MARK STRATTON
No one man was a larger factor for good in the making of Wabash County, than Mark Stratton. All his mental force and physical vigor were devoted to up building and establishing a high Christian and educational standard in his county; and toward the buildŽing of good churches, school houses, bridges and roads. As an ordained minister of the gospel, as School Director and County Commissioner, he served his friends and neighbors with all his heart. He delighted in educated children, sleek stock, and clean fields. He believed in beautiful homes, gardens and orchards, and worked always toward making his farm an example of what he considered all country homes should be . He was never too busy with harvesting and garnering outstanding crops to include in his day's work mowing a lawn or hauling woods dirt to fertilize a flower bed. He never gave an order for fruit trees for his orchards, that did not include bulbs, vines and bushes for his dooryard. Unfailingly he lived in his daily life, with scrupulous exactitude, each tenet and precept he preached to others. His word was his bond, and no man can point out an instance in which he ever broke it.

His lineage as traced by himself for me, is as follows: "All Strattons are descended from ancient titled British families, one Duke Robert Stratton having been a famous warrior during the reign of William and Mary of Orange. Burke's Peerage gives eight different families in England and Foster's eleven. Each of these has its crest and all American Strattons are descended from one of these lines. The Earl of Northbrook of Stratton House, Hampshire, is the present head of our branch of the family. The crest is a warrior's shield bearing three shells, each of which stands for a crusade to the Holy City, and a perching falcon, which is a bird of prey, the motto, 'surgere tento,' we strive to conquer; this indicates that the heads of the family were warriors, but the heads of all British families of rank were fighters in those days. I was named for an ancestor Mark Stratton; who came from England in early day and settled on Stratton Island, which was later corrupted to Staten Island; afterward he moved to northern New Jersey. He married a woman named Ann Hancock, traditions of whose wonderful beauty were constantly repeated in my childhood. She also had two sisters who were considered equally as lovely. They were always spoken of as 'the beautiful Hancock sisters.' Said Stratton had three sons, named Daniel, David and Thomas. Daniel, your great-grandfather, settled in Vernon Township, Sussex County, northern New Jersey, about fifty miles west of New York. He was a New Jersey coastguard from Sussex County during the Revolution. It was he, who about the year 1758 made from black walnut lumber the dove-tailed chest he bequeathed to your grandfather, who gave it to me, and which I have given to you. He always proudly referred to it as having been made, 'without a hammer or nail. '

"In the early history of the country, your great-grandfather's brothers, David and Thomas settled in Beaver Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where both reared large families. Thomas was a soldier during the Revolutionary War and was on a Pennsylvania pension list. Your great-grandfather, Daniel, had three sons, John, David and Joseph, who later settled respectively in Richland, Huron and Wayne Counties, Ohio. The youngest, Joseph, was born in 1788; be was married and lived for a time in Sussex County, Vernon Township, north New Jersey, where I was born. Afterward be moved to Canaan Township, Wayne County, where he reared a family of twelve children. He died in 1836. He was a schoolmaster in winter and a carpenter in summer. He used especial care in the drilling of his own children. One of his daughters was a poet of some local fame, and another twice in her life before a committee performed the wonderful mental feat of repeating the entire Bible from memory." Mark Stratton could do the same with the exception of the Book of Generations. He always said he considered learning this a "waste of grey matter." One instance of his Biblical knowledge will perhaps be recalled by Dr. Charles Little, who was present. At a meeting of the Presbyterian Synod of Wabash, the Moderator was delivering a sermon before an audience of ministers from .all parts of the country. My father was present. During his discourse the Moderator, who was an elderly man, started a Biblical quotation and his memory failed. He appealed to his audience to give him the chapter and verse that he might make the quotation correctly. No one spoke. "Brethren," said the Moderator, "This is worse on you than it is on me. Once I knew; I am now an old man and my memory is treacherous. I can be excused; but most of you are young men; you should know. Can none of you help me?" No one answered. "Then," said the Moderator, "I appeal to the audience. Is there a man in this church who can direct me?"

In telling me of the occurrence afterward, my father said, "I could have told him the instant he asked, but it was not my place to speak when he made his appeal to the ministers of his own denomination. When they failed and he called on the audience, I waited what I considered a reasonable and modest time on the others, and then I said: "You will find the lines in Isaiah, first chapter and seventeenth verse." "Thank you!" said the Moderator, and finished his discourse. After the services Dr. Little came to me and said the Moderator desired to meet me, and I have just come from dining with him at the Tremont. We had a glorious time."

His face was radiant . I was so proud and so pleased, with the thoughtlessness of a school girl, I threw my arms around his neck and cried: "Oh, Father, you were the smartest man there!" Instantly all the light went from his face, he put me from him and turned away saying: "Child! Child! If I have produced any such impression, I have told my story very badly." Then I would have given anything to have recalled my hasty words, for I had spoiled his joy in his great day.

He was born a student, eagerly reading every good book to which he had access and never forgetting a fact or date which he wished to retain in memory. His first work from home was undertaken to buy books which he read by the light of hickory knots burned on the hearthstone. All his life he found time to spend several hours a day with a book, always reading while other men lounged or slept at the noon hour, and in the evening. He was a man of fine physique and perfect health, his physical vigor being such that at the age of seventy-eight he could read ordinary newspaper print by the hour without glasses. Standing beside his body in his last sleep one of his children remarked that the greatest pity of his death was that all he knew should perish with him.

He was born in Sussex County, Vernon Township, north New Jersey, September twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred twelve, and at an early age moved from there to Wayne County, Ohio, settling north of Wooster. There he met and married Mary Shellenbarger, who was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, March eleventh, eighteen hundred sixteen. Their wedding took place on Christmas Day, eighteen hundred thirty-five. In eighteen hundred thirty-eight they moved to Kosciusko County on the northern boundary of Wabash, purchasing two hundred and forty acres in what was known as the Eel River section. In eighteen hundred forty-eight they sold this land and moved to Lagro Township, Wabash County, where they purchased two hundred and forty acres from Daniel Sayer. There they built a commodious country home and lived for twenty-six years in as full joy as is ever had on land. To them were born twelve children of whom seven are still living.

