Osborn Willson was born in Vermont, in 1793, and belonged to an early family of the Green Mountain State, whose early spirit of independence carried them valiantly into the ranks of the Continental army during the War of the Revolution. His paternal ancestors were Scotch-Irish and his maternal ancestors were of Scotch birth, the McCrackens', to which family his mother belonged, coming from Scotland and settling in New England during Colonial days. Her grandfather, Col. David McCracken, sacrificed an arm in the cause of American Independence, while the maternal grandfather of Jason Willson, Isaac Clapp, and the latter's brother, also served in the Revolutionary army. In early life Osborn Willson removed to Washington county, New York, where he was married to Susan Clapp, born at Salem, in that county, in 1799, of Welsh descent. This happy union lasted for sixty-three years, and resulted in the birth of twelve children, all of whom reached maturity and occupied honorable and honored positions in life. At the Golden Wedding Anniversary of this couple hundreds of their descendants and friends gathered to do them honor, and this occasion was duplicated when they had passed sixty-two years of married life. Not long after the latter event, Mrs. Willson passed away, in August, 1875, while her husband survived her five years, his death removing from his community a man who had fairly won the highest respect of all who had known him.

Born in the same house in which his eleven brothers and sisters had first seen the light of day, Jason Willson passed his boyhood and youth on the home farm, in the meantime securing a through education in the common schools. At the age of eighteen years he embarked upon a career of his own, adopting the profession of educator, in which all of this parents' children were engaged at one time of another. For eight years he was engaged in teaching during the winter months, while in the summer he followed the vocation of farming, but his youthful ambition to better himself in life made him dissatisfied with the small wages and meager opportunities offered in his calling and eventually he relinquished it to become a traveling photographer. From 1853 to 1859 he was engaged in making daguerreotypes in various parts of the East, West and South, and while thus engaged, in the year 1859, came to Muncie, Indiana. Constantly on the lookout for a more profitable business, he recognized the opportunity for the establishment of a grocery business in Muncie, and continued to conduct this with remarkable success for some two years.

It was while a resident of that city, September 19, 1860, that Mr. Willson was married to Miss Sabrina Wolfe, the estimable daughter of Adam Wolfe, the pioneer banker and merchant of Muncie, and this union was the means of causing Mr. Willson to embark upon the career in which he was to gain such high distinction and so great a success. From young manhood it had been his ambition to become a banker, and when he had confided his aspirations to his father-in-law, the elder man, with rare foresight, recognized in him the qualities which go to make for success in the field of finance. Accordingly, Mr. Wolfe proposed that they enter the banking business as partners, and shortly thereafter, having secured some experience in the house of his father-in-law, Mr. Willson came to Marion and became the founder of the firm of Jason Willson & Company. When the Exchange Bank threw open its doors to the public, January 8, 1862, there was not a railroad nor a mile of gravel road in Grant county, and the only sidewalks in the embryo city consisted of a few stones embedded in the grounds surrounding the Court House. Although the enterprise was a success from the very start, it is interesting to note that for three years and four months following its inception Mr. Willson carried on all the work of the bank, from sweeping the floor to discharging the duties of clerk, bookkeeper, cashier, president and board of directors. At the time he disposed of his interests therein, the bank required the services of no less than six active and experienced men, and had ten corresponding banks located in New York, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, Toledo and Cleveland, and a perusal of the record of the institution shows that the accounts with these banks were at no time overdrawn. Mr. Wolfe continued as a partner in the bank until his death, March 20, 1892, a period of more than thirty years, and after his demise Mr. Willson was associated in business with his sons, Fred W. and Albert J. Willson. In 1883 Mr. Willson erected the Bank block, at that time the best in the city, and his residence, built in 1896, was the largest, handsomest, most substantial and modern in the city for years. At the time of his retirement, about ten years prior to his death, he sold his interests in the bank, which then became known as the Marion National, and continued to live retired until his death, March 10, 1913. Mr. Willson gained his position in the world of finance through no happy chance or adventitious circumstance, but by years of most devoted atention to the routine of the business, by an exacting knowledge of its principles, and after the most thorough test of his firmness, sagacity and integrity. He was a Democrat in politics, but of the kind that seeks the establishment of the right principles of government rather than the acquisition of the honors of office. Essentially and pre-eminently a banker, he left to others the task of public service, although the earnestness of his citizenship was never doubted, and in numerous ways he advanced the interests of Marion and its people. The members of the family have always been connected with the Episcopal church.

Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Willson: Grace, who died in 1879, in her seventeenth year; Fred W., a graduate of Racine College, of Racine, Wisconsin, and now a resident of Marion, Indiana; and Albert J., a graduate of Yale University, and now a resident of Marion. The golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Willson was celebrated at Muncie, Indiana, in 1910, and many of the people who were at their first wedding were there in attendance. This golden wedding was given at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Balls at Muncie, Indiana.

On March 11, 1913, the various banks of Marion passed the following set of resolutions:
"Whereas, those who are still actively associated with the banks of Marion and Grant county are conscious and appreciative of the record of the nestor of the banking business in this city and county. For more than a generation, Jason Willson set the standard of correct business principles in this community from 1862 thenceforward, without the record of an unkind act or a blot upon his name, as a loyal and valuable citizen and banker. It is therefore
"Resolved, by those who succeed him in different interests, representing his pioneer enterprise of a half century ago, that they certify to his high conception and loyalty to his duties as a banker and his obligation as a common citizen. The confidence of the people, and of the public, were never betrayed; what was entrusted to him was ever faithfully guarded. He was ever faithful and loyal to the confidences that were entrusted to his watchfulness and care.
"Resolved, That the banking institutions of Marion close on Wednesday afternoon at 1 o'clock for the day in honor of his memory. Marion National Bank, First National Bank, Marion State Bank, Grant Trust & Savings Company, Farmers Trust and Savings Company.'

Mr. Willson was exceptionally successful in a material way as was evidenced by his will, which was filed for probate after his death with the county clerk. Very brief and concise, it was nevertheless very thorough, covering all points in the business-like manner which would be expected of a man of Mr. Willson's ability. The first item provided for the payment of all just debts, including the funeral expenses. Item two bequeathed to his wife, in fee simple, the magnificent residence property at Ninth and Washington streets, together with all the furniture and household goods of every description. The third and final item provided that all other property of the deceased, both real and personal, and the residue therefrom, should become the property of the widow and two sons, to be held in equal shares.

It will not be inappropriate to close this all too inadequate review of the career of this distinguished citizen with a quotation from a local newspaper, which in describing his funeral said in part as follows: "The last rites over the body of Jason Willson, Marion's oldest banker, and reputed to have been for the last ten years the oldest living banker in Indiana, were conducted with impressive solemnity at 2 o'clock, Wednesday afternoon ( March 12, 1913). Services were held at the residence, 908 South Washington street, with Rev. F. B. B. Johnston, rector of Gethsemane Episcopal church in charge. Following the ceremony the body was laid to rest in the I. O. O. F. cemetery. The funeral was very largely attended. The friends of Mr. Willson filled the residence Wednesday afternoon. A large number of beautiful floral tributes were given by friends. Out of respect for Mr. Willson all banks in the city closed their doors at 1 o'clock Wednesday afternoon for the remainder of the day, and bankers attended the funeral, as did many business men of the city.

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

SOLOMON DULING. In the annals of early settlement in Grant county one of the names first to be mentioned is that of the Duling family, which for upwards of seventy years has been identified with Fairmount township. Solomon Duling, above named, was born a few years after the settlement of the family in this county, and has thus lived practically all his life in his native community. The Duling name throughout his residence in Grant county has always been associated with solid worth and an industry which brings credit to the possessor and has helped to create the resources and wealth of the community.

The Duling family has always been more of less on the frontier, struggling against the hardships of the wilderness, and making homes first on the Atlantic Coast, and then in different sections of the middle west. First to be mentioned in the family history is William Duling, great-grandfather of Solomon. He spent all his life in Virginia, where he was a farmer. One of the sons of William was Edmund Duling, Sr., grandfather of Solomon, and the next in line of descent was Edmund Duling, Jr. The senior Edward moved from Virginia, early in the nineteenth century and made settlement in Coshocton, Ohio, where he died when past seventy years of age. He married, probably in Virginia, Mary Dean. He had a large family of 13 children, all of whom lived so that it was possible for the entire group to be seated at one time about the same family table. Edmund Duling, Sr., was a prosperous farmer, a man of substance for his time, and was especially prominent in the Methodist church. His home was, in fact, a center for Methodist activities in that part of Ohio. Many meetings were held in his barn, and every itinerant minister who went through the country stopped and was fed and lodged in the Duling home. It was one of the old-fashioned log houses, so frequent at that time in Ohio, but its hospitality was unlimited, and it was often filled from cellar to garret with visitors and worshipers who came from a distance, all of them partaking of the generous provisions afforded by the Duling household. Previous to the immigration of the family from Virginia, they had all been slave holders and planters, but the slaves were freed many years before the war.

