Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

JAMES E. MILLIKAN, A Montpelier businessman whose career as a merchant makes his name so familiar as to require no introduction, James Millikan has spent all his life in eastern Indiana, and his family has had active and useful relations with this part of the state since pioneer times.

James E. Millikan was born on a farm near Newcastle, Henry county, November 13, 1874, a son of Matthew R. and Ararninta (Davis) Millikan. His father was born near the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the year I826, and when eleven years of age accompanied his parents to the wilderness of Henry county, Indiana. In that county grandfather William Millikan reclaimed a farm from the virgin forest and lived there to enjoy the fruits of his labor into declining years. Matthew R. Millikan grew up in Henry county and the active years of his life were marked by successful management of farming interests, and in that time he made the old homestead one of the model places in the county. After the success that came from business and the esteem from his kindly relationship with the community, he passed away July 12, 1912. His wife, who died July 19, 1909, was a member of a prominent pioneer family of Henry county. Matthew R. Millikan was strong in his allegiance to the democratic party, and his religious faith was that of the Baptist church, while his wife was a member of the Christian denomination.

James E. Millikan had the wholesome environment of the country for his youth, and has made his way to success largely through his own efforts. From the district schools he took up the practical work of a farm, and in 1900 graduated from the Vorhees College of Indianapolis. The following two years were spent as a teacher, in the schools of his native county, and in 1902 he joined his brother at Montpelier in Blackford county, and together they began a successful enterprise in clothing and shoes and men's furnishing goods. With his brother, L. D. Millikan, he conducted the firm as a partnership known as Millikan Brothers until November, 1909, at which time James E. Millikan became sole proprietor. He has a fine store, in a building 30x52 feet, located in the Mauer Block, and with all the appointments and service of a metropolitan establishment. He also maintains a special merchant tailoring department, and by careful attention has made his shoe department one of the best in the county. In the meantime his success has been augmented by other interests, including the ownership of a well improved farm of seventy-eight acres in Chester township of Wells county, valuable real estate in Montpelier, including, his own home at the northwest corner of Adams and Green streets and he is secretary of the Montpelier Promoting Company. His public spirit in business leads him to support all enterprises tending to advance the welfare of his home community.

Mr. Millikan was reared in the faith of the democratic party as exemplified by Jefferson and Jackson, and has never waivered in his political belief. He is district deputy of the Knights of Pvthias, is affiliated with the local lodge of Masons, the, Montpelier Tribe of the Improved Order of Red Men, and belongs to the lodge of Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Hartford City. On March 6, 1904, at Montpelier, Mr. Millikan married Miss Gay Fitts. She was born at Osgood, in, Ripley county, Indiana, was reared there, and her education was completed in the college at Oldenburg, in Franklin county. Mr. and Mrs. Millikan are the parents of four children: Dorothy, James K., Lucile and Richard.

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

WILLIAM S. RUSSELL. The life of the late William S. Russell in Blackford county covered a period of forty-six years, during which time, from small beginnings, he advanced to a position of prominence among the agriculturists of his adopted locality. A man of energy and industry, he made a success of his personal ventures, and as a public-spirited citizen did much to advance the interests of his community, and to contribute to the general welfare along lines of education, morality and probity. He was born in Wayne county, Indiana, March 2, 1846, and was a son of John L. and Mariah (Clevenger) Russell.

Daniel Russell, the grandfather of William S. Russell, was born in Ohio and in that state was married to Miss Mary Lytle by whom he had a large family of sons and daughters. He was a pioneer of Wayne county, passed his life in agricultural enterprises, and gained a hand some competence through good management and earnest endeavor. Among his older children was John L. Russell, who was born in Wayne county, Indiana, about the year 1820, and was there married, eight of his nine children having that county as the place of their nativity. During the Civil War, in 1863, Mr. Russell came with his family to Blackford county and purchased a farm in Washington township, near Roll (or Dundee), on which his youngest child was born. Like his father, he was a man of industry and integrity, and made a success in his ventures, earning also the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens. He died November 23, 1884, at the age of seventy-three years, while Mrs. Russell passed away eight months before, when about the same age. They were lifelong members of the United Brethren church, and consistent Christian people.

