NELSON SLATER is one of ten children in the family of James and Amy (Evans) Slater. The parents were natives of Berkeley County, Va. James Slater was a soldier in the war of 1812 and was one of the pioneers of Ashland County, Ohio, where he entered land and cleared a farm, and where Nelson was born August 28, 1818. Nelson commenced teaching school in his native county in 1837, and followed that profession exclusively until he moved to Defiance County, Ohio, in 1854, where he lived on a farm; but his principal employment was in the schoolroom.
Ci=oming to this township in 1866, he renounced teaching after one term, and has devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits. He has a fine vineyard and raises small fruit of all kinds. Mr. Slater held the office of Township Trustee one term and belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church, of which his wife also is a member. Their marriage was celebrated in Ashland County, Ohio, April 27, 1843. She was Susan Spangler, a native of Adams County, Penn., where both her parents, Abram and Elizabeth (Fissel) Spangler, were born. They had ten children.
Susan's birth occurred December 25, 1818, and by her marriage with Mr. Slater has had four children, viz.: Elizabeth, now Mrs. Preston; Mahala, now Mrs. Hoagland; James A. and Randolph N. James A. served in the late war, in the One Hundred and Fifty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
Source: "1882 History LaGrange County, Indiana" by F.A.Battey & Co., - Clay Township
DAVID SMITH was a native of Sandusky County, Ohio, and came to Lima Township, this county, about 1842, when about twenty years of age, subsequently removing to Bloomfield Township, in about 1845. He assisted in clearing land on the present site of La Grange, and also helped build the first hotel and court house in that city, working for $10 per month, and received goods as part payment. In 1848, he married Miss Elizabeth Ryarson, and after her death, which occurred about a year after their union, he went to California, in company with William Wigton
and Alex Holmes, returning to this county in 1853. In June, 1856, he married Miss Eliza J. Bowen. He purchased a farm situated on the line dividing Bloomfield and Clay Townships, and lived until 1865 in the former township, when he bought Section 14, in Clay Township, and moved there, made numerous improvements and bought serveral other pieces of property, owning at the time of his death 767 acres of land. He died very suddenly at Fort Wayne, in June, 1878, and his funeral was one of the largest ever known in the county. He was one of the first
citizens and wealthy farmers of the county, and was held in high esteem. He was the father of four children - Fannie M. Robinson, aged twenty-four years; Hattie L. Robinson, aged twenty-three years; Frank R., aged twenty years; and Mary E., twelve years. In February, 1882, his widow, Eliza J., married John F. Clugston, of La Grange.
Source: "1882 History LaGrange County, Indiana" by F.A.Battey & Co., - Clay Township
DANIEL N. STOUGH, a native of Westmoreland COunty, Penn., was born July 25, 1837, the son of Daniel adn Catherine (Hoenshell) Stough, both natives of Pennsylvania. They had a family of nine, eight now living. In 1852, Daniel Stough moved to Tuscarawas County, Ohio, where he died in 1874, at the age of seventy-four. His wife died in the same county in 1872, aged seventy-two years. Daniel N. Stough went with his parents to Tuscarawas County, Ohio, where, September 30 ,1860, he was married to Susanna Showalter, a native of that county, born January 23,
1843. She was one of eight children in the family of Peter F. and Mary (Neff) Showalter, natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio. While in the latter State, Mr. Stough followed farming and teaching. In August, 1864, he came to this township, having bought land the preceding spring. His farm is one of the best improved in the township. For some time past, Mr. Stough has taken a great interest in stock raising, and deals in that brach quite extensively. He has the distinction of being the statistical correspondent for the agricultural department at
Washington D.C. Mr. and Mrs. Stough are prominent members of the Lutheran Church and have a family of eight children, viz.; James A., John F., Alvin N., Mary S., Peter W., Dora B., Daniel F. and Elsie M.
