Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

SAMUEL A. MILLS. The present sheriff of Blackford county is not only filling this important office with marked circumspection and ability but he also has the distinction of being one of the first candidates of the progressive party to have been elected in the State of Indiana. He has been a resident of Blackford county form the time of his nativity, and is a member of a well known pioneer family of this section of the state. His present official preferment denotes the estimate placed upon him in a popular sense, and he is proving specially efficient as a public official.

Mr. Mills was born in Washington township, Blackford county, on the 9th of September, 1852, and is a son of Thomas G. and Nancy Ann (Lillibridge) Mills, the former of whom was born in Braxton county, West Virginia, which state was at that time an integral part of Virginia and the latter of whom was born in Providence, Rhode Island. Thomas G. Mills was a son of Samuel and Ann (Shields) Mills, both representatives of staunch Scotch lineage and both natives of Virginia, where all of their children were born and reared, the respective families having been founded in the historic Old Dominion in the colonial era. Thomas G. Mills was reared in that part of Virginia that now constitutes the State of West Virginia, and there his marriage was solemnized. To this union had been born one son and two daughters in West Virginia, and then Thomas G. Mills, accompanied by his wife and children as well as by his venerable parents, came, in 1849 or 1850, to Blackford county, Indiana, the long journey being made with team and wagon and several weeks having elapsed before the ambitious family of immigrants reached its destination. At that period the march of development in northern Indiana had not been carried far, as much of the land was still covered with the native timber and entirely unreclaimed. The Mills family obtained land in Washington township, Blackford county and the tract of 160 acres was entirely undeveloped, the former owner having made no effort to improve the property. In the midst of the wilds was erected the little log house that was to constitute the family domicile, this structure having been erected on the land purchased by Samuel Mills, grandfather of the present sheriff of the county, and the entire family having for some time occupied the one dwelling, the while Thomas G. Mills carried forward the reclamation of his farm of 160 acres. In the pioneer log house just mentioned Samuel Mills and his wife passed the residue of their lives, each attaining to advanced age. Samuel Mills was a son of John Mills, who was a patriotic soldier in the war of the Revolution, he having volunteered his services while a resident of North Carolina and his having been the distinction of attaining to the patriarchal age of one hundred and one years, the remains of this loyal soldier of the Revolution being interred in the Hadden cemetery, in Washington township, Blackford county, Indiana, a fact that indicates that when the family came to this state it was represented by four generations. His family name was Hadley, and under this name he served in the Revolution, but after the close of the war, for some reason not known to his descendants, he changed his name to Mills, which has since been retained by the generations that have followed. Thomas G. Mills developed a productive farm of ninety acres, and he was one of the substantial agriculturists and highly esteemed citizens of Washington township at the time of his death, in 1877, at the age of fifty-five years. He was a democrat in his political proclivities and took a loyal interest in public affairs of a local order. His wife was about sixty years of age at the time of her death, and they became the parents of three sons and three daughters, Mrs. Mills having also been the mother of two sons by a former marriage to Charles Stockton. One of these sons is still living, Charles Stockton, who is a resident of Ohio, and the other son, Edward Stockton, died at the age of seventy years. Of the second marriage the only two now living are Samuel A., of this review, and his younger brother, Bluford A., the latter being now the head of a department in the Indiana Epileptic Village, at New Castle, Henry county.

The present sheriff of Blackford county was reared to the sturdy discipline of the old homestead farm, in Washington township, and his educational advantages were limited, owing to the exigencies of time and place. He attended the pioneer schools of the neighborhood during the winter terms and in the summer seasons he early began to contribute his quota to the work of the farm, so that he soon learned the dignity and value of consecutive industry. The Sheriff recalls that in his boyhood days his shoes were made by an itinerant shoemaker and for the purpose was utilized the hide of a calf that had been on each occasion of requirement killed the year previously, so that the leather might be properly tanned in the pioneer tannery at Hartford City. At times certain delays in the tannery deprived the ambitious youngster of the necessary foot-covering and prevented him from entering school at the opening of the term.

