Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

CLINTON WINSLOW. The owner of a Grant county farm like that of Clinton Winslow in Fairmount township is an enviable citizen. Measured by modern American standards, he is not a rich man, but what he has he has won by commendable industry and efficient management, and his prosperity is of that substantial quality which suffers little fluctuation. His has been a consistently honorable and productive career and there is no apology for his past nor ill omen for his future.

Clinton Winslow was born in Fairmount township of Grant county, June 1, 1869. He is a son of Nixon Winslow and a grandson of Thomas Winslow, both of whom were natives of Randolph county, North Carolina. Grandfather Thomas Wilson was born about 1800, and came of a long line of Quaker ancestors. The family had been founded in America during the early colonial period, three brothers having found their way across the seas, and one locating in New England, another in New York, and another in the south, from the last of whom descended the present branch of the family. The prevailing occupation among nearly all the male members was farming. Thomas Winslow grew up in North Carolina, and first married a native of his home county, who died leaving four children. For his second wife, Thomas Winslow married Martha Bogue, who was born August 3, 1805, and was one of four daughters of a very prominent family of Randolph county, North Carolina, and subsequently of Grant and adjoining counties in Indiana. All those four daughters were married; Mary married Phineas Henly; Martha married Thomas Winslow; Elizabeth married Iredell Rush; and Ann W. married Matthew Winslow. All these came north and all became residents of Grant county, where they died and left large families. Thomas Winslow and wife with two or three children about 1836 accomplished the long migration to Grant county, Indiana, making the trip entirely overland and with wagons and teams, they located on new land in Fairmount township. His death occurred in 1862, at the age of about sixty-five, while his wife passed away in 1868, and was also quite old. They were prominent people in the Friends church.

The children of Thomas Winslow and wife were: 1. Nixon, who is mentioned in the following paragraph, was the father of Clinton Winslow. 2. John, died after his marriage, leaving a family, and was a farmer in Mill township. 3. Nancy was twice married, first to Jesse Reese, and second to John Jennings, having a daughter and a son by her first marriage. 4. Penina was also twice married, her first husband being Joel B. White, and her second a Mr. Johnson Baugh. She had no children by either husband. 5. Carroll died in infancy, and his body was conveyed to the cemetery on horseback. 6. David died after his marriage to Nancy Harris, who now lives in Jonesboro, without children.

Nixon Winslow was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, June 28, 1831. He was five years of age when the family came to Indiana, and he continued to make his home in Grant county until his death in Fairmount City, May 23, 1910. His last days were spent at his home on east Washington Street, in a commodious brick house, which was in many ways a monument to his industry and enterprise. He had burned the brick on the same lot which was the building site, and had constructed the house under his own direct supervision and partly with his own labor. He occupied the old home for forty years, and it is still standing, a fine, substantial landmark. He was a successful farmer and stock raiser, and also did a large business in the buying and shipping of stock. In politics he was a Republican, and belonged to the Friends church, being a trustee at the time of his death. Nixon Winslow was married in Mill township to Miss Cynthia Ann Jay. Her birth occurred in Miami county, Indiana, and she was a young girl when her parents Dennis J. and wife came to Grant county. Mr. and Mrs. Jay died in Mill township when quite old. Considerable interesting history might be written about the Jay family during its residence in Grant county. Their home was one of the stations on the famous underground railway of the ante-bellum days, and many a night Mr. Jay spent in driving a wagon carrying a fugitive on north towards the Canadian boundary.

Mrs. Nixon Winslow is still living, and celebrated her eighty-first birthday on May 5, 1913. Her home is on East First Street in Fairmount, and she is a hale and hearty and venerable old lady. The children of Nixon Winslow and wife are: Levina, the wife of John Kelsay, of Fairmount township; Webster Jay, who is a retired farmer in Fairmount, is married and has a family; Mary E., who lives at home with her mother and is unmarried; Thomas Denney, a farmer in Liberty township, and the father of three children; Ansel, who is a farmer in Fairmount, township and has two sons; and Clinton.

Clinton Winslow was reared and educated in Grant county, and has always been identified with this locality as a prosperous farmer. He owns one hundred and fifty acres of highly improved land, has it developed with excellent buildings, with good fences, and all in the highest state of cultivation. One of the features of the farm establishment which shows his progressive enterprise is a silo, holding a hundred tons of ensilage. All that he raises on his farm is fed to his stock, and he grows general crops in proper rotation, oats, wheat, corn, clover, and hay. Mr. Winslow recently retired from his farm to a home in Fairmount city. His is a regular supporter of the Prohibition party in politics.