Edmund Duling, Jr., father of Solomon Duling, and founder of the family fortunes in Grant county, was the third son in a very large family of children. He with two brothers, Solomon and Thomas, became settlers in Grant county, Indiana, and all of them improved excellent farm estates, were successful agriculturists, and became heads of families. The three brothers are now deceased and also their wives. Edmund Duling, Jr., was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, April 9, 1817. He grew up in his native locality, was a farmer boy, and received a meager education in the public schools of that time. He married Eliza Ann Hubert, who was born in Guernsey county, Ohio. In the spring of 1845 Edmund Duling, Jr., and his brother Thomas rode horseback from Coshocton to Fairmount, erected their log cabin, returned to Ohio for their families and moved out that fall. There Edmund Duling, Jr., made a clearing in the midst of the tall trees, and probably with the help of some of his neighbors hewed out the timbers from which were built a log cabin, eighteen by twenty feet in dimensions and comprising only one room. The roof of this rude house was the old fashioned clapboards, bound down with shakes, as they were called. The single door swung on wooden hinges. Wooden pins supplied the fastenings where needed, although the tongue and groove were the chief methods by which the timbers were fastened together. However, the home had one distinction, and that was a lumber floor. Among the articles of kitchen furniture which the family brought into Grant county, was one of the old bake ovens, and that interesting utensilis now in the possession of Solomon Duling. It is a relic interesting in itself, and especially so from the family associations, since practically all the bread consumed in the household was made by the good housewife and baked in that oven, which was heated either in the fireplace or on coals spread out of doors. The pioneer housewife also had her spinning wheel, and from the flax and wool spun the yarn and made the clothes for all the members of the family. Eventually Edmund Duling and wife improved an excellent farm, and replaced the old log cabin with a good frame house standing near what is now known as the Eighth Street Road. There they lived, labored, reared their children and finally passed to their reward.

Edmund Duling died in 1901, when within a few months of being eighty-four years of age. His wife had passed away some twelve or thirteen years previously. She was born in 181, and though reared in the Presbyterian faith, afterwards became a Protestant Methodist, and both she and her husband died in that faith. He was first a Whig and later a Republican in politics.

The five children of Edmund Duling, Jr., and wife are mentioned as follows: Maria died after her marriage to Joshua Hollingsworth, her death occurring in 1908. The husband is still living. They were the parents of two children, Edmund and Lena. Asa, the second born is deceased and left a family of two sons, Frank and Verlie. Mary J. died at the age of four years. The next among the children is Solomon. Emily, who married Asbury Crabb, who is still living, died soon after the birth of her only daughter Emma, who is now married and has three children, Lulu, Ethel, and Alva.

Mr. Solomon Duling was born on the old homestead in Fairmount township, December 1, 1850. He was reared there, and still owns half of the eighty acres which made up the old home place. His career has been that of a substantial farmer, and with the passing of years he has brought his land into a high state of cultivation and improvement. Solomon Duling in 1881 married Miss Alice Wright. She was born in Plainfield, Hendricks county, Indiana, January 26, 1861. When she was a young girl her parents, Joseph R. and Deborah (Dicker) Wright moved to Grant county. Both her parents were natives of Pennsylvania, where they were married, and then came to Indiana. Her father Joseph Wright, now lives in Fairmount city, at the age of seventy-six. He is a veteran of the Sixty-third Indiana Infantry during the Civil war, and his home has been in Grant county since 1869. His wife died her about five years ago, when about seventy years of age. The Wright family were for a number of years members of the Methodist church, but later joined the Methodist Protestant, and finally became Dunkards. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Duling have been born no children, but in the kindness of their hearts they hae adopted and reared two foster daughters. One, a niece, is now Mrs. Emma Rich. The other is Mrs. Verna Rogers, and has on son, Orville D. Rogers, their home being in New Castle, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Duling are member of the Methodist Protestant Church, and in politics he is a Republican.

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

FRANK WILSON. The Wilson family, of whom Frank Wilson of Fairmount township is one of several members to be found within the limits of Grant county, has a appropriate place among the list of pioneers in this part of Indiana, and their home has been here for more than seventy years. As farmers, stock raisers, public spirited citizens, moral and religious men and women, they have been wholesome factors in the life of the community throughout all these decades.

