbandry and is also a member of the local lodges of the Knights of Pythias and of the Modern Woodmen of America at Pennville
Submitted by: Eloine Chesnut
Milton T. Jay, M.D., History of Jay County Indiana, Historical Publishing Co., Indpls. 1922, Vol. II
Other surnames mentioned: Lefavour, Bair, Birch, Bone, Dean, Engle, Halterman, Lefavour, Lefevre, North, Wentz
Joseph A. LeFAVOUR, trustee of Jackson township and a substantial farmer and landowner of that township, is a member of one of the old families of Jay county and of one of the real pioneer families of Indiana, the LeFAVOUR's (LeFEVRE) having been found in this state since Territorial days. The first of this family in America was Colonel LeFEVRE, who accompanied LaFayette's army from France to the aid of the American colonists in their struggle for freedom during the War of the Revolution and after rendering valiant service in behalf of the Continental army threw in his lot with that of the colonists and became a resident of this country, one of his sons in turn following the tide of emigration west and becoming a resident of Indiana in Territorial days, presently locating at Indianapolis [ Marion Co.] when the new capital was laid out and there his son, James Lawrence LeFEVRE, or LeFAVOUR, as the name has been known in Indiana, was born in 1822, the year
following the formal platting of the new capital in the wilderness. James Lawrence LeFAVOUR grew up at Indianapolis and became a saddler and harness maker, later moving with his parents over into Delaware county and presently coming from there over into Jay county and locating at Pennville, then Camden, where he married Isabelle ENGLE, a daughter of one of the pioneers of that village, the ENGLE's having come over here from Ohio in the early days of the settlement of this county, and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, with the exception of a few years spent at Bluffton, [Wells Co.] his death occurring in 1859. They were the parents of six children, of whom four grew to maturity, namely, Emmet, father of the subject of this sketch; Joseph, who became a lawyer and located at Albany, in Delaware county; Rudolph, who became a farmer in Adams county, and Mary E., who married John DEAN, of Wells county. Emmet LeFAVOUR was born at Pennville
on October 5. 1849 and was but ten years of age when his father died. He was reared in the family of his uncle in Jackson township, this county, and remained there until his marriage at the age of twenty-four, when he rented a farm just over the line in Adams county but presently moved back to Jay county where he rented a farm in Jackson township and established his home there. His affairs prospered and in due time he bought a farm of forty acres in Jackson township and created there an excellent farm plant. On that place he spent the remainder of his life, one of the useful and influential residents of that neighborhood. It was on February 25, 1874, that Emmet LeFAVOUR was united in marriage to Savilla BAIR, who also was born in this county, daughter of John and Mary (WENTZ) BAIR, who had come here from Pennsylvania in 1856, and to this union were born eight children, six of whom are living, those besides the subject of this sketch being Elizabeth, William,
Bessie, Russell and Ruby, the deceased children of this family having been Eva and Fred. Joseph A. LeFAVOUR, son of Emmet and Savilla ( BAIR ) LeFAVOUR, was born on a farm just over the line in Adams county, but practically all his life has been spent in Jay county, his parents having moved back here when he was but an infant. He received his early schooling in the schools of Tackson township and supplemented this by a course in the Tri-state College at Angola, after which he began teaching school, a vocation he followed for seventeen years, spending his summers working as a carpenter. In 1905, the year in which he was married, he purchased a sixty-acre farm in Jackson township, the place on which he is now living, and has since resided there, meantime increasing his holdings until he now is the owner of 135 acres and has one of the best farm plants in that part of the county. Mr. LeFAVOUR is a Republican and has for years been recognized as one of the
leaders of that party in this county. In 1918 he was elected trustee of Jackson township and is now serving in that important public capacity, the tenure of office being a four-year term. He and his wife are members of the White Oak Friends church and Mrs. LeFAVOUR is a charter member of that organization. On December 1, 1905, Joseph A. LeFAVOUR was united in marriage to Florida Myrtle NORTH, who was born in this county, daughter of Henry and Florida (BONE) NORTH, and to this union two sons have been born, Robert, born in 1907, and Albert, 1911. Mrs. LeFAVOUR also was a teacher in the schools of this county before her marriage. She also is a member of one of the old families of the county. Her father, Henry NORTH, was born in Jay county in 1854, the son and only child of Zachariah and Catherine ( HALTERMAN ) NORTH, who were among the pioneers of Jackson township. Zachariah NORTH was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1829, and was twelve years of age when
