Horace P. Biddle was born in the state of Ohio in what was then Fairfield County, but which is now Hocking County, on the 12th day of March, 1811. In his boyhood he received an elementary English education. He afterward, however, acquired sufficient knowledge to the eye of the Latin. German, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese languages to translate correctly; and as a student of Sir William Jones he acquired some knowledge of several of the eastern languages. When questioned on the subject of languages he is apt to reply that "his eyes know something of several languages of which his ears, tongue and lips know nothing." Mr. Biddle from early boyhood was not only a lover, but a faithful student, of his books as well as in the great school of the world. In his early manhood he felt a desire to study law and make it his profession; and accordingly took up a line of preparatory studies - natural philosophy, history, DeLolme, Hallam's Constitutional England, etc. At the age of 25 he applied to the Hon. Thomas Ewing, then a United States Senator from Ohio, for advice with regard to the study and practice of law. He was kindly received by that distinguished man, and, after a careful examination, much encouraged. Mr. Ewing recommended him to H. H. Hunter, an eminent lawyer of Lancaster, Ohio, in whose office he was cordially received; and, after studying over two years, was admitted at Cincinnati to the Common Pleas and Supreme Courts of Ohio; and at Columbus to the Circuit and Supreme Courts of the United States. After his admission Mr. Biddle "traveled the circuit" a year in Ohio, and in 1839 settled and opened an office in Logansport, Indiana. He soon had a lucrative practice, rose to the first rank in the profession, and received the highest judicial honors of the state. He was also a member of the constitutional convention which formed the present constitution of the state. Though Mr. Biddle never neglected his professional studies for any other pursuit, he yet carried on a line of studies in philosophy, science and literature through life. He is of the opinion that these accompanying studies did not interfere with nor lessen his ability as a lawyer, but rather strengthened him in his profession.
Mr. Biddle is the author of several books. In science, "The Musical Scale:" in philosophy; '"Elements of Knowledge;" in poetry, “A Few Poems," "Biddle's Poems," '"American Boyhood," "Glances at the World," “Last Poems," and a volume entitled "Prose Miscellany." He also has written several other books and pamphlets which have been privately printed but not published; and it is supposed that he had something still in manuscript. In January, 1881, a few weeks before he arrived at the age of 70, Mr. Biddle retired from all active participation in the current affairs of life. During the first year of his retirement he published all the above books except "The Musical Scale" and the first book of poems, though they essentially existed in manuscript before that time - some of them, indeed, for several years. He still resides in his “Island Home," on an island in the Wabash river, amidst his library, which he playfully calls his "eight thousand friends," but Mr. Biddle is not without "troops of friends" beside these.”
History of Miami County by John H. Stephens
Published by John H. Stephens Publishing House, Peru, IN
1896
Early Bench and Bar
At the junction of the Mississinewa with the Wabash, on Oct. 23, 1826, a treaty was made between the Miami Indians and the United States. The old civil chief of the tribe, John B. Richardville, was granted several sections of land, along the Wabash, one of which was located where the original plat of Peru now is. Richardville and his wife, Peme-se-quah, signed a deed Aug. l8, 1827, conveying this section to Joseph Holman. The consideration was $500. One square rod would bring that much or more in some favorable locations now. And it is traditional that Holman did not pay an cash, but that a thrifty trade was worked in the bargain. He sold 210 acres of the east end of this section, Jan, 7, 1829, to William N. Hood, for the same sum that he had paid for the whole sector. In February, 1827. four months after the treaty of 1826, John McGregor, built a little cabin on the west part of Richardvil1e's section, and he has the credit of being the first permanent white sett1er in this county. Prior to this, traders and trappers had found temporary homes with the Indians, or erected their own tent or hut for a season, but McGregor was the first who came to found a home, and "grow up with the country."