Source: "1882 History LaGrange County, Indiana" by F.A.Battey & Co., - Clay Township
MATTHEW STRICKLAND came to Clearspring Township, this county, with his parents, Mahlon and Martha (Williams) Strickland, in February, 1846. Here his father purchased 240 acres of land, and also 160 acres in Clay Township, and moved into a log cabin having an elbow-joint fire-place. Mahlon and Martha Strickland were both born in the year 1801, he is Sussex County, N.J., in December, and she in Stark County, Ohio, in September. They had eleven children. April 3, 1825, Matthew Strickland was born in Ashland County, Ohio. November 4, 1852, he married
Mary Kitchen, who was born June 4, 1831, in Brant Co., Ontario, Canada. In 1836, she went with her parents, Richard and Jane (Johnson) Kitchen, natives of Sussex County, N.J., to Richland County, Ohio, and the following year to Clearspring Township, this county. They were parents of fourteen children, eight now living. Since August, 1853, Mr. Strickland has lived on his farm in this township; they lived thirteen years in a log cabin, and planted peach seeds in their door-yard, that three years later commence bearing. An orchard they planted in 1857 is
still bearing excellent fruit, and the farm is now improved well and has substantial buildings. Mr. Strickland and wife have no children; both are communicants of the Methodist Church. Richard Kitchen was born May 1, 1798, died June 11, 1855. Jane Kitchen was born January 22, 1803, died December 14, 1876. They lived in Canada twelve years, and while there united with the Regular Baptist Church.
Source: "1882 History LaGrange County, Indiana" by F.A.Battey & Co., - Clay Township
CHARLES E. WEAVER, son of John M. and Mary A. (Charles) Weaver, was born December 25, 1849, in Ashland County, Ohio, where his mother also was born. John M. Weaver was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1827. Of the three children born to them, the subject only is living. John W. Weaver died in Saginaw County, Mich., June 13, 1871, in this twenty-second year. Harriet F. Weaver died in this township, March 13, 1871, in her 20th year. John M. Weaver came with his family to Clay Township in 1863, and bought the farm where Charles E. now lives. He died in
La Grange, September 2, 1881; he was a prominent member of the I.O.O.F., having belonged to that order for more than thirty years; he was also a member of the Episcopal Church. Mary A. Weaver is still living in Ashland County, Ohio, and is a member of the Dunkard Church. Charles E. Weaver went to Loomis, Isabella Co., Mich., in 1865, where he was engineer in a large saw, shingle and extract factory, until 1877, when he returne to this township and moved on his farm. He was married January 14, 1871, to Miss Sarah E. Fancey, a native of Utica County, N.Y.,
born October 1, 1853. Her father, Joseph Fancey, was born in 1821, in Devonshire, England; her mother, Ann Leckenby was born in Yorkshire, England, August 17, 1833. They had three children. Mr. and Mrs. Weaver have had two children - Anna M., who died February 25, 1876, aged two years and nine months, and Stanley E.H., aged three and a half years. They have adopted a cousin of Mrs. Weaver's, Freeman (Wilcox) Weaver, whose mother died when he was but one day old. Mr. and Mrs. Weaver belong to the Lutheran Church.
Source: "1882 History LaGrange County, Indiana" by F.A.Battey & Co., - Clay Township
W.L. DRYER was born in Greene County, N.Y., December 1, 1831, and is the son of Darius and Clarissa (Rogers) Dryer, of English descent, Darius Dryer, who was born in Massachusetts, came from New York to this township, with his family, in November, 1837; he died here in February, 1861. Mrs. Dryer, a native of New York, now eighty years of age, is living with her youngest daughter. The subject commenced laerning wagon-making at the age of nineteen, but soon turned his attention to carpentering; this he followed a number of years, and in 1857 purchased the farm
where he now resides. This land was all timber, except 16 acres, and Mr. Dryer has worked hard at clearing it; he now has 120 acres, valued at $60 per acre. Mr. Dryer was married in 1858, December 23, to Lodema Taylor, who was born in this township April 20, 1841. They have had five children - one infant, Laura, Morton W. and Lura, all deceased , and Mary A., living. Mrs. Dryer's parents were Theston and Nancy (Blair) Taylor, of English descent, and natives of New York and Vermont, respectively. Mr. Taylor entered land in this township in 1836; and two years
later the family came. Mr. Dryer is a stanch Republican; has served as Pathmaster and School Director a number of terms each. Zenas B. Dryer, the subject's youngest brother, enlisted in 1861 in the Twenty-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and now sleeps in a soldier's grave at New Orleans.
Source: "1882 History LaGrange County, Indiana" by F.A.Battey & Co., - Milford Township
SARAH FOWLER was born in 1842. She received her education at the public school and then Wolcotteville Seminary. In 1859 she wed James Stockwell and to this union were born two children: Adelbert Elphraimn, in 1859, and Sarah Lillian, in 1862. Sarah then went to the University of Michigan and received her degree in Medicine in 1876. She and her family settled in South Bend, Ind., where she practiced until her death in 1904. In the 1880's he husband divorced her and ended up in Nebraska where he was their first physician. He practiced there for about 30 years,
remarried and produced two duaghters and a son who was killed in WWI. Producing a female physician in 1876 should have been quite an honor for LaGrange at that time.