In 1904, in Fairmount, he was united in marriage with Myrtle E. Ellis, who was born in Clinton county, Ohio, October 3, 1870, and was one year of age when she came to Mill township in Grant county. Her parents were James M. and Louisa Moon Ellis. They made their home in Mill township until their death. They were of the orthodox Quaker faith. To Mr. and Mrs. Winslow has been born one daughter, Mary Evelyn, on August 24, 1896. She received a public school education, and is now a junior in the Fairmount Academy. Mr. Winslow and wife and daughter are all adherents of the Quaker church.

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

JOHN C. DEVINE. By a career devoted to agriculture through a period of a quarter of a century, John C. Devine has prospered steadily and he is regarded as one of the most thrifty and substantial men in Fairmount township. His is a family record of unusual interest, and shows through the various generations a steady adherence to morality and integrity and much accomplishments in a material way. The home of Mr. Devine is in section seventeen of Fairmount township, his post office being at Jonesboro.

John C. Devine was born in Miami county, Ohio, September 2, 1864, a son of Michael and Elizabeth (Duncan) Devine. His mother was a daughter of Richard and Drucilla (Pemberton) Duncan, natives of the state of Ohio. Drucilla Duncan died in Ohio, while the husband passed away in Clay county, Indiana. Their only child was Mrs. Devine, and both parents died young. Richard Duncan was a son of Isaac Duncan, a native of Randolph county, North Carolina, who moved north to Ohio, locating on a farm on the Stillwater river in Miami county. There he lived and reared his family, and himself and his connections were of the Quaker faith.

Michael Devine, the father of John C., was a native of Ireland, and was sixteen years of age, when with his brother, Thomas, and his sister, Mary, he came to the United States. After a short time spent with an aunt in New York City, he worked his way out to Ohio, until he arrived in Miami county. He was a stone and brick mason by trade, and through that work got his start. Some time after reaching Miami county he married and then began life as a farmer. To his marriage were born two sons and two daughters. While these children were all young their mother was, accidentally burned to death while working about a maple sugar camp. She was then in the prime of life, and it was a great loss to her children that she was taken away from them just at a time when she could best serve them and rear them to useful lives. Her husband, Michael Devine, married for his second wife Mrs. Deborah Sheets, whose maiden name was Hover. Her husband died in the Civil war. Michael Devine served a short time during the Civil war, and came out of service without injury. He and his second wife moved to Arkansas, and finally located near Marshalltown, Iowa, where Mr. Devine died in October, 1893, when passed sixty years of age. There were no children by the second marriage. Of the four children born to the first union, the following are mentioned: Rhoda J., the wife of Lansing Harrison, a farmer near Marshalltown, Iowa, and their children number two. Margaret Ellen is the wife of James Hart, now living at Riceville, Iowa, and they have four children. The next is John C. Devine. William H. Devine resides near Ida Grove in Iowa, is a farmer, and has three daughters. John C. Devine grew up in Miami county, Ohio, and after the death of his mother he went to live with Isaiah and Rachel Pemberton, relatives of his mother. He had a fair education, and early in life moved to Indiana, and became identified with Fairmount township of Grant county. There he married Miss Laura M. Loy, who was born in Madison county, Indiana, December 20, 1866. Her early education was received in Grant county from the time she was ten years of age. Her parents were William and Elizabeth (Lloyd) Loy, her father a native of Henry county, and her mother of Madison county, Indiana, their marriage being celebrated in the latter county. Both her parents are still living, and have their home in Fairmount township. Her father, William Loy, was a veteran of the Civil war, serving one year as a private in Company E of the One Hundred and Forty-Seventh Volunteer Infantry, and saw much actual fighting while at the front. There were eleven children in the Loy family, three sons and eight daughters, and all are living and married except one.

Since their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Devine have worked hard and cooperated in every way to establish a home and provide for the comforts of themselves and children. They have succeeded remarkably well and now posses a beautiful place of seventy-five acres, all well improved and with excellent barns and facilities for modern farming of all kinds.

Mr. and Mrs. Devine are the parents of the following children: William M. was born April 10, 1885, was educated in the Back Creek Public Schools, and now living at Roy, Montana. He married Nettie Highley, and their children are Eveline L. and Mildred L., while Vera L., the oldest, died as an infant. Herbert M., the second in the family, was born March 10, 1887, in Holt county, Nebraska, where his parents lived for two years, was educated in the Back Creek school in Grant county, Indiana, married Elva Adkinson, has one child, Ella Louise, and all the family reside at Roy, Montana. Rachael Elizabeth, who was born February 10, 1889, is the wife of Elmer Pennington, living in Fairmount City; their children are Velma M., and Charles B. Wilson E. Devine was born March 6, 1893, was educated in the public schools and now lives in Montana. Doris R., was born October 15, 1899, and lives at home and attends the public school. Mr. and Mrs. Devine have always been church workers and are members of the Back Creek Friends Meeting. Mr. Devine is in politics a Prohibitionist.

