Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

ADMORE A. THOMAS. For twenty years Admore A. Thomas has been a resident of Licking township, Blackford county, and during fifteen years of this time has been located on his present farm of ninety-five acres located in section 18. Mr. Thomas, who is familiarly known as Adam Thomas, has devoted the greater part of his active career to farming and stock raising operations, and the success which he has gained has been commensurate with the labors he has performed. Mr. Thomas was born in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1863, and is a son of Jacob and Mary (Yengst) Thomas, both of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. His father, an agriculturist by vocation, resided in Pennsylvania until the year 1863, when he went to Washington county, Kansas, and there his death occurred in 1865, when he was thirty-eight years of age. He was a hard and active worker, and his death was caused by a sunstroke. Following her husband's demise, Mrs. Thomas went back to Pennsylvania, where she now resides in Lebanon county, near the city of that name, is seventy-eight years of age, and is suffering from paralysis. She is a member of the Lutheran church, to which her husband belonged. Admore A. Thomas is the youngest of five children born to his parents: Mary E., who is the wife of Frank Brown, a farmer of Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, and has one daughter,—Maybell G.; Alice, who is the wife of George Reifine, living on a farm in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, has three sons and three daughters; Sallie, who became the wife of Elmer Shawley, living on a Pennsylvania farm, and has two daughters; Cora, the wife of Mr. Heisie, a Pennsylvania farmer, and now the mother of a family; Minnie, the wife of a prominent Lebanon county farmer and public official; and Admore A. A stepdaughter, Lillie, became the wife of George Like, and has one son, William, and a daughter, Amanda, and lives at Lebanon, Pennsylvania, with Mrs. Thomas.

Admore A. Thomas was reared and educated in his native county, and as a youth of eighteen years left the parental roof, and for a short time resided in Kansas. Later, for fourteen years he was associated with the Fort Wayne Gas Line, and from his wages saved enough means to purchase a farm, upon which he at one time had two gas and oil wells, although it is now devoted exclusively to farming and stock raising. This land consists of ninety-five acres, all improved with the exception of four acres of wood, and is improved with excellent farm buildings, and machinery and equipment of the latest manufacture. The property possesses a pleasing and attractive appearance, the large white residence standing in the midst of other structures, and everything upon the farm is in the best of repair. Mr. Thomas has thirty acres of corn, fifteen acres of oats, some wheat and some rye, and breeds good cattle, horses and hogs, being known as an excellent judge of stock. He is a business man of more than ordinary ability, and through honorable dealing and integrity has gained an enviable reputation.

Mr. Thomas was married in Blackford county, Indiana to Miss Amanda McVicker, who was born in Delaware county, Indiana, in 1860, a daughter of Dennis and Polly (Marshall) McVicker, both of whom now live on a farm in section 7, Licking township. They were the parents of two children: Mrs. Thomas; and David, who was married and left three children at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have one son, Charles D., born September 2, 1899, who is now being educated in the public schools.

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

CHARLES L. SMITH. Prominently identified with a line of enterprise that has important bearing upon the civic and material prosperity of every community, this well known and honored citizen of Montpelier, Blackford county, has for nearly twenty years been one of the leading factors in real estate operations in the county, and his fair and honorable dealings have gained to him popular confidence and esteem, the while his operations have proved of distinctive benefit to his home city and county. He has done much to further the social and material progress of Montpelier and is know as one of its most progressive and public-spirited citizens.

Mr. Smith was born on a farm in Jefferson township, Wells county, Indiana, on the 22nd of February, 1870, and his advancement in the world has been the result of his own ability and efforts, as he became largely dependent upon his own resources while yet a mere boy. His initial experience was in connection with the arduous work of the farm, and in the meanwhile he attended the district school whenever opportunity offered. As a youth he was employed in a bakery and confectionery store in his home county, and later he was a traveling salesman for three years. Since his retirement from this vocation he has maintained his residence in Montpelier, where he has found ample opportunity for the winning of definite success. His father, Leroy L. Smith, was born in Ohio, in 1843, and was a son of Leonard Smith, who was of New England stock, but who was born in Ohio, as a member of a pioneer family of that state. He was reared and married in Ohio and finally came to Wells county, Indiana, where he reclaimed a good farm from the forest wilds, both he and his wife attaining venerable age, and both continuing their residence in Wells county until their death. They were members of the United Brethren church and Leonard Smith was first a Whig and later a Republican in politics. His old homestead farm is now owned by his son George.