Mark Stratton joined the Methodist Episcopal Church at the age of fifteen, and became an ordained minister in eighteen hundred fifty-seven. After a week of hard work in the fields he would ride from five to twenty miles on Sunday to preach at some settlement not having a minister. He also found time to hold and to give his best efforts to such offices as County Trustee and Commissioner; refusing, however, to allow his name to be used for any office that would require his absence from home. He said it was the duty of any man who had fathered twelve children to remain at home and do his best to rear them properly; then if any strayed in later life, he need not feel that it was his fault.Mrs. Stratton was a devoted wife and mother, a fine housekeeper and a famous cook. She delighted in having a crowd of friends around her and heaping her table with choice food. She was an earnest church worker, generous with those less prosperous than she; and a neighbor who never failed to answer a call for assistance in times of sickness or trouble, often riding long distances at night through snow and rain, to help comfort those in distress. She had a joyous heart; she met her world with a serene and smiling face. Her own troubles she kept between closed lips, and told them only in her closet. Always, with stout heart she stood shoulder to shoulder with her husband, and helped his every effort to live the life he deemed suitable for a strong, manly man. In September of eighteen hundred seventy-four, they moved to Wabash, where Mrs. Stratton lived only a few months. Part of the family have resided there ever since. She died February third, eighteen hundred seventy-five, from the results of nursing several of her children through typhoid fever, contracted by one of her sons studying law in a distant city.

Mark Stratton joined his wife fifteen years later, January tenth, eighteen hundred ninety. He lived from the days of trackless forests, log cabins, where food was cooked over open fires; to steam heated residences with the modern conveniences of gas and electricity. Surrounded by many of these comforts in his latest days he loved to talk of pioneer experiences.

One early day incident that my father often recalled always amused me very much. The Wabash Railway was in the course of construction; word had been sent out that at a certain hour the first passenger train would be run over the line, not many miles from our home. Father took his gun and crossed the woods to where the line ran closest to us, east of LaGro. On the way he met an old hunter he knew, who spent his life in the woods. This man had been for months on a hunting trip in the wilds of Michigan and had not heard of the railway. Father invited him to accompany him to see the first train. "After we had waited perhaps an hour, there came a curious, rumbling, humming sound; this grew and swelled in volume; the big black engine came tearing down the track; the headlight was glaring in the sun. We were sitting on the embankment; but as the train neared us, old Joe leaped to his feet and started to run, but I cried to him to wait and see the train, so he stopped and stood while it roared and thundered past. As it vanished, I turned to Joe. 'God, Stratton,' he said earnestly, 'If you hadn't been here to tell me what that thing was, I'd have shot it !'" His own sketch of some early incidents strongly impressed upon his memory, and written out for a former Wabash County history cannot fail to be of interest.

"When I came to the region, Eel River Valley was almost an utter wilderness. I traveled through portions of it east of Manchester for fourteen miles without seeing a solitary cabin or a single shelter; the wild and trackless forest being wholly unbroken. Turkeys and deer and black and gray wolves and bears were very plenty. Rattlesnakes had been exceedingly abundant in dens among the rocks in the bluffs of the rivers and creeks. One den was near Rattlesnake Springs, half a mile above the town of LaGro, in the bluff on the north side of the river and the canal. There was one also on the Salamonie River (near Dora) in South LaGro. Michael Minnick, the first settler (perhaps) when he drove into that neighborhood with his wife and children, and wagons containing his household goods, with some other men in company, undertook to fix a camp for themselves, but they found the rattlesnakes so numerous that they moved forward again. Trying once more to make a camping place, they still found the rattlesnakes in possession, and this time they began warfare of human against reptile life, and resolutely killed eighteen; sleeping finally in their wagons, instead of making, as had been their custom, a resting place upon the surface of Mother Earth. West of LaGro, where the canal bends round the points of rocks, John Russell, who was and is one or the earliest pioneers of LaGro Township, and who worked for years upon the canal during its construction, says that in blasting the bluff there during the winter they came upon an immense den of rattlesnakes, and that they loaded them, stiffened and benumbed with the severe cold as they then were, with the rock and dirt, and dumped them 'by cart-loads' into the embankment of the canal." (In Pennsylvania, at one time, where there was an entrance and a place of exit for an incredible number of these fearful and venomous monsters, the people built a huge fence around the mouth of the den, thus enabling the settlers both to confine and destroy the hideous creatures. See also the account of the "rattlesnakes' den," in the bluffs of Rush Creek, near New Holland, in South LaGro.) Mr. Stratton says further: "I never was a hunter; I never shot at a deer but once in my life, killing that, however, instantly. I once chased a young fawn for a long time, catching it at last when nearly worried down. I came upon the little creature suddenly, when it started up nimbly and I after it. It ran in circles, and I followed in pursuit, when at last it sprang against a log, stumbled and fell. Before the frightened fawn could recover, I seized and held it fast.