Contributed by Janet Alvaredo, M.D.
SAMUEL FISH was born May 2, 1808 in Madison County, New York State, the second child of Ebenezer & Hannah Goodrich Fish. The family removed to Shelby Township, Macomb county Michigan in 1827. When they were old enough, he and his brother, William, headed south and homesteaded near LaGrange, Indiana. There Samuel married Elizabeth Leeper who was born August 22, 1814. Their children were: Harriet E b 11 Feb 1832, Samuel W. b 6 Nov 1833, Emily b 5 April 1835, Levi b 16 Nov 1836, Benjamin b 16 August 1838, Jeremiah b 2 January 1840, Oliver b 24 June 1842,
James E b 18 Nov 1844, Isaac b 13 Feb 1847 & Lovell b 30 July 1848.
Elizabeth Fish died in 1851. Samuel Fish married Julie Holly (1819) and they became the parents of two children, Lyman (1854) and Norah (1857). Samuel Fish died May 24, 1881.
In September of 1872, Lovel and two friends, George W. Filkins
and J.W. Freeman, started west on a trapping and hunting expedition into the great Northwest Territory. The left Oceana County on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and traveled across the lake by steamboat to Milwaukee. There they purchased several guns and some ammunition to use for hunting wild game. They made their way across Wisconsin by train, crossed the Mississippi River by ferry boat, and again boarded a train and headed for St. Paul, then on to Brainard, Minnesota. They stayed in this area and hunted for the winter.
On April 21, 1873, Lovel and
George Filkins headed for Nebraska. On the way they passed through Sioux City, Iowa and went on the Meckling, Dakota Territory. There they worked building a hotel until August, 1873. They remained in the area filing a claim on some land and working for a neighbor building his farm. On October 8, 1874, Lovel married Mary Ann Baker, daughter of the man he had been working for. The couple twelve children: Rosa Eveline (1877- 1967), wife of John W. Gilchrist; Lillie Jane (1880-1944) married to Worth Maggrett; Wm. Wallace (1882-1956) married to Edith Robeson; Ethel
Lenora (1884-1955), wife of Ray Clayton Parrish; Albert Levi (1886-1951) married Iva Martin; Nellie Thankful (1888-1978) wife of Edward McRae; Minnie Myrtle (1891-1972), wife of Charles Hitzing; James Lovell (1893- 1911); Mary Olive, married to Charles Johnson; Charles Carmi (1900-1961) was united with Florence Paulson; George Washington married Theresa Cleveland and later Millie Schlund Breland; and Samuel Leaper (1903-1943), married to Anna Mason.
Lovel Fish died on March 20, 1907 and Mary Ann Fish (born October 15, 1860) died on October 7, 1937. She was the
daughter of Squire Andrew and Martha (Simpson) Baker of Illinois.
Contributed by: Bob Fish
EBENEZER FISH was a native of Connecticut, born about 1782-3. By 1805 he married Hannah Goodrich, who was born in Massachusetts about 1779-80. Ebenezer and Hannah lived in New York by the time their eldest child, Sylvia, was born in 1806. Their son William reported that he was born in Madison County in 1810, and the Federal Census for that year confirms that an E. Fish was a resident of the Town of Lebanon in Madison County, New York.
To date, attempts to connect Ebenezer to other Fish families in Madison County or elsewhere have been unsuccessful. However,
there is a cemetery record in the Town of Lebanon for a Samuel Fish. The marker is undated, but the native stone and lettering suggest it was placed prior to the War of 1812. Ebenezer's eldest son was named Samuel. If traditional naming patterns were followed, this elder Samuel Fish may have been Ebenezer's father.
By the summer of 1814, Ebenezer was living in the Town of Brutus, Cayuga County, New York. In August of that year, he was drafted into service as a private in Captain Benjamin Horton's Company of Infantry, and was engaged in the Battle of Fort Erie,
Canada. Ebenezer and his family remained in Cayuga County until about 1827, when they settled for a short time in Shelby Township, Macomb County, Michigan.
By 1830, Ebenezer's sons Samuel and William settled in LaGrange County, Indiana, and were soon joined by their parents and other siblings. Ebenezer and Hannah purchased eighty acres on Pretty Prairie in Greenfield Township and lived there until about 1845. Their final years were spent in the home of their daughter, Mrs. Henry B. (Pedee) Forker, in Bloomfield Township. Hannah died in January of 1861
and Ebenezer in December of 1863. Their gravesites are unknown, and they may have been buried on a family graveyard on the farm.