Leroy L. Smith was a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil War, as a member of an Indiana volunteer regiment. He served through the last year of the war and though he took part in numerous engagements he was never wounded. He and his wife now reside in the city of Fort Wayne and they are in excellent health, though he has attained to the age of seventy years. Of the ten children, two died in infancy, and of the number the eldest is Charles L., whose name introduces this sketch. Of the three sons and five daughters that are living, all are married, except one of the sons.

Mr. Smith has been a resident of Montpelier since 1894, and , as already stated, he has here built up a large and prosperous real estate business, in which he handles both farm and town property. He is a Republican in his political allegiance, is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Improved Order of Red Men, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Montpelier, of which he is a trustee.

In 1896 was solemnized the marriage, at Montpelier, of Mr. Smith to Miss Sarah J. Alexander, daughter of James Alexander, a representative farmer and member of a sterling pioneer family of Wells county. He lived retired in Montpelier until his death. At this juncture is given record of the names and respective dates of birth of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Frederick A., January 7, 1897; Leroy E., February 13, 1901; Florence E., November 1, 1903. All of the children are attending the public schools in their home city and the eldest, Frederick A., is a student in the high school.

DR. JUDGE COREY KIRKPATRICK. High on the list of medical men who have achieved success in their calling in Blackford county, is found the name of Dr. Judge Corey Kirkpatrick, who for some years has been engaged in practice at Roll. A man of broad and comprehensive training in his own profession and other lines, he is accounted one of the substantial citizens of his community and one who lends strength and substance to its importance as a center of education and professional activity. Doctor Kirkpatrick belongs to a family which traces its an cestry back in Scotland to the days of the great Bruce, it being traditional that one of the early Kirkpatricks fought under that warrior and was named and knighted by him upon the field of battle, exclaiming: "You are no longer named Kilpatrick, but Kirkpatrick, " as he had saved the Church of Scotland from the Church of England. From this early ancestor Doctor Kirkpatrick is removed nine or ten generations.

Judge Thomas Kirkpatrick, the great-grandfather of Doctor Kirkpatrick, was an associate judge of Guernsey county, Ohio, where he settled on coming to the United States from Scotland. He married Mary Henthorne, daughter of William Henthorne, of the old Pennsylvania family of that name and among their children was William M. Kirkpatrick, the grandfather of Doctor Kirkpatrick, who was born December 31, 1811. He married Margaret Crothers, who was born in 1812, daughter of James Crothers, one of the early government surveyors of this part of Indiana, who laid out the old government lines. In 1841, William M. Kirkpatrick came to Indiana with his family and entered land in Van Buren township, Grant county, where he became the owner of one-half section of land, upon which he lived until 1886. At that time he retired to Landisville, and there his death occurred in 1889, when he was nearly seventy-nine years of age, Mrs. Kirkpatrick having passed away September 1, 1887. Mr. Kirkpatrick was a farmer all of his life and one of the influential and prominent men of his community. He was an early member of the Presbyterian church, but later with his wife joined Union Chapel, of the United Brethren church. He was first a whig and later a republican, and became a stalwart abolitionist.

William K. Kirkpatrick, the eldest son and third child of his parents, was born July 1, 1841, and grew up and was educated in Van Buren township, Grant county. He was given meager advantages, as were his brothers and sisters, two of the latter, Margaret and Susan, becoming well known educators of Grant county. His brother, George W., was a well known veterinary surgeon, and in addition to George there are two sisters, Eliza and Martha, living, and two sisters deceased. William K. Kirkpatrick was married in Van Buren township, Grant county, Indiana, to Minerva J. Corey, an aunt of Dr. Charles W. Corey. She was born in that township, December 13, 1842, and was there reared and educated, and died March 7, 1888. Mr. Kirkpatrick, hale and hearty in spite of his seventy-three years, still resides on his farm. He is a republican in politics, and a prominent and influential man of his community, where he is held in the highest esteem by those who have had occasion to come into contact with him in any way. He is an official member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he has been a trustee for twenty years, and built as such the first Methodist Episcopal church in Van Buren township.