he came with his parents to Indiana. His son Henry grew to manhood in this county and in the fall of 1878 married Florida BONE, who also was born in this county, one of the six children born to Henry and Margaret ( BIRCH ) BONE, pioneers here, the former of whom was born in Greene county, Ohio, the son of John Henry BONE, who was a soldier of the Revolution. In an interesting review of his life written in 1915 Mrs. LeFAVOUR's father, Henry NORTH, pointed out for the information of his kinsfolk that he was born in the hamlet of West Liberty, this county, January 21, 1854. West Liberty later came to be known as Mills Corner, the proprietor of the store there securing that name for the place when the post-office was established and he was appointed postmaster, there then having been another West Liberty post-office in the state, in Howard county. In the spring of 1857, Henry NORTH then being three years of age, the NORTH family moved to a tract of forty acres
of land on the NORTH side of Jay county, which Mr. NORTH's review describes as "a clay knoll that was too poor to raise an umbrella on, the knoll being completely covered with heavy timber such as whiteoak, blackoak, red oak, burl-oak, hickory and so on, this clay knoll of about twenty acres being entirely surrounded by water covered with willows, water frogs, mosquitoes and snakes, snakes any length from six inches to eight feet." Concerning the establishment of the family home there, Mr. NORTH's review went on to say that "of course the first thing to do was to put up a dwelling house; so father took his chopping ax and broadax and started out in the woods to saw the lumber, which was done, of course, by cutting down timber, trimming it up and cutting off logs 18 and 24 feet long, which he managed to drag to the highest point on the knoll by means of a plug team he had, then calling the neighbors to help erect it, they being few and far between. After being
erected the house, of course, had to have a floor; so father went to the same sawmill, this time taking a maul and wedge, and cut down trees, cutting off ten-foot logs and splitting them about 4 to 5 inches thick and hewing the ends of them so they would lay still on sleepers about ten inches thick. Of course, the next thing was a roof over it. Going back to the same lumber yard, father, taking a froe and ax this time, cut logs four feet long in small enough pieces so that he could split them in shingles about ten inches wide and four feet long. The next winter he had the house far enough along to live in, it being up and the roof on, but no chimney; so he split some slats about like lath and laid them up, daubing them inside and outside with mud that constituting the chimney for the first winter.
Submitted by: Eloine Chesnut
Milton T. Jay, M.D., History of Jay County Indiana, Historical Publishing Co., Indpls. 1922, Vol. II
Other surnames mentioned: Dunn, Gaunt, Jones, Sutton, Wilson
John T. SUTTON, a well known member of the bar of the Jay Circuit Court, former prosecuting attorney for this judicial circuit, former mayor of the city of Dunkirk and for many years a resident of that city, was born in Dunkirk and has lived there practically all his life, with the exception of five or six years during the '80s when he was connected with the Government pension office at Washington. Mr. SUTTON is a member of one of the real pioneer families of Jay county, the family having been represented in this county since the year 1837, the year following the organization of the county as a separate civic unit in the then rapidly growing group of Indiana counties. The first of the name in this county were Isaiah and Catherine SUTTON, who came over here with their family from Ohio in 1837 and established their home in Richland township, where they became influential factors in the development of that section of the county. Isaiah SUTTON was the owner of a small
farm in Greene county, Ohio, in which county both he and his wife were born, members of pioneer families there, and when the lands in this section of Indiana began to attract the attention of prospective settlers he came over here on a prospecting tour, walking down from Fort Wayne, and entered a tract of 240 acres in Richland township, this county. That was in 1836, the year in which Jay county was organized. He returned to his home in Ohio, disposed of his land and interests there and in the following year drove through with his family and household belongings and settled on his new farm in Richland township. There was an arduous task of clearing to be done there, but he eventually got it done and in time developed a valuable farm. He also opened a store on his place and thus became one of the pioneer merchants of the county, trading extensively throughout this section, and when the railroad came platted there the Dunkirk townsite, as is narrated elsewhere in