Educated in the district schools of Wayne county, William S. Russell was it youth of seventeen years when he accompanied his parents to Blackford county, and here he grew to manhood, assisting his father in his operations on the homestead property. In about 1882 he began operations on his own account in section 36, Washington township, there purchasing eighty acres, to which he subsequently added forty acres, and put the entire property under a high state of cultivation. He was known as a good farmer, following the various branches of his calling, such as grain growing, vegetable raising, stock breeding, and dairying, and in each line was able to secure success because of his admirable methods and hard labor. A man of sterling worth of character he was esteemed no less for his own success than for the assistance he gave to others, and his loyalty and fidelity to engagements gave him an excellent reputation as a business man and attracted to him a wide circle of friends. He was converted to the faith of the United Brethren church as a youth, and in his later years was a devout member of the church lit Hartford City, where he served as an official for a long period. In political matters he supported the principles of democracy, but at all times steadfastly declined to accept political favors, preferring to remain a quiet, unassuming tiller of the soil, and to aid his community in a private capacity.

Mr. Russell was married November 21. 1866, in Jefferson township, Grant county Indiana, to Miss Margaret Stanley, who was born on the old family homestead in that township, February 27, 1847. She was reared in that locality and educated in the public schools, and proved a true wife and helpmeet to her husband, whom she assisted materially in his rise to prosperity. Mrs. Russell is the owner of forty acres of the homestead, which constituted a part of her husband's farm. The only brother of Mrs. Russell. Jesse Stanley, is a resident of Grant county, and a sketch of his career will be found on another page of this work. Mrs. Russell is a daughter of Ivan and Mary (Vincent) Stanley, the former born in North Carolina and the latter in Delaware. They were married in Madison county, Indiana, and subsequently made removal to Jefferson township , Grant county, where Mr. Stanley purchased and improved a farm of 160 acres, on which he passed the remaining years of his life, dying when past sixty years of age, while Mrs. Stanley died when forty-two years old. She was a member of the Christian church.

Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Russell, namely: Melvern A., engaged in farming in the state of Arkansas, married Nancy B. Taite, who died and left six children � Marian, Ethel, Goldie, Pearl, Clarence and Thelma; he married a second time but has no issue; John, the owner of land in Washington township, successfully operating 120 acres, married Cora Adkinson, of Jackson township; Cora, who died single when about twenty-five years of age; and Lawrence, who passed away aged twenty years and five months.. Mrs. Russell and her sons are faithful members of the United Brethren church.

CHARLES W. COREY, M. D. Both Blackford and Grant counties may well take pride in the high standard maintained by their representative physicians and surgeons, and Dr. Corey, who resides at Hartford City, the county seat of Blackford county, controls a practice the extent and character of which attest his professional ability as well as his inviolable hold on popular confidence and esteem. He is a native of Grant count and in his chosen vocation he is well maintaining the prestige of the profession that was signally dignified and honored by the character and services of his father, who was a pioneer physician and surgeon of this section of Indiana.

The Corey family, of English origin, was founded in New England in the colonial era of our national history, and Stephen Corey, grandfather of the subject of this review, was a native of the State of New York, and the more remote family records dive authentic data of kinship with Sir Frances Drake of England, the greater number of the representatives of the family in the agnate line having followed the various professions and higher orders of trade. In the line have been many in the medical profession, and this has held good in the later generations. Dr. J. Stephen Corey, an uncle of Dr. Charles W. Corey., was a leading physician for many years; a cousin of the subject of the sketch was Dr. Kate A. Corey, who was well known as a physician and surgeon, and as a missionary at Foo Choo, China. Stephen Corey in his earlier years followed a seafaring life for some time, and in 1828 he established his residence at Vincennes, Indiana, whence, two years later, he went to Fort Dearborn, Illinois, when this isolated post was practically the mark of habitation on the site of the present great city of Chicago. He finally settled on the shore of Flat Rock river in Rush county, Indiana, at a point about eight miles distant from the present town of Rushville, and there his son Lavanner, father of him to whom this sketch is dedicated, was born in the year 1833. In the following year the family removed to Grant county, and Stephen Corey, Sr., here entered claim to a tract of forest land, which in the course of time he reclaimed in large part to cultivation, the old homestead now constituting the fine demesne known as the Studabaker Stock Farm, in Van Buren township. Stephen Corey and his wife, who was a native of Kentucky, were well and favorably known throughout this section of the state and they played well their part in furthering the civic and material development and upbuilding of Grant county. Mr. Corey died in 1880, venerable in years and honored by all who knew him, his devoted wife having been summoned to eternal rest in 1872.