Joseph Holman was ambitious to found a town that would be the county seat of a new county, that would soon be formed out of Cass County, which then embraced a territory nom including the counties of Cass, Miami, Wabash, Fulton, Marshall, Kosciusko, Elkhart and St. Joseph, and parts of La Porte, Starke and Pulaski. Mr. Holman employed David Burr as surveyor and platted a town on the southwestern part of his possessions on March 12, 1829, and it was recorded at Logansport July 15, 1830. The new town was called Miamaport. There were four streets running east and west, namely: Water, Jackson, Market and Canal; six running north and south, namely: Clay, Cherry, Produce, Main, Walnut and Richardville. In the plat there were provisions made for a market place and a public square, and the lots were laid out 70 x 152 1/2 and 70x160 feet. The business lots about the public square were 53 ˝ x80 feet. The site of the town is now included by the following boundaries in Peru: Main street on the Nouth, Holman on the west, the river on the south and Lafayette street on the east. The eastern boundary of the site is five squares west of Broadway. Nearly all the houses of the town were of round, scutched or hewed logs and were located near the river. The subsequent location of the canal took most of the dwelling houses that were first erected.
Thus John McGregor soon found himself surrounded by neighbors, but the date and order of their settlement can not now be determined. John A. Graham says: "About the time the town was laid off we find the names of Louis Drouillard, Benj. H, Scott, Andrew Marquiss, Isaac Marquiss, Abner Overman, Zephaniah Wade, Z. W. Pendleton. Walter D. Nesbit, and Joseph Holman and Wm. N. Hood, the proprietors. Of course there were other persons who lived at this and other points in the county before its organization, who are equally entitled to share whatever fame attaches to being a first or early settler, but accident has not been so propitious in preserving their names.
Joseph Holman built a cabin on the banks of the river, below Miamisport, and lived there until some years later, when he built the stone house standing near the corner of Main and Holman streets, and afterward, a comfortable frame dwelling on the site, on his farm proper. Andrew Marquiss first started the tan yard at Miamisport. G. W, Holman - who owned the original Tillett eighty, and lived on it - becoming his successor.
G. W. Holman, mindful of the soles of the early settlers, tanned their hides and furnished their leather at this point, while John McGregor, equally thoughtful about their bodies, opened a tavern. He also looked after their letters as postmaster, and regulated their morals by holding the scales of the blind goddess in exact equipoise, as justice of the peace. Capt. Louis Drouillard was one of the “merchant princes.” He lived at the east end of Water street, where he had a store for trade with the Indians, and supplied the modest wants of the people at low prices, and never dreamed of being offered
Joseph Holman was the owner of the west and Wm. N. Hood of the cast half of the section, the division line, north and south, running about the east end of the Peru woolen mills.
In the spring of 1828 James Oldham moved from the Salamonie onto the Louis Godfroy Reserve, five miles below Peru, on the north bank of the Wabash, and in 1829, John W. Miller moved on the same section from Preble County, Ohio. Geo. Miller, his son. was born there in March. 1832, and is among the first white children born in the county. Joseph Oldham, now a resident of Deer Creek Township, son of James Oldham, is among the oldest citizens, having come with his parents in 1828.
Walter D. Nesbit came in the spring of 1832 to Miamisport, voted there while our territory was attached to Cass, and was a voter in the county until his death in April, 1895.
Brief biographies of these patriarchs of the village would he interesting, but they died as humble pioneers and very little known of their history. Most prominent among them is Joseph Holman, the founder of the little village. He was a native of Kentucky, where he was born in 1788, and in l820 came to Indiana and located in Wayne County. He was land commissioner at Fort Wayne during the administration of John Quincy Adams. He was an active politician and represented the counties of Cass and Allen in the legislature when they included nearly all of the northeast part of the state, and was a delegate of the convention which framed our present constitution. He returned to Wayne County in 1839 and there died in 1872 at the age of eighty-four years.
William N. Hood, the founder of Peru, was a native of Ohio, born in 1791. In 1819 he located at Fort Wayne, where for a number of years he carried on a successful mercantile business. He moved to Miami County in 1831 and in 1836 represented Cass and Miami counties in the state legislature, and was again elected in 1838, but did not live to take his seat.