"One morning early, I left my cabin north of Manchester, in company with Joseph Noftsker and John Shellenbarger, my wife's oldest brother, to show them the country. We passed on through the forest, some three and one-half miles, to the place where now stands the Butterbaugh Schoolhouse, then however, all heavy woods being on the Wabash and Kosciusko County line. While standing and viewing the forest, we heard a rustling, and looking in that direction saw four bears, an old she-bear and three cubs, or young bears (as large as middling sized hogs), passing along in a course which would bring them within a short distance of where we were standing, but southward from the spot at which we were. They came on until they were perhaps fifty yards away; we had no gun, and might well enough have left the group unmolested, on the principle of 'Laissez Faire,' 'you let us alone, we let you alone. ' But not so; we sprang toward the bears, yelling with all our might; suddenly the old mother-bear turned her face toward us and squatting upon her haunches and throwing up her fore paws, she sat thus, with her mouth open; as much as to say, 'Come on if you dare.' Her cubs meanwhile 'treed' instantly, all climbing the same tree; this done, the old bear trotted off as fast as she could waddle. Well, we wished to kill the bears, so, leaving the other two men to watch the game, I went, mostly 'on the run,' to Samuel Bussard's, who lived about a mile distant, for a gun and for more help. I found Mr. Bussard, as also Samuel Hammond, a neighbor, there, the latter on horseback, and they were greatly elated by my story. Mr. Bussard snatched his gun, ready loaded, and his ammunition. Mr. Hammond giving me his horse because I had become exhausted by running, started with his neighbor, and together they hurried, running like scampering school boys, skipping and bounding over logs as they went, eager to reach the spot. The two who had been watching the bears said the old one had come back once to find and rescue her cubs, but had been frightened off again. Our plan was to shoot and cripple one of the young fellows in the tree, and having brought him down, to pinch and tease him to make him squeal, and thus cause the mother to come to his relief, so as to get her, too, within range and reach of the gun. That part of the plan, however, did not succeed. Mr. Bussard took the first shot, because he was the owner of the gun; Noftsker shot the second time, because he wished to be able to tell his neighbors when he got back to Ohio, that he had killed a bear; and Hammond drew trigger the third and last time, and every shot killed a bear. Mr. Bussard's shot killed one of the cubs dead, dead, dead, it did not even struggle or move a particle after it struck the ground. Noftsker, taking the rifle, drew up, and he, too, made a sure shot, and his game fell lifeless to the earth. Hammond took a slow and cautious aim, and drawing trigger, down came the third also, and he, too, was dead. None of them made any noise, and we saw no more of the old bear. The hides of the young cubs were quickly stripped from the dead bodies, and the carcasses were left to rot upon the ground, or for the poor old mother to drag away, and we went on and finished looking at the land.

"When I came first from Ohio to look for land in Indiana in the winter of 1838 (January), I traveled during the trip on foot seven hundred miles; starting from Wayne County, Ohio, north of Wooster, I came on through Central and Northwestern Ohio to Perrysburg, on the Maumee River, above Toledo, Ohio; thence to Fort Wayne and Huntington, and westward, selecting finally the land which I afterwards entered. Returning to Fort Wayne, I passed on to St. Mary's and onward through Western Ohio to Twin Creek, below Dayton; thence to Lewisburg and so to Piqua and Wapakoneta and Fort Findlay, and thence home to Wayne County, Ohio. The jaunt took something over a month, being performed on foot of course, since (as the Irishman said) that was decidedly the 'natest and chapest' way of getting about."

(The editor and publishers of this work are indebted to Gene Stratton-Porter for the above memorial sketch of her father, Mark Stratton.)

"History of Wabash County, Indiana"
Clarkson W. Weesner
Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago and New York
published in 1914



GENE STRATTON-PORTER
It will always be a matter of pride in this community that on one of Wabash county's farms was born an author whose works have justified her position as one of the most popular American writers of the present generation.

A daughter of Mark Stratton, whose career Mrs. Porter has made a subject for one of the most interesting biographies in this publication, Gene Stratton was born on her father's homestead in this county, and received her education under private instruction. At Wabash on April 22, 1886, she married Charles Darwin Porter, who was educated in Savannah College, and was a son of Dr. John Pomeroy and Elizabeth (Darwin) Porter, his father having been a surgeon in the United States' army. Mr. and Mrs. Porter have one child, Jeannette Porter, who was educated at Knickerbocker Hall in Indianapolis and Washington College, D. C.

Mrs. Porter has for many years divided her time between her chosen work as author and illustrator. For two years she was editor of the Camera department of "Recreation," for two years was on the natural history staff of "Outing," and for four years was specialist in natural history photography on "Photographic Times Annual Almanac." She is a charter member of the National Geographic Society, is vice-president of the Women's branch of the Chicago Press Club, member of the Society of Western Authors, of the Audubon Society and of other organizations.

It was her work as a writer and illustrator of nature books that first brought Mrs. Porter into prominence. She wrote and illustrated five books of this character: The Song of the Cardinal, 1902; What I Have Done With Birds, 1907; Birds of the Bible, 1909; Music of the Wild, 1910; and Moths of the Limberlost. Of these, the Song of the Cardinal has undoubtedly proved the best selling nature book in the United States.

To a much wider range of readers Mrs. Porter is known through her five novels: Freckles, 1904; A Girl of the Limberlost, 1909; At the Foot of the Rainbow, 1908; the Harvester, 1911; and Laddie. Of all these, The Song of the Cardinal, Freckles, A Girl of the Limberlost, the Harvester, At the Foot of the Rainbow and Laddie are published in London and sold in every English-speaking nation. The Song of the Cardinal is published in French; The Harvester has been translated and published in German and Swedish, and several of the nature novels are being translated into Arabic for use in an effort to introduce American methods of nature study into colleges of the Orient. A Girl of the Limberlost is to be used in the Woman's College at Jerusalem and in similar institutions in Egypt.

That few names among modern American authors is so well known and widely appreciated as that of Gene Stratton-Porter is best indicated by the fact that more than two million copies of her various books have been sold during the past five years. Her latest novel, Laddie, had a sale of more than three hundred thousand copies in six months, and no other novel ever published had so large a distribution in the same length of time. While most of her books have an intimate local color, Mrs. Porter has evidently drawn more deeply from her personal experience and environment in the writing of Laddie than in any previous work. This book is thought to be a history of Mrs. Porter's childhood and the home conditions under which she was reared. Much of it is of course fiction, and most of the characters are neighborhood types to be found in any Indiana locality of that period. But the portraits of her father and mother are known to be drawn from life, while the description of "little sister," corresponds with Mrs. Porter's childhood and no doubt the early training she received in this home accounts for her later development.