Dr, Lavanner Corey was reared to manhood in Grant county, and he prepared himself most thoroughly for the work of his chosen profession, as he not only graduated in the Ohio Medical College, but also completed an effective post-graduate course in the celebrated Bellevue Medical College, in New York city. He became one of the most loved and most successful physicians and surgeons in Grant county, and his ministrations extended also beyond the limits of the county. His skill and devotion to his profession gave him prestige as one of the foremost physicians of Northern Indiana. He was called to minister in many critical cases, both in medicine and surgery, and it may be stated that on one occasion he attended a woman who had been gored by a cow and whose intestines, while unbroken, has literally scattered over the floor of the barn in which the accident occurred. One less confident and courageous would have flinched at the ordeal, but Dr. Corey assembled the intestines of the poor victim, returned them to their proper position, after which he properly closed the wound. The woman recovered and five months later bore a child that was in normal physical condition. This was an operation that had few parallels and the Doctor was every ready to do all in his power to aid and relieve those who were in suffering or distress, for he had a sympathy that transcended emotion to become a motive for helpfulness. He gained specially high reputation as a surgeon, and in this field was really much in advance of his day. His practice extended over four counties and no man was more loved and revered in this section of the State than was this zealous and self-abnegating physician. He continued to reside on his fine old homestead farm, two miles west of Van Buren, Grant county, until his death, which occurred in 1897, and which caused the entire community to manifest its sense of loss and bereavement. Dr. Corey was one of the first Indiana members of the American Medical Association and was one of the pioneer and honored members of the Indiana State Medical Society. In politics he was originally a whig and later a republican, and he was influential in forming and directing public opinion in the community in which he so long maintained his home. He contracted a second marriage, by wedding Miss Mary E. Lease, who was born in Marion, this State, where she still resides, at the age of seventy-four years. She is a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Dr. Corey's first wife bore the maiden name of Mary Whinery and her father, Joseph Whinery, was a sterling pioneer of Van Buren township, Grant county. Of her four sons and four daughters the only survivor is Dr. Charles W., six of the number having died when young and Nellie having been a well known trained nurse for a number of years prior to her death, which occurred when she was forty-two years of age.

Dr. Charles W. Corey was born on the old homestead in Van Buren township, Grant county, on the 1st of November, 1864, and his early education was acquired in the public schools of the locality. He studied medicine under the preceptorship of his honored father and finally entered Fort Wayne Medical College, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1897 and with the well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. His professional novitiate was served in his native township, where he continued to practice until February 17, 1899, when he removed to Hartford City, where he has since continued his successful professional endeavors and gained precedence as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of his section of the State. For twenty years he has been retained as a member of the staff of surgeons of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and he is at the present time the oldest employe in this capacity that the company has in its service west of Pittsburgh. He is also surgeon for the American Glass Company, a position he has retained for twenty-three years, and he has been similarly retained by the Johnson Glass Company from the time its plant was established in Hartford City. The Doctor is a member of the American Medical Association, the Indiana State Medical Society and the Blackford County Medical Society. Dr. Corey is affiliated with both the York and Scottish Rites bodies of the Masonic fraternity and with its adjunct organization, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He formerly maintained active identification with a number of local organizations of other fraternal orders, is a Republican in his political allegiance, and as a citizen he is essentially liberal and public spirited.

The marriage of Dr. Corey to Miss Jennie Hunter, who was born in Champaign county, Indiana, but reared in Marion, was solemnized at Marion. She was a daughter of Robert M. and Margaret (Gill) Hunter, her father being a representative grain dealer at Marion, where his wife died in 1913. Dr, and Mrs. Corey have one daughter, Lucile, who was graduated from St. Mary's Academy, at Terre Haute, and who remains in the parental home, as one of the gracious and popular members of the younger social coterie of Hartford City.

ZAMORA BOBBS SHIVELY was born June 7, 1858, in Phillipsburg, Montgomery county, Ohio. She was the eldest of two daughters of Doctor and Mrs. A. J. Bobbs. On the seventeenth day of May, 1876, she married Dr. Marshall T. Shively of Marion Indiana, and the couple lived happily together until the death of Mrs. Shively, January 9th, 1910.

There are many elements in human nature that go to the molding of a genuine lady, a womanly woman. And of course every individual has his or her conception of just what these elements are or what they should be. To say the Mrs. Shively was a talented woman is putting it mildly, since she was in fact in many respects a remarkable woman. And one of the most complete proofs of this fact, was that she was at all times a strong defender of her sex. She believed that the sphere of woman offered abundant opportunities for the making of her position one of importance in the world.

Mrs. Shively's philosophy was not drawn from what the public or society thought or suggested, although she was one who ever respected public opinion. She believed that the rule which guided society was too frequently the rule deduced from a false vanity that did not admit the broader humanitarian view. True, Mrs. Shively was in all respects an individual. She was a character to those by whom she was well known. A woman of active mind, of marked, of marked originality and talent. These God given powers were so much of her nature she did not get to pursue during her marriage life with her ardour that she might had she not had the care of a large and ambitious family to look after. But she did manage in her resourceful way, when her time was not occupied with looking after the interests of her children, for she was essentially at all times the mother, faithful, devoted and kind, during her early married life to pursue her love for art and wood carving. And she has left her family some lasting legacies in oil and water color and specially designed furniture.

