JOHN FLANAGAN The Flanagan family, prominently represented by John Flanagan, proprietor of the largest dry goods and clothing establishment at Fairmount, has been identified with Grant county upwards fifty years. The family record is one of much interest, and illustrates the possibilities which America presents to energetic, ambitious people of foreign birth. The Flanagans came from Ireland, and were of very poor though most respectable condition. The ancestry had lived in county Mayo, Ireland, for many years, and was of stanch Irish Catholic stock. The grandparents of John Flanagan lived and died in that vicinity, and were quite old when their lives came to an end. The children in their family who came to America were as follows: 1. James, mentioned in following paragraph. 2. Martin came when a young man to America and married Cecelia Morley, and they lived and died on a farm in Fairmount township. His death occurred a few years ago, when he was about eighty years of age. He started out in very humble circumstances and practically all his material accumulations were made after he had passed the age of fifty-five, and his later years were spent in very prosperous surroundings. His widow died a few years ago in Fairmount, at advanced years. They were members of the Catholic church and left a family of children. 3. Sarah was a young woman when she came to America and married in Richmond, Indiana, Michael Welsh. They spent the rest of their lives at Richmond and left a family of children.

James Flanagan, father of John Flanagan, the Fairmount merchant, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, about 1820. Growing up on a little farm, he had absolutely no opportunities for education, though he learned thoroughly the lessons of industry and they proved very valuable to him in his later career. Before leaving his native isle, he married Mary Morley, who came of good Irish stock, and of people long noted for their honesty and integrity. While they lived in Ireland, two children were born to them. Leaving the older, they set out with the baby about 1848, taking passage on a sailing vessel which after a voyage of nine weeks landed them in New Orleans. While aboard ship, the father and baby were stricken with ship-fever, and the infant died.

With the aid of some charitable friends at New Orleans, the father and mother continued their journey up the Mississippi River as far as Cincinnati. There James Flanagan found employment on the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway. That work ultimately brought him into west central Ohio, where at Westville, he left the railroad service and began farming. He thus continued until 1865, when he moved from Preble county to Indiana. Prior to coming to Indiana, he had rented land at New Paris, Ohio, spending a few seasons on three different farms. After coming to Indiana, he rented a farm east of Fairmount, and later bought eighty acres in Fairmount township adjoining the farm he had rented. There he continued to live until his death when about sixty years of age. An industrious, hard working, honest and upright man, he stood in the high esteem of all his neighbors, and through his liberal provisions for his growing family may properly be said to have been fairly successful. He was a Democrat in politics, and a Catholic in religious affiliation. Some years after his death his widow came to the city of Fairmount and made her home with John Flanagan, where she died in 1906, at the age of seventy-five years.

The children of James Flanagan and wife are mentioned as follows: 1. Mary, born in Ireland, came to America with an uncle and aunt, and was married in Grant county, to Patrick Kine, both of whom are now living in the state of Oregon. They have no children. 2. The second child was the baby, who died at New Orleans, shortly after the family landed. 3. Catherine is the wife of Newton J. Wells, a retired farmer at Fairmount, and an ex-soldier of Company C in the eighty-nine Indiana regiment during the war. They are the parents of two sons and four daughters, all of whom are married. 4. Martin, now deceased, was married and left two sons, his widow residing in Marion. 5. The fifth child was John Flanagan, mentioned hereinafter. 6. Thomas died after his marriage, and his widow now lives in Fairmount, being the mother of two sons and one daughter. 7. James died when a young man of great promise, being a teacher at the time of his death. 8. Sarah A. became the wife of Albert Kimes, a farmer, and died a few years ago, leaving a son and daughter.