Mr. Mills continued to be actively identified with agricultural pursuits in his native county until 1879, when he went to Kansas and located in Smith county. He thus became a pioneer of the Sunflower State, but its attractions and inducements seemed to him so much less than those of Indiana that at the end of one year he returned to Blackford county, this one digression having been his own abatement of allegiance to the place of his birth. He became a successful farmer in Licking township, where he continued his operations until 1902, when he was appointed superintendent of the county poor house and farm, to the management of which he devoted himself, with marked efficiency, for the ensuing eight years. After his retirement from this position he passed two years on his well improved farm of eighty acres, in Jackson township, and in the autumn of 1912, coincident with the national election, he was chosen sheriff of his native county, the duties of the office having been assumed January 1, 1914. He received a gratifying majority at the polls, and this was the most significant by reason of the fact that he was candidate on the ticket of the newly organized progressive party, to which he had transferred his allegiance, his political affiliation prior to that time having been with the democratic party. He is affiliated with Knights of the Modern Maccabees and he has a host of friends in the county that has been his home during the course of his entire life.

Mr. Mills first wedded Miss Mary Ann Tatman, who was born in Ohio and who came to Blackford county with her parents when she was a girl. She died when about thirty-five years of age, and was survived by two sons and two daughters, concerning whom the following brief record is entered: Bessie M. is the wife of Lawrence L. Fortner, a successful farmer of Washington township, and of their eight children six are living; Francis M. died at the age of nineteen years, having been at the time a student in a business college; Alice was twenty-one years of age at the time of her death; and Lemuel L. died at the age of fifteen years. On November 14, 1892, Mr. Mills married Miss Esther Elvina West, who was born and reared in Tennessee but who was a resident of Crawfordsville, Montgomery county, Indiana, at the time of her marriage, no children having been born of this union.

Blackford and Grant Counties, Indiana A Chronicle of their People Past and Present with Family Lineage and Personal Memoirs Compiled Under the Editorial Supervision of Benjamin G. Shinn
Volume I Illustrated
The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago and New York 1914
Submitted by Peggy Karol

AARON L. MCVICKER.. It was in the first years of the decade of the thirties that the McVicker family was established in Blackford county. The different generations have produced industrious and honored citizens, men and women of substantial worth, well able to carry the burdens of individual and social responsibilities, and as few families have lived longer in this section, so likewise the esteem in which they are held has been increasing with length of years.

The founder of the family in America was Archibald McVicker, who was born in Scotland and so far as information is available on that point emigrated to America about one hundred and twenty-five years ago. He subsequently became one of the pioneers of Guernsey county, Ohio, married there, established a family, and thus gave origin to the different generations that have succeeded him. He was a farmer, a man of fine physical constitution and oftentimes took the lead in community affairs. He and his wife both died in Guernsey county.

Next in line of descent comes Aaron McVicker, who was born on the old homestead farm in Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1811. In 1832, having reached manhood and ambitious to establish himself in a new country, he walked all the distance from Ohio to Blackford county, and entered a tract of government land in Section 10 of Licking township, six miles from the courthouse in Hartford City. He was alone, and for some days swung his axe in the native forest, felled the trees and with the aid of some friendly neighbors put up a rough log cabin. That work completed, he returned on foot to Guernsey county, and soon afterwards celebrated his marriage to Elizabeth Bruner. She was born probably in Ohio and of Irish stock, and was reared by foster parents in Guernsey county. In the spring of 1833 this young couple set out with wagon and team and made the long journey overland until they arrived in Blackford county, and took up their abode in the cabin which the husband had built the preceding year. From the wild tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land their united labors eventually created a good farm, and prosperity smiled upon them. When they journeyed from Ohio they had as companions two brothers of Aaron McVicker, Joseph, who entered land in Delaware county, and David who established a home in Grant county, besides their sister Mrs. Anna Lyons, who also went to Grant county. All these reared families, and their descendants are still found in the three counties named.