WILLIAM F. KNOTE. A resident of Grant county for sixty-five years, Mr. Knote was about six years old when the family took up its residence in this county. He grew to manhood in this vicinity, received his education in one of the old log school houses, was a loyal and efficient soldier of the union during the war, and since his military career came home and made himself a successful factor in agriculture, establishing a fine farm home in Green township, and is now enjoying the fruits of a well spent career at his home in Swayzee. He still owns farm property in Grant county, and along with his business accomplishments has also done his share of public service.

William F. Knote comes from Rush county, a county which furnished so many sterling citizens to Grant county. He was born there November 27, 1842, a son of Peter and Mary (Brooks) Knote. The father was a native of Pennsylvania, and the mother of Ohio. They were married in Franklin county, Indiana, and in 1848 settled in Grant county, where the father entered land direct from the government in Green township. He was one of the pioneers, and his labors served to make Green township a better place for white men to live. Both parents were active members of the Christian church, and the father was for many years an elder in his congregation, having been appointed to that office upon the organization of the church and remained an elder until his death. There were nine children in the family, and three are now living, with William F. as the oldest. George Knote is a retired farmer at Swayzee and Benjamin F. Knote is a carpenter and contractor whose home is in Kansas City, Kansas.

Soon after the family was established in Grant county William F. Knote began attending the log school house situated nearest to the family home. It was a rude structure, with its slab benches and primitive facilities for educational work. He continued to attend school, and to work on the home farm in Grant county, until he was about nineteen years old. In the meantime the great Civil war made all usual occupations and vocations seem trivial, and the flower of the young manhood in both north and south were being drawn into the army. Young Knote with equal patriotism left school, the farm and home, and on August 21, 1862, enlisted in Company H of the One Hundred and First Indiana Infantry. As a soldier in the army of the Cumberland he served until his final discharge on June 25, 1865, after the conclusion of war. He was twice wounded, the first time at Milton, Tennessee, and later at Buzzard's Roost, in Georgia, during the Atlanta campaign. He began as corporal in his company, and six months later was made sergeant, in which capacity he served until the close of the war.

Returning to Green township he began his career as a renter, later bought land and finally became owner of two hundred and sixty acres of the fine soil of Green township. His own labors were chiefly responsible for making this a highly improved farm, and from it he provided liberally for himself and family.

In 1865, soon after returning from the army, Mr. Knote married Mary Arhart. Mrs. Knote died November 14, 1911. Eva, the oldest child of William F. and Mary Arhart Knote, was reared and educated in Grant county, and is now the wife of S. D. Morrison of Green township. Mr. and Mrs. Morrison have two children, Glen and Lloyd; Glen married Lora Kelly and they have one child, Wilma Morrison, who is a great granddaughter of William F. Knote.

Rena, the second child of William F. and Mary Arhart Knote, is a graduate of the common schools and is the wife of Charles Read of Upland, Indiana. They are the parents of three children, Carl, Mary and Helen.

On October 10, 1912, Mr. Knote married Mary Pennington. Mrs. Knote was reared in Southern Indiana.

In 1898 Mr. Knote transferred his residence to Marion, Indiana, and has since not been actively identified with farming. His home in Marion was at Gallatin and Sixteenth streets. In January, 1910, he left the county seat, and moved to Swayzee, where he built an attractive frame residence on Main street, and has a modern home in which to spend his declining years. He is a member of the Christian church, and is serving as a deacon in that denomination. Fraternally he belongs to Swayzee Lodge No. 625, I.O.O.F., and has taken a very active part in Grand Army circles, his present membership being with Edmund Lenox Post No. 408. He has served the post as commander for four terms, and was commander of the General Shunk Post at Marion for one term. In politics a Democrat, he gave one term of service as trustee of Green township from 1887. He has been one of the leaders in the party in this section of Grant county for a number of years.

WILLIAM F. BELL. A long lifetime varied by many unusual experiences, has been that of William F. Bell, one of the most esteemed old residents of Fairmount township. Mr. Bell has lived in Grant county thirty-two years. He came to Indiana about the time of the Civil war, having lived in Henry county for sixteen years, from 1865 to 1881, and then came to Grant county. As the following article will show, he and his wife made their start in this state with practically nothing except their own energies, and with the passing of years their thrift and industry enabled them to accumulate more than a comfortable competence, while at the same time they grew in the honor and esteem of their wide acquaintance.