Judge Corey Kirkpatrick is the eldest living and third son of the children of his parents, having two brothers, William M. and Otto L., who are married and progressive agriculturists of Van Buren township, and the latter also a vulcanizer and a sister, Lulla, who is the wife of Morgan Beasley, a barber of Warren, Indiana, who has a daughter, Martha, attending school; one sister, Lelah, died October 28, 1912, and left one daughter, Margaret, nine years old. Judge C. Kirkpatrick was born on the old original Kirkpatrick homestead in Van Buren township, Grant county, Indiana, September 19, 1867, and was educated in the public schools, from which he was graduated in 1886. Returning to the home farm, he remained until 1890 and then went to Nebraska and was for one year a student in the normal college. In September, 1892, he went to Aberdeen, South Dakota, where he taught until 1896, and then went to the state normal school at Winona, Minnesota, where he also attended for a time. Returning to South Dakota, he remained one year, and then came back to Indiana, and attended the normal school at Valparaiso. Subsequently he went back to South Dakota, where he was engaged in educational work five years, four years as principal of the Bath high school. On September 1, 1903, Doctor Kirkpatrick came back to Indiana to commence his medical studies, having long cherished an ambition to be a physician. Entering the Indiana Medical College, now known as the medical department of the State University, he remained there for several years, and subsequently was a student in the medical department of Cornell University. He also studied at the university at Buffalo, New York, and graduated in 1907 from the Indiana Medical College, at once establishing himself in practice at Roll, where he has a well-appointed and well-equipped office and a beautiful eight-room residence, which he has largely rebuilt since purchasing. His practice has steadily advanced in size and importance, and he is now accounted one of Blackford county's ablest medical men. Doctor Kirpatrick is a member of the American Medical Association, the Indiana Medical Society, the Blackford County Medical Society and the Indiana Eighth District Medical Society, and the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow-practitioners has been evidenced by his election to the presidency of the county society from 1911 to 1912. He keeps fully abreast of the various advances continually being made in his calling, and spends much of his own time in research and investigation. In politics, Doctor Kirkpatrick is independent; he has always taken an interest in the welfare of his adopted place, and is foremost in movements calculated to be of benefit to its people.

Doctor Kirkpatrick was married at Roll, Indiana, to Mrs. Martha M. Bordner, nee Griffith, who was born in Jackson township, Wells county, Indiana, and reared here and for eight years was manager for this end of the Mount Zion Telephone Company, the interests of which she still looks after, being a thoroughly capable business woman. Her only child, Dale, by her first marriage, died at the age of four years. She is a member of the Church of God, while the Doctor belongs to the Methodist Episcopal faith. He belongs to the Encampment of the Independent Order of Off Fellows, in South Dakota.

ABRAHAM HAHN. During his long residence within the borders of Blackford county, Abraham Hahn has become one of his community's substantial citizens. From small beginnings he has drawn about him for the comfort and happiness of his later years such substantial compensations as wealth, the affectionate devotion of his well established children, the credit for having contributed materially to the general progress of his section, and the confidence and good will of those among whom he has lived for so long.