As the years passed the old log cabin was supplanted by one of hewed logs, and that in turn by a good frame dwelling house, in which Aaron and his wife spent their last years. He died in 1861 and his wife in November, 1876, she being then past sixty years of age. All their years had been passed as hard workers, and both were devoted to the religion of the old-school Baptist church, while in politics he was a democrat. The children of Aaron and Elizabeth (Bruner) McVicker were: Mary A., who married James A. Gadbury, and died leaving a family of two sons and two daughters, one daughter having preceded her in death; David Cyrus, who died about six years ago, had one son and two daughters, and his second wife, who was a Mrs. Stevens, and whose maiden name was Harrington, is still living; Eliza married Randolph Boney, lives in Grant county, and is the mother of three children; the next in the family was James A. McVicker; Harriet is the wife of Adison Atkinson, a farmer of Licking township, and their children are Grant, Corey, George, Joseph, Keturah, Alonzo, Joseph, and Harvey; Nancy died unmarried when past fifty years of age; Alice died after her marriage to George Powers who is also deceased, and their children were Mark, Anna, Pearl and Fred; Eli is a farmer and miner in Colorado, and by his marriage to Malinda Gassup Collins, has a daughter Maud; Joanna married Eli Hamilton, both being now deceased, and they left children, Frank, Claud and Pearl.

James A. McVicker, of the third generation of this family in America, was born in Blackford county on the old homestead above mentioned on September 27, 1840. He is still living, in his seventy-fourth year, one of the oldest native sons of this county. As a boy he attended the primitive country schools, but in the discipline of hard work in the clearing and improvement of a pioneer farm. He still owns the old homestead on which he was reared, and has long been known as one of the most substantial farmers in that part of the county. The house he occupies is the one built by his father many years ago, though many improvements have since been made. James A. McVicker is a prohibitionist and applies to his personal practice the principles which he would have govern in community and state. His activities have never extended outside of his farm and family, though in community esteem he stands very high.

James A. McVicker was married in his native township and county to Sarah C. Cunningham, who was born within a mile of her present home on August 13, 1844. She belongs to the old Cunningham family that was likewise among the early settlers of Licking township, and full details concerning them will be found elsewhere in this publication. Mr. and Mrs. James A. McVicker are both members of the German Baptist church, and he is treasurer of his local society. Their children were: Aaron L.; Mary Lavina, who is the wife of John R. Carman, a Blackford county farmer, and their children are Carl, Alma, Esther and Jason; Julia A. died at the age of twenty-one years six months after her marriage to Riley R. Reasoner; Uretta J. died at the age of eleven years; the next child in infancy; George M., who is a farmer in Licking township and married Cora Watts, and has children, Leroy, Cecil, Otto and Catherine; Ella M. is the wife of Joseph Merrett, a carpenter of Hartford City, and their children are Crystal, Erlin and Lucile; Alice died unmarried at the age of twenty-seven years; Nettie is the wife of O. M. McAdams of Bridgeport, Illinois, and they have a son Bernard; Ida is unmarried and lives at home.

Aaron L. McVicker, whose name appears at the head of this article, was born on the old farm established more than eighty years ago by his grandfather, still occupied by his father, on March 10, 1864. His early youth was spent in the country where his family had so long been known, and he found the source of his education in the local schools. His years until twenty-nine were spent on the old farm, then moved to Hartford City, and for the past nineteen years has been identified with the Sneath Glass Company, working in the different departments and still holding a position with that important industry. Mr. McVicker is a prohibitionist in politics, and affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees.

On March 9, 1890, he married Sarah E. Hollingshead, a relationship which brings another pioneer Blackford county family into this sketch. She was born in Delaware county near Granville July 17, 1868, was educated in her native county, and lived a few years in Blackford county before her marriage. Mrs. McVicker is devoted to the work of her home, and is the mother of one daughter, Esther Grace, who was born August 16, 1891. She graduated from the Hartford City high school in 1909, studied music in school and later under private instruction, and is now the wife of James A. Lewis, who was born in Kentucky and is a machinist and electrician with the Sneath Glass Company. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis live at 542 W. Kickapoo street. They have two children: Harold Paul Lewis, born March 8, 1911; and Mary Louise, born October 12, 1913. Mr. McVicker and his family are all active in the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is serving on the board of stewards.