"History of Wabash County, Indiana"
Clarkson W. Weesner
Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago and New York
published in 1914



O. J. CRIPE
In searching for men of vigorous and forcible character who have taken an important and prominent part in the affairs of life, the biographer is not expected to deal only with martial heroes, with statesmen and with figures in the national lime-light, for in the world of science and arts, in the professions, in the activities of commerce and trade and in the field of finance of the present day are found men of action, capable and earnest, whose talents, enterprise and energy command the respect of their fellow men and whose lives are worthy examples and objects of emulation. That the life of such a person should have its public record is peculiarly proper, because a knowledge of men whose substantial fame rests upon their attainments, character and success, must of a necessity exert a wholesome influence on the rising generation of the American people. In this connection it is appropriate to review in this volume the salient points in the career of O. J. Cripe, Owner and cashier of the Urbana Bank and a man who has impressed his abilities upon the business life of his adopted place.

Mr. Cripe was born October 1, 1868, at Sacramento, California, and is a son of Tobias and Anna (Hullinger) Cripe. The paternal grandfather, R. Cripe, was one of the early Dunkards to come from Preble county, Ohio, as a pioneer to St. Joseph county, Indiana, subsequently built the first log house at South Bend, and farmed and operated a sawmill up to the time of his death. Tobias Cripe grew up in St. Joseph county, and in 1849, when twelve years of age, accompanied his father and the other members of the family on a trip by ox-teams overland to Oregon. There they resided in a log cabin until it was destroyed by fire, when they lost in the flames the old German family Bible, which had contained all of the early family records. Later all returned to St. Joseph county, Indiana, and here he remained and married Anna Hullinger. In 1863, Mr. Cripe and his wife, together with his brothers and their families, formed a wagon train and again went to the far West. For seven years Mr. Cripe was located at Sacramento and Stockton, California, and there was engaged in driving a twelve-horse team over the mountains, in the carrying of freight prior to the advent of the railroads. In this manner he secured a capital of $1,800 within three months' time, and then, reŽturning to the East over the old "Crockett" Union Pacific Railroad, again located with his family in St. Joseph county. There Mr. Cripe was engaged in farming until March 6, 1884. In 1887 he again heard the call of the West and went to Los Angeles, California, but after a short stay returned to Carroll county, Indiana, and there retired from activities some twenty years ago at the time of his first wife's death. He still survives and is one of the honored old residents of Flora, Carroll county, Indiana. His second wife was a widow, Mrs. Hannah McDonald, and after her death he married another widow, Mrs. Catherine Brower, who is also deceased. There were no children to his second and third unions, but by his first marriage he was the father of five children: David S., a general merchant of Mount Morris, Illinois; Oliver J., of this review; Edward, engaged in the farm implement business at Camden, Indiana; Brent, who makes his home on the old farm in Carroll county; and Francis, who married George Southerd, and is a resident of the Dominion of Canada.

Oliver J. Cripe was a child of two years of age when the family returned from the West, and he spent the next fourteen years of his life in St. Joseph county, where he was educated in the grammar and high schools and also took a course in Hall's Business College, at Logansport. Succeeding this, he purchased a property in Carroll county, which he farmed for some ten years with a fair measure of success, and then, selling his land, went to Flora, Indiana, and during the next five years was practically retired from active life. However, it was while there that he received his introduction to financial affairs at the First National Bank, and in 1908 he brought his family to Urbana, Wabash county, and opened the Bank of Urbana, the first institution of its kind to do business here. The venture succeeded from the start, and in 1910 the present structure was erected. Mr. Cripe has continued to act in the capacity of cashier, while Miss Ethel Cripe is assistant cashier. In the advancement of the commercial and industrial interests of Urbana, Mr. Cripe has been very active. He is interested in the hardware business now conducted here by Fox & Bectol, and was the founder of Urbana's first lumber yard, the Urbana Lumber Company, dealers in all kinds of building material, coal and cement, Grant Forest being manager of this business. In 1913, Mr. Cripe erected the Grain Elevator at Speiker, of which John Coburn is manager.

Mr. Cripe was married in 1892, to Miss Ellen Harter, daughter of John and Sarah Eikenberry Harter, of Carroll county, Indiana. Three daughters have been born to this union: Ethel, a graduate of the Urbana High school and now a student at Manchester College, who acts in the capacity of assistant cashier in her father's bank; Iona, who is a graduate of the high school and also a student in Manchester College; and Eva, who is still attending high school. Mr. Cripe's career has been one of consistent and well-merited advancement, and his success has been self-gained. He occupies a position of prominence in his adopted community, the interests of which he has brought to the forefront by his activities.

"History of Wabash County, Indiana"
Clarkson W. Weesner
Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago and New York
published in 1914



L. M. PROPS
One of the flourishing industries of the village of Lagro, Indiana, which adds materially to its importance as a center of business and manufacturing activity, is the Lagro Milling Company, the proprietor of which, L. M. Props, is known as one of the substantial men connected with commercial lines here. He has been a resident of Lagro for only six years, yet during this period of time has impressed himself favorably upon the people of this locality, and his energy, his good business judgment and his straightforward methods of doing business have won him the support and confidence of those with whom he has been brought in contact.