One of the most excentric characters in the early history of the Wabash valley was Benjamin H. Scott, the first clerk of the Miami circuit court. He was raised in one of the very best families in Boston – “the hub of the universe" - and was capable of moving in the select society of that distinguished city. An inherent love for the sea led him to be a sailor and he became an officer of a vessel. But his genius of eccentricity, which at time bordered on insanity, destined him to become one of the first settlers of a primative village among the Indians of the great west. He was all bone and sinew, capricious at all times, "spasmodic as an electrical machine." Of course such a disposition was not in harmony with his fellow men, and he was frequently in trouble. He dressed oddly, wore great heavy boots, and tied his pants at the bottom with a string. A story used to be frequently told about Scott meeting the clergyman on the bridge. He first told it himself. He was known to be a very close fisted man and when asked for alms or donation, never had any money about him. But one day he was met on the bridge by a dignified clergyman, who in language that seemed to come from the sepulcher, asked for a donation to his church. Scott in his nervous and spasmodic manner yelled out that he had but a nickel and that he was keeping it to buy pills for himself. He rammed his long and bony fingers nervously about his capacious pockets and producing the coin, said: "Take it, if I never have an operation.” Scott was clerk of this county from its organization until June 6, 1848, when he was succeeded by James B. Fulwiler. He soon left for Boston, and, after a number of years, there died.
"Walter D. Nesbit, who lived in this county continuously from 1830 until his death in April, 1895, was a native of Ohio, born in April, 1811. He was somewhat of a romantic turn when a boy and anticipated a life in the wilds of Indiana. His father died when he was about six years old, and at the age of 19 he and his mother and a sister emigrated to the West and settled at Logansport. There were then three or four houses between Ft. Wayne and Miamisport, one at Wabash and one at the mouth of the Salmonie. They remained at Logansport two months, then moved to Miamisport. It was late in the fall of 1830 when they arrived, and they hastily erected a rude log shanty to protect them from the winter. There were then seven or eight families in the town. While this territory was embraced in the County of Cass, he served as deputy sheriff. He was the first supervisor of this county and cut out Main street from the court house to the Still House branch, and afterwards east through Holman's field. In April, 1832, he was united in marriage to Miss Lonana Riley, and she is still living.
Of the other patriarchs of the village we know but little, Louis Drouillard lived here until his death, which occurred in 1847. He, as well as his neighbor pioneers, were frequently selected to sit on the jury. There were but few in the early days that were qualified to act as jurymen, Z. W. Pendleton, a tavern keeper, was somewhat of a character in the little village of Miamisport. He was then considered an accomplished violinist, and of course was the leading spirit at all country dances. He moved away at an early day and has not been heard of since. Andrew and Isaac Marquiss died at an early date in the history of Peru, and a number of their descendants are living in this county, J. W. Marquiss, a resident of Pipe Creek Township, was born in Miamisport in 1831. Abner Overman, another patriarch of the village, became the first treasurer of Miami County. He moved away some time in the forties.
The two most influential men in the early history of Miami County were Joseph Holman and William N. Hood. The latter was determined to found a town in the unbroken woods on his land east of Miamisport. A bitter strife grew up between the two men, which was the absorbing topic of that little community. Wm. M. Reyburn owned 200 acres west of Holman, and it is tradition that they were planning to build up the town in that direction. This hurried Hood's action, and in 1834 he employed Stevens Fisher, an engineer on the canal, to survey the plat for a new town on his land just east of Holman's. James T. Liston and Walter D. Nesbit helped carry the chains and set the stakes. Some one of the surveying party asked Hood what he was going to call his town, and he replied that he didn't care, so it was a short name. A number of names were suggested and they finally agreed to call the new town Peru. Hood’s liberality was unbounded. Providing the county seat of the new county that was organized out of Cass County, would be located on his land, he offered a public square; to build a log jail equal to the one at Logansport; a two-story brick court house, forty feet square; to buy the blank books, for the county; to give $l25 towards a county fund. In addition he offered one lot free to each of the churches, wherever they might choose, and also one to any skil1ed mechanic who would locate in the town and to the first merchants, lots at very low prices. To the families that lived in Miamisport, he gave lots free, providing they would build on the lots and move there. These promises were all fulfilled and his liberal and energetic measures accomplished their purpose. The county seat was moved to Peru, which has since grown far beyond and includes the plat of Miamisport. "By this decision. a bright young life, full of hope and promise, was forever blighted, and when the playful south wind of that direful day, on which the doom of Miamisport was sealed, crossed at the ferry, as was its want, and looked in at the tavern and disported itself in frisky gyrations through the tanyard and found no sympathetic response to its merry gambols, it was fined with sorrow and crept away to the surrounding forests to chant the mournful monody of the stricken town:
”’I have touched the highest point of my greatness.