Mr. Hahn is descended from German ancestry, his grandfather, Jacob Hahn, being a native of the Fatherland who emigrated to America prior to the Revolutionary War, or about the time of that struggle, and located in Virginia. Later he served as a soldier in the American army during the War of 1812. He was married in Virginia and then went to Pennsylvania, where his children, Jacob, Jr., John and Hannah were born. All married, spent their lives and died in Pennsylvania, except Jacob Hahn. Jr. He was born in Pennsylvania about the year 1780, and there married Rachel Shoemaker, a native of Maryland who had moved to the Keystone state with her parents in young womanhood. After the birth of two children, Jacob III, and Margaret, who were born shortly after 1800, the family moved to Ohio. The journey, over a long and circuitous route, was a tedious and hazardous one, but eventually the little party of emigrants settled in what is now the vicinity of Greenville, Darke county, the father taking up government land at a time when Indians were still numerous. Wild game was to be found in plenty, and Mr. Hahn, an able hunter, not alone supplied the family larder, but also hunted as a vocation and conveyed produce to the Indians in the vicinity of Peru. It was not unusual at that time for the white hunters to be held by the red men, and Mr. Hahn was thus made a captive for three years, but so fearless and brave was he, and possessed of such prodigious strength, that he won the respect of the Indians, whom he frequently led on their hunting trips. Upon securing his release, Mr. Hahn returned to his family in Darke county, but after his daughter had died of the ague, he decided to seek a more healthful country, and accordingly moved to Muskingum county, in the same state, where he engaged in teaming to Cincinnati, taking grain to that city and exchanging it for produce of various kinds for the early settlers. He spent a number of years in this vocation and in farming, but in 1852 pushed still farther west, locating in Jay county, Indiana, where he passed the balance of his life as a farmer, and died about the year 1875, being then ninety-eight years old. Mr. Hahn was a remarkable man in many ways. Possessed of wonderful strength, it is related of him that he could drink from the bung hole of a whiskey barrel raised by the chimes, and could pitch a barrel of salt easily and throw it into a wagon. About the time of the War of 1812 he had been captain of a mustering company at Greenville, Ohio, although he did not go to the front in that struggle. He had never missed a meal until within a few days of his death, and his doctor bill during the ninety-eight years of his life would not have totaled more than five dollars. Mr. Hahn voted for John Quincy Adams, and all the democratic presidential candidates who followed during lifetime, and his religious connection was with the United Brethren church. During his residence in Ohio he was a factor in the opening of the Walington Canal, running from Coshocton, Ohio. Mrs. Hahn died when seventy-five years of age, in Madison county, Indiana, having been the mother of the following children: Jacob, Margaret, George, Hannah, Elizabeth, Isaac, Jackson, Abraham and Rachel, all of whom grew up and married, and all, except one of whom lived to be past sixty years of age. Those living at this time are: Abraham, of this review; Elizabeth, the widow of Elijah Cox, whose husband died recently at the age of ninety-eight years, she being a resident of Oklahoma, and the mother of several married children; and Rachel, of Red Key, Jay county, Indiana, the widow of John Bechnel, and the mother of several married children.

Abraham Hahn was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, May 6, 1837, and was a lad of fifteen years when he accompanied the family to Jay county. There he grew to manhood, and subsequently purchased his first land for a farm in Harrison township, Delaware county, a tract of forty acres, all in its wild state, on which he erected a log hut and made some clearing. Later he purchased a tract of forty acres in Jefferson township, Grant county, which he improved partially, and still later bought forty acres near Upland, in the same county. In 1885 Mr. Hahn bought eighty acres in section 24, Licking township, and on that property continued to make his home for a quarter of a century, selling out in 1910 for $6,300, and at that time buying forty acres of land where he now resides. He has a well improved property and a comfortable home, and although now retired from the active labors of life still takes a keen interest in affairs, and is active in body and alert in mind.

During the Civil War Mr. Hahn served in the Union army for eighteen months, and still bears scars of the great struggle between the North and South. He was a member of Company C. One Hundred and Fortieth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Capt. H. H. Darter, Col. Thomas J. Brady, and took part in numerous heavy engagements, being present at the final surrender of General Johnson's army at Greensboro. He was mustered out of the service July 11, 1865. Mr. Hahn was known as a brave and faithful soldier, always to be found in the thick of the battle, and during his service lost an eye and the ends of two fingers. He still loves to meet his old comrades of the stirring days of the ‘sixties, and is a popular member of Capt. Jacob Stahl Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Hartford City.

Mr. Hahn was married in 1862, in Delaware county, Indiana, to Miss Lavina E. Hill, who was born in Henry county, Indiana, November 4, 1840, and reared and educated there, daughter of John and Nancy (Connor) Hill, natives, respectively of Ohio and Virginia. Mr. Hill had been married before, in Ohio, but after coming to Henry county, Indiana, his first wife died, and he then married Miss Connor. Following this, Mr. Hill returned to Ohio, but in a short time again came to Henry county, where he owned a farm in Harrison township, until selling out and going to Delaware county. In his later years he moved to Grant county, and there Mrs. Hill died at fifty-four years of age. Mr. Hill passed away at the home of his eldest daughter, Mrs. Rachel Nicodemus, near Peru, when past ninety years of age.