John Flanagan was born in Preble county, Ohio, August 10, 1853, and was twelve years of age when his parents moved to Grant county. Here he completed his education begun in the country schools, and for a short time attended a normal school. During four years of his early manhood, he spent his winters as a teacher, while he followed farming during the summer seasons. Practically all his business career has been devoted to merchandising. During the winter of 1878-79, Mr. Flanagan was engaged in teaching, and on April 1, 1879, became associated with E. N. Oakley, and they worked together as partners in a mercantile establishment for three years, at the end of which time Mr. Flanagan sold out his interests. For some years, the firm of Henley & Nixon had been engaged in the grain business in Fairmount, and in April, 1882, Mr. Flanagan and this firm of Henley & Nixon took over a grain elevator at Summittville, Indiana, under the name of Flanagan & Company, Mr. Flanagan conducting the elevator at Summittville for one year. The same firm of Flanagan & Company, consisting of John Flanagan and Henley & Nixon bought the stock of goods valued at eight thousand dollars, located at the corner of Main and Washington Streets in Fairmount. Mr. Flanagan owned one half, and Henley & Nixon owned the other half of this store. However Henley & Nixon continued as grain dealers in Fairmount, for a number of years, but Mr. Flanagan was not in the grain business after the first year, and devoted all his time and attention to the mercantile establishment. The business was conducted as Flanagan & Company from May, 1883 to 1888, when the title was changed to Flanagan & Henley, the latter having bought Mr. Nixon's interest. In 1889 the partners bought the building, a large substantial brick structure. In June, 1893, Mr. Flanagan bought out all the interests of Mr. Henley and has since been sole proprietor. He is a merchant who thoroughly understands the wants of the people in this section of the county, has given close attention to the business, and his success has followed as a matter of course. Besides his mercantile interests, he owns a large amount of land comprising two hundred and forty acres in Orange county, one tract of one hundred acres in Grant county, and another of fifty-six acres in the same county. This land is all well improved with good buildings, and in his farming operations he keeps up the quality of his soil, but feeding all the grain crops to his stock.

Mr. Flanagan has served as member of the Fairmount school board six years, being president all that time. His politics is Republican. In religion he did not accept the church of his parents and ancestors, and has never become a member of any church, though he attends the Quaker Church of Fairmount, and is generous in his contributions to all religions and charities.

Mr. Flanagan was married in Fairmount to Miss Sarah E. Winslow. She was born near Fairmount, March 8, 1860, was educated here and belongs to an old Quaker family, being a daughter of Levi and Emiley (Henley) Winslow. Both her parents are still living. Mr. and Mrs. Flanagan have no children of their own, but reared a foster daughter, named Gertrude Winslow, who died unmarried.

Mr. Flanagan was one of the organizers of the Fairmount State Bank, and held the office of president seven years. He was also a director and secretary of the Fairmount Mining Company, a company which put down some of the productive wells in the oil and gas districts in Indiana. For many years Mr. Flanagan has been looked upon as one of the leading citizens of Grant county. He has never held any political office except as president of the Fairmount school board, but has always been a leader in matters pertaining to his town and county's progress. He was president during the entire life of the Fairmount Commercial Club, an organization no longer in existence. He helped organized and was president for several years of the Fairmount Building & Loan Association, and was for several years president of the Tri-County Fair Association.

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

ALVIN J. WILSON. Grant county, Indiana, is in a large degree agricultural, but its flourishing towns and villages, its large and prosperous manufactories, its modern educational institutions, prove that a vigorous life underlies every activity, although here, as in every section of the world, dependence is necessarily placed upon the products of the land and the labor of those who develop it. No matter how men may toil, or how much they may achieve in any direction, they must all be fed, and it is the agriculturist, in the background, who provides for the survival of mankind. Happily there are, in Grant county, contented owners of land who intelligently and willingly carry on the peaceful pursuits of tilling the soil and, although they do not seek such a term of approbation, are, nevertheless, benefactors of the race. They are often men of wide information on many subjects, usually are qualified for offices of public service, for the proper cultivation of the soil and a realization of its utmost yield, requires knowledge on many subjects. The vital questions in farming are national. They concern the safeguarding of fertility; the increasing of yields of crops and the production of animals; the reduction of costs of production; the elimination of wastes in marketing; cooperation to guard the farmer's interests and increase his profits; the improvement of his home and community for his family. It is not always the owner of extensive tracts who is the most successful farmer, as is attested by the career of Alvin J. Wilson, of section twenty-three, Fairmount township, who, upon a tract of fifty acres, is producing crops far in advance in size and quality to those of many of his fellow-citizens in the county who have double his amount of land. Mr. Wilson has mastered his vocation in every particular, and as one of the men who are developing the best interests of his community, he is eminently deserving of extended mention in a work of this nature.