And from that full meridian of my glory,
I haste now to my setting.' “
The commisssoners met in Miamisport until May, 1835, and June 9, 1841, by the request of parties interested, the town was vacated.
Soon after Peru was platted, Hood enlisted additional influence by selling one-third of his land to Richard L. Britton, a man of considerable wealth in those days, and one-third to Jesse L. Williams, one of the leading civil engineers of the west. The deeds of transfer were made on July 26,1834, and each paid $3,000 for his interest A letting of a portion of the canal and the building of the dam and feeders, was made this month at Peru, and quite a crowd of speculators and men of means were attracted here. The proprietors of the town took advantage of this and made their first sale of lots.
The lots sold readily, those near the canal bringing the highest price. The canal trade. the Indian traffic, and the prospects of the little village becoming a flourishing city attracted a swarm of enterprising business men.
THE FIRST SETTLERS of Peru were for the most part educated in the east. They were men and women of culture and refinement. Full of life and hope they had come to cast their fortunes in a new country. Such a settlement was bound to flourish. In the summer of 1834, three business houses and a number of dwelling's were erected. The first residence within the original plat was a large double hewed log house, erected by Dr. James T. Liston, on the corner of Second and Cass streets, opposite where Pliny Crume now lives. James B. Fulwiler, Bearss & Cole and Alexander Wilson all began to build business rooms at about the same time in 1834, and they were completed that year ready for occupancy. Fulwiler's store was located on the corner of Broadway and Third streets, where the Blue drug store now is; Bearss & Cole where the post office stand was north of the alley on the west side of Broadway, between Second and Third streets; Wilson where the old Wallace livery stable is. C. R. Tracy that year erected a dwelling on west Canal street, in the front room of which he kept a store. Mr. Fulwiler paid $175 for his lot, and the ground to day would be worth about $4,000. Daniel Bearss gave $l50 for the lot 60 x 132 fee -on the corner, where the Bearss House now stands.
Prior to the opening of the canal from Ft. Wayne to this point, the merchants had great difficulty in obtaining their goods. They were hauled by teams of horses or oxen from Cincinnati or Dayton, over primitive roads to their destination. Great hopes were entertained of steamboat navigation up the Wabash to this point. Two or three boats reached here from Cincinnati in the spring when the water was high loaded with goods, but they were liable to strand on their return.
During the year, 1835, a good many residences were built and several business rooms. The most notable event of this year to the people of the little village occurred on the 4th of July. It was the first Fourth of July celebration they ever had and no doubt was one of the biggest that Peru has ever seen. It was well advertised, especially by the traders among the Indians, whose presence was solicited. Nearly every Indian in the nation came, on horseback, dressed in gorgeous colored garments wrought in beads, and they marched about the town and through the woods in single file, making a most remarkable demonstration. James B. Fulwiler delivered the address on the occasion, and when the whites would applaud, the Indians sent out a yell that would reverberate through the woods and fairly ripple the waters on the Wabash.
History of Miami County by John H. Stephens
Published by John H. Stephens Publishing House, Peru, IN
1896
Peru
JABEZ T. COX was born in Clinton county, Ohio, but his father removed from that state to Hamilton county, Indiana, in 1850. He grew up a farmer boy and in the old country school house he first learned the rudiments of an education. His maternal great-grandfather, Thomas Watts, was a South Carolina planter, and a major in the Continental army during the revolution. Judge Cox was a country school teacher at sixteen years of age. He began the study of law at an early age in the office of Judge Jas. O'Brien at Noblesvil1e, Indiana, and after finishing the prescribed course of reading was admitted to the bar and began the practice in partnership with Judge N. R. Overman at Tipton.
He early won a high reputation as a lawyer and an advocate. He has always voted, and worked for the success of the Democratic party, since be became a voter, although in 1864, while in the union army, he believed that the re-election of Lincoln would be better for the country than a change at that time. For thirty years his voice has been heard for the cause of democracy in every campaign until after his nomination for judge of the Circuit court. Since that time in obedience to the unwritten law that a judge should not make political speeches on the stump, he has refrained from so doing. He was elected judge of the Miami Circuit court in 1890, and has been nominated by the democratic voters to make another race.