Mr. and Mrs. Hahn have been the parents of the following children: John, who died at the age of twenty-one; Josephine, who died at the age of nine; and Truman, who died in infancy; Frank, a farmer of Jackson township, who married Martha Hartley, and has three children,—Lula Josephine, Vessie G., and Locia M., all at home; Emsley, living at Mill Grove, Indiana, married Bertie Smith, and has one son,—Asel F.; Minnie, the wife of Charles Younce, a groceryman of Hartford City, and has two children,—Clifford A. and Dorthea A.; Lillie, who married Elmer Pike, of Montpelier, and has two daughters,—Violet and Helen; and Mathias, who married Carrie M. Cooper, lives on the old homestead, and has a daughter,—Charlotte Gertrude.

LEWIS C. JOHNSON. As postmaster of Hartford City since 1910, Lewis C. Johnson has performed a large amount of useful public service for his home city, and has managed the affairs of his office to the best advantage and convenience of the citizens. Though a native of Wells county, Mr. Johnson has been a resident of Blackford county many years, and the family name has been identified with worthy citizenship and business and professional ability throughout its residence.

Mr. Johnson received his first commission as postmaster of Hartford City on July 21, 1910, and after a short service was re-commissioned on January 1, 1911. The Hartford City office is of the second class, and Mr. Johnson has had the responsibilities of enlarging and perfecting the efficiency of his organization, largely due to the introduction of new features of service, notably the parcels post, and also the extension and co-ordination of the rural delivery service. He has an assistant and four clerks, and four city carriers. Seven rural routes radiate from Hartford City.

Lewis C. Johnson was born June 9, 1865, in Jackson township of Wells county, was liberally educated for his time, and in 1884 was granted a license to teach. It was as an educator that he was best known for many years, and his efficient work in that profession is still well remembered by hundreds of his old pupils. He was engaged in teaching in Wells county until 1892, when he settled at Montpelier, in Blackford county, and did individual work as a teacher, and also as a principal until 1900. For a little more than two years Mr. Johnson was employed in a bureau of the department of the interior, and in the fall of 1902 was elected county auditor of Blackford county, taking up his official duties on January 1, 1903. During the four years spent at the court house, in Hartford City, Mr. Johnson made many friends in the county seat, and at the close of his term he became cashier of the First National Bank. That was his work until he took up his duties as postmaster.

Mr. Johnson is a grandson of Milton Johnson and a son of Percival G. Johnson, both of whom were born in Ohio. His grandfather was a substantial pioneer farmer of Greene county, Ohio, where he married. He died in Blackford when about sixty-five years old. He and his wife were both members of the Christian church, and in politics he was a whig. Percival G. Johnson, who was born in Greene county, Ohio, November 7, 1835, grew up as a farmer, and in his young manhood moved to Indiana, and in Wells county was married to Margaret Cloud. He is now living a retired farmer at Montpelier in Blackford county, and is enjoying the fruits of a well spent life. In politics, a republican, he has often participated in public affairs, and he and his wife are members of the Christian church. They were the parents of two sons and four daughters: Emma, who died leaving three children; Elma, who lives in Montpelier, and has three living children; Lewis C.; Loetta, who died leaving two children; Winfield W., who is an oil worker in Wells county, and has four children; and D. L., who died in early childhood.

Mr. Lewis C. Johnson was married in Wells county, Indiana, in 1886, to Miss Catherine L. Knott, who was born in Indiana and received her education in Wells county. The oldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson was Zeffie E., who died at the age of six months. Their daughter, E. Dale, who is a graduate of the Hartford City high school, is now the wife of James C. Lucas of Hartford City, and their daughter, Catherine, was born February 14, 1913. The son, Lewis Sydney, born October 18, 1904, is still in the grade schools. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are active members of the Christian church of Hartford City, and he serves on the official board. He is a Republican, and affiliates with Hartford City Lodge No. 135 of the Knights of Pythias.

Deb Murray