Alvin J. Wilson is of Scotch-English ancestry. His grandfather, John Wilson, was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, about the year 1795, and was reared in the faith of the Quakers, early engaging in agricultural pursuits. In his native county he was united in marriage with Miss Mary (Polly) Winslow, who was also born in that county, about the year 1800, and was a faithful member of the Friends' Church. After the birth of all of their children, between the years 1836 and 1838 Mr. and Mrs. Wilson left their home in the Old North State, and emigrated with teams and wagons, in true pioneer style, to Wayne county, Indiana, there settling temporarily in the Quaker settlement in the vicinity of Richmond. Some years later they came on to Grant county, locating on a farm in section six, the south part of Fairmount township. After taking up and improving a farm from the virgin soil, they lived on that farm many years, then disposed of their property and moved to Fairmount, and here spent the remainder of their lives, the father passing away when about seventy years of age, about the time of the close of the Civil War, while his widow survived him some years and was past seventy years of age at the time of her demise. They became the parents of seven sons and three daughters, all of whom grew to maturity and became the heads of families, and all now deceased with the exception of Samuel, who is now aged more than seventy years. All of the children were birthright Quakers.

Of the ten children of John and Mary (Winslow) Wilson, Nathan D. Wilson, the father of Alvin J. Wilson, was the second child and was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, in 1818. He was a young man when he accompanied his parents to Indiana and resided at home until after the family came to Grant county. He was married in Fairmount township to Miss Mary Hill, who was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, in 1822, and who came to Wayne county, Indiana, as a child with her parents, Aaron and Nancy Hill. After living in Wayne county for some years the Hill family came to Grant county and located on new land on the Jonesboro and Fairmount turnpike, and there both Mr. and Mrs. Hill passed away when well advanced in years. They were devout Quakers throughout their lives, and attended meetings at all times indicated by that faith, at all hazards and at any sacrifice. They were the parents of five sons and three daughters, and all grew to be aged people, although only one child still survives, Nathan Hill, who lives in Mill township, is married and has a large family.

After his marriage, Nathan Wilson embarked in agricultural pursuits on his own account, on a farm on Fairmount township, a part of which lay within the city limits of Fairmount, while a part lay just outside. There through years of industry, perseverance and good management, he was successful in developing a handsome and valuable farm from the green woods, and at the time of his death, in February, 1881, he was known as one of the substantial men of his community. His widow survived him for many years and died November 21, 1909, at the home of her son, Alvin J. Wilson, having attained to the advanced age of eighty-seven years. Both birthright Quakers, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were ever active in the work of their faith, and both became early elders in the Fairmount Friends' Church. Before and during the war between the States, Mr. Wilson was a stalwart anti-slavery man, and for a number of years his home was an important station in the so-called Underground Railroad, which assisted fugitive slaves on their way to the North and freedom. A Republican in political matters, he took an active and influential part in township affairs, although he never cared for public office. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson became the parents of five sons and eight daughters, of whom all grew to maturity with the exception of one daughter who died at the age of nine years, the other daughters all passing away after marriage. Four of the sons are still living, namely: Joseph, a prominent retired merchant of Newburg, Oregon, who is married and has two children; Henry, a sheep grower and wool dealer of Big Sandy, Montana, who has also been married but whose wife is now deceased; Alvin J.; and Thomas, editor and proprietor of the Formosa Spirit, of Formosa, Kansas, who is married and has a family.