J. FRANK KELLEY. Many of the successful farmers of Blackford and Grant counties have resided on their homesteads all of their lives, and have gained all their experience in tilling the land on the property they now own. In this way they have gained a thorough knowledge of soil and climate conditions and are ably fitted to judge which product will prove the most profitable crop. J. Frank Kelley has resided on the homestead farm in sections 8, 16 and 17, Washington township, all of his life, and owns and controls 280 acres of fine land, the greater part of which is under a high state of cultivation. Mr. Kelley grows a large acreage of corn, wheat, oats and rye, with a high average in bushels in all kinds of grain, although he feeds almost all that he grows, with the exception of hay, having good grades of cattle, red and black hogs and Polled and Short Horn cattle. The land is well drained, ditched and fenced, and its modern buildings and equipment reflect the progressive spirit and individuality of its owner.

Mr. Kelley was born about one mile from his present farm, February 15, 1874, and was educated in the public schools and at the Danville normal school. Reared on the farm, he early decided upon a career as a tiller of the soil, and at the age of thirty years took over the management of the home place, of which he has been in charge ever since. Mr. Kelley is a son of William H. and Rebecca E. (Haines) Kelley, natives of Ohio who were married in Grant county, Indiana, and spent their lives after marriage in Blackford county on the farm which they improved, and on which they resided until their retirement. At that time they removed to Pennville, Jay county, Indiana, where Mr. Kelley looks after his extensive agricultural interests. The mother, who died in 1905, at the age of sixty-one years, was a daughter of James A. and Nancy E. (Smith) Haines, who came from Fayette county, Ohio, to Grant county, Indiana, at an early day, and secured land from the Government, on which they spent the balance of their lives, the father dying when seventy years of age, and the mother when about eighty. They were consistent members of the Methodist church, and in his political affiliations Mr. Haines was first a whig and later a republican. William H. Kelley was a son of Benjamin F. and Rebecca (Hall) Kelley, of Virginia, who came to Ohio as young married people and subsequently removed to Blackford county, Indiana, with their family, entering government land in section 17, Washington township. Here they passed the remainder of long and useful lives, the grandfather dying when about seventy-five years of age, and the grandmother some years before. They were prominent pioneer members of the United Brethren church, in which both were very active. Mr. Kelley was first a whig and later a republican, and his descendants have been identified with the latter party.

J. Frank Kelley is one of two children, his elder brother being Prof. Luther E. Kelley, superintendent of schools of Montpelier, Indiana. He married Elizabeth Speace, a Montpelier girl and they have one daughter, Elizabeth, who is now eleven years of age. J. Frank Kelley was married at Bluffton, Indiana, to Miss Myrtle E. Palmer, who was born in Washington township, Blackford county, Indiana, and educated in the public schools of this township and the Marion Normal school. She is a daughter of William W. and Nancy R. (Tharp) Palmer, natives of Ohio, who are now well-known farming people of Wells county. Mr. and Mrs. Kelley have had the following children: Grace E., who was born in October, 1905, and is now attending the public schools; Ruth R., born January 12, 1907; Esther C., born July 1, 1908; and Frances P., born February 13, 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Kelley are attendants of the Methodist Episcopal church which they attend at Roll. He was for many years a republican, but with the birth of the progressive party transferred his support to that organization. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, at Roll, and has passed the chairs in that order, being past chancellor thereof and having represented his lodge as a delegate to the Grand Lodge of the state.