Mr. Props was born in Grant county, Indiana, in September, 1863, and is a son of James M. and Elizabeth (Harter) Props, both born and reared in that county. The grandparents both died when James M. Props was a lad, and he was taken into the home of his uncle, Joseph Gravens, who reared him to manhood and gave him a good public school education. At the outbreak of the Civil war, he enlisted for service in an Indiana regiment of volunteers and continued in the Union army until the close of the struggle, his wife having in the meantime lived with his uncle. Upon his return to the pursuits of peace, he again took up farming, locating on a property northwest of Sweetser. He was successful in his operations because of his hard and industrious toil and his indomitable perseverance, and in 1908, feeling that he had accumulated enough of this world's goods, retired from active pursuits, and since that time he and his wife have lived quietly at Sweetser, where they have a comfortable home. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Props, namely: Lemuel M., of this review; Ella, who married Garrison Smith; Cecelia, unmarried; Joseph M.; Laura, who became the wife of John Veach; and Harley, all of these residents of Grant county with the exception of Lemuel M.

Lemuel M. Props received his early education in the public schools of Pleasant township, Grant county, in the meantime assisting his father during the summer months in the development of the homestead. He remained under the parental roof until reaching the age of twenty-two years, when he engaged in farming on his own account and was engaged therein for two years. At the end of that period he started a sawmill business, and in connection therewith operated a threshing machine, and carried on these lines of activity until coming to Lagro in 1908. Here he purchased the mill from Isaac Furgeson, which is now known as the Lagro Milling Company, and in which is manufactured the famous "O. K." brand of flour, known allover this section for its purity and excellence. The capacity of the mill is 50 barrels daily, and the product meets with a constant demand. In addition to this business, Mr. Props sells engines and farming machinery, and in partnership with his son is operating a threshing machine outfit. Each of his ventures has proved successful, and his standing in the commercial world is accordingly high.

In 1886, Mr. Props was married to Miss Dora L. Bechtel, a daughter of the late Samuel Bechtel, and to this union there have been born five children: Earl, who married Maude Baumgardner; Carl, who married Gladys Duffey, and has one child, Mary E.; Mevel; Colene; and Anna. Mr. Props is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and his political connection is with the democratic party.

"History of Wabash County, Indiana"
Clarkson W. Weesner
Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago and New York
published in 1914



JAMES E. JACK
It will soon be fourscore years since the Jack family was established in Wabash county. Andrew Jackson was then president of the United States. The old Wabash and Erie canal had not yet been built down the valley. The few pioneers who had come had been able to make little impression on the wilderness, and only here and there above the dense woods rose the smoke of a settler's cabin. Here three generations of the family have done their work and done it well, and those of the living dwell in the shadow of contentment, prosperity and honor-qualities that are invariably associated with the name. With appropriate reference to the older generations, this sketch concerns the career of James E. Jack, one of the best known citizens of Paw Paw township. He is the owner and proprietor of two hundred and twenty-five acres in that township in two adjoining farms, located on the east side of the Minich Pike, about five and a half miles northwest of Wabash.

James Jack, grandfather of James E., was the founder of the Jack family in Wabash county. He was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1794, and when three years of age was taken by his parents from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, and not long afterwards to Ohio, where his father settled in Adams county along the Ohio river, sixty miles above Cincinnati. James Jack was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was stationed at Sandusky, Detroit, and other points around the Great Lakes. After his marriage he moved to Greensburg in Decatur county, Indiana, in 1826, and in 1836 moved to Wabash county. There his long and worthy career came to a close in 1879 when eighty-four years of age. On June 11, 1818, James Jack married Elizabeth Donaldson. Their children were Thomas, Eliza Jane, John, Mary, Nancy, Andrew, James, William, Sarah. James Jack on coming to Wabash county bought land from an original settler, comprising two hundred eighty-five acres, and also entered direct from the government a quarter section of one hundred and sixty acres. His entire career was devoted to the tilling of the soil, and a great deal of original work in clearing up the land was performed by this splendid pioneer. Though he had merely a common school education of his time, his good sense and strong desire for knowledge made him more than usually well informed and somewhat of a leader in the community. In politics he was first a whig and later a republican, and in religion was a firm Presbyterian, as was his wife, while one of his sons, Andrew Jack, became a minister of that denomination. This minister subsequently went as a missionary to Africa and was stationed at Gaboon on the West Coast. One of the familiar landmarks of this family in Wabash county is the Jack cemetery, situated on the original Jack homestead, and just southwest of the cemetery grandfather Jack built the first brick house in Wabash county, along the south bank of Paw Paw creek, in Section 7, Township 28, Range 6. The first body interred in that cemetery was William Jack, a son of James, buried July 5, 1843. It is hardly needful to state that the entire upper Wabash valley was a wilderness when James Jack settled here, the woods abounded with game which furnished provisions for the family larder, and when it became necessary to get flour he carried his grain many miles to mill. He possessed a great fund of reminiscence concerning the early days, and told many interesting stories to his descendants and friends.

Thomas Jack, a son of grandfather James Jack, and father of James E., was born in Adams county, Ohio, April 19, 1819, the first child of his parents, and was married after coming to Wabash county to Sarah T. Wright. She was born in Virginia December 17, 1827. Thomas Jack was a boy when the family moved to Decatur county, Indiana, and was seventeen on his arrival in Wabash county. His wife had come to Wabash county at the age of thirteen from Virginia, with her parents George and Susan Wright. After their marriage Thomas Jack and wife located on a farm west of where James E. now lives, a place known as the A. F. Watson farm. When Thomas Jack bought it, it was in the midst of the woods, and during his many years of residence he employed his labor and his means to clear off many acres and perfected a fine farm. Thomas Jack finally left Wabash county and went out to Minnesota during the early days of that state for the sake of his health, and died there when his son James E. was three years old. His body was returned to Wabash county and now rests in the old Jack cemetery above mentioned. Mrs. Thomas Jack, a venerable woman of eighty-seven, is still living on a part of the old homestead. Their three children were: Elizabeth, who died as Mrs. John Moore in 1869; James Edward; and Margaret J., wife of A. F. Watson.