this work. In addition to his other duties, Isaiah SUTTON was a licensed "local" preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church and became widely known hereabout as a minister of the gospel, his influence in the creation of a wholesome moral atmosphere in the neighborhood in which he settled being recognized to this day. Isaiah SUTTON and wife were the parents of fourteen children, of whom the late William G. SUTTON, former county auditor and father of John T. SUTTON, was the first born. William G. SUTTON was born in Greene county, Ohio, and was but nine years of age when the family came here in 1837. He grew to manhood in Jay county, helpful in the labors of developing the home farm in Richland township, and was well schooled in his youth. He early entered the ranks of the school teachers of Jay county and for seven or eight years during the years of his young manhood spent his winters as a teacher in the district schools of his home county. He
married Judith GAUNT, who also was born in Ohio, a native of Warren county, that state, and established his home on a farm adjacent to the original SUTTON home farm in Richland township, where he developed an excellent piece of property, becoming the owner of about 400 acres of land. William G. SUTTON was a man of force and influence in his home community and was widely recognized as an adviser in the affairs of his pioneer neighbors, acting as the local notary public and for some years as clerk of the township. In political affairs he took a prominent part, allied himself with the Republican party upon its organization, and in 1859 was elected auditor of Jay county, thus serving in that important public capacity when the Civil war broke out. He was re-elected auditor in 1863 and thus served for eight years, during that period making his home at Portland. A year after the completion of this term of public service Mr. SUTTON moved to Dunkirk, where he spent
the remainder of his life, engaged in developing his farms, overseeing t! he clearing and draining of the same, and also for years acted as local claim agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, continuing thus engaged until his retirement about five years prior to his death, which occurred in June, 1918. His wife had preceded him to the grave nearly twenty-five years, her death having occurred in April, 1894. They had four children who grew to maturity, those besides the subject of this sketch having been Richard J. SUTTON, who died on May 15, 1920; Rebecca C., wife of J. M. DUNN, and Elmer E. SUTTON. John T. SUTTON was born on February 28, 1853, and was thus but a lad when his father was elected county auditor and the family moved to Portland, where his elementary schooling- was received. Upon the family's return to Dunkirk he completed the course in the local school there and supplemented this by a course of one term in the normal school at Lebanon,
Ohio. Upon his return from the normal school Mr. SUTTON married and was for some years thereafter engaged as a clerk in a store at Dunkirk. In 1882 he received an appointment to service in the pension department at Washington, D. C., and moved to the national capital, where he remained for five years and a half, or until the latter part of 1887, when he returned to Dunkirk, where he re-established his home and has ever since resided. During the time of his service in Washington, Mr. SUTTON continued his studies in law, to which he had been devoting his attention for some time previous to his departure, and upon his return to his old home here was admitted to the bar of the Jay Circuit Court and has ever since been engaged in the practice of law in this county, with offices at Dunkirk, now one of the veterans of the bar. Mr. SUTTON, as was his father, is an ardent Republican and has ever taken an active interest in local political affairs. He served as prosecuting
attorney for this judicial district during the years 1916 to 1920, and has rendered other public service, for a number of years having served as town clerk of Dunkirk and when that city began to operate under a city charter was elected first mayor of the city. He is a Freemason, affiliated with the local blue lodge and the council, Royal and Select Masters; is a past noble grand of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a member of. the Portland lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. It was in 1873 that John T. SUTTON was united in marriage to Nancy J. WILSON, daughter of Lewis B. WILSON, a merchant of Dunkirk and former postmaster there, and to this union one child was born, a son, Ernest SUTTON, now a United States post- office inspector, stationed at Meridian, Miss., who married Dawn V. JONES and has one child, a daughter, Sarah Jane. Mr. and Mrs. SUTTON are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Dunkirk and Mr.
SUTTON has served the church as a member of the board of trustees and as a member of the board of stewards.