Alvin J. Wilson was born November 20, 1859, in Grant county, Indiana, and was educated in the local schools. In his boyhood he divided his time between attendance at school and assisting his father in the work of the home farm, thus receiving early training in agricultural pursuits which has been of inestimable value to him in his subsequent operations. He has always devoted himself to the tilling of the soil, and is now the owner of fifty acres of fine land in section twenty-three, Fairmount township. On this he has erected a modern residence, painted drab, a substantial barn, well-built silo and other buildings, all substantial in character and pleasing in architectural design. Mr. Wilson does his own work and does it well, and although he has but fifty acres under cultivation, he produces crops that will compare favorably with those of any agriculturist of his township. He raises corn, oats, clover and alfalfa, and finds a ready market for his product. He has also been successful in his stock raising ventures, and his cattle are well-fed, sleek and content. All in all, his property has a most pleasing and prosperous appearance, and Mr. Wilson is to be congratulated for what he has accomplished by his conscientious endeavors.

Mr. Wilson was married in Fairmount township, to Miss Margaret R. Neal, who was born at Marion, Indiana, January 5, 1857, and there reared and educated, daughter of William Neal, a native of Ohio, and an early settler of Grant county. He spent the greater part of his life at Marion, where he was a well known educator and county official, serving for some years as surveyor and auditor, and also well known as a historian, having taken a prominent part in the compilation of a county atlas and county history in 1896. He died when past seventy years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilson there have been born two sons: Chester W., who was born October 21, 1880; and Clyde N., born February 5, 1883. Chester W. Wilson was educated in the city schools of Fairmount, Fairmount Academy and Purdue University, and after his graduation from the latter institution, served one year as mechanical engineer on the construction of the Panama Canal. He is now chief mechanical engineer of construction work for the Guggenheims, with his home at Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr. Wilson married Ava Armstrong, of Indiana, and they have had two sons: Leroy, aged five years; and Frank, who is three years old. Clyde N. Wilson was given good educational advantages, and has been engaged in work of an educational nature, being at this time principal and manager of the Wisconsin Business College, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. He married Miss Ila Jacobs, and they have two sons, Walter T., who is five years of age; and Richard, aged three years.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and their children are consistent members of the Quaker faith, and for fourteen years Mr. Wilson served as church treasurer. He is a Republican in his political views, and has been honored by election public office, having served as township trustee from 1904 and 1908. Everywhere he is known as a man of the utmost integrity, and his many excellencies of heart and mind have drawn about him a wide circle of friends.

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

NATHAN D. COX. The following sketch contains the important facts in the life and family records of a Grant county citizen whose name has always stood for all that is honest and of good report in this community for successful thrift and business integrity, for a position which all must respect. The Cox family have been Indiana residents since pioneer days, the early generation having made homes out of the wilderness, and later descendants bore a worthy part as soldiers and as citizens. Nathan D. Cox has for many years been sexton and caretaker of the beautiful Park Cemetery of Fairmount. Previous to that he was a successful farmer in this part of the county, and none would deny that the comforts and blessings of good children now surrounding himself and wife were merited rewards to worthy and well spent lives.

Nathan D. Cox was born in Grant county, in Liberty township, September 5, 1846. His grandfather, Joshua Cox, a native of Randolph county, North Carolina, where he was born about one hundred and fifteen years ago, was of a Quaker family, a farmer by occupation, and married in his native state, Miss Rachael Cox, who was no relative though of the same name. She also belongs to the Quaker religion. In 1830 with their children, these pioneers embarked their household goods, and other movables in wagons drawn by ox teams, and by many days of alternate driving and camping along the way finally reached Indiana, and settled in Morgan county. There Joshua Cox and wife died some years after their settlement, and it is believed that they were not more than fifty years of age at the time of their death.

Of a family of Joshua Cox was William Cox, father of the Fairmount citizen. He was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, November 9, 1824, and was six years old when he accompanied the family on its migration to Indiana. Growing upon the home farm in Morgan county, he came to Grant county before his marriage. In this county at the age of twenty-one, in 1845, he married Elizabeth Wilson. The Wilson family has played a worthy part in Grant County history. Elizabeth Wilson was born in North Carolina about 1824 or 1825, and was a small child when brought to Grant county by her parents, John and Mary, better know as Polly (Winslow) Wilson. The Wilson family located on government land, improved a farm out of the wilderness, and there the parents spent their final years, dying at a good old age. They were of the Quaker Faith, were most estimable people, and in their children inculcated the virtues of honor and thrift and simple living, which had been characteristic of Quaker people for generations. They were the parents of seven sons and six daughters.