William F. Bell was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, February 14, 1832. He grew up as a farmer boy, was married when a young man, and was the father of two children when the war broke out. His early training had been that of the Quaker religion. Both by religious principles and moral conviction he was opposed to the principles of the south. However, the south needed every one of its sons to fight in behalf of the Confederacy, and he had to accept one of two alternatives, either enlist as a private soldier or take employment at a soldier's wages in the salt works in Wilmington, North Carolina. He accepted the latter as the less of two evils, and remained at the salt works for two years. When the Union army captured the works, he was then conscripted into the active service of the southern army. He refused to carry arms and was swung up by his thumbs to a tree, and hung three hours before his spirit was so broken that he submitted to pick up his gun and go along in the ranks. However, he had firmly resolved that he would not serve long and would take the first opportunity to escape. Three weeks later, when the army was six miles south of Petersburg, at a place locally known as Yellow House, the opportunity came. His comrade in this adventure was Henry Stewart, a brother of Mrs. Ivy Luther of Grant county, and the incident is also related in another sketch to be found in this publication concerning the family of Ivy Luther. These two Quakers were on picket duty, and their line of guard was only a few hundred yards away from the pickets of Grant's army, which lay opposite the Confederate forces. Bell and Stewart received permission to go into the pine woods and gather some fire wood, and took this means in making their escape. Running across the ground separating the two lines of the army, they were received within the picket lines of the Union forces, and were permitted to go under guard to the Union headquarters. They were also allowed the happy privilege of obtaining all they wanted to eat from the commissary, and since rebel rations had been extremely short, they did not hesitate to feed themselves liberally. They were given the privilege of going wherever they liked, and in a short time both Bell and Stewart found their way to Indiana. The day of their escape was December 11, 1864, only a few months before the close of the war, and they soon afterwards arrived at Indianapolis. From there they went to Knightstown in Henry county, and there Mr. Bell worked on a farm until the war was over. Going back to his native county in North Carolina, he rejoined his wife and three children, and then returned to Henry county, where he spent four years as a renter. At this time Mr. Bell and wife were actually poverty stricken, and it is nothing to their discredit to say that when they reached Indiana, at the close of the war, they possessed nothing except what they carried on their backs and in their hands. That early period of privation has long since been forgotten in their steady prosperity, but it is worthy of record that the entire family during their fifth year in Indiana and the first year after buying their own farm expended only one dollar in actual cash, and most of that was spent for sugar. All the other sources of their scanty living were raised on the farm. To his wife Mr. Bell gives great credit for their successful escape from that early period of hardship, and by effective management they were at the end of four years able to buy some land in Henry county, and lived twelve years on their own farm. Selling out their Henry county farm they moved to Grant county in the fall of 1881, and Mr. Bell then bought eighty acres in section thirty-one of Fairmount township, where he has ever since had his home. Much of that land was still uncleared, and he employed his industry in improving it and making a comfortable home. From timber growing upon the farm was manufactured the timber with which Mr. Bell put up a fine home of eight rooms, and also a barn, built in the best modern style, and another feature of the place which shows the progressive methods used at the Bell homestead is a silo with eighty tons' capacity. Mr. Bell for many years has been a successful grower of corn, wheat, oats, has considerable land in meadow, and his crops in quantity and quality will compare favorably with those produced anywhere in this county.

Mr. Bell was married in his native vicinity to Miss Nancy M. Ferguson. She was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, April 30, 1830, and through her mother, whose maiden name was Boone, is a descendant of the famous Daniel Boone. She was a woman of unusual capability, as will be understood from what has been said in preceding paragraphs. During the war, while her husband was an unwilling soldier in the Confederate army, she lived with her children and managed to provide for their wants, and on moving to Indiana at once proved a worthy helpmate in establishing a home and prosperity. She died at her home in Fairmount township, January 15, 1910, being within a month of her eightieth birthday. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Bell are: James M., who was born March 14, 1859, in North Carolina, and all his life has lived at home and has been associated with his father. He has combined the two occupations of farming and carpenter work. Mr. James M. Bell is a well known and influential citizen in Fairmount township, for the past two years has served as treasurer of the Fairmount academy, and for three years previous to that was a member and secretary of the board of trustees of the Academy. James M. Bell married Miss Etta Harvey, who was reared and partly educated in Indianapolis. Their children are: Mildred O., and Edna. Mildred is a graduate of the Fairmount Academy, while Edna is a member of the Fairmount eighth grade class of 1914.

Mary, the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Bell, is the wife of Alvin Free, a farmer in Liberty township. Their children are Iva J., Webster and Edison. Iva J. Free is highly educated, having taken courses in several schools and colleges, and is now a teacher at Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Sadie Ellen, the third child, is the wife of Rev. Hiram Harvey, a successful farmer of Liberty township, and for a number of years a preacher in the Friends church of that township. Rev. Harvey is now custodian of the Fairmount Academy endowment fund. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey have one son, Russel Terry, who is married and lives at home with his parents. The fourth child is Julia Ione, wife of Elwood S. Townsend, a house painter and decorator of Marion. They have two daughters, Ida and Inez.

Mr. Bell and members of his family are all members of the Friends church, and in politics he supports the Prohibition cause as championed by St. John.

Deb Murray