James F. Jack, a son of Thomas and Sarah (Wright) Jack, was born on his father's farm half a mile west of where he now lives, on the Chippewa Road, April 1, 1854. His birthplace was a log cabin, and perhaps the majority of the citizens born fifty years ago in Wabash county had a log house as the shelter of their infancy. Excepting a few months spent in Minnesota during his father's last illness, his life has been passed within the borders of Wabash county. His schooling was acquired by attendance at a district school in the neighborhood, and at the age of sixteen he left his mother's home to live with his grandŽfather for three years, but at the age of nineteen returned and became the active manager of the home farm and the support of his widowed mother. In that way his early years were spent, and on July 8, 1877, he married Eunice M. Richards, daughter of Josiah and Eunice Richards. A full sketch of the Richards family will be found under the name of William A. Richards, a brother of Mrs. Jack.

Following his marriage Mr. and Mrs. Jack moved to the old farm of his grandfather, who died about that time. Six years later he bought his present homestead. His first purchase comprised eighty acres from the Stone heirs. Just twenty acres of that had been cleared, and in perfecting its improvements he had a large amount of pioneer work to perform. Mr. Jack rebuilt all the buildings, and added from time to time other lands until he now has one of the best properties in Paw Paw township. His profits have come from general crops and the raising and feedŽing of stock, and among his fellow citizens his judgment is regarded as unusually reliable in all lines of agriculture. He is a republican in polities, but has never allowed his name to be presented as a candidate for any public office.

Mr. and Mrs. Jack are the parents of the following children: Bertha, wife of Harvey Hiner, and they have one child, Verne; Otto, who married Carrie Hiner, and has two children, Miriam and Cecil; Cortha E., wife of O. G. Walker, and mother of Paul and Dean; Ziria; Glenn E., who married Elizabeth Cox and has a daughter, Marveleen; Zella M.; Joseph; Beth; and June.

"History of Wabash County, Indiana"
Clarkson W. Weesner
Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago and New York
published in 1914



DAVID EDWARD PURVIANCE
Considered either as a merchant or as an earnest and unselfish worker for community good, the career of David E. Purviance has been distinctly successful. His service as trustee of Lagro township has been of a quality that should fix his name in the history of local progress. He is senior member of the general mercantile firm of Purviance and Bartholomew at Lagro, where his active business career extends over a period of fourteen years, and he was for some years a newspaper man of Huntington county.

David E. Purviance, who is best known in the business community as Ed Purviance, was born in Huntington county, Indiana, on his father's farm, three miles north of Warren, October 28, 1868. His parents were James S. and Annie E. (Miller) Purviance, old residents of Huntington county. From his farm James Purviance moved to the county seat at Huntington, and was engaged in merchandising and the grain trade with his father, Joseph W. Purviance, who came from Ohio and was one of the pioneers of Huntington county. James Purviance also served four years during the war in Company F of the Forty-seventh Regiment of Indiana Infantry. His death occurred at the age of seventy years. After that his widow moved to Auburn, Indiana, where she still resides. Her parents also came to Indiana at an early date from Ohio. James S. and Annie E. Purviance were the parents of the following children: David E.; Fred A., who died at the age of twenty-two; Irene; Dessie, wife of Roy Haley; and Joseph W.

When D. E. Purviance was a child the family moved to Huntington, and his education was supplied by the grammar and high schools of that city. On leaving high school he moved to Andrews, and for several years was employed as a clerk in a general store. It was in Andrews that he acquired his initial experience with newspaper work, having assisted in the establishment of the Signal, a weekly paper, of which he occupied the post of editor for seven years. In the summer of 1900, Mr. Purviance moved to Lagro in Wabash county and bought the interest of John Leedy in the Leedy Brothers department store. Subsequently he acquired the interest of S. J. Leedy, and was sole proprietor for a time, and then took in Mr. Bartholomew, making the firm as above given. Mr. Bartholomew was at one time a clerk for his present partner, and has practically grown up in the present business. Purviance and Bartholomew have prospered in business, and carry a complete line of general merchandise. Their store is a popular center of trade, and is located near the electric railway, the rear of the store being directly opposite the station. Thus they occupy a very eligible location, and it is an incident of practically every hour in the business day for people to go through the Purviance store on their way to the station, and the cordial greeting which they receive has no doubt been a considerable factor in the prosperity of the concern.

On July 30, 1891, Mr. Purviance married Miss Jennie Leedy, a daughter of Samuel J. Leedy, for many years a merchant of Andrews, and whose death occurred in March, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Purviance have one son, Samuel J. He graduated from the local high school, and is now a student in the State University at Bloomington, preparing for the medical profession. Under the name Purviance and Son, he is also in the real estate and insurance business with his father, and they handle many of the transactions in city and farm property in Lagro township.

As a newspaper man in Huntington county, Mr. Purviance naturally became interested in politics and public affairs, and since moving to Lagro has continued to identify himself with local politics. A few years ago county auditor Scott Davis, appointed him to fill the unexpired term of L. S. Connor, township trustee in Lagro, and at the end of nineteen months he was elected to the office on the republican ticket. He went into the office with a majority of two votes. When it is considered that the township is normally democratic by one hundred, his political strength is evidently more than ordinary. As trustee, Mr. Purviance has a somewhat remarkable record. The people expect of a trustee that in the first place he give his attention to the schools of the township, and since Mr. Purviance took office improvements and additions have been effected which place Lagro township in the front ranks of Wabash county localities so far as school facilities are concerned. He erected the large eight-room modern school building at Lagro, which is easily the finest structure of its kind in the township and one of the best in the county. Also the joint township grade school building at Urbana has been built. Besides these two, Lagro township has erected a modern one-room district school, a building which stands as a remarkable contrast to the little log schools to which many of the parents of its scholars went for their daily instruction twenty-five or thirty years ago. In every way Mr. Purviance has looked carefully after the interests of his township, and his record as trustee is exceptionally creditable. Mr. Purviance was one of the organizers of the Citizens State Bank of Lagro, an institution which is described elsewhere in this publication. He is one of the stockholders and a member of the finance committee. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order in the Lodge at Lagro, with the Chapter and Council at Andrews, and the Knights Templar Commandery at Wabash. He is also a Scottish rite mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine at Ft. Wayne. Other fraternal associations are with the Elks Lodge at Wabash and the Lodge of Odd Fellows at Lagro.