After his marriage William Cox began life in Liberty township. For some years he rented and worked on others' farm and with his accumulations finally bought land for himself in Fairmount township. Some years later he sold out and bought a farm in Liberty township, and it was on that homestead that he and his wife died. His death occurred in 1901, and she died five months later in the same year, being seventy-four years of age. He was originally a member of the United Brethren church. William Cox had married outside of his Quaker church, and when called upon in a public meeting of the Quakers to express his sorrow for his act, he refused, and was accordingly dismissed from the congregation. He and his wife then joined the Wesleyan Methodist, and died in that faith. In politics he was first a Whig voter, and later a Republican. However, he at the time maintained a rigid adherence to the temperance cause, and did all in his power to uphold prohibition principles, irrespective of the larger party lines. There were seven sons and six daughters in the family of William Cox and wife. All the sons are still living, are married, and with the exception of one, have their homes in Indiana. Two of the six daughters are deceased, while the others are all married and have homes of their own.

Mr. Nathan D. Cox, the oldest of the family, came to manhood in Liberty township. He was still a boy when the war between the states broke out, and at the age of nineteen, on October 7, 1864, volunteered in Company A of the Thirty-Third Indiana Infantry. At the close of the war he was discharged, after having seen considerable active service. He fought at the great battle at Nashville, in the closing months of 1864, but escaped unhurt. On starting out for himself he became a farmer, and in 1890 left the farm and took up his residence in Fairmount. In the same year he was appointed superintendent of the Park Cemetery, and has now held that position and given most efficient service for more than twenty years. The Park Cemetery is a matter of much pride to the residents of Fairmount, comprising twelve acres of beautifully laid out and improved grounds, and the cemetery was incorporated in May, 1889. Up to the present writing the interments in the cemetery number over 1,500 and nearly all these additions to the city of the dead have been while Mr. Cox was superintendent. Mr. Cox owns some fine residence property in Fairmount, and has been well prospered through his long career.

For many years he has been a strong Prohibitionist in politics, and he exemplifies his principles not only in abstaining from all spirituous liquors, but has never used tobacco in any form.

On June 6, 1869, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Cox with Miss Jennie Fisher. She was born in Clinton, Ohio, March 12, 1848, and was a young girl when her parents Asa and Susan (Horsman) Fisher, came to Delaware county, Indiana. Both her parents were natives of Ohio, were married in Clinton county, and settled in Delaware county about 1855. They bought a farm near Bethel, where they lived until their death. Mrs. Fisher died during the war, while her husband passed away some years later. Both were in middle life at the final summons. They were active members of the Christian church. One son, Andy Fisher was a soldier in the Thirty-Sixth Indiana Regiment, was badly wounded at the battle of Murfressboro, Tennessee, when a bullet struck him in the loins, and he lay for three days and three nights on the battle field. Finally he was cared for by a Confederate soldier, and then sent home, and largely owing to exposure as a soldier died from tuberculosis. He was unmarried. Mrs. Cox is the only one of the ten children in her parents' family now living.

The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Cox are mentioned as follows: Nora is the wife of David Gregg, of Fairmount, and their children are: Edward, who is a teacher; William, who has received an excellent education, and Dewey. Cora, the second in the family, is the wife of Clinton Haisley, who is with the Rubber Company of Jonesboro. They have two children, Chester and Etha, both of whom have been provided with good advantages in the public schools and the Fairmount Academy. The daughter Flora, died in infancy, and the next child, also named Flora, died when young. The fifth and youngest child, William, died at the age of fourteen.

Mr. and Mrs. Cox have for forty-five years been active members of the Wesleyan Methodist church. Mrs. Cox has given a quarter century of work as a Sunday school teacher, while her husband has been a class leader for several years in his local church, later held the same position six years more, and for many years served as superintendent of the Sunday School.

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

Deb Murray