In later years prior to her death Mrs. Shively devoted more time closely to reading and studying current questions and literature, biography and ancient and modern history. The writer can so well recall the rapture with which she almost devoured the works of Swedenburg, Lamartine, Jospehus and her constant companion, the Bible, besides scores of other ancient masters of philosophy and literature.

While not a club woman in the common conception of society, yet she did belong to several but took the deepest interest in her literary club work, in which capacity she read several papers on the "Philosophy of Life arid the Bible as Applied to Life," that revealed to her auditors masterful attainments. Other and more elaborate papers on the same subjects were in the course of preparation at her death and it is to be hoped that some of the family will in the near future put them in publication for the use of the public.

Mrs. Shively never sought to be the leader of any social set, although she had her friends and admired genius and culture wherever found. In her entertainments she was an original and a genial hostess. Her resourceful mind, ready wit and charming personality won for her the love and admiration of many friends. And while it is true that she loved life, and loved her friends, yet she was not devoted to the narrow confines and limitations of society. Her's was a broader field. She lived in a world, in part within herself, because she ever sought the ideal. A woman of keen perception, she wanted humanity to also see the broader view. She wanted humanity to know and understand more fully the handiwork of the great Maker. She believed that life was the best worth living that contributed something to life, however small it might be. She ever believed that man wag too much depending oil self, that he was seeking to solve his own destinies when those destinies were not his to control but belonged to the God of Life.

Aside from her family, her husband and her books she loved most the charms of the external world, from which she gleaned so much joy and inspiration. Her love of life sprung from what life had to her revealed. The sighing forests, the meandering streams, hills, mountains and valleys in their draperies of green, these she would have humanity know for in them she saw God, to her they were the green pastures, beside the silent waters over which the Master held sway.

JOHN M. WALLACE, SR. Front the date of its organization down to the present time Grant county has been continuously honored and benefited by the presence within her borders of the Wallace family. In the character of its individual members and in their public services no family in the county probably has been more distinguished and it is impossible to estimate the strength and diversity of the influences which emanate from such a family and affect the social and business affairs of the county even to its most remote bounds.

A representative in the present generation of this well known old family, John M. Wallace, Sr., has been for many years a prominent business man of Marion, in which city he was born May 9, 1853. His parents were John M. and Mariam C. (Weeks) Wallace, the father a native of Connersville, Indiana, and the mother of Rutland, Vermont. The date of the family settlement in Grant county was either 1829 or 1831, so that the family was here in ample time to become charter members of the newly organized Grant county. Their location was in Marion, and the, elder John M. Wallace grew up in that city, and entered the profession of law, in which he acquired distinction and success. He was at one time judge of the common pleas court of this county. During the Mexican war he saw service as captain of his company, and during the Civil war he served as adjutant general of Indiana under Governor Oliver P. Morton, Indiana's famous war governor. At the close of the war lie was given the rank of colonel. He was then appointed and served for a time as paymaster in the United States Army, with headquarters at Washington, D. C. Col. Wallace was an uncle of General Lew Wallace, the eminent soldier, statesman and author of Indiana. He was a brother of David Wallace who was one time governor of Indiana. Another brother was governor of Washington territory, and secretary of the state of Iowa. Probably no better citizen ever lived in Marion than the late Col. John M. Wallace. He was first in every enterprise that had for its object the advancement of the community, and by his achievements and character earned the lasting esteem of all who came within the circle of his acquaintance. His death occurred in Marion in 1866. Of the four children born to himself and wife two are living, one being L. A. Wallace of Marion, and the other John M., whose name heads this article. John M, Wallace attained his early education in the public schools of Marion, and on entering into active relations with the business of the city, he became one of the owners and publishers of the Marion Democrat, a newspaper with which his name was associated for a number of years. He was then clerk in the government service for a time, and about twenty-five years ago established the present music house which bears his name and which is one of the largest establishments of the kind in the state. This firm deals in all kinds of musical merchandise and has a trade that is much more than local through the city or counties.

Mr. Wallace in 1872 married Miss Emma L. Todebush of St. Louis, Missouri. Their two children are Mrs. Kenton M. Wigger of Marion: and John M. Wallace, Jr., who is associated with his father in business. Mr. Wallace is a member of the Marion Golf Club and in politics is a Democrat, one of the most influential members of his party.

Deb Murray