Submitted by: Eloine Chesnut
Milton T. Jay, M.D., History of Jay County Indiana, Historical Publishing Co., Indpls. 1922, Vol. II
Other surnames mentioned: Beard, Brown, Gardner, Glendenning, Goff, Gray, Haffner, Huffer, Jones, Miles, Nine, Williams
John W. WILLIAMS, a veteran of the Civil war and the acknowledged pioneer in this county in the breeding of Poland China hogs, for many years one of the outstanding figures in live stock circles in this section of Indiana, now living practically retired on his well kept stock farm, Homestead Stock Farm in Jackson township, is a native son of Jay county, a member of one of the real pioneer families of the county, and has lived here all his life, Mr. WILLIAMS was born on a farm in Wayne township, this county, November 10, 1845, and is a son of Samuel K. and Emelia (GRAY) WILLIAMS, the latter of whom was born in the vicinity of Greenville, in Darke county, Ohio, and was a daughter of Jesse GRAY, Indian fighter, mighty hunter and skillful trapper. Jesse GRAY was one of the most picturesque figures of the Mississinnewa country in the days when orderly settlement was being effected throughout this region. He died at his home in Noble township, this county, in 1872,
he then being eighty years of age, and was buried in the old cemetery at Camden, now Pennville, and concerning whom further and interesting details are set out elsewhere in this work, the older chronicles of the county having had much to say of his activities hereabout in pioneer days. Samuel K. WILLIAMS was born in Miami county, Ohio, and there grew to manhood. As a young man he became attracted to the possibilities awaiting settlers in this section of Indiana and he came to Jay county and entered from the Government a quarter section of land in Wayne township, this county, where he established his home and remained until 1851 when he moved to Jackson township, establishing his home on a quarter of a section he had bought there, the place now owned and occupied by his son John, and there he spent the remainder of his life. He was a good farmer and judge. of land values and became the owner of 480 acres of land in this county, and for years also was widely
known as a stock buyer. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, those besides the subject of this sketch having been Dorothy Elizabeth, Mary, James H., Charles S., Robena and Jesse. Reared amid pioneer conditions, John W. WILLIAMS was six years of age when his parents moved from Wayne township to Jackson township and he received his schooling in a log school house known as the Poling school in this latter township. He was fifteen years of age when the Civil war broke out and when seventeen years and six months of age he enlisted his services in behalf of the Union cause and went to the front as a member of Company B of the 138th regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for four months. Upon the completion of his military service he returned to the home farm anil there remained until his marriage when his father gave him a tract of sixty acres of uncleared land and he began farming "on his own," clearing the land and making a farm
out of it. After his father's death he bought from the other heirs their interest in the home quarter section in Jackson township and has since resided there, meanwhile increasing his holdings until he became the. owner of 380 acres, two hundred acres of which he has recently divided among his five children, giving to each one a "forty." In 1865 Mr. WILLIAMS began breeding Poland China hogs, buying his first breeding stock from Bob Riggs, of Oxford, Ohio, and he ever since has been one of the leaders in the development and promotion of this strain of swine, one of the organizers of the local association of breeders of registered Poland China's in this county and for many years one of the foremost exhibitors of that strain in the swine shows of the country. Mr. WILLIAMS has shipped the products of his breeding pens to every state in the Union and has also shipped to Europe. He is now the oldest Poland China breeder living and his name is known wherever stock
breeders meet. For more than fifty years Mr. WILLIAMS has been an exhibitor at the Jay county fair and for more than a quarter of a century at the Indiana state fair. The best boar he ever owned was the famous "Giant Buster," which died in 1920 and for which he had declined an offer of $20,000. Exhibits from his pens have been made at most of the great stock shows of the country and he has taken prizes in all of them. He also for forty years has given his attention to the raising of pure bred Shropshire sheep and for the past fifteen years has been breeding pure bred Shorthorn cattle and has done much toward promoting these strains hereabout. Mr. WILLIAMS is a Republican and is a member of the Friends church at Poling. He is a Freemason, affiliated with the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons at Portland, and is also a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Portland. John W. WILLIAMS has been twice married, his first wife having
been Rhoda GARDNER, daughter of William and Mahalia GARDNER. To that union three children were born, two sons and a daughter, Samuel Morton, who died at the age of fifteen years, Worthy C. and Emma J., the latter of whom married Harry MILES and has five children, Marjorie, Esther, Mary, John and Robert Worthy C. WILLIAMS married Delpha GOFF and has ten children, Wayne, Ward, Wave, John, Charles Warner, Robert, Ruby, Opal, Dorothy and Delpha. Of these children, Wayne WILLIAMS married Mabel HUFFER and has four children. Ward WILLIAMS married Gladys JONES and has two children. Wave WILLIAMS married Georgiana BEARD and has one child, and Ruby WILLIAMS married Ralph NINE and has four children, Mr. WILLIAMS thus having eleven great-grandchildren, in whom he takes much delight. Following the death of his first wife Mr. WILLIAMS married Margaret HAFFNER, daughter of John HAFFNER and who died on August 16, 1920, and to that union six children were born, three of whom,
William, James H. and John Carl, are living. William WILLIAMS married Alta JONES and has six children, Gladys, Cecil, Wealthy, Truman, Helena and Mary. James H. WILLIAMS married Irma GLENDENNING and has one child, a daughter, Ruth, and John Carl WILLIAMS married Eva BROWN and has two children, Frances and Maxine.
Submitted by: Eloine Chesnut
Milton T. Jay, M.D., History of Jay County Indiana, Historical Publishing Co., Indpls. 1922, Vol. II