ALFRED MILES. Nearly three-quarters of a century have passed since Alfred Miles came to Blackford county and settled on the farm home on which he now resides. The oldest man in the county, he has watched its growth and development with the eye of a proprietor, and his contributions to its welfare and advancement have been of a nature to entitle him to a place among its most honored citizens. Although now at the remarkable age of ninety-five years he retains his interest in the affairs of the community in which he has lived so long and which he has served so faithfully and well.

Mr. Miles belongs to the distinguished Miles family which produced that great military figure, Gen. Nelson A. Miles. He was born in the state of New Jersey, April 7, 1819, and is a son of William and Keturah (Casterline) Miles, the former born in Massachusetts in 1795 and the latter in New Jersey in 1797. They were married in the latter state and in 1824 left Jersey for Steuben county, New York, where they made their home for a period of ten years. In 1834 they came overland with teams in Indiana and first located in Fayette county, but in February, 1841, moved on to Washington township, Blackford county and settled on virgin soil in section 32, where the father, purchased a tract of eighty acres of land. The parents of William Miles, Thomas and Mary (Underwood) Miles, came on from their New York state home, joined their son in Indiana, and there passed away in advanced years. During the Revolutionary War Thomas Miles enlisted for service in the American army, following the Bunker Hill battle. He is reported to have never been hurt or captured, the greater part of his service being confined to duty as a home guard. He and his wife were laid to rest in the Miles Cemetery in Washington township, a plot laid out by later members of the family on their farm.

William Miles continued to be engaged in farming throughout the remainder of his life in Washington township, but died in January, 1875, aged about eighty years, at Rockford, Illinois. He was a Jacksonian democrat, as had been his father. Although not a member of any religious denomination, he was a believer in the good accomplished by churches, and was a ready contributor to movements of a worthy nature. Mrs. Miles, who died November 3, 1842, in Washington township, at the age of forty-five years, was a member of the Free Will Baptist church. Six sons and four daughters were born to this worthy couple, of whom two sons and one daughter were married. Alfred is the only survivor.

Alfred Miles was a child of five years old when he made the long overland trip to Indiana. He was twenty-two years old when he came to Blackford county, and from that time to the present has been connected with its agricultural interests, a period of seventy-three years. Mr. Miles is the owner of a farm of 145 acres, in section 32, and 80 acres of the old William Miles homestead is still owned by him. Although he is ninety-five years of age, he still retains his faculties in a remarkable degree, is active in body and alert in mind, and is able to accomplish more than many men who are thirty years younger. His memory is excellent, and he recalls readily the scenes and incidents of the early days when neighbors were few and far between, and the county, still in its infancy, gave but little promise of the wonderful development which was to take place within its borders. He has led a clean and industrious life and to this may be attributed his good health and great age. Like his father, he has been a lifelong democrat, but has not desired public office and has been content to do his full duty as a citizen, without asking political favors of any kind. He is a devout and God-fearing man, but has held to no particular creed, supporting all churches and charitable organizations.

Mr. Miles was married in Grant county, Indiana, in 1845, to Miss Lucinda Galispie, who was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, August 13, 1820. She was a young lady of seventeen years when she accompanied her parents to Grant county, they being James and Mary (Peter) Galispie, who came to Grant county in 1837, located on a new farm, which they improved and cultivated, and passed the remaining years of their lives in Monroe township, the father passing away when eighty-four years of age and the mother when several years younger. Mrs. Miles passed away at her home in Washington township, May 22, 1906, when in her eighty-sixth year. She had been ever devoted wife and mother, and was able to assist her husband materially in his efforts to gain success. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Miles, namely: Jefferson and George, both of whom passed away in youth; Junius, a successful farmer of Washington township, who makes his home with his father, married Almira Townsend, and has had four children,�James, Carrie and Harry, who are married and have children, and Ella, who is deceased; and Rebecca, who is the wife of Andrew J. Townsend, a farmer of Grant county, has four daughters and four sons,�Elmore, deceased, George N., Franklin and Thomas, Lucy, Gertie and Polly, who are all married and Mary, who is single and resides with her parents.

Deb Murray