Mr. Cox today is respected by all classes of people, without regard to party affiliations, as one of the ablest judges that has ever filled the Miami county bench.
History of Miami County by John H. Stephens
Published by John H. Stephens Publishing House, Peru, IN
1896
HON. JOHN W. EWARD, the author of the history of Jackson township, a native of Decatur county, Indiana, was born September 6, 1836, and is the fifth son of a family of seven children, of whom James and Dorcas Eward were the parents, both natives of Nicholas county, Kentucky, the former born in 1803and the latter in 1806. They were married in their native county, and in 1831 removed to Decatur county, Indiana. The father who was a farmer was also engaged in the manufacture of flax-seed oil, and in 1845 he removed to Marion, Indiana, where his death occurred a year later. He was an honored citizen, and was connected with the Christian church from boyhood. The mother still resides at Marion. John W. received a thorough, ordinary education in the public schools at Marion, Indiana, and while yet a boy, began learning the tanner's trade, at which he worked during the winter, and during the summer worked in the printing office at Marion, continuing in the latter until 1860, when he began teaching school, and was thus engaged for two years. He then went into partnership with Judge Kelly and purchased the Grant County Union, which partnership existed until the fall of 1862, when Judge Kelly was appointed Provost-Marshal. He then became associated with Judge Wallace, of Marion, who in the fall of 1863, was appointed paymaster of the army, and Mr. Eward continued to manage the Union until the return of Judge Wallace, which was in 1864. They then purchased the Marion Journal, consolidating it with the Union. The Journal was a republican paper, and was published by the above named gentleman until 1865, when Mr. Wallace retired. Mr. Eward continued its publication one year, when he disposed of his interest and came to Converse, where he has since resided, identified with the best interests of Miami county. Upon coming to Converse he was, till 1870, engaged in the mercantile business with J. W. Flinn &; Son. He then began the practice of law, and as a republican, was in 1872 elected to the state legislature from Miami county, and served in the special session of 1872 and the regular session of 1873, proving a wise and acceptable legislator. In 1876 he was elected justice of the peace of his township. He was one of the organizers and stock-holders of the Xenia Agricultural Society, of which he has been secretary many years. He also assisted in organizing the Old Settlers' Association, of which he was president for eight years, and is a member of the I. O. O. F. and Masonic fraternities, and the Christian church. He was married in 1865 to Miss Rebeeca York, by whom he is the father of four living children - Jessie L., Edgar D., Freddie and Elbert.
History of Miami County by John H. Stephens
Published by John H. Stephens Publishing House, Peru, IN
1896
REV. ERNEST E. NEAL was born at Westfield, Hamilton county, Indiana, and he was graduated from the Union Collegiate Institute in his native town in the year 1879. Mr. Neal's father was a Methodist minister and his son was trained in the life and usages of this church. The young man felt called to the work of the ministry, and in 1881 he entered Drew Theological seminary at Madison, New Jersey, from which institution he graduated in 1884. In April, 1884, Mr. Neal entered the North Indiana annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. There is a singular coincidence in the fact that the conference was in session in the city of Peru when Mr. Neal was admitted, and that in such a few years he became the pastor of the church here. The wife of the subject of this sketch, Mrs. Lissie E. Neal, and their three children, make a happy home life for this pastor, and this fact very largely explains Mr. Neal's success in his work. Mr. Neal has served some of the leading churches of his conference and has been very successful in building up the charges committed to his care. His work is well known in Peru and Miami county where he has won the esteem of a large circle of friends.
History of Miami County by John H. Stephens
Published by John H. Stephens Publishing House, Peru, IN
1896
NELSON W. MILLER, the writer of the financial history of this book, is a son of Abraham Miller and Mary M. (Phelps) Miller, born Nov. 3, 1862 in Clay township, Miami county, Indiana. Here he received his early education and when twenty years old, he took a short review in the Normal school at Valparaiso, Indiana. He then taught school in Clay township for two years and afterward followed farming and mechanical work until November 20, 1890, when he was appointed deputy auditor of Miami County, serving as such for the term of four years. April 1, 1895 he was appointed together with Mr. John H. Jamison, by the assessor to appraise the real estate in the city of Peru for taxation, and he has served in other important positions. He was united in marriage on January 14, 1892 to Della Miller, daughter of Isaac and Maria (Brower) Miller. Two children have been born to them: Clarence W., born March 4, 1893 and Frances H., born December 17, 1894.