"History of Wabash County, Indiana"
Clarkson W. Weesner
Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago and New York
published in 1914



JOHN HARVEY SCOTT
The first of the Scott family to locate in Indiana was James P., the father of John Harvey Scott, but the family has, in its activities in various ways since it became identified with the Hoosier state, come to represent in numerous ways the spirit and purpose of the old pioneer settlers of the state, who first settled within its borders in the practically uncivilized days of her existence. Today men of this family are to be found living close to nature and giving freely of their time and talents to the cultivating and development of the natural resources of the state, and not the least of these is John Harvey Scott, whose name initiates this brief review.

John Harvey Scott is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Lagro township, Wabash county, and his place is one of the most advantageously situated ones in the county, having its location on the west side of the Lagro and Manchester Pike, on the old Plank road, about three and a half miles north of Lagro. Mr. Scott is a native of Preble county, Ohio, where he was born on June 13, 1844, and he is the son of James P. and Elizabeth (Slippey) Scott, both natives of Pennsylvania who came to Ohio with their parents as young people.

The Scotts were people of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and in their early American life were seamen, for the most part. James Scott was the son of George, a sailor, as was also his grandfather, and he quit the sea when still a young man, locating in Pennsylvania. He married in that state, an English woman becoming his wife, and together they came across the Allegheny mountains in prairie schooners, the approved mode of traveling in that early day. They made the trip without escort, braving the possible dangers of the journey fearlessly, and deriving much genuine enjoyment from it, despite its untoward features. During much of their trip over the mountains they experienced the phenomena of living above the clouds, and many times saw rain falling beneath them, while they were in a dry and arid atmosphere. Reaching Ohio, they settled in Preble county, and there they spent their remaining days.

James. Scott was reared in Preble county and he came to Indiana as a young man. He was first occupied in the construction work on the canal, hauling timber and steel for the locks. His brother, George Scott, also came to Indiana about the same time, and he turned his attention to the business of trading. He amassed quite a fortune in his business relations with the Indians of the district, trading jewelry and such other gew-gaws as appealed to the credulous red men for their valuable pelts, so that he in time came to be quite wealthy. He learned the language of the various tribes with which he dealt, and was on the most intimate and friendly terms with them through all the years of his dealings with them.

James P. Scott learned much about the Hoosier state in those early years. While he was engaged in his work on the canal he was frequently compelled to make trips through Blackford county, a district that in those early days was mostly swamp, and most difficult to traverse. It frequently required as much as three days' time to get through "Kill Buck Swamp" as it was called in those days, and he too, in that time, familiarized himself to a fair degree with the Indian tongue. Later he returned to Ohio, not well enough pleased with the outlook in Indiana to continue there, and in Ohio, he married Elizabeth Slippey, bought a farm and settled down in Preble county. It was here, no doubt, that the sailor instincts of Mr. Scott began to show themselves, for he found himself impelled by a desire to move about from place to place, despite the admonitions of his sturdy and sensible wife, who admonished him with the even then old saying that "a rolling stone gathers no moss." But Mr. Scott sold his Preble county farm and returned to Indiana, buying two hundred acres in Kosciusko county. At that time the county was wholly unsettled, one might say, and Mr. Scott's nearest neighbor, a Mr. Drake, lived ten miles distant from the Scott farm. Here again did Mr. Scott's ancestry cause him a great deal of uneasiness, for he was one who could ill endure the solitude of country life, with his nearest and only neighbor ten miles away, and against the advice of Mr. Drake, who insisted that the country thereabout was bound to settle up in a few years, he sold his place and returned to Ohio. A short time later he joined his brother Charles in Huntington, Indiana, but after looking the country over decided he did not want to buy there and went to Wabash county, where he bought the farm that is now occupied by his son, John H. For his farm of a hundred and sixty acres he paid a purchase price of $500, and became the owner of a tract of swamp and timber land, practically worthless in the state it was at that time. A small shack, made of poles, and evidently the rude shelter of hunters in the vicinity, was the only thing on the place that might be called a building, and in it they began life in Wabash county.

A little time passed, and the wanderlust and discontent of which James Scott was so often a victim again seized upon him and he began to suggest a return to Ohio. Right there did the strong will and determination of Elizabeth Scott assert itself. She was unwilling to return again to Ohio, without having made good on any of the ventures forth from the Ohio home. "I will go a thousand miles further west," she said, "but not back to Ohio again, a failure." Impressed but not convinced, James Scott hesitated a while, and then, still firm in his belief that fortune awaited him in the old home state, he returned alone, expecting that his wife, when she saw he was determined, would follow him back to Ohio. But she was not one of those women who believed it her duty to follow blindly wherever her lord and master dictated, and in that instinct she was prophetic of a later generation, as is everywhere evident today in a time when one finds the feminine element ruling in the home as often as the masculine. After several weeks of waiting about in Ohio, James Scott decided that his wife was a bit more determined than he, and he returned to Indiana, fully determined to make the best of his Indiana farm.

That incident proved to be the turning point in his life up to that time the roving element had been uppermost in him, but when his wife took her stand for stability and effective work in the family, he buried the old desire to wander hither and yon in search of greener fields, and settled down to make a farm out of his swamp and timber land. The first thing he did that was indicative of the change in his spirit was to build a homelike log-cabin on the place. In 1861, he decided to build a barn, and when all was in readiness, neighbors for miles about took part in one of the biggest barn-raisings ever held in the county. A company of cavalry riding past and witnessing the "raising," wheeled and saluted and announced their intention of coming back to have supper with the barn-raisers, for they well knew what a feast was in store for the men who had donated their services to the interests of their neighbor. "We'll go down and lick the Rebs," they said, "and be back in time for supper." They whipped the Rebels, it must be said, but they failed to get back from their task in time for supper.