The originator of the family in America was Grandfather Thomas Wilson. Born in Ireland, he was of Scotch-Irish and Protestant ancestry. He married Anna Mackey, and immediately after their marriage they embarked on a vessel which brought them to the United States and they settled in Rockbridge county, Virginia. That county of old Virginia continued to be their home until their death. Thomas Wilson died about middle life, while his widow lived a good many years afterwards, and died on the old Virginia homestead when about eighty-nine. Farming was their occupation, and their church was the Presbyterian Society at Collierstown in Virginia. They had a family of a number of sons and daughters, and the sons are mentioned as follows: Thomas, Jr., lived and died in Grant county, was a farmer and left three children, two sons and one daughter. John Mc., also a farmer, died in Jefferson township of Grant county, leaving a large family. The next in order of age among the sons was James S., mentioned in the following paragraph. Robert K., died on the old Rockbridge county farm in Virginia, and left a widow but no children. Samuel G., lived in the same county of Virginia, was never married, and held an influential station in his community serving as justice of the peace for some time.

James S. Wilson was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, January 13, 1813. There he grew up, had an education in the old field schools of his native commonwealth, and when ready for the serious occupations of life took up farming. When he was a young man of about twenty-five, in 1838, he rode all the way on horseback from Virginia to Grant county, Indiana. Here, with his brother Thomas, Jr., he took up one hundred and sixty acres of government land on section four in Mill township. While the country had been organized seven or eight years much of its landscape was still as nature had made it, and these brothers started out on their pioneer enterprise in the midst of the green woods. They did a good deal of work in development, and later sold the land to Isaac Rouse. James S. Wilson then moved to Fairmount township, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of almost new land, from John McCormick, who had entered it from the government. It was on that farm that James Wilson spent the rest of his years engaged in the quiet vocation of farming, and in his duties to family and friends. His death occurred when he was eighty-one years of age. He was a loyal Democrat, and at one time served as township trustee. His church was the Presbyterian. Some time after he had bought and occupied the Fairmount township farm he married Evaline Morgan, of Mason county, Kentucky. When she was a girl her parents moved to Piqua, Miami county, Ohio, and lived there for some years. Her father, Perry Morgan there married a second wife and moved out to Iowa, while the children of his first wife came to Grant county, Indiana, with his relatives. Mrs. James S. Wilson died in Grant county in 1874 at the age of fifty-four years and two months. She was also a Presbyterian, and became the mother of four sons and two daughters. These children are noted as follows: 1. Henry P., who died in young manhood after he had married Lyda Roush, a daughter of Isaac Roush. She then married a second time, William Schaefer becoming her husband, and she had one daughter, Bertha by her first marriage. 2. Eugene N., a retired farmer living at Jonesboro, married Mary A. Templin, and their children are Albert, Marcus L., George G., and Ira. 3. Talitha died young. 4. James Mc. died unmarried and was educated at Depauw Universtiy at Greencastle and was an attorney at Marion. 5. Frank and Eva were twins, and the latter died unmarried at the age of twenty-two.

Mr. Frank Wilson, whose name has been placed at the head of this article was born on the old Fairmount township homestead of his father on July 25, 1857. Growing up on that farm, he now owns the estate, having secured through deed from his father one hundred and ninety acres. He is a practical and business-like farmer, and knows how to make Grant county soil produce abundantly. One hundred and fifty-four acres of his land are under cultivation, and the fields produce large quantities of oats, corn, wheat and hay, and his cattle and hogs consume practically all the products. Thus he has conserved the fertility of his land, and his farm is now in a better condition agriculturally speaking than when he received it from this father. With the fruits of his success after many years of continuous labors he is now living semi-retired, spending his winters in his home at Jonesboro, while during the summer he stays on the farm and manages its activities.

In Fairmount township, Mr. Wilson was married to Lou Wilson, who was born at Hardin, Shelby county, Ohio, April 15, 1861. When she was six years old she came to Mill township in Grant county, with her parents, Theodore and Margaret (Caldwell) Wilson. Her parents were both natives of Ireland, having come to Shelby county, Ohio, after their marriage, and their children were born in Ohio. Still later they moved to Grant county, and became substantial farmers in Mill township, but after some years retired to Jonesboro. Theodore Wilson died at the age of sixty-seven, and his wife when sixty-two. They were Presbyterians, and left five children, all of whom are still living. All but one are married, and three of them have children of their own.

Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. Wade H., born September 15, 1889, was educated in the Marion high school, and now conducts his father's farm. He married Edith Kuntz, of Peru, Indiana, and they have one daughter, Mary L., born September 25, 1912. The other child of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson was Eva, who died when only eleven weeks old. Mr. Wilson with his wife and son belongs to the Presbyterian church, and he and his son are Democrats in politics.

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