History of Miami County by John H. Stephens
Published by John H. Stephens Publishing House, Peru, IN
1896
ABRAHAM BETZNER is a native of Maryland, born August 31, 1837. His parents, John G. and Ustina (Keller) were natives of Germany and immigrated to this country in 1834. They moved direct from Maryland to Miami county in 1844 and first located where Wallick's mill is now, and there lived four years and operated the Godfroy saw mill, which he had rented. In 1844, his parents moved to the farm in Washington township two miles north-east of Bunken Hill, where the subject of this sketch and his mother now lies. John G. Betzner, the father of our subject, died July, 1394, lacking only four month of being 90 years old. The Betzner farm was purchased directly from the government but was not recorded until 1895. Abraham Betzner had seven brothers and sisters, two of whom are now living; Jacob and Harmon.
History of Miami County by John H. Stephens
Published by John H. Stephens Publishing House, Peru, IN
1896
CHARLES M. FILLMORE is one of our young preachers who is worthy of the highest commendation. He was born in Paris, Ill., July 15, 1860. His father is well known throughout the church as a pioneer preacher, musical composer and teacher. The son seems to have inherited his father's most striking characteristics. His boyhood life was spent on a farm near Cincinnati. It was his privilege, however, to attend the high school in the city, from which he graduated.
He took naturally to music. When he was in the high school a fund was raised sufficient to grant five scholarships to pupils of the public schools. These scholarships were contended for by several thousand pupils. Mr. Fillmore gaind one of the five. His purpose was to prepare for a professional musician. He studied under private teachers, and also in two of the music schools of Cincinnati.
He always had a desire to preach, but being of a somewhat timid nature resisted the impulse from fear of making a failure. But when his musical education was about complete, and though he had prospects of a partnership in an excellent music business, he yielded to the persuasion of friends and entered the ministry.
Knowing well the minister's need of thorough training, he entered Butler college, from which he graduated in 1890. He also spent some time in graduate work at the same school. He deserves the credit of "making his way" through college. As a student he was earnest and faithful. He took part in athletics, conducted the singing in the chapel, was one of the editors of the Butler Collegian, and belonged to the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He also preached regularly every Sunday. As evidence of his college standing, many of his most devoted friends today are his college companions.
Since graduation he has been engaged in Christian work. In Indiana he has filled several positions of prominence. He left the college and became District Evangelist. In this work he succeeded to the extent that he revived several declining congregations, and organized new ones at Akron and Bunker Hill, Indiana. He then became pastor of the church at Lafayette. He served this congregation acceptably for two years, and then: took the pastorate at Shelbyville. He found the church somewhat divided, and succeeded in bringing about harmony. Here he began to realize that it is not good for man to be alone, and while he served his congregation devotedly, he still found time to woo and win a most excellent lady. Miss Maggie Kennedy, whom he wedded October 15, 1892, and who has since been a source of inspiration toward higher attainments.
He gave up his charge at Shelbyville to become the State Sunday-school Evangelist. This place he filled for one year, and showed in the work his usual energy. He was then sent by the C. W. B. Y. to Ogden, Utah, for six months, as a supply in the absence of the pastor, John L. Brant, on a lecture tour in the interest of a church building at that place. On returning to Indiana, the state board sent him to Peru, to build a congregation from the “ground up”. He is now in his third year's work at this place. Here he has showed great courage, sacrifice and devotion to the cause of Christ, as well as successful business management. Though he has been offered larger churches with better salaries, he has chosen to remain with this work. He began with thirteen members and now has over two hundred, and a valuable church property practically out of debt.