The new barn was prophetic of better things for James Scott, and it was not long before the recurring seasons saw it filled to overflowing with bumper crops of corn, in a country where hitherto corn had fared but poorly. In the early days hereabouts tiling and ditching was practically unthought of, and often the high water did much damage to the young corn crops. Mr. Scott was one of the first to begin ditching. In the early sixties, in a particularly wet season, he produced a bumper crop of corn which he marketed at a dollar a bushel, while the majority of his neighbors experienced a total failure in their crop because of the wet state of their land. They were quick to see that their neighbor was getting the best of them with his advanced ideas, and it was not long before every farm in the community was being tiled and ditched after the manner in which Mr. Scott had handled his land. The result was that this part of the county became famous for its phenomenal corn crops, and the credit for the achievement was rightly laid at the door of James Scott. So it was that a life that began without any great promise ended in a most successful and worthy manner, thanks to the determination of a proud woman who recognized the inherent qualities that lay dormant within her chosen mate, and by her decisive and unprecedented action called forth those qualities to the undying benefit of his community and his family . James Scott died in Lagro township at his farm home in 1883, and his wife survived him for ten years, their ages being seventy-two and eighty-two years, respectively, at the time of their passing.

To these parents were born six children. Wesley, the eldest, died in the service of the Union army during the Civil war. Mary Jane is also deceased. John Harvey is the subject of this sketch. Harriett is the widow of Samuel Pollet, and makes her home in Indianapolis. Benjamin and Eliza are both deceased.

John Harvey Scott, or "Harve" Scott, as he is more familiarly called, was a mere child when his parents made their first journey into Indiana. They made the trip with ox-team and wagon, and the father often found it necessary to go in advance of the oxen and cut down the young saplings that barred their progress on their way, so that their progress was necessarily slow. Among the earliest recollections of Mr. Scott as a child in their Indiana home is that of a little pole "shack" or house, and of at one time splitting his toe in an attempt to wield his father's axe. Other similar misfortunes of his boyhood, appearing with more than agreeable frequency, and one might almost say regularity, lead his parents and others to believe that his birth on June 13th was an ill omen. However, Mr. Scott avers that regarding his life as a whole, he has been more than ordinarily fortunate, and that he is in no wise justified in holding his birthday to have been an unlucky day.

Mr. Scott grew up on the farm there, barring brief periods when the family fortunes took them back to Ohio, and he attended the old log school at the cross roads. This was a primitive affair, indeed, and in the years that have passed since he first learned his A, B, Abs in that little cabin, he has witnessed the building of four separate schools on that spot, as the community grew and demanded better educational facilities for the youth of the township.

When Mr. Scott was about twenty-one years old he took a contract to cut five hundred cords of wood for a man in the community known as "Old Christ Speicher," at a price of one dollar a cord. He began his work with a great good will and continued in the same manner, but his enthusiasm was a little dashed by the fact that after he had cut a hundred cords his employer cut the price. He kept on, though a little discouraged, and when a second cut came, he threw down his axe and went home. For some time the young man had been cherishing a desire to "see the country," as so many young men have felt they must, and it is probable that the seafaring instinct of his forefathers was cropping up in another generation. The father, mindful of his own early experience, tried to discourage the idea of his son, citing his own case, and assuring him, as his wife had done in his own case years before, that nothing was to be gained by wandering about from place to place in search of greater opportunity. But young Scott was determined to at least see California, and it was only the pleadings of his mother that induced him to give up the project and stay at home. The father, grateful for his consent, made him a pleasing proposition and they two worked together on the home place, each sharing in the profits, until the son married in 1868. On April 17th of that year, Lucinda Brechner became his wife. She was a daughter of John Brechner, an old pioneer of the state.

Mr. Scott, after his marriage, built a new house on the home place, just back of the big barn his father had built some years before. Here they began their wedded life, and in later years he moved the house near to the old home. After the death of the mother, John H. Scott and his wife assumed the entire charge of the old farm, buying the interest of the surviving heirs, and he has here since devoted himself to general farming activities, continued successfully in the work his father began and brought to a state of perfection that insured the family a permanent income and a comfortable home. Like his father, Mr. Scott is an enthusiast on the subject of proper draining and he has put into the place more than 3,700 rods of tile, as well as doing much to promote the interest and enthusiasm of his neighbors and others in the work. He is ably assisted in his work by his son, Charles Scott, who has elected to continue on the home farm with his father, and the two work in a perfect harmony that is conducive to the most successful outcome of every enterprise they enter upon. The Scott farm is one of the best kept in the township, and its buildings measure up to the highest standard of the county, in appearance, general service and up-to-dateness.

Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Scott Wesley, is the first born. Lavina married Dora Burnsworth. Sarah is the wife of James Murphy. Wilson married Iva Loop. Eva is the wife of William Bitner. Emma is Mrs. Thomas Buckley. Flora married Robert Derf. Fannie became the wife of A. Alexander. Charles, the youngest, is his father's assistant, as stated above.

The wife and mother died in 1904 after some years of suffering and continued ill health. The husband and. wife had just completed plans to spend a year in the west, when the mother was seized by a sudden illness that ended her days. She was a woman of unusual popularity, and was widely known throughout the county. When she died her passing was mourned by many in and about Wabash county who had known and loved her for her many endearing qualities of heart and mind.

Mr. Scott is a democrat in his political affiliations, and has served his township twice as supervisor. He is one who manifests a wholesome interest in the affairs of the town and county, and his position and standing among his fellow men is secure, and in every way worthy of him.

"History of Wabash County, Indiana"
Clarkson W. Weesner
Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago and New York
published in 1914



Deb Murray