According to the biography of their son William Fish (1882 History of LaGrange County, Indiana), Ebenezer and Hannah had eight children. Census records indicate seven children, three sons and four daughters. Of those, it appears the youngest child, a daughter, was born between 1820 and 1825. Whether she died or married prior to the move to LaGrange County is unknown. Of the remaining six children, all lived in LaGrange at least for a while. They were:
Sylvia Maria Fish, born 1806 in New York, died in August of 1859 in Dowagiac, Cass County, Michigan. She married first, Daniel W. Van Antwerp, probably about 1826 in Cayuga County, New York. Daniel was born in 1800 in New York and died on September 13, 1838 in LaGrange County, Indiana. Sylvia and Daniel had four children: Francis, born 1827 in Michigan; Sylvia, born 1829 in Michigan; George W., born 1831 in Michigan; and William W., born 1833 in LaGrange County, Indiana. Sylvia married second, Thomas Vanderhoof, on November 16, 1841 in LaGrange County. He was born 1790 in
New Jersey and died in 1851 in Cass County, Michigan. Sylvia moved with her husband to Cass County, Michigan where two daughters were born: Hannah, born 1845, and Emma, born 1849.
Samuel Fish, born on May 2, 1808 in New York, died May 24, 1881 in Bloomfield Township, LaGrange County, Indiana. He was buried in Brighton Chapel Cemetery. He married first, Elizabeth Leeper, on November 11, 1830, in Elkhart County, Indiana. He married second, Julia A. Holley, in 1853. (Refer to the biography provided by Samuel's descendant, Bob Fish, posted on this Web page.)
William Fish, born January 13, 1810 in the town of Lebanon, Madison County, New York, died on March 19, 1889 in Bloomfield Township, LaGrange County, Indiana. He was buried in Plato Cemetery. He married first, Mary J. Leeper, on November 28, 1833 in Elkhart County, Indiana. He married second, Mrs. Margaret (Hanes) Wade, in 1846. His obituary appeared in the LaGrange Standard on March 28, 1889. ". Mr. Fish was one of the oldest pioneer settlers of this county, visiting it in 1828, and locating a claim for 80 acres of land in Greenfield township for which he afterward receive a patent deed. He took
an active part with the Regulators in 1857-8, in suppressing blacklegs and counterfeiters." (Refer to the biography from the 1882 History of LaGrange County, Indiana, posted on this Web page.)
Lucinda Fish, born about 1814-5, probably in Cayuga County, New York. She married Reuben Hayes on October 25, 1838 in LaGrange County, Indiana. He was born about 1812 in Ohio. The family lived in Clay Township, LaGrange County. Six children appear on the census records of 1850 and 1860: Lucilia (Lucinda?), born about 1839; William H., born about 1841; Betsy (Becky?), born about 1844; Ira
H., born about 1847; Eunice A., born about 1849; and James, born 1859.
Elijah S. Fish, born about 1817, probably in Cayuga County, New York. He married Sarah A. Debow on December 20, 1845 in LaGrange County, Indiana. Sarah was born about 1828 in Pennsylvania. In 1850, Elijah and Sarah Fish were living near other family members in Bloomfield Township, LaGrange County, Indiana.
Phebe (Pedee) Fish, born about 1819, probably in Cayuga County, New York, and died after 1860 in Bloomfield Township, LaGrange County, Indiana. She married Henry B. Forker about 1840, perhaps in
Michigan. Henry was born about 1822 in New York and died on May 26, 1890 in Bloomfield Township. The family lived in Bloomfield Township. Six children appear on the census records of 1850 and 1860: Cyrus, born about 1841; Adelia (Adeline), born about 1849; Emily, born about 1852; Elizabeth, born about 1854; Josephine, born about 1856; and Mariah, born about 1858.
Submitted by: Elaine Barr Morris
John Wesley Stevenson lived in Scott (Van Buren twp, Lagrange county during period of 1870-1900. Owned a farm by Fish Lake. He married Margretti Maggie May. He is shown in Scott, Ind. 1894 index, children Cora Belle born 1879 Scott, Ind., Reburta Milissa 1885 Scott, Ind., Ethal Olive born 1888 Scott, Ind., Maggie born 1891 Scott, Ind., Verna Viola 1895 Scott, Ind. Verna Viola Stevenson married William Henry Shape in White Pegion 1913.
Submitted by: Sam Hoard