History of Miami County by John H. Stephens
Published by John H. Stephens Publishing House, Peru, IN
1896
HON. H. V. PASSAGE was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, Dec. 20, 1835. John Passage, his father, moved to Indiana when he was two years old. He is a medical graduate of Rush Medical college, Chicago, and Bellevue Medical college, .New York. Is a literary graduate of Indiana University. Commenced the practice of medicine in 1857. Was elected to the Indiana legislature in 1884, and again in 1892. Is the author of the law of 1885 compelling corporations to pay laborers monthly and making their wages a preferred claim in case of bankruptcy. His great grandfather, Bernard Passage, and his grandfather, Henry Passage, came to this country with Lafayette, and at the close of the war his grandfather decided to remain. His great grandfather was killed in battle. In 1858, Mr. Passage married Martha, daughter of Elijah S. Cooper, treasurer of Hancock county, Indiana.
History of Miami County by John H. Stephens
Published by John H. Stephens Publishing House, Peru, IN
1896
CLEM GRAVES, of Deer Creek township, is a rising young breeder of Hereford cattle. He is not only known in his own state, but has gained quite an enviable reputation in neighboring states where he has shown his cattle. Mr. Graves will say nothing of himself, but takes great pride in examining and talking about cattle of all grades and breeds. The writer and compiler of this history recently visited Mr. Grave's farm and learned something of the Herefords. These cattle are remarkable for the uniformity of their outward characteristics and general attributes. The prevailing color is red, from moderately light to dark in shade, with white belly and bush and clear white face. This distinguishing feature is indelibly stamped in the breed, forming a striking instance of the remarkable power of long sustained hereditary influnce. In conformation, the breed displays nearly as much uniformity as in color. The most striking features of this are their broad, level back, wide chest and brisket and great wealth of flesh. A. most characteristic is that they carry flesh most heavily on the parts of the frame from which the best meat is cut.
The Hereford is pre-eminently a beef animal, unsurpassed as grazers, maturing at a very early age. For crossing with our native cattle there is no better breed.
The Graves herd is headed by Columbus No. 51,875; by Earl of Shadeland 41st, by Garfield. The cows are of the blood of Fowler, Cherry Boy, Anxiety 3rd, Earl Milton and other historical animals, thus combinding individual merit with merit by inheritance. In 1895 this held was exhibited at the Toledo tri-state fair, Michigan state fair, and leading district and county fairs of Indiana, winning forty-five firsts, twenty-one seconds and four grand sweepstakes premiums.
The Herefords won more premiums in grand sweep-stakes of beef breeds at the Columbian Exposition than any other breed, and in 1888 won eleven out of seventeen sweepstakes ribbons at fat-stock show, Chicago. On the block they won three out of five prizes. But it is not in the show yard that the Herefords have won their proudest victories. It is with the renter, the small breeder, the great ranch man of the west, in the hands of men, where the economy of production has to do with the value of the product, that they have risen superlative above all competitors.
History of Miami County by John H. Stephens
Published by John H. Stephens Publishing House, Peru, IN
1896
CHARLES R. HUGHES, the present clerk of the Miami Circuit court, was born in Marion county. Indiana. November 30, 1859, and is the oldest of a family of eight children, five of whom are now living, namely: Mrs. Fannie Dilldine, of Indianapolis; James A. Hughes, of Willows, California: Frank Hughes, of Terre Haute, Indiana; and Miss Luella Hughes, of Indianapolis. His parents Isham and Srepta A. (Orm) Hughes, were born in Marion county, Indiana and Kentucky, respectively.
The subject of this sketch was born and raised on a farm eight miles from Indianapolis, and when about six years old his parents moved there and the father resumed his occupation as an engineer. Mr. Hughes went to the Indianapolis schools, from which he graduated at the age of 16. During vacations and for a short time after graduation he clerked in two of the large dry goods stores of the city and for some time was employed in the law firm of Baker, Horde & Hendricks.
In 1875 Mr. Hughes began in the employ of the old I. P. & C. and continued in the services of that road until he was elected clerk of this county. While Gould had control of the Wabash in connection with the old I. P. & C., he worked on all the lines of the Wabash system east of the Mississippi. He was considered one of the best engineers on the system.
April 19, 1881, Mr. Hughes was united in marriage to Maggie E. Burnett, a very popular and accomplished teacher of the county. She is the daughter of Absalom and Elizabeth (Baughn) Burnett, pioneers of this county. Their union has been blessed with two children: Fannie May, born May 1, 1883; Charles, August 1, 1886.
History of Miami County by John H. Stephens
Published by John H. Stephens Publishing House, Peru, IN
1896